Light V32 Mar 1912 - Iapsop.com

A Journal of Psychical, Occult, and Mystical Research. 

• LIGHT! MORE LIGHT !'-Goethe, 'WHATSOEVER DOTH llfAKll: JlfANIFEBT IS LIGHT.'-Paul . 

No. 1,625.-VoL. XXXII. [Registerecl as] SATURDAY, MARCH 2, 1912. [a NEwspaper. J PRICE TWOPENCE. 

CONTENTS. 

Notes by the Way .. _ .......... 97 Spiritualism : A Survey of its 

L.S.A. Notices .... .............. 98 Position, Achievements, and 

C. H. Spur!(eon's Successor on Possibilities. An Address by 

Spiritualism : A Reply ........ 99 Mr. Angus McArthur .... .. ..103 

Notes from Abroacl ..... . .. .... 100 How the Impossible becomes 

Mr. J. Hopcroft ancl the Fire TestIOO Possible .. .. . . •• .. ........ 104 

'.l'be Knights Templa.rs . . .. . .100 'And God sitw tha t it was Goocl '104 

Another Case of Spirit Heitling 101 · Union with Divinity in Love .. .. 105 

Mr. Labouchere's Ghost Story 101 An ExtraorcliPary Scene ...... . 105 

Bishop Welldon on SpiritualismlOl 'l'he Heaven of Re· t ............ 105 

The Problem of Pr1 ·perty .... . . 102 Items of Interest .... .. .... . ... 106 

NOTES 

BY THE WAY. 

Viewing the disposition in some quarters either to 

suppress the enunciation of a truth or to disguise it in a 

form of words that shall render it unintelligible to 

'common minds,' we are sometimes reminded of Goethe's 

saying:- 

vVhen from ti.me to time a man arises who is fortunate 

enough to discover eYen one of the great secrets of N atnre, ten 

others immediately start up who industriously and strenuously 

endeavour to conceal it from view. 

That obscuration of truth seems at first the work of an 

enemy, but it may serve world-purposes, as, for instance, 

the conservation of the truth until the world is ripe for it, 

and the provision of a means of sifting and finally mould· 

ing the truth into appropriate forms. 

In her latest work, 'The Coping Stone,' which is 

reviewed elsewhere in this issue, Miss E. Katharine Bates 

tells a remarkable story of a message in automatic writing 

which she once received, and which purported to come 

from an old Egyptian priest. About a year later, becoming 

interested in psychic photography, she paid a visit to the 

late Mr. Boursnell, the well-known photographic medium. 

'I think you will get something,' said he, 'for I saw a 

priest come in with you just now.' And when the picture 

was taken 

a very venerable old man appeared upon the plate, with his 

head tied up in what looked remarkably like a djshcloth with a 

fillet round it. 

Subsequently Miss Bates recalled the episode of the 

Egyptian priest, and accordingly showed the photograph to 

a gentleman who was not only interested in psychical 

research, but possessed considerable knowledge of Egyptian 

antiquities. He e~pressed doubt of the genuineness of the 

portrait (considered as a photograph of an Egyptian priest) 

on account of the head-dress, which was unfamiliar to him. 

To test the matter he sent for his large collection of 

Egyptian photographs, which ·were carefully examined, and 

for the moment it :i.ppeared as though his verdict.was justified, 

for not one showed this peculiar style of head-dress. 

But, as often happens in such cases, an after-thought 

resulted in a striking confirmation of the accuracy of the 

photograph. And Miss Ba.tes continues :- 

Just as I was turning away convinced, he suddenly remembered 

a small piece of a genuine priest's tomb in white tufa, 

which he had been able to purchase while in the country [Egypt] 

and had framed and hung np in the hall. . . Standing before 

the small frame I noticed a funeral procession headed (as is 

usually the case) by a figure of the priest himself. The latter 

bore a facsimile 9f ~li ~ cloth a~cl fiHet heacl -dress of my 

photograph ! 

We cite the instance not only as showing that Miss 

Bates is able to base her philosophy on ij, practical acquaintance 

with psychical phenomena, but also because we are 

warmly interested in the evidences for what is known as 

'spirit photography.' Vexed subject of controversy as it 

has so long been, we feel that it offers a field that wilf yet 

be very fertile of evidences for the reality of the unseen 

world and its denizens. If in the past we have seemed 

hypercritical in our judgments on the subject, it is only 

because we think that, with so many elements of doubt and 

uncertainty on the technical side of the matter, whatever 

is presented as evidence should be as far as possible unassailable. 

As Miss Bates remarks concerning the instance 

she relates :- 

Now, if a comparatively uneducated old man in Shepherd's 

Bush can put to confnsion one very good and one fairly good 

Egyptologist, i11 order to fake a photograph which would impi·ess 

the ordinary observer as a fake on account of this uncommon 

article of dress alone-well, he must have beell' a very ' slim' 

and yet rather stupid man. 

The 'Journal of the American Society for Psychical 

Research' contains an excellent article on 'the Burton case, 

in the course of which the writer, Dr. J. \v. Coleman, 

remarks:- 

If we are ever to develop mediumship as we do music, it 

will n'lt be a common thing to find great geniuses. Many·cau 

play rag-time and many can cause raps, but few can play Chopin 

or get intelligent communications. It is important that testing 

and ignorant development be stopped, and an intelligent body 

of men set themselves to try and develop a medium properly, 

choosing from among the few who can resist the deadly habit of 

muscular automatism, hysteria, and secondary 'muddleness.' 

When a man Luilcls a machine, he does not test · it until it is 

finished, at least not to the extent of rejecting it. 

As the old-fashioned writers of letters to the newspapers 

would say, 'Comment is needless.' 

But we do find it necessary to comment op. a . fu~_ther 

statement in the same article:- 

It l1as always seemed to me that the Spiritualists themselYes 

do not believe in the truth of the phenomena; as they are constantly 

seeking for tests and stronger phenomena to convince 

them. ·;. ' 

We think, as a general statement, thi~ needs _some 

limitation of commentary. In the first place, thel_l,_ Ijiany 

Spiritualists, in seeking for stronger· phenomena, are intent 

far less on convincing themselves than on affording . conviction 

to a world which is ever calling for newer, later, 

and stronger evidences. . · Certainly there is a class of investigator 

which takes phenomenal facts as it would .ta1rn 

drugs, requiring a stronger dose each time to produce ·the 

same effect. For our own part, we have . never· ·had a 

superstitious reverence for facts in themselves, however 

remarkable. vVe have known many fine natures· whose 

conviction of the reality of a higher world and its· interaction 

with this had never been (or n.eeded to be) forti 

·fied by a single psychic phenonienon of the seance-r0om 

c;ircler: Their faith was founded on principles, .which are

98 LIGHT. [March 2, 1912. 

unshakable. The faith that rests only on facts is liable 

to shivering fits. 

Glancing through a Church magazine recently, we were 

struck by a neat description of the modern spirit by a 

clerical writer, who remarked :- 

I forbear t.o question whether this is really a n111teri11listio 

age. A materialistic age knows wlrn,t it wants-' so ft touches 

and warm touch es.' This age wants something, it does not know 

what. 

There is critical acumen in that statement. Material 

satisfactions are so very limited in their nature that they 

are soon exhausted, and the mind for a time recoils on 

itself. Then follows a fresh quest, but this time it is of a 

groping kind. T he Churches have failed with their own 

spiritual ideals to meet the needs of the more enlightened 

of mankind; the consolations of the world have been tried 

and found wanting, and the ·problem is where to look and 

what to look for, for ,it is becoming clear to the thinking 

mind that the search for unbroken peace and unclouded 

happiness is everywhere futile. One thing clearly the age 

needs, although it does not yet quite realise the fact, and 

that is the sight of some goal, however remote. It will 

only be gained by much purging of vision, and that is a 

process which is going on all round us to-day. 

We cordially welcome the appearance of a seventh 

edition (revised and enlarged) of 'Dominion and Power,' 

by Charles Brodie Patterson (G. Bell and Sons, Limited, 

4s. net). A volume of practical philosophy concerning life 

and living, it is written in a clear and easily intelligible 

style. Indeed, to the advanced student it may appear 

rather rudimentary, but advanced students are relatively 

few, and we prefer to think of the many who need to be 

supplied with simple teaching concerning the deeper side of 

everyday existence. In some recent notes we spoke of the 

nature of the intellect as a non-moral faculty, and we find 

the author writing in a somewhat similar strain:- 

The intellectual reconstruction of the world is an impossible 

thing. No matter how clearly .men may see the trnth, if such 

truth is held only as an intellectual conception of right, wrongs 

will be perpetrated by man upon his fellow man regardless even 

of true thought conceptions. Intellectually, man knows a 

hundredf:>ld more of the righ t than he Ji.Yes, ]Jut if a man feels, 

he lives what he feel s. A thousand men have written liooks on 

the cruelty and injustice of man to his fell ow man, but the lo ve 

of a Jesus or a Buddha would outweigh in its productfreness of 

good all the logic and mental reasonings of the thousand. 

That is a simple statement of a truth for the wider 

recognition of which enlightened thinkers are everywhere 

striving. 

There is a breezy optimism about the declaration 

recently made by Dr. Nr.well Dwight Hillis, of Brooklyn, 

who asserts that most of the crimes amongst the American 

people are committed by moral and nerrnus weaklings, 

who have been unable to keep up with the rapid pace of 

civilisation. He concludes tbat- 

The strong and the good are becoming stronger and better ; 

the bad and the weak are becoming worse and weaker. 

The proportions, according to Dr. Hillis, are five per 

cent. of decadents, and ninety-five per cent. of progressives 

(be is referring to the American people). Well, we hope 

he is right. It is certainly the belief of some thoughtful 

observers that Nature improves the race by sterilising and 

'killing out' those who are not only physically but morally 

and mentally unfit. The Great Mother is working bard to 

raise the level of this world, and the more we co-operate 

with her by maintaining our own fitness and aidiug the 

development of others the better. 

LONDON SPIRITUALIST ALLIANCE, LTD. 

A meeting of the Members and Associates of the Alliance 

will be held in the SALON OF l'HE ROYAL SOCIETY OF BRITISH 

ARTISTS, SuFFOLK-STREE'.r, PALL MALL EAST (nectr the National 

Gallery ), on 

THURSDAY EVENING, MARCH 14TH, 

WHF.N AN ADDRESS WILL BF. GIVEN BY 

MR. WALTER APPLEYARD 

ON 

'My Reasons for being a Spiritualist after 

many years' Experience.' 

The doors will be opened at 7 o'clock, and the Addres9 will be 

commenced punctually at 7.30. 

Admission by ticket only. Two tickets are sent to each 

Member, and one to each Associate, but both Members and 

Associates can have additional tickets for the use of friends on 

payment of l s. each. Applications for extra tickets, accompanied 

by remittance, should be addressed to Mr. E. W. Wallis, Hon. 

Secretary, llO, St. Martin's-lane, W.C. 

Meetings will also be held in the SALON OF THE ROYAL SocIET1 

OF BRrrISH ARTISTS, Suffolk-street, Pall Mall East, S.W. (near 

the National Gallery), on the following Thursday evenings at 

7.30 :- 

Mar. 28.-Sir W. F. Barrett, F.R.S., on 'The Problems of 

Psychical Research. ' 

Apr. 11.-Mr. E. E. Fournier d'Albe, B.Sc., on 'The Frontiers 

of the Soul.' 

Apr. 25.-' Cheiro' on 'Personal Experiences of Psychic Phenom 

ena in India, America, and other Countries.' 

May 9.-Rev. T. Rhondda Williams, 

MEETINGS AT llO, ST. MARTIN'S LANE, W.C. 

FOR THE STUDY OF PSYCHICAL PHENOMENA. 

CLAIRVOYANCE. - On Tuesday next, March 5th, Mrs. 

Jamrach will give clairvoyant descriptions at 3 p.m., and no 

one will be admitted after that hour. Fee, l s. each to Associates 

; Members free ; for friends introduced by them, 2s. each. 

PSYCHICAL SELF-C ULTURE. - On Thursday next, March 7th, 

at 5 p.m. prompt, Mr. Macbeth Bain will give an address on' The 

Power of Healing as the Fruit of Spiritualistic Science.' 

FRIENDLY lNTERCOURSE.-Members and Associates are 

invited to attend the rooms at 110, St. Martin's-lane, on Friday 

afternoons, from 3 to 4, and to introduce friends interested 

in Spiritualism, for informal conversation, the exchange of 

experiences, and mutual helpfulness. 

TALKS WITH A SPIRI'r CoNTROL.-On Friday next, March 8th, 

at 4 p.m., Mrs. M. H. Wallis, under spirit control, will reply 

to questions from the audience relating to life here and on 'the 

other side,' mediumship, and the phenomena and philosophy of 

Spiritualism generally. Admission l s. ; Members and Associates 

free. MEMBERS have the privilege of introducing one friend io 

this meeting without payment. Visitors should be prepared 

with written inquiries of general interest to submit to the control 

Students and inquirers alike will find these meetings especially 

useful in helping them to solve perplexing problems and to 

realise the actualiLy of spirit personality. 

SPIRIT H EALING.-Daily, except Satmdays, Mr. Percy R. 

Street, the healing medium, will attend between 11 a. m. and 

2 p.m., at l lO, St. Martin's-lane, W.C., for diagnosis by a spirit 

control, magnetic healing, and delineations from the personal 

aura. For full particulars see the lld vertisement supplement. 

Mrns MoCREADrn. - The many fri ends of Miss S. McCreadie 

will be pleased to know that she has now recovered from her 

recent severe indisposition, and is resuming her mediumistic 

work at lier home, 6, Blomfteld-road, Maida Vale, W. 

THE Peebles Publishing Company, 519, Fayette-street, 

Los Angeles, Cal., U.S.A., sends us a lieautiful portrait of 

the ven eral,Je Dr. J. M. Peehles, as he now appears at ninety 

years of age. Copies can be had, from the pnlJlishers only, for 

25 cents. The pictme is well worth framing to hang alongside 

the portraits of other honoured leaders of the movement.

March 2, 1912.J LIGHT. 99 

C. H. SPURGEON'S 

SPIRITUALISM : 

SUCCESSOR 

A REPLY. 

BY L. v. H. WITLEY. 

ON 

There are two points to be emphasised by way of introduction 

to my reply to Dr. Dixon's sermon, reported by me last 

week. The first is that r' do not claim to be in any way an 

authorised exponent of Spiritualism (if there be any such !). 

'The Ministry of the Unseen,' with which Lhe preacher dealt so 

severely, is purely and simply the account of 'a persoual expel'icnce 

uf, and a testimony to, love from beyond the veil.' I 

am not a frequenter of 'seances, I have joined no circle, and 

it is Lut occasionally that I attend SpiritualisLic services. This 

word of e xplanatio1~ is submitted Lecause I am fully aware that 

there are many readers of 'LIGH'l' ' who could contrav~nc and 

confute more effectively than myself the affirmations of Dr .. 

Dixon. 

The second point is that it must not be supposed that the 

pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle is to be taken as representative 

of Christian ministers in general. Dr. Dixon himself 

recognised this when, after his sermon, he prayed for 'those 

Christian ministers who have become detached from the moorings 

of faith.' The ministers thus referred to (and who, I 

take it, are those who honoured my book with Forewords) include 

the foremost Baptis t minister and the foremost Congregational 

minister in the kingdom, to say nothing of two of the 

Lest known clergymen of the Church of England. There is no 

fact of greater significance in the outlook of present-day Spiritualism 

than the way in which Christian ministers and the 

memLers of churches of all denominations are gradually 

but surely coming to recognise the possibility and desirability, 

if not the actuality, of spirit communion and ministry. My 

next book, on 'The Lifo that is Life Indeed,' will produce 

indnbitable and widespread evidence uf this. The present 

article will, 1 trust, lose nothing in the way of piquancy because 

it is a case of a Baptist replying to a Baptist. 

The difficulty in dealing with Dr. Dixon's sermon arises · 

from two quarters : first, the inexoraLle limitations of space ; 

and, secondly, the necessarily personal form which my reply 

must assume. It is quite impossible to deal with all Lhe points 

which claim attention, nor is it worth while to discuss the 

ethics of sending a cmdial invitation to the author of a book to be 

present at di vine worship, and then to give expression to sentiments 

which are known to be such as will mock and ravage the most 

sacred things of that author's life ! I can Lut say here that in 

four distinct matters the preacher advanced affirmations which 

his own subsequent statements contradicted point blank ; and 

that the allusion in the Epistle of Jude to the archangel 

Michael contending with Satan about the body of Moses was 

quoted, but the statement in the same passage that Michael 

' durst not bring against him a railing accusation ' was conveniently 

ignored. Certainly the greater part of the sermon 

could justly be descriLed as 'railing accusations ' against evil 

spi..rits ! 

The one thing which will remain in the memory of the 

average hearer will be, as I put it last week, 'the activity and the 

ingenuity of the spirits of evil,' and the motive appealed to, 

aboye all others, wa. f ear. Now, I am quite aware that it is no 

new thing for f ear to be appealed tu in the pulpit of the Metropolitan 

Tabemacle as a motirc for the commencement and the 

cultivation uf the religious life, but happily this appealespecially 

in its grosser forms of expression- is becoming more 

and more scarce so far as Christian pulpits in general are concerned. 

Whatever power fear may have had i11 times gone by 

in the promulgation and maint.enauce of the Christian religion, 

that power ha · fargely disappeared. An any rate, if Dr. Dixon 

believed that I should be detcrrl)cl from following my predetermined 

course of action by a11y craven sense of fear, or by the 

suggestion Lhat I was deluded by evil spirits, he was grievously 

mistaken. 

I mnst limit myself now to dealing with two definite 

accusations, as follows : (1) Tlie desire to l'enutin in contact with 

the depar ted (or, as Dr. Dixon put it, to bring back to earth the. 

spirits of the glorified) is pious se ltL~hn ess ; (2) A ll messages professing 

to come from the other side of the veil emanate from 

spirits of evil masquerading as angels of light. 

(1) All selfishness is to be abhorred, but pious selfishness I 

Can a more nauseous accusation be brought by one man against 

another ? One must perforce recognise Dr. Dixon's limitation of 

outlook, which is apparent in three ways: First, he has an 

intense belief in the beneficent ministry of good angels and the 

maleficent agency of 'fallen angels '-particularly in the latter ; 

but the idea of communion with, and ministry between, hmnctn 

spirits incarnate and excamate he rejects in toto-a most 

unscientific frame of mind. If we are open to the influences of 

spirits who, as Dr. Dixon believes, have never been clothed with 

the garrnen t of the physical, may it not be taken for granted that 

spirits which hcive tabernacled in the flesh, being distinctly more 

akin, arc for more likely, and not less likely, to be able to comm 

unicaLc with us in a spiritual fashion 1 

Secondly, by his emphasis u}Jon the question, 'Do the spirits 

of the glorified retnrn ?' the preacher shows that he carries over 

into the next life the conceptions of time and space with which 

he is familiar in this world. He appears to have no idea that 

spiritual communion is blessedly possible without the necessity of 

retiirn as he conceives of it. Intercommunion between my 

wife and myself no more interferes with her occupations and 

duties in the after-life than it does with my following my 

mental and spiritual a vocations here. It is a matter unaffected 

by time and space, being purely of a spiritual nature. 

Thirdly, the idea that it may be selfish to deliberately cut off 

all conscious contact with the departed, to put them completely 

out of our life, and to shut om·selves away from their 

ministry, appears to be outside of, if not foreign to, Dr. Dixon's 

scheme of things. It is a difficult, not to say delicate, matter to 

rebut a charge of personal selfishness ; bnt I may be permitted 

to say, first, that I defy Dr. Dixon to locate in 'The Ministry 

of the Unseen' any passage which either advocates or expresses 

selfislmess, pious or otherwise ; secondly, that in my own case 

the selfishness came in in the grief which overwhelmed me when 

my dear wife passed on, and from which I was delivered by 

the realisation that my sorrow was her sorrow and her gladness 

ruy gladness. No! Selfishness li es, not in rejoicing in the 

conscious contact of spirit with spirit and in the happy acceptance 

of spirit ministry un °tile part of our beloved ones ; it lies 

rather in the shnLting up of one's self in the gloom of apparent 

sep:uation and in endeavouring to forget, instead of to remember 

in Juve and gratitude, the departed. 

(2) In affirming that all messages from the unseen are the 

work of spirits of darkness, Dr. Dixon surely left out of account 

the declaration of the Master, 'Every city or house divided 

against it~elf shall not stand.' A few weeks ago WC had a wise 

and weighty editorial article in 'LIGHT ' upon this very ques· 

tion of spirit messages. What are the criteria by which we 

are to judge the value of these emanations? Surely it would be the 

height of folly to accept all as divine or to reject all as devilish. 

The same calm, discriminatiug judgment which is brought to 

bear on the prodL1ctions of the incarnate mind must be exercised 

in relation to writings which purport to proceed from excaniate 

spmts. A prominent Baptist minister has said : 'The spirit 

enters the eternal world exactly as he quitted the temporal world. 

The act of dying makes no difference to his character any more 

than the acL of changing houses in th.is world alters the disposition 

of the tenant.' If this be so (pace Dr. Dixon !), what else 

is to be expected than that messages purporting to come from 

'the etemal world ' should differ in very many ways and to a 

very great degree 1 Yet Dr. Dixon ventures to lump together all 

messages of this nature, whatever their content or character, as 

proceediug from satellites uf Satan ! One can only say that by 

so doing he places 11i111self-on this point, at any rate-outside 

the pale of i·easonable men and women. 

I close with a personal testimony. As I sat alone, in that vast 

congregation, listening to attacks upon my most sincere and 

most sacred convictions-con victiuns ba.sed not upon theoretical 

study, ]Jut upon actual experience- there came to rue such a 

consciousness of the union and the inseparability of the spirits of 

my wife a11d myself. as I hacl never realised before. I wa.s alone 

- yet not alone ! I am grateful to the preacher for his' faithful' 

dealing ; for to it I owe not only one of the sweetest moments 

and memories of my life, but a stronger determination than ever, 

eome what may, to live to promulgate the blessed reality of spirit 

comnrnnion and ministry.


NOTES FROM ABROAD. 

'Le Messager' for January contains a well-written article on 

' Progress ' and an open letter by M. de Tramelin, addressed to 

Madame de Koning-Nierstrat, in reference to the reality of the 

voices of invisible entities which accompany the musical 

medium, Jesse Shepard. It also reprints a cmious story taken 

from the recently published memoirs of the former Crown 

Princess of Saxony. This deals with Isabelle de Parme, whom 

the Austrian Emperor, Joseph II., wished to espouse. Isabelle 

had already a Spanish lover, and tried her utmost -to avoid 

the proposed union, but her father .remained inexorable 

to all her entreaties. H e gave orders to take the Spaniard 

unawares and to put him to death. Isabelle, partly divining 

this project, escaped through a window into the garden, and ran 

towards the spot where her lover lay mortally stabbed and at 

the point of expiring. He had only enough strength left to say 

to her, ' Y ou alsa in three 

The marriage with Joseph II. finally took place. Isabelle 

promised the Emperor to be a faithful and good wife to him, but 

quite expected that, according to her lover's last words, her end 

would soon come, either in three weeks, three months, or three 

years. After the birth of a son, the state of her health caused 

her husband great anxiety. She seemed to belong to another 

world and to converse with an invisible presence. On the clay 

of the third anniversary of the murder, Isabelle seemed radiantly 

happy, almost transfigured with joy. In the evening she dressed 

exquisitely, and took supper with the . Emperor in her own 

private boudoir at Schoenbrunn. Suddenly, without saying a 

word, she rose from the table and stepped quickly into the 

garden. In crossing the lawn she stopped abruptly, extended 

her arms as if to embrace somebody, and fell to the ground 

dead. It is also mentioned that her coffin was mysteriously 

decked out with roses, and that Isabelle lay amongst those 

fragrant flowers with an expression of heavenly peace imprinted 

on her feat nres. 

. The 'Librairie des Sciences Psychiques' recently published 

two books- one an excellent translation by G. Platon of Schopenhauer's 

memoirs on occult sciences, the other ' Revelations from 

Beyond the Tomb' by Andre de Lor, a welcome addition to our 

psychic literature. Some of these revelations, made by a spirit 

to his fiancee, are very interesting, although, in some instances, 

rather novel. The spirit affirms t.hat on the other plane, which 

he refers to as the 'Big World,' psychic science is called the 

· 'sacred science,' further that the ' Big ·world ' has the same 

geographical diyisions_as ours, even the same social distinctions, 

and that woman occupies there a much higher and more honoured 

position than on our planet.. 

'L'Echo du Merveilleux ' for Jan nary contains a clever article 

by George Malet on 'Successive Lives,' and a horoscope for 

1912, which, on the whole, would seem mther unfavourable to 

royalty. The journal also prints a short account of the clever 

Hungarian clairvoyante, Madame de Imkoery, who not only 

pre:Jicts future events, but possesses the faculty of giving a 

geological description of any ground on which she sets foot for 

the first time. Thus, in_ Silesia she discovered a bed of coal, and 

in Oldenburg the existence of a silver mine. Some time ago th e 

famous violinist, Jan E-ubelik, invited her to his castle in 

Bohemia. Here Madame de Imkoery announced the existence 

of several subterranean springs. · On the soil being dug up, four 

were discovered, of which one, according to the Faculty of Prague, 

contains the same mineral substances as the watGrs of Mnrienbad. 

Mme. de Imkoery is now eagerly invited by all the landed propriel 

ors in the hope that she may make equally valuable discoveries 

on their estates. 

'Are there mediums or not 1' This question, which ha.s so 

often been asked, and to which such varied replies, negative and 

affirn1ati ve, have been given, was finally settled in June last by 

the Schoeffengericht (Court of Justice) in Bielefeld. We draw 

this welcome information from an article in the 'Uebersi.J.rnliche 

Welt,' a short extract from which we present to our readers:- 

' H err Petzold, magnetic healer and clairvoyant, has been 

working most successfully since 1903 in Bielefeld and the surrounding 

districts in face of great opposition, especially from the 

medical profession. One day a gentleman consulted him about 

a theft. Herr Petzold gave him information by which the thief 

could be traced. - For this seance he took a fee of two marks. 

'fhe police heard about it, and Herr Petzold was immediately 

charged before the co nrt wiLh fraud and with wilfully misleading 

for the sake of a monetary profit. At his trial the accused 

called many witnesses, who p nblicly gave an account of their' 

experiences wi.th him, and wh o unanimously testified to the 

correctness of bis clairvoyant descriptions and predictions. 

Unclei· these circumstances the charge of wilfully misleading 

bad to be withdrawn, especially after the expert, Dr. Liebe, had 

admitted the possibility of certain individuals being endowed 

with clain'oyant gifts. The public prosecutor asked for a 

verdict of "not guilty." He maintained that H err Petzold had 

evidently believed in his own clairvoyant gifts, and even if 

he had not done so previously, he would almost be compelled 

to do so now, after listening to the con vi.ncing testimony 

of his various witnesses. Consequently there could be no charge 

of fraud, and the costs of the trial would have to be defrayed 

by the Crown. This is probably the first time that a German 

court of justice, or any other court, has publicly admitted that 

there are mediums who possess clain•oyant powers.' 

We wonder how long it will be before an English court will 

be found ready and willing to make the same admission I 

MR. J. HOPCROFT AND THE FIRE TEST. 

In response to yonr request for evidence -with regard to the 

handling of fire by mediums, I will relate an experience of mine 

with Mr. John Hopcroft about twenty-four years ago, which 

may perhaps be of interest to your readers. 

Mr. Hopcroft was giving a seance at Notting Hill, and was 

speaking under control in what I was told was H ebrew, when he 

suddenly turned up his shirt sleeves, went to the large open 

grate, took out two large pieces of red-hot coal with his bare 

hands, and walked across to me holding the red-hot coal against 

his face. When he reached me he remarked in English, 'Now, 

wouldn't Tommy Child &1Y the devil was here 1' 

That remark astonished me almost more than the fire test, 

as that very afternoon I had ])een vi.si.ti.ng a well-known Sweden- : 

borgian minister, the Rev. Thomas Child, who in the r.ourse of 

our conversation regarding Spiritualism remarked, 'It's trite 

enough, but it mainly comes from below.' Hopcroft could not 

possibly have known of this remark of Mr. Child's, and I had 

not spoken of it either to him or to any members of the circle, 

who were strangers. 

The heat of the burning coal that he held was scorching a 

couple of feet away, but neither his hands nor face were lmrnt. 

Hopcroft's control, ' Vina Green,' also told me of a conversa· 

tion thn.t I had with my wife on our way to Notting Hill to the 

seance. He was a most remarkable medium. 

J. B. A S'.1.'BURY. 

Deptford. 

THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS.* 

This is an interesting little work dealing with an ont-of-the· 

way snbj ect. It will come as a surprise, perhaps, to many to 

learn that there was much that was occult and mystical connected 

with the Order. While the self-denial, chivalry, and farreaching 

activities of the Templars have been folly recorded, 

history has had little to say of their beliefs, secret ceremonials, 

and strange initiations. From what has come down to us it is 

Lo be inferred that the Order was the conservator of a secret knowledge 

which was being continually added to, and that in some ' 

obscure way there was a connection between the Templars and . 

the Freemasons. 

'l'he aim of the anthor has been to disentangle fact from 

fiction ; he presents that which in bis opinion is the true interpretation 

of some of the strange ceremonies and ritual acts. He 

claims to have. discovered new facts by which the mystery of 

the blasphemous form of oath, hitherto a pnzr.le to historians, is 

unravelled, and which tend to show that what is known as 'the 

trampling on the Cross' is a ceremonial 'step' thal has a Masonic 

parallel. The familiar skull and crossbones, so indissolubly 

associated in our minds with death, is, it is suggested symbolical 

of a new birth or spiritual resurrection. The occurrence of the 

octagon and the number eight in Templar Churche8 is discussed, 

and i·eference made to its use in operative gnilds of to-day. The 

famo us eight-pointed cross associated with the Order is shown to 

be the basis of a certain cypher writing. The cypher itself is 

given and clearly explained by the aid of diagrams. 

The author is master of his subject : he writes clearly 

and well. For the student his work will be of great valne, and 

i t will probably appeal to the ordinary reader as it endows the 

Knights Templars with a romance and significance akin to 

t hat of the mystic communities who, in bygone ages and in 

d ifferent lands, unceasingly sought the Di\'ine Light. 

B. 

· *'The Knights Ternplars,' by A. BOTIIWELL GossE, P.M, &c. (Published 

at the Office of the' Co-Mason,' 13, Blomfield-road, Paddington, 

W, Price 3s. 6d.

March 2, 19.12.] L .J GHT. 101 . 

ANOTHER CASE OF SPIRIT HEALING. 

We published in ' LIGHT' of November 18th last (page 545), 

a remarkable case of supposed spirit healing at Gilliugham- the 

subject being a girl of twenty-four years of age who suffered 

from functional paralysis and bad not been able to leave her 

bed fo r fi ve years. We have now to chronicle a similar and 

perhaps even more remarkable case recorded as having hap· 

pened at Herne Hill on the night of Sunday, February 

18th. Again the subj ect was a young girl- Dorothy Kerin, 

aged twenty-two- and again the sufferer had been bedridden 

fo r five years, but to add to the wonder of her 

cure she had not only of late been blind and deaf, from both of 

which calamities she has recovered, but on the Saturday night 

it was supposed that she was in the last stages of consumption 

(pulmonary tuberculosis) and could not live more than a day or 

two at the most, her medical attendant (so it was reported) having 

given up hope. Interviewed late on the night of the 20th by a 

' Daily News ' representative, Mrs. Newark, a near neighbour of 

the Kerins, gave the following account of the cure :- 

At eight o'clock on Sunday night Dorothy was lying as if 

dead. Suddenly she extended her arms as if raising them to 

heaven, and then she lay back with a deep sigh. I went home 

and told my husband she was dying. I returned at 9.45. She 

was lying with her hands crossed on her breast as if dead. She 

wa.s not breathing. Her mother told me she had held a lookinggla.ss 

before the girl's mouth, and found no signs of breathing. 

Suddenly the girl p ut out her arms again and turned as if 

listening. She said, 'Yes, yes.' Then she fell back, turned her 

head, and closed her eyes. Nex t she opened her eyes, looked 

round, and knew us all. She said, 'I want to get up and walk.' 

We tolcj. her she could not. She said the angels had said to 

hei» 'Dorothy, your sufferings are over. Get up and walk.' 

Thim she added, 'I must get up.' 

I then said : 'Let her get up ; let her have her dressing 

gown.' I said, ' Let her see what she can do,' and I quite 

thought she would fall down. Instead, she threw off the bedclothes, 

got out of bed, and walked across the room, holding her 

right hand in the air. ' I am following the light,' she said. 

Walking into the kitchen, she saw her father, and, with a 

cry of delight, rushed forward and threw her arms round his neck. 

Mrs. Newark added : ' I have just left her (it was then 

11. 30 p.m.). We have had a mission in this parish for ten days. 

It ended last Tuesday, and everyone has been hoping that God 

would show us that prayer was answered.' 

On the following night, February 21st, the newspaper repre· 

sentative called and saw the girl, who assured him that she wag 

'very well, thank you '- though it was the first time she had 

been able to say so truthfully for fiv e years- and that she had 

been reading and chatting to everybody all day. She added 

that she had eaten heartily, and that she had taken no medicine, 

as the doctors said she would mend without it. Her doctor, she 

also stated, had ordered a complete change, and she was going 

for a short holiday to Margate. 

Dr. L. Forbes Winslow, speaking on the 21st, referred to 

Mi s~ Kerin's reco very. He said that in cases of paralysis, stammerrng, 

and deafness, the mind exercised a most powerful influence 

over the body, and he had known of most wonderful results 

from suggestion, either by a second person, or by the pati ent himself. 

He regretted that pioneers in mind-healing seemed to be 

looked on with suspicion and incredulity by members of the 

medical profession, who seemed content to 'get along with jalap.' 

Fortunately, Am erican and French physicians paid considerable 

attention to the subject, and he hoped that the day was near when 

its· adequate study would be au integral part of the cmricula 

in all British medical schools, to the immense benefit of thousands 

of sufferers. 

. IN ' LIGHT' of February 10th we recorded the 'passing' 

of Dr. Abraham Colles. We have now received a letter from 

Mrs. Colles, in wl1ich, after expressing her sincere appreciation 

of the sympathy extended to her and her sister, Miss H. A. 

Dallas, .in their bereavement, she writes : ' My husband had experience 

of nearly every form of Spiritualistic phenomena in his 

fi rst earnestly-pursued inquiries, and was convinced of the value 

of each and all, if only the spirit in which they are received 

be that of the single eye desiring truLh. Like h im, I owe a great 

debt to the knowledge gaine l through om acquaintance with 

Spiritualislll-a knowledge which transformed fo r us ]10th the 

experience of life and changed the incident called "Death " into 

a higher step-:most desiral le when this life's work is done, come 

how or where it may.' 

MR. LABOUCHERE~ GHOST STOR~ 

'Truth ' for February 14th contained a good ghost story related 

a few years ago by Mr. Labouchere. He said that some 

forty years ago he leased a small bachelor house in Bolton-street 

from the representatives of a man who had cut his throat in the 

drawing-room. On the ground floor there was a dining-room, 

in which Mr. Labouchere usually sat, and on the first floor 

were two drawing rooms. On the second floor he slept, and on 

the third floor were the rooms of a French valet and two 

maids. One night late, while he was sitting in the dining-room 

about hvo a.m., he heard a noise which sounded as if all the 

plates and pots and pans were being thrown about in thekitchen 

below. As the noise went on, he descended, with a candle in 

one hand and a hot poker in the other, to see what was happen, 

ing, As he approached the kitchen the noise suddenly stopped, 

and when he entered it there was not a sign of anything having 

been moved. He went into the scullery but there was no one 

there. He then returned to the dining-room, and in half an 

ham or so went up to bed. The same thing occurred frequently. 

But this was not all. When sitting late in the dining-room 

with the door open he often heard what sounded exactly like a 

man coming up from the kitchen, walking across the .hall, and 

then going up the stairs to the upper fl oors. He could hear 

every one of the steps distinctly, and the staircase creaking 

under them. 

On the first occasion he supposed that it wa.s the valet, but 

the next time he went outside, and the steps seemed to pause ; but 

he saw rio one. On his return into the room they continued as 

though someone was ascending to the upper part of the house. 

This must have happened twenty times. One clay he asked the 

valet whether he was in the habit of coming in late. He replied 

: ' I suppose that you have heard the foo tsteps.' On 

'Lab by ' asking what he meant, he said, 'We ·all hear the steps ; 

they come up to our floor and then stop. The maids say that it is 

the man who cut his Lhroat, but I do not believe in such nonsense.' 

Nor did Mr. Labouchere. But their belief or disbelief 

neither alters nor explains the facts, and it is the explanation 

of such experiences that thinkers are seeking. 

BISHOP WELLDON ON SPIRITUALISM. 

The 'Manchester Evening Chronicle,' of Febrnary 23rd, 

contained a report of an address on 'Spiritualism ' by Bishop 

\Velldon, which shows that the Bishop has much to learn regarding 

his subject. However, he was open-minded; and although 

he said that ' he imagined that a certain amount of prejudice 

existed in Christian minds against the unattractiYe for ms of 

Spiritualism, such as the seance with its indispensable condition 

of darkness,' he admitted that 'Spiritualism, unlike seculari5m 1 

had got hold of the right end of the stick. True, it might make 

a sorry mess of the stick, but it had got the right encl, because it 

believed in the spiritual nature of man.' That is quite true, but 

he ought to know that it is only in a certain class of sean·ces that 

darkness is deemed necessary, and that even then it is not 'indispensable.' 

Again, he said that' Spiritualism sought only to remedy 

sickness, and took no account of sin.' \Ve wonder where, or ho";• 

he got that idea- it certainly is not true of Spiritualism as we 

understand it. vVe cordially agree with the good Bishop's stateme11t 

that 'it was the spirit of man in its relation to the spii·it 

of God which was the truth of his divine affinity. It was not in 

ceremony and ritual, but it was in the intimacy of the. spirit of 

Goel with the spirit of man that true religion consisted. He had 

not the least doubt in his own conscience that spiritually. 

minded men had enj oyed, and did to-day enjoy, a personal consciousness 

of God which was denied to persons of less exalted 

spirituality.' 

CROYDON.- \Ve learn with much regret that Mr. IV. R. 

Moores, the'ahl e and kindly president of the Croydon Spiritualist 

Society, is compelled by pressure of lmsiness to relinquish the 

posiLion which he has so successfully fill ed fo r a num ber of years. 

\Ve trnst that his retirement is only ternporary, and that in the 

meantime his successor, Mr. P. Scholey, will 1neet with the 

united support of the members.

102 LlGHT, [March 2, 1912. 

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LONDON, W.C. 

8ATURDAY, MARCH 2ND, 1912. 

1Eight: 


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THE PROBLEM OF PROPERTY. 

'l'here has undoubtedly been much insincere sentiment 

uttered on the subject of the advantages of poverty and 

the undesirability of wealth. Charles Lamb, we remember, 

made some caustic allusions to the type of mind which 

affected to despise land as being merely 'dirt,' and 

denounced an aphorism often in the mouths of this class 

of thinkers as a 'vile, cold scrag of mutton sophism.' 

And that sturdy old master of British commonsense, Dr. 

Johnson, was equally emphatic on the subject: 'Sir, all the 

arguments which are brought to represent poverty as no 

evil, show it to be evidently a very great evil. You never 

find people labouring to convince you that you may live 

very happily upon a plentiful fortune.' 

And yet, but a short time since, a City man who has 

amassed a colossal fortune confessed in a Press interview 

that wealth was far from being the blessing it was popularly 

supposed to be. Another famous millionaire is never so 

eloquent as when pointing the same moral, while it is 

almost a commonplace that the most lighthearted and 

cheerful souls are found amongst the classes who possess 

little or nothing. 

We were led into these reflections by a desire to arrive 

at some conclusion regarding the place and meaning of 

property from the standpoint of spiritual life-to consider· 

it, ·in short, in the light of Spiritualism. For in these unquiet 

days when the 'roaring loom ' of Time is weaving so 

many strange and perplexing patterns in the fabric of 

existence, many things that we once accepted as the 

normal conditions of life are being brought np for review. 

We are hearing much of the 'propertied' and 'propertyless' 

classes, and our philosophy, while concerned with 

mankind in the world beyond, is no less related to the condition 

of the soul in the flesh . 

vVe have been told that the desire to possess is one of 

the most ineradicable instincts of the human spirit. It is 

quite true, and certainly we have no desire to try and 

eradic:ite it. But to possess what~ 'Property,' is the 

reply, and here again we have no quarrel with the sentiment. 

·Every instinct of the soul is in essence divine-it 

is only in extremes or inYersions that we find our so-called 

'evils.' The ascetic, the religious mendicant, the devotee 

who resigns himself to a condition of abject poverty as an 

exercise of piety, is almost as little to our taste as the 

strenuous man of the world who heaps up riches and fares 

sumptuously every day. 

In a book, which was immemely popular some years 

ago, there is ti humorous account of the adventures of two 

small boys who arc committed to the charge of an in~u~gent 

uncle. The urchins are one day desired, as a prehmmary 

to a shopping expedition, to give a list of the toys they 

would like to possess. The elder boy promptly responds 

with a long catalogue of the gifts he desires, but the 

younger one is strangely modest in his ambitions. ~ll he 

asks is a chocolate cigar, for, as he naively explams, he 

doesn't want to be bothered with a lot of things ! 

There is a parable in the anecdote, but it is a parable 

with more than one moral. To take the less obvious side 

of it there is a self-abnegation that has its roots in feebleness' 

of soul. A good deal of what passes as altruism 

is mere lethargy. ·when the Stoic philosopher moves 

amongst men, reasoning and teaching, we can admire him, and 

honour the spirit that makes him content with his poverty. 

But when he begins to brag about it, and to explain that 

being poor he has nothing to lose, and so is free from the 

troubles and anxieties of the rich, we feel that he is not 

such an admirable figure after all. It is not really so 

heroic to renounce wealth merely out of a desire not to be 

'bothered with a lot of things.' The man who by patience 

and work has accumulated riches has this measure of justification 

: He has been expressing energy-the forces of his 

soul may have been misdirected, but they were there. 

And the same may be said of the man who, inheriting 

wealth, exerts himself to maintain and consolidate it, and 

to amass more. 

Property, then, is not without its place and purpose. 

It is an expression of the soul-on a low plane to be sure, 

liable to abuse and not without its dangers, but, none the 

less, an attribute that is not deserving of all the condemnation 

poured out upon it. For we are to remember that we are 

living in times of transition. The conditions i.n which the 

soul can express itself truly and naturally have not yet 

arrived. When that time arrives man's greatest personal 

possession will be himself, with all hi·s endless possibilities 

of happiness and spiritual achievement. To-day, as 11. 

recent writer sadly remarked, a man bas not time to 

possess his soul. Nor, we may add, has he the power truly 

to possess his material wealth. For there is something 

elusive about that form of riches, since the time never 

arrives when the gold-seeker feels that he can sit down in 

quiet and enjoy them. Before that period comes the 

'beckoning finger' is thrust gauntly out of the darkness, 

and we read shortly afterwards in our daily paper that 

Mr. - ' left' so many thousands of pounds. And that 

is the tragedy of it. He ' left' a fortune, without any 

well-grounded assurance of finding another where he has 

gone! 

So all this fret and anxiety about property, this iucreasing 

sense of the 'deceitfulness of riches '-and there 

is no doubt it is incrcasing-wh

March 2, 1912.] LIGHT. 103 

SPIRITUALISM: A SURVEY OF ITS POSITION, 

ACHIEVEMENTS, AND. POSSIBILITIES. 

BY ANGUS McAR'l'HUR. 

An Address delivered on Thursday, February 22nd, t0 the 

Members and Associates of the London Spiri tualist Alliance, in 

the Salon of the Hoy

104 .LIGHT. [March 2, 1912. 

Again, some few months ago it fell to my lot to address a 

very distinguished public gathering, including many holders of 

high public offices. As there was an opening for such an 

allusion, I asked them to consider for a moment the triple 

personality which was involved in, or represented by, King 

George V. I pointed out that you might contemplate King 

George in his domestic personality, as the grandson of Queen 

Victoria; the son of King Edward VII., the husband of the 

Queen, the father of the Prince of Wales. Yon might regard 

11im, in the second place, from the point of view of his constitutional 

personality, µ,s the pivot of the greatest constitutional 

mechanism in the world. Thirdly, yon might look at his mystic 

aspect as the visHile embodiment of the gigantic Imperial 

Personality which loomed behind him as he sat upon the throne 

in Westminster Abbey, and which is destined to survive in 

beneficent activity long after King George and his people have 

been gathered to their fathers. (Applause.) 

Twenty years ago I would not have dared to say such things 

to such an auclienee. On this occasion not only did I dare, but 

the suggestions found the most cordial and enthusiastic reception. 

I was pulled up in the middle of them by an outburst of 

applause ; and at the end of the function quite a number of 

people, including the rector of a well-known church, came up to 

me and made enthusiastically appreciative references to the 

psychic clement of the speech. That was what they wanted, said 

one. These are significant episodes regarded from the point of 

view of this movement. 

. Let me interpose a more personal example from my own 

experiences-those of a busy man who sees a great deal of his 

fellow men in all ranks of life. Some eighteen months ago, I 

was one of a large number of passengers on a great Atlantic 

liner, chatting with my fellow-passengers on the promenade deck, 

as the· custom is. One of them was an American lawyer in 

large practice-a man with a jaw like a rat-trap and a face 

marked in every line by the impress of a powerful individuality 

and a wide knowledge of men and things. vVe took our constitutional 

together before dinner, and, being both lawyers, 

foµnd many topics of common interest. In some way or another 

I know not exactly how-the subject cropped up. I said a few 

words, indicating my interest in it and the fact that I had devoted 

a good deal of time and laLour to research and observation. My 

friend professed himself personally ignorant of the science. He 

had, however, heard much about it, among the hard-headed men 

with whom he came in contact. There had, moreover, been one or 

two episodes in his profernional career which he could not 

account for, save upon some such hypothesis as psychic inquirers 

ha.cl suggested to him. And then he told me a story of incidents 

that hacl come within bis own cognisance as a partner in a legal 

fir;n. To him the incidents, though undoubtedly true, were 

inexplicable. To me, and to you, they will present no diffi.Clllty. 

He said that his partner had seriously warned a certain client 

against his association with a lady of sinister reputation. 'rhe 

recipient of the warning laughed it off. Some time afterwards the 

lawyer went away on a journey which took him a thousand miles 

from home. He was awakened early next morning by someone in 

his bedroom, and to his amazement he saw his client, pale and 

distressed, standing at Lhe foot of his ]Jed. ' What on earth are 

yon doing here?' he said, getting up in amazement. 'By G-, 

she's done me as you said !' was the reply. 'l.'he lawyer leaped 

from his bed, only to find that his visitor was gone. At the 

hotel office they denied that any such person as the visitor was in 

the hotel. Quite nonplussed, the lawyer telegraphed to his partner, 

'What is B- doing clown hern? Wire reply.' The reply, received 

within an hour or two, was that B- had been found done to 

death in the 11ouse which he had been warned against visiting. 

This is a remarkable story to be told, with a foll conviction uf 

its truth, by a man of the world. It shows how widespread is the 

vogue of the phenomena we study, and how different is the 

p ulJlic attitude towards them from what it used to Le. (Applause. ) 

(To be continued.) 

To meet the wishes of many friends the address recently 

delivered to the London Spiritualist Alliance by Mr. K W. 

Wallis, on 'Interesting Incidents during Forty Years of .Mediumsh.ip,' 

has now been issued in pamphlet form, with ~ tiff paper 

cover, at 3d., and can be obtained from the Office of ' LIGH'l',' 

post free, for 3!d. 

HOW THE IMPOSSIBLE BECOMES POSSIBLE. 

When our friends come to us early in the New Yeat', lamenting 

their broken resolutions and their own powerlessness to 

fight against the dominance of habit, we cannot do better than 

remind them how bravely in times past they did things which 

they once honestly thought were equally impossible for them. 

Above all, we mnst tell them, what Lhey already know but have 

for the moment forgotten, that the thing which they cannot do 

to-day they may do to-morrow, but never in their own strength. 

We can never win through except by some subtle spiritual 

change in ourselves which is equivalent to a new birth. The 

pessimistic verdict which in any moral crisis we pass upon onr 

own incapacity is no lie. On the contrary, it is emphatically 

true; of ourselves we cannot do the thing we wish to do. If 

we could do it we should have done it. That we tried 

and have failed to do it is proof positive that the thing is 

beyond the capacity of the self which is at present in us. That 

se1f is caught in the bonds of habit and can only free itself from 

this bondage by reaching out to the unseen spirit world and by 

appropriating to the limit of its faith the help it needs in order 

to win through in the present struggle. And it is only after 

this fresh influx of spirit has taken place and a new self has 

been created in us that the impossible thing becomes possible. 

Thus, as the poets and the mystics of all ages have seen and 

taught, the spiritual and moral life is a succession of re-births, 

whereby we are raised on 'stepping stones of our dead sel ves to 

higher things.' And we cannot remind ourselves or our friends 

too often of this important truth ; for not to live constantly 

with th.is before our minds is to miss all the joy and inspiration 

and meaning of life.-HESTA Cow AN in 'Health ward Ho ! ' 

'AND GOD SAW THAT IT WAS GOOD.' 

That deep thought and spiritual insight are not the special 

products of our modern civilisation is evident from Mr. A. 

Wilkinson's interesting review, in the Febl'llary 'Theosophist,' 

of the works of that old-time mystic who wrote under the name 

of Dionysius, the Greek convert of St. Paul, but who, we are told, 

was probably a Neo-platonic Christian of the school of Proclns, 

who taught in Athens up to his death in 485 A.D. In his longest 

treatise Dionysius teaches that all light, all love, all beauty 

streams forth from the Godhead, as from centre to circumference ; 

' all Lelow the One partake of these Di vine glories in the measure 

of their capacity ; through all they stream on. Everything veils 

and yet manifests ; nothing is veil only.' 'In the Dionysian 

philosophy there is not room for evil as a positive thing ; it is 

privation, a lacking of the good. It is a product of our 

ignorance. J nst as when a body is wholly diseased it is already 

dead, so a wholly evil thing cannot be, it subsists only by virtue of 

having something of the good in it. The good is its point d'appui, 

its reality indeed. Even the demons are not evil by nature. 

That which is the true nature of a being is wholly good; evil 

comes from a misdirection of its power, an ignorance. The 

mystics saw the perfect goodness at the heart. of all things, and of 

our essential nature. To Dionysius the whole universe blossoms 

forth like a wondrous divine flower; everything is as. natural as 

the lJlooming of a flower. The real fact of just that simple thing 

is, indeed, the same fact as the unfolding of the Di1rine purpose 

in the world. And the blossoming of the flower is the perfect 

symbol of it, one of the end-points of the ray of Di vine manifestation. 

Retrnce the ray, and you find aL the centre God-as 

purpose, beauty, life. Even the consummation of the mystic 

life, the divine union, is but an individual intensification of the 

aspiration of the spirit in all things towards the One.' 

KEN'rISH TowN.-A lady who resides at Kentish Town is 

desirous of joining a private circle, or of meeting with several 

persons who will help to form a new circle. Letters may be 

addressed to L. B., c.o. 'LIGHT,' llO, St. Martin's-lane, Yv.C. 

A LONG and impartial review:of Vice-Admiral Moore's work, 

'Glimpses of the Next State,' which appeared in the 'Portsmouth 

'l.'imes' of .February 24th, should prompt its readers to 

study tl:ie Admiral's book for themselves.

LIGHT. 105 

UNION WITH DIVINITY IN LOVE. 

AN 

EXTRAORDINARY SCENE. 

In her recently issued work entitled 'The Coping Stone' 

(Greening and Co. , London, cloth, 3s. 6d.) Miss E. Katharine 

Bates gives us, in her hundred and twenty-six pages, a book that 

is full of suggestive and thought-awaking ideas on a great many 

subjects-all, however, being directly related to life, and indirectly 

to psychical problems. Miss Bates finds in modern 

restlessness and modern materialism, in the whirl and crash of 

things, with the 'nerve strain ' and 'brain worry' of which we 

read so much, the symptoms and effects of a new disease. The 

remedy she thinks will be found 'in some new spiral in Evolution 

for which the Forces and Intelligences may have been working 

for centuries.' Pre-natal influences, marriage, hypnotic influence 

in marriage, enlightened motherhood, true, pure love, social 

problems, evil, Free-Will, Christian Science, &c., come in for 

free tret1.tmen.t, and many critical and suggestive opinions are 

enunciated, as for instance, when we read that 'neither 

Theosophy nor Spiritualism can claim to be a perfect panacea 

for the world's unrest although much of interest belongs to both 

sects. · The followers of each profess to be cibsoliitely contented 

and satisfied with their studies and their speculations as to some 

future developments on these lines.' (Italics ours). And again : 

' The Psychic Realm is still the transitory realm, and 

can afford much of interest, but nothing that will fe ecl the 

Eterncil Soul in us.' (Italics not ours.) Speaking of the 

Higher Self, Miss Bates holds that 'All kinds of latent possibilities 

lie just under the threshold. of each one of us.' Referring 

to ' the Birth of the Christ in us (in ·our normal consciousness),' 

she says that it seems that 'something in the nature of a shock is 

often necessary to break the last chains of captivity and set the 

captive free.' She relates two striking experiences of spiritual 

illumination, or of what may be termed her awakening to cosmic 

consciousness, which correspond with those recorded by Dr. 

Bucke in his remarkable work on the subject. Our author 

says : 'It was a moment of the deepest humiliation I have ever 

experienced. I cannot conceive anything in the nature of 

Spiritual J oy or Ecstasy that could have given me at the time, or 

preserved for me ever since, such an absolute conviction of the 

'fr nth of this wonderful Epiphany.' 'The most vital part of 

the experience was that I had got to some region where there 

were .no more creeds, or beliefs, or opinions, into some space of P nre 

Knowledge. I KNEW-SAW-that in the very essence of Being 

there coitld be no other solntion and no other Somce and Origin 

ancl Ultimate than Love. It was absolutely reasonable-finalunq 

nestionable-and it coiilcl not conceivcibly hcive been anything 

else.' 

It would seem.that Miss Bates ·has adopted the idea of ' the one 

true Affinity, not as a sentimental Ideai bi1t as a beautiful Fact.' 

While some persons have dwelt on the sentimental and blissful 

aspect of the finding of the true Affinity, Miss Bates regards it as 

one of the hardest and most painful tasks given to man or 

woman, and quotes an old mystical saying that 'Twin souls 

must neYer marry.' Apparently, the sense of union with 

Divinity, the birth of the Christ in us, the awaking to conscions 

unity of true affinities, united in cosmic harmony with 

Divine Love and Wisdom, is to be the next spiral of human 

evolntion symbolically represented by Miss Bates as the copingstone 

to the bnilning of the Temple of the Divine Humanity. 

The whole book is a challenge to thinkers and is an able 

presentation of eamest thought on matters of vital interest. 

W.F.L. 

We have been favoured with a copy of the February issue 

of ' The Lotus Journal, a monthly magazine on Theosophical 

lines for children and young people,' and in it \Ve notice a 

report of' A Momentous Incident' of an extraordinary character 

that occnrred at the Annnal Convention of the Theosoph ical 

Society at Benares, in connection with the Order of the Star of 

the East. Arrangements were made· for the certificates of 

membership to be presented to the members by the head of the 

Order, the Hindu youth, 'Alcyone.' The members of the Order 

were to file past in a line, handing their certificates to Mr. 

Telany, who, after reading out the name, handed each certificate 

to 'Alcyone,' who stood in front of Mrs. Besant and Mr. Leadbeater, 

and who retmned it to the owner. Two or three members 

took their certificates with a bow and a smile, and then, 

Mr. Leadbeater says, ' the hall was filled with a tremendons 

power, which was so evidently flowing throngh "Alcyone" that 

the next member fell at his feet, overwhelmed by this marvellous 

rush of force. The tension was enormons, and 

everyone in the room was most powerfully affected. After 

that each one prostrated himself as his tnrn came, many of 

them with tears pouring down their cheeks. those who 

had no certificates with them tore off their Star badges and 

handed them in.' ' Alcyone' stood ' all the time with perfect 

grace and self-possession, smiling gently npon them, and holding 

out his hands in benediction over each prostrate form in turn.' 

THE HEAVEN OF REST. 

A correspondent suggests that we shonld pnblish the following 

lines in ' LIGHT.' They appeared in our colnmns about ten 

years ago but will bear reproduction now :- 

There was a poor woman who always was tired, 

For she lived in a house where help wasn't hired ; 

Her last words on earth were, ' Dear friends, I am going 

Where washing ain't done, nor sweeping, nor sewing ; 

But everything there is exact to my wishes, 

For where they don't eat there's no washing of dishes. 

I'll be where loud anthems will always be ringing, 

But having no voice I'll be clear of the singing. 

Don't mourn for me now, don't mourn for me never; 

· I'm going to do nothing, for ever and ever ! ' 

Of conrse it is a mistake to snppose that there will be nothing 

to do hereafter, yet one can understand, and sympathise with, 

the feeling expressed by the poor over-wrought and worn-ont ,, 

domestic drudge whose only prospect of rest and peace is in the 

after-death world. Alas, there are sadly too many, both men 

and women, to whom this life is little better than a never-ending 

toilsome struggle, and who will welcome death as a w·ay out 

from their hopeless misery. No wonder that so many of them look 

forward to the sleep from which there is no awakening, or else 

to the glorious luxnry in the next state of that restful idleness 

which stands to them for heaven. A healthier life here, in 

which all men and women will work to live, and not merely live 

to work, will lead to a recognition of the fact that a change of 

occupation is the truest rest and that life over there is full of 

holy uses, of entrancing interests and abundant opportunities 

for activities and employments which will give tone, strength, 

variety and beanty to the awakened and progressive spirit. No 

truly healthy and sane man or woman can long be idle. Life 

and love ~ean activity and service both here and hereafter. 

I LIGHT .: I TRIAL . SUBSCRIPTION. 

As an inducement to new and casual readers to become 

snbscribers, we will supply ' LIGHT ' for thirteen weeks, post free, 

for 2s., as a ' trial' subscription, feeling assured that at the 

termination of that period they will find that they ' cannot do 

without it,' and will then subscribe at the usual rates. May we 

at the same time suggest to those of our regular readers who 

have friends to whom they would like to. introdnce the paper, 

that they shonld avail themselves of this offer, and forward to 

us the names and addresses of such fri ends, upon receipt of 

which, together with the requisite postal order, we shall be 

.Pleased to send ' LIGH'r ' to them by post, as stated above 1 

HEALING AT MANOR PARK.-On Sunday mornings at the 

Manor Park Spiritnal Church, Shrewsbury-road, spiritL1al healing 

services have been going on for the past sixty weeks, and the 

tetitimonies of the many sufferers who have received benefit are 

very interesting. The 2ervice is opened with song and praise, a 

reading and dissertation on the subject, then (a special featnre) · 

concentration for absent treatment, after which magnetic healing 

is given to the patients present-a circle being formed, and soft 

voluntaries played on the organ while the treatments are given 

-the proceedings closing with a hymn and a benediction. Any 

reader who is interested in this phase of practical Spiritualism 

for the welfare of suffering humanity will be heartily welcomed, 

-THos BROOKS (president), G. F. TILBY (vice-president).


· ITEMS OF INTEREST. 

We understand that the interesting article by the Rev. C. L. 

Tweedale on 'Dean Inge and St. Paul ' which appeared in 

, L 

IGHT 

'l 

ast week, 

. 

was offered by him to 

, 

several Church papers 

and refused by them. Eviden tly there is still much need of 

effort to illuminate the minds of leading men in the churches 

judging from Mr. Tweedale's experience and that of ' L. V. H'. 

"\td qni te enough of it after a mere seve1t ty 

years of existen t:e 1' 

. . Here is a little bit of homely wisdom from a homely 

v1s1tant from the other side to her medium who was recovering 

from a fit of the 'blues ' : 'Keep on ~hirping and you'll 

make other birds sing, and that's worth while if nothing else 

ain't. But. the thing is, it's all worth while ; only we don't 

always see 1t that way.' 

. Yesterday at Messrs. Puttick and Simpson's sale rooms, 

Leicester-square, a number of a utograph letters by Elizabeth 

Barrett Browning were to be sold. In one of these Mrs. Browning 

wrote : 'I hear that Victor Hugo and all his family have 

gone O\'er to the spirits to a fanatical point.' In another 8he 

said :· 'Hume [Home] the medium is there (Paris) with reco 

v e ~·e d powers, eclipsing the Per8ian '.Ambassador and astonishing 

Loms Napoleon.' In a letter, written apparently after Robert 

Browning's ontbreak against Spiritualism, Mrs. Browning 

pathetically Wl'Ote : 'As to the'' spirits," I will say that a good 

deal has happened that gave me at the time much pain. Meanwhile 

you will not (for dear love to me) refer to anythina I have 

sai_d on the subject. "Spirits" are tabooed in this house, I 

never could understand why we should not all consent to tolerate 

the differing opinions of one another.' Puor Mrs. Browning ! 

She was 'bound,' and 'must not' tell her friend Mrs. Jameson 

certain things, but she wrote : 'The highest manifestations of 

~piritu al influence are possilJle. This by my love of the truth 

in all simplicity and you know I am not fanatical. As sme as 

we live we shall live, my beloved friend, and I could prove this 

to you, and I hop a I shall be free to speak one day.' Poor 

fettered soul ! 

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 

The E ditor is not responsible for the opinions expressed by correspondents, 

and sometilrMs publishes what he does not agree with for 

the purpose of presenting views which may elicit discussion. 

Author Found. 

Sm,- Replying to the request for the name of the author of 

'There is so much bad in the best of us,' &c., on page 23 of 

'LIGH'l',' I am pleased to inforn1 'Verax.' that Mr. I. F. Madlem 

wrote these lines. I gave him a copy of 'LIGHT' in the early 

autumn lJefore we left Doe Bay, Washington, U.S.A., where be 

now resides, and believe he has since become a sulBcriber to yolll' 

paper. I h ave written to him to call his attention to the query 

regarding the verse and to ask Jiim for.'particulars of the circumstances 

connected with its composition. 

My husband and I also wish to congratulate you on the improvement 

in your valued paper, by the wiring and cutting of 

the leaves. With all good wishes for its continued growth and 

prosperity.- Yours, &c., 

C A.THERINE RODNEY-RUSSELL. 

West vale, Newman, Califomia. 

Good Work at Johannesburg, South Africa. 

Sm,- 8ince May, 1911, Mrs. :Minnie Nordica has been conducting 

a mission in Johannesburg. Previous to that she was 

with the Durban Mission for nine months, and visited Maritzlmrg, 

Ladysmith, Harrismith, Fordsburg and Pretoria. She 

was engaged by Mr. "Walter Knox and brought from N ew 

Zealand for this purpose. Mrs. Nordica followed Mrs. Elmore 

(better known in England as Mrs. L. F. Prior), and these two 

mediums, who work from the higher plane of thought, have 

raised the 'standard of Spiritualism considerably, not only in 

J ohannesburg, but wherever they have laboured. 

Mrs. N ordica has given wonderful soul-inspiring trance lectnres, 

and once a month she has invited the .congregation to 

cl10ose the subj ect, dealing with such subjects as fully and scientifically 

as with those of her own choice. She is normally 

clairvoyant, also clairaudient, and reads the aura surrounding 

individuals with great accuracy. She is the first mediuru of 

this order who has visited Johannesburg, and the people here 

have thoroughly appreciate;,d her wonderful gifts. At her Wednesday 

meetings she usually gives seventeen delineations, 

which are invariably acknowledged correct. 

The J ohannesburg Mission is conducted on business lines, 

and has duly appointed ofJicers who intend carrying on the 

work so as to obtain the greatest amount of good, in conj unction 

wiLh that grand pioneer worker of Natal, Mr. Walter Knox, 

and to show South Africans, and oi;hers, that Spiritualism is a 

science, a philosophy, and the religion of life. Mrs. Nordica's 

husband is here with her, and as a magnetic healer has performed 

some wonderful spinal and othercures.- Yours, &c., 

R ICH.A.RD QUANCE, 

H011. Sec.


The Devil and His Angels, 

Srn,- The various' Items oE Interest ' in' LIGH'l' ' oE Febrnary 

24th suggest the following : How is it tliat the devil and his 

angels are abroad persouati.ng thousa11ds of the deceased, a.ttending 

all the seances, deluding the dying, &c., instead of being shilt 

up in the place prepared for them? Also, who is deputy stoker? 

A little girl whose father was a coal merchant was told stories at 

the Sunday school about Satan and his big fire. She replied, 'I 

wish he would give my father an order.' 

If people would only get rid of the sensational idea of suffering 

! Personally, I regard it as blasphemons to imagine that a 

wise and omnipotent Being would permit a degraded spirit to 

masquerade as au 'angel of light.' I regard the mere permission 

as diabolical and \ltter1y repudiate the licence granted 11im in 

the Book of Job. We need to try :i.nd disperse that false notion 

of a personal devil and place Spiritualism on legitimate ground 

(God's acre).-Yours, &c., 

E. P. PREN'J'ICE. 

A Reply to 'An Inquirer.' 

Sm,- If S. W. Gibson (p. 84) will persevere he will ul timately 

get his heart's desire. 

One member of our little private circle was in much the 

same case for a Jo::ig time, and often we were tempted to wonder 

whether he really had any friends 'over there.' vVe were 

soon to disco\·er that he had (indeed, who h as not ?). One 

night-ever afterwards known as 'his night '-as we were 

sitting at the table, they came in numbers. Never since has he 

been without visits from some of them, the band ranging in 

age from a wee sister, who passed on when eight years old, to 

llis great grandparents, whose identity has been proven by 

family records unknown to the medium or himself. 

If our American friend will try the humble table (it was a 

table that made Hydesville famous) he may find it available for 

some visitants who possibly do not know the science of control 

but are able (as I believe, from experience, is the case iu some 

instances) to use this perhaps more elementary method of communication. 

It may be that they are still Methodists and methodical. We 

have had friends who, orthodox in their beliefs when in the 

body, were orthodox still after leaving and who, unconscious of 

inconsistency, took control to censure us se verely for our e1·il 

practices, afterwards returning to bless us for the truth we had 

been ena))led to convey to their hungry souls. Here, perhaps, 

is work for friend Gibson. Let him keep his lamp trimmed 

and burning, and persevere, and when the light dawns upon 

those who may themselves be in perplexity and doubt, they 

will, I trust, soon be able to let him know directly or indirectly 

(the latter is often the case) that, though the hand may hnse 

vanished, the voice has not been stilled.- Yoms, &c., 

' Y OSEl' ASHUR.' 

Where did the Money come from? 

Srn,-One sometimes hears and reads of those who have 

' passed on ' returning to earth and bringing sums of money to 

persons on this side who are in sore need. Just lately I have 

read of an instance of this. A Cannelite nun in Italy related 

that on the night-of January 16th, 1910, she was lying in bed 

'in great suffering and also much worried about certain grave 

difficulties.' She said :- 

'Three o'clock had struck, and almost worn out I raised 

myself somewhat in the bed in order to breathe more easily. 

Then I fell asleep, and in a dream, it would seem. to me, I felt 

a hand touch me, and,. drawing the bed-clothes about my face, 

co1·er me up tenderly. I thought one of the Sisters had come in 

to perform this act of charity, and without opening my eyes I 

said to her, "Leave me alone, for I am all in a perspiration, and 

this movement is causing a draught.'' Then a sweet voice which 

I had never heard before replied, "No, it is a good act I am doing. 

Listen ! The good God makes use of the inhabitants of H eaven, 

as well as of those of earth, in order to assist His servants. Here 

are 500 francs with which you will pay the debt of your community.'' 

Suddenly I found myself outside of my cell in the 

company of a young Carmelite nun, whose veil and robes shone 

with a brightness from Paradise, that served to light up our way. 

She led me downstairs to the parlour and made me open a wooden 

box wherein was enclosed the bill which had to be paid. There 

I deposited the 500 francs. I awoke, and in spite of my exhaustion, 

I rose and went to choir. The Sisters noticed that something 

was wrong, and wished to send for the doctor. To prevent this I 

explained that I was deeply moved by the impression of a dream, 

and in all simplicity I told them my story. They urged me to 

examine the box. I answered, however, that we must not believe 

in dreams. Finally, as they insisted, I did as they desired. I 

went to the parlour, opened the box, and there I found in reality 

the miraculous sum of 500 francs !' 

· Now, as ·son1e of these stories seem to be perfectly well 

a11thenticated, the mystery that I should so 1ike to have 8olved 

is : whence is the money obtained 1 Perhaps some of your 

correspondents can help in the solution. 

I may add that in the little pamphlet from which I have 

taken this story it is stated that when the young Carmelite nnn 

who is said to ha1'e appeared was dying, her sisters in religion remarked 

to h er, 'You will look down on us from Heaven.' 'No,' 

she replied, ' I shall come down ; I will spend my H eaven doing 

good upon ea1·th.'-Yours, &c., K. A. M. C. 

San Remo, F ebruary 10th, 1912. 

'A Question of Evidence.' 

Srn,- Since writing the letter, which you published on page 

71, on 'A Question of Evidence,' I have been reading Dr. 

Bernard Hollander's ' Hypnotism and Suggestion.' He is ·a 

. well-known hypnotist of large experience, but by no 1necin.~ a 

Spfritualist. In the chapter on clairvoyance (see pages 125 and 

126), dealing with unsuccessful .experiments to induce it in the. 

hypnotic state, be says : 'It is very difficult, if not impossible, 

to make satisfactory experiments in the . presence of a sceptical 

audience. Especially is this true if the scepticism is open, 

avowed and aggressive. It is also well known that when a subject 

is in a state of lucid somnau:ibulism no satisfactory results 

can be obtained if anyone disputes or accuses him of shamming 

or want of good faith. The hypnotic subject who is in 

the presence of an openly sceptical audience, and who hears 

someone declare that he is shamming, instantly seizes upon the 

declaration, and it is to him a suggestion that is as potent as 

the one which induced the hypnotic condition.' 

This bears on yom explanation of ' unintended ' fraud, and 

slw uld be a valuable plea for withholding harsh judgment when 

'fraud' is discovered, until all the circumstances are known and 

understood. But deception is hated so much, and rightly so, 

that I think it is excusable to be a little unjust, or harsh, than 

lightly to condone it.-Yonrs, &c., RrcHA.RD A. BusH. 

SOCIETY WORK ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 25th, &c. 

MA.RYLEBONE SPIRITUA.LIST AssocIA.TioN, 51, MORTIMER· 

S'l'REET, W.-Cavendish Rooms.-Mr. Horace Leaf delivered a 

deeply interesting address, followed by well-recognised clairvoyant 

descriptions and helpful messages. Mr. W. T. Cooper 

presided.-15, Mo1·tiiner-street, W.-'-On the 19th ult. Mrs. 

Neville gave successfol psychometric delineations to members abd 

friends. Mr. Leigh Hunt presided. Sunday next, see advt. on 

fro11t page.-D. N. 

CROYDON.-ELMWOOD HA.LL, ELMWOOD-ROA.D, BROA.D-GREEN. 

-Mrs. M. H. Wallis gave an address and answers to questions. 

Sunday next, at 11 .15 a.m., service; at 7 p.m., Mr. G. R. 

Symons, address. 

HA.CKNEY.-240A., A>rnDRST-ROA.D, N.-Mr. F. A. Hawes gave 

an address on 'Mediumship,' and Mrs. Sutton excellent clairvoyant 

descriptions. Monday, March 4th, at 8 p.m., cirCle. 

Tuesday, at 8. 30, astrology class. :U:riday, at ,1l. 30, healing. 

KINGSTON-ON-THA.MES.-ASSEMBLY ROOMS, HA.MPTON WICK. 

- Mr. and Mrs. Imison conducted the service ; crowded audience. 

Surnlay next, at 7 p.m., Mr. J. Kelland, address and clairvoyant· 

descriptions. 

HAMMERSMITH. - 89, CAMBRIDGE-ROA.D. - Mrs. E. 111. 

Walter gave an a


STRATFORD.-WORKMAN'S HALL, 27, ROMFORD-ROAD, E . 

Mr. T. Olman Todd's interesting address on 'Spiritual Power' 

&c., was much appreciated by a large audience. Mr. Geo. F. 

Tilby presiqed. Sunday next, at 7 p.m., Mr. Todd on 'The 

Great Renunciatiou.'-W. H. S. 

CLAPHAM.-HOWARD - STREET, NEW- RbAD.-Mrs. Irwin 

gave an address and clairvoyant descriptions. Sunday next, at 

11..15 a.m., circle; at 7 p.m., Mrs. Mary Davies, address and 

clairvoyance. Monday, at 8, Mrs. Davies psychometry · silver 

collection. Thursday, circle.-F. C. ' _ ' 

PECKHAM.-LAUSANNE HALL, LAUSANNE-ROAD.-Moming, 

a reading by Mr. Stott was discussed ; evenihg, address on ' God 

in Man-Jesus and Christ,' and clairvoyant descriptions, by 

Mrs. Mary Davies. Soloist, Mrs. Howard. Sunday next, 11.30 

a.m. and 7 p.m., Mrs. F . Roberts. March 10th, Mrs. A. Webb. 

Social, March 21st. Tuesday, 8.15, healing. Wednesday, 8.15, 

stndy.-A. 0. S. 

HoLLow.aY.-PARKHURST HALL, 32, PARKHURST-ROAD. 

Morning, address and cl11irvoyant descriptions by Miss 

Venning; evening, address by Mr. G. R. Symons. 21st, Mrs . . 

Mary Davies. 24th, successful social and dance. Sunday next, 

at 11.15, Mr. Hichardson; 7 p.rn., Mrs. A. Jamrach. March 

6th, at 8.15, Mr. W. R. Stebbens. 10th- morning, Mr. W. R. 

Lawson ; evening, Mrs. Alice de Beaurepaire. 

SEVEN KINGS, ILFORD.-45, THE PROMENADE.-Madame 

Beaumont gave an inspiring address on 'Light and Truth' 

and clairvoyant descriptions to a crowded audience. February 

20th, Mrs. Jamrach gave an address and clairvoyant descriptions. 

Sunday next, at 7 p.m., Mrs. A. Hitchcock. Tuesday, 

at 8, Mr. T. Brooks. 10th, Mr. Karl Reynolds. Wednesdays, 

8.30, study class.-C. E. S. . 

STRATFORD. - IDMISTON-ROAD, FOREST-LANE. - Morning, 

Mr. 0. Lock read a paper on 'The Spiritualist Workmate.' 

Evening, Mr. A. Savage gave an address on 'God and the Angel 

World,' and psychometric delineations. Mr. Cattanach sang a 

solo. Sunday next, at 11.30 a.m., Mr. Connor on 'Spiritualism 

in Citizenship''; 7 p.m., Mr. Walker. 7th, Miss Middleton. 

G9od Friday, demonstration in Stratford Town Hall.-A. T. C. 

BRIXTON.-8, MAYALL-ROAD-Mrs. Neville gave an address 

and psychometric readings. On Febrnary 24th Mr. J. Payn 

(president) gaYe an invitation tea lo members and friends, and 

fifty-four guests sat down to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary 

of his wedding-day and the tenth anniversary of the society. 

Mrs. Maunder (vice-president), after a racy little speech, performed 

the pleasing dnty of presenting to the president a double 

gold albert, and to Mrs. Payn a gold brooch, as tokens of esteem 

and of appreciation of their services. Mr. Wooderson, hon. 

treasmer, and l\tJ r. Imison, visitor and personal friend, also 

made appropdate remarks. A warm acknowledgment is due 

to tl1e members and friends for the ready manner in which 

they subscribed to the presentation. Sunday next, at 7 p.m., 

Miss Violet Bmtou; 3 p.m., Lyceum. Circles: Monday, at 

7.30, ladies'; Tuesday, at 8.15, members'; Thursday, at 8.15, 

public.-G. T. W. 

LONDON SPIRITUAL MISSION: 22, Prince's-street, Oxford-circus, 

W.-Mr. E. ·w. Wallis delivered addresses both morning and 

eve11ing.-E. C. W. 

SouTHEND-ON-SEA.-MrLTON-STREET.-Mr. J. G. Nicholson 

g>we an address on 'False Gods.' 

WHITLEY BAY.-Mrs. E. H. Cansick spoke on 'Spiritualism: 

A Revealer and a Comforter.'-E. C. 

PAIGNTON.-MASONIC HALL.-Mrs. Christie spoke on 'Spiritual 

Gifts' and gave clairvoyant descriptions.-W. T. 0. 

BATTERSEA PARK-ROAD.-HENLEY-STREET.-Mrs. Boddington 

spoke well on 'The Aim and Object of Spiritualism,' and 

gaye recognised clairvoyant descriptions.-N. S. 

SOUTHSEA.-LESSER VICTORIA HALL.-Addresses were given, 

in the morning by Mr. Beard on ' Heaven,' in the evening by 

Mrs. Mitchell on 'Are we on the Wide or the Narrow Road?' 

EXETER.-MARLBOROUGH HALL.-After an address by Mr. 

Elvin Frankish, clairvoyant descriptions were given by Mrs. 

and Miss Lethere:Ii. and Mr. Weslake.-E. F. 

MANOR PARK.-CORNER OF THIRD AVENUE, CHURCH-ROAD. 

-Mr. J. L. Macbeth Bain addressed a crowded meeting. Februaxy 

21st, Mrs. Jamrach conducted an expel'ience meeting. 

EALING.-TECHNICAL COLLEGE.-95, UXBRIDGE-ROAD. 

Mrs. Miles Ord gave an address on 'Looking Backward and 

P1·essing Forward. ' 

KEN

ight: 


'LIGHT! MORE LIGHT !'-Goethe, 

'WHATSOEVER DOTH !fAKll: MANIFEST IS L!GHT.'-Paul. 

No. 1,626.-VoL. XXXII. [RegistE!red a-] SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 1912. [ a N~wspaper. J PRICE TWOPENCE. 

CONTENTS. 

Notes by the Way •• _ ...... .. .. 109 Life's Moral Meaning . .... -· .. .. 116 

L.S.A. Notices .............. .. .. 110 •Thus do 'l'bey Walk with Us' . . 117 

London Ghosts .. .............. . . 111 A K. ell T ·b t t J t 

Immortality; Grounds for Belief 111 m Y r1 u e o our a e 

]>rofessor Morselli Crit icisecl .... 112 Editor · · · · - · · · · ............ •.117 

Monte Ca,rlo: Here and Hereafterll3 Items of Interest .... - ........ iJ.7 

A 'Double' Photographed ....•. 113 Dr. Dixon and Others ......... 118 

The Alliance and its Work .. 114 A R eviewer Reviewed ......... . 118 

Spiritualism : A 8urvey of its Signs of the Times . . . .......... 119 

Position, Achievements, and Mr. Remy Frank's Position .... 119 

Possibilities. An Address by To Help the Children .. ...... ... . BO 

Mr. Angus McArthur .. - . . .... 115 Society Work . . .. _ ............ .. 120 

NOTES BY THE WAY. 

Mr. Andrew Lang's recent letters have sent us back to 

bis well-known work, 'Cock Lane and Common-Sense,' 

first published some sixteen years ago and reviewed by us 

at the time. We were not troubled by the fact that it 

shows no partiality towards Spiritualism. Mr. Andrew 

Lang's attitude is rather that of . a keen and judicial 

observer. Throughout, his book is tinctured with a pungent 

b umour, which is directed with a pleasing impartiality 

on believers and unbelievers alike. It is the scholarly 

work of a man with a wide range of observation, a caustic 

wit, and an open mind. The book is too bright and lively 

to be 'cauld lmil' yet awhile, and we make no apology for 

quoting a characteristic bit from the preface:- 

Manifestly it is as fair for a psychical researcher to say to 

Mr. Olodd, 'You won't examine my haunted house because you 

are afraid of being obliged to believe in spirits,' as it is fair for 

Mr. Clodd to say to a psychical researcher, 'You only examine 

a haunted house because you want to believe in spirits, and 

therefore if you do see a spook it does not count.' 

As regards the subject of the fire ordeal, with which we 

have been dealing of late, Mr. Lang, in the same book, 

remarks:- 

Of course, the writer is not maintaining that there is anything 

'psychical' in fire-walking or in fire ,handling. Put it down as 

a trick. Then as a trick it is so old, so world-wide, that wc 

should ascertain the moclus of it. Mr. Clodd, following Sir 

B. W. Richardson, suggests the use of diluted sulphuric acid or 

of alum ; but I am not aware that he has tried the experiment 

on his own person, nor has he produced an example in which it 

was successfully tried. Science demands actual experiment. 

It is a pleasure to deal with a critic who has no prejudices 

to support, and who can enliven bis observations with 

a play of pawl{y humour. After the torrents of solemn 

and fumble-fisted criticism to which we are frequently subjected 

a re-perusal of ' Cock Lane and Common-Sense' filled 

us with a gentle joy. When its author 'thri;ists at us it is :.ts 

with a rapier in the hands oi a skilled fencer. And he 

'pinks' his opponent so neatly that it is not unpleasant for 

the victim to know that he is thought worthy of such steel. 

We gladly give attention here to a little pamphlet, 

'Christianity and Spiritualism,' which has been sent us by 

tbe ·author, Mr. W. H. Evans. It is ably written, and 

gives in small compass an outline of the case for Spiritualism, 

not only in its present-day aspects, but as represented 

in the Old and New Testaments. Mr. Evans-who 

has contributed some excellent articles to this journal-bas 

a thorough grip of his subject, and goes over the old 

ground in a fresh and forceful way. We welcome every 

new. an,d worthy presentation of our subject, which . is too 

comp~ehensive to be called a creed or' cult 1 

since it ·is the 

vital reality at the back of all religion and all science, and 

' \}'et is so simple that its essentia,ls can be stated in a few 

words. We take one excerpt from the little pamphlet, 

published by 'The Two Worlds' Publishing Co., 18, Corporation-street, 

Manchester, at one penny, as touching on 

a point that is occasionally overlooked-the importance of 

mediums:- 

The power and strength of Spiritualism lie in its mediums. 

They arc men and women whose psychic nature is keenly active, 

and who, it may be said, at times live in two worlds at once. 

The faculties of clairvoyance, clairaudience, trance-speaking, 

inspiration, speaking in tongues, prophesying, and numerous 

others, have been instrumental in restoring to lrnmanity a faith 

that had almost died, a faith in the goodness and love of God. 

'The Progressive Thinker' of the 3rd ult. contains a 

lengthy biogrnphical sketch of Mr. Chalmers Payson 

Longley, who recently celebrated his eighty-fifth birthday. 

As a child be revealed the possession of a remarkable 

musical gift, which he later devoted to the spiritual movement. 

He was long associated with Dr. S. B. Brittan and 

Judge Edmonds, at who£?e lectures he played and sang, 

with the result that the balls in which he appeared were 

crowded by those drawn by the twain attractions of eloquence 

and . music. In these and other directions he 

established a long record of fine and valuable work. Dr. 

Brittan remarked to him on one occasion, 'You caµ sing 

Spiritualism into the people if I cannot preach it into 

them.' Amongst Mr. Langley's better-known compositions 

are 'Over the River' (the words of which were written by 

Nancy Priest, a young mill-girl), 'Love's Golden Chain,' 

'Open the Gates,' ' Only a Thin Veil Between Us,' and 'In 

Heaven We'll Know Our Own.' And now the veteran is 

enjoying an honoured old age, still active and · clear of 

intellect, and keenly interested in all questions of worldprogress. 

We of 'LIGHT' send him hearty greetings, and 

are glad to add our appreciation of the long and faithful 

services to our movement of a gifted musician and composer. 

From an interview with the· Rev. A. J. Waldron, the 

Vicar of Brixton, which appeared in a recent issue of 'The 

Christian Commonwealth,' we take the following passage 

as of special interest to those of our friends who concern 

themselves with psychical healing:- ' 

Mr. Waldron is a tremendously hard worker. He attributes 

1 

his sustained vigour to his 'power of recouping.' On a Sunday 

afternoon, after speaking an hour and a half in the open air, he 

has returned home dead beat, feeling quite unequal to any 

further effort ; hut he has sat down for five or ten minutes and 

'suggested vigour' to himself, and in the evening he has been 

even fresher than in the morning. . . 'We accept all that is 

true,' he explained, 'in faith healing, mental suggestion, hypnotic 

treatment, &c., and distinguish between the cure of a disease and 

the relief of subj ective symptoms. . . Medical men are depending 

less and less on drugs and realising more and more the 

value of mental and spiritual agencies.' 

We hope before very long to hear it said, with ,equal 

truth that ecclesiastics are depending less and less on 

tradi~ion, and realising more and mo~e the value of Jlioderµ 

spiritual evidenc;es 1

110 LIGHT. [March 9, 1912 

In the March number of the 'Occult Review ' dreams 

again come in for a large share of attention. Miss H. A. 

Dallas devotes an interesting article to their study, quoting 

in the course of it several striking veridical dream experiences, 

among them the following, sent her by a personal 

friend:- 

I dreamed I was wol'king and came to tlrn end of my cotton, 

so put on my hat and went to a draper's shop a few doors from 

my brothe1·'s house to get some. I found the shop shut up, and 

with a sort of thrill of horror exclaimed, ' Oh ! Spencer is dead ! ' 

Thereupon I awaked with the feeling of horror still upon me, 

sat up in bed and tried to calm myself by the reflection t11at not 

knowing, or even having seen the man, I should not be deeply 

affected if I did hear he was dead. As a matter of fact I never 

dealt at that shop. When the servant called me next 

morning she told me Spencer had died suddenly in the night. 

I have always thought it strange that I felt all this honor, and 

can in no way account for it. 

In coneluding her article Miss Dallas says :- 

The analogy between death and sleep is surely more than a 

similarity of external conditions. It is not only that in death 

as in sleep there is a cessation of the usual forms of activity and 

of communication by the ordinary channels of speech and hearing, 

of sight and touch. In both kinrls of experience we are justified 

in believing that the mind is awake and active, that memory is 

more vivid, that the Ego has means of acquiring knowledge 

closed to the mind when consciousness is centred on sense perceptions 

and on the use of the organs and faculties of these bodies 

of clay. 

We are inclined to wish, however, that the Ego could 

show a little more judgment in the kind of knowledge it 

acquires in the dream state, and refrain from such a perfectly 

useless proceeding as anticipating unavoidable 

calamities. A harrowing case of this kind is related at 

considerable length by 'W. F. T.' in the 'Review's' corre· 

spondence pages. It seems that a faithful and valued manservant 

of 'vV. F. T.'s' came to his employer one morning 

with a haggard face to narrate a bad dream that he had 

experienced the previous night. He said :- 

I woke to find the sweat pouring off my brow in large drops, 

and heard myself saying, ' My God, am I to die here like a 

dog, wit.h no one to see or to hear me 1' I dreamt I had 

got into a place something like a vault, for it was all lined with 

stone, yet it was not a vault, for struggle how I could, I could 

· not get out of it. 

A week later the man was granted a few days' holid


by Mrs. Mary Seaton, at 110, St. Martin's-lane, at; 3 o'clock. 

The following is the syllabus :- 

Monday, May 6th, on Marie Corelli's work : ' The Life Everlasting.' 

Thursday, May 9th, on 'A Study of the Soul-How to Use its 

Powers.' 

Monday, May 13t11, on 'The Soul on the Sub-Conscious Plane : 

Its Power to Maintain Health.' 

Thursday, May 16th, on 'The Soul on the Conscious Plane: Its 

Power over the Sub-Conscious in Self and in Lower Forms 

of Life.' 

Monday, May 20th, on 'The Soul on the Super-Conscious Plane : 

Its Power to Reach the Unlimited Wisdom, Love, Force 

God.' 

The Council of the London Spiritualist Alliance and Mrs. 

Mary Seaton jointly invite Members and .Associates of the 

Alliance to attend these meetings free of charge ; Visitors ls. 

LONDON GHOSTS. 

Mr. Andrew Lang, in au article on ! London Ghosts' in the 

'Evening News' of February 26th, _says:- 

When I say ' ghost,' I mean a phenomenon which the person 

who sees, or the people who see it, believe to be the appearance, 

or phantasm, of a dead human being. . . I do not say that anyone 

in London or anywhere else ever saw the soul or 8pirit of a 

dead human being; but that many people h'lve had the experience 

of supposing themselves to see persons certainly dead, or 

persons who by their costumes indicated that they were not of 

our world. 

Among other stories he gives the following:- 

A lady took a house in Kensington, and as her furniture 

was being brought in sat on a box in the hall and su,Perii1- 

teHded. From the door of a little room behind the diningroom 

came out an elderly lady, a total stranger, and wandered 

away. The new owner became familiar with her aspect, which 

had nothing out of the common-only the elderly lady did not 

live there ! 

Later the newcomer made the acquaintance of a neighbour 

·and asl1ed what sort of people had occupied.the house previously. 

They were merely an old couplii ; the husband had lived for 

the most part in the litt,le room behind the dining-room, and his 

wife (who answered to the description of the bodiless elderly 

Jady) was always going in and out of it. But was she dead 

at the time of her appearance 1 As lo that, I could obtain 

"no certain information. Still, she was often seen in Lhe house ; 

and certainly in the body she was not one of the occupants. 

A house in a London suburb, well known to me, a large old · 

red brick house, with a garden, was pretty much haunted when 

my friends, let us say the Rotherhams, first took up their abode 

in it. Doors to which Mrs. Rotherham was approaching opened 

as she came up to them. Her hair was pulled by invisible 

bands! The noises at night, as if· all the furniture were being 

tossed about, were annoying and inexplicable. 

One night, when Mr. Rotherham was away from home, his 

wife, with her little girl, slept in a bedroom over the diningroom. 

Their dog, a beautiful collie, lay in the dining room, and, 

when the sound of tossing furniture about there began, the dog 

set up most lamentable howls. The lady bad not the comage 

to go down and investigate; but, when the dining-room door 

was opened in the morning and the dog fled forth with his 

tail between his legs, the chairs and tables were all in their 

usual places, undisturbed. 

One day Mrs. Rotherham was teaching her little girl in the 

·dining-room ; she was facing the door, to wl1ich the child had 

her back. The lady mng the bell, the door opened, but it was 

not a servant who entered, bttt a strange woman iu bluish grey, 

with a face of greyish blue. 

Later Mr. Rotherham was smoking one evening in the same 

room, when his dog bristled up and grc:iwled. Looking towards 

the door, Mr. Rotherham saw it open, and 'the blue lady' 

entered. He gave chase, but she was not to be seen. 

If this ghost bad any purpose, it was to make the occupants 

of the house go away ; but they remain, and the phenomena 

gradually ceased. The fami ly are healthy, vigorous 

people, my intimate friends. 

In a house in St. J ames's-place, Green Park, on December 

22nd, 1864, slept Miss Harriet Pearson, an old lady in Lad 

health ; behind her room was another occupied by Miss Pearson's 

niece, Emma, and by Mrs. Cuppinger, in attendance on the 

invalid, in whose room was Mrs. John Pearson. 

At 1 or 2 a.m., December 23rd, the two watchers were lying 

awake, their door wide open, and the staircase and landings were 

fnllyHghted. The ladies started up simultaneously. They had 

both seen a short old lady, wrapped up in a shawl, and wearing 

a wig with three curls on each side, and a black cap: Each 

cried out, 'It is old Aunt Ann ! ' (a 3ister of the invalid, who 

died in 1858), and Mrs. John Pearson, rushing out of the 

invalid's room, cried 'It is old Aunt Ann! Where has she 

gone to ?' 

The house was searched to no purpose, and the invalid (who 

liad seen her sister Ann) died in the course of the day. ' 

What was this appearance, seen by four persons almost simultaneously 

1 If you accept the tale, you can hardly deny that 

the dead Aunt Ann bad something to do with producing the 

phenomena. 

IMMORTALITY: GROUNDS FOR BELIEF. 

In a recently published sermon the Rev. Charles Voysey, 

B.A., deals with the ' Grounds of Hope for Life after Death.' 

He begins by siiying that he does not see, from the study of 

purely mundane and physical phenomena, a single ground for 

the hope of immortality. Be agrees with Dean Inge regarding 

tlie mistaken character of St. Paul's analogy of the seed and the 

plant. Perhaps the Rev. Chas. Tweedale's article in ' LIGHT' of 

February 24th may help him to take another view. · 

Analogies and scienti fie axioms, however, he regards as beside 

the question, which is, 'Shall we go on livini:r, after our bodieil 

are dead, as conscious persons still possessed of the sense of our 

identity which we had all the while that our bodies lived 1 

There is, in his view, 'no other condition in which a future life 

is possible, so far as we can reasonably argue from what we are.' 

'Life after death is,' Mr. Voysey holds, 'a queslion which must 

be consid ered on strictly moral grounds, because man is :a moral 

bei1 g, and this fact of his nature-from which none are exemptcompels 

him to demand that the laws and course of Nature must 

be righteous. He has the right to challenge the actions of the 

Creator on moral grounds, and to demand what God Himself has 

enabled him to demand-that only righteousn.ess shall be done 

to every living creature.' Two conditions are brought into 

judgmenteither 

that every human soul will live on for ever, growing, as 

we hope and believe, ever nearer to the likeness of God ; or 

that every human soul perishes at the moment of death, and all 

.its moral conflicts and self-denials will be, so far as th.at soul is 

concerned, absolutely thrown away. Against this lat,ter alterna~ 

tive the conscience in man protests. It is not good law, nor 

good justice to establish such a system of waste as this. 

The main purpose of onr existence is obviously that we should 

become wholly good. This is disclosed to us by the native 

faculties of the human soul. We know that this purpose can· 

not be attained in onr short life here on earth but, only in a 

future life or in a succession of lives hereafter. Therefore 

immortality is essential to the fulfilment of God's purpose with 

our souls. Ou moral grounds, therefore, immortality .is 

assured to us. 

After referring to the millions of men and women who have 

loved God devoutly and devotedly, he affirms that God's love 

for us is more than that of a mother for her babe :- 

H e, loving us infinitely more, and having all power to do 

what love


PROFESSOR MORSELLI CRITICISED. 

The December-January issue of 'Luce e Om bra' contains 

a searching criticism, from the pen of Cavaliere Gino Senigaglia, 

of Professor Morselli's recently published studies and theories 

r especting a case of automatic writing with development of 

'multiple personalities.' The following extracts will, it is 

hoped, give a fair idea of the article in question :- 

With regard to the psychogenesis of the medianic personalities 

manifesting themselves through the mediumship of Gern)ana 

Tor ... , Professor Morselli expresses the opinion that these rep~esent 

nothing else hut the disguise of the medium's own personality, 

systematised in secondary personalities by a subconscious 

process of selective association among the common elements of 

her own mentality, and hence that the hypothesis of any intervention 

on the part of spirits ought to be excluded in the consideration 

of these manifestations. Not only so, but he adds 

that the single psychological theory just referred to suffices to 

· account for the simpler as well as for the more elevated products 

of this intelligent form of mediumship ; whereby the spirit 

hypothesis would be implicitly banished from the entire fi eld of 

this branch of manifestations. 

Having thus concisely described Professor Morselli's attitude 

Cavaliere Senigaglia proceeds to contest the suitability of the 

method adopted by the Professor for the study of such phenomena, 

and, in support of his contention, summarises the substance of 

an article by Dr. Gustave Geley which appeared in the July 

number of the 'Annales ' last year. He says :- 

Dr. Geley recently maintained with weighty arguments the 

necessity of applying to metapsychics the opposite method to the 

classical one of scientific experiment, and consisting in the 

direction of an immediate and systematic attack on the more 

complex phenomena while provisionally regarding as negligible 

all such as are of an elementary type. 

But waiving this objection and accepting Professor l\forselli's 

method of dealing with the whole problem, Cavaliere Senigaglia 

·contends that it has not yet been proved that the manifestations 

of Germana are the product of a subconscious systematisation 

of secondary personalities,* and that, if it were, it would not necessarily 

afford l egitiin'ate grounds for the P1,ofesso 1-'s wide generalisation. 

For, once the existence of these mysterious subconscious 

possibiiities in the individual is granted, there is no ct priori 

reason wl1y we should refu s~ to suppose that 

if spirit forces exist, they may avail themselves of this very same 

subconsciousness as a condition of their own influence over the 

medium, through whom they wish to penetrate and render 

themselves perceptible to us. But the reality of the existence 

of such autonomous spiritual beings appears to result directly 

from the study of certain other supernormal phenomena differing 

in character from those under consideration (such as, for 

example, spontaneous phenomena, multiple materialisations of 

active and organised entities, &c.), and the possibility of the 

existence of such beings is innirectly proved by other kinds of 

supernormal facts, those connected with premonitions, for 

instance, not to mention the manifold phenomena of animism 

(spiritisru of the living). Accordingly, in cases where the 

medianic personalities manifesting themselves through the 

automatic writing have givep. proof, as it is desired that they 

should do, of their personal identity or in any way of their 

independence of the personality of the medium, there would be 

no reason to refuse belief in their spiritual reality. And given 

this state of things, we shall have no difficulty in supposing that 

there sometimes emerges from the subcon.sciousness-let us 

repeat-by a simple psychological proce s~ o_f .. automatic wri~ing, 

material that is only human and pertammg to the medrnrn, 

material elaborated by her, and by her constituted in the form 

of ephemeral secondary personalities ; and at other times, we 

may believe, there emerges under spirit impulsion material that 

is non-human, or, it may be, a varied combination of material 

from both sources. 

* In a footnote Cavaliere Senigaglia remarks that in his opinion!' an 

obstacle to the free development of our investigations is constituted by 

the dilemma so generally posed : either spirits of the clead or medium. 

vVhy not in cases so ambiguous limit oneself to speak in a provisional 

and generic way of spiritual forces to be determined ?' 

He q uotea 

from Flammarion, who, in his work, 'Les Forces Naturelles Inconnues,' 

says : 'That the. subcon:icious acts of an ab~ormal pe~sonality, ii-ra:fting 

itself momentarily on om· norm'11 personality, e::


MONTE CARLO: LHERE AND HEREAFTER. 

QUITE I MPOSSIBLE ? 

I. 

F our or fi ve men stood talking in the smoking-room of a 

London club. 

' So Charlie's gone at last. What a plunger he was !' 

said one. 

'Lucky accident. He was near the end of his tether. I 

wonder- -' 

'Wonder what ?' 

'What he'll do where he's gone, wherever it may be. He'll 

he lost withot1t Bridge and t,he Colonel-no Monte Carlo there, 

I fancy.' 

A dried-up little man turned to another, tall and pale, and 

said, smilingly : ' What do you think, Etheridge 1 You are well 

up in spirits and ought to know.' 

' I expect to enjoy Monte Carlo, hereafter,' was the reply. 

' Only, humanity will he my counters. Luck, chance, is at the 

back of all things, and I expect to be able to use chance.' 

' Clerk Maxwell's dmmons, eh 1 \Ve shall find Charlie, he 

was a good fellow, walking around and relieving the destituteby 

chance, eh ? ' 

II. 

Two thin, badly nourished children-a girl of nine and a 

boy of seven-sat in a miserable hovel in the East End of London. 

They were just back from the funeral of their father and 

mother. 

' I won't go to the 'onse, Sally,' said the boy. 

' No more won't I, Jim,' replied the girl. 

' He'll be 'ere direcly minute.' 

An idea struck Sally- her own, she fully believed. ' Come 

along, Jim ; come quick ! ' she said. 

' Wot d'yer mean 1' 

' Come along, quick.' 

Hand in hand they went down the stairs, out along the 

yard into the street. And far they walked till they came to 

Cheapside. 

' Well 1' said Jim. 

' Don't yer mind. It's all right. I say it's goin' to be.' 

A. young stockbroker, kindly-looking, but woe-begone in 

face, chanced to be walking down Cheapside. Sally rushed at 

him, a chance-met stranger. ' Please, sir, you've got to take care 

of us.' 

' What the dickens do you mean 1' The stockbroker, as he 

spoke, stood still in surprise and stared down at the two little 

faces looking up at him. 

'It's all right,' replied Sally, confidently. 'I was sure, first 

sight, it was you'd got to do it.' She smiled. 'And you talk just 

like father did. He's dead, and mammy, too. Just gone.' 

'We was there,' said Jim. 

' Well,· I'm - - ! ' muttered the stockbroker. Sally smiled 

again : the form of language seemed familiar and comforting. 

Then an idea struck the stockbroker- he thought it was his own. 

'By J ove ! I'll do it,' he muttered to himself. 'It'll ser ve 

her right, and I feel confoundedly down in the mouth.' 

In the motor, Jim had taken Sally's hand as they sat opposite 

the stockbroker. Jim was somewhat confused at the glory 

of his state, but eminently content. 

'I told yon it was all right, didn't I 1' said Sf:Llly, smiling 

even more confidently than before on the stock.broker. 

'Yon did,' was the reply. And t.he stockbroker blew his 

nose. It was his own handkerchief that touched his own nose : 

and the feeling that moved him was his own. 

'Is Sister Cecilia at home 1' said he to the nurse who opened 

the door of a homelike little house they stopped at. 

Sister Cecilia was not at home, but the stockbroker, Sally, 

and Jim walked in. · 

Ill. 

Sister Cecilia sat with her bosom friend, Amy, in Amy's 

own plain but pretty living-room. 

' Oh, you fool ! ' said Amy. ' You know you love him, and 

you send him away miserable. You fool !' 

' I can't, Amy.' Sister Cecilia looked as woebegone as the 

stockbroker who had been assaulted and led off in custody by 

Sally and Jim. ' It's all money, money, money ! There's no 

place in him for humanity. And my children 1 What would 

become of them 1 Ten, my clear, and place for two more. I should 

be just a woman of society. I-I am a brute to abuse him.' 

An idea struck Amy-she thought it was her own. 

' You want distraction,' she said. 'You've neglected those 

children shamefully ! Two whole days ! Come and see them.' 

IV. 

' I'm so glad you've returned at last, Sister Cecilia,' said the 

nurse. '\Ve're fnll ! Two more delicioits children just come 

in. A gentleman brought them, or, rather, they brought himan 

impudent gid of nine, a bright boy of seven. Orphans. 

Five years with us, my dear, and he'll look after them when 

they go out. He's an angel. ' 

'Who is he ~' asked Sister Cecilia. 

'I've got his card. Here it is.' 

Sister Cecilia took the card and looke.d at it. 'l'hen she 

blushed furiously. Amy, with a little cry, rose up and seized 

the card. Then she dropped it and fell back in her · chair, 

stricken with hysterical laughter. 

' Good-bye, Sister Cecilia,' said she, at last. 

' Where are you going ?' 

' Of course I;m going to thank this angel, if I can find him. 

It would be most interesting to speak to one masquerading as a 

stockbroker, wouldn't it?' And she walked out. 

Sister Cecilia sat still for a moment-only a moment. Then 

she ran quickly from the room and seized Amy on· the doorstep. 

' Understand clearly, Arny,' said she, 'that you are qitite 

wrong in what you've been thinking. I was so delighted simply 

because the home is full. But,' she drew in her breath, 'if you 

find what you so ridiculously term an angel, you must be 

courteous. Say I also wish to thank him.' 

She spoke with calm dignity, but her fa ce was still red. 

' Personally, my dear ?' 

' I do not discuss private matters over the telephone,' said 

Sister Cecilia severely. 

v. 

Ch1rliP., the plunger, timeless, spaceless, but now a full 

spirit of humanity, roared with laughter : laughter of the 

infinite. 'Broken the Bank ! Hurrah I' 

GERALD TULLY. 

A 'DOUBLE' P H OTOGRAPHE~ 

Doctor Falcomer, of Venice, in one of his interesting con· 

tributions to the ' Adriatico,' relates an unusual case of trans• 

cendental photography which happened last autumn spontaneously 

to a lady of his acquaintance, who describes it in a letter to him 

as follows :- 

DEAR Docwn,-I have something interesting to tell yon. 

You must know that in the country, at G--, I had a photo· 

graph of my rooms taken, and wanted to have myself photographed 

in my bedroom on my couch, where I was always accustomed to 

lie anil. read. My sister, who knows how to take photographs, 

strongly dissuaded me, saying that I should come out badly, and 

that I ought to be sitting. I did not want this, but she insisted 

so much that I got up and had the photograph taken in thirtyfive 

seconds while seated on the couch ; but all the time I was 

feeling vexed at not being taken lying down, and in thought, so 

to say, I was lying down. When they brought the photograph I 

saw that I was double. Seated, as I was, there is a mere outline, 

and lying down, as I was not, I am much more visible ! This 

must certainly be my double. What do you think of it 1 I 

will have scverai copies printed and ,.,;m send you one. 

The Doctor's comments are as follows : ' If the fact is not 

chemical and physical but psychical it could be explained by one 

of the following hypotheses : 1. Direct action of the thought on 

the plate. 2. Fluidic creation of her owu image. 3. E xteriorisation 

of the perisprit (et.heric double). The image and the 

etheric double can act upon the plate by means of thei.r ow11 

ligh t. 

The ' Ad riatico' devotes two columns. to a ' Meta-Psychic 

Ruhric ' in which Dr. Falcomer and others of established 

reputation are in the habit of bringing the facts of Spiritualism 

before a wide public. How long will it be before one of onr 

daili es is enlightened enough and bold enough to clo as much 1 

c. J. VESEL.

" 

114 LIGHT. [March !\ i912: 

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LONDON, W.C. 

SATURDAY, MARCH 9TH, 19L2. 

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. ualist AlHance, 'Ltd., for the loan of books from the Alliance 

Library should be addressed to the Librarian, Mr. B. D. Godfrey, 

Office of the Alliance, 110, St. Martin's-lane, W.C. 

THE ALLIANCE AND ITS WORK. 

It is now ·some twenty-eight years since the London 

Spiritualist Alliance came into being, and although it is 

·still a long way from its jubilee, we are tempted on this 

· ~ccasicm to take a brief backward glance ·at its career, and 

to say something of its scnpe and pl\rpose. 

The Alliance originated in an idea of the late Mr. 

Stainton.Moses ('M.A., Oxon.') who, as President, delivered 

the inaugural address at a meeting held in the Banqueting 

Room at the old St. James's Hall, . on May 5.th, 1884. · On 

'his death in September, 1892, the late Editor of this paper, 

Mr E. Dawson Rogers, succeeded to the Presid!)ntship, 

which office, by a novel but--from our standpoiut--quite 

natural and consistent application of the principles of the 

·Alliance he retains. 'Not Amumth to Amurath succeeds' 

in tqis instance, and although :when the Alliance ·decided 

not to fill tile vacant chair in a corporeal sense, it did an 

arresting thing, challenging the thought and customs of the 

time, it wa~ only true to itself. It had arrived at a 'critical 

·point' in its E.volution, something analogous to one of those 

·stages in the evolution of the lower world when a new 

"form emerged to become the pioneer of a higher species. 

!In time to come, when the seen and unseen world.s 

come into closer affinity, the full significance of that action 

: ~vill 'be better realised, and its wisdom vindicated. That, 

however, is by the way. 

During its twenty-eight years of existence the Alliance 

·bas provided a centre of information for ·inquirers, a rallying 

point for the active minds of the movement, and a 

means of co·operation and the exchange of ideas amongst 

those who accept its cardinal principles. Its platform has 

been occupied by many speakers notable iI). science, litera 

' ture, and philosophy, and the numerous addresses -which 

have been given have made it abundantly clear how catholic 

has been the policy of the Council throughout. Many of 

the .speakers, although more or less sympl.1-thetic with the 

aims of the Alliance, have by no means endorsed its whole 

.position. But they have always been heard with respect 

and attention, and this large, hospitable attitude of mind 

amongst the Members and Associates has had its reward. 

A fresh, ever-flowing current of thought has peen poured 

through their minds, and the tendency to crystallisation 

has been effectually checked. There has been no accretion 

of dogmas, no fixed set of tenets laid down by a Trust 

Deed or a Code of Articles to be adhered to on pain of 

expulsion. And as a consequence the Alliance has numbered 

'in its ranks people of many creeds and points of 

view, the one uniting link being a common recognition of 

the 'reality. of an unseen world and its inter~ction with this. 

Already in its thought the Alliance has gravitated even 

more closely to that other world by its growing realisation 

that, man being a spiritual ·being here and now, the two 

\vorlds are in essence one. . 

It would, we imagine, startle and surprise some of those 

~utside .our ranks could they make a closer acquaintance 

with the personnel of the Alliance-the politicia1) not 

entirely immersed in the clash of party warfare; the City 

man who can find room for other inter()sts than commerce 

and finance; the man of leisure who has made discovery 

of more enduring things than sport and fashion. In short-, 

~tockbrokers, lawyers, merchants, journalists-men of .the 

'world who, on the popular hypothesis, would leave our 

movement severely alone, but who, by very reason of their 

alert mentality, have discovered in it the gateway to a 

truth. Little by little in the strange kaleidoscope of the 

·world . new adjustments are taking place. In no great 

while_:_for things move quickly nowadays-the .scoffer 

and th~ Sadducee may find themselves suddenly 'amongst 

-the stragglers in the dismal rear of the mundane procession. 

It needs no 'long look ahead,' no deeply penetrating glance 

to dete~t the ~oming changes in the thought of the tilli:e, th() 

:transfor~ations that are taking place under the surface. The 

avant-courrieri of the new humanity are everywhere at worl{ 

inspiring and directing those who are .Jeading the march on 

this side of the way, linking up their forces and calling up 

battalions from many unsuspected quarters. The air just 

no\v is .strangely dark ·and stormy, but there are many 

lights in the darkness and many .harbours of refuge. In 

these times of spiritual and mental disquiet, the Alliance 

aspires to stand as a beacon, a haven, and withal a rallying 

place:· · It. seek~ to reveal the extent to which the forces 

of' the higher world are working through strife and tribulation 

to evolve a new and better social order; to show 

that, the way of peace in a troubled world is ·the way of 

. the .s.oul: and to band together in fraternal harmony. those 

who have realised these things. Its policy is the policy .of 

'the :open door.'. It seeks no proselytes, but only the 

recognition and support of those who are like-minded. 

Troubled as are the times, no one can be really dis 

. couraged who thoughtfully observes the spirit of the age. 

Much of the mental unrest arises from the breaking of old 

·fetters, and a· c;iesire for larger fields of thought and new 

horizons. The roads are thronged with.pilgrims seeking a new 

way, .for somehow the path of material progress-alluring as 

it may have seemed at first-has proved but a journey of 

the footsore to a thirsty land. Even ·the 'march o~ intellect' 

has been a barren march. For some of these way 

. farers the London Spiritualist Alliance offers,· if not a goal 

-some new Mecca-at least a new way and a new vie,v. 

For the wearier pilgrims it may prove a peaceful tarryingplace 

for a time. For more active souls it may haply provide 

the needed mental and spiritual equipment for the 

Gr~at Quest on whi~h we think, with Robert Louis 

Stevenso·n, 'it is better to travel hopefully than to arrive.' 

The Alliance may claim without boastfulness to have 

· behind it a record of good and useful work, and it looks 

forward with confidence to a longer and larger career of 

service. Those who guide its destinies desire to see it 

. strong and striving rather than fashionable and popular. 

Let those who have received its benefits and those who 

approve its aims give it their su_pport, and it will go on 

.. from strength to strength. .. :~ 

/l'HE man of vision, the seer, the mystic, cannot be pessimistic 

or irreligious. His prevailing mood is .one not of donbt, but ~f 

faith ; not of depression, but of exhilaration. He knp ws that in 

~ the long run all our highest aspi1:ations wiU be f\tlfilled and aU 

c ou'r just demands satisfied. · " ' ' · '.· · ·

March "9, 1912.] ,LIGHT. 115 


ACHIEVEMENTS, AND POSSIBILITIES. 

BY A NGUS McARTHUR. 

An Address delivered on Thursday, February 22nd, t0 the 

Members and Associates of the Lond on Spiritualist Alliance, in 

the Salon of the Royal Societ,y of British Artists, Suffolk-street, 

.Pall l\fall East, Mr. H. Withal!, vice-president, in the chair. 

_ (Continued from page 104.) 

This changed attitude is manifest very clearly in the religions 

world, in quarters where yon would naturally expect to find 

the most strenuous clinging to the older ideas. I was myself 

brought up amid Noncon formist surroundings, and I speak with 

knowledge when I say that thirty years ago a suggestion that the 

departed were in conscious contact with this world would have 

been denounced as rank blaspl1emy. The theory was that the 

departing spirit closed its eyes to earth and opened them to 

heaven ; Uiat it was totally unconscious of all that was going 

on in the world which it had left; that its time was spent in 

monotonous and everlasting praise ; ·and that even the worst of 

us could, by repentance even at the very point of death, entei· 

heaven as a glorified soul. These were the current Yiews. Do 

not imagine that I recall and outline them 'here for the purpose 

of criticising, much less of ridiculing, those who held them, 

·and who now, from the uplifted life of another plane of 'exist 

·ence, know how mistaken they were. I am far too familiar with 

the ·noble and self-sacrificing lives of these brave souls to say 

a single word that might be interpreted as a reproach. They 

were better, far better than their beliefs, a hundred times more 

tender in their hearts than in their dogmas : and perhaps it is 

their beneficent influence which has, wi thin the last ten years, 

wrought so absolute a change in the outlook of their successors 

upon the spiritual world and upon onr attempts to learn more 

of its inhabitants and its conditions. For what do >Ve see 1 

· Well, week by week, in such a representative Nonconformist 

newspaper as the ' Christian \Vorld ' you will find an essay 

signed 'J. B.' There is no mistake about the writer- he is the 

Rev. J onatlmn Brierley, a B.A. of London University and a 

Nonconformist minister. H e possesses the gift of an inimitable 

literary charm, which doubtless explains, to spme ex tent, the 

att r~c ti veness of his essays to a mu) titude of readers. 

But more potent is the spell which is wielded by the 

cultured mysticism of the writer, and by hi ~ obvious 

knowledge of, and sympathy with, the evolution of 

modern psychic iuquiry. I could read yon many passages, but I 

will confine myself to one (page 300) in' Studies of the Soul':- 

I t is certainly not going too far to say that modem science, 

in demonstrating the continuity of fo rce, has made it more 

difficnlt than ever to believe that the highest kind of fo rce as 

yet manifested on this planet, namely, that of the human spirit, 

should be the one exception to the law. If we can turn heat 

. into mot.ion, and motion into electricity, and electricity into 

light, bu t can by no process reduce them to nothingness, what 

is the1·e in the nature of things, or in human experience, to lead 

us to the conclusion that character or soul-fo rce will meet with 

a worse fate 1 The broad hint of science het e is that, like its 

mate the body, the spirit may be transmuted hut will not be 

destroyed. 

It is at first startling, but afterwards infinitely reassuring, to 

learn that in the scheme of evolution death is not a necessity, 

but simply one of Nature's devices for the furtherance of life. 

The investigations of a Maupas and a Weismann yield as a 

· result that the lowest organisms are practically immortal. It was 

in the endeavour after a higher and more complicated structure 

that deat11 entered. What is more, in his study of the germ- 

. pl asm, w'ni c'n, as distinguished from the cells which are perishable, 

persists and is potentially immortal, \Veismann maintains 

that under fa ~· o nrab le conditions it seems capable of surrounding 

itself with a ne1v Lody. We are only at the beginning of these 

studies, but the perspective they open is inimense. They show 

us life, instead of being lorded over by death, pressing it into 

its service to help build up its structures and complete its 

developments. 

Man's strongest hope for immortality rests, after all , upon 

his moral and spiritual intui tions, and upon his moral and 

· spiritual history. He cl wells in a visible uni verse which he 

cai1 prove has couie out of an unseen one, Lo which it will eventuaUy 

retlTl'n: H e hag already multiform relations witl1: that 

U nsee1~ , and is continually enlarging them. The highest 

thinkers everywhera recognise the spirit world as the most rea,l 

and the most mighty, 

I think I am not going too far in saying that if J\fr. Briel'ley 

lmd ventured to hold, or the 'Christian World' had dared to publish, 

mch opinions as that thirty years ago, the whole of English 

Nonconformity would have been up in arms. In t11e home 

where I was brought up the 'Christian World' was a regular 

weekly visitor. One article such as that, thirty years ago, would 

have caused the ·newsagent to receive a peremptory stop-order. 

I instance Nonconformity because the change there is, perhaps, 

the more striking, in view of the peculiar and characteristic 

ci rcumstances. But precisely the same movement is 

perceptible in the Church of England. One of the leading fi rms 

of Church publishers (associated with the High Church sch0ol of 

thought), Messrs. A. R. Mowbray & Co., has issued a series of 

little books called the ' Churchman's Penny Library.' Now, 

there ar ·two qualifications necessary in the booklets published 

under such circumstances as that. One is the belief of the 

publisher that the contents of the booklet are cons,istent 

with, and a reinforcement of, the teachings of the school o_f 

thought which looks to him for volumes containing the latest 

pronoun cements of its leaders. The other is the capacity of the 

book itself to sell. A publisher may believe that Stillingfleet's 

sermons, published at a penny each, would be a valualile add i ~ 

tion to the popular t.heology of .the age. But he will not print 

them because, being necessarily compelled to have regard to the 

commercial point of view, he knows they would not sell. Bearing 

these principles in mind, it is very significant (and for this 

audience very encouraging) to find among the ' Churchman's 

Penny Library ' the late Canon Liddon's sermon, 'The :First 

Five Minutes After Death.' That most remarkable discourse, 

originally preached in St. Paul's, begins in this way :- 

An Indian offi cer, who had take·n part in i~10 r e than one of 

those decisive struggles by which the British authority was 

finally established in the East Indies, was talking with his 

friends about the most striking experiences of his profeii!sional 

career. As he described skirmishes, battles, sieges, personal 

-encounters, hair-breadth escapes, the outbreak of the mutiny 

and its suppression, reverses, victories, their interest in hfs 

story, as was natural, became keener and more exacting. At 

last he paused with the observation, ' I expect to see something 

much more remarkable than anytl1ing I have been describing,' 

As he was some seventy years of age, and was uncler?tood to 

have retired from active service, his· listeners failed to catch his 

.meaning. There was a pause; and then he said in an undertone, 

' I mean in the first five minutes after death.' 

It is, perhaps, hardly necessary to add that Liddon pursues 

his theme to the end in characteristic richness of diction and 

beauty of imagination, As the sermon costs only a penny, you 

cannot do better tln n purchase for yourselves this very remarkable 

evidence of the. popularity of psychic themes among the 

serious men aud women of all classes of the community. Of 

course I am concerned for our present p urpose much less with 

what Cannon Liddon said than with the fact that it has been 

thought worth whi le to reprint. it in this cheap form for multitudinous 

circulation. 

Bear with me while I offer you one more example. We all 

of us know that phrase in the Apostles' Creed, ' I believe in the 

Communion of Saints.' But it has certainly been an article of 

belief of which, for the last few centuries, Christendom has 

fought shy. Pearson, in his famous classic, ' On the Creed,' 

drops to a humdrum level when he reaches this great doctrine. 

It has been reser ved for essentially modern Ch m ch scholarship 

to unfold and declare its real implication of the communion 

betwePn those on the other side and on this-the departed and 

_their fellows still wrapped in the garments of mortality. Let 

rne illustrate this by a few passages from '.a uookl et on tb.e 

' Communion of Sain ts' by that sound scholar and virile Churchman, 

the Rev. Per cy Dearmer, Vicar of St. Mary the Virgin, 

Primrose-hill :- 

' But,' it may be asked, 'do the departed know what is going 

on here?' Well, the writer of t.he Epistle to the H ebrews seems 

to have th ough t that they did ; fo r in the twelfth chapter, 

aJter speaking of the heroes of old time, and including Rahab 

.in his list, he says :-

116 LIGHT.-. [March 9, 1912. 

' Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with 

so great a cloud .of witnesses, lay aside every weight and 

let us nm with patience the race that is set before us.' 

Here 'it is impossible,' as Bishop ·westcott says, •to exclude 

the thought of the spectators in an amphitheatre.' The writer 

regards himself and his fri eniis as placed in an arena and contending 

for a great prize ; around, row upon row, in the theatre, 

are the great cloud of heroes watching the struggle that is going 

on below. 

Let us, then, accept this great comfort and encomagement, 

that the departed rest in no blind and hidden place but in a 

higher and more transcendent plane than ours. And now in 

recent years there 1ias arisen a body of scientific investigators 

F. W. H. Myers, and Edmund Gumey, and Professor Sidgwick, 

and Sir W. F. Barrett, and Sir William Crookes, and Dr. Alfred 

R. Wallace-the scientist who slrnres with Darwin the honour 

of the discovery of the secret of evolution ; these men fo unded 

a society for the free investigation of the new (and yet old) 

phenomena that can no longer be passed over. The investigation 

is still proceeding. Some of the greatest minds are convinced 

by the great mass of evidence already accumulated that 

the power of the departed, not only to know about us, but to 

communicate with us, has been proved. \Vhether this be so or 

not, it is certain that the olJ materialism is no lon ge-.:. adequate 

that the spirit of man has many strange and wonderful powers'. 

which were formerly ignored by science. And it is certain that 

among these powers is that of seeing and knowing things without 

the use of physical means. If at one time the cnrrent trend 

of knowledge wa


• THUS DO THEY WALK WITH us.· 

'L. V. H.' (or' L. V. H. Witley,' to give the pen name by 

which he is best known to onr readers) is contributing to 

' Healthward Ho ! ' a series of articles entitled ' The Life that is 

Life Indeed.' In the one which appears in the February 

number of that joumal, he gives the testimony of several wellkn 

~wn men to their conviction that the loved ones whom they 

had mourned as lost were still with them, and inf! uencing their 

lives. .Among others he quotes H enry \Varel Beecher and 

Cardiiial Vaughan. The form er said: 'The memory of 

my moLher as one sai~ted has exerted a singular inf! uence 

upon me. .After I came to be about fourteen years of 

age, I began to be distinctly conscious that there was a silent, 

a secret, and, if you please to call it so, a romantic influence 

which was affecting me. It grew, and it grows, so that in some 

parts of my nature I think I have more communion wiLh my 

mother whom I never saw (except as a child of three years 

old) t11an with any Jiving being. While in ed ucation and 

other material respects her death was a clepri vation, it became an 

inspiration and a communion- one of those invisible blessings 

which faith comprehends, but which we are not apt to weigh 

and estimate.' 

Cardinal Vaughan's tribute to the influence of his mother is 

even more touching and beautiful. 'I was only a little boy,' he 

said, 'when we lost our mother. It is a loss I cannot think of 

now, after half a century or more, without a shudder. Of 

course, we used to kneel round her lap morning and evening to 

lisp after her our childish prayers, and then wer.; carried off, 

clinging to her skirts, to the chapel, where, on great feasts, we 

were privileged to kiss the altar-cloth, or even the altar itself. 

Our mother al ways reminded us that there, in the tabernacle, 

One was always abiding who loved us more than even she did, 

_ever ready to greet us when we went to see Him. When I look 

back, it seems to me that she could only talk about Goel, or the 

poor, or our father. She made heaven such a reality to us that 

\~e felt we knew more about it and liked Jlt in a way far better 

than even our home, where, until she died, we were wildly, 

supremely happy. My holy mother-I often talk to her 

now, and I am sure she hears me ; she answers me in whispers 

and spreads over my soul a great calm. What a blessing it is 

to have such a mother in the bosom of God ! I invoke her as a 

saint: whenever I call upon one Mother, I call upon the other.' 

'It is true,' says Dr. Joseph Parker-' and I have repeatedly 

said it-that I hold communion with the spirit of my wife.> 

Dr. John Watson ('Ian Maclaren') cherished the thought 

that he. was accompanied through life by his mother, whom he 

fondly loved, and to whom he was deeply attached whilst 

she was on earth ; whilst Dr. Maclaren believed himself to 

be accompanied by his wife, to whom he attributed much of 

his success. 

A KINDLY TRIBUTE TO OUR LATE EDITOR. 

In the 'Mystic Light Library Bulletin' for February, the 

Editor, Mr. W. J. Colville, in a review of the 'Life and Experiences 

of Edmund Dawson!Rogers' (cloth ls., post free l s. 2d.), 

issued by the London Spiritualist Alliance in memory of its 

revered president, writes :- 

This is a charming sympathetic biographical ske ~ch of a very 

rem.arkable English journalist whose researches in the psychical 

don:;ain, together with his brilliant intellectual capacities, rendered 

him a notable personage through a long and eventful life. .As 

editor of 'LIGHT,' a singularly cultured advocate and exponent 

of all that comes under the general heading of Spiritualism and 

whatever is associated therewith, and as President of the London 

Spiritualist .Alliance for many years, Mr. Rogers won for himself 

the sincere friendship as well as admiration of hosts of men and 

women all over the world to whom his rational attitude toward 

all unusual subjects strongly and convincingly appealed. In his 

early days he was a successful and singularly enterprising 

journalist, and distinguished himself many times and in many 

ways by his fearless independent policy. When the claims of 

Spiritualism were brought to his attention he played the part of 

honest and earnest investigator, never credulous and never 

obdurate in the face of conclusive evidence. The little volume 

issued by his devoted friends is adorned with two fine portraits 

of the faithful man whose career it briefly but satisfactorily 

reviews. .Any student of phrenology and physiognomy would 

at once see the character of the man, 'resolute and firm, though 

kindly, unmistakably impressed upon all his features. As a 

reminder of bygone days and of several noble and distinguished 

characters who have re~ently passed into the Great Beyond, this 

dainty brochure pu~sesse s great interest and value. J ohn Page 

Hopps wrote the Prefatory Note in his characteristic style, and 

all who knew that fearless, warm-hearted teacher of spiritual 

religion will be sure to welcome any tribute from his pen. A 

specially valuable feature of this memorial eulogy is the light it 

'thi·ows on the kind of evidence which proved sufficient to convince 

a sceptical level-headed journali~t that spirit communion is an 

indisputalJle reality, and though imposture may h:i.ve invaded 

the field of mediumship (and we find it in some measure everywhere) 

Lhe honest, unprejudiced investigator who weighs evidence 

carefully must at length become convinced of the reality of a 

spiritual universe with which we are constantly in touch, 

knowingly or unconsciously. It was the personal privilege of 

the writer of this brief review to know Mr. Rogers for many 

years before his retirement from public life, and therefore to add 

a word of appreciative testimony to the many tributes which 

have been steadily forthcoming since October 1st, 1910, the 

date of the fnneral of his earthly remains. Though a native of 

England and a constant resident in his native land, Mr. Rogers 

was very widely known and appreciated in America, for ' LIGHT' 

circulates all over the world, and the London Spiritualist 

.Alliance is a truly representative cosmopolitan organisation. 

ITEMS OF 

INTEREST. 

There should be a large muster of the Members and .Associates 

of the L.S ..A. on 'l'hursclay next at the Salon of the Royal 

Society of British .Artists, Suffolk-street, to welcome Mr. Walter 

.Appleyard, who will come from Sheffield to give his 'Reasons 

for being a Spiritualist after Many Years' Experience.' Mr. 

.Appleyard, who was for a long time a prominent religious 

worker, has had seances with almost all the mediums in this 

country and with those who have visited us from other lands, 

has investigated in his own home under favourable conditions, 

and will doubtless be able to ·give extremely cogent reasons for 

the faith that is in him. 

A correspondent writes : 'There was a striking discrepancy 

in Miss O'Bridey's article on "Spiritualism" in the "Evening 

News" of F ebrnary 13th. She described a seance that she 

attended at which a girl became frightened, left the circle, and 

then knelt and prayed. She finished up with: "It must be re-. 

·membered that each person held the hand of another, and the 

chain was imbrolcen from, beginning to end.'' How, then, could 

the girl leave the circle and engage in prayer ? One statement 

or the other must be wrong. They cannot both be true.' 

'Bibby's .Annual' goes on from good to better and from better 

to best; the number for 1912, which now lies before us, surpasses 

all its predecessors, both as regards the atticles and the 

splendid reproductions of many famous pictures. If 'a thing 

of beauty is a joy for ever' then we recommend eve1·yone to 

spend a shilling on this annual, for it is certainly 'a thing of 

beauty.' .At the same time the purchaser will gain the opportunity 

of reading between forty and fifty well-selected articles on 

such subjects as ' The Importance of To-day's Happenings, The 

.Art of Seeing the Right Side of Things, Conscience : '£he Dweller 

in the Inmost, Intuition and Instinct, On Loss and Suffering, 

The Mission of Love, Beauty and Ugliness, The Harmonious 

Life, Life on Both Sides of the Veil, The Labour Unrest, The 

' Good News' of Reincarnation, The Reading of Fiction, The 

,Spirit of the Hand-Made World, &c. Printed on plate paper, 

'the illustrations, many of them beautifully coloured, and the 

: Portraits are fine illustrations of the imniense development that 

has taken place in both colour printing and photographic 

reprncluction. vVe can only wish that someone would do for 

Spiritualism what Mr. Bibby is doing for Theosophy. 

Those who plead for harmony between Theosophists and 

Spiritualists will not be helped but materially hindered by such 

state1;rnnts as the following, which occur in an article 1Jy 111.abel 

Collins in 'The Occult Review' for March : 'The uselessness of 

Spiritualistic seances,- according to Dr. Steiner's teaching, formed 

part of the subj ect-matter of Baron vValleen's lectures. The 

view he takes is very different from that of some prominent 

London Theosophists, who actually practise Spiritualism and 

profess to receive messages from Masters through the agency of 

a medium. 'l'here is, to my mind, a sort of blasphemy in the 

mere idea of sL1ch a thing. I endorse to the uttermo8t and to 

the full Dr. Steiner's positive teaching that all must be done, all

118 ,LIGHT. (March 9, 1912. 

knowledge obtained, all instruction received, in full consciousness. 

No "medium" can be employed to bring truth into the 

world. The one who brings it can only do so in an increase of 

consciousness. Dr. Steiner regards the manifestations at Spiritualistic 

seances as astral, and therefore misleading, and sometimes 

quite false. In kama loca (the purgatory of the Roman 

Catholics) man sheds an astral corpse which hovers about and 

frequents seances and can cause much error. This is, of course, 

accepted as tl'lle by many English Theosophists, but not by all.' 

A strange episode in the life of Thomas Stoddard, R.A., is 

given in a booklet issued by the London County Council in 

con ll ection with a tablet to the artist's memory which the 

Council has placed on the walls of 28, Newman-street, Oxfordstreet, 

W., where he resided for nearly eighty years. This is 

the story, abridged : Roused one night Ly shrieks, Mr. and Mrs. 

Stoddard hurried to the room overhead occupied by their son, a 

boy of thirteen. As soon as be could speak he told them of a 

terrible vision he had seen in his sleep. 'A man habited as a 

watchman had appeared to him, holding in his hand a white 

flag, on the corner of which was a small spot of blood. The 

man then waved the flag over his head until the small spot 

spreaJ itself out, and so increased that the whole of the white 

flag at length became covered with blood.' So great was the 

impression made on the lad's mind that the next day he wrote 

in red chalk on the white-washed wall by bis bedside : 'Aud 

your young men shall see visi-:ms, and your old men shall dream 

dreams.' Three months afterwards his parents were getting 

ready to go for a walk when Mrs. Stoddard suddenly exclaimed, 

'Tom, what do you here ? But as you are here, go down and 

tell the ser vant to bring up my gown.' Her husband, knowing 

that the boy had gone out some time before, asked her what she 

meant. She replied - that she had that moment seen him 

standing by the bed, but that as she spoke he seemed to stoop 

down and vanish. Only a little while later the sad news was 

brought to the door that their son was dead, having been accidentally 

shot by a schoolfellow. Whether or not the boy's 

'strange dream three months before was a genuine premonition 

of death, Mrs. Stoddard's vision may be regarded as a clear case 

of telepathic i1npression. 

'WesLminster Abbey Thunders a Warning to Christendom' 

is the arresting title of a striking article by the Rev. H. Mayne 

Young, M.A., in the March issue of' Nash's Magazine.' In it 

the rev. gentleman deals with tlrn great unrest in the religious 

·world, which h e speaks of as 'Divine Discontent.' He is outspoken 

to a degree, but by no means pessimistic. While he 

recognises that religious bodies are barely maintaining their position, 

he holds that 'this is not lJecause of any marked decay in 

·the re ligiou.~ sense of the community, for there is, if anything,. 

more religion, certainly more interest in religion, abroad than 

ever before-witness the phenomenal growth of such systems 

of religious thought as "Christian Science," "Spiritualism," 

"New Thought," and the "Higher 'l'hought. Centre"' 

but because a revolution is taking place, and 'belief in the 

formulated dogmas of the Church among educated men is 

fast dying out.' 'The old worn-out theology needs to Le- readjusted 

and re-stated, that it may once more supply the needs of 

a progressively inspired people.' The w:hole article will well 

repfly thoughtful perusal. 

Do we keep our senses open for every sight and sound of 

heal'en that comes near us in our daily life 1 In the February 

' Theosophist,' EYa M. Martin tells us of some of t.he 'Windows 

of Heaven' through which she has peeped within the last few 

months. Here is one : ' On a day of blazing sun and cloudless 

• sky I was crossing the wide, open space in front of the British 

:Museum. The heat was ,·ery great, and the sh adow that lay in 

the portico and over the broad stone steps looked cool and restful. 

But before I had covered half the distance I was arrested 

uy a sudden stir and commotion among a flock of pigeons who 

were feedi11g on the grass at my right hand. Something had 

startled them, and they rose, a whirring cloud, into the air. The 

next instant I was in the midst of them, hearing the music of 

their wings. The whirr of a bird's wings one may often hear, but 

this was music unutterably sweet and soft, like the Lhrilling of a 

"thousand ethereal lmrps. I stood still and looked up, as theytlew all 

around and above me in the sunny air, and the colours of them 

were like a changing shimmer of blue and mauYe and blac)c and 

grey and silver. They passed and I walked on. But heat and 

weariness were forgotten, and my heart overflowed with gratitude 

to the One who had known, and cared, to devise such infinite 

lJeauty of sight and sound in small things as well as great. I 

knew that in that brief moment of joy I had heard one of the 

sweetest and purest strains of the symphony that nature plays 

for us l>y night arid day, in which the high and airy note of a 

bird's wing is as necessary as the song of wind-blown forests and 

never resti1ig seas.' 


The Editor is not responsible for the opinions expressed by correspondents, 

and sometimes publishes what he does not agree with for 


Dr. Dixon and Others. 

Sm,-To those who have escaped from bondage to the dead 

past there is something highly humorous in the attitude of the 

unco guid, Pastor Dixon, type of religionist towards Spiritualism, 

and a 'saving sense of humour' might suggest to these 

gentlemen-and ladies in some instances-that the Old Testament's 

condemnation, real or alleged, of Spiritualism may be of 

no greater importance than its condemnation of the modern 

practice of shaving. The same chapter in Leviticus which says : 

'Regard not them which have familiar spirits' contains also this 

'solemn' and express command : ' Ye shall not round the 

corners of thy head ; neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy 

beard.' Now, I should not be smprised if both Dr. Dixon and 

Sir Robert Anderson have not only 'marred the corners' of their 

beards, but, with the most ungodly disregard for Scripture, 

have actually shaved them off altogether. I would, therefore, 

suggest to these gentlemen that they apply to themselves the 

logic of St. James (James ii. 10), slightly varied to suit their 

case, as follows : 'WhosueYer shall keep the whole law and yet 

offend in one point, shall be guilty of all ; for he that said, 

Regard not them that have familiar spirits, said also, Thou shalt 

not mar the corner.;; of thy beard. Now, if thou regard not them 

that have familiar spirits, yet if thou mar the corners of thy 

beard, thou hast become a transgressor of the law.' 

It may be, however, that the gentlemen only-require to have 

their attention drawn to the above passages, and that we may 

expect soon to see their flowing and untrimmed beards proclaiming 

their ready obedience to the 'Word of God.'-Yonrs, 

&c., 

J. STODDART. 

Falkirk. 

A Reviewer Reviewed. 

Sm,-As more than one person haa sent me 'The Theosophist' 

.for February, in which my book, 'The Beginnings of Seership,' 

is reviewed by 'E. s.,' kindly permit me through ' LIGHT' to 

reply to the reviewer. 

· ' E. S.' refers me to 'Clairvoyance,' by C. W. Leadbeater, and 

advises me to read it. That I have not CJ.one so is an assumption 

which is as hasty as it is groundless. As a matter of fact I read 

'Clairvoyance ' seven years ago, before I began my book, and 

finding that there were no evidenced facts therein, I determined 

to collect evidence and, with it, make a book which should be 

destitute of theories. I intended that the student should have 

a 'pair' of books, facts and theories, for his bookshelves, and 

therefore (together with the pre-knowledge that a Theosophist 

ivoulcl refer me to Mr. Leadbeater's book), I Lound mine as an 

exact match to 'Clairvoyance' in colour, silver lettering, and 

the T. (Turvey), P. (prefaced by), S. (SLead). 

I used ribbed cloth, as against Mr. Leadbeater's smooth, to 

typify ' rough' facts as against smooth and slippery unevidenced 

atatements. 

I hope that 'E. S. ' is now satisfied that I have read ' Clairvoyance' 

and I will be grateful to her if she will re-read it 

herself. She will then see that the 'funnel' explanation which 

Mr. Leadbeater uses for plain long-distance clairvoyance, and 

which, as a description of my feelings, I also use for the 

phase of clairvoyance in which the consciousness of the seer 

is wholly at one end of the line, does not explain those phases of 

clairvoyance in which the consciousness of the seer appears to 

be at both ends of the line (of vision). Much less does it 'satisfactorily 

explain,' as sh e asserts, 'Phone-Voyance,' in which the 

consciousness of the seer not only appears to be at both ends of 

both Jines (telephonic wire and line of vision) but also appears 

to actually travel inside the telephone wire accompanied by 

' flashes of fire and moving particles of metal' and a crackling 

noise. I venture to say that the author of ' Clairvoyance' would 

admit that he had never heard of seeing through a telephone 

wire and that his 'explanation' (and my own description of 

the appearance) of a 'funnel' was never intended to explain anything 

but plain long-distance clairvoyance. 

Mr. Leadbeater says, 'the trained seer makes the funnel out 

of astral matter.' This may be so. I cannot speak so definitely, 

not being 'trained,' as my reviewer twice carefully points out. 

I take it that just as a ray of light, when it pierces a fog, 

appears to make a funnel out of 'fog-matter,' so, I thinlc, does 

the concentrated will (light) appear to make a funnel in the 

unaffected ether ; but I do not think that the seer ctctitally 

makes the funnel of 'astral matter' any more than a searchlight 

makes the funnel out of 'fog-stuff.' 

I did not claim to be a ' trained occultist,' but only a

March 9, 191~.] ·LIGHT :. 119 

psychic who has devoted about sixty thousand hours to 

study and practice, becaitse I read that the author to whom I am 

referred says, ' a trained seer can use his faculties as he likes, 

and alwciys bas "them at his command.' I am a plain mau, Mr. 

Editor, neither a god nor a theosophical ' trained' seer, and I 

perfectly well know that I cannot even use my normal faculties 

-such as memory, hate, belief, love, sleep, &c.-as, and when, 

I like ; and few less can I use my psychic faculties 'just as I 

want to.' I would like to meet a seer who can. I suppose 

that no Theosophist would deny that Mr. Leadbeater is a 

'trained' seer. Yet we have his definite assurance that 

·Madame Blavatsky died before she met Colonel Olcott, before 

she wrote 'Isis Unveiled,' before she founded the T. S. W:hat, 

then, becomes of the 'trained' seeress, Mrs. Besant, Mr. Leadbeater's 

co-worker, who, when she 'learned to love H. P. B.,' 

did not even know that she was loving 'two chelas, an adept, 

and a Tibetan woman who inhabited H. P. B.'s vacated body'? 

Which 'trained' seer had 'the faculties alivays at .command' ? 

Perhaps my reviewer will enlighten LlS by referring us to Mr. 

Leadbeater. 

May I suggest that certain Theosophists drop either their 

airs of patronage or else their talk about ' the brotherhood of 

man.' If they 'may not demonstrate their phenomena ' (as Mr. 

Leadbeater says), they might at least be less patronising to those 

who do, and thus exhibit better taste towards ' untrained 

occultists' such as-Yours, &c. , 

VINCENT N. T URVEY. 

Mr. Henry Frank Explains His Position. 

Sm,-In acknowledging Mr. El'ans's very meritorious notice 

of my book, ' Psychic Phenomena, Science, and Immortality,' in 

'LIGHT' of December 30th (pp. 617-8), may I point out 

that though he may have aroused the interest of your 

readers by the slight intimation he gi \'es of the scienti ftc 

interpretation of spirit phenomena found ii\ the work, he 

would doubtless have edified them more harl he gil'en a more 

carefully analysed resume of the argument I presented. · As, 

however, he felt called upon to indicate some serious mistakes 

into which he considered I had fallen in my endeal'our to interpret 

Nature's method in producing these phenomena, I should 

like, with your permission, to indicate his own error in attempting 

to interpret my propositions. 

Mr. El'ans thinks that I fail to value the importance of the 

philosophy of Spiritualism, because such seers ·as A. J . Davis, 

Hudson Tuttle, &c., anticipated science by discerning 'the interior 

o.f the human organism as seen by them clairvoyantly 

when in the magnetic state.' He refers to the fact that in 1852 

Mr. Davis anticipated modern science by forestalling the discovery 

of the wonders of radio-activity, and 'all the glowing 

emanations from matter,' 'and that Mr. Hudson Tuttle, in 

speaking of the spirit's home in the " Arcana,'' testifies to the 

same fact, which sl:ows how closely the reality of radio-activity 

-which he speaks o.f as emanations-was apprehended.' 

But Mr. Evans does not seem t.o realise that such facts, even 

granting their indisputable character, in 110 way detract from ' my 

effort to discol'er Nature's method in educing psychic manifestations. 

My book attempts no argument either in favour of 

or against Spiritualism as a philosophy. It· merely undertakes 

to set forth the heretofore unacknowledged laws and forces in 

nature which are exercised and revealed in these manifestations. 

It is of but little scientific value to prove that Mr. Davis or Mr. 

Tuttle, or seers in general, have seen raiio-active emanations or 

psychic wonders of any sort. Such a fact is for science but a 

starting point, from which she must proceed to learn, if she cau, 

what is the for·ce that underlies snch an emanation. Now, in 

the case of Spiritists, as such, the claim has heretofore been that 

such manifestations are the result of the operation and interference 

of spirits against or with natural law. What I attempt 

to show is that we need nothing but natural law to explain them 

all, and what we call spirits are themselves inl'olved in the 

working of natural laws. Science, I believe, and have tried to 

show in my book, now reveals to us the nature and substance of 

so-called 'spirits.' They are not immaterial and insubstantial 

things (I show that even thoughts themselves are not such), but 

are invisible substantial formations, evolved from invisible SLlbstance 

and only under certain conditions made manifest to 

human discernment. 

The results, which I set for~h, rather assist in 'the furtherance 

of Spiritualism as a philosophy than detract from its value. 

The only place where we would clash would be in the description 

of the nature of so-called 'spirits.' I try to show that as a 

result of the discoveries made in the manifestations of radioactive 

energy, Nature reveals to us the very force and intangible 

substance by which she forms and operates her ' spirits,' and 

·enables them to achieve their seeming wonders. Of com se I 

do not allege in my work that these forces arc ' spirits,' as I 

think science affords us another terminology which leads to les:i 

confusion and apparent contradiction of natural law. 

If science confirms what occnltists or psychics have already 

intuitil'ely discerned, it in no way derogates from the value of 

either the scientific discovery or the psychic perception. There 

seems to. be a prevalent notion that because science has only recently 

come to lend a hand to students of the o:cult, and may 

hal'e revealed the natural laws by which such phenomena are 

made possible, that, therefore, science is of but little value in the 

achievement of genuine knowledge. 

The difference lies here : Mere individual intuitions, visions, 

&c., can only be convincing to the persons who are so favoured. 

'l'o all others such alleged experiences must be taken on faith, or 

wholly denied, because of their seeming contradiction of natural 

law. But when science discovers the law or force in nature 

which makes possible the existence and manifestation of such 

phenomena, the multitude at large can accept the visious of the 

occnltist or psychic as true, because they can then be admitted 

as facts without requiring their votaries to go outside of nature 

to apologise for and defend their existenJe. Thus science becomes 

the friend and helper of the student of the 'arcane,' and 

µot his foe. 

That is the value of books like mine. They show how 

natural law enters into the problem, and relieve the advocates of 

psychism of a great deal of unnecessary cred uli ty. 

I trust, therefore, you will allow me space in your \"alued 

columns for this kindly rejoinder to Mr. Evans' otherwise 

excellent rel'iew.-Yours, &c., 

New York City, U.S.A., 

January 24th, 191 2. 

HENRY FRANK. 

Signs of the Times. 

Sm,-As an interested observer, neither Spiritualist; nor 

anti-Spiritualist, I have been struck with the vigorous, not to 

say vicious, attacks recently made upon Spiritualism. Yon 

have already referred to the Bishop of Salford's Lenten Pastoral 

(p. 95). To the disciples of the 'Pernicious Cult,' as Dr. 

Casartelli terms it, these attacks cannot but be a source of 

gratification, proving, as they do, the undo ubted spread of 

Spiritualistic teachings. The conclusion of the Pils~oral should 

not be missed : 'Catholics who give themselves up to Spiritualistic 

belief inl'ariahly make shipwreck of their faith.' 

The delicious naivete of this would be spoilt by comment. 

A series of articles on the ' Menace,' ' Peril:i,' or ' Dangers' 

(I forget which) of Spiritualism is at present running in the 

'Liverpool Weekly Courier.' I hwe just read one of them-a 

long-drawn-out dissertation on Spiritualism, mainly in the 

direction of a solemn warning, with the usual threats of insanity 

as the inevitable outcome for the blind or wilful ones who disregard 

such monitions. We are bidden to look at those who 

attend Spiritualistic seances, and observe what extraordinary 

physiognomies grow upon them as a resnlt of their assiduous 

cultivation of the passive mind. Only tho3e who are brave and 

fearless and hal'e the advantage of scientific training may, the 

writer suggests, safely go into such matters. Unless they 

possess these attributes, he recommends his reader3 to leave 

Spiritualism to the Society for Pciychical Research. Apparently 

the writer does not, himself, possess the courage and the scientific 

qualifications refened to, and has therefore wisely refrained 

from investigating. In these circumstances it is open to question 

whether he is qualified to pose as an authority on the 

subject. 

Thirdly and lastly, it gives me unqualified plea>ure to call 

further attention to the sermon preached on February 23rd by 

Bishop vVelldon. Let me add to the passages you quoted last 

week (p. 101) the following :- 

'He would not have bis hearers discredit el'en such el'idence 

as was adduced for spiritual appearances, and especially the 

appearance of a person's spirit at the time of his death to 

another person. It was wise for Christians to welcome 

with gratefnl hearts whatever light might he shown, and from 

whatever source, upon man's immortality. The spirit did 

exercise a power over the body. Enthusias m and devotion 

were quite etrong enough in certain human beings to effect a cure 

of certain maladies. The cures bvought about by J es us Christ 

.upon sin and suffering, whether they chose to call them supernatural 

or not, were the effects of H is own personality, and, if a 

personality like His were to appear in this world again, the 

same cures would undoubtedly be effected. When a wholly 

sinless being appeared in the world of man, such a being would 

work cures of suffering and disease.' 

The thoughtful Spiritualist will be in no doubt as to the comparative 

value of the foregoing examples of current comment on 

their 'Cult.' The two first are negligible, merely passing reflections 

from minds more or less biassed. The last, however, 

strikes a deeper note- a note resonant with meaning to the discl'iminating 

mind. Slowly but surely the monoto11ons Gregorian


tones of a ' creed outworn' are giving place to a broader, more 

Jovely melody. Day by day we have enlightened sermons from 

the waking minds of the more advanced spiritual pastCJrs. And 

what will be the outcome of this undeniable eYolution 7 With 

the official seal of orthodoxy, many of the educated adherents of 

Spiritualism, who have long deplored the lack of organisation 

and other drawbacks attaching to the movement, will gladly 

welcome similar teachings from the Established Church. Will 

Spiritualism then have a rciison cl'etre ? What matter ? The 

truth is for all, and I am sure that of all sects the Spiritualists 

would be the last to claim a proprietary right in the glorious 

trnth they have known so long, and which is now slowly, but 

surely, spreading, as, indeed, it must. M ciana est veritcis, et 

prevnlebit.-Yours, &c., 

Stockport. W. M. M. 

Spiritualists' National Fund of Benevolence. 

Srn,-Kindly permit me to acknowledge, with thanks, the 

following subscriptions to the National Fund of Benevolence, 

received during February : Miss Boswell Stone, 5s. ; York 

Society, St. Savioursgate, £1 5s.; Crewe Society, 5s. ; South 

Shields Society, 5s. Total, £2. This amount is very disappointing, 

as requests are constantly coming in. I have had 

five extra appeals this month. I woulrl like to ask all largehearted 

Spiritualists to ' cast their bread upon the waters,' and 

to assme them that 'it will return to them after many days.' 

Please note the address for donations is Mrs. M. A. Stair, 14, 

North-street, Keighley.--Yours, &c., 

M. A. S'!'AIR, Hon. Sec. 

To Help the Ch il dren. 

Srn,-I have been most of my life in the E ast, and am much 

int.crested both in Modern Spiritualism and Theosophy ; in fact 

·the teachings of Leon Denis's ' H ere and H ereafter,' of Desertis' 

'Psychic Philosophy,' and of Stainton Moses' works seem to me 

of far higher s t 1J.nd ~ rd than anything the churches can offer, and 

my wife and I are bringing up our large family (seven children) 

in these ideas and discarding entirely the doctrines, creeds and 

dogmas of the Church. 

- Recently, I was speaking to llir. Beard of the 'Order of the 

Golden Age' (for we are almost, though nqt quite, vegetari;rns 

here) as to the possibility of starting a home for very poor children 

on the lines of the National Refuges and Dr. Barnardo's 

H omes, where our principles and ends in view might be canied 

out. Alcohol, of course, in every shape or form, would be excluded, 

and the d iet would be practically a meatless one, covering 

fruit, vegetables and all cereals, eggs, milk, cheese 1111cl a 

little fish-while the moral and religions training wottlcl be 

similar to that of the Spirit ualists' Lyceums. Both my wife and 

I are interested in the homes just mentioned (tbe National 

Refuges and Dr. Barnardo's), but we should naturally like to see 

our own views hold more sway there-that is, as regards the diet 

and the religious teaching. 

I had thought that, with Sir Wm. Cooper and others who 

would be interested in snch a scheme, something might be 

attempted in that direction, but perhaps this is all too prernatiire, 

as is anGther scheme which seems worthy of s upp ort-vi~., a 

college for mediums. 

Alcohol I look upon as the great curse of this and other 

countries, and with the elimination of the 'drink ' problem (the 

Prohibitionists in New Zealand, by the way, seem to he carrying 

the day), and the adoption of a less gross diet, the teachings of 

Spiritualism and Theosophy would stand '.l much better chance 

of making progress-and rapid progress.-Yours, &c. , 

H. IRVING BELL. 

DuNDEE.-FoRESTERs' WEST HALL.-On F ebruary 29th the 

sixteenth anniversary of Lhe society was celeb1ated with a very 

successful social gathering. Mr. J. M. Stevenson, presid ent, 

stated Lhat in 1876 some twenty persons commenced the work, 

and meetings had been held regularly ever since with increasing 

success. Thousands of persons in Dundee had been brought to 

realise that death is but an incident in man's omrnrd career, 

and that communion with loved ones passed on is both natural 

and comforting. No sensational methods to attract attention· 

had been employed, but appeals to reason and the calm judgment 

of thoughtful men and women had met wi th satisfactory 

results. Many private circles were held, but too fe.w 

of those who were c01lVinced attached them8el ves openly 

to the movement. This, lie thought, was not as it should be. 

Spiritualism aimed at spi!'itualising the lives of its adherents, 

and those wlw grasped its full import ought to strengthen the 

i·anks of the workers fo r its promulgation. If tllis were done one 

of the most commodious halls in Dunclee w9nlc1 be required a.s a 

m ee tin~ place, 

SOCIETY WORK ON SUNDAY, MARCH 3rd, &c. 

MARYLEBONE SPIRITUALIST ASSOCIATION, 51, MORTIMER 

STREET, W.-Cavendish Rooms.-Mr. W. E. Long, under control, 

delivered an opportune address on' D emons.' Mr. Leigh Hunt 

presided.-15, Mortimer-street, W.-February 26th, Mr . Horace 

Leaf gave interesting clairvoyant descriptions and helpful messages. 

Mr. Leigh Hunt presided. Sunday next, see advt. on front 

page.- D. N. . 

BRIGHTON.-MANCHESTER-STREET (OPPOSITE AQUARIUM). 

M rs. Boddington answered questions, and gave an ·excellent 

address and clain'oyant descriptions. Sunday next, at 11.15 a.rn., 

public circle ; at 7 p.m., address by president, Mr. J . 

Macbeth Bain. Tuesday, at 8, and Wednesday, at 3, Mr8. 

Clarke, clairvoyance. Thursday, at 8, members' circle.-H.G.E. 

CROYDON.-ELMWOOD HALL, ELMWOOD-ROAD, BROAD-GREEN. 

-Mr. G. R. Symons gave an interesting address. Sunday next, 

at 11.15, service; at 7 p.m., Mrs. Jamrach.-W. G. R. 

BRIXTON.-8, MAYALL-ROAD-Miss Violet Burton gave an 

address. Sunday next, at 7 p.m., Union of London Spiritualists ; 

at 3 p.m., Lyceum. Circles : Monday, at 7.30, ladies' ; Tuesday, 

at 8.1 5, members' ; Thursday, at 8.15, public.-G. T. W. 

KINGSTON-ON-THAMES.-ASSEMBLY ROOMS, HAMPTON WICK. 

-Mr. K. Lall addressed a good audience. Sunday next, Mr. 

W. H. Wood, on 'The Purpose of Beauty.' Clairvoyant descriptions 

by Miss Kent. 

HACKNEY.-240A, AMHURST-ROAD, N.-Mrs. Hylda Ball gave 

an eloquent address on 'The Practical Mystic.' Sunday next, 

at 7 p.m., N urse Graham. Monday, at 8, circle. Tuesday, at 

8.30, astrology class. Friday, at 8. 30, healing by Mr. and Mrs. 

Hawes and Mr. H. Bell.- N. R. 

STRATFORD.-WORKMAN'S HALL, 27, ROMFORD-ROAD, E. 

Mr. T. 0. Todd's interesting address on' The Great Renunciation' 

was much appreciated by a large audience. Mrs. E. P. Noall 

presided. Snnday next, Mr. Todd, on 'The Way of Life as 

Propounded by Spiritual Philosophy.'- W. H. S. 

BIRMINGHAM. - CAMDEN-STREET SCHOOLS. - Mrs. Groom 

spoke on 'Mun a Spirit and his Possibilities.' On the 4th, in 

the Mission Hall, Mr. Terry answered questions. Clairvoyant 

descriptions at both meetings. Sunday next, :Mr. E. W. Wallis 

will deliver trance adnresses at 11 a.m. and 6.30 p.m.- W. E. R. 

PECKHAM.-LAUSANNE HALL, LAUSANNE-ROAD.-Moming 

and ev®ing, addresses' by Mr. Huxley in place of Mrs. RoheYts, 

who was unable to come. Sunday next, at 11.30 a. m. and 7 p.m., 

Mrs. A. Webb. 17th, Mr. Blackman and Mrs. Podmore. 14th, 

members' meeting. 21st, social, 6d. Friends are thanked for 

copies of ' LIGHT ' sent to Mr. Ball and to the hall.-A. C. S. 

SHEPHERD'S BusH.-73, BECKLO W-ROAD, W.-1\forning, 

Mr. M'Lellan gave an interesting address. Evening. 

read ing by Mrs. Connor, 'Om Children.' Both speakers gave 

successful clairvoyant descriptions. Sunday next, at 11 u.m., 

public circle ; at 6.45 p.m., Mrs. Pod more. Circles : Thursday, 

at 8, public; Friday, at 8, rnernhers'. - J. J . L. 

BRIGH'l'ON.-HOVE OLD TOWN HALL, 1, BRUNSWICK-STREET 

·wEs•.r.-'-Mr. Horace Leaf gave excellent addresses and clairvoyant 

descriptions. Strnday next, 11.15 a.111., public circle ; 

7 p.m., Mrs. Maria Scott. J\fond>iys, at 3 and 8, also Wednesdays 

at 3, Mrs. Curry, clairrnyance. Thursdays, at 8. Hi, public 

circle.- A. C. 

STRATFORD.-lDMISTON-ROAD, FoREST-LANE.-M:orning, a 

paper by Mr. A. T. Connor on 'Spiritualism in Citizenship' was 

discussed. Evening, Mr. ·walker gave an address and clairvoyant 

descripLions. Sunday next, 11.30 a. m., Mr. Wrench, on ''l'he 

Spiritualist Social Worker'; 7 p.m., Mrs. Ord. 14th, Mrs. 

Mary Davies. Good Friday, Stratford Town Hall demonstration. 

SEVEN KINGS, lLFORD.-45, THE PROMENADE.-Mrs. A. 

Hitchcock gave a spiritual address on 'The Valley of the Shadow 

of Death ' and answered questions. On February 23rd, Mr. 

Sarfas, address and psychometry. Sunday next, at 7 p.m., Mr. 

Karl Reynolds. Ti\esday, at 8, Mr. T. 0. Todd. W ednesday, 

at 8.30, study class. Friday, 8.30, d,.eveloping circle.-C. E . S. 

HOLLOWAY.-PARKHURST H ALL, '32, PARKH URST-ROAD. 

Morning, Mr. Richardson gave an uplifting address. Evening, 

Mr ~ . A.. Jamrac.:h spoke on the ' Spiritualist's Conception of God,' 

and gave convincing clairvoyant descriptions. 28th, Mr. A. 

Graham, clairvoyance. Sunday next, at 11.15 a.m., Mr. \V. R. 

Lawson ; at 3 p. m., Lyc.:enm ; at 7, Mrs. Alice Beanrepaire. 

Wednesday, open. Saturday, 23rd, social.- J. F . 

BRIGHTON.-BRUNSWICK H ALL, 2, BRUNSWICK-STHEET 

E AS'r, WES'l'ERN-ROAD, HovE.-Sund ays, 7.p.m., service, add ress, 

clair voyance. Circles : Tuesdays and Fnduys, at 8 ; Thmsdays, 

at 3.30. 'Wednesdays, at 8, materialising circle (61, Preston 

Drove). - L. A. R. 

------------~ 

LONDON SPIRITUAL MISSION: 22, Prince's-street, Oxforcl-circus, 

W.- J\forn ing, Mr. H. G. Beard gave an address on 'Add to 

Your Faith, Knowledge.' Evening, Mr. E. W. Beard s:poke on 

' Spiritualism ai+d the Open Door,'-E, C. W,


'LIGHT ! Momi: LIGHT!'-Goethe, • WHATSOEVER DOTH MAKll: MANIFEST IS LIGHT.'-Paui. 

No. 1,627.- VOL. XXXII. [Registered M] SATURDAY, MARCH 16, 1912. [ n. Newspapor. J PRICE TWOPENCE. 

CONTENTS. 

Notes by the Way .. - .......... 121 Spiritun.lism : A Survey of its 

L.S.A. Notices .................. 122 Position, Achievements, and 

Spirit Identity ... . ............·.. 123 Possibilit ies. An Address by 

Coincidences, Numbers ........ 123 Mr. Angus llfoArthur .......... 128 

Germ Thoughts from 'Bibby's Notes from Abroad ........ ...... 129 

Annual ' .... - ...... ........ 124 Items of Interest ····-·····... 130 

A •Haunting' but not 'Evil' Mr. Peters in Hollanfl .......• . . 130 

Spirit .. .. .. . ................ 124 Mabel Collins and Tm th ........ 130 

The Bnne ancl the AnLiclote .. .. 126 '.l.'wo Veridical Dreams .... _ .. _ 131 

Transition of Mr. George Spriggs127 The Secret of Den.th .. •• . . •• . . 13L 


'Current Literature,' the American magazine, in its 

February number, contains an excellent article on transmitted 

memory, in the course of which the writer says :- 

Cases which seem to favour the be1ief in a transmission of an 

ancestral memory are those of innate fear and terror in the 

presence of certain objects--such as that said Lo be exhibited hy 

a monkey at sight of a snake, by a chick at the cry of a hawk, 

and hy a horse at the smell of a lion. The po$sibility of this 

fear being due to imitation of elders, who have had the individual 

experience of unpleasant associations and remember it, has, 

of course, hecn offered as an exp1anation. But it is asserted 

that experiments have been made which exclude the possibility 

of imitation. 

It is possible that in some cases of this kind the fear 

shown is of a qt1ite spontaneous charact~r-just the ordinary 

fear of the unknown. Monkeys, for example, occasionally 

show fright at creatures that could do them no harm. Vve 

recall the case of a large dog which would run in fear and 

trembling from a dead chicken, and it is not easy to 

suppose that any of its ancestors had painful associations 

with deceased members of the poultry tribe. Much more 

significant than most of the instances supposed to indicate 

transmitted memory in the lower animals are some of the 

cases recorded concerning children. 

Quite a volume could be filled with instances of children 

reproducing the mental peculiarities of their forebears 

in circumstances which pointed to something like a transmitted 

memory. Sometimes it has been the dim recognition 

of some scene, in a picture or in the real world, which 

had for some reason made a strong impression on the mind 

of an ancestor. Posthumous children have been known to 

show curious predispositions concerning things that in life 

influenced the father whom they never saw. And here we 

find a theory that may explain at least a few of those cases 

of mysterious recognitions of scenes and places that are 

sometimes attributed to reincarnation and sometimes to 

prevision. After all, the facial peculiarity- the hare-lip, the 

projecting tooth, the contorted nose-which, after lying 

latent for a generation or two, reappears in the latest born 

of a family is only a trifle less mysterious than the mental 

peculiarity which is transmitted in the same way. Some of 

those curious repulsions from quite harmless things-which 

puzzle even their possessors-might be explained if it were 

possible to examine a family history very closely for a few 

generations. 

In 'The Progressive Thinker' Mr. Charles Dawbarn 

bas been reviewing the 'chronicles and revelations' of 

certain seers. In the course of an article in which he ably 

~qmmaris~~ SO!!}~ 9f t4~ teachings iP 'Life agd it!? 

Manifestations,' by a Manchester seer, Mr. Dawbarn 

makes a preliminary statement which struck us as having 

an important bearing on the subject:- 

I got proof of lrnman immortality and spirit return, but I 

could never get any further and call it know1edge. The rest 

was just faith that might mean anything or nothing. . 

Some of these faith re1·elations, as I ca1l them, though very 

beautiful, are at best but sunshine flashes through the cracks in 

mortal brains. There is many a contradiction, born perhaps of 

mortal limitations ; but all the same the soul grows happier by 

so much as it can grasp of apparent truths through these fog. 

land visitors. 

That is a sensible way of approaching the question. 

We may gain proof palpable of the life after death, but as 

regards the revelations of that li fe which come to us from 

the other side we have no touchstone but reason-we can 

hardly, in this life; call our convictions on the subject 

knowledge. No doubt the ideas o(the nature of the next· 

life vary in every case with the mentality which inspires· 

and that which receives them. And so we get all grades 

of view, from that which views the spiritual world as a 

reflex of the physical one to that which can only express it 

m terms of mystic symbology. 

In 'The American Spiritualist' a new organ of the 

movement, published at Los Angeles (California), appears 

a letter from a correspondent who tells of an interview 

with a man in the spiritual world-one who in mortal life 

had succumbed to the fascinations of alcohol, and who, in 

his new surroundings, presented a deplorable picture of its 

devastating results. Exhorted to reform, the unhappy man 

replied that it was too late for repentance, and quoted the 

well-known lines :- 

While Lhe lamp holds out to burn 

The vilest sinner may return, 

which called forth the very pertinent question, 'Has your 

lamp of life gone out i Does it not continue to burn i' 

That was truly a word in season. It gave a new light 

to the darkened mind, and since then, it appears, the spirit 

has turned his back on his old life, and is winning others 

to the better way. 

'The Key to Perfect Health,' by Mr. Arthur Hallam, 

the well-known founder and Hon. Secretary of the Psycho 

Therapeutic Society, is a welcome addition to the growing 

literature of Health Reform. It admirably fulfils its purpose 

of servin g as a text-book of Psycho-Therapeutics. 

Mr. Hallam commences his work with something in the' 

nature of an apology for the 'very bold and comprehensive 

title' he has chosen for the vol ume, but he may maintain 

a quiet conscience on that score, for we have rarely 

encountered a more practical and rational book of its kind. 

It takes a wide survey of its subject, prouounces convincingly 

on many of the errors of the time, deals faithfully 

with fads and faddism in relation to health, and 

withal gives a great amount of useful advice on the sub· 

ject of gaining and keeping a sound mind in a sound body. 

Mr, ffall ai:n devotes svecial attention to ma~netism, hypno-

122 LIGHT. [J\farcl1 16, 1912. 

tism and suggestion as curative agents, and bis rnmarks on 

these subjects come with the authority oouferred by close 

observation and practical experience. 

Quite naturally we found our interest most active when 

reading some of Mr. Hallam's conclusions in the chapter 

entitled 'The Higher Phenomena of Mesmerism.' Referring 

to 'the definite disclosure of the bidden side of life ' 

which is elicited dm;ing the mesmeric sleep, be says :- 

Viewed in tl1is light, it will be seen that the higher phenomena 

of mesmerism are capable of aiding consid erably those who 

are anxious to arrive at a correct interpretation of this most 

interesting prohlem. It is, indeed, to experimental psycl1ol ogy 

conducted on these lines, that we must look for the explanaLion 

of all those superphysical elements in man which, hitlierto left 

as tlie subject of vague religious faith, have never yet been regarded 

by the world as capable of being brought within the 

domnin of exact knowledge. 

In this connection the author predicts, ;i,nd with the 

strongest justification, that a great advance in knowledge 

concerning the true nature of man will be made during the 

present century. The book, which has our warm commendation, 

is pubUshed by the St. Clements Press, Limited 

(price 4s. net). 

The late Rev. J. Page Hopps said many wise and true 

things. Referring to the strange bleuding of tragic and 

trivial things in daily life, he said, in his ' Sermons of 

Sympathy' :- 

Shakespeare, in his profoundest and sorrowfnllest tragedies, 

adroitly introduces intervals of hnmour, little sn R.tch es uf song, 

bright gl eams of sunny-hearted delight, or pure un consciousness 

of evil. And t hat is a picture of real life. The great tragedy 

is heing enacted ; the .~ick are pining, the vicious are sinning, 

the lonely are mourning, the helpless are perishing, and we l1old 

our little merry-makings, enjoy our music, laugh or sigh over 

mimic mirth or pain, or jog on in the even tenor of our way ; 

and only a thin partition, or a street, separates the bounding 

from the breaking heart, the wedding party from the funeral, 

t\ie happy mother with her new-found treasure from the mother 

with the empty place in house if not in heart. In trnth t11e 

sins and sorrows of modern life would haunt us like a frightful 

spectre, in bed or at .board, at church or at business, if we had 

not so many things lying nearer to us, to fill tlie eye and engross 

the thoug11t; and though these engrossing things be trivialand 

some of tl1em but poor little selfish interests- they serve, 

like tiny fingers on the eye, to blot out the tremendous spectacle. 

How true that is ! Here we are to-day passing through 

a transition time in which changes of the most tremendous 

import are taking place right in our midst and yet we go 

on our way, doing the 'daily round, the common task' 

as though nothing mattered. And what a blessing it is 

that we are able to keep calm and to preserve our faith 

that 'somehow good will be the final goal of ill.' It is 

that faith which keeps us sane, strong, hopeful and trne. 

MENTAT, I-I EAI.INQ.-On Monday, the 4th inst., Di·. Valentine 

Knaggs lectured before the Psycho-Therapeutic Society, at the 

Caxton Hall, on 'Mental Healing from a Physical Standpoint.' 

After explaining that mind, soul, anrl body must lJe taken into 

consideration if we wished to do really effective work, he said 

that some people wished to treat diseases by mind methods only, 

and others by physical means solely. This was a mistake, as 'in 

true healing all the factors must be taken into consid eration. 

Dr. Knaggs likened the physical body to a delicate instrument 

upon which the mind and the soul of the tl'lle self played d uring 

earth life. It was functioned by a fine form of electricity called 

animal magnetism, which also was a physical force, and anyone 

using magnetism was employing a physical method of healing. 

The soul functioned the body and its magnetism automatically, 

so as to allow man to develop the qualities of mind and thus 

evolve to a higher state of being. The soul could not heal of 

itself, as it was a passive agent, but it could be influenced by the 

mind or by the body. Thus the best form of healing was one 

in which the mind and the body co-operate :l. 


A meeting of tl1e Mernbers and Associates of the Alliance 

will be held in the SALON OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF BRITISH 

ARTJs•rs, SuFFOLK-S'l'REE'.l', PAJ.r, MALL E AST (ncm· the National 

Gallery), on 

THURSDAY EVENING, MARCH 2 8 TR, 

WHEN AN ADDRESS WILL BE GIVEN BY 

SIR W. :E'. BARRETT, F.R.S., 

ON 

'THE PROBLEMS OF PSYCHICAL RESEARCH.' 

The doors will be opened at 7 o'clock, and the Address wm be 




Associates can have additional ticket,s for the use of friends on 

payment of l s. each. Applications for extra tickets, accompR.nierl 

by remittance, should be addressed to Mr. E. W. Wallis, Hon. 

Secretary, 110, St. Martin's-lane, W.C. 

Meetings will also be held in the SALON OF THE RoY AL SOCIETY 

OF BRI'l'ISH AR'l'ISTS, Suffolk-street, Pall Mall East, S.W. (near 

the National Gal)ery), on the following Thursdays at 7.30p. m. :- 

Apr. 11.- Mr. E .. E. Fournier d' Albe, B.Sc., on ' The Frontiers 

of the Soul.'' ' 

Apr. 25.-' Cheiro' on 'Personal Experiences of Psychic Phenomena 

in India, America, and other Countries.' 

May 9.- Rev. T. Rhondda Williams 011 'The Soul as Discoverer 

in Spiritual R eality: A Study of Two Scientists.' 

MEETINGS AT 110, ST. MARTIN'S LANE, W.C. 


CLAIRVOYANCE. - On Tuesday next, March 19th, Mr. A. 

Punter will give clairvoyant descriptions at 3 p.m., and no 

one will be admitted after that hour. F ee, l s. each to Associates 

; Members free ; for friends introduced by them, 2s. each. 

PSYCHICAL SELF-CULTURE. - On Thursday next, March 21st, 

at 5 p.m. prompt, Nurse Graham will give an address on' Clairvoyance 

Demonstrated,' followed by Descriptions. 


invited to attend the rooms at llO, St. Martin's-lane, on Friday 

afternoons, from 3 to 4, and to introduce friends interested 


experienr.es, and mutual helpfulness. 

TALKS WITH A SPIRIT CoNTROL.-On Friday next, March 22nd, 




Spiritualism generally. Admission ls. ; Members and Associates 

free. MEMBERS have the privilege of introducing one friend Lo 


with written inquiries of general interest to submit to the control. 

Students and inquirers alike will find these meetings especially 



SPIRI'r HEALING.-Daily, except Saturdays, Mr. Percy R. 

Street, the healing medium, will attend between 11 a.m. and 

2 p.m., at 110, St. Martin's-lane, W.C., for diagnosis by a spirit 


aura. For full particulars see the nd vertisement supplement. 

WEI.COME RECEPTION To MRS. MARY SEATON. 

On Thursday afternoon, May 2nd, A SoCTAL GATRlm I NG will 

be held at llO, St. Martin's-lane, W.C., at 3 o'clock, to welcome 

Mrs. Mary Seaton, of ·washington, U.S.A., on her return to 

London. Tea will be provided during the aftemoon, and at 

4 p.m. Mrs. Seaton will give an address on • Spiritnalism : I ts 

Relation to some New Schools of Healing.' Admission : Members 

and Associates, free; Visitors, 2s. each. No tickets required. 

Mns. MARY SEATON's LECTURES. 

A scl'ies of Special Afteruoon Lectures on 'The U nfoldmcnt 

and Exercise of the Powers of the Inner Self' will be delivered 

bY. Mr s. Mary Seaton, at 110, St. Martin's-lane, at 3 o'clock. 


Monday, May 6th, on Marie Corelli's work : ' The Life Everlasting.' 

Thursday, May 9th, on 'A Study of the Soul-How to Use its 

Powers.'

March 16, 1912.] LIGHT 123 

Monday, May 13th, on 'The Soul on the Sub-Conscious Plane : 

I ts Power to Maintain H ealth.' 

Thursday, May 16th, on 'The Soul on the Conscious Plane: !Ls 


of Life.' 

Monday, l.lay 20th, on' The Soul on the Super-Conscious Plane: 

I ts Power to Reach the Unlimited Wisdom, Love, Force 

God.' 


Mary Seaton jointly invite Members and Associates of the 

Alliance to attend these meetings free of charge ; Visitors l s. 

SPIRIT IDENTITY. 

I have found my best spirit tests of identity have come to 

me unsought. Those I am about to relate were received tbrnugh 

the mediumship of Mr. Vango. Some years ago I had the sad 

duty of attending the death-bed of a dear friend-a Spiritualist. 

vVe knew that so far as hunrnn aid was concerned he 

was incurable. I, with others, took it i n tum to be alone with 

him. I mention these details to show how true was the test of 

his return through Mr. Vango's mediumship. After my friend 

had p a~sed on to the higher life he twice appeared t.o me personally, 

but he never manifested to me thrpi.1gh others, and 

tl1 is strnck me as strn.nge, seeing that we had· peen clo::;e friends. 

Years passed, ancl one clay .I accompanied my friends, Monsiem 

and Madame Letort, to Mr. Vango's seance. I t was a Sunday 

morning, and I thought to take them to the house and to withdraw 

myself. But Mr. Vango urged me to go in, and I did so. 

After tests had been given to the sitters by the control ::;he 

tumed to me and described a cousin who had recently passed 

over ; and then followed suddenly a clear and accurate de::;cription 

of my friend, with the statement that we had been 

close friends, and that he had tried to get ]Jack. Then the 

control changed and my friend began to use the body of the 

medium him8elf. H e called rne lJy a name that he had given me 

in the earth life . His peculiarities of breathing and of speaking 

were reproduced. Next came the most wonderful test, for this 

sentence was gasped out : 'Yon had the satisfaction of doing the 

la.st kind act for a dying man '-words that were meaningless to 

others, but to myself full of valuable :>ignificance. One early 

morning he lmd lJeen sleeping on a sofa near a window, but 

wanted to be moved to hi8 bed ; hi ::; wife had lrnt just retired 

from her turn of umsing, and I did not want to call her back. 

So I lifted him Lodily from the 80fa to the bed. And now, 

through Mr. Vango, I was lJeing reminded of the incident by 

rny fricmd repeating tlrn very wurcl8 of gratitude he then u::;ed 

t~ml adding : 'Do you remember ? ' Other signs were given and 

the coutrol left, Lut I knew that rny friend had returned. I 

knew, aud still know, that he does not forget rne. 

On another occasion I visited Mr. Vango when I was passing 

through one of the uitterest and darkest periods of my life, of 

which he, however, knew uothing. The first control began 1Jy 

giving me the name of soni eone who was then infiLiencing my 

life, telling me that I was greatly mistaken in what I thought of 

the character of this person, that he was a good friend, and 

actually telling me where he was at that time, all of which 

I proved to be correct. Then the friend of whom I have 

ttlready spoken controlled again. At first there was no 

particular test of his identity, but what followed was wonderful. 

He mentioned the nature of my trouble, of which 

no one in the circle could possibly have been aware, 

tolcl me that he was with me all through it, and added, ' Yon 

have called me, and I have come.' Now I must mention that 

I had the habi t of taking his photograph in 111y hand, holding 

it before me, and calling to him to come and l1 elp me. 'fo my 

disappointment, I never seemed to get, any response, but I am 

afraid I was too misernble and Litter for him to lJe,alJle to lllanifost 

himself to me. Neither Mr. Vango nor anyone else knew 

of this halJit of mine. 

I may acld yet another experience. This occurred some 

years before I became a Spiritualist. Indeed, at that ti me I 

had seen so m uch that was false p resentation, thn.t I was not 

even decided whether I should OL' should not continue my investigations 

into the si:1bject. Certainly I had no belief in my 

own mediumship. One evening I attended a seance given by 

Mr. Vango at the house of Mrs. Clark, 102, Carnberwell-roada 

house that many old Spiritualists of Sonth London remember 

with much pleasure. In the course of the sitting Mr. Vango, 

under control, took my hand, described a spirit near me whom 

I cuuld not recognise, and then suddenly said, ' You are a 

medium.' Turning tu a friend who had accompanied me to 

the seance, I said, quietly, 'Fancy, me a medium ! ' The control 

gravely responded, 'Do not mock, friend. You are a medium, 

and are called to do a ]Jig work in the wol'ld, for you will travel 

to many lands and give messages from the spirit world to people 

whose language you cannot speak.' Those who !mow anything 

of my work know how exac.:tly this prophecy has been fulfilled. 

A. v. PE'l'ERS. 

COINCIDENCES, 

NUMBERS. 

Three letters to C. C. Massey have only in w come into my 

hands. They were left by him in an envelope addressed to me. 

I tl1ink they arc of sufli cient interest for reference to in 'LIGHT.' 

They turn on strange coincidences relating to numbera. I 

gi ve only the initials (W. P.) of the writer of the three l e tte r~. 

But anyone really interested can see the originals. 

The first letter is elated December 23rd, 188:J. It is of 

interest in itself, but, perhaps, too long and involved in detail 

fur pulJlication. So I quote now only the following senLence : 

'107 i8 the number of the word ." happines8." It was not 

presented to me, but having noticed that it was the number for 

"}mppiness,'' I have since had it presented in several rcmarkalJlc 

ways.' 

I quote thi8 to 8how that, even in 1883, W. P. laid gretLt 

8tress on Lh e number 107. 

The 8econd letter is dated April 21st, 1880 :- 

'MY DEAR ll'IASSJ;;Y,- Travelling about Belgium from the 

first to the ten th of this u10uth, I was getting very anxious 

at no letter having come to us from London, especially as I expected 

a very important one from my boy, and my dreams had 

been of a very disturbing natme. In the cathedral at Antwerp 

I wished most earnestly that if all were right I might in some 

way have tt nu1uber presented to me in such a way as to preclude 

any intluence of my own. The number 107 is al ways 

associated with " happiness " in my mind. From the cathedral 

my daughter and I went to the llfosee Plantin. There I had to 

leave my ~t id:: at the door, and the potter gave me a ticket, No 

107 ! I think all influence, except that which is external, is 

got rid of here.' · 

The third letter is dated February 8th, 1891 :-· 

Yesterday I made up my mind that I mu~ t go 

with my daughter to the theatre next week. It is a very long 

time siuce we went. I then went on to the Lyric. I 

couldn't see anything in the front row of the balcony there, but 

I didn't mind there so much. The clerk said, "What night ? " 

I answered, "Any night except Tuesday. " "We have two very 

good seats for Wednesday- 107 and 108." My muuber. Note 

also that I gave a choice of five nights, and the night given ii:! 

that of Febrnary 11th.' 

W. P. then shows that the muuber of Febmary, p l'lld 

eleven, is equal to 1 07 ! 

F. C. CoNS'1'ADLE. 

Mn. E. C. R uDEDEC K, a Swedish correspondent, writel:! : 'Iu 

one of the " Sagas" of Sturleson mention is made of a certain 

J ad, who was to pronounce sentence upon a murderer, that he 

asked frames (sklLrmar) to be placed around him ; then he 

" breathed heavily," and there came the two mmdered men, one 

drippiug with water (he l1ad been drowned), and the other with 

his decapitated head. F rom this it is apparent that materialisation 

was known then. I do not recollect the name8 in the above 

story, but it has lieen referred to in the "llforgondwmriugen' 

fo r any of the past years. I ruay add that the story respectiug 

the little girl who, stepping from the edge of the two hundred 

feet deep precipice, called Hapac Kaisse, near the small lake, 

Saitsi-j aure (near Ilornwvan, a great lake that gives rise to the 

"Skeleftea-elf," in" Norrland "), was, thanks to the power that 

is active in the p henomena of levitation, borne safely down to 

the bottom of that precipi ce, is repeated by State h un ting -master 

H cmberg, in his book " Nol'l'land," as a known fact.'


GERM THOUGHTS FROM 'BIBBY'S ANNUAL.' 

I believe that in all this world there cannot be found or 

pictured for man a truer happiness than to be able to put strong, 

loving arms of comfort round one who suffers, to give relief to 

one in pain, or to he privileged to place his knowledge at the 

disposal of one who has yet to learn. At such times he is 

conscious of the one self in himself and in 11if1 brother, he realises 

that other's need as 11is own, its relief is his own relief, and no 

self-gratulation can stand in the face of that need. - DORO'rHY 

MARY Conn. 

.The conquest of your petty likes and dislikes, your capricious 

loves and hates, your fits of anger, suspicion, jealousy, and all the 

cl1anging moods to which you are more or less helplessly subj ect, 

that is the task you have before you if you would weave into the 

web of life the golden threads of happiness and prosperity. 

J AMES ALLEN. 

Intuition is wisdom, unfolded by experie11ce and looking out· 

wards, a cliscriminati ve vision, acting directly and sm ely, without 

any reasoning process but .with certainty. High and pure 

. ~mo tion is its immediate forerunner in the growth of the soul. 

- ANNIE BESANT. 

Sympathy, tact, gentle wisdom, and helpfulness are the 

precious fruits of pain, and pain ceases to be pain wlren this 

knowledge illumines the dark cavems of sorrow.-ANNIE 

BESA.NT. 

Communion in worship is not an artificial creation, but 

springs from the deepest instincts in human nature. It is the 

expression of a law of life which declares that everyimpulseand 

ruotirn is strengthened by association. And while men are 

dt[iwn together by all kinds of sympathies and interests, it is 

incredible that they should ever cease to assemble to promote the 

spiritual 110pes and ideals by which they live. The Church will 

eq nip herself for her rn ission by a larger sympathy and a more 

enlightened outlook upon human affafrs. She will speak less of 

the past and more of the present. She will found her right to 

]Je heard, no longer on ancient authorities, but upon her own 

living message to the souls of men, that is, upon her own 

immediate and intimate acquaintance with the gl'eat laws of the 

spiritual world. For these laws are as active to-day as in any 

period of the past, and the teacher who has insight to understand 

them will still lJe received as a prophet, and heard as one 

who speaks with authority.- H. LEFROY YORKE, M.A., B.D. 

It is an axiom in occultism that a man must never neglect 

the duty he owes to others in order to promote his own interests, 

as this throws across his path a serious hindrance to his own 

adYancement. No capitalist or employer can give good service 

to the public and thus obtain the best material success for him· 

self otherwise than by becoming a centre of helpfulness to everyone 

about him. Such men will go to some trouble to train 

those in their employ to become efficient members of society 

and skilful co-operators in the particular business in which they 

happen to be engaged.- J. 0 . S. B. 

Y 0ll and I by indulging in thoughts, emotions, and actions of 

a hopeless, unhappy or despairing kind, are in truth influencing 

others to be so-adding fo rce to what already exists. Om individual 

condition, according to its intensity, ts to a greater or less 

degree creating inhannony in the lives of others, and we are 

either polluting or purifying the world in which we live; we 

aL·e either a blessing or a curse to society in general, or to our 

own circle in part icular. - MA.RIE RussAK. 

The things that lift life above the commonplace, that develop 

the higher qualities of our nature, that minister to the craving 

of the heart, depe11d for their existence upon our giving the best 

mind-service and heart-service in the common experiences uf 

every day ; for it is only when the life has been so ordered that 

the capacities which go to make up our nature can reach their 

highest development.-WILLIA.M GoRNE. 

There can be no doubt as to which gets the better.out of life, 

the chec l'y, rose-spectacled gentleman or his disillusioned, 

jaundiced fellow. No trouble is lightened one onnce by groaning 

and complaint, and no atJliction is too sore to yield to 

continued insistence in looking on its brighter side. We get 

out of life pretty much what we put into it ; cheerfulness 

begets cheery surroundings ; dolefulness begets misery.-CoN. 

SHEARSllU'l'H. 

In the West, despite twenty centuries of Christianity, twenty 

centuries of nominal adherence to the creed of an inner spiritual 

kingdom, man is almost universally looked upon as a body, that 

may or may not possess a soul. 'Say "my body,"' a well-known 

lecturer once asked his audience, 'but do not say "my soul,'' 

for you who speak are the soul.'-JEA.N DELA.IRE. 

Social uplifting must flow in the direction of self-culture and 

self-development, and it is wasted, or worse than wasted, when 

expended in complaining of others. What we need in teachers 

and leaders of men is the strong appeal to these higher and 

nobler instincts of om: nature, to the love of our fellows and the 

desire to be of service, for only as progress is made in this 

direction can we win the right to better conditions, and at the 

same time the power to effectually help on the movement in all 

directions towards a higher level of social life.-JosEPH BIBBY. 

A 'HAUNTING,' BUT NOT 'EVIL,' SPIRIT. 

BY SENGA VELYNE. 

Some short time ago I was staying with a friend-a lady of 

middle·age- who resides just outside Paris. One day we were 

discussing Spiritualism, and whether the practice of it, especially 

in its more phenomenal aspects, were good or not. My friend was 

a very strict English Churchwoman, and an idealist. Deeply 

religious i,l.1 thought, it never occurred to her to reason on the 

subj ect of/her creed ; it was sufficient that it represented for her 

all that was necessary for salvation. No outside influences could 

be admitted into the sacred edifice which her soul had erected 

to guard her cherished idols. We had been reading Father 

Benson's book, 'The Necromancers,' and my friend absolutely 

agreed with it. She said it bore out exactly what she had 

always felt and believed- that to dabble in Spiritualism was as 

mischievous as it was unholy, for the chances were that the 

person who did so would find l1erself, before she \ V.as. &\ llOJ:e cf it, 

possessed by some personality who might work through her to 

further his own evil schemes, and at the same time leave 

her in such a state of weakness, mentally, that in future she 

would not be able to master circumstances by the aid of her 

own will power. She contended that to touch the science at all 

was dangerous. I asked her if she had any ground for her 

statement other than what she had read or had been told by 

others. She said that she had, and related two or three of her 

own experiences which had come unbidden. The most interesting 

one was as follows :- 

One summer she took a house near Sevres and went with her 

family, consisting of three children and their governess, to 

reside there until the autumn. This step was taken principally 

on account of the sensitive condition of the eldest child, a 

girl of nine, for whom the doctor hacl advised a spell of country 

air. The child's bedroom was approached by two or three stairs, 

and was just off the main staircase. Shortly after the family's 

arrival it was noticed that the little girl seemed languid and 

listless. The doctor could only repeat that she was merely 

suffering from overstrung nerves through too rapid growth, 

and that fresh air, good food and plenty of sleep would gradually 

i~es tore her, but in view of these continued signs of failing 

health his assurances could do little to allay the mother's anxiety. 

It was at night that the child's nervousness was at its worst, 

for, in place of refreshing sleep, she would have excitable fits in 

which she would shriek, ' Oh ! tell her to go away! tell her to go 

away ! I can't bear to see her ! ' 'fhe mother and governess at 

such times would do their best to calm and soothe her, and after 

a while she would go to sleep, but only to wake again later with 

the same cry on her lips. 

The child, who was kept in the open air nearly all clay, would 

play normally with her brother and sister and, for the time being, 

seem quite well and free from nervous dreads. But nlwnys as 

heel-time :ipproached there would be a tug-of-war between the 

go vem ess and her charge. 'When, after mounting the staircase 

they would come to the three steps up which they must go

March 16, 1912.) LIGHT. 125 

to the child's room, she would refuse to go, crying out, 'No, no ! 

I can't l I can't ! She will be there again, looking at me, 

and when I look out of bed she will frighten me so, for she 

never speaks-only looks, and stares and stares at me, without 

moving. Don't let me go to bed, Miss -- ; clon't ! I can't 

bear her ! ; The poor mother, in her distress, consulted a 

specialist, who, however, could only repeat what the other 

doctors had said, and the child went on failing. One afternoon 

the mother was sitting in the garden, leaning back in a wicker 

ch

126 .Li G HT. [March 16, 1912. 

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THE BANE ANP THE ANTIDOTE. 

'That's what comes of pew-opening,' said the village 

atheist on hearing of the death of the aged 'pew-opener' 

after a long record of service at the parish church. Now 

:Lnd fLgai.n-very rarely as we are glad to think-the papers 

make public some piece of wrong-duing on the part of a 

reputed Spiritualist, and the very people who would laugh 

at the remark of the Yillage atheist find a pious consolation 

in ascribing the moral lapse of the Spiritualist to his 

beliefs. Let us have even-handed treatment in these 

matters, and the next time a Methodist minister or a 

Salvationist appea,rs in the dock, let us hear the comments, 

'That's what comes of Methodism ! ' 'There is where 

Salvationism leads to ! ' Or rather, do not let us hear such 

r.imarks ii;i any connection, because they are stupid and 

pointless, the outcome of feeble-minded malice, no matter 

from what quarter they proceed. Indeed, the educated 

world is growing tired of the silly bigotry which, in the 

religious newspapers, tells lurid stories of the death-beds 

of atheists, and, in the free-thought papers, gleefully gibbets 

evil-living members of religious bodies who chance to fall 

into the hands of the law. Of course in these cases it is 

tit for tat-the freethinker is making reprisals for what he 

'would term 'Christian slanders.' But 'LIGHT,' though 

sorely tempted at times perhaps, has hitherto refrained 

from applying the lex talionis. Otherwise it could have 

made great play with such headings as, 'Heartless Fraud 

by a Congregationalist,' Wife-Beating by a Plymouth 

Brother,' 'Charge of Immorality aga.inst a ·Wesleyan,' 'A 

I\oman Catholic convicted of For5ery,' and so forth. 

It was not for lack of opportunity that we refrained 

from doing these things, and certainly some of the religious 

bodies referred to could not have logically complained of 

our adopting such a course, judging by the gusto with 

which their particular organs in the Press would seize on 

the term 'Spiritualist' in similar cases. We make no 

claim to any exalted virtue in the m:.ttter. It was simply 

a question of good sense. It needed no depth of perception 

to recognise that crime is human and not sectarian, 

and that to bmnd any religious community because of the 

wrong-doing of some of its members is merely stupid and 

contemptible. We say this without heat, although we 

occasionally feel that we are treated with double injustice. 

For some of the wrong-doers described as Spiritualists in 

the Press were never connected with our movement in any 

way. As a daily paper recently was bold and honest 

enough to say, the very offence with which certain alleged 

Spiritualists were ch:.trged showed thtLt they could ha.ve no 

possible connectiJn with Spiritualism. It was indeed as 

though a man charged with defacing an image of the Virgin 

in a church were described as a Roman Catholic. Even 

the most bigoted Protestant print would know better than 

that, and, however it might yearn to point the moral 

against 'the Papists,' would discreetly refrai.u. vVe are 

glad to see that a similar spirit of discrimination is being 

extended towards our own community. 

To turn now to another aspect of the question. All 

experience has shown that the worst extremes of malevolence 

in religious matters are never directed against 

falsities. The most devilish engines of torture have always 

been reserved for saints and martyrs. It is not necessary 

to slander and revile anything which is purely absurd and 

visionary. We do not take swords against bubbles. "\Vhen 

we see one of the parties to a controversy lose bis temper 

and attempt to pervert the arguments of his op11onent, we 

are fairly safe in concluding that he is beginning to be 

doubtful about his own side of the question, and afraid of 

the truth in the other side. We have seen the matter 

illustrated time and again in psychical science, when a 

sceptical observer has begun with a disdainful smile, and 

bas ended in a burst of hectoring abuse. If he had continued 

to smile disdainfully, the protagonist of the facts of 

psychical research might well have lamented his failure to 

make an impression. But the wrath of the unbeliever 

reassured him. He knew he had something real and vital, 

something worth fighting for, and something bis opponent 

thought worth fighting against tooth and nail. A fallacy 

can be soon laughed out of countenance; but a truth, however 

feeble and ungainly at first sight, is as impervious to 

ridicule as is an ironclad to a fusillade of pea-shooters. It 

is necessary, when Truth comes, to call up all the forces 

of reaction-horse, foot and artillery. If she comes into 

court all the best talent at the bar must be engaged on 

the other side, the Press must be 'nobbled,' and popular 

sentiment inflamed against her. 

There is always a rough sense of proportion in human 

affairs. If we called out a regiment of soldiers every time 

it was necessary to arrest a law-brr.aker, the whole world 

would laugh. One or two policemen are sufficient. And 

it is never thought necessary to thwart the machinations of 

a scoundrel who has evaded the law, by publishing lies and 

misrepresentations about him. He and his friends, indeed, 

are chiefly anxious that he should be libelled in quite 

another way-by being held up as an honest well-doing 

citizen, much injured in reputation by envious detractors ! 

'Ne have sometimes listened to complaints from those 

of certain religious persuasions concerning the bitter and 

unjust accusations made against them by hostile critics. 

And our reply (we hope it consoled them) has usually been 

in substance this : So far as any criticism made against you 

has been sober and temperate, so far it has probably been 

directed against your fallacies ; so far as it has been 

rancorous and bitter, it has in all likelihood been excited 

by your truths. Examine yourselves in the light of the sober 

and reasoned criticism, but take the unjust and vindictive 

attacks as tributes to the truth of your case. 

In regard to our own cause, we endeavour to carry these 

precepts into practice. vVe are content that such errors 

and fallacies as may disfigure it shall be stripped off and 

winnowed out, while in the meantime we have no fear for 

om truths. And in saying this we are not advocating a 

policy of laisse.z-faire. Let us co-operate cordially with the · 

criticism that would purge us of our errors; but let us not 

be cowed into silence regarding' our truths. Let the truth 

be affirmed strongly and fearlessly with all the highest 

resources at our command. It wi ll shine the brighter, not 

merely for the rough handling of its enemies, but for the 

zeal and loyalty of l.ts friends.

March 16, 1912.J LIGHT. 127 

TRANSITION OF MR. GEORGE SPRIGGS. 

GEORGE SPRIGGS: 

AN APPRECIATION. 

Our dear friend and co-~vorker, Mr. George Spriggs, passed 

peacefully away at the age of sixty-two on the morning of Saturday 

last at his home in West Park-road, Kew Gardens. Though it 

was well known that he had been ailing seriously for some time 

past, there must be many in the wide circle of those who held 

him in affectionate ·regard for his kindly nature, his unfailing 

helpfulness and his splendid work in the diagnosing and healing 

of disease, to whom the news will come, or has already come, with 

something of a shock. His presence had grown so familiar, and 

bis popularity was so great, that this could hardly be otherwise. 

In losing him Spiritualism loses one of its most marked 

personalities, the Council of the London Spiritualist Alliance u 

most faithful worker, und the Psycho-Therapeutic Society its 

valued president. For many years in the 'seventies Mr. Spriggs 

resided at Cardiff, and through his rnediumship the ' Circle of 

Light' conducted by Mr. Rees Lewis, was favoured with very 

remarkable manifestations of spirit power. Materialisations 

occurred of the most convincing character, under conditious which 

rendered them of exceptional value as evidence of the reality of 

the phenomenon of the duplication of form, as many as twenty 

of these forms, men, women, and children, appearing in one 

evening, se\'eral being seen at the same time. On one occasion 

three separate forms were clearly seen at the same time in the 

garden outside the house where the seance8 were held. On some 

occasions the gas-light was turned on at full power while the 

materiulised form was in view of all the sitters, while at times 

the medium and the 'form' were both plainly visible. 

From Cardiff Mr. Spriggs went to Australia, and held seances 

in Melbourne, at which similar manifestations occurred. Some of 

the forms were weighed and reco1·ds kept, Mr. Spriggs also being 

weighed, with results which clearly indicated a distinct temporary 

loss of weight on his part as the result of the phenomena. After 

a time Mr. Spriggs was given his choice by his spirit friends of 

either continuing his seances for materialisations or being used 

by them for diagnosis of diseases and healing. Wisely, we 

thin],, he chose the latter, and speedily an extensive practice was 

built up, hosts of persons receiving undoubted benefit from the 

ad vice and remedies they received. D nring a visit to England 

in October, 1895, he was interviewed by · a representative of 

'Lrnn1·,' to whom he imparted his mediumistic experiences at 

considerable length. For the account of this most interesting 

interview we may refer our readers to the Yolume for the year 

referred to, pages 507, 519, 531, 555, and 579. 

After a successful career in Melbourne, Mr. Spriggs decided 

tu return to his native land and settled in London, where he at 

once begun zealously to devote himself to work for Spiritualism. 

E.e was for many years an active member of the committee of the 

.llfarylebone .Association of Spiritualists, and frequently gave 

addresses to that society and others. For sereral years he gave 

his services to the London Spiritualist Alliance for the diagnosis 

of disease, and a large number of the ~IernlJers and Associates 

lJL'Ofited by the ad vice that they received from his cont ml. 

More recently he rendered similar service to the Psycho-TheralJeutic 

Society and worked ardently for the success of that institution. 

Latterly, since he went to reside at Kew Gardens, he took 

much interest in municipal matters : he was president of the 

North Sheen Ward Union, and, having been elected to the Richmond 

Borough Council, was appointed on a number of committees 

and won the appreciation and good will of his fellow councillors. 

No man will more deserve to be 'remembered for the good that 

he has done '-and what better epitaph could be recorded of our 

arisen friend who has passed to a larger sphere of usefulness in 

the spirit world 1 Our sincere sympathy goes out to his reluti ves 

and friends. 

On Tncsday morning last Mr. James Rol>crtson, of Glasgow, 

who spoke in a tender and heartfelt manner of the inesti1uable 

service rendered uy Mr. Spriggs to humanity, conducted a 

private funeral service at the house in the presence of a 

few intimate friends, amongst whom were Mr. Henry l.Yithall, 

rr.presenting the London Spiritualist Alliance ; Mr. W. T. 

Cooper, president of the M:arylelJone SpiritualisL Association ; 

Lady Uoomaraswamy and Mr. Arthur Hallam, of the Psycho 

Therapeutic SocieLy, and :Miss S. McCreadie. A public sel"l' ice, 

at which the Mayor ;1nd Corporation were present, was afterwards 

held at St. Peter's Mission, North Sheen, Richmond. 

Tl1e liody was subsequently cremated at Golder's Grceu. 

BY JAMES RonER'l'SON. 

One of the bra vest and sweetest of men has gone to his 

reward. The burden of the earthly has slipped from his 

shoulders, and his eyes are opened to the spiritual rea1itied 

which his unwearied life strove to make clear. His was a truly 

noble and yaliant soul, in which was mirrored human excellence 

at its highest point. I have a sense of loneliness now that 

George Spriggs has gone out of my physical rife. I know thi1t 

we do not bury life or love, yet I feel the sense of vacancy 

within when I think that such an influence for upliftment has 

gone from my physical sight. Of late numbers of old friends 

have had the summons given them to cast off the mantle of 

flesh and begin their work again in another part of God's kingdom, 

but these did not give me the keen sense of bereavement which 

the translation of Mr. Spriggs has done. 

I had hoped that the worst was over, and that we should see 

him again, as of old, scattering blessings around. On the 24th 

ult. he wrote me that he believed he would now recover ; that 

the unseen friends who were always about him had been doing 

all they could to assist. The feelings he expressed took away 

all fear from my heart. Only a few hours ago I wrote M:r. 

Wallis expressing my gratification at the good news of his convalescence, 

when now comes the chilling 'wire' that he has gone 

home, retired with his armour on, worn out with service, and 

full, no doubt, of the thought of immortality and the true joys 

awaiting him. 

The actions of the good and just smell sweet, and his 

unsullied name aud noble work are for all of us a holy influence. 

I find it most difficult to put into words my meastu·e of the 

great man, for actual service is the tme test of actual greatness. 

Loving his fellows, he forgot himself' and gave out the electricity 

of his body and spirit, that the sick and bowed-down might he 

lifted up. 'fo the sad and despairing his was a message of hope 

and cheer from a higher realm. 

A beautiful life-record is his, all along, from those memorable 

Cardiff days, when the vanish eel forms of the loved again came 

into view and refreshed those who were waiting for the consola· 

tion. It is a record which cannot fade from the world, for those 

things will one clay he pondered over and treasured as an 

authentic gospel of the closeness of seen and unseen. The gretLt 

fact that he was an instrnrnent blessed to carry conviction on the 

greatest of subjects burned in his heart and could not lie stilled. 

The spirits' voices· carried him with the message to Australia, 

where the welcome was warm. The miracles of the saints of 

past times, the chronicles of sacred books are poor in the face of 

the natural spiritual facts which George Spriggs' gifts laid lxire . 

He made clear to the world that there is a vision deep and 

keen which can read the secret depths of man's constitution, 

that what may be hidden from the eye of sense is revealed to the 

eye of the soul. Many realised thut consciousness did exist apart 

from the physical brain. Many who did not admit the power 

of the spirit were soothed and helped. 

Gcmge 8priggs leaued alone on tho3e who had sent him 011 his 

mission, and whose promises of guardianship were fulfilled. To 

the work of Spiritualism he gave himself with ardom·; it was 

the paramount truth the world needed, anl he worked with a 

will to plant the seed. 

When he saw his way to retire with a moderate competence 

to London, we thought that he would have a season 

of rest. He could not, however, resist the claims of the suffering 

who came to him, lrnt gave himself, whenever he could, to 

heal and soothe. 

The Ptiycho-Therapeutic Society will stilnd as a mon.mnen.t 

of his devoLion to human weal. Week after week found him at 

the society's rooms giving forth the healing light from hi ~ 

spirituul lamp. H e was never too busy to lend his ·aid. Sympathy 

was the keynote of his character ; he felt that he musL 

use his life for tbe highest and holiest pnrpose--the lighteniug 

of the bul'dens of his suffering hl'ethren. He has established a 

fact which deeply concerns mortals, that there is a world linked 

on to this from which comes ofttimes healing for soul and body. 

That he will have his reward is not to be doubted. Already


some of those who stood beside him so long will have taken him 

by the hand and poured into his heart their wealth of affection, 

showing him t11e beauties of his new habitation. A wholesouled, 

modest man, with no gift of eloquence, but giving forth 

from his life an aroma of sweet and uplifting power, he forgot 

all he had done, his thought ever being, 'What can I yet 

do?' 

When shall we again find his peer? The well from which 

many dnmk is now dry; we will miss itS healing, and feel we 

did not esteem it at its full worth. His dust the tomb m!ly 

claim, but his great spirit is onrs, and his name will be cherished 

as one of the beacon lights sent to guide mortals to a realisation 

of the bright life in the beyond. 

BY E. G. SADLER (CARDH'F.) 

It was with deep regret that I heard the sad news of the 

passing :if our old friend, George Spriggs. 

The principal traits in his character which were so charmingly 

manifest, at least to his old acquaintances, were his 

sincerity and his fidelity to those who were honoured by his 

unfailing friendship. He was a man of few words, but 

resolute in action. 

He possessed very broad sympathy and high ideals, both as 

·regards religion and life, and always seemed anxious to cany 

them out to practical issues, caring as little for praise as for 

blame. If he saw a thing was true, however unpopular it might 

be, he was an ardent worker in its behalf. Another fine quality 

which I always admired in him was his impartiality. It mattered 

not whether you were a Christian or Jew, if what you had said 

-appealed to him as true, backr.d by the sincerity of your nature, 

he was your warm friend. 

Truthfulness was another pronounced feature of his character. 

I knew George Spriggs intimately for more than forty years, 

but I never knew him to speak an untruth or do a mean action. 

What a grand thing to be able Lo say about a man ! Aad 

yet with it all he could be as simple as a child or as profound as 

a philosopher. H e disliked dissension : he was a man of peace. 

As he often said to me, ' If you cannot agree with a man, let 

him alone ; you cannot compel belief.' 

I feel that t-he above is only a poor and imperfect description 

of our old friend ; but it is all I can give now, under my 

present emotion, except to add that his mediumship pat'took of 

all the beautiful qualities that were distinctive of the man. 

May the result of his good and kind actions give him that peace 

which we all hope to have some day. 


ACHIEVEMENTS, AND POSSIBILITIES. 

BY ANGUS McAu•rHUR. 

An Address delivered on Thursday, February 22nd, to the 

Members and Associates of the London Spiritualist Alliance, in 

the Salon of the Royal Society of British Artists, Suffolk-street, 

Pall Mall East, Mr. H. Withall, vice-president, in the chair. 

(Continued from page 116.) 

Compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, I con f~ss 

. that I am almost appalled at my own boldness in venturing to 

conclude with some attempt at an estimate of the possibilities 

. which are opened up by the advance in psychic science. Any 

endeavour in that direction must touch human natul'e and t.he 

problems of life at so many points that it would at first sight 

seem impossible to offer you anything in the nature of a serviceable 

summary. Let us, however, consider for a moment whether the 

general principles of psychic influence do not admit of the same 

classification as other potencies which affect our human lifewhether, 

in fact, they are not amenable to rank as operating in three 

ways- in checking, in stimulating,

March 16, 1912.) . LIGHT. 129 

battalions, those on this side and on that. I rather think 

(but I speak with some diffidence before an audience largely 

composed of experts) that the psychic giiidance which the world 

is likely to receive during the next thous'.lnd years or so will 

take the form of a wide diffusion of spirit inf! uence upon Lhe 

minds of mankind, and upon the character of their outlook on 

the incidents of time and sp


cerning the hereafter is not the work of imagination, more or 

less ingeniously conceived, but is the result of observation of 

material facts, which unfold themselves before our eyes. Spiritualism 

will rally together all divergent and fluctuating opinions, 

and will gradually bring abouL unity of belief, a belief no 

louger based on hyp :ithesis, but on a certainty.' 

'Le Messager' relates in its FeLrnary number a remarkable 

case of dream clairvoyance, or of telepathy, which was reported 

from Rome on December 26th last. On ihe morning of the 

25th a child in Parma, eight years old, son ·of Captain Marcucci 

who had recently departed for Tripoli, woke up moaning and 

crying. \¥hen questioned by his mother, the boy replied : 'I 

have seen father marching at the head of his company against the 

Tmks ; one of them, hidden in a tree, shot at him, and killed 

him.' In the aftemoon of the same d~y a telegram ani ved from 

TolJrouck, announcing that Captain Marcucci had been killed 

whilst marching against the enemy. His death occurred in circumstances 

almost identical with those descrilJetl by the child. 

' Le Fraterniste' for February also gives us some curious ill ustrations 

of foreboding and telepathy. It goes far back in history 

Ly quoting the dream of Calphurnia the night previous to tl1e 

assassination of her h usband Julius Cmsar. Passing thence to 

more modern times it recalls the oft-told :;tory of President 

Lincoln's prophetic dream. In this dream Lincoln saw himself 

descending a staircase, the walls of which were hung in black. 

On questioning one of the servants, who all wore mourning 

Ii very, he received as a reply : 'The PresidenL bas been shot at 

the opera.' A third story relates that on the eve lJefore the 

battle of Wagram, General Lasralle said to his aide-de-camp : 

'To-morrow I shall be killed,' and so he was, just at the finish 

of the battle. E. Tomas, the writer of the article, finishes Ly 

saying: 'For the present we must confess in all humility that 

the world still holds many mysteries, the solution of which is 

unknown to u3.' 

In the' UelJersinuliche Welt' Colonel Peters concludes bis 

exhaustive article on the alleged cases of spirits leaving burnt 

impressions of their hands and fiuger:; on linen, wood, and more 

remarkaLle still, on a piece of coin. Zingaropoli, to whom Col. 

PeLet·s often refers, gives the following opinion in regard to these 

Lurnt imprints : 'The conditions are always the same ; all the 

spirits suffer torments of fire, all ask for prayer and intercession. 

All have died in the Roman Catholic faith, and declare that they 

have been sent to purgatory, there to expiate their sins. The 

:;ameness of these manifestations leads me to believe that these 

spirits, who appeared soon after their transition, rcltect outwardly 

their inner moral conditions. It is not at all surprising that 

they cannot free themscl ves from their religious prejudices, and 

believe themselves tormented by the fire of hell or purgatory. 

Evidently the spirits do not obtain in the other world an immediate 

knowledge of truth. The assertions of a spirit who during 

life Lelieved in eternal punishment by fire certainly do not prove 

the existence of hell or purgatory any more than the confessions 

of a :llfohomedan who died in the faith of Allah would confirm 

the reality of Paradise and the l1ouris.' 

ITEMS OF INTEREST. 

Writing from Hanover last Saturday, Mr. A. V. Peters 

fofunned us that he had just fini8hed bis work in Belginm, and 

very interesting work it had proved to be. At Bruges the people 

were ev idently ignorant of the conditions of mecliurnship (be was 

the first medium who had been there), for, on aniving at the 

seance-room, he found that nearly every man present was srnoki11g 

a cigar or a cigai ette. The Brussels meetings were attended 

lJy audiences of a hundred and fifty to two hundred people, and 

l1 e wa8 asked Lo 'come back soon.' On Sunday he was to be at 

Berli11, and from tl1ere he was going on to Russia. He wished 

Lo be kindly rem em lJered to all his home friends. 

Vle are pleased to see in the 'Hindu Spiritual Magazine ' fo r 

Febl'Uary a very apprcciatire notice of the 'Life and Experiences 

of Ednrnntl Dawson Rogers' ( 1 LIGR'l'' OHice, ls.). The writer 

regards the book as invaluable for all students of Spiritualism. In 

refernnce to Mr. Rogers's desire that Madame d'Esperance's 

:;pirit friend, 'Humnur Stalford,' might be ready to receive 

and help him on bis passiug on to the spirit plane, we have the 

following kindly and sensiule comment : 'Let not the sceptic 

ridicule this desire on the part of the depart.ing veteran. It ha8 

])een observed that spirits come to the liedside of the dying to 

acco mpa11y and escort them to the higher sphere. Maharaja Sir 

J otendra .Mohun Tagore; while on his death-bed , beheld tbe 

spirit of his departed mother by his bedside and addressed her, 

' 'Mother, receive me in thine arms ! 





Mr. A. V. Peters in Holland. 

Srn,- It has been with great satisfaction that ibe Dutch 

Spiritualists renewed their acquaintance with Mr. A. V. Peters, 

the well known psychometrist and clairvoyant. He was in 

splendid condition and many good tests were given by him at 

private seances. His public work was aL5o very successful. He 

gave two public seances at the Hague and again at Amsterdam; 

at Haarlem, Rotterdam, and Arnhem be appeared once on the 

platform. Crowded audiences showed much interest in his demonstrations 

and long articles t1ppeared in the local papers. 

Mr. Peters has undoubtedly done om cause in Holland an 

excelleut service. Of course we do not expect that a single 

seance can result in many converts. But it makes people think, 

and that is what we want them to do. It sh ows th em .that 

Spiritualism is no mere theory, but that it is founded on facts 

which prove beyond any shadow of doubt the reality of a life 

after death. As a traveller visiting a foreign country seeks to 

know all tlrnt is 8aid or written about it and in so doing only 

serves his own interest, so every man should try to form for 

himself some idea of that sphere which is the inevitable end of 

every life's journey. 

'l'he work of Mr. Peters is so well known that I abstain from 

giving any details, but be may Le 8Ure that his Spiri.tuali8t 

friends here feel much indebted to him for what he has done 

and will be delighted to see him again.-\' ours, &c., 

W. N. DE Fm:~rnuY. 

Bussum, March, 1912. 

Mr. J. Arthur Hill and Spiritualism. 

Srn,- One c11nnot help sympathising with Mr. Hill in bis 

rematks pnulished in 'LIGR'l'' of January 20th (page 35). I feel 

much the same way myself towards SpiriLUalism in genetal and 

know that many others do so al8o. 

Only the other day I was talking to a fi.ne mental h ealer, 

who3e acquaintance I have recently made, and said to hin1, 

after he had been explaini1~g bis ideas, 'Why, you are a regular 

Spiritualist.' He answered, 'Yes, I am; I am well acquainted 

with Spiritualism and know that it is true, lmt I do not care to 

associate myself with it.' There seems to be 'something rotten in 

the state of Denmark,' hut really there is nothing at all to 

wonder at. It is not Spiritualism which is to blame, it is tl1e 

fault of poor human nature. 

Spiritualis1n has to do with the very heatt-throb and ti:;sue 

of humanity, and consequently is affected and tinged lJy all the 

undeveloped, t:hildish, foolish eccentricities and vagaries and 

various extravagauces, to say nothing of selfish purposes, to 

which the human mind is so subject. 

There is no remedy but to wait patiently for man's slow, ]Jut 

sme, development on to a higher level of life and thought. 

Back of my ruind for years, almost ever since I Lecame a 

Spiritualist, bas lain the idea of a spiritual institute to train UlJ 

mediums, guide the movement generally, and enlighten people on 

spiritual suLjects; but I fear it must lJe postponed to a distant 

future, and even then will require the most skilful guidance, 

almost lJeyond human capacity, if it is not to do more harm 

than good. Perhaps in years to curue, when people are more 

sensitiYe and advanced, some high spirits will be able to take the 

matter in bancl.-Yours, &c., 

A. K. VENNING. 

Los Angeles, Cal., U.S.A. 

February 13th, 1912. 

Mabel Collins and Truth. 

Srn,-The assertion which MalJel Collins makes in 'The 

Occult Review,' for March (on the authority of Dr. Steiner, 

presumably), that 'no "medium" can lJe employed to bring 

trnth into the world,' is one of those inexact statements that 

sound wise but will not bear analysis. No man can bring trnth 

into the world. Since truth is that which is, it is in the world, 

always has been and always will be. But one can help another 

to see, and know, and understand truth, and the persou who does 

that for another is a medium to that ruan. Any 'medium' who 

is used by a spirit, either to give evidence to an inquirer which 

helps him to realise the fact of spirit presence and identity, or 

to present thoughts to a stndent which enahle hi.m to see truth 

from a new irnd larger and more spiritual view-point, is bringing 

that rnau to a knowledge of tl'llth, e1'en though he is not 

'ernployccl to lJring truth into the world.' As tu the fmtber 

assertion that 'the one who Lrings it can only do so in an increase


of consciousness,' th is, too, is a loose and unsatidactol'y staternent. 

·what can be

182 LIGHT. [llfarch 16, 1912. 

Fifty Years Ago. 

Srn,-It is pleasant to find editors of the secular Press to 

?ay calling to mind spiritual happenings of other times. The 

Newcastle 1¥eekly Chronicle' has liad on more than 011 e 

occasion, in its 'Fifty Years Ago' column, references to Spiritu 

a1i ~ t doings of mid-nineteenth-century days, the latest being in 

the 1sstie for tlrn 10th inst., as under :- 

'A SUNDERLAND DIVINE ON SPIRITUALISM. 

'Last night th e Rev. Arthur Augustus Rose, pastor of the 

Bethesda Free Church, Tatham-street, Sunderland, lectured on 

the great mystery of the age, " Spiritualism." 

'He dealt with a great variety of facts and experiences 

narrated by eminent men, and held that the manifestations were 

identical with the manifestations of Old Testament times. 

'Spiritual intercourse, he said, was strictly forbidden hy 

the law of Moses, and he was convinced that tl1ese commtmications 

could only be regarded as dangerous and improper.' 

The preach e1·s of the twent ieth century have not advanced 

much beyond Pastor Rose's attitude, but time, tact persistence 

and logic will win and conquer all.-Ynurs, &c., ' ' 

N ewcastle-011-Tyne. 

THE PATH TO INITIATION. 

JAMES LA WREN CE. 

On Sunday morning last Mrs. Besant, lecturing to a large 

audience at Queen's Hall, said t hat it was by the way of an 

intense realisation of the misery of the world and a determination 

to alter that which could be changed by thought and activity 

that sh e h erself found the Path. After refening to her experiences 

in th e slums, she said that out of the knowledge of human misery 

was born the will Lo search fo r some means of alleviating it. 

The means of obtaining the knowledge of such remedy was 'a 

voice,' she said, 'that seemed to ring within me, and yet that 

was without, that spoke so clearly that, not thinking what I was 

doing, I answered by spoken word, speaking to one like myself. 

I was in the City wh en the human tide had ebbed, and all was 

quiet. And in the voice was somctliing that seemed to me at 

the moment a little stern. "Are yon willing surrender everything 

you have in the search for truth 1" And I answered : 

"Smely that is all I need.'' "Is there anything that yon hold 

back 1" "There is notl1ing I will not surrender if I can only 

know.'' Then tlie voice changed into sweetest music. "Within 

a very little time the light shall shine.'' Then all was stillness 

as before. Within a fortnight Madame Blavatsky's "Secret Doctrine" 

was placrd in my hands, with a request, to review it. I 

took it home and r ead on hour after h our, and I knew that that 

for which I had searched for so many years was found. This 

knowledge is that of the truths of reincarnation and Karma. 

These can be applied to education, to criminology, to social 

qucRtions, to government. By the light of these facts the world 

can be understood, and they lead up to an understanding of the 

reality of the Path and the Masters who have trodden the Path. 

This knowledge can lJe attained by applying the science of eYo- 

1ution of the mind, the science of union, which in the East is 

called Yoga. This is done by meditation. The quicker evolntio11 

of the Path means a discipline of life, giving up alcoholic 

and fl esh food beca use these are harmful or impure. We have 

to make om bodies instmments on which the melodies of spirit 

can be played. On this Path certain qualities h ave to be obtn.ined. 

The first is discrimination between the real and unreal, 

tlie second is desirelessness, the third the six jewels of the mind: 

con.trol of thought, of action, tolerance, endurance, faith (or 

confidence in the Master) and lastly equilibrium. Last of all is 

11 desire to be free in order that you may serve. 

WE are p1e~sed, but not EUl}Jrised, to learn that 'The 

Ministry of the Unseen' is already in the press for a third 

edition, although it is barely three months since it was first 

i8sned. Mr. Witlcy, who, we understand, will shortly issue 

another work, is to be congratulated on the success of bis first 

venture in the way of authorship. 

F UNERAL SERVICE.-On the 6th inst., by the invitation of 

some of the relatives of our arisen brother, Mr. Titlow, a number 

of the representative members of the Hove First Society of 

Spiritualists (who provided a handsome wreath), and of the 

Brighton Society, assembled at the residence, 'Baron's Court,' 

New Church-road, Hove, for a funeral service, which was impressively 

rendered by Mrs. Annie Boddington, appropriate 

addresses and invocations being given in the presence of the 

body by Mrs. Qnrry, Alde1·man Is~er 1 Jv!1'. 4, Cape, and 

Mr. Ci+ger, · · · 

SOCIETY WORK ON SUNDAY, MARCH 10th, &c. 

MARYLEBONE SPIRITUALIST ASSOCIATION, 51, MORTIMER 

STREET, W.-Cavendish Rooms.-The President, Mr. W . T. 

Cooper, made touching reference to the passing-on of Mr. 

George Spriggs. Mrs. Cannock gave remarkably successful 

clairvoyant descl'iptions.-15, Mortimer-street, W.-On tl1e 4th 

inst. Mr. Leigh Hunt gave helpful messages and fully-recognised 

clairvoyant descriptions. Mr. D. Neal presided. Sunday next, 

see advt. on front page.-D. N. 

BRIGRTON.-MANCRESTER-STREET (OPPOSITE AQUARIUM). 

Inspiring addresses were given, in t.he morning by Mr. F . 

Grayson Clarke, vice-president, and in the evening by the president, 

Mr. Jam es Macbeth Bain. S unday next, at 11.15 a. m. 

and 7 p .m., Mrs. J amrach , address and clairvoyance; also on 

Monday, at 8 p.111., clairvoyance. \Veekly meetings as usual. 

HAMMERSMITH.-89, CAMDRIDGE-ROAD.-Sunday n ext, Dr. 

Brodie Patterson, 'Time-servers or God-servers?' Thursday, 

at 8, Mr. and Mrs. J . J. Vango, address and spiritual vision. 


- Mr. W. H. Wood gave an address on ' The Purpose of Beauty.' 

Sunday next, at 7, Mr. A. H. Sarfas, address and clairvoyance. 


-Mrs. Jamracb gave a well·"!:easoned and sympathetic address 

on 'Are the Dead Arisen ; in what Body, and How 1' Sunday 

next, llfr. Horace Leaf. 

BRIGHTON.-HovE OLD TOWN HALL, 1, BRUNSWICK-ST.REET 

WES'r.- Mrs. G. C. Curry gave good addresses and clairvoyant, 

descriptions. Social and musical evening, with interval for 

refresl1ments, on Wednesday, the 20th, from 7 p.m. Tick ets 6d. 

each, children 3cl. 1¥eekly meetings as usual.-A. C. 

:HACKNEY.-240A, AlrnuRST-ROAD, N.-Mrs. Imison (N nrse 

Graham) gave excellent auric readings, clairvoyant descriptions 

and spirit messages. Sunday n ext, at 7 p.rn., Mr. R. Kin~ 

(silver collection). Monday, at 8, circle. Tuesday, at 8.30, 

astrology class. Friday, at 8.30, healing circle.-N. R. 

SHEPHERD'S BusH.- 73, BECKLOW-ROAD, W.-Evening, 

Mrs. Podmore gave an interesting address and successful clairvoyant 

descriptions. Sunday next, at l l a.m., public cfrcle ; at 

6~4.5 p.m., Madame Zitta. Circles: Thursday, at 8, public ; 

J< r1day, at 8, mern bers'.- J . J. L. · 

BRIXTON.-84, S•rocKWELL PARK-ROAD.-Mr. W... Underwood 

gaYe an address and clain·oyant descriptious. S unday 

next, at 7 p. m., Mr. Karl Reynolds. 23rd, social gathering at 

7.30. 24th, at 3, Lyceum Open Session and tea; annirnrsary 

solos.--W. U. 

STRA'l'FORD.-WoRKMAN's HALL, 27, RoMFORD-ROAD, E. 

Mr. T. 0. Todd's interesting address on 'Sacrifi ce, Duty, a nd 

Love is the Way of Life ' was much appreciated by a large 

audience. Mr. G. Tayler Gwinn presided. S unday next, Mrs.· 

E. Neville, address and claii-voyance.- W. H. S. 

CAMBERWELL NEW-ROAD.-SURREY MAt:iUNIC HALL.-Morning, 

questions answered and descriptions given. Evening, Mr. 

W. E. Long gave an address on 'Paradi. e (Rest).' Sunday next, 

at 11 a. m., Mr. W. E. Long, questions answered and spirit teachings. 

G.30 p. m., Mr. Long, ' Paradise Lost (Hell).' 

BRIXTON.-8, MAYALL-ROAD.-London Union Conference : 

short addresses were given by Messrs. Tilby, Sch oley and Alcock 

Rush. Mr. and Mrs. Alcock Rush al so rendered a duet. S unday 

next at 7 p.m., Mrs. Maunder (vice-president), address 9n 

'Messengers'; at 3, Lyceum. Circles: Monday, at 7.30, lad ies' · 

'fuesday, at 8.1 5, members; Thursday, 8.15, p ublic.-G. T. w'. 

STRATFORD.-lDMISTON-ROAD, FOREST-LANE.-Morning, llfr. 

J. Wrench spoke on' The Spiritualist Social Worker.' Evening, 

Mrs. Orel gave an address and Mr. Wrench clairvoyant descriptions. 

Sunday next, at 11.:30 a. m., Mr. C. H. Dennis on 'The 

Spiritualist Politician'; at 7 p.m., Madame Beaumont. 21st, 

Mr. John Lobb. 28th, Mrs. E. Neville.-A. T. C. 

SEVEN KINGS, lLFORD.-45, THE PROMENADE.-Mr. Karl 

Reynolds read a paper on 'Does the Soul Survive the Body?' 

On the 5th Mr. T. Brooks gave an excellent address on ''l'he 

Senses.' Sunday next, at 7 p.m., Mr. A. J. Neville. Tuesday, 

at 8, Mr. T. 0. Todd. Wednesday, a~ 8.30, study class. F riday 

at 8.30, circle. - C. E. S. 

' 

POR'l'SMOUTH TEMPLE.-VICTORIA-ROAD SOUTH.-Mr. S nowdon 

Hall gave good addresses on 'The Science of Thinking' and 

'The Unseen U niverse.' 6th, address and clairvoyant descriptions 

by Sister Rex-Luckier. 9th,' Stellarins ' lectured on 'The 

Practical Uses of Astrology,' followed by character readings. 

Sunday next, special visit of Mr. E. W. Wallis.-J. McF. 

PECKHAM. - LAUSANNE HALL, LAUSANNE-ROAD. - Shmt 

addresses and good clairvoyant



'WHATSOEVER DOTH MAKR MANIFEST IS LIGHT.'-Paul. 

No. 1,628.-VOL. XXXII. [Registered a•] SATURDAY, MARCH 23, 1912. [a Newspaper. J PRICE TvVOPENCE. 

CONTENTS. 

Notes by the Way •• _ .......... 133 Astrologic:il .. - .... -· .......... 141 

L.S.A. Notices ................. . 134 Tributes to Mr. Spriggs ........ 141 

Unto the Upright. Light .. .... .. 135 Spiritualism and Dogma.tic Chris· 

A Promising New Materialising 

tianity .............. .. .. ...... Hl 

Medium .. · · .. · ............ · l 36 Dr. Peebles' Ninetieth Birthday 142 

Notes from Ahroacl. ............ 137 •No :Vledium can Bring Truth' .. 143 

The Blind Alley .. .. .. .. .... .. 138 

My Reasons for beine: a Spirit- He Hen.rel the Angels Singing . 143 

nalist after many Years' Ex- Mr. Henry !?rank's Position .... 14a 

perlence. An Actdress by Mr Mrs. Besant on 'Finding the 

Walter Appleyarcl .......... 139 l\faster' .. .. .. .. .. .......... 144 


In the current issue of 'The Occult Review' a correspondent 

supports the claim made by a writer in a 

previous issue (to which we referred in a recent Note), 

viz., that some conjurers use psychic force or spirit power 

in performing many of their feats. vVell, we have seen 

such astounding performances by public exponents of magic 

that we should have felt positively relieved to be able to 

attribute them to supernormal agency, as an easy way of 

disposing of the problem as to how the tricks were done. 

But we knew by experience that these conjurers had to 

spend years in practising these feats, and that if there was 

any question of 'spirit power' it was simply the power of 

the incarnate spirit who achieved them. We admit the 

force of the argument that a good physical medium might 

make money and avoid odium by representing himself as a 

conjurer and his phenomena as conjuring tricks, but the 

idea of such a medium appearing nightly to exercise his 

vocation in crowded and smoky variety theatres, and going 

regularly through his whole repertoire of psychic marvels 

without lapse or failure is not easily to be accepted by those 

with any wide experience of mediumship. vVe do not say 

that the thing is impossible; but after seeing many of the 

most celebrated wonder-workers on the stage, we cannot 

endorse the idea. What we know of conjurers, on the one 

hand, and of mediums, on the other, prohibits the theoryfor 

us. 

The Protestant Episcopal Bishop of the Philippines 

(Dr. C. H. Brent) has made a world-shaking discovery, 

which he has set forth in a book. It is that man has a 

sixth sense-a sense which enables him to feel and apprehend 

psychically. It requires a great deal of scholarly 

lfl.nguage to explain precisely what this sense is. It is a 

'Mystic Sense'; it is an 'inner perceptive faculty which 

distinguishes man from the highest below him and relates 

him to the highest above him.' Naturally a discovery of 

this kind calls for an exceedingly learned treatise-perhaps 

by way of breaking the news gently to the Christian world, 

which has grown so far away from its early truths that it 

might sniff at the announcement if it were made too plainly 

fl.nd simply. Nevertheless, it is distinctly encouraging. 

May we not hope soon to hear of another theological writer 

discovering the reality of a spiritual world and spiritual 

beings? Set forth in sufficiently erudite language, with 

appropriate appeals to science, and it little patronising 

reference to the results of psychical research, it might have 

ii. distirn}t in:f\uem}e on the reli~ious · comm unit~,._ It mi~ht 

even check that falling off in church membership which is 

so mysterious a matter to the leaders of the Church, and 

so very simple fl.nd natural to outside observers. A few 

more such 'discoveries ' and Christianity would be hfl.rdly 

recognisable. It would be so like its pure and early self ! 

vVe notice with pleasure new editions of two admirable 

books by Mr. Christian D. Larson, 'Thinking for Results,' 

and 'Poise and Power' (L. N. Fowler & Co., 2s. each net). 

Both are beautifully bound fl.nd printed, and the contents of 

each are worthy of their externals. They are clear, reasonable 

and stimulating. From the first-named book we select the 

following as illustrative of the teaching conveyed :- 

In the grosser forms of action destruction is usually separated 

from construction, and may, or may not, be followed by the 

latter ; but in the higher forms of action destruction and construction 

are one. The inferior is destroyed by being immediately 

transmuted into the superior. And here we should remember 

that el'erything in Nature, regardless of its present condition, 

can be transformed into something higher, finer and better, 

because every process in Nature can promote advancement, being 

created for that purpose. 

That is an fl.tfirmation that appeals to the intuitions as 

truth, and will be welcome reading to optimists in doubt. 

From 'Poise and Power' we take another encouraging 

dictum:- 

Modern physiological research has demonstrated conclusively 

that it is practically impossible for anyone to become ill so long 

as the system is full of energy, and the majority of ordinary 

human ills have been traced to this lack of vital force. But this 

lack comes from waste, not from any failure of the system to 

generate the adequate supply. That sickness could be wholly 

prevented if this waste was discontinued is, therefore, evid ent; 

there is as much energy generated in the average person to perform 

several times as much physical and mental labour as any 

person usually does perform. 

'The Door Ajar,' by Virginia. Milward (Willi~m Rider 

& Sons, Ltd., ls. net), is a collection of stories, some of 

them of psychical interest. They are slight in texture, but 

there is fl. certain amount of artistry in the way they are 

told. The authoress has relied a little too much on the 

element of tragedy to lend interest to her stories. Thus 

the first tale, 'The Door Ajar,' deals with the fulfilled prevision 

of a young wife, that she will ultimfl.tely be murdered 

by her husband-a burglar who poses as fl. retired medical 

man; and the second, entitled 'The Knife,' tells of a 

surgeon who recognises in a patient au old sweetheart, 

unhappily married, and who contrives (with her connivance) 

that she shall die under an operation which it falls to him 

to perform. Then in 'The Little Silver Box' we have the 

story of a patch box, formerly the property of the famous 

Madame du Barry, which brings, in occult fashion, to its 

possessor vivid and terrible visions of the French Revolution. 

We were most impressed by the least sensational of 

the stories. 'A Minor Third,' although even that-dealing 

as it does with the anguish of a deserted woman-is of a 

gloomy cast. But the tales, as we have indicated, are well 

t::ild, with graphic and qelic;: ::tt() touch()~ of description,

134 LIGHT. (March 2:3, 1912. 

A good many years ago an eminent member of the 

astrological fraternity, with a view to demonstrating the 

truth of the stellar science, published in this journal a 

number of predictions regarding coming events. The 

result was unfortunate-in the language of the man in the 

street, the prophecies did not 'come off.' And now we see 

that Mr. J. C. F. Grumbine, the American astrologer, has 

received the hospitality of an Americau newspaper in order 

to make public some momentous forecasts of the immediate 

future. The newspaper is quite excited about it, judging 

by the large type and a number of lurid illustrations in 

colour. 1912, we read, will usher in a period of good 

times, and the business world will go on its way rejoicing. 

'Real estate' (which is American for landed property) 

and stocks will boom, and there will be great times. ' But 

look out for 1916 as the marked year of the beginning of 

terrible woes to the whole world.' We will look out, and 

. when the 'planetary detriments' and the fires, droughts, 

panics and bank failures come along we will (if still in this 

vale of tears) remember that Mr. Grumbine foresaw them 

all, and that 'The Plain Dealer Magazine '-which is the 

name of the journal which published the propheciesdealt 

plainly with us. 

-----------~ 

Preaching at the West End Presbyterian Church in 

New York recently, the Rev. Dr. Keigwin affirmed his 

belief in the activity and ministry amongst men of the 

arisen souls of humanity. He warmly repudiated the 

charge that the clergy were inhospitable to the idea. The 

fact that the clergy acknowledged the Bible as the source 

of their doctrines was, he contended, a sufficient refutation 

of such an accusation. Dr. Keigwin is clearly an optimist, 

and we like optimists. But-and it is an important 'but' 

- is it not· a little curious that the most determined opposition 

to the faith and knowledge of those who maintain 

the existence and agency of a spiritual world comes not 

. from the secular portion of the world, hut from the 

churches~ In short, we have regretfully to endorse the 

charge against which Dr. Keigwjn protests. In the same 

iss.ue of the American newspaper in which we read the 

reverend doctor's sermon, we saw a reference to the 

tremendous falling off in church attendance nowadays. 

We wonder whether there is any connection between the 

indictment against which Dr. Keigwin protests and the 

waning influence of the churches. 

The -wise Paul, with a touch of humour, we suspect, 

told the Corinthian Christians that he had fed them with 

milk. It was necessary: but he did not recommend it as 

a permanent diet. Unfortunately, the twentieth century 

finds itself encumbered with Christians who still linger in 

the nprsery of the first, and still like milk. But 'the 

sincere milk of the word,' as Peter called it, is turning 

sour in the theological milkpans, and we cannot help 

longing to have Paul back again, that we might ask his 

opinion about it : for, from certain robust passages in his 

epistles, we think that he would assist us to revise the bill 

of fare and end the dispensatiOn of milk for babes. 

Spiritualism stands for maturity in theology : and just 

as Paul left behind the 'beggarly elements' of Judaism so 

we leave behind the notion of salvation by shed blood and ' 

the atrocities of hell. But Spiritualism stands also for 

something else. It stands for the profound truth that 'all 

things are of God,' that is, they are parts of the worldorder, 

links in the endless chain of evolution, ·'schoolmasters 

to bring us to Christ,' as Paul taught, and as Gerald 

Massey explained when he interpreted ' Christ' as the 

inmost divine spirit-self of Humanity. Hence we have no 

scorn for the old ' milk for babes.' All we argue for is 

the recognition of Humanity's maturity, and the affirmative 

response to Paul's virile challenge: 'Quit you like men : 

b(l stronl} ! ' . 



will be held in the SALON OF THE ROYAL SoCIE'rY OF BRI'rISH 

AR'l'ISTS, SuFFOLK-STREE'l', PALI, MALL EAST (near the National 

Gallery), on 

THURSDAY EVENING NEXT, M.A.'RCB. 28TR, 


SIR W. :F. BAR.RETT, F.R.S., 

ON 

'THE PROBLEMS OF PSYCHICAL RESEARCH.' 

The doors will be opened at 7 o'clock, and the Address will be 




Associates can have additional tickets for the use of friends on 

payment of l s. each. Applications for extra tickets, accompanied 

by remittance, should be addressed to Mr. E. W. Wallis, Hon . 

Secretary, 110, St. Martin's-lane, W.C. 

Meetings will also be held in the SALON OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY 

OF BRITISH ARTISTS, Suffolk-street, Pall Mall East, S.IV. (near 

the National Gallery), on the following Thursdays at 7.30p.m. :- 

Apr. 11.-Mr. E. E. Fournier d'Albe, B.Sc., on 'The Frontiers 

of the Soul.' 

Apr. 25.-' Cheiro' 011" Personal Experiences of Psychic Plrnnomena 


l\fay 9.-Rev. T. Rhondda Williams on 'The Soul as Discoverer 

in Spiritual Reality: A Study of Two Scientists.' 

MEETINGS AT 110, ST. MARTIN'S LANE, W.C. 


CLAIRVOYANCE. - On Tuesday next, March 26th, Mrs. Percy 

R. Street will give clairvoyant descriptions at 3 p.m., and no 

one will be admitted after that hour. Fee, l s. each to Associates 

; Members free; for friends introduced by them, 2s. each. 

No meetings on April 2nd and 9th. 

PSYCHICAL SELF-CuL:rURE.-On Thursday next, March 28th, 

at 5 p.m. prompt, Mr. Robert King wil1 give an add ress on ' W1mt 

I Know of Materialisations.' 


invited to attend the rooms at llO, St. Martin's-lane, on Friday 

afternoons, from 3 to 4, and to introduce friends i11terested 


experienr.es, and mutual helpfttlness. 

TALKS WITH A SPIRIT CONTROL.-On Friday next, March 29th, 




Spiritualism generally. Admission l s. ; Members and Associates 

free. MEMBERS have the privilege of introducing one friend Lo 


with written inquiries of general interest to submit to the control. 

Students and inquirers ;i,like will :find these meetings especially 



SPIRIT I-IEALING.-Daily, except Saturdays, Mr. Percy R. 

Street, the healing medium, will attend between 11 a.m. and 



aura. For full particulars see the advertisement supplement. 

WELCOME RECEPTION TO l\fos. MARY SEATON. 

On Thursday afternoon, May 2nd, A SOCIAL GATHERING will 

be held at 110, St. Martin's-lane, IV.C., at 3 o'clock, to welcome 

Mrs. Mary Seaton, of Washington, U.S.A., on her return to 

London. Tea will be provided during the afternoon, and at 

4 p.m. Mrs. Seaton will give an address on 'Spiritualism : Its 

Relation. to some New Schools of Healing.' Admission : Members 

and Associates, free; Visitors, 2s. each. No tickets required. 

J\llRs. MARY SEATON's LEC'l'URES. 

A sel'ies of Special .Afternoon Lectures on 'The U ufoldment 

and Exercise of the Powers of the Inner Self' will be delivered 

by Mrs. Mary Seaton, at 110, St. Martin's-lane, at 3 o'dock. 


Monday, May 6th, on Marie Oorelli's work : ' The Life Everlasting.' 

Thursday, May 9th , OIJ, • A Study of th-~ $oql-If.ow to Vs() it~ 

:Powers,'


Monday, May 13th, on 'The Soul on the Snb-Conscious Plane: 

Its Power to Maintain Health.' 

Thmsday, May 16th, on ''fhe Soul on the Conscions Plane : !Ls 


of Life.' 

Monday, May 20th, on 'The Soul on the Super-Conscious Plane : 

Its Power to Reach the Unlimited Wisdom, Love, Force 

God.' 


Mary Seaton jointly invite Members and Associates of the 

Alliance to attend these meetings free of charge ; Visitors l s. 

UNTO THE UPRIGHT, LIGHT. 

In one of John Bright's beautiful and impressive 

speeches, over which there always hovered the consecration 

of old Bible memories, he quoted a fine saying from one of 

the venerable Hebrew Psalms : 'Unto the upright there 

ariseth light in the darkness.' He applied that luminous 

thought to the dim hour of brooding trouble in the nation, 

when dangers threatened or when dark political problems 

oppressed responsible and thoughtful minds. And well 

he might. It is the one supreme need in the hour of peril 

or in the path of gloom, for, in the one, mere terror may 

baffle the mind, and, in the other, depression may pervert 

the will: and the great need then is the saving grace of 

the overmastering desire to do simply what is right. Then 

light arises. 

The curse of the world has always been darkness, 

mental, moral, or spiritual; and it makes no difference 

that the darkness could not be helped ; that it comes in the 

course of development from the lower creatures, and that 

the light is possible only as Man emerges into the sunshine 

which education and experience alone can give. A very 

elementary knowledge of evolutionary laws suffices to 

make that clear, without any need to run for shelter to 

some mystery connected with the will of God. It is quite 

possible that deliverance from animal darkness into the joy 

of light could be won only in one way; and that Man 

could become upright, in any true sense, only by struggling 

and suffering. 

The process has been a long one, and we are only half 

way through it, for still the world is chiefly suffering from 

its own self-inflicted wounds : and to-day it is specially 

suffering from the conflict between the survivals of the 

beast that beset it and the dawning longing for a higher 

human life. Now one and now the other gets the mastery 

of the man; and it is the wretched oscillation between the 

two that makes him miserable as a seeming hypocrite or 

angry and violent as a victim of vulgar greed : and the 

trouble is that in his hour of need of a good physician, to 

diagnose his malady and to direct him to the cure, he fi nds 

the physician as disturbed as himself with cross-currentsas 

inconsistent in his thoughts and as grasping in his desires. 

In every direction the world is suffering from these crosscurrents 

which so confusedly blend the evil and the goodthe 

evil often having a good intent, and the good having 

as often an evil origin ; and both needing light. 

Wonderfully wise is that truly inspired and ever 

memorable Epistle of J ames, with its keen analysis of 

crime. The wisest thinker of this century might have 

written it: 'From whence come wars and fightings among 

you 1 Come they not from your lustings 1 You lust, and 

have not : you kill and desire to have : you fight and yet 

have not, because you ask not : or, if you ask, Jou ask 

amiss. Cleanse your hands, you sinners ; and purify your 

hearts, you double-minded! Humble vourselveE in the 

sight of God ; and He will lift you up ! ,· All the world's 

Socialisms, Nihilisms, Communisms, Warlike Alliances, 

Aggressions, are understandable in the glare of the merciless 

searchlight of J ames: and he is as good at showing 

the way out of our· misery as he is in describing the cause 

of it : 'Cleanse your hands, you sinners ; and purify your 

hearts, you double-minded ! Humble yourselves in the 

sight of God ; and He will lift you up ! ' 

What is wanted, then, is light, light, light: and John 

Bright's notable citation tells us how to get it. Pure 

Spiritualism again ! All that is wanted is an inward 

change. 'Unto the upright there ariseth light,' says the 

glorious old Hebrew poet. And why does uprightness give 

light 1 Simply because it clears the air, bars selfishness, 

silences passiou, and leaves the man alone with reason, 

conscience and the right of it. 

That is a good old missionary story about an Indian 

and his conscience. On his asking a white man to give him 

some tobacco, the man good-naturedly gave him a loose 

handful out of his pocket. The next day the Indian came 

back and asked for the white man. "When he found him, he 

said, 'I find this quarter of a dollar among the tobacco.' 

A bystander laughed, 'Why didn't you keep it 1' 'No,' 

said the Indian, pointing to his breast, ' I have got here a 

good man and a bad man. The good man say, "It is not 

mine, go and give it back"; the bad man say, "Never 

mind ; you got it; keep it " ; the good man say, "No, no; 

it is not mine"; then the bad man laugh, and say, "What 

a fool ! keep it, keep it ! " and I know not what to do. So 

I go to bed for sleep, but the good man say all night, 

"Give it back: give it back" ; and so I come, and I feel 

better.' There was the oscillation we indicated above, the 

struggle and the victory of the higher: then light, and 

peace. 

It may look like old-fashioned cant now, but it is 'the 

gospel t.rnth' to say that there is no light like the inner 

light which streams from an uncorrupted conscience and a 

spiritually guided will : and, if men would only believe it, 

simple uprightness would make them clever as well as good, 

for uprightness positively shows the way not only to rightness 

but to success. James hit the mark when he said: 

'Purify your hearts, you double-minded ! ' and 'A doubleminded 

man is unstable in all his ways.' That is what is 

the matter with tens of thousands of us. A great deal of 

our doubt is really only oscillation between soundness and 

self. 'I really don't know what to do about it' often only 

means, 'I really cannot quite make up my mind to be quite 

straight about it.' The light shines clearly enough when 

the uprighLness is upright enough. Everybody knows 

that about our Labour conflicts there is crookedness somewhere. 

A rough old Lancashire cotton spinner once received 

a deputation of his 'hands' about some grievance. 

They expected to have a tusEle over it; but, as soon as 

they bad stated their case the master burst out laughing, 

and said, 'So you've found it out, have you 'I ' and they got 

what they wanted. Lancashire fashion, he was at least 

frank, whatever we may say about his uprightness. There 

was a case of crookedness which, in other hands, might 

have led to the modern strike ; and probably only so much 

of uprightness as resides in frankness and humour 

averted it. 

But the special value of the light which becomes a 

spiritual possession is that it is always there for the hour 

of need. It is like the modern electric light which only 

needs the desire, the band, and the switch ; and there is 

the flashing forth of the power. That is exactly the suggestion 

of the John Bright citation : ' Unto the ·upright 

there ariseth light in the darkness '-and let all the 

preachers preach- it! H. 

To CORRESPONDENTS.- ' A. R. A.' (Dt1ndee). '!'he 'new 

constitution ' is an admirable one, but whether it would Le 

regarded as &atidactory, if tested in a Jaw court, we ha,·e no 

means of knowing.- ' P. R. ' (Bri ghton). You should write to 

the solicitor and ask wl1y uo notice has been taken of your offer.


A PROMISING NEW MATERIALISING MEDIUM. 

The foll owing interesting article by Dr. Vecchio is translated 

fr:om 'Luce e Om bra' for October-November, 1911 :- 

In this account of a seance held on November 5th last, I do 

not wish to confine myself to the stereotyped form of tl1e shorthand 

report. It appears to me that tliat kind of sworn testimony 

is unnecessary when, as in my case, it is not a question of 

dealing with a hired medium, when the sitting Lakes place in 

one's own house, the object pursued is a purely scientific one, 

and the sitters are persons above suspicion. The persons 

referred to were Dr. Blasucci, Dr. Vecchio (both these gentlemen 

having control of the medium), Dr. Tommasulo, Dr. Cavazzi, 

and Signorina Hund. These were the actl)al sitters, but Lhere 

were also present in the room, though uot taking part in the 

prnceedings, Signora Hund, Signora Vecchio, and the chemist 

Vecchio. The medium was J. A. Pipino. The street entrance 

had been previously sealed up, and a small table wiLh pianino, * 

bell, ~c. , placed outside Lhe cabinet. 

The seance commenced at 10 p.m., and finished at 12.20 p. m. 

I t proved a most interesting one, not only from the variety of 

the phenomena but also on account of the manifesta.tions of an 

individual who exhibited characteristics entirely differen t from 

those possessed by the other spirit entities who had heretofore 

manifested. This was a very jocose type of person, and for 

half-an-hour or so his jovial lnunour· showed no signs of relaxing. 

He rallied us each in turn, and with Lhe quickness of his 

replies sl1owed that he would be quite equal to a discussion 

with one of those jovial fellows who all their lives cherisl1 a holy 

horror of problems like that of squaring the circle or of survival ! 

An iinportant circumstan ce was that I knew fo ur days beforehand 

of the inter vention of such an entity at t.he seance. One 

evening, while the medium was asleep, I became aware of a noise 

in his room. I awoke him, and wi th the ligl1t turned on kept 

him awake fo r a bout an hour. I heard nothing more that night. 

The next morning 'Lina,' one of his spirit guides, gave us to 

understand, through tal)le tilting, that the movements of the 

-table the preceding evening had been p rovoked by the inter 

:position of a most facetious individual, a certain ' Vincenzo 

I mperiale,' and that if he had appeared at th .: sittings he would 

have thrown us into fits of laughter. She warned us, however, 

to place no faith in any of his replies, wh ich would p rove false 

and inexact. 

And here I should relate the con versation which took 

place between some of us and this personality, but it will be 

better to follow the order in which the various incidents occurred. 

l?our minutes after seating ourselves round the table, movements 

occurred with the interYention of an individual who said 

that he was called ' Vincenzo,' and later, after insistent requests, 

gave the additional name of 'Imperiale.' Asked for the name 

of his country, he replied : 'Italy.' Less light was asked fo r ; 

then followed four complete levitations ; after that the medium, 

securely contl'olled by Dr. Blasucci and Dr. Vecchio, became 

violently agitated while remaining in 11is seat, and yawned 

repeatedly. Feeling that someone was touching hi m from 

behind the cabinet, he rose in order to escape, and groping with 

his hands in the space towards the side of Dr. Blasucci, fell face 

d,ownwards on the table. 

The fall of a penny at the same moment made us aware that 

the phenomenon of apport had been effected. This was the 

.third which, under the most rigorous conditions of control, we 

~ u cceeded in obtaining in three different sittings. 

At a request given through the lable, the medium, who was 

ln an hypnotic condition, was next carried in the sitters' arms and 

placecl on the chair in the cabinet. He was there securely fas· 

tened by the legs and upper part of the body by Dr. Blasucci. It 

was not possible, nor was it thought necessary, to seal the very 

numerous knots. I will not repeat here how the chair was 

securely fastened in loeo by means of steel wires, nor how the 

possibility of movement on the part of the medium was alJsolutely 

out of the question. 

The latter now gave vent to spasmodic sobs, which were 

followed by a deep and rhythmical respiration. A ligbt, little 

* P resumably a miniature piano. 

hand, which from the relative position of the fi ngers appeared to 

be a left one, tapped three times on Dr. Vecchio's right shoulder; 

other little taps informed us that it was ' Lina,' and that sl1e was 

breathing a 'bad fluid.' 

After a fe w minutes of anxious silence, a streak of pale 

yellow light, observed hy all except Dr. Blasucci,* furrowed for 

several seconds the curtains of the left half of the cabinet at the 

height of a metre from the floor. It was a little bundle of 

yellowish rays which seellled to proceed from a minute re fl ector 

-a self-contained sort of light, wl1ir.h did not actually r:1diate 

light. The darkness of the room remained unchanged. Spaslllodic 

groans on the part of the medium were succeeded by the appearance 

of a white-robed female form between the curtains. The 

figure rose from below, and was about five feet in height, the 

head being enveloped in a white turban. 

Althougl1, owing to the deficient light, we did not succeed in 

distinguishing clearly the individual features, still, from the 

general contour of the face, the height, aud the clothingcharacteristics 

which up to the present have never changed 

Misd Hund, Dr. Cavazzi, and Dr. Vecchio at once recognised the 

lady as 'Lina.' Soon she disappeared, to reappear some minutes 

later under identical conditions, only that she remained in sight 

some seconds longer (about fiv e), affording opportunity for more 

exact and minute observation. 

Dr. Vecchio and Dr. Tommasulo, quickly approaching the 

curtains and concentrating their powers of vision, were in 

ag reement as to the visual impressions they brough t back ; and 

so, too, were the others, with 'the exception of Dr. Blasucci. 

A rich garment of very white gauzy material covered the elegant 

and delicate form of a young girl. Her face was small and 

refined, her complex ion waxen, her pupils dark and very mobile. 

Before disappearing she twice moved her head as if in assen t. 

During the fifteen minutes of anx ious silence which followed 

the stupefyin g phenomenon, I abandoned myself to some 

mournful refl ecLions. To think, I said to myself, that thousands 

of cul ti vatecl persons, even at the present day, still deny the 

possibility of these geuuine phenomena, and treat the cultivators 

of Spiritism as hallucinated visionaries ! 

And, in particular, what strange types some men of science 

are . Clinging to their old theories they put their whole 

ingenuity to a severe test, some in order to deny the evidence, 

others in order to attempt, with the aid of difficult and insufficien 

hypotheses, to give a possible explanation of phenomena which 

one could immediately tell to be of spirit origin. 

\Ve, for example, ought to doubt the reality of this evanescent 

fig ure of a young lady, who says she is called 'Lina V.,' and 

who in her figme, height, bearing, and features shows that she 

is actually what she says she is I We ought Lo doubt our more 

than normal powers of vision, and rack our brains to think of 

dream creations or of materialisations of subconscious personalities 

! Oh, if only every devoted student of psychical research 

could have a good medium in his own house and at his own 

disposition ; if only these blessed mediums were not so rare, and if 

their mediumship did not involve so much depletion of energy ! 

The inharmonious sound of the musical instrument recalled 

my attention to the observation of the phenomena. The waves 

of sound proceeded from the upper left-hand com er of the 

cabinet ; then they approached until they were produced over 

the head of Dr. Blasucci, upon whom the instrument was gently 

placed. A hand glided over the short keyboard, and then 

proceeded to deposit the instrument on the table. Everyone 

seemed to note the pearly colour of this hand. Then followed 

loud thuds as if made by a large fist against the upper part of a 

wall ; then lL series of repeated raps gave us to understand that 

the alphabet was wan ted. 

Dr. Vecchio commenced to spell it out, and the manifesting 

intelligence said that he was called ' Vincenzo Imperiale.' · 

Dr. Blasucci manifested a desire to know the particulars of 

his life, but Dr. Vecchio, recollecting the previous warning of 

the spirit guide, replied that it was a mocking spirit, and would 

furnish Lhem all inexactly. 

The intelligence, nrnking little taps against the top of tl1e 

*It is to be noted t hat Dr. Blasucci suffers from hypermetropic 

vision (farsightedness).

March 23, 1912.] LIGHT 137 

cabinet, asked for the alphabet, and said to Dr. Vecchio, who 

spelled it out : 'I will pull your beard this evening.' * 

Upon being asked again l>y Dr. Blasucci for his native 

country, he replied that he was Italian, and l>eing


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THE BLIND ALLEY. 

We have already published a notice of 'The Coping 

Stone,' Miss E. Katharine Bates's latest work, and our 

present reference to it is merely incidental, the fact being 

that its opening chapter, 'The Disease of the Age,' provides 

us with a text, which we propose to deal with from 

our own standpoint, with every appreciation of the ability 

with which Miss Bates herself handles the problem. 

vVe have on previous occasions dealt in a fragmentary 

fashion with this question of the fever and the fret of modern 

existence, with its labour-saving machines that multiply 

labour, with its 'arts ·of peace ' which, in the way of commercial 

competition and industrialism, are rather more 

deadly. than war. In thinking of the toiling millions, 

jaded and nerve-racked, see king in violent delights some 

compensation for the unnatural strain of their working 

lives, we have almost been tempted t.o believe that the 

forces of evolution were now operating to weed out-to 

kill off-all those who were not mentally and nervously 

strong enough to survive the ordeal. It seemed as though 

Nature had decreed a crucial process for the elimination of 

'the unfit.' An American preacher recently propoL~nded 

11 somewhat similar theory, adding, with characteristic optimism, 

that the only people who were being eliminated were the 

neurotic and criminal degenerates. Considered as a phase 

of the cosmic process, the idea at first appealed to us as 

not unreasonable. But we could only give it a very 

partial assent, for it is unfortunately the fact that the stress 

and terror of the time are working havoc not only amongst 

the degenerates, but amongst those who under a, more 

humane social order would show themselves to possess 

morally and spiritually the highest degree of fitness. We 

are told that in the panic that followed a great fire at a 

place of public entertainment one of the aurvivors, a man 

of great strength, escaped by trampling on women and 

children and fairly hurling himself over the heads and 

shoulders of the men who stood between him and safety. 

Truly he proved his fitness to survive, but only as a very 

objectionable kind of animal. Terrible as it was, that case 

is not without its parallels in the modern commercial. and 

industrial scramble, where iron nerves, an almost preternatural 

acuteness of intellect, brazen self-confidence, 

cunning and unscrupulo.usness emerge from the ruck and 

are forthwith held up as examples of the triumph of 

' efficiency.' 

But already u change-slight as yet, but vlainly 

perceptible-has come over the spirit of affairs. we hear 

of unrest and discontent even amongst those who have 

amassed enough to render them independent of the 

struggle. They have succeeded, but remain unsatisfied. 

Their golden apples have become strangely suggestive of 

Dead Sea fruit. Raised above the heads of the madding 

crowd, they are none the less victims of the disease of the 

age, and their efforts to escape it take strange forms 

' freak dinners,' barbaric luxury, costly art treasures, and 

other modes of sensation and sensual delight. Even a 

lavish philanthropy (in rare cases) is resorted to as an 

anodyne. But 'what all the world's a-seeking' remains as 

far away from the millionaire as from the humblest 

struggler in the crowd-as far away and as near ! For 

surely the secret of all this tragedy of unsatisfied desire 

lies in the fact that the seekers search always for their 

treasure in the external world. The quest is always for 

something afar off. 'It is here, that which you seek,' says 

the still, small voice of the soul, but its message is drowned 

in 'the whirl and the crash of things,' and the rest is chaos 

and futility. It is an old story, this of man ranging the 

Universe for that which lies always within reach of his 

hand. So often has the parable been preached that it 

has become a platitude. An oft-told tale-stale theme 

for moralists-it is apt to fall on deaf ears. But now 

Nature herself has taken up the sermon to preach in 

her own fashion, that with pain and travail the lesson 

shall be driven home. Her children, unwilling to be 

led, must now be driven. 'I called, but ye hearkened 

not,' is her message. 'Your fathers I whipped with 

whips, but I will whip you with scorpions. He who 

thinks the prize of existence is leisure may by strength 

and cunning escape work, but he shall be soul-sick with 

idleness. He who thinks it is fulness may escape hunger, 

but he shall perish of satiety. He who seeks it in length 

of days shall at last long for oblivion. I will line all the 

ways but the right one with fear and pain : all roads but 

the true one shall lead to darkness and the void.' 

That is the message as we hear it, uttered more clearly 

and strongly than ever before. For now the evolutionary 

forces are converging, the highly-evolved machinery of 

external life is being driven more and more rapidly. The 

great god Competition, that was to be the friend and 

servant of the race, is rapidly becoming its savage tyrant. 

It began by crushing the weak, it has now begun to menace 

the strong. On every hand there are white faces and 

mutterings of fear and discontent. 'Whither shall we 

fly 1' is the question of many lips to-day. The old sanctuaries 

give no longer safety; the 'haunts of ancient peace' are 

gone, defiled and desolated by the hordes of commerce 

and industrialism; the old fruit_s have lost their savour. 

The laws of life, so long defied, are at last avenging themselves, 

and man is being driven with stripes from the 

caverns of the old life to the uplands of the new, there to 

begin his journey to the stars. 

That is bow we read the riddle. To us-as to all who 

have realised the truth concerning the spiritual nature and 

destiny of man-the 'present discontents' are but a phase 

in the progress of the race. We are not troubled to conjecture 

how it will traverse its present difficult road, feeling 

assured that this road, if pursued, will merely end in a 

enl de sac. Already there are symptoms that the world 

is awakening to the fact that it has got somehow into a 

'blind alley,' and is beginning to consider the advisubility 

of trying another way. The Divine Intelligence which 

guides the forces of evolution and which expresses itself 

ever more and more clearly through the expanding consciousness 

of man will do the rest.

March 23, 1912.) J:...IGHT. 139 

MY REASONS FOR 

AFTER MANY 

BEING 

YEARS' 

BY w AL'l'ER APPLEYARD. 

A SPIRITUALIST 

EXPERIENCE. 

An Address delivered on Thmsday, March 14th, trJ the 

Members and Associates of the London Spiritualist Alliance, in 

the S:.i.lon of the Royal Society of British Artists, Suffolk-street, 

Pall Mall East, Vice-Admiral V1T. Usborne ~foore in the chair. 

THE CHAIRMAN, in opening the meeting, said : Since our 

last meeting we have had a great loss to the London Spiritualist 

Alliance in the transition of Mr. George Spriggs. Thirty or 

forty years ago he was oue of the most po werful rnaterialis:.i.tion 

mediums in the world. His, I believe, is the only case in which 

the forms have been :.i.ctually put in the bal:.i.nce and weighed and 

the medium weighed also. His departure will lJe a heavy blow 

to tb. l's'Sfcb.o-Thempeutic Society, of which he was president. 

I am sure it will be a very long time before Mr. Spriggs' services 

to Spiritualism and to suffering humanity are forgotten. We 

have here to-night a gentleman from the busy city of Sheffield, 

who is not ashamed to come forward and give us some evidence 

he has obtained of the fact of survival after death. It is not 

evei-y business man who is willing to state what he knows. 

Some fear ridicule, some fear loss. He is not of that >vay of 

thinking, but considers it right when he has found a good thing 

to make it known. I have pleasure in calling on Mr. Appleyard 

to give his address. (Applause.) 

JllIR APPLEYARD said : I think that nowhere are the 

strange inconsistencies and illogical assumptions of the 

public mind more apparent than in its general attitude 

towards the subject which must of necessity come within 

the purriew of my observations this e\'ening-viz., Spiritualism, 

with its marvellous phenomena demonstrating the 

validity of its clairus, \'indicating its position, and meeting the 

demands of the most critical student, standing forth Loldly 

before the world on the threshold of the twentieth century of 

Christian civilisation, courting inquiry, and fearlessly challenging 

investigation. 

Wheu that intrepid explorer, the late H. M. Stanley, of 

African fame, returned from his devious wand erings through 

the 'dark continent' and visited the val'ious cities of this 

country, recounting to admiring audiences the particulars of his 

stupendous achievements, his statements were unhesitatingly 

accepted in good faith. When Peary, Nansen, and other brave 

explorers of Polar regions addressed themseh'es to the intelligence 

of cultured E urope, to lay before the euthusiastic 

assemblies of hero-worshippers accounts of their hardBhips and 

l1airbreadth escapes, and when they presented before the learned 

societies their records of observations taken in those lonely latitudes 

of Arctic severities, where human foot its impress ne'er had 

left in virgin snows, those accounts and records were all alike received 

without question of their authors' integrity and sanity. But 

when men of the highest attainme11ts in knowledge, with mental 

powers expanded by years of study, intellects trained to make 

the most minute and critical observations, return from their explorations 

of the com para ti vely unknown regions of spirit re;ilms, 

their carefully tabulated and scientifically attested facts are received 

wiLh.derision, as products of 'minds diseased' or distorted 

imaginations. 

Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace, in his 'Defence of Modern 

Spiritualism,' scathingly exposes the unfaimess of this attitude, 

which was adopted "by the critics of Sir William Crookes, 

and proves that their minds were so prejudiced, their 

judgment so warped by preconceived ideas, as to render their 

opinions of little or no value. The late Professor Lombroso, 

in l1is preface to his last work, 'After Death, \Vhat ?' shows 

that he suffered the same indignity, although he was impelled 

by the highest sense of duty to crown a life, as he says, 

passed in the struggle for great ideas by entering the list for 

this desperate cause. 

The same inconsistency has obtained throughout the worhl's 

history. \~T hil e humanity, under tl1 e pressm c of evolutionary 

law, has been struggling to extricate itself from the bondage of 

ignorauce and superstition this hydra has barred the path of 

progress. Nearly all grnat truths and scientific discoveriesmaiuly 

the outflow of Divine intelligence into receptive mindshave 

had to establish themselves in face of bitter persecution and 

virulen t attack from sources one would least suspect, and notwithstanding 

the magnificent work accomplished by the Chl'istian 

Church, a large percentage must be deducted from its credit 

for the unwarrantable opposition it has ever offered LO the advance 

of truth. As the late Dean Fttnar pathetically put it, 

'There is hardly a single nascent science against which theological 

dogma has not injuriously paraded its menacing army of misinterpreted 

or inapplicable texts,' and even now, with its more 

enligh Lened perceptions and clearer revelations, its inconsistencies 

are very pronounced. 

The Church professes to believe in the spiritual phenomena 

recorded in the Scriptures- materialisation, levitation, trance 

and inspirational speaking, direct writing, the gift of tongLtes, 

manifestations of fire in the bu:ih, on the altar, and in the upper 

room, with visions, voices, and various other expressions of spirit 

power- and to do so on evidence of doubtful origin, dating 

back Lhoueands of years, transmitted through many sources and 

channels of communication, subjected to numerous interpretations 

and revisions, filtered through soil of questionable freedom from 

bias and prejudice, and coming to us through many ages of 

darkness and con flicting opinions. Yet when she is faced with 

the invaluable testimony of bishops, clergymen and ministers 

of all sects, literary and scientific men, lawyers, physicians, 

secularists, philosophical sceptics, and pure materialists, who 

have witnessed all these same phases of phenomena in this our 

own time and country, and have given their solemn assurance 

as honourable men of their genuineness and reality, she spurns 

that testimony with superior dignity and openly declares, without 

the least semblance of logical reasoning, that such things 

are of Satanic origin. 

It is because of this opposition to progressiYe thought and to 

the earnest quest of devout minds for more advanced knowledge, 

and also because of a profound sense of duty imposed upon me 

by the manifold o]Jligations under which I have been placed by 

my unseen friends, that I am made bold to occupy this position 

and make declaration of ' my reasons for being a Spiritualist after 

many years' experience.' (Applause.) 

While I a!ll ready to pay unqualified tribute of praise to 

true Christianity, and freely admit that it is as the electric light 

compared with all previous spiritual illuminations, I fearlessly 

affirm that Spiritualism in its highest conception and 

manifestation comes as the 'Rontgen Rays' to pierce the sacerdotal 

\'eil of superstition, and bring within the scope of enlightened 

observation the underlying principles of Divine my:iteries 

or so-called miracles, prnving, as it does, to a demonstration that. 

those miracles and its own phenomena are analogous, that they 

are produced hy like causes, through the operation of natural 

laws, of which humanity at large is deeply ignorant. 

Like the majority of men who have embarked on the 

enterprise of research in these domains, I have been actuated 

solely by the desire to solve the great question of life's continuity, 

to ascertain the fact, aud in some measure the conditions, of a 

post-mortem existence, and to address myself to the task with a 

mind keenly alert to the possibilities such a quest opens out. 

Cradled in Methodism, nurtured in the attenuated mental 

atmosphere of a rnral district where religious teaching was 

strictly orthodox and of a most primitive kind, offering no encouragement 

to the inquiring mind, where the doctrines 

incul cated, partaking somewhat of a sulphurous odour, were 

served up hot and sLrong, I soon imbibed those anthropomorphic 

ideas of the Supreme Being that characterised the preaching of 

the Dissenting Church half a century ago. Driven by fear of 

the awful consequences of unbelief, I sought refuge in a false 

id eal, and cultivated a pious fervour which I was led to think 

would ensure me protection from the wrath of an avenging 

God. Crude, indeed, were my couceptions of His divine 

attributes, and while I professed to rejoice in the hope of 

sal vatiou through faith in the atoning blood, I little realised 

how dense was my ignorance, and how far removed I was from 

the trne standpoint of observation. 

lror many years I laboured incessantly, with unabated zeal, 

nuder the oppressive hand of the task-master, making my


bricks without straw, until eventually I emerged, as did the 

children of Israel through the turbulent waters of the Red Sea, 

upon the shores of freedom, and, like Miriam, sang for joy the 

song of deliverance. 

Do any of my hearers, I wonder, know what complete 

emancipation is 1 To feel the gyves of relentless creeds, that 

may have been eating into the soul for years, relax: their grip 

and fall a way, leaving the prisoner in his new-found liberty Lu 

step forth from sbvery 1 If so, their sympathy will at once be 

awakened, and they will readily appreciate the condition tha.t 

preceded my · escape from a th rnldom that never should have 

been experienced. When one looks hack to tho.-e days, and 

memory recalls the mental agony end ured in contemplation of 

the awful punishment so graphically portrayed as the inevitable 

result of doubt or lack of faith, the so ul rises in righteous 

revolt against a system that makes it imperative on the preacher, 

even in these days, to perpetuate ideas that are at once alike dishonouring 

to Goel and offensive to human intelligence. No 

wonder the Church is now deploring a decrease of membership 

and resorting to all manner of attractions in order to maintain 

her position. (Applause.) 

To an observant eye it is manifest that education has accomplished 

its primary object, the people are being slowly led out 

of the morass on to tl1e great highway of knowledge. The 

'man in the street' now indulges in the responsibility of 

independent thought and action ; he refuses longer to be cajoled 

or coerced into an acceptance of theories that have no concrete 

foundation, and demands, in self-respect, to be supplied with 

evidence which the Chnrch is unable to give. Hence we find 

agnosticism abroad, and the spirit of incredulity confronting us 

on every 11and. 

This, however, is only a passing phase of disturbance-a 

righteous protest, an indication of mental activity and spiritual 

unrest ; and when the Church has assimilated-as undoubted ly 

she is doing in many quarters-the more advanced views it is 

our privilege, as Spiritualists, to demonstrate, she will readjust 

l1erself to the new conditions, and become a more potent, energising 

force for good than she ever was in the past. 

With a mind 'to let,' I first came in contact with psychical 

phenomena about twenty years ago thrnugh the instrumentality 

of a friend- the daughter of the late Mr. Junor Browne, of 

:tvlelbourne, Australia-shortly after my visit to that country. 

She related to me the remarkable experiences of her home life, 

the knowledge of which has long been common property through 

Mr. Browne's publications. (He sent me a copy of his 'Rational 

Faith,' wherein are graphically p resented those startling accounts 

of materialisation that have fo und but few parallels in the 

11istory of the movement.) To say I was profoundly impressed 

does but convey an inadequate idea of my sensations, for up to 

this point I had been unconscious of any such possibilities. I 

11ad no doubt in regard to my informant's sanity, nor could I 

question her veracity ; but the revelation was so stupendous, so 

revolutionising, that I felt as if I had been living all rny life in 

another world, and determined forthwith to prove for myself 

the reality of these things. 

Subsequently I made the acquaintance of the late Florence 

11Iarryat, who strongly mged me to see Mrs. Russell-Davies 

when next I came to London. Acting on her ad vice I shortly 

afterwards made an appointment with that lady and visited her 

at Sydenham. This, my first sittin g with a medium, was a 

remarkable one ; iL changed the whole cmrent of my thoughts, 

led me out into a larger field of speculation and wonderment, 

and whetted my appetite for further experience. When I left 

llirs. Davies' presence I was reminded of the woman of Samaria, 

who after her historic visit to the well, hastened to her brethren 

exdaiming, ' Come, see a man who hnth told me all things that 

ever I did.' It was a red-l etter clay in my life's history which I 

never shall forget, an experience that brought conviction of a 

world of realities beyond our ken. It was the dawning of a 

Ilt.!W light upon the horizon of my outlook. 

Although one is naLurally reluctant to relate details of a 

mol'e or less private and sacred clrnracter, I feel that I owe it to 

the grand cause of trnth on this occasion to make some little 

sacrifice of personal feeling, for I realise that it is only by so 

doing I shall ]Jc able to invest:my story with proper interest. 

I went to Mrs. Davies an absolute stranger, determined to 

advance no information in regard to myself, but to test he L' 

clairvoyant faculties to the utmost, and well she responded to 

the challenge. After a short preliminary conversation I soon 

noticed a facial change take place. She then remarked (either 

under control, or partially so), 'I cannot get into your conditions 

at all, but I get into your wife's' (she did not know I was 

imirried). After diagnosing my wife's physical condition-going 

into details that were quite conect-she observed : 'I do not see 

any childrnn with you.' 'No,' I said, ' I have none.' 'But,' she 

went on, 'you have had one, a boy.' 'Quite right,' I interjected. 

'He is here now, standing before you quite plainly. Don't you 

see him ?' 'No,' I said. 'Ah,well ! He is hereright enough, 

]Jut as I see him he appears undeveloped, as if he had come 

before his time. Why! was he not still-born 1' 'True,' I 

replied. 'He is on your knees, his arms are round your neck ; 

do yon not feel him ?' 'No.' 'Ah!' she said, 'you thought of 

him as not living, but he is living as much as you are.' You can 

imagine my astonishment at such a revelation. She then went 

on to describe a number of relatives who had passed on , and who 

were present to give me welcome and encouragement in my 

purpose. 

The point, however, I want to bring home is accentuated 

more in the sequel than in the facts just outlined. Some time 

after this incident my wife and I c:1lled upon the late Mrs. Bliss 

for a seance. She demurred on the ground of fatigue after a 

prolonged sitting with some great Russian potentate who had 

just left, but seeing our disappointment she consented to try and 

olJtain communication. She passed under control, her guide 

taking us in hand. The salient feature of this sitting, standing 

out conspicuously in my memory, was a beautiful clai1Yoyant 

picture she drew of a lovely basket of flowers being let down 

between the two of us, and nestled in the midst of which was a 

pretty little baby boy, who, the control said, was ours. (This was 

my first and last acquaintance with this medium.) 

Several years ago-possibly twelve-a gentleman living in a 

distant part of the country wrote to say t hat he l1ad seen my 

name in 'Borderland,' and, being interested in psychic nmtters, 

would like to call upon me the next time he came to my city. 

I replied that I should be pleased to see him, an d one day he 

put in an appearance. H e was a perfect stranger, so I · took him 

in,' and invited him to spend the evening. I soon found that 

he was very clairvoyant. While we were clrntting round the 

dinner-talJle he described the heavenly visitants, among them 

one who he said was a spirit of rare beauty ; he gave her name 

and details of her passi11g which convinced us that she was a · 

1011g-depm-ted si ~ter of my }Vife's. 

'She is so bright that I can scarcely look at her,' he exclaimed, 

'as 8he stands about a foot from the floor-but she has gone !' A 

few minutes later he called out, ' She is here again, but, strange 

to say, she has a child in her arms ; it is a little boy.' 

Then turning to my wife he asked her if she had ever had a 

little boy. On her admitting the fact he exclaimed, ' Oh, the 

lady is so delighted and wi:shes yon to know that it is your boy 

and that she has had it in her charge ever since it went over.' 

Through subsequent years I have bad from numbers of 

111edium8 continuous and conclusive evidence confirmatory of 

the te8timo11y th us borne to the fact that this little spark of 

humanity was not extinguished. On another plane of existence 

he had slowly unfolded those latent attributes with which he 

had been endowed, displaying a natmal interest in the daily 

affairs of his progenitors, and the last clairvoyant description of 

him was of a young man, fully developed, who, if he had lived 

his natural life, would have been a musician. He appeared 

to the seer with musical instruments under his arms, indicating, 

I presume, the bent of his inclination and the art he 

had adopted as an adjunct contributory to his happiness. H e 

informed us he was proceeding to the musical spheres, and consequently 

would i10t be able to come again for some time. This 

was about two years ago. It was in August last, however, on 

the occasion of a visit to my home ]Jy Mrs. Wriedt, of Detroit, 

that to this well-connected chain of evidence was :tdded its most 

important golden link. At one of the memorable seances which 

she gave us, my wife was addressed for the first t ime by the 

sweet name of ' .Mother,' and I heard the voice of my son in


clear, audible tones, calling me 'Fath er,' and this on the twentyseventh 

anniversary of his nntime1y advei1t in earthly form. 

(Applause.) There he was in om midst, the fact of his presence 

being confirmed by other spirits who had accompanied him, and 

who by virtue of experience at previous sittings were alJle to 

sustain longer conversation, imparting information of a most 

interesting character. So that I am fully persuaded 

That he who of cmr nature did obtain, 

l?oredoomed, although he was, so soon to fail 

Experience to acquire upon this earthly plane, 

Went forth, endowed with life, beyond the veil, 

Creative purpose to fulfil. 

Arnl while denied the joy of his upbringing, 

With all of love's delight one feels, beside, 

In nature's sweet parental 1aw fulfilling, 

We know that witl1 the ebbing of the tide, 

And when the waters of the sea are still, 

That voice will then be heard to sound again, 

(As to the other side our ]Jarque draws near) 

In notes of welcome, yet in loftier strain, 

Assuring us that he is waiting there 

Our compensation cup to fill. 

We know that life and love when thus combined 

Complete the universal scheme, the main 

And comprehensive plan, our Heaven to find. 

For life is love, and love is life, the plain 

Expression of our Father's will. 

In regard to Mrs. Wriedt, through whose agency this satisfaction 

was obtained (as a resu1t, incidentally, of the good 

offices of ·Rear-Admiral. Moore and Mr. W. T. Stead), words fail 

me to express all I would like to say. Her mediumship is 

unique, transcending in the directness of its appeal to mind and 

heart any I have witnessed. I cannot understand anyone fai1ing 

to be convinced. H er personality is one that commands confidence, 

and her generous, sympathetic nature, expressed . in her 

lavish expenditure of lime and energy, often placed one under 

special obligation. 


ASTROLOGICAL. 

'Chaldean Astrology,'* by the well-known astrologer, Mr. 

George Wilde, is a useful little work, presenting in convenient 

form the es.'ential features and principal rules of natal astrology. 

Com mencing with the symbols and abbreviations peculiar to the 

art, the author proceeds, step by step, to the 'cast.ing of the 

horoscope,' and the signification of its twelve fateful divisions. 

Next comes the reading of ' the figure ' as regards the health 

and mental qualities of the native, )lis pecuniary prospects, employment, 

journeys, marriage, friends and enemies, and the 

like. Other chapters deal wiLh 'Directions '- a formidable 

obstacle to most students-their calculation, and influence in the 

nativity. 

Mr. Wilde handles an intricate subject with method and 

skill, and the inquirer who attentively follows his instructions 

should have little di tHculty in determining the leading characteristics 

of any horoscope presented to him. \Ve note with 

satisfaction that the book has reached a second ed ition. There 

is an interesting preface by A. G. Trent, and a repri nt of Lhe 

famous 'test ' horoscope-that of Mr. C. Pearson, of 'Pearson's 

·weekly '- which appeared in 'Borderland' some years ago. 

w·e have · also received a copy of 'La Reforme des Bases de 

l'Astrologie Traditionnelle,'t by J. Maveric--an essay in li't ench, 

advocating far-reaching changes in the elementary qualities 

ti:aditionally associated with the signs of the zodiac. The proposed 

alterations are based on the seasonal position of the snn in 

the zodiac, and theit· adoption, amongst other things, would lead to 

a rearrangement of Lhe t_riplicitics, the provision of fresh 'houses' 

for each of the planets and the reconsideration of the Hylegiunovations 

that would dismay if not appal the most tolerant of 

astrologers. B. 

* ' Chaldean Astrology,' by GF.OllGl" \ VrwE. 2nd Edition. PL"ice 

Gd. net. Pubfo;bed by T. \Verner J,aurie. 

t 'La R efo t"m e des Bases l'Astt"o log·ie Traditionnelle.' Pm· J·. 

MAv1m10. P rice 2 francs. Published by Alfred Leclerc, l!J, Rue 

Mo11sieur-le-Prince, Paris, 

TRIBUTES TO MR. SPRIGGS. 

The 'Thames Valley Times' of March 13th devotes threcquarters 

of a column to the transition of Mr. Spriggs. 'Although 

not a prominent; member of the Richmond Town Council, Mr. 

Spriggs,' it says, ' soon established himself as agenera,l favourite, 

and his views on the various questions which came up for discussion 

were invariably respected. He was a genial man, who 

in an unassuming way won the respect of all with whom he 

came in contact.' After giving an account of the funeral, the paper 

goes on to mention the kindly references to Mr. Spriggs made 

by the Mayor at the Council meeting on the 12th, in moving 

a resolution which wa: unanimously passed, placing on record 

the meeting's appreciation of the services Mr. Spriggs had . 

rendered to the borough. 

'A very old friend' writes: 'I lrnve always felt that, 

however richly people praised Mr. Spriggs' mediumship, and 

loved him as a man, few knew the rarest of his qualities-a 

fine understanding, an intensely delicate and sympathetic knowledge 

of the mental or emotional atmosphere of others, especially 

those (perhaps unlovely and unattractive to the world) whom he 

could make happy withuut the remotest tinge of patronage or 

obtrusive sympathy, bnt a kind fellowship, understanding 

intuitively just how to touch the springs which would cheer, 

console, or, if need be, even rebuke, but how finely touched, 

and with what abundant love and pristine truth ! It is 

th irty-five years since I first met 11im, and by his unselfish 

kindness was admitted to the 'Circle of Light,' then 

held with such wonderful and elevating results at Cardiff. 

The acquaintance was renewed in Melboume, Australia, and 

once more his generous hand admitted myself and parents to 

very many seances for the various phenomena, many being held 

by him at our humble home in the new land, in order that his 

friends might become oiw friends. Never have I known him tu 

be unkind, or untrue to noble principle. In the most unguarded 

moments of conversation, or even when he was merriest (and he 

was often merry as a little child) he never ''hurt." I had 

numberless proofs of his thoughtful effort to bring everyone into 

the stream of happiness and of good things. He was always 

briuging people together who were likely to benefit by mutual 

acquaintance, and was never content if anyone felt or seemed 

to be "left out," whether it was from a dance, a seance, or worldly 

prosperity. He would leave nothing undone to bring about 

just what was wanted if he could, and when he or the other 

could not, then he would say (and I feel sure al ways practise) 

"Watch and Pray," and this with the unw!lvering confidence of 

a little child.' 

SPIRITUALISM AND DOGMATIC CHRISTIANITY. 

'l'he December number of 'Luce e Ombrn' contains an interesting 

contribution from its able sub-editor, Sig11or .Antonio 

Bmers, dealing with the qLrnstion of the relations between 

Spiritualism on the one hand and Roman Catholicism and dogmatic 

Christianity in general on the other. 

Signor Bruers had been somewhat critieised fu r what was 

considered in so me quarters an attitude of inexpedient tenderness 

for certain tenets of the Roman Catholic Church, and his 

reply to such criticism is in the form of a letter addressed to a 

friendly critic and fellow-collaborator in which he describes in 

some detail his views on the question at issue. Briefly, 

Signor Bruers, while emphatically affirming his opposition 

to the Church as at present organised and to its rigidly systematised 

body of doctrines, nevertheless finds himself constrained 

to admit that the teaching of the Latin Church comprises certain 

principles of abiding value, which are, in his opinion, in 

harmony with the laws and processes of occult phenomena as 

revealed in the ·course pf modem Spiritualist experience. He 

proceeds to sum up the situation in the following words :- 

Our Spiritualism, which arose by way of reaction agai11st 

the materialism of the second half of the past century, has, if 

not as sole; at any rate as principal object the re vi val of religion. 

And its position i11 Lhe actual historical sphere i.s dete\'. 

mined as follows : It is opposed lo two adversaries-the 

materialism of ·philosophy or of suience, and the theological dogmat.ism 

of the Church. It blames the Church for having 

crystallised in precise dogmas, in ideological form uhe, the eternal 

and universal principles of religion and for being, on that 

acco unt, chiefly responsil>lc fo r the materialist reaction. But it 

blmncs the materialists for the enor of lrnving been ready, in 

t,heir hat reel of the Church, tu deny the truth nf religion altogether 

; for the errnr of having been ready, for example, lo 

deny the immortality of the soul in order to combat the theo-

142 LIGHT. [:March 23, 1912. 

logical systematisation of a future life in a hell, in a purgatory, 

in a paradise ; for t he error of having been willing for like 

reasons to deny the existence of God, to deny the most profound 

and universal principle of personal sin in order to combat the 

legend of Genesis, wherein the Church has been ready too 

materially t.o observe and establish a symbol, the acceptance of 

which, however, proves, together with numerous other Catholic 

rites and symbols, how the Church responds to a profoundly 

occultistic conception, differentiating it from, and raising it 

above, Lhe simple standpoint of the materialist. 

From this double attitude it results, and I am here again 

only giving my personal opinion, that Spiritualism simultaneously 

proposes on the one hand to demolish materialism, on the 

other to demolish ecclesiastical theologism. But at the same 

time if, on the one hand, it gathers from materialism, among 

other things, the positive method, the importance which must be 

att1·ibuted to matter, the right to the most unlimited liberty and 

choice of object for investigation, on the other hand it gathers 

from the Church which you, in common with myself-but contrary, 

be it noted, to the opinion of not a few distinguished 

thinkers-believe to he moribund, the substance of many of the 

principles upon which it i& founded. 

DR. PEEBLES' NINETIETH BIRTHDAY. 

To-day (March 23rd) our venerable friend, Dr. J .M. Peebles, 

attains his ninetieth birthday. We can confidently predict that 

the occasion will be fittingly celebrated, for the different societies 

of Los Angeles (Cal., U.S.A.), where the doctor resides, formed 

committees several weeks ago for th e purpose. We are not iu the 

secret of all their plans, lmt we understand that one feature of the 

day's proceedings, which owes its inception to his devoted friend 

and co-thinker, Mr. Norton F. W. Hazeldine, is to be a banquet 

in the doctor's honour. The 'American Spiritualist' makes tht 

very practical suggestion, especially to those well-wishers who will 

be unable Lo attend the feast, that the most appropriate birthday 

present for an author would be a shower of orders for his books. 

Each book thus purchased would become a family heirloom-a 

souvenir of a notable stage in the career of a remarkable man. 

Meanwhile, Dr. Peehles has been receiving numerous letters of 

congratul ation, including some from Australia, one from Mr. 

W. J. Colville in Boston, and many others. We quite agree with 

the writers of these epistles in thinking that the occasion well 

warrants congratulation. It is true that mere length of years, 

especially if it be, as the 90th Psalm gives us to understand, inseparably 

connected with 'labour and sorrow '- is not in itself 

something to be envied. But Moses must have had one of his 

t1·ying days when he wrote that psalm. He evidently thought 

better of it afterwards, for, instead of giving up the ghost at 

'three-score years and ten,' he continued, with eye undimmed 

and natural force unabated, to lead his people till he had reached 

the respectahle record of a hundred and twenty years. It looks as if 

Dr. Peebles was resolved to emulate t4e great law-giver's example. 

Far from having retired from activity be tells us that he never 

was l1ble to do more literary work than he is now. Every day 

he may be found for a certain number of hours in his bungalow 

library, reading, studying, and dictating to his secreLary, 

Mr. Robert P. Sudall. This is not all. The doctor 

continues to lecture before all manner of bodies-scientific, 

religious and economic-'1'ith the same vehement force and 

eloquence which have ever marked his presentation of what he 

holds to be the trnt.h. What leisure he allows himself is devoted 

to that best of recreations for the brain-worker, the tending of 

plauts, fruits, vegetables and fiowers, which, he says, 'seem to. 

smile up at me with souls brimful of gratitude.' He callo them 

all his 'friends in Nature.' As the 'American Spiritualist' 

truly remarks, it is only right that the Spiritualists of the 

world should ' show their appreciation and esteem for this leader 

in all reforms, this foster-father of Spiritualism, an:i try to 

make his few, or many, remaining years pleasant and peaceful 

in the thought of a life well-spent, and the love of his fellows.' 

THE spiritual teacher must strive, not merely for assent to 

the principle of the unity of mankind, but fo r the practical 

recognition in our affairs that, all men are brothers. The kingdom 

of heaven can never be realised on earth until our chief 

concern is the good of others. This loft,y ideal is at present 

unattainable, lmt it is the goal before us. A fur..damental change 

must take place in our spirit and motives ; we must be soundly 

.converted before we can achieve social salvation. 

LONDON SPIRITUALIST ALLIANCE. 

At the meeting of the Council of the London Spiritualist 

A lli an ~e on Thursday, the 14th inst., the following resolution 

was passed unanimously :- 

The Council learns with sincere regret of the 'passing ' of 

Mr. George Spriggs, and desires to record its high appreciation 

of his valuable assistance to the Alliance, both as a member of 

the Council and as a medium, and its deep sense of indebtedness 

to him for his generosity in freely giving his services fo r t he 

diagnosis of disease, and suggestions as to treatment.. The 

Council also desires to express its recognition of his invaluable 

medinmship for materialisation phenomena whereby, over thirty 

years ago, the real presence in materialised fo rm of excarnate 

human beings was demonstrated beyond. all doubt, and tenders 

its sincere sympathy to his relatives and to Mr. H. Boyden, his 

faithful comrade and friend. 





Was it Merely a Coincidence? 

Srn,- May I call attention to the fact that Swedenborg 

foretold that a hundred ye.o'irs after his death the truth of his 

visions would be proved. Now he died on March 29th, 1772, 

and just a hundred years afterwards, in March, 1872, Sir 

William Crookes and Cromwell Varley stated and proved the 

reality of the spirit world. 

Could this have been a blind coincidence ?-Yours, &c., 

E. A. R. 

Advice Wanted Respecting Development. 

Srn,-A friend of mine, who attends a public circle, has 

shown mediumistic gifts, which he is developing. H e has been 

told that he must attend only one private circle for development, 

ot.herwise his gifts are in danger of being spoiled. As there are 

one or two other good private circles he would like to attend 

occasionally, I should be pleased to have advice on this point. 

Personally I do not see why the fact of attending more than one 

circle (provided conditions are good) should spoil one's medium- 

1st1c powers. Are better results obtained .at a circle with even 

numbers sitting or should odd numbers be the rule ?-Yours, 

&c., 

D.M.T. 

A Desire for ' Light.' 

Sm,- For a numlJer of years I was a constant reader of 

• LIGH'l',' and never missed a week in getting it with my other 

papers. Unfortunately three years ago, owing to loss of employment, 

age and illness, I was obliged to curtail my expenditure, 

and give up all my literature, including my much-lo"ed 'LIGHT.' 

I am now an old-age pensioner, with a very limited income, 

and have to go, when able to walk, to the Free Library for my 

readmg, but I do not see ' LIGHT' among the papers. It has 

occurred to me that perhaps some reader of ' LIGHT,' who does 

not preserve his copies might, if he knew of my circumstances, 

post to me each number in turn when he has read it. I send my 

address to you, sir, and hope that you will kindly send it to anyone 

who desires it. I l1ave recently purchased an occasional 

number, and it has quite revived my former pleasure in reading 

it, and I have hopes that some generous reader will oblige me. 

Yours, &c., 

Newcastle-on-Tyne. 

ARTISAN. 

' Light' in Far Away Places. 

Sm,-I sincerely wish you well, and your glorious paper so 

truly named 'LIGH'l'.' In these far away islands, through your 

instrument.ality, we have been able to follow the thought::; of 

those grand souls, the arisen J . Page Hopps and E. Dawson 

Rogers, and those equally large-hearted, broad-minded workers, 

James Coates, James Robertson, not forgetting Rev. Arthur 

Chambers, Admiral Moore, and many others. With best and 

kindest wishes for' LIGH'l'.'-Yours, &c., 

G. w. MIN'l'ER. 

Wellington, New Zealand. 

No'l'E.-You may remember that about three years ago I 

sent you accounts of apports that came through the mediumship 

of one in my home. I am absolutely assured it is in the sacredness 

of the pn vate home circles that the profoundest and most 

inconLrovertible evidence occurs : such evidence as it is impossible 

to prod nee at the wish or mandate of any scientific sceptic .


'No Medium can bring Truth.' 

Sm,-The astounding statement, maue by Mabel Cull in s, 

that 'no medium can bring trutl1,' which you printed in' LIGH'J'' 

of the 9th inst., pagee 117-118, is certainly buL little advertisernent 

for the truth or the lJrotherhood of Theosophy. The word 

medium, in the ordinary sense, means ' one who is, or has been, 

entranced or controlled.' Surely Mabel Collins forgot St. Paul, 

who said : 'While I prayed in the temple I was in a trance.' 

When St. Peter was fully conscious he denied his master, and 

when Mabel Collins was fully conscious she denied 'Hilarion,' 

her master. Up t.o 1889 Mabel Collins allowed Theosophy to 

accept her book, 'Light on the Path,' as coming from the master, 

Hilarion, with whom she 'had an appointmE>nt,' but later she 

wrote to Professor Cones and told him that she had read 'Light 

on the Path' 'on the walls of a place which I [she] used to visit 

spiritually.' In 'LIGHT' for June 8th, 1889, Madame Blavatsky 

writes : 'On the page facing the Prologue [of 'Through the 

Gates of Gold '] Miss Collins speaks of a " mysterious stranger " 

who entered her study. . . This person, she repeatedly 

confessed, gave her "Light on the Path,'' and yet 

now the "mysterious stranger" has been metamorphosed 

by her into " the walls of a place,'' anu Mabel Collins 

has "never received proof of the existence of any 

Master." . . False in one, false in' cill. The lust.re of that 

priceless little jewel, "Light on the Path," is henceforth 

dimmed by a great black stain.' I do not agree with Madame 

Blavatsky. The stain is not upon the book, 'Light on the Path,' 

but it is upon either the ' master' Hilarion, ' the whitewashed 

walls of a place,' or, say it gently, upon her who now 

writes ' No medirim can bring truth.' If we aclmit that, at 

times mediums tell lies, we can also safely say that other people, 

who do not lose consciousness, tell Theosophical inexactitudes, 

and write silly and unkind untrntbs about a class of people who 

have built a bridge of facts between science and religion and 

thus made even the theories of Theosophy 'possible' in the 

twentieth century. Across that bridge Dr. Steiner can walk, 

and publish books which, without that bridge, would be 'impossibilities' 

in 1912. Yet he has tlrn audacity to say that 

"Spiritualism is astral and therefore misleading ! ' It is now 

claimed by Theosophy that 'our adepts started Spiritualism,' 

alLhough at one time Theosophy was going to 'expose' Spiritualism. 

Did the Theosophical adepts start tivo 'mislead ing' 

things (Theosophy and Spiritualism), for if the statements 

made are both true then, on Dr. Steiner's own showing, the 

adepts are a lot of , fools who ' mislead ' people ( astra 11 . y. ' 

I prefer to think that we are once more confronted wiLh a 

Theosophical inexactitude or a home-brewed ' astralised '-statement. 

Mediums are not the only people who bring things which 

are 'astrally misleading,' as the following facts demonstrate. The 

Theosophical Master, Koot-Hcomi, after having plagiarised a lecture 

delivered by Mr. Henry Kiddle, sbted, when charged with 

plagiarism, that he bad heard the tmnce lecture in one place, when 

it was really a nornwllecture deliveredincmotherplace ! The Masters 

wrote both 'The Secret Doctrine' and' Isis Unveiled,' yet one 

teaches Reincarnation and tbe other says 'it is only a freak in 

Nature ! ' Further, two 'Lrained' seers, through reading 'The 

Secret Doctrine,' believed that there was a green isle at the 

North Pole. Astrally they tmvelled !lnd fimnd the island. But 

Peary, the 'untrained' explorer, ?l'Cllkecl there and fou nd so~id 

chunks of H ,O ! Anna Kingsford devoted months of her hfe 

to trying secretly to kill two men. She was no 'mere medinm ,' 

although she had been a trance planchette writer. After she 

became a Theosophist she discovered that her late 'control,' St. 

John, was re-incarnated all the tirne as Mr. Maitland ! Madame 

Blavatsky wrote 'I am a Spiritualist,' and also 'I have never 

been a Spiritualist' ! Mrs. Besant l1 ac1 to remove a leader fo r 

palming off his own letters as 'precipitated lelLers from the 

Masters.' As the Theosophists are not ' mere unconscious 

mediums' all their 'astrally misleading' nonsense has been 

consciousl·y 1Jerpetmtecl; and thnt cannot be said of some of the 

nonsense which has come from Spiritualism. 

That part of the literature of Theosophy which is good and 

true is admittedly ' adopted ' from Eastern teaching and 

accounts of Spiritnalistic phenomena; the remainder is a mixture 

of cl1eap sneers at 'mere mediums,' self-satisfied enlogies of 

Theosophy's ' trained' seers, unproven accounts of 'past lives,' 

which are probably only present conceits, utterly unsupported 

tales of astral joumeys and dernaterialised apples, and statements 

on a par with ' the trne e:cplcmcition' that Blavatsky died years 

before she became a corpse ! 

I am not attached to any 'ism,' being only a student of open 

occultism, whose services as a seer are at the disposal of any man 

who needs them for a good purpose, but at t.lrn same time I think' 

that it is a tremendous pity that Theosophy and Spiritualism 

cannot join hands and together fight the thunders of the churches, 

the sneei·s of the Rationalists 1 

the jibes of the man in the street, 

and tlrn weird ' exposures' of the materialistic conjmers and 

pseudo-scientists. As an unbiassed reader of both literatures I 

deeply regret to see the partisans of tl1e two sects raging togeth r, 

and I am bound to admit that, all along the line, the patronising 

TheosophisLs have been the chief offenders. The facts are with 

Spiritualism and the theories are with Theosophy, but 'mislead 

ing things' are common to both. None of the phenomena of 

Spiritualism, none of the theori es of Theosophy, are worth the 

destruction of the common banner, 'the brotherhood of man,' 

any more than the crudities of Calvin were worth the life of 

great Servetus. 

If Spiritualism is 'astral and misleading,' then down come 

Christianity and Theosophy, for both these secLs talk about the 

after life- but Spiritualism cilone demonstrates it. 

Suppose it were pro,·ed that man does not survive death, 

even then the common purpose of Spiritualism and Theosophy, 

the love of humanity, should compel occultists to drop tl1eir 

foolish bickerings. If there be an after life, we should then 

be glad that we had loved our fellow-nian on earth before we 

were called away from him ; and if there be no after life, our 

fellow- man would still keep a corner in his heart for 'those who 

are no more,' but who .sweetened his life when they were. 

Yours, &c., 

VINCEN1' N. T URVEY. 

He Heard the Angels Singing. 

Sm,-An elderly gentleman, whose character entitles him 

to the most complete credence, so much so that I would accept 

his deliberate statement of an actual occurrence wiLh the same 

confidence as my own experience, has just related to me a 

strangely beautifnl event in his life. If l can make it as real 

to your readers as he did to me, it should thrill them with joy, 

My friend is a man who, from l'iving-and almost alone from 

living, for he can barely read and write- has attained that 

inner peaceful joyousness which denotes the tmly regenerated 

mind. Notl1ing can dispel for many minutes this serene happiness, 

not even physical Stlffering ; and that this blessed state 

belongs to the heart of him, and not the head, is evidenced by 

his perfect immnnity from susceptibility to the opinion

144 . LIGHT. [March 23, 1912. 

us part of the way. 'fhongl1 every Spil'itualist is re;td y :md 

willing to acknowledge the help of science, be cann ot but feel 

that scientists have been tardy in th eit· recognition of his claims. 

That can pass. In the near future, doulJtless, we shall fi nd the 

Spiritualist and the scientist in cl oser touch on psychic matters 

than bas hitherto been the case. What I would like to point 

out to Mr. F rank is, first, that his claim that spirit is substance 

is the claim of Spiritualism, and has been ever since its 

inception; and, secondly, that the phenomena have always 

been regarded by respomible Spiritualists as being in accord 

with natural laws whose operation has been, and still is, but 

little understood. The Spiritualist is convinced hy experience 

that the phenomena occur; he lrns assured himself that there is a 

will manifest in them quite independent of that of the medium 

or the sitters, and he has t rnced this will to someone who has 

been able to furnish pl'Oofs of identity, aud who has thus been 

recognised as a being who once lived on earth. Mr. Frank seems 

to be at the first stage ; to reach the third, one must have personal 

experience, and by fat· the best method of getting that is 

through a home circle. 

I th g,nk Mr. Frank for his kindly remarks anent my review, 

and hope his book will have the wide sale and pernsal that it so 

well deserves.-Y oms, &c., 

W. H. E vANS. 

Coleridge-road, Exeter. 

A Letter from Mr. W. J. Colville. 

Sm,-All things pertaining to Spiritualism, and whatever is 

associated therewith, are in an increasingly promising condition 

with us. Public interest is great, and all periodicals devoted to 

discussion of s1Jiritual and kindred problems are being well 

sustained. Boston seems as much alive as ever, and not only 

tl1e monumental Spiritual Temple, where I am now regularly 

ofliciating, but a large number of other meetings are well 

attended. There is also a marked improvement in the manner 

of carrying forward the work ; disorderly elements and methods 

are disappearing, and a much more serious and dignified note is 

being struck. Great preparations are in progress for representative 

celebrations of the sixty-fomth anniversary of the Rochester 

knockings, which heralded the great 1uodern spiritual reformation. 

On and near :March 31st there are to be mass meetings in 

New York City, and nearly every town of considerable size in 

New England, and in other States of the Union. 

Los Angeles, that immense city of Southern California, the 

present home of Dr. J. l\L Peebles, and many other tried and 

true workers-a city which has grown with mushroom rapidity 

and yel presents the element of solidity- is the chief centre of 

the great new activity which is marking, in the estimation of 

many seers, the actual commencement of a fresh spiritual outpouring 

which will far transcend the wave which began to sweep 

over the planet in 1848. Whether I shall be able to revisit 

Engl and dming the coming summer or not is beyond my present 

insight to decide, but should the way open I shall be very glad to 

meet the many kind friends all over the country who made my 

Inst summer's tour so very active and successful. - Yours, &c., 

Boston, U.S.A., l?ebruary 28th. W. J. CoLvn,LE. 

MRS. BESANT ON 'FINDING THE MASTER.' 

At Queen's Hall, Langham-place, on Sunday last, Mrs. 

Annie Besant, speaking on 'Finding the Master,' said the disciple 

could not choose the qualifications ; he had to fulfi l them. 

If he entered the path then he must accept the conditions laid 

down by the Masters of Wisdom and endeavour to shape himself 

accordingly. The aspirant had first to leam to discriminate 

between the real and the unreal, between truth and falsehood, 

between right and wrong and between the duty to help and the 

desire to dominate. H e bad to recognise that the form was 

unreal while the life was real, that it did 11ot matter to the 

occultist what form of religion a man accepted- the point was 

bow he li\•ed his religion and how far the essence of it came 

out in his thought and in his life. He had to realise that the 

forms were many but the wisdom behind the fo rms was one ; 

the wisdom was the food of the soul, while the fon11 s were 

for the training of the body. For the occultist there was no 

choice between right and wrong ; at whatever cost and at 

whatever sacrifice he had to do the right and follow his Master's 

guidance. It was a part of his duty to control his mind so as 

to think no evil, but to be bright and cheei'ful. We had no 

l'ight to spread suffering to others ; it was the duty of all to 

increase the happiness of the 'vorld and not contribute to its 

· misery. A Master, said the lecturer, setting out the qualifications 

dema11ded for passing through the great portal of initiation 

to the birth of Christ in the hum:m spirit, bad branded three 

vices as crimes against love-viz., gossip, cruelty, and superstitiqp. 


Notices, not exceeding twenty-four words, may be added 

to reports if accompanied by stcumps to the value of sixpence. 

Pro .~p ective 

MARYLEBONE SPIRITUALIST ABBOCIATION-Oavendish Rooms. 

-Mr. A. Punter gave remarkably successful clairvoyant descriptions 

to a deeply attentive audience. Mr. W. T. Cooper 

presidecl.-15, Mortimer-street, rV.-On the 11th inst. Mrs. 

Cannock gave clait·voyant descriptions and messages with much 

success. Mr. Leigh Hunt presided. Stmday next, see ad vertisement 

on front page and note cha.nge of ctcldress. - D. N. 

H A.MMERSMI'l'H.-89, CAMBRIDGE-RO A.D. - Sunday next, at 7 

p.m ., Mr. G. Prior. Thmsday, Mr. Snowden Hall on 'The 

Voice of the Stars.' 


- Mr. H. Leaf gave a fine Rddress 011 'Mind, the Great Architec t..' 

Sunday next, at.7 p.m., Mr. E.W. Wallis on 'Spiritualism and 

Present-day Problems.' 

BRIGHTON.-MANCHESTER-STREET (OPPOSITE AQUARIUM). 

Mrs. J amrach gave excellent addresses and clairvoyant descriptions. 

Sunday next, at 11.15 and 7, Mr. l?rank Pearce. Tuesday 

at 3, working party; at 8 p.m., and Wednesdfly at 3, Mrs. 

Clarke, clairvoyance. Thursday at 8, members' circle.- H. J . E. 

BRIGHTON.-HovE OLD TOWN HALL, 1, BRUNSWICK-STREET 

Wi~s T. - Mrs . Curry gave good addresses and clairvoyant descriptions. 

Sunday next, at 11.15 a.rn. and 7 p.m., l\frs. Laura 

Peters. Mondays at 3 and 8, also Wednesdays at 3, Mrs. G. C. 

Cllrry, clairvoyance. Thursdays, at 8.1 5, public circle.- A. C. 

BRIXTON.-84, STOCKWELL PARK-ROAD.-1\fr. Chester gave 

nn address on 'Symbols.' Sunday next, anniversary services : 

11 a. m., Mrs. Neville and Mr. G. Symonds ; 3 p.m., open 

session, followed by tea ; 7 p.111., various speakers. 31st, Mrs. 

Connor. - W. U. 

STRATFORD.-WORKMA.N'S HALL, 27, ROMFORD-ROAD, E.- 

1\frs. E. Neville's interesting address on 'Responsibilities ' and 

her clairvoyant readings wtre much appreciated. Mrs. E. P. 

Noall presided. Sunday next, at 7 p.m., Mr. and Mrs. Graham, 

address and clairvoyance.-W. H. S. 

BRIXTON.-8, MAYALL-ROAD.-1\1.rs. Maunder gave an address 

on ' Messengers.' Mrs. Staton and Miss Violet Appleby 

sang a duet. Sunday next, at 7 p.m., Mrs. Miles Orel; Lyceum 

at 3. Circles: Monday, 7. 30, ladies'; Tuesday, 8.15, members' ; 

Thursday, 8.1 5, public.- G. T. W. 

CAMBERWELL NEW-ROAD.-SURREY MAl:lONIC HALL.-Mr. 

vV. E. Long answered questions in the morning and spoke in the 

evening on 'Paradise Lost (Hell).' Sundny next, at 11 a.m., 

Mr. W. E. Long, an. wers to questions ; at 6.30 p.m., address 

hy 'Tel'ence ' on 'The Pathway of Progress (Pmgatory).'-M.R. 

HACKNEY.-240A, AMHURST-ROAD, N.-Mr. Robert King 

gave an address on 'The Training of an Occultist,' and answered 

questions. Sunday next, at 7 p.m., Mrs. Alice Jamrach, 

address and clairvoyant descriptions. Monday, at 8 p.m., 

circle. Tuesday, at 8.30, astrology class. Friday, at 8.30, healing 

circle.- N. R. 

SHEPHERD'S BusH.- 73, ]3ECKLOW-ROAD, W.-1\forning, 

public circle. Evening, Madame Zitta gave successful clairvoyant 

descriptions. 14th, Miss l\faterface gave successful clairvoyant 

descriptions. Sunday next, at 11 a.m., public circle; 

at 6.45, Mr. Burton. Circles : Thursday, at 8, public ; Friday, 

at 8, members'.- J. J. L. 

HOLLOWAY.-PARKHURST HALL, 32, PARKHURST-ROAD. 

Mrs. Mary Davies answered questions, and spoke on 'Man 

Visible and Invisible.' Successful clain·oyant descriptions at 

both meetings. 13th, Mr. and Mrs. A. W. J ones gave an address 

and good clairvoyant descriptions. Sunday next, at 11.15 

a.m., Mr. E. M. Sturgess; at 3 p.m., Lyceum ; at 7, Mr. Horace 

Leaf. Wednesday, Mrs. Mary Davies. 31st, Miss Violet 

Burton. 23rd, social.- J . F. 

STRATFORD.-lDMISTON-ROAD, FoREST-LANE.-1\forning, an 

interesting discussion followed Mr. C. H. Dennis's paper on 

'The Spiritualist Politicbn.' Evening, Madame Beaumont spoke 

on 'Scriptural Phenomena' and gave clain·oyant descriptions. 

Miss Flonie Shead sang. Sunday next, at 11.30 a. m., Mr. 

Savage on' The Spiritualist Teacher'; at 7 p.m., l\fr. Cousins. 

28th, Mrs. Neville. Good Friday, Demonstration in Stratford 

Town Hall.- A. T. C. 

PECKHAM.-LAUSANNE HALL, LAUSANNE-ROAD.-Addresses 

by Mr. Blackman and Mrs. Podmore, and convincing clairvoyant 

descriptions. At the members' meeting on the 14th the society 

changed its constitution by appointing Mr. Huxley as President 

and Mr. Williams as Vice-President, and greater activities are 

looked for in the near future, that will, it is hoped, mean lasting 

success. Sunday next, morning, Mr. G. Brown, selections from 

automatic writings; evening, Miss Ridge. March 31st, at 7 p.m., 

Miss Earle. April 7th (evening only), LoudQn Union.- A. C. S.



'WHATSOEVER DOTH MAKI! MANIFEST JS LIGHT.'-Paul. 

No. 1,629.-VOL. XXXII. [Registered a.) SATURDAY, MARCH 30, 191 2 . [a N€wspaper.J PRICE TWOPENCE. 

Notes by the Way •• _ .......... 145 

L.S.A. Notices ................ .. 146 

The Mediumship of Mr. George 

Spriggs...... .. .............. 146 

London Spiritualist Alliance. 

Annual '.\Jeeting .. .. .. ...... 148 

'And the Door wn,s Shut' ...... 149 

Left Behincl .............. ...... 150 

My Reasons for being: a. Spiritualist 

after many Years' Ex. 

perlence. An Address by Mr. 

Walter Appleya rd .. .... _ .. - 151 

CONTENTS. 

Notes from Abroa.cl ............. 152 

'l'he Antiquity of Spi ritualism .. 153 

How they Bury a Chief in Rhodesia 

......................... 153 

Eclwart! Carpenter on Love am! 

Death .. .... _ .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . 154 

Items of Interest ........ .. ...... 15·1 

Clairvoyant Descriptions ....•. .. 155 

' The Bane ancl the Anti

14(.i LIGHT. (March 30, 1912. 

son. In a tremendous outburst she declares that if her 

husband could persuade men at large of the truth of bis 

new religion, the mothers would make short work of it. 

He has talked of peace and perfection, and she retorts, 

' If each one is doomed like me to lose his best and dearest, 

where is your peace and perfection 1' A strong play full 

of human interest, and (of course) banned by the Censor ! 

'Heaven's Gate Opened ' (limp cloth ls. ; Clarke and 

Sat.che11, 5, Gallowtree-gate, Leicester) consists of a series 

of Addresses given through the mediumship of Miss E. M. 

Eldridge and descriptive of the spheres beyond the earth. 

These spheres, we are told, are seven in number, each containing 

four stages. It is a mistaken idea that those who 

pass out of this life must necessarily go through each and 

every stage of the different spheres; 'each soul, on leaving 

the body, goes to the home it has earned by its life and 

works while in the body.' Indeed, there are many spirits 

who, on passing over, . do not immediately enter any one of 

the spheres. Among these are some wbo, failing to realise 

the fact that they are not still in the flesh, cannot break 

away from the earthly conditions. To all intents and purposes 

they are mortals still. 'These, having enjoyed to the 

full t.he pleasures and vices of the earth life, endeavom to 

continue to gratify their carnal desires by influencing others 

to indulge in all those vices and sins which were so dear to 

them, until they become satiated, as it were, and show a 

desire to retrieve.' Tliere are also those who, having wilfully 

terminated their earthly existence, 'are obliged to 

live out their earth-lives to the full before entering any 

other sphere.' Many, too, stay on for a while in their 

earthly surroundings through ignorance. But it is not 

necessary for any of these to enter the first stage. 

This first stage is one of despair and of dense, almost 

impenetrable, darkness, peopled by ' spirits of many grades 

nnd classes wbo . . have lived in selfishness and sin all 

their lives.' Regarding the spirits in this dark stage, so 

much, of course, depends on the point of view. Bestial and 

repulsive, looking 'like animals huddled together,' they 

probably appear to each other as very ordinary people, 

very much worried and perplexed. We doubt not that 

looking at such types of people, even in this world, tbe 

higher spiritual vision beholds them in very repellent guise, 

hoggish, reptilian or satyr-like. But we who meet and converse 

with them daily in the course of our avocations see 

them merely as more or less undeveloped human beings, 

co-partners with us in the business of life and entitled to 

all its ordinary courtesies. Profligates, drunkards, gluttons, 

misers, they are _ all human, and however gruesome tbefr 

appearance in the spiritual states may be, they are never 

outside the circle of human brotherhood. That, indeed, 

is implied in the teaching of the book, for even 

here 'there is a law of progression which enables 

those inhabiting it to rise out of its darkness into 

a brighter and happier state of being, therefore 

doing away with.--etern-ii.1 damnation for all time.' After 

this introduction the control proceeds to pourtray in detail 

the various stages of progress in their ever-growing glory 

and beauty, till be arrives, in bis final address, at the last 

two ~pheres, the description of which be admits is given 

through him by other spirits, as they are beyond bis own 

personal experience. Whether the reader be disposed to 

accept without demur all the statements made or not, many 

of them seem both beautiful and reasonable, and we agree 

with Miss Eldridge that if this little book will enable any 

who have been bereaved of children or of dear friends to 

realise that their loved ones are safe and happy, and to 

take up the burdens of life with renewed hope and courage, 

b()r work 'wiH not baye Qt;eri in yaiTJ,' 



will be held in the SALON OF l'HE ROYAL SOCIETY 01'' BRITISH 

ARTISTS, SUFFOLK-STREET, PALL MALL EAST (near the National 

Gallery), on 

THURSDAY EVENING, APRIL l lTH, 


MR. E. E. FOURNIERn'ALBE, B.Sc., 

ON 

'THE FRONTIERS OF THE SOUL.' 

The doors will be opened at 7 o'clock, and the Address will be 

commenced punctua1ly at 7.30. 



Associates can have additional tir.ket,s for the use of friends on 

payment of ls. eacl1. Applications for extra tickets, accompanier! 

by remittance, sl1ould be addressed to Mr. E. W. Wallis, Hon. 

Secretary, llO, St. Martin's-lane, W.C. 

Meetings will also be held in the SALON OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY 

OF BRITISH ARTISTS, Suffolk-street, Pall Mall East, S.W. (near 

the National Gallery), on the following Thursdays at 7.30p.m. :- 

Apr. 25.-' Cheiro ' on ' Personal Experiences of Psychic Phenomena 


May 9.- Rev. T. Rhondda Williams on 'The Soul as Discoverer 

in Spiritual Reality : A Study of Two Scientists.' 

No MEETINGS AT llO, ST. MARTIN'S LANE, W.C., DURINr. 

EASTER WEEK. 

SPIRI'.l' HEAI,ING.-Daily, except Satnrdays, Mr. Percy R. 

Street, the healing medium, will attend between ll a.m. and 



aura. For full particulars see the ;idvertisement supplement. 

THE MEDIUMSHIP OF MR. GEORGE SPRIGGS. 

Several friends having asked us for some particulars of the 

car.eer of Mr. Spriggs, we have pleasure in publishing the following. 

1Ve have taken the facts partly from the interview published 

in 'LWH'r' in November, 1895, and partly from .l\fr. 

W. C. D. Denovan's book, 'The Evidences of Spiritualism.' 

George Spriggs was born at the liLtle village of Greetham, 

near Oakham, Rutlandshire, on March 4th, 1850, being the 

eldest bnt one of a family of nine children. From a child 

his health was delicate, and was rendered still more so by 

attacks of rheumatic fever and a sunstroke received in youth. 

About the year 1869 he came to London, where he found occupation 

in various ways. While t11ere a severe attack of rheumatic 

fever confined him to his bed for six months. On his 

recovery l1e spent some time at Brighton and Tunbrirlge Wells, 

and ultimately found his way to Bath, where he remained some 

twelve months, being connected with one of the insurance 

offices. Thence he removed in 1875 to Cardiff. Shortly aftet· 

his arrival in that town lie made the acquaintance of Mr. 

Charles Baker, an tnthnsiastic Spiritualist, who took him home 

to a sitting at which tl1e name of a friend of his, of whom 

his host had never heard, wa. spelled ont through the table. 

Subsequently Mr. Spriggs sat alone in his lorlgings and found 

that he was able readily to get messages in a similar mannet· to 

tl1ose obtained at Mr. Baker's. 

Shortly afterwards Mr. Spriggs got access, with some difficulty, 

to Mr. Sadler's circle, and was abl e to satisfy himself that 

in the manifestation. there was some intelligent power at work 

of a different nature from any he had hitherto known. 

Fortunately at this juncture he made the acquaintance of that 

fine old Spiritualist, .M:r. Rees Lewis. Desirous of developing 

the mediumistic powers which he was now satisfied that lie 

possessed, Mr. Spriggs arranged with .l\fr. Lewis for a series of 

sittings at that gentleman's house, to be held on three nights a 

week, a few friends being admitted to the circle who were 

willing Lo conform to the conditions prescribed by the communicatinf{ 

intelligences. Every sitter liad to abstain not only

March 3o, 1912.] LIGHT. 147 

from alcohol and t obacco, but also from meat. He (or she) was 

abo expected to fast from lireakfast until the sitting was over, 

and always to take a Lath before entering the seance-room, 

which was scrupulously kept apart for the pnrpose and not used 

for anything else. To .these rigid, even severe, conditions Mr. 

Spriggs ever after attributed a large measure of the success that 

was achieved. At first he was attacked after each sitting with 

sickness- a fact due, as the spirit friends explained, to the 

numLer of eontrols with widely di fferent influences that had 

taken posse:;sio11 of hirn. Finally it was decided that one control 

only should operate. This was ' Swiftwater,' late a Red Indian, 

and with his advent all unpleasant symptoms disappeared. The 

circle, which continued to sit for abo11t fiv e years, was known 

from the first as the ' Circle of Light.' It was not long before 

it got beyond the use of tables. Writings and various other 

phenomena were prnduced and then shadowy forms began to 

appear. With repeated sittings tlJ e forms grew more di:;tinct, until 

they were perfectly recognisable, and after a time were able to move 

freely about the room. The apartment used was a fairly large one on 

the first floor, and a little inner rnom, opening only into the first 

served as a cabinet. The sitters were arranged in the shape of 

a horse-shoe, with the two ends about six feet away from the entrance 

of the cabinet, which was covered by a curtain h ung from 

the top, the door itself being open. The form s would dematel'ialise 

about three feet in front of the cabinet, in view of the sitters. The 

light was always suflicient for exact observation, and often full 

on, so that the smallest print could be read and every detail of 

the forms ~xa mined . Occasionally the sittings had to be held 

elsewhere instead of at Mr. Lewis's, and in such cases the cabinet 

was often nothing more than a eurtain or taLle-cloth, stretched 

across a corner of the rnorn. As many as twenty or more forms, 

men, women and children, would sometimes appear in the course 

of au evening-kilted Highlanders, priests, old men with snowy 

hair and beards, men of almost giant stature and men of giant 

strength, dusky Indians and beautiful girls-all most variously, 

and some most richly and rarely dressed. Mr. Lewis once cut 

off a piece of l'ich crimson silk from a girdle worn Ly one of the 

forms. It began to fade after being kept a fe w days, but being 

taken back into the seance-room, was nui.nipulatecl by one of the 

spil'its and restored at once to its original lustre. The feats of 

strength performed were often most remarkable. ' Zion,' 

who was over six feet in height, with dark piercing eyes and 

s1rn rthy features, would bound into the circle, grasp the 

top rail of a chair, and hold it out straight at arm's length. On 

one occasion he showed his agility by getting up on the rnantelshrlf. 

' Shiku,' a Hindu control, is recorded to have on one 

occasion lifted up on to a chair, with the aid of the knee, a 

tolerahly large harmonium. ' Charity,' an Egyptian girl in 

earth-life, and a most graceful dancer, almost invariaLly made a 

point of beckoning forward the heaviest person in th e circle to 

sit upon a chair placed in front of the calJinet, and then lifting 

both chair and occ upant about a foot fron:! the tloor with the 

greatest of case. She would sometimes go to Mr. Lewis's little 

grandson's bedroom, take him out of bed, and dance with him in 

her arms with mat vellously wild and rapid motion. 

Though, as mentioned _ before, the conditions of memlJership 

of the circle were strict, there was considerable laxity in the 

ad mission of visitors. On one occasion a man got in who loudly 

expressed the opinion that a form which appeared was really the 

medium. The materialised figure at once began to shrivel up 

and slowly retreated to the cabinet. At the same time the 

voice of the guide called to Mr. Lewis to come to the medium. 

Mr. Lewis at once did so and found Mr. Spriggs lying quite insensible, 

with blood flowing from his mouth and nose. I t was 

some time before he could be restored to consciousness. After 

this the circle was more particular in admitting outsiders, but 

the incident shows the grave danger attending the introduction 

of disturbing elements. Against this interrupter's statement may 

be placed the fact that in the 'Medium' for Deceu1ber 21st, 

1877, was recorded an account of the materialised fo rm and the 

med ium being seen apart at the same time, which account was 

testified to by the facsimile signatures of seventeen persons who 

were present on the occasion. 

0 ver and over again the materialised for ms wandered 

about the house and even went out into the garden. 

During a visit to Cardiff of Mr. J ohn Carson, of Melbonme, 

he, with Mr. Rees Lewis and the latter's grandson, went into 

the garden accompanied Ly a well-known spirit known as 

'Peter,' who cut a bunch of grapes in the gi·eenhouse, and 

returning with it to the seance-room, divided the fruit among 

the sitters. One night ' Peter' went downstairs nine times in 

succession. Finally he dematerialised in front of the cnrtain, 

and from the white mist that remained, the form of a little girl 

was evolved. On one occasion three separate forms were seen in 

the garden at th e same time. Not only were the forms seen by 

tl1e sitters, but by the next-door neighlJours, who, obj ecting to 

what they reg;mled as dealings with the devil, threatened Mr. 

Lewis wi th the police. Two forms that often quitted the 

seance-room for other parts of the house were those of ti 

crippled and grey-bearded old man named J ohn Cobham, and 

Maud, his tall a11d graceful wife. Cobha 11, who was connected 

in earth life with the revolu tiomry party in the time of the 

Stuarts, always, when he appeared, had the gas turned up to its 

full power. A strange transference of the materialisation 

elements once took place between husband and wife, J ohn Cobharn's 

well-known form leaviug the seance-room, and the equally 

well-known form of Maud Cobham returning in his stead. 

On his return to Melbourne, Mr. Carson repot'ted what he 

had seen to his Spiritualist friends, with the result that Mr. 

Spriggs received an invitation to visit Australia. A draft for 

£80 was sent to pay the expenses of himself and his friend, Mr. 

Smart, who was to accompany him, and they had little hesitation 

in accepting the invitation. Before Mr. Spriggs left Cardiff, 

however, Mr. Rees Lewis induced him to give him a series 

or private sittings, and during these some other phases of me· 

diumship which, in the eagerness for materialfration, had Leen 

negl ected, were developed. The direct voice was heard to perfection 

whether the medium was entranced or not. The passage 

of matter through matter in broad daylight was of common occurrence 

; Uowers, fruit, nuts, corn in the ear, branches of trees 

and pieces of rock, were brought through walls, closed windows 

and doors in profusion. 

Mr. Spriggs and Mr. Smart arrived in Melbourne in Novem· 

ber, 1880. The manifestations which occurred through Mr. 

Spriggs' mediumship in Australia, and which extended over a 

series of years, were similar to those obtained at Cal'diff. On 

several occasions the medium was shown at the same time as the 

materialised spirit form. Very interesting experiments were 

made in weighing the forms. It was· found that the same, or 

professedly the same, form would vary considerably Loth in 

weight and height. When there were tall people in the circle 

the forms were taller than when the sitters showed a low average 

stature. By weighing the medium before and after sittings it 

was discovered that he lost about half a pound in weight. Had the 

sitters also been weighed, some of them, if not all, would doubtless 

have been found to have also lost weight, though l:irobalily not 

to the same extent as the medium. Another interesting fea~ur e 

of some of the Melbourne seances was the psychometric power 

of the Iudian spirit 'Skiwaukie,' who read past events in Lhe 

lives of the sitters. After Mr. Spriggs had ]Jeen in Australia 

some six years, he fottnd that the materialisation phenomena 

were ~anin g , and seances were then held for the 'direct Yoice ' 

manifestations, which were less exhausting to the medium. Then 

followed the cultivation and exercise of the clairvoyant power for 

th e diagnosis of disease:; and the prescription of remedies, in 

wl1ich beneficent work he was so successful that fo r some nine or 

ten years he had to devote to it his whole time and strength. In 

1895 he paid a visit to England, and during his stay in London 

made so many warm friends and fo und so many interests, that 

though he returned to Australia in the following year, he found 

that he could no longer settle in the Antipodes. So lit ~ 900 he 

came back to us to make his home in our midst. The record of 

his varied and useful work since is well known to our readers. 

A COHHESPONDEN'l' who resides at Belfast writes: 'Vve have 

here a hard-working association of Spiritualists of a trnly sympa· 

thetic and inquiring attitude. Unfortunately, we are without 

a full y-developed medium. Any mediumistic person, therefore, 

who may possibly Le visiting the northern capital at any time 

will find a warm welcome awaiting them by the aLove society at 

om· rooms, 11, Victoria-street.'

148 LIGHT [March 30, 1912. 

THE LONDON SPIRITUALIST ALLIANCE, 

LTD. 

The twenty-eighth annual general meeting of Lhe London 

Spiritualist Alliance was held on Thurmlay, March 14th, at 3 

p.m., at llO, St. Martin's-lane, W. C., Mr. H. Withal!, vicepresident, 

in the chair. 

In opening the proceedings, the Chairman alluded to the 

recent loss sustained by the Council in the transition of Mr. 

George Spriggs. He said that Mr. Spriggs had been a memlJer 

of the Al1iance for many years. Those who were associated 

wiLh him grew to love him for his personal qualities. He 

presented a somewhat unusual co mbination, in that he was at 

Lhe same time a good psychic and a good business man. In 

the neighbonrhood in which he lived he was spoken of in the 

highest terms, and his work in connection with local affairs was 

greatly valued. The records of the remarkable manifestations 

which occurred Lhrough 11is mediumship at Cardiff thirty-five or 

forty years ·ago, and later in Australia, showed him to have 

been, at that time, perhaps the finest materialisation medium of 

whom we have any record. Then came his development for 

clairvoyant diagnosis-the work which gave him the great 

reputation which he subsequently enjoyed. His generosity in 

treating widows and young orphans free considerably reduced 

his income, but he was so sought after that he was able after 

a time to return to this country. He did rn with the idea of 

resting, but rest was not in his nature. First he gave his 

services to the Alliance. Afterwards he started the Psycho 

Therapeutic Society, and the work he did in this connectio11, 

joined with his common-sense way of looking at things, made 

the society a very valuable asset to London's health. It was to 

be hoped that he would he able from the other side still to 

aid the work in which he was so much interested. 

The adoption of the annual report and balance-sheet was 

moved by Mr. W. P. Browne, seconded by Mr. Bush, and 

carried unanimously. 

The following is a copy of the report :- 

The Council of the London Spiritualist Alliance has 

pleasure in recording the fact that during 1911, despite the 

diversion of interest from things psychical liy the Coronation 

festivities and the exceptionally brilliant summer weather, the 

membership of the Alliance was well maintained and its work 

carried on with gratifying success. 

Several important changes have been made hy which the Members 

enj oy additional facilities for inquiry and study. M embers 

can now attend all ordinary seances held under the auspices of the 

Alliance without payment of any fee, and those who reside outside 

the London postal area can have books from the Library sent to 

them post free, so that instead of having to pay the postage 

both ways, as formerly, tlrny now pay the return cost only. 

The broad, tolerant spirit which has always characterised 

the platform of the Alliance was again manifest at the meetings 

held in the Salon of the Royal Society of British Artists, 

Suffolk-sLreet, Pall l\fall, at which interesting and thoughtinducing 

addresses on important subjects were delivered by 

well-known speakers. 

'The Spiritual Message of G. F. Watts' was dealt with by 

the Rev. Lucking Tavener ; 'The Creative Power of Thought' by 

Rev. J. Tyssnl Davis, B.A. ; 'The Spiritual Progress of l\fan' 

by Mr. Jas. I. Wedgwood; 'Remarkable Experiences of Forgotten 

Pioneers' by Mr. Angus l.VIcArthm; 'Healing, Spiritualism, 

and Religion,' and ' The Inner Self as Revealed by Aura ' by 

l\Ir. Percy R. Street ; 'Our Spirit Friends : Evidence of Their 

Identity ' by Mr. Ernest V{. Beard; 'Spiritualism and Christian 

Truth ' by the Rev. Arthur Chambers ; 'Life on This and 

Other Worlds' by Ml'. E. E. Fournier d'Albe, B.Sc. (Lond.); 

'Spiritualism and 'l' heosophy : A Comparison anJ a Contra.st ' 

by Mrs. Mary Seaton ; 'The Chnrches and Modern Spiritual 

Science and Philosophy' by Dr. Abraham Wallace; 'Magnetic 

and Spiritual Healing' by Lady Coomaraswarny, Mr. W. S. 

Hendry, Mrs. Home, and Mr. Percy R. Street. 

Mrs. Mary Seaton and Mr. W. J. Colville also gave courses of 

lectures at llO, St. Martin's-lane, W.C., to which Members 

were admitted without payment. 

A successful Conversazione was held in October last, at which 

Miss Lilian Whiting delivered a timely and able add 1·ess on 

'The Value of Spiritualism' and Mr. A. V. Peters gave readily 

recognised clairvoyant descriptions of spirit people. 

By the passing of the Rev. J. Page Hopps, in April last, the 

Council of the AUiance lost one of its most devoted and useful 

members, who had for many years rendered ungrudgiug and 

valuable assistance in its work. W c must add to the roll of the 

many friends of the Alliance who are now in spirit life, the 

names of the Hon. Percy Wyndham (Vice-Pl'esident), Lady 

Helena Newenham, Mrs. C.H. Swanston, Mrs. J. Kyneston Cross, 

Mrs. Tracey, the Hon. Alex. Yorke, Col. G. L. Le Mesurier 

Taylor, Ml'. F. Berkeley, Mr. T. Douglas Murray, and l\fr. 

Arthur Lillie. In addition we have to record the passing of 

Mrs. Bowman, Mrs. Fidler, Mrs. Sara Underwood, Dr. Emmet 

Densmore, Prof. Hemy Corson, Mr. Stanley Churton, l\fr. C. 

White, Mr. Ira E. Davenport (one of the famous DaYenport 

Brothers), and Mr. Ed. Wyllie. 

Spiritualism in India suffered heavily by the passing of 

Babu Shishir Kumar Ghose, the founder and able Editor of 

'The Hindu Spiritual Magazine.' 

The Psychic-Culture Class, under the able direction of Mr. 

J. A. Wilkins, has grown in interest and usefulness, and become 

a thoroughly well-established feature of the work of the Alliance. 

The seances on Tuesday afternoons for clairvoyant descript.ions, 

and on Friday afternoons for 'Talks with a SpiriL Control,' have 

been well attended and extremely helpful to Members and 

inquirers alike. 

In addition to the Annual Conversazione in October, the 

several Afternoon Social Gatherings which were held at llO, St. 

Martin's-lane, and the hour set apart on Fridays, from :3 to 4, 

afforded pleasant opportunities to the l\Iembers and Associates 

for interchange of thoughts and experiences, and it is hoped that 

these last-mentioned gatherings will he utilised more fully in 

future. 

The work of Mr. Percy R. Street in spiritual healing, at the 

Rooms of the Alliance, has been extremely successful, and his 

kindly assistance to the Members who desire to cultivate 

mediumship in the developing class which he has been conducting 

for several months deserves special mention. 

Once more an aLtempt has been made to hold E vening 

Meetings and Seances at llO, St. Martin's-lane, but as they have 

met with but small support the Council feels convinced that 

these meetings are not desired by a sufficient number of Members 

and Associates to warrant their continuance. 

During the year Mre. ·Mary Seaton, Miss Lilian Whiting 

and Mr. W. J. Colville, from the United States of America, and 

Mr. J. Isherwood from Australia, paid ns welcome visits. After 

a successful season in London, Mrs. Praed, of Australia, left us 

for South Africa, and Mrs. Knight McLellan returned to 

Australia. 

Associates who arc satisfi ed of the reality of spirit communion 

and are anxious to support still further the work of the Alliance 

are invited to become Members, and it is hoped that both 

Members and Associates will make the Society and its objects 

known to their friends. 

The Alliance welcomes all students who desire to discover 

the truth regarding man's spiritual nature, his psychical powers, 

and the conditions necessary for their cnlti vation and exercise. 

It aims to help those who wish to communicate with their 

friends in the unseen, to discover and develop mediumship or 

psychic gifts, to encourage the study of comparative religion and 

science in t.he light of spiritual evolution, to promote the spread 

of knowledge of spirit communion, and to support all effori;s to 

apply spiritual truths to daily life for the progress of humanity. 

Signed on behti.lf of the Council, 

H. WITHALL, 

Acting President. 

FEBRUARY 15'1.'H, 1912. 

Mrs. D. Finlay and Mr. E. W. Wallis having been ·nominated 

for re-election on the Council, were, in the absence of other 

nominations, declared duly elected. 

In reply to a question regarding an announcement in the 

P l'ess of a bequest, the Chairman explained that he understood 

that Mr. Herbert William Wilson, of Liverpool, had bequeathed 

£3,000 to the Alliance, hut that lJeqnest might only take effect 

after the decease of his wife and proYided she made no change 

in the disposition of the mouey. Naturally, he (the Chairman) 

hoped that eventually the sum would come to the Alliance, but 

he nevertheless trusted that the lady would enjoy a long and 

useful life. 

The proceedings closed with votes of thanks to the spirit 

helpers of the Alliance and to the chairman and staff for their 

valuable services. 

WE have received a number of replies to the letter by 

'Artisan.' vVill correspondents please accept our best thanks 1 

To CoRREsroNnEN'l.'S.- S. JirnNENs.-We do not know of 

any Spiritualist society at or near :Forest Hill, Honor Oak, or 

, ydenham. The nearest is the growing society at Croydon, 

Elmwood-road, Broad Green. Possibly an effort may be made 

in one or other of the places named.


'AND THE DOOR WAS SHUT.' 

(A MESSAGE F ROM '£HE U NSEEN.) 

We do not intend taking these words in their usual setting 

to-day, hm we wish to king them to bear on a question which 

we noted in your mind recently_:._the question, 'What if 

there be n o God ?' and the mystery of life and death generally. 

This swing of the pendulum of faith to a feeling of uncertainty 

as to the reality of things unseen is often n oticeable in 

the Huctnation of earth minds. At the same time, there is no 

. mind which does not, at some time or anoth er, r egain its balance 

and swing back to consciousness of the very real behind the 

' seen. ' 

It is a mystery to many minds why the door is shut, but they 

seem very sure that they are reasonable, and even Scriptural, in 

thus putting forward an asp ect of Deity as 'inscrutable,' though 

in reality they are neither the one nor the other. There is no 

shut door between man and his Maker, neither has the F ather 

imposed a barrier between His children and His methods of 

dealing with them. It is all rCYealed to eyes that can see, and 

the shut door exists only in the imagination of the blind. 

The question, 'What if there be no God ?' is asked by a 

mind whose: outlook is blurred to the Ever-living Presence by 

mists of earth or disease of mind or body. The Father is seen, 

at one time or another, by all His children, and often or constantly 

by some, according as their eyes and h earts ar e open to 

see Him. (The reference, of course, is not to material sight.) 

To some souls He is at once the Way they tread, the Trnth they 

worship, the Life they glory in. To these souls never comes the 

question, 'What if there ]Je no God ?' They may doubt all else, 

but they cannot doubt their own being, because they live and 

move in Him. 

The shut door, then, between the Father and His child is in 

the outlook of the child only ; it does n ot exist. Do you see 

love anywhere on earth ? That is the smile of God. Do you 

see pity in human face for human woe? That is the tear of 

God. Do yon see graciousness and tendemcss on Lhe earth 

for the beautifying of man's life ? There yon have the light 

from the heart of God. Do you see laughter and joy ? That is 

the glory of His habitation. In fact, wherever good is, God is. 

These things yOLt know ; therefore, when you say, ' What if, 

after all, there is no God ?' you are trying to q nestion the existence 

of that which you both know and understand. Blind and 

foolish ! As ever the eyes are holden and yon know Him not. 

What do yon think J esus meant when h e answered Philip 

thus : ' H ave I been so long Lime with you and yet hast thou 

not known me, Philip? ' Have you not seen in me love, tenderness, 

forgiveness, grace, meekness, and truth ? If so, you have 

indeed seen the Father, for these are His signs and His nature. 

From your faithless questionings come forth ! Look into the 

face of the F ather and know Hirn, and then you may say as 

J esus did: 'If you have known me, ye have known my Father 

also, for I show Him forth unto yon.' Pray that this life knowledge 

may be yours ; cnlti vate the gifts, and yon will embrace 

the Giver. 

Then as to the door being shut between the living and the 

so-called ' dead,' you kuow that is untrue. Ther e is no door 

here, shut and barred and bolted, but a curtain, which can be 

pierced by clear eyes sometimes, and lifted by hands on both 

sides of it. This you know, and I need not elaborate, because 

· my very word ~ and your attitude are the proof of my statement. 

Now comes another aspect- the door which the l'ather is 

supposed to close beoween His p urposes and the sight of men. 

H ere again we say the door exists only in the eyes of the earthdar,zled 

souls. To the seer there is no closed door, but only an 

ever-ascending pathway towards the morning. 'But,' yon say, 

'we do not even see the light of the morning when we are in the 

valleys.' N o ; hut neither do you see a do0r barring your progress. 

You may see thorns in yonr path, stones and r ocks, and 

a great darkness, but yon can always see the next step ahead, 

and you never come to a closed door. Black and dreary the 

way. Yes ; but tl1e hand that guides yon upholds you, and the 

voice says, ' I see the end ; trust.' So men and women go on for 

years and years on the earth journey, and when the sky is bright, 

they say, 'Goel is good,' and there is no mention of the 'mystery 

of the closed door.' It is only when the night is dark that, though 

they still strive to say ' God is goocl,' they sadly add, ' but He has 

closed the door, and we can see no further.' I think that then 

the Father-Heart must weep for very pity because they cannot 

see that H e still leads on ward and upward, not themselves only 

but all whom they love, and that if they will but use it so, 

the very love which the F ather gave them for human fellowships 

is the torch that will lighten their pathway and show the next 

step to be still upward and not towards a barrier. 

·w e were aware of the passing of the youth out of the body, 

·w e knew also of your rebellion against, the phrase 'He was 

cut off out of tbe land of the living.' You do ·well! NoJlower 

is cut off because the bud bursts the covering sheath. N o life 

is lost, to the earth even, that has work to do on the earth. Men 

say ' Such a useful life, so full of promise ! ' Thank God that 

they have eyes to see so much ; but the usefulness has found a 

wider sphere, and the promise has taken a leap towards fulfil· 

ruent. When men say this, say to them, 'The :Father gives His 

child promotion ; having been faithful in the lower realm of the 

probation, he is given a place in the higher.' 

Nothing is cut off by the hand of the loving Gardener; but 

some He prunes, some He transplants, some H e seems to cast 

to the d nnghill that in that soil they may put out shoots which 

shall in time grow up and up into the pure air of holiness. You 

question Lhis 1 If in the realm of the material notl1ing is dead, 

but all is the outgoing of the ever-living force, think you there 

is death anywhere? No. 'l' here is no death anywhere in the 

whole creation of earth and heaven ; all' is life, pulsing life, in 

stone, and rock, and plant, and sea, and stars, and in the human 

soul ! 'l'hrough various forms it manifests, but life is all and 

in all, and at last life will ]Je clearly revealed, and seeming death 

will have vanished as a moming mist. 

'There is no death. l'Vhat seems so is transition,' was a 

word of life given to a living, seeiug, receptive soul out of the 

fountain of living water. 

H.M. 

[The friend through whose mediumship the above beautiful and 

rnassnring message was received has submitted to us 

other communications, among them a vivid picture of the 

slow upward evolution on the other side of a miserable 

social wreck- a foul-mouthed, gin-sodden old woman. W e 

regret we cannot publish it; the self-revelation it contains 

reads too much like the r eal thing, too painfully realistic, 

for general consumption. But if true (and we can h ardly 

conceive that the medium, a person of culture and refinement, 

could have originated it, either consciously or subconsciously), 

the st,ory is the best possible illustration of the 

lesson taught above, for if there was no cl o ~ed door before 

poor degraded 'Maria Stebbes,' none can exist-save only 

in a~p earance-and social workers need never despair even 

in the worst cases.- ED. 'LIGHT.'] 

'LIGHT': 'TRIAL' SUBSCRIPTION. 

As an inducement to new and casual readers to become 

subscribers, we will supply 'LIGHT' for thirteen weeks, post free, 

for 2s., as a ' trial ' subscription, feeling assured that at the 

termination of that period they will find that they ' cannot do 

without it,' and will then subscribe at the usual rates. May we 

at the same time suggest to those of our regular readers who 

h ave friends to whom they would like to introduce the paper, 

that they should avail themselves of this offer, and fonvard to 

us the names and addresses of such friends, upon receipt of 

which, together with the requisite postal order, we shall be 

pleased to send ' LIGH'r ' to them by post, as stated above 1 

vVRI'l'ING in the 'Treasury, for F ebrnary, 011 the subject of 

the ghosts at H ampton Court, Mr. Frederick Rogers says : 

' Criticise them, laugh at them, or rationalise about them as we 

will, it is an undoubted facL that ghosts remain subjects of permanent 

and abiding interest in literature and in the reading 

world. They vary in characteristics with every generation, but 

they do not pass away, and probably no generation has produced 

euch :.t rich crop of supematural stories as the present. . . 

A fter all it is the relation of tl1 e ghost to humaniLy that makes 

it inte r e~ tin g. W e cannot work up much interest in things 

which belong neither to this world nor the next.'

150 LIGHT [March 30, 1912. 

OFFICE OF 'LIGHT,' 110, ST. MARTIN'S L ANE, 

LONDON, W.C. 

l:lATURDAY, MARCH 30TH, 19l2. 

light: 


PRIOE TWOPENCE WEEKLY. 

COMMUNICATIONS intended to be printed should be addressP.d to 

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Subscription Rateg.-' LIGHT' may be had free by post on the following 

terms :-Twelve months 10s. lOd ; six months, 5s. 5d. Payments 

to be made in advance. ' To United States, 2dol. 70c. 'ro Fr~nce, 

Italy, &c., 13 francs 86 centimes. To Germany, 11marks2o p fg, 

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LEFT BEHIND. 

We have chosen for our discourse this week a subject 

that, as expressed in the title, has about it an air of melancholy. 

'Left behind '-it is the subject of a pathetic 

picture : a sick soldier is deserted by the wayside, unable 

to remain in the ranks during a desperate march of troops 

through a desolate country. It is the title of a doleful 

ballad and of a song set to a sad tune. 

But the words have no sombre suggestion as we use 

them on this occasion. They have, on the contrary, a 

cheery and encouraging sound. \Ve are thinking of the 

things which hamper, annoy, and delay our progress, and 

which fall away and are left behind so long as we keep 

moving forward. 

ViTe give ourselves much needless trouble at times to 

expel these · things. ·we halt by the way to debate the 

best methods of expunging them and a great deal of 

ammunition is wasted on the enemies that spring up by 

the roadside to harass our march. But these tactics are 

too often a drag on progress. It is truly wonderful what 

trouble and pains are needlessly expended on the remonl 

of obstacles that would disappear speedily and completely 

in the natural course of things, were we only content to 

pursue our career, allowing nothing to divert us from the 

path. 

Here is Folly, with his motley group of followers and 

his fantastic banner, bidding us join his march to the 

'Land that Never ·was.' 'N


MY REASONS FOR 

AFTER MANY 

BEING A SPIRITUALIST 

YEARS' • EXPERIENCE. 

BY WAJJrER APPLEYARD. 

An Address de1ivered on Thursday, March 14th, t0 the 

Members and As ·ociates of the London Spiritual ist Alliance, in 

the Salon of the Royal Society of British Artists, Snfl'ulk-street, 

Pall Mall East, Vice-Admiral W. Usbome Moore in the chair. 

(Continued from page 14 l.) 

Were I to be confronted unexpectedly iu the street by au old 

friend, to exchange reminiscences with him and compare notes 

of mutual interest on matters known only to ourselves, I should 

of course biow that I had seen ltim and conversed with him. 

No philosophical argument or scieuti t-ic dissertation on tl1 e subtle 

complexities of my dual nature, with its tendency to motorautomatism, 

hallucination, or varied subliminal phases of expressi.ou, 

could possibly convince rue to the contrary, and I 1.1m 

disposed to think that if those hypercritical, so-called 'learned 

men' who pose 1.1s authorities on psychical phenomena would but 

face the problem of spirit communion with an open mind, 

fairly and squarely, on common-sense lines, based on such 

evidence as lias been supplied through Mrs. Wriedt's 

mediumship, instead of wandering perpetually in the labyrinths 

of abstrnse specu.lations and technicalities, they would soon 

arrive at the truth and would speed on the prog1·e8s of the w~rld ' s 

knowledge. But was it not ever thus ? While the hidden 

things of life are being revealed to 'uabes and sucklings' the 

wise (in their own conceit) go empty a way. (Hear, hear.) 

I had thirteen sittings with Mrs. Wriedt (six of them in my 

own house), and out of those thirteen I drew but one blank, when 

not a sound did we obtain- this one failure being atlributable, I 

believe, to adverse atmospheric conditions. But the other 

twelve were simply marvellous, and created quite a sensation 

among the friends I bad invited. Our unseen visitors gave such 

absolute proof of their presence, exhibited such practical interest 

in the concerns of life, and such evidence of their knowledge 

of even the trivial things appertaining to one's daily 

experienoe as to leave no doubt of their identity. 

Some of them spoke in s n cl~ strong, distinct and natmal 

tones as made one almost imagine th ~y were sitting in om midst 

in material form, while others 11ad difliculty in making themsel 

yes intelligible. One of the sitters (a prominent medical man) 

told me that the privilege he had enjoyed 'had changed the 

whole aspect of his outlook.' Another one- a minister- has 

since relinquished his Church. So com·inced was he of the error 

of the doctrines he had to teach, he conld nu longer remain in 

a false position, while others were equally impressed, and still 

refer to the episodes with extreme delight and thanJdulness. 

(Applause.) 

Concnnently with the~e experiences, I prosecuted n1y 

research into the variou~ planes of psychical activities, and, in 

doing so, came in contact with all manner of mediums- good, 

bad, and indifferent. Like many other investigators, I was confronted 

with problems of so complicated a character as to defy 

the acumen of the most astute mind .to unravel them. Deception 

and fraud at times played their ignominious parts, causing me 

to pass through the valley of humiliation, assailed by the invectives 

of a hostile Press. Yet, as the explorers of unknown 

regions must be impelled by a sp iri ~ nothing can daunt, and prepared 

for any emergency, I urge.:l my qnest against opposing 

forces, and at the sacrifice of much one holds dear in the way of 

social amenities. I cannot, l1owever, complain ; more than an 

equivalent for any trouble and annoyance I ha\'e end med h a ~ 

been vouchsafed rne in the numerous manifestations I have witnessed 

under conditions that · ausolutely precluded any possibility 

of impostme-tbat is, if one's faculty of cognising thrnugh 

sen tie perception iti reliable-the unexpet:ted and spontaneous 

manifestation ~ being of the most convincing character. These I 

shall not attempt to enumerate, their name is legion ; hut; in 

case t;hcre may lie present anyone not f1tmiliar wit,h Lhe suh:iect, 

I will, as brieliy as possible, give, by way of illustration,, four 

examples. 

Some years ago my wife and. I were staying at the house of 

a London merchant. I had been instrnmeutal in discovering 

that his wife possessed remarkable mediumistic powers- a discovery 

which caused _her great astonishment, as she had been 

perfectly ignorant of their existence. Since then they had 

developed rapidly. It was Easter-time, and on the Sunday 

afternoon we were joinert by a Cambridge University man, well 

known to the readers of ' LIGH'l'.' ·while we were engaged in 

conversation the hostess was observed to close her eyes and pass 

i11to the trance state. Her own chi1d controlled her, and informed 

us that the friends on the other side wished to try an 

experiment if we would place the medium on a chair in a corner 

of the room. This we did, full of curiosity as to what awaited 

us. In obedience to further instructions we improvised tt screen 

rotmd the medium, and formed omselves into a semi-circle, the 

sitters being our Cambridge friend, the host, myself, and wife, in 

the order given. Although the venetian blinds were drawn to 

subdue the light, we could see each other quite distinctly, but 

the medium was cut off from view by the screen. Presently we 

observed balls of fluorescent light slowly ascending, one after 

another, from behind the screen to the ceiling, and theu one of 

lai·ger dimensions remained suspended over the head of the 

medium. This gradually expanded until it divided into two, one 

passing to the right and the other to the IP.ft. These then began 

separately to enlarge, until on our right we saw developed the 

]mad, bust, and arms only of . a female form. The hands were 

extended for our inspection, and we saw that each finger was 

tipped with a beautiful light, while the palms were illumined 

with a soft bluish fluorescent ball. The form travelled over the 

top of a sideboard against which my wife was sitting, and, 

addressing her by name, said : 'Don't you know me 1 I am 

your sister ' (giving her Christian name). She then tapped my 

wife on the head, and, extracting a comb from her hair, passed 

across the circle to the host and placed it on his 11ead. (This 

was the sister who was descriued by the clairvoyant already 

referred to.) .She then returned to the corner and disappeared 

from sight. 

In the meanwhile the other ball had been undergoing the 

process of expansion and now ass umed the appearance of a fully 

developed woman, draped in a fine white g;mzy substance that 

l11mg in soft fleecy folds about her form. As soon as our attention 

was fixed upon her she displayed much apprehension of 

coming into any contact with us, giving utterance to the 

significant iuj unction : ' Touch me not.' As om gaze became 

more intent she asked us not to look at her so, but to ' sing, 

si11g, sing.' 'iVe endeavoured to comply, bnt were so surprised, 

so taken aback, with the wonderful demonstration that our 

repeated efforts ended in failure, whereupon she struck up in a 

clear strong voice, 'For ever with the Lord.' She sang the 

hymn through verse by verse, and we managed to join in with 

her. This accomplished, she turned to our CamlJridge friend, and, 

calling him by name, declared that she was his sister who had 

pa.'iSed over about thirty years before in a foreign countt·y. While 

talking to him she gathered up her gossamer roue and threw it 

over hil'll, enveloping his head entirely ; then gently withdrawing 

it, she slowly faded away, thus bringing to a close the mo~ t convincing 

proof of .'pirit return it was ever my privilege to witness. 

(Applause.) 

V{e were subsequently informed that this manifestation was 

brought abo ut by our unseen friends as an expression of their 

appreciation of the services rendered by my wife and self, which 

had enabled them to demonstrate the continuity of life beyond 

the grave. ·w e received it as a special mark of favour. 

The following incident occurred during one of the many 

visits with which we were honoured by the late Mr. Thos. 

Everitt and his good wife. One morning the fo m of us (Mr. 

and Mrs. Everitt, my wife and I), had just gathered roun.d the 

breakfast table wlten my attention was arrested by what appeared 

to be a white pigeon Huttel'ing against the ceiling ; it c1.1me ac1·uss 

the room and fell amongst the crockery on the t1.1ule, when, to 

om astonishment, we found it to be a sheet of notepaper, 011 

which w;is written in pencil the following message :- 

\Ve wi sh, dear fri ends, to give you a message of greeting, 

and thank you also for the aid you have given us to preach the 

glorious truth of co11Li11uance of life after this state of existence.


May our Father God bless, preserve, and keep you in love and 

peace. 

You1· well-wishers in the trutl1, 

(Applause.) 

ANNIE. 

J. B URNS. 

At om expression of amazement the table became literally 

alive with knocks, responding in a spirit of jubilation to om 

exclamations of deligl1t. My position of observation rendered 

impossible any deception, unless one's senses are void of utility. 

We were, moreover, able to prove conclusively that the notepaper 

had been taken out of a box which had been placed in a sideboard 

the previous night in the dining-room, which was separated 

from the morning r'.lom, where we then were, by a short passage. 

During another visit we were engaged in a game at whist, 

when I observed a large, heavy easy-chair quietly coming towards 

the talJle from a distant part of the room. I at once drew the 

attention of the company to what was happening, and realising 

that some extraneous, intelligent force must be propelling the 

chair, I exclaimed : 'Well, friends, are you going to join us ?' 

Immediately, in response, there came three distinct knocks on 

the table, indicating 'Yes.' I then said : 'I am delighted to 

welcome you,' when again three knocks were heard in expression 

of appreciation. When the chair arrived at the table, I 

l'emarked : 'Is not this wonderful ? What will my outside 

friends say when I come to tell them of it ?' 

I had hal'dly 

spoken when the thought occurred to me : 'They will only 

laugh, and suggest that the chair had been pulled by a string.' 

'!'hereupon I asked our unseen friends if they would kindly take 

the chair back to its place ; when at once came the answer, 'Yes,' 

and we watched it slowly return. (Applause.) 

To this unique performance, which took place in the strong 

light of ft ve electric lamps, there were ft ve witnesses, all of 

un impeachable veracity. Had any of us been clairvoyant we 

should doubtless have seen t.Jrn operators who favoured us with 

this intP.resting experience. 

On another occasion, while I was engaged in my experiment5, 

a mediumistic lady friend kindly placed herself at my disposal. 

We sought, with eight other friends, to obtain what is known as 

' direct writing.' Having been favomed some years before with 

this peculiar manifestation, I made the following preparations : 

Taking nine pieces of notepaper, each of which had received 

the signature of one of the company, I placed them in a wood en 

box, together with a piece of lead pencil. Tl1 en I tied tl1e box 

securely round with string, sealing the ends down to the lid. The 

medium took a seat in one corner of the room behind a pair of 

curtains. vVe then formed a semi-circle in front of her with the 

box at my feet un the fl oor. We had only a very small light, 

well shaded in order to subdue the light vibrations. The 

medium passed into trance (at least, we were led to presume 

so); we heard her breathing heavily, and she afterwards assmcd 

us she was not conscious of anything that transpired. 

After sitting a little while, we heard sounds proceeding from 

the box, as if tlrn pencil was moving about and tapping it, 

shortly followed by indications of rapid writing on paper behind 

the curtains. 

Presently a voice called out, 'Mr. President, here is a 

message for yon ' ; and a hand protruded betweeIL the cmtains, 

bearing a piece of paper which was dropped at my feet. Picking 

it up, I read the following, written in pencil :- 

President and Friends,-We wish you success in this your 

new undertaking. We are helping you all we can. Have confid 

ence in each other, combined with patience. Success will he 

yonr reward. This is only one of the many wonderful mamfestationa 

you will have. Good night. 

(Signed) 

GEORGE 

AND HAWEIS. 

To my astonislunent I saw at the foot of the paper my signature, 

which I recognised as the one I had written on one of the 

slips previously placed in the box. We forthwith examined the 

lJOX ; the knots in the stting were still tied, the seal was unlJI·oken, 

the whole, in fact, absolutely intact. We looked 

inside; the paper bearing my autograph had disappeared ; it had 

been abstracted, written upon, and precipitated behind the curtains. 

This was accomplished under the 1110s1·, strict test conditions 

we could devise, and nine sane, intellig1:mt, honest-minded 

people are prepared to festify thereto. (Applause.) 

It is interesting to note that the signature of the late l\fr. 

Haweis is almost a facsimile of his usual autograph, as are several 

others I have obtained at various times. One message purporting 

to l1ave been written by him, I submitted to Lhe late John 

Page H opps, and he was perfectly satisfied with the genuineness 

of it. 

Mr. Haweis has been seen with me a number of times by 

different clairvoyants, and I have often been conscious of his 

rendering me very material assistance in accordance with assurances 

given. He wished me to mention his name on this occasion, 

aml to notify these facts. (Applause.) 


- ----------- 

NOTES FROM ABROAD. 

'Le Monde' announces in its February number the definite 

organisation of a 'Julia Bureau ' at 'The Institute of Psychical 

Research of France.' As it has been found, after careful study, 

that the 'Julia Bureau,' as conceived by Mr. Stead, does not 

absolutely meet the requirements of a scientific supervision 

which would be expected of 3nch an Institute, the founders of 

the French 'Julia Bureau' have adopted certain modifications to 

make it. more applicable for Paris. 

The same Imtitute also opens a school for medittms with a 

view to employing them later at the 'Julia Bureau.' The 

students will assemble twice a week to receive theoretical ancl 

practical instruction, specially adapted for the development of 

their individual mediumistic powers. The course of instruction 

will be gratuitous. 

In reference to the Centenary of Charles Dickens, 'L'E ~h o 

du Merveilleux' publishes in its second number for February an 

enthusiastic article on this fascinating author. George Malet, 

the writer of the article, points out that in nearly every one of 

Dickens's writings we find something of the marvellous: prophetic 

songs, legends, tales of sprites and hobgoblins, and stories of 

spectres and phantoms. He also recalls the prophecy made by 

a palmist in the year 1846. It happened at the house of Lady 

Blessington. After tracing the lines of his hand, the palmist 

said to Dickens: 'Yon will soon lose a child through a railway 

accident, but it will not be a child of HeEh and bone.' Shortly 

after Dickens lost in a collision his first manuscript of 'Ed win 

Drood '-a child of his brn.in.'k 

On the same occasion the palmist examined the hand of 

another guest present, when she exclaimed in utter astonishment ; 

'A crown, great power, and then a terrible fall !' 'Ab,' was the 

calm reply of the gentleman thus addressed. It was Prince 

. Napoleon, and history has only too well verified the correctness 

of the palmist's propl1ecy. Looking at the lines in the 

hand of a third guest, the palmist lifted her eyebrows, and only 

foretold some trivial events. 'l'he gentleman, a well-known 

painter, was later on condemned to suffer capital punishment for 

the murder of his wife. 

Readers of 'LIGH'r' who remember the criticism by Cavaliere 

Senigaglia on the attitude of Professor Erico l\forselli towards 

the automatic writings of Germana Tor (see page 112) will be 

interested in the following particulars gleaned from an account 

of Germana contributed by the Professor tu the ' Journal du 

Magnetisrne et du Psychisme Experimental' : Germana Tor is 

an Italian girl of twenty years of age. H er parents belong to 

the working class. Germana is in perfect health, and normally 

developed. At the age of thirteen she went to live with her 

grandmother in an Austi·ian town. There she heard much 

about Spiritualism. Her interest being strongly aroused, she 

began to practise automatic writing, and after two years she had 

considerably developed her medinmship ; but whilst most 

writing mediums usually remain in their habitual frame of 

mind, Germana presents a certain aspect of suffering whilst 

writing. However, she does not lose consciousness, but converses 

freely with those present. The spirits who communicate 

through Germana are very numerous, and bear names more or 

less known to the medium. Some of her messages purport to 

come from su.ch eminent personages as Victor Emmanuel, the 

-late Empress of Austria, and Pope Leo XIII. The artistic 

and scientific world is represented by Horace, Dante, Alexandre 

* This story seems to require so.1w expla1rntion. 'Edwin Drood ' 

was the novel (never completed) on which Dickens was engaged at the 

time of his death in 1870-twenty-four years after the alleged prophecy. 

He w1is, however, in a very serious accident at Staplehurst in 

.June, 1805, when, after rendering what help he could to the injured, 

he returned to his compartment and rescued piirt of the JYIS. of ' Our 

JYiutual ]'riend.' But even thi~ was not ' soon ' after the palmist's prndiction, 

and no MS. was actually lost.-ED. 'LmH'l'.'


l\fanzoni, Giotto the painter, Verdi, Angelo Brofferino and Cesare 

Lorn broso. The archangel Gabriel, John King, Bertoldo are 

:ilso amongst the host of spirits who reputedly us.e Germana as 

their agent, besides a mysterious presence who signs 'Veritas.' 

The most striking messages are, however, those she bas received 

in the name of Oddino Morgary, who was supposed at the time 

of his presumed communications to be dead, but who is really 

living. Professor l\forselli asks the question, 'How is it that 

l\forgary, a living person, should be amongst those who guide the 

hand of the young Italian ?' H e suggests that Germana may l1ave 

frequently heard of him, his name as Deputy being well known 

amongst the working people, or she may have misunderstood 

some news concerning this gentleman's health. In any case she 

has written repeatedly and at some considerable length messages 

supposed to be inspired by Morgary. 

In the same journal Dr. Gaston Durville continues his article 

on dreams and the phenomena of lucidity. The learned writer 

divides dreams into three classes: trivial, pseudo-prophetic, and 

prophetic. The first, he maintains, are caused by impressions, 

,.,an idea which may have occupied the sleeper during his waking 

hours, or by an external or internal impression. The two last, the 

pseudo-prophetic and prophetic dreams, Dr. Durville ascribes 

also to impressions, but of quite a different order, v·ir;., intuitions, 

w hie h psychic phenomena he considers Yery little understood, 

even in our present time. 

'La Revue Scientifique et Morale du Spiritisme' contains a 

clever article on 'The Interpretation of Spirit Phenomena,' and 

another on 'How to Obtain Proofs.' This journal also refers to 

and gives some extracts from the excellent lecture entitled : 

'lntetesti.ng Incidents During Forty Years of Mediurnship' 

which Mr. E. W. Wallis, the esteemed editor of' L IGR'l\' recently 

delivered in the Salon of British Artists to an appreciative 

audience. 

l~ . D. 

THE ANTIQUITY OF SPIRITUALISM. 

BY HORACE LEAF. 

It has often been urged that if God had mea.nt man to know 

about spirit returri everybody would have known of it, whereas, 

it is generally thought, such knowledge is confined to comparati\'ely 

few people, and dates from quite recent times. To limit 

tl1 e belief in spirit return to the modern Spiritualist movement, 

however, is an error due to ignorance of history ancient and 

modern. 

Spiritualism is, perhaps, the oldest religious belief in the 

world. It is to-day, in some form or other, embraced by more 

than one-half of mankind, and it appears to lrnve been always 

based upou phenomena of a supernormal cl1aracter. ·when prehistoric 

man buried with his dead their implements and weapons, 

sometimes first breaking them or burning them, he was no 

doubt inspired by ideas similar to those which prompt modern 

peoples of primitive habits to do likewise, namely, that the spirits 

of the dead, having entered into a spiritual world corresponding 

to this world in its general arrangement, need the spiritual 

counterparts of these instruments to assist them there ; whilst to 

fail to send these instrnmcnt-souls would so e mban a~s the 

departed that they would mete out due punishment on the 

offenders; for whatever be the nature of the spirit world, the 

dead are always conceived of as being able to visit this world and 

ho\'er around their earthly friends, to influence them for good 

and ill. 

Whatever lie the errors connected with these primitive 

ideas, the grounds upon which they are based are those which 

are lurgely familiar to Spiritualists, and form the foundation of 

their beliefs- namely, such experiences as th e hearing of spirit 

voices, clairvoya11 ce, dream communications, 1rniterialisations, 

and kindred phenomena. Judgment formed by persons who do 

not investigate, and lJased only on the recorded experiences 

of others, is of little value in this realm, because what appears as 

unimportant to one person may to another appeal powerfully. 

No facts are unimportant, and few, perhaps, are more important 

than that of the possibility of unseen heings influencing ordinary 

people. 

It is an ancient and a still preYalcnt belief among different 

mces thut much of w11at is now called insanity is dne to spirit 

illnuence. It uoes not seem wise to accept the opinion of the 

sufferers a · to the cause of thei1· maladies, but their opinions 

may sometimes be correct. They frequently assert that they 

are subject to spirit interference, and practical experience 

of medinmship, which is but orderly spiriG influence, 

teaches that this explanation often agrees with their 

symptoms. The intentions of the unseen operators may be of 

the best, but the recipients of their influence, being ignorant 

of those purposes, and misunderstanding their own feelings, 

become alarmed and suffer in consequence. 

Scientific study of mental disorders has revealed no adequate 

material cause for them, hut the opinion usually entertained is 

that the disorders are functional- the cells of the brain arc 

selecting wrong elements from the blood for their nourishment, or 

else are secreting wrong substances from the elements selected. 

It is interesting to note the large percentage of recoyeries 

from the most common phases of mental disorder : Insanity, 

seventy per cent. ; melancholia, ninety per cent. That physical 

strain and mental strain alike cause insunity is no argument 

against the probability of psychic disturbance, for experience 

seems to prove the suitahility of the conditions which an overwrought 

system provides for undesirable spirit operations. One 

of the reasons for the strict rule of good health as a pre-requisite 

for psychic experiments is said to be the risk of low vitality 

leaving the person open to undesirable spirit influences, while 

the sudden, as well as the insidious, developments of some mental 

disord ers equally agree with this theory. Even if this hypothesis 

be wrong, it ought not to be carelessly dismissed. 

Should it be found correct, many of the defects of the present 

methods of treating the insane may be remedied, and a boon 

conferred on humarlity. This does not necessarily mean that the 

physician must practise exorcism, for the methods of treatment in 

such in. t g,nces may be quite as scientific as those now adopted, 

only more to the point. SGill, in the past, exorcism, conjurations, 

prayers and ceremonies have wrought wonders as great as those 

of science ; and if a person's lost reason and power of self-control 

can be restored by a solemn call or summons, emphasised by 

being made in the name of a sacred person, it is well worth 

doing. 

This, too, is an answer to the fearful ones who are afraid to 

acquire knowledge respecting the people of the unseen. If spirit 

beings can and do influence human beings, it behoves us to 

discover in what manner they clo so, and by thus discovering the 

trnth we shall leam how to avoid danger and to benefit hy the 

good and helpful ministrations of wise and trnsty teachers and 

friends on the other sid e. 

HOW THEY BURY A CHIEF IN 

RHODESIA. 

The following is an excerpt from the official report of the 

native Commissioner at Mrewa :- 

I beg to report the death of the paramount Chief of the 

Fungwi Di vision of the District Ohinyereai. No successor will 

. be nominated until after the funeral obsequies are completed, 

which will not be for some considerable time. As the rites are 

of a sornewlrnt unusual character· it may lJe of interest if I give 

them in detail 

'1 1 he present chief having died in the winter months the 

body will not be buried until after the first rains fall. In the 

meantime the body remains in the hut in which he died. A 

platform is erected in the hut and the hotly placed thereon. 

Friends of the deceased, not relatives, are placed in charge of 

the hotly, and other natives, called l\fatunzi, are engaged, their 

duties being to sweep the floor of the hut, to keep the walls of 

the hut smeared with clay, so that there may be no hole left 

through which the spirit of the deceased may escape. A fire is 

kept burning in the hut, and when decomposition sets in there 

is a feast and offerings are made to the spirit of the deceased. 

When the first rains fall an ox is killed and the skin removed 

with hoofs and head complete. The body of the deceased 

chief is then sewn into the hide, a grave is dug in an ant heap 

and the body pla"Oed therein, along with the pots which were 

in the hut. The grave is covered with pol es a nd~thi c kly plastered 

over, all except a small thin hole, which is given a very thin 

covering of clay. The hole is left so that after a certain time 

the spirit of the rleceased may emerge. Amongst the Fungwis 

this spirit takes the form of a lion cub. This cub remains near 

the grave and is fed by other lions tlrnt have the spirits of previous 

paramount chiefs.

154 LIGHT. · [Maich 30, 1912. 

EDWARD CARPENTER ON LOVE AND DEATH. ~' 

Nobody who has a close acquaintance with the life, the 

work, the mind, and the books of Edward Carpenter will be 

surprised to find that his latest volume incorporates many of 

the facts of recent psychical research. Indeed, one would be 

disappointed if it were otherwise, since this author's name stands 

for all that is progressive and emancipatory. Eight years ago he 

p ublished his 'Art of Creation,' which paved the way for his 

present book ; anrl he then told us that modern science- physical 

and biolog'ical- was outlining a new philosophy of life 

which was destined Lo dominate human thought for a long 

period. To-day he . welds into that philosophy the work of 

Myers, Lodge, Lombroso, Richet, Carrington, Maxwell, l


Th e Spiritualists in South Wal es :;eem to be active .inst now. 

Cuttings l'ench us from the' South \Vales Daily News ' and 'The 

Merthyr E xpress,' the former reporting a lecture on 'The. Mind 

ol' Man : What is it?' given by Dr. Fol'bes Winslow under the 

auspices of the Cardiff Spiritualist Society, and the ln.tter an able 

address at Trevethick Hall, Merthyr, by Mr. G. E. Owen, of 

Pontypridd, on 'After Death-What?' Mr. Owen's address 

drew such a large audience that some would-be listeners had to 

be turned away. 

The 'Nautilus ' says : 'That the emotions are closely connected 

with digestion we all know. But we do not always act 

as if we knew it. Horace F letclwr describes an interesting 

hiboratory experiment with a tabby cat. When the cat was 

annoyed anrl teasecl immediately after a full meal the process of 

digestion was completely stopped. When the teasing was discontinued 

and Lhe cat gently stroked and talked to in soothi ng 

tones, digestion was at once resumed in a normal manner. 

Nietzsche is reported to have said of himself : "No invalid lrns 

the right to he a pessimist. The years in which my 

\'itality sank to its minimum were those in wl1ich I ceased to be 

nn optimist." To keep healthy aud happy the will must be 

invoked to arouse the mind from those pessimistic musings and 

absurd, unreasoning forebodings, il!to which most minds drift 

at some time or other. Pessimism is largely a form of selfindulgence, 

and is a luxury that few can a fford if they desire 

henlt.h.' 

The Glasgow Association of Spiritualists has heen fo rtunate 

in arranging for the use of the lHasonic Hall and rooms in 

Berkeley-terrace, a few doors west of the St. And rew's Halls, 

nnd tl1e presid ent., Mr .• James Robertson, at the opening services, 

addre:sed large and appreciative audiences. Since taking offi.ce 

in February last Mr. Robertson has not spared himself, and on 

Sundny night gave his tenth address. Many friends who have 

been absent for years are once more taking an interest in the 

work, and there is no doubt that this association is on the eve 

of again becoming a strong power for the proclaiming of the 

truths of Spiritualism. The personality of Mr. Robertson is 

one that draws out the best in those associated with him, and 

office-bearers and members are earnest in their endeavour to 

further the inLerest of the cause in Glasgow. 

Presiding at a meeting on March 21st, at the Higher Thought 

Centre, Kensington, at which Mrs. Simpson delivered an adrlress 

on how one could tune one's self to become intuitive, Mr. S. M. 

Mitra, a well-known Hindu lecturer, spoke interestingly on the 

H indu system of psychic development for the attainment of 

mental tranquillity, so that, by est.ablisl1ing an equilibrium in the 

psychic forces, it is easy to distinguish between an impulse and 

an in tuition. He pointed out that the mind requi red psychic 

nouri:hment to replace the psychic energy which it constantly 

expended and to keep a balance in hand wherewith to meet any 

sudden emergency. The great means to secure the desired 

balance of psychic energy were two-fold, Joye and fear. Fear 

depleted while love nomished. ' In India,' said Mr. Mitra, 

'this system of psychic culture has. been dexterously interwoven 

with prayers and religious practices so that the people go through 

the balancing of psychic forces without knowing Lhat the religious 

exel'Cises are intended as such, but beliel'ing they are meant 

for th e salvation of the soul in the nex:t world. They are, however, 

good in this world as well.' 

The Sheffield papers report two references on Sunday to the 

coal strike, by local representative lllen of a widely differing 

stamp. Our friend, ]\fr. \Valter Appleyard, speaking in the 

Attercliffe Spiritualists' Hall, said that the spirit of unselfishness 

which was the dominating principle of the devotion of J esus to 

duty stood out in stern rebuke of the self-seeking policy of our 

time. 'That fact was accentuated by the deplorable industrial 

struggle now going on, and it was a humiliating thought that the 

so-called Christian Church stood impotent in our country's crisis. 

She ha::l offered up petitions, prayers had been read from the 

pulpits, and the congregations had said "Amen,'' bnt to what 

effect 1' Strnngely enough, the Bishop of Shefli.eld alluded to 

the same subject iu a sermon preached on the same clay at Christ 

Church, Pitsmoor. He, too, referred to the prayers, as yet unanswered, 

which had been offered for the discontinuance of the 

strife. 'They would still pray for that leadership which might 

guide the people into the way of peace.' He had been struck 

with admiration at the loyalty of the miners to their leaders. 

Men and women 'would dare honour, reputation, and imprisonment 

and hard labour for Lhe sake of their leaders and for the 

sake of loyalty to their cause.' Although they might not always 

agree with the miners they must sympathise with them. 




the p urpose of presenting views which may elicit discussion. 

Clairvoyant Descriptions. 

Srn,-Anyone who has attended meetings where mediums 

have given clairvoyant descriptions will have been struck by the 

arguments that are put fo rward to explain discrepancies between 

the medium's description of a spirit and that which the sitter 

gives in order to account for his or her· failure to recognise at 

once for whom it was intend ed. The most frequent explanation 

is that the age mentioned by the medium as being that of the 

visitant is not to be Luken as a crite1-ion for rncognition without 

allow ing a consid erabl e latitUt] e. 

But being present a few days ago at a pulJlic meeting where 

a medium was giving de111onstrations of psychometry (which 

involved certain clairvoyant descriptioHs), a visitant was described 

as being tall, well-built and, in short., a 'big man.' He 

was not readily recognised and the lady in the audience, to wh om 

he was desc rihed, stated that her principal difficulty was that the 

only individual sl1 e had in her mind that he might be was a 

shorter man and by no means a 'big man.' 

One would think that it would have been wiser for the matter 

to have rested here; but the medium told the meeting that they 

shoulrl not be too particular as to Ll1e size and stature described, 

because it might well be that a man who was small and short 

while on the physical plane harl 'such a large soul in his small 

body' that when he went to the other plane he might appear to 

the medinm as a tall and big man. 

Can an.y read ers of 'LIGTI'L'' give particulars of a si1.nilal' 

occurrence in confirmation or otherwise ; as such an explanation 

by a medium, although it might be true, te11ds to impress an investigator 

unfavo urably.- Yom s, &c., 

H. BrnEN-S'rnELE. 

11, St. Martin's-court, W.C. 

'The Bane and the Antidote.' 

Sm,-You must have been in 'fighting form ' when you 

penned your leader for 'LIGR'l'' of the 16th inst. Tolerance, 

courtesy, meekness, and long-suffering on om· part ha1·e been 

regarded by some critics as a sign of weakness, unread iness, ancJ 

even ineptitude ; but thronghout our movement there is a 

growing determination Lo make a strong bid for recognition 

without apologetic concessions. If onr standing as citizens and 

ratepayers, as subscribers to private and public charities, as candidates 

for parliamentary and municipal duties be unquestioned 

(since unquestioned it must be, else we would not attain many of 

them), why are we vilified and misrepl'esented 1 

Vve were not taken into accoun t during the opposition to the 

1902 Education Act, nor al'e our children considered in its present 

operation in public schools ; yet our infhu:nce in the scale of 

public opinion, if we were united, wonld not be inconsiderable, 

nor such as could be safely ignored. We were practically insulted 

during the Nouconformist preparations for the Peace Sunday 

observance last year ; yet the snubs were bome almost without 

complaint. He who includes us in the category of religious 

bodies, or refers in any sympathetic tones to our place and importance, 

in anything making for human ad van cement and upliftment, 

courts caste ostracism. People who profess to know, and 

ought to know better, regard us with a supercilious superiority,. 

while joumals, magazines, and newspapers, heretofore affecting a 

sort of distant tolerance of us, l1ave descended to calumny, 

placing themselves on a par with the undiscriminating small 

fry who depend ori sensation to pile up dividends. 

Unfortunately, many Spiritualists regard such treatment 

with equanimity, contenting themselves wiLh the notion that 

time will put all thin g~ right. Such an attitude betrays lamentable 

ignorance, l1oth of the rnessnge of Spiritualism and the 

contorted presentations of it which are being made by those few 

preachers who prepare a hash of spiritual pottage, having little 

resemblance to true Christianity Ol' Lo our beloved movement. 

Cle1·gymen, sometimes without knowledge, hold us up to ridicul 

e, contempt, and opprobrium in their pt1lpits and church 

magazines. But the period of passive endurance has about run 

its com se. The pioneers of onr mo vement left us a sacred legacy 

which we must not see wasted or misapplied, and it is incumbent 

on us to face the situation calmly, lrnL with fearless deter· 

mination, and hand the trust on to posterity in violate. Besides, 

we must acquit ourselves as becomes people of mol'al stability 

and mental bt1lance , so that no breath of slander, no stain of 

dishonour shall mar our characters in the memories of those, 

some of whom are yet unborn, who are destined to carry 

forw~1rd our banner. 

No longer content to wait till mischief has been done, we 

ml!st tt1ke the 1nitiative, not 1 

indeed 1 

by adopting, by way of


rep~·isal , tactics similar to those employed towards ns, but by 

takmg steps, by l~ct ur.es , pamphlets, and other means, to bring 

home to the ~mbhc unnd the facts and trnths of Spiritualism. 

Om ground is ample, and our prospective arguments solid. 

Some months ago I suggested the formation of what I tentative~y. 

named 'The League of Aggression,' and the suggestion is 

rece1vrng support from several fairly influential quarters. "\Vith 

such. an or~anisation. in .active being, assistance would be speedily 

obtarnable m any district, as a principal object would be the 

appointin~ ~f. rn embers able to meet all comers, and willing and 

able to m1tmte, . and continue, local propaganda measures. 

Suggestions and offers of co-operation will he h e~ rtily welcomed. 

While no Spiritualist who, understanding human sentiment 

would voluntarily seek to stifle, thwart, or in any way injnr~ 

the faith or efforts of fellow-truthseekers, yet aggeessive methods 

should certainly be instituted to render innocuous allegations 

or actions, directed against us, and to render improbable th~ 

recurrence of such attacks in any or in every dist.rict. 

Yours, &c., 

J AMES :LAWRENCE. 

Newcastle-on-Tyne. 

T he Family of John Day in Montreal. 

Sm,-In response to my letter in 'LIGH'J'' I have received 

the following sums on behalf of the widow and children and 

having now ascertained Mrs. Day's present address, am se ~1din g 

same out to her : H. I. B., £ 1 ls. ; A Brother, £ 1 l s.; A Welshman 

(Phwlli), l s. ; total, £2 3s.-Yours, &c., 

79, Carnarvon-J'Oad, Stratford, E. GEO. F. TILDY. 

Mr. T urvey, Mabel Collins, and Mediums. 

Sm,-Mr. Vincent N. Turvey in 'LIGH'I'' of March 23rd 

deplores the fact that Theosophy and Spiritualism cannot join 

hands and fight the materialism of the age. Many other people 

nlso dP.plore this. But I do not think thnt the entente co1'dicile 

is likely to be bruught about by such a letter ns Mr. Turvey's 

which contains violent diatribes against Theosophy, while at th ~ 

same time regretting existing disharmony. · 

I can only suppose that your correspondent cannot have l'ead 

Mabel Collins' article in 'The Occult Review,' or he would not 

use it as any incentive to attack Lhe Theosophical Society. Her 

article is distinctly host ile in places to the ' English Theosophists,' 

as opposed to those who follow the particular teachings 

of Dr. Rudolf Steiner, who is general secretary of the Society 

in Germany. There is a great deal in Mabel Collins' article 

with which one find s oneself personally in frank disagreement, 

and I regret that she did not make her comments upon Spiritualism 

with more discrimination and impartiality and with more 

recognition of the enorm ous service which Spiritualism has done 

to the world. Dr. Steiner, and apparently Mabel Collins, disagree 

in many things with recognised leaders of the Society, such 

as Mrs. Besant, Mr. Leadbeater, Mr. Sinnett, Mrs. Russak and 

others. To hold that conscious and volitional communication 

with the higher worlds is preferable to communication through 

passive receptivity.and trance mediumship is reasonably a matter 

of opinion ; but it is not equivalent to saying that every trance 

communication is necessarily false and misleading or inspired by 

astral corpses. Nor does it appear to me to be true to say, as 

Mabel Collins does: 'No "medium" can be employed to bring 

truth into the world.' When we remember that priceless truth 

has come into Lhe world through men who led lives of depravity, 

it is surely reasonable to suppose that it may come into 

the world through a medium, who, after all, may be as sincerely 

devoted to the welfare of humanity as any Theosophist. 

But Mr. Turvey is just as biassed and partial on his side when 

he depreciates the trnth and the brotherhood of Theosophy, 

because a single member of the Society- in disagreement with its 

chief leaders-chooses to voice her own opinions, which, after 

all, she has a perfect right to do, but which opinions none of us 

is forced to accept. Nor do I think his expose of Theosophical 

' contradictions' very edifying or dignified writing. It seems to 

me much on a par with the crudity of militant atheists who 

flatter themselves they ha re demolished religion ]Jy placing 

side by side contradictory texts drawn at random from the 

Bible. Further, I know nothing of 'two" trained" seers' who 

travelled astrally and found :i, green island at the North Pole. 

I know only that Madame Blaval:sky in her ' Secret Doctrine ' 

has some characteristically elusive remades on the subj ect, and 

that Mrs. Besant reprod uced that teaching, without any claim 

to have verified it herself, in her 'Pedigree of Man' (which is a 

study in the 'Secret Doctrine'), and that in another place in the 

same book she hints that the Pole may be a 'blind' for a sacred 

bpot in the Gobi Desert. 

I think it is a pity, sir, that an able worker like Mr. 'l'urvey, 

who has done great service to the cause we have in common , 

,should help to perpetuate the senseless antagoni, ill between 

Sp ~ritu ali sm and Theosophy. It is not by harping upon our 

d trl ercnces that we are knitted together, but by seeking points 

of semlJlance and sticking to essentials. 

IL is very seldom that I write to 'LIG HT ' on these matters, 

because I have been sorrowfully forced to the conclusion that 

ac~i ve attempts at reconciliation are open to the imputation of 

domg more harm than good, and merely stir the mud instead of 

clearing it away.-Yours, &c., 

J. I . WEDGWOOD. 

General Secretary of the Theosophical Society in 

England and ·wales. 

19, Tavistock-square, W. C. 

Spir it Voices in Public. 

Sm,- I have been asked to place on record the interesting 

fact that while one of our members, Mr. Humphries, was singing 

for us in our public meeting some weeks ago one of the audience 

heard a spirit voice singing in unison- the voice of a lady. The 

next time Mr. Humphries sang six friends heard the spirit voice 

dist.incLly. On Sunday last at leabt a dozen of our members 

heard the spirit singer, who, on one occasion, prolonged her final 

note two seconds after Mr. Humphries stopped singing ! I s this 

something new in a public meeting 1 - Yours, &c., 

Kingston-on-Thames. 

T. BROWN. 

Mr; Appl eyard's Ad dress: An App reciatio n. 

Srn,-May I convey through 'LIGHT' my heartfelt gratitude 

to Mr. ~a l~ e r Appleyard for his very comforting address, as 

reported m LIGH'l' ' of March 23rd ? 

No wonder he does not wish to keep such good news to 

himself. Had his experience been mine I should want to shout 

such glorious news from the house-tops ! 

I would also like to say what a real help 'LIGH'I'' has been 

to me in my recent great sorrow. 11iay it be th e means of 

carrying comfort to the thousands such as,-Yours, &c., 

A BR01rnN-HEAR'l'ED MoTHJm. 

Swansea. 


[As we shall g o to press earlier than usual next week, 

correspondents are respectfully requested to take notice 

that we shall be unable to ·publish any contributions under 

this head in our next issue.] 

MARYLEBONE SPIRITUALIST · AssoaIATION-Shearn!s Reatcmrnnt, 

281, Tuttenhmn Court-road, TV.-Mrs. Mary Davies gave 

an instructive address and successful clairvoyant descriptions to a 

crowded audience. Mr. W. 'r. Cooper presided. - 15, Mortiinerstreet, 

T·fT.- 18th, MrR. Imison gave successful clairvoyant descriptions 

and spirit messages. Mr. Leigh Hunt presided. For 

Sunday next see advt. on front; page, and note change of address. 

H iUBfERSMI'rH.-89, CAMilR!.DGE-ROAD.-Sunday next, eYening, 

Mr. J . Gambril Nicholson. Thmsday, at 8 p.m., Mrs. Graddon 

Kent. · · 


- Mr.'J. Gambril Nicholson gave a helpful address on 'Tolerance.' 

Sunday next, at 7 p.m., Mrs. Jamrach on 'Modern Spiritualism 

and its Mission,' followed by clairvoyance. 


-Mr. E. W. Wallis delivered a splendid address on 'Presentday 

Problems in the Light of Spiritualism.' Sunday nex L, 

11.1 5 a.m., circle; 7 p.m., Mrs. A. Boddington. 

CAMBERWELL NEW-ROAD.-SURREY MAso.NIC HALL.-Mr. 

W. E. Long answered questions in the morning and spoke in the 

evening on 'Paradise Lost (Hell).' Sunday next, at 11 a. m., 

Mr. W. E. Loug, questions answered ; at 6.30 p.m., address by 

'Wilson ' on 'Hea\'en Attained.'- M. R. 

BRIXTON.-8, MAYALL-ROAD.-Mrs. Miles Orel gave an address 

on 'God's Perfect Man.' Sunday next, at 7 p.111., Mr. 

Horace Leaf, address and clairvoyance; at 3 p.m., Lyceum. 

Uirc l ~s : Monday, at 7.30, ladi es' ; Tuesday, at 8.1 5, members' ; 

Thursday, at 8.15, public.-G. T. W. 

SHEPHERD'S BusH.-73, BECKLOW-ROAD, W.-Mr. Burton 

gaye an interesting address on 'Spiritual Unrest.' 21st, Mrs. 

Podmore gave successful psychometric delineations. SLmday 

next, at 11 a. m., public i;:ircle ; at 6.45 p.m., Mrs. Webb. Circles: 

Thursday, at 8, public ; Friday, at 8, members'. -J. J . L. 

PECKHAM.-LAUSANNE HALL, LAUSANNE-ROAD.-Morning, 

selections from automatic writings by Mr. G. Brown ; evening, 

inspiring address on' God Consciousness,' by 11liss Ridge. 21st, 

an enjoyable social gathering was held, for which thanks are due 

to friends and artists. Sunday next, morning, Mr. Barton on 

'Does God Exi s t~ ' evening, Miss Earle. April 7th, Mr. J. 

Brown and London Union. Tuesday, at 8.i5 p.m., healing. 

Wed nesday, at 8.15, study,-A, C. ~ .

Light V32 Mar 1912 - Iapsop.com

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