■ ft' i » » tit- t ■ ,*« <* ■ A -3, Class Book ^U Gq$rightfl?__ CnFmiCHT DEPOSIT PSYCHIC LIGHT The Continuity o! Law and Life. MRS. MAUD LORD-DRAKE. PRESS OF THE FRANK T. RILEY PUB. CO., KANSAS CITY. MO. 1904, U8RARY of CONGRESS Twe Copies Received FEB 1 1904 Copyright Entry :l£ss d ' XXc. No. 1 COPY 8 COPYRIGHT 1903 BY J. S. DRAKE. PREFACE. "Minds on this round earth of ours Vary like the leaves and flowers; Sing thou low, or loud, or sweet, All, at all points, thou canst not meet." —Tennyson. This work is not an attempt to solve the ''Riddle of the Universe," to controvert theories, or dispute any plan of so-called salvation. All things can be proved, if we can obtain the facts and comprehend the laws. The facts must be self-evident, or demonstrable to our senses; and, the number of the senses must not be limited by our experience. Each mode or manifestation of individual life, or spirit through matter, may be called a sense. Some persons have five and some have twelve senses, with the possibility of a larger number, each demonstrable, each producing distinct and independent results. As spirit is conscious of its consciousness, we, there- fore, assume as a self-evident fact, that: Individual life IS; and, that: Individual life manifesting through human organism is a spirit. Is the theory of spirit return scientific? Does it best explain all of the facts? Can all of the facts be referred to any other theory? It does not so much concern us to know from whence came life and how it came, as to be assured of its con- tinuity and the conditions under which it exists. It is important to know that it does not end with the termination of our existence here. To know that it continues as a personal, individualized entity; that it con- tinues as a sentient, thinking, remembering ego, as now, 6 PSYCHIC LIGHT is of value to all. To know this fact now; to know some- thing of the conditions of the next existence; to acquire some of the essentials for a fair start in that existence is of great value to all. To be of value it must be a knowledge, not a belief. It must be a knowledge based upon logical inferences from facts. More evidence and a more positive demonstra- tion is required upon the question, "If a man die, shall he live again," than upon any other question. Its solu- tion is outside of ordinary experience; and, to be of value the demonstration must come within the limitations of our reason and senses. The conclusion must be deduced from general truths established from all the facts. Accustomed to acquiring knowledge through only five senses as avenues of manifestation, and living in only three dimensions of space, we cannot accept anything beyond these limitations, unless we are shown, or unless we think; and, think accurately and honestly. Hence the impor- tance of the phenomena. To those thinkers who accept the axiomatic truth of science, that: "Whatever is, always has been, and always will be," the statement of facts and the testimony con- tained in the following pages will be sufficient data from which to infer general truths sufficient to formulate a code of ethics,— "lines of thought and rules of action,"— that will enable them to take their proper place in the infinite and eternal progression which spans all existence. We know that we live and that life is measured by its manifestations. No two lives act to the same extent, on the same lines, or with the same faculties. Grant the existence of these faculties, as we must, from viewing the lives of the men and women who do the thinking for the race, and we cannot limit them by our experience, nor can we dispute their facts because they are not within the range of our experience, sense or reason. Phenomena constantly occur beyond our experience and unaccountable to us. These are none the less facts because we fail to understand them. CONTINUITY OP LAW AND LIFE. - 7 What theory best covers all these phenomena? Cer- tainly not the unscientific and illogical theory of an irre- sponsible, theoretical cause, called " sub-conscious life;" nor involuntary cerebral action; nor motion and organized matter; nor can these facts be laughed out of court by the cry of fraud. Something besides blind force organizes matter. Fraud and imitation of things valuable always have existed and probably always will. Brushing aside all these irrelevant theories and imitations, let us estab- lish our premises and accept the ^general truths logically inferred from our facts; and, then abide the deductions of our own logic. Science and logical reasoning are too exact to accept any materialistic theory to cover facts which transcend matter and its independent possibilities. During the last thirty years, too many careful thinkers and scientific inves- tigators have become convinced of the continuity of indi- vidual spirit life through the facts and phenomena remain- ing, after sifting out and eliminating the frauds and imita- tions of the genuine phenomena. It is not necessary to devote time or space to those otherwise great scientists, thinkers and teachers who have correlated facts sufficient to convince them of this continuity, but who still disclaim to be spiritualists. Nor is it necessary to consider those psychical research societies and Huxleys who have not had time to investigate facts not referable to their pet theories. Spiritualism opens up a new field in philosophy, religion and science. Knowing spiritism to be a fact in nature as much so as any other fact, knowing it to be a logical inference from well established and indisputable data, we must regard it as logically conclusive. If we try to account for these facts upon any other hypothesis we are unscientific, illogical and dishonest. Spirit must be infinite in its origin, to be immortal in its destiny. A beginning signifies an end. Neither the beginning nor the end concerns us now as much as the interim— the interlude, the tragedy or travesty, as the 8 PSYCHIC LIGHT case may be. For between the beginning and the end, so to speak, or, between infinite origin and unending dura- tion, is the field of immortality. Life, the consciousness of this stage of existence, and death, the commencement of the next, are assured. Preparing for the unending future is what should most concern us all while here on earth. The spirit manifesting through brain may be what you call yourself today. But the essence of soul, with its secret sources of life, its possibilities of divine and infinite progression, must be allied with infinite existence. It is co-eval with, but not a part of, matter. It takes on matter, modified to its requirements, in the various stages of its existence. The knowledge and ability to modify and handle matter and direct the forces by which it is controlled is the secret of its phenomena. In many cases, it is beyond our senses and understanding, yet it is not supernatural. There is no supernatural in all of God's eternal universe. "All are but parts of one stupendous whole Whose body Nature is and God the soul." These forces are mostly known and classified by science. If the methods of handling them were fully understood, all of these occult and psychic phenomena would be readily accepted and full credence accorded to the spirit chemist and scientist. In spirit life, as here, not all are qualified to pro- duce these phenomena. And, in both stages of existence, essential conditions are required. He who expects the phenomena from those in the next stage of existence who are not expert in handling the forces of the universe, will be greatly disappointed. These pages contain only known and well authenti- cated facts, and names of people well known in their respective localities. The purpose of this work is not so much to write the history of a life as to present facts and incidents that have occurred within a wide range of time and place and CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 9 under varied conditions, embracing every phase of spirit phenomena. It is impossible to write in specific detail the life his- tory of a single individual. Much less is it possible to delineate the intricate and manifold expressions of a spirit in manifesting its wonderful powers through a sensitive organism of one of earth's mortals. It is not within the scope of our thought to depict in words the transcendent powers and faculties of an immortal spirit, by witnessing its manifestations through human organisms susceptible to all the harmonies and discord of earth life. Much, indeed, can we learn from such manifestations, but more remains to be told. And, if we live faithful to ourselves, to humanity and to the spirit world, we shall continue to add to our store of knowledge, through all the cycles of eternity. In what words can the hopes and fears of a life be told? With what language can its trials and its tragedies be expressed? What pen can follow its ecstatic flights and in what colors can imagination paint the agonies of the deaths it must die to attain greater growth? How can we portray the higher conditions and the glory to which it is lifted? Knowing hereditary traits and the law, knowing prenatal conditions and the dynamic force of maternal thought, knowing the effects of environment and educa- tion, and, recognizing the spiritual law that, "like attracts like," we might come near to predicating results. Know- ing all these we might be able to understand why some possess faculties so great and wonderful as to make us doubt the evidence of our senses and question the most logical conclusions. A force once started must continue until its legiti- mate consequence is accomplished. The evolution of the race is modified by every thought and action of the past. Every contemplated purpose must be accomplished some- where along the lines of life, either here or in the great hereafter as sure as effect follows cause. 10 PSYCHIC LIGHT Who can tell how much we are working out for those long since removed from this plane of action? And who can declare how much is due to hereditary, and how much to direct personal influence? For a proper understanding of some of the facts and references in this work, the following incident in the drama of the life of one of the ancestors of the subject of whom we write is given as told to the writer by one of the family. The incident occurred in France, when ecclesiastical thought was dominant and sustained by law. CHAPTER I. THE CHATEAU BERLEAUX. This castle, in feudal times, was the ancestral home of the house of the De Corichies, a race of proud, impulsive people, who rejected all efforts of the Catholic clergy to induce them to join that dominant power. The Chateau is one of those ancient edifices characteristic of the times, with low, broad porches, covered with time-grown vines and surrounded with rare and exotic flowers and beauti- ful grounds indicative of wealth and refinement. Ancient forests lay between it and the sea, which is visible from the high ground upon which the castle and its many build- ings for servants and stables are situated. The only person present is a stately lady, apparently about 65 years old, with oval face, large, luminous gray eyes, gray, crinkly hair, dressed high and pompadour, and held in position by a diamond comb and clasp. She is dressed in black silk, trimmed with purple velvet— dress cut low— running to a "v" shape, filled in with cream- colored lace, fastened with a large cameo pin set with diamonds. She stands on the porch with hand shading her eyes, and looking long and earnestly down the broad drive-way" that leads to the main road winding away among the large trees. A single horseman appears and gallops up the drive-way. He dismounts at the steps and salutes the lady. "How now, good mother, why brooding shadows among these goodly flowers?" "Louis, my noble son, the air seems strangely filled with evil wings— dark shadows— strange feelings that those thy hand hath fed and fostered bode thee no good. ' ' The person thus addressed is nearly six feet tall, well ]2 PSYCHIC LIGHT formed, broad shoulders, with a military style of dress, with golden buckles at the side of the knees. He wears a sash, and a long cloak of rich, dark material ornamented with Ducal trimming hangs from his shoulders, indicat- ing his rank and position. His eyes are brown and his hair is dark and slightly curls. A moustache and goatee of a slightly darker shade sets off his nearly oval face to fine advantage. His round, well-shaped, dimpled chin indicates great strength and firmness. A pleasant smile about the mouth and lips, his easy grace and movements, shapely hands and feet indicate aristocratic birth and lineage. His dress, general appearance and surround- ings are characteristic of the old Huguenot families. A second horseman-^- some years older than the first —well mounted, and with the appearance of having rid- den far and fast, dashed up the broad avenue; and, hand- ing bridle to the ready attendant, hastily ascended the steps. "How now, uncle, why this haste and hard riding V With a courtly salute to the lady, he grasped the hand of the younger man, saying : ' ' Ah, good Duke, my nephew, I have indeed ridden hard and many a league to warn you of danger that threatens. Even now methinks the sound of chaise and hoof falls upon my ear. You must flee 'ere the minions of the Church come. ' ' ' * What ! I a coward ! To leave my mother when danger threatens ? No, no ! Ask it not. ' ' "But, my noble son, think of the prison, the loath- some cell and years of living death! Worse than death to me. I will only be happy to know you breathe the free air." "Nay, nay, mother; it is my pleasure, my honor, to protect you." "But, dear son, the servants will defend me. You must be saved. ' ' "Dear nephew; time passes, — even now hear you not the convent bells 1 They may be the signal. You must go. " "Nay, Charlier, life is nothing to honor." CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 13 "But, Duke, think of the prison and the years of terrible solitude. Creeds have no mercy. The Church has no love for heretics. Come, come; your best armor and trusty steed. ' ' "Mireio, Mireio," called the Duke, in accents modu- lated by love and anxiety. A young girl— about 14 or 16 years old— fair as the sunshine, bright as the exotic flowers that bloom in the conservatory, and with a voice rivaling the birds in the stately trees, came tripping from an inner room. "Why, Piere; why this anxiety? Why those tones of sadness ? ' ' "Daughter, dear; I go, I flee from menacing danger.' ' "Do I go tool" "Nay, nay, daughter dear. A lock of thy hair,— a talisman to me,— to wear next to the heart that beats for you." "But suppose it be a snare?" (She cuts a curl. He places it in his vest.) "Ah, my noble son; here comes Le Paire, the priest. Now let us all greet him merrily." 1 ' What, now, Le Paire, can we do to please you ? What have you to say ? ' ' "Noble Duke, for this house that never produced aught but brightest intellect and splendid courage, I have ever prayed to ally itself with the Holy Catholic Church and with great power to thee from such alliance." Charlier— (aside) : "I must have his cowl and gown." "Ah, Le Paire; good father; join us in good wine, as we have ridden far; and, perchance, you too, are weary with many absolutions." (The Duke orders wine as Charlier drops something into a glass he hands to the priest, who soon sleeps. They lay him on a divan and divest him of cowl, gown and crucifix.) The Duke dons a coat of mail taken from a safe and puts it on under his clothes. At this moment a chaise comes up the drive at a rapid 14 PSYCHIC LIGHT pace. The footman opens the door and announces in a loud voice, ' ' The Chateau Berleaux. ' ' A gentleman hastily steps out and mounts the steps. Both the Duke and Charlier exclaim, "Ah, Sir Rich- ard, what now ? What brings you to the continent ? ' ' "I come to bid you hasten your flight. I am none too soon. Hear you not the convent bells ? It is the signal to surround your estate. One must go away from home to hear secrets of State and Church." The last arrival was none other than Sir Richard Chelten of Cheltenham Forge, and a great friend of the family. "Dear son, one salute, time flies. The Iron Hand points to the sea." The Duke and his uncle then hastily mounted and with adieux to all, galloped swiftly down the drive, out into the road and out of sight. When once in the woods they halted and dismounted and led their horses from sight of the road. The Duke was first to speak, saying: "Uncle, why this deep interest in me, and this incurring danger to yourself ? " "Know you not that you are my heir, and that all I have is yours? I can now, here in these old woods, tell you what I could not say in the presence of your mother. There is a price on your head, and, even now these woods are surrounded by those who seek your blood. Don this treacherous priest's gown and cowl and hang this crucifix over your neck." "But, uncle, why dishonor my name and house in the guise of an old woman,— the mockery of courage and manhood 1 ' ' ' ' Nay, nay ; good nephew ; think of the prison and the years of madness, and the sorrow of thy good mother, my sister, and fair Mireio. Live and be free. ' ' "Possibly, these forebodings are vain. I like not this fleeing from intangible dangers. It seems better to face whatever realities life may have in store for us." CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 15 , ''True, my good nephew; but we, whose lives reach back beyond your time, have had opportunity to note that B dark hand has ever warned our- house of impending danger. For thee, as your noble mother has said, it points to the sea. You must know that the women of our race are always conscious of impending danger. At such times ns the Iron Hand appears to them and the air seems filled with black wings that stir and fill their souls with gloom- yes, at such times, it is well to heed— to listen, to act upon these subtle vibrations that our science, as yet, fails to grasp. It was this that brought me in haste to thy castled home. Noted you not your good mother's anxious looks these many days past?" In silence the Duke donned the garments of the priest. They fitted him without a crease or a wrinkle, so near alike in form and stature were the two men. None too soon. As they emerged from the woods and turned a bend in the road they were halted by a squad of men. The officer in command said: "By my faith, who knows but that priest's garb may conceal him whom we seek." Charlier quick to reply, said: "Detain me not for I conduct this good priest to the bedside of my brother who is dying to be absolved ere it is too late." "On with you and your priest. We seek not to deny absolutions to the dying." Out of the woods away from this goodly estate, the ancestral home of a long and honorable line rode the two men in silence, each busy with his own thoughts. One leaving all that was dear to the heart— "a world of love at home;"— the other loyal to his kinsman at any cost. They came to the uncle's estate. Turning in at an unfrequented lane, they came to what appeared to be the lodge of a tenant some distance from the castle. An old man came out and led the horses away and the two men entered and closed and locked the door. Taking a light the elder said : ' ' Follow me. ' ' 16 PSYCHIC LIGHT Seated in a room within the castle, the uncle spoke: "Now my good nephew we are safe to plan and to act." "Plan what, how. act? Must I play the part of a fugitive, and from what and for what?" "From bigotry, my dear boy. Tt is but the penalty for independent thought. But let us to our chambers for rest and sleep, and when the time is ripe we will act." It is not necessary for the purpose of this work to follow the Duke De Corichie to London, where he remained with his friend, Sir Richard, until joined by his mother, his daughter and his son Henri, and their subsequent sail- ing for the Colonies of America. The record of the hun- dreds of these families who came to the Colonies from the date of the sailing of the vessel "Nassau of Paul" up to the year 1800 is incomplete. The account herein given was furnished by the grandfather of the subject of this work, and is corroborated by records of the Streight family of Marion County, Virginia — a family that figured prom- inently in the history of the early settlement of the State, and the early Indian troubles. The story of the Huguenots and their persecutions on account of their spiritual dis- sensions from the Catholic Church has been told in history. This experience of the ancestors of Mrs. Maud E. Lord is here related as data for those students along heredi- tary lines who may be impressed with some of the hints and conclusions suggested by some of the marked religious or church persecutions and incidents herein related; for those who believe that certain liberal or theological modes of thought — that certain fortunes or misfortunes, and traits, are transmitted— that the basis for character build- ing is laid in the dim past— that it is being laid all the time ; for those who attempt to solve the greatest of all problems — HUMAN DESTINY— on whose footsteps await love, fame, and fortune ; who from their vantage point may say, as did one of the old Huguenots: "Heureuse destinee tu combles mes desirs." CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 17 MAUD E. LORD. "Ah, dearly purchased is the gift, The wondrous gift like thine: A restless life is her's who stands A priestess at Truth's shrine." -L. E. L. Maud E. Lord was born March 15th, 1852, in Marion County, West Virginia. Her parents were both liberally educated and yet were thoroughly imbued with religious teachings, bound and tethered to separate creeds, the mother a Methodist and the father a Baptist and a deacon in his church. A talented man, yet prejudiced toward any thought and any body that questioned or who interfered with his religion. A blind devotee, kneeling at his shrine and conforming to the teachings of his church ; and, inclined to defend his faith and his rights at all hazards. Her mother was born and raised amid the romantic scenery of the Alleghany Mountains, in comparative ease and luxury, with slaves to do her every bidding. Such lives pass with- out incentive to much thought of progress, until condi- tions evolve inbred qualities. The fourth child born to Sarah J. and Phillip S. Barrock marked an epoch in their lives. This child was destined to jostle their faith and set them, as well as thousands of others, to thinking. The mother constantly dreamed that the child would be out of the ordinary, and was laughed at by her husband for what he called her superstition. What was the consternation of both of these ultra religious people when the child was born with a double veil over her face. The father with all of his religious prejudice aroused was certain that the Devil had something to do with this veil, and much serious thought did he give this child in later years in his effort to drive out this Devil. The mother persistently averred that there was much writing on this veil, which so frightened her that she dared not read it, but caused it to be hastily buried in the yard to exorcise any evil spell it might possibly herald to the new-born babe. IS PSYCHIC LIGHT Trouble commenced early with this child. While yet barely able to creep, peculiar occult power made itself man- ifest. Sometimes luminous lights were seen about her, electric sparks would fly from her hair, and scintillations in the dark, seemingly from her eyes. The magnetic forces were so strong that they produced a tingling sensation in the nurse's arms so that she was willing to drop her on short notice. As a result, the colored servants left the child very much to herself, with only such care as was absolutely necessary. As "days and weeks passed, this power or force seemed to increase with the growth of the child, developing a strange desire on her part to creep into dark corners, behind doors and under the bed,— anywhere out of the light and bustle of the household; and an equally strong desire on the part of all members of the family to let her severely alone, — conditions possibly essential to more per- fect development. Sometimes for long hours at a time she would be lost to the mother, who, strange to say of one so romantic and gentle by nature and environment, was averse to handling this little bundle of magnetic sensations. Sometimes when found, if in the dark, there would be a wonderful emana- tion of light from the head and the eyes would be lumin- ous. These strange things gave the mother a feeling akin to horror and caused her to exclaim, "What is it?" "What is it ? ' ' At times the child would refuse to come out of the dark places, and in fear and horror the mother would have to take a stick to make her come out into the light, where the force was not as strong. SPIRIT HANDS ROCK THE CRADLE. Sometimes, when the child slept, the cradle would be rocked by invisible hands, creating a feeling in the minds of these ultra-religious parents that the evil one cared for his own. The mother could not divest her memory of her former dreams that the child was, in some strange, mysteri- ous way, destined to be her solace and salvation. During CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 19 these timea of creeping into dark places, voices would be heard talking to the child. Sometimes the mother would hear singing and the sound as of some one affectionately kissing the child. In the morning her hair would be beauti- fully curled, often tied with ribbons, as though some invisi- ble nurse had been "given charge concerning" this strange child. To the devotees of creed, to those dominated by ecclesiastical thought, there was only one solution for all these things. One insidious, corroding thought assailed them. The devil possessed one of their children. All their fervent prayers availed nothing. Time passed. The little girl, when five years old, still had her unseen playmates, real to her, in all her play. Articles mysteriously changed places, even in the light. If airything was lost or mislaid, she found it. The animals seemed to love and obey her. She talked to the trees and flowers. She told her mother she could hear them singing in fair weather and telling of the coming of storms at other times, the verification of which astonished them all. She was always accurate in predictions. To their religious souls there could be only one explanation. A SPIRIT WRITES A PRESCRIPTION. At about this time a strange and wonderful thing hap- pened. The child, for she had not yet been named, was in the log cabin of one of the colored servants when a kettle of boiling lye was upset by the fore-log having burned away in the fireplace. The contents of the kettle was spilled over her arms, body and limbs as she sat before the fireplace, severely burning her. The old family physician, Dr. Edson Woodruff, was hurriedly called and everything was done that was possible to alleviate the suffering of the little one. The doctor made several visits and finally pro- nounced the case hopeless. At this visit the unexpected occurred. The child's bandaged hand was lifted to the old doctor's pocket and took from it a pencil; and before he could comprehend what was done, reached to another pocket and took from it a book and wrote in a bold, legible hand: 20 PSYCHIC LIGHT "Get pine needles, crush and mix with linseed oil, put between boot leaves and apply immediately." The doctor instantly recognized the writing to be that of a doctor with whom he had worked— then dead. Turn- ing in amazement to the mother, he exclaimed: "What does this mean? Can this child write?" The mother with paling lips exclaimed : ' ' Oh, doctor, it is the Devil. We have tried to keep it quiet, but it is of no use. He always comes when least expected. Is it not best to let her die? He has been with her from birth." Professional curiosity and pride was stronger than fear in the doctor's mind, and he answered, "No. That is my old friend's writing and we will try his prescription." It was tried, and in a remarkably short time the child recovered, although troubled for years from the effects of the terrible burns. It was hard for this religious mother to believe that her child was not leagued with the evil one for purposes unf athomed by her troubled soul. All her earnest prayers failed to lift the clouds. After this terrible burning, wonderful visions came, which were often described by the child. She would speak in various languages and would describe forms and give names. Thus three years passed. The country people had learned of these strange things and a few of the more curious came to ask all manner of questions, political and otherwise. As her father was quite prominent in state affairs, and later a pronounced Secessionist, these questions often related to events yet to come. Even the father was willing the Devil should tell him of these events, but he was seldom satisfied, as these" predictions were not to his liking, telling him, as she did quite frequently, that he would be obliged to flee from the country, and that trials and tribulations were to come to him. At last, when these issues were forced to the front and the mutterings and murmurings of war were heard, men and women sought this strangely gifted child to know what CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 21 the end would be, yet all believing, and many reviling the supposed source of the information they sought. Without exception they advised punishment of the child for her prior knowledge of events which did not accord with their wishes. Her parents were positive in their determination not to educate her, notwithstanding her intense longing to learn to read. The other children went to school, why should she be denied the privilege? Little did she dream that the education the intelligences would give, her would transcend all schools and all of the then known sciences; that all book's, all philosophies and all things should yield up their secrets to her marvelous sense of psychometry. Her parents were too religious to think of educating the Devil. They also feared that if they permitted her to go to school, manifestations would occur to disgrace and scandalize them and their religion. She was now eight years old. She was melancholy, but not moody ; poetic, but not sentimental ; more practical than the other children in all she was given to do; obedient, acting quickly and cheerfully. Attuned to every vibration of nature, she could always be found out of doors, in the woods, irrespective of the weather. She reveled in the most terrific storms. Snow, sleet, rain, or lightning could not keep her indoors. Every- thing in nature found quick response in her soul. Quick to sense injustice, she could not quite understand why she should be denied an education. She longed for the key that would unlock the mysteries of the books in her father's library. THE DEVIL IN A SCHOOL HOUSE. Naturally obedient, used to being denied every pleasure given to other children, yet something impelled her to disobedience in this particular. Acting quickly, she took one of her father's large books, the one containing pictures she could not understand, and putting on her mother's best bonnet and shawl she appeared at the school. 22 PSYCHIC LIGHT The teacher met this strange combination of big book, bonnet, shawl and half-scared child at the door. "Whose Little girl are you?" "I'm Mr. Barrock's girl." With surprise the teacher said: "I didn't know he had another daughter." "Oh, yes; I'm his little girl, and I want to read about the pictures in this book where the mother is throwing her baby under the wheels of that big car. Maybe the baby is like me." "Can you read?" asked the teacher, smiling as she took the book, the bonnet and shawl and led this brave seeker after knowledge to a seat on a front bench. "No ma'm, but I want to learn." "Do you know your letters?" "No, ma'm." More distinct than ever came the raps on the bench. "You must keep your feet still here in school," said the teacher. With tears in her eyes the child made no answer, but the raps were still heard. The first lesson had commenced. Seeing that the child's feet did not touch the bench, the teacher started for her own desk. The bench lifted, at first one end and then the other, and started after her. The teacher reached her desk first and with an attempt at severity, asked the child, "What is this— what does it mean ? ' ' She could only repeat 'what others had said: "My pa says it is the Devil." The children laughed, but the teacher evidently thought the answer correct, for she immediately dismissed the school. Taking the child home, she told Mr. Barrock of the occurrence. She was punished for disobedience. Oh, religion and mistaken duty, what crimes are com- mitted in thy names! CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 38 She was awjikened the next morning by her older sister, Cordelia, calling and asking her why she was not up. 4 ' It is not morning, : ' was her reply. "It is so dark. "No it is not, the sun is up and everything is bright and beautiful. Come, hurry and dress." 1 ' It is so dark I cannot see. ' ' She was blind. Shut out from the sunlight, from the trees and the flowers and all nature so loved by her, her further efforts at school came to an end. As she lay in her little cot, suffering and unable to cry, dumb in her agony, unable to fathom the cause of all this injustice from one so tenacious of his own fancied rights, she heard the musical tinkle and jingle of bells- magical bells— signal of the Oriental Master's presence. The darkness seemed to change into a strange, beauti- ful light, filling all the room without shadow or reflection, and she saw a kindly-faced old man standing before her. In a very pleasant voice he said : "Well, little girl, you are punished for disobedience." "Yes, sir. I suppose so." You must always do just as your parents tell you." With this he touched the bruised places on her body and all pain left. Before leaving he told her that if she would follow his instructions she should learn to read and write. She eagerly promised. He told her to go to a certain tree across the creek at a certain hour each day and wait until they came to her. INVISIBLE TEACHERS. Day after day, and week after week, in all kinds of weather, she was at the appointed place. In nature's great kindergarten, with the music of run- ning waters and the rhythm made by the swaying of the great trees, they taught her letters and words— to read and to write. They went farther and unfolded the secrets of nature and filled her soul with the beautiful moral lessons of life and of creative laws. 2 1 PSYCHIC LIGHT Tims came to her all the beautiful imagery, clothed sometimes in classical language, but more often in language direct from the heart, that in after years, electrified, pleased and led men and women to better, cleaner and more useful lives. Those days in the woods, blind and isolated from all others, she was in direct communication with nature and nature's forces. With her back to the grand old tree that guarded the laughing brook, whose rippling waters made music in her soul, she drank deep from nature 's fount, from the eternal and infinite source of all learning, all science and all inspiration. In these negative conditions, essential to all growth, was laid the basis on which was to be evolved a character that time and life's many vicissitudes could not affect. Imagine her parents' surprise and holy consternation when they learned that she could read and spell better than the other children. Again and again they asked her how she had acquired so much. She told them and they believed it was the work of the Devil. TALKS FRENCH. Among those who came to visit the family, during this time of blindness, was a neighbor, Mrs. La Farge, a French woman. Suddenly the child began to shake and quiver and became very pale. The woman being alone with her in the room, was exceedingly frightened, supposing she had a spasm. Instantly the trembling ceased and a man's voice, in excellent French, addressed her by a name none had ever called her but her father, who yet remained in France. The voice said: "Daughter, I am no more of earth. I have died, but yet I am not dead. Somehow I see you and move about you, but you never seemed to have heard me until now. ' ' Richard Devoe was her father's name. When last heard from he was alive and well. He told her the next mail but one would bring the news of his death. The lady believed, but was sore afraid, and wept convulsively, CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 25 destroying all pleasure of the afternoon's visit. Remem- ber, oh, ye skeptics, that this was all told her in French, spoken fluently and glibly as by a native, whereas the child spoke no language except English. Many were told of the circumstances and of the news the mail was to bring from across the sea. They waited expectantly. It came as fore- told, bearing to Mrs. La Farge the tidings of her father's demise. She was a devout Catholic, and, of course, told the priest, who pronounced against it as one of God's curses which caused her to look with fear upon the whole family thereafter. FINDS LOST PAPERS. Mr. Hurlburt, a neighbor, came to her father in great distress, saying he had lost papers of great value. If they could not be found he was on the verge of financial, ruin. He suspected that his little four-year-old son had burned them, as his mother had entered the room one day just in time to see the little fellow laugh gleefully over a flash of fire in the old-fashioned fireplace. That was the only expla- nation of the case. AVhile talking, the door opened and in walked "Little Blind Eyes, " straight up to the troubled neighbor and said : "Go home and take great pains in following our direction. Open the top drawer, remove it entirely, feel carefully, and mind what we say — back of the drawer and down a little lower than the drawer, you will find the papers." The good church member said, "Great God, what is this?" Mr. Barrock said, "You tell. We think it's the Devil or his imps." The man said, "In either case, if I find my papers, I shall be glad." "You will find them. She is sure. The Devil makes no mistakes." Thus, in the wretched atmosphere of doubt, distrust and misapprehension she grew and thrived, working in manifold ways the divine behest of the Master's loving ministrants. 26 PSYCHIC LIGHT Life to this gifted child meant great conflict, great suf- fering and provocation. After the years had passed which gave her a positive knowledge of the source from whence they came, she was often heard to say, "Thank God for the burdens, the thorns, the rocks, the whirlwinds, the storms and the wrecked hopes of being educated." She could then the more keenly appreciate the glories of the gates ajar. CONTROLS. The war cloud continued to grow, and finally darkened the whole valley in which they lived. The child's predic- tions were being verified. Her father, through his Southern proclivities, wroth- fully and publicly proclaimed, was compelled to remove with his family— to fly to some place where his liberty and life would be in less danger. He hastily prepared for his departure at night. The child had frequently predicted this emergency. Possibly she could help him now. Though her father had always considered these strange manifestations as being the work of the Devil, yet the predictions had always been true. And in this extreme emergency he was constrained to con- sult this strange power. It might lead him out of difficulty and shield him from danger. She had always told the truth, had found lost articles, saw things no one else could see, and possibly she would pilot him and the family through picket lines, past Union soldiers, out of danger to some place of safety. Was it possible that this uneducated child was to play an important part in his reaching a place of safety? There was nothing to do but to try it. He had his choice between prison and possible death, or flight under the guidance of what he believed to be the Devil. He could not rely upon prayer or Providence, as his creed taught. These were hard conditions for a proud, prejudiced deacon in the church, yet he was destined to faithfully follow the instructions received through the CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 27 child's clairvoyant vision, and to heed her instructions and oral directions. Necessity has no regard for creeds. Go he must. And with hasty preparation, the family started. Many and serious were the difficulties encountered, as they were guided by this superior intelligence, which was always so accurate, always on the alert. They traveled by night, resting and hiding by day. Often influences from the spirit world would control the child and give explicit instructions and directions, stating that such a road would be traveled with safety, or that such and such obstructions were here and there, and advising how to avoid them. Sometimes the father, doubting the prediction, would ride ahead only to find his directions correct. And, on returning, he would invariably say: "The Devil is right. He knows this road pretty well . ' ' Many times these influences warned him of the approach of Union soldiers, into whose hands he feared to fall, and at such times he only made his escape by prompt action and implicitly following directions. On this journey her power was brought into daily, almost hourly use, her gift of clairvoyance severely taxed and tested by the skeptical father, who firmly believed that he was consulting the evil one upon each occasion of his necessity. Often he would draw her into some quiet nook and ask her to fully exercise her gift to extricate him from peril, or to warn him from approaching danger. He w r ould ask for words and countersigns that might be exchanged with soldiers should he meet them unexpectedly. Fre- quently the child would stop suddenly. Her face would change wonderfully, at times resembling that of an old person, wrinkled and expressing age. At such times they had learned to halt- and hearken to some suggestion of danger. She would bid them go into the depths of the woods, even cautioning them to go back and put up each bent and broken bush to conceal their hid- ing place and await for orders. Invariably the reason would be explained by the near approach of soldiers. At other times they would be as quickly bidden to go forth. 28 PSYCHIC LIGHT Sometimes it would necessitate the wanderers to travel all night. So the watch and ward was kept over this family who believed that devils waited the bidding of their child. After months of travel and the loss of two wagons and contents, which the soldiers took, the child having pre- viously told them that the soldiers w T ould come if they did not move on, the family arrived in Iowa. From the night when the family started from their Virginia home, when the father went back and burned all the buildings to prevent them from falling into the hands of the Union forces, until they landed near Des Moines, Iowa, this child had been his guide. Yet, for all these good offices, religious prejudice offered no recompense. He could not believe other than his creed taught. LOCATES COAL. Having settled on land near the town of Mitchellville, Iowa, the child, whom the father now called "Kit" and sometimes "Gypsy," would go over the ground with him for the purpose of locating coal. He was now willing the evil one should assist him. Placing her head upon the earth she would tell him just how deep and how large the deposits were. He would often say if the coal was not there he would whip her, but the influence seemed never to falter or fail. Other mineral and water was located with the same unerring accuracy. On one occasion, when locating this coal with her head close to the ground, the father conceived the idea that she must smell it. He, like many, could only receive know- ledge through some of his five senses. He accordingly put his nose to the ground and smelled. Rising in anger, this deacon of the church said: "I can't smell it. The Devil, or whatever it may be, must have a good nose." In later years, this power to locate coal was of great value and use to Professor Worthen, the State Geologist of Illinois, to which state the family soon after moved. They settled not far from Warsaw. The war was still in progress and the father, bitter over losses, prejudiced CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 29 against Northern sentiment, and always angered at Union successes, became known as a member of the "Knights of the Golden Circle." His ability readily made him a leader among the advocates of Southern ideas. PREDICTS ISSUES OF THE WAR. At this time there was shown a disposition on the part of her controls to report movements of troops, foretell events, accidents, battles and the final defeat of Southern principles, and the ending in favor of the North. That thousands would be slain. All this was told with accuracy, as future events showed, through the mediumship of this girl who read no newspapers, no books, no letters, and who heard no discussions. These influences said that 4,000,000 soldiers, counting both sides, would be involved in this struggle. One day Mr. Davis, a neighbor, called and shrinkingly and shyly asked her father if the Devil, who had possession of his daughter, had told him the issue between the North and the South. The father told him what had been said. He hesitatingly said, ' ' I would like to call him up, Brother Barrock, if you think it proper. ' ' Her father assented, and called the child in and asked for the influence. She was immediately controlled and spoke with fiery vehemence and inspiring eloquence to those wonder-stricken men, who sat with lips apart in speechless amazement that this unedu- cated child could speak with such matchless eloquence and lofty sentiment, honoring God with tenderest praise and quoting the most beautiful thoughts from the highest authorities. The influence spoke of the war, how r long it would last and how terrible a sacrifice it would prove to many lov- ing mothers, wives and sisters. The good old Puritan brother thought it strange, passing strange, that this unedu- cated girl knew the good book so well and could thus rep- resent the highest minds that had existed. They could not understand the kind, beneficent Master's love. That He had sent ministering angels to answer their prayers. To 30 PSYCHIC LIGHT them it seemed unlawful to consult such strange and, as. they thought, wicked influences. Thus they argued and thus they spoke, saying : "It is, it must be some power of the Devil," and consequently, they stopped the child. She was harshly chidden and sent out to play while they pon- dered over these most mystifying manifestations. She fretted and vexed her relatives greatly when neighbors or even strangers called. If she happened to be present, she would always place chairs for these people whom no one else saw. Placing the chair, she would say, "Would you not rather sit?" Sometimes she would carry on prolonged conversations before an empty chair. The visitor, thinking the child was crazy or weak-minded, would often ask questions. To their horror and amazement they would find that she could reveal the family secrets, give names of their dead friends and call the living by name. She would send characteristic messages home, sometimes revealing much- needed information and telling them where to find hidden papers or property. There are hundreds of persons living today who can testify to these facts. Through her wonderful mediumship she gave them perfect assurance of the guardianship of their departed friends. Murders were sometimes revealed, though not often, as these influences seemed to condemn capital punishment. There was scarcely a day of her life that she did not in some way give evidence of this start- ling power. During these years many people sought to learn what this strange power was, but gave it up after a few attempts. Influenced by the opinion of her parents, they left, believ- ing it unlawful and sinful, and believing the child should be put where she could do no harm. Yet, this was hardly half way back in the century which was so full of advanced thought, of freedom and progress, and this too, in a great free western state. CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE 31 WRITES GERMAN. The mother tells of a Btrange experience that came to them while living near Hamilton, Illinios. The child had Deen writing on a slate belonging to the older children. A few days later a man came to the door and asked if he could remain over night. No Southern gentleman ever turned a stranger from his door at night. The mother said she "reckoned" he could stay. The gentleman was a well-to-do German of more than ordinary intelligence. After the evening meal he was invited into the sitting room. As he took a seat near the table he noticed the slate on which the child had made such strange letters. He picked it up and with a sudden excla- mation he said, ' ' Who writes German in this house ? ' ' The mother replied, "No one here writes German." "This is German and looks very familiar. I will read it." The more he read, the greater was his astonishment and excitement. As he came to the signature all the Ger- man in him was aroused and he forgot his polish and his English. "Mine Got," he exclaimed, "Das ist mine f adder's namen. He tells me where I find dat land for which I am looking." It seems -that he was looking for land left him by his father who had been dead for some years. The writing on the slate gave him the sections b} r number and located corners of the land he was seeking. He found the land as described on the slate, offered to pay for the information and was profuse in his thanks. He said he never believed in such things before. TELLS NEIGHBORS OF AN ACCIDENT. While living at this same place, the child came run- ning into the house and told her mother that a big barn door had fallen upon old Mr. Burton and broken his neck. The Burtons were their near neighbors. 32 PSYCHIC LIGHT "Who told you?" said the mother. "Little Willie Burton." The mother hastened over to the neighbor 's, and meet- ing Mrs. Burton, asked, "How did it happen?" "What happen?" was the reply. "My daughter told me your little son, Willie, came over and told her that his grandpa had his neck broken under the big barn door." "Neck broken! Under the big barn door!" gasped Mrs. Burton. "Oh, no, he is all right; he was here only a few minutes ago. My son, Willie! Why, woman, he has been dead these five years." Here was more trouble for the mother. Confused and embarrassed, she tried to pass off the incident as a mis- take. "My daughter is always saying strange things," she said in apology. There was a strange, anxious expression on Mrs. Bur- ton's face as she looked at her new neighbor. Looking toward the barn for the old gentleman who was in delicate health, he was nowhere to be seen. Finally, both women went to look for him. They found the great door unhinged on the ground. Underneath lay the old gentleman with his neck broken. At another time, the child told the father that in an old unoccupied building some two miles from the house, a man was hung up by a rope. Not believing, he refused to go, but on the following day the body was found as described. MORE THAN THEY EXPECTED. While living near Warsaw, Dr. Phelps and his brother visited Mr. Bar rock to investigate the doings attributed to the child and to expose the trick. They came away con- vinced, when another relative who thought himself much smarter, named Matt Phelps, and Doctor William Park- hurst, who thought he knew just how to expose the trick, visited Mr. Barrock's home. In going to the house they met a girl about nine or ten CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 33 years old riding B Spirited horse at break-neck speed. She was standing np on the horse's back and seemed to be per- fectly at home in her style of riding. How she kept on the horse's back was a marvel to them. They came to the house and found no one at home excepting the mother, Mrs. Barrock. They explained the object of their visit, when she told them that she feared it was the influence of "the Devil" and nothing else. They told her they had come to expose the trick and show her that it was not the Devil. She assured them the girl did not do it herself. She told them to fix the table so it would be dark underneath and they would get raps and maybe something else. They placed bottles under the legs of the table, and covered it with a spread, so as to hide the bottles. The child soon came in and was not in the happiest frame of mind on seeing the two gentlemen who had seen her riding the horse Indian fashion, for fear they would tell her mother how she had been riding. Her mother had told them she was near-sighted and would not see the glass any- way, but that the bottles would not interfere with the manifestation whatever its cause might be. They, however, kept the mother away from the table, and as soon as the child came in the mother said to her that these gentlemen had come to hear the raps. She and the two gentlemen sat down to the table and very soon the raps came upon their chairs, on the table and on the wall. Their insulation did not work, or it worked too well, for soon a hand came out from under the table and grabbed Matt Phelps by the knee and gave it a good shake. He sat on one side of the table by himself where none of the others could reach him, and when his knee was grabbed it was certainly the unexpected to him. With a whoop he sprang away from the table. lie was so fright- ened that all the others laughed, even Mr. Barrock, who had just come in : laughed, which was a most unusual thing for him. Other hands appeared. Raps came and spelled 34 PSYCHIC LIGHT out names which were recognized until the two who came to expose her mediumship went away convinced. On one occasion the child was at play with one of the neighbor's children, a little paralyzed girl. Every time she touched the little girl 's feet she would cry out, ' ' You tickle my foot. ' ' This attracted the attention of the girl 's mother who knew there was no feeling in the child's foot. She was told to rub the foot again. In time, the paralysis was cured. The war had not yet ended. Poverty pressed hard upon this proud Virginia family. This gifted child, taught self-reliance by being left to herself to grow up naturally, became physically large and strong. Never eating meat of any kind and seldom vegetables, living mainly on fruits, nuts, cereals, hot bread and biscuit, after the fashion of the South, she always enjoyed the best of health. She was not needed at home. Untaught, but possessing a wonderful ability to do all kinds of work, she sought and found service with one of the neighbors. Labor was high and men were scarce. And in the abun dance of her strength she worked in the fields to gather the corn and to do any work that would help the family. She was made to feel, by the intelligences about her, that all honest labor is honorable, while idleness is a sin. Masterful and majestic when under these influences, as many who read this narrative will remember, she did not, in those days of poverty, hesitate to adapt herself to the conditions of her environment. Her psychic gifts, then unnamed and unaccountable to her, grew stronger day by day and were freely bestowed upon all with whom she came in contact. Some condemned the influence,, not knowing what it was. Others attributed it to evil spirits. And thus the sensitive, shrinking girl was humiliated and made to pass through a thousand Gethsemane deaths by the igno- rance and intolerance of others. Through all these days of labor in the field, and in the kitchen, these days of poverty and wretchedness, the con- stant visitation of these unknown influences brought a cer- CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE 35 tain amount of comfort to this sensitive girl who had gone shrinkingly but bravely forth to earn her daily bread. To this sensitiveness was added the fear that these influences might make their presence known in unexpected places to bring upon her the scoff and contempt of her employers. These fears were well founded for they came again and again, with persistent revelations and loving messages. At all times and places and freely to all, to be misunder- stood, rejected and denied by nearly all. Names of those long dead would be given under conditions precluding the possibility of previous knowledge on the part of the shy, unassuming, old-fashioned girl, whose only happiness was in a kind word or a smile from those by whom she was surrounded. Failing to realize even this slight compensa- tion for gratuitous messages of love, she would, with tears, implore the unknown and unrecognizable power to leave her to live in peace like others. But this was not to be. She was in the world for a purpose. She was organized and intended for the ' ' Master 's work, ' ' manifesting with facul- ties far beyond the ordinary. She inherited no condition of fear and was brave for all emergencies. She was ever true to the polar star of her existence and could not be stopped by these things. These forces once started must accomplish their purpose. They must break down the bar- riers of ignorance, ecclesiasticism and the dogmatic asser- tions of science. Directed by superior intelligences, mas- ters of subtle, occult laws, she could not turn back. This wonderful sentient force was to teach the race that power, purpose and matchless design extend through the never- ending cycles of time. This influence from the spirit side of life, magical, deific and incomprehensible, throbs in the flower and vibrates in all created things. This Deific Force "Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze, Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees, Lives through all life, extends through all extent. Spends undivided, operates unspent; Breathes in our soul, informs our mortal part, As full, as perfect in a hair as heart; 26 PSYCHIC LIGHT As full, as perfect in vile man that mourns, As the rapt seraph that adores and burns; To Him, no high, no low, no great, no small; He fills. He bounds, connects and equals all." That one majestic spirit, to which we are all akin, moves in the heart of all things. It is the great, loving, sleepless, central soul of all souls, whose love illumines all space and all life, sanctifying the human heart and making it the temple of the Living God. CHAPTER II. AN UNCLE REPORTS HIS OWN DEATH. The family tell of a strange experience that occurred in her tenth year. She was sitting, one evening, at a candle box, with the other children, cracking nuts, when from out of the farther corner a white object, upon which the eyes of the whole family were riveted, moved slowly forward. It grew dimmer and more indistinct to the mother and the three older children as it came into the light. All were frightened except "Kit," as she was called. To her eyes it was still clear and distinct. This form came to the candle box and began to rap and continued rapping for some time until one of the children asked what was wanted. They had at this time learned to obtain answers by rapping out the letters of the alphabet. The raps told them of the death of their Uncle Henry Barrock, a minister living in Virginia, saying he had just been murdered, naming the place and the party who killed him, stating that the man would be arrested as he had been heard to say he would kill him as a result of angry words which had -passed between them. In two weeks a letter brought the verification and gave the date of the funeral, which showed that the information was given before the funeral by raps in Illinois. SHE HEALS THE SICK — IS BITTEN BY A MAD DOG. The power of these influences grew stronger and stronger in this child- woman, now growing old under bitter experience, poverty and hard work. Some time in her tenth year she was greatly gifted with healing power which ever after remained with her. 38 PSYCHIC LIGHT This power was principally exercised among the poorer people, curing deformity, paralysis, tumors and contagious diseases, with perfect immunity to herself. Many of the marvelous cures she performed had to be done in secret, as these poor people, actuated by religious scruples, dared not face public opinion. In many cases she would be entranced and taken into the woods and fields and made to gather roots and herbs to be used according to directions. These influences showed a marvelous knowledge and control over diseases and the ability to make conditions, making her impervious to the most deadly poisons. On one occasion, when she was about ten years old, she was bitten by a rabid dog, the old and faithful animal that had fol- lowed the family in all their wanderings from their old Southern home. A voice instantly commanded her to pour ice-cold water 'ipon the wound and to bind upon it a bag of camphor. The dog had taken a large piece out of the arm leaving the wound covered with green froth and saliva. Before he could be dispatched a hog and a horse were bitten and both had the rabies. The family were greatly excited and horrified. They awaited for the sure effect which could be nothing less than madness. The whole neighborhood was excited and all expected the one horrible result. Not so those wiser intelligences into whose care and keeping the physical health as well as the spiritual unf old- ment of this child had been given. Her magnetic vibra- tions were too strong to yield to the virus, and the expected did not occur. The wound soon healed, but the scar remained. What is this magical, individualized force,, manifest- ing in an organization that defies the vicious vibrations to which the animals yielded so readily, defying well estab- lished chemical laws and making sport of medical science and skill? Can such a force, with inherent individuality, made potential in its use, and, bidding defiance to all other forces, be relegated to some great reservoir of blind forces t CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 39 Must it lose its individuality when through with its present organization? Must the world wait for science to answer, or, will the plain, common thinker tell us ? The news of this wonderful recovery reached far and wide and added to the fame, the fear and the superstition with which she was held. The ignorant and religious said. "Poison cannot kill witches." Children were forbidden to play with, or even to look at her. Such is the power of inbred thought involved by religious teachings to be evolved on the great free prairies of Illinois. It was at about this time she went to service with Mrs. Adams of Warsaw, Illinois. This good lady kept her long enough to be filled with secret misgivings that the girl pos- sessed some evil genius who helped her at all times, antici- pated her wants and understood her wishes even before requests were made. She was sure some agency, she knew not what, aided her in her work and showed how to execute orders. While she filled every requirement, the lady told her she could not keep her. She was asked by her husband why she did not keep such efficient help. She answered, ' ' I don't quite understand it myself. She affects me so strangely. Sometimes I feel a heavy sleep fall upon me, and again I tremble and shake. I don 't want her. I won 't have her; it's the girl, I know." Thus ended her service with Mrs. Adams. She readily understood the reasons of her dismissal. In after years Mrs. Adams became a good medium. The above condition is satisfactorily explained to all who understand this peculiar phase of development. Thus, again, the cold, hard hand of pressing necessity was upon her. She must work. She must be self-support- ing. Why is it that best thought must come from conditions of poverty; that the energy producing the grandest intel- lectual and spiritual results cannot come from ease and luxurious surroundings? She soon found another place at Mrs. Baxter's, where more trouble awaited her. 40 PSYCHIC LIGHT A SPIRIT ASSISTS HER AT WORK. It was late in the afternoon of a September day when she arrived at Mr. Baxter's home. After tea, and after prayers were said, in which she joined heartily, she was shown her bed and retired. She had scarcely touched her bed before a charming little girl climbed upon the bed and began her prattle about her coming to stay with papa and mamma and that she was so glad she would help her get breakfast, saying she knew just where the things were for the meal and the table; and, at such an hour, she would waken her. Promptly at the hour she was awakened and com- menced the work of preparing breakfast with the advice of the little golden-haired beauty who seemed so active, bright and loving. Mrs. Baxter was delighted and much surprised upon arising to find the breakfast ready and everything generally used in its place. For some reason no mention was made of the little child's presence as she had disappeared some time before the mother made her appearance. The young debutante of the kitchen had learned several severe lessons through experience of no com- mon order. She had learned that all which seemed life- like and human was often nothing but the shadows that so dazzled and mystified her senses that she could not define the mortal from the immortal. When asked how she found the food and dishes, she said nothing, only that she found them and guessed it was right and placed them thus and so. The lady was pleased that she had such a treasure of a girl. SPIRITS ATTEND CHURCH. • As the days went by she grew in favor and when Sun- day came the good lady, who was a devout Christian, took the girl to church and Sunday school, a privilege im- mensely enjoyed by the recipient. But these strange shadows followed. Unweariedly and unceasingly they never failed in their watchful care over the one chosen to represent them. They had scarcely seated themselves in CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 41 church before raps and taps, alarmingly loud, began Bound- ing like trip hammers in the cars of the affrighted girl. All too well she recognized the sound and knew the sequel. As the minister preached his well-worn sermon, they rapped yes or no their approval or disapproval of his utterances. At last Mrs. Baxter said, "My dear, you must keep your feet still." Blushing and paling by turn she tried to put on a bold front and answer, but words would not come. Finally Mrs. Baxter lost the sound of raps in the interest of the sermon. When Sabbath school was in session the vibrations of the seat upon which they sat and the bench in front of them caused Mrs. Baxter to sternly rebuke, as she thought, the indifferent culprit. The girl medium rustled her well- sta relied calico gown to hide the noises that brought such chagrin and mortification to her aching, homesick heart. Too well she knew the inevitable result. Ignorance and superstition would pronounce against her, condemn her and send her forth branded as a witch. No, it must not be acknowledged there, and the child grew faint with fear. Upon their return home Mrs. Baxter told her husband that Jennie, the name she was now called, did not behave well and made a great noise with her feet. The husband gave her a mild lecture upon good behavior and manners, all of which was gratefully received ; anything but the real cause was a great relief to her mind; anything but the one cause which made her shudder and grow faint at the thought that they should know that she w r as Devil-possessed, to be driven forth again, homeless and friendless to seek other shelter. Thus a few more pleasant, uneventful days passed in which Mrs. Baxter often complimented her upon her efficiency in knowing how to labor rightly and properly. Had she but taken note of the time and space into which so much of labor had been crowded, she might have won- dered how one so young could accomplish so much and so quickly. Sometimes this work was all done under spirit control— the child being unconscious at such times. Again the hands were controlled and would fly nimbly over the 42 PSYCHIC LIGHT work set her to do without her having any knowledge of how it was done or to be done. Finally she believed the golden-haired daughter was of the earth earthly and said gratefully to Mrs. Baxter that she just loved her little daughter Eva. "My Eva! My Eva ! What in Heaven 's name do you mean ? My Eva has been dead these many years!" Oh, too late! The appre- hended doom had fallen. She bowed her head and received the blow. "My Eva! Oh, I see through it all. You are in league with the evil one." The bewildered child answered, "Yes. Oh, forgive me, I am. My father says so." Nothing more was said, but when the husband came from the corn field where he had been all the morning, the sober face of both wife and maiden caught and arrested his attention. He asked the trouble. The wife looked unut- terable things and said more. The husband, tired with his work, threw himself into a chair, leaned back against the door casings, saying, "I am too weary to get up and go to the table." Thereupon, to the consternation of all three, the table moved up to him. Slowly but weirdly it moved without mortal hand touching it. To get out of its way he pushed close and still closer to the door. The breathless, frightened, dumb-struck man believed in his heart that the evil one had been turned loose upon his household. Suddenly the wife screamed and said she had seen with her own eyes what the girl was saying. "Is not that your little Eva clinging to your skirts?" The panic- stricken woman could scarce speak, so great was her fear and wild indignation. With an open hand she struck her a crushing blow and bade her immediately leave the house and let them see her no more. ' ' Begone, begone, you witch, and never let me lay eyes upon you again, ' ' was the cruel, heartless command. CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 43 ADRIFT ONCE MORE. Once more she was out upon the highway of life, with heart and soul full of despair. Again dire misfortunes were fast crowding into her life. She felt that she was born to a heritage of sorrow and suffering, for no one, no matter how callous and cynical, who will look into life with honest candor, can fail to discern that life derives untold values from the love which welcomes its dawn and attends its growth and fulfillment. Human love is the divine emotion of the soul. It is a pearl of great value, of great price. It is the key to open the gates of Heaven. How it enlarges, enriches and ennobles human souls. What grand and beneficient minis- trations it conducts. In strong young hearts it is the beau- tiful transforming angel that raises the flag of hope high above all else. It is the cleansing angel that purifies and refines. It had touched this girl's heart with gladdening power, or she would have drooped by the way, ahungered and athirst, but a great, self-sacrificing love for her mother warmed her heart and gave speed to her weary feet. She must find other employment. Taking her little bundle of clothes tied in a handker- chief, she started out. Coming to a woods she sat dow r n to rest and think. It was all too sudden. Where would she go ? The September month had nearly flown. She was penni- less and alone, not knowing which way to go. Thus think- ing and trying to reason the moments sped away. It began to rain. Still she sat and thought, ''What next, Oh Lord, what next?" She dared not go back home as her father firmly believed she was possessed of evil powers. While pondering thus an old-fashioned pony chaise came along, occupied by a middle-aged gentleman, who sang out cheerily, "What are you doing there in the rain, my child?" The answer came back in stifling sobs, "I don't know. I have no place to go." 44 PSYCHIC LIGHT "Come and get in," he said, "and I will carry you as far as I go." She got in, all the while crying as if her heart would break, he, asking soothingly, "What is the matter my child?" Growing calm, she told him she had the Devil, at which he heartily laughed and asked her to tell him how big a one. She poured out her story of humiliation, griev- ance and cruel treatment. The good man, who proved to be Dr. Tolman, living upon a pretty farm in Illinois, not far away, listened, amazed and almost incredulously to her story. He decided to drive back and ask Mrs. Baxter, whom he did not know, if the story was true. On arriving at the house and making inquiry, Mrs. Baxter burst forth in anger, saying, "Yes, all true and more. ' ' Recalling the work accomplished by what she now knew to be the Devil-possessed girl, her Sabbath school experience and all. Well he marveled about the wonderful revelation as he came back to the waiting and frightened child, who expected, she knew not what, from the wrothful questioned Christian who had turned her out of doors. He looked thoughtful and sat still, seeming in earnest communion with himself until at last looking up he said: "Would you like to go home with me? I don't believe in Devils, little girl," and he laughed heartily and looked amused and jmconvinced. She answered readily, and with a glad heart, that she would go with him and do all in her power to show her gratitude. He made answer to her earnest thanks by say- ing, "Stop, don't thank me until I have learned something about this Devil that turned you loose upon such wretches as these people," pointing back of him. Pointing to the red mark upon her cheek, he said: "None but a Devil would strike a defenseless child in that manner. I guess you won't be troubled at my house, although I don't know just what to do with you, as my wife is sick with a disease CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 45 from which she cannot recover. She has consumption. She is a good woman, but she must know nothing of this at first, as she is also a Christian, while I am a heretic and an unbeliever. ' ' Thus a new home was found where for the first time her merits and demerits being known, there would be no hiding, no fear, no blame to her. In this new home the manifestations began with greater strength. Sometimes to the amaze and amusement of her new protector tables, chairs, pictures, milk pails and sticks of wood would move like things of life, manifesting intelligence, doing everything that was mentally asked, or verbally voiced. The girl would often say, "Is this not awful?" when the reply would sometimes come in whispering voices from all parts of the room above, below and answer, "Nay, nay, we are not half done yet." The good, interested doctor enjoyed these manifesta- tions alone for several nights. His interest was so great that he confided his experience to a much respected neigh- bor. Behold upon his return from the secret meeting the child was controlled and repeated the conversation and said that it was well to invite the neighbor. He came, when names were given, dates of death, descriptions of face, form and method of burial, even naming the officiating clergy- man and the hymns sung. One day the doctor lifted his hands despairingly and said, "What is it, what can it be, something to craze my brain, to mock my soul with its past, finding out mystery?" The answer was quick and convincing. His spirit mother came and told him of its beauty and its truth. It was difficult for him to yield his judgment to a force to iiim unknown and unknowable, yet these facts could not be disputed. Thus she confused this man of thought and investiga- tion. They told him confidentially of things that had fled his memory and he would seek others of his family to know its truth, for verification which never failed. 46 PSYCHIC LIGHT Thus weeks passed in which it would take volumes to recapitulate. His friend became thoroughly interested and in later years became a spiritualist. When winter whitened the earth with its snowy man- tle, the good wife passed away, and the child was removed to her parents' new home. They tried. to pray the evil spirit out of her. A secular minister was expected to hold a revival and convert many sinners of the neighborhood. This minister, a good and honest, as well as an intelligent ser- vant of the Lord, stopped with her parents who lived nearly opposite the school house in which the revival was to be held. The mother's great hope was that the husband and child would both be greatly benefited. All pains were taken to entertain him. Several of the neighbor 's children gathered in to decorate the dreary look- ing school house with green branches and holly. THE CHILD PREACHES A SERMON. When they had nearly finished this work, another unexpected thing happened. This strange child, all untu- tored, went upon the platform and called her brothers and sisters and neighbors to order, knelt and prayed most eloquently not only for them, but for the new minister who was to come that day; who, she said, was even now approaching the house, opposite. The child's eyes were closed and her back was turned to the window out of which they all glanced and saw the strange minister, sure enough, going into the gate-way of their home just oppo- site. Then this controlling intelligence went on, opened the Bible, and with closed eyes, read a chapter, appropriately and most eloquently preached a sermon. All present being her elders said they had never heard the like before. When she regained consciousness they were all bathed in tears; and, for once, were hushed and silent in their scorn and reviling. After it was all past and they had each gone their separate ways, the brothers and sisters told the mother in whispering awe-struck voices what had been said and done CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 47 at the completion of their Loving labor of decorating for the new arrival. The father and mother conferred and thought it best that they, at the beginning, confess their sorrowful plight. They decided to tell him that under this evil influence she could locate coal, mineral and water, and that she could find lost articles, strayed or stolen property. They told him, too. that she had foretold battles and great political issues and had given correct information upon all general topics. All these things the mother told the good man, saying, 1 ' We know it 's the evil one. " ' ' Well, well, this is wonder- ful," said the almost startled minister. "I would like to see the girl." She was sought and found in tears, fearing punish- ment for the sermon in the school house, which had been repeated to the reverend gentleman, with the clairvoyant vision of his approach. The seeming culprit entered his presence, the mother saying she had told the gentleman all about her. He talked with her, felt her head and remarked the wonderful growth of curling hair. He looked at her tongue, felt her pulse; and, though she was much like other children, he was greatly perplexed. This good man could not solve the mystery. He said, "Well, it must be from the power of the Devil." Then from a darkened corner of the room came a ringing laugh. "Ha, ha, ha, no Devil." That was all, but it was quite enough to frighten the little circle into the belief that even the sacred and beloved presence of their minister did not deter the evil one from coming. He watched and studied the child. He saw that she was tender, loving, obedient and gentle and kindly dis- posed to all. He noted her love of the beautiful, her wonderful love and attention to her mother, : id he said he would make a special effort to find out the cause, and would take her into his congregation and pray that the evil spirit should no longer torment her. 48 PSYCHIC LIGHT The father, mother and daughter readily assented to this good Methodist plan of exorcism. THE DEVIL ATTENDS A METHODIST REVIVAL. After several had become conscious of their sins and realized the efficacy of his most eloquent words, this of- fending culprit was led to the mourner's bench. She rev- erently knelt, praying for divine grace to rest like a white mantle upon her soul and stop its fearful misgivings. She prayed for strength, as her mother had instructed her, for if failure came tonight, she felt that she was lost forever. There were many present who knew her, and knew about the strange manifestations that had caused this going forward to get relief from its oppressions. Several who had witnessed this spirit power in days that were past, and had marveled at its accuracy in revealing their history, now watched breathless and aghast. The power began to pour in upon her. She describ- ed it afterwards, as different from anything she had ever experienced. Queer influences passed from head to foot, subtle vibrations shook every nerve. She was in a half conscious condition. Her hair uncurled. Her flesh seemed to freeze. Her eyes started and she was unable to shut or open them. The mourner's bench, at which at least six sisters knelt seeking this revealed religion, began to move. Horror chilled the impassioned pleaders. The bench vibrated, rose softly, rocked gently to and fro, then lifted like some giant thing of life and turned over on the floor, the legs extending upward. All life froze in the now frightened child's veins. She knew her day of plead- ing for grace was over. Her father took her by the arm and hurried her to the door. With one push he sent her out from this temple of God, where others were pleading for Christ's mercy and saving grace. Out into the night she went, out under the myriad of stars, out into the cold world, hearing noth- ing, seeing nothing, only feeling the unutterable misery that stirred in her half palsied being. CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 49 Who thai is sensitive, loving and to religion inclined would not suffer to be thus thrust out of the house of (iod into darkness greater than the blackest night Dark- ness and gloom enshrouds a human soul when it is con- scious that home, family and friends and all things sacred and loved are swept away. A soul lost in God's beautiful universe, within sight and sound of those pleading for mercy and forgiveness of their sins! Such is the destiny of those bringing a new truth into the world. She wandered about the place for hours, not daring to go into the humble home that sheltered the family and the good minister. She spent the night out in the dark, with her darker thoughts to keep her company. She final- ly crept sorrowfully to the hay loft and there spent the night. Hearing soft raps, she asked, "Oh, Mr. Devil, is that you?" Readily the answer came, "Yes." "Please, are you ever going to do such a thing again?" "Rap, rap, rap," came the answer, "Yes." This answer brought a wail of sobbing, sorrowful anguish upon the girl's lips, which immediately faded into silence as she beheld a number of white robed people ap- proaching her in the darkness of the old stable loft. They bade her stop, and cry no more, that her sorrow would ere long pass away, that night would turn into clearest day, and anguish into joy. They told her that her patient heroism and severe self-suppression of all things inglorious should be rewarded. They inspired this poorly dressed and half frozen girl, who could but listen to their sweet voices, entranced with the harmony they created in her troubled heart, regardless of her terrible condition. When the night was passed and the day had come in bright and beautiful, half her fears had vanished. Her brother sought her hiding place in the barn and she was bidden to come and face the music, the minister, and her father and poor mortified mother. 50 PSYCHIC LIGHT SPEAKS IN LATIN. What was her surprise and great joy on entering the house— for very little made her happy. There was no scolding, not even a frown from any side, but thought- ful looks and a tendency to be very lenient. This made her heart bound with great gladness. The minister set himself to asking all kinds of questions that were soon answered in a manner that both mystified and astonished him. She immediately passed, what she designated as out of herself into a condition of higher intelligence, which held the minister spell-bound and fascinated. Finally a communication was given to him in Latin. He, being a Latin scholar, answered in the same language. When the control had left the child, he fell back breathless and said: "In God's name, does your daughter speak Latin ? ' ' * ' No, ' ' said her father. He told her father what had been said and that all was true. Excitedly he said the message was from a class-mate much loved. "I did not know of his death, but should it prove that he is dead, what shall I believe, what know, what think ? My God, what is this which so puzzles me?" Her father answered straightforwardly: "It must be the influence of the Devil, Brother Springer. ' ' He made no reply, but looked as pale and haggard as though passing through some great mental and physical struggle. He proposed to the father not to give up the plan of the child's conversion and salvation ; that she should be taken that night and placed on a bench by herself. Pos- sibly the desired result would be accomplished. This was agreed to. That night a pale, shy young girl, with a wist- ful, yearning light in her eyes, went quietly into the house and took her allotted place, where all the Christians and sinners could see her. She was indeed happy, feeling that this time she might receive the benefit of their much-vaunted love and mercy. But it was not to be. The power was coming again, if the chills and nettling, as she knelt in earnest prayer, meant anything. CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 51 This time the seat did not go rapidly, but moved oat a little from the kneeling penitent, then it rocked and tilted, then deliberately walked up to the now thoroughly astonished mourners who knelt where she had knelt the night before. She was again seized by the now seriously alarmed father, who again ejected her down the steps with consid- erable force. This phenomenon set the good minister to thinking. He could not let the subject alone. Finally he proposed to several of his timid attendants and members of the church to look into the affair a little more practically, saying that he was greatly puzzled and much concerned over her fate. They assented, and, after the next meeting, about twenty gathered in Mr. Barrock's humble home to witness the exorcising process, or the allaying of the family skele- ton. THE MINISTER HAS A CABINET SEANCE. The girl was called in and told their errand, the min- ister kindly promising protection from any results. At once this girl, so timid of mien, so gentle and shy, became controlled by some man, as was evident to all present. Her voice changed from soft, childish tones to a masculine voice. This voice immediately issued orders, directing them to make a cabinet by taking a dress coat and hang it over the upper part of the door, leaving the part at the middle of the door. He then directed them to take a quilt and put it up beneath so as to touch or lap over the upper garment. He ordered them to tie the girl, strongly and well; to use judgment and discretion, but to do it quickly, and then to place her in a chair and tie her there safely so she could not move hand or foot. This done, he said, "Now lock your door and fasten the window securely, sit in a semi-circle around the curtained door and await the results with patience." All orders being strictly carried out, the half fright- ened women and wholly skeptical men sat down to await 52 PSYCHIC LIGHT the coming, as one good deacon said, of the evil one. It came first in numerous protrusion of hands, large and small; white, delicate hands; large, toii worn hands; little rose leaf baby hands, scarce unfolded, so tiny they seemed. A shower of hands appeared, big and little variously in- termixed. After a few moment's delay, pretty little hands lifted the improvised curtain. A face peeped out from the dark background into the light of one sputtering candle, then it drew back again. What makes the minister, this learned, holy man, start ? What is this which breaks upon his startled vision? A little curly headed boy, whose locks were as fair as gold— a sweet winsome face, eyes shyly lifted, as if sore afraid that he was altogether among strangers. He looks again into the whitening face of our minister, w T hose lips refuse to utter a sound. The child goes back for only a second, and, then, slowly advances until a little voice says, "Papa, papa." All bend suddenly forward and gaze anxiously and fearfully into the sweet little face. At last the minister speaks with husky, tremulous voice: "Who is this?" Little hands lift spasmodically and whisper: "Why, it's Sammy, papa." Down on bended knees falls this holy man and cries out, "Thank God! It's my little son. Oh, it is he, I know him, I know him. Glory be to God." All this occurred in a shorter space of time than it takes to write it. Upon the breaking of the imposed con- ditions by this excitement the little fellow disappeared and came no more. The end was not yet however, for the leader of the revivals, a lovely lady of culture, by name of Dean, sat with the rest in this group of honest investigators and creed-bound and skeptical people. Very soon the curtain was opened as if by hurry- ing, impetuous hands, and out stepped a spirit clad in his soldier garments. He pointed to Mrs. Dean, who was noticed by her friends to nearly fall from her seat. And, CONTINUTY OF LAW AND LIFE. 53 speaking hurriedly, he said: "Wife, I was killed yes- terday in battle. You will receive a telegram." This lady's home was in Keokuk, Iowa. She was at the time visiting a sister and friends and attending the revival. She was also a staunch Methodist. She imme- diately recognized her husband, but refused to think or believe him dead. The sequel showed the hope was futile. Be had been slain in battle according to the testimony of a comrade who telegraphed the wife as she was told at this seance. Many other forms appeared. Each was recognized. Questions were asked by friends and answered promptly by those white-robed forms. The cabinet was a little room, almost bare. The child's clothes were plain and dark. The spirit forms were covered with* garments as white as snow and ex- ceedingly fine and delicately wrought. The startled and amazed sisters said that such clothing could only come from the skilled workmen over the sea. Thus ended the seance of Church men. Some were convinced and some were fearful of con- dign punishment for attending such a sacrilegious exhi- bition. The kindly recognition of his little son by the minister reassured not a few who now gathered around him, and asked his candid opinion. He was an educated man, honest, sincere, and loving justice. He answered that he had seen his son and would say positively that he knew it was not the Devil, yet he could not so quickly determine its origin, its source, its cause. At the close of the seance the child was thoroughly examined and found as securely tied as it was possible for skeptics to tie her. Not one cord was removed— all remained as it had been. They were also satisfied that entrance from outside was impossible. The news of this night flew like some winged bird all over the neighborhood and surrounding country. And dozens, nay hundreds, came from afar and near to wit- ness this realistic return of the dead. Some came to 54 PSYCHIC LIGHT scoff and condemn, others to see and pray with the thor- oughly distraught child. The reverend gentleman had taken his departure, leaving a kindly thought to the father not to scold the girl. "She cannot help it. It is something strange and wonderful. I stand before her superior intelligence, abashed. I answer her nothing, tell her nothing. What- ever it is, God knows, I think it good. It is wiser, finer, deeper, broader than I can think or grasp. Don't scold her, sir. She is already old under the lash and sting of both mental and physical blows. Leave it alone. It will work out her salvation a thousand times better and grander than any mortal can. Why, sir, under its tuition she is already far in advance of the elder child of your home, to whom you have given all possible advantages of school- ing." "That's so," said the dejected father who so earnestly believed that the minister would solve the vexed problem. Not so. There were multitudes of unseen spirits in attendance who saw wisdom in their methods, although they had to work by slow degrees, removing many obstruc- tions before reaching the desired goal. Did the voice of- this child's misery . reach them? Must they oppress, afflict, persecute and humiliate this suffering soul to enable it the better to understand the divine laws of control? Must these trials be endured to prepare her for the broader blaze of glory-light that was so often foretold to her from the spirit world? The iris-arch of sweet-souled duty bridges many a deep and dark chasm that lies like great ruts in our mental life. Thus it was with this gifted girl. She knew not nor did she dream that she was destined for more sorrow, greater trials, deeper grief than she had yet endured. Many earnest seekers after truth came to her. And many gladly proclaimed that they both saw and heard their loved and lost ones who had returned to greet them and to give them assurance of peace and happiness in the spirit world where they should meet again. CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 55 At this time a lawyer of some ability by the name of J. C. Thome, called, as he said, to gratify his curiosity, to see if there was anything supernatural in these mani- festations. The father readily consented to his seeing the child. He was greeted with startling revelations from relatives who long since had been borne to the silent grave. He was severely criticised and reminded that he had not done his duty in any sense. That to which they referred was known only to himself, as he was a stranger to both father and daughter. He wept bitterly when his mother's mild and peculiarly cultivated voice said, "My son, Oh, I am so glad to see you. Do by Nellie, poor child, as your father desired you to do before his death." The son said, "I will, I will, so help me God, I will. I did not know that you saw me." All was clear to him; he knew the sacred responsibilities he had neglected and forthwith he promised restitution to the dear adopted sister who had been thrown out homeless and without shelter when the father had made provision for her. The man arose, stupefied, amazed as others of hii friends had been. He tried to press money into the hands of the child who hastily handed it back, saying she could not take it for such services. Poor as they were, they would not receive compensation for such service. So he took his departure, a wiser and more thoughtful man. The divulging of his secret acts, motives and deeds proved that this inscrutible power, whatever it was, read his most secret thoughts. OUT ON LIFE'S HIGHWAY ONCE MORE. The father began to weary of so many coming to con- sult the power which he believed to be of evil origin and insisted that it be stopped. No one was able to control or stop the manifestations. The only alternative was for her to leave home and again seek employment. The sor- row-stricken mother thought this course the best. This child of destiny could only acquiesce in this plan. Surely 56 PSYCHIC LIGHT it must be best if this mother whom she loved so dearly thought so. With a heavy heart her few articles of apparel were tied in a bundle and she bade the children good-bye and bravely set forth to face life's difficult ways — to meet condemnation for what she could not control— to battle for existence— to earn bread and shelter by the labor of her hands. A mere child in years, yet old in thought and ways. In what language can her feelings be told as she stops at the turn in the road to look back to the house containing all the world held dear to her heart— mother! A few steps more and the home is only a memory and before her is — realty. A cold, hard world, full of heartaches and dis- appointments to this child— this girl to whom childhood, with its sunshine, its joys and loves, seemed to be denied. How many a mother has stood at the window and seen her youngest born stop at the turn in the road to take a farewell look— possibly the last— and then pass on out of sight. Thank God for the tears that dim such visions. How many of you, grown old in the ways of the world, can recall such scenes in your long ago; how many can thank God for the energy of poverty— the one potent force in the evolution of character— that enabled you in after years to extend a strong hand to those less royally endowed ? If this child fall by the wayside will such as you place her feet upon the right path? If sick, will gentle hands attend her? If weary and disheartened, will some voice attuned to love's messages, speak encouraging words? These things are expected from the church. Did this child receive them? The one great question in her mind was. ' ' Where shall I go? Where?" Experience had taught her that no one wanted such an one as they believed her to be— gifted with this strange power— this unnamed force pronounced evil by the church. But go she must. Her loved mother had advised the going and it must be best. Her wandering CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 57 footsteps were led to Warsaw where the family had formerly resided for a month when moving to the farm of which mention is made. She walked all the long weary fifteen miles. Arriving foot-sore and storm-driven with great heart throbs of sorrow, she was by no means a fit candidate for applying for service. Nothing daunted, she knew full well that she must move on or die of weariness or starvation. She had eaten nothing upon the long journey. She began her solicitations for work. No one wanted her. They would first give a curious look which would end in a silent stare, then say, "No, we don't want help, or do not want anyone." With a few pennies she procured herself a night's lodging at a cheap hotel and began early next day the same old weary round of seeking an honest living. At last, after a seemingly aimless search she found a place with Mrs. Andrews, of the Andrews House, Warsaw, Illinois, who kept the hotel on the left of the hill coming up from the wharf. The people were good and kind Christians and seemed to pity the forlorn condition of this girl who worked so diligently and obediently, never hesitating to assume the heaviest burdens or to do the hardest work. Her first night filled her discouraged heart with fear- ful apprehension that she would be betrayed by these un- seen influences. Mrs. Andrews had an Irish cook who was a strong and staunch Catholic. Next morning the cook began to tell the landlady that she saw a priest, long since dead, who came in rustling white garments and stood before her. She also saw a brother who died in infancy, who said to her, "Nora, it's Bridget and Willie." Bridget was a sister. She did not see the sister, but she said she saw her brother plainly. 'fOch, I am going to die, sure," she groaned all day. The new girl might have thrown light upon these appearances if she had so chosen, but she had grown wise and kept her own counsel, at the same time feeling that all was over if she did not sleep elsewhere. During the day she espied an unoccupied room and she begged the 58 PSYCHIC LIGHT landlady to let her move her bed into it. The request was granted and the immediate danger averted. She was not permitted to rest in this placid fashion long. She must feel again the old torture, the old pain, for it was not long before they discovered in her some- thing strange and unlike all other girls in their employ. There was much to do. The hotel was not large nor spa- cious, but it was well patronized by country folks and travelers. The work kept her busy from the dark hours of the early morning, sometimes until after midnight. Work, work, work, until the feet wearily ached and head throbbed and soul faltered. She must not complain at any burden laid upon her shoulders. Had she not some evil force or something like it? Had not misfortune of all kinds overtaken, not only her, but the whole family? She must not stop to complain of aching head or heart. She must go on, and on, ever to the end, whatever that might be. A PIN BROUGHT FROM A DISTANCE. A gentleman boarder, Mr. Hamilton, had been to Keokuk on a business trip. Upon coming away, he left a valuable pin upon a stand in the hotel at Keokuk. He deplored his loss, fearing it was the last he would see of it. On the morrow he found it safely pinned upon his cushion in his room. The pin had been -returned to his possession by some unknown power. The landlord at Keokuk had found the pin and put it away, knowing that so valuable a pin would be called for. In the meantime, as soon as his loss was discovered, he wrote to the landlord, who, getting the letter, went to get the pin. But to his consternation it was missing. He wrote the facts to the young man, who, in the interven- ing time, had received it through this wonderful agency. He had noticed strange things about the girl and guessed the cause of the pin's return. He asked the quiet-looking chamber-maid if she knew. She did not dare to confess, so it was left in silence, only for the time. CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. >9 The landlord's daughters heard raps, and saw lights. Mysterious forms would glide by, always in the presence of this new girl. Not long after the return of the pin there came another evidence which to the minds of those people showed something very peculiar. When the land- lady asked her to go in any part of a large cellar after things not easy of access, whether by night or day, she would go without a lamp and quickly return with the desired articles. At last the landlady asked her how she got the canned fruit which was labeled and placed upon a shelf too high for her to reach. For a moment she lost her caution and looked dazed and could not answer. They next discovered that she was getting up and doing work unconscious of all her surroundings. At times she would get up and do large washings and ironings before the family had risen, utterly unconscious of what she wai doing. While employed at the Fort Edward Hotel in the same town she was asked to go into the cellar and sort over a barrel of apples. This she did in a few moments, and on returning she was asked how she got along. She replied that she had sorted them all, saying she had placed the spotted and decayed ones in one place and put the good ones back in the barrel. The lady looked astonished and said, " Where is your light?" "I shall have to go and look for myself." Coming back, she said, "You never did that alone in this world. How did you do it?" The girl looked confused and conscience-stricken, but did not tell how it was done. The cellar was very dark. Invisible hands had helped her. In recounting the incident in after years she said: "The apples rolled in and out, bounced up and down, making me laugh heartily at the strange help I was re- ceiving." This incident was passed without much comment until the potatoes had to be sorted. This time she was watched from a side window in the cellar through which onlv a GO PSYCHIC LIGHT little light came. Once in the darkness she invoked the help of one who seemed to be her constant attendant. The pro- cess of separation began. Bump, went the potatoes, right and left, whispering voices and iridescent flashes of won- derful light illumined the whole scene. Those watching believed that they beheld Dante's Inferno and that legions of Devils were at this girl's behest, turning themselves into helpmates. They were so frightened they hastened out of their hiding and when she appeared demanded an explanation. She told them that she had not been troubled, that she was only talking to herself. And, she said that po- tatoes in a state of decomposition always became phos- phorescent. It would not do. They were not as near as they had wished, so they accepted her assertions and the subject was dropped. They were now always expectant and watched with much vigilance this pale-faced, big, sad-eyed girl, who looked as if she had a secret preying upon her mind. Noises of all kinds were heard, raps and taps, whistling and whisperings. Strange breezes would fan those who stood close to her and yet she dared not say, "It's a Spirit." If she explained, away went the bread; not only from herself but from her much loved mother, who might need assistance. Thus miserable days passed. Her heart failed her each day. Her very soul repudiated the secret of her silence. She thought they would spurn her from their presence if she should divulge the reasons and sources of her help. This suppression of truth was the hardest task of all. To die, to leave these shadows of life far be- hind was now her constant prayer. Oh! the bitterness of her tears! Would they ever cease to flow? Days passed. At last she could stand it no longer. She must see her mother. The longing was unendurable. She must go, or her heart would break. But how could she go? Her love, so tender and true, said "Walk." How else could she get there? She obtained permission from her employer and started CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. Gl out on the long journey, walking all of the dreary fifteen miles, just to catch a glimpse of the faces that made her heaven. When she left she wore a pair of poor and meanly made shoes. To her sorrow and discomfort, she found them breaking out at the side. Nothing daunted, this brave girl, with love lighting the altars of her being, took them off and walked over grass, sands and stones, in her bare feet. What cared she if blisters and bruises cov- ered them over, as they did when she had completed the trip, walking through the afternoon until quite a late hour at night. Arriving at home she found the family had retired. She could not rest until she reached her mother's bed-side. She threw herself down in a paroxysm of weep- ing, 'kissing the mother's hands over and over. The mother kissed the tear-wet cheek of the homesick child and all her grief was swept away. The mother said she was glad to see her and had been thinking of her ever so kindly. To add the best of the story she told her that a little new calf had been born and that they had left it for her to name. This was remembrance, surely, and she went to bed happy in the thought of their remembrance. "Envy not the man who dwells in stately halls or dome, If with its splendor he hath not A world of love at home." Home, however humble, to the souls of the sensitive and loving, is heaven. The bare walls, the poor com- plement of furniture, the carpetless floors, with a mother's presence and love, was enough to* rejoice and enkindle divine inspirations in her loving heart. For this child to be where the mother's presence was felt was all sufficient to . make her kneel reverently and thank the Master for all good gifts and for the pleasure that was surely hers. She redoubled every energy, aroused every activity to show her appreciation of the kind permit, which gave her the vacation and so renewed her life and removed the heart hunger that swept in great waves over her shadowed being. The father asked if the evil spirit was still with her. She timidly answered, "Yes, father." 62 PSYCHIC LIGHT "Do they know you?" She said. "No." Then it is my duty to go and tell them that you have the evil one with you. Whereupon she pleaded with him not to do this, saying: "See, father, I have brought mother all my money and this will help you, and if you turn me from that place what shall I do? I was so home- sick that I walked barefooted all the way. My aching heart pleads for one word at least, of kindness, one look of love, one token of kind recognition." She had now taken another name than her own, fearing her peculiar fame might have reached their notice. So it had, but they never dreamed that this quiet girl, knowing little of outside and worldy affairs, was the ogre they had heard and read about, for at the time of her attempted conversion in the old school house, the neighboring village paper had given a racy account of "The Devil in a Re- vival Meeting," which caused much consternation. The article was copied in the Keokuk, la., and Warsaw papers, and they might have recalled the newspaper reports if she went by her own name. She returned to the Andrews' House at Warsaw. The good family who had befriended her and given her a home, were glad to have her return. One night Mrs. Andrews sent her daughter Sarah down in the cellar with her to get some needed things. The daughter carried a candle. Suddenly the candle was snuffed out. Out of the utter darkness shone a white robed form, that spoke and made whispered commands to each to halt. Sarah screamed with fright and fell to the floor. Several in the room above heard the noise and came running down stairs to ascertain the cause of her fright. They were informed by the now recovered girl that she saw a gho^t, or the devil's imp. They were pre- pared to believe this from the incidents of the past. Thus confronted with evidence sufficient to confound the wisest, Maud, with tear dimmed eyes and aching heart, confessed it all. She told of her difficulty in getting a place, her poverty, her love for her mother and her home. She told CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. G3 of her love for her father who seemed to condemn her so much. All was poured out in fascinating candor. Aud her appeals made them pity and bend in kindness and love towards the object of their discussions. After this occur- rence they did not really want her, fearing the excitement among their patrons and church people would be un- pleasant. DECIDES TO COMMIT SUICIDE. Where to go now? What to do?* "The old Missis- sippi river!" The murmur of waters was alluring music to her troubled spirit. The gleam and glitter of the ' ' Ignis fatuus" shone out from every wave. How her soul yearned for rest! W T here else could she find so quiet, so beautiful a resting place. Worn out by oppressions, full of misgivings, she felt that she had no right to live. She thought that God's sun never shone on a more unfortunate mortal than she who prayed so incessantly to be redeemed from what all thought to be evil forces. She felt desolate and alone; with hope and ambition crushed by unkind words and cruel treatment. There, in silence and solitude, at the brink of the "Father of AVaters," she resolved to make "A sudden rush from life's meridian joys! A wrench from all we love, from all we are." She knelt, and with all the fervor of her innocent heart, poured out her soul to God, imploring His tender mercy, His safe guidance into some haven of repose. Why was relief denied, to the ever sensitive soul of this pleading child, for she was only in her thirteenth year. She had received several serious accidents that had given her physical as well as mental pain. She was badly burned at five years; had been blind and recovered her sight in her eighth year, and at ten had been bitten by a mad dog. In all of these ills she had not suffered as now. There, on the bank of the old river, reviewing the past with its hardships, she stood shrinking back affrighted before the future so securely veiled from her eyes. Blinded G4 PSYCHIC LIGHT by tears, forlorn and desolate, she stood, wondering if it were not best then and there to end it all. A little fall, a few feet, a little struggle, all would be ended, and she would be at rest. She would be at the end «?f a life which some baffling fate seemed to beat back half finished. There seemed to be some mad, irresistible pressure hurrying her on and out. Hate was utterly foreign to her nature. Her heart beat so kindly towards all, though she had been tossed by every breeze upon seemingly dark seas. She had never been taught a moral principle by mortal being. Despite all the bruises, the stains and the furnace heats that had done their best to darken and blight the brightness of her soul, nothing had ever debased it, nor made it bitter. Her trust in God had failed only inasmuch as she thought He would not countenance so wicked a sinner, as she had been made to believe herself to be. She had sought Him with her soul's sincere desire, thinking she might draw near unto Him, and that He would answer her prayers and release her from the toils and burdens so heavily weighing her down. She was happy in the raging, tempestuous storms when she believed the Divine Master was near. She felt Him in the golden sunshine, in the wooded dells, on the fertile prairies, in the- growing grain and in all of nature's beautiful forms. Why could not human beings. God 's creatures, greet her in kindness ? She would end it all. She would solve the great problem, the mystery and the riddle of existence. Returning to the hotel she told them she had found a place and would leave at seven o'clock that evening. Where was the restraining hand? Could it save her and lift the weight of sorrow from her young heart? Is there a chasm isolating the two spheres ? Does this bright, beautiful earth whirl madly in vacuum, devoid of all spiritual law and force, devoid of all spiritual vitality ? Is there naught but matter and blind force? Is it an iso- lated creation, driving to wreck and ruin against the whirling and swirling elements called divine? Do impos- sible or improbable chasms separate us from the dear ones CONTINUITY OP LAW AND LIFE. 65 gone before? Could not the way be made plain regard- loss of creed-bound souls protesting that the evil one was in and through it all without thus crushing an innocent soul.' Arc the trials, the cares and duties which we in our ignorance call drudgery, the weights and counterpoises of our being, to give the pendulum of our spirit its true vibration? How could this child, whose life seemed so cold and severe, whose cup of bitterness seemed so full, whose soul overflowed with bitter lamentations, whose prayers had not been answered, solve these great, intricate problems? Standing on the bank of this great river, in the shadows that surrounded her life so completely, why should she not throw herself upon the mercy of God in the dark rolling flood before her? When night came she went forth to keep her word to herself; to end the young life just budding into womanhood. Arriving at the river, she reverently knelt and raised her soul to the God of mercies. No devotee could have prayed more humbly, more earnestly, or more devoutly. No human soul, longing for eternal rest, had more sin- cerely cast itself upon the arms of Infinite Mercy than this innocent child, feeling as she did that all misunder- stood her and that the' doors of eternal mercy were closed. As upon her bended knees she poured out her soul to the Giver of all gifts, a feeling gradually came over her that the infinite mercy of God was all-sufficient; that possibly His mercy might be vouchsafed to her wounded heart. With greater humility and more fervent zeal did she breathe out her petitions to the Throne of Grace. Grad- ually she began to feel that it would be wrong in the sight of God and the holy angels to thus destroy her life. How earnestly she prayed her Father in Heaven to forgive her! Weeping most bitterly she prayed again and again, each prayer, if possible, more earnest and more sin- cere. Would the world believe her to be friendless, helpless and still think kindly of her? The moments passed quickly. She feared her prayers 66 PSYCHIC LIGHT would not be heard. She prayed again and again to be received into God's infinite arms of mercy. It was the only refuge she knew that could shield her from her trials. The last prayer was said,— was done! It was the best she could do. On opening her eyes to take a last, lingering look and to bid a long farewell to all objects familiar to her mem- ory, there appeared to her wondering gaze an army of white-robed beings. Legions of angels stood before her. Using her own words : * ' It seemed as if every blade of grass had suddenly, by some wondrous magic, been trans- formed into human beings, clad in spotless robes of purest white." The company parted, and from the center of the group came a stately woman, who seemed especially lovely, whose oval face, and large, luminous, gray eyes seemed fairly to beam with light and love. And yet she seemed troubled, as if with some silent and unexpected regret. She approached the kneeling girl and spoke so kindly, saying: "Dear child, would you, wilfully, wrongfully and wickedly sacrifice the life God has given you, because you are weary and sorrowful— because trials and temptations have come upon you? Nay, you are even apprehensive that this throng of loving friends, who'se souls are as white as their 'shining robes, seek* only to destroy thee. Nay, behold! These have passed through fiery ordeals. Their garments have been washed in the waters of tribula- tion and they have been redeemed as I have been and as you must surely be, my poor, misunderstood and beloved child. This power which has caused you so much sorrow is? of God. It is God-given to uplift, not to downcast your soul. On the morrow redemption shall come to you. The life you think so full of woe and so blighted shall rise with the dawn of another day, full of brightest hopes." Thus spoke this lovely visitant from the shores of another world. Again the beautiful words fell in sweetest cadence: "Thou, my child, hast prayed most earnestly, not for gold or silver, but for a mission to humanity. It shall be granted, and in its light thou shalt forever after CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 67 move. Beautiful precepts shall be thy guidb. Thy star of hope hath risen. We bid thee arise and seek thy home, with the consciousness that we who pledge and promise thee will bring light out of this darkness. We will straighten the tangled web of life that hath run so strangely. All thy prayers and supplications, seeming but mockery to thy soul 's great needs, shall be answered. Meet all troubles bravely and thy heart, bathed in divine life and light, shall bt so illumined that your teachings shall find ready accept- ance in the hearts of those who have reviled thee. Those now refusing this light of Christianity shall revere thee. Child of glorious endowment, return to thy home ! To-mor- row thy redemption shall come. Emancipation shall be thine. On earth thou art of my race and lineage. In the world of spirit I am thy guardian. Remember that into all lives some sorrow must come. Much of sorrow and sadness has come to thee. More must come, for it is so written. For every blow we will bring a balm. Crushed must be the flower that yields the sweetest perfume. Arise, fail not, and falter not, for we are with thee hereafter forever. ' ' The hapless girl arose, never doubting but that it was best and that all would soon be righted. Returning to the surprised landlady she told her the whole vision, what they said, and asked to remain over night and the request was granted. She arose early the next morning and went about her usual duties, as her place had not yet been filled. About nine o'clock, when her work was finished, she went into the sitting room. Seating herself beside the table she thought over all that had been said by the beau- tiful host of last night. Emancipation! What could it mean? It must be the finding of another place. She sat pondering, when a rap came upon the office door and an elderly gentleman entered and said to her: "Miss, will you tell me where I can find the land- lord?" She cheerfully replied that just a few moments ago she had seen him in the yard, and if he would be seated 68 PSYCHIC LIGHT she would call him. She arose, and the table, as if endowed with life, moved after her. This was too much. Bursting into tears she looked helplessly at the old gentleman who was convulsed with laughter. He said ' ' Tut, tut, what have we here ? ' ' She tried to answer and then burst forth, "It is the evil one, sir, and he has made me lose my place again. Oh, dear, oh dear, what can I do?" The gentleman laughed heartily and kindly grasping her hand he said, "Why, God bless you my dear child, you are a. medium." "A what?" asked the pleased and startled girl. "What is a medium?" The manifestation of these occult or psychic forces had never been defined to her and she could not guess its import. When the table was righted and her story told in plain, simple fashion, the stranger explained how against his will he had been led to the place. He said as there was no special reason for him to go he would remain a few days. The same power that had impelled the girl im- pelled him onward that he might rescue her from such suf- fering and doubt. He so gently explained' it all, and said in such rapturous and eulogistic tones, "You are one of the best mediums in the world, bless God ! I have just come from a visit to two most wonderful girls, the Fox sisters, in New York. ' ' He told of their wonderful raps which corresponded with these raps that had so- puzzled and interested the community at large. The landlady was called and told all these revela- tions. He defined the source and origin as that of spirits of the so-called dead, but who exist in the spirit world. That night, at his request, a cabinet was improvised and a small company was invited. The curtain was ar- ranged as before described, using a small room on the sec- ond floor as the cabinet. The results were marvelous and so frightened one or two of those present that they nearly CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 69 fainted and were obliged to leave. They tied the medium's hands and feel and put her in a gunny-sack and tied it about her neck and placed her in the cabinet. Materialized faces and forms, hands large and small appeared, voices whispered and sang, feet danced merrily on the inside of the cabinet. They were evidently those of both men and women. The medium's voice could be heard talking and remonstrating with them and asking them not to roll her around so recklessly. All this and much more than can be told occurred in two hours. Names were given, all of those present were personally called to the curtain and all w r ere called by their own names. In most cases the names were unknown to the medium. Some one whispered, "Was she tied? ' The medium, hearing, said, "Open the door, I am pretty nearly smothered. ' ' They carried her out and examined the sack, and found everything as it had been left. What was it, what could it be? These forms with such white hands and garments, while the medium's clothes were plain and dark. Her hands were toil-stained and unlike the dainty white hands thrust out from the aperture of the cabinet. Not one, not two, but a dozen hands thrust out from every possible and available place. The light and the investigation of the cabinet revealed nothing but a roll of humanity tied in a sack with hands and feet tied strongly together with waxed and tarred rope, bare room, bare walls, nothing. Oli. puzzling mystery! Oh, stupenduous facts! What were they ? No one but the stranger attempted to explain. The gentleman was Mr. John J. Hall, from New York City. He knew and laughed and chatted and explained to the lia If -frightened and wholly astonished sitters. But the old creeds, inbred and taught so long, led them to believe that it was of the devil rather than of God. They could give no opinion, no intelligent reason for such belief, for this metaphysics of phantasy. For several evenings they experimented in every way known to their skepticism 70 PSYCHIC LIGHT • and sought to account for this .^nower. It was more po- tential than mere animal force, and more" mysterious than myths of Oriental creeds. It was individualized, personi- fied and essentially human, giving names and showing faces of family and friends long since laid in the grave. Surely, we must be the product of centuries of dogmatic, ecclesiastical domination not to give reason and intelligent thought liberty to accept a rational solution of this intel- ligence wherein lies the secret of soul. It's nature's mystic message That prophet, bard and sage, Have fixed in snatches On the bright, immortal page. — Babcock. To call it the devil, evil spirit, or spirits, admits the question. But why evil? Are not the same avenues open to the good and the same forces at their command? Are they not amenable to the same laws and conditions? If these things exist they can only be in accordance with nature's laws— God's laws. Does Divine Intelligence change laws, forces and conditions to suit our creeds or our needs? Nay, nay, the mills of the gods,— grind they all. If the lips of evil, long-stilled, can again fall into sound and speech, why not those of the good? Forms and faces in all the semblance of human life that had been, whispering words of advice and information pertinent to these religious people, came to them at these meetings; came through law and under conditions essential to law's operations; came by the great and eternal law that "like attracts like." Surely those who attribute these things to evil cannot themselves be evil to thus attract evil. This praying, tender-hearted, persecuted child-medium could not be evil. These spirit voices and these individuals who asserted their continued existence and exhorted all to live good and pure lives were not of evil origin. These spirits of the departed congregated there who exhorted all to prayer and upright lives, who always and persistently said that saving grace came only through CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 71 good and noble lives and deeds in harmony with the laws of nature and the spirit world, were not of the evil one. Their intelligence precluded the possibility of their being: subtle, latent forces in nature; or the morbid affec- tion of a disordered brain. There is only one hypothesis upon which all these phenomena can be explained— one easy, natural, scientific and logical explanation. And this the church rejects and flounders in deep water for one suited to its creed. Was all tkis punishment and bruising of body, these trials and humiliations of spirit, this poverty and hard, menial labor necessary before this girl's soul could be attuned to their celestial music, their voice and mission? If so, the perfection of these manifestations and the self-sacrificing lo*ve and humility of this child would seem to indicate the end of all her trials, sorrows and perse- cutions. If not the end, where in creation's great labora- tory are these trials prepared, or, are they the reflex action of prenatal thought, or, must we look for causes where the stars and constellations move and revolve? She now believed her troubles were all ended. Her new-found friend would go with her and explain it all to her father and tell him his daughter had a great and glorious gift— a mission to humanity. A carriage was pro- Tided and they started. The sun and flowers of that bright May morning could not eclipse the happy face of the child, whose soul seemed to bubble over with song. This was redemption! This was what the white-robed angel at the river meant. The lesson left an impress that remained through all the coming years and gave her feeling and sympathy for other souls, weary of life and its many trials and sorrows. She was happy. She was not in league with the devil. It was God's highest, holiest and best gift to the workers of His will. It was the glorious gift of the spirit world to prove the triumph of mind over matter; life over death. It was a celestial gift to prove the continuity of human life with its love, its memory and its individuality. 72 PSYCHIC LIGHT AT HOME AGAIN. The old home was reached. The father was there. Seeing the stranger in the carriage with his daughter, he did not forget his old-time Southern hospitality and endeavored to entertain him. The child, with watchful eyes and anxious heart, noted every movement. She soon understood that they were brothers of the same lodge, bound to friendly regard by some golden link which she did not understand, but felt. Her heart bounded with great joy, in perfect peace and happiness. Truly the celes- tial company at the river had redeemed their pledge and emancipated her from the chains and binding fetters that had enthralled her mind and soul and restrained her actions. The father was for a time kindly reconciled to his now happy daughter. She tried with every impulse of heart and mind, during the long summer months to admin- ister to their mental and physical wants. She was untir- ing in all her efforts by day and by night to do her utmost for them. She worked in the corn field, planting and hoe- ing, raking in the meadows, always working with the greatest contentment and happiness. Her supreme happiness and contentment under the burden of such unusual and arduous labor attracted the attention of all in the surrounding neighborhood. They had only words of greatest praise and admiration for her. Her exemplary conduct and her great desire to aid and assist her parents, even by engaging in the most burden- some labor in the field, attracted the attention and admira- tion of her father's hired man. He watched the growing brightness- of her face until he lost his heart to a mere girl, then only thirteen years old. He had horses, cattle, a little patch of land, and he reasoned he was good enough to be her lord and master. Day after day, as they worked in and out of the grow- ing crops, he watched this happy girl until he put his thoughts into words. CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 73 When he spoke to her of his wishes she only shrank away in fear and trembling for he was course and rude, and brutal to the cattle. This she bravely told him. She was immediately controlled by the spirits and they repeated the rejection, saying: "She is not for you." The father was told of the decision of both daughter and spirits. He at once showed his petty tyranny, and said that she should marry him. Thus reassured, the course, vulgar fellow went on to make preparations for the wedding. At this time she slept on an old-fashioned lounge standing at the foot of her parents' bed. Lying awake in the middle of the night she heard her name mentioned by the parents and plans for her marriage discussed. The father said it was best that she should marry him. The mother thought so, too. This beloved mother of hers ! Oh, could it be so? No more sleep for her that night. To her surcharged soul and refined aspirations the sacrifice seemed beyond endurance. What could be done? Days went by and preparations were made for a quiet wedding. The night came and she found that pleading would do no good. In the shadow of the evening she slipped out of the house and ran away — ran from the cruel doom that con- fronted her, out across the corn field, out and on — on she flew with winged feet, shrinking and shuddering, for fear they might pursue and compel her to marry the brutal man they had determined should # be her husband— a man she loathed from the bottom of her heart. But she eluded their search; she frustrated their plans. No, it was not so written. She was safely away. Now for a long, desperate tramp. Where? Her thoughts were so distraught that anywhere was better than home. Aye, better kill herself, as she had once intended. Anything, any place, only not back home. She finally decided to seek friends at Warsaw. The truth about her gift had opened a new world to many who eagerly grasped the thought even of the return of their loved ones. To them she would go. When she left them, had they not said cheerfully, "Come back 74 PSYCHIC LIGHT if you need friends." There she would go. Fear lent wings to her feet. She flew over the fields. She fairly skimmed along until exhaustion and fear overcame her. She was suddenly beset by a new danger. A big dog sprang up in her way, barking in a most vicious and menacing manner. Fortunately, there was a fence near by and upon this she climbed in self protection. The brute barked, snarled and seemed actually frenzied over his defeat. The good farmer whose place she was crossing came out and called loudly to the dog to stop barking, and then said sternly, "Who is there?" The frightened girl, sitting upon the topmost rail, could not speak. Th« farmer again said, "If you don't answer, I'll fire." Then came a timid, agonized voice, "It's I, sir." "It's who?" said the farmer. "Nobody that you know. Oh, please, sir, eall off your dog and permit me to go on my way." The old farmer had now advanced and saw before him what seemed to his honest old eyes a culprit bent on mischief, and he asked again what she wanted. Bursting into tears she tried to talk, but could not answer. He led her into the house where she told her story in the light of a lamp and in his wife's presence. She told them her piti- ful plight, how they insisted she should marry the beastly fellow who was so low and brutal that she had run away. She begged them not to.take her back. No, indeed, but she must go to bed with their own children, and in the morn- ing he would see that she reached Warsaw safely. He had two dear daughters of his own and pitied her misery. He had heard of her gift, and wanted to attend a meeting when she came back, if she ever returned. These good farmer folks, who knew her father quite well, could readily realize the cause of the girl's trouble. They would help her, and hoped to see her again. Many times after this event, Mr. and Mrs. Anderson, for such were their names, proved good and true friends to her. She sought their hospitable roof many times when merciless storms beset her pathway. Next day she reached her CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 75 destination. Uvr old friends greeted her so kindly that -rief was now buried beneath the fleeting, busy hours of disseminating spiritual truths to all who sought her. Her old benefactor was notified of her return, who, on his return from St. Louis, w r here he had gone on business, took her once more in his care. He supplied her with an appropriate wardrobe and introduced her to some of the leading citizens of Warsaw and called their attention to the chain of unbroken evidence of immortality. Here commenced her public w r ork. Many of the lead- ing citizens of this little creed-bound place dared to take great interest in her mediumship. Among the number were Mr. James Wood. Mr. Worthen, the State Geologist, and wife, who had been investigating the phenomena and had found the truth of spirit return and acknowledged it. In this little village many others became con- vinced of the fact of spirit return— of the truth of spirit- ualism and its pure teachings, and adhered to its princi- ples and precepts. She held a number of seances at the homes of prom- inent citizens, but a wider field was opened for her. The manifestations had by this time attracted widespread attention. Mr. Worthen, State Geologist, was still a resi- dent of Warsaw, but spent much of his time at Spring- field, the capital of the state. She held several seances at his home with wonderful results. CONVINCING DEMONSTRATION. At one of these meetings a very unusual manifestation occurred. The kitchen was used as a cabinet. Back of the kitchen was the wood shed. The medium w T as securely tied and had been in the cabinet a long time. The fire had burned low w T hen someone proposed that it be replenished. The good master of the house said to the controlling spirit, " Can't you bring a stick of wood?" The request was scarcely made w T hen a large stick of wood was thrown out of the cabinet. This gave them positive evidence of 76 PSYCHIC LIGHT the direct agency of spirits, and their ability to move heavy weights, as they knew the medium was securely tied. Our medium some time before this had been named "Maud Eugenia." Her parents learning of her great popularity among the cultured and better classes were reconciled to her refusing to conform to their wishes in marrying J. M. B., and now asked her to return home. They promised that she should not be troubled about the marriage any more. She, loving them with her whole heart, only too gladly returned home. There, night after night, she held meetings for the now thoroughly aroused countiy folks. A wild excitement prevailed. People came from every point of the compass. On her way home from Warsaw, and the first time she had ever ridden on the cars, she met one, who, of all others, was to play the most important part in her life ; who is now known to many thousands in all parts of the coun- try as CLARENCE WILBOURN, THE CONTROL. The thousands who, in after years, attended this girl medium's seances, know the control, Clarence, and remem- ber his grand singing and joking, fun-loving characteris- tics and wise advice. She occupied a seat in the car by herself, a shy, modest, old-fashioned girl, looking much older than she was. Strolling through the car came this handsome, curly-headed young man. "Hello, who is this J" He stopped and sat down in the seat in front of her. Who can gauge the silent force— the law— that attracts two people? He asked her name. "Maud Eugenia," she replied. "Hey, ho, but that's a high sounding name. It is quite foreign, quite aristocratic. I thought by your old-fashioned looks it might be Jane or Elizabeth, ' ' was his good-natured reply. This brought tears to her eyes, that this handsome young man should make fun of her. She told him of her trials and troubles and why they came to her. He was just out of a St. Louis law school— out in the West looking CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 77 up and buying horses for his brother-in-law, Mr. Frank Middleton. fie was deeply interested in her recital and Bfiked where she lived. They parted and he said he would come and see her. Tie has since said he was attracted to her by a strange fascination he could not then understand. lie came on a fair May morning and asked the moth- er's permission to take her and Esther Anderson", a young girl living at the next farm, to attend the May festival. After attending the festival he took them home and went his way. A romance was then begun that was never to end. Two souls attuned to the same measure had met. The next time she saw him— a month later— she heard his voice behind her saying, "Little girl, do not look around until I tell you something." "Why?" she asked. "I know who you are, without looking around." "Don't look around yet, I have just been shot and I don't want you to see me covered with blood." It is a curious law of spirit that in resuming its rela- tion to matter it must take on these last physical condi- tions; and, that the spirit returns with the sensations and desires which were uppermost in mind at the time of leaving the physical body. These physical conditions and desires persist until cor- rected by experience in spirit life— until this seeming reality becomes a memory. This is one of the basic facts upon which Mental and Christian Science healing is founded. There is no parole evidence that these laws are operative outside of the spirit's relation to matter in this stage of existence, excepting in so far as these desires are the manifestations of character which persist as dis- tinctive qualities of the spirit until corrected or perfected, as the case may be, by the infinite laws of progression. Clarence's coming directly to the medium immediately after his murder was in accordance with the same force that first attracted him— even as we move in this life, other things being equal, in the lines of magnetic attrac- tion—lines of least resistance. 78 PSYCHIC LIGHT As soon as he had become adjusted to his new condi- tions he became one of her constant attendants, defenders and protectors and has always been such to her. He brought to her buoyancy of spirit and a character of great purpose and power. So closely allied were they that she delighted in wearing sailor hats and acting much as he acted. Seeing this, and recognizing her needs, he sought his older brother Jesse, who had preceeded him to spirit life by many years, who became her teacher; and, he also surrounded her with other wise spirits of both sexes, many of whom are still with her, probably working out their missions and building their own characters in her life experiences. The Indian control "Kaolah" was already with her. Where the controls do not keep pace in progress with the medium they are changed and others substituted by the chief control. Kaolah was a chief of the Oneidas and a medicine man and consequently a medium for his tribe— one of the Iro- quois confederacy. He had a pathetic history, which seems to be the case with all true pioneers in intellectual pro- gress. He tells how he was wont to retire to his tent and prepare his medicines— as he supposed^doing it him- self. Now he knows that he was assisted by spirits using him as an instrument. With the assistance of those wise chemists he was destined to play an important part in the marvelous cures the medium was to perform later in life. He has attended her continuously from earliest childhood, excepting for a few years as hereafter related. Dr. Peter DeHaven, formerly a resident of New York, a scientist and a very successful physician, also comes to the medium in cases of great importance. At times he calls to his assistance other wise and scientific counsel. Leotah, or Snow Drop, a French-Indian girl came a few years later, as a mere child who could speak only one or two words. She is to-day, a highly accomplished, mannerly young lady, using the most exquisite and ap- CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 79 propriate Language. These are the Medium's working hand. Other and powerful spirits were added to her band as her field of Labor enlarged and their services became necessary— seemingly a specialist in each department of usefulness and in all lines of work. After her work in St. Louis, a lawyer, Valleur Dupree, known as "Val.," a Spaniard and a Catholic in this life, was added to her band, lie was shot at the termination of one of his law cases, at Marysville, Mo. Many St. Louis people remem- bered him. lie was well known to Major Mellon, so well and favorably known to St. Louis people. There seemed do limit to his power as a spirit. He was devoted to the medium and never let an injury to her go unpunished and never failed to reward a kindness done her, as many can testify. Later a miner, named John Gray, came to her assist- ance, and Richard Le Rongee, George Wilson and others were added. Back of these workers were wise ones, ethical teachers, advanced scientists, Oriental Seers, Mas- ters; and, over all others, directing her destiny, some- times shadowing upon her the spirit of prophecy and divin- ation, opening the mysteries of the earth and the Heavens, and the marvelous things yet to be given to the race is the unknown, to whose wisdom all the other controls ever bowed. He comes to her through his emissaries — his spirit mediums. Sometimes' in the quiet of the night, when in need of information, she can go to him. In these sleep- in <_r visits to his " Mansion of Light" she always addressed him as " Master." These various controls are mentioned here as they will play important parts in the incidents to follow. When holding a seance at Mr. Richard's in Keokuk, Iowa, the bay window T in the second story had been cur- tained off for a cabinet. The medium had been in the cabinet and arranged the curtains to exclude all light and had gone into an adjoining room, leaving Mr. Richardson, Mr. and Mrs. Rose, a prominent doctor of the place, a State Senator and Hon. Daniel Miller in the room. 80 PSYCHIC LIGHT While waiting for the medium to return, and, as they were discussing the possibilities of any spirits showing themselves, the curtain in front of the cabinet parted and the materialized form of Mr. Richardson's son, who had been dead only a short time, stood just within the cabinet, full formed, dressed as in ordinary life. He greeted his father and the others and told them he did not need the presence of the medium as she had been in the cabinet long enough to enable him to thus present himself. This he thought would be demonstration suf- ficient to convince them of his reality, there being no pos- sible circumstance or condition upon which to base any other conclusion. BRINGS NEEDLE WORK FROM A DISTANCE. Mr. and Mrs. Kingsley from Ohio, were present at this cabinet seance. Mrs. Kingsley had some fancy needle work which she had left at home. This, she avers, was handed to her from the cabinet, with the needle sticking in it just as she had left it at home in Xenia, Ohio. Of this fact she was very positive. Instances of this kind, wmile rare, are too well authenticated to be disputed. In many of these cases, in the experience of this medium, but not in all cases, a window or some opening in the room was left open. While living near Warsaw, holding seances, many soldiers at home on leave of absence; hearing of Mrs. Dean's and the minister's experience at the time of the Methodist revival, came in wagon loads and begged to see the strange girl who could tell them of their" dead and their return to earth. They wanted to see the girl who could read their past life and tell them of the future. A RING BROUGHT FROM THE GRAVE. On one occasion a man came for the express purpose of mischief. He said it was all a fraud. Maud met him and looked steadily into his face for a moment. The others CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 81 all knew something was coming. Finally, with a quick, gasping noise, she jumped forward, reached for his hands, and gave him a sign known only to Masons, ;ind in a strong, clear, masculine voice told him everything he had said on the road ; what he had told the boys, and repeated ver- batim his jeers and contempt for the subject. She ended by saying, ''Now, John Bronson, if you wish to conform to the rules of this meeting you can come in, and wel- come, but, if not, you cannot attend." The Captain ad- mitted that his doubts had been utterly vanquished and that he would be only too glad to attend and learn more facts. Thus was arranged one of the most surprising ma- terializing seances that the medium had held, up to that date. During the seance this same penitent and contrite skeptic was called to the cabinet by the spirit of a young lady. When he approached she eagerly reached forth her hand and took his, saying— " My brother." He recog- nized her face, and in his excitement almost screamed to her to give her name. She spoke distinctly, "Ella." "My God! my God! It's my sister," said- the novv thoroughly convinced skeptic. He almost fainted, and was led back to his seat by his smiling and thoroughly triumphant companions, to whom he had only a few hours before ridiculed spirit return. The influences were not yet through with him. His sister who had been buried only a short time, came again with messages for those in her far away home in the East. A thought of further identification struck him, and he said, "Ella, what did I give you when I came home on a furlough?" "A ring set with ruby and pearls," she replied. "Yes, yes," he replied, "where was it left when you were buried?" "On my finger" said, she, putting the hand out and plainly showing the ring to all present. He recognized it at once. He then asked for the wedding ring that had also been buried with her. She had married a comrade of his company, and 82 PSYCHIC LIGHT when she died, was buried at Keokuk, Iowa. This ring, he said, was left with her wedding ring upon her hand. She seemed a little puzzled, disappeared for a few seconds, came back, recalled him, and reaching out her hand, put the ring he had given her upon his hand and said, "Keep it, but show it to Charley." Charley was the name of her husband, and Charley's name had not been called by any of the party. There are many people to-day in Keokuk, Iowa, who will remember this young Captain Bronson. He attended to show others of his company who had been present sev- eral times their folly. On the way to the seance he had scoffed and sneered at his companions for believing any- thing so utterly ridiculous. After this strange experience, the Captain, still in possession of his sister's ring, declared he would not rest until his sister's coffin was opened that he might know this was no delusion. He, with several of those present, went to the grave, where, with the sexton, they opened the coffin and examined the hand that had worn the ring. When the coffin was opened, he said, "Boys, look first and tell me." The hands wore no gloves, and strange, but true, the ring was gone! The dead, white hand, they said, bore the impress of the missing ring. The indenta- tion was there. The ring was taken from the soldier brother and slipped upon the finger for the second time. This incident created a great stir and induced large numbers of thinking people to investigate her medium- ship. Among the number was Hon. Daniel Miller, Chief Justice, of Keokuk, Iowa, who ever after proved himself her staunch friend. For some weeks she gave her entire attention to the description of spirits and to the dissem- inating of spiritual truths. Her wardrobe by this time was depleted, and warned her that necessity would compel her to work again. This she proceeded immediately to do, as she did not receive any compensation for her seances or services in healing the sick. She had been for some time especially gifted with the CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 83 art of healing diseases which learned physicians pro- nounced incurable. No one had remembered to give her a penny for her time, her lost strength, or her beautiful gift, and she was obliged to return to work. She went again to Warsaw, to Mrs. Richard McDougal, a most lovely woman, who took great interest in her medium- ship and gave audiences to her spirit controls, often re- ceiving most remarkable manifestations. While living w T ith this family, a German lady called to see the girl medium. Mrs. McDougal called her and asked her if she could see anything for her neighbor. She at once became entranced, and the German lady was told that her father was dead— had died the day before. She gave his name, age and cause of death. This fright- ened the woman seriously. In a few days all was verified. The German lady received a letter containing the news of her father's death just as described. MEETS AND VANQUISHES AN EXPOSER OF SPIRITUALISM. She was not destined to remain long at manual labor. A message came for her to return home immediately. Her fame had reached Greenbush, 111., and Dr. Butler and Mr. James, mayor of that city, had sent for her to make them a visit of a week or two. When she arrived in Greenbush, where an exposer of spiritualism had billed the town, she was told that her name was among the number to be exposed. A sum of five hundred dollars was to be forfeited by this exposer if he could not do everything claimed to be done by so- called mediums. Here again her guides had opened the way to vic- tory. She arrived at the home of Mr. James, whom she had met before, and was kindly received by his family. She was told that they did not want anyone to know she was there. They had intimated to a few that they would send for her, but they did not want this exposer, S. P. Leland, to know she was in the place. The minister and the good religious people had given 84 PSYCHIC LIGHT him the use of their church for his holy ( ? ) work of exposure. The entertainment was held that night. They told her not to mind what was said, but to sit still and listen to him, and they would right any wrong. They went early and occupied front seats. The medium sat with Mr. James and Dr. Butler, a well and favorably known physician of the place, a man of money, standing and intellect, whose position was respected, as was that of the Hon. Mr. James and his charming family. They were strong in their convictions of right and maintained their position without fear or favor. The braggadocio arose and began in the most denunciatory language to abuse all mediums and nearly all spiritualists. He was the one who had given them all their reputation and position in the world. He had educated them all in their tricks, never dreaming that they would call it supernatural force, or spiritual power. He had written all of Mrs. C. V. Tapping's lectures, and Mrs. H. Britton's as well — in fact, every exponent of the spiritual philosophy owed to him their fame and greatness. After the tirade against the spiritual speakers came the physical mediums. He stopped suddenly, as if nearly forgetting something, and said: "By the way, I hear that you are going to have Miss Jennie Barrock, of the southern part of the State here. I think if you say to that young lady that S. P. Lei and is here, she will fly in an opposite direction." Good, honest, clear headed Dr. Butler arose and said: "Will Mr. Leland say why this is so?" "Oh," said he, "she is one of my pupils." He stated that he had taught her how to do his sleight of hand tricks, never dreaming she would palm them off as Spir- itual manifestations. Mayor James then arose and said: "How old is this girl?" Thinking for a moment, he said: "About 25, pos- sibly 23, but she is past 20." CONTINUITY OP LAW AND LIFE. 85 There sat the much abused medium perfectly ablaze with just indignation. The friends with her asked her if she was sure she had never seen him. The answer was : "Yes. I am sure I never saw him— introduce me and see if he knows me." This plan was adopted. There was to be a committee appointed to pass upon his claims as an exposer. During the selecting of this committee, Dr. Butler took the girl, scarcely in long dresses and not yet fourteen years old, and walked up to the professor, as he chose to call himself. The girl approached him, saying: "How do you do, Mr. Leland?" He looked puzzled and said: "I don't seem to recall your face; where have I met you before 1 ' ' She said, ' ' take a good look. ' ' He did look, and in the presence of the doctor and Mr. James, said, "I can- not place you." "No, I thought not," said Dr. Butler. The doctor then stepped upon the platform and said, "Ladies and gentlemen : This is Miss Barrock that this villain has so maligned and talked about; look and see for yourself; not yet fourteen years old, with a clean record— an humble one, but clean." Imagine the intense excitement prevail- ing in that church. The good and kind old minister, the one who preached there on the Sabbath days, was in the pulpit with this S. P. Leland. When this was said, he arose, and in kindly voice, reprimanded the mountebank who sought to rob a young girl of her good name. The meeting ended in no satisfactory manner to the professor, who still boasted that he could duplicate all of the so-called spiritual manifestations. , The challenge was accepted by Maud's friends. The time was set, preparations made, the seance, or cabinet to be held at Dr. Butler's. There was a committee of a dozen or more ladies and gentlemen,— skeptics mostly,— only two spiritualists— if Dr. Butler and Mr. James could be called such. They met and placed the medium under strictly test conditions. First they prepared a long rope or cord by wetting 86 PSYCHIC LIGHT and making it still softer, and passing it at the last moment over a wet sponge to make it beyond slipping or untying. They then tied her in a chair, and her hands and feet as well. The cabinet was made as usual, using a door lead- ing into a small empty room. The committee lifted her into the darkened room, as this seance was held in day time. Binding her eyes with a large handkerchief, they placed her in the farther corner of the room. They all unanimously decided that she was so tightly tied she could not move. As a last test condition they put a teaspoonful of flour in each of her hands. They took seats and waited in the partially darkened room for what might come. Hands were immediately thrust through the parting in the center of the curtain. One hand, then two, then- three and so on until there seemed too many to count. They were, so they said, of dazzling whiteness, some with sleeves white as snow. Several faces appeared. One full form appeared, that of a man with dark, curly hair, dark moustache, with white shirt and cuffs unlike any of the people present. The seance was not as good as many had been before, but was quite sufficient to show the most skeptical and those unreasonably bitter against it that there was some intelligence, some agency • outside of all human power to accomplish these things. When the com- mittee entered the seance room they found the medium tied as they had left her, with the flour firmly grasped in the fast swelling hands. She was still blindfolded and tied. What, oh what could it be'/ These white robes, fair fluttering hands ? What other solution , could be given ? The medium had been thoroughly searched, all her gar- ments examined and nothing white left her, not even a handkerchief. No white article of wearing apparel was to be found in the well searched room, yet there was this man with dark, curling hair, dark moustache — a manly looking fellow, with white, shirt front and cuffs. Where could he come from? Thus pondered the much puzzled investigators. CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 87 Would these hands they had seen untie these hard knots? Skeptically they all answered, "No!" "Impos- sible!" They left the seance room and stood outside the curtain. What was the noise they heard? They could hear the rope untying in the most amazing way; knot after knot came out with a swish. The committee listened ; some smiled, and others looked what they felt,— a little frightened. At last the medium's voice called them to come in, Baying, "I guess I am untied." "All untied?" they asked. "Yes, I think so." They let the light into the room and minutely ex- amined her. She was untied, but still blindfolded, and held in her hand the flour into which, unknown to her, had been placed a certain number of shot. In each hand was found the number of shot placed there by the com- mittee. One of the. committee was a devout church mem- ber and believed spiritualism was a degrading delusion— a wretched devil-sent "ism," and he wanted to stamp it out, even though it be true, so great was his antagonism. They had rubbed indigo on the rope and the doctor said, "Look here, there is no indigo on the medium's finders, only a dash across the back of one swollen hand." Next in order, on their program, was to repeat the experiments with S. P. Leland. They proceeded to his hotel. ITe had chosen his own conditions. They took a similar rope, but they did not put it through wet sponges, or work it soft. They did not search him or put him through the ordeal that took almost an hour for the girl-medium. They tied him and put him in a room, not blindfolded, not darkened, and not examined. All possible chance was given him. After a long time he got out of the rope. No hands were shown, no faces appeared, no voices whispered names, or dates of deaths, telling who and what they were. He simply got out of the rope. When he was examined the rope was found cut into pieces in his coat pocket. Even the preindieed committee said. "You have not ac- 88 PSYCHIC LIGHT complished with all your years of experience half what the girl did. We shall have to pronounce in her favor," and they did. Next morning he had left Greenbush without paying the forfeit of $500 or his board bill. Thus ended the first battle with one of the would-be exposers of spiritualism. It was always a pleasure to her to recur in memory to the pleasant friendships formed in that village. Mr. James accompanied her home and told her father she had won the battle and come home with victory crowning her efforts. She had begun to understand the grand import- ance of her gift, although she still met many people who told her how awful she was— that she was a witch, and some good Christian should put her to death, if they did their duty toward God and man. WITNESSES A SPIRIT 'S DEPARTURE FROM THE BODY. A family by the name of Peebles, living near Hamil- ton, 111., often invited her to their home and to their relig- ious meetings. The eldest daughter of this family, Mrs. DeWolf, was sick unto death. The medium was helping them in their work and doing all she could to lift their burden, not only of work, but of sorrow. At last the truth could not be disguised. A spirit told the medium the daughter would pass over very soon. She had given birth to a lovely little boy babe and the penalty was the sweet mother's life. A voice said, "Go, watch beside her bed, and you will see a spirit take its upward flight from its body of clay." The medium said, ' ' So soon ? ' ' The answer was ' ' Yes. ' ' The mother, sisters and husband were told of the approaching change; and as they gathered for the last time around the bedside of their beloved Edith, they saw that the Death Angel was near. The medium saw a beautiful substance, light and radi- ant, not pure white but golden and silvery in appearance slowly and silently rising from the head and body lying on the bed. This substance gradually extended upwards. CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 89 It lengthened and expanded until it assumed the shape of a person. It still remained connected with, and seemed to cover the entire head. In the center of this connecting substance was a whiter, thicker substance, like a bright, silver ray, or cord extending to the brain. This grew longer and fainter as it extended upward. She then saw what appeared to be the weaving of immortal garments. As this ceased the connecting substance faded out and the startled eyes of the medium beheld the form of the lovely woman on the bed standing just above her, with her beautiful dark eyes looking ever so wistfully into the beloved husband's tear-wet face. Looking toward the body she saw that the magical breath of life had left it. There stood the spirit, clothed in her immortal garments, in a glory of golden light, like the mystic sheen on the sea at night. About her was a radiant, welcoming host whom she seemed to recognize and greet. Thus passed the sweet, prayerful spirit of one dear sister, whose faithful duties brought her great consola- tion and joy, and clothed her with garments which seemed like a silver mist— a halo of glorious light, laden with a perfume perceptible to the medium and to others in the room. A STRANGE BEQUEST. While holding a seance near Carthage, 111., one of the living rooms was used for the cabinet. The people were seated in the sitting room. A curtain, consisting of a coat and blankets, was tacked in the usual manner in the door w r ay. The house was old and not in the best state of repair, and w r as infested with. rats. It was at this seance that Mr. Mark Phelps first became convinced of the truth of spirit return. During the evening, the noise of rats was heard, apparently about the old unused fireplace. This some- what frightened the medium and caused one of the sit- ters— a young man— to remark, "What a fine test it would 90 PSYCHIC LIGHT be if those spirit hands would catch one of those rats and throw it out." In a very short time they heard a rat squeal and the curtain parted. A hand was extended, holding a large, old rat by the back of the neck and the next instant it was hurled, squealing into the young man's face. This convinced one young man that it was not the work of the medium. Necessity supplied the incentive for her to seek other and broader fields. A brother had found employment at Quincy, Illinois, and at his solicitation she visited that place. Later on the family moved to Quincy. Her fame had preceded her, and, as at other places, her time was almost entirely taken up with gratuitous work of holding seances and giving descriptions. No one seemed to remember that she had to meet life's necessities. They took her time and scarcely ever thanked her for services. At last she must do something. Mr. McDaniels, who kept a museum of fine arts, engaged her, through her brother, who was employed by him as attendant at the door. There was but one hope of getting another ward- robe, and that was to work for it. The proprietor offered her twenty-five dollars a week and said he would not give the manifestation any name. Let the people name the phenomena what they pleased and said she need not use her own name. Possibly many may remember what a furore she created at that time in her wonderful cabinet seances, showing hands, faces and forms. HOW SOME PEOPLE LEARN. While engaged giving these exhibitions she boarded and roomed at the hotel where her brother boarded. Here she was subjected to many annoying attentions by unprin- cipled men. On one occasion as she was going to her room and had just reached tHe landing at the head of the stairs, an arm was slipped around her waist, as she supposed by her brother who had preceded her, and a low voice said: "Come this way." CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 91 Quick as a flash, from out of the darkness— out of space— came an invisible hand that dealt a quick, stun- ning blow that sent a young man headlong down the stairs. He did not stop until he reached the hall below in a dazed condition. He proved to be a boarder at the hotel and who had been very persistent in his annoying attentions. He was completely cured by the blow. She was never troubled again. Such people have no desire to have lightning strike them twice. He had no difficulty in comprehending the full meaning of this lesson that came to him through his physical senses. On one occasion, the mayor of the city brought with him a pair of handcuffs and fastened them tightly upon her wrists, and putting the key in his pocket, said: "My young witch, I have you now." As she turned around to enter the cabinet there was a snap, snap, and the hand- cuffs were thrown with a dash outward, hitting the pro- prietor upon the head, making a serious scalp wound. The mayor and some soldiers standing and sitting around were somewhat frightened, when one of the soldien laughed and said, "I believe she is the devil done up pretty." "I have the key, let me have the lockers." said the mayor. They were examined and found all right— un- locked as with "a key. Among those who witnessed this exhibition and knew the origin of the power, was Mr. A. H. Williams, and a good old Scotchman named Brown. Everybody in Quincy called him "Baker Brown." These two men were spirit- ualists and knew such superior mediumship should not be misapplied, misused and misnamed. The medium felt that it was too sacred to be trampled under the feet of idle curiosity seekers. These two men appealed to her to leave. She answered saying she would not have accepted the posi- tion, but she had no money, no clothes, and her parents were too poor to keep her dressed while she disseminated the truths of immortal life; that her life there with her 92 PSYCHIC LIGHT brother's care, was just as clean and pure as it could be at home. The spiritualists conferred together and thought best to pay her for her services that she might give it her best attention. This she concluded to do. A small hall in Hampshire street was engaged and the first Sunday evening spiritual meeting in that part of the state was commenced. From this time on she never faltered in the work set for her to do. Her parents had at this time disposed of their little farm and moved to Quincy. People came in great numbers .to see her but very few remembered to pay and she, sensitive and shrinking, could not ask for her dues. Thus one weary month passed after another. Her heart had grown most sad until she prayed to die. The better class of people in Quincy seemed to desire her seances, though they would in some instances request her to come to their homes after dark and come in the back way. When the seance was over they would request her to go out through the alley way and alone, without com- pany to protect her from the insults of rude men and boys. She sometimes reached her home after the seances drenched with rain, tired, worn and utterly forlorn. The people of wealth and position thus used her as they would have used a slave. Their husbands, brothers and sons were too good to go home with this one so loved and honored by the celestial hosts. They seldom said "We thank you," and never paid a cent or asked if she needed food to eat, or water to drink. Some of these Christian ( ?) people often said to her, "If you should meet us on the street and we should not speak, pray don't think we are angry; it's only our position. We believe all this is what it claims to be, and that you are a good medium, but it won't do for us to know you or acknowledge it." Thus, abashed and abused, she could full often, when the cup was full of bitterness, have prayed to die. The seances were beautiful as she grew more implicitly faithful CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 93 to her guides, while thus under the ban of society, the ostracism of the ignorant and creed bound. These indif- ferent people loved their popularity better than their God. Several ministers had made her the subject of ser- mons calling her a witch and her followers evil. One, Rev. ( ?) Whiting, of Quincy 111., was mean enough to spit upon her in the street when she was pointed out by a lady who had secretly attended her seance held at one of these aris- tocratic houses. Passing close to her he spat at and upon her, saying, "Go thou child to the devil." Mortified, humiliated by conditions and circumstances over which she had no control, again and again she would wander down by the old Mississippi river and longingly wish for rest, yet she dare not forget what the angels had told her. Would fate ever release her from bondage, strong as steel? At this time her healing power, as well as clairvoy- ance and clairaudienee, was brought into great use for the sick and ailing. The first case of note to which she was called was to the sick wife of Dr. Burgess, a specialist, but not a regu- lar physician. His beloved wife was dying and two attend- ant physicians said she could live only a few hours. ORDERS PHYSICIANS AND THEIR DRUGS OUT OF THE ROOM. On arriving at the house she found two physicians present. She told the husband she could accomplish noth- ing with the physicians in the room. They looked unut- terable things and did not hesitate to sneer and scoff at the thought that anyone could cure where their skill had failed. It was too ridiculous and especially as the woman was already dying. "Let her try it," they sneered. "Such foolishness, such bosh!" To her it was a labor of love. After sending every bottle of medicine out of the room and opening the win- dows, she turned to the apparently lifeless woman on the bed. An eminent spirit, Dr. DeHaven, controlled the medium, treated the patient, prescribed for her and said to the sad-hearted husband, "Your wife will live." 94 PSYCHIC LIGHT Very soon after the treatment the sick woman came out of the death-like swoon from which the two physicians said she could never recover. In a few moments she asked for something to eat. Her husband asked what she would have. "Cabbage and potatoes," replied this delicate invalid. "Oh, oh," the husband said. The spirit physician controlled the medium and said, "Give her all she wants; I assure you no harm will follow." This event was a marvel to the public and even to the two reviling physicians. One, less prejudiced and more intelligent than the other, often employed her clairvoy- ance in intricate and dangerous cases. When death seemed near his patients he would take her to relieve them. None who sought her aid in after years were denied. RESTORES A PARALYZED CHILD TO PERFECT HEALTH. Next door to the family lived an honest, respectable Irish family. Being Catholics they, of course, looked with a great deal of repulsion upon this— as they thought— devil-possessed girl. Their eldest daughter, twelve yean old, was a cripple and could not walk a step, and had not for years. Her limbs were completely paralyzed. The little legs were just like sticks with the skin drawn tight and close to the bone. Shapeless, fleshless little legs, with- out any sensation whatever. The little toes had been badly burned against the stove. She had not discovered the fact from any feeling, and did not know it until her eyes saw the burned feet. This child was a great care and trouble. She required constant moving. Our medium, one day, said to the mother who had called, "Mrs. Shanahan, I can cure Maima." Oh, the dire hate that flashed into her eyes as she said, "Don't you dare touch her." Saying this she left the house. Her mother said: "There now you have offended a good neighbor. ' ' Little Maima 's angel guide was not sleeping, but heard the words and saw the necessity of doing something to save and succor the winsome little cripple. CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 95 When next the medium saw the cripple she asked her if she would like to be cured. "Oh, yes," came the eager reply. "Can you keep a secret, Maima? "Yes, yes, I can." "Well, then, I will take you over to our house every day when your mama goes to market and cure you." Ber mother kept boarders and went to market every day at nine o'clock. Thus began a good and holy work. The first thing that was done, by order of the controlling phy- sician, was to bathe her thoroughly. Then she was taken out of the bath and rubbed gently at first. The medium was told to pray earnestly all the while. The prayer given to her was beautiful beyond description and seemed to come from someone standing to the right of her and over her head. She was then told to place her right hand upon the child's spine, the left hand palm to the bottom of the feet. This she did, causing instant vibrations that grew stronger and stronger until both medium and child shook as if by some mighty power that had intruded to force life and vitality into the little useless limbs. The desired effect was produced at last, the child, cry- ing, said: "I feel; I do, I do; I feel something tihgle and burn all along my legs." All this time the medium knelt prayerfully; now she arose and made a few passes up and do^n the limbs that seemed to be conscious of a new life tingling through them; then she carried the little cripple home and said. "Silence, dear, and tell no one." She said, "Oh, yes, I will not tell." Next day, when the experiment was repeated, the child could move her legs and stand for a few moments at a time. She laughed so in her joy she would fall in spite of the remonstrance from her new doctor not to do so. The medium's soul was so filled with delight that she also laughed. After the third treatment she could walk several steps at a time and would then totter and fall. She was told by these wise and efficient controls to get up and walk when no one was looking and to keep up the electrical and mag- netic influence by constant action when alone. 96 PSYCHIC LIGHT These treatments commenced Monday morning at nine o'clock, Saturday the little girl's relatives were all gathered in the parlor of her home talking, when the medium said: "Now, Maima, get up and walk through the house." Can you, readers, imagine the joy of her parents, and relatives who were numerous and all Catholics? When asked, after falling on their knees in fright and thanks- giving, who did it, she answered, "Maud cured me." Then the medium, for all this new joy, was called in and thanked heartily and kindly by the mother. The priest had to be called in and told of the miracu- lous cure of his little devotee. He believed it of the devil and told them to have nothing more to do with it. He sprinkled holy water over the child and about the house, repeated a litany and told them to put on the child's neck a witch charm — a scapular to keep evil spirits away. Others, hearing of this marvelous cure, brought in the maimed, the lame and the blind. In nearly every instance her controls would cure them. As a general thing these cures were accomplished with three treatments, while some were instantaneous. At one time a poor woman brought her only child, a little boy of five years old, with one leg paralyzed and useless. Her name was Mrs. Ryan and she was also a Catholic. The medium was preparing to go out. The woman came in with the boy in her arms and asked to see the girl who healed the sick through the evil one. She was told that the medium was to leave in a few moments. The woman began to cry bitterly and said she had come such a long distance, carrying the boy all the way to have her touch him. The medium was told the pitiful story. She went in and laid her hand only for a moment on the shriveled limb. She then touched the hip and back only for a few minutes, and said : • ' Stand up, my little man. ' ' The little fellow stood up on both feet. She told him to go to the door. He walked off steadily, as if the use of the leg had never left him. CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 97 The good mother fell upon her knees and said, "Good devil, I thank you." The medium told her to stop, that it was not the devil, but that it was God's power; that He Loved little children and had, through her faith, restored her little son's limb to perfect health. That night the lit- tle boy. well and strong, ran to meet his father when he came from his day's labor. This case can be vouched for by many now living in Quincy, 111. Some of this family, whom the Lord had thus blessed, are yet living and will- ing to tell the world of their blessing. HER FIRST AND LAST DECEPTION. At this time in the life of the medium, an incident occurred, which many have heard her relate, when in after years great popularity had come to her. She had been invited to spend the afternoon and even- ing in the country, at the home of Mrs. Jenkins one of the few daringly independent families not ashamed to acknowl- edge this great and glorious truth. Her recreations were few indeed, and the anticipated delight of this visit was beyond expression. To get out into nature among the trees, the flowers, the cattle and sheep, was her great pleasure. Her busy brain was filled with joy, for she was a worshipper at nature's shrine in the holier significance of the word. Her whole soul was filled with the brightest anticipations of her visit. She was wonderfully happy while getting ready to go. Her winged feet fairly flitted from room to room, until all was near completion, the household put in order, her best dress on and wrap on her anii. The door bell rang, and, upon opening it, she found an old German standing there, asking for the witch who told strange things. She answered, "I am the one you want. ' ' He said, ' ' I lose somedings, you tell me?" She said, "I cannot, I am Koing out of the city and have not time." He begged her just to tell him a little something. Like all mediums she was negative and could not turn him away. Neither could she forego her visit to the countrv. She decided to 98 PSYCHIC LIGHT tell him something, even if it was not true, to get rid of him. So she said: "You have lost a dog, yes two dogs." "Yah, yah, that be him." She told him they would come home on the ferry the next evening at 6 o'clock; for him to gc to the wharf and await their coming. She thought: "Oh, God, forgive me. What a lie, what an awful lie!" The man left highly pleased. He had lost two valuable setter dogs and grieved over their loss as if they had been his children. The medium went out in the country, which she had so longed to see but her heart was heavy and sad, beyond words to express. "Lie, lie, lie," was written everywhere. The bitter, mean lie she had told the good old German. The shadow crept over her heart and touched her whole being and left a gloom that nothing could dispel. She was paying the penalty for her first deception. It robbed the day of its glorious sunshine. The company of' friends could not imagine what made her so sad, unhappy and restless. She would not tell, fearing they would hate her as she hated herself. The day, with its sunshine and antici- pated pleasure that came not, wore away. That night they had a remarkably fine seance. The spirits seemed in great good humor, and when the guides were asked what caused the trouble in the medium's heart, they said they knew, but would not tell just then, but told them to wait and see. That night the tired eyes would not close in sleep, for she felt guilty. God had given her a beautiful gift. Because she desired pleasure to duty she had told a big falsehood to a believing old man who would v^tch and wait at the ferry for his stolen dogs to come home, and perchance would find them not. Oh, what misery. How bitter the retributive thoughts came and went until daylight with its splendor brightened her mind. All that day she began to plan how she could leave the city, so the honest old German could not confront her with the dreadful fact that he went and waited in vain for his dogs. . The next day and night passed leaving her most I CONTINUITY OP LAW AND LIFE. 99 wretched and restless, with well defined plans of abscond- ing until there was no danger of meeting her victim. True, he had paid her no money, but she had lied to him. She had given her mother instructions if a German called, she was not to see him under any circumstances. She would surely die with shame to look in his honest face. Thinking she was safe she was sitting by the stove in the kitchen when the front door opened, and thr ."?h the loom came steps to the kitchen. She looked up and caught her breath in one big gasp and said, "Oh!" It was the honest old German, who, in his voluble way said, "I come pack to pays you for mine togs." He went on to say he had found them just as she said he would. Oh, dear heaven, what did it mean? How could it be? She nearly fainted in her wild joy that at least he had the dogs and she had not told him an untruth. She then heard a voice saying: "You meant to tell that good old man a story. In your eagerness to get away, you would not give him a sitting, and thus give us a chanej to tell him. We saw your purpose and conversed with his spirit relatives who knew about the dogs. My little lady, we worked hard indeed to clear you of the vilest of all vile things— a falsehood. "We knew, and let you suffer, that you might know that real falsehoods will bring you pain, shame and bitter, degrading humiliation, such as will con- sume all that is good and loyal within your soul.." This experience was sufficient. She never forgot the pain and disgust and terror of that first attempt at decep- tion. A COUNTRY BOY CONSULTS THE DEVIL. A boy, named Silas Green, came to her with a useless leg, bent almost double. He wanted to be very polite and he wanted so much to be cured. He asked the medium if Mephistopheles would cure him. He did not want to be rude and say devil. The young man had hurt his knee while working in a corn field and the doctors all told him he could not recover L cfC. 100 PSYCHIC LIGHT the use of his leg. They told him the sack containing the joint water had burst, causing a stiffness impossible to remove. The spirit directed the medium to place one hand on the knee, the other under the knee and hold them there about five minutes. She then took hold of the foot and gave one sudden pull. The young man fell back in a spasm of terrible agony, moaning that the devil had surely killed him. In a few moments the control's voice greeted him kindly and said: "Get up and stand upon both feet." "I can't," he said. The voice said: "Oh, yes, you can." He struggled weakly to his feet. When lo! he could straighten out the poor, crippled drawn up leg that for five years had given him a world of pain. It was all right and he could walk. No need for the unsightly crutches; no limping through life. How gratefully he thanked the devil for the marvelous cure. He said, "1 can't quite believe it's angel power, for they don't take any care of us. They are too busy singing songs in Heaven at the feet of Jesus." Blind, blind world ! Ignorant humanity ! Souls made strong and glad in the light of immortality have much more useful tasks than singing hymns and psalms in glory. No, it is not strange that angels find it hard to reach human souls and break away the barriers of the old superstitions, to enable them to enter into our domain of thought. The great religious world, dominated by creeds, both taught and inbred, prefer to live in the shadow rathei than in the light of God's best providence. They prefei to live in darkness rather than accept a truth, or an} scientific fact, outside of their teachings and contradictory of Milton's epic story of man's fall, and of their especially devised plan of salvation. There is nothing more pretentious in the world to-day than to ask thinking men to accept by faith what can be so readily and easily demonstrated as a fact— what can become positive knowledge. Faith is well, knowledge is better, when that know- CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 101 ledge is natural; positive because scientific, and is the one great hope of humanity. We readily accept the latest and greatest achievements of science in commanding the ethereal of currents, irrespective of storm and tempest, to register, in the fraction of a second of time, its thought thousands of miles across seas and continents— a phenomenon more marvelous than any we here record, which, after only a few trials, is accepted without ques- tion. Why deny this older and so often demonstrated fact? Why require more demonstration of the fact that there is an interchange of thought between this stage of existence and the next? Is not the same magnetic force used in one instance as in the other, only differently gen- erated? Does the religious world wait for the hand of science to reach into the great laboratory of nature and devise some plan, some material apparatus by the use of which these communications can be had, instead of receiv- ing them through God's living instruments? Must it have such a method of communication before it will cease to raise barriers to spiritual messages, before objection and perse- cutions will cease? Such an invention is possible, is con- templated, and will be forthcoming in the near future. Why so impervious to divine spirit working through mat- ter? Why so blindly trample under religious feet the celestial flowers that would grow beautifully in our lives and replace the bitter thoughts of deceit and hypocrisy by the sweet thoughts of truth, charity and love? Why beat back the wonderful visions of our loved ones and reject their words of love and peace, as they come over the weary night of time illumining our darkened path- way with the wonders of their celestial homes? Why close our hearts to the splendor of their glowing thoughts, radiant with the beauties of the after life? THE INDIAN MAKES PRAIRIE QUININE. Our medium, now most happy in the exercise of her healing gift, on one occasion, accompanied her father who went after wood to what was known as the Mississippi 102 PSYCHIC LIGHT bottoms. Her father left her with a German family. Nearly all of the family were ill with chills and fever. She could not speak German, and they could not •understand English, but the invisible host immediately stepped in and conversed with them in German as lively as one could wish. All their ills and complaints were speedily poured out to this girl, under what, if they could have understood the stupendous fact, would have been to them the devil's influence. She hastened from the house to the woods nearby and began a systematic search after herbs, and found them. Her father saw her, followed and watched. She cleaned them quickly in a brook, took them to the house, steeped them, and, in the German language, all unconscious, gave them instructions how to take the preparations. They carefully followed instruc- tions, and when she visited them shortly afterwards, tak- ing a German girl with her to talk, she found them all well and profuse in their gratitude for her timely assist- ance. They told her about their neighbors who were sick with the same trouble and appealed to her to help and cure them. The same angel of guidance and charity controlled her, found the herbs and took them to the other sick and wretchedly poor people. No less than half a dozen fami- lies suffering from that disease were thus cured. The plant was then cultivated by many. The medium's con- trol called it "prairie quinine." She possessed so much of the curative power and was so successful that people from far and wide sought her. She often spent hours in the woods gathering roots and herbs to make into syrup for the afflicted. EXPERIENCE AS A NURSE. She had a remarkable experience with a lady, Mrs. Black, who had black erysipelas of a very malignant form, The doctors told her it was contagious but she did not for- sake her post. When death had released the sufferer and the medium was preparing the corpse for a lonely burial, CONTINl'lTY OP LAW AND LIFE. 103 the spirit of the woman stood by her side and said, "My dear, what is that woman doing there? " The medium said, "where," almost forgetting that it was a spirit and not Mrs. Black in the body, who thus spoke to her. The spirit pointed with indignation expressed in every feature to the body and said : ' ' That woman there with some kind of disease, pointing to her own body." Greatly excited the spirit again said to the medim, "Get out of here quick, my dear; she has some kind of a malignant disease and I am afraid we will catch it." The face of the dead woman was badly swollen and covered with terrible blotches so that the spirit failed to recognize her own body. The spirit had taken its departure so suddenly from the afflicted body that she did not know she was dead. In life Mrs. Black was a woman about thirty-nine or forty years old and quite prepossessing in appearance. She soon became aware of her demise, and was taken away by her spirit friends. On another occasion, when two beautiful children passed over with scarlet fever, she was their sole attendant. The mother lay at death's door. The father who had to work to keep the wolf from the door, earning a mere pit- tance by his long day's labor, was away from home. The doctor came and looked down upon the two little ones who had been the sunshine of the home, so bare of all comforts. The day was dark and stormy. The mother was so ill that she could not lift her head from the pillow. There was no light except the sputtering weak flame from a piece of rag in a saucer of oil. The room seemed filled with some mighty presence. The doctor looked around, spoke kindly to our over- taxed girl nurse, and asked: "What is it that makes this room look so bright? Look! it's all aglow!" Over "the heads of the two children rested a celestial radiance. "Is it not the reflection of Jessie's golden hair?" asked the medium, naming one of the girls to avert the doctor's skeptical mind from what was now quite familiar to her— the presence of the angels who had come for the dying. 104 PSYCHIC LIGHT There was a glorious light in that humble room. The doctor could not leave. He took off his coat and rubbers and sat down for the first time in earnest in his exam- inations. With a startled voice he said, ''My God, they are both dying." One little hand of each of the children lay in his, growing colder and colder. Presently the father came in from the mud of the streets, from the tedium of work, with every nerve strained because of his dire neces- sities and his watching and waiting at the bedside of his wife and his sick and now dying children. The radiance in the room remained. The father was not left without hope. Though desolate in his yearnings to again see the little golden and brown heads resting on his breast, he knew they would come again and again to cheer him- on life's road. The mother recovered to find her birdlings gone. When Dr. Lewis told her of the glorious light that had filled the room, and of the fragrance, as if some visi- ble throng had brought flowers of beauty and left them with her loved ones, she sighed and said: "All is well done in the will of the Father. ' ' Maud was invited to visit in Hannibal, 'Mo. She went to the house of the well known Judge Archer, who so kindly received here. There, pretty much as in her own home, she held cabinet seances for full form manifesta- tions, independent slate writing, found lost and stolen property and convinced many skeptics. She reformed sev- eral drinking men who had no hope that reform was pos- sible. Her powerful and kindly guides surrounded them with care and strengthened and released them from their terrible habit and appetites. The general public at this date was most bitter and denunciatory over spirit phenomena. The church people and especially the ministers, were exceedingly abusive of all mediums and those accepting this great truth. Not infrequently she would be approached by church members who would try and crush her with their mighty CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 105 wrath and predict a terrible ending for her, saying it was of the devil, and that she had sold herself to him to gain this power of insight into human lives. None came to pray with her. They reviled and lashed her with vengeance for this, the soul's best gift, that which had saved her from madness, from death in the waters of the old river, saved her from absolute ignorance. No need for her to picture to them her past despair before this blaze of living light crept slowly into her life and was now lighting up the horizon of her darkened sky. They told her that God did not hear her; that she was so wicked. Wise, most wise to thus know God's will and purpose so well ! The angels heard, and always after these rude, but possibly necessary combats and conflicts, w r ould try to render some service to her young soul thus grown deso- late under the lashings of religious hate. ENCOUNTER WITH A MINISTER. One day a minister called upon her and abruptly asked her if she was the young lady possessing the devil. She answered, "No, sir, but if you have angel friends that are with you, I can see them." "You lie," he said; "you lie. You see devils, for angels are with God. I am a minister of God and I should know whether angels come back or not. I have not seen them and I know you see the devil. You should be put in prison and kept there. You are inoculating hundreds with your infernal teaching." This religious tirade brought tears to her eyes. Her heart was gentle, loving, forgiving and so tender towards all God's creatures; she could not trample out the life of even a flower, and this rude, wrathful talk from one who professed to be a follower of Jesus made crucifixion in her heart. He continued and fairly hissed his accusations in the most condemning, abusive and vindictive words. He gave her no chance to reply, so fierce was his wrath. 106 PSYCHIC LIGHT It was nearly dark, and as he started to leave, there came from the corner of the room a sound as of rustling garments. Out of the shadow of the corner came some- thing white as spotless snow. The minister looked and fairly shrieked. "My God, what is this?" As he grasped at this something white in front of him, his fingers clutched only the air. He looked and acted like a madman. He shook his finger in her face and said: "That was one of your lying tricks." Again a chair moved from the farther part of the room, moved close up to the enraged clergyman. Frenzied with anger and fear, he started up as if to annihilate anything that dared to assume shape in his august presence. He clutched the chair and held it fast. Again the form showed itself, this time clear and distinct. With a startled cry he said, "My God, it's my mother!" and fell back speechless. For some time there was not a word spoken. At last he broke out with terrible indignation, saying that the devil had brought his dead mother, Mrs Lucinda Dunn, from her grave and from her winding sheets where they had laid her. This reverend gentleman lived in, or near, St. Louis. At another time, in Quincy, several church people came together to ask that she let them support her and she renounce her teaching. With dire threats they told her that many were being led by her devil power to be- lieve in spirits and that she must cease to teach such dreadful things. She told them, that it could not be of evil origin and smiled at their threats, saying : ' ' Imprison me if you wish, load my good name with odium, hurl at me all your wrath and rage, pursue me with torture and lacer- ations of heart, yet will I teach and preach, if only to the spirits in prison. They will heed and hear my prayers. You can torture and wound me, persecute and make me wretched, but you cannot take from me my light and my Life. This light may fall in barren places, even as now, but in time it will cause the seed of immortal life and beauty to spring up and bear fruit," CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 107 They thought her lost and bent upon her own destruc- tion. The Reverend Mr. Jones, who later became a spirit- ualist, was among the number to send members of his eon- gregatioD to persuade her to cease what he thought were evil teachings. But this was only a drop of the worm- wood and gall she had to drink from the proud and fool- ish who believed their wisdom was sufficient to fathom the laws and see rets of the universe. Of these men believing themselves wise beyond all measure, assuming to have drunk the fount of wisdom dry, it might be said as has been said before: "Go, wiser thou! and, in thy scale of sense Weigh thy opinion against Providence; Call imperfection what thou fanciest such, Say. here he gives too little, there too much; Destroy all creatures for thy sport or gust, Yet, cry, if Man's unhappy, God's unjust; If Man alone engross not Heaven's high care, Alone made perfect here, immortal there; Snatch from His hand the balance and the rod, Rejudge His justice, be the God of God." The w r orkers on new lines who question dominant religious thought must accept the bitter with the sweet, and must be prepared to take the abuse that ignorant and prejudiced souls may hurl at them. They must be pre- pared to receive the venom, the sneers, the malice and the thoughts that scathe and wound, and hurt with bitter- est pain— w r ounds that prevent honest and struggling souls from arising on the wings of lofty and holy inspirations. FOUR WISE MEN. "Four wise men" came one day while she w r as busy with her Monday's work and asked her to show them what she could do. She told them she was very busy and could hardly spare the time. "We thought so," said one of them, w T ith a sneer. ' ' We have brought something the devil cannot work through." Being thus positively and insult- ingly addressed she became conscious that her guides wished her to reprove them and show them how ignorant they were to thus boast. 3 08 PSYCHIC LIGHT She said, ''Come in gentlemen." Rolling down her sleeves she gave them chairs. "We hear you get raps, almost anywhere." "Yes, sir," she replied. "Well, do you make them with your toe joints?" Laughing heartily, she replied : ' ' Hardly, sir, as they will rap on your head, if you wish. ' ' One, a most devout deacon, as he proved to be, did not want to be so familiar with the devil. "As long as you do not make them with your toes, or feet, or hands, you can have no objection to our exper- imenting and showing you that it is the devil, and lead, you back to a better life than teaching people this delu- sion?" She cheerfully assented and they brought in from their vehicle four large bottles and a large piece of glass. Tak- ing their four hats they wisely put each bottle into a hat. They next took the glass and placed it upon the bottles, with a look of ' ' There, Mr. Devil, if you dare. ' ' They then said, "Now, Miss, ask them to rap on this glass." She touched the glass and asked, if any spirit was present to please rap. No rap came. Pleased and exultant one of them said: "There, I told you so." Again she said, "Please rap three times." This time three soft and distinct raps came, "one, two, three," on the glass. Their faces changed, one nervously said, "Gentle- men what is this that defies all laws of electricity and magnetism ? " " Ask again, Miss, if they will rap. ' ' Immediately three loud and distinct raps came on the glass. Three more came on the bottles; brittle, snapping raps. They all started back in amazement. The medium said, "Do you wish to communicate! "Yes," came the quick reply. She repeated a, b, c, and so on until the right letter was called; and this message was spelled out. "These men are spiritually blind and without wisdom I CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. J09 sufficient to comprehend the divine laws controlling mind and matter. In their superstitious blindness they deny all evidence of this manifesting, deific force and call it. 'The Devil.' They are babbling Tools, acknowledging nothing outside of their own fathomless stupidity, knowing noth- ing beyond their own limited senses, let them go." This astonished one of the gentlemen considerably, and he said, "Are there things that you could tell us that would benefit our lives?" Readily the answer came, " Yes." Then more messages, names of friends and dates of their deaths were given. Finally the elder one of the party rose in great ex- citement and said, "Miss, you have treated us to an exhi- bition of diabolism." This was. hardly said when the glass was lifted from the bottles. It went up suddenly and with a swift, quick dash was shattered into innumerable pieces as it came down upon the bottles. Thus ended the seance with the four wise men of Egypt. One gentleman, Mr. Beckwith, declared it could only be of evil origin and that the medium would some time burn in a literal lake of fire and brimstone. Without thanks or recompense of any kind for her time they took their departure. They came to interview the devil and went away marveling at his sagacious wit and wonderful knowledge of their lives. UNUSUAL TEST CONDITIONS. The next day following this experience the medium was called to Mr. Hockenberry 's in Warren County. They had made all arrangements for a cabinet seance. They requested her to come alone so they would know that she had no accomplices. The company was mainly composed of their immediate family, eight or ten in all. They had prepared a board through which they had made four holes. They tied each hand and each foot with stout cords and passed the ends of the cords through the holes in the board and knotted them on the other side. She was thus tied 110 PSYCHIC LIGHT so she could not move hand or foot. They then laid her and the board flat on the floor and tacked her garments to the floor. They had scarcely closed the curtain before hands were shown and faces of their loved ones appeared, recogni- tion and hand-shakings and exchange of greetings seemed to be the order of the evening. Little toddling children, so small and tiny the parents had to kneel to touch their hands and see the cherub faces. Lights large and lumin- ous came, sometimes fleeting, sometimes coming slowly and staying for several seconds. Sometimes there were faces, sometimes the entire form of some loved one appeared. They asked and received this glorious light. Like a blessing it fell upon those who sought to understand. They examined the medium and found her as they had reft her, tied and tacked to the board and floor. It was impossible for her to move, get up, or duplicate any of the manifestations. These manifestations were evidence to their senses, and to their reason. Their minds were flooded with the glad tidings of great joy that there was no death, that God, the great essential soul, a power ever present and ever felt, had given his angels command over matter as well as given to every atom its inherent condition of divine life and place in the realms of being ; had given to every flower its living and exquisite individual life and form of beauty, and had endowed all organized forms with individual- ized, ensphering, cosmic force that calls atoms back to recognizable forms of life and beauty. By these laws build we our bodies and formulate out thought— form them on lines of beaiTty pure and good, or with evil intent to hurt and wound. Thus equipped these thoughts go forth winged w T ith potent force and purpose to ennoble or demean the spirit in its own eyes. When memory, the great recording angel, accuser and judge— from whose decision there will be no appeal, shall, in that after life unroll her living palimpsest and reproduce every line, there will be no intermediary, for this CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. Ill harvest of bitter and sweet will be ours and ours alone. Such is the testimony of all who have come from beyond the Golden Bastions of Eternal Life, and such have been the precepts of all the great ethical teachers of liu inan- ity. As Juvenal says: "Himself being the judge, no guilty man is acquitted." Did not Jesus— the Christ— say : "There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed; nothing hidden that shall not be known. Confucius— the philosopher — said ; "Man cannot be concealed from the consequences of his acts." Gautama— the Buddha— said: "The thing is followed by its shadow." The same spiritual laws and great moral truths were taught by all of the sixteen crucified saviors of whom we have record. Of these, Chrisna, Gautama and Jesus, each in his epoch, have left to humanity three imperishable religions which have withstood and always will withstand the assaults of skepticism and materialism. So long as man has a knowledge of a continued existence, so long will he continue to be religious. Chrisna the savior of the Hindoos, is the oldest and, like Jesus, died on the cross, while Gautama, the savior of the Buddhists, Tartars and Chinese escaped crucifixion. They all taught a spiritual religion and lived lives of sim- plicity and purity. They possessed great healing and clairvoyant powers. Their mothers were immaculate and had holy conceptions, the same as that of Mary, the mother of Jesus, who, with Joseph, was controlled or entranced by spirits, or as the Bible states it, by the Holy Ghost, at the conception of Jesus. So the wiser intelligences now explain and so was it explained to Joseph by the angel of the Lord. They performed miracles, cured the lame, healed the sick, made the blind see: cast out devils, or cured obsession ; showed themselves as risen, materialized spirits, and were worshipped by their followers. According to the most reliable calculations, Chrisna lived about 6890 years ago, and Gautama about 2560 years 112 » PSYCHIC LIGHT ago. None of these three ever claimed to be God, but al taught the same high spiritual truths and moral respon- sibilities. They were mediums as was Appollonius of Tyana, who was a contemporary of Jesus and confined his work to the rich while Jesus confined himself to the poor; so were Socrates, Cicero, Esculapius, Zoroaster, founder of the fire worshippers of ancient Persia, and Sosioch the Per- sian Savior. All these great teachers and mediums, even in earliest history of humanity taught a moral respon- sibility. All taught a continued existence, recognizing this stage of existence as preparatory to the next. Our own science also teaches us that nature's laws are not vicarious. All is cause and effect. Action and reaction are equal in mechanics, in intellectual and spirit- ual realms, — in all forms of force. Why refuse to recog- nize law, why build codes of ethics and formulate lines of thought and action contrary to nature's divine law? The upward way of eternal progression is already blocked by centuries of ignorance, ecclesiasticism and intel- lectualism gone mad. Why not accept the natural, logical deductions of reason and listen to the voices that whisper to our inner consciousness ? Why not hearken to those whose lips are again falling into speech in conformity to God's eternal laws? These laws "are the same to-day as when Jesus spoke to His Disciples in the closed room. These laws are unchanged and unchangeable forever, and cannot be adjusted to man's creeds. These teachings, with the poverty, humiliation and sorrows that she had to endure, made our girl medium strong and brave in the great battle of life. They gave her power over the hearts of the people who were mourning over the loss of family and friends, and who feared that grim terror called death. Her mission was to teach such that there is no limit to this God-given power of the soul. That there is no boundary line to soul forces— no limit, only God, who permits the loved ones to come and tell of the greater birth which death brings— who per- mits them to return with memory of the past and knowl- CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 113 edge of the future, and to establish beautiful peace where fear existed. Nothing so destroys capabilities, cripples human energies or palsies courage as this fear of death. People came from all parts of the country to see these strange manifestations. The church people continued to talk to her, to write threatening letters, to hurl bitter denunciations from the pulpit upon her defenseless head, and by their prejudices and bigotry, to make her life at times almost unendurable. Others came to learn, but more came out of curiosity. Very few remunerated her for her time and again she was obliged to seek employment. She found a place with Mrs. Seaman who had never heard of a medium and did not know of her peculiar gift.. From the first meeting with the new girl she discovered in her something different from all others and something the good lady could not fathom. The household consisted of four members, Mr. and Mrs. Seaman and one son, eighteen or nineteen years old, and an old servant, the cook. They were people in good circumstances financially, and staunch church members. The medium gave her mid- dle name, fearing that possibly they had heard of her and might not want her. She had been at this place about two weeks and all went well until one evening the old lady was left alone, her son being away upon a hunting expedition; her hus- band down street on business and" the cook out to a dance, so she sought Maud for company and to break the monot- ony of the loneliness. The medium, not expecting her and believing she was absolutely 'secure from intrusion, sought communion with her guides and teachers, chatting and laughing at their witty sayings and repartee, as was often the case when she was left alone with them. Mrs. Seaman went to Maud's room, knowing all the household were absent. In Heaven's name what can this be? Company in her room ! A crowd of people ! Astonished and indig- nant, she listened and heard voices repeating lessons in spelling. 114 PSYCHIC LIGHT AY hen the voice she knew to be her new girl's failed spell rightly there was a big laugh, a gentle reprimand and another attempt to spell and so on until this good old church member was horrified and her brain wild with fear that her young son had returned home and was in the room giving her new girl spelling lessons. Without even a knock upon the door, she rushed in. The room was in stygian darkness. She called to the girl excitedly to get a light immediately that she might see what was going on. She felt surprised that such a nice appearing girl should be so untrustworthy. The lamp was hastily lighted and the room examined. There was but one door and one window. It was a little room upstairs only one outward access to it and the good old lady had her back against this door. She looked into the closet and then into the hall for the culprit. All this time Maud stood in dismay and silence, that she should be thus caught. What could she say and what would be thought? Mrs. Seaman turned from her fruit- less search and said indignantly: "Who did you have in this room ? I am sure I heard two or three voices talking. ' ■ Maud answered: "No one, I was amusing myself, that was all. Please believe me for I do not know any one and would not invite any one to my room without your per- mission. " The lady had to be pacified but was still sus- picious. This passed off without any further comment except to the husband who laughed at his wife's fears and fright. Another week slipped by and one evening the medium was again surprised by a rap upon the door, and Mrs. Seaman's voice saying angrily: "Open the door quick— I have you now. ' ' The medium opened the door more fright- ened than Mrs. Seaman could have been. The same dark and dreadful aspect of the room presented itself to the now thoroughly indignant mistress. That her girl had a gentleman in the room she was now fully convinced. As she entered she placed her back against the door at the same time turning the key that none might escape. She c >.\TL\IITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 115 looked under the bed, in the closet, everywhere and no one was to be found. She turned to Maud and said, "What is this dreadful thing! 1 am positive I heard a man talking to you. Where has he gone?" The medium was young and her spirits were easily aroused to mirth or depressed to tears. It was merriment this time. She laughed at the rueful counte- nance of the good mistress who had been so kindly drawn to her. This laughing set the madam in a better humor, and she laughed too, and asked that she tell her all and she should not be scolded. The medium said: "I will tell you all about it, and you shall condemn or approve me, censure me, or like me. You shall have the whole truth." Seated at her feet, she told the story of her medium- ship, confided her w r hole history, told all that others had said in commendation and censure. She was not allowed to retire that night until it was repeated to son and husband when they came in and found them so confidentially clos- eted together. They must see something for themselves, so they sat around a table. The raps and moving soon claimed their attention and convinced them that the girl was true, and that her trials and tribulations of mediumship were also true. These good church people, honest and true, ac- cepted the facts presented to them. They then wanted a seance. The following evening a cabinet was arranged after the usual manner of cabinets and the preponderance of beautiful evidence of spirit manifestations and return, was verified by convincing proof, by the glorious utterances from lips that they supposed to be cold in death and hidden from sight. This worthy family was convinced of the continuity of personal, individual life. Death had no more terrors. Their loved ones were not lost in eternal night. Belief had become knowledge. This good soul now proved Maud's benefac- tress. She provided her a comfortable wardrobe, even ele- gant, and started her out with a "God bless you, my child, 116 PSYCHIC LIGHT go and sow the seeds of immortal life, and falter not, an< fall not by the wayside. When weary, come to us." This noble woman and her kindly meaning husband are among the angels now, administering to those in spiritual need and darkness. Thus equipped and encouraged, the medium went forth again, visiting many homes and places, and bringing, even to the most bitterly prejudiced and the most obstinate bigots, the light and truth of the brighter side of life. Not infrequently these loving spirit compan- ions would spend hours in teaching her the common things of life, as well as instructing her upon scientific subjects; explaining the laws underlying all life and all things. Many listening ears have heard these voices deliver- ing grand lectures to this strange child of seemingly unfor- tunate conditions, in language more choice and elegant than ever fell from human lips, with a vocabulary selected from all tongues and embracing all science, instructing her in laws and principles not then— and some not now — formu- lated into philosophies, or found in text books of the most advanced colleges. The possession and the involuntary exercise of these spiritual gifts caused her to be debarred from school and condemned by the church — by those whom the Master is supposed to love and hold in his especial care and keep- ing, who claimed to be predestined as "Heirs of Salva- tion from the beginning." How did these chosen few, these elect— and there are some of them still living in this glorious twentieth century of advanced thought— treat this gifted child? Did she have to climb with bleeding feet and bruised hands to reach the summit, to receive the wisdom from celestial teachers, to place this light so high that men and "spirits in prison" could catch the gleam and not lose the way of eternal progression— this God-given light of the soul, the only light that can illuminate the dark depths of materialism and unbelief, for surely the shortest road to materialism is through the church? CHAPTER IV. EXPERIENCES OF A. H. WILLIAMS OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS. "I have no creed. Creeds are but words. Good is the oniy rule; and, yet, I fear no death; Or, if a creed, but this; I love humanity, and require The Fatherhood of God — the Brotherhood of man." A. H. Williams, who conducted a series of spiritual meetings for many years on the West Side in Chicago, was one of the first in Illinois to recognize the fact of spirit return. He organized and conducted the first spiritual society in the southern part of the state, at Quincy, where our medium, just a mere girl, took charge, spoke under con- trol, gave tests and held public seances. Their meetings were held in Hampshire Hall. After the speaking they sometimes sat around a table and received communications by raps, and, sometimes they had a cabinet. At one of the cabinet seances, the spirit of a woman came and said she was from New York state, and, while passing through Quincy she had been murdered by two men who had followed her from New York to rob her ; and, that the two men were still in the city. She said they had mur- dered her and dismembered her body in a small hotel near the depot, where she had been induced to stop when she arrived. She also said if they would look .back of the old Quincy House they would find one of her hands, and would find a portion of her body in an abandoned well in another part of the city. Mr. Williams made search the next day and found the hand and gave it to the authorities with a full account of how the information came to him. When this became pub- licly known it caused great excitement, and the curioua 118 PSYCHIC LIGHT became so interested that search was made for the old and abandoned well. This was at last located and a portion of the body found as told by the spirit. Everybody was now talking about the murder, the strange way in which it was discovered, and the still stranger girl medium at the Sunday evening meeting. If the spirit could tell so much, why not tell who were the murderers, and point them out, was the universal query. The next Sunday evening the hall was crowded. Quite a number sat around the table for raps. On such occasions, the rule was, when raps came, for each to say, "Is it for me?" and so on, around the table. Raps came during this evening which did not come for any one at the table. Mr. Williams asked others pres- ent to repeat the question until the spirits should designate the one to whom they came. This was done by a few of those present. Two men, when their turn to ask came, said they did not believe in such things and refused to ask if it was for them. Mr. Williams then asked the spirit to spell out the name. Immediately the name of the murdered woman was rapped out. All eyes were turned upon the two men who had refused to ask if the raps were for them. Greatly excited they arose and commenced to abuse and deride the whole matter and instantly left the room. The next day a man reported that two men came hur- riedly to the river and paid him five dollars to row them across. From their talk he knew they had been at Mr. William's meeting. Mr. Williams and his family of girls were all musi- cians, and singers. He had arranged to travel with them and give musical entertainments, and concluded to take Maud with them. He made a contract with her father for her service for a year. On his musical program he adver- tised "Miss Jennie Barrock" to give cabinet seances for spiritual manifestations, materializations, clairvoyance and clairaudience. He boldly challenged the world to investi- CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 119 gate. He went forth to battle for the truth, conscious that his medium could fully demonstrate the facte. His cour- ,iii(l ability were destined to be severely tested. Few had heard of spiritualism, and fewer still dared to admit its claim, because it was not popular. THE WISE -MAX OF THE TOWN EXPLAINS. Mr. Williams writes as follows: Our first stop was at Camp Point, for two evenings. Here the important man of the place w r as a doctor w r hose wisdom was great in the eyes of the people. He would show that it was all hum- bug, so wise are many people in pronouncing upon a sub- ject concerning which they know nothing. On the second evening this doctor came with several yards of surgeon's silk. They were twenty-seven minutes in tying the medium under his directions. She stepped into the cabinet, and in just three minutes stepped out freed from every knot. The audience shouted and the great doc- tor, who had told nearly all present that he would expose the humbug, was invited to step up and be as frank in explaining how it was done as he was careful in tying the silk. Only one supremely ignorant w r ould have so promptly attempted an explanation. He stepped forward and said: " Ladies and gentle- men, the girl never untied herself. This I know, for I have experimented with this subject until I know what can be done with electricity, magnetism and will pow T er. I have three times the electricity, magnetism and will power of anyone in this room. She brought her electricity and magnetism to bear upon the knots." I then said, "If that is true, will you please step for- ward and let the balance of the committee tie you as you tied the girl, and you step into this cabinet and see what your will power can do?" He stammered and said, "No, I did not come here to give an exhibition; I have not the time to go over the ground it would require." 120 PSYCHIC LIGHT The audience cheered and said, ''Doc. you are down Go on with your show, Mister." After a week's absence we returned to Quincy, where we gave several„seances, and then started for Pike County. Arriving at the town of Berry, we found the only hall in the place occupied by a sleight of hand performer, who I will call "Mr. Brown."* Mr. Brown invited us to visit his entertainment, say- ing that as we were traveling as spiritualists, he would omit from his program his exposure of the rope-tying of the Davenport boys. I at once said, "Not on our account. We can back everything on our bills, and you can tie her if you want to do so. " He was quite anxious to try it. After his performance he came to our hall and was permitted to tie her. He did it very effectively, saying: "She cannot get out unless someone unties her." She stepped into a darkened room; and, in exactly two and a half minutes, stepped out and said to Mr. Brown, "Is this the rope with which you tied me?" He examined it and answered, "Yes, and I am beaten. You beat the world on that line. ' ' After the performance we were all seated together in the hotel parlor when suddenly she looked up to him and said: "Mr. Brown, I see a spirit man standing by you." "Can you describe him?" he asked. "Yes, he says he is your brother," she replied. She stopped a few moments and, putting her hands over her face, ran from the room. "When we adjourned to our own apartment, we found her reading. I said: "Jennie why did you not tell Mr. Brown more about his brother ? ' ' She said : "I could not, he looked so badly. His throat was cut from ear to ear, and he said his brother did it for his property." ♦NOTE — All the incidents of travel with Mr. Williams' family herein related are furnished by Mr. Williams, written by him before he passed over. For reasons which will be under- stood, in the following incident he gives the name of this sleight-of-hand performer, who is still alive, as "Mr. Brown." CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 121 After this night's revelations he became more inter- ests 1 in us, and left, after learning our route and all the particulars of Jennie's parents and where they lived. He went to Quincy and tried to effect an arrangement for her to leave me and go with him. When Brown left Quincy, he came directly to us. He watched his opportunity to talk with Jennie and found her an excellent hypnotic subject, and at once took advantage of it. Under his direction and suggestion, she showed great hatred towards me. He told her that her father was willing she should go with him and his wife. And he said he would give her one hundred dollars per week. What was I to do? He had told one of our company he had come for her, and he would have her, if he had to go through h— 1 and steal her out of the back door. It was a problem for me, how to free her from his influence. A thought came to me : I must use strategy. I said to him: "We are billed at Mount Sterling for Monday night and this is Saturday. I propose that you go to Mount Sterling and bill for a joint exhibition. ' ' He agreed to this and left, but not until he had an interview with Jennie. The next morning we started for Quincy. She fell asleep and rode sixteen miles before she awoke. Then she looked around and inquired the di- rection of Mount Sterling. The driver answered, "It is north." You are not going north," she said. "I know it, but I shall turn north soon." She looked at him steadily for a few moments and then exclaimed, "How are you Mount Sterling," and began crying. "What is the matter, little girl?" asked the driver. "Oh, you are not going to Mount Sterling, you are going home and I must go to Mount Sterling. Mr. Brown made me lay my hand on the Bible and swear I would meet him at Mount Sterling on Monday." "So you shall," I replied, "if he has not lied to me; if he has, I am under no obligation to carry out my engagement with him." Jen- nie then said: "He did lie." "How do you know?" I asked. "Clarence tells me so. and he stands laughing at 122 PSYCHIC LIGHT me, and says : ' How is the back door through which he was going to get you'?' " On arriving I called on her father and learned that his story was all a fabrication. Jennie persisted in saying that Mr. Brown was coming to Quincy. On the following morning a boy came to my home and said, "Mr. Jones wishes to see you at the entrance to the park." I said: "Tell Mr. Jones I am at home, and if he wishes to see me he will find me here." I asked a member of my family to step to the top of the hill, and see if "Jones" was "Brown." He did so, and I was correct. He was there. At the same time Jennie was in the basement dining room with my daughter, and all at once she started saying, "They are calling me, I must go." My daughter called to her mother on the next floor to look out for Jennie, for something was wrong. By this time she had gained the. second floor. My wife immediately locked the doors, and for three days and nights we had to guard her constantly. The second day her father came to see her, and said she was crazy, that she always had the devil with her, and he would now send her to Jacksonville to the insane asylum. I argued with him that she was not crazy, but under hypnotic influence, and to leave her with me and I would bring her out all right. He insisted on sending her away, until I told him he could not, for she was mine for several months yet, by a written contract. That settled it, and he said no more. I told him to find the man Brown and drive him from the town. He did so. Brown had made all arrangements to kidnap the girl. After he left the city her excitement died away. We were obliged to remain at home for three weeks before we could resume our work. Our trouble was not ended, although we watched her constantly. When she would go out and was in danger, her control, Kaolah, would bring her home. When he got control there was no trouble with either mortal or spirit. He was supreme. Nevertheless, she CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 123 would sometimes take the reins in her own hands and would always suffer from it. On the day of our first seance after this trouble she went to her father's house in the afternoon with the prom- ise that she would return in time for the seance in the even- in jr. This was on Thursday and we did not see her again until Sunuay night at eight o'clock. According to her recollection she went home, and from there started to go to a laundry. To shorten the distance, she passed into an alley, intending to enter the back door. Some one came up behind her and threw something over her head. Jn a few seconds a buggy drove up, and she was lifted into it. That was the last she remembered until she found herself confined in a room, but, where, she could not tell. She knew she was a prisoner for she could hear men drinking and talking in the next room, saying they must telegraph to him. £he heard them say that she had the devil with her, and they could not keep her very long, and they might lose their thousand dollars if she got away. Clarence, her guide, told her not to eat or drink anything they might bring her and to hold herself in readiness to go when they should say the word; that they would open the door and take her home, but she must do as they told her. Sunday night we found her lying across my door-step in an unconscious condition, with her clothes torn and rent, a most painful looking object. When she was brought nsciousness, she remembered the direction from whence she came. Her controls brought her across the cemetery, which was enclosed by an osage orange hedge six feet in height, and across a ravine which it would have been im- possible for any person to cross in the night. This w r e verified, as I went back the next morning and found parts of her wearing apparel where they had caught on the brush. Her gloves, hat. scarf and clothing told the story of her perilous flight. She knew the direction, and distinctly remembered crossing the cemetery. Her guides kept her in a straight line while her pursuers were obliged to £o around by the road. 124 PSYCHIC LIGHT LOCATES BURIED MONEY. At one time a lady came for a sitting, but made no statement as to her identity or what she wanted. Jennie at once said : "Oh yes, I see, your husband is dead ; he passed away suddenly, by accident, but you did not come to hear from him. It is for something lost, or it seems as though it was hidden away. It looks like money. It is gold and there is considerable of it and in large pieces." "Can you tell me where it is ? " " Yes it is buried in the old log house that stands in this direction from the house in which you live, ' ' pointing in the direction in which it stood. "Go to the southeast corner and dig and you will find the money. ' ' The lady went home and found it as directed. Her husband was killed by walking out of a second story window in the night. At Monmouth and Galesburg, we met a few profes- sional men, who, with no knowledge of the subject, expected the phenomena to be produced under any conditions they might prescribe. On the second night of our engagement at Monmouth, a committee consisting of Dr. Clark and Dr. Field, of Galesburg, attended our seance. They had been sent to engage us to come to Galesburg if they found our performance genuine. We had rooms at the American Hotel, kept at the time by Geo. S. Robinson, a fearless, inde- pendent thinker, where we held our meetings. At these seances we were subjected to every imaginable test, even to putting mittens on Jennie 's hands ; tacking her garments to the floor; tieing her to the chair; people sitting and holding her hands remote from those receiving the manifes- tations ; putting flour and a certain number of shot in each hand— all done with only one thought in their minds that it was a trick, a fraud. On invitation of Dr. Clark and Dr. Field we went to Galesburg where for two weeks our seances were satisfac- tory to all, excepting to a few who thought their claim to wisdom and smartness would be questioned unless they could detect fraud. CONTINUITY OF LAW AM) LIFE. 125 No two cabinet seances were ever alike. No manifesta- tion was ever duplicated, excepting the untieing of the medium by her controls. With such air endless variety of facts; such varied and unexpected manifestations, for, if genuine, it is the unexpected t hat always occurs, with such a wide range of manifestations covering nearly owvy expe- rience in human life, the proofs were astounding. It is a wonder to me that this child, so sensitive ^and self-sacrific- ing, convinced so many of immortality, and the return of departed spirits. THE CONTROL GIVES HER A LESSON. On our first night at Knoxville, Illinois, the committee had securely bound Jennie and placed her in the cabinet. For full thirty minutes we waited. She did not come out. What could be the trouble? Such a thing had never occurred in all her experience. The committee went in and found her just as they had left her. This created quite a sensation. The committee untied her and asked her what was the matter. She said, "Clarence is not here." One of the committee stepped forward and said it was one of the best proofs to him that the young lady did not untie herself. If she could untie herself, she would not have stood in the cabinet that length of time. Just before we had finished our program, Jennie came to me and said: "Clarence has come, and if they will tie me again, he will untie me." The committee readily responded and after she stepped into the cabinet we could hear her asking where he had been and why he was not attending to business. In a very few minutes the rope was taken off. I asked her what Clarence meant. She said that the night before, she commenced or attempted to do some things her- self, and he left her this night to ';each her a lesson. He told her he would leave her if she attempted such a thing again. 126 PSYCHIC LIGHT A SPIRITUALIST DEMANDS HIS CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS. At Maquon, I was arrested for not having a license. The gentleman who had engaged us appeared in court and said it was his religion, and the Constitution of the United States gave him a right to worship according to the dic- tates of his own conscience. This was his revival meeting. The justice answered, "I cannot see that these people have broken the law, and if I fine them, I must also fine every minister who holds his meetings of whatever name they may be." I was discharged. KAOLAH CURES A CRIPPLE. At one of the seances held at Vermont, Illinois, a man came on crutches having one leg badly crippled. During the seance, the Indian, Kaolah, came to him and said, ' ' White man have bad leg. I cure it. " "I wish you would try," said the man. The Indian commenced to treat the crippled and drawn-up leg. After rubbing it some little time, as all in the seance could hear, he put his hand on the knee and taking hold of the ankle with the other, gave a quick, sharp pull and instantly grasped the knee w T ith both hands and rubbed down towards the foot: This is as the man told the story. He walked away without his crutches. At a seance in Canton, Illinois, held at Mr. Porter's house, the controls lifted the medium, chair and all to the ceiling, where she made marks with a red and blue pencil. Seventeen years after this incident Mr. Porter told me he had never permitted the marks to be erased, and that they should remain there as long as he lived. Sometimes the spirits would themselves do this mark- ing with the pencil. On one of these occasions while hold- ing a seance at the house of Dr. Boggs, in Havana, Illinois, a pencil was given to Clarence with the request to mark on the ceiling above. Suddenly the pencil hit me on the hand, and I knew something was wrong. The pencil had been blackened. On examining Jennie's hands, no signs of the lamp black were found, although the ceiling was marked. ■ CONTINUITY OF LAW AM) LIFE. 127 in tins case the pencil was blackened by the gentleman hav- ing charge of the seance, showing that our own friends were anxious to test the medium. Had she not been true she would have been detected every night, for we gave them every possible opportunity to satisfy themselves. The Indian, Kaolah, would often lay his large hand upon the heads of those present. On one occasion, a man came with his hair full of lamp black, thinking he would surely catch the medium. The Indian rubbed his head good and hard, and did not forget to rub his face. In a few minutes the gentleman called for the light. He then walked up to her and said, "Will you please let me look at your hands?" She held them up, and he exclaimed, "I don't understand this; there is not a bit on them." He was asked what he expected to find. This caused the whole company to look at him. He was greeted with a roar of laughter. His face w r as completely covered with the lamp black. At one of the seances a stranger came. As soon as all were seated a spirit came to him and said: "Please give me the ring. ' ' He took one from his finger and said, ' ' Here it is." The spirit spoke again, and said, "Not that one, I want the ring your mother gave you." He placed the ring back on the finger and held up his hand, and said, "Take it off, please, if you know it." That particular ring was immediately taken from his finger. He said there was not a person within one hundred miles who knew anything about him. At Havana, Illinois, and at one other place we had ex- periences that were disastrous to the medium. We could not make the people understand that all materialization in nature requires negative conditions; neither could we make them understand that darkness is one of the essential condi- tions for these phenomena. At a seance held at Dr. Boggs', in Havana, 111., some- one fastened a parlor match in one end of 'the pencil and gave it to the medium. When the control lifted her up to the ceiling, we all heard her mark. When she turned the 128 PSYCHIC LIGHT pencil and drew it across the ceiling, there was a flash of light, and the sitters all saw the medium and the chair fall to the floor with a scream and a crash. She was terribly injured and severely bruised in her back and sides, and was incapacitated for work for some time. Some of the sit- ters were very indignant and there was considerable talk of legal prosecution, but the medium would not hear to any retaliation. She would always suiter rather than cause others any distress. While holding a seance at Bath, Illinois, by invitation, an incident occurred, showing that the controls were not always on the watch for the tricks played upon us. The people had heard how the Indian pulled off boots ; and on this particular occasion, they all wanted their boots pulled off. Some of the boots were muddy, some were smeared with tar, others had spurs, and one had a row of sharp nails five-eights of an inch long completely around the heel. As soon as the circle was formed they commenced call- ing for Kaolah to take off their boots. He finally took hold of one and pulled it about half way off and left it and would not take hold of it again. The next one called with the same result, and so on, until five had been started and all left. The sixth one called, but he said, ' ' I will not, your boots are dirty." Then came the boot with the sharp nails. Kaolah was not in any hurry to take hold of it, but at last he caught hold of it with such force the gentleman was obliged to break the circle and hold to the chair. He curled his foot up to prevent him from taking it off. He told me after- wards, he felt sure, if Kaolah got it off he would have thrown it in his face. He said he would have given ten dollars if he had not tried the experiment, for he saw the instant the hand touched him, it was not the medium's hand. When the spirit let go of the boot, he gave one leap to the floor that made the whole house tremble, and spoke so CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 129 as to be distinctly heard by all. "White man one big ,1 d fool."* I immediately inquired what it all meant. The man said. "It is Kaolah, it is all right." I replied, "Do not lay anything to him or to any other spirit that does not belong to them." He answered that it was all right. Before leaving he brought the boot to me and said, "I will make you a present of this, that you may remem- ber this place and have it to show through what tests you have passed." SATISFACTORY TESTS. Our next visit was to Princeton, Illinois, where one of the sitters brought a dark lantern into the seance, and while the manifestation was at its best he turned his light on the chair where Jennie was supposed to sit, expecting to find her out of it, but there she sat in full view of every- body. He was beaten and his lantern was knocked to the floor by the spirits. This stopped all further manifestations. After we left the seance, a minister and some of the others talked it over, and wanted to come again. The minister said, "We will catch them yet, if they were too smart for us this time." I told him they would have to comply with essential conditions, if they came. I told them darkness was neces- sary, and they must not produce any sudden light as the shock, or change, was disastrous to the medium. I told them I would place the medium where they w r ould know whether she was up or not. This pleased them. *NOTE— This incident so disgusted Kaolah that he left the seance. The medium did not see him again for several years. When he returned she hardly recognized him, so much was he improved in dress, appearance, deportment and speech. He never again left the medium, and has been her constant pro- r ever since. His services have been inestimable in all cases of indisposition and in the many accidents that have so persistently attended her. Very many times he saved her life and caused her to recover from illness in the most remark- able and surprising manner. In some instances these interpo- sition: of his skill and power have been prompt and instan- taneous. 130 PSYCHIC LIGHT The seance was held, and, at the given time, she turned and said, "Here Mr. Chrystopher put your feet on mine," and she placed her hands on his. * ' Now, ' ' said he, ' ' If we receive the manifestations, I can tell you what it is," He had hardly spoken when a spirit took off his glasses. He said: "Some one has my glasses." Mr. Reed, ten feet from him, spoke quickly, saying, "I have them." I then asked: "Mr. Reed, were those glasses thrown at you?" "No, sir, was the reply, "a small hand opened mine and placed them in, and closed my hand over them." ' ' Now, Mr. Chrystopher, ' ' I said, ' ' are you holding the medium's hands?" He answered, "I have both of her hands at this moment." Mr. Reed said, "Some one has my store key." Mr. Chrystopher said: "I have it." I asked him how it came to him, and if he still held the medium's hands. He 'answered as before. At this mo- ment, Mr. Reed said: "Some one is taking off my neck- tie." Instantly Mr. Chrystopher said, "I have it, they have hung it on my little finger." I said: "Who placed it there?" He replied, "I do not know;' and if there is not some one of you up and doing this, I am beaten. ' ' ' ' Have you hold of the medium ? " ' I asked, and at the same time I struck a match. Everything was all right, and everybody in their proper place. "Well," he said, "Miss Jennie, you can sit back for it is an uncomfortable position for you, and I am satisfied that you do not do it." I asked him if he would say so on the street the next day ; he said he would and so he did. I then said to Clar- ence, "I want you to take this watch and chain, lay it on top of the tambourine and carry it fully around the cir- cle, holding and shaking it over the lap of each one long enough for them to put their feet out in front and to feel around, above and below them, and let them see if they can find anyone holding the tambourine. This was done and they could not discover anybody near them. The hands that held the tambourine were not attached to any physi- cal, or materialized body. CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 131 A HYPNOTIST AGAIN MARKS TROUBLE. Our next place was Peru, Illinois. A hypnotist here again made us trouble. It must be remembered that she was young and that her controls had not the experience they acquired in later years, and could not defy these opera- tors as they did later. This man had drawn her from her seat, and hypnotically held her until I struck a match. To convince all present of the fact, I took her by the shoulder, turned her away from him and let her go. She went back to him like the bound of a rubber ball. This satisfied all in the seance of the law that controlled her. She felt much hurt over this incident, and would not sit again, and said she would never hold another seance while she lived, and we could not prevail on her to try again. I was obliged to abandon further performances. I had become tired of the fight against religious bigotry, ignorance and stupidity ; tired of trying to convince people who would not accept the evidence of their own senses, who could not think, who were not mentally qualified to investi- gate anything beyond their five senses, who were neither fair nor honest, and whose vanity was always a plus quantity. She, however, went bravely forward to greater victories, many times weary unto death, yet she has never fal- tered. Under all the most unreasonable demands of the skeptical she was always cheerful, obliging and charitable. She would deny herself actual necessities to help the sick and the unfortunate. I remember of her coming to me at one time and saying, "Father, I know you do not owe me any money, but I want a dollar. ' ' I insisted on her telling me for what she wanted it, as I paid all her bills. She told me she wanted it for a poor, sick woman. She had seen a little, poorly clad boy carrying a chicken to town, and had stopped him and learned his story. His mother was sick and had sent the little fellow to town with the last and only thing they had that could be sold for money. I gave her the dollar and then watched her. Never was a child more ■ 132 PSYCHIC LIGHT delighted. She hastened to the little fellow and told him to take the chicken back to his sick mother, with instructions to cook it for her. With the dollar she bought medicine and delicacies for the sick woman. All the money she could earn went in these charitable ways, when she hardly had suitable clothing for herself. She seemed to find more cases of deserving charity than I ever supposed existed, or else these cases were attracted to her by some occult law beyond my comprehension. Her cheerfulness under all circumstances was the marvel of everyone. It seemed so natural and a part of her very existence. She made every one about her happy and was herself most happy in giving to others, and in helping the unfortunate. She did not have a selfish thought. Lessons of charity and unselfishness were constantly impressed upon her by her guides and teachers. Very often, at night, we could hear them instructing her and explaining these moral lessons, urging her to the exercise of greater patience and courtesy to the public, and more attentive complaisance to friends and family. These lessons^ these thoughts could but form a character such as Shakespeare pictures : And then I stole all courtesy from Heav'n, And aress'd myself in such humility. That I did pluck allegiance from men's hearts. I write these early experiences as the light of the twen- tieth century commences to illumine the ecclesiastical tyranny, scientific dogma and public prejudice that met us at every step in presenting the spirit phenomena. I have related only a few of the facts in the early life of this child-medium, now grown to womanhood, and to whom all spiritualists point with pride, conscious that she has never trailed in the dust the glorious banner of spirit- ualism on which she has helped to write God 's last and best revelation of immortality to His people. She has never hesitated or failed to proclaim the truths, precepts and instructions received by her from the spirit world. I have watched her work for many, very many years, and I know CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 133 that few, if any. have done as much to demonstrate the great truth of immortality, and to establish unquestioned proof of the continuity of existence hereafter. A. H. Williams, Chicago, Illinois, 1886. CHAPTER V. Returning home from Peru, Jennie, or "Mai Eugenia," as she chose to be called, again commenced hi work among the poor people. One of her first cures wi when the spirit of a beautiful boy, apparently about elev( years old, came to her after midnight, weeping, and saic ' ' My grandma said you can see spirits. ' ' She told him si could sometimes see them. "Won't you come with me my mama? She is very sick." She hastily dressed an< went as directed, and found a woman by the name of Eli: Ray in a mere hovel, dying, to all outward appearances. Nc one was near but the angels who had sent for her. She began to rub the woman, when a control took p( session of her and continued the treatment, and, at the sai time talked and encouraged the distressed woman wh( husband had deserted her. Imagine her joy when she wi told that it was her Robert— her so-called dead child— tlu had saved her life; that it was he who brought this gii from another part of the city to administer to her soul well as body. The medium continued to help her un1 her strength and health were restored sufficiently to enabl her to resume her labor, when she told to the world h< wonderful recovery. "Try the spirits and see whether they are of God. This we are commanded to do by the good Apostle Pai Yet the church people blindly close their eyes to this woi drous truth that, like a golden benediction, rests upon tl hearts and in the souls of those knowing and accepting this divine ministry of guardian angels— these evangels of truth. The grand courage of sincere convictions, accepted and boldly stated, is rarer than the choicest jewels. CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 135 Very few <>i* the so-called great men are brave enough to exhibit this courage. If possessing it, they are not brave enough to avow their convictions. There have been, all along down the ages, a few brave souls who have dared to , think and act and move the wheels of progress; and, like our child-medium, have paid the penalty for their courage. The des- tiny of these thinkers has always been beyond their con- trol. They have built palaces of light and delight in which to dwell, while others, out of the same material, have built houses, or intellectual hovels, and must thus remain until the master-workman can make them something else. In the case of our medium, the moulding and changing process seemed hard and grievous to bear. Possibly it was best, They left nothing undone, and overlooked nothing. Recognizing the old Roman proverb— Mens Sana in Cor- porr Sano, they cared for her physical health so well that she was never sick and never required the 'services of a phy- sician. She never suffered from aches or pains like other people: and, so perfectly adjusted were the magnetic forces that she seemed impervious to disease. Seemingly, not for a moment was this watchful care absent. Thus equipped and attended, what might not a spirit accomplish in the Master's vineyard? With a tender heart, and a most sensi- tive conscience — God's best gifts to his workers — she was sent out into the stern realities of life to trace upon the hearts of others the beautiful imagery from the other side of life, where spirit is measured, not by wealth or station, but by spiritual worth and merit, by its beauty, grace and gentleness— by the good it has done, not to itself, but to others. When a mere child, and later in life when almost blind, they so completely controlled her destiny, her habits and her appetites, that she seldom evinced much, if any, inter- est in what the years would produce. They often told her and her family that some day the hearts of the earnest, good and true would open gratefully and receive these evi- dences then so greatly misunderstood and misapplied. 13G PSYCHIC LIGHT VISITS ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI. In 1867, Maud was called to St. Louis where she m< Mr. Charles Levey, who lived at the Southern Hotel and wl received many beautiful and striking evidences through hex mediumship. All of his past history was revealed. Th< predicted the death of two relatives near and dear to hi] He was told of certain financial changes and misunder- standings, and the date he would pass to spirit life. One day he called with a slate and asked the medii to hold it under the table with him. They sat some five 01 ten minutes without obtaining the desired result. Finally independent voice spoke loud and distinctly, saying : ' ' Put the slate upon a chair, take your coat and put over it." This he did immediately. The result was a long and beau- tifully written communication from a friend of whom had not heard or seen for years, and did not know he was dead. He later verified the fact of this friend's death. The writing was unlike his own or the medium's. The sentiment expressed in the communication was most exquis- itely delicate, and the writing cursive and graceful. Each heard the scratch of the pencil as it moved swiftly across the slate. They could hear the crossing of the " t 's " and the dotting of the "i's." This was all done in broad daylight This proved to him that • this force was intelligent, acci rate and personal. A NOTED CHARACTER. Old Pappy Price, of renown in the South as a gen- eral, often made his presence known to his friends and relatives. At one time .while the medium was securely fas- tened to an iron bar in the cabinet in Mr. J. J. Outley's Gallery of Fine Arts in St. Louis, the cabinet curtain parted and Mr. Price came into view. One of the family wai present and said, ''If that is you, make your presence known by some positive sign, you know what. ' ' He retired into the cabinet and came out again with his trousers rolled up above his knee, exposing a wound that had troubled him greatly while in earth life. CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. L37 One time standing in the doorway Leading from the itreet to Mr. Outley's gallery, a stranger passed by. She called his name, "John Canfield'I" lie turned and looked quickly to see from whence the call came. She called again. "Who speaks?" he almost gasped, for he recognizee! the voice of his dead wife. This call, coming from the lips of this girl, whose face he had never before seen, startled him. He went hack and said, "Did you call me?" The voice said, "John, you have grown heartsick trying to find our Charley. He is in the poorhouse," naming the street and house. "I am Celia, your wife, dead, yet strang- est of all things, I see and hear you and know that I am not dead ; your brother Charley is with me. ' ' With a pass or two over her face the influence* was gone and the mystery solved. She told him her name and that she was a medium. He said he would test the matter and see if he could find the boy. He had been separated from them during the three years he had been a soldier. While he was absent and in prison his wife died. He had searched far and wide for the boy. He investigated, as he promised, and found him just as he had been told. A few nights after this, while in the cabinet, spirits materialized in full form and stood in the doorway of the cabinet and beckoned with white hands for their loved ones piesent to approach. Mrs. Strong came forward after the voice had softly called her. There stood her loved hus- band, who had but recently departed this life. He told her of private matters of great interest and of papers mislaid, both useful and valuable. They were found, and the truth was gladly made known. Neither creeds nor conservatism prevented this woman 's honest acknowledgement. Before the medium left the cabinet upon this memor- able evening, more than twenty skeptics were convinced. Some said: "Surely human ingenuity cannot accomplish these wonderful and most convincing results." The iden- tity of each was different and positive. One spirit spoke German, another French, and with many words each con- 138 PSYCHIC LIGHT versed with their friends present, using their respective languages, while the medium spoke only English. From St. Louis she was called to New Boston, Illinois. She went there with the Reverend A. J. Fishback, a noble- hearted convert to spiritualism, convinced by proofs that he could not argue away or deny. He did not even try to deny them as many do who fear it might bring shame and disgrace to admit the truths of this God-given philosophy. A VENTRILOQUIST GIVES HIS OPINION. While in New Boston she was accused of being a ven- triloquist, and was called "the girl with many voices." At this place the enterprising and Avide-awake skeptics secured, without the medium's knowledge, the services of a cele- brated ventriloquist, by the name of Biggs, to witness these manifestations. He came after his entertainment was con- cluded. For the first few moments, he sat quietly, then he spoke to those who had invited him, and said, "Are those the voices on which you wished my opinion?" Someone whispered, "Yes." 1 ' Well, ' ' he said, ' ' let them come from whom they may, or from what, they have no bodies attached to them. It is not ventriloquism. ' ' The voices then addressed him and he exclaimed, "I don't know what it is, but it is not the girl, of that I am certain." The manifestations at these public seances were never twice alike, w T hich fact perplexed the skeptics. The unbe- lievers and bigots were all against her. All were trying to find a theory by which they might explain the things that confounded all the teachings of the past. VISITS WISCONSIN. From New Boston our medium went to Black Earth, Wisconsin, where she again encountered S. P. Leland who was still traveling and pretending to expose spiritualism. He had the same old bills stating that he could duplicate everything done through mediums. Among the names men- CONTINUITY OP LAW AND LIFE. L39 tioned on his bills, with other well known mediums, was imv ■tedium's name. At her suggestion the spiritualists sent to Monmouth, Illinois, for copies of papers he had been forced to sign wherein he acknowledged that he had falsely vilified respectable people. On receipt of these papers the people broke up his meeting and he took the first train out of town. Leaving Black Earth she went to the homes of Mr. Larkin and Mrs. William Warren of Madison, the capital of the state, where she held a test seance for Governor Fair- child and a company of investigators. At this seanee a committee of ladies was selected to hold the medium's bands, to place their feet upon her feet at the same time and to otherwise give their undivided attention to the medium while the others noted the phenomena. At this seance beautiful lights filled the room with a soft effulgent glow which, at times, made it possible for those present to see each other. Many voices spoke, at the same time the medium's voice was heard describing for others in the circle. Forms were seen in the radiance that, at times, filled the room. Sometimes these forms were tangi- ble and at other times seemed to be etherealizations. The committee repeatedly exclaimed, "It is not the medium. We have her hands and feet. She is here by us." It was a new experience to these highly intelligent ladies and gentlemen. What was it? How was it? From whence this all potent, magical, mysterious power that takes upon itself in such solid possession this matter and form, such positive individuality, separate and distinct from the girl who seemed so utterly incapacitated by the conditions under which she was being held and by her youth and inexperi- ence in life, to produce these things? If these men of science failed to answer, failed to under- stand the great, eternal, vibrative laws: if they could not grasp and solve the problem, why should they not accept the only hypothesis that explains all these facts? The intelli- gence apparent in these facts could not be attributed to this 140 PSYCHIC LIGHT young, fifteen-year-old medium, whose soul had scarcely awakened to the full magnitude of her mission. She hi never been trained in school or seminary to delve into tl mysteries of science, or reach up into the eternal, living ci rents of ceaseless life for these inexplicable mysteries. She thought them only very natural, as we think of the thin£ that have always been with us. Man in the acquisition of knowledge, should aim know something of this spiritual intelligence and power. II is the paramount force of the universe. It reigns supreme throughout all the eons of eternity. It is well to know something of this force and its laws— to know at this point in your experience for fear you may be on the wrong track, headed the wrong w r ay, speeding into disaster and losing valuable time. The maxim, ' ' Know thyself, ' ' remains forevex a dead letter to him who knows nothing of the laws and forces of the spirit world. Many wondered how their secret lives, their past and forgotten thoughts and acts were so minutely told ; and, unwilling to accept the only natural, logical explanation, they wandered into hazy, far-fetched theories and became lost in metaphysical absurdities. Some of these scientists, wishing to deny the real cause, disputed the only logical theory and attempted to refer all these phenomena to involuntary cerebral action — to a subliminal self which they confidently asserted, without any reasonable warrant for such assertion — knows everything! Stupendous intelligence confined in a physical body! No necessity for reincarnation — no use for progression — a most satisfactory affirmation! Too bad that it is not^true! Why take refuge in a theory more difficult to explain than the one you seek to contradict? There are a few who, recognizing only a small part of the phenomena, claim that for every thought there is a brain cell upon which blind force acts to produce these results. A very happy thought on the part of inanimate atoms and ions to arrange themselves in the form of brain cells for the manifestation of blind force ! The church people, more logical, attribute it to the CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 141 devil. The agnostic creeps in behind bis "I don't know," afraid to think, for fear he may know, and thus lose nil classification. The scientist asks for more time to decide, and con- tinues to look with the aid of his microscope, his scalpel and his chemical resolvents for this something which works out these hidden and marvelous results. They are all looking in the wrong direction and search- ing too far away. Close beside them is one w r ho attends them most. Ever present with them is one who guards and guides their wandering footsteps, one who is in close sym- pathy with their mental and physical needs, who measures the intensity of every thought, and gauges every motion. This guardian angel, who has been "given charge concern- ing thee," turns back life's many pages and permits the things meet for you to know to be communicated to you. Other attendants permit the telling of incidents known to them, but never known to you, thus removing the solution beyond telepathy and all illogical theories. We live; and, living, must continue to live, with no chance to escape from the consequences of the thoughts and acts stamped upon the program of our eternal lives. SAVED FROM THE MACHINATIONS OF AN UNPRINCIPLED WOMAN. An incident, showing the methods used by spirit attend- ants to protect their instruments, occurred at Ripon, Wis- consin, where Maud had been engaged to hold cabinet seances. She was obliged to go to the hotel unattended. At this hotel she was threatened with serious harm from an unprincipled fellow who had attended her seance and had learned that she was at the hotel alone. She did not know her real danger, yet she was fretted and vexed beyond measure at her dilemma. The first night, after arriving late, she found that the window sash in her room had been removed. It was too late to make a change, or enter a protest, so she went into the parlor and sat up until daylight. She complained to 142 PSYCHIC LIGHT the kind-hearted Landlady, who gave her a safe roon where she could not be molested. She knew not, undt the circumstances, what to do, and had almost wept he self sick, when there came a rap upon her door, whicl was securely locked. She asked, "Who is there?" A familiar and khidl: voice said, "Mrs. Martin." The angels guiding her ine: perienced footsteps had not forgotten her in her sore dis tress and need of a true friend. Mr. and Mrs. Andrew W. Martin, of Fondulae, hi been warned by a holy angel, that their child, as the} called her, was in danger. They forthwith drove to Ripoi The situation w 7 as told to them and a plan was laid escape. Immediately after the entertainment, she was t( slip out through the hall, and meet them outside at a stated place, where, with her trunk securely strapped on behind the buggy, they would start immediately for Fondulae. All this was carefully carried out and they w r ent joyfully on their homeward way, having started about half past nine o'clock. They had not driven many miles before the Indian, Kaolah, seized the bridle and turned the horse from the main road into a lane leading into a farm yard. Scarcely had they reached this place when they were told to listen. They could hear the voices of officers who were sent to bring back the fugitive. The party sending the officers claimed she had been abducted. After the officers passed they were bidden to drive on again. They were thus guarded all the way home by many white-robed forms watching to w^ard off danger. Arriving safely at an early hour in the morning, they retired. Daylight brought the officers, who demanded the girl. Mr. Martin refused to let them take her from the shelter of his home, where he said she should remain. When he explained the situation to them they desisted. They said. ' ' You did not have much the start of us and we were on fleet-footed horses, how was it we did not overlaid you?" They were told how the Indian had taken Ih bridle, even against their will, and led them to a place ol CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE, L4S safety at the time they passed. This both frightened and surprised them. A short distance from Fondulac on the Greenbush road lived Mr. Robert Wilson, his wife and daughter .Minnie. While visiting at the home of these excellent people a new development commenced— that of manifesting in the light. Voices would be heard, furniture moved, doors opened and closed, and musical instruments played. Very often these manifestations were better and more pronounced than those occurring in the dark. Among those present and witnessing these manifesta- tions, in addition to the family were: Mr. Fayette Gillett, George Pflegher and Mr. Patley. One Sunday as the medium sat upon the sofa with the daughter, .Minnie, a guitar, standing some little distance away in the corner of the room, began to move toward them. Finally it quietly slid under the sofa upon which they sat. The string's commenced to vibrate. Presently it moved out into the middle of the floor still playing. Some of the company, who had just come in, tried to hold the guitar under the sofa, but like a thing of life, it persisted in remaining on the outside, on the floor, playing and rap- ping intelligent answers to questions, and giving names of an invisible company, many of whom were relatives of those present. When near the close of this unexpected seance, a small, white hand reached out from under the sofa, which was shaded a little from the light, and grasped the instrument and took it under the sofa, at the same time 1 .laying softly and sweetly as the strings vibrated to the touch of invisible fingers. It moved restlessly at times, almost violently at others, and then sounded as if dear little fingers swept the strings. Several times during Maud's stay in this home, these manifestations were repeated. It is often asked why these things cannot be done by all instead of by a few favored ones ? It is probably some strange and unusual peculiarity of constitution, temperament and organism, or chemical constituents of the body that makes these things possible. 144 PSYCHIC LIGHT This answer may not seem adequate or definite for so porta nt a question. It is, however, as far as our kno^ edge of the subject extends. These developed faculties, so called, are possessed by exceedingly sensitive and finely organized people. Only through such people can spirits manifest, make known their presence and formulate their thoughts into language. Not all sensitive and finely organ- ized people possess these faculties, hence the inference that other requisites are necessary. In some the magnetic con- ditions are so perfectly adjusted and so strong, that they are natural mediums. Others need to acquire the neces- sary physical and mental conditions by change of habits, diet and mental conditions. In other words, perfect the apparatus that generates and directs these essential forces and qualities. Gross conditions, coarse food, meats, nar- cotics and stimulants are never conducive to desired phy- sical conditions, nor are the proper mental conditions acquired through profanity, vulgarity, licentiousness, or by vicious, arbitrary, passionate, selfish or angular thoughts. All these things noted and corrected, there must then be harmony between the controlling bands ; and harmony, con- fidence and affinity between them and the medium. Negative conditions are necessary for all growth, and so it is in the production of these phenomena, in all phases. As an entirety it is a chemical, magnetic, electric, intellect- ual and spiritual problem which cannot be solved within the limits of any one or two of these enumerations. The axioms, theorems, proportions and equations of its solution must come from them all; hence the failure of physicists and scientists to solve this problem, or to account for the phenomena on any. other than the one natural hypothesis. In, the light of these statements it is not necessary to answer the oft repeated question, ''Why do not these things happen in my presence, or at all times 1 ' ' Not because you possess any superior or transcendent quantity or quality of body, mind or spirit to prevent. Quite the contrary. Why not happen at all times ? My dear egotist, phenomena never happen on this or any other planet, nor is it produced, CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 115 excepting under conditions peculiar to each class of phe- nomena. Not such conditions as man makes, unless his con- ditions ;n-.' iu accordance with the Laws of Hie universe. With all these conditions, the operator, the spirit control, must be well versed in the handling of these forces or fail- ure follows, and, sometimes disaster. Death makes no marvelous additions to the spirit's knowledge and ability. Xo! nil art 1 master-workmen over there, any more than here. Even Jesus, the great medium, was unable to perform mar- freely and at all times before his own people, and the absence of condition was best expressed by Jesus in the word. "Unbelief." TEACHES SCHOOL ONE DAY. While visiting a family named Van Curen in Fondulac, Miss Mary Van Curen, who was teaching the school at Taycheedah, became ill and Maud volunteered to take her place. .V horse back ride of three miles and the novelty of teaching the school was a temptation to this, girl who had never attended school but an hour in her life. Her control, Clarence, came and said he would help her, and aw r ay she went in high glee. All that day she taught the school, and carried it on successfully, hearing lessons from scholars much older than herself. Upon her return they were eager to learn of her suc- cess. Greatly elated she recounted her victories of gram- mar and spelling. Fearing she would not fill the bill, at noon, she bought apples, oranges and candy and distributed them freely. The teacher was ill for many days, and was obliged to resign. The school committee Was anxious to se- cure the new teacher, but when told who she was, a fearful consternation took possession of them. Possibly she had even then inoculated the children with her diabolism. One of the committee, Mr. Nutting, a little more independent than the others, attended one of her seances and was greatly pleased and convinced and was anxious for the rest of the committee to attend. They did not have the courage to do so. To them it was the devil's work. CHAPTER VI. EXPERIENCES OP MRS. LAURA A. HOOKER, M. D. (Written by herself in 1886.) Among the many friends who gathered around ox medium in 1867, was Mrs. Laura A. Hooker, formerly Mrs. Lord, a practicing physician of Fondulac, Wisconsin. She relates her experience and tells of the peculiar phenomena she witnessed while the medium was a member of her family, as follows: One night in 1864, soon after the decease of my mother, I heard a little sound like the ripple of a silvery stream, which brought vividly to my mind scenes of my girlhood. As I listened and wondered the thought came to me: 1 ' Could it be a spirit ? ' ' My mother w^as immediately sug- gested, when instantly there came a response in distinct raps upon my pillow\ I commenced asking questions and, instead of raps, we were talking mentally and as satisfac- torily as with outspoken words. The conversation was as clear and distinct as though words had actually been used, and, what was most surprising, I did not think of the strangeness of the phenomenon until she had gone. In the year 1867, we became interested in the subject of this sketch. She was holding a series of public seances with 'Mr. and Mrs. Ferris. I had not attended as I did not believe that disembodied spirits could do the things pur- porting to have been done through her mediumship. Sev- eral lady friends desired that I should accompany them. At the appointed hour we went to Armory Hall. A committee was selected to search Miss Maud before the seance commenced. The first spirit to appear was that of a beautiful young lady. She came to the little curtained window in the cabinet and drew the drapery aside with a hand on which CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 147 sparkled a beautiful diamond ring. She remained long enough for us to observe every feature of her angelic face. She spoke to those near me who evidently recognized her, for they gave a little start and whispered loud enough for me to distinctly hear that it was Miss (i , the daughter of a prominent physician of the city. An opportunity soon offered and upon inquiry I learned that several recognized her. One of the ladies on the examining committee stepped boldly forward and said she was not a spiritualist, but that she had made a careful examination of the medium and had found nothing: that could in any way aid in the demonstration. And, in jus- tice to the young woman and the audience, she must say that she saw a diamond ring upon one of the spirit's hands and she was sure there was none upon the hand of the medium or about her. The test of strength was the greatest marvel. The manager of the seance informed the audience that he would like to have three of the strongest men they could select come upon the platform and hold a table upon the floor, if they could, while the medium would merely touch her finger tips to the table. Three men volunteered and they were very fair specimens of manly strength. The table writhed and twisted and up it went. They tugged and pulled and flung themselves upon it, but it turned and let them slide oil', and then turned legs up. They caught it again, and in their efforts to hold it they literally tore it in pieces. While it was up over their heads, Miss Maud stood on tip- toe, with her hand uplifted, occasionally touching it as it surged and rocked like a tall tree in a tempest. I sought an introduction' to this very natural and unsophisticated child and invited her to spend a day at my home. She accepted, and gave us some very pleasant and interesting tests of which we knew she had no prior know- ledge. In a few days she left the city, and I saw no more of her for a few weeks. I next saw r her when, by a singu- lar circumstance, she was brought back to this city by Andrew W. Martin, who succeeded in rescuing her from an I 148 PSYCHIC LIGHT unprincipled party, a woman, who had engaged her to go to Ripon, Wis. They brought her to their home and pro- tected her. In the month of October, Mrs. Martin brought her to our home. In a short time, an attraction sprang up between her and my son, Albert A. Lord, and about a year later, I became the possessor of a daughter in this rarely-gifted girl. The marriage took place on November 5, 1868, with many misgivings on my part that they were not adapted to each other. He was of a very selfish and jealous nature, and, as is usual m such cases, wanted her quite to himself. While she with her gifts was as thoroughly incapacitated, as a child could be, for domestic life and its duties. She was a combination of strange forces. She possessed the deepest vein of affection and sympathy, was very relig- ious and at times was extremely positive. At other times she was very negative and would suffer so deeply as to dis- tress the whole household. She was not educated domestic- ally and could not so adapt herself. Her life's interests and unfoldment lay on a higher and broader plane. We were not slow to recognize her most singular gifts. We soon realized that she could not be fettered or held by any binding, however silken; that she was grandly and su- premely individualized ; that she had a work to do and- was destined to stand before the world as one of the brightest teachers to expound the beautiful truths of a transcendental philosophy that had already found root; truths whose growth must be as broad as the earth and as vast as eternity. We had gained a daughter whose presence filled our home and hearts with a joy and satisfaction so new and rare, that happiness was unrest, if such a feeling is possible. At her first visit and while at dinner the heavy exten- sion table was visibly rocked to and fro. Questions were asked and intelligently answered by raps. Something was said about her peculiar life and classical name "Maud Eugenia," when I related a little dream, or vision, which I had some years previous, in which a young girl whose name was Maud became identified with my interests, and her CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 149 coming was brought about in some way by a man whose name was Henri DeCoriche. She looked surprised when I mentioned this name and said that she was in some way related to a person by that name, and she had the impres- sion that he was of French or Spanish birth. She told u* that for some reason which she could never divine, her mother had always treated her unlike the other children, and when she was about twelve years old had destroyed a letter written to her by a person calling her his niece and subscrib- ing himself "Your Uncle, Henri DeCoriche." She told us how she was treated differently from any of the children because of her peculiar gift. In 1869 Maud and her husband spent some months in Sheboygan, Michigan. During this time she frequently sent us splendid tests, telling us of some of our plans, and of persons who had visited us. One time she sent us a message saying Clarence had been home and had discovered that the horse had slipped the halter through a fastening and was very likely to get cast. Mr. Hooker said he frequently found a change in the tying, giving much more length to the halter, and he had been trying to ascertain the cause. lie obtained a chain with a catch and it did not occur again. During Maud's stay at Sheboygan I was arranging to visit her and was to leave on an early train. Late in the afternoon. I passed into an unoccupied room and heard dis- tinctly the words, "Maud wants her new black dress and lace hat." I took them with me; and on my arrival, after a few moments conversation, I asked her if there was any- thing she wanted from home? She said yes, but guessed she could get along without them. I questioned why she did not drop me a line stating what she wanted. She said, "I did wish that I had my black dress and lace hat, as I should occasionally wear them, but it does not matter." I stepped into the hall and brought the package and placed it before her, much to her astonishment. When I told her what Clarence said, she was not a little surprised for she 150 PSYCHIC LIGHT did not think he could make me understand, although she asked him to try. The next day I saw some goods which pleased me and after my return I decided to send the money to her to obtain the material and forward it to me by her husband, who was running on the railroad between Fondulac and Sheboygan. I handed him the money and a note to Maud specifying that I wanted twenty-eight yards of the goods at which we had looked. When he arrived at their boarding place she confronted him with the goods— just twenty- eight yards— and answered the questions specified in the note, and even repeated our conversation. This convinced him that spirits are substantially individuals. Maud wrote me that Clarence was present and heard the conversation between us and thought it a good opportunity to demon- strate what a spirit could do. On one occasion, while at din- ner, Maud being absent, a napkin ring, in its flight across the table dropped into the pitcher of water. On Maud's return. Snowdrop — while holding her medium in trance- begged pardon for her carelessness in allowing it to fall in the water. RED LETTERS ON HER BODY. One morning Maud came down stairs and astonished us all by her appearance.' She seemed to be covered with what I first thought to be red rash. On closer examination it proved to be letters and landscape sketches, red in color, and raised on the skin. On further examination her arms, shoulders and back were found to be covered. Under microscopic examination the skin seemed to be raised and discolored. No unpleasant or painful sensation attended the phenomenon. The lettering was an attempt at Bible quota- tions. The work of the artist was of landscape, with trees, rivers and valleys. This phenomenon remained for several days and gradually faded away. CLARENCE HELPS THE MEDIUM TO PIE AND CAKE. It was my custom to keep pies and cakes in a refrigera- tor over which were slats about an inch apart. This I CONTINUITY OP LAW AND LIFE. L53 usually kept locked. Maud would quite often return late at night and hungry. Her controls preferred Bhe should not eat dinner or supper on the days when she held se;mres. When the people Tor whom she held seances did not know this condition to which she was subjected she would come home quite exhausted and hungry. She was always too sensitive to ask for anything. Coming home late in the evening she would usually eat what she could find to her liking in the pantry, and then ask Clarence to give her a little cake or pie. Ever faithful Clarence! He would tell her to put a knife through the slats and he would cut off a piece and pass it out to her. CLARENCE HIDES THE VELVET. While Maud was from home for a week, I thought to give her a surprise by having a garnet, cashmere dress remodeled. It had been taken apart, and I had a quantity of velvet laid on the goods in the desired pattern for trim- ming, when dinner was announced. When we returned to the room the velvet had disappeared. Knowing positively it was on the table when we left the room, I supposed it must have been taken while we were at dinner. I wrote Maud immediately, telling her of our dilemma. She replied saying that Clarence said it was on the upper shelf in the closet. We looked in several closets, but not finding it concluded that Clarence had made a mistake. On her return I expressed my regret over the loss, when she said, "Oh! mama, I am so sorry you have worried about it. It is in' your closet in the side hall." We both went to the closet and found the velvet on the shelf. She informed me that Clarence spirited it away as he discovered that the party who called while we were at dinner intended to take it. maud's name cut on the glass of a car window. Soon after this incident I concluded to take a trip to Plymouth, Michigan, and return by &turgis Prairie. Clar- ence said he would go with me. While en route a very i 152 PSYCHIC LIGHT singular incident occurred. On entering the car, which was very well filled, I was offered a seat by a young man who was well informed on the general topics of the day. We dis- cussed various subjects, among others Elizabeth Stewart Phelps' new work, ''Gates Ajar," and from that to spirit- ualism. I told him of my investigation with this young girl who had so recently become my daughter, and his appar- ent interest caused me to relate many items of my experi- ence. While we were talking he asked for her name. I looked toward the window and saw "Maud E. Lord" plainly cut in the clear glass. I was surprised and called his atten- tion to it by saying: "There is her name on the glass." This surprised him equally as much. I someway thought he might have written it, and said: "Perhaps it will wipe off." He made the attempt, and found it was cut deep into the glass as if done with a diamond. He said he knew it was not there when he took the seat. He surely did not write it, and I did not. He gave me his name, as Howard , Wright. That evening I arrived at my friends', Mr. and Mrs. Chandler, in Plymouth. One night while there my suf- fering from heart trouble seemed unbearable, when I said : "Clarence if you are here, can't you bring the relief I so much need?" I immediately felt an electric thrill sweep over me and I was soon asleep. A few nights later I awoke about midnight with a feel- ing of suffocation. I fully realized my condition, but was powerless to move or call. I thought of the excitement my death would cause with these friends with whom I was stop- ping, and of the opinion as to the cause of my death. These things passed rapidly through my mind; and, as I felt the hour of 'approaching dissolution nearing, I sent out, as I sup- posed, the last loving adieu to friends and family at home. To my surprise, a hand was laid upon my side and I was briskly rubbed over the region of the heart. The hand was on my side convenient for my arm to close upon it. I did this, and felt the hand withdrawn as natural as any human hand. It seemed as proportionately large and natural as one : CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 153 attached to a physical body. I could not be mistaken; such an experience leaves no chance for fancy or delusion. Od my arrival at Sturgis Prairie I spent Friday night at the hotel and retired in good spirits. Some time in the night I awoke with the same trouble with my heart. At this crisis my mattress was Lifted and shaken so vigor- ously that T was thrown upon my right side and thus brought out of the attack. This was unaccountably strange to me, but why did they not speak? My door was securely locked. Could it be a spirit? I remained till Monday and was soon back at my home. After tea we sat down for a visit when Clarence and Snowdrop controlled and reviewed every incident connected with my journey, including my conversation with Mr. Wright on the cars. Clarence asked me how I liked him as traveling companion. I told him it was my first positive venture with an invisible, but I had learned much of inesti- mable value, for which I was under many obligations. He then related how he had. summoned certain powerful spirits to aid him in bringing me out of that most critical condi- tion at Plymouth, when I was so near leaving the body. He said that when I had the second attack at Sturgis Prairie he had left me in care of other spirits who could not mate- rialize a hand with which to treat me magnetically but they could lift the mattress and turn me over. SEANCE AT THE HOME OF A. G. RUGGLES. About twenty persons met at the residence of Mr. A. G. Haggles, a prominent banker, for a seance. I was one of the number. During the seance a spirit called for a thread and needle. Mrs. Ruggles brought the needle and some white thread which she placed upon a table without thread- ing the needle. Presently the spirits called for a light ; and, to our astonishment, we found a large pearl button had been sewed on Mr. Ruggle's vest. We also found where they had removed this button from a lady's garment for the purpose of demonstrating what they could do. Two others of the party had their garments sew r ed together. 154 PSYCHIC LIGHT At this same seance, a lady came and addressed one of the sitters as her affianced, and told us she was burned to death by the explosion of a lamp. A gentleman quickly recognized the spirit. I learned that this gentleman, though well advanced in years, was waiting for the time when he should journey over to claim her as his bride upon the other side. I was again privileged to sit in a seance with a part of this same company when a spirit came saying: "I am so hungry, oh so hungry." Mrs. Lord said: "Mr. Rug- gles, this person gives his name and says he is your brother ; and that he starved to death in a Southern prison." He was at once recognized by Mr. Ruggles, who asked : * ' What can I do for you?" The answer came, "I am so hungry." Presently each felt a wolf robe drawn over their laps and hands. Mr. Ruggles said his brother had just completed a soft robe, when he concluded to go into the army, and gave the robe to him, and he still had it ; that the voice was per- fectly natural and that his brother was one of the unfor- tunate prisoners at Andersonville. "O say shall I meet on the unseen shore, The loved and the lost who have gone before? I have lost the gleam of their eyes of light A sadness shrouds my heart to-night." : — Neville. AN INDIAN PREDICTS CUSTER *S MASSACRE. One beautiful Sabbath morning, in the early part of June, 1876, Maud came home for her first visit after our return to Fondulac from our three years' residence in Chi- cago. There was something impressive in the quietude of that Sabbath day. We were happy and lingered long at the breakfast table. Maud was the first to leave the room. As we passed into the sitting room we heard the voice of Snowdrop. She seemed very happy that she had taken us by surprise. After she had prepared the way, other spirits, one after another, took control. One trilled an Italian air; another sang a Spanish song; then a German master musician pealed forth in German, in melodious strains that I CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 155 filled every part of the house and could have been distinctly heard out in the street. I never had such an intellectual feast ; never witnessed just such phenomena, and wished again and again that others might be permitted to hear such grand recitals. At the close, a. well-informed Indian chief came in the interest of his people. He expressed in well selected and telling language the regrets he felt that his people should be driven from territory to territory, regardless of their attachments and rights, regardless of their being human and a part of God's creation. He said his white brother seemed to forget they were endowed with strong feelings of friendship, hatred and revenge like unto the pale faces. He said they had prayed to the great Father at Washington, but he did not heed them; that they had held councils and sent peti- tions, all to no purpose; that even now they were holding councils around their camp fires, preparing their young men for war. Their women and children were sending up prayers to the great Father, for they feared that the war- fare would be long and severe, and the contest a bloody one. He counted the time to the very day when the great general and his army would suffer defeat. He said they would all bite the dust, and their blood would flow like water. We counted the days and found it would be on the 25th and made a note of it at the time.* He prayed that the Great Spirit would deal out mercy to his people and interfere with the plans of burning revenge with which the white man and the red man are actuated. He pleaded for justice to the pale nation and equal justice for his people. He prayed that peace might wave its banner of eternal friendship over his people. He prayed that blood should not be spilled to compel the Government to keep the treaty ♦NOTE: — On the very day named by the old chief the mas- sacre of Custer and his men tooxv place. The records of the War Department state that General Custer and his company were killed at the battle of Little Big Horn, in Montana, June 25, 1876. A monument marks the place where Custer fell. Only one man, a scout, escaped. . 156 PSYCHIC LIGHT which was entered into for the protection of the Indians. He said the trouble was almost at the door. THE ORIENTAL PHILOSOPHER'S PROPHECY. Before our Sabbath morning's devotion closed, a wise Oriental spirit came. His manifest culture, deep research and breadth of intellect gave us some idea to what perfec- tion a soul can attain. His expanse of thought and world- wide range of knowledge enabled him to look into depths all unknown to us; to see our lives and the conditions that have and Avill surround us through our sojourn here; to know so well the ins and outs and the course in which we will drift with a determination as though fixed by the laws that govern the constellations. I cannot lightly pass this most important and memora- bly event in this one great dream of my life. His strange prophecy ; the foreshadowing of events, seemingly so improb- able; his statements concerning another unusual character to be brought into our lives, seemed so strange and unlikely that I concluded they were, figuratively speaking, scenes in the other life. Yet I know miracles are no part of the Oriental philosophy. I know this philosophy relegates every- thing that happens to law, immutable, eternal law, and that its initiated adepts can read from the entablatures of life all things that have been, or ever will be. After speaking of the many facts in our experience, with a superior knowledge and interest, he pointed out the fields of usefulness which lay as broad as creation before every human soul, and the advantages to be derived by liv- ing active, useful lives, saying that very few people realize that every hour is fraught with divine, as well as natural matter drifting along the avenues in which their feet have found pathways. Few realize that their thoughts and daily acts are the written record of their own destiny— the monument* they are rearing to live after them. After this beautiful address he offered a few selected words to my fair-haired niece, telling her that changes awaited her; that her life would not be just as she had ; •"i. CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 157 drawn the picture, but the changes would bring experience, ami from experience and from the lessons which come naturally in their turn she would receive her best growth. He told her that she would be married to a much older man than the one she expected at that time to wed; that children would come to bless her life; that strange experiences would come if she was true and faithful to the teachings now given her. Nearly all he said to her has been most truthfully verified -as the years have passed, leaving their indelible finger prints upon her fair young life. He then addressed me as the silver-haired matron to whom had already come many, many changes and deep fur- rows that had found their pathway to the soul; but, that my faith had saved me from the despair so common to humanity. He said that the powers were working out their own plans; and, stranger than fiction, that my scattered family would come from the East and the West, from the North and the South, and would dwell for a brief time under my roof ; that a reunion would take place, and a new element would come into our lives, bringing new conditions; and, in time, each w r ould go accordingly to plans that lay in embryo, but which would come forth matured for accept- ance. He added, "We are sometimes many years in per- fecting a plan, as in the case of bringing this medium to you. We have now in view and have selected a man we feel sure will be just the person to carry out the plans we are projecting. Plans that will make the voice of spiritual science echo and re-echo throughout the land; that will enable anxious inquirers to satisfactorily solve the question regarding the continuity of life and spirit return, and make men know that when they die, they will live again, and know that the soul, divested of its physical armor, can and always will exist as an independent being. The man of our selec- tion shall stand for our cause and we will bring him sue- in nil our battles. By the laws of ethereal vibrations, by which thought and vision may be flashed over seas and continents, we will reveal him to you in "visions of the night." Already in a distant city where he stands so 158 PSYCHIC LIGHT distinctively alone and individualized, young in years, he is contending with voice and pen for freedom from priestly rule and the domination of ecclesiastical thought. We have caused believers in this beautiful philosophy to touch his image with indelible pigments that you and our medium may recognize him, when in the perfection of our plans, he shall cross this threshold and become a potent factor in the life of this instrument, whom we love and designate as ' ' The Daughter of the Orient," whose life has been fraught with so many strange adventures and thrilling scenes; with the greatest achievements and most brilliant success as a medium ; and, who has justly earned the crown that awaits her, for work already done, and yet to be done, from ocean to ocean and from the gulf to the frozen seas of the far north. To her shall be given the spiritual gifts and graces known to nations not considered in your category of civi- lized people; and, the secrets of the Veiled Isis shall yield to her marvelous psychometric sense. The epoch when these spiritual gifts will be understood and appreciated is fast ap- proaching, for this planet moves in a spiritual as well as in a material cycle. Remember that all important epochs in human lives and in the life of nations are shadowed upon the spiritual atmosphere just as certainly as your material atmosphere, portends storms. Listen, ye, then, to the lan- guage of spirit; learn its purpose, interpret its message. Does it come with an oppressive feeling of uncertainty and dread? Then go no farther in that direction. Does the way seem clear and free? Then go on. These premoni- tions are permitted, if you but heed them." Much more was said but I have not the power to voice his thoughts or the eloquence and elegance of his expression. T have treasured this extraordinary visit as the most eventful of my life. I could not then understand that the things pre- dicted were the well defined letter of our lives. Seemingly it would not be that my family would be scattered and would again all meet under my roof. This sounded like a fairy tale, yet out of the depths of undefinable mystery it has nearly all come to pass. CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 159 Is oiir.life in the keeping of the invisibles? Then why so much trouble and sorrow .' Discipline, development, progress. Is there not some easier road to these goals? How are these happenings fore- told ! I have questioned the theory of accident and foreor- dination without satisfactory answer. The voice that vibrates to my inner life and whispers to my soul answers thai it is neither. The logical deduction seems to be that the masters of advanced spiritual science, seeing and under- standing cause and effect, and knowing that we move in the lines of least resistance, divine what will follow certain conditions. It is now, as I write, ten years since this Grand Master of Oriental Wisdom came to our humble home. The seem- ingly impossible prophecies have nearly all been realized. Maud and her husband, my son, have separated, each going their own way for the past few r years; he to the material things of life, and she to her grand and glorious work. Yet, we have loved her all these years as truly our own daughter. This Oriental Master said a reunion should take place, when the stranger should come. When? "In the perfection of their plans." We continue to call Maud our daughter and love her all the more. She comes to see us when duties permit, so we have not lost her or her attendant spirits who are all very dear to us. More remarkable than all else is the stranger who is to come. Yes, I have seen him— just how I do not know. This much I know, I shall surely recognize him when he comes. Will he come? That is to be seen. As shown to me he was a man of serious mein, with full, long, brown beard: a little stooped; about thirty years of age, pos- sibly thirty-five. He always came with a daily news- paper in his hand. We could never see the name of the paper. Maud would very often come down stairs from her room in the morning, and say,— "Mama, I saw the stranger last night. He said he was to be my husband. He had a 1G0 PSYCHIC LIGHT newspaper in his hand. I don't like men with full beard anyhow. ' ' We used to talk about these visits and wondered if the prophecy would come to pass, and how he came and how she could hear him talk. The theory of Astral visits some- how never seemed quite scientific or logical to me. Es- pecially when "doubles" or Astral visitants do not retain any memory of their visits. The data for such a conclu- sion seemed insufficient and unsatisfactory, much more so than the theory suggested by the Oriental Master that there are ethereal currents on which thought and visions can be conveyed over seas and continents. Surely some of us will solve this problem and the greater Riddle of the Universe before the century closes. A SPIRIT LOCKED AND UNLOCKED THE DOOR. On my return from my visit in Michigan, I was in- formed that our pears were ripe and had been nicely cared for by our spirit friends. My husband said the door to the room w T here the fruit was kept had become fastened on the inside. He thought our friend Clarence had some- thing to do with it. When we tried the lock we could hear the bolt fly back, but still we could not open the door. I said, "Clar- ence, can you open the door?" Immediately the latch on the inside flew back and we entered. We found each decayed pear had been wrapped nicely in paper by the spirits and placed on the table. All that remained on the floor were sound. At our next sitting Clarence told us that Snowdrop and some other spirit friends had taken care of the fruit, and by using the inside latch they were able to protect it. I thanked them for their kind attention, when Snowdrop said with a merry laugh, "You are very much obliged.". REMARKABLE MANIFESTATIONS AT HOME OF J. R. TALMAGE. Mr. Hooker, Maud and I went to Calumet for a visit and a seance at the home of our friend, J. R. Talmage. During the seance Maud described a woman in her work- THE STRANGER OF THE ORIENTAL PHILOSOPHER'S PROPHECY. (June, 1876.) (See page 156.) CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 101 ing dress with such accuracy that a little laugh passed from friend to friend. She was the wife of a prominent State official and was prone to luxuriate in easy shoes, and wore no collar. It was these striking features that provoked the mirth with those who knew her best and loved her most. A young lady came, giving her name, which was read- ily recognized. She placed her hand upon the shoulder of a gentleman and related her grief in the past with an earnestness which indicated more than ordinary trouble. This gentleman, aided by his good wife, was instrumental in making her life seem less dark and tempestuous. This was her first opportunity to express her gratitude and to voice the tender memories which she had carried with her beyond the wild blasts and incongruous elements that had crushed all hope out of her young heart; to tell her ben- efactor that kind words and kinder deeds not only live in memory, but will greet him on the other side, like a golden benediction from out of the past. CLARENCE LOCKS THE DOOR AND BUILDS THE FIRE. Leaving Maud at Mr. Talmage's to return on the train, Mr. Hooker and I drove home; and on arrival, found our night key would not unlock the door. Mr. Hooker tried the second lock, which was only used at nights and which we knew r had not been locked when we left home, and thus opened the door. On entering the sitting room we both heard a low, soft strain of music which seemed to fill the whole house. At the same time we saw with great surprise the fire burning brightly in the coal stove. What could it mean? The door double locked; the fire burn- ing brightly; the house filled with such a cheerful glow, and those peculiar musical vibrations just barely percep- tible to our senses! There w^as no one in the house and no way for any- one to enter, besides, there was no one who could be ex- pected to come in during our absence. Search as we did *e could not find the key which was usually left in the —6 J 62 PSYCHIC LIGHT lower lock on the inside. It was not in the lock where we had left it. While waiting for Maud to come my attention was attracted to the front hall by a slight noise; and, on going to the door, there was the key in the lock! In- stantly we knew that Clarence could explain. After Maud arrived Clarence came, and the first words he spoke were, ''Did you find the house all right?" "Yes, indeed," replied, "and I was never more happily surprised." He then said. "I came home several times to see if all was right; and, fearing the door was insecure, I locked the lower lock and put the key on the moulding of the base- board. I then opened the stove damper, intending to re- turn in time to unlock the door and be present when you came, but I went to look after Maud and did riot return in time. When I arrived I found you had made better time than I expected, so I put the key in the door and have been much amused over your conversation and ques- tion IT I spoke of the happy feeling I experienced when I entered the sitting room and heard the music and. saw the cheerful fire. The room seemed to be made brilliant with a halo of beauty and exquisite soul rest as though spirit fingers had touched everything around it. Clarence said he did try to leave a glow of spiritual magnetism in the room. We thanked him and our sitting closed. CLARENCE GOES TO THE CELLAR AFTER BUTTER. *>ver our kitchen table we had a rack for knives and spoons used in cooking. One knife in particular we used for cutting rolls of butter. I was preparing tea, and know- ing some butter would be needed, had just wiped this particular knife and placed it in its usual place, expect- ing to visit the cellar in a moment. Just then Maud ap- peared at the door opening into the kitchen, at least ten feet from where I stood, and asked me if she could assist me. I replied, "Yes, I will hand you the knife and butter dish and vou mav get the 'mtter from the cellar." She CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 163 had not taken one step towards me when I reached for the knife and it was gone! I told her she might take a dish and a knife from the dining table. I was looking for the missing knife when 1 heard her scream. I rushed into the room, thinking that she had either broken the lamp or it had exploded. I expected to find her enveloped in flames. The door to the cellar was at the extreme end of the sitting room and she had only time to reach it. Imagine my surprise when I saw her holding the lamp above her head, and in her other hand she held the lost knife with a large roll of butter attached to it. She stood looking down the stairs with as much wonder and astonishment as any person who had never seen a white robed spirit. As I took the knife from her hand I saw that Clar- ence had written his name plainly, as if done with some sharp instrument, on the butter. Maud said when she opened the door that a beautiful light rested upon every thing, and she saw Clarence dressed in a white robe kneel- ing at the crock of butter. She said that the knife was handed to her with such speed that she could not help screaming. It was my constant delight to visit flower gardens and conservatories with Maud. If there were any es- pecially exquisite flowers that Maud admired, they would, by chemical laws unknown to us, extract perfume from such flowers and place it upon her hands. This was often the only way she knew that such flowers were in the garden. I remember a performance much stranger even than this. I, as well as hundreds of others to my certain know- ledge, have been in her seances when the spirits brought rare and exotic perfumes, such as the aroma of the orange blos- S'lins, tropical plants, or the scent of the hay field, when no plants or flowers were within many miles, and when none of the company had any such perfume about them. These flowers Avere real and were not the result of sugges- tion. Such facts are well authenticated and known to hun- L64 PSYCHIC LIGHT dreds of people, from all over the world, who sat in her seances in those bnsy days. On one occasion in Chicago the lap of each one in the seance was filled with wild flowers, and we could never learn from whence they came; certainly there were no wild flowers within many miles of that city. Our ablest physicists are not able to explain the laws, or the application of the laws under which the simplest of these things are done, and therefore they prefer to dispute the facts. The Eastern Adept— the initiated Brahman— on the contrary, has for centuries studied the intellectual forces and their controlling laws, and understands their ap- plication. They realize their spirits' possibilities while still in the body. DELIVERS A MESSAGE TO A STRANGER. In 1869 Maud was coming from Sheboygan to Fon- dulac and had to wait at a station several hours for friends who were to join her. The guides took her into a strang- er's house and she began to address the lady of the house as mother. The lady said, "Who are you?" "Why, mother, I am George Russell," was the' reply. "He was my son," she said, "and you are a woman." "Yes, but mother, it's I, truly it is. May I go up stairs and show you the things I sent you from the army?" "Yes, you may go, and I will believe you if you find the things up stairs." The spirit then took the medium up stairs to the lower bureau drawer where the mother had put away the things that he had fashioned with his own hands. A pin- cushion, a bone ring, a bone toothpick, and a tidy beau- tifully beaded by his own hands for the dear old mother so far away. When he had looked them all over, all the while smiling and chatting familiarly about them and con- cerning the loved ones with him and those left here, he said, "My coat, mother, may I show it to you?" He went directly to an old trunk and, taking from it his soldier coat with its tarnished buttons, he pointed sadly to a bul- CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 1G5 let hole and said, "Mother, through that rent passed the minnie ball that robbed you of your boy's body, but not Bpirit, for I am here with you." The facts of pre- sentation were so positive, so assured and so unhesitat- ingly asserted that the mother could not doubt his pres- ence. A SPIRIT RETURNS A LOST RING. One evening Maud came down stairs from her room under control of Kaolah to treat me for heart trouble. She took a ring from her ringer when she first came into the room and laid it upon the corner of my dressing stand. I put my hand out to get it, fearing it might get brushed off. It was not there ! She left the room in a trance ; and after she was gone I got up, and with a light looked for the ring, but could not find it. I knew she did not pick it up when she left the room. In the morning I looked over every inch of the room, but it was not to be found. Evening came and the ring was still missing. Maud came down stairs about seven o'clock and passed out through the library. As she left the room she said to me, "Aunt Abbey is here and wants you to go over there," pointing towards the dining room door and opposite to the direction she was going. I heard her close the door as she went out, and knew the domestic had shut up the dining room for the night and had gone. The door of the dining room creaked, swung open and shut a little, just enough to at- tract our attention. As we looked in that direction a beautiful white hand appeared over the door, with the back towards us. We all noted the style and make of the white sleeve, the width of the hem at the wrist, and the delicate trimming. TVhen the hand snapped a ring out into the room, we were all fairly paralyzed with amaze- ment. While at Sheboygan, Mrs. Lord became interested in a bright, pretty, rosy-cheeked German girl. She was the picture of health and worked at the hotel. The clairvoyant eyes of Mrs. Lord discovered the shadow of death around 16G PSYCHIC LIGHT her, and asked the girl if she felt well. She answered, "Yes." The third day after this she saw that the dark shadow lay all about the girl. That afternoon the girl complained of a serious headache and went to her home some little dis- tance from the hotel and went to bed very ill. She grew rapidly worse. She had formed a great attachment for Mrs. Lord and implored the family to send for her. They did so and upon her arrival at the sick bed she found the girl in a delirium of fever. When the soothing and mes- meric hands of Mrs. Lord touched poor Minnie she re- gained consciousness; and, looking up with a sweet smile of joyful recognition, said, "Oh, my dear Mrs. Lord, you have come to see your poor Minnie die." Only too well she realized the truth; and, kneeling upon the bare floor of that humble home, she told the dying girl the truth. The girl's awakening soul caught the glory of the far off, living light and said, ' ' Oh, I am . so glad, and I can come back and be with you sometimes, ; and I won't have to work so hard morning, noon and night, always work, work." The fevered lips murmured, "Will you hold my hands until I go?" During the hours of consciousness ' the gentle, tender- hearted sick girl said, "Mrs. Lord, I have seen your angels and they are beautiful. Please stay with me ; maybe they would go away if you leave me." The gray shadow that had followed her so persistently now had control. Life had succumbed to its inevitable sway. A heavenly smile lighted up one of the most beautiful faces imaginable ; the eyes grew startlingly set and fixed, a little tender clasp of the toil-worn fingers, and dear little Minnie had joined the angelic throng. Thus ended a beautiful little incident that revealed how near heaven is to earth, and that its shadow and sun- shine closely commingle. Who can gauge the dividing line and scientifically measure the distance? Those whc come to us from their angelic homes, who come on love's white wings to show such souls the way, measure all dis- CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 167 tances. To know that they conic, as did this simple, unedu- cated, hard-working German girl, makes the world better, braver, nobler and wiser. During Mrs. Lord's stay in Sheboygan she met a stranger on the street and said to him in German, "Go to your garden, your wife is dying, if not dead." Fright- i ned and not knowing to whom he spoke, he asked what she meant and who she was. She said, "I am a medium and the spirits make me tell you." "Mine Got," he said, Isli dot so?" Mrs. Lord said, "I am stopping at the Testweed House; go now, and when you come back call and tell me if it is true." The German hurried home and found his wife dead from heart disease. DRIFTING ON LAKE MICHIGAN. Another serious incident happened while she was at this place. She had wandered down to the lake, and espying a skiff tied to an anchorage, she thoughtlessly un- tied it and stepped into it without oars or anchor. She began to rock the boat, and it began to move out from the shore like a thing bent on mischief; farther out it went at each rocking motion from the delighted occupant, who thought she could as readily rock herself back. There was quite a breeze and this gave her a dangerous but delightful sensation, in this her crazy flight out upon un- certain waters. The afternoon was well-nigh spent when her foolish reasoning came to the test. The boat resisted all coaxing and all attempts to rock back to the shore. The sun was fast sinking out of sight. She was near sighted and could not see the shore. The skiff, as though winged, seemed to fly out and out farther away as the wind freshened. Maud did not lose courage, as she be- lieved her spirit friends would come to her rescue. Mr. John Gill, working on a pier some distance away, heard a voice distinctly say, "Look out upon the waters and see a skiff oarless, with an occupant ; go to the rescue. ' ' He accused his fellow workmen of speaking the words, but they declared they had not spoken. "Hark, I hear 168 PSYCHIC LIGHT it again." They all strained their ears and eyes sea- ward, but could not discover anything. Again the voice spoke and said, "Look good." They procured a strong glass, used for sighting vessels, and distinctly saw the wayward little skiff with its lone occupant. The sun had gone down, and darkness was closing in, when a cheerful voice called to her that she should be landed safely. She told her rescuer her version of the reckless escapade and how she had foolishly imagined that she could as easily rock the skiff back as to go out. He told her how he was directed to come after her and she said, "Yes, I knew they would save me." "Who?" he said. "Oh, my spirit friends," she replied. She ex- plained the wonderful gift and its teachings. In after years Maud met this rescuer in Philadelphia and he joy- fully told her that he was quite a medium and had been one for sometime. SPIRITS FIND A LOST SCARF PIN. Her husband, upon their return home to Fondulac, one day said, "I wish the spirits would do a certain thing for me." Maud had given him a valuable scarf pin. Coming from Fondulac to Sheboygan, and while passing over the tender from the passenger car to the engine, he had lost it. A few mornings after his loss, reaching out to un- fasten a window sash, he ejaculated, "Look at this! Here is my pin!" Some of the settings were out, and pieces of tamarack adhered to the pin. DR. DEHAVEN USES SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS. I had a patient from Milwaukee by the name of Jack Kinderlin, who was troubled with a vicious carbuncle. He came to have me operate on it, when Dr. DeHaven volunteered to do it for me if I would wait a day or two. My patient readily consented to this arrangement. We darkened the room and I placed my case of surgical in- CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 1G9 struments on a stand and the patient took his seat beside the stand. We formed a circle around the patient and the stand and awaited results. _ Our ears were attuned to every movement. We heard the instruments move as Mie one was taking- them up for examination. Less than three feet of space intervened between us and the patient. We could plainly sense every movement. We 1 the instruments laid down on the table and heard one treating the patient. In less than five minutes Dr. Del I a ven's voice said: "I am through. You can i ow examine." We lighted the lamp, and there on the 1 lay the instruments, which had been used, not clean - 1 had placed them on the stand; and, by their side lay the core of the carbuncle. Mrs. Jane Campbell, visiting me at the time, was nt at this operation. Some months after this she siepped on a needle. I could only find a small portion of the needle, although I made several examinations for tli at purpose. Here again Dr. Dellaven came to my assistance. "We made the room dark as before. I placed my case of instruments on the stand as before, only I did not open the case. Mrs. Campbell, took her seat beside the stand. We heard the case open and the sound of ex- mced fingers running over the instruments. We heard the patient give expressions of pain ; and, finally, she said, "My foot feels better, anyway." Dr. DeHaven's voice told Maud to put out her hand, which she did, when a piece of rusted needle, about an inch long, was placed in her hand. This piece just matched the piece I had taken out. On lighting the lamp, we found the case of instruments open and I saw that the proper instruments had been used. They were on the stand stained with blood. These operations show T ed superior intelligence and skill in operating so success- fully and so quickly. They show an ability to see, not only in the dark, but far enough into more solid mat- ter to locate the foreign substance. My instruments were 170 PSYCHIC LIGHT not cutting into these patients under any hypnotic hallu- cination, or to satisfy any unconscious cerebral theory, or any theory of apparitions, visions or vibrations recorded upon the astral light, or any theory of blind force act- ing through or upon organized matter, or any force act- ing in any way excepting on the theory that it was the ex- carnate, personal, individual spirit force of Dr. Peter Dellaven performing these very difficult and delicate operations. FACES ON THE FROSTED WINDOW GLASS. The frost is at work on the pane tonight, Tracing his fancies — the Artist Sprite! His fancies so exquisite, dainty and rare, They might be the dreams of the sleeping air. — Anoi In the winter of 1869 a new and marvelous develop- ment came to Maud. We first noticed faces apparently etched in the frost on the window panes. My attention was principally attracted to the details. These mani- festations continued for some two weeks or more. Some- times there were pictures of soldiers carrying guns; some- times landscapes were worked out in detail. Some of the faces were recognized by friends. There was one very notable case where a woman who had become separated from her mother when quite young, was told by Mrs. Lord that the face on the glass w r as that of her mother, still living. Later on she found her mother from her re- membrance of the face on the window. People came from all parts of the city to see these spirit pictures. Photographers came to take and preserve them as rare curiosities of art and skill. These faces were often perfect, even to the details of beard, moustache, eye- brows and features. Sometimes they would appear on the margin of newspapers, three, four or a half dozen at a time. Sometimes they would fade and others come in their place while we were watching them. I knew then that behind the scene were invisible ar- tists, whose well defined lines of taste and beautv had CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 171 marked an era. I knew that God had sent His angels to dot tin" crystal canvas to induce thought. These beau- tiful frost sketches appeared from time to time at my husband's place of business, and sometimes in our home, when Maud had scarcely graced tin 1 room with her pres- ence through the day. REMARKABLE HAND DRAWING. About this time we experienced another phase of spirit manifestations. Maud could not herself make a drawing of any little image that most children delight to indulge in with their pencils, and yet we could throw a shawl over her lap, place paper and pencil beneath it, ami she would sketch faces with wonderful skill. One ing she made a picture of a man who was recognized by his daughter, Mrs. Annie Remington, who was stopping at our house, and she begged the privilege of keeping it. Several times Aland made sketches of a bust with a com- posite head, so that it represented a new face in any and every way you might turn it. Each face was in appear- ance of a different nationality. One very cold winter evening in the year of 1869, e pretty little flowers were brought in and given to us, We wondered where such flowers could have come from, and questioned Clarence. He said they visited all the hot house gardens. They could get into them all with ease, but could not get the flowers out until at one garden they discovered a broken window. The next day I proposed to Mr. Hooker that we drive over to this particular garden and if possible find the broken window. We went and looked very carefully and found the place where a pane of glass had been broken, as stated by Clarence. A NEW ERA IN OUR HOME. A new baby in the house was not a common event, nor was it the mere idea of being grandma that made the event more memorable. They had foretold the sex, the day and the hour of her coming, and had selected a name 172 PSYCHIC LIGHT for her. They gave us a new surprise by attending at he birth. We were told to leave the room and to wait in the sitting room below. Our curiosity and our anxiety was too great, and we tarried just outside the door. We could hear all that was said and done. Suddenly there came a heavy rapping all about us and we made a quick retreat down stairs. In a short time Clarence's voice called us to come. On entering the room there was our tiny baby girl, as foretold, nicely wrapped in a warm cloth which I had left in the room, and with a shawl folded about her. Dr. DeHaven, by whose direction I had made many wonder- ful cures in my own practice, aided by Jesse and Clarence, were Maud's attendants. There might have been ouiers, but we could hear and recognize only the voices of tnese three. Two days after baby's birth, my sister-in-law came for a visit. She was taken suddenly ill and lost conscious- ness very unexpectedly. Maud was not yet up and I had been quite reticent in speaking about the sick woman to her. I was alarmed and quietly summoned two of our neighbors, Mrs. Owen Townsend and Mrs. Smith, wife of the Presbyterian clergyman, from Maud's room. In the greatest possible haste I reached the room -with restoratives, but before I could make use of them we were nearly par- alyzed with astonishment by seeing Maud come into the room, in a trance, with a blanket wrapped about her in In- dian style. She came to the bedside, stood as if listening to directions given by some spirit, then she cautiously placed her hands upon the dying woman for a minute, and then rubbed her over the region of the heart quite vigorously, turning her head occasionally as if to hear instructions. Maud then picked her up as easily as she would a child and placed her upon her back, and treated her again. The time seemed an age as we stood and looked on, unable to offer any assistance. The patient made a gasp or two and then respiration, though feeble, was es- tablished. We were silent in the presence of a superior intelligence and power. This startling and beautiful dem- CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 173 oust rat ion of spirit power was like a benediction from above. — like a glad glory-ray from the fountain of all wisdom. Still in the trance, Maud returned to her room, placed herself in bed and was sleeping when we arrived there a minute later. Clarence assured us that she was so thoroughly pro- tected by magnetism with which they had surrounded her, that she would not suffer from it, and she did not. SERENADE THE BABY. The baby was in due time apprised that she was to bear the name Maude Alberta Lord. We all thought her a little the sweetest and dearest baby in the wide world. Our spirit friends were equally pleased with her, for on the night when they christened her, they took possession of a closet adjoining Maud's room, where we kept the musical instruments which were usually brought into the seances, consisting of a music box, bells, tambourine and guitar, and gave the mother and baby a royal serenade. The most wonderful part of the performance was their bringing the guitar from down stairs. Our sick woman thought our friends from the city were congratulating us upon the advent of a new baby in the house. SPIRIT CLARENCE STRIKES A MATCH AND BUILDS A FIRE. ~\Ye were surprised one evening about six o'clock, by finding a fire in Maud's room up stairs. There had been no fire in the room during the day and no person had been in the room. I had cleared all the ashes from the stove and placed the wood and kindling in the stove ready for the match. This was a puzzle till Clarence told us he did it, as conditions favored his doing so. A CONCERT BY A BAND OF INDIAN BRAVES. Many times we were aw r akened during the night by music, both instrumental and vocal, which did credit to the spirit band. Usually, when these concerts commenced, 171 PSYCHIC LIGHT Maud would be asleep ; and, on being awakened, she would ask what was being done, and Clarence would tell her tc keep still as a few friends had called for a concert. We could, from our rooms below, hear all these preliminaries. Sometimes we would not be awakened until" the music commenced. We were not permitted to enter the room, for fear of disturbing the conditions. On the occasioi of an entertainment given by our Indian friends, we hean all that occurred, as their coming was by no means "01 noiseless wings." I was awakened by screams from the room occupied for the night by Maud and a young woman, Miss Lin< visiting us. The Indians were in full force in the room, as I judged from the sounds. They danced and used the guitar in beating time upon tbe bed sufficiently hard to alarm the girls. Both girls awoke with the thought of burglars, and screamed in their fright. The scene was surpassinglv ludicrous. They called to the girl in the ad- joining room. She went to the door, when an Indian told her she could not enter. She opened the door a little, when something was thrust through the opening which deterred her from entering, and she gave vent to a scream, and calling to me, said, "Oh, dear, the spirits are in Mrs. Lord's room and won't let me go in." I took a light and went to the room and found Maud and her friend buried in the bed clothes, which were tightly wound around their heads. It was with some difficulty that I could uncover their heads and make them under- stand, or recognize my -voice. The room looked as if a cyclone had visited it. The bed was tossed and tumbled, and the furniture and the chairs were turned upside down. The tambourine, bell, music box and guitar were piled upon the bed, while other articles were strewn over the floor in all directions. If our incorrigible skeptic, or any other person, had witnessed this work of the invisibles, they would surely have been convinced of spirit material- ization. CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 175 00 SPIRITS TALK. AM) \\II\ DO NOT ALL I1LAK THEM f There is no guess work about this question. I know thai spirits talk, and find the elements that enables them to articulate so that other than clairvoyant ears can catch the vibrations. I have never entered into an investiga- tion of the processes by which the voice is formed, but T reason that, as there is no death, the spirit must be in- vested with all of its inherent faculties after its transition. With the completing of the mysterious operation of ges- tation and birth, eomes the unfoldment and development of the physical body; and it must be true that the greater the development while in the physical body, the more ad- vanced and complete are the spirit forces for the work of manifestations. Death is just as natural and necessary to spiritual existence as a natural birth is to an earthly existence, and is a part of the grand process of perfect- ing the individuality of a spirit. DEATH IS THE CROWN OF LIFE! "Were death denied, poor man would live in vain; Were death denied, to live would not be life; Were death denied, e'en fools would wish to die. Death wounds to cure; we fall, we rise, we reign; Spring from our fetters, fasten in the skies, Where blooming Eden withers in our sight. Death gives us more than was in Eden lost; This king of terrors is the prince of peace. When shall I die to vanity, pain, death? When shall I die? — then shall I live forever." The spirit, having passed through the natural condi- tions, is at once invested with all the faculties belonging to it in spirit life, and is ready and equipped to acquire the knowledge and ability to which it is entitled. If it is not able to use these faculties, why not 1 It is true that all spirits have not mastered these laws, and only a few can accomplish this wonderful phenomenon of speech, as we hear it, but the fact that some can talk so that ordinary ears can hear, when conditions are right, is too well es- tablished to be successfully questioned. 176 PSYCHIC LIGHT THE NATHAN MURDER. This tragedy, which occurred in 1871, will be recalled by many. The murdered man was in independent cir- cumstances, a Hebrew by faith, living in his own stately home in New York, and was murdered in his bed and robbed. The evening this terrible tragedy took place in New York our family were alone in Fondulac, Wisconsin. Maud was entranced and commenced to describe a man approach- ing a house. She also described the surroundings, the parlor, and commented upon a couple of pictures upon the wall. She then said, "There are some mattresses piled up in one room; it looks as though they were house cleaning. I see this man stealthily ascend the stairs; he passes through one room into the other and approaches a bed. There is an old man lying there asleep; he creeps close up to him." At this moment she threw up her arms and with a wild cry of ' ' Murder ! Murder ! Murder ! ' ' sud- denly became rigid and fell from the chair like one dead. The description she gave of the house, the appearance of the room, the style of doors, the number of pictures on the wall of the parlor, and the ill fated room did not vary from the description of the Nathan residence given by the papers the next day. From day to day she clairvoyantly kept pace with the investigation, and gave us many de- tails which the papers did not have, but which were cor- roborated some months later by detectives who visited her. She described a woman in a straw colored silk dress, wear- ing a magnificent bracelet containing a secret spring. She even traced the bracelet to the manufacturers, Ball & Black, of New York. Within this bracelet, she said, there was an important paper connecting this woman with the murder. The detective found a perfect corroboration of these statements. She also described the missing watch and its place of concealment. Gave the name of the Benjamin Hotel and the number of trie room where important busi- CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 177 was transact cd between the guilty parties, and much more that would not be well to mention here. The following year, 1872, we took up our residence Chicago, when a detective named Sam Felke eame to consult Mrs. Lord about this murder. Her memory of the vision was very clear and she went over the former tnent with wonderful accuracy. He was deeply in- sted, as it all accorded with what he already knew, pting her statement about the hotel. She must have the name wrong', as he knew every hotel in New York. He was sure there was no such house. She insisted that there was a hotel there, as she described it ; also as to the appearance of the room. The detective visited New York and returned with the information that he was thoroughly beaten, for he found the Benjamin House, the room and all, just as Maud had stated. He was then anxious for further knowledge. She told him she could go no further with him under the stimulus which incited him in the matter. DR. DE HAVEN'S MARVELOUS SKILL. While living in Chicago our baby was vaccinated and as a consequence became very sick. We sent for her moth- er, who was away holding a seance. She arrived to find her beyond the help of all earthly skill. I had had many - in my practice, seemingly more serious than this, and yet this resisted all my efforts. I called in other and em- inent practitioners, but nothing could be done. When the mother arrived, the baby was unconscious and to all appearances she was then dead. The physician I had called pronounced her dead. When Maud arrived she in- sisted on taking her in her arms and in holding both her little hands in her own. Hour after hour passed,— the day lengthened into night and the hours slowly passed until two o'clock in the morning, and still the anxious, heartbroken mother held her treasure,— her all. None could relieve her, she would not permit any of us to take her precious burden for one moment. Only a mother can 178 PSYCHIC LIGHT measure the agony of that long vigil. All her weary feel- ings,— such weariness as comes to mediums in the exercise of their gifts, — were forgotten in that great overmaster- ing mother's love. Check all hasty, impatient thought, especially to mothers. By the insuperable law of compensation will you pay, at some point on life's way, for every thought- less word and act. It is the law from which there is no escape. Nothing so crushes and agonizes the spirit as re- gret, nothing so exalts and beautifies it as truth told and duly performed. Language fails to picture any devotion on the part of children that can compensate such mother love as great souls all over the world are daily, hourly giving; such as only a mother can feel and know. It is the perfected manifestation of the primal, creative force of the universe. Her wise controls were not idle. She held the living citadel until the conditions permitted the preparation of the remedy for the blood-poison, caused by this modern, barbaric practice of putting into our veins that which na- ture never intended should be there,— all because this modern, experimental science knows no better. Dr. De Haven then took control and directed me. to take a sheet of foolscap paper, place it outside on the porch and to go after it in fifteen minutes. When it was time, I looked for the paper, but could not find it. In a few minutes Dr. DeHaven told me to look again. This time I found it just where I had placed it. On the paper was quite a quantity of dark brown or black powder. He told me to give the baby a certain amount every fifteen minutes, and await the effect. In a short time, probably five minutes after the second dose, we detected a slight pulsa- tion of the heart. He then told me to give the same dose again and when the baby regained consciousness, she would ask for something to eat and for me to give her all the sponge-cake she might want. There were no conditions, no "ifs" about his direc- tions, nothing empirical; he knew what effect his remedy CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 179 would produce It resulted exactly as he said it would, and we gave her the cake for which she asked. The next day our baby was well and playing about the house. She had been called back from the other side! For what? Time would tell. She had been held in the body all those long, weary hours by a mother's love — the greatest force in all the universe and a mother's vital forces, until dark- opened nature's great laboratory and permitted spirit intelligence, with its matchless skill, to prepare the remedy. I kept some of this powder for years and used it with absolute success in cases of blood-poisoning. I could never ^et it analyzed. Many times, when my cases baffled me and I knew not what to do. Dr. DeHaven came to my assistance. There were never any experiments in his practice,— in his science. Positive results were predicted and w r ere as sure to follow as night follows day. The Indian guide, ' ' Kaolah. ' ' who seemed to have been with Maud from her very earliest recollections, often pre- pared remedies in daylight, in our presence, seemingly out of the invisible air: and at other times would suggest herbs and roots and direct us as to their combination and method of preparation which were always effective. A SPIRIT BATTERY — ELECTRICITY, OR WHAT? Without attempting to answer the Question, it is suf- ficient to state that the force was magical, whatever it was. Many people will recall the figure of a fair-sized, well- dressed man wheeled about the streets of Chicago by a colored servant in 72 or '73. Mr. Elmer Koiiers had suf- fered for y r ears with a rheumatic trouble that had drawn his hands out of shape and crippled his legs so that he could not dress himself or walk. He visited many special- ists and noted physicians in this country and Europe. Meet- ing him in the streets one day I was impressed to stop and talk with him. He told me of his efforts to obtain relief and that not one of those he had employed at great ex- ISO PSYCHIC LIGHT pense had done him the least good. I told him I had a daughter who was a medium and whom I considered the greatest magnetic healer in the world. I related how she had relieved and cured many, and all kind of cases that our profession could not correctly diagnose or successfully treat, and that I believed she could cure him. He came to see us, and as soon as Maud saw him she said, ' ' Yes, I can cure you. ' ' He begged her to try it ; anything to be released from his terrible suffering and helpless condition. When she commenced to treat him, a peculiar buzzing sound, like that of an electric battery in operation, could be distinctly heard, apparently coming from the corner of the room, up near the ceiling, about ten feet from where Maud stood. This continued during all the time she was treating him. We were all very greatly surprised, as noth- ing like it had ever occurred before. Maud could not tell what it was. She could see what appeared to be a little white box, six or eight inches square, up in the corner against the dark wall paper, which was manipulated by two white hands. None of us were able to see anything, but we could all distinctly hear and locate the buzzing noise. When she ceased her treatment, the sound stopped. Almost from the moment she placed her hands upon his crippled and partially paralyzed hands and limbs, we noticed a change in his expression and general appear- ance. He said that sometimes the current from her hands caused him excruciating pain; at other times he felt as though paralyzed. She diagnosed his case so accurately, as to the time the trouble commenced and its progress up to the time he came to her, that his faith in her. was com- pletely established. She told him it came from a fall re- ceived years before, in which his spine and brain were in- jured. This, he remembered, but had never connected it with his trouble. She gave him only three treatments. Dur- ing each treatment the same buzzing sound from the spirit battery was heard as long as she was treating him. The three treatments resulted in a complete cure. My CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 181 own conclusions are that all magnetic healing is dependent upon the aid of spirit power using- the magnetic aura of the physical healer. LOST ARTICLES RETURNED. On one occasion, the baby had lost one of her new shoes, when out riding with Maud and Mr. Hooker. The was not noticed until she was brought into the house. Mr. and j Irs. Draper had called, and as she sat visiting with them, Maud suddenly looked toward the back parlor doors and said, "How strange! There comes a trio of spirits from the back parlor, clapping their hands and saying: 'We've done it, we've done it.' " I could not then understand what was meant, but it was made very plain to us a little later. When the hour for retiring came, my husband found the little shoe under the pillow. At another time, when getting out of the carriage, on Madison Street, Maud lost a fur-lined glove. That even- ing a German friend named Wymann, a jeweler, called. He left his overcoat in the lower hall and came up stairs, where we^vere sitting. During the evening, Clarence told Maud to ask Mr. Wymann to look in his overcoat pocket. We all rushed to see what had happened. When, lo ! Mr. Wymann drew from his pocket the missing glove. Sur- prise reigned supreme and Maud appealed to Clarence to explain. He said the glove was dropped in such a man- ner that they could secrete it until this gentleman passed, and then they slipped it into his pocket. PROPHECY VERIFIED. In the month of August, 1886, the shadow of the Death Angel fell upon our little cottage. There was a vacant chair at the head of the table. We had no power to stay the tide that for eight long months had been carrying Mr. Hooker out towards the other shore. A little while pre- vious to his demise our Maud came home and brought with her Mrs\ Ladd of the Catholic faith, a lady of culture 182 PSYCHIC LIGHT and most pleasing manners. Her medinmistic powers were very beautifully unfolded and blended so finely with Maud's that the angel band seemed to meet with no re- sistance in accomplishing their most sacred and wonderful mission. After pleasant greetings, dear Clarence controlled Maud and gave Mr. Hooker a joyous greeting and out- lined to him the beauty and activity of spirit life, the joy and pleasure awaiting him, and told him of the friends of other days who stood ready to receive him. In the evening Maud gave us a beautiful address, af- ter which, Mrs. Ladd addressed a few words to Mr. Hooker, and then sang an Italian air with exquisite sweetness and pathos. The next evening we invited the attending physi- cians and sat around the bed. Soon Jesse Wilbourn, a brother of our - Clarence, came laden with beautiful thoughts, voiced in choicest language. Mrs. Ladd's con- trol chanted some peculiar foreign and spirit airs. Aracco, one of her advanced guide*, rendered in his native tongue, and, in an independent and powerful voice, a grand musical selection. While this was being done, a beautiful white canopy, with trimmings of silver lace and tassels, seemed to be suspended over the bed. Bright lights floated every- where around us, and faces came so near that Mr. Hooker was overjoyed in the recognition of a sister who was very dear to him in this life, and who thus watched the hour when she could greet him upon the other shore. The next day they bade us good-bye and left for New York. HOW WE LOVED HER. In all the years that Maud was an inmate of our home, and in later years, when she came to visit us, under all conditions, and in the most trying circumstances, I never heard an unpleasant or complaining word fall from her lips, or saw a frown on her countenance. She was always pleasant and gracious to all people. She was grateful for any slight act of kindness, and was constantly doing for others. She gave freely to other's needs and never took a CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 183 thought for herself. Her joy was in making others happy. She was always happy in the country, in the woods among tin- flowers. She would talk to them and attend them as though they understood and appreciated her tender solic- itude. She seemed to be iu tune with, and attuned to all the infinite forces of nature. She seemed a part with, and of nature's melody and of its grand anthems. We all loved her with a holy adoration,— as something different, something beyond our comprehension. She could not be measured by known standards, or understood from our standpoint. No wonder she was called "The Daughter of ;iir Orient." She did not belong- on our plane of action. A strange, exotic flower on foreign soil, doing the Master's work. It is impossible to write all the startling and important incidents that came to me during those years of investi- gation. I would as soon doubt there was such a person as Mrs. Maud E. Lord, as to doubt what I have seen and writ- ten. There was a time, however, when I would have been afraid of persons believing as I do. My good old, shouting Methodist mother tried to educate me to believe whatever our teachers and ministers told us ; that we must not think and act independently or contrary to their interpretation of the Bible. If the continuity of life be a fact,— be the law.— we are all subject to it, and must carry with us the likeness of ourselves and reflect just what we are and just what we have been in this life. Each one must personate himself. Death cannot possibly change our characters, or our individual selves, so as to make us appear what we have not been, any more than a canary can become an eagle. Our individual lines of life are definitely marked. Thought and consummated action have made our charac- ters. If we are bad and designing persons here, we must be«rin where we left off. where death and the new life finds us. Xo affirmation of faith can change our condition at the time we enter the new life any more than the leopard can change his spots at will. Spiritualism teaches me the grandeur of a true and unblemished life; to never defile, 184 PSYCHIC LIGHT or profane the residence of the spirit; to be true to every conviction of right. Fondulac, Wisconsin, 1886. CONCLUSION. It is a year later. Our Maud has returned from her first visit to California, The Spiritual Camp Meetings in the East are closed and she has been with us once more, and I resume my pen to relate the fulfillment of the strangest part of the strange prophecy of the Oriental Mas- ter, made on that beautiful Sabbath morning in June so long ago, yet seeming as but yesterday, so rapidly do the years go when we have passed the three score mile stone. Eleven years have passed since Maud, for good and suf- ficient reasons obtained a divorce from my son. She is now" in California with another husband, living in a beautiful home among the orange groves. Our blue-eyed baby, now a beautiful young girl of fifteen, was also -with us. My son and I are living at home alone. Is Maud's husband the stranger so minutely and in- delibly impressed on my mind? I will tell you that you may know -as I know, that "Angels are given charge" over Maud and her glorious mission. What a royal benediction her coming was to me. In the pleasure and excitement of her visit, I en- tirely forgot the prophecy, so unlike was her husband to the image of the stranger who had come to us in those visions and dreams of the night. We had a most delight- ful visit, and I, claiming Maud as a daughter, also claimed him as a son. We discussed the events of the past ; and, in reviewing the incidents we recalled the prophecy. All was correct, excepting he did not resemble the stranger. Maud and I laughed and said we guessed, if the prophecy was to be fully verified she had married the wrong man. Every- thing else was as predicted. The new husband was a con- tractor and builder of waterworks and railroads, and was CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 185 ,i newspaper man. He did not fill the description in this particular, neither did he wear a full beard. He list- ened to our story with evident incredulity. We described the stranger and told him about the prophecy, as I have re- lated it. He smiled, but made no answer. He was a con- sistent believer in our philosophy, and I imagined our story might cause him to think it foreboded a separation for him, if that part of the prophecy was yet to be completed. lie left us for a few days to visit Rock Island, III., and Davenport, Iowa, where he had formerly been in business, leaving Maud and our granddaughter, now his daughter, with us. He returned and in a short time they left for California. A day or two before they left, on going into the par- I saw a blue plush case on the center-table, contain- ing the photograph of a man. The photograph was done in India ink. I put on my glasses to take a better look at it. I knew there was no such case in the house. To my great astonishment, it was a beautiful likeness of the Stranger— perfect in every detail! I started with it in my hand for Maud's room and met her at the door. "Oh, Maud, where did this come from ? This is the man you should have married. ' ' "Why so, mama; what makes you say that?" "Don't you see, don't you remember that face? It's the Stranger of our Oriental's prediction and so true a like- ness." "So it is," she said, "but, mama, it is Mr. Drake's picture, taken when he lived in Davenport." So it was. After hearing our story, he went to Daven- port on business and brought it back with him. Without saying anything to me, he left it where I could see it, to test my memory and the accuracy of our story. The pho- tograph, as he then told us, had been taken by a photog- rapher in Davenport, named P. B. Jones, whose gallery was on the corner of Brandy and Third streets. Jones was a spiritualist, and in later years, not liking the name of Jones, changed and took his middle name, and is now 186 PSYCHIC LIGHT known by the name of Dr. P. J. Barrington. He is the author of several spiritual books and well known to the spiritualists of the country. The photograph was finished in India ink by another spiritualist named Pryor. Both were believers in our philosophy, as stated by the Oriental. Both of these men were very persistent in taking his pho- tograph and doing it in ink, and then they presented it to him, when, as he told us, he did not care for it. Barring- ton, or Jones, was a very able man, a clear logical thinker. Everybody in Davenport held him in high Regard as an honest, conscientious citizen. Mr. Drake w T as, at the time the photograph was taken, city editor of the Daily Davenport Democrat, and later, from 1870 until 1880, was owner and editor of the Daily Rock Island, Illinois, Argus, at which time he went to Texas and engaged in other business. Thus it is that our prophecy was verified in detail, and I now await the inci- dents yet to come. I close these, to me, strange, marvelous and deeply interesting, incidents in the life of a daughter whom we always loved and whose mediumship covers the whole range of spiritual phenomena. She never lowered the moral tone of our beautiful philosophy, and none. stand higher in the estimation of the public. That the other incidents fore- told by the grand Oriental master will come to pass in the fulfillment of their plans, I do not doubt. Yours very truly, Laura A. Hooker, M. D. Fondulac, Wis., Nov., 1887. CHAPTER VII. LIFE IN CHICAGO. In 1871 Mrs. Lord moved to Chicago and gave all of her time to the demonstration of spiritual phenomena and philosophy. Some of the wealthy people of that city offered to purchase a home on the "aristocratic" South Side and present it to her, if she would exercise her gifts exclusively for the select, the wealthy and the fashionable, as Appollonius of Tyana did in Christ's time. They argued that such a course would make spiritualism popular; that she was just the one to do it. They were delighted with her personality and the genuineness of the phenomena in her seances, with the principles she taught and the exam- ple she set for them. But they did not feel at home, or at ease, in the presence of those of extreme poverty who often attended her meetings, and who were sometimes given more attention in the seance than they received. Jeweled hands could not clasp with ease the hard, calloused hand of toil, and they could not meet God's poor and the unfor- tunate in the spirit of universal brotherhood. Poverty, humiliation and trials had never come to them, as they had to Mrs. Lord in her young days, to touch their souls with Charity's magic wand, or to illuminate undeveloped recesses in their being. To the credit of some of these peo- ple, be it said, they approved Mrs. Lord's refusal of their well-meant offer. He, or she, who has never known sorrowful adver- sities has only half lived, and does but in part know the world. Mrs. Lord's doors were open to all classes. The poor were always welcome to the full exercise of her gifts, and the needy never went away empty-handed. She was eagerly 188 PSYCHIC LIGHT sought by people of all religions, all beliefs, all isms, and even those with no belief. The wealthy and fashion- able continued to seek her. The learned and those who im- agined themselves learned came to consult her upon all questions, foolish, wise and otherwise. People sought her from far and near. Some came to expose, and others to know the truth. Many who came to jeer and scoff, went away to rejoice in tears of repentance that spirit return was a proven fact. Thousands of Chicago's prominent men and women were convinced, while the unthinking and illogical were completely mystified. In the very beginning of her public work she adopted a plan to which she always adhered and which gave the public great confidence in her. She would never permit any one to pay anything for her work, unless she and they were both thoroughly satisfied with what they received. Thus she disarmed skeptics and won her way to great pub- lic favor, as a thoroughly Christian woman, in thought and act. When she lived at 251!/2 Park Avenue, a gentleman named William Tilden called and stated that he repre- sented the M. E. Church. He came to ask what would be her price to give up her public work for the devil. She listened to his reasons for such a request, and then replied, "In your ignorance of the truths and precepts we teach, you are mistaken. You have acted without rea- soning and without first seeking any explanation of the subject you condemn. In the truths and facts we dem- onstrate there is nothing inconsistent with Christ's teach- ing and practice. We only demonstrate to your reason what you so earnestly ask us to believe. Neither is there anything in our demonstrations inconsistent with good morals, cleanly lives and Christian conduct. Nor is there anything contradictory to the laws of physical science." She was then controlled and spoke in a voice most ex- quisitely attuned to the melody of the celestial spheres, as he afterwards related. She told him of all the important changes and leading incidents of his life. In the full light CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 189 of the noon-day son, his dear mother came first, inde- pendent of the medium, and placed her hand upon his so that he felt and recognized the old-time touch. Then followed his father, brothers and sisters, and the friends he thought safe within the limits of his theological heaven, nil of whom he recognized. His soul was touched with the vent truth, and in after years he came again and again ek instructive and holy communion with his loved ones. To his belief he had added positive knowledge. It made his religion all the more beautiful, and made him a more devout worshipper. He recognized the universal law of spirit return and he did not fear to talk it to his many friends. THE INVOLUTION OF GENIUS. "Almighty Wisdom never acts in vain, Nor shall the soul, on which it has bestow'd* Such powers, e'er perish like an earthly clod." Thus wrote Jenyns, and thus think all those who claim that the race is the product of all that has passed. The mingling of all races, all forms of belief, all modes of thought on this continent, has produced results that are already reacting upon the old world. Here, it has produced a new man and a new woman, with new thought. The new man has correlated his facts taken from all sources, and has dared to proclaim his conclusions. The new wo- man has ignored the old Roman law and dares to be heard in public. Recognizing the dynamic force of thought in creation,— the intelligence that creates and beautifies all things, she is applying this magic force to the production of genius. All geniuses have great mothers. Handicapped by customs and forms, nature has been obliged to take woman unawares, to seek the simpler walks of life to produce the geniuses and thinkers who have startled ecclesiastical domination and dared to provoke science into new and untried fields. Spiritual science, from the bright other side of life, is opening the way. The coming of these angel teachers has long been delayed by 190 PSYCHIC LIGHT prejudice and ignorance. They are now here to stay, to help those who have developed sufficient brain and ac- quired faculties and courage to reason. They are here to help humanity to greater progress, to higher and better thought. Thought builds character and is all the enduring wealth we can acquire in this stage of existence. Thus counseled Mrs. Lord's more advanced guides. They urged her to hold out a strong hand to stay the feet of the weak and erring. They gave her the wisdom to claim the atten- tion of the thoughtful, and to confound intellectual van- ity. They gave her to understand that thought vibrations once set in operation move on eternally and whoever comes within their limits must be influenced and modified by them; — that they will produce their legitimate result some- where and some time. The mother's thought may not bf so directly appreciable in the child as in the third and fourth generation; but, once involved, it will be evolved some time. Thoughts become acts. Every act must be preceded by a thought, and these operations form character— the only, desirable consummation of life. Let no mother doubt these laws and their far reaching effects. Call -it heredity, if you will. The first cause is thought,— a deific or demonic force set in operation, and according to the dynamic energy you give it so will it bless or curse the race and you as well. There is no place where you can escape from it. There are those still living in Chicago, and at other places, who remember the lessons taught by Mrs. Lord's controls and who listened and applied them, and have beautiful children as a result. How? She repeated to them the lessons given to her and told them her experience — told them how her inspiration of unalloyed joy knew no bounds when she thought of a young soul to be born into the world, mantled in glory and sweet perfection. The mysterious, magical law of thought, — the spirit's selection and impress of matter, moulding it into forms of beauty and organizing it according to its kind and quality must CONTINUITY OF LAW \M> LIFE. 191 produce the results for which she did so devoutly pray,— , other environinenl and deleterious forces are present to check and delay for a generation,— possibly a second ration, the beauty and perfection for which she so fondly hoped. Prayers unceasingly rose to the mother's lips, from the hope-inspired heart, that her child might be all that nature's God could make it. Out in the severest storms went she to pray; out into the sunshine where the songs of birds seemed to make life more sentient and beautiful; out beyond the great city's limits to peaceful fields abounding with life that only sanctified and glorified the soul within — the double life — that she might bring all good and potent conditions to develop the dear babe so precious to the hungry heart of this inexperienced mother. She sought places of art; she listened to the murmur- ing brooklets, singing birds and rippling waters, and lin- gered wherever and whenever she could find the beautiful in nature. She listened to the soft melodies of human souls that loved her. She reveled in nature's rhythmical swells of grandest elevation and inspiration, and prayed for the fulfillment of the law. The controls desired her to keep herself in a negative condition, to let nothing trouble her, to look to the sunny side of life, that the grand in- comprehensible magnet called LOVE— a primal, potential, creative force— should so sensitize the child-life as to make it most beautiful. This is the law, and its fulfillment must come some- where in the line she was creating. Her prayer was for its direct and immediate fulfillment in the generation within her time,— within her reach. There were other vibrations about her which her controls and she sought to neutralize. Time alone could tell if they were not also a law unto themselves. She was, however, assured that her efforts should bear golden fruit at some point on the line of the life she was thus individualizing. If not in her child, by reason of law, then by the same law, they must manifest in a later generation. Nature's laws make no 192 PSYCHIC LIGHT mistakes. In their continuity they span all existence- and are but modes of infinite intelligence. Thus she bowed at the shrine of Eros; and, -attuned to love's ways and laws, she learned that they who con- quer by force overcome but half of their foes, while those who think and live in harmony with nature are superior to all conditions. In time, as sweet a child as God ever gave to a mother was born under the guidance and care of spirit influences. This second medium showed mediumship from the first hour of her birth. Spirits attended both mother and child throughout. They came to Mrs. Lord, lifting her tenderly for four days, dressing and undressing her with the ease of experienced nurses. At the end of a week the band con- trolling the medium christened the child, and gave an in- dependent musical. This has been told by the grandmother, but it will bear repeating, as the mother remembers it. There was a guitar in the parlor, down stairs, imme- diately under their sleeping apartments, and in the closet adjoining their bed chamber was a banjo, a tambourine and bells. Through combined forces they managed to get these instruments together. After the household had re- tired and when all was ready, a voice, that all in the house recognized as Clarence's, said: "All ready, boys." The music began. First, low, sweet and tender as a soothing lullaby; then it broke forth into quick and jubilant measures. Several spirit voices joined in the jubilee. After speech making by Clarence, Snowdrop, and several other controls immediately interested, they at last said: "We have the supreme pleasure of presenting this little exhibit of our power in honor of our little medium on whom we now bestow the name of Maude Alberta Lord." They played, walked about, strong and loud enough to bring the whole household in listening wonder to the outside of the door. Servants, who were Catholics, Mr. and Mrs. Hooker, and a sister of Mr. Hooker, all heard the revelers and enjoyed the entertainment. HUH mtuw •*^" THE CHILD MEDIUM (See page 195.) CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 193 CLARENCE DRESSES THE BABY LIKE A HOY. Mrs. Lord often said she did so wish her baby had betn a boy. One night, after they had gone down stairs ,i. Clarence thought he would make her look like a boy. When they went to get the baby to show her off to a neighbor, behold a dainty little mustache was marked on her upper lip. a necktie was tied under the chin and on the pillow was pinned a card, signed by Clarence, on which was written, "Mere's your boy." She had complained that her baby did not weigh enough. Every time they tried to weigh her, — no matter who held the scales,— they would register all the way from four to twelve pounds. They tried it many times in the full light and with the scales in the most skeptical and fill hands. It was impossible to get the same weight twice. It was finally decided that eight pounds was a very good guess. One day when baby Maude was three months old she asked, in a perfectly distinct voice, for a drink of water. This almost frightened her mother out of her senses. When the water was given her, she drank thirstily and appeared transformed and transfigured. In a few moments the mother recognized her little control, Snowdrop, who laughed and clapped the little hands in great glee that she had controlled the tiny form. Six months later, as Mrs. Lord was ready for a ride with the little daughter, she saw the child lifted and com- ing through the air towards her. Some invisible power carried her through the parlor, — half way across the room, to the thoroughly astonished mother, and dropped her upon the floor, not harming her in the least. A spirit voice ■ that all could hear, and said: "Forgive us. we thought we could bring her to you. ,, Even the blue-eyed babe seemed to understand, young as she was, that some- thin? unusual and funny had transpired, for she crowed and laughed with the rest of the company. The child received faithful care from the invisibles. 104 PSYCHIC LIGHT The cradle was often seen to sway to and fro for many hours. She was born clairvoyant and clairaudient, a mental and physical medium at an early age. There were times when she would be gloriously transfigured and looked utterly unlike herself. At such times her wisdom was most subtle, her language most choice, and her tests of spirit identity very satisfactory. She was intensely religious and would hold her own little prayer meetings, inviting the angels to be present. THE BABY IS PUNISHED. When she was three years old she visited her grand- mother at Fondulac. She w T as at this time a very busy little girl. Grandpapa had a fine grape arbor and little Dot would amuse herself by pulling the green grapes. This finally exhausted grandpapa's patience, which was almost limitless, and he said to the mother, "What shall I do with her?" Mrs. Lord said, "Punish her some way." Grand- papa brought her in and put her into a closet. She went in cheerfully, saying, "Maybe it will break me, but I don't know." The indulgent grandpapa stood outside the door, listening for a possible sob. Instead, cheerful voices rang out in merriment and great glee. She had lots of company in the dark closet and was more than pleased with her punishment. Mr. Hooker could hear the voices and the ripples of sweetest laughter from the spirits as well as from Maude. Her grandpapa said, "Maude, who is with you?" She said, "Snowdrop, and lots of little angels, papa, and it's lovely in here in the dark." She remained there for more than an hour with many listening on the outside to the wonderful voices speaking to them. One day Mr. George St. John, an editor, called and asked to see the wonderful child about whom he had heard so m^ch. The mother brought her in and asked her to give the gentleman a sitting. She willingly climbed into a high chair and folded the wee little hands to await the coming of the control. The situation was so strange and CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 195 peculiar that he could not help smiling. To our baby- medium the subject was too sacred to be treated lightly; and, <>n noticing the smile, she at once climbed down from her high chair. It took many apologies and much coaxing on her mother's part to induce her to give him the sitting. She finally consented. He was an avowed skeptic, bivt when his mother came and gave her name,— a peculiar name, "Miranda," which he knew was not known to any- one, especially to this little three year old child, and when his mother told him many incidents of his boyhood days, known only to him and to her, his skepticism was gone, and he knew, if any one can know anything, that a great fact had been demonstrated to him, a man of the world, by a mere child. He brought others to see this marvelous child, in whose future were possibilities far beyond all ordinary limits. THE CHILD MEDIUM. One of the most convincing seances ever held by Mrs. Lord was at Fondulac, Wisconsin, when Maude Alberta about four years old. The seance was more than usually harmonious. Little Maude, at her own earnest re- quest, was allowed to be present. The seance had been in progress about an hour when she became tired and wanted a light. She was quieted and told "in a few minutes." Suddenly she was lifted and carried around the circle. Those present could tell by her deep breathing that she was under control. They were immediately assured of this fact by the childish voice of Snowdrop, saying, "I'm here"; and then through this four year old child this little Indian control proceeded to give those present the most wonderful and convincing tests. Names -were given and forms de- scribed with a clearness and accuracy which filled those sent with astonishment, She was carried through the air to several persons at their request, and on her mother sing fears for her safety, spirit voices answered. r not; we will take care of her." Mr. Raymond Talmadge received a message from the I9G PSYCHIC LIGHT father of his adopted daughter, Bertha, who had been dea< tor eighteen years. Mr. McGraw received a communication from one of his friends, whose existence was known to no one in the seance besides himself. A brother who had been in spirit life for twenty-two years came to Mrs. Julia Rug- gles, and another received a convincing test from a dear relative, while many others recognized names and faces which were described in a clear, calm voice by this most extraordinary child. The manifestations were different from those in seances held by the mother alone. Among those present were several eminent morphol- ogists of the Haeckel Schools of Tectology, who consid- ered the manifestations prophetic of the coming upon the scene of a new medium, unless, under the operations of the Mendelian laws of heredity, the father's traits should be evolved ; and, as heredity is a law or condition of organ- ized matter, she would then resemble him in appearance. As individualized, spirit, life-force is more potent than the acquired properties of matter, these consequences could only be corrected by the positive thought and determina- tion of the person. ABSENT TREATMENT. A gentleman living near Boston wrote Mrs. Lord that his son was paralyzed; that the doctors could not cure him, and gave him no encouragement, and he wished to know if she could tell him what to do. She immediately wrote the gentleman that at a certain hour each day, if he would be prepared as directed, she and her cruides would give his son a treatment at that particular hour. This she did for several days, until the boy w T as well. Later Mrs. Lord located in Boston, and one day father and son were passing along the street and came to a case of photographs in front of an artist's gallery. Pointing to one of the photographs, the young man said, "That is Mrs. Lord, father; I know her, for I saw her when she treated me." The father thought it could not be pos- sible, as she was in Chicago. They went into the gallery and inquired and, learning her number, went and found CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 197 her. The father told her, with much emotion and grati- tude, who he was, and of their experience, and said she was t!u' savior of his son. Mr. kS. S. Haze, the City Comptroller at Chicago, was another one convinced by many beautiful and indisputa- ble proofs. He, as he often said, attended Mrs. Lord's seances to rest himself. He enjoyed with all his gifted na- ture the communications he received from his spirit friends. PROPHECY AND PROTECTION. Without trenching upon the doctrine of predestination, many who have had a varied and extended experience with prophecy or divination from the spirif side of life firmly and confidently assert that every condition of life, — every question that human intelligence can formulate, is known, or can be known and answered by some intelligence, pro- vided that intelligence so elects. This is strong language, but as every incident in these pages is a fact,— has occurred just as told,— nothing exaggerated,— all plain, cold facts, the position is not untenable. Many readers will remember the Ashtabula, Ohio, disaster on the nierht of December 29th, 1876, where the entire train fell seventy-five feet and over seventy people, nearly every one on the ill-fated train, — were lost. Mrs. Lord was to have been a passenger on that train. She had ticket bought. Her little daughter, Maude, then about four years old, and "Lizzie Lou," the nurse, with their baggage, were on the Pullman, while she stood on the plat- form bidding good-bye to friends. The conductor called, "All aboard," and Mrs. Lord turned towards the car where the nurse and baby stood on the rear platform, but she could not move one step. Her feet were fastened to the platform. The train commenced to move. The nurse cried, "Come, Mrs. Lord, come." Little Maude cried, "Come, mama." Not one foot could she lift. The nurse seized the child and jumped from the car, and the porter threw off their valises. This is one of the many instances where their lives were saved by spirit intervention. 198 PSYCHIC LIGHT At another time she had been engaged by Captain Ward of Detroit, Michigan, the father of Clara Ward, (Princess Chimay) to visit his home. She saw the legend- ary "Iron Hand," and her controls warned her, all to no purpose. She would go. They told her that if she did go she would come back on a stretcher. She had been adver- tised to speak in Detroit and decided to disregard the warnings, rather than not keep her appointment. In step- ping from the icy platform into the carriage, at the depot in Detroit, she slipped and sprained her ankle. She was lifted into the carriage and gave orders to be driven to the Russell House, where she remained for a week until she was able to be taken to the car on a stretcher and return to Chicago. While at the Russell House, unable to move, General Tom Thumb and his wife and Mr. Giles Stebbins, the ethical writer, and his wife, all spiritualists, were very frequent visitors in her room. Her controls attended her, dressed her ankle and amused her. The controls gave them many manifestations of in- dependent writing and of playing on the music box in daylight and in plain sight. General Tom Thumb fre- quently came into the room and placing his silk hat on the floor, over the music box, it would always be played for him. Years after the General had solved the mystery of transition, this accomplished little lady,— Mrs. Thumb, to show her belief and to emphasize it before the public, occupied the platform with Mrs. Lord at Minneapolis, Minnesota, and later entertained Mrs. Lord and her party at the Baldwin Hotel in San Francisco, California. Many and innumerable are the occasions when the "Iron Hand" warned her of accidents and danger. She would not always heed these warnings and they would permit her to go with the attendant consequences and ex- periences. In cases of life and death, as in the Ashtabula disaster, they had the power to enforce their commands. By what process of calculation they were able to fix dates, perhaps the scientific astrologer can tell; and by CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. L99 what methods they are able to foretell specific events with their attendant circumstances, probably will not be told, even by these scientists of the stars, until they themselves find the long lost key to their special science. That such .vents are told, these facts and others more wonderful in Mrs. Lord's later experience, unquestionably demonstrate. Xo theory of coincidence can account for these things. There is no such thing- as accident in a world of cause and it, — in a universe of order,— or these things could not be foretold with such accuracy of time and detail. DOCTOR DE HAVEN ADVISES A CHICAGO PHYSICIAN. Among the exciting incidents at one of Mrs. Lord's seances in Chicago is one told to the writer by Dr. David ( ashman of Los Angeles, California, who lived in Chicago at that time, and who was the principal in the affair. There were several prominent people present at the time, — George M. Pullman, Mrs. Corson, Jac Humphries, now of San Francisco, California, and others. Dr. Cashman was a stranger to the medium and to the phenomena. It was his first attendance at any spiritual meeting. He was emi- nent in his profession, and like most others, unable to be- lieve anything beyond his experience and the reach of his science. During the seance he heard a voice address him, which he knew was not that of the medium or any of the people about him, saying, "Doctor, do not operate upon that case to-morrow. ' ' The Doctor had two patients on whom all arrangements had been made to operate, and, of course, he was greatly surprised that such advice should be given him, knowing, as he did, that no one in the room knew abont these cases, or that a time had been set. for operating. He asked the medium several times for additional infor- mation, but she could not enlighten him. She had not heard the voice that addressed him, as she was describing for others in the seance at the time. She told him to ask his spirit friend to explain. He asked the spirit what case. The voice replied, "That case on Marshfield Avenue." 200 PSYCHIC LIGHT This was all he could learn. He called upon Mrs. Lord the next day and was so solicitous for further information that she invited him into the parlor. Before he could ask a question Dr. DeHaven controlled and said to him: "Doctor, we told you last night not to operate upon that case on Marshfield Avenue. We tell you now that if you do two lives will be sacrificed instead of one." 1 ' That cannot be, as the woman has been a grass widow for several years," the Doctor replied. "We know better than you. Our diagnoses are al- ways correct. Go and examine and you will be con- vinced. We tell you more,— that on Tuesday, April 18th, a little girl baby will be born." To use Dr. Cashman's words: "This was simply as- tounding. To give the day and date, and name the sex of the child, six months in advance! It put all of our learning, skill and experience far in the shade. Before I could recover from my surprise the control was gone, and the medium was herself again. "I said, 'Mrs. Lord, do you know me?' She an- swered, 'No.' 'Do you know that I am a physician?' She answered, 'No.' "Here were some cold facts, if subsequent events should verify them. I made examination and found that it was true. I notified the lady and the family that we could not perform the operation. They insisted, and I was forced to tell them my reasons for not operating. Then came a scene. The patient vigorously protested, and the family threatened the medium with all kinds of dire con- sequences and suits for damages. I advised that, in so far as my examination corroborated the medium, or the con- trol's statement, as the medium knew nothing whatever about it, they had better wait until the 18th of April, which, to add to my surprise, I had learned would be Tuesday, as stated by the control, before taking any steps in the matter. They concluded to act upon my advice. On the 18th of April the prediction was completely verified. "After this, to me. wonderful incident, I never failed CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 201 insult Mrs. Lord, whenever I could, on all important and difficult cases, as a correct diagnosis is all-important in our practice. I never found her controls wrong in their opinion of a ease, while their knowledge of the constituents of plants and the effect of drugs upon different temper- aments was beyond my comprehension, and convinced me thai the practice of medicine can be made an exact science, whereas to-day much of it is empirical." A SOLDIER REPORTS HIS OWN DLATH. While making a call upon the family of II. N. F. Lewis, editor of the Western Rural, she met the Rev. Doc- Adam Miller. The Doctor was a prominent minister of the M. E. church, and a broad, liberal minded man. He knew but little of spirit phenomena and did not believe that such manifestations were the work of spirits. The ry that it was the "Devil," which so many of his faith believed it to be, found no favor in his reasoning. During the call Mrs. Lord went over and knelt by his side and said. "Father, I have passed over and it is true that I van come back. You will very soon receive a message an- nouncing my death." The Doctor was greatly surprised, lie went home and during that night a message came, as predicted, corroborating the statement made. The family knew the son, who was a soldier stationed at a post in Col- orado, was sick; but, at last accounts, he was better. The Doctor was very liberal, and intellectually big enough to see a great truth in the claims of spiritualism. While being disposed to attribute the phenomena to telepathy and magnetic vibrations rather than an evidence of spirit re- turn, here was a fact outside of any such theory. While his family were bitterly and unreasonably opposed to his attending spiritual seances, he, nevertheless, became a fre- quent attendant at Mrs. Lord's meetings. His religious faith taught him that if these phenomena were facts, they could only exist by infallible and eternal wisdom— a wisdom that moulds events to meet the necessities of man and facilitate the accomplishment of beneficient purposes. 202 PSYCHIC LIGHT At these seances he was told about his family,— the living and the dead,— and of many important events of his life which he was certain no one knew, or could know. The first thing told him in Mr. Lewis' house upset his precon- ceived opinions. This, and his subsequent investigations, thoroughly convinced him of the truth of the claims of spiritualism. This knowledge had given his religion greater vitality and greater strength. He realized that these phenomena were scientific facts. It added knowledge to his faith. He felt that his religion must accompany science. He had nothing to fear from scientific facts. A religion that cannot progress with the race is dead and will hold its adherents in bondage and prevent their progress. LOSS OF THE STEAMER ALPENA. The steamer Alpena, with over seventy people, was lost on her trip from Grand Haven, Michigan, to Chi- cago, on October 15th 1880. The only body ever recovered was that of a Swede sailor that floated ashore on a piece of the wreck. On that evening Mrs. Lord held a seance in Chicago, which was attended by Captain Heber Squires, Sr., father of the Captain of the Alpena. During the seance Mrs. Lord, who was a stranger to Captain Squires and did not even know his occupation, suddenly turned to him and said, "Here comes a spirit to you, sir, who is all dripping w T ith water."* *NOTE: — This effect is produced by the controls of the seance for illustration and identification, probably by a con- densation of the atmosphere precipitating the oxygen and hydro- gen in the form of water. These, and, in fact, all the manifes- tations in the seance, such as producing sounds by the use of carbonic acid, nitrogen and compression of the air; by the use of the occult electrical force generated in the human body — a force infinitely finer than static, or acetic electricity, or by the evolution of atoms producing a vacuum, require such perfect conditions that it is a wonder the controls can do any- thing when the seance is made up of ignorant and careless people, however honest and desirous they may be of results. It is even more difficult when producing results requiring vibra- tions of electric and phosphoric lights necessary to make spirit faces visible to others than clairvoyant eyes, and in producing the mental phenomena, which requires the highest and most subtle vibrations. . CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 203 Those Bitting near Captain Squires felt water sprinkled over them. This manifestation greatly surprised all who felt the water. Captain Squires said, "Can you tell me who he is?" "Yes," she replied, "he says he is your son, Captain of the Alpena, and that his boat and all on board are lost." The Captain replied that his son was Captain of the Alpena, but he thought the boat could easily weather the storm which he and others knew was then sweeping over the Lake. Mrs. Lord said, "He is certainly here. Sometimes T see the living clairvoyantly, but whenever I see spirits in- side of the circle, they have surely passed over. I am al- ways in my normal condition, only a little more sensitive when in the seance ; and when I see spirits in the circle, their appearance is clearer and more distinct than those I see who are still in the body. Those in the body are a vision, possibly a materialization, but these here are objective realities." The Captain replied, "All that you have told me is very definite and true, but you must be mistaken about my son. His boat is one of the best on the Lake." A voice, which he said was very much like his son's voice, then addressed him, saying, "Yes, father, I am in- deed here. Our boat went down in this terrible storm and we were all lost." Many a Chicago home was made desolate by that storm. In a few days the worst was known. Only a few pieces of the boat were ever found, and none of the bodies recovered, excepting one. CHAPTER VIII. FIRST VISIT TO NEW YORK CITY. Persistent effort is the only road to great success. It is the Affirmation of the New Thought, the Concentration of the Christian Scientists and the Dynamics of Silence of the Spiritualists. Our Medium, coming from a race that never tolerated dictation in religious matters, never sub- mitted to petty tyrannies, always resolute and resourceful in the defense and maintenance of their inherent rights, had reached a point in life where it became necessary for her to obtain a divorce from Mr. Lord. For this purpose she took her baby, now about a year and a half old, and left with her maid for New York. It was her first visit to that gerat metropolis. Mr. George M. Pullman, a noble hearted Spiritualist, who often sat in her seances, furnished her transportation. He, with many other prominent people in Chicago, advised her in this matter. It is no easy task for a proud woman to face such conditions. That no de- fence was offered by Mr. Lord convinced the public of the justice of her action. For the sake of her child she elected to retain the name of Maude E. Lord — a name that has always been a credit to the philosophy and the Chris- tian practices and principles she has taught from the platform, from many church pulpits, and in thousands of seances all over the land, as well as practiced in every-day life. Arriving in New York, she did not like the attitude of the few Spiritualists whom she met. They questioned that she was Maude E. Lord of Chicago. They could not be- lieve she would leave a place where she had all and more than she could do. This questioning of her identity and lack of interest on their part, so different from those whom CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. L*05 sin- had just left in Chicago, caused her to extend her journey to Boston, where her guides told her she would receive a hearty welcome from the cultured people of that city. They told her to go to the Adams House; and, after breakfast, to take a seat in the parlor and leave the rest to them. She was worried with her experience in New York,— the uncertainty of the future, and on finding her- self in a large and expensive hotel with a limited amount of money. She took her seat in the parlor as directed. As she sat wondering what would be the outcome of her wait- ing a Lady entered the room. She looked around as if ex- pecting someone. Mrs. Lord was seated by the window. The lad\' approached, and seeing, as she thought, a familiar face, she came still nearer. With a glad cry of recognition the lady sprang forward and clasped the now thoroughly surprised Mrs. Lord in a warm embrace. This dear soul, sent there by her spirit friends, was Mrs. Laura Kendrick, better known as Laura Cuppy Smith, the eloquent speaker and spiritual lecturer. She said, "Why, Maud, I was told last night by my spirit friends to go down to the Adams House parlor and wait there for results. I knew it was for some good pur- pose, so I came; and it's to see you, my dear, whom I have thought and spoken of so much to my friends here." Mrs. Lord had known Mrs. Smith in Chicago, but had not seen her in two or three years. This was their first meeting, arranged by the invisibles. As Aland poured out her story of migration in obedi- ence to some force stronger than her power, Mrs. Smith folded her close within the sanctuary of her great loving heart and said, "Dear Maud, I have it. Some of my friends at 27 Milford Street have rooms; they know all about you. and will give you a warm welcome." In a few moments they had left the gloom of the stately parlor and were on their way to 27 Milford Street, where rooms were secured. She was now in the hands of friends, and her work commenced in earnest. She secured the services of Dr. 206 PSYCHIC LIGHT J. L. Newman to manage her business. From the first night her seances proved a great success. Hundreds ap- plied for admission, and were obliged to wait their turn. Hundreds of names were booked in a very few days. The doubting and unbelieving were convinced. Immortality was proven to them beyond a doubt. Men of all grades, from the most wealthy and gifted to the humble mechanic and blacksmith, came, all feeling that there was truly "more in heaven and earth than is dreamed of" in their philosophy. William Lloyd Garrison was a frequent guest at Mrs. Lord's and became greatly interested in her personal work. This grand humanitarian, with his soul-felt logic and beau- tiful philosophy made all with whom he came in contact re- joice that they could meet and know such a pure, aspiring spirit. He, the noblest of Boston's great workers, was convinced beyond a doubt, or, as he stated it, he had abso- lute knowledge of the future; that spirit return was a proven fact. Wendell Phillips and many noted celebrities and prom- inent clergymen, including Dr. Henry Gardner, and people of the church, attended these seances. The ministers, some of them, began to fear that too many sought. the shrine of Spiritualism, and not infrequently a sermon was delivered by Eev. Joseph Cook, and others, denouncing in round terms the whole fraternity of Spiritualists. About this time one of these good men made a call upon Mrs. Lord to give her a terrible lecture upon her dissem- inating the diabolical belief of spirit return. He would not give his name, but boldly avowed that she had been con- verting and misleading many of his church members. Mrs. Lord made answer: "Sir, I deeply regret that you think me capable of sowing seeds of either evil or dis- sension anywhere, much less in the great Christian Church that debars me from its precincts, because I have com- munion with the angels, or your spirit friends. I would not intentionally wound or distress anyone. I do not ask from whence the people come, whether from the church or CONTINUITY OP LAW AND LIFE. 207 from the world. I do not even ask their names or sec them myself until I meet them seated together for the mani- festations. ' ' "Then how do you do these devilish thing She replied by quoting, "To some shall be given the discerning of the spirits," and then said to him, "Do you. sir. as a minister, doubt these things, so plainly stated in your Bible.' Do you say that God did not mean that Ave should nil know the power and beauty of the immortal life.' Do you say your God forbids us to know the possi- bilities and capabilities of the soul?" lie rather sneered and said, "If God vouchsafed these things to man I could do them as well as you, or any of your mediums." She then said, "Suppose, for your special benefit, I illustrate this power and my position at the same time." lie rather demurred but she opened the pages of his life, from his earliest recollection of his home in Maine. She told him rapidly and positively of things past, and many forgotten things that none ever knew but himself and his God, as he afterwards admitted. She described an angelic being who approached him so lovingly and folded her arms about his neck. She spoke her name, saying, "Husband, it's Mary." She said, "This woman was burned to death many years ago." The minister acknowledged it to be true. m ' ' Your brother George, who was killed in battle,"— describing him accurately and to his perfect recognition,— "comes to you." She then described his old sire, who came with ex- tended hands to greet the unbelieving son. He soon dis- appeared and brought his mother and said, "See, we are all here, the whole household band." The medium said, "Why. sir. you have a babe in spirit life." "No, I have not." This was most positively said. "Yes, yes," said the medium. "There, now," he said, "you are utterly mistaken and 1 guess it's all a delusion." 208 PSYCHIC LIGHT His mother now said, "Yes, John, it's the little one yon buried under the rose bush so long ago." He grew white to the lips and said that it had no life here— it was prematurely born. ' ' Oh, sir, you should know that these lovely little buds of humanity live and have an identity and being, and recognize the earth conditions from whence they came." How many thoughtless souls will have to account for these little ones sent over by murderous intent. Oh, mothers and fathers of these unborn babes you will know them and realize the great and horrible crime that gave them the untimely journey. The injustice and sin of such acts will find you out; you must pay the penalty. This sublime truth will be like a two-edged sword rend- ing the heart in twain. The minister listened now attentively to the end. He was completely fascinated and yet he would repudiate the evidences of his own senses rather than admit the beautiful truths given him through this stranger. What was this light from this, to him, strange wo- man ? All the things of his life, all of his secret thoughts and actions had been brought up out of a past he thought was buried until the Resurrection Day. Thoughts, acts, and incidents were recalled by this woman whom he thought to crush with his scholarly anathemas, or coerce with his picture of wickedness and future punishment. Now he is recalled from his inverted thoughts by the medium saying: "Christ's promises to his disciples are being wonderfully and gloriously fulfilled in our time, for, sir, truths of a scientific and spiritual nature are coming quick and fast, — aye, in rapid succession, to con- found just such teachers as yourself and make you know that the children of earth must be fed upon something more substantial than shadows. Your creeds are the husks, not the bread of life. They feed the body, not the soul; the shadow, not the spirit. Humanity demands a living fountain. Sir, the soul's needs are not to be forever starved upon the letter, nor fed upon husks." CONTINTITY OF LAW AM) LIFE. He looked dazed; this to him, —to him a minister of [he gospel, and from a medium! He tried to recover his shattered nerves. He tried to look indignant, bu1 failed. He could not forget the scenes and incidents in his life thai she had so vividly and accurately portrayed. The lections were upon him, and he said, in a strange and unnatural voire. "] must go; I must not listen to you r: T shall doubt my sanity or identity, — I must go." The medium's kindliest sympathies were enlisted at the beginning, but now she felt real sorrow at his con- fusion, lie started up hastily and quickly passed to the outer door without speaking. As he was leaving the med- ium said, "Pardon me, but you have forgotten your hat." "Oh, yes. yes," he replied. She gave him his hat and he almost ran down the steps without leaving his name or saying a word. The angels were present to confound the minister— this teacher. During Mrs. Lord's sojourn at 27 Milford street, many remarkable manifestations occurred. At a cabinet seance held for Mrs. Augustus Carey, of Maiden, who was desirous of witnessing the full form materialization, the manifestations were unusually interesting. The rooms were examined and the medium was, .at her own request, securely tied and fastened in a large rocking chair, some five or six feet from the door. In addition to the large and small hands and arms, several faces and forms were shown. All were recognized. Sometimes two appeared on the outside of the cabinet at the same time. Little Snowdrop, the Indian control, stepped out in perfect form and went to a gentleman who gave her candy which she took into the cabinet to the medium. This control was a mere child, about three feet in height ry dark skin, black hair and sparkling black eyes. There was more light than materializing seances generally have, so that every form was distinctly and plainly seen. Dr. Dillingham and wife, who were present, were call- ed up to see some one just able to present themselves at the cabinet door. The doctor kindly and reverently ap- 210 PSYCHIC LIGHT proached, when a crippled hand was put out to grasp his. The face slowly came into view, and he was face to face with his first wife after a separation of many years. ATTENDS A FUNERAL IN SPIRIT. At the funeral services of William H. Guild, held at his residence, 114 Dartmouth street, Boston, Mass., in 1881, Mrs. Kelly, who seated the people in the parlors as they came in, saw a lady with her hair in long curls, wearing a large Gainsborough hat come into the room and walk over to an unoccupied corner, where she re- mained standing. She offered the lady a seat, which she declined, saying she could stand where she would not be in the way of others. This lady's face, dress and manner so impressed Mrs. Kelly that, after the services, she gave Mrs. Guild a very accurate description of her. Mrs. Guild instantly said: "That was Maud E. Lord." The pecu- liarity of this incident was that Mrs. Lord at that time did not know Mr. Guild was dead, nor had Mrs. Kelly ever seen Mrs. Lord. Mrs. Kelly was not at that time, and is not now, clairvoyant. The next day Mrs. Lord called at the house, having only that morning heard of the demise and funeral. Mrs. Kelly notified Mrs. Guild and said: "The strange lady who came to the funeral yes- terday has called and is in the parlor waiting to see you." Mrs. Kelly was introduced and when she related the incident of her being present at the funeral, to her great surprise, Mrs. Lord said: "No, I was not here." "You must have been here," was Mrs. Kelly's reply. "You were dressed as you are now. How could I tell Mrs. Guild, when I just now announced your presence, that you are the same lady who was here yesterday? I described you then so accurately that Mrs. Guild told me who you were. ' ' "Yes, you doubtless saw me, but I was not here in the body. There are many such well authenticated cases. I came by a law not formulated by, or known to, our ablest CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 811 nsts, but which has been known and practiced for centuries by the Oriental Masters,— the Magi. These thau- maturgists, skiiled in the use of magnetic and electric and ethereal vibrations, can do even more wonderful things. I am told that some of these marvelous things will be given to the race when they are qualified to receive them. Sometimes these visits are voluntary, but are mostly involuntary, and are made unconsciously by mediums and others. The adepts who do these things at will must have concentration of thought and perfected wills, and understand the laws by which their vital force is . -out rolled. They are able to do many things which defy all detection of trickery, because done in accordance with tral law. That individual force operating in the hu- man organism as spirit can, by its own potential intelli- gence, project itself beyond its immediate environment ol be successfully disputed." This experience was not new or unusual with Mrs. Lord. Many times on entering a room, she found spirits awaiting her arrival. She would address them before she smized that they were spirits, or "doubles" of living people, so natural did they look to her near-sighted eyes. Usually she learned that they had come to be treated for some disease. These spirits from ailing bodies are always mpanied by spirits versed in this occult law. When the medium visited people in spirit she was accompanied by Indians or Orientals, through whose knowledge and power such spirit visits were made possible and by whose lance all Mental, Magnetic and Christian Science cures made. In some cases she afterwards met these people who have said to her: "I remember you. On such an sion I dreamed I came to you for treatment, or I saw you when you came and treated me." They would often describe the room in which they met her, and the dress slit' wore. There are many cases where people whom she met for the first time would say to her: "You are Maud E. Lord. You came to me at such a time in company with an Indian or strangely dressed man and treated me for ■I 212 PSYCHIC LIGHT such and such a disease." They could tell how she looked, how she was dressed, and what she said and did. The cures thus affected and the testimony of the people treated is proof of these statements. Spirit intelligence, making use of the electric and magnetic emanations of the medium, cures disease that cannot be reached by drugs and or- dinary means. It is the spirit that loses control of its physical organization and requires assistance. It can only manifest through matter and needs to have will and con- centration augmented to put its house in order. Under- standing this power of concentration some have asserted that all is spirit — that there is no matter, and call them- selves Christian Scientists. All Christian Scientists do not take this extreme position. It has been claimed for many ages by the Priests of the Eleusinian Mysteries, by Paracelsus and other writers, and by Hindoo adepts, that there is a sublimated spiritual or Astral body that inhabits the physical body, which can, under certain conditions, and in accordance with laws whose operations they understand, leave the physical body and return to it. The instances related certainly establish the £act that a spirit can project itself, or be projected to a distance, either as a spiritual substance, 'or can materialize a temporary form appreciable to the senses of a second party. The senses are only the avenues of manifestation of the spirit; and, when in proper condition, there is nothing unscientific in a sensitive seeing these projected forms and hearing them speak and, possibly, may feel them by contact. If it be a case of projection of spiritual substance, and not a materialized form, the will and con- centration of thought of the projected spirit and a sen- sitive receiver are necessary. In cases where the recipient is not in the proper sensitive condition, the impression would only be made upon the brain, if made at all, and cause them to think of their friend. It must be remem- bered that the embodied spirit has all the powers and pos- sibilities possessed by the disembodied spirit, and that spirit is not limited by time or space, hence there is not CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 213 auch space between spirit and spirit as between body and body. Visions, apparitions, or doubles must not be con- founded with the spirit released from all connection with the physical body that appears al seances, and is seen and beard by all present. The circumstances and details of materializations of spirit at seances, and the intel- ligence conveyed, are so perfect as to place them outside of the theory of telepathy, visions and apparitions, and establish the fact of the real presence of the spirits, as an objective reality, appreciable to the physical senses of all actors in these occult scenes, instead of to one or more sensitives. The recognition of spirits materializing at these seances. requires more than sight. There must be memory and statement of previous conditions and incidents, known only to the spirit and to the person to whom they come; and. sometimes, statement of facts not at the time known to the recipient of the information, and above all, reason and sense must be used. The child may be grown to normal stature in spirit life; the aged and infirm will have laid aside their wrinkles and infirmities; and, to build atoms upon their present spirit forms, or other forms, to represent themselves as you remember them, requires the greatest possible skill, and such chemical and mag- netic conditions as are seldom present excepting in es- pecially selected seances. Any form or any face thus presented, whether recognized or not, is evidence of the continuity of life and of a power outside of the medium and those present. There is no possible theory to account for these forms other than the actual presence of the in- dividual spirits as represented. No fifteen or twenty peo- ple can simultaneously conjure out of space, or out of t vibrations, an imaginary figure endowed with qualities, peculiarities and information to make itself known to one or more of those present. The possibilities of spirit are but dimly approximated by our Western science, or dreamed of in any except the 214 PSYCHIC LIGHT Oriental philosophy, which recognizes no miracles and refers everything to eternal and immutable laws. These in- stances only illustrate one phase of the magical skill of these spirit adepts and establishes the individuality and personality of spirit, whether in or out of the body. There is no fact in science, or any philosophy, upon which to predicate that the spirit ever loses its individuality. With- out a beginning it cannot have an ending. THE OTHER SELF. George W. Lewis, of California, a graduate of Mid- dlebury College, (Vt), class 1863, in his discussions of spiritual science, explains doubles, or "the other self," as he styles this class of spiritual phenomena, on the theory of materialization. In support of his theory he quotes five distinct and different instances, three of which are his own experience. He says as follows: "The apparition of a living person, separate and dis- tinct from the person himself, is a fact too well authen- ticated to admit of doubt. "It is well known by prominent persons, now living in Boston, Mass., that in 1881, the apparition of Mrs. Maud E. Lord, one of the most prominent mediums of modern times, whose name is heralded throughout the world, was seen at a funeral, and conversed with some of those present, when, in fact, the actual Maud E. Lord knew nothing of the funeral and, at the time, was in a distant part of the city. "Mr. W. H. Guild and his good wife were acquaint- ances and intimate friends of Mrs. Lord. Mr. Guild died in 1881, at his residence, No. 114 Dartmouth street, Bos- ton. At the funeral, a lady of striking appearance came in and stepped over to one side of the room. While standing there, Mrs. Kelly, a companion of Mrs. Guild, went to her and offered her a seat. "The lady said, 'No, I will stand here out of the way of others.' The appearance of this lady so im- pressed Mrs. Kelly that after the funeral she gave Mrs. CONTINUITY OP LAW AND LIFE. 215 Guild such an accurate description of her that she at said : 'Thai was Maud E. Lord.' "The next day. Mrs. Lord, haying heard of the death of Mr. Guild, called at the residence. Mrs. Kelly answered the bell, and invited her in, and informed Mrs. (Juild that the lady who was at the funeral, was in the parlor. Mrs. Guild soon entered, greeted Mrs. Lord and intro- duced Mrs. Kelly. During the conversation her attend- ance at the funeral was mentioned, when to their astonish- ment she told them she was not present. In this instance Mrs. Lord was identified beyond a doubt by Mrs. Kelly as the person to whom she had offered a seat, and whom Mrs. Guild had recognized from the description. And, while .Mi^. Kelly had never met Mrs. Lord before, it was with the greatest difficulty that she could be convinced that Mrs. Lord was not present. "Many such apparitions have come within the range of my own personal observation and experience. At the of about fifteen, my brother, two years older than my- self, was lying on the bed dressed and asleep. He was not well at the time. I left his bedside, going on an errand to a. neighbor's, about one block distant. When about half a block from home I looked up and saw my brothci-. not over forty feet ahead of me, going in the same direction. I thought it strange that he should have arisen, started out and passed me without my noticing him. "I was within ten feet of him when he reached a point in the street opposite the neighbor's house. He turned, opened the gate, and walked up the path to the trout door. I quickly followed him. The door was open, lie walked up the steps and into the house but a short distance ahead of me. As I entered I inquired for my brother, and was surprised when told he was not there, and had not been there. I soon returned home and found him asleep as I had left him. "Again, at the age of about twenty, we had a very high spirited horse. A friend was visiting with us for a 216 PSYCHIC LIGHT couple of weeks. We frequently took the horse out for a drive. - One forenoon I left my friend in the house, much interested in reading a book. "I was out ten or fifteen minutes, and returning I met my friend about half way between the house and barn. He said to me: 'How is the horse?' 'All right,' I said. He passed on toward the barn. I finally turned, think- ing we could hitch up the horse and take a drive. As I turned he was approaching the stable door. I hurried, but before I caught up with him he opened the door. It creaked upon its hinges. He went in and closed the door after him. The horse immediately gave a snort and commenced prancing in the stall. A few days before this occurrence my friend had struck the horse for stepping on his foot, and after that the animal was much frightened whenever he entered the stable. "On reaching the door I opened it and went in. The horse seemed still to be frightened and snorted several times. But my friend w T as not there. And there was no egress, excepting through the door we had entered. I went to the house and there found him in his chair, reading as I had left him. When I told him what I had seen he was greatly astonished and said he had not taken his eyes from the book since I had left the house. "At another time, an acquaintance went with me to call on Mr. B., and as we reached his residence, Mr. B. came down the front steps, bade us good morning and said : ' Please walk in and 'be seated. I will soon return. ' We went in, and the genuine, normal Mr. B. met us at the door. "Dr. Abercrombie, in his 'Intellectual Philosophy' re- lates the following instance: 'The Rev. J. Wilkinson, a dissenting minister at Weymouth, England, while at the Academy at Ottery, Devon, in 1754, one night dreamed that he was going to London, and that on his way he would go to Gloucester and call on his parents. He dreamed that he started on his journey, and came to his father's house in the night; that he went to the front door, found it CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 217 and then went to the back door, opened it and went in; that finding they wore in bed. lie walked across the room and wont up stairs and entered the room where his father and mother were in bed; that his father was asleep, but he found his mother awake, to whom he said: 'Mother, 1 am going on a Long journey, and I am come to bid you live.' Then the mother was frightened and said: '0 dear son, thou art dead!' With this he awoke. lie looked al it as an ordinary dream, but had a very distinct recol- lection of what had occurred. "A few days after, in due course of mail, he received a letter from his father, addressed as though he was dead, but desiring, if alive, to write immediately. The father said in the letter that if he was living he probably would soon die, and gave as a reason that on such a night (giv- the date which corresponded with that of the dream), I e had come to them in their room. "lie related that after they were in bed he fell asleep, but the mother remained awake. She heard some one try to the front door, but finding it fast, went to the back door, which she heard opened, and he came in and walked directly through the rooms np stairs. And she perfectly knew it to be his step. That he came to her bedside and said: 'Mother, I am going on a long journey, and am come to bid you good-bye.' Upon which she answered in fright: '0 dear son, thou art dead!' which were the very words and circumstances of the dream. But in her fright she neither heard nor saw anything more. She awoke the father and told him what had happened. From this strange occur- ■ his parents concluded that he was dead, or would soon die. But nothing remarkable happened thereupon. "The solution of this problem is by no means an easy one for the reason that we are not sufficiently conversant with the laws of nature governing such phenomena. The spirit which animates the body in earth life, begins its progress and development in the spirit world exactly where it leaves off here. All the powers and faculties possessed by it there were inherent in its nature here. Most of the 218 PSYCHIC LIGHT powers and faculties of the spirit, while in the form, are latent, but continue their unfoldment, growth and develop- ment throughout the eons of eternity. It is also an es- tablished fact that at times here on earth the spirit can stand out of its normal relation to the body without a final separation, or death. At such times it can travel to any place in the universe as quickly as the place can be suggested in thought. This may occur in the sleep- ing moments, during the trance, or in the normal, con- scious condition. Some of the phenomena manifested by the disembodied spirit can, at times, under proper condi- tions, be manifested by the spirit in the form prior to its final dissolution from the body. Many spirits in earth life are farther advanced in the growth and development of their inherent powers than other spirits are in the life hereafter. The fact of spirit materialization is well at- tested. While not all disembodied spirits can return to earth and form a temporary, material body through which to manifest their wondrous powers, yet many can do so. There are spirits, while standing out of the normal re- lation to the body prior to the final dissolution, suffi- ciently advanced to construct occasionally a temporary material body. All disembodied spirits cannot materialize, but all have the inherent power to do so when sufficiently advanced. Nor can all spirits in the form materialize another body, separate and distinct from the natural body ; but few are sufficiently advanced to do so. "In another part of this work it is shown that the spirit in the form, by its involuntary powers, builds up and supports the functions of the physical body by con- trolling the necessary forces and materials of the universe. And the materialization or construction of a temporary physical body, or double, separate 'and distinct from the natural body, by the spirit in the form is done by its in- voluntary powers. The exercise of these powers is usually, but not always unconscious and involuntary. "When Mrs. Maud E. Lord appeared at the funeral of Mr. Guild in Boston, in a materialized form, as an ob- CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 219 jective reality, separate and distinct from her norma] sell'. the act of materialization was unconscious to her and with- out her volition. Bui Mrs. Lord was then at the Funeral as an objective reality, separate and distinct from her natural sell", with the muscular and physical powers of locomotion, with judgment, intelligence and the power of speech. She was seen and heard by a lady who was not a medium or clairvoyant. Mrs. Lord was then in a distant pari of the city, had not heard of the death, and conse- quently was not thinking- of the funeral. "In the ease of my brother, there was a materialization sufficient to make himself manifest to me and to open the gate. "In the ease of my friend, there was an unconscious and involuntary materialization. It was an objective, vis- ible reality, with judgment, reason and will, with the power of speech, and the physical ability to open and close the stable door. And he was unquestionably visible to the horse. Vet, at this time, his natural, normal self was in the house intently reading a book. "In the case of Mr. B. there was unquestionably a materialization, as an objective reality, seen and heard by both my acquaintance and myself, and making an intel- ligent and appropriate salutation. "In the case related by Dr. Abercrombie, there was a irialization of Dr. Wilkinson, as an objective reality, separate and distinct from his natural, normal self. His mother, who had not been asleep, heard him at the front door, heard him walk around to the back door, heard him open it and walk across the room and up stairs, and knew his footsteps. She saw him enter the room and conversed with him. And a memory of that conversation remained with both mother and son. The fact of the materialization unconscious to him and was done without his volition except as expressed in the consciousness and volition reg- istered in his dream. But the incidents which transpired were remembered by him. Many incidents of this kind might be related, but the recital of the foregoing will suf- 220 PSYCHIC LIGHT fice. And I am satisfied that the foregoing is a correct solution of the problem. But if not, why not?" CHRISTIAN SCIENCE. When "Christian Science" was first presented to the spiritualists of Boston, it was rejected as covering only one department of spiritual science. It presented nothing new to Spiritualists who, as a class, recognized spirit power in its manipulation of matter and its control of all other forces. The advocate of the new theory felt confident it would not be subjected to the determined opposition and con- demnation Spiritualism was receiving from the religiously orthodox people. Nothing in it disturbed their especially devised plan of socalled salvation, or disputed their Mil- tonian story of man 's fall and his final condition so graphic- ally described by Dante. Advanced thinkers among Spiritualists were then prac- ticing the methods of healing now used so successfully by Christian Scientists. They believe in silent prayer, in the concentration of spirit force and in the exercise of trained wills to bring the troubled spirit of the patient into har- mony with itself and the infinite forces of nature. Many | Spiritual societies were opening and closing their meet- ings with silent prayer for the sick and distressed many years prior to this time. The mediums most successful in the exercise of their healing gift practiced "retiring into the silence" in their cabinets or sanctuaries for guidance and strength. They also recognized the potency and necessity of prayer in har- monizing vibrations in connection with the therapeutic im- pulse • conveyed by their wills direct to the diseased cells of the patient by physical contact. Thus two important methods w^ere employed: That of Spirit operating from within, under the influence of the medium's control; and, the transmission of spiritual and physical magnetism by contact of the nerve terminals. Both of these methods ire scientific, practical, effective and are in keeping with the laws of spirit and of psychology. Spiritualists were CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 221 not willing to divide these forces, or avail themselves of one method. Hence, the founding of a distinct and popular sect. Both Spiritualists and Christian Scientists jnize the possibilities of Spirit power in the body; both teach and practice the highest moral precepts, and both arc opposed by the medical fraternity, or "the doctor's trust/' thai is obliged to call to its aid the law-makers of the land to check the rapidly growing popularity of •spirit healing" in cases beyond their skill and practice. One method employed by the Spiritual mediums these wise law-makers cannot reach, namely: The so-called "ab- treatments" by the medium's controls as herein re- lated. MAGNETIC VIBRATIONS. Another class of thinkers catching a glimpse of Spirit- ual Science imagine they have discovered an emanation from the human organism, which, when intensified by the K-Ray, is sufficiently potent to enable them to photo- graph portions of the human form in the dark. Mediums have for years described these emanations, or personal mag- netism, by colors. Spirit vibrations through physical or- ganisms carry with them corpuscles visible to the clair- voyant eye, and there is no scientific reason why the sen- sitized plate in the camera may not detect the aura from • people. These vibrations vary with the will and spiritual development of the person. The vibrations carrying the corpuscles are modified by the quality of the physical organism, and the colors vary from gray to the higher shades. These the camera may detect the same as it detects the ultra-violet rays of the spectrum. These scien- tists, like the New Thought people, think they have dis- covered something new. They are just waking up to what has been taught from the Spiritual platform for half a century. Fri' CHAPTER IX. EXPERIENCES OF MR. E. T. KING, OF LIMA, OHIO. Mr. E. T. King, of Lima, Ohio, sought admission to one of Mrs. Lord's seances in Boston late one evening. He was a stranger to every one in the room. He did not give his name or have any conversation with any one present. The circle was all arranged and they were wait- ing for one absent party who had engaged a seat, but who did not come. Mr. King took the vacant chair. During the seance Mrs. Lord turned to the stranger and said: "Several loved ones come to you, sir. You have lost so many," giving the number. He replied: "Yes the num- ber is correct." She then said: "One seems to come nearer than the others and is the dearest of them all. The others are making way for her." "Can you tell who she is," he asked. She says she is your wife and that her name is Clara. "Can you describe her?" he asked. "I will try." In some surprise Mrs. Lord said: "Why. this spirit looks very much like me." "Yes," replied the stranger, I noticed that when I first came in." He then made a mental request that, if it was the one he hoped and believed it was, she would take a ring from his little finger where he had placed it after he had entered the seance room, and after the light had been extinguished. The ring was immediately and eagerly grasped and held up so that Mr?. Lord could see it. She described it very minutely. This was his first experience at any seance. He went away greatly rejoiced, and with all his old ideas of hell and heaven and resurrected bodies completely changed. Later in the year, Mrs. Lord, on her way west, visited Lima. She arrived at Mr. King's home after dark and CONTINUITY OP LAW AND LIFE. 223 just .-is the greater part of the visitors had come in and been seated. All were strangers to her. The host, by way of introduction, said: ik l will only say, Mrs. Lord, ladies and gentlemen, and not name one of you, so that you can- not imagine any collusion on my part, or that she has been posted by any one." The seance was filled with Lima's citizens and the tests were definite and wonderfully good. The spirit of a young man by the name of Smith came to his father. There had been ill-feeling between them, on account of the son's habit of drinking. Return- ing from a hunting trip, overcome with drink and fatigue, it down upon the railroad track and fell asleep to awaken where the troubles of physical life are no more. His father was a minister, yet his religion did not abate the anguish of his heart. He came to the seance alone, hut every little while he expressed the wish to have his heart-broken wife hear the messages from across the dis- tances measured by his boy's contrite and loving heart. If all the world could have listened to this spirit voice proclaiming his penitence and regret, that he had transgressed the divine laws of his being, there certainly would be less drunkenness and sin. He spoke of a young lady whom he loved with that one sweet love that is precious to all lives. He eulogized her womanly graces and told the weeping father to be good to her, and to tell her he had returned many times to watch over her. "For- me, father," was the plaint of his sin-stricken spirit. "Tell my mother to forgive me, tell them all to forgive my wayward life and its acts." Thus spoke the spirit of this misguided youth who let drink overcome his better self, his love for all that was good and true, until he had I »;issed into the transcendent light and grace of God's beautiful land; and, now, he returned to unburden his soul to the dear old father, who, only too gladly heard the glorious assurance of his reform. The next morning, while Mrs. Lord sat upon a sofa ;i little toy music box, some distance from any one in the 224 PSYCHIC LIGHT room, began to play, independent of the touch of moi fingers. The guitar placed under the sofa was played and was pushed out upon the floor where it continued play- ing. White and most shapely hands reached out from under the sofa. A pencil and paper were put under the sofa and messages were received. All these manifesta- tions were witnessed by Mr. King, his mother and sister, and two or three others. They occurred in the light of an early morning sun. RECOVERS A LOST PIN. On leaving Lima she went into the cars at the Junc- tion, going west, when a spirit voice said: "You have lost your pin." She was then given a minute description of a gentleman who had picked it up. She went back, found the gentleman described, and asked him for the pin. He started and said: "Who told you I had the pin?" Mrs. Lord as promptly answered: "A spirit." "No, show me!" he said, looking both amused and half frightened. She answered: "Yes, sir, I would stop and tell you more, but my train leaves directly, and I must go back to my car." She had recovered her pin and was happy, as it was quite valuable. ■ RESCUES A WAYWARD GIRL. Returning to Chicago from Rockford, Illinois, Mrs. Lord met an old lady who seemed to be in great trouble and distress. Approaching her she asked if she could help her in any way. To this the woman replied: "No, no, my sorrow is too deep to ever be relieved." A spirit voice said: "She has lost a daughter who has run away with a vagabond. Tell her." Mrs. Lord did so and told the number of the house in Chicago where she could be found, and further stated that her daughter would be re- claimed and yet be a comfort to her. "But how can a stranger find the place you name?" Mrs. Lord said: "I will go with you." When they arrived in the city, Mrs. Lord proceeded to the number given her by the spirit CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 225 and found it as directed. She rang the bell and asked for the uirl named by the spirit and was told most, de- eidely 1 1 1 - 1 1 no such person was then 1 . The spirit voice said: "It is untrue, she is here. Tell her your source of information." Mrs. Lord said kindly, "Oh, yes, she is, the spirit of her dead father says she is here and we must have her. Her almost broken-hearted mother is out here in the car- The woman's face paled, visibly, and she said: "There is a young girl here who is quite a stranger, and I will go and see her." Mrs. Lord said: "Carry this message from a stranger. That in the name of God and her mother she must come t«> the door." The message was given, when a fair, sweet, but most wayward looking creature came to the door. "Are you Stella?" "Yes,"' her trembling lips answered. "Then come out here." She was led to the carriage, where the almost fainting mother awaited her. And such a meet- ing! Dear angels, draw a veil that human eyes may not behold the lost children of fashion and sin, and the deadly anguish of heart-sick mothers. That young girl is to- day a strong, tender, loving-hearted daughter, repentent, truly good, and virtuous. Few know the sin of her youth. A CATHOLIC PRIEST REBUKES A METHODIST. At a seance held in Mason City, Illinois, some of the prejudiced church members attended. A prominent and highly educated Catholic Priest was also present, lit took much interest in Mrs. Lord's coming and was in- strumental in inducing her to visit the place. Before the seance commenced she told him he had lost a lovely, fair- baired sister. She gave him her name, "Margaret," tell- ing him she was drowned, all of which was true. After he had come to America he had sent back for his sister, th.n twelve years old. She started, but the vessel was never heard from after it left Ireland. The spirit gave — s 226 PSYCHIC LIGHT him the particulars, the name of the ship, how the storm overtook them and finally swallowed them up. During- the seance a good old Methodist, who came to make trouble, fully believing that the so-called manifesta- tions were evil, greatly disturbed the investigators. This priest arose with dignity and calling for a light, said: "If Mr. So and So will leave the seance, I will be only too glad to pay the price of his admission." This cast con- sternation over the whole party that a Catholic should so boldly defy public opinion and rebuke the religious bigot. He promised to behave, and the light was once more ex- tinguished and harmony restored. A BAND OF INDIANS VISIT A SEANCE. An unusual seance was held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Peak, at the Highlands of Boston. There were twenty-five present. In this company was Mr. Charles Sullivan, known to all New England Spiritualists as a wonderful character impersonator, a medium of rare and matchless ability, as well as a most upright and honorable gentleman, beloved by all who knew him for his integrity of purpose and character. Visitors at Onset Bay, Lake Pleasant and Queen City Park camp meetings in 1880-90, will recall the grand utterances of his controls "Eagle the Red Man," as well as the prophecies of "Old Mollie," and the quaint Conti- nental sayings of "Old Conkey." Mr. Horace Weston, the well knoAvn artist of Boston, was also present. During the seance a spirit voice re- quested those present to make an opening in the circle and make it larger by stretching hands farther apart. They were then asked to sing. As the singing commenced. Indians could be seen filing into the room. They were big- fellows, full of might and power. As they approached the sitters they jumped over the out-stretched hands where the opening had been made. They filed around the medium, who sat in the center of the circle as usual, and commenced their dance, and embellished the performance CONTINUITY OP LAW AND LIFE. 227 aving their lights and chanting a weird song in their own language. After the dance they retired .-is they had mine, i>y jumping over the out-stretched hands. After this came the spirit friends of those who were present. Spirit lights revealed faces and forms to many who had never seen or heard of the return of their departed ones. Many voices sang, as that most excellent singer, Mr. Sullivan, led the way. Voices loud and clear caught up the strains and made glorious harmony. Mr. Peak had lost a brother, J nines, who sang with his brother present and their voices rang out in sweetest melody. All who had ever heard them readily recognized the spirit voice. Mr. Weston's mother came. Some kindly, helpful spirit held a light above her bending head, and he saw her, knew her, and ntly said: "Mother, mother, I see you." Several, sitting near him, also saw her. He saw her plainly enough to recognize her lace cap— the same figured lace which he had so often traced with magical brush when he painted her portrait with this same cap. He knew her and her clothing. That night will never be forgotten by those 1 1 resent, who felt little children creep into their laps and nestle there as of old, as though death had never been. A DAYLIGHT SEANCE. In 1884. a daylight seance was held at the residence of Mr. Smith the organ builder in Boston. There were lit: Mr. II. B. and E. W. Smith, Mrs. Peak and her John, Mrs. A. II. Williams and others. Dining the Stance Mr. E. W. Smith placed a ring upon the floor erneath the table and holding his hand some distance from the table, made the request that they give it to him. Ii a moment a little, dark, dainty hand laid the ring in band and fled back beneath the table which had been darkened for this purpose. Paper and pencil was placed er the table and messages were given to several, signed by the names of their loved ones, and containing much needed information and answers to mental questions which 228 PSYCHIC LIGHT were acknowledged to be correct. Others received the names and dates of death of their friends. The first seance that Mr. E. W. Smith attended, he came a stranger to Mrs. Lord and to all of the company. He had lost a much loved and beautiful wife. She came to him bringing a little child they had lost; and, by the most unmistakable test, known only to her and to him, made herself known and was recognized beyond doubt or question. His spirit friends asked for his brother and said they would like to see him. He made no reply to this request, but, in a few days, he brought his brother. They parted at the door and did not speak or look at each other as they came into the seance room. No one surmised the relationship. When the seance commenced they sat apart. Useless precaution! They were soon found by the dear ones whom they sought from the upper spheres. Mr. E. W. Smith made a mental request that they remove a ring which belonged to his brother on the other side of the room. This was quickly done, then each was addressed by name in loving terms. E. W. Smith was thanked for his kindness in bringing the brother. While all this was occurring to those two, the others in the circle were receiving as much more from their loved ones. SPIRITS SPEAK THEIR NATIVE LANGUAGE. When these seances were attended by people speaking language other than the English, their spirit friends al- ways addressed them in their native tongues. Some in German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and even in Chinese. In one instance a spirit came to a gentleman in St. Louis, a highly cultivated Englishman, Mr. Black, who had spent many years as master of a tea plantation in the Island of Ceylon and addressed him in a peculiar Ceylonese dialect, much to his surprise and that of his wife, they be- ing the only people in the seance who understood the language spoken. The manifestations in all of these seances were never CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 229 rding to any program; never twice alike, and always appertained to the people present; wen' always a part of their lives and the lives of their absent or departed friends: were natural and most essentially human, conclu- sive and convincing to thinking people; showing that the life is a busy, natural and real existence; showing that will and memory are retained and are essential; that death produces no immediate and marvelous change in character and mode of thought; that life is simply continued under changed conditions— conditions permitting more rapid progress, if the spirit so wills it. The wisest of those re- turning tell us that this earth life is necessary for ex- perience, for the building of character, instead of buUd- ing upon the narrow thread of spiritual existence; and, that none should come into, or be forced into spiritual ex- istence until their work here is accomplished, under penalty of doing it under -greater difficulties— for it must be done, and done rightly. They tell us to build so that we will not have to spend much valuable time tearing down to build on an otable basis— as the tearing down process— the regret, is punishment most severe. How earnestly these returning spirits urge all to better, nobler and more unselfish lives ! Parents come back to speak in loving tones of remonstrance to an erring son, or daughter; some faithful wife addresses a husband in tenderest memories, and tells him not to swear, drink, or use tobacco, to live a good and pure life; they admonish us to be Christians in the higher sense of the word, that to do good is the highest type of the God prin- ciple. Little children, in tender childish tones, send mes- s to those at home. These lessons teach that love, the greatest thing,— greatest force in the world, bridges all life, dares all conditions and defies death itself. Where- ever we open the way, our loved ones, and those loving us come hurrying from their celestial homes to give us cheer, words of encouragement and advice, assisting us in many ways. In Chicago to-day there is a prominent hotel man who 230 PSYCHIC LIGHT came into possession of several West Side lots through the interposition of his spirit father and grandfather who told the gentleman, while he was in one of these seances, where to find the deeds in the old homestead out of the city, in an old box of papers in the attic. They were found as directed and were very valuable. Mrs. Young, of Madison street, Chicago, who had a drinking son and husband, came to Mrs. Lord to ask advice. She was immediately told her errand, by her spirit friends. They bade her wait and not to scold, but to talk gently to the erring ones; and, that through the help of loving friends and relatives in spirit life, they should be redeemed; and. truly they were in a few weeks. All three called upon Mrs. Lord and related their experience. Some of our celebrated men were thus redeemed from drink, profanity and the use of tobacco. Thousands of souls have entered a new life after the continuity of life and the .return of their loved ones was demonstrated to them. A gentleman of note, a judge, attended Mrs. Lord's seance out of mere curiosuy. He had previously warned the medium she could not convert him and that she need not try. When the seance was nearly finished, he asKed her to see for him, just for fun, if any of his defunct relatives were near him. She replied : ' ' Yes, there are many, but I guess I had better not tell you, for you might know them, and you know you don't want to believe." "Well, tell me." Before she could answ T er him, his father's voice called his name, gave his own name, and said: "Here, Henry, here is your grandma who loved you so well." "As much as ever." said the grandmother 's voice. Then came longer conversations between them which brought tears from the unbeliever. At last, the voice said : "Don't go, my son, to the place where you promised to go to-night. Don't go; we heard you make the arrange- ments." He spoke up : "Father, I won't, so help me God. I won't. This has convinced me, for no one but myself knew that. I won't go." He was the most intensely interested CONTINUITY OP LAW AM) LIFE. 231 ui in that room. He visited many oilier mediums in ;ill parts of the country until the angels look him home. He was a noble, brave, talented gentleman, who loved the truth and Tor the truth's sake. While Mrs. Lord was boarding with Mrs. \)\\ Cutter at Til 1 - Tremont street, Boston, in "T-t, she was engaged to hold a seance by Mr. Lucian Bigelow of the Continental Hotel on Washington street. Several celebrities were pres- ent, among the number was Governor Rice and John 0. Whittier, Mrs. Louisa R. Guild and others. The seance was unusually good. Mrs. Biglow, a most charming lady, asked that a dress cap should be taken from her head and put upon a clock some distance out of the circle. Imme- diately the cap was untied and quickly taken from her head. There was no one outside of the circle. Both hands of the medium Avere, at the time, held by some of the ikeptical ones present. Upon lighting the light, the cap was found neatly tied on the clock, as if a human head was enclosed. Many names were given by the spirits, speaking in their own voices. The medium gave many startling and convincing incidents in the lives of their spirit friends which were known and well remembered. In every case, Hie, names given, the date of death, mode of burial, and the many incidents related were readily acknowledged by those nt. who did not fear to give assent and approval to facts and truths for fear they might give something away that would help the medium in describing, as is often the ease with people with less intelligence. Meeting their spirit friends on common ground with the same frank, free and truthful confidence, with which all like to be greeted when <-;il ling upon friends and relatives, made the conditions favorable for their departed loved ones to manifest. ■■ thinking men and women, these men noted for their scholarly attainments, were convinced that their spirit friends had not changed very much, but were still essen- tially human, and still interested in human affairs and in working out the problems of science, of government and PSYCHIC LIGHT of sociology in which they were still laboring— possibly still building characters not completed in their earth life. Such were some of the comments and conclusions of the emi- nent people present on this occasion. The quality— mental, spiritual and magnetic— of these celebrated people; their kindly, gracious manner; their honest unselfish feeling; their cleanly, lofty thoughts, all combined to attract the higher intelligences and open wide the door for manifestations both satisfactory and convinc- ing. Other things not intervening, the sitters make or un- make their seance. All these phenomena are and must be, on natural lines, according to natural law. As well turn a fool into the chemist's laboratory and the electrician's workshop and expect satisfactory results. Most people have sense enough to let strange chemicals alone and to keep their hands off live wires — and refrain from dictating to the masters of these sciences how they should compound their chemicals and how to handle potential currents. At- tend a seance and note the comments of those who know the least about life and its strange, mysterious forces and its possibilities, and see how they limit everything to their experience, and deny everything that is beyond their senses and experience. There are those who "rush in where angels fear to tread," especially at a spiritual seance. So satisfactory was this seance and such a concourse of spirits gathered to witness it, who were not permitted to take part, as is always the case; and, so favorable were the conditions that there was a later performance after the medium had returned to Mrs. Dr. Cutter's for the night. THEY MAKE A NIGHT OF IT. The control, Clarence, is always master of Mrs. Lord's seances. When he is absent, not a single manifestation occurs. As "order is heaven's first law," so it is in the seance. He admits on the inside of the circle, as a general CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 233 rule, only these spirits who have friends in the circle. Hundreds of spirits are attracted by the spiritual radiance u'h gatherings, some attracted by curiosity— a quality possessed by many people in the body. Others are icted by a desire to learn, and all are anxious to get into thv circle. To admit all would be worse than con- m. Not all spirits know how to resume their contact with matter, how to handle and hold the polarizing force, and how to manifest, even how to talk. Clarence «s he s his profession in the seance is the "form builder." Order, quiet, and harmony— and harmony covers a multi- of things, such as thought, feeling and purpose— are ssential to the<;c manifestations. Very often, the hardest work is harmonizing refractory elements, overcoming con- ditions brought into the seance by the sitters, such as •ties, stimulants, and antagonisms between sitters. Such thought vibrations are the most inciting and disin- ating forces that can be brought into a materializing seance. Truly the sitters make their own seance, even as all make their own successes and failures in life. In the great universe of law there are no accidents, all is cause and effect. Arriving at home, wearied by the draught upon every nerve. Mrs. Lord hastened to her room to find her maid in bed, but not asleep. Her first words were: "Oh, Mrs, Lord, I am so glad you have come, some one has been walking around the room all the evening.' ' The medium said "Not with all this light, surely f Lizz ; "Yes, yes." came a frightened whisper, as she looked around expecting some one to appear from the corners of the room. Being reassured, she arose #nd helped Mrs. Lord to bed. The fire in the grate made the room as light as a lamp light could possibly have done. The girl had crept into bed again and they were all prepared for •. Mrs. Lord had dropped asleep when she was awak- ened by a cry from the girl. "Oh, they are here again." Sure enough, as if a marching army had installed themselves in the room. The bed-springs were drummed 234 PSYCHIC LIGHT upon by the mid-night marauders, and such a bedlam, such a din as they created would have done credit to a Chinese theater. Off went all the bedding and half the night apparel of these terrified women. Wearing apparel and bed clothes went flying through the air in e\evy direc- tion. The air seemed stirred by visible and invisible wings. Whispering voices, low laughing voices, seemed all about them in this well lighted room. Hands tugged and pulled at the mattresses as if they would send them, too, after the bedding. Presently they got their beds in order and carefully crawled into them. Again the manifestations commenced stronger than ever. Their screams awakened the household and brought Mr. and Mrs. Cutter to the room, and presently their son George, a young and intelligent enquirer, who slept in the upper rooms and some distance away, came. They were all met at the open door with flying pillows, sheets, towels, night dresses and various other articles. Mrs. Cutter came first, and back of her a few steps her husband. She was at the door when he was on the stairs, coming up. Zip. zip. went the pillows and blankets. One blanket fell over his head. Once in the room they all tried to hold the clothing on to the bed, tried to stop tKe noises that could be heard a block away. The medium, in her wearied con- dition, became nervous and excited and was crying. "Mama Cutter, stop this, stop this." Mama Cutter tried to soothe them as well as stay the tumult, but it could not be done. They grew bolder and carried on worse than ever. They again threw off the bed clothes, regardless of main force from all present holding on to them. They played upon the springs, guitar, music box and kept up the performance until half' ] four in the morning, and did not stop until they were ap- peased by promises to supply them with a telegraph in- strument, through which they could talk and tell what they wanted. They said if they had such an instrument they could operate their batteries and make good their w in daylight, when there could be no possibility of collusi CONTINUITY OF LAW ANH LIFE. 235 raud. All the participants will long remember that eventful night. It was remarkable even to those con- stantly familiar with the manifestations. Mr. and Mrs. Cutter and sou declared it was one of the most satisfac- .iihI convincing seances they had ever witnessed. CHAPTER X. SPIRITUAL PHENOMENA APPRECIABLE TO PHYSICAL SENSES. "Truth," says Von Muler, "is the property of God, the pursuit of Truth belongs to man." Nowhere has infinite wisdom fully revealed, or asked us to accept, truth by faith alone. Nor has any ban been placed upon the pursuit of any truth, except by man for his own selfish purposes. The right to seek truth is guar- anteed by all institutions that do not try to fetter the soul as well as the body. We are placed in nature's great pavilion, with its fine landscapes, its mountain heights, its sunlit dells and shadowy gorges; with its rising suns and declining days; with its waterfalls, its placid lakes and surging seas, and are prompted by curiosity to reason, to understand and to comprehend these varied forms and manifestations. The magical silence of moving worlds, as they sweep through infinite space ; the quiet of the .deep and gloomy forests; the solemn moan of their restless branches when the raging storm and resistless winds sweep over them; the sublime chorus of the varied manifestations of all life; the wonderful phenomena of individual forces and infinite intelligence on every hand at once command our most serious attention. Nothing bars or checks our investigation of all these beauties— all these mysteries. There are no edicts in our way until we approach the one great problem, the solution of which means more to man than all others ; whose solution affords a basis upon which to build a safe and satisfactory code of ethics. Here we encounter the first great "Ecclesiastical Trust." Here the Church, that most puissant ruler of man's intellect, intervenes to stop all bold thinkers ; to crucify them ; burn them at the stake ; hand them the poisoned cup and confine them in Monastic CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 237 dungeons. Its ipsi dixit has been, "Believe or be forever While the one greal purpose of all religious thought in all ages, has been to solve this mysterious problem: ''It' .1 man die, shall he live again?" yet the Church has re- I every attempt at a demonstration of what they so seriously demand we shall believe. Jesus, the Christ— the medium — undertook to demonstrate this fact and Roman law put him to death. Some centuries ago Lan Ting-Yang, ,i Chinese ruler, put Yen and his wife to death for a sim- ilar offense, and later— 1692— our good old New England Puritans, who adopted a Magna Charter, guaranteeing to all the right to worship according to the dictates of their own conscience, tarnished the glorious banner of liberty with the Salem (Mass.) executions. Four hundred years have not sufficed to eradicate from religious thought the intolerance of those austere people who sought this country for religious freedom. Thus has all religious thought traveled over much the same ground, in the same way, to solve its problems, or to dodge them, if the solution dis- turbed their easy and pleasant security. Approaching this great problem, we find the menacing hand of priest and follower raised to bar the way. Stranger than all else, the shadow of that hand awes science into submission. Prom facts,— aye from trifles less than "the pressure of light, lighter than gravity,"— nothing too insignificant, science evolves and develops laws of action; probes and pries into the principles of motion; tries all forces and combination of forces— and stops at this one problem — the most important of all; fearing to recognize the persist- ency and continuity of the one only force manifesting as thought and intelligence. The world moves in spite of the conservatism or cow- ardice of scientists, as the case may be. Creeds are jostled, thinkers are coming from all classes and spiritual phenom- ena are in every hamlet and in the homes of all thinkers. These are the ones to whom it appeals, and from whom spiritualists come with unswerving faith and with their • t if ie knowledge of the facts of the great hereafter £38 PSYCHIC LIGHT Nature has not demonstrated the continuity of life any more than she has that the three angle's of a triangle are equal to two right angles, or any more than she has demonstrated the undulatory theory of light to be more scientific than the theory of emission, but she gives us facts and gives us reason, and leaves us to draw our own conclusions, to solve the problem of life, to understand the forces of nature, and to formulate the laws of the uni- verse— laws whose continuity spans all stages of existence. There must be no mistake in the way we approach these facts or deal with them. Our reasoning must be in- ductive. We assume neither facts nor principles, and formulate no philosophy as to the continuity of life on mere assumption. Our philosophy is founded upon facts, with a demonstration of the laws and principles relating thereto. We are privileged to assume the scientific fact of the "persistence of force. " That life is a, force is axio- matic, and hence it must be continuous— personal, indi- vidualized and essentially human, as now. This is a legit- imate deduction from our facts. It is the only theory that will cover all of the facts, and is, therefore, the most scientific, logical and natural. The process must be a scientific analysis. First, the rap,— produced under cir- cumstances that make it a phenomenon. This, followed by others, varied in form, the actuality of which is self- evident, establishes the reality of the facts themselves. As to the force used, its quality and form, whence it is derived: the time, place, circumstances and conditions of our facts, forces the inference that the real doers are de- pendent upon some form of force analogous to electricity, yet not electricity. This force cannot be insulated and con- trolled like electricity. It is attractive and repellent, and is called magnetism, for want of a better term, or because ir is analogous to terrestrial magnetism. It is an established fact that the human organism (wolves a magnetic emanation or aura that radiates from the body as actually and more forcibly than from a magnet. Our facts show that this force is amenable to mental con- CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 239 n-ol only when generated, or produced by vital chemistry, l>y the human organisms, the Solar Plexus and the entire ganglionic system. The purpose of those producing the phenomena, as our facts show, arc varied, — according to the quality and character of the producer,- and the character and intel- lectual development of the medium, the grea! cosmic law of affinity being a constant and potential factor. These facts, all spiritual phenomena, spiritual exist- ence itself, is strictly scientific, never supernatural, simply natural— a fact in nature. On these facts and cm natural law is based the whole spiritual philosophy, a philosophy that covers the whole field of thought and action. These facts warrant the statement that progress in spirit life is dependent upon progress in this life, that the brotherhood of man is a reality. The phenomena thus far related appeals to the physical senses of sight, hearing and feeling, as well as to reason. First. The lights seen in Mrs. Lord's seances are re- markable in that they do not emanate from any focus or appeal- as rays emanating from any center, nor to be the 11 of combustion. Seemingly they require surrounding darkness to be seen, whether electric or phosphorescent. These lights conn' and vanish into themselves, like the smile on a countenance; they move slowly or rapidly like that of a person ; sometimes like tiny electric sparks here and there, and sometimes large as one's head. These large phos- phorescent lights sometimes roll outwards, as from a center, revealing a face or a form, which is nearly always recog- nized by the one in front, or along side of whom it comes. Sometimes two or three lights appeal- at a time, and stran- ger still, these larger lights, showing forms, are sometimes seen only by those in front of the lights. These lights move at the will of some invisible intelligence and are impalpable. They do not move away, but vanish at the place where seen, like the extinguishing of any ordinary light. They are not effulgent and do not reflect upon objects at a distance. 240 PSYCHIC LIGHT Second. The phenomena appeals to the sense of hear- ing, unquestionably by atmospheric vibration, as all in the room and sometimes those outside of the room, hear the same thing from their different angles of position. The music of the instruments is heard and located by the sound as it is at rest or is whirled around the circle within a few inches of the heads of the sitters, without touching any one. Voices of all range and compass are heard, even to whispers, sometimes two, three and more voices all heard at the same time and from different positions in the circle, precluding the possibility of explanation on any other hypothesis than spirit voices. Not subjectively as certain, quite logical, sophistical thinkers, who claim to know so much "sub- jectively" and so little "objectively and really," assert when they claim that the camera does not record these faces and forms, and that the phonograph does not record the sounds. Such assertions are contrary to fact and the known laws of physics. These "subconscious" dogmatists, who have had very little, if any, experience in psychic phenomena, seem to think they know the most about it, and proceed to evolve from their subconsciousness the assertion that the theory -of spirit return is not tenable until facts are presented that cannot be reconciled to any other theory based upon natural law. This is truly a "subconscious" theory and is on a par with many other theories which they attempt to prove by assuming certain facts that have no reality, ex- cepting in their imagination. There are no psychic phenom- ena that are not produced in accordance with natural laws, — the same laws that span the material and spiritual worlds. Third. There can be no imagination in the sense of touch when, in the dark, articles are placed instantly and directly in hands, rings placed on fingers held up to receive them, and eye-glasses placed on noses, by audible or mental request, without any hesitation or any fumbling or feeling around; when hands are felt in a hearty shake and ofttimes giving secret grips ; when flowers and other CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 241 •'es. which were positively known not to be in .the i. or in the house, are broughl and placed in the hands ^( the sitters and left with them. To doubt these s is to doubt all intelligence. These are Hie logical deductions to be drawn from the g thus far related, and are substantially the same as at which a company of scientists arrived in a series lances hold by Mrs. Lord in Boston in 1873, reported by Mr. S. Fox. a newspaper writer. The conditions under which the phenomena were produced from which Mr. Fox drew his conclusions, as stated in his report, were follows : "There were twenty-five people present; all were seat- in chairs in a circle; all had hold of hands, so that no could enter the room or the circle without going over our heads, and no one in the circle could leave his or her place without it being known to at least two others. Mrs. Lord sat in the center of the circle, ahvays in her perfectly normal condition. There was no table, box, chest or any- thing in the circle that could be used as an aid to the phenomena. At Mrs. Lord's request, those skeptically in- clined, examined the room and saw that everything was sat- isfactory. The doors and windows were fastened and sealed and the keys deposited in the pockets of a skeptical gentle- man. Mrs. Lord remarked that at any time, if anyone Mas suspicious, they could strike a light, or they could lean forward and hold her hands and while so doing the manifestations would continue. Under these test condi- - all these wonderful and varied manifestations went <»a to the satisfaction of all present." an illustration of how faces are shown in these phoreseent lights, which are not so bright as the smaller, darting, electrical lights, and may, possibly, be intensified by emanations of the spirit, which, when operat- through flesh, light up the countenance with what is called spiritual radiance, sometimes strong enough to take a photograph of an object, w r e copy the following article, 242 PSYCHIC LIGHT written for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, in August, 1899, by a very intelligent gentleman from Philadelphia: TIIF SUICIDE. "During' a visit of a few days in New York City in 1882, I accompanied two friends, Mr. and Miss B., to a seance being held by Maud E. Lord, then at the height of her fame. We were all unbelievers, absolutely unknown to the medium, especially I, then living in the suburbs of Philadelphia. The usual circle was formed by joining- hands of all present, the medium being seated in the cen- ter. The lights were lowered and after several manifesta- tions had caused consternation among what we supposed were gullible "sensitives," a small luminous sphere sud- denly appeared about three feet in front of me. Gradually, as if my eyes were being focused without my control. I saw the object transform into a small head about the size of an orange. The face was that of a man with a very florid complexion and red side whiskers. I could see the change in his expression, even the blinking of his eyes, ex- actly as if he were alive. He opened his tiny mouth, dis- tinctly exhibiting his teeth and tongue, and exclaiming, in a shrill voice. 'Boys, whatever you do. for God's sake don't commit suicide!' Upon my questioning him he said that he had committed suicide in Central Park. New York. I received the most vivid impression of the little specter, one which I retain even until this day. "After my friends had experienced other manifesta- tions, we returned to their house, disappointed, if any- thing, at our inability to fathom the mysteries which we had expected to smack strongly of charlatanry. I described my experience with the little head, and Miss B. asked me if I thought I could identify it from a photograph, having apparently suspected whom it might be. I assured her that I could. She produced a large' number of old family ■ photo- graphs and laid them before me. After examining many, I suddenly recognized my grim visitor, and exclaimed. CONTINl'lTY OF LAW AND LIFE. 243 There! Tint's the one!' The likeness was striking, Mil mistake. Mr. I>. and his sister looked at each other knowingly, and then told me thai the photograph was thai of a near friend of the family, who had committed suicide in Centra] Park some years before, a man of whom I had never heard. I did not even know that such a tragedy had ever occurred within their circle of friends. They had nicd the face at once from my description, hut neither did or said anything which might have led to my suspecting which photograph in the large collection was die correct one. In those days the custom of wearing side whiskers was much more common than today, and there were many photographs among the number given ine which might have roughly coincided with the impres- sion which T received." At another seance, held in Boston, a gentleman, writing to the Arg us dud Patriot, published at Montpelier, Ver- mont, tells how Snowdrop, the little Indian girl, being told by a gentleman that he had a paper of candy in his pocket, found the candy, took it from the gentleman's pocket and put a piece of it into the mouth of each one in the circle. She did this in a very short space of time without making any mistakes or feeling about for anyone's mouth. To test the matter, he made the request that she him more, and in each instance, to use his words, "My moustache was lifted daintily and the candy was placed between my lips. Others made the same request and each time the request was complied with without any fum- bling." At this seance Mrs. Lord gave the writer a ring io wear before the seance commenced. To use his words again, "The ring was quietly and gently taken from my r ami placed on the finger of William Lloyd Gar- . who was a frequent visitor at these seances and who sal quite a distance from me. Mr. Garrison's gold 'bowed spectacles were deftly taken from his nose and placed upon my knee; then as gently and as carefully as he could have done it. tlew were replaced." It is also noted that if the 244 PSYCHIC LIGHT circle be broken by anyone letting go of hands when arti- cles were moving that they would fall to the floor. A SPIRIT SPEAKS CHINESE. Sir Charles J. Eldridge, an American, knighted by the French government, who had spent some time in the interior of China, attended a seance in 1876 at the resi- dence of Col. S. P. Kase, 1601 Fifteenth Street, Phila- delphia, Pa. Over his own signature, he gives his experi- ence as follows: ' ' Mrs. Lord turned to me and said, ' I see a tall figure standing over you ; an African, I think, he is so dark. No, not an African. His head is closely shaved and he has something wound about it. It's a Chinaman,' she sud- denly said. ''This of itself was very convincing to me, as no one present could have known that I ever had any dealings with Chinese. 'Can you give his name?' I asked. " 'He will give it himself,' was the answer, and the medium turned to some of the others in the circle and commenced describing for them. "Within, perhaps, two minutes, while she was still describing for the others, I distinctly heard, 'T Sin,' the family name of a Chinese friend of mine, who had passed away some three years previous, from a city in the interior of China. This name was whispered in front of me. I immediately said, speaking in Chinese, 'Is this truly you, Shetze?' Shetze being the name by which I invariably addressed him, and certainly known to no one in America. "The reply came instantly, 'Shi tsui Shih wo' (Truly, it is I). "I conversed with my Chinese friend for some little time in the peculiar dialect of the province of which he was a native. The other members of the seance were seem- ingly very much interested in this peculiar manifesta- tion, and asked what language was being spoken. "In conclusion, permit me to say, that while I have witnessed what was called spiritual manifestations in China CONTINUITY OP LAW AND LIFE. 245 .11 as in Paris, London and New York, 1 had never heard or seen anything so positively convincing as this Chinese identifying himself to me by this Language in his own peculiar dialect, and by his instant and correct replies to my questions. There was no possible way to nit for it other than that he was there with memory perfect." This experience of the Chinese spirit, speaking in his own language, soon became known to Sir Charles' Chinese friends in attendance upon the Centennial Exposition, then being held in Philadelphia, and two of them, wealthy Man- darins, persuaded him to take them to see the "Strange Lady," as they called her. They came dressed in the gorgeous costumes t)f their cast : polite, cultured and scholarly gentlemen ; only one of whom could understand and speak English. The seance composed of prominent people, many of whom were brought there by the President of the Exposition, Hon. J. S. Morton. These men were prominent in national affairs, scholars, and thinkers,— elements conducive to # satis- factory results in a seance, bold thinkers,— honest men and unselfish to the extent that they offered every facility to the two Mandarins to thoroughly investigate the phenom- ena so new to them, and yet in keeping with the traditions <>f their faith and with Chinese history. The seance had no sooner commenced than a little child jumped into the lap of one of the Mandarins and called him papa, in Chinese. Other of their Chinese friends and talked to them in their own language. The Man- darin who sat next to Sir Charles asked him to put his hand on his little boy's head. They accepted the manifes- ts as perfectly natural and expressed no surprise that friends, buried so far away across the ocean, should and talk with them. These' polite, foreign spirits thanked the American man for bringing their friends to seance. All their talk was in the Chinese language, understood only by the three people in the seance. One nf the Mandarins later showed Sir Charles an account of ?4G PSYCHIC LIGHT the seance written in Chinese to his wife in China, deliver- ing the message sent by the little son to his mother. Later these two Mandarins attended two other seances bringing' their Chinese friends with them. The seance being especially for them, only two or three Americans were present. It is impossible to report the sayings of the spirits and of the sitters, as everything was in Chinese, other than to say they seemed to receive longer communica- tions than usual ; and what they received was very satis- factory, showing that people make their own seances or unmake them. These people— of the better class of their country — many of them educated and refined, after their kind, attended to see, learn and know, satisfied with what came to them, neither insolent nor selfish in their demands, — in fact, demanding nothing, but were grateful for any- thing that came to them or to others in the seance, thus by nature or by accident conforming to conditions essential for satisfactory results. These people became so deeply interested that they continued to attend Mrs. Lord's seances as long as she remained in Philadelphia. VALUABLE FAN RECOVERED. While stopping at Colonel Kase's, Airs. Lord attended the exposition in company with Sir Charles Eldredge and Mr. J. F. Kelly, another friend, now living in London, England. She had a very expensive fan, a souvenir of the Exposition, which had been presented to her by Mr. Kelly. "When ready to take the carriage for Colonel Kase's home the fan was missing. None of the party could remem- ber where, or when they had last seen it. It was gone. With much regret on Mrs. Lord's part they returned home. On their arrival, Mrs. Kase greeted them with the remark, "Look here. Maud, something very strange happened about an hour ago. I was sitting in the sitting room _ jar th r open window, when your fan came flying into the window, opened this way, and fell into my lap. Here it is." The gentlemen were astonished, for they had both handled CONTINl'lTY OP LAW AND LIFE. 247 the fail during the afternoon and knew il did not come home with them. At the requesl of the Spanish Legation, Mrs. Lord held a special seance for them and their Spanish friends. As was expected the majority of the spirits who came spoke and sang to their friends in their own musical Language. etimes English was spoken. As was the ease with the Chinese, these diplomatic people expressed greal satisfac- tion with the medium, as well as with the seance. Dom Pedro, then Emperor of Brazil, attended one of ilicse seances and received many convincing and satisfac- tory manifestations. Spirits whose heads had worn crowns in this life came to him, over the same road, by the same law, that the lowly of the earth traveled. At this tiim 1 a Portuguese delegation came and made arrangements for a special seance for themselves and their friends. They had a special interpreter engaged for the sion. When the evening came there was much hesita- tion in taking their places in -the circle. Finally the spokes- nian for the party told Mrs. Lord that their interpreter had not come. "Oh, well," said Mrs. Lord, "we will try it without him; when he comes we will admit him." This satisfactory and the seance commenced. The inter- preter did not come and his services were not needed. The Portuguese language was as freely used as the Chinese and Spanish had been in the former seances. Hands were felt, and forms were shown and various and many were the communications received. Articles were carried about circle, the guitar and music box was played and put their hands, and on their heads. At the dedication of the main Centennial building Mrs. Lord was introduced to General Grant, then Presi- dent of the Inited States. This was the commencement "f an acquaintance that continued until his death. Later. n 18#4, when the general and his wife lived in New York she gave them several private sittings when trouble came to them from financial reverses. At one of these sittings they both told her of spiritual manifestations which 248 PSYCHIC LIGHT came to them in their own home when they lived in Car- ondelet, Mo. They told her how the spirits came to them and foretold much that transpired in after years. He was told that he would be guarded and guided to great achieve- ments. Thus another great thinker dared to act and think on original lines. He was never ashamed of his own logical conclusions, nor did he hesitate to think and act on his own plans, unchecked by secretaries of war or popular clamor. None but thinkers, brave thinkers at that, can be great and wrest victory out of defeat. Such men are inspired and require no eulogy. "Their deeds crown history's pages And time's great volume make." These seances are not always solemn, serious occa- sions—far from it. There is always much of the comic, the ludicrous and the laughable in them, or they would not be natural. The manifestations demonstrate that death does not make any sudden change in character and disposition, hence the importance of thought and its formulation into acts, — the material from which character is built. Clar- ence, the manager of these seances, is far from being a solemn, serious character. As a boy in school, and in the short span of earth life granted to him, he was full of fun, quick at repartee, readily catching the comical with the serious. It is not surprising that some of these seances should give him an opportunity for great sport. AN EXCLUSIVELY COLORED SEANCE. Mrs. Lord, on leaving Philadelphia, visited Wash- ington, where she met and convinced many men prominent in the government. Among those w T hom she met at this time was Senator Bruce, later in the treasury department, a colored gentleman of great ability and culture, who at- tended her seances and was deeply interested. It was but natural that the colored people of Washington should hear of those wonderful manifestations and desire to witness them. The question was, would she hold a seance for CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 249 colored people. The better class, the educated and conse- quently the dominant class in the South do not have the prejudice against colored people that prevails in the North, and learning that she was a Virginian by birth, with the grand old pride of her native state inherent in her nature, and learning that she believed in the universal brother- man, no matter what clime colors his skin, they waited upon her to see if they could have an " exclusive" scat, Her controls left the decision to her, as I hey always did. Which should rule, principle or prejudice? Is the brotherhood of man a fact or a fancy? At what particular shade does this belief stop? How far into the spectrum does principle reach? Does wealth, social position or character draw the line of demarkation for God's workers? Are there any signs in His grounds warning colored people to keep off the grass? Are there any notices on His great road of progres- sion telling colored people to take the next car? White skins cover a small fraction of God's immortal souls, and is there any more purple and gold under white skins than under all others? From whom have come the terrible persecution, the horrors of the old inquisitions, the torture inflicted upon those who have dared to think and act; the crucifixions, the burning at the stake? Were their skins white or black? Are the ethics built upon the continuity of life and the laws and conditions underlying all life worth having — worth living? The colored people had their seance. It was exclu- sive, even aristocratic, selected from the capital's colored "four hundred." They came in fashion, with perfumed fans and flowers. They brought their peculiarities, with them, and their prejudices also, just the same as other pco-* pie. The evolution of man", of races, has been along parallel lines,— the colored race is coming, has already assumed much that the white "four hundred" claim as exclusively 250 PSYCHIC LIGHT their own. The sociological problem of the yellow people, the little brown man and our black brother is pressing for a solution. Are we ready for it ? This exclusively colored seance was exceedingly good. Spirits of their departed friends came, touched them, spoke, giving names and relationship ; showed lights ; played on musical instruments ; but when they showed their full forms and faces the excitement was intense. The more excitable hollowed and shouted in their characteristic fashion, much after what is heard at colored prayer meet- ings in the South, which must be seen and heard to be appreciated. When the forms appeared, there was a scream. Sev- eral screams all in chorus, and a general scattering of chairs. The gas was hastily lighted and a scene presented itself that beggars description. It was a typical colored, camp-meeting, revival scene, with all the power turned on, as devotees say. Some were on the floor, others stand- ing, and all excited. It was the best seance the medium ever had so far as phenomena went, with nothing left out- some were praying, some shouting, and all scared, the medium convulsed and Clarence and his colored hosts presumably on the run. It was a great event among Wash- ington's colored "400." RETURNING TO BOSTON. Mrs. Lord returned to Boston from Philadelphia, Bal- timore and Washington: in each of these cities she met many intellectual people. While the physical manifes- tations predominated, as might be expected, the questions asked by these highly educated, thinking people brought out many explanations from spirits present regarding the laws in accordance with which the physical manifestations were produced, and much concerning the advancement to be made on higher lines of thought. Predictions were made that clairvoyance would be scientifically demonstrated by rays or vibrations not then classified ; that telegraphy would CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 251 lossible on ethereal waves and would be perfected on the lilt's of telepathy; thai leviatioii would be explained ,■ Inns of force, as shown by the magnet ; Ilia! material- on would be explained under the electro-magnetic forces mil the polarization of matter; and thai in the near future the vibratory laws would be better understood and applied to man's uses. It was claimed that the many forms of organic life dispute the monistic doctrine of cosmic phe- nomena and establish the fact of force and matter being co-evil and co-existent, but subject to infinite modifica- tion according to the will and intelligence of the individual- force, and the law of its individualization. It was further stated that prophecy is the result of scientific cal- culation, whether it be concerning the life, the affairs ol- dest iny of man, or the manifold operations of nature. As the thinkers of the race reach out for these things they will come, some with the present century, more in the twentieth, and still more in the centuries that are to come. OTHER MEDIUMS IN THE SEANCE. Knowing something of the importance of vital mag- netism in the production of spiritual phenomena, it is quite natural to suppose that the presence of other strong mediums in the seance would add to the satisfactory results. Such does not seem to be the case any more than satisfactory results would result if several engines of dif- ferent stroke, power and speed were attached directly to the same line-shaft. The control understanding this and probably knowing why, may, in a measure, be responsible for some of the antagonism and jealousies seen in many instances where mediums are imperfectly developed. It - from a strict analysis of the term, impossible for a grand- ly developed medium to be jealous of another. The exhi- bition of this feeling towards a person is equivalent to paying such person a merited compliment, for it is a meta- physical impossibility to be jealous of an inferior. (hi Mrs. Lord's return to Boston a seance was held 252 PSYCHIC LIGHT at which .Air. Robert Cooper and Mr. J. J. Morse, the eminent trance speaker of England, were invited guests. A writer for a Boston paper, who was present describing the manifestations, said: "I sat next to Mr. Morse and could plainly observe the difference of power in our portion of the circle. On the opposite side the manifestations were quite marked, and consisted of the touch of hands, sound of voices and the movement and playing of musical instruments. Mr. Morse did not receive one touch. Mr. Cooper, sitting on Mr. Morse's right, received some slight evidence of spirit pres- ence. The writer who sat on Mr. Morse's left, could sense the presence of spirits on his left. From Mr. Morse, as a center, the power was manifestly stronger as the dis- tance from this center increased, and seemed strongest at a point directly opposite, where it was exceedingly marked and satisfactory. After moving several seats away from Mr. Morse, I was the recipient of various satisfactory attentions from my spirit friends. A gentleman on my left received a communication on his memorandum book from his son. At his left, a Russian gentleman was con- versing with a spirit alternately in Russian and French; to the left of the Russian a prominent business man was talking with his spirit father, and on my right I could hear a child's voice talking to a lady, while to her right was a gentleman receiving a communication from a spirit pur- porting to be Prof. Morse. During all this time, while I carefully noted these things, Mrs. Lord was conversing with the people on the opposite side of the circle with her back towards me. I know that a half dozen skillful actors, if acting as her confederates, could not counterfeit the occurrences of the evening. 1 1 To test the matter and to arrive ~at the cause of his not receiving any manifestations, Mr. Morse, Mr. Cooper and two other mediums withdrew from the circle. Immediately the manifestations were very powerful and universal; all in the circle received very satisfactory results. Mental requests were obeyed; the guitar was played as it floated CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE, 253 around the room gently touching the heads of each one in the circle without accident or mistake, and continued playing as it suddenly rose to the ceiling of the room, which was twelve feel high. It was played as it gently touched the glass globes of the chandelier, sometimes hitting them with force that would have broken them if not guided i ne intelligence who could see in the dark. A pencil taken from a gentleman's pocket and an autograph affixed on his cuffs, which he recognized." With very few exceptions, the effect on the manifes- tations with mediums in the circle is the same. Mrs. Lord's re to be gracious and obliging to all other mediums made her nse every effort to see and describe for all wdio came. Another explanation is given, however, that may better satisfy investigators. It is that the controls of the attend- ing mediums utilize the force in the seance in the develop- ment of their own mediums. Mrs. Lord often remarked that where other mediums were present the seance seemed to be more for development than for phenomena, the controls, like others, being walling to appropriate the force in the seance to their own uses whether the others receive anything or not. Selfishness is not confined to one stage of existence. LEOTAH, THE INDIAN GIRL. AY hen Leotah, or Snowdrop, as she is known to many, first came to Mrs. Lord, she could not speak a word of English. Her first efforts at our language were to pro- nounce the two words, "physical manifestations." For some time the best she could do was, "Twisical testations." Today she uses the English language in scholarly perfec- tion and her vocabulary Avill compare favorably with any sar graduate. She is accomplished, graceful in man- ner, learned and wise in many ways, and in many things. Her progress seems to make it unnecessary to be reincar- nated for the purpose of experience and progression. She educated with Little Maude Alberta. She was told to I 254 PSYCHIC LIGHT observe Maude Alberta in all her studies and recitations. and to attend the schools and lectures on her own side life. Building- on the narrow thread of spiritual life is harder work, but results can be greater as serious mistakes are avoided. Reared with the companionship of Leotah, Maude Alberta, when a child, never questioned the identity and personal reality of her playmate and companion. Ah a child, her faith and confidence in the spirits was very beautiful. On one occasion her mother and nurse heard her at play in the hall. The sound indicated that she was slid- ing down the stair railing, but what was strange, they could not hear her go up the stairs. They both w T atched, and to their consternation they saw her slide up the railing with the same ease and celerity as she slid dowm. Watching their opportunity when she w T as at the foot of the stairs, they called her and asked how she slid up the railing. "Why, mama, don't you see Snowdrop is holding me On and pushing me?" There was no more sliding up the railing, although Maude Alberta tried it, and complained bitterly to her mother for reprimanding Snowdrop. One afternoon a rap was heard on the sitting room door where Mrs. Lord, Miss Minnie Tisdale and the nurse, Lizzie Lou, as little Maude called her, sat doing some work. "Come in," was the response. In walked Little Maude leading by the hand a beau- tiful, dark eyed, dark haired brunette, a little taller and probably two years older, than herself. She was dressed in white, with a beautiful sash around her waist, very much as Little Maude was dressed. The nurse was the first to notice the new comer and said, "Why, Maude, what little girl have you there," and at the same time, she stepped towards the two chil- dren to welcome the little stranger whom she had never before seen. This attracted Mrs. Lord's attention, who turned CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 255 h round just in time t<> hear her say, "'Sec, mania, I have brought some company to spend the day." By this time the nurse was quite close to tin- children. The beautiful stranger seemed to change in a way that she could not quite explain, and to her astonishment sank towards the floor and disappeared. Little Maude turned reproachfully upon the nurse, say- ing, "There, now, Lizzie Lou, you have knocked Snow- drop all to pieces." At another time, when Mrs. Lord was quite sick, Maude Alberta came into the room leading Snowdrop by the hand. Raying, "Oh, inn ma, I have brought Snowdrop to cure you," so great was her faith in her little companion. In tli" room at the time was Dr. Foy and a medical lent, who was later known in Sommerville, Mass., as Dr. B. P. Galloup. This was a new experience for these pies of Aesculapius. Here, again, her experiment was a failure and her little playmate, "went all to pieces," as she expressed it, just as the two astonished doctors turned to speak to them, but not until they had both noted that the two children were dressed nearly alike. The nurse, "Lizzie Lou" Brown,— later Mrs. Richard sidy, whose marriage was long predicted by Mrs. Lord, would often be told when Mrs. Lord was coming. . Some- times she would be reprimanded, or directed by spirit voices in her care of Little Maude. The mother and all who Knew about the child's rare and beautiful gifts saw she had possibilities that would place her name as a psychic high on fame's immortal calendar unless some of the cor- roding influences of modern civilization and society should prevent. How strangely life's laws run. As we think and act, so build we our own characters. All there is of us haracter. It is the guinea's stamp on the immortal Roul. It fixes man's status in this great game of life, and marks his value on the other side. In the coin, current of that existence, there is no double standard. The endur- ing wealth we gather here and take with us is character. Snowdrop was always a factor of the family circle. ■I 25C PSYCHIC LIGHT At one time a servant named Mary Kendricks conceived the idea that she would look well on the streets in the medium's dresses, especially when she knew Mrs. Lord would be absent. Snowdrop, although only a child, did not approve of this practice. The girl was just putting on a certain plaid dress preparatory to a walk, when it sud- denly left her hands and fell to the floor some distance back of her. She tried it again and a second time it slipped out of her hands, and a voice close to her ear said, "Don't you dare put on that dress. It belongs to my medium." Mary told this herself as she feared the same voice might tell Mrs. Lord. While living at No. 26 Chester Park, Mrs. Lord had a servant named Bridget 'Leary, whose family lived near by. Bridget was a believer that all sin can very easily be forgiven, especially the sin of taking from a heretic. One evening as Bridget was about ready to pick up her well filled basket, the clothes pins in a basket near by com- menced to strike her in the face. One by one they came flying at her and then the potatoes did the same. Her screams brought Mrs. Lord to the kitchen, where she found Bridget on her knees crossing herself and praying. "What does all this mean, Bridget?" "Oh, shure, and may the Holy Mother protect me. Thim pins and potatoes just got up and hit me." Seeing and understanding the situation, Mrs. Lord told her it was wrong to take things, and that her spirit friends saw her every time she did it. "Faith, mam, but its moighty mane spirits'that object to me taking a little tay and few potatoes to me sick brother. ' ' Bridget was still skeptical like many more intelligent investigators, who must be convinced over and over again, as she continued to take things home. One evening, just after dark, she was about to take a roll of butter. As she opened the pantry door there stood Snowdrop, dressed in white. Bridget screamed and //?/: (See page 260. CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 257 slammed the door, saying, "Stay In there ye white divil," just as .Mrs. Lord came into the room. Leading from the kitchen up into the dining room was a dumb waiter. Whenever Mrs. Lord had any cans, jars, ittles she could not open she would put them into the waiter, close the door and ask Clarence to please open them. Bridget, who was consistent in her faith and habits, had these articles opened, and one day, being unable to open a jar of fruit, she placed it in the waiter, closed the door and repeated the talismanic words, " Please, Clar- dearie, open the jar." Very soon she heard two or three raps. She did not take the jar out at once, but left it. Soon after there came three or four loud raps, as if the jar was being pounded against the door and then she heard it drop. She supposed it was her old enemy Snowdrop, and re- 1. "Thump away ye little divil, I know yees. It's not the staling of your old paches that I'm after. Thump away, it's not afraid am I, as long as yees stay in there." On looking into the waiter the jar of fruit was found opened and its contents scattered over the waiter. This was too much for Bridget and she rushed up stairs to Mrs. Lord and said she could not stay any longer. "The divils are here everywhere and Oim going to lave sure this very minute. Sure, and he's brokea jar of paches all over the dumb waiter." At one time Mrs. Lord had a servant named Alice, whom she asked to go to the kitchen and bring her the teapot containing cold tea, which was setting on the range. The girl went as directed. It was light enough for her t'» see the teapot. As she reached for it, it slid away from her hand to the other side of the range. She went around after it. when it came up directly under her chin. This was too much for Alice and Mrs. Lord did not get her cold tea. VAL. SHOWS HIS POWER. Mrs. Lord was taking breakfast with some friends in Milton. Mass. At the table sat a gentleman and a lady -9 258 PSYCHIC LIGHT school teacher. These two people, as is sometimes the case with very wise people, were disposed to treat spiritual- ism flippantly, and in their superior wisdom relegate the entire phenomena to the realm of fraud and trickery. The gentleman remarked that there was nothing in it. The lady replied, saying, "No one can make me believe it." Both insulting remarks in the presence of the medium. The words were scarcely uttered when both of their chairs slipped out from under them. They both rolled over on the floor, and were as suddenly rolled under the table at the medium's feet. If there was "nothing in it," some- thing, at least, moved them. SNOWDROP (LEOTAH) ATTENDS SCHOOL. When Maude Alberta was about thirteen she was sent to Tilden Seminary at West Lebanon, N. H. She was at once a great favorite and all of her companions were anxious to be in her room. Snowdrop was her constant at- tendant and was very much in evidence. The following is one of the many letters she wrote to her mother at that time : Tilden Seminary, West Lebanon, N. H. My Dearest Mama: Your dear letter was received. I am always delighted to hear from you. Snowdrop came again last night and rapped on the chair by the bed ; she answered lots of ques- tions. I think she is too sweet for anything. You wanted me to tell you about Saturday night. Snow- drop commenced to rap about two o'clock in the morn- ing. Gertrude and I were awake and both of us saw forms and lights. Snowdrop rapped on the mantle, the clock, the table, the looking glass, the lamp shade and on the curtains. The forms we saw looked as if they were float- ing, but we could not distinguish any features. We asked Snowdrop, "If she had brought some of the spirits with her, ' ' and she gave a great loud rap on the mantle. I think that was real sweet, don't you! CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 259 Anyway, Snowdrop belongs partly to me. She said she did. Gertrude has fallen in love with her, and talks about her all the time, and I am beginning to feel jealous. I wish Clarence would come, but perhaps he is afraid of so many girls. I must stop now. Lots and lots of love to you and to Gladys and all the rest. Au revoir, Maude. April 30th, 1885. CHAPTER XI. At the time Madam Blavatsky lived in New York, she was always delighted to have Mrs. Lord call and was always pleased with the phenomena, as were others of her followers. It was the custom of the madam to take a leaf out of the center of an extension table and darken it underneath by hanging curtains and drapery around the edges and have her spirit friends talk to her and show their hands and faces through the opening made in the table. She would place paper, pencils and slate under the table and receive messages written in the various languages with which she was familiar. The medium admired the madam for her great intellect, her marvelous powers and force of character, but not for her religious ethics. She was an occasional visitor in the madam's parlors. She was usually ac- companied by Sir Charles Eldridge and Mr. Ivins, a prom- inent business man of New York and one of the madam's followers. She was the thirty-third member of the madam's New York society. Her work was along more logical and demonstrable lines, and, while teaching the higher, basic principles of theosophy, she could not accept many of its assumptions not susceptible of scientific de- monstration. She therefore never became an active mem- ber of the society. In parting with her the madam pre- sented her with a photograph endorsed in her own writing. The madam was intellectually a great woman. She had at this time been known in New York two or three years, and with Col. H. S. Olcott, formed what was known as a Theosophical Society for the Study of Arian Litera- ture. It was a society of queer thinkers— queer to those who differed with them and to those who knew nothing CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 261 jihout them. Her rooms were known as "The Lamasery," named after the sacred colleges of Thibet, where Acolytes jire instructed in the mysteries and rites of Thibetan The- ,. Here on certain nights could be met business men, merchants, physicians, lawyers, Roman Catholic Priests, . artists, titled people and occasionally a Mongol- ian—all intellectually brilliant— all original thinkers, ready to take issue with any established method or form of thought. Here could be met the Princess Ilelene Von Racowitz, or Linda Dietz, the actress; Wong Chin Foo, a • writer on a Chicago paper and Baron de Palma, both as bizarre as the madam's oriental furniture; Major Gen- Doubleday, afterwards president of the society; and William Q. Judge; lawyers, judges, professional men, and many of New York's best citizens, as well as strangers from all over the world; all attracted by the madam's weird teachings, by her intellectual rebellion against all natural law and usages of society. Nothing -that science or religion accepted as axiomatic met with her approval. She could express her denunciations in a half dozen different lan- guages and never failed to do so when occasion required. She was a born leader and her place will never be filled. With all her eccentricities she had her noble side and despised little things. Many of her followers were equally as interesting, but were less known. It was the new sensa- tions and new thoughts to be had in discussions, by those who assembled at her rooms, that filled them with all No conventionalities prevented the medium from doing the work of the spirits; no time or place or surroundings rred her guides in their great work. No public medium ever has or could do this work with less opposition. She was always kind, gentle and considerate for the feelings of others. Her gracious, positive and convincing messages from the spirit side of life were almost invariably well re- ceived and acted upon, thus checking many on their blind f ; 2G2 PSYCHIC LIGHT road to destruction. By the aid of wise controls she placed their feet back again upon the great road of infinite progression. Going from New York to Chicago she saw a man sitting by himself. Near him was the spirit of a woman evi- dently in great distress. The spirit, seeing that she was observed, came to the medium and told the story of her daughter's betrayal by this man, who was now running away from his victim. Mrs. Lord walked over to the man and thus addressed him: "Sir, you must go back to New York and marry Henrietta." He started with guilty surprise, and said: "What do you know about me?" "I will tell you sir," was the reply. "The girl is better than you. She is true and honest to you, and you are running away from her. Go back, go back and marry her. You must do it. Be a man and not a coward; she is better than you are. Her spirit mother stands by your side and bids me tell this to you. ' ' He knew it was all true, coming as it did from a well dressed and intelligent stranger, who could have no other motive than to make him right a wrong. He listened and heeded the mother's prayer and the voice of conscience. He did as he was directed and later settled in Lockport, New York. VAL GUARDS THE DOOR. At another time, when going over the same road, she saw a young girl sitting with a man some years older. Over the girl stood a spirit in great trouble. She was made to feel that it was the girl's mother, and the fact was whispered to her that this man had coaxed the girl away from her home in Indiana, where she had a father and two brothers. She talked to the man, whose name was Sullivan, a Catholic, who did not believe in spirit return. He defied her and the spirits. She got others on the train to talk to him. All to no purpose. The train stopped at a station and CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 2G3 she induced the girl to conic out on the platform for a walk. They went into the ladies' waiting room, which was unoc- cupied. Her intention was to keep the girl there until the train pulled out and then send her back home on the next train. Sullivan was not thus to be outwitted. Just before the train was ready to start he appeared at the door of the waiting room and told the girl to come. Mrs. Lord told him she should not go. With an oath he attempted to enter the room and was thrown suddenly backward to the floor. Surprised and astonished he quickly regained his feet and rushed towards the door. Again he was hurled backward to the floor with great violence. He could not see any one in the door or in the room, excepting Mrs. Lord and the girl who stood several feet inside the door. Mrs. Lord, however, saw her Spanish guide, Val, stand- ing in the doorway, and knew the girl was as safe as if in her own home back in Indiana. The man picked himself up, but very wisely kept a safe distance from the door and said : ' ' That is the work of some of your devilish spirits." "No, not devilish, but guardian angels, and you cannot cross that threshold and live. Don't try it again." All this transpired in less time than it takes to tell it. He left the room just in time to catch the last car of the fast moving train, while Mrs. Lord purchased a return ticket for the girl, telegraphed her old father, put her in charge of the conductor, and then continued her journey to New York on the next train. Later Mrs. Lord received a very grateful letter from the girl's old father. CATHOLICS AND SPIRITUALIST OFFICIATE AT A FUNERAL. Mrs. Lord was called to officiate at the funeral of little Bell Hamilton, in Boston. George Hamilton, the father, had three children, Charlie, Lillie and Bell. His wife was dead. His father and mother were good and consistent Catholics. George was very liberal and had given Bell permission to attend the spiritual lyceum. The 264 PSYCHIC LIGHT little girl was suddenly taken with the diphtheria a few days before going to the lyceum. She told her father and the other two older children that she was going to die, as she felt mania had come after her. She furthermore said she wanted Mrs. Lord to preach her funeral sermon. The mother did come for her, and when Mr. Hamilton asked Mrs. Lord to officiate at the funeral, she said: "Your father and mother are such good Catholics, they will not be satisfied unless the priest officiates." "Oh well," he said, "we are going to have him also, and you can officiate first. ' ' Mrs. Lord had just arisen to commence the services when the priest came in and took a seat. While Mrs. Lord was standing near the little casket speaking, the father and the two children, who sat on the right, heard a voice back of them saying: "Don't feel badly, I am here with you." They and several others recognized little Bell's voice. Raps came on the walls of the room and on the coffin, with no visible person touching it. A bouquet was lifted up and put into Bell's little hand in plain sight of the priest and all present. At the close of Mrs. Lord's remarks, the priest, who had been a very attentive, and interested listener, never missing a word and noting all the manifestations, arose and said: "My dear friends, I supposed when I came here that I was coming into a home of sorrow, but I find it a place of seeming rejoicing and of great gladness in the knowledge of immortality. Many of our faith believe in these things, and some of us know that they are true." He made a few remarks and closed with a blessing upon all present. X SPIRIT ASKS TO HAVE HIS WILL CORRECTED. • Returning home from the seance in South Boston late one evening, in company with Dr. B. F. Galloupe, Mrs. Lord stepped into a restaurant on Tremont street for sup- per. After they were seated a gentleman came in and took a seat about ten feet distant. Taking several papers from CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 2G5 pocket he was soon deeply interested in them. Just before they finished eating, they noticed the gentleman hurriedly looking about the table, under it and under his .•hair as though he had Lost something. Mrs. Lord just then fell a paper thrust into her lap. She handed it to Dr. Galloupe, saying, "What is this, and how did it come He Looked at it and saw that it was a will, ex- 1 in England. Seeing the gentleman still excited something, the doctor addressed him, saying, "Have you lost anything?" He instantly replied that he had received some papers from London just as he was closing his office for the day and had not had the time to look at them until now. "The most important of all the papers was my father's will, which I had in my hands not five minutes ago. I just finished reading it and laid it right there on the table qow I cannot find it, and am necessarily a little ex- .1." "Is this your paper?" said the doctor, as he held up the paper. The gentleman walked over to the table, took the paper, looked at it and exclaimed, "Yes, but how did you get it? You have not been near me since I came in, and no one has been near my table since I had it in my hand. This beats anything I ever heard of." The doctor explained Mrs. Lord's gift, and, in reply the gentleman said he had never taken any stock in such things and thought it was all humbug. The doctor told liim there might be some purpose in what was done. "Possibly," he replied, "if there is, I would certainly like to know what it can be. You two do not look as though you have any motive in taking the paper from my table, and I know you did not do it." Later, the gentleman attended a seance, when his rather came and told him that, seeing he could get the power to take the paper to the medium, he did so in order to get into communication with him, as there was a mis- take in the will which he wanted him to correct. He told him the correction he wanted made, and the gentleman 266 PSYCHIC LIGHT did as requested. At last accounts the gentleman was still living in Boston. CLARENCE CONDUCTS A SEANCE WITHOUT THE MEDIUM. At a seance held at the home of those most excellent people, Mr. and Mrs. George Adams, in Worcester, Mass., was Dr. Kelly and his family, all Catholics. Mrs. Lord had just come from the West and her guitar had been forgotten and left in her trunk up stairs. Clarence asked for it, and Miss Susie Adams, the daughter, offered to go after it. Mrs. Lord said, "No, we will get along without it," as she did not think she could get into the trunk. Clarence told the medium to go and he would try to conduct the seance until she returned, provided those present would comply with all the conditions, and all think and act in perfect harmony. This the skeptics readily promised. Clarence took the medium's place in the center of the circle, and called upon Jesse, Kaolah and Snowdrop to assist. The manifestation continued, with Clarence de- scribing in place of the medium, much to the delight of Mr. and Mrs. Adams and to the satisfaction of all of the skeptics. After a short time Clarence requested them to call the medium. CHAPTER XII. MRS. LORD'S MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE. The spiritualists of the United States were greatly excited over the sudden and mysterious disappearance of .Airs. Maud E. Lord, in May, 1879. The newspapers of Boston and New York contained full accounts and descrip- tions of her. The detectives of both cities were following every possible clue in the hope of earning the $500 reward offered for any information of her whereabouts. The story of her disappearance on the first day of May is thus told by a New York paper : A MISSING MEDIUM. THE REMARKABLE DISAPPEARANCE OF MAUD E. LORD, AND WHAT IS SAID AND DONE ABOUT IT. During the last two weeks, spiritualistic communities in New York and elsewhere have been much exercised over the mysterious disappearance of Mrs. Maud E. Lord, the medium. She was possessed of considerable personal attractions and a disposition which fascinated those with whom she came in contact. As a result, she enjoyed the friendly regard of many people of high standing and was looked upon with respect by those who seek to solve the mysteries of the other world. As a medium, she was sup- posed to be gifted with exceptional powers, and her seances were attended by the more cultured and refined believers in manifestations from the spirit land. Sud- denly, however, and mysteriously, Mrs. Lord disappeared from the face of the earth. Whether an ethereal compan- ion bore her off upon a phantom steed, or a spectre she had invoked did her bodily harm, yet remains to be 268 PSYCHIC LIGHT learned; but certain it is that in the streets of Boston, on the first day of May, 1879, Mrs. Maud E. Lord was lost sight of. Detectives have been seeking to sift the mystery in this city during the past week, as they had done before in Boston, but all without avail, and at pres- ent the lady's fate seems completely involved. Outside of the attention the case has excited, owing to the lady's public character and her prominence as a medium, there are undoubtedly circumstances connected with it which tend to make it one of the most remarkable disappearances that have occurred in years. THE DISAPPEARANCE. On the 1st of May, Mrs. Lord left her house at No. 27 Milford Street, Boston, to meet a gentleman at the Old Colony Railroad depot, with whom she intended going to Brockton, where a test seance was proposed that even- ing. That was at four o'clock in the afternoon, and she was anxious to catch the five o'clock train. Half an hour after leaving the house she was seen on Washington Street, near the corner of Pleasant, and apparently bound for the depot. She passed the person who recognized her, glanced at her watch and hurried on. But since that she has not been seen or heard from. The gentleman who awaited her at the depot went to her house when she failed to appear, and made inquiries there, only to learn that she had left long before. A despatch was sent to Brock- ton, but she had not reached that place; and later another to New York, but her friends here were in ignorance of her whereabouts. The hospitals and public institutions were visited; the police notified, but all without throwing any light upon the matter. Then the south end of Boston, where the lady resided, was thrown into a high state of excitement; every theory that might account for her absence was followed up; every nook or corner in which she might be abiding was visited; every acquaintance who might hear of her was consulted. Not the slightest cle CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 269 to her disappearance could be obtained. In this dilemma a motive for her being made away with was sought. She had upon her person, it was Learned, at the time of her disappearance, $700 in money and $500 worth of jewelry, but being a woman of business habits and much practical good sense, she had concealed the money and let no one know of her carrying it. Some time since she had depos- ited some money in a Boston hank, which she lost when it failed, and that made her lose confidence in all such monetary institutions, and keep her money about her. The apparent improbability of a thief attempting a robbery en a public street, at a time when it is most crowded, and then putting his victim out of the way, turned investiga- tion into another quarter, and the past life and ante- cedents of Mrs. Lord were scanned with the purpose of finding in them a clew to her disappearance. ■ HER HISTORY. She was born, it was learned, in Marion County, Yd. When quite young she was married to Albert A. Lord, of Pondulac, Wis. They had one child, a daughter, who is now seven years of age, and is a remarkably bright and talented little girl, and she, it is said, was the only bond that kept them together during a great part of their wedded life, as their relations were of a very unhappy nature. In April, 1875, Mrs. Lord secured a divorce, and has since been giving seances throughout the country with great success. Albert A. Lord was living in Boston at the time of the lady's disappearance, and he at first was suspected of having something to do with it. But inquirj' showed that he was otherwise occupied than in plotting his wife's destruction. The lady's friends, who are much •■xeited about her fate, have now extended the circuit of their search, and of late a couple of shrewd detectives have been at work in this city sifting every tittle of evi- dence that can bear on the missing medium. Mrs. Lord was ;i woman of remarkable personal attractions and since 270 PSYCHIC LIGHT her public appearances not a few of the male members of her audiences have become completely enamored. So investigation has now taken the shape of a search for a man with a motive. How it will terminate, or what romance the detectives' tact may unveil, the future only can decide. The disappearance of so prominent a medium in a manner so strange has, of course, agitated the spiritual- istic world more or less. The more cultured and intelli- gent believers, of course, see in it only the result of acci- dent, or of some high-handed outrage, perpetrated by whom, or for what, they cannot divine. A few people, with a keen relish for * the mysterious, hint that some of the foes of spiritualism, alarmed at its rapid spread and at the success of such mediums as Mrs. ^ Lord, have car- ried her off. The objects of their suspicion they do not clearly indicate, but it is easy to see that they have orth- odox Bostonians and the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation in their mind's eye. This theory received con- firmation from a male believer, whose revelations, how- ever, are received with much skepticism, even by spiritual- ists. He claims that it has been intimated to him, by authorities of an authentic but purely "spiritual nature, that Mrs. Lord was surprised and carried off by three masked men, which, as it happened in daylight, is a sad reflection on the vigilance of the Boston police. There are mediums in that city who say Mrs. Lord is not dead, but is in the power of somebody, and others here who claim that since her disappearance the spirits have become intractable and refuse to declare themselves. The excite- ment expressed by inquirers into her fate is so great, it is said, as to prevent the conditions necessary for com- munication with the spirit world, and that is why the oracles are dumb as to what has become of Maud E. Lord. She was absent just five weeks, and her reappearance in Boston was as mysterious as her disappearance. On her return no explanation was given, nor has any ever been CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 271 •i. While such explanation was due, by reason of her prominence, her mouth was sealed by subsequent events against which she was powerless to contend. Possibly even her unusually powerful controls could not avert this edy in her life, although, as in many others that were crowded into her experience, they were able to mitigate jonsequences. There are times when the most expert not able to grasp and manipulate the infinite forces of nature to their liking, because of stronger vibrations from superior intelligence, or those greater forces that govern constellations. Mrs. Lord had made preparations to go to Brockton, Mass., for a visit of several days, and from there was going to Chicago. She was therefore well provided with money and personal baggage for a journey. Just before starting a stranger called at the house and told her a lady who was very sick, stopping at the hotel on Washington street near the bridge, wanted to see her. She said she was just about starting to leave the city and could not go. The stranger was very urgent and finally she said she would stop and see her on her way to the depot. He gave her in- structions to come into the hotel and go up the stairs and turn to such a numbered room. He told her not to rap, but to go directly into the room, as there might not be any attendant in waiting, as the lady was very poor. This appeal to her sympathies was sufficient. Intent on charitable mission she did not notice the strangeness of the directions, nor the forbidding surroundings as she entered the building and proceeded to the designated room. She did not note the absence of attendants about the. place. Where were her invisible guardians ? Where the warn- ing voices? She saw the "Dark Hand" point directly to her. Surely it could have nothing to do with this visit to the sick room. This was probably one of the things that was to be,— if not this, something else,— this evil influence could not be entirely checked. As she entered the darkened room she could not see 272 PSYCHIC LIGHT anything. She was conscious of being struck on the heac with something solid, but soft. A second blow made her unconscious. She remembered no more, excepting for an instant of being jolted over cobble stone pavements in a carriage, until she found herself in bed in a little room. From the motion she knew she was at sea. The stewardess soon came, and she learned that she was on board the steam- er, "State of Georgia," Captain Cooper, bound for Glas- gow. The Stewardess explained that her friends were left, —had missed the steamer. She then left her, and return- ing later gave her her ticket and told her a strange story: How she had been brought on board, her friends support- ing her from the carriage, she half walking, and all the time protesting. The lady and gentleman told her that she was partially insane and the doctors had advised a sea voyage. After fixing her comfortably in her stateroom and giving the stewardess her ticket, on which was the name of Miss E. M. Murray, they went ashore to purchase some fruit and did not get back in time. The harbor pilots had then left the vessel and they were out at sea. What could it mean? Why should anyone want to send her out of the country? What would her friends think? None of her money or jewelry was miss- ing. Her hand baggage, with two or three changes, was there all right. There was only one person, and that person a woman, whom she could think of as having any motive for such a dastardly act. This woman was infatuated with a man no better than herself, only more cowardly. He was determined that Mrs. Lord should marry him. This woman had repeatedly threatened her life and had made one attempt to carry out the threat. Her control had warned her to be on her guard against this woman, but being fear- less of all consequences, she did not heed their warning. This man was Thomas Mitchell, a handsome fellow, thirty-two years old, and from a fine English family living in Canada. Mrs. Lord had refused to marry him, and CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 273 this refusal made him desperate. The woman lived near Mrs. Lord, not far from Mil lord Si reel. Clarence, her control, told her there was nothing to do but to go on to Glasgow and run up to London and take the first steamer returning. For several days she kept her stateroom and when she on deck she kept aloof from the others. It was her m trip, and when she could forget the little daugh- ie fairly reveled in the grand swell of the ocean. Its roll was like the restless tides of her own emotion. It was , very stormy and tempestuous voyage. They were out ; i teen days. She soon attracted the attention of the other passen- some of whom told her they knew she must have great sorrow. They all sought to be of some service to her. She kept her own counsel and told them she was traveling for health and recreation. ■ They encountered a storm which Captain Cooper said was the worst he had known in twenty-five years, and the first time he had ever i seasick. He was surprised that Mrs. Lord, — or Miss Marry, as she was registered. — was not seasick. The storm was her delight and she begged the captain to permit her to remain on deck. This wild tempest found responsive echo in her troubled life. The captain insisted on her going below where the other passengers were, some praying, some singing and all thoroughly frightened. He told her the vessel was liable to go down at any time. She assured him that it would not, and kept her place within sight of him during that awful night. "There's a wideness in God's mercy, Like the wideness of the sea; There's a kindness in His justice, That is more than liberty." They finally landed at Glasgow. She went up to London and stopped at the Imperial Hotel on Holborn Viaduct. Before leaving the steamer, and for the purpose of showing her friends and spiritualists at large, the truth 274 PSYCHIC LIGHT of her story when she returned to Boston, she asked Captain Cooper for the names of the passengers. He gave her the following incomplete passengers' list: THE STATE STEAMSHIP COMPANY— Limited. S. S. State of Georgia. Voy. Sailed, May 2, 1879. J. H. Simmons Hugh Fraser Miss Fullerton Rev. J. S. Oakley F. A. Langembeck Mrs. Morrison Mrs. Blaylock Mr. Sylvester Mrs. McBurnie Peter Smith Mary Hare Jane Hetherington J. V. Allen Miss Simmons Mrs. Fraser George Wursh Fred Attneave Miss .Ghittledale Miss E. M. Murray NAMES. Mrs. Sylvester Miss McBurnie J. H. Witherspoon J. R. Gordon Sarah E. Hetherington S. D. Allen Mrs. Brent Goad Geo. H. Carse Mrs. Peter Smith James Spruce Miss N. Ghittledale John Blaylock Margh Downie Robt. McBurnie Mary E. Davis William Fulton Mrs. Gordon Emily Paole Ed Gare Peter Downie Arriving in London she found that the next steamer for America would sail in three days. Here was more delay to her anxious soul, separated from her daughter. It was most unusual for American women to be traveling alone in London and she was conscious of being watched with some suspicion. On the second day the servant gave her an insulting note signed by the day clerk. There was a bold directness of purpose in all she did and, being abso- lutely without fear, she asked the servant who was the writer, and being told that he was at the desk ir. the office, CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 275 ihe took the open letter and went to the little window and i the dapper looking little fellow if that was his name 1 to the note. He put his head through the little iw so as to speak low and said, "Ah, yes; I believe [ had the honor." As quick as a flash both hand and letter came against liis cheek with a noise that sounded through the room. 'Take that, you puppy! I am an American woman and •an protect myself." This incident was noticed by the proprietor of the hotel and a friend of his, the Marquis Eugene de Beau- harnais, a relative of the Empress Josephine. This incident convulsed the two gentlemen and fixed their estimate of her. Marquis Beauharnais was an Amer- ican and claimed to have been in the Confederate service under the name of Chamberlain during the Civil war. He bad noticed Mrs. Lord in the public parlor of the hotel and had spoken to the landlord about her, and asked him \e her every attention. General Beauharnais later met Mrs. Lord in Boston, Chicago and San Francisco. At this latter place he died. While at Chicago he wrote the following letter, giving his account of meeting her in London: Tremont House, Chicago, Nov. 15, 1894. In the year 1879, and in the month of May that year, I was in London, England, and stopping at the Imperial Hotel, on the Holborn Viaduct. One evening, about the middle of the month, as I walked into the dining room, I saw a lady sitting at a small table alone. She seemed sad and troubled. I at once saw by her style, appearance and speech that she was an American lady, and from the South, traveling alone. I called the head waiter to me and enquired if he knew who she was ; he replied, ' ' She is a stranger and alone. ' ' I requested the proprietor of the hotel to give her every attention, and to see that she had every comfort and protec- tion, as she was a lady from my own country. After din- 276 PSYCHIC LIGHT ner this lady, like other guests, went to the general recep- tion room. I had gone into that room a little before she came in. She took a seat not far from me. Following hei there came to this reception room two gentlemen, a lawyer and a clergyman, who had been dining together at a table near me. As they came into the room they were continuing the subject of their conversation, of which I had heard part, as they were dining. The subject was spiritualism: the clergyman was defending it and the lawyer was ridicul- ing it. This lady seemed interested. The expression of her face and eyes seemed brightened, and the sad expres- sion seemed gone. She said to me, "Do you Englishmen talk openly in this manner of the subject of spirit return?" I replied that, "I had found the Englishmen to be quite open to discuss and investigate any and all subjects, nc matter what the nature might be, but, madam, I am not an Englishman. I am an American, from the South, and I take you to be one of my country women; can I be of service to you?" She thanked me, saying she was travel* ing abroad for recreation. During the next three or four days we met in the public reception room and parlors sev- eral times. I had arranged for her to go to a spiritual seance at the house of a private family, but the very even- ing of the seance as I arrived at the hotel for dinner, I was informed by the manager that the lady had suddenly left, she gave me her name as Mrs. M. E. Murray. In the autumn of 1883, I was in Boston, Mass., and I was invited to go to a seance where Mrs. Maud E. Lord, was the medium. On entering the hall of this house I saw the very lady I had seen in London; she recognized me instantly. After the seance she explained to me the cause of her trip to Europe. While she was in London, I saw more of her than any other American, and I do affirm that her conduct and daily life was pure and free from reproach as was the pure life and conduct of my angel mother. Faithfully, * .< Eugene De Beauharnais. CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 277 Mrs. Lord returned on the steamer, "State of Penn- sylvania." She landed in New York and took the first train for Boston. She telegraphed her arrival in New York and her friends were ready to receive her. .Miss Minnie Tisdale (Mr. Lord's cousin), had taken Maude Alberta home with her to await news of the missing mother. At the depot in Boston to meet her, with a carriage, was the infatuated Mitchell, who took her to her child. That evening, when opportunity presented, when no others were present, he locked the door and 'putting the key in pocket, demanded that she promise to marry him or he would kill her and himself. The terrible strain of five weeks and the thought of her child and she locked into B room with a desperate and distracted coward. — what could she do? Here again fate seemed to hold back the protecting hands of her invisible attendants. They were married that Bame evening and her mouth was sealed in regard to her disappearance. She would not smirch the name of the man she had married. His one and only redeeming quality was that he idolized her and the child. His jealousy knew no limits, nor had he any sense at such times. He could not bear to have her give any time to the public. Selfish, as all cowards are, and cowardly as all selfish people are, lie did not want her to look at any one or speak to any one but himself. On one occasion he had his revolver in his hand and had threatened to kill her, when the revolver suddenly slipped from his hand by some invisible force and he could not find it, look as he would. He and and she were alone in the room and she was several feet distant from him. A few days later, when they were again alone, he being some few feet from her, the revolver was hud on the table at his side,— with all the chambers empty, —coming from somewhere out of space. Even these exhibitions of power did not change his JH'tions. In a few months she was obliged to get a divorce, which she did while in Chicago six months later,— making i"t <'laim for alimony, although he was quite wealthy. Thus 278 PSYCHIC LIGHT ended another tragedy in her eventful life. She resumed the name of Lord. Many spiritualists never heard of this chapter in her life and will read it here for the first time. Leaving Boston, Mrs. Mitchell went to Chicago, where her friends were delighted to see her, and especially were they pleased when she applied for and received her divorce and came back into the ranks of spiritual workers. Her field of labor was again extended. This time to the West and out into Colorado, which at this time was attracting people from all parts of the world -on account of its inex- haustible silver mines. SPIRITS BRING WATER FROM A WELL. She arrived in Des Moines, Iowa, in September, and stopped with Mr. and Mrs. E. M. Davis, 1113 Center street where she held six seances. At one of these a singular mani- festation occurred. A relative of Henry Ward Beecher was present, also a banker of much note. • This banker would, in this day, be called a Napoleon of finance, as he is the only one who ever undertook to purchase a Chicago bank with the bank's own money and credit and succeeded in doing it. During the seance, some one expressed a desire for a drink, when a glass of water was placed to their lips. Oth- ers, a little skeptical, made the same request when a tin dipper was given them. Mrs. Davis instantly remarked that the dipper, the only one on the place, was out at the well in the yard, where she and several of the ladies had left it just before taking their seats in the seance. A VISIT TO THE FASHIONABLE SET. On one of Mrs. Lord's visits to Quincy, Illinois, the fashionable people sought to entertain her at an afternoon tea. These were the people who, when she was young and unknown, made use of her gifts and then sent her home, alone and unattended, and told her not to speak to thnn CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 279 in public, for fear it would injure their social standing if it was known they were interested in spiritualism. The law of cause and effect, the thought set in motion years before, the acts toward a poorly dressed and humili- child, were working out their legitimate results. Rer controls had taught her to be true to her own convictiors. accordingly took a carriage and drove to this fash- ionable "afternoon tea." They greeted her, not at the hack door, as they did in those earlier days before she had made spiritualism popular. She had not forgotten the time when she needed a kind word, when a smile or a friendly art would have been like a glimpse of celestial sun- light across her path. These people with short memories were now very gracious to the popular medium. She was asked to lay aside her wraps. "No," she replied, "I cannot accept your hospirality. I came in response to your invitation, but for a different purpose. Years ago, when I was a poor girl traduced by the clergy, poorly clad and seemingly without a friend, when one kind word would have been a priceless treasure to my desolate soul, you sought the use of my gifts and sent me from your back doors late at night, unattended, weary unto death and often hungry. Your sons and hus- bands were too good to be seen with the poor child whom you now wish to honor. You, yourselves, complacently told me not to know you if we met on the streets for fear of injuring your social position. "No, I cannot break bread with you with the memory of your cruel, heartless, selfish acts fresh in my mind. I come from a proud race and a proud state,— too proud to be a hypocrite— and thank God, proud enough to lend a helping hand and speak kindly to the unfortunate, the ignorant and erring. I bear you no ill will, but I cannot stop with you. I am thankful for the poverty and abuse that came to me in my youth, in that it has taught me to read the hearts and purposes of professed friends." ■I 280 - PSYCHIC LIGHT THE FRANCISCAN BROTHERS AND THE ORPHAN. On another occasion, when Mrs. Lord was in Quincy, an incident took place that greatly disturbed that city and caused great comment all over the country. As the story runs, Mrs. Barrock, Mrs. Lord's mother, had an orphan girl, employed as a servant, by the name of "Aggie" or "Mary Agnes McDonald." One day when Mrs. Lord was in the kitchen the girl came in and asked Mrs. Bar- rock if she could go to confession. Mrs. Lord turned to the girl and at once sensed her condition, as she did every- one with whom she came in contact, and said to her, "Aggie, why do you go there? If you continue to do as you have been doing I see you with a baby in your arms and the priest the father of it." At this the girl commenced to cry and left the room. Mrs. Barrock turned and said, "There, you have done it now. She will think I told you." "Told what, mother? What do you mean?" "Told you about the priest— the Franciscan brothers at the college." The girl had told Mrs. Barrock how she had been ruined, not by one, but by several of the. priests. The news- papers heard of the affair and all sent their reporters to interview the girl, Mrs. Lord and the priests. Many columns concerning the affair were printed in the local papers, by the Chicago Times and the St. Louis papers. The girl's story was told to Mrs. Lord and repeated in the presence of the reporters. One of the reporters, General S., after- wards engaged in the insurance business in Rock Island, Illinois. The lawyer for the priests tried to intimidate Mrs. Lord into contradicting the girl's story. They lodged the girl with a Catholic family until she committed sui- cide as she was advised to do. Three of the priests, headed by a large number of people, called upon Mrs. Lord and demanded that she sign a paper, which they had prepared denying the girl's story. CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 281 Lord met them at the door, listened to the priests' ad, read the paper and tore it in pieces and told them to go, saying that she had nothing to do with the girl 01 her story; that the girl had voluntarily told her wrongs for which, if true, she hoped all who had had any- to do with it might be visited with as many curses as were hairs in the head of the poor orphan girl. Neither lawyer nor priest could intimidate her in the least. The p«»or orphan died from arsenical poison. When the coroner's inquest was called it was found th«' important part of the body had been removed, and all action was suspended. This removal was not done by the olics or at the instigation of the priests, but by a prominent doctor, an old resident of Qnincy, who, more than twenty years later, made the remark to the compiler of these facts that it was done to prevent a religious war in the place and to prevent the incensed people from burn- lown the college. A local paper stated that Mrs. Lord found it con- venient to leave the city about this time. Hearing of this, turned to the city and compelled the editor to retract and to publish that she would remain in the city for sev- eral days, if anyone wished to see her. Some of the priests sent to California and the excitement gradually sub- 1. One of these priests, on a visit East, twenty years ! being sent from Quincy, rode from California to Kansas City in the same car with Mrs. Lord and was very much interested in her conversation. Little did he dream was the innocent cause of his being transferred from iollege. Thus do life lines cross and recross. CLxVKENCE SUPPLIES EXPENSE MONEY. On Mrs. Lord's first visit to Council Bluffs, she found If without money sufficient to pay her bills. She had ii her youngest brother, to whom she was very much lied, with her. She expected to meet a party to whom she had loaned considerable money. She was greatly dis- appointed by not receiving the money and being on her 282 PSYCHIC LIGHT way to Denver, Colorado, did not know what to do. On opening her pocket-book to pay a small bill she was greatly surprised to find two new twenty dollar bills. She knew she did not have them and she never knew where they came from. Clarence said they were not stolen, but cam-.- from his bank. At this place, she met Mr. and Mrs. Chi Ids, at whose home she held several very satisfactory seances. VISITS COLORADO MINING CAMP. The law of evolution is as true and unerring in ethics as in nature. The philosophy of spiritualism, founded upon facts, was preparing the way for a more intelligent and tolerant examination of its claims for public approval and acceptance. As an exponent of the facts, and as a scientific teacher of its philosophy, she could not long remain in one place, nor exclusively in the ranks of physical mediums. Her controls called her to the platform, where she was destined to do even a greater work. After a short stay in Denver she went to Leadville and the mountain mining camps, where she proved herself a generous almoner of spiritual bounties. CLARENCE PREDICTS PRESIDENT GARFIELD *S ASSASSINATION AND DEATH. At one of the first seances held in Leadville, which was attended by men quite prominent in the Republican party, the control was asked if Garfield would be able to har- monize the two factions in the Republican party, then quarreling over the disposition of the patronage in New York state. Clarence, whose predilections were Republican, while the control Jesse, his elder brother, was more of a Democrat or socialist, answered by saying that the disagree- ment would become a matter of great public interest and that it would result in Garfield's assassination and later his death. The result of the disagreement was that both senators from New York state, Senators Conk ling and Piatt resigned CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 283 od July 2nd, 1881, Garfield was mortally wounded by .1. Guiteau, who, alter a long and tedious trial, sentenced and hung. The President was taken to Branch, where all that human skill could do was to save his life. September 19th,— eleven long anxious s latei-, — he died, and General Arthur, Senator Conk- friend, and the compromise Candidate for Vice (lent became President. General Arthur was a spiritualist, and in company with his sister, Mrs. McElroy, frequently attended Mrs. Lord's seances. Those who knew about the prediction made by the controls, and were greatly interested in President Gar- field's recovery, visited the seance many times, when the reports indicated that the President might recover, and the control if he would not live. Clarence's reply was, "No, not as we see it. I am connected with a very wise physician, Dr. Peter DeHaven, who. with other specialists and wise spirits, has made sev- eral examinations of the patient and they tell me he will to our side on September 19th." Such was the case. The death of Mr. Collins Eaton, an old time spiritualist of Chicago and a friend and great admirer of the medium, was predicted as to time and manner. In his last days, financial success did not attend him and he was somewhat distressed over the thought that he might be a burden to some of his friends. "No," said Mrs. Drake, with whose family he was then stopping, "you will have enough to eat and a place to sleep as long as you remain. When you nt or guesswork, is an admission of ignorance, 292 PSYCHIC LIGHT What is it? How was it done? This is one of those stubborn facts that persists in standing in the way of all known processes of solution. What is science going to do about it? Then, my scientific friend, you really think there is something in these spiritual phenomena, do you? Is that all you dare say about it? You dispute our hypothesis. What is your theory? Many cases similar to the above have been predicted by Mrs. Lord, and other mediums, and have been veri- fied with startling distinctness and accuracy. The birth of Christ was foretold and the Chaldean Shepherds were told how to find him. Along what lines must the mind travel to reach these specific and definite conclusions? Advanced spirits claim that these prophecies are the result of careful, scientific calculation. The wiser and more intelligent the spirit and the greater the accuracy of the calculation, the more accurate the prophecy and its details. They do not, however, explain their methods of calculation, whereby they arrive at specific details, such as the foregoing Leadville incident and the follow- ing, given by Mrs. Drake's control to. a Victor, Colorado, lady: A lady living in Victor, Colorado, tells of a peculiar experience with Mrs. Lord. She was having a private sitting when the control said to her: "You will lose your husband by accident and will marry again. Your next husband will be a doctor." About a year after that her husband was passing a hardware store in which some gentlemen were examining a revolver. They did not know it was loaded. There was a sudden report and the ball, passing out of the front door, killed the lady's husband. The control told her further that this doctor was then unknown to her, but. that he would attend and assist at the funeral of her husband, would be especially kind to her, and that later she would marry him. Fifteen years later this same lady called upon Mrs CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 293 i Lord-Drake at Cripple Creek and corroborated the ►rediction in every detail. urate must be the stage setting of this great play -»f life to put a man in front of a stray bullet, to be seemingly by accident, a year hence, ne events are foretold from a knowledge of cause md effect, but not in detail or accurately. Some predic- ions are made by those skilled in astrological calcula- aons, but until the "lost word" or the key to astrology is red they cannot be made accurately or with specific let ails. Prophecies concerning national changes, local fam- the destruction of cities and thousands of people by 'ires, tidal waves, earthquakes and attendant cataclysms, whose hidden causes are beyond mortal skill to discover md measure,— prophecies so accurate as to time and detail, hat they predicate an intelligence so perfected as to be ible to see the end from the beginning — are made only .h rough mediums by wise spirits. Rev. Dr. Wilson, of Allegheny ' City, Pennsylvania, foretold the great fire of 1845 in Pittsburg; the Mexican ivar and its results; the war between Russia and the Western Powers, and the speedy limitation of the tem- poral power of the Pope. Xapoleon, while an exile on the Island of St. Helena, made the following prediction about the United States: "Ere the close of the nineteenth century, America will be convulsed with one of the greatest revolutions the world has ever witnessed. Should it succeed, her power find prestige are lost, but should the government maintain her supremacy, she will be on a firmer basis than ever. The theory of a republican form of government will be established and she will defy the world." At her last meeting at Leadville, in 1881, in discuss- ing the subject of prophecy with the Rev. Dr. S. D. Bowker, she said: "Spirit force, always individualized, always intelli- gent, and either always perfect or to be perfected by 294 PSYCHIC LIGHT experience, can know all things. By the cultivation o: its inherent quality, or faculty of divination, it cai prophesy all that is to be, or at least can answer al questions the human intellect can formulate, or hean desire to know, provided the avenue of manifestation b< opened." "Do forms of force other than spirits of men am animals think? Are plants intelligent and can they tall and reason?" asked the doctor. "Surely, the myriad of other individualized force, manifesting in multitudinous forms, must be intelligent to organize matter according to the law of their needs and why can they not have sensations and language Man and all animals think and reason and have a languag of their own; why not the trees, plants and flowers? The; tell us many things, why can they not tell each other eve more than we are able to see, hear and understand? "Why cannot this higher intelligence, called 'man. understand the language of the trees and flowers,— o nature? Language! What is language but a mode o expressing intelligence? Is the world ready for this stej and the next to follow? . "From my childhood I have reveled in nature and it expression. No matter how bleak and desolate, it was a expression of the Infinite, and as such, was beautifi to me. As a child, the trees, flowers and waving grai talked and sang to me in a language of their own. The told me of the approaching storm and the morrow sunshine. "Spirits convey definite forms of thought to me witl out the use of spoken words. Why can we not as we understand the expression of that intelligence which cause the roots of the trees to seek moisture and the tendri of plants to seek the nearest support? Change the Iocs tion of the support and the tendril changes its directio accordingly. Is not this intelligence and reason moi certain and reliable than much of our so-called logic? "Have trees and plants souls?" asked the doctor. CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 295 "If not, why not?" she replied. "Soul is the ani- nating, vital principle,— the individualized, deific essence, vhose actions and reactions in all forms and in all things •an be read through the exercise of the spirit's sympa- hetic faculty of psychometry. Tell me how the bottled of flowers note, as they do, the time when such 'lowers are in bloom." There were very many incidents in her short stay in rado equally as important, but space forbids their nention. No two of her seances are ever alike. There is 10 advance program in genuine spiritual phenomena. ?rom its very nature there cannot be ; neither were any two >f her meetings alike in the speeches and public tests, only n the principles enunciated and in the trend of thought vas there any similarity. She always spoke purely from in ethical standpoint. Accepting the Bible and its ac- count of spiritual phenomena ; believing in the teachings of Uhrist, the greatest Medium of the world; believing in )rayer and its elevating influence; believing in a natural noral religion, rather than in theological dogma, she soon jecame known as a Bible spiritualist and consequently int agonized the orthodox as well as some professed icono- clastic spiritualists who mistook liberty of thought for icense to attack forms and rites upon which homes and jonsequently governments are based. To this latter class, and to all, she appealed for more ?arnest work on the lines of higher education, cleaner lives, broader charities and greater humility. To the young she urged loftier purpose, not in fear of punishment, but because of better results to themselves and to the race. So earnest was she in her advocacy of morality and tem- perance, and in showing the effects of alcohol and nico- tine on the vital forces, resulting in filling our eleemosy- nary institutions with mental and moral unfortunates, that she called to mind the great English temperance orator,— Gough. Tn discussions with the clergy, who often opposed her. to check their congregations from attending her meet- 296 PSYCHIC LIGHT ings, she would take them on their own grounds, quotin: from the Apostles and the Prophets, showing that com m union with the spirits of the so-called dead was so com mon in Bible times that it did not call for comment o explanation. Read the book of Zachariah and First Coi inthians, Ch. XII; the Acts of the Apostles; Luke, Ct I, verse 22. Even the Pharisees, in Acts, Ch. XIII, vers 9, acknowledged Paul's mediumship; see the commam given in First John, Ch. IV, verse 1. To their standar< cry, that only evil spirits can communicate, — that all i evil,— she asked them to explain why the Lord sent ev: spirits ; Second Chronicles, Ch. XVIII ; why their Go was more gracious to evil spirits, and if they kne^ of any other law He had changed to fit their theology At the close of all of her meetings she stepped dew among those present and described for only strangers an skeptics. In this part of her work she seemed unsm passed and unlike any other medium. Her audiences wei usually made up of the unbelieving, and her descrij tions were invariably confined to strangers and skeptic Very many of these listened to the descriptions with a independent bravado of unbelief, but as she turned bac the pages of their lives revealing incidents long forgottei and told them of the loved ones who stood about the] anxious for recognition, and related incidents, sometimi humorous, sometimes pathetic, it seemed as though si had bridged the two worlds. Such was the general eha acter of her platform work. CHAPTER XIII. RETURN TO BOSTON. At this time spiritualism had been prominently before he public for thirty years; and, so many arrant impostors, inding to be mediums, were practicing their tricks, that [•critical investigators, materialists and bigoted theo- ns called it all a fraud. Mrs. Lord was probably the mfc medium who escaped calumny and abuse. Notwith- ling her seances were held in the dark, the manifest ibsence of confederates and the unmistakable and palpa- ile presence of the invisibles, forced conviction upon the skeptical. Among the many seances held in Boston on her re- turn from Denver was one attended by John Wetherbee, n writer of considerable note. At this seance the skep- were given every opportunity to satisfy themselves. The doors were locked by one of them, and during the nine: some one of their number gave close atten- tion to Mrs. Lord, by putting their feet on her feet, or by holding her hands. At other times she constantly patted bands, that all would know she was not touching them. The manifestations were quite varied, but much similar to those given by her in other places, which have o often described. By request the company was fanned, and then the fan was sent whirling round the circle near each face with velocity; the tiny music-box was played by one of the invisibles, so that all could hear its music over their J, sometimes at one side of the room and sometimes 'her, and then, by request, it would land in the hand pf the person who desired it. The guitar was often taken jfrom one lap to another, and raps upon it were loudly 298 PSYCHIC LIGHT given in answer to mental questions. Nearly every one's hands were touched by spirit fingers, sometimes quite forcibly. A ring was taken by mental request from one, and placed on the finger of a person in the circle opposite. If willed back it would be returned and placed upon one of the designated fingers. The suddenness with which this was done precluded the possibility of human agency. Mrs. Lord turned to a lady and gentleman and gave them the names of two of their children which they acknowl- edged to be correct. Turning quickly to them again she said: "I see another little one, smaller than the others. She must have been killed, or at least wounded, b} r being run over by a horse ! " * ' Yes, ' ' said the mother, ' ' we have lost our three children." The medium again said: "This child has just put her hand to her head to show me where she was injured." "Yes," responded the lady, "she was hurt in the head. " " That is a good test, isn 't it ? " was the response. Directly a sonorous voice was heard in the air, exclaiming: "And thus the noble work goes on!" Mrs. Lord pleasantly remarked: "That must be some enthu- siastic spirit." W. D. Crockett's father announced himself and was recognized by the son. Mr. Wetherbee also identified his spirit friend, Ralph Huntington. His name was distinctly whispered in the air. Ralph, it seems, came by previous appointment, of which the medium knew nothing. He said, ' ' John, I am here as I promised you I would be. ' ' Mr "Wetherbee had been sitting with another medium thai afternoon when the spirit came and identified himself, anc said he knew friend Wetherbee was booked for Mrs. Lord's seance, and he (Huntington) would be there and would speak. The voice was distinctly heard by several in the seance. It was a noticeable fact that Mrs. Lord was de- scribing spirits to others and patting her hands at th( moment Mr. Wetherbee 's spirit friend was talking with him A spirit said to a German gentleman (a skeptic) "You have something of mine." "What is it?" askec the stranger. Before any reply could be made Mrs. Lore CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 299 rked, "I see her. She has curious looking hair; I can- lescribe it; and what lustrous eyes!" "Yes," hastily nded the skeptic. "She says she gave you a gold locket with the imprint of a foreign coin upon it." "Yes," responded the listener. "And she also gave b seal with a head cut on it," added the medium. " responded the gentleman, "I have them upon my aguard at this very moment." Then, in a low voice to his friend, he remarked, "Isn't it wonderful?" After the sen nee he allowed those present to examine both the es which answered exactly to the description given by the spirit. A WEALTHY SPIRITUALIST TAKES MRS. LORD'S HOME. If faith in human constancy- Be but a dream at best; If falsehood lurk where love should be, Yet in that dream I'm blest; If warning of a coming wrong Cannot avert the blow; If knowledge fails to make me strong — ! Tis better not to know. — Haughton. Mrs. Lord's controls had found a beautiful home, mtly furnished in a desirable part of the city, No. hester Park, which they told her she could buy for ss than it was worth. She looked at the property, and was delighted to think she could secure a home for her mother and little daughter. A prominent business man, \v the name of Cottrell, offered to examine it for her. He thought it a great bargain and told her that he would loan her money to help pay for it, and, if she would authorize him to do the business, no one could cheat her. She arranged with the bank that held the property sale to purchase it for $10,500. Cottrell was to loan her $2,500.00 and take her note for that amount. The bank to carry $5,000 of the amount. Supposing that her, iriend was honest, as he claimed to be, she placed her y in his hands and authorized him to do the busi- 300 PSYCHIC LIGHT The house was purchased. Mrs. Lord paid $3,000.00 cash, all money she had saved up to that time, and bor- rowed $2,500 from Cottrell. She moved into it, as a home, and began to work harder than ever to pay for it. At one time she paid Cottrell $550.00, at another $300.00, and various other sums from $50.00 to $150.00, as she could earn the money. He told her she was not paying enough on the note and advised her to give up the house. This made her work harder than ever. The thought of hav- , ing a home for her mother and daughter urged her to greater economy and longer hours of work. Not knowing ! anything about such business, and trusting him implicitly, she handed over all of her earnings to this pretended spirit- ualist. He told her a receipt was not necessary as he would indorse everything on her note. She had signed several papers, at his request, when the trade was made, and was told one of them was a note to him for $2,500. Her controls continued to tell her something was wrong, but she would not heed them and kept on handing , her money over to Cottrell, as fast as she earned it, until she was quite sure she had paid him his $2,500. She did not heed any of the controls' warnings as Cottrell had married her husband's (Albert Lord) -cousin, for whom she had cared so many years. Feeling sure she had paid the $2,500, she sent her next earnings to Cottrell by Dr. B. F. Galloupe and told him to have Cottrell give up her note. He wanted Dr. Galloupe to wait until Mrs. Lord returned before receiving the money. Dr. Galloupe insisted on paying and having a receipt, or the note. Cottrell finally took it and give him a receipt for rent. .Dr. Galloupe said, "Here, Cottrell, this is not right; let me see the note." Thus cornered, he said, "To tell you the truth that house is mine and I am crediting what she pays me on rent. I purchased it in my own name and not in her name." When Mrs. Lord was made aware of the situation she was nearly heart-broken. More than a year of hard, weary CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 301 work and every dollar she had on earth gone. He was all the time boasting of his honesty and pretending to be a spiritualist. She would not believe him guilty of such baseness until she learned it from his own lips. She then said to him: "Mr. Cottrell, I am unutterably surprised at your baseness and perfidy. I have gone almost bare- footed, without suitable clothing to appear in public; I have economized in every way; and, if you choose to rob me and my little child when you are so rich in lands, houses and money, when I have not a dollar or a place to lay my head or shelter my child, you may take the house and keep the money, for I have no receipts for all I have handed over to you, so implicitly have I trusted you all these long, weary months. You are an old man and have not long to live here; and, if, for my many years of faithful service, the spirit world choose to give me a clean, fair home in that after life, and you should be put into a hovel, such as your actions here entitle you to have, come to me and I will share with you the very best I have. Such are the lessons I have received from the Master during all the years I have been called to do his work. ' ' He turned uneasily and tried to justify his acts by saying she could not pay for it, and the money she had paid him was no more than a good rent. Thus this rich man let her go out into the streets with just two dollars and fifty cents— all the money she had. Oh, heart fast sinking beneath the load! Sad eyes grown dim with the bitter tears! Oh. feet that bleed from the rock> road, That leads along through the reeling years! Their bright wings hover unceasingly, He giveth His angels watch o'er thee! — L 'enfant Perdu. She had no one in the wide world to right her wrongs, and again she went forth to weary labor. Several wealthy spiritualists, learning of the transaction, offered to ad- vance her money and to make Cottrell restore the property. She said, "No, it will only place me under obligations to 302 PSYCHIC LIGHT you and give me notoriety and injure the cause I love so dearly. I have no money for lawsuits. I have no receipts to show. He is wealthy and you know what wealth- can do with courts and juries. Let him keep it. He will have to meet the consequences somewhere along life's way. The divine laws of compensation — not reward and punishment —but cause and effect, are as unerring and as exact as any and all other natural laws. He can no more escape from the consequences of his thoughts and acts than he can escape from this planet in his physical body. God has no laws we can contravene with impunity. I can care for my- self, as I have done in the past. I only pity him. He knows not what he does. (Luke XVIII 1-24). Val., one of Mrs. Lord's controls, however, proposed Mr. Cottrell's possessions should not be very profitable. Mrs. Lord walked away from the place that for more than a year she supposed was her own, and the house was rented to a family of Jewish faith. Val., the control, and his party, took rooms in the house at the same time. The lady of the house went insane and the family moved out. It was again rented to a family who remained only a short time. For some cause they could not sleep. It was next rented to a family named Brown, a very harmonious family of two brothers and three sisters. Dissension arose between the two brothers when one of them fell into the coal hole in the sidewalk in front of the house and broke his leg. The sisters said they had never known the two brothers to have any trouble in their lives before this time. The Browns rented rooms. They were no sooner set- tled in the house than trouble commenced. A retired sea captain and his wife who had rooms on the second floor came down one morning and asked, "Who was that man in our room last night." They told him there was no one in the house who could get into their room. Then they described him as a tall man with dark hair and wearing a cloak and broad-brimed hat, a kind of som- CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 303 brero. They again assured him no one could get into ■com. The next morning they came down and said they guessed they would not stay, as the man was in their room again. He stood at the foot of the bed so both could see him. The man did not speak and the old captain, think- ing he was a burglar picked up one of his heavy boots and threw at him. The boot went clear through the man. He did not move for an instant ; and, then he disappeared. The next night everybody in the house was awakened by the noise like a keg of nails rolling from the top of the stairs down to the front hall on the first floor, strik- ing every stair on its way down. Everybody rushed into the halls. They tried to light the gas in the hall and front parlor, but could not. They examined the stairs and front hall, but found nothing un- usual, nothing that could have made such a noise. They all dressed and remained in the parlor until morning when all the roomers left for other quarters. The next disaster the water back in the range blew up. No sooner was this repaired than all the outside blinds on the third story blew off and were found shat- tered and useless on the ground next morning. The next thing the water pipes over the parlors com- menced to leak and brought down all the elegant fresco and ceiling. Plumbers came and cleared away the wreck but could not find any leak in the pipes. In two or three weeks everything was again in nice repair, and the leaking commenced again. These transactions came to Mrs. Lord's attention in a peculiar way. Arising one morning she found $90.00 in currency on the window sill of her bedroom. As she picked the money up she heard Val. say: "That is the first month's rent for your house on Chester Park." That after- noon she called at No. 26 Chester Park and found the family very intelligent and lovely people. She asked the sisters if they had lost any money. They were greatly sur- prised at such a question coming from a stranger as they 304 PSYCHIC LIGHT had only just missed the money and had not told anyone. They told her they had saved up $90.00 and had placed it in a cupboard the night before intending to take it that afternoon and pay Mr. Cottrell. Mrs. Lord handed them the money saying: "Is this your money?" at the same time telling how it came to her, and telling them how she was cheated out of her home. They in turn told her of all the trouble they had had since moving into the house and the trouble other tenants had before them. The family remained only a few months. After this it was difficult to induce -anyone to occupy the house, and, at last accounts, the owner was obliged to dispose of it. Sometimes the consequences of our acts reach us in this life. A QUAKER ATTENDS HIS OWN FUNERAL. To show that there are some broad, liberal-minded men in the ranks of the orthodox ministry who have out- grown their creeds and recognize that there are more ways to heaven than through the doors at which they stand guard, a Back Bay Baptist Minister sent for Mrs. Lord to come to his church and officiate at the funeral of one of his congregation, who was a Quaker and a spiritualist. In the audience were many of Boston's most prominent people who were spiritualists. A lady present told her husband it was so curious to see that old gentleman walk from his position back of Mrs. Lord down to the casket during the services. The old gentleman seemed very much inter- ested in the remarks and in watching the congregation, and several times during the services passed in front of Mrs. Lord and looked at the casket. As she and her husband passed the casket she nearly fainted. She said, "That is the queer old man I saw near Mrs. Lord while she was talking, who kept looking al the casket so curiously." By some strange law of magnetic vibration her spiritual vision was so attuned that she could see him. CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 305 FAME PREDICTED. Mrs. Francis Burnett, the story writer, came to Mrs. Lord, tired and weary with the struggle for fame and fortune; and, said, "Oh, Maud, must I always write stories i living? This writing, writing, everlasting writing! Oil. dear, will it never amount to anything?" What master of mirage drew aside the curtain of her life? "Yes," Mrs. Lord replied, I see you writing some- thing so tender, sweet and natural that it will appeal to. the higher and holier sentiments of the public. It will be dramatized and played all over the country and bring you plenty of money. See to it that you make it clean and pure and natural. Your spirit friends will help you." "How long must I wait?" "Not long, the public are ready for it now," was the reply. All remember, "Little Lord Fontleroy," written by this lady. J. D. Featherstonehaugh, an engineer of note, a resi- dent of Schenectady, New York, who, like many other scientists, was quite unfriendly to this transcendental sub- ject, in his later years made quite extensive experiments in psychical research with many mediums. From one of his unpublished works on this subject we copy one or two of his experiences with Mrs. Lord. They were all con- ducted under test conditions. Speaking of his first meet- ing with Mrs. Lord he says: "Everybody at the seance was a stranger to me, yet the light had not been extinguished a minute when my open hand was violently slapped in a manner that indi- cated exact vision, and then energetically and painfully shaken, as if by some unusually strong man, after a long separation, whilst a voice in my ear called me by a boyish nickname I had not heard for forty years. This name was distinctly heard and remarked upon by those sitting near me. The medium also addressed me by my Christian and surname, described relatives of mine correctly, their right 306 PSYCHIC LIGHT relationship to each other, and gave their names in three instances. The names, person, personal peculiarities, hab- its and relationship she spoke of, in no instance were of those then living, and it is most remarkable that no mis- take was made with respect to this. She apparently had an intimate knowledge of myself and five relatives who had lived in many parts of the world, and some of whom had died fifty years before she was born. It was not only the relationship between the dead and myself which she so positively knew, but the relation- ship of the dead to the other invisibles, said to be present, of no kinship to me. It was, in fact, an accurate tran- ' script of my secret knowledge and associations connected with it, coming out without any suggestion or conscious thought on my part. Innumerable scintillating sparks rose from the floor, and oval shapes of phosphorescent light floated about, rest- ing occasionally on the persons and heads of those present. \ On covering this light with my hands, it still continued to shine on underneath them, as if not coming from any ex- terior source. Almost everybody was touched by -fingers of different sizes, for which no cause could be ascertained, but gen- erally in a furtive and momentary way, that carried with it the idea of human dexterity, corrected, however, by the fact that the hands, arms and manner of accost were some- times those of small children, when certainly there were no children in the room and none could have gained admit- tance. The touches were so quickly made and so evasive that there was no opportunity to grasp the hand. To bring the operator, whoever it was, a little nearer to me, I asked to be kissed, as a trap to seize her, if she acceded to it. Immediately arms were thrown around my neck and I was kissed repeatedly on the face. There was no one there that I could feel or grasp. What, however, I did not ask for or expect, was a sentence whispered to me by the same lips that kissed me, which had no meaning unless it CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 307 came from the alleged source, and could be understood by- no living person but myself. In order to obtain more proof that the medium would ernize a vision she had once seen, when it afterwards purported to come to some other relative, a stranger to all present, the following experiment was tried : The alleged spirit of a lady who had been an inti- mate friend of mine, so often shook hands and talked with me at different seances, that Mrs. Lord came to know and recognize the form whenever it presented itself. I ..(1 the son of this lady to attend a meeting under an assumed name. He had never been to a seance, and had no manner of knowledge of the subject, belief in it, or acquaintance among the persons connected with it. He knew nothing of my object in inviting him there. The seance was not held in the place where he resided, and he a stranger to all present except myself. Whilst the medium was sitting in front of him, with her back toward ^he exclaimed that my friend, Mrs. S., was placing her arms around this gentleman's neck. On my observing that it was strange she did not come to me, as she had always done, a man's hand pressed mine (the medium was ten feet away, talking continuously) and another voice, close to me replied, "She has found somebody she loves more." The gentleman's name and his mother's were then spoken by a voice, in the same tone this intelligence had so often used to me. In this instance, the medium at once recognized the form she had before seen, this time not coming to me, but appropriately embracing and talking to her son, a stranger to all the parties. To ascertain whether my knowledge and presence had some unconscious influence in directing the result, I en- gaged a friend of mine to go alone to a seance. Mrs. Lord presently told him that the spirit addressing him was the same which had so often come to me, and a voice gave its name, his own, and the relationship (a very near one) between them. Again there was recognition of a form pre- rii 308 PSYCHIC LIGHT viously seen, although the person present was entirely un- known. Hearing that Mrs. Lord was to give some seances in New York, I telegraphed to a relative to obtain an inter- view. He did so the same evening, and for greater precau- tion under an assumed name. Nevertheless, the medium, whom he had never before seen, gave him the same descrip- tion of a form she had given to me, which he recognized at once, and a voice told him his true name, Its own, and the relationship to him and myself. [ U A medical friend, at my request, attended a seance held by Mrs. Lord, whom he there saw for the first time. ■ A child apparently addressed him as doctor (his profes- \ sion and name were entirely unknown) stating that it > knew me, sending its love, and giving its name as Snow- drop. Two years previously a sprightly little intelligence with diminutive hands, arms and a child 's manner of speech, seemed to take a fancy to me, and sportively gave its name as Snowdrop. U I begged a friend residing in a distant place to attend a seance. At the time of writing I formed the wish that an intelligence which often professed to be with me, should make some demonstration of its presence at any meeting my correspondent might attend. My friend accordingly went to a seance and although a stranger to the medium, my messenger, so to speak, called him by his name, gave its own correctly, and added that I had written to him on the subject. In the experiment I am about to relate, I placed Mrs. Lord at a table, with her hands resting near the middle, where she kept them during the whole time. The table- had a lower horizontal shelf, which filled up the space between the legs, and was about three inches above the floor. Under this piece I placed a slate with a short pen- cil lying on it. We joined hands on the top of the table for about the space of five minutes, when perfectly audible and rapid writing began, the t's being crossed and the i's dotted with vehemence. The writing stopped and a noise CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 309 heard as if turning the slate over. Then the pencil !i again, and presently the slate was handed up and placed on my knees. Both sides of the slate were filled, each in very different handwriting; the one cursive and flowing, the other cramped and stiff. The letters were id with the names the substance of them required. Six names were written, all of them friends of mine, living or dead. This occurred in a lighted room, with a new unused slate, the medium did not touch. One of the words had been rubbed out and another substituted in larger and whiter letters. The letters were uniform, and the lines straight and parallel to each other. The writ- ing was not at all like the medium's, of which I procured ral specimens, and did not in the least resemble mine. By careful and repeated experiment the most exact scientific certainty is to be acquired of the reality of these phenomena, and in many cases of an intelligence directing them, not referable to the mental action of the persons present. When, however, we come to the question of the identity of the intelligence communicating with us, the exact proof that we ought to obtain is not always to be procured. Still no one can become personally familiar with the subject, without a conviction that the claim of the physical acts being done by a given intelligence is worthy of the most impartial investigation. We "soon learn that we must dismiss our preconceptions as valueless and take up the subject as it actually exists in nature. It is impossible to accept many of the communica- tions as coming from the source they claim, therefore the chief interest in the matter culminates in identity, for without the proof of that, it cannot be determined that these intelligences are those they profess to be, and by this lunch the hypothesis of converse with our own dead fails in an important particular. Besides, such proof embraces the whole subject and makes the reality of the physical nets of inferior importance. The idea of spiritual power has sprung up from the occult nature of the phenomena, their self-assertion and the fact that many of the acts are 310 PSYCHIC LIGHT physical impossibilities to living beings. The identity of the intelligence with the one it assumes to be is supported by the averment of the intelligence itself— by its expres- sions and acts of affection— by its knowledge of matters in your history and in its own— by the correct revelation of a matter formerly known to the intelligence claiming to be present— by the communications in sealed slates with names appended — by exact descriptions of an alleged presence, with the act it is about to do, immediately fol- lowed by the act itself, oftentimes of much significance— or by the occurrence of some physical act as a token of rec- ognition familiar in the long past. These remarkable things frequently occurring, however strong their logical force, are not all of them conclusive, but they point out a road that reason may properly follow in search of proof or disproof. The correct communications we receive through these occult phenomena claiming to be from our dead friends, relate for the most part to matters within our own personal knowledge, in fact, touching reminiscences of our early days and the friends who have left us. But we must not too hastily accept as evidence of spiritual intercourse re- vealments which may be, as they undoubtedly sometimes are, only the reflection of our knowledge. Even when the matter is unknown to us, but afterwards proves to be cor- rect, we are to exercise much caution in receiving it as sure proof of the action of a discarnate spirit, for we can easily assure ourselves by the most exact experiment that embodied intelligence takes perception of thought and act at great distances. We know so little of the extent of our own inherent, spiritual faculties that we easily confound the sources, and reason from a dangerous fallacy. Experiments, however, are to be devised more or less perfect, free from these objections in which the reveal- ment can only be within the knowledge of the communicat- ing intelligence, if it is what it assumes to be, and cannot be within the capacity of a living being, subconscious or otherwise. The following instances are attempts to ascertain if CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 311 the intelligence can inform us correctly of matters it alone ,an know, and also to discover if a spirit presents such an objective appearance to the psychic, as to be the object of recognition, at a subsequent time, through her cerebral memory. On every occasion when I had visited Mrs. Lord's seances, at intervals sometimes of five years, an intelli- gence, purported to be present, giving the same name, and preserved not only the same tone of voice, but the same manner of speech and action. I procured the photograph of the person whose name was so constantly spoken, and placed it with several others of the same sex and appar- ent age. Attending another seance, as soon as the light was extinguished, I secretly took from my pocket the package of photographs, laid it on my knees, and when the intelli- gence announced itself, mentally requested it to pick out its own likeness. The pictures were moved about, as if being examined, and one of them was held up touching my face, which I marked No. 1. Later in the evening I made the same request twice, first, however, shuffling the photo- graphs, and marked the cards held up 2 and 3. After the gas was lighted, I found the same card had been marked 1, 2, 3. It was the right one, and each time it had been held up with the back towards me, thus escaping any injury from my pencil, to my very great satisfaction. The experiment was subsequently repeated with like success. The most cherished negation must give way to just methods of reasoning on the facts which come under our ob- servation, and the proof of whose reality is easy and cer- tain. In the experiment just recorded, I could not know which card was picked up, and did not touch it except with the point of my pencil, excepting when I mingled it with the others, after it was laid down on my knees. The medium had never seen the original, or the photograph, and did not know that I was trying an experiment, as the requests were made mentally. The room was entirely dark. Here all possibility of human knowledge seems to be elim- inated, and the result is narrowed down to an intelligence '• l? 312 PSYCHIC LIGHT that naturally might be able to recognize its own likeness, and the only one we can conceive of, that could have knowledge or power to do so, under these circumstances. The medium having stated that she perfectly remem- bered the appearance of the spirit and could select its pho- tograph from any number, I placed several pictures in her hands, and stood in such a position, that whilst viewing her proceedings, my face was concealed. She discarded the i first three or four, and without looking further, and in- deed refusing to do so when urged, gave me the right photograph of the presence she had seen and described. Here, a picture the medium had never seen of a person en- tirely unknown to her was identified by the natural eye- sight, through its resemblance to a presence seen by spiritual sight. Only one conclusion can follow these facts. Schenectady, June 13, 1899. My Dear Maud: This is the first time I have been able to use a pen in many a month, and I attribute it to , some influence your last letter brought along and which escaped into my corporation when opened. Your letter supplies the scientific demand that there should be no man- ner of suggestion on the part of spectators. There was no one to suggest the name of Duane, as you, guided by the sound, thought it was, or that you should write to me a description of the evening's experience. It all happened as naturally as possible. The maiden name of Mrs. Robert- son was Duane. My middle name is Duane, and we are cousins. The Duane who appeared at the seance and whose first name you forgot, was also a cousin of mine, and the aunt of Mrs. Robertson. Your story holds together with- out a missing link, and is most interesting from the multi- plicity of characters concerned. The particular value of this seance, however, lies in the complete answer it fur- nished to brain waves or telepathy advanced by science in order to destroy a spirit hypothesis. Beyond doubt, there is such a fact as telepathy, but at the best is only a shadow of a thought, and can't play CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 313 fiddle. If a fact is revealed, as is often the case, that mbodied intelligence knows, the mind that reveals it must be disembodied, and this smashes telepathy, as a suf- mt source, into smithereens. I don't remember that I ever said or wrote anything to you about my house at Duanesburg, which you de- scribe in your letter, but I have a shanty there where I go for the summer when vacation begins, but there is a melancholy about the place which oppresses me. THE DESERTED HOME. Those old red chimneys, still they shine Amid the trees with wonted gleam, Where nature's plastic hands entwine And lavish charm in home's sweet dream. Glad landmarks once, lone mourners now. O'er broken hopes that died at last, When weary heart and saddened brow, Bade farewell to the buried past. Home of my heart! what memories there Are traced upon the faded walls, Or tremble on the lips of air That lingers in the lonely halls. The ruddy flame upon the hearth No more will cast the old time rays, The living light is out on earth That warmly glowed in other days. And so on. It is so long since I wrote it that I have forgotten it. I would not be surprised if Mrs. Robertson came to see you again, but like Nicodemus she will come quietly by night. I knew her well forty years ago, and spirit rapping would not have frightened her off. Now that she bishop's widow and exposed to the Christian tongues of her associate church women she must walk gingerly. I have pushed on to write this whilst my hand was on its good behavior, but it threatens to go on a strike every moment. Good-bye, God bless you and yours, as prays your friend of many years past, and for many years to come— somewhere— . J. D. Featherstonehaugh. 314 PSYCHIC LIGHT LAKE PLEASANT CAMP. The history of Lake Pleasant, spiritual camp ground, near Greenfield, Mass., would be incomplete with Maud E. Lord left out. She freely gave her time, her talent and her wonderful gifts to the upbuilding of the association. She was always jealous of its good name. She was among the first to go there, when there were only a few cottages and a hotel and when most of the campers lived in tents. She built a cottage on the bluff, which was the favorite resort of all. Under the old pines that stood like sentinels in front of her cottage were a few benches which were seldom unoccupied. When men of science, scholars, thinkers, college presidents and professors came, the man- agers of the camp always knew they were perfectly safe in directing them to ''Maud E. Lord's cottage on the bluff. ' ' They knew she was able to discuss any phase of the phenomena with them on their own grounds, or to present the philosophy to them in terms and in a manner suitable to their positions ; and, in a scholarly way, as well as in a clean, moral way that commanded respect from all. She treated all alike. At times the private car of the million- aire was. side-tracked at the station, while the owner and his company attended her seances, and was seated side by side with the laborer and camp attendants. Hers were royal gifts that had to be sought to be received. Here she worked early and late during the entire session of the as- sociation, for ten or more years. Sometimes holding two and three seances a day to accommodate those seeking ad- mission. With all this hard, constant work, she always found time to attend the meetings and the conferences at the auditorium where she would always speak and give tests. Going and coming from these meetings and from her meals she was always surrounded by crowds to whom she was always giving tests. All this public work she freely gave for the benefit of the camp. They all recog- nized her as the moving spirit in their meetings and the one great factor in the association's success. CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 315 The college professors at Amherst used to come to see her and so marvelous were the tests she gave them that the old president, Dr. Seeley, came with some articles which lie had brought with him from Japan about which he knew no one on this side of the water had any knowledge, lie was a grand, old, white-haired man, with long, white heard. He had been professor in the same institution be- fore he was called to its presidency and was necessarily one of the first scholars in the land. Psychometry at that time was not recognized as an established science as it is now and the genius of man had not counted many of the infinite vibrations of nature, nor measured their potentiality as now. In fact very few of the vibratic laws were known and understood as now. Ps\ -rhometry opened up a field of investigation and thought to this great scholar and thinker, and he eagerly sought the opportunity to study it. Mrs^ Lord, as she always did when sought by the earnest, honest investigator, gave him every attention. When he left he said as he passed along the bluff to- wards the station, "It is too bad, too bad." When ques- tioned as to what he meant he replied, "It is too bad that I have lived so long and know so little — too bad that 1 have not known these things before." This great scholar recognized the possibilities to be achieved in the study and knowledge of ethereal, electric and magnetic lines. Many do not keep themselves morally clean enough to grasp spiritualism, to understand its phi- losophy which to-day has spread its white wings over all the earth. She was always a painstaking and conscientious work- er at these meetings and demonstrated the phenomena and explained the philosophy from a high plane. No one ever accused her of fraud or dishonesty in even the least little particular. She conscientiously performed her duty in the best light given her. In doing this she antagonized many of those holding extreme and radical views. She always made a fight for a clean platform and for high \Tl 31G PSYCHIC LIGHT moral teachings. On these questions she drew the line sharply. When that insidious foe to the sacredness of all homes, called free-love, showed itself in the midst of these meet- ings, she led the discussion against it. She sharply defined the issue and drew the line so there could be no middle ground, no dodging, no skulking behind silence. Before a large audience she called for a rising vote, demanding that all vote their sentiments. She demanded that the losing party take their departure from the grounds, as morality and licentiousness— spiritualism and free-loveism— honor and dishonor — the clean and the unclean could not dwell together in harmony. No glorious spiritual truth can be taught from a platform tainted with such gross material- home destroying influence. Some of the boldest advo- cates of that pernicious practice— a practice that always has and always will bring trouble and sorrow to its advo- cates, somewhere along the lines of their lives, as sure as effect follows cause — were on the platform when she de- manded this vote. They hissed their venom at her, and threatened her with bodily and all other kinds of injury. She had been the standard bearer too long to let this glorious spiritual truth trail even for one moment in the dust. What mattered their threats, so long as back of her marched the white-robed visitants from that bright Ely- si an shore. Thus the camp was cleansed from this moral leprosy. Her controls were important factors in the camp and were equally as well known. Hardly ever a seance held in her cottage that the chairs and benches on the porch and under the pines in front of her cottage were not filled with those unable to gain admittance to the seance. From these seats they could hear all that was said inside the cottage and everybody at the camp soon learned to know and recognize Clarence's voice. About 1890, she sold her cottage and was no longer a regular attendant at their summer gatherings. CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 317 MEDIUMS. Mediumship is that quality— inherent and co-existent the human organism by which the excarnate spirit communicates its intelligence to those still in the body. >f the properties of this quality are not sufficiently n and understood to be stated in scientific terms. It >wever, known that the magnetic aura— physical mag- !i— a force with an unknown cause— is the combining and basic principle used. The properties of this quality is diversified as individuals. It is elsewhere shown that this aura is modified by the physical, mental and moral attributes of the person. The higher in the scale of being the person the more refined these attributes. The stronger and more perfected their wills— in other words the more perfectly developed the spiritual faculties or senses, if we may so designate them— the cleaner this aura, and the more amenable it is to such spiritual use. This is the force used by the spirit in its telepathic operations, which, for convenience, we designate as impres- sion, inspiration and influence. Where is the person who is not more or less subject to these conditions? As like attracts like, it is important that all regulate their physical conditions, their mental and moral operations, their thoughts and actions, in other words, build character on high and perfected lines. This is the force by which the spirit, by and with the consent of the person to be con- trolled and the co-operation of their closest disembodied attendant, or guardian angel— and every living person has such attendant— can entrance the person who has these qualities sufficiently and properly developed. There are many fallacies and very much ignorance concerning mediumship and its effects, among writers and people with limited experience in such matters. In- stead of collecting reliable data upon which to form an opinion, they have recourse to a large class of commercial imitators, and accept the statements of those who cannot I 318 PSYCHIC LIGHT * stand the searchlight of mediumship, or from interested motives, seek to condemn it. Those who assert that spirit control, or any form of mediumship, is destructive of individuality; that it de- stroys the will, which is an independent and essential qual- ity of spirit; that it is subversive of self-control; that it opens the door to all kinds of evil influences, contrary to the greatest spiritual law, " similis similem attrahit;" that it, depersonalizes and leads to immorality, crime and in- sanity — such writers, such thinkers have studied medium- ship at long range, looked at it from a very limited angle of vision and have very little, if any empirical knowledge of the subject. This applies to mediums, not to those who pretend to be such, or to those imperfectly developed, but to those who are representatives of the philosophy and phenomena, who have stood prominently before the public in such ca- pacity for thirty, forty and fifty years; to those who have dared to present new truths in the face of ecclesias- tical condemnations and scientific indifference. These exponents of the philosophy— all of whom have acquired, or are naturally subjective mediums— are grand- ly individualized with distinctive personalities, strong and perfected wills and with unusual self-control. They are all, without any exception, healthy, mentally strong and sane, as their usefulness during so many years fully proves. That their characters for morality, sobriety, integrity and devotion to their families, and to all reformatory and hu- manitarian objects, will compare favorably with those in any other calling, goes without saying. The immutable law of spirit, from which spirit cannot deviate, classes the various bands of these mediums in the same category. These conclusions are the result of more than fifty years' experience of those who have been closely and in- timately connected and associated with mediums. That subjective mediumship opens the way for evil influences is not true. From the very nature of the operation it can- not be true. Without exception the utterances of the spirits CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 319 i the brain of the medium present the highest ideate of molality, truth and justice, and must leave more or less of this quality upon the medium's consciousness and in the brain cells— all of which goes toward building and sub- stantiating the medium's character in the same qualities. Attend any of the thousands of public, spiritual meet- and home gatherings, held every week all over the land, where mediums are thus controlled, and find a single instance where anything tending towards animalism, im- morality, or wrong doing is even suggested by these spirits. CHAPTER XIV. PSYCHOMETRY. Psychometry demonstrates that all force, conscious and unconscious, individualized or combined, in whatever form manifesting itself, is recorded. It demonstrates that everything is being photographed upon matter and upon the spiritual universe. When the psychometrist invades the ensphering limits of any object, product or person, these records, these photographs pass in panoramic view before him or her. According to their spirituality, or the develop- ment of their spiritual faculties, and their capacity to re- ceive and fix, for the moment, these records and pictures.: they can delineate the minutest acts, thoughts and the varying conditions of persons and objects. Supplemented by clairvoyance, the record of all that has been or is yet to come, can be read from God's eternal tablets — the in- finite memory of creative intelligence. ' On one of the statues of Isis was written the inscrip- tion: "I am all that has been, or that shall be; no mortal lias hitherto taken off my veil." Isis was to the Egyptian mind the mother of earth, or the veiled Goddess of procreation and life. Their in- spired writers became materialists and none could lift the veil, hence this was not a poetic fancy, but a logical de- duction from th.eir experience. Psychometry does, how- ever, lift the veil. It reaches both ways— back through all the past, and on into the future. It is memory and divina- tion. It is eternity's palimpsest and prophecy. Professor Jos. Rodes Buchanan was among the first to recognize this inherent faculty of spirit which is devel- oped by certain indrviduals to a degree that enables them to eulor into and measure "the soul of things." His inves- CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 321 tions were made along all lines. Fragments from the homes of noted historical people, ancient and modern; articles from Rome, Ninevah, Greece, China, Central Amer- ica; Alaska and the Islands of the Pacific. All these were tested with surprising results. The names of occupants of buildings were given and their condition and surround- minutely delineated. Pieces of bone and fragments o\' the teeth of antediluvian animals were tested, and the animals themselves fully described. Many of these results were verified by reference to historical records and by mal experience. The professor's experiments began in 1842, while he was dean of a medical school in Louisville, Kentucky, and continued for more than fifty years. From his wide range of facts he formulated his theory and philosophy which be named Psychometry (psyche, soul, and metron, a meas- ure), soul measurement; or, psychomancy, which is a more appropriate word (psyche, soul and manteia, divination), a mental and spiritual sympathy. The more sympathetic the person, the better the psychomanchist he or she is. Sympathy and harmony of vibration is the common ground— ''the level"— on which all can meet and under- stand life's forces and purposes. Psychometry is an in- fallible science and sympathy is its basic and irresistible force— the daylight between this and the next life— the pathway to all the past. The psychometrizing of articles or jewelry worn, and letters written, every influence surrounding the owners of the articles, the writers, even to their own most secret thoughts are traced. Pieces of wood carry with them all the scenes with which they have been connected, even to a description of persons and conditions. Metal and rocks give up the history of their era and of the strata in which they are found, their process of formation and their primal elements. All these mysteries are possible to the spirit, possessing in a large degree this divine light called sym- pathy, through its inherent psychometric faculty. It is the only faculty by which nature's secrets can be revealed. It ii — ■ 322 PSYCHIC LIGHT is the only hand that can lift the ''Veil of Isis.'' It is the spiritual faculty that reveals the mysteries of creative in- telligence to human eyes. Be not ashamed then of out- ward—or of any manifestation of sympathy. It is the radiant energy of your spirit. Its possession and exercise is essential to the development of this one grand, independ- ent function of the spirit, which, if properly exercised, is the key to all success on earth. It is the key of admis- sion to all the spheres above, and to the inner sanctuaries of eternal truth. Professor Buchanan, at his school in Boston, where medical students were instructed in this science, was the first to apply phychometry to the diagnosing of disease, and to determining the effect of medicine upon people of different temperaments. He was the first to use this power to determine the constituents of plants and herbs. His wife was a fine psychometrist and aided him in his researches. During the continuance of his school in Boston Mrs. Lord, whom he recognized and claimed to be the ablest and most accurate psychometrist in the world, frequently lectured upon this science and illustrated its principles before his classes. One of his best 'experiments was to take twelve bottles of medicine, number each, soak a piece of paper in each and number them to correspond with the bottles, and then remove the bottles before Mrs. Lord ar- rived. She would take each piece of paper separately and describe the effects of the different medicines. Her psychometric and telepathic experiments in diag- nosing were accurate and far-reaching. The Professor gave her articles handled by sick people, or from the rooms oi such people, and she never failed to correctly diagnose the disease. And, in nearly every case, she designated the cause of the trouble, which sometimes dated back to th( early life of the patient. Where the Professor or the students had seen the patients and did not have an} articles to connect her with them or their thought, sh( would take their hand and tell them to fix their mine CONTINUITY OP LAW AND LIFE. 323 intently upon such patient. She would then proceed to ribe the person and give a complete and accurate diag- - of the case. Sometimes she would name the result, in the recovery or death. of the patient, even to naming the hour of their death, thus arriving at results outside ,.t' psychometry or telepathy, even beyond the completed record. This occult sense or faculty, singly or in connection with other spiritual faculties, is well illustrated in the location of mineral. Some ten years before there was any thought of oil wells in Los Angeles, California, while driv- ing over those parts of the city, where, later, several hun- dred oil wells were bored, she stopped and urged her hus- band to buy the lots and small cottages, saying that some day they would be very valuable; that oil would be dis- covered there in large and paying quantities. She predicted the discovery of gas and oil near Santa Barbara, especially at the spiritual camp ground at Sum- merland, then owned by Mr. Williams. She advised him to bore for gas and oil, saying that the oil-bearing sands and shale extended out under the sea. All of these pre- dictions were later fully verified. Some years before, she had predicted similar dis- coveries at Paola, Kansas, which were also verified to the great profit of a few of *the citizens who had faith in her interpretation of this great and accurate science of psy- chometry. The science is accurate, even though its inter- pretation be defective. SEEING WITH THE BRAIN, NOT WITH THE EYES. Professor Buchanan in his comments upon this de- partment of spiritual science says: "Mental and psycho- il influence— thought and volition— imparted to, or expended upon anything by physical contact appears to be imperishable;" and, it may be added, is imperishable if expended without physical contact ; even spirit is appre- ciable to this soul function. 324 PSYCHIC LIGHT Stepping off the Santa Fe train at Kansas City one forenoon, Mrs. Drake with her husband and daughter, went into the Union Depot Hotel for dinner. They were given a double room at the end of the hall. Mrs. Drake, while waiting, sat in a large rocking chair. She said, "I feel just as though I was blind. I am rocking in this chair, and am dictating letters to my daughter in that other room. I am feeling around the room with my cane and sometimes with my hands. I even go to the window and seem, from the sounds, to be able to tell the different kinds of wagons on the street, and also feel the street cars. I feel full of energy and my ideas of business seem so accu- rate. I know the value of goods, and if I was not blind I could do so much. Passing by the office on their way to the dining room, Mr. Drake said to the clerk, "Walter, who last oc- cupied the room you gave us ? ' ' "What is the matter with the room? Is it not in good order?" "Oh, yes, the room is all right, only I have a little curiosity to know who occupied it last. I wish you would look it up and tell me when we come up from dinner." After dinner the clerk said, "Mr. Drake, both of the rooms you have were last occupied by Mr. Harrison, the blind commercial traveler, and his daughter, who always goes with him to make out his orders and write his let- ters. He is one of the hardest workers and most success- ful men on the road, even if he is blind. He is a strong, positive character. Why did you want to know?" "I will explain some time when I have more time," replied Mr. Drake. One of the leading legal firms at Austin, Texas, wrote Mr. Drake inclosing a small piece of checked gingham about an inch wide and three inches long, and asked him to write what Mrs. Drake got from it psycho- metrically. Placing the little piece of gingham to her forehead, she said, "I see a field covered with low bushes. These are covered with little white bolls. There is a woman CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 325 picking these white things. A colored man is slipping up behind her. He lias a rock in a cloth,— in an old coat tied at one end. Her sun-bonnet prevents her see- ing him. He strikes her— knocks her down. She falls es him,— she recognizes him, and says to him, 'Why do you want to kill me?' He strikes again. Now ins away towards some trees. He hides the old coat e and the rock. Oh, he is a vicious looking negro,— ty black. I would know him if I saw him." Thus was described a brutal murder in a cotton field near Austin, Texas. A year or two later Mrs. Drake ac- companied her husband to Texas. People knowing about this psychometric reading brought to her a colored man who had been arrested, tried and acquitted for this mur- der. The instant she looked at him she said, "You are the one; why did you kill that poor woman in the cotton field? Oh, yes, you did; you struck her with that cruel rock, and I can show you where you hid the old coat." He was badly scared and left her presence as fast as he could. He had had his day in a Texas court and was safe,— until memory calls him to face the evidence in the book of life which the angel in "Revelations" opens; in whose living, spiritual light is written the minutest acts of our lives. The church of the future will build its creed upon this fact and upon the far-reaching and eternal law of compensation. WM. LLOYD GARRISON AND DIO LEWIS. These two names are too well known to need intro- duction. They were both thinkers on original lines. They both sought information and verification of their theories at a spiritual seance held by Mrs. Lord in Boston. Dio Lewis had written a work, which was then in the original manuscript and had not at that time been out of his pos- on. He sought information from the spirit side of life concerning some of the hygienic theories in his work. What was his surprise when she not only answered his questions, but told him, in brief, the purpose and scope 326 PSYCHIC LIGHT of the work, enumerating some things which he denied being in the manuscript, but which he afterwards found were there. Being given a book, selected at random by these gentlemen, of which they themselves did not know the contents, she first told them, without looking at the book, its line of thought and purpose, and then proceeded to point out the inconsistencies and fallacies, and to com- mend its virtues, without ever having seen or heard of the book or its contents. MRS. CORA L. V. RICHMOND ATTENDS MRS. LORD'S SEANCE. The spiritual platform in this and all other countries has never been honored, or graced by an abler, or more talented exponent of its philosophy than Mrs. Cora L. V. Richmond of Chicago. Her controls have grasped the higher and diviner ethics of this harmonial philosophy. They have discussed its most scientific and abstruse ques- tions, and with a matchless command of language, have appealed- to the intelligence and touched the hearts of all who have been privileged to listen to her, or to read her lectures. These lectures, if compiled, would be a veritable Bible for the millions who are to-day convinced of the continuity of life and know something of the con- ditions of spirit life, and the laws operative in this life, under which man can have a fair start in that higher life. Mrs. Richmond's position in Chicago and her ability readily made her a judge of the work of other mediums. In an article in the Banner of Light, speaking of Mrs. Lord's work in Chicago in 1881, Mrs. Richmond says: "Chicago is just now, and has been for some time, the center of an earnest revival in spiritualism. The meetings and lectures are well attended, and innumerable private seances in different parts of the city attest an awakening. "Among, the* test and physical manifestations, the only phases that can satisfy some classes of minds,— in- deed, a phase that nearly every mind requires,— I know CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 327 ot" do one better adapted, and few as well qualified to act is the medium for communication and manifestation than Mrs. Maud E. Lord. Her work in Chicago this winter, in private seances, has been most wonderful. I do not know how many of her converts will stay, but out of the two or three hundred every month that profess conversion, 1 am sure that more than one-half will remain true to the cause of immortality. "The writer of this was privileged to be one of fif- teen Indies and gentlemen, who, by invitation, attended one of her private seances. The seance was held at the house of a prominent spiritualist, and was composed entirely of spiritualists. There were some half a dozen or more fully developed mediums among the number. The ordinary mind and casual observer would say the conditions on this occasion ought to be very perfect. But experience has shown that where several media are in the seance together, their various spheres or aura of influence sometimes neutralizes one another. Besides, mediums are not always harmonious (I regret to say), one toward another. There are trance or inspirational mediums, who deny what they are pleased to term, the lower manifes- tations. There are test-mediums, who scoff at the trance and other phases. But I believe that all who were pres- ent on that occasion earnestly desired to be in harmony with the occasion, and were, so far as they knew. "Spiritualists, as a rule, are more skeptical than other people. And the writer could see a tendency, on the part of all who were present, — mediums and all, — to observe carefully and, perhaps, even critically, whatever might come. Yet, all were really friends to the fair medium, who so kindly tendered her gifts for the evening. "The spirit seemingly having charge of the seance, was a son of our host and hostess,— a young man of great promise, who passed away some two or three years ago. "We were arranged in an exact circle, at equal dis- tance from each other (as nearly as possible), and the left hand of each clasped the right wrist of his neighbor, 328 PSYCHIC LIGHT thus guarding against breaking the circle or any aid to the manifestations from any one of our number, yet leaving the fingers and palms of one hand free for the spirit or spirits to place any article in the hand. The medium sat in the center. The room was darkened, and a guitar commenced to move over our heads, gently touch- ing but not hurting. The medium clapped her hands together, at regular intervals, so we could hear her, and feel sure she was not passing the instrument. A small music box was played and passed from one hand to another, the spirit hand playing on it and passing it around. Voices,— notably among them, the voice of the son of our host, — were heard in many parts of the circle at once, the medium all the time clapping her hands and talking in another part of the circle; small hands and large hands passed continually and touched us, accompanied by voices: 'Mother!' 'My child, God bless you!' 'George is here ! ' and at the same time Mrs. Lord would be describ- ing accurately some spirit friend or group of friends to those in another part of the circle. "I watched and listened very attentively, and at one and the same instant of time I could hear Mrs. Lord's voice describing a spirit, her hands clapping together, the independent voice of a child speaking to its mother, two or three other spirit voices addressing different mem- bers of the circle, and the guitar played upon,— all this at the same instant of time. Spirit-lights then began to appear. Some members of the circle saw more lights than others, and they were often at the feet, or on the laps of some one. Several faces were materialized, but all could not see them readily. The lights accompanying them were distinctly visible to all, and a voice (that of the spirit), trying to materialize, was always heard near the lights. "Interspersed with all personal tests and voices of spirit friends, who gave in distinct tones and sometimes in whispers the words to the one they wished to have recognize them, was the distinct voice of the happy spirit- son of the household, who seemed to rejoice in taking CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 329 •c of so wonderful an entertainment. After personal had been given to all, and to some many tests, we asked to sing, and a deep, manly voice joined in singing over our heads, passing around the entire circle, but pausing most frequently and longest by the father and mother. "Here a funny thing transpired. Prof. , who present, has an Indian control, who takes forcible ssion of his vocal organs, but leaves his mind free to think. This Indian usually talks in an unknown tongue, rat much to the annoyance, afterwards to the bewilder- ment of the Professor, who was, and is, a member of the orthodox church, but who had no idea that 'the gift of lies' could belong to modern times. This Indian con- trol, apparently having a perfect understanding with the spirit conducting the circle, started his medium's (the Professor's) voice on an Indian song (if that it might be called). It rose and fell, and swayed and surged, but did not sing. Commencing a half note after, and follow- ing exactly the sound of the Professor's Indian voice, was another, a spirit voice, imitating every tone,— rising when it rose, falling when it fell, and in every respect sound- ing exactly like an echo of the first voice. We were amused, astonished and electrified, so loud, so real, were both the voices, so utterly impossible was it that any but the young spirit-son, before alluded to, who was an excel- lent musician, could have planned and carried out so- wonderful a performance. "Then came what I consider the crowning fact of the evening. The circle sang again, and this time the voice of the spirit-son, distinct and clear, was heard, while another voice, a tenor, high in the air, was also heard. The latter was recognized by a lady medium, who was ent, as her father's voice. These two spirit voices sans? through the whole piece, and the lady above referred to, felt the hand of her father upon her head during the whole time, the voice and hands of the medium being distinctly heard elsewhere in the circle. 'Oft In The 330 PSYCHIC LIGHT Stilly Night,' was then sung, and many of the circle heard a quartette of male voices overhead, while all distinctly heard the two voices before referred to. "I will not mention the corroborative evidence that many of the mediums present saw,— the spirit side of this wonderful seance,— with clairvoyant vision, fully confirm- ing what transpired. Such manifestations are their own confirmation, and long may the lovely medium be spared, who was the instrument on that occasion to prove that 'There is no death,' and may the blessings of both worlds go with her everywhere." The seances, to which Mrs. Richmond refers, and where the son of the host and hostess seemingly had charge, was held at the home of Mr. Collins Eaton. The spirit- son was named Crawford Eaton. This young man had often attended Mrs. Lord 's seances and sang with Clar- , ence. He was a beautiful singer and Clarence had, at one of these seances, promised him that when he came over to his side of life, he should conduct a seance. At this seance, the medium's father, Mr. Barrock, came, and calling her by the name he had called her in childhood, said: "Kit, I am dead. Don't be afraid of me. I died at nine o'clock this evening. Tell mother that I am gone." The mother was living in Chicago, while he, on account of having asthma, was living in Leadville, Colorado, with an older daughter. She went home and told her mother, who said: "That cannot be. Since you left this afternoon, I received a letter stating that he was much better." They sent a telegram to ascertain the fact of his death. A message was received in Chicago, and a similar message was received by the oldest daughter in Quincy, announcing his death. It may seem strange to relate, but on mentioning the receipt of these messages, when on a visit to Leadville, the members of the family there positively denied ever sending these two messages, as they knew that none of them could come to the funeral. On examination at the telegraph office, it was ascertained that no such messages were ever sent, and yet such mes- CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 331 were received. In the light of the spiritual phenomena of the present day, this circumstance will not be questioned. It is, however, a fact. Mr. Barrock had to reach his death bed before he could comprehend the great fact that was demonstrated to him nearly all of his life, 10 strong was his religious prejudices. lie had fallen and injured one of his legs and the doctors told him it would have to be amputated. The doctors had assembled at his bedside for that purpose, when a message was brought to the house from Mrs. Lord, telling him not to have it done. If he did, he would die during the operation. She had written him only a few days before, telling him that his time was very short. When he was brought home, with his leg injured, he had the letter in his pocket unopened. When it was read to him. the tears came into his eyes and he said: "She is right. I shall never get off this bed." While confined to his bed he saw a little neighbor at his bedside, and said to his daughter: "Why don't you give Willie a chair?" His daughter, thinking he was a little flighty, and to pacify him, said: "Willie, you can take that chair." The boy had died after Mr. Barrock had been confined to his bed. Very soon he turned to his daughter and asked her why she had not told him Willie was dead. Just before he died, he saw his father and mother, and others, long since dead, and said: "I am so sorry I ever made life so hard for Maud. Write and tell her I am sorry, and that I ask her to forgive me. I now know it is all true. How much better it would have been for me had I realized all this long, long ago. She was always right." Thus, in the wreck of lost opportunities ended what might have been a brilliant and useful life. TWO STRANGE STORIES. Louise Chandler Moulton, than whom no writer is better or more favorably known, published in the Arena, two experiences with Mrs. Lord. The incidents related ■ 332 PSYCHIC LIGHT cannot be explained upon any other than the spiritual hypothesis. She said: "Both incidents date back at least a dozen years. My friend lives in Whitinsville, Mass., and he had been invited to the house of an acquaintance, in the neigh- boring town of Uxbridge, for a spiritualistic seance at which Maud E. Lord was to be the medium. "On the afternoon of the appointed day, a friend from Providence arrived unexpectedly, and there was nothing for him to do but take this unforeseen guest along ! to Uxbridge. It caused some delay, and the seance had already begun when they arrived, and the man from Providence was not introduced, even to the host of the evening. He was an entire stranger to every one in the room. "Very soon, however, the medium turned to him, and said: 'If you please, sir, Sarah wants to speak with you.' The Providence young man made no response, and the medium turned her attention to some one else. Again she turned back to him, later on, and said, as before: 'Sarah wants to speak to you,' and again he made no response. Finally, just as the seance was nearly over, she turned to him a third time, and said: 'Sarah wants very much to speak to you. She says her name is Sarah Thornton Deane— D e a n e,' spelling out the last name, letter by letter. Still the Providence man made no reply. After they had left the house, he said, to my friend: 'What rubbish it all is. Why, I never knew any Sarah Thornton Deane in my life.' "But he chanced, some weeks later, on an impulse of idle curiosity, to ask an aunt of his if she had ever heard of a Sarah Thornton Deane. 'Yes, indeed,' was her answer; 'but she's dead, long ago. She lived with your mother three years— one year before you were born and two afterwards. She took care of you those two years, and she just set her life by you.' " 'And did she call herself Sarah Thornton Deane— CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 333 al] three names? And was the Deane spelled with a final eV "'Yes, she always put the Thornton in, and she spelled the Deane with an e. But what set you to ask- ing about her? She's been dead years and jears, and I doubt if you ever saw her after you were three or four ps old.' 11 'Yes, but I chanced to hear her name,' said the Providence young man; and he began to think that per- haps it was not all a fraud. "The second of my stories seems to me, perhaps, the strangest of all. It was of a seance at which my Whitins- ville friend was present, in company with a brother of his, now dead. Mrs. Lord was a stranger to both young men, but she insisted on talking to my friend's brother. There was a strange, intense excitement in her manner. She gave no name, but she told him that a friend of his, very dear to him, but very, very far away in the West, was at that moment suffering terribly. 'I see blood, blood,' she cried; 'Oh, so much blood!' "Then, as he said nothing, she turned away and devoted the rest of her hour to more responsive subjects. But just at the last, she turned again to my friend's brother and said, with a sort of triumphant earnestness: 'Ah, he does not suffer now; he's dead— dead!' ' ' And the strange thing was, that in the course of time, came the explanation of it all, in the tragic story of the death of a young man, who had been the closest friend of my friend's brother. He lived on a cattle ranch in the far West. Some desperadoes had stolen his cattle. He went in pursuit of them, and 'was overtaken by a terrible blizzard. He tried to cut some wood to build a fire, but how the axe slipped in his benumbed fingers, and cut deep into his knee-pan. He bandaged it as well as he could, and struggled to make his way to the nearer* lement. Just as he had almost reached it, the band- came undone, the blood burst forth again, and what with stress of weather and pain, and terrible loss of blood, 334 PSYCHIC LIGHT he died that very afternoon. As nearly as the difference in time could be computed, he was in his final agony when the medium spoke of him first. He was, as she said, already dead before the end of her seance. 11 'And all this does not make you believe in spirit- ualism?' I asked, as my friend concluded his story. " 'I am convinced,' he answered, with the skeptical smile of the fin de siecle young man, 'that there are a great many things in this world which we are not able, as yet, satisfactorily to explain.' "I will vouch for the truthfulness of every detail of these two stories." BOSTON'S COMPLIMENT TO MRS. LORD. Mrs. Lord's departure from Boston was not much like her first introduction to that city, an unknown, friend- less and almost penniless stranger. Other places were now demanding her presence. The people of Boston, with whom she had so successfully worked, took the occasion of her departure for Denver to testify their appreciation of her work and of her as a woman and as the representa- tive of new thought, by giving her a farewell testimonial. September 22nd, 1883, fifteen hundred of Boston's representative people assembled in Tremont Hall— the larg- est hall in the city— to bid her "Good-bye and God speed" to newer fields and possibly greater works. Much had been crowded into her short life of thirty-one years, — short when measured by years, but long when measured by the difficult way over which she had come through ignorance, prejudice, religious persecution, the unreasonable demands of skepticism and the indifference of science. The hall was beautifully decorated; Mrs. Kettel pre- sided at the grand organ, and Mr. W. W. Clayton called the large audience to order. The Tremont Temple Quartet sang that beautiful song entitled: "We Shall Know Each Other Better, When The Mists Have Cleared Away." Dr. Emily P. Pike invoked a blessing, wherein she took occasion to give thanks for the divine spirit of sym- CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 335 pathy and affectioD that prompted so many to extend, by their presence, the hand of deathless friendship to the worker about to go from them,— she who had, from her earliest childhood, been called to labor in widely spread divisions of the Vineyard of Truth for the demonstra- tion of the immortal nature of the human soul. Professor Clayton stated that the meeting was intended as a tribute of respect to one whom all sincerely loved, both as an indefatigable worker, and because of her excellent character as a woman; that the meeting,— as was intended.— would be informal, consisting of short speeches by friends. Mr. Eben Cobb, the first speaker, bore witness to the deep interest always displayed by Mrs. Lord in everything pertaining to the benefit of the cause to which her life had been so truly devoted; to the self-sacrificing spirit she had always manifested; to the work she had accomplished all over the land, from the prairies and mining lands of the West to the extreme seaboard of New England. He considered it a grand triumph to the spiritual philosophy and phenomena, that such a congre- gation.— representing, as it did, many shades of religious belief among its members,— could be convened in such a place as Tremont Temple to bid farewell and Godspeed to a spirit medium. He wished Mrs. Lord success in her future labors, wherever they might be performed, until the hour when the gentle angel Death should call her from mortal scenes to wider opportunities for doing good in the land of souls. Mrs. E. L. Fuller, of the Congregational Church, Oharlestown District, favored the audience with a choice solo, "Ave Maria" (By H. Millard). The talented and eloquent John Wetherbee followed. He thanked God that mediums, and especially Mrs. Lord, had been given the courage which enabled them to stand up in the face of a bigoted public opinion and speak the truths given them, leaving the results fearlessly in the hands of the power from which these truths were received. " i 33G PSYCHIC LIGHT He referred to the feeling which came upon him when speaking in spiritualist assemblies; that he was addressing a larger audience than those who are seen, those living in the form; that he was addressing those living, called the dead, those who will live through countless ages. He regarded the mediums of the present day as the vestal virgins who kept alive the sacred fire upon the altars of a new order of thought! Dr. Lynn followed: "The present occasion," he said, "is fraught with the lesson which the angels sang on the Judean Plains : ' Peace on earth, good will to men, ' which had been the burden of the gospel of Jesus, and was the burden of the gospel of spiritualism to-day. Eef erring to various important eras in the world's history, he remarked that the one now in progress was characterized by a general opening of the spirit-world, and could right- fully be denominated as the second coming of the Christ- spirit on earth. Spiritualism entertained no antagonism to truth, wherever found, whether in the Christian, or any other of the twenty-seven Bibles known to man; any truth would find a hospitable welcome at the hands of the new dispensation." The speaker held that those in the church who recog- nized the spiritualism of the past, as recorded so fully in the Bible narratives, and refused to acknowledge the spirit- ualism of to-day which was present with them, and those others among the spiritualists who recognized the angelic ministrations of the present hour, but refused to give credence or importance to evidence of the Bible regarding the spiritualism of the past, were equally in error. The inspiration that was given to the Apostles still lived and worked in the world to-day, and Christian ministers who are wondering at the diminished power of the church among men, would find the explanation of the difficulty in that church's refusal to accept or comprehend' this grand lesson of the age. He concluded with an expression of good wishes to Mrs. Lord, as one of those, through whom, in modern days, the power of inspiration worked I CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 337 li." benefit of humanity, and hade her "be steadfast to the light of heaven" which she in so unstinted a meas- ure had received. Mrs. Handy was then introduced to the audience. Coming forward upon the platform, and approaching Mrs. Lord, as she sat on the right of the reading stand, she she was filled with emotions of gratitude to the medium for what she had done to cheer her in her hours idness. She said she had never spoken in the pres- of an audience before, but felt it her solemn duty i on the present occasion, though she was not a spiritualist. .Airs. Lord was a stranger to her, but through her wonderful gifts she had afforded her the conviction that her departed father, mother, brothers and sister, were still alive in the great hereafter, and were able to make their presence known to her in a characteristic manner. She had been convinced by this wonderful medium, by the giving of names, incidents, and other rare phenomena, that the dear ones she supposed were dead, were still liv- ing in light and glory. Mr. Cobb called attention to the fact that the lady who had just spoken, though a devout, sincere and earnest Catholic, had felt moved upon (while still holding to her theological views), to present her public acknowledgements to Mrs. Lord, and pointed to the act as another instance of the practical recognition of the truth, now so impres- sively emphasized in this modern day, that behind all creeds and doctrines of all churches, the universal Spirit of Life was working upon human hearts. Professor Clayton read the following telegram: "New York, Sept. 22nd, 1883. Mrs. Maud E. Lord, Tremont Temple, Boston: Mr. and Mrs. Henry J. Newton desire to unite with the Boston friends to-day in expressing to you their appre- ciation of your earnest work in the cause of Spiritualism." Professor Clayton then introduced Mrs. Lord. In commencing her remarks, she said that her heart was too I 838 PSYCHIC LIGHT full of happiness to allow the freedom of utterance on her part which was due the assembled friends. It seemed to her that the God of heaven had given this charming: September day on which to hold this meeting. And the warm light of sympathetic friendship, which was visible on every countenance in the hall, was a reflex of the , golden splendor without. She would say to each and all: [,; "God bless you," but the full burden of her gratitude must remain unuttered. She was about to go forth to the mountains, where a j. mother awaited her coming ; but she wished it understood, in justice to dear friends in this city, that while she was ! leaving her beautiful Boston home, which had been taken from her by a supposed friend and pretended spiritual- ist, she was leaving in obedience to the pressure which had been continuously brought to bear upon her for some time . past by her spirit guides, — who were trusted by her in all things,— who told her that it was not her destiny to settle in any fixed abiding place, but that it was her duty i to go out again into the field of labor, up and down the land, wherever her services were required by an inquir- ing people. She referred to the great changes during the past quarter of a century, both in the world's thought concern- ing death and the after-life, and also in her own condition. She, having struggled up through life from a friendless, poor and heartbroken child, having been looked upon as I, haunted by demons, finally came to be so blessed as to receive in this great city the friendly expressions of such a splendid audience, now convened in such a grand place of assembly. She said that while the manifestations of , spirit power had, in former days, been misunderstood and traduced, — not even understood by herself,— this vast assembly is adequate proof of the personal and profes- sional appreciation of the spiritual visitants. She testified gratefully to what her spirit friends had done for her in all the marked crisis of her life. She said that all their prophecies to her, as to what she was to CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 339 perform, had been fulfilled to this hour. She remembered that in the audience were some who had not yet seen their way clearly to accept the light which was shining upon the pathway of mortals to-day. But why should the Christian church deny the possibility of present inspir- ation? Though human tongues fall out of speech, would immortal love send back no echo across the waves of death? Could He. who promised the full harvest, forget the weep- sower? If such a bridge as that at Brooklyn could be .1 by feeble human means across the pulsing tides, could not angel minds plan, and spirit workers build, a je of communion over the soundless waters of death? Spiritualism came to take away no man's faith, but to knowledge to each and all, — to make assurance doubly sure, that the course of human life is an upward one, and the chain of being stretches through an eternity of progress. Mrs. Lord spoke retrospectively of the satisfaction which had attended her labors in the West— instancing her pleasant experiences in Leadville, Colorado, as an example of the kindness which had been shxnvn her where- ever she had been. She proclaimed her purpose to render whatever service she could, in the future as she had in the past, to support the cause of Spiritualism, so near and dear to her heart. She prized her mediumship above all earth 1 }' things. She had rather be a spiritual medium than a queen and she should strive in her humble way to remain worthy of this great gift by the continued and inde- fatigable discharge of the duties laid upon her by its possession. She referred to what Theodore Parker had remarked in regard to spiritualism, as it appeared to him in its early days, and to what the brave poet-preacher John Pierpont had said and done for the cause in the closing years of his life,— encouraging others by his example to break the chains of the past upon the glowing anvil of the holy present, and proclaiming to them that spirit- ualism, through its works, "was wide as the universe, as broad as the wisdom, and as comprehensive as love.'' 340 PSYCHIC LIGHT She closed by a renewal of thanks for the present assembly, and the expression of the hope that all would meet many times on earth, before experiencing the change which brought on the sure reunion in the land of souls which spiritualism had demonstrated to the nineteenth century. The quartette then joined in the song "Farewell." THE SEYBERT COMMISSION. Very much was expected from this commission, appointed to make a scientific investigation of the phe- nomena of spiritualism. The result was a disappointment to all classes. Scientists were disappointed at the lack of scientific methods employed,— the illogical conclusions of the commission, and the frivolous actions of some of its members. Spiritualists were disgusted at the manifest insincerity of the members of the commission, and the flippant, foolish methods employed. The members of the commission were respectable people as the world goes, especially the acting chairman, Mr. Horace Howard Fnr- ness, who was a scholar and a perfect type of the nM school gentleman. Much was expected from them by rea- son of his connection with the commission. Very early in their investigations it became evident to those conversant with their methods and actions, that they were spend- ing the money left for this work with the idea, if they had any idea outside of having a good time, to prove the claims of spiritualism false— to prove a negative prop- osition. Mrs. Lord received the following letter: "222 West Washington Square. Mrs. Maud E. Lord. k L Dear Madam : Can you conveniently designate a day and hour when I can have the honor of waiting on you? I am desirous of seeing you in the interest of the Seybert Commission. Mr. John C. Bundy, of Chicago, has kindly CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 341 titted me to use his name in urging you to give a favorable consideration to the request of the commission that they be permitted to observe and investigate the remarkable manifestations of spiritual power revealed through your mediumship. He has authorized me to say for him that he feels great interest in having you lend your assistance to this commission; and that you are one of the few whom he has felt justified in thus commending. It will give me great pleasure to go to Boston for a >ual interview when all due arrangements can be made conveniently and explicitly than by letter. We know that we are asking much, but we are encouraged by the belief, inspired by Mr. Bundy, that, like ourselves, you are seeking light on a subject which bids fair to be almost inexhaustible. I remain, dear madam, Very respectfully, Horace Howard Furness. Acting Chairman, Seybert Investigating Commission. 30 November, 1884." Mrs. Lord complied with this request, supposing they were earnestly trying to scientifically solve the great prob- lem that means so much to the race. She went to Phila- delphia, at their request, to hold a seance for their special benefit. She waited nearly a week before they could find time to attend. Finally, an evening was appointed and they came to the magnificent home of Mr. Furness, West Washington Square, where the seance was to be held. They came as scientists, investigating an impor- tant question. They came dressed for an evening party and could only remain a short time. The circle was formed. These scientists ( 1) commenced by violating every con- dition necessary for the production of the phenomena. Knowing that the scholarly and gentlemanly chairman quite deaf, they laughed and talked and snickered at everything. They were requested by Mrs. Lord to treat the occasion seriously, as becoming men acting in a public o'42 PSYCHIC LIGHT capacity, with the whole country awaiting their conclusion. Even when thus requested, they were not gentlemen enough to comply with the necessary conditions. Mrs. Lord was obliged to break up the seance. They feared she would give some explanation to Mr. Furness and begged her to renew the seance. This she did. They received touches, descriptions, saw lights and heard voices, which they recognized. In less than an hour, these scientists (?), in their gloves and evening dress, left for the party, where their great talents could have full play. Less than an hour's investigation was all they required to pronounce on a question that had engaged the profoundest minds of the age. They consumed a week of Mrs. Lord's time, for which she refused all compensation. Mr. Furness, the chair- man, however, treated her, as all thorough gentlemen always act, with due respect and great hospitality, during her week's delay and waiting for his great ( ?) scientists to get ready. Mr. Furness attended one of Mrs. Lord's seances in Boston on the occasion of his first visit to see her. In this seance, a sister came to him and gave the name of Mary Ann Furness. He said, no, he never had such a sister. On returning to Philadelphia, he wrote Mrs. Lord and acknowledged his mistake. He asked members of his family and they told him that he did have such a sister. The Seybert Commission has passed into history and requires no obituary. ' ' Parturiunt montes, etc. ' ' Its delib- erations, if what they reported can be thus designated, did no harm, and its conclusions did not settle anything, unless it might be the incompetency of that commission. CHAPTER XV. QUEEN CITY PARK. This beautiful, spiritual camp ground, situated on the shore of Lake Champlain near Burlington, Vermont,— than which there is no more delightful spot in all New England tor a summer vacation, was very frequently visited by Mrs. Lord after the session closed at Lake Pleasant. The honest, sincere country people who constituted the majority attending there, were very enthusiastic admirers of Mrs. Lord. Here, as at her own favorite camp, her seances were always crowded. She usually made her home, while at this camp, with Mr. William Gardner, of Troy, New York, or with Mr. Mannum, both of whom owned cottages on the grounds. At one of her seances here, a spirit came to Mr. Ferris, of Malone, New York, and was described by Mrs. Lord •curately,— even to saying that the spirit came into the circle dancing,— that Mr. Ferris instantly recognized him as a friend who was still alive. "No," said Mrs. Lord, "that spirit is here and is not in the body." Mr. Ferris was very emphatic, and said, "No, I know better. He was alive in Malone, only fifty miles from here, yesterday; and if he was dead I would be informed of it." "So you will, before the day closes," said Mrs. Lord. In less than two hours a telegram was placed in his hands announcing the death and calling him and his wife home. 344 PSYCHIC LIGHT CLARENCE SINGS AT QUEEN CITY PARK, VERMONT. Queen City Park, Sept. 14th, 1884, 5 :30 A. M. Dear Friend Drake, and all the rest: I must tell you about our wonderful midnight serenade last night. Clarence made this cottage echo, I assure you. He sang alone for several minutes, in as loud a voice as you ever heard him sing, accompanying himself on the guitar,— improvising words suitable to the occasion, making prom- ises for the future, etc., etc. The guitar and music box were both played at the same time. Mrs. Lord did not |, hear it for a long time, and when she did finally awake, she berated them terribly for disturbing her, but I told her what they had done and she was very much interested. My time is very limited, but I will say it was about the most surprising manifestation I ever witnessed. The blinds . being closed, no doubt aided them greatly. I will tell you more about it later. Kindest regards to all. Very truly, William Gardner. a hot boiled egg. At a seance held at 26 Chester Park, in 1885, a gen- tleman had thrown his handkerchief on the floor in the center of the circle with the request that his spirit friends knot it so that he would have something by which to remember them. Clarence said, "All right, Mr. Furguson, we will give you something that will warm your memory." At the close of the seance the handkerchief was found with the four corners nicely tied together, and containing a boiled egg, still hot. A thorough investigation was started to find where such a warm remembrance could come from. By direction of Clarence, they went into the next door and found that the lady of the house, Mrs. Hughes, a stranger to Mrs. Lord, was preparing a lunch for friends, who had just come from the country. She had placed six eggs on the stove, which she had not taken out of the hot water. Looking into the dish, there were only five. She CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 345 knew that no one had been in the room excepting herself. One egg was missing, and here was a gentleman from the stance with it in his handkerchief. ( LABENCE AGAIN SERENADES WILLIAM GARDNER, OF TROY, NEW YORK. No. 6, Sixth Street, Troy, N. Y., September 21, 1886. K. H. Ladd, Esq., Malone, New York. Dear Sir: You have no doubt heard, through our Malone friends, and perhaps from Mrs. Lord herself, about the remarkable serenade we had in our cottage the last night we were there. All the shutters but two were in place, making almost a cabinet of the chamber, and there were only two persons on the upper floor, Mrs. Lord and my brother, and three on the lower floor, Miss Curtis, myself and Mrs. Gardner. The music box was in Mrs. Lord's room and the guitar stood in the hall, near her door. We were first awakened a little after one o'clock in the morning by the playing of both instruments, with frequent attempts to "tune" the guitar. After some pre- liminary playing, Clarence began to sing, in as strong •ice as you ever heard him, thumbing the guitar as accompaniment. He sang for at least five minutes,— every word being easily understood and addressed to myself and wife. He said there were more than a hundred spirits in the house, that they had done the best they could for us all, and hoped to do much better in future. He said much more that I cannot now repeat, giving a parting blessing in conclusion. One very strange feature of the occurrence is the fact that Mrs. Lord and my brother on the same floor, with such open communication overhead, were not awakened. Clarence walked along the hall, down into the stairway. I thought it was my brother and spoke to him, but he did not answer. I spoke louder, and finally shouted, but could not arouse him. Clarence said he would awaken him, and he did. I resolved at onee that if we meet there again next year, as I hope we may, we will make conditions that will 1 346 PSYCHIC LIGHT enable our friends to repeat that wonderful performance, with interesting additions. Clarence and Snowdrop each said a few words in their familiar voices. I believe we can prepare that chamber and gather a group of mediums (with the aid of Clarence) to lodge there, and give us some very remarkable results. I hope to be able to talk with my spirit friends "face to face." "Why not? Clarence and Snowdrop talked, and why not others? My spirit friends promised me early in the summer, that they would make my cottage echo, and they did. I know the singing could have been plainly heard over to "Old Folks Home." If you have opportunity, talk with Clarence about this matter. I am not half satisfied with our camp meeting, because I gave so much time and was annoyed so much by the management. I will not submit to it again. Mrs. Gardner joins me in kindest regards to yourself and Mrs. Ladd, and all our good friends in Malone. Very truly, Wm. Gardner. At a seance Mrs. Lord held at Jacksonville, 111., the spirit of a well-known musical man, who had passed to spirit life some years before was heard singing tenor just as he did in the earth life. Although his friends were not strangers to this phenomena, they said, when they heard this singing, so natural, so perfectly life-like, that it made : their hearts stand still. No more than a line at a time was sung, but enough for recognition of the most natural and rapturous strains. This occurred seven different times, so that all heard it. The sitters were fanned, flowers placed in their hands, a gentleman's cane was taken to a lady, raps made with it on the floor and table, children sat on the laps of their kindred, shook hands, embraced, dallied with their fingers, music box changed hands, etc., much as in other seances, showing that will and memory are attri- butes of spirit. CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 1547 A spirit came to a member of the seance in fulfill- ment of a promise made in earth-life, that if coming back were possible, lie would do so. The medium addressed Judge . "You have here two of one name, a brother and a nephew. The brother and nephew died, etc." The spirit voice here articulated, "I am not dead at nil. Uncle, I am alive and here." The details of a horrible suicide were given from the spirit side, by the subject of it, to his father, in distinct terms, so that all those at the seance heard and recalled the event. One dear friend, who had not been a week in the world of spirit, mani- fested his presence unmistakably. After the sitting with Mrs. Lord, one of the mem- bers of the seance remarked that he did not see anything in such an exhibition of spirit power that was antagon- istic to the Christian religion. "No," said another, "only the resurrection is brought on prematurely before eccles- iasticism is ready for it, or those of its body who wait for a spectacular event millions of years hence, when the sup- positious graveyard dust is to come forward and ally itself with its former spirit,— this process being called the 'resurrection.' "No! There is nothing in honest spirit communion which is alien to the principles and practice of true Christianity, and if the resurrection could be regarded as a continuous reality, a development, there could be no inharmony in the lessons of spiritualism. And it would, moreover, infuse a leaven into all the sectarian organiza- tions and illumine the firmament anew in evidence of a never-ceasing coming of the Christ, the true light of life. Another thing:' Positing that man is a spirit and that in this potent factor is life, form, entity, much confusion of tonsrue would be avoided. "The scriptures do not deal with material bodies. They are only an essential part of the human frame— only a time-worn instrument. They are called the grave clothes, as in the case of the disciples coming to the tomb of the Savior; they found nothing but the grave clothes, but 348 PSYCHIC LIGHT they saw and spoke to Him afterwards, as we do our friei under the circumstance of materialization. The spirits come to us when we make the conditions so that they can come, and when they have learned the way. They all claim that at death the spiritual body is realized at once and with it they arise into their proper condition accord- ing to their own presentment of themselves." And thus we see : "That the beautiful dead we lay away, With a breaking of the heart, Was only to us the cast in clay, Of a deathless counterpart." CUI BONO? A HIGHER EDUCATION. In 1886, Mrs. Lord had reached a point in her work where it was her purpose, not so much to demonstrate to the public the fact of the continuity of life, as to evolve from the facts demonstrating this continuity, a practical philosophy— a code of ethics suitable to the times and in keeping with the advances made by spiritual science. The theory of evolution had swept away many theological myths— the lessons of wisdom coming from the spiritual side of life had done away with the scheme of orthodox salvation, original sin, and the vicarious atonement; and, there was a necessity for something to be formulated in the place of these things for those who seemed not to be original thinkers. She had, prior to this time— in 1884— held many seances in New York for Senator Leland Stan- ford, resulting in his devoting his millions to the building of the greatest university in the world at Palo Alto, Cali- fornia. A knowledge of the great fact of continuous life and the philosophy founded upon fact, had shown Senator Stanford the great importance and necessity for a school founded on broader and more liberal lines than similar institutions East, and across the ocean. As Senator Stan- ford personally said to the writer, "But for Mrs. Lord and the convincing evidence she has given me of a future CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 349 and the important bearing our thoughts and actions have upon that future life, my millions would not been devoted to the building and endowing of the University." The lessons given her of the absolute accuracy and eertainty of the compensatory and unchangeable laws of nature— that effect follows cause in spiritual, as well as in material things, were such as to make it easy and very natural to formulate for herself, at least, a code of ethics to which the public and the broader and more liberally religious can find no objections. Her presence in Kansas City, in December, 1886, was the occasion of great rejoicing among spiritualists, whose enthusiasm and admiration at her marvelous demonstra- tions of spirit-power soon spread into the orthodox and un- believing element of society, until seats in her seances were at a premium. These seances were attended by the best people in the city. At her Sunday meetings, in the Spirit- ualists' hall, in the audience could be seen, in addition to the regular attendants, prominent society people, leading professional men and known scholars of the city, occa- sionally a minister, judges, doctors, lawyers, leading busi- ness men and their families. Believers were delighted, and skeptics and unbelievers were astonished and confounded, being utterly unable to account for the wonderful manifestations in any other way than through spirit agency. On the invitation of Mr. M. H. Hudson, manager of the opera houses, she spoke in Music Hall, which proved to be none too large for the enthusiastic audiences that greeted her. Never in the history of Kansas City did spirit- ualism have such a revival. He/ first meeting in Music Hall was thus described by tin* Kansas Citv Times-. !50 PSYCHIC LIGHT MRS. LORD, THE MEDIUM, DISPLAYS SOME OP HER POWERS TO A PLEASED AUDIENCE. When Mrs. Maud E. Lord, a medium well-known in spiritualistic circles all over the country, began her lec- ture last evening in Music Hall, every seat was occupied. The skeptics, who were challenged to be present, were there in full force, and they were handled in such a manner that when they left the hall most of them believed that there was something in spiritualism, after all. The Emma Ab- bot Company were present, and Mr. Weatherill had his nervous, erratic search after a lost pocket book so vividly portrayed that he changed color frequently. One young 1 man was inclined to become angry because he was told that he would rather eat than fight. The casual manner in which she let fall the remark was probably the cause of his anger. Another was told how many members there were in his family, how many had died or married, and what their names were. The appearance of persons not in the audi- ence was vividly described, merely on mentioning their names. When the curiosity of the audience was awakened, a general rush was made for the front, and everybody wanted to see if his family record could be told so easily. She told the family record of some of them in a manner that made them almost grind their teeth, although many were forced to admit that in some mysterious manner she was telling the truth. One young man, who was accompanied by a young lady, was told that he would prosper if he would not touch whiskey, and one old toper, whose nose had .assumed a carmine hue, almost turned pale when he was told that he would live longer if he did not drink so much w r ater. w "I can see that several of your family have died of dropsy. ' ' ' ' I admit that it is a fact, ' ' said the red-nosed skeptic. "Drink less water," she said, and passed on to a young man who handed her his watch charm and wanted her to tell his fortune. This she did in a manner that almost CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 351 the young man wild, until he finally asked her to de- sist. She said that the young man had spent a month of the last summer in the country. He admitted that he had, and then she told him about a little hunt for snipe he had made with the boys while absent. This he vehemently denied, but took the caution to ask the medium to speak no further. Many were there for pleasure, and the manner in which the hall was filled with laughter at times showed that they had forgotten business cares for the while. Col. Theodore S. Chase was told that he had been newly elected lecretary of an association for making Kansas City greater, and she said that both he and the association would pros- per. In telling one gentleman certain facts about himself, she remarked that his hair was red before he commenced wearing a wig, which he admitted after remaining visibly confused for a few seconds. After the meeting had closed, Mr. J. Bolby, proprietor of the Pacific House, and a number of his friends, accom- panied Mrs. Lord and her associates to the parlors of the Normandy Hotel, where a seance was held. Mr. Bolby, who announced that he could never believe in spiritualism, was astonished at the manner in which his history was re- vealed and the way in which his family was described. Mrs. Lord told him he was proprietor of the Pacific House, and that on one occasion he said he would like to have a cat, and a friend w T ho overheard the remark afterward sent him a sack full by express. At the conclusion Mr. Bolby admitted that this was true, and many marveled at her skill. One who said that he was a thorough skeptic, was told what countries he had traveled in, and the names of his wife, his uncles and his sisters. At this meeting Mrs. Lord took occasion to outline the philosophy of spiritualism in its ethical and practical aspects. It was an opportune time. The audience was composed of people of more than ordinary intelligence, thinking people, and church people who could not, or dared 352 PSYCHIC LIGHT not, attend such a meeting in a spiritual hall. After formal introduction, she said: From my earliest recollection my teachers— the only instructors I ever had— have presented the highest moral precepts. My first great lesson was obedience to divine law. I was taught to make this my rule of action and to be submissive to the right. Any deviation always brought reprimand and punishment. The voice of conscience was always audible and attended by the explanation of cause, so that the thought and the action should not be repeated. As a child and all through life, experience has taught me that any deviation, however slight, from the golden rule brings compensation more or less severe as the thought or act required. This is the law of spirit. My commands were to let no opportunity pass to impress this law— this fact upon all with whom I came in contact. The hand that wrote on the wall at Belshazzar's feast gave these laws to Moses on the tablets of stone, and all the great ethical teachers of the races past and gone have re- ceived them from the same angelic source— from those who have passed on to an understanding of spirit and its eternal laws. With such teachers do you wonder that from childhood I have prayed that it might' be my mission to teach and practice this religion — a philosophy based upon principles that do not tear down to build up, but, on the contrary, enriches itself with whatever good can be ex- tracted from all creeds and every religious faith? My con- ception of this harmonial philosophy, as I ^teach and prac- tice it, is that it does not disturb the traditions of the churches, but rather confirms them. Take spiritualism out of the Bible, and the churches would have no foundation upon which to build. We take from the Old Testament all that is instructive, wholesome and clean. We believe in the teachings of Christ and strive to emulate the examples of all saintly lives. We teach that all infractions of moral and spiritual laws bring punishment. Purity of morals, a cleanly life and a practice of the "Golden Rule" are vital exemplifications of the highest MRS. MAUD E. LORD. (See page 373.) CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 353 virtues. We demonstrate to all conscientious investigators rr.it fact that "if a man die he shall live again," that death is but birth into a new, natural, social and real life, compared to which this is the shadowy life. We demon- ic immortality. If you accept the fact on faith, we ask yon to know it. We are not iconoclasts, but co-operate with churches in all reforms. We ask all to think for them- Ours is an established religion, with a demon- ble philosophy. To the erring it offers mercy, to the cd it holds out opportunities of growth into better con- ditions; to the weary on earth it speaks of rest, and to the miserable it breathes the balm of hope. What objection can humanity have to the fact that under proper conditions I the voices of their loved ones "gone before," may, and do fall, again into speech and tell us that the coin cur- rent in immortal life is the good and unselfish acts we perform here— aye. that our capital "over there" is the aggregate of thought and consummation of actions here. We advise all to first establish the fact of the con- tinuity of life— personal, individual life— to their satisfac- tion; and, on such fact to build a code of ethics commen- surate with their own intellectual capacity and moral needs. None can do this and live in evil ways. None can know that the eyes of loved ones are upon them and fre- quent the haunts of vice, or wrong their neighbor. When we know that every infraction of the moral and spiritual law brings its own punishment; when w r e can measure the dynamic force of thought and approximate the laws of dity, when these things, these facts, these laws, not formulated into text books are taught to, and understood by our children and become, as it were, "bred in the s," then may we expect a nobler and grander race, se spiritual natures, without which man is an animal, shall balance and beautify the scientific prodigies our 'Is and colleges are sending out into all conditions of life. Has the whole field of philosophical exegesis or the 354 PSYCHIC LIGHT entire curriculum of ecclesiasticisni a grander or bettri- mes- sage for humanity? "It is a beautiful belief that ever around our heads, Are hovering on noiseless wing bright spirits of the dead; It is a beautiful belief that, when ended our career, It shall be our mission to watch over others here — To lend a moral to the flower, breathe wisdom on the wind To hold communion, at night's pure noon, with the imprisoned mind, To bid the mourner cease to mourn — the trembling be for- given." Like the Rev. Heber Newton, I believe in individual responsibility after death ; that transition does not work any sudden, radical change in our intellectual, moral and spirit- ual development; that progression of all continues under more favorable conditions after transition; and, on these lines is basjd the religion of the future. The churches must broaden their creeds to hold the thinkers who will fill their cushioned pews when these lessons are better un- derstood. I believe in all reforms and co-operate with all churches, and all reform movements. I believe in reform NOW and not after life has been half or mostly spent. Let us begin now to educate our children— educate them to think, and in time we may bring about reforms. Our systems of education are too rigid and limited to pro- duce desired results. Correct systems and methods should give Hie ability to think. To think is the ultimate of educa- tion To think 7$ education. Mental science is an exact science, with phenomena as diversified as individuals, and man is the product of spirit force — the ego— the thinker, operating upon grey brain matter. One is essential to the other; guard these two elements; guide them in accordance with hereditary laws, both mental and physical, and the product will be a certain positive result. Schools should embrace and advance all thought movements with- out prejudice. Every vibration of human thought is im- portant in the world of dynamic results. Every aspiration and every prayer uttered is perpetual and eternal. Thought J CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 355 controls all the motor powers of the earth to-day, and hence our schools should teach people to think and not to repeat. Our present systems produce too many failures in life because they do not take into account the laws of spirit which are as immutable as the laws of gravitation. Those who win in life, win because their education— sometimes acquired in the hard school of experience— evolves these forces of which I speak. In the natural, physical world in which we live every man should qualify himself to know the laws of his body and brain and spirit. If he violates these laws, knowingly or ignorantly, he alone must pay the penalty. It is of great importance to know and under- stand the laws of spirit, the consequences of whose viola- tion reach beyond physical punishment, on and into spirit- ual life, making or marring the spirit's progress. ''In all things created lingereth beauty or its wreck." The re- ligion of the future must preserve this beauty— the new system of education must prevent these wrecks. Will the churches and the people join us in this work ? Why should they not permit us to co-operate with them? We are all tending to the same end. We all urge cleaner, holier lives. They ask you to believe now and be saved. We ask you to know now and save yourself. We ask you not to wait until the eleventh hour, until death approaches, but now to adopt such a course, and live such a life, as to become pure, good and just— not through fear, but because it is pest for you. All must travel the same road— all must enter spirit life just as they leave this life. Not as king and subject ; not as cavalier and footman ; not as millionaire and pauper. Scepters, insignia, and castes will all drop away. Character only remains. . This is the inevitable— this is t'<( law. In conclusion, the speaker expressed the following as her personal belief which is not entertained by the great body of spiritualists, she said: "I am looking for the day when Jesus will return; with him will be a mighty host; the angels are preparing the way and the great Lord, with all his disciples will come again. Tinman beings should pre- 35G PSYCHIC LIGHT pare themselves by ways of peace, by purity of mind conduct and by love to each other. God will not forget his promise and eternal death no longer will, with its fears, hold sway over our intellect. Become more holy, lead clean lives. The erection of costly temples and the observance of ceremonies is no longer necessary. Spirits come to all and all will come to the spirits. Wife and husband, mother and child, sweetheart and lover will all be reunited in the glorious season to come. Immortality has been proven; let the world rejoice. Sweet thoughts are these; sweeter still is to be all the glorious hereafter. The great harbor of safety is open to us and the beacon lights are burning for all and beckoning to each." At the close of this lecture Mrs. Lord stepped down from the platform and called for strangers for whom she would describe. On such occasions she never described or gave readings to friends, or acquaintances, or spiritual- ists. She preferred to deal with skeptics and strangers. Under such conditions there could be no question of prior knowledge, or collusion. Here she displayed that wonderful psychometric power to delineate persons, things, and places, and a clairvoy- ance that seemed to look with unerring vision upon the panorama of individual life, with all its kaleidoscopic changes; as well as a clairaudience which revealed the thoughts and words from lips long since silenced to mortal ears. For more than two hours she described for the anxious ones w T ho remained for the demonstrations of her belief. It was a memorable meeting for the spiritualists of Kansas City — where, later, she was to meet with so much trouble. . [ Another strange incident, showing how life lines will sometimes run together as though the faithful weaver had purposely entwined the threads, or had cast life 's drama to suit his purpose, or test the quality of his actors. Who can tell? Mortal eyes cannot watch the invisible actors. Do we move in the lines of least resistance, or is it design that we fall into the magnetic lines of force and imagine CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 357 wo are acting out our own sweet will and way'? At this time, Mrs. Lord had not, knowingly, Been or met The Stranger who used to come to her and Mrs. Dr. Hooker, in their "dreams and visions" at their home in Wisconsin veins before— some fourteen years or more. Only occa- sionally did the thought and the memory of the Oriental Master's prophecy come to her. The prophecy made on that bright, summer Sabbath morning, so long ago, was seldom re-called, "He giveth his angels watch o'er thee! "No matter how dark the clouds may lower, "No matter how deep the waters be, "No matter how high the mountains tower — "Their bright wings hover unceasingly, "He giveth His angels watch o'er thee! — L'enpant Purdu. The manager of the hall came to Mrs. Lord and asked her what might be her method of procedure. She told him it was usual in her meetings to have a chairman who would introduce her. This was out of his line as manager of the hall, and he suggested a gentleman who was present, Mr. J. S. Drake, who was building water and gas works in Hutchinson, Kansas, and who was passing through the city, and had stopped over to attend the meeting. Mr. Drake accepted the honor and introduced her to the audi- ence and acted as chairman during the evening. From Kansas City, Mrs. Lord went to San Fran- cisco, California, where she spoke in Metropolitan Hall, to an audience of over fifteen hundred people. The spiritual meetings in San Francisco were the most popular and claimed the largest congregations of any church or Sunday meetings in that city of liberal, progressive thinkers. Returning East, in the early summer, she spoke for the spiritualists of Denver; Lamed, Kansas; Kansas City; Jacksonville, 111.; Chicago, and at the Eastern spiritual camp meetings, at Lake Pleasant, Onset Bay, and Queen City Park. At Queen City Park, than which there is no more beau- tiful spot on Lake Champlain for a summer outing, she 11 358 PSYCHIC LIGHT again met Mr. J. S. Drake, who had left his office in New York City to spend a few weeks with his father and mother at their cottage, "The Old Folks' Home," as they called it. At this time Mr. Drake avowed a positive knowledge of the- continuity of life ; and, by a long and careful scientific investigation, had become convinced of many of the facts of spirit phenomena; that they were genuine and possible under proper conditions, with the exception of materiali- zation. He had consumed considerable time in visiting nearly all of the public materializing mediums at all the camp meetings and in the large cities, and unhesitatingly stated that he had not seen any of the so-called materializations that was in any way satisfactory, or that seemed genuine to him ; and, that very much of it was very palpably a fraud, and a cheap imitation, if such a thing as the genuine ever was produced. His mother was a beautiful trance medium, with a control named "Neotkah," with whom he had many interviews. She had another control, an East Indian spirit, named ' ' Eulah, ' ' who had given him considerable informa- tion relative to the religio-philosophical science of the Orientals. His deductions from the facts that came under his own observation and experiments forced him at this time to concede all spiritual phenomena excepting materializa- tion. That this phase was demonstrated to his entire satis- faction, is best told in his own words : CLARENCE APPEARS IN FULL DRESS. "Those who deny the operations of recondite forces with which they are not familiar, and refuse to grant the conditions required for the production of phenomena under investigation, have studied to little purpose, and need to be reminded that it is a little late in this age of scientific inves- tigation to assert that the limits of their senses are the limits of intellectual progress. Assuming, therefore, that the natural laws under which it was possible for Christ to appear to his apostles and for CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 359 Saul to talk with Samuel are extant to-day, I will simply- state a few facts that have come under my persona] observ- ation, proving conclusively to my mind the continuity of life after death; and, that these laws can, under proper conditions, be applied to-day, with as practical results as in the instances so earnestly believed by the whole Christian world and by all people in all ages. All races have believed in individual immortality, which belief must come from a conscious feeling that such is the fact. It is not difficult to believe that this feeling is entitled to as much weight, in forming an opinion upon this subject, as Biblical history, or argument that appeals to reason through the senses, from the fact that our senses are liable to deceive us, while this feeling is usually correct ; but, as the world goes, the facts, accepted as such, by one or more of the senses, are received with more favor. I will, therefore, confine myself strictly to authenti- cated facts in relating the incident connected with the phenomena I have witnessed, as presented through that most wonderful medium, Mrs. Maud E. Lord. Having heard the lady say that she could produce genuine materialization, I arranged with a few friends to invite her to visit Queen City Park, near Burlington, Ver- mont, where my father's family was spending the summer and where I had gone to hear Col. Robert G. Ingersoll, who had been engaged by the spiritual association owning the grounds to deliver three lectures. After her arrival, and before she had done any work, I improvised a cabinet in the front room of my father's cottage, "The Old Folks' Home," by hanging a dark cur- tain across one corner of the room, leaving sufficient space in the corner for the medium to be comfortably seated without touching the walls of the room or the curtain in front of her. I arranged thirteen chairs in a semi-circle in front of this curtain, taking care not to have any space between the chairs, and that the chairs at the end of the semi-cir- -liould touch the walls of the room, so that when my 3G0 PSYCHIC LIGHT company was seated, no one could reach the cabinet with- out climbing over the circle. Thus equipped, under conditions precluding all possi- bility of fraud, deception, or assistance from outside, I seated my company. Among those present were Mr. and Mrs. William Gardner, of Troy, N. Y.; Mr. and Mrs. E. H. Ladd, of Malone, New York; Mr. Charles Smith, of Bangor, New York; Mrs. Nathan Knapp and Mrs. Judge Hutton, of Malone, New York, the other seats being occu- pied by members of my father's family, while I stood out- side of the circle the better to observe what might hap- pen. Like most investigators, I had, while complying with the conditions given me, arranged everything most un- reasonably for the medium, if the phenomena depended solely upon her unaided efforts. I had selected Monday morning for the test when she would not be expecting to be called, and I had appealed to any superstition which she might entertain by having thirteen chairs in my circle. My company was promptly on hand at eight o'clock, and in their places, while I stood outside the door watching for the medium, intending to ask her to come in as she passed from her rooms on her way to breakfast, at a time when she would not have any of the paraphernalia of the cabinet or seance room about her, and when her accomplices, if any such she had, were off duty. At about eight-thirty she came past and I met her some few rods from the house ; and, after introducing my- self, I called her attention to the statement I had heard her make a year before, that she "could produce genuine materialization if she had a good cabinet." I told her I had a good cabinet and a company all seated and waiting for the spirits, and if she would come and make good the statement she could name her own price. She could not have known of my plans, as I had not told them to any one, and no one of my company dreamed of what was coming until they were invited to take a seat in the semi-circle. She objected and said she had just arisen and was on her wav to breakfast and did not believe she could get CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 3C1 anything, and seemed to be a trifle annoyed, as I thought, at being thus taken at a disadvantage. I told her that was exactly my opinion. My remark settled the matter, al- though it was somewhat unkind, and she said: "I will go and try." She insisted upon the ladies of my party examining her clothing and removing anything of a white color she might have about her. This they did, not leaving her even a pocket handkerchief. She then insisted upon being securely tied. This I did to the satisfaction of all of the company. As she took her place in the cabinet I closed and locked the doors, the two windows having been previously ned— and then I took hold of the curtain and pushed it against the wall to exclude from the cabinet the light from a lamp which had not been turned down. Instantly, to great surprise and before I had let go of the curtain, a hand grasped it just below my hand and pushed it back. I stood face to face with a man about my own size — live feet eleven— dressed in dark clothes, very white shirt and spotless cuffs ! His hair was dark and curled a little — his moustache was rather long and pointed, and he wore a fine diamond pin. There sat the medium not five feet distant. There sat all of my company; and, not more than three feet dis- tant stood this stranger — an unexpected addition to our company. We all saw and marveled at his appearance, so suddenly and in the light. Here was an objective reality — a reality to fourteen full grown, reasonably intelligent peo- ple, all of whom saw the same presence under absolutely test conditions. With a smile he stepped outside of the cur- tain and said : "Drake, do not allow anyone to break the conditions and we will show you something genuine." As I stepped back he took a step forward and placing his hand upon Mr. Charles Smith's shoulders, explained the difficulties in establishing the magnetic currents so as rmit the spirit to grasp and use matter, so as to become appreciable to our senses. n 3G2 PSYCHIC LIGHT Here was something— a fact— one remove from my senses, outside of my experience and beyond my knowledge of physics— no phantasm, but a fact. A visible, audible, tangible, transcendental fact,— a, fact to all in the room, appealing alike to the senses and the reason of all. No hypnotism; no auto-suggestion; no involuntary cerebral action on the part of fourteen sane people, simultaneously conjuring out of somewhere or nowhere this well-dressed, talking, intelligent person with a knowledge of matter and force transcending the combined knowledge and experience of all present. Nor was this a combination of latent vibra- tions registered upon matter or upon any spiritual uni- verse. What was it? A plain, cold fact, unexpected by all present. A fact involving forces and laws not tabulated in text books, or named in our learned treatise. What would a cold, skeptical man of the world do with such a fact ? It is immaterial to me what others think, I was doing my own thinking. It is a mental law to refer all facts to some theory. Before he had finished his talk, a lady, dressed in bridal robes with her long, white train thrown over her arm, parted the curtains in the center, and, 'stepping out into full view of all the company, said: "Cannot I, too, join this pleasant company?" While these two forms stood in full view of all the company the medium could also be seen seated in her chair, with her hands tied behind her back, just as she had insisted on being tiefl previous to being seated in the cabinet. Three of my company instantly ex- claimed : ' ' Oh, Rose Wentworth, we are so glad to see you. " There are times, possibly, in every man's life when unexpected results so suddenly upset his theories and re- verse his judgment that reply comes not readily, but to one educated in that most practical school of life — a daily news- paper office — where for fifteen years, as reporter and editor, in the cities of Davenport, Iowa, and Rock Island, Illinois, I had been taught to think quickly and to be fair and honest in judgment, even at the expense of pre- CONTINUITY OP LAW AND LIFE 3G3 conceived opinions, I could therefore only bid our celestial visitors welcome and acknowledge myself satisfied. The lady in bridal costume was recognized by Mrs. Hut ton, Mrs. Knapp and members of my father's family as an acquaintance who had been buried in her wedding ^s similar to the one in which she presented herself. The gentleman who stepped out of the cabinet and addressed us for at least three minutes, I afterwards learned was the medium's control, Clarence Wilbourn, who was a resident of New York City, and who was shot near Fort Madison, Iowa, in September, 1862. ■ral other forms appeared during our seance. Among the number was a beautiful little Indian girl who parted the curtain and threw a bouquet of flowers which struck me on the shoulder, and who said: "Here's the medium's flowers for you Brave." Later I learned that her name was "Leotah" or Snowdrop, as she was called, as she usually appeared to other clairvoyants carrying a flower by that name in her hands, or entwined in her black hair. She did not appear to be over four feet tall. YVhat was the most convincing of all, was the ap- pearance of two forms at the same time, both addressing us in different voices, while the medium was talking. All three were in full view of all the company, with no possible chance for deception. This seance demonstrated to me that they who are so wise in their own conceit as to attempt to define the limitations of the spirit, or to pronounce judg- ment on any subject without first having investigated the same, must appear foolish in the eyes of those to whom these things have been domonstrated. J. S. Drake. Sherman House, Chicago, 111., Dec. 1886. CHAPTER XVI. DO COMING EVENTS CAST THEIR SHADOWS BEFORE? WHAT IS DEATH ? "Spirit, nearing yon dark at the limit of Thy human state, Fear not Thou the hidden purpose of that power which alone is great." —Tennyson. While riding with Conductor Cross, whose run was from Rockford to Chicago, Mrs. Lord said to him, point- ing to his brakeman, "I see death following him— very- close to him. He has only a short time to live. ' ' The con- ductor smiled incredulously and said : ' ' That great healthy fellow? Well, if he dies soon, I will believe there is some- thing in spiritualism. ' ' The conductor 's train was a mixed train, and it was the duty of the brakeman to pass over the tops of the freight cars. The next day, as the brakeman was going over the train he was struck by a bridge and instantly killed. A similar vision was shown in St. Louis. Entering an Olive street car one afternoon, she remarked to her com- panion, "I see death very close to that gentleman seated in the front of the car." Her companion looked and saw that she had pointed to Captain Joseph Brown, so well and favorably known, as the old city auditor, and, at one time, mayor of St. Louis. Both were well acquainted with Captain Brown. She was very nearly blind — always hav- ing been near-sighted— and did not recognize him. They called the Captain back and he said he was feeling quite well, much better than he had felt for some time. Captain Brown was a pronounced spiritualist and an unusually in- telligent man. During the great Chicago fire, he was the first to send relief to the people of that city. He for- CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 3G5 warded the first car-load of provisions, while the city was still burning. This vision of death, in this case, was veri- fied in less than two months. Again, when boarding at the Sherman House in Chi- cago, Mr. Harry J. Milligan, a friend of her husband, came in from a drive, thoroughly chilled. She happened to be in the elevator when he went up to his room. She censured him for going out on such a day without his over- She went on to her room and said to her husband, '"Harry is going to die." 1 ' What makes you think so, ' ' was his reply. "I saw death over him as we came up in the elevator just now." "That cannot be, as he is such a strong and healthy man. He is a perfect athlete," was his answer. "Oh, yes, he is going to die. I never see death over any one that they do not die, in a very short time, accord- ing to the distance the shadow is from them." "Death is not a person— how can it make, or be a shadow? What does it look like?" "It is like a presence, a beautiful, ethereal and re- fined presence when the life of the person has been clean, moral, and pure; it is dark when their life has been bad. This presence is always knitting, weaving, and closing up the threads of life. Sometimes it is close up to the person and sometimes distant. Sometimes it is rushing after them and at other times it is moving along leisurely. Sometimes it diffuses a beautiful, exquisite, exotic perfume; at other times, an indescribable odor, according to the thoughts and character of the person. It does not seem to be the reflex of the people, because it does not look like them. To me it seems to be a real presence. You know how many I following people on the street— in public assemblies, on the cars. Whenever you have taken the trouble arn the facts, you have always found that this vision — actual presence, call it the shadow r of the person or guardian angel closing up his accounts, or call it ! you will, is the forerunner of the person's death. :■ 366 PSYCHIC LIGHT All my life, I have seen this presence, sometimes beautiful, and sometimes sorrowful, and there has never been any mistake. Yes, Harry will surely die, aud I hope he is pre- pared to go." "Oh, no, he is not prepared. He is just now at the most successful period in his business career," was the reply. He went to his room, and never left it alive. He had a severe case of pneumonia, and seemed to recover. The medium's husband talked with him and tried to induce him to make his will and otherwise arrange his business af- fairs as a business precaution. "Oh, that's all right, old boy; don't you get scared about me— I'm not going to die yet," was his reply. He did not sleep well and the doctors gave him several doses of chloral without effect. He was fed on brandy to keep up his strength, and, finally, a consultation was held, and they decided that he could not live unless he could get some sleep, and they decided to give him chloroform. This was done, and he never regained more than a momentary consciousness, and died in the arms of the medium's hus- band, and his old friend, L. D. Cleveland, the architect. a midnight entertainment— extraordinary manifesta- tion of spirit power. Chicago, III., 1886. Mrs. Maud E. Lord spent several days with us when last in the city. Not being in her usual health, her presence was made known to but few. Past experience had taught us to expect much through her superior mediumship, mid home quietude. Clarence, her principal control, known nearly as well, from shore to shore, as herself, and to us almost as distinct an individuality, joined with us in our mirth, sympathizing with us in our sadness, advising us, and giv- ing his opinion in such a natural way that we felt him to be one of our number. He was invited to give us a mid- night entertainment as he had done some years before. Mrs. Lord's room was across the hall, two doors away CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 3C7 from ours. There was no one else on the same floor. The doors Leading into the hall from both rooms were left (•pen: however, that would make no difference with Clar- ence, as he always opens or closes them at will, and this night of which I write, he awakened ns by closing a door to exclude the light shining in from the street. My hus- band said: "Clarence, is that you?" In quick response came in independent voice, "Yes, Gardner, it is I." Then coming to our bedside he said, "Join hands.' ' Rest- inn- a hand upon my head he talked kindly as a brother, even tender, loving mother, to her saddened children. My husband had been disabled for many months, and was very despondent. Clarence, reading the thoughts that had not been expressed, addressed himself to my husband, say- Ing: "Gardner, you are entirely wrong; you would gain nothing by the change. The heaven you desire, you would not find. Your love, care, and thoughts, would still be with the w r ife that has journej^ed with you so many years, and your inability to do for her, and the knowledge that years of usefulness— of needed preparation for the change— which might have been yours, would bring' greater sorrow than yet experienced. Put forth every effort to overcome this morbidness, take a firm hold upon hope and life, and, my brother, I will help you. God bless you, Gardner, you shall yet see much of happiness. Work hand and hand her, as you now do, with the partner of your joys and sorrows, and the clouds will lift and health and hope be restored. ' ' Much of the same import was given, w r ith a tenderness that cannot be recorded. None but those who have had a similar experience can understand our feelings while be- ing addressed in an audible voice, in the still hour of night, disembodied spirit. The echo still lingers in the cham- of my soul, and that much good has resulted from the divine interview, Clarence knows without my record. Dur- the time he was manifesting, Snowdrop's busy fin- were arranging the bed clothes about my neck. She : "I want to cover you up." Three hands were upon me ■I 3G8 PSYCHIC LIGHT at the same time, and the medium, two doors away, slept. We thought the entertainment grand beyond our former experience. Clarence, however, thought it not complete, and sang to us. He began singing in the front parlor, three rooms away from Mrs. Lord's— then came to our bed-side and sang loud enough to wake the people sleeping below stairs, improvising words and music, upon which he after- wards laughingly commented. I can memorize but two lines, enough, however, to show the kindly sentiment: "If we only could to-morrow Place your feet beyond all sorrow." The singing awoke Mrs. Lord, and she called to us, de- siring to know what Clarence was doing, and to inquire the hour. Mr. Gardner stepped to the floor to light the gas, but quickly called for help. Hands were upon him from head to feet, and he said he could not move, the room was so full, and he wished that I would light the gas quickly, but the room was peopled too densely .for me to move with rapid- ity. Instantaneously the bed clothing was turned sheet side up, and put as smoothly down as four hands could have placed it. In fact so great was the tumult, that sim- ultaneously the cry went forth, Maud! "Maud! Do come and light the gas." Thus ended our exceedingly interesting and rather exciting spirit entertainment. We found the hour to be 2 A. M. Clarence has promised something even grander when Mrs. Lord shall have regained her health. Having seen so much of Clarence's power, we do not question his ability, to do anything possible to be done, by a unity of forces of the two worlds. A letter just received, says: "Mrs. Lord is recover- ing from a throat trouble. Most wonderful has been the spirit power employed in her restoration/' a knowledge of which will give pleasure to her many, many friends through- out the land. Mary A. Gardner. CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIPB. :JG9 CLARENCE SHOWS HIMSELF TO OLD FRIENDS. Paw-tucket, R. I., No. 47 Harrison St. Mrs. Maud E. Lord and her little daughter passed Christmas week with us. On Christmas night, while a few ids were present, the conversation drifted to materiali- m. some of the party declaring they had lost all faith in that phase of mediumship, as so many pretended med- had been exposed, and it was difficult to secure test conditions. While we were talking Mrs. Lord's arm was controlled, and the spirit wrote: "If you can arrange d cabinet, we will do our part to convince you of the truth of materialization." In the second story we have an alcove, with heavy <>ries, and one window. We darkened the window, turned the lights down, a very little, but could see plainly everything in the rooms. Mrs. Lord called for a rope to tie her hands. Two of the party tied her hands securely be- hind her back. The moment she entered the cabinet, a hand and arm were thrust out. In "the meantime a hand came out at the side, and reaching over the bed, pulled a pillow off onto the floor. Then Mrs. Lord said : "Clarence, it seems very warm in here." Immediately, we heard the window being pulled down at the top. It was a very hard sash to move. The curtain rattled, and the spirit seemed to be very strong. The win- dow is on the back part of the house, the third floor from the ground, and there is no way to reach it from the out- side. Clarence materialized and stood at the opening in front while "Snowdrop" peeped out at the side, giving her hand to all in the circle, six in number. Some very good tests were given from spirit friends in the cabinet, who could not get strength enough to show themselves. Mrs. Lord ! then came out, and we all saw her hands were tied as : securely as when she went in. We untied them and had a ] little rest, after which, she went back again. We handed j the rope to Clarence, who came to the opening. He tied 370 PSYCHIC LIGHT her hands behind her, then secured her feet and tied her to the chair. Then the curtain opened, and a large Indian, Kaolah, lifted her in the chair and carried her out into the room. We had a good job in untying the knots, but finally succeeded. Then we tied her again, and she went into the cabinet, myself and Mr. Read accompanying her. We stood by her side while the spirits untied the rope. While the spirits were untying her we felt spirit hands on our heads and backs and heard voices talking to us. Then we came out, and while Mrs. Lord stood just outside of the curtain, and Mrs. R. was standing in front of her, a large Indian put out his hand over her head and touched Mrs. R. Mrs. Lord is not entranced during materializations. Mrs. A. W. Read. IDENTITY OF SPIRIT. While holding a seance, several mifes from Decatur, Mich., at Mr. Osborne's home, the spirit of a lady came and was described by Mrs. Lord so accurately that the family in- stantly recognized her as a relative, an aunt of Mrs. Os- borne. She gave her name, as well. There was no question about the identity of the spirit, but the family did not know that the woman was dead, as they had received a letter from her only a few days before. At the close of the seance they gave the medium an album and asked her if she could pick out the photograph of the lady. She looked the album through, carefully, and handed it back, saying, 1 ' Her picture is not in this album. ' ' They gave her another album, and, on looking it through, she handed it to Mr. Osborne, saying, "That is her picture— that is the face I saw in the seance." It was the one she had described to them and whose name had been given by the voice in the seance. When she was be- ing described in the seance and when the family persisted in saying she was alive, the voice asserted that she had died, but was not dead. The next morning, Mr. Osborne drove to town and tele- graphed to the aunt's home, in one of the Eastern states, CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 371 i found it was all true as reported in the seance, that had died a few days before. While holding a cabinet seance at Mr. Orvis' home, at Oakfield, Wisconsin, the spirit of a man came and showed himself and gave his name. He said he lived in Western New York near Jamestown; that he knew but one person in 1 the room; that he was a relative of Mrs. Dr. Hooker in Fondulac and that he would like to have the medium tell Mrs. Hooker that he was dead and had come to inform her before the funeral. In a few days Mrs. Hooker received a letter from her sister verifying the fact. While the medium and her husband were temporarily stopping in Kansas City, Mo., she awoke one morning about •i o'clock and awakening her husband, said: ''Your mother has passed away. ' ' They knew she was sick, but at last accounts was not considered dangerously ill. He asked how she knew, and she replied, "I see her standing there at the foot of the bed." Never for an instant doubting the accuracy of the statement, he made every arrangement to leave for New York on the first train. They boarded at the time with Dr. T. A. Kimmell. On going to breakfast that morning, Mrs. Emma J. Kimmell, an honest and most excellent medium, before anything was said, turned to him and said: "I think your mother has passed away." "What makes you think so?" was his reply. She said: "I see the home, and it is so quiet and peaceful." On leaving the breakfast table, on his way to the rail- road ticket office to secure tickets on the first train East, a Western Union messenger gave him a telegram announc- ing her death at six o'clock that morning. A similar incident occurred while the medium and her husband were riding from Los Angeles to Santa Monica, California. A spirit came and said to her : ' ' Father said if you knew I was dead you would bury me as the family have no money." She could not see the spirit, and only heard the words. She replied: "Wiry, of course, I would, if I only knew 72 PSYCHIC LIGHT I who you are and where your body is." Later, she was controlled by the little Indian girl, Leotah, who told her husband that this spirit was her brother, Harry, who had been killed in Jacksonville, Illinois, and that the body would be forwarded to her mother, who lived in Quincy, Illinois, and that he should send the mother the money to pay the funeral expenses. She told him they did not want the medium to know about his death, as she could not go there and she would cry, which would have a disastrous effect upon a throat trouble which she had and which was quite serious at that time. Her husband immediately forwarded the money by telegraph, which the mother received before the body of her son arrived and before she knew he was dead. She did not know it until the body arrived in Quincy and was , q brought to the house. . .1 The medium went on to San Francisco. They had rooms at the Grand Hotel where orders were given to put all her mail in a separate box so that she should not see any letter from Quincy telling of her brother's death. Some two weeks later, while sitting in her room at the hotel, she saw a letter with a black border shoved underneath the door. She pointed to the door and. said: "See that mourning letter shoved under the door," and went to the door to get it. There was no letter there. Her husband knew, instantly, what it meant, and went to the hotel office and said to the clerk: "You have a letter from Quincy, Illinois, for my wife." He looked in the box, got the letter ; and, looking at it, said: "How did you know it was from Quincy? No one has seen it, as it only came a few minutes ago." He was told, but with a far-away look in his eyes, the clerk turned away from the counter. On opening the letter, it was found to be from her mother, who commenced by saying. Did God tell you Harry was dead, that you sent the money? It came before we knew he was dead." CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFU. 373 DRAKE-LORD. Leaving Queen City Park, at the close of the meet- in 1S87, Mrs. Lord, accompanied by a large number I oi' friends attending the meeting of the association, went to the home of Mr. and Mrs. E. IT. Ladd, at Malone, New York, where on the 19th day of September, she was mar- 1 ried to J. S. Drake. Mr. Drake was known in the West and South as a prominent contractor, and hydraulic engineer. He entered Ueburv College, (Vt.), an institution dominated by sbyterian influence, in 1862. A year later he left and I went to Amherst College (Mass.), a more liberal institu- tion. In 1866 he went to Davenport, Iowa, where he studied law, and at the age of twenty-four, was* elected president of the school board of that city, on the liberal ti.-kct opposed to religious teachings in the public schools by the largest vote ever polled at a school election. From 1866 to 1880 he engaged in editorial work in i Iowa and Illinois, where his aggressive pen made his influence felt in the councils of the Democratic party, until the Tilden campaign in 1876. In 1880 he sold his newspaper in Rock Island, Illinois, and turned his attention to manufacturing business and to contracting, building and money-making pursuits. He was the prime mover in the building of the Texas capitol, and the building of waterworks at Austin, Fort Worth, Gainesville, and Dennison, Texas, and in several cities in Kansas, and at this time had retired from business to give his attention to scientific studies, and to looking after in- vestments for Eastern companies. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. G. W. Lewis, of the Episcopal church, in the presence of a select circle jof friends from New York and Boston. Mrs. Ladd's j elegant parlors were beautifully decorated, and after the ; ceremony Mr. Ladd presided at the banquet. Mr. and Mrs. Drake took the train for the far West with the best wishes of all present. They made their home in California, 374 PSYCHIC LIGHT at Los Angeles and San Francisco. They attended the spiritual camp meetings in the East every season for some years and visited nearly all of the leading cities in the North, South and East, where Mrs. Drake held very many seances, which were remarkable for the variety and dis- tinctness of the phenomena. SPIRIT LABOR IN TEXAS. MRS. MAUD LORD-DRAKE IN TEXAS— A TRIBUTE. Mrs. Drake's work in the great State of Texas is best told by one of the prominent and best known men of that state, Colonel N. L. Norton, of Austin, a gentleman whose gracious manners stamped him as of the old school; whose classical knowledge ranked him as a scholar; whose en- gineering skill placed him at head of General Beauregard's staff in the Confederate service, and later, made him com- missioner to build the great capitol building at Austin, and whose simple truth and honesty— character's brightest qual- ities — endeared him to the hearts of every true Texan. Colonel Norton had ample opportunity to investigate and study the physical phenomena produced through Mrs Drake's mediumship, as well as to analyze the intellect- ual, sociological and ethical ideas she presented from the public platform. He was not only well qualified to pass upon these questions, but he had the honesty and courz and that directness of logical deduction which caused to avow his conclusions and his knowledge. In a letter the Light of Truth, in 1894, he said : "The recent visit of Mrs. Drake to Texas marks a era in the history of spiritualism in this latitude, anc scores new triumphs for the cause, wherever she has ap peared, either as platform speaker, or as a demonstrator oJ its manifold phenomena. "Beginning at Fort Worth nearly three months age she has visited most of the important cities of the state Her eloquent appeals and wonderful tests have arousec an interest and enthusiasm from the Red River to tht sea which can neither be hushed by patristic authority o) CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 375 bartisan bigotry. The courteous and liberal and frequent accounts published in the daily papers of North Texas ecting the Christian character and utterances of this distinguished lady, not only evince the general apprecia- tion of those communities, but have actually opened to her the gates of this ancient center of spiritual intolerance. r i lie result is that she and her husband have been our s for about three weeks, during which time our home has been open to the public. So clean and acceptable Las her work, so unanswerable and convincing the testi- mony and proofs of immortality, that of the hundreds who attended her seances and private sittings only a few but were fully satisfied. She spoke in the Board of Trade Hall on Sunday, the 18th of February, and was tendered the larger Representative Hall in the State Cap- itol building by the veteran, Gen. W. P. Hardeman, on the 25th. Both meetings were presided over by Col. S. H. Darden, ex-comptroller of the state, and on both occa- sions overflowing audiences of our most intelligent citi- zens were delighted and pleased beyond measure. Each discourse was followed by descriptions of spirit friends present, every one of which was recognized and acknowl- edged to be true. Her words of counsel and advice to the erring, her earnest pleadings for a purer, truer, cleaner life; her matchless efforts in the line of higher thought and higher education; her startling pictures of the evils of intemperance, the tobacco habit, profanity, and the inharmonies of domestic life, which were prime causes for the transmitting of crime, insanity and im- becility, made a profound impression, and necessarily directed serious reflection upon ideas so new and so grand. "Mrs. Drake has planted, in the genial clime of Texas, a new theology based on law and reason as well as revela- tion. It is true she ignores most of the dogmatisms of old orthodoxy ; it is true she eliminates Gabriel, John Mil- ton and Satan, and does not introduce any of the mys- ticisms of theology. Yet, she never loses sight of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of humanity, or ■I 376 PSYCHIC LIGHT of a happy, realistic and enjoyable life beyond the grave. This theology foretells an intellectual enfranchisement in the future study of the providences of God which shall reduce many of his beneficences to the comprehension of man. No frown or sneer of priest or pope; no decree of synod or moral obliquity of the human heart will, or can ever effect the final result. "The world is moving, and will continue to move, out into clearer light. A few may discredit their own senses and persuade themselves back into the shadows; a few may be biased by the prejudice of file leaders; for some cannot learn, some will not, and others dare not. Each may classify according to his own testimony of himself. "Mrs. Drake does not antagonize the churches, but rather takes them at their word and supplements their faith in immortality with proof positive of the fact; sim- ply asking them to accept the 'God of Love,' in the char- acter of a 'Father of mercies' rather than one of 'ven- geance and wrath.' "In her seances here, spirits frequently came, spoke to their friends shook hands with them and gave tests. "We are, then, to-day, solving for ourselves the prob- lem of our own destiny; each is preparing the transcript of his own doom in the assizes of infinity; no vicarious suffering by another can atone for our sins, no blood, no cross can exempt us from the penalty of our own de- linquencies or transgressions; each soul must confront the record written with his own hand; each must appear in person before the remorseless prosecution of his own con- science. "I may be pardoned for alluding, in this connection, to an incident which occurred here in the presence of a number of well-known persons, namely the treatment of an old wound by Mrs. Drake under direction of her In- dian spirit control, Kaolah, when a highly aromatic cream-colored oil was made and applied, and which, so far as test conditions and watchful eyes could discern, was drawn solely from the atmosphere. This treatment was CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 377 repeated at different times under circumstances preclud- ing any mistake as to method or result. "We know deliquescence, as defined by Webster, is _ni/ed by the authorities as a chemical fact; and, until science can tell the cause of this action and control of natural law and this production of specific results at will, this fact must go unexplained and this one phase of the healing art of mediums, through all ages, must still remain a mystery. Eminent professors and medicos may cry fraud, possibly demand protection, but a fact is .. fact under all circumstances."— Austin, March 31, 1894. SPIRITUAL FACULTIES. Science is averse to dealing with facts and principles that transcend the physical senses. It labors to refer all phenomena to the known laws of matter. Indirectly it has conceded psychic faculties by recognizing a series of mental facts and spirit manifestations, such as mesmerism, hypnotism, psychology, intuition, clairvoyance, clairau- dience and telepathy. It has, however, stopped short of a consideration of all of the facts, whose verity and dis- tinctness stand out more prominently than most of those upon which it has predicated telepathy and its other psychic conclusions. In dealing with these branches of spiritual science it has attempted to eliminate from these manifestations the agency of a disembodied, individualized intelligence; or, in simple language, to eliminate the fact of the co-operation of the disembodied spirit from the results of mesmerism, hypnotism and the other depart- ments of spiritual science as named above. The import- ance of the phenomena, as thus classified, is paramount to all purely physical phenomena, in that the unseen and t process in nature's great laboratory are only per- ceptible through the psychic senses or faculties. It is amusing to note the scramble among scientific leaders to dodge the corpuscles with which radium is bom- barding their materialistic theories. The accidental dis- covery of the X-ray forced them to revise their theories HI 378 PSYCHIC LIGHT regarding ether. Radium. Willemite, Wallastonite, Kiunzite and the other radio-active minerals are pushing them to an acknowledgment of forces that they cannot refer to any of their old theories. A hundred years ago it was discovered that beyond the limit of the extreme violet of the visible spectrum there were certain rays, called the ultra-violet, that are invisible to their physical senses but which are appreciable to the spiritual senses, and can be readily manifested on the photographic plate. And, yet these men coolly dispute spirit photography and other spirit phenomena. Darwin fell short in his conclusions because he could see nothing but "blind force" behind matter. Herbert Spencer saw only "environment" directing this force. Huxley called it the "unknowable force." While Agassiz recognized an "invisible intelligence" directing this force. He could not understand that it is individualized and sentient. Deaf men are not expected to hear, nor blind men to see. Men, devoid of spiritual senses, are not expected to recognize the spiritual, or anything outside of their own physical experience, and it is not expected that they can comprehend spiritual qualities. Fortunately there art many, such as Wallace, a contemporary of Darwin, Crooks Zollner, Yarley, the Edisons, the Teslas, and the Marconi? and hundreds of others, all of whom have dared to think on original lines. To mention the names of all these bole thinkers we would have to go back to the beginning of th( race and would have to invade every department of science art, literature, law and business. Without any hesitation the statement can be made tha" the men and women who have done and are doing th( thinking for the race, who stand at the head of affair* and direct the destinies of nations have developed one o 1 more of their spiritual faculties; and, in nearly all if no in every instance, have been and are spiritualists. His tory has fixed their names in its annals according t< their development of these spiritual faculties and thei" boldness and honesty in the exercise of them. CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 379 Success, which is never an accident, is entirely due to the development of these faculties in harmony with the I infinite force that evolves worlds, paints the violet or iyibrates in organic life. Know the law, it will make you and give you great dominion over your own life and i that of others. It will enable you "to read your title clear I to mansions in the sky." WARNED BY THE SPIRIT. While holding a seance in Chicago, a voice said to a gentleman, "Go home immediately, your house is on fire." The warning was repeated three times before the |entleman started. He arrived there none too soon. At another time when Mrs. Lord was traveling from Denver to Leadville she was strongly impressed to pull the bell cord. The train came to a halt and the conductor rushed through the cars to the engine, but could find no cause for the signal to stop. The train started and again she pulled the bell cord. The conductor again hurried through the train with the same result. Once more she pulled the cord— this time with a short, jerking motion. This time the engineer refused to start the train, but sent a brakeman on ahead with a lantern. Just around a sharp curve, not three hundred yards distant, a large boulder was found to have been loosened and had rolled down into a cut where it impeded further progress. It required some hours to remove it so as to allow the train to pass. Mrs. Lord said she could no more resist the impulse to pull the bell cord than she could resist the effort to breathe. One beautiful morning, in Los Angeles, California, while riding with Mrs. Sanford Johnson, an accomp- lished lady and one of the few genuine mediums for slate writings, their horse was suddenly laid prostrate on the ■and, on the bank of the Los Angeles River which they 'were about to ford. Ordinarily this ford was perfectly ! ttfe. There had been a heavy rain the night before, and | the river had cut away the bank at the ford so as to leave | a hole some six feet deep at the crossing. To all appear- • I 380 PSYCHIC LIGHT ance everything was all right. There lay the horse unin^ jured and looking as foolish as possible. A rancher living near by came to their assistance and told them if they had driven a little further they would have met with serious consequences. Was the horse laboring under psycholog- ical hallucination, or some unconscious cerebral action? In crossing the continent on the Santa Fe route she told her husband something was the matter with the for ward break-beam of the car in which they were riding Without any hesitation he went to the conductor and tolc| him, and asked him to examine it at once. The conductor replied that he guessed it was all right, as the car had beer examined at the last station. He said, "Well I warn yor of danger, Mr. Conductor, and you had better heed whal, I tell you." An examination was made and the trair made less speed until the next station was reached where that car was left, and the passengers were transferred t( another car. The conductor could not understand ho-vs one who was not a railroad man could tell what was th( matter with a car when he and his crew had not dis covered it. He said that the dropping of the break beam might have caused a wreck of the whole -train. Coming home from an evening party in CrippL Creek with several others, she suddenly turned to a gentle man who was walking with his wife just behind her anc carrying his little girl, and said: "Mr. Thumb you mus be very careful, I see an accident very close to you." He stopped and asked her if it looked like a serious accident. "Yes, very serious, but I cannot see what it is It looks very dark about you and you must be very care fill." Two weeks from that night Mr. Thumb was fount dead and bruised at the bottom of the shaft of a mine o: which he was foreman. Did the medium's sub-consciou: mind hold this fact in reserve to be told at the prope: moment ? CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 381 THE IRON HAND. By some occult system of calculation Mrs. Lord's con- have been able to foretell coming events. When these events portended trouble to her,— which could not be averted, she hns always been warned by a dark hand,— an Hand.— typical of the Hand of Fate,— closed with the index finger extended. Tf the finger pointed upward the trouble was not serious ; if it pointed directly at her it was always quite serious. There are hundreds of instances of foretelling these accidents and in many cases the nature of the accident and the particulars are given. It may be questioned if these things can be foreseen — and there are too many authenticated instances on record to doubt that they can be, • veil to the day and hour of their occurrence— why the intelligences do not give warning so that they may be avoided. It may be because so few strive to develop their spiritual faculties so as to be able to receive these warnings. It is a fact that many seek in every way to close every avenue through which these warnings could come to them. Mrs. Lord, in speaking of her own experience, in a communication to the Olive Branch, a California publica- tion, said: "The great truths of Spiritualism are awakening hu- man souls from their fetters and skepticism into actual, sitive life; removing fears, doubts and materialism. "Infidelity is fast receding before this broad, whole- some truth, which is superceding all creeds. The beacon liudrt from heaven's high hills shines upon the world so steadily, and with such intensity that it penetrates the darkness and gloom, conquers the most positive minds, regenerates and makes glad the souls so long bound and shackled with fear and superstition. The terror and mys- of death are vanishing like the morning mists be- fore this light from Zion's hills. "As Spiritualists, we believe that mind is all power- ■I 382 PSYCHIC LIGHT ful, that it is not matter; and that spirit is the controll- ing force of the universe, transforming the human body into the temple of God. We see and know that the visit- ants from the other shore are our loved ones, crowding life's pathway — preparing the inner temple for the com- ing of the twentieth century religion— which will go hand in hand with science — a religion so natural, so human, so reasonable, so practical and so just that all will gladly ac- cept it. i "They are our darlings who have passed on before who are now returning, bearing 'Olive Branches' of peace; and we hail their coming with gladness and thank God day by day for the grand gifts of mediumship. Though it has been my lot to be a torch bearer, holding the light so high, that I could not see myself where to step, and. have fallen and stumbled often by the way; yet have I sacredly guarded the light, so that others might be guided in the right way. "My work is not among Spiritualists altogether, but in the churches as well. I have spoken in Baptist, Metho- dist and Congregational churches, always to full houses and appreciative audiences; so that I feel, I am reaching more people with this God given power, than in days gone by." It may be asked why she could not see where to step, why one so obedient to spirit suggestion should not be warned so as to avoid disaster and accident? The "Iror Hand" always gave warning, but was powerless to averl the disasters that came to her. Are these things like the ebb and flow of the_ tides and the revolution of planets, that they must be; that thej are so written in cosmic law? Her husband, in subjecting these questions to scien tific methods, asked the controls to designate particulai dates and was told to look out for March 13th and 27th The 13th came, but he had forgotten the warning The day brought a desperate robber to her rooms in th( Chelsea Flats on Twenty-third Street. New York, whf CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 383 ■ under the pretense of examining the rooms. She lost some valuable property and further disaster was averted by her telling the thief, in reply to a question, that she , xpected her husband at any moment. On her husband's return she met him on the street and told him of her loss, which she had not discovered until after the thief had left the building. Together they went to police headquarters, where she gave an accurate descrip- of the thief. These guardians of the city, under Inspector Burn's regime, listened indifferently, but could not see "enough in it" for them, so they did nothing. Determined to be on guard for the 27th, her husband did not go to his office that day. Believing he could defeat fate, he never let her out of his sight and hearing until three o'clock in the afternoon. They took lunch with Mrs. Breed and Mrs. Greenough, at the elegant home of Mrs. Breed, on Madison Avenue, where they spent the afternoon. At three o'clock he left her, while he went to the office after his mail, telling them he would take the elevated road and would return in an hour. She promised to await his return. He charged both ladies not to permit her to leave the room under any circumstances, and told them the reason of his request. He had not told his wife that it was the 27th. On his return he found her gone. She thought of some important work she had left and the ladies could not induce her to aw r ait his return. She had taken a bus for Twenty-third Street. That par- ticular omnibus of the hundreds of similar vehicles run- ning on Broadway was run into, a wheel taken off, the upset and the passengers were thrown out and more or less bruised. In walking from Broadway to Sixth Avenue, a thief grabbed her little handbag and badly sprained her thumb. What impelling force drove her to that particular omnibus? From whence the thought that sent her home? Why the lapse of memory that made her forget the promise to remain until her husband returned from the office? Spirit possibilities may be greater out of the body than 384 PSYCHIC LIGHT in it, but in each stage of its existence it must work accordance with fixed laws, therefore blame not, othe for failing to do what you cannot yourself accomplish. Blame not the spirits for your disasters. They,, as well as we, are subject to the fixed and immutable laws of the universe. You are as much of a spirit as they are, or as much of a spirit as you will ever be. If you want power, ability and capabilities, develop avenues of manifestation other than your five so-called physical senses. All of these higher faculties are yours, not by way of grant, but inherently yours. Develop them now,— in this stage of existence, or continue to be " hewers of wood and drawers of water," — remain laborers instead of artists in your avocations. The difference between you and the suc- cessful is only a difference in quality and quantity of thought, — soul essence is the same. The instrument and means of manifestation,— the brain,— is yours to perfect and control. Nature gives you the pattern and hints for its management. See to it that its casement is formed into proper shape before the infant skull is hardened, and that it is not jolted into rude forms; and, when ready for use, do not cook it with alcohol, astringe it with nicotine, neither stimulate or stupefy it with opium or kindred drugs. In all realms, action and re-action are equal. You cannot improve upon nature's methods in its care. Life is what you make it, character is thought formulated into acts and is all there is of you. This instrument— this workshop of infinite and radiant force,— this brain,— with its wonderful subdivisions and its delicate material and marvelous creations of thought repositories is yours,— yours to make or mar. "As you sow so shall you reap." There are no vicarious operations in nature. Evolution's law,— "the survival of the fittest,"— always rules. As you think, so will you be here, and so will you establish your status in the life to come. Think not to cheat the law. Stays, reversals and appeals are not known in nature's great Assizes. . J. S. DRAKE. (See page 373.) CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 385 I CROWN THEE QUEEN. TO MYMKMl'.M. MAID LORD-DRAKE. I come, I come at twilight hour, From my far off home in halcyon hower; I bring bright sprays of living light And crown thee queen, sweetheart, to-night. For Truth's own sake thy gentle life Hath stood, unscathed, through ceaseless strife; For Truth's own sake, unterrified, Thou hast been scourged and crucified. Thy life has been a fragile boat On a tempestuous sea, afloat; That with each ebb and flow of tide, Hast shown but reefs on every side. A soldier in the hottest fray, Of Might against Right in fierce array; With banner rent and crimson dyed, With shot and shell on every side. With ear attuned to mortal's cry, With eye that sees bright "loved ones" nigh, Thou hast brought to weary souls of earth Sweet messages of heavenly birth. The great and learned from all the land Have listened to thy guides' command; Have sought Love's messages divine, Have knelt to worship at thy shrine. The immortal Lincoln, great and good, Before thy guides in awe hath stood; Hath sought the strength from "powers that be," That set a race from bondage free. Brave peerless Grant, our hero true, Who led our valiant "boys in blue;" Our Nation's greatest, truest, best, Has been to thee an honored guest. I saw thee at that beauteous vale Known to the world as "Lilly Dale," Home of the souls from bondage free, Temple of sweetest liberty. I watched thee, mid thy garnered sheaves, Nailed to the cross between two thieves; Traduced, reviled, and earthward led, A plat of thorns upon thy head. !86 PSYCHIC LIGHT With outstretched arms and eyes most fair, Raised oft to Heaven, I heard thy prayer; "Oh, earth-bound souls, look ye and live, They know not what they do; Father, forgive.' At beauteous peerless "Lily Dale," Embowered by woodland, stream and vale; In vernal beauties sweetly dressed With purest lilies on her breast. There, crafty minds with sordid aim, Who sought their selfish ends to gain, Did strike the cruel poisoned dart Of envy, though my medium's heart. A medium formed by God's own hands To bring sweet truths from angel bands; To light the weary souls of earth And guide them to their heavenly birth. Oh, sweet, uprisen, triumphant soul; With love thy life and truth thy goal; What harm can come, what cloud dispel The angel light thou know'st so well? Oh, pilot, true; oh, soldier, brave; The hosts of heaven be thine to save; To touch thy brow, to soothe thy heart, And peace and love and joy impart. I've loved thee long and guarded well The love that mortals may not tell; I've watched thy torn and bruised feet Climb to the heights where grand souls meet. Go forth anew; at they right hand The loved of earth in concourse stand; Speak thou the truths they bring to thee, Till men shall rise from bondage free. Oh, life so pure; oh, heart so true; I come through fields of azure blue; I bring bright pearls of living light And crown thee queen; sweetheart, to-night. — Clarence Wilbourn. New York, Sept. 19th, 1890. The reference made by the control to the envy ol certain parties at Lilly Dale was when the medium vol unteered to hold a meeting for the benefit of one of th( oldest workers in the cause, a lady who had been at th< camp for some time and had not done anything in CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 387 pecuniary way. This old worker was a lady of great ability and a relative of a man noted in the Democratic party before and during the Civil war of 1861-5. The clerk at the hotel on the grounds wrote a notice of the meeting and posted it up in a conspicuous place, only to have a prominent officer of the association slip around, when he thought no one saw him, and tear it down. The unaccountable thing about such transactions is that of sufficient ability to be elected officers in a spirit- ual association, presumably spiritualists, and knowing that spirits and controls can, and do know all that transpires in connection w T ith mediums and their work, will do these surreptitious things. The fundamental principle of spirit- ualism teaches that nothing can be successfully concealed from spirit eyes or psychometric investigation. Such actions belittle the cause and injure an association. The world measures a philosophy by the quality of its advocates and men are measured by their consummated thought. CALL THYSELF "THE EON." (Written in 1892 by one of the medium's dearest friends.) My Dearest Mrs. Drake: You cannot imagine how glad I am to receive your lovely letter. We have just returned from Lake Pleas- ant and Boston,— been absent several days. Had a most delightful trip, such cool weather. How deeply and sin- cerely I appreciate your confidence and love. I am very proud to be the recipient of your friendship, for your heart and spirit are proud, and pure, and clean, and your spirit is now overcoming obstacles and obstructions that you little dream,— you need a little storm,— a little light- ning to clear the sky, that the sun of all your blazing hopes may find fruition. They will— they are being ! realized, and focalized, and materialized in a manner all ; their own way. God bless these hidden springs of light and love and beauty. They are harmonizing your life forces now; gathering in the sheaves that are ready to 388 PSYCHIC LIGHT yield their wheat. Wait beloved mine, thy soul's quick- ening and quivering has just begun. Thrice have I called thee and thou art just awakening from a Rip Van Winkle sleep, not the "spirit's sleep," but the heart's. Lead us onward, Oh, Evangels of truth and light: Lead us out- ward, Oh, divine wisdom! Then these signs shall follow those that believe. Always remember that pure love is the soul's divine magnet. For all souls are but greater, or smaller streams, flowing from the great central, soul of the universe, God is love, and we are of God, and we are members of one another. All true and holy aspirations, all beautiful deeds, thoughtful acts and noble efforts are true worship. I would urge you, just at the present time, to be calm and quiet, with the self-conscious balance that the angels need, and all will work out to your utter sat- isfaction and down to your credit and prosperity. "Sanc- tify them through the truth, ' ' was the beautiful and fervent prayer of Jesus. You see, dearest, our conceptions of truth unfold and develop as the soul expands and approaches the more perfect standard, the "Absolute. " Human life is a never ending struggle, and sometimes, to our tear dimmed eyes, a seeming failure, but not so. God made us. The least as the greatest shall count in the Great beyond for what they are worth. For He knows, and doeth ail things well. What are we? As souls are a portion of the Divine soul, God incarnate, the souls of men and women sustain a similar relation to God that the little streams do to the great ocean — to the living streams of ever- lasting life, to the living fountains that swell the great soul of man. I am positive that life and death are the great economies of Nature. Nature's kingdom admits these general and useful divisions. The strictly animal, the vegetable, then the wonderful mineral world— all are mar- vels of order and beauty. But human and spiritual is the key-stone in the arch of heaven, that is the crowning glory of all. Find it,— this key-note, sister mine. Soul growth is a peculiar process. It is a ripening and unfold- ing of the God within. The purest spiritual nature. The CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 389 s of John proclaims it. Christ of the New Testa- ment taught it. This soul-saving, Christ principle of life unto life. It is the gleaming of the star of Bethlehem. The morning star of the Apocalypse. My dear sister, they ehasteneth us after their own pleasure, but it is so done for our profit and our benefit, that we may be partakers of 1 1 is holiness. Now no chastening for the present seem- eth good to thee, but very grievous and sorrowful, never- theless, after it cometh Tightness unto thee. These hours of agony yieldeth up unto thee the peaceful fruits for which thou didst pray. I have fought a good battle. I have kept my faith, but I have not yet finished my course. My -work must go on. I but rest upon the trust- ing shield of my unyielding armor. "The Lord is my Shepherd." I shall not want. He leadeth me beside still waters. He restoreth me my soul. Yea, though I walk through the valley of th£ shadow of death, I will fear no harm, no evil— for Thou art with me. Thy rod and Thy staff, they shall comfort me. There is a midnight black- ness over thee— now changing into gray. The deepest dark has past— these chasms are being bridged ; shall your golden, glowing hopes expire? Nay, nay. They have just begun to burn, and may you realize that one utter spirit moves all things, moves in the outer and deeper heart of all nature. One soul is the central light round which moves all souls, and all souls revolve to its central light and life. One mighty heart beats in the tiniest flower and throbs alike in the brightest sun. The great sea of life floweth through utter seas of infinite space, and the bright revolv- ing worlds above are moved, each one in their perfect sphere and place, and God, with His presence and heart of love, doth illuminate. How r dare we complain, how can we become small and pusillanimous and little and whin- ing over the snarls and petty affairs of life, so fruitful after all of good? There we shall find long ways illum- ined by truth and love. Nay, each loving thought and deed of pure worth shall be immortalized, and we will find them in 390 PSYCHIC LIGHT all there in the mansions ' ' not builded by hands. ' ' Behold how they gleam, how they shine from afar. Many a life will become o'er framed With a pathway of sorrow and tears; Every trial and truth bravely sustained Will be treasures in the endless years. There you will find your inspired thoughts gathered together like a rapturous dream, wholesome and pure. There will be found the dear friends and relatives gone before, whose going made such sad havoc in our hearts. We shall meet and know them. They return to tell us, "as ye sow on earth, so shall ye reap in the spirit life." Now, why, and for what, do I sit here and wield my pen, penning these thoughts that must astonish you with their stupidity? I seem hemmed in and bound about by invisible forces, nor stop just yet; why should these thoughts, these words, rush on like some restless river? I write like one possessed, fearing, yet daring to go on. I love you, hence I write. Should I with ruthless haste unconsciously tread on sacred ground, and wound thee, pray forgive.' I know how your proud spirit would smart and hurt/ I know thou art asking for signs and symbols by which thou mayest be led unto the hills of everlasting light— the hills of Zion,— weary, doubting heart. Proof takes the place of faith. Reason takes the place of belief and demonstrated science crowns them all. Vainly do men seek for signs. "Why vainly? Because they seek for supernatural evidence. They look for the coming of a material kingdom— an established power that shall reveal their especial religion to be true. Those who search do not search with the eye of the spirit, for signs are here in plenty, to prove the power and the forces that tell us of these heavenly visitations. Some seek signs in the clouds, with the sounding of trumpets and the coming of the temporal kingdom, whose might shall restore the lost power. Some seek for the ^oice, like the Angel Gabriel, and the sound of the trumpet that shall call the dead and living to judgment. Some fanatics are seeking an utter destruction of the earth, by CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 391 the fire of brimstone, when the world shall be destroyed, as in a furnace. Though you know it not, the fire is already abroad in the world. The searching eye of the spirit, that searchest all parts, is near you,— the heavens and the earth are filled with signs. The air is darkened with the changes J.iking place, and that are to come. Of "the poor old man at Rome, whose last hours are nearing and close at hand, should he seek the acquisition of his temporal power again' ' to be renewed unto him, it would be denied him, so great is the law of progress. The old is giving way for the new. "If the German Emperor, for the sustenance of his material power, should seek to build up the temporal power | of the church' ' in his land again, he could not do it, nor , could he get it done. "Rome herself, the most ancient mother of all churches, falls away from the grasp of him, ' ' who would seek only its material and external power. Let me prophesy, another and better Rome shall rise,— shall be erected upon the ashes of this, the decaying Rome. Another church — a grander, better church — shall be born of the true spirit, endowed with the life and breath of the Infinite. A divine aspiration and inspiration shall usurp the place of these old forms and symbols of worship. The last struggle of the worldly and material church is very near at hand. "That form of religion which Jesus rebuked when He denounced the Pharisees and Sadducees is being rebuked now by the same holy spirit that comes to us." I refer to the many actual truths and the potent evidence received by so many intelligent men and women that prove the continuity of life. This continual testimony, — this proof,— is brightening all the darker places of earth. This return of the departed spirit of man is working the leaven so long promised. That portion of the church that denies these manifestations to-day is, in reality, an anti-Christ of the age, while those great and wise ones within the ehurch. who see these signs and read them aright, and hear the voices and know the evidence and admit their presence, are regenerating the church that shall take the place of a mere forma! belief. There are a great many 392 PSYCHIC LIGHT responding to these evidences of spirit return and di proclaim it in their church. So I say, soon, very s( great and still greater will be these evidences, until the earth acknowledge that the signs so long foretold, hi been fulfilled. This pen must stop, for thou shall not wax wroth me, when I would only represent all that is peaceful ai would harmonize and bring out only the purple and gol of your inner nature to Eternity's truth that lies hidden within your soul's deep wells. Yes. Publish your book. Write something and let it be published. Adopt thee a name to write over. Call yourself ''The Eon." Some one says it means eternity and will be quite appropriate to what you write. I wish you every success. The best articles from the pens of others, that I have read upon the subject you have touched with your pen, are inferior to yours. I shall hope to see something soon. Yours lovingly, Josephine. (Jesse Wil bourn.) JOHN C. BUNDY *S TESTIMONY. Very many spiritualists at one time contended that John C. Bundy, the editor of the " Religio-Philosophical Journal, ' ' then published in Chicago, • but now published in San Francisco, did not believe in materialization, because he was so relentless in his condemnation and exposure oi those fraudulently producing this phenomenon. Colonel Bundy was a fearless and conscientious writer, and nevei permitted his paper to endorse a medium without he had the indisputable evidence of the genuineness of his or hei pretentions. The compiler of the facts stated in this book knows, this to be true from being consulted by Colonel Bundy in many of the cases brought against him or threatened for what they would have the public believe was defama tion of their public reputation. Few of these threats evei came to a suit and none were ever successful, showing that his publications were based upon facts. To show thai Col. Bundy was a consistent advocate and indorser of thii CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 393 phenomenon we reproduce from his Journal his experience in Mrs. Lord's seance. ' 'Some years ago, at a seance with Mrs. Maud E. Lord (now Mrs. Drake), in a private house, and while the medium, with her back to me, was conversing with my friend on the opposite side of the circle, there came a pecular light about three feet in front of me and about five feet from the floor ; it was about the size and shape of a large apple; the glow was soft, and different in color from any phosphorescent light I ever saw. Instantly, by the side of this light, there came out of the darkness the face of my son, looking as natural as in life, full of intelli- gence and expression— an eager but pleased expression. The lips moved and I distinctly heard the words, 'see me, papa, see me papa.' The sight lasted but a few seconds. The scene might be compared to that of a little fellow peek- ing around a corner, with the exclamation, "peek-a-boo !" and then springing back out of sight. There was no pos- sibility of illusion or deception, and the experience was not subjective. "With the same medium, in a private house on Mich- igan Avenue, this city, where only invited guests were present and the medium came unattended, I have repeat- edly conversed with 'Frank,' a son of Mr. , in whose house the seances were held. This spirit, 'Frank,' would join in singing, and it was easy to distinguish his voice as well as that of Mrs. Lord, both engaged in rendering the song. It was not uncommon for 'Frank' to sing a stanza after the rest had ceased and while Mrs. Lord would be speaking in low tones to me or some other sitter, de- scribing some spirit she saw. No one who knew 'Frank' in this life could fail to recognize the voice— Mrs. Lord er knew him— and the effect of his solo ending of a song is beyond description. In the same house, with Mrs. Lord as medium, and with no possibility of mistake or deception, forms have repeatedly been seen and recognized ; and with no cabinet, and the medium's hands held by the sitters. 394 PSYCHIC LIGHT "Some years ago, at Lake Pleasant Camp, in Frank- lin County, Mass., I was invited to attend a private seance, which was held for Mrs. Leland Stanford, who came there solely for that purpose, accompanied by Mrs. Newman, wife of Bishop John P. Newman. I sat on one side of Mrs. Stanford, Mrs. Newman being on the other. At that seance, Leland Stanford, Jr., came to his mother ami manifested in a most unmistakable manner. There was a test which she desired him to give, and this she, with much emotion, then and there declared she received. The privacy of the seance forbids my entering into further details. I can only say that the most confirmed skeptic, possessing a rational mind, would have been convinced that the idol of his mother still lived and loved, and was there present and manifesting in his own proper person. " Mr. Bundy did not publish the name of the very excellent people who held the seance where their son "Frank" came and sang so grandly. He might have done so, as they were too broad and liberal and too grand to be ashamed of their belief in so great a truth. This seance was held at Mr. J. H. McVickar's, on Michigan Avenue,— the owner of McVickar's Theatre. Their son "Frank" was an unusually bright and intelligent spirit and "Clarence" used to permit him to conduct the seances. These were with one other exception, probably the only cases where the seances were conducted by any one excepting Clarence. Very many seances were held in Mr. McVickar's beau- tiful home, at which many of the most noted and famous actors were usually present, as well as prominent people of the city. The harmony in that home and the care exer- cised in selecting the members of the seance,— only earnest investigators and honest thinkers being invited, — made the conditions very favorable for the manifestations. In these seances, as in all of the manifold seances of life, results are commensurate with the conditions we make. He who is not in tune with the infinite forces of nature, must not expect favorable results. CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 395 Col. Bundy remained a staunch friend of Mrs. Lord's as long as he lived, and was always delighted to send scientists to her. He always said he could recommend her, knowing that, if she gave them anything, it would be genuine. So convincing were the manifestations at the seance held at Mr. McVickar's residence that twenty years later one of those present, Dr. Edith A. Emmett, whose office, at the date of this work, was 405 Altman building, Kan- I ity. Mo., distinctly remembered the singing and the es of many of those present— among the number, the noted actors, Joe Jefferson and Jno. B. McCullough. COL. BUNDY INTRODUCES AN EMINENT SCIENTIST. Chicago, Sept. 20, 1891. Mr. J. S. and Mrs. Maud Lord Drake, Los Angeles, Cal. Dear Friends: "With great pleasure I introduce to you my friend, the distinguished scientist and psychical researcher, Prof. Elliott Coues, also his delightful and cultured wife, who is equally interested in spiritual things. Dr. Coues has so often heard me relate accounts of the marvelous phenomena I have witnessed in the presence of Mrs. Drake, and extol the great good sense of Mr. Drake, that he is anxious to share with me the pleasure of a closer acquaintance with you both, and if possible, he and Mrs. Coues would dearly love to join with you in a season of communion with the spirit world. You will find them genial, reasonable and considerate friends and investi- gators. Fraternally, Jno C. Bundy. Santa Cruz, California, Oct. 25, 1891. Dear Mrs. Drake : I have the pleasure of enclosing a letter of introduction from a mutual friend, which I had intend- ed and hoped ere now to present in person, but unexpected business makes it doubtful whether I can visit Los Angeles in the near future. Yet I shall strive to do so, as I would ■I 396 PSYCHIC LIGHT not like to miss an opportunity of meeting one so wonder- fully gifted, and Mrs. Coues would be not less gratified to have the same opportunity. Kindly drop me a line, to above written (not the printed), address, letting us know whether you are at home, and believe me, Very truly yours, Elliott Coues. unsolicited testimony. Stockton, Gal., Nov. 9th, 1891. J. S. Drake, Los Angeles. Dear Sir: I desire to congratulate you on the splen- did lecture delivered by Mrs. Drake yesterday afternoon to one of the finest audiences which it has been my pleas- ure to see in Stockton. It was simply grand. It will do more for our cause than all the spiritual lectures that have been delivered here since my residence, three years. Her wonderful tests are simply marvelous and are making con- verts. I trust the good work will continue, I know it will while Mrs. Drake is with us. Very respectfully yours, A. L. Foreman. prediction verified. Los Angeles, Nov. 9, 1891. Mrs. Maud Lord-Drake, Los Angeles, Cal. Dear Madam : I write to inform you that the informa- tion you gave Mrs. Eugenia Crampton, of Milwaukee, Wis., while she was in this city twenty months ago, has been fully verified, much to her regret. You told Mrs. Crampton that her lawyer, who was then attending to some important business for her, would betray her. The lady scouted the idea. But I have just received a letter from her in which she informs me that your prophecy has come true, twenty months after you told CONTINUITY OF LAW AND LIFE. 397 4er. The attorney in question basely sold her out, and she is $-40,000 behind as a result of the betrayal. Allow me to congratulate you on your remarkable gift. Yours truly, Mrs. Kate Colver. mrs. drake psychometrizes for mr. barker, of santa barbara, california. ^anta Barbara, Oct. 1, 1891. Last evening I met Mrs. Maud Lord Drake at the house of a friend. My mother, who was with me, brought a small piece of wood, perhaps two or three inches long, and while in conversation with Mrs. Drake, handed it to her for psychometric reading. After holding it in her hand a moment, Mrs. Drake said: "You have had this piece of wood in your possession a great many years ; thirty, perhaps fifty ; no, not fifty, but more than thirty. It gives me strange sensations. There was more of this wood when you first obtained it. Sev- eral pieces have been taken from it. This has historical associations. There is a tragedy connected with it. Much could be written about it. I believe its history would fill a large book.