CLAUDE'S 
 EDITED BY 
 
 L. KELWAY- B AMBE1 

 
 
 1 SAN DIEQO ,
 
 
 
 CLAUDE'S BOOK
 
 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 . 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 L. KELWAY-BAMBER 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTORY LETTER FROM 
 SIR OLIVER LODGE 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 
 1919
 
 TO 
 
 THE MANY FRIENDS 
 
 AT WHOSE REQUEST IT HAS BEEN PUBLISHED 
 
 "CLAUDE'S BOOK" 
 IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 A LETTER FROM SIR OLIVER LODGE ix 
 
 REPLY TO SIR OLIVER'S LETTER. .... xiii 
 
 INTRODUCTION . xv 
 
 A FEW TESTS xix 
 
 I. CLAUDE'S TALKS . . , . . 1 
 
 "His Death and New Life" .: . . 1 
 
 "Death's Surprises" ." . . . . 9 
 
 " Certain ' Mundane ' Matters " . . . 16 
 
 "The Christ" . . & . * . 25 
 
 "Of Reincarnation" 28 
 
 " Guides, Inspiration, and God " . . . 38 
 
 "A Day's Work" 45 
 
 " Various People, Children, and Affinities " 51 
 
 " The Difficulties of Communication " . 58 
 " The Spheres and the Source of All 
 
 Power" 62 
 
 " Physical Limitations " , . . . 73 
 
 " Man's Connection with God " . 76 
 
 "Man's Beginning" 81 
 
 "The Madonna and a Little Earth- 
 Mother" 85 
 
 "The Aura" 89 
 
 " Astrals and Thought-Forms " . . .93 
 " Religion and Science, Thought, and 
 
 Thoughts" 100 
 
 II. CLAUDE'S LETTERS . . . ... . 105 
 
 vii
 
 A LETTER FROM SIR OLIVER LODGE 
 
 DEAR MRS. KELWAY-BAMBER, 
 
 I have read the type-script of your son's book, 
 and though it may strike people as rather crude I 
 am impressed by the honesty and simplicity and 
 straightforwardness of its material. 
 
 I know that what has been written is a genuine 
 un-edited though necessarily abbreviated record of 
 what has come through a thoroughly honest me- 
 dium, with whom you have had the exceptional pri- 
 vilege of weekly sittings for more than two years; 
 and I have every reason to know, from certain evi- 
 dential messages, that the communicating intelli- 
 gence is really your son's. You do not here quote 
 these evidences, partly for the sake of brevity but 
 chiefly because so much has already been published 
 of the domestic and trivial kind, and you desire, as 
 Claude does, to call attention to what they have to 
 say about the nature of posthumous existence. 
 
 You are, of course, well aware that no sort of 
 infallibility is attributable to such utterances, but 
 they are undoubtedly instructive and philosophers 
 of high standing have urged that statements of this 
 
 ix
 
 x CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 kind ought to be made accessible. They represent 
 at worst a psychological phenomenon; while at best 
 they convey the impressions of an eager new- 
 comer to the other side, who with a gift of vivid 
 statement is anxious to convey to you as much as 
 he has so far learnt about the conditions which at 
 his particular stage of development are encountered 
 there. 
 
 On all recondite problems there are probably as 
 many opinions over there as there are here, and it 
 is unlikely that in dealing with what corresponds 
 to scientific or philosophic fact he has arrived at 
 much of importance; but concerning elementary 
 details of life and conduct his witness agrees in the 
 main with that of others, and the wisest and best 
 informed among critical students of the subject will 
 be able to learn most from consistent statements of 
 this kind. It has been responsibly urged that honest 
 and undoctored records of actual subjective expe- 
 rience will ultimately enable philosophers to system- 
 atise posthumous existence in their general scheme 
 of the universe, and undoubtedly yours is an in- 
 teresting instalment of the necessary raw material ; 
 though at times it goes beyond actual experience 
 and trespasses on the fanciful with too much of 
 what is presumably hearsay and secondhand in-
 
 A LETTER FROM SIR OLIVER LODGE xi 
 
 formation about reincarnation, for instance all 
 which for my part I discount. But in spite of this 
 I sympathise with your desire to publish the mes- 
 sages received from your active and energetic son 
 as a whole, without selection or suppression, and to 
 submit them to the harsh criticism of a rather puz- 
 zled world. 
 
 Yours faithfully, 
 
 OLIVER LODGE
 
 REPLY TO SIR OLIVER'S LETTER 
 
 26th July 1918 
 MY DEAR SIR OLIVER, 
 
 Thank you for your letter. I am very grateful 
 to you for the interest and trouble you have taken 
 in the prefatory matter, and will print your criticism 
 on Claude's Book in the forefront of the volume, if 
 you have no objection. I make no claim for the 
 book, except that it is his, for it is the " honest and 
 undoctored " record of what he has told me. 
 
 Claude professes to have no special privilege of 
 any kind, and says hundreds of people who have 
 " passed over " could tell their relatives all he has 
 told me, but lack the opportunity. 
 With kind regards, 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 L. KELWAY-BAMBER 
 
 Xlll
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 THERE was no intention originally of publishing 
 these "talks," and it must be understood that the 
 terms used in this little book are the " nearest equi- 
 valent " to the conditions, or states, or feelings 
 Claude wishes to explain or describe to his mother, 
 and cannot always be perfectly technically accurate, 
 because for certain things in the spirit-world we 
 have no exact expression, as they are beyond our 
 normal experience. 
 
 Many things have been omitted: all references, 
 for instance, to his family, his friends, current 
 ^vents, and so forth. 
 
 Up to the time he was killed, Claude's mother was 
 entirely sceptical as to the possibility of communica- 
 tion between the living and the so-called " dead," 
 and it was only through her deep grief at his pre- 
 mature loss that she decided to investigate, in the 
 faint hope that there might at least be some definite 
 comfort in it. She spent three months in reading 
 and studying the subject, then joined the " London 
 Spiritualist Alliance Ltd." (now at 6 Queen Square, 
 
 xv -
 
 xvi CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 Southampton Row), and attended their lectures and 
 meetings, which proved most instructive and useful, 
 eventually going to several mediums for private 
 sittings. She was very fortunate in getting many 
 evidential tests, a few of which are recorded in the 
 preliminary portion of this book. 
 
 These communications, which were written down 
 on each occasion, have all been received through 
 " Feda " in a series of regular sittings during the 
 past two years. She is the " spirit-control " of Mrs. 
 Osborne Leonard, to whom Claude's mother is in- 
 debted for many very happy hours. ^ 
 
 Claude was one of the merriest, happiest boys, 
 full of irrepressible spirits and extraordinary vital- 
 ity; he had a very keen sense of humor, and a well- 
 balanced mind. 
 
 He always expressed himself very well, and ex- 
 plained things very clearly. He could go from 
 grave to gay with extraordinary rapidity, and often 
 introduced a " quip," or an amusing sentence, or a 
 joke, in 'the middle of a solemn conversation, and 
 this is still characteristic of him; these have been 
 generally omitted, as people who did not know him 
 might misunderstand and think he was not in earn- 
 est, but they are very evidential as so typical of the 
 boy.
 
 INTRODUCTION xvii 
 
 It may be understood that when he says " I 
 think," or " It may be," he is recording his own 
 impressions and ideas; when he states anything defi- 
 nitely as a fact it is something he has been taught 
 or told by experienced guides and teachers. 
 
 Claude joined the Army immediately war began 
 in August 1914, without waiting for a commission, 
 which he obtained in October. He subsequently 
 transferred to the Flying Corps and was trained as 
 a pilot. He was killed in mid-air, fighting two Ger- 
 man aeroplanes, near Courtrai, Flanders, in Novem- 
 ber, 1915, three months after he went to the Front; 
 his machine came down in the enemy lines. A few 
 of his letters are printed for purposes of compari- 
 son with the " talks.' 1
 
 A FEW TESTS 
 
 ON 29th February 1916 I attended a public seance 
 at the rooms of the "Alliance." Mrs. Brittain 
 was the clairvoyante. There were a number of 
 people present. I sat in the middle of the room; 
 no one knew me there. I had never seen her before, 
 as she had just come from the North. Going home 
 by " Tube " I found myself standing next to Mrs. 
 Brittain in the lift. Though I did not know her 
 I spoke to her, making some remark about the meet- 
 ing we had just left. She replied, and then said, 
 " Excuse me, but are you a medium?" I said I was 
 not, and asked what made her think it was possible. 
 Her reply was, " Because you have a spirit boy with 
 you; he is so clear and so strong it is difficult to 
 realize you can't see him!" I asked for a descrip- 
 tion, and she said, " He is tall, slight, and fair ; blue 
 eyes, smooth hair, well brushed off his forehead, 
 which is well developed; he is very young and 
 boyish-looking; clear, smooth skin; a very happy, 
 merry disposition." This is correct, and was the 
 first description I received of him, though I often 
 
 xix
 
 xx CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 felt he was with me. On Tuesday, I4th March, 
 that is, a fortnight later, I went to Mrs. Osborne 
 Leonard for my first private sitting. I had ar- 
 ranged to visit her by calling and fixing a time, but 
 gave her no name, nor address, nor particulars of 
 any kind ; she is a trance medium, and it was evident 
 that her little spirit-control " Feda " was in touch 
 with the boy. Curiously enough my boy did not 
 show himself in his uniform. " Feda " described 
 him ; then said, " He has a grey suit on, and he tells 
 me to tell you he is wearing it to prove to you he 
 was with you yesterday when you were searching 
 everywhere for that suit." This was a fact ; I had 
 looked all over the house for it the day before, in- 
 tending to give it to a boy I knew. " He shows me 
 a medal and says they have given him here what 
 he did not get on earth." (He had been recom- 
 mended for a decoration, but was killed a few days 
 later. ) " Feda " then said, " I don't know why 
 he had a medal if he wasn't a soldier. He did not 
 pass over in illness. I get a rushing feeling as if 
 I were falling; my head is numb, and my throat is 
 wrong." These were evidently the boy's death- 
 conditions, and as the subject was very painful for 
 us both I asked no questions about it. " Feda " 
 then proceeded to tell me Claude had been with me
 
 A FEW TESTS xxi 
 
 to a place " where there were mountains and a river 
 which made a noise rushing over stones." He said 
 he had been for a walk with me when I climbed 
 a stile into a wood. This was correct; I had just 
 returned from Scotland. He asked if I had received 
 some photos of him and his friends " ragging " out- 
 side his tent. I had not received them then, but 
 they came later, and included one in which a friend 
 was taken with his head hanging down and his feet 
 in the air, supported by companions. 
 
 On Monday, loth April, I attended another public 
 seance at the " Alliance " rooms. The medium on 
 this occasion was a Mr. Von Bourg. He was an 
 absolute stranger to me. I had never seen him 
 before. The meeting was crowded. After giving 
 a few other descriptions, he spoke to me and de- 
 scribed some spirit- friends he said he could see with 
 me ; and proceeded, " There is a young airman, very 
 happy-looking, only been passed over a few months. 
 He is tall and slight, fair smooth skin, fair hair, 
 brushed well back, blue eyes, clear skin do you 
 know him?" I said, "Yes, he is my son." He 
 then described a boy called " George," whom I 
 knew, giving his name. He also talked of some one 
 called " John," and said he was a very beautiful 
 spirit, looked about twenty, and said he was a near
 
 xxii CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 relative of mine. I could not place him, and thought 
 it was a mistake, and determined to ask Claude 
 about it at my next private sitting, which happened 
 to be next day with Mrs. Osborne Leonard. He 
 was full of interest and excitement, and exclaimed, 
 " Why, he's your brother, Mum !" I was very much 
 surprised and said, "Why, my brother died when 
 he was four years old!" and Claude said (through 
 "Feda"), "But people grow up here; they don't 
 remain babies!" Even then I could not appreciate 
 the idea, and said, " But he would have been forty 
 now, and the medium said he looks twenty !" " So 
 he does," was the reply; " and he never will look old, 
 for here one grows up but has no material body 
 to age." This I think a wonderful test, for I was 
 only five years old when that little brother died, and 
 had not thought of him for years, and then only as 
 a child. At a sitting with Mrs. Osborne Leonard 
 on 3Oth May " Feda " began the sitting by saying, 
 " Claude is here ; he is laughing very much ; he looks 
 so funny, ' Feda ' did not know him at first. He 
 has very dirty things on, all covered with grease, 
 and oil, and black. 'Feda' does not like Claude 
 in those clothes ! He says you will know them." I 
 did ; they were the " overalls " he wore at the work- 
 shops where he was learning Mechanical Engineer-
 
 A FEW TESTS xxiii 
 
 ing. He was noted there for the amount of dirt he 
 managed to get off the machinery on to himself! 
 it was quite a family joke. The other men always 
 said they pitied the woman who washed his clothes. 
 
 At a sitting on nth November Claude said, 
 among other things about his spirit-body, " It's just 
 the same as the other, down to the wart on my 
 finger." This was good, as on his last leave we tried 
 to persuade him to see the doctor about an unsightly 
 wart that had grown on one hand. 
 
 I could go on almost indefinitely with various 
 tests, and will conclude with one of another kind. 
 At a sitting in May in 1917 with " Feda," Claude 
 brought the spirit of a friend who, he said, had 
 only passed over a very few days before. A week 
 later this man was reported " missing " in the offi- 
 cial list in the papers ; no further news was received 
 of him. All dates and particulars were noted at the 
 time for future verification. 
 
 L. KELWAY-BAMBER
 
 i. CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 HIS DEATH AND NEW LIFE 
 
 I WAS rather depressed as I went out to my machine 
 that last November morning, I don't know why. I 
 certainly had no presentiment of evil; but, once 
 started, my spirits rose as usual, and I felt quite 
 cheery and singularly free from nervousness. 
 
 Many men here have since told me this rather 
 curious fact, that on the occasion of their last fight, 
 whether in the air or in the trenches, nervousness 
 left them. I don't know whether the spirit instinc- 
 tively knows its fate and braces itself to meet it, or 
 if one's spirit-friends are able to make their presence 
 and comfort felt at that supreme crisis, but probably 
 it was the only occasion on which I was absolutely 
 free of all fear. 
 
 When we were attacked by two enemy aeroplanes 
 my feeling was one of acute irritation, for we were 
 on our way back after finishing some work over the 
 enemy lines. I felt harassed, too, as I climbed, and 
 turned, and dived here and there to attack. My 
 observer said something, and I remember putting the 
 nose of the machine down to get below one of our 
 
 i
 
 2 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 opponents, when I felt a terrible blow on my head, 
 a sensation of dizziness and falling, and then noth- 
 ing more. 
 
 It may have been a fortnight or more later (we 
 have no account of " time " here, so I cannot be 
 sure) that I became conscious again. I felt dizzy 
 and stupid but was not in pain, and on collecting 
 my thoughts and looking round, found myself in 
 bed in an unknown room. 
 
 Before thought took definite form I felt I had been 
 passing through space. My body seemed to have be- 
 come light. I wondered i f I was in hospital, and i f any- 
 one had written to tell you I was wounded. Nurses 
 moved about the room; if I attempted to talk or ask 
 questions a doctor came to my side and, putting his 
 hand on my head, soothed me to silence again. 
 
 Several more days must have passed. I rested, 
 dozing and peaceful ; it never seemed to get dark. 
 
 On one occasion when the kindly doctor came to 
 my bedside I asked him where I was, and if my 
 people knew of my whereabouts. He did not soothe 
 me to sleep, as usual, but sat down beside me. 
 
 " I want to have a talk with you and explain 
 things," he said. " You are not on the earth now; 
 you are no longer on the Physical plane."
 
 HIS DEATH AND NEW LIFE 3 
 
 I didn't understand, and asked, " Surely I am 
 in a private hospital ? " 
 
 " No," he replied ; " you have passed out of the 
 physical body and are in the state you used to know 
 as having died." 
 
 I could not believe him. " Great Scot ! You 
 don't mean I'm dead ! " 
 
 " We will use that term simply as it's the only 
 one you understand just now," he said. " You are 
 alive and are starting the fuller and more beautiful 
 life;" but the feeling I had was one of sudden loss 
 and loneliness and almost desperation. 
 
 " Is my mother here, or have my father or brother 
 come? If they are not here I don't want to stay!" 
 
 " You will have to stay," was the reply ; " and if 
 you will only be patient you will find life interesting 
 and beautiful." 
 
 " It won't be interesting, it won't even be bear- 
 able if they are not here," I exclaimed indignantly. 
 
 " Can I go to my mother ? I must see her and 
 know she can't see me before I can believe what you 
 say is true. I feel as if it were all a dream." 
 
 Then a gentleman came to speak to me who I was 
 told was my grandfather, but as I had never seen 
 him before it did not convince me, and I felt as if 
 I was living altogether in a dream.
 
 4 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 Others came who claimed to be relatives and 
 friends, including several ladies who kissed me, but 
 as I knew none of them I remained inconsolable, and 
 my friend the doctor promised, as soon as it was 
 suitable, I should be sent to see you, that the truth 
 might be proved to me 
 
 A few days later I was told I was to be taken 
 home to see you. 
 
 I can't remember the exact details of that even- 
 ing, as I was shaken with conflicting emotions which 
 chased through me joy, and fear, and hope, and 
 grief, and impatience, and almost despair of the un- 
 known future into which I had plunged without you. 
 
 I passed with the two friends who guided me 
 through the Astral plane to the earth. As we came 
 nearer, the atmosphere became thicker and misty, 
 and the houses and everything seemed indistinct, 
 the view disappeared, and I found myself standing 
 in your room at the foot of your bed. 
 
 A terrible feeling of despair filled my heart, for 
 I knew what I had been told was true : I was indeed 
 " dead." 
 
 You were sitting up in bed in an agony of grief, 
 the tears streaming down your face, repeating my 
 name over and over again, and calling me, and saw 
 me not.
 
 5 
 
 I had expected a cry of joy, but it never came. 
 I bent forward and called as loudly as I could. 
 " Mummy, I'm here ; can't you see or hear me ? " 
 
 You made no reply. I went to your side and put 
 my arms round you, and though you were not con- 
 scious of my presence I seemed to be able to soothe 
 you, for you became calmer and lay down. 
 
 I felt as if I were fainting, and had no will to 
 resist when my guides took me away back to the 
 hospital. 
 
 I felt, however, that your love was mine still; 
 I could feel its power, I understood it and realized 
 it better than ever before. It was a spiritual caress, 
 and I felt it through every fibre of my body, and was 
 full of thankfulness. I knew, too, that in all my life 
 your love had never failed me, and that, even now, 
 you would find a way, if it were possible, to bridge 
 the gulf between us you would never let me " drop 
 out." 
 
 When I realized this, I knew the worst was over, 
 and the bitterness of death had passed. . . . 
 Worn by my emotions, I slept and woke later in 
 quite a different mood. 
 
 I found a young man seated at my bedside who 
 said, " Well, old chap, we've pulled through." He 
 has since become a friend of mine; his name is
 
 6 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 "Joe" (you did not know him personally, but you 
 know of him, and know whom I mean). 
 \ A sense of adventure now filled my mind; I felt 
 full of health and well-being, and was longing to 
 explore this new country. 
 
 I jumped out of bed and dressed, and, escorted by 
 Joe, my grandfather, and quite a number of other 
 relatives and friends, went to a home that was ready 
 for me. 
 
 This consisted of a bedroom and a jolly little 
 sitting-room, a " den," with a piano, a sofa, and 
 an arm-chair in it, in. a house where there was 
 similar accommodation for other men. It stands in 
 a delightful garden. 
 
 I made up my mind to be happy and settle down 
 in my new surroundings as soon as I could. I asked 
 one of my guides if it was a " thought- world " we 
 were in, though the ground felt quite substantial to 
 my feet ; and he said, " It is more real and perm- 
 anent than the one you have left.'*/ 1 bent down and 
 poked my finger in the soil and found it left a hole, 
 and the soil stuck under my nail. . . . 
 
 We went for a walk through beautiful woods and 
 fields; the turf was springy, the air soft and clear, 
 and soft sunshine over everything. 
 
 We then returned to the house and explored the
 
 HIS DEATH AND NEW LIFE 7 
 
 grounds. There is a beautiful fountain with spark- 
 ling water in it. I made a cup of my hand and 
 drank a little, but did not need it, and asked my 
 companion what would happen if I drank too much. 
 " You will not drink too much, that would be fool- 
 ish; and if you were foolish you would not be here, 
 as each man earns his environment by his conduct. 
 By the working of the natural law you gravitate 
 to the place for which you are suited ; what is within 
 you draws you automatically." 
 
 I bathed in a glorious lake the water of which 
 was slightly scented. It ran off my body as I 
 stepped out, almost as if it were running off marble 
 or alabaster. . . . 
 
 I became accustomed to my new life and found 
 innumerable friends, both new and old; all were 
 ready and anxious to help me in every way. 
 V I asked to be taken to see you again, Mummy, but 
 was told it was inadvisable for a little while, as your 
 mind was undergoing great changes, and you were 
 learning many psychic truths. I was told that I 
 was much blessed in my mother, for your grief had 
 roused all the spiritual in you, and my passing 
 would not divide but unite us more closely than ever 
 before. And indeed it has proved so, for you know 
 that, after the war, had I come through it, I should
 
 8 CLAUDE'S BOOK , 
 
 probably have taken an appointment abroad and not 
 been able to come home for years ; whereas as it is 
 I come home and see you every day and you feel 
 my presence, and know you have only to concentrate 
 your thoughts on me, and your desire for my pres- 
 ence, and the thought, " somehow and somewhere," 
 will reach me and I will come. \/
 
 DEATH'S SURPRISES 
 
 I DID not think of death often, Mum, even when I 
 faced it every day, for it all seemed so indefinite. 
 
 I quite hoped if I did " go out," in consideration 
 of the fact that I had tried to do my bit, I should 
 find myself in Heaven; but the prospect, honestly, 
 as usually presented, did not appeal to me. You 
 know I didn't care very much for music, and the 
 idea of sitting on a throne clad in a white robe play- 
 ing a harp sounded terribly boring, so I trusted to 
 luck and left it at that. 
 
 I know now the whole mistake lies in looking 
 upon death as the end of " activity " (with a re- 
 newal at some indefinite date), whereas as a matter 
 of fact it is an incident only, though a very im- 
 portant one, in a continuous life. Your feelings, 
 your memory, your love, your interests and ambi- 
 tions remain; all you have left behind (and even 
 that one cannot at first realize) is the physical body, 
 which proves to be merely the covering of the 
 spiritual to enable it to function in a material world. 
 
 Man truly is a spirit and has a body, not vice 
 versa. 
 
 9
 
 io CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 y 
 I have told you that I, in common with hundreds 
 
 of other men here, go down to the battlefields to 
 help to bring away the souls of those who are pass- 
 ing out of their bodies. 
 
 We are suited for the work, having ourselves en- 
 dured the horrors of war. Spirits unused to it can- 
 not bear the terrible sights and sounds. 
 
 We bring them away so that they may return 
 to consciousness far from their mutilated physical 
 bodies, and oh, Mum, I feel quite tired sometimes 
 of explaining to men that they are " dead ! " 
 
 They wake up feeling so much the same; some 
 go about for days, and even months, believing they 
 are dreaming. 
 
 " Death works no miracle," and you wake up 
 here the same personality exactly that left the earth- 
 plane. Your individuality is intact, and your 
 " spirit-body " a replica of the one you have left, 
 down to small details even deformities remain, 
 though I am told they lessen and disappear in time. 
 
 This is what makes it so difficult to realize one 
 has crossed the " great divide." If, when I woke 
 to life here, I had found myself floating about the 
 clouds clad in muslin and with a pair of wings, I 
 should have realized the fact sooner. Incidentally, 
 too, friends on earth would believe the stories of
 
 DEATH'S SURPRISES n 
 
 those who have " passed on " more readily in a 
 setting of the kind I have described. What they 
 find difficult to understand apparently is the very 
 little change between life in the physical body and 
 in the spiritual. 
 
 People with narrow, set, and orthodox beliefs are 
 puzzled by the reality, the " ordinaryliness " (if I 
 may coin a word), of the spirit-world. If it were 
 described to them as " flashes of light," " mauve 
 and sapphire clouds," " golden rivers," etc., it would 
 more readily approximate with their preconceived 
 ideas. They require " mystery " about this future 
 life. 
 
 I often laugh when I hear them complain they 
 can't believe in " solid " things like houses and 
 gardens in the spirit-world. 
 
 These same folk have always believed readily 
 enough in " solid " thrones, harps, crowns, etc., the 
 perquisites of "the saved," which things obviously 
 must be supported on other equally substantial sub- 
 stances the thrones and harps on and in material 
 floors and hands, and the crowns on very solid 
 heads, I imagine! 
 
 y The first time I was sent down to help our enemies 
 I objected, but was told to remember they were 
 fighting for what they believed to be right and in
 
 12 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 defense of their country too. I saw rather an in- 
 teresting meeting between an Englishman and a 
 German who had killed each other. They met face 
 to face and looked at each other steadily. The 
 Englishman held out his hand. His erstwhile en- 
 emy, taking it, said, " What d fools we have 
 
 been! " . . . As a matter of fact, I am not doing 
 so much battlefield work as many of the others, and 
 only go when there has been severe fighting and 
 there is a great deal to do. Sometimes we are all 
 needed; I am being trained to be a teacher. Yes, 
 darling, I know you are surprised ; but, you remem- 
 ber I used to be good at explaining things ; besides, 
 you know too I was always rather " bossy ! " v 
 
 VThese are not a bit like the lessons I hated in the 
 old days. I am studying science, which I always 
 liked, really and actually the science of life, the 
 cause of things, and something of the marvellous 
 universe and of the natural laws which govern 
 everything. There is nothing miraculous about 
 them in fact, there is no such thing as a " miracle." 
 What seems so is merely a novel use of some exist- 
 ing natural law. Nor can anything be " super- 
 natural ;" it may be " super-normal." Man can 
 create nothing; all new discoveries are merely fur- 
 ther knowledge of how to use latent force or power J'
 
 DEATH'S SURPRISES 13 
 
 For instance, the vibrations harnessed by Marconi's 
 ingenuity in " wireless " telegraphy have always 
 existed; he learned how to utilize them. So, too, 
 have the properties of radium, though it took years 
 of scientific research to discover them. 
 
 I realize enough, even in this short time, to know 
 that the more one learns the more truly humble one 
 becomes, because it is only then possible to know of 
 the vast untouched fields of knowledge yet to be 
 explored, and it is only very ignorant people in these 
 days who say anything is " impossible " because it 
 happens to be beyond their particular understanding. 
 
 As to the theory that spiritual truths would have 
 been " revealed " to us if we had been intended to 
 know them, that is an argument that might be 
 equally well applied to material matters. Neither 
 railways, telegraphs, telephones, microscopes, 
 X-rays, nor any other modern invention has been 
 " revealed " to mankind without hard work; and if 
 these " temporal things " have required so much 
 effort, why should any one imagine that the spiritual 
 things, which, being eternal, are so infinitely more 
 valuable, should be given to man without any trouble 
 on his part? 
 
 After all, spiritual things can only be spiritually 
 discerned. It is only striving for truth that makes
 
 H CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 the spirit grow; to lull it into a state of lethargy 
 does not help it to develop. 
 
 I tell you what it is: unless the Church wakes 
 up and moves with the times it will cease to exist 
 in the future. The war has given it a great opport- 
 unity. 
 
 Men will no longer be content with platitudes 
 and unreasoning belief. You must satisfy their 
 minds as well as their hearts, which is possible now 
 that science and religion are not antagonistic. 
 
 Men cannot now be frightened with tales of hell 
 fire. They have learned that many roads lead to 
 God. There is no " right of way " which is a per- 
 quisite of any particular form of religion. The 
 only one that will influence men at all is one that 
 is full of common sense, that makes everyday 
 life worth living, and death no longer a dreaded 
 visitor but even a friend, for indeed it may be 
 that. > 
 
 This knowledge would not make earth life of 
 less but of greater value, for we should then realize 
 and appreciate the fact that we are in the world to 
 be trained, to develop character, and learn self- 
 discipline. It would teach us to bear trials bravely 
 and with understanding, that now seem uncalled for 
 and senseless. We should know that this earth life
 
 DEATH'S SURPRISES 15 
 
 is only the " school-time " and preparation of the 
 fuller life that follows. 
 
 My duty and my business in future is to teach 
 as I am being taught, for every one works here as 
 he is best fitted. In helping others in some way or 
 other, many help those they love and have left on 
 earth, if they can get through to people there as 
 I can to you; but for those whose relatives, either 
 through ignorance, fear, disbelief, or religious big- 
 otry, do not desire to get into touch with them, 
 there is work to be done by helping less developed 
 spirits on the lower spheres. 
 
 / Do you know, I often bring men home to see 
 you who are not in touch with their own people, to 
 prove to them that some at least on earth realize 
 we are still " living." 
 
 I can't understand the people who say that " spirit 
 return is possible, but wrong," because only 
 " devils " or " evil spirits " can communicate. 
 Surely God would not reserve this His great com- 
 fort and gift, the assurance of continued conscious 
 existence, solely for the wicked? V
 
 CERTAIN "MUNDANE" MATTERS 
 
 A. AM living on the third Sphere or Plane; we call 
 it " Summerland," and some people " Paradise." 
 
 To turn to more mundane matters, darling, you 
 want to know how I eat? Well, my body absorbs 
 all the nourishment it requires from the atmosphere, 
 like the leaves of trees do. Y 
 
 Even the air round the earth contains in different 
 degrees and solutions most of the elements that 
 form our physical bodies there. 
 
 I don't actually sleep but I do sometimes feel 
 tired, and then I lie down and rest, and refresh 
 myself by bathing in the lake. 
 
 Nothing can kill the soul, not even man himself; 
 though sometimes, if before the final separation of 
 body and soul the illness has been very severe, there 
 has been brain disease, or the end has been violent 
 and sudden, the shock to the soul is very great, and 
 it may remain in a state of unconsciousness for 
 many days or weeks, till it is recovered sufficiently 
 to awake in its new conditions. You see, therefore, 
 a suicide, far from escaping trouble, only goes from 
 
 16
 
 CERTAIN "MUNDANE" MATTERS 17 
 
 one form of misery to another; he cannot annihilate 
 himself and pass to nothingness. 
 
 How do I get about ? I walk very often, at other 
 times if necessary I generate sufficient power, which 
 I concentrate by effort of will within my body, to 
 take me anywhere with the speed of thought. Our 
 bodies are so light and so strong, it is easy to jump 
 the highest wall with the slightest effort; the at- 
 mosphere has not the same resisting power to our 
 bodies as it has to yours. 
 
 How I shall laugh, Mum, when you come here 
 and I see you jumping ten- foot walls ! 
 
 Not that we do jump them, as it is not necessary, 
 and we are particularly taught never to waste force 
 or energy?) 
 
 ^When I first came over, I longed for you to be 
 here, but I was told that your earth work was not 
 accomplished, and I must be patient there are so 
 many wonderful things I want to show you and to 
 tell you about. 
 
 One reason why we have found it so easy to get 
 into touch with each other is because we are both 
 psychic. Of course we neither of us realized it 
 before, but I can quite clearly understand and see it 
 now, and I see other things so differently too in the 
 light of all the knowledge I have gained. .
 
 i8 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 Music, and flowers, and things I should have 
 thought it rather " sentimental " to admire before, 
 I thoroughly appreciate now. 
 
 In the spirit-world there is a stronger affinity 
 between the spirit and beautiful things than be- 
 tween any physical connection on the earth-plane, 
 perhaps because it is a more perfect expression of 
 God. 
 
 There are beautiful birds and exquisite flowers, 
 and many pleasures. I go boating and golfing, but 
 one must not take life in any form, so I no longer 
 fish. 
 
 You want to know about our houses ? Well, they 
 are built by bricklayers and designed by architects 
 
 as they would be on earth. // 
 
 / 
 
 \In the spirit-world all work is equally honor- 
 able, and each man does that for which he is most 
 fitted; if he is best at manual employment, he real- 
 izes his limitations and has no foolish desire to ap- 
 pear other than he is, as all work is done under 
 beautiful conditions. All are happy and free. 
 
 On earth certain forms of labor are looked down 
 
 upon, because those who perform them are ill paid 
 
 and live under distressful conditions; here all good 
 
 work is recognized as valuable. 
 
 v It is curious on looking at the world to see how
 
 CERTAIN " MUNDANE " MATTERS 19 
 
 many people there have chosen the wrong voca- 
 tion. 
 
 In the spiritual socialism that will be law in my 
 Arcadia on earth some day, both the theoretical 
 and practical men will realize their responsibilities 
 to each other and will live to right wrong. 
 
 The master will not say, " How little ? " but 
 " How much can I afford to pay this man, to make 
 his life agreeable, and not merely bearable? " And 
 the man will do his best honorably to give honest 
 and interested service in return as his right and 
 share in the bargain. V 
 
 (\ have told you before how certain things are 
 made here, just as they are on earth, largely of 
 " gases." You see, vapors and " gases " from life- 
 less matter are always rising from the earth. You 
 can smell it in decaying things, such as flowers, 
 wood, leaves, etc. These in disintegrating disperse 
 quite a lot of matter into the air, which is deposited 
 in the different spheres round the earth. 
 
 The coarser on the lowest sphere, the finer rising 
 to the higher, a sort of chemical action, or a kind 
 of gravitation (acting in a different way to that on 
 earth) attracts each density of gas to its suitable en- 
 vironment another example of the great law of 
 the universe which we do not yet understand.
 
 20 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 Out of this deposit, concentrated into solids by 
 chemical action, all substances here are made, such 
 as bricks for the houses, material for clothes, etc. 
 
 You want to know about clothes? Well, you 
 can wear just what you like here ; there are no fash- 
 ions to follow or appearances to keep up. Though 
 a very mixed array is the consequence it does not 
 seem incongruous, for here you dress to express 
 yourself and not to impress your neighbors. 
 
 I dress as I did with you, but some people wear 
 white robes because they think when out of the 
 mortal body it is the correct thing to do. If I chose 
 to wear a tunic and sandals, or a " Beefeater's " 
 get-up, no one would laugh and jeer; they would 
 realize it made me happy, and that is reason 
 enough. 
 
 Mummy, dear, I quite understand how difficult 
 all I tell you about my life here is for you to realize. 
 I am quite sure in your place I should never believe 
 it, but it's true all the same ! 
 
 The more one studies science the more possible 
 it seems to become. After all, the difficulty is in 
 believing in things so real, so strong, so substantial, 
 and yet to most people invisible. Yet, when you 
 come to think of it, on earth there are many of the 
 most " solid " things made of gases and elements,
 
 CERTAIN " MUNDANE " MATTERS 21 
 
 which in their pure state are invisible. A large 
 proportion of our physical bodies, rocks (and 
 some of the earth itself), for instance, are made 
 of oxygen, which is impalpable as well as in- 
 visible. 
 
 Undeveloped people are those who live only 
 through the senses and have not cultivated the in- 
 tellect nor the spirit. To them what is impalpable 
 seems " impossible." 
 
 Some day we'll write some fairy tales of science 
 together about the wonderful further knowledge to 
 be gained here it's all so extraordinarily interest- 
 ing. 
 
 We might write a novel together too, and call it 
 "The Growth of a Soul," and trace its evolution 
 through various incarnations. You and I have 
 been through many together (in different con- 
 nections, relationships, and sexes) ; that's why 
 we are so particularly in affinity with one 
 another. 
 
 I'm not going to tell you you were " Boadicea," 
 " Cleopatra," " Helen of Troy," or any other fa- 
 mous or infamous female of past history, as I some- 
 times hear spirit-wags telling other women, for 
 they make fun sometimes at the expense of those 
 on earth if they are vain or gullible.
 
 22 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 Will you be shocked, Mum, if I tell you what I 
 have recently done? (It sounds rather like the 
 "Chamber of Horrors" at Madame Tussaud's.) 
 I went down to the Astral plane, searched for and 
 made friends with a murderer! He was a man 
 who some years ago paid the extreme penalty for 
 killing his wife. 
 
 I did not seek him for curiosity, that would 
 have been unjustifiable, but because I was trying 
 to trace the cause which led to such a tragedy, and 
 to find the " kink " in the man's character which 
 made the deed to him seem excusable. I found X. 
 a very decent chap, fond of animals and children, 
 a quiet, inoffensive little fellow. He tells me he 
 was driven positively mad by his wife; contempt 
 and loathing ended in hate of her. 
 
 She seems to have been an odious woman; he 
 said she was coarse, unfaithful, drank to excess, and 
 " nagged " without ceasing, till he absolutely became 
 desperate. For about a year after he came over 
 here he had a terrible time, because he was sullen 
 and full of hate and rage; then he began to calm 
 down and to see, however evil his plight had been, 
 he had no right to take her life. As soon as the 
 desire for improvement came, friends were ready to 
 help him, and he is already much happier, and
 
 CERTAIN " MUNDANE " MATTERS 23 
 
 working among those who come over full of misery 
 and bitterness as he himself did. 
 
 He never mentioned these unpleasant things 
 about his wife at the trial, as he might have done 
 in order to try and extenuate matters against him- 
 self. Poor devil, he was more sinned against than 
 sinning, I think! 
 
 . . . You do not delay my progress, as was 
 suggested to you, by keeping in touch with me. 
 People on earth will not realize that you cannot 
 " summon " spirits any more than you can compel 
 men on earth to come and see you if they do not 
 wish to do so. 
 
 In the spirit-world people choose what is best 
 for their own evolution. 
 
 vlf mortals desire the companionship of spirit- 
 friends merely for purposes of material gain, it does 
 not of course do either of them much good; but 
 when love is the motive and mutual help the desire, 
 it is good for both, for helping others is the way 
 of progress. 
 
 There is a wedge now being driven in to open 
 the door between the two worlds of matter and 
 spirit, and I love to feel that I may be a tiny splinter 
 of that wedge. 
 
 This is an excellent opportunity of letting a little
 
 24 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 light and hope through which will help mankind, for 
 I have explained to you the creative power of 
 thought. At present the earth is enveloped in what 
 looks like a thick grey mist caused by the thoughts 
 of cruelty, rage, grief, and pain that are continually 
 outpouring.
 
 THE CHRIST 
 
 I KNOW why you are all thinking especially of me 
 to-day, darling. It's an anniversary, my birthday 
 into the spirit-world, I mean. I am not going to 
 call it the day I was " killed." 
 
 I do truly feel hundreds of years older some- 
 times. I seem to have learnt so much since I came 
 over, and yet at other times I sit at your feet and 
 rest my head against your knee, and it seems as if 
 I were a little boy again, and all these things had 
 never happened ! 
 
 Yes, I have seen Christ once, Mummy, and, re- 
 membering how awe-inspiring the occasion was, 
 cannot help wondering how any one could imagine 
 at death they would go straight to His kingdom, 
 when most of us have done so little to earn that 
 beatitude! 
 
 I was told I should be allowed to see Him, but 
 honestly at the time I did not realize or appreciate 
 the fact. I thought it would probably mean going 
 to a very high church with an elaborate ritual of 
 pomp and ceremony. When the appointed time 
 came, my guides provided me with a plain white 
 
 25
 
 26 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 robe to wear (you cannot attend the court of an 
 earthly king without suitable garments), and we 
 passed through connecting shafts to the Christ- 
 sphere. 
 
 My general impression was that of brightness, 
 almost dazzling; the air scintillated like diamonds 
 it almost crackled, it was so full of electricity; 
 my feet had not a very firm grip of the ground. 
 
 There were bands and processions of people, 
 white-robed, all going in one direction. They 
 moved with uplifted faces, singing beautiful music. 
 
 We joined the rear of one group, and were al- 
 most swept along on a tide of intense feeling. 
 
 We came to a building without any walls. It 
 consisted of a roof, which seemed to be composed 
 of interwoven rays of light of different colors, sup- 
 ported by pillars which looked as if they were made 
 of mother-of-pearl. 
 
 There were crowds of people all round, and raised 
 above all others stood one glowing, radiant figure. 
 I knew at once it was Christ, and instinctively fell 
 on my knees (though He is not like any picture I 
 have ever seen). I was so conscious, of Him that 
 I felt as if He was bending over me. His eyes 
 seemed to penetrate me, and produce a wonderful 
 glow. I felt uplifted in a culminating thrill of
 
 THE CHRIST 27 
 
 ecstasy. He was speaking, but I could not hear the 
 words. 
 
 As I knelt there, many events of my life passed in 
 review through my mind. I could visualize them 
 as pictures. My memory seemed stored with rec- 
 ords, not alone of the life I had just left, but of 
 others in the far-away past; and as the various 
 scenes presented themselves I seemed to realize the 
 different lessons I had learned through these expe- 
 riences, and to know that all the events of my life 
 had been leading up to this.
 
 OF REINCARNATION 
 
 You want to know how it is I now believe in rein- 
 carnation, and say that other spirits you find do 
 not? Well, darling, we are still very far from 
 ultimate truth, and people here vary in their opin- 
 ions and ideas just as they did on earth. We are 
 still learning, Mum; we have only gone a little 
 farther along the road of experience, and have by 
 no means reached the end of the journey. Yes, 
 there is a Heaven, but it is a long way off and has 
 yet to be earned; even our very bodies, which are 
 still fairly material, will have to become more re- 
 fined before we are fitted for that. 
 
 I am told by friends here, that souls are some- 
 times reborn, reincarnated, in order to gain further 
 experience, learn more life-lessons, or work out past 
 sins and failings. Each earth life leaves its mark 
 on character, and its lessons are for ever imprinted 
 on the subconscious mind, which registers every- 
 thing that has ever happened to the soul from the 
 beginning., This, they say, explains much of the 
 pain and trouble you see on earth. The sufferers 
 are learning lessons which are necessary for their 
 
 38
 
 OF REINCARNATION 29 
 
 souls' growth, for man was put into the world to 
 develop the spiritual. They may have lived before, 
 and neglected to learn them, or they may be new 
 souls going through these experiences in one or 
 other of the stages of their existence; it is all on 
 the road of their evolution. 
 
 Families, friends, sections of nations in the re- 
 volving cycle of time reincarnate together very 
 often, as they require the same experiences. 
 
 When you begin to think seriously about the sub- 
 ject and look and study the people about you, you 
 will be able to recognize that some people are old 
 souls and others new. 
 
 Past experiences, though not consciously remem- 
 bered, tone down crudities of character. Old souls 
 have a sympathy, a strength, taught of pain and 
 discipline, and are therefore considerate for others. 
 When one knows many of the exceptionally gifted 
 young men who have passed over in this war, one 
 realizes they may have been old souls who gained 
 their experience in the past and returned to earth 
 for a glorious culmination in this supreme sacrifice. 
 
 I have often heard people ask why God permits 
 wickedness. If it were impossible for man to sin, 
 he would no longer be a free agent but an autom- 
 aton. As man is on earth to learn his lesson and
 
 30 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 develop his soul, he must have his mettle proved. 
 There would be no good without evil. Contrasts 
 exist and are necessary; just as day and night, wet 
 and fine, heat and cold, pleasure and pain, are only 
 realized and appreciated through their opposites. 
 
 Old souls have learnt also to keep in touch with 
 and draw from the " God-force " the actual Source 
 of Life. Psychically developed people are especially 
 in contact with it. 
 
 The soul has a separate consciousness. Many 
 people's souls leave their bodies in sleep habitually, 
 or under anaesthetics, and travel to various places; 
 some, on awaking, are able to remember the scenes 
 they have visited and this memory can be culti- 
 vated. So you see the difference between sleep and 
 death for some people is not very great after all, 
 nor the passing painful nor difficult. It only means 
 on one occasion they leave their bodies to return no 
 more. 
 
 With reference to the discussion in the paper on 
 " reincarnation," you say some women think it al- 
 most a desecration to believe their babies have lived 
 before and been perhaps even " harlots," " thieves," 
 or other undesirable persons". This sounds as if they 
 presupposed themselves to be new souls. 
 
 I am told, whatever those babies may have been
 
 OF REINCARNATION 31 
 
 in previous lives (if they have lived on earth be- 
 fore), their mothers have earned those particular 
 babies. 
 
 I mean, souls don't return promiscuously to any 
 body, in any family. There is a sequence in their 
 lives that necessitates their coming to one particular 
 environment. It is part of the natural law, and 
 works automatically. 
 
 Their mothers may have owed them something 
 a debt of love they failed to pay in a previous 
 existence, or a trust they betrayed. 
 
 If the baby had been a " harlot " in the past, 
 perhaps the mother in those days was the lover who 
 first betrayed her, or even a vain, cruel, careless, 
 or neglectful mother before, who failed in her duty 
 to her child, and was the cause of her downfall. 
 
 Perhaps that child or another is sent to her that 
 she may " make good ;" it may be her opportunity. 
 People should always do a kindness when they can, 
 even if it is not appreciated or acknowledged, for 
 it may be a chance of repaying a debt. 
 
 Souls do not come in the same relationship to 
 each other every time, and not even as the same 
 sex sometimes. A well-developed soul is one that 
 has functioned in both sexes, and so has gained ex- 
 perience.
 
 32 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 To look at it another way, it is also equally open 
 to every woman to believe (or hope) if she likes 
 that she and her baby did such good work when 
 they were in the world before, that they have come 
 back to continue it, for this happens too sometimes. 
 
 Here we are continually taught that the highest 
 service is to help one another, and this is the best 
 way for some people to do it. 
 Y I promised I would tell you all I had learnt of 
 our previous lives together, yours and mine. It is 
 not very much. 
 
 My guides showed me a number of pictures in a 
 series of visions illustrating these lives. V 
 
 There must have been many more than I know 
 anything of, for in the first we were versed in many 
 of the occult mysteries and rites of ancient Egypt. 
 I saw that country thousands of years ago. There 
 were wonderful buildings with huge pillars, and the 
 dazzling sunshine and heat of the East. 
 
 We were brother and sister, I was told, and were 
 attached to the court of the Pharaoh, a sort of 
 " lady and gentleman in waiting." We also had a 
 great deal to do with the temple, and the priests, and 
 religious services. It was probably in this connec- 
 tion we were at the court. 
 
 I know we spent much time walking in the temple
 
 OF REINCARNATION 33 
 
 processions, and I saw you a tall woman, with a 
 good figure and an upright carriage, in a purple 
 robe and overdress trimmed with gold, and a sort 
 of cloak of some skin falling at your back, your 
 forehead bound low down with a broad fillet of gold 
 with hieroglyphics on it. You wore bracelets of 
 gold and other ornaments in the way of earrings 
 and necklaces. (You looked jolly fine, Mum!) 
 
 s I used to wear on these occasions a sort of tunic 
 trimmed with gold, and sandals laced up to the knee 
 with the same precious metal. I was quite pleased 
 with my appearance, till I discovered that I also 
 wore an enormous wig that stuck out a foot round 
 my head in every direction. It amused me very 
 much. I must have looked a perfect sight! But 
 if that was the fashion at the time, I have no doubt 
 I was very pleased with the effect then. I don't 
 know what happened, or our subsequent history, on 
 that occasion. 
 
 In the next scene we were walking along a dusty 
 Eastern road in Palestine. The country on either 
 side looked sun-baked, and rough, and bare, with 
 a few thorny bushes growing here and there. This 
 time you were a young matron about twenty-two, 
 and were carrying your baby. You were wearing 
 a blue robe embroidered round the edge, and a
 
 34 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 kind of veil over your head. (You had the face 
 of a Madonna.) You were the wife of a notary, a 
 man known for his goodness and benevolence. 
 
 I was about nineteen, a girl too, your bosom 
 friend, and in the scene I describe was walking be- 
 side you with my arm round your waist. We were 
 Christians, and it was in the early days of Christ- 
 ianity. 
 
 That time I was shown the end of the life story. 
 Some terrible plague, or epidemic, broke out in 
 Jerusalem, and you and I used to go among the sick 
 poor carrying food and medicine. Later, I saw you 
 in a comatose condition at the point of dissolution, 
 while I knelt beside you, stricken too, and praying 
 that death should not divide us. What happened to 
 your husband and the baby I don't know. 
 
 The next scene was, I should imagine, somewhere 
 in the Near East (possibly in the Balkans). This 
 time we were both young men, brothers. We wore 
 picturesque garments (rather like a musical 
 comedy), and seemed to be leaders of a band of 
 fighters, and we appeared to enjoy our rough, wild 
 life thoroughly. What happened to us later I don't 
 know. Yes! it does seem as if we had not "ad- 
 vanced " much that time. Perhaps we required to 
 be more strenuous, and so were given the opport-
 
 35 
 unity of cultivating what is commonly called " grit !" 
 
 There are new souls, too, always coming into the 
 world, and I am told much of the sin in it is due to 
 ignorance and inexperience; so, too, is the narrow- 
 mindedness. 
 
 When anyone is sure they know everything, or 
 think they understand the limitations of nature, or 
 are bigoted in religious matters, you can believe it 
 is that they have very little soul-experience, for old 
 souls learn the tremendous power of God, and 
 realize how infinitesimal is man. 
 
 I have never seen a spirit yet who has seen God, 
 and yet here you know you live because you are just 
 a particle from the Divine. . . . 
 
 You say it hurt you to hear that poor woman 
 who spoke through the other medium the other 
 day; she seemed so terribly unhappy and uncom- 
 fortable. Well, poor woman, she was so unready to 
 pass out of the world. She was killed suddenly 
 through an accident while in perfect health. 
 
 She was a very worldly woman, and could not 
 believe it when she came to herself and found she 
 had left her mortal body. She had no real belief 
 in " life after death," and felt she was in a dream 
 and a very unhappy one, for, alas for herself, she 
 had in her life on earth laughed her husband out
 
 36 CLAUDE'S BOOK . 
 
 of all belief in it too ! And she realized the difficulty 
 she would have in undoing this mistake. 
 
 As you make the conditions of your own life after 
 death by your state of spiritual development, you 
 can imagine some people, whose spiritual faculties 
 have dwindled till they have become atrophied, 
 almost a negligible quantity, in fact, can see no 
 beauty here; in fact, they live under unpleasant 
 conditions. 
 
 Some people are earth-bound. All their interests 
 are there, and they return for that contact with men 
 and the old conditions they crave. 
 
 I know it is difficult to understand why discarnate 
 souls should still hanker after material and some- 
 times gross pleasures. It is because while on earth 
 their senses ruled them, and stamped and coarsened 
 the soul, instead of the spirit refining and purifying 
 the body. 
 
 As I have already told you, for some time after 
 people come here they continue to feel as if they 
 were still in a mortal body. You can realize this in 
 a small way from what is, alas, a common occurrence 
 nowadays. Any soldier who has had the misfortune 
 to lose a limb will tell you he can feel pain, discom- 
 fort, or irritation in it for days after it has been 
 amputated.
 
 OF REINCARNATION 37 
 
 In this way spirits continue for some time after 
 they have left them to " feel " their bodies after 
 death, and you know from experience now that the 
 first time a spirit returns through a medium, the 
 death condition is generally reproduced or indicated.
 
 GUIDES, INSPIRATION, AND GOD 
 
 You say you have heard so much of " Spirit- 
 guides " to people on earth, and want to know who 
 appoints these, and why? "Guardian Angels" I 
 suppose they used to be called. Well, no one ap- 
 points them; they are spirit-friends attracted by 
 something in the individual which appeals to them, 
 and they try to influence and help those in whom 
 they take an interest. / 
 
 They may be earth-friends or relatives who hav- 
 ing passed on still keep the bond of affection that 
 held them while here, though they are often strang- 
 ers attracted by mutual interests, who try literally 
 to inspire those on earth. This does not mean in 
 religious matters only; it applies to art, science, 
 engineering, medicine, or any other subject. Can't 
 you imagine a musician here, revelling in beautiful 
 harmonies, trying to instil into the mind of an 
 earthly musician some of the glorious sound which 
 gives him such joy, and which he knows will benefit 
 and uplift those still in the " bonds of the flesh " ? 
 or an artist surrounded by this exquisite beauty try- 
 ing to inspire the mind of a friend, so that he may 
 
 38
 
 GUIDES, INSPIRATION, AND GOD 39 
 
 see with truer, clearer vision the hidden wonders 
 that surround him? or a man of science or an 
 engineer trying to impress the mind of a friend on 
 earth with a new discovery or invention ? 
 ( > These things are being done every day, and the 
 " flashes of genius " which illumine the world occa- 
 sionally are the result of the influence of spirit- 
 minds on the minds of those still in the world. 
 When men realize it is possible to get help from these 
 sources they will do great things, for to those who 
 have passed on, the sources of information, though 
 not limitless, are vast in comparison with those 
 on earthy The secrets of Atlantis and ancient Egypt 
 are obtainable if they care to work to learn them. 
 
 I have told you here, too, " like attracts like." 
 If a human being is spiritually and intellectually 
 undeveloped, and lives only in the senses, the spirit- 
 friends he attracts are of a very undesirable order. 
 They are the souls of those who had no wish to live 
 anything but a life of animal gratification, and still 
 hang about the world and their old haunts contin- 
 ually, trying to get a kind of second-hand indirect 
 pleasure from the doings of the people who now 
 follow in their footsteps, j 
 
 Having told you something of " Guides," I will 
 tell you now of some charming Elementals, and
 
 40 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 I'll give you an epigram, Mum. " Everything in 
 animal life and the flower and vegetable kingdom in 
 its highest development takes a certain resemblance 
 to humanity, because the human entity is the highest 
 expression of life demonstrating in a physical way 
 on the earth-plane.^ fror instance, you know when 
 a dog or horse is loved and cared for by anyone it 
 is said the animal becomes " almost human " in its 
 intelligence, ^here are nature thought- forms, some 
 of which are made by the emanations, the " excess 
 life," as it were, from the flowers. These are the 
 so-called " Fairies," which are not, as we supposed 
 when we outgrew childhood, merely a charming 
 figment of imagination, but actually exist and were 
 seen in the beginning by those who lived in touch 
 with nature and had unspoiled eyes to see the won- 
 ders and beauties of God's world. These creatures 
 have intelligence without being intellectual, and are 
 almost human in form. You want to know why 
 they take this form? Well, all life must take some 
 
 form when it emanates, and why not this?' After 
 
 %. 
 
 all, there is no resemblance between the tiny seed 
 you sow in the ground and the beautiful flower that 
 springs from it eventually The thought-forms of 
 flowers are the spirit side of their life on the physical 
 plane, and they are stronger than human thought-
 
 GUIDES, INSPIRATION, AND GOD 41 
 
 forms, for the life that goes to them is a steady con- 
 tinuous stream, while that supplied by human 
 thought varies and fluctuates. 
 
 The flowers here have no spirit- forms, for they 
 are themselves spirits. 
 
 /I know you sometimes find it very difficult to 
 follow my explanations, and I find it difficult to 
 explain, for our experiences are limited, and lan- 
 guage is limited and is inadequate to express spirit- 
 ual things. It is like trying to explain the glories 
 of a splendid sunset to a man who was born blind. 
 kAiter all, we can only judge things by past im- 
 pressions, and when these are lacking we can only 
 believe, if we are willing to accept them, through 
 " faith the evidence of things unseen.'' . . . 
 
 You want to know what I feel about Religion 
 now, and if my ideas on reincarnation have changed 
 my ideas of Christ? Well, darling, I will answer 
 the last question first. 
 
 I believe that Christ is a great and wonderful 
 personality, a great Spirit in the form of a man, as 
 near as possible to God, because the God- force 
 plays so strongly in and through Him, a fit instru- 
 ment and receiver of that power. 
 
 There was a specific reason why Christ was sent. 
 God specially directed Him; the consciousness of
 
 42 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 God within Him was very acute. He knew He was 
 the instrument and child of God. t > 
 
 He was sent to be man's example for all time, to 
 teach how pure, and holy, and simple, and dignified, 
 and useful, and beautiful life could be without any 
 of the material aids of money or social position, 
 and to prove the individual continuity of life after 
 death. But He did not come to save men from the 
 results of their sins. It is a comfortable theory, 
 but not true. 
 
 Here we learn that every man has to earn his 
 own salvation. Sin is a breaking of God's laws, and 
 carries its own inviolable consequences, which must 
 be worked out by each individual personally. You 
 might as well set the law of gravity in motion and 
 expect it not to act. 
 
 Christ's followers claimed His death as a sacri- 
 fice for sin, for they naturally looked upon God 
 only as the people of their day knew Him that is, 
 as a tyrannical Jehovah whose altars ran with the 
 blood of sacrificed animals. 
 
 As man evolves he gets nearer spiritual truth, 
 and we know here that this is infinitely greater and 
 more wonderful than anything ever yet told. One 
 realizes the presentation of God usually taught on 
 earth is utterly incorrect. He is not a glorified
 
 GUIDES, INSPIRATION, AND GOD 43 
 
 mortal sitting on a golden throne, not a vengeful 
 nor jealous God not, in a way, even a " personal " 
 God to be propitiated to grant special gifts to a 
 favored few. He is not finite, but infinite; but, 
 because it is so difficult to realize so vast a fact, we 
 feel on earth we want to locate and limit our idea of 
 God to bring it within our understanding. 
 
 God is everywhere and in everything : in the trees, 
 in the flowers, in the air, and in the sunshine. God 
 is all good, all beauty, all purity. 
 
 God is not limited, nor existing only in the seven 
 spheres, He is also in the space beyond, for He fills 
 all space. 
 
 The whole Universe is of God; the Planets re- 
 volve from the power of God within them, touched 
 and supported by power without,/ 
 ^God is creative, from Him all life springs. Ele- 
 mental man is a manifestation of God-power 
 through form, which in the lower creation is mani- 
 fest in a different way, though he can deteriorate to 
 less than they. 
 
 All life as projected into human bodies is there- 
 fore a " bit of God," and we are in consequence 
 truly His sons and by that fact immortal. 
 
 God works automatically. Those who live har- 
 moniously with His laws can draw great power;
 
 44 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 they find too, in time, that soul satisfaction which 
 brings the peace that passes all understanding. 
 
 I don't only know this, but feel actually con- 
 scious of it : if you are a ray of the sun you cannot 
 mistake yourself for a tallow candle. This is why 
 it is untrue and incorrect to teach men they are 
 " miserable sinners " by birth. The body is not the 
 man; his spirit is of God. However ignorant of 
 the fact a man may be, his soul away in its dim con- 
 sciousness knows this, and often in an emergency 
 the " spark divine " asserts itself, and the man 
 rises to the great occasion. It has been proved many 
 times in this war. /-' 
 
 God's laws are so steady, so regular, so business- 
 like, they can operate to great advantage in commer- 
 cialism or organization of any kind on earth, pro- 
 vided these things are brought into line with them. 
 
 ^/^
 
 A DAY'S WORK 
 
 f You want me to give you details of a typical 
 day of my life? You know there is no time here 
 that is only a limitation of the earth-plane so we 
 will make it a day by your calculations, and suppose 
 we begin at midnight, for that is when I come for 
 you. 
 
 You know, for I have often told you, how when 
 your body sleeps your soul comes over here and 
 we spend hours together, you have sometimes dimly 
 remembered things that happened as in a dream. 
 Thousands of people come over in this way every 
 night, and are more awake and alive while here than 
 on earth in their mortal bodies. To do this, people 
 must be spiritually evolved to a certain degree. 
 Well, we go together to various places; sometimes 
 we work on the third sphere among those who have 
 just wakened in the spirit-world, and are bewildered, 
 and puzzled, and strange in their new surroundings. 
 We explain to them where they are and bring their 
 friends to see them. 
 
 I know it seems curious to you that you should 
 be able to do this even better than I, as you are still 
 
 45
 
 46 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 in a mortal body ; but that is the very reason. You 
 see, you are the " half-way house," as it were, for 
 along that little cord that connects your soul and 
 body are travelling thoughts and desires of the 
 world in which you live. You are therefore more 
 in touch with the earth and bring its atmosphere 
 with you, and so feel more familiar to one who has 
 just come over. You are still controlled and limited 
 by your earth-body while connected with it. 
 
 Night before last we were helping a boy whom 
 we could not make realize his new condition, when 
 his mother came, to whom he had been devoted 
 (she had been in the spirit- world two years). He 
 burst into tears and said, " I know now I am dream- 
 ing, for my mother is dead and I shall never see her 
 again." His mother put her arms round him and 
 kissed him, and we left them together. 
 
 The meetings and reconciliations here are wonder- 
 ful and touching; you and I often hug each other 
 for very joy and sympathy. . . . 
 
 On other occasions I take you to see one of the 
 beautiful scenes in the higher spheres which I have 
 described to you. We have been together to the 
 " Blue " country, where there are a series of won- 
 derful mountains which impress one by their curi-
 
 A DAY'S WORK 47 
 
 ously calm grandeur : fno rugged rocks, nor jagged 
 outlines; the heights are majestic but smooth and 
 rounded, and surround one on every side. As far 
 as eye can see the color everywhere is blue of vary- 
 ing shades, from almost grey on the mountain-tops 
 to purple in the valleys, and every intermediate shade 
 wonderfully blended in between/; ^, 
 /Color has wonderful properties. In this case 
 each color is confined to a certain particular locality. 
 For a few miles away everything is varied in the 
 normal manner. There is also a " Pink " country 
 and a " Yellow " one. You get these effects on 
 earth sometimes for a few minutes in the glow of a 
 
 sunset.^ 
 i/ 
 Blue is a spiritual color, pink a love condition, 
 
 and yellow an intellectual one. 
 
 These color-effects help spirits, not by giving, 
 but by stimulating the perception of those particular 
 qualities. As you know, here in the " Summerland " 
 spirits are still learning and progressing, but are 
 very far from perfection. 
 
 Many come over here well developed mentally 
 but lacking in spirituality; others are very spiritual 
 but require that mental quality which is necessary 
 if their spirituality is to be more than a divine 
 ecstasy; while sqme have neglected to cultivate
 
 48 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 along with these good gifts enough of that love 
 and charity which is essential to those who are will- 
 ing to bear each other's burdens and so fulfill that 
 law of Christ, which is the true way of progress. 
 
 People on earth are now recognizing the proper- 
 ties of color and are beginning to use it in a small 
 way.'* It is useful for the cure of certain diseases, 
 for it has a marked effect on mental conditions, and, 
 as you know, various colored lights cause certain 
 curious changes in plants and flowers. 
 
 When it is time for you to return I take you back 
 and then go home for a rest. I bathe in the lake, 
 and, refreshed, go either to earth again to help on 
 the battlefield, or if I am not required for that I go 
 on with my study of psychic laws. 
 
 After this, it would now be your afternoon, I 
 have some recreation and amuse myself; later I go 
 to look up friends on earth. On other days I listen 
 to music, which is beautiful here beyond description : 
 it thrills one. You know I used not to care very 
 much about it on earth before I came over. 
 
 Tell Daddy when he plays the piano in the even- 
 ings I see his music in " colors " all the time. 
 Nearly all major keys are like primary colors : 
 f C " and " G " specially look red and yellow, " E " 
 not so decidedly; " D," ." F," and "A " are second-
 
 A DAY'S WORK 49 
 
 ary colors such as mauve and green and certain 
 shades of violet. 
 
 " B " is white. The sharps and flats are varieties 
 of these; they tinge of blended colors. The colors 
 vary in relation to the other notes played; for in- 
 stance, " C " sharp, though actually the same note 
 on the piano, is different when used as " D " flat. 
 
 Occasionally I talk to most interesting people, 
 men who were noted on earth and left their mark 
 there as great statesmen, scholars, poets, musicians, 
 teachers, etc. There, of course, I should never 
 have known them, differences of age, wealth, posi- 
 tion, etc., would have made it impossible, but 
 here there are no artificial barriers, and a com- 
 munity of interest is a sufficient bond of friend- 
 ship. 
 
 You say you are surprised some of the men I 
 mentioned have not progressed higher. Well, they 
 could have done had they so desired, but many are 
 anxious to help those on earth still, to see work and 
 ideas through that they themselves originated; oth- 
 ers have remained to help their friends through this 
 world crisis. 
 
 When you get beyond the third sphere contact 
 becomes more difficult, and it is only when you be- 
 gin to feel " impersonal " and have no direct inter-
 
 50 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 est left in people on the earth-plane that you desire 
 to go on. 
 
 Eventually these spirits will probably progress 
 more quickly through this work, for as they give 
 help to those below it is also given to them, accord- 
 ing to their needs, by higher spirits. 
 
 The law of compensation works in this way even 
 in your world, for there, if love is given unselfishly, 
 generously, and wisely, it will be returned in greater 
 measure by spirits in the higher life by thought and 
 influence which will materialize according to the 
 requirements of the earth-plane. 
 
 Meanwhile, life is very happy here and full of 
 interest; even the grief and pain of those you love 
 and have left behind does not affect one in the old 
 way, for one can see beyond the trouble of the day 
 and know it is only for a little while.
 
 VARIOUS PEOPLE, CHILDREN, AND 
 AFFINITIES 
 
 WHAT makes this place so interesting is the variety 
 of the people in it, just as the world is interesting 
 for the same reason. It would be very dull if 
 human beings were all exactly of the same stereo- 
 typed pattern physically and mentally. I think that 
 is what made the old idea of the conventional 
 Heaven so uninviting ; either you would have had to 
 lose all individuality and become an " angel to pat- 
 tern," so as to be suitable to the environment, or else 
 one would have to lose one's sense of humor; for 
 can't you imagine the idea of one's friends, large 
 and small, old and young, fat and thin, some with 
 some knowledge of music, others with none at all, 
 sitting, clad in white, playing harps? 
 
 As a matter of fact, when we do eventually get 
 to that Heaven which I believe exists, we probably 
 shall have become " stereotyped " to a certain extent, 
 for we shall be so refined as to have become " all 
 spirit," and so nearer God. Probably our joy then 
 may be in music, for it is, I suppose, the most 
 exquisite sense, and even here it has held me thrilled 
 
 si
 
 52 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 and spellbound ; and you know I am not musical, and 
 could rarely rise to anything higher than a catchy, 
 popular melody, or " chopsticks," to which you so 
 much objected ! v 
 
 I suppose these ideas in the first place started 
 through the visions of saints who did not realize 
 they were seeing states " afar off," and thought 
 they were conditions soon after death. . . . 
 
 One amusing man I have met here is quite a 
 " crank " in his way. He says Ihe thinks, after 
 having passed through the seven spheres of which 
 we have heard, that spirits must pass on still 
 farther, as otherwise even these places would be 
 overcrowded eventually: he thinks they may go to 
 the moon I He has no grounds for this theory ; it is, 
 he acknowledges, purely his own idea ! If reincarna- 
 tion is a fact, as I believe it is, then of course there 
 would be no overcrowding, for so large a number of 
 spirits are constantly returning for further earth 
 experience. In any case, as it is probably several 
 thousands of years away, there will be plenty of 
 opportunity to study it farther on ! 
 
 I also know some men here who are very keen 
 on engineering and are trying to invent labor- 
 saving devices of every kind. 
 
 They think it will be possible to invent tiny
 
 PEOPLE, CHILDREN, AND AFFINITIES 53 
 
 machines which will enable men to fly, not by sitting 
 in an aeroplane, but by propelling each individual 
 separately through the air not high, just a little 
 above the ground. It would require very great 
 power very much compressed into a small space, so 
 that you could strap, say, a large knapsack on your 
 back and sail along above the ground without 
 fatigue. It may come some day, but not in your 
 time, I think, Mum. 
 
 Another man Iknow thinks moving pavements 
 raised about fifteen feet above the road, on the 
 principle of the staircases at the tube stations, will 
 be used in large and crowded cities. 
 
 They would go in one direction on one side of 
 the road and in the opposite on the other, with stairs 
 and stationary platforms at intervals. There would 
 be no attendants required, for no tickets would be 
 necessary ; the expenses would go on to the rates and 
 it would be free to all though I acknowledge the 
 small boys would find it irresistible till they got used 
 to the novelty of it! This would save a certain 
 amount of vehicular traffic. There would still be the 
 ordinary pavement below for those who wished to 
 walk slowly or shop-gaze. 
 
 ou want to know something further about the
 
 54 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 children who come over? You remember at first 
 you were quite surprised when I described your 
 brother John to you, and did not recognize him 
 when I told you he was a grown-up man; you had 
 always thought of him as still remaining a little 
 child. 
 
 He looks only about my age : of course in earth- 
 life he would have been over forty. Here little 
 ones grow up but never become old, for they have 
 no cares and worries nor the pains of a material 
 body to trouble them. 
 
 Many women here care for these little ones. 
 Some have left children on earth they loved ; others, 
 the childless, who love children, look after them. 
 Every child, even if unwanted on earth, can find a 
 loving mother here.V 
 
 Many an earth-mother comes over at night when 
 her body sleeps to see her baby, and though with 
 her limited conscious mind she may think of it as 
 an infant always, her spirit-mind knows the facts, 
 as she will recognize when she herself comes here 
 permanently. These children grow in soul and mind 
 and body, which is just as strong and more substan- 
 tial than an earth-body, for it is indestructible. 
 
 They are all beautiful in varying degrees. They 
 learn very quickly, for their minds are open : they
 
 PEOPLE, CHILDREN, AND AFFINITIES 55 
 
 have no consciousness that evil exists, so more 
 readily absorb all they are taught here, and they 
 very soon go on to the higher planes. 
 
 While on the third sphere they return to earth to 
 play with children there. It is part of their educa- 
 tion, and enables them to understand, and so later 
 to help others still in the mortal body. 
 
 As many children in the world are clairvoyant 
 they often see these spirit playfellows, and if they 
 could keep this consciousness it would often be a 
 help to them in later life. 
 
 Unfortunately, many grown-up people who do 
 not understand these facts discourage the idea, and 
 so in time the child loses this consciousness. The 
 children here all see Christ: they seem to instinc- 
 tively understand Him and His Mother. Having 
 occupied a mortal body such a short time they easily 
 go back to the things of the Spirit. . . . 
 
 Now you want to know what happens when one 
 of a married pair dies young and the other lives to 
 be old ? Well, it depends to a certain degree on the 
 life of the one left on earth as to what extent death 
 separates them. The few years of time would not 
 actually make much difference. I will give you some 
 examples of cases I know here, and explain through 
 them what I mean. The actual soul does not " age "
 
 56 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 permanently, though it carries the impress of the 
 body when it first comes over, but by degrees here, 
 freed from material cares, the signs of " age " 
 disappear and the spirit-body looks like that of an 
 adult in the prime of life and in perfect health. You 
 can't tell by looking at a person in the ordinary way 
 on the earth-plane how their souls would look at 
 first on release from the body; you might judge from 
 the character, perhaps. 
 
 I know a man here (let's call him "Charles") 
 who came over fourteen years ago, leaving his wife 
 (we never speak of widows here), to whom he was 
 devoted. They were true affinities and spiritually 
 developed people, and though not spiritualists pro- 
 fessedly she was so conscious of her husband's 
 continued existence that she lived as far as she 
 could as she knew he would wish. 
 
 She neglected no duties, made no parade of her 
 great grief, and studied in every way in order to be 
 his mental and spiritual equal when she should 
 rejoin him. She came over recently, and on this 
 account looks as young as he does. 
 
 I know another case of a different kind (let's 
 call the husband " Tom "), of a young couple mar- 
 ried at the beginning of the war. He was killed 
 at the Front a year after.
 
 PEOPLE, CHILDREN, AND AFFINITIES 57 
 
 His wife made a great parade of her grief, wore 
 elaborate, expensive, and becoming mourning, and 
 even contemplated suicide, but decided it was too 
 painful! She then found she could get into com- 
 munication with Tom. Eventually he was not per- 
 mitted to return to speak to her, for she only 
 wanted him to help her in various material ways, 
 and made him unhappy with continual reproaches 
 and grumbling. Being out of the physical world he 
 was no longer in a position to help her there, but 
 she had no interest in spiritual or even intellectual 
 things. Under these circumstances her soul will 
 not of course develop properly, and so will " age " 
 for lack of care. 
 
 She has married again, but " Tom " does not 
 grieve; he quite understands they were unsuited to 
 one another, and had they lived on earth longer to- 
 gether would soon have discovered it/
 
 THE DIFFICULTIES OF COMMUNICATION 
 
 THERE is no subject probably that requires to be 
 considered with such care as this of " spiritualism." 
 You understand how essential it is to use your own 
 judgment in the matter, and common sense in 
 weighing all you are told. 
 
 There are so many limitations to be considered 
 the sitter's, the medium's, and the spirit's; and 
 these are very severe. 
 
 In communicating, the spirit-message comes first 
 from the spirit, who has to concentrate to give it 
 to the " control " (the spirit actually using the 
 medium's organization), who has to impress it on 
 the medium's brain to such an extent that the nerves 
 and muscles of the mouth and tongue of the medium 
 will respond to the action of the brain, and will 
 speak the message as it has been given. \f 
 
 I often think it wonderful how much does come 
 through, when one realizes the many difficulties. 
 
 The bias of the medium's mind, impressions from 
 the sitter's subconscious self, unconscious telepathy 
 from other minds, and so forth, all have to be 
 taken into consideration. 
 
 ^Telepathy is not so easy as some people imagine; 
 
 58
 
 DIFFICULTIES OF COMMUNICATION 59 
 
 if it were, there would be no difficulty in satisfying 
 any sitter who went to a medium, for they would 
 only have to do some mind-reading, whereas many 
 go empty away. 
 
 You say spirits so often through mediums say that 
 the sitters have great work to do, wonderful talents, 
 etc., and you can't understand it, as these people 
 do nothing in particular eventually. Well, their 
 spirit- friends may see they have the capacity; as to 
 whether they will make use of it is another matter. 
 Just as in school a master may realize that many 
 of his boys have exceptional talent in various direc- 
 tions, and may say so, it does not follow that they 
 will do well in life, for it entirely depends on their 
 use of their capabilities. By being told of their 
 possibilities, their ambition may be roused to make 
 special efforts. 
 
 Try and develop your own psychic powers, if they 
 are sufficient to make it worth your while for your 
 own comfort, and certainly every one should try and 
 cultivate " spiritual gifts." Of course they are not 
 synonymous terms. It is possible to be very psychic 
 and not at all spiritual. Psychic talent is a " gift," 
 like music, painting, writing, etc., and like these 
 can be used for beautiful and good things or the 
 reverse. /
 
 60 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 Every one can learn to live in two planes, the 
 material and the spiritual, to be a " practical 
 mystic," to know the truths and wonders and 
 beauties of the life spiritual as well as to perform 
 the duties and enjoy the pleasures of the life 
 physical. 
 
 Many people would be great in the highest sense 
 of the word, if they would only believe that the 
 source of unlimited good and knowledge is there to 
 draw upon. The supply is unlimited, the only 
 limitation being their own capacity. 
 
 We know and remember in the spirit-world every- 
 thing that has happened in our earth-life (that is, 
 if we wished to remember we could do so), as the 
 subconscious mind is so active here. If I could 
 come and speak to you direct with my spirit-mouth 
 you would get any test you wanted, but as it is I 
 have to operate through a strange brain and per- 
 sonality. 
 
 People sometimes say, " Why does my loved 
 one not come to me direct?" The "loved 
 one " probably does very often, but cannot make 
 himself seen or heard, and if he could, might 
 frighten his relatives if they did not under- 
 stand. 
 
 The " controls " chosen for mediums are generally
 
 DIFFICULTIES OF COMMUNICATION 61 
 
 children or other what we call " uneducated people," 
 because their brains are more or less " blank " and 
 pliable ; otherwise you can imagine it would add still 
 further difficulties and limitations to communica- 
 tions. S
 
 THE SPHERES AND THE SOURCE OF ALL 
 POWER 
 
 OUR bodies here are not made of ether; we call 
 them that as they are the bodies in which we mani- 
 fest on the " Ether ic " Sphere. 
 
 Your physical bodies are walking about on a 
 physical plane; they are of the earth earthy. 
 Though you call them " physical " they do not look 
 like the earth really ; they look like a thing apart. 
 
 Our Sphere is in the Ether, resting on the Ether, 
 not on nor near the earth-plane, nor interpenetrating 
 the earth as some people think. Our Spheres are 
 built of and formed in Ether, therefore you can 
 call them " Spiritual " or " Etheric " planes as you 
 like. My body as I exist on that Spiritual or 
 Etheric plane is a spiritual or etheric body, just as 
 my physical body was termed " physical " when I 
 was functioning in the physical plane. We derive 
 the name of the body from the plane we are on; 
 " physical " body for physical plane, " astral " body 
 for astral, and " etheric " body for etheric plane. 
 
 My present body is made of chemicals, and gases, 
 and atoms atoms certainly of a finer kind than one 
 
 62
 
 SPHERES AND SOURCE OF ALL POWER 63 
 
 gets on the earth-plane. These are held together in 
 much the same way as the atoms of the physical 
 body, but this body does not disintegrate in the 
 same way as the physical one does, because the life 
 on the third Sphere is sure to be as long and perhaps 
 many times longer than the one on the earth-plane. 
 
 There is something substantial about my spirit- 
 body. Suppose I had to leave the third Plane and to 
 go to the fifth, sixth, or seventh Plane (for good I 
 mean, not for a visit). I know then my entire 
 etheric body would undergo a change: the atoms 
 would be of a still lighter kind, because the nearer 
 I go to the God- force, or Life- force, the more actual 
 Life-force there is running through my body and 
 holding those atoms together. 
 
 Because of this greater force in the higher spheres 
 we would require less chemical matter. 
 
 On the third Plane the body in the way of its 
 chemical constituents would be very much like that 
 of the earth-plane not so much in quantity, but 
 the same in kind. Is it not correct that hydrogen 
 and similar gases or chemicals can be obtained in a 
 grosser or coarser or in a more refined state, a 
 lighter state lighter in pressure? Our bodies are 
 made of the extremely refined variety. 
 
 Take coal, Mummy, for example; you can set
 
 64 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 it alight in the raw state, and you have a coarse 
 flame of gas, or even if we don't light it we know 
 there is gas there of a coarse kind. 
 
 If that gas is taken and put through certain pro- 
 cesses it becomes purer and more refined in nature, 
 simply because it has passed through those processes. 
 It has passed through and over something, and is 
 farther from its foundation in the lump of coal. 
 The gas is drawn from the coal and blown right 
 across steam, and when it reaches the other side it 
 is caught in a purer state. 
 
 Now we come to the point. The gases and chemi- 
 cals that go to make up our physical bodies, we 
 know, need not be drawn only from the surface, or 
 just above it, of the earth-plane. 
 
 We have proved those gases exist some distance 
 from the earth-plane. The farther you go the purer 
 and more refined in nature are those gases and 
 chemicals. Just as your physical body is made of 
 the grosser gases which belong to the earth-plane, 
 so our bodies are made of the finer gases which exist 
 in the air or atmosphere of our plane. 
 
 I'll give you a little chart (see page 72). Draw 
 a round for the earth ; around that put seven circles 
 one outside the other, for the seven spheres. Out- 
 side those, filling all space, is an enormous force, an
 
 SPHERES AND SOURCE OF ALL POWER 65 
 
 actual force which seems to contain or consist of 
 many strong powers or forces that we think we 
 have discovered on the earth-plane electricity to 
 wit, radium, etc.; but there are many more still 
 undiscovered on the earth-plane, but which we 
 know are contained in this, the God- force or Life- 
 force. 
 
 Electricity was always there, but we did not know 
 how to use it. I am mentioning " radium " and 
 " electricity " because you might otherwise ask me 
 what force it is, and why we call it a force. We 
 know it's a force because we know that everything 
 that has life is animated by that force, and the 
 farther you go from the earth-plane and the nearer 
 you go to it the more you can feel the force. 
 
 Electricity is only one of the many constituents 
 of the force, but we know there are other manifesta- 
 tions of power in it ; but we don't know what to call 
 them yet, as they have not been discovered on the 
 physical plane, where God meant all His work and 
 all His goodness to be discovered by man. Man 
 names these things and attains consciousness and 
 understanding and control over them. In the spirit- 
 world we don't call them by a name, we understand 
 it's one enormous power, and we don't give it a 
 name we just feel it, and know it's there; but as
 
 66 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 this power penetrates through the spirit-spheres and 
 reaches the earth-plane it seems to become divided 
 into different forms or manifestations of power 
 that is to say, it is in man's power to use it for 
 different purposes. 
 
 Though it seems to come in a massed condition, 
 as it touches the earth-plane it divides itself into 
 different manifestations or kinds of power. Man 
 has only of late years learnt to use some of these 
 powers and to draw off and conserve a certain part, 
 such as electricity, for instance. With electricity he 
 has learnt how to draw upon, to " generate it," as 
 he calls it which means he has learnt to draw part 
 of the massed power and to convert it to one par- 
 ticular species of form of power. 
 
 I have told you before, the God-force holds to- 
 gether every thing on the earth-plane animates it. 
 Take a humble thing a cabbage, for instance. I 
 say it's the God-force (or Life-force, if you prefer 
 to call it that) in that cabbage that keeps it alive. 
 When that force is withdrawn it dies, disintegrates 
 (some would-be wit will say, "What about the 
 God-force when it's boiled ? " ) . The boiling process 
 would eliminate some of the Life-force, and what 
 remained would be changed or converted to a differ- 
 ent form. Some people will say, " It's all nonsense;
 
 SPHERES AND SOURCE OF ALL POWER 67 
 
 the cabbage is composed of so many ounces of this, 
 and so many drams of that." Quite right, it may 
 be so; and it's only held there and manifested be- 
 cause the God- or Life- force has projected, and is 
 holding it there. Directly the Life-force is gone, 
 one of the gases begins to get less, and the cabbage 
 decays and gets mouldy; then another material is 
 forced out, for it is only the Life-force which is 
 keeping and holding them together. I'll give you 
 a crude illustration. Suppose you want to make a 
 lump of plaster. You get the dry powder and bind 
 it together with some water. The God- or Life- 
 force is to all atomic matter what the water is to 
 dry matter it consolidates it. 
 
 The whole Universe is full of revolving atoms, 
 but unless they are gathered and solidified in a mass 
 you would not see them. Take a handful of earth. 
 Chemists, by employing certain gases, can blow 
 that earth which is visible (and the gases employed 
 may not be) into absolute invisibility. Earth is 
 only atoms gathered into solid form; if you can 
 scatter them sufficiently they go out into the Uni- 
 verse again. They would go back into space from 
 whence they came. Now, for a " twister," you 
 might say, " Could one distinguish by any means 
 that these are atoms of dust or of earth? " They
 
 68 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 are so minute that though they would be dust, it 
 would be ridiculous to call them that; it would 
 sound an exaggerated term, as if you called a tiny 
 grain of soil a " piece of earth." These atoms are 
 not noticed in space. 
 
 It seems to me the planets are like parts of a tree, 
 a fruit tree, and as if at the end of the branches 
 things grow fruit, or leaves, or flowers : the mani- 
 festation of life to the onlooker is at the tips or 
 terminations of the branches. The life or sap 
 comes, doesn't it? from the trunk; but to the eye 
 that is hidden. Take a cluster at the end of a branch 
 to be our earth-plane. Just as the Life- force oozes 
 up the trunk and along the branch, feeding the 
 cluster till it grows, and grows, and grows, so does 
 the Life- force stretch out an arm, so to speak, to 
 one place in the Universe, and gathers atoms to- 
 gether by the food and power it is pouring forth 
 into that particular place and holding a cluster 
 or a world together. It's a branch of God, 
 with its manifestations of life at the tip of the 
 branch. 
 
 The tree is the Universe, the God-force is the 
 sap which supplies the life, the planets are the 
 clusters of fruit. 
 
 Everything in existence is created and kept going
 
 SPHERES AND SOURCE OF ALL POWER 69 
 
 by the Life- force; it is Life-force manifested in 
 different ways.K 
 
 Whenever there is disease it means a little of the 
 Life-force has gone from whatever part of you is 
 diseased. When the Life-force is abruptly with- 
 drawn from one particular limb the manifestation 
 of disease is more noticeable than if the Life-force 
 was simply withdrawn a little from every part of 
 the body. 
 
 The other planets have their own spirit-spheres 
 round them. All in between and around every planet 
 is the God- force; if you eventually went beyond the 
 seventh sphere you would get into space and become 
 part of the Infinite. You would then have no defined 
 or finite form, for you would no longer be finite; 
 you would then be only a consciousness. ^ 
 
 As in the physical you were conscious of the 
 physical more than of any other state, so if you 
 progressed and became part of the Infinite you 
 would then become conscious of God and God 
 only. 
 
 You would not want to express or impose your 
 little personality on others any more ; you would be 
 content to be of God and of the great Infinite; that 
 would be to be divine. 
 
 Whatever state you are in, you are conscious in
 
 70 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 that state. On the earth you are conscious of the 
 physical state, you wonder why you can't be more 
 conscious of the astral; in the spiritual you are 
 conscious of the spiritual state; in the Infinite you 
 are conscious only of God. 
 
 I might tell you, no one we have ever known or 
 heard of has ever stepped off into the Infinite. It 
 will probably be a few million years before we shall 
 want to go into the Infinite; it means the submerg- 
 ing of the personality. All personal desire must 
 be dead; we have to learn to wish to be of and 
 as God. That's where the old idea of sacrifice 
 comes; it's the giving up of some personal de- 
 sire. . . . 
 
 I always start off meaning to be matter of fact 
 and scientific, and find myself slipping back to the 
 great spiritual truths to which science is only the 
 stepping-stone. 
 
 I understand why spirits don't return and give 
 more about the " make-up "of the spirit- world in 
 a scientific way. There is so much that is so difficult 
 to put into words at all, especially to have to im- 
 print on another person (who is still in the limita- 
 tion of the physical body the medium) that which 
 to us is a great shining light the truth. We feel it, 
 we move in it, we breathe it ; but it's too great and
 
 SPHERES AND SOURCE OF ALL POWER 71 
 
 vast a thing to explain in an hour or so, for no 
 sooner do I start to explain one phase, than I find 
 it leads me to have to explain another, and then 
 another, and so on. We are nearer the Infinite than 
 you are, and are therefore more naturally conscious 
 
 !<,- 
 
 of the power of the Infinite, and do not require to 
 have it manifested in detail or in finite form to the 
 same extent as you do./ People on the earth-plane 
 clamor for materialization; they are not conscious 
 of those passed over unless they can see them in 
 some form. 
 
 We here do not often " see " Christ, but we can 
 feel and are conscious of Him all the time; but if 
 you ask me how I know I can't tell you. 
 
 Ether is one of the manifestations of the " Life- 
 force" it is difficult for me to explain; it spreads 
 through it like moisture in the air. Ether is not a 
 " power " like electricity, which we make from the 
 embryo. Ether is not a force in that way at all. 
 It's a state or condition that pervades the Universe, 
 changing in degree or character as you get farther 
 from the earth-plane. 
 
 / Interpenetrating everything on Earth, all the 
 Spheres, all the Universe, all Space, is a tremendous 
 power which is God, or what (to simplify it) we
 
 72 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 call God-force. By this God-force all things live. 
 Its withdrawing means death, l 
 
 .God-force^
 
 PHYSICAL LIMITATIONS 
 
 WE on earth with finite minds often visualize or 
 think of God in a finite shape or form, as a man, be- 
 cause to us that is the highest experience of life 
 manifest. You can imagine that is limiting God. 
 We are apt to do this with all things beyond our 
 physical sphere. 
 
 I told you we have atmosphere here. Just as we 
 visualize God, and yet we know He is more than we 
 can visualize, so much finer and greater, so is the 
 atmosphere of the spirit-sphere to the atmosphere of 
 the earth-plane ; you cannot visualize it with a finite 
 mind.J 
 
 V/God is not known to science, because science can't 
 measure or classify Him. But that does not show 
 there is no God. It is the same with many things in 
 the spirit-world. 
 
 Any time within the next thousand years the 
 " lighter and more refined " kind of hydrogen I told 
 you about may be known to science, but it will not 
 be known by any name we have given it here ; it will 
 be named and classified by man when he discovers 
 
 73
 
 74 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 it. I called it a " kind of hydrogen " because that is, 
 it seems to me, the nearest approach to it on the 
 earth-plane, and I must call it something that will 
 present an idea to your mind that you can " grasp." 
 It is a definite thing. 
 
 We don't name the particles or items of the great 
 universal force or power that permeates and is the 
 being of everything. It is only when it filters 
 through to the earth-plane that you divide it and dis- 
 cover different parts and name them. 
 
 I know these things definitely; they are not my 
 ideas, or " impressions," for I am taught them by 
 teachers and guides from the higher spheres. A 
 great many others here have been taught these 
 things too, but they do not get the opportunity to 
 get them through to friends on earth. 
 
 Of course, not every one who comes over here 
 learns these things, as some are more interested and 
 pass their time in other ways. 
 
 Suppose a spirit here, a few hundred years ago, 
 had tried to explain " electricity " or " radium " to 
 a medium on earth, how would he have done it? 
 (I suppose incidentally the medium would have 
 been burnt as a witch, or a wizard, and that would 
 have settled the matter for the time being !) You can 
 imagine he would have been unable to express his
 
 PHYSICAL LIMITATIONS 75 
 
 ideas clearly. We are still in the same predicament.^ 
 
 There are stages in man's development : the phy- 
 sical, in which he feels and senses on the physical 
 plane; the mental, which is the scientific; and the 
 spiritual, which is above them both, because it's 
 nearer God. There are no very easy stages from 
 the physical to the spirit-world; you have to get 
 right out of one, to be of, and in, the other. 
 
 Man is a student in God's school, namely, the 
 earth-plane, and has to find out these things by hard 
 work and study. 
 
 It is not necessary for us here to know how many 
 " drams," or " ounces," of any substance make any 
 other substance; it would not help us at all. You 
 might say, " Yes, but it would help us ; we want to 
 know." Your earth-plane is the school, and when 
 the headmaster has set the student a problem in 
 Euclid he does not supply the answer before the 
 pupil has worked it out. 
 
 /We don't learn things here in terms that you 
 understand; we learn spiritual things, which are 
 necessary to us, for we are of the spirit- world, and 
 to find out things in your world we have to work 
 in your conditions. 
 
 Communication with me is so easy to you, I don't 
 think you realize the " great gulf " that divides us. '
 
 MAN'S CONNECTION WITH GOD 
 
 THE peace of your heart, in spite of great anxiety, 
 comes from the innate knowledge that, however 
 bad things may seem sometimes, " God's in His 
 heaven : all's right with the world." K' 
 
 The mind of God is operating through the various 
 spheres on to the earth-plane. It is almost as if a 
 picture were thrown from a lantern first on to the 
 seventh sphere; God projects his thoughts on to 
 it, and those there get every thought, wish, desire, 
 of God. It is as clear to them as if it were photo- 
 graphed on the atmosphere round them, so wherever 
 they turn they know what God wants them to do. 
 These " pictures " or thoughts of God seem to be 
 composed of millions of " rays " (even in your 
 atmosphere there are " rays "of which you are not 
 cognizant on earth). On the sixth sphere the pic- 
 ture is like a copy of the seventh, not quite so sharp 
 in outline or detail, and so on, slightly decreasing in 
 clarity and sharpness from sphere to sphere, till it 
 gets to the first sphere, where it is much fainter, be- 
 cause so close to the earth-plane. On the earth- 
 plane it is faint indeed; but there, man, who has 
 
 76
 
 MAN'S CONNECTION WITH GOD 77 
 
 great power if he chooses to use it, could reproduce 
 that picture if he put himself in the right mental 
 and spiritual condition to do so. It has to be re- 
 developed by man's attitude towards it. That's 
 what I mean by saying we can interpret God if we 
 choose. Man is given the power to see God's ways 
 and wishes if he will put aside his lower self for a 
 little while. 
 
 The guide who is teaching me said it is important 
 for people to develop psychically as a step to the 
 higher or spiritual side. Before people can become 
 " psychic " properly they must develop physically 
 and mentally too. 
 
 You say, " Mediums are often uneducated." 
 Yes; they do not satisfy in consequence, but by 
 their mediumship they are a bit better than they 
 would have been without it. Still, I am not saying 
 what is possible, but what is best. 
 
 People must learn to control the physical, the 
 lower, or what is called " animal " part of them, 
 and not give way to temper, greed, sensuality, jeal- 
 ousy, and so forth; they must cultivate the spirit, 
 the higher or God part, the " higher self." 
 
 Sometimes the spirit wants to operate through 
 the body (this is psychic or spiritual development), 
 and is prevented by people giving way to any of the
 
 78 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 passions we have mentioned. It shows they must 
 work harder to get control of the physical. 
 
 I have told you before, your spirit even now 
 knows and can see everything; it is seeing me at 
 present. Your spirit-mind is the subconscious 
 mind; your spirit-mind can't put itself in touch with 
 the physical mind, it cannot link up with your brain. 
 It is unable to, because you can't concentrate on me ; 
 your brain is concentrating on what you are doing, 
 not on seeing me. 
 
 Your conscious mind is operating through your 
 brain. To be " developed " means you have gained 
 such control over your body and brain that you are 
 able to detach yourself from undesirable things and 
 thoughts. It is this power a person sits to try and 
 develop by quiet, concentration, and prayer. You 
 see how necessary it is to get complete control, so 
 as to command the nature of the thoughts, to be 
 able to lift the " lower self " to meet the higher. 
 
 You could not do it always, of course, for you 
 have to use the physical brain for material things, 
 and to protect the physical body from enemies. For 
 instance, if you saw a man coming for you to hit 
 you with a brick, it would be no use to stop to think 
 beautiful thoughts; you would have to do some- 
 thing, and pretty quickly!
 
 MAN'S CONNECTION WITH GOD 79 
 
 By a few moments' conscious practice every day, 
 people can raise themselves so as to learn to " link 
 on " or connect their minds and spirits, the lower 
 and higher selves. The more and the oftener they 
 do it the easier it becomes, so that in a little time 
 there is a kind of semi-consciousness of that beauti- 
 ful state helping them always. 
 
 The power you get by this " linking on " to the 
 higher self has a great effect, not only on your own 
 physical or lower self but on other people's too; 
 that shows that if the majority could believe and 
 practise this, there would be no such thing as war 
 or enmity on the earth-plane. It creates almost a 
 tangible state or feeling. 
 
 It is the power given by the continual drawing 
 down into the physical organism of the bit of the 
 Infinite that is in themselves, and because it is In- 
 finite it has infinite power, much greater than phy- 
 sical power; it is personality or temperament. 
 
 God is an impersonal personality. He is a per- 
 sonality of good, the personification of it, but im- 
 personally good. " Why call Him personal at all ? " 
 I call God that because He sends out certain forces 
 or power, but He expects them to return (as, for 
 instance, all He sends to inhabit physical bodies). 
 Suppose we think of people as little ships sent out
 
 8o CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 on the sea of life by God from His Harbor. His 
 thought goes to each one, " May you return to 
 Me," and the little ship goes out. 
 
 When it has been out for some years it may make 
 for other ports, evil ports, and stay away till it 
 becomes battered and its white sails get grimy ; and 
 then perhaps it says, " I won't go any more to any 
 chance harbor, but will try and steer for my home 
 port." Every ship launched from His Harbor 
 God hopes will return. There is a sort of feeble 
 interpretation of God's thought in the saying, " We 
 shall go hence in God's good time." 
 
 If the ships stayed in sight of it, they could easily 
 return, but they get independent and think they will 
 do better for themselves by going afar off ; and the 
 farther they go the more thoroughly they forget 
 the Harbor from which they started. 
 \ Again, to speak of the God-force and try to ex- 
 plain more about it. It's a mind that permeates 
 everything. Next to being a mind it's an organism 
 of forces all the forces or energy or power ever 
 known or to be known. God's mind controls every- 
 thing all the forces in the Universe.
 
 MAN'S BEGINNING 
 
 I/' % 
 
 I WILL try and explain as clearly as I can about 
 
 man from his " beginning," and I am going to tell 
 you the truth as far as I know and can express it, 
 but I leave it to you to put only what you think 
 suitable in the book, for I tell you everything, know- 
 ing there is nothing that God has made nor any 
 operation of His laws we need be ashamed of; 
 and you understand and realize this also, but there 
 are people who do not see things as we do, and 
 might be "shocked!" My feeling is of awe and 
 reverence now I have learned how really " fearfully 
 and wonderfully " we are made, and I marvel all 
 the more at the greatness of God. 
 
 The physical of us is created on the earth-plane. 
 The mental is born of the union of the spirit and 
 the body of each one of us, because, till the spirit 
 enters and controls the body, there is no life in it. 
 The baby's spirit is not contained inside its body 
 in its pre-natal condition, but is connected with it 
 by the silver cord (exactly as any other person's 
 body and soul are when the latter is operating inde- 
 pendently, as it does often when the body sleeps or 
 
 Bl
 
 82 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 is under an anaesthetic), and remains outside in its 
 mother's aura. When any woman is going to be 
 a mother, the orange life-giving ray is attracted to 
 her. It is in the earth-atmosphere, always ready to 
 be diverted. Directly this ray is connected with 
 the mother's organism, from God starts a little 
 atom, or brilliant drop, trickling down the " ray." 
 (I am speaking, please understand, of a new soul, 
 not a reincarnated one.) It is like a drop of quick- 
 silver. As it starts, it divides into two, like quick- 
 silver can; so whenever there is one new soul born 
 there is always its counterpart 
 
 The drop does not start from any one particular 
 spot, or place, or part of God, and it leaves some- 
 thing there a trail, as it were which remains 
 linked up still in the God-element and still connected 
 to the little drop, like a very long, slender twig 
 connecting a leaf to a branch connected always, 
 however low a man may fall, for severing it would 
 mean annihilation. This is a subtle point. The 
 place from which you start, and to which you re- 
 main connected, is your particular "bit of God;" 
 so one need not think of oneself as lost in God, but 
 as having one's own little part in Him that belongs 
 to one alone. 
 
 As I told you, the drop just as it starts divides
 
 MAN'S BEGINNING 83 
 
 into two. One part goes to one mother, and one 
 to another. (Remember, we are only speaking of 
 new souls now.) One is always male, and the 
 other female. As the drop travels slowly to earth 
 it gets larger and larger, and it begins to shape out 
 and take more space. By the time it reaches the 
 mother's aura it is almost the size and shape of a 
 tiny, weeny baby, and so remains with the mother 
 till the time of birth. If this is premature, the 
 spirit is jerked or drawn rather abruptly into it, and 
 so does not get control of the little body as well 
 as if it had had the proper time to do it. This 
 partly accounts for the high death-rate under these 
 circumstances. It's not only physical reasons, but 
 because the Life-force has not a strong hold of the 
 body. As the child is born, the spirit goes into 
 it. The spirit, because it is of God, has a conscious- 
 ness of its own, but not conscious personality, that 
 has to be developed. It will be developed by the 
 spirit operating through the body. Therefore, by 
 unison of soul and body, we have mental growth 
 and growth of personality. V 
 
 (God does not work separately for each individual. 
 He does not say, for instance, " That nice little 
 woman, Mrs. Smith, loves children and longs to 
 have one; I will direct a life 'ray' to her." No,
 
 84 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 the world is full of this " Life-force," or these rays, 
 and they automatically act in suitable environments. 
 God works automatically always through the 
 regular operation of His laws. I will give you a 
 very simple everyday illustration; let us say the 
 " Postmaster General." He is responsible for the 
 general direction of the Post Office, but he does 
 not do the detail work, like sorting letters, and de- 
 livering them, but he has certain rules for the same. 
 Well, God is the "Postmaster General" of the 
 Universe,
 
 THE MADONNA AND A LITTLE EARTH- 
 MOTHER 
 
 YES, I saw all the lovely mass of blue and white 
 of the flowers in the garden, Mummy, but I did 
 not try to impress you with thoughts of the Ma- 
 donna; rather I seemed to catch your thoughts of 
 her. The colors suggested that train of ideas, be- 
 cause they are associated with her especially. 
 
 Paul says he considers her the most beautiful 
 spirit in the spirit-world, and I don't think he is 
 far wrong. 
 
 She is so kind and tender to all the young men 
 who have come over in the war, always ready to 
 talk to and take an interest in them, and when she 
 looks at you, you feel she is not only thinking of 
 you but of your mother. 
 
 She is very beautiful, but not with the beauty of 
 a woman on earth. You would not remark any- 
 thing especial in detail about her, or say, " Oh, 
 what lovely hair ! " or, " What an exquisite com- 
 plexion ! " 
 
 She is the ideal Mother-woman, and has all the 
 beautiful expression of all the most tender mothers 
 
 85
 
 86 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 of the world pity, love, and holiness. She is in- 
 deed " the Mother of Compassion." 
 
 There is no feeling of fear or even of awe in 
 connection with her, but you feel you can go and 
 talk to her and be comforted if you feel lonely. 
 
 Talking of mothers, I must tell you of a little 
 earth-mother I have been trying to help lately. She 
 came over quite unexpectedly after her baby's birth, 
 and her grief and disappointment were very great 
 when she woke to life here and found she had left 
 the earth-plane, her young husband, and the baby. 
 
 Her relatives over here are all elderly people, and 
 she refused to be comforted by them. She said 
 they were old, and it was natural they should be 
 content, while she was young, and resented having 
 her earth-life cut abruptly short just as it was so 
 full of new and wonderful interests. They hap- 
 pened to know me, and asked me to see and try 
 to comfort her, for I am about her age, loved my 
 earth-life equally, and yet have found life here so 
 full of happiness. 
 
 I went to her, sat down beside her and took her 
 hand, and felt full of sympathy and understanding. 
 (I could not help thinking how on earth I should 
 have enjoyed an innocent flirtation with a pretty 
 girl like this, and should have looked at her
 
 MADONNA AND EARTH-MOTHER 87 
 
 with a world of " sloppiness " in my eyes, but here 
 I have quite a different feeling. I might have been 
 her grandmother, one feels so impersonal.) She 
 talked to me of her hopes and fears, and gave me 
 details of the pain-racked body she had left on 
 earth, which would have been quite embarrassing 
 there, but here one is not ashamed of natural things. 
 I explained to her as far as I could the psychic 
 side of physical things, and tried to show her that 
 though she could not tend her baby's little mortal 
 body any more, some other woman would have 
 to do that, she could keep watch over its spirit, 
 and try and impress it with right and beautiful 
 things, and be in very truth its guardian angel. 
 
 She is beginning to understand and to become 
 more reconciled, and I have helped several others 
 since in similar circumstances. Some of them will 
 probably help to look after the babies here. 
 
 I often go to the colony where the " Red In- 
 dians " live, for I have several friends among them, 
 and I love their jolly little brown babies, and their 
 horses too! 
 
 Yes, people here live in " sets " or " colonies," 
 because those of like interests and nationalities 
 gravitate naturally to each other, and to their own 
 people. Otherwise, you can imagine it would not
 
 88 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 be very happy if you found yourself mixed up with 
 people of every nationality, with dissimilar tastes 
 and experiences, and with nothing in common be- 
 tween you, for the fact of dying does not change 
 you in any way. j
 
 THE AURA 
 
 aura looks like a kind of "halo" (I have 
 no doubt the painters of old, inspired for their 
 task, may have seen or " sensed " the halo round 
 the head of Christ, for of course it would have been 
 very definite) that surrounds and outlines not only 
 the head but the whole body of every living 
 person. 
 
 The aura, properly speaking, is an emanation 
 from a body to which spirit is still allied; it inter- 
 penetrates the surface of the body, it is a dissem- 
 ination of the spirit over the body. 
 
 We talk of the spirit as being in a body, but in 
 speaking of it are hard put to locate it. 
 
 The aura is of various sizes and colors and parti- 
 colors, and is always in movement, and changes in 
 the same person at different times, for it is affected 
 by emotion, character, and health. 
 
 Intellect and intelligence determine the shape, for 
 there is a fine head aura round any one who is well 
 developed mentally. 
 
 Spirits can tell by looking at the aura if a person 
 is psychic; that is how they know a medium, and 
 
 89
 
 90 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 come to them when they want to communicate with 
 people on earth. 
 
 I think the aura goes to make up the spirit-body, 
 for when the physical body dies there is no aura. 
 In dying, the aura gets gradually less and is drawn 
 inward and upward. I have noticed many times 
 (for I have seen many men die on the battlefield) 
 that at the same rate at which the aura absorbs into 
 the body the spirit begins coming out of the head. 
 
 I think also the fact that it is possible to put 
 all the aura on one side of the body under certain 
 circumstances, shows it is soul. If it were only 
 connected with the physical it would only disappear 
 as the body grew cold at death. 
 
 The soul, too, when out of the body looks like 
 the aura, which does not totally disappear till the 
 spirit and body are severed. 
 
 At a materializing seance you can see the same 
 substance (as the aura) coming from the body of 
 the medium, meanwhile the aura greatly reduces. 
 
 The physical " door " of the spirit, which it uses 
 to enter and leave the body while it sleeps, is below 
 the ribs in front, pretty nearly the centre of the 
 body; at death, when it leaves for good, it comes 
 out of the head. 
 
 When the spirit is going to travel, the aura ap-
 
 THE AURA 91 
 
 patently sinks into the body en masse, and a strong 
 column of " spirit-matter " comes from the door I 
 have just spoken of. It " builds up " or shapes into 
 the spirit-body, and is connected with the physical 
 one by a cord. In the case of a spiritually and 
 mentally developed person the spirit can travel a 
 long way, for the cord would be more pliable and 
 elastic than in the case of anyone who was not de- 
 veloped in these respects. 
 
 Though you don't know it, it is through a per- 
 son's aura you " sense " them. It is a sure indica- 
 tion of character, and the colors which indicate 
 characteristics are the same as I mentioned before 
 in another connection: blue and violet (certain 
 shades) for spirituality, yellow and orange intel- 
 lectuality, pink indicates an affectionate nature, an 
 apple-green a well-balanced mentality. 
 
 \The undesirable colors are certain shades of 
 grey and brown, murky reds, and greens, which 
 indicate sensuality, jealousy, and other unpleasant 
 traits.) 
 
 K)f course there are tremendous varieties in 
 " auras " (they are naturally as varied as the people 
 in the world), in shades of color, in combinations 
 of colors, shapes, and sizes'; (also in some people 
 they are clear and well defined, while in others they
 
 92 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 are uneven, almost " sagging," or " lumpy-looking," 
 or misty. 
 
 When any organ of the physical body is out of 
 order or diseased, the aura in that spot dwindles 
 for the time being; for this reason a clairvoyant 
 can sometimes locate illness.
 
 ASTRALS AND THOUGHT-FORMS 
 
 You want to know the difference between " Ast- 
 ^ 
 
 rals" and "Thought-Forms?" They are quite 
 different and by no means interchangeable terms, 
 though people often speak as if they were, for the 
 latter is only a " picture " and not a " spirit " at 
 all. 
 
 There are two kinds of " Astrals " (so called 
 because they are functioning on the " Astral " 
 plane). First, there are the spirits existing there 
 in their Astral bodies, which are made out of actual 
 atoms. The Astral, though fine in comparison 
 with the physical body, is still coarse (for it is 
 only undeveloped people who are not spiritually 
 evolved who live on that sphere). There is a great 
 difference between it and the bodies of those on the 
 third sphere. 
 
 There is no " death " after you leave earth, but 
 this further difference in degree makes people think 
 sometimes one has to undergo that ordeal again on 
 going higher through the different planes. This 
 is not so, though a great change certainly does take 
 place in the " astral body ; " the chemical condition 
 
 93
 
 94 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 alters, it becomes refined, but it is no greater than 
 that which takes place in your earth-body continu- 
 ally, all the cells of which change and renew several 
 times in the course of your life there, though you 
 are not conscious of it in either case. 
 
 When a man in the Astral changes mentally, his 
 body changes too in sympathy with his development, 
 and in corresponding degree, but more quickly than 
 with you. 
 
 If a man longs to progress very fast, and makes 
 up his mind and concentrates on it, he can change 
 in a very short time; but if he makes no special 
 effort, and progresses slowly mentally, his body 
 changes slowly too. This gradual refinement con- 
 tinues through the spheres ; the change comes from 
 within. 
 
 The second kind of Astral is a spirit connected 
 with a physical body, and functioning temporarily 
 only on the Astral plane, while its earth-body 
 sleeps or is unconscious. It looks much the same 
 as the other, but its body is actually different, for 
 it has an astral " husk " only, much on the same 
 principle as the temporary body made for a mater- 
 ializing spirit at a seance, and like that composed 
 of astral atoms consolidated. 
 
 These astral atoms collect round the aura of a
 
 ASTRALS AND THOUGHT-FORMS 95 
 
 developed man, and on his soul emerging (as I 
 have already described to you) from the centre of 
 his body, these atoms close round his spirit and 
 form a " husk " or covering to protect it in its 
 travels. 
 
 He could not function in his real " astral " body, 
 for that is not complete; it is not complete for a 
 curious reason. It is this : that a certain amount of 
 the material that makes his astral body is not avail- 
 able while he is connected with his physical body, 
 for it goes to make the vital cord or connection be- 
 tween his travelling spirit and his stationary body, 
 which is only severed at death (for the severing 
 means death). 
 
 After this has occurred, of course, no cord being 
 then required, this material is available for his 
 astral body, and so he no longer requires to borrow 
 astral atoms to protect himself; his spirit is suf- 
 ficiently clothed, being complete. 
 
 As I am not in the Astral I find it difficult to tell 
 if a person is in their permanent astral body or not. 
 
 This accounts too for the difficulty a clairvoyant 
 sometimes has in being able to say if a person is in 
 or out of their physical body permanently. They 
 too are, it must be remembered, seeing in other 
 conditions than their normal. Sight varies enough
 
 96 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 even on the earth-plane; no two men there see ex- 
 actly alike. 
 
 If you took a collection of people to a hilltop and 
 asked them to describe the view without artificial 
 aid, they would all see in different degrees : some 
 only things near, others only things distant, some 
 as it were through a haze, and others clearly. This 
 is why normal clairvoyance is often incorrect 
 things are difficult to see in the right perspective; 
 and it varies too according to the bias of the me- 
 dium's brain on which it is registered by the sight. 
 
 A " Thought-Form " is a picture, a thought- 
 photograph, projected through the atmosphere by 
 some one, but the recipient would have to mentally 
 "develop" it, as it were, in order to see it; by 
 that I mean they would have to be thinking of the 
 sender at the right moment, and in the right way. 
 Space is nothing, for it takes no longer to think 
 four or five hundred miles than into the next room. 
 So if you are in the right mental condition you can 
 see a thought- form ; it's only a picture in the atmos- 
 phere. 
 
 This explains certain things ; for instance, visions 
 of Christ to the dying. Hundreds on the battle- 
 fields may see Him individually and spontaneously. 
 If He is projecting His thought to all who are lying
 
 ASTRALS AND THOUGHT-FORMS 97 
 
 there, all who are attuned in mind can and may 
 be able to see Him. Just as when a ship at sea 
 sends out a wireless message or a call for help, it 
 is not confined to one receiver, but is open to all 
 ships and receiving stations which are suitably at- 
 tuned. So all who are suitably attuned and har- 
 monized can receive thought pictures, impressions, 
 and inspiration. This explains also how various 
 people in widely separated places may simulta- 
 neously be " inspired " by one individual. " In- 
 spired " I said, not " controlled " remember, Mum; 
 that is a very different matter (people should al- 
 ways use common sense in judging what they are 
 told). Personally, I don't believe spirits from 
 the higher spheres ever " control " people on earth. 
 It is hard enough for us who are only on the third 
 sphere to get back into the old conditions, for those 
 it would be exceedingly difficult and a deliberate 
 waste; it would be like engaging a tutor of the 
 highest scholastic attainments to teach an infant its 
 ABC! 
 
 Now a regards a so-called " ghost " haunting 
 a particular spot. If it is a persistent haunt that 
 has continued for many years, even for centuries, 
 it is almost certainly a thought- form and not a 
 spirit; for it is very unlikely that any spirit would
 
 98 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 be so unfriended as to be permitted to go on in this 
 aimless and unhappy manner indefinitely, for as 
 soon as any one desires help here it is forthcoming. 
 
 What happens is this. Certain events (probably 
 tragic), which are felt very intensely by the parti- 
 cipators at the time, leave a very clear-cut and well- 
 defined picture in the atmosphere, and at first for 
 a short time the actors in the scene may return in 
 spirit to the spot, and by thinking over what hap- 
 pened revivify and intensify that thought picture. 
 
 Ordinary people then come to that place knowing 
 its history, and some may see the " ghost," and they 
 see it because they are psychic and unconsciously 
 psychometrize the atmosphere, and so mentally de- 
 velop the picture that is there, and so constantly 
 renew the image, which thus becomes almost per- 
 manent. Yes, I know it does seem difficult to re- 
 alize, but it also applies to " feeling " as well as 
 "seeing" past conditions; thus a medium feels 
 pain and discomfort when describing the illness of 
 any one. The medium is psychometrizing the con- 
 dition connected with the spirit while it was a 
 body, and not the spirit itself. 
 
 I say this because I have been told and have 
 noticed myself that spirits are surprised on return- 
 ing to earth to hear themselves described with symp-
 
 ASTRALS AND THOUGHT-FORMS 99 
 
 toms of disease they have almost forgotten they ever 
 suffered. For instance, your father, who " died " 
 over thirty-five years ago, here is in perfect health, 
 yet whenever he returns to earth the mediums de- 
 scribe him as having a cough, and discomfort in 
 his chest; that was true when he passed over (he 
 died of pneumonia), but of course is totally unlike 
 his present condition. 
 
 Another man I know, who had some very pain- 
 ful disease which affected one leg, tells me he gets 
 quite angry when he hears it described now, as he 
 no longer feels it at all even when he returns to 
 earth-conditions, and yet the mediums describe it 
 most accurately, and one might imagine he was 
 still in suffering instead of in perfect health !
 
 RELIGION AND SCIENCE, THOUGHT, AND 
 THOUGHTS 
 
 IT is curious that modern investigations have rec- 
 onciled Religion and Science, for there was a time 
 when religious teachers feared the revelations of 
 scientists; but as a matter of fact these taught better 
 than they knew, for further knowledge has strength- 
 ened faith and not undermined it. Truth will al- 
 ways bear the light. 
 
 Many in the past who disbelieved Bible state- 
 ments now realize it was possible for these seem- 
 ing " miracles " to have really happened. 
 
 They know that the appearance of Christ after 
 His resurrection, in a locked and barred upper room, 
 was a possible fact, for He was in His " Spirit- 
 body," and thousands of men revisit the earth in 
 this way daily now, though only those who are 
 psychically developed can see them. 
 
 It is possible for " spirit-bodies " to go through 
 apparently solid substances, just as sunlight goes 
 through glass, or heat through metal, for as a 
 matter of fact no atoms of matter are actually 
 touching, however solid they may appear to be. 
 
 100
 
 RELIGION, SCIENCE, AND THOUGHTS 101 
 
 ^Man is a triune being, and consists of body, 
 soul, and spirit, though in the world we live as 
 if we consisted of a material body only (with 
 a small spirit tucked away somewhere as a kind of 
 after-thought). Through his ill-balanced develop- 
 ment man does not half realize his own possi- 
 bilities. 
 
 I want to impress upon you, apropos of this, the 
 enormous importance of thought; if men only re- 
 alized and cultivated their powers in this direction 
 they might do wonderful things. 
 
 Thoughts should be guarded as carefully as 
 deeds, for thought is actually creative and im- 
 presses an image on the surrounding atmosphere 
 of which a permanent record remains. Some men 
 are haunted when they come over here by what they 
 have themselves unwittingly created. 
 
 Of course on earth thought is creative also, for 
 everything has there to be planned or arranged in 
 some one's mind before it is made by hands or 
 machinery. 
 
 In the spirit-world, too, we can speak by thought, 
 by telepathy; that is how we overcome the diffi- 
 culty of different languages. This does not mean 
 that I have no privacy of thought, and that my mind 
 is open for all to read. I have to project a thought
 
 102 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 when I want to communicate it, just as all a hyp- 
 notist's thoughts are not conveyed to his patient, 
 but only those which he directly impresses. If you 
 could get people " attuned " properly, they could 
 even think music at each other! 
 
 All wrong thought goes to build up and 
 strengthen the power of evil (called by men the 
 devil). In the beginning, I am told, it was almost 
 negative; man increased it himself by inflicting 
 pain, by cruelty, by lust and envy. 
 
 There is great spiritual and mental " unrest " 
 among men now and has been for some time past, 
 however undefined, obscure, and misunderstood, be- 
 cause man is evolving and there is an unconscious 
 struggle between the spiritual and animal in him. 
 Chaos and disturbance are the result. 
 
 As to the people whose " faith " you say is 
 " shaken " by the war, all I can say is, it's not much 
 of a faith! They are trying to limit God again;, 
 He does not work for one country, but for the good 
 of all mankind, and each nation will learn what it 
 requires for its future development. It would be 
 as sensible for a doctor to treat one symptom of 
 disease in the body only, instead of strengthening 
 and cleansing the whole of it. The systems of the 
 world are being purified. In the past we have put
 
 RELIGION, SCIENCE, AND THOUGHTS 103 
 
 aside or trifled with things that now must be faced 
 in earnest. 
 
 The earth-plane is God's garden, and it was a 
 beautiful garden; what is left of God in it is still 
 beautiful, but it is now full of weeds of evil, disease, 
 poverty, and selfishness. 
 
 The gardeners are beginning to realize that fur- 
 ther trimming is of no use, and these things must 
 be uprooted utterly. In the past so many enjoyed 
 the sunshine and fruit and flowers, and neglected 
 the weeds, which were brushed aside and hidden 
 as unlovely and troublesome things; they have now 
 become rampant, and only drastic measures are 
 any use. 
 
 I know sometimes things look depressing, but 
 I solemnly promise you there is a silver lining to 
 this dark cloud. Men in the old days worked for 
 individual progress; in future the ideal will be to 
 work for others, for the good of the whole and the 
 improvement of the community. 
 
 I am told the sacrifices of this war have not been 
 in vain ; that a purified England will result. There 
 will be a spiritual revolution ; people will try to face 
 truth, to drop some of the shams that are now used 
 to veil it. Perhaps present events do seem to you 
 like a " dark tunnel," but I see the sum shining at
 
 104 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 the end of it, and I know there has never been a 
 crisis in the world's history which has held so much 
 certainty of ultimate good arising out of it. 
 
 Nations and peoples, like individuals, sooner or 
 later reap what they themselves have sown of good 
 and evil ; and knowing this, one realizes that no life, 
 nor the life of any nation, is a succession of dis- 
 connected events. There is a sequence running 
 through them all. They fit into each other like the 
 pieces of a puzzle, though one only sees it clearly 
 as a whole when life on earth is over and the last 
 piece has fitted into its place. V
 
 II. CLAUDE'S LETTERS 
 
 [A Letter written when Claude was in the ranks.] 
 
 August 1914 
 
 MY DARLING MOTHER, Hope you arrived home 
 safely last night. On my way back after leaving 
 you I overtook a lance-corporal in the Engineers 
 coming in my direction, so we walked along to- 
 gether. We became quite " pals." He took me into 
 his tent, one of those situated below the gymnasium, 
 and showed me several dodges in using the rifle. 
 After that we sat and yarned till just before ten, 
 when I turned in. 
 
 The daring " Sergeant-saucers " were not in good 
 form last night; the threat of having up the offend- 
 ers before the Major appears to have had the de- 
 sired effect. The corporal with whom I was yarn- 
 ing had three brothers in the Zulu and Boer Wars, 
 so that his stories were extremely interesting. 
 
 Parade this morning commenced at 6.15 and 
 breakfast at 7.30. At the 9 o'clock parade about 
 a dozen of us were picked out, including myself 
 
 105
 
 io6 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 and L , to form what might be termed a 
 
 " super-recruit " squad, as we are more advanced 
 than the others. We are to be rushed on and 
 drafted to our companies this week, if possible. 
 
 The selected few were drilled by one Sergeant 
 K , the humorous character with the crisp re- 
 partee. During the 10 to n interval, L and 
 
 I sat in the shade of the canteen with Sergeants 
 
 K and B and another sergeant, whose 
 
 lack of military knowledge is only surpassed by 
 the superabundance of flesh round his " Plimsoll 
 line"! 
 
 By dint of a half -pint of beer all round and a 
 winning smile, I soon got on excellent terms with 
 the lot, and was rewarded with some shockingly 
 humorous anecdotes from Sergeant K . 
 
 In the Zulu campaign his experiences were posi- 
 tively side-splitting, especially as he sees the funny 
 side of everything. 
 
 The story of one of his friends, who was shot 
 on his bare back by a Zulu whose blunderbuss was 
 loaded with chopped-up telephone wires, and leaped 
 into the trenches with a yell, with his back bristling 
 with copper spikes, takes a lot of beating. The 
 cream of the joke was that the miserable victim 
 had to spend the rest of his military career in ex-
 
 CLAUDE'S LETTERS 107 
 
 plaining to wilfully incredulous but secretly de- 
 lighted inquirers how he came to be shot in the 
 back if he wasn't running away. 
 
 Needless to say, the more indignantly he denied 
 the soft impeachment the more sceptical his tor- 
 mentors became! 
 
 Scarcely less funny are his experiences when 
 serving with the British Expedition to quell the 
 riots in Crete. 
 
 I nearly put my foot in it to-day. After 12 
 o'clock I went to read the paper on the hill over- 
 looking the sea near the Fort entrance, and fell 
 
 asleep. L left me to go to dinner; I slumbered 
 
 peacefully on. Our next parade was at 2, but at 
 five minutes past I was still dreaming, until the 
 
 breathless L dashed up to say that drill had 
 
 started ten minutes before! However, Sergeant 
 K , seeing us coming in the dim distance, re- 
 lapsed into a spasm of deep thought, with his back 
 to the squad, and consequently pretended not to 
 notice our arrival. But / nearly had a " spasm " 
 over it. I am going down to the " Ship " to-night 
 and I shall be very glad to get some " grub," as 
 I've had nothing for dinner but sleep, which isn't 
 very filling. I have fallen on hard times: I have 
 a cold in my right eye, a pain in my left arm, due
 
 io8 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 of course to the vaccination, and a bit of a headache, 
 due I expect to the same cause. 
 
 However, I am getting used to the floor of the 
 " Jimmy-Nasum," as I heard it called this morn- 
 ing. I will write again soon. Your loving son, 
 
 CLAUDE 
 
 [THE following Letters were written from the 
 
 Front after Claude joined the Royal Flying 
 
 Corps.] 
 
 FRANCE 
 
 MY DARLING MOTHER, Thank you so much for 
 your letters and the cakes. I believe, as a matter 
 of fact, that a postal transport was lost, stolen, or 
 strayed recently, as no one got any letters for a 
 day or two. 
 
 I had a two-hour trip yesterday on wireless work, 
 over Ypres as usual. But owing to a clear sky and 
 an erratic course, " Archie " didn't risk straining 
 his neck over us! 
 
 After tea I had one of the most miraculous 
 escapes on record in the Flying Corps. It hap- 
 pened thuswise: 
 
 I was taking up an F.E., our largest fight- 
 ing pusher biplane in the Service, for the first 
 time.
 
 CLAUDE'S LETTERS 109 
 
 H being very anxious to accompany me 
 
 " to save ballast," as he put it, came too. 
 
 Everything went well getting off, and I was be- 
 ginning to congratulate myself when the engine 
 stopped without a second's warning. 
 
 On reviewing the situation the prospects were 
 hardly promising. We were 60 feet up, and over 
 an impermeable square of fifty- foot trees, and too 
 low to turn, not to mention it was a strange ma- 
 chine ! 
 
 Rather awkward, wasn't it? However, I kept 
 straight on for the trees in front, gliding as flat 
 as I dared, hoping to clear the top and reach a 
 ploughed field beyond. Nothing doing! 
 
 Note, Providence had ordained that two trees 
 should be cut down, and those two left a gap the 
 exact width of my machine, though it looked 
 smaller. 
 
 Trying to get over them I got too flat, and losing 
 flying-speed stalled the machine. 
 
 As an A.S.C. mechanic told me afterwards, she 
 got through that gap with just a 2-inch clearance 
 on both sides. 
 
 No sooner had she passed, than down went her 
 nose almost vertically for earth, and about 40 feet 
 up!!!
 
 i io CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 There was nothing for it but to hold the stick 
 hard back and wait for her to pick up enough speed 
 to answer the elevator. 
 
 Rather unpleasant that wait! Thirteen feet off 
 the plough she started pulling up, and instead of 
 striking the ground vertically, she struck it at 45. 
 
 By all the laws of nature she ought to have 
 turned over and deposited her engine through yours 
 truly and H , and made a hole in the ground. 
 
 But no; we weren't "for it" this time. She 
 struck a bit sideways at 50 miles an hour and 45 
 down, spun round, smashed to smithereens, top 
 
 to bottom. H and I got out without a scratch ! 
 
 But, facing the gap in the trees, how, I dunno! 
 
 The getting out, consisting of placing one foot 
 straight on the ground, which in view of the fact 
 that ordinarily the "Cock-pit" is n feet up and 
 has to be reached by a step ladder, is no mean 
 symptom of the condition of the machine. 
 
 We both got out, shook hands spontaneously, 
 and laughed. 
 
 It really was rather funny. 
 
 But our adventures were not at an end. Within 
 three minutes of crashing, a rapidly increasing 
 whistle changed to a moan and finished up with a 
 bang!
 
 CLAUDE'S LETTERS in 
 
 On first thoughts, I thought we were being 
 shelled, as the explosive pitched 300 yards off, 
 though in view of our distance from the lines it 
 was highly improbable. 
 
 However, a more distinct and regular drone be- 
 trayed a Hun machine, about 7000 feet up, and ap- 
 parently vertically above. 
 
 The advent of another whistle, precisely like the 
 first, made the crowd that had collected disperse 
 with considerably greater alacrity than one is ac- 
 customed to see in Belgian peasantry. 
 
 The second one was a darned good shot con- 
 sidering his height, as it fell within 200 yards of 
 us, and blew a hole in the ground. 
 
 He then went on his way rejoicing, and gave 
 Abeele another, though with what result I have not 
 hitherto ascertained. 
 
 I have secured half a dozen portions of his second 
 shot at us, as mementoes of the occasion. 
 
 The local damage was considerable; seven pota- 
 toes were irretrievably damaged! One in parti- 
 cular was riddled with shrapnel and quite inedible. 
 
 So my first real crash has been a good one. I 
 have taken a couple of " snaps " of it; I hope they 
 will turn out satisfactory. 
 
 I have also got the canvas off my Q.c. tail, with
 
 ii2 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 sundry patches, most of them acquired in our scrap 
 over Lille. Think we shall have to start a museum 
 after the war. 
 
 By the way, it was lucky I did not fly over, as 
 Captain C flew over last Friday, the day be- 
 fore I came out, and spent half an hour in the 
 Channel with a dud engine, and was salved by a 
 destroyer. 
 
 Rather nasty if there had been two of us on board 
 the machine. 
 
 Well, it's about time I did some work u a.m. 
 I must go and test my Q.c. if it has been finished. 
 
 Good-by for the present. Tons of love to all. 
 Your loving son, CLAUDE 
 
 FRANCE 
 
 MY DARLING MOTHER, Another " dud " day, 
 but by no means a wasted one. 
 
 After breakfast, four of us started off on foot 
 for a trudge to the trenches, though we got a lift 
 right up to Ypres. 
 
 The town is in a most extraordinary state, just 
 as though a stupendous earthquake had paid it a 
 visit; and is so deserted that it is veritably a city 
 of the dead. 
 
 The remains of the far-famed Cloth Hall and
 
 CLAUDE'S LETTERS 113 
 
 Cathedral have still traces of their old beauty, with 
 here and there traces of frescoes and carvings. 
 
 The cemetery has been shelled beyond recogni- 
 tion, and the gasometer is by no means gas-tight. 
 
 We went southwards by the Lille gate and visited 
 
 a battery dug-out near X , where we refreshed 
 
 the inner man. 
 
 Thence we entered the first communicating 
 trench, quite half a mile long, and worked up into 
 the reserve trenches towards " Sanctuary Wood " 
 and " Maple Copse." 
 
 Most extraordinary the way the trenches run, 
 each with its name on a post at the ends. 
 
 "Lover's Walk," "Bond Street," "Suicide 
 Corner " were a few I noticed in passing. 
 
 The ground around was a mass of shell-holes, 
 graves, and fallen trees. 
 
 The air was none too pure either, as the recent 
 attacks have kept the men too busy to dispose of 
 all the poor devils who were knocked out. 
 
 In the wood itself, one can walk about in com- 
 parative safety, though 70 or 80 per cent, of the 
 trees have been lopped off at the base by passing 
 shells. 
 
 The German trench-mortars were pretty active 
 and making lots of noise, whilst every now and
 
 iH CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 then, about seven or eight times a minute, one 
 could hear the crack of a rifle, as one or other of 
 our snipers spotted a target, and quite as frequently 
 a " ziph," " ziph," as the Germans did the same, and 
 the bullets came over the trench we were in. 
 
 They make a noise almost like a sigh, but are not 
 nearly so unpleasant to my mind as the shells one 
 can hear coming for ten or fifteen seconds with a 
 noise like a heavy goods train, finishing up with a 
 crash that makes one jump like a shot rabbit. 
 
 Eventually we found ourselves in the front-line 
 trenches and within twenty yards of the Germans. 
 
 Looking through a periscope they only appeared 
 about five, with stacks of barbed wire and men who 
 had fallen in the last attack in between. 
 
 Indeed, in some places, where a trench had been 
 only partially taken or lost by one side or the other, 
 they were actually in the same trench, with a dozen 
 or so coils of barbed wire as a partition five yards 
 distance between their barricade and ours. 
 
 Coming away they sniped at us, but with no 
 success, and we got within twenty yards of one 
 of our machines brought down last month, and 
 
 within thirty of the remains of the one H 
 
 strafed on one of his many duels. 
 
 Three o'clock found us on our way back, and
 
 CLAUDE'S LETTERS 115 
 
 within an hour we were having tea in an Artillery 
 dug-out. 
 
 Thence we skirted Ypres, and by walking along 
 the remains of the railway line struck the main 
 road homeward bound. 
 
 Walking along the line we were surprised to hear 
 a hidden voice yelling at us to " clear out," which 
 we didn't take long to do, as I spotted the muzzle of 
 a 6-inch gun within 20 feet of us loaded and cocked 
 and pointing our way, but it was so well hidden 
 that we hadn't noticed it till the gunner yelled out. 
 
 Anyway, it went off within thirty seconds with 
 a pretty resounding bang ! 
 
 That's one of the beauties of life out here, you 
 never know what's going to happen next. 
 
 In passing all that is left of Ypres Station we 
 gave a peep in at the running-sheds. 
 
 One of the only two engines inside was a rickety 
 and prehistoric old pram, and the other had had its 
 chimney taken off as clean as a whistle by the 
 shell that had plonked a neat hole in the wall, and 
 was too knocked about to ever be serviceable again. 
 
 Fifty yards down the line was another loco, with 
 a shell-hole plonk through the boiler, with tubes 
 sticking out all over like a hedgehog. 
 
 Another hundred yards and there were the two
 
 ii6 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 largest shell-holes I've ever seen, and there are 
 some sizey ones in Ypres! 
 
 Two pits about 25 feet deep and the bottom full 
 of water with a circumference of at least 30 feet! 
 
 When one sees that the edges of the holes are 
 about 10 feet apart and the " Jack Johnsons " can- 
 not have been fired at a range of less than 15 miles, 
 one cannot but respect the German Artillery. 
 
 Besides, they were both beautifully placed in the 
 middle of the station sidings, with rails lying about 
 torn and twisted like so much cotton. 
 
 The town walls show innumerable scars in every 
 direction, and the whole presents a picture one can 
 never forget. 
 
 The trenches we had visited were at the very 
 apex of the Ypres salient, surrounded by Teutons 
 on three sides, though the Highlanders who were 
 in them were as cheery as larks. 
 
 A few hunks of shell accompanied me home as 
 souvenirs. Time I knocked off now ; post orderly's 
 just going. Love to all. Your loving son, 
 
 CLAUDE 
 
 MY DARLING MOTHER, Just a line to let you 
 know that I am in excellent form, though very 
 hard worked, having done eleven and a quarter
 
 CLAUDE'S LETTERS 117 
 
 hours in four days, which is rather stiff considering 
 the heights vary from 6000 feet upward, and 
 " Archie " has been increasingly active and accurate. 
 
 However, I think things will cool off again by 
 the end of next week, which is comforting. 
 
 Moreover, the prospect of a week's leave is dis- 
 tinctly cheering, and it may come in three, or four, 
 or ten, or eleven days, or later, according to cir- 
 cumstances. 
 
 We are rather a sad little party just now, as 
 " B " Flight Commander and an observer, both 
 awfully good fellows, fell victims to " Archie " the 
 day before yesterday. 
 
 However, H promptly went up and " did 
 
 in " one of their scouts in return, so things are al- 
 most square again. 
 
 The weather has cleared up beautifully, and 
 shows symptoms of starting another summer. 
 
 I saw England yesterday for the first time from 
 here. 
 
 The brilliant white cliffs lining a sea of the deep- 
 est blue, whilst the entire world lay under an ocean 
 of mist, tinged pink with the rising sun, was a sight 
 that it is not easy to forget. 
 
 One does see most wonderfully beautiful sights 
 flying high at dawn.
 
 ii8 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 The shadow of the machine follows one along 
 the clouds below, surroundpd by a white halo, 
 which in turn is encircled by a complete little rain- 
 bow. 
 
 And just as one is beginning to be sentimental 
 "bang!" goes an "Archie" with a yellow flame 
 and a puff of smoke, and makes you jump like a 
 jack-in-the-box and dodge like a squib, and one's 
 mind returns to the job in hand with a jerk. 
 
 Trying to take photographs yesterday I dived 
 through a valley in the clouds down to 6000 feet, 
 but before I got over the target off went four well- 
 placed 4-inch high explosives, and I was back in 
 the clouds before you could say snap. 
 
 However, the Germans are nothing if not me- 
 thodical, and they tried to pepper the entire clond! 
 
 Rather amusing. 
 
 We have a new and swollen-headed youth here 
 (who can't have been properly brought up) who is 
 training as an observer, and who is very given to 
 criticizing pilots and their flying. 
 
 He was rash enough to tell me that he didn't 
 think I had had long enough in the air to be safe, 
 and other offensive remarks of a like nature. 
 
 Well, having finished a " job of work," as wire- 
 less duty is called, I brought him back to the aero-
 
 CLAUDE'S LETTERS ng 
 
 drome with the fixed determination to give him a 
 lesson ; so I tail-slid him, and side-slipped, and nose- 
 dived, and stalled, and pitched, and rolled. 
 
 Towards the end of five minutes he looked round 
 very sheepishly and said he'd be ill in a minute; 
 naturally I sympathized deeply, and gave two colos- 
 sal tosses! 
 
 He was wrong, he didn't hold out for nearly a 
 minute, and I must confess I was cruel enough to 
 slow up the machine in order that he could hear 
 me chuckling. 
 
 I haven't heard him criticize my flying since. 
 
 Alas for him, he had me as a pilot again to-day, 
 and I brought him over the aerodrome at much the 
 same height. 
 
 However, as he had made so much fuss about 
 the previous performance, I brought him down 
 " sarcastically " that is to say, so slowly that he 
 might have been a rich and elderly relation. 
 
 But all to no purpose; he had already been ill 
 at the prospect of what he thought he'd have to go 
 through. 
 
 Dear, dear, it's a hard world, but it's a bilious 
 air! 
 
 Good-by for the present; fondest love to all. 
 Your loving son, CLAUDE
 
 120 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 FRANCE 
 
 MY DARLING MOTHER, It must seem quite an 
 age since I last wrote to you. 
 
 We have had quite a gay time for the last three 
 days, though very little in the flying line. 
 
 On Monday, the weather being pleasantly un- 
 pleasant, we " Dunkirked " in the afternoon, lunched 
 there and did some shopping, but returned almost 
 immediately, as the roads were so bad that we 
 didn't like to face them in the dark. 
 
 Tuesday proved a very rough morning, but after 
 
 tea four of us went into the little town of X , 
 
 four miles from here, to a cinema. 
 
 The show is run by the Sixth Corps, and en- 
 tertains two to three hundred men every night. 
 
 Fancy an army carrying a cinematograph with it ! 
 
 Unfortunately, we got back too late for the post. 
 Next morning the news leaked out that the King 
 was going to inspect us. 
 
 About 6000 infantry were paraded on the aero- 
 drome, and a flagstaff erected in the centre. 
 
 The Flying Corps were well represented. I had 
 had instructions to fly up and around, to give the 
 show a " finishing touch," but a darned thunder- 
 storm came up and provided that instead!
 
 CLAUDE'S LETTERS 121 
 
 The King arrived at 10.30, and the men marched 
 past in great style. 
 
 Unfortunately the rain prevented the royal party, 
 including the Prince of Wales, and accompanied 
 by Sir John French, from coming round the sheds 
 afterwards, though a number of the Staff, com- 
 monly called " Tin-hats," had to be shown round. 
 
 Two buttonholed me, and, there being no means 
 of an honorable retreat, I did the " showman act " 
 for half an hour. 
 
 In the evening the entire flight, with two ex- 
 ceptions, motored into X to see a " pierrot 
 
 show " there, run by five officers and two Belgian 
 girls, who are let off for the purpose of entertain- 
 ing the men. 
 
 Darned good show, too! Anything that makes 
 one forget the war for a couple of hours is very 
 welcome. 
 
 I ran across a chap I knew at Eastbourne at " The 
 Fancies," as they style themselves. 
 
 I believe he and I used to have hotly contested 
 competitions for the bottom seat in class. 
 
 Honors were more or less even, if my memory 
 serves me right. 
 
 I told him to come over this way on the off-chance 
 of getting a joy-ride. As a matter of fact, the
 
 122 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 "joy" part of the proceeding's is usually one- 
 sided the pilot's side. 
 
 More rain again this morning ; indeed, " an ideal 
 dawn and very promising," as we remarked at 
 breakfast. 
 
 There are rumors, though as yet not officially 
 confirmed, that the strength of the R.F.C. is being 
 reduced in the winter to ten pilots per squadron, 
 instead of the present strength of twelve. 
 
 The only way it would seem to affect the remain- 
 der would be that leave would come a week sooner 
 each time, and very nice, too! 
 
 At the present rate of progress, another four 
 weeks ought to see me home again. 
 
 I had a very nice letter from Mrs. D and 
 
 G yesterday, and of course one from you too. 
 
 By the way, I forgot to mention that yesterday 
 
 afternoon I had to do an aerial patrol over B , 
 
 as the King was reviewing some troops there. 
 
 Fearfully rough up, as we, H and I, spent 
 
 most of our time dodging thunder storms, but in 
 the absence of " Archie " the trip was distinctly 
 pleasant. 
 
 A perfect gale is in progress just now. The 
 trees are shedding their leaves, while the rain is 
 beating an infernal tattoo on the roof, which, being
 
 CLAUDE'S LETTERS 123 
 
 of canvas stretched on a wood frame, resounds like 
 a drum. 
 
 I have got an extensive stock of letters to polish 
 off by to-night's post, so I'll shut down for the day. 
 Love to all. 
 
 [THIS is Claude's last letter. He wrote a few lines 
 on the 8th to say he " would be home in a few 
 days on leave," but he never came, for he went 
 out on the morning of the nth November and 
 did not return. He was reported " missing," 
 and it was nearly a month before he was known 
 to have been killed in mid-air that morning, 
 fighting two German aeroplanes.] 
 
 FRANCE, 
 
 November 5, 1915 
 
 MY DARLING MOTHER, Success at last ! Had a 
 real adventure, involving several minor ones in its 
 train, and it was thuswise: 
 
 Yesterday being the first fine day, I had in- 
 structions to go up in an F.E., with P as 
 
 observer, to take some photographs over X : 
 
 about the most unpleasant job going, as the numer- 
 ous woods about there are absolutely bristling with 
 " Archies " of no mean prowess, as I can testify, 
 having had, perforce, to sample some of their
 
 124 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 wares on many a reconnaissance of late. It took us, 
 roughly, an hour to get up to 9,000 feet, which time 
 
 we spent between Y and X , climbing, 
 
 climbing, and climbing still. The air was pretty 
 full of machines, it being the first fine day for some 
 considerable time. We saw no Huns, though we 
 afterwards heard that there were three hanging 
 about behind their lines, and worrying a number of 
 our fellows doing photography. Twenty to twelve 
 
 found us east of X , not far short of 10,000 feet 
 
 up, and distinctly chilly. 
 
 A biplane and a monoplane appeared east of us, 
 the biplane leading, with ample evidence of being 
 in a hurry, with the monoplane which appeared 
 to be one of our " Morane " type overhauling it 
 hands over fists. We were about 2500 feet above 
 the buses, and when within about a mile I got a 
 glimpse of the monoplane's top wing. Black crosses 
 on a white base! Good enough! 
 
 Down went my F.E.'s nose almost vertically, my 
 observer standing on the wireless set, which in the 
 normal flying position is straight up in front of 
 the passenger seat, but in the present case was of 
 course considerably more horizontal than the 
 " floor." Two thousand feet we came down, while 
 the air-speed indicator went up to 160 m.p.h. and
 
 CLAUDE'S LETTERS 125 
 
 then stuck not having been designed for the pur- 
 pose of exceeding recognized limits. I expected the 
 F.E. to fold up under the strain any moment, but 
 she stood it like a rock. 
 
 By this time the other two machines were almost 
 vertically below us. The Hun had caught up the 
 Be.Qc., and was emptying his gun into it at 50 
 yards' range. It subsequently transpired that just 
 at this moment he had put three bullets in the ob- 
 server's arm, and one through the main petrol tank, 
 with the result that the precious fluid was pouring 
 all over pilot, observer, and fusilage. 
 
 I started pulling the F.E. out of her nose dive 
 about 200 feet above the Hun, as too sudden a 
 shock would inevitably have crumpled her up. The 
 consequence was that we found ourselves above and 
 behind the unfortunate Teuton, and within 20 yards 
 of him. To my mind he never saw us until we 
 opened fire. Thank the Lord, the machine-gun 
 worked, for a change! Twenty rounds of lead 
 were planted into the back of his neck, though 
 apparently they did not hit him. He then turned 
 his attention to us, turning left-handed and passing 
 directly below us. This necessitated our getting on 
 to a perpendicular bank, and doing a complete cir- 
 cuit to see where he'd got to. The little beggar was
 
 126 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 describing circuits round us, while we did a sort of 
 " inner circle," conducted, of course, with a per- 
 pendicular bank; but owing to the fact that our 
 speed was so great, and that we were doing complete 
 turns in about twice the length of our machine, the 
 
 centrifugal force was so great that P couldn't 
 
 hold the machine-gun on its mounting. As it is 
 hinged centrally, the heavier half being inwards, it 
 swung down, and though the whole gun only weighs 
 twenty-eight pounds he could not pull it up square. 
 
 Things being at the moment at a distinctly unsatis- 
 factory status, we weren't sorry to see the Hun 
 head for home. After him we went, both diving 
 
 lustily, while P (more familiarly known as 
 
 " Pongo ") gave him the rest of the drum another 
 twenty-eight rounds. 
 
 I was beginning to get a little anxious, as we were 
 getting very low and expecting " Archie " to get 
 us any minute when we got him. 
 
 A lucky shot found its billet, and the pilot was no 
 more. 
 
 The evolutions that machine described falling 
 7000 feet with no man at the wheel were extra- 
 ordinary. 
 
 Viewed from above first wheels up, then right 
 way again, a loop, several cartwheels, a nose dive,
 
 CLAUDE'S LETTERS 127 
 
 more loops, and several turns on to and off its back, 
 sideways, until it was lost to sight almost on the 
 ground. Good enough ! 
 
 By this time another F.E., a Bristol Scout, and 
 two C.c.'s had arrived, but fortunately for me 
 too late to claim a share in the finale. 
 
 The next I remember doing was looking at my 
 watch, 12.45. 
 
 The incident over, we started climbing again, as 
 those infernal photographs had to be done. At this 
 point the engine began to have a say in the matter, 
 and one cylinder decided to strike. So homeward 
 we wended our weary way, though, I must confess, 
 not without a frequent exchange of handshakes and 
 chuckles. 
 
 Quite an ovation on landing the only person who 
 wasn't cheery was the unfortunate observer of the 
 Q.c. who entered into the commencement of the 
 scrap. The satisfaction of knowing that the Johnny 
 who'd pushed three holes into his right arm con- 
 siderately avoiding to touch the bone had been 
 properly strafed, didn't bear any weight. However, 
 he'd had a rotten time in the air; it wasn't to be 
 wondered at. 
 
 This little beggar we had the luck to account for 
 had, in company with two Aviatiks, given two other
 
 128 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 Q.c.'s of ours a busy time when they were on pho- 
 tography and reconnaissance duties, which rather 
 mitigates the sorrow which one naturally feels for 
 the poor beggars, whom the laws of war made our 
 victims, though they might have been the best of 
 fellows in themselves. 
 
 The major was delighted, as it was the first 
 machine of this type to show up in this quarter. A 
 number of " Fokkers," as the German Moranes are 
 called, have been giving our machines a lot of 
 trouble down south, and it is rather thought that 
 this one may have been a picked pilot sent up 
 to put some more heart into the other machines 
 working in this sector of the Front. 
 
 For his first appearance he had certainly done 
 remarkably well, driving off three of our machines 
 and wounding an observer. For speed and climb, 
 he left our machines absolutely standing, so he was 
 well out of the way. 
 
 I must say that he was the first German we have 
 run across who put up anything like a real decent 
 show, and our jubilation is tinged with regret at the 
 loss of a very gallant fellow. So much for the 
 episode itself. 
 
 We got back satisfactorily to a late lunch, and 
 soon after having entered up our report as to
 
 CLAUDE'S LETTERS 129 
 
 whether or not it was worth salving, were granted 
 permission to go up to the wreckage. Meanwhile 
 complications arose. An Anti- Aircraft ass who, 
 as usual, knew about as much of his job as a cat 
 does of cooking, had 'phoned up to the " V " Corps 
 to say that a " Vickers " had brought down a Ger- 
 man machine inside our lines. No. 5 Squadron, 
 who share the aerodrome with us and have some 
 " Vickers " machines, promptly came to the conclu- 
 sion that to them was the credit, and sent in a claim 
 to it to the Wing Headquarters. 
 
 The Major's tactics were masterful. You remem- 
 ber, I told you that at the close of the scrap another 
 F.E., a Bristol Scout, two Q.c.'s, and sundry others 
 arrived at the conclusion of the fracas up aloft? 
 Well, he instructed each pilot to send in a report of 
 what he saw. Five witnesses all round us and ample 
 not to say irrefutable evidence that no " Vick- 
 ers " had been within ten miles of the scene all day. 
 Result: Verdict for my Squadron. 
 
 P and I, with a flight-sergeant from my flight 
 
 and a mechanic, set out about four by car. We 
 
 turned off the road just after passing , and 
 
 left the car down a side-road and waded through 
 twelve inches of liquid mud for 300 yards to the 
 Headquarters of an Artillery Brigade, where they
 
 130 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 insisted on us having tea. By this time it was dark, 
 and a mist was in the making. Thence we were 
 directed through more seas upon seas of mud to an 
 Infantry Brigade Headquarters our primary ob- 
 jective. Here, after considerable delay, due to the 
 fact that one brigade was moving in and another 
 out, we got a very braw Scotsman for guide. After 
 that the journey is beyond description; words fail 
 me when trying to portray the journey four miles 
 in the dark and a thickening mist. For a mile we 
 kept our direction by holding one hand on a wire 
 run along posts three feet high for that purpose, 
 through woods, across fields, over trenches, jumping 
 ditches when one could, and wading through when 
 one couldn't. Never less than six inches mud, and 
 sometimes so thick that it was impossible to shift a 
 leg without pulling it out of the morass, by hand if 
 you please! 
 
 We thereupon struck a wooden track, known as 
 the " ration railway," having wooden lines with 
 trucks worked by hand. Imagine if you can the 
 difficulties of keeping one's footing stepping from 
 sleeper to sleeper when they were under four inches 
 of mud and water at irregular intervals and only 
 three inches wide, slippery as an eel into the bar- 
 gain. When you missed one which you did every
 
 CLAUDE'S LETTERS 131 
 
 third or fourth step (if you were lucky, or every 
 other one if you weren't) you were up to your 
 knees or sometimes over them in the slime, without 
 exaggerating one atom. A mile of line had been 
 followed by this distinctly laborious method when it 
 finally disappeared from sight altogether under a 
 pond. 
 
 A consultation which we proceeded to hold was 
 disturbed by a mysterious creaking, much splashing, 
 and a volume of oaths in an outlandish tongue, 
 which I came to the conclusion was Gaelic. Behold, 
 through the pond streamed a battalion of the Royal 
 Scots coming out of the trenches for a rest. There 
 being obviously nothing for it but to take the 
 plunge, we waded knee-deep in water, and followed 
 the direction of the track, using the various bag- 
 gage trucks on the line, with their attendant per- 
 spiring Scotties, as milestones. 
 
 The ground being strewn with shell-holes with 
 the regularity of a honeycomb, I was lucky to get 
 off with four immersions, some members of the 
 party faring worse. Three miles were covered in 
 this way, and we weren't sorry to find ourselves in 
 a wood, covering the battalion headquarters that 
 we had to interview. A chat and a drink of water, 
 and even that is precious up there, and an officer
 
 132 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 volunteered to take us out to the scene of the crash. 
 
 A walk of five hundred yards more mud, more 
 water brought us up to a line of trenches and dug- 
 outs about one hundred yards from the German 
 trenches, though screened from those nearest us by 
 a slight rise in between. That we were in unpleas- 
 ant proximity was soon apparent, as the phew! 
 phew! of the bullets came with most disturbing 
 regularity. All the time, star-shell magnesium 
 flares went up and made you stand still as a rock, 
 as the least movement would give one away. But 
 by now we had reached the wreckage. As far as 
 I gathered, viewed from the ground, the fall was 
 full of excitement, and our troops for four miles 
 along the lines had stood up and cheered to a man 
 for several minutes on end. 
 
 In fact, a few had said to the officer in command 
 of the battalion, so he told us, that they all felt it 
 was worth four days' discomfort to see it come 
 down 7000 feet, as the engine was going all the 
 time, and he only took thirty-five seconds to drop 
 the best part of two miles. You can imagine the 
 pace it was going when it hit the ground ! Finishing 
 its descent in a nose dive, as I said with its engine 
 going, it first struck the top of a dug-out. It would 
 seem that fellows watching its descent, and seeing
 
 CLAUDE'S LETTERS 133 
 
 its course to be headed towards them, had taken 
 refuge in the dug-out. The roof was built of 
 trunks of trees of reassuring dimensions, covered 
 with three feet of earth. 
 
 The impact was so great that, owing to the 
 weight of the engine, it had gone slap through the 
 roof and buried its nose into the bottom of the dug- 
 out, leaving a portion of its tail outside, but the 
 rest so telescoped -as to occupy not more than a 
 cubic yard. Remembering the fact that this type of 
 machine has an all-steel frame, and that behind the 
 pilot's seat there is nothing of weight, it helps to 
 emphasize what a colossal speed he must have been 
 travelling. The four occupants of the dug-out were 
 all wounded as a result, but none seriously. One 
 in particular lay there under the impression that he 
 was in another world for some time! About a 
 quarter of an hour after striking, the debris caught 
 fire, possibly due to the shells which the Germans 
 promptly proceeded to put over. It was then that 
 the " would-be-corpse " decided that a little activity 
 might be helpful, and as he had begun to smoulder, 
 he was dropped into a convenient shell-hole full of 
 water, which restored him to his status ante-crash, if 
 one may coin an expression. The debris was still 
 smouldering when we got there. Of what we saw
 
 134 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 in that dug-out ten feet by twelve feet, by the light 
 of an electric torch through the smoke and smell, the 
 time being midnight, and shells going off all around, 
 I shall never forget as long as I live. 
 
 Beyond repeating the official report I sent in, 
 details would be too blood-curdling to put on 
 paper. I don't think such a situation has been 
 conceived in the most hair-raising novel ever 
 written. 
 
 Awful, isn't it? Shook my nerve up to a mince, 
 but it may straighten out again soon. Personally, I 
 couldn't stick it for more than a few minutes, and 
 fled into the fresh air, though a particularly close 
 " phew-phut ! " drove me into the trench again. A 
 half-hour's wait, while the sergeant and mechanic 
 made a more thorough examination and traced 
 many peculiar items of interest. 
 
 As mementoes of a very gruesome occasion, I 
 have got two decoration ribbons the observer was 
 wearing, though no medals were found; one of the 
 ribbons is that of the Iron Cross. I have also the 
 magneto from the engine, and a pistol for firing 
 colored flares to range their anti-aircraft batteries 
 on our machines, a portion of the fabric and plane 
 (though the crosses from the wings had already been 
 collared), and a few regimental buttons from the
 
 CLAUDE'S LETTERS 135 
 
 pilot's tunic, which we shared out to the mechanic 
 and sergeant with us. 
 
 Starting home soon after twelve, the process of 
 alternate wading, staggering, paddling, and wal- 
 lowing was repeated with an increased intensity, 
 owing to the mist having become a proper old fog. 
 Besides getting lost several times, we did an un- 
 necessary four miles, as we missed the proper turn- 
 ing. As you may guess, we were mighty thankful 
 to find our tender again, and infernally fagged too. 
 But our adventures were not at end even then. 
 
 Of course we are not allowed lights out there, 
 and we ran slap into a horse and wagon, fortunately 
 missing the former, who proceeded to bolt into the 
 fog in the opposite direction. 
 
 More than once one wheel of the car went into 
 a shell-hole, and such a jolting as we got takes a 
 long time to forget. 
 
 You may be sure we weren't sorry to turn into 
 the aerodrome at two o'clock this morning, as we 
 hadn't had a bite for what must be easily the most 
 eventful twelve hours of my life. 
 
 Having sorted out and apportioned the relics, we 
 turned in, and as for myself, slept like a top. 
 
 Thanks so much for your letters and the maga- 
 zines I have read the article by the " Junior Sub."
 
 136 CLAUDE'S BOOK 
 
 Just off to bye-bye. I'm afraid this is too late 
 for to-night's post, but I thought it better to get it 
 finished, as you may suppose I hadn't even time for 
 a P.C. yesterday. 
 
 Good-by, mother dear; thank you and Dad so 
 much for your letters. Fondest love to all. Your 
 loving son, CLAUDE
 
 BY MARGARET WIDDEMER 
 
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