Life Beyondd Death With Evidence

LIFE BEYOND DEATH
WITH EVIDENCE

by

The Rev. CHARLES DRAYTON] THOMAS

WITH INTRODUCTION BY

The Late VISCOUNTESS GREY GE FALLODON

LONDON 48 PALL MAIL,

W. COLLINS SOpS & CO LTD

GLASGOW SYDNEY AUCKLAND

Co^> right

First Impression September, 1928
Second „ October, 1928
Third „ August, 1930

Printed i\t Great Britain

CONTENTS

CHAP. FAOB

introduction. By The Late Viscountess
Grey of Fallodon I

preface 5

I. THE ARGUMENT 7

II. COMMUNICATIONS ON THE IMPORTANCE OF THE

SUBJECT 15

III. EVIDENTIAL MESSAGES 22

IV. THE EVIDENCE CANNOT BE EXPLAINED AWAY

BY TELEPATHY 36

V. IDENTITY SHOWN IN REPLY TO TEST QUESTIONS 40

VI. THE HYPOTHESIS OF IMPERSONATION $2

VII. THE SLEEP OF DEATH AND THE AWAKENING
' - >TO GREATER LI^E #lt ^ (> 58

VIII. WHAT OUR FRIENDS IN THE NEXT LIFE KNOW
ABOUT OUR SURROUNDINGS AND OUR
.. -THOUGHTS

Part i. Our Surroundings 64

Part 2. Our Thoughts ‘ ‘ * 79

IX. FURTHER EVIDENCE THAT THE DEPARTED CAN

KEEP IN'. TOUCH WITH EARTH 91

X. 1 THE SPIRITUAL BODY IO7

XI. THE EVIDENCE OF BOOK TESTS 113

XII. A REAL WORLD 125

XIII. EVIDENCE FROM EXPERIMENTS WITH THE

DAILY PRESS 138

v

VI

Contents

CHAP.

PAGE

XIV.

OCCUPATIONS IN THE LIFE BEYOND DEATH

152

XV.

THE INTERPRETER OR CONTROL

160

XVI.

" ORDER IS HEAVEN'S FIRST LAW ”

166

XVII.

THE "MODUS OPERANDI OF TRANCE COMMUNI¬

CATION

172

XVIII.

ENHANCED POWERS AND HAPPINESS

176

XIX.

INFORMING THE CONTROL

186

XX.

MISCONCEPTIONS RECTIFIED AFTER DEATH

192

XXI.

VOICING THE MESSAGE

197

XXII.

INTERCOURSE WITH EARLIER GENERATIONS

201

XXIII.

DIRECT CONTROL

207

XXIV.

CONTACT WITH HIGHER REALMS

211

XXV.

0 *!r THE DIFFICULTY OF TRANSMITTING NAMES

IN PSYCHIC MESSAGES

218

XXVI.

THE PLACE AND CONDITION OF THE UNPRO¬

GRESSED

226

XXVII.

THE INFLUENCE OF THE SITTER

236

XXVIII.

" WHERE I AM THERE SHALL ALSO MY SERVANT

BE ”

1

242

XXIX.

SOUL AND SPIRIT ,

247

XXX.

CAN THE SOUL LEAVE THE BODY DURING

SLEEP ?

260

XXXI.

A SIGNIFICANT MISTAKE

279

XXXII.

THE MYSTERY OF OUTER SPACE

287

XXXIII.

A SURVEY OF RESULTS

290

XXXIV.

ARMISTICE DAY, 1927

294

INTRODUCTION

By The Late Viscountess Grey of Fallodon

This will be a useful book if it falls into the right hands.
There are many to whom it may bring a measure of comfort,
who feel an intense and despondent longing for word or
sign from " precious friends hid in Death's dateless night" ;
but, let it be added, only to those whom the obtaining of
this through a medium does not fill with the sense of
insuperable repugnance that it arouses in some. This
book is not likely to be of use to such as find a more sub¬
limated union through the channel of the Holy Eucharist;
nor will it be congenial to Theosophists, or those followers
of Rudolf Steiner, who so rightly teach that we should
dwell beyond the psychic, pressing on into those higher
reaches, which are the more celestial development of our
nature. To many, however, this is a counsel of perfection,
and it may well be that this book will reach a wide public
of its own. Think of the great crowd that watches a
football match, or sees a race run, or one that lines the
route of some royal wedding, or state funeral, and ask
yourself how many illumined minds, how many elevated
religious minds, even how many minds simply intuitively
convinced of survival, are there in that sea of faces ?
A small percentage. It is this other vaster portion of
our fellow creatures that those of us who believe we have
spoken with the risen dead, want to reach. And it is for
these that such books as this are published.

The author has observed a rigorous method of investi¬
gation that puts high value on his work. Readers will
find the subject dealt with in thoroughness and integrity.
Spiritualism has not been too rich in wise adherents.
Sir Thomas Browne says that if the banner of Truth trails
in the dust, it is the fault of the standard bearer. And

i

2

Introduction

this subject, of all others, has had its full quota of ensign
bearers that have been either strangely clumsy, or unworthy
of their trust. So, to find someone willing and capable of
working along the lines of the Society for Psychical Re¬
search, combining sympathy with their rigour, is no small
good. Mr. Drayton Thomas is known to me through our
common interest in Psychical Research ; and we have had
more than one interesting case of cross-correspondence, in
our work, as recorded in my book The Earthen Vessel 1
These devices of Book Tests and Cross-correspondences, to
the casual observer so unnecessarily complicated, were
invented, it is believed, by a band of psychical-researchers
on the other side of death, in order to counter the objection
so commonly made, that all simpler communications arise
from mind-reading. Many people think that it is we,
spiritualists, who thrust these kinds of complicated methods
upon our communicators, making, in a most repellent
lightness of feeling, a kind of “ pencil and paper game,”
out of this spiritual bond. Not at all. “ Book Tests ” and
“ Cross-correspondences/' and the still more puzzling
<f Newspaper Tests/' have been given us from workers who
have progressed further along this subject than have we.
It was a grekt moment when, in the curious phenomenon
of Cross-correspondences, it became apparent to the
pioneers on our side of the grave, that they were not
working alone. When in the midst of irrelevances,
truncated quotations, and snippets from the Classics,
there emerged something, fragmentary but insistent, which
suggested the thing being part of a scheme, devised by
those on the other side, to get messages through in a way
that could not be attributed to any activity on the part
of the medium, nor to any mind-reading between the
medium and the person receiving the message, by any of
the ordinary channels of sense. The moment when this
first was apprehended, may be likened in Myers's fine image,
to the thrill in the heart of the worker tunnelling through
some dark mountain's centre on hearing the first faint ring
of the picks of the approaching party, working from the
other side. In years to come, when people now unborn,

1 Published at the Bodley Head.

Introduction

3

shall look back upon this Age, to view its promontories,
this outcome of the work of the Society for Psychical
Research will stand as one of the Great Peaks. It is not
that communication with the dead is any new discovery;
it has been an old tale in the long Story of Man. The
Folklore of every country is charged with it; religions are
based on it and vitalised by all it implicates ; but for lack
of verification, all this has gone down the wind. Now, in
this modem movement, the thing is being built upon a
rock. There has been instituted a system of evidential
investigation. This is brought to bear on such psycho¬
logical material as may be presented to the test. Any¬
thing that has not passed through this mill is disclaimed;
nothing is rightly held of value that does not bear the
hall-mark of this trained scrutiny. And the work grows.

There have been some in all ages who have held they
spoke with the dead, and who have given us their message.

It may be the message is being recorded, fruitfully, at
last.

Pamela Grey.

PREFACE

But what avail inadequate words to reach
The innermost of Truth ? . . .

Yet, if it be that something not thy own.

Some shadow of the Thought to which our schemes.
Creeds, cult, and ritual are at best but dreams.

Is even to thy unworthiness made known,

Thou mayst not hide what yet thou shouldst not dare
To utter lightly, lest on lips of thine
The real seem false, the beauty undivine.

So, weighing duty in the scale of prayer.

Give what seems given thee. It may prove a seed
Of goodness dropped in fallow-ground of need.

Whittier. Utterance.

This book explains how I became assured that I was
speaking with friends who had left earth. It also outlines
their description of life in realms beyond.

The whole evidence is too voluminous to print, but
sufficient is given to indicate its variety. I have selected
striking instances among many of equal value. There is
little mention of failures, because these have been relatively
few. My friends enjoy testing their powers and some
experiments have not been entirely successful.

The book and newspaper tests (explained in chapters
XI. and XIII.), were experimental, and in these there
were usually some failures. Both success and failure have
been carefully analysed—the former by Mrs. Henry
Sidgwick in a paper which appeared in the Proceedings of
the Society for Psychical Research for April, 1921;
and the latter in my book, Some New Evidence for Human
Survival .

The impressive force of evidence personally received is
difficult to convey in print. My book is, to the actual fact,

5

6 Preface

something like a collection of butterflies in a museum,
arranged and motionless, while away in the glades of the
forest the air is full of joyous life, flashing and flitting from
tree to flower under the blue sky. Those who know the
life of the forest can best realise the significance of pressed
specimens.

In addition to proofs, my friends tell something of their
life and surroundings since leaving earth. But they remind
me, from time to time, that they are unable to say all they
wish, and that speaking through a medium is analogous
to passing stones through a sieve; part will go through
while the residue will not. I discuss the causes of this
limitation in chapter XIX. and elsewhere.

In my opinion information about our future life, with
its practical implications, is the goal to which all psychic
phenomena and evidence should lead. I have so arranged
the following chapters that the evidence and the description
alternate. This has a double advantage: it avoids the
monotony of following one line of thought too continuously,
and it also produces that intermingling of proof with
description which characterises my sittings. Since the
evidential matter proves accurate it gives added probability
to the descriptions which accompany it.

Further light upon such obscure subjects as the medium's
faculty and the methods of communication will, doubtless,
be obtained by continued investigation. One of the
hopeful features of Psychical Research is the increasing
number of qualified students who are now entering the
field.

I am indebted to the Society for Psychical Research,
from whose literature I learnt how to appraise and dis¬
criminate in dealing with psychical evidence.

But special gratitude is due to Mrs. Osborne Leonard,
through whose kind co-operation the material of this book
has been obtained, and to the late Viscountess Grey of
Faflodon for many helpful suggestions, as well as for
the Introduction to this volume.

January , 19281

CHAPTER I

THE ARGUMENT

This book is founded upon personal experience during
eleven years of study with a highly gifted sensitive,
Mrs. Osborne Leonard. The messages were received while
Mrs. Leonard was in trance. As the methods of trance
communication are becoming familiar to the more intelli¬
gent part of the reading public, it may be unnecessary to
allude to them here; especially as they are fully described
in subsequent chapters.

My purpose is to give numerous examples of the evidence
which has satisfied me that I am in conversation with my
father and with my sister, Etta. The former was a Christian
Minister who passed on in 1903 ; my sister, who had shared
my studies for three years, passed over in 1920, As they
both have told me much about their experiences since
leaving earth, I devote several chapters to their descrip¬
tions of life as they find it in realms beyond death.

Before presenting the main body of evidence it may be
useful to illustrate that spirit of cautious discrimination
and suspended judgment which should mark a student of
psychical phenomena. I shall, therefore, review a few
examples of the messages received in my sittings with
Mrs. Osborne Leonard, criticising them in turn and opposing
to each some hypothesis other than the seemingly obvious
one of "spirit return/' I shall then adduce further
examples which exclude those alternative hypotheses.
Advancing in this manner, we shall come to cases for
which there would seem to be no reasonable explanation
but that of actual communication from one's friends in
the unseen.

x. I was repeatedly informed of events in our home
7

8

The Argument

which were unknown to me. On inquiry, these
messages were found to correspond accurately with
the facts.

But might not this information have reached the
medium’s mind by some kind of telepathic message from
my wife who had occasionally accompanied me to Mrs.
Leonard, and who knew of these household events ?

2. Many such messages related to events in our
home, of which my wife was as entirely unaware as
was I.

But might not these incidents have been observed
personally by the medium during the condition termed
“ travelling clairvoyance,” or even seen by her while
achieving some sort of television ? This is met by a
consideration of the next type of message which introduces
information which could not have been ascertained by the
medium, even had she been residing in our house.

3. On my mentioning that I was interested in the
Leys School at Cambridge, the communicator, who
claimed to be my father, remarked that two people
whom he knew had taken great interest in it. He was
unable to transmit the names in full, but said that
they commenced with the letters R and P. This
puzzled me until I found that Drs. Rigg and Punshon
had been prominently connected with the opening of
the school.

Clearly this was beyond the medium’s discovery by
clairvoyance, but might it not have been read from my
mind ? I had no conscious memory of the matter in
question, and was but eight years old when the Leys
School was commenced. Granting the possibility that I
retained a subconscious memory of the event, there remains
the difficulty of supposing that the medium’s mind could
select such apposite information from my subconscious
memories, and could do this at a moment’s notice.

The Argument 9

4. Immediately after the departure from our house
of a guest who had spent a good deal of time in my
study, I was told that the letters M and D, repre¬
senting two names, had been noticed in my room.
On my next meeting with this guest he informed me
that, during his stay with us, he had been thinking
very much about the advisabilty of applying to his
former chief to replace him upon the staff of his
newspaper. The initials of paper and chief were
respectively M and D.

Here was something impossible to have been obtained
by any means known to science. Is one to suppose that
I had subconsciously obtained this information from our
guest’s mind and that Mrs. Leonard had then read it from
me ? It is difficult to feel comfortable about such a slender
hypothesis, even though it be admitted that the powers of
mind may be greater than we have supposed.

5. A stranger wrote asking me to obtain news oi
his son in a remote part of Mesopotamia, who had been
missing since a skirmish with the Arabs. The letter
gave his full name and the circumstances in which he
was last heard of. I asked my communicators if they
could help. They suggested that I should think and
pray about the boy for several mornings before my
next sitting, and mentally ask him to come to my
study. They said that they would be present and
would notice if any stranger came. During my next
sitting they said that the lad had been to my study
and that they had obtained information from him.
They proceeded to give some particulars which agreed
with what I had learnt from the father’s letter; they
also added a full personal description and several
evidential items. At subsequent sittings more infor¬
mation was forthcoming. I first forwarded the de¬
scription of the boy’s personal appearance, asking the
father if he recognised it. The reply stated that it
was more detailed and exact than the father himself
could have given; a photograph was enclosed so that

io The Argument

I might satisfy myself of the extraordinary accuracy
of the description. Encouraged by this, I sent the
evidential messages; these included details of the
boy’s home life, which proved to be true. It was thus
established beyond possibility of doubt that they
related to the boy in question, and that he had been
killed in action.

Is there any explanation other than that of spirit agency ?
It might be suggested that I had subconsciously psycho-
metrised 1 the father’s letter and so learnt particulars
which were within the father’s knowledge. But it so
happened that the letter sent me by the boy’s father was
typewritten, so that if psychometry came into action at
all it would seem to have been confined to the signature
alone. Faced with this alternative, one finds the spirit
explanation far the likelier.

6 . I was told that my mother was to receive at
Christmas a bag of unique design, and this article was
somewhat minutely described. No such present
appeared at Christmas, but, at the sitting following,
the communicator expressed certainty that it would
reach my mother soon It did; it arrived on her
birthday, which was four weeks after Christmas. On
meeting the lady who gave this present I learnt that
she had made it specially for my mother, intending to
give it at Christmas, but later decided to reserve it
for the birthday. Full details are given later in this
book. Where is the link in this case ? The lady lived
at a distance, and we had neither seen nor heard of her
for many months ; neither had I any reason to think
she would be giving a present: nor did she know Mrs.
Leonard.

It would, I think, puzzle anyone to discover an alterna¬
tive to the explanation given by my sister, who was the
communicator in this instance. In earthly life she had
known the donor of this present; also, she tells me that

J For definition of Psychometry, see page 94 .

II

The Argument

she is often with our mother and able to notice the thoughts
sent out to her by friends. Such a thought she had noticed
in detail before making her prediction of this present.
First, she caught the intention to make the gift at Christmas,
and was still confident that it would arrive, although the
giver changed her original plan about the date.

7. My father showed much interest in a book I was
writing and became impatient for its publication.
He said, at one sitting, that if I looked on the second
shelf behind my study door, fourth row up, and tenth
book from the left, I would find, towards the middle
of its fourteenth page, words forming a message which
he would like to give out to the world. Exactly where
described I found the following appropriate sentence.
This suggestive little hook has appeared .

That book was published in 1922 under the title, Some
New Evidence for Human Survival , and in it will be found
numbers of similarly verified book tests. It may be asked
whether I had any idea of what might be found in the
designated place. I had no idea whatever. The book in
question proved to be one I had not looked at for ten
years, and I failed to remember having noticed the sentence
in question. If it be suggested that this was only a happy
coincidence, mere chance, I would reply that I, and other
investigators, have had too many such coincidences to
credit their being the result of chance. In the chapter on
Book Tests attention is drawn to an investigation by the
Society for Psychical Research which decides this matter
definitely. For where chance coincidence produced 4.7
per cent, successes, the book tests given in trance messages
obtained an average of 36 per cent., and my own com¬
municators, who had practised this type of experiment,
achieved a considerably higher percentage of success.
The investigation established conclusively that chance
coincidence did not explain the book tests.

8. Certain experiments which extended over two
years were named newspaper tests. They were a

L.B.P. B

12

The Argument

development of the book tests, and consisted of
references to items which would be found in some
public journal on the morrow—most frequently The
Times. They were ingeniously devised by my father
to prove his independence of any information which
might be in my mind, or in the medium's. He also
used them, now and again, to give additional proof of
his identity; for he interwove incidents connected
with his life on earth with names to be found in some
clearly defined part of the morrow's paper. Here is
one such instance: On January 16th, 1920, at 3.20 p.m.,
I was asked to examine the morrow's Daily Telegraph ,
and to notice on its first page, near the top of the
second column, the name of the place where I was born.
The message continued, " He is not sure if it is given
as a place name, but the name is there."

There appeared next day, four lines from the top of that
column, the following advertisement in which “ Victoria "
might be either a personal or a place name. Victoria —
Send by return. Most anxious second message. I had always
thought of my birthplace as Taunton, never as Victoria,
but recollected having heard the latter name used in
connection with Taunton. So I wrote to my mother asking
for particulars. She replied that at the time of my birth
they were living close by the Wesleyan Church of which
my father had charge in Taunton, that it was always called
Victoria to distinguish it from the larger Church at the
farther end of the town ; and she added, finally, that his
Church was situated in Victoria Street, and that the house
where I was born was in Victoria Terrace. Comparatively
few persons now living would remember that I was bom at
Taunton, fewer still would be aware that I was bom at
Victoria. Yet this is just the kind of fact which my father
could not possibly forget. I may add that this advertise¬
ment had not appeared in the Telegraph of the preceding
day.

This class of test was, as I have said, devised to demon¬
strate independence of any telepathy from human minds.
No person on earth knew the solution of the tests at the

The Argument 13

hour when they were given; and even the operators at
the printing works could not be sure of the position any
particular advertisement would occupy when the paper
was finally made up some hours later. Two separate
strands of information were combined by the communicator,
who brought into definite connection some fact from his
earth life and some name, or statement, which was
being prepared for insertion in the morrow’s Press. It was
my invariable custom to post a copy of these tests to the
Society for Psychical Research on the day they were given.
I have therefore independent witness to the fact that these
tests were actually received by me on the day before their
verification became possible.

Although Newspaper Tests have been before students of
psychical research for several years, I am not aware that
any criticism has succeeded in casting doubt upon their
validity. It may be confidently said that they provide
definite proof of communication from some mind other than
that of any person on earth; and that they sometimes
contain evidence that the communicator is one of the
sitter’s departed friends.

Glance backward now to the simpler tests from which
we started and which we sought to explain in this or in
that manner, without attributing them to the action of the
discamate. Having at last proved that the discamate are
indeed speaking, we shall find it reasonable to think the
earlier evidences were also originated by them. Spirit
intervention being finally proved, all our earlier and
tentative criticism must be revised in the light of that
fact. It is wise to ask how far each result might have
been achieved by a medium’s unaided faculties, but we
should be as wary of attributing all phenomena to the
medium, as of placing everything to the credit of spirits.
Both these causes may possibly come into action at
different times and in varying degrees.

It may be said that the instances adduced deal with
trivial matters, yet it would be untrue to say that they
have been used in a trivial way. Not only were they
accompanied by messages dealing with matters of highest
interest, but they were so used as to demonstrate important

14 The Argument

facts, and to lead onward the thoughtful observer. Do
we deride the specialists for counting the hairs on gnats
and dissecting the entrails of mosquitoes ? Not if we
recollect that it was by so doing they checked the fevers
of Panama and thereby made practicable the cutting of its
canal. To a casual observer that minute attention to
insects might have seemed trivial, but it had in view the
making possible of a waterway between two oceans.
Where there is intelligent purpose small things may be
used for great ends, and in selecting evidence from trivial
items a very remarkable intelligence has been shown in
these communications. If they are what they seem
to be they are the calculated effort of some who have
passed beyond the limited life of earth to bring us into
a closer and more intelligent relation with the boundless
life beyond it.

CHAPTER II

COMMUNICATIONS ON THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT

I am aware that some persons are nervous of psychical
phenomena in any form. In some instances this is due to
their having been told terrifying tales, or perhaps they
recall some chance supernormal experience of which they
did not realise the significance. To such minds the whole
subject seems related to a mysterious and dark region
wherein lurk unknown perils. And so they not only turn
away from it themselves, but urge others to do the same.

Yet in knowledge there is not only power but also
safety. In our investigations we shall find nothing which
cannot reveal something further of the beauty and en¬
trancing wonder of God's ways. Darkness is but the earth’s
shadow, and there are always the stars above it. And
what seems to us to be mysterious is only beauty, hidden
for the moment in the shadow of our ignorance. Com**
munication with our loved ones in the life beyond, should
be a step upward in our realisation of the approachableness
of Jesus Christ, who was the expression in human form of
the Highest, and who is “ Our Friend, our Brother, and
Our Lord.”

The following extracts from conversations with my
father and sister will indicate their view of the importance
and helpfulness of such intercourse.

April, 1917. Through Feda (Mrs. Leonard's “ control ”).

Your father thinks that Spiritualism can be very
dangerous if not properly explained. People should
be taught to understand it. Some who accept the
fact of spirit return, on finding that they get good
advice from a medium, go again and again, asking
guidance in all sorts of circumstances about which they
15

1 6 Communications on the Importance of the Subject

ought to use their own powers. This is bad. We are
placed on earth to develop ourselves. Such persons
need to learn how rightly to use the privilege of
communication, and not to remain too dependent on
others.

July, 1917. Through Feda .

Your father considers that this communication might
not be good for everyone. Some are not ready for it.
The more one realises the reality of the spiritual life
while on earth, the better is he able to live, and the
more is he fitted to benefit by this kind of communica¬
tion. The subject has come to grief repeatedly
because the wrong sort of people took it up and dealt
with it in a wrong way.

December, 1917. Through Feda .

We are very ready to give any information which
we think may prove helpful. I am aware that there
are those on earth who consider they have no need of
us. But in these difficult times there is a widespread
need of that which will elevate life, augment and help
a true faith, and prompt men to realise the higher self.
When men have no ground for their faith they gradu¬
ally become slaves to lower influences.

January, 1918. Through Feda .

He has already warned you about the danger of
bringing this subject (i.e. the reality of communication)
before undesirable people . . . His mind has changed
about Spiritualism as a whole, but upon the one point
he is stronger than before. It has been misused by
some; not only by the foolishly curious, but also by
those who took it up for bad ends. ... It is like
playing with a sharp weapon; they cut themselves
badly, but, unfortunately, they often hurt others first.
Such people give the whole subject a bad reputation.
But, used wisely, it is a great power for good, as you
yourself have already experienced.

Communications on the Importance of the Subject 17

December, 1919. My father controlling .

Certainty about a future life will bring into the
Kingdom of God many who are now outside. It was
a shock to me when I realised how many had discarded
the Christian faith on reaching manhood. Although
I had some idea of it before, I only knew it fully after
my passing. I then saw that relatively few, in their
mature years, held the full certainty and truth of
Christianity. But they can be brought back, and,
further, we might make it certain that they would
never again lose their faith, if facts were offered them
at their critical period. I consider that the educational
system is wrong; for the brain is developed at the
expense of the soul, and superficial knowledge usurps
the place of more important things. People need
something they will really believe; they are ready for
it. Those of you who know are responsible for giving
them some proofs of the next life before they pass over.
Fifty years back, our eyes were not opened to these
truths relating to the next life. I heard something
about Spiritualism, but did not think it sufficiently
important to make it a study. So many things stare
us in the face, to the importance of which we are not
awake. I have talked with many here who tell me
exactly the same thing.

October, 1923. Through Feda.

Etta says, I should not like to be back again in the
body; I should not welcome it for myself, save that
you might see and hear me. This is such an inter¬
esting life. When on earth I learnt something of it
through psychic studies, and you know what joy it
brought into my life. It opened up such a wonderful
new mental life in me . . . Compared with this, my
interests on earth seem so small. It will be delight¬
ful when you come here.

Father speaks of the prevalence on earth of the
dread of dying, of passing into the unknown. But it
need not be unknown and we are working to make
it knov?n /

18 Communications on the Importance of the Subject

November, 1923. My father controlling .

I wish that the Churches were exercising a greater
influence upon the minds of men, so that they might be
led to consider and adopt a spiritual aim in their lives.
I have no wish that Spiritualism should become a
fashionable craze, yet better that than the present
widespread indifference to all that concerns the soul
and its after-life. I observe an absence of high aim
and intelligent anticipation of future destiny in many
to-day whose predecessors were, at least, regular
attendants at church. If Spiritualism became popular,
many might be influenced by the mere force of example,
even if not thinking things out for themselves. But
better that, rather than remain as they are; better
come in like sheep, than stay away from spiritual and
uplifting influences. There are different ways of
arriving at spiritual knowledge, but the great thing is
to arrive. I think that this communication is indeed
a real method of acquiring spiritual knowledge, and
for some people it is the best method.

January, 1924. My sister Etta controlling .

Father thinks that there are now many ministers
who would thankfully welcome this subject of com¬
munication if they were only sure that others would
not spoil it and do hurt by it. But he remarks. We
cannot afford to consider only the people who would
do harm with it. That would be like hiding all the
knives and forks and everything else that could
possibly be used harmfully. There are really very
few things which could not be misused if people chose
to make wrong use of them.

August, 1925. Etta controlling .

Our passing was not all loss to you, for we can now
bring you into touch with higher tilings than we could
have done while still on earth. This communication
opens out things so ; it did for me. I wonder if you
realised how much it meant to me. My knowledge
and interest in it came to me at a time when I greatly

Communications on the Importance of the Subject 19

needed it. I had been feeling a need for something
more, as if something vital were missing , notwith¬
standing my happy home life. Then this came to me
just at the right time, bringing something more into
my life, not only something fresh, but of more vital
interest than I had ever known before. All my life
afterwards was so full of interest. I notice that it has
done the same for you. Also, I see that it has already
increased your usefulness and will do so stili more.
So you can imagine how very happy I am about it.

January, 1926. Father controlling

Spiritualism is important to the world for the help
it will give in knowledge of God and in self-mastery.
We see the difficulties besetting men, and their need
of hope. The hope which Spiritualism gives will do
more good than all the intellectual wrangling now in
progress. People have strayed into agnosticism or
worse, appalled at the imagined lack of interest in the
future life. We do not condemn, for we understand
their difficulties, but to know the truth would help
them.

April, 1926. Through Feda.

Your father says, I am very hopeful about the future.
When men understand the nature of life in the
Beyond, the aspect of the country to which they must
inevitably go sooner or later, they will make up their
mind to prepare for it. That is my belief; if a man
understands, he will prepare. He has not understood
so far. What has he been taught, save that there is
another life ? He does not know of what sort, nor
what it is like, nor what is going on there. All is so
vague that his ideas of it are vague, too. We wish to
make known what it is really like, and what man has
to prepare for. As you know, I was always a great
believer in personal responsibility. We need to
bring that home to men in a practical and spiritual
sense.

20 Communications on the Importance of the Subject

September, 1926. Etta controlling.

I think that the wonder of this communication
between the two worlds increases for both of us.
While on earth I read of those who said that, after a
time, they found they could get no further with the
subject. It was their mistake; for it unfolds new
wonders continually. I think that the cause of their
getting no further was their not marching with it,
not permitting it to unfold in their own mind at all.
Such persons look at it through a narrow opening only,
and then are surprised that their view does not
expand.

There is no doubt that when one takes up this
knowledge of communication and its benefits, some¬
thing further is expected of him. He is, in a sense,
obliged to think more and to do more. You have
found that you cannot keep it to yourself, as some do.

November, 1926. Etta controlling.

I used to think death rather dreadful, but that was
before learning about psychical communication. Per¬
haps it was an idea of being hurt in getting rid of the
physical body. There are many here who are con¬
vinced that there will not always be this difficulty in
death; that a time will come when men gradually
prepare for leaving the body, and will then go and
later return in a transmuted body. That may be
thousands or even millions of years ahead. Before it
can come to pass, men's lives and bodies must become
much purer. When men can go and return, to be
seen by their friends, death will not seem so sudden a
break, and others will realise that they can do the
same when sufficiently developed spiritually.

When we descend to spheres lower than that on
which we dwell, we coarsen our body. “ Coarsen ”
is scarcely a pleasant word, and my meaning is simply
that we, to some degree, solidify it. That is accom¬
plished by thought. Jesus did it at will on returning.
He did not leave his physical body behind, it was
transmuted. Father thinks that this is what will

Communications on the Importance of the Subject 21

happen to all mankind eventually; what Our Lord
did was a sample of what we might do. In the far
future one and another will begin to do it, then many
will follow suit. The human body can be made so
much better than it is at present. Perhaps that is
why the phrase, “ Body, soul and spirit,” includes the
body; for the body is worthy of being prayed about
and of the Divine care.

Ours is a wonderful life, Dear. I would not come
back now. Look upon death as an opening, and
not as a closed door. We used to regard it as an end,
even Christians did so. Many think that they will
have to sleep, and sleep a very long time. I think
those are the happier who can just trust and hold on,
whatever comes. If only all could do that it would
be all right; but there are always some who cannot
do that, they require knowledge. Although a real
faith is much higher than knowledge coming through
Spiritualism, yet many need the latter.

November, 1927. Father , through Feda .

What a change your knowledge of my presence
makes. Your consciousness of our lives, companion¬
ship and nearness has made a difference to you. I
was as near before, but it did not affect you because
you were not conscious of it in the way you now
are. And so with the Heavenly Father's love, and
His Spirit presence, the more you are conscious of it,
the more you can receive and benefit by it*

CHAPTER III

EVIDENTIAL MESSAGES

The following references to my father are taken from notes
of my first sittings with Mrs. Leonard. It will be seen how
his identity became more and more definitely established.

My letter of introduction to Mrs. Leonard was given by
one who, at that time, had only the slightest acquaintance
with me. Neither he nor Mrs. Leonard have been to our
house. None of the references to my father were elicited,
or assisted, by "fishing” for information; to that process I
am most sensitive and never fail to discount anything
which might possibly be attributed thereto. It will be
seen that many of the statements made concern matters
which could not easily, if at all, have been ascertained by
inquiry, whether among my acquaintances or from books
of reference.

ist sitting . Feb. 3rd, 1917.

Feda said:—

" There is an elderly man with a beard here. The
beard is grayfch, his hair is thin at the top and rather
sticking out at the sides. He has a moustache, the
brows are prominent and gray. His face is good in
shape. He is fine-looking and he held himself up
well.”

This is an accurate description of my father in his later
years.

“ He shows himself as if in a large photograph, the
face full and looking thoughtfully. One hand rests
upon something, while the other is out a bit away from
him. There was something dark at the back of this
picture.”

22

Evidential Messages 23

We have a photograph corresponding to this description.
It represents my father in early life and, as it used to hang
in his study, it would have been strongly impressed on his
memory. At the date of this sitting it was in my mother's
house at Bournemouth. Mrs. Leonard was then living in
London, and did not know my mother.

“ He had been used to a room with books, it was a
study and there are shelves of books. On the table
were books and papers. The furniture was solid and
dark. This man had met many people and had helped
many. He must have been a fine character. The
initial * J * comes with him."

This accurately described my father’s study and his
character. His first initial was “ J."

" His throat was frequently husky, it troubled him,
for his voice would go thick sometimes and he would
try to clear it."

Here followed an imitation of clearing the throat by a
series of small, rapid coughs, and it was at about this point
in the description that I realised its relevancy to my father.

<f His end was sudden. He had not been very ill.
He was surprised, and not too pleased, because there
were things he had been accustomed to look after and
he wished to attend to them. He was very methodical
and liked to see to things for himself. There was a
paper referring to some money that was * put out/
he was rather worried about it; the matter could not
be carried through before he passed over, but it was
completed afterwards."

These remarks are correct. The money formed part of
a Trust which he managed, and at his death a considerable
sum had been removed from one investment and was in
course of being transferred to another. He was most

24 Evidential Messages

punctilious about such matters and always prided himself
upon being minutely accurate and methodical.

" He is a very fine spirit, has much vigour and force.
He would talk direct to people and always meant
what he said. He would not allow himself to be talked
over; he had his own ideas and stuck to them. He
would have been very wary of this subject of com¬
munication, but now he knows more than he did then
and understands it better. Feda feels that it was the
throat and not the chest which used to cause the voice
trouble. He would continue talking when it was out
of order and then had to suffer for it afterwards.”

All this is true of my father as I knew him on earth.

Readers who are unfamiliar with the difficulties incident
to transmission of messages through psychic channels will
ask why my father was introduced in a way so roundabout,
and not simply as John D. Thomas. This peculiar diffi¬
culty with names is discussed in chapter XXV.

2nd sitting . March 2yd } 1917.

** He left three important papers in a bureau. . . .
He left some paper in a drawer, not a will, but
‘ Guarantee ’ is the word which fits and in a way
explains it. It looks to Feda to be a paper about so
long and so broad (hands indicate 12 inches by 4 inches-)
and in three or four folds, perhaps. It is a financial
paper representing a good sum of money. It was left
there and is important.”

I omit a striking description of the bureau and the room
where it stood ; for interest centres in the statement about
the papers. “ Three important papers in a bureau ”
correctly describes securities for the Trust money which
he had invested in three directions. The other paper, or
“ Guarantee,” was a Certificate of Shares in an Educational

'Evidential Messages 2 5

Company, which were his personal property. On examining
this Certificate I found that it was doubled over once and
then folded thrice. Its dimensions as folded were those
indicated by Feda.

My father had usually called my mother by her name,
Sarah. Remembering this, I asked if he could “ give any
information which would be proof to Sarah/' whom I was
seeing shortly. Immediately came a number of descrip¬
tions which, it was said, she and I would be able to
recognise. There was no hesitation in giving the reply and
not a trace of angling for clues.

“ There was a roonj with a great deal of wood in it.
Put this down especially."

Now, I could think of no room in his house to which this
description applied, so I asked if further details could be
given:—

“ It was the only room in the house with so much
wood-work, a sort of panelling on the walls."

I was left as much in the dark as before, but when my
mother read this she described to me the front room of a
house in which they had resided at Great Yarmouth.
This room was oak-panelled from floor to ceiling. My
parents had frequently spoken about it to each other at
the time, and they never had anything like it in any of
the dozen houses they moved to in later years. I was
aged four and a half when they left Yarmouth, and my
recollection of this wood-panelling was confined to a dim
idea of moulding around the cornice.

" Near the bureau, but above it, and easily seen
when sitting at it, is the picture of a man, elderly
with fine face, a splendid character."

This was the position occupied by a picture of John
Wesley, in his later years. My father would certainly

26 Evidential Messages

have described Wesley as “ a splendid man/’ He was one
of that great preacher’s ardent admirers.

“ A big sideboard, old, dark, and long, projecting
out from the wall. Underneath are cupboards and
drawers, and at the top are cupboards again. In the
centre is something raised, making the middle look
higher.”

An excellent description of a sideboard of quite unusual
pattern which my parents had bought seventeen years
previously when retiring from the itinerancy and furnishing
their own house.

“ A table with a shelf upon the top of its back;
this shelf juts out from the back, as he describes it to
Feda.”

There is a bookcase bought at the same time as the
above sideboard. It is distinctly unusual in design and is
accurately described by the above words.

“ There is something there that he thought a lot of.
It is one of those glasses (here the medium’s hand
indicated the overmantel of looking-glass in the room
where we were sitting). Very fine; perhaps not
everybody's taste, but he liked it much.”

My mother recognised this as indicating the overmantel
in my father’s study. From her I learnt that he had
bought it at a sale and had re-enamelled it himself, and
that he admired it more than did my mother.

" Sarah has a screen with birds upon it.”

I had no recollection of such a screen, but on hearing of
this test my mother produced two such and remarked that
they were used during the last six years of my father’s
life. They are Japanese work, with birds figured in gold
thread.

Evidential Messages 27

" There is shown to Feda a pedestal on the ground
with a figure upon it. Pedestal about four feet high
and white, the figure of good size.”

My mother recognised this white pedestal and statue
which used to stand in the dining-room at Gosport, where
they resided for two years, leaving in 1873. It had been
my mother’s purchase and was often the subject of my
father’s humorous criticism.

“There was a model of a horse in dark colour,
standing on a shelf.”

This answers to the rocking-horse which I played with
in 1870-1. It stood upon a substantial wooden platform,
and being unusually large, was the most conspicuous object
in my play-room.

3rd sitting . April 21 si, 1917.

The chief indications of personal identity given in this
sitting were the following :—

“ He has met € B ’ there, one who was connected
with us in a certain way, but not in the latter part of
his life, nor under recent conditions. It was away from
here and in a place where the air was fresher and the
surrounding country beautiful. The house was closed
for a time.”

The initial given is that of the surname of our family
solicitor with whom we formerly had business relations
extending over many years in the Isle of Wight. He had
passed over two months before this sitting, as I was aware
from press notices. We had not heard from him for some
twenty years. The family residence at Newport, I.O.W.,
had been given up, and remained closed for a period before
being let to strangers. “ Away from here ” is correct as
this sitting was held in London.

L.B.D,

c

2 8 Evidential Messages

“ This f B ' went to a building of grey stone, he went
there regularly/' The description then proceeded to
indicate a little mannerism habitual to ' B/ and which
I instantly recognised.

The building of grey stone to which “ B ” went regularly
fits the church of which he was one of the oldest members
and a prominent supporter. All these references pertained
to matters which would be very familiar to my father, as
they also were to me.

“ This ' B ' was ailing for a long time, but passed
suddenly ; the trouble was connected with his heart.”

On this point I was without information, but on writing
to his family discovered that it was true.

At one period of this sitting the medium gave a
number of little coughs and Feda remarked that the
communicator used to do that. This was a repetition
of the coughing and throat-clearing in the first
Leonard sitting. She then remarked that he smiled
at this imitation. I inquired whether he still continued
to cough. She replied, “ 'No/ he says, T am now hale
and hearty, looking a young man in the prime of life.
Were you to see me as I really am, it is possible you
might not recognise me. My appearance is more like
the early photograph which shows me without a beard,
but with rather prominent whiskers. Have you that
photograph ? ' ”

I recognised this description. The photograph, which
had been mentioned in the first sitting, was then in my
mother's house at Bournemouth. Mrs. Leonard had not
been in that house and did not at this time know my
mother.

At another part of the sitting, and following refer¬
ences to friends of my wife, Feda several times repeated
in an inquiring whisper, “ The twenty-seventh ? The

Evidential Messages 29

twenty-seventh ? ” And then, speaking to me, pro¬
ceeded, " It is not to do with them, but he is
reminded of an anniversary which falls on a 27th.
Ask your mother about it.”

I replied that my mother would certainly be a most
suitable person to ask, as her birthday falls upon a 27th.
Feda then remarked, " He is laughing and seems pleased.”

At five previous sittings with Mr. Yout Peters my father
had established his identity by many correct references to
his earth life, including a statement that he had invested
money in mines. Peters said, “ He laughs about the mine,
your mother was against it.” This remark was made four
days before the present sitting with Mrs. Leonard in which
Feda suddenly said :—

“ He is sure that something better could have been
done with those mines. They were not carried on in
the same way as when started. Everything got at
sixes and sevens. All would have been right if only
managed rightly. He says, ‘lamas convinced of it
now as I was then/ ”

This is precisely the manner in which my father habitually
alluded to two investments in mines which he had made
against advice.

4 th sitting. May 1.2th, 1917.

A few days before this date I had been speaking at
Luton. Much of this sitting was occupied in giving proofs
that my father had been present there observing my
movements and surroundings. There were also a few
allusions bearing upon his identity, and these are given
below.

Feda said that my father had recently been with me
at a place which he formerly knew, but that it was
greatly changed since those days.

30 Evidential Messages

My father had twice visited Luton. The first time was
in 1871 when we stayed with my uncle, the Rev. Nicholas
Kelynack, who was then stationed there. In the year
1900 my father was living with me at the neighbouring
village of Toddington, and we occasionally went to Luton.
Luton's population has doubled since those early days ;
so it was correct to say that it had greatly changed.

"Someone else has come here to-day with your
father and they have been discussing the changes;
this second person used to have a public position there
and knew many of the people. He was useful in
different movements started there, to which he lent
his name and support; he was in a representative
position."

This seemed so accurately to fit the Rev. N. Kelynack
(he died in 1910), that I assumed he was the person in¬
tended, and remarked to Feda, “ This person was related
to my father." She at once replied:—

" c Connected' rather than related, they say.
Connected by marriage and not related by blood."

This was true; he and my father had married two
sisters.

" Was there a family ‘ H ’ in that town ? He says
he knows, he gives Feda the name Hunt. Also another
of three letters, ‘ L' is the first, not quite Lee, sounds
like Li."

The name of three letters sounding like Li is correct.
Mr. Lye was well known to us when we were residing at
Toddington, and Mr. Hunt had been prominent in Luton
during the period of my uncle’s work there. Both gentle¬
men were closely connected with our Church and known to
my father.

There is frequently a difficulty in transmitting names
through Feda. It will be alluded to in a later chapter.

Evidential Messages 31

To save time and facilitate her task she usually gives only
the initial letter.

“ There is a place to which he saw you go for a
meal. He used to like visiting that place c D/ ”

The “ D ” would stand for Dunstable which is a few
miles from Luton, and to which place I went and dined
with old friends. My father frequently walked into
Dunstable when living with me at Toddington and certainly
enjoyed doing so, as it was the chief place in the Circuit
and the centre for important meetings. Added to the
above reference to the town “ D ” was a minutely accurate
description of the room in which I had dined with my
friends, as well as several identifying descriptions of the
town, such as could be given only by one who had been
personally familiar with it.

It is important to add that throughout this sitting I gave
no clue to the names of Luton or Dunstable, and that
Mrs. Leonard was most unlikely to have heard of my
visit there. Even had she known, it can scarcely be sup¬
posed that information relating to my uncle's connection
with the place, or the room in which I dined at Dunstable,
and other details so accurately stated during this sitting,
could have come before her notice normally. As given, it
sounded exactly like reminiscences from the distant past,
combined with personal observation of my movements a
few days previously.

5 th sitting . June 14 th, 1917.

In the early portion of this sitting several references
were made to my mother, all of which related to the days
when my father first knew her, and the early years of their
married life. Among these were two about which I was
uncertain. One was a detailed description of a walk by a
river, the other referred to a red rose. My mother agreed
with me that the river walk suggested either Newport or
Taunton. Her one outstanding memory connected with a

32 Evidential Messages

red. rose was that she had worn such a flower in her hair
on the occasion of Garibaldi's visit to Newport a few weeks
before her marriage.

It was in the September following this sitting that I had
my first table-sitting with Mrs. Leonard, and noticed that
by this means of communication there was less difficulty
in obtaining names. I therefore took occasion to put
questions as follows:

Question. I wish to ask father about tests which he
gave for mother. One was something about a
red rose which he thought would be remembered.
Had this anything to do with the visit of a noted
personage to the place where she lived ?

Reply. The table immediately, by tilts while the
alphabet was spelled, gave the name Garibaldi.

Question. The other described a walk by some river
where you and mother went in the early days.
Where was it ?

Reply. Again the table tilted to the alphabet, giving
the word Newport.

To go back to my account of the trance sitting: I asked
if my father could recollect how mother used to wear her
hair. At this Feda (for so I must term the medium while
under control), appeared to listen intently for a few
seconds, and then twirled the medium's first two fingers
round each other exactly as I remember seeing my mother
act when doing her curls. Then after this dumb-show
came the words, “ Corkscrews, ringlets, not just one but
several and down the shoulders. The hair was drawn
sideways from the forehead and then went into ringlets."
This is as accurate a description as could have been
expected from my father who was not proficient in feminine
terminology. My mother would have said that in those
days she wore her hair parted in the centre and with long
curls. At the date of this sitting Mrs. Leonard had not
met my mother.

There were two further references bearing upon personal
identity:—

Evidential Messages 33

“ There is a Mr. Jones whom he has met there.” Five
items were given which served to distinguish this Jones
from others of that name. We had no hesitation in
identifying this description of a brother-minister with
whom my father had been closely connected in a particularly
difficult period of his work.

I then mentioned the fact of my working in London at a
Mission which had been founded by the old boys of the
Leys School, Cambridge, and was surprised to hear the
following remark : “ There was someone * R ' who took
great interest in that school, also ' P Now the school
was founded while I was a child, and I knew only two
names among those who had worked for its establishment,
and neither name commenced with either “ R ” or " P.”
After making futile inquiries among those who might have
been expected to recollect, I finally procured a copy of the
Leys Directory . Its pages recorded that two ministers had
been closely connected with the school's inauguration,
viz. Morley Punshon and Dr. Rigg. Both took prominent
part in the opening services and the first Speech Days.
My father always took special interest in such matters, and
his recollection of the part taken by these two in the
school affairs is very natural, for he had greatly admired
them both.

6 th sitting . July 12 th, 1917.

My mother accompanied me on this occasion and was
introduced to Mrs. Leonard without being named. Feda's
first remark was that my communicator was present. She
continued:—

" He has gone over to that lady, he is patting her
on the shoulder; he is sitting by her and looking
pleased. He is putting his arm over her shoulder.
I wonder why ? It is a strange thing for him to do.
He says, c Not at all; his conduct is quite in order/
He seems quite pleased. He won't come away from
that lady. He touches her hair at the back. She used

34 Evidential Messages

to do her hair quite differently many years ago (here
was repeated the finger pantomime of curling the hair,
as at a previous sitting). Twisty, curly things, several
of them, not just one or two.”

My mother’s hair was up and no curls showing on this
day.

Feda proceeded:—

“ There was a photograph taken of her with the
curls. Her hair was smoother upon the top; not curly
there, but banded. Feda thinks that gentlemen do
not know how to describe ladies’ hair properly.”

We have, not one, but many photographs showing my
mother with curls in her earlier years, and one of these
answers to the term “ banded ” ; for it shows a thick band
of braided hair passing over the head. I refrain from
further attempt to describe, lest I give Feda additional
justification for her criticism.

“ Does she laugh about the mines still, and persist
in thinking they were no good ? Everyone said there
was nothing in it. He asserts that they were badly
organised, that the wrong set of people were in control
and that this was the cause of the failure. He does not
worry about it now, but it made a great impression on
his mind at the time.”

All this was appropriate, for my mother had been
strongly opposed to these investments.

"Someone proposed that he should not grow a
beard; nevertheless, he took to one.”

This was a second playful reference to my mother, as
she had been averse to his growing a beard. It now
occurred to me to inquire at what place he resided when
commencing to grow the beard; I did not myself remember,
but was certain that my mother would be able to tell me

Evidential Messages 35

afterwards. The name could not be given beyond the
initial letter “ R.” I learnt afterwards that the place was
one which we alluded to as Rasen, the Lincolnshire town of
Market Rasen. However, the failure to give the full name
was atoned for by a convincing description of the place
and of his church there.

This concludes the selection, from my first six sittings,
of references bearing upon the identity of the communicator.
Many more were given subsequently, to some of which
allusion will be made in later chapters. The above will
afford readers an opportunity of judging how far I was
justified at this early date in assuming that my father
was originating the messages which Feda transmitted to
me through the medium’s lips.

CHAPTER IV

THE EVIDENCE CANNOT BE EXPLAINED AWAY BY
TELEPATHY

It was in 1882 that F. W. H. Myers suggested the term
telepathy (feeling at a distance) to designate the trans^
ference of thought from one mind to another. He and
Sir William (then Professor) Barrett found evidence that
in certain circumstances the ideas or feelings of “ A "
were caught by “ B,” quite apart from any known means
of communication. The Society for Psychical Research,
founded in the above year, published a careful examination
of telepathy. But despite the strength of the evidence
telepathy was rejected and even derided by the scientific
orthodoxy of that day. People in general followed the
scientists in refusing to believe that thought could pass
from mind to mind apart from the usual channels of sense.

Eventually a change came. It was seen that telepathy
explained the results of certain experiments, and that it
might possibly account for many curious happenings which
had hitherto been regarded as mysterious.

Telepathy is still denied by some. But the work of the
Society for Psychical Research has established the fact
that there is occasionally a communication between mind
and mind for which we cannot account, and which seems
to be direct thought-transmission. Maybe it happens but
rarely, and the method of its operation remains obscure.

However, like other things which are not fully under¬
stood, telepathy is credited with accomplishing far more
than it really does. Just as novices will watch a clever
conjuring performance and remark that the baffling results
are due to hidden springs and wires, so is it supposed that
all our asserted communications with people who have
died are nothing more than instances of telepathy between
minds on earth.

3*

The Evidence cannot be explained away by Telepathy 3 7

It is suggested that our own thoughts, and those of other
people, are being unconsciously broadcast, and that the
sensitive brain of a trance medium “ picks up ” these
impressions, giving them out as veritable communications
from the dead.

Some who have read the preceding chapter may think
that this hypothesis offers a sufficient explanation without
supposing any intervention from another realm of existence.
I am not of this opinion. Years of minute inspection, with
ample opportunity for study, testing and experiment, has
convinced me of the contrary. I will touch on two lines
of evidence:—

I. The newspaper-test experiments so fully elaborated
in the second portion of my book, Some New
Evidence for Human Survival , prove that my
communicators can give information which is un¬
known to any minds on earth. Memories of
personal and other matters are there interwoven
with names and sentences which are not in print
until some hours after the test matches are given.
This selection and interweaving is completely
beyond any results attributable to telepathy.

2. Shortly after the sittings recorded in the previous
chapter, I commenced a series of experiments.
These experiments were altered and made increas¬
ingly rigorous until I was completely satisfied that
my communicator was able to obtain information
about objects which had been placed within envel¬
opes, and the latter so mingled that I had no idea
what any particular one contained until the test
was given and they were opened and examined.

A mere description of the contents of a sealed packet,
or locked box, might be achieved by some form of clair¬
voyance on the part of a gifted medium. This has been
repeatedly accomplished when mediums have been per¬
mitted to touch such packets. But in my experiments the
envelopes and boxes were always twenty miles distant from

3 8 The Evidence cannot he explained away by Telepathy

the medium , and yet details of their contents were given by
my communicator and proved to be corrrect.

In the experiment about to be described, it should be
noted that the essence of the test was that the communi¬
cator, claiming to be my father, should state his message
in terms personal to himself.

From my collection of cabinet photographs I took six
and placed them side by side in an iron box. My pre¬
cautions included closed eyes and a perfectly dark room,
so that I might not see the pictures. Lest touch should
convey information to my subconscious mind, I had
attached spring clips to each picture; holding them by
their clips I was able to avoid touching the actual photo¬
graphs while mixing and placing them within the box.
I thus avoided any knowledge, conscious or subconscious,
of the order in which they stood. The box was then locked
and placed on a shelf in my study; the key was put in my
pocket; both box and key remained where placed until
the experiment was concluded.

At the next sitting my father told me, through Feda,
that his own photograph stood first on the left.

On opening the box that evening I found that my father's
portrait was the first on the left. Further, his descriptions
proved unmistakably that he had obtained detailed know¬
ledge of four of these pictures, yet, as they were known
to me, this can be disregarded for our present purpose.
But one outstanding item of special significance was given
in his opening remark, Feda said :

" He will take them from left to right. One of
himself is there. He laughs ; he felt it.”

Now, I had not said that his photograph would be
included, yet he not only asserted its presence, but also
its correct position in the box.

On completing his description of the content fc of this
box, he added, through Feda:

“ Next time he will try to give the order in which
they all stand. He does not know if he can do it.

The Evidence cannot he explained away by Telepathy 39

one has to try these things. People may ask, why do
they try book-tests and such like in which they some¬
times fail ? We have to attempt, or we could accom¬
plish nothing. You were not sure when first you
ventured out in the car, whether you could get back
again. One must learn, and that means some degree
of venturing.”

The experiment was therefore repeated, the procedure
being the same as before. On this occasion it was asserted
that his portrait was placed third from the left. Subse¬
quent examination proved this to be correct, as also were
other details relating to the order and contents of the
pictures.

Now, among the six photographs chosen for the experi¬
ment, three were of men; one of these looking slightly
younger, the other slightly older, than my father. Mrs.
Leonard had seen neither my father nor his portrait, nor
had she visited our house. I have no reason to suppose
that, at this early period of our acquaintance, she was even
aware that my father had been a minister. But what do
we find ? My communicator, who asserts that he is my
father, unerringly designates the exact position of the
photograph representing my father. No one but myself
was aware that this portrait was being used for the experi¬
ments, while neither I, nor anyone else on earth, knew the
position which his portrait occupied, relatively to the others,
within the locked box. This case, therefore, presents no
loophole for thought-transmission. Yet, under these
circumstances, my father’s portrait was recognised and its
position among the others accurately stated.

This surpasses any result of telepathy as known to us
whether in experiments or in spontaneous happenings.
It demonstrates an entire independence of thought-trans¬
ference, whether from my own mind, or from the minds of
others living on earth. It is, in my opinion, a sufficient
answer to the suggestion that the numerous and accurate
references to my father’s earth memories, instanced in
previous pages, originated in telepathy between incarnate
minds.

CHAPTER V

IDENTITY SHOWN IN REPLIES TO TEST QUESTIONS

Three questions, which would be meaningless to strangers,
are answered by my communicators in the manner I
would expect from my father and sister.

In the autumn of 1920 I decided to give my father and
sister an opportunity of showing how appropriate an answer
they could give to questions relating to a town of the
north in which we had lived for three years when I was a
boy. It was essential to this experiment that I should so
phrase the questions as to give no clue or information.
I therefore asked them to tell me what was suggested to
their minds by the words I was about to say, and proceeded
to name the title by which we had habitually alluded to a
popular social function in my father's church in that
northern town. I coupled with it the name of a friend who
used to add to the gaiety of those occasions. I also asked
for facts relating to the colleague who had occupied the
house adjoining ours, and about “ The little hurt bird."
This was a name we used for my sister's little playmate
there.

The replies, given partly through Feda, and partly
through direct personal control, left no doubt as to each
question being fully understood. Twenty-three statements
were made, and these included descriptions, initials, and
names of persons connected with the town in question,
all correct, and entirely appropriate in their setting.
Nothing was said which was contrary to my recollection of
the facts, although there were seven further statements
which, at this lapse of time, I have no means of verifying.
These may or may not be correct. They were matters
likely to have been within my father's or my sister’s

40

Identity Shown in Refly to Test Questions 41

recollection, although not in mine. Their reply com¬
prised—

3 Surnames. 10 Initials, xo Facts or descriptions.

7 Unverified items.

It is important to note that no name or clue, other than
the above three questions, had been given, and that, from
first to last, I did not mention the town to which my
questions referred.

Immediately after my father had replied to the first
question Etta took control and gave a correct name, and
two initials, all three being perfectly relevant. She then
added the following description of a walk, well rememberd
by me on account of its being a trespass, and therefore
always undertaken with a feeling of apprehensive delight.
I give her exact words, to show that they pass beyond vague
description.

" Do you remember being near a railway embank¬
ment ? There was a bridge further along. Do you
remember walking along a short cut which one could
go from another road ? I cannot quite recall how we
managed it, but there was a short cut near the embank¬
ment. You could go down a short cut by the railway
from the road a little way from where we lived, and so
get into another road without going all the way
round/'

In the accompanying sketch all the above features are
shown. In the foreground is the house in which we then
lived. Between it and the railway line is the embankment,
at the end of which a railway bridge crosses the road to the
left. The walk described is indicated by broken lines.
We started from a gap in our garden fence, and crossing
private property, where there was no right of way, climbed
up an embankment and reached the railway station.
From the station we then crossed the line and passed the
station-yard, after which we trespassed over fields until
reaching a high road which was our objective, it being one

9JLIM0AVJ y

Identity Shown in Reply to Test Questions 43

of our favourite walks. We thus saved a somewhat long
detour. My sister was very young at this time and
particularly nervous about trespassing. She would fre¬
quently ask if we were likely to be prosecuted. Hence this
walk is the more likely to have been impressed on her
memory.

In his reply to my question about the colleague in the
next house, my father gave, through Feda, several
descriptions which correctly outlined certain marked
characteristics. He then spoke of another who was there
connected with their work, giving initials which were those
of a third colleague living in the same town. First, he gave
the letter B, which was the inital of this colleague's sur¬
name, then he added H. I remembered that Henry was this
colleague's Christian name, and so, repeating the initials in
the order given, viz., B. H., said that I recognised the name
intended. Instantly came the correction, " Not in the right
order, put them the other way, H. B." This was done so
promptly and emphatically as to be most marked, and it
was only after this correction that I noticed my having
unintentionally repeated the initials in the order given by
Feda, that is to say, B. H. instead of H. B.

This question elicited several remarks, all of which were
correct, and there was no hesitation, no fishing for clues,
and nothing in the least irrelevant.

During a sitting shortly after the above, they reverted
to these questions, my father remarking that, “ there was

a Mr. Ward and a Mr. B-in the same town at the same

time, the Mr. B-being an important person there."

This was entirely appropriate. Mr. Ward had been my
music master and occasionally acted as deputy organist in
my father’s church, while Mr. Bird (not to be confused
with the above H. B.) was one of our chief church
officials.

I had been careful to give no clue to the meaning of
“ little hurt bird." But Etta had shown in the previous
sitting that she understood its reference to her child friend
and she now used an ingenious method of indicating the
actual name. She said that she had noticed in my study
something which would be, "a good reminder of this

44 Identity Shown in Reply to Test Questions

person. Look on the shelf behind your study door, the
second from the top, and towards the right-hand side, and
you will find a distinct allusion to her on the outside of a
book” The pronoun showed knowledge of the sex, whereas
the nickname gave no clue to this. From previous ex¬
perience of the way in which they had practised utilising
book titles, I gathered that some relevant name would be
suggested, either by a title, or buried in it after the manner
of the “ buried rivers ” game.

I was, however, curious as to how the name required,
which was Eva, could be indicated by any titles known to
me. I had never noticed anything of the kind among my
books. But on examining the shelf indicated, I discovered
that the sixth title, counting from the right-hand side, was,
Man the Primeval Savage . The name Eva is “ buried ” in
the word Primeval.

In order to discover whether this finding might be
attributed to chance, I inspected hundreds of other titles,
but no other provided the required name. Of all the books
in my study there was but this one which would have
served the purpose, and its position had been indicated by
Etta.

The replies to my three experimental questions contained
a number of perfectly apposite remarks. Ihese pass far
beyond the range of chance coincidence. No single one
of all the thirty items given was inappropriate, although
seven of them related to details which were outside my
recollection. The facts stated, and found to be true,
number twenty-three. Broadly speaking, they were not
the memories which I should myself have selected as reply
to these particular questions. They have all the appearance
of independent memories culled from minds acquainted
with our life and surroundings at a date when I was
twelve to fifteen years of age, my sister Etta being seven
years younger.

Etta recalled many matters which correctly related to
Eva, and these were given as being her associations with
the phrase, “ Little hurt bird." To my sister and myself
these two names would be synonymous. But they would
not have this association for any now living on earth, save

Identity Shown in Reply to Test Questions 45

my mother (who was not present at these sittings) and
myself.

My father gave suitable replies when asked about his old
colleague whom I indicated in a manner which would be
meaningless to anyone who had not been intimate with
Wesleyan circles in that one particular town. I cannot
accept the suggestion that this information was derived
from my own mind, conscious or subconscious; for it
entirely omits things which had especially interested me,
and dwells for the greater part on matters which were of
interest to my father and sister. No doubt, the replies
would have been more striking had names been given rather
than initials; yet these letters were not random guesses,
but were given in correct association with the places and
people to which they had reference.

The difficulty in transmitting names is dealt with in a
special chapter of this book. It may suffice to say here
that inability to get a name pronounced by the medium's
lips does not necessarily imply forgetfulness on the part of
the communicator, although that may occasionally be the
cause. It is said by the communicators themselves, and
reasserted by Feda, that the difficulty lies in transmitting
to her an arbitrary sound in which she is not assisted by the
context—a sound, moreover, which cannot be replaced by
any substitute except an initial letter.

I have used the word " sound," because we think of a
name in that way; but it should not be supposed that
Feda hears vibrations in the air when communicators
transmit their thoughts to her. Rather is their thought
received in a way which, to her, seems like spoken words.
When thought-transmission is at its best and strongest
Feda speaks of “ hearing ” ; when it weakens she can no
longer hear, but " senses " or feels the meaning. In the
latter case names are particularly difficult to transmit to
her.

After all, the important part of a message is that which
conveys the intention of the sender, and in the above
replies to my experimental questions I find evidence that
my father and Etta are able to give information on matters
which had been familiar to them in earth life; information,

46 Identity Shown in Reply to Test Questions

moreover, which cannot reasonably be attributed to an}
other source, since the particular questions I asked woulc
have suggested nothing relevant to strangers.

Four months later again referring to the same place
my father named two ministers, Kendal and Hardy. Th<
former had a church there during the time of our residence
but the latter was associated in our minds with the place
only on account of my father having endeavoured tc
arrange that Hardy should succeed him there on oui
removal in 1882. As some half-dozen details were correct!}
given about each of these men, in addition to theii
surnames, it was obvious that my communicator recol¬
lected facts which dated thirty-eight years before this
sitting.

Three years after the foregoing, and during a sitting tc
which my mother had accompanied me, she inquired
through Feda whether my father and sister had met
Mrs. Palmer. This Mrs. Palmer was widow of the colleague
already mentioned^ and we had recently seen a notice oi
her death.

The reply was as follows :—

“ It is curious that you should ask that, because
Etta says she had intended to mention that lady
to-day. Her husband has waited for her a long time.
The letter E is connected with her.”

The husband had died nineteen years previously, and
the widow's name was Eliza. But the evidence became
better still, for in further conversation about Mrs. Palmer,
Etta volunteered the name of her daughter Florence,
an old friend. She then said that among the people
they had met in their new life was “ old John Palmer ”
whom we might remember, although “ not connected with
the other Palmers.” I had no difficulty in recalling this
person, for, on the occasion of my first meeting him,
somewhen in my early ministry, he mentioned that he had
been present at my parents' wedding. He had never been
named or even indirectly alluded to in these sittings, nor
had I thought of him for many years. The similarity of

Identity Shown in Reply to Test Questions 47

surname had no doubt recalled him to Etta's mind when
my mother asked the question about Mrs. Palmer.

SYMMONDS versus SIMMONS

Confusion between the above similar-sounding names
accidentally affords proof of my father's identity.
For, while I ask about the former, he speaks about the
latter, giving information quite unknown to me, but
which had been familiar knowledge to my father before
my birth.

In December, 1923, while my father was communicating,
I asked him, by way of an experiment, to think over and
let me know at a subsequent sitting “ the associations in
his memory with the name Symmonds whom mother used
to know." He agreed to do this.

The person to whom I thus alluded was a Mr. Symmonds
of Wimbome, a very old friend of our family. While
visiting Mr. and Mrs. Symmonds my mother first met my
father; it was this fact that prompted me to say “ Sym¬
monds whom mother used to know." In asking this
question I was thinking of Mr. Symmonds of Wimbome
and of no other person ; indeed, it did not occur to me that
there was anyone else known to my father whom he could
possibly confuse with this friend. Needless to add, I
merely pronounced this name and did not spell it. Had I
spelled it the result might have been different. As it
happened, events proved that my father mistook the
question and thought of another person with whom he and
my mother had been on close terms of friendship, one whose
name was spelled differently but easily mistaken in sound
for Symmonds.

At a later sitting Feda, speaking for my father, intro¬
duced the subject. She said:—

“ He asks if you have quite lately heard of a death
which has reminded you of Simmons ? You may not
have heard yet This death has not to do with

48 Identity Shown in Reply to Test Questions

Simmons, but he thought you would have read of it.
It is another name beginning with S. It takes youi
father back to a time long ago and to a place con¬
nected with Simmons.”

In taking notes at this sitting I spelled the name Sym-
monds, supposing that the Wimbome friend was being
spoken of. But as Feda proceeded I realised that what
was being said seemed to have no connection with that
person. While studying the reply on my return home I
began to ask myself whether my question might have been
misunderstood, and whether the descriptions given were
intended to apply to someone else ? Only then did I
remember that my parents had spoken of a similar name
in connection with their residence at Taunton, the place
of my birth.

On asking my mother about this I learnt that a Rev.
Samuel Simmons had been Governor of the Taunton
Wesleyan College when my father went to live in that
town, and they had been colleagues. Moreover, my mother
recognised that some of the descriptions given through
Feda would apply to this Mr. Simmons. I therefore wrote
to his surviving daughter, enclosing a copy of my notes and
asking her opinion about them. Her reply commenced as
follows :—

” I was really startled at the first question, as to
hearing of a death reminding one of the name Simmons;
because only a week or fortnight previously I had
read in The Times of the death of Mrs. Savery at
Taunton. She was a Miss Carrie Sibly in your father's
time there, and her father and mine worked together
in those days at the college, Mr. Sibly being head
master and my father the governor.”

This established the correctness of my father's first
remark in replying to my question. There had occurred
' recently—a fact unknown to me—the death of one whose
surname had the initial “ S.” This name, moreover,
connected with the Simmons of long ago; for, when my

Identity Shown in Refly to Ten Questions 49

father went to Taunton, Mr. Sibly was headmaster and
Mr. Simmons the governor of the college there. Thus it
is certain that Sibly, Simmons, and Taunton would all
have been connected in my father's mind with that distant
date.

We find here a clear indication, supported by more to be
considered immediately, that my thought of Mr. Symmonds
of Wimbome had no influence whatever upon the reply
elicited by my question. On the contrary, my father had
followed his own line of memory and had given particulars
about a person and place which were not in my mind.

Feda next described some work in which my father and
Mr. Simmons had been mutually interested. This may be
right or wrong; there is no way of deciding it after this
lapse of time; it is likely to have been correct.

Feda next said that she was being shown the picture of
a place, and this she described in a somewhat disjointed
manner. When subsequently I visited Taunton it became
apparent that part of the town near our church agreed in
many features with this description.

She then continued :—

“ Walker was connected with this place; he was one
whom your father knew well. Ferren or Farren—

though that is not quite right—also Fr-, a man who

was connected with it. There was a place W-near,

rather a long name, which your father had much to
do with."

In commenting upon the above sentences, Mr. Simmons's
daughter wrote:—

" The name Walker recalled to me at once a college
master who, I believe, was in the school at the time
of my father's death; he was known by the boys as
Sammy Walker. The name French, too, was that of
an important family, and Mr. Henry French was a
master at the college."

In the Taunton Wesleyan Circuit were two places of

50 Identity Shown in Reply to Test Questions

which the names commence with “W," viz., Wellington and
Wiviliscombe. Part of my father's duty was to take
services at both. A lady who had lived at Wellington
while my father was at Taunton tells me that in those
days an important family of Wesleyans named Farrant
resided at Wiviliscombe.

So here we find the name Walker given correctly and
verified; the name Farrant obviously attempted in

" Ferren or Farran”; while the abortive effort “ Fr-”

indicated the family called French. Of these three names
the only one known to me was French . 1

Two further items conclude this reply to my
tion:—

“We had a disappointment when at this place,
although f disappointment' is not quite the right
word; a person's leaving was an important loss, it was
a passing over."

On inquiry I learnt that the Rev. Samuel Simmons,
Governor of the College, died during my father’s residence
at Taunton. My parents had been on terms of intimate
friendship with the Simmons family.

The phrasing of the above sentence, in its vague com¬
mencement, and gradual approach to exact statement well
illustrates Feda's method of obtaining from the communi¬
cator, first a general idea, then successive approximations,
and finally the thought which it is desired to express.

" He feels a curious connection again between this
place and you. You are going to have news."

As I was listening with Wimbome in my thought, it is
certain that I could have had no clue to the meaning of
this remark. But three days afterwards I received a
letter from Taunton, written by one who recalled my
father's residence there.

1 It may be interesting to note that on another occasion Feda again failed to
transmit this name French, although there was then little d oubt t hat * F r—
was an attempt to transmit the sound French. (See Chap. XXXI)*

Identity Shown in Reply to Test Questions 51

The chief interest of the above experiment turns upon
the fact that the two names, Symmonds and Simmons,
although different in spelling, are sufficiently similar in
sound to make confusion likely. When asking for associa¬
tions with a Symmonds whom my mother used to know,
I was thinking only of the friend at Wimbome, and it did
not occur to me that this name could be confused with any
other. But my communicator went on to give references
which connect with quite a different person, one with
whom my father had been on terms of intimacy some fifty
years earlier. The items mentioned include several which
had never been within my knowledge. As received by me
at the sitting they seemed wholly inaccurate. I could not
connect them, even remotely, with the person about whom
I had asked. This experience is valuable, therefore, as it
affords no support whatever for the suggestion that the
medium was tapping my subconscious mind.

CHAPTER VI

THE HYPOTHESIS OF IMPERSONATION

<f Have we any guarantee that the communications which
seem to come from our friends beyond death are not
concocted by impersonating spirits, or by the devil him-
self ? ” This question is asked by some who think that
certain isolated texts of Scripture warrant their fear.
Others go further and change the question into an assertion.
This may be termed The Devil Impersonation hypothesis.

Before adducing specific reasons for its invalidity, there
are two considerations which these objectors will be well
advised to ponder.

Firstly, it must be emphatically stated that, if appear¬
ances of the dead and messages from them are, in these
days, the result of impersonation, it is open to anyone to
assert that such appearances and messages as are recorded
in the New Testament were likewise impersonations and
deceptions. But this is a reductio ad absurdum . No evil
personality would have wrought deception for such ends
as were achieved by the founding of the Christian Church.
Our Lord's own test can be here applied, “ By their fruits
ye shall know them." More than once He had to deal
with minds similarly hesitant as to the good or evil origin
of what they heard. He directed their attention to the
results. "A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit,
neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit." The
appearances and messages recorded in the Gospels were
instrumental in founding a religious movement which has
endured through the centuries with ever widening blessing.
The fruit has been good. Who dare suggest that it sprang
from an impersonation ?

Secondly, it should be realised that present-day messages
from those whom we identify with our risen friends have
led to good. Multitudes confess that they have been turned

52

The Hypothesis of Impersonation 53

thereby from doubt to belief, from agnosticism to faith;
in short, the religious instinct has been enriched and
intensified and in no wise lessened. The fruit has been
good. No one who is aware of the uplifting influence which
many have proved in their lives will suggest that this is
the work of deceiving spirits who desire to neutralise the
influence of Jesus Christ, or to degrade man's thought and
life. If evil powers were the source of these communica¬
tions they would be doing the work of God's ministering
spirits and undermining the hold of evil on mankind.

The impersonation hypothesis is founded on an un¬
worthy conception of the world unseen. It pictures evil
spirits permitted to impersonate one's risen friends, while
these are unable to intervene. Such an idea can only arise
from the assumption that the frequent, if temporary,
triumph of evil over good, of falsehood over truth, so often
observed on earth must still prevail, even in higher realms.
But have we any reason for supposing that evil is more
triumphant there than it is here ? Even in this life truth
comes into its own ; falsehood is self-betrayed, the will
towards good is supplemented by unseen powers and slowly
wins its widening way.

To believe that our messages are the work of deceiving
spirits is to suppose that the evil beings are more powerful
than the good. It assumes that evil intelligences, bent
upon the misleading and degradation of humanity, have
embarked upon a systematic venture which, in complete
variance from their intention, is leading men to a more
spiritual conception of life, to keener and more determined
aspiration after righteousness, and to a more reasoned trust
in Jesus Christ.

For such nightmare fancies there is no foundation in
observed fact. Those who speak with us from across the
borderland of life are just the same lovable, faithful
friends whom we knew before death took them from our
sight. They display the same solicitude for our welfare,
moral and spiritual, as they did when here. They give
numerous and convincing proofs of their identity, both in
the definite tests which they volunteer, eager to convince
us that they live, as well as in those which we demand of

^4 The Hypothesis of Impersonation

them in order to establish this truth. There are the subtle
touches of character and the mannerisms which friendship
unfailingly recognises. They show the same love and
reverence for whatever is good and honourable; and I bear
witness to the fact that my friends retain the same rever¬
ence,. love and devotion for God and for Jesus which
marked their lives when I knew them here on earth.

Throughout eleven years of frequent converse with
those beyond the veil I have found nothing to suggest that
they are other than they claim to be; nor have I ever
observed the slightest indication that those speaking to me
are animated by anything save the sincerest desire for my
betterment. If, throughout these years, I have been
speaking with those who wish to amuse themselves by
deceiving me, or to do me hurt by impersonating my loved
ones, then the only possible conclusion would be that they
are taking considerable pains for no intelligent end. Such
amusement must have palled on them long ago. The
dullest of them must have perceived before this that
instead of doing me harm they are helping me to rise
beyond possibility of being hurt, either mentally or spirit¬
ually, since they have led me nearer God. In short, the
devil of this hypothesis would be neither evil nor clever,
but sufficiently inane to be undertaking an immense amount
of pains to defeat his own ends by raising me towards a
plane of thought and aspiration in which evil has no place.

Let us now regard the situation from another point of
view. Supposing Jesus did come back and speak to His
friends on earth ; supposing Peter, Paul and others were
truly favoured with communications from heavenly helpers;
supposing my own friends are enabled to speak with me
by psychic means, so that I receive the purport of what
they wish to say; then all that I have met with during
these years of experimental study is intelligible. Indeed,
it is exactly what one would have expected, provided one
had realised something of the difficulties of transmitting
thought through imperfect channels. The occasional con¬
fusion in the messages, together with the inability to get
certain names and words correctly reproduced, are pre¬
cisely what must result from the limitations of the method

The Hypothesis of Impersonation 55

used. Like the blurrings of celestial objects in the earlier
and imperfect telescopes, which were easily resolved into
clear definition by the employment of better instruments,
so do we find that confusions arising with poorly developed
mediums are made clear when the communicator speaks to
us through a more gifted and practised human instrument.

I doubt if any impartial seeker after truth could retain
the devil hypothesis after studying the modus operandi of
trance messages with a medium of fine power and high
mind. By such study one learns experimentally some of
the difficulties under which our friends work while com¬
municating, and how greatly they are limited in expressing
themselves by the mental resources of the medium em¬
ployed. One discovers the causes of confusions and mis¬
takes, and how to apportion these between communicator,
medium and control. But such study does not explain to
any logical mind why, on the devil hypothesis, these
particular classes of mistake and limitation should be
present. For the mistakes and confusions are not such as
would happen were the speaker reading our thoughts at the
moment. For example, I am frequently aware of the name
which would clinch the message, or of some fact which has
been misstated. But my clear thought upon these points
does not help the speaker; it is rather the rule that the less
one thinks of what ought to be said, the more likely is it to
be correctly given. Again, I am frequently aware of items
which, if stated, would greatly add to the completeness and
convincing character of the evidence which is being given;
but the speaker does not avail himself of my recollections;
he gives his own ideas of the matter and not mine.

Just as I am always careful to consider how much of the
information given might have been obtained by the
medium through normal channels, so also do I ask myself
how much of it existed in my own mind, whether conscious
or subliminal. My interest would not have been sustained
through years of study had I found that the medium was
weaving messages from material obtainable from outside
sources, or that the communicator's conversation was com¬
posed of my own memories. I have found that the medium
freely transmits what could not have been discovered

$6 The Hypothesis of Impersonation

normally, and that my communicators consistently give
their own ideas and draw upon their own memories. They
also reveal those characteristics with which I was familiar
as pertaining to my friends during their earthly life, and
each remains true to himself; their respective individual¬
ities never blend. All happens as if I were conversing with
those whose names the speakers claim ; and, so far as I can
see, the happenings are quite unlike attempts at imperson-
tion. I speak, of course, of my experiences with capable
mediums. The confused messages in elementary experi¬
ments with automatic writing, planchette, ouija, or glass-
and-letter methods of communication, are frequently
baffling and open to doubt. These are best studied by
giving the communicators an opportunity of clearing them
up while speaking through more satisfactory channels.

If our messages originate with deceased friends then the
latter do remarkably well, considering the difficulties under
which they have to work, difficulties which must continue
while our ability to provide them with adequate channels of
communication remains so limited.

In discussing the devil impersonation hypothesis one
cannot forget that Our Lord's critics raised the same cry
of " Devil." Unable to disabuse their minds of fear, even
in presence of His blameless personality and beneficent
activities, they attributed his works to diabolic co-operation.
“ Thou hast a devil," was their reply to his teaching. A
similar trend of mind now regards with suspicion com¬
munications which do not conform with conventional ideas
about our relation with the world unseen.

My father speaks of Our Lord Jesus in terms which
would satisfy orthodoxy. He and my sister, as well as
others who have conclusively proved their identity,
describe occasions on which they have seen Our Lord and
have heard Him speak. Is this the action of a subtle
enemy who desires my undoing ? It is not what one would
expect from diabolic agencies. On the other hand, it is
exactly what I should expect from those who claim to be
giving these teachings. Why should I doubt their bona
Jides ? I have never found the slightest cause for so doing
in all the years of my intercourse with them.

The Hypothesis of Impersonation 57

The devil hypothesis has no basis in observed fact
conscientiously interpreted, nor is it held by those who
have first-hand experience of these studies, I recall with
amusement the solemn pronouncement made by a minister
of religion who told me that he was sure that all these
communications were the work of the evil one. He
described how he had proved this by his own automatic
writing; for as soon as his hand had acquired the power of
writing without his conscious volition and had scribbled
messages purporting to come from deceased friends, he had
gravely demanded, Are not you who write really a devil ?
To his great satisfaction the word “ Yes ” was written in
reply. And so, for him, the matter was settled. Had he
cared honestly to study the subject he would have learnt
that his reply was the reproduction by his subconscious
mind of an idea which he had committed to its keeping.
A genuine devil would have replied in the negative.

I believe in One God, maker and ruler of this world and
the next. I entirely disbelieve in any omniscient and
almighty evil spirit. Evil there must be in the unseen ;
for multitudes of evilly disposed people are continually
passing thither from this earth. I know no reason for
supposing that their power for evil is increased when they
change this life for the next, nor do I believe that they will
perpetually retain the state of mind in which they pass over.
In the clearer light of the Beyond, evil loses the disguise
which.hid its real nature here, and it then appears in its
essential hideousness and folly. Also, it brings home to its
devotees, by the stem logic of cause and effect, the dis¬
qualifications which it has imposed upon them. This
painful revelation ultimately prepares misguided souls for
appreciating the guidance and help which He, who is
Infinite Love and Wisdom, places around his backward
children. Such is my faith. It is not contradicted by
any Scripture intelligently interpreted, nor by the divinely
implanted instincts of the human soul; it lies implicit in
Our Lord's words concerning the Heavenly Father, and is
confirmed by the experiences transmitted to us by those
who speak from the other side of death.

CHAPTER VII

THE SLEEP OF DEATH AND THE AWAKENING TO GREATER

LIFE

Death has been a mystery. The lifeless body of a friend
has all the appearance of profound slumber. But it
speedily undergoes chemical changes which ultimately
destroy it. The cage is empty, its tenant has escaped
elsewhere.

“ How shall we bury you ? ” asked his friend, as Socrates
was about to drink the hemlock. “ Just as you please,
if only you can catch me, and I do not escape you/' said
Socrates, “ for when I have drunk the poison I shall no
longer remain with you, but shall depart to some happy
state of the blessed/*

A greater than Socrates assured His disciples that when
He was crucified He would pass into another state of life.
His subsequent reappearances created in those who loved
Him an invincible enthusiasm ; they saw that death was a
step upward into greater life.

Some who have experienced the earlier stages of death,
and then revived, have given an account of what, at the
time, had seemed to be their last moments on earth. Their
story is tranquillising and encouraging.

But we learn much more from those who, having finally
crossed over, are able to return and describe their falling
asleep and the subsequent awakening beyond bodily death.

My father once said:—

I wish you could come here for a week and re¬
member it on returning to earth. But there is a
subconscious awareness, even with some who have
heard nothing about life on our side, but who are
doing their best, notwithstanding absence of knowledge.

The Awakening to Greater Life 59

I am certain that when they come to the end of
physical life they have some intimation of what awaits
them here, and this brings them a more wonderful
knowledge than they had ever dreamed of, even if it
comes only a few seconds before their transition. It
is something like approaching a bridge in a thick fog,
and the fog lifts suddenly so that the opposite bank
is clearly seen. You will have known instances where
those previously passed over have been seen by the
dying, who exclaim, “ I can see so-and-so/* It seems
unfortunate that so often there is no physical strength
left to tell what they see. But I think they do see.

O.D.T.: Did you yourself see just at the last ?

Father: (The reply was given with unusual solemnity
and emphasis). I did. I felt not one presence only,
but several. At the time one does not reason about
it, and may be unable to ask oneself why it is so,
being able only to realise, “ They are here/'

Speaking of his earliest consciousness after death my
father remarked on his surprise at seeing trees, flowers and
birds. It must be remembered that his passing had been
as sudden as it was unexpected. Owing to what seemed
a temporary indisposition he had spent the day in bed.
The doctor saw nothing serious in his condition, and he
was able to do some writing. Towards the close of the
afternoon my mother left him alone for a while and on
returning found him in the act of expiring.

He tells me that, following his surprise at seeing trees
and flowers when waking, he had a hazy recollection of a
proposed absence from home. It occurred to him that he
must have already made the journey and commenced the
visit for, had he been in his own room, neither flowers nor
trees would have been visible. Presently he rose and
walked out among the trees. In the distance he observed
a house standing on a grassy slope. "While wondering as
to his whereabouts he was joined by one who, in friendly
conversation, made him realise what had taken place.

L.B.D. e

ISo The Sleep of Death and

Not long afterwards he was enabled to return and view
his earthly home. He could see the familiar rooms and
realise the sorrow we were feeling. He longed to be able
to prove to us, what he was aware we all believed—
namely, that he still lived and that his love for us was
unchanged. Fourteen years later there came the oppor¬
tunity for which he had been waiting: I commenced a
course of psychical investigation.

My sister died shortly after a serious operation. Being
aware of her approaching transition, she discussed it calmly
with me during our last interview. Having to some extent
shared my psychic studies, she knew that she would be
able to communicate with me, and this knowledge softened
for both of us the pain of parting.

Some months later she described to me her awakening
in the new life beyond death. It was, in substance, as
follows:—

From where she found herself reclining she looked
through an open doorway into a garden of flowers, and
realised that she was in the home which had been de¬
scribed by her father in his communications. While gazing
out upon the scene of beauty and light she became aware
that her father was standing near. They did not im¬
mediately speak in words, but it seemed to her that they
were thinking to each other, exchanging ideas mentally
without spoken words. When, presently, he spoke she
found it delightful to hear his voice again, and to be able
to reply in the old, familiar way.

She added, that to find herself there did not seem so
strange as might have been expected. Memories came to
her of having been there previously; the place was not
wholly unfamiliar. Later, she learnt that at times, during
sleep, her soul had visited and grown accustomed to the
place ; although, when waking from such sleep, no normal
consciousness remained of what the soul had enjoyed.
Her physical brain had not been able to share the experi¬
ences of the soul.

the Awakening to Greater Life 61

Seven months after her passing she again alluded to this
experience:—

“ It is difficult to realise I have been here so long a
time, it seems no more than a few weeks ; for there is
so much to do, to see, and to learn. I am glad to
have known before my passing something about this
life and the possibilities of communication with you.
Before finally leaving earth I seemed to be dreaming,
and yet it was not wholly a dream. It seemed as if I
had come here before the final separation from my
physical body. I was only partly conscious towards
the last, only half within the body ; for my soul was
already freeing itself. Nor did it seem wholly strange
to me when I found myself here. I must have
frequently come during sleep; for I could now re¬
member that I had been here previously/’ 1

The following account of death and awakening was given
by one whom I had known for many years, and who had
passed her last hours in unconsciousness. To those who
were watching her it seemed as if body and mind were in
extreme discomfort, and only a few isolated sentences,
uttered amid the ramblings of delirium, hinted at the
experience which the soul was then enjoying. I had been
told of these hints—references to seeing her parents—and
so took occasion to inquire, during her first communication
with me, whether in her last hours on earth she had seen
the friends who had gone before. She replied :—

“ You ask if I saw anyone before passing. I seemed
lifted above the usual things and surroundings, and I
had a dream or vision, I do not know what you would
call it. It seemed at the time like a very wonderful,
happy and peaceful dream, in which I was with, not
only those who had passed over recently, but with
father and mother and many relations whom I had
not seen for a long, long time. Now you ask : Did I
see them ? Yes, I saw them, though not with physical

1 See Chap. XXX for discussion of sleep experiences.

6 2

The Sleep of Death and

sight, but I saw them. They were as satisfactory to
me, as clear and distinct, as anything I had ever seen
in my ordinary earth life.

“Now I was not conscious of any change, or anything
abrupt, but from that very happy dream I seemed to
pass into a peaceful sleep, and I think I emerged into a
more or less conscious state, now and again, because I
seemed occasionally aware that there were people whom
I knew and loved who were near me, and taking care of
me, and I was quite content to let it be so.

“ I hear now that I slept for three or four days. But
when I woke, completely awoke, I felt refreshed, and
so much younger and better in every way than I had
felt for many years. . . .

And now, here we are all together again, all the
people I used to know and love ; all are here at their
best, best time, best health, best everything. . . . ”

We get a glimpse from a slightly different angle in the
experience of G. M„ who had been a life-long friend of my
father and who was welcomed by him on his passing. My
father and sister, in describing his awakening, said :—

“ He has been rather surprised to find how extremely
natural it all is here. At first he could scarcely realise
it, but on the whole it has been a great relief to him.
It is intensely interesting to welcome people like
G. M.; for, beside the pleasure of having them with us,
there is the extraordinary interest of observing their
surprise on awakening. They always exhibit relief
at finding themselves in a tangible world. Many
people fear death owing to an idea that they are about
to exchange the tangible for the intangible. It is not
fear of finding themselves in a bad place, but rather
a dread of the unaccustomed. In this case, G. M. was
particularly pleased to find tangible things and people
around him, and scope for activity/'

A few weeks later G. M. was again spoken of:—

the Awakening to Greater Life 63

“ G. M. is getting on remarkably well and quickly
picking up the new conditions. He is most interested
in everything. He has now ceased to question the
reality of what he sees around him. At first, he was
inclined to say, ‘ Well, what I see cannot be really
present/ But after a short while he had to admit
that so many different things could not exist merely
in his imagination, and that the most vivid dream
could not go on so long. He tells us that, having now
relinquished that mental attitude, he feels pleased and
enthusiastic about everything, and insatiable in his
desdre to see and know more. He says that again and
again he stops to ask himself , 4 Why did we not know
this while on earth ? ' ”

Expressed concisely, and omitting personal details, the
usual testimony of those who, in these communications
allude to their passing, is as follows :—

“ On awakening from unconsciousness I felt free
from pain, quite strong, and full of gladness. It was
a great relief to know that death was past. My
new-found happiness was increased by the sight of
old friends who gathered around and who gave me
welcome. I then wished to return and see those left
behind; after some little time I was able to do this/'

The collective testimony of those speaking from the
next life is remarkably consistent. It is frequently inter¬
mingled with convincing proofs of the speaker's identity;
I am therefore left without a doubt that these descriptions
represent, so far as language makes possible, the actual
experience of death.

CHAPTER VIII

WHAT OUR FRIENDS IN THE NEXT LIFE KNOW ABOUT OUR
SURROUNDINGS AND OUR THOUGHTS

Part i. Concerning our Surroundings

Death implies separation. To some this separation seems
complete: it is assumed that we can know nothing of our
loved one's doings, and that he is possibly in a like
ignorance of ours. The heart asks questions which neither
Church nor Science can answer. We are free to hope, to
imagine, to philosophise, but it is assumed that none can
know.

I have written elsewhere on this question and shown
that those in the life beyond death are able to come to
us and inform themselves of our doings. (See chapter
“ Our Unseen Observers ” in Life after Death : edited by
Sir James Marchant. Cassell). The data at disposal may
be briefly indicated as,—

1. That which is told us by those whp, in their last

hours, attain some degree of clairvoyance and who
recognise deceased friends around them. The
exercise of this clairvoyant faculty by other persons
provides evidence supporting the reality of these
visions seen by the dying.

2. The experience of trance mediumship and other

methods of psychic communication; for many of
those who speak with us tell how they were welcomed
‘after death by friends who had anticipated their
arrival.

3. The statements of our communicators, who repeatedly

claim ability to observe us and to know many
things about our life.

64

To fuce page. 60.

The Illuminated Address, of which this is a photograph, had come into
my possession eighteen months before I first went to Mrs Leonard.
It was mentioned at my second sitting, and the description included the
following items ■—

“ Narrow frame, a pattern in the frame, this pattern is m writing,
there is a white margin and a thin line round the edge, the writing
scrollified, letters elaborate and looking slightly twisted, at the bottom
near the corner is some different small writing. Not a bought thing, but
presented ”

Note that the small writing at the bottom was wrongly stated to
be near the corner

I realised this reference to a Presentation which had belonged to my
father’s father, but I was not sufficiently familiar with it to check these
points at the time Only on returning home did I discover the surprising
degree of accuracy. The medium had never visited our house, nor had
this article been consciously in my thought for some months. It would
seem natural that my father, in his attempt to show that he was con¬
versant with my surroundings at home, should mention this Illuminated
Address.

For a full account, see page 65

To face page 6 7

The above is a photograph of the painting in my study which was
described at a Leonard sitting as follows —

“ A ladv is shown three-quarter face, hair done in a queer way, standing
out towards the top back of head and made to look as if there were a
good deal of it, the face medium full and-between round and oval, nose
rather straight chin round but not prominent, and slightly receding,
brows mther arched* and eyes a little full, the head slightly on one side
giving a questioning look, something on the frock looks hkelines^ corning
down from the shoulders and approaching from cach side as d^ce d,
a dark shadow behind shoulders and neck, but not behind the head, the
hair is down a bit on one side as if to show it off

Two items were incorrect, viz. : “ The bodice is dark and rather tight
fitting ” " Has she not one arm across the lower part of the breast, with

^XflVeen'aS toTescrlbe this picture my attempt would have
been less accurate

For the full account, see page oo.

What Our Friends in the Next Life Know 65

4. The proofs of this claim, found in collections of
verified facts observed and recorded by conscientious
and independent investigators.

In my earlier researches I found my father eager to show
his intimacy with my inner life^and outward circumstance.
Proofs were given by means of clairvoyance, clairaudience,
the direct voice, and trance utterance. When I commenced
my series of sittings with Mrs. Leonard the proofs increased
and ultimately convinced me of two facts. Firstly, that
my father and others in the Beyond are able to observe
my actions and my surroundings; also, to visit others they
love and acquaint themselves with their daily life.
Secondly, that it is easy for them to keep in touch with
our inner life; that they can perceive one's thought, mood,
emotion and aspiration in a degree seldom or never achieved
by those among whom we live. As my sister once re¬
marked, speaking for herself and others, “ We know those
we love so much more and better than we did on earth."

Let us consider first a few simple instances relating to
objects well known to me. Scores of such are summarised
by saying that I have received descriptions of furniture,
pictures, ornaments, the interior of our house, books,
papers, etc., and that these descriptions often included
details which I had not previously noticed. This evidence
was given that I might realise my father's minute acquain¬
tance with our home. As we came here some years after
his passing, he had no earth memories of it.

It was on my second visit to Mrs. Leonard that her
control, speaking for my father, described an illuminated
address which hung in an obscure position in our box
room.

He shows Feda a framed pattern. It is some¬
thing in your house. Feda wonders why a pattern
should be put in a frame. But it has a frame, and the
pattern seems to be in writing. The frame is narrow
and has glass over it. There is a white margin, and a
thin line round the edge. This writing is not ordinary,
but scrollified, the letters are elaborate and look slightly

66

What Our Friends in the Next Life

twisted. At the bottom, near the corner, is some
different small writing.

O.D.T.: Is my father interested in it ?

Feda : Yes (emphatically) and you should be so, too. He
is smiling as he says this; for he knows that you are
interested, too. This writing has more sense in it,
and means something different from ordinary framed
things on walls. He says that you can always feel
pleased at it. It was not a bought thing; it was
handed to one like this. (Here the medium went
through the action of a ceremonious presentation).
It was not just passed casually, but presented.

This description was more accurate than I could then
have given from memory. Its only error related to the
small writing at the bottom, which was said to be near the
corner, whereas it is exactly central. Only when Feda said
that " this pattern seemed to be in writing ” did I think
of the illuminated address given to my paternal grand¬
father, and which had come into my possession eighteen
months prior to this sitting.

The following was prefaced by a description of my
study, with special reference to the particular comer in
which was hanging the picture now described.

Feda said:—

" You have a portrait there. A lady is shown
three-quarter face. It was done many years ago.
Her hair is done in a queer way, standing out towards
the top back of the head, sticking out there and made
to look as if there^were a^good deal of it. The bodice
is dark and rather tight fitting . The face is nice,
medium full, between rotind and oval; the nose rather
straight, the chin found * yet not prominent, and
slightly receding. Tfie brows are rather arched, and
the eyes a little full. The face slopes down toward
the chin, yet is rounded. Has she not one arm across
the lower part of the' breast , with the wrist a little bent
down? The head is slightly one side, giving a

Know about Our Surroundings and Our Thoughts 67

questioning look. Something on the frock looks like
lines coming down from the shoulders and approaching
from each side as they descend. There is a dark
shadow behind the shoulders and neck, but not
behind the head. Her hair is down a bit on one side
as if she wished to show it off.

A comparison of the above with the picture itself
revealed its general accuracy. I have italicised the words
which proved incorrect. My own effort would have fallen
far short of this.

**•••« •

For purpose of a test I had alluded to my study in the
following words, “ Upon the top of a bookcase there stands
a bronze monkey/' When this had been dealt with,
Feda remarked that Etta was showing her another monkey .
I replied that I had no second monkey. Feda continued,
“ She shows one to Feda and is sure she is right. You have
it.” I replied that perhaps I could find one pictured in a
book. But this suggestion was refused. Feda said, “ No,
not in books; she means elsewhere. Had she meant
books she would have said so.”

On returning home I added the following note to the
above record, “ I doubt if we have any picture of a monkey
in the house.” Three days later there came suddenly and
sharply into my mind the recollection of a very small
monkey in stone which had been brought from India and
given me by an old soldier. I knew it must be somewhere
in the curio cabinet which stands close by the bronze
monkey. On inspection, I discovered this stone monkey
in the cabinet, and its position was only twenty inches from
the one in bronze.

And so my sister was right, although I had failed to
discover that fact until the third day after the sitting.

Let me here reply to a question in the reader's mind,
—Could the medium have known of these articles ? The
medium had not been to our house, and I am confident
that no one there could or would have given her informa¬
tion. But I need not labour this point; for the argument
I am presenting is so strong that it will stand without

68 What Our Friends in the Next Life

depending upon evidence relating to our home. If anyone
thinks that trickery might have accounted for the instances
given above, let him disregard these instances and consider
only those to be recorded later. And similarly, to those
who suggest telepathy from my mind, I would say, dis¬
regard all evidence which seems inconclusive and consider
the following instances to which the telepathic hypothesis
will not apply easily, if at all. Had these descriptions been
limited to objects known to me I should have been com¬
pelled to consider, long and carefully, whether or not
leakage from my unconscious mental activity had been
caught and correctly interpreted by the medium. Evidence
of such leakage would have been valuable; for if it could
be shown that the human mind can thus unconsciously
throw off information, and that another human mind can
receive and interpret such “ broadcasting/' we should have
a proof of telepathy which might go far to convince
orthodox science of the reality of that much questioned
hypothesis. For while, thanks to the laborious work of
the founder of the Society for Psychical Research, telepathy
is now popularly accepted as a fact in human nature, it is
not as yet acknowledged by orthodox science which, on the
contrary, either denies it or considers it unproven.

But we need not, at this point, discuss the possibilities
of leakage from my mind; because I am about to give
instances of information which had not been within my
knowledge.

Such cases have been very numerous. Sometimes there
were allusions to events in our house of which my wife was
aware, then to matters about which neither of us had any
knowledge whatever. And there have been several
instances in which the matters related were known to the
maids, although not to us. Here are two examples:—

Feda once said, “ Your father mentions a ceiling in
your house, as if some mark needed to be covered up.”

As neither my wife nor I could understand the relevancy
of this, the housemaid was asked. She replied that during
our recent absence from home there had been an accident

Know about Our Surroundings and Our Thoughts 69

in an upstairs room, when a quantity of water had been
spilled on the floor. This percolated through the boards
and reached the ceiling of the room beneath which it
marked conspicuously. After a few days the dampness
disappeared, leaving so slight a stain that it was not
discernible unless pointed out. On hearing this we pro¬
ceeded to inspect. The mark was fairly large, but would-
not, I think, have been noticed in a casual glance, for the
discolouration was of the slightest. Certainly it had not
been observed by either of us, and would not, but for my
father’s allusion, have been brought to our notice.

During the autumn of 1921, our two servants, who are
sisters, had their mother to stay with them. While at our
house one of her friends brought her a fine pear. This was
put away for safe keeping at the back of a cupboard.
There it lay forgotten. It was near the end of November
when, in cleaning out the cupboards, the pear was dis¬
covered in an advanced stage of decay.

Of this trifling incident neither my wife nor I knew
anything. But about two weeks later, namely, at my
sitting on December 9th, the following remark was made

" Ask Clara what has gone wrong in the cupboard ;
we got an idea that something had not been keeping
well. We heard of it lately.”

This was a puzzle to me, and my wife could throw no
light upon it.

At the next sitting, December 20th, Feda said :—

“ They think there is something in that remark
about the cupboard. Has Clara solved the mystery
yet ? ”

I had to reply in the negative, but subsequently the
above facts were ascertained after inquiry made in the
kitchen.

I took the first opportunity of reporting this to my
communicators. But this was not the end. During the

70 What Our Friends in the Next Life

next sitting it was worked ingeniously into a Times test,
thus:—

“ In to-morrow’s Times , page one, column two and
near the top, is a word—it is really a name but one
which he is making into a word to describe the mystery
of the cupboard.”

This was given on January 20th, 1922, at 9.5 p.m. I
sent a note of it to the Society for Psychical Research that
evening. Next day I saw, at the top of column two of the
Times , first page, the name Pearson. It will be noticed
that the first four letters of this name form the precise
word which was wanted.

In the above we see trifles used for specific ends. I
wanted no information about these trivialities, but I
needed evidence that my father and sister were familiar
with our home. And by such allusions they convinced
me more quickly than had they confined attention to
important matters within my knowledge.

My father knows that a shallow criticism may object,
“ It is strange that one who returns from heaven should
pry into cupboards, etc.” He reasonably remarks that,
in pursuit of his purpose, he utilises whatever may serve,
not disdaining references to homely objects and unimportant
events. Since his avowed object is to prove continued
nearness and awareness, only those who fail to see the
value of that proof will be offended by the means employed
in achieving it.

We now pass to a consideration of incidents relating to
places at a distance.

In 1917, while my mother was residing at Bournemouth,
my wife and I had a sitting with Mrs. Leonard, during
which my father urged me to advise my mother to take
special care while going up or down stairs. He then
added:—

“ She had a near shave the other day. If she
chooses to remember she nearly slipped a few days ago.

Know about Our Surroundings and Our Thoughts 71

She must be very careful. Although I should be very
glad to have her with me, I do not wish her to have any
accident/'

Apart from my mother's age we had no reason to be
nervous, but I wrote a guarded letter asking her to be
careful, and adding that I had an impression that she had,
only lately, narrowly escaped a fall. In her reply she
confessed that she had fallen recently, through tripping
over a wire mat at her greenhouse door.

My mother returned to Ramsgate in 1919, and five years
later my father gave the following description. Feda
said:—

“ There is a purse which he used and your mother
has kept it. He shows it to Feda, it looks an old
leather purse, a fairly large one; it is not square in
shape; it comes out a little broader at the bottom.
It has been kept and you can find out about it. It
was much cleaner and better in colour one side than
the other. It is very smooth, green leather of rather
coarse grain, or else grained artificially to form a
pattern. It was quite a good purse, except that just
where one opens it the stitching, not the material
itself, but the seaming, was coming undone for about
half an inch. Etta has seen it too. Your father feels
that this purse can be easily found, and he is quite
sure that it is exactly as he says. Notice particularly
the difference in colour between the two sides; it
was all the same at one time/’

My mother said that she had no such purse. For my
part, I was unable to recollect it. At my next sitting I said
no purse could be found. On which my father repeated
that he was quite sure about it, and that it could be found.

I therefore wrote asking if a further search could be
made, and this resulted in a find of two of my father's
purses, one of which answers almost exactly to the above
description. This purse is old and made of leather, rather
large for a man's use, being 4 by 2J inches, and somewhat

72 What Our Friends in the Next Life

thick, owing to its having six compartments. The back
is comparatively clean, while the front is rubbed and faded.
It is made of smooth, green leather, the graining now
scarcely perceptible, though the condition is still fairly
good. Inside the flap are my father’s initials in his own
writing.

The reference to a broken seam is striking; for the
covering flap has one side broken for about one quarter of
an inch.

Here we find seven statements, only the last of which
is inaccurate.

1. His purse has been kept and can be found.

2. It is old, fairly large, not square.

3. Very smooth, green leather.

4. Coming undone for half or quarter inch just where the

purse opens.

5. Quite good, but for above defect.

6. One colour, but one side better preserved.

7. Either coarse grain or artificially grained to form

pattern.

Note that the words, “ Etta has seen it too/’ indicate
that the description is not based solely upon earth memory,
but is the result of recent observation by both my father
and sister.

Occasionally my maternal grandfather. will speak at
these sittings about my mother. Looking through the
records I notice that he once provided a particularly neat
proof. It was prefaced by recollections of her love for
music, and by the remark :—

“ She has not all her music in the room where she
plays. She was saying, very lately, that she must find
the other music which she keeps in another room.
He hopes she will get it out.”

Most of her music was, at this time, stored away in
another part of the house, and my mother had recently

To face page 72 .

This purse had belonged to my father, whose initials, J D. T , can
be seen on the flap It was m the possession of my mother, who had
forgotten its existence until making search for it at my request

For an account of the way in which it was spoken of at one of my
sittings, see page 71.

The description given was surprisingly accurate Note especially
the broken half-inch m the left side of the flap, which was indicated m
the following words " It was quite a good purse, except that just where
one opens it the stitching, not the material itself, but the seaming, was
coming undone for about half an inch ”

Know about Our Surroundings and Our Thoughts 73

promised to look out some of her old favourites and play
to me when next I came to see her. I now noticed that
Feda several times repeated in whispers the words, “ Prince
Albert/' She then said aloud

“ He keeps repeating ' Prince Albert' and it seems
to come out of this talk about music. Then he builds
up, for Feda to see, a picture of Prince Albert which
he says your mother has; but in some way this is
connected with music, or there is music near it; for
that picture and music seem to come to his mind
together/'

I was sceptical about this picture for I knew of no such
thing in my mother's house. We visited there on the day
following this sitting. To my surprise, on entering her
drawing room, I saw, in a place of prominence close to the
music cabinet and the piano , a copy of the celebrated en¬
graving which represents Queen Victoria and Prince Albert
with their young children clustered around them. More¬
over, I learnt that this picture had been brought by a
friend only the week before . Picture, music cabinet and
piano stood in line close together. The claim of my grand¬
father that he had been to the house was thus substantiated.
Mrs. Leonard was then living at Barnet and my mother at
Ramsgate.

The following references are selected from among a
large number which related to my sister's house at Folke¬
stone at a period shortly before her passing.

My father had alluded to the inspirational writing which
my sister was at that time practising regularly. I was
aware of the writing, but did not know in what part of her
house it was done.

Feda: When she writes has she often something red in
front of her ?

C.D.T.: I have no idea.

Feda,: Good, then ask her. Also, is there a photograph

74

What Our Friends in the Next Life

near in what is either a metal frame or one with a
metal rim ?

GDT.: Do you mean standing, or hung on a wall ?

Feda: He thinks on the wall. Near her side something
seems to be dangling, as if hanging down loose, much
as a rope would do.

G.D.T.: Can he be sure what that is ?

Feda : He knew exactly before coming here. Also, he has
the idea of a bell near her.

CD.T.: A bell to take up and ring, or a push in the wall ?
Feda : He thinks the latter.

On my next visit Etta showed me her habitual position
when sitting for inspirational writing. Always exactly in
front of her was a little clock in bright red leather frame.
Standing on a table at her left and close to her is a photo¬
graph of her daughter; it has a metal rim surrounding it.
Immediately behind her head there hung from a shelf
several inches of silk cord terminating in a tassel. In the
wall to her right there was an electric bell.

It was impossible to compare this comer of the room with
the above description of my sister's surroundings when
writing, without recognising that it came from one who
had personally observed. My own mind, as already said,
was not in possession of the information.

After my sister's passing she became a constant speaker
at my sittings, and frequently told me of incidents hap¬
pening in her home. From a considerable list of such I
select two—one trivial, the other important.

Speaking of her younger boy one day, Etta suddenly
suggested that I should ask whether he had new handker¬
chiefs, as she thought she had noticed quite lately that he
was using one which was not the usual white sort, but one
with spots upon it. Replying to my inquiry about hand¬
kerchiefs, the boy wrote that he had lately procured a black
silk handkerchief with white spots, for use when conjuring.

Etta's husband, after having been unwell, had taken
a holiday and we heard that he had returned feeling better.
I was surprised, therefore, when Etta told me, through

Know about Our Surroundings and Our Thoughts 75

Feda, that he was again unwell, run down and over-strained;
that he was taxing himself too much and that she was
afraid he might have a break-down. His symptoms were
then described with much detail. I delayed for two days
before sending him a copy of Etta's remarks. Then I
received a letter from him which had crossed mine in the
post. It was written from bed and stated that he had
been to a Harley Street specialist who found that he was
suffering from nerve exhaustion and had ordered him to
have a period of complete rest in bed, and then a quiet
time in the country. It proved to be a serious nervous
break-down.

The above selections from hundreds of examples will
show that information which was not within my own mind
has been obtained by my communicators quite as easily
as were facts with which I was familiar.

In case any reader may still incline to think that telepathy
from human minds may have been responsible for these
results, I invite him to consider the newspaper tests
described in another chapter of this book.

Abundant evidence, extending over the eleven years of
my investigation, has convinced me that friends who
return to earth can observe my actions and also something
of my surroundings. One cannot but wish to know more
of the matter, to hear from them what the experience is
like. For an account of it, given from their point of view,
will enable one to glimpse for a moment somewhat of that
life which will presently be our own, to realise in some
degree the experience of making contact with earth by
means of faculties attuned to another state of existence.
From the accounts given me I select the following ;—

Father: Objects on your plane are not so real to us as
those where we dwell. To us they appear misty and
cloudy. You have heard of the aura. We can see
your aura when we cannot see you, and we can see it
before we see you.

At times I am only just able to see your chair, or
perhaps a comer of something which I guess to be a
table ; things sometimes are very vague to our sight.

LJB.D. F

76 What Our Friends in the Next Life

O.D.T.: Am I seen more clearly than objects in the room?
Father: Much more so. I think we often see the things
around you through a power of your soul which
illumines them.

G.D.T.: Are you sure about that ?

Father ; I think it is so, because there are others to whom
we have gone and we found that we could not so
easily see them. If it were our own power we should
be able to exercise it whenever we like. I think this
accounts for some people from our world being able to
describe so little of what they have seen around a
sitter at his home. There has not been the illuminating
power around that person, and so his communicators
could see but few things to describe when they came
to a sitting.

In speaking of newspaper tests my father remarked that
one of his difficulties was a frequent inability to actually
see them, and the consequent necessity of falling back upon
sensing. He proceeded :—

“ The difficulties are interesting. Your plane is not
our plane. We are limited directly we try to touch
and understand the merely material things of earth.
If I know that you are sitting down I often may not
know whether you are on a stool, chair or a sofa.”

In the following Etta describes an attempt to make me
think of her.

“ You were in your study, standing near the table
on which were several books. You were too interested
in what you were doing to think of me. I stood near
you by the comer of the table, but you did not feel
me in the least. I wondered how it was that you did
not feel my presence; I had forgotten that I was not
trying. Then the guide who had come with me said,
‘ Concentrate/ I calmed myself and tried for the
time not to feel too loving, not to want to touch you,
but to will that you should feel me. You did not at

Know about Our Surroundings and Our Thoughts 77

first; then you suddenly thought of me and forgot
what you were doing; at least, you closed the book you
had been looking at, placed it on the table, and sighed,
thinking of me very strongly. You then turned round
and faced me, but you did not see me and, of course,
thought it quite natural that the thought of me should
come in and interrupt what you were doing. I did
not mind your not seeing me and had not expected
you to do so. My studies of the subject on earth had
helped me in understanding the difficulties. I felt
rather glad that I had made you think of me suddenly.’'

One of my sittings was near the third anniversary of
Etta’s passing. The previous evening I spent a quiet hour
in the garden thinking of her. Etta commenced her
controlling by alluding to my walk in the garden, and
introduced allusions to my actions and surroundings there
which were perfectly accurate. Among other remarks,
she said:—

“You were looking at some small yellow flowers
while you thought of me. You went back into the
house for something and came out again. You knew
that I was with you there last evening. Part of the
time we were near a comer where something cast a
shade on one side. I like that comer, it is so peaceful,
and one seems more alone there. Father was with us
also, but you felt it was more for me that you had
gone out. You had thought of poetry earlier in the
day, and I thought your quotation was appropriate to
meeting me in the garden later. I have been so
eager to tell you that I was there with you.”

C.D.T .; I so wish I could have seen you, Dear, but it is
something to be sure, without even seeing.

Etta : To be sure with the mind and soul is the chief thing.
Some whom you could touch are not so close to you
in spirit; bodies may be present while thoughts are
far away.

Through Feda:—

“ Etta finds that your father is right in thinking

7 8 What Our Friends in the Next 12 }e

that Clara 1 is a good subject; for they are able to get
information easily in her vicinity. That is owing to
some quality which Clara expels normally. Etta
thinks that while many people have more of this than
Clara has, yet they do not throw off so much of it.
They would find it easier to obtain test information
in Clara's vicinity than with others who threw off less
of this peculiar emanation."

At the Paris International Congress of Psychical Re¬
search in 1927, I read a paper dealing with the question
of this semi-physical emanation. We are told that it is
thrown off by mediums during the special conditions of a
sitting, and that there is reason to believe that some
persons normally throw off a limited amount. Traces of
this emanation left in a room, or upon objects, enable
visitants from the other world to see and hear more easily.
As the foregoing quotations show, my father and sister are
of the opinion that it is largely owing to the presence of
this emanation that they have been able to observe so
minutely those material objects which they have afterwards
described to me through Mrs. Leonard. The inference
seems sound that, if such observation depended solely
upon a communicator's own unaided ability, he would be
able to obtain such information where and when he chose.
My experience indicates that this cannot be done at will;
the evidence supports the assertion of my communicators
that while it is comparatively easy to see in some places
and with some people, it is difficult with others. In this
connection one recalls that the word “ light" is applied by
some communicators to their me dium. Do they speak thus
because they find themselves clairvoyant for material
objects while in the medium's vicinity ?

I believe the following remark of my father's gives the
key to many of the problems which relate to interaction
between the two worlds: " When we do something on
your plane, which is not our plane, we have to make use of
that in you which corresponds most closely to our plane,
but which is not ours."

1 My wile’s name is Clara,

Know about Our Surroundings and Our Thoughts 79

Part 2. Concerning our Thoughts

Throughout my sittings there has been frequent evidence
that our thoughts are perceived by our unseen observers.
This is a fact of much importance. For if our thoughts, plans
and motives are open to their eyes, it follows that we have
the power to gladden or sadden those whose love brings
them back to watch us. But I shall touch on this again.
For the moment we are to consider the evidence.

Such evidence need not relate to matters important in
themselves. A glimpse of straws on a river will show
which way the current flows. The drifting leaves and
branches seen by Columbus when on the point of turning
back were trivial in themselves, but became of importance
when he saw in them evidence upon which his decision to
proceed might be logically based. Similarly, the incidents
now to be recounted are redeemed from triviality because
they offer evidence of a truth which it highly imports us
to know.

I commence with notes from a recent sitting in which
my sister was controlling. She asked :—

14 Do you remember thinking of me in the early
part of yesterday ? ”

Although this was probable, I could not at the moment
recollect. When, however, I was typing notes of the sitting
and reached this point, it occurred to me to look up my
engagements of the day before. I then discovered that
the morning had been occupied in preparing a speech, of
which the leading idea was a remark about psychical
research which Etta had made in a letter before the
subject had gained her interest. It was to the effect that
she had no wish to be “ a spiritual Columbus/' And I
had thought of her change of mind, of her subsequent
interest in this subject, and of her enthusiastic co-operation
in my investigations, both before and after her passing.

Etta next put a question which took me back to the
previous sitting at which I had momentarily received an

8 o

What Our Friends in the Next Life

emotional shock. I had not thought of it since, but Etta
now inquired:—

“ Do you remember in a past sitting, did you think
father was going to say something to you about
mother having passed over ? Father saw the thought
in your head ; we read that thought in you; you did
not speak of it. Father was so surprised. We were
able to add things afterwards which cleared it up."

My records of that sitting show that, while taking notes
for the friend who shared it with me, I had suddenly heard
Feda pronounce this sentence, quite unrelated to what had
gone before, “ Sarah is passed over/' My father had
habitually called my mother Sarah, and for an instant my
mind leapt to the conclusion that he was now announcing
the sudden passing of my mother. I undoubtedly experi¬
enced a wave of emotion which was only checked by
noticing that Feda's next words precluded any reference to
my mother.

It will be seen that the foregoing extracts appear to be
precisely what one might reasonably attribute to un¬
conscious telepathy from one’s own mind. I might have
thought this myself were it not for long experience in
receiving similar messages which were not capable of that
explanation. Etta frequently tells me things which I do
not know, and the remarks in question were such as she
would quite naturally bring up in conversation with me.
And so I see no cause for supposing that my own mind had
any part in originating the above remarks.

But I refrain from further instances of this character
and proceed to recount allusions to thoughts of which I
knew nothing and which had origin in the minds of other
people.

There was an occasion on which my wife had arranged
to accompany me to an afternoon sitting after taking
lunch with a friend. When the morning arrived she
changed her plans and decided to spend the whole afternoon
with her friend. Scarcely had my sitting commenced,
when Feda asked :—

Know about Our Surroundings and Our Thoughts 81

“Where is Clara? Feda had an idea she was
coming. Yon had the idea, not many days ago, that
she would come with you. Your father says that you
could not bring her to-day, but that just a few days
back you thought that she would come to the sitting.
And Feda got it from you, too. Feda got an idea that
Clara would not come here straight with you, but that
you would meet her. Feda does not know if you really
thought that, but that was what Feda got/*

The above exactly expressed our original plan. Possibly
it looks like telepathy from me, but note what followed.
The sitting proceeded for several minutes, and Feda then
suddenly remarked :—

“ Your father has a thought-current from Clara,
Ask her if she has forgotten something she wished to
take with her to-day? Ask her if she has changed her
mind about something she is wearing and had intended
to wear something different? He feels sure something
of the kind has happened. He wonders if the two
ideas are mixed up.”

I break off to explain the apparent source of this idea.
My wife told me, later, that on proceeding to her friend's
house she discovered that her umbrella was left in the train,
and that during the afternoon she frequently thought about
it. She had no recollection of changing her mind about
clothing, and it would seem that my father's suggestion
that he had confused this idea was well grounded.

To revert to the sitting: still speaking of Clara, Feda
put the next statement in the interrogative form so fre¬
quently adopted in introducing a fresh topic. She asked :—

“ Do you know if Clara and her friend are talking
about someone being ill? Someone connected with
where she is gone to-day ? Your father thinks that
someone connected with that place is ill and that
Clara will be talking about it.”

C.D.T.: Has father become aware of that to-day ?

82 What Our Friends in the Next Life

Feia: Yes, a little while ago. This will be interesting as
you can find out about it at once.

I learnt afterwards from my wife that her friend, who
had been seriously ill, had given a full history of the
recent sickness. When I next sat with Mrs. Leonard my
father inquired (through Etta who was then controlling),
whether I had verified this conversation about illness.
Etta then added :—

“ We did not know who had been ill till we heard
them talking. We could not explain at the time why
or how we knew. Were they in the garden ? "

G.D.T,: Yes, they had tea in the garden and sat there
some time.

Etta : I did not know about the tea, but sensed the garden
most of the time.

It is interesting to note that my wife, on reading the
above, pointed out that I was in error when stating that
they had taken tea in the garden. The tea was indoors,
though they had spent most of the afternoon in the garden.
Here, as often, my communicators hold to their own
opinion and refuse to accept mine. And they were right.

From my collection of records showing that my father
and sister are frequently aware of my mother's thoughts
and plans, even when these are unguessed by my wife or by
me, I select the following :—

Feia : Did your mother wish to give you something
silver ?

6 .D.T .; There is no reason for supposing it, so far as I am
aware.

Feia: Your father thinks it is something that has been in
your mother's thought. She seemed to be thinking,
“ I should like them to have this." It is something
old, and she has had it a long time. Will you inquire
about it ?

My wife and I had that day returned from visiting my

Know about Our Surroundings and Our Thoughts 83

mother and could not think to what this might refer.
I learnt later that my mother, shortly before this date, had
decided to give me a set of silver spoons which had belonged
to her mother and had been in the family eighty years.
They were given me in due course.

In the above instances we observe that the thoughts
described in my sittings had originated elsewhere, in the
mind of my mother, my wife, or other persons. But what
remains to be decided is the identity of the person who
acted as receiver. By whom were noticed these thoughts ?
The list of possible receivers stands thus: medium, control,
myself, friends in the unseen. Which of these first received
that thought which was afterwards transmitted ? Who
had the strongest mental link, and the greatest facility for
mind-reading ? In my considered opinion it was my
father and sister. If I am right, then we have in the
above an illustration of that telepathy which is continually
in action between us who remain on earth and our risen
friends. We originate thoughts which they perceive.

It will be asked, why, if our thoughts can be observed by
those in the Beyond, cannot those same thoughts be
perceived by people on earth ? I believe it is theoretic¬
ally possible for them to be so perceived, but does this
actually happen ? How few indications of it come to our
notice; how meagre is the experimental evidence for it.
So meagre, indeed, is the evidence for telepathy between
mind and mind on earth, that, as previously remarked,
orthodox science does not yet accept it as proven. Person¬
ally, I accept it. The records of spontaneous telepathy,
taken together with recorded experiments, and the un¬
published experiences of my personal friends, seem to me
to place telepathy beyond all question as a fact of mundane
experience. But how few persons succeed in receiving at
will the broadcast thoughts of others 1 And how bare and
fragmentary at best are the ideas thus received ! I fnrUnA
to think that a faculty for telepathic reception lies dormant
in each one of us, but that few succeed in awakening that
faculty to action. Daily we broadcast our thought, but
those able to consciously receive and translate it are few
on earth, although many in heaven.

84 What Our Friends in the Next Life

Certainly, it would be theoretically possible that the
above instances, in which I was correctly informed of
thoughts which had been recently in the mind of my friends,
might have been obtained telepathically from them by the
medium herself. But I have not found, although carefully
watching for it, any cause for thinking that this has hap¬
pened. It seems to me that here, as in those cases where
telepathy from human minds was clearly impossible, the
mental broadcasting was received and interpreted by
friends in the unseen.

This will be a suitable point at which to introduce some
of my father's remarks on the subject.

At a sitting some time before my sister's passing I asked
whether my father would be able to visit Etta and see
what she was doing at the moment. He replied :—

“Yes, I could do so, although there might be
difficulty in telling you here, in getting it through
afterwards. I could get her thoughts more easily
than her actions."

Then, touching on communion of soul, and contrasting it
with verbal communication through mediums, he added :—

“ Pure communion is that sort which you and I
have in your study. This at sittings is helpful, indeed
necessary; but, after all, it is imperfect, mechanical,
almost artificial, although satisfactory beyond words
and very necessary as a means of independent con¬
firmation."

In the early days of my Leonard sittings I wished to be
sure that I had rightly grasped the meaning of my father's
remarks and therefore asked, “ Is it right to say that our
departed friends can often see us and be conscious of our
thoughts and of what we are doing ? Here, in substance,
is his reply:—

“ Yes, if you say often, and do not give the idea that
we are always present. I realise your moral and

Know about Our Surroundings and Our Thoughts 85

spiritual actions, and should be aware, for instance,
if you did anything very wrong. I should be conscious
of it even without coming to see.”

When controlling he once remarked :—

“ I can sometimes be with you in effect while a very
long distance away. Though I were thousands of
miles away I could get your thought if you were in
need of help and thought of me. And I could send a
helpful thought in response as easily as if standing by
your side at the moment. I might not get your
thought word for word, and yet I should get the
thought correctly. It would be your subconscious
mind that called; for the subconscious anticipates
the conscious. The subconscious is aware first, and
telegraphs to the conscious, and it might at the same
time telegraph to me. There have been occasions
when persons felt themselves guided in moments of
danger, and it has been concluded that therefore some
angelic presence was with them at the time. I do not
think it necessary. There is no such thing as distance
where thought is concerned. A guardian spirit is
near in thought. It would be absurd to say that he
is in constant attendance and always near any one
person on earth. One guardian may have several on
earth to protect.”

I here quote from my sister.

During her communication a few months after passing,
I inquired whether she experienced the same sense of loss
and separation that we were feeling. She replied :—

" No, no, we only feel as you may picture anyone
feeling who had to go and live in a different house
from the people they cared for, yet could see them and
know all that happened to them, although not able to
live in the house with them.”

I said, “ Then you have no sense of bereavement ? ”

To which she answered :—

86

What Our Friends in the Next Life

“ No, Dear. You see I know that you are coming,
too. It is only a case of waiting such a little time.
Looking back now, it seems altogether so short a time
we are on earth.”

On another occasion, while we were comparing the
respective advantages of wordless communion at home and
verbal intercourse through a medium, Etta remarked :—

“ I think that you get nearer to the real me at
home.”

Once, while controlling, she said:—

“ You know, Drayton, I can see you more clearly
than when I was on earth ; and I am more conscious
that this knowledge has made you happier. I seem
to see you more truly from this side than I did on
earth, where we see only one side at a time. I now
see you as a whole. We know those we love so much
more and better than we did on earth.”

I now come to a definite and conclusive proof that my
father and sister are aware of thoughts which I address to
them mentally.

A cousin in Canada wrote in great sorrow about the
passing of his little son. In the privacy of my study
I asked my father and sister to find the child and obtain
from him a message for his parents, together with sufficient
evidential detail to satisfy them of his identity. I added
that he would probably be with his grandfather, my
uncle Fred. At my sitting a few days later they told me
they had been talking with Fred; and then, as I had
expected, came what I wanted. They described incidents
connected with the child's passing, some dozen facts in all,
and these were afterwards verified by the child's father.
Also, at subsequent sittings, further messages and
evidences were given for the parents, the evidential
items eventually numbering more than fifty, not one of
which had been known to me, or to the medium.

Know about Our Surroundings and Our Thoughts 87

But on this I do not dwell, since our present interest is
with the first sitting, which proved that my request had
been understood. The proof that my private appeal had
reached my communicators is found in the fact that they
came to the next sitting fully prepared with the information
for which I had asked , information, be it noted, of which I
had no knowledge, and which subsequently was proved to
have been correct.

Let me now add a second case where, in like manner,
my intentions were perceived, and accurate information
unknown to me was obtained elsewhere.

(Pseudonyms are used in this instance).

My parents and sister had known intimately a Mrs.
Sands. When she passed over I received a letter from
her daughter May, whom I had not seen for thirty years.
In that letter she inquired as to the possibility of obtaining
some message from her mother. I mentally decided to
invite May to a sitting with Mrs. Leonard.

The date for which I proposed to arrange it was still
some weeks distant, when the following was given through
Feda:—

“ Mrs. Sands has been to see May. You are bringing
her. Her mother wants to speak to her.”

G.D.T. : I will see what I can do.

Feda: She seemed to get it from you. Etta is smiling
and says, “ Of course, he will. He says that in a non¬
committal way.” Etta and your father are laughing.
They feel that May would be happier for getting into
touch with her mother in this way. In a sense she
is “ alone,” rather than " lonely.” Feda wonders
what the difference is. Yes, they say that May has to
think for herself and for others too, and is a good deal
thrown back upon herself.

Do you know if she has glasses, or has been anxious
about her eyes ? Her mother says that May has been
thinking about eyes just lately. Etta says that May
is not really very strong; she keeps up the appearance
of health, but is not robust, soon gets tired and does
not really feel at all as she ought to.

88 What Our Friends in the Next Life

When I subsequently met Miss Sands I found that the
above correctly described her condition. She used glasses,
and had recently been thinking of getting others. At the
date of the above sitting, which was in the Christmas
holidays, she had been speaking frequently about eyes and
spectacles, and advising her hostess to visit an oculist
Being the head-mistress of a large school, Miss Sands cer¬
tainly had to think for others. All the above statements
proved to be minutely correct, and I had known nothing
about these particulars.

My studies have convinced me that those whom death
removes can, if they so wish, keep themselves conversant
with our life and surroundings. They can know what
occurs in our home and in our minds. But between our
outward and our inward life there is a clear-cut distinction
of which they seem even more acutely aware than are we.
Among those who pass from earth comparatively few feel
the necessity for a minute observation of the material
objects which surround their earthly friends. Here and
there are a few who deem it their special work to do this
for the purpose of giving evidence to those with whom
they are in communication. But this is no more necessary
for the majority there, than is a proficiency in, say, astro¬
nomical photography for the majority of people here.
Most of those who visit earth can see to some extent, and
many of them are able to see a good deal; but much
depends upon individual differences, and upon conditions
of which we as yet know almost nothing.

It is the experience of my father and sister—and they
think it is the common experience of those who leave
earth—that they ascertain most easily that kind of infor¬
mation about their loved ones which is of permanent,
rather than transitory, importance. They know more
about our character than about our clothing. It is so
easy for them to know about our inner life that they can
even learn it from afar without needing to come to us.
But if they wish to observe our material surroundings
minutely it may be necessary for them to exercise a special
mode of vision, a kind of clairvoyance, and for some of them
this is difficult.

Know about Our Surroundings and Our Thoughts 89

I have allotted a chapter to this subject because of its
practical importance. Is there not widespread uncertainty
among people as to whether or not their departed friends
know how it fares with them ? I suspect that many doubt;
I know that some deny. Then, too, do not some express
the hope that those in heaven are denied the knowledge of
what transpires on earth ; that the mother is unaware of
her son's wild living, that the father cannot see his
daughter's struggle for bread ? One may sympathise
with the feeling which prompts that hope, without sharing
the belief that parents are so changed by transition to
another phase of life that they would prefer to be without
tidings of children left behind. Uncertainty about the
welfare of those whom we love is not usually preferable to
knowledge. Do we not long for news of our sick child,
the one travelling abroad, the hard-pressed and unhappy
one ? Why should it be supposed that death lessens our
divinest instincts ? The truth is far otherwise. Our
natural preferences persist when we awake from death.
The facts available leave me in no doubt that those
we loved and lost have not lost us; they watch
over us, they love us, they await the hour of our
coming.

But, it may be asked, does not this intimate knowledge
lessen the happiness of those who dwell in the realms of
light? That must depend somewhat on what they see
within us. To notice our degeneration must sadden them,
as surely as our progress in character must give joy. It may
well be that their scale of values is truer than ours; that
careless ease and prosperous enjoyment are seen to have
but a passing importance; while our growth in sympathy,
in fortitude, in likeness to Our Lord is recognised as a
permanent enrichment and our true preparation for the
greater life awaiting us beyond.

The truth to which the facts of this chapter point would,
if recognised, dissuade the bereaved from yielding to a
desolating sense of loss and separation. It would bring a
new and heartening aspect to the " dark shadow of
death," enabling us to see " the bright light which is in the
cloud." Yet not only as a means to comfort is this truth

90 What Our Friends in the Next Life Know

being given. To face the truth is right and wise whether
it brings comfort or suffering.

If we are causing a shadow to fall across the etherial
landscape it is well that we should be aware of this. And
if we know that heaven is brighter because some we love
see that all is right with us, then that too is well.

Know we not our dead are looking
Downward with a sad surprise,

All our strife of words rebuking
With their mild and loving eyes ?

Shall we grieve the holy angels ?

Shall we cloud their blessed skies ?

Whittier.

CHAPTER IX

FURTHER EVIDENCE THAT THE DEPARTED CAN KEEP IN
TOUCH WITH EARTH

The previous chapter showed that departed friends can
observe our thoughts. We are now to consider a class of
incident pointing to an extension of this faculty.

During a period when I was working at the Leysian
Mission, my father while controlling suddenly said :—

“ Rickett ... do you know such a name at the
Mission ? ”

As this name was pronounced almost exactly like that
of Mr. Ricketts, the chairman of the Mission Men's Club,
I replied that I knew the name. My father proceeded :—

“ Did you know that someone connected with his
family passed over quite recently ? ”

Now, on casting my mind back I found only one relevant
fact about Mr. Ricketts, namely, that I had visited an aunt
of his in hospital and that she had died. So I replied that
Ricketts had lost an aunt several years back. My father
then said:—

“ You met him at the Mission about three weeks ago.
I like him ; he is one who puts his whole heart into
his work. I should much like to know if they lost
someone quite recently, say within two years, but not
the aunt. I may have caught his subconscious
thought/'

Here was an experimenter who concluded that he had
obtained certain facts in a certain way, and who wished to
L.B.D. 91 0

92 Further Evidence that the Departed

learn how far he had been successful. I made a point of
interviewing Mr. Ricketts that evening and learnt from
him that his brother-in-law, who had resided with them
for the last twenty years and was greatly beloved by all
the family, had died exactly two years before and was still
greatly missed by them.

I here set down the above statements as given at the
sitting, together with the facts which verified them.

1. You met Mm there about three weeks ago. On referring
to my pocket-book I discovered that my last meeting with
Mr. Ricketts had been in the crush hall of the Mission
exactly three weeks and two days before the date of this
sitting.

2. He is one who puts his whole heart into his work . This
is so.

3. Someone lost recently , not the aunt , say within two years.
This is correct, and the date is right, the family loss having
been exactly twenty-four months before. It will naturally
be asked if I had not been aware of this bereavement.
I had not, and the reason chiefly lay in the fact that the
brother-in-law did not attend our Mission, but was engaged
in Christian work in another part of London ; moreover,
I had never been to Mr. Ricketts' home.

4. I may have caught his subconscious thought. When,
during the next sitting, I explained the accuracy of these
statements, my father said :—

“ I got the information from his subconscious self.
I have tried this before, as you may remember. When¬
ever I say that I got so-and-so from anyone, you may
take it that I get it in this way."

There had been previous instances of a similar kind in
which some of the statements made were within my know¬
ledge, while others were not.

Here I make a digression by adding remarks which my
father appended to the above.

“ You may wonder, what about private thoughts ?
If I can get this from your friend's subconscious mind.

Can Keep in Touch with Earth 93

are we able to keep anything to ourselves in our own
realms ? While in the body one has not control over
the subconscious mind, but when one lives in the
psychic body, as we do, it is possible to shut off the
mind completely from others, if one chooses/'

C.D.T.: But you have given me to understand that in
your spheres a man's aura indicates to others his
general character.

Father: Exactly, there are no hypocrites there; it is no
avail pretending to be what you are not. Yet, if
meeting anyone to whom we feel disinclined to speak,
that disinclination shows itself ; and the other person
would not then wish to speak until conditions were
ripe for it. We signal by thought, and, if one calls
us, it is easy to signal back our good wishes and to
say “ Engaged just now.” No one will simulate
pleasure at seeing one who interferes with his work.

G.D.T.: That is often done on earth ; it seems only polite,
and kindness almost demands it.

Father: Yes, for your subliminal mind cannot give the
true reason to them, and so you play down to the
conscious mind. There is a great deal in recognising
the limits of another's conscious mind on earth. But
where we live there is only truth; nothing can be
uttered or thought which is not true and good.

G.D.T.: Is that because no one would reach your particu¬
lar sphere while they could wish to play false ?

Father: Yes, exactly so. On the lower spheres they try
it, but even there it is seen through. One who arrives
there may not at first realise that his thought is
known, but he soon notices that his duplicity avails
him nothing, and he soon ceases to trouble to act in
that way. ^ While on earth that kind of thing often
procures him what he seeks, and so he may make
duplicity a habit. It is the worse for him if duplicity
is allowed to " pay him.” It would be far better were
he sharply pulled up when first he tried it, and made
to see that it availed him nothing. The sensitiveness
of good people often keeps them from doing this
service. I notice it in youths arriving over here; it

94 Further Evidence that the Departed

would have been better if the truth had been shown
them at first, so that they would have seen earlier that
falsehood avails nothing in the end. We must be
simple and truthful and leave the byeways alone.

To revert again to my father’s remark that he obtained
information from Ricketts’ subconscious mind; this
process is possibly analogous to that employed in psycho-
metry. Psychometry has been defined as 4 4 The faculty of
reading the characters, surroundings, etc., of persons by
holding in the hand objects which they have had in their
possession.” The fact is common enough and any who care
to experiment with those possessing this faculty can prove it
for themselves. Nothing is known of the process involved;
there are hypotheses, but as yet no knowledge. Without
attempting to explain anything, I suggest that if my father,
standing invisibly by my side while I converse with a
friend, obtains information from the subconscious mind ol
that person, it is permissible to conclude that the process
may be the same in essence as psychometry. In the latter
case our hand touches an object associated with some
person ; in the former case my father gets into touch with
the person concerned, dispensing with an intermediate
object. In short, if objects can be psychometrised, so can
persons. And just as a psychometrist will improve in
accuracy with practice, so has my father become increas¬
ingly successful in obtaining information from persons in my
vicinity. Needless to say, this faculty has on no occasion
been used improperly; no secrets have been revealed to me
which it was in the interest of anyone to keep private. I do
not say that my father could not obtain such information,
but I am confident that he would not do so; such action
would be as distasteful to him as to myself. But although
ugly secrets are not given away by our unseen observers,
they are noticed! Among the “ cloud of witnesses ” there
are those who can be pained or gladdened, according to the
nature of those thoughts which we deem hidden.

If our risen friends can read our thoughts, can they do
more, can they ascertain what other people are thinking
about us ? My father has occasionally named matters

Can Keep in Touch with Earth 95

which, as he said, had come to his cognisance while he was
near me. He appears to have somehow become aware of
thoughts relating to myself which had arisen in the minds
of others, and of which I knew nothing. My father's rather
quaint explanation is that he “ found them sticking in my
aura." Do such thoughts actually travel, possibly in some
way analagous to that by which broadcast speech reaches
our homes ? If this be so, it may be proved some day.
It would be an interesting discovery.

Now, since I had not, in any such instances, been per¬
sonally aware of the thoughts which my father had thus
observed with me, it will be asked, how then do you know
that there was substance of fact in your father's assertions ?
I only know that what he told me was in agreement with
what came to pass immediately afterwards. For example,
one day he said that I was about to receive an invitation to
speak in Liverpool. I had no reason to suppose this was
so, yet I received a letter from that place, written just
before the date of the sitting in which it was foretold.
On another occasion he said that I should have a letter
from my publisher; I had no reason whatever for expecting
one, but the letter arrived next day.

Now, I have frequently heard people, who made no
claim to psychic faculties, recount instances in which they
dreamt of having a letter from a certain person, and then
actually received it by the morning's post. Others tell me
that, on hearing the postman's knock, they have suddenly
thought of a friend from whom they had not heard for
many months, and among the letters delivered by that
postman was one from the friend in question. These
happenings seem too definite to be explained by chance
coincidence. The psychic fact which accounts for them,
whatever it may be, is probably similar to that which is in
play when my father reads thoughts which he finds in my
aura. Usually we are unconscious of thoughts directed to
us by others at a distance, and yet, as I consider proved by
experiments in telepathy, those thoughts reach us. The
analogy of wireless is suggestive; broadcasting causes
action in the ether around of which we are unconscious.
But when a suitable receiving instrument is brought intQ

96 Further Evidence that the Departed

the room, those unperceived etheric vibrations are inter-
preted for us. Similarly, as it seems, my father can
interpret a thought which is active in my vicinity

Subjoined is a dated series of references to this question.
It shows how, as time passed, my father and sister gained
further understanding of this subtle process which, as they
consider, enables them to ascertain ideas which have been,
so to speak, picked up by my subconscious mind, without
reaching my consciousness.

December , 1919. Through Feda.

“ Sometimes your father gets the thoughts which
are directed to you by people, even people unknown
to you, who may have heard you speak or read your
writings. When with you he can feel their thought
directed to you, and can tell if the sender be man or
woman, young or elderly.”

Feda, then, on her own account, suggested that to do
this my father must have gained an unusual proficiency,
and one not possessed by the majority of communicators.

January , 1920. Father controlling.

" When with you I often get thoughts which people
send out towards you. Those thoughts stick in your
aura and I read them from it.”

I suggested that this seemed to be psychometry.

“ Yes, for when those thoughts are in your aura,
I can become conscious of them and can disentangle
them.”

February , 1921. My father, speaking through Feda,
explained that it was difficult to be a transmitter and a
receiver at one and the same time. That if he wished to
impress my mind at home, or to communicate with me at
a sitting, he carefully refrained from “ getting into my
condition ” sufficiently to be aware of my thoughts, or of

Can Keep in Touch with Earth 97

thought which might be directed to me. He thus avoided
mental distractions.

October , 1924. It was explained, through Feda, that my
father had discovere 1 that he could now detect in my mind,
not only thoughts sent by others, but also ideas which I
had myself acquired without having been conscious of
them. Supposing I walked along a street and passed the
place for which I was bound without realising that I had
done so, this would be an instance of seeing without noticing
consciously; and that, similarly, my mind could sub¬
consciously notice ideas of which I was not consciously
aware. It was these subconsciously acquired ideas which
he was now able to interpret when finding them within me.
He added that should I miss some point in a speech to which
I was listening, he might be able to get that point from me
quite clearly.

February , 1925. Through Feda.

“ Many thoughts are sent to you daily, from friends
and from those who have heard you speak; during
the day many will at some time or other think of you.
Yet out of all those thoughts how very little reaches
your consciousness. I have occasionally succeeded in
picking up some definite thought which I found
directed to you, and of this I have sometimes given
proof. But I rather incline to think that this may be
owing to my having identified myself with your
activities over so long a period. When I come to you
I can sense some of those thoughts occasionally, if
not' often/'

March , 1925. At this period I had been thinking much
about a semi-physical emanation which was said to sensitise
the medium's brain, and in other ways facilitate a com¬
municator's intercourse with Feda. And I asked my
father, during his control, whether he considered that one's
aura, in a similar way, helped him to interpret thoughts
which had been sent towards one by other people. He
replied:—

98 Further Evidence that the Departed

“ Yes, your aura sensitises thoughts directed to you.
To use a photographic analogy, it is like a plate
sensitised to receive impressions and thoughts. You
may not notice those impressions because you do not
* develop ' them, although I may succeed in doing so/'

April, 1925. Feda said that my father now realised
that the thoughts from other people which he noticed in
my aura had often arrived some time before.

May , 1925. Etta controlling.

6 .D.T .: There have been instances of your catching a
thought which has been directed to me by a distant
person and of which I was entirely unconscious.
How do you do it? Father once described such
thoughts as “ sticking in my aura/* Can you explain
more explicitly ?

Etta: That phrase was not a good description. We
psychometrise the thoughts in your aura, just as a
medium can psychometrise a ring. You may notice
when a medium does that, the fact obtained is not
always an important one. It is a little like fishing;
say that I put my net into your aura, and, finding a
fish within it, bring up that fish ; for if there is one
fish in the net there may be others which I had not
noticed. We take the small fact since a larger fact
may be linked to it. We work by the law of associa¬
tion/'

O.D.T.; It seems curious that you should be able to
obtain ideas from my mind which I have not noticed
there.

Etta: Ideas need to be watched for. They may have
arrived like letters which remain unopened. If one
watches for the postman's coming it is less likely that
letters will be left unread.

These quotations will have served a purpose if they help
us to realise that there exists in thought a greater power
than is commonly supposed. We admittedly influence

Can Keep in Touch with Earth 99

each other by thought which we express in words, or which
we translate into action. We can easily notice how our
own thoughts, be they wise or unwise, influence our moods,
our outlook on life, and even health. But it may be
possible also that our unspoken thought reaches the
person to whom it is directed, and that it may help or
hinder him through the action of his subconscious mind,
although never revealed to his consciousness.

The following account indicates that my sister succeeded
in correctly interpreting a thought which had been directed
to my mother in Ramsgate by a friend at Harrogate, a
distance of two hundred miles.

At a sitting on December 22nd, 1922, Etta asked
whether mother had received a gift of a bag.

I replied that I would inquire. Feda then continued :—

“ Etta keeps getting an impression of a soft silk bag,
and feels that it is not all one colour. She has a very
strong impression that it was studded or dotted in
design, probably part of it so dotted. Etta likes to
give her mother evidence of what she sees, as well as
telling how much she is with her.*'

This seemed a sufficiently definite statement. A silk bag
of unique design has been, or is to be, given to my mother
as a present.

At the next sitting, January 5th, 1923 ,1 announced that
no such bag had appeared. Feda replied :—

“ Etta’s idea was that it would be a Christmas gift
to her mother. It may have been delayed. For she
still gets that idea, and feels that mother will have that
bag.”

This confidence should be noted. I next visited my
mother on February 4th, when she showed me a gift from
Mrs. Whitehead, a friend then visiting her. I noticed that
it was a silk bag which answered to the description given
by Etta before Christmas. Refraining from any mention
of this, I casually asked several questions which elicited the

ioo Further Evidence that the Departed

following information. Mrs. Whitehead had made the bag
at Harrogate during the previous November. She had at
first intended to give it at Christmas, but later decided to
keep it for mdther's birthday on January 27th.

I then told her of my sister's remarks and pointed out
how perfectly the present of this bag fulfilled the forecast
made on December 22nd.

Let us compare it with the description given above.

Soft silk bag . The bag is made of exceedingly soft silky
materials.

Not all one colour . The pocket of the bag is orange, its
outer cover is black.

Studded or dotted in design . The outer cover is a net¬
work of black cord in knotted design and very open.
This knotting of the cord makes an effect not inaptly
described by the words “ dotted or studded," the
dotted pattern being conspicuous upon the orange
background.

Probably part of it so dotted. The dotted portion is over
only part of the bag.

How shall we explain (a) the accurate description of
this bag at my sitting while it was two hundred miles away
at Harrogate? (b) The statement that the bag was
coming to my mother, and the assumption that it would
arrive for Christmas, when it had actually been intended
for a Christmas present? (c) My sister's impression on
January 5th that the bag would yet reach my mother;
Mrs. Whitehead having meantime decided to present it on
January 27th ?

Two years afterwards, when inquiring how certain
results were achieved by my communicators, it occurred to
me that I ought to ask how this forecast of the present had
been made possible. My question was put to Etta during
her controlling, and elicited the following reply :—

“I am not sure now, as it is long ago and I have
done so much since. But if it was done in our usual
way, the thought must have been picked up with
mother. Supposing the thought had reached mother,
it would be there in her aura, as father has told you

To face page 100

A work-bag of orange silk, the outer cover being black. It was
described as .—

“ A soft silk bag, not all one colour, studded or dotted in design
probably part of it so dotted ”

The remarkable circumstances connected with its mention at i

IOI

Can Keep in Touch with Earth

previously. I should fish it out, perhaps the day
following. Some people cannot retain a thought in
their aura for long, others can. We get things more
easily from some than from others.”

C.D.T .: Do you obtain the information from the aura by
sight, sound or sensing ?

Etta : By sensing the aura when coming close to it. It is
peculiar, but I know many on our side who cannot
understand what we mean by that. For when they
come to earth they are unable to sense things in that
way. I think father and I have trained ourselves to
interpret; there is a sense in which you might consider
us mediumistic.

If this explanation correctly represents what took place
when the coming of the silk bag was foretold, it would seem
that Etta had no need to follow up the stream of thought
and visit Harrogate. It was sufficient for her purpose to
visualise that which she sensed in her mother's vicinity
when, or immediately after, Mrs. Whitehead had been
strongly thinking of the gift.

It should be added that Mrs. Whitehead had never seen
Mrs. Leonard and had not mentioned this bag to my wife
or to any member of our family circle; also, that we had
not seen her for a year.

The foregoing instances have dealt with thoughts. The
two following refer to those unseen presences which may
often be with us while we are unconscious of their nearness.

It was once inquired, through Feda :—

“Have you been talking to some Americans?
Your father was interested because he saw a very
beautiful spirit with them. He did not know if she
were a relation, or a guide, but she was like an angel-
girl hovering about, very happy and bright. There
was also an older spirit-lady with her, and he gathered
that they had both passed fairly recently.”

Now, the only Americans with whom I had spoken for a
year or more were a man and his wife whom I had

102 Further Evidence that the Departed

accidentally met at the house of a friend. He had been
introduced to them at a dinner the previous evening and
asked them to call. He knew their name, but little more,
not even their home address. Fortunately I gave them
my card, and the next Christmas brought their season's
greeting. This enabled me to send the above extract.
The following was the reply: “ What you write is most
interesting; for every time I have been to a medium the
beautiful young spirit spoken of by your father is always
with me. My mother, whom I adored and do still, left me
two years ago.”

Another incident, similar in character, happened after
a visit to Manchester. While there I spent an hour at
the house of a psychic student. At the next sitting my
father, speaking through Feda, referred to several things
I had done while in Manchester, but the remarks which
most interested me were those touching on matters of
which I had no knowledge. Some of these related to the
above mentioned call; he said :—

" There was a spirit-boy with them in that house,
one whom I had not previously seen, a nice lad who
seemed very much at home there. I gathered that he
belonged to them. Do you know who Tom would be,
someone connected with them ? I kept feeling that
name while there.”

I break off here to say that on sending a copy of the
above I received a reply of which the following is part:
“ I have no hesitation in saying that I know exactly who is
referred to. Tom was an adopted brother of mine and was
brought up with me in my home. Before my marriage
Tom went to lodge with my mother-in-law; therefore he
was also closely connected with my wife and mother-in-law
through living in their house for two years. The descrip¬
tion, " a nice lad,” fits him exactly. He died of con¬
sumption at the age of twenty-four, and we con¬
tinually, and almost weekly, receive communications from
him.”

The sitting continued:—

Can Keep in Touch with Earth 103

“ I had a peculiar feeling, while there with you,
that those people had been worried, troubled, very
recently, over something of quite a material nature,
and that they had been undecided about it. I thought
it was not altogether settled when you were there, but
I did not hear them allude to it, so it may be some
private matter. I am sure I am right about it, and
that this was not an ordinary thing, but something
which had much occupied their minds/'

I quote again from the above letter : “ This is perfectly
true . . . legal complications did cause us anxiety. It is
also true that the matter was not settled at the time you
were with us, but it has since been satisfactorily settled."
The letter gave further particulars of the law case involving
a branch of the family residing at a distance from Man¬
chester.

Of ten statements relating to this house, five were within
my knowledge at the time of the sitting, the other five
were totally unknown. All ten were correct in every
particular.

From time to time my friends give evidence that they
possess information obtained, not from minds on earth,
but from those with whom they converse in the realms
beyond death.

I select as examples the three following.

Feda, while transmitting for my father, asked :—

“ Who is Salisbury ? Do you remember one with
a name like that ? He has passed over and your
father has seen him on the other side. This Salisbury
asked to be remembered to your mother when he
heard that your father communicated. Your father
says that this Salisbury didn't believe in communica¬
tion, and thinks it next to impossible, even now he is
there. So your father promised to name him at this
sitting. Was Salisbury very fond of books and
papers ? Your father says he showed some old
magazines, or something of that kind."

104 Further Evidence that the Departed

I was aware that a gentleman of this name had recently
died, and that my mother had known him slightly. But
as I did not know any of the family it seemed unlikely that
I should be able to verify the clue that he had been fond of
books and papers, or that old magazines had any relevancy.
Indeed, these clues seemed surprisingly trivial, and almost
too general in character to have evidential value. It so
happened that two months later I had the opportunity of
attending a lecture at the house of Mr. Salisbury's son.
Before leaving I alluded to the deceased and remarked that
I had heard of his interest in some kind of book-collecting.
Mr. Salisbury replied, “Yes, my father was a collector of
magazines " ; and leading me to a bookcase containing a
number of substantial volumes in identical bindings, he
explained that these consisted of sermons and magazines 4
which his father had collected and bound together. Here
was unexpected corroboration of the remark made at my
sitting that Mr. Salisbury had been “ very fond of books
and papers—old magazines or something of that kind."

A man who had recently lost his wife and was in deep
sorrow, accompanied me to a sitting with Mrs. Leonard.
He received evidences of her identity, as well as of con¬
tinued love and interest. During the next sitting, at
which I was alone, Feda transmitted the following
message:—

“ Your father says he has seen the young lady who
came here last time. She told him that, quite lately,
there had been a sort of medallion found ; it is a little
oval picture, not for a wall, but an ornament. It has
a little studded frame of fine workmanship. She
thinks the sitter of last time will know, because she
liked it, and used to handle it much. It is quite small,
but not quite flat, the surface is a little convex."

When a copy of the above reached my friend he promptly
replied that his wife's mother recognised this description,
having unpacked the article, after changing residence,
only a few days before. It had been one of the ornaments in
his wife's home before her marriage, and had stood in her

To face page 103 .

This photograph-stand of coloured mosaic was in a house I had not
entered, and in the possession of a lady whom I did not know. Her son-
in-law anonymously shared one of my sittings with Mrs. Leonard, and on
a subsequent occasion, when he was not present, it was described as
follows :—

“ Your father says he has seen the young lady who came here lasc
time She told him that, quite recently, there had been a sort of medallion
found; it is a little oval picture, not for a wall, but an ornament It
has a little studded frame of fine workmanship She thinks the sitter of
last time will know, because she liked it, and used to handle it much. It
is quite small, but not quite flat, the surface is a little convex."

The one discrepancy relates to the words, " the surface is a little
convex." I should not have described it so, although the mosaic flowers
project.

The incident was pregnant with significance for both the lady and
her son-in-law. The latter is shown in the photograph with his wife
who, shortly after her passing, originated this message.

For the full account, see page 104.

Can Keep in Touch with Earth 105

.mother’s priyate room. He added that, although it was
just possibly that he might have seen it some years pre-
\uously, he had no recollection of having done so. He
called a few days later, bringing the article. The frame is of
fine mosaic work. Its size is 3! by inches. The one
discrepancy relates to the words, “ not quite flat, the
surface is a little convex." I should not have described
it in that way, although the mosaic flowers are in high
relief.

At the time of receiving the letter, my friend had not
heard of the finding of this object, and doubts if he had
ever known of its existence. I had not met his wife or her
mother, nor had I been to their homes.

My friend’s wife had been familiar with the ornament
throughout her girlhood. Was it not natural that, when
noticing it in her mother's new house, she should arrange
with my father to speak of it, thus giving her husband a
further evidence of her identity and nearness ?

I close this chapter with an account of one who, from
thelife beyond, observed the peril of his widow and inter¬
vened. It illustrates again that those who depart this
life can still keep in close touch with those they leave
behind.

During a sitting some years ago my father said, through
Feda, that he had promised to convey a request from one
who was a stranger to me, but whom he had met in the
other world, a delightful and clever man, who was extremely
anxious about his wife on earth. She had been left with
their infant son and was in deep depression. He had
spoken with her at a sitting and it had comforted her,
but he noticed that she had recently yielded to depression
and he had, reason to believe that she now entertained the idea
of killing both the child and herself He was therefore most
anxious that someone should intervene to prevent that
calamity.

After this introduction, which I have abbreviated, my
father proceeded:—

“Many people know me and my work with you
here. He asked me whether you could see and talk

Further Evidence

106

with her without telling her that he knows she had
thought of doing this. He would not wish the idea
suggested to her again if it has really gone. But she
has, he fears, only temporarily recovered and was in
despair a little time back, and had the wild idea that
both she and the child would be better off in passing
to the next life. We wish to avoid that rash act at
all costs ; for it would not bring her nearer her husband.
Suicide is bad enough, but coupled with the destruction
of another life it is very bad. Her husband thinks she
can manage her affairs if she could find someone who
would give her hope and befriend her a little/'

More was said, from which I gathered that the thought
of suicide had been noticed in the widow's mind only three
days previously. My sister added that they were very
anxious about her, and that while at first the husband had
some diffidence in asking them to tell me what he had
seen in his wife's mind, he felt that a minister might be
trusted to act with the needed discretion. I asked Feda
if she remembered whether the lady had named this
terrible idea during her recent sitting. Feda said that
nothing of the kind had been hinted, and that the lady had
left seemingly cheered, although troubled about her future
plans.

I discovered the widow's address with some difficulty
and then my wife and I made her acquaintance. The
special reason for the husband's anxiety was never named
by us, but when we had known her for some weeks and she
told us the story of her sorrow, she incidentally remarked
that, at one time, she had wondered if it might not be the
best thing “ to turn the gas on herself and the boy."
This was some years back, and she has faced life bravely
ever since.

CHAPTER X

THE SPIRITUAL BODY

No sooner had my father commenced to communicate with
me than I realised from his remarks that he wished me to
understand that he now lived in a body which, to him,
seemed as real and as substantial as the body he had
inhabited while on earth. Instead of the vapourish form
which I had imagined to be the dwelling place of the
departed soul, he described a replica of his former body,
but one which possessed powers of movement, and an
extension of the senses, far surpassing anything familiar to
earth. He spoke of being suitably clad in garments, and
not, as I had supposed, draped only in a cloud of light.

In these records the new body is variously termed the
“ spiritual,” the “ ethereal,” or the " etheric ” body.

This spiritual body is described as being so sensitive to
the condition of the soul within, and partaking of its
nature and development so completely, that it manifests
unmistakably one's true character.

My first sittings were some fourteen years after my
father's passing. In one of these he remarked :—

“ All bodily weakness was left behind at my passing.
I am now hale and hearty, looking a young man in the
prime of life. Were you to see me as I really am, it
is possible that you might not recognise me. My
appearance is more like the early photograph which
shows me without a beard, but with rather prominent
whiskers. Have you that photograph ? ”

I was able at once to recognise the photograph in
question. It was then in my mother's house at Bourne¬
mouth. It is of cabinet size and framed. It dates from
L.B.D. 107 H

108 The Spiritual Body

the time when I was very young and has been familiar to
me all my life. The significance of the change between my
father's appearance in old age and that described above is
seen by comparing the photograph in question with one
taken shortly before he passed.

Some months later, he remarked :—

“ I look many years younger than when I passed
over. When your mother joins me she, too, will
gradually change to youthful perfection again. For
when the ethereal body is freed from the flesh it tends
to revert automatically to its prime. After our
family circle is completed we shall all progress towards
perfection of outward form, so that I shall become even
more youthful than now.

“ It is usual for friends who welcome us here to
assume something of that appearance which was theirs
on leaving earth. Just as members of one family
gradually advance in age without their noticing any
sudden change in each other, so do they here grow
steadily younger in appearance until all attain the
look of youthful perfection.

" Your mother has not looked any older to me
since I left; for I see her spiritual body which looks
even younger than she appeared at the time I passed
over. You see only the covering; but I see her as
she is."

CLD.T .: If the etheric body of an aged person looks to you
younger than does the physical body to us, how
would the etheric body of a growing youth appear ?
Would it seem younger or older than his physical
body ?

Father: The etheric body of a growing youth would look
young; it is progressing and would be seen as im¬
mature. But in a person past the prime of life the
etheric body always looks younger than its physical
counterpart. It cannot follow downward steps. In
the case of a boy who was mentally advanced, his
etheric body would be in agreement with his mental,
rather than with his merely physical growth.

The Spiritual Body 109

C.D.T.: Are you never weary ?

Father: Never; force is generated in my body which
quickly revitalises any part that may require it.
Yet sometimes, knowing that it is good to have a
change, I lie down. But this is more for meditation
than for rest. It is the only kind of rest we need.
On earth you require sleep, but for us a soulful
meditation brings rest.

O.D.T.: I wish to ask about the body in which we live after
physical death; does that body already exist here,
interpenetrating the physical body ?

Father: Yes, the etheric or " spiritual body ” is with you
now, the entire bulk of it, but it is not so alive or
conscious as is your physical body. When the latter
sleeps your consciousness passes automatically into
the former. The etheric body is never unconscious.
It has a separate consciousness when freed from the
physical body, and shares the consciousness of the
latter when within it. Those who can see clair-
voyantly, and remember what they see, must have a
partial or momentary division of consciousness; but
the etheric body sees only partly and in glimpses
during earth life. It is the etheric body which sees
clairvoyantly. Should a person suffer harm by this
clairvoyance it would be through straining and over¬
doing it, ejecting consciousness too often from its
proper sphere. While on earth, the physical is its
sphere; for men are placed on earth to concentrate
upon a physical environment.

Father: When the body is discarded you have a " spiritual
body/' that is to say, one which is more akin to
the Divine Spirit, more sensitive to His operation.
But if He has not been permitted to manifest Himself
through the earthly body, the etheric body will be
unsuitable for His manifestation, the latter being
dominated for some time after death by the habits of
its physical body. That which is done in the earthly
body modifies, for better or for worse, the etheric body.
The penalty of an ill life consists in certain qualities

HO The Spiritual Body

of the etheric body which limit and hinder when a man
passes over.

One can speak in this way of the etheric body as
something by itself. But it must be realised that
one’s soul and its etheric body are inseparable. Just
as you manifest on earth by means of, and through,
the physical body, so do you, on passing over, manifest
in and through the etheric or spiritual body. The
habits of the soul are perpetuated and made manifest
in its essential body ; that body which, during life on
earth, was being modified and stamped by the actions
and quality of the soul.

G.DS.: Is the spiritual body which you see with us
indicative to you of our actual character, not the
mood of the moment, but the actual character which
we have formed within ourselves ?

Father : The spiritual body indicates character to us more
than the outer body could do either to you or to us.
The physical can wear a mask, the spiritual cannot do
so. The outer body may show a fair face and pleasing
expression, but should that person’s mind and char¬
acter be evil, the spiritual form would show it; the
face of the latter would not be so pleasant as the face
you looked upon.

Spirit itself cannot be evil or ugly ; but the soul of
man, which is developed by the combination of spirit
and body, 1 reveals its true nature by the appearance
of its etheric body. There can be no deception. We
can always tell from our side. We may seem to make
mistakes over some matters, especially when we try
to see and describe earthly things, but we are never
wrong in matters of character. Few people have a
spiritual body which is entirely ugly. The mood of
the moment has some effect on its appearance, but an
evil man cannot entirely change the look of his
spiritual body in a good moment. There might be
some improvement, but not a complete change, and
no momentary improvement could deceive us.

sFor t e aching given upon the relation existing between soul and spirit, see Chap. rrix.

The Spiritual Body 111

We now proceed to my sister's remarks on this subject.

G.D.T.: When you passed over and met those whom you
had formerly known, did they look much the same as
when on earth ?

Etta : I think I may say “ Yes ” to that question. Only
they look younger and healthier, and also so much
happier, and happiness changes people greatly, giving
them more colour and expression. One notices more
difference in some than in others, especially in those
whose faces used to be gloomy.

At a sitting held shortly after her passing I asked ;—

C .D.T.: What is your present body like ?

Etta: It looks just as I did when much younger, say
shortly after my marriage. 1 But I am always well
now, and never feel tired. I even choose to dress
much as I did while on earth. I shall not change
very much until you and the others have come over.
Then, gradually, we shall all change. Perhaps you will
understand my meaning if I say that people usually
make that gradual change in groups.

G.D.T.: Have our grandparents changed much ?

Etta: They have changed considerably. But when meet¬
ing those who would expect to see them as they used
to be they would approximate to that former appear¬
ance. Our appearance is now far more amenable to
our will than it was on earth.

Etta: Recuperating forces constantly replenish our bodies,
but we need neither food nor drink, although our
bodies look and seem the same as yours. You take
food because it is what your organism needs, ours does
not depend upon such sustenance as you consume*
We breathe in our nourishment,

C.D.T.; Do you not require sleep ?

Etta; No, our rest is not as yours, because there is no
unconsciousness. We certainly rest at times, but

i EJtta passed over at the age of forty-six.

112 The Spiritual Body

retain consciousness, not perhaps acutely so, but a
partial or peaceful consciousness.

C.D.T.: And you have no difficulty in recognising each
other there ?

Etta: I recognised father and he recognised me. You
might suppose that, in the case of a mother who had
lost a baby boy long years ago, she would feel dis¬
appointed at meeting a full-grown man when she
arrived on our side. But, speaking generally, she does
not feel so, because her soul will have kept in touch
with his gradual change of form through meeting him
while her body was sleeping. 1

Etta: In contrast to my weakness during the last few
years on earth it is a relief to be freed from questioning
whether I shall be fit for such and such a duty. To
have a strong body once more is just splendid.

C.D.T .; What exactly is your body now ? (The date of
this sitting was five years after her passing).

Etta: It is rather difficult to say. Could you say just
what your body is ? I term mine an etheric body,
but it is one that I can see and feel. It is composed of
chemical matter of some kind, but of a different kind
from yours ; for your body will dissolve and evaporate.
Our bodies are lighter than yours, and so is our
atmosphere. But we are visible in our atmosphere,
as you are visible in your atmosphere. You do not
see me because my body is suited to my atmosphere,
but not to yours. I have not altered in features nor
in form; my hands, for example, look the same to me
as when on earth. But my body is now entirely under
the control of my will. Yours is not. You could not
sit down and will away your pain. When, however,
you come to us, during the sleep of your earthly body,
you come in a body which is akin to ours and which is
suitable to our atmosphere. I feel sure that these
meetings with us help you, although you do not
remember them.

i For explanation, see Chap, xxx.

CHAPTER XI

THE EVIDENCE OF BOOK TESTS

“ On returning home, go to the room where book¬
shelves stand opposite the window; from the top
shelf on the right take the fourth book from the left.
Open this at page 33 and find, rather more than
half-way down, a distinct reference to something
which your father ardently supported in his later
years.”

Such a message as the above, if received during a sitting,
would be a book test. The message is presented in a form
which we have to make intelligible by discovering the
missing portion—namely, certain words in a book which
some invisible intelligence has selected as being suitable
for his purpose. Until finding these words the message
remains a puzzle ; for we cannot with any certainty guess
which of our father's interests may be the one intended.
And not only is the subject matter unknown, but we
cannot recollect which book stands in the place described.
Still less are we able to recall the topic dealt with on its
thirty-third page.

If, on reading “ rather more than half-way down ” the
designated page, we find a reference to some enterprise
which we remember that our father ardently supported in
his later years, then the experiment will have been success¬
ful. Such a success could not be attributed to leakage
from one's own mind, and no fanciful stretching of “ tele¬
pathy ” helps towards an explanation. The selected
passage has been correctly matched with a remembered
fact. Who did this matching? Our communicators say
that it is their doing. A careful study of hundreds of these
tests has convinced me that this is the explanation.

A few highly endowed sensitives are reported to have
succeeded in reading words contained in sealed envelopes,

113

114 The Evidence of Book Tests

or a paragraph from a book unopened. But they require
either to touch the object, or to be in close proximity with
it. The wide difference between this feat and our book
test experiment will be obvious. But I think that this
acute sensitiveness, evidenced by a few gifted persons,
affords a hint of the methods used by our invisible friends
when arranging evidential tests for our instruction. I
revert to this at the close of the present chapter.

My father remarked that he had been anxious about his
earlier book tests, well knowing that, if they succeeded,
this new evidence would remove from my mind any
possible questioning as to the reality of his communications.
They certainly served their purpose. The successes were
sufficient, both in quality and in number, to prove his
ability to scrutinise my books and to ascertain the con¬
tents of specified pages. Thought-transference from my
own mind was ruled out; for he frequently selected from
books which I had never read, and from pages which were
uncut.

On one occasion, while Feda was transmitting a de¬
scription of the book to be experimented with, I was able
to recognise it as a volume given me two days before and
which I had left unexamined and unopened on my study
table. To return home, therefore, and discover by verifying
the several test items, that my informant knew more about
this book than I did, was a clean-cut and impressive
experience. It was not reasonable to suppose collusion
between the medium and the friend who gave me
the book; neither of them have been inside our house,
and it is certain that they could not possibly have known
where I had placed the book. Yet its precise whereabouts
in my study was described.

These tests were often selected from rooms which I had
never entered. One such was in the house of an acquain¬
tance living at a distance. I wrote explaining matters, and
gave the description of the room, the particular shelf, the
position occupied by the book upon that shelf, and the
number of the page. The test message stated that on
this page would be found a few words aptly describing
the purpose for which my father was working with me % On

The Evidence of Book Tests x 15

receiving a reply I learnt that the page in question con¬
tained the words. To give light to them that sit in darkness
and in the shadow of death . Few sentences could more
effectively summarise the purport of my father's remarks
at this period about his object in working with me. For
he often emphasised the need of evidence, sufficient in
quality and quantity, to ensure that his speaking with me
and his account of experiences in the life beyond, would be
recognised as something more than fanciful imaginings.
He believed that a conviction of the reality of such com¬
munications as his would, for many people, dissipate un¬
certainty about a future life; and that, for others, an
acquaintance with his after-death experiences might
remove, or at least greatly lessen, the fear of death.

When he deemed that I had sufficient material for a
book, he supplemented his suggestion that I should publish,
by weaving into his tests an occasional reference to this
project. Our book was subsequently published by Messrs*
Collins Sons & Co., under the title. Some New Evidence
for Human Survival . It is almost entirely devoted to
evidence and treats at considerable length on book tests,
numerous examples of which are to be found in its pages,
together with a discussion of their significance.

It will naturally be asked whether chance might not
sufficiently account for the appropriateness of a passage
such as the above ? It might. One occasionally comes
accidentally upon apposite lines which would constitute
an excellent verification of some book test message pre¬
viously received. The question at issue is, however,
whether chance can achieve a series of good results, or only
an isolated success now and again ? This question has
been decided by careful experiment. As explained in my
former book, I explored the possibilities of alighting on
appropriate passages at hazard, and it became manifest
that chance coincidence, however brilliant its occasional
product, could not produce anything comparable with the
series of successes which my communicator regularly
achieved.

But while one may thus arrive at personal conviction,
it is more difficult to convey the assurance to those who

x 16 The Evidence of Book Tests

have not shared in the experiment. It will therefore be
appropriate to refer to an inquiry by the Society for
Psychical Research into this question of chance in book
tests. The full account is contained in the S.P.P. Pro¬
ceedings for March, 1923. The following is a summary:

Sixty persons took part in a search for fictitious book
tests. Each of these examined ten of his own books for
three separate tests. The number of the pages to be
searched were decided by those supervising the experi¬
ment ; and the topics chosen by them were so devised as
to bring this experiment, as far as possible, into line with
the book tests obtained by a group of Mrs. Leonard's
sitters. No fewer than 1800 pages were thus examined,
every facility being given to ensure that chance should
produce its best results. The findings were afterwards
compared with 532 book tests received by the group of
Leonard sitters and which had been examined by Mrs.
Henry Sidgwick, whose Report thereon is embodied in a
Paper (Proc. S.P.P. Vol. XXXI). It was found that the
Fictitious Tests scored 4.72 per cent, successes, while the
Leonard successes attained 36 per cent.

But this difference is further emphasised in favour of
the Leonard tests by noticing the high degree of success
achieved by the more skilful of the communicators. The
following table shows the percentage of success obtained
(a) in the three Fictitious Experimental Tests, (b) in the
tests given by the three most successful Leonard com¬
municators, whom we will call X , Y, and Z.

No. of
results
examined.

Complete

successes.

Complete
and partial
successes.

Complete,
partial and
slight
successes.

Experimental tests
Leonard tests. 34

1800

1.89

4.72

7.67

communicators

532

17.2

36

54.1

Communicator X

283

i 5-5

37-9

56.1

„ Y

64

20.3

47.0

70.0

-z

22

63.6

68.2

77.2

The Evidence of Book Tests 117

The S.P.R. account concludes with the following
lines:—

“ The total number of results examined by Mrs. Sidg-
wick, 532, is not far short of the number of results examined
in regard to each of the three experimental tests, 600, and
the percentages given in the table above show that even if
we include in our reckoning a considerable number of
comparatively unsuccessful communicators, the percentage
of success is much higher in the Leonard tests than in the,
chance experiments.”

It will be seen by glancing at the above results obtained
by the 34 Leonard sitters that some of their communicators
were more successful than others. Now, if chance were
the only factor, a change of communicator should make no
difference in the result. But there were conspicuous
differences. Some communicators brought off a large
proportion of successes, while others failed to do so. This
difference accords with the repeated assertions of my
father that book tests necessitate a certain degree of
clairvoyance for physical objects; and that it requires
time and practice to develop such clairvoyance sufficiently
to ensure the minute accuracy demanded by these tests.
He tells me that some who attempted them had experienced
difficulty in even perceiving the printed page, while others
had acquired a facility for the task. We have seen that
chance coincidence obtained only 1.89 per cent, of complete
successes, while the most gifted of the communicators has
63.6 per cent to his credit. From this it may be certainly
inferred that book tests are not to be explained by chance.

The following example presents special features. It
relates to a Mrs. Drummond (pseudonym), who sent an
account of it to the Society for Psychical Research (See
S.P.R. Jour ., Nov., 1922, p. 376).

On December 9th, 1921, Feda transmitted a book test
from my father which I was to verify in my study:—

“Top shelf by window, 6th book from left, and
page 19."

118 The Evidence of Book Tests

Feda then continued :—

“ Page 3 of the same book interests Ian’s father;
it has a link with his earth life, both general and almost
in a personal sense.”

Knowing that Mrs. Drummond’s son Ian, and her
husband Mr, Arthur (both deceased), frequently gave tests
through Mrs. Leonard, I sent the above message, together
with a copy of page three from the book in question, which
was entitled Via Cruets. Mrs. Drummond replied, saying
that, on finding nothing relevant in my copy of page three,
she had, in her own home, asked her communicators if they
could explain the error. Clairaudiently she heard the
reply, “ Yes, page eight.” She adds, “ I am afraid I
doubted the answer. I therefore took my table and asked
them to give me the number of the page in tilts. Eight
tilts were given. But then I thought the number was in
my mind and that I had unconsciously stopped the table.
I asked several times afterwards, and was always told that
page eight was correct.”

On receipt of this letter I copied out and posted page
eight; but before it arrived Mrs. Drummond left home for
London, and while there had a sitting with Mrs. Leonard.
During this sitting her communicators spoke as follows:—

Mr. Arthur: Perhaps you can remember that there was
one pursuit of Ian's that I had been rather proficient
at when I was young, but had dropped in later life.
Feda: He had not done it since he was very young, not
done much, but known to be good. It was something
Ian thought he had shone in. Mr. Arthur had done
it, but was not able to go on, when he was a young
man. They would like you to remember after. If

Mr. Arthur had kept on-”

Ian (breaking in): Perhaps he would have been better
than I was. He might have been, but he didn’t keep
on.

Mrs. Drummond comments thus on the above: “ I was

The Evidence of Book Tests 119

rather surprised at this mention of boxing, as they had
already mentioned it at other sittings . . . My husband,
when he was at college, and perhaps just before he went,
took up boxing and was considered very good, but had to
give it up as he couldn't afford the time. Feda’s remarks
don't apply to shooting, fishing, golf, tennis, or anything
else he did. Ian, our son,'was a very fine boxer, and won
the Public Schools Boxing Cup after only a few months
training. When he went to New College, Oxford, he was
made captain of the Boxing Club and won everything he
went up for, except once, and he certainly * shone.' That
wouldn't apply to any other pursuit, though he was quite
good at most games."

Now, on returning home, Mrs. Drummond found my
letter awaiting her, and on reading page eight, which I
had copied from Via Cruets , found the following lines :—

THE SPIRITUAL ATHLETE

Part 2. The Conflict

Now turn we to another sport
Fraught with grave truths of like import.

Where the well-practised pugilist
Copes with a meet antagonist,

And labours with adroitest art
To wound some vulnerable part.

This quotation, so entirely appropriate, was the more
satisfactory since she had never seen Via Gruels, nor was
there a copy of that book in her house.

If it be suggested that it was easy to guess that the
figure eight had been mistaken for the figure three, which
had proved wrong, I accept the suggestion; for Feda
apparently visualises the numbers given by communicators,
and sometimes coyifuses a three with an eight. Yet, it
remains to be explained how so suitable a quotation was
discovered, and how it came to be associated with an
obvious reference to boxing when Mrs. Drummond desired

120

The Evidence of Book Tests

the further clue. What is the alternative hypothesis ?
What power had the medium to explore my books, tilt
Mrs. Drummond's table in a house fifty miles away, recall
old memories of Mr. Arthur and Ian, and so intelligently
act the several parts of the persons claiming to share in
this experiment ?

All happened as if these actual persons had selected an
apposite reference to boxing from my book-shelves, and had
asked my father to request me to forward it to Mrs.
Drummond. That they then succeeded in using Mrs.
Drummond's power of obtaining messages when alone by
means of table tilting, and in this way corrected an error
in the initial transmission of the page number. That they
further ensured ultimate success by a distinct reference to
boxing during Mrs. Drummond's next Leonard sitting.

We seem to see in this incident a co-operation between
her communicators and my father; and this is in harmony
with their previous assertions that they had met in the
Beyond. The incident supplies a further addition to the
impressive array of proof establishing the identity of our
respective communicators, all three of whom invariably
take their natural parts in relation to Mrs. Drummond and
myself.

As to the method used for discovering these tests it
seems to be that of sensing, with an occasional achievement
of clairvoyance. Clairvoyant inspection of books, page by
page, is said to be dependent on the presence of what my
communicators term “ the power," an emanation which
renders physical objects easily visible to them. But this
emanation is rarely present in sufficient amount for the
purpose, save in the vicinity of a mediumistic person.^

The method chiefly relied upon for book tests is said to
be that of sensing, a species of mental perception which
reveals only the ideas, and not the printed words, by which
they are expressed to us.

One of my sister's book tests related to a rather trifling
matter, and yet, as I pointed out at the next sitting, could
easily have been linked with something much more cogent
which was contained in an adjoining line. Her reply was
interesting as a description of the sensing method.

The Evidence of Book Tests ill

Etta: What you suggest would have been better, but in
obtaining these tests we have to wait for associations
to strike us. It is something like waiting for a note
which will harmonise with a chord in my mind. Say
there are three or four notes in the chord, and I wait
for some single note which will harmonise with it.
Often it is not a dominant note which strikes me;
although a true one, it is not what I would have chosen.

C.D.T.: You are describing how ideas come to you while
selecting these tests ?

Etta: Yes ; supposing I were to think of a certain time in
my life, say a birthday, and wished to connect it with
a book test. I would recall events which happened at
the time, let us suppose them to be the following:
(a) You sprained your wrist, (b) Mother had a
headache, (c) A fortune was left me. id) Father
lost a key about which there was some fuss. Say
that these were my outstanding memories of the day
in question.

To obtain tests I stand near your books, or pass
along by them. For a while I feel nothing. Presently,
however, I feel something which I can only term a
response. Now, that response does not indicate to me
anything in particular, but, as in the old game, one
feels “ getting warmer/' It is something like be¬
ginning to recognise scenery which is leading towards
a familiar path; one is not quite sure of having seen
that tree or that house previously, yet a general im¬
pression of familiarity dawns, and so one follows the
road till it leads to recognisable objects nearer the
goal. Now, after waiting a while, I might get an idea
of a key, or of locking or undoing. I should realise
that this had a bearing on my quest, since father once
lost a key on my birthday, and this incident would
certainly be remembered by you.

I should realise that it was unfortunate that I could
not find anything apposite to the fortune; because it
is natural to object, " Fancy saying nothing about the
fortune, yet mentioning such a trifle as the loss of a
key/' But since the idea of a key came first, I should

122

The Evidence of Book Tests

proceed to ascertain which book and page contained
this key reference. I would retain in mind the idea
of the fortune, and, continuing the search, might
possibly find a reference appropriate to that; for,
somehow, the getting of one item helps in getting
others.

The position is that I have to get something that
harmonises with my chord ; I must somehow get one
idea, but cannot ensure its being the most desirable
one.

It is this association of ideas which gives us a clue
to much of the information which we gather when
composing book tests.

Since writing this chapter I received the following while
sitting with another trance sensitive. It is characteristic
of my father to mention book tests when speaking with me
through a new channel.

The book was indicated in the usual way by reference
to room, position of shelf, and number of book in shelf.
I was asked to look at page fifty-six, where would be found
the name Mary, chosen because there was a Mary in
spirit life related to me.

I could not remember what volume stood in the place
described. It proved to be my paternal grandfather’s
translation of Dante’s Purgatorio . My father’s sister, Mary,
passed long since; the name appears on page fifty-six, in
the sentence, A Latin hymn to the Virgin Mary .

I spent some time scanning other pages for reference to
this name, but failed to find it repeated. It was natural
that my father should choose for experiment a book which
had been in his library and which he greatly valued. The
test was prefaced by the remark that a name inscribed at
the commencement of this book was dear to me; this is,
of course, the name of the translator, my grandfather,
Thomas.

I was next told that on page sixty-two would be found
five lines applicable to my inspirational writing.

This experimental writing had been frequently named in
my Leonard sittings some years back, during the time

The Evidence of Book Tests 123

when I practised it, my father claiming to have influenced
my mind and impressed me with his thoughts. On page
sixty-two there are the following five lines placed by
themselves, a quotation from Milton. I italicise the
specially relevant words.

"." For now

My earthly by Ms heavenly overpowered ,

In that celestial colloquy sublime.

As with an object that excels the sense.

Dazzled and spent, sunk down, and sought repair/’

The test continued:—

“ On that same page, the fourth line from the top
will serve to denote the value of our work with you.”

The line indicated reads: Two angels from above did I
survey . Taking the word angel in its original meaning of
messenger, this line is most appropriate to my two com¬
municators, father and sister.

The tests now turned in another direction, thus :—

ff There is something on your desk which belonged
to your father.”

I keep his ruler in the centre of my roll-top desk.

" There is a desk in your house which belonged to
him.”

In our box room is a small writing desk of my father’s.

“ You have a watch which belonged to him.”

I always wear my father’s watch. It was mentioned in
his earliest messages, through Mr. Vout Peters, in 1917.

” You have a portrait of John as a young man with
high open collar.”

L.B.D.

I

124 The Evidence of Book Tests

My father’s name, John, is here casually introduced.
This portrait had been named in the 1917 sittings, but the
item “ high open collar ” is now given for the first time.
The photograph represents my father in his early ministry,
with high turned-down coat collar and white tie.

This medium has not been to our house, and the picture
referred to is in a room where no visitor would see it.

CHAPTER XII

A REAL WORLD

Statements about the next world made by those who live
there are refreshingly definite and dear. To them it is as
solidly real as is this world to us. It varies greatly in its
different regions. In this it is like our own planet. De¬
scriptions of scenery and social life differ according to the
position and opportunites for observation of those making
the report. This applies equally to explorers from tropical
Africa, or revenants from celestial regions. Those of the
latter who most frequently speak with me say that their
abode is neither the lowest nor the most exalted of the
regions forming the next world. Failing exact nomen¬
clature, they have formed the habit of terming it, “ The
Third Sphere." Of these spheres there are said to be
several surrounding our earth at great distances and
forming a series of globes. The nearest is far outside the
earth, but surrounding it; the furthest surrounds all the
others. All of them rotate with the earth. Each of these
globes has a surface of considerable thickness, and although
invisible to the human eye, each appears to those dwelling
on it to be firm and substantial. Each successive globe is
brighter and more beautiful than the one next below it.
The outermost may be thought of as "the heaven of
heavens,” the abode of the most evolved and God-like
who have graduated through successive stages from earth.

When we look upward and see the stars, with nothing
between to obscure our vision, it may not at first be easy
to think that we are gazing through world upon world of
active life. All seems silence and emptiness. But so
does the summer evening air as we stand upon the downs,
remote from town or village, hearing nothing save, perhaps*
the chirp of grasshoppers or the drone of a flying beetle.

125

126

A Real World

Yet we have but to erect a portable receiver and at once
we can hear a voice recounting the news of politics, trade
or sport, or we may listen to music played a hundred miles
away. Unheard by our physical sense, all this has been
passing over the silent downland, only to be detected by
use of a contrivance which interprets it to the ear.

Is it so difficult to suppose that our sense of sight may
be incapable of making us aware of what lies between us
and the stars, even as our sense of hearing is incapable of
interpreting etheric movements which the wireless receiver
translates ?

Our senses have been evolved amid physical surroundings,
and are trained and sharpened for contact with this
material world. For recognition of super-physical worlds
they are inadequate. But it is of super-physical worlds
we are now thinking. Had we control of our etheric body
with its senses in active relation to etherial worlds, we
should perceive more activity and beauty in the sky than
ever telescope revealed to the astronomer.

Such an etheric body we now indeed possess, but it sleeps
within as the immature bird-body sleeps in its unbroken
shell. Our friends who died broke away from their
physical body, and they tell those who can hear them that
they now inhabit a body which, wakening into activity
when the first one died, introduced them to a world of
wonder and delight. Theirs is another world, and their
body is suitable thereto. That body and that world are
alike invisible to mortal eyes, but to their risen eyes both
the world and the body they inherit are substantial.

“ Does your world appear to you to be solid and similar
to this one ? ” I asked my sister after she had been
there some few years. She replied:—

“ Yes, it is a place as earth is, and looks like it.
It is a place, a similar world, but with greater oppor¬
tunities and affording us greater knowledge. I know
how difficult some people must find it to realise this.”

In our own times science has pushed discovery beyond
the boundary of human eyesight. Astronomers know facts

A Real World

127

which were not revealed to them by sight alone. Working
from observed effects to the unseen cause, the human mind
has wrested knowledge from realms invisible. Our ac¬
quaintance with atoms, electrons, and the ultimate nature
of matter, has not been won by sight alone. Science has
become accustomed to dealing with the invisible. The
range of human sight is but a few notes only in the midst
of uncounted octaves. The everyday world of our risen
friends is invisible to us, but this gives no warrant for
denying its existence.

Nor should preconceived ideas fetter our thought as we
listen to the experiences of those who know. Residents in
the world beyond death are striving to acquaint us with
that land which will be ours ere long. What they tell us
does not clash with reason. On the contrary, it presents
us with a vista of ascending life and evolving experience
which not only harmonises with man's deepest instinct,
but also explains to him the meaning and purpose of
existence.

Let us hear what my father and sister say about their
world.

C.D.T .; Can you give some description of your present
life?

Father: Among those on earth who try to picture our life
on the Third Sphere there is a tendency to think of it
as something very, very different from that of earth.
But Nature effects great changes mostly by gradual
transitions. Life with us is similar to that of earth in
this respect, that in both one can work for the good of
the community. The essential difference is that I am
immune from illness and that no physical condition
can adversely affect me. We have more control over
physical things. Do not eliminate the word “ physical"
from your idea of our world ; it would be inaccurate
to describe earth as a physical world and ours as the
spiritual life. For you can have the spiritual on your
earth, and we certainly have much of the physical on
ours. For instance, we live in an atmosphere which
is chemical and therefore physical; also,, I have a

128 A Real World

body; and I wear clothing, since it is a habit of
thought to think of myself with clothes. But it is
unnecessary to be measured for them. We can create
them by thought alone, building up in that way
whatever clothing we desire. Those who are at first
unable to do this for themselves find others who will
readily do it for them.

We do not eat, neither do we find it necessary to
drink. I frequently take long walks ; that is because
I enjoy walking, not because it is necessary. I can
float at will, but from habit I enjoy feeling my feet
upon the ground. It will naturally be asked what it
is that I walk upon; is the ground real, or do I only
think it ? There certainly is ground, and to me it is
solid, as solid as is the earth's surface to you, and it
resists the pressure of my feet. Yet, on account of
the powers of my mind, I could, should I so desire,
penetrate and go down into this ground. If you
wished to descend below the ground in your garden
you could not accomplish it by your mind alone without
using a spade or other implement. We possess the
necessary implement, which is simply our mind and
will. By making a mental effort I could descend into
our ground.

C.Z). 2 \: You have spoken of relations living near your
present home, and of your walking; are there high¬
ways or roads leading from place to place ?

Father: We have roads, but the surface is unlike the
stoned or macadamised roads of England. I notice no
variations of surface. The appearance is something
like natural soil, but without mud or anything dis¬
agreeable, and it is springy and pleasant to the feet.

We have no such closely populated districts as in
your large cities. Houses are not crowded together.
It is quite easy to travel great distances.

So much which seems fanciful to you is fact with
us* Many a time Etta has pointed to some scene and
said, ' It is exactly what on earth we should have
termed a picture of fairyland/

A Real World

129

6 .D.T.: I have a question about the spheres. When
father spoke about the solidity of the ground, he did
not mention the view overhead. According to de¬
scriptions given of your successive spheres the floor of
the next higher must be somewhere overhead when
you are on your own sphere. Are you able to see it,
and if not, what is seen when you gaze upward ?

Etta: We see no floor above us, but only what looks like
sky. Is not your sky just the atmosphere ? We
have an atmosphere also; so we see sky, but no
clouds.”

C.D.T .: Then you cannot see through the sky to the
floor above ?

Etta: No, we cannot, and I think this is owing, not only
to the distance of the sphere next above us, but also
to the different state of that sphere. There is no
doubt that it is state, and not distance, which matters
so much here. Suppose I were on a sphere which
differed from the one above it more than it differed
from the one below. Then the distance from the one
below would seem less than the distance to the one
above. There are great differences between the
spheres, and that between, say, the third and fourth
is much less than that between the fourth and fifth.
The greater the difference between any two spheres
the further apart do they appear to us.

A young friend, recently killed in the war, spoke at my
first sitting. A few weeks later his mother accompanied
me, and among her son's observations, given through
Feda, came the following:—

“ He was glad to find animals and trees there ; that
was better than crowns and harps. He had feared it
might be weird. To his practical mind religious views
had not been presented in a way to give him any clear
idea of what it might be like. He received the
impression that there would have to be a long interval,
after which one would be ready for music, harps and
so on. ' When I found it here a thousand times more

130

A Real World

beautiful than the earth, although in some ways like
it, I knew I could be happy/ ”

Feda added:—

“ He says that he has seen Christ, but that he
cannot find words which would enable him to express
himself in describing that meeting.”

Frequent mention is made of homes. It is implied that
while these are not strictly necessary, the accustomed habits
of earth incline most people to use them for a while. My
father describes his present home as situated on a hillside
commanding wide stretches of scenery. From its garden
one walks downward past fields and trees to the bank of a
river.

Even on the third sphere there are some who have out¬
grown the inclination to reside within walls, and who live
in valleys, or amidst trees, or on the slopes of the hills.
Those accustomed to open air life on earth can indulge
their preference to the heart's content, and in high
spheres the localised dwelling becomes increasingly rare.

When one of these resting places, or homes, is vacated
it may be occupied by someone else. As to possible
disputes over the possession of vacant residences, such
diffi culties are said to be obviated by the fact that each
one feels drawn towards the particular thing which it is
right and fit for him to have.

Scepticism as to the reality and desirability of houses in
the next life is natural to many minds. But, considering
how great a place the home and its appointments take in
the mind of average mortals, it would be surprising if such
ingrained habits of thought were to be suddenly cast aside
at death. How gradual are most of Nature's processes.
Given a real world, with surroundings which seem to its
inhabitants as solidly material as do our surroundings on
this planet, it is but natural that for some time after leaving
earth we should retain our tastes and habits and only
gradually outgrow them.

In picturing the dwellings of the life beyond, it is essential

A Real World

13*

to realise its changed conditions of existence. Since neither
food nor sleep are there required, we can eliminate from our
mental picture most of the features which are important
in our home life here. This leaves us with something in
the nature of a place for retirement to which we may go
when wishing to be alone, a place for receiving friends in
social intercourse, and adapted for study, contemplation
and repose.

In earthly life emigrants arriving in a new country
usually prefer to live in a locality where some of their
compatriots are already settled. In process of time the
district takes on something of the social atmosphere of the
land from which its residents came. There is the French
section of Canada, London has its Italian and its Chinese
quarters, and so on. Now, it is asserted that something
similar has happened in the Beyond. The various nation¬
alities arriving from earth choose for the more part to
reside among their own people.

From the sixteenth century, when early emigrants began
to leave their native lands, it has been an occasional practice
to give a newly founded town some name reminiscent of the
land left behind. Thus, the English settlers in America
planted a Boston ; those who left the Derbyshire district
round the small town of Melbourne perpetuated that name
in Australia. Such nomenclature is said to have been
continued in the next world, for while many on arriving
there have preferred to continue their accustomed semi¬
isolation amid rural scenery, others congregated in towns,
and these towns have in some instances been named after
the familiar towns on earth.

After my father had given a description, of which the
above is a summary, I asked whether, on his sphere, there
existed the doubles of London and Birmingham. He
replied:—

“ That is an interesting question. We have a
London, but it is not your London. Certain aspects
of it do not coincide; our cities do not correspond
street for street with those on earth. There is some
likeness in the parks and beautiful buildings, but with

132

A Real World

us they are all finer. Much is eliminated from our
towns and cities; for instance, with us there are no
congested areas, no slums, no sordid neighbourhoods,
no public houses, prisons, work-houses nor asylums.

“ But on the lower spheres there are more corre¬
spondences with your towns. Thpre one finds slum
areas again, and some other undesirable features of
your cities. And such features will persist while their
counterparts continue on earth. So long as people
think and live in undesirable ways, there must inevi¬
tably remain these undesirable places to which they
gravitate on coming here. When your earth has
risen mentally and spiritually above such habits of
life, the corresponding places on the lower spheres will
disappear.

“ It is a curious and noteworthy fact that the
buildings and surroundings of the lower spheres are
less permanent than those of the third sphere; they
are more easily lost by dissolution. On our side of
death all evil conditions are more easily got rid of than
on earth. Your slum buildings, even if vacated by
their occupants, would remain until they were pulled
down; but here such places would of themselves
crumble quickly away when once they ceased to be
required by their inhabitants.”

It is said that the regions in which the various nationalities
have settled are related to their earthly fatherlands in the
sense of being situated more or less perpendicularly above
them. There is, for instance, on the second sphere what
we call an England ; there is also another England on the
third sphere. That on the third is over that on the second,
and both are situated over the earthly England. At first
sight it might be thought that, since the residents will
remain in each for a period longer than the duration of
individual life on earth, this would cause the Englands of
the spheres to be more densely populated than that of
earth. But it must be remembered that the second sphere,
being far above earth's surface, is of a vastness propor¬
tionate tp its distance from the earth. The third sphere

A Real World

133

will have a still more spacious England, while that on the
fourth will be again yet larger. Thus, there is ample room
for all inhabitants. Moreover, on the third sphere the
proportion of land to water is stated to be much greater
than on earth, and this gives an increased area for habita¬
tion. So that when we turn our thought to the seventh,
or highest of these spheres surrounding earth, we are
thinking of an area so immense that the mind no longer
raises questions relating to possible congestion; there is
room and to spare for all who shall be ascending thither
during aeons of time to come.

Furthermore, the higher spheres are not of that per¬
manent and fixed extent which we associate with thoughts
of earth's surface. The nature of their substance allows of
expansion and increase according to the collective will of
their inhabitants. Such is the hint given by my com¬
municators. They do not attempt to explain this in
detail, and it may be doubted whether such explanation
could be of service to us. It may suffice if we dimly realise
that there await us all possible facilities, whether spiritual,
mental or of semi-physical character, for our progress
towards unthinkable perfection.

Q.D.T .; I gather from your remarks that your particular
locality is more or less above that part of earth
occupied by the British Isles. Are you conscious of
the movement of your sphere as it revolves in harmony
with the revolution of our planet ?

Father: I believe that some here have supposed that our
spheres remain stationary. It is not so. Our spheres
move round with the earth, but we are not in any
sense conscious of the movement. The velocity of
course increases as one moves toward our higher
spheres; iox the higher one goes the greater is the
distance covered during one revolution. Yet so
gradual is it that we feel no difference while journeying
to and from your earth.

G.D.T.: Have you any idea of your distance in miles from
the surface of the earth ?

Father: I should not regard any calculations as reliable.

*34

A Real World

The bottom of the lowest sphere is well above the
earth. Some of the spheres, especially the higher, are
capable of expansion ; they are not stationary in size.
There is no doubt that matter, with us, is more pliable
and responsive to our wills ; the higher one goes the
more responsive it is. I term it “ matter ” for lack
of a better word to express it. Our “ matter ” is
peculiar and different from yours. Solid objects with
us are elastic, or can become so, and can be remodelled.
Ability to do this depends upon spiritual power and
will. New arrivals would no more understand how to
accomplish this than a new-born babe on earth could
carve wood.

G.D.T.: What is below the ground of your sphere ?
Here we have the antipodes below us, what have you ?

Father: I can tell you that. Just as the ground of your
earth is limited in depth, so is ours, but so far as I can
judge, ours is more shallow than that of earth, and I
am sure it is chemically different.

C.D.T.: I conclude that yours is highly tenuous; when
we look at the stars we must be looking through your
many spheres.

Father: Yes, that is so, and yet, to us, our ground is
solid and opaque. But it does not contain such
metals and other materials as yours. It is lighter.
It goes down, I should say, for miles on each sphere.
On the lowest sphere it is thickest of all. On our
third sphere it is appreciably thick. Dig deep enough
and one would get through to the atmosphere of the
sphere beneath. One would not dig, but that is how
it stands; the ground is thick, it is also mentally
penetrable. The spheres above us have ground which
is thinner and still more easily penetrable by mind.
For convenience in passing from one sphere to another,
there are channels or clearings, call them “ tunnels/ 1
which have been bored mentally, just as you have
tunnels excavated physically on earth. Constant use
of these tunnels keeps them clear. We simply use
mental means where you would use physical means.
One has to make strong mental effort in order to

A Real World

ns

penetrate the matter of our spheres. I could, if I
chose, pass through fresh ground each time it was
necessary to travel to another sphere, but this would
be a waste of force ; we use the channel already pre¬
pared by other minds. If you found a hole in tha
hedge which was obviously there for use, you and
others would naturally go through it and so it would
be kept clear by constant use. We do similarly.

Below our lowest sphere is another, that of animal
life.

C.D.T.: Do animals go there from earth ?

Father : Yes, but not to live again individually; it is tha
sphere of collective automatic and physical life-force,
call it etheric force, left from the physical animal lives.
It is drawn back again to earth, but not individually;
the whole reservoir may be thought of as dividing again
into small portions. It is not individual life at all, in
your sense of the word, not life which has held any
intelligent or spiritual quality. Real life, but of a
nebulous kind. What sort of soul does a bullock
possess ? It is nebulous. Cattle soul-force again
becomes cattle, and only that. It is the energy-giving
power of the soul, rather than the soul of an animal
which lives again on earth.

6 .D.T .: Do pet animals survive ?

Father: They do survive, but not for ever; possibly for as
long as those who love them are in need of their
companionship. I have seen no snakes or lions here,
only such animals as were accustomed to human
companionship. A tiger pet is possible on earth, but
it is quite unnatural, and is never the tiger’s own
choice in any real sense. The animals who come to
this sphere are such as have grown naturally attuned
to man.

C.D.T.: That would include horses, dogs, cats, and per¬
haps elephants and monkeys ?

Father: The elephant is not a natural pet; it belongs to
wild life. We have horses, dogs and cats, but very
few monkeys. Birds seem natural here. I have seen
birds on the higher spheres which are quite unlike any

1 3 6

A Real World

seen or heard of on earth. They looked like glittering
gold and silver, shot with colours more beautiful than
anything pictured by man.

C.D.T.: Do you see the sun as we see it from earth ?

Etta: I have not seen it as a round object, yet we seem to
see its light. Not that we are at all dependent upon
the sun’s light. I question if we should seriously miss
it. The natural luminosity of our atmosphere is
sufficient. With this self-luminous atmosphere there
are no shadows, nor day and night changes. On the
higher spheres there is more and more of this irrides-
cent light.

G.D.T.: Do you see the moon, planets and stars ?

Etta: I have not seen their forms at all as yet, but might
do so by coming to earth and getting into your con¬
ditions somewhat. To see objects which are material
we should use what is akin to clairvoyance. If it
were worth while I might learn how to see the moon
clairvoyantly—if it were of any service. But we do
not concern ourselves with things which cannot, or do
not, affect our progress and our work here. To me the
moon seems one of the non-essentials.

C.D.T.: Yet it is one of the wonders of God’s creation, and
therefore of interest in learning about Him.

Etta: There are so many more wonderful ways in which we
can see His works.

C.D.T.: Many people question whether, despite these
descriptions given in human language, there exists
the same apparent and essential reality there.

Father: There is something in that. While speaking I
felt how bald and bare was my description compared
with the reality of that world. Yet, there are grass,
trees and flowers, as well as other forms with which
you are not familiar, things of which I cannot give you
any conception. I hope that occasionally some
spring may be touched during our conversations which
will suggest helpful comparisons. Remember how,
sometimes unexpectedly, you are touched with

A Real World

137

sudden happiness, an extraordinary uplift, illumination
and hope, and yet you are unable to tell others why.
Really, you are then sensing the hidden hope in life ;
that world which is hidden from you is revealed to
you, the eye of the soul beholds that which the
physical eye cannot see. Now, as we go on and
upward, we increasingly perceive the hidden beauty
love, and hope in all things. It is not so hidden from
us as it is from you. Etta and I are in a marvellous
world.

CHAPTER XIII

EVIDENCE FROM EXPERIMENTS WITH THE DAILY PRESS

Independence of telepathy from the sitter's mind has
been proved by Book Tests ; but might they not, one will
ask, be somehow due to the medium's clairvoyance at a
distance ? My father apparently realised that this point
required guarding, for he presently devised an ingenious
extension of the book test idea, one which ruled out the
medium's clairvoyance as completely as book tests had
ruled out telepathy. This he did by means of what are
now known as Newspaper Tests.

At the hour of my sittings with Mrs. Leonard the type of
the London Press for the following day is not yet set up.
Clearly, the medium cannot see what is not existing.

My father's plan, as explained by himself, was to visit
the office of a paper selected for the test, and there note
such names or statements as might lend themselves to his
purpose. By employing a faculty which seems to involve
some slight degree of prevision, he then ascertained the
approximate position which these items would occupy
when the paper was set up and printed. This done, he was
ready for my sitting, and soon after its commencement he
transmitted, through Feda, the references which I was to
verify the following morning by examination of the issue
of some particular organ of the public Press.

The simplest form of newspaper test was the statement
that such and such a name would be found in a minutely
described position in the morrow’s Times . The defect of
this lay in the necessity of transmitting a name through
Feda—usually a difficult feat. It was, therefore, more
usual to indicate the name by circuitous methods, such as,
" one of your mother's names," “ the name of a place by
the sea at which we once resided," or, “ a place close to
which you lived when in business."

138

Evidence from Experiments with the Daily Press 139

More interesting were test messages which indicated
acquaintance with recent happenings in my work or in my
private life, matters entirely beyond the medium's normal
knowledge; also others which referred to my father’s earth
life in a way which was only obscure until I discovered the
key-word by looking in the morrow’s paper as directed.

The general idea of these experiments is illustrated by
the following examples :—

April 1st , 1921, at 2.36 pm.

After indicating certain names which would be found
near the top of column two on the first page of the morrow's
Times , Feda proceeded to say :—

“ Also, close by is an address suggesting being on a
hill. It reminded him of a place where he had lived.
He once lived on a hill; to go to his work he had to
descend. While at that place he had a rather im¬
portant change connected with his work; he acquired
a different official standing.”

Now, on thinking of my father’s various residences, I
recollected three which were “ on a hill ” ; but it was
necessary to refer to records dating back thirty years before
discovering that, on being appointed to Ilfracombe in 1888,
he was given the position of District Secretary, an honour
which he appreciated. His residence at Ilfracombe was
nearly at the top of Oxford Grove, an unusually steep
street, from which he had to descend in order to reach the
town and his church.

The address which had suggested this reference proved
to be Shooter's Hill: it appeared in the next day’s Times ,
within five inches of the top of column two on the first
page. This position was, as foretold, close to the pre-
ceeding test words.

Another test from the same page referred to column
three, where I was to find,—

“ Not quite half-way down, a name which sounded
L.B.D, K

140 Evidence from Experiments with the Daily Press

to him like that of people with whom your mother has
recently renewed friendship/'

In order to ascertain the meaning of this remark it was
necessary first to inquire of my mother whether she had
recently met any old friend whom she and my father used
to know. In her reply she wrote that Mrs. May, a former
resident in Ramsgate and member of my father's church
there, had recently visited the town and that they had
met.

I was now prepared to scrutinise The Times again.
Only one inch short of half-way down column three, on
page one of the above date, was an advertisement containing
the word May .

Neither of the above references had appeared in the
previous day's issue of The Times .

It was my invariable custom to post a copy of these
tests to the Society for Psychical Research on the evening
of the day on which they were given. They are there
preserved for reference, and it can thus be certified that
they were received by the Honorary Secretary on the
morning of the day following each sitting.

November nth , 1921, at 3.25 p.m.

In the tests for this date there was but one inaccuracy,
although seven were given. This mistake looks like a slip
of memory on my father's part; for Feda said, column
two, when actually the required words were found to be
in column one.

“ Column two, page one of The Times , a little way
above half down see the name Dawson. He knew one
Dawson very well; and close to that name is given a
place which he connects with the Dawson whom he
knew."

Just two inches above half-way down column one appears,
the Rev . Canon Dawson , and on the line next above it is.

Evidence from Experiments with the Daily Press 14!

St Nicholas Church. In the years 1882-5 father
resided at Ramsgate and his colleague the Rev. R. G.
Dawson lived in Margate. The latter had the oversight
of our church at St. Nicholas, a village some few miles
distant.

It may be instructive to add a note, made during the
next sitting, which touches on the method by which these
names are selected. I broached the subject by inquiring,
apropos of the above, if my father was aware of the
place-name which stood close to that of Dawson ? Feda
replied that he had only sensed it as a place which Mr.
Dawson would have known and spoken about. I then said
that St. Nicholas was the name found. Feda continued :—

“ That does not help him to decide if you have
found the one which he intended, because in this case
he did not sense its letters, but merely that there was
a link with Dawson. He says, ‘ I often know things
which I cannot give here ; but with these newspaper
tests the difficulty frequently is that I do not actually
see them as words, but only sense that there is a
connection. It is the link which is perceived. These
difficulties are interesting. Your plane is not our
plane, and we are limited directly we try to touch and
understand the merely material things of your plane/ ”

These difficulties are more fully discussed in my previous
book. It is sufficient to remark here that these tests were
at first, like book tests, attributed to a power of sensing,
but that from time to time it was possible to make use of a
faculty of clairvoyant vision for material things, and that
on these occasions the actual words were seen . To give the
position in which the test words would be found in the
next day’s paper was said to be more intricate, because
they were not yet in type at the hour of my sitting. In
order to ascertain what would be their ultimate position
in the paper it was therefore necessary to employ a clair¬
voyance which brought into view the page as it would
presently he, and, upon the page $0 visualised, to notice
where the selected test words appeared.

142 Evidence from Experiments with the Daily Press

This brings us up against the difficult question of
forecasting the future. My father insists that what he
then sees of the visualised page is to be thought of as the
shadow cast before it of the thing which is about to be.

I am very far from understanding this explanation.
The fact of this foreknowledge is certain. It has been
demonstrated by too many examples to admit of question.
Such foreknowledge bears upon many well-attested psychic
phenomena in which correct foretelling has taken place.
Coming events do sometimes cast their shadow before,
although we are normally blind to that shadow. And even
in those instances when we feel impressed that something
is impending, how few are gifted with the ability to inter¬
pret accurately what that something will prove to be.

That my communicator should have insisted that the
name Dawson would be found in conjunction with that of
a place with which his old colleague was connected, is but
one of many instances which indicate that the person
devising these tests was cognisant of facts which had been
familiar to my father in years long past.

The following examples reveal the close touch which my
father is able to keep with my activities. They relate to
incidents which were in the immediate past when the tests
were given.

December 20th, 1921, at 11.54 a.m.

“ In The Times to-morrow, about half-way down
column one, see the name of a man very recently
passed over, about whom you have been talking
lately/*

I distinctly remember thinking about this particular
test while returning to London from the sitting. It was
impossible to recall any name which would meet the case.
I had not, to my knowledge, been speaking of any who
were recently deceased, nor could I think of any recent
death which had especially attracted my notice. My
mind was a blank as to the name which would appear in
this exactly designated position in the morrow's Times .

Evidence from Experiments with the Daily Press 143

That evening, while taking an appointment at the
Mission, I heard of the death of a Mr. Ray whom I had
visited in hospital at his special request. He was a
member of the Mission, and I had from time to time
discussed his chances of recovery with my colleague who
was his regular visitor; these talks had taken place in
our minister's room and were known only to ourselves.
In view of this I concluded that the name Ray, if found in
the given position next day, would be an incontrovertible
proof of knowledge coming from another mind than my
own.

When The Times arrived next morning it showed the
name Ray in an advertisement placed less than two inches
below the half-way crease in column one of the first
page.

Scrutiny of the previous day's issue showed that this
advertisement had not been there before; it was right for
the day stated, and for no other days.

In an attempt to elaborate this test Feda had said that
the name James seemed somehow connected; the further
effort, which had been to find the same name in another
daily paper, failed; but I discovered some days later that
James was Mr. Ray's name, a fact I had not previously
known.

This incident, following many of similar character,
indicated that my father was able to follow, with some
closeness, my work at the Mission. To many minds this
might seem more easy to credit than that he should be able
to investigate in The Times printing works the preparation
for the morrow's edition. Yet, the latter achievement has
been demonstrated by many scores of accurate newspaper
tests.^ The fact is beyond dispute, although a full under¬
standing of the powers employed is probably beyond the
reach of our imagination.

At my next sitting it occurred to me that it would be
interesting to ascertain whether my father could transmit
the name Ray through Feda; I was interested in the fact
that names so frequently presented a difficulty, and this
seemed an opportunity for ascertaining where the difficulty
lay. So I asked:—

r 44 Evidence from Experiments with the Daily Press

“ About the name in The Times of one recently
passed over and which I found there; can my father
now recollect it ? "

“ He can," replied Feda. I said to her :—

“ I do not wish to spend time about it if you cannot
get it from him easily, but perhaps he can tell you how
many letters are in that name."

Feda then repeated my question and appeared to be
watching intently while counting thus —“ One—two—
three—. One—two—three—there must be more than
three. Nobody has only three letters in their name.
One—two—three—One—two—three—.' ' All this was
said very softly, as if not meant for me to hear. I
then said, “ Has he given you the number, Feda ? "

She replied, “ He does not get beyond three. He
keeps sticking at three. One, two, three." And
beyond this Feda seemed unable to ascertain the
communicator's meaning.

I was left with the impression that Feda felt she had
failed to give the answer required, and that she supposed
my father was unable to tell her the correct number of
letters in the name. Had she been reading my mind it
should have been easy for her at least to realise that three
was the number of which I was thinking, even if she could
not read there the name Ray.

October 4 th, 1922, at 2.36 p.m.

“ In to-morrow's Times , page one, column one, and
near the top, see the name of a place which you much
liked while away; you went to see it, but not to stay
there, and were very interested. It is not the name
of a county, but of a small locality."

My wife and I had recently returned from a motoring
holiday in Cornwall. Only five days previously we had
stayed for an hour at Sherboume, where we took tea in
an upper room, the window of which overlooked a street

Evidence from Experiments with the Daily Press 145

adjoining Sherboume School. There we had watched the
boys passing to and fro. Before leaving the town we
inspected the school buildings from the outside, and were
sufficiently interested to read, on arriving home, all we
could find in my books relating to Sherbourne and its
school.

Now, the test message given above is somewhat vaguely
expressed, and it seemed quite possible that more than
one place might have equally well corresponded with such
a description. But, on looking at The Times on October
5th to discover the solution of the riddle, we were, I
candidly admit it, astonished to see the words, School
House , Sherbourne , placed precisely where I had been
instructed to look, viz., “ near the top of column one of the
first page.”

My father lived in the neighbouring town of Yeovil
during the years 1891-4, and we had visited Sherboume
together in those days. The place, therefore, held for me
associations with my father, and these had been strongly
in my thought during the hour spent there.

My father has frequently remarked that links of associa¬
tion make these tests easier for him. If this be the case,
one can realise how my vivid thought of him during the
hour spent in Sherbourne, may have led him to seek for
something in the contents of the paper which he could weave
‘into evidence for my next sitting.

In this same sitting there was a further test which may
be fittingly recorded here.

“ Lower in this column, i.e,, column one of The
Times , first page, and probably half-way down, they
saw the name of an old friend of Clara’s, a lady to
whom she was much attached, one older than Clara.
And a little below it comes the name of a place in
which Clara would have known this friend and with
which she would associate her.”

It is clear that neither my wife (Clara) nor I had sufficient
clue in the above to make guessing worth while. We waited

146 Evidence from Experiments with the Daily Press

until the paper arrived next morning and then discovered
the name Pooh , which stood within one inch of half-way
down the first column of page one. This name was
peculiarly appropriate to the description. My wife had
for many years been on terms of most intimate friendship
with three sisters named Poole, the two elder of whom
were senior to my wife and had died before this date.

The second part of the test was as quickly recognised as
the first part; for we found, only four inches below the
name Poole, the name of the place where my wife had
first known them. This was Streatham , a place always
associated in her mind with the Poole family.

It may be asked whether my father had known of our
friendship with this family ? I do not think he knew
during his life on earth, but my sister certainly did, and
she has associated herself with the devising of these tests
ever since a period shortly after her passing.

One is left in doubt whether to class this knowledge of
the Poole family, and their earlier residence at Streatham,
with my sister’s earth memories, or with information
derived from us since passing. For, although my sister
knew of my wife's friendship with the Misses Poole, we
have no reason for thinking that she was aware of their
having lived at Streatham, a place from which they
removed many years before my sister met them.

Our illustration of this class of evidence may conclude
with one which alludes to the difficulty of obtaining the
material for these experiments.

October 27th, 1922, at 2.39 p.m .

This sitting was prefaced by a reminder from my father
that he had often remarked upon the extent to which
changing conditions on earth helped him or hindered him
when selecting his tests from The Times office. Certain of
those remarks are recorded in chapter XX. of my former
book, among them this: “I find myself helped or hindered
by conditions in obtaining these tests."

Then came the following for the morrow's Times :—

Evidence from Experiments with the Daily Press 147

“Page six; the column at the extreme right ol
the page, and nearly at the top, expresses sentiments
which would have been very appropriate to the
occasions when his tests failed/'

On inspecting the right-hand top comer of page six in
the next day's Times the following words were seen within
two inches of the top : Begun . . . yesterday in adverse
conditions . . . which handicapped . . . and consequently no
good times were accomplished. This is curiously appro¬
priate ; “ adverse conditions ” had been frequently

mentioned; " yesterday ” would correspond to the day
of the sitting, i.e., the day on which the tests had been
selected at the office and transmitted to me ; and even the
word “ times ” is present, although lacking the capital.
I give the upper part of this column as printed in the
Times of the date mentioned.

ATHLETICS

OXFORD SENIOR SPORTS

The Oxford University Seniors' sports were begun
at Oxford yesterday in adverse conditions.

A strong north wind blew up the straight, which
handicapped the sprinters considerably, and conse¬
quently no good times were accomplished.

Considering the hour at which this test was given, viz.,
2.39 p.m., it seems probable that the correspondent who
sent his report to The Times would not have written it
until after my sitting concluded. Yet, there is small doubt
of his having already formed in his mind a general idea
of some introductory remarks relating to adverse weather
conditions. While he may not have written the above
sentence so early, it may well have formed itself in his
mind ; for he could not but be aware that the high wind
would prevent the best results. Also, he would be thinking
of this fact in connection with The Times , for which his
report was destined. If then, as my communicators

148 Evidence from Experiments with the Daily Press

frequently state, thoughts are very real things and travel
to the person and place towards which they are mentally
directed, we may imagine this correspondent’s thoughts
about weather and slow running being directed sub¬
consciously toward the office of The Times at an hour even
earlier than 2.39 p.m.

We may further suppose the likelihood that workers in
that office had a general idea of the kind of information
which this particular column was to contain. They would
know that it would not be filled with advertisements,
politics, foreign news or law cases. It was reserved for a
certain class of information and their subconscious minds
would so picture it, probably as filled with sports news.

Add together all the above factors, the officials mentally
delegating sports news to this sixth page, the Oxford
correspondent moulding in thought the opening phrases of
his report, my father standing invisibly in the office for
the purpose of ascertaining what material he could find
suitable for his purpose, and then picturing the page in
which his selected material would presently appear.
Then, into his picture of this page, there falls automatically
the ideas which officials were mentally relegating to it.
Among these is the paragraph selected for the test, a
paragraph which, although not yet actually present, is
being projected in thought towards the office.

The above would seem to represent the foundation upon
which the achievement rose into being. The rest of the
process is scarcely imaginable, but its result lies before us.
That which my father saw was not materially present, but
was destined to be there in a few hours’ time. The coming
event cast its shadow before, and what by us is accounted
as a shadow was, to him, already a reality.

It is beyond my power to explain how newspaper tests
are accomplished. The above is merely an attempt to
indicate the direction in which my mind turns when looking
for the solution. My purpose is to show that things have
been accomplished which demanded powers far beyond
any which we normally exercise. The facts are self-
evident; their explanation eludes us. These tests have been
so numerous and so miiiutely successful as to pass far

Evidence from Experiments with the Daily Press 149

beyond anything attributable to chance coincidence.
This I have shown in Chapter XV. of my former book,
and it is open to readers to prove it for themselves by
repeating the experiment there described.

INCIDENTAL EVIDENCE OF IDENTITY DISCOVERED IN
NEWSPAPER TESTS

Newspaper tests, like book tests, proved that thought-
transference from human minds was not a factor in these
communications. They show that information can be
given which is not within the knowledge of either medium
or sitter, or indeed of any one mind on earth. That which
is stated in the test is dependent for its completion, and
often for its intelligibility, upon something which is to be
discovered in the public Press of the following day. The
message remains incomplete until one learns the key-word
by looking in a definitely described part of the given page
in the particular newspaper named.

Although these newspaper tests were not offered as
proofs of identity, they have from time to time provided
this class of evidence. The following are instances of the
speaker's familiarity with facts which had been within my
father's knowledge when on earth. In each case the
information has been obtained by comparing the test
message with the key-words discovered in the described
part of the following day's Press. My comments are
added within brackets.

1. My mother's maiden name was Dore, and she spent

some years of her girlhood in Hampshire,

(The name is correct. She went to a boarding
school in Southampton.)

2. My father's first church after marriage was called

Victoria, and at Victoria I was bom.

(This was at Taunton. The house in which I was
bom was in Victoria Terrace, close to the Victoria
Church in Victoria Street. The name Victoria could
not have been discovered from our church reference
books.)

i Jo Evidence from Experiments with the Daily Press

3. The name Kate was connected with that of a young

boy whom I knew when they were living near us.

(Kate’s little brother was my first boy friend.
They lived near us and were frequently at our house
when I was four years old.)

4. When my sister and I were quite young we knew a

Mr. Goodwin at Leek.

(Mr. Goodwin of Leek was a personal friend of my
parents' and was at that time of special interest to
me because he gave exhibitions with a magic-
lantern.)

5. While living at Leek my father met a minister named

Perks and became friendly with him.

(This happened in 1873. I verified it from my
father's diary. The Rev. G. T. Perks, M.A., being
president that year, came to preach at Leek where
my father was then stationed, and they spent the
day together.)

6. I was occasionally taught by one who was not a

schoolmaster and whose name was Joseph.

(Joseph was my schoolmaster's son ; he used to
help his father by teaching the juniors of whom I
was one.)

7. My father's old friend, Thomas Hine, lived at
Baldock, Herts.

(The above was his address during the period of
our intimate friendship, 1876-9.)

8. The name Preston would be recognised by my mother

as indicating one who still lived at Ramsgate and
who had been known to them both.

(Mr. Preston was a member of our church at
Ramsgate in my father's time, and was still residing
there at the date of this message.)

9. While living in the Isle of Wight I was engaged in the

same kind of business as that pursued by my Aunt
Margaret's father in his earlier years.

(My father would have known the latter’s business,
but I was unaware of it until making inquiries in
consequence of this statement.)

10. One now passed over, named George, was an old

Evidence from Experiments with the Daily Press 151

servant of the family and held in much affection;
he was somewhat querulous, but very loyal to us all.

(This characterisation is entirely applicable to
George Young, who, for fifty years, was porter in
my maternal grandfather’s business.)

ix. Georgina was known to both my parents.

(She was their very intimate friend from 1870
onwards.)

12. Some twenty years ago my father was very familiar
with Birkdale.

(Birkdale was the name of a house which he
purchased and lived in on retiring from active work
at a date nineteen years before this message was
given.)

13. On my shelves are books written by my paternal
grandfather, and these volumes had been much
prized by my father.

(I have six books of which my father’s father was
the author; they came to me from my father's
library and had been much valued by him.)

14. A large number of accurate references are summarised
when I say that the names of my uncles, aunts and
cousins, besides those of more distant relations,
were correctly given. In several instances the place
of residence was included. Some of these persons
had died before my birth.

The above subject matter covers a range of forty years
and is a collection of minutiae personally interesting to my
father and to me. My mother and I are the only persons
who recollect all the facts. Indeed, we were not quite able
to do so unaided; it was sometimes necessary to refer to
family documents, and in order to check the accuracy of
No. 9 information had to be asked from an aunt.

My father had been familiar with all these facts. I
therefore offer this selection as incidental evidence that
the communicator claiming to be my father, and who
speaks to me through Mrs. Leonard and Feda, is the
person he claims to be, namely my father, John Drayton
Thomas, and no other.

CHAPTER XIV

OCCUPATIONS IN THE LIFE BEYOND DEATH

Father: Many people think that we must be living in a
kind of dream state, or in a world which is mental only.
It is not so. Even in a world where one can create
mentally there must be some material to work upon.
On whatever sphere you may be living you have
material on which to work. I have said that where
we live this material is easily mouldable; we can
mould it perfectly well by mental action.

Now, the occupations of the inhabitants are many
and varied. The professions and careers which people
choose to follow are somewhat similar to those of
earth. But certain of your earth occupations are not
needed with us. For instance, there are no occupations
here which are based upon destruction.

Etta: You understand that our ground is composed of
soil, but there is no wind to carry dust about and no
smoke, therefore we have no need for servants. Yet
we have many kinds of occupation open for people's
choice.

Father : Perhaps more than for any others we have scope
for builders and architects.

C.D.T .: I am rather surprised to hear that.

Father: Well, perhaps they are not more needed than
teachers; I ought to have placed teachers and in¬
structors first in the list. But builders are very
important because home life is so ingrained a thought
in newcomers, people would not know what to do
without homes of their own. It is the first thing
which settles them, for home gives them a natural,
familiar feeling again. And so the home is very
important on our sphere, although it ceases to be so
after one rises to the spheres above us
152

Occupations in the Life Beyond "Death 153

The first thing we do when someone comes over
unexpectedly is to help him choose a home, or to find
people who will prepare one for him.

The providing of homes is not my work, but I have
been interested in observing the way in which it is
accomplished. With us it would be quite possible to
form a house in a moment, but things are not usually
done in that manner. Those who understood building
when on earth do it here for a time; it is the same with
architects, that is, supposing architecture has been
their real and natural vocation. Men are not in¬
variably drawn to the work they did on earth; for
they may have had no love for it. A lawyer, for
instance, may here prefer to study music; his earth
occupation would, in that case, probably not have
belonged to his soul's life in any real degree.

We have artists and musicians, and in fact we have
people following every art and profession which makes
for beauty and happiness. But it must be constructive
work. It must have in it no element of destruction.

Etta has progressed marvellously with her painting.
She has not lost that gift, but enjoys it more and is
more skilled in it. My work remains, in one sense,
the same, for I am teaching. On earth I endeavoured
to really teach, and now I am teaching in a more
progressive sense. With us there are many teachers;
it is a large profession.

C.D.T.: Do you refer to teachers or preachers ?

Father: I do not say that I am a preacher now, for
preaching is really teaching. Many here require
teaching. So little of earth's teaching counts after
one leaves the physical behind. We regard conven¬
tional education as nothing in itself except as a ground¬
work for further training of mind and character. It
has its importance, but does not come under our
system of training. We do not teach languages nor
mathematics. A person who on earth was a great
mathematician is useful to us, not on account of his
mathematics, but for his trained and orderly mind,
which he can here apply to other conditions. So long

154 Occupations in the Life Beyond Death

as a mind is trained so that it can concentrate and
control the desires—that is more important than any¬
thing else. It is the training which stands one in
good stead here, and everything which trains the mind
is useful, although purely technical and detailed
knowledge gained on earth may be lost or left behind.
For it is the effect of the training and education which
accompanies you here.

Etta : I wish to slightly correct something previously said,
namely, that servants are unnecessary because there
is nothing for them to do. Many people have servants,
but they are old servants who are attached to them,
and who are not spiritually and mentally ready to
emancipate themselves for other work here; so they
may live for years in pleasant companionship with
their masters and mistresses before they evolve on
definite lines of their own. I thought it worth while
to say this because it elucidates the real situation when
communicators tell you that they have their old
servants with them.

Father remembers that he was independent and
enjoyed doing things for himself, and did not wish
them done for him. He still remains the same.
But a person accustomed to looking after others and
attached to them might wish to continue doing it
here. Father would not favour it; he always preached
independence.

Father: We have no mechanical methods of travelling as
on earth. But I must be careful and somewhat
qualify that statement. I do not travel in train or
car, nor do I know anyone here who does so. Yet,
when engineers come here whose minds are bent ypon
engineering, and who may not be ready to take up
another line of study or work, they continue experi¬
menting in a limited way, especially with electrical
engineering. They are sometimes able to discover
certain things which they then endeavour to impress
upon the minds of suitable people on earth. But they
cannot long continue studies relating^ merely to
mechanical work on earth. We are not interested in

Occupations in the Life Beyond Heath 155

flying or motoring, except as it might be a subject of
interest to you. Such things are not necessary here,
and the time will come when they will cease to be
necessary on earth, because you will then employ
power which is now lying in abeyance. Feda reminds
me that your old friend, C. B., has a workshop on the
other side. I think he is unlikely to continue it; he
is too progressive for that. He will presently wish to
leave it for spiritual work and higher mental life,
although it may content him for a few years while he
develops work in which he was previously interested.

Gardening is a popular profession with us.

Of the arts, music and painting come first, and music
takes premier place. We have sculpture and even the
making of tapestries. Indeed, all earthly things which
the eye of man rejoices in can be and are reproduced
here. It may be asked, what becomes of the objects
which are no longer wanted when their makers and
owners rise higher and leave them behind ? Others
who come here may want just those things. But there
is with us a process of transmutation or substitution,
by which objects may be made finer. It is possible to
change the appearance of an object by mental force,
entirely altering it without taking it to pieces. This
process can be effected by those who have developed
on constructive lines.

Your recent communicator, Strevett, could not do
this. He did not construct mentally very well while
on earth; he did not use his mind forcibly enough.
He had possibilities and was intelligent, but had not
trained his mind strongly in any direction. Therefore,
since he was not constructive himself, many things have
been constructed for him. By way of contrast, take
the friend who came to your last sitting. His con¬
ditions, when he passed over, were ready for him
and he found exactly such a home as he would have
chosen on earth. He had known of it subconsciously,
though not consciously, before he passed over. He
can construct very well indeed, more so than during
his later years on earth, for he now has a younger and

L.B.D. L

156 Occupations in the Life Beyond Death

stronger brain with which to work. His life here is
one of great joy, new interests and new delights are
continually opening before him. But he was pre¬
pared ; he had qualified himself for this.

C.D.T.: You speak of clothing; are your garments simply
the etheric replicas of those you used when on earth,
or do you produce them entirely new ?

Etta: In one sense the answer to your question must be,
" Both ways.” Let me use as illustration the fact
that on earth an old garment can be unpicked and
remade into an apparently new one. Now, our thought
with regard to an object we have appreciated is so
strong that it provides the <f pattern ” for a duplicate
here. But the actual garment is reproduced by pro¬
cesses unique to this sphere. Thought plays a very
important part in manufacture here, but ours is not
an entirely mental world. We can make things by
other processes than thought, if we choose to do so,
and many on coming here would not be happy in doing
purely mental work. It would be no good trying to
make a builder into an architect immediately he
arrived here ; he might be happy in building, but not
in designing or making plans for others to carry out.
One begins with the work for which one is fitted.
Many women are happy making garments, but could
not take places of responsibility. People are not on
our sphere because they are more clever than those
below them ; for there are very clever people on lower
spheres. It is a question of goodness, of spiritual
development. Some here are quite stupidly good,
their every impulse is pure and good, yet they are
quite incapable of organising or thinking clearly.
Such people find more happiness in framing a picture
or covering a chair than they could do in teaching or
in caring for newcomers. The latter duties would be
less tasteful to them than manual work.

On my sister remarking that she was living in her

Occupations in the Life Beyond Death 157

father's home, my mother put a question relating to
housework. Etta explained that it must not be thought
that she had to attend to the multifarious details associated
with housekeeping on earth; with them the home was a
place to which one invited friends, and where social meetings
were arranged; home-life was still a habit, and had its
uses and pleasures.

G.D.T.: I imagine that where you live all have a desire
to know more and more and are ever adding to their
knowledge.

Father: Some do not seem eager for great knowledge; at
least, not for a long while after coming here. For a
time they seem satisfied, but at length all are drawn
upward. Of course, many of them have useful work
to do on my sphere, work which satisfies and interests
for a time. The higher knowledge is not acquired all
at once, it takes time. Many here are doing good work
and have no desire as yet for higher knowledge which
might even distract them from their present work.
But it is only a question of time ; they will presently
feel the appetite for the higher things. The lesser
things are both useful and necessary until one develops
mentally and spiritually; remember how children
outgrow their toys.

We have books, and people who delight in making
them very much as do authors on earth. Perhaps we
do not read quite so much as you do ; because we are
now able to converse personally with the authors.
We sometimes listen to good authors. Hearing them
speak gives an even better idea than we should
gain from their books. Still, we have the books and
there are libraries. In those libraries are many books
which have never been published on the earth.

(Following on this were remarks to the effect that
earthly authors were sometimes inspired by minds in the
spheres).

My father on another occasion said that, among other

158 Occupations in the Life Beyond Death

things, he was studying psychic laws and principles ; also
teaching groups of people; that he had always been
interested in collecting facts and that it had been an
ambition of his on earth to express them clearly and well;
he was now able to revel in that work. My mother, who
was present at this sitting, inquired if he remembered
anything of the table-games they used to play together.
He replied:—

“ Yes, wait until you come over here, when perhaps
you will find yourself playing them yet better.”

My mother expostulated at the idea of games beyond
death, upon which he added:—

“I think you will find yourself playing them
again.”

From what has been said by different communicators it
is evident that they wish it to be understood that games
are by no means excluded from the activities of their new
life. The younger among them allude to outdoor recrea¬
tions such as they used to enjoy while here.

Etta: Ours is such a wonderful life in comparison to that
lived on earth. Nothing I could say through this
channel would give you any idea that was comparable
to the reality. It is so much more wonderful, bright
and enjoyable than we can express.

Etta tells of helping in what on earth would be termed
a mission; an organised system for dealing with people
who have no near friends to welcome them ; also with those
who, having disbelieved in any future life, for some time
after their arrival deem themselves to be dreaming.

At the close of a particularly long and interesting sitting,
during which my father had controlled for seventy-eight
minutes, he remarked:—

" I often enjoy other occasions when you are at
home and unaware that I am with you.”

Occupations in the Life Beyond Death 159

Two years later he made some illuminating remarks about
his ability to share my thoughts. He drew a distinction
between the occasions when he actually came to me, and
the times when he was en rapport with me without coming
to earth. He explained that, in the latter case, he would
more easily get my subconscious thoughts, whereas, if
present with me, my conscious thoughts would be more
easily received by him. He further added that this
difference depended upon the condition he assumed; that
whereas in his own sphere he was in " the subconscious or
all-conscious plane of thought,” on coming to earth he
changed for the time being into “ a conscious plane of
thought.” The difference, he added, was not easy for me
to grasp, but it was very real. By practice he had become
able to interpret my thought from a distance, and con¬
sidered that, nine times out of ten, he would get my
thoughts as correctly as if he were in the room with me.

If this be so, then it is clear that in so far as our friends
acquire this faculty, one of the interests of their life will
be to observe the growth in character, and ability for
service, of those on earth for whose coming they wait with
anticipation.

CHAPTER XV

THE INTERPRETER OR CONTROL

This chapter is followed at intervals by others with aspects
of the process involved in communication through Mrs.
Leonard. It is probable that the underlying principles
apply more or less to trance mediums generally. The
subject is obscure and awaits further study.

The chapters referred to are the following :—

XVII. The Modus Operandi of Trance Communication.

XIX. Informing the Control.

XXI. Voicing the Message.

XXIII. Direct Control.

XXV. The Difficulty of transmitting Names in Psychic
Messages.

XXVII. The Influence of the Sitter.

Any contribution towards elucidation of trance methods
should be of interest, not only to those who share my
certainty that we are dealing with the mental activities of
the discamate, but also to those who favour alternative
views. For, whatever may be the origin of the messages,
it may be confidently assumed that they are produced in
accordance with law, which is observable in their charac¬
teristic imperfections, and frequent failure to make plain
what is obscurely hinted, as well as in their correct
statements about matters unknown to medium or sitter.

The following attempt to make the process intelligible is
supported by copious quotations. In these we have the
explanation of their origin given by the messages them¬
selves.

Where the communicators refer to “ the subconscious
mind/' and to “ the etheric brain/' I think they are
attempting to explain what they experience in themselves

160

The Interpreter or Control 161

and observe in others. Like ourselves, they labour under
the disadvantage of having no uniformly accepted terms
in which to clothe their ideas about the subtle distinctions
that exist in mental states. Some readers may perhaps
think that the fairly obvious shades of meaning might
have been expressed in words more psychologically precise.
If so, I trust they may find it possible to paraphrase to
themselves the sense of the quotations in language less
open to criticism.

Those who have read Lady Grey of Fallodon’s book.
The Earthen Vessel (John Lane, Publisher), will be already
familiar with the name of Feda. As the name constantly
appears in these chapters it may be well to speak of her
more fully at this point.

While studying the literature of psychical research,
during the period before my personal investigations
commenced, I was inclined to think that mediumistic
controls were dream aspects of a medium’s own mind, or
even instances of secondary personality. Experience
showed me that these hypotheses fail to meet the facts.
The controls studied by me not only claimed to be distinct
individuals, but were proved to be so by every test I
could apply; never did slip or slightest indication warrant
the supposition that they were other than the intelligent
and self-possessed individuals they claimed to be.

I have had the advantage of studying two controls—
namely, my father and sister—from the day when they
first became such by dispensing with Feda’s help and
speaking to me directly through Mrs. Leonard’s lips. I
have observed their early efforts at using the medium’s
organism develop into free and intimate conversation.
From them I have learnt the difficulties which a control
must surmount before acquiring ease and certainty in this
task.

The hypothesis that “ Feda,” “ my father ” and “ my
sister,” are but forms of Mrs. Leonard’s personality faiT<s
to find, in my experience, any support; and I may add
that this conclusion is in agreement with that of other
sitters whose communicators have similarly learnt to play
the part of temporary controls.

162 The Interpreter or Control

My father, my sister and Feda habitually refer to each
other in a conversational way, just as anyone might speak
of friends and fellow-workers. They allude to each other's
characteristics, to their skill or limitation in communicating,
and speak of knowing each other intimately in their life
away from earth.

One can hardly convey the impression received by these
multiplied touches of reality; nor is it easy to explain
one's reason for counting Feda among one's friends.
But to many of us, Feda is indeed a familiar friend; and
among the interests to which we look forward in the next
life is the pleasure of meeting her, and seeing her as she
really is.

I know that direct evidence of Feda's individuality as
something separate from Mrs. Leonard must, in the nature
of the case, be difficult to obtain. But the following
incidents should be placed on record. They supplement
the evidence which some of Mrs. Leonard's sitters are said
to have obtained when Feda has spoken to them through
other mediums, giving information which was known to
no one else in the circle, and which related to incidents in
their private sittings with Mrs. Leonard.

On March 18th, 1921, Feda told me, at the commence¬
ment of the sitting, that she had been to my home and had
visited the study. While there she felt that someone who
had been using it recently had left a totally different
impression in the room from anything which she could
assign to me, to my wife or to the maids. She said that
she had felt as if entering a fog and that, as she had been
to the room previously, she recognised it as something
unusual. This was interesting, because a visitor had just
left after a fortnight's stay with us and he had spent much
of his time in the study. It was a friend who had come
to England, suffering from severe nervous break-down.
Wishing to lead Feda further in her description I put
the following questions :—

Q.D.T.: Was that feeling such as might have been caused
by someone who was ill ?

Feda: Yes, it made a weak, curious condition, a heavy

The Interpreter or Control 163

feeling. What was the “ M ” condition in that room ?
Feda kept getting an impression of “ M.”

C.D.T.: Did you get nothing more than one letter ?

Feda: It was a name, but I only caught the “ M ” com¬
mencement of it. Do you know a “D" also con¬
nected with it ? This was not so clear.

G.D.T.: That letter would be the initial of my name
Drayton.

Feda: Not at all; for I should have felt that more clearly.
G.D.T.: Well, I'll ask when I get the opportunity.

Feda: I think you'll have an opportunity. It felt funny
to get other conditions in your room, foggy instead of
bright. He did not hear Feda knock there, did he ?
He would not have understood it if he had, but would
have thought it was a mouse or something of that
kind.

The last sentence may fairly be taken as indicating that
Feda realised that our visitor had been a man, that he was
unacquainted with psychical literature, and that I should
be seeing him again, all of which was correct. My friend
shortly returned for a further visit, and I then elicited
from him the following fact which had been entirely un¬
known to me. During his first visit he was worrying about
his work and wishing that he might be reinstated on the
staff of his old paper, the Manitoba Free Press . He had
finally decided, while with us, that he would write about
this to his old chief, Mr. Defoe, and he had actually written
the letter after leaving our house. Feda's impression of
names commencing with " M ” and “ D," accord with this.

When the above sitting ended Mrs. Leonard described
her recent experience at a sitting for the direct voice where
Feda had spoken to her, and asked her to let me know that
she had been to my study and had sensed difficult con¬
ditions there. The message for me had ended with the
sentence, “ Tell Mr. Drayton ' D' and ‘ M

Thus Feda, when speaking at a direct voice sitting, sent
me the message “ D and M," which she expanded at my
next sitting. This is proof to me that it was the same
person , i.e,, Feda, who spoke at both places.

164 The Interpreter or Control

My second story involves three people, a lady (previously
mentioned chapter XI.), who writes in the Journal of the
Society for Psychical Research under the pseudonym of
Mrs . Drummond , a clergyman and myself. Mrs. Drum¬
mond, while sitting with Mrs. Leonard on April nth, 1922,
was told by Feda that a stray cat or kitten had been found
and needed a home. At my sitting, seventeen days later,
Feda spoke to me about this animal and I offered to find
someone who might be willing to take it. At about this
date, the clergyman was attending a voice sitting else¬
where at which Feda spoke. He tells me that, having sat
with Mrs. Leonard several times, he was familiar with
Feda's manner and diction, and that he had no doubt that
it was really Feda who then, in direct voice, talked of cats
and her wish that people would be kinder to them.

A month later, I was again at Mrs. Leonard's and
reported to Feda that, having failed to find any other home
for the animal I would take it myself. Two days after this ,
Mrs. Drummond was in Hampshire receiving table messages
from her son, who frequently speaks to her through Feda
and Mrs. Leonard. Among his other messages he gave
the information, “ Feda s kitten has found a home."

At this date I was unacquainted with the clergyman and
it was two months later when we first met. In recounting
his psychic experiences he touched on Feda's mannerisms,
and happened to mention her coming to the above voice
sitting. Some time later, while I was telling Mrs. Drum¬
mond of this, she recollected her son's remark, “ Feda's
kitten has found a home," and promised to look up its
exact date. I was thus able to establish the above sequence
which culminates in the interesting fact that Feda and her
concern for kittens was vouched for by Mrs. Drummond's
communicator, not through Mrs. Leonard, but when Mrs.
Drummond was alone in her own home.

Feda's mannerisms, when speaking for herself, clearly
distinguish her from the communicators. In quotations
throughout this book I have not retained her peculiarities
of grammar, except on the rare occasions when these may
serve a purpose. And it is most noticeable how her
eccentric English disappears when she purports to repeat

The Interpreter or Control 165

the speaker's actual phrases. One often finds her, then,
using words and speaking correctly about subjects which
are, to all appearance, beyond her understanding, although
perfectly natural as coming from the person for whom they
are said to be transmitted.

For these and other reasons I accept Feda as being an
individual quite distinct from the medium through whom
she speaks.

CHAPTER XVI

" ORDER IS HEAVEN'S FIRST LAW”

G.D.T.: Can you tell me anything about the government
of your sphere ?

Etta: There is a government, but not one which limits
and restricts; it is more in the nature of an inquiry
bureau to which one can apply for advice and guidance
when needing it.

There will be an area which corresponds in general
to a county. In this is one of these bureaux. It is
managed by a band of experienced people who have
been here for some considerable time, and who do not
belong wholly to our sphere, but return periodically
for work. They know exactly where the newly
arrived are most likely to make mistakes. As you
know, on our sphere a mental call is easily heard. Let
us suppose that someone has been here only a short
time, say one of your weeks, and desires to visit some
acquaintance who is in another condition of life.
Well, he would not know how to set about it. He
would probably discuss the matter with his friends
and these might be uncertain whether or not it was
advisable for him to go. In that case they would most
probably ask at the bureau. The result might be that
two guides, selected by these higher spirits, would take
the applicant to the place he wished to visit, safe¬
guarding him so that he neither came to harm nor did
harm. I can give a concrete instance; there was a
man who ardently wished to return to earth and make
himself visible to his wife who was somewhat psychic¬
ally endowed; he wished to show her that he was
really alive and that he had a body. But one of his
relations here felt strongly that it would be an un¬
wise proceeding. So they went to the bureau and

“ Order is Heaven's First Law ” 167

discussed it there. Two experienced guides were sent
with them to the place on earth where the widow lived.
They at once realised that the shock of grief had
reduced her to so nervous a condition that her mind
might be upset by an apparition. And so the man
was advised to refrain from taking advantage of his
wife’s mediumistic powers to show himself, and rather
to endeavour to impress her to overcome the grief,
and to dwell on thoughts of his undying love. This he
did. Had there been no guidance given him, he
might have done otherwise and thereby made her
condition worse.

Helpers from the bureau are ready to advise as to
the first steps in this new life, suggesting suitable
forms of activity to those who are at a loss to know
what they can do. Also, they introduce to friends
those who arrive here having none of their own—as
is sometimes the case with young people.

I would not call this a government, however; it is
not quite that.

C.D.T.: Do you think that your bureau is under guidance
from a still higher one ?

Etta: Yes, and that higher one is under guidance from one
still higher, and so upward. As the teaching comes
down it grows more individual. The nearer its source,
the more impersonal is its form.

C.D.T .; Would you say that the higher bureaux deal with
general principles, while those nearer earth apply
these principles in detail ?

Etta: Just so. Suppose that from a higher sphere the
thought is sent out that the poor in a certain place,
London, for instance, should be almost immediately
assisted in some special way. This goes forth in the
form of an impersonal message urging charity and
help to those needing it. As this message comes down¬
ward through the spheres it gains in individuality,
until, upon my sphere, it would be caught by those
who, while on earth, had been in touch with London
and its conditions, possibly by some who still have
friends living there in poverty. The next step will

168 “ Order is Heaven's First Law ”

be that promptings to help the poor are given strongly
to your earth, probably to social workers and chari¬
table persons who then become impressed with the
idea that something should be done. No name was
given in the message, as it originated on the higher
sphere, but when someone on earth eagerly responds
with heart and soul to the impression, we pass word
upward telling what is being done and who is doing
it. And so, as it goes upward the impersonal has
become personal. Then a thought-current is sent
downward again to the person, or persons, who are
working out the mission on earth. One cannot do
good without its being known in the higher spheres,
particularly when one is carrying out an inspiration
towards practical service.

C.JD.T.: I suppose government takes a different form on
lower planes ?

Etta: Yes, there it is really government. When one is
fitted only for a low plane, no amount of desire to be
on a higher or more beautiful one would suffice to take
one there. The habit of life on earth decides, and not
any chance desire. If a man has qualified for a lower
sphere, he will find himself there, and he cannot get
away from it. That is just and right, and it saves a
vast amount of supervision. According as the soul
moulds itself while in the body, so it decides the place
to which it must go on leaving the body. Those who
simply live in the physical senses find themselves
exceedingly limited on leaving earth. We wish such
people understood the facts, so that they might realise
how fatally unwise and short-sighted is their manner
of life.

On a later occasion I questioned my father:—

O.D.T.: Can you tell me something more about the
organisation or governing of your world ?

Father: On the higher spheres there is the perfect operation
of Divine law or principle. The people do not need
keeping in order. They are nearer to the actual

“ Order is Heaven's First Law ” 169

governing court, or seat of activity, and therefore can
see the perfect workings of law. As one descends to
lower spheres the law seems to work less perfectly,
until, on earth, man's action thwarts it, resists it, and
seems to evade it for a time. Hence, you cannot on
earth see so much of the spiritual organisation, or
working of the law, as is seen on the higher spheres.
The system is wonderful.

Suppose that on a high sphere it was deemed
desirable to have a gathering to discuss and determine
instructions for a lower sphere about some important
movement, instructions intended for handing down
even so far as earth. The time arrives when certain
souls should gather together. Who is to call them ?
No one. The law brings them together, call it law
of love, of service, it brings them together automatic¬
ally; for people there respond to these principles
which are God's Will and therefore the law. Do not
take this simply in the religious sense, I am speaking
of it as a fact; for God's Will is a law as immovable, as
real, or even more so, than gravity or any other law
you might name. This Will is for the good of the whole
universe, and upon the highest sphere of each planet
it is felt and interpreted.

So, it is not a government by a body of people on
the highest sphere ; it is government direct from God.
On the highest sphere the highest is Our Lord. The
Spirit and Will of God manifest through Him. He
is the living symbol of the Will of God for our
planet.

Now, all those who are on that sphere are attuned
to the Will of God, or they would not be there. They
interpret that Will. On such an occasion as I am
describing, when a meeting is to be called, no messages
are sent out. The very fact that it is necessary for
certain people to draw together for consultation seems
to collect them. You see them coming from different
directions to the one place. They are obeying the
call. It is not more wonderful to them to obey
voiceless messages than for you to answer a telephone

170 “ Order is Heaven's First Law u

call, which to our ancestors would have seemed an
outstanding miracle.

I was once conducting a band of young men who
were to see Our Lord. We were met on the seventh
sphere by advanced spirits who had left earth ages
ago. I remember, on arriving there, being amazed to
see these others coming from different directions and
meeting us at the same place and moment. All were
exact to time. They told me that they had known of
our coming, that they had felt the time had arrived,
although they had received no message about it.

Now, I think that they can there see the whole of
things, the complete plan; while only small portions
of it are handed out to you and to me. If the whole
plan were given you at once, you would probably be
dazzled, confused, weighed down by it. On those
high spheres it is difficult for them to explain to me
how they know things, because they can comprehend
the whole, and although they are no longer in close
touch with detail, yet detail is attended to by them;
for they do perfectly what they undertake.

Etta : I should like to attempt an illustration of that. You
know that anyone who learns to play some instrument
does it with difficulty at first and slowly. He knows
how he moves his fingers because he moves them so
slowly. But an expert pianist plays most intricate
things without being consciously aware which notes
particular fingers are touching each moment. He sees
the music more as a whole, he does not need to plod
through each detail, he is interpreting. He might not
be able to answer your question if you inquired
whether his thumb was upon C, and his third finger
on F; he does not think about his fingers and their
position, because he is interpreting the whole. Thus,
he might be less able than some beginners to tell you
those details. What father means is that on the higher
spheres they k-n-o-w. It is not reasoning, but
something higher.

Father: Etta is right; there is a higher sense—Intuition.
Some call it Conscience, others Instinct—the sense of

“ Order is Heaven's First Law ” 171

knowing without having to trouble to find out how
one knows. That is the form of government on highei
spheres. It is a system of knowing. People do not
leap into that sphere from a much lower one; they
develop to it by gradual stages. Therefore, on reaching
it, you are fitted and ready to know, to govern and to
be governed by knowing. You can help govern those
below you because you know the law and can submit
to be governed by the law yourself.

On our third sphere we have a system more akin to
that of your world, though I would scarcely term it
compulsory government. But people are encouraged
to do certain things which are best for them and
dissuaded, or even forbidden, to do others. For, you
see, among those who come to our sphere many have
but little knowledge, although they have all done their
best according to their lights. Such require some
degree of governing, or they might try to do various
things which were bad for them, even if from good
motives. So we have Advisory Courts or Bureaux.
Someone may wish to help a friend on earth in an
undesirable course ; another may want to engage in a
kind of work which will teach him nothing. Such
cases are brought before an Advisory Court. As a
rule these courts deal with those who have been here
but a short time. There is no forcing, no compulsion ;
for that is not necessary here as it is in your world.
But after advice has been given, should a person
insist on doing the contrary thing, guides would be
sent to see that the person did as little harm as
possible, and that not for long.

L.B.1).

M

CHAPTER XVII

THE MODUS OPERANDI OF TRANCE COMMUNICATION

During my private sittings with Mrs. Osborne Leonard,
only the medium is visible and the words spoken come
from her lips. But everything points to the presence
of two unseen persons who co-operate with the
medium.

One of these inferred presences is a practised transmitter
of messages. This is Feda, the control; the other pre¬
sence originates them, and is termed the communicator.
Chief among the communicators who thus come to speak
to me are my father and sister, and as they have endea¬
voured to explain the process of communication I shall
quote freely from their words.

They say that their messages pass to Feda in the form of
thought and that Feda then transmits them by means of
the medium's lips.

Very illuminating are their allusions to these processes.
Should Feda and my father meet in their own realms of
life they exchange thought with ease, either by words or
by the more speedy method of mental intercourse. But
immediately they come into the conditions strictly essential
for trance communication, intercourse between them
becomes difficult.

Reception of thought is complicated for Feda, because
she merges her personality with that of the medium.
Only by this temporary merging is Feda able to speak
through the medium's lips, yet it is precisely this blend
which causes her difficulty in catching my father's thoughts.
When away from the medium, Feda can receive unerringly,
but cannot transmit; when merged with the medium
Feda can transmit, but finds it hard to receive. Her
position is then somewhat similar to that of a medium

172

The Modus Operandi of Trance Communication 173

who, without going into trance, tries to receive by clair-
audience the messages of an unseen speaker. These
mediums, who remain normal can, of course, easily speak
that which they “ hear/' but Feda's only means of pro¬
ducing speech is by utilising a brain and vocal organs
belonging to another person.

Feda's work therefore is twofold; first, to understand
the messages which are transmitted to her telepathically,
and, secondly, to effect their accurate expression in words.

My father also, like Feda, has difficulties to overcome.
For, on entering the conditions of a sitting, his memory
divides into its former earthly condition of conscious and
subconscious. Much which he had intended to say may
remain in the subconscious portion of his mind, where it is
not available for use. This division of mind and memory
constitutes one of the greatest obstacles which beset
communicators. They are frequently checked for want of
a word or fact which they know that they possess, but
which at the moment is not available. Further, this split
in memory may deprive them of access to those very facts
which their friends on earth have difficulty in believing
could, under any circumstances, be forgotten. The
inexperienced investigator is naturally puzzled when his
friend purports to be speaking, and yet seems to have
forgotten either his name or his place of birth, or some
familiar incident.

Communicators are able to give many evidential details
in the course of an ordinary sitting, but it is often per¬
turbing to discover how very much they would seem to
have forgotten. When the schoolmaster cannot spell,
and the purist stumbles in grammar, their friends naturally
are chilled by doubt.

As we shall presently see from their own words, com¬
municators are often embarrassed by a temporary forget¬
fulness arising from divided consciousness. Some of them
make a practice of preparing their messages beforehand
so as to lessen the likelihood of forgetting. Yet, obviously,
this precaution cannot help them in replying to questions.
The information demanded may, or may not, be in their
recollection at the moment; and even when present, and

174 The Modus Operandi of Trance Communication

successfully transmitted to Feda, it may yet fail to be
spoken accurately by the medium.

There is a further prolific source of trouble. This is the
continual variation of the psychic emanation surrounding
the medium. Its fluctuations are comparable to that of
the wind, so that what is possible at one moment becomes
impossible at another. This calls for skill and discern¬
ment in its use, such as only long practice can ensure.

When Feda has latitude in the selection of words, her
task is lightened; for if some words will not pass, she
can employ others which the medium’s brain will accept.
But there is no such alternative where proper names are
involved. It must then be the right name or nothing.
Not infrequently an important sentence turns upon a
specific word, and that one word may be as great an
obstacle as a name. Sometimes it gets through at the
first attempt. But if not, Feda may vainly try to achieve
its correct expression. Her very anxiety defeats her
chance of success.

In golf the bunkers on the links are stationary and visible
to the players; in trance communication the bunkers are
not only unseen, but in perpetual movement. Hence the
many checks encountered as a sitting progresses. The
communicator and Feda are playing their ball amidst
obstacles, while the sitter being unaware of these, wonders
at the pauses, circumlocutions and failures.

The force in use being that of thought, it is easy to
understand that a strong cross-current from the sitter may
block or side-track communicator or control. It may
neutralise the efforts of the former, or cause the latter to
mistake the sitter’s thought for that of the communicator.
In the latter case, Feda combines the two streams of thought
into a welter of incoherent ideas.

Some communicators have learnt to dispense with Feda’s
services and to impress their thoughts directly upon the
brain of the medium. But a communicator, while in this
direct personal control, is still limited by his divided
memory. Besides which, he is, to some extent,, pre¬
occupied by the care required in operating the medium’s
brain. Practice is essential. The progress shown by my

The Modus Operandi of Trance Communication 175

father and sister is evidence of this. They both attribute
their increased facility to a careful study of the various
difficulties, as well as to their frequent opportunities for
practice in speaking with me.

As one of them said :—

“ We learn by these experiences, and are beginning
to see why and where we fail."

CHAPTER XVIII

ENHANCED POWERS AND HAPPINESS

Father: We do not need holidays. Our life is a feast of
work; not a labour, but a feast, more enjoyable than
any holiday.

The following extracts refer to Etta at periods ranging

from six months to six years after passing :—

Six months after :—

Etta: It seems incredible to me that I can have been away
from earth so long. With us time flies so fast that
months seem short as days. I am no longer surprised
that people around me find it easy to await the coming
of their friends.

Father : It is delightful having Etta here. She finds this
life even more interesting than she had anticipated,
and she is very happy.

Two years after :—

Father: I wish it were possible for you to see Etta now,
not merely to console yourself, but to see how extra¬
ordinarily and keenly happy she is.

Three years after:—

Etta : My life with father is so interesting and wonderful.
It seems curious now to look back on the comparatively
narrow life that engrossed me while on earth. I
should not care to return now, even were that possible;
I should not welcome it for myself, though I should be
glad if you and the others could see me. This is
such an interesting life; and I think the fact that I
studied psychic matters and learnt something about
176

Enhanced Powers and Happiness 177

this life while on earth makes it even more interesting
to me now.

Four years after :—

G.D.T.: Do you find life broadening out for you as time
goes on ?

Etta: Yes, the four years since I passed over have gone
very quickly and very happily. I grow more conscious
of the wonderful things around me, things of which I
was not wholly conscious at first. For instance, my
range of sight and of hearing, as well as my under¬
standing, is constantly increasing. All is there from
the first, but one has to grow in ability to understand.
A little child has around him all the things which are
around you, but his power of appreciation has to be
developed.

Six years after:—

Etta: We lead such a wonderful life compared with that
on earth. Nothing I could say through this channel
would give you any adequate idea of its reality. It is
so much more wonderful, bright and enjoyable than
we can express.

It is often asked how those above can be happy if they
are aware of the tribulations through which their friends
on earth are passing. Here is Etta's explanation :—

“ When we speak of being worried or unhappy about
things on earth you must not suppose that we our¬
selves are made unhappy. Certainly we are sorry, but
nothing happening on earth can make us unhappy in
the life yonder. We sympathise, but we also see the
aim and the end. On earth people struggle on, and
the end seems far away and even uncertain; but we
have attained it.

After an interval of two years Etta again referred to
this. She said:—

178 Enhanced Powers and Happiness

“ I am not worried about anything, but am happy
in my own life. Although aware that all sorts of
worries come to friends on earth, yet I am so sure of
the ultimate good of it all, that I can be happy while
awaiting future reunion with them.

C.D.T.: Can you explain to me how you recall your
memories ?

Father: On our own sphere we do not recall memory
because it is present. All is upon the one page.
Past is present in that sense with us. It is impossible
to forget anything ; not that we are always looking at
the past, but it is there for us to read in our memory.
It is there without any striving for it.

C.D.T.: You would not experience that memory as vividly
as when the event had just happened ?

Father: I could do so if I wished, by an act of will.

C.D.T.: Then one might almost live over again the
happiest scenes of earth life ?

Father: Yes, we can and do. It is especially wonderful
and beautiful when two recall such things together.
On earth you may meet an old friend and expect
pleasure in talking over old times with him, but find
that it is less pleasurable than you had anticipated;
his mind does not always recall the things which most
interested you, while he has considered as being
important certain matters which did not interest you
at all. But here we remember the whole completely,
and this makes a tremendous difference.

Father ; lam convinced (for I have never heard anything
to the contrary) that as we progress we retain our
individuality. We do not lose self, we only perfect
it. We perfect it to so high a degree that it is a
blessing to be oneself. While we grow more and
more selfless we lose nothing of ourself that is good.
This does not imply that all will attain to one uniform
type ; they will retain each their own peculiarities,
so far as these are not harmful. For example, it is

Enhanced Powers and Happiness 179

right for Etta to be impulsive, quicker and more
excitable than most; she will keep that characteristic,
but will always use it wisely, rightly and perfectly.
But on earth there is an idea held by some that we
shall eventually be submerged in some ocean of spirit.
No, no. We can become allied with the source of
power and wisdom, but never submerged. “ In His
own image He made man,” and in His own image He
keeps man.

Alluding to a friend and the possibility of bringing her to
communicate with me, they said:—

“ We will send out a mental invitation. It is
quite easy to do. The person receiving it can accept
or refuse at pleasure.”

C.D.T.: Does such invitation always reach the one for
whom it is meant

“ Nearly always; that is, if it is right that it should
reach them. You see, there is a law which acts auto¬
matically; should a thing not be right for us, it
could not happen on our sphere, even though we tried
by thought to bring it about. So that, if it does not
come to pass, we are not disappointed, knowing that
its happening would interfere with higher and more
important plans. We are unable to create conditions
on our sphere which are not the best for us. So that
if it is right for your friend to come here she will
receive my mental invitation.”

Note .—At a subsequent sitting I had a long conversation
with the lady in question.

I asked my father and Etta to give some description of
the greater powers of body and mind which they now
experience.

Father: It is important to make known the added powers

180 Enhanced Powers and Happiness

of average people like ourselves; it will make for a
better understanding and appreciation of the after
life. Many on earth fear that on leaving their body
they will be less complete than at present; their
physical body seems so essential that the idea of being
detached from it suggests a sense of loss, of being less
well off than before. But such an idea is entirely
wrong. The unseen body has a real existence all the
time you are in the physical body, and it has much
greater power when freed therefrom. While in the
physical body its power is small, because your per¬
sonality functions in the physical body. But you
live in your spiritual body during sleep, and in
moments of inspiration, or prayer.

When your soul is freed from its earthly body it
finds itself living in one that is similar, but which has
indeed added powers of feeling and of movement.
I wish to emphasise that not only am I surrounded by
greater beauty and happiness, but that my powers of
appreciation are greatly expanded. You know how
one used to walk past beautiful flowers, and grand
sights, without seeing all that was in them; we are
able to see the complete beauty. In short, our powers
are a thousand times greater than yours.

O.D.T.: Do you really mean a thousand times ?

Father: Yes, incalculably more; one cannot exactly say
how many times greater. Etta will be very glad to
give you her views. She is enthusiastic, just as she
was when on earth.

Etta : You ask me to tell you something about our powers
here. For one thing, we have complete control over
both mind and body, a complete control. It is
astonishing how little control we really had when on
earth. The contrast impresses me immensely on
coming here. On earth the mind has some degree of
control over body and health ; a bending of the mind
to one's task, and a determined cheerfulness under
difficulties, can accomplish a good deal. But here our
body is perfect, perhaps on account of the mind's
perfect control over it.

Enhanced Powers and Happiness 181

Our emotions also are under the control of mind.
Suppose I see something which makes me indignant.
I feel the indignation, but should not lose my temper
or neglect anything I happened to have in hand. I
should register the emotion, but should not dwell upon
it. And so likewise with sorrow, I may feel sorrow,
but it does not hurt me. I have no sorrow for myself,
but I do feel for others. When I realised that I had
come here I felt sorrow for you all who were mourning
my loss ; but that sorrow did not hurt me, because I
did not dwell upon it in the sense of putting other
things aside for it. I knew that I felt sorrow, I
registered the fact, but it makes all the difference when
the mind has complete control.

Another of our powers is that of realising the great
happiness of love for our friends on earth without the
old craving for their immediate companionship. I
have not that craving, but always the consciousness
that one would not be away from them were it not
right. I think it is the complete consciousness
of being in one's right place which overcomes all such
personal desires and griefs.

On earth, even in sorrow, there comes the moment
of enlightenment in which you know that all is right;
for the moment you feel it, although you revert to the
old sadness afterwards. Contact with the ordinary
conditions of life brings back the former sadness. Yet,
in that momentary flash, you experience the kind of
consciousness which is always ours here. It would be
incorrect to say that I long and crave to have contact
with earth. Rather say that when I have this oppor¬
tunity of talking with you it brings me an added
happiness. We think more and more of our friends
as we progress in our upward life. The only occasion
when we should not be permitted to engross our
thought with friends on earth would be when any of
them selfishly attempted to compel us to do so. Not
many would do that. It is a thing to avoid, and may
as well be stated by way of warning. Opportunities
should be given us, but it is useless to try and compel

182 Enhanced Powers and Happiness

O.D.T.: Am I right in saying that no one could possibly
compel you to come to them ?

Etta: Compulsion is quite impossible. Yet, you will
easily understand that the very knowledge that
someone was there on earth, longing and appealing,
would not add to our happiness here. But so far as
friends refrain from that attempt to compel us, we are
able to help them more and more; for we can get
closer and closer to them.

Yet another of our powers is that of realising the
rightness of everything. On earth one so frequently
resented and lamented the wrong seen all around;
whereas, if we but tried to improve and set right, so
far as we could influence matters, it would be the
better course. Here we are always building up and
never dwell upon regrets. I am, of course, speaking
of our own sphere. On lower spheres there is regret;
it is the penalty. Just as my added powers of mind
enable me to realise that it is waste of time to idly
regret the past, so do the dwellers on lower spheres
come to realise that it is right and useful to regret,
because only by consciousness of what was wrong in
their lives can they rise to what is better.

Our happiness here is extraordinary; it is beyond
any description that I could give you.

C.DT.; And are you aware of events happening at a
distance from you ?

Etta: There is what father terms " telescopic vision/*
We are not always seeing what happens at a distance.
My range of vision is little more than it was on earth,
though the clearer atmosphere makes it easier to see.
For events taking place two hundred miles away we
can employ a special vision not in constant use. We
can use it whenever we choose, but it is no more
necessary to employ these special powers of vision,
than it is for you to concentrate minutely upon trifles.
There are times for the lighter touch, and times for
the deeper attention.

G.D.T .; It seems to suggest clairvoyance.

Etta: It is clairvoyance, and we have clairaudience upon

Enhanced Powers and Happiness 183

similar lines. At first I was unable to employ it,
but I can now hear what you say while quite far off.
Father informs me that I get the sense only, yet it
seems to me exactly as though I hear it, even to the
actual tone of your voice.

Note .—The remainder of this conversation dealt with
Etta’s description of the varying degrees in which she
could see me, and the objects around me, as I worked in
my study. I gathered that, in her opinion, the object
most easily seen was the etheric or psychic body and
that from this there emanated an etherial light which, to
her vision, served to illuminate surrounding objects; but
that, as a rule, inanimate objects were less easily seen than
were people.

C.D.T.: When you are away from here and in the spirit
world as usual, do you speak with others by thoughts
or by words ?

Father: Either way; by words if we wish, or by pro¬
jecting our thoughts. But there is more privacy,
because the thoughts are only projected at will. It is
as when two walk together in the country and both
may be admiring the scenery silently till one says,
“ Look at that,” and designedly attracts the attention
of the other to some object. Then they see it as you
see it. This is easier than doing it by words.

C.D.T .: How do those talk with each other who on earth
used different languages ?

Father: Each speaks to others in the language that was
his^ own, but the thoughts reach the mind of the
recipient in the form familiar to him, and not as
foreign words.

Six years later my sister made a similar statement,

viz.:—

“ On our own sphere we could understand anything
spoken by the Chinese, and the Chinese would

184 Enhanced Powers and Happness

understand us also; this is due to a sort ol
automatic interpretation of the mind.”

O.D.T.: I gather, from what you have told me, that it
will be possible some day to re-enact all the brightest
and best scenes of one’s earthly life.

Father: Yes, and also those which one has missed on earth;
all that which once was possible, but which did not
come to fruition. When you come here you will find
that which is difficult for me to express. You will
realise the good of what you have done, and the-
happiness which you had, and beyond that, also, the
happiness which you might have had, and which,
just because you might have had it, is still yours.
This will include the things which were apparently
taken from you, but which you let go willingly and not
grudgingly; for those things you have made doubly,
nay trebly, your own.

CJD.T. : That sounds very beautiful.

Father: On coming here you will find it is a fact. That
which is given up willingly, or which you see taken
from you, yet you do not waste time in repining
over, you have made yours. Whereas, things which
men pursue, seize on by force, are the things they
lose.

Etta once remarked:—

“ On earth one interprets blindly the meaning of
the Higher Will, and follows it as best one can; but
we here can feel where one will have to follow next
when the time ripens.

My mother, while with me at a sitting, remarked that
she thought at her age there could not be many more
years left for her.

Etta: I do not think there will be, mother; but it is
wonderful to think that we can never really be
separated/’

Enhanced Powers and Happiness 185

After naming several relations who had passed over,
she added:—

“ They will all be there. It is quite true, mother,
about ' the many mansions/ ”

My mother quoted :—

“ The thought of such amazing bliss should constant
joys create.”

Etta: It is amazing bliss ! The knowledge of it; should be
spread ; for it is needed.

O.D.T.; Do you not sometimes feel awed and almost
terrified to think that you have now no boundary to
your mental horizon ? On earth we limit our views
by our years, and death is the boundary. You have
none.

Father: It is all so satisfying that one would be terrified
to think it could come to an end. There are new
possibilities and developments which one is always
anxious to experience, and we know there is still more
beyond. And always the happiness and peace which
you cannot understand while on earth, because you
cannot retain it, even if you feel it for a moment.

CHAPTER XIX

INFORMING THE CONTROL

It is of interest to hear what the communicators themselves
say of the way in which their thoughts are given to Feda,
and how she, in turn, expresses them in speech.

Father controlling .

“ When I come here to speak, Feda is frequently
puzzled as to my meaning and fails to catch it either
quickly or accurately. That is when I am unable to
make my meaning reach her in the form of words.
If I then project a thought of some concrete object,
Feda may remark, ‘ I see so-and-so/ but though she
may seem to be seeing the object, it is really my
thought of it which has reached her.

Etta controlling.

C.D.T.: How do you give your messages to Feda ?

Etta: As a rule, when I give a message it goes by thought
in blocks. Say that I wish to give, " I have been in
a garden at home, lately/' I should not give it in
bits, but in a complete thought first of all. Suppose
she then asks me to give it again ; the first attempt is
already imprinted on her mind, but not necessarily
penetrating through to that part which is working
upon the medium's brain. It is not lost, but she may
take time in getting the thought through ; so I help
by splitting up the sentence thus: " I have been in a
garden ... at home . . . lately/' This permits her
to get clearly any part which she had missed. Feda's
mind usually follows what I give, and while getting the
first and second parts of a thought she would be
mentally asking, “ When ? Long ago ? Lately ? ”

Informing the Control 187

and that prepares the way for me to give the other
portion of it.

In the following remarks Feda describes the process from
her point of view:—

Feda.

“ They try any way—feeling, seeing or hearing; but
Feda finds feeling the easiest. They can suggest hot
or cold, if the object they think of is metal. Much is
done by suggestion* They can make Feda feel a
thing is cold or hot, exactly as if she felt it with her
fingers. You know how hypnotised people can be
made to feel like that.”

Feda.

“ Feda used to make bad mistakes when they
showed symbols, because she did not understand them.
Suppose they showed her a cross, she would know now
that they meant trouble. Until they explained what
their symbols meant Feda used to get wrong over them.
It is still difficult when new spirits show them, but
experienced spirits often come with them to help and
show what symbols to use. They use them when it is
too much trouble to explain their meaning in words ;
for there are times when Feda can see better than she
can hear them.”

Feda.

“ -What * . . . Wait. . . Cannot hear you ... It

is a nuisance. I was hearing him very well just then,
but there is a vibration of voices coming now which
mixes it all up. Can you shut the window ?

This break came in the midst of an interesting passage
which flowed with ease and accuracy. I then noticed, for
the first time, a sound of voices in conversation outside the
room where we were sitting. Two persons were talking
on the lawn outside. I asked them to speak more softly,
and closing the window, returned to my place. Feda then
said:—

L.B.D.

N

188

Informing the Control

“ It does not matter while your father talks mentally,
but when he speaks in voice it does matter. Although
you cannot hear his voice, it sounds like a real voice
to Feda while in the medium, and it is more like your
voice, because Feda listens to both of them from inside
the medium. When controlling, Feda hears both the
sitter’s and the communicator’s voices; not always
equally well, but sometimes so.

" Your father says that this is because Feda has a
double set of instruments to work with—her own and
the medium’s. He thinks these machines are occasion¬
ally interchangeable. He asks: ' Is it the medium's
etheric brain or Feda’s brain which is used ? ’ Either
can be used, and the same process does not hold good,
even throughout one sitting.”

During the early part of a sitting Feda had failed in
giving the family name of my father’s old colleague,
Benjamin Browne, although I had clearly recognised by
the description, and the name Benjamin, that he was the
person alluded to.

We spent some time over it, and I went so far as to ask
Feda whether the name wanted was not that of a colour ;
but Feda was unable to put it through. Later, when my
father was controlling, he said :—

“ You must wonder what is doing when you ask
for a simple name like Browne and I cannot give
it.”

G.D.T.: Was Browne the name you wanted Feda to say
earlier in the sitting ?

Father: Yes, and so I got it in here. I dropped the attempt
till I could introduce it myself.

Father controlling .

“ I am not always aware what Feda says when in
control. I am mentally following up what I am giving
and so am not always noticing what she says. Thus,
I am not clear as to whether she had given my thoughts
rightly or wrongly. As when telephoning, if a slip is

Informing the Control 189

made you may not realise how it has been understood
at the other end, and, not knowing that an error has
occurred, you cannot rectify it.”

Father .

“ There is difficulty in introducing an entirely new
topic, introducing it to the medium's brain and to
Feda. I frequently prepare the ground by using words
which lead up to my subject. Association of ideas
is all-important. However, I am frequently able to
broach an entirely new subject, and probably I find
fewer difficulties than do most communicators.”

Feda's part is beset with pitfalls which she does not
always see. For example, she may not notice that the
communicator has begun a new topic and’ she may then
attach the second message to the tail of its predecessor.
Sometimes neither communicator nor sitter notices that
disconnected themes are being combined.

Then sometimes Feda cannot grasp the idea which is
being conveyed to her. Even when the conditions are so
good that she seems to herself to hear the message in spoken
words, some important part of a sentence may be missed,
and the resulting impression which she transmits is in¬
accurate. More difficult still is it when Feda cannot
receive the thought in the form of words, but catches only
its general import. Omissions easily reduce a com¬
munication to chaos. Feda is perfectly aware of all this
and has discussed her difficulties with me.

There have been times when a fragmentary message has
contained definite evidence that my father was aware of
certain facts which he failed to convey to Feda in con¬
secutive and accurate form. In some instances I could see
what it was he wished to tell me; it was clear that he
knew more than he could make Feda understand. When
he persisted in trying to explain, Feda made a long circum¬
locution ;♦ and if, for sake of experiment, I put leading
questions, they only brought further proof that Feda
could not understand something which was clear to my
father and to me.

r 90 Informing the Control

Feda (addressing the communicator): I cannot get that
... try again . . . (turning to me). Do you know,
there are times when I hear him, really hear him,
and yet get only muddled sounds, not properly formed
sounds? He says it again, and if it does not get
clearer he has to show it, or get it through in some
other way. He does not always know when he has
failed to make Feda hear, and goes on with it. Then,
if asked to repeat, he may not know what part Feda
has not heard, and then there is a muddle of mistakes.

“ Feda cannot hear all he says all the time. Isn't
it a nuisance ? Have to catch parts, like when many
things are thrown at you and you catch what you can.
Feda rarely hears all that is said.”

” I think he wants Feda to understand something
which he knows, but cannot quite get through to
Feda.”

G.D.T. : Can he not tell you plainly in words ?

Feda: He could tell Feda, but Feda cannot hear.

G.D.T . .* How is that ?

Feda: Feda can hear part, and part not; is able to hear
some of it to-day, but not all of it. People often
wonder why there seem to be extraordinary gaps in a
sitting, not natural sequences. A communicator has
to break off and leave out something which he knows
it would be hopeless or risky to try to get through.
So that often a sitting seems disjointed, fragmentary.

Feda ; Your father says that he may not be able to
continue the present topic next time.

C.D.T.: But cannot he plainly tell you it is coming ?

Feda : He might plainly tell me, but I might not catch it.
At nearly every sitting there is something which Feda
knows she has not caught. It is like losing something
and not being able to pick it up again. Communicators
seem unable to repeat, or else it is that Feda can't
catch the repetition.

Informing the Control 191

She tells me that, sometimes, a would-be communicator
who though present at the sitting, has failed to attract her
attention, will to some degree mingle his thoughts with the
messages she is transmitting for someone else. In her
opinion it is more likely to happen with communicators
who are new to her, especially when there are several of
them present; because, in these circumstances, it is difficult
to know from whom the ideas come.

It may be asked why my father does not give his messages
to Feda before she enters into control. He tells me that
he has tried this, but that the division of memory affects
Feda quite as much as it affects himself. I have occasion¬
ally heard Feda in conversation with him during the short
period of whispering which precedes her opening remarks.
In these whispers I have caught references to topics which
were presently introduced in the sitting. Feda tells me
that this preparation helps her slightly by making it
easier for her to catch the ideas again when they are
projected to her later.

CHAPTER XX

MISCONCEPTIONS RECTIFIED AFTER DEATH

G.D.T.: Many people of average good character seem to
take no interest in Jesus Christ; do they quickly
learn to do so on passing over ?

Father: Their mind soon begins to open to thoughts of
Him when once they know from experience that life
continues after death. This opens up, in many
instances, a whole line of ideas, and the next step is
towards God. The very fact of their experiencing the
reality of an after life brings to most people a certainty
respecting God also. Question an atheist and he will
probably say that he does not believe either in God
or in a future life. All who become aware that they
are actually in the life beyond death do open their
mind to the possibility of God. It is not everyone who
immediately accepts Jesus Christ, but they accept the
fact of God.

There are many good Buddhists, Mohammedans and
others who, at first, are satisfied with their own
conception of the Highest, whether as Buddha, Mo¬
hammed, or other, as the case may be. The idea of
Jesus Christ does not at first appeal to them, but later
it does. Naturally, people may say that I, being a
Christian minister, am prejudiced. But on considera¬
tion of other religions it will be seen that their followers
are unlikely to qualify for such high place as those who
sincerely follow Christ; because their lives are
generally influenced by practices which are neither
good nor moral.

G.D.T .; Then, whatever our creed, things which conduce
to wrong conduct will have to be recognised as hin¬
drances to our progress.

192

Misconceptions Rectified after Death 193

Father: Undoubtedly. People do not see the importance
of their shortcomings as we see them.

Q.D.T.: Do you still hold the doctrine of eternal punish¬
ment as it was understood and taught in your day ?

Father: It was an error. All will have opportunity, and
in time all will progress.

G.D.T.: Is there a personal devil, as you used to teach ?

Father: No, there is no organiser of evil, no individual
spirit directing evil, no malignant force of personal
evil. There are multitudes who pass over from earth
in a sadly undeveloped condition, but the undeveloped
soul of a person who lived a bad life on earth is a very
different individuality from the traditional devil of
popular imagination. You probably realise that
many, whom you would term “ evil men,” become what
they are through ignorance; neither mind nor character
are developed. Of such it may be said, as Christ said
of his murderers, " They know not what they do.”
Theirs is not so much a calculated, determined, chosen
attitude of opposition, as a state of blindness to the
reality of God and goodness, a blindness which may
indeed be culpable, but which is not a settled opposition
to good. Such undeveloped souls are not devils in
any other sense than a bad man on earth may be
termed “ a devil.” No such unprogressed person has
power over us or over you. Evil thoughts and habits
might invite such a one but, even so, he cannot control
you further than you may choose to act in accordance
with his suggestions.

While I admit that these unprogressed ones might
suggest evil to men's minds, I say they have no power
to force men in any way. I entirely disbelieve that
any such forcing ever takes place. You may hear
someone say, " I was compelled by some outside
influence which was too strong for me.” But that is
untrue. The man may have reacted to an evil
suggestion, but it was not forced on him. People
around can easily bring to bear on him much stronger
suggestion than can any unprogressed spirits. Un¬
wholesome companions are more to be feared than any

194 Misconceptions Rectified after Death

who have left their earthly body; the latter can only
use mental influence, while those on earth may employ
for their ends not influence alone, but also money and
alluring surroundings. Tempters in the body are ten
times more dangerous than invisible tempters.

Father: When I was on earth I do not think I thought
consciously of communion with any other individual
in the spirit world, but only of Our Lord. I feel now
that it is a help when you have others who stand
prominently in your mind; the link may be small,
but it is important. I think that Etta and I, and
perhaps some others also, act to you as waymarks.
You know where you are with us. And so the road to
Our Lord is made plainer. He would have us serve
thus as landmarks on the upward way. Some people
may think of their friends here as a goal, as if com¬
munication with them were an end in itself. I am
inclined to think that communication may be a rather
bad thing for those who use such a possibility of
spiritual communication and yet make nothing
spiritual of it.

Some have talked about “ holding us back ^; it is
not possible for you to hold us back; but we may be
saddened and disappointed, which would, to some
small degree, lessen our happiness. This might result
from people regarding communication with us as an
end in itself, rather than seeing in it a means of attain¬
ing something higher.

C.D.T.: Can you mention other misconceptions which axe
corrected on passing over ?

Father: I should like to name especially the confusion of
thought about acting from principle and acting from
motive. Many, while on earth, were inclined to think
that their conduct was right if only the motive was
good, no matter what the result happened to be. But
motives are not everything, they are like the walls of
a house without foundations ; for in a life regulated
only by a system of motives, one is always falling down

Misconceptions Rectified after Death 195

and rebuilding. On coming here one discovers that
it is Principle that matters, and not motive.

There is much confusion between principle and
motive. But principle is the foundation of truth in
conduct, and leads to sound knowledge about motives.
Before we allow ourselves to respond to motives we
need to be sure of our principles. Many a man comes
here and finds that he has to account for something
which he did when on earth, and rather prided himself
on doing. He finds that it was not a good thing to
have done, because it was not founded on right
principles. What is " Doing evil that good may
come ” ? It is acting with a good motive upon a bad
principle. There is more misconception, perhaps, on
that point than about anything else, save religion.
It invades religion. Take the case of a savage who
offers human sacrifices in the name of his god. He
does it from a motive, a good motive. But that
action in the name of his god is based upon a wrong
principle. His ideas about his gods are wrong,
although his motives are good.

This is one of the reasons for missions to the heathen.
I used to hear it said in some quarters that they ought
not to be interfered with, that their own religion
might be the best one for them. But we must en¬
lighten them when we see that their actions are
founded on wrong principles. The Christian religion
is above ah others, for it is founded on right principles.
Consider only a few of its most prominent, love and
justice, and I would like to add also knowledge,
because Christianity gives and expands spiritual
knowledge more than any other religion. So I say
that our Christian religion is The One Religion, because
it is founded on the strongest and best principles in
the universe. Is there not, in nearly all other religions,
something which we deplore, something which our
sense of justice tells us is wrong ? But nothing in
Christ's way of living can be called wrong, even by
those who do not follow it.

I speak of Christianity as you and I understand it.

196 Misconceptions Rectified after Death

and not of its perversions. I must add that the
Mother of Jesus certainly holds a very high position
on our side, and quite rightly too. On this point I
understand more than I did when on earth. I fear
we have taken very little notice of her in the past,
probably because of certain practices in relation to
her veneration which I feel are wrong.

0J9.T.: What of those whose religion was a perversion of
Christianity. Are they at a disadvantage on coming
over ?

Father: Not all, but many are, those for whom their
Church was a limitation restricting their spiritual
sense. Most certainly these are at a disadvantage ;
for their sense of personal responsibility, of thinking
for themselves, had been taken from them. Yet, I
admit that many come here whose temperament has
apparently been suited to such a Church. Many have
belonged to Churches which did not suit their tempera¬
ment and so have been limited thereby. I think this
applies to almost every Church and religion. But I
find that, after a time, we all begin to follow the same
great path leading to God through Christ.

CHAPTER XXI

VOICING THE MESSAGE

On becoming aware of the thought to be transmitted, Feda
operates upon the medium’s brain. One says “brain/'
but I think there is some portion of the medium's mind alert
within it. It is with this mind and brain that Feda works
to get the message spoken aloud. She tells me that this
is not always easy. It is essential to ensure that the
message is “ taken/' otherwise it may, to use her own
phrase, “ drop out of the brain " instead of being spoken.
Let her describe this in her own way :—

“ Feda pictures something and wills it and that sets
the medium's mind going. Suppose I wished to give
the picture of an apple; it would be necessary to
think strongly of an apple, make a picture of it and
put it on her mind. Feda tries to jump on the right
part of the medium's brain, but often fumbles; it is
like touching the wrong string."

Here I asked Feda how she found the right spot on the
brain. She replied :—

“ When Feda has got a picture of the apple it feels
like holding it up above the medium's brain. Feda
feels it as if it were being drawn to a right place,
attracted to a right part; but it has to be held till it
is attracted there. Feda wriggles it about until she
feels that it connects, that it is taken up; but all this
is done with the mind, not with hands. Feda thinks
of the brain as something alive with sense in it. It is
a little like a game in the dark when someone has to
catch what you are holding. Feda pushes it towards
one part, then towards another part, until it is taken."

197

198 Voicing the Message

My sister at this point explained that the shifting process
did not necessarily mean movement from place to place,
but a changing of the idea of the apple. Feda then
continued:—

“ At last it feels like something sucking it in, like
taking in a breath. AH that does not take as long as
it sounds in describing. Whole sentences can be done
quickly sometimes. The best flow of words is when
long ideas are being worked out; that kind of talk is
much easier than giving some specific thing like apple
or orange. It would be more difficult to say * An apple
on your plate this morning/ than to give a long philo¬
sophical disquisition, or analysis of character.”

Feda finds that the medium's receptivity is continually
varying, and this necessitates careful management.

While transmitting for my father, she remarked :—

“ A picture of your mother suddenly jumped into
this. I did not wait to ask your father what he meant
by it, lest what I wished to say should drop out of
the medium. Things sort of spill over if I do not keep
them fixed on her brain. If I wait to ask anything,
then what I am holding there may run out.”

Feda ; Your father says that he refrains from saying many
things which he wishes to give, lest they should come
through in a distorted form. Feda feels that also;
for she does not always make the medium's voice
speak as intended. Feda touches something which
wakes the medium's mind and then it goes off on its
own account.

C.D.T.: Feda, can you hear the words spoken by the
medium ?

Feda: Yes, but cannot stop her speaking if what she says
is wrong. Often Feda cannot get the power to check
the words.

She continued

Voicing the Message I99

“ Your father says that overpressure taps the
subconscious mind of the medium and then something
escapes before Feda can stop it. Even after hearing
those escapes and inaccuracies, Feda cannot always so
control the medium’s mind as to put things right. As
each thought is given it is fixed on the co-operative
mind which is created partly by the medium and partly
by Feda. Once it is registered there a counter
suggestion is not easily put through. Your father
says that Feda thinks she works directly upon the
medium’s brain, but he does not consider that this is
entirely accurate. He says that Feda really works
upon the medium’s mind-essence which, in its turn,
works the brain. This mind-essence belongs to the
medium’s organism. To take a simile : Feda puts a
match to the gas, this gas is not Feda’s, but its light
might be termed hers, and she can regulate it. Feda
has produced a quite wonderful manifestation which'
draws its supply from the medium. That may
explain why Feda is occasionally less brilliant
than at other times; if it were Feda’s own gas
it would always be equal, but, being the medium’s, it
varies.

Yes, your father is sure that Feda is wrong in
thinking that she works the medium’s brain. It is the
mind in the brain which Feda works . Feda gives to the
medium’s mind and that mind then works the brain.
Feda telepaths on to the medium’s mind, much as the
communicators telepath to Feda, but the operation is
so instantaneous that Feda can scarcely realise in
detail what is happening.

O.D.T.; Feda, did you find the medium’s brain respond
to your efforts as easily, when you first learnt to
control, as it does now ?

Feda: No, it was dreadfully difficult then.

Your father says, That bears out my assertion.
For Feda was then working upon the medium’s mind,
and found it difficult work owing to lack of practice
and experience. But had Feda been working direct
upon the brain, the trouble caused by the confused

200

Voicing the Message

mental conditions of an undeveloped medium would
not have arisen.

On one occasion, when my father was speaking through
Feda, I asked:—

“ Does Feda ever find that your thought has reached
the medium's mind direct ? Or must it always go to
Feda first ? ''

Father: Feda might find a thought in the medium's brain
and understand that I have thrown it there; she
would then cause it to be spoken. But Feda usually
knows what I send to her own mind, and she then
impresses it on the medium's brain. I think Feda
succeeds in doing it either way.

G.D.T.: But would not the medium's brain automatically
cause the thought to be spoken if catching it before it
reached Feda ?

Father: No ; consider how, during sleep, your mind holds
pictures, images, thoughts. Does your tongue there¬
fore speak them ? Certainly not, although the images
may be as vivid as a waking experience. Feda can
manage it either way. She often catches what I say
before she puts it through ; but the whole operation
is either instantaneous, or nearly so. She would
scarcely be able to say which came first.

Feda here added, that, while controlling, she does not
actually know whether she gets the thoughts from the
communicator, or from the medium's brain. But what
she does know most certainly is that she often fails to get
something which she ought to get.

CHAPTER XXII

INTERCOURSE WITH EARLIER GENERATIONS

Father: We often speak of the greatness of our advantages
here as compared with life on earth. There is, for
instance, the mingling of different ages. It is aston¬
ishing how far back one can go. I have even seen
people who lived long before the Christian era, and
have talked with many who lived centuries before me.

I should explain that if it is someone on a higher
sphere whom I wish to see, that person must share my
wish or nothing will come of it. On the other hand,
when I wish to see one who is living on a sphere lower
than my own, the desire need not be mutual. We help
many who are unaware of our interest in them;
some of these are on earth and perhaps give no thought
to us. But it is different when we are seeking aid or
information from those above us. Had I real need of
advice from one on the sixth sphere, he would receive
the S.O.S. sent by my mind and would probably
respond to my invitation. Let us suppose, however,
that he was just then so occupied that he could neither
come to me nor let me interview him; his thought
would be so powerful that he could send me a mental
message, asking me to wait awhile. I should receive
that idea; it would affect me in a manner that resulted
in my feelingNo, I must wait, it will happen in good
time.” I should feel philosophic about the delay.

I consider that true philosophy is the interpreting of
divine will correctly. One does not become apathetic,
phlegmatic or careless, but I know that when I feel
myself inclined to philosophise about my wishes it is
an indication that I am to wait for their fulfilment.

I have told you previously that we are able to shut

20 X

202 Intercourse with Earlier Generations

off our thought at will. This gives us privacy of
thought when we deem it desirable.

C.D.T.; How frequently do you meet with those who lived
long ages ago ?

Father: I cannot lay down any rule. Some do it much
more than do others. It is not everyone who shares
my interest in the remote past. Etta has spoken with
some who have been long resident here, yet have never
spoken with anyone of long ago, their interests being
on other lines.

C.D.T.: Then the older generations are not intermingling
freely with you all the time ?

Etta: No, it is more usual for us to visit them than for
them to come to us. Few of them reside on our
sphere, although it is possible for anyone on a higher
sphere to have a temporary place on ours in which
they can dwell when their work brings them into our
conditions, or even into yours. You see, these people
of long ago, the progressed, can travel back to lower
spheres, but in doing this a bodily as well as a mental
change takes place which requires adjustment of an
intricate and rather difficult kind. And so, in the
event of important matters on earth requiring the
supervision of these advanced souls, they make a
temporary home on our sphere and acclimatise them¬
selves again to earth for possibly weeks or months of
your time. At different periods of the world's history
our sphere has been much occupied by them ; during
such a period as that of Christ's life on earth there
would be many of them.

G.D.T.: How many generations back do the people around
you date ?

Etta: It is rather elastic. The majority of them came,
say, twenty to thirty years ago, but many have been
here a century. If they remain much longer than that
I should suspect they have some work or mission in
connection with earth, as is the case with Feda.

Feda: Feda has been here more than a hundred years and
expects to go on with this work for some time longer.

Etta : You will ask whether, when those from higher spheres

Intercourse with Earlier Generations 203

come to dwell with us, everyone here wishes to see
them ? No, many are not interested. You might
liken it to London when a prominent pianist arrives;
some will wish to hear him, many do not, the majority
may not even be aware of the visitor’s presence in the
city.

Father is interested in those who have been pro¬
minent in history, especially the great teachers and
leaders in different religious movements of the past.
His to-morrow is always going to be more interesting
than to-day, and his to-day more so than yesterday.

Father: Our life is ten times more replete with interest
than that of earth and no time is wasted in sleep,
eating, or the preparation of food. Consider our
facilities for meeting interesting people; one thinks,
“ I wish I could get into touch with so-and-so,” and
then finds himself helped into touch with that person.
The limitations of earth, such as distance and diffi¬
culties of travel, no longer present any hindrance,

I have had the pleasure of speaking to the pioneers of
various sects and forms of church life. It is wonder¬
fully interesting to get the sum total of their various
experiences, and to find how they now agree that there
were many paths to the one goal. There are as many
paths as there are branches on a tree, where each
branch leads to the same trunk, from the pliable and
brittle twig to the solid trunk—the trunk in this
metaphor representing God. But, although on earth
there are the many branches, it is not so in our higher
world; with us it is as one great open road to God.

These men, who would once have argued and fought
about their various creeds and sects, have now recog¬
nised that, even if their methods were mistaken, they
had to pursue them along a certain road; for they
could not have travelled the other men’s road, or, if
they had done so, they would have learnt little and
found it unprofitable.

I certainly never thought of meeting Cardinals and

L.B.Df O

204 Intercourse with Earlier Generations

Luther and Wesley and having a heart-to-heart talk
with them.

C.D.T.: Is there any limit to the historical distance of
those you can meet ?

Father: If it were any benefit and I truly desired it, it
would be quite possible to meet Julius Caesar although
he has risen to the sixth sphere. I could see him
within five minutes after the ending of this sitting if
there were good reasons for it. The whole atmosphere
seems full of magnetic rays which bring certain people
into line. One person on the sixth sphere may be the
guide to a hundred on the third sphere, and at any
time a ray from the higher person can be thrown out
to one on the lower who needs him. It may, in a way,
be likened to rays from the sun. All works naturally ;
if a thing is right you will have it; if not, you will not
wish for it.

I find this life a perpetual feast of mind.

Etta states that one great interest has been her meeting
with some of the old ancestors of our family. These struck
her as showing marked family likeness to some of her own
day. Even before they had introduced themselves there
was a something which enabled her to understand that
there was family relationship. Some of these ancestors
she named, but lack of family records makes verification
impossible. One remark of hers I have been able to
verify by an .inspection of family paintings representing
some of my paternal grandfather’s brothers and sisters.

She said, “ One side of father’s family were very
dark, with dark eyes and black hair.” I had not
noted this fact until subsequently looking at the old
paintings to see if this were so.

On one occasion, when my sister had been speaking about
ancient Egypt and its art, she said :—

" I am sure the old Egyptians did not posture in
that extremely stiff and angular fashion in which they

Intercourse with Earlier Generations 205 1

are portrayed by the artists of that time. But their
. artists had not the art by which they could convey a
natural movement or posing. I have seen some very
early Egyptians, very early indeed, and I asked them
whether they stood naturally in those peculiar positions.
They told me. No, and that they moved as freely and
as easily as we, and in very much the same way.”

My informants say that not only are the people of other
days approachable, but, under certain circumstances, the
cities in which they lived are reproduced. In some
instances these have permanent place in the spheres, while
others of them, existing only in the minds of their former
inhabitants, can be materialised and given a temporary
objective form. Then the ancient city stands revealed,
with those who occupied it at some given date moving
about in the manner of long ago. This reproduction is for
purposes of study and education. Thus, the different
periods of ancient Egypt, Greece and other lands, now being
studied by archaeologists on earth, are made available to
students in spirit life. Speaking of this, my sister added:—

ff I wish it could be realised that there will be this
opportunity for visiting and studying. It is far
superior to the hurried and often wearying sight-seeing
of earth. Those who wish to travel, but are bound by
duty to their homes, will be able, on arrival here, to
visit all variety of interesting places and to enjoy
them fully. The inability to travel, which so many
on earth lament, would take a brighter aspect if it
were understood that the opportunity does not end
with bodily death, and that the pleasure is merely
postponed.”

On re-reading this remark, after an interval of months,
I am reminded of my father’s attitude to foreign travel.
He had never been further than the Channel Islands,
although sensible to the delights of fine scenery and
interested in accounts of life in other lands. When I once
spoke to him of a holiday in Switzerland he alluded to the

206 Intercourse with Earlier Generations

duties detaining him at home, adding, " I shall not see
Switzerland while in this life, but when an angel it will be
my pleasure to visit such places at leisure and enjoy them
fully.” Such were his thoughts. At the time I was not
impressed; the earthly pleasures were so near, the future
possibilities so hazy and remote. But now I understand
the deep wisdom of his outlook, and know that, in ways
difficult for my imagination to grasp, he has attained his
hope and more, far more, than he then deemed possible.

When one considers the vastness and variety of this
planet—the storied beauty of southern seas, the mighty
pageants of great mountain ranges, the teeming life of the
tropics with their gaiety of bird and plant life, the majesty
of volcanoes and the arctic auroras, the brilliancy of night
in Egypt, the colours of sunset on the Alps—one realises
how small a glimpse of Nature one has seen. Most of us
live and die almost strangers to our globe, having remained
within one small range of its myriad paths.

Books of travel show how relatively little we have
observed of humanity in its divergency of habit, colour and
custom. Nor can the traveller take into consciousness all
that meets his eye. Receptivity is limited and the best
does not lie exposed to a casual glance ; both sympathy and
knowledge are required, and we need bring with us much,
or we shall perceive but little. One can visit a foreign
city and yet realise almost nothing of its inner life. The
most favoured visitor can only begin to know and see.

Life is short, while Nature's panorama is endless. And so
we pass from this world of immense interest, having barely
commenced to recognise how entrancing are its scenes,
how marvellously diverse its forms of life. The infinitely
great beckons us overhead, the infinitely small displays
its wonder wherever we direct the microscope. We catch,
at best, but a glimpse of that which is “ boundless inward
in the atom, boundless outward in the whole.”

The surpassing wealth of physical creation suggests the
infinitude of interest awaiting the receptive soul in its
progress through super-mundane spheres.

CHAPTER XXIII

DIRECT CONTROL

In preceding chapters we have examined the phenomenon
of Feda's control. Let us now see what happens when my
father or my sister, taking Feda's place, transmit their
thought direct to the medium.

Forgetfulness is still a limitation. Much knowledge
which they are aware of possessing is no longer within
reach. They say, “ One of our greatest difficulties when
controlling is our divided memory.” Their condition
would seem to correspond with that, so familiar to ourselves,
when we fail to recall a name. We are aware that we
know it, and that we would recognise it if we heard it
spoken. We may even succeed in recalling it by some link
of association, but all direct efforts are futile.

Feda: Your father says he knows the intricacies of con¬
trolling, not only by observing Feda, but through
doing it himself. He is sure that he works only a
small part of his mind within the medium's mind.
The part left outside the medium's mind forms, for the
moment, his subconscious mind, but he is still in touch
with it, just as you are in touch with your sub¬
conscious mind.

C.D.T.: Is subconscious knowledge available while in
control ?

Feda: No; when you wish to recall what your conscious
mind has lost you try to obtain it from the sub¬
conscious. Very often he tries to do this while
controlling, but it is more difficult for him than for
you, because a smaller proportion of his mind is
operating in the medium. In her brain there is some
of her own mind, and also some of his ; while in your
brain there is only your own mind. In controlling, it

207

208

Direct Control

is what may be termed a co-operative mind. You see,
therefore, why he cannot, while controlling, think so
clearly or remember so much as you can.

My sister remarks in this connection:—

“ We bring in as much of our mind as we can, but
the situation for us is something like having to turn
from a full compass piano to perform for a time upon
one having but a single octave of notes/'

During my sister's fifth time of controlling she succeeded
in describing a young officer who had recently died, and she
transmitted several messages which he had given her for
his father. (These messages proved to be rich in evidential
points, and the father was convinced of his son's identity).
The young officer was said not to be present at the sitting
and my sister added finally:—

“ The extraordinary thing about it is that, although
he told me so much, I am now unable to recall it all.
Yet later, when away from here, I shall remember
everything."

During personal control several matters demand simul¬
taneous attention; there is the care of the medium's
organism, and the necessity of observing what will “ take "
and what fails to take. The controller must also endeavour
to mark what is actually spoken, and to avoid starting a
flow of words which would misrepresent his meaning.
When such a flow is once started it may be difficult to
check, and practically impossible to follow it up with a
contradiction or explanation.

My sister says that she does not know the exact moment
at which she gains effective control of the medium's
mechanism. This probably explains why one hears Feda
whispering in apparent conversation with the communi¬
cators before the sitting opens.

During his controlling my father once suddenly re¬
marked :—

Direct Control

209

" Something makes me want to cough.” (The
medium then coughed and cleared her throat.) '‘When
I think suddenly it gives the organism a jerk and 1
cannot control the breath properly until I cough.”

Later, he was checked in his attempt to explain some¬
thing further, and proceeded :—

“ I cannot make her say it although I know quite
well what it is I wish to tell you.”

On the occasion of my sister's first control I had no
warning that she was about to make the attempt. But
I noticed that the change of control was taking a much
longer time than usual, and when the voice commenced it
was slow and faint.

“ I am trying . . . not father. I shall do it. I
want to. Can you hear better now ? . . . I shall
speak more distinctly soon. S-S-S-S (the sibilants
were clear and prolonged). I cannot manage her
breath. I shall soon do it. Yes, now I think it is
better . . . when I speak like that. I do not make
the whistling sound. I wish to speak clearly, dis¬
tinctly and well. I am so glad to be able to speak.
I shall do it in time.”

Etta continued in control for twenty-nine minutes, and
towards the end of that time was speaking more easily.
She succeeded in pronouncing several relevant names,
although failing to give others for which she was evidently
trying.

A few weeks later Etta controlled for the second time.
Among other things, she said :—

“ I want to practise names of people ... I want to
remember the sound of words while controlling and
to make the lips sound, to give her brain the names
and make her lips say them. But it is difficult to
think; I fail to connect up my ideas. Even now I have

210

Direct Control

a strong consciousness of having been often with you,
but I find no detailed recollection of the things we have
done. Do not tell me anything; I wish to practise
remembering/'

One may enjoy the perfect reception of a wireless
apparatus without in the least knowing how it works;
but if it begins to fail and disappoint us, we become curious
to know what is amiss. With complicated instruments
trouble frequently arises, necessitating some delicate
adjustment. An understanding of the mechanism enables
one to do justice to the instrument, and to obtain its
best results.

In trance mediumship we are dealing with living
instruments—viz., the communicator, the control and the
medium, each of whom should be working in adjustment
with the others. The communicator has come prepared
to speak and needs to convey his message to the
control. The control has a double part to play; first, to
ascertain what the communicator wishes to say, and then
to ensure that the message shall be spoken by the
medium. Only in so far as these processes are accurately
carried through, will the sitter receive the messages in
satisfactory form.

I do not think these explanations cover all possible
phenomena of trance communication. But they form, at
least, an attempt to obtain a working hypothesis of the
phenomena usually obtained with Mrs. Leonard.

CHAPTER XXIV

CONTACT WITH HIGHER REALMS

Father: When, after my request, a response comes to me
from higher planes of being, it may take the form of
a symbol. I am able to interpret the symbol, and
should be aware if I had interpreted it rightly or
not.

C.D.T.: Do those symbols take form outwardly ?

Father: They seem objective to me, yet others who were
with me might not see them; so they are evidently
subjective.

C.D.T.: Then it is much as when we on earth pray for
guidance and receive it inwardly ?

Father: Yes, for people on earth can be strongly aware of
the guidance so given, seeing or feeling it with inward
clearness.

C.D.T.: When you speak to an assembly there do you
prepare an outline, or write in full as when you used
to make sermons on earth ?

Father: There is no preparation of the matter of discourse.
I rely wholly upon inspiration; for there is nothing
between us and the source of inspiration. When
speaking publicly on earth there is much between,
and something may happen which cuts you off from
it. But with us there is nothing which could do so.
If someone makes a stir in your congregation you might
lose your thread of discourse, owing to your conscious
mind being affected by the disturbance to such a
degree that it became unable to switch back again
to the channel from which you had been receiving
inspiration.

2X1

212 Contact with Higher Realms

G.D.T .: You once spoke of “ listening to the voice of law ”
on your sphere. How do you become aware of that
voice ?

Father: It is the inner voice, but much more definite than
the voice of conscience on earth. I think it is because
I live so much more completely in the subliminal mind
that I hear this higher voice so easily.

G.D.T.: Does the voice convey guidance from superior
spheres ?

Father: Yes, from those nearer to the Source of wisdom.

G.D.T .; Working under Our Lord's guidance ?

Father: That is just what it amounts to. Those nearest
to Him understand and interpret His wishes perfectly.

G.D.T.: We commonly speak as if Christ were the only
one who worked for earth there. Is that an accurate
way of representing the facts ?

Father: No; multitudes in our sphere are working to
help man, all of them doing His wishes, but doing
what we once thought He, and only He, was doing,
or could do. It is a system of universal brotherhood
and service.

G.D.T.: It must be good for those who thus serve.

Father: It is the only way. One cannot progress except
by service. Who served so much and so completely
as did Our Lord ?

G.D.T.; Can you tell me anything about the powers of
those on the higher spheres ?

Father: I will try. They certainly have greater mental
power, and it is more operative, more creative than
is ours, just as ours is more creative than yours.
Even on earth those who are mentally developed can
accomplish more than others, despite the material
surroundings. But on sphere three, which is ours,
we are not so rigidly limited by “ matter ” as you are ;
and yet we are more limited by it than are those on
the seventh or sixth. On the highest sphere they have
the power of constructing mentally anything in the
past, present, or even in what you would term the

Contact with Higher Realms 213

future. All that which has been active in the materia]
sense, in any way or at any time, is there under the
dominion of mind. In that realm, thought is really
free and is combined with executive power.

When it is necessary to show to someone here the
effects resulting from some good or bad deed, he is
taken for the purpose to the sixth or seventh sphere.
There, certain of the higher guides will reconstruct the
whole scene for him. It is difficult to explain. I will
state it as simply as possible. The persons selected to
re-enact that scene are, as a rule, the same who
originally took part in it, no matter how long ago it
may have been. You recollect the line, “ The evil
that men do lives after them it does, even with us,
the evil and also the good. To re-enact the evil of
long ago is sometimes a punishment meted out to
those who caused the evil. But to those dwelling on
the seventh sphere it is no longer punishment, but
rather a sacrifice, a voluntary sacrifice, offered in the
process of neutralising, or shall I say, of wiping it
out. This is not a regular occurrence, but may be
arranged to teach someone who is about to visit
earth for a purpose. Guides are often taught in this
way; the lesson is impressed upon them. You may
take it that the greater powers on the higher spheres
are due to mental and spiritual development. We
develop slowly upward to that state.

O.D.T.; Would it be possible to give me some idea of
what you have learnt when visiting the fifth sphere ?

Father: It is doubtful. I greatly wish I could find words
to convey it. I was shown the working of the law* of
cause and effect. Also, I have seen pictures of the
earliest development of the planet, and the early
forms of life upon it. You may ask how it is possible
to have obtained pictures of earth as it was before
man arrived. They originate in the great mind of God,
of which our subliminal minds are a small particle—
shall I say, a single cell. The earliest men saw earth

214 Contact with Higher Realms

as it was then ; since that time they have developed
to states of consciousness in which they can bring back
memories of the Divine Mind which watched over
earth before man was.

G.D.T.: Are those men now the highest in the ranks of
spirit workers ?

Father: Among the highest. They help to build the
mental pictures, cinematograph-like, upon the ether,
forming images or representations of things that have
been. We see that mental picture as if it were actually
happening. Possibly it may act as when a hypnotised
person thinks of a rose when commanded to do so,
and experiences the reactions of smell, sight and touch
just as if a rose were actually present to his senses.
Such a power as that we certainly possess, only it is
a thousand times stronger.

G.D.T.: Does the Heavenly World—you will recollect
what we on earth signify by that phrase—seem nearer
to you now than when on earth ?

Father: I have access to it now. My sphere is the fringe
of the Heavenly World. I think of the very high
spheres only as the Heavenly World ; and yet the one
wherein I dwell is truly a very heavenly place.
Properly speaking, the fifth, sixth and seventh are the
Heavenly Spheres.

C.D.T.: Could you explain in what way the seventh differs
from yours ? (The following reply was given slowly,
and very carefully, a few words at a time.)

Father: I have been to the seventh. It is not that
personality is diminished, but yet, without losing that
which we strove so hard to perfect, we become there
more impersonal, more'desireless. We become so sure
of the Divine Wisdom that we no longer desire any
individual thing, whether for self, those here with us,
or for our loved ones on earth. We thus become less
personal in outlook. I have not attained to that as
yet; for when I see something coming which I think
good for you, I wish it, and pray that you may have

Contact with Higher Realms 215

it; I feel enthusiastic about one thing, and not about
another. But on those higher spheres the feeling for
others is more universal; it is not that love for wife
and child is less, but that love for all others is more.

I think this is the greatest difference.

Were I now dwelling in the fifth sphere instead of
the third, I should not be sufficiently in touch with
earthly conditions to help you, but I should be helping
those on the third sphere. Dwellers in the fifth, sixth
and seventh do not hold much personal contact with
earth, but are the agents, where agency, in the sense
of guiding a nation, or even an individual, is needed.
It is right for me to work on the third sphere, because
there are so few there who have such an opportunity
for helping on earth. You have made the opportunity
for me, but how small a percentage make any opening
for us.

C.D.T.: I notice that you have replied to my question in
terms of the inner life, whereas I was really wondering
what the external difference might be.

Father: Curiously, it is just that internal difference that
strikes me most there. I rather lose sense of the
external in that atmosphere, lose susceptibility to it,
and am not moved by the externals. Yet, I have been
there sufficiently often to notice that there is a great
difference in outward things also. The higher the
sphere the less the number of buildings of a conven¬
tional kind. There are fewer houses; indeed, 110
residences such as we have on the third. People live
more in the open, and sleep—no, I should not have
said sleep, but take rest in the open. Buildings are
there, but these have been erected for some particular
purpose, in which colour and shape are used in some
instructive sense, sometimes symbolically.

The clothing worn there is of lighter texture than
on the third, and presents a greater similarity of
appearance, with less expression of individual taste ;
to those people it is clothing merely. Then the
atmosphere is lighter, and I am sure that the inhabi¬
tants are fairer on those higher spheres. Some

216

Contact with Higher Realms

consciousness of the effect of that brighter atmosphere
may have given the great artists their idea that angels
are fair.

C.D.T .: Can you tell me of the Apostles ?

Father: They are with Jesus. He teaches them and they
teach others, who in their turn pass it down to others,
and so downwards until it comes to those who try
to inspire the teachers on earth. Thus, the teaching
passes through many intermediaries who present it in
terms best suited to the understanding of those whom
they teach.

Jesus is the channel, the mouthpiece of God. He is
God embodied in a personality. He is the highest
point of perfection, so far as personality is concerned,
and that toward which we are all tending, or should
tend.

C.D.T.; Does the seventh sphere look a solid world, as
earth does to us ?

Father: That which is there looks as solid as does the
room in which you are sitting at this moment. The
beauties of nature are reproduced there, but with
more colours than you on earth have ever seen. The
wonders of the seventh sphere cannot be told; we
can only state that even a brief visit there makes us
gloriously happy.

C.D.T.; Is there yet more beyond the seventh sphere ?

Father: Much more. But that is the highest stage of
existence which I have touched. I suppose that
millions of years may elapse before we touch any outer
spheres of life beyond it.

Father: Looking very far ahead indeed, I know there is a
great destiny which awaits us some day, somewhere,
somehow. We shall continue to be ourselves, but in
a state higher than anything realised upon these
spheres. I know that there is a world above and
beyond our present one, but I do not seek to know too

Contact with Higher Realms 2 iy

much until it is given me. When it is necessary for
me to know any fresh facts, beyond what is common
knowledge here, I am summoned to the highest of our
spheres. Just as men can receive inspiration from us,
and so obtain light upon matters of which they have
no normal experience, so we can go to the fifth or the
sixth sphere to share the inspiration which is there
received from the seventh. But upon the seventh it
is possible to receive inspiration from that higher
world which lies beyond and outside these spheres of
ours. I am learning many new things now, informa¬
tion which did not come to me during my earlier
years here.

(The date of the last paragraph was twenty-two
years after my father's passing.)

CHAPTER XXV

ON THE DIFFICULTY OF TRANSMITTING NAMES IN PSYCHIC
MESSAGES

From my earliest sittings with Mrs. Leonard it became
evident that the messages presented marked peculiarity in
the matter of proper names. When Feda first alluded
to my father she said, " There is an elderly man with
a beard ” ; then followed an accurate description. Later,
in the same sitting, it was remarked, “ The initial J comes
with him.” I naturally asked myself why Feda had not
abbreviated this by stating simply that John D. Thomas
was present and wished to speak to me.

During the second sitting my father's study was described
and one item was given thus :—

" Near the bureau, but above it, and easily seen
when sitting at it, is the picture of a man, elderly,
with fine face, a splendid character.”

It would have been more simple to say, “ A picture of
Wesley is above the door.” Why this roundabout des¬
cription ? Why this avoidance of names, or the substitu¬
tion of an initial letter in place of a name ? The question
became more interesting when I later discovered that names
were sometimes given without any apparent difficulty, and
that at other times Feda could write a name in the air,
using the medium's finger to trace the letters. Sometimes,
after ineffectual efforts to pronounce a name, the first
syllable would be given; Feda would then complain that
she could not see the remaining letters, but that they
appeared to be, say, six in number.

It became evident that the giving of a name involved
the overcoming of some obstacle, and that usually the
difficulty, whatever it might be, was too serious to permit

218

The Difficulty of Transmitting Names 219

of success. This is the experience also of other investi¬
gators. There is unquestionably a difficulty in trans¬
mitting names through trance mediums, though some give
them more successfully than do others.

Readers who have followed my attempt to analyse the
methods of trance communication will remember the
limitations to free expression. These also affect the
transmission of names and so I will touch on them briefly
in that connection.

1. The communicator has frequent difficulty in recollecting.

It is the more easy for us to realise this difficulty with

memory, because we ourselves are occasionally in a similar
situation. We forget a name which we know we ought to
be able to recall. We have not forgotten anything else,
for our mind pictures the person whose name is eluding us,
and we can remember many facts relating to him. We
know his profession, his place of residence, and could
describe events in which he played a part. Nevertheless,
we cannot name him.

I recently found myself unable to recall the name
Treadgold. Mental effort failed to bring it into recollection.
Presently, it occurred to me that the word silver would in
some way serve as an aid. For some moments I tried to
follow this clue, but failed to recover the name. Then I
turned my thoughts in other directions and shortly after
the name Treadgold came into my mind.

Such lapses of memory are common, and when we are
inconvenienced by inability to speak the required name,
we may have recourse to description in order to convey
the identity of the person in question. This is exactly
what we find happening so often in trance messages;
someone is described and his identity further indicated by
various remarks until the sitter realises who is intended.
The communicator, like ourselves, finds that personal
names are less easily recalled than are scenes and incidents.
One such remarked to me, " Yes, I remember it, but not
here and now.”

2. The communicator cannot always make the control

L.B.D. P

220 The Difficulty of Transmitting Names

understand his meaning, and is unable to convey

the sound of a name.

I use the word sound advisedly; for Feda is able on
occasion to receive the communicator's thought in a way
which produces to her the effect of sound. At such times
she appears to speak messages verbatim, as if repeating
what is dictated to her. This dictation method always
reaches a high degree of accuracy, and I realise that I am
receiving, not merely the communicator's thoughts, but
his diction. When, however, Feda receives only the general
import of a message and transmits it in her own words the
level of accuracy is much lower.

But even during the dictation method there is frequent
difficulty with names and other words which receive no
assistance from the context. As Etta once remarked,
"sending words to Feda is more difficult than sending
ideas." Hypnotic experiment illustrates this point.
M. Emil Boirac tells us that while he was experimenting
with an hypnotised subject a doctor entered the room.
Boirac then took the patient's hand and asked him to say
the doctor's name, thinking of it himself meanwhile. Soon
the patient remarked, " I cannot distinguish it very well,
it seems to me that I hear Ort, Ort, Ort." As this was
correct for the final syllable Boirac said, “ Listen atten¬
tively. I will think one after another the two syllables of
his name. Here is the first . . . Here is the second . . .
Now ? The man replied, “ I am not sure if I heard
correctly. It seemed to me the first syllable was Du—,
and the second —sort." The doctor's name was Dussort.
(Psychic Science, Boirac, p. 291.)

I think it must be in just such a way that Feda hears
the communicator while he concentrates upon a name.
That it should be difficult to hear correctly is not surprising;
with the telephone we often have similar trouble.

Picture a communicator wishing to convey a name to
Feda, and finding that his telepathy, or perhaps her
receptivity, is at fault. What is he to do ? Insistent
effort on his part does not help matters ; he must either
renounce the attempt, or fall back upon an indirect way
of conveying his meaning.

221

in Psychic Messages

“ One cannot sometimes get the names right. If I
wish to speak about a man named Meadow, I may
try that name and find that Meadow is not spoken
rightly by Feda. So I then wait and try to insert
the idea of a green field, connecting with it the idea
of the man described. We always try for a definite
thing which will tell you exactly what we mean;
but, if unable to do that, we have to get as near to it
as we can. Sometimes we have to depend upon
slender links in giving you the due.”

So said my father while explaining his method of trans¬
mission, and on looking through notes of earlier sittings,
I discovered many instances of these more or less slender
links. Here is one :—

" The word Zion occurs much near page 122.”

This was part of a book test, and I discovered that
although there was no mention of Zion, the name Jerusalem
appeared many times on the pages indicated. When I
pointed out this discrepancy later, my father replied,
“ Zion was the approximate word/'

3. The control is sometimes unable to make the medium

speak the required words.

Here are quotations which illustrate this : the first is a
remark made by my sister while in direct control.

" Is it not strange that I cannot say my husband’s
name ? I can feel it, but cannot say it; that is, I
cannot get it spoken. I get it on the surface, so to
speak, but cannot get it into the medium’s mind.”

My mother then asked her if she meant Whit, which was
my sister’s customary abbreviation for her husband’s name
Whitfield. She replied :—

" Oh, you should not have told me that. I have
been trying to say it and should have succeeded in
time.”

222 The Difficulty of Transmitting Names

Her expostulation at having the name given away, just
when she had hoped to succeed in getting it spoken, was
most striking. Some four months later, Etta had occasion
to use this name, but only succeeded in making the medium
say, Wh—, Whi—, Wht—.

My father once said, while controlling:—

“ Do you remember Bertha ? She wished to be
remembered to-”

As he paused without giving any name, I asked if the
message was for me. He replied :—

“ Only to someone whom you know. I can re¬
member the name, but cannot say it. It is a most
peculiar situation. I got out the name Bertha
suddenly, or could not have done it.”

On another occasion Etta, failing to pronounce a name,
remarked:—

“ The more I try to think it on, the less can I get
it on. I am expressing myself in a peculiar way,
and it is the medium's power of expression which I
cannot control. One may get a word into her mind
and yet be unable to make her express it. Because
it is in the mind it does not follow that her brain will
take it. Unless the ideas in the mind are tapped on
to the actual brain one cannot express them; like a
typewriter when you think words, but unless you tap
the right keys you will not get the letters. You can
place your finger on the right key, but unless you tap
it there is no expression. The brain takes or does not
take from the mind.

“ Her brain is like a key-board, automatically
responsive to us, but often in a wrong way; we wish
to press the keys, to put expression through, but if we
try too much for a certain word the keys become stiff
with—say apprehension. If in painting one stiffens
the muscles when not wishing to do so, then anxiety
makes it worse; just so with words. When I cannot

in Psychic Messages 223

get them I pretend to forget and thus relieve the
tension, and the * key ' then relapses into its ordinary
condition. Then sometimes, a little later, that re¬
quired word will come. On occasions I might he
unable to say my name here. Strange, but it is the
human instrument which makes it so difficult. If
only a mechanical one could be made! But mind is
the bridge between the two worlds/'

My father once commenced his controlling by an un-
successsful attempt to speak a name. He said :—

“ Serin—Ser—Cur. No, I have not given it
correctly, yet. Sarah ; it is not Sarah, but the first
part is pronounced similarly to the start of Sarah,
although not spelled so. Cer-''

At this point he realised it was useless to continue the
effort, and proceeded to speak of other things.

Despite the difficulties, my father and sister achieve a
fair degree of success with names.

My father once made a successful attempt to write while
in control. He asked for my writing pad and pencil and
these were placed in the medium's hand. During a few
minutes' silence the hand wrote slowly and with apparent
difficulty, then the pad was handed back to me. I found
that the writing was in three different styles, none of
which bore any resemblance to my father's; nor was there
any recognisable similarity with Mrs. Leonard's hand¬
writing. The pad now bore nine names and one initial.
My father remarked that he had previously informed Etta
of his intention to try this experiment and she had ex¬
pressed the opinion that he would forget the names before
he could get them written. He then made appropriate
remarks about several of the names, indicating knowledge
of their inter-relation. We found that he had coupled
together Mary and F, also Tom and Lizzie; these repre¬
sented married couples in whom both he and we had been
particularly interested. Three other names were those of
our relations. Another was quite appropriate, although we
were uncertain to whom it was intended to refer. Only

224 The Difficulty of Transmitting Names

two were illegible. The chief interest of this experiment
lay in the fact that the names were written in less time than
they could have been transmitted verbally, either through
Feda or during personal control.

I notice that Feda can more easily catch a first syllable
than the whole name. Sometimes she seems to see the
initial letter, which is said to be pictured for her by the
communicator. Again, she will say that such-and-such a
letter " comes up ” with the person whose name she has
not yet caught. Her explanation is that, while this is
often due to a definite attempt to give the letter by itself,
at other times she only catches the first letter, although the
complete name is being attempted. Feda will sometimes
give correctly the first and the last letters of a name. At
other times she can tell correctly the number of syllables
in a long name, as well as its initial letter, and yet fail to
ascertain the name itself.

An examination of failures is sometimes instructive.
Here are instances where Feda failed to transmit the name,
and yet in each case the attempt, context, or subsequent
description made it evident.

One who had been a schoolmaster at Kenley, and
whose favourite study had been Greek, was trying to
introduce those two words. Feda said:—

“ G—, Gre—. He says it is something you can
manoeuvre. Grek, Greg, Greeg. It is something not
always easily managed, not easy to do. Not every¬
body would like it, it is a matter of taste. Some want
to get out of doing it, to escape from it. Ke—, Ken—,
Ker—, Ken—. Now he returns to that word again;
he is anxious to give it, Greg, Grek, and Kende. Feda
cannot get it right. The two words are connected."

I was once accompanied by a lady whose son had died
in the midst of a brilliant political career. He spoke about
his family, and made special allusion to one whom his
mother easily recognised as her son's widow. Veiling this
recognition, she inquired :—

" What relation is this lady to him ? ”

in Psychic Messages

Feda then answered :—

“ * Not a sister/ he says when Feda asks him, and
not his mother, nor an aunt, nor a cousin; it is
someone close, very closely to do with him and his
children. So Feda guesses he means his wife/'

It was somewhat puzzling for the mother to receive so
indirect a reply to her simple question, but I think it was
precisely the direct question which made the one word
impossible. The ingenious elimination of other near
relationships provided an answer, although not in the
form anticipated.

Just as one man hears better than another, so do some
controls catch the meaning of a communicator with more
ease and accuracy than do others. We are dealing, not
with machines, but with individuals, and they are not all
capable of the same efficiency.

There are some methods of psychic communication which
favour accuracy in obtaining names. One of these is the
spelling of words by tilts of a table, or some similar con¬
trivance. Here the communicator dispenses with the
control and (if there be sufficient psychic force available)
directs the tilting himself. Supposing he can tilt the table
freely while we call over the alphabet, then, if he remembers
the name required, he will spell it. This method is slow
and cumbrous, but it can be very effective. Names
which could not be put through during trance sittings,
will often be given in this way. The communicator may
not always succeed, even when in full control of the table's
movements, because his recollection may fail him. In that
case we cannot assist him. But if he becomes confused
during the spelling, we can suggest that he recommence
the word, and with patience it will be completed.

Two facts, familiar to experienced investigators, are
instructive:—

Names which fail to be given by one method can be
accurately given through another.

Names which could not be given through one medium
will be given through another.

CHAPTER XXVI

THE PLACE AND CONDITION OF THE UNPROGRESSED

Personal character stands supreme among the factors
which, here on earth, influence success or failure, happiness
or misery. The deepest intuitions of mankind intimate
that character and its results persist beyond death.

But what form does retribution take in the hereafter ?

Terrible pictures have been drawn of the fate awaiting
the impenitent. These forecasts have always been in¬
fluenced by the customary punishments in vogue at the
period of their inception. The more ancient were sketched
in fiercely lurid colours ; the more modem tend to soften
those crude conceptions of vindictiveness and cruelty, and
to suggest mental substitutes for bodily torture. There
is, however, no general agreement upon the nature of
future punishment. Heated controversy continues as to
whether it is remedial or vindictive, temporary or of
perpetual duration.

It is therefore with peculiar interest that we listen to
those who, by observation or by experience, are able to
tell us what happens in the hereafter to those who misuse
the opportunities of earth.

C.D.T.: When a person of evil character passes over has
he around him the same things which surround you ?
Etta : No; all is different for him because he is in a totally
different place. There are two places, or spheres,
below ours. The definitely evil go to the lower of
them. To the other go the weak and selfish who have
done harm to others through lack of effort to do right,
rather than of set purpose to do evil.

C.D.T,: Have those two places higher and lower stages
or degrees ?

2Z6

The Place and Condition of the Unprogressed 227

Etta: Yes; I should think there must be several, because
there are so many degrees of wickedness. There is a
difference between a habit, and an impulse or occasional
wickedness. The people most punished by earthly
laws are those who indulge in occasional wickedness;
for the people who are wicked all the time are, as a
rule, able to protect themselves. But when they
come here they take their true places. Among our
activities there is one special work in which experi¬
enced people engage; they visit the lowest spheres,
seeking to make the residents realise that there is a
sphere above their own. Just as it is difficult to make
some on earth understand that there is a world beyond,
so is it with those in the lower realms who do not
credit the existence of anything higher. But all will
come upward at length. I have never heard of any
being annihilated. There is hope for every one.
The very worst of criminals can rise. When first
reaching the other side they think that theirs is the
only place. They cannot even see us when we visit
them. I am aware that there is an essential difference
between my body and that of a person on the lower
sphere. My body is so etherialised that it is almost
as invisible to those people as it is to you, and the
mental barriers set up by those unhappy souls preclude
them at first from even sensing my presence.

G.D.T.: What do you find corresponding to our ideas of
“ The Judgment to Come ? "

Etta : “ The Judgment to Come ” consists in being able to
see ourselves as we are, and by no stretch of imagina¬
tion being able to avoid seeing it. It is a judgment of
God on us through our higher selves.

On earth even the best are subconsciously avoiding
things, or trying to think things are slightly other
than they really are. But, when one comes here, one
enters into the judgment directly one becomes con¬
scious ; and no other person could be so severe or just
a judge of us as we ourselves can be when facing the
truth. For many it is a terrible hour.

228 The Place and Condition of the Unprogressed

I am glad that you say “ Judgment ” rather than
u Punishment ” or “ Reckoning for “ Judgment"
is the right word. Directly one has realised how,
where, and why one was wrong, there is an instinctive
feeling that one must work it out.

It is sometimes very appalling, this time of realisa¬
tion ; especially when a soul has been pampered or
flattered by loving but mistaken friends into thinking
himself right when he is wrong. It is an awakening
indeed; judgment and awakening are synonymous
here. One then sees and knows, and cannot avoid
knowing.

Although this is, to many, a terrible experience,
yet running through it is a vein of hope, a feeling of
certainty that one will be able to overcome and work
it all out. That gives courage. Were this not so,
one might be overwhelmed when realising the truth.
But there is always hope, the opportunity for re¬
covering lost ground. And this way of recovery is in
helping others who have exactly similar limitations,
difficulties, or vices.

C.D.T .; Here I inquire if this help is given to those still
on earth ?

Etta : Yes, and also to those on the lower spheres and less
developed planes of consciousness here.

We greatly wish it were understood on earth that
nothing in the way of punishment is forced upon one
here.

G.D.T.: But what happens to bring it to the notice of an
evil-doer ?

Etta : Take an extreme case, one upon the lowest sphere to
which human life can go, say a man who has been
very cruel, thoughtless and selfish—and selfishness is
seen in its true light here—say a wealthy man who, by
his vices, brought suffering and even sin into the lives
of others. While he was on earth he was treated with
some toleration on account of his riches, or his position,
or his abilities. Sometimes wealth and position cover
a multitude of sins. But on coming here he passes to
• that plane and place to which he belongs because of

The Place and Condition of the Unprogressed 229

what he really is, without any reference to what he
appeared to be, or desired to be thought* Now, that
means that he will find himself surrounded entirely by
those who have the same sins, vices, and limitations
as himself; there will be a collective condition
resulting. This is very different from his environment
on earth, where his evils were to some extent in
isolation, because he was surrounded by a family of
fairly good people; their presence lightened the
mental atmosphere and mitigated the condition around
the one evil life. How often such an one is tolerated
for the sake of the family, and his sins more or less
ignored. But here it is like to like; therefore, he finds
himself with no other friends, and no one else near
him, save those who are exactly like himself. The
whole atmosphere and the very scenery of the place
is tinted with the hopeless drabs and grays of their
mental and spiritual outlook. How truly poets and
the great writers have symbolised the darkness of evil,
the grayness of misery. I have visited it and I have
seen the grayness, I have seen the darkness. It
surpasses that known on earth.

The wakening comes slowly, very slowly to such
people; and, therefore, that which I shall term Judg¬
ment comes slowly. At first there is felt a resentment
at being in such a condition; this is followed by bitter
disappointment at being unable to buy, or to enforce,
better conditions. Then, when they realise that they
cannot command different surroundings, they begin
to wonder why.

You can understand how each of these people
becomes an object-lesson to the others, since each one
is a reflection of the others.

When they begin to realise that there is something
wrong, visitors come to them from the higher spheres
to point out to them that there are higher and happier
spheres to which they can go when they have risen
above their lower selves. This is exactly like sending
missions to the heathen. As you know, the heathen
do not immediately, nor always, believe what the

230 The Place and Condition of the Unprogressed

missionaries say. And our visitors are not believed at
once; we may go there many times before making
any impression on them.

But eventually the sense of contrast begins to act,
and into the mind of one of them will come the
question, “ Why is it that this man or woman is so
different from us ? Why are they able to go away
from this miserable place and then return when they
choose ? How is it that they speak to us with love,
sympathy and hope, when all others here are thinking
only of themselves ? ” When that seed commences
to germinate it brings the realisation, “ I am with these
miserable people because I am of them, in fact, because
I am like them.” When that happens there comes the
desire to be different. Then follows the awakening
of which I have spoken. It brings that bitterness
and remorse which is the greatest and most terrible
punishment man can have. No torture which
another can inflict is so terrible as the remorse
which one's own best self inflicts when enlightenment
comes.

That process of awakening may have taken a long
time. But there are others, fairly good people, who
have faults, and who have made mistakes; with
these the wakening and " judgment" comes very
quickly.

In the early years of my ministry I was acquainted with
a man of dominating personality who had exerted consider¬
able influence in his time. He was a remarkably successful
political speaker and uniformly expressed himself with
vigour and lucidity. Some years after his death he made
himself known to me in the course of my usual sittings.
His messages were clear-cut and came through with an
ease rarely achieved by those whose powers of expression
are meagre.

After giving an ingenious and conclusive proof of his
identity, he proceeded to describe those traits in his former
character which he had since found reason to regret. He
said :—

The Place and Condition of the Unprogressed 231

" I used to have great differences of opinion with
people; some of my opinions were right and some
were wrong. Many of my ideas, although I could not
get them worked out, were on sound foundations. But
I ought to have taken a longer vision. I was hemmed
in by conditions which were not helpful. I do not
excuse myself; but with a crowd of unhelpful sur¬
roundings hemming one in it is difficult to steer one’s
way out, especially when they are further complicated
by financial considerations. It is most interesting to
speak with you through this channel; for, had I known
of this subject while on earth, I should have been a
different man. Even the coarsest form of Spiritualism
would have helped me where the higher presentations
of spirituality left me cold. My disposition would
have been more attuned to it.

“When on earth I used to push my way among
people; I could push everything in front of me. I got
the most out of people and gave the least possible in
return. I used to grind them.

“ Here I have tried to work that out, and have only
just reached the third sphere by much effort. On
coming into this life my place was a low one, because
my spirituality, so long dormant, was not attuned to
anything higher. My first surroundings may be
likened to some of the dull, uninteresting towns in the
midland or north of England with their stretches of
barren fields around and small rows of jerry-built
houses. My companions were uninteresting and un¬
intelligent people. Many of these had been wealthy
when on earth, but it is not that which counts on
coming over here. When the soul has been starved of
all spiritual food one has to begin very low down.
Indeed, there is little wish for anything higher; it is
only when the soul becomes dissatisfied with the
almost mundane things of those lower spheres that
it, almost automatically, raises itself to higher places.
The very act of aspiration, of wishing something
better for the soul’s sake alone, causes one to rise.

“ On reaching the next sphere my surroundings

2$2 The Place and Condition of the Unprogressed

were a degree better, for there were opportunities for
more intellectual and spiritual development. There I
found halls and schools where study was encouraged,
and helpers came who did not coerce, but who told
us of the more beautiful regions above. Yet, although
they can tell of those realms, and can arouse the wish
to reach them, one has to work out the stupidities
and follies and the errors of evil done, whether con¬
sciously or unconsciously, during life on earth. And
this is accomplished by hard work for others, while
forgetting self entirely; building houses and making
the less beautiful objects required there, aiding those
newly arrived, and, generally, in effacing self while
recollecting one's truest needs. In thus living more
fully for others one moves upward and at length
attains the third sphere where none but the enlightened
are found.

“ On this third sphere are those who on earth lived
exemplary lives, and also those who, on lower planes,
have awakened to the realisation of higher things than
those connected with self and ambition. Some who
are here with me passed quickly to this elevation,
while I had to work through the lower regions and
have only lately reached it. For I was almost an
unborn soul when I left earth, and so had to begin
upon the lowest rungs of the ladder."

In harmony with the foregoing are my father's explana¬
tions. A selection from these completes this chapter.

C.D.T - -* Do relations meet quickly on arrival there ?
Father: Close friends meet quickly, if upon the same
sphere. But if one is on a lower sphere, his friends
may not know of his arrival there. Then, again, some
are better left alone for a while. I knew of an instance
where a man's friends did not know of his having passed
over until the widow asked about him. Even then
they could not approach him ; he was, far down in the
regions of the second sphere. I have been engaged in
helping those in the lower regions, and I notice that

The Place and Condition of the Unprogressed 233

they work things out for themselves very slowly; but
the lessons of experience are effective.

My father remarks that there is a very literal sense in
which one may “ lay up treasure in heaven ”; that beautiful
objects, created on earth and expressing the soul of their
author, have an imperishable counterpart which finds a
place on the third sphere. But that nothing ugly or vile
finds place there; such things gravitate to the spheres
below.

" Whatever one does or thinks is reproduced in
some form. That which the hand does, the soul had
a share in, and therefore there exists an etheric
counterpart.”

Continuing this subject in its bearing upon life in the
underworld, my father said :—

"There is an interesting aspect of this, but one
difficult to explain. Such objects are not all in
existence at the same time, not in complete existence
—I cannot find the word I need—let us suppose that
a man painted an evil picture twenty years ago ;
its etheric duplicate would not have been in actual
existence all that time. Yet, when he passed over, he
would automatically recreate that picture, it would be
in harmony with the conditions in which he then
found himself. How shall I describe its existence in
the meantime ? To simplify the explanation we will
say that it existed in his thought.

“ But during the interval between creating that
picture and his passing, the artist might become a
changed man and incapable of producing such a
picture. In that case he would not go to the sphere
where such objects could be recreated. The penitent
and changed man could not go to the low sphere;
but if one qualifies for the low sphere he will find his
works there and will live with them again.

" I do not say that he will there be tempted by his

234 The Place and Condition of the Unprogressed

former sin, but that he will be surrounded by evidences,
reminders of it, until he wearies at the sight. On
earth the sin is gilded, but there it is seen ugly, naked
and unattractive.

“ There is more to add. The man we have described,
by way of illustration, might decide to destroy his
objectionable picture from motives of policy or fear.
But if it should be destroyed for such reasons merely,
it is not really destroyed at all; it still exists in all its
details, and he will find it after his passing over.
But should he feel remorse for having created such a
work, he is destroying it with his soul. Soul force was
used in creating his picture and nothing but his soul
force can permanently destroy it. He cannot effec¬
tually destroy his picture for any mere earthly reason,
such as public opinion ; its destruction is only achieved
by an honest loathing of his soul for that which is
wrong/'

Here I remarked that, if this were so, it were well that
the fact should be made widely known.

Father: We are endeavouring to let it be known. The
first step is to make clear that there is another world.
Many a man does not know that he has a soul. He
knows his body and brain, he does not quite know what
his mind may be, and his soul he does not know at all.
But were he once made certain that he lives on after
physical death he would know his soul's reality. Once
assured of that, he would learn many things of vital
value to him.

Shortly after this conversation I sought to elicit further
reference to the result after death of ill deeds committed
here. My question was phrased thus :—

“ What recompense does the bully meet with; one
who loved to exert physical violence on others ?
Will he be surrounded by those who find pleasure in
treating him in a similar way ? "

The Place and Condition of the Unprogressed 235

It may be of interest to record that I expected an answer
in the affirmative, and was quite unprepared for the reply
given.

Father : He will meet with no physical violence, but with
a corresponding extreme of mental violence. On those
low planes one would feel the current of such thoughts
as if receiving an actual blow on earth.

C.D.T.: Does that type of man retain his wish for evil,
or, at least, the habit of thought which led to evil here ?
Father: A man's will is not so prominent on the lower
spheres as it was when he lived on earth. God gave
man freewill in the physical body, but there is less
volition in wrong-doers on the other side. There, the
human will is more under the divine influence and
there is less temptation to evil. Those on the lower
spheres have less freedom of will than we have on the
higher spheres. By using the will amiss while on earth
its power has been limited; there is less freedom in
using it until progress has been made.

A man may continue for a long time in the same
frame of mind as when he left earth. He does not
become worse, however. He sees his sins reflected in
others.

G.D.T.: Do you consider that there is any likelihood of a
man continuing to resist the divine will interminably ?
Father: I do not think so.

L.B.D.

Q

CHAPTER XXVII

THE INFLUENCE OF THE SITTER

The sitter is an important factor in psychic communication;
his physical condition and his mental attitude react upon
the medium and control* Should he be ill or weary there
is small likelihood of a good sitting. Anyone who is over¬
whelmed by grief makes communication difficult, though
emotion which is under control may assist.

I am not aware that a sceptical attitude of mind makes
any appreciable difference, so long as the manner is civil,
kindly and tactful, and the sitter is careful to speak as he
would if conversing with visible communicators. Anyone
who imagines that the control may be a “ secondary person¬
ality” of the medium, and the communicators merely
dramatisations of the mind, would be well advised to take
the speakers at their own valuation; at least, so long as the
sitting lasts. By so doing he gives them opportunity to
prove their identity. During the sitting it is essential to
remain receptive; indeed, if justice is to be done to the
occasion, careful notes should be made of all that is said.
Some of the best evidence is often discovered when examin¬
ing such records afterwards.

Tension of interest causes no obstruction while one
remains passive. But to ply the communicator with a
series of questions, or to be ardently expecting or wishing
for some particular name or subject, makes, as we have
seen, a confusion of the mental atmosphere which may
baffle the speaker and obstruct the passage of his thought
to the control.

Should the sitting drag, one can sometimes impart fresh
vivacity by introducing a new topic, either by question or
by an expression of interest or curiosity.

My father said on one occasion:—

236

The Influence of the Sitter 237

‘ We never know when coming here that our pre¬
pared material will be available. Some of the best
we have given had not been prepared. Conversation
with us may fit in and give ground upon which we can
base what we have to give. Those whom Feda terms
‘ deaf and dumb sitters ’ are unlikely to provide good
groundwork. Sitters should talk with us in an
ordinary manner, without giving away information.
Such talk helps us. When first I came here I used to
give plentiful evidence of identity; you did not give
things away, but you used to talk of the pleasure it
gave you."

Sudden questions may be difficult to meet under ordinary
conditions of life, and they often create confusion at a
sitting.

My father has said:—

“ The things we give voluntarily are usually the
Dest. We know what we can give ; but when asked
to supplement it, in response to questions, we have
to conform to your conditions. It is like having to
pour our thoughts into moulds which you prepare and
which are not our moulds. It is difficult to explain;
but, as a rule, it is best that you should take what we
can give. Questions are difficult in a peculiar way.
As you are aware, we can often tell you things far
more difficult than those for which you ask. In using
the term ‘ moulds 1 I mean a form of words and
selection of thoughts."

And my sister said once :—

u It is difficult to explain, but the expectation by
you of some particular thing seems to impinge on some
veiy delicate thought-fabric which we are weaving,
and spoils it, so that we cannot gather together its
threads in order. They become knotted up. So the
advice is, keep passive, and do not think of any
particular person or thing; that will prevent youi

238 The Influence of the Sitter

thought impinging on ours. Everything to do with
our thought is much more delicate and subtle than
yours; therefore, our thought should impinge on yours
and not vice versa . Father says that it would not be
wise to rub canvas upon the paints; it has to be done
the other way round. The book and newspaper tests
were comparatively easy to give, because you could not
mentally influence what we were transmitting/*

Some friends of mine had occasionally taken their
daughter Joyce to share their sittings with Mrs. Leonard.
My sister Etta was interested in Joyce's approaching
marriage and had referred to her in a recent sitting. One
day, while on my way to Mrs. Leonard's house in Hertford¬
shire, I saw Joyce in the train and travelled with her.
The incident then passed out of my thought until Etta,
during Feda's control, made a very definite statement that
I had just seen someone in whom both she and I were
interested. She proceeded to elaborate until there needed
only the addition of the name Joyce to complete the
evidence of her knowledge of our meeting that morning.
I therefore pressed for the name, and when Etta said that
this was beyond her power, I inquired where the difficulty
lay. u Partly in you and partly in Feda," she answered.
“ Then, if I thought of something else, say the moon/'
I asked, “ would it make a better chance of your giving the
name ? " Etta said, “ Do so, and I'll try later on to give
it." So I put it from my mind, and waited to write notes
of whatever might come next; and these words were then
slowly spoken: “ I hope it will help Joyce
My readers will have gathered that there is a purpose
underlying the characteristic interruptions and little re¬
marks which Feda makes. They are calculated to break
the tense concentration of the sitter's mind. Something
similar is found in group sittings where singing or light
conversation is asked for; those who complain that this
causes waste of time, or that it is in bad taste, are unaware
that they are being helped to hold the easy mental attitude
without which the whole purpose of the sitting may be
defeated.

The Influence of the Sitter 239

Again, it is useless to sit with a closed mind, watching
for nothing but a confirmation of prejudice. This attitude,
especially with people of forceful and positive mentality,
destroys the delicate thought-fabric essential to com¬
munication.

I quote from my records the following fragment of
conversation:—

C.D.T.: Can you tell me, Feda, how you distinguish
between thoughts coming from the communicator, and
those in the sitter's mind ?

Feda: It is a different feeling altogether, very different.
Have trained myself to lean towards the communicator
and to shut off the sitter. Feda does not like sitters
to be in front of the medium, but likes to have the
communicator in front. I concentrate on just that
place and so shut off other places. Your father says,
“ Even that would not prevent Feda getting a thought
and not knowing it was from the sitter, if the latter
happened to be willing something very strongly. A
sitter might will his thought fifty times and miss, but
Feda might accidentally take it the fifty-first time.”
G.D.T. ; And would not Feda realise from whom it came ?
Feda : He says, not unless she were very careful and on
the watch for interference.

Feda then confided to me an experience which related to
a strong-minded lady who held certain ideas so firmly as
to make it impossible for her husband, who was communi¬
cating, to state the contrary. He ceased communicating
to save unavoidably misleading her. In this incident of
the positively-minded lady we see how easily strong pre¬
possessions can warp the truth.

Feda; Your father says, “ It seems to me that only a
certain portion of the sensitised region here at a
sitting can be used and filled at once. If you fill and
use it, then we cannot. It is as if we had canvas and
paint, but you seized them and started to paint some¬
thing you wished pictured. Then, we are foiled. We

240 The Influence of the Sitter

should have to scrape off or paint over what you had
put there. I have come to realise that only lately."
(Note.—This was in our eleventh year of sitting.)

He says it is like double exposure; it does not help
when two impressions are on the same plate. There
is confusion. It does not do for you, as a sitter, to
fill the sensitised area with the impressions of what
you wish.

I say nothing of those who designedly make false state¬
ments to the control; except that they may find reason to
recall the proverb: “ A fool is answered according to his
folly."

Let me, in concluding this chapter, give a quotation
which embodies much which a sitter needs to know:—

“ It is easier for us to read your mind when away
from here than it would be during a sitting. It is
supposed by some that a medium reads the mind of
the sitter; but one has only to experiment to discover
how difficult it is for us to answer questions. We can
sail along, giving details quite unknown to you ; but
if you suddenly ask a simple question which comes into
your mind, it presents a difficulty to us. Now, if we
were reading your mind there would not be that
difficulty.

“ During a sitting we are bent on keeping intact the
link between ourselves and the control; for if we lost
it through giving too much attention to you, it would
be difficult to regain. It is as a thread which will
stretch a little, but if taken round you as well as the
medium, it would break. A question often breaks the
thread of our thought and we have to drop the topic.
We can often create another and substitute it for the
other quite quickly. We do not mind your asking
questions, because we know that, if we do not take
them up, you will understand that there was a reason.
But some sitters would feel distressed and disappointed,
which makes it hard for their communicator. Oui
feeling of absolute ease with you makes it possible for

The Influence of the Sitter 241

us to do our best. We know you will not be distressed
if we cannot do what you ask at some particular
moment/’

Toward the close of my tenth year of investigation I
remarked to my father while he was controlling :—

I have been studying afresh the difficulties of
communication, all I have noticed here, and all that
you have told me of the processes involved in giving
your messages. How different is the reality from my
first ideas of it; for then I pictured you coming as a
shining presence and talking with perfect freedom to
Feda.”

He replied:—

“ I think it will be a long while before communica¬
tion becomes as easy as you pictured it. But it
should grow much easier when we have a more perfect
type of medium and of sitter; people who can attune
their mind to the requisite degree.”

CHAPTER XXVIII

“ WHERE I AM THERE SHALL ALSO MY SERVANT BE.”

Words of Jesus recorded in John xii. 26.

Father: On passing from earth I realised my expectation
of feeling a consciousness of God. One's God-conscious¬
ness is increased; it is clearer and He seems nearer,
as I had anticipated—a part of Him, a small part.
C.D.T.: Did you see Our Lord as soon and as easily as
you had expected ?

Father: Not as soon, nor as easily, but yet as I had expected
to see Him. One had to prepare; it is always so.
We are, however, more conscious of Him at all times
than when on earth. Those visits to the seventh
sphere are most wonderful; more so than the physical
brain could imagine. Yet, although so wonderful, it
does not surprise; for one feels as if having been
waiting for it all one’s life, as if it were the natural
consummation of all one’s aspirations and endeavours,
both while on earth and there.

When mentioning that my father and sister converse
with me from the other side of death, I am sometimes
asked whether they say that they have seen Jesus Christ.
The following is an answer to that question. Although my
notes are not absolutely verbatim, they embody many of
the actual phrases used, and reproduce in correct outline
the gist of the narration.

But what cannot be reproduced is the intensity and thrill
with which my father and sister told their experience. It
was surcharged with deep emotion. The sentences re¬
cording their actual sight of Our Lord were given very
slowly, a pause between each word, and with utmost
reverence and impressiveness. I do not recall having
heard anything which touched so high a level of intensity

242

44 Where I am there shall also my Servant be ” 243

and spiritual joy. It was inimitable; only a faint echo

of its reality can be conveyed by the printed page.

Father: Etta and I have been to the seventh sphere. I
do not like the word “ sphere ” and should prefer to
say " condition/* but suppose we must call it “ sphere ”
in the absence of any term which would be better
understood. Can I explain to you that this seventh
is the outermost sphere, or condition, of what we call
our world? Life there is realised more impersonally;
I mean that one's whole work and activity on that
sphere would be solely for the good of others. There
would be no personal bias there; selfish aims or
ambitions would be impossible.

It is there that Our Lord is present in a personal or
individual sense, manifesting in a form that responds
to one's finite ideas of Him, a form that one can see
and touch.

I think I have previously explained that on my own
sphere I can be conscious of Him in a way that is
much surer and closer than yours. May I illustrate
the difference by saying that you can observe a fire
and know that it is a fire, although you are far away
from it. Whereas we, being much nearer, are able to
feel its warmth, in addition to seeing its glow. Men on
earth do not, save in rare exceptions, see Him with
the eye, or hear Him with the ear ; you are dependent
for your consciousness of Him upon the higher per¬
ceptive powers, which you are not at all times able
to use. But we, on the other hand, can realise Him
at any time by hearing or by visualisation. We enjoy
greater powers of perception.

G.D.T .: Do you mean that you can picture Jesus to your¬
self ? Or is it that you actually obtain a clairvoyant
glimpse of Him and observe what He may be doing
at the moment ?

Father: “ Clairvoyant vision ” would correctly describe
it. I am able to see what He is doing at the moment.
Many persons on earth have the ability to obtain
occasional glimpses of us. But we have the advantage

244 “ Where I am there shall also my Servant he ”

of seeing those above us whenever we so desire . Were I
about to engage in difficult work, say a mission of help
to those on a lower sphere, I should first visualise Our
Lord and draw to myself actual power through
consciousness of Him. As you draw strength in
prayer, so do we continually draw much greater
strength from our realisation of Him. Etta wishes to
add something to that.

Etta: Our surroundings aid us in this easier realisation of
Our Lord. On earth, one was hampered by distrac¬
tions and anxieties, not always selfish ones, but
thoughts and difficulties about others, as well as
personal perplexities. But here, where we now are,
we can see our way so much more easily and clearly.
When I visualise Our Lord there seems to come an
actual light, like a search-light or something of that
kind, and this shines into my mind, illuminating any¬
thing that might have perplexed or seemed difficult
to me. And that which I have alluded to as a light
comes to me whenever I visualise Our Lord's face, or
call to mind his voice or touch. Whenever we do
this we seem to attract the light which illuminates
every difficulty and everything we have to do.

C.D.T. : Are you able to describe what you saw when on
the seventh sphere ?

Father: After arriving there we found ourselves moving
with a multitude which converged from all directions
towards one point. Neither Etta nor I knew why we
set our faces in that direction, we simply felt impelled.
Presently we noticed that one and another stopped;
we learnt later that they had been able to feel, see, and
hear Our Lord without moving nearer ; for realisation
no longer depended on, what you would understand
by, measurements of distance.

And then, we saw Rim too . When saying, “ I saw
Him " I am speaking in the same sense as that in
which you would use the words if telling me that you
had seen some friend in your house. I saw his face,
his hair, his form. Pictures on earth have not des¬
cribed Him very accurately. Or perhaps it is that

“ Where I am there shall also my Servant he ” 245

his spiritual body so far surpasses anything that was
possible to his more limited body on earth. It is
indescribable; for it contains and reflects the power,
and the beauty, and the love of Our Heavenly Father.
Words convey but little to you when I say that his
features are beautiful. A great majesty, together
with great sweetness and humility, radiate from Him,
as a light shining through a globe . 1

Etta: You might have expected that we should bow, or
fall upon our knees. But I did not want to do that,
I wanted to look up ; the feeling was to lift myself to
Him. To kneel, to bow the head, is fitting while on
earth. But we felt as the flowers may feel which turn
towards the sun, instinctively upward to the sun.

He spoke . . . That which He said I am unable to
repeat here. I can only tell you that what He said
would help me, that its recollection would remain
within me for all eternity, even if I never saw or
heard Him in that way again. Try to recall those
brief flashes, coming at rare intervals on earth, of
complete consciousness of good, of everything being
just as it should be. Well, I now had that complete
realisation of a goodness, therefore of God, in every¬
thing. This experience came to me through Him,
through that spiritual body of Our Lord which I was
seeing and hearing with my actual senses, in the same
way that I see father. I then felt that I was able to
symbolise or interpret God in everything around me,
and not only there, but even in the things of earth.
I felt during those moments as if I understood every¬
thing ; as if a spirit of life, flowing through Jesus to
me, explained even ugliness and sin, as well as beauty
and goodness. I felt only hope and ultimate good for
everything. . . . Even now, under these very different
conditions, I can feel the glow of that wonderful
presence, that revelation. It was, indeed, a com¬
plete realisation. The trouble on earth is just the

x In the above description Feda seemed to experience considerable difficulty*
and made frequent pauses. The words used to assert the personal sight of
Our IyOrd were given one by one, very slowly, and with great reverence and
impressiveness.

246 “ Whe re I am there shall also my Servant be ”

lack of this, the absence of a complete realisation of
God under any and every circumstance. Here we feel
that at all times; but on this occasion we realised it
in a different way, in a more personal sense.

Among those present were many of the great and
outstanding who passed through their earth experience
long ago . . . the Apostles and Mary . . . those of
whom we had read and thought. You would think
it so wonderful to actually see them that you might
scarcely know where you were. Well, it is, and yet
it is not. Although so wonderful it did not seem at
all strange to me ; for, as you well know, these great
spirits had been living realities to me for years before
I left earth. I had thought of them, and had wondered
about them. Hence, I had come to know them sub¬
consciously. When people whom you have never seen
on earth live in your imagination, you become subcon¬
sciously prepared for meeting them in reality. And that
is why on each occasion when I have seen Our Lord,
even including the first time, and when I saw the
Apostles, and Mary, I felt to be meeting in a new way
those whom, in another way, I had often met before.

When you think of me, and when you remember
what I thought of things—and you knew partly,
more than the others did—you can imagine what this
experience means to me, and may even understand
why it has not seemed strange.

When we returned to our own sphere it did not seem
a going back, but a going forward. Even our home
looked different to us, the very atmosphere seemed
to have grown brighter, and our movements lighter.
Everything seemed to have taken on an additional
power and joy from our wonderful experience.

Then we came straight to you. While on my own
sphere I had thought that you might catch the radiance
from us when we came near you. But on coming I
found it was not so. The conditions of earth life make
it difficult for you to catch my joy, and it is impossible
foT me to convey to you any clear impression of it,
seeing that I have to limit myself to words alone.

CHAPTER XXIX

SOUL AND SPIRIT

When we had reached the stage of easy conversation in
these trance sittings, and had dealt exhaustively with the
evidential side of the communications, I took opportunity
to ask my father and sister if they now knew more about
man's nature than was common knowledge on earth.
Their talks upon soul and spirit were resumed from time
to time. I have selected typical extracts which outline
the substance of the teaching given.

It was necessary at the outset to agree upon the meaning
of the terms used. We decided to call the highest within
man, “ spirit," and to use the word “ soul " for the ego,
or self. By the “ etheric body " is meant that vehicle of
the soul which interpenetrates the mortal body and survives
death. (In Theosophical literature this term is used in a
somewhat different sense). The words " subliminal" and
“ subconscious " refer to unconscious mental activity.

Let us first see what was said of the soul and its invisible
body. Here are some quotations from my father :—

“ The soul is the child of spirit and body . . . For
the purpose of creating individual man, a part of God,
Spirit, is divorced from God and allies itself with a
physical body."

“ Personality is a child of the spirit and the body,
bom by Spirit coming into contact with a physical
body. Universal Spirit is of course impersonal, or
non-personal might be the better word. A detached
part of this Universal Spirit, attaching itself to a new
physical organism, gradually becomes personal through
contact with conditions which you term ' life/ Some

247

248 Soul and Spirit

develop personality more quickly than do others.
Backward children are the less developed person¬
alities.”

" Some people fear that they will be less complete
when out of the body than they now are while within
it. The physical body seems so essential; the idea
of being detached from it gives them the feeling of
loss, or being less well off than before. This is quite
a wrong idea. The unseen body, which exists all the
time you are in the physical body, has much greater
power when set free. It has not much power while
within the physical body, because personality then
functions in the physical, and not in the invisible one,
save in sleep. During moments of inspiration or
prayer one functions for a moment consciously in
the spiritual body. During more than n| out of
12 waking hours one is in the physical condition.
When personality and soul are freed from the physical,
one is immediately in a similar body, but one which has
indeed added powers of feeling, of appreciation, and
even of movement/'

“All your mind is not in, or acting upon, your
brain at once. You have your conscious and sub¬
conscious mind; that which is outside and registers
memory is the subconscious. By * outside' I mean
something not operating in the brain at the moment.
Conscious mind is that which operates in the brain at
the moment. Directly it has finished, it naturally
passes back into the subconscious. The subconscious
is memory's storehouse. I think that a better term
for subconscious would be superconscious; for sub
suggests that which is under, a subservient mind,
which it is not. It is the more powerful of the two.
I would rather speak of it as the over mind, and not
the under mind.”

Sometimes I asked questions, and these were always
readily answered, as in the following conversation :—

Soul and Spirit 249

O.Z>.T.: You once said that at death the memories of
physical body and psychic body are withdrawn into
the soul. Have you now normally the soul's memory
and also a psychic body memory ?

Father: No; one cannot express it in that way. I seem
to have but one memory. I have the ordinary memory
of physical things that I had on earth, and this is
merged into the subliminal memory which operates
consciously here. When one passes over, one's sub¬
liminal memory operates consciously. Your conscious
mind is really soul, a part of the subliminal, but a part
projected on to the brain. The brain would not hold
all the memory, all the subliminal, but only a limited
part of it.

C.D.r.: How is the subliminal mind related to the soul ?

Father: I think it is an expression of it, as ripples are a
part of the water. One cannot separate them.

G.D.T.: That seems to explain your having but one
memory now and not two.

Father: Consider the prodigies who do certain things
marvellously, say mathematics or music. They have
consciously developed touch with their subliminal,
but only along one line; they are not versatile. One
child will do figures without trouble which others can
only do in a long time upon paper. That special
power comes through being able to touch the subliminal
mind just along one line.

C.D.r.; They somehow get at it along that one line.

Father: Without knowing how; like a child who learns
by experience that a certain string pulled will give out
a certain sound ; he knows how to produce the effect,
but does not know why the result comes. Ardent
students do it upon their particular line; they master
it, and their subconscious self is in touch with vibra¬
tions of the universal inspiration and creative power.
You can portray in all art and science if only you can
touch the requisite key-note of your subliminal mind.
Some without learning how, do things which others
cannot accomplish even with toil. They touch their
subconscious self; “ It just came to me," says the artist

2$o Soul and Spirit

Etta: The people who have great difficulties who are not
happy in themselves, erratic people, are those whose
conscious and subconscious selves are out of touch,
out of harmony. The less these two are in touch,
the more out of harmony feels the life. When in
easy touch with the subconscious it is a wonderful
thing; for a man's soul remembers a large range ol
facts and experiences which he can draw upon at any
moment.

Father: We sometimes know things now which our sub¬
conscious mind may have known on earth, but which
our conscious mind did not. For example : say that
someone has robbed me and that I was unaware of
it and thought the money had been lost in the ordinary
course of business. On passing over I should realise
that I had been robbed, and should know the whole
truth about it. People can diagnose the disease ol
which they died. Say they died under an operation
and did not know the cause of the disease ; on arrival
here they could become aware of it. Your mind can
get knowledge from the subconscious sometimes, but
in our sphere we can always do so.

The following extracts treat of the spirit in man.

Etta said:—

“ The spirit, like yeast in bread, is always energising
to uplift, to make perfect and to work through."

G.D.T.: Is my consciousness of the soul ?

Father: Yes.

G.D.T,: Has my spirit a self consciousness ? ✓

Father : I would not say so; its consciousness is God's and
it works through you into consciousness. It is not a
consciousness in itself, nor in you, but is God's, God
is conscious in you, by means of the spirit which is

Soul and Spirit 2$l

part of his consciousness dwelling within you and
animating you. People wonder if it is possible that
God sees them do this or that little act of good or bad.
“ How can he keep His mind's eye on me, how can it
matter to Him ? " It is because of a part of His
consciousness which is in you, and which came from
Him.

C.D.T .: And which is permanently in touch with Him ?

Father: Yes.

C.D.T .: Is it the action of the spirit on our soul which
certain texts allude to ; as, for example: “ The spirit
of God beareth witness with our spirit ? ”

Father: Perfectly right. Many puzzles in Scripture are
made easier of understanding by these studies. The
Holy Spirit works in us the whole time, and is part of,
is an expression of, God. If I could say it is “ a soul-
power" of God—comparing ourselves with Him—I
would say so; because the Holy Spirit is a part of
Himself, an expression of His personality, it is of
Himself.

Father: Spirit has one great memory, the memory of God.

C.D.T.: Do you mean that it remembers that it is from
God?

Father: Yes, it remembers that it knows what God is,
in a way that neither soul nor body can know. Spirit
is of God. The spirit must have a consciousness of
God, more than any other part of man ; because it is
of God, purely, entirely and solely of God.

C.D.T .: When after your passing you found yourself in
closer touch with the spirit within, what difference
did you notice ?

Father: It made me more acutely conscious of God and of
a spiritual universe. On earth I was conscious that
there was God, but I was less acutely conscious of Him.
It is easier for the soul after death to link up entirely
with the spirit. It is more conscious of the spirit then,
and shares more of the spirit's consciousness.

While the soul is within the earthly body it must be,

L.B.D. K

a 52 Soul and Spirit

say fifty per cent, natural and fifty per cent, spiritual
—put it that way. Soul must have a strong bias
towards the material, must operate through it, must
be conscious of and be influenced by it. Otherwise
you get dreamers, idlers, idealists who spend time
and strength in theorising and not practising. You
must have the balance. And yet, having the balance
is a drawback to the soul in one sense, because it
undoubtedly prevents one from being in that complete
union with the spirit which it attains when freed
from physical flesh.

Father: The spirit cannot be evil or ugly.

G.D.T. .* Do you mean that spirit is always good ?

Father: Spirit is the one part which belongs entirely to
God.

G.D.T.: But it sins with the soul and with the physical
body.

Father: No, no. Spirit cannot do evil, but can be pre¬
vented from doing good. It is the free will of man
which accomplishes the evil.

G.D.T.: But by “ Will ” do we not mean the spirit giving
orders ?

Father: Will is not the spirit, but can become the right
hand of the spirit if used habitually for good. Spirit
is pure and comes to the physical body at birth.
There are many offsprings, as Choice, Will, Growth,
Personality. If Will were spirit, a baby could will
things, because it has its spirit just as much as grown
people; but it has to develop Will through growth in
the physical body. It is not spirit which grows in
itself, but all which goes to make up the spiritual body
and the personality. Will-to-do-good can be de¬
veloped ; and that brings it more into co-operation
with the spirit. But a will-to-do-evil can be developed;
that alienates the will from the spirit and subjects if
to the lower physical. The spirit is never dominated
by evil, never; the will may be, it is not forced to be,
yet can be, but the spirit never is.

Soul and Spirit 253

6.D.T.: I want to base a question on your recent remark
that spirit cannot do evil. What, then, is the spirit's
condition when a person of evil life passes to the realms
of discipline and gloom ? Is spirit there a higher
personality which suffers with its more material
partner, the spiritual body and soul ? If so, is there
a dual consciousness there ?

Father: Spirit may suffer through wrong done by the
spiritual body. It is not any worse for a spirit there
than when attached to that body on earth. But it is
a great thing, I strongly feel, for the spirit when the
soul has worked out its salvation through the physical
body, for it takes longer to do it on our side; men are
sent on earth to develop the soul through contact with
physical conditions.

O.D.T.: Would an evil man there be in closer touch with
his spirit ?

Father : Yes, when he realises where he is ; many do not,
especially those who have not trained themselves to
think while on earth. It is important to get right
habits of thought; for these determine state and
condition there. Not the impulse for good, but the
habit of good, is the thing which tells. Spirit is pure.
It is of God, and knows the source from whence it
came, and to which it will unquestionably work back
again, and so it is, in a way of its own, happy.

C.D.r.; Would a sinner be conscious of that happiness ?

Father: No, save momentary gleams such as men have on
earth, I am sometimes sent to help on lower spheres ;
at first they seemed very low. The people could not
see us, and yet to some extent they felt us ; it was a
feeling of being in touch subconsciously, intuitively,
with a higher soul, and it put them in touch with their
own higher self, that is to say, with their spirit. In
that condition they would have gleams of momentary
desire to rise to some place or state to which their
spirit belongs.

6.D.T .; What part does our spirit play in our progress ?

2 £4 <SW/ and Spirit

Does it, rather than the mind, catch the higher inspira¬
tions and transmit them to our consciousness ?

Etta: Spirit is so much a part of God it never loses its
connection with God. Divine life is flowing all the
time and replenishing the spirit. Your spirit lights
up your body as long as it is within, as long as you
have bodily life. Spirit does not speak with your
mouth or look with your eyes, but helps, controls, gives
life to the soul and personality which is what speaks
and acts through you.

C.D.r.; The spirit then is less personal ?

Etta: Less ? It is never really personal. It is incorrect
to say “ I recognise that spirit as my father.” It is
the spirit tody which is recognised. You cannot
recognise any one by their spirit. Spirit does not
change, but develops clothing; like an artist's canvas
which gets a picture on it. When completed, can you
say which is picture and which is canvas ? Both are
united, it is a combination. Spirit is the foundation,
the impersonal foundation. Yet, when painted on, it
is difficult to say “ the canvas is quite separate,” and
the soul is like a picture painted on the spirit canvas;
but soul does the painting, grows itself. Soul can
learn to like evil, which spirit cannot do.

C.D.T.: Have you learnt this from others or realised it?

Etta : Both. But being taught brings about a realisation
here as it often did not on earth. Spirit is from God;
and the rest is grown, Le., Soul, Mind, Will, through
combination of spirit with matter. Activities of the
soul are Will, Emotions, Mind, Intellect. The Will is
like the head, and Emotions like limbs of the soul.

I must tell you about the reaction of spirit, the only
adverse way in which spirit can be affected. If mind
is always being appealed to in a wrong way through
the senses, it makes very bad and impossible conditions
for the spirit. We look on it as a shrinkage, as if you
picture the gas turned down so that the light shines
less. The condition is bad. But father says, a
better simile would be that of a fog and a clear atmos¬
phere ; evil to the spirit is like a fog to the light. It

Soul and Spirit 255

cannot kill spirit but limits it, till there comes a time
when spirit is so limited in force that it takes time to
get through to the body when it gets a chance. Drink,
for example; if a man would pull up early, spirit
could manifest strongly. Afterwards, title spirit could
not do so much in a week of abstinence as in a very
brief time previously. It is habitual evil which is so
bad, because it makes the body so bad an instrument
for spirit to manifest in, like a rusty machine.

Shortly after the above conversation I resumed the

subject by saying to my father:—

“ I was much interested in talking with Etta last
time and should like to go over the same ground with
you. What part does our spirit play in our progress ?
Does it, rather than our mind, catch the higher
inspirations and transmit them to our consciousness ?”

Father: Yes.

C.D.T.: Does it try " to get through ” its wishes and
wisdom to our conscious mind ?

Father: Yes, but not personally. Eliminate the idea of
effort and personal endeavour.

G.D.T.: Is our spirit like a sort of “ control/' always
trying to control, but much thwarted in its effort to
bring through into our actions that which it
desires ?

Father: I will take the last question first. Not what it
desires, but what it is and that which it is part of.
The spirit works all the time to bring about a mani¬
festation of the divine life of which it is a part. The
spirit has no personal wish or desire, but tends to
manifest God in us all the time. My spirit is not
changeable; only the material in which it works,
i.e. y soul, is changeable.

GJD.T .: Is the same spark of God in me now which I have
had all the time ?

Father: Yes, and so there is ever the opportunity to
become spiritual; it is never withdrawn or differing
in kind or degree.

2$6 Soul and Spirit

C.D.T.: You may remember it used to be preached that a
man could lose the spirit ?

Father: Yes, one may make it so difficult for spirit to
show itself. When body and soul so live that spirit
is out of hearing, because they are out of God’s ways,
then very little of spirit can manifest through them.
One could say then, that “ the spirit is withdrawn/'
but, literally, it is only that we have ejected and
rejected it. There is an important thing to explain
here ; spirit itself is not changeable, as I said before,
but can transmit many wonderful powers and qualities
from God to you, such as love, sympathy, pity.
Understand, that it is a channel for these gifts. One
who lives such a life that his body, mind and soul are
in harmony with the spirit which exists in him, can
receive anything ; the more he fits himself to receive,
the more he will receive. It is one interpretation of,
“ Unto him that hath shall be given.” The more you
desire to receive, the more you can receive. There is
no limit to the receiving you may have, and it is
perfectly true that “ from him that hath not shall be
taken away ”; which amount to this—if one keeps
completely out of harmony with the spirit which is
in him, then not only can he not receive more, but he
will lose,—not his spirit, but the faculty of attracting
spiritual things to his mind and soul, through the
spirit.

C.D.T. ; What is the relation of the Holy Spirit to this ?

Father : True, again. It is as closely affecting us as does
sap the outer branches of a tree. You see, it is through
the spirit in us that we keep our connection with God,
remain linked with God.

C.D.T.: He keeps Himself in touch with my spirit; but
what is meant by “ touch ” ?

Father: God is conscious of all which He animates. You
do not think in your finger, it is an extremity, but you
are conscious of what happens in it. Your centre of
being is not in finger or toe, but in your head, that is
your centre of consciousness for what happens to the
toe. Yet, it seems so far from the seat of consciousness.

Soul and Spirit 257

You are as an extremity of God's, as, say, a finger.
The seat of his consciousness is not in you, but it is
aware of what happens in His extremities. God
knows everything, even the least little thing you da
or think, and knows it through the mediumship of
His consciousness in you, i.e. t His spirit in you, which
is “ your spirit" so called. Really “ my spirit ” means
the Divine Spirit in me; but a part which has been
semi-isolated in me, yet never disconnected from its
source any more than is a branch from its tree.
When the body is discarded you have a spiritual body,
that is to say, one which is more akin to the Divine
Spirit, more sensitive to His operation. But if He
has not been permitted to manifest Himself through
the earthly body, the etheric body will be unsuitable
for His manifestation, the latter being dominated for
some time after death by the habits of its physical
body. That which is done in the earthly body
modifies, for better or for worse, the etheric body.
The penalty of an ill life consists in certain qualities of
the etheric body which limit and hinder when a man
passes over.

One can speak in this way of the etheric body as
something by itself. But it must be realised that
one's soul and its etheric body are inseparable. Just
as you manifest on earth by means of, and through, the
physical body, so do you on passing over, manifest in
and through the etheric or spiritual body. The habits
of the soul are perpetuated and made manifest in its
essential body; that body which, during life on
earth, was being modified and stamped by the actions
and quality of the soul.

Q.D.T.: Does the spirit try to “ get through ” its wishes
and wisdom to our conscious mind ?

Father: Not its wishes, that would be a wrong term;
because it is impersonal, and there cannot be desires
in an impersonal condition. Neither say “ try ”;
for it is, that is all one can say of the spirit. It is
somewhat misleading to call it your spirit; say your
mind, body, soul, but not your spirit; for really it is

258 Soul and Spirit

God's spirit in you, permanently in you. We do not
say “the body or the arm which belongs to the fingers,"
but “ fingers which belong to the body " ; it is not
the tree which belongs to the leaves, but the leaves
belong to the tree. Spirit is the expression of God in
you, therefore now yours in a personal sense, yet you
need not think of it quite in the possessive sense.
The text, “ the spirit of God beareth witness with our
spirit," really means information coming from God,
via the spirit to one's soul. Popularly, “spirit" is
used for “ soul," whereas it is actually the life of the
soul, the animating principle.

Man could lose his soul, for it is his own to lose;
but not so the spirit within him. Yet, the word
“ lose " is misleading in that connection. One cannot
permanently lose it; so the reality would be better
expressed by “ injure " or “ suffer loss." We must
remind people that physical life is a very short period
compared with eternity, the life of soul and spirit.
C.D.T.: Is the spirit always trying to control, but much
thwarted in its efforts to bring through into our
actions that which it desired ?

Father: Eliminate the idea of personal effort. GOD is
and can be anything He chooses to be. His effort is
synonymous with spiritual gravitation towards good.
His love is not in our spirit itself, but is transmitted
through that spirit which is an expression of His
personality, not of ours. His love and desire for oui
happiness run through the channel of our spirit all
the time. All the time he draws us toward Himself
through the mediumship of the spirit within us.

I am told by some to whom I have submitted this
chapter that it is, in substance, the view put forward in the
past by this and by that philosopher. They may be right
in saying this. It would be strange indeed if, during the
centuries behind us, none of the thinkers who have wrestled
with the problem should have glimpsed this particular view.
To me it appears of little importance whether the explana¬
tions here offered are new or old; and I do not assert that

Soul and Spirit 259

they are correct, or the last word upon the mystery of
man’s triune nature. But I have not before met with
explanations which gave me so logical and satisfactory an
account of that which I dimly perceive within myself.

While on earth, neither my father nor my sister were
deeply versed in philosophy or psychology, although my
father was an accurate observer and one of the most
conscientiously painstaking men I have known. What
they here tell me is not perhaps expressed in irreproachable
language; I question whether the medium’s mind would
furnish suitable words and phrases for achieving this.
Yet, it seems to me that they have succeeded in expressing
with clarity the results of personal observation and
experience.

CHAPTER XXX

CAN THE SOUL LEAVE THE BODY DURING SLEEP ?

It was one of the surprises of my earlier seance talks to be
told by friends who had died that I often left the body
during sleep and went away with them. It did not seem
credible. If it really happened, why did not memory of
such excursions remain ? I had lived for fifty years
without suspecting it. If these excursions had been taking
place would one have remained in total ignorance of the
fact ?

I do not accept statements as true merely because they
come to me through psychic channels. They may have
been blurred during transmission, or mingled with fancies
in the medium's mind. When satisfied that they represent
what the communicator wishes to say, one should furthei
consider whether it is an opinion that is being expressed,
or a personal experience.

For a long time I kept an open mind upon this question
of sleep travel. The considerations which eventually led
me to regard it as most probably true include the following:

1. Experiences of leaving the body, making a short

journey and returning, are recorded by credible
witnesses.

2. Certain hypnotic experiments tend to support this

claim.

3. There are instances on record where the sleeper has

been seen at places distant from his physical body.

4. My communicators, whose identity is established,

consistently assert that the soul can do more than
this; that it sometimes visits higher realms during
bodily sleep. They give reasoned explanations in
reply to my questions and objections.

260

Can the Soul leave the Body during Sleep ? 261

5. The reality of such excursions is not disproved by

absence of recollection when the sleeper wakes.

6. Partial recollection is asserted by some; while with

others it appears to emerge in their dreams.

Let us take these headings one by one.

1. Experiences of leaving the body, making a short journey

and returning, are recorded by credible witnesses .

These experiences, as recounted by persons of my
acquaintance, fall into two classes. In the first are vivid
dreams of getting free from the body and floating away
over trees and country. The dreamer is able to make
minute observations. Sometimes the return journey i9
equally vivid. These excursions seem confined to earth;
it is the familiar type of country and town which the
dreamer sees. I say “ dreamer,” but my friends aver that
these experiences are quite unlike ordinary dreams and
leave a unique impression after waking.

In the second class all idea of dream is disclaimed. The
percipient is apparently awake when suddenly he finds
himself looking down upon his body. By an act of will
he moves into the street and observes the passing traffic.
When repetition has familiarised him with the experience,
and lessened his earlier timidity, he has been able to travel
greater distances. His movements, after first issuing from
the body, seem more or less under control of will.

Such narratives are chiefly interesting as being supported
by instances, to be mentioned later, where the narrator's
impression of visiting a given place is confirmed by the
observation of those who saw him there.

2. Hypnotic experiment tends to support this claim of actual

travelling from the body .

There have been carefully observed experiments where
the hypnotised person has been told to go to such and
such a place and observe what is happening. On comparing
his report with the result of subsequent inquiries, it has

262 Can the Soul leave the Body during Sleep ?

been found that the description tallied exactly. There
was no room for doubt. It was evident that the hypno¬
tised person had accurately described what was happening
at the moment in a distant place.

A friend tells me that, on one occasion during the war,
she was present at a seance where the medium's husband
asked them to suggest the place his wife should visit while
in the hypnotic sleep. My friend's son being then in the
navy, “ somewhere on the North Sea," she asked that the
medium should be told to observe what our ships were
doing. The suggestion was accepted. The medium pre¬
sently began to describe a Zeppelin floating on the water,
and boats putting off from our ships to rescue its crew.
Next day it was learnt that a Zeppelin had been brought
down at the mouth of the Thames and its crew rescued in
the manner described; the time at which this happened
synchronised with that during which the seance was in
progress.

While such instances are impressive, it does not neces¬
sarily follow that the information was obtained by the
soul's excursion. The same result might perhaps be
achieved by some form of television. We are not confined
to one alternative. It may even be suggested that a
spirit communicator, who was aware of the distant hap¬
pening, availed himself of the opportunity to impress upon
the medium's mind a picture of the event. Moreover, it
is stated that if a susceptible person be hypnotised and
then told that he is standing by the sea, he will immediately
act as if actually there and will proceed to give a lifelike
description of sea-shore sights. We therefore require more
decisive evidence that the sleeper has acutally travelled.

3. Instances where the sleeper has been seen at a distance
from his body .

This class of evidence exists and is highly important to
our inquiry. It establishes the fact of actual travel to
distant places and gives added significance to the fore¬
going instances of asserted travel during hypnotism, or
during sleep.

Can the Soul leave the Body during Sleep ? 263

My friend, Mr. W. Appleyard, an ex-Lord Mayor of
Sheffield, personally told me of the following incident,
which I now extract from page sixty-four of his book,
Au Revoir , not Good-bye , published by Hutchinson & Co.

Speaking of his wife, he writes :—

“ During her illness I had a most extraordinary
experience. An American medium came to carry out
a long-standing engagement, but my wife, not being
in a condition to entertain her, she went to a member
of the family about one hundred yards away, where
one evening we held a seance. My wife was much dis¬
appointed at not being able to attend, and was in bed.

“ During the sitting a brother of hers on the other
side came, and we asked him what he thought of his
sister. He replied that he was going across to have a
look at her. In a little while we were startled by a
voice we all recognised, calling out, f Walter, Walter'
(my name), and the laugh we knew so well. We
were at once filled with apprehension.

“ * Who are you ? ' I asked, just to assure myself
that I was not mistaken. ' I am Isie' (my wife's
name), she called out. . . . The meeting broke up in
confusion, all of us thinking that my wife had passed
away. I immediately phoned home and was told that
she was asleep.

" In order to obtain an explanation of the incident,
we held a seance the following evening, when the guide
of the medium informed us as follows: f Your wife's
brother came, and, as promised, went to see his sister,
and, finding her asleep and the power very strong,
he brought her across to the meeting when she spoke
to you.’

“ After she awoke she made no sign as to her
knowledge of the experience, nor did I mention the
matter, fearing to excite her.

“ This is clear evidence of the possibility of the
spirit, while in the flesh, being able ±0 travel and
communicate. It is the only case of the kind I have
witnessed."

264 Can the Soul leave the Body during Sleep ?

The following incident was written out at my request
by the percipient, a lady bachelor of science and lecturer
on biology. She is a personal friend whom I consider to
be a keen observer and highly intelligent. The brother,
on whom the incident hinges, had been master in a school,
and subsequently became a Doctor of Medicine.

“ My brother Cardew, who had been an invalid for
many years, was ordered by a specialist to go for a
year's voyage. This was planned out to include
three months in Australia. It was a great trial
to us all, as he is the only brother living. However,
it was arranged that he should go, and that he would
be away, at the very least, eighteen months.

" Before he left me he promised me that if he were
ever in trouble, or if he were dying, he would appear
to me personally if it was anyhow possible to do so,
as he and I were always special friends. He sailed
on Christmas Eve.

“ After various letters from him, we received one
in June telling us that he seemed much better, and
that he had decided to stay for six months, at the least,
in Australia before continuing his voyage round the
world. He had arranged his movements exactly,
and had gone, much to our surprise, to work on a
fruit farm at the advice of an Australian doctor who
had examined his throat and lungs.

“The very next night after receiving this letter,
I was lying awake as usual (I always lie awake for an
hour before I can sleep) and was not even thinking of
Cardew, when suddenly, although it was dark, I saw
him distinctly, standing at the foot of the bed, in a
gray tennis flannel suit which I had never seen. He
smiled, and said in a very cheerful voice, ' Don't be
frightened, I am all right, but I am coming back;
there is trouble at home.' Then he smiled, said no
more, and quite disappeared.

“ I felt very uncanny, so at once woke my sister
who was sleeping in the same room, and told her of
Cardew's appearance. We agreed not to mention the

Can the Soul leave the Body during Sleep ? 265

incident to mother or to father, as it might frighten
them. And we put down the date of Cardew's coming
in a diary for future reference. We felt rather
frightened about the matter.

“ A few days afterwards we decided that mother
should go to North Cornwall with my sister for a
holiday, as she seemed to feel my brother's absence so
keenly. When they had been at Boscastle for over a
month, a letter came from Cardew telling us that he
had suddenly altered all his plans, and was coming
back, and was then on the way home. Two or three
days afterwards a telegram arrived saying he had
landed at Liverpool, and the next day he was here
again. We wired for mother and she came home at
once.

“ We wondered what had altered his plans so
suddenly, but he did not tell us for several days, and
then he told us that one day, when he was feeling
very well and strong, and thinking how much he
liked being in Australia, he suddenly felt he must go
to the docks for a walk. When he got there he felt
again that he must inquire about the ships that were
returning. The f must ' was so strong that although
he knew it was positively settled that he should stay
in Australia, yet he was compelled to go and inquire.
Yet he was not homesick, and had no desire to come
home just then. On making inquiries he found that a
boat was leaving the next day for England, and some
very powerful force made him book his passage on the
spot, contrary to his wishes, reasons, and common
sense. A voice seemed, to say ' You must return at
'once. Book your passage at once.' It was so strong
that he had to obey it, although he hated doing so.
And so he returned.

“ When he told me this, I asked him about the time
and date of this feeling and decision, and found that
they coincided exactly with the date in my diary.
Then I told him about his coming to see me that
night, and showed him the entry in my diary. As
there was, however, then no sign of the € trouble at

266 Can the Soul leave the Body during Sleep ?

home/ we both felt there was nothing in it—but not
for long*

“A few days afterwards my father was in very
great trouble about some business matters. Through
a quite unnecessary act of kindness he had become
responsible for somebody else. He was in great
trouble about it, and became very ill in the worry of
it all. At last he told Cardew what it was, and the
latter by his foresight and alertness was able to see
exactly what to do, and consulted lawyers, etc.
Finally, he settled up everything satisfactorily to both
parties. If he had not been at home we should have
been involved in a long lawsuit, and lost most of our
money. I need not explain the circumstances further,
but we shall always be most thankful that Cardew was
at home to advise father about the matter. It took
weeks to settle things, but Cardew was very glad he
was at home to arrange matters with the lawyers.

“ He did not wear the gray suit for some weeks,
then one morning he appeared in it, and I told him it
was the one. He said that I was right, and that it
was the one he was wearing when suddenly he booked
his berth home.”

This apparition in England of a man then in Australia
indicates two points bearing on our inquiry, (a) That
distance does not hinder, and (b) That the traveller may
retain no recollection of his journey.

I add a further instance of sleep travel. My informant
is a clergyman who dreamed of the locality where, at the
same time, he was observed by two persons.

While snatching an hour’s sleep during the late
afternoon of a hot and busy Sunday, he had a vivid
dream of being in his former parish, a place some score
of miles distant. That same afternoon, a farmer and
his wife, living in the latter place and who knew my
friend well, were out walking, when they both saw
Trim in an adjoining field. It looked as though they
must meet after passing the stile in front, and as they

Can the Soul leave the Body during Sleep ? 267

climbed over it they looked around expecting to see
him. Their astonishment was great at not finding
him. They failed to understand how he could have
left the field so quickly, and wrote that evening, gently
upbraiding him for visiting their neighbourhood
without calling on them.

The numerous psychic incidents occurring spontaneously
to this friend prove him to be mediumistic. He records
the experiences with care, but has not sought to develop
his gift.

The incidents I have related are examples of what is
common knowledge to those versed in psychical research.
A large collection of cases, similar in character, can be
found in the literature of the subject, which is available at
the headquarters of the S.P.R., 31 Tavistock Square,
London, W.C.i, and at other psychic libraries.

4. My communicators , whose identity is established , con¬
sistently assert that the soul can sometimes visit higher
realms during bodily sleep . They give reasoned explana¬
tions in reply to my questions and objections .

I have touched upon considerations which, to my own
mind, open the way for a belief that the soul has power to
leave the sleeping body.

We are now to consider the question of the soul’s more
extended flights. If it can make excursion to distant
places on earth, can it go yet further and enter realms
beyond earth ?

There is a remarkable consensus of testimony on this
point, psychical communications in general asserting these
extra-terrene excursions. Personally, I am much impressed
by what is told me by my own communicators. In
previous chapters I have stated some of my reasons for
certainty about their identity. Knowing them as I did
while they were on earth, I am confident that they would
not intentionally mislead me. Their remarks on this
subject are the outcome of observation and experience.
L.B.D. s

26 8 Can the Soul leave the Body during Sleep ?

They say that they have seen my soul issuing forth and
have accompanied the traveller, leading him to their own
sphere, and there conversing with him. Other of their
friends travel in like manner. On arriving, we are some¬
what slow in awakening to a realisation of our surroundings,
and tend to grow dull and heavy as the time for return
approaches. Meanwhile, we are each connected with our
sleeping body by a cord of etheric matter drawn from the
soul's etherial form.

They point out that this essential body of the soul is
necessarily less complete during the temporary loss of
etheric matter forming the connecting cord. Hence, it is
not so adequate a vehicle for the soul's manifestation,
and not so alert as it will be when finally separated from
the physical body at death. This etheric cord is essential
to physical life; there can be no complete separation of
soul from body until death. But this cord, or ray, of
etheric matter is indefinitely elastic and does not impede
the free movement of the soul.

The representation therefore amounts to this : the soul
always animates an etherial body which normally inter¬
penetrates the physical form. When the soul travels
from the latter there is a connecting link. At death
this link is finally released, and then the etheric
body in its completeness rises with the soul to its new
sphere.

One naturally desires to know why, if vitality flows down
this cord, from soul to distant sleeping body—why con¬
sciousness, sight, emotion, memory do not also reach the
brain and cause one's dreams to be of Paradise ? Possibly
it is on those rare occasions when a modicum filters down
and when the brain is more than usually receptive, that we
have those outstanding impressions with which wo wake,
remarking to ourselves, “ That dream seemed more than
a dream." Such dreams there are, and poor indeed is he
who knows nothing of them.

After writing the above lines I put the question to my
father during that part of a sitting when he had taken
personal control and we were enjoying intimate conversa¬
tion. He said:—

Can the Soul leave the Body during Sleep ? 26 9

“Mind and consciousness leave the brain and go
with the soul. Yet sufficient remain to make the brain
alive to any accident that might happen. Then, in
case of a storm, illness, or sudden alarm, the soul's
return in haste would not cause so much waking
shock. Yet that which remains in the brain is in¬
considerable in amount. If sufficient consciousness
passed down the cord to keep the brain active, there
would not be sufficient left to make you conscious
while with us. In that case there might be a partial
consciousness, but not enough for complete con¬
sciousness in both places. So your question sub¬
stantially amounts to this: why can we not be
conscious in two places at once ? To do so would be
unusual, and, at best, only a partial and not a vivid
consciousness."

From numerous allusions to this subject I select some
given by my father and some by my sister. Each is dated,
and it will be noticed how uniformly this teaching has
extended throughout my sittings with Mrs. Leonard.
My own remarks and questions are placed within brackets.

June , 1917. Feda said that my father sees my
soul leaving the body sometimes during sleep. At
death it would leave from the head, but in sleep from
the solar plexus. He watches the soul come out and
form a sort of clothing for itself. That is because of
one’s intuitive sense of the need of clothing, the soul
naturally seeks to clothe its body, i.e., the spiritual or
psychic body.

“ Your father and you then go away and engage in
work. (I ask why I have no recollection of it.) The
brain was intended only for one set of conditons,
namely the physical. To be fully cognisant of the
other as well, would be too much for it to stand."

April , 1918. Feda remarked that my father had
recently met in the spirit world some youths in whom
I was interested, and added:—

2 70 Can the Soul leave the Body during Sleep ?

et About one of them he was at first doubtful as
to whether or not the lad had finally passed over;
because it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between
one newly arrived and those who are over temporarily
during sleep, or while under anaesthetics. He has
seen these temporary visitors looking so developed
that they might have been taken for the ordinary
inhabitants. Of course, they do not all appear so
similar. The less developed and more material souls
would be duller and coarser in appearance, even if
they soared so high, which is improbable. Many
people could scarcely travel a hundred yards from
their sleeping body.”

August , 1919. (I asked whether, when we go to
them during sleep, we seem to be our real, wakeful
selves, or as if in dream condition ?) “ You do not

look quite as alive and alert as if you had left the body
for good, but more so than when in the physical body
now. The exception is at the beginning and the end ;
the beginning is like waking, and the return is like
going to sleep. Except for just at the start you are
as bright and alert as at this moment.”

November , 1920. My sister Etta, after alluding to
what her mother had seen in the Beyond when visiting
there in sleep, said: “ Mother has seen it at night, but
that is not the same thing as living there. When the
soul comes to us at night it is limited by the connecting
cord, it looks much the same, but does not feel the
same as a freed soul/ (‘ Not so much awake ?')
* You are not, although you may appear to be so/
(' When I join you at night do I speak about my earth
life and remember it ?') ‘ Yes, you do ; but you do
not remember your earth life so well as you remember
that you were with us the previous night. You can
remember if you came over the night before or not/
(‘ My two memories then are continuous, but do not
intermingle ? ’) ‘ Quite so. If I suddenly ask you
a question about your day's doings, there is a certain

Can the Soul leave the Body during Sleep ? 271

effort to remember, because you are leading a dual
existence. We do not lead a dual life; we are com¬
plete in one body now."

“ ( f How do we reach you when we come at night ? ')

* I can only describe it as your soul first drawing itself
away from your aura directly the body sleeps. In
most cases there is some spirit helping, guiding you
on the journey from earth, although this is not always
necessary. In your case, father often comes for you/

We do not float up automatically, then ? ’) ‘ Yes,

and father holds your hand/ (‘ What would happen
if one had no guide to hold one's hand ? ') ‘ Such

would probably not go from earth, for the reason that
there was no one to want them. Some are so developed
that they can travel without guides; others so unde¬
veloped they cannot go at all. Spiritual as well as
psychic development is requisite; hence, some only
travel on earth. Father, who has listened to what
has been said, remarks that he does not always take
your hand; you can go side by side with him. You've
learnt to control your thought in the psychic body,
and your thought is always upon going with him to
the third sphere, and so you'd get there even if not
guided by him. He says that he often goes to places
to which he could not find his way by going mile
after mile, but he is able to draw himself to a place
by thought of it."

March , 1924. “ (‘ Is my life over there consecutive ? ')

* Yes, you begin where you left it off last time, pick
it up again and go ahead more rapidly than on earth.'
{ f Does one grow educated by those visits, or are the
experiences scrappy ?') ‘It is educative experience
which has influence on you for earth life. But you
could not come over unless you had prepared for it
and taken advantage of teaching; unless you had
prepared yourself mentally for it by the things you
do in earth life. The stretching capacity of the
communicating cord is dependent on progression in
ordinary life/ (‘ Yes, but is it progress in character,

Can the Soul leave the Body during Sleep ?

or in intelligence ? ’) ‘I think the character progress
is more important than the mental, the thinking of
and trying for good things, living up to a high ideal
or by striving to do so. Striving counts for so much,
even when you cannot keep up to the ideal. It is not
so much the race which makes the athlete strong, as
the training for it/ ”

August , 1924. " ( f Is waking after death anything
different from finding oneself there during night
travel ? ') f It is different. A visit is not such a
'complete waking; for you are still bound to the
physical body and limited in condition by that union.
Something is going from you to the physical body,
keeping it alive. So you are not nearly so much awake
on visits as when finally passing over. Yet, the process
is much the same. The preceding sleep may be a
quarter of an hour, but after death three or four days
may be required to lose the sense of physical illness,
etc., which should be left behind/ ”

May, 1926. " Does the spiritual or etheric body ever
sleep ?') * No, it is never unconscious. It has a

separate consciousness when freed from the earthly
body, and shares the consciousness of the latter while
within it. It is possible, while absent during sleep,
for just sufficient consciousness to be left in the
physical body for the brain to register certain im¬
pressions without drawing the etherial body back. Say
a noise disturbs you, or you feel cold, etc. For while
the etherial body is connected with the earthly body
by the etheric cord a certain stream of consciousness
passes down from the one to the other. It is only
when death breaks the cord that this ceases/

“ C It seems remarkable that the current of con¬
sciousness passing down the cord does not inform the
brain of what happens to the soul during night travel/)
* There is a stronger stream with some than with others.
It may be an inherited or an induced difference.
I should imagine that most mediums remember

Can the Soul leave the Body during Sleep ? 273

not only their dreams but also occasionally their
travels/ (Here I ask Feda whether her medium
remembers.) ‘ Not often/ she replied ; with her the
two are mixed together. She gets clear dreams;
but what she thinks are dreams have bits poked in
them of what she did while out of the body. Both
get mixed. Etta says, ‘ It is as if you took a scene
which I once painted long ago, and should add two
figures in the forground. Anyone looking at it might
not know that those two figures did not belong to
the scene; for they would assume that the figures
were an integral part of it/ ”

September , 1926. “ ( # Is the life-line of etheric

matter, which unites the visitor to your realms with
his sleeping body, visible to you there ?') # Only to

a very short extent, just a short length of it, and only
in some circumstances. With most people it is not
visible at all. With the more developed it is less
visible. Mistakes happen again and again as to
whether the visitor is permanently there or not/

“ (‘ When one wakes there after death does he feel
just as he did when visiting there in sleep ?').

" * It is different in degree. After death he realises
himself more intensely, and is more * all there/ ”

The above are selected from among thirty-five allusions
to this subject. There have been some repetitions of the
same statements, frequent allusions to my having been
with my communicators in their realms during my sleep,
and, occasionally, references to items in my dreams which
they claim were fragmentary recollections of what had
happened during night visits to them.

5. Absence of recollection does not disprove the reality of
these excursions.

If we travel from the body why do we not remember the
journey ? Absence of recollection seems, to some minds.

2 74 Can the Soul leave the Body during Sleep ?

a conclusive argument against such asserted journeying.
Common sense says, “ If I really went away and lived an
active life elsewhere, I must certainly have retained some
degree of recollection/'

But will this objection survive examination ? Whatever
happened to the soul, it is certain that the physical brain
remained within the sleeping body; possibly it dreamed,
but it did not travel. Can one logically expect to find in
a brain, which was not present to record them, any re¬
miniscences of the soul's journey ?

A husband and wife share in common much of the home
life, and the wife recalls many things which her husband
said and did. But when he leaves for business, she does
not go with him; and after their temporary separation he
will have recollections of the day's doings about which she
knows nothing. Now, it is the soul which is said to travel;
the brain admittedly remains on earth. Hence, it is the
soul which would know about its journey, and not neces¬
sarily the brain-consciousness.

Yet, the brain is wonderfully adaptable, and when a soul
develops higher powers fresh possibilities come within the
range of mental activity. Is this what has happened on
those occasions when we wake to find stray hints floating
in memory of things scarcely expressible in words ? What
mean those faint recollections of rapturous moments, of
brighter surroundings, of high companionships ? Why do
we sometimes wake with the strong sense of a hidden joy,
even when the dream which seemed to accompany it
eludes our recollection ? And what is the significance of
those partially recollected dreams which seem to be not
merely dreams, but to have glimpsed, prior to their waking
confusions and stupidities, a something more than our
earthly life ?

We have immense power of forgetting. How little we
remember, unless having recourse to a diary, those thou¬
sands of impressions registered on our consciousness this
day twelvemonth past. Yet, those impressions reached the
brain through our senses. More easily and completely do
we forget impressions which reach the brain by other than
sense channels, such as dreams. Some men aver that

Can the Soul leave the Body during Sleep ? 2*7$

they never dream; possibly it is that they never recall
their dreams. Most of us are vaguely aware of dreaming,
yet find it difficult to recall one dream in ten. If attention
be directed to one's dreams immediately on waking, it is
often easy to trace a few of them; but if, instead of doing
this at once, we let some hours elapse, where are our dream
memories ? The interests of the day have obliterated the
visions of the night. Since, then, it is less easy to recall
impressions reaching the brain by other than sense channels,
than to remember what we have seen and heard, it may well
be that we have simply failed to consciously remember what
the returning soul impressed on the slumbering brain.
Again, since the brain did not leave the body during sleep,
and did not therefore share the experience of the soul's
journey, it can only learn of these if informed of them.
Until the brain has received impressions from the soul it
has nothing to recall. Now, it is exactly this passage of
information from one state of consciousness to another
which is beset with so much difficulty.

How obstinately a name can refuse to pass from the
subconscious into our conscious memory. We are certain
that we know the name and that we ought to be able to
produce it, yet it does not come into consciousness. If
sometimes we cannot recall a name which was once in the
forefront of our mind, we may anticipate an even greater
difficulty in remembering those of the soul's experiences
which were never within our normal consciousness. The
soul may have really travelled, but has it been able to
impress the awakening brain with its memories of what took
place ? If not, then the brain has nothing to recall. If,
on the other hand, the soul did in some degree succeed,
there may be a difficulty in bringing that impression into
normal consciousness, since it was not received through the
usual channels of sense. For the brain memory is accus¬
tomed to reproduce that which comes to it through the
senses, and it cannot so easily recall experiences purely
psychical or interior.

The soul shares the memory which connects with the
brain ; but it also has a memory of its own which the brain
does not, normally share. How true it is that, “ The heart

276 Can the Soul leave the Body during Sleep ?

has its reasons which the reason does not know.” We have
intuitions and assurances for which our logical processes
find no foundation. Yet, we know that these intuitions
are, in certain departments of life, by far the safer guides.

Researches in hypnotism reveal the impressive fact that,
after being awakened, the hypnotised person may be entirely
unconscious of all he said and did while asleep. This is
even more startling than the obliviousness of a sleep
traveller. For the hypnotised person has himself been
speaking, his brain was intelligently active; but the brain
of the sleep traveller was not present in the distant places
where the soul is said to have enjoyed a temporary activity.
If we find tr tal oblivion in the former case, total oblivion
in the latter should not surprise us.

A further fact of importance to our inquiry is reported
by hypnotists. Despite the usual oblivion of the awakened
person, to which we have just alluded, it is possible to
make them remember. If the hypnotist, before waking
the patient, commands him to remember what has been
done and said, then the patient on waking is able to give
an exact account of all that happened. This indicates that
there exists in mental mechanism a means of transmitting
to the brain, and of enabling the brain to express con¬
sciously, the memories possessed by the soul.

How, then, might we hope to bring the soul's experience
into consciousness ? It must be a difficult achievement,
and not a thing we should expect to happen without
persistent and well-directed training. It would be inter¬
esting to learn how far a course of hypnotic treatment,
directed especially to this end, would enable one to bring
into consciousness the soul's experiences during natural
sleep. With suitable subjects, experienced hypnotisers,
and prolonged investigation, the experiment might yield
illuminating result.

There is yet a further illustration of our difficulty in
remembering what has happened during sleep. It is
found in observation of trance states. Quite often a deep-
trance medium will awake and know nothing of the
subjects about which he has been speaking vivaciously
during the preceding hour. Where the trance has been

Can the Soul leave the Body during Sleep ? 277

less complete, the medium may retain a confused recol¬
lection. And in the case of one whose trance condition is
but slight, there is often a clear remembrance of having
heard a voice which seemed to be talking at a distance;
it was his own voice heard during a partial or divided
consciousness.

In our present limited understanding of memory, and
of the soul, lies the cause of our incredulity when we hear of
the soul’s excursions in sleep. In daily life impressions
reach the soul through the brain which receives them from
the sense channels. The movement is from brain inwards
to soul, and that is easy, natural, habitual. The reverse
is difficult, and to most men it is unpractised. Some
favourably constituted persons might perhaps acquire the
art with less difficulty than others. There undoubtedly
exists a pathway by which impressions can pass from
within, from soul to brain, a path which can be cleared by
use, or closed by disuse. The mystics know this path, the
intuitions, conscience, and inspiration use it. The artist
and the poet owe much to the traffic which passes that way;
it is by this route that the deeper things of the inner life
rise into the consciousness of spiritual men. Might we
not therefore hope to find, reaching our awareness by this
path, some of those pictures, moods and records which we
had never seen or known in any outward fashion, but which
were the experience of the soul alone when far away from
the brain and from the physical senses of its sleeping body ?
It is of this experience that certain people tell.

6. Partial recollection is asserted by some , while with others
it appears to emerge in dreams .

I mention this fact for the sake of completeness, although
aware how little it must mean to those who have no such
experience. For how can the listener say whether the
narration was a dream or something more ? And being
unable to decide this, he quite properly assumes the
likelier of the alternatives. Dreams he knows of, but
conscious glimpses of another world are unfamiliar to him,

278 Can the Soul leave the Body during Sleep ?

and he therefore concludes that it was a dream and nothing
more. Very different is the attitude of those who are able
to recall something of their experiences. Their conviction
is unshakable.

I have from time to time noticed that what seemed an
unrelated fragment of something different broke in upon
the background of an ordinary dream and produced an
impressive sense of reality. It was as though, while one
gazed upon a picture, the canvas suddenly opened, giving
a glimpse of real scenery and living people behind it.
The persons seen are often, though not always, one's
deceased friends. All too soon the scene and figures fade
and the casual dream runs on again. But, in recollection
those momentary glimpses rank with realities.

My soul flies singing through the skies
Blither than any bird or mortal thing.

And hears supernal melodies

Which man has never heard, but angels sing.

Yet all the while, engrossed in care,

Hearing and seeing naught, my trance I keep :

And when my soul returns to me
She cannot tell, alas, her secret deep.

The day will dawn when I shall learn

That close-held mystery by men called “ death,"

Which shall reveal my soul to me.

And rouse me from my trance of earthly breath.

Then shall I join her in her flight,

And, rapt in ecstasy, shall pass away
From this half-shadow men call " life,"

Wherein both eyes and ears are stopped with clay.

CHAPTER XXXI

A SIGNIFICANT MISTAKE

The incident recorded in this chapter seems to prove, so
far as an isolated case may prove a general truth, that the
soul can leave the body before death; and further, that
it may even be mistaken by those in the next life for one
who, like themselves, has parted from the earthly body for
ever.

(This incident is more fully discussed by Mr. A. W.

Trethewy, in the Journal of the Society for Psychical

Research, October 1926.)

The story is as follows :—

On January 6th, 1922, Feda transmitted a long message
from my father and sister. It commenced thus :—

“ Something about one who passed quite lately; it
is one whom they have been helping, and who went
rather quickly. Your father is very serious about
this, as if he wishes to be careful.”

Then followed clues as to the identity of the deceased,
and some newspaper tests which were said to relate to
him. An exact copy of the latter was forwarded the same
evening to the Society for Psychical Research where it is
now available for inspection. The clues and tests are
stated in full hereunder. They include the following
remarks:—

“ ‘B ' is given ; Feda feels sure it is to be linked with
the one passed over.”

" He passed quite, quite lately.”

279

280 A Significant Mistake

Nothing of this was intelligible to me at the time. I
anticipated that, as usual, the meaning would be clear on
the morrow when I had opportunity for searching the
newspaper. But on this occasion the inspection did not
assist me.

Six days later I saw among the death notices of The
Methodist Recorder :—

Beard —January 7th at Southborough, near Tun¬
bridge Wells, Rev. Samuel Wesley Beard ;
aged 80 years.

Remembering that Mr. Beard had been known to my
parents, and seeing the initial “ B ” had been given, I
decided to ask at my next sitting whether Mr. Beard was
the person to whom the messages applied. The reply was
" Yes ”

I next compared the messages with such information as
was obtainable about Mr. Beard. The agreement was
sufficient to warrant further inquiry. Yet, I hesitated to
approach Mr. Beard’s family, as I was unknown to them,
and almost a month elapsed before I decided to introduce
myself. But when I did this, and learnt the story of
Mr. Beard’s last illness, it became evident that my father’s
knowledge had been strikingly accurate. This encouraged
me to inquire further. Miss Beard kindly permitted me to
send her a number of questions to which she replied, and
this helped me greatly.

I will now give the messages as received through Feda
and append to each its verification.

“ Something about one who passed quite lately; it is
one whom they have been helping and who went rather
quickly. Your father is very serious about this, as if
he wishes to be careful. Why does he give ' M ? ’ He
keeps giving f M,’ and yet Feda does not feel as if it is the
person’s name, though it would connect very closely.”

Miss Beard's name is Mary. She had been her father’s
one companion during his last five years of life.

28 i

A Significant Mistake

“ They speak of being surprised at the passing, as
if it took them by surprise. It is one whom they
thought could still do something on earth. It looked
like being premature, but Etta shakes her head and

says, ‘ It is all right/ Fr -, Fra -, Feda cannot

get the name, but it is mixed up in a newspaper test
purposely in case he failed to give it clearly this way.”

They were correct in thinking Mr. Beard might have done
further work. He had been preaching during the previous
quarter and had promised to do so again in three months'
time, but had asked to be given no appointments for a while
as he was unwell.

“ Fr-, Fra-” ; this appears to be an attempt for

the name French which was found in the next day's
Morning Post (see below).

Here Feda transmitted the newspaper tests, the time
being 245 p.m.

“ In The Times to-morrow, page one, column two,
upper half but not quite top, say one quarter down,
name of the person passed recently, not sure if
Christian name or not.”

Two inches from the top of this second column on the
first page of the Times appears the name Samuel This is
Mr. Beard's Christian name.

“ Close to it is another name, not his own, but of
place this person was very much connected with.”

In the same advertisement with Samuel and on the line
immediately above it is Weston-super-Mare . In this town
Mr. Beard worked for three years. Also, a few lines
higher, appears Somerset, in which county he lived for
six years and was colleague successively with my father and
my uncle.

“ This person will be missed. Sudden passing, but
unsatisfactory health previously; some additional
physical trouble led to die climax, then quickly over.”

282 A Significant Mistake

Mr. Beard was certainly missed by the Wesleyan Churches
in and around Tunbridge Wells where he had for some
twenty years rendered much assistance. The references
to health are correct. His illness lasted two weeks, and
during his last two days the condition of the throat became
both painful and serious; so much so that he was given
injections of morphia. It is perfectly correct to say that
the end was quick.

“ An appointment made with the person,
important, affecting others, could not be carried
out owing to the passing.”

An operation had been fixed to take place on January 5th,
in a London nursing home ; but as the day approached he
was too ill to be removed, and was in fact dying.

“ Column one, nearly half-way down, find name of a
near relative, living, of the above. * J ' is given as a
name connected with the one passed and is to be
found close to that of the near relative.”

Within one inch of half-way down column one, is Mary,
the name of his daughter. An initial “ J ” is in the same
advertisement with Mary. Mr. Beard had two brothers,
both of whose names commenced with “ J.”

“ * B 1 is given; Feda feels sure it is to be linked
with the one passed over.”

This was so, the name being Beard.

“ A reference to the place he was shortly going to is
made near the bottom of column one.”

The operation was to have taken place in London.
While there are several town addresses within four inches
of the bottom of this column, the word London only appears
once, and its position agrees with directions given.

A Significant Mistake 283

“ In the Morning Post to-morrow. He thinks this
was from the back page, left side and one quarter down
a name referring to the same man lately passed, as
given in the Times test. Got idea re ships close
thereto/'

Exactly one quarter down the first left-hand column of
the last page of the Morning Post is the word French . The
test message is not quite explicit as to which person the
name would fit, but there had been a preliminary attempt

to give a name “ Fr-", and, when the attempt failed, it

was stated that the name would be introduced amid the
paper tests for the day. I therefore conclude that this
was an attempt to indicate an old Taunton friend, Mr.
French.

I had frequently heard my parents speak of the family
named French at Taunton, and of Mr. French's friendship
with our ministers. But it was a surprise to discover that
Mr. Beard had been my father's colleague at Taunton a
year before my birth there.

“ Ships." The line immediately following that con¬
taining the above-named French, ends with the word
Port y which perhaps, by mental association, suggested
ships.

“ Page five; find name of a place, half-way down
left side, also mentioned in Times test."

This is unsatisfactory, inasmuch as no name appears there
which had been previously alluded to. It may be a failure,
but it is curious that three inches below the half-way crease
of the first column at the left side of page five there should
be found the word, Avalon. Avalon is the old but still
used name for Glastonbury, a place at which Mr. Beard
would have frequently conducted services while he was my
uncle's colleague in Somerset.

This completes the examination of the tests which were
given for verification from the morrow's Press and of
which a copy was posted to the S.P.R. immediately after
the sitting. The extent to which they agree with facts

L.B.D. T

284 A Significant Mistake

unknown to me at the time, shows that my communicators
had access to information relating, not only to the news¬
paper offices, but also to Mr. Beard’s family and personal
condition.

Having completed the newspaper tests, Feda con¬
tinued :—

"The one passed over belonged to different con¬
ditions, things which interested other people . . . not
like those who only interest themselves in their homes.
He was interested in so many things.”

This would apply to any Wesleyan minister, but especi¬
ally to one like Mr. Beard, who had travelled in many
circuits and who, therefore, had numbers of old friends in
different parts of the land.

“ Your father shows a lot of papers, as if something
was left incomplete, but he adds, f Left in good hands.
It will be seen to/ He thinks you’ll hear something
about those papers. There will be something about
this which will be posthumous. Your father seems to
think you will know about it too. It is in another’s
hands now, but quite good hands. This is quite
important.”

Although this might refer to private papers, I think it
hints at an obituary notice, and if so, it was introduced to
give me a further clue to the fact that a Wesleyan minister
was being spoken of. Mr. Beard’s obituary was published
the following September, and may be read on page 113
of the Wesleyan Minutes of Conference for 1922.

" Talking of going away a little while ago, change,
another-place—the one who has passed over. Feda
keeps getting the idea of going to another place,”

Miss Beard remarks, respecting this, that there had been
occasional conversation about going to Folkestone for their
next holiday.

A Significant Mistake 2 85

It will be admitted that the communications given about
Mr. Beard, through Feda, proved to be remarkably well
informed. Yet, the story has followed usual lines up to
this point; for my friends in the next life have repeatedly
welcomed new arrivals and have elicited facts from them
which were subsequently mentioned in my sittings for
evidential purposes.

But I realised that this case was unique when I learnt
from Miss Beard the hour of her father's passing. The
Rev . Samuel W. Beard died at 1.30 a.m. on January 7 th,
1922, i.e., several hours after the close of the sitting in which
he was described as having " passed quite lately ”

In reply to my inquiry as to her father's condition during
the day preceding his death, Miss Beard informed me that
he passed those hours in unconsciousness.

Some weeks later I had a conversation with my father
at a sitting in which I remarked on the fact that he had
been mistaken in supposing that Mr. Beard had passed
over at the time when messages concerning him were
given. He replied that his first idea that Mr. Beard might
not finally have passed came to him while he was in the
act of transmitting the message through Feda. He con¬
tinued : " I have often met people both on my own plane
and on yours, spirits whom at first I took to be permanently
separated from their bodies."

In view of this illuminating mistake, the following
quotation receives peculiar significance. The date shows
it was given two years before the Beard incident. Indeed,
I had forgotten its existence.

Sitting of May 21 st, 1920.

After allusion had been made to persons visiting spirit
realms during the condition of sleep, I inquired whether
these seemed as fully alert as those living there permanently.
My father, who was controlling, replied:—

"There is a difference perceptible to those who
know them well. The cord of etheric matter which
still connects them with their sleeping body is drawn
from their psychic body; it therefore follows that a

286 A Significant Mistake

sleep-visitor is limited by the loss of this cord substance
which is connecting him with the body. Supposing I
saw someone who was only temporarily out of the
body, I might not know whether his modified brightness
was, or was not, his usual appearance. For among
ourselves there are degrees of brightness, since some
vibrate more keenly with life."

I then asked whether he would be certain to distinguish,
in the case of his own relations, whether or not they had
come over finally. He said:—

“ If long enough with them I should know, but I
might not know if I only saw them in passing. There
have been cases where relatives were spoken to by
those who were unaware that they had come over
finally."

In the preceding chapter, we discussed the ability of the
soul to leave its physical body before death. Conclusive
proof is difficult to obtain. But in the incident now related
we have, at least, a contribution towards such proof.

I have been led by various considerations to the belief
that such partial freedom of the soul is, with people who
have attained a certain measure of spiritual development,
one of the unrecognised facts of human nature. The soul
is not so closely tied to its earthly body as we have sup¬
posed. It occasionally travels from that body, although,
on returning, it is unable to impress the normal conscious¬
ness with the record of this experience.

CHAPTER XXXII

THE MYSTERY OF OUTER SPACE

C.D.T.; Do you know more, than when on earth, about
the mystery of space without boundaries, the limitless
universe beyond the stars ?

Father: We do not know all space, nor all that is in space,
but we are aware of more than is known on earth.
Beyond the stars known to you there are others;
the stars you know are but a small number compared
with those which exist. But beyond them all there
is something which I have difficulty in describing—-
put it thus—a world which is not a world in any
material sense, yet in a spiritual sense; not a formless
or indefinite world, but an infinite condition ... I
have not been to it. I only know of it through hearing
it spoken of by those who are on the highest sphere in
our spirit world, and therefore in closer touch with the
outer world. They have ways of knowing; you your¬
self have ways of knowing what is beyond your world,
means of knowledge which are quite inaccessible to
many denizens of your earth, the ants for example.
The ant lives on your sphere and belongs to the same
physical conditions as you. Yet, you are living on a
higher plane of thought, and have means of informa¬
tion impossible to the ant. The telescope shows you
that there are other planets, worlds of some kind.
But the ant cannot know this, although the planets
exist as truly in relation to the ant as to you. Now,
by analogy, you might term me an ant in spirit life;
for in my world there are developed beings who know
as much more than I as you know more than the ant.
In time I shall grow to their state of knowledge, but
it must be a gradual evolution.

287

288

The Mystery of Outer Space

So you see we know more about space than you,
and yet we cannot go into it, cannot obtain first-hand
knowledge of it any more than the ant is able to read
your book which it crawls across.

You ask about the infinity of space. I know how
stupendous the words sound. Now, think of the trunk
of a tree, and then of the leaves which rustle on its
branches. Those leaves are allied to each other, and
it is a long way back to the main trunk and to the
roots which occupy so much space and are much more
in bulk than all the leaves combined. Space is not
space in any sense of emptiness; it is full of the
machinery which keeps going all the little universes
and separate worlds. It is helpful to look on all the
different worlds as leaves, because they are fed from a
trunk which is space. The power which keeps your
world alive originates in that limitless space.

It is a mistake to think of space as a great emptiness.
If you could pass further and further away from your
own sphere into that which seems to you as merely
space, and if your consciousness could grasp the
realities, I am sure that you would become aware of
greater and greater powers, greater and greater fields
of activity. It is not an emptiness, not merely a
space, but power of which you are not conscious and
which I simply know about, yet which keeps both you
and me alive. You will, of course, say that this is
God. True, God is the mainspring of the entire
universe, space, planets, everything. But He has
wonderful fields of work, very wonderful planes of
consciousness of some great and infinite kind which
neither you nor I can comprehend. And space, as we
term it, is full of these. Could you but journey away
further and further from earth and from the region
of the stars, your consciousness growing as you passed
forth beyond them all, you would then be able to see
and to hear more and more. There would be no still¬
ness, no such inactivity as is suggested to your mind
by the thought of space.

I think your idea of space is based upon the gaps

The Mystery of Outer Space 289

existing on earth between one and another of man’s
activities, say the barren fields between town and
town, the deserts, and so on. But there are no such
gaps between God’s manifestations of activity; for
they are infinite. So do not try to grasp the idea of
space. Think of it simply as the place in which God
works. What He is doing there you cannot see, but
you are feeling the result of it each minute.

CHAPTER XXXIII

A SURVEY OF RESULTS

Omitting reference to the chapters dealing with laws
underlying trance communication, this book touches on
two great subjects— la) the evidence for our friends’ survival
and (b) their teaching about life beyond death.

For this evidence and teaching there is desperate need in
many quarters. Let him who questions it give thanks for
his sheltered life, but let him be assured that the tragedy
of doubt is very real, and that many, both within the
Churches and outside them, are suffering mentally and
morally through the absence of any wholesome certainty.
He would do well to regard the condition of the world, and
ask himself whether the major part of mankind is living,
and the majority of nations acting, as they might be
expected to act if they were realising the meaning of this
life and the realities of the life to come ? Multitudes are
praying for peace, but is there any reasonable hope of
settled peace until justice, truthfulness, honesty between
man and man and also between nations, together with a
practical interest in the welfare of others, become the
accepted standards of conduct ?

A false sense of values and low standards of conduct are
being tacitly accepted by old and young. Discerning eyes
see that all is not well with us, either in Church or State.
What is amiss ? The ancient prophet wrote: " My people
are destroyed for lack of knowledge/’ And this is true
to-day. There is lacking, not only a clear demonstration
of the meaning of life, but also any widespread knowledge
about the nature of that future existence for which this
one is a preparation. The Churches will be more helpful
when they are able to offer present-day evidence for the
reality of life beyond bodily death. By showing what that

290

A Survey of Results 291

life is like, they will enable men to realise why it is so vitally
important that it should be prepared for here and now.

We are privileged to live in days when fresh knowledge
is pouring in from many quarters. And in communication
with those who have preceded us to the next life we have
a means of extending our knowledge about the nature and
activities of that life. It was supposed by some, not so
long since, that man could learn nothing more about the
starry heavens; but when the spectroscope and astro¬
nomical photography were brought into action they ex¬
panded our knowledge of the material universe. We are
approaching an era in which man will augment his present
slender information about the unseen universe by using
those means of acquiring knowledge afforded him by the
development of his inner faculties. The trend of this book
only slightly indicates the wealth of this source.

Perhaps it will be asked what benefit may be expected
from a general acceptance of this evidence for survival ?
I think it will do for others what it has done for mb. It
has supplemented and reinforced my faith, both in times
of bereavement and in the prospect of old age and death.
Also, it has further emphasised the value of personal
religion.

Are not these real helps amid life's difficulties ? During
the first shock of sudden loss a man may find himself adrift
upon a sea of doubt. This has been confessed by many
who were amazed and humiliated at the unexpected failure
of their traditional ideas in the hour of need. They have
told how they realised then that there ought to be some¬
thing more than they possessed. Truly, there is something
more. It is something that has been designed by God; it
was afforded by Jesus to his friends long ago, and it is
within our reach to-day. Even without personal converse
with the departed, one can be assured from the
experience of others that this is possible; that death has
removed only the bodily presence from our sight, and
that the friend we miss keeps in closer touch with us than
in days when he walked at our side. I need not expand
this thought; it is my hope that it has been sufficiently
illustrated in previous chapters.

2$ 2 A Survey of Results

Occasionally it happens that an unexpected and unin¬
vited appearance of the departed brings consolation and
support. There are several collected records of such
spontaneous communications; for these happenings are
not so rare as the usual silence of those who experience
them might lead one to suppose. And each of these
unsought communications from the life beyond gives
impressive denial to the thought that God does not intend
us to hear from those who pass onward. I see in them one
of God's ways of showing us the possibility of such com¬
munication, and His intention of prompting us to discover
the laws by which it takes place. Of these laws medium-
ship is' found to be an essential principle. Descriptions of
life on death's further side show by contrast how im¬
poverished is the mind which chooses to dwell too much
upon those limitations and privations which accompany
old age ; upon sickness, loss of place and pleasure, or upon
the gloom which a past generation expressed by its funeral
trappings.

Our Mends say that, upon passing over, they found that
the character which has been matured by sincere endeavour
to follow the highest has qualified for immediate happiness
and wider service in the new life. They say also, that those
who had lived chiefly for self, experience the disadvantages
and remorse inevitable to unprogressed souls. This
touches on personal religion.

My father and sister strongly assert that intercourse
with them should not be regarded as an end in itself, but
as an aid and encouragement to communion with Christ.
In my personal experience I find the proved awareness and
nearness of my risen Mends gives a sense of reality to
prayer, and strengthens one's realisation of the divine care
and sympathy. It was not for my own needs that I
entered upon a personal investigation of this subject, but
from a sense of its value in equipping me for service to
others. Yet I, too, have received unexpected personal
benefit; for it has changed belief into knowledge, and
knowledge into realisation. Indeed, it has been the
greatest development in my inner life since when, as a
youth, I turned from thoughtless selfishness to follow Christ.

A Survey of Results 293

Is it not good to have certainty in place of doubt ?
To find belief changed into realisation ? To have proof
of the frequent nearness of those who died ? To learn
something of the nature and occupations of the first stages
of life beyond death ? And to be reminded afresh that the
love which is prepared to sacrifice in the service of others,
and which finds its historic symbol in the Cross, is life’s
supreme attainment ?

CHAPTER XXXIV

ARMISTICE DAY, I927

On the recent dedication of the Menin Gate Memorial
someone wrote thus:—

O God ! those cemeteries around Ypres. Age nine¬
teen, age twenty-one, age twenty-three. Then a name
you knew, rows of neat, white stones in green grass,
standing on parade still in white battalions. Such
jolly fellows. And you stand helplessly among them
—thinking.

Some suppose their dead to be extinct; gone out of
being like some glad song which died away in silence, only
surviving as a memory. Others hope that they may meet
again with those they lost. Many add faith to that hope,
looking with confidence for reunion on the morrow of
death. And yet, even these are often unaware of the whole
glad truth. For when we speak to them of return from
death’s further side, of speech, of evidential messages, we
see repeated that ancient story of the incredulous disciples,
to whom the women came telling a similar experience.
And their words seemed unto them as idle tales , and they
believed them not .

Disbelief in human survival is sadly wrong. Hope and
trust are right, but they do not go far enough; they stop
short of knowledge. Knowledge, and the gladness it
brings, were the notes on which that first Easter Sunday
closed— Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord .

It is this knowledge which we proclaim. We say,
your departed certainly return, they often stand at your
side as in former days, though not being clairvoyant you
fail to see them. They speak to you, but not being clair-
audient you do not hear them. They try to impress you
with an awareness of their presence, though you deem that

294

Armistice Day , 1927 295

sudden thought of them just a fancy of your own and
nothing more.

We teach further, that though one may be blind, and
deaf, and dull of inner sensibility, there are others psychic¬
ally gifted, through whose kind offices our loved ones can
speak to us.

Even a few words from one who passed to the other
side of death, words conveying assurance of his identity,
can change the whole outlook of life, turning it from the
chill gloom of disbelief or sad questioning, to the light and
warmth of certitude.

The angels keep their ancient places;

Turn but a stone and start a wing !

Tis ye, 'tis your estranged faces

That miss the many-splendoured thing.

To-day we call to memory those who have risen to the
life beyond, and especially those who sacrificed themselves
for others at duty's call. Many will picture their son as
he went to rejoin his regiment, or returned to his ship, or
they recall those all too fleeting hours of his last furlough.
To remember them so, as they used to be while here, is
good; but to have a realisation of what they have attained
and where they are—this is better far. For the world
invisible then takes a homelier form. It is no strange land.
So many of those who made home homely are there ; they
have not forgotten, they have not ceased to love, and
when our own turn comes they will be waiting to welcome
us. It was such a confidence as this which Jesus gave
His friends; I go, said He, to prepare a place for you.
And, I will not leave you comfortless .

It is said that sorrow brings us nearer God. It is not
always so; it depends on how we take it. But joy, too,
can raise us heavenward, and it marks a wonderful hour
in life when a great sorrow is transfigured by joy. Jesus
would have it so: I will see you again, He said to His
friends, and your heart shall rejoice .

Here is an example of this transfigured sorrow. Quite
recently an only son, an undergraduate, was killed in a

296 Armistice Day, 1927

road accident. I saw his mother's letter, her breaking
heart asked the old question: “ Is there no way by which
he can tell us how it fares with him ? " Through the
help of my psychically gifted friend, Mrs. Leonard, I was
able to send a message to the young man's parents, having
first taken means to attract his attention that I might
explain to him when and how he could express what he
wished to say to them. And the boy took his chance eagerly.
In due time the mother heard that her son had spoken
through a trance sensitive, and she received his detailed
evidence of identity, as well as his words of affection.

Now, how did this affect his grief-stricken parents ?
Let me quote from the mother's letters :—

" My husband and I are overcome with delight;
it is,.su„ch wondcrfu^. evidence.-; Khad. gone to our
darling's grave this evening, and there my husband
joined me, bringing your letter ^And we felt as we
have never felt since we lost our darling. I cannot tell
* you-ihe-joy-it is~tb ‘feel you have been in communica¬
tion with him. My heart is full of gratitude Of course,
I never doubted the future life, but oh, the comfort of
. .having, this- to strengthen one's faith."

And again, some weeks iater:—

“'How we do bless you for’what‘you sent us that
day. I think it saved me from a bad break-down.
I never felt more utterly despondent than on that
afternoon. My husband and I can never forget the
feeling of confirmed hope and faith that came over us
as we stood by the grave and read your letter."

I pray for the hastening of that time when this comfort
shall be placed within the reach of all, and this kind of com¬
munication shall prompt to the higher communion; when
messages from loved ones beyond death shall make the
spirit world so clear a reality that the souls of men will
aspire to communion with the Lord of Life Himself.

LONDON AND GLASGOW : COLLINS* CLEAR-TYPE PRESS^