v™/ \#/ \W;< '« ■ %&* : *> & w BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL & pergonal experience BY ANNE MANNING ROBBINS US W%4 BOSTON SHERMAN, FRENCH &f COMPANY I909 Copyright, 1909 Sherman, French &> Company Printed in U. S. A. TO AUGUSTUS PEARL MARTIN whose life on earth exemplified to the author, during an association of eight short years, many noble and beautiful qualities of soul, and whose seeming continued existence on the other slde of the Veil has inspired new faith in the reality of that Other Life, this book is reverently dedicated The following letter from Professor William James was addressed to the publishers: The manuscript which this accompanies, and which I recommend hereby to your attention, is from a companion of mine in psychical research, who, from a state of doubt, has won through to a faith in human survival in a spiritual order which continues the visible order. It is a gen- uine record of moral and religious experience, profoundly earnest, and calculated, I should think, to interest and impress readers who desire to know adequately what deeper significances our life may hold in store. Truly yours, William James All names and initials used in this book are genuine. In every instance deemed advisable the necessary permis- sion has been obtained. CONTENTS PAGE Introduction vii PART I Personal Experience and Growth of Faith I. Preliminary 15 II. Mount Holyoke and Loss of a Creed 17 III. Means of Livelihood 25 IV. Early Acquaintance with Mrs. Piper 31 V. Richard Hodgson and Psychical Re- search 38 VI. Association with A. P. Martin . . 48 VII. Apparent Failure of Prediction . 56 VIII. Fulfilment 67 IX. Faith 80 PART II Communications from the Other Side of the Veil through Mrs. Piper X. Prefatory Explanations . . . .91 XI. Extracts from Reports of Sittings . 100 CONTENTS PART III Suggestive Thoughts on the Attainment of Spirituality PAGE Self-Discipline 217 Happiness 229 Various Intimations 239 Love 255 INTRODUCTION F. W. H. Myers says : " We receive life and knowledge, which it is our business to develop into Love and Wisdom and Joy." x William James says: " The whole subject of immortal life has its prime roots in personal feeling. . . . There are individuals with a real passion for the matter, men and women for whom a life hereafter is a pungent craving, and the thought of it an obsession; and in whom keenness of interest has bred an insight into the relations of the subject that no one less penetrated with the mystery of it can at- tain. Some of these people are known to me. They are not official personages; they do not speak as the scribes, but as having direct authority. And surely, if anywhere a prophet clad in goatskins, and not a uniformed official, should be called to give inspiration, assurance, and instruction, it would seem to be here, on such a theme." 2 The business of life as concisely stated by Myers I have been and still am endeavoring to carry on, and I find it a business which I shall wish to pursue to the day of my death, and quite possibly thereafter. I offer both quota- 1 Human Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death. Vol. II, p. 310. 2 Human Immortality, pp. 3, 4. viii BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL tions as justification, if justification be needed, for the publication of the present volume. My real authority, however, must be, not what others have thought and said, with all due re- spect for the writers quoted, and with grati- tude for the expression of the ages inextricably woven into the literature of our own genera- tion; but the authority of deep conviction, of actual experience, of ever-widening vision, of increasing happiness, of growing power, and the belief that these things are for all who will seek. There is nothing more patent to the observer and the thinker than the differences in capacity with which men are born. Let that fact be ex- plained as it may, or not explained at all, it has always seemed to me unreasonable to com- plain of the condition in which one finds one's self when awakening to consciousness in early life; for whoever will make use of his God- given faculties, whether he be a savage of the lowest type or an Eastern sage, whether he occupy a plane but little removed from the animal or have back of him ages of inherited thought, may make that degree of progress in his life between birth and the grave which shall be to him a satisfaction, which shall bring to him the good which he craves. To this end it is not necessary to understand the whole scheme of creation, or to be able to say positively that such and such things are so, INTRODUCTION ix but what seems to be true to a person who clarifies his brain and purifies his heart, and then looks and listens, is generally a safe guide for that person. In fact, it is often the person who appears to the casual observer to have no religion at all, because it cannot be expressed by or comprised in any creed or dogma, who is most likely to have a religion of his own, sincere, deep, vital and soul-saving. By many a system of philosophy and through many a religious creed the human soul has continued its search after self-knowl- edge and God knowledge, yet each one in his own generation must begin as a little child to find out for himself the relation between him- self and his Maker, must make the knowledge his individual possession, as if no one had ever lived and talked before. It does not appear that one is pushed on to acquire knowledge, pushed on to master the lessons of life, pushed on to reap the profit of his experience, against his will, but from the moment that the desire makes itself felt in the soul, from that moment opportunities come. It is quite plain that opportunities come to him who deserves them, to him who is ready for them, to him who is able to seize them. And what is opportunity, and what do we mean by the word? Analyzed, it means the appearance before our eyes of an opening in the black wall of fate about us, through which we may ex- x BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL press ourselves, our talents, our souls in some larger way than we have hitherto done. But, the soul is its own teacher. It is not necessary for it to be here or there in order that it may learn. It may acquire knowledge wherever it chances to be, by revolving in the mind what- ever is suggested by its particular environ- ment, or whatever wells up from within. Unforeseen events seem to determine for us a course in life which proves in the end far better than anything we could possibly have planned, had the choice been absolutely in our own hands. While we are free to do as we wish within certain limits, there are boundaries beyond which we cannot go. This shaping of events points to Eternal Law, to Divine Guid- ance, to an Over-ruling Providence, which while great enough to control the stars in their orbits also enters each individual life. I disclaim the slightest pretence to science, yet I understand that any one who observes facts carefully and records them truthfully, whether those facts be in the physical, mental or spiritual realm of being, is adding his mite to the accumulations of science. I have no scheme of philosophy to offer, but only such bits of philosophic thought as have filtered through my own brain and shown themselves effective for good in my own life. I wish to record here only the thoughts and experiences which are and have become my INTRODUCTION xi own. Whatever the origin of the thoughts, whether forced out of me by the intensity of misery, or dropped into my heart by an angel, they now belong to me. It is as if I had found myself drowning; as if absolutely noth- ing which I could grasp were within sight or within reach; as if, realizing my danger, I had, as the only means of saving myself, suddenly disappeared from the material and become pure ether; thus finding myself able through the inherent power of my own nature to rise out of the blackness of the engulfing waves, to float above all danger, or to land, as I choose, on solid ground. The serious author must deliberate most carefully before committing to the cold type that which cannot be unsaid or taken back. I can only offer the present volume in the spirit of the greatest humility, yet there is something within me which is insistent upon expression. This something within me has been leading me through varied phases of life, through doubt and mental darkness, through disappointment of hopes, through loss of beloved friends, and lo ! life's pathway has suddenly opened upon a bright and luminous field. At a little distance ahead of me in this same bright field there ap- pears a veil. Written across this veil is the word " Death," and while the path which I descry in advance grows more beautiful as it approaches that veil, beyond it the brightness xii BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL is yet more dazzling, so that with the light on this side and the still greater light on that, the veil itself is almost transparent. From childhood in a country town where the orthodox church gathered within its fold all young eager spirits like my own, engrafting upon them its creed and dedicating them to its service, to a present freedom of soul which for itself fits all things into the scheme of the ever- lasting goodness of God, which looks with admiration, wonder and reverence, but no fear, upon the mysteries of the Universe, which realizes the presence, the sympathy and the helpfulness of friends called dead, which re- sponds to the invisible life palpitating all about and receives energy therefrom, of this pathway and this transition I would speak. It may be said that this is the philosophy of self-development merely, and that all such philosophy is as old as the hills. So be it. I will utter my little word too. If to the psychologist my logic seem crude, and to the litterateur my language inadequate, my ut- terance will not have been in vain if haply its message meet the need of some human heart. PART I PERSONAL EXPERIENCE AND GROWTH OF FAITH PRELIMINARY Since the early spring of 1 88 1 to the time of publication I have resided in the city of Bos- ton. My interest in Spiritism and what is known as " Psychical Research " dates from about that time. My opportunities have been unusual and my experience unique in some re- spects, and for that reason I feel that I ought not to withhold the experience from those who are seekers in the same field with myself, or from others in whom it may awaken an inter- est. I heartily wish that I might give my message dissociated from myself. Consider- ing, however, the peculiar nature of my sub- ject, I find that my personality must be wholly sacrificed to the object for which I write. My search after spiritual truth and the material circumstances of my life have been so closely interwoven that I cannot speak of the former without touching upon the latter. In fact, it is the close association and interdependence of the material and the spiritual which I wish to make prominent in this brief narrative, and were it not for that relation I should not as- sume that the outward affairs of an ordinary routine life could have the slightest interest for any one. 15 1 6 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL In order to make clear the different phases in the development of my faith I shall be obliged to go back a few years previous to 1881 and speak briefly of my early religious experience. II MOUNT HOLYOKE AND LOSS OF A CREED When I was sixteen years old I left home for the first time, and entered Mount Holyoke Seminary, now Mount Holyoke College. Homesick girls of sixteen, surrounded by strangers and awed by superiors, are doubtless extremely impressionable. Some aged divine from Boston was holding religious meetings at the seminary. It was impressed upon me very strongly that I ought to " be converted," but how to become converted puzzled my brain and my heart. I knew that is was neces- sary to feel a conviction of sin and contrition therefor, but try as best I might I was not able to realize the enormity of sin that I was supposed to have committed during the short sixteen-years of my childhood. However, one evening I was wrought up to the point of ven- turing upon a personal encounter with this min- isterial personage, in a private room which seems to have, been used as a sort of confes- sional. It had the desired effect and I " be- came converted." This man told me that God had been giving me good things all my life, and he asked me what I had done for God, implying that I 17 1 8 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL had done absolutely nothing and that at best I was a most ungrateful creature. This argu- ment appealed to my sense of justice, for upon reflection I could not pick out any special thing that I had done for God, and of course justice required that I should do something in return for all that He had done for me. It gave me a working basis, and I resolved that from that moment I would " do something " for God, though just what assistance the Mighty Creator wanted of such a babe was not quite clear in my mind. However, I was swept along on a wave of enthusiasm and found myself very happy. I was happy in praying for my be- nighted relatives who had not been through a similar experience, and I went to my bed at night with songs of joy on my lips and in my heart. My youth, my love of study and my opportunities may have had something to do with this happiness and possibly would have been sufficient to account for it even though the word " religion " had not been pronounced in my hearing. I believe there was, however, a new sense of being on the right track, of con- scientiously endeavoring to do right, of being in harmonious relation with the Power that I conceived as God. The great life-and-death struggle of maturer years, the desperate effort of the floundering soul to save itself, was yet to come. This period at the age of sixteen I count as one of the happiest in my life. But THE LOSS OF A CREED 19; the religion which I then professed did not make me over. It did not remove the timidity from my nature or blot out of existence certain other temperamental and possibly inherited traits which were then beginning to torment me. This required analytical thought and brave effort. Nor on the other hand did it quench a certain fearlessness of spirit which seems to have been born in me side by side with the timidity, and for which saving grace in my make-up I have always been profoundly grate- ful. During my senior year at this school Bible study was an important part of the curriculum and it required considerable time each week to master the lessons which were recited on Sun- days. One Sunday the presiding teacher asked for the meaning of the words " being covered with the righteousness of Christ." No one in the large class offered an answer until I at- tempted one by expressing the idea that because we have no righteousness of our own we must be covered, hidden as it were, by that of Christ, in order to be saved. If I had said that we must attempt to make for ourselves a garment pure and righteous like that of Christ, I never should have regretted my words, but what I did say I have regretted many times and wished that I might have an opportunity to unsay. For the idea then in my mind was that of Christ standing garbed in ample white 20 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL robe, so full that it could spread out like wings, completely hiding from the view of a wrathful God poor creatures like ourselves, garmentless or clothed in rags. My reply ap- peared to give satisfaction. To-day I see not only ignorance but cowardice in my words. To-day I believe not only that we may have righteousness of our own, but that not until we do have such righteousness can we or shall we be saved. Being righteous is salvation. As Christ set us the example, so must we follow, and as He was righteous, so must we be accord- ing to our light and our power. At Mount Holyoke the discipline of the routine which demands of every one her best is an invaluable factor in the development of character. I shall never forget the impres- sion made upon me by the teachers of my day through their spirit of consecration and lofty devotion to their chosen work. And I believe the same powerful influence is exerted there to- day. They grow accustomed to their work, they forget themselves, and they little realize the effect which the developed beauty of their lives makes upon the sensitive girl from the country away from home for the first time in her life, for the first time brought into contact with her peers and superiors. The religious teaching of those years, — why speak of it? Let them praise it or criti- cise it who will. The true inwardness of it THE LOSS OF A CREED 21 made it worthy, left its impress upon the pupil and gradually cast into the shadow of incon- sequcntiality all outward observance. To the freed mind the extreme exactions of conscien- tious, orthodox Christianity, fearful lest it shall not do right, seem puerile. Yet through all these different forms of religion one sees the self-same effort of the soul, the effort to com- prehend its true place in the Cosmos and to find its true relation to God. It does not seem to me necessary for a per- son to be told in the freshness of his youth, when he knows almost nothing about sin from any experience of his own, that a gulf lies be- tween himself and God, that God has cast him out from His presence, that only in meek de- pendence upon the saving grace of another's virtue and the sacrifice of another's life may he be reinstated in the Divine favor. Is it not better to present to the young mind the beauty of goodness, the delight of conforming to right- eous laws as the natural way of living? If a Christ had within him a saving grace and a righteous power, it is enough to hold up His life as an ideal, and better for the youth to fol- low that ideal of his own accord because it is shown to him to be altogether lovely, and not because he must fear dire punishment if he does not. Yet the thinker — and everyone may think — is bound to come out at last into spiritual freedom through any and every path. 22 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL The instructors in this particular college who were there in my day will always be re- membered by me as among the loveliest, lofti- est, noblest characters it has ever been my good fortune to know. They set before their pupils the saving truth by its daily exemplification. Though there may have been grades among them, I make no exception, for at the institu- tion founded by Mary Lyon no one is ever called to the sacred work of teaching who has not already shown herself to be a consecrated soul. Yet when I returned to my home I saw that my father, who was a close student of nature but passed for a skeptic in matters of religion, however much I might pray for him could no more change his nature than the leopard could change his skin. I felt there must be some- thing wrong with my belief. I was asking God for that which was contrary to laws of His own making. My reason showed me that facts are unalterable, that the unalterableness of things is what makes them facts. My be- lief was a changeable thing; my belief must ac- commodate itself to facts, for facts would never adjust themselves to it. And my oldest sister was a lovely person. She was lovely to look at, kind and gentle in her actions ; her sweet voice and her musical talent made beautiful music in the home; she was a second mother to us all. Why, then, THE LOSS OF A CREED 23 should I wish to change her nature ? Her na- ture was in my opinion quite adorable. Yet she somehow seemed to lack a religious creed of which I could approve. She believed if we do well here we shall do well hereafter, but she had no elaborate scheme of salvation such as had been drilled into me; an angry God, an incarnation, a sacrifice, an atonement, and the hiding behind His garments. Again my philosophy must somehow be changed so as to include this motherly girl, for I could not possibly believe that a good God would con- demn her. This beloved sister passed out of the body in 1881. My mother always has been and is to-day in her extreme old age devoted to her church and her creed, yet her charity has been of the broadest kind and she was never coercive in matters of religion. Blessed be mothers like mine. In a very short time after leaving college I felt my religious creed slipping from me. I could not hold it. It did not satisfy my re- quirements. As is usual, I believe, with devotees who cut loose from the bonds of their early faith, I swung to the other extreme and clung to no dogma at all. For a brief period I experienced a sort of exultant, reckless joy in my newly acquired independence. It was de- lightful to think that I was not bound to ac- cept as authoritative any religious creed or any 24 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL code of philosophy laid down in any book. I was, after all, arbiter of my own fate. I could do as I pleased so long as I did not positively injure others. I might be a creature that was to live for all eternity for aught I knew. I knew nothing about it. But, I reasoned, if this be so, there is time enough for learning one's lessons. I shall reach my destination in time or eternity, and if I dilly-dally a little on the way it only hinders my own progress and harms no one else. Was this all? No. There made itself heard within me a voice which said : " To refrain from injury to your neighbor is not enough. You must do no harm to your- self. You are bound to your fellow creatures. Any injury to yourself will necessarily be felt by them. You must preserve inviolate the purity of your own nature. You must seek knowl- edge and you must diffuse light." Yet I was a creature of moods, now happy, now the reverse, altogether subject to them, and suffering much from self-condemnation. I do not, however, claim a monopoly in suffer- ing, nor do I propose to discuss these uninter- esting things here, further than to say that as soon as I found that I need not be slave, but might be master, of both physical sensation and mental mood, I began to make some headway, and I believe it was the reading of Plato that first gave me an insight into this important truth. Ill MEANS OF LIVELIHOOD I had a great desire to live in a large city where I might come in contact with all phases of life and take advantage of the opportunities which such a centre affords. After leaving school I resided a short time in Philadelphia, where I practically began the battle of life. From the time I set foot in Boston, in 1881, my hands and my mind have been fully occu- pied, and the gaining of a sufficient livelihood has been a comparatively easy matter. I was engaged from the very first in steno- graphic and clerical work, mostly stenographic. For a few years I occupied a position in the of- fice of a commercial firm. From 1885 to 1899 I served as official stenographer in the office of what was then the Board of Police of the city of Boston, reporting hearings, confer- ences, conversations, and during the last five years of that period acting as private secretary to the chairman of the board. From 1900 to 1902 I was private secretary to the Water Commissioner of the city, whose office was at City Hall. From 1903 to the present time, 1909, I have been engaged in the office of a Bureau of the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture. These several periods stand out 25 26 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL clearly in my own mind, and reference to them may have to be made in the following chapters. In addition to this regular occupation I had other work which occupied much of my spare time, it being mostly, however, of the same na- ture as my daily work. In Philadelphia I had studied a system of shorthand-writing which was then new, a system which its author claim- ed was equal to any of the older systems in its adaptability and yet was much more easily ac- quired. Soon after reaching Boston I was ask- ed to teach the system, and from that time on, for the next ten or twelve years, I had all the private pupils I could well attend to, teaching both by correspondence and by personal les- sons. I was obliged finally to drop this on ac- count of the increasing pressure of other work. The civil service law of Massachusetts was enacted in 1884. The rules went into effect early in 1885 and were thereafter applied as rapidly as possible to the various departments of public service. Henry Sherwin, who has been Chief Examiner for the civil service from 1884 to the present day, was just be- ginning to gather around him a corps of as- sistants in his special work of examination, a work which has grown enormously since its in- itiation. Soon after my own examination I was appointed one of the examiners, having been a member of one board continuously from that time to this, and serving from 1902 to MEANS OF LIVELIHOOD 27 1907, inclusive, as a member of two other boards. As I look back I can see many events which apparently happened, yet it seems to me now that nothing really ever happens. That is our word for something which seems to come by chance, but which may in reality have been a long time in preparing. If one has a pur- pose in life, or a serious intent, the person and the event are somehow brought together when the time is ripe for the accomplishment of the purpose or the furthering of the intent. For instance, when I began teaching short- hand my system was not perfected; the author was making improvements in it, and I did not feel that I had it sufficiently at my command to undertake the teaching of it. Yet I was afraid to let the opportunity slip. I had a dim notion, even then, of unused organs becoming atrophied, and of lost opportunities blocking the appearance of others. I looked at life in its youth as a narrow stream of water running between high banks. So long as the stream does not swell, gains no accretions, it cannot branch off into other channels or flow out into meadow lakes. And so I accepted the task, my pupils agreeing to follow me in any changes which might be introduced, and the system was thereafter gradually perfected. About this time it happened that William H. Lee, who for many years filled the position 28 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL of Clerk of Committees for the City Govern- ment, wanted to know something about the new system of shorthand and engaged me to teach it to him. It happened, again, that in the year 1885 the charter of the city of Boston was amended by the legislature of Massachusetts, and, among other changes made, the control of the large police force of the city was taken from the mayor and city council and put into the hands of a commission of three, who were appointed by the Governor of the Common- wealth, to whom they were answerable for the proper management of the force. Mr. Lee was appointed one of the members of this first Metropolitan Board of Police, serving for nine years. When he took office, in 1885, he was broad-minded enough to see that the position of reporter for the board could, not improper- ly, be filled by a woman, in which opinion his fellow-members of the board coincided. At that time there were comparatively few women occupying positions as official stenographers or court reporters, though there are many such to- day. There was apparently very little significance attaching to the question of whether I should or should not do a little teaching, whether I wished or did not wish to spend my time in that way, but if I had not undertaken it at just the time that I did, I should never have been drawn into the particular associations, or MEANS OF LIVELIHOOD 29 into the particular stream of events, the out- come of which seems to me of sufficient im- portance and interest to put upon permanent record and offer to others. That matter re- mains, however, for the reader to decide for himself. My years in the police department were of the greatest benefit to me, disciplining me in many ways. The nature of the work required the concentration of all my powers in order to accomplish it with any degree of satisfaction to myself. The humanism of our common life, in aspects humorous and again interesting even to pathos, was often brought out in occurrences which took place before my eyes, and the camaraderie of my daily associations, deepen- ing in some instances into the sincerity of friendship, will long be treasured in my memory. Far be it from me to belittle any kind of work, of any grade whatever, performed in public or private capacity. The machinery of government of this great Country must be kept moving. The greater the skill and the intelligence of the thousands of men and women who stand behind the wheels, the better the government. And what is govern- ment for but to serve the people. Serve them how? By helping them to live healthy, nor- mal, peaceful, progressive lives. Yet all the while there has been with me an 30 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL undercurrent of unrest, a feeling that some one else might fill my place just as well or better than I, and a secret wish that I might do some little work in the course of my life that should be of a different grade and of more permanent value. And why is it of any consequence to speak here of my work at all? It is simply this: since I have been trusted by city and state, my work generally approved and placed on file among public records, and since I have been accredited with sanity and a fair degree of in- telligence, I ask, in all humility, that the same courtesy and confidence be extended to me when I offer records of other matters of an en- tirely different nature from that which is known as " red tape " of government work. LEONORA E. PIPER IN EARLY MARRIED LIFE IV EARLY ACQUAINTANCE WITH MRS. PIPER 1885 It was during the winter of 1884-5 tnat I became acquainted with Mrs. Leonora E. Piper, the famous psychic who for so many years has been generously contributing of her time and her special gifts to the cause of spiritual science, under the auspices of the English Society for Psychical Research. I was invited one evening with a personal friend to a family gathering of about a dozen people, because of my newly awakened interest in phe- nomena called psychical. Mr. Piper, senior, was present, as were also Mrs. Piper and her husband. The personality of Mrs. Piper, then a young woman, with her sweet, pure, refined and gentle countenance, attracted me at once. The company sat around a large table, and I think there were one or two sensitives pres- ent who made some little exhibition of their powers, but nothing occurred that made any impression upon me, or that remained in my memory, outside of what was connected with Mrs. Piper. During the course of the 3i 32 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL evening she retired with one or two of her friends to a small room adjoining and opening into the large room in which the company was assembled, and, as I understood, " went under control," whatever that might mean. It was something new and strange to me. I think she had not then begun to give sittings outside of the immediate circle of her own family, but was in the process of developing her powers. Her husband explained to me that she was a little bashful about going into trance under the eyes of other people, and for that reason had retired to the smaller room. I heard the sound as of some one talking in a low tone issuing from the small room, and as I remember Mr. Piper told me that the poet Longfellow was supposed to be speaking through his wife, and a little later in the even- ing that " Dr. Phinuit " had arrived. " Dr. Phinuit " was the name assumed by the early spirit-control of Mrs. Piper. He claimed to have been a French physician who passed out of the body somewhere in the vicinity of twenty-five years previous to his re- turning through the organism of Mrs. Piper. While under the control of Phinuit, Mrs. Piper rose and walked out into the large room, and the control addressed a few remarks to the company in general. I chanced to be standing near Mrs. Piper with the lady who was my companion that evening, and Dr. Phinuit ACQUAINTANCE OF MRS. PIPER 33 [Mrs. P.] put his hand on my shoulder and said in his emphatic way, addressing us both, " You are very harmonious." This was my introduction to Dr. Phinuit, dear old Phinuit of those early days, for it proved in course of time that, in spite of any and all idiosyncrasies and crudities which this personality displayed, he succeeded in endear- ing himself to all those with whom he had numerous conversations, probably without ex- ception, some of whom speak of him to this day with familiar affection. I lost no time in making an appointment for a private interview with Mrs. Piper, to take place as soon as she might be ready to see me, and my notebook gives April, 1885, as the date of my first sitting. This antedates by some months Professor William James's acquaint- ance with her, and he is the person who intro- duced her, in May, 1887, to the man who be- came the first American Secretary of the Eng- lish Society for Psychical Research. Up to the time when Professor James made her ac- quaintance, in the autumn of 1885, she was not known as a psychic, nor even as a person who gave promise of developing psychic gifts, ex- cept to a small number of friends and acquaint- ances of her immediate family. The hour was to me one of extreme fascina- tion. Was Dr. Phinuit really a discarnate spirit, temporarily and partially incarnated in 34 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL this woman's body for the purpose of convers- ing with me? If so, how fortunate was I to be witness of so mysterious and interesting a phenomenon, interesting and significant wholly apart from what was said in the trance. For let it be remembered that I am not presuming to discuss the nature of the trance from the standpoint of psychology. I realize that what is said while the medium is entranced is to the psychologist all-important in his interpreta- tion of the phenomena as such. I wish to record only observations and impressions, leav- ing theoretics to the scientist, to whom they properly belong. And while I may speak of my impressions as if they conveyed to me facts, I understand that the scientist must have some- thing more than impressions before he can put before the world what he calls scientific truth. I found that Dr. Phinuit understood me, — and who does not flatter himself that he is not ordinarily understood? He seemed to know all about my good points and somehow to have a special knowledge of my failings, and from that time on he sustained the relation of adviser and friend. I was altogether too proud to impart my secrets to even the closest living acquaintance, yet, confession being good for the soul, I found myself confessing freely to Phinuit. But although I may have ap- peared to those who knew me during this ACQUAINTANCE OF MRS. PIPER 35 period foolishly eager to get advice from such a friend, or from any supposed spirit who pro- fessed to be able to give advice, I laid it down as a working principle, in the very earliest days of my investigations, not to follow the advice of any psychic which was contrary to the dictates of my own judgment. I do not consider that any one who has not respect enough for his own judgment to consult it and to follow it in the conduct of his material af- fairs, even though it may conflict at times with what purports to be advice from spirit friends, is a fit person to carry on investigations into psychical phenomena. I did not have frequent sittings with Mrs. Piper, but I had a number each year under the Phinuit regime during a period of ten years, which extended to September, 1895, with the exception of one season when Mrs. Piper was abroad; then there was a break of several years for various reasons, Mrs. Piper not being able to give sittings all of this time on account of ill health, and in December, 1899, I had my first sitting under the latter- day regime, an account of which will be given later. My first sitting, in April, 1885, took place about three months after the death of a friend whose acquaintance I had made when living in Philadelphia, by name Hiram Hart. [In old reports he is called " H."] Dr. Phinuit ad- 36 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL vised me to wait about eight months longer, saying that by that time I should probably hear from this friend. I waited that length of time, and I did hear from him, as it seemed, and I witnessed the interesting phenomenon of the gradual development of a new control, for in the course of a little time Hiram Hart suc- ceeded in controlling the organism almost as well as did Phinuit himself, and during all this period of ten years he was my special com- municator, though never, of course, occupy- ing more than a portion of the time at any one sitting. [See Proc. S. P. R., Part XXXIII, pp. 289-290.] The Phinuit regime is ancient history now in the Piper case, and I will not dwell on it here at length. A general account of these early sittings of mine was given to the S. P. R. and is included in an article entitled " Ob- servations of Certain Phenomena of Trance " in part XXI of the Proceedings, pp. 1 1 1-1 14. But Hiram Hart has shown the persistent fidel- ity of a returning spirit, and has been, so to speak, a " friend at court " on the Other Side, keeping himself modestly in the background in these latter years because there has not been time for me to hold much communica- tion with him, but appearing for brief mo- ments whenever he could serve my interests in any way in my other relations, or sending to me a message of remembrance. ACQUAINTANCE OF MRS. PIPER 37 It has been my habit, from the very be- ginning, ' to make notes of sittings very soon after they occurred, unless I had taken full notes during the hour, which has been my in- variable custom of late years, and I have notes preserved either in shorthand or tran- scriptions of nearly every sitting that I ever had with Mrs. Piper or any other psychic. Mrs. Piper builded better than she knew when she elected to reside at Arlington Heights. The place is one of the loveliest of Boston's lovely suburbs. For the dweller in the city like myself, it was most restful to take a train in the morning at an hour when the tide of humanity sets toward the city, thus leaving the suburbs quiet; to ascend to the top of the " Heights " through an avenue shaded its entire length by beautiful trees; to meet Mrs. Piper's serene face; to mount still higher to an upper chamber, lock the door, watch the psychic while she seems to lose all consciousness of my presence, and then be free to commune with — whom? RICHARD HODGSON AND PSYCHICAL RESEARCH I find in my notebook a memorandum to the effect that it was on Feb. 10, 1888, that I first met Richard Hodgson at the rooms of the S. P. R. at 5 Boylston place, Boston. He had come from England early the preceding year and established himself in the city, act- ing first as secretary of the old American Psychical Research Society, which in 1890 be- came the American Branch of the English Society, which latter organization he repre- sented for the next fifteen years. I believe he was then looking up and interviewing Mrs. Piper's early sitters and I had a note of in- troduction to him from Mrs. Piper herself, but found her at the rooms when I called and was introduced in person by her. From that time on during the years I saw him occasion- ally, not frequently. I communicated with him oftener than I saw him. I at first offered service to the Society in the line of reporting, and assisted Dr. Hodgson at times during the period of my acquaintance, sometimes gratui- tously and sometimes being employed by him 38 RICHARD HODGSON IN HIS FIFTIETH YEAR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 39 to make verbatim stenographic reports of sit- tings, or copy of records already made. I learned his methods and became familiar with the technicalities of his system of keeping records of sittings with notes thereon. Aside from the Piper work I occasionally had sit- tings with other psychics with whom he had not time to carry on investigations, for the pur- pose of enabling him to answer more intelli- gently the numerous inquiries that were made at the rooms of the Society, as to where to find professionals who could be recommended as having some psychical powers. I always took notes and made more or less full reports to him of such sittings, which went on file with the S. P. R. I find that I reported a Piper sitting for him, which he could not attend and which I think was one in a series of sittings carried on by some members of the American Society at that time in existence, as early as March 6, 1888, and in May and June of the same year I attended a short series of sittings given by Mrs. Piper for the express purpose of allow- ing Dr. Hodgson to find out what he could in his own way about the Phinuit personality. [See Proceedings S. P. R., Part XXI, pp. 2-3 and 59.] We three met on successive Satur- day evenings, Dr. Hodgson giving his time and his effort, I giving my report, and Mrs. Piper giving her services. This series was 4 o BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL interrupted after the fifth sitting, but those five Saturday evenings were memorable, each one of three entering upon the undertaking in the happiest of moods, and each one stand- ing by his or her part of the agreement. Dr. Hodgson asked questions and tried various harmless experiments, or what seemed to him at that time harmless, such as putting salt on the psychic's tongue when in trance, for the purpose or ascertaining whether Phinuit was conscious of it in the trance or whether Mrs. Piper was conscious of it on coming out of the trance. These experiments are not for me to discuss here. But I will say that about twelve years later, in 1900, in some correspondence with me regarding the transformations that had taken place in ourselves during those dozen years, Dr. Hodgson admitted that what he knew in 1888 about the care with which the person of the psychic should be guarded while in trance and the conditions which should precede a sitting, was mere folly compared with the knowledge he had then gained by his experience. I remember the freshness of his enthusiasm of those early days, his intense eagerness to " find out what is on the Other Side of the Veil." He told me then that he would not allow himself to follow any profession or be engaged in any occupation for the mere sake of making money, that he would pursue only PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 41 that kind of work in life in which his heart and his soul could be absorbed, with money if possible, without it if necessary. In all probability the very first attempts at automatic writing by Mrs. Piper occurred in some of my sittings. [See Proc. S. P. R., Part XXXIII, p. 292.] The writing there referred to as having occurred on May 23, 1 89 1, was the first I had of any length. It was by the control " Hiram Hart." Distinct messages were given and I was asked to com- pare the writing with his own when in life. I did compare it, being convinced myself of the appearance in it of more than one old peculiarity, which I did not think, however, were sufficiently marked to be clear to others. Dr. Hodgson also made the comparison as an expert on handwriting, and would not admit that there was any similarity worthy of men- tion between the two styles except in the one capital letter " H." This he could not deny was very much like the old style. I have only recently discovered in Part XXXIII, Proc. S. P. R., p. 399, a discussion by Dr. Hodgson of early attempts at writing, and a footnote which reads as follows : "Miss R. (p. 292), whose friend was apparently the first to write at all, using the hand while ' con- trolling ' the body generally, and also using the hand while Phinuit was controlling the voice, has shown me some of this early writing and some writing of 42 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL her friend when living. Some peculiarities were common to both, but not enough to found an argu- ment upon as to the identity of the communicator." Previous to this date, December 8, 1888, Phinuit wrote my name and his name, and Hiram Hart wrote his own name. The two styles of writing were quite dissimilar. I have three words written by the Hart control at a still earlier date, on July 2, 1888. All three of these instances antedate the occurrence of any writing of which I have ever seen any account. These specimens are reproduced on the facing page, with the excep- tion that I have given only one of the three words mentioned as coming on the very ear- liest date. It will be noticed that on Dec. 8, 1888, a new way of spelling the Christian name " Hiram " occurs. There was more or less joking about this afterwards between myself and the control Hart, the latter insisting upon it that he really did know how to spell his own Christian name. I am sure that such inaccuracies as this, especially in early attempts at automatic writing, can now be easily ex- plained by the experienced investigator who is himself a psychologist; or, rather, I should say that if they cannot be explained — since I believe the trance itself is not yet really ex- plained — they form no hindrance to the ac- ceptance of the theory, in a general way, that CTTV Written by Hiram Hart, July 2, $S Written by Hiram Hart, May 23, 1891 Written by Dr. Phinuit ** May 23, 1891 Written by Mrs. Piper, May 23, 1891 In her normal state after coming out of trance V^7 Written by Dr. Phinuit, Dec. 8, 1888 (/Written by Hiram Hart, Dec. 8 1888 PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 43 intelligences on the Other Side are endeavor- ing to communicate with intelligences on this side, through an intermediary, by the ordinary method of handwriting. In the winter of 1892-3 came the extremely interesting series of sittings arranged by Dr. Hodgson for the express purpose of obtaining further communications from that remarkable personality, George Pelham, who died in the preceding February, and made himself known to some of his friends within a few weeks after his death. The history of the early G. P. communications, as they are called, is given in detail by Dr. Hodgson in Part XXXIII of the S. P. R. Proceedings, February, 1898, with which all students of psychical research are doubtless familiar. The sittings of this series took place in the evening, when I was able to attend as reporter. It is needless to say that all this work was most interesting and fascinating to me, and I considered myself specially favored in having opportunity to per- form it. In September, 1895, I had my last conver- sation with the personality known as Dr. Phinuit, though of course I did not know at the time that it was to be my last, or I should have felt that I was taking leave of a dear faithful friend. There was an interval of four years during which I had no sittings. Mrs. Piper was ill a portion of the time and 44 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL was not giving sittings, and when she did give them I was not knowing to all that was going on in the affairs of the trance. I knew that it had taken on an entirely new phase, that the number of sitters had been reduced to a comparatively small one. I learned later that strange things had taken place, and that in the course of the year 1897 Dr. Phinuit was displaced by other controls, and a new regime was established. I presumed there was so much of greater importance of which Dr. Hodgson had charge, in the conduct of his work, that my small affairs had been lost sight of altogether. I feared I had had my last talk with my old friend Hiram Hart. In fact, I thought my connection with the Piper work had come to an end, whereas the truth is that by far the most important part of it was to come. It was in the fall of 1899 that I resigned my position in the police department, and for a period of about three months I enjoyed a rest from routine work. Hardly had I found myself at leisure when Dr. Hodgson asked for my assistance to make copy of a volume of records of communications which had been re- ceived in the course of the two preceding sea- sons and after the important change in the mediumship had taken place. Much of this matter proved to be most fascinating reading and the volume had for me an absorbing PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 45 interest. For a few brief weeks just at this time I was living absolutely alone in a good- sized apartment, the friend with whom I shared the apartment being absent temporarily. If a diary kept during these weeks had re- corded that I " rose betimes, breakfasted, copied, lunched, copied, supped, copied, re- tired," it would not have been far from the truth. And I went to my bed singing and slept the sleep of a child. While one world was entirely, in accordance with my wish, shut out by the brick walls of my own apartment, I myself was being introduced to a new and different world. There were in these records descriptions of life on the Other Side of the Veil, supposed to be given by one or more persons whose names are well known to Eng- lish speaking people, which were most enter- taining. But of these matters I am not priv- ileged nor do I wish to speak in detail here. They are private records now in the possession of the English S. P. R., the publication of which lies in the discretion of the Council of that body. Suffice it to say that I could not lay the volume down for more than a moment at a time, but kept it in my hand from morn- ing till night. While this work was going on or when nearly finished I was surprised one day to re- ceive a note from Dr. Hodgson saying that I might have a sitting. I went to the Heights 46 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL on Dec. 20, 1899, Dr. Hodgson accompany- ing me. I was practically introduced on that day to the group of personalities on the Other Side who have been, as it appears, managing the communications from that side ever since, among whom " Imperator " is supposed to be the leader, " Rector " the amanuensis and in- terpreter, who controls and looks after the organism generally while the psychic is en- tranced, " Prudens," " Grocyn," and the " Doctor " members, all evidently assumed appellations; to which group George Pelham, F. W. H. Myers, and one or two others whose names are prominent have from time to time been added; to say nothing of numer- ous lesser lights, friends and relatives of in- dividual sitters whom they have been and still are trying to reach. The reader who is not familiar with these matters is referred to past regular publications of the English S. P. R., also to a book called " Spirit Teachings," published by William Stainton Moses under the pseudonym of M. A. Oxon, London, 1883; a remarkable book which is full of the spiritual teachings of the trance personality calling itself Imperator. At this first sitting under the new regime, behold my old friend Hiram Hart appeared once more. Dr. Hodgson left the room tem- porarily while I conversed with my friend. He had neither progressed out of remem- PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 47 brance of me, it seems, nor had he been un- faithful to early ties, but the moment there was opportunity he was on hand. He asked if I knew that he had been calling for me for a long time, but in reply to my question said he had been told why I could not come. The method of communication on this occasion was by writing. My friend made some of his peculiar H's, and when I said, " Hodgson doesn't believe in those H's, does he?" he replied : " I do not know or care ; I know I am I ... . and that is I am Hiram Hart." There were statements made to me at this and a second sitting occurring a few weeks later which proved in the light of subsequent events to be so important that they mark an epoch in my life. But these I shall have to reserve for a further chapter. VI ASSOCIATION WITH A. P. MARTIN 1894 In 1894 Augustus P. Martin was appointed to the chairmanship of the board of police and came to the office where I had already- served nine years. I had never previously met him, though from his having been for a long time prominent in the commercial and social life of Boston I knew him by reputation and had seen him in his accustomed place on Sundays at church. At one time he had been mayor of the city. In fact, it was just ten years previous to this that he had served as mayor, and it was during the year immediately following his term of office that the amend- ments to the city charter, previously men- tioned, went into force, under which the board of police was created, to which he now came as its head. The five years of his term of office as head of the police department were crowded full of serious and responsible work for him, and I was allowed to have my share in it as one of his assistants. During those five years I seemed to be living under a sort of .pater- nalism, different from anything I had ever 48 AUGUSTUS P. MARTIN IN HIS FIFTIETH YEAR ASSOCIATION WITH MR. MARTIN 49 known. He was in public office what I imag- ine an old Roman patrician might have been. He was like a father to all young people who were in the employ of the department of which he had charge, especially to women. The invasion of the business world by women had taken place mostly in his day and he be- lieved that this step was freighted with in- calculable benefit to both sexes. He had the faculty of appealing to and calling out the best in his subordinates. The geniality of his nature and the kindly cour- tesy of his manner made themselves felt like sunlight in the quarters which he occupied daily, and during all my experience in office life I have never known a man more loved by other men than was he. Men were glad to come, if for a few brief moments only, into the warmth of his presence, and seldom one left it without feeling better for it. This is not my own prejudiced opinion merely, for I have heard his occupancy of a public chair characterized as " dignity, sweetness and light." < He listened patiently to the complaint of the poorest petitioner for justice or applicant for assistance, and in cases which called for the rendering of a judgment he generally showed himself possessed of a wisdom and a sense of justice such that his friends often jokingly told him that he had missed his call- 5 o BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL ing in life and should have been a judge on the bench. But with all his gentleness of manner and kindness of heart, his mentality was original and forceful. He did not always follow in the footsteps of his predecessors. It was his habit first to decide upon what policy it was best to pursue, and then, if ordinary methods were not adequate for putting the policy into effect, to devise others. Not that he never erred in judgment or in conduct. In fact, he was one of the most natural human beings I have ever known, and humanity does err. His naturalness was his charm. But, I am not writing a biography. The General — for as such he was popu- larly known — left the police department at the expiration of his term of office, in the spring of 1899, and it was in the fall of that same year that I gave up my position also. The association seemed to have come to an end. Oct. 5 was the date of my leaving. On Oct. 16 a certain psychic [Mrs. G.] whom I saw occasionally told me that I was to go back to my old position, that something more was to be required of me, and on Nov. 30 another psychic [Mrs. S.] told me practically the same thing. They were both very posi- tive in their statements, and both said I was to go back for a short time only. I set these predictions down at once as incorrect, for my ASSOCIATION WITH MR. MARTIN 5 1 feeling against returning was so strong that I thought no possible inducement could take me back. On Dec. 13 I had persuaded Gen- eral Martin, who was then at leisure at his home, to accompany me on a visit to one of these same psychics [Mrs. S.], who prophe- sied for him, in plain language, that another high office or position was to be offered him. Then came my first private sitting with Mrs. Piper under the new regime, previously men- tioned, which took place on Dec. 20, at which I was accompanied by Dr. Hodgson. Dr. Hodgson had chided me, taking the ground of worldly wisdom, for having re- signed the position I had held so long, not un- derstanding all my reasons for so doing, but when I appealed to Imperator as to whether I had done right or wrong, the latter unhesi- tatingly replied: " Right, and made the way for a new life, new scenes, new enterprises, new conditions, whereby thou wilt be completely thine own master. Regret not thy act." And Dr. Hodgson had, of course, to sub- mit to the opinion of the personality for whom he had so great a respect. In speaking of future work Imperator said: " There are many that are thy friends and who would give thee much help and will with- out any effort of thine own, remember, friend. We often say seek and ye shall find. In this 52 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL case we say seek not, and if we be obeyed, every detail will be made known to thee. We [see thee] receiving communications from thy past surroundings which will verify all we now give utterance to." It happened that Josiah Quincy, who was mayor of Boston that year, just before leaving the mayor's chair and as almost his last offi- cial act, appointed General Martin to the position of water commissioner for the city, which position he accepted and took up his duties in the beginning of the year 1900. This was a complete surprise to me, and I understand was an equal surprise to the ap- pointee. On Jan. 12 I received a request from the new water commissioner to present myself at City Hall for the purpose of ren- dering him some assistance, although not then as an employee of the department. On the very same day, the 12th, to my astonishment I received a letter from Dr. Hodgson saying that Imperator had especially asked him to arrange another sitting for me with Mrs. Piper, that I was to go alone, that it was im- portant for my own good, after which it might not be necessary for me to go again for some time. I went to City Hall on the 15 th. I did not feel at all certain in my own mind that it was best to engage myself in a position there permanently. Imperator had hinted new ASSOCIATION WITH MR. MARTIN 5.3 fields, new scenes, etc. I was a little puffed up by these suggestions, and, although it was a pleasure to assist General Martin in any kind of work, 1 secretly hoped that my service in government departments had come to an end, that the monotony of my life was to be bro- ken, and that I might take wing for some dis- tant spot, I cared not where. On the 17th I went again to Mrs. Piper. Imperator said: " Thou art being cared for in all ways and we have thy interests at stake, friend, and we are leading thee in the right way now. Let us tell thee that within a few short weeks thou wilt see a great change in thy life for the very best. A position will be given thee without thy seeking it. As we were closing our last meeting we saw a light before thee of which we could not then speak and we have chosen this opportunity to do so." Very shortly after this I was appointed to a position in the water department and the old association was renewed, City Hall being only a stone's throw from the old locality. I therefore considered that the prophecy made by the two psychics was almost literally ful- filled. Imperator, however, seemed to see this still more clearly, and said: "We warn thee not to re-enter the former surroundings, we desire thee to keep apart from it altogether, and we ask thee to dare not disobey our lead- 54 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL ings." He had seen me " receiving communi- cations from my past surroundings," which was correct, but did not see me going back to the identical position in the police department. All three psychics saw the same event, which was to take place and did take place, Mrs. Piper seeing it more clearly than the other two psychics, as I reread my notes to-day. I have thought best to give these items in detail in this particular instance, since they all are so closely related. The subject of fore- sight, however, is one on which I do not wish to express here any definite opinion whatever, nor to assume an understanding of it. Coming events cast their shadows before, which we ourselves, with our normal sight, can some- times perceive. It is human, especially when one is in trouble or doubt, to want to know something about what is to take place, but it is not dignified to seek to know about the fu- ture to the extent of having one's serenity dis- turbed in the performance of the duty of the day. In fact, it seems to me that it is only in the conscientious performance of the daily duty, without undue anxiety about the future, that desirable changes are brought about. We bring them about ourselves. We work stead- ily toward them and by some occult law we draw to ourselves that which we really need, that of which we are deserving and for which ASSOCIATION WITH MR. MARTIN $S we are prepared. Outward affairs, in the life of a serious-minded person, seem to follow and correspond with inward change and growth. VII APPARENT FAILURE OF PREDIC- TION 1900-1902 To go back to the sitting of Jan. 17, 1900, with Mrs. Piper, mentioned in the preceding chapter. Of all the sittings which I can re- member, this one made the deepest impression upon me. After a few lines of script the pencil was dropped from the psychic's hand and the voice taken, and for nearly two hours conversation was carried on. Before the time was up I threw away my own pen and paper, gave up the effort to take notes, and had a heart to heart talk with the trance personalities. It was my first experience with Rector's use of the voice. His style differed so greatly from the familiar style of Phinuit, or even from that of my friend Hiram Hart, that I realized at once that I was conversing with a different individuality. He was so dignified, so kind, so sympathetic, so serious, so desirous of assisting me to lift my life to a higher level, that I was almost overcome. How these newly found spirits, whoever they might be, should know so much about me, I could not understand. I thought myself a stranger to 5* FAILURE OF PREDICTION 57 them, but they seemed to know me through and through. They saw in me capacity which I only half recognized in myself, and they seemed to think me worthy of their time, their effort, their assistance, and they en- deavored to convince me of the fact that my life was of some importance and must not be undervalued by me. The period of fourteen years in one spot, just then ended, had seemed long and difficult to me, yet Imperator now called it " only a short school for thee." So brief evidently do the decades seem to the discarnate eye which takes in the wider span. Hiram Hart came and said: " Oh, I bless the day when I found you here. I do not see you very often now. I come here and take a look and do not see you and then go away." " Here " means at the scene of operations, the point of communication, which is always where Mrs. Piper happens for the time to be located. But the most important statement made to me by Imperator on this occasion, in speaking of my again being associated with General Martin, was the following: " We see thee and him writing a book together." I asked: "What about?" " It is concerning the natural things in life and many different conditions of thy life, which will be put together in a form of phi- 58 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL losophy. It will be so in spite of anything which thou mayst think to the contrary." It was true we were able to work well to- gether, or so at least I flattered myself. Both the commercial world and the official world to-day are full of just such combinations of men as directors and women as right-hand as- sistants. A woman serving in the capacity of private secretary to a man whose mind is filled with the affairs of his office and whose time is precious should be able to adapt herself to his peculiarities, complement his weaknesses, and stand respectfully and safely aside from his strength. Women have an intuitive percep- tion of these things, and even a young woman who has not had experience is often easily able to adjust herself to the requirements of such a position. At any rate, when in a haphazard selection the right combination is formed, a better than the ordinary grade of work ought to be expected and more than the usual amount can be accomplished. I will say here that as far back as when I was at school I made up my mind that, what- ever else I did, I would not attempt to become an author. That was not to be my field. Others were more naturally fitted for it. I must have other work to do. Later in life, when I found myself struggling along in doubt and mental darkness, and occasionally the solu- tion of some problem would relieve my mind, FAILURE OF PREDICTION 59 I flattered myself secretly that sometime I might gather together into a sort of whole the solutions of the various problems which had presented themselves to me, and inflict the mass in printed form upon others. Still later, I came to the conclusion that every problem, without exception, with which I had battled had been met and solved ages before I was born; I found that the wisdom of all the great philosophers had been handed down and was accessible to all who could read, and therefore I again dropped the idea of ever entering the field of authorship. Not that it is a difficult thing in these days to write and publish a book of some kind, but I concluded that there were too many books in the world. The world be better off if there were only half as many. But when Imperator marked out my path for me in the manner above given, I confess to at least a little surprise, and on another later occasion, when I remarked to him that I did not wish to publish a book simply from a sense of duty, he replied : " Friend, to write a book, it is thy doom or duty, one and both combined." I did not speak of this particular matter to General Martin. He was eager to hear all I was willing to report, but while I gave him much, I also withheld much. I simply told him in a general way that it was said we were yet to do some special work together. I was 6o BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL afraid and ashamed to tell him. I had long before learned to keep prophecies to myself until I saw some sign of their fulfilment. He was a man of family ties, of many cares, bur- dens and responsibilities both in his private and public life, and especially when illness came upon him I could see no possible way by which any work of that kind could be done. I will say here that he did not specially pur- sue the subject of Spiritism in the sense of seeking mediums and paying attention to what they had to say, yet he was altogether too open-minded and simple-hearted to scoff at it. Soon after my making his acquaintance he re- lated to me an interesting experience of his own which happened very soon after the death of his mother, who died when he was a young man of about twenty-one, and to whom he had been attached with more than the usual devo- tion of son to mother. A servant in the fam- ily, young and quite ignorant, gave indications of being controlled by the spirit of his mother within a short time after her passing out, giv- ing her maiden name — Verrall — a very uncommon name, and one which the servant could not possibly have known. I cannot re- late the incident in full, my point being that it made an ineradicable impression upon his mind and was sufficiently serious to cause him to re- frain from speaking lightly of such matters when he found any one deeply interested in FAILURE OF PREDICTION 61 them, had he otherwise been inclined to do so. During middle life he attended the church of the Rev. Minot J. Savage for something over twenty years, rarely missed a Sunday and took a leading part in the management of church affairs. He was an admirer of Mr. Savage's independent thinking, and all the old attendants at that church know that there was a great deal of what might be called Spiritual- ism in Mr. Savage's sermons. He sat in his chair at City Hall for some- what over a year, then one day in March, 1 90 1, he was taken ill and obliged to remain at his home. He was, however, continued in office by two mayors, Thomas N. Hart and Patrick A. Collins. This was one way in which his conspicuous service of the past, to both city and country, was recognized by some of his friends, citizens of Boston of substantial character, who had power and influence in the management of public affairs. But I wish to state here, in justice to him, that during al- most the entire length of his illness his mind remained clear, he was knowing to all the im- portant affairs of the department of which he had charge, and himself dictated its policy. It devolved upon me to travel back and forth frequently, almost daily, between City Hall and his residence in the suburbs, carrying bills and papers of all kinds, getting his signature to them and taking back his orders. I remem- 62 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL ber one instance in particular when he dictated an important letter, assigning newly appointed subordinates to their respective places and duties, a letter which was remarked upon when I took it back to the office for the clearness and terseness of its expression and for the authority which it conveyed. But this was a weary summer, that of 1901. The suffering sick were languishing in the ex- treme heat, and for the well there was the dead monotony of life's drudgery and the heart- sickness which comes from hope deferred. I had not had access to Mrs. Piper since Novem- ber of the preceding year. The trance per- sonalities had not sent for me, and it was not my habit at that time to ask for sittings. All signs seemed to be failing, and the ground which I had thought solid seemed to be slipping again from beneath my feet. I think, how- ever, Dr. Hodgson made it known that I de- sired a sitting, and on Jan. 13, 1902, at a sitting of his own, the following came : " Also Miss Robbins' friends hath tried in vain to reach her. I, Rector, in particular. But, friend, we fail to reach through lights * sufficiently to give our messages clearly." Dr. Hodgson replied: "She thought she got a few words I believe from you through another light." 1 " Light " is the word commonly used by the trance personalities for " psychic " or " medium." FAILURE OF PREDICTION 63 Rector said: " Imperator sent me several times but I was not sure that I had reached her." This certainly implies that Imperator and his group do try or have tried on occasions to communicate through other " lights " when there is special need of their reaching those over whom they assume to have charge. What they do in the way of experiment is another matter. I had recognized on one or two occasions what appeared to be an attempt on the part of Rector to communicate with me through natural but undeveloped psychics. I felt strongly that such an attempt was being made. A sitting was arranged for me, to take place about a week later, on Jan. 22. From that time on, for the next two months, I was con- stantly receiving through Dr. Hodgson mes- sages from Imperator and Rector and sending messages to them. For, strange as it may seem, although the sick man whom all these messages concerned knew very little, almost nothing, about Imperator and his group, the latter apparently took a very great interest in him. I delivered to him a few messages which I thought might give him hope and comfort, and I think I must certainly have given him the impression that my own feeling, in spite of all misunderstandings, was that just as soon as he passed through and emerged from the shadow 64 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL of death there would be for him a welcome on the Other Side of which he little dreamed. At least, that was my hope. But the important point here in its relation to psychical research is that I believed, from the many emphatic statements made to me by a group of spirits, that I was to be required in the future to assist in a field of work which they considered most important, that there was a particular person with whom I was to be associated in that work perhaps more closely than with any other, yet that particular person was dying. While the object I have in view compels me to speak freely of serious things, I trust no one will dream that there is aught in my heart but the utmost reverence for everything associated with that most mysterious change through which all human beings must pass and which comes to none but once. Although I had been bereft of certain relatives and friends, it had not hitherto fallen to my lot to sit often or long at the bedside of the sick. But to watch a fellow-creature who is gradually and surely approaching the end of life, who will not stay his feet for protest, tear or prayer, to almost see the soul as it plumes its wings for flight, is certainly an experience which should produce the greatest awe in the heart and the mind of the watcher. FAILURE OF PREDICTION 6s The actual date of the passing out was March 13, 1902. While General Martin was a man widely- known in his own city, he had little reputation which extended beyond this limit, except in connection with the War of the Rebellion, in which he served during its entire continuance. He was complimented by General Meade for distinguished service at the Battle of Gettys- burg. It was on the third and last day of this memorable and terrific fight that his battery, which had been located with immense difficulty on the summit of a rugged hill, had a clear sweep of the open field over which Pickett's Division of the Confederate Army made its famous charge, rank after rank of which were mowed down by the steady firing from Little Round Top, and the tide of battle was turned. The Boston Transcript said of him at the time of his death: "Hardly any other of Boston's citizens was better known, and few had contributed more than he of time, talent and activity to the military and civic service and functions of the city. . . . He fitted best into those free movements of citizens called into being by special occasions, and ex- pressive of local patriotism and public spirit. It was the recognition of this fitness that secur- ed his selection as chief marshall upon two of the most prominent commemorative occasions 66 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL within the last quarter-century, and he was sure to be prominent in all projects for the development and improvement of his city." He was not a general in the army, nor did that title rightfully belong to him until the year 1882, when Governor John D. Long, after- wards Secretary of the United States Navy, upon whose staff he was serving at the time, commissioned him, lawfully, Brigadier General, in recognition of his valuable services during the war. Another newspaper article which appeared at the time of his death says: " Tardy justice was thus done and he there- after bore a title truthfully which he had long borne by courtesy." It may be evident later that the title which best fits a person's character, the name by which he has been most intimately known and by which he is most endeared, clings to him after he has passed to the Other Side. VIII FULFILMENT i 903-1 907 March 13, 1902, must be borne in mind as an important date in this narration. It mark- ed the passing of a life from this earth. A few days after the occurrence I saw Dr. Hodgson and instructed him particularly not to mention my name in any way at the Piper trance, as it is sometimes called. I felt that, as matters stood between myself and the trance personalities, there had been to say the least some misunderstanding and confusion, and that the only dignified course for me to pursue was to ask no favors and abide my time. I thought this my opportunity, too, to test the value once more of what had seemed to be a close relation between myself and personalities whom I knew only as a part of the Unseen. No word or hint came for me during the remainder of that season, and almost another whole season passed when one day, May 21, 1903, at a sitting of Dr. Hodgson's, in one of those significant mutterings of Mrs. Piper's when coming out of trance, when she seems to be returning to her body, taking last glimpses of people in the spirit whom she designates as 67 68 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL " white people," while those to whom she is returning appear to her "black," she said: " General Martin says he is coming here pretty soon to speak — Martin — love to — this is a pretty dark place after all." Nothing more until Dec. 15 of that same year, when the following conversation took place between Rector and Dr. Hodgson while arrangements were being made for future sittings, Rector's words being quoted from the automatic script, Dr. Hodgson's being en- closed in the round brackets : — " There is a spirit here who calls constantly for a lady in the body whom he refers to as—" [Hand enquires of Spirit?] "Rob bins." (Yes. She will doubtless be rejoiced to come. She said long ago that she was waiting for anything that came.) " This is Imperator's arrangement for the spirit who spake unto Him to give him re- lief." (Yes.) " Imperator hath referred to it several times and called our attention to it but He hath not really commanded us until now, as He hath been assisting the spirit." " Wilt thou attend to this friend on the earthly side and appoint for a meeting with us on the third after coming? " FULFILMENT 69 (Yes, I will.) [" Third after coming " means the third day after the coming Sabbath.] A sitting was then arranged for me, to take place on Dec. 23d, about twenty-one months after the passing out. Behold, my old friend, business associate and employer appears, com- municates as clearly and strongly as if he had had many previous opportunities instead of having had none, and at this very first oppor- tunity says : " I want to know if you don't think we could manage to write a book? " And later, on the same occasion : " I have had this on my mind ever since I came into this world and I would like to have it carried out." Still later: " It has got to be. It is a thing that I am bound to have." I ask: (You mean that you are bound I shall publish a book?) The reply came: " Literally, absolutely, out and out, with pen, paper and ink, write a book and publish it, and I am going to be the inspirer and insti- gator of it, and we are going to write that book together just as sure as you live." What! Was it then true that the line of work marked out four years previously was 7 o BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL after all to be pursued, no hindrance having occurred in the meantime except — except — except — DEATH ! ! My sittings with Mrs. Piper continued from that time on, taking place, however, rarely. I was directed from the beginning to withhold some of my communications from Dr. Hodg- son, although I gave him the greater part of them. He could not himself always under- stand the full purpose of my relation to the trance personalities, or why a certain day should be assigned to me rather than to some one else who could give more substantial aid to the investigations that were being carried on in the name of science, or some one who, perhaps, received better communications and more mat- ter that was evidential in its nature than my own. But it is well known that he came in time to obey implicitly the wishes of the trance personalities in making arrangements for the different sitters, and I am told that he was heard to remark in his emphatic way, in re- gard to an appointment for me : " // they wish it, so it shall be." I do not claim any " inspiration " in any- thing I say or do. Nor do I disclaim it. I simply do not know. In the first place, I would not be guilty of putting upon any spirit, either friend or stranger, the responsibility for something no better than what I can do. In the second place , if I do anything that is FULFILMENT 71 worthy, especially after long preparation and with much effort, I am human enough still to want a little credit for it, for myself. I fond- ly dreamed that I might become one of those scribes who have only to hold the pencil for language to flow with fluency from the tips of their fingers. But not so. I might sit for an hour at a time in silent expectation, and not until there was a conscious effort on my part to move the pencil would it show the slightest in- clination to stir. However, to say that I am not conscious of the cooperation of friends in the Unseen in any part of my work would not be strictly true. I am often conscious of their presence. Apart from the recognition within one's own spirit, there are at times delicate changes in or subtle states of the nervous system which come grad- ually to be recognized by the highly sensitive organization as sure indices of the closeness of other beings, though we cannot point the fin- ger at them or clasp them by the hand. I feel sure from conversations I have had with others that this fact lies within the experience of many people who will recognize the truth of what I say, impossible as it is to define such experience with sufficient precision to make it understood by one who has never known it. On December 1, 1905, the many friends of Dr. Richard Hodgson were astounded at see- ing in the morning papers the announcement of 72 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL his sudden death, which occurred the preced- ing evening. It is safe to say that there was not a man in the city of Boston who took bet- ter care of his health, who derived more pleasure from athletic sports, who felt more pride in keeping his physique up to its highest standard. He purified his body and his life for his special work, and I feel that I am within bounds of the strictest veracity when I say that in and through that work higher ideals of living were continually being presented to his mind. He was not ashamed to say that he followed the advice of an " Imperator " or of some other unseen intelligence even in matters pertaining to physical well-being, although I think no one who ever saw him could say that he had aught but the greatest respect for his own good judgment which was plainly indicated upon his brow. The day of his death happened to be my op- portunity at Arlington Heights. I had a sitting in the morning and he died in the very early evening of the same day. No hint of what was to take place reached me from the Other Side. Mrs. Piper, who had just enter- ed upon her work for the season, was much shocked by the occurrence. I spent an hour at her bedside on the evening of the day after the death, and she related to me a most inter- esting dream which she had the preceding night. It was, in brief, as follows: FULFILMENT 73 She seemed to be approaching a large dark tunnel. At its entrance, appearing from the inside, stood a man who waved his hand at her with a motion which seemed to say: " Keep back, do no enter this tunnel." She related her dream early the next morning to members of her family, remarking as she did so that the hand looked like Dr. Hodgson's hand and its peculiar motion was like his. It was not until after she had told her dream that the morning paper containing the news of the death was laid upon her bed. Of course I was ready at once with my own interpretation of the dream, which seemed to me a most sig- nificant one, namely, that Dr. Hodgson's first thought, on finding that he had himself traversed the dark passage leading from this world to the other, was to turn back to impress upon her the importance of the fact that her time had not yet come, that her work was not yet finished. I took down the dream at her dictation and afterwards secured its corroboration by her daughters. I handed this record in to the authorities, but have never seen or heard of any reference to the dream since that time. My own interpretation of it, however, certainly harmonizes with a message which purported to come for Mrs. Piper from Dr. Hodgson him- self later in that winter at one of my own sit- tings ; for, strange as it may seem, though many 74 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL messages come through her, seldom one comes for her. He said : " Will you give my love to Mrs. Piper and tell her that I wish her to cling to the rigging, and tell her to go on unceasingly, untiringly, and everything will win out." I attended Dr. Hodgson's funeral on Dec. 2 3> I 9°5- On Jan. i, 1906, eight days later, when passing out of my house in the morning and glancing at the accustomed place for my mail, what was my astonishment at seeing an envelope addressed to myself in the familiar and peculiar handwriting of Dr. Hodgson. It startled even me a little, to whom life and death have become the same. The envelope contained his Christmas card. He had for some years been in the habit of sending to his friends, at Christmas, cards with a few lines or a stanza of poetry printed thereon, an accom- paniment to his good wishes for the season. I learned later that the envelopes were found all addressed, ready for the Christmas mail, and about ten days after his death his executors had them mailed. This particular selection, lines from Tennyson, was so appropriate to the oc- casion and the circumstances that I will insert it here : Let be thy wail, and help thy fellow-men, And make thy gold thy vassal, not thy king, And fling free alms into the beggar's bowl, And send the day into the darken'd heart: FULFILMENT 75 Nor list for guerdon in the voice of men, A dying echo from a falling wall; And lay thine uphill shoulder to the wheel, And climb the Mount of Blessing, whence, if thou Look higher, then — perchance — thou mayest — beyond A hundred ever-rising mountain lines, And past the range of Night and Shadow — see The high-heaven dawn of more than mortal day Strike on the Mount of Vision! Surely a call to duty if ever there were one, a clarion call from the Mount of Vision itself, which he had already climbed. Dr. Hodgson occupied an unique position in Boston in relation to other people who were interested in psychical research, and especially to those who had access to Mrs. Piper. He was the centre of a group. He was the centre of a circle. Each member of the circle placed in him the utmost confidence, a trust he was never known to betray Yet, while his ac- quaintance extended to all, there was not a gen- eral acquaintance among the members of the group. They formed a sort of chain to which his relation was the connecting link. But when he fell, a half-dozen or more sitters im- mediately joined hands to see to it that the chain should not entirely fall apart; to see that all papers and reports confidentially placed in 76 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL his keeping should be properly safeguarded; and, perhaps more important than all else, to see that the " Light," so called, should be care- fully watched and that opportunities for further experiment should if possible be offer- ed, now that he was on the Other Side instead of on this. I discovered then that there were at least a few people who, while recognizing fully the scientific importance of this work, had at the same time received from the Other Side of the Veil a spiritual uplifting which meant almost their salvation. To return to my sitting of Dec. 20 of this same year (1905), a date which marks an epoch in the annals of psychical research in this country. While conversing with my communi- cator I remarked that I would like to tell the gentleman at the head of the state department in which I was employed something about my private work. I thought it was due him to be told something about the nature of the outside matters which occasionally took me away from my post, that it was no more than courtesy on my part to inform him. Moreover, I took him to be a man who would not allow himself to be prejudiced against the subject, whether familiar with it or not, and who might even take an interest it it. The reply was : " It would be a little unwise at the present time, ... it might weaken his respect FULFILMENT 77 for you along the intellectual lines, . . . but there is a time for everything, and the truth will bear its weight and it will work its way through all the dark clouds and win its way into the light, and leave this to time, and the time will present itself when you can speak openly on the question and not be considered in- ferior intellectually, and that is what I do not wish. I am determined that you shall be re- spected." These remarks, unimportant though they may seem, turned out very shortly to be truly prophetic in their nature. Dr. Hodgson died on the evening of that very day. I did not know of the death until some time the follow- ing day. At the very first sitting which took place after the death, given to a gentleman who had been a close friend of Dr. Hodgson's and familiar with his work for years, the trance personalities mentioned the names of various persons who, in the emergency which had arisen, could be of service in what they call " their work," and my name was one of the number. My assistance, however, was not actually requested by those in charge on this side until about two months later. It must be remembered by the uninitiated that the more highly developed the psychic and the deeper the trance into which she passes, the more delicate, apparently, are the conditions pertaining to that state, and the greater the 78 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL watchfulness required on the part of the sitter. And in this particular case the spirit controls are somewhat autocratic. They will have this and they will not have that. They will allow this person and they will not allow that person. It is wholly against their wishes, for reasons probably still best known to themselves, that strangers should be introduced without their express consent. And sometimes they say in as many words that if their wishes in certain matters are not complied with they will " re- fuse to come," which evidently means that Mrs. Piper would not be able to go into the trance state at her pleasure and there would be no sitting. The control of affairs is practically from the Other Side, however much we may like to ignore the fact. About this time, two months after the death, some one in authority on this side, on his own initiative, consulted with the governor of the commonwealth and the chief of the department where I was engaged — by name Dr. Austin Peters — and I was briefly informed that I might absent myself on occasional days for the special purpose of assisting in the Piper work, provided that my absence was " not detrimen- tal to the public service," and provided, also, that time thus taken should be charged against the vacation days of the year which were due me. I found that Dr. Peters, while unfamiliar with psychial research as such, recognized the FULFILMENT 79 importance of any work done in the name of science. During the remainder of the season, therefore, I was present at many of the sittings and assisted in keeping the records. The subject having been brought to my at- tention in the manner explained, instead of my being obliged to bring it to the attention of others, and my pathway thus made easy, was all the fulfilment that I desired of the pro- phetic words uttered through the trance two months previously. It appears, then, that respect for psychical research still depends somewhat — at least in an opinion expressed from the Other Side — upon whether the work be initiated and back- ed by some one high in social standing or offi- cial life, or whether it be pursued by some one lower down in the scale of position. But let us be thankful that search in this interesting and important field has at last become respect- able, no matter by whom it has been made so. During the winter of 1906-7 Mrs. Piper was in England giving sittings under the auspices of the English S. P. R. at its rooms in London. [See Proc. Part LVII, Vol. XXII, October, 1908.] The winter of 1907-8 she spent in Boston. I was called early in the season for a sitting. My com- municator appears, tells me that " delays are dangerous," and that he wishes me to lose no time in the gathering together of my scattered papers in preparation for publication. IX FAITH I do not like the word monly used, and I have tried to extirpate it from my vocabulary; not, however, with per- fect success. When a person puts the direct question to me, " Do you believe such and such a thing," and expects me to answer yes or no, I feel that by answering " yes " I am com- mitting myself to a state of mind so positive that it shuts out further light on the point in question. Many times I have answered: " I neither believe nor disbelieve; I think it is so, but do not know." For that is what the word means, an acceptance of an opinion or a fact without personal knowl- edge of its truth. The word is associated in my mind with an ignorant assent, and after throwing away dogmatic belief in early years I have tried to keep my mind open for whatever of new there might come into it, and not make hasty judgments. I want to know things. Some things I do know and can prove their truth to others. Many other things are for me practically true, though I can not prove their truth to others. They appear to me to be true, and the appearance is so strong that it practically amounts to a belief, 80 FAITH 8 1 so that I can hardly dispense with the word after all. But to believe a thing without any knowledge at all, either the knowledge that comes from a clear inner light or an outward experience, is something that is contrary to my nature, and when I am expected to answer yes or no to a direct question about belief, I want to have some idea of what the person who puts the question means by the word. The expression " inner light " has no mean- ing for many people, but for some it has a very great significance. Inner light sometimes makes a truth so clear, to the person possessing the light, that it is impossible for him not to believe it even before outward experience has confirmed it, and though all the world may for the moment say " you are wrong." During the larger portion of the first busy decade of which I have spoken, after swing- ing onto a ground of no definite religious belief of any kind, I, too, was privileged to sit under the liberalizing, optimistic and truly spiritual teaching of the Rev. Minot J. Savage, then occupying a pulpit in Boston. The seeming deadness to me of everything outside of the senses was gradually lessening, and a new kind of faith in a future life was budding; not one which had been handed down to me from my ancestors, but one which was destined in time to become more real, and my experiences in Spiritism, so called, probably helped on con- 82 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL siderably the growth of this new faith. I would not give the impression that from the very beginning I actually believed in all that purported to come from the spirit world, but with long continued experience, and a fidelity on the part of friends on the Other Side which seems never to fail, conviction grows, it fastens itself upon one and cannot be shaken off. Belief in a future life is, as William James puts it, " largely a matter of personal feeling." It is, I think, a matter of individual apprehen- sion and appropriation, based partly upon ex- perience in what purports to be communion of some sort with the so-called dead, and partly upon an indefinable quality of the soul which is able to appropriate from the Vastness outside of itself, a quality variable in its potency in different individuals and which one person can- not impart to another. I might offer page after page of communications, yet they would never mean to one who sees them only in the cold type what they mean to me. Personal experience of this kind, therefore, may be a very large factor in the gradual growth of be- lief, yet not the only factor and perhaps not the most important. The layman who is eager and thirsting for the truth cannot wait for the dictum of Science, and if to him truth is revealed in some surer and quicker way than by the slow process of scientific experimenta- tion, no one may easily rob him of the personal FAITH 83 satisfaction which he derives from such revela- tion. As one after another of my friends have gone to the spirit world they have in turn become such a vital part of my every-day con- sciousness that I think about them and speak of them as if they were still actually in my circle of acquaintance and only temporarily out of my sight. I believe that I do converse with them, perhaps not in the " fullness of their personality," or the " same fullness of clear consciousness that they exhibited during life," but that I do converse with them; that there is, not always, but on many occasions, a clear and distinct understanding between me and my communicator, and a sense of grati- fication on my part as of having met and ex- changed greetings with some dear old friend. I do not think, however, that if I had not had opportunity with some of the most gifted and highly developed psychics I should ever have become possessed of so strong a sense of re- ality and gratification. This I say with the greatest respect for those who possess the psychic gift in a lesser degree. It was not until the passing of the friend who went last to the spirit world that I seemed somehow to come into the blessedness of think- ing mostly about life and excluding death al- together from my thoughts, of feeling life in the air which I breathe, the sky which I look 84 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL at, the sun which shines upon me, and the darkness which shrouds and rests me; in fact, life and intelligence everywhere. And the wonderful thing about thus " coming into uni- versal consciousness," as it is called, is that it takes away morbid over-anxiety to under- stand the whole scheme of creation or nothing, it brings back the natural charm of things which we felt in our childhood, it puts a new meaning into our common every-day life, and makes it worth while to endeavor to make of it a " thing of beauty," a " thing of power." I do not wish to be understood as uttering any final word on the subject of prophecy, or as really offering any explanation at all. That must be left to the psychologist and the sci- entist. Nor do I wish any one to place any reliance whatever on predictions made by psychics from anything I may say. However important the subject of prophecy may be, the predictions themselves form a small part of the mass and the worth of the communications that come through Mrs. Piper. But I offer my personal experience, and if read aright I think it will show that the counsel given by Imperator and his group, as it affects an indi- vidual life and the spiritual significance of in- dividual life-work, is far-seeing and wise, piercing not merely through a few years, but even through death itself. In 1 90 1, four years before the death of Dr. FAITH 85 Richard Hodgson, I communicated with him asking if he would kindly give me some in- formation on the matter of the failure or the fulfilment of prophecy as it had come under his observation. He replied promptly and at length. At the close of the letter in which he discussed it fully for my benefit, he gave ex- pression to his own belief in the reality of the trance personalities in language so emphatic and so beautiful that I cannot refrain from quoting it here. After his death copies of this letter were circulated among some of his most intimate friends, none of whom had seen anything quite like it written by him, and this particular passage, or rather the latter part of it, came to be known among these friends as his " confession of faith." * The passage in question has not been in every instance quite accurately quoted, possibly owing to my own misinterpretation of it orig- inally, and then to its getting into print with- out my having opportunity to correct it. I 1 This has already been published, with my permission, privately at first, being included in a paper read at the annual meeting of the Tavern Club of Boston on May 6, 1006, by M. A. DeWolfe Howe, and later copied. Those who are interested are referred to a memorial of Richard Hodgson by Dr. James H. Hyslop, Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, Vol. I, January, 1907; and to memorials by Mrs. Henry Sidg- wick and J. G. Piddington, in Proceedings of the English Society for Psychical Research, Part LII, Vol. XIX, February, 1907, in which the paper by Mr. Howe, above mentioned, is also included. 86 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL am therefore tempted to give it here in Dr. Hodgson's own peculiar chirography, which will be recognized by his many friends to whom his handwriting is familiar. TRANSCRIPTION November 24, 1901. Dear Miss Robbins: I should have replied to yours of 17 earlier, but could not find any copy of the notes which I now enclose in T sheets. ******* But apart from all this we must remember that nothing can be regarded as infallible, and I tried to put my general view about this in the notes a copy of which I enclose. About what Imperator and his group are in their world I have no doubt. They have done for me and for some others also, — more than everything, but the final written or spoken re- sults through Mrs. P.'s inadequate organism sur- rounded by our^earthly make-ups generally can only afford us faint glimpses of the great holies from which they take their origin. We cannot pray too much to do and suffer the will of God, whatever it be. I went through toils and turmoils and perplexi- ties in '97 and '98 about the significance of this whole Imperator regime, but I have seemed to get on a rock after that, — I seem to understand clearly the reasons for incoherence and obscurity, etc., and I think that if for the rest of my life from now I should never see another trance or have another word from Imperator or his group, — it would make no differ- ence to my knowledge that all is well, that Impera- 'si r ■>? Nt » J ^ V 1 i* 11* V ^ * 4 , > * J FAITH 87 tor, etc., are all they claim to be and are indeed mes- sengers that we may call divine. Be of good courage whatever happens, and pray continually, and let peace come into your soul. Why should you be distraught and worried? Everything, absolutely everything, — from a spot of ink to all the stars, every faintest thought we think up to the contemplations of the highest intelligences in the cosmos, are all in and part of the infinite Goodness. Rest in that Divine Love. All your trials are known better than you know them yourself. Do you think it is an idle word that the hairs of our heads are numbered? Have no dismay, fear nothing and trust in God. Yours sincerely, R. Hodgson. I give also extracts from a second letter in reply to my acknowledgment of the above. TRANSCRIPTION Boston, Mass., December 1, 1901. Dear Miss Robbins: Just a word or two in reply to your kind letter of November 27. Thanks for T document returned. Of course we get misrepresented and misunder- stood in all sorts of ways. In the old years when I was prominent in exposing fraudulent mediums, Spiritualists generally used to revile me as a gross materialistic skeptic who had no other object but the persistent determination to disprove Spiritualism. Nothing could have been further from the truth even 88 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL then. And now, as you rightly say, in recent years, with the Imperator regime, another influence has come which I trust, even to the end and after, — with all my darkness and weakness and blunderings and brutenesses, — I shall not escape, which I trust will abide with me ever, for it is law and love and peace and freedom and joy and God. Yours ever, Richard Hodgson. These letters speak for themselves and need no comment from me. Let me say once more that I have been re- peatedly and continually urged by those on the Other Side of the Veil, since 1900, and more especially since 1902, to offer to others something of my experience and something of the comfort which I myself have received. And the End is Not Yet. September, igog. AMERICAN BRANCH Society for gstjtftical f^xsearch. RICHARD HODGSON, 3 Treasurer, ,5 BOYLSTON PLACE RICHARD HOI Boston, Mass.: ££eo / .•..* (Now, General, — ) Hodgson is coming! (Tell him to wait a moment.) Yes, good fellow, — I am glad to know him. [Dr. Hodgson and my communicator were not acquainted during life, though each knew something about the other.] There is a lot more I wanted to say, but I am afraid I won't have the strength. (Well, the time is very nearly up, and I suppose I must speak with Hodgson. At any rate, I want to.) Well, he is going to, but I am going to see you again sometime. ... I suppose I must step aside. . . . This is the most wonderful thing in the world to-day. I must step aside and let this gentleman speak. Good-bye. It is au revoir, not good- bye. (Good-bye, General.) [" This gentleman " means Dr. Hodgson, with whom I hold a brief conversation, which I have thought best not to insert] Subliminal [When Mrs. Piper is coming out of trance there are brief remarks and broken utterances, 200 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL some of them very clear, some of them in a whisper, some of them quite indistinct and wholly unintelligible. The appearance is as if she were taking a last look at spirits standing near, and as if these spirits, while she is re- turning to her body, were impressing upon her mind words and messages for her to repeat to the sitter. Some of her broken utterances also indicate her returning perception of her surroundings in the room where the sitting has taken place.] Getting dark. They are all going away. [Muttering something unintelligible] I wonder what Martin has his hand in it — General Martin is — I don't know you — [Looking up inquiringly] I can't hear you — [Making great effort to hear] What? I am happier for it. She'll un- derstand. It is all right with me. I hope it is with her. [It will be noted that " I am happier for it " is the same phrase as that used by my com- municator through the trance, as if he were repeating to Mrs. Piper's returning spirit some of the same language used to me while she was unconscious of what was being trans- mitted through her organism.] Close REPORTS OF SITTINGS 201 SITTING OF JUNE 6, 1906 [Permission had been given for my sister Grace, Mrs. Moore, to accompany me on this occasion. She was present at the opening of the sitting and at its close.] The General (I have copies of all that you have said to me here, and I do not think it will all be pub- lished by the Society, so that leaves the coast clear for me to publish something in my book, and I propose to do that, and speak of your life in Boston.) Very good. I should like that very much indeed, because I do not care now. I lived to know the truth, to understand the truth and to speak the truth, and the truth will live, and I am not ashamed of my name or any- thing associated or connected with it, and the truth will bear its weight throughout the uni- verse, and I think it is better to be frank and open and honest with the name. I heard a little music in your room the other evening and I heard an instrument being played, and I sat in a large chair right near the table. You were apparently reclining. (Was somebody else making the music?) Yes, yes. It was your sister, I think. 202 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL And you were reclining, and I was sitting in the large chair and listening. (That was lovely.) And I heard it all. And then I heard — ( Do you want my sister to come in the room now?) I am afraid it will interrupt me. I heard " Old Oaken Bucket " plainly. (Was my sister playing that or was I?) You were playing it. (Well, that is one of my favorites.) Well, I don't know it at all. I know I heard it. I heard you play it. I caught the air. Then I heard her play a religious thing, religious piece. (Now, General, wait a moment. My sis- ter is just outside. I think I will call her in, but you need not speak to her unless you wish.) I am afraid it will interrupt me. I thought it might interrupt my thoughts. (When I am alone in my room I sometimes sit down and play a little bit, and often play "The Old Oaken Bucket.") Yes, yes, I hear that. Well, I heard that. Then I heard another little one that sounded like "The Suwanee River." (I did not play it.) No, your sister. She played a few bars of it. And then I heard a waltz, a waltz being REPORTS OF SITTINGS 203 played. I think she has a very pretty touch, and I think she sings a little, doesn't she? (Oh, yes.) But why doesn't she sing? I heard her humming but not much singing to it. (Well, her throat troubles her a little now.) She is not well, but the spirit will improve the flesh. [I do not play much, and do not play often, but probably play the " Old Oaken Bucket " oftener than any other one piece. I did not play it on the evening referred to. This sit- ting took place on Wednesday. On the pre- ceding Friday evening I was in my room with my sister, Mrs. Moore, who was then visiting me, though she had not been with me for nearly a year prior to this visit. A friend of hers called, and during the evening my sister, who is very musical, sat down at the piano, I betook myself to a couch, decidedly reclin- ing. The friend sat in a small rocker, and the Morris chair, the largest chair in the room, which stood near the centre table, was unoc- cupied. My sister's playing is noted among her friends for its remarkably pretty touch, and she has a way of humming at times when she does not feel able to sing. As I remem- ber this evening she sang in a low tone at first, and finally sang one or two songs in her nat- ural manner. She tells me that she played 20 4 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL just a few strains of the "Suwanee River" on the evening in question, though I did not re- member it and could not have told that she did play it.] Close SITTING OF SEPTEMBER 26, 1906 [There is on this occasion quite a long con- versation with Dr. Hodgson. This and Rec- tor's talk occupy the larger portion of the hour.] The General Here I am. I am delighted to see you. How are you? (I am fine. Don't you think so?) Good. Isn't that splendid! Yes, I think you are. I never saw you better. Did you ask your sister about that music? (Yes.) Well, wasn't I right? (Yes, you were. She played the " Suwanee River " that night, but I did not know it.) Yes, and you often play the " Old Oaken Bucket?" (Yes.) Do you know that I am with you when your body is in repose and your spirit is floating REPORTS OF SITTINGS 205 around conversing with me? Do you re- member it when you wake? What are you doing? Are you writing? (General, I have to write down every word. I wish I did not.) Why don't you split the difference and di- vide your mind? (Well, I will. It hinders me. I think I will drop it now.) I wish you would. You lose the person- ality. [Which means that I discard paper and pen, sit close to Mrs. Piper, and have an easy, natural conversation with my communicator.] Close SITTING OF AUGUST 5, 1907 [The date of this sitting is a little out of season. Mrs. Piper had just returned from England and gave a few sittings before leav- ing Boston again to spend the remainder of the summer in the country.] The General Little rills make wider streamlets, Streamlets swell, the rivers grow; And they join the ocean billows, Onward, onward, as they go. Does that sound natural? (Yes. Will you say that once more?) 206 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL [Verse repeated] (All right, that is natural. How do you do, General?) Well, how do you do ? I do as I'm a mind to most of the time. Do you realize that even though I go on in life, progressing in this life, and go step by step, my spirit is improving, I still look back, and never a step forward do I go that I do not look back and live in pleasant memories always of the old, olden days. ... I have enough sentiment in my nature which has become a part of myself and my spirit here that if I sound or seem sentimental you must overlook it, because it is a part of the spirit. (You cannot be too sentimental for me.) I know your nature, but I say that senti- ment is a part, and a finer, higher part, of the spiritual life and its existence. And life is love and love is life, and life is love, therefore it is universal. [In speaking about the mediumistic power of another psychic, he concludes by saying:] Well, ask Hodgson. He will tell you. He has been a great help to me over here, and he has been helping Myers all during the burning of the Light. Perhaps you don't know what has been going on ? REPORTS OF SITTINGS 207 (Not much.) Well, perhaps it is just as well if you don't. I don't know very much about it myself, only I know we are very pleased on this side. [This doubtless refers to the work of the season just closed. See Proc. S.P.R. Part LVII, Vol. XXII, October, 1908.] [Toward the close of the hour my com- municator says:] But I am going to ask Hodgson what part of his reports he wants you to have and he will tell you. 1 (The time is up.) I must let him come. (The time is up.) Well, he has got to speak to you, I can't help it. It is not good-bye, only au revoir. [A brief talk with Dr. Hodgson follows, at the close of which he says: "God bless you, and stick to it. That is the advice of your old friend R. H."] Close SITTING OF NOVEMBER 20, 1907 [There is very little that can be quoted from this sitting. I held conversations with three communicators, and my old friend Hiram Hart sent a brief message of remembrance. More than twenty-four years have elapsed since he passed away. This is the occasion 208 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL on which my communicator says that " delays are dangerous " and he now wishes me to push my work along as rapidly as possible. While advising and urging me, he says :] The General You are a little bit stubborn, do you know it? You get an idea and you want to carry that idea, you analyze it, you say it over in your mind, and you are inclined to go back to the first idea. Sometimes the broadest and most reasonable minds are willing to add an idea to their oldest idea, and have two ideas instead of one. (Well, I hope I am.) [Further on he says:] Imperator calls you one of his children. I suppose you must be. (I am glad to know that.) Well, he watches over you with his all-see- ing eye and does not want you to fail or fall into error. -. ■.' ■. i*i r. Close SITTING OF JUNE 1 7, 1908 The General You have heard of pearly gates and streets of pearl? Those were as real as any ex- REPORTS OF SITTINGS 209 pression which you may use in the physical life. More real. It is a fact, — there are streets of pearl, gates of pearl. (Just like our pearl?) It is similar. Yes, the comparison is so near that you could not mistake it for a mo- ment. And our castles, our homes, are real. They are as real to us as yours are to you. Yours is simply the imitation, ours is the real. We have streets, we have gardens, we have homes, we have rivers, we have lakes. If we bathe in the river our garments are not wet, but still we are purified, we are cleansed. But the natural hair — but entering it does not saturate our garments, and it does not wet what you call the hair. We come out and it is light and dry, the garments are dry, but the soul is purified by bathing in the waters. Is that clear to you? We walk about the lakes, we walk in the gardens, we meet friends, we commune with friends, we hear music, we hear sermons, and we pass our time glorifying God and living in His presence, in a sense, — understanding what His hand hath created and what He has blessed us with, eternal life. (When you go out of your mansion and look up toward what would be our sky, what do you see ?) We see above us, we see our world radiant, filled with light, a beautiful, soft moonlight, difficult for you to comprehend because it is so 2io BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL clear, so beautiful, so light. We do not see what you see — stars — but we see this beau- tiful moonlight above us, all round us. The air is scented with the most delicious perfume. It is so exquisitely delicate that it seems almost a part of our own existence, it is so beautiful, so delicate, and so real. And we see above us this beautiful light, and it is what you would call in your world the heavens. It is above us, far above us, and we see at times, we see — a face appears. It grows lighter at times, especially when we are in a particularly happy state. The face appears over us and we know it is the face of Christ. We hear the swishing of the garment, as it were, and then it passes off and some one else receives the vision. (Do you ever see any other face like that in the heavens except that of Christ?) We see what you would call — there are saints administering to those who need help, or perhaps have just passed over, have not un- derstood the conditions, and these saints appear to give them courage and to give them faith and to show them that this is everlasting and eternal life. I am not very good at preach- ing. (Then you do not have our beautiful firma- ment of stars at night?) We have what corresponds to your stars. There are rays, as it were, little flickering REPORTS OF SITTINGS 211 rays all through the firmament, all through the heavens. We see these little rays all about us, this beautiful figure passing, we see another face and then another as it passes. Why do we not come into closer proximity with them, as we say? Because they are superior even to ourselves, they have progressed, they have gone on to a higher, even, sphere than our own. That is, they are the controlling, the ruling forces, and govern our own life and our own world. Do you understand? (Yes.) A word of command, simply a hand is raised — we know its meaning, we understand it, we sense it as a little child would sense danger, or a sensitive animal would sense danger. Subliminal [I have not exact notes of what Mrs. Piper said on this occasion while coming out of trance, but I have a memorandum that she mentioned the names of nearly all my special friends on the Other Side, as if she were see- ing them: — Hiram Hart, the General, my sister Laura, my father, the baby, my grand- mother, Pickett. My grandmother holds the baby up and the baby sends love to its mother, and just then the General picked a rose and 212 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL handed it to the baby, and the baby was pick- ing it to pieces. The psychic, gradually re- turning to consciousness, calls this one of the most beautiful sights she ever saw.] And the End is Not Yet. September, igog. PART III SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS ON THE ATTAINMENT OF SPIRITUALITY As I have previously said, I have no System of Philosophy to present, and possibly nothing which ought to be dignified by the name of Philosophy at all. I have not, however, been able to divorce my psychical research from my religious feeling, nor do I see how any religion can be worthy of the name which does not enter as a continual inspiration into the daily life. Among the many definitions of religion which I have seen I like that best which makes it mean the right relation of mind and heart toward our fellow-creatures and our environ- ment, and the right attitude of the soul toward the Incomprehensible and the Unknown. It need have no specific name, nor is it of great importance that one be identified with some particular religious sect, but it does devolve upon each individual person to ascertain to the best of his ability what attitudes and relations are right, and to constantly enlighten his un- derstanding on these matters as he progresses along the pathway between birth and the grave. We love the man who walks in our midst with his head among the stars, but we smile a little at his lack of mental balance if he does not make sure that his feet are tread- ing solid ground. I believe we may walk on solid ground and at the same time lift the eye to the most distant star whenever we may wish. 215 216 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL I have ventured to offer a few ideas upon the varied relationships in life. If they shall be found to be old, that will matter little, since every one is privileged to appropriate from out the treasure-house of the Past, to recast old ideas into new moulds of his own thinking, and to nourish himself thereby. It may be that many of my readers will choose to pass by these pages altogether, yet deep down in my heart I am assured that among those who peruse them there will be found at least a few other hearts in which they will awaken an an- swering thought and a responsive feeling. SELF-DISCIPLINE The best is near, already ours, If we would wisely use the powers Of mind and heart And do our part. Complete and fair the earth will be For him whose inner majesty Crowns every sight With its own light. In any place we find the thing That in our hearts the power we bring To see and use, All else we lose. — Victor E. Southworth. 217 SELF-DISCIPLINE TO EASILY ignore one's own personality is an attainment that must be striven for, a power that must be gained, but it is after all a mere preparation for that which follows, a mere opening at the door to the Vastness which is outside of personality. DEATH of the lower means the birth of the higher. The suppression of a vice means the nourishment of a virtue. The dy- ing of the selfish means the living of the charitable. The extinction of the ignoble means the blossoming of nobility. SOUL culture certainly does not come from the reading of many books or from the forming of a large acquaintance, nor is it measured thereby. Yet it may depend some- what upon the nourishment one is able to ex- tract from his reading and upon the society of those of his acquaintance who themselves are cultured. ONE who is extremely sensitive and at the same time self-repressed — the first con- dition generally being the cause of the second — is the possessor of a temperament suffi- ciently at war with itself to cause any amount of mental anguish until the temperament is understood and the unhappiness resulting from 219 220 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL it is outgrown. Yet this same sensitiveness when once understood, when it serves and does not master, brings to its possessor the percep- tion and enjoyment of untold things which the person lacking it or possessing it in small de- gree cannot appreciate at all. Slowly in early life we begin to apprehend the great truth that as surely as the cause of our unhappiness lies within ourselves just so surely do we pos- sess the power within ourselves to remedy ills, to dispossess ourselves of misery and to take possession of bliss. T UNDERSTAND the philosophy of Spi- -■■ noza to make a distinction between neces- sity and external compulsion. We are of neces- sity, in the nature of things, bound to do cer- tain actions, to follow certain lines of conduct. That is, we need not, unless we choose, but we must in order to attain our highest good. That is all. THE giving up of the selfish quest for hap- piness so dignifies and ennobles the soul that one ceases to grope with downcast eyes; one looks up, takes the hand of God and walks with Him as a companion, a friend. Then there is work in plenty to do, for one is a co-worker with God. Just as a grown-up daughter takes the arm of her earthly father and walks joyously, confidingly, companion- SELF-DISCIPLINE 221 ably, sharing his schemes and his outlook, yet recognizing all the while the superior age, the superior knowledge, the superior power. THE person who is delicately sensitive to spiritual influences receives impressions in many ways and is more or less swayed by them, and it is particularly desirable, indeed imperative, that such person should cultivate strength and self-control. MY own nature is my law. That law in its purest meaning must be obeyed. LET us never forget, in the analysis of self, that the great desideratum is the power to turn one's face immediately and wholly in the opposite direction from that of our sensations, our emotions, our personal de- sires; to be and to do as if they were not; to fling from us the encumbrance of self-analysis itself, and to stand erect as free, pure spirit. WHEN one accepts the theory that the haps and the mishaps in his particular environment take place for the purpose of de- veloping character in him, to understand their significance and their special bearing upon the end in view becomes a fascinating intellectual game. 222 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL TO control one's nerves or be ruled by them — that is the question. The one thing leads to life, the other to death. " Self- stayed, serene and high," the poet says. It seems to be an inversion of the natural order of things that mere nerves should have pos- session of the field, frightening all else. Yet the nerves are like the finest magnetic needle, indicating the slightest change in the atmos- phere, the least deviation in our course. They should be of the greatest aid to the spirit, like the dainty, delicate servitors that they are. SELF-POISE is a marvelous thing. Its in- fluence ramifies through every part of mind and body, affecting each tiny cell. A new cleavage has as it were been made and all primal elements in the nature strike a new attitude toward the centre of control. CHECKING the "vagaries of thought," relaxing the tensions of the body, breath- ing deeply of God's pure air, ignoring the im- portance of the Ego, steadily pushing the activity of the whole being in the direction in which one wishes it to move, are rules which when followed closely and when working har- moniously are sufficient to introduce one into a new world; aye, a world so large as com- pared with the treadmill narrowness of a small SELF-DISCIPLINE 223 life and purposeless thinking that it may well be called a universe. This glorified world awaits him who seeks. DESPONDENCY is an insult to the Crea- tor. It cripples all the faculties He has given. It should be rooted out of one's na- ture as any other vice. It should be subli- mated into cheer. THE soul will plod on in certain directions blindly if it must, but when the lamp of intelligence is lighted it walks boldly without wavering or fall. WE hear about the art of forgetting. It is more than an art. It is a positive es- sential in one's mental equipment if one would make progress in the spiritual life. THE art of forgetting one thing is the art of remembering another. The thing which we wish to forget must be supplanted in our minds by the definite thing upon which we wish to concentrate the attention. Thus it happens that the mastery of physical weak- nesses and temperamental defects and the gain in mental power are, after all, brought about by cultivation of spiritual qualities. It is only as spiritual qualities, positive and strong, sup- 224 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL plant the things in ourselves which we wish to forget that the desideratum is attained, namely, the control of all our forces and the enjoyment of our lives. THE secret of working easily, without tir- ing, is an intelligent understanding and adjustment of the mutual relation of spirit, mind, nerve and muscle. These are all sep- arate and distinct things and yet they are one. The body should be in such a position that the life fluids may flow through it without ob- struction. No muscles should be taut except those required for the particular work that is being performed. The nerves should be steady, not jumping erratically because of ag- itation in the mind. The mental powers must be concentrated upon the work in hand, and the soul must be without rebellion. ONE may travel the world over in search of peace and never know it until he makes it. Let him make use of the mighty sceptre which God has given him and com- mand the elements at war within his own breast. THE downpour of water from the skies is essential to the life of the trees. The rain of sorrow in our lives must be drawn into our life-blood, else we too shall wither and SELF-DISCIPLINE 225 perish and fail of the growth we were born to accomplish. Living according to the laws of nature we expand day by day as inevitably and unconsciously as do the trees. THAT in your temperament which you rec- ognize as your greatest weakness may become not only your greatest strength but the source of your greatest enjoyment, since by means of mastering a weakness you learn the law which brings to you its opposite good. REAL goodness is not so common a thing in this world. It may even be said to be rare. It is not a subterfuge into which one flees because he lacks ability or will. Rather is it ability and will only which can acquire the actual good. LAW prevails in the so-called lower as well as the higher. It is for us to choose whether we will live under the preponderating influence of laws which bring about a lesser degree of happiness, or under laws which mould us into creatures of a finer fibre, capable of seeing in our environment that to which we were formerly blind, capable of enjoying that which formerly conveyed no meaning to us. 226 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL THE unspeakable relief which comes to a person who struggles with an unhappy temperament when one day he suddenly turns his back upon it all, is only to be understood by those who suffer the miseries of such an existence and into whose hearts at last the floods of spiritual light are poured. The in- stant the spirit is thus freed, light-heartedness springs into being at a bound, involuntarily, necessarily, for it is the struggle itself which makes the heavy heart. The joy which is the accompaniment of vigorous, energetic action then supplants the heaviness of lackadaisical, paralyzing struggle. THE Divine Will reveals to its devoted followers more and more of its purport and wisdom. Follow not the Will and you may become blind. NO one should feel that because he is locked in his own chamber for the hour he may give free play to unworthy thought and ignoble feeling, he may safely indulge in melancholy or despair. This does not mean that he may not occasionally be " off guard," as it were. If it did, privacy would contrib- ute little toward the recuperation of our powers. But when alone one may entertain SELF-DISCIPLINE 227 the angel of his better self even more charm- ingly perhaps than when in the presence of others. T IFE may be glorious every day. The ■*-^ spirit may wrap itself round in cloud- like airiness, so light, so beautiful, so pene- trating, that all which is ugly is softened by it and disappears from our view. THE healthful discipline that comes from daily work when one takes pleasure in it is valuable beyond computation. The power to direct the mental faculties undisturbed by the turmoil of surroundings is of the greatest imaginable good, and this power acquired in daily discipline will be of service wherever one goes. The contact with our kind in gen- eral, high and low, superiors and inferiors, refined and coarse, brings to the surface the shining beauty of true character, as stones rubbed together only polish and make brighter the beauty of the priceless gem. Why then need the worker complain of his lot? Rather let him glory in it. Daily work is many a soul's salvation. Daily work may grow for us wings instead of forging for us fetters. 228 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL 4 6 A BATEMENT of thought" expresses ■**• tersely a mental process which should be within the power of all. Rather, it expresses an action of the spirit upon the mind, causing it to refrain from working at will. No one who has not acquired the ability to abate the thought to a greater or lesser degree knows the highest spiritual peace which he is capable of attaining. It may be that the thought can never wholly cease while life lasts, as the body may not stop its breathing. But surely it is that when riotous thought abates, peace and joy roll over the kingdom. I remember the beautiful words of P. Ramanathan — I do not know whether he himself was quoting — that " Thoughts are the warp and woof of the veil which hides from us the face of God. Lift the veil and God is there." HAPPINESS Knew'st thou the truth, thou wouldst not pray: Lord to thy child send joy this day. Thou art deceived: joy is within, And never pain nor grief nor sin Can take't away. God put it there. Nor comes it nearer thee for prayer. Joy is of thy true self a part — Why shouldst thou pray for what thou art? — Mary Putnam Gilmore. The full throat of the world is charged with song, Morning and twilight melt with ecstasy In the high heat of noon. Simply to be, Palpitant where the green spring forces throng, Eager for life, life unashamed and strong — This is desire fulfilled. Exalted, free, The spirit gains her ether, scornfully Denies existence that is dark or wrong. This is enough, to see the song begun Which shall be finished in some field afar. Laugh that the night may still contain a star, Nor idly moan your impotence of grace. Life is a song, lift up your care-free face Gladly and gratefully toward the sun. — Helen Hay Whitney. 229 HAPPINESS LET us learn to dwell in the upper chambers of our being. There the mental atmos- phere is always clear, the moral horizon is unflecked by clouds, only enchanting distance and mysterious space meet the gaze of the Ego through the windows of the purified soul. TO be keenly sensitive to the ugly and the bad is to be delicately sensitive to the beautiful and the good. To be sufferingly sensitive to human inharmonies is to be joy- fully alive to enlightened lawfulness. So closely akin are joy and sorrow that while one hand may be pressing a heavy heart, the other may be stretching upward toward the stars. WHEN one comes into virtual possession of the wealth of the universe through conscious affinity with it, poverty in material things is no longer to be feared. Who can rob us of the soil over which we lightly tread? Who can deprive us of the air we freely and deeply breathe ? Who can bar from our vision the beauty of sky and star? Who can alter by one slightest shade the glorious coloring of the landscape or the gorgeousness of the setting sun? 231 232 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL WE wish for freedom to live, to act, within the perfect laws of God, yet independ- ent of the laws of man, which must be ever changing, never perfect. This does not mean lawlessness, but law/w/ness. Man's laws are only an approach to those of nature, an im- perfect copy of them. He who sees nature's law back of man-made law will not disobey the latter and it will be no bondage to him. His own natural law is the higher. ONE touch of real sorrow is worth a thou- sand days of that which is ordinarily considered happiness unalloyed. And what is sorrow but contact with the realities of life, with the seriousness of death, with the wonders of God's ways? Why should we then wish that sorrow never enter our path? Sorrow? It is not sorrow, — that is only our name for it. It is the opening of the clouds before us, giving us a glimpse of the vastness of Heaven. It is God's hand appearing out of the haze pointing to a glory never yet con- ceived in our days of simple, complacent hap- piness. IN the course of time all Nature assumes for us a character of intelligence, of life, and her laws become friendly creatures. We may commune with them, yield to them, trust them, feel ourselves shielded and protected by them. HAPPINESS 233 Even the darkness of the night is friendly. It hushes us to repose, it soothes us to sleep. Why need one be restlessly wakeful when thus closely befriended? The space and the silence are full of stirring creatures, our many friends. ILLUMINATION from within transfigures all upon which it falls. Thus again may we make a new world about us. It is the nature of light to transfigure and the object seen takes on a special hue from the character of the light which shines upon it. FATE is my mission, my loved work, the particular work which I can do better than I can do other things, the work which I can do better than some one else can do it. Fate is a mighty friend in disguise. LET no one say that he cannot live a suc- cessful, happy life in the spot where his birth places him or in places where the trend of events takes him. The inner life, the life of strength, nobility, patience, effort, dignity, beauty, depends not upon its location in the material world, depends not on outer surround- ings, but rather by its own inherent force does it draw unto itself from earth and heaven the strong vital currents which mingling make for that life a new atmosphere, make for that life almost a new environment. So translucent in 234 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL time may that atmosphere become that the soul, without moving the body from one spot, may have a vision far exceeding in acuteness and range the vision of the insatiate traveler, though his travels be world-wide. PRIDE of attainment in spiritual things is inconsistent with that attainment. Rather should we be grateful that we have been brought under the law. WHY not repose in the protecting good- ness of the Powers that Be? Surely it cannot be that the Maker of majestic orbs travelling nightly their course across the heav- ens, suggesting to us unerring law and flashing down upon us their starry brilliancy, will leave His human children uncared for and adrift. A BLOW like death knocks us out of our petty selves. THE mercurial temperament suffers more than the phlegmatic. It must be remem- bered, however, that the mercurial tempera- ment senses various degrees of heat and cold in its atmospheric environment, and when Mer- cury cultivates his intellect he is able to pick and choose the climate in which he shall daily dwell. HAPPINESS 235 IT is a blessed thing to give of our substance and feel it no denial, not because we have much, but because we wish to give that which we have. LIFE is serious, or should be. Yet it is the man who is apparently the most se- rious who most easily bursts into the happy laughter of the light of heart. The deeply serious man looks into the principles of being, into the laws of life, understands the secrets of the Most High. He is the man then who may at times be lifted into the bright airiness of God's fairy lands. WE find ourselves at times in states of mind which seem to be those of transition. We do not quite understand what is taking place within. Things that once would have given us pleasure have lost their attraction. Occurrences which once would have caused in us excessive emotion no longer have that power. Affection itself seems to wane and dependence on our friends is less binding. We are a little fearful lest in some way past our comprehension and beyond our control our hold on life is weakening and our interest flagging. Yet we need not be anxious. Transition states such as these are glorious harbingers of better things to come. Irksome bondage of the flesh is dropping off and free- 236 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL dom is being acquired. Let us welcome al- ways the advance, be watchful, trustful and calm. The resistless laws of nature are sweep- ing us on. DEATH saddens? It must be sweet to lay down the burdens of life and fall asleep in the arms of God, just as we lay down the burdens of a day and fall asleep in the arms of night. And as God speaks to us in the darkness of the night, bidding us lay down the burdens of the day, so he calls us by the cloudiness of death to lay down the burdens of life. Let us reverence and welcome both the darkness of night and the cloudiness of death, for God is in both. ONE is always happy in conscious power when exerted for good. Spirit unham- pered is strong. Therefore by as much as we free the spirit, give play and exercise to its attributes, by so much do we become con- sciously powerful, by so much do we grow like unto the gods. LET us cling to a friendship which shows itself persisting through differences of opinion, divergence of interests and separation of lives. Such a friendship proves that the heart is stronger than the head and that the heart's needs are all-important. HAPPINESS 237 IF one listen, listen, with concentrated spirit- attention, just as he would listen with the physical ear were he trying to catch a sound, he will hear many beautiful things which pass unheeded by the busybody and the listless. RENEWED consecration to holiness of life and nobility of conduct will always and immediately lift one from the slough of despond. WHEREIN is depth different from height? Well may he who can look into the depths of the Commonplace and wrest from it its meaning be envied by his fel- low-man and not despised by him who is on the mountain top. Delicate courtesy compels us and the commonest relations in life never cease to be objects of beauty when we see them as the marvels that they are. THE term that we glibly use, " Face of Nature," is itself suggestive of life, for in a human face there is the expression of all the qualities that make up the soul. Let us call it then face of nature, or face of God. If we are akin with it, it will be very much alive. Then we shall see in the changing clouds, the waving trees, the widest waters, only the expression of the unseen life 238 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL aback, responsive to each sentiment of our own, answering each appeal. We do not need the language of words when love shines upon us from a beaming countenance. Then why are we so deaf to this most eloquent mes- sage that comes to us from the face of Nature, revealing the Almighty Soul behind? INEXPRESSIBLE is the joy of having found a confidence that replaces fear, a trust that takes the place of doubt, a compo- sure wrought out of agitation, light that ban- ishes darkness, and a freedom that breaks down all prison walls. VARIOUS INTIMATIONS It is a mystery of the unknown That fascinates us; we are children still, Wayward and wistful; with one hand we cling To the familiar things we call our own, And with the other, resolute of will, Grope in the dark for what the day will bring. — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Prais'd be the fathomless universe, For life and joy, and for objects and knowledge curious, And for love, sweet love — but praise ! praise ! praise ! For the sure-enwinding arms of cool-enfolding death. — Walt Whitman. By her own strength can Virtue live? Self-poised can Hope wide-winging soar? ' List! for our deepening age shall give Some answer surer than of yore ; — Stand fast, high hearts, thro' woe and weal ; Watch thro' the night, if watch ye may; Wait, till the rifted heavens reveal Unheard-of morning, mystic day. — F. W. H. Myers. 239 VARIOUS INTIMATIONS T3LESSED is the man for whom the mys- *■"* tery of life has become a continual attrac- tion, who sees beauty mirrored in its depths, and a divine significance to it all. ASTRONOMERS are endeavoring to dis- cover the nature of life on the planet Mars. Yet what has that life to do with us? If it were not that our globe itself is unfold- ing, giving forth its secrets to the questioning mind of man; if it were not that the race as a race is evolving, acquiring new powers with each passing generation, there might be some reason in the claim that what the Creator has not seen fit to reveal to us He never intended we should know. Yet it is not at all incon- ceivable that with newly evolved powers of the human mind, with ever higher attainment in spiritual living, with more finely attenuated human organisms, means will be found in the not distant future by which we may even be- come cognizant of the interests of our neigh- bors on the ruddy orb which we name Mars. If friends who have passed from our sight are living on still, they must be not only in some place but in a state of real vitality. Can it be wrong to try to reach them ? CONCENTRATION is the withdrawing of the mind from the many to the few, 241 242 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL from the multitudinous to the homogeneous, from complexity to simplicity, from manifes- tation to the unmanifest, from the material to the spiritual, from the agitated to the calm. If one wishes one may find sleep through con- centration, — sleep, the withdrawal of the Ego from the outer to the inner, from the seen to the unseen. WHEN I was a child I looked at the pale green of the western sky, tinged here and there with rose, and something within me responded to this beauty which I beheld at a distance. It stirrd within me an unutterable longing to be able to express in my own nature a purity such as I saw em- blazoned there. Surely God's handiwork appeals to the inner eye, the organ of the inmost self. MY real life, that which I feel surging through my body, welling up in my emo- tions and bursting out from my brain, is in- dependent of time and space every day. Death then only marks the end of certain ac- tions and a certain course of conduct, as the hour of dusk marks off the actions of the day. DIGNITY is more becoming than self- consciousness. Dignity is self-conscious- ness grown divine. VARIOUS INTIMATIONS 243 THIS straining after arguments to prove that the Ego survives the death of the body seems needless, seems at times folly to the soul that is conscious that wherever it moves it walks among living things, that nowhere is there really death, but only transformation, I CRAVE that which satisfies my ideal of spiritual dignity and beauty, as one looks constantly in the material for beauty of form and color. THE glow that one feels from closeness to the Great Impersonal may be just as vivid as that which flows from bodily contact with a human friend, — nay, more so. The human soul can touch the Eternal, and the human soul when linked with the Over-Soul generates new and wonderful powers. GENTLENESS in the human countenance is more beautiful than assertion. The mild eye is more pleasing than the sharp, and may sparkle with a lovelier light. The saintly man appears to breathe out gentleness from every portion of his body. THE EGO has many kith and kin in the Universe whom it may take delight in meeting when the sheath of the personality is laid aside. 244 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL LOVE and selflessness make the vision clear. IT is true that there are, here and there in our very midst, individuals who claim to be repositories of what is known as " Hermetic Philosophy," the knowledge of which is not to be found in printed books but has been handed down by sure means from the wisdom of the past. It is well known that many truths relating to the material universe, only recently established by science, were known to Eastern sages many years ago, secrets of the Cosmos wrung from it by I know not what sort of spiritual acumen. This occult lore is so vast in its scope that it comprehends as a matter of course life on more planes than one, and, among its privileged initiates, to speak of death as ending all seems an affront to their intelligence as well as to their faith. Not- withstanding this, the masses, the millions, bury in the black earth the dear bodies of their friends and turn away with that terrible sinking of the heart which means that joy has gone out of their lives. They are only con- scious that the monster Fate, to which all men must bow, has at last overtaken them. Into such hearts one who sees the light ahead longs to shed a ray of hope. VARIOUS INTIMATIONS 245 NEITHER the mind nor the body can be composed if there is agitation at the cen- tre. And calmness is not dullness, it is not inactivity. It is power exerted, it is control of forces, it is intense mental action, it is spiritual energy. WHEN death comes to one of two who have been inseparable in the bonds of love, one is born into new life on the other side of the Veil, one is born into new life on this side. They go on together as before, except that the thin partition between the Seen and the Unseen divides their bodies but not their souls. Nay, the bond that bound them becomes the sweeter and the stronger. With the great event called death between them, both open new eyes to God's wonders at one and the same time. " The flesh does not con- join, but dissever; although through its very severance it suggests a shadow of the union which it cannot bestow." 1 IT will give us delight to trust the goodness of the Universe, aye its friendliness, as if it were a personal being. These impersonal qualities may become real to us, as though em- bodied in human form, and our confidence in them increase. 1 F. W. H. Myers, Human Personality, Vol. I, p. 112. 246 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL NO one is great who cannot sacrifice him- self whenever and wherever he is actu- ally called upon to do so. Needless self-sac- rifice is a degradation to the soul. WE love people who are imperfect. We love people who are less perfect than ourselves. Let us do what we can by word or deed or silent force to bring our loved ones up, but let us never sink to their level if it be below our own, however much we love them. IN brief moments of unconsciousness or in longer hours of absorption, time for us is not. It appears, then, that there is no such thing as time, but only occurrences in con- sciousness. Yet when we recall a definite epoch from out the dimness of the past, time stretches out at length. Why? Because we ourselves have walked on apace, because much has transpired within. TO the finely developed mind of the natu- rally sensitive person it must be only the thinnest of veils that separates him from the denizens of another and higher world, for he himself draws his breath in those elements which apparently are the sustainers of life in that higher world. VARIOUS INTIMATIONS 247 WHEN I was a child I conceived of the soul as a mass of white or pearly mist, oval in form, located somewhere in the trunk of the body. Now I sometimes picture the spiritual body as an expansion of something far more delicate than mist; not confined to the trunk of the body but permeating and radiating from it; not white or pearly but aglow with delicate and various colors, approaching to whiteness in proportion as the Ego is pure; with centres of thought or light scattered through it like nuclei; keeping in general the bodily form yet shooting from these nuclei its search-light rays, which pierce more deeply into the abyss of the Unknown according as the soul is great. THERE is a dignity of spiritual conscious- ness and a dignified way of living which is not obliged to be constantly asking itself how it shall dress, how it shall act, how it shall talk. All these minor things fall into har- monious relation with the superior creature within who has accomplished this feat of dignified living. Great dignity of character makes one ashamed to ask how its possessor is garbed, in fact almost blinds altogether to the fact that he is garbed at all. Yet if we take note of particulars it will be apparent that the garment is becoming and fitting. Some subtle 248 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL essence emanates from the cultured soul, blend- ing the outer apparel into the harmony of the whole. THERE are more things in the possibili- ties of the seeker than are dreamt of in the philosophy of the dogmatist. IT may do injury to those who have passed away to wish them to keep in touch with the sorrows of this life, but it cannot injure them to keep in touch with its loves. Selfish grief on our part may hold them back in their career, but true love in this world or any other can do naught but bless. Love loves the lovely, and love itself, long-suffering though it be, may at last grow cold if the object that once attracted it be constantly bathed in grief. I think we may judge of them as we judge of ourselves, when we ask the question, is it wrong to expect them to keep in touch with our lives. ONE who learns the art of living easily here is becoming fitted to enter naturally into life beyond. It is only spiritual living that is easy. What conception can the mole have of the glory of the sunlit heavens? Yet the robin perches on the swaying bough, the lark soars upward toward the blue, and the VARIOUS INTIMATIONS 249 eagle ranges the mountain top. tWhen we look into the earth, blackness bars our vision. When we look into the heavens there is no limit to the glory, save the weakness in the physical eye. THE more devotedly one loves a single person the more is his heart open to lesser degrees of friendly relation. IT would seem that each grade of matter were permeable by a finer which is its life, and that when the finer is withdrawn from the coarser the latter dies. In relation to our coarser bodies the air is spirit, is the breath of life. It is not at all difficult to conceive, analogously, of those we call dead inhabiting a finer than fleshly form, which must in the nature of things be invisible to our outward sense, even as is pure air. THE simple, devoted soul has faith; the intelligent, knowing soul has a greater. Trust may be the accompaniment of igno- rance; a greater trust is the accompaniment of wisdom. THE newly bereaved stands mourner be- side the open grave. The deathly still- ness that prevails but faintly symbolizes the deadly inaction of his heart. Man tries in 250 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL myriad ways to keep before his eyes in endur- ing bronze and marble a reminder of death. Yet above all these silent testimonials waves the green of the foliage and shines the blue of the ether, both palpitating with life. Let the mourner but look upward, and with steady gaze the heart gradually succumbs to nature's persuasion, and the bronze and the marble lose their terror. GOD speaks to us in flower and star and sky, in love and tenderness and suffering. The word " language " means that which can be uttered by the tongue, but many thousand things are communicated to us by other means. Let us call it speaking, for lack of a more ac- curate term. Can you hear the speech which God utters every hour in every place? A speech more eloquent than language, as the speech of the eye is more eloquent than the uttered word. God speaks through the per- fection of human beauty in another, through grace, through composure of soul. These are about us every day. Let us listen for the music of their voice. A FTER disillusionment life becomes increas- <**' ingly wonderful, interesting and inviting. Not the outer world of sense, but the inner VARIOUS INTIMATIONS 251 meanings of things; the tremendous signifi- cance of it all and its fathomless depths. These are the things that now attract. IF a deep love for one person possess our heart, it should, while losing none of its individual strength, be gradually sublimated into the impersonal quality, like unto that which exists in the bosom of the Infinite. IT has ever been one of the mysteries of life that we must give up in order to own, that we must sacrifice in order to possess, that we must die daily to ourselves in order to realize the larger self. A kind deed by the wayside, then, has a far deeper significance than the mere earning of a little happiness as we pass. It is a part of the complicated network of relationship that binds all human beings to- gether and bears us all onward toward the possession of better life. It is, in the language of a Myers, " that universal scheme by which the higher helps the lower, and the stronger the weaker, through all the ideal relationships of the world of life." WE say that the spirit is a spark from God, but from birth onward it must be con- stantly fanned into greater glow until its scintillation becomes a light divine. 252 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL WITH a person who is conscious of uni- versal life, to whom the distant star and the whole starry host seem friendly, it is wholly contrary to what has become his normal thought to relegate to the category of the dead an intelligent loved or an intense lover. The harmony of the plane on which such a person habitually dwells would be destroyed by non-belief. THE mystic seeks God in every department of life. To be a mystic is not necessarily to be a recluse. LET it be remembered that there are per- sons who are finer built, more delicately sensitive, more spiritually sublimated than are we ourselves. And it behooves us to listen with respect when they tell us of existence in higher conditions and on planes of finer matter than we ourselves know. THE spiritual life, what is it, either here or there? The person who strives daily to live as much of that life as is possible to him, the best that is revealed to his understanding, comes in time to realize strength, vitality, goodness, joyousness, all things satisfying in themselves, to such degree that his questions are all answered in himself. This new strong unfoldment within himself, this thing that he VARIOUS INTIMATIONS 253 perceives grows larger daily, is life itself, and to call life death is an absurdity. LET us invent a new term for the taking leave of the body by the spirit. Let it be one to which no faint touch of sadness clings. The mystery and the loveliness in death overshadow its sadness. UNTIL we know what death is, we do not know what life is ; until we know what loss is, we do not know what love is. LOVE Comfort our souls with love, — Love of all human kind; Love special, close — in which, like sheltered dove, Each weary heart its own safe nest may find; And love that turns above Adoringly, contented to resign All loves, if need be, for the Love Divine. — Dinah Mulock Craik. *55 LOVE LOVE is too lofty a theme to be broached by any but the wisest minds, to be handled by any but reverent hands. From the view- point of this chapter I may but look at it from afar, may but kiss the hem of its garment; yet with that touch and that look know that its effulgence is spread over me, that its virtue passes through me. LOVE unlocks closed portals, builds a beau- tiful archway through the densest of woods. LOVE is a pain, an aching, yet sings when all else is sad. THE death of the loved one brings life to the lover. LOVE looks out through open windows, lays a hand on the departing soul. LOVE blinds because it dazzles. OVE envelops one in a beautiful soft mist *~* which sheds its whiteness on all around. It must then be of the nature of ethereal light. [" OVE pierces the farthest vistas, knows -*— 4 that sometime, somewhere, it may claim its own. 257 258 BOTH SIDES OF THE VEIL LOVE purified, intensified, floods the heart with light and wisdom. LOVE loses its loveliness in too many words. A 166 < Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. •>$ <, Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide ^* Treatment Date: Nov. 2004 4 O PreservationTechnologies A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive Cranberry Township. PA 16066 j (724)779-2111 LIBRARY BINDING ,^/fc , ^O Y ° ®S^>M2h - ^