ROCHESTER (_Continued_).
"REPEAT THE LORD'S PRAYER"--FIRST MONEY ACCEPTED--MUSCULAR
QUAKERISM--LETTER FROM GEORGE WILLETS--LETTER FROM JOHN E.
ROBINSON--CAUTION AGAINST CONSULTATION OF SPIRITS ABOUT WORLDLY
INTERESTS.
To resume the narrative interrupted at page 74.
We left Corinthian Hall about ten o'clock P.M., and returned with Mr.
and Mrs. Post, to their hospitable Quaker home.
We had passed the fiery ordeal. It had been a wearisome, exhausting
trial. We needed rest, and it was thought advisable for us to remain
there a few days. Many people called at our house on Troup Street, and,
when they were informed of our absence, subsequently called at Mr.
Post's to see us, but were refused admittance under the circumstances
which imposed the necessity.
Before we left this home of our kind and dear friends, mother and Kathie
returned. (The latter had been to Mr. Capron's, in Auburn, and returned
with mother to Rochester.)
Mother had not heard of the public investigation, and thus was spared
all the anxiety and torture of mind which we had undergone. She declared
that if she had been there she would not have permitted it.
We were consoled by the reflection that we had fairly gained the
victory, and cleared ourselves from the charges of deception; and that
was our first and chief desire. We believed we had done our duty, and
rejoiced that we had been so truly, so kindly and so nobly supported,
and so honorably acquitted. Mother was rejoiced at our success and began
to feel more resigned. Many persons continued to call, and all were
anxious to learn from us and the Spirits something more than they were
able to get through popular report or the newspapers. We often refused
to see them, and declared we would not again subject ourselves to the
criticisms of those who knew little or nothing of the subject, and were
in general so bitterly hostile and prejudiced against it.
Oh, how little did we know of all that was before us! We had just opened
the door to the public curiosity and interest; and it was not for us to
discriminate _who_ should enter therein. The people came from every
direction. We knew not what to do. Judge Hascall came to spend an
evening with us, bringing with him a large party of his friends,
viz., Judge Summerfield, Hon. J. Hedden, Andrew Stewart, Mr. Duncan
McNaughton, Judge Chamberlain, Mr. McKay, and Mr. McVean. One of these
parties was known to his friends as an extreme infidel in religious
matters.
Several of the parties named had visited us before, and they had urged
Mr. McNaughton to spend the evening with us. He tried to excuse himself,
but they insisted, and he finally consented to do so; they clearly
understood that he was not to take any part in the investigation.
They arrived at about eight o'clock P.M. Judge Hascall introduced the
gentlemen as his friends and neighbors from Genesee County, N. Y. They
were all distinguished men, holding high positions in their several
pursuits.
No sooner had we taken our seats at the table, than the Spirits spelled
out, "My dear son, repeat the Lord's prayer." Each member looked at the
others inquiringly, but no word was spoken except to ask "Who?"
The rappings answered, "My dear son, ha'e ye forgotten your puir auld
mither? O my son, repeat the Lord's prayer." Mr. McNaughton was a very
tall man, with a strong Scotch accent. The rapping still continued
to call upon him to repeat the Lord's prayer. He looked from one to
another, but said nothing. His friends urged him to comply with the
Spirit's request; but he was disgusted, and thought it was a trick which
his friends were playing upon him, and as they were very jolly, he would
not make himself ridiculous by resenting it: but still no further
manifestations came, under the then state of things.
His friends told him that if he wanted to witness anything further
he would have to comply with the request of the Spirit. After much
persuasion, he reluctantly commenced in a very low, indistinct manner to
mumble something that sounded like "Our father, which art in heaven." By
this time a universal roar of laughter broke from the company. Still,
the Spirit urged him to go on, and he began again with little better
success.
His friends knew full well it had been many a day since he had prayed
with his "dear auld mither." The Spirit then spelled that "_all_
should join in repeating the Lord's prayer," and we all united in its
repetition. The responsive rappings of approval were heard all over the
room--on the table, chairs, floor, and wall. Mr. McNaughton looked
astonished. The table danced with evident joy, and we were obliged
to move back. There it stood, upon one foot, fairly dancing. Mr.
McNaughton exclaimed boldly, in his Scotch dialect, "Exthraordinary!
Exthraordinary! I begin to understand it now." The laughter was over.
The Spirit of his mother said, "My dear son, do you remember how we used
to repeat the Lord's prayer together, when you were a little laddie?"
"Yes, mother. Yes, I comprehend it all. I am converted to the truth of
Spiritual manifestations."
The company remained until ten o'clock, and the manifestations were
very satisfactory. They felt more than gratified, and, to use their own
words, said, "We cannot go away without giving you some remuneration for
the time you have kindly spent with us." Mr. McNaughton had just lost a
lovely daughter, and she gave him sweet assurance of her undying love
and her immortal existence.
This is the first instance in which we had ever been offered payment for
our time. They offered it in kindness and good faith, believing it was
justly our due. But to us it seemed humiliating. We had not needed such
aid, as my brother furnished us with provisions from the farm, and, with
what I still had left of that received for teaching, I had enough for
present purposes; and I fully intended to return with mother, and live
at the old home. Still our friends insisted that we should not refuse
their kindly intended gift. This first money was received on November
28, 1849.
* * * * *
I will here introduce, for love and veneration to his memory, a letter
written about this time by our excellent Quaker friend George Willets,
of Rochester, to Mr. E. W. Capron, who handed it over to me. He was
one of the noblest of men. And Quaker as he was (he was one of the
"Progressive Friends," commonly called Hicksites), I once witnessed a
scene in which a just and righteous indignation caused him to cast off
his coat, in readiness to deal in very mundane fashion with an unworthy
and misbehaving member of one of the "investigating committees." "I've
never fought a man in my life," he said, "but I will not stand by
and see thee insult these children." The assailant wilted down. The
provocation was such that I am sure the angel who may have charge of
the short record of Quaker sins, after writing it "dropped a tear on the
words and blotted them out forever."
LETTER FROM GEORGE WILLETS.
(About end of 1848.)
_Dear friend, E. W. Capron:_
It is with some reluctance that I furnish you with the following
statement. Not that I am afraid to tell the truth, but that the world,
as I conceive, is not ready to receive such truths yet. _Ridicule_ will
probably be heaped upon me; but when I consider that it is the ignorant
only who use that weapon, perhaps I can afford to stand up and say, "Let
the storm come." All who know me can say whether I have been truthful
from my youth up, yea or nay; and the strongest language that I can use
is to say that the following statement is _strictly and entirely true_.
In the summer of 1848, I had concluded, from the best judgment that
I could bring to my aid, that it was best for my family to remove
somewhere among the wilds of the West. Accordingly I took a tour of
observation, and finding some land in Michigan, that suited me better
than any other, belonging to a gentleman living in Rochester, I stopped
on my return, in order, if possible, to negotiate for it. I stayed
with my friend and relative, Isaac Post, and while there he told me
of certain sounds being heard in the city; and that they displayed
intelligence, and purported to be made by "Spirits," or persons
invisible to us. I was really sceptical about any such things, but at
his solicitation went to examine the matter. The persons with whom these
sounds seemed to be, I had never seen nor heard of before, and my friend
was careful not to tell them who I was, or where I had been. It seems
that the question was asked whether there was any communication for me,
and the direction from the sounds was, that three persons be magnetized;
two of whom were present, and one was sent for from a neighboring
family. I did not know the name of any person present, and I was also
certain that none of them knew me. After the three persons were put
in the clairvoyant state, one of them said, "We have got to go to
Michigan." They all agreed that they had got to go there, and on my
account. They did seem all to go there, and began to describe places and
things which I had seen, and at length came to a piece of land which
they said was the place they came to look at. They then described the
land so accurately, which I had stopped in Rochester to buy, that I
began to wonder who had told them. They all, with one accord, then said,
"But he must not go there. His father says that he had better not go."
As they said this, there came a loud sound close to my chair, and _I sat
some distance from any other person_. They spoke much of my father, and
what his mind was, and at each time that same sound was heard. Up
to this time I had not spoken a word, but found the big drops of
perspiration starting from my face. I gathered courage, and thought I
would dispel that illusion directly. I said, "As you assume to know my
father, and what his mind is concerning me, _perhaps_ you can tell his
name." They all seemed to look steadily for some time, then commenced
and spoke slowly and deliberately these letters: "W-i-l-l-i-a-m
W-i-l-l-e-t-s." At each letter the loud sound that I first heard was
again heard, and felt immediately under my feet. I never was so
astonished in my life, and involuntarily said, "What does all this
mean?" The sounds then said, by the alphabet being called over, that
they had better be awakened, and the first loud sounds said, "I will
talk with George, and tell him all about it." The direction was for Mr.
Post, myself, and a little girl, thirteen years old, to go by ourselves.
And here I wish it distinctly understood, that all which I shall relate
as obtained from those sounds, was in the presence only of my friends,
Mr. and Mrs. Post, myself, and the little girl spoken of. As what
follows all purported to be from my father, I will say that his name was
William Willets, a member of the Society of Friends, widely known at
Westbury, Long Island, where he lived until nearly sixty years of age,
and subsequently at Skaneateles, Onondaga County, where he died in 1841.
The communication by sounds then went on to say that it was my father
who was present and talking with me; and three hours were consumed at
the first interview.
In saying to me what his counsel was, it always assumed to counsel and
advise, but never to dictate. He said that it was not best for us to go
to Michigan, and gave various reasons, among which were that we should
not enjoy ourselves in a new country, and that my health would not be
competent for the task of clearing up new land; and that he _foresaw_,
if we did go, that we should come back again, and would be less in
number than when we went. I then asked what was best to do. The answer
then was, "Come to Rochester." I replied that I knew of no business that
I could do in Rochester. The sounds said, "I will tell thee when thee
comes." I asked if I might know now. The answer was, "No, no business is
needed until thee comes, and then I will tell thee." The sounds then
said, that after a time it would be best for me to buy some land. I
asked where. The sounds then spelled out the name of a man whom no one
present knew, and said that he owned fifty acres of land on such a
street adjoining the city, and such a distance from the centre of the
city; that he would sell any part. I asked the price that would be
asked. The sounds were heard and counted by three of us,--one hundred
and fifty times in succession,--to tell us the number of dollars per
acre that would be asked. The sounds said that we had better go the next
day and see if this was so, and said that we should not see the man
until ten o'clock, though we might look for him as early as we pleased.
In the morning I looked in the Directory and there found the name
spelled out to us, and went to his residence at seven o'clock, and was
informed that he was gone to a distant part of the city, and would not
be home until twelve o'clock. We then went to find him, and had some
difficulty in doing so, but after talking with him five or six minutes,
looked at the time, and it _was seven minutes past ten_. This person
said that he owned fifty acres on the street told us by the sounds, and
that he would sell any part. When I asked him the price, he showed me a
map with the price of each lot marked, and taking the number of acres
said by the sounds to be best to buy, and averaging the price, it was
the price told us by the sounds, within six one-hundredths of a dollar
per acre. I then went home to my family and pondered over these strange
things. Many were the conflicts in my own mind, and I heard the cry from
all quarters of "humbug," "deception," "fraud;" but I could not believe
that I wanted to deceive myself. Three months I thought of these things
deeply, and _I could not go_ to Michigan. I concluded, if it was
deception, it would do the world some good to find it out. The first of
December, 1848, I moved from Waterloo to Rochester. A few days after
getting here, the little girl spoken of came round to our house, and
said that the "spirit" had directed her to come; for what purpose she
did not know; we inquired what it was, and this was the communication:
"I told thee if thee would come to Rochester, I would tell thee where
thee could find employment: in four days from this time I will tell
thee. In the meantime the anti-slavery folks are going to hold their
fair; would it not be well for thee to help them?" No one was present
at this time except my wife, the little girl, and myself. The four days
went by, and again, without solicitation, and without thinking the time
was up, the girl came again. The communication was, "Apply to William
Wiley, Superintendent of the Auburn and Rochester Railroad, to-morrow
at two o'clock, at his office, for a situation, and thee will have one
before this week is out." This was Thursday. I was a stranger to Mr.
Wiley, and I called on Mr. Post, and told him the direction, and asked
him if the next day he would go with me. That evening he, happening to
be at the depot, inquired if Mr. Wiley was at home, and was told that he
was in Boston, and, by a letter just received, would not be at home till
Friday night. I was told by the sounds on Wednesday to apply on Thursday
at two o'clock. Thursday at half-past one, instead of going to the
railroad office, I went round where these sounds were heard, and said,
"How is this?--I am told to apply to William Wiley, and he is in
Boston." The sounds said: "_Go to his office now, he is there_." I
called for Mr. Post and walked immediately there, and _found Mr. Wiley
in his office_. He said that he had returned sooner than he expected to
when he wrote the letter. Mr. Post said that I was a relative of his,
and wished employment; and Mr. Wiley replied that they were all full,
with abundant applications, and could give no encouragement whatever. We
walked back, thinking deeply, and I went where the sounds were heard
again. I inquired, "How is this?--Mr. Wiley has no place for me!" The
answer was: "_Thee will have a place on the cars, and will know it
before the week is out_."
On Saturday night, at dark, I met Mr. Post, and he asked if I had heard
anything from Mr. Wiley. I replied, "Not a word." At eight o'clock on
that same evening Mr. Post called at my house, and said that Mr. Wiley
had just been at his store, and said that he had a place for me, and
wished me to call at his office on Monday morning. As Mr. Wiley did not
tell what place I was to fill, I again asked the sounds what it was; and
they said it was to go as baggage-master between this place and Auburn.
On Sunday morning I wrote to my friend James Truman, of Waterloo,
stating that I should pass through that place on Monday following, in
the capacity above stated, _before I knew from Mr. Wiley what place he
wanted me to fill_; and he can probably testify to that fact. One month
after I had been running on the cars, I learned that the person whose
place I took had done things worthy of a dismissal, _previous_ to my
being directed to make application, which did not come to Mr. Wiley's
notice till _the day on which I received the appointment_. These things
have only been known to a few friends; you and the world now have them.
I have many communications, penned down at the time they were received,
purporting to be from my father, all of the most elevating character,
inciting me to goodness, purity and honesty of heart, and ever pointing
to the endless progression of man. In conclusion, I may say that I have
examined the matter attentively for one year and a half, and have had
abundant opportunities to do so, and am prepared to say, although the
sounds may cease to-day, and never be heard again, _they have displayed
a remarkable degree of intelligence, and were not made by any person
visible_ to us.
(Signed) GEORGE WILLETS.[7]
[7] I feel bound to call attention to the fact that the
directions narrated in this letter were _volunteered_ by the
Spirits to Mr. Willets, not sought by him, and they were all
strictly correct. They led to this good and serviceable friend
being established in Rochester, where he became very useful to
us and to the nascent Cause to which the Spirits had called and
devoted us. But I am anxious to caution the reader against the
error of consulting Spirits for information or direction about
_matters of worldly interest_. They will probably get answers,
but from mocking and deceptive Spirits, who step in when the
good and true ones decline to intervene. It is not the mission
of good Spirits to mingle in affairs of mere non-spiritual
interest. Beware of what is called "business mediumship," and
of directions respecting fortune-making or fortune-telling.
Never forget that there are tricksters and liars out of the
flesh as well as in it; which is little to be wondered at since
so many of that character are daily passing out from the one
condition into the other, when they remain for periods often
prolonged, _earth-bound_ by their own selfish viciousness. We
should never do more than ask good Spirits to guide us by their
kindly influences, and then do the best in the situation that
we can according to our best lights of conscience and judgment.
Nor can we ever transfer to Spirit counsellors our own moral
and mental responsibilities.--A. L. U.
Before proceeding further I desire at this point to insert in this
volume an interesting letter, addressed to the Rochester _Daily
Advertiser_, by our friend Mr. John E. Robinson, also, like Mr. Willets,
a well-known and distinguished member of the Society of Friends.
The controversy on the rapping and the general spiritual manifestations
after the public investigation could no longer be suppressed. It became
a subject which elicited much comment in the public prints; but
in relation to which the Spiritualists had nothing to fear. Their
opponents, generally, wrote without ever having examined it; and graded
the vehemence of their opposition by the strength of their fealty to
the teachings of their leaders. One of these acknowledged leaders was
Chester Dewey, D.D., of the Rochester Collegiate Institute, who, without
seeking to investigate the subject, claimed to recognize it as a fraud
in its inception and wicked in its designs; and thus recorded his
opinion in the public press at Rochester. His letters to the Rochester
_Daily Advertiser_, at the time, drew forth the following rejoinder by
Mr. Robinson, of that city, which was published in the columns of that
paper:
"THE RAPPING MYSTERY.
"MESSRS. EDITORS: There has been a vast deal of ink shed upon the
above-named subject, and much of it to but little purpose, except
to demonstrate the willingness of individuals to show up before the
world the least attractive features of their intellectual and moral
characters. Far the greater number of paragraphists who have essayed
to enlighten the world on this subject, and protect this community in
particular from _humbug_, as they are pleased to term it, have made up
their various articles of exceedingly cheap material. Ridicule, the
fool's argument, has formed the chief staple of their lucubrations.
Denunciation, unsparingly poured out, has been heaped upon the heads of
those most immediately connected with this singular phenomenon, and an
unwarrantable and unmanly meanness, which has led the writers, almost
without exception, to traduce the character of the Fox family, and has
taught us how easy it is for men to forget their manhood and stoop to a
point at which they can lay claim to but little of the nobility of human
nature.
"I, for one, can find an apology for the penny-a-liners who have poured
their puerile effusions _at_ the knocking mystery. They do but cater
for a public sentiment and public ignorance in this matter; and their
bread-and-butter demands of them that they shall not wave their inky
wands beyond the line of that opinion. But there are some for whom
we cannot make this apology. I notice in your paper of 23d inst. a
communication over the signature of C. D. The writer of said article
lays claim (and not a groundless one) to the reputation of a man of
wisdom. He is known among us as the expounder of laws natural and
divine. His picture, so he tells us, hangs from the walls of the
Athenæum, and looks down complacently upon its visitors as a teacher of
the exact and occult sciences. The community in which he lives has
nourished him during a long lapse of years, has accredited to him the
prerogatives he has claimed, and has looked up to him, as one clothed
with authority, to enlighten it upon all abstruse subjects. And yet,
with the knowledge (which he must possess) that if anything be spoken
of it must be spoken of understandingly,--that a man in his position
utterly disregards the safety of his reputation who rushes to record an
opinion without ascertaining that it is tenable, and that he has facts
to sustain him; this self-same C. D., this Solon of the closet and
pulpit, without a particle of evidence, in the absence of all personal
observation, rushes in the hot haste of blind folly to the press, and
tells the "good people" that the phenomenon in question is no phenomenon
at all, but only a sheer humbug! a miserable delusion, cunningly
contrived, but fit only to deceive such fanatical fools as have been
chasing shadows from time immemorial, down to the advent of Mormonism.
"This word _humbug_ is in great request. It is of modern origin, and the
moderns are making the most of it. Everything new, while going through
its incipient stage, is denominated 'humbug.' Everything and everybody a
whit in advance of the age or its intelligence is looked at askance by
the gaping crowd, and 'humbug' is the ready watchword. The community's
acknowledged leaders, and whose antics, at times, should have taught
them that
'A little learning is a dangerous thing,'
are asked by their too credulous disciples to give them their opinion
on some new and startling development in physics or man's intellectual
nature, and immediately these 'learned Thebans,' scorning the patient
toil and honest purpose of the true student, turn their blear eyes upon
the interrogations and shout Humbug! Humbug!
"In such cases their visual organs are of about as much service to them
as the sun is to that burrowing animal which shuns the light of day.
When will men, even whose gray hairs seem to ask us to expect better
things of them, learn that bareface assertion weighs not as evidence
with those who choose to think for themselves? Ours is a thinking age,
and requires something more than the bold _say so_ of any man to
convince people that a thing _may_ or _may not_ be. We live at a period,
too, and in the midst of minds which have learned that much that was
received as unadulterated truth by the past, upon which the dust of
buried centuries had gathered and seemed to hallow, has been proved
erroneous by the light of advancing knowledge and the searching analysis
of science. And who shall say where that knowledge is to stop? Is
there to be no new unfolding of man's intellectual powers? Is he ever
to remain in the comparative ignorance he now is in respecting the
relations which he, while here in this life, sustains to the spiritual
world? Are the laws of his being and its attributes as yet entirely
revealed to him? Is the physical of this world of so much importance
that the astounding developments of this and the coming cycles of time
are to be confined entirely to that, to the exclusion of man's higher
and more ethereal nature? These questions I leave your correspondent
C. D. and his coadjutor J. W. H. to answer for themselves in their more
reflective hours.
"C. D. says 'the wary and eagle-eyed are kept out, and excluded from
opportunity of investigation.' Now, to be perfectly plain, this remark
borders very much upon misrepresentation. _It is not so._ And if the
gentleman would have 'the good people' understand that he is thus
denied, I would undeceive them. Mr. Dewey has on more than one occasion
been urged by those who would have afforded him every opportunity for
investigation, to test the reality of the said phenomena. He could have
had, and may have, associated with him in such investigation, men whom
he or others may select, as his equals in every respect, to aid him; and
before he has the temerity to repeat his uttered cry of humbug, and
brand again, with most unchristian readiness, as deceivers, individuals
whom he does not know, I call upon him to avail himself of the senses
which God has given him for that purpose. He need feel no repugnance to
visiting so obscure a locality as Troup Street. His equals (to say the
least) have been there before him, and he would not have to tarry long
in that region to meet with visitors who possess more intelligence, a
wider charity, greater modesty, and a better purpose than he has
manifested in his communications.
"A man's practice is the touchstone of his faith, and I want no better
evidence of the practical infidelity of any one, than to know that while
he preaches for so much the square yard the doctrine of an after-life,
he scouts anything which comes to us in the shape of tangible evidence
of the soul's immortality.
"Mr. Dewey says he will be 'glad to see the truth advanced, lead where
it may.' In this I join him, and such motive must be my apology for
trespassing upon your columns and patience.
"Respectfully yours,
"JOHN E. ROBINSON.
"ROCHESTER, February, 25, 1850."