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The Spirit World 
 
 FLORENCE MARRYAT 
 
 Author of "There Is No Death," "The Dead Man-s MESSAaE,' 
 "The Risen Dead," "The Bankrupt Heart," etc., etc. 
 
 New York 
 
 CHARLES B. REED, Publisher 
 
 164, 166 «Sc 168 Fulton St. 
 
 1894 
 

 Copyright, 1894, by 
 AUGUSTA W. FLETCHER, M. 
 
 All Rights Reserved, 
 
The Spirit World 
 
CONTKKTS 
 
 I. Mt Coekespondence, . . , e 7 
 
 II. The Cuke for Death, . . » . 25 
 
 III. Spiritualism and the Bible, . , .41 
 
 IV. What Authors and Poets Think of Spirituausm:, 65 
 V. Miss Marryat's Bogus Bogey, . . 85 
 
 YI. How TO Investigate Spiritualism, , . 108 
 
 VII. What Spirits have Said to Me, . . 138 
 
 VIII. Spiritual Correspondence, . . , 160 
 
 IX. My Seances with Cecil Husk, , . 175 
 
 X. Some Private Experiences, . . <, 203 
 
 XI. A Chance Seance with a Stranger, . . 231 
 
 XII. A Seance with Mr. Eita, .... 248 
 
 XIII. On Mediums and Spiritualist Societies, . 257 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 MY CORRESPOXDEN"CE. 
 
 From my earliest and most unthinking days I have 
 always felt that the one, great, unfulfilled want of this 
 world is the undeniable proof that, when we leave it, we 
 shall live again, or, rather, that we shall never cease to live. 
 There must be a big screw loose somewhere in the various 
 religions presented to us, which profess to give us every- 
 thing but this — vague hopes — threatening fears — promises 
 of reward and dread of punishment — but not an atom of 
 proof that, having passed out of this body, we shall exist 
 either to enjoy the one, or endure the other. And never 
 have I been so thoroughly convinced of the truth of my 
 assertion, as since I published, now three years ago, the 
 record of my experience in Spiritualism. Since that book 
 appeared, letters have poured in upon me from strangers, 
 in every habitable part of the globe, at the rate of seven 
 and eight a day, and the cry of one and all has been the 
 same : " Show us our dead ! Give us some sign that they 
 still live and that we shall live with them.^' 
 
 Mothers, like Eachel, weeping for their children and re- 
 fusing to be comforted, because they were not; young men, 
 who had studied all the known orthodox writers in order 
 to find out the truth, and found themselves only further 
 from God for their pains; old men and old women who, at 
 the close of life, had nothing tangible to cling to; men of 
 law and science and literature — all these and many others, 
 have written to me, or come to see me, in consequence of 
 having read " There is no Death,^' and very proud have I 
 
8 THE SPIRIT AVORLI). 
 
 been of creating so much curiosity and interest in a subject, 
 which is a religion to me. But if it has made me glad, it 
 has also made me sad. Here were a crowd of professedly 
 Christian men and women, who had been under the teach- 
 ing and guidance of their respective churches since their 
 infancy, coming to a stranger (almost as ignorant as them- 
 selves), to teach them how to find out if it is true, that 
 when they pass out of their bodies, they shall wake to meet 
 those they have loved in this world. Have not their 
 spiritual pastors and masters, therefore, inculcated this 
 great fact in their minds ? Perhaps so — undoubtedly so — 
 but they had no proof to give them that their doctrine was 
 true. They could only rest their belief on the traditions 
 that had been handed down to them through the history 
 of the world. A priest will talk to his congregation about 
 heaven and hell — about God's judgments and God's re- 
 wards — about an eternity of misery or blessedness — but 
 pin him to the point to tell you how he knows what he 
 preaches to be true, and he can only hark back to the testi- 
 mony of the Bible, which, however it was originated, we 
 all know to be half lost and wholly mistranslated. And 
 though history may be sufficient for us, when we are asked 
 to believe that William the Conquei^r landed in England 
 in the year 10G6 (because, if the truth were told, we do 
 not care one jot nor tittle if he ever landed here at all) — 
 it is not enough to rest all our liopes of a future life upon, 
 for ourselves and those we love. The torn and bereaved 
 heart wants proof — actual, irrefragable proof, that those 
 who have gone before us, live and breathe somewhere; 
 that tlicy are not entirely beyond the limits of our siglit and 
 love and remembrance; that tlie deepest feelings of our 
 liearts liave not been wasted, but are bearing fruit still, and 
 even our sorrow for tlieir loss affords a tender pleasure to 
 the spirits who sympathize Avitli us. 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 9 
 
 If it were possible for me to publish all the letters I 
 have received, if you could have read the cries of pain 
 and doubt and bereavement which they contained, the 
 anxiety to learn from my own lips that what I had written 
 was the unvarnished, solemn truth, you would understand, 
 far better than I can tell you here, what the one, great 
 want of this world is — what religion has never given it and 
 never will give it, whilst the Church arrogates to itself 
 all the miracles that are taking place around us and in 
 our midst every hour. Many of the letters I allude to I 
 have answered — many more I have been regretfully com- 
 pelled, from want of time, to leave unanswered, for the 
 questions propounded to me would, in many instances, 
 have required another volume to be properly discussed in, 
 and these it is my intention to touch upon now, and, as far 
 as in me lies, to satisfactorily reply to. But, though most 
 of my letters, with their deep black borders, have made me 
 weep, as I perused the human cries within them, that 
 might, in many instances, have been penned with the 
 writer's heart blood, others of my correspondents have 
 vastly amused me, by their absurd demands and queries, 
 and the utter ignorance they displayed of the uses or the 
 meaning of Spiritualism. How plainly they demonstrated 
 how little the beautiful theory of an after-life enters the 
 Christian religion. Their letters and the sentiments they 
 contained were a disgrace to the teachers and the church 
 that could inspire them with no better founded hope, nor 
 wider knowledge than they displayed. Christians all say 
 they believe in a future existence, but hardly one in a 
 thousand realizes the truth of it, and little wonder, con- 
 sidering they have never received a single good proof that 
 it will be theirs. What patient would believe a doctor, or 
 a dentist, on his unsupported word, that he could cure him 
 of his pain ? He requires the testimony of those who have 
 
10 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 been cured before lie trusts himself to his tender mercies. 
 In this Avorld it is useless for the menders of aches and 
 pains, to assure their patients: "It is so !^^ The patients 
 require some accredited proof of their skill before they will 
 trust themselves under their hands. And the churches 
 have cried long enough: "It is so!^^ The people are 
 beginning to answer : " Give us your proofs and we will 
 believe you! We Avant something beyond mere con- 
 jecture. The subject is of too much importance to us. If 
 you cannot tell us, we will find it out for ourselves.^' 
 
 And in proof of this, a certain Canon, in addressing his 
 clergy the other day, told them plainly that if they refused 
 to recognize the power and truth of Spiritualism, it would 
 prove, before long, to be the greatest opponent the Church 
 had ever had. 
 
 A well-known professional man wrote to me a few weeks 
 ago: "I would like to believe in a Hereafter. I want to 
 believe in it — it would make me a happier and more godly 
 man to believe in it; but, though I hope it may be true, I 
 have never received any proof that it is so, and the priests 
 who have tried to inculcate it in me, have known no more 
 than myself." Therein lies the evil and the truth! They 
 know no more than ourselves. They can only quote the 
 I^ible and we can read it as well as they. Observe the in- 
 accuracy of the Church's teaching on this subject. The 
 Protestant Church, for a long time, denied that there could 
 be such a thing as the return of those whom we call dead, 
 and when it was forced, by the experiments and testimony 
 of men of learning and science, to acknowledge it to be a 
 fact, it ascribed tlio forces by which it operated as diaboli- 
 f^il. Perhaps the Protestant Church may remember that 
 there was a time when all the powers of nature, such as 
 thunder and lightning, and earthquakes, were attributed 
 to the devil — anything, in short, which people understood 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 11 
 
 as little as they do the science of Spiritualism. The 
 Catholic Church, on the other hand, allows that it is both 
 23ossible and true, but diabolical — unless confined to the 
 authority of herself. Bernadotte, the little shepherd, who 
 saw and spoke to an apparition of the Mother of Christ at 
 Lourdes (which miracle led to the foundation of the cele- 
 brated healing grotto of Loretto), was exalted to a saint on 
 account of her mediumistic powers. It was miraculous 
 and angelical in her, but it would be diabolical and blas- 
 phemous in you or me. Bernadotte was only a rough, 
 ignorant peasant child, no more holy than any urchin from 
 our own board school, but she was an excellent physical 
 medium, and I should have very much liked to have 
 annexed and developed her. Did the Church permit her 
 to remain in the world and exercise her undoubted powers 
 for the enlightenment and regeneration of her fellow 
 creatures? Nothing of the sort! It clapped her at once 
 into a convent to keep them for itself. It declared that 
 her vision was miraculous — that it came straight from 
 God ; but that when / see the apparition of my daughter 
 Florence, who went into the spirit-world as an innocent 
 baby of ten days old, I see a devil sent by the agency of 
 the evil one, to damn my soul to hell! Do you believe 
 such irrelevance ? I don^t. The priests know better than 
 that, but they have no desire to raise the veil. If 
 
 they admitted the jftaphingg nf Sp^ritunlism a.Tirl t,fl.nght. 
 
 the people to seek counsel and advice of those who are 
 nearer to God th an any mortals can be^ what furth er '^^'^^ 
 of their own services? W ere they to go hand in hand with 
 their congregations in this, seeking with them and learn- 
 ing with them, they would find themselves far better fitted 
 to teach the ignorant and the mourner where to find 
 comfort and relief. The priests of the Catholic Church 
 know all about it ; but, from the first, they have 
 
12 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 determined to keep it within the circle of their own 
 authority. The Roman Catholic Church is a mass of 
 Spiritualism — she teems with so-called miracles; the men 
 and women who have witnessed them have been trans- 
 formed into saints for their wonderful powers; but the 
 knowledge must not be disseminated amongst the masses. 
 The reason is obvious. The people would learn too much. 
 They would no longer believe that a man's word could 
 either condemn their souls to hell, or give them the 
 entrance to heaven; they would begin to use the con- 
 science which God has implanted in each one of our 
 breasts for the purpose of warning us what to follow and 
 what to avoid — they would, in one word, \>q free, I know 
 that this is a most terrible sentiment to issue from the 
 mouth of a Catholic; but if to be a Catholic is to be blind 
 and deaf and dumb, I give up all claim to the title. 
 After what God has given me to see and hear, I must 
 speak, or I should, indeed, feel myself to be guilty. To 
 return to my correspondents — my readers seem to imagine, 
 in the first place, that as soon as a spirit is freed from its 
 earthly body, it becomes a species of little god, endowed 
 with supernatural powers of prophecy and foresight — able 
 to advise on all mundane matters — to seek out and com- 
 municate with strange spirits of whom it has never heard 
 l^efore — to fly hitlier and thither, conveying messages and 
 finding out secrets — that it is, in fact, at once divested of 
 all its earthly attributes, and able to perform miracles — 
 able, also, and willing to interest itself in the most trivial 
 tilings, such as finding lost articles, reading the contents 
 of wills, foretelling the winning racehorses, and divining 
 the inmost thoughts of their friends and themselves. One 
 ;rontleman in the West Indies requested me to "send the 
 -j»irit of his dead wife*' (of whom I had never heard before), 
 at a certain hour, on a certain day, to him in Jamaica, 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 13 
 
 with due regard to the difference of time between the two 
 countries, in order that she might advise him with regard 
 to the bringing-up of their child. 
 
 What would he have thought if I had replied that if he 
 would tell his dead mother to visit m.e first, I would try 
 to get into communication with his wife ? When will 
 enquirers understand that mediums cannot command 
 spirits, nor control them, nor raise them up, nor order 
 them about in any way. They come to teach us — not to 
 be treated like servants to run messages, or gratify idle 
 curiosity. They are the higher powers — we, the lower. 
 They, the preachers — we, the congregation. 
 
 Another man from America wrote me, that if my con- 
 trols would tell him what was his real name (he signed 
 himself by an assumed one), profession, age, complexion, 
 and characteristics, he would become a Spiritualist. Such 
 an enormous inducement for me to take any trouble in the 
 matter ! It is a person's own loss and that of no one else, 
 if he misses being convinced of the truth of Spiritualism 
 in this life. He will only be the less prepared for entering 
 on another. We shall all be Spiritualists as soon as we are 
 spirits. 
 
 A lady correspondent informed me that, for some time 
 past, she had continually dreamed of a man unknown to 
 her, until she had become convinced that he must exist on 
 this earth somewhere, and if Spiritualism was of any use, 
 my spirit friends should be able to trace him for her and 
 bring them together for the purpose of marriage. Another 
 lady wrote me she had three beautiful daughters — she 
 described them all separately — but these lovely creatures 
 had not yet been snapped up, and she desired me to send a 
 spirit to look at them and tell her if they would marry, 
 and, if so, whom and when. 
 
 Numerous requests like the following have reached me : 
 
14 THE SPIRIT AVORLD. 
 
 " I have lost a ring of value. AVill you ask ' Florence ' 
 to tell me where it is ? '' 
 
 "My father died last year. AYill you ask one of your con- 
 trols wliere he is at present, and if he has any message to 
 send me ? " 
 
 " I was engaged to be married some time ago, but the 
 engagement was broken off. Now I wish it renewed. 
 Can you tell me if there is any chance of it, or if your 
 spirits can influence my lover towards me ? " Now, people 
 who can make such requests as these, display the grossest 
 ignorance of what Spiritualism is, or for what purpose it 
 is permitted. As I have said before, spirits are not errand 
 boys to be sent about at our bidding, to execute the orders 
 of strangers, nor are they omnipresent, omniscient, or 
 omnipotent, to be able to read all hearts, and influence all 
 minds. To think of them in that light is to arrogate the 
 attributes of the Almighty God for the humblest of his 
 creatures. Neither is their mission to accelerate the oppor- 
 tunities of lovers, nor bring about matrimonial desirabili- 
 ties. They come to demonstrate the fact that we shall 
 live again — not to furtlier the petty interests or to aggran- 
 dize the covetous and grasping natures of this world. And 
 even if they did so, it would not be for utter strangers. 
 Each lielps its own. Tliey are our guardian angels — their 
 reward being the permission to watch over those they love, 
 a reward sometimes deferred, in God's Avisdom, for some 
 time after they pass away from our sides. The gentlemen 
 and ladies wlio wrote me such letters would doubtless be 
 very much surprised if asked to do such things for their 
 fellow creatures — why should they imagine that, once 
 passed out of the body, they would feel more inclined to 
 take HU(;h trou1)le for i)ers()ns wlio had no claim on them ? 
 If you put the question to them personally, they murmur : 
 *' Oh ! yes, of course, but then I thought that spirits," etc. 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 15 
 
 Which proves what I state, that the generality of people 
 cannot grasp the fact that they — they, themselves, will exist 
 in a spirit world; that spirit life is not another life, but a 
 continuation of this; that they will not be altered in any 
 particular for many years, perhaps, from what they may be 
 when they pass over there; that the earthly man will be 
 earthly still and the spiritual man will be spiritual still, 
 and both will progress, in like measure, with the progress 
 they have made whilst here at school below. We know 
 that the lad who works to obtain knowledge, passes his 
 examination and takes a higher place in college than the 
 one who has been idle, or disobedient. So it is with us. 
 The more spirituality we acquire below, the better fitted 
 shall we be to enjoy a spiritual life above. You remember 
 the two texts : "As the tree falleth, so shall it lie,^^ and 
 "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still, and he which 
 is filthy, let him be filthy still, and he that is righteous, let 
 him be righteous still, and he that is holy, let him be holy 
 still.'*^ 
 
 They apply to the subject in hand, and I have been 
 taught that every man remains as he passes away until he 
 aspires to become better. But that may incur a bitter 
 penance first. 
 
 But to set against the correspondence of such ignora- 
 muses as I have quoted, who have not, perhaps, sufficient 
 spirituality in themselves, to be able to realize the grand 
 work the spirits of those gone before are allotted to do on 
 earth, I have received communications that have made me 
 doubly thankful that I had the courage of my opinions, in 
 giving the record of my experiences to the world. For I 
 must tell you that I did it in the face of much opposi- 
 tion and displeasure. Some of my nearest relatives warned 
 me that if I published " There is no Death,'' I should be 
 dubbed a madwoman, or a liar, and that my novels would 
 
16 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 suffer in consequence. I was told that I should offend the 
 mediums I had sat with and the company in which I had 
 sat. I thought it all very probable, but still I argued that, 
 having seen what I had seen, and heard what I had heard, 
 I had no right to keep the truth from the world. 
 
 Those who believe my statements, will be glad to hear, I 
 think, that my literary name has not suffered in any way 
 from my audacity — on the contrary, the book has been 
 received with more enthusiasm than anything I have ever 
 written before — and that I have the happiness of knr 
 that it has conveyed comfort and belief to many a so. 
 ing heart. Mothers have spoken again with their chil 
 husbands with their wives, friends have met fri ids, 
 through my agency, and I thank God for it. More 'lan 
 this, men and women who never believed in anything bdore 
 they read my book^ have written me that for the first 
 time, they felt they could reconcile God's mercy with His 
 justice. Some of the Catholic papers have published 
 abusive articles against me; but as they were written by 
 one of my nearest relations, it is not to be wondered at, 
 for a man's foes are ever those of his own household, and 
 es])ecially when the man has been successful. But what 
 time had I to think, even, about newspaper articles, when I 
 liad the supreme pleasure to receive a letter like the follow- 
 ing? A young soldier wrote it me from the Cape. I have 
 no autliority to mention his name; but I know, in con- 
 sideration of all the pleasure he has given me, he will 
 pardon my giving a few extracts from his letter here: 
 
 '^ I ask your acceptance of the deepest and purest grati- 
 tude for the good work you are doing in the cause of 
 Spiritualism, and for the help, personally, your work has 
 l)een to me. Not only do I tender this on my own behalf, 
 l)ut on that of many others, united with me in the bond of 
 a common faitli, but who, like myself, the exigencies of 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 17 
 
 fate^ or circumstances, have scattered, far and wide, to re- 
 mote corners of the globe, where ideas keep pace with the 
 actions of those about us, and creep on all fours; where 
 the sunbeams of advanced thought have not, as yet, pene- 
 trated the gloomy, cobwebby recesses of old-time notions, 
 old-time ignorance and bigotry; where the refining, soft- 
 ening influences of civilization are wanting. I have just 
 closed the pages of your latest and greatest work (for such 
 it may be called) " There is no Death,^' and laid the book 
 r ently aside, with a feeling of wonderment, and a sigh 
 atitude. It has exerted a strange influence over me. 
 influence has elevated me above myself — drawn to 
 the iTont some of that better self (a casual visitor only, 
 anc then in dreams far apart), a little of whom still re- 
 mains, despite the malodorous atmosphere of a soldier's 
 life — made me, in fact, a better man. Yet this is merely 
 an individual experience, and nothing in comparison to 
 the full and glorious effect your book is creating on the 
 thinking world. The more one learns of Spiritualism, 
 particularly of the phases you describe, the more one be- 
 comes horrified at the natures of the majority of those 
 around us, especially so in the life I am now leading. 
 Miserable, blighted ruins — stunted, deformed, suffocated 
 soul natures — moribund in decaying walls of the bodily 
 prison, natures to whom to compare the brutes of the 
 field were a calumny upon nobler animals. You are 
 nobly spreading that knowledge, the light of which alone 
 can revive the smouldering soul embers of such creatures. 
 * * * * ^ In baring your heart 
 
 to the world, and penning your wonderful experiences, in 
 the interest of pure truth and advancement — scorning the 
 adverse criticisms of an incredulous public, none, save such 
 as we, can thoroughly appreciate the great help which your 
 influence will give to the cause, and the permanent good 
 
18 THE SPIRIT AVORLD. 
 
 which will arise therefrom. Humanity owes you a debt 
 of gratitude which can never be fully repaid in this life, but 
 which assuredly will be placed to your credit in the life be- 
 yond. Will you accept the hearty thanks of a soul in the 
 wilderness, for the good you have done him ? K'ever before 
 have I so fully realized the divine, beautiful nature of 
 faith, and its power for good, as since reading ^ There is 
 no Death.''' * * * * * * 
 
 From settlers in the Bush; from soldiers under the tropi- 
 cal sun of India; from clergymen in the wilds of Canada; 
 from American cousins over the Atlantic; from brothers 
 and sisters of all grades, I have received the same gratifying 
 assurances that the public acknowledgment of my belief 
 in Spiritualism has given comfort and hope to many, and 
 courage to enquire into the truth of the doctrine; but all 
 have asked me to give them more information on the sub- 
 ject which is of such vital importance to us all. In " There 
 is no Death" I purposely confined my reminiscences to 
 my actual personal exjyerience. I felt that, in vouching for 
 the truth of so important a matter to the public, I had no 
 right to repeat anything but what I could swear, if need 
 be, that I had seen and heard with my own eyes and ears. 
 But the case is now altered. I think the majority, at least, 
 of my readers are convinced that Avhat I have already 
 written is the truth, and they have, of themselves, demanded 
 more explicit details how they may pursue the paths I 
 have and obtain the same i^eace. And I feel I have no 
 right to withhold anything that I may be able to tell 
 them. 
 
 My correspondence lias been, on the whole, so gratifying 
 and complimentary, that I feel I have nothing but thanks 
 to give the writers — yet, one or two have annoyed me, un- 
 wittingly, I am sure, by asking if all I related in "There 
 is no Deatli '' was true, or whether it were not a cleverly 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 19 
 
 concocted romance. (This was actually the term used by 
 more than one of my correspondents.) Now, I thought I 
 stated as plainly as I could, in my opening chapter, that I 
 was relating the actual experience of my life; but who, that 
 credits me with being a woman, could suspect me of tri- 
 fling with so solemn a subject as the bruised and bleeding 
 hearts of my fellow-creatures? Surely, no one who has 
 himself experienced the awful, unspeakable agony of losing 
 a beloTed friend by death. If reiteration be necessary, let 
 me reiterate, here^ the every incident related in " There is 
 no Death^^ occurred to me just as I wrote it down^ and 
 that they were not written from memory, but from notes 
 takeji at the time. 
 
 Others of my acquaintance have asked me if I was sure, 
 considering the long time that, in some instances, has 
 elapsed since the marvels I wrote of took place, if my senses 
 had not deceived me, or if I remembered distinctly what 
 happened. To these I can only return the same answer, 
 i. e., that notes were made of all the events at the time, 
 and better still, perhaps, that similar experiences are oc- 
 curring to me. every day. 
 
 Others again have written to ask me if I were not 
 hypnotized at the seances I describe, and only imagined I 
 saw what I relate. What ! thirty or forty people hypno- 
 tized at the same moment, some to see a friend — others a 
 stranger, in one and the same form. One, to be moved to 
 tears at the recognition of his father or mother, and the 
 other to sit by indifferently, because he had no part in the 
 joy of his next neighbor. It is only the would-be wise, but 
 wholly ignorant, who would attempt to account for the 
 phenomena on such grounds. No man of science would 
 do so, and I venture to say that no man, scientific, or other- 
 wise, who has once commenced seriously to study the sub- 
 ject of Spiritualism, ever tries to explain it all. If they are 
 
20 THE SPIKIT AVORLD. 
 
 not satisfied of its genuineness, they remain neuter. They 
 cannot argue it away, nor will they ever be able to do so. 
 That clever paper, ^' Truth," got to the very bottom of the 
 well the other day In publishing an article on my asser- 
 tions regarding the reappearance of my step-son Francis 
 Lean, entitled " Miss Marryat's Bogus Bogey." 
 
 I did not notice it at the time for several reasons, one 
 being that I very much dislike a newspajoer war. I 
 intend to go into it, however, in the course of this book, 
 and iDrove to you that "Truth," however credible in 
 itself, accepted in this instance the testimony of a witness 
 who is not credible. 
 
 " Francis " and " Florence " and " Dewdrop " and 
 " Goodness " are not visions of the past, only, but intimate 
 friends in the present, with many more added to them, who 
 assemble round me year by year, as I see and learn more of 
 the divine science which makes the pleasure and comfort 
 of my life. Numerous persons have come forward since my 
 book was publislied, professing to have mastered all the 
 wonders of Spiritualism, and various works have come out, 
 on the subject. But let me repeat here what I said before, 
 that it is not a matter to be taken up as a pastime, nor is 
 it to be learned and proved in a day. They are plenty of 
 hysterical people ready to declare that they have seen 
 spirits, or had tlieir hands guided by the dead, and who are 
 generally prepared to teach their grandmothers to suck eggs, 
 or, in other words, to sit in the high places as prophets, 
 before they have mastered the A B of the faith they pro- 
 fess to hold. Spiritualism is not to be learned, nor its 
 advantages gained, witliout perseverance aiid patience, and 
 study, and outlay. People come to me, sometimes, all eager- 
 ness to find out if Si)iritualism be true — anxious, so they 
 tell me, to be convinced of the after-life of those they have 
 loved hero — longing to l)elievo iu eternity, and a future ex- 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. Si 
 
 istence, and begging me to tell them where they can go in 
 order to prove it for themselves. I give them the name 
 and address, perhaps, of a medium whom I know to be 
 above suspicion, and tell them the expense they will be put 
 to. They cry : " ! but that is such a prohibitive price." 
 
 They will pay their half guinea cheerfully any night to 
 see " Charley^s Aunt/" (and I think " Charley^s Aunt " is 
 quite worth it) — but it is too much for a proof of ever- 
 lasting life ! People of this sort are not Spiritualists, 
 they are sight-seers; they want to go to seances from simple 
 curiosity, and they would far better keep away. 
 
 I have not much faith myself in the good of all 
 the proposals one hears for the founding of Colleges 
 for Spiritualism. They may attract attention to the 
 doctrine, but I doubt if they will further it, as it should 
 be furthered. They will lapse into so many churches for 
 another religion, and wherever money and subscriptions 
 are made the principal outlook, religion falls to the ground. 
 The chief reason that the Christian religion has fallen into 
 such disrepute of late years that the clergy cannot fill 
 their churches, is because it has to be so heavily paid for. 
 All religion should be free. Let our Spiritualism be in 
 ourselves and our own families. There is the only altar 
 on which it will bring forth fruit. Did the Christ return 
 to earth in this generation, he would pull down the 
 churches and turn their worshipers into the streets, as he 
 turned the money-changers out of the Temple. What do 
 the majority in the Nineteenth Century do, but turn his 
 Father's House into a den of thieves ? If we all held an 
 indubitable belief in, and conviction of, the truth of another 
 life, we should need no churches, but those in our own 
 bodies, which the knowledge of our Father's love would 
 transform into temples for the Holy Ghost. To be un- 
 doubtedly certain that we shall live again — to know from 
 
32 THE SPIRIT AVORLD. 
 
 the 07ily real ])r oof ^^Q can have, namely, tlie return of the 
 dead, that we shall pass from this life to another, far more 
 beautiful, would be to live as in the presence of God and 
 those we love. An universal belief in Spiritualism would 
 do w^hat all the churches in the world, and all the religions 
 they have carved out for us, have failed to do — it would 
 transform a blaspheming, adulterous, murdering, back- 
 biting, lying and thieving crew, into a band of thankful 
 and adoring children, cognizant of their Maker's love and 
 patient of the accidents which may be against them in 
 this world, because, assured of passing on to another — 
 acknowledging what very few of them do now, that His 
 dispensations in removing their dearest ones out of their 
 sight for awhile, are all for the best, since they know for 
 certain not only that they will be reunited to them before 
 long, but that even whilst in this world they may be 
 solaced by their presence and the knowledge that they still 
 love and wait for them. 
 
 AVhy should we grieve so terribly "as those without 
 hope," when we lose our friends by death, and yet bear, 
 with comjDarative composure, their departure for another 
 country, where they will be lost to our sight and hearing, 
 and perhaps be exposed to all sorts of dangers from sick- 
 ness and traveling? Must there not be something at fault 
 in a religion which leaves us a prey to our own surmisings 
 and fears — which has no power to make us trustful and 
 confident for our own future and the future of our friends? 
 Would not the belief that they can revisit us, and see what 
 we are doing, make the survivors somewhat more careful 
 how they behaved, knowing that those they mourn, could 
 be grieved still by their misdoing ? * * * 
 
 *' Knowing we are encompassed by a mighty cloud of 
 witnesses." 
 
 And still the cry of tlie cliildren of earth is: " Sliow us 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 23 
 
 our dead/^ The atheist says: "Prove to me there is a 
 God^ and I will believe in Him/^ 
 
 The careless liver: "Prove that this world does not end 
 all, and I will see some good in abandoning my evil ways, 
 and living a j)urer life." The mourner: "Let me believe 
 that I shall meet my child, or my father, or my mother 
 again, and I will be patient and resigned, instead of 
 reckless." 
 
 Well, then, dear friends — dear fellow -sufferers — (for I 
 have suffered as much as you have) — let me try in my 
 poor way to prove it to you. Let me show you, to the best 
 of my ability and with the assistance of my spirit friends, 
 how to set to work to do what I have done — how, that is, 
 to open communication with those who have gone before 
 you, so that they may be able to convince you that they 
 live, and that you have only to wait a little longer before 
 you will live with them again — that to that other world, 
 which will seem so natural to you when jou enter it, you 
 will carry your own heaven, or your own hell, just as you 
 will have made it for yourselves, whilst here below — that 
 there there is no torture designed for you by an All-Merciful 
 Father, from the beginning of the world, but only that 
 which you make for yourselves by the non-exercise, or re- 
 pression of the natural love He has implanted in your 
 breasts, for the benefit of your fellow-creatures. Come 
 with me and let us argue out the matter together, and find 
 how we may best prove my theory to be the truth. Eemem- 
 ber that it is of as great moment to me, as to you. I am 
 just as anxious as you may be, to learn the "truth, the 
 whole truth, and nothing but the truth." If I have been 
 deceived for five-and-twenty years (which I conceive to be 
 impossible), I am just as ready, on being convinced of my 
 self-deception, to give it all up now, as I was when my in- 
 vestigations were only two Aveeks old. The great thing for 
 
24 THE SPIEIT WORLD. 
 
 both you and me, and every one is — not to think of this, 
 or believe that— but to find out the truth for ourselves. 
 Evidently the churches have not taught it us. If Spirit- 
 ualism is a truth, why have we been kept in ignorance of 
 it ? 'Why has the fact been denied to us over and over 
 again ? 
 
 By whose authority was it, that the ministers of the 
 Established Church declared it, but a few years back, to be 
 a ridiculous fable, and now almost all of them confess it to 
 be a truth, and many preach it from^ the pulpit ? Are we 
 infants that the secrets of nature are to be kept back from 
 us ? Let us have more courage. Let us resolve to know 
 everything and judge for ourselves. If we find Spiritualism 
 does us harm — prevents our doing our duty in this world, 
 or saps our health and strength — by all means abandon its 
 pursuit, for it is not for us. But if it gives us comfort and 
 pleasure; more faith in the goodness of God, and courage 
 to do the work He has apjoointed us on earth, then cling 
 to it as the greatest solace He has allotted man. And now 
 let me take you by the hand, as it were, and show you why 
 /believe it to be an unmitigated blessinef. 
 
25 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE CURE FOR DEATH. 
 
 I should like to speak to you first of death. — that change 
 which to most of you is a nightmare of terror, but which, 
 in reality, should be the gladdest event of all your life. 
 
 This unnatural dread of a change as natural as being 
 born, is one of the best proofs we have, of the little good 
 that has been effected by the religions of the world — of 
 how little real influence they have exerted on the compre- 
 hensions and souls of men — for if they had had the power 
 to make their proselytes realize the truth of their teach- 
 ings, the expected glories of heaven would have done away 
 with the fear of death, and the terrors of hell with the 
 vices of humanity. But neither one effect, nor the other, 
 has been the result of eighteen hundred years of preaching 
 and praying. Why should we fear death in our own per- 
 sons so much, that in the majority of instances, we cannot 
 summon up courage even to sit down and look the 
 " bogey '' of our childhood straight in the face ? We know 
 that it is inevitable — that it must happen to all of us. 
 Our lives are as varied as ourselves. Some of us are born 
 to prosperity, others to misfortune ; some to health, others 
 to disease ; some to attain the highest honors, or to occupy 
 the j)roudest positions in this world, others to live and die 
 in obscurity. But, sooner or later, we must all come to 
 the same end — that end, which equalizes the king with the 
 pauper ; which turns the body of the young, rich and 
 noble Duke of Clarence, lying in his crimson velvet-cov- 
 ered coffin in the mausoleum in St. Ceorge^s chapel, at 
 
26 THE SPIRIT AVORLD. 
 
 Windsor, into precisely the same dust, no finer nor less 
 objectionable, than that of the last half-starved and 
 diseased cripple who was bundled out of a workhouse cart, 
 into the overladen public grave, that already held a dozen 
 such as he. 
 
 Death is not like the typhoid fever, nor the smallpox, 
 which we may hope, by care or precaution, to escai)e or 
 overcome. It is inevitable — we must all pass through it. 
 Yet the majority put the thought away from them, as 
 something not to be alluded to ; they shudder when they 
 hear it mentioned. That with which they must all be- 
 come acquainted, is thrust out of sight, as if it were their 
 greatest enemy ; that which their religion teaches them is 
 but the entrance to an eternity of happiness is avoided as 
 if it were, indeed, the beginning of the typical hell, which 
 has been thrust doAvn their throats, with no better effect 
 than to make them dread the idea of passing into the 
 presence of their Heavenly Father. Now, is the fault here, 
 in the religion, or in the teaching? If they believe the 
 religion, why do they fear death? If they do ^o^ believe 
 the religion, is it because, in their inmost hearts, they feel 
 it is not true — that heaven and hell, as they have been 
 represented to us, are ^'bogies," set up, the better to keep 
 us under the thumbs of our spiritual pastors and masters, 
 and to prevent our enquiring and learning for ourselves? 
 If you read the history of the churches, you will find that, 
 from tlie beginning, the people have ever been exhorted to 
 place tlieir judgments and consciences into the hands of 
 the ministers, and tliat it is not only the Roman Catholic 
 Cliurch who has arrogated to herself the virtue of infalli- 
 bility. Each, in its own way, has done tlie same, from the 
 Culvinistic Churcli, with its horrible doctrine of elec- 
 tion by grace, to the lowest psalm-singing conventicle, 
 whose tearlier slirieks liell fire and everlasting burning 
 
THE SPIEIT WOKLD. 27 
 
 into the ears of its ignorant congregation. But, thank 
 God, there is a better and more reasonable view of the 
 matter than these, and if Spiritualism served no higher 
 purpose than to dismiss this causeless fear of death, and 
 what comes after it, from the minds of men, it would ac- 
 complish what nothing else iefore it has ever done. 
 
 A great deal of this unnatural dread of death has been 
 inculcated in our minds from our childhood, but it has all 
 arisen from the same cause — the futility of religion to con- 
 vince us of the reality of the beautiful life to which we 
 are hastening. From our tenderest years, we cannot re- 
 member hearing the subject mentioned, except with low- 
 ered voice and bated breath. One of my earliest recollec- 
 tions is of being dragged by an ignorant nursemaid to see 
 all the funerals that took place in an adjoining church- 
 yard — of watching the mourners in their sable garments, 
 of seeing the black plumes and weepers — of hearing the 
 clay clods rattle down upon the coffin and wondering what 
 the ghastly face, hid underneath it, looked like — to say 
 nothing of having the occasion improved for me, the very 
 next time I could not go to sleep as quickly as my nurse 
 desiredj by being told that if I didn't shut my eyes directly, 
 she would tell the dead men to come and carry me away to 
 the churchyard. 
 
 I had a very pious mother — pious according to the fables 
 she had been taught to receive as truth^but not a word 
 did she ever say to me in those childish days to mitigate 
 the sense of fear inspired in my breast, by that with which 
 it pleases Christians, with the hope of '' a joyful resurrec- 
 tion,'' to surround their funeral ceremonies — not a word of 
 the happy state of the enfranchised soul, who was viewing 
 those ceremonies, perhaps, with " the proud contempt of 
 spirits risen." I saw nothing but the yawning grave and 
 the weeping countenances, and heard nothing but the sobs 
 
28 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 of the mourners ; or, if the subject were mentioned after- 
 wards, it was with those terrible old accompaniments of the 
 bottomless pit, or an alternative, almost as bad, of singing 
 jDsalms for ever and ever, before a great white throne. 
 
 A little brother of mine, called Willy, died at seven 
 years old, long before I was born. My mother, who really 
 was a good woman after her lights, often told me how dis- 
 tressed she was, because, as the poor child was dying of in- 
 flammation of the bowels, which creates an unquenchable 
 thirst, and she was disturbing his last moments by a 
 description of the heaven, which she su^Dposed he was about 
 to enter^ he raised himself upon his elbow and exclaimed: 
 " I don't want to go there ! I want some beer ! '' 
 
 Poor mother ! She actually believed that our dear, 
 tender Father, God, would punish an infant of seven years 
 for speaking such blasj)hemy, and that if little Willy ever 
 entered her mythical and most undesirable heaven, it 
 would only be riter being purified as by fire. But she 
 knows better now. She passed over more than ten years' 
 agony, and the first words she said to me, on coming back, 
 were : " Oh ! it is all so different from what I imagined, so 
 very, very different." 
 
 Charles Dickens, who displays his own tender nature in 
 every line he has written, has shown what he thinks of this 
 tampering with children's fears, by the words he j^uts into 
 the mouth of Nurse Polly, in " Dombey and Son." When 
 tlie i)oor, little, neglected Florence asks her : " What have 
 tliey done with my mamma ? ' ' she answers : 
 
 " Once, upon a time, there was a lady — a very good lady 
 — and her little daughter loved her." 
 
 " A very good lady and her little daughter loved her," 
 repeated the cliild. 
 
 "Who, when ()<»(! tlioiiirht it riglit it should be so, was 
 taken ill and died/" 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 29 
 
 The child shuddered. 
 
 "Died, never to be seen again oy any one on earth/ and 
 was buried in the ground where the trees grow/' 
 
 " The cold ground/^ said the child, shuddering again. 
 
 " No ! the warm ground/'' returned Polly, seizing her 
 advantage, " where the ugly little seeds turn into beautiful 
 flowers, and into grass and corn, and I don^t know what 
 all, besides. Where good people turn into bright angels 
 and fly away to heaven." 
 
 The child who had drooped her head raised it again, 
 and sat looking at her intently. 
 
 " So, when this lady died, wherever they took her, or 
 wherever they put her, she went to God ! and she prayed to 
 Him, this lady did,^^ said Polly, affecting herself beyond 
 measure, being heartily in earnest, ''to teach her little 
 daughter to be sure of that in her heart, and to know that 
 she was happy there, and loved her still, and to hope and 
 try — ! all her life — to meet her there one day, never, 
 never, never to part any more ! '' 
 
 " It was my mamma ! " exclaimed the child, springing up 
 and clasping her round the neck. 
 
 I have always thought this one of the most touching 
 passages its great author ever wrote. 
 
 Now, one of the principal objects of Spiritualism is, to 
 make this death, which you dread so much, less horrible to 
 you ; to prove that it is as natural as living on this earth, 
 being but a continuation of nature ; that there is no death, 
 in fact (in the sense we have been taught to regard it), 
 but only a second birth to a second sphere of action. It 
 will show you that you fear too much, because you know 
 too little, and that Spiritualism is a light that will make 
 life easier for you to bear, and death more welcome. 
 
 I do not wish for one moment to depreciate the awful 
 agony attendant on losing our friends by death. That is 
 
30 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 qnite another matter, from dreading it on our own account. 
 It is the greatest trouble which this life holds, but even that 
 is much alleviated by the knowledge that there is only a 
 thin veil between us and those whom we have lost from 
 sight. I suppose there is not a creature who will read 
 these pages, who has not gone through it — not one, who 
 has not stood beside the dying bed of a father, or a mother; 
 a brother, or a sister ; a husband, or a wife ; or, worst, 
 and crudest grief of all — a child ! 
 
 For it is only in the course of nature, that our parents 
 should pass away before ourselves, and it is an equal 
 chance whether brother, or sister, husband, or wife, 
 should be the first to go. But the children we have 
 brought into the world — the infants we have nourished at 
 our breasts — the youths and maidens we have watched 
 blossom to maturity — 0, Mothers ! I appeal to you if 
 there is a greater agony under heaven, than to see our 
 children die ? To watch the hands which we have never 
 failed to assist, stretched out to us for help in vain ; to see 
 the dear eyes glazing beneath the dread decree ; to try and 
 catch the last faint whispered words ; to hear the sobbing 
 breath drawn with more difficulty at each labored inspira- 
 tion, and tlien, before you have realized that he is close at 
 hand, to know that the destroyer has come — that all is 
 over ; that tlie warm, living child you have held to your 
 lieart night after night — bone of your bone, and flesh of 
 your flesh — is gone forever, has become a lump of clay, 
 witliout sense, or sjjeecli, or motion, and that in a few days, 
 however tiglitly your fond arms may be clasped about it, 
 tliey will take even that from you, and thrust it into the 
 dark, damp earth, and leave it there, to become putrid and 
 noisome and revolting. 
 
 ! that awful burial, when the heavy clods of earth 
 rattle down upon the lid of the coffin, that holds your dead 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 31 
 
 darling, as if tliey would burst it in, and you call out, as if 
 your feeble remonstrance could arrest the ceremonial, and 
 your heart grows sick within you, as you feel there is 
 nothing to be done, but to submit. 
 
 God, Avho ordained death as the means by which His 
 children should pass to a purer and more progressive ex- 
 istence, alone knows the agony they have undergone 
 whilst viewing it in the persons of those they love. 
 
 And then the sense of desolation that follows. 
 
 Do you remember what it was to return home ? To 
 mark the empty chair, the vacated bed, the familiar 
 possessions left behind, and to feel that the dear arms 
 would never twine around your neck again ; that the 
 voice you loved to listen to, was silenced forever ; that the 
 eyes you gazed in with delight, were closed and dull ; that 
 your child had left you ; that he was lying in his narrow 
 coffin under the cruel sods, out in the cold and the frost 
 and the rain, and you would see him never more, until you 
 had passed through the dread mystery yourself. 
 
 Did you not lie awake at night, sobbing instead of sleep- 
 ing ; peering with your inflamed eyes into the impenetra- 
 ble darkness ; yearning for the " touch of a vanished hand, 
 and the sound of a voice that is still '' — feeling that you 
 would give anything, and dare anything, only to hear one 
 word, to see one glimpse, that would convince you that 
 your beloved had not gone utterly beyond the reach of your 
 affection and your tears ? 
 
 Poor mourner ! To whom did you go for consolation 
 in your terrible affliction ? To your minister ? What did 
 he tell you ? 
 
 Doubtless, he was very kind, and pitied the grief he had 
 no power to assuage. He talked to you of a shadowy, 
 indistinct, undefinable heaven, situated, Tie kneiv not where, 
 governed by what laws, he would not tell, subject to 
 
32 THE SPIRIT AVORLD. 
 
 what conditions, he did not hnoio ! A jumbled, misty 
 idea of a city, paved with gold, and situated above the 
 clouds; a place where innocent infants, if unsprinkled 
 with water by the hand of man, may not enter ; but where 
 hoary-headed, old sinners, and murderers, who cry with 
 their last frightened breath, '' I believe ! '* are gladly wel- 
 comed ; a place where, God^s mercy being illimitable, 
 you may trust and hope your child has found admit- 
 tance. 
 
 Did that comfort you ? Did that take away one thought 
 of the dark grave, and the narrow coffin, and the fair 
 features and rounded limbs turning livid with decay ? 
 
 And if your lost darling had not been a child — if, on 
 the contrary, he were a thoughtless young man, who had 
 never done much good, or much evil, in his short life, what 
 did the minister say then ? Where did his theories con- 
 sign the unawakened ? Did he not shake his head, and 
 keej) his mouth shut, and leave you more hopeless and 
 despairing than before ? 
 
 It was not his fault — he did his very best to comfort 
 you — but he knew no better. How should he, whilst he 
 belongs to a community that lays down hard and fast rules 
 for its members, and permits no man to think, or speak, 
 except with the mind, or the mouth, of whoever may be 
 set in authority over him? Of all the people in this world, 
 the parsons, priests and ministers, are the ones who want 
 instruction most in Spirituality. They are truly the blind 
 leading the blind, and tumbling into the ditch of ignor- 
 ance with their followers. 
 
 And had your friends any more satisfactory consolation 
 to give you ? Did they not help you to hurry everything 
 that should remind you of tlie trial you had gone through, 
 out of sight, and advise you to try change of scene and air, 
 and say it was useless to sit down and nurse your grief — 
 
THE SPIRIT AVORLD. 33 
 
 that weeping would not bring back the dead, and that 
 your duty was to the living? 
 
 And you fell down on your knees, i^erhaps, half mad- 
 dened by their sophistries, and stretched out your empty 
 arms to heaven and called on God to tell you why He had 
 ever created your child, or yourself, only to leave you a 
 prey to such unutterable misery. 
 
 What would you have said if, at that supreme moment, 
 you could have heard the voice you believed silenced for- 
 ever, say " Mother ! " — if you could have turned your head 
 to see the dear, familiar form standing beside you, not 
 dazzling in its brightness, and set apart from you by an 
 angelic radiance, but clothed as it was on earth — looking 
 and speaking as it used to look and speak, only with all 
 the sadness and sickness swept away, with no taint of 
 death, or corruption on it, but beaming with life in every 
 limb and feature ? 
 
 Would not such a sight, however short a time it might 
 have lasted, have done more to dry your tears, than all the 
 priests^ theories, or your friends' advice ? Would not that 
 single word " Mother '' have comforted you more and con- 
 vinced you of God's goodness more than a thousand ser- 
 mons could have the power to do, and sent you to your 
 knees again in gratitude that you had been vouchsafed 
 the only proof that can he infallible of life beyond the 
 grave. 
 
 This is what I have been privileged to see — what thou- 
 sands beside myself have seen — the blessing I long to con- 
 vince every soul to be an indisputable fact, that the dead 
 are not gone beyond the reach of those who love them. Let 
 us look at the matter from a reasonable point of view : 
 We are told in the scriptures, that God ordained death as 
 a punishment for sin. For myself, I do not believe this 
 statement. 1 do not believe that God ever intended us to 
 
34 THE SPIRIT AVORLD. 
 
 die, or sin, or be sick or sorry. We have brought these 
 evils upon ourselves, just as we bring our hell, or heaven, 
 on ourselves by the use, or misuse, of the life, which God 
 intended to be eternal on this earth. The fact remains, 
 however, that we die, and that the doom was pronounced 
 on us, at the same time that the ground was cursed for 
 man^s sake, and the woman was promised sorrow in her 
 conception. Yet what blessings lay beneath these curses. 
 Blessings which were not for the future only, but followed 
 immediately in their wake. Man was condemned to earn 
 his bread by the sweat of his brow, but how sweet is the 
 bread thus earned! The rich man, whose money has been 
 bequeathed him by his forefathers, does not derive half 
 the 2:)leasure from S2:)ending it, that they did in earning it. 
 AVhat profit we derive from labor! The want of work is 
 turned into the curse to-day! 
 
 And the mother, who brings forth her child in pain and 
 anguish ! Will any one deny her consolation ? It is the 
 childless woman with whom we are called on to sympa- 
 thize. The mother grows prouder and prouder with each 
 fresh curse the Lord may lay upon her. And do you 
 imagine that God would have left death — the bitterest and 
 sorest punishment that we have brought upon ourselves — 
 without its remedy, even in this world ? 
 
 Tlie Churches' indistinct and shadowy heaven, with its 
 white-robed inhabitants, most re^orehensibly wasting eter- 
 nity by twanging their harps, has never really afforded it to 
 us. AVe have strained our poor eyes to tlie unfathomable 
 ether where it is said to be situated, and tried to realize it, 
 and hoped it might be true, but when all was said and 
 done, it was only conjecture, and the preachers of our faith 
 cannot deny that it is so. They tell us all they can, but 
 what does it amount to ? They read their bibles, and we 
 read ours, and one knows as muoli as the other! And the 
 
THE SPIEIT ^VORLD. 35 
 
 world still cries for proof: '^ Show iis our dead! Give iis a 
 certainty of a life to come! '' 
 
 Spiritism, then, is the cure for the worst thing we 
 have brought upon ourselves. G-od knows that we have 
 sinned — that with sin came death; but He will not leave 
 us comfortless. All things in His nature combine to pro- 
 duce a beautiful harmon}-, so that the remedy is never far 
 from the disease, and He has ordained that the dockleaf 
 Spiritism shall grow beside the stinging-nettle death — 
 the leaf which we can pluck, even in this life, and lay best 
 against our bleeding hearts — the balm which will heal the 
 aching wound, and teach us patience and resignation under 
 our temporal loss, with a certainty of reunion in the world 
 beyond. 
 
 The dead are not dead! They stand in our midst to-day! 
 I, who write these words to you, have seen them, conversed 
 with them, handled them ; and I would not j)art with the 
 knowledge thus gained, for all the good the world could 
 give me. 
 
 I allow it is not the common experience that it should 
 be. For centuries it has been banned by the churches and 
 thrust out of sight as an unclean thing. Fear is the rod 
 with which they have ruled the people^ and with the igno- 
 rant, it has, in a great measure, succeeded. But Spiritism 
 is nothing new. It has been since the world began. Of 
 late years it has been coming to the front, and it will 
 come more and more, to the front, as men throw off the 
 yoke and ignorance of the past, and have the courage of 
 their own opinions. The law forbids their taking money 
 for the exposition of their mediumship, and, under 
 present circumstances, it is a good and wholesome law, 
 because the curiosity to enquire into the truth of Spirit- 
 ism is so great, that it puts a premium upon chicanery. 
 But no amount of chicanery can alter the fact that the 
 
36 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 spirits of those gone before us, are amongst us, as we move 
 through the world. Were every medium ever heard of, to 
 turn out to be a fraud — were every church in the kingdom 
 to topple to the ground — Spiritism would still remain a 
 truth, because it existed long before any mediums or 
 churches were thought of, and its practice was sanctioned 
 by God himself, and practiced by his people. 
 
 The knowledge that when our friends pass from our 
 sight, they are not carried aAvay to an unattainable sphere, 
 whence no communication can take ]3lace between us, but 
 are permitted, under certain circumstances, to revisit 
 this earth, and comfort us by the sense of their presence, 
 has been revealed to some of the humblest of the human 
 race, and believed in by many of the highest. You can 
 have no idea, until you have enquired into the matter, 
 what thousands of people hold this comforting doctrine in 
 England, America and the whole world, though few are 
 courageous enough to acknowledge their belief openly. 
 The notion that the dead cannot return — that all stories of 
 ghosts and apparitions are invented to scare the suj^ersti- 
 tious — has been so imbued in their minds, that they dread 
 the ridicule that may be cast on their belief to the con- 
 trary. But amongst those who have boldly and openly 
 avowed what they believed to be true, proved to be true, 
 there are names on the roll beside which the cleverest and 
 most far-seeing of mortals need not be ashamed to inscribe 
 their own. 
 
 I need only enumerate such men as S. C. Hall, William 
 Crookes, Professor Tyndall, Sir Edwin Arnold, Professor 
 Huxley, the poet Longfellow, Alfred Wallace, Gerald Mas- 
 sey. Lord Brougham, Lord Lyndhurst, Lord Lytton, Arch- 
 })isliop Whateley, Jolin Wesley, and a hundred others, to 
 prove that if Spiritists err, they err in excellent company. 
 
 J^iit since many of my readers may hold a sincere faith 
 
THE SPIKIT WOKLD. 37 
 
 in the authenticity of the Scriptures, I will try to convince 
 them, first of all, that Spiritism is not only lawful, but 
 that it is founded on the practice of the Bible ; that it was 
 permitted and encouraged of God ; and that it is man^s 
 increasing wickedness and worldliness, alone, that caused 
 the spirits to refrain, because of their inability to hold 
 converse with humanity. 
 
 For centuries. Spiritualism has been banned by the 
 Church, and thrust out of sight as an unclean thing. 
 The Church which encourages the State in upholding 
 laws which are totally opposed to the teaching of its pro- 
 fessed Master Christ ; which solemnizes marriages which 
 are nothing less than prostitution ; which permits divorce, 
 capital punishment, actions at law ; winks at simony, 
 and allots enormous revenues to its bishops and arch- 
 bishops, whilst the poor rot and starve — this same Church 
 forbids us to have any communication with spirits, who 
 are the very first to denounce its corrupt practices. But 
 Spiritualism is nothing new. It began when the world 
 began. The knowledge that, when our friends pass from 
 our sight, they are not immediately carried away to 
 an unattainable country, whence no communication can 
 evermore take place between us, but are permitted, under 
 certain circumstances, to revisit this earth, and comfort 
 us by the sense of their presence, has been revealed to 
 some of the humblest of the human race, and is believed 
 in by many of the highest. You can have no idea, until 
 you have enquired into the matter, how many thousands 
 of people hold this comforting doctrine — in England, 
 America, Australia, and the whole world — their gross 
 number being estimated at eleven millions. But, were I 
 to convince you that Spiritualism is true, and comforting, 
 and the sole proof we can have of immortal life, you might 
 still tell me (as others have done), that, even if you be- 
 
38 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 lieve all this, you consider it to be wrong. Wrong to speak 
 to those whom God gave us for our own ! Wrong, for the 
 husband to speak to the wife who was one flesh with him ; 
 for the mother to speak to the child she brought into 
 the world ! This is the most incredible objection to me 
 of all. Say that you don't want to meet your dead friends 
 again ; that you are frightened out of your wits at the 
 mere idea of seeing a disembodied spirit ; say you have 
 left off weeping for them ; that their place is filled by 
 another ; that there are thoughts and feelings, and inten- 
 tions in your heart that you would not care to submit to 
 their investigation — but don't tell me that you consider it 
 wrong. For, if Spiritualism is Avrong, God is wrong, and 
 the Christ is wrong, and the Bible is wrong, and you have 
 nothing left to cling to, for time or eternity ! I'll tell you 
 what is wrong. Men and women are wrong ! Their pas- 
 sions, their proclivities, their hearts, their inclinations 
 are wrong, and the majority leave this world wrong, and 
 come back to it wrong, to such as would encourage them 
 to do so. If ever you hear a person talk of receiving evil 
 communications through Spiritualism, or of hearing evil 
 actions spoken lightly of by S2:)irits, you may be sure that 
 man's, or that woman's nature is evil, and coarse, and 
 sensual, and attracts like to like. It can only attract such 
 spirits as stand on the same plane as itself, and such a 
 person would choose coarse-minded associates from this 
 world, as it would from the next. Do you suppose that, 
 directly a spirit leaves the body, it becomes 2)urified and 
 angelic? IIow many people that })a.ss away from amongst 
 us are fitted to become angels? What becomes of the 
 murderers and tliievcs, the licentious and cruel, the 
 blasphemous, and liars? ])o you imagine that they do 
 not i)()ssess tlie same facilities for revisiting earth as the ■ 
 pure-minded and good ? Much more so ; for, being gross , 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 39 
 
 and carnal^ their spirits assimilate more easily with earth 
 particles. This is why it behooves us^ in this, as in all 
 things, to be most careful. But, because there is evil, are 
 we to reject the good ? Because there are murderers and 
 blasphemers living in this world, are we to cease to hold 
 communion with those whom we love and esteem ? The first 
 thing you must learn to believe regarding the disem- 
 bodied spirits is, that their return to this world is not 
 supernatural. There is 7io stick thing as super-nature! 
 Their life in the spheres is but a continuation of their life 
 on this earth. Our spirits are like birds confined in cages. 
 Their cage doors have been set open — ours are still shut. 
 But we can hold communion through the bars. The laws 
 for your moral guidance upon earth hold good for your 
 spiritual guidance, with regard to those who have left it. 
 You would not hold familiar intercourse with thieves and 
 drunkards, whilst here. Don^t do it when they have gone 
 over there. Remember Saint John^s injunction on this 
 subject: "Beloved! believe not every spirit, but try the 
 spirits, whether they be of God.^^ * h« * 
 
 I have said that^ if to pursue the science of Spiritualism is 
 wrong, God and the Bible must both be wrong. This may 
 appear a very bold assertion on my part, but I am pre- 
 pared to uphold it. Many of my readers may hold a 
 sincere belief in the authenticity of the Scriptures, and 
 found their objection to Spiritualism on the fact that 
 their teachers have taught them that the Bible forbids its 
 practice. Now, it is for such people that I am writing, 
 and I will undertake to prove to them, on the testimony 
 of the Bible itself, that their teachers are wrong ; that 
 Spiritualism is not only lawful, but that it was permitted 
 and encouraged of God, and that it is man's increasing 
 wickedness, alone, that has caused spiritual guidance to be 
 heard of less amongst us. I will prove to them that every 
 
40 THE SPIRIT ^VORLD. 
 
 phase of it — the dh-ect Toice, levitation^ trance-medium- 
 ship, automatic writing, materialization, clairvoyance and 
 healing, are all mentioned, practiced, and approved of, in 
 the Bible. Also, that there is but one miracle mentioned 
 there, that has not been reproduced by the mediums of the 
 present century. In addition, that there is nothing to be 
 wondered at in the fact, since it was prophesied that it 
 should be so. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 SPIBITUALISM AXD THE BIBLE. 
 
 41 
 
 k 
 
 ^■^ In the first place, in reading the Scriptures by the light 
 ^Bof Spiritualism, we are struck by a remarkable circum- 
 stance. In the early books of the Bible, the converse of 
 I spirits with men is commonly spoken of, not as a miracle, 
 but an every-day occurrence. As the world increased, how- 
 ever, and its inhabitants became hardened, and rebellious, 
 the appearance of spirits is only mentioned as an occasional 
 event, and then permitted in order to bring some hard- 
 ened offender, like Belshazzar, to his senses. They were 
 there amongst them still, no doubt, but man^s eyes and ears 
 had waxed too gross and carnal to see and hear them. 
 But when human wickedness had seemed to have reached 
 its height, and Grod^s wrath was hot against His ungrateful 
 people, the spirits come to the fore again, and the prophets" 
 writings are full of nothing else. If we begin at the be- 
 ginning, and glance through the Old Testament, we shall 
 find that Spiritualism began when the Lord God (Who is 
 the first of all spirits) walked in the '' cool of the day,"*^ in 
 the G-arden of Eden, with Adam and Eve, and their eyes 
 (unblinded, as yet, by grossness and carnality and infidelity) 
 were able to see Him, and they held converse with Him. 
 
 Did it ever strike you to question why God came in the 
 cool of the day ? The cool of the day, in the East, means 
 darkness. There is no twilight there. As soon as the sun 
 sets, it is night. Do j^ou remember that, when God created 
 the earth, ^^ darkness ^'' was on the face of the waters ; that 
 when Moses desired to see the Lord, the answer was . ^' I 
 
42 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 will come unto thee in a thick cloud ^^; that, in the same 
 book of Exodus, it is written: "the thick darkness where 
 God was"? 
 
 These texts, and many others like them, have been drum- 
 med into our ears from our earliest childhood, before we had 
 any minds with which to understand them, until they 
 have lost all their real meaning for us, and have to be 
 read by a new light before we can properly comprehend 
 them. We are brought up to consider it a duty to read a 
 portion of the Bible every day, and we go over the same 
 chapters again and again, until we know them by heart. 
 If any one, who has been accustomed to this habit, would 
 lock his Bible away for a few months, and then take it 
 out, and peruse it from end to end, as he would any other 
 history, he would be astonished to find how differently he 
 would regard it. I want my readers to recall these re- 
 marks when I allude to them further on. 
 
 Spiritual intercourse was so common in those early days, 
 that the sons of God, even, saw that the daughters of men 
 were fair, and took them wives of all that they chose. Abra- 
 ham entertained three angels, whom he believed to be men, 
 so materialized were they, and they ate and drank with him, 
 and rested themselves in his tent. So, also, did the two 
 angels who came to Lot in Sodom, and saved him from the 
 doomed city. 
 
 You will be told that these angels were spirits, who had 
 been created by God as angels, and had never lived on 
 earth, but it is only conjecture. 
 
 And even if the conjecture be a true one; if angels, who 
 must be so much jnirer than any spirits who have left this 
 earth, can come here and eat and drink, and converse with 
 mortals, wliy not the more carnal spirits of men them- 
 selves? If you must believe anything without proof, be- 
 li<'v«' tlio more likely solution of a miracle, and not thi 
 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 43 
 
 less. It is far less reasonable to suppose that God would 
 have sent His holy angels to be tainted by communication 
 with mortals, than one of themselves. 
 
 There are four sorts of media mentioned in the Old 
 Testament — prophets, seers, wise women, and interpreters 
 of dreams. Amongst the latter is Joseph, one of the 
 finest characters presented to us in the Bible, as when he 
 was called upon to interpret the dreams of Pharoah, and 
 his chief butler and baker. And when his father, Jacob, 
 was dying, he said to his sons : " Gather yourselves to- 
 gether that I may tell you that which shall befall you in 
 the last days " — which was simply an exercise of clairvoy- 
 ance, so often given to the dying. 
 
 In Exodus, we are told how the Lord taught Moses to be 
 what would be called in these days a conjurer. The burn- 
 ing bush; the rod which became a serpent ; the hand that 
 became leprous, and then turned back again into healthy 
 flesh ; the water that changed to blood when poured upon 
 the land — what were these but acts of enchantment ? 
 
 The story of Balaam^s ass is too well known to be worth 
 quoting here, but no sensible person can believe that the 
 animal spoke with a tongue and palate that cannot natural- 
 ly articulate sounds of speech. It was, of course, con- 
 trolled for the time being by the angel who stood by it. 
 
 In the thirteenth chapter of Deuteronomy, the people of 
 Israel are warned against listening to a prophet, or dreamer 
 of dreams, that shall try to turn them from worshiping 
 God, proving that they were allowed to do so, if he ad- 
 vised them aright. In the first book of Samuel and the 
 ninth chapter, we are given the story of Saul going with 
 his servant to seek his father's lost asses. They cannot 
 find them, and Saul advises returning home, lest his father 
 should be uneasy. His servant replies : '^ Behold now, 
 there is, in this city, a man of God, and he is an honorable 
 
44 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 man, all that he saith cometh surely to pass ; now let us 
 go thither ; peradventure, he can show ns our wa}^ that we 
 should go." Saul hesitates because he has no gift to offer 
 the clairvoyant, but the servant answers : " I have here the 
 fourth part of a shekel of silver ; that will I give to the 
 man of God, to tell tis our luay." 
 
 So the men of Grod, you see, were not only jDormitted to 
 tell people what was best to do, but to accept money for 
 their services. Then comes this remarkable verse : 
 
 " Beforetime in Israel, when a man went to enquire of 
 God, thus he spake, Come and let us go to the seer : for he 
 that is now called a prophet, was before time called a seer." 
 
 Sauh's servant took him to Samuel, who revealed his 
 future to him, for it is said : " The Lord had told Samuel 
 in his ear a day before Saul came." 
 
 " And Samuel answered Saul, and said, I am the seer 
 * * * / loill tell thee all that is in thine lieart.'^ 
 
 Now, here are the very things that the Church proclaims 
 to be diabolical to-day, practiced by the men of God, 
 whose histories are written for our encouragement and ex- 
 ample. Is it reasonable? Will it hold water? If you 
 have any brains or judgment of your own, decide for yoxux- 
 self whether, what was right and honorable in the time of 
 Samuel, can be wicked and diabolical to-day, in the sight 
 of a God, wlio " is the same, yesterday, to-day and forever." 
 
 Saul, it is presumable, afterwards became a medium 
 himself, for, in the sixteenth chapter, we read that " an 
 evil sjjirit from the Lord troubled him." So that even 
 "evil spirits" may be from the Lord, and certainly cannot 
 approach us witliout I lis intention. "And it came to 
 l^ass, when the evil .spirit from God was upon Saul, that 
 David took a liarp and phiyed with his hand : so Saul 
 was refreshed and was well, and the evil spirit departed 
 from liim." 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 45 
 
 Saul was evidently possessed, for, in the eighteenth 
 chapter, it is said that, when the spirit came upon him, he 
 had a javelin in his hand, and threw it at David. And 
 Saul sent messengers to take David, but ^^the Spirit of 
 God was upon the messengers of Saul, and they also 
 prophesied. And when it was told Saul, he sent other 
 messengers, and they prophesied likewise. And Saul sent 
 messengers again, the third time, and they prophesied 
 also." 
 
 So that it is plainly told us that prophecy, or clairvoy- 
 ance, "foretelling the future," as we should call it now, 
 was a gift of the Spirit of God. 
 
 That materialization is a fact, is j)roved by the visit of 
 Saul to the witch of Endor, to ask her to raise up the 
 spirit of Samuel for him, when Samuel appeared in the 
 likeness he held on earth and spoke to Saul of what should 
 happen. In the second book of Samuel, we are introduced 
 to the wise woman of Tekoah, of whom not a word of 
 blame is said, nor of Joab, for consulting her ; and again 
 during the siege of Beth-maachah, a wise woman spoke 
 thus to Joab : 
 
 " They were wont to speak in old time, saying : They 
 shall surely ask counsel at Abel, and so they ended the 
 matter. I am one of them that are peaceable and faithful 
 in Israel; thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in 
 Israel : why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of the 
 Lord?" 
 
 The woman, thereupon, counseled Joab aright, and her 
 story finishes with these words : " Then the woman went 
 unto all the people in her wisdom." 
 
 In the book of Kings, Solomon, himself, the wisest man 
 in all the earth, is not only a dreamer and a visionary ; but 
 we read of IS^athan foretelling the future ; of Ahijah doing 
 the same thing ; and of the " man of God," who came out 
 
46 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 of Judah and stood by Jeroboam by the altar, and when 
 the king tried to lay hold of him, his hand was shriveled 
 up, and then made whole again by his mysterious power. 
 The king then asked the prophet to go home with him 
 and take refreshment, but he declined because God had 
 told him not to eat, nor drink, by the way. Mediums who 
 eat and drink much in these days cannot procure good 
 manifestations, and you will see, as my argument proceeds, 
 that the manifestations of olden times, by whomever per- 
 formed, were as subject to laws and conditions as the 
 manifestations of to-day. A lying prophet, however (so 
 there were lying mediums then, just the same as now), 
 persuaded the man of God to disobey the orders he had 
 received, and he paid the penalty with his life. 
 
 Xext, Jeroboam's son, Abijah, fell sick, and he says to 
 his wife : " Arise, I pray thee, and disguise thyself, that 
 thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam " (how 
 often do not people disguise themselves, or try to do so, in 
 the nineteenth century, when they go to consult a medium) 
 '' and get thee to Shiloh ; behold, there is Ahijah the 
 prophet, which told me I should be king over this people. 
 And take with thee ten loaves, and cracknels, and a cruse 
 of honey, and go to him : he sliall tell thee what shall 
 become of the child." 
 
 She obeys her husband, and Ahijah tells her of Jero- 
 boam's coming doom, and that lier child will die at her 
 feet, before she can recross the threshold of her own 
 home, which he does. 
 
 In the seventeenth chapter of the same book, we have 
 the account of Elijah's 2)ro2)liecies, of the miracles he 2)er- 
 formed witli the cruse of oil, and the barrel of meal for tlie 
 widow of Zarephath, and iiow he restored her son to life — 
 which would not be at all an uncommon miracle*to-day, if 
 it were tried directly after an a})parciit death; for the S2:)irit, 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 47 
 
 in most instances, is united to the body for some little 
 time after pulsation has ceased. " And the woman said 
 to Elijah, now, hy this, I know that thou art a man of 
 God.'^ 
 
 The life of Elijah is full of such stories. He is called a 
 mighty prophet, because, when he opposed his power to 
 that of the priests of Baal, the fire refused to burn their 
 sacrifice, and fell down upon his. The late Mr. Home 
 took not once, but dozens, perhaps hundreds of times, live 
 fire from the grate, and held it in his hands, and placed it in 
 those of his friends, without their being burned ; he even 
 put a living, flaming coal into the long, white hair of 
 dear, old Samuel Carter Hall, without leaving a trace of 
 fire or singeing behind. But he was called a humbug for 
 his pains ! One of the signs by which the Christ declared 
 that his followers should be known, was the immunity with 
 which they should handle such things. 
 
 ^^ These signs shall follow them which believe (them 
 which believe, remember, not only his disciples, and not 
 only at that period), they shall cast out devils, speak with 
 new tongues, take up serpents, and if they drink any 
 deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands 
 upon the sick, and they shall recover.^^ 
 
 Now, which of the Church, luho helieve, has ever done 
 such things ? Has the Archbishop of Canterbury, or the Pope 
 of Rome? Could they take a live coal from the fire with 
 their naked hands, and not be burned ? But those whom 
 the spirits help, can ! And who shall dare, after reading 
 the text I have quoted, to say it is by the power of the 
 devil ? Truly, this is a stubborn and stiif-necked genera- 
 tion, which will believe only what it wishes to believe and 
 would call Elijah a charlatan — yes ! even the priests who 
 preach about him, would be the first to turn their backs 
 on him, and say he had dealings with the evil one, if he 
 
48 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 reappeared on earth and performed the miracles he did, 
 whilst here before. 
 
 The people in those days must have kept their private 
 mediums, for when Jehoshaphat wanted to consult Elijah, 
 he said : ^^ Get thee to the prophets of thy father and the 
 prophets of thy mother.^^ 
 
 But they were not always successful, for when the Shun- 
 namite woman went to Elijah, after her son^s death, he 
 could not tell her errand : " The Lord hath hid it from me 
 and hath not told me/^ 
 
 In the first of Chronicles, we read : " And the Lord 
 spake unto God, David's seer" — as though David kept 
 God for his private edification. Surely, had it been wrong, 
 God would not have spoken through him. In another 
 verse, we read that the angel appeared in the threshing 
 floor of Oman, the Jebusite, where Oman and his four 
 sons all saw him, and were much frightened, by which we 
 may conclude that the angels' visits to men were now be- 
 coming few and far between. The world had become 
 wicked and rebellious, and the simple faith of Abraham, 
 Isaac and Jacob, was a thing of the past. What fellow- 
 ship had the spirits with them ? They thought only of 
 their own bodies, and the means to aggrandize themselves. 
 Tliey would not have enjoyed spiritual intercourse, nor 
 understood spiritual language. We hear scarcely anything 
 more of angels, or spirits, until we come to the lamenta- 
 tions of the prophets (or seers), over the wickedness of 
 mankind. Elipliaz, the Temanite, says to Job, indeed : 
 " A spirit passed before my face ; the hair of my flesh 
 stood \x\). It stood still, but I could not discern the form 
 tliereof ; an image was before mine eyes, and I heard a 
 voice, saying : Shall mortal man be more just than God ? '* 
 but it is not till we come to Ezekiel tliat we read much of 
 spirits again. 
 
I 
 
 THE SPIKIT WORLD. 49 
 
 Then there appears to have been a rush of Spirituality 
 pon the prophets, in order to arouse and warn the world. 
 Ezekiel speaks familiarly of them. 
 
 " The spirit entered into me and set me on my feet.^^ 
 
 ^^ Then the spirit took me up, and I heard behind me a 
 voice of a great rushing, saying : Blessed be the glory of 
 the Lord from His place. I heard also the noise of the 
 wings of the living creatures that touched one another, and 
 the noise of the wheels over against them, and a noise of 
 a great rushing. So the spirit lifted me up, and took me 
 away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit, but 
 the hand of the Lord was strong upon me. Then I came 
 to them of the captivity of Tel-abib, that dwelt by the river 
 of Chebar, and I sat where they sat, and remained there, 
 astonished^ among them seven days/^ 
 
 This is a plain instance of levitation — an instance which 
 is multiplied as the history goes on. In the twenty-fourth 
 verse of the same chapter, he writes : 
 
 " Then the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my 
 feet, and spake with me, and said unto me. Go, shut thyself 
 within thine house " — which shows that the spirit spoken of 
 was a separate entity from Ezekiel, which took possession 
 of his body, and spoke with his tongue, and it is not a 
 figurative way of speaking of the spirit, or will of God, as 
 some theologians try to argue. In fact, to listen to some 
 men, one would think the whole object of their lives was to 
 wrest all the words of Scripture into some nieaning entirely 
 opposite to what they sound like. If the Bible is the in- 
 spired word of God, and it is so incomprehensible that no 
 one can understand it, except theologians, and each one of 
 them interprets it differently, what is the meaning of the 
 promise : *^ He who runs, shall read.^' What, indeed, we 
 may say, was the good of God inspiring it, if He left it a 
 hopeless jumble that only priests can make head or tail of ? 
 
50 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 How terribly the critics would be down upon a mortal 
 writer who wrote exactly opposite from what he intended 
 the public to understand. I often think the worst friends 
 of the Almighty are those who profess to know all about 
 Him. He does not exist, believe me, for the elect and the 
 learned alone. He is for every one of His children, and if 
 there is one word in the Scriptures which would lead the 
 most ignorant astray, if left to his own interpretation, 
 then the whole book is a fable and a mockery. 
 
 To resume my argument, in the thirteenth chapter of 
 Ezekiel, we read : ^^ Thus saith the Lord God : woe unto 
 the foolish prophets, that follow their oiun spirit, and have 
 seen nothing,'' which argues that had they followed a spirit 
 other than their own, they would have seen something. 
 '' They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, the 
 Lord saith : and the Lord hath not sent them ; and they 
 have made others to hope that they would confirm the 
 word.^' 
 
 Ergo: the Lord did send some mediums, who were 
 authorized to make others to hope ! 
 
 Enough of Ezekiel ; we now come to Daniel, the holy 
 man of God, whom even the lions would not touch. We are 
 told : " Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his 
 spirit was troubled, and his sleep frake from him." As the 
 magicians and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the 
 Chaldeans failed to interpret his dreams, the pleasant old 
 gentleman ordered the whole lot of wise men to be slain, 
 including Daniel. 
 
 " Tlien Daniel went in unto the king, and desired of the 
 king tliat he would give him time, and that he would show 
 tlie king the interpretation thereof," which he eventually 
 did. 
 
 In the fifth chapter, we find thafc, when Belshazzar, the 
 son of Nebucliadnezzar, saw the materialized hand come 
 
THE SPIKIT WORLD. 51 
 
 forth, and write upon the wall, and was greatly troubled 
 thereat, his queen said to him : 
 
 ^^ There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit 
 of the holy gods; and in the days of thy father, light and 
 understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, 
 was found in him; whom the king Nebuchadnezzar, thy 
 father, made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chal- 
 deans, and soothsayers. Forasmuch as an excellent spirit, 
 and knowledge, and understanding, and interpreting of 
 dreams, and showing of hard sentences, and dissolving of 
 doubts were found in the same Daniel, now let Daniel be 
 called, and he will show the interpretation/^ 
 
 After which follows the well-known story of "Mene, 
 Mene, Tekel, Upharsin,^' which is perfectly intelligible 
 to any one acquainted with clairvoyance, and the interpre- 
 tation of dreams. There is one sentence in it, however, 
 which, perhaps, no one but a spiritualist would notice. 
 When Daniel has told the king that the warning has been 
 sent him on account of his not having humbled his heart, 
 he goes on, in the twenty-fourth verse, to say (having just 
 spoken of Nebuchadnezzar, his father) : " Then was the 
 part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was 
 written."' 
 
 Has any one before me noticed that the hand belonged to 
 Ki7ig Nebuchadnezzar^ and, consequently, he appeared 
 partly materialized to his son ? But what price for Daniel, 
 in the nineteenth century, if he were brought up, by any 
 of the bigoted opposers of Spiritualism, before a city magis- 
 trate ? He would get a year's imprisonment at the very 
 least, or three months' hard labor, without the option of a 
 fine. Yet, that seems strange in a Christian country, that 
 pins its faith on ^' the Bible, and nothing but the Bible," 
 considering that Daniel practiced his illegal arts by God's 
 orders and under His instructions. 
 
o2 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 The prophet^ it seems, fasted also, the same as mediums 
 do in these days, when he Avished to see visions. 
 
 " In those days, I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. 
 I ate no pleasant bread^ neither came fleshy nor wine, in 
 my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three 
 whole weeks were fulfilled. And in the four and tAventieth 
 day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great 
 river, which is Hiddekel, then I lifted up mine eyes, and 
 looked, and behold, a certain man clothed in linen, whose 
 loins were girded Avith fine gold of Uphaz. His body, also, 
 Avas like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of 
 lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and 
 his feet like in color to polished brass, and the A^oice of his 
 words like the voice of a multitude.^^ * * * ^^Yet, 
 heard I the voice of his words, and Avhen I heard the voice 
 of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my face, and my 
 face toAvard the ground. And, behold, a hand touched me 
 which set me upon my knees, and upon the palms of my 
 hands." * * * <f Then there came again and touched 
 me, one like the appearance of a man, and he strengthened 
 me." 
 
 Here, you will perceive, there is no question of their 
 being angels or spirits seen clairvoyantly. Daniel Avrites 
 of them as men, and, doubtless, so they seemed to him, 
 being materialized spirits, which it is so hard to make the 
 ignorant believe reappear, looking just like mortals. 
 
 And noAV come what seem to me to be two of the most 
 remarkable proofs contained in the Bible, that spiritual 
 intercourse, Avlien true (and, naturally, tliis and every age 
 resents falsehood and deception in every shape), is not 
 only permitted, but Messed of God, from whom alone it 
 can proceed. In the tliirteenth chai^ter of Zechariah^ 
 when tlie Lord of Hosts is predicting a purgation for 
 Jerusalem, lie savs : 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 53 
 
 '^ I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass 
 out of the land. And it shall come to pass that, when any 
 shall yet prophesy^ then his father and his mother that 
 begat him shall say unto him : thou shalt not live, for 
 thou speakest lies in the name of the Lord ; and his father 
 and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through 
 when he prophesieth. And it shall come to pass in that day 
 that the prophets shall be ashamed, every one, of his vision 
 when he hath prophesied/^ 
 
 I have quoted this text on purpose to show how un- 
 fairly people argue a subject when they are determined to 
 oppose it. A parson, to whom I quoted the above, seized on 
 it at once, as a proof that God disapproved of all inter- 
 course with the spiritual world, and had set His veto on it, 
 by saying He should cause it to pass out of the land. 
 But I have a trump card up my sleeve all the time for 
 him. In the second chapter of Joel, where God is speak- 
 ing of all the blessings He designs to heap upon repentant 
 Zion, after having promised her wheat, and wine, and oil, 
 and that her people should eat in plenty. He adds : " And 
 it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my 
 Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters 
 shall prophesy — your old men shall dream dreams — your 
 young men shall see visions ; and also upon the servants and 
 upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit, 
 and I will show wonders in the heavens and the earth.'^ 
 
 Of course I know that many of my readers will not ac- 
 cept the words of the Bible as evidence — that they consider 
 it a very jumbled history of the times, written long after 
 the events spoken of took place, and in the fantastical and 
 allegorical language of the East, so that it is difficult to 
 know what the writers of it did, or did not, mean. The 
 interpretation of it has been made for us, not by God, nor 
 even a Daniel, but by men, who felt compelled to explain it 
 
64 THE SPIEIT AYORLD. 
 
 in some way or other, and so made it fit in, with their own 
 doctrines. 
 
 The mere fact that the New Testament^ which we were 
 taught from childhood to believe, was founded on the teach- 
 ings of a Saviour, who was sent into the world for the 
 salvation of the Christians, is only a reprint of the book 
 of Buddha, who was in existence 560 years before Christ 
 was born, is in itself sufficient to make us all regard the 
 biblical statements as shaky. I know that I, for one, felt 
 terribly aggrieved when I read Arthur Lillie's " Buddha 
 and Early Buddhism,^' and as if I had been most unjustly 
 taken in. What does the Church say to such statements 
 as are contained in this book ? Does she deny them ; can 
 she prove they are untrue? and, if not, how can she dare 
 to go on preaching the same fables, and leading the people, 
 who know less than herself, wrong ? 
 
 Still, true or untrue, if the Bible does not contain any 
 injunctions against Spiritualism, what does? If the only 
 records we possess, which profess to tell us of God^s laws, 
 show Him as permitting His people to practice it, who is 
 to say us nay ? 
 
 The Church ! Yes, certainly, and for her own purposes ! 
 Did she not do so from the beginning? Moses and Aaron, 
 who were among the first priests we read of, had practiced 
 all sorts of mediumship before they were called to take 
 charge of the Israelites ; but, as soon as they had to make 
 laws for them, they forbade any man or woman to have 
 dealings with familiar spirits. It was only then as it is 
 now. Moses was raised in Egy2)t, and the Egyptians have 
 been famed, from time immemorial, for being past-masters 
 in the arts of magic and necromancy. He was a magician 
 also, as he proved when he stood before Pharaoh ; but, 
 wlien he became a priest, he forbade his followers from 
 imitating him. He Avanted to keep all that sort of thing 
 
 I 
 
THE SPIEIT WOKLD. 55 
 
 to Aaron and himself^ that they might appear more 
 wonderful in the eyes of the congregation. Moses, with 
 his " familiar spirits," and the Church, with its " diabo- 
 lism." Can any one point out where the diiference lies? 
 Both wished to keep the power within the ci;:'cle of their 
 own authority. There it is the revelation of God ; outside 
 it becomes dealings with the devil ! Isn't the matter very 
 plain ? Taught of spirits, we are taught of God, as Daniel 
 and Joel and Ezekiel were taught. You will mark, in pe- 
 rusing the Bible, that, at first, there were no priests. The 
 people were taught of their Heavenly Father through His 
 angels. But, as a church was founded, and a temple was 
 built, and priests were ordained, so will you read less and 
 less of spiritual communication. It is the same now. The 
 purer and simpler the life, the greater the faith in God 
 and the ministry of His guardian angels. I know a parson 
 in the north of England, in charge of a mining district, 
 who says he can make no impression on his parishioners, 
 because they are all spiritualists. These rough miners, who 
 spend their lives in temporal darkness, are too spiritually 
 enlightened to care to listen to his old-world theories. 
 Most of my readers, I conclude, accept the story of the 
 Christ as a reliable account of what took place. The 
 Christian world is taught to believe it to be the inspired 
 word of God, written especially for their edification. How 
 that theory accords with the history of Buddha, to which 
 I have already made reference, and which was vouched for, 
 460 years before, I leave it for my readers to determine ; 
 but one thing is certain — neither the miracles of Christ 
 nor the miracles of Buddha have received any satisfactory 
 explanation, until Spiritualism made them plain. Whoever 
 has seen his or her friend appear after death in a material- 
 ized form can understand the resurrection of Christ. No 
 one else can. And, because they cannot understand it. 
 
56 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 they call it miraculous. Christ was the greatest medium 
 this world has ever known. Well was he called Joshua the 
 Healer ! I say it in all reverence, and with no wish to de- 
 preciate his extraordinary powers : Why should we be so 
 anxious to ascribe everything he did to a supernatural 
 agency ? Had he introduced the telej^hone, or phonograph, 
 or the electric light, it would have appeared quite as great a 
 miracle in those days as anything he did. Added to which, 
 he constantly denied that he possessed greater power than 
 any of his followers might have if gifted with the same 
 faith — a fact which theologians appear to me to have sys- 
 tematically overlooked, or wilfully been silent upon. The 
 story of Christ's miraculous birth I purposely pass over. 
 The same, or a very similar account, was written of the 
 birth of Buddha. If it were true of one, it may have been 
 true of the other ; but it has always seemed strange to me 
 that the God Who denounced adultery and fornication in 
 His children should have ordained, or countenanced, such 
 a birth. I would rather try to prove to you that Christ 
 was a medium ; and, if he was God, his miracles were no 
 greater than those which have been performed since his 
 time, as, indeed, he promised should be. 
 
 He was a healing medium. "Healing all manner of 
 sickness and all manner of disease among the people ; and 
 his fame went throughout all Syria, and they brought 
 unto him all sick people, that were taken with divers 
 diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with 
 devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the 
 palsy ; and he healed them." 
 
 "And, behold, there came a leper and worshiped him, 
 saying : Lord, if tliou wilt, thou canst make me clean. 
 And Jesus put forth his hand and touched him,, saying : I 
 will ; be tliou clean. And immediately his leprosy was 
 cleansed." 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 57 
 
 " And, when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw 
 his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever. And he touched 
 her hand, and the fever left her." 
 
 '' And, when Jesus departed thence, two blind men fol- 
 lowed him, crying, and saying : Thou Son of David, have 
 mercy on us. And when Jesus said unto them : Believe 
 ye that I am aUe to do this f they said unto him : Yea, 
 Lord. Then touched he their eyes, saying : According to 
 your faith be it unto you.'' 
 
 I want to call your attention that, in every case of heal- 
 ing, Christ had to touch the sick person ; also, that he 
 could not practice his healing mediumship without losing 
 some of his vitality, or natural power. What did he say 
 when the woman with the issue of blood came behind him 
 in the crowd, and touched the hem of his garment ? " Some 
 one hath touched me, for I perceive that virtue hath gone 
 out of me.''' When he called together his twelve disciples, 
 or pupils, he bestowed upon them the same power he pos- 
 sessed himself. How could they have inherited what be- 
 longed to God alone, unless it had been a natural power, 
 open to the capability of men? ^'Heal the sick," said 
 Christ ; " cleanse the lepers ; raise the dead ; cast out 
 devils." No one has ever ventured to ascribe miraculous 
 powers to the disciples. They were only a set of unlearned 
 fishermen. Jesus had selected them, doubtless, for their 
 mediumistic powers (which we all possess, in a smaller or 
 larger degree) ; but they could not have performed miracles, 
 unless controlled by spiritual agencies. And he foresaw 
 what their mediumship should bring upon them, when he 
 added : " If they had called the master of the house 
 Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his 
 household ? " Has not that prophecy been fulfilled in the 
 present day ? Do not all the opponents of Spiritualism de- 
 clare that it is effected by the agency of the devil, and 
 
58 THE SPIKIT WORLD. 
 
 would wrest this text into half a dozen different meanings 
 rather than allow that it plainly refers to the mediumship 
 of to-day ? And when the Pharisees said that Christ cast 
 out devils by Beelzebub, he answered them : " If I, by 
 Beelzebub, cast out devils, by whom do your children cast 
 them out ? But if I cast out devils, by the Spirit of God, 
 then the Jcingdom of God is come unto you/' 
 
 Christ was a physical medium ! He changed the water 
 into wine. He made seven loaves and two fishes feed a 
 multitude. He walked upon the water. He caused money 
 to be found in the mouth of a fish. But these powers were 
 .not always with him. They depended upon times and con- 
 ditions, just as they do now. Else, what is the meaning of 
 the text : " He did not many works there, because of their 
 unhelief" (i. e., of their scepticism) : And when the disci- 
 ples asked him why they could not cast out a certain devil, 
 he replied : " Because of your unbelief " ; which proves that 
 the spiritual powers will not help those who have no faith 
 in them. 
 
 Christ was a inaterializing medium. He raised the dead. 
 A white dove was materialized above his head. The direct 
 voice was heard through him. He called down Moses and 
 Elias, materialized, to talk with him. And, on that occasion, 
 I want you to observe that the cloud overshadowed him 
 before the direct voice was heard. Yet, these miracles 
 were subject to external influences. He could not raise the 
 daughter of Jairus until he liad " put them all out of the 
 room" {i. e., eliminated all opposing infiuences). Of cer- 
 tain devils, he said : ^' This kind goetli not out, except by 
 j)rayer and fasting," proving that he was compelled to sub- 
 mit to natural laws, just the same as mediums are to-day. 
 When tlie Pharisees said he cast out devils by the prince of 
 devils, wliat was liis reply ? " If Satan cast out Satan, he 
 is divided against liimself." And, in like manner, if the 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 59 
 
 devil comes to us to-day, in the guise of our departed 
 friends, to incite us to lead worthier and holier lives, he is 
 defeating the very purpose for which he is supposed to ex- 
 ist. Did Christ consider the exercise of mediumship to be 
 wrong? He said: "He that receiveth a prophet in the 
 name of a prophet, shall receive a prophet's reward.'' 
 And, again : " There is no man that can do a miracle in my 
 name that can speak lightly of me," and he said this when 
 the disciples had been rebuking some one for casting out 
 devils. " The works that I do, shall he do also, and greater 
 worhs than these shall he do." Now, what greater works 
 than Christ's have been done since his day ? The disciples' 
 miracles never came up to his. Yet, he said, positively, that 
 they should te done. All the men who have lived, and 
 died since then; those who have paid for their faith with 
 their blood, and those who have been fiendish enough to 
 spill the blood of their fellow creatures, in the attempt to 
 force them to adopt their own opinions, martyrs and exe- 
 cutioners alike, have never performed one miracle; yet 
 Christ declared, emphatically, they were to de. And so they 
 will, when we have eliminated our carnality and cultivated 
 our spirituality more ; when our teachers go before us, 
 like shepherds before their sheep, and show us how it is to 
 be done ; when they cease to think so much about the 
 loaves and fishes for themselves ; about the temporal 
 power and the temporal advantage ; and help us to open 
 the door for the spirits to come in and help us, instead of 
 slamming it in their faces, as they do now — then miracles 
 will once more be performed on this earth, and God will 
 walk with Man, as he did of old. Can you recall the de- 
 tailed account of the resurrection of Christ ? Eemember, 
 that it took place hy night. It was the crowning miracle, 
 that was to pulverize the unbelieving world, and yet it took 
 place in darkness, giving the Jews occasion to say that the 
 
60 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 disciples had come by night, and stolen the body away. 
 The resurrection would certainly have been more convinc- 
 ing if it had taken place in the daytime, and before the 
 eyes of all men ! Why did it not ? Simply because it was 
 impossible ! Darkness was necessary for the creation of 
 the world. Darkness was necessary for God to come down 
 to speak to Moses in. And darkness was necessary for 
 Christ to resurrect his body in. But, if we urge the neces- 
 sity of darkness for a materializing seance, we are told that 
 it must incontestably be a cover for fraud and chicanery. 
 Mary Magdalene, who had come to the sepulchre whilst it 
 tvas yet darlc, expressly to see Christ, turned, and saw him 
 standing beside her, and Icneio not that it ivas Jesus. 
 ^* Jesus saith unto her. Why weepest thou, whom seekest 
 thou? She, sujjposing him to he the gardener, saith unto 
 him : Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where 
 thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus saith 
 unto her, Mary ! She turned herself, and said unto him, 
 Rabboni ! which is to say. Master ! Jesus saith unto her, 
 Toucli me not : for I am not yet ascended to my Father; 
 but go to my brethren and say to them : I ascend unto my 
 Father and your Father ; and to my God and your God." 
 
 Xow, I ask you to lay aside all your early prejudices, and 
 consider for one moment why should Mary Magdalene 
 have mistaken Christ for the gardener? Christ was a 
 high class Jew, and, if contemporaneous history speaks 
 truly, a fair man. Publius Neutulus, in writing of him, 
 says : ^' Ilis hair is of the color of a filbert ; full, ripe and 
 plain, down to his ears, but from his ears downwards, 
 somewliat curled, and more orient of color waving about 
 his shoulders; liis forehead very smooth and plain * * * his 
 face, nose and mouth so framed, as nothing can be repre- 
 liendod ; his beard somewluit thick, agreeable to the hair of 
 his head for color * * * his eyes gray, clear and quick." The 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 61 
 
 gardener was, in all probability, a common, dark-skinned 
 eastern coolie, one of the lowest types of natives. The 
 hewers of wood and drawers of water are selected, to this 
 day, from the lowest castes, and for a very good reason ; 
 namely, that no others will undertake the work. The Jews, 
 too, wore long garments, white or colored, reaching to their 
 feet ; the gardener, probably, only a rag girt about his 
 loins ; possibly not even that. How, then, could the two 
 men have resembled each other, even for a few moments, 
 unless the gardener was the medium, who served for Christ^s 
 reappearance? The partial resemblance, which most 
 materialized spirits bear to their medium, especially on 
 their first appearance, has been a subject of much argu- 
 ment, and more incredulity, amongst enquirers into Spirit- 
 ualism. The reason that has been given me for it, I shall 
 touch on in another chapter. But here is a direct state- 
 ment, that the fact is not reserved for our own times alone. 
 When Jesus spoke to Mary, she recognized his voice, and 
 was probably rushing forward, in her delight, to catch him 
 by the garment. What were his first words? " Touch 
 me, not ! " 
 
 And yet the sceptics complain if they are not allowed to 
 grasp and clasp a materialized spirit in their arms ! 
 
 After the death of Christ on the cross, what occurred ? 
 " The spirits of many that slept arose, and came out of 
 their graves, and went into the city, and were seen of 
 many ; " and Christ, himself, twice passed through closed 
 doors to visit his disci|)les, and appeared on the seashore 
 and to the disciples at Emmaus. People have said to me 
 that it is " too ridiculous " to think of spirits eating and 
 drinking, as, " of course,'^ we shall never do anything of 
 the sort after we have quitted this earth. Another from 
 the many proofs I could bring forward that the majority 
 read their Bible without understanding it, that it is to 
 
62 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 them but as "sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal/^ Did 
 not Jesus tell his disciples, at the last supper, that he should 
 not drink wine again, ujitil he drank it new with them in 
 his Father's kingdom ? "When he appeared to them on the 
 seashore, did he not ask for food, and eat broiled fish and 
 honeycomb with them ? And, when he sat down to table 
 with the disciples at Emmaus, did he not break bread 
 before he vanished from their sight ? A very old friend of 
 mine, one who calls herself, and is, a Bible Christian, was 
 discussing some of the statements in " There is no Death " 
 with me, and animadverted rather freely on the familiarity 
 with which I have written of the next spheres. " My dear ! " 
 she ejaculated, " of course it is all very interesting and 
 wonderful, but there are parts of it I cannot understand. 
 You write as if we are to go on almost the same in the 
 next world as we do here. You speak of eating and drink- 
 ing, and houses, and it is so impossible to believe that we 
 shall continue to live in houses and sit down and all that 
 sort of thing, you know.'^ 
 
 My answer was conveyed by another question. 
 
 " Have you ever read the Bible ? '^ 
 
 My friend was horrified at the question. She lifted her 
 hands to heaven, as she replied : " My dear, you know that 
 the Bible is my constant companion, my daily guide." 
 
 " And is not heaven described there as a city ' paved 
 with gold ' and having ' gates of pearl ? ' " 
 
 "' Certainly ! " 
 
 " When men build a city on earth/' I said, " do they not 
 make the excavations first, then erect the houses, then 
 make the roads, and, lastly, lay the pavements; and what 
 for? — to protect the foot-passengers from the traffic. 
 What would be the use of gold pavements unless there 
 were buildings and roads? AVhat the good of gates of 
 pearl unless they enclosed walls? Do you suppose that 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 63 
 
 they will open to let you into a jungle paved with 
 gold?'^ 
 
 She pondered a moment, and then said : " Well, it is 
 very strange, but I never thought of it in that light before. 
 I have understood that it was all figurative, typical of the 
 glories awaiting us ; but your view of it really seems very 
 reasonable." 
 
 And this is how the majority of Christians regard the 
 Bible — as a species of fairy tale, which they can interpret 
 just as they like, and I don't say that it is not a fairy 
 tale ; but, if we accept it at all, we must take it as it is 
 written. 
 
 Christ materialized on two occasions when the disciples 
 were assembled together in an upper room, when it is par- 
 ticularly mentioned that "the doors were shut," and on 
 these occasions he touched them and spoke to them. After 
 which his followers began to prophesy and to preach with 
 divers tongues, and to send the handkerchiefs from off 
 their bodies to the sick, and they were healed. What was 
 that but healing mediumship, practiced in the same manner 
 to this day ? Do you remember the " mighty, rushing 
 wind," that filled all the house, on the day of Pentecost, 
 when the apostles were inspired ? That " wind " is the un- 
 mistakable sign of a successful seance to this day, whether 
 the Holy Spirit visits the sitters, or not. 
 
 You must see, from the quotations I have given you, that, 
 if Spiritualism is diabolism, the practices of the servants of 
 God, both in the Old and New Testaments, must have been 
 diabolism also. For the laws of Nature do not change, 
 though centuries intervene, and if it be wrong for you and 
 me to hold communion with the friends who have gone 
 before us, it must have been equally wrong for them ; and, 
 since we cannot question the right of what our God does, 
 or sanctions, we may conclude that he allows us the same 
 
64 THE SPIKIT AVOKLD. 
 
 privileges that lie bestowed as an especial blessing upon 
 them. 
 
 One quotation more, and I have done. Saint Paul says : 
 " There are diversities of gifts. To some, the gifts of heal- 
 ing ; to some, the working of miracles ; to some, prophecy ; 
 to some, discerning of spirits ; to some, divers tongues ; 
 to some, the interpretation of tongues. But all these 
 worketh the self-same sj)irit. Wherefore, brethren, covet 
 to j^ropliesy.'' 
 
 Covet, that is, to do exactly what hundreds of clair- 
 voyants are doing all over the world at the present moment 
 — to foretell the future, so that we may be prepared to 
 meet it. 
 
 There is no other interpretation of these texts for un- 
 biased people. Theologians may dispute the fact, but 
 theologians are famous for wresting Scripture to their own 
 advantage. I never met with one who could argue straight 
 and fair, nor two who could argue alike. But, as I have 
 said before, if you accept the Bible at all, you must take it 
 as it is written. If we do not, who is to decide, at this dis- 
 tance of time, and from the lame translation that is offered 
 us, what is its true meaning, or what is not ? Any way, I 
 hope I have made it plain, at all events, that Spiritualism, 
 whatever the Church may say, was not forbidden, or dis- 
 couraged, of God. And I hope, too, that what 1 have written 
 may cause some of my readers to open their Bibles again, 
 and read them by a light that may throw a new meaning 
 ui)on tlieir revelations. 
 
65 
 
 CHAPTER lY. 
 
 WHAT AUTHORS AXD POETS THIXK OF SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 And now, having seen what the writers of the Scriptures 
 thought of Spiritualism, and read what they wrote about 
 it, let us turn to the authors and poets of a later date, and 
 analyze their inward convictions on the same subject. If 
 you search the records of this, and every era, you will not 
 fail to find traces of their writers' belief (though, perhaps, 
 unacknowledged even to themselves), in the power of the 
 spirits of the dead to revisit this earth. You all know what 
 Longfellow, the greatest poet, and one of the greatest 
 men, that America has ever produced, says on the subject : 
 
 " There is no death, what seems so is transition ; 
 This life of mortal breath 
 Is but a suburb of the life Elysian, 
 Whose portals we call death." 
 
 And the Reverend John Keble wrote : 
 
 "For, in truth, 
 Man's spirit knows not death, but sets aside 
 The interlinear boundaries of the flesh. 
 And in its thoughts, which are its proper self, 
 Holds intercourse with those which are unseen, 
 As if they were still with us.'' 
 
 And thus wrote Adam Clarke (who, by the way, was the 
 great-grandfather of Bessie Russell Davies, the clair- 
 voyante), in his Commentaries : 
 
66 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 "I believe that there is a supernatural and spiritual 
 world, in which human S23irits, both good and bad, live in 
 a state of consciousness, and I believe that any of these 
 spirits may (according to the order of God, in the laws of 
 their place of residence) hare intercourse ivith this ivorld, 
 and lecome visible to men.^' 
 
 I quoted this passage whilst lecturing a few weeks back, 
 and some would-be wiseacre took me u}^ in print for saying 
 that Adam Clarke had been a spiritualist ; whereas, I said 
 nothing of the sort. But, if the above sentence does not 
 include the whole faith of Spiritualism, I don't know what 
 does. The only difference being, that a spiritualist would 
 have exchanged the words ^' I believe " for ''^ I know." 
 
 The late Dr. Gumming, who was one of the most hard- 
 headed and least sentimental men of his time, wrote : 
 
 " This is certain: Angels descend, and minister to the 
 comfort of the suffering ; those angels return from their 
 ministry to the choirs of the happy, and can we suppose 
 they will be silent on what they have seen, and to whom 
 they have ministered below? " 
 
 And again : ^*' Shall we admit that fallen angels may 
 reach the heart, irrespective of the volition of its possessor, 
 and that good angels cannot do the same? " And he adds : 
 " I cannot believe that an evil spirit would speak the truth, 
 or attest tlie inspiration of tlie Bible ; for if a kingdom be 
 divided against itself, how can it stand ? " 
 
 Here is a quotation from the writings of the Reverend 
 David Thomas : 
 
 *' The departed arc tJi inking, feelbuj, acting still. Their 
 bodies are in the dust, but their bodies are there — not them; 
 tlioir instruments, not themselves. 'J'he breaking up of the 
 luirp destroys neither the life, nor the music of the lyrist. 
 The science and love of sweet sounds may still inspire his 
 l)reast ; lie may grasp some otlier instrument, and send 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 67 
 
 forth strains more rich, more deep, more entrancing, than 
 ever." 
 
 And this is the opinion of William Ellery Channing : 
 "Although we are accustomed to think of Heaven as 
 distant, of this we have no proof. Heaven is the union, 
 the society, of the spiritual higher beings. May not these 
 fill the universe? A new sense, a new eye might show the 
 spiritual loorlcl compassing us on every side.'' 
 
 These are but a few gems, gathered hastily, here and 
 there, from the writings of some of our divines ; to quote 
 the innumerable passages met with in the course of one^s 
 reading, which prove the universality of this belief, would 
 be to fill a volume much larger than the one I am compiling 
 now. But, to search through the poets, would incline one to 
 believe that it is impossible to be a poet, without being a 
 spiritualist, at heart, if not by open confession. I com- 
 mence with an extract from Adelaide Anne Proctor^s 
 'Story of the Faithful Soul " : 
 
 " If I could only see him — if I could only go 
 And speak one word of comfort and solace — then I 
 
 know 
 He would endure with patience and strive against 
 his woe." 
 
 ****** 
 ** You may seek him who mourns you and look upon 
 his face 
 And speak to him of comfort for one short minute's 
 space." 
 
 : From Longfellow's '' Footsteps of Angels '' : 
 
 " Then the forms of the departed enter at the open 
 door ; 
 The beloved, the true-hearted, come to visit me 
 once more." 
 
68 THE SPIEIT WORLD. 
 
 From Coleridge's " Christabel '' : 
 
 " What if her guardian spirit 'twere ? What if she knew 
 her mother near ? 
 But this she knows, in joys or woes, that saints will 
 
 aid, if men will call; 
 For the blue sky bends over all." 
 
 From Scott's *'^ Lay of the Last Minstrel ^^ : 
 
 " That he had seen right, certainly, 
 A shape with amice wrapped around, 
 With a wrought Spanish baldric bound. 
 Like a pilgrim from beyond the sea ; 
 And knew — but how, it mattered not — 
 It was the wizard, Michael Scott." 
 
 From Tom Hood's '*' 1 launted House " : 
 
 ' ' For, over all, there huug a cloud of fear, 
 A sense of mystery the spirit daunted. 
 And said, as plain as whisper to the ear, 
 The place is haunted." 
 
 From I^yroii's '• Manfred "' : 
 
 " Can this be death ? there's bloom upon her cheek ; 
 But, now, I see it is no living hue, but a strange hectic 
 
 — like the unnatural red which autumn plants upon 
 
 the perished leaf. 
 It is the same I O God ! that I should dread to look 
 
 upon the same. 
 Astarte ! Ko I I cannot speak to her " 
 
THE SPIRIT AYORLD. 69 
 
 From Moore^s " Paradise and the Peri '' : 
 
 ** She wept — the air grew pure and clear around her as 
 the bright drops ran 
 ^ For there's a magic in each tear such kindly spirits weep 
 
 p. for men. " 
 
 From Mrs. Barrett Browning's '^ Bertlia in tlie Lane " : 
 
 " Mother ! mother ! thou art kind, thou art standing in 
 the room, 
 In a molten glory shrined, that rays off into the gloom ! 
 But, thy smile is bright and bleak, like cold waves — 
 I cannot speak; 
 I sob in it and grow weak. " 
 
 From Sir Edwin Arnold^s " A Surprise ^' : 
 
 " The greatest wonder is this — I hear, 
 I see thee, I touch thee, I love thee, dear ! 
 And I am thy angel, who was thy bride, 
 And know that, though dead, ITiate never died ! " 
 
 From Tennyson^s '^ May Queen '' : 
 
 " But you were sleeping, and I said : ' It's not for them ; 
 
 it's mine.' 
 And if it comes three times, I thought, I take it for 
 
 a sign. 
 And once again it came, and close beside the window 
 
 bars, 
 Then seemed to go right up to heaven, and die among 
 
 the stars. 
 So, now, I think, my time is near. " 
 
 From Wordsworth^s " Intimations of Immortality " : 
 
 " Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting ; 
 The soul that rises with us, our life's star, 
 Hath had, elsewhere, its setting, and cometh from afar." 
 
TO THE SPIRIT ^VORLD. 
 
 From Shakespeare's " Hamlet " and " Macbeth '' : 
 
 ' ' How now, Horatio ! you tremble and look pale ; 
 Is not this something more than fantasy ? What think 
 
 YOU on't ? '• 
 
 ' ' What quite unmanned in folly ? 
 If I stand here, I saw him / " 
 
 From Milton's "' Paradise Lost '" : 
 
 " Millions of spiritual heings walk the earth, 
 Both when we wake and when we sleep. " 
 
 From Lord Lytton's " There is no Death " : 
 
 " And emr near us, though unseen, the dear, immxyrtal 
 spirits tread, 
 For all the boundless universe is life — there are no dead! " 
 
 From Hedderwick's "I cannot dread the death made 
 beautiful by thee " : 
 " O ! say, wilt thou come down to me^ or I to thee arise ?" 
 
 From ("harlotte Elizabeth's "The Mystery of Deatli " : 
 
 "Perhaps, she hears me speak. Perchance, she felt 
 your tears, as fast they fell. 
 And, maybe, when you bent to kiss her cheek, slie 
 knew it. Who can tell ? " 
 
 From Dinali Muloch's *' Thou seemeth strangely lu^ar " : 
 
 " What spirit is it that doth pervade the silence of this 
 
 empty room ? 
 And, as I lift mine eyes, ^vhat shade glides off and 
 
 vanishes in gloom ? 
 The living are so far away, but thou~i\\o\i seemest 
 
 strangely near, 
 Knowest all my silent heart would say, its peace, its 
 
 pain, its hope, its fear." 
 
THE SPIRIT AYORLD. 71 
 
 Necessarily, these quotations are but a few out of 
 thousands, and I have given them place, more in the hope 
 of inducing my readers to search for proofs of this uni- 
 versal belief for themselves, than to convince them of what 
 I say, by a few isolated specimens. But, having seen what 
 the dead men and women have written about Spiritualism, 
 let us come to the authorities of our own day — the names 
 of workers still amongst us, the " up-to-date " opinions of 
 people worthy of credence and attention. In the month of 
 January, 1893, a correspondence took place in a newspaper 
 called '^ The Morning," on the subject of Spiritualism, 
 which was induced by a letter from the Eeverend Joseph 
 Parker, of the City Temple, to Mr. W. Stead, editor of 
 " The Eeview of Keviews." This was followed by several 
 more letters, from each of which I shall only quote such 
 passages as go to prove my own argument. Dr. Parker's 
 communication was headed " An Open Letter/' and began 
 thus : 
 
 "My dear Mr. Stead — I thank you very warmly for calling my 
 attention to your notes upon Spiritual Communication, which you 
 have published in the Christmas number of your 'Review.' I am 
 glad to be able to accept your statement without the faintest shadow 
 of reserve as to its literal accuracy, because you have given me evi- 
 dence, which makes scepticism impossible. * * * For myself, I 
 have no difficulty in believing that all seances, all inquiries of the 
 kind you indicate, all earnest endeavors to test the reality of the 
 spiritual, represent so much groping after Ood Himself. ' God is a 
 spirit.' If men were to give themselves, might and main, to an in- 
 quiry concerning God, I should regard that inquiry as expressing the 
 deepest interest in true Spiritualism * * * It seems to me that a 
 congregation, properly regulated, ought to constitute the largest and 
 most effective seance possible. * * * Of course, if congregations 
 will not lift up their thoughts to this high level, they cannot expect 
 to receive visions from God. If they have merely assembled pro- 
 miscuously, to take only the interest of curiosity in what is going on, 
 they will deprive themselves of all the richest advantages. * * * 
 
72 THE SPIRIT AVORLD. 
 
 I cannot make light of the suggestion that inspiration is a present- 
 day fact. / believe that men may now receive direct messages from 
 God. From my point of view, inspiration neither began with the 
 sacred Canon, nor closed with it. It is the very life of God in the 
 universe. It is the voice of God to the human soul. * * * "We 
 do not want a new Bible. We icant a new reading of tlie old Bible. 
 
 * * * I have met with several Spiritualists, and have been struck 
 by their personal earnestness. One or two of the godliest men I 
 have ever known were simply infatuated by Spiritualism. Other 
 men have been sober-minded, earnest, simple, and straightforward 
 in all their supposed realizations of the higher forces. * * * In- 
 spiration will come to different men in different ways. Holy men 
 of old spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. They did not 
 know what they were going to say. The prophets, probably, did not 
 understand one tithe of what they littered. They were, literally, and 
 in every deed, the medium through whom God spoke His word to the 
 world. When the disciples were warned that they should be brought 
 before judgment seats, Christ told them not to give any thought to 
 the matter of their own defense, because he promised them that, in 
 the same hour, it should be given them what they slwuld say. * -s*- * 
 I thank you for all you have done in this matter of Spiritualism ; but 
 I venture to submit to you that all you have done is but alphabetic 
 and elementary, and that it ought to be no surprise to you, or to any 
 one else, that communication beticeen the worlds is possible. The Bible 
 has been teaching this during all the centuries of its existence. It is 
 not a truth outside the Church, but inside the Church, and upon the 
 vei-y center of the altar of the Church. The Church ought not to look 
 upon Spiritualism, when the processes are honestly conducted, with 
 any but a friendly eye, because the Church well knows that every 
 step in that direction means advancement towards the sublime fact that 
 
 * God is a spirit,' and that he is willing to communicate, every day, 
 with the spirits of those who wait upon Him in faith and love." 
 
 Now, so far, it will be seen that the sentiments of Dr. 
 Parker and myself are synonymous. He has got at the 
 true meaning and root of Spiritualism ; and, if he does not 
 care to pursue it for the i)uri)ose of seeing his departed 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 73 
 
 friends, it is, perhaps, because he has reached a higher 
 phase of the matter, or, more likely, that he has never lost 
 any one whom he particularly wants to see again. For I 
 have made notes on this subject, and invariably found that, 
 where indifference to the practice of Spiritualism exists, 
 the person is either cold-blooded or has no one on the other 
 side for whom he particularly cares. In Mr. ^Y. T. Stead's 
 reply to Dr. Parker, he says : 
 
 "I am a Spiritualist only in the sense in which every person who ac- 
 cepts the Bible is a Spiritualist. I am simply an investigator. I am 
 perfectly open to conviction, but I am also ready to recognize facts ; 
 and, I hope, I am, at least, free from that superstition of unbelief , 
 which is, really, much more dense and crass than the old kind of 
 superstition, against which it makes war. * * * Spiritualism is 
 inexplicable, except upon one hypothesis, which is, that the doctrine 
 which finds its expression in almost every page of the Bible, is a true 
 doctrine, and not a false one, viz. : that our bodies are not any essen- 
 tial part of ourselves, but that the spirit is the real man, which is 
 clothed with flesh for a certain period, during which it lives and 
 moves upon the surface of the earth ; but it no more ceases to exist 
 when the body is laid upon one side, than you cease to live, when 
 you put off your overcoat. * * * For the present, my last word is 
 this — that, before many months are over, I think, it will be admitted 
 by every candid mind, that the persistence of the individual 
 after death, and the possibility of communicating with that indi- 
 vidual has been as well established on a scientific basis, as any other 
 fact in nature. That, you may think, is a bold assertion. It is not 
 an assertion; it is a prophecy, based upon facts within my own 
 knowledge, and of which I speak with as much confidence as I do 
 of anything which has come within my own personal observation." 
 
 The Reverend Mr. Ilawies then advocates enquiry. He 
 
 "The time has come when we may promptly abolish the word 
 'supernatural,' and distinguish merely between the 'known' and the 
 'unknown,' in Nature. Face to face with certain alleged phenomena 
 
THE SPIRIT AYORLD. 
 
 m 
 
 of an unintelligible character, repeated experience has, at last, placed 
 one conclusion beyond dispute, viz. : That it is unsafe to denounce 
 what it may be difficult to examine, but still more riskj^ not to exam- 
 ine what we propose to denounce. The importance of ghosts, if they 
 exist, and if they are what they profess to be, is quite incalculable. 
 I think it possible that, by ascertaining the conditions under which 
 communications may be had, and intelligently testing the means, an 
 increase of human faculty may be acquired, and a new source of 
 knowledge and power— perhaps a new world of spiritual attainment 
 — opened up, which may raise our descendants, in the near future, «s 
 much above us, in the scale of life, as we are above the cave men of 
 the past, or the bush men of the present. * * * Can a ghost be 
 photographed? The camera has no fancies — the sensitive plate is 
 without imagination. There is some reason to think that abnormal 
 photographs are not uncommon. Many photographers are in the 
 habit of casting aside plates after partial development, because they 
 have, what they call, a fault; that is, a blur or marks, obscuring or 
 occupying portions of the plate. Photographers will, in future, per- 
 haps, be more wary. I heard the other day of a young lady, who was 
 photographed at Brighton, I believe, and twice the plate came out 
 blurred. The second time, she persuaded the photographer, who was 
 about to lay it aside, as useless, to develop it. The blurs, on being 
 examined with a magnifier, proved to be faces— all the same face. 
 She at once recognized it as the face of a rejected lover, who had 
 died. Again, some young men were photographing a river scene in 
 the open air. The plate, when developed, showed a human body 
 floating on the surface, which had certainly escaped the photogra- 
 pher's attention, if it was visible, but the young men were persuaded 
 that nothing of the sort was there. INIy friend. General Taylor, sup- 
 plied me with an interesting photograph taken of a brother officer 
 of his, who visited, incog., a jihotographer, when the form of his 
 brother, eight years dead, came out on the plate. He had but one 
 plate of his brother, locked away in his trunk at home. I have had 
 tijc opportunity of comparing the i)hoto from the life with that of 
 the dead, and the likeness is clearly recognizable, though the ex- 
 pression of the ghost's face is painful. * * * I want to plead, 
 without dogmatism, or bigotry, for sustained and careful enquiry, 
 until we have secured the facts, upon which we can, alone, be entitled 
 to reason. I should like to ask, seriously, whether, even now, we 
 have, or have not, secured those facts. The time for this question has 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 75 
 
 plainly come. The whole press is in a fever about it. Society is rid- 
 dled through and through with Occultism. Orthodox science itself is 
 beginning to tremUe and 'vacillate in the old arm-chair of its old- 
 fashioned dogmatism, and seems forced to admit, reluctantly, that 
 these hundreds of men, distinguished in philosophy, chemistry, 
 psychology, medicine, literature and art — even comprising those who 
 have given in their adhesion to quantities of abnormal phenomena — 
 cannot all befools and liars. But worse for unbelievers remains be- 
 hind. It seems now that, without resorting to some hypothesis of 
 unexplained forces, directed by unknown laws, and producing in- 
 calculable phenomena, scientific discovery itself is likely to be ham- 
 pered; all which things are, to me, hopeful signs of the times, and, 1 
 should think, must greatly embolden those who believe, as I do, in the 
 infinite, and, as yet, unexplored resources of nature and human na- 
 ture, to speak out that which they do know, and testify to the things 
 which their eyes have seen. * * * Nothing contained in either the 
 facts, or the speculations here put forward, is in conflict with the real 
 teaching of Jesus Christ. And, let me further add, for the comfort 
 of the weak-kneed and sincerely alarmed, that nothing which the 
 Almighty has permitted to be true in the world of physical phe- 
 nomena can possibly be unlawful to know, or be opposed to religion, 
 or at variance with any other kind of truth, physical or spiritual, 
 sacred or profane." 
 
 These are the opinions and convictions of three of the 
 cleverest men of the day. I suppose that, search as yon 
 may, you would hardly find three more powerful brains 
 than those of Dr. Parker, Mr. Stead and Mr. Hawies. 
 They ought to be sufficient to make the whole world de- 
 sirous to prove that which they testify to to be the truth. 
 But they were but the leaders to a chorus of similar testi- 
 monials. 
 
 A man, signing himself "Mejnour,^" writes: 
 
 " Of the real occurrence of the phenomena in question, I have not, 
 for many years, been able to entertain a doubt, and believe that no 
 sensible person, who will patiently and privately investigate, under 
 
76 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 crucial tests, can do aught else, but admit their actual occur- 
 rence."' * * * 
 
 This is followed by the testimony of Mr. W. H. Ed- 
 wards, of 238 Southampton Street, S. E.^ who writes: 
 
 " As a rule. Spiritualists, before becoming convinced, are sceptical, 
 but the facts are too many for them, and they simply act as intelli- 
 gent men and women in accepting the theory in the absence of any- 
 thing better. Spiritualism has, undoubtedly, existed in all ages and 
 countries. The great difficulty really hes with the clergy, since the 
 teaching of the spirits is vastly different from that of the Church. 
 Mr. Maskelyne is under a great delusion if he thinks that Spiritual- 
 ism is dying out. The difference is, people do not go about pro- 
 claiming their views; because to do so, is to run the risk of being 
 socially ostracized. It is not really worth while to incur all the 
 odium the admission of being a Spiritualist brings in its train. What 
 with the devoutly religious on the one hand, and the hard-headed 
 materialist on the other, the Spiritualist has a fine time of it, and is 
 cordially detested by both." * * * 
 
 I do not agree with Mr. Edwards that, to confess one's 
 self a Sj^iritualist, is to be " socially ostracized.'' Some- 
 times I have wished it would have done that kind office 
 for me ! But the anxiety to enquire and learn its wonders 
 seems growing daily, until one's time is no longer one's 
 own, and one is obliged to appear unwilling to help, be- 
 cause the continual demands interfere with one's daily 
 work. But, as for the " devoutly religious," and the " hard- 
 headed materialist," I have never let either the one, or the 
 other, interfere with my belief, or open avowal of it. I 
 consider I have as much right to hold my opinions as they 
 have to hold theirs. When I first became convinced of the 
 truth of Spiritualism, I was younger than I am now ; more 
 entliusiastic, and with more faith in my fellow-creatures. 
 So I used to try to convince them, also, of what had made 
 my life happier, but I have given it up, long ago. I never 
 try to make a convert now. It is too much trouble. My 
 
THE SPIEIT AVORLD. 77 
 
 sole aim is to bring a little comfort home to those who are 
 sorrowing for the loss of some beloved friend, and, thank 
 God, in that I have succeeded. As for the rest — the scep- 
 tics, the scandalized, and the fools — I leave them to find out 
 the truth for themselves. They must do it before long. 
 When my kind, old confessor, Father George Oldham, of 
 St. Mary Magdelene's Church, at Brighton, came back and 
 blessed me, just after the Catholic papers had been spitting 
 all the venom their Christianity had taught them at me 
 for publishing "There is no Death,^^ I said to him : ''Yoio 
 don't blame me, then, Father, as the rest do ? *' And his 
 answer was : " My child ! every spirit must needs be a 
 Spiritualist ! " About two years ago, I was sitting in a 
 London drawing-room, imbibing the usual lukewarm tea 
 amongst the usual lukewarm acquaintances. The conver- 
 sation turned upon the subject of my book, when a creature 
 present (I won't call him a gentleman), politely observed 
 that Spiritualism was all " rot,'' and he did not believe a word 
 of it. I looked at him. He was an officer — fat and puffy in 
 the face like a tom-cat, and with about as much expression, 
 and lolling in an arm-chair, as much as to say: " I give you 
 all leave to admire me, and see what a fine fellow I am.'^ 
 My hostess remarked that, considering I was present, she 
 did not consider the opinion he had expressed a very polite 
 one, upon which, seeing he had gone a little too far, and 
 wishing, I conclude, to soothe my lacerated feelings, he 
 turned himself round towards me and said, in a voice as if 
 his mouth was full of plums : " Well, convert me, then, 
 convert me ! " I regarded him for a moment before I an- 
 swered : " My dear sir ! do you imagine it can make the 
 slightest difference to me what you believe, or do not be- 
 lieve — where you will go when you die, or where you will 
 not go. You appear to think yourself and your future of 
 a great deal of consequence ; but, I assure you, it does not 
 
78 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 interest me in the slightest degree.'' He looked rather con- 
 fused, but asked : " Why do you preach it, then ? '' " For 
 those who need comfort/' I replied. ** You are evidently so 
 well-pleased with j^ourself, that you cannot possibly want 
 any.'^ I give this advice to Mr. Edwards, and all whom it 
 may concern : Keep your Spiritualism for your own use 
 and pleasure, and don't be too lavish of it to other people. 
 They will probably only abuse you for your pains. But, if 
 you appear perfectly indifferent on the subject, they will 
 probably pester you for information. It is the way of the 
 world. 
 
 Mr. Russell Davis wrote thus to " The Morning " : 
 " As for the statement that Spirituahsm is dying out, Mr. Maske- 
 lyne must admit that the Spiritualists themselves are, or ought to be, 
 the best judges as to this, and I, for one, beg respectfully to contra- 
 dict his assertion. I have no hesitation in saying that Mr. Maskelyne 
 is absolutely ignorant of the question. For eighteen years I have 
 been living in London, and during the whole of that period have 
 been using my clairvoyant gifts as a medium (privately), and, at this 
 moment, can positively declare that the belief in Spiritualism has not 
 merely steadily increased, but is making enormous strides, and it is 
 this fact, which has now placed the matter before the public, who 
 are at last bound to admit that there ' must be something in it after 
 all.' Twenty years ago, the proper thing to say, when Spiritualism 
 was mentioned, was: 'Oh, ah, Spiritualists, indeed! They are 
 either rogues or fools — the cheaters and the cheated.' Now it is: 
 'Oh dear, dear! there is no doubt these things you mention take 
 place, but it is all the work of the devil, and will ruin you, body and 
 soul ; so pray have nothing more to do with it.' After twenty-five 
 years' experience, I am happy to say, I am ruined in neither body 
 nor soul. * * * I can prove, beyond doubt, that Spiritualism is 
 not only rapidly on the increase, but that it has penetrated into high 
 places, and into the very heart of our greatest seats of learning. The 
 truth has forced itself into the minds and lives of some of our great- 
 est men and women, and this, in spite of continuous opposition from 
 all sides, and in the face of the clergy of all denominations, who, 
 long ago, perceived that, when once the people began to think for 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 79 
 
 themselves, and went to the true source of spiritual light to learn 
 for themselves, the power of the Church would be gone forever, 
 New Spiritualism, indeed! old Spiritualism and new Theology, that's 
 the real thing ! For Spiritualism has existed from the beginning, and 
 the truth will out. Let us now have fair play, and I prophesy that, 
 as soon as the public realize there is something in it, Spiritualism 
 will, even more rapidly than at present, make way." 
 
 Another correspondent, who signs himself A. V. B., 
 writes thus : 
 
 " My own experience is that, never since the phenomena of modern 
 Spiritualism attracted the attention of the people, have there been so 
 many intelligent and earnest enquirers as to its truth as there are at 
 the present time. I quite agree with Dr. Parker that the aims of 
 Spiritualism should be of the highest possible character ; but I am 
 not at one with him when he decries the phenomenal aspect of the 
 subject, nor am I at one with him when he asserts 'that all en- 
 deavors that are made to realize the spiritual world are endeavors 
 which cannot end, in themselves, with any real advantage to any- 
 body,' It appears to me that, if the phenomena which occur in the 
 seance room can be proved to originate from the spirit side of life, 
 then these phenomena are, or should be, of the most vital importance 
 to the religions of the country ; and, if of importance to the religions 
 of the country, they should surely be worthy of the utmost interest 
 and attention of the exponents of those religions. I am perfectly 
 ready to admit that Spiritualism is not a religion, but a science ; but, 
 if the religious teachers of the people persistently ignore a subject | 
 which so nearly affects their teachings, then they must not be sur- < 
 prised if the people investigate for themselves. * * * If it is a 
 fact, as I assert it is, that we, who are. at present, in the material 
 state, are, now, as far as we are spiritually concerned, in association 
 with spirits, whose attributes are akin to our own, and whose love 
 and aspirations are of a like character, then this should point to the 
 fact that the character of the phenomena produced in the seance 
 room will be guided by the character of the people forming the 
 circle," 
 
80 THE SPIRIT AVORLD. 
 
 The Reverend Dr. John Pulsford says : 
 
 " I have read what Mr. Stead has written in his ' Review of 
 Reviews, ' and I feel that what he has recorded of his personal ex- 
 perience is a most transparently simple and ingenuous statement. It 
 left no doubt on my own mind that what is described there actually 
 did occur, as represented ; and, indeed, I cannot conceive of any one 
 inventing such a story. I said to Mrs. Parker, after I had read the 
 statement, that, if the ultimatum of Christianity is to be absolute 
 unity between Heaven and earth, there must be some law of that 
 unity ; and what is so likely to be a law of the unity as communication 
 between spirits departed and persons limng in this woi'ldf * * * 
 Relatives of mine in America lately said, as to what transpired at 
 seances at which they were present, that, although a low order of 
 spirits did often descend upon them, and make commuDications of a 
 less important description, yet, for all the tcorld, they would not have 
 missed being present, as some of the communications were, un- 
 doubtedly, from departed spirits with whom they had been ac- 
 quainted. -5^ * * The transtiguration of Christ was, really, a 
 Spiritualistic seance of a very high order ; and, if we denied the uses 
 of Spiritualism in this age, we should be led too far, for we should 
 be induced to treat with scorn all the instances in the Scriptures in 
 which, we are told, communication did take place between spirits 
 and persons in the flesh. At the same time, whoever commits him- 
 self (or commit themselves) to anything like a seance for purposes of 
 spiritual investigation, should be in a very prayerful, watchful con- 
 dition; and, if they don't go up, themselves, into an elevated, 
 spiritual state, they only open the door to the low class of deceiving 
 spirits. Spirits immediately on the borders of our earth, it must be 
 remembered, cannot ascend. They are spirits who have departed in 
 so earthly a condition that they are constantly seeking some access 
 to the earth, and are delighted at an opportunity of being able to use 
 the bodies of persons in this world." 
 
 Several corresi)ondents lessened tlie value of their testi- 
 mony by not givin(( their full names. I never could 
 understand tliis want of courage in press correspondence. 
 If you are ashamed of doing a thing, I say, don't do it. 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 81 
 
 However, there may be professional reasons for certain people 
 concealing their names, although I believe that honesty is 
 always the best policy, whatever it may bring on us to bear 
 in its cause. J. C. D. Avrites : 
 
 "Previous to the year 1884, I was a member of the Secular Union 
 of Freethinkers, and still hold with them in my abhorrence of 
 dogma and a love of humanity ; but, after diligent and earnest in- 
 vestigation, aroused by a lecture, delivered by Dr. Nichols, on 
 "Ghosts I have Seen," I v^as obliged, hy conmction, io renounce 
 'promulgating purely materialisUc mews. * * * i am a simple 
 mechanic, but rejoice to know tbat man's aspirations are not to be 
 annihilated by death, and that unseen help is often at hand, when 
 practicable, by contrivance, suggestion and foresight, direct and in- 
 direct, on the part of the dear ones gone before." 
 
 The following is from Mr. J. T. Andy, Winchester Hall, 
 Peckham : 
 
 "Mr. Maskelyne may say that he is convinced that all the so- 
 called manifestations are fraudulent, and that be ' looks upon 
 Spiritualism as dying.' I would ask him, if he classes the records of 
 manifestations in the Bible in the same category ? Assertions and 
 denunciations are easily made, but what of the mass of evidence at 
 hand regarding phenomena, vouched for by men of integrity ? This 
 wholesale sweeping away of truthful witnesses is contemptible, and 
 used to put off iiivestigators, and is an old advertising dodge ; but it 
 does not destroy facts. I have been an eye-witness to many re- 
 markable things. There are thousands willing to testify to the 
 reality of spirit communion." * * * 
 
 Of course, / was not left out of this wordy war ; but I 
 have kept the few remarks I had to make about it to the 
 last, as I have said almost all I have to say already. 
 
 "I can quite understand that it would not pay him (Mr. Maske- 
 
 ' lyne) to be a Spiritualist: and that he would rather not believe in it. 
 
 It would spoil half his business, which is conducted on the principle 
 
82 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 of an exposure of Spiritualism. But, when lie asserts that 'the 
 thing is rapidly dying — let it die, ' he states wJiat is utterly untrue. 
 NeTer has Spii'itualism been so largely disseminated, and so firmly 
 believed in and practiced as at the present moment, and that not 
 among the illiterate and lower classes, but amoDg the aristocracy of 
 England. Let me assure him that it is not dying, that it is not even 
 sick from the blows that he and Mr. Stuart Cumberland try to give 
 it, but that there are more Spiritualists in London, to-day, than there 
 ever were before, and their number is daily increasing. Dr. Parker 
 writes very 1 eniently of the whole business, as such a learned and deeply 
 thinking man would do ; but he has not dissected the matter as much 
 as he might have done. He asks what good has Spiritualism ever 
 done, and what good is it to receive a message from a dead uncle or 
 aunt ? It has done this good, Dr. Parker : It has done what the 
 Church has failed, in many instances, to do. It has convinced men 
 that there is an after-life. Can you say, honestly, that the teachings 
 of the Church and the reading of the Bible have been able to prevent 
 an enormous amount of atheism and infidelity in the present day? The 
 world teems with it. Was there ever a time when men and women 
 believed less and attended church less ? You are quite right in say- 
 ing we need a new reading of the Bible. Half the people who pro- 
 fess a belief in the authenticity of the Bible do not know, and have 
 never cared to study, what its simplest texts mean. Does the Bible 
 keep men in the right path— the majority of men, I mean ? Has the 
 Church the power to keep them from becoming renegades ? Have 
 her preachers the power to convince them that there is a future life; 
 or, having convinced them, to make them idealize it ? There are no 
 renegades in Spiritualism. A Spiritualist who has once been con- 
 vinced that he has seen the dead, never lets go of his belief in another 
 life. We are called fatuous and fanatical, simply because our belief 
 is 80 firm. I know numbers of men who believe in Spiritualism who 
 never believed in the Church, nor the Bible, till the spirits taught 
 them to do so. It is true that a harmonious congregation should 
 form one vast seance ; but when do you find them harmonious ? Do 
 they not assemble, each one occupied with his, or her, own interests, 
 and, as a rule, come away without an idea of what they have been 
 listening to ? A very different sort of assembly, from the breathless 
 interest with which the sitters at a seance — not silly women and 
 children only, remember ; but men of science, and ability, and learo 
 ing — await the coming of their departed friends. Spiritualism is a 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 83 
 
 revival, and a revival that is but in its infancy. It will not hurt the 
 Church. It will drive its votaries within her walls. It has been 
 permitted, in this age of scoffing and unbelief and scepticism, in 
 order io force men to think and enquire for themselves whether there 
 w another life or Twt. And, I believe, it will go on and grow and in- 
 crease in power, until, as the learned doctor says, ' men receive direct 
 messages from God.' I admire the courage of Mr. Stead, and, I 
 believe, it will result, as every honest endeavor does, in great good 
 to himself. It is of very little consequence what one or two indi- 
 viduals think of the matter ; it has come for the mass. It is what 
 the mass wants — direct revelation of the existence of those whom 
 they thought they had lost. God is love, and man cannot live with- 
 out love ; and, to convince him that his love has not been wasted, 
 but that those who evolved it are living and waiting for him on the 
 other side, is to urge him on to find the best'means by which he 
 shall join them there. And so Spiritualism plays into the hands of 
 the Church, by sending those she has convinced of the truth of 
 another life to the Church — to find the God "Who shall reunite them 
 with those they have lost." 
 
 It will be seen, from the foregoing remarks, that my 
 opinion has not changed during all the time I have been a 
 Spiritualist; rather, it has been strengthened with the pass- 
 ing years. As I wrote, I have never known any one who 
 believed in Spiritualism go back from it ; it is impossible 
 to go back from the evidence of all one's senses. How 
 wonderfully Spiritualism runs through music. Half the 
 composers are inspired men ; half the music they give to 
 the world bears the impress upon it of their belief in this 
 great "truth. Have you heard Sir Arthur Sullivan's " The 
 Distant Shore," "The Mother's Dream," and "0 Fair 
 Dove ! Fond Dove ! " ; Cire Pinsuti's " In Shadow 
 Land " and " The Land of Love " ; Franz Abt "s " Spirits 
 ,and Angels," and Virginia Gabriel's "When the Pale 
 fMoon Arose, Last Night " ? These, amidst hundreds of 
 other songs, published daily, will show you how the com- 
 
84 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 posers love to touch the tender strings of Spiritualism 
 when they sing. Even in the pages of "The Youth's 
 Companion/' I came across, the other day, such sweet and 
 true verses by Zitella Cocke, that I cannot forbear quoting 
 them here. They are called "A Ministering Spirit'' : 
 
 " When I was dead one year, I came unto mine own — it 
 
 was so sweet 
 To see their faces, and to hear the voices that I could 
 
 not greet : 
 Within the old, familiar home, they talked and laughed 
 
 with youthful zest — 
 Brave brothers and fair sisters dear, nor little dreamed 
 
 who was their guest. 
 
 They measured out the morrow's plans, and counted 
 
 joys that filled to-day, 
 Their eager eyes sought present good — I was a being 
 
 passed away ; 
 The world was with them, and did lure, with throng of 
 
 happy, living things ; 
 They could not feel my spirit touch, nor hear the rustle 
 
 of my wings. 
 
 And all went forth, save one, alone, who, to the window 
 
 casement stole. 
 Where erst we two were wont to .sit, and in the anguish 
 
 of her soul 
 Wept long and sore, with trembling hands upon her 
 
 tear-washed face, and cried : 
 'God pity me, this woeful day ! this was the day my 
 
 brother died.' 
 
 Then, with a spirit's subtle ken, God-given, did I 
 minister 
 
 Sweet comfort ; such as God gave me, unmeasured, 
 gave I unto her. 
 
 Till, sad with pleasure's surfeit, they who went, return- 
 ing, found no trace 
 
 Of woe in her, and whispered, low : ' Site tcears God's 
 (jhyry on her face.' " 
 
85 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 MISS marryat's bogus bogey. 
 
 On the 14th of December, 1893, there appeared an arti- 
 cle in " Tri>th/' under the heading of '^ Scrutator," under the 
 above title, which made every one, who knew anything 
 about me, very indignant — not because it attempted to 
 throw" doubt upon my honesty with regard to the state- 
 ments made in my book "There is no Death," and to 
 prove that I must be a self-deluded fool — but, because it 
 very seriously libeled me ivith reference to my domestic 
 relations, with which it had no more concern than I have 
 with the domestic relations of the editor of " Truth." My 
 friends were most anxious that I should take up the mat- 
 ter publicly and make the article the subject of a news- 
 paper quarrel — my solicitor declared it to be libelous — and, 
 I think, some people were rather disappointed that I took 
 it so quietly, and preferred to abide my time and refute its 
 statements in print that should last longer than that of a 
 weekly paper. This is what I now propose to do, though 
 very unwillingly. It is a subject I would much rather have 
 1 left to die a natural death. The boy to whom it refers is 
 1 dead, and cannot speak (at least in the opinion of Mr. 
 I Davis and his ally " Scrutator ") for himself — and of the 
 dead, they say, let nothing but good be spoken; but, if 
 silence is to be preserved at the expense of the character 
 of the living, it becomes a crime against one's self, and the 
 cause for which one fights. So I will quote another proverb 
 instead, and say that " A living dog is better than a dead 
 I lion," and so, for the sake of Spiritualism and my honor, I 
 
SQ THE SPIKIT WORLD. 
 
 will state the truth of Francis Lean's life here. There are 
 members of his family who should have answered this article, 
 and denied many of its statements — members, who know 
 well how much I did for the dead boy, and in what man- 
 ner he requited the kindnesses shown to him by most peo- 
 ple — but they have not had the pluck, nor the gratitude 
 to do it, and so have only themselves to thank, if I plead 
 for myself. In order to do, however, what I propose, it ' 
 becomes necessary for me to reprint the whole article m 
 extenso, lest I should be accused of leaving out parts, in 
 order to suit my own purpose. I must premise that the 
 italics are mine. 
 
 "About two years ago, under the title 'There is no 
 Death/ Miss Florence Marryat presented to the public a 
 highly edifying record of experiences of the spirit world. 
 As it was dealt with by my reviewer at the time, it is un- 
 necessary for me to make, now, any general remarks upon 
 this book, though I may observe, in passing, that it strikes 
 me as one of the most painful records of combined impos- 
 ture and self-deception to be found in this class of liter- 
 ature." 
 
 Now, before I go any further, I should like to ask Scru- 
 tator, lohy my book strikes him as one of the most painful 
 records to be found in Spiritualistic literature. Has he 
 ever read any other books on the same subject ? Has he 
 read Alan Kardec, Colonel Olcott, Eobert Dale Owen, or 
 John Wesley ? Have they not all narrated experiences 
 of Spiritualism, which are quite as startling as mine? 
 In my own book I have given several names of men of 
 science and learning who investigated with me and saw 
 the same things. Are tliey all fools and lunatics, includ- 
 ing my fatlier. Captain Marryat, tlie latchet of whose 
 shoe (mentally speaking) Scrutator is not worthy to un- 
 loose ? Or, is he cleverer than the whole lot put together? 
 
THE SPIKIT WOKLD. 87 
 
 Doubtless, he thinks so ; but he will have to make his title 
 good before the world follows his example. I lay my 
 claim for attention far more on the reputation of the 
 pioneers who have gone before me, than on my own simple 
 relation of facts which have come within my cognizance. 
 
 But, to return to Scrutator. 
 
 " It is sufficient, for the present purpose, to say that the 
 book contains reports of Miss Marryat's alleged interviews 
 with a large number of departed spirits, under the auspices 
 of various professional mediums. Quite recently, however, 
 I have come into possession of evidence which seems to 
 make certain passages of the book worthy of further 
 notice, not merely on account of the light which the 
 evidence throws on Miss Marryat's remarkable personal 
 experiences, but for the sake of its bearing upon Occult 
 phenomena generally. The passages to which I refer, 
 recount supposed apparitions to Miss Marryat of her step- 
 son, Mr. Francis- Lean, at the time of, and subsequently to, 
 his being drowned off the coast of Peru. The evidence, 
 with which I am now able to supplement Miss Marryat's 
 narrative, comes up in the following way : A shipmate of 
 Mr. Lean^s, who was an intimate friend of the lad, and 
 cognizant of the exact facts in regard to his death, acci- 
 dentally came across Miss Marryat's book, a few months 
 ago, and being struck — as well he might be — with certain 
 statements, and still more certain suggestions made hy the 
 writer, and by the supposed ghost, drew up, on his next 
 visit to England, a statement in regard to the circumstances, 
 which he forwarded to me. The name of this gentleman 
 is Frederick John Davis, a lieutenant in the Royal Naval 
 Reserve, and he is prepared, if necessary, to verify Ms nar- 
 rative ly a declaration on oath. To make the story intel- 
 ligible, however, it is necessary to give Miss Marryat's 
 statement first. The first allusion to Mr. Lean's death, is at 
 
»8 THE SPIRIT AVOKLD. 
 
 pp. 48-9 of the book. Miss Marryat there described how, 
 in July, 1880, she went down to Brighton by herself to 
 complete some literary work. She says : ' I used to 
 write all day, and walk in the evening. It was light then 
 till eight or nine o'clock, and the Esplanade nsed to be 
 crowded till a late hour. I was pushing my way, on the 
 evening of July the 9th, through the crowd, thinking of 
 my work more than anything else, when I saw (as I fully 
 thought) my stepson, Francis Lean, leaning with his back 
 against the palings, at the edge of the cliff, and smiling at 
 me/' '' 
 
 Now will my readers please to observe, at this juncture, 
 that I mention no time icliatever, as the hour of my seeing 
 the lad, as, indeed, I could not have done, as I had been out 
 for some time and did not know the exact hour. 
 
 " ^He was a handsome lad of eighteen, who was supposed 
 to have sailed in his ship for the Brazils five months before. 
 But, he had been a wild young fellow, causing his father 
 much trouble and anxiety, and my first impression was one 
 of great annoyance ; thinking, naturally, that since I saw 
 him there, he had never sailed at all, but run away from 
 his ship at the last moment. I hastened up to him, there- 
 fore, but, as I reached his side, he turned round quite 
 methodically and walked down a fiiglit of steps that led 
 to the beach. I followed him, and found myself among a 
 group of ordinary seamen mending their nets, but I could 
 see Francis nowliere. I did not know what to make of the 
 occurrence, but it never struck me that it was not the lad 
 liimself, or some one remarkably like him. The same night, 
 however, after I had retired to bed, in a room that was vn- 
 pleamntJy hriUiant, frith the moonlight dreami7i(j in at the 
 frnidfrtr, T was roused from my sleep by some one turning 
 the handle of my door, and there stood P'rancis, in his naval 
 luiifonii. \\ itii tlio peaked caj) in his hand, smiling at me 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 89 
 
 as he had done upon the cliff. I started up in bed, intend- 
 ing to speak to him, when he laid his finger on his lip and 
 faded away. This second vision made me think something 
 must have happened to the boy, but I determined not to 
 say anything to my husband about it till it was verified. 
 Shortly after my return to London, we were going, in com- 
 pany with my son (also a sailor), to see his ship, which was 
 lying in the docks, when, as we were driving through Pop- 
 lar, I again saw my stepson, Francis, standing on the pave- 
 ment and smiling at me. That time I spoke. I said to 
 Colonel Lean : " I am sure I saw Francis standing there. 
 Do you think it is possible he may not have sailed after 
 all?"' But Colonel Lean laughed at the idea. * * * 
 We visited the seaside after that, and, in September, whilst 
 we were staying at Folkestone, Colonel Lean received a let- 
 ter to say that his son Francis had been drowned by the 
 upsetting of a boat in the surf of the Bay of Callao, in the 
 Brazils (sic), on the 9th of July * * * the day I had 
 seen him twice in Brighton, two months hefore we heard 
 that he ivas gone.' The reader will note here, that either 
 Miss Marryat is a singularly inaccurate historian, or her 
 knowledge of geography is wofully deficient, it being, I 
 should have thought, a matter of universal knowledge that 
 I Callao is not in ' the Brazils,' but on the coast of Peru, on 
 i the other side of the Continent, and distant from the Bra- 
 < zilian coast as far as the Bay of Biscay from the Persian 
 ! Gulf. That, however, is a mere detail." 
 
 Scrutator thought he had got me nicely there — that I 
 should be terribly ashamed either of confessing to inaccuracy 
 (which is correct) or to deficient geography. But he is 
 mistaken. I acknowledge that, in so carelessly writing of 
 Callao in the Brazils, I showed as little knowledge of my 
 subject as he does in writing of Spiritualism. Perhaps, if 
 iwe were submitted to a catechism on the subjects, he might 
 
90 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 be found the more ignorant of the two. But my want 
 of knowledge of geograj^hy has nothing to do with the fact 
 of my having seen, or not seen, the spirit of Francis Lean. 
 
 ^'^The next mention of Mr. Lean is at pp. 133, in a de- 
 scription of the various marvels wrought by a medium 
 named Colman, who ^ materialized ' this poor youth, and 
 thus enabled him to communicate to Miss Marryat and, 
 apparently, to Colonel Lean, also, ' the circumstances of his 
 death and the events leading to it,^ matters previously un- 
 known to them." 
 
 Scrutator speaks of 7ny inaccuracy. Let me point out 
 his. There is no mention in " There is no Death " of 
 Francis Lean being " materialized " through Mr. Colman» 
 It is whilst writing of his trance-mediumship that I mention 
 Francis^ name. I say, in speaking of him : " He had a peculiar 
 manner, also — quick and nervous — and a way of cutting 
 his words short, which his spirit preserves to the smallest 
 particular, and which furnish the strongest proofs possible 
 of his identity to those who knew him here below." The 
 relevance of this quotation will be perceived further on in 
 my chapter. 
 
 " It is much to be regretted," resumes Scrutator, " that 
 Miss Marryat omits to state what were the circumstances 
 narrated in this instance ; for, as I shall presently show, 
 when tlie materialized phantom of Mr. Lean made state- 
 ments on tlie same subject under the auspices of another 
 medium, their accuracy leaves much to be desired. Passing 
 over another highly instructive passage, in which the de- 
 (X'ased lad is described by the spirit of his still-born sister, 
 as ^ chevying ' her round a fountain, we next come across 
 Francis Lean at 2)p. ^-11, under the mediumship of a 
 worthy who is only alluded to as the * doctor.^ As this pas- 
 sage contains the sui)posed sliade's account of the circum- 
 stances of his deatli, it is necessary to quote it in full : ^ As 
 
THE SPIKIT AYOKLD. 91 
 
 she left us, a dark figure advanced into the room and ejacu- 
 lated "Ma ! ma I'' I recognized, at once, the peculiar in- 
 tonation mid mode of address of my stepson, Francis Lean, 
 with whom, since he had announced his own death to me, 
 I had had no communication except through trance-medium- 
 ship. ' " 
 
 What about the materialization through Arthur 
 Colman ? 
 
 " ' Is that you, my poor boy ? ' I said. ' Come closer to me I 
 You are not afraid of me, are you ? ' (Why on earth should 
 he be afraid of her ? Is it usual for ghosts to be afraid of 
 human beings ? Ed. Truth. )^^ 
 
 Now, this question alone proves that the man who wrote 
 this article has never done more than skim through my 
 book, if he has done that, or he would have no need to put 
 it. And, yet, he presumes to criticise it. 
 
 " ^ 0, no, ma, of course not; only I was at the Opera House, 
 you know, with the others, and that piece you recited — you 
 know the one — it^s all true, ma, and I don't want you to 
 go back to England. Stay here, ma, stay here ! ' I 
 knew perfectly well to what the lad alluded, but I would 
 not enter upon it before a stranger. So I only said : ^ You 
 forget my children, Francis ; what would they say if I 
 never went home again ? ' This seemed to puzzle him ; 
 but, after a while, he answered : ' Then go to them, ma ; 
 go to them.' All this time he had been talking in the 
 dark, and I only knew him by the sound of his voice. I 
 said : ^ Are you not going to show yourself to me, Francis ? 
 It is such a long time since we met.' ' Never, since you 
 saw me at the docks. That was me, ma, and at Brighton, 
 too, only you didn't half believe it till you knew I was 
 gone.' ' Tell me the truth of the accident, Francis,' I 
 asked him. 'Was there foul play?' 'No,' he replied; 
 * but we got quarreling about her, you know, and fighting. 
 
92 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 and that's how the boat upset. It was my fault as much as 
 anybody else's." '' 
 
 Now, before I go any further, I wish to observe that 
 *' Ma '*' was Francis Lean's usual way of addressing me, 
 greatly to my annoyance. It sounded so vulgar and com- 
 mon. He was not overgifted Avith brains, poor lad ! indeed, 
 he was singularly deficient in them, and his " bleating " 
 after me in the way he did, used to give me the horrors. 
 I was not alone in this particular. It annoyed his father 
 quite as much as it did me. Scrutator is very ready (as 
 will be seen further on) to accept every word that Mr. 
 Davis said upon the subject as gospel, simply because he 
 took his side against Spiritualism. The testimony of a 
 perfect stranger to himself and to the Lean family is taken 
 before anything the members of the lad's family might say. 
 Mr. Davis affirms he was an intimate friend of young 
 Lean's for two years before his death. That may be ; but 
 he certainly was not a friend of the family's, nor had he ever 
 been admitted within the doors of the house, as far as the 
 mistress of it knows. Anyway, if Mr. Davis knew nothing 
 of the "her" alluded to in the last paragraph, nor of the 
 circumstances which took place just before Francis Lean 
 shipped in the " Stuart," it proves there was something 
 left for even his most intimate friend to learn. 
 
 "'IIow was it your body was never found?' 'It was 
 dragged down in an undercurrent, ma. It was out at Cape 
 Horn ])efore tlteg offered a reivard for it.' Then he began 
 to light up, and as soon as the figure was illuminated, I saw 
 that tlie boy was dressed in 'jumper,' a 'Jersey' of dark 
 woolen material, such as they wear in the merchant service 
 in liot climates, but over it all, his head and shoulders in- 
 cluded, was wound a quantity of the flowing white material 
 r have before mentioned. ' I can't bear this stuff, it makes 
 mo look like a girl,' said Francis, and with his hands he 
 
THE SPIKIT WORLD. 93 
 
 tore it off. Simultaneously, the illumination ceased, and he 
 was gone. I called him by name several times, but no 
 sound came out of the darkness. It seemed as though the 
 veiling which he disliked j)reserved his materialization,, 
 and that, with its protection removed, he had dissolved 
 again." The lad is subsequently materialized once more 
 through the agency of a medium called Virginia Roberts ; 
 this time minus the flimsy white veiling, in consequence 
 of which he did not, on that occasioai, look like a girl ; but 
 he made no disclosures of importance.'^ 
 
 Now, to criticise this criticism as it goes, it will be 
 observed that Scrutator, whilst alluding to the reappear- 
 ances of Francis Lean, as the ^' alleged '' interview, the 
 " supposed '' apparition, and the " supposed '' ghost, does 
 not mention the fact that when he appeared with the 
 "doctor,'' I was accompanied by Mrs. Isabella Beecher 
 Hooker, the sister of Henry Ward Beecher, and when witli 
 Virginia Eoberts, in a private sitting room in an hotel, by 
 
 Mrs. Palmer Stern, spoken of as Mrs. S , both of whom 
 
 saw the " supposed " apparition as distinctly as myself. 
 On these latter occasions, therefore, I can hardly be said to 
 have been imposed upon, or self-deceived. 
 
 To proceed. "So much for Miss Marryat. Now for 
 Mr. Davis. He begins by stating that he is a master 
 mariner, and that, in July, 1880, he was first mate of the 
 British bark ^ Stuart,' on which Francis Lean was serv- 
 ing as an apprentice. The captain's name was Bradshaw, 
 and the second officer was Mr. F. Kerr, who had been in 
 the ship two years, and was an intimate friend of Mr. 
 Lean. The war between Chili and Peru was, at this time^ 
 in progress, and on July 9th the 'Stuart' was lying off 
 Chorillos, a small port south of Callao, waiting for a 
 suspension of hostilities in order to discharge her cargo at 
 Callao, which was at this time blockaded. The first part of 
 
94 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 Mr. Davis' statement I desire, as far as possible, to pass 
 over, because it touches on matters of family history, of a 
 delicate nature; but I feel bound to mention that Mr. 
 Davis says, on the strength of two years' acquaintance with 
 Francis Lean on board the 'Stuart/ that the sentiments 
 entertained by the young man towards his stepmother 
 2vere the reverse of Jcinclly. In fact, from specific speeches, 
 lohich he quotes, it is clear that if, after his decease, Mr. 
 Lean visited his stepmother in a smiling and aimable mood, 
 and addressed her in the affectionate terms above quoted, 
 he must, indeed, have ''suffered a sea change,' after the 
 catastrophe of July 9th. Mr. Davis flatly refuses to believe 
 in the possibility of Ms addressing Miss Marryat either in 
 the flesh or the spirit, as 'ma,' or 'mother,' or by any 
 term of endearment,'^ 
 
 Here lies the most difficult part of my own justification ; 
 for I cannot possibly clear my name from these insolent 
 charges, made by a person ivho had never met me, without 
 reflecting on the character of Francis Lean ; but there is no 
 other way out of it. I must prove that Mr. Davis has 
 either wilfully lied about his intimate friend, or that that 
 friend was unworthy of the name. This master mariner, 
 who has never been introduced to me, nor admitted to my 
 house, '' flatly refuses to believe " what every member of 
 Francis Lean's family could assure him was the truth. 
 Francis Lean had very good reason to address me affec- 
 tionately ; for, had it not been for my intercession, he would 
 never have been readmitted to his fatlier's house. Before 
 I was married with Colonel Lean, his son had robbed him 
 to such an extent that he banished him from home, and 
 only allowed him to re-enter it on condition he was at once 
 sent to sea. There was such a terrible disturbance between 
 father and son on that occasion that the boy ran away from 
 home and was not traced for some time afterwards. When 
 
 \ 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 95 
 
 I begged that he might be readmitted, I was informed that, 
 in that case, his people would not be answerable for any- 
 thing that might be stolen from the premises. His con- 
 duct, during the short time he remained with us, was a 
 constant source of anxiety, as some fresh story of miscon- 
 duct was brought to his father^s notice almost daily. Under 
 such difficulties, I was always Francis' great resource. 
 Everybody, who knew him at that time, knew how he would 
 hang round my neck and wheedle me out of money, or 
 whatever he might require. Considering that I had 
 married a major on half -pay, with eight children, it would 
 not need much perspicuity, on the part of the public, to 
 guess from whom the butter that spread the bread came. 
 I cannot remember ever having given Francis Lean an 
 unkind word ; but I can remember being often rebuked by 
 his father for allowing him to get over me by soft sawder, 
 that, if Mr. Davis' word is to be relied upon, was all lies. 
 Since Mr. Davis was such a dear friend of his, he may, 
 perhaps, remember that when Francis joined the " Stuart," 
 he had, very recently, had the scarlet fever — so recently, 
 indeed, that he had not yet " peeled," and it was necessary 
 to procure the captain's consent before he could be allowed 
 to join. Perhaps my grateful stepson did not inform him 
 that / — the stepmother, towards whom his feelings were 
 so much the reverse of kindly — whom he flatly refuses to 
 believe could ever have addressed me in affectionate terms, 
 was the one to nurse him and his brothers and sisters 
 through that disease, when their own relations were too 
 much afraid of infection to enter the sick room ; that I 
 stayed with him day and night, and, when he was low 
 and believed himself in danger of death, was the recipient 
 of all his confidences and confessions. This was not a 
 deed done in the dark. Every one knows it is true, from 
 Dr. Howell, of Boundary Road, who attended the children. 
 
96 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 to the servants who waited on them. The last letter 
 Francis wrote to his father contained an affectionate 
 message to me, with the rider, " tell her I shall never for- 
 get how she nursed me through the scarlet fever.'^ What, 
 then, of the gratitude and honest}^ of the young man, whose 
 sentiments were "the reverse of kindhV when discussing 
 me with his shi23mates. Why, the very fact of his doing 
 so proves he was a paltroon at heart. What gentleman, 
 with the feelings of a gentleman, would talk over his 
 female connections with a lot of rough " 'prentices " ? 
 Who, who could do such a thing, could be trusted to tell 
 the truth in other matters ? 
 
 " For the rest his narrative proceeds thus : Captain 
 Bradshaw went on shore early in the day, July 9th, and 
 left instructions for me to send one of the ship's life boats 
 on shore shortly after noon, and I did so, the boat being 
 in charge of Mr. Kerr, the second officer, with five men 
 with him to row her. Shortly after the boat had pushed 
 off from the ship, I noticed her returning, and, upon 
 getting near, Mr. Kerr hailed me to ask for another man to 
 assist in the rowing, as the boat rowed heavily. Francis 
 Lean was standing by my side at the time, and the look on 
 his face convinced me that he would like to go, and I told 
 him he might do so. lie then asked permission to get liis 
 watch and chain from the berth. I granted his request, 
 and, a few seconds afterwards, he ajiiDeared on deck, carrying 
 his uniform coat on his arm, and a pipe and tobacco pouch 
 in his hand. I noticed that he had his watch and chain 
 attached to his vest. He entered the boat aiul took the 
 bow oar, and that was tlie last I saw of him." * * * * 
 
 The intimate friend, it will be seen, is rather irrelevant, as 
 what the fact of Francis Lean having taken his watch and 
 chain with him, or his tobacco pouch and pi))e with him, 
 has to do with my having spoken to him since death, is not 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 97 
 
 readily perceptible ; but I promised to give the account 
 intact^ so my readers must have a little patience. I beg 
 of them, however, to observe that the narrator of these 
 facts, who " is prepared, if necessary, to verify his narrative 
 by a declaration on oath,^' 7iever smv any more of him. 
 
 " The boat reached the shore safely, and the crew were 
 allowed to wander around the town for a few hours. Be- 
 tween four and five in the evening they pushed off, so as 
 to get to the ship before dark. The second officer was 
 steering the boat, and Lean still rowed the bow oar. When 
 about half way oil to the ship a blind swell rose close under 
 the boat's bow, and this was followed by a huge, breaking 
 wave, which * over-ended ' the boat. Lean was, apparently, 
 killed instantly by the boat in turning over, smashing his 
 head in ; at any rate, lie never rose again. Five of the oc- 
 cupants found themselves clinging to the boat, and two 
 were missing. One of the missing ones was, however, a 
 prisoner on top of the thwarts, under the boat, and, by push- 
 ing out the plug, he was enabled to breathe freely. The 
 accident had been witnessed from the shore by the port 
 captain, and a boat, put off, picked up the floating surviv- 
 ors and towed the boat on to a little beach, when the 
 sailor underneath was liberated, more dead than alive. 
 When the accident occurred, the boat's crew were laughing 
 heartily at a tale which Lean had just told them. * * * 
 A reward was offered the next day, and a body was found 
 about twenty miles away, and Captain Bradshaw rode a 
 dreary journey to see it, hut it luas impossible to recognize 
 the once handsome youth, for he was a very, very handsome lad. 
 Hoivever, the hody was, no doubt, his, and received a decent 
 burial, and it was our intention to erect a monument to our 
 comrade's memory, but the Chilians cleared us out at a 
 few hours' notice, and we were unable to do so. * * * 
 He was a splendid specimen of an English lad of eighteen 
 
98 THE SPIRIT AVORLD. 
 
 years of age. Upright, truthful and plucky, and full of 
 fun and devilment, and I am sure his spirit would not lie. 
 I think — nay, / am sure — I know him better than '^Miss 
 Marryat' could have done." 
 
 This narrative of Francis Lean's death, which Scrutator 
 is ready, without enquiry, to pit against my word, is, after 
 all, then, but a second-hand account, Mr. Davis not having 
 been present at the time, nor able to tell, except by hear- 
 say, what may, or may not, have taken place during the 
 " few hours " spent on shore, to create ill-feeling amongst 
 any of the crew. In my book, / speak only of what I have 
 seen personally ; Mr. Davis, more privileged, apparently, is 
 ready to take his oath to what he has not seen, but only 
 heard from some one else. It was " quite impossible," he 
 says, to recognize the body found as that of Francis Lean ; 
 yet, it was, no douM, his, which proves him to be of a cred- 
 ible disposition, more so, perhaps, than myself. He asserts 
 his friend to have been "upright, truthful and plucky, a 
 specimen of an English lad." I wish I' could have added 
 that he was so ! Poor Francis ! Did he ever tell his inti- 
 mate friend (who, so impudently, asserts that he is sure 
 that he knew him better tlian myself) that he was closely 
 connected with a legal case, the details of which are too 
 abominable for publication; that it was the chief reason of 
 his being banished from home, and made his own father 
 declare that he could not stand tlie sight of him ? Colonel 
 Lean is still living. lie could corroborate everything which 
 Mr. Davis' ill-advised interference luis compelled me to 
 say here, if lie chose ; it would ])e impossible for him to 
 deny them, for he made the facts too widely known him- 
 self. 
 
 Scrutator goes on : " The portions of the statement 
 which I have omitted are either irrelevant details, or com- 
 ments upon the supposed revelations of Francis Lean's 
 
THE SPIRIT ^^-ORLD. 99 
 
 spirit. I have already staled that Mr. Davis is ready to 
 swear to his statement, if necessary. I may add, that he 
 appeals for corroboration to Captain Bradshaw, and the 
 rest of the ship's company, and to the log of the ^ Stuart.' '' 
 
 What proofs would these authorities give us that I have 
 not conversed with the spirit of my stepson ? The ship's 
 company and log could, doubtless, prove the time and 
 manner of the lad's death; but they could not j)rove any- 
 thing else, and, as for Mr. Davis' anxiety, to swear to what 
 lie never saiv, I have known sailors who would swear for 
 the pleasure of it. 
 
 " Xow, let us look at the bearing of this narrative on the 
 ^ supposed ' appearance of the poor lad to his stepmother 
 after his death. To begin with, Chorillos is, by the clock, a 
 trifle over five hours west of Greenwich. The accident 
 took place, apparently, about 5 p. m., or a little after. Mr. 
 Davis does not state the time that it would be required to 
 row from the shore to the ship; but that it was a long and 
 hard pull is shown, first, by the fact of the second officer 
 putting back in order to get an additional hand; secondly, 
 by the boat putting off from the shore ' between four and 
 five,' in order to reach the ship before dark, the month 
 being July, and the latitude twelve degrees south of the 
 equator. The boat having started between four and five, 
 and having been capsized half way between the ship and 
 the shore, it is a safe inference that the time luas not much, 
 if any ^ earlier than five o^cloclc. What would have been 
 the corresponding time in Brighton ? Ten o'clock, or a 
 little later. Yet, Miss Marryat is under the impression 
 that she saw Francis Lean on the esplanade, at Brighton, 
 before dark, on the same evening. And, evidently, it was 
 some time hefore darh. She saw him smiling at her, and 
 she ^ hastened ' up to him ; but, just as she reached him, 
 he moved off. This imjMes that she recognized him at a 
 
100 THE SPIKIT WORLD. 
 
 distance of some paces ; and, to recognize with certainty, 
 at such a distance, the features of a man, believed to be at 
 the other side of the world, implies that it was still day- 
 light.'' 
 
 Not so fast. Scrutator, if you please. No implications. 
 You will not allow me any, and I would prefer your stick- 
 ing to plain facts, as I do. I do not specify, in my 
 account, the hour when I saw the apparition, nor the 
 distance at which I saw it. I do not say ^vlien I went 
 out for my walk, nor how long I stayed. All the informa- 
 tion you get from me is that, at that time, it was light 
 till eight or nine in the evening ; and, I believe, I only 
 mentioned it in order to account for a woman walking 
 alone at night in such a place as Brighton. I especially 
 speak, afterwards, of the "unpleasantly bright moonlight 
 that streamed into my bedroom window " ; and, when one 
 remembers the time of the year, and the moonlight, and 
 the many lamps that are lighted on the Brighton esplanade, 
 it is not likely that I encountered much " twilight," or 
 "dusk," during my peregrinations ; for, you go on: "?/ it 
 was twilight or dusk, the supposed recognition ceases to 
 have the slightest significance." But what about the 
 second apparition, that appeared, under the moonlight, in 
 my bedroom ; and how was it that both should have ap- 
 peared on the 9th of July, a date which even tlie omniscient 
 Davis cannot deny is the one of Francis Lean's death. 
 
 "On July the ninth tlie sun would set about twelve or 
 fourteen minutes i)ast eiglit, and it cannot have heen much 
 later than tliis that the ' supposed ' ai)parition was seen. 
 At 8:15, by Greenwich time, it would be 3:15 in Peru, and, 
 at tliat time, Francis Lean was on shore at Chorillos. Even 
 j)iitting tlie a})parition as late as 9 p. M., Greenwich time- 
 when (layliglit would be all but gone, it would be barely 
 four at Chorillos, and the ' Stuart's ' boat had not yet been 
 
THE SPIRIT WOELD. 101 
 
 put off from shore. It would seem, therefore, either that 
 the young man's phantom, or spook, or whatever it may be 
 called, appeared at Brighton from one to two hours before 
 his death, or Miss Marryat^s eyes deceived her. Personally, 
 I prefer the latter alternative, more especially in view of her 
 subsequent vision of Mr. Lean smiling at her, in the crowd 
 on the pavement, as she was driving through the streets of 
 Poplar. 
 
 " Now, as to the circumstances narrated by Mr. Lean^s 
 shade when ^materialized^ by the doctor. On the first 
 point, the spectre is clearly right ; there was, certainly, no 
 foul play. ISTot only was there no foul play, but there luas 
 not a suspicion of foul play, nor, so far as Miss Marryat 
 informs us, a particle of evidence to warrant her putting 
 the question.^^ 
 
 Here I interfere again, to remark that Scrutator is 
 writing of what he knows nothing. There was a good deal 
 of suspicion in the minds of more than one person about 
 the manner in which Francis Lean's death was brought 
 about, or, rather, I should say, the accident by which his 
 death was brought about, and I was decidedly warranted in 
 putting the question I did to the spirit who appeared to 
 me. The doubt had been put into my mind by other per- 
 sons — persons who certainly knew a great deal more about 
 Erancis Lean's previous life and private affairs than Mr. 
 Davis did. 
 
 " But the suggestion having been raised by her question, 
 observe how the ^ spook ' catches it up. Although there 
 was no foul play, there was a quarrel, he says, a quarrel 
 about a woman. There was a fight, and, in the fight, the 
 boat was upset, although the spook very generously admits 
 that he was as much to blame for the occurrence as the 
 comrade with whom he was fighting. Every word of this 
 is pure invention, but it is a trifle, beside the next state- 
 
102 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 ment. * How was it your body was never found ? ' asks 
 the lady. She was unaware, you see, that the body had 
 not only heen found, tut hurled ; and, for the second time, 
 she leads the poor spirit into a trap." 
 
 Again is Scrutator reckoning without his host. Colonel 
 Lean and I were certainly aware that a tody had been 
 picked up and buried ; but Francis had told us before, 
 through trance-mediumship, that it was not his body, and, 
 since the captain confesses he could not recognize it, who 
 should know best about the matter ? 
 
 *^ His body, he replies, had been dragged down by an 
 under-current, and was floating off Cape Horn, before even a 
 reward was offered. Thus, not only is the non-recovery of 
 the body explained, but a second imputation is cast upon a 
 dead man's shipmates. Alas ! poor ghost ! Cape Horn (al- 
 though he does not know it) is distant from Chorillos 2,624 
 miles, and no current could carry a human body that dis- 
 tance without knoching it to ineces, even, if to facilitate 
 matters, all the sharks between Cape Horn and the Peru- 
 vian coast had been extermhiated. 
 
 " As a matter of fact, however (although this, also, he does 
 not know), the poor ghost's body was washed ashore 
 twenty miles from Chorillos. A reward (although he does 
 not know it) had been offered for the recovery of his body, 
 witliin a few hours of the accident, and long before any 
 portion of his anatomy coukl, hy anything short of a mir- 
 acle, liave drifted to Cape Horn, his remains (although he 
 is unaware of it), were decently interred in the soil of Peru, 
 In sliort, the statements put into the mouth of this unlucky 
 ghost are, from beginning to end, a tissue of impudeiit 
 lies, not only contradicted, at each point, by the evidence 
 of flesh and blood witnesses, but preposterous upon the 
 very face of them." 
 
 Now, 1 want my readers to observe how very foolish 
 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 103 
 
 presumably clever man may make himself when he is 
 eager to prove that which he wishes and believes to be 
 true. Had Scrutator been in the witness-box, and con- 
 fronted Avith Sir George Lewis, or Sir Charles Eussell, 
 with these last assertions, he would have been turned in- 
 side out, like an old glove, and sucked dry^ before he had 
 known where he was. In the first place, he says I had 7io 
 warrant to put the question about foul play to Francis 
 Lean. Here he is utterly wrong ; he knows nothing of 
 what he is writing. Secondly, he affirms that I did not 
 know the body had been found. Certainly not, and no 
 one knows it. Thirdly, that, because the current could not 
 carry a body out to Cape Horn without Icnocking it to 
 pieces, Francis Lean^s body was not carried there. Did I 
 say that it arrived uninjured at Cape Horn ? A body is a 
 body, whether battered or not. Fourthly, that the spirit 
 did not know that a reward had been offered for his body ; 
 whereas he said his body was at Cape Horn before the 
 reward ivas offered. Fifthly, that he is unaware that he 
 was decently interred in Peru. He was, and so are his 
 friends to this day. It is a mere conjecture, and the " im- 
 pudent lies '^ are more likely to be on the other side. 
 
 " What is the conclusion ? " goes on Scrutator ; " after 
 having tried hard to prove a fact which is too much wrapped 
 in mystery to be proved at all, there is a choice of four : 
 (1) Either Francis Lean^s spirit returned to earth, for the 
 purpose of hoaxing his stepmother, and suggesting slander- 
 ous imputations on his comrades ; or (2) Mr. Davis has 
 grautitously come forward, from no conceivable motive, to 
 perjure himself, in order to impugn the veracity of his de- 
 parted friend ; or (3) Miss Florence Marryat has concocted 
 the alleged revelations of her stepson's spook, for the pur- 
 pose of hoaxing the public ; or (4) Miss Marryat is, her- 
 self, the victim of an impudent fraud. The first two alter- 
 
104 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 natives I dismiss at once, and the third does not seem to 
 me worthy of consideration. I have no doubt that Miss 
 Marr3'at honestly believes that she saw Mr. Lean at 
 Brighton and London, both, on the occasion when she was 
 awake and the occasion when she was asleep ; nor do I 
 doubt that she was introduced to what she supposed to be 
 the materialized shade of Mr. Lean, by various mediums in 
 America. That she really saw, in the latter instance, any- 
 thing more spiritual than the bogus bogeys, which have 
 been publicly exposed and held up to derision a hundred 
 times on both sides of the Atlantic, no sane person, who 
 reads these lines, will doubt ; nor will any sane person have 
 any difficulty in seeing that the bogey, or the *^ doctor,' who 
 worked it, knew just as much about young Lean's fate as 
 Miss Marryat herself, and invented the rest, with the 
 highly interesting results above recorded. Cordially and 
 ungrudgingly do I acquit Miss Marryat of any intention to 
 deceive. Nevertheless, a lady, who can, at this time of 
 day, put forth a bulky volume, made up entirely of stair 
 mediums' tricks^ and jrretendecl sjnrit revelatmis, most of 
 them of the same character as the above, and many of them 
 infinitely more grotesque., or offensivey deserves, to my 
 thinking, very little mercy. To paraphrase the familiar 
 line, evil is wrought by stupidity, or credulity, as well as 
 by deliberate intention ; and that evil, in all sorts of shapes, 
 must be wrought by tlie circulation of such a mass of per- 
 nicious nonsense, as is contained in this one volume, ad- 
 mits of very little doubt." 
 
 And here ends Scrutator's very valuable contribution to 
 the cause of Spiritualism and lenient criticism on a fellow- 
 literateur's work. '^Fhe meaning of it is obvious. The ar- 
 ticle is written against Spiritualism, not against me, and, 
 in furtherance of tluit end, he would have accepted the 
 testimony of an idiot out of Earlswood Asylum. He hates 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 105 
 
 the name of Spiritualism; he has never honestly enquired 
 into it, and he utterly ignores, in his endeavor to prove 
 me a fool, the names of all the clever and scientific men 
 who haye attested to its truth. They, too, are, doubtless, 
 fools, or insane, in his eyes ; only Mr. Davis, and him- 
 self, being in their right minds. Now let me recapitulate 
 the accusations against me, which induced the publication 
 of this long-winded article : 
 
 (1) I cannot have seen the spirit of Francis Lean on the 
 9th of July, 1880, because he was drowned at five o'clock, 
 and could not have appeared at Brighton before ten. 
 
 (2) His spirit must have lied, in saying his body was 
 carried out to Cape Horn, because it was buried in Peru. 
 
 (3) He lied in saying there was a quarrel about a woman. 
 
 (4) Also, on the authority of the master mariner, in ad- 
 dressing me by any affectionate term. 
 
 And I affirm, that not one of these accusations has been 
 proved. 
 
 (1) I never fixed any particular time, except the date of 
 the 9th of July, for having seen the boy's spirit. 
 
 (2) There is no proof, whatever, that his body was not 
 carried out to Cape Horn, or that the one buried was his. 
 
 (3) There was a woman in the case, and there had been 
 disagreements between himself and another person, on 
 board, on that subject. 
 
 (4) I need only appeal to those of his family, who knew 
 us both, whilst Francis lived, and to those who saw and 
 heard the spirit speak to me afterwards, for its contradic- 
 tion. Scrutator makes more than one allusion to what 
 "sane" people would do, or think; but is he not aware 
 that each one of us is ready to believe our neighbor mad, 
 for doing such things as we would shrink from ourselves ? 
 One man we consider mad, because he will not give up the 
 fatal habit of drinking, which is hurrying him to his grave; 
 
106 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 another, because, spite of all warnings, lie allies his name 
 with some low woman, who has been common property; 
 and others, again, may rightly be considered lunatics for rid- 
 ing full tilt against their favorite lefe noir, and landing 
 themselves in an action for libel for their pains. At any 
 rate, I think, considering who / am, and who Mr. Davis 
 is, that Scrutator might have given a fellow-laborer, whom 
 he '• cordially and ungrudgingly '^ acquits of any intention 
 to deceive, a hearing, as well as a perfect stranger, of whose 
 reliability he knoAvs nothing, except on his own report. Mr. 
 Davis, doubtless, knows all about latitude and longitude, 
 and the mean time between Greenwich and the seaports of 
 the world; but he knows nothing about Spiritualism, and 
 he has not made out his case. If any one blames me for 
 speaking out, the blame must be laid at his door. Next 
 time he has a desire to thrust himself into public notice, 
 he would do well to consider whether he knows what he is 
 talking about. He has proved to be the worst friend poor 
 Francis Lean ever had. No one knew anything about the 
 lad ; his death passed as unnoticed as his life had done, 
 except by those who were nearest to him. Mr. Davis has 
 raked up his memory from a desirable oblivion; and, in 
 consequence of his impertinent and ungentlemanly attack 
 upon me, has forced me to say what I would much rather 
 have kept to myself. It was hardly likely that I should 
 have been expected to grieve much for the loss of a stepson 
 of whom his nearest relations said, on liearing he was gone, 
 " Thank God I " Still, the fact remains, that I was the 
 only woman who went into black for him, as I was the only 
 woman wlio had done anything for him during the last 
 years of his life. It has remained for his intimate friend 
 to leave on record what a grateful and honorable spirit he 
 possessed ; so much so, that he will not even believe that 
 fh'atli may liave opened its eyes to liis injustice and ingrati- 
 
THE SPIKIT WORLD. 107 
 
 tude. All I can say is, that I trust, when I die, no inti- 
 mate friend of mine may, in like manner, expose the worst 
 traits in my character, for no earthly reason but to see his 
 own name in print. For, still, after all the slanderous 
 insinuatioijs that Scrutator has chosen to make against my 
 veracity and clear-headedness, the fact remains — to which 
 I am prepared, like Mr. Davis, if need be, to make a 
 declaration on oath — that I have seen, touched, heard and 
 spoken to, the spirit of Francis Lean. 
 
108 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 HOW TO I]S^VESTIGATE SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 Almost every correspondent I have had on this subject 
 has asked me how he is to investigate Spiritualism in 
 order to obtain the same results that I have. Now, I can- 
 not promise any one the same results that I have been 
 fortunate enough to secure, though we can all try for them. 
 Eor, in the first place, it depends, in a great measure, on 
 the mediumistic forces of the investigator, though, I believe, 
 we are all mediums in a greater or lesser degree, and were 
 intended, from the creation itself, to have the capability 
 of holding intercourse with the Spiritual world. But the 
 power has been pushed out of sight, and allowed to lie 
 fallow until it is only here and there that it exists so 
 strongly as to come to the front without the volition of 
 its possessor. I am a physical medium, and though I can- 
 not procure materializations by myself, I am said to 
 impart much force to those I sit with. This is the secret, 
 I suppose, of my invariable success. But, even with me, it 
 has taken much time and trouble, and perseverance, to 
 obtain the undeniable proofs I have of everlasting life. 
 But, before people enter upon this most absorbing pursuit, 
 they should know a little of the truth concerning the 
 way in which the spirit leaves the body, and why it so 
 often appears at the time of death, and tlien, perliaps, not 
 for some years afterwards. Witli regard to tliis parting of 
 tlie spirit from the body, we have been brought up in as 
 utter ignorance as we liave of almost everything else con- 
 cerniiig ourselves. What is tlie first thin<i: we do when i 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 109 
 
 any one, whom, we have been watching, perhaps, through a 
 long sickness, appears to lose all his strength and sinks 
 back in our arms, or on the pillow, unable to speak or 
 move ? The eyes glaze with exceeding weakness, the jaw 
 falls open, the limbs shudder convulsively, and then are 
 still. " He is gone ! " exclaims some one, and we accept 
 the apparent fact and rush from the room, perhaps, over- 
 whelmed with grief. Who is gone ? What is gone ? His 
 soul, you answer ; it has gone to Heaven ; it is already 
 thousands and thousands of miles beyond this earth ; he 
 can neither hear us, nor see us, nor know what we are 
 doing. Servants, or, perhaps, utter strangers to the de- 
 parted are called in to perform the last offices for the dead. 
 Your friend has died, maybe, in the depth of winter. You 
 have been keeping up fires, night and day, to try and 
 preserve the warmth of the weak body ; you have kept the 
 windows strictly closed, and heaped blankets and feather 
 quilts above him. The professional layer-out comes in ; 
 what is the first thing she does ? The windows are thrown 
 open, the fire let out, the bedclothes taken off, and the 
 body of one who, perhaps, was too modest, during his life- 
 time, to uncover before any but himself, is stripped, 
 washed, and straightened out on a board, on the bare 
 mattress of the bed, covered with a sheet, its jaws tied 
 up with a handkerchief, so close that, if animation were to 
 return, the spirit could not cry out for assistance, and then 
 it is left alone, locked up in the freezing room, without a 
 chance of resuscitation. " Without a chance of resuscita- 
 tioUy' you will exclaim ; '^ but the man is dead ! " To your 
 eyes, doubtless, but you may be mistaken. "Dewdrop'^ 
 tells me that many an apparent corpse would revive, i.e., 
 the spirit might be lured again into the body, if a differ- 
 ent course of action were pursued. She says that when a 
 mortal is, seemingly, lifeless, i.e., when the body is so weak 
 
110 THE SPIRIT WOELD. 
 
 that the spirit has slipped out of it, it is not separated from 
 it for some time after. If you have had a fire in the room, 
 make it twice as large ; if you have had none, light it. If 
 the sick person has been lying under a mass of bedclothes, 
 heap on more ; if the windows have been open, close them — 
 and often the spirit, from increased warmth, will be enabled 
 to return, and the apparent dead recover as from a swoon. 
 Your mistake is in supposing that, directly the spirit has 
 slipped outside its body, it is gone ; whereas, it is connected 
 to the body by ligaments of light, that bind it to the brain, 
 the heart, and the vitals, and sometimes these cords are 
 not ruptured for days, or weeks, after it has left its earthly 
 tenement. 
 
 The custom of letting the last offices we can perform for 
 our friends devolve upon strangers, is a most cruel one. 
 Don't imagine that the spirit does not know it, and see it ; 
 don't fancy it has been carried away to a sphere where 
 it cannot see, nor hear, nor understand. When your 
 friend quits his body, he often remains in the same room, 
 as long as his body does. If he never returns into it, he, 
 at least, sees all that is going on regarding it, and knows if 
 it is being ministered to by strangers, who have no respect 
 for his feelings, or by those whom he has loved (and still 
 loves) on earth. The sensations of a spirit, when first 
 separated from the body, have been described to me as 
 most peculiar. It is but half awake ; sometimes it does 
 not know it has left the body ; it feels sick and faint, and 
 cokl and weary. It cannot realize wliat has happened ; 
 at other times, it is fully conscious that it has passed over, 
 and has cut forever all the ties of earth, except such as 
 belong to the affections. The body is worthless, but we 
 cannot treat it too tenderly, for the sake of the spirit who 
 is watching all we do, aiul needs, perhaps, our sympathy 
 and loving kindness, just as much as when it was attached 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. Ill 
 
 to earth. There it stands, beside the bed, dazed, bewil- 
 dered, weak and trembling, like a child new-born from the 
 mother ! Kemember, next time you are present at a death 
 scene, that the spirit is there — in the room with you — long- 
 ing to speak, perhaps, and to dry your tears and adminis- 
 ter sweet comfort. Don't give way to any noisy demon- 
 strations of grief — you may make it still more bewildered 
 than it is; don't leave the poor body in darkness, and alone. 
 
 The Catholic custom of keeping candles burning at the 
 head and foot of the coffin, has its origin in the knowledge 
 that the spirit is still present, and that light will prevent 
 anything evil from approaching it whilst it remains below. 
 In many countries, too, it is the custom to sit up with a 
 corpse until it is carried to the grave. 
 
 I had a friend, a medium^ who was engaged to be married 
 to a young girl, called Amy. This girl died very suddenly, 
 greatly to his grief. She ate of some indigestible food, 
 which suffocated her during the night. Her parents had 
 her body laid out in the usual way, and made every arrange- 
 ment for her funeral. Before it took place, however. Amy 
 appeared to my friend, and told him to prevent her being 
 buried, as she was not yet dead, i. e., not properly separated 
 from her body. The young man went at once to the father 
 of the girl, and begged him to postpone the funeral, which, 
 at first, he refused to do, the doctor having certified to the 
 death, and the cause of it. Her fiance, however, was so much 
 in earnest, that he obtained a promise that Amy should 
 not be buried till some signs of decomposition had set in. 
 The body lay in its coffin, in the father's house, /or three 
 weeks, without experiencing the least change. At the end 
 of that time, however. Amy appeared again to her lover, 
 and told him, joyfully, that, at last, she was quite freed 
 from her body, and ^hey might bury her as soon as they 
 chose. He went to the family with this news, and found that 
 
112 THE SPIKIT WORLD. 
 
 the body, which had retained its freshness for so long, had 
 literally fallen to pieces that very morning, and the coffin had 
 been obliged to be closed. 
 
 The spirit of a brewer, who had been accidentally killed, 
 once told me the story of his death. He said it had hap- 
 pened on a very hot day, when, overcome by sleep, he had 
 been sitting on the shaft of his dray and nodding drowsily 
 backwards and forwards. Suddenly-, he found himself on 
 his feet, wide awake, looking, in company with a crowd of 
 strangers, at the body of a man who Avas under the wheel of 
 the dray. At first, he felt very frightened, for he thought 
 the accident had occurred through his negligence. He was 
 aware he had been sleeping on his post, and thought he had 
 run over some man in the road. He was terribly concerned 
 about it, he told me, fearing he should get into trouble; and 
 when the people fetched a doctor from the hospital (for it 
 liappened just opposite St. George's Hospital), he was eager 
 to see who had come to so sad an end. The doctor turned 
 the body over, and the spirit saw his oimiface. Even then he 
 could not believe that it could be himself. He felt so much 
 like what he liad always done, and remembered nothing of 
 passing out of the body; but when he was convinced of the 
 truth, he said he became violently agitated, and wanted to 
 come back to this world again. He followed the persons, 
 who carried the body, into the hospital ward, and, whilst 
 the doctors were examining it, to see if there was any pos- 
 sibility of assistance, he told me he made the most tremen- 
 dous efforts to get into it again, but it was so maimed and 
 broken, it was impossible. He might as well have tried to 
 live in a house witliout roof or walls. He said ho remained 
 ])y his body as long as it was in the hospital, and, for some 
 time, by the grave — whore it was buried — he found it so hard 
 to sever the links that bound him to it. liut then he had 
 been a very strong, hearty man, and he died most suddenly. 
 
THE SPIKIT WORLD. 113 
 
 Such spirits have always more difficulty in disentail;- 
 gling themselves from their mortal tenement than those 
 who have passed through lingering illness. But many 
 have told me that they have attended their own funerals, 
 and heard, and seen, all that passed there. More, es- 
 pecially, is this the case, with the spirits of men and 
 women, who have had centered all their interests and affec- 
 tions in the things of this life— who have never cultivated 
 their spirituality, but let it dwindle down till it gives out 
 no more light than a farthing rushlight. And, mind you, 
 that there are many such people who are, yet, very lovable, 
 very good (in our sense of the word), and very kind, but 
 who are wholly of the earth, earthly. 
 
 Some spirits pass out of the flesh so human that there is 
 hardly any spirit in them at all. Necessarily, they must 
 stay on this earth — earth-bound, as some call it ; but I 
 would rather say, within the belt of ether which surrounds 
 the earth — until they are fitted to breathe a more spiritual 
 atmosphere. As a spirit friend once said to me : " It is 
 not because God does not wish them to rise. It is because 
 they are still so human, that they could no more breathe 
 the atmosphere of the higher planets than you could breathe 
 above a certain altitude, if you went up in a balloon." And, 
 even when they rise above the grossness of this world, if 
 all their interests are centered here, they are very easily 
 attracted back to it. Therein lies the danger of vehemently 
 wishing for certain spirits to return and manifest them- 
 selves, when they do not come voluntarily. I imagine 
 their friends over there are often doing all they can to 
 keep them from coming back to earth (just as we would 
 try to keep a drunkard from the public house), because 
 the temptations here are too strong for them, until their 
 spirituality has overcome their materialism, whilst the 
 laments, and yearnings, and sighs of earth pull them the 
 
114 THE SPIRIT WOKLD. 
 
 other way, and they return here, only to acquire a fresh 
 taint of carnal-mindedness, and undo the little improve- 
 ment that may have been effected in them. I am speaking, 
 now, of worldly people, hardened people, and those who 
 have been really gross and wicked. With the young, and 
 those who have lived joure and spiritual lives, I think, it 
 is very different. In the first place, their spirits separate 
 far more easily from their bodies, and, when separated, are 
 carried away to a higher sphere, whence, if they return, it 
 is to teach and succor those they have left behind, as my 
 "Florence " does to me. 
 
 The spirits who have attained the highest spheres pos- 
 sible may return to this world to teach others how to fol- 
 low in their footsteps. One spirit told me that the Christ 
 himself, passes, at regular intervals, through all the 
 spheres, from the lowest to the highest, to purify them. 
 This statement is endorsed by the Scriptures, which tell us 
 that, when Christ died, he went down to hell (or hades, 
 i. e.y the place of departed spirits) '^ to preach to them who 
 were, one time, disobedient.^' What would have been the 
 use of his preaching to souls who were, already, according 
 to the dogmas of the religion taught us, damned in hell ? 
 He preached to them, in order that they might aspire to 
 rise and progress. The next life is a life of progression. 
 As soon as we are disencumbered of the flesh, our eyes are 
 spiritually opened, and we see the sins of which we have 
 been guilty ; not as we saw and disregarded their weight 
 whilst on earth, but in all their breadth, and depth, and 
 height, and length. We shall see ourselves as we are ; 
 we shall see the enormity of our sins, the sorrow they have 
 caused otliers, tlie evil clfects they will have, "even unto 
 the third and fourth generation," until we loathe our- 
 selves, and long to be purged of the evil done in the flesh. 
 And, witli tlie first sincere desire to im2:)rove, we shall 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 115 
 
 commence to rise, until we have attained the presence of 
 God. It may take years, hundreds of years, thousands of 
 years ; but, however long the purgatory, the happiness will 
 be attained at last. Christ spoke of the law of progres- 
 sion, when he told the Scribes and Pharisees that the 
 harlots and publicans should go into the kingdom of 
 Heaven " before them.'^ The parsons would tell us that 
 the harlots and publicans will never go into Heaven at 
 all, but be immediately condemned to their favorite, hell. 
 O, what would they do, if robbed of their good, old hell? 
 But Christ did not say so. He, evidently, thought that 
 the very sins of which the poor harlots and publicans were 
 guilty — the lavishness, the generosity, the weakness and 
 the carelessness— were more likely to succumb to a knowl- 
 edge of themselves, and change to virtue, than the bigotry, 
 narrow-mindedness and self-conceit of the Pharisees. 
 
 But I am forgetting my subject, which was to speak of 
 the departure from earth of the young and (comparatively 
 speaking) innocent. My own dear child (not "Florence,^^ 
 but another daughter, whom I have lost since her), on her 
 first return to earth, when I asked her what her sensations 
 had been on entering the spirit world, replied : " When I 
 had passed through the narrow gate of death, I met my 
 Father, God, Who blessed me and bade me go onwards ; 
 and, immediately, I found myself in the arms of Granny 
 Marryat (by which she meant my mother), and I have been 
 with her ever since." She, evidently, then, did not re- 
 main for one minute on the earth sphere, but went to the 
 place appointed for her, at once. 
 
 I have a young lady friend, the daughter of a family 
 moving in the highest society, who is a wonderful medium, 
 though the fact is known to no one but her intimate 
 friends. Her father passed on, many years ago, leaving 
 his widow with a large family of sons and daughters to 
 
116 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 bring up, as well as a large property to manage, whicli one 
 may say he has done, entirely, for her since, through their 
 medium istic child. She became controlled by her father, 
 shortly after his death, since which time he has constantly 
 held communication with her mother, giving her advice 
 about her children, and her land, etc. The mother, in 
 consequence, learned shorthand, in order to take down her 
 husband^s words, as he uttered them through her daughter's 
 lips ; also typewriting, that she might transcribe them 
 afterwards. She showed me several large volumes of these 
 typewritten words of counsel, to which she is constantly 
 referring. But the circumstance which I was about to 
 relate, concerning this young lady medium, is as follows : 
 Some few years since, she had the misfortune to lose her 
 elder sister, a most beautiful girl of twenty, who died, 
 after a few days' illness, of pleurisy. Edith (as I will call 
 the young medium) told me that she was with her sister 
 during the course of her illness, and that she witnessed, 
 clairvoyantly, the whole process of the spirit leaving the 
 body. She said that, on the last day of her earth life, her 
 sister was flushed, excited, and slightly delirious, tossing 
 about on her pillows, and talking incoherently. About 
 this time, Edith observed a film, like a cloud of smoke, 
 gathering above her head, where it gradually spread out 
 until it had acquired the shape, lengthwise, of her sister's 
 body — a fac-simile, as it were, of the dying girl, only without 
 coloring, and suspended in the air, face downwards, about 
 two or three feet above her. As the day wore on, and the 
 delirious restlessness gave way to the weakness of approach- 
 ing death, Editli could see her sister's feverish color fade, 
 and lier eyes grew dimmer, whilst, simultaneously, the 
 vapory form, suspended in the air above her, began to be 
 tinted ; first, very faintly, then, by degrees, more and 
 more, until it glowed with the life that was rapidly depart- 
 
THE SPIKIT WORLD. 117 
 
 ing from the body. The dying girl grew weaker and 
 weaker, nntil she lay back on her pillows, speechless and 
 unconscious. As she did so, the spirit above her, which was 
 still bound to her brain, heart and vitals by cords of light, 
 like electricity, became, as it were, a living soul. As her 
 sister breathed her last earthly breath, Edith saw the spirit 
 sway from side to side, until it stood upright by the side of 
 the bed, very weak, apparently, and scarcely able to stand, 
 but still the living presentment of the corpse, which now 
 was stretched in death before her eyes. As Edith was 
 watching this wonderful sight, she saw the spirits of her 
 father and grandmother, who had also died in their house, 
 appear, and support the new-born spirit between them, 
 passing their arms beneath hers, whilst her head rested, like 
 that of a fainting person, on her father's shoulder. After 
 they had held her thus for a short time, she seemed to revive 
 somewhat, at which they ruptured, with their hands, the 
 cords which bound her to her body, and, rising, with her 
 between them, passed through the window, where Edith 
 saw them all three floating up a smooth green hill, until 
 they vanished out of her sight. 
 
 Can it be wondered at, that people who are blessed with 
 such visions, are unable to despair when those they love 
 leave them for a little while ? 
 
 Mrs. Russell Davis had a friend, who died, lingeringly, 
 of cancer, and was very anxious she should be with him at 
 the last, and, as the time of his death was pretty well 
 known beforehand, she was able to comply with his request. 
 She has told me that his great anxiety was, that his wife 
 should come to conduct him over to the distant shore, and 
 it had been promised him she should do so. As Mrs. 
 Davis was sitting by his side on the day he died, she saw 
 his wife's spirit standing at the foot of the bed. The dy- 
 ing man also perceived it; for, rising suddenly, he stretched 
 
118 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 out his arms towards her, and she opened hers, when Mrs. 
 Davis actually saw the husband^s spirit shoot out of his 
 body, as if it had been his double, and. fly into the arms of 
 his wife, whilst his corpse fell back upon his pillows. 
 
 Andrew Jackson Davis, an American writer, has pub- 
 lished a little pamphlet, which^ I think, can be procured 
 for a few pence, in which he gives the full description of 
 the departure of a spirit from the body, which he saw like 
 the birth of a child from the mother — the cords of light 
 which I have mentioned serving instead of the umbilical 
 cord — whilst the reclining attitude at first, and the extreme 
 weakness afterwards, on attempting to stand upright, all 
 combine to carry out his simile. 
 
 Some spirits have spoken to me of having been " so ter- 
 ribly wet '' on first recovering consciousness after death. 
 All mediums who are fully entranced, will tell you they 
 have been carried through water. This corroborates the 
 old heathenish idea of the river Styx, over which the dead 
 were ferried by Charon. In the Bible we find various allu- 
 sions to the same thing. '•' When thou passest through 
 the waters, I will be with thee ; the deep floods shall not 
 overwhelm thee.^' " Florence ^^ has told me that she 
 always looks at me through clear water, and that, some- 
 times, I seem such a long way off to her, when, in reality, 
 I am quite near. She has said : "You seem to me as if 
 you were at the bottom of a well.'' 
 
 I think it is wise and right that you should know a 
 little about such things before you commence to investi- 
 gate Spiritualism. The notion that you can command 
 your spirit friends to return, or bring them back, or call 
 them up or down, is only born of the universal ignorance 
 concerning the truth. If they are not dwelling within 
 the belt of ether that surrounds the earth, I do not tliink 
 they can return at all, unless sent on a special mission 
 
THE SPIEIT WOKLD. 119 
 
 from God. If they still remain on this earth, and you 
 give them the opening to communicate with you, they will, 
 doubtless, find little difficulty in doing so. If they talk 
 differently, from what you anticipated, from a spiritual 
 being, remember that it is quite possible that they may 
 not be so enlightened on that subject as yourself, and 
 believe themselves to le 'still in your world. Many spirits 
 whom I have conversed with have utterly refused to be- 
 lieve that they had passed over. Now, if you wish to inves- 
 . tigate the truth of Spiritualism for yourself, the first thing 
 to ascertain is, are you thoroughly in earnest f 
 
 It is of no use taking up the pursuit of a science out of 
 curiosity — sitting at a table with a few acquaintances one 
 evening, and, on the next, with a totally different party ; 
 going away for a couple of months, and beginning afresh, 
 as the humor may take you, with anybody who may ex- 
 press a wish to join your circle. That is not the manner 
 in which you would commence the study of Greek or 
 Latin, or any abstruse subject, on the accomplishment of 
 which the welfare of your future depended. In that in- 
 stance, you would obtain all the information you could 
 regarding it, first, and then you would sit down to master 
 the alphabet, and learn the sounds of the letters, and 
 the meaning of the words, until, by little and little, you 
 crept on to interpret the sentences. If you sincerely de- 
 sire to investigate Spiritualism for yourself, you must do 
 it in like manner — crawling before you can stand, stand- 
 ing before you can walk, and walking before you can 
 run. 
 
 But the majority of people, interested by what they 
 have read, or heard, and, fired by a desire to see and 
 converse with some departed friend again, apply to me for 
 the address of a reliable medium to whom they can go, 
 and are, doubtless, much disappointed when I tell them 
 
120 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 that^ on principle, I will recommend no one of them. The 
 reason I answer them thus is, because I know that, if they 
 rush, in their ignorant state of mind, to a public medium, 
 they will, in all probability^ be disappointed of seeing any 
 spirit whom they can recognize, and the result will be hurt- 
 ful, both for Spiritualism and themselves. These are the 
 people who, having rushed pell-mell to a public seance, and 
 seen nothing to convince them of the truth, create, per- 
 haps, an unseemly disturbance, or go about, afterwards, 
 telling all their acquaintances that there is nothing in 
 Spiritualism ; that Mr. So and So is a fraud ; that the 
 forms they saw were living persons dressed up to imitate 
 spirits, and they are convinced that the whole thing is 
 humbug. So might they, with equal reason, in their anxiety 
 to learn Greek, attend a lecture, given in that language, 
 and declare, because they could not understand what was 
 going on, that Greek w^as only a mass of unintelligible 
 gibberish. To such people I do not address my instruc- 
 tions, but to those who are grieving for the loss of friends 
 so dear to them, that they would not meet them in a pub- 
 lic seance room for all the world. Do not think, however, 
 from my saying this, that I decry, or disbelieve in, the 
 integrity of public seances, or the mediums who hold them. 
 Many of my most convincing proofs have been given me in 
 public, as I have frankly recorded. But that was long 
 after private investigation had convinced me that what I 
 saw was true. Public seances, in my opinion, are for 
 Spiritualists, not for enquirers. There is more than one 
 medium with whom, whenever I sit, I know beforehand 
 which spirit friends will communicate with me, because 
 they have come so often through the same source, that they 
 experience no difficulty in doing so. But were a perfect 
 stranger to sit beside me at those seances, he would probably 
 see nothing to interest liim, and begin to suspect that I 
 
THE SPIRIT WOELD. 121 
 
 must be one of the medium's confederates, because so many 
 manifestations appeared for me. 
 
 Most public seances are made up of sitters who attend 
 regularly, night after night, and whose spirit friends have, 
 in consequence, gained so much power, that they leave no 
 opportunity for the friends of outsiders to manifest. This 
 is why I invariably advise beginners not to attend public 
 seances, but to begin by sitting at home. After they have 
 gained some knowledge and proficiency of the science they 
 are investigating, it is probable that their friends will name 
 the medium through whom they wish to materialize and 
 show themselves, in which case they wonld be right and 
 wise to follow their wishes. 
 
 Now, let me suppose that two or three friends are agreed 
 on this subject ; that they all are sincerely interested in 
 Spiritualism, and equally anxious to communicate with 
 their departed friends, and I will tell them how to set 
 about it. First, then, I advise you to read all you can 
 upon the subject, and you cannot do better than begin with 
 the Bible, that you may be able to confute the arguments 
 of those who would try to turn you from your purpose, on 
 the score of its being wrong. After which, you might go 
 through a course of modern authors. There are innumer- 
 able works published on Spiritualism ; a list of which you 
 can procure from the ofiQces of the spiritualistic news- 
 papers, or from '^Borderland." The authors who have 
 interested me most, have been Robert Dale Oweii, Colonel 
 Olcott, Alan Kardec, Edward Maitland, John Farmer, 
 Epes Sargent, and Andrew Jackson Davis. Eead " Buddha 
 and Early Buddhism,'' by Arthur Lillie ; "Footfalls on 
 the Boundary of Another World,'' by E. Dale Owen ; 
 " Mneteenth Century Miracles,'' by Emma Hardinge- 
 Britten ; and " 'Twixt Two Worlds/'' by John Farmer. 
 Take in Mr. Stead's magazine,, '' Borderland," where you 
 
122 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 will find, each month, a list of the articles that have ap- 
 peared on Spiritualism, besides a library list, where you 
 can procure more books, to read, on the subject than you 
 will get through in half a lifetime. Get the newspapers, 
 too, that are dedicated to it, "■ The Two Worlds,'^ " Light,'' 
 and " The Medium,^' in which you will often find valuable 
 information, and the addresses of certain mediums, with, 
 notices of what meetings are held for Spiritualists, and 
 what lectures delivered for them. 
 
 And when you have learned all you can from the ex- 
 perience of others, sit at home ; not desultorily, as I have 
 said before, but regularly, and steadily. If there is a 
 spare room in your house, which you can devote to the 
 purpose, so much the better. It need not be a large 
 room, and it need not have a fireplace, so long as it has 
 a window. 
 
 This is how " Dewdrop " described a perfect seance room 
 to me: "It must have no carpet, no curtains, nor hangings 
 of any kind, except a dark woolen curtain drawn across the 
 window, so as to exclude the light. There should be no 
 pictures on the wall, nor ornaments of any kind ; and the 
 furniture should consist of a deal table, without a cloth on 
 it, and as many chairs as are required must be cane-seated, 
 so as to let the influence through. When you are not 
 using the seance room, it must be kept locked, and no one 
 allowed to enter it. The morning after you have held the 
 seance, let the curtain be drawn back, the window thrown 
 open, the table and chairs scrubbed with soap and water, 
 then lock u]) the room till it is used again. Pure spirits 
 will not come where there is dirt and dust. They cannot 
 breathe in such an atmosphere. Keep your seance-room 
 })erfectly clean, sweet and private, then you will get good 
 manifestations.'' 
 
 These rules are very simple, ami easily complied with. 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 123 
 
 Investigators, who are in earnest, had better make a note 
 of them. 
 
 Many people place musical instruments in their seance 
 rooms, and set a musical box going as soon as they sit 
 down. I don't like this plan of making a noise, and I 
 don't think that it is necessary, or that the spirits like it. 
 It has had its meaning, not to drown (as many sceptics 
 aver) the noise made by the medium, and his confederates, 
 in dressing-up, but because the sound agitates the air, and 
 keeps it moving, which is favorable to manifestation. This 
 is better accomplished, however, by the sitters singing in 
 harmony, for their united voices not only stir the atmos- 
 phere, but the action of exercising them, throws off the 
 aura from themselves, which the spirits use to work with. 
 Only let it he in harmony. The terrible discord some- 
 times produced by the efforts of people trying to sing 
 together, who have never practiced doing so, is enough to 
 drive the spirits, or mortals too, for that matter, to the 
 furthest distance they can attain. This is a subject which, 
 surely, might be taken a little trouble with. You would 
 not like to make a fool of yourself before mortal company 
 — why treat your spirit friends to such an exhibition? 
 Surely, it would be worth while, before commencing your 
 sittings, to select such quiet hymns, or songs, as you can 
 all join in, and practice them until you are perfectly 
 acquainted with both words and music. Loud singing is 
 not what is required ; in fact, it is very undesirable, and I 
 have, repeatedly, heard it stepped by the influences them- 
 selves. What they want is low, sweet harmony, produced 
 by all the sitters, simultaneously. Why is not our business 
 to inquire ; if the spirits did not wish it, they would not 
 demand it. And, here, let me caution you, if you want 
 i successful seances, to follow just what you are told, in every 
 1 1 particular, and you are sure to do right. 
 
124 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 When you have sat for a little while, some one spirit will 
 probably take the control of your seances, and you must 
 do just as he tells you. If he desires that certain sitters 
 change their seats, they must do so ; if he says they are to 
 leave the circle altogether, they must obey him, or the rest 
 will suffer. And, in this matter of choosing your circle, 
 you cannot always be guided by your own wishes, or the 
 wishes of your friends. It is better to have a small 
 number, at all events, at first, say four or six, and, as a 
 rule, the sexes should be equal, and the constitutions 
 opposite ; thus, if the circle consists of six persons, there 
 should be three men and three women, and if three are 
 fair, sanguineous temperaments, the other three should be 
 dark, and calmer of disposition. I do not mean to assert 
 that this rule is absolutely without deviation, or that a 
 successful circle may not be made up where it is not 
 entirely carried out ; but, as a rule, it should be attended 
 to as far as possible. 
 
 It does not follow, because a person is deeply interested 
 in Spiritualism, or is very anxious to see, or speak to his 
 departed friends again, that he is fit to sit in a circle, or 
 in your particular circle, at any rate. It is a sad fact, but 
 a fact, nevertlieless, that a very ardent desire to see a 
 particular friend is often the very means which prevents 
 the spirit manifesting, the excitement and agitation acting 
 in some way, wliich I cannot explain to you, to prevent 
 the materialization. This is the reason that, as a rule, 
 spirits do not manifest for some time after death, or until 
 tlie grief of tlie survivors has somewhat calmed down. 
 
 When you have chosen your circle, therefore, do not be 
 too sure that all will be allowed to continue in it; but your 
 spirit friends will soon let you know their wishes on the 
 subject. In selecting the sitters, you must make sure that 
 they will sit rc(/ularJif, and not as it is convenient to them. 
 
THE SPIKIT WOELD. 125 
 
 If they cannot promise to give np other engagements, or 
 pleasures, for the sake of sitting, don^t admit them at all. 
 
 Over and over again have people asked me to form a circle 
 at my own home, and, for the sake of the cause, I have com- 
 plied with their request ; but it has, invariably come to 
 an untimely end from the same reason. The circle would 
 meet, perhaps, two or three times, and then Mr. Jones 
 would send an excuse because he was obliged to keep aa 
 engagement, or Mrs. Brown had friends to dine with her,, 
 or young Hoop-de-dooden-do was obliged to remain at 
 home, because it was his sister's birthday. But they 
 would all be sure to attend next time. Not with me, how- 
 ever. I always made it a point, that the first defalcation 
 (unless from illness) was the last, and the defaulter 
 scratched off the list of sitters ; by which means the circle 
 usually dwindled down to myself in about a month's time. 
 That is why I think, when the circle can be kept strictly 
 within the precincts of home, it is far better ; and I would 
 rather break through the rule of having an equal number 
 of each sex than depend on the punctual attendance of 
 outsiders. I would rather sit with a sister, or a husband,, 
 only, and keep the seance room sacred, as I have described, 
 and the seances for certain days, than I would risk having 
 the circle broken ; for each time that happens you will 
 have to begin over again, from the beginning. 
 
 But I will suppose that you have made up your little 
 circle, and arranged your seance room, and practiced your 
 hymns or songs, then the next thing is to fix the day and 
 hour of sitting, and stich to it, Avhether it be one evening 
 a week, or two evenings ; whether it is to be at seven 
 o'clock or eight ; do not vary it, if possible, by so much as 
 a minute. If you have a guitar, you might bring it into 
 the room ; and rolls of stiff paper, gummed into the form 
 of a trumpet, are very useful for speaking tubes, through 
 
126 THE SPIRIT AVORLD. 
 
 which you may hear the direct voice of your friends. 
 Sheets of notepaper, and pencils also, should always be at 
 hand, in case any spirit present may be able to write to 
 you, instead of speaking. 
 
 And now, supj^osing all things to be in readiness, you, 
 and your party, enter the seance room at the appointed 
 time, lock the door after you, close the window, draw the 
 curtain over it, and take your seats round the table, on 
 which you have placed a candle and box of matches, in 
 case of need. Some people join hands when they sit. This 
 is not necessary, except as an evidence of good faith, and 
 to prove that no one is attempting to hoax his neighbor. 
 Still, at the beginning, it is as well, perhaps, to do so, in 
 case anything startling occurs, that everybody present may 
 be convinced that it is not a trick. You may have to sit 
 for some time before anything takes place ; you might 
 have to sit for many evenings before you heard even a 
 little tap upon the table ; but, if you are hot prepared to 
 persevere, you had better not begin at all. It is very un- 
 likely, indeed, that notJiing icill ever occur ; I have never 
 heard of such a case, but it may be some time first. When 
 the first tap sounds on the table, or the first tilt, or up- 
 heaval occurs, don't let there be any screaming, or hurry, 
 or agitation about it. Let each one of the circle ask, 
 quietly, and in regular turn, "Is that for me?" and when 
 the right j^erson puts the question, the table will usually 
 repeat the signal. Often it hajipens that the spirit comes 
 for no one in particular, but for the circle, so that, if it 
 responds to no one, that question may next be put. The 
 great thing, however, is to establish the communication ; 
 after tliat things generally go on swimmingly. You must 
 talk to the tapper just as though you were addressing a 
 mortal, only be calm and deliberate, or the influence may 
 not hear vou distinotlv. The usual rule is to tell the com- 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 127 
 
 municating spirit, if lie is going to speak to you through 
 the table, that you want him to tap once for " 'No/' twice 
 when he is uncertain, and three times for " Yes "; also that, 
 in spelling out any communication he may wish to make, 
 you will repeat the alphabet and he must tap, or tilt, when 
 you come to the right letter. The first thing you will, 
 naturally, ask, is his name, and for this purpose repeat the 
 alphabet very slowly, for the way spirits rap is by throwing 
 the magnetism they gather from the circle down on the 
 table, where it explodes like detonating powder, so that 
 they require a little time to make their preparations. If, 
 when repeating the alphabet, 3^ou hear several raps in suc- 
 cession, it is generally meant to intimate that the spirit 
 has missed the letter, and you will have to begin over 
 again. This method of communication, which appears 
 very tedious on first trial, becomes rapid by practice, so 
 that I can converse, by its means, almost as fast as I can 
 by word of mouth. 
 
 But, should there prove to be a medium amongst you, 
 you will soon blossom out into better forms of communica- 
 tion, and leave the poor table far behind you. With re- 
 gard to mediums, there are many more in the world than 
 people think for, and there are very few circles of six persons 
 which you could call together without finding one in their 
 midst. 
 
 Some of your friends may suddenly develop trance- 
 mediumship, or go under control, or hands may touch you 
 in the dark, or the paper tubes be rattled about, or the 
 guitar strings touched and sounded. Now, if any of these 
 things happen, don't be frightened, because there is nothing 
 to be alarmed at. 
 
 Spirits cannot hurt you, even if they were so disposed, 
 and, though I admit that powerful manifestations, when 
 first witnessed, are awe-inspiring, you must pass through a 
 
128 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 certain baptism in order to obtain that for which you have 
 assembled together. Should one of your sitters, therefore, 
 commence suddenly to talk in a strange voice, or an un- 
 known tongue, leave him quite alone until he has finished 
 what he may have to say. He will come to no harm; but 
 if you were to interfere^ by trying to rouse him, or by 
 letting in the light upon him, you might do him a serious 
 injury. Or some one may go under control, i. e.y he may ap- 
 pear to fall into a deep sleep, as if he were dead. Don't 
 attempt to wake him ! The spirits will probably make use 
 of him, whilst in this condition, to give the circle some 
 manifestations, and they will take care of him and bring 
 him back at the right time. 
 
 The direct voice is when the spirits speak to you with a 
 thorax and gullet of their own, instead of using the organs 
 of speech of a medium. This is one of the manifestations 
 I love best. I think it is more satisfactory even than see- 
 ing our departed friends, because, when spirits are ma- 
 terialized, so much power has been exhausted in order to 
 build up their bodies, that they seldom talk much. But to 
 be able to ask them questions, and to receive their an- 
 swers, is most satisfactory. You will be very lucky if you 
 procure such a manifestation. There are a dozen different 
 ways by which your spirit friends can give you proofs of 
 their presence amongst you, before they show themselves. 
 They may bring articles from other rooms in the house, 
 and place them on the table ; pick flowers from your gar- 
 den, or other people's gardens, and put them in your 
 lajo ; you may hear tlieir feet pacing up and down the floor, 
 or see tlie spirit lights floating about tlie room. These 
 are, sometimes, like tiny stars, and, sometimes, like eggs 
 in shape, or little comets with a tail. You may have 
 sweet scent thrown over you — a very common manifesta- 
 tion — or you may feel your chairs pulled backwards, OFj^ 
 
THE SPIKIT WORLD. 129 
 
 sometimes, taken right away from under you. Some one 
 amongst you may develop writing-mediumship, which, is 
 generally evidenced by a convulsive shuddering in the 
 right arm, accompanied by a species of electric shock run- 
 ning up it. In such a case, place writing paper before the 
 person, and a pencil in his hand, and you may get spirit 
 communications through him. Only a few weeks back, 
 sitting alone with a friend, with her hands held fast in 
 mine, I got five letters written by different spirits, in the 
 space of four minutes, each one in a diiferent handwriting. 
 If there should be a powerful physical medium amongst 
 you, you may even get levitation, i. e., the medium may be 
 carried away from the table, chair and all ; in some instances, 
 up to the ceiling, so that he can touch it with his finger. 
 Should this occur, don't jump up from the table, nor break 
 the circle ; if you are holding hands, do not unloose them, 
 but wait, patiently, till your friend descends to the floor 
 again. The spirits know perfectly well what they are 
 about, and will bring him back quite safely, if you will 
 let them do so in their own way. But if you loose hands, 
 or make a- commotion, you will break the chain of aura 
 through which they are working, and, as likely as not, 
 cause him to be thrown, or let fall, violently to the 
 ground. I believe, if you set about your investigations in 
 the manner I have mentioned, that, in nine cases out of 
 ten, your efforts will be crowned with success. 
 
 There are, of course, a number of phases of Spiritualism 
 which you may never be able to enjoy in a private circle, 
 because they are more rare ; yet, I believe, it only needs 
 perseverance to experience most of them : Levitation, the 
 direct voice, trance-mediumship, automatic writing, direct 
 writing, clairvoyance, healing-mediumship, prophecy, ma- 
 terialization, spirit-photography, and inspirational speak- 
 \ ing, are grand gifts, and not within the scope of every- 
 
130 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 body. Yet, I believe, we are all mediums, in some way or 
 another, and it is impossible to say wliat we may, or may 
 not, develop, until we have tried it. 
 
 If, after a reasonable trial, you find you can procure no 
 manifestations (which, I think, is very unlikely), or that 
 your progress is tediously slow, you might procure the ad- 
 dress of a reliable medium, and engage him to sit imtli you 
 at your oivn home. Very often, the presence of a fully de- 
 veloped medium calls forth the latent powers of a circle, 
 sets them going, as it were, and gives an impetus to their 
 efforts. 
 
 Some mediums are particularly happy in developing 
 others, so that one or two sittings with them will prove 
 what the circle is worth. The presence of a good medium 
 in your seance room, also, will permeate it with its influ- 
 ence and that of his controls, and prepare it (as it were) 
 for the operations of your own spirits. 
 
 Beginners in Spiritualism are often both surprised and 
 disappointed, because spirits, who are either perfect 
 strangers to them, or acquaintances in whom they have 
 taken no interest, manifest, while their own beloved friends 
 do not come at all. 
 
 I know how disappointing this is, for I have experienced 
 it myself. 
 
 When I commenced my investigations, a certain spirit 
 called Priddis, who had been the gardener of an old friend, 
 but almost unknown to myself, used to visit me contin- 
 ously, and, sometimes, to my annoyance, because I thought 
 lie kept other spirits, whom I shoukl rather have commu- 
 nicated with, away. But, through his means, I found out, 
 afterwards, many of my friends were enabled to approach 
 me, who otherwise might not have been able to do so, and 
 when liis work was done, Priddis disappeared, and I have 
 neither heard, nor seen anything of him since. 
 
THE SPIRIT AVORLD. 131 
 
 There is another caution I should like to give to tyros in 
 Spiritualism. Never attempt, by persuasion, or prayers to 
 the Almighty, or earnest entreaty, to invoke spirits who 
 have not come to you of their own accord. Spirits can 
 only visit us as they obtain permission from God, and we 
 should take them as they come, not thinking so much of 
 who they may be, as of the fact that their reappearance on 
 this earth demonstrates the truth that we live forever. 
 
 I have seen the evil effects of a persistent appeal for the 
 reappearance of a particular spirit until the prayer was an- 
 swered, as prayers sometimes are, for the destruction of the 
 suppliant. 
 
 When I first became interested in Spiritualism, and, in 
 my ignorance of the subject, was apt to sit with any 
 one who asked me to do so, a young man, called Charlie 
 
 H , whom I must not designate more particularly, for 
 
 the sake of his friends, used to frequently join our circle. 
 His father was a tutor, and amongst his pupils had been a 
 young man of the name of Edward Ogilvie, to whom 
 Charlie and his brothers and sisters had been, as chil- 
 dren, much attached. Mr. Ogilvie had long before drunk 
 himself to death, but Charlie H cherished a great affec- 
 tion for him, and never sat without asking some of the com- 
 municating spirits to fetch his friend to speak to him. 
 One evening, the name Ogilvie was rapped out, and we 
 thought he had come. It proved, however, to be the spirit 
 of William Ogilvie, a cousin to Edward, who manifested 
 
 for the sole reason of begging Charlie H not to try and 
 
 recall the spirit of his friend, as it was not fit to visit earth, 
 without danger to itself and to him. Charlie, however, 
 would not be advised, and continued to entreat that 
 Edward might be allowed to return, if only for once. At 
 last he came, and continued to come for some little time. 
 I observed, however, that, directly Edward appeared, 
 
132 THE SPIRIT WOELD. 
 
 Charlie would fall across the table in a deep sleep, so that 
 he did not derive much benefit from his friend's commu- 
 nications. But, from that time, from having been a sober, 
 well-conducted young man, Charlie H became so care- 
 less, that three times during the ensuing season I was com- 
 pelled to warn him that, if he took so much liquor at my 
 house, I should leave off inviting him to come there. He 
 made one or two faint efforts to shake off the influence 
 that was creeping so fatally over him; but without success, 
 and in the course of a few years he, too, had drunk himself 
 into an early grave. This case always recurs to my mind 
 when I hear people entreat for certain spirits to be allowed 
 to manifest. 
 
 We are not the best judges of who should, or who should 
 not, come back to us. I would receive every spirit, who 
 wished to communicate with me, with attention and respect; 
 but once I found them to have been careless livers whilst 
 on earth, I would be very careful how I encouraged them 
 to return. And, here, let me say a word as to the spirits 
 with whom you hold converse. Remember that, in dealing 
 with them, you are dealing with mortals who have only 
 cast off their mortality and retained that portion of them- 
 selves by which they could have done you most harm whilst 
 here below, i. e., the spirit, intact. Don't fall into the ab- 
 surd error that, directly a spirit is loosed from the body, it 
 becomes purified and angelic. Most of those who return 
 to this earth, or who have never left it, are far more mortal 
 tlian spiritual ; have passed over, indeed, with so much 
 more humanity than spirituality in their composition that 
 they are almost as gross and carnal as they were whilst on 
 this earth. 
 
 Never hold communication with any spirit who refuses 
 to give you liis name. I^e assured, in that case, that he is 
 ashamed of it, or wishes to pretend to you that he is other 
 
THE SPIRIT WOELD. 133 
 
 than he is. " Try the spirits whether they be of God." 
 And, should they talk frivolously, or wickedly, have noth- 
 ing 7nore io do with them. If they refuse to leave the 
 table, get up and leave it yourself. They will soon under- 
 stand it is useless attempting to gull you. Don^t imagine, 
 because they may swear or abuse you, that they must be, 
 necessarily, emissaries of the devil. They are no more so 
 than the men you meet sometimes in this world — half- 
 brutalized, blaspheming sinners, who hate every one who 
 tries to be a little better than themselves. If you were 
 thrown in the society of such men in this life, you might 
 be tempted to try and do them a little good. In like man- 
 ner, you may often do the poor spirits good, by helping 
 them to wish for better things ; hut not when yon are first 
 commencing to investigate Spiritualism — not until your 
 higher controls have taken possession of your circle, and 
 cast their protection around it, and are able to keep evil 
 influences from coming too near you. If these careless 
 spirits got the ascendancy first, they might never give it 
 up again. You cannot be too particular on this subject. 
 And the way to protect yourselves is to commit your little 
 circle to the protection of God, and ask him not to allow 
 any spirit to approach you, but such as will do you good, 
 instead of evil. 
 
 At the period I have before alluded to, when I knew 
 but little of such matters, and was in the habit of sitting, 
 without respect to the surroundings of the sitters, a great 
 many young men " about town " used to drop in for a 
 seance. But, after a while, I found they brought the 
 spirits of so many "unfortunates" in their train, that my 
 table was literally infested with them. They came for 
 nothing, apparently, but to ask me to pray for them ; but 
 they almost excluded every spirit of a higher condition 
 from my table. This is not to be wondered at, when one 
 
134 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 remembers that each, one of ns is surrounded by a band of 
 influences, not only those who have been given the charge 
 of us, but such as have been attracted to us by a similarity 
 of taste and living. The spirits of drunkards congregate 
 round the man who, spite of all warning, insists upon 
 killing himself by indulgence in his fatal habit ; because 
 they dei'ive some slight pleasure from the refraction of his 
 sensuality ; and their influence, unconsciously acting upon 
 him, drives him on and on, until he has lost all restraint 
 over himself. How well this theory is demonstrated in the 
 following parable : 
 
 ^^When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he 
 walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none; 
 then he saith : ' I will return into my house, from whence 
 I came out ' ; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, 
 swept and garnished. Then goeth he and taketh unto 
 himself seven other spirits, more wicked than himself, and 
 they enter in and dwell there, and the last state of that 
 man is worse than the first." 
 
 So that we cannot be too careful with whom we hold 
 converse, in the body or out. I had a most interesting 
 conversation with my old friend, John King, the other day 
 on this subject. For the benefit of such of my readers 
 who may never have heard of John King, I may say that 
 he is the father of the celebrated Katie King, who used to 
 appear so regularly, at one time, through Florence Cook 
 (now Mrs. Elgie Corner). The name adopted by both 
 father and daughter is assumed, John King's real name 
 being Sir Henry I)e Morgan, and his daughter's, Annie 
 Owen De Morgan. Sir Henry was a buccaneer, or pirate, who 
 lived during the reign of Charles tlie First, and through part 
 of that of Cromwell. He was a bold sea-rover ; aiul, after 
 an exciting career, was executed for treason, on the high 
 seas. But, whatever he may liave been whilst on earthy 
 
THE SPIKIT WORLD. 135 
 
 he appears to liave entirely expiated his sins now, and to 
 have become one of the best and kindest of spirits, always 
 working for the good of others. I have known him 
 through AVilliams, and Heme, and Eglinton, and Husk, 
 and always the same in voice and feature and general kind- 
 heartedness. I derived great pleasure, a short time back, 
 by receiving, through the goodness of M. James Tissot, the 
 French artist, a lovely engraving of his picture, entitled 
 " L^ Apparition Mediumistique.^^ The painting represents 
 M. Tissot's first wife, supported by John King, as he pre- 
 fers to be called. M. Tissot sat with William Eglinton, 
 when on a visit to London, and was so charmed by the 
 appearance of his first wife, to whom he was tenderly at- 
 tached, that he invited Mr. Eglinton over to Paris, and, 
 whilst there, he painted, from their materialized forms, 
 the portraits of both Madame Tissot and John King. The 
 oil painting was, I understand, exhibited in the Paris 
 • Salon, and a favored few of M. Tissot's friends have re- 
 ceived an engraving of it. I am proud to number myself 
 amongst them, and the engraving has a double value for 
 me, not only as a memento of the giver, but because the 
 portrait of John King is exactly as he has appeared to me, 
 through each one of the mediums I have named. It repre- 
 sents him as an exceedingly handsome man, of about forty, 
 with high-bred Jewish features, and a most benevolent 
 cast of countenance. He appears as though supporting 
 Madame Tissot, or encouraging her to come forward. Both 
 hold a spirit light, of the size and shape of an egg, in their 
 hands, and, whilst the young woman is looking up shyly, 
 John King glances down with a sort of patronizing, or 
 paternal, air upon her. I prize this engraving more than 
 any other spiritualistic memento I possess. John King 
 told me that I could have no idea of the large number of 
 spirits it took in order to make one seance a success. " I 
 
136 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 have, at this moment/' he said, ^'a band, or cordon of spir- 
 its surrounding this house, of perhaps a quarter of a mile 
 in width, and, beyond them, I have stationed my out-posts 
 and pickets to give the alarm, if necessary." " The alarm 
 for what, John?'' I asked. "In case any malevolent spir- 
 its should try to approach the circle I They would do so, 
 soon enough, if they had the opportunity. Perhaps it will 
 astonish you to hear that there is more opposition in the 
 spheres against Spiritualism than there is on this plane. 
 Many spirits consider that I, and others like me, are wrong 
 to visit this earth after we have left it. They say we cannot 
 do so without carrying back a taint of mortality when we 
 return, to the detriment of those who dwell in the spheres.' 
 This was an entirely new idea to me, but I saw the force 
 of it, from my own small experience. The other world is 
 very much like this one. Men do not immediately part 
 with their prejudices there, any more than with their follies 
 and vices. If Jones was a liar whilst upon earth, don't 
 swallow everything he may tell you, when he returns here; 
 for, rest assured that, by the time his spirit has been thor- 
 oughly purged of its worldly wickedness, it will have soared 
 too high to return, except as a preacher, to his fellow-men. 
 But, for my own part, I should be dubious of believing 
 him to the end of time. So be wary. See all you can, and 
 hear all you can, and weigh the proofs of sincerity in a 
 nicely adjusted balance. But if your spirituality is in 
 yourself; if you are sincere and circumspect, Jones (and 
 such as Jones) will not come near you; or if your acquaint- 
 ances leave them behind them (as mine did), they will 
 cleave to you only so long as you encourage them to do so. 
 I got rid, during my earliest experiences, of a very unpleas- 
 ant spirit who used to annoy us with his language and 
 sentiment, by simply leaving the table whenever he ap- 
 peared. He used to attempt to disguise himself by assum- 
 
THE SPIKIT WORLD. 137 
 
 ing false names, and pretending to be extremely pious, but 
 we always found him out in the end and instantly broke 
 up the seance. When he found we were in earnest and 
 kept to our word, he took himself off, and, for years, I have 
 heard nothing of him. Treat all careless, " larking " and 
 low-minded spirits in the same fashion, and they will not 
 trouble you long. But the surest remedy is to see that no 
 careless, or ungodly, person joins your circle. Keep your 
 seance room free from all bad, earthly influences, and the 
 spiritual ones will not come near you. 
 
138 
 
 CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 WHAT SPIRITS HAVE SAID TO ME. 
 
 Many people have asked me the question : " But what 
 do the spirits tell you about the place they live in ? What 
 are their dwellings like? Do they sleep and eat and drink 
 like mortals? Have they any employment? In fact, what 
 is the next world like ? " One of my correspondents has 
 gone so far as to tell me, not too politely, that if my 
 spirits cannot answer such questions, to gratify the 
 curiosity of man, they are no good at all. I am saying the 
 same thing over and over again ; still, it seems necessary, 
 once more, to repeat that the use of Spiritualism is to 
 demonstrate that there is another world, not to make us so 
 excited by a description of it, as to cause us, perhaps, to 
 lose half our interest in this one. " If they can^t do that, 
 they can do nothing ! ^' says one sceptic, rudely. I never 
 supposed that they could not do it. That they may not 
 be 2)ermitted to do it (for reasons into which we cannot 
 enter), is a much more likely theory. How much of the 
 mysteries of another world did Christ reveal to His 
 disciples, and the people lie preached to? Positively 
 nothing! lie mentioned it constantly, but he never gave 
 any description of its joys or pleasures ; of what they were 
 to consist, or with whom partaken. The only allusion to 
 the happiness of Heaven in the Scriptures is in the text : 
 " Eye liath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered 
 into the heart of man, the things which God hath pre- 
 ])ared for them who love Him." If* the disciples were left 
 without a more particular knowledge of the glories of 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 139 
 
 Heaven, why should we, degenerate mortals, expect to en- 
 joy a further revelation? And, again, you may hold con- 
 verse with a dozen spirits and each one may come from 
 a different sphere. "In my Father's house are many 
 mansions ; if it were not so, I would have told you." The 
 spirits which come from the lower spheres, know ho more 
 than ourselves, with the exception of the blessed truth, 
 that there is no death. They smile at our innate fear of 
 death ; for, though, with them, to ascend to a higher sphere 
 entails a sleep-like death, having once passed through it, 
 they think no more of it than we do of lying down in our 
 beds after a long day's work. Of course, it is not likely 
 that I should have had so many opportunities of convers- 
 ing with spirits without putting questions to them about 
 their lives in the other world, and what they do there, etc. 
 I have sat for hours, sometimes, talking with them, through 
 trance-mediumship, on all sorts of subjects ; but, as I did 
 not take shorthand notes at the time, it is as difficult to 
 remember all that we said to each other as it would be to 
 recall the conversations I have had with my fellow-mortals. 
 As with all friendly converse, however, if we cannot 
 remember the exact words used, the effect of the com- 
 munication remains on our memory : so my mind is imbued 
 with spiritual ideas and revelations, though I could not 
 transcribe them, word for word. But they have, mostly, 
 been explanations of God's dealings with men, and the 
 punishments we bring on ourselves by wilful sin, and very 
 seldom descriptions of the spirits' dwelling-place. It seems 
 to me, as if this revealing of trivialties were either forbidden 
 or disapproved of. For, were it all deception, how easy it 
 would be for them to invent a picture of perfect happi- 
 ness. But, from all I have gathered at various times, I 
 have never heard one word that differed from the Bible 
 teaching, nor one that did not promise a purgatory for 
 
140 THE SPIKIT WORLD. 
 
 those who do not love God, and peace for those who do. 
 I was speaking to a spirit called Aimee, once, on the im- 
 portance or non-importance of creeds. We were sitting 
 either side of a small, round table, at the time, and Aimee 
 put her hand on the center of it. 
 
 "Creeds,^^ she said ; "creeds are some of the wickedest 
 things on earth. They have caused more bloodshed, and 
 wrangling, and hatred, and wrong, than all the wicked 
 people put together. Do you suppose there will be any 
 creeds in the spheres? Do you think they will ask, when 
 men go over there, if they are Jews, or Catholics, or 
 Protestants? ISTot a bit of it! They will be judged by 
 only one standard: Have they tried to love God and their 
 fellow-men ? If they have been cruel to them, they have 
 been cruel to God. It will be no excuse that they did it 
 for the sake of religion. They will be told that such 
 religion is a lie. Here is God," she continued, putting her 
 finger on the center of the table ; " some of you crawl 
 round the table before you reach Him ; some take a short 
 cut right across ; others lose their way, and wander about 
 as if they were in a labyrinth. But what does it matter, 
 do you think, so long as they get to Him at last? God 
 looks down and laughs at your creeds. He would rather 
 see a man, who never goes to church, share his crust with 
 some one who wanted it worse than himself, than hear 
 all the prayers of all the churches." 
 
 " Shall we all get to Him at last, Aimee ? " I asked. 
 
 " Most certainly you will. It may be a long ' at last ' for 
 some — thousands and thousands of years, perhaps, I can- 
 not tell — but no one can ever be lost forever, as your 
 parsons say, and I'll tell you why : When God created 
 man. Ho breathed into him the breath of life, and ' man 
 became a living soul.' So, you see, man's soul is the 
 breath of God, part of the life of God, and part of God'j 
 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 141 
 
 life can never be damned forever. There^s where the 
 parsons make such a mistake ; a big mistake, that they 
 will have to correct some day. They will have to — what 
 do you call it in English ? — eat their oivn words. They 
 have put words into the Bible that were never there. They 
 tell people that God created man to be good and happy ; 
 that He intended him to live on this earth forever, but 
 that his own disobedience upset everything. Then, if this 
 is true, God's designs turned out a failure. Don't you 
 see that, if you designed a piece of work to be straight, 
 and it turned out crooked, people would say you did not 
 know what you were about, and your work was a failure. 
 God's work can't be a failure ; so, if He meant men and 
 women to be happy and good, they tuill be happy and 
 good, though they may delay the accomplishment of God's 
 perfect work for a little time. But God's breath in hell — 
 the only part of man that lives forever, to live in hell — 
 that is rubbish, believe me. The parsons tell you, too, 
 that Christ died for all men, the just and the unjust, that 
 they might be saved. If that is so, then, if one man only 
 is not saved, Christ's death was a failure. But the people 
 who preach about Him never seem to see the discrepancies 
 in their teachings. If God were a man, of course, an 
 occasional failure would only be natural ; but, since He is 
 omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, a failure must 
 be impossible with Him, especially one that involved all 
 creation. It is a terrible, a wicked idea, to instill into men's 
 minds, that God would condemn the creatures He made, 
 and loves, to everlasting punishment. What is the good of 
 a punishment, unless it is to teach people to do better in 
 the future ? How can a punishment that lasts forever give 
 any one an opportunity of doing better ? What would be 
 the use of repenting ? It would be needless torture. God 
 is not a fiend like that — He is your loving Father." 
 
142 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 '^ Are you very happy, Aimee ? Do not you, sometimes, 
 wish to return to earth, since you left it so early ? '^ 
 
 '^ Never ! I would not return, if I could. I am sorry 
 
 for poor A " (naming the man she was engaged to 
 
 he married to). " But, after all, it was for his good that I 
 was taken away, and I can watch over him better now than 
 I ever could have done in this life. You want me to tell you 
 about my present home. There is nothing to tell. I am 
 a little nurse-maid, that is all. I am in the sphere where 
 all the little babies, who die before they know right from 
 wrong, come, and I look after them. Your daughter, 
 [Florence, is in the same sphere. She came here when she 
 passed over, and we are great friends.'^ 
 
 " How many babies do you have to look after at a time, 
 Aimee ? '' 
 
 " Four or five. Just now I have a poor, little boy under 
 my charge, who was burned to death. He cannot forget 
 the pain yet. It was so terrible.'^ 
 
 " Do you eat and drink in your sphere, Aimee ; and 
 what do you wear ? And do you ever sleep ? '' 
 
 *' What a lot of questions you ask at a time. But I am 
 not sure if I may answer them all. Yes, we eat and drink ; 
 but not the same sort of things that you do. We can 
 clothe ourselves with our thoughts ; i. e., anything which 
 we may think of appejirs upon us ; that is why spirits, that 
 yisit their friends after deatli, often seem to be wearing the 
 clothes they did whilst on earth. Because, in thinking of 
 returning, they have thought, perhaps, of the last time 
 they saw the friend they wish to visit, and so the clothes 
 they wore then appear with them. As to sleei)iiig, we rest, 
 but we do not sleep as you do — we do not lose consciousness. 
 AVe have the power to stop all brain action at will, so that 
 a perfect rest ensues, though we know what is going on 
 around us the while." 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 143 
 
 '' Dewdrop " has never been very confidential with, re- 
 gard to her spiritual surroundings. She has told me that 
 she lives in a wigwam, with her mate, The West Wind. 
 She has described him as a very handsome " brave/' young, 
 and very much attached to her ; but, though Dewdrop is 
 so very open on other subjects, calling a " spade a spade/' 
 without the slightest ceremony, I have observed a remark- 
 able reticence in her whenever she approaches the subject 
 of her affections. She scorns the idea of letting The West 
 Wind visit this sphere, or showing himself to mortals. 
 When I remarked to her, on one occasion : " But you can- 
 not marry in the spheres, as we do on earth ? " her answer 
 was : " What is the best part of your earth marriages ? Isn't 
 it when, at some moment, you seem suddenly to realize 
 the truth that the man you love is really one with your- 
 self — one in heart and soul and body ? I know it's very, very 
 seldom that it happens in earth life ; but it does, some- 
 times, and then you feel it is worth all the rest put to- 
 gether, and a glad conviction enters your soul that you will 
 have love forever, and ever, and ever. That's what our 
 marriages are like — the very best part of yours, the very 
 cream of it." 
 
 When I lost my eldest daughter, my grief was very ter- 
 rible at first, and I Avas in despair for some time after- 
 wards. I neither saw, nor heard, anything of her, and 
 Dewdrop's efforts to console me I shall never forget. 
 
 "Look here, Florence," she would say, "you mustn't 
 fret after Eva like this. You mustn't fancy, because you 
 don't see her yet, that God is angry with you or her. Now, 
 let me tell you ; it's just this way : When Eva was a little 
 child, you always loved her too much to hurt her ; but, if 
 she was disobedient, or naughty, in any way, you used to 
 " say : ' Now, my child, you have forgotten what I said to 
 you again. I don't want to whip you, because I love you 
 
144 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 too much ; but I must make you remember what I say, so 
 just go into that corner, and stay there till I give you leave 
 to come out/ That's what God has done with her. Eva 
 was what the world calls a good woman ; but she often did 
 things she knew were wrong, as we all do, and so God has 
 put her m the corner , to make her rememher. She wants to 
 come back, and see you, and her sisters, and her children ; 
 but He says : ' Not yet ; when you have learned the lesson 
 I design to teach you, then you shall go." '' 
 
 " Is she quite happy, Dewdrop ? '^ 
 
 " Not yet ; but she is not in pain, and she is not un- 
 happy. I often see her. I can do so now. She is in a 
 large garden, quite alone, sitting under a tree, with her 
 baby in her arms. Her hair is loose ; it falls down to her 
 knees. She is very thoughtful. She is thinking of you, 
 and her life whilst here ; but she knows that, some day, 
 you will all be together again. And she will come back to 
 you whilst you are on this earth '' (which prophecy has al- 
 ready been fulfilled). 
 
 Every description given to me by spirits of God's deal- 
 ings with men has been so touching, so merciful, so fatherly 
 and just, so unlike the dreadful hell-fire and pitchfork 
 teachings of this world. A general theory with them ap- 
 pears to be that of expiation — that whatever sins we have 
 committed in the flesh we shall have to undo again when 
 we pass over. Once, when speaking of a relative whom I 
 very much dislike, I said : '' I hope to goodness I shall 
 never meet him again in the other world," and the answer 
 was : " On the contrary, he will, in all probability, be the 
 very companion chosen for you on entering spiritual ex- 
 istence. You will be compelled to live with him, until 
 you have discovered all his virtues and your own faults, 
 and see how much bettor lie would have been, if you had 
 known how to be his friend, instead of his enemy." 
 
 A; 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 145 
 
 Aimee, in speaking of future punishment, once said to 
 me : 
 
 " If you were teaching your little girl how to sew, and 
 she brought you her daily task, carelessly done, with gob- 
 bled stitches and dirty thread, what should you do? '^ 
 
 " I should tell her to unpick, and do it all over again,"' 
 I replied. 
 
 " Now, youVe got at the very root of the matter. That 
 is how God deals with us. He makes us unpicJc our lives, 
 and do them all over again. '" 
 
 And, in support of this argument, a very striking in- 
 cident happened, under my cognizance, but lately. A 
 young relative of mine, called Annie, who was a married 
 woman, with a large family of little children, had deter- 
 mined, in her own mind, that she would not have any more 
 babies. There was some excuse for her, as her husband 
 was not able to support them, and they were becoming a 
 source of serious difficulty to her. So, when she found 
 she was likely again to become a mother, she was rash 
 enough to adopt some one of the various remedies sug- 
 gested for such difficulties, with the result that she lost her 
 own life, as well as that of her expected child. For some 
 time after her death, she was described to me as being in 
 a state of great melancholy, if not of suffering, and, more 
 than once, I was told that, till she had expiated the sin of 
 destroying her own child, by preserving the life of another, 
 she would not be free to progress. Last year, I had a bride 
 and bridegroom staying, for a few weeks, in my house, the 
 bride having been a warm and intimate friend of the 
 young relative I allude to. One evening, when Mrs. 
 Russell Davis was at my house, the young couple also 
 being present, she was, unexpectedly, entranced, and the 
 voice of Annie, who had never manifested before, was 
 heard uttering, with some difficulty, the words: 
 
146 THE SPIRIT WOELD. 
 
 " Tell Mary— not— to do— as I did/' 
 
 That was all. As the voice ceased, the manifestation 
 ended, and the medium returned to her normal condition. 
 Naturally, I could not say anything that night. But the 
 next morning, as I walked with Mary, alone, in the gar- 
 den, I introduced the subject as delicately as I could, and 
 found out that she was in precisely the same position as 
 my poor, young friend had been — with the prospect of be- 
 coming a mother, and hazarding her life to prevent it. 
 When I entreated her to let matters take their course, the 
 excuse was the one I have heard so often before. " But we 
 can't afford to have a family," etc., etc. However, after 
 some amount of argument and pleading, she gave in^ and 
 promised me that she would not do anything more to prevent 
 what was before her. Soon afterwards, she and her hus- 
 band left my house, and I only saw Mary at intervals. 
 " Dewdrop " and " Ned '' and " Florence '' were very busy 
 that summer, they told me, as they had to travel some dis- 
 tance every evening, in order to magnetize Mary to sleep, 
 as she was suffering from insomnia. 
 
 " Why do you take such an interest in Mary VI asked. 
 
 "' Because, if her child is born strong and well, Annie's 
 child will be taken out of her arms and given to another 
 spirit to nurse for her." 
 
 *' Do you mean to say that she has carried it in her arms 
 all this time ? " (It was six years since Annie had passed 
 over.) 
 
 " Always ! She has never been allowed to put it down 
 for a single moment. That was her penance : to look at 
 the face of the baby she destroyed, every moment of her 
 existence. But she lias saved Mary's baby, and the minute 
 its earthly life commences, her penance will be over." 
 
 Mary's baby was expected to arrive about the middle of 
 December, but no one knew any further. On the evening 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 147 
 
 of the 22d, I was sitting with Mrs. Russell Davis, and en- 
 joying the manifestation of various direct voices, when I 
 heard that of Annie, addressing me : 
 
 '^ 0, thank God with me ! " she exclaimed, " thank God 
 with me ! " 
 
 " What for, Annie VI asked. 
 
 " I am free — I am free — I am free ! " she replied, each 
 sentence rising in crescendo, till she spoke as loud as she 
 could. 
 
 The next morning I received a telegram to say that 
 Mary's baby had been born at five o'clock the previous 
 afternoon, a fine, strong, healthy boy, as he has continued 
 ever since. Since that time, Annie has manifested far more 
 frequently than she ever did before, and tells me she is 
 free to visit the little children she left behind her, without 
 a mother's care. 
 
 Florence has tried hard to describe her home in the 
 spiritual sphere to me, but says that our language lacks 
 words to express half she wants to say. In America, it may 
 be remembered, she spoke of her " fields of roses," which 
 she felt powerless to describe farther ; of the " blue flowers " 
 (typical of happiness) which she and I were to pluck to- 
 gether, and of the white " lilies " with which she always 
 seemed surrounded. She has told me, since, that she will 
 not leave her present sphere (although she might be in a 
 much higher one) until I join her there; for, that our spirits 
 are so closely united, one cannot rise without the other. 
 Once she attempted to make me realize her spiritual home, 
 but added that spiritual habitations changed with the will 
 of the inhabitant. The house she was returning to, on 
 that occasion, was entirely built of roses. She said the 
 walls were made of the heads of every kind of roses piled 
 up and " squashed together." But she has lived in houses 
 which looked like alabaster, and others, like clear stones. 
 
148 THE SPIRIT AVORLD. 
 
 Mrs. Russell Davis^ little daughter Mab, it may be re- 
 membered, cried because she could not have a frock like 
 " Mrs. Lean's girl/' by which she meant my Gertie. When 
 asked to described the frock she so much coveted, she 
 said it was all " white and clear, with gold flowers moving 
 about it as if they were alive and something red under- 
 neath them.^^ 
 
 Florence has always been so clairvoyantly robed in white, 
 with blue flowers in her hair and bosom. Gertie herself 
 told me, on the memorable occasion so ridiculed by the 
 editor of *' Truth," that she wore a frock and sash, and 
 when her brother Francis " chevied '^ her round the foun- 
 tain, he pushed her under the " silver water " and it wetted 
 her sash. I asked her how she got her frock and sash, and 
 what they were like, and she said that Florence gave them 
 to her ; that her frock was " like cobwebs, and her sash 
 like flowers." The higher spirits are all dressed in white. 
 Dark or dull colors appear to indicate an earth-bound, or 
 unhappy condition. 
 
 Phyllis G , an actress, with whom I was, at one 
 
 time, intimate, has told me that the sphere, in which she 
 was first located, was too awful for description. She said it 
 was a country, without verdure, or water, or light. That it 
 was always dusk, and tlie ground was composed of cinders, 
 so that walking was painful, and the spirits, for the most 
 part, crawled about it on their knees. Phyllis had been 
 worse than careless during her lifetime, but it shocked me 
 to hear she was undergoing such a penalty. I asked her 
 what sort of people she was associated witli, and the answer 
 was : " The worst possible ; murderers and thieves." 
 
 " But, Phyllis," I exclaimed, " what aflinity luid you with 
 such as these ? " 
 
 " I was a liar," she replied, "and there cannot be a worse 
 sin than tliat of liabitual lying. If a man can descend to 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 149 
 
 lying, he will stop at nothing. It is only our fellow-men 
 whom we fear. We let God see what we hide from them.'^ 
 This spirit had indulged in the fatal habit of drinking 
 whilst on earth, and her agony, when wine or beer was on 
 the table, or in the room, to find she could no longer in- 
 dulge in it, was terrible to listen to. I have heard people 
 say that, since Spiritualism gives a denial to the old world 
 doctrine of eternal damnation, it must have a bad eifect on 
 the minds of sinners; since, if the universal belief was that 
 everybody would, eventually, be happy, no one would try 
 to be saved from the beginning. This is a gross error. I 
 have never imagined a more dreadful hell than the spirits 
 have described to me : Truly, the " worm that dieth not, i 
 and the fire that is not quenched." Fancy every wrong 
 word we utter being spoken into the phonograph to be re- 
 produced to endless ages ; every wrong act we commit be- 
 ing photographed and preserved for the contemplation of 
 posterity ; and then fancy the utterers of those words, the 
 doers of those deeds, being compelled to walk through a 
 gallery of their own misdoings, whilst their blasphemies and 
 obscenities sound on their ears, and all who walk with them 
 know they did the deeds and said the words ! Fancy the 
 filthy-minded and impure, in body, being submerged in a 
 sea of slime, too horrible for words to describe, which gets 
 into their mouths and nostrils, and clings to their gar- 
 ments^ and besmirches every part of them with its foul 
 stench and feeling ! This is what Dewdrop told me, but 
 the other day, was the sphere for those men and women 
 who forgot their sex, and their humanity. When I begin 
 to think of what my spirit friends have taught me, and 
 what they have told me, I feel as if they had transformed 
 all my preconceived ideas of the future. They have shown 
 me how, in the words of the Great Mikado, of Gilbert and 
 Sullivan, ''the punishment fits the crime"; how the words 
 
150 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 of St. John are fulfilled to the letter : " He who is unjust, 
 let iiim be unjust still, and he that is filthy, let him be 
 filthy still, and he that is righteous, let him be righteous 
 still.^^ And never have my spirit friends said one word to 
 me to weaken my faith in the goodness of God, or His 
 immaculate justice and mercy. 
 
 Only the other day, my daughter Eva, writing to me, 
 commenced her letter with : '•^ Mother ! if you only 
 knew the immensity of the love and goodness of God.^' 
 And I have reason to have complete faith in what they tell 
 me. 
 
 Ten years ago, I asked Dewdrop if I should ever bear 
 another living child. I was anxious at that time to do so ; 
 and there seemed to be every probability that I should. 
 She considered for a few moments, and then replied, in an 
 uncertain manner: "I don^t know quite how to answer 
 your question. I don't see any present probability of it, 
 and yet I seem to see, in the far future, a younger influence 
 growing up beside you, and it is certainly yours — but it 
 isn't Frank's'' (meaning my husband, Colonel Lean), "no ! 
 there is none of his blood in it, only yours — yours. This 
 prophecy made the domestic hearth flare up a little more 
 brilliantly than usual, an^ I always regretted that Dewdrop 
 had mentioned the subject, particularly as it seemed to be 
 quite unlikely of realization. This very month, however, 
 quite twelve years afterwards — now I come to remember 
 dates — her prophecy has been fulfilled, by the charge of a 
 little child, belonging to a near relative, having been thrown 
 completely on my hands, where she will remain till my 
 death, or hers. And so she will grow up beside me — this 
 younger influence that has my blood in her veins, and not 
 my husband's — as Dewdrop foretold. Again and again 
 have I listened to prophecies from the lips of my spirit 
 friends that appeared the unlikeliest things in the world to 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 151 
 
 come to pass, but they have always heen fulfilled, and I 
 never doubt, now, but that they will be. 
 
 Two years ago, Dewdrop told me that a great confer- 
 ence had been called in the spheres, and the spirits had 
 come to the conclusion that Spiritualism had not made 
 the progress it should have done, since it was first re-in- 
 troduced to the earth, then forty years ago. They had 
 seen that it had progressed only amongst the lower classes, 
 and that, in order to give it an impetus, it must be brought 
 before the notice of a more educated and refined set of 
 people. They had, therefore, determined to select a certain 
 number of laborers for the cause, who should have access 
 to a higher circle of society, and amongst those chosen 
 were Bessie Russell Davis and myself. "And mind," 
 said Dewdrop, in conclusion, " that our workers will be 
 paid, and well paid, into the bargain. We shall see to that, 
 because, we know, that whilst you live you must eat and 
 drink ; and no man can afford to give up his means of 
 subsistence, even for the cause he has most at heart. But 
 you will have to work, whether you wish it, or not." 
 
 This declaration has been followed by my having been 
 the means of introducing the pursuit of Spiritualism to 
 hundreds of people in the upper classes, so-called ; and to 
 having brought forward mediums, and established circles, 
 where they were never dreamt of before. Quite accident- 
 ally, as it seemed, a proposition was made to me, this 
 spring, to deliver a course of lectures, in the provinces, on 
 Spiritualism, which I saw fit to accept. It was so success- 
 ful that it is to be followed by an extended tour in the 
 autumn, and just about the time when this little book 
 meets the public eye, I expect to be visiting town after 
 town on that account. All this came about without the 
 least exertion on my own account ; and, I have no doubt, 
 was all designed, and put into execution, by my spirit 
 
152 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 friends. M}- friend, Mrs. Davis, could also tell you that 
 she has never been so busy in her life before. Strangers 
 pour in upon her from ever}^ quarter of the globe, for 
 sittings with "Ned" or "Dewdrop"; men from the Antip- 
 odes, who require oil or water located, for their business ; 
 professional ladies and gentlemen out of an engagement ; 
 mothers who have lost their children (and these are the 
 most generous clients, as they are the most faithful lovers) ; 
 wives separated from their husbands ; husbands, who 
 would like to be separated from their wives; all these, 
 and dozens of other poor mortals, who cannot see a yard 
 before their noses, and long to find out if they are steering, 
 right or wrong, for the haven of happiness, take up her 
 time so fully, that it is difficult to get a sitting with her 
 at all. Many other workers for the cause have, doubtless, 
 been chosen by the spirits (of which I feel certain, although 
 I have no authority for saying so, that Mrs. Corner and 
 
 Mr. B will form two), and Spiritualism will find its 
 
 way, more and more, into the circles of the educated and 
 highly bred. The fault has been, that it has been left to 
 strike its roots for so long amongst those whom we con- 
 sider ignorant and unfit to associate with. It is a science, 
 which the most learned of men have found themselves un- 
 able to cope with ; how, then, could we have expected it 
 to flourish when its knowledge, or rather practice, was 
 confined to those who took it as it came, and had not the 
 capability, nor power, to analyze whence it was, or by 
 whom directed? I received a very grai^hic reply from a 
 spirit, to whom I had put the question, why mediums, as 
 a rule, were such ignorant, and often, brainless people. 
 "Because we don't want a furnished house,'* she said; 
 " we want an empty one. If tlie brain is too full, and 
 capable, there is no room in it for us. AVe cannot oust the 
 spirit, nor i)ut it to sleep. It is like a wide-awake child. 
 
THE SPIKIT WORLD. 153 
 
 Directly we think it is off, it rouses up again. We can- 
 not compete with an active, inquiring, clever head. We 
 must work through the simpler organizations, and leave 
 the profound ones to realize that we are truly there. The 
 medium knows nothing of what is going on while she, or 
 he, is asleep, you see. If we were to influence the clever 
 ones, who would be left to spread the knowledge of 
 Spiritualism ? " 
 
 There are one or two private experiences, which have 
 occurred to me lately, that, I think^ I might, appropriately, 
 introduce into this chapter, which is so wholly personal. 
 Bessie Davis has touched on one of them in her reminis- 
 cences, but she did not give it in extenso, so it will bear 
 repetition here. It is in reference to ^' Ned,^^ and my horse. 
 Beauty-boy. I purchased this horse as a colt, and broke 
 him in myself, i. e., very badly indeed, so that he took 
 all kinds of liberties with me. One day, a well-known 
 palmist looked at my hand, and said to me : " You drive 
 a spirited horse, in a high cart, do you not?^^ I answered 
 in the affirmative, and he continued : " If you do not part 
 with him, you will have a serious accident. I see a horse 
 frightened by a train, paralzyed with terror, and bolting 
 down a road. I see twenty minutes of agonized suspense, 
 and then a crash, and darkness. You will not be killed, 
 but you will sustain a fracture of the skull, which will be 
 followed by months of inertion, and incapacity for work. 
 If you wish to avoid this, get rid of that horse at once.^^ 
 I felt duly impressed by this warning, especially, as my 
 friends did not consider the colt safe, and had been worry- 
 ing me, for some time past, to sell him. I did not under- 
 stand, however, how it was that " Ned ^' had not cautioned 
 me with regard to him, and when I put the question to 
 him, he laughed at the palmist's prophecy. 
 
 " D'ye suppose, lass," he said, in his rough way, " that if 
 
154 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 theer was any danger, I'd have let you drive liim for so 
 long? It's naught but coltishness, and his fun leike. 
 You don't drive Mm, he drives you ! Keep a tight hand 
 on him, lass, and hell be all right. Never you fear.^^ I 
 was convinced, for a time, but my friends were not, and 
 begged me, so hard, to follow the advice, which coincided 
 with their own opinion, that I put the horse, for sale, into 
 a jobber's hands, and the next day a purchaser was found 
 for him, and my Beauty-boy was led out of my gate. As 
 soon as he was gone, I repented me of the evil, and wanted 
 him back again. I fretted for a week, during which time 
 " Ned '' chaffed me, unmercifully, on my want of decision, 
 and, finally, I sent for the jobber and asked him if he could 
 buy the animal back for me. He said he supposed it 
 might be done, if I were disposed to give half again as 
 much money as I had received for him, only a week be- 
 fore. He had been purchased by a captain of volunteers, 
 for a charger, and he did not feel inclined to part with his 
 bargain. I did not see the fun of rebuying my property 
 at so exorbitant a rate of interest, so I flew again to 
 " Ned '' and asked what I should do. 
 
 "AY ell, I told't thee, lass, not to pairt with the colt. I 
 told't tliee it were only coltishness-loike on his pairt that 
 made him spirity. Awh, well ! and now ye want to git 
 him back. Well, I'll try to see wliat I can do for ye, but 
 I don't see no way at present; but we'll see what's to 
 be done.'^ 
 
 I thanked him, but returned to my home without any 
 hope tliat I should got back my favorite. The next day, 
 however, I received a hasty note from tlie jobber to say: " If 
 you really want your horse back again, send me a check 
 for the money you received for him and I think I can 
 
 manage it for you. Captain J took liim out to sword 
 
 exercise this morning and he kicked him twice over his 
 
THE SPIRIT AVORLD. 155 
 
 head; so, as he is a timid rider, he declares he will not 
 mount him, again. But if you want him, don^t delay to 
 send the money, as if the news that he is in the market gets 
 wind in the town, there will be more than one offer for him 
 by to-morrow morning/^ 
 
 I sent the check back by the bearer of the note, and^ 
 before night. Beauty-boy was housed in his own stall. 
 Naturally, I hurried to ''' Ned " with the news. " How did 
 it happen, Ned ? ^^ I asked. " I cannot understand it at 
 all. Beauty-boy has never kicked in his life before. It is 
 not one of his faults. What made him do it? What 
 would Captain J have done to him ? " 
 
 " The captain didn^t do nothing, lass," was his quiet re- 
 ply. "I was theer myself, and I tickled him under the 
 tail" 
 
 I have experienced two instances of a spirit appearing 
 immediately after death, lately. The first was that of my 
 own dear daughter, Eva, who passed away, in my house, at 
 twenty minutes to eight o'clock, in the evening of a cer- 
 tain 20th of July. She died in childbirth, and her death 
 was very unexpected and sudden. An hour before it oc- 
 curred, the doctor attending her assured me she was no 
 more dying than I was myself. Her oldest brother, Frank, 
 was touring the provinces, at the time, with a theatrical 
 com2)any, and the only intimation he had received of his 
 sister's illness was in a hurried note from myself, in which 
 I had told him of her illness, and added : " The doctor as- 
 sures me there is no danger ; but I cannot help feeling 
 anxious." On the evening she passed away, he returned 
 from his theatre about eleven o'clock, and went to bed. 
 He had a friend occupying the same room, and, after 
 Frank had dropped off to sleep, this friend woke him, say- 
 ing : " Do look there. There is a woman standing at the 
 bottom of your bed." My son did as his friend desired 
 
156 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 liim, and distinctly saw his sister in the direction pointed 
 out to him. She was remarkable, through life, for the 
 length and luxuriance of her hair, which was unbound, he 
 told me, and hanging loose to her knees. She was dressed 
 in her night-gown, and stood there for some minutes, 
 smiling sadly at him. The sight made such an impression 
 on him, that he wired me the first thing in the morning: 
 ^' Send news of Eva.'"' His telegram was crossed on the 
 road by one from me: '^" Eva left us last evening at eight 
 o^clock.'^ 
 
 An old and very dear friend of mine, whom I will call by 
 her Christian name, " Annette,'^ passed away, also, very sud- 
 denly, of pneumonia, some two years since. She had just 
 moved into a house near mine, and I was with her during 
 her last hours. She was, apparently, unconscious, for some 
 time before she breathed her last, and her son and daughter 
 fancied that she could not hear, or know anything that 
 was going on around her. I cautioned them once or 
 twice with regard to what they said, telling them that we 
 can never be quite certain when complete unconsciousness 
 has set in with a dying person. After she was gone, as- 
 sisted by her daughter, I washed and laid out her body, 
 and placed some white chrysanthemums and maiden-hair 
 fern about the bed and pillow. I must tell you that, 
 about a month previous to her demise, my friend had asked 
 to accompany me to one of Mr. Towns' seances, as she was 
 very desirous of asking him a few questions. Annette, 
 like many other married women, had not led a particularly 
 enviable existence, and had been, virtually, separated from 
 her husband for some time past. The questions which 
 she, mentally, put to Mr. Towns were : first, would her 
 troubles soon be over? secondly, would she be worried 
 by lier husband's presence in her new house ? and, thirdly, 
 would her money affairs come all right? As these queries 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 157 
 
 were put mentally, I, of course, only heard the answers,, 
 which were given aloud, and were as follows : " Very soon. 
 He will never enter it. Don^t worry about that, or any- 
 thing.^^ As we left Mr. Towns^ house, Annette squeezed 
 my arm and ejaculated joyfully; " I am so happy ! He 
 has satisfied me on every particular ! '' She then told me 
 what her questions had been, and the fears she had enter- 
 tained with regard to her husband pursuing her to her new 
 abode. A month after, she had gone from all trouble for- 
 ever, and the house was still unpolluted by her husband's 
 presence. She died in the early dawn of a Wednesday 
 morning, and as soon as the arrangements I have mentioned 
 were accomplished, I returned to my home, and went to 
 bed, quite tired out. In the early dawn of Thursday, just 
 twenty-four hours after Annette had left us, she wakened 
 me. I saw her standing by my bedside, clad in a purple 
 flannel dressing gown, which I had never seen her wear in 
 life. She was smiling in her own peculiarly sweet way at 
 me, but did not speak. She stayed long enough, however,, 
 for me to take in every detail of her personal appearance, 
 and, especially, of the purple dressing gown. After she 
 was buried, and he could be of no use, the husband turned 
 up at my residence. He was, of course, overwhelmed with 
 grief — bad husbands generally are. It costs nothing, and 
 looks well, especially from a man who posed, as this one 
 did, for a saint. He made one disclosure, however, that 
 was interesting to me. He said : " You know how little 
 I believe in ghosts, but a most curious thing happened to 
 me the day after my poor, dear, lamented Annette's death. 
 It was quite in the early morning — I looked at my watch 
 afterwards, and found it was only four o'clock — and I 
 waked, without any reason, to see my poor wife by the 
 bedside. But the strange part of it is, that she seemed to 
 be wearing a garment that she discarded years ago. The 
 
158 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 fact is, when her mother was in her last illness, and 
 Annette was sitting up, night after night, with her, the 
 weather was very cold, and I brought her from town a blue 
 or purple flannel tea gown, to sit up in, and I could take 
 my oath that she wore that identical gown when she appeared 
 to me. Or was it all a delusion on my part ? " I then told 
 him how I, also, had seen the same dressing gown, and be- 
 lieved that Annette's spirit had assumed it^ because the 
 gift of it was probably one of the very few kind things her 
 husband had ever performed on her behalf. You must 
 understand that it was to one of the late Mr. Towns^ free 
 seances that Annette had accompanied me, consequently 
 he did not speak to her, except whilst under control during 
 the evening, nor did he know her name, nor of the friend- 
 ship between us. Fully three months after her death, I 
 attended one of these free Tuesday evening sittings again, 
 and Mr. Towns (who did know me well) addressed me the 
 first of all the sitters. He said : " The last time you sat on 
 that sofa, ma'am, a strange lad}^ dressed in black, with a 
 veil over her face, sat by your side. I don't know if she 
 was an intimate friend of yours, but she is sitting there 
 now, in the same place, and in the same dress, and she has 
 this message for you: '' my more than sister, who held 
 me in your arms whilst I was dying, you were quite right 
 when you said that I was not unconscious, though unable 
 to move or speak, but heard every word that was uttered; 
 saw everything that went on. I stood beside you when 
 you placed the chrysantliemums on my hands, and on my 
 pillow, and arranged my hair upon my forehead, and longed 
 to thank you for your kind offices. Tell this man that his 
 prophecies concerning me have been fulfilled, and in a 
 happier way than I ever imagined they would be ! Be a 
 friend to my children for my sake, as you have ever been 
 ;i friend to me." 
 
THE SPIEIT WORLD. 159 
 
 " I have visited you once, and I shall visit you again, but 
 not just yet — not for a long time to come. Good-bye/^ 
 
 Now, there are several things to be observed in this 
 narrative. In the first place, Mr. Towns had never seen 
 Annette before she visited him with me, and then only as 
 one of a large public circle. It was, also, the first time that 
 she had ever attended a seance of any kind. Then the 
 questions he answered were mental ones, and, thirdly, there 
 had been no communication between him and me since 
 her death ; he had not heard that it had taken place, yet 
 he could repeat accurately what had taken place at the 
 time, and knew the fact of Annette having visited me 
 since. If this is not mediumship, I don't know what name 
 unbelievers would give to it. I have not seen Annette 
 since, but I have no doubt that I shall ; if not here, at 
 least in the Summer Land, where I hope, sooner or later, to 
 meet all I have known on this sphere again, and to feel 
 that they are friends. Many of my unknown correspond- 
 ents have asked me for the address of Mr. Towns, who, I 
 regret to say, passed over to the higher life^ in the winter 
 of 1892. As a clairvoyant, he is a great loss to Spiritual- 
 ism; but his health had failed for some years past, and, 
 with ill-health, mediumistic powers soon decrease. Some 
 of his visions of the future were marvelously correct, but 
 he exhausted his power in sitting so much in public, which 
 custom, I have heard, considerably hastened his end on 
 earth. 
 
IGO 
 
 CHAPTER A^IIL 
 
 SPIRITUAL CORRESPOXDEXCE. 
 
 There are several means by which we can corresjDond 
 with our spirit friends. There is automatic writing, direct 
 writing, and writing through the means of the Heliograph, 
 Ouija and Planchette. The first named, automatic writing, 
 has been fully explained by Mr. Stead, in his account of his 
 correspondence with his friend " Julia." I have also alluded 
 to it in a preceding chapter. A person's hand, or arm, 
 becomes violently agitated ; sometimes, almost ludicrously 
 so, so that he cannot keep it still, do what he will. This 
 spontaneous jerking is sometimes accompanied by sharp 
 pains, like the shocks of electricity, which run right up the 
 arm to the shoulder ; sometimes by a sensation as though 
 the limb were stiff and paralyzed. In either case, if a pen, 
 or pencil, is placed between the fingers, and paper put be- 
 fore the medium, automatic writing will probably ensue, 
 /. e.y the hand, after a few futile efforts, which produce 
 only unintelligible scratches, will steady itself down and 
 gain sufficient control to be able to form letters and 
 words, or, perhaps, to draw faces, or flowers, or land- 
 scapes. Automatic writing, or drawing, is one of the com- 
 monest phases of mediumship. I have met dozens of 
 people who were adej^ts at it. It has been known amongst 
 Spiritualists for years past, though many people thought 
 it a species of invention on the part of Mr. Stead. This 
 was only because both they and Mr. Stead were so new to 
 the science of Spiritualism. Planchette, Ouija, and the 
 Heliograph, are all formed on the same plan and differ 
 
THE SPIRIT AVORLD. 161 
 
 Yery little in their construction. They are instruments 
 made to facilitate spirit-writing, and may be used by one 
 pair of hands, or two. In the hands of a good medium, they 
 become very powerful agents, but beginners are apt to 
 deceive themselves when using them. The tremulous 
 agitation, which generally follows from keeping the hands 
 in one position for long, is mistaken by them for spiritual 
 guidance, and the unmeaning scratches and senseless lines 
 and circles which follow it, are twisted into letters and 
 words, which have been transcribed in their own imagina- 
 tion only. Still, I would not despise the day of small things. 
 I have known of w^onderful communications obtained 
 through Planchette and Ouija, and, of course, if a spirit is 
 really guiding the medium^s hand, the facility with which it 
 can communicate becomes enormous. I would, certainly, ad- 
 vise beginners, therefore, to procure one of these talking 
 boards (as some people call them), and see what luck they get 
 with it. They are very moderate in price. Six and sixpence, 
 I think, being the highest charge. When using it, try not 
 to be too curious to see what letters are being formed — 
 turn your thoughts to something else — converse with the 
 friend, who sits with you, on different topics ; that is, if you 
 can, and any communications you may receive, will be all 
 the more convincing to your mind. A sister of mine, who 
 saw Ouija at my house, carried it off to her own home, and 
 has had marvellous correspondence through it since with an 
 old friend, deceased, and this, in the face of the fact that 
 she is not a Spiritualist, though a powerful medium. But 
 decidedly the most satisfactory way of corresponding with 
 our departed friends is by direct writing. This is Avhen 
 the spirits write their own letters without the intervention 
 of any third party. In " There is no Death " I said that 
 I had never satisfactorily seen the spirit of my old friend, 
 John Powles, until I visited America. I am glad that I 
 
162 THE SPIEIT WOELD. 
 
 need say so no longer. Since my return to England (or 
 rather since publishing that book), I have seen him, heard 
 him, and received a number of letters from him, the 
 latter through the mediumship of Florence Cook (Mrs. 
 Elgie Corner). The year before last, I spent the month of 
 August with her at her delightful house, Usk Yale, in 
 TJsk, Monmouthshire. She had not sat then for twelve 
 years. She had been sickened to death by the unfairness 
 and bigotry of London investigators, who, as a rule, got all 
 they could out of her, and then abused her for her trouble, 
 until she had come to think that the life of a medium was 
 the most miserable life in all the world. If the people, b}^ 
 whom she was surrounded, had shown any sympathy in 
 Spiritualism, she, doubtless, would not have let her marvel- 
 ous powers run to waste; but she had no friends of the 
 cause near her, so she laid it all aside and never attempted 
 to communicate with her friends on the other side. When 
 I entered her house as a visitor, however, matters assumed 
 a different aspect. We did not sit for the spirits, but they 
 came after us all the same. It was beautiful, bright summer 
 weather, and we were engaged all day in driving about the 
 country, or sitting in the garden, amusing ourselves with 
 the animals, or Florence's girls, and not thinking of any- 
 thing more serious. But Avhen the dusk drew on, and the 
 children had gone out walking, and she and I were left to 
 ourselves, our spirit friends took good care to remind us 
 that we were not the only occupants of the house. Chairs 
 would walk across the room to our sides — particularly a 
 rocking-chair, which would commence to rock as soon as 
 we found ourselves alone — raps would sound spontaneously 
 on the walls and the floor, and direct-writing would take 
 place on tables far beyond our reach, even if we had had 
 any reason to deceive each other. In this way, I obtained 
 several letters from Powles, who was the last jierson I ex- 
 
THE SPIKIT WOKLD. 163 
 
 pected to hear from through Mrs. Corner, as she had never 
 been associated with him, either in this world, or since he 
 had joined the great majority. A slight explanation is 
 necessary to make the frequent allusions to C. B. intelligi- 
 ble in his letters. These initials stand for the name of a 
 man who had greatly wronged Florence Corner, by leading 
 her to expect she would be amply remembered in his will — 
 inducing her to lay out a considerable sum of money in 
 consequence — and then altering his will in favor of some- 
 body else, without giving her the slightest warning of his 
 intention. His death, therefore, left her and her husband 
 in a difficult position, from which it cost them a consider- 
 able sum to extricate themselves. The spirit of C. B. was 
 haunting the house at the time I was there, conscience- 
 stricken, I suppose, and anxious to give some explanation 
 of his conduct; but Florence would not give him the oppor- 
 tunity of speaking, she felt his influence to be so low. He, 
 evidently, tried to do all he could to prevent Powles having 
 any communication with me; for, wherever there is an allu- 
 sion to him in these letters, a scratch, or dig, is made with 
 a pencil over the words, as though he had tried to erase them. 
 The first letter was written under difficulties, the pencil and 
 paper being on the floor, under my chair. I give them 
 just as they are written. 
 
 "It is very unpleasant to deal with C. B. His standing is low, 
 morally and physically." (Over the word "morally" there is a 
 most vicious dig with the pencil.— F. M.) "I am a sincere friend to 
 this medium, and wish her well. Even now, C. B. is in the toils of 
 a bad, unscrupulous woman. My dear lieart, you and she will do a 
 great deal, but be careful. She is heavily handicapped. God bless 
 you, Flo. J. P. This man C. B. is low." * * * 
 
 The receipt of this communication astonished me. I 
 could not quite understand who it came from, for the 
 
16J: THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 signature was rather sliak}^, and I had received no previous 
 intimation that Powles was about. A few days after, how- 
 ever, as Korrie and I were sitting alone, she was suddenly 
 entranced by this spirit, C. B., who had also been an ac- 
 quaintance of mine. He refused to go, although I told 
 him we would have nothing to do with him after his dis- 
 honorable behavior to the medium; but I gave him such a 
 bit of my mind that he found the place too hot for him 
 and took his departure. The same evening, we put paper 
 and pencils on the table, whilst we sat, clasping each 
 other's hands, on a sofa near, in the dark, and the follow- 
 ing note was the result. It was written on a piece of my 
 own notepaper, with my name and address on it, which was 
 not amongst the pieces we had placed on the table, and 
 had been brought from the blotting-case in my bedroom. 
 The word " London '^ was scratched out, and " Usk " sub- 
 stituted for it, but there was no date. 
 
 "My dearest, I feel I must tell you the great danger there is in 
 allowing C. B. to come through this woman. I only knew her 
 through you, dear heart; but I, also, know that you and she will be 
 Intimately connected, but ?i(9i^*ws^2^e^, and we (or I, as representing 
 those who love you both most dearly) ask you if it be worth your 
 while to allow the \isits of a low man (who, even in the midst of his 
 grief at his injustice, still gives way to the pernicious influence of 
 that bad woman) to spoil the lovely influence that is near. What if 
 he tells you how he has made all so wrong ? Will it put Mrs. 
 Corner in any better position? No! it will only rake open the old 
 sores. There is a bright and happy future coming. Do not spoil it 
 by admitting a miserable, low spirit. My friend, we will see that it 
 is all right. Show this to Mr. Corner. He is strong and sensible. 
 Yours, as ever. J. P. My power is gone." 
 
 These last words were written, I imagine, because I had 
 remarked, with regard to the first letter, that the signature 
 was not like Powles' writin":, and this one was not much 
 
I 
 
 THE SPIRIT WOELD. 165 
 
 better, though quite legible. The third communication, 
 also written on my own paper, was very brief. 
 
 "Dearest, we are weak to-night. I will tell you a great deal on 
 Tuesday. I am finding out how to act. J. P. No strength. C. B. 
 is here.'' 
 
 This letter, also, is scribbled over, as though 0. B. had 
 endeavored to erase the mention of himself. It was evi- 
 dently written with a view to Florrie sitting with me for 
 materialization, without being worried by 0. B. (whom we 
 particularly did not wish to manifest in that way), for the 
 next alludes to the subject. 
 
 "We are doing very well, and we are glad that Mr. Corner does 
 not wish C. B. to fix himself on Mrs. C. Believe me, he will (or 
 would) do more harm than good. There is great worry coming for 
 this woman, but she is doing right, though greatly misjudged, and is, 
 and will be, vilified, but all will be right, dear, and you and she 
 (same name and same heart) have a happy future. The very short 
 interviews we allow are, simply, because of not allowing lower in- 
 fluences to predominate. I can use your paper more easily, so have 
 taken what I require. Yours forever, J. P. " * * * 
 
 The next letter was written under remarkable circum- 
 stances, and is a little history in itself. Powles, it will be 
 observed, was still using my professional paper, which was 
 stamped with my name and address. It was the only paper 
 I had taken up to Usk, and I kept it in a leather blotting- 
 case on a table in my bedroom. I had the most perfect 
 faith in the honor of my friend Florence Corner. I knew 
 she was quite incapable of deceiving me, by taking my 
 paper to forge a spirit's letters on; but I also knew that the 
 general public would not accept my testimony on the sub- 
 ject. The general public were not present at the writing of 
 these letters; they would seize the smallest loophole by which 
 
16G THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 suspicion could creep in to declare the whole business to 
 have been a fraud. So, for the satisfaction of those who 
 will take my word for what occurred, I decided to secure 
 my paper in such a manner that no one could get at it for 
 the future; no one, that is to say, but a spirit. With this 
 end in view, I took u|) my blotting-case one evening, after 
 I had retired to rest, and turned out its contents. I found 
 I had forty sheets of writing paper left. Those I folded in 
 a larger piece, and tied the parcel round with cotton, writ- 
 ing on the outside '' 40 sheets.^^ " Now,'' I said, to myself, 
 "if I receive another letter written on my paper, ajid these 
 forty sheets remain intact, I shall know it must have been 
 taken out beforehand.'' I then fastened my blotting-case, 
 placed it in my traveling trunk, locked the trunk and hung 
 the key round my neck by a piece of string. I retired to 
 bed; slept the sleep of the just, rose and went downstairs the 
 following morning with the key round my neck, and with- 
 out saying a word to anybody of what I had done. I think 
 we all went to a flower-show and pic-nic that day. I know 
 we were so much engaged that I forgot all about my secret 
 precautions, nor did I remember them, even when Florrie 
 and I, too tired to go out with her girls, sat together in the 
 evening, working and chatting together. The room we 
 occupied was a sort of boudoir of Mrs. Corner's, on the 
 same landing as my bedroom, and next to it, but with no 
 door between, only the brick wall. Suddenly, as we were 
 talking to each other, Florrie gave a shriek, and some large 
 substance came through tlie wall and flew past her head 
 into my lap. "What is it?" she exclaimed, in a great 
 fright. "Who has done it? Somebody is playing a trick 
 on us ! " 
 
 I put my hands on the parcel. It was my blotting-case, 
 and, with it, had been thrown a cork penholder, which I 
 used to prevent cramp, and which had, also, been in the 
 
THE SPIKIT WORLD. 167 
 
 case when I had locked it up the evening- before. I was 
 astonished, but immediately told my friend the story I have 
 told you here. She was most incredulous, and would not 
 believe it. She was sure some one had got at the key of 
 the box. I then produced it from round my neck, where it 
 had been all day. ^' Come, Florrie,^' I said, '' before we open 
 this blotter, let us get a light and examine my traveling 
 trunk." Accordingly, we went into the next room and 
 tried the lock of the box, but all was fast, as I had left it. 
 We then unlocked it, but there appeared to be nothing 
 disturbed inside. The next thing was, to open the blotting- 
 case, and count the sheets of paper, which were folded and 
 tied with cotton, just as I had left them. There were only 
 thirty-nine of them. Examining the other pockets of the 
 case, we came upon the following letter, enclosed in an en- 
 velope, fastened down, and addressed " To my dear friend, 
 Florence Marryat.^' ' The contents were as follows — the 
 first six lines being ivritten ill inh^ of which there was 
 none in the blotter: 
 
 " UsK, August, 1893. 
 My Dearest : I am trying to write with your pen and this ink, 
 but it is no good. So much power expended in waste, as, I am sorry 
 to say, this woman is so weak, physically (not mentally) that we can 
 see her head is in danger. Still, whilst power lasts, don't sell the 
 house. " (This was in allusion to one of my houses in Kensington, for 
 which I had had an offer. — F. M.) "I took your pen, but of no use. " 
 (Here the communication is continued in pencil. — F. M.) " Florence 
 Corner will be a great agent in working out your future. I will do 
 more before you leave here, but now she is prancing about with 
 those girls, and interferes with me." (Florrie had been playing with 
 her daughters in the garden, that afternoon, when, I supposed, the 
 letter was being written. — F. M.) "She is so powerful, that it is very 
 
 difficult to keep her to ourselves. Get F out of London, and keep 
 
 his home secret. I have taken your paper, but you shouldn't tie it 
 up with cotton. I shall keep your lace, but not your pen. Florence 
 is here, but I want you all to myself now. J. P. " 
 
168 thp: spirit world. 
 
 The allusion to F I understood perfecth', also to the 
 
 penholder, which had been thrown into my lap, with the 
 blotting-case, but the lace puzzled me. So I looked into 
 my box and found a piece of Honiton lace, which I wore as 
 2ifichuy missing. Powles had only known me during the 
 first four years of my married life, when I was still wearing 
 my wedding things. The piece of lace he had taken was 
 the only article, in my box, belonging to that time, and 
 which, doubtless, he had seen me wear in the olden days — 
 good lace being immortal. It was gone, however, entirely, 
 there was no doubt ^f that ; so I put away my things and 
 waited for him to bring it back again. The next morning 
 I was in my bedroom, after breakfast, when Mrs. Corner 
 entered the apartment. It was a lovely August morning, 
 with a powerful sun streaming in at the open windows. 
 
 "Xow, riorrie,^' I said, ^^let us see if Powles has brought 
 my/c/m back again.^' 
 
 We opened the box and examined the articles it con- 
 tained, but there was no sign of the missing lace. As I 
 turned over the things in the tray, kneeliug before it, I 
 exclaimed : 
 
 " 0, that bothering boy. I hope he is not going 
 to keep it altogether, for it is the last clean one I 
 have." 
 
 As I said the words, the lace fichu came flying back, 
 apparently, through the o\)e\\ window, and fell upon my 
 upturned face. Florrie and I had regularly " sat " two or 
 three times, now, for materializations, but owing, I think, 
 to her powers having lain fallow for such a length of time, 
 with only partial success, that is, we had not obtained tlie 
 full form, as theretofore. On the 1st of September, the fol- 
 lowing letter, from my friend, was found under my jiillow, 
 on rising. I discovered it whilst taking my jiocket hand- 
 kerchief from under the pillow : 
 
THE SPIKIT WOKLD. 169 
 
 ' ' My dearest Heart : No doubt you are disappointed with re- 
 sults, but all we do now is only preparing for what will soon take 
 place. I am not infallible, any more than any other man, but I do see 
 
 that you must see F out of Cardiff. I like the bay" (alluding to a 
 
 bay colt I had just purchased. Powles was so excellent a horseman 
 and judge of horses, that, in his regiment, he obtained the soubri- 
 quet of ' ' The Centaur." — F. M.), " but do not work him, only exercise 
 him for a fortnight. Wash the eye with water only " (the groom had 
 been using oxide of zinc. — F. M.), "and keep his shoulder washed 
 with hay salt. I am sorry for this poor woman, but her troubles in 
 your life will finish this month. You and she will do much. God 
 bless you. J. P." 
 
 On September the 4tli, I had settled to leave TJsk, and 
 visit some friends in Devonshire. The evening previous, 
 as we were seated at dinner, a hand was placed tipon my 
 lap, under the talle, and deposited there the folloiving note. 
 The time was eight o^clock ; the gas was lighted ; round 
 the table were seated Mr. and Mrs. Corner, their two 
 daughters, and two lady friends, beside myself. The 
 servants were waiting and passing round the table at the 
 time ; there was no room for trickery of any sort. My 
 attention was first attracted to what was going on by my 
 dress being gently pulled. I looked down and there was 
 the hand on my lap, a bare hand, looking perfectly natural, 
 holding an envelope out to me. I took it. It contained a 
 half sheet of notepaper, with these words, scribbled in 
 pencil : 
 
 " My dear F : I am here, close to you, and will help you with 
 
 F . Get him away and all will be well. I will watch over you 
 
 and see that all is well, J. P. This woman is the one who will do 
 more than all, to confirm your hooh and our reality.'' 
 
 Now, this is what I mean by direct-writing. There was no 
 doubt in my mind of the genuineness of these letters, not 
 because I could not account for their being written in any 
 
170 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 other way, but because they contained allusions to things 
 knoiun only to myself y and this is the only test worth hav- 
 ing. I did not visit Mrs. Corner again until last month 
 (April). All through the intervening eighteen months I 
 had received no written communication from Powles, so I 
 conclude he cannot write through any other medium. On 
 the last occasion, Florrie and I sat twice for written com- 
 munications. We placed the paper and pencils on a table, 
 in the dark, and sat, with our four hands interlaced — she 
 holding both mine, and I both hers — no one else being 
 present but ourselves. The first three communications, 
 written by different spirits, took four minutes to write, the 
 next took three minutes. I transcribe the first just as 
 they were penned : 
 
 " Ne grondez pas, cJierie Marie. Je danserai encore moi." 
 
 "It is useless to kick against the pricks, Florrie. We have you 
 and will keep you, and care for you." (Unsigned.) 
 
 " I know all arrangements, and will give you good results, to- 
 morrow. Do not allow any one to be in this room more than is 
 absolutely necessary throughout the day. Florrie, you can trust 
 yourself with us. Do not fear, we will not allow you to be hurt, 
 and you have good protection round you. C. B. is here, but we 
 do not care for him here at present. Dear Mrs. Ross-Church, did 
 not we say, years ago, that you and Florrie would come together in 
 the end ? My power fails. I. E. B. Go now. * * * 
 
 Dear Flo, as ever. J. P." 
 
 Now, it is simply useless for me to assure my readers 
 that I knoto the foregoing letters to be genuine, because I 
 was (juite alone with Mrs. Corner, and held her hands the 
 whole time. They were not present ; they did not hold her 
 
THE SPIRIT AVORLD. 171 
 
 hands ; they have to take my word for everything ; and^ 
 for aught they know, I may lie like a gas-meter. But 
 there are points in them which even a stranger may note 
 as curious. Had they been fabricated, why did I not re- 
 ceive a long letter from Mr. Powles, instead of a few 
 words, written hurriedly, just to tell me he was there, 
 without the power to address me further. The first mes- 
 sage is, evidently, sent by " Marie,^^ who was the control 
 who came to Florrie Cook, in place of Katie King, when 
 she had passed on higher. Marie had been a ballet girl in 
 her earth-life, and would dance when she got outside the 
 cabinet, which used to annoy Florrie, because she thought 
 it was so frivolous for a spirit, and that the sitters would 
 object to it. Marie^s favorite address to her medium in 
 those days (fourteen years ago, remember) used to be " ne 
 g^^ondez pas ! " dkudi iai2^rk i\iQ impudence of the addition, 
 '\je danserai encore moi ! " as though she would say, " I 
 mean to do just as I choose.'^ The message^ signed I. E. B., 
 standing for Isabel Elizabeth Blunt, is from one of the 
 best and purest spirits who have ever manifested through 
 Mrs. Corner, but whom she had not heard from, for the 
 same space of time. This accounts for her addressing me 
 as " Mrs. Eoss-Church,'' as that was my name at the time 
 she knew me. It also proves how foolish those people are 
 who imagine spirits to be omniscient and omnipresent, 
 like the Almighty. Isabel had no interest in me, except- 
 ing as a friend of her medium. She knew me, as any 
 mortal might have done, by a particular name, and, not 
 having been near me since, did not know that I had 
 changed it. But many people would be inclined to take 
 that fact as a proof that she could not be a spirit, because 
 she did not know. The prophecy that Florence Corner 
 and I should come together in the end, and work together 
 for the cause of Spiritualism, was pronounced years ago^ 
 
173 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 and is still insisted on to this day; therefore^ I have no 
 doubt but that it will, eventually, be fulfilled. The next 
 morning, just as I was starting for the train, Florrie said 
 to me : ^^ Do come into my little room. I have an idea 
 we shall get something." Accordingly, I went with her, 
 and, having made our preparations, sat, with interlaced 
 hands, as before. I must premise that we had sat, the 
 evening before, for materializations, with a strange gentle- 
 man — strange, I mean, to Spiritualism — and he had proved 
 so strong and so harmonious, that the spirits had been de- 
 lighted with his influence, and, for a first seance, after so 
 long an interval, the sitting had proved most successful, 
 the full form having shown itself almost immediately, 
 though unrecognizable. (It has proved since to have been 
 "Marie.'') It is to this seance, I conclude, that I. E. B. 
 alludes in her letter. 
 
 "Dear Mrs. Ross-Church: The old prophecy is fulfilled, and 
 Florrie's fate is fixed. (This means, to my idea, that, although Mrs. 
 Corner has declared, over and over again, that she would have 
 nothing more to do with using her mediumistic powers for the 
 public, she will have to follow the wishes of her controls, and come 
 forward in the cause, whether she likes it or not. Whilst she had no 
 one to sit with, it was impossible ; but the spirits contrived to intro- 
 duce her, through my means, to the family of which the gentleman I 
 spoke of is a member, and through whom, I believe, she will find 
 herself forced into public notice again. — F. M.) There will be much 
 suffering for her ; but it is necessary. Mr. B. is the better half of 
 her mediumship. Do not tell her, but let it come gradually. Noth- 
 ing of great importance will take place for the next few months, ex- 
 cept his and her development. — I. E. B. For Flo, not Florrie.'^ 
 
 "My Darling Fi.o : It is hard to see you, and not be able to be 
 close to you, the more so as this girl is so suited to us ; but it can't 
 be helped, as the turning-point in her life; has come, and, for the 
 
THE SPIEIT WOELD. 173 
 
 time, we must give way. My dearest, you are always in my heart, 
 and, when your dear voice rings again in my ear, I forget the lapse 
 of years, and think I am, as I always was, your own J. P." 
 
 This is, really, such a very private and lover-like letter, 
 that I feel I ought not to give it to the public, except that 
 it is to prove the truth and strength of Spiritualism that 
 my friend writes to me. These two letters, containing, in 
 all, two hundred words (for parts were so private I was 
 obliged to omit them), were written in three mimites, by my 
 watch. Taken in conjunction with perfect darkness, 
 I wonder how many mortals could accomplish the same 
 feat. 
 
 Bessie Davis and I have obtained a good deal of direct- 
 writing whilst sitting together. One evening, after getting 
 up from a mixed seance, we found a large sheet of paper, 
 covered with what seemed to be unintelligible gibberish. 
 We turned it upside down, and round about, and held it 
 in every sort of light, but could make neither head nor 
 tail of it. At last, it struck Mrs. Davis to hold it against 
 a looking-glass, when it became quite distinguishable. 
 Written in a large, round hand, were these words : 
 
 To Dear Florence Marrtat : I like your circle, and will help 
 it all I can. I made a sad muddle of my own life, but am free, 
 now, to show others how to be happier than I was. 
 
 Yours, M K ." 
 
 This note was signed, not with initials, but the full 
 name of a lady known to both of us, and living, at the 
 time (as was believed), in New York ; so we thought it 
 must be some other spirit taking her name, to mislead us. 
 In a short time, however, we read of her death in the news- 
 paper, which had occurred on the very afternoon of the 
 
174 THE SPIEIT WORLD. 
 
 day she wrote to me. '^ Florence/^ and, latterly, my dear 
 daughter, Eva, often write me little notes through Mrs. 
 Davis, and, sometimes, pin flowers, such as rosebuds, etc., 
 to the paper they write on. Years ago, when I was in the 
 habit of using Planchette, I received long letters, written 
 in the German character, which is a branch of study 
 which, I regret to say, I never mastered. It used to annoy 
 me at that time, because I seemed to guess the words be- 
 fore Planchette had concluded writing them ; thus, if han 
 were written, I knew directly whether hand, or handker- 
 chief, or handle was going to be transcribed. I thought, 
 therefore, that the writing must be the reaction of my 
 own brain on my fingers, and had determined not to use 
 Planchette any longer. My spirit friends urged me to 
 continue, however, and, from that moment, every word 
 used to be written backwards, so that it was impossible to 
 know what they were, until they were spelled out. 
 
175 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 MY SEAISTCES WITH CECIL HUSK. 
 
 I devote this chapter to an account of the sittings I have 
 enjoyed under the medium ship of Mr. Cecil Husk, of 29 
 South Grove, Peckham Rye, and I am the more glad to be 
 able to do this, because I believe Mr. Husk to have been 
 much misrepresented and wrongly accused. He has had, 
 like most mediums, to pass under the harrow of ignorance 
 and bigotry, and he has suffered acutely therefrom. But, 
 since the experiences which I am about to relate, have 
 taken place under his auspices during the last two years, I 
 trust my testimony to the undoubted genuineness of what 
 I have witnessed, may have the eifect of dispelling the re- 
 membrance of anything my readers may have heard against 
 the powers of this remarkable medium. The first time 
 his name was mentioned in my hearing, was as far back as 
 1882, when I was on a tour with D^Oyley Carte " Patience " 
 Company, in which Miss Angela Husk (his sister) was 
 playing the role of " Lady Angela.^' As soon as she became 
 aware of my spiritualistic tendencies, she said to me: " 0, 
 how I wish you knew my brother Cecil ! You must go 
 and have a seance with him^ when you go back to Lon- 
 don," which I promised to do. Many things, however, in- 
 tervened to delay the fulfillment of my promise, and it was 
 not till 1892, ten years afterwards, that Mr. Husk's name 
 was again brought prominently before my notice, and I 
 had my first seance with him. 
 
 I found him a superior man in many respects. He, like 
 his sister, was a professional singer for some years, until his 
 
176 THE SPIRIT AVORLD. 
 
 failing sight compelled him to give nj) appearing in public. 
 He is now so blind that, although he can distinguish forms 
 on entering a room, he cannot recognize them until they 
 speak to him. Some of the opposers of Spiritualism were 
 good enough to spread a report that Mr. Husk's blindness 
 was assumed, for the purpose of better hoaxing his clients. 
 Upon this. Baroness Wauchtermeister took him to the 
 elder Crichett, now deceased, who pronounced a cure im- 
 possible. I consider Mr. Husk's blindness, however unfor- 
 tunate for himself, a great factor in his medium ship. Any 
 one who knows how difficult it is to " make up " properly 
 for the stage, even with the advantage of a couple of lights, 
 will understand how utterly impossible it would be for a 
 man to assume a dozen different characters, when shut up 
 in the dark, or even in the light, when he is, unhappily, 
 blind. Yet, Cecil Husk's would-be detractors have insisted 
 that, Avhen in perfect darkness, it is quite easy for him to 
 transform his face, from a young man's to that of an old one, 
 or from a girl's to that of a woman ; and to appear in the 
 light, without a smudge on his face or beard, or wig awry. 
 AVhen I hear people argue like that, it makes me sick to 
 think how full the world we live in is of fools, who insist 
 upon condemning things of which they are utterly incom- 
 petent of judging. People, sometimes, think me disagree- 
 able, because I refuse to give them introductions to mediums 
 of my acquaintance, or give them their names and addresses. 
 A few months ago, I introduced a gentleman, of whom I 
 entertained the higliest opinion, to Mr. Husk, and, so far, 
 my introduction was justified. But this gentleman, in his 
 turn, sent a couple of friends of his to Mr. Husk, who were 
 accepted in the same good faith as he liad been. These 
 two men (for I cannot call them gentlemen) were admitted 
 to a seance with Mr. Husk, on the same understanding as 
 their introducer liad been, i. e., that they would observe 
 
THE SPIKIT WOKLD. 177 
 
 all the conditions imposed on the sitters by the controls, 
 one of which is, as the merest tyro knows, not to strike a 
 light whilst the manifestations are going on. These men, 
 however (contrary to all the rnles of honor and good faith), 
 exhibited an electric light, whilst the spirits were manifest- 
 ing, and denounced the whole proceedings as fraud, because 
 no spirits were to be seen, and the white drapery, according 
 to their account (and I, for one, could never take the 
 testimony of men who could commit such a breach of trust, 
 without a very large pinch of salt), was all over the table, 
 and Mr. Husk's head and shoulders. Now, had these men 
 been clairvoyant, and able to see in the dark, they would have 
 seen that, when the spirit heads appeared over the surface of 
 the table, they proceeded out of Mr. Hush's chesty or hreast, 
 and were linked to him. They are partly formed out of 
 his brain, partly from the forces contributed by the sitters. 
 If, when the light was flashed upon them, they had not 
 immediately rushed back into the medium, his life would 
 probably have paid the forfeit of the outrage committed on 
 him by these men. As the spirit particles mingled again 
 with the medium's particles, the drapery (which, in dema- 
 terialization, always disappears after the form.) would, 
 naturally, be left on the table, or the medium's body. 
 When the full form dematerializes in sight, and goes down 
 through the floor, the drapery, invariably, is left behind 
 for a few seconds, till it follows suit. I have seen it done 
 over and over again, and know it to be a fact. Buti this is 
 the way most people go about investigating Spiritualism. 
 They go to discover, not a great truth, but a great fraud, 
 and so they never discover anything, because it is too won- 
 derful for them to grasp all at once, and they do not allow 
 themselves to go any further. If they only injured them- 
 selves,' however, it would little signify; but the harm is, 
 that they injure the medium. What has been the effect of 
 
178 THE SPIRIT WOELD. 
 
 the outrage I have related upon Mr. Husk? He had a 
 paralytic stroke after it. When he was waked up from his 
 trance in that sudden way^ he was paralyzed with terror, and 
 ran about like a mad creature. The upshot was, he was very 
 ill for some time afterwards, and the doctor, who attended 
 him, can bear testimony to the severe shock he received. 
 For months he has been unable to sit, except with friends, 
 and all because two ignoramuses were dishonorable enough 
 to break faith with him, and think themselves wiser than 
 every one who had pursued the path before them. Is it 
 to be wondered at, after such an experience, if mediums 
 decline to sit with people of whose good faith they are not 
 perfectly assured ? It reminds me of Florence Cook, and 
 Mr. Yolckman^ and the night I and Lady Caithness spent 
 by her bedside, whilst two doctors were in attendance, and 
 the medium in convulsions. But I am not aware if Mr. 
 Yolckman ever confessed that he was wrong, in having 
 grasped the spirit form in his arms, and thrown the 
 medium into fits. The men I have been writing of, and 
 the gentleman who introduced them to Cecil Husk, went 
 about declaring they had detected him in trickery, and 
 made many others, doubtless, believe they were correct. 
 Let my testimony weigh against theirs in the scale of evi- 
 dence. Since I first sat with Mr. Husk, two years ago, I 
 have been a very frequent visitor of his, and under trying 
 circumstances; for, almost every friend to whom I have 
 mentioned his liame, has insisted on my being present at 
 the first interview, when one's eyes and ears, as a rule, are 
 all alert to discover the why, and the wherefore, of every- 
 tliing. I have become well acquainted, therefore, with his 
 controls, and their method of working. John King is the 
 principal control of his seance room, and the others are all 
 under his orders. 
 
 In 1892, I sat, witli about a dozen friends, at twelve 
 
THE SPIKIT WOKLD. 179 
 
 sittings, with Mr. Husk. Thej were held every Thursday, 
 under very strict conditions, and all the sitters were men 
 and women of education and social position. The seances 
 were cabinet ones, i. e., the medium went into a cabinet 
 formed of a dark curtain drawn across one corner of the 
 room, with a chair placed inside it, and the materializations 
 were all fully formed. As soon as ever Mr. Husk had 
 taken his seat within the cabinet, you would hear the sub- 
 ordinate controls talking together, on all sorts of subjects ; 
 but, directly John King arrived, a dead silence ensued. 
 These subordinate controls consist of five men, who call 
 themselves by the names of ^^Uncle,^^ " Christopher,^' 
 *' Ebenezer," " Tom Hall,^' and, last, though not least, ex- 
 cept in size, my dear old friend, ^' Joey,'' who used to mani- 
 fest through William Eglinton in the olden days, and who 
 followed me to the New World, and showed himself there. 
 These controls are employed in gathering the materials 
 with which John King works, so that there may be no de- 
 lay when he arrives. As soon as that happens, you may 
 hear him issuing his commands to one and another, such 
 as: "Make those passes more to the right"; or, "Keep 
 his head up " ; or, " Two of you raise his shoulders, so as 
 to place him in a more upright position " ; and the other 
 spirits' answers: "All right, John"; or, "I've done it, 
 John," etc., etc. To me, it is one of the most curious 
 things, on these occasions, to hear the conversations be- 
 tween the spirits themselves, each one having such a dis- 
 tinctive voice of his own, that, after a short acquaintance 
 with them, it would be as impossible to mistake them as 
 it would be the voices of your different friends. I have 
 questioned John King as particularly as I can, without 
 monopolizing too much of his time, as to the manner in 
 which materialized forms are produced, and his answer 
 was much as follows : " When the controls have collected 
 
180 THE SPIEIT WORLD. 
 
 the matter with which I work — some from everybody in 
 the circle, but mostly from the medium^s brain — I mould 
 with it a plastic mask, somewhat like warm wax in feel, 
 but transparent as gelatine, into the rough likeness of a 
 face. You will understand that there is always a crowd 
 of spirits ready here to show themselves to their friends — 
 a great many more than we can allow to appear. They 
 are built up in their spirit forms, but would be quite in- 
 visible to the majority of sitters, unless covered with my 
 transparent mask; without it, also, they would be unable 
 to retain their shape or likeness, when exposed to the outer 
 air. I, therefore, place this plastic substance over the 
 spirit features, and mould it to them. If the spirits will 
 have the patience to stand still, I can, generally, make an 
 excellent likeness of what they were in earth-life, but most 
 of them are in such haste to manifest that they render my 
 task very difficult. That is why, very often, a sj)irit ap- 
 pears to his friends and they cannot recognize any likeness. 
 He has not given me sufficient time to mould the mask to 
 his features. 
 
 " Once, a young man had been out, and his friends had 
 recognized him fully, at which he was so pleased that he 
 returned again and again to show himself to them. All 
 the while, a young woman was waiting her turn, and, when 
 the young man returned to the cabinet, for the last time, 
 she was in such a hurry to follow his example, that she 
 would not stand still for me to mould the mask upon her 
 face, but rushed out with one-half of the young man's 
 muHtache hanging on her lip, which gave her a very gro- 
 tesque appearance.^^ There was a gentleman in the com- 
 pany, at the time this story was told, who remembered the 
 circumstances, and confirmed it. 
 
 The cabinet seances I am now writing of were quite 
 private. mthI held amongst friends, so that the forms that 
 
THE SPIRIT WOELD. 181 
 
 appeared Avere mostl}^ known to the sitters. The first that 
 appeared, in whom I took any interest, was that of the 
 Duke of Clarence. Not being on the royal visiting list, I 
 had no personal acquaintance with him during his life- 
 time, and I was puzzled, at first, to think why he should 
 have singled me out to pay the compliment of a visit to. 
 But I had, in common with the rest of the nation, been 
 deeply grieved at the announcement of his death, and, as 
 will be seen hereafter, he seems to have been aware of it. 
 Por some time before he appeared, we heard him remon- 
 strating, inside the cabinet, and say: "Leave me alone. Do 
 leave me alone. Can^t you see that I^m ill ? Let me rest." 
 He, evidently, believed himself to be still lying in his bed 
 at Sandringham. We did not know who was talking after 
 this fashion; but, as soon as the Duke appeared, I recog- 
 nized him from his photographs. I exclaimed : "Why, it 
 is the Duke of Clarence ! " and he replied : " No, not that. 
 Call me ' Eddy.^ " I then remembered a story I had heard 
 to the effect that, some few months before his death, he 
 had been to visit a clairvoyant, who had told him, amongst 
 other things, that '^ Marriage, for him, spelt Death.'^ " So 
 the clairvoyant was right, my poor boy,'' I said ; " and 
 marriage, for you, did spell Death.'' He drew himself up, 
 retreated a few steps, and exclaimed, in a clear voice, so as 
 to be heard by everybody : " No, Miss Marryat, not death 
 — Life ! Tell everybody it spelt Life — Life I " 
 
 This was the first time of the Duke's appearing ; but, 
 after that, he came whenever we sat. Sometimes, he was 
 remarkably like himself ; at others, he was not. He, gen- 
 erally, asked me if he looked as he used to do. One day, 
 I told him, he would be just like, according to my opinion, 
 if his complexion were a little fairer. He retired to the 
 cabinet, but returned, a minute later, with a much fairer 
 complexion, but, also, a much shorter face. I laughed, 
 
182 THE SPIRIT AVORLD. 
 
 and said : " 0, go away ; yon are not a bit like yourself 
 now " ; at which he smiled, too, and disappeared altogether. 
 
 Lady G , who had known the Prince well during his 
 
 lifetime, was much interested on hearing I had seen him^ 
 and called on me, with the express purpose of asking how 
 he looked, and what he had said. "Was he just like him- 
 self ? '' was one of the questions she put to me. I hesitated. 
 " Well, not always," I replied. " And I noticed one thing 
 about him, which seemed very unlike. You know how 
 particular he was about his hair. It was always so neatly 
 arranged, with the curl over his forehead. Well, the curl 
 is gone. His hair seems ruffled over his forehead, as if 
 some one had ruffled it with his fingers, on purpose." "You 
 have given me the best possible proof of his identity," said 
 
 Lady G ; and she then went on tell me that she had 
 
 been at Sandringham at the time of the Duke's lamented 
 death, and the lock of hair he used to wear had been cut 
 off as a memento, and the remaining hair ruffled over his' 
 forehead, just as I described his wearing it. If Lady 
 
 G 's account was true (and I have no reason to doubt 
 
 her word), it was a pretty good proof I had given her, 
 considering I had never seen the Duke of Clarence, except 
 in his published likenesses. Of course, I talked to him, on 
 the many occasions on which I saw him, on various sub- 
 jects; but, equally, of course, it is hardly possible for me 
 to repeat our conversations here. When I asked him why 
 he came so perseveringly to a humble individual like my- 
 self, who has never liad anything to do with royalty in her 
 life, he said : "• Because you wept for me." "But half the 
 nation wept for you," I replied. " Yes ; perhaps so ; but 
 you — you are not one who weeps for everybody," which is 
 quite true. 
 
 Once, when \ accom])anied another duke to Mr. Husk's, 
 and Prince Eddy appeared, lie at once addressed the new- 
 
THE SPIEIT WOELD. 183 
 
 comer by his title, and so betrayed the incognito which he 
 had wished to preserve, and of which Mr. Husk had not 
 the least suspicion. 
 
 On another occasion, I was invited to join a seance with 
 Mr. Husk, given by several young men in town. I ac- 
 cepted, believing them to be sincere seekers after the truth, 
 instead of a set of scoffers, who merely assembled to make 
 fun out of all they might see or hear. Amongst them, how- 
 ever, was a gentleman who, I was told, was, or had been, a 
 clergyman or tutor at Sandringham, and acquainted witli 
 the Duke of Clarence. At any rate, as soon as we sat 
 down, the Duke appeared and went straight up to this 
 gentleman and spoke to him. My sailor son was ashore 
 about this time, and I told him of the foregoing inter- 
 views. He asked me why I did not let those who were most 
 deeply interested in the Duke's reappearance know of what 
 I had seen. I laughed, and said: "No, thank you, my 
 boy ! I don't want to bring a storm of royal hailstones about 
 my ears.'' And, in fact, many people are quite affronted if 
 you tell them you have seen their dead. They seem to 
 think it a great impertinence on your part, to have experi- 
 enced what they have not, and forget that such things 
 are beyond your own control. I did not, therefore, act on 
 my son's suggestion, and the subject was not again raised 
 between us. The next time I visited Mr. Husk, however, 
 and Prince Eddy appeared, he stood just outside the 
 cabinet and beckoned me to go to him. On my approach, 
 he whispered: '^ Don't tell my people yet. Miss Marryat." 
 I did not remember, at first, to what he was alluding ; but 
 when I did, I answered: "0, you are talking of what my 
 son said to me ! Well, if you overheard him, you must 
 have also heard me say, that I had no intention of bring- 
 ing a storm of royal hailstones about my unfortunate 
 ears." "It's not that," he said; "but they are not ready 
 
184 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 for this phase of Spiritualism, yet ! You say yourself that 
 I am not always recognizable. Sometimes I am like my- 
 self and sometimes not, and if they were to see me when I 
 am not, it would set them against it altogether. The time 
 will come, but it is not yet.^' I have never sat with Mr. 
 Husk without this spirit appearing to me, and if, on the 
 news reaching high quarters, I am condemned to be led 
 forth to " hinstant hexecution," I shall say so with my last 
 breath. AVith him, has often come, but not always, the 
 Prince Imperial, another beautiful, young, treasured life 
 cut lamentably short. Now, with regard to this apparition, 
 I would like to mention what / call proof of identity. I 
 knew this Prince no more than I did the other, and could 
 only recognize him from his photogra2)hs. Any distin- 
 guished-looking young man, with an olive complexion, and 
 dark eyes, and slight figure, might have passed for the Prince 
 Imperial with a stranger. But it was the pure Parisian 
 accent with which he addressed me, that convinced me of 
 his identity. We were all men and women of education, 
 as I have said before ; but, I will venture to affirm, there 
 was not one of us that could speak French as the Prince 
 Imperial spoke it to me. There is no mistaking a pure 
 Parisian accent. It is something that very few English- 
 men acquire, even though they may live in Paris ; and, on 
 the lips of this spirit, it was undeniable. I have not seen 
 him so often as I have the Duke of Clarence ; but, for the 
 first few times, they always came together, or immediately 
 succeeding each other; and the Prince Imperial invariably 
 spoke with the same accent. 
 
 As these sittings took place in the dark, I must explain 
 the means by which |we saw and recognized the spirits. 
 Mr. Husk has a number of sheets of millboard, painted 
 with luminous paint, and exposed during the daytime ; 
 and, as tlie forms leave the cabinet, they take up two of 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 185 
 
 these sheets, and hold them, tent-wise, over their heads, 
 by which means they are as fully illuminated for the per- 
 son they come for as if they were standing under a lamp. 
 The only drawback to this plan is, in my opinion, that 
 only the friends they come for can see the spirits^ faces, 
 the little tent completely shielding their features from the 
 rest of the sitters. 
 
 We had a curious experience, during these seances, with 
 Captain Fred. Burnaby, who had been an intimate friend 
 
 of Mr. Douglas M , one of the sitters. John King had 
 
 called out from the cabinet, " Here's somebody for you, Mr. 
 Douglas M ;'' but no one had any idea who was com- 
 ing. Presently, out stalked the tall figure of Captain Fred. 
 Burnaby. Every one who knew this gentleman, knows 
 what an enormous chest and pair of shoulders he possessed, 
 and what a very small, melon- shaped head in comparison. 
 Out he came, holding the two illuminated boards up to his 
 face, whilst John King directed him. " To the right, if you 
 please ! The gentleman to the right.'' The spirit walked up 
 
 to the side of Mr. Douglas M , and then, with a kind of 
 
 cry, dropped both the boards and stood in darkness. " My 
 
 God ! M ," he exclaimed, " I never expected to see 
 
 you," and, thereupon, he rushed back into the cabinet as 
 fast as he could. His tone and exclamation were exactly 
 what one might have expected to hear from a mortal who 
 had suddenly encountered a spirit. Captain Burnaby ap- 
 peared for his friend several times after that, but his un- 
 mistakable fright was a joke amongst us for some time 
 afterwards. Directly after him, came dear, old Frank 
 Buckland, with his thin, gray hair and beard, and a fishing- 
 rod over his shoulder. He, also, came for Mr. Douglas 
 
 M , and had a somewhat lengthy conversation with him. 
 
 I am relating all I can remember of these twelve seances, 
 rolling their experiences into one, as it were, and not staying 
 
186 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 to identify which of them I am alluding to^ as the same 
 spirits appeared at almost all. It was here that I again 
 met John Powles, the first time since I had been in 
 America, and the first time, at all, in England. John 
 King addressed me from inside the cabinet. ^' Here's a 
 friend of yours, Florence, who won't put on white drapery. 
 He says he never has worn sheets, and he never will, but 
 must appear in tweed clothes. '^ "Who is he, John?'' I 
 asked. But John will never give the name of a spirit. He 
 says if it is too weak to give its own name, or too unlike its 
 earthly self to be recognizable, it had better wait till it has 
 gained more power. So he would not tell me it was 
 Powles. " Why do you want him to put on white drapery ? '' 
 I next demanded; " what is the good of it ? " " It preserves 
 the spirit's borrowed material form longer than anything 
 else," he replied; " I know you mortals fancy that spirits 
 appear in white as a token of their purity, but it is not so. 
 We use white drapery in preference to any color, because 
 we have found, from experience, that it is more serviceable 
 to us. But, as your friend wishes to appear in earthly 
 raiment, he can do so; but he will not be able to stay so 
 long, in consequence." A minute afterwards, the curtain 
 parted, and John Powles stood before me. He was attired 
 (seemingly) in a rough gray, or fawn tweed suit, though 
 John King had thrown a white piece of drapery over his 
 shoulders. He looked exactly like himself, and spoke 
 quite distinctly. I said: " My dear, old boy, how glad I 
 am to see you so like your old self!" and he replied: 
 "Always, my dearest, in life or death." His hair and beard 
 were of the reddish golden color they were in life; his 
 eyes china-blue, and his stature and build just as I re- 
 membered them. Every one in the circle saw him as 
 plainly as I did, and heard him speak, and remarked on 
 the tweed suit he wore, the medium having entered the 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 187 
 
 cabinet in a black suit. Powles has often appeared since, 
 through Mr. Husk. Once, when we were sitting round the 
 table., his face suddenly appeared before me, but, to my 
 surprise, his hair was snow-white. "Why, what^s the joke 
 now?^^ I exclaimed; "what have you done to your hair and 
 beard ? '^ " You always call me a '^ boy/ '' he replied, " and 
 talk as if you were so much older than myself. So I 
 thought I would show you what I should have been like^ 
 had I continued on this earth. '^ In fact, he was several 
 years older than myself, and would have been an old man 
 by this time, in the earth life, and I am glad to think he 
 has gained the Land of Eternal Youth. He, generally, says 
 something sweet to me, as " Dearest of all,'^ or " The dear- 
 est friend I have,^^ which is, I daresay, very true now, as 
 most of his own family have died off, and he has their 
 society over there. And I shall look for him amongst the 
 first to welcome me, when I go over. 
 
 My daughter Florence was, of course, a standing dish at 
 these seances, and everybody present was anxious to see her, 
 having read her history in " There is no Death.^^ One after- 
 noon (we always sat in the afternoon), I asked her if she 
 could bring one of my babies, and added, to my next 
 neighbor: "I think the materialization of a baby is such a 
 convincing proof of genuineness,'^ in which she acquiesced. 
 Florence said she would try, and, retreating to the cabinet, 
 presently returned, nodding and smiling, in the direction 
 of her left arm, whilst she carried an illuminated mill- 
 board in her right hand. I glanced at the left arm. On 
 it reposed a tiny creature, no larger than a penny doll, but^ 
 yet, alive, as might be plainly seen by its little arms, which 
 were waving to and fro. I gazed at it in amazement, 
 whilst Florence continued to smile and nod her head. 
 " That a baby of mine ! '' I exclaimed, laughing. "' I won't 
 own it. Go away, you fraud, and get me something better.''' 
 
188 THE SPIRIT AYORLD. 
 
 To my surprise, Florence acquiesced, and, almost imme- 
 diately, returned with a child of perhaps nine, or ten 
 months old in appearance; a large baby, who could sit up- 
 right, which kept turning its head round to see the com- 
 pany, and had blue eyes, and a head of tiny flaxen curls. 
 Florence did not walk round the circle on this occasion, so 
 that all the sitters did not see the two children; but the 
 lady next me did so, distinctly, and expressed as much 
 surprise as I did. 
 
 My aunt, Mrs. Bury Palliser, was a woman well known in 
 the world of letters and art. She was my father. Captain 
 Marryat's, favorite sister, and had always proved a good and 
 kind friend to me. One afternoon, John King announced: 
 ^' A spirit for you. Miss Marryat ! I don^t know who she is, I 
 never saw her before, but she is some relation of yours, an 
 elderly lady, and she is holding up her right hand. There 
 is blood on it, as if it had been torn. The action is in- 
 tended for a guide, in case you do not recognize her." But 
 there was no need of a guide; for, as soon as I saw the 
 spirit, I recognized my dear aunt Fanny, with her face so 
 like mine, that people often said I resembled her in 
 feature, far more than any of her own children did. I saw 
 the smear of the blood on her hand, also, but did not un- 
 derstand it, until I had time to think the matter over and 
 remembered what I had been told respecting her last ill- 
 ness. She died of Bright's disease, and her agony, at the 
 last, Avas so great, that she fixed her teeth in the back of 
 her hand and mutilated the flesh. I had not been present 
 at the time, but was told of this after her death; the cir- 
 cumstance, therefore, did not immediately recur to my 
 mind, so that no one can imagine there was any brain 
 €ollusion in the case. 
 
 Another spirit, whom I saw, for tlie first time, when 
 fitting at these seances, was my Persian guide. For some 
 
THE SPIRIT AVORLD. 189 
 
 time past, I had been told tliat my most powerful guide 
 was an ancient Persian, but, by no means, could 1 get 
 at his name. One afternoon, however, a white-robed 
 figure issued from the cabinet, and " salaamed " before me. 
 I asked who he was, but received no answer, only another 
 profound "salaam/'' as we should have called it in India. 
 It was a man with a dark complexion, black eyes, and a 
 black beard, all plaited in little tails. He wore a turban, 
 and a long robe, reaching to his feet, and girt round his 
 middle by a white sash of the same material. I asked John 
 King who he was, but all the answer I got was, that he was 
 a most powerful control of mine. Since then, I have seen 
 him several times, and he has given me the name of 
 Abdullah Ben-adad Pen-rudah Mahomet Abdullah, which 
 is a pretty good mouthful if you should happen to be in a 
 hurry. I shall have occasion to mention my Abdullah 
 hereafter. 
 
 One very interesting apparition, which took place during 
 these sittings, must not be omitted. There was, at that 
 time, a certain house, in Hammersmith, which had been 
 badly haunted for years past ; so badly, indeed, that the 
 mistress of it, a single lady, could not persuade any servant 
 to stay with her during the night, when the haunted spirit, 
 an old man, used to enter her bedroom, and shake her in 
 her bed, exclaiming: " Get out of my house. Get out of 
 my house ! " She must have been a plucky old lady, for 
 she used to reply : " It is my house, not yours,^"* and go 
 quietly to sleep again. Some of our circle, however, hav- 
 ing heard of this spirit, and obtained the permission of the 
 mistress of the house to hold a seance there with Mr. 
 Husk, had assembled, the week before, and interviewed 
 the ghost, who had abused them all roundly, in turn. 
 They had, however, extracted his history, and the reason 
 of the purgatory he was undergoing, from him. He said 
 
190 THE SPIRIT WOELD. 
 
 that, one hundred and fifty years before that time, he had 
 occupied the house, with his only child, a daughter ; that 
 this daughter had been led astray, and that when she 
 became a mother, he was so enraged, that he had put the 
 poor, little baby on the fire and burned it to death, and 
 the sight had so maddened the unfortunate young mother, 
 that she had rushed upstairs and flung herself from the 
 roof of the house, being smashed to pieces on the stones 
 beneath. The Thursday after this sitting had been held 
 in the haunted house, at Hammersmith, John King in- 
 formed us that this pleasant old gentleman had followed 
 his medium home, and he had great difficulty in preventing 
 his being annoyed by him in the intervening time ; that 
 the murderer's spirit was in the cabinet at that moment, 
 and most anxious to manifest itself ; but John would not 
 allow him to do so, without the permission of the circle, 
 as he was earth-bound and low, and not likely to do us 
 any good. But, on the other hand, if we consented to 
 interview him, we should be helping him to rise and break 
 the chains that held him to this world. Of course, we all 
 gave a hearty consent ; I, for one, being most anxious to 
 see what the old wretch was like. In a few minutes, 
 therefore, he appeared. I do not think I ever saw a viler 
 countenance. I can only compare it to that of a decom- 
 posed "Fagin." His eyes were small, and sunken in his 
 head, beneath the most formidable shaggy eyebrows. His 
 nose like an eagle's beak ; his lips protruding, sensual, 
 and of a blue tint ; his hair, matted and filthy ; his nails 
 like claws, and his hands covered with hair. He was either 
 deformed, or crouched, as he walked slowly round the 
 circle, muttering to himself, in a whining voice : " Lord, 
 how long, how long ? Will this torture never end ? Why 
 can't I die ? Why can't I die ? " This was another case, 
 where the spirit was so human, that it could not realize 
 
THE SPIEIT WORLD. 191 
 
 it had passed out of the body. Most of the circle shrunk 
 from this dreadful spirit with aversion ; and, indeed, he 
 looked quite ready to murder some one else. As he neared 
 my side, rubbing his hairy hands together, and muttering 
 to himselfa I leaned forward, and said with one of my 
 sweetest smiles : ^^ My friend, don^t you know that you 
 have passed over ? You are not in the body at present. 
 You died years ago." He turned his lascivious, vicious face 
 towards mine, glared at me for a moment, and then hissed 
 out : "Damn you. I didn't.'^ Which courteous return for 
 my civil piece of information shut me up altogether. 
 
 After this spiritual Sir Charles Grandison had left us, his 
 daughter materialized and spoke to us also. She was a 
 pleasant-looking girl of, perhaps, twenty, dressed in the 
 fashion of her time, in a mob cap, and a kerchief pinned 
 across her bosom, her curling, brown hair falling each side 
 of her face. She thanked us for having let her and her 
 father come amongst us. It was the first time, she added, 
 that they had quitted the house at Hammersmith since 
 their crimes had been committed ; but she hoped, now, that 
 they would never go there again, but commence to soar 
 upwards. It was a repetition, as far as the freeing of their 
 earthly bonds, through our intervention, was concerned, 
 of the " Story of the Monk,'' which I give in my former 
 book. I never saw either of them again ; but it is an ex- 
 perience that made a deep impression on me. 
 
 I had permission to take a young gentleman friend to 
 one of these sittings, it being the first materializing seance 
 he had ever attended. I was aware that this gentleman 
 had three living brothers ; but of what babies had died, in 
 his family, I had never been told, and he, himself, had 
 almost forgotten. Soon after we were seated next each 
 other, however, a young man came from the cabinet 
 straight up to my friend, and gazed at him very earnestly. 
 
192 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 I asked him if lie recognized the spirit as any one belong- 
 ing to himself^ and he answered " No/^ The spirit came 
 up several times, however, until I instigated my friend to 
 ask if he could give his name, and say Avhat relation (if 
 any) he was to himself. He did so, and the answer was 
 " Brother." " Have you lost any brothers ? " I asked, and 
 he nodded in reply, as he demanded of the spirit, " Which 
 brother ? " The answer was given, unhesitatingly, " Willy.*^ 
 I then examined the appearance of the spirit and per- 
 ceived that he possessed the same eyes as my friend ; a 
 pair of very large ones, of the darkest blue. After the 
 seance, I expressed my surprise that I had never heard 
 that he had lost a brother, and he said : "Well, that is not 
 surprising, for I had almost forgotten it myself ; but the 
 two babies born before me, were boys, and both died as 
 infants, one being called Frederick and the other AVilliam, 
 and that is really all I know about it." If Mr. Husk repre- 
 sents these materialized spirits himself, "making-uj)" (as 
 the sceptic suggested to me), whilst inside the dark cabinet, 
 it is remarkable that he should be able to guess at the 
 names and sexes of dead babies, that even their own rela- 
 tions cannot remember. The young man, who aj^peared 
 to us, looked about twenty. On my remarking this, my 
 friend said that he would have been two and twenty, had 
 he lived. The spirit answered : "No, four and twenty !" 
 which proved to be correct. 
 
 I have spoken only of the forms which appeared, at these 
 sittings, for myself and immediate friends ; but almost 
 every one in the circle received satisfactory tests of the 
 presence of their own belongings. Naturally, however, 
 one does not take much notice of the advent of strangers, 
 unless they have made themselves famous, in some way or 
 other. One instance, liowever, intruded itself on my 
 notice. 
 
THE SPIEIT WORLD. 193 
 
 The gentleman I have already mentioned as Mr. Douglas 
 
 ^M , had lost a sister, called Mary, who had been the wife 
 
 of an officer, who had served in India, and whom I will call 
 
 Captain . " Mary,^^ who was a very sweet-looking 
 
 spirit, appeared several times to Mr. M and his wife, and 
 
 so convinced them both of her identity, that they became 
 
 anxious that Captain should also see her. Mr. 
 
 M — — told me that Captain was a great sceptic'; but 
 
 he. thought that if he once saw the spirit of his wife, he 
 would believe. For this purpose, he organized a private 
 
 sitting, to which he should bring Captain , the only 
 
 other sitters being his wife, himself, and me. This plan 
 was carried into execution, and, on the day apjDointed, we 
 four assembled at Mr. Husk's house. The reason of our 
 meeting there had been made no secret with the medium. 
 He had had plenty of time given him to make his prepara- 
 tions ; he had (as the sceptics would say) most successfully 
 imitated the spirit of Mary before ; the fact of his doing 
 it again, might have led to great advantages for himself — 
 wherein, then, lay the difficulty of recalling her ? Yet, as 
 the event proved, some insuperable obstacle intervened. 
 We had a most successful seance ; several friends of the 
 sitters appeared, but no Mary. I must tell you that the 
 
 fact of Mr. Douglas M having spoken witli the spirit 
 
 of his sister had been carefully withheld from Captain 
 
 , as they were anxious to see if he recognized his 
 
 wife, as readily as they had done. They confidently ex- 
 pected to see her reappear, but the time went on and 
 there was no sign of her. Suddenly, an old Indian tunc, 
 which I well remembered to have often heard played on 
 the tom-toms, in the bazaars of Madras, sounded on the 
 little stringed instrument, which lay upon the table, and 
 is called "The Fairy Bells,'' and I exclaimed : "Why, that 
 is the old bazaar tune.'' Captain seconded the 
 
194 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 assertion, and, immediately, a dark Indian face appeared 
 on the table, and stopped before him. He recognized this 
 face as belonging to an old " kitmaghur '^ of his, who had 
 lived in his service, for sixteen years, in India, and ad- 
 dressed it in Hindustani, to which it volubly replied. 
 They kept up a conversation for some time, and Captain 
 
 acknowledged himself to be perfectly satisfied as to 
 
 the identity of the spirit, with whom he had conversed. 
 Now, there are two points to be observed, for the genuine- 
 ness of Mr. Husk^s manifestations, in this incident. In 
 
 the first place, since he knew that Mr. M was most 
 
 desirous that his brother in-law should see the spirit of 
 " Mary,'^ and had organized the meeting, expressly, for 
 that purpose, why did not "• Mary " appear, and increase 
 his own reputation as a medium? Secondly, since for 
 some reason or other, " Mary " was not forthcoming, and 
 Mr. Husk (presumably) substituted a " made-up " Indian 
 spirit in her stead, how was it that he could converse, 
 fluently, in Hindustani, with his duped client ? My object 
 in putting these and similar questions down in black and 
 white, is to make reasoning people exert their faculties to 
 solve them ; not to moke fools exclaim : " 0, it cannot be 
 true, because ice have never experienced anything of the 
 
 sort." Captain was a sceptic. He accompanied his 
 
 brother and sister-in-law to Mr. Husk's, expecting to be 
 present at some fraud ; yet, he saw and talked with an 
 Indian servant, whom he had known for sixteen years, so 
 that he was not likely to be mistaken in his identity ; a 
 servant, whom his relations had never seen, and never ex- 
 pected to see. Besides, Hindustani is, perhaps, the most 
 difficult language to master in the world. Very few Indian 
 officers can pass an examination in it, and to be able to 
 speak it like a native, means to be perfect in its use. If 
 Cecil Husk i)ersonated tliat native head, liow did he 
 
THE SPIKIT WORLD. 195 
 
 manage to speak Hindustani^ so that an officer, who had 
 lived amongst the natives, detected no error in his speech 
 or pronunciation? It is ridiculous to imagine that he 
 could, any more than he could have pronounced the 
 Parisian French spoken by the Prince Imperial. But 
 " Mary '' did not appear during that seance at all, though, 
 I suppose, her white drapery and pigments, for " making- 
 up,^^ etc., were waiting ready for her, on the table in front ' 
 of the medium. 
 
 This was not a cabinet seance, but a table one, i. e,, the 
 sitters sat round a table in the dark, holding each other's 
 hands, whilst the spirits' faces and busts, only, appeared 
 before them. This is the usual way in which Mr. Husk 
 sits, as the production of the full form takes double the 
 strength out of him. I have received some most satisfac- 
 tory manifestations under these conditions. 
 
 I will tell you how my dear old mother came to me there; 
 but I must first relate the story of her death, which took 
 place on the 13th of February, 1883. She was a very old 
 lady, and much disapproved of the custom of piling flowers 
 on coffins, which is carried to such an extent nowadays. 
 She had been to see an old friend, lying dead, a short time 
 before her own death, and animadverted strongly on the 
 absurdity of having found her withered corpse, covered with 
 beautiful white flowers, just as if she had been a young 
 girl. " Mind, no flowers ! " were almost the last words she 
 repeated, as she was dying, and, in accordance with her 
 wishes, we decided not to put any on her coffin. But, on 
 the day her coffin was closed, I bought a large bunch of 
 deep, purple, sweet-smelling violets, and divided it into five 
 small bouquets, one for each of her daughters, and as I 
 placed them on her breast, I said: " You said 'no flowers,' 
 mother, but you won't mind these violets, just one bunch 
 for each of your daughters." It was an early spring that 
 
196 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 year^ and the perfume of the violets was so strong, that it 
 filled the room whilst they remained in it. My mother 
 had been very restless and delirious for some days before her 
 death; but, during the last hours, she regained conscious- 
 ness and recog-nized us. Seeing me stooping over her, she 
 whispered ^^ Sing, Flo — sing ^ Eock of Ages,^ ^' which I, ac- 
 cordingly, did, and very soon afterwards she passed away. 
 I had not seen my mother, nor heard from her, till, one 
 evening, I entered Mr. Husk's seance room, in company 
 with twenty or more strangers, and, as we did so^ we all 
 perceived a strong smell of violets, though it was in the 
 month of August, when no violets were blooming. The 
 ladies turned to each other, asking " Have you any violet 
 scent about you ? " or " Have you any violet powder about 
 you ? '' But I said : " This smell comes from no scent or 
 powder. Can't you smell it is the scent of fresh violets." 
 But, still, I did not connect it with any idea of my mother. 
 When the sitting had proceeded a little, the " Fairy Bells '' 
 played " Rock of Ages." Mrs. Husk, who was present, asked 
 me: " Is that for you, Miss Marryat ? I do not remember to 
 have heard that tune played here before." Then the com- 
 bination of the violets and the hymn brought my mother to 
 my mind, and I said: '' I am not sure; but I think I recog- 
 nize it." At the same moment, a fresh hunch of violets , 
 wet toith dew, was thrust under my nose, and I had hardly 
 had time to exclaim, with astonishment, at tlie circum- 
 stance, before a hand was laid on my shoulder from behind, 
 and I heard my motlier's voice whisperiiig: "Yes, dear, it 
 is I ! You were very naughty to put flowers on me when 
 I told you not to do so; but I am glad of it now, for I shall 
 always come to you with my two symbols, tlie hymn and 
 tlie violets." It was on that occasion tliat I asked her: 
 " Are you quite happy, now, mother dear ? " and she an- 
 swered: "Yes ! quite luippy; but Flo ! it is all so very 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 197 
 
 different from what I imagined/^ You will see from this^ 
 that Mr. Husk grows cleverer and cleverer as these sittings 
 proceed : for he has now not only discovered (what I never 
 told him^ nor any one else) that I had put violets in my 
 mother's coffin, against her expressed wishes; but he has 
 learned the secret of producing them fresh, sweet-smelling, 
 and wet with dew, in the middle of August. He "did 
 ought " to make his fortune. 
 
 One day, I was sitting, by invitation, with some very 
 hard-headed sceptics, who were investigating Spiritualism 
 purely from a scientific point of view. They were three 
 barristers, and two of them sat either side of Mr. Husk, 
 holding his hands firmly in theirs. Presently, I heard 
 them speculating on the possible identity of a spirit who 
 was before them, but with its back to my end of the table. 
 "It is an American," said one of the gentlemen; "they con- 
 stantly wear those pointed beards." " Looks to me more 
 like a foreigner," replied the other, "after the style of 
 Francis the First." Presently, the spirit came round to 
 my side of the table. As he caaght sight of me, all his 
 features relaxed in a smile, and he said: "Oh ! Florence, 
 my dear, I was looking for you. So glad to meet you 
 again, my dear — so glad ! " I recognized him at once as 
 my brother-in-law, Lynall Thomas, who passed away the 
 end of 1887. He was almost a naturalized Frenchman, and 
 always wore a small pointed beard and waxed mustache 
 in the French fashion. He was a very handsome man, with 
 delicate aquiline features, not easily imitated, and had a 
 most refined look. You will observe that the strangers 
 sitting with me, who had never met him in this life, de- 
 scribed his personal appearance accurately, and I mention 
 these, apparently, trivial things, in order to prove that it is 
 not my imagination alone that transforms waxen images, 
 or rag dolls, into the semblances of my lost friends. 
 
198 THE SPIRIT WOELD. 
 
 Lyiiall Thomas lias come to see me several times since, and 
 I am always glad to welcome his appearance. 
 
 Mr. Husk used to hold what he called an open seance, on 
 Sunday evenings, and I have witnessed some affecting 
 meetings, whilst attending them, between the spirits and 
 the utter strangers who happened to sit next to me. 
 
 There was a sad case in the newspapers, some few years 
 since, when a whole family was poisoned from eating tinned 
 salmon, and one little boy, called Richard Parker, died 
 from the effects. I was at Mr. Husk's the evening little 
 Eichard reappeared to his father, who was my next neighbor 
 at the table. I saw the child's spirit; a little school-boy of 
 about ten or twelve, with close-cropped hair, and I heard 
 him speak to his father of his home, mentioning everybody 
 there by name, enumerating the playthings and books he 
 had left behind, and saying to whom he wished them given, 
 sending his love and kisses to his mother, and asking when 
 she would come to see him there. His father was much 
 affected by the interview; but we had a long conversation 
 afterwards, when he told me many particulars about his 
 little son. I have sat with Mr. Parker several times since. 
 He has another and older son in the spirit world, named 
 George, and, on one occasion, when Mrs. Parker was 
 obliged to go over to Ireland, to see after the sale of some 
 property there, " George '^ came to his father, and, in my 
 hearing, gave him all the information concerning his wife 
 that he had not had time to receive through the j^ost, 
 even to the sale of the property, and how much it had 
 realized, all of which proved to be correct. I have seen 
 mothers and fathers at these sittings, with the tears pour- 
 ing down their cheeks as they spoke with their children 
 again. 
 
 Some people are very fortunate in getting proofs of 
 spirit-identity quickly; others have to wait some time; but 
 
THE SPIEIT WOKLD. 199 
 
 my belief is, that the only thing needed to ensure ultimate 
 success, is perseverance. 
 
 A lady came over from Bruges, with an introduction 
 from my sister, who is resident there, to ask me to put 
 her in the way of seeing some materialized spirits — she 
 didn^t care what spirits, so long as she could see them. On 
 enquiry, I found she was only going to remain in London 
 from Thursday to Monday. I told her it was impossible 
 to investigate Spiritualism in a couple of days; that, if she 
 went to a public seance, she would only be very much dis- 
 appointedj and I would rather not have anything to do 
 with it. But she begged and prayed me so, to direct her 
 to a reliable medium, that she might, at least, see some- 
 thing, that, at last, but very reluctantly, I gave her the ad- 
 dress of, and an introduction to, Mr. Husk, and she attended 
 his Sunday meeting; he knowing no more of her than she 
 did of him. The first spirit who appeared that evening, 
 however, was that of a nun, who had been an intimate 
 friend of the lady from Bruges, and died a short time be- 
 fore. " Sister Catherine," I think she called her, and she 
 was followed very quickly by the spirits of her brother and 
 stepson, to both of whom she had been much attached. 
 This good fortune, for which she was as unprepared as I 
 had been, made the lady a Spiritualist at once, but every 
 one cannot expect the same results. I conclude she must 
 have been a medium herself, without knowing it, but I 
 know no more of her than I have told you. 
 
 Some other friends — two young ladies — whom I sent to 
 Mr. Husk, had a very curious experience. They, also, 
 were staying in town for a very short time, and had only 
 one evening to spare for their pursuit of Spiritualism. 
 They sat with Mr. Husk, but they did not see the person 
 they had had in their minds when going there. The spirit 
 of a young man, however, came, several times, for the 
 
200 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 younger sister, insisting she knew him, though she could 
 not recognize him in the least. These two ladies, there- 
 fore, returned home not so well satisfied as the other. The 
 next evening, they had stalls for the Lyceum, to which 
 they were accompanied by an officer — a man who ridiculed 
 all idea of Spiritualism, or ghosts, or anything supernat- 
 ural. They had been watching the play very attentively ; 
 when it was about half through, the eyes of the younger 
 sister were directed towards an empty stage-box, on the 
 opposite side of the theatre, when, to her amazement, she 
 saw, sitting there, alone, with the white covering over his 
 head and shoulders, the same spirit who had come for her 
 so pertinaciously, in the seance room, the evening before. 
 She thought it must be an optical illusion, and rubbed her 
 eyes, to see if she were dreaming ; but, still, the apparition 
 remained immovable in the stage-box. The young lady 
 then attracted the attention of her sister to the sight, who 
 saw it as plainly as she did. But now comes the remark- 
 able part of the story. Being unable to believe the evi- 
 dence of their own senses, the ladies, after a while, asked 
 the unsentimental and unbelieving soldier, who sat between 
 them, to glance in the direction of the stage-box, and tell 
 them what he saw there ; and, to their astonishment, he 
 described the spirit just as they saw it — with the white 
 drapery about its form ; with large, dark, mournful eyes 
 gazing fixedly at tlie younger sister. The two sisters 
 might have been deluded into tliinking they saw what was 
 not there ; but how about the sceptical officer, who had 
 had no preparation for such an event ? '^I'ruly, there are 
 more things in Heaven and earth than are dreamt of in 
 our phik^sojiliy. 
 
 Sometimes, wlien lie feels tliat he is amongst friends, 
 John King gives the most remarkable tests, at Mr. Husk's 
 seances, of his own power, and that of his nuMliiun. I have 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 201 
 
 often seen him walk out of the cabinet, fully formed, and 
 place one illuminated board above his head and another 
 beneath his bare feet, to show his height, which is con- 
 siderably over six feet. I have seen him hold a slate, so 
 that both hands were visible, and then let one hand de- 
 materialize, till it was no larger than a dolFs, whilst the 
 other remained the normal size. He has very small and 
 beautifully-formed feet, for a man, of which, I think, he is 
 a little vain, for he always seems pleased when people 
 notice the fact. He plays exceedingly well on the Fairy 
 Bells, which is a rough, little instrument, more a child's 
 plaything than anything else, and only strung with wires, 
 without flats or sharps. I cannot imagine how he handles 
 it ; for I have tried to produce an accidental on it, without 
 success. One day, as he was floating it in the air, playing 
 meanwhile, he told us he would give ns a descriptive scene 
 on it. He premised that once, when he was flying his 
 black flag over the coast of Spain, he ran inshore to a small 
 town, about the time of evening prayer, and, whilst the in- 
 habitants were in church, he sacked the town, and then 
 set fire to it. Upon the alarm being given, the bells, which 
 were ringing to call the people to prayer, were, suddenly, 
 changed into the fire alarm, and clashed out inhar- 
 moniously. The effect, he said, was one that he had never 
 forgotten, and he would try to reproduce it for our benefit. 
 I shall not soon forget the execution which followed this 
 description. It was most artistic. You could hear the 
 quiet summer evening, and the church bells chiming, first, 
 and then the attack, the hurry, and rush, and noise ; and 
 then the attack, the alarm, the raging fire, and the clash- 
 ing bells, which turned the peaceful scene into one of fear 
 and carnage. It is impossible to describe the scene, as it 
 would be impossible to imitate it. And, all the while, the 
 Fairy Bells were careering wildly round the ceiling, whilst 
 
202 THE SPIKIT WORLD. 
 
 they were fingered without one false note. John King 
 will take the Fairy Bells np to the ceiling, as I have de- 
 scribed, pass them through it to the room above, where 
 you may hear them playing in a more subdued key; then 
 on to the roof of the house, where they sound as if far 
 away. He has even, in my presence, brought them down 
 again outside the window of the seance room, and played 
 them there, before bringing them back into the circle. 
 " Ebenezer '^ also plays them, but not so skillfully as John 
 King. Mr. Husk^s controls will lift the heavy musical box, 
 which is a weight for any man to carry, off the table to 
 another part of the room; wind it up, when required, so 
 vigorously, indeed, that they have broken it more than 
 once, and give all sorts of physical manifestations. 
 
 The seance is usually opened by the spirit of Cardinal 
 ^N'ewman, who, carrying a cross of fire, goes all round the 
 circle to bless it ; and closed by the spirit of an Armenian 
 priest, who recites the Kyrie Eleison in Greek, as a fare- 
 well benediction. 
 
 These are some few of the wonders which I have wit- 
 nessed under the mediumship of Cecil Husk, and can bear 
 testimony to, amidst a score of fellow-sitters. These sit- 
 tings were not held for me alone. They were conducted in 
 a crowd, who can all testify to the good faith of the 
 medium — who have, for the most part, tested him, year 
 after year, and know what they believe. Shall such a man 
 suffer from the allegaticns of men who are too ignorant to 
 understand what is going on, when those who have made 
 Spiritualism tlie study of their life can bear witness in his 
 favor ? 
 
205 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 SOME PRIYATE EXPEEIEKCES. 
 
 I have been very amused, lately, by the discovery that 
 Bessie Eussell Davis and I are regarded, by some people, 
 as members of a species of Mutual Admiration Society,, 
 pledged to support each other^s opinions, on the principle 
 of "You scratch me and Fll scratch you." Also, that, 
 because I edited, I wrote the whole, or the greater part, of 
 her book, ^' The Clairvoyance of Bessie Williams." Both 
 ideas are totally wrong. Bessie and I have been intimate 
 friends for over fifteen years^ and it is hardly possible that 
 either of us could write of a pursuit to which our lives have 
 been pretty well devoted without introducing each other^s 
 names. We live near together; we meet constantly, and 
 we seldom meet without having a sitting of some sort ; 
 therefore, to eliminate the mention of one another, from 
 anything Ave may write on Spiritualism, would have to be 
 done purposely. As to Bessie's book, the only part 1 con- 
 tributed to it was to take down a few notes given by 
 the spirits while the medium was under control, and to 
 write the brief preface introducing the author to the 
 public. When I am asked, at the present moment, who is 
 the best clairvoyante in England, I say, Mrs. Eussell 
 Davis, because I do not know of a better ; but I can as- 
 sure my readers that the information is given, not from 
 any hope of emolument for advertising my friend, but 
 purely from a desire to benefit the persons who apply to 
 me for it. Bess and I, however, have many a pleasant time 
 together, when no thought of publicity enters our heads. 
 
204 THE SPIRIT ^YOELD. 
 
 January the first, 1893, was Dewdrop's birthday, or so 
 she said. I don't quite know how she makes it out; but 
 she says she has been in the spirit world four hundred 
 years, and yet has only had seventeen birthdays. Anyway, 
 for some AYeeks before the dawning of 1893, she had prom- 
 ised to come to supper with me on her birthday, and to 
 bring her medium, and Mr. Davis, and the children with 
 her. She also begged to choose the supper, which was to 
 consist of a roast turkey and various other dishes. Accord- 
 ingl}^, on the first, they all reached my house about six 
 o'clock in the evening, Bessie being under control from 
 the minute she crossed the threshold. Almost the first 
 thing Dewdrop told me, was that she was so sorry she had 
 not brought her birthday presents to show me, but her 
 ^' Medio '' had forgotten them in the hurry of departure. 
 The " papooses " (as she calls Mab, George and Alona) had 
 bought for her, with their own money, some colored glass 
 bangles, from the Crystal Palace, and she had fully in- 
 tended to wear them at her birthday feast. But they had 
 been left behind; so she had to console herself with telling 
 me how pretty they were. 
 
 Xothing particular happened until supper was an- 
 nounced, when Dewdrop and. Ned were in full force. 
 Dewdrop said she wanted to do something " very good, 
 indeed '' — something that "Flo^^ might be able to tell 
 people of. She asked us to advise her as to what it should 
 be. Mr. Davis and I and the elder children suggested 
 various "doughty deeds," none of which seemed to meet 
 with her approval ; until Alona, the baby, called out : 
 *^ Why don't you go to Norwood and fetch your bangles, 
 Dewdrop?" " But where is 'em? " asked Dewdrop, dubi- 
 ously. " / know," answered Alona. " In mother's work- 
 basket, in her room." " I'll fetcli them," cried Dewdrop; 
 " you just lower the gas a little, Flo, and keep quiet, and 
 
THE SPIEIT AVORLD. 205 
 
 don't mind if Medie looks a bit bad^ and Fll be back di- 
 rectly/^ We did as she told us; and, in about the space of 
 five minutes, we heard the jingling of the glass bangles,, 
 as they were clinked against each other, close to the ceil- 
 ing. '' Turn up the gas,^^ said Dewdrop; and, as we did 
 so, we saw Bessie was asleep, with her hands folded on her 
 breast, and three bangles on either wrist. When we con- 
 gratulated Dewdrop on her success, she replied: "I should 
 have brought them over sooner, but that little warmint, 
 'Lona, told me they was in the Medic's work-basket, and 
 they was on the drawing-room mantelpiece, instead. But 
 here they is, for all that, and aint they pretty ? '' Dewdrop 
 did not let her " Medie ^^ oS, even after this feat, but kept 
 her under control all supper-time. 
 
 The dining-table not being large enough for the pur- 
 pose, the meal had been laid upon two tables set close to- 
 gether, but with separate cloths. Towards the close of it, 
 a gentleman friend of mine made his appearance, and took 
 a seat at the head of the second table. As soon as he was 
 settled, and had a plate of turkey before him, Dewdrop 
 whispered to me : " What shall I do for Bertie ? Shall I 
 go back to Norwood and fetch something else from Medic's 
 house?" I opposed this idea, saying I was afraid it would 
 try Bessie's strength too much, and suggested she should 
 do something easier. "Very well" replied Dewdrop; and» 
 the next moment, the two tables were rolled away from 
 one another, so that my friend, who sat at the head of 
 one, found himself pushed against the window of the room; 
 whilst Bessie, who occupied the seat opposite to him, was 
 sent with her back against the sideboard, leaving a hiatus 
 in the center, where the children and Mr. Davis and I sat 
 watching the departure of the remainder of our supper. 
 
 On one occasion, Bessie and I were going to a ball to- 
 gether, and stayed at a certain hotel for tlie night. As we 
 
206 THE SPIRIT WOKLD. 
 
 sat at dinner, side by side, sundry knocks began to be 
 heard under the table, at which our neighbors looked 
 rather surprised ; but we, purposely, took no notice of 
 them. This made Dewdrop determined (I suppose) that 
 we should recognize her antics; so, as I lifted a glass of 
 water to my lips, it was suddenly chucked out of my 
 hands, and spilt over the cloth, whilst I had to bear the 
 onus of being clumsy and awkward. As we were dressing 
 for the ball, we remonstrated with Dewdrop on her con- 
 duct, but she was incorrigible, and said she meant to do 
 much worse than that. She was delighted with the music 
 and the dancing, and, as Bessie and I sat, side by side, in 
 the ball-room, the former could see Dewdrop and Ned 
 taking part in all the fun. Dewdrop was dressed in her 
 Sioux costume of paint and feathers, with embroidered 
 moccasins on her feet, and Ned was in a sort of Foresters', 
 or Robin Hood, dress of green, and both were taking, ap- 
 parently, the greatest delight in the dancing. Presently, 
 the Barn Dance was announced, and Dewdrop returned 
 and whispered to me: "Now, I'm going to show you what 
 I can do. You see those two girls in blue and white? 
 I'll make them kick so high that every one in the room 
 shall look at them." I told Bessie what she had said, and 
 we watched the upshot closely. The two girls, beside whom 
 Bessie could see Dewdrop prancing, became more and 
 more excited as the dance proceeded, till I really thought 
 they v/ould be called to order by the stewards of the cere- 
 monies. They kicked higher and higher, till they might 
 have been matriculating for the music halls, whilst wicked 
 little Dewdro]) kicked beside them. Their faces grew 
 redder and redder; their hair became disordered; and, at 
 last, their chaperons thought it time to interfere, and the 
 Jijirn Dance was ended. Dewdrop was immediately by my 
 .^ide again, delighted with her success. "There! did you 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 207 
 
 see them? Didn^t they kick till they could kick no 
 higher ? But, if they had seen it done on the stage, they 
 would have put their fans before their faces, and said: 
 ' How improper ! ^ '' Dewdrop has a keen sense of the 
 humbug of this world. 
 
 When we returned to the hotel, there was a second sup- 
 per spread for us, to which, perhaps, a dozen people sat 
 down. It consisted of light things, such as sandwiches, 
 cakfis, jellies, etc. We had scarcely taken our seats, when 
 everything on the table, jellies, sandwiches, and the rest, 
 commenced bobbing, and jumping up and down in their 
 dishes, to the amazement of the uninitiated. As for 
 Bessie and myself, the bobbing and jumping, and the looks 
 of astonishment, were, altogether^ too much for us, and I 
 laughed till I cried ; but the more I laughed the more the 
 jellies danced, till I thought I should have gone into 
 hysterics. This was Dewdrop all over. She is always 
 playing some mischievous prank or other, though she can 
 be as solemn as a judge, when necessary. 
 
 I knew from Bessie's former experiences, that she must 
 possess materializing powers, but never thought that her 
 guides would let her sit for materialization, or that she had 
 the requisite strength for it. She had often remarked to 
 me, however, that, when we sat together, in the dark, for 
 clairvoyance, she could see my figure enveloped in an 
 orange cloud ; and added that I must, necessarily, possess 
 physical power, orange being the tint for materializing 
 aura. 
 
 Shortly after, we were desired by Dewdrop to sit in 
 private for materialization— Bess, Bob (Mr. Davis) and I. 
 She promised that, if we would persevere, and admit no one 
 to our seances, till she gave us leave, we should obtain great 
 results, and I am sure she would have fulfilled her word. 
 
 The first evening we three assembled in Bessie's drawing- 
 
208 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 room, we had not tlie faintest idea that we should get any- 
 thing. We put out the light, as desired, and sat round a 
 small table, but without joining hands, having previously 
 placed paper and 2:)encils on it. In a few minutes, Bessie 
 went under control, which we ascertained by getting no 
 answer when we addressed her. The next thing we heard 
 was the advance of a chair, from the other side of the 
 room. ^^Bob," I said, "hold my hand. I feel creej)y.^^ 
 The next minute the chair had reached the side of his, and 
 a form, sitting in it, laid its head upon his shoulder. In 
 answer to his questions, he found this was the spirit 
 (though not fully materialized) of his guide, Alona, after 
 Avhom his little girl was named. I have not mentioned 
 that the room was a very small one, and the door had been 
 carefully locked, as we were sitting under test conditions, 
 not knowing what great results might not ensue from our 
 modest beginning. Bessie is inordinately fond of flowers, 
 and cultivates a garden, in l)oxes, on the leads of her 
 house, which were tAvo stories above where we were sitting. 
 The next thing which happened was the placing of several 
 chrysanthemums — we found, afterwards, that they were 
 nine in number — on my lap, by Florence. " 0, Florence,^' 
 I exclaimed, " where did you get these flowers ? I hojDe 
 they are not Medie's white chrysanthemums," for I knew 
 how Bessie prized her seedlings. "Yes, they are,'" rejilied 
 Florence ; " all white ones, beauties." " But Medie will 
 be so vexed to lose them." " 0, no ; she mustn't be. How 
 can we show our power, if we are not to bring anything 
 into the room ?" "AVell, don't pick any more, will you ?" 
 " No, we'll try something else." In tlie next room, which 
 was the dining-room, the three children were sitting, 
 amusing themselves with their toys, and on the mantel- 
 piece were two heavy bronze vases. In another minute, 
 these two vases were placed on the table in front of us. 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 209 
 
 tlioiigh the next room was gas-lit, and tlie children knew 
 nothing of their removal. Then we heard the direct voice 
 of Julius Caesar, the negro who followed me home from 
 Boston, and attached himself to Bessie. The readers of 
 ^^ There is no Death ^^ may remember that, in writing of 
 the mediumship of Mrs. Eva Hatch, I mention seeing the 
 materialized spirits of a negro and negress, and kissing 
 the latter. The former was Julius Caesar, Avho, now, con- 
 stantly manifests to us. He is a very strong spirit, and his 
 voice is loud and distinct. It sounded as if he were stand- 
 ing just behind the medium. Then another direct voice, 
 but quite from the opposite side of the room, spoke to us 
 as follows : '' I am the spirit of Mesmer. I have taken 
 the charge of this circle, and I shall not leave it, until the 
 spirit form walks out in the full light, and takes a seat 
 beside the human form.^' After the sitting broke up, I 
 found a little note on the table, written by Florence, for 
 me, and to the paper of which was pinned a pink rosebud, 
 though we were unable to trace where it had come from. 
 The note was as follows : '^ Dearest, we are all here, ready 
 to assist in your seances ; and everything will come to pass 
 as Dewdrop has prophesied, only you must attend to all 
 she says. Good night.^^ 
 
 This was such a fine beginning, that we anticipated 
 grand results ; indeed, we could not see what the culmina- 
 tion of such forces might not lead to — Bess, Bob and I, not 
 only being mediumistic, but all in sympathy with each 
 other. But, I regret to say, our anticipations have not 
 been fulfilled. Bessie's engagements are so numerous, 
 that they leave her too much exhausted for private investi- 
 gation ; added to which, she did not obey Dewdrop's 
 orders, but invited strangers to witness her materializing 
 mediumship before it was ready for inspection, so that she 
 lost force instead of gaining it, and, though we often sit 
 
210 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 together, it is done irregularly, and is liable to many in- 
 terru23tions. It seems as though the two phases of 
 mediumship, clairYoyance and materialization^ cannot exist 
 together, or, rather, that one of the two must lose in 
 consequence, and the clairvoyance is the higher power. 
 Were Bessie to give herself up to physical manifestations, 
 she would get wonders, but the question is, if her strength 
 would stand it. 
 
 On another occasion that we three sat together, we had 
 the materialized forms walking round the room, kissing us, 
 and touching us ; my daughter, Eya, especially, giving 
 evidence of her presence in a very striking manner. She 
 was noted, during earth-life, for the length and thickness 
 of her hair, which fell far below her waist, and on each 
 occasion that she has manifested, besides speaking in the 
 direct voice, she has thrown her masses of hair all over 
 Bob's face and mine, so that we could take it up, in a 
 bunch, in our hands, and feel its texture. That she had 
 begun to manifest so freely, was my deejDest source of 
 regret, in having to give u]) these sittings. 
 
 Whilst other manifestations were going on, Julius 
 Caesar would show his power, by opening the doors of the 
 cabinet and scattering its contents, in the shajDe of letters, 
 newspapers, etc., all over the floor. 
 
 One evening, when Bessie had admitted a young man, 
 of my accquaintance, to these sittings — a man weighing 
 eleven stone, who was seated on a chair near the mantel- 
 piece — Julius lifted him up, chair and all, until one of the 
 legs rested on the mantelpiece, and then let him down, with 
 such a run, that he broke the two front legs off, a circum- 
 stance which Bessie did not, at all, approve of, when slie 
 came out of her trance. 
 
 Another time, when we were sitting round tlio table with 
 friends, amongst which were gentlemen, and Ik'ssie was in a 
 
THE SPIEIT WOELD. 211 
 
 normal condition, she had put on a pair of easy old boots, 
 which were very comfortable, but all trodden down at heel 
 and out of shape, and such as she would never have dis- 
 played for the benefit of the public, being a natty little 
 woman, and proud of her feet and hands. She felt nothing 
 during the seance, but after it was over, and the gas was re- 
 lighted, there appeared two curious objects in the middle 
 of the table. " What is that ? " exclaimed more than one 
 of the party, as they all pressed forward eagerly to solve the 
 mystery; when, to poor Bessie's horror, what should it 
 prove to be, but her pair of old boots, which Julius had 
 contrived to slip off her feet, without unlacing them, or 
 giving her the slightest hint of what he was doing. Didn't 
 she roast him for it, that's all ! 
 
 Once, when sitting at table — a large dining-room table 
 this time — in company with my cousin. Colonel Fitzroy 
 Marryat, a terrific sound came over the boards, exactly 
 like that of a horse galloping away. The hoofs positively 
 thundered over the table. We all looked at each other in 
 astonishment, for this seance took place in the light, and 
 asked: "What can it be?" Bessie put the questions: Who 
 was there, and for whom did he come? The answer was: 
 " My name is James Carey, I come for Colonel Marryat." 
 James Carey, it may be remembered, was the name of the 
 poltroon who galloped away, and left the poor young 
 Prince Imperial to meet his cruel death alone, and, on en- 
 quiry, we found that Colonel Marryat had a slight acquaint- 
 ance with him, though I forget whether he was aware that 
 he was dead. He utterly declined to have anything to say 
 to him, however, whether dead or alive — indeed, every one 
 there shrunk with loathing from the idea of contiguity 
 with such a specimen of British pluck and valor. But 
 the ring of the horse's hoofs over the table was not to be 
 mistaken. 
 
212 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 In the autumn of 1892, I had a young lady staying with 
 me, to whom I am deeply attached. One Sunday evening, 
 she told me it was her greatest desire to attend a seance, 
 never having sat at one in her life. I proposed at once 
 that we should pay Bessie a visit and join her Sunday even- 
 ing sitting, which she holds sacred, as a rule, to her chil- 
 dren; but, being a sort of privileged nuisance on the 
 premises, I ventured to intrude upon her family gathering. 
 I wouldn^t advise any of my readers, however, to follow my 
 example. We found her at home, as usual, and I intro- 
 duced my young friend to her. We had hardly settled 
 ourselves down to the table, before my daughter Florence 
 manifested, and, going up to my friend Emmie, kissed her, 
 and said: "I am so glad you are going to marry my 
 brother, and be my sister. You will make him very happy, 
 and you will be very happy yourself. God bless you." This 
 was all high Dutch to me, not a word having been breathed 
 by Emmie herself on the subject, and my son being then 
 at sea. I glanced across the table, with elevated eyebrows, 
 and asked: "Is it so?" and received an answer in the 
 affirmative. Afterwards, I was told that the news of the 
 engagement had only been withheld from me, until my son 
 should return from sea and tell me himself, but the spirits 
 had anticipated him. It is impossible to hide anything 
 from them. They know it before you do, yourself. 
 
 Several of my acquaintances have had their eyes consid- 
 erably opened by Bessie's controls. It is so difficult to 
 convince them beforehand, that they will be turned inside 
 out, like an old glove, as soon as they deliver themselves up 
 to their tender mercies. It is useless for me to say, when 
 they urge me to accompany them to an interview with 
 I^essie: "You had much better go alone. Unless your 
 past life is like a sheet of white paper (and very few lives 
 are), you will not thank me for accompanying you to Mrs. 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 213 
 
 Eussell Davis. I warn you that she will see through you, 
 as if you were a pane of glass, and she will call ^ a spade a 
 spade ' when she talks to you." They are always so cer- 
 tain that their past lives are white, unwritten pages, or 
 rather, they do not believe what I tell them, and, in many 
 instances, the results have been ludicrous. 
 
 One lady insisted upon my going with her, to her first 
 interview with Mrs. Eussell Davis. When I urged the un- 
 written page theory upon her, she replied : " I only want 
 to consult her about some plans my husband has in his 
 mind. I have some questions I want answered. How shall 
 I set about it ? " " Write the questions, or rather, let your 
 husband write them," I said, " on a sheet of paper, and 
 seal it up in a blank envelope, and when you see Mrs. Davis, 
 don^t tell her anything about your husband or yourself, nor 
 give her the least hint of what you want, but just place 
 the envelope in her hands and she will answer the questions 
 to the best of her ability." The lady commenced to inform 
 me that her husband had been unfortunate in business, but 
 had an opening for something else, etc. " Please don't tell 
 me any more," I said, ^^ or you will think there is collusion 
 between my friend and myself," and, at last, she was silent. 
 On the appointed day, I met her at Mrs. Russell Davis' 
 house, and, after having conversed on ordinary topics for 
 awhile, we proceeded to business. The lady held a hand- 
 bag, and out of it, she now drew an envelope portentously 
 sealed with three seals, which, I naturally concluded, con- 
 tained the questions relating to her husband, which, she 
 had told me, she was so desirous of having answered. 
 Bessie took the envelope and held it against her forehead 
 for a few seconds, and then asked : " What is it you par- 
 ticularly wish me to tell you about the person of whom 
 these questions are put ? Is it his examination you are 
 anxious about, or his health, or his feelings towards your- 
 
214 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 self V ^'1 should like to hear everything you can tell me/^ 
 replied the lady^ growing rather red. "Well! he won^t 
 pass his examination this time, at any rate/^ replied Bessie. 
 '"' He has been too easy-going about it — too self-confident — 
 he thinks too much of his abilities^ and does not exert him- 
 self sufficiently. It is the story of the hare and the tortoise 
 over again. He has plenty of ability, but he is very indo- 
 lent, and whilst the hare has been sleeping, he will find that 
 several tortoises have overtaken him.^^ "But will he pass 
 eventually ? '' demanded the lady. " Why are you so anxious 
 to ascertain? Do you imagine this man is going to stick to 
 you ? He is not your husband, you know; he is (or he calls 
 himself) your lover, but he will only care for you, so long 
 as he can get any good out of you. He is not worth think- 
 ing twice about, and the sooner you get rid of him, the 
 better.^^ The lady looked rather uncomfortable, and I 
 could not resist whispering to her: "So, this is the white, 
 unwritten page ! '' Whereupon, she produced a second en- 
 velope from her bag, and, handing it over to Bessie, said: 
 " What do you make of this ? " Mrs. Davis went through 
 the same formula as before, and replied : " I find there are 
 four questions written here: 'I am offered new employ- 
 ment, shall I accept it ? ^ 'Is the man I am dealing with 
 trustworthy ? ' ' Should I do better in Australia, than 
 in England ? ' and ' What is my ill-health due to ? ^ The 
 new employment has something to do witli the management 
 of a brewery, and the writer had better not have anything 
 to do with it. He is not fit for management. He is not 
 sufficiently a man of business. The person he is dealing 
 with is honest enough, but tlie venture would not be a suc- 
 cess. Now, as for Australia, he sliould go there at once, if 
 lie gets a good opening. He cannot manage a brewery, but 
 he can brew good beer, and if he went to Australia and 
 opened a brewery for good English ale, he would make his 
 
 il 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 215 
 
 fortune. What is tlie matter with him ? Well ! that is 
 easily answered. You are the matter with him ! His nerves 
 are all shattered. You are too much for him in every re- 
 spect, mentally and physically, and the sooner you are 
 separated, the better for him." Now, this lady was a per- 
 fect stranger to me before I took her to see Bessie, but she 
 told us, afterwards, that every word the medium had spoken 
 (and there was a great deal of private matter which I have 
 omitted here, as of no interest to the reader), was essen- 
 tially true. And this is but one instance out of a hundred. 
 
 I have heard Bessie say things that have sent respect- 
 able (?) wives and mothers flying out of the room, in horror 
 at hearing their secret errors shown up to the light of day; 
 her controls are as honest as herself, and never wink at 
 wrong-doing and deceit. In fact, you cannot deceive her 
 — white lies, or fibs, or whatever you may choose to call 
 them, are thrown away on her, for she knows you are ly- 
 ing, directly you open your mouth. She has told me that 
 her wonderful gift of clairvoyance makes her very sad, 
 sometimes, as she passes through the world, and sees the 
 shams and wicked deceptions that are carried on — men, 
 with full faith in women, who are rotten to the core, and 
 vice versa — and members of both sexes, apparently, in good 
 health and anticipating long lives, when she sees that a 
 few months will end them. 
 
 It so happens that, though Bessie and I have been ac- 
 quainted for so many years, she never met my daughter 
 Eva, who was the first wife of Victor Stevens, the actor 
 and composer. My daughter was so much away in the 
 provinces, with her husband, after her marriage, that she 
 never knew Bessie till after her own death. At that time 
 the Eussell Davis^ were living down at a place, in the 
 country, near Hendon, called Grays. As soon as Bessie 
 heard of the dreadful distress I was in, on losing my be- 
 
216 THE SPIKIT WOKLD. 
 
 loved girl, who died in childbirth, at mj house in 
 London, she begged me to go and stay with them, for 
 change, and as soon as it was possible, about a month 
 afterwards, I did so. Bessie was then expecting the ad- 
 vent of her youngest child, Alona, in a few weeks, and 
 before I had been in the house three days, her controls sent 
 me home again. They said that the sj)irit of my daughter 
 was so close to me that, if I remained, Bessie might suffer 
 in her coming trial, as Eva did, from blood poisoning, 
 Avhich (as everybody knows) is most contagious, especially 
 for women in the same condition. My whole system had 
 been much shattered at that time, and I was nervous to a 
 degree ; and I can remember how I used to lie awake, at 
 night, and listen to Bessie, in the next room, the door 
 of which, I insisted, should be left open between us, talk- 
 ing to Eva, and begging her to say what she wanted, or 
 Avhat she could do for her. At last, the strain was making 
 us both so ill, that the spirits insisted on my leaving Grays. 
 Bessie often saw my dear girl before I did, and I was always 
 most curious to learn how she looked, and all about her. 
 
 One afternoon, in the autumn of 1892, Victor Stevens 
 brought his burlesque, " Bonnie Boy Blue," to the Crystal 
 Palace, and Bessie and I went to see it, together. As it 
 was proceeding, she told me that Eva, Florence and Dew- 
 drop were mingling with the throng before us ; Dewdrop, 
 as usual, joining in all the dances, Florence wandering 
 about the stage, dressed in white, and Eva leaning against 
 a portion of the scenery, watching the whole business 
 most attentively. I thought this very strange, for my 
 daughter had never played in burlesque herself. She had 
 been of great assistance to her husband, though, in all his 
 business, keeping his accounts, designing the dresses and 
 superintending tlieir manufacture, and generally doing all 
 tliat a highly educated womaii could do, to forward his 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 217 
 
 interests. "But what can Eva have to do here?" I asked 
 Bessie; "I should have thought this was the last place 
 she would care to come to." ^^She has her husband's 
 interests, still, to look after, and, for her children's sakes, 
 she is most anxious that everything he does should suc- 
 ceed. She watches for the direction in which success lies 
 as eagerly as she ever did whilst on earth, and she influ- 
 ences him with new ideas, and makes him see where things 
 are likely to go wrong." " Tell me what she looks like," 
 I urged ; for I would give the world to be able to see 
 clairvoyantly, as Bessie does. " Does she seem sad, or gay ; 
 and how is she dressed ? " " She looks serious," answered 
 Bessie, " but not sad ; her hair is unbound, and hangs, 
 almost, to her knees ; and she is dressed in a brown cloth, 
 or tweed gown, with squares upon it of a lighter shade. The 
 bodice is cut slant-wise across the front, and buttoned 
 with large, brown, wooden buttons. She looks very differ- 
 ent from Florence, who is dressed in some clear, soft, white 
 material." "Why should Eva not be clothed in white, 
 also?" I put this question as a test. "Well, I imagine," 
 said Bessie, " that Eva is simply clothed with the thought 
 of the sort of dress she wore, whilst occupied in the same 
 business in earth life. Did she ever possess a gown like 
 the one I have described ? " Now, the fact is, that the 
 brown tweed dress, with the large buttons across the front, 
 was one of the very last dresses my poor girl wore in this 
 life, and I had recognized the description of it as soon as 
 Bessie mentioned it. The forecasts that come to her, in- 
 tuitively, aud whilst in a normal condition, are often the 
 most remarkable which she makes. She always says that, 
 if she cannot '^ see " for a person, at the first glance, she 
 never likes to trust her prophecies for him afterwards. 
 And I affirm that, in her normal condition, she is a more 
 reliable prophet than any of her controls. 
 
218 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 As she was sitting at my table, one day, she fixed her 
 eyes on a gentleman sitting opposite her, and exclaimed, 
 without any preamble : " That young man will make a 
 name for himself, but not in his present profession. He 
 will leave that, and write ; yes, I see it plainly now — he 
 will make his name in dramatic literature.^^ 
 
 This prophecy set all present, including the gentleman 
 himself, laughing heartily, for he was on the stage, and 
 had never, even, dreamed that ho could use his pen. Two 
 years after, however, Bessie's prophecy came true, in so 
 far that he found he could write, and, since that time, he 
 has done so well that there is every probability that the 
 second part of it will come true, and he will abandon the 
 stage for a higher walk in art. 
 
 I am, as most of my acquaintances know, a great dog 
 lover, even "Ouida," herself, being unable to give me 
 points in this particular ; I am, also, the owner of some 
 valuable bulldogs, from which I have been anxious to 
 breed. To breed bulldogs successfully, however, is an art 
 in itself, and one which few men have been able to master. 
 For one bull puppy that lives, nine die ; and for one that 
 turns out worth anything, fifty are good for nothing. I 
 had, therefore, experienced many disappointments, and 
 was beginning to despair, if I should ever rear a bulldog 
 that would repay the trouble and anxiety. " Ned '' knew 
 of my failures, of course, and duly sympathized withthem^ 
 and, wliilst on a visit, with liis medium, to some friends of 
 hers in Ireland, he wrote me word that he had seen the 
 very dog for me, and, if I consented, he would buy it. 
 Knowing tlie exorbitant price good bulldogs fetch, I was 
 dubious of giving Master Ned carte-blanche in the matter ; 
 but he was resolute tluit I must have that particular dog, 
 so I left it all to him. 'J'his was ^^Killiney Shamrock," an 
 animal well known in his own country, where he had won 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 219 
 
 each time he had been shown. He was bred by Mr. How- 
 ard Waterhouse, of Killiney, with whom he was a great 
 favorite. Now, Bessie has an unconquerable fear of my 
 bulldogs (indeed of everybody's bulldogs), and they always 
 have to be shut away when she pays me a visit. The first 
 time she saw " Killiney Shamrock," in Ireland^ following 
 his master, and coming towards the house, she flew inside 
 the hall door, and slammed it after her, sooner than en- 
 counter him. Presumably, Ned undid the door again, how- 
 ever; for, the next time she came to herself, she was seated 
 on the floor of the hall, with " Killiney Shamrock's " huge 
 jaw, well opened, in her hand, as Ned had been examining 
 his mouth and teeth. She told me she was nearly frightened 
 into a fit. Next thing was that Ned said to Mr. Water- 
 house : "Look here, Mr. Waterhouse, I want that dog of 
 your'n, Shamrock." ^'^ What do you want him for?" en- 
 quired Mr. Waterhouse, who is well used to the vagaries 
 of Bessie's controls. "You know your medium wouldn't 
 have him in her house. She is too much frightened of 
 him." '' I don't want him for my medium," replied Ned, 
 with a certain air of contempt for Bessie's non-doggy quali- 
 ties ; "I want him for a pal o' mine up London way, Florence 
 Marryat, and I mean to have him." Mr. Waterhouse 
 objected at first, for he had refused a large sum for the 
 dog, but Ned's entreaties prevailed ; and, since he knew 
 Shamrock was coming to a good home, he consented to 
 part with him for a (comparatively speaking) small sum. 
 He said, afterwards, that he was sure that, had he refused, 
 Ned would have ^^ spirited " the animal away somehow, so 
 he thought it better to give in with a good grace. Ned 
 was positive that Shamrock would turn the luck of my 
 kennels, and I believe he is right, since he has, already, 
 sired fifteen pups, from two mothers, and won honors at 
 each show at which he has been exhibited. He is, also, a, 
 
220 THE SPIKIT WORLD. 
 
 perfect-mannered dog, with a sweet temper, and most affec- 
 tionate disposition, and is, I need not add, a great favorite. 
 
 People often ask: What good does Spiritualism do ? I 
 have found it of infinite good to myself, putting aside all 
 its higher uses of convincing one of the reality of another 
 life. My spirit friends are always ready to help and ad- 
 vise me in mundane matters, even as mundane as bulldogs; 
 and, in any difficulty, I should take their advice in prefer- 
 ence to that of any mortal. Not that I consider them in- 
 fallihle, by an}^ manner of means, but, as Florence once 
 said to me, when I called her my good angel : " Not an 
 angel, mother; but your little star, that goes before you to 
 light the way. I can see a little farther than you can, but 
 only a very little.'' 
 
 Whilst I am speaking of the uses of clairvoyance, I would 
 like to mention the name of Mrs. Wilkins, of 368 Porto- 
 bello Road, London, W. So many correspondents have 
 written to me for the address of Mr. Towns, who passed to 
 the higher life, two years ago, that they may be glad to 
 hear of Mrs. Wilkins, who, with some sitters, has given 
 wonderful proofs of her power. I repeat, with some sitters; 
 for it seems difficult to convince beginners that clairvoyants 
 are not equally successful with all. Mrs. Wilkins is the 
 wife of a tradesman. She has no opportunity of mixing 
 with the upper classes, nor of finding out their secrets; 
 and, if her clairvoyance were all guesswork, she would 
 surely find something pleasanter to say, or to foretell, and ! 
 not run the risk of offending her clients. One of the best * 
 proofs of the genuineness of clairvoyance is the outspoken- 
 ness with which men and women, of a class inferior to our 
 own, scourge our pleasant vices to our faces. 
 
 A very young married couple once asked me to accom- 
 pany them to Mrs. Wilkins'. Neither of them were be- 
 lievers in Spiritualism, the young Avoman being especially 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 221 
 
 disposed to ridicule the whole affair. Mrs. Wilkins did 
 not seem to have much to say to them while in a normal 
 condition ; but, as soon as she passed under control, she 
 asked if they had any questions to put to her. The girl 
 immediately said: "Tell me if I shall ever be married? ^^ 
 and, to the surprise of us all, the answer was " '^o.'' The 
 husband, struck by the reply, asked, in his turn: "Shall 
 I?^^ "Yes,^^ said the clairvoyant, decidedly; "but not 
 just yet. You will marry when you are some years older^ 
 and you will marry a good woman, who will make you 
 happy. It will be a true marriage, body and soul.^^ The 
 wife, who had been glancing at me the while, as if she 
 would say : " So this is your fine clairvoyant,^'' now put in 
 her oar, thinking to quash the whole proceeding. " Well,. 
 we are married ; so there ! '^ she said to Mrs. Wilkins. 
 This announcement did not appear to disturb the spirit wha 
 had been speaking, in the least. She did not even change 
 countenance, as she replied : " 0, you mean you have been 
 to church together. Yes, I know; but that does not con- 
 stitute marriage. There is no silver cord of love from 
 your heart to his. Many a couple, who come to consult 
 me, and who have never been tied by a parson, are much 
 more married, in the eyes of God, than you are." The 
 young wife was somewhat offended by this declaration, 
 and said, as we walked home, that she supposed Mrs. 
 Wilkins meant that she was to die, as she prophesied that 
 her husband would marry some one else. The u|)shot, 
 however, is that, at the present moment, four years after- 
 wards, he has left the country, and she is in the Divorce 
 Court. 
 
 Another acquaintance, an unmarried lady this time, ac- 
 companied me to Mrs. Wilkins, on a similar errand. She 
 was an only child of wealthy parents, and dressed in the 
 height of the fashion. She was completely unknown to the 
 
222 THE SPIKIT WOKLD. 
 
 clairvoyant, to whom I did not even mention her name. 
 Yet, as soon as Mrs. Wilkins passed under control, she 
 said to her: "You are the only child of your mother, and 
 heiress to her money and that of her husband. But you 
 are not the child of your mother's husband; you are the 
 child of her cousin." Now, I am not advocating the 
 pleasantness, or the advisability, of receiving such a piece 
 of information, w^hen it is too late to remedy the evil 
 (though, if people go of their own free will to visit clair- 
 voyants, they must expect to hear the truth, however 
 bitter) ; but I quote the incident, that my readers may de- 
 cide for themselves, if it is probable that a woman of Mrs. 
 Wilkins' standing would make such a terrible insinuation 
 to a lady of birth and position, if she were not impelled to 
 do it, by a force superior to her own. Whether the com- 
 munication was true is not the question at issue here. It 
 is whether any one would dare make such an assertion, on 
 no authority but that of imagination. Why, /, who know 
 these people, and who am supposed to be acquainted with 
 as much of their business as the public will ever know, 
 would not presume to guess at such dark secrets, as I have 
 heard revealed by clairvoyants in the lowest positions of 
 life. Put yourself in the place of, let us say, for the sake 
 of argument, a woman like Mrs. Wilkins — always presum- 
 ing she is a cheat — and think if you would dare, even if 
 yau were full of suspicion, to accuse your most intimate 
 friends of adultery, and coldness, and deceit, to their faces. 
 And how should a stranger, who has never seen them be- 
 fore, and who injures herself hy losing their custom (for 
 therein lies the gist of the matter), risk her own reputa- 
 tion for truth and reliability, by inventing a scandalous 
 falsehood, which could only anger them to liear, and bring 
 her to sliame ? 
 
 A married lady once callod to see Mrs. lUissell Davis, 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 223 
 
 accompanied by a young man. Bessie intimated to her, 
 that she made it a practice never to sit for more than one 
 person at a time, as she could not be responsible for what her 
 controls might say. The lady, however, begged that her 
 friend might be admitted to the seance, as he knew every- 
 thing about her that could, possibly, be told. She was, 
 therefore, allowed to have her way. Passing under control, 
 Bessie said: " There is a young man standing behind your 
 chair who was in such and such a profession, who lost his 
 life in such and such a way (I am purposely telling this 
 story in an ambiguous fashion, lest the actors in it should 
 be recognized), and at such and such a place. You have 
 had two sons, one is on the earth plane, and the other in 
 the spirit-world. The young man I have described to you 
 is the father of your spirit-child. He is holding it in his 
 arms now, and he desires me to tell you, that he is thank- 
 ful that both he and his child have passed out of your life, 
 and will trouble you no more. Your other son is still liv- 
 ing. The gentleman sitting beside you is the father of 
 that child.'^ Now, here again, is a communication which 
 Bessie could never have made on her own authority, even 
 had she been aware of it. One would imagine that the re- 
 cipient of such a startling piece of news, would have run 
 out of the house with horror and never appeared there 
 again; but, on the contrary, the best proof that can be 
 brought forward of the truth of her communications is, 
 that Bessie^s clients go to her again and again, and, in many 
 instances, become her warmest friends. They see her con- 
 trolling spirits, know all about them; but, at the same time, 
 they are convinced it is the spirit, and not the clairvoyant, 
 who has turned them inside out. 
 
 I mentioned, in my former work on this subject, that my 
 father. Captain Marryat, had never appeared to me, and 
 said he never should, and that, in the course of my experi- 
 
224 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 ences, I had never received a message from him, even, but 
 twice, and each time it concerned my son, Francis Fred- 
 erick Marryat, and not myself. I have one more instance 
 of my father communicating with me to record now, and 
 that was also organized for the benefit of my son rather 
 than myself. My father has always expressed a great in- 
 terest in the career of my eldest son, who is a sailor, and 
 was named after him and my two brothers, both of whom 
 died in the prime of manhood. This son married last year, 
 and, in December, a little boy was born to him. The father 
 was at sea at the time of the baby^s birth, and the mother 
 had decided to call it " Francis," after her husband. Shortly 
 after, Dewdrop brought me a message from my father, to 
 say he was disappointed, because the child was not to be 
 called Frederick, after himself, and that, if possible, he 
 should like it to be so. I communicated his wishes to my 
 daughter-in-law, and she altered her baby's name to Fred- 
 erick. Then my father sent me word that, if Emmie would 
 bring the baby to my house to meet Bessie, he would bap- 
 tize it himself. This programme was carried out, and 
 though, to outsiders, my assertion may be difficult of belief, 
 the ceremony was a most impressive one. When Captain 
 Marryat commenced to speak through Bessie — you forget 
 that she was a little, fragile woman of five feet nothing 
 — her voice became sonorous, deep and rich; her manner 
 almost solemn; her attitude, stately and dignified. All my 
 late father's determination of manner, and depth of knowl- 
 edge and breadth of understanding were there — it was not 
 a simple, little woman speaking to you; it was an earnest, 
 deep-thinking, eloquent man — with all the asperities of this 
 life softened down by a long residence in the spirit world. 
 The baby, who, like most healthy youngsters, is a regular 
 squawler, appeared almost awe-struck as my father took 
 him in his arms, and gazed upwards in his face, as he was 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 225 
 
 speaking, in complete silence. The address given was, as 
 every one present agreed, most beautifully worded and de- 
 livered. He spoke of the boy's future and his hope that he 
 might make the old name famous in his generation. He 
 named him " Frederick Ernest Marryat " for this world, and 
 '' Hope " for the world to come, because he foresaw, he said, 
 that the child would be the hope of both families, of which 
 (if he lives) he will be the head. Other spirits succeeded 
 my father — Florence, Dewdrop and Goodness — and they 
 all made speeches, or prayed for the baby. Altogether, it 
 was a time I shall never forget, for I know it to be a solemn 
 fact that my dear father's spirit came amongst us again, 
 and, perhaps, for the last time before we join him in the 
 other world. 
 
 I think, with one more personal experience, I must 
 close this chapter. A short time since, being some- 
 what out of health, I took a house in the country, for 
 change. It was an 'old house, and had been vacant for 
 many years, but it possessed a charming garden and was, 
 apparently, just what I wanted. I entered it in the month 
 of October, with only a maid-servant and groom to set 
 things right for me. The first night I slept there, no car- 
 pets were down, nor curtains up, and the whole place was 
 in a state of disorder and discomfort. But I was dead- 
 tired, and, having locked my bedroom door, I retired to 
 rest, turning the gas out, as I never can sleep with a light 
 in my room. I was first wakened by hearing the door of 
 my room burst open. In my drowsy condition, I forgot that 
 I had locked it, and, thinking the wind must have blown it 
 open, I got out of bed, lighted my gas, and proceeded to 
 fasten it again, when I found, to my surprise, that it was still 
 locked. It was very strange; but, supposing I must have 
 been dreaming, I put out the light and retired to bed again. 
 I had hardly done so, when the door burst open a second 
 
226 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 time. I rose again; but, as it was still fastened, I con- 
 cluded some spirits were haying a game with me, and, as 
 I don't care for spirits whom I do not know, I left the gas 
 alight as I lay down. 
 
 The next time I was aroused, it was by feeling a hand and 
 arm slipped, very gently, under my waist as 1 lay on my side 
 in bed. I was again very drowsy, and my first idea was, 
 that some one had come for the watch that was under my 
 pillow, so I made a grab at the hand which was under the 
 bedclothes, and held it fast. It pulled and pulled against 
 me, with a force that would have been remarkable in a 
 mortal, and, finally, pulled itself out of my grasp, but not 
 before I had felt that it was a very small, thin hand, with 
 an attenuated bony wrist, and claw-like fingers. As soon 
 as it got free, I attempted to jump out of bed and seize the 
 body it belonged to, but found that my head and shoulders 
 were enveloped in some heavy substance, which proved, 
 on inspection, to be my traveling rug, which had been 
 placed on a chair near the bedside. As soon as I had dis- 
 entangled myself, I leapt up, but the room was still empty 
 and the door locked. 
 
 The next night, I kept the gas burning, but went fast 
 asleep, nevertheless. I had retired very early, having been 
 hard at work all day, leaving my servants downstairs. 
 Some time later, I was suddenly waked by the noise of 
 shouting and laughing, on the staircase outside my room. 
 It sounded as if the groom was pursuing the maid up 
 the stairs, and she was shrieking and screaming to get 
 away from him. Being a great stickler for decorum in 
 the kitchen, I was both outraged and disgusted at this sujd- 
 l)osed want of respect. " How dare they," I said to myself, 
 " make that indecent noise on the stairs, when they know 
 that I am in my bedroom ? " and I jumped out of bed, de- 
 termined to bring tlic offenders to book at once. Opening 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 227 
 
 the door, I called "Ellen ! " in an authoritative voice, but no 
 servants were within sight, or call. Added to which, the 
 gas lamps were turned out, both in the upper and lower 
 corridors. I lit my own gas and looked at my watch. The 
 hands pointed to three. Evidently, the servants were in 
 bed and fast asleep, upstairs. 
 
 As soon as possible, I referred the matter to Dewdrop, 
 who told me that, many years before, the house I lived in, 
 had been a private lunatic asylum; that the spirit who had 
 tried to pull me out of bed was that of a lunatic woman, 
 who had died there; that she had always been most trouble- 
 some to get to bed, and that the shrieking and hysterical 
 laughing that had disturbed me, were the sounds she 
 made as the doctor pursued her upstairs each night. She 
 added that the doctor looked like a foreigner; that he was 
 fat and had a black waxed mustache, and she did not like 
 him. 
 
 ^^But 7 do not like them, either, Dewdrop," I answered; 
 ^' if they are going to wake me up nightly in this fashion, 
 I shall have to leave the house." 
 
 " Florence will take care of that," said Dewdrop. " She 
 has already told the woman spirit that she must not enter 
 your bedroom again, as she is afraid, if you saw her, you 
 might be frightened. Not that there is anything to be 
 frightened at — she would not hurt you, only she looks so 
 strange — she is so small and thin, and her hair is quite 
 white and hangs all over her face. Florence has told her 
 she may run about the corridors, but she is not to cross the 
 threshold of your room again." 
 
 I felt thankful for small mercies, but would have, in- 
 finitely, preferred that the lunatic lady had been banished 
 altogether. However, she never annoyed me after that. 
 
 Being curious to test the truth of what I had heard, I 
 asked the agent of the house (who had occasion to visit 
 
228 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 me on business, shortly afterwards) if it had ever been a 
 lunatic asylum. 
 
 He stared at the question; " Never f he replied, most 
 emphatically. "Whatever put such an idea into your 
 head?^^ 
 
 I answered, cursorily, that a rumor of the kind had 
 reached me. He told me it was all nonsense; that the 
 house had been vacant for seven years before I took it, in 
 consequence of the owner's death; that he had occupied it 
 for twenty years; and that, if it had ever been used as an 
 asylum of any kind, the agent, who had known the owner 
 all that time, would certainly have heard of it. So I said 
 no more. 
 
 The next time my sailor son was at home, he was sitting 
 in my drawing-room, in the dusk, with a lady visitor and 
 myself, when she expressed a wish to see a certain book, 
 which was in a bookcase in the room he occupied, and 
 which was on the same landing as mine. I asked him if 
 he would go and fetch it for our friend, and he rose at 
 once to do so. In a minute, however, he returned, saying 
 it was so dark he could not see the titles of the volumes, 
 and must have a light. The lady, however, begged he 
 would not trouble himself further, and presently took her 
 leave. As soon as she was gone, my son said to me: '^ I'm 
 not going up those stairs in the dark again, in a hurry. 
 This house is haunted. As I was nearing the door of my 
 room, which was shut, it opened, and a woman came out of 
 it, and went into Bertie's room, and closed the door after 
 lier." 
 
 " Are you sure ? " I demanded. " What was she like ? " 
 
 "A little, skinny woman, with long, thin arms, and a 
 lot of white hair liangiug over her face. A horrible-look- 
 ing woman; I don't like it." 
 
 After this, lie complained to me more than once of hav- 
 
THE SPIEIT WOKLD. 229 
 
 ing seen the apparition in his room ; and, when he came 
 home with his wife, and occupied the same apartment, he 
 told me he had waked up, to find the lunatic's spirit hang- 
 ing over his bed, and was in terror lest his wife should 
 wake and see it too. 
 
 This was confirmatory of Dewdrop's account, but did 
 not explain the agent's denial of the house having been 
 used as an asylum. As the autumn drew near, the fruit 
 trees wanted more attention than my gardener knew how 
 to give them, and I obtained the name of a man who was 
 considered a proficient in pruning. He was a very old 
 man, with white hair, and, one day, he told me, as we 
 were discussing gardening matters together, that he re- 
 membered the garden when it had two men and a boy to 
 look after it, and was " the sweetest bit o' ground " in the 
 place. 
 
 ^^ This house has been built for a hundred years now," 
 he continued. "I can remember it when my father 
 worked here, and I was a little boy. Eh, but they had a 
 power o' fruit here then; there weren't no finer fruit, nor 
 flowers, in all the country-side." 
 
 "You mean when Mr. B lived here, I suppose," 
 
 I said, naming the owner of the house. 
 
 " 0, no, ma'am," he replied; " I am speaking of years 
 before Mr. B bought the place,' when the doctor had it." 
 
 "The doctor! " I echoed, pricking up my ears; " do you 
 mean the doctor who used to keep mad people here ? " 
 
 The old man turned round and regarded me in the 
 most curious manner. 
 
 "Whoever told you, as he kept mad people here, 
 ma'am ? " he asked, peering at me from under his shaggy 
 eyebrows. 
 
 " Never mind who told me," I said; "you see I know it. 
 Wasn't it the case ? " 
 
230 HE SPIKIT WOKLD. 
 
 " Well/^ said the gardener, thoughtfully, " I can't think 
 however you found it out, for there's hardly a body but 
 myself left to tell it you, and I'm sure / didn't. It was 
 all kept so dark and quiet, that not a soul in the place 
 knew the truth, till the law came down upon the doctor 
 one day, and he had to give up his patients, and house, 
 and everything. That's the truth, ma'am. There was 
 found to be eight or ten mad ladies and gentlemen here, 
 and the doctor hadn't no license for keeping them, and I 
 heard he got into sad trouble over it. But whoever could 
 have told you, now?" 
 
 But the old gardener was never satisfied on that point, 
 though I was satisfied that my spirit friends had given me 
 the true version of the story. 
 
231 
 
 CHAPTEE XL 
 
 A CHAKCE SEAKCE WITH A STRANGEB. 
 
 I made a short tour through the provinces this spring, 
 to deliver a lecture that proved, on the testimony of the 
 Scriptures, that the practice of Spiritualism was both right 
 and true. In the course of my wanderings, I arrived at the 
 city of Nottingham, where I was met by my host, Mr. 
 James Eraser Hewes. It was on a Friday afternoon, and, 
 as I was not to lecture until Saturday, Mr. Hewes, {with a 
 view to filling up the time, asked me if I would like to 
 attend a materializing seance that evening with a Mrs. 
 Davidson, of South Shields. I had never heard the name 
 of this medium, though, I am aware, there are several good 
 ones stowed away in the provincial towns, and I asked Mr. 
 Hewes what her mediumship was like. But he, also, had 
 never had the privilege of sitting with Mrs. Davidson before, 
 so could give me no information on the subject. She had 
 been invited to Nottingham, by a gentleman of the name 
 of Bostock, who was sitting with her and his friends at his 
 private residence. Mr. and Mrs. Hewes had been invited 
 for that evening ; but, as for myself, I was supposed to 
 be at Walsall, which was the last place I had lectured at. 
 It was decided, then, that I should accompany my hosts 
 to the meeting incognito, and, after tea, we set out for 
 Mr. Bostock's house. This gentleman, though, doubtless, 
 possessing every virtue under the sun, does not understand 
 the proper conditions for obtaining good materializations. 
 
 It was one of the few warm nights which we have en- 
 joyed this spring, and his seance room was insufferably 
 
232 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 crowded by some thirty gentlemen and ladies, whilst, in 
 order to darken the apartment, every breath of fresh air 
 was carefully excluded. I felt, on entering it, as if I could 
 not stay a minute there. It was like the atmosphere of a 
 hothouse. By means of a very narrow gangway, we were 
 enabled to get to the chairs reserved for our accommo- 
 dation, which proved to be near the cabinet, mine being 
 the sixth seat from it. This cabinet, if it can be called so, 
 was composed of a piece of green silesia, nailed across one 
 corner of the room, with just enough space behind it to 
 admit a chair. 
 
 "Where is the medium ?^^ I whispered to Mr. Hewes. 
 
 '^ In the next room,^^ he replied. " She is so frightened 
 of going into the cabinet, that the spirits are obliged to 
 bring her into the seance room under control, or they 
 would not be able to persuade her to enter it." And then 
 he added : " How surprised they would be " — meaning the 
 sitters — "if they knew who was sitting with them. No 
 one knows you will be in the town until to-morrow night. '^ 
 
 At this juncture, Mrs. Davidson entered the room. She 
 is a miner's wife, and was dressed in accordance with her 
 class ; she has a pleasant face, but, at this moment, it 
 looked worried and anxious. 
 
 " 0, this heat ! this heat ! " she exclaimed, looking in a 
 bewildered way around her ; " we shall never get anything 
 in this heaf 
 
 When I say she said so, I meim the spirit who was con- 
 trolling her, and who was a man whose name I did not 
 catch. Mr. Bostock immediately asked what he should do 
 — should he open the windows, etc. ? This proposal was 
 seconded and acceded to ; but still the medium look un- 
 easy. 
 
 " So many ; too many ! '' slie murmured ; " we sliall get 
 Tiothin^?, I am afraid." 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 233 
 
 Mr. Bostock then asked if some of the sitters should be 
 sent away, but the control did not think that would be 
 fair. 
 
 ^' We must not disappoint them like that," he replied, 
 " and when they have come so far. We will do our best, 
 friends, and no one can do more. But I am very much 
 afraid that we shall get nothing.'" 
 
 So it will be seen that no great things were expected 
 from the evening's sitting, and, as for myself, I simply 
 prepared to remain in a warm bath till the seance con- 
 cluded, and directed my attention solely to keeping as 
 still and as cool as was possible under the circumstance. 
 
 And, here, it would not be out of place, perhaps, to 
 make a few remarks on the mistakes perpetrated in this 
 particular, by people who have organized many more 
 seances, perhaps, than Mr. Bostock. A seance room should 
 never he crotvded, especially on a warm night. In order to 
 procure materialization, it is essential to have a moderate 
 atmosphere, neither too hot, nor too cold. The sitters, 
 too, should be selected with discretion, being, if possible, 
 equally divided between the sexes, and admitting none Avho 
 are very feeble or diseased amongst them. And if half the 
 claimants for admittance have been used to sit at seances, 
 and the other half have not, very few of the latter should 
 be admitted at a time. They should be " sneaked in,'' as 
 it were, by ones and twos, until their aura shall be 
 thoroughly absorbed in that of the more experienced sit- 
 ters. Such a system, if carefully carried out, would give 
 the influences far less difficulties to contend against, and 
 lead to a more successful issue. 
 
 But to return to Mrs. Davidson's mediumship. We sat 
 for some time in ^' silence and tears " (of perspiration), with- 
 out anything occurring— then a voice issued from behind 
 the curtain: " Will the lady sitting in the sixth chair from 
 
234 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 the cabinet change seats with the lady who is sitting next 
 toit?^^ 
 
 This move placed me close to the silesia curtain^ so that 
 I could hear the least movement inside of it. I had not 
 sat there long, however, before the inside of the cabinet 
 was illuminated, by some mysterious spirit light, so that I 
 could see the medium sitting in her chair, with her black 
 gown on, and the little shawl pinned across her shoulders, 
 whilst her head was sunk forward on her breast. A lady, 
 who was sitting just behind me, said she saw it too, i. e., 
 that she perceived the strange illumination, which seemed, 
 to her, as if she were facing an uncurtained window in the 
 daylight; but she did not see the medium's figure, as I did. 
 Yet, though I perceived this quite plainly, I saw no spirits 
 forming, as heretofore, nor anything except the medium. 
 Presently a child's voice — one, I believe, of the medium's 
 controls — asked the circle to sing something, and we joined 
 in a well-known melody. The curtain was pulled on one 
 side, and a little girl, of about nine or ten years old, in ap- 
 pearance, peeped out and disappeared again. 
 
 "Who is that?" demanded Mr, Bostock; " can't you tell 
 us?" 
 
 " That's little Gertie," was the answer, " come for the 
 lady sitting next the cabinet. Sing something livelier, 
 please; she likes lively tunes." 
 
 The sitters then struck up a hymn in quicker measure, 
 and " Gertie" came out again. This time she held up her 
 white skirts and swayed from one side to tlie other in a sort 
 of slow dance, showing her little bare feet. I asked lier to 
 speak to me, or kiss me, but at each request she disappeared 
 again, so I did not press the point. After she had shown 
 herself four or five times, she retreated, making way for 
 my daughter Florence, whose appearance I can never mis- 
 take — she is so slender and young and virginal-looking. 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 235 
 
 with such a saintly air about her, as if she came fresh from 
 Heaven. Knowing her to be such a strong spirit — strong, 
 I mean, in being able to show herself to mortal sight — I 
 thought her presence might save the seance and turn it 
 into a success, so I exclaimed : " Florence, I am so glad 
 you have come. Do show yourself more plainly, if possi- 
 ble, for we are afraid we shall not have much of a seance 
 this evening." 
 
 But Florence did not appear inclined to come out into 
 the room; on the contrary, as I addressed her, she drew 
 backward, and laid her finger on her lip. I reiterated my re- 
 quest, and then she bent her head forward, till I could hear 
 her whisper: " Not to-night, mother ! Some one is coming." 
 
 But I had not the least idea to whom she alluded. I 
 begged her to tell me. "" Who is it that is coming, Flor- 
 ence ? " I said. 
 
 She bent her head forward again, and whispered in a 
 very low tone, " Eva ! " 
 
 My heart literally stood still. This is the name of my 
 beloved eldest daughter, whom I had the misfortune to 
 lose in childbirth, nearly seven years ago, and whom I have 
 been longing and praying to see ever since, but without 
 effect. I began to tremble so violently I could hardly keep 
 still on my seat, and I felt as if I should suffocate. The 
 announcement was so unexpected to me. Here was I, who 
 had been entreating the Almighty for the last seven 3^ears 
 to afford me a little glimpse of this most cherished pos- 
 session of my life, doomed to meet her for the first time 
 since she had been torn from my arms, in company with 
 strangers, who knew nothing of my loss, nor could sympa- 
 thize with it. I thought I must run out of the room, to 
 avoid making a fool of myself — though why one sliould be 
 thought a fool for giving way to a natural emotion, puzzles 
 me. 
 
236 THE SPIKIT WORLD. 
 
 In a few more minutes, the curtain was lifted again, 
 and my darling girl, with her little baby in her arms, 
 stood before me, but well within the shelter of the cabinet. 
 She held out her infant to me, as though she would secure 
 recognition by that means. But I could not look at either 
 of them. The agony of my spirit quite overcame me, and 
 I lost all control of myself. I sunk down on my knees, as 
 if God Himself had been before me, and sobbed as I had 
 not done for years past. I did not expect that she would 
 come again. I thought my uncontrollable grief would up- 
 set her, and, perhaps, spoil conditions; but I could not 
 help it. Judge of my surprise, therefore, when my darling 
 girl, having got rid of her baby, came right out of the 
 cabinet again, and, reaching my side, where I knelt there, 
 weeping, stooped over me, took my head, and laid it on 
 her dear breast, and wiped away my tears with her veil, as 
 she kept on kissing me, and repeating: " Don't cry, mother; 
 don't cry." At the moment, I could only press my head 
 against her, and thank God that He had answered my 
 constant prayer, and let me see my darling again; but, 
 looking back upon the interview, I can distinctly remem- 
 ber and describe the features which struck me most in it. 
 Her veil, as it wiped my wet face, felt like silk net, but 
 very fine and soft, and it effectually dried my tears, which 
 net would not have done; it was, also, scented with some 
 perfume-like incense. I could feel the softness of her lips, 
 as she kissed me, and her warm breath coming through 
 them; and lier whole body seemed to be pervaded with the 
 same subtle perfume, as if she had been a sachet. Her 
 face was warm and very soft, like the flesh of a newborn 
 baby, and those who regarded her more mechanically than 
 I liad the power to do, told me, afterwards, that she was 
 very pale, and her head and face were much enveloped by 
 her voluminous veil. 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 237 
 
 After Eva had left, Florence informed us that she in- 
 tended to, and would have, walked out into the circle with 
 me, had not my emotion upset her, so that she lost the 
 power of doing it. This, with the exception of a few re- 
 marks from inside the cabinet, from Mrs. Davidson^s con- 
 trols, concluded the seance. Only three spirits had ap- 
 peared, and they had been my three daughters. I was 
 very sorry for the other sitters, but it was not my fault. 
 Nevertheless, I felt terribly guilty, and as if I — the one 
 stranger amongst them — had monopolized the whole of 
 their evening. The only consolation I had was in being 
 told that, if I had not been there, they would have got 
 nothing at all. 
 
 The medium was so overcome by the heat that, as soon 
 as she was taken into another room, she fainted. Before 
 we left the house, some one told her who I was, and she 
 asked if I would speak to her. AVhen I saw her in her 
 normal condition, and told her what a treat she had given 
 me, and how grateful I was to her for it, she told me that 
 she knew I was to speak at North Shields before my tour 
 was ended, and would I promise, when I went there, to go 
 and have another sitting with her at her own home ? I 
 promised, more than gladly, to do so, and, in less than a 
 fortnight afterwards, I found myself on my way to her 
 house. Mrs. Davidson and her friends received me most 
 hospitably, and I felt at home with them at once. 
 
 The house was a humble one, in the suburbs of South 
 Shields, and the front kitchen, or parlor, in which we sat, 
 had a bricked floor. The circle consisted of a few resi- 
 dents in the neighborhood, and some of Mrs. Davidson's 
 own friends, who sung so heartily, and so much in unison, 
 during the proceedings, that they were an example to most 
 Spiritualists. They were, evidently, accustomed to sing- 
 ing together, and had taken the trouble to practice tlieir 
 
238 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 hymns and songs. I found that Mr. Davidson was, also, a 
 medium, and was under control most of the time, though 
 he sat in the circle with the rest of us. 
 
 When we commenced business, the medium particularly 
 requested that my chair should be placed next the silesia 
 curtain and touching liers, so that she might get all my 
 influence. This was, accordingly, done, so that, during 
 the whole of the evening, our arms were next each other's, 
 as well as our knees. I suppose, if a medium wanted to 
 cheat, and was conscious of doing so, that this was about 
 the most foolish request she could have made, as the 
 slightest movement on my part would have discovered any 
 trickery on hers. 
 
 The first spirit that appeared, on this occasion, was, 
 also, " Gertie,'^ who came right out of the cabinet, and 
 spoke to and touched several of the sitters. I had plenty 
 of opportunity this evening of observing her dress, which 
 was made in a curious fashion. She seemed to wear an 
 under-frock, fitting tightly to her body, over which hung 
 a loose robe, reaching from her throat to her feet, of some 
 diaphanous material, so that her bare arms and neck could 
 be plainly seen through it; and, when she swayed about in 
 her dancing measure, and lifted her little arms, it was 
 from under the upper robe that I saw them, and they were 
 covered by this robe, as she extended them. She was much 
 stronger, however, than on the first occasion, and, appar- 
 ently, quite fearless. She leaned her two little arms on 
 my knees, and jumped, as children will, pressing all her 
 weight on me as she did so. She crossed the room and 
 shook hands with a lady sitting opposite to me, saying, in 
 answer to the question who she was: " Pm mother's little 
 Gertie." She ai)peared several times, and, on leaving for 
 the last time, dematerialized in our sight, going down 
 through, the brick floor. 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 239 
 
 This is what I have seldom seen since I left America, 
 though I remember an incident, occurring through the 
 mediumship of Mr. Cecil Husk, which I omitted to relate, 
 when writing of my sittings with him. Being on chatty 
 and confidential terms with all his controls, we had often 
 " chaffed '^ Uncle, because he would not show his face to usj, 
 and his nephew, Christopher, had declared it was because 
 he was too much ashamed of it. Goaded on by this libel- 
 ous accusation. Uncle, at last, announced that he was com- 
 ing out of the cabinet, fully materialized. We were all 
 much interested to hear this, as it is pleasant to meet a 
 friend you have known through mutual converse for so 
 long, face to face; so we were on the tiptoe of expectation 
 to make the personal acquaintance of Uncle. Presently, 
 after several ineffectual attempts, which were heralded by 
 scornful laughter from his undutiful nephew, poor Uncle 
 issued from the cabinet. But either he had miscalculated 
 his physical strength, or he did not know the difficulties of 
 materialization; for, in the first place, he was not half the 
 size he ought to have been, and, in the second, he com- 
 menced to tumble to pieces as soon as he encountered the 
 mortal gaze fixed on him. He just managed to hobble 
 round half the circle, holding his drapery together, as if 
 it were too long, and he should stumble over it, when, as 
 he had reached the middle of the room — sad to relate — 
 poor Uncle tumbled right down in the floor and began to 
 melt away. He would have dematerialized altogether be- 
 fore us, had not John King thrust his hand out of the 
 cabinet, and seizing hold of Uncle's remains, pulled them 
 bodily out of sight. I shall never forget the effect of 
 Uncle being pulled off the stage, like a bundle of rags, nor 
 the shrieks of laughter with which his efforts were re- 
 warded. To this day, he does not like us to mention his 
 attempt at materialization, and, as he did it simply at our 
 
240 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 repeated request^ it does seem rather unkind to ridicule his 
 faihire. 
 
 But this is a long divergence from my little Gertie. As 
 soon as she had left us, Eva appeared again, this time with- 
 out her infant, and evidently with much more power than 
 at Nottingham. My brother-in-law, Edward Church, 
 whom I mention in "There is no Death,^' had given me a 
 gold ring, with A.E. I. in dark-blue enamel on it, which ring, 
 after his death, I had given to my daughter Eva, in remem- 
 brance of him. A month before her own death, I had gone 
 down to where she was staying, at Southend, and found 
 this ring in her work-basket. 
 
 " If you don't care for this ring of poor Ted's,'' I said to 
 her, ^^ I will take it back again; for I don't like to see it 
 lying about. Perhaps I should not have parted with it at 
 all, as it was a keepsake." 
 
 She replied that she generally wore it; that she had only 
 just slipped it off; but that, if I would like to have it again, 
 I was quite welcome to resume possession. Accordingly, I 
 put the ring on my own finger and gave her some little trifle 
 in exchange. Since I lost her, only a month afterwards, I 
 liave worn the ring night and day, in memory of her, rather 
 than of my brother-in-law. It is quite an unpretentious 
 one, and almost hidden beneath my other lings. 
 
 On the night I am writing of, the first thing Eva did, on 
 leaving the cabinet, was to put her finger on this little ring^ 
 and say: ''My ring, motlier ! " and she twisted it round 
 and round on my finger with her own. 
 
 She looked just the same as slie had done on the first occa- 
 sion, the only difference that I could perceive from her ap- 
 pearance during eartli-life being that her luxuriant hair was 
 concealed by the veil twisted round her head, and her face 
 seemed smaller than it used to be — more as it looked as she 
 hiy in lier coffin, when slie had the semblance of a girl of 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 241 
 
 fourteen. Her hair had been cut off, also, during her ill- 
 ness, and I have noticed before, that spirits, on their first 
 reappearance after death, generally come as they left the 
 earth, and not as they lived on it. 
 
 There was a lady present, a stranger to me (as, indeed, 
 was everybody there that night, excepting Mrs. Davidson), 
 named Mrs. Elliot, and Eva crossed the room to where 
 this lady sat, and, taking her hand, placed it in mine and 
 closed her own over them both. I have not yet unraveled 
 the significance of this action, though Mrs. Elliot told me 
 afterwards that she is a medium, and she fancied my 
 daughter wished to signify that she would be able, or would 
 like to, manifest through her. That, however, is a riddle 
 which has not yet been solved. The action excited my 
 curiosity, because Eva was a very undemonstrative girl to 
 strangers, and it seemed so unlike her to take at first sight 
 to any one. 
 
 During this sitting, she came out of the cabinet five 
 separate times, on three of which she drew aside the cur- 
 tain, and showed us the medium sitting in her Windsor 
 chair, her black dress being palpably distinct against the 
 white robes of the spirit. 
 
 An article was afterwards written by Mr. Elliot on this 
 seance and published in the newspapers, signed by all 
 present, who testified to the appearance of my daughter, 
 and the ease with which she spoke and moved about ; it 
 cannot, therefore, have been the effect of my vivid imagina- 
 tion, only. 
 
 The spirit that succeeded Eva was my Persian control, 
 Abdullah Ben-adad Pen-rudah Mahomet Abdullah, to 
 whom I have referred before, in these pages. He was 
 attired just as he had appeared through Mr. Husk, and 
 his black beard was plaited in the same curious manner. 
 He addressed himself to no one in the company but 
 
242 THE SPIRIT ^VORLD. 
 
 myself ; but as he can only speak his own language, I was 
 as wise as they were. Abdullah hopes, some day, to be 
 able to speak English, or to teach me to speak Persian, 
 after which we may be able to converse ; for the present, 
 however, we understand each other remarkably well. As 
 an English soldier, who had married a Tamil girl in India, 
 once said to me, when I asked him how he contrived to 
 converse with his wife — neither of them knowing a word 
 of the other's language : " Well, ma'am, love has only one 
 language all over the world, you know I" So my Persian 
 guide can make me understand something of what he 
 would say, if we could talk together. On this occasion, he 
 came straight up to my side, and bending down first, 
 kissed my feet, and, then risiiig, kissed my forehead, and 
 stood by me, with his hand upon my head. I knew exactly 
 what he intended to convey by these actions : that he was 
 at my command ; that he cared for me, and that he in- 
 fluenced my brain. After which, he addressed a long 
 speech to me, in what I presume to have been Persian, and 
 I replied, in English, that I had not understood one word 
 of what he had been saying, but that I thanked him for 
 watching over me and influencing me. And, at that, 
 Abdullah smiled very sweetly, and withdrew into the cabinet 
 again. 
 
 He was followed by a Red Indian chief, a control of Mr. 
 Davidson, whose characteristics were so markedly dis- 
 similar from those of the soft-eyed and voiced Persian, 
 that every one present was struck by them. The Red 
 Indian literally '^ swooped down " upon the circle, running 
 round it in a half crouching position, and making various 
 darts at the sitters, as though he would stab tliem, laugh- 
 ing loudly and somewhat harslily as they started or slirunk 
 away from them. lie had, also, black hair, but long and 
 straiglit, without any beard or mustache, and a coj^jper- 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 243 
 
 colored complexion. His arms, too, were bare. He 
 whooped once or twice as lie went round the room ; but no 
 one responded very ardently to his attentions, so he cut his 
 visit rather short. 
 
 A young lady came, next, for an old gentleman present ; 
 but, as he sat opposite to me, I did not see her face. He 
 told me, however, that he fully recognized her, and that 
 she was the spirit of a medium who had been used, at one 
 time, to sit in concert with Mrs. Mellon, late Miss Fairlamb. 
 
 Immediately succeeding her, appeared an older lady, 
 who was also recognized by her friends, and made the sixth 
 form that had presented itself that evening. 
 
 Lastly, came a most interesting apparition, that of a 
 woman very closely muffled, who left the cabinet and stood 
 just outside, turning her head round and round the circle, 
 as if she were in search of somebody. As I sat next to her, 
 I said: " Are you looking for some one? Who is it you 
 want?'' 
 
 The form turned to me, and pointed with her finger to- 
 wards a young man, who was sitting, with two or three 
 women, on a sofa, at the further end of the little apart- 
 ment. 
 
 " Who is it ? '' I asked her again : " Your brother ? '' 
 
 She shook her head, and I heard her faintly whisper, 
 ^^ My son, my son." 
 
 I then said aloud to the young man (who was, of course, 
 totally unknown to me, even by name) : " This spirit says 
 she is your mother. She wants you to come and speak to 
 her.'' 
 
 But he shook his head, and turned his face the other way, 
 so as to conceal it. The spirit seemed dreadfully hurt. She 
 advanced a few steps into the room, and held out her arms 
 imploringly to her son. 
 
 Mr. Elliot, who was sitting next me, said to her: " Give 
 
244 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 him time. He is too much overcome to realize that it is 
 yourself.*^ He wore a buttonhole of lilies of the valley, 
 and he took them out and placed them in her hand. She 
 held the flowers out for the acceptance of her son. Still 
 the young man did not make any advances towards her. I 
 felt rather indignant. It seemed so much as if he did not 
 care; hut I was told afterwards that he was really too 
 nervous to encounter the spirit. I spoke to him again; I 
 said: "Do you understand that this is the spirit of your 
 mother ? Do you not recognize her ? '* 
 
 He replied: "0, yes; I know it is my mother ! I do 
 not doubt it; but I don^t want to see her, or speak to her." 
 
 This appeared to be so incomprehensible to me, that I 
 said to the spirit: " Perhaps he cannot believe that it is 
 you. AVill you let me see your face, so that I may describe 
 it to him ? " 
 
 She immediately turned towards me, and eagerly pulled 
 the white wrappings off her features, so as to make them 
 perfectly distinguishable. Had she been Mrs. Davidson, 
 masquerading as the young man's mother, it would have 
 been a very rash thing to do. But she did it without 
 hesitation, and as though she were anxious that I should 
 see her as plainly as I did. As I looked in her face, I said: 
 "This spirit has dark eyes, rather small; a long nose, 
 pointed cliin, and rather sharp features. Was that any- 
 thing like your mother ? " 
 
 "Yes! yes!" rejilied the young man. ^^ It is her. I 
 know that perfectly. But I cannot speak to her." And 
 he turned his head away again, as if he wanted to bury 
 himself behind the young woman who sat beside him. 
 
 The spirit seemed strangely agitated. Whether there 
 had been any serious disagreement between her and her 
 son, of course, I cannot tell; but I had never seen a spirit 
 act as she did before. She sunk down on her knees on the 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 245 
 
 "bricked floor, and hid her face in her hands, and sobbed 
 audibly. I bent over her with some words of consolation, 
 telling her that her son would speak to her next time; 
 that he was too much overcome to do so that evening, etc., 
 etc., when she, suddenly, sprung to a standing position, 
 and flung her arms round my neck, and kissed me several 
 times. I could feel that her face was Avet, and, when she 
 went into the cabinet again, she left her tears upon my 
 cheek. This is one of the very few times that I have seen 
 a materialized spirit weep. 
 
 The circle that sat with Mrs. Davidson and myself, at 
 Nottingham, said, afterwards, that, when my dearest child 
 wiped the tears from my face, they could hear her sob in 
 unison with me; but I was too much affected to notice it 
 for myself. But it is a rare occurrence, and, when it hap- 
 pens, you may be sure it is /or us they weep, and not for 
 themselves. 
 
 The appearance of this spirit exhausted the medium^s 
 powers for that evening, and, soon after she left us, a voice 
 from the cabinet proclaimed the seance to be at an end. 
 He had scarcely doiie so, when Mrs. Davidson stepped out 
 from behind her flimsy curtain, and came amongst us 
 again, bright and chatty, as she entered it, and with no 
 appearance of drowsiness or fatigue about her. 
 
 Now, here were two seances held with a medium who 
 had never seen me, or any of my family, or intimate friends 
 before; who had never even heard of my name, except 
 through my publications; who was in a position where 
 she was quite unlikely to have gained any knowledge of 
 my private life — its joys, or its sorrows— producing, from 
 a bricked floor, the counterpart of my two daughters and 
 my Persian control. Where did they come from ? What 
 were they? How did she do it ? The theory of a miner's 
 wife being able to dress up, and paint her face, and assume 
 
246 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 different disguises, behind a few yards of silesia, and with 
 her chair touching mine, without my knowing that she 
 was rustling and fidgeting about, is too ridiculous to be 
 believed, even if she were clever enough to assume the 
 properties of a " quick-change '^ artist, or if it would be 
 worth her while, considering she got nothing for her 
 trouble. And, added to this, the forms, who appear 
 through her agency, can recognize their friends, as well as 
 be recognized, and speak with them on familiar subjects. 
 Who, but myself, then present, knew that the little, thin 
 gold ring, half-hidden beneath others, had belonged to my 
 dead child, or if the old woman, who came for her son, 
 had been but an effigy? How could /, a perfect stranger 
 to both, have described her features to him, so that he 
 recognized them? No, it is evident that the scientists, 
 and philosophers, and sceptics, and atheists, must find some 
 cause to account for these phenomena, other than fraud, or 
 self-delusion. One person may be self-deluded, or insane, 
 but the hardest head of the lot would hardly credit a dozen 
 people with all being self-deceived at the same time. And, 
 mark my words, the day will come, and is not far off at the 
 present moment, when the mad people will be those who do 
 not believe, instead of those who do. The dead return. 
 This is an undoubted truth. That they are not those 
 whom they represent themselves to be is the sceptic's 
 business to prove. 
 
 Since there has been so much suspicion created by the 
 impossibility of allowing much light at a materializing 
 seance, I must not close this chapter without describing 
 that used by Mrs. Davidson, which was the brightest I have 
 seen allowed, since leaving America. The room, as I have 
 said before, was a very small one, and a dim light would 
 have been sufficient to ilhiminate it. Instead of wliich, 
 Mrs. Davidson had an oil lamp, witli a tliiii reflector behind 
 
THE SPIRIT AYORLD. 247 
 
 it, placed on the mantelpiece, just opposite the cabinet; 
 and before the chimney was placed a sheet of orange-col- 
 ored tissue paper, loosely crumpled together, which shaded 
 the glare, without obscuring the light. I can attest that 
 we had not been seated five minutes before I could see 
 everything in the room as distinctly as if the lamp had 
 been unshaded. I never witnessed less preparations made 
 for any sitting, and I consider the manifestations I was 
 privileged to see, through the mediumship of Mrs. David- 
 son, to be as pure and genuine as any I have ever been 
 present at. 
 
248 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 A SEAi^CE WITH MR. RITA. 
 
 By the invitation of some old friends of mine, Dr. and 
 
 Mrs. A , I started one evening to hold a seance at their 
 
 house, with Mr. Rita. It had, for a long time, been my 
 ambition to sit with this medium, who is a private gentle- 
 man, pursuing Spiritualism for his own gratification only, 
 and that of his friends. It is very seldom, indeed, that 
 Mr. Rita can be persuaded to sit — and then it is only in a 
 private circle and amongst people whom he knows. I pre- 
 sume he has been compelled to make this rule, or he would 
 be inundated with requests for seances, to the detriment of 
 his health and his employment. Because it is difficult to 
 get a sitting with him, was the principal reason that I was 
 so anxious to make the acquaintance of Mr. Rita, and be a 
 personal witness of the wonderful powers which had been 
 described to me. 
 
 We assembled at the house of Dr. and Mrs. A , at six 
 
 o'clock, and, after having all dined in company, we entered 
 tlie seance room. 
 
 There are two most desirable and, at the same time, most 
 remarkable peculiarities about the mediumship of Mr. Rita 
 — he never uses a cabinet, and he never goes under control, 
 so tliat he can enjoy the seance as much as anybody else. 
 ] [e simply takes his seat at the table, witli the circle, in the 
 dark, and his spirits bring their own liglits with them, in 
 the fashion of John King. Mr. Rita engages in conversa- 
 tion, also, the whole time the seance is going on — addressing 
 tlio spirits, in common Avitli liis otlier friends, so that we 
 
 Jl 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 249 
 
 enjoyed the novelty of communion with both medium and 
 controls at the same time. 
 
 Before we settled ourselves for the evening, a well- 
 known American lady doctor. Dr. M K , joined 
 
 the company. Although she hailed from the United 
 States, she had actually never been present at a materializ- 
 ing seance in her life before, and was most curious on the 
 subject. She, also, had been dining out, but with other 
 friends, whom she had begged to excuse her for an hour 
 after dinner, to attend this sitting, and she entered, in her 
 dinner dress and evening cloak, quite excited by the pros- 
 pect before her. I had heard her name, but never had the 
 pleasure of meeting her before. She was very handsome, 
 with the delicate features peculiar to her country-women, 
 and was beautifully dressed. She did not give one the idea 
 of a learned doctor, whose time was spent in studying the 
 diseases of humanity ; nevertheless, it was true that she 
 had attained a name in her profession, and had a large 
 clientele of patients. This fact alone augured that Dr. 
 
 M K was a clever and accomplished woman — one, 
 
 whose word would be taken on most scientific subjects, 
 and who might reasonably be expected not to be led away 
 by her imagination, or her fears. She spoke with me on 
 the subject of Spiritualism before the seance commenced, 
 and I found her not at all too ready to believe it, or even to 
 be convinced of its truth. She expressed herself as very 
 curious to discover if what her friends told her concern- 
 ing it was worthy of belief ; but, at the same time, she 
 spoke most dispassionately and entirely reserved her own 
 opinion. Had I been asked, I should have said that Dr. 
 
 M K was just the person to investigate the science, 
 
 for one might be sure of an impartial judgment from her. 
 
 By this time, we had taken our seats round tlie table. 
 Dr. and Mrs. A sitting either side of the medium, and 
 
250 THE SPIKIT WORLD. 
 
 Dr. M K and I opposite to them, whilst the in- 
 tervening spaces were filled by strangers to me. We kept 
 up a smart conversation the while, conversing on the 
 different topics that interested us, Mr. Eita being the 
 smartest of us all. 
 
 Almost as soon as the lights were extinguished, a spirit 
 
 face rose up so suddenly before Dr. M K and me, 
 
 and so close to our own, that she called out with surprise. 
 It was plainly an East Indian face, with its thin aquiline 
 features, and mournful, dark eyes. The head was dressed 
 with the national " puggree " of white muslin, twisted in 
 the shape of a turban, and in front of it hung a sparkling 
 jewel. This head returned several times to show itself, 
 and, finally, was accompanied by another of the same 
 nationality. The medium did not know who they were, 
 but said that they generally made the first appearance at 
 his seances. Meanwhile, a familiar control of his, called 
 " Charlie,'^ kept up a running fire of conversation with 
 him and the circle generally. Charlie seemed very much 
 
 interested in Dr. M K and addressed most of his 
 
 discourse to her. 
 
 Me, he accosted by the title of " Lady No Death,^^ at 
 which witticism he appeared to be mightily amused himself. 
 
 Presently, a man's head came, fully illuminated, in front 
 
 of Dr. M K and myself. I had never seen this 
 
 lady, as I have said before; but there was no mistaking the 
 likeness between her and the spirit wlio now appeared to 
 us. It was that of an elderly man, of perhaps sixty years 
 of age, with silvery gray hair, mustache and beard — but 
 
 the same delicate features as Dr. M K , the same 
 
 eyes and mouth and oval-sliaped face. It was just as though 
 she had assumed a gray wig and beard. The liead came 
 
 close to her aiul murmured, " God bless you ! " Dr. M 
 
 K exclaimed, " My fatlier ! " and became very much 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 251 
 
 agitated. There could be no doubt in the minds of all 
 present that her grief and agitation were genuine. She 
 wept copiously, as she addressed the spirit in terms of the 
 deepest affection, and assured him how completely she 
 recognized him, and how she longed to see her mother, also. 
 At this request, the father retreated, to give place to the 
 mother, whom she recognized quite as fully as she had 
 him. She kept on entreating the spirits to return " only 
 once more,''' until I thought we should get no other mani- 
 festations that evening — the power was so much used up. 
 At last, however, she let them go, but it was some time be- 
 fore her agitation subsided. I could hear her sobbing, 
 quietly, in the dark, beside me, and considered her testi- 
 mony to the genuineness of Mr. Eita's mediumship as one 
 of the most valuable Spiritualism could have gained. 
 
 It is the testimony of such brains as those of Dr. M 
 
 K that we want — not the enthusiasm of fools, who 
 
 would worship a scooped-out turnip with a rushlight inside 
 it, if told that it was the spirit of their dearest friend. Dr. 
 M K had come to that seance a perfectly un- 
 prejudiced woman, but, at the same time, a perfectly calm 
 and dispassionate-minded one — as ready to expose deceit 
 and trickery as she was to acknowledge the faces she saw 
 to be those of her parents. It was a valuable proof to me, 
 because the faces were as close to me as they were to her, and 
 I, not being so moved by their appearance, was better able 
 to examine their features and trace the unmistakable re- 
 semblance between them and my new acquaintance. 
 
 " Charlie " indulged, now, in a little amicable " sparring "' 
 Avith me, because, hearing how loudly he spoke in the direct 
 voice, I asked him if he had materialized a perfect thorax 
 and gullet. He replied that he had. 
 
 " And have you a tongue and teeth, and everything per- 
 taining to the mouth and throat, Charlie ? " I continued. 
 
252 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 '' Put your forefinger out as far as you can, Lady 'No 
 Death/^ he replied, " and I will show you if I have." 
 
 I did as he desired me, and a hand met my finger in the 
 dark and guided it to a mouth. It was an enormous 
 mouth — a perfect cave of Adullam, where you might have 
 hidden seventy prophets. 
 
 "Isn^t that a mouth?" demanded Charlie of me, "and 
 a very fine mouth, too ? " 
 
 I acquiesced in his decision. 
 
 " Well, put your finger right in it," he continued; " don't 
 be afraid: I won't bite you, and tell them what you feel." 
 
 I put my finger in the mouth, and felt all round it 
 carefully. The interior was moist and smooth, like the 
 mouth of any mortal. I could feel the palate and the 
 tongue, which seemed also very large; then I made a tour 
 of the gums, which felt swollen, like those of a teething 
 baby; but there were no teeth. I told the circle just 
 what I had felt, adding: "You must be very young^ 
 Charlie, since you have not yet cut your teeth ? " 
 
 "Yes," he answered; "it is about time I cut them, I 
 think. Don't you agree with me ? " and, with my finger 
 still in his mouth, all the teeth sprung into existence, 
 both of the upper and lower jaw, and Charlie gave my 
 finger such a bite that I called out and withdrew it. 
 
 Next, there appeared a magnificent apparition in tlio 
 center of the table — an Indian prince, very stout and very 
 dark, dressed in white clothing, with chains of gold and 
 jewels hung round his neck and resting on his capacious 
 chest, and a turban on his head, flashing with emeralds 
 and rubies and diamonds. His complexion was very dark 
 — almost swarthy — for an East Indian, and his features 
 were thick and ugly. 
 
 As he came, Mrs. A exclaimed: "0, here is tlie 
 
 ^[.•iharajah I " 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 253 
 
 To explain why such a gorgeous potentate visited our 
 
 little circle, I must premise that Mrs. A had been 
 
 married before, to Captain N , an officer in the Indian 
 
 army, and that, when she was a bride, and a very youthful 
 one, her husband and she, in company with several other 
 Europeans, were invited to a state dinner with the Mahara- 
 jah of (I forget the name of his dominion). As Mrs. 
 
 N was very young and very fair, and the only lady 
 
 present, the Maharajah, who was also then quite young, 
 took a great deal of notice of her, and, when the state 
 dinner was concluded, he asked leave to conduct her to the 
 presence of his mother, the Eanee, who resided in the 
 palace, but, of course, according to Oriental customs, could 
 not be present at the feast. Captain N at once ac- 
 ceded to this request; but the poor little bride was 
 frightened out of her wits at the idea of having to go 
 away alone with the Maharajah, and vehemently declined 
 to do so. The Maharajah's brow grew dark at her refusal, 
 and her husband, fearful lest her obstinacy might lead to 
 something unpleasant with their host, insisted on her ac- 
 companying him, to be introduced to the Ranee. 
 
 Mrs. A has described to me her state of abject terror 
 
 as the Maharajah took her by the hand and led her away 
 to the women^s apartments of the palace. She had to 
 accompany him up dark stairs and through dark passages, 
 all the time fancying, in her girlish folly, that she might 
 never see her husband again, or might be detained there 
 for life, or murdered by the dark-complexioned Indians, 
 whom she dreaded. However, nothing worse happened 
 to her, than being introduced to an old shriveled-up lady, 
 who looked more like a monkey than a woman, as she sat 
 huddled up on a pile of cushions, and wlio was the chief 
 woman in the palace, being mother to the reigning sover- 
 eign. The Eanee looked at her curiously, and asked 
 
254 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 several questions, concerning her, of her son, in their own 
 language — all of which was double Dutch to their trem- 
 bling yisitor — and then the ordeal was over, and the bride 
 was safely conducted back to the arms of her natural 
 protector. 
 
 But Mrs. A , although many years have gone by 
 
 since that time, and she is the mother of grown-up sons, 
 has not yet forgotten her feelings on the subject, and told me 
 that the reappearance of the Maharajah, even as a spirit, 
 recalls them vividly to her. She did not know that he had 
 departed this life, until he came back through Mr. Rita; 
 but, she says, she can recognize him perfectly. 
 
 This splendid apparition remained long enough for 
 every one to see him quite plainly, and to examine the 
 magnificent jewels that he wore. 
 
 He was succeeded by the spirit of Captain N , who 
 
 constantly visits his wife. Mrs. A has told me a curi- 
 ous circumstance concerning these visits. Both Dr. A 
 
 and his wife have been married before, and his former wife 
 and her former husband are amongst the most constant 
 yisitors in their seance room. But, although Captain 
 N is on the most excellent terms with Dr. A , call- 
 ing him his "" dear friend," and inditing long letters to him, 
 thanking him for his care of, and goodness to, his wife, he 
 
 never names Dr. A as the husband of his wife, but 
 
 always as her ^' companion." He will write or say to the 
 doctor: " God bless you for your tender care of my dear 
 
 wife ; " and to Mrs. A : '^ Tell your companion how 
 
 much I thank him for his kindness to you." 
 
 Thus, even in death, thougli we are told that, in the 
 next world, there will be no marriage nor giving in marriage, 
 the spirits who have truly loved on this earth, will main- 
 tain their rights over what was truly theirs. 
 
 I remember an instan(;o siniilai" to tliis, regarding a mar- 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 255 
 
 ried couple, who used to meet, sometimes, at my table. 
 The lady had been married before, and the first husband 
 would come and talk to her about having married again, 
 exactly as he would have done had he been still on earth, 
 
 and she had committed bigamy. Dr. A 's first wife 
 
 and daughter are constantly with him, and the ladies of 
 the two families are on the most friendly and kindly terms 
 with each other, as, indeed, there is no reason they should 
 not be. 
 
 I never could understand jealousy of the dead, myself, 
 and think it can only emanate from mean and ignoble 
 minds. True love would wish the survivors to make the 
 best of the life that remains to them — knowing how short 
 it is and how full of evil. But to return to the seance. 
 
 Captain N ^s spirit appeared in the full uniform of 
 
 his regiment, as my friend John Powles did, in America. 
 I mention this (as I do all other details that may seem as 
 trivial) to show how difficult it would be to maintain 
 trickery under such circumstances. Doubtless, that is the 
 reason that some spirits are permitted to appear in the 
 clothes they wore on earth — to prevent the suspicion of 
 foul dealing entering the sitters' minds. What /saw (who 
 
 had never seen Captain N in this life) was a slight 
 
 young man, with dark eyes and hair, and handsome feat- 
 ures, dressed, wearing a scarlet uniform, with epaulettes; 
 but I cannot describe the facings, as the spirit stood, all 
 
 the time, in front of Mrs. A , and was, consequently, 
 
 turned from me. He came two or three times, and each 
 time spoke in the direct voice to his wife. 
 
 By this time, I had begun to imagine that I should not 
 see Florence that evening at all; though, had I not, Mr. 
 Eita would have been the first medium through whom she 
 had not appeared to me. A little later on, however, I felt 
 a touch on my shoulder from behind, and, turning round. 
 
256 THE SPIEIT ^VORLD. 
 
 saw Florence, fully formed, standing behind my chair. 
 She had either formed there, or walked round from the 
 side of Mr. Eita. I asked him if he had perceived her, 
 and he replied that he had seen a female form rise up be- 
 side him, but did not know to whom she belonged. I asked 
 Florence why she had not spoken to her medium, and she 
 said: "I wanted to see you first, mother/' 
 
 Mrs. A was anxious to see my daughter more dis- 
 tinctly, as the light she carried was rather dim, and she 
 explained it by the fact of her having come so far away 
 from the medium. 
 
 "But I will make it a little brighter for mother's 
 friend,'' she added; and, stooping down on the ground, 
 like a little child, and holding her two hands, with the 
 light in them, before her, Florence blew and blew upon it, 
 until it flamed up in a spiral curl, like a snake, and 
 wrapped her in its light from head to foot. It seemed to 
 wreathe around her, as though it would set her on fire; 
 but, needless to relate, she smiled serenely from behind it 
 in perfect safety, until it flickered to the ground again. 
 
 Florence was clothed, as usual, in white, but of a thicker 
 material than I have generally seen her wear — something 
 more like white cashmere than muslin, and which covered 
 her head and neck. She was just like herself, in other 
 
 respects, and kissed me, and patted Mrs. A 's face with 
 
 her hand, before she walked back to Mr. Rita's side. 
 
 There were three or four otlier spirits, wlio came at that 
 seance for the other sitters; but, as they were strangers to 
 me, I kept no notes of their appearance. What concerned 
 myself I wrote down, and, I think, it is sufficient to jn-ove 
 what marvelous powers Mr. Rita possesses. 
 
257 
 
 CHAPTER XITI. 
 
 ON MEDIUMS AND SPIRITUALIST SOCIETIES. 
 
 I have been asked, more than once, to give my ideas for 
 the rules and regulations necessary for a Spiritualist 
 Society. Not having had any actual experience of the 
 difficulties attendant on the formation of such a society, I 
 am not aware if my opinion will be worth much — at the 
 same time, I have often noted the failure of such plans, 
 and on the theory of " the bystander seeing most of the 
 game '' can, at least, jot down what I consider to have been 
 the cause. AVere I about to form such a society, my first 
 move would be to collect sufficient subscribers to insure 
 success, as far as funds were concerned. It is all very well 
 to say that, in so high a cause, money should be a second- 
 ary consideration, and that no mercenary ideas should 
 enter into a spiritual matter. Pray, do not Christians pay 
 for the support and promulgation of their religion in every 
 church, from the highest to the lowest ? Can they step 
 into any temple to say a prayer, or hear a discourse, with- 
 out having a bag thrust into their faces, to receive their 
 contributions ? Can they enter, or leave, the holy fane 
 without being confronted by a plate full of copper and 
 silver, to which they are expected to add their share? It 
 is all very fine for the parsons to invite their congregations 
 to eat honey and drink milk, without money and without 
 price; but when do the congregations get it? There is 
 not a greater, nor more continuous set of beggars than the 
 clergy of the English Church, and they justify their pro- 
 ceedings by the text that " the laborer is worthy of his 
 
258 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 hire/^ I do not den}^ the statement, but I contend that 
 the Spiritualist should no more expect to enjoy the privi- 
 leges of his religion for nothing than the Christian. 
 
 We live in an age of greed and heavy expenses. Noth- 
 ing is to be had for nothing in the year of our Lord 1894, 
 and the time is past when congregations could assemble 
 under the greenwood tree to hold their meetings of prayer 
 and praise. A Spiritualist society must have a room to 
 assemble in and preachers to conduct its services, just 
 like the Christians, and such luxuries have to be paid for. 
 
 People who were curious to dive into the mysteries of 
 Spiritualism, have said to me, on more than one occasion: 
 " But I wish there was no money business about it. It 
 seems to me that it would be so much easier to believe if 
 there was nothing to pay. Money and Spiritualism should 
 have nothing in common. Directly, the money question 
 creeps in, it makes one fancy there must be fraud." 
 
 But why? Is there, necessarily, fraud in the Church 
 because pew-rents are heavy and subscriptions unceasing ? 
 Are the ministers necessarily fraudulent because they draw 
 their stipends quarterly, and gladly rush from a poor 
 parish to a rich one, because it pays them better ? And 
 why should mediums, who expend far more strength on 
 the exercise of their profession than any of the clergy, be 
 grudged the reward due to. their great work ? 
 
 My answer to such cavilers usually has been: "I have 
 not tlie least doubt but that you would like it better if 
 there were no money in question; that you would greatly 
 prefer to get everything free; to take all you could and 
 give nothing in return, and then go home to say that the 
 medium had clieatcd you for the sake of gaining notoriety. 
 But what would you say if I were to ask you to walk from 
 liere to London and back, in order to fetch me a book that 
 should convince me of some vital truth? Your answer 
 
THE SPIRIT WOELD. 259 
 
 would be that you could afford to expend neither the 
 time nor the strength for such an exploit, and that, if it 
 were absolutely needful I should have the book, I had 
 better pay some one to get it for me. 
 
 If you want, therefore, to enquire into the truth of a 
 doctrine that may give you the certain assurance of a 
 future life, you must pay the medium, whose vital powers 
 are fearfully weakened by the use of the powers which will 
 conyince you. But, as soon as it comes to the question of 
 paying for their experience, the majority sheer off. 
 
 I have been disgusted by the meanness displayed by 
 scores of my acquaintance in this particular. Even total 
 strangers will send me locks of hair, and written queries, 
 with demands for the solution of some mystery, through 
 the means of my clairvoyant friends, never seeming to con- 
 sider that, if they obtain what they ask for, it is tanta- 
 mount to entreating a draper to give them a few yards of 
 ribbon, or a pair of gloves, for the mere pleasure of serving 
 them. 
 
 The first thing, then, I should look after, in the formation 
 of such a society, would be the coin. I would test the sin- 
 cerity of those who had expressed a wish to co-operate with 
 me in the venture, by naming an annual subscription, to 
 be paid in advance. If the members of the proposed so- 
 ciety should be people of good position, there should, also, 
 be an entrance fee of one guinea, and the annual subscrip- 
 tion should be the same. 
 
 There need be no limit to the members of the society. 
 If the number should exceed twenty, the meetings for the 
 purpose of sitting should be divided amongst them, /. e., 
 the first twenty on the list should have admittance to the 
 first professional seance, and the next twenty to tlie second, 
 and so on. 
 
 Having secured the great desideratum, my next thought 
 
260 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 would be to hire a suitable room to bold the meetings in. 
 This must yarv, of course, with the means and generosity 
 of the members; but I would not be responsible for form- 
 ing a society, until I could command the hire of two fair- 
 sized rooms, or one large one, which could be held sacred 
 to the seances, and put to no other uses during the intervals 
 of the meetings — the key being left, during such periods, in 
 the charge of the secretary. 
 
 What a seance room should be like, I have described in 
 the chapter headed ^'- How to investigate Spiritualism.'^ It 
 should be uncarpeted, and the walls should be bare. The 
 furniture to consist of a deal table^ unpainted, and as many 
 cane-bottomed chairs as necessar3\ The window to be pro- 
 vided with a thick, dark-woolen curtain, to be drawn across 
 it during the sittings. When the seance is concluded, the 
 curtain to be withdrawn, and the window opened, to admit 
 the fresh air until the next time of using the room; the 
 table and chairs, also, to be washed Avith soap and water — 
 not forgetting the floor — as often as is needful. The light 
 to be used demands a careful consideration. The lamp I 
 saw at Mrs. Davidson's appeared to me very desirable — -the 
 orange-tinted, crumpled tissue paper, placed to shield it, 
 being favorable to materialization. But the lights used in 
 American seances were still better; and if one is really 
 going in for serious investigation, a few pounds, spent at 
 the beginning, will amply repay themselves in the end. 
 The American lamps were very simple — having four sides 
 of glass, with an oil light in the middle. One pane of glass 
 was red, one blue, one orange, and one plain white. The 
 lamp revolved and the spirits chose which color they 
 desired to use, according to the atmosphere, or the party 
 assembled, or other conditions known only to themselves. 
 If the light from the unused panes were too strong, a 
 crumpled sheet of tissue i)aper soon remedied the difficulty. 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 261 
 
 'For a public seance room, too, there must assuredly be a 
 cabinet. Now, I utterly object to all tests for a medium, 
 such as tying, or marking, or sewing up in sacks, etc. 
 But, at the same time, 1 consider a proper cabinet for 
 materializations to be a sme qua non, not only for the 
 satisfaction of the sitters, but the safety of the medium. 
 
 How many and many a person has sat with reliable 
 mediums, and believed, at the time, that everything was 
 fair and above board (as, indeed, it was), and then, on 
 returning home, being unable, after all, to believe that the 
 marvels they had seen were true, " gone back upon them- 
 selves,^^ as it is called, and pronounced the whole affair to 
 have been a fraud. Had the medium been seated in such 
 a cabinet, as I am about to describe to you, such a contra- 
 diction would have been avoided. It belonged to the 
 Society of British Spiritualists, and was used in their 
 rooms, in Great Eussell street, by AVilliam Eglinton. It 
 consisted, as far as I can give measurements from recollec- 
 tion, of a cupboard of plain deal, with two sides, a top 
 and a bottom, the front being left open. I should judge 
 that this cupboard may have been about six feet long by 
 four wide, and eight feet in height. Exactly in the middle 
 of it was a partition of galvanized wire netting, one side 
 of which was enclosed by a wirework door. Where this 
 door opened, were a dozen hasps for padlocks ; and any 
 one who chose, was invited to bring his own padlock, and, 
 having fastened it on one of these hasps, to retain the key 
 in his possession. Behind the door was placed a comfortable 
 easy chair, in which the medium sat, who was thus enclosed 
 in a wire cabinet, leaving an empty space of the same size 
 beside him. A dark, thiek curtain was drawn right across 
 the front, hiding both the medium and the empty space. 
 The spirits, in order to appear, had, therefore, to pass 
 through the wire netting, by which the medium was sur- 
 
262 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 rounded, and out of the curtain, which fell before the open- 
 ing. There never was a shadow of suspicion, therefore, in 
 the minds of any of the sitters that the medium could 
 possibly personate the spirit forms that appeared, whilst 
 he, feeling quite at his ease and secure from molestation, 
 was able to produce far better manifestations than he would 
 otherAvise have done. And, here, I would observe that 
 one cannot make the medium too comfortable, and on his 
 comfort a great deal of power depends. Had I the organi- 
 zation of such a cabinet, I would, in addition to what I 
 have described, have a wire-work partition placed across 
 the room, at about six feet distance from the opening, so 
 that the spirits might feel sure of not being seized, to the 
 detriment and danger of the medium. 
 
 Having arranged my seance room, the next thing would 
 be to nominate, not only a secretary to look after the funds, 
 but a master of the ceremonies, or ^'conductor of the 
 seance," as they call him in America, to look after the cir- 
 cle. Such an arbitrator and authority is infinitely useful, 
 and I liked the plan they pursue in the States, of the con- 
 ductor speaking a few words each evening before the 
 sitting commenced, telling the circle what was expected of 
 them and why they had assembled there. The presence of 
 a " conductor " often prevents any unseemly squabbling, or 
 discontent, about seats, or having to change them; he is,, 
 also, a check against any tricks being played with the 
 medium or by the members of the circle. 
 
 If the funds are forthcoming, it is most desirable to have 
 a small harmonium in the seance room, and some one who 
 knows how to play it. The solemn tones of the harmonium 
 seem more appropriate to a spiritual gathering than any 
 other, and blend admirably with the liuman voices. 
 
 As the room will be at your own disposal, also, those 
 amongst the circle who can sing, should fix one night in 
 
THE SPIEIT WORLD. 263 
 
 the week to meet and practice singing appropriate for the 
 sittings. This need not consist of Moody and Sankey's 
 hymns, nor, indeed, of any hymns at all. There are num- 
 berless sweet and plaintive melodies which are qnite suit- 
 able for such an occasion. Above all, avoid the old strains 
 that have been made so common in every seance room, that 
 even the spirits, themselves, must be sick of hearing them. 
 AVhy is it that, directly a request is preferred for singing, 
 in a seance room, nothing is struck up but " The Sweet-By- 
 and-By,^^ or " Footsteps of Angels ? " 
 
 I heard a funny story, bearing on this question, the other 
 day, but I will not vouch for its veracity. A circle being 
 requested to ^^ tune up,^^ commenced the immortal, never- 
 fading "Shall We Gather at the Eiver?'^ As they ceased, 
 an influence manifested itself, unknown to any one there. 
 On being asked who he was, he answered : " I am the un- 
 happy composer of ^ Shall We Gather at the Eiver ? ' Had 
 my life been twice as sinful as it was, I should have ex- 
 piated everything by the purgatory I have suffered in hear- 
 ing that tune sung so often, and so badly, at your various 
 meetings. Cannot you possibly find something else to 
 sing ? I am sick to death of it.^' And well he may be. 
 
 Surely, since it is considered worth while for choirs to 
 be organized, and to meet for practice in the service of the 
 churches, we might do something similar for our seance 
 rooms. The fearful screeching that usually passes for 
 melody in them is enough, not to raise the dead, but to 
 scare them back to their spheres. AVhen I organize my 
 spiritual society, the choir will have to meet as regularly 
 as if the denizens of earth were to listen to their efforts, 
 instead of the denizens of Heaven. 
 
 Having thus secured my members, my annual subscrip- 
 tions and entrance fees, my seance room and trained choir, 
 the next thing would be to decide the days of sittings. 
 
264 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 IS'aturally, these must depend so much on the occupations 
 and opportunities of the sitters^ that no hard and fast 
 rules can be laid down concerning them, with this excep- 
 tion: that no one should be admitted to membership who 
 is unable to attend regularly. If the sittings are to take 
 place only once a week, Sunday evening appears to be the 
 best day, as people^ who work hard all the week, are likely 
 to be pretty well rested by that time, and you must re- 
 member that it is impossible to get good manifestations 
 from tired and feeble bodies. But, perhaps, you would 
 prefer to keep Sundays for listening to the utterances of 
 trance-speakers, like Mr. Morse, or for holding sittings 
 with experienced mediums, like Mrs. Davidson. Your 
 trained choir will be able to lead the singing, on such oc- 
 casions, and make them all the more enjoyable, and the 
 sittings of the society can be held during the week, 
 instead. 
 
 These are the rules and regulations which, in my esti- 
 mation, should form the nucleus of a Spiritualist society; 
 but, of course, there are numerous advantages to be added 
 to it, as members increase and funds come in more freely. 
 
 A library of works on the subject would be of infinite 
 value, and, where the society embraces, many members of 
 the lower classes, some very pleasant evenings might be 
 spent in giving them readings from well-known authors and 
 poets, who have given their experiences, on this great sub- 
 ject, to the world. Books on Spiritualism are not, as a 
 rule, easily obtainable. They are, for the most part, expen- 
 sive to purchase, and few booksellers keep them, and, one 
 may add, no libraries. Tlie richer members of a society 
 might, therefore, well contrive to make a present of a few 
 such books to the formation of a library to which tliose, 
 who have no other opportunity of seeing them, might have 
 access. 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 265 
 
 As the society grows and becomes richer, you will engage 
 mediums to come amongst you and give you an example 
 of their powers ; you will invite preachers and speakers to 
 visit your Sunday gatherings ; you will organize pleasant 
 meetings for your members, during which they may be- 
 come personally acquainted with each other, and which 
 will promote that spirit of harmony which is so essential 
 for the success of the cause. 
 
 I cannot say I like spiritualistic dances. I know there 
 is no harm in dancing — for aught I know, we may enjoy 
 it in the other world, and I hope we may ; but we are not 
 there yet ; we have not cast oif our burden of sin and 
 sorrow. And I do not like the idea of excessive merri- 
 ment, connected with so solemn a matter as interviewing 
 the dear ones, whose loss caused us to shed such bitter 
 tears. I do not envy the Spiritualist who has ceased to 
 regard his belief with a certain amount of awe and 
 solemnity. 
 
 I have heard people say to me, after speaking on this 
 subject : " I never met such a woman as you are. You 
 don^t seem to mind spirits any more than you do mortals.''^ 
 And I have answered : " Excuse me, but I do mind them 
 a great deal more, and having lost all fear of them does not 
 imply that I have lost all awe. I regard them with the 
 deepest reverence, and always shall, from whatever sphere 
 they come. There can be nothing, in my estimation, but 
 awe, in contemplating a future state, which, however fully 
 we may be convinced of its reality, we can never realize 
 until we enter it.^^ 
 
 If you invite trance-speakers, or materializing mediums, 
 or clairvoyants, to attend your gatherings, they will possi- 
 bly stay a night or two in your midst, and some one of 
 your members will offer to entertain them the while. 
 Should this be the case, their visit should be made one of 
 
266 THE SPIEIT WORLD. 
 
 complete rest, excepting when tliey are sitting for the 
 society. There is a great deal to be said on the manner in 
 which mediums should be treated; for, in this age, we do 
 not seem to understand the subject. The term " sensitive '^ 
 is the most applicable to the persons so gifted, for they are 
 sensitive in the extreme, and, as a rule, delicate in body. 
 To treat them like ordinary people, is to exhaust them un- 
 necessarily; to induce them to attend public scenes of 
 gayety, is to render them unfit for more serious duties; 
 to drag them amongst strangers^ who will ply them with 
 questions, out of pure curiosity, is to subject them to divers 
 influences, that may greatly detract from the success of 
 your seances. 
 
 The ancients did not treat their mediums so. The ora- 
 cles of Delphos, the virgins of the Buddhist temples, the 
 vestals who handled the divining tables of the Egyptians, 
 the medicine men of the tribes of Eed Indians — were all 
 carefully guarded from the contamination of strange influ- 
 ences, and kept sacredly within the protection of their 
 temples, or tribes. The ancients knew that their spiritual 
 gifts were of so delicate nature, and their physical organi- 
 zation so frail, that, to be kept pure and reliable, they 
 must be protected from the outer world. 
 
 But what do we do with our mediums? We engage 
 them to sit for our circles; we turn them into objects of 
 curiosity for the ignorant between whiles; we try to get 
 spiritual phenomena out of them at all times, and we feed 
 them, and lodge them, and fatigue them, just as if they 
 were one of ourselves. Several most gifted mediums iiave 
 been accused (and unfortunately with justice), of giving 
 way to the pernicious habit of drinking. Will you be 
 surprised when I tell you that this habit has been generally 
 induced by the treatment which they have received at the 
 liands of those who most admire their mediumistic qualities ? 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 267 
 
 You exhaust their powers too much; you never leave them 
 alone; you talk to them, and run after them, day and night,, 
 whilst they are under your roof, so that, at last, they are so 
 thoro'ughly exhausted, they are thankful to take any stimu- 
 lant that shall relieve the feeling of sickness, and empti- 
 ness, and utter prostration, caused by your well-meant, 
 perhaps, but injudicious hospitality. 
 
 Eemember what the word " medium " signifies — a chan- 
 nel, through which the spiritual waters are conveyed to- 
 your lips. The spirit, or ego, of the medium is compelled 
 to quit his body, whilst the spirits of the departed pass 
 into it, using its organs of thought and speech, for your 
 edification. Do you suppose this process does not try th© 
 physical powers of the medium; that he does not return 
 to his exhausted frame exhausted in spirit as well ? 
 
 Watch a physical medium, next time you sit with one, 
 and see how wearily he drags his legs after him, as he 
 walks out of the seance room, when the sitting is concluded; 
 look at his tired eyes, the perspiration he wipes from his 
 brow, the faint voice in which he answers your eager ques- 
 tions, the indifferent smile with which he receives your 
 thanks for a successful sitting. The man is completely 
 exhausted, body and spirit; what he requires now is a bed,, 
 or a sofa, to lie down on and rest for a few hours, and com- 
 plete quiet around him whilst he does so. A cup of really 
 good tea — unfortunately, a rarity, in these days of nasty 
 cheapness — and some light refreshment, in the shape of 
 sandwiches, or dainty bread and butter, is the best thing 
 for a medium to take immediately after sitting; then a 
 good rest, to be followed by a substantial meal, such as 
 will restore his wasted energies. 
 
 But, unless under exceptional circumstances, never offer 
 a medium stimitlants. Unless he should be faint, or really 
 ill, his spirit guides will never recommend them, and many 
 
268 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 have told me that they have traced to this supposed hospi- 
 tality more than one instance of mediums yielding them- 
 selves up to the fatal habit of intoxication. Good tea, 
 with a dash of orange pekee in it, is the best stimulant for 
 them; and I know one celebrated medium who never takes 
 anything else after a seance. Here is one instance, there- 
 fore, in which we do not guard our mediums sufficiently. 
 The vestal virgins of the Temple, and also the ancient 
 priests, you may remember, were not allowed to taste 
 strong drink, from their birth, or they were unfitted for 
 the service of religion. 
 
 And we ought to guard the digestion of our mediums as 
 well. Digestion has a great deal to do with good mani- 
 festations — indeed, all the interior economy has. 
 
 I remember how vexed " Joey " used to be when Willy 
 Eglinton had permitted himself to get a headache before 
 sitting, and we could hear him scolding him, inside the 
 cabinet, for having been so careless. 
 
 Of course, whilst we are so lukewarm with regard to 
 Spiritualism as to allow our mediums to go on working for 
 their daily bread, whilst they exercise their spiritual gifts, 
 we shall never enjoy them in perfection. 
 
 A man who has to think and work all day for tlie 
 support of his family is not likely to find himself in good con- 
 dition for such an exhausting trial as sitting for materializa- 
 tion when the evening comes ; and when we consider that 
 he sits up, 2)erhaps, till eleven or twelve, and then has to 
 rise early in the morning again, it is hardly wonderful that 
 lie should, sometimes, fail to procure manifestations, or 
 have recourse to stimulants to keej) up his failing strength. 
 
 A good medium should be packed in cotton, wool and 
 lavender. How many of them are? AVe know tliat the 
 clergy of the English Churcli are, some of them, miserably 
 l)ai(l ; but wliat stipends do we allow our mediums? Many 
 
THE SPIRIT WORLD. 269 
 
 of them work for nothing ; many are obliged, by reason of 
 the necessity to live, to accept a most inadequate remunera- 
 tion in return for their ineffable services to humanity ; 
 and all who do so are compelled to make a secret of it, on 
 account of the infamous law still existing on our statute 
 books, regarding witches and fortune-tellers. 
 
 When are the Spiritualists going to club together and 
 get up a memorial to have that old black-letter law 
 abolished ? When the Royal family of England follow the 
 pursuit of Spiritualism, and numberless men of repute and 
 renown have given their testimony to the truth of it — is it 
 not about time that the power to commit mediums to 
 prison as " rogues and vagabonds/' should be taken out of 
 the hands of magistrates, whom the press is ever reviling 
 for their ignorance, injustice and stupidity? 
 
 By the same statutes, an actor, when he dies, should be 
 buried where four cross-roads meet, with a stake driven 
 through his heart. What would Mr. Irving's, or Mr. 
 Toole's friends say if the legal authorities insisted upon 
 treating their bodies after death in such a fashion ? Yet, 
 it would be quite as reasonable and lawful as treating 
 mediums, as if they were all frauds, taking money under 
 false pretenses. 
 
 It is impossible that, while they thus live, as it were, 
 under the shadow of the law, and in fear lest it should 
 swoop down upon them, at any moment, mediums can be 
 seen at their best. To my mind, this freedom from all 
 anxiety, on such a score, is the reason why spiritual mani- 
 festations are so superior in America to what they are in 
 England. There, people are not treated as if they were 
 children or fools. The law recognizes they should be free 
 agents in all matters of conscience, and does not pretend 
 to dictate their private opinions to chem. 
 
 And why England should permit Shakers and Salva- 
 
27<^ THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 tionists and Peculiar People to exist in the land and prac- 
 tice their several religions in peace (though, as in the case 
 of the Salvation Army, no one else is allowed to enjoy it) 
 a,nd, 3^et, take a savage pleasure in molesting Spiritualists, 
 would be a mystery, did I not know, in common with many 
 others, that it is the Spiritualists' own fault. When are 
 we ever seen to protect, or stand up for our mediums, when 
 they are falsely accused ? 
 
 In America, if a medium were accused of cheating, he 
 would find a thousand of his adherents springing up, ready 
 to do battle for him and bear witness to his fidelity. 
 
 In England, what happens in such a case? The news- 
 papers devoted to the cause, immediately publish all details 
 of it, that they may be sure to reach the eyes and ears of 
 those who may not have happened to hear of them. They 
 do not send special reporters to enquire into the rights 
 and wrongs of the accusation, which has been, invariably, 
 hrought by an outsider; but they turn it into a sensational 
 article to swell the interest of their paper, and make the 
 sceptics say: "Why, even his own organ condemns him!" 
 To read the Spiritualist papers, one would imagine they had 
 been instituted to exjoose Spiritualism instead of to protect 
 it. I am not including "Light," nor Mr. Stead's publica- 
 tions, in this censure. I have received strange accounts, 
 however, of tlie lack of information to be obtained at the 
 offices of some spiritualistic papers. What are these offices 
 for? For what reason have they secretaries and clerks in 
 <:'harge of them, if it is not that enquirers into the reality of 
 Spiritualism may have their questions answered, and in- 
 structed where to go and whom to apply to, to aid them in 
 tlieir researcli ? 
 
 Yet, ladies and gentlemen have complained to me that 
 wlien they liave visited those offices, to ask for a certain 
 Ijook, or the address of a certain medium, tliey liave met 
 
THE SPIKIT WORLD. 271 
 
 with scant courtesy, and scanter information. The clerks 
 have not got the book; they do not know if it is popular 
 or not; they do not know the medium^s address — not any- 
 thing about him, or her; they do not know of any reliable 
 mediums in town. N"ow, this is a nice way to further a 
 cause, or to induce strangers to adopt it. Had I been at 
 the head of that office, the clerk who dared to make the 
 foregoing statement would have got the sack the following- 
 Saturday. Why do not the secretaries of such offices make 
 it part of their duty to find out the resident mediums all 
 over England; their capabilities and their addresses; also 
 their fees, if any ? Why do they not sit with them, so as 
 to be able to give a personal opinion on their merits, and 
 if they have not a certain spiritualistic book in their lend- 
 ing library, why do they not procure it for their clients ? 
 But considering that, in comparison to other literature, 
 books on Spiritualism are few and far between, it is a dis- 
 grace to the cause that any library should be without any 
 one of them, and a still greater disgrace that the person in 
 charge of such a place has not made himself acquainted 
 with, at least, the tenor and general style of every volume 
 written on the subject. 
 
 Had I the leisure, I would set up such a Spiritualistic 
 Library and Office of Enquiry in London as should knock 
 the whole lot into " smithereens." 
 
 What is the use of going to the expense of keeping up 
 such places, that should, in the present condition of gen- 
 erally awakened curiosity concerning Spiritualism, be draw- 
 ing their thousands into the cause, but only disgust people 
 with their expressed indifference to it, instead ? 
 
 When I think of the numbers of strangers who have 
 written, or come to me for information, since " There is no 
 Death'' was published, I know that, if the newspapers 
 were what they ought to be, and the offices of those papers 
 
272 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 had the proper information to give the public, instead of 
 rudeness and inattention; if the Spiritualists, themselves, 
 showed more energy and interest in their religion, rallied 
 round their mediums better, and took a little more trouble 
 generally, the number of adherents to it would have been 
 doubled by now. 
 
 Far more interest is shown in Spiritualism in the 
 country than in London. In several provincial towns the 
 Spiritualists have large rooms or meeting-houses, where 
 they assemble regularly, to study the truths in which they 
 believe — but, in town, people have come to me over and 
 over again, with the complaint that they are anxious to 
 enquire more fully into the doctrine, but they cannot find 
 out where to go, nor whom to go to. 
 
 When is this state of things to be remedied ? When are 
 we to have a proper organ for the diffusion of our creed ? 
 When a proper temple to pursue it in ? When shall we 
 have a recognized meeting-place, a public library,^ an office 
 where all enquiries on the subject shall be answered 
 courteously and all possible information given? Until 
 that era dawns — until Spiritualists band together ; until 
 they learn how to treat their mediums properly, and cease 
 to believe every falsehood they may hear against them — I 
 fear we shall go on as we do now — shall remain an un- 
 recognized, persecuted, ridiculed, and, presumably, lawless 
 people. 
 
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