Transcriber's Note: Italic text is denoted by _underscores_ and bold
text by =equal signs=.
The original text contains many unclosed quotes that are obviously
the author's intention. These have been left as the original.
Line 19979: "bone or feather or flesh. Study may superadd properties"
'superadd' could be 'separate'.
Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as
possible.
Minor typographical errors have been corrected.
Variations in hyphenation of the word "Sandboat/Sand-boat" have been
left unchanged.
In the original version the formatting of the conversations between
the real world and the spirit world is often confusing. In this
transcripton I have adopted the following layout. Conversations or
questions arising from the real world - left justified. Conversations
or questions arising from the spirit world and anotations by
the author within these cross world conversations are shown as
blockquotes.
Part II Chap. II: "prope funeratus / arboris ictu" changed to "prope
funeratus arboris ictu" to avoid unwanted '/'.
Line 1568: SO_{2} = SO[subscript]2 i.e. Sulphur Dioxide.
Line 6389: "(Mrs. Leonard here repeated the alphabet......" no
closing bracket in the original. Left unchanged.
Line 10366: Unnecessary ")" removed. Typographical error.
RAYMOND
OR
LIFE AND DEATH
BY SIR OLIVER J. LODGE
Raymond, or Life and Death
Modern Problems
The Substance of Faith, Allied with Science
Man and the Universe
The Survival of Man
Reason and Belief
The War and After
[Illustration: RAYMOND]
RAYMOND
OR
LIFE AND DEATH
WITH EXAMPLES OF THE EVIDENCE
FOR SURVIVAL OF MEMORY AND AFFECTION
AFTER DEATH
BY
Sir OLIVER J. LODGE
WITH EIGHTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS
NEW YORK
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
COPYRIGHT, 1916,
BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
TO
HIS MOTHER AND FAMILY
WITH GRATITUDE FOR PERMISSION
TO USE PRIVATE MATERIAL
FOR PUBLIC ENDS
"Divine must be
That triumph, when the very worst, the pain,
And even the prospect of our brethren slain,
Hath something in it which the heart enjoys."
WORDSWORTH, _SONNET_ XXVI.
PREFACE
This book is named after my son who was killed in the War.
It is divided into three parts. In the first part some idea of the
kind of life lived and the spirit shown by any number of youths,
fully engaged in civil occupations, who joined for service when war
broke out and went to the Front, is illustrated by extracts from his
letters. The object of this portion is to engender a friendly feeling
towards the writer of the letters, so that whatever more has to be
said in the sequel may not have the inevitable dulness of details
concerning an entire stranger. This is the sole object of this
portion. The letters are not supposed to be remarkable; though as a
picture of part of the life at the Front during the 1915 phase of the
war they are interesting, as many other such letters must have been.
The second part gives specimens of what at present are considered
by most people unusual communications; though these again are in
many respects of an ordinary type, and will be recognised as such
by other bereaved persons who have had similar messages. In a few
particulars, indeed, those here quoted have rather special features,
by reason of the assistance given by the group of my friends "on the
other side" who had closely studied the subject. It is partly owing
to the urgency therein indicated that I have thought it my duty to
speak out, though it may well be believed that it is not without
hesitation that I have ventured thus to obtrude family affairs. I
should not have done so were it not that the amount of premature and
unnatural bereavement at the present time is so appalling that the
pain caused by exposing one's own sorrow and its alleviation, to
possible scoffers, becomes almost negligible in view of the service
which it is legitimate to hope may thus be rendered to mourners, if
they can derive comfort by learning that communication across the
gulf is possible. Incidentally I have to thank those friends, some
of them previously unknown, who have in the same spirit allowed the
names of loved ones to appear in this book, and I am grateful for the
help which one or two of those friends have accorded. Some few more
perhaps may be thus led to pay critical attention to any assurance of
continued and happy and useful existence which may reach them from
the other side.
The third part of the book is of a more expository character, and is
designed to help people in general to realise that this subject is
not the bugbear which ignorance and prejudice have made it, that it
belongs to a coherent system of thought full of new facts of which
continued study is necessary, that it is subject to a law and order
of its own, and that though comparatively in its infancy it is a
genuine branch of psychological science. This third part is called
"Life and Death," because these are the two great undeniable facts
which concern everybody, and in which it is natural for every one
to feel a keen interest, if they once begin to realise that such
interest is not futile, and that it is possible to learn something
real about them. It may be willingly admitted that these chapters are
inadequate to the magnitude of the subject, but it is hoped that they
are of a usefully introductory character.
The "In Memoriam" chapter of Part I is no doubt chiefly of interest
to family and friends; but everybody is very friendly, and under the
circumstances it will be excused.
CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE vii
PART ONE: NORMAL PORTION
CHAPTER
I. IN MEMORIAM 3
II. LETTERS FROM THE FRONT 15
III. LETTERS FROM OFFICERS 73
PART TWO: SUPERNORMAL PORTION
INTRODUCTION 83
I. ELEMENTARY EXPLANATION 86
II. THE 'FAUNUS' MESSAGE 90
III. SEQUEL TO THE 'FAUNUS' MESSAGE 96
IV. THE GROUP PHOTOGRAPH 105
V. BEGINNING OF HISTORICAL RECORD 117
VI. FIRST SITTING OF O. J. L. WITH MRS. LEONARD 125
VII. FIRST PETERS SITTING (Anonymous) 129
VIII. A TABLE SITTING 137
IX. ATTEMPTS AT STRICTER EVIDENCE 151
X. RECORD CONTINUED 158
XI. FIRST SITTING OF ALEC 162
XII. GENERAL REMARKS ON CONVERSATIONAL REPORTS AND
ON CROSS-CORRESPONDENCES 171
XIII. AN O. J. L. SITTING WITH PETERS 174
XIV. FIRST SITTING OF LIONEL (Anonymous) 180
XV. M. F. A. L. SITTING OF NOVEMBER 26 188
XVI. O. J. L. SITTING OF DECEMBER 3 191
XVII. K. K. AUTOMATIC WRITING 205
XVIII. FIRST SITTING OF ALEC WITH MRS. LEONARD 208
XIX. PRIVATE SITTINGS AT MARIEMONT 217
XX. A FEW MORE RECORDS, WITH SOME UNVERIFIABLE MATTER 226
XXI. TWO EVIDENTIAL SITTINGS OF MARCH 3 237
XXII. MORE UNVERIFIABLE MATTER 262
XXIII. A FEW ISOLATED INCIDENTS 271
PART THREE: LIFE AND DEATH
INTRODUCTION 283
I. THE MEANING OF THE TERM LIFE 289
II. THE MEANING OF THE TERM DEATH 296
III. DEATH AND DECAY 302
IV. CONTINUED EXISTENCE 308
V. PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE 312
VI. INTERACTION OF MIND AND MATTER 317
VII. 'RESURRECTION OF THE BODY' 322
VIII. MIND AND BRAIN 326
IX. LIFE AND CONSCIOUSNESS 332
X. ON MEANS OF COMMUNICATION 338
XI. ON THE FACT OF SUPERNORMAL COMMUNICATION 345
XII. ON THE CONTENTION THAT ALL PSYCHIC COMMUNICATIONS
ARE OF A TRIVIAL NATURE AND DEAL WITH
INSIGNIFICANT TOPICS 349
XIII. ON THE MANNER OF COMMUNICATION 355
XIV. VARIOUS PSYCHO-PHYSICAL METHODS 362
XV. ATTITUDE OF THE WISE AND PRUDENT 367
XVI. OUTLOOK ON THE UNIVERSE 374
XVII. THE CHRISTIAN IDEA OF GOD 378
INDEX 397
ILLUSTRATIONS
RAYMOND _Frontispiece_
PAGE
RAYMOND WHEN TWO YEARS OLD 8
RAYMOND, 1915 78
GROUP OF OFFICERS, AS SENT US BY MRS. CHEVES ON DECEMBER
7, 1915, SHOWING AN ARM RESTING ON RAYMOND'S SHOULDER 110
ANOTHER EDITION OF THE GROUP-PHOTOGRAPH, WITH LEG TOUCHING
SHOULDER INSTEAD OF HAND 112
GROUP SUBSEQUENTLY OBTAINED, EVIDENTLY TAKEN AT THE
SAME TIME, BUT PRESSURE ON SHOULDER REMOVED 114
MARIEMONT 224
RAYMOND AND BRODIE WITH THE PIGEONS AT MARIEMONT 224
LARGE DOUBLE-COMPARTMENT TENT IN ITS FIRST FORM (1905)
(BUILT AT MARIEMONT AND TAKEN TO WOOLACOMBE) 250
THE TENT IN ITS SECOND FORM (1906) MADE OUT OF THE REMAINS
OF THE FIRST 250
FIRST EDITION OF THE SANDBOAT (1906) AT WOOLACOMBE, WITH
ALEC ON BOARD 252
RISING GROUND BEHIND OLDER TENTS ON WOOLACOMBE BEACH 252
"GRANDFATHER W." 258
"MR. JACKSON" WITH M. F. A. L. AT MARIEMONT 258
SECOND EDITION OF SANDBOAT, AT MARIEMONT, BEFORE BEING
UNSHIPPED AND TAKEN TO WOOLACOMBE, 1907 260
RAYMOND WORKING AT THE SANDBOAT IN THE BOYS' LABORATORY
AT MARIEMONT 260
"CURLY" AND "VIX." CURLY BEING THE SHAGGY ONE. VIX WAS
THE MOTHER OF RAYMOND'S DOG "LARRY" 278
RAYMOND IN HIS "NAGANT" MOTOR, 1913. OUTSIDE A FRIEND'S
HOUSE IN SOMERSETSHIRE 278
PART ONE: NORMAL PORTION
"And this to fill us with regard for man,
With apprehension of his passing worth."
Browning, _Paracelsus_.
CHAPTER I
IN MEMORIAM
The bare facts are much as reported in _The Times_:--
SECOND LIEUTENANT RAYMOND LODGE was the youngest son of
Sir Oliver and Lady Lodge, and was by taste and training
an engineer. He volunteered for service in September
1914 and was at once given a commission in the 3rd
South Lancashires. After training near Liverpool and
Edinburgh, he went to the Front in the early spring of
1915, attached to the 2nd South Lancashire Regiment of
the Regular Army, and was soon in the trenches near Ypres
or Hooge. His engineering skill was of service in details
of trench construction, and he later was attached to a
Machine-Gun Section for a time, and had various escapes
from shell fire and shrapnel. His Captain having sprained
an ankle, he was called back to Company work, and at the
time of his death was in command of a Company engaged
in some early episode of an attack or attempted advance
which was then beginning. He was struck by a fragment of
shell in the attack on Hooge Hill on the 14th September
1915, and died in a few hours.
Raymond Lodge had been educated at Bedales School and
Birmingham University. He had a great aptitude and love
for mechanical engineering, and was soon to have become
a partner with his elder brothers, who highly valued
his services, and desired his return to assist in the
Government work which now occupies their firm.
In amplification of this bare record a few members of the family
wrote reminiscences of him, and the following memoir is by his eldest
brother:--
RAYMOND LODGE
(1889-1915)
By O. W. F. L.
Most lives have marriages, births of children, productive years;
but the lives of the defenders of their Country are short and of
majestic simplicity. The obscure records of childhood, the few
years of school and university and constructive and inventive work,
and then the sudden sacrifice of all the promise of the future, of
work, of home, of love; the months of hard living and hard work well
carried through, the cheerful humorous letters home making it out all
very good fun; and in front, in a strange ruined and desolate land,
certain mutilation or death. And now that death has come.
Unto each man his handiwork, to each his crown,
The just Fate gives;
Whoso takes the world's life on him and his own lays down,
He, dying so, lives.[1]
My brother was born at Liverpool on January 25th, 1889, and was at
Bedales School for five or six years, and afterwards at Birmingham
University, where he studied engineering and was exceptionally
competent in the workshop. He went through the usual two years'
practical training at the Wolseley Motor Works, and then entered his
brothers' works, where he remained until he obtained a commission at
the outbreak of war.
His was a mind of rare stamp. It had unusual power, unusual
quickness, and patience and understanding of difficulties in my
experience unparalleled, so that he was able to make anyone
understand really difficult things. I think we were most of us
proudest and most hopeful of him. Some of us, I did myself, sometimes
took problems technical or intellectual to him, sure of a wise and
sound solution.
Though his chief strength lay on the side of mechanical and
electrical engineering it was not confined to that. He read widely,
and liked good literature of an intellectual and witty but not highly
imaginative type, at least I do not know that he read Shelley or
much of William Morris, but he was fond of Fielding, Pope, and Jane
Austen. Naturally he read Shakespeare, and I particularly associate
him with _Twelfth Night_ and _Love's Labour's Lost_. Among novelists,
his favourites, after Fielding and Miss Austen, were I believe
Dickens and Reade; and he frequently quoted from the essays and
letters of Charles Lamb.[2]
Of the stories of his early childhood, and his overflowing vitality
made many, I was too often from home to be able to speak at large.
But one I may tell. Once when a small boy at Grove Park, Liverpool,
he jumped out of the bath and ran down the stairs with the nurse
after him, out of the front door, down one drive along the road
and up the other, and was safely back in the bath again before
the horrified nursemaid could catch up with him. [_body of Memoir
incomplete, and omitted here._]
[_Close of Memoir_]
That death is the end has never been a Christian doctrine, and
evidence collected by careful men in our own day has, perhaps
needlessly, upheld with weak props of experiment the mighty arch of
Faith. Death is real and grievous, and is not to be tempered by the
glossing timidities of those who would substitute journalese like
"passing-on," "passing-over," etc., for that tremendous word: but it
is the end of a stage, not the end of the journey. The road stretches
on beyond that inn, and beyond our imagination, "the moonlit endless
way."
Let us think of him then, not as lying near Ypres with all his work
ended, but rather, after due rest and refreshment, continuing his
noble and useful career in more peaceful surroundings, and quietly
calling us his family from paralysing grief to resolute and high
endeavour.
Indeed, it is not right that we should weep for a death like his.
Rather let us pay him our homage in praise and imitation, by growing
like him and by holding our lives lightly in our Country's service,
so that if need be we may die like him. This is true honour and his
best memorial.
Not that I would undervalue those of brass or stone, for if beautiful
they are good and worthy things. But fame illuminates memorials, and
fame has but a narrow circle in a life of twenty-six years.
Who shall remember him, who climb
His all-unripened fame to wake,
Who dies an age before his time?
But nobly, but for England's sake.
Who will believe us when we cry
He was as great as he was brave?
His name that years had lifted high
Lies buried in that Belgian grave.
O strong and patient, kind and true,
Valiant of heart, and clear of brain--
They cannot know the man we knew,
Our words go down the wind like rain.
O. W. F. L.
_Tintern_
EPITAPH ON MEMORIAL TABLET IN ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH, EDGBASTON
REMEMBER
RAYMOND LODGE
SECOND LIEUTENANT SECOND SOUTH LANCASHIRE REGIMENT
BELOVED SON OF SIR OLIVER AND LADY LODGE OF THIS PARISH
WHO GAVE HIS LIFE FOR HIS COUNTRY
HE WAS BORN JANUARY 25TH 1889
AND WAS KILLED IN ACTION IN FLANDERS
ABOUT NOON SEPTEMBER 14TH
IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 1915
AGED 26 YEARS
Whoso bears the whole heaviness of the wronged world's weight
And puts it by,
It is well with him suffering, though he face man's fate;
How should he die?
_Swinburne_
REMINISCENCES BY O. J. L.
Of all my sons, the youngest, when he was small, was most like
myself at the same age. In bodily appearance I could recognise the
likeness to my early self, as preserved in old photographs; an old
schoolfellow of mine who knew me between the ages of eight and
eleven, visiting Mariemont in April 1904, remarked on it forcibly and
at once, directly he saw Raymond--then a schoolboy; and innumerable
small mental traits in the boy recalled to me my childhood's
feelings. Even an absurd difficulty he had as a child in saying the
hard letters--the hard G and K--was markedly reminiscent of my own
similar difficulty.
Another peculiarity which we shared in childhood was dislike of
children's parties--indeed, in my own case, a party of any kind. I
remember being truly miserable at a Christmas party at The Mount,
Penkhull, where I have no doubt that every one was more than
friendly,--though probably over-patronising, as people often are
with children,--but where I determinedly abstained from supper, and
went home hungry. Raymond's prominent instance was at the hospitable
Liverpool house, "Greenbank," which the Rathbones annually delivered
up to family festivities each Christmas afternoon and evening, being
good enough to include us in their family group. On one such occasion
Raymond, a very small boy, was found in the hall making a bee-line
for the front door and home. I remember sympathising with him, from
ancient memories, and taking him home, subsequently returning myself.
At a later stage of boyhood I perceived that his ability and tastes
were akin to mine, for we had the same passionate love of engineering
and machinery; though in my case, having no opportunity of exercising
it to any useful extent, it gradually turned into special aptitude
for physical science. Raymond was never anything like as good at
physics, nor had he the same enthusiasm for mathematics that I
had, but he was better at engineering, was in many ways I consider
stronger in character, and would have made, I expect, a first-rate
engineer. His pertinacious ability in the mechanical and workshop
direction was very marked. Nothing could have been further from his
natural tastes and proclivities than to enter upon a military career;
nothing but a sense of duty impelled him in that direction, which was
quite foreign to family tradition, at least on my side.
[Illustration: RAYMOND WHEN TWO YEARS OLD]
He also excelled me in a keen sense of humour--not only appreciation,
but achievement. The whole family could not but admire and enjoy
the readiness with which he perceived at once the humorous side of
everything; and he usually kept lively any gathering of which he was
a unit. At school, indeed, his active wit rather interfered with the
studies of himself and others, and in the supposed interests of his
classmates it had to be more or less suppressed, but to the end he
continued to be rather one of the wags of the school.
Being so desperately busy all my life I failed to see as much as I
should like either of him or of the other boys, but there was always
an instinctive sympathy between us; and it is a relief to me to be
unable to remember any, even a single, occasion on which I have been
vexed with him. In all serious matters he was, as far as I could
judge, one of the best youths I have ever known; and we all looked
forward to a happy life for him and a brilliant career.
His elder brothers highly valued his services in their Works. He
got on admirably with the men; his mode of dealing with overbearing
foremen at the Works, where he was for some years an apprentice, was
testified to as masterly, and was much appreciated by his "mates";
and honestly I cannot bethink myself of any trait in his character
which I would have had different--unless it be that he might have had
a more thorough liking and aptitude for, and greater industry in, my
own subject of physics.
When the war broke out his mother and I were in Australia, and it
was some time before we heard that he had considered it his duty
to volunteer. He did so in September 1914, getting a commission
in the Regular Army which was ante-dated to August; and he threw
himself into military duties with the same ability and thoroughness
as he had applied to more naturally congenial occupations. He went
through a course of training at Great Crosby, near Liverpool, with
the Regiment in which he was a Second Lieutenant, namely the 3rd
South Lancashires, being attached to the 2nd when he went to the
Front; his Company spent the winter in more active service on the
south coast of the Firth of Forth and Edinburgh; and he gained his
desired opportunity to go out to Flanders on 15 March 1915. Here he
applied his engineering faculty to trench and shelter construction,
in addition to ordinary military duties; and presently he became a
machine-gun officer. How desperately welcome to the family his safe
return would have been, at the end of the war, I need not say. He had
a hard and strenuous time at the Front, and we all keenly desired to
make it up to him by a course of home "spoiling." But it was too much
to hope for--though I confess I did hope for it.
He has entered another region of service now; and this we realise.
For though in the first shock of bereavement the outlook of life felt
irretrievably darkened, a perception of his continued usefulness has
mercifully dawned upon us, and we know that his activity is not over.
His bright ingenuity will lead to developments beyond what we could
have anticipated; and we have clear hopes for the future.
O. J. L.
MARIEMONT, _September 30, 1915_.
* * * * *
A MOTHER'S LAMENT
_Written on a scrap of paper, September 26, 1915_,
"_To ease the pain and to try to get in touch_"
Raymond, darling, you have gone from our world, and _oh_, to ease the
pain. I want to know if you are happy, and that you _yourself_ are
really talking to me and no sham.
"No more letters from you, my own dear son, and I have loved them
so. They are all there; we shall have them typed together into a sort
of book.
"Now we shall be parted until I join you there. I have not seen as
much of you as I wanted on this earth, but I do love to think of the
bits I have had of you, specially our journeys to and from Italy. I
had you to myself then, and you were so dear.
"I want to say, dear, how we recognise the glorious way in which
you have done your duty, with a certain straight pressing on, never
letting anyone see the effort, and with your fun and laughter playing
round all the time, cheering and helping others. You know how your
brothers and sisters feel your loss, and your poor father!"
* * * * *
The religious side of Raymond was hardly known to the family;
but among his possessions at the Front was found a small pocket
Bible called "The Palestine Pictorial Bible" (Pearl 24mo), Oxford
University Press, in which a number of passages are marked; and
on the fly-leaf, pencilled in his writing, is an index to these
passages, which page I copy here:--
PAGE
Ex. xxxiii. 14 63
St. John xiv. 689
Eph. ii. 749
Neh. i. 6, II 337
St. John xvi. 33 689
Rom. viii. 35 723
St. Matt. xi. 28 616
Ps. cxxiv. 8 415
Ps. xliii. 2 468
Deut. xxxiii. 27 151
Deut. xxxii. 43 150
Isa. li. 12 473
Isa. lii. 12 474
Jude 24 784
Ezra ix. 9 335
Isa. xii. 2 451
Isa. i. 18 445
Isa. xl. 31 467
Rev. vii. 14 788
Rev. xxi. 4 795
MIZPAH. Gen. xxxi. 49.
R. L.
14/8/15
The following poem was kindly sent me by Canon Rawnsley, in
acknowledgment of a Memorial Card:--
OUR ANGEL-HOST OF HELP
IN MEMORY OF RAYMOND LODGE,
WHO FELL IN FLANDERS, 14 SEPT. 1915 "_His strong young body is
laid under some trees on the road from Ypres to Menin._" [From the
Memorial Card sent to friends.]
'Twixt Ypres and Menin night and day
The poplar trees in leaf of gold
Were whispering either side the way
Of sorrow manifold,
--Of war that never should have been,
Of war that still perforce must be,
Till in what brotherhood can mean
The nations all agree.
But where they laid your gallant lad
I heard no sorrow in the air,
The boy who gave the best he had
That others good might share.
For golden leaf and gentle grass
They too had offered of their best
To banish grief from all who pass
His hero's place of rest.
There as I gazed, the guests of God,
An angel host before mine eyes,
Silent as if on air they trod
Marched straight from Paradise.
And one sprang forth to join the throng
From where the grass was gold and green,
His body seemed more lithe and strong
Than it had ever been.
I cried, "But why in bright array
Of crowns and palms toward the north
And those white trenches far away,
Doth this great host go forth?"
He answered, "Forth we go to fight
To help all need where need there be,
Sworn in for right against brute might
Till Europe shall be free."
H. D. RAWNSLEY
EXTRACTS FROM PLATO'S DIALOGUE "MENEXENUS"
BEING PART OF A SPEECH IN HONOUR OF THOSE WHO HAD DIED IN BATTLE FOR
THEIR COUNTRY
And I think that I ought now to repeat the message which your
fathers, when they went out to battle, urged us to deliver to you who
are their survivors, in case anything happened to them. I will tell
you what I heard them say, and what, if they could, they would fain
be saying now, judging from what they then said; but you must imagine
that you hear it all from their lips. Thus they spoke:--
"Sons, the event proves that your fathers were brave men.
For we, who might have continued to live, though without
glory, choose a glorious death rather than bring reproach
on you and your children, and rather than disgrace our
fathers and all of our race who have gone before us,
believing that for the man who brings shame on his own
people life is not worth living, and that such an one is
loved neither by men nor gods, either on earth or in the
underworld when he is dead.
"Some of us have fathers and mothers still living, and
you must encourage them to bear their trouble, should
it come, as lightly as may be; and do not join them in
lamentations, for they will have no need of aught that
would give their grief a keener edge. They will have pain
enough from what has befallen them. Endeavour rather to
soothe and heal their wound, reminding them that of all
the boons they ever prayed for the greatest have been
granted to them. For they did not pray that their sons
should live for ever, but that they should be brave and
of fair fame. Courage and honour are the best of all
blessings, and while for a mortal man it can hardly be
that everything in his own life will turn out as he would
have it, their prayer for those two things has been
heard. Moreover, if they bear their troubles bravely, it
will be perceived that they are indeed fathers of brave
sons, and that they themselves are like them.... So
minded, _we_, at any rate, bid those dear to us to be;
such we would have them be; and such we say we are now
showing that we ourselves are, neither grieving overmuch
nor fearing overmuch if we are to die in this battle.
And we entreat our fathers and mothers to continue to be
thus minded for the rest of their days, for we would have
them know that it is not by bewailing and lamentation
that they will please us best. If the dead have any
knowledge of the living, they will give us no pleasure by
breaking down under their trouble, or by bearing it with
impatience.... For our lives will have had an end the
most glorious of all that fall to the lot of man; it is
therefore more fitting to do us honour than to lament us."
_Stat sua cuique dies; breve et irreparabile tempus
Omnibus est vitae: sed famam extendere factis, Hoc
virtutis opus._
_Æn._ x. 467
[Footnote 1: Swinburne, _Super Flumina Babylonis_.]
[Footnote 2: _Note by O. J. L._--A volume of poems by O.
W. F. L. had been sent to Raymond by the author; and this
came back with his kit, inscribed on the title page in a
way which showed that it had been appreciated:--
"Received at Wisques (Machine-Gun School), near St. Omer,
France--_12th July 1915_.
Taken to camp near Poperinghe--_13th July_.
To huts near Dickebusch--_21st July_.
To first-line trenches near St. Eloi, in front of 'The
Mound of Death'--_24th July_."]
CHAPTER II
LETTERS FROM THE FRONT
I shall now, for reasons explained in the Preface, quote extracts
from letters which Raymond wrote to members of his family during the
time he was serving in Flanders.
A short note made by me the day after he first started for the Front
may serve as a preliminary statement of fact:--
_Mariemont, Edgbaston, 16 March 1915_
Raymond was recently transferred back from Edinburgh to
Great Crosby near Liverpool; and once more began life in
tents or temporary sheds.
Yesterday morning, Monday the 15th March, one of the
subalterns was ordered to the Front; he went to a
doctor, who refused to pass him, owing to some temporary
indisposition. Raymond was then asked if he was fit: he
replied, Perfectly. So at 10 a.m. he was told to start
for France that night. Accordingly he packed up; and at
3.00 we at Mariemont received a telegram from him asking
to be met at 5 p.m., and saying he could spend six hours
at home.
His mother unfortunately was in London, and for many
hours was inaccessible. At last some of the telegrams
reached her, at 7 p.m., and she came by the first
available (slow) train from Paddington, getting here at
11.
Raymond took the midnight train to Euston; Alec, Lionel,
and Noël accompanying him. They would reach Euston at
3.50 a.m. and have two hours to wait, when he was to
meet a Captain [Capt. Taylor], and start from Waterloo
for Southampton. The boys intended to see him off at
Waterloo, and then return home to their war-business as
quickly as they could.
He seems quite well; but naturally it has been rather a
strain for the family: as the same sort of thing has been
for so many other families.
O. J. L.
First comes a letter written on his way to the Front after leaving
Southampton.
_"Hotel Dervaux, 75 Grande Rue, Boulogne-s/Mer, Wednesday, 24 March
1915, 11.30 a.m._
"Following on my recent despatch, I have the honour to
report that we have got stuck here on our way to the
Front. Not stuck exactly, but they have shunted us into
a siding which we reached about 8 a.m., and we are free
until 2.30 p.m. when we have to telephone for further
orders to find out where we are to join our train. I
don't know whether this is the regular way to the Front
from Rouen. I don't think it is, I fancy the more direct
way must be reserved for urgent supplies and wounded.
"My servant has been invaluable _en route_ and he has
caused us a great deal of amusement. He hunted round at
the goods station at Rouen (whence we started) and found
a large circular tin. He pierced this all over to form
a brazier and attached a wire handle. As soon as we got
going he lit this, having filled it with coal purloined
from somewhere, and when we stopped by the wayside about
10 or 11 p.m. he supplied my compartment (four officers)
with fine hot tea. He had previously purchased some
condensed milk. He also saw to it that a large share of
the rations, provided by the authorities before we left,
fell to our share, and looked after us and our baggage in
the most splendid way.
"He insists on treating the train as a tram. As soon as
it slows down to four miles an hour, he is down on the
permanent way gathering firewood or visiting some railway
hut in search of plunder. He rides with a number of other
servants in the baggage waggon, and as they had no light
he nipped out at a small station and stole one of the
railway men's lamps. However, there was a good deal of
fuss, and the owner came and indignantly recovered it.
"As soon as we stop anywhere, he lowers out of his van
the glowing brazier. He keeps it burning in the van! I
wonder the railway authorities don't object. If they do,
of course he pretends not to understand any French.
"He often gets left behind on the line, and has to
scramble into our carriage, where he regales us with his
life history until the next stop, when he returns to his
own van.
"Altogether he is a very rough customer and wants a lot
of watching--all the same he makes an excellent servant."
LETTERS FROM THE FRONT IN FLANDERS
"_Friday, 26 March 1915_
"I arrived here yesterday about 5 p.m., and found the
Battalion resting from the trenches. We all return there
on Sunday evening.
"I got a splendid reception from my friends here, and
they have managed to get me into an excellent Company,
all the officers of which are my friends. This place is
very muddy, but better than it was, I understand. We are
in tents."
"_Saturday, 27 March 1915, 4.30 p.m._
"We moved from our camp into billets last night and
are now in a farm-house. The natives still live here,
and we (five officers) have a room to ourselves, and
our five servants and our cook live and cook for us
in the kitchen. The men of our Company are quartered
in neighbouring farm buildings, and other Companies
farther down the road. We are within a mile of a village
and about three or four miles to the southward of a
fair-sized and well-known town. The weather is steadily
improving and the mud is drying up--though I haven't seen
what the trenches are like yet....
"I am now permanently attached to C Company and am
devoutly thankful. Captain T. is in command and the
subalterns are Laws, Fletcher, and Thomas, all old
friends of mine. F. was the man whose room I shared at
Edinburgh and over whose bed I fixed the picture....
"We went on a 'fatigue' job to-day--just our Company--and
were wrongly directed and so went too far and got right
in view of the enemy's big guns. However, we cleared out
very quickly when we discovered our error, and had got
back on to the main road again when a couple of shells
burst apparently fairly near where we had been. There
were a couple of hostile aeroplanes about too.... Thank
you very much for your letter wondering where I am. 'Very
pressing are the Germans,' a buried city."
[This of course privately signified to the family that he was at Ypres.]
"_1 April 1915, 1.15 p.m._
"We dug trenches by night on Monday and Wednesday, and
although we were only about 300 to 500 yards from the
enemy we had a most peaceful time, only a very few stray
bullets whistling over from time to time."
"_Saturday, 3 April 1915, 7 p.m._
"I am having quite a nice time in the trenches. I
am writing this in my dug-out by candle-light; this
afternoon I had a welcome shave. Shaving and washing is
usually dispensed with during our spell of duty (even by
the Colonel), but if I left it six days I should burst my
razor I think. I have got my little 'Primus' with me and
it is very useful indeed as a standby, although we do all
our main cooking on a charcoal brazier....
"I will look out for the great sunrise to-morrow
morning and am wishing you all a jolly good Easter: I
shan't have at all a bad one. It is very like Robinson
Crusoe--we treasure up our water supply most carefully
(it is brought up in stone jars), and we have excellent
meals off limited and simple rations, by the exercise
of a little native cunning on the part of our servants,
especially mine."
"_Bank Holiday, 5 April 1915, 4.30 p.m._
"The trenches are only approached and relieved at
night-time, and even here we are not allowed to stir
from the house by day on any pretext whatever, and no
fires are allowed on account of the smoke. (Fires are
started within doors when darkness falls and we have a
hot meal then and again in the early morning--that is
the rule--however, we do get a fire in the day by using
charcoal only and lighting up from a candle to one piece
and from that one piece to the rest, by blowing; also I
have my Primus stove.) ... We are still within rifle-fire
range here, but of course it is all unaimed fire from the
intermittent conflict going on at the firing line....
"I have a straw bed covered with my tarpaulin sheet--(it
is useful although I have also the regular military
rubber ground sheet as well)--and my invaluable
air-pillow. I am of course travelling light and have to
carry everything in my 'pack' until I get back to my
valise and 'rest billets,' so I sleep in my clothes.
Simply take off my boots and puttees, put my feet in a
nice clean sack, take off my coat and cover myself up
with my British Warm coat (put on sideways so as to use
its great width to the full). Like this I sleep like a
top and am absolutely comfortable."
"I have been making up an Acrostic for you all to
guess--here it is:
LIGHTS. My first is speechless, and a bell Has often
the complaint as well. Three letters promising to pay,
Each letter for a word does stay. There's nothing gross
about this act;-- A gentle kiss involving tact. A General
less his final 'k,' A hen would have no more to say. Our
Neenie who is going west Her proper name will serve you
best.
WHOLE. My whole, though in a foreign tongue, Is Richard's
name when he is young. The rest is just a shrub or tree
With spelling 'Made in Germany.'
"That's the lot. The word has ten letters and is divided
into two halves for the purpose of the Acrostic.
* * * * *
"My room-mate has changed for to-night, and I have got
Wyatt, who has just come in covered in mud, after four
days in the trenches. He is machine-gun officer, and
works very hard. I am so glad to have him.
"By the way the support-trenches aren't half bad. I
didn't want to leave them, but it's all right here too."
"_Thursday, 8 April 1915_
"Here I am back again in 'Rest Billets,' for six days'
rest. When I set off for the six days' duty I was
ardently looking forward to this moment, but there is not
much difference; here we 'pig' it pretty comfortably in a
house, and there we 'pig' it almost as comfortably in a
'dug-out.' There we are exposed to rifle fire, nearly all
unaimed, and here we are exposed to shell fire--aimed,
but from about five miles away.
"On the whole this is the better, because there is more
room to move about, more freedom for exercise, and there
is less mud. But you will understand how much conditions
in the trenches have improved if comparison is possible
at all.
"My platoon (No. 11) has been very fortunate; we have had
no casualties at all in the last six days. The nearest
thing to one was yesterday when we were in the firing
trench, and a man got a bullet through his cap quite
close to his head. He was peeping over the top, a thing
they are all told not to do in the daytime. The trenches
at our point are about a hundred yards apart, and it is
really safe to look over if you don't do it too often,
but it is unnecessary, as we had a periscope and a few
loopholes....
"I am awfully grateful for all the things that have been
sent, and are being sent.... I will attach a list of
wants at the end of this letter. I am very insatiable
(that's not quite the word I wanted), but I am going on
the principle that you and the rest of the family are
only waiting to gratify my every whim! So, if I think of
a thing I ask for it....
"By the way we have changed our billets here. Our last
ones have been shelled while we were away--a prodigious
hole through the roof wrecking the kitchen, but not
touching our little room at the back. However, it is not
safe enough for habitation and the natives even have left!
"Things are awfully quiet here. We thought at first that
it was 'fishy' and something was preparing, but I don't
think so now. It is possibly the principle of 'live and
let live.' In the trenches if we don't stir them up with
shots they leave us pretty well alone. Of course we are
ready for anything all the same.
"Yes, we see the daily papers here as often as we want to
(the day's before). Personally, and I think my view is
shared by all the other officers, I would rather read a
romance, or anything not connected with this war, than a
daily paper....
"Was the Easter sunrise a success? It wasn't here. Cloudy
and dull was how I should describe it. Fair to fine
generally, some rain (the latter not to be taken in the
American sense).
"I wonder if you got my Acrostic [see previous letter]
and whether anybody guessed it; it was meant to be very
easy, but perhaps acrostics are no longer the fashion and
are somewhat boring. I always think they are more fun to
make than to undo. The solution is a household word here,
because it is only a half-mile or so away, and provides
most things."
[The family had soon guessed the Acrostic, giving the place as
Dickebusch. The "lights" are--
D um B
I o U
Cares S
K lu Ck
E dit H.]
[_To a Brother_]
"_Billets, Tuesday, 13 April 1915_
"We are all right here except for the shells. When
I arrived I found every one suffering from nerves
and unwilling to talk about shells at all. And now I
understand why. The other day a shrapnel burst near our
billet and a piece of the case caught one of our servants
(Mr. Laws's) on the leg and hand. He lost the fingers of
his right hand, and I have been trying to forget the mess
it made of his right leg--ever since. He will have had it
amputated by now.
"They make you feel awfully shaky, and when one comes
over it is surprising the pace at which every one gets
down into any ditch or hole near.
"One large shell landed right on the field where the
men were playing football on Sunday evening. They all
fell flat, and all, I'm thankful to say, escaped injury,
though a few were within a yard or so of the hole. The
other subalterns of the Company and I were (_mirabile
dictu_) in church at the time.
"I wonder if you can get hold of some morphia tablets
[for wounded men]. I think injection is too complicated,
but I understand there are tablets that can merely be
placed in the mouth to relieve pain. They might prove
very useful in the trenches, because if a man is hit in
the morning he will usually have to wait till dark to be
removed.
"My revolver has arrived this morning."
"_Sunday, 18 April 1915_
"I came out of the trenches on Friday night. It was
raining, so the surface of the ground was very slippery;
and it was the darkest night I can remember. There was a
good deal of 'liveliness' too, shots were flying around
more than usual. There were about a hundred of us in our
party, two platoons (Fletcher's and mine) which had been
in the fire trenches, though I was only with them for one
day, Thursday night till Friday night. Captain Taylor was
in front, then Fletcher's platoon, then Fletcher, then my
platoon, then me bringing up the rear. We always travel
in single file, because there are so many obstacles to
negotiate--plank bridges and 'Johnson' holes being the
chief.
"Picture us then shuffling our way across the fields
behind the trenches at about one mile an hour--with
frequent stops while those in front negotiate some
obstacle (during these stops we crouch down to try and
miss most of the bullets!). Every few minutes a 'Very'
light will go up and then the whole line 'freezes' and
remains absolutely stationary in its tracks till the
light is over. A 'Very' light is an 'asteroid.' (Noël
will explain that.) It is fired either by means of a
rocket (in the German case) or of a special pistol called
a 'Very' pistol after the inventor (in our case). The
light is not of magnesium brightness, but is just a
bright star light with a little parachute attached, so
that it falls slowly through the air. The light lasts
about five seconds. These things are being shot up at
short intervals all night long. Sometimes dozens are in
the air together, especially if an attack is on.
"Well, to go back to Friday night:--it took us a very
long time to get back, and at one point it was hard to
believe that they hadn't seen us. Lights went up and
almost a volley whistled over us. We all got right down
and waited for a bit. Really we were much too far off for
them to see us, but we were on rather an exposed bit of
ground, and they very likely fix a few rifles on to that
part in the daytime and 'poop' them off at night. That is
a favourite plan of theirs, and works very well.
"We did get here in the end, and had no casualties,
though we had had one just before leaving the trench. A
man called Raymond (in my platoon) got shot through the
left forearm. He was firing over the parapet and had been
sniping snipers (firing at their flashes). Rather a nasty
wound through an artery. They applied a tourniquet and
managed to stop the bleeding, but he was so weak from
loss of blood he had to be carried back on a stretcher.
"I had noticed this man before, partly on account of his
name. Last time I was in the fire trenches (about ten
days ago) I was dozing in my dug-out one evening and the
Sergeant-Major was in his, next door. Suddenly he calls
out 'Raymond!' I started. Then he calls again 'Raymond!
Come here!' I shouted out 'Hallo! What's the matter?' But
then I heard the other Raymond answering, so I guessed
how it was....
"While at tea in the next room the post came and brought
me your letter and one from Alec. Isn't it perfectly
marvellous? You were surprised at the speed of my last
letter. But how about yours? The postmark is 2.30 p.m. on
the 16th at Birmingham, and here it is in my hands at 4
p.m. on the 18th!
"I was telling you about the difficulties of going to
and fro between here and the trenches, but you will
understand it is not always like that. If there is a
moon, or even if there is a clear sky so that we can get
the benefit of the starlight (which is considerable and
much more than I thought), matters are much improved,
because if you can still see the man in front, when he
is, say, 5 yards in front of you, and can also see the
holes instead of finding them with your person, all that
'waiting for the "tail" to close up' is done away with....
"Last night Laws, Thomas, and myself each took a party of
about forty-five down separately, leaving the remainder
guarding the various billets. Then when we returned
Fletcher took the rest down.
"It was a glorious night, starry, with a very young and
inexperienced moon, and quite dry and warm. I would not
have minded going down again except that I would rather
go to bed, which I did.
"Do you know that joke in _Punch_ where the Aunt
says: 'Send me a postcard when you are safely in the
trenches!'? Well, there is a great deal of truth in
that--one feels quite safe when one reaches the friendly
shelter of the trench, though of course the approaches
aren't really very dangerous. One is 'thrilled' by the
whistle of the bullets near you. That describes the
feeling best, I think--it is a kind of excitement."
"_Thursday, 22 April 1915, 6.50 p.m._
"I have received a most grand periscope packed, with
spare mirrors, in a canvas haversack. It is a glorious
one and I am quite keen to use it, thank you very much
indeed for it. Thank you also for two sets of ear
defenders which I am going to test when firing off a
'Very' light. A 'parachuted' star is fired from a brass
pistol with a bore of about 1 inch and a barrel of about
6 inches. The report is very deafening, I believe--though
I haven't fired one yet.
"The star, by the way, though it lights up the country
for some distance, is not too bright to look at.
"I have just remembered something I wanted to tell you,
so I will put it in here.
"When walking to and from the trenches in the darkness,
I find it is a great help to study the stars (not for
purposes of direction). I know very little about them,
and I saw a very useful plan in, I think, the _Daily
News_ of 3 April, called 'The Night Sky in April.' It was
just a circle with the chief planets and stars shown and
labelled. The periphery of the circle represented the
horizon.
"If you know of such a plan that is quite easily
obtainable I should be glad to have one. The simpler the
thing the better.
"The books you had sent me, which were passed on to
me by Professor Leith, are much appreciated. They
circulate among officers of this Company like a
library. At the time they arrived we were running
short of reading-matter, but since then our Regimental
Headquarters have come to the rescue and supplied each
Company with half a dozen books, to be passed on to other
Companies afterwards.
"I enclose an acrostic that I made up while in the
trenches during our last spell. It seems to be a prolific
place for this sort of thing."
ACROSTIC
(One word of five letters)
LIGHTS. The lowest rank with lowest pay,
Don't make this public though, I pray!
Inoculation's victim, though
Defeated still a powerful foe.
When Government 'full-stop' would say
It does so in this novel way.
The verb's success, the noun's disgrace
And lands you in a foreign place.
A king of kings without a roar,
His kingdom that no anger bore.
The final goal--the end of all--
What all desire, both great and small.
R. L., _19 April 1915_
[The solution of this is the word _Peace_ given
twice--once inverted. The first 'light,' which is not
'public' is 'Private'; the second is 'Enteric'; the third
is a sign employed in Government telegrams to denote a
full-stop, viz., 'aaa'; the fourth is 'Capture'; and
the fifth (with apologies) is 'Emp,' and some occult
reference to Edward VII, not remembered now; the kingdom
without anger being Empire without ire.--O. J. L.]
"_Friday, 30 April 1915, 4.10 p.m._
"I wish you could see me now. I am having a little
holiday in Belgium. At the moment I am sitting in the
shade of a large tree, leaning against its trunk, writing
to you. The sun is pouring down and I have been sitting
in it lying on a fallen tree, but it makes me feel lazy,
so I came here to write (in the shade).
"Before me, across a moat, is the château--ruined now,
but not by old age. It is quite a handsome building, two
storeys high. It is built of brick with a slate roof;
the bricks are colour-washed yellow with a white band 18
inches deep under the roof; there are two towers with
pointed roofs that stand to the front of the house,
projecting slightly from it, forming bay windows. These
towers, from the roof down to the ground, are red brick,
as are the fronts of the dormer windows in the main
building.
"The larger and taller tower is octagonal and stands
in the middle of the front, the smaller one is square
and stands on the right corner. On each side of the
main building are flanking buildings consisting on this
(left) side of a brick-built palm-house and beyond that
again a glass-covered conservatory. The other flank has
a conservatory also, but I have not explored as far as
that. The front of the building is about 70 to 80 yards
long.
[Illustration]
"The main entrance is on the other or northern side. It
is reached by a drawbridge over the moat. The house on
that (north) side is not so much damaged. It has long
windows with shutters that give it a continental air. I
can't sketch it, so I have given you a rough elevation
from the south. I am sitting to the south-west, just
across the moat.
[Illustration]
"The place is in an awful mess. In some parts it is
difficult to tell how the original building went. One can
see into several of the rooms; the outer wall has fallen
away, exposing about three rooms and an attic. In one
room the floor has dropped at one corner to some 8 feet
below its proper level, and a bed is just above poised on
the edge of the room, almost falling out where the room
is sectioned.
"There is no glass in any of the green-houses--it is all
on the floor. The palm-house is full of green tubs with
plants in them, mostly overturned.
"In the garden the trees are blossoming, some of the
fruit trees are covered with white blossom; but many,
even of these, are lying flat and blossoming in the moat.
The drive runs down to the road on the south side in an
absolutely straight line, flanked by tall trees. But many
of these are down too. I was lying on one just now. The
garden is in good order, though getting a little out of
hand. There is a small plantation of gooseberry bushes
that looks very healthy. Shell holes are all about,
however.
"The house, although it is not on an eminence, commands
a good view to the southward and has a fine view of the
German lines, which are slightly raised just here. The
enemy evidently suspected this château was used as an
observation post, as indeed it may have been.
"We came out of the trenches on Wednesday night into
Reserve Billets, and I was placed with No. 9 platoon
(instead of my own) in a little house not far from this
château. We are not allowed to leave it by day, or rather
we are not allowed to show ourselves on the south side of
it, as it might draw shell-fire on to it. But I managed
to sneak away to the north under cover of a hedge without
any risk of being seen.
"After being relieved in the trenches on Wednesday, and
marching back and having a meal with the other officers
of C Company in the Reserve Billets (a brewery), it was
one o'clock before I got to bed in our little house. And
we had to 'stand to arms' in the morning for an hour
while dawn was breaking (we always do, and at dusk too).
So after this I went to sleep till 2 p.m. I sleep in an
outhouse with no door, on straw laid on a brick floor.
My ground-sheet on the straw, my coat over me, my feet
in a sack and an air-cushion under my head, and I can
sleep as peacefully as at home. The place is swarming
with rats and mice, you can hear them directly you lie
still. They go 'plop, plop, plop,' on the straw overhead,
as if they were obliged to take long strides owing to
their feet sinking into the straw. Immediately over my
head, I should judge, there is a family of young rats by
the noise. Occasionally they have a stampede and a lot of
dust comes down on my face.
"But one gets used to this, and muttering 'Nom d'un
chien!' one turns the other cheek. By the way, they say
these rats 'stand to' at dawn, just as we do.
"I am terrified of a rat running over my face, but my
servant sleeps with me, so I console myself that the
chances are just even that they won't choose me. I wish
he wouldn't snore though--he's lowering the odds.
"Last night we had to turn out for fatigue parties. I
took a party down to one of the fire trenches with 'knife
rests.' These are sections of barbed wire entanglement.
They are made by fixing cross-pieces on the ends of a
long pole. The tips of these cross-pieces are joined
together with barbed wire laid parallel to the centre
pole. Then the whole is wound with more barbed wire laid
on spirally, thus: [a sketch]
These are slung out in front of the trenches and fixed
together. They are now fixed also to the trench, because
the Germans used to harpoon them and draw them over to
their own side!
"Well, we set off about 11 p.m. and took twenty-two
of these down. We didn't exactly bless the full
moon--although it showed us the holes and obstructions in
the way. Still, we had no casualties and made good time.
We got back about midnight. So I only slept till 12.30
this morning! Of course I had to get up for an hour at
dawn. I used the time to brew myself some cocoa. I am
getting an expert cook, and can make that 'Bivouac' cocoa
taste like the very finest chocolate....
"Just before going into the trenches I received another
of those splendid parcels of cabbage and apples. The
apples are simply splendid. The cabbage is good, but I
never cared very much for it--it is medicinal in this
case. However, it is great to have such a fine supply
of green stuff instead of none at all. The Mess does
appreciate it.
"I have been supplying our Mess (C Company) with butter.
And the supply sent up to now has just effected this
with none to spare. But I don't know whether you want to
do this, and that is why I suggested cutting down the
supply. I don't want you to think any of it has been
wasted though--it hasn't, and is splendid stuff....
"In the trenches one is not always doing nothing. These
last three days in I have been up all night. I had a
working party in two shifts working all night and all
three nights, digging communication trenches. I used to
go to bed about 4.20 a.m. and sleep till lunch-time, and
perhaps lie down again for a bit in the afternoon. That
is why my letters have not been so frequent.
"It is extraordinary that what is wanted at the moment
is not so much a soldier as a civil engineer. There are
trenches to be laid out and dug, and the drainage of them
to be thought out and carried through. Often the sides
have to be 'riveted' or staked, and a flooring of boards
put in, supported on small piles.
"Then there is the water-supply, where one exists. I have
had great fun arranging a 'source' in my trench (the
support trench that I have been in these last three days
and that I have been in often before). A little stream,
quite clear and drinkable after boiling, runs out at
one place (at about 1 pint a minute!) and makes a muddy
mess of the trenches near. By damming it up and putting
a water-bottle with the bottom knocked in on top of the
dam, the water runs in a little stream from the mouth of
the bottle. It falls into a hole large enough to receive
a stone water-jar, and then runs away down a deep trough
cut beside the trench. Farther down it is again dammed up
to form a small basin which the men use for washing; and
it finally escapes into a kind of marshy pond in rear of
the trenches.
"I quite enjoyed this job, and there are many like it;
plank bridges to be put up, seats and steps to be cut,
etc. One officer put half a dozen of his men on to
making a folding bed! But it was not for himself, but
for his Captain, who has meningitis and can't sleep. The
men enjoy these jobs too; it is much better than doing
nothing.
"I will creep back to my quarters now and make myself
some tea on my 'Primus' (no fires are allowed).
"A cuckoo has been singing on a tree near me--in full
view. (It left hurriedly when one of our guns went off
close behind the château.) The first time I have ever
seen one, I think. It is amazing how tame the animals
get. They have so much ground to themselves in the
daytime--the rats especially; they flourish freely in the
space between the trenches.
"Things are fairly quiet and easy here just now."
[In one of his letters to me (22 April 1915), he said he had plenty
of time now to watch the stars, and would like a set of star maps or
something in order to increase his knowledge of them. Accordingly,
I sent him a planisphere which I happened to have--an ingenious
cardboard arrangement which can be turned so as to show, in a rough
way, the stars visible in these latitudes at any time of day and any
period of the year.--O. J. L.]
"_May Day 1915, 3.20 p.m._
"Thank you very much for the planisphere and for your
letter. I have often seen the planisphere before, but
never appreciated it until now.
"As to the 'Very' pistol, I quite agree that the 'barrel'
is too short. If it were longer the light would be thrown
farther, which would be much better. As it is, it falls
between us and the Germans.
"The German lights, which I now learn are fired from a
kind of mortar and not by a rocket as I thought, are much
better than ours; they give a better and steadier, fatter
light, and they are thrown well behind our trenches.
However, ours are much better, and theirs are worse than
they used to be....
"They have not turned the gas on to us here, though on
some days I have smelled distinct traces coming down wind
from the north. I should say it was chlorine rather than
SO_{2} that I smelled. I don't know whether the ammonia
preventive would be better than the soda one. In any
case, the great thing is that one is provided. The soda
method is the one in use, I believe, in the chlorine
works at Widnes and elsewhere."
"_Tuesday, 3 May 1915, 12.40 p.m._
"For the first three days we are out here in new
billets--officers in a comfortable little house. Last
three days of our 'rest' (!) we are going into a wood
quite close to our 'Reserve Billets.' We are in 'support'
in case of a sudden attack. Roads are so much knocked
about by shells that traffic is limited and restricted.
So we might not be able to support quick enough unless we
were close.
"Everything is still very much upset, due to the
penetration of our (French) line. They have been shelling
our village from the rear (!) and most of the companies
have had to quit. _We_ (C Company) are well back now....
"Two of our platoons went digging last night. Mine was
one. We left here about eight o'clock, and I got back
at 1 a.m., and then I sat up with another subaltern
(Fletcher) after I had had some supper until the other
man (Thomas) had come in and eaten. We went to bed
at 3 a.m. Breakfast at nine this morning, and we are
_resting_. However, I am going to have an absolutely
slack day to-day. A bath too, if I can manage it....
"Last night the moon got up very late and was quite
useless. They fire more when there is no light, they get
scared--at least uneasy; they fire off 'Very' lights
constantly, and let off volleys. We lie absolutely flat
while this goes on. It is a funny sight; the men look
like a row of starfish!"
"_Tuesday, 11 May 1915, 9.15 a.m._ (_really Wednesday
the_ 12_th. I had got wrong_)
"We are within view of a well-known place [no doubt
Ypres.--O. J. L.], and the place has been on fire in
three or four places for about two days, and is still
going strong. A magnificent spectacle at night. The place
is, I believe, a city of ruins and dead, and there is
probably no one to put a fire out. Probably, too, a fire
is rather a good thing than otherwise; the place must be
terribly in need of purifying.
"I was awfully interested in father's dream.[3] Your
letter is dated the 8th, and you say that the other night
he dreamt that I was in the thick of the fighting, but
that they were taking care of me from the other side.
"Well, I don't know about 'the thick of the fighting,'
but I have been through what I can only describe as a
hell of a shelling with shrapnel. My diary tells me it
was on the 7th, at about 10.15 a.m. Our Company were
ordered forward from one set of dug-outs to others nearer
the firing line, and the formation adopted was platoons
in single file, with intervals between. That is, four
columns of about fifty men each, in single file, with
about 20 to 50 yards between each column. I was the third
platoon, though I was not with my own but with No. 9.
Fletcher brought up the last one, thus:--
[Illustration]
(My platoon is No. 11.--No. 9's platoon commander, Laws,
is in England on sick leave, as his nerves are all wrong.)
"Well, anyhow, we had not gone far before the gunners
saw us, and an aeroplane was flying along above and with
us. They sent over some 'Johnsons,' but these all went
too far; we were screened by a reservoir embankment.
However, we had to pass through a ruined village and they
knew it, so they put shrapnel over it. Still we were
unaffected. But when we came out into the open on the
far side, we caught it properly. Shell after shell came
over and burst above us, and when I and about three men
behind me had just turned a corner one burst above, in
exactly the spot I should have wished it to if I had been
the enemy. I looked up and saw the air full of flying
pieces, some large and some small. These spattered down
all round us. I was untouched, but my servant, who was
immediately behind me, was hit on the knee, but only
wounded slightly. He was rather scared. I led him back
round the corner again and put him in a ditch. The rest
of the platoon got in too, while I was doing this. I
thought that was the best thing they could do until the
shelling ceased, but Fletcher shouted that we must get
on, whatever happened.
"So I called the men out again, and, leaving a man with
the wounded, we set off. I don't believe it was right,
but we just walked along. It felt rather awful. (When
one is _retiring_ it is important not to let the men
'double,' as they get out of hand; but in this case we
were advancing, so I think we might have done so.) I felt
very much protected. It was really a miracle that we
weren't nearly all 'wiped out.' The shrapnel seemed very
poor stuff. As it was, we had one man killed and about
five or six injured, all more or less slightly.
"We moved up into a support trench that same evening, and
after a couple of days we moved a few yards farther to
these trenches, which are also support trenches. Things
are very quiet, and I am enjoying myself very much. If it
wasn't for the unpleasant sights one is liable to see,
war would be a most interesting and pleasant affair.
"My friends the other officers of C Company have given
me the honorary position of 'O.C. Works.' One is always
'O.C. something or other' out here--all but the Colonel,
he is 'C.O.' Orders for the day read: "O.C. Companies
will do so-and-so.' Then there are O.C. Details, O.C.
Reinforcements, etc. 'O.C.' of course stands for 'officer
commanding.' Well, I am 'O.C. Works,' and have a fine
time. I just do any job I fancy, giving preference to
trench improvement. It is fine to have at one's disposal
a large squad of men with shovels (or without). They
fill sandbags and carry them, they carry timber and saw
it, and in short do anything that is required. One can
accomplish something under these conditions."
_"6 p.m._
"We have been told that we are being relieved to-night,
and that we are going back to our old place (No. 2). So
everything should be as before, once we are back. We may
not manage to get _all_ the way back to-night, as we
cannot travel by daylight as most of the road is under
direct observation. If daylight catches us we shall
encamp in dug-outs _en route_.
"I am rather disappointed that we are going to-night, as
Fletcher and I were going to rebuild our dug-out here.
We both got very keen indeed and had laid out the plan
carefully. (He has been an architect.)
"I had another disappointment when I was back in
the wood (as supports). It reminds me of one of our
Quartermaster-Sergeants in Edinburgh. He is an Irishman,
O'Brien. I found him on the platform while we were
waiting to see a draft off; he looked very despondent.
I asked him how he was, and was surprised when he
replied, 'I've had a reverse, sorr!' It turned out that
he had applied to headquarters for an improvement in his
position, and was told he _didn't deserve any_. It had
almost broken his heart!
"Well, _I_ had a reverse. I was given the job of building
a hut and was nearly through with it when we were ordered
away. If we get back to the old wood again I shall go on
with it, in spite of whatever the present tenants may
have done in the way of completing it (our guns are now
'going at it' hammer and tongs).
"I did enjoy laying the sandbags and building a proper
wall with 'headers' and 'stretchers.' I got a very
good testimonial too, for the Sergeant asked me in all
seriousness whether I was a brick-setter in civil life. I
was awfully proud.
"_Later_
"(I had to leave off here because we were ordered to
'fire-rapid' in between periods of our artillery fire,
and I had to turn out to watch.)"
NOTE BY O. J. L.
The dream referred to, near the beginning of this long letter to his
mother, Mr. J. Arthur Hill remembers that I told him of, in a letter
dated 7 May 1915, which he has now returned; and I reproduce it
here:--
"To J. A. H.
"_7 May 1915_
"I do not reckon that I often have conscious intuitions;
and when I have had vivid dreams they have not meant
anything, though once or twice I have recorded them
because I have them seldom. I happen, however, to have
had an intuition this morning, before I was more than
half awake, which, though not specially vivid, perhaps
I had better record, namely, that an attack was going
on at the present moment, that my son was in it, but
that 'they' were taking care of him. I had this clearly
in mind before seeing the morning papers; and indeed
I do not know that there is anything in the morning
papers suggesting it, since of course their news is
comparatively old. One might have surmised, however, that
there would be a struggle for Hill 60, and I know that my
son is not far off Ypres. (By the way, I have been told
that the Flemish Belgians really do call it 'Wipers'; it
does not sound likely, and it needs confirmation. I know
of course that our troops are said to call it so, which
is natural enough.) O. J. L."
I now (August 1916) notice for the first time that the coincidence
in time between dream and fact is rather good, especially as it was
the only dream or 'impression' that I remember having during the war.
Practically I do not dream.
But as this incident raises the question of possible presentiment I
must deny that we had any serious presentiment about Raymond. My wife
tells me that her anxiety about Raymond, though always present, was
hardly keen, as she had an idea that he would be protected. She wrote
to a friend on 22 March 1915:--
"... I ought to get him back safe. I have a hole in my
heart and shall have till he comes back. I only saw him
for the inside of an hour before he left, as I was away
when he came home for six hours...."
At the same time I must admit that on the morning of 15 September
1915 (the day after Raymond's death, which we did not know of till
the 17th) I was in an exceptional state of depression; and though
a special game, to which I had been looking forward, on the No. 1
Course at Gullane had been arranged with Rowland Waterhouse, I could
not play a bit. Not ordinary bad play, but total incompetence; so
much so that after seven holes we gave up the game, and returned to
the hotel. To make sure of the date, I wrote to Rowland Waterhouse,
asking him when that abortive match occurred, since I knew that it
was his last day at Gullane. He replies:--
"Violet and I left Gullane for Musselburgh on Wednesday, 15
September. Our final match ended that morning on the eighth tee"
[which that year was on the reservoir hill].
One more dream I may as well now mention:--
After the family had returned home from Scotland and elsewhere,
near the end of September 1915, and begun to settle down, Alec,
who had felt Raymond's death exceedingly, told me that the night
before he heard the news--or rather the early morning of the same
day, 17 September--he had had an extraordinarily painful and vivid
dream, quite an exceptional occurrence for him, and one of which he
had spoken to a manageress in the hotel near Swansea where he was
staying, describing it as the worst he had ever had in his life. He
did not know that it had any significance, and neither do I, as the
dream, though rather ghastly, was not about Raymond or anyone in
particular; but it seemed an odd coincidence that the ill news should
be, so to speak, on the way, at the time of a quite exceptional and
painful impression. The person to whom he told the dream handed him
the telegram a few hours later. He has written the dream down, but it
need not be reproduced.
No real provision is involved in any of this, unless it be that of
an hour or two in my own impression, in May; but for general remarks
on the question of the possibility of prevision Chapter V in Part III
may be referred to.
"_Friday, 14 May 1915_
"I had a glorious hot bath yesterday; Fletcher and I
went up to the brewery here. The bath is zinc, and full
length, and we have as much water, and as hot, as we
like....
"I spent some time too stemming the leaks in the roof
of our shed. With my _two_ waterproof sheets I have
rigged up a kind of chute above my bed, so that any water
that comes through the roof is led down behind my head.
I don't know what happens to it there. I thought of
leading it across on to the man next me, as the Germans
used to do in the winter campaign. They fitted a pump
in their trenches and led the delivery pipe forward, so
that the water used to run into ours--only the plan was
discovered....
"I wonder if you saw the appreciation of the soda cake
on the back of my letter from the woods. M.P. stands for
Mess President. Fletcher was M.P. and was a very good
one. I am now, as he has done it for a long time and is
tired....
"As cheerful and well and happy as ever. Don't think I am
having a rotten time--I am not."
"_Sunday, 5.40 p.m., 16 May 1915_
"We had a very fine piece of news yesterday. Over three
weeks ago we were called out one night and were urgently
required to dig a certain new trench behind our lines.
The men worked splendidly and got the job done in a very
short time (working of course in complete darkness). The
next day the Brigadier-General inspected the trench and
sent in a complimentary message about it to our Colonel.
The day after he complimented us again--for the same
piece of work! Well, we have had several such jobs to
do, and just recently we have been to Hill 60, where the
bulk of our work was deepening the trenches and improving
the parapets. We were lent for this purpose to another
Division (the Division that is at the moment occupying
that area), and were away from here exactly a week. We
got a splendid testimonial from the General of this other
Division, who told our Colonel he had got 'a top-hole
battalion.' Arising out of all this, we have now been
selected as a 'Pioneer Battalion,' We are relieved from
all ordinary trench work for some time to come. We simply
go out at night and dig trenches or build parapets and so
forth, and have the day to ourselves. This was arranged
yesterday, and last night we went out and returned here
at 1.30 a.m. The work is more or less under fire, but
only from stray shots and nothing very serious. Our
Colonel is awfully pleased that we have done so well; and
we are all pleased with the new arrangement. One great
advantage is that we can settle down in our billets and
are not continually having to pack up everything and move
off. We can now start and make tables, chairs, beds, a
proper door for the hut, a glass window, and so on....
"As to aeroplanes, when one passes overhead a whistle
is blown and every one either takes cover or stands
perfectly still. The men are forbidden to look up. Then
the whistle is blown several times when the danger is
past. I am afraid, though, these regulations are more
honoured in the breach than the observance.
"We had quite a nice informal service here this afternoon
sitting in a field. The chaplain has the rank of Major
and has been out here seven months.
"Yesterday the Captain, Fletcher, and myself went for a
ride on horses. We went about five miles out, stopped for
about twenty minutes at a little inn (the last in Belgium
on that particular road), and then came back again. The
country was perfectly lovely, though I did not appreciate
it as much as I otherwise would have done, as I had a
trooper's saddle and the Captain would trot. I got most
awfully sore going out, and thought I should never be
able to get back. However, I discovered a method at last,
and that was to go at a full gallop. So I alternately
went at a walk and 'hell for leather,' and got back in
comparative comfort. I thoroughly enjoyed it; it was
very bad for the horse, I am afraid, on the stone setts
(_pavé_), but sometimes I could get him on to the softer
bits at the side. I was terribly afraid some one would
think the horse was running away with me and 'block' him,
so I had to look as pleased as possible. And really I
_was_ pleased, it was such a blessed relief after that
awful trotting. I trotted along in rear of the other two
until I could stand it no longer, and then I encouraged
my nag and hit him until he broke into a canter, and
then I roared past the others, who cursed like anything
because theirs wanted to gallop too. My horse's cantor
changed imperceptibly into a full gallop, and I 'got down
to it' and felt like a jockey. After about half a mile I
would walk until the others came up and passed me, and
then I would go off again. All the same, I am very sore.
"Good-bye for the present; it is lovely hot weather and
we are all well--fit--and happy."
"_Tuesday, 18 May 1915, 5.15 p.m._
"MY DEAR NORAH AND BARBARA,--I don't expect I am far
wrong in attributing my ripping present of dates and figs
to you two. I did enjoy them, and they are not finished
yet.
"They arrived by the first post after we had returned
from our little trip. We were at Hill 60; it was so
interesting and rather exciting, although we were there
chiefly, I think, to improve the trenches, which were
very shallow and dangerous when we arrived.
"The men worked splendidly--all night and most of the
day, and, when we left, the trenches were vastly improved
and quite habitable. We also made some entirely new ones.
We are now kept for this sort of job only, and we go out
working at nights and sleep by day.
"I must explain to you about 'standing to.' A proportion
of the men are always awake in the trenches to guard
against surprises, for as the most likely times for an
attack are at dawn and at dusk, everybody has to be awake
and ready then. Of course it does interfere with your
sleep, and you do not get very much as a rule in the
trenches, but that is why you are not there for more than
about three days at a time. In the 'supports' you 'stand
to' so as to be ready to reinforce the front line quickly
in case of an attack. Out in 'Rest Billets,' I am glad to
say, it is no longer necessary.
"I am so sorry, my friend Fletcher has just gone off
this morning for a rest cure. I shall miss him awfully.
He is about five miles away and I am going to ride over
to-morrow to see him. But later on he will probably go
back to England. His nerves are all wrong and he needs a
rest,
"Good-bye for now, and very best wishes to you
both.--Your very loving brother,
RAYMOND"
"I hope you get my _communiqués_ regularly from home
(swank). Some one must have the time of their lives
copying out all the stuff I write. I hope, however, there
are a few grains in the bundle of chaff (I'm fishing
again)!
"You say, Norah, that you don't think the château was
as quiet as I described. Well, provided I mentioned our
gun, that went off at occasional intervals close behind
it with a terrific report, it was just as I described--a
peaceful summer afternoon. I know that people think that
everything in Belgium is chaos and slaughter, but it
isn't so. For instance, where Fletcher is, is a charming
country place with trees and fields and everything
in full green. Simply ripping. If I had only had a
motor-cycle to see it from instead of a trotting horse I
should have enjoyed it even more!
R."
"_Wednesday, 19 May 1915, 12.50 p.m._
"You must know that we have now only three officers in
our Company. I am very sorry indeed to lose Fletcher. He
went off for a rest cure yesterday morning to a place
about five miles from here. He is my greatest friend
in the Battalion, so I miss him very much and hope he
won't be long away. He will probably go back to England,
however, as his nerves are all wrong. He is going the
same way as Laws did and needs a complete rest. I am
going to ride over to see him this afternoon with the
Captain. I am afraid it won't be 'good going' as the
roads are thick with mud. The slightest rain, and they
are as bad as ever.
"I told you that I was Mess President (M.P.). I am
sure you would smile to see me ordering the meals, and
inspecting the joints. I don't know anything about them,
and when the cook calls me up specially to view a joint I
have hastily to decide whether he means me to disparage
it--or the reverse. However, I am usually safe in running
it down."
"_Thursday, 20 May 1915, 9.10 a.m._
"We rode over and saw Fletcher yesterday and had tea
with him. He is with about twenty other similar cases
in a splendid château (this one is not ruined and has
magnificent grounds). Unfortunately this is probably
the very worst possible treatment he could have. He has
nothing to do, no interest in anything, and no society
except people who, like himself, want cheering. He does
not read, he does not even walk about the grounds. He
cannot sleep much, and he said he did not know exactly
_what_ he did. Under these conditions I know it will not
be long before he is sent home. Brooding is just the very
worst thing for him. He sees all the past horrors all
over again; things which, at the time, he shut his mind
to. The best treatment (even better than home, _I_ think)
would be to send him back for a month or so to Crosby. He
would then have plenty to occupy his mind and would have
cheerful companions...."
"_6.20 p.m._
"I have attached a list of a few slang terms and curious
expressions in use in this Regiment and I believe
universal at the moment. Some of these are amazing, and
it is difficult to trace the origin. 'Drumming up' is
one, and 'wind up' another. I saw an old Belgian cart
yesterday, a three-wheeled affair. It had been overturned
on its side and the spokes of the lowest wheel had been
broken. Well, some one had 'drummed up' on them--every
one had disappeared. These men here will 'drum up' on
anything. 'Drumming up' on a thing does not mean lighting
a fire _on_ it but _with_ it.
"When we were at that place where we were for a week,
there was a most peculiar state of affairs. The Germans
were holding a small piece of trench joining, and in line
with, ours. They were only separated from us by double
barricades--their and ours. They corresponded to the meat
in a sandwich. [A sketch is omitted.] When I say 'ours'
I mean the English. I was not actually in this trench,
but in the one just behind. The trench on one side of the
'meat' was held by one of our Companies, and the other by
another Regiment...."
"_Friday, 10.20 a.m._
"My nickname in the Mess is 'Maurice' (with a French
pronunciation); I am called after the small boy in the
grocery shop here. The good dame always says 'Oui,
monsieur le lieutenant!' 'Non, monsieur le lieutenant!'
to everything one says; she gets in about six to the
minute. Well, we used to imitate her after our visits
to the shop, and one day she called out 'Maurice'; so
Fletcher calls me 'Maurice,' and I reply, 'Oui, monsieur
le lieutenant.'"
SOME MILITARY TERMS
WATER-PARTY A fatigue party carrying water.
TO HAVE WIND UP (to rhyme with 'pinned up')--To be
uneasy, 'on edge.'
DRUMMING UP Making a fire for the purpose of warming food.
BLIGHTY England.
A BLIGHTY WOUND A wound that necessitates invaliding
home. PUCCA Real, genuine.
RALLY UP A short period of considerable firing in the
trenches.
DUG-OUT A cramped dwelling-place, usually above ground.
STAND-TO An hour of preparedness at dawn and at dusk when
every one is awake and wears his equipment (in trenches
and supports only).
STAND-DOWN The finish of 'stand-to.'
KNIFE-RESTS Barbed wire in sections.
CUSHY A 'soft' thing.
TO GO SICK To report oneself ill to the doctor.
TO GET DOWN TO IT To lie down, go to bed.
CRIBBING OR GROUSING Complaining.
R. L. 20.5.15
[_To a Brother_]
"_26 May 1915_
"I expect you have read it, but I want to recommend to
you _Simon Dale_, by Anthony Hope.
"We had the gas over here on Monday morning about 3 or 4
a.m. Although it was coming from a point about four miles
away, as we learnt afterwards, it was very strong and
made our eyes smart very much.
"We have got hold of some liqueurs from Railhead, a large
bottle of Chartreuse and one of Curaçao.
"Good-bye and good luck."
"_Saturday, 29 May 1915, 8.30 p.m._
"We have again done a little move, this time with bag and
baggage. We are now on the outskirts of 'No. 1,' and due
west of it. The men have built themselves dug-outs along
a hedge and we (C Coy. officers) are installed in an
untouched château. Quite comfortable. Fine lofty rooms.
We only use part of the house. We have the kitchen, and a
large dining-room on the ground floor. We sleep upstairs
on the first floor (our valise on hay). At least, Thomas
and I do, the Captain and Case have moved down and sleep
on large fat palliasses in the dining-room! We have
the rest of the house empty to ourselves to-night, but
various headquarter staffs seem to come in turn and
occupy two of the other ground floor rooms occasionally.
"We have been out two nights digging on the opposite side
of the town, but we have not been ordered out to-night,
so far.
"I notice I have now been gazetted back to 15 August, the
same as most of my contemporaries.
"There has been a suggestion made that I should take a
course of machine-gun instruction in order that I might
act as understudy to our present Machine-Gun Officer
(M.G.O.) who is Roscoe, and is the successor to Wyatt.
I agreed, but it may have 'fallen through' owing to the
move. If it comes off I shall go for a fortnight's course
to a place which I will call No. 3 [probably St. Omer.]
"I got a letter from you to-day about 5 p.m. I was so
glad.
"No, I am not making things out better than they really
are. I like to write mostly about the pleasant parts, of
course. We have our unpleasant moments, shelling and so
on, but no very bad times as yet. Being on tenterhooks is
quite the worst part.
"As regards Fletcher being worse than us, of course he
came out much earlier. He left Edinburgh for the Front
on 4 January, and Laws left on 31 December. He has had
some awful times and the winter campaign, and in any
case the length of time one is exposed to the mental
strain and worry makes a difference. I do my best to
keep cheerful and happy all the time--I don't believe in
meeting trouble half-way. If there was some indication
of the termination of the war it would help matters--the
unending vista is apt to be rather disheartening at
times. I am very glad Italy is in--at last.
"By the way, Fletcher has not been sent to England
(Blighty) after all. He is at Versailles, in the No. 4
General Hospital there, having a nice time if he can
enjoy it. This hospital is the Trianon Palace. The
Captain had a letter from him in which he sent his love
to 'Maurice' and 'his lordship' (that's Thomas)."
"_2 June 1915, 4.45 p.m._
"Our interpreter is a Belgian, and is a very nice man. He
does our shopping for us in the town, which is ten miles
or so away, and (as now arranged) he makes the journey
twice a week. It is very funny to hear him talk, he
picks up the soldiers' idioms and uses them in the wrong
places. One he is very fond of is the expression 'Every
time'! He puts such a funny emphasis on it.
"The last member of our Mess is a man who has just come
out and has not long had his commission. He used to be
Regimental Sergeant-Major to our 1st Battalion and has
had about twenty-six years' service, so he knows his job.
"Unfortunately, however, his arrival is not an unmixed
blessing. The Captain is seized with enthusiasm and wants
to make our Company the finest Company in the Battalion.
The result is that we have now nothing but parades and
much less rest than before. When we were turned into a
pioneer battalion the Colonel told the men that they
would go digging at night and would do nothing else
except for rifle inspection. Now, however, we have in
addition an hour's drill of various sorts in the morning
and a lecture to N.C.O.s in the afternoon, at which all
subalterns have to attend and take notes. On the day
following a rest night we have to be up about seven
o'clock, and be on parade while the men do half an hour's
physical exercise before breakfast. Then we have an hour
and a half's drill afterwards and the lecture. And these
parades seem to be growing. I am afraid they will wear
us all out and the men as well. Thomas feels it most
and is very worried--although he is Senior Subaltern in
the Company he is left right out of things. I am afraid
of his going like Laws and Fletcher did. Some 'rankers'
are very good fellows. They bring tremendous experience
with them, but, on the other hand, we bring something
too, and when they ride the high horse they can be very
unbearable....
"I got a supply of paraffin to-day; D Company has bought
a huge barrel of it, and I sent over a petrol tin for
some. They gave me nearly two gallons and asked if I
could let them have a window in exchange! I hunted round
and found quite a good loose one and sent it across with
my compliments. The reason they have bought up so much
paraffin is because their Captain has presented pocket
Primuses to his men. Each section of twelve men has
one between them with one man in charge of it. It is a
killing sight to see their Company sitting in a field and
drumming up!
"The Belgian cooking stove is rather a curious thing.
It is of the same design in every house apparently. It
consists of a metal urn to hold the fire; this has a
removable lid for which you can substitute a kettle or
pan which just fits the round opening. The urn stands
about 3 feet from the wall and has a flat-shaped iron
chimney leading into the main chimney. This iron chimney
can be used for heating pots or for warming plates. The
base of the urn is an ash collector. You will see that
there is no oven; this is built separately and is a brick
affair with a separate fire to it. [Sketch.]"
"_Thursday, 3 June 1915, 1.30 p.m._
"I am all right again to-day; you mustn't pay any
attention to my grumbles, it just depends what I feel
like; and I am going to stir things up about these
parades. We had a fine time last night--very exciting.
We went through the heart of the city and it is still
very much on fire. The enemy keeps sending an occasional
shell into it to keep it going. Just on the far side is a
graveyard, and this has been 'crumped' out of existence
nearly! It is an unpleasant place to pass now.
"The town is almost unbelievable. I don't think anyone
would credit that they could do so much damage and not
leave a single house untouched, without entering the
place at all. [Ypres again, probably.]
"Our digging last night was near a small road much used
by transport (which is very audible at night). As the
enemy can hear the rumble of the horse-drawn carts quite
plainly, they kept on sending shrapnel over, and we had
quite a warm time of it. We were quite glad to get away
again. (No one was hit while we were there.)
"I was very interested in father's pamphlet on 'War and
Christianity,' and I have passed it on to the others. I
like the way he gets right outside and looks at things
from above. It is a very soothing thing to read.[4]...
"I had such an interesting talk with the interpreter
yesterday (his rank is the equivalent of one of our
Sergeant-Majors). He was a merchant in Morocco, and
chucked up everything and came and joined the Belgian
army as a private. He fought at Namur, Antwerp, and other
places, and is most awfully keen. He was offered the
job of Interpreter to the British Army, and, thinking
he could help more by that means and also partly for
monetary considerations, he took the job. He understood
he would be fighting with us in the trenches, but they
have put him on to shopping for us! He is awfully
disappointed. He rides up when he can, and when we went
up to Hill 60 he went up with our transports and showed
them the way and helped them a lot, although shells were
falling all round. He is a most gentlemanly man; his name
is Polchet....
"I had a letter from Violet and another from Margaret
yesterday. I understand they have gone up to Edinburgh
now; I shall like to go up there too 'after the war.'
I believe Violet is getting _my_ room ready for me in
their house. I like everything very plain, just a valise
and a little hay, and then you see if I am hungry in the
night----....
"P.S.--I had a most interesting letter from Oliver. His
discussion of Italy's motives is fine. I like hearing
what people think of events; we are apt to get very
warped views out here unless we have the other point of
view occasionally."
"_Sunday, 6 June 1915, 12 p.m._
"The Mess was thrown into the greatest state of
excitement yesterday by the arrival of kippers! How
splendid!
We had a grand breakfast this morning, quite like the
summer holidays again--breakfast after a bathe--with Alec
of course!...
"By the way, I did not present the last lot of asparagus
to the Mess--this was not because we didn't appreciate
it, but because I felt so sorry for M. Polchet (our
interpreter), and I wondered if he had any green stuff or
luxuries. So I sent it over to him. And do you know what
he has done? He has just sent me a shallow wooden box
with a thick cotton-wool pad in it. In the pad are six
hollows, and in each hollow is a ripping nectarine. Isn't
it fine of him?
"We have roses picked every day for the Mess-room; it
does improve it. The other evening we had a specially
nice meal. We sat round the polished table with candles
in the centre and bowls of roses round them (as a matter
of fact the bowls were old tinned-fruit tins, but what of
that). The food was very special, though I can't remember
what it was, but to crown all there was in the room just
across the passage ... a real fiddler with a real fiddle.
I really don't know how he managed to bring a fiddle out
here; he is a private in the Royal Garrison Artillery,
and plays simply beautifully. He has long hair and just
a suggestion of side whiskers, and large boots, and, but
that he would not be complimented, looks like a Viennese.
"He started off by playing Grand Opera--I believe--and he
gave us the Intermezzo from 'Cavalleria Rusticana.' Then
he gave us 'Gipsy Love' and the 'Merry Widow,' and so on.
He finished up with American ragtime. We sent him in a
bottle of whisky half-way through the performance, and
the music got lighter thenceforward. It was most amusing
to notice the effect. When we looked in later the whisky
was standing on the table, and he was walking round it
with his fiddle, playing hard and apparently serenading
it!
"I was inoculated again on Friday evening because it is
only _really_ effective for about six months, and there
is going to be a lot of enteric about, I expect. This
apparently is just the very place for it--flat low-lying
country, poor water supply, and the soil heavily manured.
So I have been feeling rather weak and feverish after it,
but I am better again now. I have to have it done again
ten days later--but the second time is not so bad.
"Talking about roses, Thomas picked a beauty this morning
(before I got up) and brought it to me in bed. It is in
front of me now, and is 5 inches across, and has a very
fine smell."
"_Wednesday, 16 June 1915, 1.30 p.m._
"We made an attack early this morning, and our Company
waited here to receive the prisoners. Poor devils, I do
feel so sorry for them. One officer of sixteen with six
weeks' service. Old men with grey beards too, and many
of the student type with spectacles--not fit to have to
fight.
"You remember 'Very Pressing are the Germans'; well,
that's where I am, right inside the walls. Quite
shell-proof, but very dank.
"I have got the machine-gun job, and am going for a
fortnight's course, starting on the 26th of June."
"_Monday, 21 June 1915, 4.30 p.m._
"We have had an extremely trying time lately, and I am
very sorry to say we have lost Thomas.
"He was hit on the head by shrapnel on the night
after the attack--I expect you saw the account in the
papers--and died about an hour later, having never
recovered consciousness.
"It was a most fatal night--the whole battalion was
ordered out digging to consolidate the captured
positions. We got half-way out, and then got stuck--the
road being blocked by parties of wounded. We waited on a
path alongside a hedge for over an hour, and though we
could not be seen we had a good deal of shrapnel sent
over us. To make matters worse, they put some gas shells
near, and we had to wear our helmets though the gas was
not very strong. It was exceedingly unpleasant, and we
could hardly see at all. It was while we were waiting
like this that Thomas got knocked out.
"We are all sorry to lose him, and I miss him very much,
but it is nothing to the trouble there will be at his
home, for he is his mother's favourite son.
"I have written to his mother, but I have not told her
what makes us feel so mad about it--namely, that we did
no digging that night at all. When we got to the position
we were so late, and there was still such confusion there
due to the attack, that we marched back again and just
got in before daylight. We might just as well never have
gone out. Isn't it fairly sickening?
"The next night we went out again, and we had a very
quiet night and no casualties. The scene of the battle
was pretty bad, and I put all my spare men on to burying.
"Altogether we are very thankful to have a change from
'pioneering,' and get back to the trenches!
"Our chief trouble here is snipers. We are in a wood, and
parties going for water and so on to our headquarters
_will_ walk outside the trench instead of in it, just
because the trench goes like this. [A diagram is
omitted.] They take the straight course along the side
in spite of repeated warnings. There is one point that
a sniper has got marked. He gets our men coming back as
they get into the trench just too late. We had a man hit
this morning, but not badly, and a few minutes ago I had
to stop this letter and go to a man of B Company who had
got hit, and rather more seriously, at the same spot. I
have put up a large notice there now, and hope it will
prevent any more.
"I am sorry this is not a very cheerful letter, but we
have all been rather sad lately. I am getting over it
now. Luckily one absorbs these things very gradually;
I could not realise it at first. It was an awful blow,
because, especially since Fletcher went away (he is now
at home), we had become very friendly, and one is apt
to forget that there is always the chance of losing a
friend suddenly. As a matter of fact, Thomas is the first
officer of C Company that has been killed for seven
months.
"When we were up in this wood before, digging (about a
fortnight ago) B Company lost Captain Salter. I dare say
you saw his name in the Roll of Honour. We were just
going to collect our spades and come in, when he was shot
through the head by a stray bullet.
"What a very melancholy strain I am writing in, I am
so sorry. I am quite well and fit. We have mislaid our
mess-box coming up here with all our specially selected
foods. The result is we are on short commons--great fun.
I am eating awful messes and enjoying them. Fried bacon
and fried cheese together! Awful; but, by Jove, when
you're hungry."
LETTER FROM RAYMOND TO THE MOTHER OF AN OFFICER FRIEND OF HIS WHO
HAD BEEN KILLED
"_2nd S. Lancashire Regt., B.E.F., Front, 17 June 1915_
"DEAR MRS. THOMAS,--I am very sorry to say I have to tell
you the very worst of bad news. I know what Humphrey's
loss must be to you, and I want to tell you how much it
is to all of us too. I know I have not realised it yet
myself properly. I have been in a kind of trance since
last night and I dread to wake up.
"He was a very fine friend to me, especially since
Fletcher went away, and I miss him frightfully. Last
night (16th to 17th) the whole Battalion went out
digging. There had been an attack by the English early
the same morning, and the enemy's guns were still very
busy even in the evening. Our road was blocked in front
owing to the moving of a lot of wounded, and while we
were held up on a little field path alongside a hedge
we had several shrapnel shells over us. To add to the
horrors of the situation they had put some gas shells
over too, and we were obliged to put on our gas helmets.
While Humphrey was standing with his helmet on in the
rear of our Company talking to the Captain of the Company
behind, a shell came over and a piece of it caught him
on the head. He was rendered unconscious, and it was
evident from the first he had no chance of recovery.
He was immediately taken a little way back to a place
where there was no gas, and here the doctor dressed his
wound. He was then taken back on a stretcher to the
dressing-station. He died there about an hour after he
had been admitted, having never recovered consciousness.
"If he had to die, I am thankful he was spared pain
beforehand. It made my heart ache this afternoon packing
his valise; I have given his chocolate, cigarettes, and
tobacco to the Mess, and I have wrapped up his diary and
a few loose letters and made them into a small parcel
which is in the middle of his valise.
"The papers and valuables which he had on him at the
time will be sent back through our headquarters, the
other things, such as letters, etc., in his other pockets
I have left just as they were. I hope the valise will
arrive safely.
"He will be buried very simply, and probably due east
of Ypres about three-quarters of a mile out--near the
dressing-station. I will of course see he has a proper
cross.
"Humphrey was splendid always when shells were bursting
near. He hated them as much as any of us, but he just
made himself appear unconcerned in order to put heart
into the troops. Three nights ago we were digging a
trench and the Germans thought our attack was coming off
that night. For nearly three-quarters of an hour they put
every kind of shell over us and some came very close. We
all lay down in the trench and waited. On looking up once
I was amazed to see a lone figure walking calmly about as
if nothing was going on at all. It may have been foolish
but it was grand."
"_Tuesday, 22 June 1915, 4.45 p.m._
"Well! What a long war, isn't it? Never mind, I believe
it will finish up without much help from us, and our
job is really killing time. And our time is so pleasant
it doesn't need much killing out here. The days roll
along--nice sunny days too--bringing us nearer I suppose
to Peace. (One hardly dares even to write the word now,
it has such a significance.) There have been cases where
the war has driven people off their heads (this applies
only, I think, to the winter campaign), but I often think
if Peace comes suddenly that there will be many such
cases.
"It really is rather amazing the unanimity of everybody
on this subject, and it must be the same behind the
German front-line trenches.
"I should think that never in this world before have
there been so many men so 'fed up' before. And then the
women at home too--it is wonderful where the driving
force comes from to keep things going on.
"But still--I don't want to convey a false impression. If
you took my last letter by itself you might think things
were very terrible out here all the time. They are not.
On the whole it is not a bad time at all. The life is
full of interest, and the discomforts are few and far
between. Bad times do come along occasionally, but they
are by way of exceptions. It is most like a long picnic
in all sorts of places with a sort of constraint and
uneasiness in the air. This last is purely mental, and
the less one worries about it the less it is, and so one
can contrive to be light-hearted and happy through it
all--unless one starts to get depressed and moody. And it
is just that which has happened to Laws and Fletcher and
one or two others. They had been out long and had seen
unpleasant times and without an occasional rest; none but
the very thick can stand it."
"_Saturday, 26 June 1915, 6.40 p.m._
"Here I am installed in the school [Machine Gun] which
is, or was, a convent. Fine large place and grounds.
Two officers per bedroom and a large Mess-room; about
twenty officers up for the course (or more) which starts
to-morrow (Sunday). Your solution of the Thompson
acrostic [St. Omer] was perfectly right, we _are_ far
back. This convent is about two miles from that town.
"I am so pleased to be in the 'pleasant, sunny land of
France,' amid absolute peacefulness. We had a curious
journey. Last night I slept at our transport (and had
a bath!). I got up soon after six, mounted a horse
just before eight (after breakfast). My servant and my
valise, also a groom to bring my horse back, came in a
limber. And that excellent man Polchet rode all the way
to _Divisional_ Headquarters with me, although it was
about six miles out of his way. We got to Headquarters
at a quarter to ten--a motor-bus was to start at ten
for here. It started at 10.30 with me, my luggage, and
my servant (I don't know why he comes last) in it. The
Harborne motor-buses in the Harborne High Street weren't
in it. We got shaken to a jelly--we were on top. We went
back about two miles to pick up some of our Division,
and having done so, we set off to pick up some of the
14th Division, at a point carefully specified in our
driver's instructions. This was about five miles away,
in our proper direction. But when we got to the spot we
discovered they (the Division) had left it a week ago
and gone to a point quite close to where we had just
picked up the 3rd Division men. I telephoned in vain;
we had to go all the way back. We found the place with
difficulty (we found all our places with difficulty as
we had no maps), collected the men, and came all the way
out _again_. Then we came straight here, which was about
fifteen miles at least. We got here at 4.30 p.m.! Six
hours' motorbussing! and the bus's maximum was 25 m.p.h.
at least, I should judge. Luckily it was a glorious day,
and I sat in front with the driver and enjoyed it all....
"I told you leave was starting--well, it has now started.
Three of our officers have gone--and all together! They
are only getting three clear days in England--but still!
"I am going to find out when this course finishes--I
think it lasts for sixteen days--and then I am going
to apply for my leave to follow on. I wish--oh, how
I wish--I may get it; but of course many things may
intervene.
"If it does come off I hope there will be a
representative gathering to meet me at dinner. That is,
I hope Violet will be back from Edinburgh, Lorna and
Norah from Coniston, and perhaps Oliver and his Winifred
will pay a flying visit from Cardiff. Haven't I got an
enlarged opinion of my own importance? I suppose it is
too much to expect the offices to have a whole holiday!"
"_Monday, 28 June 1915, 6.15 p.m._
"The enemy's lines round here do not appear to be
strongly held, in fact quite the reverse--that is,
the front lines. But attacks on our part don't always
pay--even so. Their method, as I understand it, is
simply to lose less men than we do. Accordingly, they
leave very few men in their front trench, but what there
are have a good supply of machine guns and are well
supported by artillery. We precede our attacks by heavy
shelling, and the few men get into well-built dug-outs
until it is over, then they come out and get to work
with their machine guns on the attacking infantry. The
trench ultimately falls after rather heavy loss on our
side (especially if the wire isn't properly cut) and
the few defenders hold up their hands. Some are made
prisoners--some are not. If the enemy want the trench
very badly they try and retake it by means of a strong
counter-attack, trusting that our men and arrangements
are in sufficient confusion to prevent adequate support.
That is why our attacks are so expensive and why we
aren't constantly attacking. The alternative plan is,
I think, simply to shell them heavily--in all their
lines--and leave out the actual attack in most cases....
"I was so interested to hear that Alec had applied for
me to come back. It is not at all impossible, because
I have known two or three cases where officers have
been recalled--one was chief chemist (or so he said)
at Brunner Mond's. He was returning as I came out, and
tried to make one's flesh creep by his tales of war. But
I don't think it is likely to happen in my case. I only
wish it would. I should love to come home again, although
I don't feel as if I had done my bit yet--really. I
haven't been in any big scrap, and I haven't killed my
man even....
"I had a ripping time at the transport; I hope they
enjoyed the peas--they deserved to. They were hospitality
itself. They welcomed me, gave me three meals, lent me
anything I wanted, made room for me to sleep in their
large room (this necessitated the Quartermaster-Sergeant
moving his bed into another room), gave me a warm bath,
and generally made me feel quite at home. They have a
ripping dug-out. Rooms half underground, 7 feet high,
plenty of ventilation, boarded floor and walls, and
a wooden roof supported on square wooden pillars and
covered in earth well sodded on top....
"Talking about the Major (Major Cotton), he used to be
our Adjutant at Crosby--he was Captain then. He came out
as second in command and has now got the Battalion while
our Colonel (Colonel Dudgeon) is away sick. The latter
got his C.B. in the last honours list. He is an excellent
man. Lieut. Burlton, too, got a Military Cross. He has
now been wounded twice; he was the moving spirit of the
hockey matches at Crosby in the old days, and, when he
was recalled to the Front, his mantle fell upon me....
"All the officers here are from different regiments with
a very few exceptions. It is most interesting. At meals,
Way and I sit among the Cavalry, Dragoons and Lancers,
etc. They are fine chaps--the real Army officers of which
there are now all too few."
"_Machine-Gun School, G.H.Q., Wednesday, 7 July 1915, 5
p.m._
"Here I am getting towards the end of my little holiday,
only five more days to go. No word has reached me from my
Battalion on the subject of leave, or of anything else
for that matter....
"If this threatened push on Calais is real, or if the
higher commands have got 'wind up' about it, they will
very likely stop all leave, and then I shall just have to
wait until it starts again....
"I am sure that the fact of our nation being 'down' and
preparing for a winter campaign will materially assist
in shortening the war and rendering that preparation
unnecessary.
"We have an awfully amusing chap here who is in the
Grenadier Guards. He is always imitating Harry Tate.
A great big hefty chap, in great big sloppy clothes
(including what are known as 'Prince of Wales' breeches).
He gets his mouth right over to the side of his face and
says 'You stupid boy!' in Harry Tate's voice. He does
this in the middle of our instructional squads when some
wretched person does something wrong with the gun, and
sends every one into fits of laughter.... [A lot more
about a motor that wouldn't go.]
"My M.G. course is going on very nicely. I have learnt
a very great deal, have been intensely interested, and
am very keen on the work. My function as a reserve
machine-gunner should really be to train the reserve
team and such parts of the main team as are not actually
required in the trenches, in a safe spot behind the
lines! It sounds 'cushy,' but those in authority over
us are not sufficiently enlightened, I am afraid, to
adopt such a plan. The object of course is to prevent
your reserve men from being 'used up' as riflemen, as
otherwise when you want them to take the place of the
others they are casualties and all their training goes
for nothing.
The Cavalry officers here are a great joke. They find
this life very tiring. They are quite keen to get back
again and have been from the beginning. We, on the other
hand, fairly enjoy it and are not at all anxious to go
back to our regiments. That shows the difference between
the lives we lead. Of course they _have_ been in the
trenches and have had some very bad times there, but they
only go in in emergencies and at long intervals....
"Another difference between us is that they keep their
buttons as bright as possible and themselves as spick and
span as can be. The infantry officer gets his buttons
as dull as possible, and if they are green so much the
better, as it shows he has been through gas. He likes his
clothes and especially his puttees to be rather torn, and
his hat to be any old sloppy shape. If he gets a new hat
he is almost ashamed to wear it--he is terrified of being
mistaken for 'Kitcheners'!
"Lord Kitchener and Mr. Asquith came here last evening.
Here, to this convent. I don't know what for; but there
was of course a good deal of stir here.
"Way and I went into the town last night. We hired a
_fiacre_ for the return journey. It came on to rain, so
it was just as well we had a hood. We both thoroughly
enjoyed the journey. The _fiacre_ was what would be
dignified by the name of 'Victoria' in England. But in
France, where it seems to be etiquette not to take any
trouble over carriagework, _fiacre_ is the only word
you could apply, and it just fits it. It expresses not
only its shabbiness but also hints at its broken-backed
appearance.
"We went into some stables and inquired about a _fiacre_,
and a fat boy in a blue apron with a white handkerchief
tied over one eye said we could have one. So I said, 'Où
est le cocher?' and he pointed to his breast and said,
'C'est moi!'
"The fare, he said, would be six francs and the
_pourboire_. Thoughtful of him not to forget that. We
agreed, and he eventually produced the usual French horse.
"The _fiacre_ was very comfortable and we were awfully
tickled with the idea of us two in that absurd
conveyance, especially when we passed staff officers,
which was frequently. Altogether we were quite sorry when
our drive was over."
NOTE BY O. J. L.
On 16 July 1915, Raymond came home on leave, and he had a great
reception. On 20 July he went back.
"_Sunday, 25 July 1915, 7.30 p.m._
"I have got quite a nice dug-out, with a chair and table
in it. The table was away from the door and got no light,
so I have spent about two hours to-day turning things
round. I went to bed about three this morning (just after
'stand-to') and slept till nearly twelve. Then I had
breakfast (bacon and eggs). As my former platoon Sergeant
remarked: 'It is a great thing to have a few comforts, it
makes you forget there is a war,'
"So it does until a whizz-bang comes over.
"I have just seen an aeroplane brought down (German
luckily). I missed the first part, where one of ours went
up to it and a flame shot across between them (machine
gun, I expect). I ran out just in time to see the machine
descending on fire. It came down quite steadily inside
our lines (about a mile or more away), but the flames
were quite clearly visible,"
"_Thursday, 29 July 1915, 7.35 p.m._
"Here I am in the trenches again, quite like old times,
and quite in the swing again after the unsettling effect
of coming home! You know I can't help laughing at things
out here. The curious aspect of things sometimes comes
and hits me, and I sit down and laugh (not insanely or
hysterically, _bien entendu_; but I just can't help
chuckling). It is so absurd, the reasons and causes that
have drawn me to this particular and unlikely field in
Belgium, and, having arrived here, that make me set about
at once house-hunting--for all the world as if it was the
most natural thing in life. And having selected my little
house and arranged all my belongings in it, I regard it
as home and spend a few days there. And then one morning
my servant and I, we pack up everything once more and
hoist them on to our backs and set off, staff in hand,
like a pair of gipsies to another field a mile or so
distant, and there make a new home....
"I was very loth to leave my front line dug-out, because
I had arranged things to my liking--had moved the table
so that it caught the light, and so on. It had a built-in
table (which took a lot of moving), a chair and a sandbag
bed. Quite small and snug.
"But still--this new dug-out back here is quite nice.
Large and roomy, with windows with bars in them (but no
glass)--a proper square table on four legs--three chairs
and a sandbag bed. So I am quite happy. The sandbag
bed is apparently made as follows: Cover a portion of
the floor, 6 feet 6 inches by 3 feet 6 inches, with a
single layer of sandbags filled with earth. Over these
place several layers of empty sandbags, and the bed is
finished. If the hollows and lumps are carefully placed,
the former in the middle and the latter at the head, the
result is quite a success. Of course one sleeps in one's
clothes covered by a coat and with an air pillow under
one's head.
"We have had a very gay time in the trenches. I think I
told you how I saw a hostile aeroplane brought down on
fire in our lines. That was on Sunday, and the official
report says both pilots killed. On Monday I went down to
a support trench to have meat tea and a chat with Holden
and Ventris (two of C Company officers). At a quarter to
ten there was a loud rumbling explosion and the dug-out
we were in rocked for several seconds. The Germans had
fired a mine about 60 feet in front of our trench to try
to blow in some of our workings.
"I rushed to my guns--both were quite safe. You should
have heard the noise. Every man in the place got up to
the parapet and blazed away for all he was worth. It was
exciting! One machine gun fired two belts (500 rounds),
and the other fifty rounds. I heard afterwards that
several of the enemy were seen to leap their parapets,
but turned back when they heard the machine guns open
fire. It took a good while for things to quieten down.
Some of our miners were at work when it went off, but
their gallery was some way off and they were quite all
right.
"Last night they actually exploded another one! Aren't
they keen? This was a much smaller affair, but closer to
our trench. It shook down a portion of our parapet, which
was easily rebuilt and entombed temporarily two of our
miners. In neither case were there any casualties....
"I am so sorry the date of the wedding had to be
altered, but I agree it was for the best. I only hope
you remembered to inform the bridegroom--he is often
forgotten on these occasions, and I have known a lot of
trouble caused by just this omission."
LETTER FROM RAYMOND TO MRS. FRED STRATTON, FORMERLY MISS
MARJORIE GUNN
"_1 August 1915, Sunday, 11.20 p.m._
"I am not actually in the trenches at the moment,
though most of the Battalion is. I was in for five
days, and then I was relieved about four days ago by
another officer (Roscoe), who shares with me the duties
of machine-gun officer. So I am in a dug-out about
three-quarters of a mile behind the firing line while he
is taking his turn in that line. (A mine has just gone
off and shaken the ground, followed by a burst of heavy
rifle firing. This makes the fourth mine this week! Two
went off while I was up there, and the whole earth rocked
for several seconds. The first three mines were theirs,
this last may be ours, I don't know; we had one ready!)
"We have been at Hill 60 and also up at Ypres. At present
we are south of that appalling place, but I learn with
regret that to-morrow we are moving again and are going
up north of Ypres. We are all depressed in consequence.
"What an awfully good letter you have written me; but, do
you know, it makes me ache all over when you write like
that about the car. You have only to mention you have got
a Rover, and I am as keen as mustard to come and tinker
with it! Aren't I young?
"But you must know I want to come to New Park in any
case. I am awfully keen to stay there and see it from
inside, and see its inmates again after many years (it
feels like). So after the war (may it be soon!) I am just
going to arrive. I may let you know!
"Your remarks on weddings in general depress me very
much! I hope the bridegroom's lot is better than the poor
bride's. Because my turn is bound to come!
"I am so glad Hester gave a good account of my
appearance. I _am_ very fit, it is the only way to exist
here. Once you begin to get 'down' and to worry, it
is all up with you. You go into a rapid decline, and
eventually arrive home a wreck! But as long as you smile
and don't care a hang about anything, well the war seems
to go on quite all right!
"I enjoyed my few days' leave very much indeed. I had
five days in England and three full days and four nights
at home. I dropped into my old life just as if no change
had occurred. And the time was not long enough to make
the getting back difficult.
"This life is a change for me, as you say. I haven't done
laughing at its humorous side yet. In some ways we get
treated like schoolboys. More so at Crosby than here,
however."
"_Saturday, 7 August 1915, 7.30 p.m._
"I have been having rather a bad time lately,--one of
those times that reminds one that it is war and not a
picnic,--but, thank goodness, it is all over now.
"I think I told you that we were about to move up north
of Ypres, to St. Julien or thereabouts. Well, just before
we handed over these trenches to one of Kitchener's
Battalions, the Germans went and knocked down a lot of
our parapet, and also sent over some appalling things
that we call 'sausages,' or 'aerial torpedoes,' though
they are not the latter. They are great shell-shaped
affairs, about 3 feet along and 9 inches in diameter, I
should think. They are visible during the whole of their
flight. They are thrown up about 100 yards into the air
and fall down as they go up, broadside on--not point
first. A few seconds after they fall there is the most
appalling explosion I have ever heard. From a distance of
100 yards the rush of air is so strong that it feels as
if the thing had gone off close at hand. Luckily there
is a slight explosion when they are sent up, and, as
I said, they are visible all the time in the air. The
result is our men have time to dodge them, provided they
are not mesmerised as one man was. He got stuck with his
mouth open, pointing at one! A Corporal gave him a push
which sent him 10 yards, and the 'sausage' landed not
far from where he had been. Although they have sent more
than twenty of these things over altogether, we have only
had one casualty, and that a scratch. Their effect is to
terrify every one and keep them on tenterhooks watching
for them. Their purpose is to destroy mine galleries, I
believe....
"Monday, August the 2nd, was the day we should have been
relieved, and that night I went up from headquarters
and relieved Roscoe, who had had a bad time in the fire
trenches....
"They were firing armour-piercing shells that go right in
and blow the parapet to blazes; dug-outs too, of course,
if they happen to be near. After punishing the right end
of the left-hand bit of trench, they traversed along,
laying waste the whole of our bit.
"I was in my dug-out with Hogg, another officer. I was
trying to make tea, but every shell blew out the Primus,
and covered us in dust. I made it, however, eventually,
and we had just drunk it when a shell blew the parados
of the trench down, not far from our door, and the next
wrecked the dug-out next door to mine (a man who happened
to be inside having a miraculous escape). We judged it
was time to clear (the machine guns had already been
withdrawn to safety), and got away as best we could
through and over the debris that had been a trench.
"Later in the day I made my way back, and recovered my
pack and most of my belongings. It was exciting work
getting back, because they were sending whizz-bangs
through the gaps in the parapet, and the communication
trenches in the rear were blocked in places, so that you
had to get up on top and 'scoot' across and drop in the
trench again.
"That evening they gave us a second shelling, and one hit
my dug-out fair and square (I had quarters in a support
trench). When I returned next day for the rest of my
things--my equipment and some provisions--I had to put
two men on to dig them out. It took three-quarters of
an hour to get at them, through the wreckage of timber,
corrugated iron, and earth....
"On Tuesday afternoon they sent off another mine,--about
the seventh since we have been in,--but they are all well
in front of our parapet. And on Wednesday they gave us
twelve sausages--the first I had seen.
"The trouble is, we have a number of mine shafts under
the ground between our trenches and theirs, and they are
fearfully 'windy' about them. They keep trying to stop
us mining them, and their shelling is with the object
of blowing down our sap-heads. Their mines, too, go up
short, because they are trying to blow in our galleries;
or else they are so scared they send them off before they
are ready. I think the last explanation is probably more
near the truth, because when one of their mines went up
recently a lot of Germans went up with it!...
"We have been in here a fortnight to-night. You can
imagine how we long for clean clothes. Most of the
officers have not been out of their clothes all that
time, but I have been very lucky. I had two good cold
baths when I was down here before, and to-day I had a
lovely hot one in a full-length wooden bath. A tremendous
luxury! Also I had some clean socks to put on....
"On the day I was shelled out of my dug-out my servant,
Bailey, was hit on the leg by a piece of shell and has
gone down the line wounded, not very seriously, I think.
He is a great loss to me, but I have got another one now,
Gray, who shapes very well. He is young and willing, and
quite intelligent.
"You ask whether that time when the mine went off was the
first time I had used these guns. Yes, absolutely. The
plan adopted in trench warfare is to place your guns in
position with a good wide loophole in front of them, then
block this up and keep a sharp look-out. When the enemy
attacks, you blaze away at them, and then shift hurriedly
to another gun-position and watch the old one being
shelled to blazes.
"If you fire on other occasions you are rather apt to
have your guns knocked out, and we can't afford to lose
_any_. That is why I was rather horrified to find one gun
had fired 500 rounds the other night. However, it was
not discovered. I think the long grass in front hid the
flashes....
"Yes, the sandbags might be damp when used for a bed, and
I always lay my waterproof ground-sheet on top of them. I
either sleep on that or on some new clean bags laid above
that again. It is not only dampness, though, that one
fears!
"As a matter of fact, one is not very sensitive to
damp when living so much out of doors. It is common to
get one's feet slightly wet and go for about four days
without removing one's boots--most unpleasant, but not in
the least damaging to health."
"_Monday, 16 August 1915, Noon_
"We are now out and resting after doing a long spell.
I did nineteen days, and some did a few more days than
that. Three weeks is a long time to live continuously in
clothes, boots, and puttees....
"I came out of the trenches on Thursday night, and was
really a day too soon, because on Friday we were having
Orderly-Room right in the country, in front of the C.O.'s
tent; the Colonel was there surrounded by most of the
officers, when we heard a shell. Well, that's nothing
unusual, but this one got crescendo, and we all looked
up in alarm. Then it got very crescendo, and finally
cleared us and landed with a loud explosion about 50
yards beyond us, and not far from several groups of men.
It was an 8-inch 'crump.' One man only was killed, but
we knew that more were likely to come over, and so we
gradually spread out to the sides. Four came altogether
at two-minute intervals, but we only had two casualties.
Rather upsetting when we were supposed to be resting. I
don't know whether they could see our (officers') white
tents, or whether they saw the cricket match that took
place on the day before.
"Anyway we moved our tents slightly--every one put their
tents where they pleased, and then the Pioneer Sergeant
came and amused himself daubing green paint on them
in patches. Ours (three of C Coy.) was the best; the
splodges looked just like hazel nuts (?) when there are
three together in their little green cases, and they
were interspersed with a kind of pansy-shaped flower.
Altogether a very tasteful and pleasing effect....
"A couple of gun stocks have come. They arrived from
Walker's, the makers, and I should very much like to know
who had them sent. They are ripping, sniping attachments
with periscopes for use with the ordinary rifle. I shall
stick to one, and unless I hear otherwise I shall present
the other one to our sniping officer (honorary rank)."[5]
"_Wednesday, 25 August 1915, 3 p.m._
"I am in the trenches once more. We marched in (about
10 miles) last night. We had a meal at 3 p.m., and
marched off soon after six. Our rations (officers')
went astray, because they were on a hand-cart in charge
of our servants, who missed their way, so we have had
practically nothing to eat since late lunch yesterday,
and are pretty hungry. I have had a piece of chocolate,
and my water-bottle was nearly full of lemon squash....
"We are in support trenches at Hooge, just on the left
of our former position up here. Except for some shelling
(chiefly ours), things are fairly quiet.
"Since we were here last the position is greatly
improved; the Germans have been driven over the ridge in
front (during the recapture of trenches here), and the
whole place is much 'healthier' in consequence....
"I have been out here five calendar months to-day, and in
the Army just over eleven months. They will be pensioning
me off soon as an old soldier."
"_29 August 1915, 11.30 a.m._
"I am having a very quiet and lazy time at the moment,
and feel I deserve it. We went into support trenches for
three days, and worked two nights from 7.30 p.m. till 3
a.m. building and improving the fire trench. Then on the
third night we had a most exciting time. One company,
under Captain Taylor, was sent up right in front to dig a
new fire trench to connect with another on our left. We
had to go up a trench which ran right out into space, and
which had only just been built itself, and when there we
had to get over the parapet and creep forward to the new
line we were to dig. Of course we had to be dead quiet,
but there was a big moon, and of course they saw us. Most
of the way we were not more than 30 yards away from their
front position (and they had bombing parties out in front
of that). While we were digging we had one platoon with
bombs to cover us, and some of this party were as close
as 25 yards to their front position. It was awful work,
because they kept throwing bombs at us, and what was
almost worse was the close-range sniping.
"'Very' lights were going up from the German lines all
the time, and you could see the bullets kicking up the
dust all around. When we first got out there I picked out
my ground pretty carefully before lying down (because the
recent scrap there was much in evidence), but when the
snipers got busy I didn't worry about what I was on, I
just hugged the ground as close as I could. They would
put the 'Very' lights right into us, and one just missed
me by a yard. If they are not spent when they come down,
they blaze fiercely on the ground, and when they finish,
they look like a little coke fire. They would burn you
badly if they fell on you. I have seen a dead man that
one had fallen on afterwards. His clothes were fearfully
burned.
"The Germans were on the edge of a wood and our ground
was tipped towards them, so it was extremely difficult to
get cover. Shell holes were the best. Soon the men got
their trenches down, and things were a little better. The
men worked extremely well, and the Wilts were working on
our left, and we eventually joined up with them. After
about five hours' work, the trenches were fit to hold,
and we filed out and the new garrison filed in. Our
casualties were much lighter than I should have thought
possible. The Colonel came along the new trenches just
before we left, and he was most awfully pleased with C
Company, and so is the General. Captain Taylor is very
bucked about it.
"The scene of this affair was right against the Château
of Hooge, and close to the mine crater. We found a German
machine gun half buried, but in good condition, and any
number of souvenirs. The Captain has got a helmet--a
dirty thing; he had to have it cleaned out, because part
of the owner was still inside it! It is a rummy shape,
so flat-topped and square, with a brass spike and a gold
band down the back. I expect it was an officer's.
"Oh! I have seen my first German (not counting
prisoners). I was standing up and a 'Very' light went up,
so I kept perfectly still. I was looking towards the wood
where the Germans were (I was 40 or 50 yards away), and I
saw one quite distinctly walking into the wood.
"Our men that were killed (sniped) were buried just
behind, within a quarter of an hour of being hit. Rather
awful.
"The actual digging was rather trying in places, and in
one case they actually came on a horse!--which dates
it back to November, when we were pushed back to these
positions in the first battle of Ypres.
"The men in such places work with their respirators on
and are often actually sick. I have had whiffs of the
smell since in my food. Once smelt never forgotten. I
can tell the difference between a man and a horse, but I
don't know which I like least.
"Rather a morbid topic, I am afraid. Well, after leaving
the scene of our labours (and glad to get out), we called
for our packs and had to march about two and a half
miles. We were dead beat when we arrived here (nice safe
dug-outs--roomy and comfortable--with our valises ready
to sleep in when we arrived), but we found a good meal
awaiting us, and about half-past four we 'got down to
it' and slept till noon. Holden and I share a palatial
dug-out, and we had breakfast in bed, and I did not get
up till just before our evening meal at 7. I washed and
dressed in slacks--had a meal, and later on went to bed
again. This morning we had breakfast in bed again about
9.30, and then I got up, washed and shaved, dressed,
and am now sitting on my bed, leaning against the wall
writing my letters.
"The General let us off 'stand-to' because he knew we
were fagged out; and it is a great mercy. Turning out
fully dressed at about 2.30 a.m. and remaining up for
an hour does not improve one's night's rest. I suppose,
though, that we shall have to start it soon--perhaps
to-night.
"We are here till to-morrow night, I believe, and then
we go to some fairly nice trenches near the ones we were
in last. We are short of subalterns--rather--and they
have taken me off machine guns for the time being. I _am_
sick, but I get a bit in when I can. In the last trench
we built (I and my platoon), not the exposed one, there
was a machine-gun position, and I took great pleasure in
building it a really good emplacement....
"Are you doing anything about getting me back for
Munitions? I don't know what you think about it, and
whether you think I ought to carry on out here. I am sure
that after six months I shall be just about fed-up with
this business, but am not sure that after a couple of
months at home I shan't be wanting to come out again."
"_Wednesday, 1 September 1915, 4.45 p.m._
"I will just write you a short letter to let you know I
am still well and happy, and still leading the strange
life of the picnic-hermit.
"When I last wrote to you I believe I was in the very
same spot as now, namely, support trenches in the
neighbourhood of a now famous château. Last time we were
in for three days, and on the night we left we had a very
blood-curdling experience digging a trench which was to
bring us closer to our friends the enemy. But they were
inclined to resent our advances, and they welcomed us,
not with open arms, but with lighted bombs. However,
having completed our work to the great satisfaction of
those in authority over us (namely, the Colonel and the
General [Brigadier]), we made good our escape.
"Then for three blissful days we lived (with our valises)
in some magnificent dug-outs in one of the safest spots
in this accursed though much improved neighbourhood.
These days we spent competing who could sleep furthest
round the clock (if that is a permissible expression). I
think I won, and on my record day I got up and dressed
for dinner at about 7.30 p.m., made my bed afterwards,
and got back into it again. This halcyon period was only
interrupted once, when we all had to go out and dig a
trench one night long. However, the worst feature of
this expedition was the rain, which made 'going' very
difficult, and things in general rather uncomfortable
(especially for the men), so we hadn't much to grumble
about.
"Then we came back here and the first night we slept in
peace, getting up at about 3 a.m. ostensibly for the
purpose of 'stand-to,' but really to brew ourselves some
cocoa. Then sleep till 9, 10, or 11, I forget which.
I crawl to the door of my dug-out and shout for Gray,
who lives just opposite. 'Breakfast!' I say, and he
invariably asks, 'What will you have, sir?' just as if he
could command the larders of the Carlton or the Linga.
"Knowing my rations, and that an attempt at humour would
only put me off my _plat du jour_ or daily round, I
usually think for a few moments and then order eggs and
bacon, and face the common task. The only variation I
permit myself is that on one or two days in the week I
funk the bacon and have boiled eggs. Where do the eggs
come from? They are purchased out of the Mess fund by our
Mess cook who lives with the Transport when we are in the
trenches, and brings them up personally when the rations
arrive at night. Yes, he has a 'cushy' time of it, does
our Mess cook; and how can he avoid being happy, living
as he does in a perpetual transport?
"What of the days when no eggs are available? Why, then,
_horrible dictu_, I have fried cheese and bacon!
"It occurs to me here, although all this was not written
with intention, that this could be a good place to ask
whether sausages are yet in season. If they are, a few
cooked ones (or half cooked) sent out now and again would
make a splendid variant for our menu.
"The meat season is hard to follow out here. Bully beef
is such a hardy perennial. (This does not mean that we
live on it--I never eat it, there is always a good supply
of fresh beef.)
"Blackberries are coming on, I notice with pleasure,
and I can usually tell what shells are in season (the
season for sausages in this department is, let us hope,
mercifully short. I believe we are now in the middle of
the close-time for this sturdy little fellow, I trust he
is not utilising it to increase and multiply).
"I am sorry I have had rather a sharp attack of
parentheses lately, the touch of winter in the air cramps
my style. And I really did think this was going to be
quite a short letter. I cannot divine my moods, I find, I
did not feel like writing until I got going.
"Please thank father very much indeed for the
sniperscopes. I have given one to the Captain of D
Company, who is keen on everything. He is an engineer
(civil), and is a most useful man out here. I have not
tried mine yet, as I haven't been in a fire trench, and
it would hardly be fair to use it in a support trench,
the backs of our infantry in the trench in front being
too easy a target to give the thing a fair trial.
"Oh! I was telling you about my work in this trench but
got switched off on to food. Last time I was here I
(and my platoon) worked for two nights from 7.30 till
3 improving the parapets. Well, the second night of
_this_ period (last night) I had got all sorts of plans
ready and was going to have a thoroughly good night
building dug-outs, draining the trench, and building a
second machine-gun emplacement (not my job really at
the moment). However, word came along that the platoon
was wanted to dig another trench right in front again
and near the other one. They said, 'A covering party
with bombs will be provided, and send in your casualty
report in the morning!' So I asked if they were supplying
stretchers and all complete! But they were not. It is
a most cheering way of sending you off, is it not? It
is a wonder they did not make us take up our own grave
crosses, just in case.
"(By the way, it is most impressive to meet two men
walking along at night and one carrying a large white
cross. The burying and decking of the graves is done
very well here, and conscientiously. There is a special
organisation for making the crosses, lettering them and
putting them up. The position of the grave is reported to
them, with the particulars, and they do the rest.)
"The great difference in last night's job was that I only
had a platoon to deal with, while before the Captain had
a whole company. Also I was not quite so close to the
enemy (we were 30 yards off, and less, before), and the
moon was mostly obscured. I determined not to let them
know we were working, so I crept out and explored the
ground with the Corporal of the covering party (this was
the worst part of the job, because you did not know when
you might not come across a party of the enemy in the
many shell holes and old trenches with which the ground
was covered). I had my large revolver in my pocket, but I
did not want to use it, as it would have given our game
away.
"All went well, and I got the men placed out in absolute
silence, with the covering party pushed out in front to
listen and watch. The men worked very quietly, and when a
light went up they got down and kept still. Lights were
very few, because the enemy had got a working party out
too--at one side, and we could occasionally hear them
driving in stakes for wire.
"We had to use picks in some places where the ground
was stony, and these are the hardest to keep quiet. We
got through it all right, and only one shot, I think,
was fired all the time. It came fairly close, too. I am
sure they guessed we were out, because when one light
went up I hadn't time to get down, so I kept still and I
plainly saw a Hun standing upright on his own parapet.
He straightened up as the light grew bright, and I just
caught sight of the movement and saw him then distinctly.
"The ground out there has been fought over a good deal,
and there are plenty of souvenirs about. I have got one
myself--a Hun rifle. The original owner, who was buried
with it--probably by a shell--happened to lie exactly
where we dug our trench, and we were obliged to move him
elsewhere. I brought his rifle home and put it over the
door of my dug-out. That was early this morning. But the
enemy have been putting shrapnel over us (in reply to
a good 'strafing' by our guns), and one piece has gone
clean through the stock.
"Our artillery are going great guns nowadays. It
certainly feels as if the shell supply was all right--or
nearly so.
"I don't know whether we shall be wanted for any job
to-night, or whether we shall rest, or whether I can get
on with my projects. I must go round and see Captain T.
in the other trench. By the way, he came to see how I
was getting on last night about midnight, and was very
pleased with the work and with the fact that we were
having no casualties.
"That cake was fine, and much appreciated in the Mess.
The little knife you gave me when home on leave is
proving most useful.
"Please thank Lionel for chocolate received and Alec for
gourdoulis.
"I have sent another box of Surplus Kit home addressed
to Noël. Rather late to do it, I know, and I shall want
one or two of the things sent back later, but not for
a long time, and it is a relief to get rid of some of
my impedimenta. The socks returned want mending. That
reminds me, thank you and please thank Miss Leith very
much for the socks. They are quite all right for size.
Perhaps not so long and narrow in the foot might be
better, but it doesn't seem to affect the wear; they are
most comfortable.
"I am still attached to the Company and not to the
machine guns--much to my annoyance."
"_Monday, 6 September 1915, 9.30 p.m._
"Thank you so much for your inspiring and encouraging
letter. I hope I am being useful out here. I sometimes
doubt if I am very much use--not as much as I should like
to be. Possibly I help to keep C Company officers more
cheerful! I am very sorry they have taken me off machine
guns for the present, I hope it may not be long.
"Great happenings are expected here shortly and we are
going to have a share. We are resting at present and have
been out a few days now. We had only two periods of three
days each in the trenches last time in....
"Our last two days in the trenches were appallingly wet.
My conduct would have given me double pneumonia at home.
My rain-coat was soaked, so I had to sleep in shirt
sleeves under my tunic, and the knees of my breeches were
wet.
"The next day the rain was incessant, and presently I
found the floor of my dug-out was swimming--the water
having welled up through the ground below and the
sandbags.
"I didn't have to sleep on it luckily, because we were
relieved that night. But before we went I had to turn
out with fifty men and work till midnight in water up to
one foot deep. So at 8.30 p.m. I got my boots full of
cold water and sat out in them till 12, then marched some
eight miles. After nine hours' rest and some breakfast we
came here, another three or four. It was nice to get a
dry pair of boots and our valises and a tent.
"That night I rode into Poperinghe with Captain Taylor,
and we had a really good dinner there--great fun.
"We have a full set of parades here unfortunately,
otherwise things are all right....
"Alec has very kindly had a 'Molesworth' sent me. Most
useful.
"I would like a motor paper now and then, I think! _The
Motor_ for preference--or _The Autocar_. Aren't I young?
"Captain Taylor has sprained his ankle by falling from
his horse one night, and has gone to a rest home near.
So I am commanding C Company at the moment. Hope not for
long. Too responsible at the present time of crisis.
"_9 September, 3.30 p.m._
"Must just finish this off for post.
"We have just had an inspection by the Army Corps
Commander, Lieut.-General Plumer [Sir Herbert].
"I am still in command of C Company, and had to call them
to attention and go round with the General, followed by a
whole string of minor generals, colonels, etc. He asked
me a good many questions:--
"First.--How long had I had the Company? Then, how long
had I been out? I said since March. He then asked if I
had been sick or wounded even, and I said no!
"Then he said, 'Good lad for sticking it!' at least I
thought he was going to.
"We are kept very busy nowadays. I must try and write a
proper letter soon. I do apologise.
"A box of cigarettes has arrived from, I suppose, Alec.
Virginias, I mean, and heaps of them.
"We have just got another tent--we have been so short and
have been sleeping five in. Now we shall be two in each.
The new one is a lovely dove-grey--like a thundercloud.
After the war I shall buy one.
"I shall be quite insufferable, I know; I shall want
everything done for me on the word of command. Never
mind--roll on the end of the war!
"Cheer-ho, lovely weather, great spirits! Aeroplane
[English] came down in our field yesterday slightly on
fire. All right though.--Good-bye, much love,
"RAYMOND [MAURICE]."
"_Sunday, 12 September 1915, 2 p.m._
"You will understand that I still have the Company to
look after, and we are going into the front-line trenches
this evening at 5 p.m. for an ordinary tour of duty. We
are going up in motor buses!...
"Capt. T. thinks he will be away a month!"
TELEGRAM FROM THE WAR OFFICE
"_17 September 1915_
"Deeply regret to inform you that Second Lieut. R. Lodge,
Second South Lancs, was wounded 14 Sept. and has since
died. Lord Kitchener expresses his sympathy."
TELEGRAM FROM THE KING AND QUEEN
_21 September 1915_
"The King and Queen deeply regret the loss you and the
army have sustained by the death of your son in the
service of his country. Their Majesties truly sympathise
with you in your sorrow."
[Footnote 3: See Note by O. J. L. at the end of this
letter.]
[Footnote 4: This must have been part of my book "The War
and After."--O. J. L.]
[Footnote 5: Thos. Walker & Son, of Oxford Street,
Birmingham, had kindly given me two periscope rifle-stock
attachments with excellent mirrors, so as to allow
accurate sighting.--O. J. L.]
[Footnote 6: Lieutenant Case himself, alas! was killed
on the 25th of September 1915. It was a fatal time.
Lieutenant Fletcher also has been killed now, on 3rd July
1916.]
CHAPTER III
LETTERS FROM OFFICERS
Some letters from other officers gradually arrived, giving a few
particulars. But it was an exceptionally strenuous period at the Ypres
salient, and there was little time for writing. Moreover, some of his
friends were killed either at the same time or soon afterwards.
The fullest account that has reached us is in the following letter,
which arrived eight months later:--
LETTER FROM LIEUTENANT WILLIAM ROSCOE TO SIR OLIVER LODGE
"_7th Brigade Machine-Gun Company, B.E.F., 16 May 1916_
"DEAR SIR OLIVER LODGE,--When I was lately on leave,
a brother of mine, who had met one of your relatives,
encouraged me to write and tell you what I knew of your
son Raymond. I was in the South Lancashire Regiment when
he joined the Battalion out here last spring, and I think
spent the first spell he had in the trenches in his
company.
"Afterwards I became Machine Gunner, and in the summer
he became my assistant, and working in shifts we tided
over some very trying times indeed. In particular
during August at St. Eloi. To me at any rate it was
most pleasant being associated together, and I think he
very much preferred work with the gunners to Company
work. Being of a mechanical turn of mind, he was always
devising some new 'gadget' for use with the gun--for
instance, a mounting for firing at aeroplanes, and a
device for automatic traversing; and those of my men who
knew him still quote him as their authority when laying
down the law and arguing about machine gunning.
"I wish we had more like him, and the endless
possibilities of the Maxim would be more quickly brought
to light.
"I am always glad to think that it was not in any way
under my responsibility that he was killed.
"During September times grew worse and worse up in the
Ypres salient, culminating in the attack we made on the
25th, auxiliary to the Loos battle. The trenches were
ruins, there was endless work building them up at night,
generally to be wrecked again the next day. The place was
the target for every gun for miles on either side of the
salient.
"Every day our guns gave the enemy a severe bombardment,
in preparation for the attack, and every third or fourth
day we took it back from them with interest: the place
was at all times a shell trap.
"It was during this time that your son was killed.
He was doing duty again with the Company, which was
short-handed, and I remember one night in particular
being struck with his cheerfulness on turning out to a
particularly unpleasant bit of trench digging in front
of our lines near the Stables at Hooge, a mass of ruins
and broken trenches where no one could tell you where you
might run across the enemy; but the men had to dig for
hours on end, with only a small covering party looking
out a few yards in front of them.
"The morning your son was killed they were bombarding
our trenches on the top of the hill, and some of the men
were being withdrawn from a bad piece. He and Ventris
were moving down the trench in rear of the party--which I
think must have been seen--for a shell came and hit them
both, but I think none of the men in front.
"Some time later, I don't know how long, I was going
up to the line to visit the guns, when I saw Ventris,
who was killed, laid out ready to be carried down,
and presently I saw your son in a dug-out, with a man
watching him. He was then quite unconscious though still
breathing with difficulty. I could see it was all over
with him. He was still just alive when I went away.
"Our regiment was to lose many more on that same hill
before the month was over, and those of us that remain
are glad to be far away from it now; but I always feel
that anyone who has died on Hooge Hill has at all events
died in very fine company.--Yours sincerely,
"(Signed) WILLIAM ROSCOE, _Lieut. 2nd S. Lancs. Regt.,
attached 7th Brigade, M.G. Company_"
LETTER FROM LIEUTENANT FLETCHER, GREAT CROSBY, LIVERPOOL
"_21 September 1915_
"Raymond was the best pal I've ever had, and we've always
been together; in the old days at Brook Road, then in
Edinburgh, and lastly in France, and nobody could ever
have a better friend than he was to me.
"I'll never forget the first day he came to us at
Dickebusch, and how pleased we all were to see him again;
and through it all he was always the same, ever ready
to help anyone in any way he could, whilst his men were
awfully fond of him and would have done anything for him."
"_24 September 1915_
"I hear that we were digging trenches in advance of our
present ones at St. Eloi last week, so it must have been
then that he was hit, as he was awfully keen on digging
new trenches, and heaps of times I've had to tell him to
keep down when he was watching the men working....
"I always thought he would come through all right, and I
know he thought so himself, as, the last time I saw him,
we made great plans for spending some time together when
we got back, and it seems so difficult to realise that he
has gone.
(Signed) ERIC S. FLETCHER."
LETTER FROM LIEUTENANT CASE TO BRODIE
"_Thursday, 23 September 1915_
"Yes, I knew Raymond Lodge very well, and he was indeed
a friend of mine, being one of the nicest fellows it
has ever been my privilege to meet. I was with him when
he died. This was how it happened to the best of my
knowledge.
"'A' Company (the one I am in) and 'C' Company were in
the trenches at the time. The gunners had sent up word
that there was going to be a bombardment, and so they
recommended us to evacuate the front-line trenches, in
case the Hun retaliated, and it was whilst C Company
were proceeding down the communication trench, till the
bombardment was over, that the shell came which killed
your brother. He was in command of C Company at the time,
and was going down at the rear of his men, having seen
them all safely out of the trenches. His servant, Gray,
was hit first, in the head (from which he afterwards
died). Then Lodge went along to tell the Sergeant-Major,
and to see about assistance, farther down the trench.
Whilst talking to the Company Sergeant-Major he was hit in
the left side of the back, by a piece of shell, I think.
Lower down the trench poor Ventris was hit and killed. As
soon as I heard about it I went along to see if I could be
of any use. I saw Lodge lying in a dug-out, with a servant
looking after him. I saw he was badly hit, and tried to
cheer him up. He recognised me and was just able to ask a
few questions. That must have been about twenty minutes or
so after he was hit. I think he lived about half an hour,
and I don't think he suffered much pain, thank God.
"I was very, very grieved at his death, for he was one
of the very nicest fellows I have met. That he was
universally liked, both by officers and men, it is
needless to say....
"I was for nearly three months in C Company with your
brother, and was thus able to see his extreme coolness and
ability in military matters.
(Signed) G. R. A. CASE"
LETTER FROM LIEUTENANT CASE TO LADY LODGE
"_Friday, 24 September 1915_
"Need I say how grieved we all were at his loss? He was
hit about midday, and died about half an hour or so
afterwards. I forget the date, but I have written more
fully to his brother. I don't think he suffered much
pain. He was conscious when I arrived, and recognised me,
I think, and I remained with him for some time. I then
went off to see if there was any possibility of finding
the doctor, but all the telephone wires were cut, and
even if we had been able to get the doctor up, it would
have been of no avail. The stretcher-bearers did all that
was possible.... Another subaltern, Mr. Ventris, was
killed at the same time, as was his servant Gray as well.
"(Signed) G. R. A. CASE"[6]
LETTER FROM CAPTAIN S. T. BOAST
"_27 September 1915_ "First of all I beg to offer you and
your family my sincere sympathies in the loss of your
son, 2nd Lieut. Lodge. His loss to us is very great: he
was a charming young fellow--always so very cheerful
and willing, hard working, and a bright example of what
a good soldier ought to be. He was a most efficient
officer, and only recently qualified in the handling and
command of Maxim guns--a most useful accomplishment in
the present war. Briefly, the circumstances which led to
his death were as follows:--
"On 14 September, C Company to which 2nd Lieut. Lodge
belonged, was in position in a forward fire trench.
During the morning the commander of the artillery
covering the position informed 2nd Lieut. Lodge, who
at the time was in command of C Company, that it was
intended to shell the enemy's positions, and as his
trenches were only a short distance from ours, it was
considered advisable to withdraw from our trench during
the shelling. 2nd Lieut. Lodge gave orders for his
Company to withdraw into a communication trench in the
rear. He and 2nd Lieut. Ventris were the last to leave
the forward trench, and in entering the communication
trench both these officers were caught by enemy's
shrapnel. Ventris was killed--Lodge mortally wounded and
died of his wounds shortly afterwards. These are the
circumstances of his death."
FROM CAPTAIN A. B. CHEVES, R.A.M.C.
"_22 September 1915_
"The Colonel has asked me to write you, giving some idea
of the burial-ground in which your son's grave is. I
understand that he was leading his Company back from one
of the communication trenches when the Germans shelled
the front and rear of the column, killing your son and
the officer who was at the rear. At the same time one man
was killed and two wounded. I knew nothing about this
until later in the day, as communication with my aid post
was very difficult, and he was reported to me as having
been killed. I understand that he lived for about three
hours after being wounded, and all the officers and men
who were present speak very highly of his conduct during
this time. His wound was unfortunately in such a position
that there was no chance of saving his life, and this was
recognised by all, including your son himself. When his
body was brought down in the evening the expression on
his face was absolutely peaceful, and I should think that
he probably did not suffer a great deal of pain. He was
buried on the same evening in our cemetery just outside
the aid post, side by side with Lieut. Ventris, who was
unfortunately killed on the same day. The cemetery is
in the garden adjoining a ruined farm-house. It is well
enclosed by hedges, and your son's grave is under some
tall trees that stand in the garden. There are graves
there of men of many regiments who have fallen, and our
graves are enclosed by a wire fence, so keeping them
quite distinct from the others. There is a wooden cross
marking the head of the grave, and a small one at the
foot. I am afraid that our condolences will be small
consolation to you, but I can assure you that he was one
of the most popular officers with the Battalion, both
amongst the officers and men, and all feel his loss very
greatly."
* * * * *
Information sent by Captain Cheves to Mrs. Ventris,
mother of the Second Lieutenant who was killed at the
same time as Raymond and buried with him:--
"He was buried on the right of the Ypres-Menin Road, just
past where the Zonebeke Rail cuts. If you can get hold of
Sheet 28, Belgium 1/40,000, the reference is I. 16. b 2.
Any soldier will show you how to read the map."
[Illustration: RAYMOND, 1915]
LETTER FROM A FOREMAN WORKMAN
[I also append a letter received from a workman who used to be at the
same bench with Raymond when he was going through his workshop course
at the Wolseley Motor Works. Stallard is a man he thought highly of,
and befriended. He is now foreman in the Lodge Fume Deposit Company,
after making an effort to get a berth in Lodge Brothers for Raymond's
sake. He is now, and has been since the war began, the owner of
Raymond's dog Larry, about whom some local people remember that there
was an amusing County Court case.]
"_98 Mansel Road, Small Heath, Birmingham, 17 September
1915_
"DEAR MR. LIONEL,--The shock was too great for me to
speak to you this afternoon. I should like to express to
you, and all the family, my deepest and most heartfelt
sympathy in your terrible loss. Mr. Raymond was the best
friend I ever had.
"Truly, I thought more of him than any other man living,
not only for his kind thoughts towards me, but for his
most admirable qualities, which I knew he possessed.
"The memory of him will remain with me as long as I
live.--Believe me to be, yours faithfully,
"(Signed) NORMAN STALLARD"
[Footnote 6: Lieutenant Case himself, alas! was killed
on the 25th of September 1915. It was a fatal time.
Lieutenant Fletcher also has been killed now, on 3rd July
1916.]
PART TWO: SUPERNORMAL PORTION
"Peace, peace! he is not dead, he doth not sleep--
He hath awakened from the dream of life."
SHELLEY, _Adonais_.
INTRODUCTION
I have made no secret of my conviction, not merely that personality
persists, but that its continued existence is more entwined with the
life of every day than has been generally imagined; that there is no
real breach of continuity between the dead and the living; and that
methods of intercommunion across what has seemed to be a gulf can
be set going in response to the urgent demand of affection,--that
in fact, as Diotima told Socrates (_Symposium_, 202 and 203), LOVE
BRIDGES THE CHASM.
Nor is it affection only that controls and empowers supernormal
intercourse: scientific interest and missionary zeal constitute
supplementary motives which are found efficacious; and it has been
mainly through efforts so actuated that I and some others have been
gradually convinced, by direct experience, of a fact which before
long must become patent to mankind.
Hitherto I have testified to occurrences and messages of which the
motive is intellectual rather than emotional: and though much, very
much, even of this evidence remains inaccessible to the public,
yet a good deal has appeared from time to time by many writers in
the _Proceedings_ of the Society for Psychical Research, and in my
personal collection called _The Survival of Man_. No one therefore
will be surprised if I now further testify concerning communications
which come home to me in a peculiar sense; communications from which
sentiment is not excluded, though still they appear to be guided
and managed with intelligent and on the whole evidential purpose.
These are what I now decide to publish; and I shall cite them as
among those evidences for survival for the publication of which some
legitimate demand has of late been made, owing to my having declared
my belief in continued existence without being able to give the full
grounds of that belief, because much of it concerned other people.
The portion of evidence I shall now cite concerns only myself and
family.
I must make selection, it is true, for the bulk has become great;
but I shall try to select fairly, and especially shall give in fair
fulness those early communications which, though not so free and easy
as they became with more experience, have yet an interest of their
own, since they represent nascent powers and were being received
through members of the family to whom the medium was a complete
stranger and who gave no clue to identity.
Messages of an intelligible though rather recondite character from
"Myers" began to reach me indeed a week or two before the death of
my son; and nearly all the messages received since his death differ
greatly in character from those which in the old days were received
through any medium with whom I sat. No youth was then represented as
eager to communicate; and though friends were described as sending
messages, the messages were represented as coming from appropriate
people--members of an elder generation, leaders of the Society for
Psychical Research, and personal acquaintances. Whereas now, whenever
any member of the family visits anonymously a competent medium, the
same youth soon comes to the fore and is represented as eager to prove
his personal survival and identity.
I consider that he has done so. And the family scepticism, which up
to this time has been sufficiently strong, is now, I may fairly say,
overborne by the facts. How far these facts can be conveyed to the
sympathetic understanding of strangers, I am doubtful. But I must
plead for a patient hearing; and if I make mistakes, either in what I
include, or in what for brevity I omit, or if my notes and comments
fail in clearness, I bespeak a friendly interpretation: for it is
truly from a sense of duty that in so personal a matter I lay myself
open to harsh and perhaps cynical criticism.
It may be said--Why attach so much importance to one individual case?
I do not attach especial importance to it, but every individual case
is of moment, because in such a matter the aphorism _Ex uno disce
omnes_ is strictly applicable. If we can establish the survival of
any single ordinary individual we have established it for all.
Christians may say that the case for one Individual was established
nearly 1900 years ago; but they have most of them confused the issue
by excessive though perhaps legitimate and necessary emphasis on the
exceptional and unique character of that Personality. And a school of
thought has arisen which teaches that ordinary men can only attain
immortality vicariously--that is, conditionally on acceptance of a
certain view concerning the benefits of that Sacrificial Act, and
active assimilation of them.
So without arguing on any such subject, and without entering in the
slightest degree on any theological question, I have endeavoured to
state the evidence fully and frankly for the persistent existence of
one of the multitude of youths who have sacrificed their lives at the
call of their Country when endangered by an aggressor of calculated
ruthlessness.
Some critics may claim that there are many stronger cases of
established survival. That may be, but this is a case which touches
me closely and has necessarily received my careful attention. In so
far as there are other strong cases--and I know of several--so much
the better. I myself considered the case of survival practically
proven before, and clinched by the efforts of Myers and others of
the S.P.R. group on the other side; but evidence is cumulative, and
the discussion of a fresh case in no way weakens those that have
gone before. Each stick of the faggot must be tested, and, unless
absolutely broken, it adds to the strength of the bundle.
To base so momentous a conclusion as a scientific demonstration of
human survival on any single instance, if it were not sustained on
all sides by a great consensus of similar evidence, would doubtless
be unwise; for some other explanation of a merely isolated case would
have to be sought. But we are justified in examining the evidence for
any case of which all the details are known, and in trying to set
forth the truth of it as completely and fairly as we may.
CHAPTER I
ELEMENTARY EXPLANATION
For people who have studied psychical matters, or who have read any
books on the subject, it is unnecessary to explain what a 'sitting'
is. Novices must be asked to refer to other writings--to small books,
for instance, by Sir W. F. Barrett or Mr. J. Arthur Hill or Miss H.
A. Dallas, which are easily accessible, or to my own previous book on
this subject called _The Survival of Man_, which begins more at the
beginning so far as my own experience is concerned.
Of mediumship there are many grades, one of the simplest forms being
the capacity to receive an impression or automatic writing, under
peaceful conditions, in an ordinary state; but the whole subject
is too large to be treated here. Suffice it to say that the kind
of medium chiefly dealt with in this book is one who, by waiting
quietly, goes more or less into a trance, and is then subject to
what is called 'control'--speaking or writing in a manner quite
different from the medium's own normal or customary manner, under
the guidance of a separate intelligence technically known as 'a
control,' which some think must be a secondary personality--which
indeed certainly is a secondary personality of the medium, whatever
that phrase may really signify--the transition being effected in most
cases quite easily and naturally. In this secondary state, a degree
of clairvoyance or lucidity is attained quite beyond the medium's
normal consciousness, and facts are referred to which must be outside
his or her normal knowledge. The control, or second personality which
speaks during the trance, appears to be more closely in touch with
what is popularly spoken of as 'the next world' than with customary
human existence, and accordingly is able to get messages through
from people deceased; transmitting them through the speech or writing
of the medium, usually with some obscurity and misunderstanding, and
with mannerisms belonging either to the medium or to the control.
The amount of sophistication varies according to the quality of the
medium, and to the state of the same medium at different times;
it must be attributed in the best cases physiologically to the
medium, intellectually to the control. The confusion is no greater
than might be expected from a pair of operators, connected by a
telephone of rather delicate and uncertain quality, who were engaged
in transmitting messages between two stranger communicators, one of
whom was anxious to get messages transmitted, though perhaps not
very skilled in wording them, while the other was nearly silent and
anxious not to give any information or assistance at all; being,
indeed, more or less suspicious that the whole appearance of things
was deceptive, and that his friend, the ostensible communicator, was
not really there. Under such circumstances the effort of the distant
communicator would be chiefly directed to sending such natural and
appropriate messages as should gradually break down the inevitable
scepticism of his friend.
FURTHER PRELIMINARY EXPLANATION
I must assume it known that messages purporting to come from various
deceased people have been received through various mediums, and
that the Society for Psychical Research has especially studied
those coming through Mrs. Piper--a resident in the neighbourhood of
Boston, U.S.A.--during the past thirty years. We were introduced to
her by Professor William James. My own experience with this lady
began during her visit to this country in 1889, and was renewed in
1906. The account has been fully published in the _Proceedings_ of
the Society for Psychical Research, vols. vi. and xxiii., and an
abbreviated version of some of the incidents there recorded can be
referred to in my book _The Survival of Man_.
It will be convenient, however, to explain here that some of the
communicators on the other side, like Mr. Myers and Dr. Richard
Hodgson, both now deceased, have appeared to utilise many mediums;
and that to allow for possible sophistication by normal mental
idiosyncrasies, and for any natural warping due to the physiological
mechanism employed, or to the brain-deposit from which selection
has to be made, we write the name of the ostensible communicator in
each case with a suffix--like Myers_{P}, Myers_{V}, etc.; meaning
by this kind of designation to signify that part of the Myers-like
intelligence which operates through Mrs. Piper or through Mrs.
Verrall, etc., respectively.
We know that communication must be hampered, and its form largely
determined, by the unconscious but inevitable influence of a
transmitting mechanism, whether that be of a merely mechanical or of
a physiological character. Every artist knows that he must adapt the
expression of his thought to his material, and that what is possible
with one 'medium,' even in the artist's sense of the word, is not
possible with another.
And when the method of communication is purely mental or telepathic,
we are assured that the communicator 'on the other side' has to
select from and utilise those ideas and channels which represent the
customary mental scope of the medium; though by practised skill and
ingenuity they can be woven into fresh patterns and be made to convey
to a patient and discriminating interpreter the real intention of the
communicator's thought. In many such telepathic communications the
physical form which the emergent message takes is that of automatic
or semiconscious writing or speech; the manner of the utterance being
fairly normal, but the substance of it appearing not to emanate
from the writer's or speaker's own mind: though but very seldom is
either the subject-matter or the language of a kind quite beyond the
writer's or speaker's normal capabilities.
In other cases, when the medium becomes entranced, the demonstration
of a communicator's separate intelligence may become stronger and
the sophistication less. A still further stage is reached when by
special effort what is called _telergy_ is employed, _i.e._ when
physiological mechanism is more directly utilised without telepathic
operation on the mind. And a still further step away from personal
sophistication, though under extra mechanical difficulties, is
attainable in _telekinesis_ or what appears to be the direct movement
of inorganic matter. To this last category--though in its very
simplest form--must belong, I suppose, the percussive sounds known as
raps.
To understand the intelligent tiltings of a table in contact with
human muscles is a much simpler matter. It is crude and elementary,
but in principle it does not appear to differ from automatic writing;
though inasmuch as the code and the movements are so simple, it
appears to be the easiest of all to beginners. It is so simple that
it has been often employed as a sort of game, and so has fallen into
disrepute. But its possibilities are not to be ignored for all that;
and in so far as it enables a feeling of more direct influence--in
so far as the communicator feels able himself to control the energy
necessary, instead of having to entrust his message to a third
person--it is by many communicators preferred. More on this subject
will be found in Chapters VIII of Part II and XIV of Part III.
Before beginning an historical record of the communications and
messages received from or about my son since his death, I think it
will be well to prelude it by--
(i) A message which arrived before the event;
(ii) A selection of subsequent communications bearing on and
supplementing this message;
(iii) One of the evidential episodes, selected from subsequent
communications, which turned out to be exactly verifiable.
A few further details about these things, and another series of
messages of evidential importance, will be found in that Part of the
_Proceedings_ of the S.P.R. which is to be published about October
1916.
If the full discussion allowed to these selected portions appears
rather complicated, an unstudious reader may skip the next three
chapters, on a first reading, and may learn about the simpler facts
in their evolutionary or historical order.
CHAPTER II
THE 'FAUNUS' MESSAGE
_Preliminary Facts_
Raymond joined the Army in September 1914; trained near Liverpool
and Edinburgh with the South Lancashires, and in March 1915 was sent
to the trenches in Flanders. In the middle of July 1915 he had a few
days' leave at home, and on the 20th returned to the Front.
INITIAL 'PIPER' MESSAGE
The first intimation that I had that anything might be going wrong,
was a message from Myers through Mrs. Piper in America; communicated
apparently by "Richard Hodgson" at a time when a Miss Robbins was
having a sitting at Mrs. Piper's house, Greenfield, New Hampshire,
on 8 August 1915, and sent me by Miss Alta Piper (A. L. P.) together
with the original script. Here follows the extract, which at a
certain stage in Miss Robbins's sitting, after having dealt with
matters of personal significance to her, none of which had anything
whatever to do with me, began abruptly thus:--
R. H.--Now Lodge, while we are not here as of old, _i.e._
not quite, we are here enough to take and give messages.
Myers says you take the part of the poet, and he will act
as Faunus. FAUNUS.
MISS R.--Faunus?
R. H.--Yes. Myers. _Protect._ He will understand.
(Evidently referring to Lodge.--A. L. P.)
What have you to say, Lodge? Good work. Ask Verrall, she
will also understand. Arthur says so. [This means Dr.
Arthur W. Verrall (deceased).--O. J. L.]
MISS R.--Do you mean Arthur Tennyson?
[This absurd confusion, stimulated by the word 'poet,' was evidently
the result of a long strain at reading barely legible trance-writing
for more than an hour, and was recognised immediately afterwards
with dismayed amusement by the sitter. It is only of interest as
showing how completely unknown to anyone present was the reference
intended by the communicator.--O. J. L.]
R. H.--_No. Myers_ knows. So does ----. You got mixed (to
Miss R.), but Myers is straight about Poet and Faunus.
* * * * *
I venture to say that to non-classical people the above message
conveys nothing. It did not convey anything to me, beyond the
assurance, based on past experience, that it certainly meant
something definite, that its meaning was probably embedded in a
classical quotation, and that a scholar like Mrs. Verrall would be
able to interpret it, even if only the bare skeleton of the message
were given without any details as to source.
LETTER FROM MRS. VERRALL
In order to interpret this message, therefore, I wrote to Mrs.
Verrall as instructed, asking her: "Does _The Poet and Faunus_ mean
anything to you? Did one 'protect' the other?" She replied at once (8
September 1915) referring me to Horace, _Carm_. II. xvii. 27-30, and
saying:--
"The reference is to Horace's account of his narrow
escape from death, from a falling tree, which he ascribes
to the intervention of Faunus. Cf. Hor. _Odes_, II.
xiii.; II. xvii. 27; III. iv. 27; III. viii. 8, for
references to the subject. The allusion to Faunus is in
Ode II. xvii. 27-30:--
'Me truncus illapsus cerebro Sustulerat, nisi _Faunus_
ictum Dextra levasset, Mercurialium _Custos_ virorum.'
"'Faunus, the guardian of poets' ('poets' being the usual
interpretation of 'Mercury's men').
"The passage is a very well-known one to all readers
of Horace, and is perhaps specially familiar from
its containing, in the sentence quoted, an unusual
grammatical construction. It is likely to occur in a
detailed work on Latin Grammar.
"The passage has no special associations for me other
than as I have described, though it has some interest
as forming part of a chronological sequence among the
_Odes_, not generally admitted by commentators, but
accepted by me.
"The words quoted are, of course, strictly applicable to
the Horatian passage, which they instantly recalled to me.
(Signed) M. DE G. VERRALL"
* * * * *
I perceived therefore, from this manifestly correct interpretation
of the 'Myers' message to me, that the meaning was that some blow
was going to fall, or was likely to fall, though I didn't know of
what kind, and that Myers would intervene, apparently to protect
me from it. So far as I can recollect my comparatively trivial
thoughts on the subject, I believe that I had some vague idea that
the catastrophe intended was perhaps of a financial rather than of a
personal kind.
The above message reached me near the beginning of September in
Scotland. Raymond was killed near Ypres on 14 September 1915, and
we got the news by telegram from the War Office on 17 September.
A fallen or falling tree is a frequently used symbol for death;
perhaps through misinterpretation of _Eccl._ xi, 3. To several other
classical scholars I have since put the question I addressed to Mrs.
Verrall, and they all referred me to Horace, _Carm._ II. xvii. as the
unmistakable reference.
_Mr. Bayfield's Criticism_
Soon after the event, I informed the Rev. M. A. Bayfield,
ex-headmaster of Eastbourne College, fully of the facts, as an
interesting S.P.R. incident (saying at the same time that Myers had
not been able to 'ward off' the blow); and he was good enough to send
me a careful note in reply:--
"Horace does not, in any reference to his escape, say
clearly whether the tree struck him, but I have always
thought it did. He says Faunus lightened the blow; he
does not say 'turned it aside.' As bearing on your
terrible loss, the meaning seems to be that the blow
would fall but would not crush; it would be 'lightened'
by the assurance, conveyed afresh to you by a special
message from the still living Myers, that your boy still
lives.
"I shall be interested to know what you think of this
interpretation. The 'protect' I take to mean protect
from being overwhelmed by the blow, from losing faith
and hope, as we are all in danger of doing when smitten
by some crushing personal calamity. Many a man when so
smitten has, like Merlin, lain
'as dead, And lost to life and use and name and fame.'
That seems to me to give a sufficiently precise application to the
word (on which Myers apparently insists) and to the whole reference
to Horace."
* * * * *
In a postscript he adds the following:--
"In _Carm._ iii. 8, Horace describes himself as _prope
funeratus arboris ictu_, 'wellnigh killed by a blow from
a tree.' An artist in expression, such as he was, would
not have mentioned any 'blow' if there had been none; he
would have said 'well nigh killed by a falling tree'--or
the like. It is to be noted that in both passages he uses
the word _ictus_. And in ii. 13. 11 (the whole ode is
addressed to the tree) he says the man must have been a
fellow steeped in every wickedness 'who planted thee an
accursed lump of wood, a thing meant to fall (this is the
delicate meaning of _caducum_--not merely "falling") on
thine undeserving master's head.' Here again the language
implies that he was struck, and struck on the head.
"Indeed, the escape must have been a narrow one, and it
is to me impossible to believe that Horace would have
been so deeply impressed by the accident if he had not
actually been struck. He refers to it four times:--
_Carm._ ii. 13.--(Ode addressed to the tree--forty lines
long.)
ii. 17. 27.
iii. 4. 27.--(Here he puts the risk he ran on a parallel
with that of the rout at Philippi, from which he escaped.)
iii. 8. 8.
"I insist on all this as strengthening my interpretation,
and also as strengthening the assignment of the script
to Myers, who would of course be fully alive to all
the points to be found in his reference to Faunus and
Horace--and, as I have no doubt, believed that Horace did
not escape the actual blow, and that it was a severe one."
NOTE BY O. J. L.
Since some of the translators, especially verse translators, of
Horace convey the idea of turning aside or warding off the blow, it
may be well to emphasise the fact that most of the scholars consulted
gave "lightened" or "weakened" as the translation. And Professor
Strong says--"no doubt at all that 'levasset' means 'weakened' the
blow; the bough fell and struck the Poet, but lightly, through the
action of Faunus. 'Levo' in this sense is quite common and classical."
Bryce's prose translation (Bohn) is quite clear--"a tree-stem falling
on my head had surely been my death, had not good Faunus eased the
blow...." And although Conington's translation has "check'd the blow
in mid descent," he really means the same thing, because it is the
slaying, not the wounding or striking of the Poet that is prevented:--
"Me the curst trunk, that smote my skull,
Had slain; but Faunus, strong to shield
The friends of Mercury, check'd the blow
In mid descent."
ADDITIONAL PIPER SCRIPT
Mr. Bayfield also calls my attention to another portion of Piper
Script--in this case not a trance or semi-trance sitting, but
ordinary automatic writing--dated 5 August, which reached me
simultaneously with the one already quoted from, at the beginning of
September, and which he says seems intended to prepare me for some
personal trouble:--
"Yes. For the moment, Lodge, have faith and wisdom [?
confidence] in all that is highest and best. Have you all
not been profoundly guided and cared for? Can you answer,
'No'? It is by your faith that all is well and has been."
I remember being a little struck by the wording in the above script,
urging me to admit that we--presumably the family--had "been
profoundly guided and cared for," and "that all is well and has
been"; because it seemed to indicate that something was not going to
be quite so well. But it was too indefinite to lead me to make any
careful record of it, or to send it as a prediction to anybody for
filing; and it would no doubt have evaporated from my mind except
for the 'Faunus' warning, given three days later, though received at
the same time, which seemed to me clearly intended as a prediction,
whether it happened to come off or not.
* * * * *
The two Piper communications, of which parts have now been quoted,
reached me at Gullane, East Lothian, where my wife (M. F. A. L.) and
I were staying for a few weeks. They arrived early in September 1915,
and as soon as I had heard from Mrs. Verrall I wrote to Miss Piper to
acknowledge them, as follows:--
"_The Linga Private Hotel, Gullane, East Lothian, 12
September 1915_
"MY DEAR ALTA,--The reference to the Poet and Faunus
in your mother's last script is quite intelligible,
and a good classical allusion. You might tell the
'communicator' some time if there is opportunity.
"I feel sure that it must convey nothing to you and
yours. That is quite as it should be, as you know, for
evidential reasons."
This was written two days before Raymond's death, and five days
before we heard of it. The Pipers' ignorance of any meaning in the
Poet and Faunus allusion was subsequently confirmed.
It so happens that this letter was returned to me, for some unknown
reason, through the Dead Letter Office, reaching me on 14 November
1915, and being then sent forward by me again.[7]
[Footnote 7: Further Piper and other communications,
obscurely relevant to this subject, will be found in a
Paper which will appear in the S.P.R. _Proceedings_ for
the autumn of 1916.]
CHAPTER III
SEQUEL TO THE 'FAUNUS' MESSAGE
It now remains to indicate how far Myers carried out his implied
promise, and what steps he took, or has been represented as having
taken, to lighten the blow--which it is permissible to say was a
terribly severe one.
For such evidence I must quote from the record of sittings held here
in England with mediums previously unknown, and by sitters who gave
no sort of clue as to identity. (See the historical record, beginning
at Chapter V.)
It may be objected that my own general appearance is known or might
be guessed. But that does not apply to members of my family, who
went quite anonymously to private sittings kindly arranged for by
a friend in London (Mrs. Kennedy, wife of Dr. Kennedy), who was no
relation whatever, but whose own personal experience caused her to
be sympathetic and helpful, and who is both keen and critical about
evidential considerations.
I may state, for what it is worth, that as a matter of fact
normal clues to identity are disliked, and, in so far as they are
gratuitous, are even resented, by a good medium; for they are no
manner of use, and yet subsequently they appear to spoil evidence. It
is practically impossible for mediums to hunt up and become normally
acquainted with the family history of their numerous sitters, and
those who know them are well aware that they do nothing of the sort,
but in making arrangements for a sitting it is not easy, unless
special precautions are taken, to avoid giving a name and an address,
and thereby appearing to give facilities for fraud.
In our case, and in that of our immediate friends, these precautions
have been taken--sometimes in a rather elaborate manner.
The first sitting that was held after Raymond's death by any member
of the family was held not explicitly for the purpose of getting
into communication with him--still less with any remotest notion of
entering into communication with Mr. Myers--but mainly because a
French widow lady, who had been kind to our daughters during winters
in Paris, was staying with my wife at Edgbaston--her first real
visit to England--and was in great distress at the loss of both her
beloved sons in the war, within a week of each other, so that she
was left desolate. To comfort her my wife took her up to London to
call on Mrs. Kennedy, and to get a sitting arranged for with a medium
whom that lady knew and recommended. Two anonymous interviews were
duly held, and incidentally I may say that the two sons of Madame
communicated, on both occasions, though with difficulty; that one of
them gave his name completely, the other approximately; and that the
mother, who was new to the whole subject, was partially consoled.[8]
Raymond, however, was represented as coming with them and helping
them, and as sending some messages on his own account. I shall here
only quote those messages which bear upon the subject of _Myers_ and
have any possible connexion with the 'Faunus' message.
(For an elementary explanation about 'sittings' in general, see
Chapter I.)
EXTRACTS RELATING TO 'MYERS' FROM EARLY ANONYMOUS SITTINGS
We heard first of Raymond's death on 17 September 1915, and on 25
September his mother (M. F. A. L.), who was having an anonymous
sitting for a friend with Mrs. Leonard, then a complete stranger, had
the following spelt out by tilts of a table, as purporting to come
from Raymond:--
TELL FATHER I HAVE MET SOME FRIENDS OF HIS.
M. F. A. L.--Can you give any name?
YES. MYERS.
(That was all on that subject on that occasion.)
* * * * *
On the 27th of September 1915, I myself went to London and had my
first sitting, between noon and one o'clock, with Mrs. Leonard. I
went to her house or flat alone, as a complete stranger, for whom an
appointment had been made through Mrs. Kennedy. Before we began, Mrs.
Leonard informed me that her 'guide' or 'control' was a young girl
named "Feda."
In a short time after the medium had gone into trance, a youth was
described in terms which distinctly suggested Raymond, and "Feda"
brought messages. I extract the following:--
_From First Anonymous Sitting of O. J. L. with Mrs. Leonard, 27
September 1915_
(Mrs. Leonard's control, Feda, supposed to be speaking
throughout.)
He finds it difficult, he says, but he has got so many
kind friends helping him. He didn't think when he waked up
first that he was going to be happy, but now he is, and he
says he is going to be happier. He knows that as soon as
he is a little more ready he has got a great deal of work
to do. "I almost wonder," he says, "shall I be fit and
able to do it. They tell me I shall."
"I have instructors and teachers with me." Now he is
trying to build up a letter of some one; M. he shows me.
(A short time later, he said:--)
"People think I say I am happy in order to make them
happier, but I don't.[9] I have met hundreds of friends.
I don't know them all. I have met many who tell me that,
a little later, they will explain why they are helping
me. I feel I have got two fathers now. I don't feel I
have lost one and got another; I have got both.
I have got my old one, and another too--a _pro tem_.
father."
(Here Feda ejaculated "What's that? Is that right?" O. J.
L. replied 'Yes.')
There is a weight gone off his mind the last day or two;
he feels brighter and lighter and happier altogether, the
last few days. There was confusion at first. He could not
get his bearings, didn't seem to know where he was. "But
I was not very long," he says, "and I think I was very
fortunate; it was not very long before it was explained
to me where I was."
* * * * *
But the most remarkable indirect allusion, or apparent
allusion, to something like the 'Faunus' message, came at
the end of the sitting, after "Raymond" had gone, and just
before Mrs. Leonard came out of trance:--
"He is gone, but Feda sees something which is only
symbolic; she sees a cross falling back on to you; very
dark, falling on to you; dark and heavy looking; and as
it falls it gets twisted round and the other side seems
all light, and the light is shining all over you. It is
a sort of pale blue, but it is white and quite light
when it touches you. Yes, that is what Feda sees. The
cross looked dark, and then it suddenly twisted round
and became a beautiful light. The cross is a means of
shedding real light. It is going to help a great deal.
"Did you know you had a coloured Guide?... He says your
son is the cross of light; he is the cross of light, and
he is going to be a light that will help you; he is going
to help too to prove to the world the Truth. That is
why they built up the dark cross that turned to bright.
You know; but others, they do so want to know. Feda is
loosing hold; good-bye."
[_This ends the O. J. L. first Leonard sitting of 27 September 1915._]
On the afternoon of the same day, 27 September 1915, that I had this
first sitting with Mrs. Leonard, Lady Lodge had her first sitting, as
a complete stranger, with Mr. A. Vout Peters, who had been invited
for the purpose--without any name being given--to Mrs. Kennedy's
house at 3.30 p.m.
Here again, Raymond was described well enough, fairly early in the
sitting, and several identifying messages were given. Presently
'Moonstone' (Peters's chief control) asked, "Was he not associated
with Chemistry?" As a matter of fact, my laboratory has been rather
specially chemical of late; and the record continues, copied with
subsequent annotations in square brackets as it stands:--
_From First Anonymous Sitting of M. F. A. L. with Peters, 27 September
1915_
Was he not associated with chemistry? If not, some one
associated with him was, because I see all the things in a
chemical laboratory.
That chemistry thing takes me away from him to a man in
the flesh [O. J. L. presumably]; and, connected with him,
a man, a writer of poetry, on our side, closely connected
with spiritualism. He was very clever--he too passed away
out of England.
[This is clearly meant for Myers, who died in Rome.]
He has communicated several times. This gentleman who
wrote poetry--I see the letter M--he is helping your son
to communicate.
[His presence and help were also independently mentioned
by Mrs. Leonard.]
He is built up in the chemical conditions.
If your son didn't know this man, he knew of him.
[Yes, he could hardly have known him, as he was only about twelve at
the time of Myers's death.]
At the back of the gentleman beginning with M, and who
wrote poetry, is a whole group of people. [The S.P.R.
group, doubtless.] They are very interested. And don't be
surprised if you get messages from them, even if you don't
know them.
(Then 'Moonstone' stopped, and said:--)
This is so important that is going to be said now, that
I want to go slowly, for you to write clearly every word
(dictating carefully):--
"NOT ONLY IS THE PARTITION SO THIN THAT YOU CAN HEAR THE
OPERATORS ON THE OTHER SIDE, BUT A BIG HOLE HAS BEEN
MADE."
This message is for the gentleman associated with the
chemical laboratory.
[Considering that my wife was quite unknown to the medium,
this is a remarkably evidential and identifying message.
Cf. passage in my book, _Survival of Man_, containing this
tunnel-boring simile; page 341 of American edition (Moffat
Yard & Co.).--O. J. L.]
'Moonstone' continued:--
The boy--I call them all boys because I was over a hundred
when I lived here and they are all boys to me--he says, he
is here, but he says:--
"Hitherto it has been a thing of the head, now I am come
over it is a thing of the heart."
What is more (here Peters jumped up in his chair,
vigorously, snapped his fingers excitedly, and spoke
loudly)--
"Good God! how father will be able to speak out! much
firmer than he has ever done, because it will touch our
hearts."
(_Here ends extract from Peters sitting of 27 September 1915. A
completer record will be found in Chapter VII._)
At a Leonard Table Sitting on 12 October 1915--by which time our
identity was known to Mrs. Leonard--I told 'Myers' that I understood
his Piper message about Faunus and the Poet; and the only point
of interest about the reply or comment is that the two following
sentences were spelt out, purporting to come either indirectly or
directly from 'Myers':--
1. He says it meant your son's tr[ansition].
2. Your son shall be mine.
* * * * *
The next 'Myers' reference came on 29 October, when I had a sitting
with Peters, unexpectedly and unknown to my family, at his London
room (15 Devereux Court, Fleet Street)--a sitting arranged for by Mr.
J. A. Hill for an anonymous friend:--
Peters went into trance, and after some other communications,
gave messages from a youth who was recognised by the control and
identified as my son; and later on Peters's 'control,' whom it is
customary to call 'Moonstone,' spoke thus:--
_From Sitting of O. J. L. with Peters on 29 October 1915_
Your common-sense method of approaching the subject in the
family has been the means of helping him to come back as
he has been able to do; and had he not known what you had
told him, then it would have been far more difficult for
him to come back. He is very deliberate in what he says.
He is a young man that knows what he is saying. Do you
know F W M?
O. J. L.--Yes, I do.
Because I see those three letters. Now, after them, do you
know S T; yes, I get S T, then a dot, and then P? These
are shown me; I see them in light; your boy shows these
things to me.
O. J. L.--Yes, I understand. [Meaning that I recognised
the allusion to F. W. H. Myers's poem _St. Paul_.]
Well, he says to me: "He has helped me so much, more than
you think. That is F W M."
O. J. L.--Bless him!
No, your boy laughs, he has got an ulterior motive for it;
don't think it was only for charity's sake, he has got an
ulterior motive, and thinks that you will be able by the
strength of your personality to do what you want to do
now, to ride over the quibbles of the fools, and to make
the Society, _the_ Society, he says, of some use to the
world.... Can you understand?
O. J. L.--Yes.
Now he says, "He helped me because, with me through you,
he can break away the dam that people have set up. Later
on, you are going to speak to them. It is already on the
programme, and you will break down the opposition because
of me." Then he says, "For God's sake, father, do it.
Because if you only knew, and could only see what I see:
hundreds of men and women heart-broken. And if you could
only see the boys on our side shut out, you would throw
the whole strength of yourself
into this work. But you can do it." He is very earnest.
Oh, and he wants--No, I must stop him, I must prevent him,
I don't want him to control the medium.--Don't think me
unkind, but I must protect my medium; he would not be able
to do the work he has to do; the medium would be ill from
it, I must protect him, the emotion would be too great,
too great for both of you, so I must prevent him from
controlling.
He understands, but he wants me to tell you this:--
The feeling on going over was one of intense
disappointment, he had no idea of death. The second too
was grief. (Pause.)
* * * * *
This is a time when men and women have had the crust
broken off them--a crust of convention, of ... of
indifference, has been smashed, and everybody thinks,
though some selfishly.
Now, returning to him, how patient he is! He was not
always so patient. After the grief there was a glimmering
of hope, because he realised that he could get back to
you; and because his grandmother came to him. Then his
brother was introduced to him. Then, he says, other
people. Myerse--"Myerse," it sounds like--do you know what
he means?--came to him, and then he knew he could get
back. He knew.
Now he wants me to tell you this: That from his death,
which is only one of thousands, that the work which he (I
have to translate his ideas into words, I don't get them
verbatum [_sic_])--the work which he volunteered to be
able to succeed in,--no, that's not it. The work which he
enlisted for, that is what he says, only he was only a
unit and seemingly lost--yet the very fact of his death
will be the means of pushing it on. Now I have got it. By
his passing away, many hundreds will be benefited.
(_End of extract from Peters sitting of 29 October 1915._)
(A still fuller account of the whole 'Faunus' episode, and a further
sequel to it of a classical kind, called the "Horace O. L." message,
will be found in the S.P.R. _Proceedings_ for the autumn of 1916.)
* * * * *
It will be understood, I hope, that the above extracts from sittings
have been reproduced here in order to show that, if we take the
incidents on their face value, Myers had redeemed his 'Faunus'
promise, and had lightened the blow by looking after and helping
my son 'on the other side.' I now propose to make some further
extracts--of a more evidential character--tending to establish
the survival of my son's own personality and memory. There have
been several of these evidential episodes, making strongly in this
direction; but I select, for description here, one relating to a
certain group photograph, of which we were told through two mediums,
but of which we normally knew nothing till afterwards.
[Footnote 8: I realise now, though the relevance has
only just struck me, that from the point of view of an
outside critic, pardonably suspicious of bad faith, this
episode of the bereaved French lady--an obviously complete
stranger to Mrs. Kennedy as well as to the medium--has an
evidential and therefore helpful side.]
[Footnote 9: This is reminiscent of a sentence in one of
his letters from the Front: "As cheerful and well and
happy as ever. Don't think I am having a rotten time--I am
not." Dated 11 May 1915 (really 12).]
CHAPTER IV
THE GROUP PHOTOGRAPH
I now come to a peculiarly good piece of evidence arising out of
the sittings which from time to time we held in the autumn of 1915,
namely, the mention and description of a group photograph taken near
the Front, of the existence of which we were in complete ignorance,
but which was afterwards verified in a satisfactory and complete
manner. It is necessary to report the circumstances rather fully:--
Raymond was killed on 14 September 1915.
The first reference to a photograph taken of him with other men was
made by Peters at M. F. A. L.'s first sitting with Peters, in Mrs.
Kennedy's house, on 27 September 1915, thus:--
_Extract from M. F. A. L.'s anonymous Sitting with Peters on 27
September 1915_
"You have several portraits of this boy. Before he went
away you had got a good portrait of him--two--no, three.
Two where he is alone and one where he is in a group of
other men. He is particular that I should tell you of
this. In one you see his walking-stick"--('Moonstone' here
put an imaginary stick under his arm).
We had single photographs of him of course, and in uniform, but we
did not know of the existence of a photograph in which he was one of
a group; and M. F. A. L. was sceptical about it, thinking that it
might well be only a shot or guess on the part of Peters at something
probable. But Mrs. Kennedy (as Note-taker) had written down most of
what was said, and this record was kept, copied, and sent to Mr.
Hill in the ordinary course at the time.
I was myself, moreover, rather impressed with the emphasis laid
on it--"he is particular that I should tell you of this"--and
accordingly made a half-hearted inquiry or two; but nothing more was
heard on the subject for two months. On Monday, 29 November, however,
a letter came from Mrs. Cheves, a stranger to us, mother of Captain
Cheves of the R.A.M.C., who had known Raymond and had reported to us
concerning the nature of his wound, and who is still doing good work
at the Front.
Mrs. Cheves' welcome letter ran as follows:--
"_28 November 1915_
"DEAR LADY LODGE,--My son, who is M.O. to the 2nd South
Lancs, has sent us a group of officers taken in August,
and I wondered whether you knew of this photo and had had
a copy. If not may I send you one, as we have half a dozen
and also a key? I hope you will forgive my writing to ask
this, but I have often thought of you and felt so much for
you in yr. great sorrow.
--Sincerely yours, B. P. CHEVES"
M. F. A. L. promptly wrote, thanking her, and asking for it; but
fortunately it did not come at once.
Before it came, I (O. J. L.) was having a sitting with Mrs. Leonard
alone at her house on 3 December; and on this occasion, among other
questions, I asked carefully concerning the photograph, wishing to
get more detailed information about it, before it was seen. It should
be understood that the subject was not introduced by Mrs. Leonard or
her control. The previous mention of a photograph had been through
Peters. It was I that introduced the subject through Mrs. Leonard,
and asked a question; and the answers were thus reported and recorded
at the time--the typing out of the sitting being all done before the
photograph arrived:--
_Extract from the Record of O. J. L.'s Sitting with Mrs. Leonard, 3
December 1915_
(Mrs. Leonard's child-control, Feda, supposed to be
speaking, and often speaking of herself in the third
person.)
FEDA.--Now ask him some more.
O. J. L.--Well, he said something about having a photograph taken
with some other men. We haven't seen that photograph yet. Does he
want to say anything more about it? He spoke about a photograph.
Yes, but he thinks it wasn't here. He looks at Feda, and
he says, it wasn't to you, Feda.
O. J. L.--No, he's quite right. It wasn't. Can he say where he spoke
of it?
He says it wasn't through the table.
O. J. L.--No, it wasn't.
It wasn't here at all. He didn't know the person that he
said it through. The conditions were strange there--a
strange house. [Quite true, it was said through Peters in
Mrs. Kennedy's house during an anonymous sitting on 27
September.]
O. J. L.--Do you recollect the photograph at all?
He thinks there were several others taken with him, not
one or two, but several.
O. J. L.--Were they friends of yours?
Some of them, he says. He didn't know them all, not very
well. But he knew some; he heard of some; they were not
all friends.
O. J. L.--Does he remember how he looked in the photograph?
No, he doesn't remember how he looked.
O. J. L.--No, no, I mean was he standing up?
No, he doesn't seem to think so. Some were raised up
round; he was sitting down, and some were raised up at the
back of him. Some were standing, and some were sitting, he
thinks.
O. J. L.--Were they soldiers?
He says yes--a mixed lot. Somebody called C was on it with
him; and somebody called R--not his own name, but another
R. K, K, K--he says something about K.
He also mentions a man beginning with B--(indistinct
muttering something like Berry, Burney--then clearly) but
put down B.
O. J. L.--I am asking about the photograph because we haven't seen
it yet. Somebody is going to send it to us. We have heard that it
exists, and that's all.
[While this is being written out, the above remains true.
The photograph has not yet come.]
He has the impression of about a dozen on it. A dozen, he
says, if not more. Feda thinks it must be a big photograph.
No, he doesn't think so, he says they were grouped close
together.
O. J. L.--Did he have a stick?
He doesn't remember that. He remembers that somebody
wanted to lean on him, but he is not sure if he was taken
with some one leaning on him. But somebody wanted to lean
on him he remembers. The last what he gave you, what were
a B, will be rather prominent in that photograph. It
wasn't taken in a photographer's place.
O. J. L.--Was it out of doors?
Yes, practically.
FEDA (_sotto voce_).--What you mean, 'yes practically';
must have been out of doors or not out of doors. You mean
'yes,' don't you?
Feda thinks he means 'yes,' because he says 'practically.'
O. J. L.--It may have been a shelter.
It might have been. Try to show Feda.
At the back he shows me lines going down. It looks like a
black background, with lines at the back of them. (Feda
here kept drawing vertical lines in the air.)
* * * * *
There was, for some reason, considerable delay in the arrival of
the photograph; it did not arrive till the afternoon of December 7.
Meanwhile, on December 6, Lady Lodge had been looking up Raymond's
Diary, which had been returned from the Front with his kit, and found
an entry:--
"_24 August._--Photo taken."
(A statement will follow to this effect.)
Now Raymond had only had one "leave" home since going to the Front,
and this leave was from 16 July to 20 July. The photograph had not
been taken then, and so he could not have told us anything about it.
The exposure was only made twenty-one days before his death, and some
days may have elapsed before he saw a print, if he ever saw one. He
certainly never mentioned it in his letters. We were therefore in
complete ignorance concerning it; and only recently had we normally
become aware of its existence.
On the morning of 7 December another note came from Mrs. Cheves, in
answer to a question about the delay; and this letter said that the
photograph was being sent off. Accordingly I (O. J. L.), thinking
that the photograph might be coming at once, dictated a letter to go
to Mr. Hill, recording roughly my impression of what the photograph
would be like, on the strength of the communication received by me
from 'Raymond' through Mrs. Leonard; and this was posted by A. E.
Briscoe about lunch-time on the same day. (See statement by Mr.
Briscoe at the end.) My statement to Mr. Hill ran thus:--
_Copy of what was written by O. J. L. to Mr. Hill about the
Photograph on the morning of Tuesday, 7 December 1915_
"Concerning that photograph which Raymond mentioned
through Peters [saying this: 'One where he is in a group
of other men. He is particular that I should tell you
of this. In one you see his walking-stick,'],[10] he
has said some more about it through Mrs. Leonard. But
he is doubtful about the stick. What he says is that
there is a considerable number of men in the photograph;
that the front row is sitting, and that there is a back
row, or some of the people grouped and set up at the
back; also that there are a dozen or more people in the
photograph, and that some of them he hardly knew; that
a B is prominent in the photograph, and that there is
also a C; that he himself is sitting down, and that there
are people behind him, one of whom either leant on his
shoulder, or tried to.
"The photograph has not come yet, but it may come any day
now; so I send this off before I get it.
"The actual record of what was said in the sitting is
being typed, but the above represents my impression of
it."
* * * * *
The photograph was delivered at Mariemont between 3 and 4 p.m. on the
afternoon of 7 December. It was a wet afternoon, and the package was
received by Rosalynde, who took the wet wrapper off it. Its size was
12 by 9 inches, and was an enlargement from a 5 by 7 inch original.
The number of people in the photograph is twenty-one, made up as
follows:--
Five in the front row squatting on the grass, Raymond
being one of these; the second from the right.
Seven in the second row seated upon chairs.
Nine in the back row standing up against the outside of
a temporary wooden structure such as might be a hospital
shed or something of that kind.
On examining the photograph, we found that every peculiarity
mentioned by Raymond, unaided by the medium, was strikingly correct.
The walking-stick is there (but Peters had put a stick under his arm,
which is not correct), and in connexion with the background Feda had
indicated vertical lines, not only by gesture but by saying "lines
going down," as well as "a black background with lines at the back of
them." There are six conspicuous nearly vertical lines on the roof of
the shed, but the horizontal lines in the background generally are
equally conspicuous.
By "a mixed lot," we understood members of different Companies--not
all belonging to Raymond's Company, but a collection from several.
This must be correct, as they are too numerous for one Company. It
is probable that they all belong to one Regiment, except perhaps one
whose cap seems to have a thistle badge instead of three feathers.
As to "prominence," I have asked several people which member of
the group seemed to them the most prominent; and except as regards
central position, a well-lighted standing figure on the right has
usually been pointed to as most prominent. This one is "B," as
stated, namely, Captain S. T. Boast.
Some of the officers must have been barely known to Raymond, while
some were his friends. Officers whose names begin with B, with C, and
with R were among them; though not any name beginning with K. The
nearest approach to a K-sound in the group is one beginning with a
hard C.
Some of the group are sitting, while others are standing behind.
Raymond is one of those sitting on the ground in front, and his
walking-stick or regulation cane is lying across his feet.
[Illustration: GROUP OF OFFICERS, AS SENT US BY MRS. CHEVES ON 7
DECEMBER, 1915, SHOWING AN ARM RESTING ON RAYMOND'S SHOULDER]
The background is dark, and is conspicuously lined.
It is out of doors, close in front of a shed or military hut, pretty
much as suggested to me by the statements made in the 'Leonard'
sitting--what I called a "shelter."
But by far the most striking piece of evidence is the fact that
some one sitting behind Raymond is leaning or resting a hand on his
shoulder. The photograph fortunately shows the actual occurrence,
and almost indicates that Raymond was rather annoyed with it; for
his face is a little screwed up, and his head has been slightly bent
to one side out of the way of the man's arm. It is the only case in
the photograph where one man is leaning or resting his hand on the
shoulder of another, and I judge that it is a thing not unlikely to
be remembered by the one to whom it occurred.
CONFIRMATORY STATEMENTS
STATEMENT BY RAYMOND'S MOTHER
Four days ago (6 December), I was looking through my son
Raymond's Diary which had been returned with his kit from
the Front. (The edges are soaked, and some of the leaves
stuck together, with his blood.) I was struck by finding
an entry "Photo taken" under the date 24 August, and I
entered the fact in my own Diary at once, thus:--
"_6 December._--Read Raymond's Diary for first time, saw
record of 'photo taken' 24 August."
(Signed) MARY F. A. LODGE
_10 December 1915_
STATEMENT BY A. E. BRISCOE
The dictated letter to Mr. Hill, recording roughly Sir
Oliver's impression of what the photograph would be
like, was written out by me on the morning of Tuesday,
7 December, at Mariemont; it was signed by Sir Oliver
at about noon, and shortly afterwards I started for the
University, taking that and other letters with me for
posting in town. I went straight to the University, and
at lunch-time (about 1.30) posted the packet to Mr. Hill
at the General Post Office.
(In the packet, I remember, there was also a letter on
another subject, and a printed document from Mr. Gow, the
Editor of _Light_.)
(Signed) A. E. BRISCOE,
_Secretary to Sir Oliver Lodge_
_8 December 1915_
STATEMENT BY ROSALYNDE
I was sitting in the library at Mariemont about 3.45 on
Tuesday afternoon, 7 December 1915, when Harrison came in
with a flat cardboard parcel addressed to Mother. Mother
was resting; and as the paper, wrapping up what I took to
be the photograph, was wet with the rain, I undid it and
left the photograph in tissue paper on a table, having
just glanced at it to see if it was the one we'd been
waiting for.
No one saw it or was shown it till after tea, when
I showed it to Mother. That would be about 6. Mrs.
Thompson, Lorna, and Barbara now also saw it. Honor was
not at home and did not see it till later.
(Signed) R. V. LODGE
_8 December 1915_
NOTE BY O. J. L.
In answer to an inquiry, Messrs. Gale & Polden, of Aldershot
and London, the firm whose name was printed at the foot of the
photograph, informed me that it was "from a negative of a group of
Officers sent to us by Captain Boast of the 2nd South Lancashire
Regiment"; and having kindly looked up the date, they further tell me
that they received the negative from Captain Boast on 15 October 1915.
It will be remembered that information about the existence of
the photograph came through Peters on 27 September--more than a
fortnight, therefore, before the negative reached England.
The photograph is only shown here because of its evidential interest.
Considered as a likeness of Raymond, it is an exceptionally bad one;
he appears shrunk into an uncomfortable position.
FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPH
_Extract from a letter by Captain Boast from the Trenches, dated 7
May 1916, to Mrs. Case, and lent me to see_
"Some months ago (last summer) the Officers of our
Battalion had their photo taken.... You see, the
photographer who took us was a man who had been shelled
out of house and home, and as he had no means of doing
the photos for us, we bought the negatives, and sent them
along to be finished in England."
[Illustration: ANOTHER EDITION OF THE GROUP-PHOTOGRAPH, WITH LEG
TOUCHING SHOULDER INSTEAD OF HAND]
_A later Letter from Captain Boast_
In answer to a special inquiry addressed to Captain Boast at the
Front, he has been good enough to favour me with the following
letter:--
"_10 July 1916_
"DEAR SIR,--Your letter of 4 July has just reached me.
The proofs of the photographs referred to were received
by me from the photographer at Reninghelst two or three
days after being taken. To the best of my belief, your
son saw the proofs, but I cannot now say positively. I
obtained particulars of requirements from the officers
forming the group, but the photographer then found he was
unable to obtain paper for printing. I therefore bought
the negatives and sent them home to Gale & Polden. In
view of the fact that your son did not go back to the
trenches till 12 September 1915, it is highly probable
that he saw the proofs, but he certainly did not see the
negatives.--Yours faithfully,
"(Signed) SYDNEY T. BOAST"
It thus appears that Raymond had probably seen a proof of the
photograph, but that there were no copies or prints available.
Consequently neither we, nor any other people at home, could have
received them; and the negatives were only received in England by
Gale & Polden on 15 October 1915, after Peters had mentioned the
existence of the photograph, which he did on 27 September 1915.
I obtained from Messrs. Gale & Polden prints of all the accessible
photographs which had been taken at the same time. The size of these
prints was 5 by 7 inches.
I found that the group had been repeated, with slight variations,
three times--the Officers all in the same relative positions, but
not in identically the same attitudes. One of the three prints is
the same as the one we had seen, with some one's hand resting on
Raymond's shoulder, and Raymond's head leaning a little on one side,
as if rather annoyed. In another the hand had been removed, being
supported by the owner's stick; and in that one Raymond's head is
upright. This corresponds to his uncertainty as to whether he was
actually taken with the man leaning on him or not. In the third,
however, the sitting officer's leg rests against Raymond's shoulder
as he squats in front, and the slant of the head and slight look of
annoyance have returned.
These two additional photographs are here reproduced. Their merit is
in showing that the leaning on him, mentioned by 'Raymond' through
Feda, was well marked, and yet that he was quite right in being
uncertain whether he was actually being leant on while the photograph
was being taken. The fact turns out to be that during two exposures
he was being leaned on, and during one exposure he was not. It was,
so to speak, lucky that the edition sent us happened to show in one
form the actual leaning.
I have since discovered what is apparently the only other photograph
of Officers in which Raymond occurs, but it is quite a different one,
and none of the description applies to it. For it is completely in
the open air, and Raymond is standing up in the hinder of two rows.
He is second from the left, the tall one in the middle is his friend
Lieutenant Case, and standing next him is Mr. Ventris (see p. 279).
It is fortunate again that this photograph did not happen to be the
one sent us; for we should have considered the description hopelessly
wrong.
SUMMARY
CONCLUDING NOTE BY O. J. L.
As to the evidential value of the whole communication, it
will be observed that there is something of the nature of
cross-correspondence, of a simple kind, in the fact that a reference
to the photograph was made through one medium, and a description
given, in answer to a question, through another independent one.
The episode is to be published in the _Proceedings_ of the S.P.R. for
1916, and a few further facts or comments are there added.
The elimination of ordinary telepathy from the living, except under
the far-fetched hypothesis of the unconscious influence of complete
strangers, was exceptionally complete; inasmuch as the whole of
the information was recorded before any of us had seen the photograph.
[Illustration: GROUP SUBSEQUENTLY OBTAINED, EVIDENTLY TAKEN AT THE
SAME TIME, BUT PRESSURE ON SHOULDER REMOVED]
Even the establishment of a date in August for the taking of the
photograph, as mentioned first in Mrs. Cheves' letter and confirmed
by finding an entry in Raymond's Diary, is important, because the
last time we ever saw Raymond was in July.
To my mind the whole incident is rather exceptionally good as a piece
of evidence; and that 'Raymond' expected it to be good evidence
is plain from Peters's ('Moonstone's') statement, at that first
reference to a photograph on 27 September, namely, "He is particular
that I should tell you of this." (This sentence it probably was
which made me look out for such a photograph, and take pains to get
records soundly made beforehand.) Our complete ignorance, even of
the existence of the photograph, in the first place, and secondly
the delayed manner in which knowledge of it normally came to us, so
that we were able to make provision for getting the supernormally
acquired details definitely noted beforehand, seem to me to make it
a first-class case. While, as to the amount of coincidence between
the description and the actual photograph, that surely is quite
beyond chance or guesswork. For not only are many things right, but
practically nothing is wrong.
CALENDAR
_20 July 1915_ Raymond's last visit home.
_24 August 1915_ Photograph taken at the Front, as
shown by entry in Raymond's
private Diary, but not mentioned
by him.
_14 September 1915_ Raymond's death.
_27 September 1915_ Peters' ('Moonstone's') mention of
the photograph as a message from
'Raymond.'
_15 October 1915_ Negative sent with other negatives
by Capt. Sydney T. Boast, from
the Front in Flanders, to Messrs.
Gale & Polden, Aldershot, for
printing.
_29 November 1915_ Mrs. Cheves wrote spontaneously,
saying that she had a group-photograph
of some 2nd South
Lancashire Officers, which she
could send if desired.
_3 December 1915_ Feda's (Mrs. Leonard's) further description
of a photograph which
had been mentioned through another
medium, in answer to a
direct question addressed to 'Raymond.'
_6 December 1915_ M. F. A. L. found an entry in Raymond's
Diary showing that a
photograph had been taken on
24 August.
_Morning of 7 Dec. 1915_ To make sure, O. J. L. wrote to
J. A. H. his impression of the
photograph before it came.
_Afternoon of 7 Dec 1915_ Arrival of the photograph.
_Evening of 7 Dec 1915_ The photograph was shown to the
home members of the family, and
examined by O. J. L.
[Footnote 10: This bit not written to J. A. H., but is
copied from Peters's sitting, of which Mr. Hill had seen
the record.]
CHAPTER V
BEGINNING OF HISTORICAL RECORD OF SITTINGS
Although this episode of the photograph is a good and evidential
one, I should be sorry to base an important conclusion on any one
piece of evidence, however cogent. All proofs are really cumulative;
and though it is legitimate to emphasise anything like a crucial
instance, it always needs supplementing by many others, lest
there may have been some oversight. Accordingly, I now proceed to
quote from sittings held by members of the family after Raymond's
death--laying stress upon those which were arranged for, and held
throughout, in an anonymous manner, so that there was not the
slightest normal clue to identity.
The first message came to us through a recent friend of ours in
London, Mrs. Kennedy, who herself has the power of automatic writing,
and who, having lost her specially beloved son Paul, has had her hand
frequently controlled by him--usually only so as to give affectionate
messages, but sometimes in a moderately evidential way. She had been
sceptical about the genuineness of this power apparently possessed
by herself; and it was her painful uncertainty on this point that
had brought her into correspondence with me, for she was trying to
test her own writing in various ways, as she was so anxious not to
be deceived. The first I ever heard of her was the following letter
which came while I was in Australia, and was dealt with by Mr. Hill:--
FIRST LETTER FROM MRS. KENNEDY TO O. J. L.
"_16 August 1914_
"SIR OLIVER LODGE.
"DEAR SIR,--Because of your investigations into spirit
life, I venture to ask your help.
"My only son died 23 June, eight weeks after a terrible
accident. On 25 June (without my asking for it or having
thought of it) I felt obliged to hold a pencil, and I
received in automatic writing his name and 'yes' and 'no'
in answer to questions.
"Since then I have had several pages of writing from him
every day and sometimes twice daily. I say 'from him';
the whole torturing question is--is it from him or am I
self-deceived?
"My knowledge is infinitesimal. Nineteen years ago a
sister who had died the year before suddenly used my
hand, and after that wrote short messages at intervals;
another sister a year later, and my father one message
sixteen years ago; but I felt so self-deceived that
I always pushed it aside, until it came back to me,
unasked, after my son's passing over.
"Your knowledge is what I appeal to, and the deep,
personal respect one has for you and your investigations.
It is for my son's sake--he is only seventeen--and he
writes with such intense sadness of my lack of decided
belief that I venture to beg help of a stranger in a
matter so sacred to me.
"Do you ever come to London, and, if so, could you
possibly allow me to see you for even half an hour? and
you might judge from the strange and holy revelations
(I know no other way to express many of the messages
that are sent) whether they can possibly be only from
my own subconscious mind.... Pardon this length of
letter.--Yours faithfully,
"(Signed)
KATHERINE KENNEDY"
Ultimately I was able to take her anonymously and unexpectedly to
an American medium, Mrs. Wriedt, and there she received strong and
unmistakable proofs.[11] She also received excellent confirmation
through several other mediums whom she had discovered for
herself--notably Mr. Vout Peters and Mrs. Osborne Leonard. Of Mrs.
Leonard I had not previously heard; I had heard of a Madame St.
Leonard, or some name like that, but this is somebody else. Mrs.
Kennedy tells me that she herself had not known Mrs. Leonard long,
her own first sitting with that lady having been on 14 September
1915. I must emphasise the fact that Mrs. Kennedy is keen and careful
about evidential considerations.
As Mrs. Kennedy's son Paul plays a part in what follows, perhaps
it is permissible to quote here a description of him which she
gave to Mr. Hill in October 1914, accompanying an expression of
surprise at the serious messages which she sometimes received from
him--interspersed with his fun and his affection:--
K. K.'s DESCRIPTION OF PAUL
"Picture to yourself this boy: not quite eighteen but
always taken for twenty or twenty-two; an almost divine
character underneath, but exteriorly a typical 'motor
knut,' driving racing-cars at Brooklands, riding for
the Jarrott Cup on a motor cycle, and flying at Hendon
as an Air Mechanic; dining out perpetually, because of
his charm which made him almost besieged by friends; and
apparently without any creed except honour, generosity,
love of children, the bringing home of every stray cat to
be fed here and comforted, a total disregard of social
distinctions when choosing his friends, and a hatred of
hurting anyone's feelings."
On seeing the announcement of Mr. R. Lodge's death in a newspaper,
Mrs. Kennedy 'spoke' to Paul about it, and asked him to help;
she also asked for a special sitting with Mrs. Leonard for the
same purpose, though without saying why. The name Raymond was on
that occasion spelt out through the medium, and he was said to be
sleeping. This was on 18 September. On the 21st, while Mrs. Kennedy
was writing in her garden on ordinary affairs, her own hand suddenly
wrote, as from her son Paul:--
"I am here.... I have seen that boy Sir Oliver's son; he's
better, and has had a splendid rest, tell his people."
Lady Lodge having been told about Mrs. Leonard, and wanting to help
a widowed French lady, Madame Le Breton, who had lost both her sons,
and was on a visit to England, asked Mrs. Kennedy to arrange a
sitting, so as to avoid giving any name. A sitting was accordingly
arranged with Mrs. Leonard for 24 September 1915.
On 22 September, Mrs. Kennedy, while having what she called a 'talk'
with Paul, suddenly wrote automatically:--
"I shall bring Raymond to his father when he comes to see
you.... He is so jolly, every one loves him; he has found
heaps of his own folks here, and he is settling down
wonderfully. DO TELL HIS FATHER AND MOTHER.... He spoke
clearly to-day.... He doesn't fight like the others, he
seems so settled already. It is a ripping thing to see
one boy like this. He has been sleeping a long time, but
he has spoken to-day....
"If you people only knew how we long to come, they would
all call us."
[Capitals indicate large and emphatic writing.]
On the 23rd, during Lady Lodge's call, Mrs. Kennedy's hand wrote what
purported to be a brief message from Raymond, thus:--
"I am here, mother.... I have been to Alec already, but
he can't hear me. I do wish he would believe that we are
here safe; it isn't a dismal hole like people think, it
is a place where there is life."
And again:
"Wait till I have learned better how to speak like
this.... We can express all we want later; give me time."
I need hardly say that there is nothing in the least evidential in
all this. I quote it only for the sake of reasonable completeness, so
as to give the history from the beginning. Evidence comes later.
Next day, 24 September 1915, the ladies went for an interview with
Mrs. Leonard, who knew no more than that friends of Mrs. Kennedy
would accompany her. The following is Lady Lodge's account of the
sitting:--
_First Sitting of any Member of the Family (Anonymous) with Mrs.
Leonard_
GENERAL ACCOUNT BY M. F. A. L.
24 SEPTEMBER 1915
Mrs. Leonard went into a sort of trance, I suppose, and
came back as a little Indian girl called 'Freda,' or
'Feda,' rubbing her hands, and talking in the silly way
they do.
However, she soon said there was an old gentleman and a
young one present, whom she described; and Mrs. Kennedy
told me afterwards that they were her father and her son
Paul. There seemed to be many others standing beside us,
so 'Feda' said.
Then Feda described some one brought in lying down--about
twenty-four or twenty-five, not yet able to sit up; the
features she described might quite well have belonged to
Raymond. (I forgot to say Mrs. Leonard did not know me
or my name, or Madame le Breton's.) Feda soon said she
saw a large R beside this young man, then an A, then she
got a long letter with a tail, which she could not make
out, then she drew an M in the air, but forgot to mention
it, and she said an O came next, and she said there was
another O with a long stroke to it, and finally, she said
she heard 'Yaymond' (which is only her way of pronouncing
it). [The name was presumably got from 'Paul.'--O. J. L.]
Then she said that he just seemed to open his eyes and
smile; and then he had a choking feeling, which distressed
me very much; but he said he hadn't suffered much--not
nearly as much as I should think; whether he said this,
or Paul, I forget; but Paul asked me not to tell him
to-morrow night that I was not with him, as he had so much
the feeling that I was with him when he died, that he
(Paul) wouldn't like to undeceive him.
I then asked that some one in that other world might
kiss him for me, and a lady, whom they described in a
way which was just like my mother, came and kissed him,
and said she was taking care of him. And there was also
an old gentleman, full white beard, etc. (evidently my
stepfather, but Feda said with a moustache, which was a
mistake), with W. up beside him, also taking care; said he
had met Raymond, and he was looking after him, and lots of
others too; but said he [W.] belonged to me and to 'O.'
[Correct.] I asked how and what it was he had done for
me, and Feda made a movement with her fingers, as though
disentangling something, and then putting it into straight
lines. He then said he had made things easier for me. So
I said that was right, and thanked him gratefully. I said
also that if Raymond was in his and Mamma's hands, I was
satisfied.
[I do not append the notes of this sitting, since it was held mainly
for Madame and her two sons, both of whom were described, and from
whom some messages appeared to come.]
_Table Sitting at Mrs. Leonard's_
Next day (Saturday, 25 September 1915), as arranged partly by Paul,
the three ladies went to Mrs. Leonard's house again for a sitting
with a table, and Dr. Kennedy kindly accompanied them to take notes.
The three ladies and the medium sat round a small table, with their
hands lightly on it, and it tilted in the usual way. The plan adopted
here is for the table to tilt as each letter of the alphabet is
spoken by the medium, and to stop, or 'hold,' when a right letter is
reached. For general remarks on the rationale, or what most people
will naturally consider the absurdity, of intelligent movements of
this kind, see Chapter XIV, Part III.
It was a rather complicated sitting, as it was mainly for Madame
who was a novice in the subject. Towards the end unfortunately,
though momentarily and not at all pronouncedly, she spoke to Lady
Lodge by name. At these table sittings the medium, Mrs. Leonard,
is not unconscious; accordingly she heard it in her normal self,
and afterwards said that she had heard it. The following extracts
from the early part of the sitting may be quoted here, as answers
purporting to be spelt out by Raymond:--
QUESTIONS ANSWERS
Are you lonely? No.
Who is with you? Grandfather W.
Have you anything to say to You know I can't help missing
me? you, but I am learning to be
happy.
Have you any message for any Tell them I have many good
of them? friends.
Can you tell me the name of anyone Honor. [One of his sisters.]
at home?
(Other messages of affection and naturalness.)
Have I enough to satisfy them No.
at home?
Is there anything you want to Tell father I have met some
send? friends of his.
Any name? Yes; Myers.
Have you anything else to say? (No answer.)
Is some one else there? Yes; Guy. (This was a son of
Madame, and the sitting became
French.)
Reasonable and natural messages were spelt out in French. The other
son of Madame was named Didier, and an unsuccessful attempt to spell
this name was made, but the only result was DODI.
_Automatic Writing by Mrs. Kennedy, 26 September_
On 26 September Mrs. Kennedy (alone) had a lot of automatic writing,
with her own hand, mainly from Paul, who presently wrote, "Mother, I
have been let to bring Raymond."
(After a welcome, Raymond was represented as sending this message:--)
"I can speak easier than I could at the table, because you
are helping all the time. It is easy when we are alone
with you, but if I go there it confuses me a little....
I long to comfort them. Will you tell them that Raymond
had been to you, and that Paul tells me I can come to you
whenever I like? It is so good of you to let the boys all
come...."
"Paul tells me he has been here since he was seventeen;
he is a jolly chap; every one seems fond of him. I don't
wonder, for he helps every one. It seems a rule to call
Paul if you get in a fix."
(Then Paul said he was back, and wrote:--)
"He is quite happy really since he finds he can get to his
people. He has slept ever since last night, till I was
told to fetch him to-night."
(Asked about the French boys, Paul said:--)
"I saw them when I brought them, but I don't see them
otherwise; they are older than I am ... they hardly
believe it yet that they have spoken. All the time they
felt it was impossible, and they nearly gave it up, but I
kept on begging them to tell their mother they lived."
"I do hope she felt it true, mother...."
"It is hard to think your sons are dead; but such a lot of
people do think it. It is revolting to hear the boys tell
you how no one speaks to them ever; it hurts me through
and through."
(Interval. Paul fetched Guy [one of Madame Le Breton's
sons], saying:--)
"I can't stand it when they call out for help. Speak to
him please, mother."
(Mrs. Kennedy spoke to Guy, saying that she felt he
could not believe any of it, but would he give time and
trouble to studying the subject as she was doing? The
following writing came:--)
GUY.--I think you hear me because it is just as I am
feeling; how CAN I believe we can speak to you who live
where we once lived? It was not possible then for us to
speak to dead people; and why should it be possible for us
to speak. Will you keep on helping me, please, for I can't
follow it, and I long to?
(Mrs. Kennedy asked him to ask Paul, that being an easier method,
probably, than getting information through her. She asked him to
'excuse' Paul's youth.)
GUY.--I like Paul; he is good to us. I shall be glad to
talk to him constantly if he has time for all of us; he
seems a sort of messenger between us and you, isn't he?
[Guy had been to school in England, his brother had not.]
[Footnote 11: I think it only fair to mention the names
of professional mediums, if I find them at all genuine. I
do not guarantee their efficiency, for mediumship is not
a power that can always be depended on,--it is liable to
vary; sitters also may be incompetent, and conditions may
be bad. The circumstances under which sensitives work are
difficult at the present time and ought to be improved.]
CHAPTER VI
FIRST SITTING OF O. J. L. WITH MRS. LEONARD
On 27 September, as already stated in Chapter III, I myself visited
Mrs. Leonard, going anonymously and alone, and giving no information
beyond the fact that I was a friend of Mrs. Kennedy. I lay no stress,
on my anonymity, however.
In a short time Feda controlled, and at first described an elderly
gentleman as present. Then she said he brought some one with the
letter R; and as I took verbatim notes I propose to reproduce this
portion in full, so as to give the general flavour of a 'Feda'
sitting; only omitting what has already been extracted and quoted in
Chapter III.
_O. J. L. at Mrs. Leonard's, Monday, 27 September 1915, 12 noon to 1
o'clock_
(Mrs. Leonard's control 'Feda' speaking all the time.)
There is some one here with a little difficulty; not fully
built up; youngish looking; form more like an outline;
he has not completely learnt how to build up as yet.
Is a young man, rather above the medium height; rather
well-built, not thick-set or heavy, but well-built. He
holds himself up well. He has not been over long. His
hair is between colours. He is not easy to describe,
because he is not building himself up so solid as some
do. He has greyish eyes; hair brown, short at the sides;
a fine-shaped head; eyebrows also brown, not much arched;
nice-shaped nose, fairly straight, broader at the nostrils
a little; a nice-shaped mouth, a good-sized mouth it is,
but it does not look large because he holds the lips
nicely together; chin not heavy; face oval. He is not
built up quite clearly, but it feels as if Feda knew him.
He must have been here waiting for you. Now he looks at
Feda and smiles; now he laughs, he is having a joke with
Feda, and Paulie laughs too. Paul says he has been here
before, and that Paul brought him. But Feda sees many
hundreds of people, but they tell me this one has been
brought quite lately. Yes, I have seen him before. Feda
remembers a letter with him too. R, that is to do with him.
(Then Feda murmured, as if to herself, "Try and give me
another letter.") (Pause.)
It is a funny name, not Robert or Richard. He is not
giving the rest of it, but says R again; it is from him.
He wants to know where his mother is; he is looking for
her; he does not understand why she is not here.
O. J. L.--Tell him he will see her this afternoon, and that she is
not here this morning, because she wants to meet him this afternoon
at three o'clock.
[Meaning through another medium, namely Peters. But that,
of course, was not said.]
He has been to see you before, and he says that once he
thought you knew he was there, and that two or three times
he was not quite sure. Feda gets it mostly by impression;
it is not always what he says, but what she gets; but Feda
says "he says," because she gets it from him somehow.[12]
He finds it difficult, he says, but he has got so many
kind friends helping him. He didn't think when he waked up
first that he was going to be happy, but now he is, and he
says he is going to be happier. He knows that as soon as
he is a little more ready, he has got a great deal of work
to do. "I almost wonder," he says, "shall I be fit and
able to do it. They tell me I shall."
[_And so on as reported in Chapter III._]
He seems to know what the work is. The first work he will
have to do, will be helping at the Front; not the wounded
so much, but helping those who are passing over in the
war. He knows that when they pass on and wake up, they
still feel a certain fear--and some other word which Feda
missed. Feda hears a something and 'fear.' Some even go
on fighting; at least they want to; they don't believe
they have passed on. So that many are wanted where he is
now, to explain to them and help them, and soothe them.
They do not know where they are, nor why they are there.
[I considered that this was ordinary 'Feda talk,' such as
it is probably customary to get through mediums at this
time; therefore, though the statements are likely enough,
there is nothing new in them, and I thought it better to
interrupt by asking a question. So I said:--]
O. J. L.--Does he want to send a message to anyone at home? Or will
he give the name of one of his instructors?
[I admit that it is stupid thus to ask two questions at once.]
He shows me a capital H, and says that is not an
instructor, it is some one he knows on the earth side. He
wants them to be sure that he is all right and happy. He
says, "People think I say I am happy in order to make them
happier, but I don't".
[_And so on as already reported in Chapter III._]
Now the first gentleman with the letter W is going over
to him and putting his arm round his shoulder, and he is
putting his arm round the gentleman's back. Feda feels
like a string round her head; a tight feeling in the head,
and also an empty sort of feeling in the chest, empty, as
if sort of something gone. A feeling like a sort of vacant
feeling there; also a bursting sensation in the head. But
he does not know he is giving this. He has not done it on
purpose, they have tried to make him forget all that, but
Feda gets it from him. There is a noise with it too, an
awful noise and a rushing noise.
He has lost all that now, but he does not seem to know why
Feda feels it now. "I feel splendid," he says, "I feel
splendid! But I was worried at first. I was worried, for I
was wanting to make it clear to those left behind that I
was all right, and that they were not to worry about me."
You may think it strange, but he felt that you would not
worry so much as some one else; two others, two ladies,
Feda thinks. You would know, he says, but two ladies would
worry and be uncertain; but now he believes they know more.
Then, before Mrs. Leonard came out of trance, came the description
of a falling dark cross which twisted round and became bright, as
reported in Chapter III.
After the sitting, and before I went away, I asked Mrs. Leonard if
she knew who I was. She replied, "Are you by chance connected with
those two ladies who came on Saturday night?" On my assenting, Mrs.
Leonard added, "Oh! then I know, because the French lady gave the
name away; she said 'Lady Lodge' in the middle of a French sentence."
I also spoke to her about not having too many sittings and straining
her power. She said she "preferred not to have more than two or three
a day, though sometimes she could not avoid it; and some days she had
to take a complete rest." But she admitted that she was going to have
another one that day at two o'clock. I told her that three per day
was rather much. She pleaded that there are so many people who want
help now, that she declined all those who came for only commercial or
fortune-telling motives, but that she felt bound to help those who
are distressed by the war. I report this to show that she saw many
people totally disconnected with Raymond or his family: so that what
she might say to a new unknown member of the family could be quite
evidential.
[Footnote 12: Note this, as an elucidatory statement.]
CHAPTER VII
FIRST PETERS SITTING (ANONYMOUS)
Mrs. Kennedy desired Lady Lodge to try with a different and
independent medium, and therefore kindly arranged with Mr. A. Vout
Peters to come to her house on Monday afternoon and give a trance
sitting to 'a friend of hers' not specified. Accordingly, at or about
3 p.m. on Monday, 27 September 1915, Lady Lodge went by herself to
Mrs. Kennedy's house, so as not to have to give any name, and awaited
the arrival of Peters, who, when he came, said he would prefer to sit
in Mrs. Kennedy's own room in which he had sat before, and which he
associated with her son Paul. No kind of introduction was made, and
Peters was a total stranger to Lady Lodge; though to Mrs. Kennedy
he was fairly well known, having several times given her first-rate
evidence about her son, who had proved his identity in several
striking ways.
When Peters goes into a trance his personality is supposed to change
to that of another man, who, we understand, is called 'Moonstone';
much as Mrs. Piper was controlled by apparent personalities calling
themselves 'Phinuit' or 'Rector.' When Peters does not go into a
trance he has some clairvoyant faculty of his own.
The only other person present on this occasion was Mrs. Kennedy, who
kindly took notes.
This is an important sitting, as it was held for a complete stranger,
so I propose to report it practically in full.
_M. F. A. L. Sitting with A. Vout Peters, in Mrs. Kennedy's House, on
27 September 1915, at 3.30 p.m._
MEDIUM A. VOUT PETERS.
SITTER LADY LODGE (M. F. A. L.).
RECORDER MRS. KATHERINE KENNEDY (K. K.).
_The record consists of Mrs. Kennedy's notes. Annotations in square
brackets have been added subsequently by O. J. L._
While only partially under control, Peters said: "I feel a lot of
force here, Mrs. Kennedy."
Peters was controlled quickly by 'Moonstone,' who greeted K. K. and
reminded her of a prophecy of his. (This prophecy related to the
Russian place Dvinsk, and to the important actions likely to be going
on there--as if the decisive battle of the war was to be fought
there.) Then he turned to L. L. and said:--
What a useful life you have led, and will lead.
You have always been the prop of things.
You have always been associated with men a lot.
You are the mother and house prop.
You are not unacquainted with spiritualism.
You have been associated with it more or less for some
time.
I sense you as living away from London--in the North or
North-West.
You are much associated with men, and you are the house
prop--the mother. You have no word in the language that
quite gives it--there are always four walls, but something
more is needed--you are the house prop.
You have had a tremendous lot of sadness recently, from a
death that has come suddenly.
You never thought it was to be like this. (Peters went on
talking glibly, and there was no need for the sitter to
say anything.)
There is a gentleman here who is on the other side--he
went very suddenly. Fairly tall, rather broad, upright
(here the medium sat up very straight and squared his
shoulders)--rather long face, fairly long nose, lips full,
moustache, nice teeth, quick and active, strong sense of
humour--he could always laugh, keen sense of affection.
He went over into the spirit world very quickly. There is
no idea of death because it was so sudden, with no illness.
Do you know anything connected with the letter L? (No
answer was given to this.)
What I am going to say now is from Paul--he says: "Tell
mother it is not one L, it is double L." He says: "Tell
mother she always loved a riddle"--he laughs. (L. L. and
K. K. both said they could not understand.[13] 'Moonstone'
continued:--)
They don't want to make it too easy for you, and funnily
enough, the easier it seems to you sometimes the more
difficult it seems to them.
This man is a soldier--an officer. He went over where it
is warm.
You are his mother, aren't you--and he does not call you
ma, or mamma, or mater--just mother, mother. [True.]
He is reticent and yet he told you a tremendous lot.
You were not only his mother but his friend.
Wasn't he clever with books? He laughs and says: "Anyhow
I ought to be, I was brought up with them." He was not
altogether a booky person.
He knew of spiritualism before he passed over, but he was
a little bit sceptical--he had an attitude of carefulness
about it. He tells me to tell you this:
The attitude of Mr. Stead and some of those people turned
him aside; on one side there was too much credulity--on
the other side too much piffling at trifles.
[See also Appendix to this sitting.]
He holds up in his hand a little heap of olives, as
a symbol for you--then he laughs. Now he says--for a
test--Associated with the olives is the word Roland.[14]
All of this is to give you proof that he is here.
Before you came you were very down in the dumps.
Was he ill three weeks after he was hurt? [More like three
hours, probably less.]
(Various other guesses were made for the meaning of 3.)
I see the figure 3 so plainly--can't you find a meaning
for it?
(L. L. suggested 3rd Battalion, and 'Moonstone'
continued:--)
He says "Yes"--and wasn't he officially put down on
another one? [Perfectly true, he was attached to the 2nd
Battalion at the Front, to the 3rd or reserve Battalion
while training.][15]
He says: "Don't forget to tell father all this."
His home is associated with books--both reading and
writing books. Wait a minute, he wants to give me a word,
he is a little impatient with me. Manuscripts, he says,
manuscripts--that's the word.
He sends a message, and he says--this is more for
father--"It is no good his attempting to come to the
medium here, he will simply frighten the medium for all
he is worth, and he will not get anything. But he is not
afraid of you, and if there is communication wanted with
this man again, _you_ must come."
You have several portraits of this boy. Before he went
away you had got a good portrait of him--2--no, 3. [Fully
as many as that.]
Two where he is alone and one where he is in a group of
other men. [This last is not yet verified.][16]
He is particular that I should tell you of this. In
one you see his walking-stick ('Moonstone' here put an
imaginary stick under his arm). [Not known yet]
He had particularly strong hands.
When he was younger, he was very strongly associated with
football and outdoor sports. You have in your house prizes
that he won, I can't tell you what. [Incorrect; possibly
some confusion in record here; or else wrong.]
Why should I get two words--'Small' and 'Heath,'
[Small Heath is a place near Birmingham with which he had
some but not close associations.]
Also I see, but very dimly as in a mist, the letters B I
R. [Probably Birmingham.]
You heard of either his death or of his being hurt by
telegram.
He didn't die at once. He had three wounds.
I don't think you have got details yet. [No, not fully.]
If he had lived he would have made a name for himself in
his own particular line.
Was he not associated with chemistry? If not, some one
associated with him was, because I see all the things in a
chemical laboratory.
[The next portion has already been reported in Chapter III, but I do
not omit it from its context here.]
That chemistry thing takes me away from him to a man in
the flesh.
And connected with him a man, a writer of poetry, on our
side, closely connected with spiritualism.
He was very clever--he too passed away out of England.
He has communicated several times.
This gentleman who wrote poetry--I see the letter M--he is
helping your son to communicate.
He is built up in the chemical conditions.
If your son didn't know this man, he knew of him.
At the back of the gentleman beginning with M and who
wrote poetry is a whole group of people.
They are very interested. And don't be surprised if you
get messages from them, even if you don't know them.
This is so important that is going to be said now, that
I want to go slowly, for you to write clearly every word
(dictates carefully).
"Not only is the partition so thin that you can hear the
operators on the other side, but a big hole has been made."
This message is for the gentleman associated with the
chemical laboratory.
The boy--I call them all boys, because I was over a
hundred when I lived here and they are all boys to me--he
says, he is here, but he says: "Hitherto it has been a
thing of the head, now I am come over it is a thing of
the heart. What is more (here Peters jumped up in his
chair vigorously, snapped his fingers excitedly, and spoke
loudly):
"Good God! how father will be able to speak out! much
firmer than he has ever done, because it will touch our
hearts."
M. F. A. L.--Does he want his father to speak out?
Yes, but not yet--wait, the evidence will be given in such
a way that it cannot be contradicted, and his name is big
enough to sweep all stupid opposition on one side.
I was not conscious of much suffering, and I am glad that
I settled my affairs before I went.
[He did; he made a will just before leaving England, and
left things in good order. He also cleared up things when
he joined the Army.]
Have you a sister of his with you, and one on our side? A
little child almost, so little that you never associated
her with him.
There are two sisters, one on each side of him, one in the
dark and one in the light.
[Raymond was the only boy sandwiched in between two
sisters; Violet older than he, and still living
(presumably in the dark), and Laura[17] younger than he,
died a few minutes after birth (in the light). Raymond was
the youngest boy, and had thus a sister on either side of
him.]
Your girl is standing on one side, Paul on the other, and
your boy in the centre. (Here 'Moonstone' put his arm
round K. K.'s shoulder to show how the boy was standing.)
Now he stoops over you and kisses you there (indicating
the brow).
Before he went away he came home for a little while.
Didn't he come for three days?
(There is a little unimportant confusion in the record
about 'days.')
Then, with evident intention of trying to give a 'test,' some
trivial but characteristic features were mentioned about the interior
of three houses--the one we are in now, the one we had last occupied
at Liverpool, and the one he called 'Mother's home.' But there is
again some confusion in the record, partly because M. F. A. L. didn't
understand what he was driving at, partly because the recorder found
it difficult to follow; and though the confusion was subsequently
disentangled through another medium next day, 28 September, it is
hardly worth while to give as much explanation as would be needed to
make the points clear. So this part is omitted. (See p. 145).
And he wanted me to tell you of a kiss on the forehead.
M. F. A. L.--He did not kiss me on the forehead when he said good-bye.
Well he is taller than you, isn't he?
(Yes.)
Not very demonstrative before strangers. But when alone
with you, like a little boy again.
M. F. A. L.--I don't think he was undemonstrative before strangers.
Oh yes, all you English are like that. You lock up your
affection, and you sometimes lose the key.
He laughs. He says you didn't understand about Rowland. He
can get it through now, it's a Roland for your Oliver [p.
131].
[Excellent. By recent marriages the family has gained a
Rowland (son-in-law) and lost (so to speak) an Oliver
(son).]
He is going. He gives his love to all.
It has been easy for him to come for two reasons: First,
because you came to get help for Madame.[18] Secondly,
because he had the knowledge in this life.
M. F. A. L.--I hope it has been a pleasure to him to come?
Not a pleasure, a joy.
M. F. A. L.--I hope he will come to me again.
As much as he can.
Paul now wants to speak to his mother.
_Appendix to First Peters Sitting_
NOTE ON RAYMOND'S OLD ATTITUDE TO PSYCHO-PHYSICAL PHENOMENA
Mrs. Rowland Waterhouse has recently found among her papers an old
letter from Bedales School which she received from her brother
Raymond when she was in Paris during the winter 1905-1906. The
concluding part of it is of some small interest in the light of later
developments:--
"I should like to hear more about table turning. I
don't believe in it. The girls here say they have done
it at Steephurst, and they attribute it to some sense
of which we know nothing, and which I want to turn to
some account, driving a dynamo or something, if it is
possible, as they make out, to cause a table to revolve
without any exertion.--I am your affectionate brother,
"RAYMOND."
[Footnote 13: Though K. K.'s record, being made at the
time, reads L. L. (meaning Lady Lodge) throughout. When
she speaks, later on, I change the L. L. of the record to
her proper initials to avoid confusion.--O. J. L.]
[Footnote 14: This is clear, though apparently it was not
so recognised at the time. See later, pp. 135 and 144.]
[Footnote 15: Let it be understood, once for all, that
remarks in square brackets represent nothing said at the
time, but are comments afterwards by me when I read the
record.--O. J. L.]
[Footnote 16: The photograph episode is described above,
in Chapter IV, in the light of later information.]
[Footnote 17: Now apparently called Lily: see later.]
[Footnote 18: This is curious, because it was with Mrs.
Leonard that Madame had sat, not with Peters at all. It is
a simple cross-correspondence.]
CHAPTER VIII
A TABLE SITTING
On 28 September my wife and I together had a table sitting with
Mrs. Leonard, which may be reported nearly in full together with my
preliminary note written immediately afterwards. This is done not
because it is a particularly good specimen, but because these early
sittings have an importance of their own, and because it may be
instructive to others to see the general manner of a table sitting.
It was, I think, the first joint-sitting of any kind which we had had
since the old Piper days.
NOTE BY O. J. L. ON TABLE TILTINGS
A table sitting is not good for conversation, but it is useful
for getting definite brief answers--such as names and incidents,
since it seems to be less interfered with by the mental activity
of an intervening medium, and to be rather more direct. But it
has difficulties of its own. The tilting of the table need not be
regarded as a 'physical phenomenon' in the technical or supernormal
sense, yet it does not _appear_ to be done by the muscles of those
present. The effort required to tilt the table is slight, and
evidentially it must, no doubt, be assumed that so far as mechanical
force is concerned, it is exerted by muscular action. But my
impression is that the tilting is an incipient physical phenomenon,
and that though the energy, of course, comes from the people present,
it does not appear to be applied in quite a normal way (XIV, Pt. III).
As regards evidence, however, the issue must be limited to
intelligent direction of the energy. All that can safely be claimed
is that the energy is intelligently directed, and the self-stoppage
of the table at the right letter conveys by touch a sort of
withholding feeling--a kind of sensation as of inhibition--to those
whose hands lie flat on the top of the table. The light was always
quite sufficient to see all the hands, and it works quite well in
full daylight. The usual method is for the alphabet to be called
over, and for the table to tilt or thump at each letter, till it
stops at the right one. The table tilts three times to indicate
"yes," and once to indicate "no"; but as one tilt also represents the
letter A of the alphabet, an error of interpretation is occasionally
made by the sitters. So also C might perhaps be mistaken for "yes,"
or _vice versa_; but that mistake is not so likely.
Unconscious guidance can hardly be excluded, _i.e._ cannot be
excluded with any certainty when the answer is of a kind expected.
But first, our desire was rather in the direction of avoiding such
control; and second, the stoppages were sometimes at unexpected
places; and third, a long succession of letters soon becomes
meaningless, except to the recorder who is writing them down
silently, as they are called out to him _seriatim_, in another part
of the room.
It will also be observed that at a table sitting it is natural for
the sitters to do most of the talking, and that their object is to
get definite and not verbose replies.
On this occasion the control of the table seemed to improve as the
sitting went on, owing presumably to increased practice on the part
of the communicator, until towards the end, when there seemed to
be some signs of weariness or incipient exhaustion; and, since the
sitting lasted an hour and a half, tiredness is in no way surprising.
No further attempt was made to keep our identity from Mrs. Leonard:
our name had been given away, as reported near the end of Chapter VI.
_Table Sitting with Mrs. Leonard, Tuesday, 28 September 1915, at 5.30
p.m._
_Present_--O. J. L., M. F. A. L., K. K., with DR. KENNEDY AT ANOTHER
TABLE AS RECORDER
A small partly wicker table with a square top was used, about 18
inches square. O. J. L. and M. F. A. L. sat opposite to each other;
K. K. and Mrs. Leonard occupied the other positions, Mrs. Leonard to
the right of O. J. L. After four minutes' interval, the table began
to tilt.
_Medium._--Will you tilt three times to show you understand?
(It did.)
_Medium._--Will you like to give your name?
(It gave three tilts indicating Yes.)
_Medium._--Very well, then, the alphabet. Spell it, please.
(Mrs. Leonard here repeated the alphabet fairly quickly, while the
table tilted slightly at each letter as it was said,
stopping first at the letter P
then at the letter A
then U
then L.
O. J. L.--Yes, very well, Paul; we know who you are, and you know who
we are, and we know that you have brought Raymond, and have come to
help.
YES.
O. J. L.--We that are here know about this, and you have given us
evidence already, but I am here to get evidence for the family.
YES.
O. J. L.--Would you like to say something first, before I ask a
question?
(Silence.)
Then the table moved and shook a little, indicating that it wanted
the alphabet; and when the medium recited the letters, it spelt out
in the same manner as before, _i.e._ by stopping at the one desired
by whatever intelligence was controlling the table:--
RAYMOND WANTS TO COME HIMSELF.
Here M. L. ejaculated: "Dear Raymond," and sighed unconsciously.
The table spelt--it being understood that Raymond had now taken
control:--
DO NOT SIGH.
M. F. A. L.--Was I sighing?
O. J. L.--Yes, but you must not be so distressed; he doesn't like it.
He is there all right, and I am glad to have some one on the other
side.
YES.
O. J. L.--Raymond, your mother is much happier now.
YES.
O. J. L.--Now then, shall I ask you questions?
YES.
O. J. L.--Well now, wait a minute and take your time, and I will ask
the first question:--
"What did the boys call you?"
The medium now again repeated the alphabet, the table tilting to each
letter as before,
first stopping at P
then at A
then at P again;
it then shook as if something was wrong.
O. J. L.--Very well, try again, begin once more.
Again it spelt Pap, but again indicated dissent, and tried again: at
the third trial it appeared to spell
PAS.
M. F. A. L.--Raymond dear, you have given two letters right, try and
give the third.
It now stopped at T; making PAT.
M. F. A. L.--Yes, that is right.
[This was, of course, well in our knowledge and therefore not
strictly evidential, but it would not be in the knowledge of the
medium.] (Cf. p. 148.)
YES.
O. J. L.--Well, now, you have done that, shall I ask another?
YES.
O. J. L.--Will you give the name of a brother?
The alphabet was repeated as usual by the medium, in a monotonous
manner, the table tilting as before
and stopping first at N
then at O
then going past E, it stopped at R
and the next time at M
then, by a single tilt, it indicated A or else "No."
O. J. L., thinking that the letters R and M were wrong, because the
(to him) meaningless name NORMAN was evidently being given, took it
as "No," and said:--
O. J. L.--You are confused now, better begin again.
The name accordingly was begun again, and this time it spelt
NOEL.
O. J. L.--That is right. [But see appended Note, p. 147.]
A slight pause took place here; the table then indicated that it
wanted the alphabet again, and spelt out an apparently single
meaningless word which Dr. Kennedy, as he wrote the letters down,
perceived to be
FIRE AWAY.
O. J. L.--Oh! You want another question! Would you like to say the
name of an officer?
YES.
O. J. L.--Very well then, spell it.
Table spelt:--
MIP,
then indicated error.
O. J. L.--Not P?
NO.
O. J. L.--Well, begin again.
MITCHELL.
O. J. L.--Then the officer's name is Mitchell?
YES.
O. J. L.--Was he a captain?
(Silence.)
O. J. L.--Was he a lieutenant?
(Silence.)
O. J. L.--Was he a second lieutenant perhaps?
(Apparent assent, but nothing forcible.)
O. J. L.--I am now going to give a name away on purpose; I am going
to ask--Do you remember Case?
YES.
O. J. L.--Would you like to say anything about him?
YES.
O. J. L.--Very well then, let us have the alphabet.
Table spelt:--
HE IS A GOING A LLONG ALL RRIGHT.
[Erasures signify errors which were made either by the communicator
or the interpreter, and are in accordance with the record. The method
was that each letter, as understood, was called out, usually by me,
to the recorder. When a wrong letter was indicated, or when there was
obviously a duplication, it was scratched out as above.]
(After a short silence the spelling began again, it being easy for
the table to indicate to the medium, by shaking or fidgeting, that
she is wanted to repeat the alphabet.)
HE IS HERE.
O. J. L.--What, on your side?
[Thinking it referred to Lieutenant Case.]
A loud "NO."
HE IS HERE SPEAK.
K. K. (interpreting for us).--It only means Raymond is here and
waiting.
O. J. L.--Under what circumstances did you see him last?
(The answer was apparently a faint "YES.")
O. J. L.--Have you any special message, or did you give Case a
special message?
YES.
O. J. L.--What was it?
SO IM NOT SO IM WUO
(Here some confusion was indicated; and M. F. A. L. said,
"Try and spell the name"--meaning for whom the message
was, if it was a message that was intended, which was very
doubtful.
It seemed to me that he was trying to say, or remember,
what he had said to Lieutenant Case, who saw him after
he had been struck; and that what he thought he had said
was "So I'm wounded"; but I thought it unadvisable to
continue on this tack, and rather regretted that I had
begun it, since it was liable to put him back into a
period of reminiscence which his friends would prefer that
he did not dwell upon. Moreover, these last few questions
did not seem particularly to interest him, and the
responses were comparatively weak. Accordingly, I decided
to switch him on to a topic that would be more likely to
interest him.)
O. J. L.--Would you like your mother to go and see a friend of yours?
(Some names of friends of his were now correctly given,
but as we knew them I need not reproduce this part.)
O. J. L.--I say, Raymond, would you like a Ford? [motor].
(After a moment's apparent surprise:--)
YES.
O. J. L.--Aren't you tired now?
Loud "NO."
M. F. A. L.--Raymond, I don't know Mitchell.
NO.
O. J. L.--Well, that will be better evidence.
YES.
O. J. L.--Is that why you chose it?
YES.
AER
MEDIUM (_sotto voce_).--No, that can't be right.
O. J. L. (_ditto_).--I don't know; it may be. Go on.
OPLANE.
O. J. L.--You mean that Mitchell is an aeroplane officer?
"YES" (very loud).
M. F. A. L. (misunderstanding, and thinking that he had said that he
would like an aeroplane in preference to a Ford).--Still at your jokes,
Raymond!
YES.
(Then again the table indicated, by slight rocking, that
the alphabet was wanted; and it spelt:--)
RAYMOND IS BEATING U.
(The sitters here made a little explanatory comment to
each other on what they understood this unimportant
sentence to mean; after which O. J. L. appears to have
said:--)
O. J. L.--I don't like bothering you.
Table moved, indicating that it was no trouble.
M. F. A. L.--Raymond, can you see us?
YES.
M. F. A. L.--Can you see that I have been writing to you? [See Part I,
p. 10.]
YES.
M. F. A. L.--Can you read what I am writing?
YES.
M. F. A. L.--How do you read it? By looking over my shoulder?
Table again called for alphabet and spelt:--
SENSE IT.
M. F. A. L.--Shall you ever be able to write through my hand do you
think?
(Silence.)
M. F. A. L.--Well, anyhow, you would like me to try?
YES.
O. J. L.--Raymond, have you plenty to do over there?
Loud "YES."
O. J. L.--Well, look here, I am going to give another name away.
NO.
O. J. L.--Oh! You prefer not! Very well, I will ask you in this way:
Have you met any particular friend of mine?
YES.
O. J. L.--Very well then, spell his name.
The table spelt:--
MYRES AND GRA.
Here O. J. L. thought that he had got wrong--rather
suspected that the A meant "No," and stupidly said:--
O. J. L.--Well, it doesn't matter, it won't be evidential, so I may
as well guess what you mean: Is it Gurney?
The table assented. But it still went on spelling. It
again spelt:--
GRA
and then
ND,
at which O. J. L. queried: Grand men?
The table dissented, and went on and spelt:--
FATHER.
O. J. L.--Oh! You mean Grandfather!
YES.
M. F. A. L.--Is he with Myers and Gurney?
Emphatic "NO."
M. F. A. L.--Which grandfather is it that you mean? Give the first
letter of his Christian name.
W.
M. F. A. L.--Dear Grandpapa! He would be sure to come and help you!
O. J. L.--I say, do you like this table method better than the 'Feda'
method?
YES.
O. J. L.--But you remember that you can send anything you want
specially through Paul always?
YES.
O. J. L.--That was a grand sitting yesterday that your mother had!
[_i.e._ the one with Peters.]
YES.
M. F. A. L.--Do you remember showing olives?
YES.
M. F. A. L.--What did you mean by them?
OLIVER.
M. F. A. L.--Then we now understand--A Roland for an Oliver.
YES.
O. J. L.--You intended no reference to Italy? [We had been doubtful
at first of the significance of the olives; see p. 131.]
NO.
O. J. L.--But you were interested in Italy?
YES.
O. J. L.--Do you remember anyone special in Italy?
YES.
O. J. L.--Well, spell the name.
(A name was spelt correctly.)
O. J. L.--You _are_ clever at this!
Loud "YES."
O. J. L.--You always did like mechanical things.
YES.
O. J. L.--Can you explain how you do this? I mean how you work the
table?
The table then spelt with the alphabet for a long time,
and as the words were not divided up, the sitters lost
touch, one after the other, with what was being said. I,
for instance, lost touch after the word "magnetism," and,
for all I know, it was nonsense that was being said; but
the recorder put all the letters down as they came, each
letter being called out by me according to the stoppages
of the table, and the record reads thus:--
YOU ALL SUPPLY MAGNETISM GATHERED IN MEDIUM, AND THAT GOES
INTO TABLE; AND WE MANIPULATE.
[The interest of this is due to the fact that the table
was spelling our coherent words, although the sitters
could hardly, under the circumstances, be exercising any
control. Naturally, this does not prevent the medium
from being supposed to be tilting out a message herself,
and hence it is quite unevidential of course; but, in
innumerable other cases, the things said were quite
outside the knowledge of the medium.]
O. J. L.--It is not what _I_ should call "magnetism," is it?
NO.
O. J. L.--But you do not object to the term?
NO.
O. J. L--Paul's mother offers to take messages from you, and if she
gets them, she will transmit them to us.
YES.
O. J. L--So when you want to get anything special through, just speak
to Paul.
YES.
O. J. L.--And sometimes I shall be able to get a message back to you.
Loud "YES."
(In answer to a question about which of his sisters were
at school with a specified person, the names of the right
two sisters were now spelt out:--)
ROSALIND.
[We generally spell the name Rosalynde, but it was spelt
here Rosalind as shown.]
BARBARA.
M. F. A. L.--Isn't it clever of him?
Loud and amusing "Yes."
O. J. L.--I never thought you would do it so quickly.
NO.
O. J. L.--Can you still make acrostics? [O. J. L. immediately
regretted having asked this leading sort of question, but it was
asked.]
YES.
K. K.--You are not going to make one now?
NO.
M. F. A. L.--Can you see me, Raymond, at other times when I am not
with a medium?
Alphabet called for, and spelt:--
SOMETIMES.
M. F. A. L.--You mean when I think of you?
YES.
O. J. L.--That must be very often.
Loud "YES."
[When a 'loud' YES or NO is stated, it means that the
table tilted violently, bumping on the floor and making
a noise which impressed the recorder, so that the words
"loud bumps" were added in the record.]
[I then asked him about the houses (of which he had
specified some identifying features at a previous sitting
through Peters on 27 September). He seemed to regret that
there had been some confusion, and now correctly spelt out
GROVEPARK as the name of one house, and NEWCASTLE as the
place where 'Mother's home' was. But I omit details, as
before.] (See p. 135.)
O. J. L.---Tell Mr. Myers and Mr. Gurney that I am glad to hear from
them and that they are helping you.
YES.
M. F. A. L.--Give my affectionate regards to Mr. Gurney for a message
which he got through for me some time ago.
YES.
O. J. L.--Now you must rest.
YES.
M. F. A. L.--One of your record sleeps.
Loud "YES."
O. J. L.--Good-bye, I will tell the family to-morrow.
YES.
O. J. L.--Alec especially.
YES.
M. F. A. L.--Noël will love to have his name spelt out.
YES.
O. J. L.--Well, good-bye, old man, we shall hear from you again.
M. F. A. L.--Good-bye, Raymond darling.
O. J. L.--Before we stop, does Paul want to say a word?
(Paul was then understood to take control, and spelt out:--)
HE IS GETTING ON WELL.
(We then thanked Paul for helping, and said good-bye.)
(_End of sitting._)
* * * * *
To complete the record I shall append the few annotations which I
made a couple of days afterwards, before I supplement them with later
information.
_Contemporary Annotations for Table Sitting on 28 September_
Very many things were given right at the sitting above recorded,
and in most cases the rightness will be clear from the comments of
the sitters as recorded. But two names are given on which further
annotation is necessary, because the sitters did not understand
them; in other words, they were such as, if confirmed, would furnish
excellent and indeed exceptional evidence.
The first is 'Norman,' about which a very important report could be
made at once; but I think it better not to put anything in writing
on that subject even now, at the present stage, since it is quite
distinct, unforgettable, and of the first importance.
The other is the name 'Mitchell,' which at present we have had
no opportunity for verifying; hence annotation on that must be
postponed. Suffice it to say that to-day (6 October 1915) it remains
unknown. Whether an Army List has been published this year seems
doubtful, and on the whole unlikely; and no Army List later than 1909
has been so far accessible. Such few inquiries as have up to now been
made have drawn blank. [See, however, three pages further on.]
_Later Information_
On 10 October Mrs. Kennedy, alone, had some automatic writing as
follows:--
Mother, Paul is bringing Raymond. I have him here; he will speak to
you....
"Please listen carefully now I want to speak to you about NORMAN.
There is a special meaning to that because we always called my brother
Alec Norman, the (muddle ...)."
(K. K. said that she couldn't get the rest clearly.)
On 12 October we had a sitting with Mrs. Leonard, K. K. also present,
and I said to 'Raymond':--
Do you want to say anything more about that name 'Norman'? You gave a
message about it to Mrs. Kennedy, but I don't know whether she got it
clearly. Perhaps you want to amplify it? If so, now is your chance.
(The reply spelt out was:--)
I TOLD HER THAT I CALLED LIONEL.
On which K. K. said: "I am afraid I often get names wrong. I suppose I
got the name of the wrong brother."
NOTE BY O. J. L. ABOUT THE NAME 'NORMAN'
It appears that 'Norman' was a kind of general nickname; and
especially that when the boys played hockey together, which they
often did in the field here, by way of getting concentrated exercise,
Raymond, who was specially active at this game, had a habit of
shouting out, "Now then, Norman," or other words of encouragement,
to any of his other brothers whom he wished to stimulate, especially
apparently Lionel, though sometimes Alec and the others. That is what
I am now told, and I can easily realise the manner of it. But I can
testify that I was not aware that a name like this was used, nor was
Lady Lodge, we two being the only members of the family present at
the Leonard table sitting where the name 'Norman' was given. (See p.
140.)
It will be remembered that at that sitting I first asked him what
name the boys had called him, and, after a few partial failures,
obviously only due to mismanagement of the table, he replied, 'Pat,'
which was quite right. I then asked if he would like to give the name
of a brother, and he replied 'Norman,' which I thought was quite
wrong. I did not even allow him to finish the last letter. I said he
was confused, and had better begin again; after which he amended it
to '*Noël,' which I accepted as correct. But it will now be observed
that the name 'Norman' was the best he could possibly give, as a
kind of comprehensive nickname applicable to almost any brother.
And a nickname was an appropriate kind of response, because we had
already had the nickname 'Pat,' Furthermore, on subsequent occasions
he explained that it was the name by which he had called Lionel; and,
through Mrs. Kennedy--if she did not make a mistake--that it was a
name he had called Alec by. It is quite possible, however, that he
had intended to say 'Lionel' on that occasion, and that she got it
wrong. I am not sure how that may be. Again, at a later stage, in a
family sitting--no medium present--one of the boys said, "Pat, do you
remember 'Norman'?" at which with some excitement, the girls only
touching the table, he spelt out 'HOCKEY'; thus completing the whole
incident.
The most evidential portions, however, are those obtained when nobody
present understood what was being said--namely, first, the spelling
of the name 'Norman' when those present thought that it was all a
mistake after the first two letters; and secondly, the explanation
to Mrs. Kennedy that it was a name by which he had called one of his
brothers, showing that it was originally given by no accident, but
with intention.
As to the name 'Pat' (p. 140), I extract the following from a diary
of Noël, as evidence that it was very much Raymond's nickname; but of
course we knew it:--
1914
"Sept. 9. Pat goes to L'pool _re_ Commission.
" 10. Pat gets commission in 3rd South Lanc's.
" 14. Pat collecting kit. We inspect revolvers.
" 18. Pat comes up to Harborne for some rifle practice.
Does not find it too easy.
" 19. I become member of Harborne Rifle Club.
" 20. Pat shoots again.
Sept. 23. Pat leaves for L'pool to start his training at Great
Crosby.
I give up commission-idea for the present.
Oct. 17. Pat comes home to welcome Parents back from Australia.
" 20. Pat returns to L'pool."
_Note on the name 'Mitchell' (added later)_
It can be remembered that, when asked on 28 September for the name
of an officer, Raymond spelt out MITCHELL, and indicated decisively
that the word AEROPLANE was connected with him; he also assented to
the idea that he was one whom the family didn't know, and that so it
would be better as evidence (pp. 141, 142).
After several failures at identification I learnt, on 10 October,
through the kind offices of the Librarian of the London Library, that
he had ascertained from the War Office that there was a 2nd Lieut.
E. H. Mitchell now attached to the Royal Flying Corps. Accordingly,
I wrote to the Record Office, Farnborough; and ultimately, on 6
November, received a post card from Captain Mitchell, to whom I must
apologise for the, I hope, quite harmless use of his name:--
"Many thanks for your kind letter. I believe I have met
your son, though where I forget. My wounds are quite
healed, and I am posted to Home Establishment for a bit,
with rank of Captain. Your letter only got here (Dover)
from France this morning, so please excuse delay in
answering.
E. H. MITCHELL."
* * * * *
In concluding this chapter, I may quote a little bit of
non-evidential but characteristic writing from 'Paul.' It was
received on 30 September 1915 by Mrs. Kennedy, when alone, and her
record runs thus:--
(After writing of other things, I _not_ having asked
anything about Raymond.)
"I think it hardly possible for you to believe how quickly
Raymond learns; he seems to believe all that we have to
fight to teach the others.
"Poor chaps, you see no one has told them before they come
over, and it is so hard for them when they see us and they
feel alive, and their people keep on sobbing.
"The business for you and me gets harder and harder as the
days go on, mother; it needs thousand at this work, and
you are so small.
"I feel that God helps us, but I want Him to find others,
darling; there is no time to waste either in your place or
mine, but I know you are trying ever so hard."
CHAPTER IX
ATTEMPTS AT STRICTER EVIDENCE
In a Table Sitting it is manifest that the hypothesis of unconscious
muscular guidance must be pressed to extremes, as a normal
explanation, when the communications are within the knowledge of any
of the people sitting at the table.
Many of the answers obtained were quite outside the knowledge of the
medium or of Mrs. Kennedy, but many were inevitably known to us; and
in so far as they were within our knowledge it might be supposed,
even by ourselves, that we partially controlled the tilting, though
of course we were careful to try not to do so. And besides, the
things that came, or the form in which they came, were often quite
unexpected, and could not consciously have been controlled by us.
Moreover, when the sentence spelt out was a long one, we lost our
way in it and could not tell whether it was sense or nonsense; for
the words ran into each other. The note-taker, who puts each letter
down as it is called out to him by the sitters at the table, has no
difficulty in reading a message, although, with the words all run
together, it hardly looks intelligible at first sight, even when
written. For instance:--
BELESSWORRIEDALECPLEASEOLDCHAP,
which was one message, or:--
GATHEREDINMEDIUMANDTHATGOESINTOTABLEANDWEMANIPULATE,
which was part of another. Neither could be readily followed if
called out slowly letter by letter.
Still, the family were naturally and properly sceptical about it all.
Accordingly, my sons devised certain questions in the nature of
tests, referring to trivial matters which they thought would be
within Raymond's recollection, but which had happened to them alone
during summer excursions or the like, and so were quite outside my
knowledge. They gave me a few written questions, devised in conclave
in their own room; and on 12 October I took them to London with me in
a sealed envelope, which I opened in the train when going up for a
sitting; and after the sitting had begun I took an early opportunity
of putting the questions it contained. We had already had (on 28
September, reported in last chapter) one incident of a kind unknown
to us, in the name 'Norman,' but they wanted more of the same or of
a still more marked kind. I think it will be well to copy the actual
contemporary record of this part of the sitting in full:--
_Second Table Sitting of O. J. L. and M. F. A. L. with
Mrs. Leonard, 12 October 1915, 5.30 p. m._
_Present._--O. J. L., M. F. A. L., K. K., WITH DR. KENNEDY
AS RECORDER
At the beginning of the sitting O. J. L. explained that they were
now engaged in trying to get distinct and crucial evidence; that
preparations had been made accordingly; and that no doubt those on
the other side approved, and would co-operate.
A pause of three and a half minutes then ensued, and the table gave a
slow tilt.
O. J. L.--Is Paul there?
YES.
O. J. L.--Have you brought Raymond?
YES.
O. J. L.--Are you there, Raymond?
YES.
O. J. L. (after M. F. A. L. had greeted him).--Well now, look here,
my boy, I have got a few questions which your brothers think you
will know something about, whereas to me they are quite meaningless.
Their object is to make quite sure that we don't unconsciously help
in getting the answers because we know them. In this case that is
impossible, because nobody here knows the answers at all. Do you
understand the object?
YES.
O. J. L.--Very well then, shall I begin?
NO.
O. J. L.--Oh! You want to say something yourself first?
YES.
O. J. L.--Very well then, the alphabet.
TELLTHEMINOWTRYTOPROVEIHAVEMESSAGESTOTHEWORLD.
[Taking these long messages down is rather tedious, and
it is noteworthy that the sitters lose their way sooner
or later--I had no idea what was coming or whether it was
sense--but of course when it is complete the recorder can
easily interpret, and does so.]
O. J. L.--Is that the end of what you want to say yourself?
YES.
O. J. L.--Well then, now I will give you one of the boys' questions,
but I had better explain that you may not in every case understand
the reference yourself. We can hardly expect you to answer all of
them, and if you don't do one, I will pass on to another. But don't
hurry, and we will take down whatever you choose to say on each of
them. The first question is:--
O. J. L.--"Do you remember anything about the Argonauts?"
(Silence for a short time.)
O. J. L.--'Argonauts' is the word. Does it mean anything to you? Take
your time.
Yes.
O. J. L.--Well, would you like to say what you remember?
YES.
Then, by repeating the alphabet, was spelt:--
TELEGRAM.
O. J. L.--Is that the end of that answer?
YES.
O. J. L.--Well, now I will go on to the second question then. "What
do you recollect about Dartmoor?"
The time for thought was now much briefer, and the table
began to spell pretty soon:--
COMING DOWN.
O. J. L.--Is that all?
NO.
O. J. L.--Very well then, continue.
HILL FERRY.
O. J. L.--Is that the end of the answer?
YES.
O. J. L.--Very well then, now I will go on to the third question,
which appears to be a bit complicated. "What do the following suggest
to you:--
Evinrude
O. B. P.
Kaiser's sister."
(No good answers were obtained to these questions: they
seemed to awaken no reminiscence.
Asked the name of the man to whom Raymond had given his
dog, the table spelt out STALLARD quite correctly. But
this was within our knowledge.)
(_End of extract from record_.)
NOTE ON THE REMINISCENCES AWAKENED BY THE WORDS 'ARGONAUTS' AND
'DARTMOOR'
On reporting to my sons the answers given about 'Argonauts' and
'Dartmoor' they were not at all satisfied.
I found, however, from the rest of the family that the word TELEGRAM
had a meaning in connexion with 'Argonauts'--a meaning quite unknown
to me or to my wife--but it was not the meaning that his brothers
had expected. It seems that in a previous year, while his mother and
I were away from home, the boys travelled by motor to somewhere in
Devonshire, and (as they think) at Taunton Raymond had gone into a
post office, sent a telegram home to say that they were all right,
and had signed it 'Argonauts.' The girls at home remembered the
telegram quite well; the other boys did not specially remember it.
The kind of reference they had wanted, Raymond gave ultimately though
meagrely, but only after so much time had elapsed that the test had
lost its value, and only after I had been told to switch him on to
"Tent Lodge, Coniston," as a clue.
Now that I know the answer I do not think the question was a
particularly good one; and the word 'telegram,' which they had not
expected and did not want, seems to me quite as good an incident as
the one which, without a clue, they had expected him to recall in
connexion with 'Argonauts.' Besides, I happened myself to know about
an Iceland trip in Mr. Alfred Holt's yacht 'Argo' and its poetic
description by Mr. Mitchell Banks and Dr. Caton in a book in the
drawing-room at Tent Lodge, Coniston (though the boys were not aware
of my knowledge), but it never struck me that this was the thing
wanted; and if it had come, the test would have been of inferior
quality.
Concerning the answer to 'Dartmoor,' his brothers said that COMING
DOWN HILL was correct but incomplete; and that they didn't remember
any FERRY. I therefore on another occasion, namely, on 22 October,
during a sitting with Feda (that is to say, not a table sitting, but
one in which Mrs. Leonard's control Feda was speaking and reporting
messages), said--still knowing nothing about the matter beyond what
I had obtained in the table sitting--"Raymond, do you remember about
'Dartmoor' and the hill?"
The answer is recorded as follows, together with the explanatory
note added soon afterwards--though the record is no doubt a little
abbreviated, as there was some dramatic representation by Feda of
sudden swerves and holding on:--
_From Sitting of O. J. L. and M. F. A. L. on_ 22 _October_ 1915.
_'Feda' speaking_
O. J. L.--Raymond, do you remember about Dartmoor and the hill?
Yes, he said something about that. He says it was
exciting. What is that he says? Brake--something about a
brake--putting the brake on. Then he says, sudden curve--a
curve--he gives Feda a jerk like going round a quick curve.
[I thought at the time that this was only padding, but
subsequently learnt from Alec that it was right. It was
on a very long night-journey on their motor, when the
silencer had broken down by bursting, at the bottom of
an exceptionally steep hill, and there was an unnerving
noise. The one who was driving went down other steep hills
at a great pace, with sudden applications of the brake and
sudden quick curves, so that those at the back felt it
dangerous, and ultimately had to stop him and insist on
going slower. Raymond was in front with the one who was
driving. The sensations of those at the back of the car
were strongly connected with the brake and with curves;
but they had mainly expected a reference from Raymond to
the noise from the broken silencer, which they ultimately
repaired during the same night with tools obtained at the
first town they stopped at.]
O. J. L.--Did he say anything about a ferry?
No, he doesn't remember that he did.
O. J. L.--Well, I got it down.
There is one: all the same there is one. But he didn't
mean to say anything about it. He says it was a stray
thought that he didn't mean to give through the table.
He has found one or two things come in like that. It was
only a stray thought. You have got what you wanted, he
says. 'Hill,' he meant to give, but not 'ferry.' They have
nothing to do with each other.
* * * * *
On a later occasion I took an opportunity of catechising him further
about this word FERRY, since none of the family remembered a ferry,
or could attach any significance to the word. He still insisted
that his mention of a ferry in connexion with a motor trip was not
wrong, only he admitted that "some people wouldn't call it a ferry."
I waited to see if any further light would come; and now, long
afterwards, on 18 August 1916 I receive from Alec a note referring to
a recent trip, this month, which says:--
"By the way, on the run to Langland Bay (which is the
motor run we all did the year before the run to Newquay)
we pass through Briton Ferry; and there is precious little
ferry about it."
So even this semi-accidental reminiscence seems to be turning out not
altogether unmeaning; though probably it ought not to have come in
answer to 'Dartmoor.' (See more about Dartmoor on p. 211.)
GENERAL REMARKS ON THIS TYPE OF QUESTION
It will be realised, I think, that a single word, apart from the
context, thus thrown at a person who may be in a totally different
mood at the time, is exceedingly difficult; and on the whole I think
he must be credited with some success, though not with as much as
had been hoped for. If his brothers had been present, or had had any
interview with him in the meantime, it would have spoilt the test,
considered strictly; nevertheless, it might have made the obtaining
of the answers they wanted much more feasible, inasmuch as in their
presence he would have been in their atmosphere and be more likely
to remember their sort of surroundings. Up to this date they had not
had any sitting with a medium at all. In presence of his mother and
myself, and under all the circumstances, and what he felt to be the
gravity of some of his recent experiences, it is not to me surprising
that the answers were only partially satisfactory; though, indeed, to
me they seem rather good. Anyhow, they had the effect of stimulating
his brothers to arrange some sittings with a table at home on their
own account.
CHAPTER X
RECORD CONTINUED
I might make many more extracts from this sitting of 22 October,
of which a short extract has just been quoted, because, though
not specially evidential, they have instructive and so to speak
common-sense features, but it is impossible to include everything. I
will therefore omit most of it, but quote a little, not because it is
evidential, but because what is said may be instructive to inquirers.
FROM O. J. L. AND M. F. A. L. SITTING WITH MRS. LEONARD, 22 OCTOBER
1915
He wants to gather evidence and give something clearly.
He seems to think that his brother had been coming here
(looking about).
O. J. L.--Your brother will come to see you to-morrow. [He was not
coming to Mrs. Leonard.]
Where is he? He got the impression that he had either been
here or should be here now; he has got the thought of him.
He has been trying to get into touch with him himself; he
has been trying to speak to him. Seems to have something
to do with Mrs. Kathie,[19] and he has tried to write to
him. The trouble is, that he can't always see distinctly.
He feels in the air, but can't see always distinctly. (To
M. F. A. L.) When you are sitting at the table he sees
you, and can see what you have got on. When he tries to
come to you, he can only sense you; but at the table he
can see you.
O. J. L.--Has he seen his brothers at a table?
No, not at the table. He sensed them, and he thought they
were trying to speak to him; but didn't feel as if he was
going to get near. It has something to do with a medium.
Medium. [Meaning that they were trying to do without a
medium.]
M. F. A. L.--When did he see me?
When a medium is present he sees you quite distinctly.
He saw you, not here, but at another place. Oh, it was
in London, another place in London, some time ago. He
was surprised to see you, and wondered how he could.
[Presumably the occasion intended was when Mrs. Kennedy,
who herself has power, was present as well as Peters.]
He can only think the things he wants to say.[20] [Then
reverting to his brothers' attempts at Mariemont.] "Tell
them to go on. I shall never get tired. Never! Tell them
to have patience. It is more interesting to me than to
them." He does not seem sure if he got anything through.
It is so peculiar. Even here, he is not always quite
certain that he has said what he wanted to say, except
sometimes when it is clear and you jump at it. Sometimes
then he feels, "I've got that home, anyway!" He has got to
feel his way. They must go easy with him--not ask too much
all at once. If they have plenty of patience, in a while
he will be able to come and talk as if he were there.
M. F. A. L.--Do you mean with the voice?
No, with the table.
More important than talking is to get things through with
his own people, and to give absolute evidence. He doesn't
want them to bother him with test questions till he feels
at home. It doesn't matter here, where there is a medium,
but the conditions there are not yet good. Tell them to
take for granted that it is he, and later on he will be
able to talk to them and say all he wishes to say. The
boys are so eager to get tests. When grandpapa comes, it
is to relieve him a little, while he is not there. He
doesn't himself want to speak.
Twice a week, he says.
He is bringing a girl with him now--a young girl, growing
up in the spirit world. She belongs to Raymond: long
golden hair, pretty tall, slight, brings a lily in her
hand. There is another spirit too who passed out very
young--a boy; you wouldn't know him as he is now; he
looks about the same age as Raymond, but very spiritual
in appearance; he brings a W with him; he doesn't know
much of the earth plane, nor the lily either; he passed
over too young. They are both with Raymond now. They look
spiritual and young. Spirit people look young if they
passed on young. Raymond is in the middle between them. He
says this is not very scientific. [All this is appropriate
to a deceased brother and sister; the brother older, the
sister younger.]
Raymond really is happy now. He doesn't say this to make
you feel satisfied. He is really happy now. He says
this is most interesting, and is going to be fifty times
more interesting than on the earth plane. There is such a
big field to work in. Father and he are going to do such
a lot together. He says, "I am going to help for all I
am worth." (To M. F. A. L.) If you are happy, I will be
happier too. You used to sigh; it had an awful effect on
him, but he is getting lighter with you. Father has been
wonderful. He is often with Paulie, and has been to see
Mrs. Kathie too.
[Meaning Mrs. Katherine Kennedy. Feda, of course, is
speaking throughout.]
M. F. A. L.--Which way does he find the easiest to come?
He is able to get to you by impression, and not only by
writing. He thinks he can make you hear. He is trying to
make you clair-audient. Let there be no misapprehension
about that. He does it in order to help himself. He hopes
to get something through.
O. J. L.--You might send the same thing through different channels.
Yes, he says. He need not say much, but is going to think
it out. He can get Mrs. K. to write it out, and then get
it through the table with them. He thinks he will be able
to do a lot with you, Mrs. Kathie. You know that Paulie's
here?
(K. K. spoke to Paul for a short time.)
O. J. L.--Do you think it had better be tried on the same evening, or
on different evenings?
Try it on the same evening at first, and see what success
is got; if only one word came through the same, he would
be very pleased. He might get one word first, then two,
then two or three. Tell them to reserve a little time for
just that, and give him some time specially for it, not
mix it up with other things in the sittings.
K. K.--Shall I ask him to write some word?
He will think of some word--no matter if it is
meaningless. What you have to do is, not to doubt, but
take it down. One word might be much more valuable than a
long oration. One word would do, no matter how silly it
sounded; even if it is only a jumble, so long as it is the
same jumble. He is jumping now. [Meaning, he is pleased
with the idea.] He says he finds it difficult owing to the
medium. He is not able to get through all he wants to say,
but on the whole thinks he got it pretty straight to-night.
[The quickness with which the communicator jumped at the
idea of a cross-correspondence was notable, because I do
not think he had known anything about them. It sounded
rather like the result of rapid Myersian instruction. I
rather doubt if cross-correspondences of this kind can be
got through Mrs. Kennedy, though she knows we are going to
try for them. The boys are quite willing to take down any
jumble, but she herself likes to understand what she gets,
and automatically rejects gibberish.--O. J. L.]
* * * * *
On 13 October, through the kind arrangement of Mrs. Kennedy, we had
an anonymous sitting with a medium new to us, a Mrs. Brittain, of
Hanley, Staffordshire, in Mrs. Kennedy's house.
It was not very successful--the medium seemed tired and worried--but
there were a few evidential points obtained, though little or nothing
about the boy; in the waking stage, however, she said that some one
was calling the name 'Raymond.'
At an interview next day with Mrs. Kennedy, Mrs. Brittain said that
a boy named 'Pat' had come with Paul to see her on the evening after
the sitting (see p. 148 for the significance of 'Pat'); and she
described it in writing to Mrs. Kennedy thus:--
14 _October_ 1915
"I was just resting, thinking over the events of the day,
and worrying just a little about my ordeal of next Monday,
when I became conscious of the presence of such a dear
soldier boy. He said, 'I am Pat, and oh, I did want to
speak to my mother.' Then I saw with him your dear boy
[Paul]; he asked me to tell you about Pat, and to give
the message to his father that he would get proof without
seeking it."
[Footnote 19: Mrs. Kennedy's name is Katherine, and Feda
usually speaks of her as Mrs. Kathie.]
[Footnote 20: This corresponds with an early statement
made by "Myers" through Mrs. Thompson. See _Proceedings_,
S.P.R., vol. xxiii. p. 221.]
CHAPTER XI
FIRST SITTING OF ALEC (A. M. L.)
_Introduction by O. J. L._
A word may be necessary about the attitude of Raymond's family to the
whole subject. It may be thought that my own known interest in the
subject was naturally shared by the family, but that is not so. So
far as I can judge, it had rather the opposite effect; and not until
they had received unmistakable proof, devised largely by themselves,
was this healthy scepticism ultimately broken down.
My wife had had experience with Mrs. Piper in 1889, though she
continued very sceptical till 1906 or thereabouts, when she had
some extraordinarily good evidence. But none of this experience was
shared by the family, who read neither my nor anyone else's books
on the subject, and had no first-hand evidence. For the most part
they regarded it without interest and with practical scepticism. If
in saying this I convey the impression of anything like friction or
disappointment, the impression is totally false. Life was full of
interest of many kinds, and, until Raymond's death, there was no
need for them to think twice about survival or the possibility of
communication.
The first sitting held by any of his brothers, apart from private
amateur attempts at home,--the first sitting, I may say, held by any
of them with any medium,--took place on 23 October, when Alec had a
sitting with Peters; his mother also was present, but no names were
given. Alec's record of this sitting, together with his preliminary
Note, I propose to quote practically in full.
Alec and his mother went in the morning to Mrs. Kennedy's house,
where the sitting was to take place. M. F. A. L. stopped on the way
to buy a bunch of violets, which she put on Peters' table. When he
arrived and saw them, he was very pleased; ejaculated "my flower,"
and said that he could not have had anything that gave him more
pleasure.
I may here remark, incidentally, that Peters is a man who takes
his mediumship seriously, and tries to regulate his life so as to
get good conditions. Thus, he goes into the country at intervals,
and stops all work for a time to recuperate. He lives, in fact, at
Westgate-on-Sea, and only has a room in London. He seems to lead a
simple life altogether, and his "control" spoke of his having been
prepared since six o'clock that morning for this sitting.
Alec went up prepared to take notes, and after the sitting wrote the
following preliminary account:--
_A. M. L.'s Remarks on the Sitting_
Mother and I arrived at Mrs. Kennedy's house at five minutes to
eleven. We saw Mrs. Kennedy, who asked us if we would like her to be
present. We said yes. Then she told us that Peters had come, and that
she would ask him. Peters wanted her to be present.
Mrs. Kennedy brought Peters up; he shook hands, without any
introduction. We had all gone up to Mrs. Kennedy's private room,
where Peters likes the sittings to take place. We four sat round a
table about four feet in diameter. A. and M. with backs to one or
other of the two windows, K. and P. more or less facing them. A. was
opposite P.; M. was opposite K. There was plenty of light, but the
room was partly shaded by pulling down blinds. They talked about
street noises at first. P. held K.'s and M.'s hands for a time. K.
and M. talked together a little. P. now moved about a little and
rubbed his face and eyes. Suddenly he jerked himself up and began
talking in broken English.
During the trance his eyes were apparently closed all the time; and
when speaking to anyone he 'looked' at them with his eyelids screwed
up. Sometimes a change of control occurred. While that was taking
place, he sat quiet, and usually held K.'s and M.'s hands until
another sudden jerk occurred, when he let go and started talking.
The sitting was rather disjointed, and most of it apparently not of
much importance, but for a few minutes in the middle it was very
impressive. It then felt to me exactly as if my hand was being held
in both Raymond's, and as if Raymond himself was speaking in his own
voice. My right hand was being held, but even if I had had it free I
could not possibly have taken notes under the circumstances.
(M. F. A. L. adds that neither could she nor anyone, while that part
of the sitting was going on.)
Peters spoke often very quickly, and sometimes indistinctly, so that
the notes are rather incomplete.
(To this O. J. L. adds that it was Alec's first experience of a
sitting, and that, even with experience, it is difficult to take
anything like full notes.)
_Report of Peters Sitting in Mrs. Kennedy's Room, at 11 a.m. on
Saturday, 23 October 1915_
(Revised by the Sitters)
_Present_--MRS. KENNEDY (K. K.), LADY LODGE (M. F. A. L.), ALEC M.
LODGE, and the Medium--VOUT PETERS
REPORT BY A. M. L.
In a short time Peters went into trance, and 'Moonstone' was
understood to be taking control. He first made some general remarks:--
Good morning! I generally say, "Good evening," don't I?
Don't be afraid for Medie; he has been prepared since six
o'clock this morning. Magnetism has to be stored up, and
therefore it is best to use the same room and the same
furniture every time.
Then he spoke to K. K.:--
Will you call on little woman close to? It will mean
salvation to two people. [Abbreviated.]
(K. K. understood.)
Then the medium took M.'s hand.
Somebody not easy to describe; old lady; not tall; grey
hair, parted in centre; grey eyes; nose thin; mouth fairly
large and full. This describes her as she was before she
passed away. Had big influence on your early life. Good
character; loving, but perhaps lived in narrow outlook;
not only a mother to her own belongings, but she mothered
every man, woman, or child she came into contact with. She
is here this morning and has been before. Is it not your
Mother?
M. F. A. L.--If it is my Mother, it is a great pleasure to me.
She has been with you and comforted you through this trial.
She has been, and will go on, looking after the boy. You
must not think she is not just as much with you because
she has no body. She is just as much your mother. She
_has_ a body, though it is different.
(Pointing to A.) She is related to _him_. She puts her
hand on his shoulder. She is very proud of what he is
doing at the present time. He has been a great help
to you. Since the passing away of him who is loved by
you both, he has looked on spiritualism with much more
respect, because previously it has not touched his heart.
It is not only a thing of the head, it is now a thing of
the heart.
She suffered terribly before passing away. She bore her
suffering patiently.
She put her finger on her lips and says: "I am so proud of
O.!" (Medium puts one finger on middle of lips.)
It has always been what I thought: the triumph (?) has
been a long time coming, but it will come greater than had
been anticipated. There have been difficulties. I am glad
of success. It will come greater than before. The book
that is to be will be written from the heart, and not the
head. But the book will not be written now. NOT NOW! NOT
NOW! NOT NOW! (loud). Written later on. THE BOOK which is
going to help many and convert many. The work done already
is big. But what is coming is bigger.
(Interval.)
(Paul, sending a message to K. K.:--)
I have been drilling her to link up. You don't know what
it is. It is like teaching people to transmit messages by
the telegraph. Don't let the boy come, let Granny come.
(The medium here imitated Paul's manner of sitting down
and pulling up the knees of his trousers.) She laughs at
the idea of being drilled.
He says (Paul still communicating): You know, little
Mother, you wonder why I was taken; but it is a great
deal better like this. Thousands of people can be helped
like this. You are the link, and the means of reaching
thousands of mothers.
(Then 'Moonstone' was understood to say:--)
Returning to Madam (_i.e._ the old lady again, and medium
turning to M. F. A. L.), she says: "I am so glad you not
only told him what you did--this is not to you but some
one away (finger on lips), somebody she will not give--and
reached out as you did."
This is from Madam. She is going away.
M. F. A. L.--My love to her.
No, no, no, she does not go away; she stands back, to let
some one else come forward--like actors take turns at a
theatre.
[Then an impersonation of my Uncle Jerry was represented,
with the statement, "Your husband will know who he is";
but this part of the record is omitted as comparatively
unimportant. It was unintelligible to the sitter.--O. J.
L.]
(Then a new control came in, which was by K. K. understood
to be 'Redfeather.' When he arrived, the medium smacked
his hands and spoke to K. K.:--)
I come dis little minute to try experiment. If we succeed,
all right; if we don't, don't mind. There will be some
difficulties.
You know me? (To K. K.)
K. K.--Yes. It is 'Redfeather.'
Glad to see you better. You used to feel--a hand on your
head. It was a little girl. It was your boy who brought
her. Now I go. Just talk a little.
(K. K. then thanked the speaker for his help.)
Who could help better than me?
... long ago I was killed.
Who could help better?
(Then there was an interval, and evident change of
control. And speech very indistinct at first.)
I want to come.
Call Mother to help me.
Because you know.
You understand.
It wasn't so bad.
Not so bad.
I knew you knew the possibility of communicating, so when
I went out as I did, I was in a better condition than
others on the other side. We had often talked about this
subject, father understanding it as he did; and now,
coming into touch with his strength, makes it easy.
(Medium here reached out across the table to A. and
grasped his right hand, so that the notes were temporarily
interrupted. The medium's arms were now both stretched
out across the table, with his head down on them, and he
held A.'s hand in both his. All this time he spoke with
great emotion: the medium was shaken with sobs; his head
and neck were suffused with blood; the whole circumstances
were strained, and strongly emotional; and the voice was
extraordinarily like Raymond's. A., too, felt that his
hands were being gripped in a grasp just like Raymond's.
This was the central part of the sitting; and for the time
no notes could be taken, even by Mrs. Kennedy. But after
a bit the hand was released, the strain rather lightened,
and notes continue which run thus:--)
[A. M. L. says, "In time the interval was brief," but it was
surcharged with emotion, strongly felt by all present.]
But no, wait.
Because they tell me.
I am not ashamed.
I am glad.
I tell you, I would do it again.
I realise things differently to what one saw here.
And oh, thank God, I can speak!
But ...
The boys help me.
You don't know what he has done.
Who could help?
But I must keep quiet, I promised them to keep calm.
The time is so short.
Tell father that I am happy.
That I am happy that he has not come.
If he had come here, I couldn't have spoken.
I find it difficult to express what I want.
Every time I come back it is easier.
The only thing that was hard was just before.
The 15th, do you understand?
And the 12th.
[We do not clearly understand these dates.]
But every time I come it is better.
Grandmamma helped or I couldn't.
Now I must go.
... broken ...
But I have done it, thank God!
(Then this special control ended; while the medium murmured, as to
himself, first the word 'John,' and then the word 'God.' Then the
strain was relieved by a new control, understood to be 'Biddy.')
Surely it's meself that has come to speak. Here's another
mother. I am helping the boy. I said to him to come out.
(To A. M. L.) Just you go and do your work. When the boy
comes as he did, it upsets the body. I come to help to
soothe the nerves of the medium. It is a privilege to
help. I am an old Irishwoman.
(To K. K.) You don't realise that the world is governed
by chains, and that you are one of the links. I was
a washerwoman and lived next a church, and they say
cleanliness comes next to godliness! One of my chains is
to help mothers. Well, I am going. But for comfort,--the
boy is glad he is come. (To K. K.) Your husband is a fine
man. I love him. His heart's as big as his body, and it
is not only medicine, but love that he dispenses.
(Then an interval; and another control--probably
'Moonstone' again, or else Peters himself clairvoyantly:--)
We succeeded a little in our experiment.
Now the boy is with....
(Here the medium seized _both_ Alec's hands, and K. K.
continues the notes.)
[But they may be abbreviated here, as they represent only
Peters's ordinary clairvoyance--probably.]
You bring with you a tremendous force. You don't always
say what you think. A quick way of making up your mind.
Your intuitional force is very strong. Your mind is very
evenly balanced, [and so on].... The last three months,
things have altered. It has stirred you to the depths of
your innermost being. You had no idea how strong the bond
was between you and one who has been here to-day. Want to
shield and take care of your mother. You know her devotion
to both you and the one gone over....
The one gone over is a brother. He wants to send a message.
(Some messages omitted.)
You did not cry, but heart crying inside.
Help others. You are doing it. If you ever tried to do
what he did, you would physically break down. All this is
from him.
(To Mother) So glad about the photograph. Something you
have had done that is satisfactory.
[This is good, but it only occurred to me to-day, 31
October. It evidently relates to two photographs in a
pocket case, found on his body, which Raymond carried
with him, and which had been returned to the original by
us.--A. M. L.]
Wants to convey message to father, but it is not about
himself this time. I get the initials F W M--not clear
about all the letters--but F M wishes to be remembered. He
says: I am still very active. Get into touch with Crookes
_re_ the Wireless.
[O. J. L. was at Muirhead's works in Kent on this subject, at this
moment.--A. M. L.]
Still active, still at work.
[Spoken like "I see you are still active, still at
work."--A. M. L.]
Then he gives me a curious thing, and laughs. One of the
things I am most proud of is "St. Paul."
[This puzzled K. K., the note-taker.]
(To Alec.) So glad you _came_, boy! What a lot you think!
(Medium came-to, breathing and struggling. Said he
had been under _very_ deep--like coming-to after an
anæsthetic.)
* * * * *
NOTE BY O. J. L.
Lady Lodge impressed me considerably with the genuine and deeply
affecting character of the above episode of personal control. It was
evidently difficult to get over for the rest of the day. I doubt
if the bare record conveys much: though it may to people of like
experience.
CHAPTER XII
GENERAL REMARKS ON CONVERSATIONAL REPORTS AND ON CROSS-CORRESPONDENCES
It may be asked why I report so much of what may be called ordinary
conversation, instead of abbreviating and concentrating on specific
instances and definite statements of fact. I reply:--
1. That a concentrated version is hard to read, while a fuller
version is really less tedious in spite of its greater length. A
record is always a poor substitute for actual experience; and too
much abbreviation might destroy whatever relic of human interest the
records possess.
2. That abbreviation runs the risk of garbling and amending; it is
undesirable in reports of this kind to amend style at the expense of
accuracy.
3. That the mannerisms and eccentricities of a 'control' (or
secondary personality) are interesting, and may be instructive; at
any rate they exhibit to a novice the kind of thing to be expected.
4. A number of inquiries want to know--and I think properly want to
know--what a sitting is like, what kind of subjects are talked about,
what the 'communicators'--_i.e._ the hypothetical personalities who
send messages through the 'control'--have to say about their own
feelings and interests and state of existence generally. Hence,
however the record be interpreted, it seems better to quote some
specimens fully.
5. I am aware that some of the records may appear absurd. Especially
absurd will appear the free-and-easy statements, quoted later, about
the nature of things 'on the other side,'--the kind of assertions
which are not only unevidential but unverifiable, and which we
usually either discourage or suppress. I have stated elsewhere my
own reasons for occasionally encouraging statements of this kind
and quoting them as they stand. (See beginning of Chapter XVI.) And
though I admit that to publish them is probably indiscreet, I still
think that the evidence, such as it is, ought to be presented as a
whole.
6. The most evidential class of utterance, what we call
cross-correspondence, is not overlooked; and while every now and then
it occurs naturally and spontaneously, sometimes an effort is made to
obtain it.
NOTE ABOUT THE MEANING OF CROSS-CORRESPONDENCE
It will be convenient to explain that by the term
"Cross-correspondence" is meant the obtaining through two
or more independent mediums, at about the same time, a
message from a single communicator on any one definite
subject.
It is usually impossible for the coincidence of time to
be exact, because both mediums may not be sitting at the
same time. But in some cases, wherein coincidence of
subject is well marked, coincidence in time is of little
moment; always provided that the subject is really an
out-of-the-way or far-fetched one, and not one common to
every English-speaking person, like Kitchener or Roberts
or Jellicoe.
Cross-correspondences are of various grades. The simplest
kind is when two mediums both use the same exceptional
word, or both refer to the same non-public event, without
any normal reason that can be assigned. Another variety is
when, say, three mediums refer to one and the same idea
in different terms,--employing, for instance, different
languages, like 'mors,' 'death,' and 'thanatos.' (See
_Proc._, S.P.R., xxii, 295-304.) Another is when the
idea is thoroughly masked and brought in only by some
quotation--perhaps by a quotation the special significance
of which is unknown to the medium who reproduces it,
and is only detected and interpreted by a subsequent
investigator to whom all the records are submitted.
Sometimes a quotation is maltreated, evidently with
intention, by the communicator; the important word to
which attention is being directed being either omitted or
changed.
A large number of examples of this more complex kind
of cross-correspondence are reported at length in the
_Proceedings_ of the Society for Psychical Research; see
especially vol. xxi. p. 369 and xxii. _passim_, or a
briefer statement in _Survival of Man_, chap. xxv.
Some of these instances as expounded by Mr. Piddington may
seem extraordinarily complicated and purposely concealed.
That is admitted. They are specially designed to eliminate
the possibility of unintended and unconscious telepathy
direct from one medium to another, and to throw the
investigator back on what is
asserted to be the truth, namely that the mind of one
single communicator, or the combined mind of a group
of communicators,--all men of letters,--is sending
carefully designed messages through different channels,
in order to prove primarily the reality of the operating
intelligence, and incidentally the genuineness of the
mediums who are capable of receiving and transmitting
fragments of messages so worded as to appear to each of
them separately mere meaningless jargon; though ultimately
when all the messages are put together by a skilled person
the meaning is luminous enough. Moreover, we are assured
that the puzzles and hidden allusions contained in these
messages are not more difficult than literary scholars are
accustomed to; that, indeed, they are precisely of similar
order.
This explanation is unnecessary for the simple
cross-correspondences (c.c.) sometimes obtained and
reported here; but the subject itself is an important
one, and is not always understood even by investigators,
so I take this opportunity of referring to it in order to
direct the attention of those who need stricter evidence
to more profitable records.
GENERAL NOTE
Returning to the kind of family records here given, in which evidence
is sporadic rather than systematic though none the less effective,
one of the minor points, which yet is of interest, is the appropriate
way in which different youths greet their relatives. Thus, while Paul
calls his father 'Daddy' and his mother by pet names, as he used to;
and while Raymond calls us simply 'Father' and 'Mother,' as he used to;
another youth named Ralph--an athlete who had fallen after splendid
service in the war--greeted his father, when at length that gentleman
was induced to attend a sitting, with the extraordinary salutation
"Ullo 'Erb!," spelt out as one word through the table; though, to
the astonishment of the medium, it was admitted to be consistent and
evidential. The ease and freedom with which this Ralph managed to
communicate are astonishing, and I am tempted to add as an appendix
some records which his family have kindly allowed me to see, but I
refrain, as they have nothing to do with Raymond.
CHAPTER XIII
AN O. J. L. SITTING WITH PETERS
On the 29th of October I had a sitting with Peters alone, unknown to
the family, who I felt sure were still sceptical concerning the whole
subject. It was arranged for, as an anonymous sitting, by my friend
Mr. J. Arthur Hill of Bradford. The things said were remarkable, and
distinctly pointed to clairvoyance. I am doubtful about reporting
more than a few lines, however. There was a great deal that might
be taken as encouraging and stimulating, intermixed with the more
evidential portions. A small part of this sitting is already reported
in Chapter III, and might now be read by anyone interested in the
historical sequence.
A few unimportant opening lines I think it necessary to report,
because of their connexion with another sitting:--
_Anonymous O. J. L. Sitting with A. Vout Peters at 15 Devereux Court,
Fleet Street, on Friday, 29 October 1915, from 10.30 to 11.45 a.m._
(Sitter only spoken of as a friend of Mr. Hill)[21]
PETERS.--Before we begin, I must say something: I feel
that I have a certain fear of you, I don't know what it
is, but you affect me in a most curious way. I must tell
you the honest truth before I am controlled....
[Whatever this may mean it corresponds with what was said
at the previous M. F. A. L. Sitting, p. 132, though M. F.
A. L. had sat as a friend of Mrs. Kennedy in her house,
and I sat as a friend of Mr. Hill in Peters's room, and no
sort of connexion was indicated between us].
(Soon afterwards the medium twitched, snapped his fingers,
and began to speak as 'Moonstone':--)
"I come to speak to you, but I must get my Medie deep;
we get superficial control first, and then go deeper and
deeper; with your strong personality you frighten him a
little; I find a little fear in the medium.... You bring
with you a tremendous amount of work and business," etc.
Now I get a new influence: an old lady, medium height,
rounded face; light eyes; grey hair; small nose; lips
somewhat thin, or held together as suppressed; a lady with
very strong will; tremendously forcible she is. She passed
away after leading a very active life....
She's a very good woman. It is not the first time she has
come back. She tells me to tell you that they are all
here. ALL. Because they are trying to reach out to you
their love and sympathy at the present occasion, and they
are thanking you both for the opportunity of getting back
to you. "We are trying all we can also to bring him back
to you, to let you realise that your faith, which you
have held as a theory"--it is curious, but she wants me
to say her message word for word--"as a theory for years,
shall be justified." Then she rejoices ... (and refers
to religious matters, etc.). [This clearly suggested the
relative whose first utterance of this kind is reported
so long ago as 1889 in _Proc._, S.P.R., vol. vi. p. 468 &
470.]
Now she brings up a young man from the back. I must
explain what we mean by 'the back' some time.
O. J. L.--But I understand.
He is of medium height; somewhat light eyes; the face
browned somewhat; fairly long nose; the lips a little
full; nice teeth. He is standing pretty quiet.
Look here, I know this man! And it is not
the first time he has been to us. Now he smiles, 'cos I
recsonise him [so pronounced], but he comes back very,
very strongly. He tells me that he is pushing the door
open wider. Now he wants me to give you a message. He is
going to try to come down with you; because it looks to me
as though you are travelling to-day. "Down," he says. "I
come down with you. We will try" (he says 'we,' not 'I'),
"we will try to bring our united power to prove to you
that I am here; I and the other young man who helped me,
and who will help me."
[The association of Raymond with 'another young man,' and
his intention to come 'down' with me when I travelled
back home on the same day to meet Mrs. Kennedy there, are
entirely appropriate.--O. J. L.]
Look here, it is your boy! Because he calls you 'Father';
not 'Pa,' nor anything, but 'Father.' [True.]
O. J. L.--Yes, my son.
Wait a minute; now he wants to tell me one thing: "I am
so glad that you took such a common-sense view of the
subject, and that you didn't force it on mother. But you
spoke of it as an actuality. She treated it like she
treats all your things that she couldn't understand;
giving you, as she always has done, the credit of being
more clever than herself. But when I came over as I
did, and in her despair, she came to you for help; but
she wanted to get away from anything that you should
influence."
[Unfortunately, some one knocked at the door--a servant probably,
wanted to come in and clear the room. The medium jerked and said,
"Tell them to go away." I called out, "Can't come in now, private,
engaged." Some talking continued outside for a little time--very
likely it was some one wanting an interview with Peters. After a time
the disturbance ceased. It was not very loud; the medium ignored
it, except for the rather loud and strong knock, which certainly
perturbed him.]
Tell me where I was.
(I repeated: "She wanted to get away from anything that you should
influence.")
Oh yes. He wants to say that you were quite right in
staying away and letting her work altogether by herself.
She was able to do better than if you had been there. You
would have spoilt it.
Your common-sense method of approaching the subject in the
family has been the means of helping him to come back as
he has been able to do; and had he not known what you had
told him, then it would have been far more difficult for
him to come back. He is very deliberate in what he says.
He is a young man that knows what he is saying.
Do you know F. W. M.?
O. J. L.--Yes, I do.
[The next portion, relating to Myers, has been already reported in
Chapter III; and the concluding portion, which is rather puzzling,
shall be suppressed, as it relates to other people.]
Towards the end 'Moonstone' began talking about himself, which he
does in an interesting manner, and I shall perhaps give him an
opportunity of saying more about the assumption of 'control' from his
point of view. Meanwhile I quote this further extract:--
MOONSTONE'S' ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF
Have you been suffering inside?
O. J. L.--No, not that I know of.
Your heart's been bleeding. You never thought you could
love so deep. There must be more or less suffering. Even
though you are crucified, you will arise the stronger,
bigger, better man. But out of this suffering and
crucifixion, oh, how you are going to help humanity! This
is a big work. It has been prophesied. It is through the
sufferings of humanity that humanity is reached. It must
be through pain. Let me tell you something about myself. I
was Yogi--do you understand?
O. J. L.--Yes; a kind of hermit.
I lived a selfish life: a good life, but a selfish one,
though I didn't know it then. I isolated myself and did
not mix with people, not even with family life. When I
go over, I find it was a negative goodness, so then I
wanted to help humanity, because I hadn't helped it. I
had not taken on the sufferings even of a family man. It
was useless. And so that is why I came back to my Medie,
and try to bear through him the sorrows of the world. It
is through suffering that humanity is helped. That is one
great thing in your beautiful religion; you know what I
mean--the sacrifice of Jesus. He demonstrated eternity,
but to do it He must be sacrificed and taste death. So all
who teach the high ... must tread the same path; there's
no escaping the crucifixion, it comes in one way or
another. And you must remember, back in the past, when the
good things came to you, how you began to realise (?) that
there was a spirit world and a possibility of coming back.
Though you speak cautiously, yet possibly in your prayers
to God you say, "Let me suffer, let me know my cross, so
that I can benefit humanity"; and when you make a compact
with the unseen world, it is kept. You have told no one
this, but it belongs to you and to your son. Out of it
will come much joy, much happiness to others.
Mr. Stead was, I understand, a friend to Peters, and how much of
the above is tinged by Mr. Stead's influence, I cannot say: but
immediately afterwards his name was mentioned, in the following way:--
Flashing down the line comes a message from Mr. Stead. I
can't help it, I must give it. He says: "We did not see
eye to eye; you thought I was too impetuous and too rash,
but our conclusions are about the same now. We are pretty
well on the level, and I have realised, even through
mistakes, that I have reached and influenced a world that
is suffering and sorrowing. But you have a world bigger
and wider than mine, and your message will be bigger and
will reach farther."
SUMMARY
As far as evidence is concerned, Peters has done well at each of
the three sittings any member of my family has had with him since
Raymond's death. On the whole, I think he has done as well as any
medium; especially as the abstention from supplying him normally with
any identifying information has been strict.
It is true that I have not, through Peters, asked test questions
of which the answers were unknown to me, as I did at one sitting
with Mrs. Leonard (Chapter IX). But the answers there given, though
fairly good, and in my view beyond chance, were not perfect. Under
the circumstances I think they could hardly have been expected to be
perfect. It was little more than a month since the death, and new
experiences and serious surroundings must have been crowding in upon
the youth, so that old semi-frivolous reminiscences were difficult
to recall. There was, however, with Peters no single incident so
striking as the name 'Norman,' to me unknown and meaningless, which
was given in perfectly appropriate connexion through the table at
Mrs. Leonard's.
[Footnote 21: Whether it be assumed that I was known or
not, does not much matter; but I have no reason to suppose
that I was. Rather the contrary. Peters seems barely to
look at his sitters, and to be anxious to receive no
normal information.]
CHAPTER XIV
FIRST SITTING OF LIONEL (ANONYMOUS)
At length, on 17 November 1915, Raymond's brother Lionel (L. L.)
went to London to see if he could get an anonymous sitting with
Mrs. Leonard, without the intervention of Mrs. Kennedy or anybody.
He was aware that by that time the medium must have sat with dozens
of strangers and people not in any way connected with our family,
and fortunately he succeeded in getting admitted as a complete
stranger. This therefore is worth reporting, and the contemporary
record follows. A few portions are omitted, partly for brevity,
partly because private, but some non-evidential and what may seem
rather absurd statements are reproduced, for what they are worth. It
must be understood that Feda is speaking throughout, and that she
is sometimes reporting in the third person, sometimes in the first,
and sometimes speaking for herself. It is unlikely that lucidity is
constant all the time, and Feda may have to do some padding. She is
quite good and fairly careful, but of course, like all controls, she
is responsible for certain mannerisms, and in her case for childishly
modified names like 'Paulie,' etc. The dramatic circumstances of
a sitting will be familiar to people of experience. The record
tries to reproduce them--probably with but poor success. And it is
always possible that the attempt, however conscientious, may furnish
opportunity for ridicule, if any hostile critic thinks ridicule
appropriate.
_L. L.'s Sitting with Mrs. Leonard at her house, as a stranger, no
one else being present, 12 o'clock, Wednesday, 17 November 1915._
INTRODUCTION BY O. J. L.
Lionel wrote to Mrs. Leonard at her old address in Warwick Avenue,
for I had forgotten that she had moved, and I had not told him her
new address. He wrote on plain paper from Westminster without signing
it, saying that he would be coming at a certain time. But she did not
get the letter; so that, when he arrived about noon on Wednesday, 17
November, he arrived as a complete stranger without an appointment.
He had at first gone to the wrong house and been redirected. Mrs.
Leonard answered the door. She took him in at once when he said
he wanted a sitting. She drew the blind down, and lit a red lamp
as usual. She told him that she was controlled by 'Feda.' Very
quickly--in about two minutes--the trance began, and Feda spoke.
Here follows his record:--
REPORT BY L. L.
_Subsequent annotations, in square brackets, are by O. J. L._
Good morning!
Why, you are psychic yourself!
L. L.--I didn't know I was.
It will come out later.
There are two spirits standing by you; the elder is fully
built up, but the younger is not clear yet.
The elder is on the tall side, and well built; he has a
beard round his chin, but no moustache.
(This seemed to worry Feda, and she repeated it several times, as if
trying to make it clear.)
A beard round chin, and hair at the sides, but upper
lip shaved. A good forehead, eyebrows heavy and rather
straight--not arched--eyes greyish; hair thin on top, and
grey at the sides and back. It looks as if it had been
brown before it went grey. A fine-looking face. He is
building up something. He suffered here before he passed
out (medium indicating chest or stomach). Letter W is held
up. (See photograph facing p. 258.)
[This is the one that to other members of the family had
been called Grandfather W., p. 143.]
There is another spirit.
Somebody is laughing.
Don't joke--it is serious.
(This was whispered, and sounded as if said to some one
else, not to me.)
It's a young man, about twenty-three, or might be
twenty-five, judging only by appearance. Tall; well-built;
not stout, well-built; brown hair, short at the sides
and back; clean shaven; face more oval than round; nose
not quite straight, rather rounded, and broader at the
nostrils.
(_Whispering._) Feda can't see his face.
(_Then clearly._) He won't let Feda see his face; he is
laughing.
(_Whispered several times._) L, L, L.
(_Then said out loud._) L. This is not his name; he puts
it by you.
(_Whispering again._) Feda knows him--Raymond.
Oh, it's Raymond!
(The medium here jumps about, and fidgets with her hands,
just as a child would when pleased.)
That is why he would not show his face, because Feda would
know him.
He is patting you on the shoulder hard. You can't feel it,
but he thinks he is hitting you hard.
[It seems to have been a trick of his to pat a brother on
the shoulder gradually harder and harder till humorous
retaliation set in.]
He is very bright.
This is the way it is given--it's an impression.
He has been trying to come to you at home, but there has
been some horrible mix-ups; not really horrible, but a
muddle. He really got through to you, but other conditions
get through there, and mixes him up.
[This evidently refers to some private 'Mariemont'
sittings, without a medium, with which neither Feda
nor Mrs. Leonard had had anything to do. It therefore
shows specific knowledge and is of the nature of a mild
cross-correspondence; cf. p. 217.]
L. L.--How can we improve it?
He does not understand it sufficiently himself yet. Other
spirits get in, not bad spirits, but ones that like to
feel they are helping. The peculiar manifestations are
not him, and it only confuses him terribly. Part of it
was him, but when the table was careering about, it was
not him at all. He started it, but something comes along
stronger than himself, and he loses the control.
(_Whispered._) "Feda, can't you suggest something?"
[This seemed to be a reported part of conversation on the
other side.]
Be very firm when it starts to move about.
Prayer helps when things are not relevant.
He is anxious about F.
L. L.--I don't know who F. is. Is it some friend?
(Medium here fidgets.)
Letter F. all right; it's some one he is interested in.
He says he is sorry he worried his mother about [an
incident mentioned at some previous sitting].
L. L.--Was it a mistake?
Yes, tell her, because (etc. etc.). When I thought it over
I knew it was a mistake. If it had been now, and I had a
little more experience in control, I should not have said
so; but it was at the beginning--everything seemed such a
rush--and I was not quite sure of what I did get through.
He did not look at things in the right pers--perpec----
L. L.--Perspective?
Yes, that's what he said.
Do you follow me, old chap?
L. L.--Perfectly.
L. L.--Do you remember a sitting at home when you told me you had a
lot to tell me?
Yes. What he principally wanted to say was about the place
he is in. He could not _spell_ it all out--too laborious.
He felt rather upset at first. You do not feel so real
as people do where he is, and walls appear transparent
to him now. The great thing that made him reconciled to
his new surroundings was--that things appear so solid
and substantial. The first idea upon waking up was, I
suppose, of what they call 'passing over.' It was only
for a second or two, as you count time, [that it seemed a]
shadowy vague place, everything vapoury and vague. He had
that feeling about it.
The first person to meet him was Grandfather.
(This was said very carefully, as if trying to get it
right with difficulty.)
And others then, some of whom he had only heard about.
They all appeared to be so solid, that he could scarcely
believe that he had passed over.
He lives in a house--a house built of bricks--and there
are trees and flowers, and the ground is solid. And if you
kneel down in the mud, apparently you get your clothes
soiled. The thing I don't understand yet is that the night
doesn't follow the day here, as it did on the earth plane.
It seems to get dark sometimes, when he would like it to
be dark, but the time in between light and dark is not
always the same. I don't know if you think all this is a
bore.
(I was here thinking whether my pencils would last out; I
had two, and was starting on the second one.)
What I am worrying round about is, how it's made, of what
it is composed. I have not found out yet, but I've got a
theory. It is not an original idea of my own; I was helped
to it by words let drop here and there.
People who think everything is created by thought are
wrong. I thought that for a little time, that one's
thoughts formed the buildings and the flowers and trees
and solid ground; but there is more than that.
He says something of this sort:--
[This means that Feda is going to report in the third person again,
or else to speak for herself.--O. J. L.]
There is something always rising from the earth
plane--something chemical in form. As it rises to ours, it
goes through various changes and solidifies on our plane.
Of course I am only speaking of where I am now.
He feels sure that it is something given off from the
earth, that makes the solid trees and flowers, etc.
He does not know any more. He is making a study of this,
but it takes a good long time.
L. L.--I should like to know whether he can get into touch with
anybody on earth?
Not always.
Only those wishing to see him, and who it would be right
for him to see. Then he sees them before he has thought.
I don't seem to wish for anything.
He does not wish to see anybody unless they are going to
be brought to him.
I am told that I can meet anyone at any time that I want
to; there is no difficulty in the way of it. That is what
makes it such a jolly fine place to live in.
L. L.--Can he help people here?
That is part of his work, but there are others doing that;
the greatest amount of his work is still at the war.
I've been home--only likely I've been home--but my actual
work is at the war.
He has something to do with father, though his work still
lies at the war, helping on poor chaps literally shot into
the spirit world.
L. L.--Can you see ahead at all?
He thinks sometimes that he can, but it's not easy to
predict.
I don't think that I really know any more than when on
earth.
L. L.--Can you tell anything about how the war is going on?
There are better prospects for the war. On all sides now
more satisfactory than it has been before.
This is not apparent on the earth plane, but I feel more
... the surface, and more satisfied than before.
I can't help feeling intensely interested. I believe we
have lost Greece, and am not sure that it was not due to
our own fault. We have only done now what should have
been done months ago.
He does not agree about Serbia. Having left them so long
has had a bad effect upon Roumania. Roumania thinks will
she be in the same boat, if she joins in.
All agree that Russia will do well right through the
winter. They are going to show what they can do. They are
used to their ground and winter conditions, and Germany
is not. There will be steady progress right through the
winter.
I think there is something looming now.
Some of the piffling things I used to be interested in,
I have forgotten all about. There is such a lot to be
interested in here. I realise the seriousness sometimes of
this war.... It is like watching a most interesting race
or game gradually developing before you. I am doing work
in it, which is not so interesting as watching.
L. L.--Have you any message for home?
Of course love to his mother, and to all, specially to
mother. H. is doing very well. [Meaning his sister Honor.]
L. L.--In what way?
H. is helping him in a psychic way; she makes it easy for
him. He doesn't think he need tell father anything, he is
so certain in himself meaning Raymond, in spite of silly
mistakes. It disappoints him. We must separate out the
good from the bad, and not try more than one form; not the
jig--jig----
L. L.--I know; jigger. [A kind of Ouija.]
No. He didn't like the jigger. He thinks he can work the
table. [See Chapter XIX.]
L. L.--Would you tell me how I could help in any way?
Just go very easily, only let one person speak, as he has
said before. It can be H. or L. L. Settle on one person to
put the questions, the different sound of voices confuses
him, and he mixes it up with questions from another's
thoughts. In time he hopes it will be not so difficult.
He wouldn't give it up, he loves it. Don't try more than
twice a week, perhaps only once a week. Try to keep the
same times always, and to the same day if possible.
He is going.
Give my love to them all. Tell them I am very happy. Very
well, and plenty to do, and intensely interested. I did
suffer from shock at first, but I'm extremely happy now.
I'm off. He won't say good-bye.
* * * * *
A lady comes too: A girl, about medium height; on the
slender side, not thin, but slender; face, oval shape;
blue eyes; lightish brown hair, not golden.
L. L.--Can she give a name--I cannot guess who she is from the
description?
She builds up an L.
Not like the description when she was on earth. Very
little earth life. She is related to you. She has grown up
in the spirit life.
Oh, she is your sister!
She is fair; not so tall as you; a nice face; blue eyes.
L. L.--I know her name now. [See at a previous sitting where this
deceased sister is described, p. 159.]
Give her love to them at home, but also principally to
mother. And say that she and her brother, not Raymond,
have been also to the sittings at home.
She is giving his name. She gives it in such a funny way,
as if she was writing, so---- She wrote an N, then quickly
changed it into a W. [See also pp. 134, 159, and 190.]
She brings lilies with her; she is singing--it's like
humming; Feda can't hear the words.
She is going too--power is going.
L. L.--Give my love to her.
Feda sends her love also.
Raymond was having a joke by not showing his face to Feda.
Good-bye.
(_Sitting ended at 1.30 p.m._)
CHAPTER XV
SITTING OF M. F. A. L. WITH MRS. LEONARD
_Friday, 26 November 1915_
A few things may be reported from a sitting which Lady Lodge had
with Mrs. Leonard on 26 November, however absurd they may seem. They
are of course repeated by the childish control Feda, but I do not by
that statement of bare fact intend to stigmatise them in any way.
Criticism of unverifiable utterances seems to me premature.
The sitting began without preliminaries as usual. It is not a
particularly good one, and the notes are rather incomplete,
especially near the end of the time, when Feda seemed to wander from
the point, and when rather tedious descriptions of people began.
These are omitted.
_Sitting of M. F. A. L. with Mrs. Leonard at her house on Friday, 26
November 1915, from 3 to 4.30 p.m._
(No one else present.)
(The sitting began with a statement from Feda that she liked Lionel,
and that Raymond had taken her down to his home. Then she reported
that Raymond said:--)
"Mother darling, I am so happy, and so much more so
because you are."
M. F. A. L.--Yes, we are; and as your father says, we can face
Christmas now.
Raymond says he will be there.
M. F. A. L.--We will put a chair for him.
Yes, he will come and sit in it.
He wants to strike a bargain with you. He says, "If I
come there, there must be no sadness. I don't want to be
a ghost at the feast. There mustn't be one sigh. Please,
darling, keep them in order, rally them up. Don't let
them. If they do, I shall have the hump." (Feda, _sotto
voce_.--'hump,' what he say.)
M. F. A. L.--We will all drink his health and happiness.
Yes, you can think I am wishing you health too.
M. F. A. L.--We were interested in hearing about his clothes and
things; we can't think how he gets them! [The reference is to a
second sitting of Lionel, not available for publication.]
They are all man-u-fac-tured. [Feda stumbling over long
words.]
Can you fancy you seeing me in white robes? Mind, I
didn't care for them at first, and I wouldn't wear them.
Just like a fellow gone to a country where there is a
hot climate--an ignorant fellow, not knowing what he is
going to; it's just like that. He may make up his mind to
wear his own clothes a little while, but he will soon be
dressing like the natives. He was allowed to have earth
clothes here until he got acclimatised; they let him; they
didn't force him. I don't think I will ever be able to
make the boys see me in white robes.
Mother, don't go doing too much.
M. F. A. L.--I am very strong.
You think you are, but you tire yourself out too much. It
troubles me.
M. F. A. L.--Yes, but I should be quite glad to come over there, if I
could come quickly, even though I am so happy here, and I don't want
to leave people.
Don't you think I would be glad to have you here! If
you do what he says, you will come over when the time
comes--quick, sharp.
He says he comes and sees you in bed. The reason for that
is the air is so quiet then. You often go up there in the
spirit-land while your body is asleep.
M. F. A. L.--Would you like us to sit on the same night as Mrs.
Kennedy sits, or on different nights? [Meaning in trials for
cross-correspondences.]
On the same night, as it wastes less time. Besides, he
forgets, if there is too long an interval. He wants to get
something of the same sort to each place.
William and Lily come to play with Raymond. Lily had gone
on, but came back to be with Raymond. [These mean his
long-deceased infant brother and sister.]
(More family talk omitted.)
Get some sittings soon, so as to get into full swing by
Christmas. Tell them when they get him through, and he
says, "Raymond," tell them to go very easily, and not
to ask too many questions. Questions want thinking out
beforehand. They are not to talk among themselves, because
then they get part of one thing and part of another. And
not to say, "No, don't ask him that," or he gets mixed.
Do you know we sometimes have to prepare answers a little
before we transmit them; it is a sort of mental effort to
give answers through the table. When they say, do you ask,
we begin to get ready to speak through the table. Write
down a few questions and keep to them.
CHAPTER XVI
O. J. L. SITTING OF DECEMBER 3
_With Some Unverifiable Matter_
At a sitting which I had with Mrs. Leonard on 3 December 1915,
information was given about the photograph--as already reported,
Chapter IV. In all these 'Feda' sittings, the remarks styled _sotto
voce_ represent conversation between Feda and the communicator,
not addressed to the sitter at all. I always try to record these
scraps when I can overhear them; for they are often interesting, and
sometimes better than what is subsequently reported as the result
of the brief conversation. For she appears to be uttering under her
breath not only her own question or comment, but also what she is
being told; and sometimes names are in that way mentioned correctly,
when afterwards she muddles them. For instance, on one occasion she
said _sotto voce_, "What you say? Rowland?" (in a clear whisper);
and then, aloud, "He says something like Ronald." Whereas in this
case 'Rowland' proved to be correct. The dramatically childlike
character of Feda seems to carry with it a certain amount of childish
irresponsibility. Raymond says that he "has to talk to her seriously
about it sometimes."
A few other portions, not about the photograph, are included in
the record of this sitting, some of a very non-evidential and
perhaps ridiculous kind, but I do not feel inclined to suppress
them. (For reasons, see Chapter XII.) Some of them are rather
amusing. Unverifiable statements have hitherto been generally
suppressed, in reporting Piper and other sittings; but here, in
deference partly to the opinion of Professor Bergson-- who when
he was in England urged that statements about life on the other
side, properly studied, like travellers' tales, might ultimately
furnish proof more logically cogent than was possible from mere
access to earth memories--they are for the most part reproduced.
I should think, myself, that they are of very varying degrees of
value, and peculiarly liable to unintentional sophistication by the
medium. They cannot be really satisfactory, as we have no means of
bringing them to book. The difficulty is that Feda encounters many
sitters, and though the majority are just inquirers, taking what
comes and saying very little, one or two may be themselves full
of theories, and may either intentionally or unconsciously convey
them to the 'control'; who may thereafter retail them as actual
information, without perhaps being sure whence they were derived.
Some books, moreover, have been published of late, purporting to give
information about ill-understood things in a positive and assured
manner, and it is possible that the medium has read these and may be
influenced by them. It will be regrettable if these books are taken
as authoritative by people unable to judge of the scientific errors
which are conspicuous in their more normal portions; and the books
themselves seem likely to retard the development of the subject in
the minds of critical persons.
_Sitting with Mrs. Leonard at her House on Friday, 3 December 1915,
from 6.10 p.m. to 8.20 p.m._
(O. J. L. alone.)
_This is a long record, because I took verbatim notes, but I propose
to inflict it all upon the reader, in accordance with promise to
report unverifiable and possibly absurd matter, just as it comes, and
even to encourage it._
Feda soon arrived, said good evening, jerked about on the chair, and
squeaked or chuckled, after her manner when indicating pleasure.
Then, without preliminaries, she spoke:--
He is waiting; he's looking very pleased. He's awful
anxious to tell you about the place where he lives; he
doesn't understand _yet_ how it looks so solid. (Cf. p.
184.)
(Feda, _sotto voce_.--What you say? Yes, Feda knows.) He's
been watching lately different kinds of people what come
over, and the different kinds of effect it has on them.
Oh, it is interesting, he says--much more than on the old
earth plane. I didn't want to leave you and mother and all
of them, but it _is_ interesting. I wish you could come
over for one day, and be with me here. There are times
you do go there, but you won't remember. They have all
been over with him at night-time, and so have you, but he
thought it very hard you couldn't remember. If you did, he
is told (he doesn't know it himself, but he is told this),
the brain would scarcely bear the burden of the double
existence, and would be unfitted for its daily duties; so
the memory is shut out. That is the explanation given to
him.
(Feda, _sotto voce_.--What, Raymond? Al--lec, he says,
Al--lec, Al--lec.)
He keeps on saying something about Alec. He has been
trying to get to Alec, to communicate with him; and he
couldn't see if he made himself felt--whether he really
got through.
(The medium hitherto had been holding O. J. L.'s left
hand; here she let go, Feda saying: He will let you have
your own hand back.)
He thought he had got into a bedroom, and that he knocked;
but there wasn't much notice taken.
O. J. L.--Alec must come here sometime.[22]
Yes, he wanted to see him.
And he also hopes to be able to talk to Lionel with the
direct voice; not here, he says, but somewhere else. He is
very anxious to speak to him. Through a chap, he says, a
direct voice chap.
O. J. L.--Very well, I will take the message.
Well, he says, he wants to try once or twice. He wants
to be able to say what he says to Feda in another way. He
thinks he could get through in his own home sometime. He
would much rather have it there. And he thinks that if he
got through once or twice with direct voice, he might be
able to do better in his own home. H. is psychic, he says,
but he is afraid of hurting her; he doesn't want to take
too much from her. But he really is going to get through.
He really has got through at home; but silly spirits
wanted to have a game. There was a strange feeling there;
he didn't seem to know how much he was doing himself, so
he stood aside part of the time. [Mariemont sittings are
reported later. Chapter XIX.]
_Then the photograph episode came, as reported in Chapter
IV._
Then it went on (Feda talking, of course, all the time):--
He says he has been trying to go to somebody, and see
somebody he used to know. He's not related to them, and
the name begins with S. It's a gentleman, he says, and he
can't remember, or can't tell Feda the name, but it begins
with S. He was trying to get to them, but is not sure that
he succeeded.
O. J. L.--Did he want to?
He says it was only curiosity; but he likes to feel that
he can look up anybody. But he says, if they take no
notice, I shall give up soon, only I just like to see what
it feels like to be looking at them from where I am.
O. J. L.--Does he want to say anything more about his house or his
clothes or his body?
Oh yes. He is bursting to tell you.
He says, my body's very similar to the one I had before.
I pinch myself sometimes to see if it's real, and it is,
but it doesn't seem to hurt as much as when I pinched the
flesh body. The internal organs don't seem constituted on
the same lines as before. They can't be quite the same.
But to all appearances, and outwardly, they are the same
as before. I can move somewhat more freely, he says.
Oh, there's one thing, he says, I have never seen anybody
bleed.
O. J. L.--Wouldn't he bleed if he pricked himself?
He never tried it. But as yet he has seen no blood at all.
O. J. L.--Has he got ears and eyes?
Yes, yes, and eyelashes, and eyebrows, exactly the same,
and a tongue and teeth. He has got a new tooth now in
place of another one he had--one that wasn't quite right
then. He has got it right, and a good tooth has come in
place of the one that had gone.
He knew a man that had lost his arm, but he has got
another one. Yes, he has got two arms now. He seemed
as if without a limb when first he entered the astral,
seemed incomplete, but after a while it got more and more
complete, until he got a new one. He is talking of people
who have lost a limb for some years.
O. J. L.--What about a limb lost in battle?
Oh, if they have only just lost it, it makes no
difference, it doesn't matter; they are quite all right
when they get here. But I am told--he doesn't know this
himself, but he has been told--that when anybody's blown
to pieces, it takes some time for the spirit-body to
complete itself, to gather itself all in, and to be
complete. It dissipated a certain amount of substance
which is undoubtedly theric, theric--etheric, and it
has to be concentrated again. The _spirit_ isn't blown
apart, of course,--he doesn't mean that,--but it has an
effect upon it. He hasn't seen all this, but he has been
inquiring because he is interested.
O. J. L.--What about bodies that are burnt?
Oh, if they get burnt by accident, if they know about it
on this side, they detach the spirit first. What we call a
spirit-doctor comes round and helps. But bodies should not
be burnt on purpose. We have terrible trouble sometimes
over people who are cremated too soon; they shouldn't be.
It's a terrible thing; it has worried me. People are so
careless. The idea seems to be--"hurry up and get them out
of the way now that they are dead." Not until seven days,
he says. They shouldn't be cremated for seven days.
O. J. L.--But what if the body goes bad?
When it goes bad, the spirit is already out. If that much
(indicating a trifle) of spirit is left in the body, it
doesn't start mortifying. It is the action of the spirit
on the body that keeps it from mortifying. When you speak
about a person 'dying upwards,' it means that the spirit
is getting ready and gradually getting out of the body.
He saw the other day a man going to be cremated two days
after the doctor said he was dead. When his relations on
this side heard about it, they brought a certain doctor
on our side, and when they saw that the spirit hadn't got
really out of the body, they magnetised it, and helped it
out. But there was still a cord, and it had to be severed
rather quickly, and it gave a little shock to the spirit,
like as if you had something amputated; but it had to be
done. He believes it has to be done in every case. If
the body is to be consumed by fire, it is helped out by
spirit-doctors. He doesn't mean that a spirit-body comes
out of its own body, but an essence comes out of the
body--oozes out, he says, and goes into the other body
which is being prepared. Oozes, he says, like in a string.
String, that's what he say. Then it seems to shape itself,
or something meets it and shapes round it. Like as if they
met and went together, and formed a duplicate of the body
left behind. It's all very interesting.[23]
He told Lionel about his wanting a suit at first [at an
unreported second sitting]. He never thought that they
would be able to provide him with one.
O. J. L.--Yes, I know, Lionel told us; that you wanted something
more like your old clothes at first, and that they didn't force you
into new ones, but let you begin with the old kind, until you got
accustomed to the place (p. 189).
Yes, he says, they didn't force me, but most of the people
here wear white robes.
O. J. L.--Then, can you tell any difference between men and women?
There are men here, and there are women here. I don't
think that they stand to each other quite the same as they
did on the earth plane, but they seem to have the same
feeling to each other, with a different expression of it.
There don't seem to be any children born here. People are
sent into the physical body to have children on the earth
plane; they don't have them here. But there's a feeling of
love between men and women here which is of a different
quality to that between two men or two women; and husband
and wife seem to meet differently from mother and son, or
father and daughter. He says he doesn't want to eat now.
But he sees some who do; he says they have to be given
something which has all the appearance of an earth food.
People here try to provide everything that is wanted. A
chap came over the other day, would _would_ have a cigar.
"That's finished them," he thought. He means he thought
they would never be able to provide that. But there are
laboratories over here, and they manufacture all sorts of
things in them. Not like you do, out of solid matter, but
out of essences, and ethers, and gases. It's not the same
as on the earth plane, but they were able to manufacture
what looked like a cigar. He didn't try one himself,
because he didn't care to; you know he wouldn't want
to. But the other chap jumped at it. But when he began
to smoke it, he didn't think so much of it; he had four
altogether, and now he doesn't look at one.[24] They don't
seem to get the same satisfaction out of it, so gradually
it seems to drop from them. But when they first come they
do want things. Some want meat, and some strong drink;
they call for whisky sodas. Don't think I'm stretching it,
when I tell you that they can manufacture even that. But
when they have had one or two, they don't seem to want it
so much--not those that are near here. He has heard of
drunkards who want it for months and years over here, but
he hasn't seen any. Those I have seen, he says, don't want
it any more--like himself with his suit, he could dispense
with it under the new conditions.
He wants people to realise that it's just as natural as on
the earth plane.
O. J. L.--Raymond, you said your house was made of bricks. How can
that be? What are the bricks made of?
That's what he hasn't found out yet. He is told by some,
who he doesn't think would lead him astray, that they
are made from sort of emanations from the earth. He
says there's something rising, like atoms rising, and
consolidating after they come; they are not solid when
they come, but we can collect and concentrate them--I mean
those that are with me. They appear to be bricks, and
when I touch them, they feel like bricks; and I have seen
granite too.
There's something perpetually rising from your plane;
practically invisible--in atoms when it leaves your
plane--but when it comes to the ether, it gains
certain other qualities round each atom, and by the
time it reaches us, certain people take it in hand,
and manufacture solid things from it. Just as you can
manufacture solid things.
All the decay that goes on on the earth plane is not lost.
It doesn't just form manure or dust. Certain vegetable
and decayed tissue does form manure for a time, but it
gives off an essence or a gas, which ascends, and which
becomes what you call a 'smell.' Everything dead has a
smell, if you notice; and I know now that the smell is of
actual use, because it is from that smell that we are able
to produce duplicates of whatever form it had before it
became a smell. Even old wood has a smell different from
new wood; you may have to have a keen nose to detect these
things on the earth plane.
Old rags, he says (_sotto voce_.--Yes, all right, Feda
will go back), cloth decaying and going rotten. Different
kinds of cloth give off different smells--rotting linen
smells different to rotting wool. You can understand how
all this interests me. Apparently, as far as I can gather,
the rotting wool appears to be used for making things like
tweeds on our side. But I know I am jumping, I'm guessing
at it. My suit I expect was made from decayed worsted on
your side.[25]
Some people here won't take this in even yet--about the
material cause of all these things. They go talking about
spiritual robes made of light, built by the thoughts
on the earth plane. I don't believe it. They go about
thinking that it is a thought robe that they're wearing,
resulting from the spiritual life they led; and when we
try to tell them that it is manufactured out of materials,
they don't believe it. They say, "No, no, it's a robe of
light and brightness which I manufactured by thought."
So we just leave it. But I don't say that they won't get
robes quicker when they have led spiritual lives down
there; I think they do, and that's what makes them think
that they made the robes by their lives.
You know flowers, how they decay. We have got flowers
here; your decayed flowers flower again with us--beautiful
flowers. Lily has helped me a lot with flowers.
O. J. L.--Do you like her?
Yes, but he didn't expect to see her.
(Feda, _sotto voce_.--No. Raymond, you don't mean that.)
Yes, he does. He says he's afraid he wasn't very polite to
her when he met her at first; he didn't expect a grown-up
sister there. Am I a little brother, he said, or is she
my little sister? She calls me her little brother, but
I have a decided impression that she should be my little
sister.
He feels a bit of a mystery: he has got a brother there he
knows, but he says _two_.
(_Sotto voce._--No, Yaymond, you can't have two. No, Feda
doesn't understand.) Is it possible, he says, that he has
got another brother--one that didn't live at all?
O. J. L.--Yes, it is possible.
But he says, no earth life at all! That's what's strange.
I've seen some one that I am told is a brother, but I
can't be expected to recognise him, can I? I feel somehow
closer to Lily than I do to that one. By and by I will get
to know him, I dare say.
I'm told that I am doing very well in the short time I
have been here. Taking to it--what he say?--duck to water,
he say.
O. J. L.--You know the earth is rolling along through space. How do
you keep up with it?
It doesn't seem like that to him.
O. J. L.--No, I suppose not. Do you see the stars?
Yes, he sees the stars. The stars seem like what they did,
only he feels closer to them. Not really closer, but they
look clearer; not appreciably closer, he says.
O. J. L.--Are they grouped the same? Do you see the Great Bear, for
instance?
Oh, yes, he sees the Great Bear. And he sees the ch, ch,
chariot, he says.
O. J. L.--Do you mean Cassiopeia?
Yes. [But I don't suppose he did.]
There's one more mystery to him yet, it doesn't seem day
and night quite by regular turns, like it did on the earth.
O. J. L.--But I suppose you see the sun?
Yes, he sees the sun; but it seems always about the same
degree of warmth, he doesn't feel heat or cold where he
is. The sun doesn't make him uncomfortably hot. That
is not because the sun has lost its heat, but because
he hasn't got the same body that sensed the heat. When
he comes into contact with the earth plane, and is
manifesting, then he feels a little cold or warm--at least
he does when a medium is present--not when he comes in the
ordinary way just to look round. When he sang last night,
he felt cold for a minute or two.
O. J. L.--Did he sing?
Yes, he and Paulie had a scuffle. Paulie was singing
first, and Yaymond thought he would like to sing too, so
he chipped in at the end. He sang about three verses. It
wasn't difficult, because there was a good deal of power
there. Also nobody except Mrs. Kathie knew who he was, and
so all eyes were not on him, and they were not expecting
it, and that made it easier for him. He says it wasn't
so difficult as keeping up a conversation; he just took
the organs there, and materialised his own voice in her
throat. He didn't find it very difficult, he hadn't got
to think of anything, or collect his ideas; there was an
easy flow of words, and he just sang. And I _did_ sing, he
says; I thought I'd nearly killed the medium. She hadn't
any voice at all after. When he heard himself that he had
really got it, he had to let go. Raised the roof, he says,
and he _did_ enjoy it!
(Here Feda gave an amused chuckle with a jump and a
squeak.)
He was just practising there, Yaymond says. At first he
thought it wouldn't be easy.
[This relates to what I am told was a real occurrence at a
private gathering; but it is not evidential.]
O. J. L.--Raymond, you know you want to give me some proofs. What
kind of proofs do you think are best? Have you talked it over with
Mr. Myers, and have you decided on the kind of proof that will be
most evidential?
I don't know yet. I feel divided between two ways:
One is to give you objective proof, such as simple
materialisations and direct voice, which you can set down
and have attested. Or else I should have to give you
information about my different experiences here, either
something like what I am doing now, or through the table,
or some other way. But he doesn't know whether he will be
able to do the two things together.
O. J. L.--No, not likely, not at the same time. But you can take
opportunities of saying more about your life there.
Yes, that's why he has been collecting information. He
does so want to encourage people to look forward to a life
they will certainly have to enter upon, and realise that
it is a rational life. All this that he has been giving
you now, and that I gave to Lionel, you must sort out, and
put in order, because I can only give it scrappily. I want
to study things here a lot. Would you think it selfish if
I say I wouldn't like to be back now?--I wouldn't give
this up for anything. Don't think it selfish, or that
I want to be away from you all. I have still got you,
because I feel you so close, closer even. I wouldn't come
back, I wouldn't for anything that anyone could give me.
He hardly liked to put it that way to his mother.
Is Alec here? (Feda looking round.)
O. J. L.--No, but I hope he will be coming.
Tell him not to say who he is. I did enjoy myself that
first time that Lionel came--I could talk for hours.
(O. J. L. had here looked at his watch quietly.)
I could talk for hours; don't go yet.
He says he thinks he was lucky when he passed on,
because he had so many to meet him. That came, he knows
now, through your having been in with this thing for so
long. He wants to impress this on those that you will be
writing for: that it makes it so much easier for them if
they and their friends know about it beforehand. It's
awful when they have passed over and won't believe it
for weeks,--they just think they're dreaming. And they
won't realise things at all sometimes. He doesn't mind
telling you now that, just at first, when he woke up, he
felt a little depression. But it didn't last long. He
cast his eyes round, and soon he didn't mind. But it was
like finding yourself in a strange place, like a strange
city; with people you hadn't seen, or not seen for a long
time, round you. Grandfather was with me straight away;
and presently Robert. I got mixed up between two Roberts.
And there's some one called Jane comes to him, who calls
herself an aunt, he says. Jane. He's uncertain about her.
Jane--Jennie. She calls herself an aunt; he is told to
call her 'Aunt Jennie.' Is she my Aunt Jennie? he says.
O. J. L.--No, but your mother used to call her that.
[And so on, simple talk about family and friends.]
He has brought that doggie again, nice doggie. A doggie
that goes like this, and twists about (Feda indicating
a wriggle). He has got a nice tail, not a little stumpy
tail, nice tail with nice hair on it. He sits up like that
sometimes, and comes down again, and puts his tongue out
of his mouth. He's got a cat too, plenty of animals, he
says. He hasn't seen any lions and tigers, but he sees
horses, cats, dogs, and birds. He says you know this
doggie; he has nice hair, a little wavy, which sticks
up all over him, and has twists at the end. Now he's
jumping round. He hasn't got a very pointed face, but it
isn't like a little pug-dog either; it's rather a long
shape. And he has nice ears what flaps, not standing up;
nice long hairs on them too. A darkish colour he looks,
darkish, as near as Feda can see him. [See photograph, p.
278.]
O. J. L.--Does he call him by any name?
He says, 'Not him.'
(_Sotto voce._--What you mean 'not him'? It is a 'him';
you don't call him 'it.')
No, he won't explain. No, he didn't give it a name. It can
jump.
[All this about a she-dog called Curly, whose death had
been specially mentioned by 'Myers' through another medium
some years ago,--an incident reported privately to the
S.P.R. at the time,--is quite good as far as it goes.]
He has met a spirit here, he says, who knows you--G.
Nothing to do with the other G. Some one that's a very
fine sort indeed. His name begins with G--Gal, Gals, Got,
Got,--he doesn't know him very well, but it sounds like
that. It isn't who you feel, though it might have been,
nothing to do with that at all. Some one called Golt--he
didn't know him, but he is interested in you, and had met
you.
It's surprising how many people come up to me, he says,
and shake me by the hand, and speak to me. I don't know
them from Adam. (_Sotto voce_.--Adam, he say.) But they
are doing me honour here, and some of them are such
fine men. He doesn't know them, but they all seem to
be interested in you, and they say, "Oh, are you his
son?--how-do-you-do?"
Feda is losing control.
O. J. L.--Well, good-bye, Raymond, then, and God bless you.
God bless _you_. I do so want you to know that I am very
happy. And bless them all. My love to you. I can't tell
what I feel, but you can guess. It's difficult to put
into words. My love to all. God bless you and everybody.
Good-bye, father.
O. J. L.--Good-bye, Raymond. Good-bye, Feda.
(Feda here gave a jerk, and a 'good-bye.')
Love to her what 'longs to you, and to Lionel. Feda knows
what your name is, 'Soliver,' yes. (Another squeak.)
(_Sitting ended 8.20 p.m._)
The conclusion of sittings is seldom of an evidential character, and
by most people would not be recorded; but occasionally it may be best
to quote one completely, just as a specimen of what may be called the
'manner' of a sitting.
[Footnote 22: Alec had had a sitting with Peters, not with
Mrs. Leonard.]
[Footnote 23: I confess that I think that Feda may have
got a great deal of this, perhaps all of it, from people
who have read or written some of the books referred to
in my introductory remarks. But inasmuch as her other
utterances are often evidential, I feel that I have no
right to pick and choose; _especially as I know nothing
about it, one way or the other_.]
[Footnote 24: Some of this Feda talk is at least humorous.]
[Footnote 25: have not yet traced the source of all this
supposed information.]
CHAPTER XVII
K. K. AUTOMATIC WRITING
On 17 December 1915, I was talking to Mrs. Kennedy when her hand
began to write, and I had a short conversation which may be worth
reporting:--
I have been here such a long time, please tell father I am
here--Raymond.
O. J. L.--My boy!
Dear father!
Father, it was difficult to say all one felt, but now I
don't care. I love you. I love you intensely. Father,
please speak to me.
O. J. L.--I recognise it, Raymond. Have you anything to say for the
folk at home?
I have been there to-day; I spoke to mother. I don't know
if she heard me, but I rather think so. Please tell her
this, and kiss her from me.
O. J. L.--She had a rather vivid dream or vision of you one morning
lately. I don't know if it was a dream.
I feel sure she will see me, but I don't know, because I
am so often near her that I can't say yes or no to any
particular time.
O. J. L.--Raymond, you know it is getting near Christmas now?
I know. I shall be there; keep jolly or it hurts me
horribly. Truly, I know it is difficult, but you _must_
know by now that I am so splendid. I shall never be one
instant out of the house on Christmas Day. (Pause.)
He has gone to fetch some one.--Paul.
(This is the sort of interpolation which frequently
happens. Paul signs his explanatory sentence.)
(K. K. presently said that Raymond had returned, and
expected me to be aware of it.)
I have brought Mr. Myers. He says he doesn't often come to
use this means, but he wants to speak for a moment.
"Get free and go on," he says. "Don't let them trammel
you. Get at it, Lodge."--Myers.
He has gone, tell my father.
(O. J. L., _sotto voce_.--What does that mean?)
(K. K.--I haven't an idea.)
O. J. L.--Has Myers gone right away?
"I have spoken, but I will speak again, if you keep quiet
(meaning K. K.). Do cease to think, or you are useless.
Tell Lodge I can't explain half his boy is to me. I feel
as if I had my own dearly loved son here, yet I know he is
only lent to me.
"Pardon me if I rarely use you (to K. K.); I can't stand
the way you bother."--Myers.
K. K.--Do you mean the way I get nervous if I am taking a message
from you?
"Yes, I do."
[This interpolated episode was commented on by O. J. L. as
very characteristic.]
O. J. L.--Is Raymond still there?
Yes.
O. J. L.--Raymond, do you know we've got that photograph you spoke
of? Mrs. Cheves sent us it, the mother of Cheves--Captain Cheves, you
remember him?
Yes, I know you have the photograph.
O. J. L.--Yes, and your description of it was very good. And we have
seen the man leaning on you. Was there another one taken of you?
K. K.--'Four,' he says 'four.' Did you say 'four,' Raymond?
Yes, I did.
O. J. L.--Yes, we have those taken of you by yourself, but was
another taken of you with other officers?
I hear, father; I shall look, but I think you have had the
one I want you to have; I have seen you looking at it. I
have heard all that father has said. It is ripping to come
like this. Tell my father I have enjoyed it.--Raymond.
O. J. L.--Before you go, Raymond, I want to ask a serious question.
Have you been let to see Christ?
Father, I shall see him presently. It is not time yet. I
am not ready. But I know he lives, and I know he comes
here. All the sad ones see him if no one else can help
them. Paul has seen him: you see he had such a lot of
pain, poor chap. I am not expecting to see him yet,
father. I shall love to when it's the time.--Raymond.
O. J. L.--Well, we shall be very happy this Christmas I think.
Father, tell mother she has her son with her all day on
Christmas Day. There will be thousands and thousands of
us back in the homes on that day, but the horrid part is
that so many of the fellows don't get welcomed. Please
keep a place for me. I must go now. Bless you again,
father.--Raymond.
(Paul then wrote a few words to his mother.)
CHAPTER XVIII
FIRST SITTING OF ALEC WITH MRS. LEONARD
On 21 December 1915 Alec had his first sitting with Mrs. Leonard;
but he did not manage to go quite anonymously--the medium knew that
he was my son. Again there is a good deal of unverifiable matter,
which whether absurd or not I prefer not to suppress; my reasons are
indicated in Chapters xii and xvi Part II, and xi Part III.
_Alec's (A. M. L.'s) Sitting with Mrs. Leonard at her House on
Tuesday Afternoon, 21 December 1915, 3.15 to 4.30 p.m._
(Medium knows I am Sir Oliver Lodge's son.)
Front room; curtains drawn; dark; small red lamp. No one else present.
Mrs. Leonard shook hands saying, "Mr. Lodge?"
(Medium begins by rubbing her own hands vigorously.)
Good morning! This is Feda.
Raymond's here. He would have liked A _and_ B.
(Feda, _sotto voce_.--What you mean, A _and_ B?)
Oh, he would have liked to talk to A and B. [See Note A.]
He says: "I wish you could see me, I am so pleased; but
you know I am pleased."
He has been trying hard to get to you at home. He thinks
he is getting closer, and better able to understand the
conditions which govern this way of communicating. He
thinks that in a little while he will be able to give
actual tests at home. He knows he has got through, but
not satisfactorily. He gets so far, and then flounders.
(Feda, _sotto voce_.--That's what fishes do!)
He says he is feeling splendid. He did not think it was
possible to feel so well.
He was waiting here; he knew you were coming, but thought
you might not be able to come to-day. [Train half an hour
late.]
Did you take notice of what he said about the place he is
in?
A. M. L.--Yes. But I find it very difficult to understand.
He says, it is such a solid place, I have not got over it
yet. It is so wonderfully real.
He spoke about a river to his father; he has not seen the
sea yet. He has found water, but doesn't know whether he
will find a sea. He is making new discoveries every day.
So _much_ is new, although of course not to people who
have been here some time.
He went into the library with his grandfather--Grandfather
William--and also somebody called Richard, and he says the
books there seem to be the same as you read.
Now this is extraordinary: There are books there not yet
published on the earth plane. He is told--only told, he
does not know if it is correct--that those books will be
produced, books like those that are there now; that the
matter in them will be impressed on the brain of some man,
he supposes an author.
He says that not everybody on his plane is allowed to read
those books; they might hurt them--that is, the books not
published yet. Father is going to write one--not the one
on now, but a fresh one.
Has his father found out who it was, beginning with G, who
said he was going to help (meaning help Raymond) for his
father's sake? It was not the person he thought it was at
the time (p. 204).
It is very difficult to get things through. He wants to
keep saying how pleased he is to come.
There are hundreds of things he will think of after he is
gone.
He has brought Lily, and William--the young one----
(Feda, _sotto voce_.--I don't know whether it is right,
but he appears to have two brothers.)
[Two brothers as well as a sister died in extreme infancy.
He would hardly know that, normally.--O. J. L.]
A. M. L.--Feda, will you ask Raymond if he would like me
to ask some questions?
Yes, with pleasure, he says.
A. M. L.--A little time ago, Raymond said he was with mother. Mother
would like to know if he can say what she was doing when he came? Ask
Raymond to think it over, and see if he can remember?
Yes, yes. She'd got some wool and scissors. She had a
square piece of stuff--he is showing me this--she was
working on the square piece of stuff. He shows me that she
was cutting the wool with the scissors.
Another time, she was in bed.
She was in a big chair--dark covered----
This refers to the time mentioned first. [Note B.]
A. M. L.--Ask Raymond if he can remember which room she was in?
(Pause.)
He can't remember. He can't always see more than a corner
of the room--it appears vapourish and shadowy.
He often comes when you're in bed.
He tried to call out loudly: he shouted, 'Alec, Alec!'
but he didn't get any answer. That is what puzzles him.
He thinks he has shouted, but apparently he has not even
manufactured a whisper.
A. M. L.--Feda, will you ask Raymond if he can remember trivial
things that happened, as these things often make the best tests?
He says he can now and again.
A. M. L.--The questions that father asked about 'Evinrude,'
'Dartmoor,' and 'Argonauts,' are all trivial, but make good tests,
as father knows nothing about them.
Yes, Raymond quite understands. He is just as keen as you
are to give those tests.
A. M. L.--Ask Raymond if the word 'Evinrude' in connexion with a
holiday trip reminds him of anything?
Yes. (Definitely.)
A. M. L.--And 'Argonauts'?
Yes. (Definitely.)
A. M. L.--And 'Dartmoor'?
Yes. (Definitely.)
A. M. L.--Well, don't answer the questions now, but if father asks
them again, see if you can remember anything.
(While Alec was speaking, Feda was getting a message
simultaneously:--)
He says something burst.
[This is excellent for Dartmoor, but I knew it.--A. M. L.]
[Note C.]
A. M. L.--Tell Raymond I am quite sure he gets things through
occasionally, but that I think often the meaning comes through
altered, and very often appears to be affected by the sitter. It
appears to me that they usually get what they expect.
Raymond says, "I only wish they did!" But in a way you are
right. He is never able to give all he wishes. Sometimes
only a word, which often must appear quite disconnected.
Often the word does not come from his mind; he has no
trace of it. Raymond says, for this reason it is a good
thing to try, more, to come and give something definite at
home. When you sit at the table, he feels sure that what
he wants to say is influenced by some one at the table.
Some one is helping him, some one at the table is guessing
at the words. He often starts a word, but somebody
finishes it.
He asked father to let you come and not say who you were;
he says it would have been a bit of fun.
A. M. L.--Ask Raymond if he can remember any characteristic things we
used to talk about among ourselves?
Yes. He says you used to talk about cars.
(Feda, _sotto voce_.--What you mean? Everybody talks about
cars!)
And singing. He used to fancy he could sing. He didn't
sing hymns. On Thursday nights he has to sing hymns, but
they are not in his line.
[On Thursday nights I am told that a circle holds sittings
for developing the direct voice at Mrs. Leonard's, and
that they sing hymns. Paul and Raymond have been said to
join in. Cf. near end of Chapter XVI, p. 201.]
A. M. L.--What used he to sing?
Hello--Hullalo--sounds like Hullulu--Hullulo. Something
about 'Hottentot'; but he is going back a long way, he
thinks. [See note in Appendix about this statement.]
(Feda, _sotto voce_.--An orange lady?)
He says something about an orange lady.
(Feda, _sotto voce_.--Not what sold oranges?)
No, of course not. He says a song extolling the virtues
and beauties of an orange lady.
[Song: "My Orange Girl." Excellent. The last song he
bought.--A. M. L.]
And a funny song which starts 'MA,' but Feda can't see any
more--like somebody's name. Also something about 'Irish
eyes.' [See Note D.]
(Feda, _sotto voce_.--Are they really songs?)
Very much so.
(A number of unimportant incidents were now mentioned.)
He says it is somebody's birthday in January.
A. M. L.--It _is_.
(Feda, _sotto voce_.--What's a beano? Whose birthday?)
He won't say whose birthday. He says, _He_ knows (meaning
A.).
[Raymond's own birthday, 25 Jan., was understood.]
(More family talk.)
Yes, he says he is going now. He says the power is getting
thin.
A. M. L.--Wish him good luck from me, Feda.
Love to all of them.
My love to you, old chap.
Just before I go: Don't ever any of you regret my going. I
believe I have got more to do than I could have ever done
on the earth plane. It is only a case of waiting, and just
meeting every one of you as you come across to him. He is
going now. He says Willie too--young Willie. [His deceased
brother.]
(Feda, _sotto voce_.--Yes, what? Proclivities?)
Oh, he is only joking.
He says: Not Willie of the weary
proplic--propensities--that's it.
He is joking. Just as many jokes here as ever before.
Even when singing hymns. When he and Paul are singing,
they do a funny dance with their arms. (Showing a sort of
cake-walk--moving arms up and down.)
(Feda.--It's a silly dance, anyway.)
Good-bye, and good luck.
[Characteristic; see, for instance, a letter of his on
page 41 above. I happen to have just seen another letter,
to Brodie, which concludes: "Well, good-bye, Brodie, and
good luck."--O. J. L.]
Yes, he is going. Yes. He is gone now, yes.
Do you want to say anything to Feda?
A. M. L.--Yes, thank you very much for all your help. The messages
are sometimes difficult, but it is most important to try and give
exactly what you hear, and nothing more, whether you understand it or
not.
Feda understands. She only say exactly what she hear, even
though it is double-Dutch. Don't forget to give my love to
them all.
A. M. L.--Good-bye, Feda. (Shakes hands.)
Medium comes-to in about two or three minutes.
(Signed) A. M. L.
21 _December_ 1915
[All written out fair same evening. Part on way home, and part after
arriving, without disturbance from seeing anybody.]
NOTES BY O. J. L. ON THE A. M. L. RECORD
This seems to have been a good average sitting; it contains a few
sufficiently characteristic remarks, but not much evidential. What is
said about songs in it, however, is rather specially good. In further
explanation, a few notes, embodying more particular information
obtained by me from the family when reading the sitting over to them,
may now be added:--
NOTE A
The 'A _and_ B' manifestly mean his brothers Alec and Brodie; and
there was a natural reason for bracketing them together, inasmuch
as they constitute the firm Lodge Brothers, with which Raymond was
already to a large extent, and hoped to be still more closely,
associated. But there may have been a minor point in it, since
between Alec and Brodie long ago, at their joint preparatory school,
there was a sort of joke, of which Raymond was aware, about problems
given in algebra and arithmetic books: where, for instance, A buys
so many dozen at some price, and B buys some at another price; the
question being to compare their profits. Or where A does a piece of
work in so many days, and B does something else. It is usually not at
all obvious, without working out, which gets the better of it, A or
B; and Alec seems to have recognised, in the manner of saying A and
B, some reference to old family chaff on this subject.
NOTE B
The reference to a square piece of stuff, cut with scissors, suggests
to his mother, not the wool-work which she is doing like everybody
else for soldiers, but the cutting of a circular piece out of a
Raymond blanket that came back with his kit, for the purpose of
covering a round four-legged table which was subsequently used for
sittings, in order to keep it clean without its having to be dusted
or otherwise touched by servants. It is not distinct enough to be
evidential, however.
NOTE C
About Dartmoor, "he says something burst." Incidents referred to in a
previous sitting, when I was there alone, were the running downhill,
clapping on brake, and swirling round corners (p. 156); but all
this was associated with, and partly caused by, the bursting of the
silencer in the night after the hilly country had been reached. And
it was the fearful noise subsequent to the bursting of the silencer
that the boys had expected him to remember.
NOTE D
The best evidential thing, however, is on p. 212--a reference to
a song of his called "My Orange Girl." If the name of the song
merely had been given, though good enough, it would not have been
quite so good, because the name of a song is common property. But
the particular mode of describing it, in such a way as to puzzle
Feda, namely, "an orange lady," making her think rather of a market
woman, is characteristic of Raymond--especially the sentence about
"extolling her virtues and beauties," which is not at all appropriate
to Feda, and is exactly like Raymond. So is "Willie of the weary
proclivities."
The song "Irish Eyes" was also, I find, quite correct. It seems to
have been a comparatively recent song, which he had sung several
times.
Again, the song described thus by Feda:--
"A funny song which starts Ma. But Feda can't see any more--like
somebody's name."
I find that the letters M A were pronounced separately--not as a
word. To me the MA had suggested one of those nigger songs about 'Ma
Honey'--the kind of song which may have been indicated by the word
'Hottentot' above. But, at a later table sitting at Mariemont, he
was asked what song he meant by the letters M A, and then he spelt
out clearly the name 'Maggie.' This song was apparently unknown to
those at the table, but was recognised by Norah, who was in the room,
though not at the table, as a still more recent song of Raymond's,
about "Maggie Magee." (See Appendix also.)
APPENDIX TO SITTING OF 21 DECEMBER 1915
(WRITTEN 3½ MONTHS LATER)
(Dictated by O. J. L., 12 April 1916.)
Last night the family were singing over some songs, and came across
one which is obviously the one referred to in the above sitting of
A. M. L. with Mrs. Leonard, held nearly four months ago, of which a
portion ran thus (just before the reference to Orange Girl):--
"A. M. L.--What used he to sing?
Hello--Hullalo--sounds like Hullulu,--Hullulo. Something
about 'Hottentot'; but he is going back a long way, he
thinks."
References to other songs known to the family followed, but this
reference to an unknown song was vaguely remembered by the family
as a puzzle; and it existed in A. M. L.'s mind as "a song about
'Honolulu,'"--this being apparently the residual impression produced
by the 'Hullulu' in combination with 'Hottentot'; but no Honolulu
song was known.
A forgotten and overlooked song has now (11 April 1916) turned up,
which is marked in pencil "R. L. 3.3.4.," _i.e._ 3 March 1904, which
corresponds to his "going back a long way"--to a time, in fact, when
he was only fifteen. It is called, "My Southern Maid"; and although
no word about 'Honolulu' occurs in the printed version, one of the
verses has been altered in Raymond's writing in pencil; and that
alteration is the following absurd introduction to a noisy chorus:--
"Any little flower from a tulip to a rose,
If you'll be Mrs. John James Brown
Of Hon-o-lu-la-lu-la town."
Until these words were sung last night, nobody seems to have
remembered the song "My Southern Maid," and there appears to be no
reason for associating it with the word 'Honolulu' or any similar
sound, so far as public knowledge was concerned, or apart from
Raymond's alterations.
Alec calls attention to the fact that, in answer to his question
about songs, no songs were mentioned which were not actually
Raymond's songs; and that those which were mentioned were not those
he was expecting. Furthermore, that if he had thought of these songs
he would have thought of them by their ordinary titles, such as
"My Orange Girl" and "My Southern Maid"; though the latter he had
forgotten altogether.
(A sort of disconnected sequel to this song episode occurred some
months later, as reported in Chapter XXIII.)
CHAPTER XIX
PRIVATE SITTINGS AT MARIEMONT
It had been several times indicated that Raymond wanted to come into
the family circle at home, and that Honor, whom he often refers to
as H., would be able to help him. Attempted private sittings of this
kind were referred to by Raymond through London mediums, and he gave
instruction as to procedure, as already reported (pp. 160 and 190).
After a time some messages were received, and family communications
without any outside medium have gradually become easy.
Records were at first carefully kept, but I do not report them,
because clearly it is difficult to regard anything thus got as
evidential. At the same time, the naturalness of the whole, and the
ready way in which family jokes were entered into and each new-comer
recognised and welcomed appropriately, were very striking. A few
incidents, moreover, were really of an evidential character, and
these must be reported in due course.
But occasionally the table got rather rampageous and had to be
quieted down. Sometimes, indeed, both the table and things like
flower-pots got broken. After these more violent occasions, Raymond
volunteered the explanation, through mediums in London, that he
couldn't always control it, and that there was a certain amount of
skylarking, not on our side, which he tried to prevent (see pp.
182, 194 and 273); though in certain of the surprising mechanical
demonstrations, and, so to speak, tricks, which certainly seemed
beyond the normal power of anyone touching the table, he appeared to
be decidedly interested, and was represented as desirous of repeating
a few of the more remarkable ones for my edification.
I do not, however, propose to report in this book concerning any
purely physical phenomena. They require a more thorough treatment.
Suffice it to say that the movements were not only intelligent, but
were sometimes, though very seldom, such as apparently could not be
accomplished by any normal application of muscular force, however
unconsciously such force might be exerted by anyone--it might only be
a single person--left in contact with the table.
A family sitting with no medium present is quite different from one
held with a professional or indeed any outside medium. Information is
freely given about the doings of the family; and the general air is
that of a family conversation; because, of course, in fact, no one
but the family is present.
At any kind of sitting the conversation is rather one-sided, but
whereas with a medium the sitter is reticent, and the communicator
is left to do nearly all the talking, in a family group the sitters
are sometimes voluble; while the ostensible control only occasionally
takes the trouble to spell out a sentence, most of his activity
consisting in affirmation and negation and rather effective dumb show.
I am reluctant to print a specimen of these domestic chats, though it
seems necessary to give some account of them.
On Christmas Day, 1915, the family had a long table sitting. It was a
friendly and jovial meeting, with plenty of old songs interspersed,
which he seemed thoroughly to enjoy and, as it were, 'conduct';
but for publication I think it will be better to select something
shorter, and I find a description written by one to whom such things
were quite new except by report--a lady who had been governess in the
family for many years, when even the elder children were small, and
long before Raymond was born. This lady, Miss F. A. Wood, commonly
called 'Woodie' from old times, happened to be staying on a visit
to Mariemont in March 1916, and was present at two or three of the
family sittings. She was much interested in her first experience,
and wrote an account immediately afterwards, which, as realistically
giving the impression of a witness, I have obtained her permission to
copy here.
At this date the room was usually considerably darkened for a
sitting; but even partial darkness was unnecessary, and was soon
afterwards dispensed with, especially as it interfered with easy
reading of music at the piano.
_Table Sitting in the Drawing-room at Mariemont, Thursday, 2 March
1916, about 6 p.m._
_Sitters_--LADY LODGE, NORAH, and WOODIE; later, HONOR
_Report by Miss F. A. Wood_
As it was the first time that I had ever been at a sitting of any
kind, I shall put down the details as fully as I can remember them.
The only light in the room was from the gas-fire, a large one,
so that we could see each other and things in the room fairly
distinctly; the table used at this time was a rather small octagonal
one, though weighty for its size, with strong centre stem, supported
on three short legs, top like a chess-board. Lady Lodge sat with
her back to window looking on to drive, Norah with back to windows
looking on to tennis-lawn, and I, Woodie, had my back to the sofa.
As we were about to sit down, Lady Lodge said: "We always say a
little prayer first."
I had hoped that she intended to pray aloud for us all, but she did
it silently, so I did the same, having been upstairs before and done
this also.
For some time nothing whatever happened. I only felt that the table
was keeping my hands extremely cold.
After about half an hour, Lady Lodge said: "I don't think that anyone
is coming to-night; we will wait just a little longer, and then go."
LADY LODGE.--Is anyone here to-night to speak to us? Do come if you
can, because we want to show Woodie what a sitting is like. Raymond,
dear, do you think you could come to us?
(No answer.)
During the half-hour before Lady Lodge asked any questions I had felt
every now and then a curious tingling in my hands and fingers, and
then a much stronger drawing sort of feeling through my hands and
arms, which caused the table to have a strange intermittent trembling
sort of feeling, though it was not a movement of the _whole_ table.
Another 'feeling' was as if a 'bubble' of the table came up, and
tapped gently on the palm of my left hand. At first I only felt it
once; after a short interval three times; then a little later about
twelve times. And once (I shall not be able to explain this) I felt
rather than heard a faint tap in the centre of the table (away from
people's hands).
Nearly every time I felt these queer movements Lady Lodge asked, "Did
you move, Woodie?" I had certainly not done so consciously, and said
so, and while I was feeling that 'drawing' feeling through hands and
arms, I said nothing myself, till Lady Lodge and Norah both said,
"What _is_ the table doing? It has never done like this before." Then
I told of my strange feelings in hands and arms, etc. Lady Lodge said
it must be due to nerves, or muscles, or something of the sort. These
strange feelings did not last long at a time, and generally, but not
always, they came after Lady Lodge had asked questions (to some one
on the other side).
After a bit, when the 'feelings' had gone from me at least, Lady
Lodge suggested Norah's going for Honor, who came, but said on first
sitting down that the table felt dead, and she did not think that
anyone was there.
LADY L.--Is anyone coming? We should be so pleased if anyone could;
we have been sitting here some time very patiently.
Nothing happened for a bit, and Lady Lodge said, "I don't think it is
any good."
But I said, "Oh, do wait a little longer, that tingling feeling is
coming back again."
And Honor said, "Yes, I think there is something."
And then the table began to move, and Lady Lodge asked:--
LADY L.--Raymond, darling, is that you?
(The table rocked three times.)
LADY L.--That is good of you, because Woodie did so want you to come.
(The table rocked to and fro with a pleased motion, most
difficult to express on paper.)
WOODIE.--Do you think that I have any power?
NO.
[Personally, I do not feel so sure of this. After
the sitting and during it, I felt there might be a
possibility.--Woodie.]
LADY L.--Lorna has gone to nurse the soldiers, night duty. They are
typhoid patients, and I do not like it. Do you think it will do her
any harm?
NO.
LADY L.--Do you like her doing this?
YES.
LADY L.--You are rocking like a rocking-horse. Do you remember the
rocking-horse at Newcastle?
YES.
LADY L.--Can you give its name? (They went through the alphabet, and
it spelt out:--)
PRINCE.
[It used to be called Archer Prince.]
(Soon after this the table began to show signs of
restlessness, and Honor said: "I expect he wants to send a
message." So Lady Lodge said:--)
LADY L.--Do you want to send a message?
YES.
HONOR.--Well, we're all ready; start away.
YOURLOVETOMYRTYPEKILL.
HONOR.--Raymond, that is wrong, isn't it? Was "Your love to my" right?
YES.
HONOR.--Very well, we will start from there.
(The message then ran:--
YOUR LOVE TO MY LITTLE SISTER.
Before the whole of 'sister' was made out, he showed great delight;
and when the message was repeated to him in full to see if it was
right, he was so pleased, and showed it so vigorously, that _he_, and
we, all laughed together.
I could never have believed how real the feeling would be of his
presence amongst us.)
LADY L.--Do you mean Lily?
YES.
LADY L.--Is she here?
YES.
LADY L.--Are you here in the room?
YES.
LADY L.--Can Lily see us?
NO.
LADY L.--Lily, darling, your mother does love you so dearly. I have
wanted to send you my love. I shall come to see you some time, and
then we shall be so happy, my dear, dear little girl. Thank you very
much for coming to help Raymond, and coming to the table sometimes,
till he can come himself. My love to you, darling, and to Brother
Bill, too.
(Raymond seemed very pleased when Brother Bill was
mentioned.)
(The table now seemed to wish to get into Lady Lodge's
lap, and made most caressing movements to and fro, and
seemed as if it could not get close enough to her.
Soon we realised that he was wanting to go, so we asked
him if this was so, and he said:--)
YES.
(So we said 'good night' to him, and after giving two
rather slight movements, which I gather is what he
generally does just as he is going, we said 'good night'
once more, and came away.)
(Signed) WOODIE
One other family sitting, a still shorter one, may be quoted as a
specimen also; though out of place. A question asked was suggested by
something reported on page 230. It appears that Miss Wood was still
here, but that on this occasion she was not one of those that touched
the table.
At this date the table generally used happened to be a chess-table
with centre pillar and three claw feet. After this table and another
one had got broken during the more exuberant period of these domestic
sittings, before the power had got under control, a stronger and
heavier round table with four legs was obtained, and employed only
for this purpose.
_Table Sitting in the Drawing-Room at Mariemont, 9 p.m., Monday, 17
April 1916_
REPORT BY M. F. A. L.
Music going on in the drawing-room at Mariemont.
The girls (four of them) and Alec singing at the piano. Woodie and
Honor and I sitting at the other end of the room. Lionel in the large
chair.
The Shakespeare Society was meeting in the house, and at that time
having coffee in the dining-room, so O. J. L. was not with us.
Woodie thought Raymond was in the room and would like to hear the
singing, but Honor thought it too late to begin with the table, as we
should shortly be going into the dining-room.
However, I got the table ready near the piano, and Honor came to it,
and the _instant_ she placed her hands on it, it began to rock. I put
my hands on too.
We asked if it was Raymond, and if he had been waiting, and he said:--
YES.
He seemed to wish to listen to the music, and kept time with it
gently. And after a song was over that he liked, he very distinctly
and decidedly applauded.
Lionel came (I think at Raymond's request) and sat at the table with
us. It was determined to edge itself close to the piano, though we
said we must pull it back, and did so. But it would go there, and
thumped Barbie, who was playing the piano, in time to the music. Alec
took one of the black satin cushions and held it against her as a
buffer. The table continued to bang, and made a little hole in the
cushion.
It then edged itself along the floor, where for a minute or two it
could make a sound on the boards beyond the carpet. Then it seemed to
be feeling about with one foot (it has three).
It found a corner of the skirting board, where it could lodge one
foot about 6 inches from the ground. It then raised the other three
level with it, in the air; and this it did many times, seeming
delighted with its new trick.
It then laid itself down on the ground, and we asked if we should
help it and lift it up, but it banged a
NO
on the floor, and raised itself a little several times without having
the strength to get up. It lifted itself quite a foot from the
ground, and was again asked if we might not lift it, but it again
banged once for
NO.
But Lionel then said:--
LIONEL.--Well, Pat, my hand is in a most uncomfortable position;
won't you let me put the table up?
It at once banged three times for
YES.
So we raised it.
I then said:--
M. F. A. L.--Raymond, I want to ask you a question as a test: What is
the name of the sphere on which you are living?
[I did this, because others beside Raymond have said, through Mrs.
Leonard, that they were living on the third sphere, and that it
was called 'Summerland,' so I thought it might be an idea of the
medium's.[26] I don't much like these 'sphere' messages, and don't
know whether they mean anything; but I assume that 'sphere' may mean
condition, or state of development.]
We took the alphabet, and the answer came at once:--
SUMMERRLODGE.
We asked, after the second R, if there was not some mistake; and
again when O came, instead of the A we had expected for 'Summerland.'
But he said No.
So we went on, though I thought it was hopelessly wrong, and ceased
to follow. I felt sure it was mere muddle.
So my surprise was the greater when the note-taker read out, 'Summer
R. Lodge,' and I found he had signed his name to it, to show, I
suppose, that it was his own statement, and not Feda's.
[Lorna reports that the impression made upon them was that Raymond
knew they had been expecting one ending, and that he was amused
at having succeeded in giving them another. They enjoyed the joke
together, and the table shook as if laughing.]
We talked to him a little after this, and Alec and Noël put their
hands on the table, and we said good night.
It is only necessary to add that the mechanical movements here
described are _not_ among those which, on page 218, I referred to
as physically unable to be done by muscular effort on the part of
anyone whose hands are only on the table top. I am not in this book
describing any cases of that sort. Whatever was the cause of the
above mechanical trick movements, which were repeated on a subsequent
occasion for my observation, the circumstances were not strictly
evidential. I ought to say, however, that most certainly I am sure
that no _conscious_ effort was employed by anyone present.
[Illustration: MARIEMONT]
[Illustration: RAYMOND AND BRODIE WITH THE PIGEONS AT MARIEMONT]
WARNING
It may be well to give a word of warning to those who find that they
possess any unusual power in the psychic direction, and to counsel
regulated moderation in its use. Every power can be abused, and even
the simple faculty of automatic writing can with the best intentions
be misapplied. Self-control is more important than any other form of
control, and whoever possesses the power of receiving communications
in any form should see to it that he remains master of the situation.
To give up your own judgement and depend solely on adventitious
aid is a grave blunder, and may in the long run have disastrous
consequences. Moderation and common sense are required in those who
try to utilise powers which neither they nor any fully understand,
and a dominating occupation in mundane affairs is a wholesome
safeguard.
[Footnote 26: The statement will be found on page 230, in
the record of a sitting preceding this in date.]
CHAPTER XX
A FEW MORE RECORDS, WITH SOME UNVERIFIABLE MATTER
After Christmas I had proposed to drop the historical order and make
selections as convenient, but I find that sequence must to some
extent be maintained, because of the inter-locking of sittings with
different mediums and development generally. I shall, however, only
preserve historical order so far as it turns out useful or relevant,
and will content myself with reporting that on 3 January 1916
Raymond's eldest sister, Violet (the one married to the 'Rowland'
that he mentioned through Feda), had a good sitting with him, and
was not only recognised easily, but knowledge was shown of much that
she had been doing, and of what she was immediately planning to do.
Reference was also made by Raymond to what he called his special room
in her house (p. 45); and, later, he said that that room was bare of
furniture, which it was.
And at some of the sittings now, deceased friends, not relatives,
were brought by Raymond, and gave notable evidence both to us and
to other people; especially to parents in some cases, to widows in
others; some of which may perhaps be partially reported hereafter.
I propose now to pass on to some unverifiable matter (see Chapters
XII and XVI), and especially to a strange and striking sitting which
Lady Lodge had with Mrs. Leonard on 4 February 1916.
This may as well be reported almost in full, in spite of unimportant
and introductory portions, since it seems fairer to give the context,
especially of unverifiable matter. But I feel bound to say that
there is divergence of opinion as to whether this particular record
ought to be published or not. I can only say that I recognise the
responsibility, and hope that I am right in partially accepting it.
_Non-Evidential Sitting of M. F. A. L. with Mrs. Leonard at her House
on Friday, 4 February 1916, from 8.30 p.m. to 11.10 p.m._
(M. F. A. L. alone.)
Feda.--Oh, it's Miss Olive!
M. F. A. L.--So glad to meet you, Feda!
Feda love you and Soliver best of all. SLionel and SAlec
too she love very much.
Yaymond is here. He has been all over the place with
Paulie, to all sorts of places to the mediums, to try and
get poor boys into touch with their mothers. Some are very
jealous of those who succeed. They try to get to their
mothers, and they can't--they are shut out. They make me
feel as though I could cry to see them. We explain that
their mothers and fathers don't know about communicating.
They say, why don't they all go to mediums?
Yaymond say, it makes me wonder too.
He say, he was telling Feda, it was awful funny the things
some of them did--it has a funny side, going to see the
mediums. You see, Paul and he couldn't help having a joke;
they are boys themselves, laughing over funny things.
He says he was listening to Paul, and he was describing
the drawing-room at home. (A good description was now
given of the drawing-room at Mariemont, which the medium
had never seen.)
Feda sees flowers; they're Feda's, not Gladys's.
[M. F. A. L. had brought flowers for Mrs. Leonard.]
M. F. A. L.--Don't you have flowers, then?
Yes, lots of flowers. But Feda like to have them in
Gladys's room. [Apparently this must be Mrs. Leonard's
name.]
There's a lot in prayer. Prayer keeps out evil things,
and keeps nice clean conditions. Raymond says, keeps out
devils.
Mother, I don't want to talk about material things, but
to satisfy anxiety. I was very uneasy on Monday night. I
tried to come near, but there was a band round me. We were
all there.
M. F. A. L.--The Zeppelins did come on Monday night, but they did not
touch us. [We went to bed and didn't worry about them.]
He says, they worked in a circular way, east and south of
you. Awful! He hoped it wouldn't upset you; he didn't want
them to come too close. I know you're not nervous, but I
fear for you. If he'd been on the earth plane, he'd have
been flying home. He says _New Street_ was the mark.
Some one called 'M.' sent you a message through Mrs. F.
(?), and wanted her dearest love given. She's had to be
away rather from the earth plane for some time, but he
actually has seen M. several times. Conditions of war
have brought her back. She had progressed a good way. She
wondered if you realised it was not her will to leave you
so long, but progression. She belongs to a higher plane.
M. knew something about this before she passed on, though
perhaps it makes it easier to be always communicating.
[Some friends will know for whom this is intended--a great friend of
our and many other children. She had had one sitting with Mrs. Piper
at Mariemont, not a good one.--O. J. L.]
Her life on the earth plane made it easier for her to go on quickly
after she passed out.
(Feda, _sotto voce_.--What you say?)
M. says, it will be a test, that she was with his father
at a medium's, where she saw a control named Alice Anne,
a little girl control; she didn't speak to Soliver, but
was with him at the medium's. "The old Scotch girl" what
Paulie calls her; old Scotch lady--same thing.
[This is correct about a sitting with Miss McCreadie, when this 'M.'
had unmistakably sent messages through Miss McC.'s usual control.--
O. J. L.]
(_Added later_.)
Some friends will be interested in this lady,--a really
beautiful character, with initials M. N. W.,--so I record
something that came through from Feda on a much later
occasion--in July 1916:--
Raymond's got rather a young lady with him. Not the sister
who passed away a little baby. But she's young--she looks
twenty-four or twenty-five. She's rather slender, rather
pretty. Brown hair, oval face. Not awful handsome, but
got a nice expression. She's very nice, and comes from a
high sphere. She's able to come close to-night, but can't
always come. Name begins with an M. And she says, "Don't
think that because she didn't come, she didn't want to
come. She had to keep away for so long. It was necessary
for her to stay away from the earth for a while, because
she had work in high spheres for three years, and it's
difficult for her to come through.
Good, good--something about the lady, lady--two people,
she says. Lady and good man. Feda ought to remember it--a
lady and good man.
Between them Soliver and her, Soliver and Miss Olive, and
her. Lady and good man and M. She must have been very good
on the earth plane, she wasn't ordinary at all. Quite
unusual and very very good. You can tell that by what she
looks like now.
She brings a lot of flowers--pansies, not quite pansies,
flower like a pansy, and not quite a pansy. Heartsease,
that's what it is. She brings lots of those to you. She
brought a lot of them when Raymond wented over there. But
not for very long, she didn't--they wasn't wanted very
long.
_M. F. A. L. Record of February 4--continued_
He said about some one, that she'd gone right on to a very
high sphere indeed, as near celestial as could possibly
be. His sister, he says--can't get her name. [He means
Lily, presumably.] He says William had gone on too, a good
way, but not too far to come to him. [His brother.]
Those who are fond of you never go too far to come back to
you--sometimes
too far to communicate, never too far to meet you when
you pass over.
M. F. A. L.--That's so comforting, darling. I don't want to hold you
back.
You gravitate here to the ones you're fond of. Those
you're not fond of, if you meet them in the
street, you don't bother yourself to say 'how-do-you-do.'
M. F. A. L.--There are streets, then?
Yes. He was pleased to see streets and houses.
At one time, I thought it might be created by one's own
thoughts. You gravitate to a place you are fitted for.
Mother, there's no judge and jury, you just gravitate,
like to like.
I've seen some boys pass on who had nasty ideas and vices.
They go to a place I'm very glad I didn't have to go to,
but it's not hell exactly. More like a reformatory--it's
a place where you're given a chance, and when you want to
look for something better, you're given a chance to have
it. They gravitate together, but get so bored. Learn to
help yourself, and immediately you'll be helped. Very like
your world; only no unfairness, no injustice--a common law
operating for each and every one.
M. F. A. L.--Are all of the same rank and grade?
Rank doesn't count as a virtue. High rank comes by being
virtuous. Those who have been virtuous have to pass
through lower rank to understand things. All go on to the
astral first, just for a little.
He doesn't remember being on the astral himself. He thinks
where he is now, he's about third. Summerland--Homeland,
some call it. It is a very happy medium. The very highest
can come to visit you. It is just sufficiently near the
earth plane to be able to get to those on earth. He thinks
you have the best of it there, so far as he can see.
Mother, I went to a gorgeous place the other day.
M. F. A. L.--Where was it?
Goodness knows!
I was permitted, so that I might see what was going on in
the Highest Sphere. Generally the High Spirits come to us.
I wonder if I can tell you what it looked like!
[Until the case for survival is considered established, it is thought
improper and unwise to relate an experience of a kind which may be
imagined, in a book dealing for the most part with evidential matter.
So I have omitted the description here, and the brief reported
utterance which followed. I think it fair, however, to quote the
record so far as it refers to the youth's own feelings, because
otherwise the picture would be incomplete and one-sided, and he might
appear occupied only with comparatively frivolous concerns.]
* * * * *
I felt exalted, purified, lifted up. I was kneeling. I
couldn't stand up, I _wanted_ to kneel.
* * * * *
Mother, I thrilled from head to foot. He didn't come near
me, and I didn't feel I wanted to go near him. Didn't
feel I ought. The Voice was like a bell. I can't tell you
what he was dressed or robed in. All seemed a mixture of
shining colours.
No good; can you imagine what I felt like when he put
those beautiful rays on to me? I don't know what I've
ever done that I should have been given that wonderful
experience. I never thought of such a thing being
possible, not at any rate for years, and years, and years.
No one could tell what I felt, I can't explain it.
Will they understand it?
I know father and you will, but I want the others to try.
I can't put it into words.
I didn't walk, I had to be taken back to Summerland, I
don't know what happened to me. If you could faint with
delight! Weren't those beautiful words?
I've asked if Christ will go and be seen by everybody; but
was told, "Not quite in the same sense as you saw Him." I
was told Christ was always in spirit on earth--a sort of
projection, something like those rays, something of him in
every one.
People think he is _a_ Spirit, walking about in a
particular place. Christ is everywhere, not as a
personality. There _is_ a Christ, and He lives on the
higher plane, and that is the one I was permitted to see.
There was more given me in that beautiful message; I can't
remember it all. He said the whole of it, nearly and word
for word, of what I've given you. You see from that I'm
given a mission to do, helping near the earth plane....
Shall I tell you why I'm so glad that is my work, given me
by the Highest Authority of all!
First of all, I'm proud to do His work, no matter what it
is; but the great thing is, I can be near you and father.
M. F. A. L.--If we can only be worthy!
You are both doing it, every bit you can.
M. F. A. L.--Well, I'm getting to love people more than I used to do.
I have learnt over here, that every one is not for you. If
not in affinity, let them go, and be with those you _do_
like.
Mother, will they think I'm kind of puffing myself up
or humbugging? It's so wonderful, will they be able to
understand that it's just Raymond that's been through
this? No Sunday school.
I treasured it up to give you to-night. I put it off
because I didn't know if I could give it in the right
words that would make them feel like I feel--or something
like. Isn't it a comfort? You and father think it well
over. I didn't ask for work to be near the earth plane! I
thought that things would be made right. But think of it
being given me, the work I should have prayed for!
M. F. A. L.--Then you're nearer?
Much nearer! I was bound to be drawn (?). So beautiful to
think, now I can _honestly_ stay near the earth plane.
Eventually, instead of going up by degrees, I shall take,
as Feda has been promised, a jump. And when you and father
come, you will be on one side, and father on the other.
We shall be a while in Summerland, just to get used to
conditions. He says very likely we shall be wanted to
keep an eye on the others. He means brothers and sisters.
I can't tell you how pleased I feel--'pleased' is a poor
word!
M. F. A. L.--About what, my dear?
About being very near the earth plane.
I've pressed on, getting used to conditions here, and yet
when I went into the Presence I was overawed.
How can people....
It made me wish, in the few seconds I was able to think
of anything, that I had led one of the purest lives
imaginable. If there's any little tiny thing I've ever
done, it would stand out like a mountain. I didn't have
much time to think, but I did feel in that few seconds....
I felt when I found myself back in Summerland that I was
_charged_ with something--some wonderful power. As if I
could stop rivers, move mountains; and so wonderfully glad.
He says, don't bother yourself about trying to like people
you've got an antipathy for, it's waste of you. Keep love
for those who want it, don't throw it away on those who
don't; it's like giving things to over-fed people when
hungry chaps are standing by.
Do you know that I can feel my ideas altering, somehow.
I feel more naturally in tune with conditions very far
removed from the earth plane; yet I like to go round with
Paul, and have fun, and enjoy myself.
After that wonderful experience, I asked some one if it
wasn't stupid to like to have fun and go with the others.
But they said that if you've got a work to do on the
earth plane, you're not to have all the black side, you
are allowed to have the lighter side too, sunshine and
shadow. One throws the other up, and makes you better able
to judge the value of each. There are places on my sphere
where they can listen to beautiful music when they choose.
Everybody, even here, doesn't care for music, so it's not
in my sphere compulsory.
He likes music and singing, but wouldn't like to live in
the middle of it always, he can go and hear it if he wants
to, he is getting more fond of it than he was.
Mr. Myers was very pleased. He says, you know it isn't
always the parsons, not always the parsons, that go
highest first. It isn't what you professed, it's what
you've done. If you have not believed definitely in life
after death, but have tried to do as much as you could,
and led a decent life, and have left alone things you
don't understand, that's all that's required of you.
Considering how simple it is, you'd think everybody would
have done it, but very few do.
On our side, we expect a few years will make a great
difference in the conditions of people on the earth plane.
In five years, ever so many more will be wanting to know
about the life to come, and how they shall live on the
earth plane so that they shall have a pretty good life
when they pass on. They'll do it, if only as a wise
precaution. But the more they know, the higher lines
people will be going on.
M. F. A. L.--Did you see me reading the sitting to your father?
I'm going to stop father from feeling tired. Chap with red
feather helping. Isn't it wonderful that I can be near you
and father?
Some people ask me, are you pleased with where your body
lies? I tell them I don't care a bit, I've no curiosity
about my body now. It's like an old coat that I've done
with, and hope some one will dispose of it. I don't want
flowers on my body. Flowers in house, in Raymond's home.
M. F. A. L.--Can he tell the kind of flowers I put for him on his
birthday?
(Feda, _sotto voce_.--Try and tell Feda.)
Doesn't seem able to get it.
Don't think he knew. I can't get it through. Don't think I
don't appreciate them. Sees some yellow and some white.
He thinks it is some power he takes from the medium which
makes for him a certain amount of physical sight. He can't
see properly.
M. F. A. L.--Can he tell me where I got the flowers from for his
birthday?
(Feda, _sotto voce_.--Flowers doesn't grow now. Winter
here!)
Yes, they do. Thinks they came from home.
(Feda, _sotto voce_.--Try and tell me any little thing.)
He means they came from his own garden.
[Yes, they did. It was yellow jasmine, cut from the garden at
Mariemont.--M. F. A. L.]
Paul's worried 'cos medium talk like book. Paul calls
Feda 'Imp.' Raymond sometimes calls Feda 'Illustrious
One.' I think Yaymond laughing! Always pretending Feda
very little, and that they've lost Feda, afraid of
walking on her, but Feda pinches them sometimes, pretend
they've trodden on Feda. But Feda just as tall as lots of
Englishes.
M. F. A. L.--Isn't Feda tired now?
No.
M. F. A. L.--I think Raymond must be.
Well, power is going.
M. F. A. L.--Anyhow, I must go. Some one perhaps of your brothers
will come soon.
I want no heralds or flourish of trumpets, let them come
and see if I can get through to them.
M. F. A. L.--(I here said something about myself, I forget; I think
it was about being proud.)
If I see any signs, I'll take you in hand at once; it
shall be nipped in the bud!
Good night.
M. F. A. L.--Do you sleep?
Well, I doze.
M. F. A. L.--Do you have rain?
Well, you can go to a place where rain is.
M. F. A. L.--Do you know that your father is having all the sittings
bound together in a book?
It will be very interesting to see how I change as I go on.
Good night.
NOTE BY O. J. L.
It must be remembered that all this, though reported in the first
person, really comes through Feda; and though her style and grammar
improve in the more serious portions, due allowance must be made for
this fact.
CHAPTER XXI
TWO RATHER EVIDENTIAL SITTINGS BY O. J. L. ON 3 MARCH 1916
On the morning of 3 March I had a sitting in Mrs. Kennedy's house
with a Mrs. Clegg, a fairly elderly dame whose peculiarity is that
she allows direct control by the communicator more readily than most
mediums do.
Mrs. Kennedy has had Mrs. Clegg two or three times to her house, and
Paul has learnt how to control her pretty easily, and is able to make
very affectionate demonstrations and to talk through the organs of
the medium, though in rather a jerky and broken way. She accordingly
kindly arranged an anonymous sitting for me.
The sitting began with sudden clairvoyance, which was unexpected.
It was a genuine though not a specially successful sitting, and
it is worth partially reporting because of the reference to it
which came afterwards through another medium, on the evening of
the same day; making a simple but exceptionally clear and natural
cross-correspondence:--
_Anonymous Sitting of O. J. L. with Mrs. Clegg_
At 11.15 a.m. on Friday, 3 March 1916, I arrived at Mrs. Kennedy's,
went up and talked to her in the drawing-room till nearly 11.30, when
Mrs. Clegg arrived.
She came into the room while I was seeing to the fire, spoke to Mrs.
Kennedy, and said, "Oh, is this the gentleman that I am to sit with?"
She was then given a seat in front of the fire, being asked to get
quiet after her omnibus journey. But she had hardly seated herself
before she said:--
"Oh, this room is so full of people; oh, some one so eager to come!
I hear some one say 'Sir Oliver Lodge.' Do you know anyone of that
name?"
I said, yes, I know him.
Mrs. Kennedy got up to darken the room slightly, and Mrs. Clegg
ejaculated:--
"Who is Raymond, Raymond, Raymond? He is standing close to me."
She was evidently going off into a trance, so we moved her chair back
farther from the fire, and without more preparation she went off.
For some time, however, nothing further happened, except contortions,
struggling to get speech, rubbings of the back as if in some pain or
discomfort there, and a certain amount of gasping for breath.
Mrs. Kennedy came to try and help, and to give power. She knelt by
her side and soothed her. I sat and waited.
Presently the utterance was distinguished as, "Help me, where's the
doctor?"
After a time, with K. K.'s help, the control seemed to get a little
clearer, and the words, "So glad; father; love to mother; so glad,"
frequently repeated in an indistinct and muffled tone of voice, were
heard, followed by, "Love to all of them."
Nothing was put down at the time, for there seemed nothing to
record--it seemed only preliminary effort; and in so far as anything
was said, it consisted merely of simple messages of affection,
and indications of joy at being able to come through, and of
disappointment at not being able to do better. The medium, however,
went through a good deal of pantomime, embracing me, stroking my
arm, patting my knees, and sometimes stroking my head, sometimes
also throwing her arms round me and giving the impression of being
overjoyed, but unable to speak plainly.
Then other dumb show was begun. He seemed to be thinking of the
things in his kit, or things which had been in his possession, and
trying to enumerate them. He indicated that his revolver had not
come back, and that in his diary the last page was not written up. I
promised to complete it.
After a time, utterance being so difficult, I gave the medium a pad
and pencil, and asked for writing. The writing was large and sprawly,
single words: 'Captain' among them.
While Raymond was speaking, and at intervals, the medium kept
flopping over to one side or the other, hanging on the arm of her
chair with head down, or else drooping forward, or with head thrown
back--assuming various limp and wounded attitudes. Though every now
and then she seemed to make an effort to hold herself up, and once or
twice crossed knees and sat up firm, with arms more or less folded.
But the greater part of the time she was flopping about.
Presently Raymond said 'Good-bye,' and a Captain was supposed to
control. She now spoke in a vigorous martial voice, as if ordering
things, but saying nothing of any moment.
Then he too went away, and 'Hope' appeared, who, I am told, is Mrs.
Clegg's normal control. Hope was able to talk reasonably well, and
what she said I recorded for what it might be worth, but I omit
the record, because though it contained references to people and
things outside the knowledge of the medium or Mrs. Kennedy, and was
therefore evidential as regards the genuineness and honesty of the
medium, it was not otherwise worth reporting, unless much else of
what was said on the same subjects by other mediums were reported too.
* * * * *
On the evening of this same 3rd of March--_i.e._ later in the same
day that I had sat with Mrs. Clegg--I went alone to Mrs. Leonard's
house and had rather a remarkable sitting, at which full knowledge
of the Clegg performance was shown. It is worthy therefore of some
careful attention.
After reading this part, the above very abbreviated record of the
Clegg sitting, held some hours before in another house and other
conditions, should again be read. I wish to call attention to the
following 3rd of March sitting as one of the best; other members of
the family have probably had equally good ones, but my notes are
fuller. I hope it is fully understood that the mannerisms are Feda's
throughout.
_Sitting of O. J. L. with Mrs. Leonard at her House on Friday, 3
March 1916, from 9.15 p.m. to 11.15 p.m._
(O. J. L. alone.)
No preliminaries to report. Feda came through quickly, jerked in the
chair, and seemed very pleased to find me.
(I asked if she had seen Raymond lately.)
Oh yes, Raymond's here.
He came to help Feda with the lady and gentleman--on
Monday, Feda thinks it was. Not quite sure when. But
there was a lady and gentleman, and he came to help; and
Feda said, "Go away, Raymond!" He said, "No, I've come to
stay." He wouldn't go away, and he did help them through
with their boy.
[The reference here is to a sitting which a colleague of mine,
Professor and Mrs. Sonnenschein, had had, unknown to me, with Mrs.
Leonard. I learnt afterwards that the arrangements had been made
by them in a carefully anonymous manner, the correspondence being
conducted _via_ a friend in Darlington; so that they were only known
to Mrs. Leonard as "a lady and gentleman from Darlington." They
had reported to me that their son Christopher had sent good and
evidential messages, and that Raymond had turned up to help. It was
quite appropriate for Raymond to take an interest in them and bring
their son, since Christopher Sonnenschein had been an engineering
fellow-student with Raymond at Birmingham. But there was no earthly
reason, so far as Mrs. Leonard's knowledge was concerned, for him
to put in an appearance; and indeed Feda at first told him to 'Go
away,' until he explained that he had come to help. Hence the
mention of Raymond, under the circumstances, was evidential.]
He's only been once to help beside this, and then he said,
Don't tell the lady he was helping. [See below.]
He's been with Paulie to-day, to Paulie's mother's. He
says he's been at Paulie's house, but not with Mrs.
Kathie, with another lady, a medie, Feda thinks. She was
older than this one; a new one to him.[27] He wanted
to speak through her, but he found it was difficult.
Paul manages it all right, he says, but _he_ finds it
difficult. He says he started to get through, and then
he didn't feel like himself. It's awful strange when one
tries to control anybody. He wanted to very bad; he almost
had them. (_Sotto voce._--What you mean, Yaymond?) He says
he thought he almost had them. He means he nearly got
through. Oh, he says, he's not given it up; he's going to
try again. What worries him is that he doesn't feel like
himself. You know, father, I might be anybody. He says, Do
you believe that in that way, practice makes perfect?
O. J. L.--Yes, I'm sure it gets easier with practice.
Oh, then he'll practise dozens of times, if he thinks it
will be any good.
O. J. L.--Did he like the old woman?
Oh, yes; she's a very good sort.
O. J. L.--Who was there sitting?
[This question itself indicates, what was the fact, that I had so
far given no recognition to the statement that Raymond had been
trying to control a medium on the morning of that same day. I wanted
to take what came through, without any assistance.]
He's not sure, because he didn't seem to get all properly
into the conditions; it was like being in a kind of mist,
in a fog. He felt he was getting hold of the lady, but he
didn't quite know where he was. He'd got something ready
to say, and he started to try and say it, and it seemed
as if he didn't know where he was.
[Feda reports sometimes in the third person, sometimes in the first.]
What does she flop about for, father? _I_ don't want to do
that; it bothered me rather, I didn't know if I was making
her ill or something. Paulie said she thought it was the
correct thing to do! But I wish she wouldn't. If she would
only keep quiet, and let me come calmly, it would be
much easier. Mrs. Kathie [Feda's name for Mrs. Katherine
Kennedy] tries to help all she can, but it makes such
a muddled condition. I might not be able to get a test
through, even when I controlled better; I should have to
get quite at home there, before I could give tests through
her. He and Paulie used to joke about the old lady, but
they don't now. Paul manages to control; he used to see
Paulie doing it. I will try again, he says, and I will try
again. It's worth trying a few times, then I can get my
bearings, and I feel that what I wanted to say beforehand
I will be able to get through.
Feda has an idea that what he had saved up to say was only
just the usual messages. He had got them ready in his
head; he had learnt it up--just a few words. Paulie told
him he had better do that, and then (oh, you had better
not tell Mrs. Kathie this, for it isn't polite!)--and then
Paulie told him to spit it out. And that's what he tried
to do--just to say the few words that he had learnt up.
He just wanted to say how pleased he was to see you. He
wanted also to speak about his mother, and to bring in, if
he could, about having talked to you through Feda. Just
simple things like that. He had to think of simple things,
because Paulie had told him that it was no good trying to
think of anything in-tri-cate.
[Feda always pronounces what she no doubt considers long words in a
careful and drawnout manner.]
He didn't see clearly, but he felt. He had a good idea
that you were there, and that Mrs. Kathie was there, but
he wasn't sure; he was all muddled up. Poor Mrs. Kathie
was doing her best. He says, Don't change the conditions,
if you try it again. He never quite knows whether he is
going to have good conditions or not. He wanted to speak
about all this. That's all about that.
[This is a completely accurate reference to what had happened with
Mrs. Clegg in the morning of the same day. Everything is properly
and accurately represented. It is the best thing about the sitting
perhaps, though there are many good things in it.]
[The next incident concerns other people--and I usually omit
these--but I propose to include this one.]
About the lady he tried to help--the one that he didn't want Feda to
tell who he was (p. 241).
He was helping through a man who had got drowned. This lady had had
no belief nor nothing in spiritual things before. The guides brought
her to Feda, that she might speak with a dear friend of hers. I
helped him, he says, and got both of his initials through to her--E.
A.
O. J. L.--Do I know these people?
Yes, you write a lot to the lady.
[I remembered afterwards that I had had some correspondence with a
lady who was told at a sitting, apparently by Raymond, that I knew a
Dr. A. She was and is a stranger, but for this curious introduction.]
O. J. L.--Is A the surname?
Yes, the spirit's, not the lady's. The lady doesn't know
that he [Raymond] is telling you this. And she doesn't
know that he helped her. He says, It's for your own use,
father. It's given her a new outlook on life.
O. J. L.--I have no idea who she is. Can you get her name?
Oh yes, she's a lady called Mrs. D. [Full name given
easily, but no doubt got from the sitter in ordinary
course.] And before, you see, she was living a worldly
life. She was interested in a way, but not much. She never
tried to come into it. When she came, she thought she
would have her fortune told. Raymond was waiting for her
to come, and brought up the right conditions at once. The
man was a nice man, he liked him, and he wanted to bring
her into it. The man was fond of her. Raymond has been
helping him a lot. He says, I can only help in a small
way, but if you could go round and see the people just
on the verge of learning something! I can't help them in
a big way, but still, it's something important even what
I can do. For every one I bring in like that lady, there
will be a dozen coming from that.
O. J. L. (still remembering nothing about these people.)--Did the man
drown himself?
Oh no, he wented down in a boat; they nearly all wented
down together.
The lady wasn't expecting him--she nearly flopped over
when he came.
O. J. L.--Was he related to the lady?
No, but he had been the biggest thing in her life. He says
it seemed as though she must have felt something, to make
her write to you.
O. J. L.--However did Raymond know that she had written to me?
Feda doesn't know. (_Sotto voce._--Tell Feda, Yaymond.)
Do you believe me, father, I really can't tell you how I
know some things. It's not through inquiry, but sometimes
I get it just like a Marconi apparatus receives a message
from somewhere, and doesn't know where it comes from at
first. Sometimes I try to find out things, and I can't.
[I perceived gradually that this episode related to some one
named E. A. (unknown to me), about whom I had been told at a Feda
sitting on Friday, 28 January 1916, Raymond seeming to want me to
speak to E. A.'s father about him. And in a note to that sitting
it is explained how I received a letter shortly afterwards from a
stranger, a Mrs. D., who consulted me about informing Dr. A. of the
appearance of his son. The whole episode is an excellent one, but it
concerns other people, and if narrated at all must be narrated more
fully and in another place. Suffice it to say that the son had been
lost in tragic circumstances, and that the father is impressed by
the singular nature of the evidence that has now been given through
the lady--a special visit to Scotland having been made by her for
that express purpose. She had not known the father before, but she
found him and his house as described; and he admits the details as
surprisingly accurate.]
Here is the extract from my sitting of 28 January 1916 relating to
this affair:--
EXTRACT FROM O. J. L.'S SITTING WITH MRS. LEONARD, FRIDAY, 28 JANUARY
1916
He has met somebody called E., Raymond has. He doesn't
know who it is, but wonders if you do.
O. J. L.--Is she an old lady?
It's a man, he says. He was drownded. I have helped him
a bit, at least I tried, he says. He passed on before
Raymond did.
O. J. L.--Did he drown himself?
Raymond doesn't say that. His name was E. He was from
Scotland. You will know his father.
Raymond says, I have got a motive in this, father; I don't
want to say too much, and I don't want to say too little.
You have met E.'s father, and you will meet him again; he
comes from Scotland. Raymond is not quite certain, but he
thinks he is in Scotland now. His father's name begins
with an A, so the other man is E. A. He was fighting his
ship. Raymond thinks they was all drownded. He's older
than Raymond. Raymond says he's a pretty dark chap. You
know his father best, I don't know whether you knew the
other chap at all. You have known his father for some
years, but you don't often get a chance of meeting. I have
got an idea that you will be hearing from him soon. Then
you will be able to unload this onto him. They are trying
to bring it about, that meeting with the father of E.
O. J. L.--I could make a guess at the surname, but perhaps I had
better not.
No, don't. You know I'm not always sure of my facts. I
know pretty well how things are, and I think I am pretty
safe in saying that it is Scotland. He gives D. also.
That's not a person, it's a place. Some place not far from
it, called D., he says. It's near, not the place, where he
lives. 'Flanked,' he calls it, 'flanked' on the other side
by L. They never knew how E. passed on really. They know
he was drowned, but not how it happened.
On receiving this message I felt that the case was a genuine one,
and that I did know a Dr. A. precisely as described. And I also
gradually remembered that he had lost a son at sea, though I did not
know the son. But I felt that I must wait for further particulars
before broaching what might be an unpalatable subject to Dr. A.
(_End of extract from 28 January 1916._)
Ultimately I did receive further particulars as narrated above, and
so a month later I did go to call on the old Doctor, after the ice
had been broken by Mrs. D.,--who in some trepidation had made a
special journey for the purpose, and then nearly came away without
opening the subject,--and I verified the trance description of his
house which Mrs. D. had received and sent me. Indeed, all the facts
stated turned out to be true.
* * * * *
The sitting of 3 March, now being reported, and interrupted by this
quotation from a previous sitting, went on thus:--
He took his mother some red roses, and he wants you to
tell her. He took them to her from the spirit world, they
won't materialise, but I gathered some and took them to
her. This isn't a test, father.
O. J. L.--No. Very well, you just want her to know. I will tell her.
(A little talk omitted.)
O. J. L.--Do you want to say anything about the other two people that
you helped--last Monday, I think it was? [The Sonnenscheins; still
only known to Mrs. Leonard as a lady and gentleman from Darlington.]
No, there's nothing much to tell you about that, or about
them. But he brought a son to them.
He stood on one side so as not to take any of the power.
He just came at first to show Feda it was all right, and
he just came in at the end to send his love.
O. J. L.--Why did he help those particular people?
[I knew why, but I thought proper to ask, since from the medium's
point of view there was no reason at all.]
He says he had to. They have been worrying about whether
their son had suffered much pain before he passed on.
There seems to have been some uncertainty about as to
whether he had or not. His body wasn't recovered as soon
as it ought to have been. But he didn't suffer much. He
was numbed, and didn't as a matter of fact feel much. He
throwed up his arms, and rolled down a bank place.
[Christopher Sonnenschein was killed by falling down a snow mountain,
and his body was not recovered for five days.]
O. J. L.--Did you know these people before?
Yes. He says, yes. But he won't tell Feda who they is.
O. J. L.--Does he want to send them any message?
He says nothing further has come out, except that he is
getting on very well, and that he was pleased. You might
tell them that he is happier now. Yes, he is, since he
seed them.
[The sitting referred to here, as having been held by a lady and
gentleman last Monday, refers to my colleague and his wife and their
deceased son Christopher. Their identity had been completely masked
by the arrangements they had made, without my knowledge. The letters
making arrangements were sent round by Darlington to be posted, in
order to cover up tracks and remove all chance of a discoverable
connexion with me. (See p. 240.) Hence it is interesting that Raymond
turned up to help, for in their normal life the two youths had known
each other.]
He has been trying to help you since he saw you here last
time. He thought that you knew that he was. He did try
hard. He says, I helped you in such a funny way. I got
near you and felt such a desire to help you and prevent
you from getting tired. He was concentrating on the
back of your head, and sort of saying to himself, and
impressing the thought towards you: "It's coming easy, you
shan't get tired, the brain is going to be very receptive,
everything is going to flow through it easily in order." I
feel myself saying it all the time, and I get so close I
nearly lean on you. To my great delight, I saw you sit up
once, and you said: "Ah, that's good." It was some little
time back.
O. J. L.--I speak to your photograph sometimes.
Yes. I can speak to you without a photograph! I am often
with you, very often.
He's taking Feda into a room with a desk in it; too big
for a desk, it must be a table. A sort of a desk, a pretty
big one. A chair is in front of it, not a chair like that,
a high up chair, more wooden, not woolly stuff; and the
light is falling on to the desk; and you are sitting there
with a pen or pencil in your hand; you aren't writing
much, but you are looking through writing, and making
bits of writing on it; you are not doing all the writing
yourself, but only bits on it. Raymond is standing at the
back of you; he isn't looking at what you are doing. [The
description is correct.]
He thought you were tired out last time you came here. He
knows you are sometimes. He's been wanting to say to you,
"Leave some of it."
O. J. L.--But there's so much to be done.
Yes, he knows it isn't easy to leave it. But it would be
better in the end if you can leave a bit, father. You are
doing too much.
You know that I am longing and dying for the day when you
come over to me. It will be a splendid day for me. But I
mustn't be selfish. I have got to work to keep you away
from us, and that's not easy for me.
He says that lots over here talk, and say that you will
be doing the most wonderful work of your life through the
war. People are ready to listen now. They had too many
things before to let them think about them; but now it's
the great thing to think about the after-life.
I want you to know that when first I came over here, I
thought it a bit unfair that such a lot of fellows were
coming over in the prime of life, coming over here. But
now he sees that for every one that came over, dozens of
people open their eyes, and want to know where he has
gone to. Directly they want to know, they begin to learn
something. Some of them never stopped to think seriously
before. "He must be somewhere," they say, "he was so full
of life; can we find out?" Then I see that through this,
people are going to find out, and find out not only for
themselves, but will pass it on to many others, and so it
will grow.
He wants to tell you that Mr. Myers says that in ten years
from now the world will be a different place. He says that
about fifty per cent. of the civilised portion of the
globe will be either spiritualists, or coming into it.
O. J. L.--Fifteen per cent.?
Fifty, he said.
Raymond says, I am no judge of that, but he isn't the only
one that thinks it. He says, I've got a kind of theory,
in a crude sort of way, that man has made the earth
plane into such a hotbed of materialism and selfishness,
that man again has to atone by sacrifices of mankind
in the prime of their physical life. So that by that
prime self-effacement, they will bring more spiritual
conditions on to the earth, which will crush the spirit of
materialism. He says that isn't how I meant to put it, but
I've forgotten how I meant to say it.
O. J. L.--Well now, Raymond, Mr. Myers sent me a message to say that
you had got some tests ready to get through, and that I was to give
you an opportunity of giving them.
Oh yes, he says. But I can't get anything through about
the Argonauts: that seems worst of anything.
He's showing Feda a thing that looks like a canvas house.
Yes, it must be a canvas house. And it looks to Feda as
though it's on a place that seems to be open--a wide
place. Yes, no, there's not much green showing where Feda
can see. There's a kind of a door in it, like that. (Feda
made some sign I didn't catch.) The canvas is sort of
grey, quite a light colour, but not quite white. Oh yes,
Feda feels the sound of water not far from it--ripple,
ripple. Feda sees a boy--not Raymond--half lying, half
sitting at the door of the tent place, and he hasn't got
a proper coat on; he's got a shirt thing on here, and
he's like spreaded out. It's a browny-coloured earth, not
nice green, but sandy-coloured ground. As Feda looks at
the land, the ground rises sharp at the back. Must have
been made to rise, it sticks up in the air. He's showing
it as though it should be in some photograph or picture.
Feda got wondering about it, what it was for. It's a
funny-shaped tent, not round, sort of lop-sided. The door
isn't a proper door, it flops. You ought to be able to see
a picture of this. [See photographs opposite.]
O. J. L.--Has it got to do with the Argonauts?
No.
O. J. L.--Oh, it's not Coniston then?
No.
O. J. L.--Is it by the sea?
Near the water, he says; he doesn't say the sea. No, he
won't say that; he says, near water. It looks hot there.
O. J. L.--Will the boys know?
You will know soon about it, he says.
Feda gets a feeling that there are two or three moving
about inside that tent.
O. J. L.--Is it all one chamber in the tent?
He didn't say that. He was going to say, no, and then he
stopped to think. No, I don't think it was, it was divided
off.
[Illustration: LARGE DOUBLE-COMPARTMENT TENT IN ITS FIRST FORM (1905)
(BUILT AT MARIEMONT AND TAKEN TO WOOLACOMBE)]
[Illustration: THE TENT IN ITS SECOND FORM (1906) MADE OUT OF THE
REMAINS OF THE FIRST]
[See photographs of two forms of this tent.]
Now he is showing something right on top of that. Now he
is showing Feda a yacht, a boat with white sails. Now he
is going back to the tent again. The raised up land is at
the back of the tent, well set back. It doesn't give an
even sticking up, but it goes right along, with bits up
and bits lower down.
[The description could not be completely taken down, but it gave the
impression of a raised bank of varying height, behind an open space,
and a tent in front of it. It quite suggested that sort of picture.]
[See photograph facing p. 252.]
Maps, what's that? Maps, maps, he says. He's saying
something about maps. This is something that the boys
will know. Poring, he says. Not pouring anything out, but
poring over maps. Ask the boys. [See note after further
reference to maps later in the sitting.]
O. J. L.--What about that yacht with sails; did it run on the water?
No. (Feda, _sotto voce_.--Oh, Raymond, don't be silly!) He
says, no. (Feda.--It must have done!) He's showing Feda
like a thing on land, yes, a land thing. It's standing up,
like edgeways. A narrow thing. No it isn't water, but it
has got nice white sails.
O. J. L.--Did it go along?
He says it DIDN'T! He's laughing! When he said 'didn't'
he shouted it. Feda should have said, 'He laid peculiar
emphasis on it.' This is for the boys.
O. J. L.--Had they got to do with that thing?
Yes, they will know, they will understand. Yes, he keeps
on showing like a boat--a yacht, he calls it, a yacht.
[See note below and photographs.]
Now he is showing Feda some figures. Something flat, like
a wall. Rods and things, long rods. Some have got little
round things shaking on them, like that. And he's got
strings, some have got strings. 'Strings' isn't the right
word, but it will do. Smooth, strong, string-like. In the
corner, where it's a little bit dark, some one is standing
up and leaning against something, and a piece of stuff is
flapping round them.
Now he is saying again something about maps. He's going
to the maps again. It isn't a little map, but it's one
you can unfold and fold up small. And they used to go
with their fingers along it, like that--not he only, but
the boys. And it wasn't at home, but when they were going
somewhere--some distance from home. And Feda gets the
impression as though they must be looking at the map when
it was moving. They seem to be moving smoothly along, like
in one of those horrible trains. Feda has never been in a
train.
[The mention of folded-up maps cannot be considered important, but it
is appropriate, because many of the boys' common reminiscences group
round long motor drives in Devonshire and Cornwall, when they must
frequently have been consulting the kind of map described.]
[_Note by O. J. L. on Tent and Boat._--All this about the tent and
boat is excellent, though not outside my knowledge. The description
of the scenery showed plainly that it was Woolacombe sands that
was meant--whither the family had gone in the summer for several
years--a wide open stretch of sand, with ground rising at the back,
as described, and with tents along under the bank, one of which--a
big one--had been made by the boys. It was on wheels, it had two
chambers with a double door, and was used for bathing by both the
boys and girls. Quite a large affair, oblong in shape, like a small
cottage. One night a gale carried it up to the top of the sand-hills
and wrecked it. We saw it from the windows in the morning.
[Illustration: FIRST EDITION OF THE SAND-BOAT (1906) AT WOOLACOMBE WITH
ALEC ON BOARD]
[Illustration: RISING GROUND BEHIND OLDER TENTS ON WOOLACOMBE BEACH]
The boys pulled it to pieces, and made a smaller tent of the remains,
this time with only one chamber, and its shape was now a bit
lop-sided. I felt in listening to the description that there was some
hesitation in Raymond's mind as to whether he was speaking of the
first or the second stage of this tent.
As for the sand-boat, it was a thing they likewise made at Mariemont,
and carted down to Woolacombe. A kind of long narrow platform or
plank on wheels, with a rudder and sails. At first, when it had small
sails, it only went with a light passenger and a strong wind behind.
But in a second season they were more ambitious, and made bigger
sails to it, and that season I believe it went along the sands very
fast occasionally; but it still wouldn't sail at right angles to the
wind as they wanted. They finally smashed the mast by sailing in a
gale with three passengers. There had been ingenuity in making it,
and Raymond had been particularly active over it, as he was over all
constructions. On the whole it was regarded as a failure, the wheels
were too small; and Raymond's 'DIDN'T' is quite accepted.
References to these things were evidently some of the tests (p. 249)
which he had got together for transmission to me. [See photographs.]
The rod and rings and strings, mentioned after the 'boat,' I don't
at present understand. So far as I have ascertained, the boys don't
understand, either, at present.]
* * * * *
I don't know whether I have got anything more that I can really call
a test. You will have to take, he says (he's laughing now)--take the
information about the old lady as a test.
O. J. L.--You mean what he began with? [_i.e._ about Mrs. Clegg.]
Yes.
O. J. L.--Well, it's a very good one.
He's been trying to find somebody whose name begins with
K. But it isn't Mrs. Kathie, it's a gentleman. He's been
trying to find him.
O. J. L.--What for?
He thought his mother would be interested. There's
something funny about this. One is in the spirit world,
but one they believe is still on the earth plane. He
hasn't come over yet. [One of the two referred to
is certainly dead; the other may possibly, but very
improbably, be a prisoner.] There's a good deal of mystery
about this, but I'm sure he isn't actually come over yet.
Some people think that because we are here, we have only
to go anywhere we choose, and find out anything we like.
But that's Tommy-rot. They are limited, but they send
messages to each other, and what he sincerely believes is,
that that man has not passed on.
O. J. L.--Mother thinks he has, and so do his people.
Yes, yes. I don't know whether it would be advisable to
tell them anything, but I have a feeling that he isn't
here. I have been looking for him everywhere.
He keeps on building up a J. He doesn't answer when Feda
asks what that is. He says there will be a few surprises
for people later on.
O. J. L.--Well, I take it that he wants me to understand that J. K.
is on our side?
Yes, he keeps nodding his head. Yes, in the body. Mind,
he says, I've got a feeling--I can only call it a
feeling--that he has been hurt, practically unconscious.
Anyway, time will prove if I am right.
O. J. L.--I hope he will continue to live, and come back.
I hope so too. Except for the possible doubt about it,
I would say tell them at once. But after all they are
happier in thinking that he has gone over, than that he's
in some place undergoing terrible privations.
Now he's saying something carefully to Feda. He says they
should not go by finding a stick. He wants you to put
that down--they ought not to go by finding a stick.
O. J. L.--Oh, they found a stick, did they?
Yes, that's how, yes.
[I clearly understood that this statement referred to a certain
Colonel, about whom there was uncertainty for months. But a funeral
service has now been held--an impressive one, which M. F. A. L.
attended. On inquiry from her, I find (what I didn't know at the time
of the sitting) that the evidence of his death is a riding-whip,
which they found in the hands of an unrecognisable corpse. From
some initials on this riding-whip, they thought it belonged to him;
and on this evidence have concluded him dead. So far as I know,
they entertain no doubt about it. At any rate, we have heard none
expressed, either publicly or privately. Hence, the information now
given may possibly turn out of interest, though there is always
the possibility that, if he is a prisoner in Germany, he may not
survive the treatment. He was leading an attack on the Hohenzollern
Redoubt when he fell; he was seen to fall, wounded; there was great
slaughter, and when at night his man returned to try and find him, he
could not be found. This is my recollection of the details, but of
course they can be more accurately given. At what period the whip was
found, I don't know, but can ascertain.] (See also p. 266.)
[No further news yet--September 1916. But I must confess that I think
the information extremely unlikely.--O. J. L.]
O. J. L.--Does he remember William, our gardener?
Yes.
Feda doesn't know what he means, but he says something
about coming over. (Feda, _sotto voce_.--Tell Feda what
you mean.)
He doesn't give it very clearly. Feda gets an idea that he
means coming over there. Yes, he does mean into the spirit
world. Feda asks him, did he mean soon; but he shakes his
head.
O. J. L.--Does he mean that he has come already?
He doesn't get that very clearly. He keeps saying, coming
over, coming over, and when Feda asked 'Soon?' he shook
his head, as if getting cross.
O. J. L.--If he sees him, perhaps he will help him.
Of course he will. He hasn't seen him yet. No, he hasn't
seen him.
[I may here record that William, the gardener, died within a week
before the sitting, and that Raymond here clearly indicates a
knowledge, either of his death or of its imminence.]
It's difficult when people approach you, and say they knew
your father or your mother; you don't quite know what to
say to them!
O. J. L.--Yes, it must be a bother. Do you remember a bird in our
garden?
(Feda, _sotto voce_.--Yes, hopping about?)
O. J. L.--No, Feda, a big bird.
Of course, not sparrows, he says! Yes, he does. (Feda,
_sotto voce_.--Did he hop, Yaymond?) No, he says you
couldn't call it a hop.
O. J. L.--Well, we will go on to something else now; I don't want to
bother him about birds. Ask him does he remember Mr. Jackson?
Yes. Going away, going away, he says. He used to come to
the door. (Feda, _sotto voce_.--Do you know what he means?
Anyone can come to the door!) He used to see him every
day, he says, every day. (_Sotto voce_.--What did he do,
Yaymond?)
He says, nothing. (I can't make out what he says.) He's
thinking. It's Feda's fault, he says.
O. J. L.--Well, never mind. Report anything he says, whether it makes
sense or not.
He says he fell down. He's sure of that. He hurt himself.
He builds up a letter T, and he shows a gate, a small
gate--looks like a foot-path; not one in the middle of a
town. Pain in hands and arms.
O. J. L.--Was he a friend of the family?
No. No, he says, no. He gives Feda a feeling of tumbling,
again he gives a feeling as though--(Feda thinks Yaymond's
joking)--he laughed. He was well known among us, he says;
and yet, he says, not a friend of the family. Scarcely a
day passed without his name being mentioned. He's joking,
Feda feels sure. He's making fun of Feda.
O. J. L.--No, tell me all he says.
He says, put him on a pedestal. No, that they put him on a
pedestal. He was considered very wonderful. And he 'specs
that he wouldn't have appreciated it, if he had known;
but he didn't know, he says. Not sure if he ever will, he
says. It sounds nonsense, what he says. Feda has got an
impression that he's mixing him up with the bird, because
he said something about 'bird' in the middle of it--just
while he said something about Mr. Jackson, and then he
pulled himself up, and changed it again. Just before he
said 'pedestal' he said 'fine bird,' and then he stopped.
In trying to answer the one, he got both mixed up, Mr.
Jackson and the bird.
O. J. L.--How absurd! Perhaps he's getting tired.
He won't say he got this mixed up! But he did! Because
he said 'fine bird,' and then he started off about Mr.
Jackson.
O. J. L.--What about the pedestal?
On a pedestal, he said.
O. J. L.--Would he like him put on a pedestal?
No, he doesn't say nothing.
[_Contemporary Note by O. J. L._--The episode of Mr. Jackson and the
bird is a good one. 'Mr. Jackson' is the comic name of our peacock.
Within the last week he has died, partly, I fear, by the severe
weather. But his legs have been rheumatic and troublesome for some
time; and in trying to walk he of late has tumbled down on them. He
was found dead in a yard on a cold morning with his neck broken. One
of the last people I saw before leaving home for this sitting was
a man whom Lady Lodge had sent to take the bird's body and have it
stuffed. She showed him a wooden pedestal on which she thought it
might be placed, and tail feathers were being sent with it. Hence,
the reference to the pedestal, if not telepathic from me, shows a
curious knowledge of what was going on. And the jocular withholding
from Feda of the real meaning of Mr. Jackson, and the appropriate
remarks made concerning him which puzzled Feda, were quite in
Raymond's vein of humour.
Perhaps it was unfortunate that I had mentioned a bird first, but I
tried afterwards, by my manner and remarks, completely to dissociate
the name Jackson from what I had asked before about the bird; and
Raymond played up to it.
It may be that he acquires some of these contemporary items of family
information through sittings which are held in Mariemont, where of
course all family gossip is told him freely, no outsider or medium
being present. But the death of Mr. Jackson, and the idea of having
him stuffed and put on a pedestal, were very recent, and I was
surprised that he had knowledge of them. I emphasise the episode as
exceptionally good.]
He's trying to show Feda the side of a house; not a wall,
it has got glass. He's taking Feda round to it; it has got
glass stuff. Yes, and when you look in, it's like flowers
inside and green stuff. He used to go there a lot--be
there, he says. Red-coloured pots.
O. J. L.--Is that anything to do with Mr. Jackson?
He's shaking his head now. That's where mother got the
flowers from. Tell her, she will know.
[Illustration: "GRANDFATHER W."]
[Illustration: "MR. JACKSON" WITH M. F. A. L. AT MARIEMONT]
[There is more than one greenhouse that might be referred to. M. F.
A. L. got the yellow jasmine, which she thinks is the flower referred
to, from the neighbourhood of one of them. And it is one on which the
peacock used commonly to roost; though whether the reference to it
followed on, or had any connexion with, the peacock is uncertain, and
seems to be denied.]
Yes, he's not so clear now, Soliver. He _has_ enjoyed
himself. Sometimes he enjoys himself so much, he forgets
to do the good things he prepared. I could stay for hours
and hours, he says. But he's just as keen as you are in
getting tests through. I think I have got some. When I go
away, I pat myself on the back and think, That's something
for them to say, "Old Raymond does remember something."
What does aggravate him sometimes is that when he can't
get things through, people think it's because he has
forgotten. It isn't a case of forgetting. He doesn't
forget anything.
Father, do you remember what I told mother about the place
I had been to, and whom I had been allowed to see? What
did they think of it?
[See M. F. A. L. sitting with Mrs. Leonard, 4 February 1916, Chap.
XX.]
O. J. L.--Well, the family thought that it wasn't like Raymond.
Ah, that's what I was afraid of. That's the awful part of
it.
O. J. L.--Well, I don't suppose they knew your serious side.
Before he gave that to his mother, he hesitated, and
thought he wouldn't. And then he said, Never mind what
they think now, I must let mother and father know. Some
day they will know, and so, what does it matter?
He knew that they might think it was something out of a
book, not me; but perhaps they didn't know that side of me
so well.
O. J. L.--No. But among the things that came back, there was a
Bible with marked passages in it, and so I saw that you had thought
seriously about these things. [page 11.]
Yes, he says. Yet there's something strange about it
somehow. We are afraid of showing that side; we keep it to
ourselves, and even hide it.
O. J. L.--It must have been a great experience for you.
I hadn't looked for it, I hadn't hoped for it, but it was
granted.
O. J. L.--Do you think you could take some opportunity of speaking
about it through some other medium, not Feda? Because at present the
boys think that Feda invented it.
Yes, that's what they do think. He says he will try very
hard.
O. J. L.--Have you ever seen that Person otherwise than at that time?
No, I have not seen Him, except as I told you; he says,
father, He doesn't come and mingle freely, here and there
and everywhere. I mean, not in that sense; but we are
always conscious, and we feel him. We are conscious of his
presence. But you know that people think that when they go
over, they will be with him hand in hand, but of course
they're wrong.
He doesn't think he will say very much more about that
now, not until he's able to say it through some one else.
It may be that they will say it wrong, that it won't be
right; it may get twisted. Feda does that sometimes.
(Feda, _sotto voce_.--No, Feda doesn't!) Yes she does, and
that's why I say, go carefully.
O. J. L.--Has he been through another medium to a friend of mine
lately?
[This was intended to refer to a sitting which Mr. Hill was holding
with Peters about that date, and, as it turned out, on the same day.]
He doesn't say much. No, he doesn't say nothing about it.
He hasn't got much power, and he's afraid that he might go
wrong.
Good-bye, father, now. My love to you, my love to mother.
I am nearer to you than ever before, and I'm not so silly
about [not] showing it. Love to all of them. Lionel is a
dear old chap. My love to all.
[Illustration: SECOND EDITION OF SAND-BOAT, AT MARIEMONT, BEFORE BEING
UNSHIPPED AND TAKEN TO WOOLACOMBE, 1907]
[Illustration: RAYMOND WORKING AT THE SAND-BOAT IN THE BOYS' LABORATORY
AT MARIEMONT]
Don't forget to tell mother about the roses I brought her.
There's nothing to understand about them; I just wanted
her to know that I brought her some flowers.
Good night, father. I am always thinking of you. God bless
you all.
Give Feda's love to SrAlec.
O. J. L.--Yes, I will, Feda. We are all fond of you.
Yes, Feda feels it, and it lifts Feda up, and helps her.
* * * * *
Mrs. Leonard speedily came-to, and seemed quite easy and well,
although the sitting had been a long one, and it was now nearly 11.30
p.m.
* * * * *
[I repeat in conclusion that this was an excellent sitting, with a
good deal of evidential matter.--O. J. L.]
[Footnote 27: This shows clear and independent knowledge
of the sitting which I had held with Mrs. Clegg that same
morning (see early parts of this chapter).]
CHAPTER XXII
MORE UNVERIFIABLE MATTER
On 24 March, we had some more unverifiable material through Mrs.
Leonard; it was much less striking than that given on 4 February, and
I am inclined myself to attribute a good deal of it to hypothetical
information received by Feda from other sitters: but it seems unfair
to suppress it. In accordance with my plan I propose to reproduce it
for what it is worth.
_Sitting with Mrs. Leonard at our Flat, Friday, 24 March 1916, from
5.45 p.m. to 8 p.m._
(_Present_--O. J. L. AND M. F. A. L.)
REPORT BY O. J. L.
(Mrs. Leonard arrived about 5.30 to tea, for a sitting with M. F. A.
L. I happened to be able to come too, in order to take notes. She
had just come away from another sitting, and had had some difficulty
in getting rid of her previous sitter in time, which rather bothered
her. The result was not specially conducive to lucidity, and the
sitting seemed only a moderately good one.
When Feda arrived she seemed pleased, and said:--)
Yes it is, yes, it's Soliver!
How are you? Raymond's here!
M. F. A. L.--Is he here already?
Yes, of course he is!
(Feda, _sotto voce_.--What's he say?) He says he hasn't
come to play with Feda, or make jokes; he's come about
serious things.
Do you remember, Miss Olive [Feda's name for Lady Lodge],
some time ago, about that beautiful experience what he
had? He's so glad that you and Soliver know about it, even
though the others can't take it in. Years hence he thinks
they may. He says, over there, they don't mind talking
about the real things, over there, 'cos they're the things
that count.
He thinks the one that took it in mostly was Lionel.
Yes, it seemed to sink in mostly; he was turning it over
afterwards, though he didn't say much. He's more ready for
that than the others. He says he would never have believed
it when he was here, but he is.
He hasn't been to that place again, not that same
place. But he's been to a place just below it. He's
been attending lectures, at what they call, "halls of
learning": you can prepare yourself for the higher spheres
while you are living in lower ones. He's on the third, but
he's told that even now he could go on to the fourth if he
chose; but he says he would rather be learning the laws
ap-per-taining to each sphere while he's still living on
the third, because it brings him closer--at least until
you two have come over. He will stay and learn, where he
is. He wouldn't like to go on there and then find it to be
difficult to get back. He will wait till we can go happily
and comfortably together!
Would it interest you for him to tell you about one of
the places he's been to? It's so interesting to him, that
he might seem to exaggerate; but the experience is so
wonderful, it lives with him.
He went into a place on the fifth sphere--a place he takes
to be made of alabaster. He's not sure that it really
was, but it looked like that. It looked like a kind of
a temple--a large one. There were crowds passing into
this place, and they looked very happy. And he thought,
"I wonder what I'm going to see here." When he got mixed
up with the crowd going into the temple, he felt a kind
of--(he's stopping to think). It's not irreverency what he
says, but he felt a kind of feeling as if he had had too
much champagne--it went to his head, he felt too buoyant,
as if carried a bit off the ground.
That's 'cos he isn't quite attuned to the conditions of
that sphere. It's a most extraordinary feeling. He went
in, and he saw that though the building was white, there
were many different lights: looked like certain places
covered in red, and ... was blue, and the centre was
orange. These were not the crude colours that go by those
names, but a softened shade. And he looked to see what
they came from. Then he saw that a lot of the windows were
extremely large, and the panes in them had glass of these
colours. And he saw that some of the people would go and
stand in the pinky coloured light that came through the
red glass, and others would stand in the blue light, and
some would stand in the orange or yellow coloured light.
And he thought, "What are they doing that for?" Then
some one told him that the pinky coloured light was the
light of the love-colour; and the blue was the light of
actual spiritual healing; and the orange was the light of
intellect. And that, according to what people wanted, they
would go and stand under that light. And the guide told
him that it was more important than what people on earth
knew. And that, in years to come, there would be made a
study of the effect of different lights.
The pinky people looked clever and developed in their
attitude and mentality generally; but they hadn't been
able to cultivate the love-interest much, their other
interests had overpowered that one. And the people who
went into the intellectual light looked softer and happy,
but not so clever looking. He says he felt more drawn to
the pink light himself, but some one said, "No, you have
felt a good deal of that," and he got out and went into
the other two, and he felt that he liked the blue light
best. And he thinks that perhaps you will read something
into that. I had the other conditions, but I wanted the
other so much. The blue seemed to call me more than the
others. After I had been in it some time, I felt that
nothing mattered much, except preparing for the spiritual
life. He says that the old Raymond seemed far away at the
time, as though he was looking back on some one else's
life--some one I hadn't much connexion with, and yet who
was linked on to me. And he felt, "What does anything
matter, if I can only attain this beautiful uplifting
feeling." I can't tell you what I felt like, but reading
it over afterwards, perhaps you will understand. Words
feel powerless to describe it. He won't try, he will just
tell you what happened after.
We sat down--the seats were arranged something like pews
in a church--and as he looked towards the aisle, he saw
coming up it about seven figures. And he saw, from his
former experience, that they were evidently teachers come
down from the seventh sphere. He says, they went up to
the end part, and they stood on a little raised platform;
and then one of them came down each of the little aisles,
and put out their hands on those sitting in the pews.
And when one of the Guides put his hand on his head, he
felt a mixture of all three lights--as if he understood
everything, and as if everything that he had ever felt,
of anger or worry, all seemed nothing. And he felt as if
he could rise to any height, and as if he could raise
everybody round him. As if he had such a power in himself.
He's stopping to think over it again.
They sat and listened, and the first part of the ceremony
was given in a lecture, in which one of the Guides was
telling them how to teach others on the lower spheres
and earth plane, to come more into the spiritual life,
while still on those lower planes. I think that all that
went before was to make it easy to understand. And he
didn't get only the words of the speaker, words didn't
seem to matter, he got the thought--whole sentences,
instead of one word at a time. And lessons were given on
concentration, and on the projection of uplifting and
helpful thoughts to those on the earth plane. And as he
sat there--he sat, they were not kneeling--he felt as if
something was going from him, through the other spheres on
to the earth, and was helping somebody, though he didn't
know who it was. He can't tell you how wonderful it was;
not once it happened, but several times.
He's even been on to the sixth sphere too. The sixth
sphere was even more beautiful than the fifth, but at
present he didn't want to stay there. He would rather be
helping people where he is.
O. J. L.--Does he see the troubles of people on the earth?
Yes, he does sometimes.
I do wish that we could alter people so that they were
not ashamed to talk about the things that matter. He can
see people preparing for the summer holidays, and yet
something may prevent them. But the journey that they have
got to go some time, that they don't prepare for at all.
M. F. A. L.--How can you prepare for it?
Yes, by speaking about it openly, and living your life so
as to make it easier for yourself and others.
O. J. L.--Is Raymond still there? Has he got any more tests to give,
or anything to say, to the boys or anybody?
Did they understand about the yacht?
O. J. L.--Yes, they did.
And about the tent?
O. J. L.--Yes, they did.
He's very pleased--it bucks him up when he gets things
through.
O. J. L.--Have you learnt any more about [the Colonel[28]]?
He's not on the spirit side. He feels sure he isn't.
Somebody told him that there was a body found, near the
place where he had been, and it was dressed in uniform
like he had had. But something had happened to it here
(pointing to her head).
O. J. L.--Who was it told you?
Some one on the other side; just a messenger, not one who
knew all about it. No, the messenger didn't seem to know
J. K. personally, but he had gathered the information
from the minds of people on the earth plane. And Feda
isn't quite sure, but thinks that there was something
missing from the body--missing from the body that they
took to be him, which would have identified him.
O. J. L.--Do you mean the face?
No, he doesn't mean the face.
(M. F. A. L., here pointing to her chest, signified to me
that she knew that it was the identification disk that was
missing.)
M. F. A. L.--Why was it missing?
Because it wasn't he! In the first place, it couldn't be,
but if that had only been there, they would have known. He
can't say where he is at the present moment, but he heard
a few days ago that he is being kept somewhere, and as far
as he can make out, in Belgium. It's as though he had been
taken some distance.
Raymond's not showing this--but Feda's shown in a sort
of flash a letter. First a B, and then an R. But the B
doesn't mean Belgium; it's either a B or an R, or both. It
just flashed up. It may mean the place where he is. But
Raymond doesn't know where he is, only he's quite sure
that he isn't on the spirit side. But he's afraid he's ill.
O. J. L.--Have you anything more to say about E. A.? [See 3
March record, p. 243.]
No, no more. Raymond came to Feda to help the lady who
came. Feda started describing Raymond. And he said, no,
only come to help. And then he brought the one what was
drownded. He came to help also with another, but Feda
didn't tell that lady, 'cos she didn't know you. He
doesn't like Feda to tell. Feda couldn't understand why
he wanted to help, because she didn't know he knew that
gentleman. He helped E. A. to build up a picture of his
home. Perhaps she thinks it was Feda being so clever!
O. J. L.--Yes, I know, she's been there to see it. [See p.
245.]
Yes, and she found it what she said. He told
her that she wouldn't be seeing his mother. She couldn't
see why she shouldn't see his mother; but she didn't.
[True.] Raymond hasn't got any good tests. He can't
manufacture them, and they are so hard to remember.
O. J. L.--Is he still in his little house?
Oh yes, he feels at home there.
O. J. L.--He said it was made of bricks--I could make nothing of that.
I knew you couldn't! It's difficult to explain. At-om-;
he say something about at-om-ic principle. They seem
to be able to draw (?) certain unstable atoms from the
atmosphere and crystallise them as they draw near certain
central attraction. That isn't quite what Feda thinks
of it. Feda has seen like something going round--a
wheel--something like electricity, some sparks dropping
off the edge of the wheel, and it goes crick, crick,
and becomes like hard; and then they falls like little
raindrops into the long thing under the wheel--Raymond
calls it the accumulator. I can't call them anything but
bricks. It's difficult to know what to call them. Wait
until you come over, and I'll show you round. And you will
say, "By Jove, so they are!" Things are quite real here.
Mind, I don't say things are as heavy as on the earth,
because they're not. And if he hit or kicked something
it wouldn't displace it so much as on the earth, because
we're lighter. I can't tell you exactly what it is; I'm
not very interested in making bricks, but I can see
plainly how it's apparently done.
He says it appears to him too, that the spirit spheres
are built round the earth plane, and seem to revolve with
it. Only, naturally, the first sphere isn't revolving
at such a rate as the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and
seventh spheres. Greater circumference makes it seem to
revolve more rapidly. That seems to have an actual effect
on the atmospheric conditions prevailing in any one of the
spheres. Do you see what he's getting at?
O. J. L.--Yes. He only means that the peripheral velocity is greater
for the bigger spheres, though the angular velocity is the same.
Yes, that's just what he means. And it does affect the
different conditions, and that's why he felt a bit careful
when he was on a higher sphere, in hanging on to the
ground.
[A good deal of this struck me as nonsense; as if Feda had picked it
up from some sitter. But I went on recording what was said.]
Such a lot of people think it's a kind of thought-world,
where you think all sort of things--that it's all "think."
But when you come over you see that there's no thinking
about it; it's _there_, and it does impress you with
reality. He does wish you would come over. He will be
as proud as a cat with something tails--two tails, he
said. Proud as a cat with two tails showing you round the
places. He says, father will have a fine time, poking into
everything, and turning everything inside out.
There's plenty flowers growing here, Miss Olive, you will
be glad to hear. But we don't cut them here. They doesn't
die and grow again; they seem to renew themselves. Just
like people, they are there all the time renewing their
spirit bodies. The higher the sphere he went to, the
lighter the bodies seemed to be--he means the fairer,
lighter in colour. He's got an idea that the reason why
people have drawn angels with long fair hair and very fair
complexion is that they have been inspired by somebody
from very high spheres. Feda's not fair; she's not brown,
but olive coloured; her hair is dark. All people that's
any good has black hair.
Do you know that [a friend] won't be satisfied unless he
comes and has a talk through the table. Feda doesn't mind
now, 'cos she has had a talk. So she will go now and let
him talk through the table all right.
Give Feda's love to all of them, specially to
SLionel--Feda likes him.
* * * * *
(Mrs. Leonard now came-to, and after about ten minutes she and M. F.
A. L. sat at a small octagonal table, which, in another five minutes,
began to tilt.)
[But the subject now completely changed, and, if reported at all,
must be reported elsewhere.]
I may say that several times, during a Feda sitting, some special
communicator has asked for a table sitting to follow, because he
considers it more definite and more private. And certainly some of
the evidence so got has been remarkable; as indeed it was on this
occasion. But the record concerns other people, distant friends of my
wife, some of whom take no interest in the subject whatever.
[Footnote 28: See record on P. 254.]
CHAPTER XXIII
A FEW ISOLATED INCIDENTS
There are a number of incidents which might be reported, some of them
of characteristic quality, and a few of them of the nature of good
tests. The first of these reported here is decidedly important.
I. SIMULTANEOUS SITTINGS IN LONDON AND EDGBASTON
SPECIAL 'HONOLULU' TEST EPISODE
Lionel and Norah, going through London on the way to Eastbourne, on
Friday, 26 May 1916, arranged to have a sitting with Mrs. Leonard
about noon. They held one from 11.55 to 1.30, and a portion of their
record is transcribed below.
At noon it seems suddenly to have occurred to Alec in Birmingham to
try for a correspondence test; so he motored up from his office,
extracted some sisters from the Lady Mayoress's Depot, where they
were making surgical bandages, and took them to Mariemont for a
brief table sitting. It lasted about ten minutes, between 12.10 and
12.20 p.m. And the test which he then and there suggested was to ask
Raymond to get Feda in London to say the word "Honolulu." This task,
I am told, was vigorously accepted and acquiesced in.
A record of this short sitting Alec wrote on a letter-card to me,
which I received at 7 p.m. the same evening at Mariemont: the first I
had heard of the experiment. The postmark is "1 p.m. 26 My 16," and
the card runs thus:--
"_Mariemont, Friday, 26 May, 12.29 p.m._
"Honor, Rosalynde, and Alec sitting in drawing-room at
table. Knowing Lionel and Norah having Feda sitting in
London simultaneously. Asked Raymond to give our love to
Norah and Lionel and to try and get Feda to say Honolulu.
Norah and Lionel know nothing of this, as it was arranged
by A. M. L. after 12 o'clock to-day.
"(Signed) ALEC M. LODGE HONOR G. LODGE ROSALYNDE V. LODGE"
It is endorsed on the back in pencil, "Posted at B'ham General P.O.
12.43 p.m."; and, in ink, "Received by me 7 p.m.--O. J. L. Opened and
read and filed at once."
The sitters in London knew nothing of the contemporaneous attempt;
and nothing was told them, either then or later. Noticing nothing odd
in their sitting, which they had not considered a particularly good
one, they made no report till after both had returned from Eastbourne
a week later.
The notes by that time had been written out, and were given me to
read to the family. As I read, I came on a passage near the end, and,
like the few others who were in the secret, was pleased to find that
the word "Honolulu" had been successfully got through. The subject of
music appeared to have been rather forced in by Raymond, in order to
get Feda to mention an otherwise disconnected and meaningless word;
the time when this was managed being, I _estimate_, about 1.0 or
1.15. But of course it was not noted as of any interest at the time.
Here follow the London Notes. I will quote portions of the sitting
only, so as not to take up too much space:--
_Sitting of Lionel and Norah with Mrs. Leonard in London, Friday, 26
May 1916, beginning 11.55 a.m._
EXTRACTS FROM REPORT BY L. L.
After referring to Raymond's married sister and her husband, Feda
suddenly ejaculated:--
How is Alec?
L. L.--Oh, all right.
He just wanted to know how he was, and send his love to
him. He does not always see who is at the table; he feels
some more than others.[29]
He says you (to Norah) sat at the table and Lionel.
He felt you (Norah) more than any one else at the table.
[This is unlikely. He seems to be thinking that it is Honor.]
Feda feels that if you started off very easily, you would
be able to see him. Develop a normal ... [clairvoyance
probably].
Raymond says, go slowly, develop just with time, go
slowly. Even the table helps a little.
He can really get through now in his own words. When he is
there, he now knows what he has got through.
The Indians have got through their hanky-panky. [We
thought that this meant playing with the table in a way
beyond his control.]
He says that Lily is here. (Feda, _sotto voce_.--Where is
she?)
She looks very beautiful, and has lilies; she will help
too, and give you power.
Sit quietly once or twice a week, hold your hands, the
right over the left, so, for ten minutes, then sit
quiet--only patience. He could wait till doomsday.
He says, Wait and see; he is laughing!
He has seen Curly (p. 203).
L. L.--Is Curly there now?
No, see her when we wants to. That's the one that wriggles
and goes ... (here Feda made a sound like a dog panting,
with her tongue out--quite a good imitation).
Raymond has met another boy like Paul, a boy called Ralph.
He likes him. There is what you call a set. People meet
there who are interested in the same things. Ralph is a
very decent sort of chap.[30]
(To Norah).--You could play.
N. M. L.--Play what?
Not a game, a music.
N. M. L.--I am afraid I can't, Raymond.
(Feda, _sotto voce_.--She can't do that.)
He wanted to know whether you could play Hulu--Honolulu.
Well, can't you try to? He is rolling with laughter
[meaning that he's pleased about something].
He knows who he is speaking to, but he can't give the name.
[Here he seems to know that it is Norah and not Honor.]
L. L.--Should I tell him?
No.
He says something about a yacht; he means a test he sent
through about a yacht. Confounded Argonauts![31]
He is going. Fondest love to them at Mariemont.
The sitting continued for a short time longer, ending at 1.30 p.m.,
but the present report may end here.
NOTE ON THE 'HONOLULU' EPISODE BY O. J. L.
In my judgment there were signs that the simultaneous holding of two
sittings, one with Honor and Alec in Edgbaston, and one with Lionel
and Norah in London, introduced a little harmless confusion; there
was a tendency in London to confuse Norah with Honor, and Alec was
mentioned in London in perhaps an unnecessary way. I do not press
this, however, but I do press the 'Honolulu' episode--
(i) because it establishes a reality about the home sittings,
(ii) because it so entirely eliminates anything of the nature of
collusion, conscious or unconscious,
(iii) because the whole circumstances of the test make it an
exceedingly good one.
What it does not exclude is telepathy. In fact it may be said to
suggest telepathy. Yes, it suggests distinctly one variety of what,
I think, is often called telepathy--a process sometimes conducted, I
suspect, by an unrecognised emissary or messenger between agent and
percipient. It was exactly like an experiment conducted for thought
transference at a distance. For at Edgbaston was a party of three
sitting round a table and thinking for a few seconds of the word
'Honolulu'; while in London was a party of two simultaneously sitting
with a medium and recording what was said. And in their record the
word 'Honolulu' occurs. Telepathy, however--of whatever kind--is not
a normal explanation; and I venture to say that there is no normal
explanation, since in my judgment chance is out of the question. The
subject of music was forced in by the communicator, in order to bring
in the word; it did not occur naturally; and even if the subject of
music had arisen, there was no sort of reason for referring to that
particular song. The chief thing that the episode establishes, to
my mind, and a thing that was worth establishing, is the genuine
character of the simple domestic sittings without a medium which
are occasionally held by the family circle at Mariemont. For it is
through these chiefly that Raymond remains as much a member of the
family group as ever.
II. IMPROMPTU MARIEMONT SITTING
Once at Mariemont, I am told, when M. F. A. L. and Honor were
touching it, the table moved up to a book in which relics and
reminiscences of Raymond had been pasted, and caused it to be opened.
In it, among other things, was an enlargement of the snapshot facing
page 278, showing him in an old 'Nagant' motor, which had been passed
on to him by Alec, stopping outside a certain house in Somersetshire.
He was asked what house it was, and was expected to spell the name
of the friend who lived there, but instead he spelt the name of the
house. The record by M. F. A. L., with some unimportant omissions,
is here reproduced--merely, however, as another example of a private
sitting without a medium.
_Impromptu Table Sitting at Mariemont, Tuesday, 25 April 1916_
(REPORT BY M. F. A. L.)
I had been thinking of Raymond all day, and wanting to thank him for
what he did yesterday for [a friend]. Honor had agreed that we might
do it some time, but when I mentioned it about 10.50 p.m., she did
not want to sit then--she thought it too late. We were then in the
library.
Honor, sitting on the Chesterfield, said, "I wonder if any table
would be equally good for Raymond?"--placing her hands on the
middle-sized table of the nest of three. It at once began to stir,
and she asked me to place mine on the other side to steady it.
I asked if it was Raymond, and it decidedly said YES.
I then thanked him with much feeling for what he had done for [two
separate families] lately. I told him how much he had comforted them,
and how splendidly he was doing; that there were quite a number of
people he had helped now. We discussed a few others that needed help.
Then I think we asked him if he knew what room we were in--YES. And
after knocking me a good deal, and making a noise which seemed to
please him against my eyeglasses, he managed, by laying the table
down, to get one foot on to the Chesterfield and raise the table
up on it; and there it stayed, and rocked about for a long time
answering questions--I thought it would make a hole in the cover.
I don't quite remember how it got down, but it did, and then edged
itself up to the other larger table, which had been given me by
Alec, Noël, and Raymond, after they had broken a basket table I used
to use there--it was brought in with a paper, "To Mother from the
culprits." (This was a year or two ago.) Well, he got it up to this
table, and fidgeted about with the foot of the smaller table on which
we had our hands, until he rested it on a ledge and tried to raise
it up. But the way he did this most successfully was when he got the
ledge of our small table onto a corner of the other and then raised
it off the ground level. This he did several times. I took one hand
off, leaving one hand on the top, and Honor's two hands lying on the
top, _no part_ of them being over the edge, and I measured the height
the legs were off the ground. The first time it was the width of
three fingers, and the next time four fingers.
Honor told him this was very clever.
I then tried to press it down, but could not--a curious feeling, like
pressing on a cushion of air.
He had by this time turned us right round, so that Honor was sitting
where I had been before, and I was sitting or sometimes standing in
her place. Then we were turned round again, and he seemed to want to
knock the other table again; he went at it in a curious way. I had
with one hand to remove a glass on it which I thought he would upset.
He continued to edge against it, until he reached a book lying on
it. This he knocked with such intention, that Honor asked him if he
wanted it opened.
YES.
[This was a scrap-book in which I collect anything about
him--photographs, old and new; poems made _about_ him, or sent to
me in consolation; and it has his name outside, drawn on in large
letters.--M. F. A. L.]
So I opened it, and showed him the photograph of himself seated in
the 'Nagant.' [A motor-car which Alec had practically given him not
long before the war, and with which he was delighted.]
Honor asked if he could see it, and he said YES, and seemed pleased.
She asked if he could tell her what house it was standing in front
of, and he spelt out--
ST. GERMINS.
[This was pretty good, as the name of the Jacques's house is 'St.
Germains.']
(Honor had forgotten the name till he began, and expected him to say
Jacques's.)
We told him he had got it, but that his spelling wasn't quite as good
as it had been.
Honor talked to him then about the 'Nagant' and the 'Gabrielle Horn,'
all of which seemed to delight him.
We then showed him some other photographs, and the one of his dog,
and asked him to spell its name, which he did without mistake--
LARRY.
He couldn't see the little photograph of the goats, as it was too
small. But he saw himself in uniform--the one taken by Rosalynde and
enlarged--and he seemed to like seeing that.
We talked a lot to him. I asked if he remembered his journey with
me out to Italy, and the Pullman car, etc. At this he knocked very
affectionately against me.
We then thought it was time for us all to go to bed. But he said NO.
So we went on telling him family news. He listened with interest and
appreciative knocks, and he then tried his balancing trick again,
sometimes with success, but often failing to get the leg right. But
he did it again in the end. We tried to say good night, it being then
nearly one o'clock, but he didn't seem to want to go.
We said au revoir, and told him we would see him again soon.
III. EPISODE OF 'MR. JACKSON'
A striking incident is reported in one of my 'Feda' sittings--that
on 3 March 1916--shortly after the death of our peacock, which went
by the comic name of 'Mr. Jackson,' his wives being Matilda Jackson
and Janet. He was a pet of M. F. A. L.'s, and had recently met with a
tragic end. It was decided to have him stuffed, and one of the last
things I had seen before leaving Mariemont was a wooden pedestal on
which it was proposed to put him.
When I asked Feda if Raymond remembered Mr. Jackson, he spoke of him
humorously, greatly to Feda's puzzlement, who said at last that he
was mixing him up with a bird, about whom I had previously inquired;
because he said, 'Fine bird, put him on a pedestal.'
[Illustration: "CURLEY" AND "VIX", CURLEY BEING THE SHAGGY ONE. "VIX"
WAS THE MOTHER OF RAYMOND'S DOG "LARRY"]
[Illustration: RAYMOND IN HIS "NAGANT" MOTOR, 1913 OUTSIDE A FRIEND'S
HOUSE IN SOMERSETSHIRE]
If this was not telepathy from me, it seems to show a curious
knowledge of what is going on at his home, for the bird had not
been dead a week, and if he were alive there would be no sense in
saying, 'put him on a pedestal.' Feda evidently understood it, or
tried to understand it, as meaning that some man, a Mr. Jackson, was
metaphorically put on a pedestal by the family.
The fact, however, that Mr. Jackson was at once known by Raymond to
be a bird is itself evidential, for there was nothing in the way I
asked the question to make Feda or anyone think he was not a man.
Indeed, that is precisely why she got rather bewildered. See Chapter
XXI.
IV. EPISODE OF THE PHOTOGRAPHS
It is unnecessary to call attention to the importance of the
photograph incident, which is fully narrated in Chapter IV; but he
spoke later of another photograph, in which he said was included
his friend Case. It is mentioned near the end of Chapter IV. That
photograph we also obtained from Gale & Polden, and it is true that
Case is in it as well as Raymond, whereas he was not in the former
group; but this one is entirely different from the other, for they
are both in a back row standing up, and in a quite open place.
If this had been sent to us at first, instead of the right one,
we should have considered the description quite wrong. As it is,
the main photograph episode constitutes one of the best pieces of
evidence that has been given.
* * * * *
REMARKS BY O. J. L. IN CONCLUDING PART II
The number of more or less convincing proofs which we have obtained
is by this time very great. Some of them appeal more to one person,
some to another; but taking them all together every possible ground
of suspicion or doubt seems to the family to be now removed. And it
is legitimate to say, further, that partly through Raymond's activity
a certain amount of help of the same kind has been afforded to
other families. Incidentally it has been difficult to avoid brief
reference to a few early instances of this, in that part of the
record now published. For the most part, however, these and a great
number of other things are omitted; and I ought perhaps to apologise
for the quantity which I have thought proper to include. Some home
critics think that it would have been wiser to omit a great deal
more, so as to lighten the book. But one can only act in accordance
with one's own judgment; and the book, if it is to achieve what it
aims at, cannot be a light one. So, instead of ending it here, I
propose to add a quantity of more didactic material--expressing my
own views on the subject of Life and Death--the result of many years
of thought and many kinds of experience.
Some people may prefer the details in Part II; but others who
have not the patience to read Part II may tolerate the more
general considerations adduced in Part III--the "Life and Death"
portion--which can be read without any reference to Raymond or to
Parts I and II.
[Footnote 29: It is noteworthy, in connexion with these
remarks, that Honor and Alec were sitting for a short time
at Mariemont just about now.--O. J. L.]
[Footnote 30: This is the first mention of a
Ralph--presumably the one whose people, not known to us
personally, had had excellent table sittings with Mrs.
Leonard. See Chapter XII.--O. J. L.]
[Footnote 31: This is too late to be of any use, but
'Yacht' appears to be the sort of answer they had wanted
to 'Argonauts.'--O. J. L.]
PART THREE: LIFE AND DEATH
"Eternal form shall still divide
The eternal soul from all beside;
And I shall know him when we meet."
Tennyson, _In Memoriam_.
INTRODUCTION
In this "Life and Death" portion a definite side is unobtrusively
taken in connexion with two outstanding controversies; and though
the treatment is purposely simple and uncontroversial, the author is
under no delusion that every philosophical reader will agree with
him. Explicit argumentation on either side is no novelty, but this is
not the place for argument; moreover, the opposing views have already
been presented with ample clearness by skilled disputants.
Briefly then it may be said that Interactionism rather than
Epiphenomenalism or Parallelism is the side taken in one controversy.
And the non-material nature of life--the real existence of some kind
of vital essence or vivifying principle as a controlling and guiding
entity--is postulated in another: though the author never calls it a
force or an energy.
Philosophical literature teems with these topics, but it may
suffice here to call the attention of the general reader to two
or three easily readable summaries--one an explanatory article by
Mr. Gerald Balfour, in _The Hibbert Journal_ for April 1910, on
the Epiphenomenon controversy, and generally on the alternative
explanations of the connexion between Mind and Body, in the light
thrown on the subject by Telepathy and Psychical Research; while on
the vitality controversy a small book embodying a short course of
lectures by the physiologist and philosopher Dr. J. S. Haldane under
the title _Mechanism, Life, and Personality_, or a larger book by
Professor M'Dougal called _Body and Mind_, may be recommended. On
this subject also the writings of Professor J. Arthur Thomson may be
specially mentioned.
The opinions of the present author on these topics, whatever they
may be worth, are held without apology or hesitation, because to him
they appear the inevitable consequence of facts of nature as now
known or knowable. Some of these facts are not generally accepted
by scientific men; and if the facts themselves are not admitted,
naturally any conclusion based upon them will appear ill-founded, and
the further developed structure illusory. He anticipates that this
will be said by critics.
In so far as the author's manner of statement is in terms of frank
Dualism, he regards that as inevitable for scientific purposes. He
does not suppose that any form of Dualism can be the last word about
the Universe; but, for practical purposes, mind and matter, or soul
and body, must be thought of separately, and it must be the work of
higher Philosophy to detect ultimate unity--a unity which he feels
certain cannot possibly be materialistic in any sense intelligible to
those who are at present studying matter and energy.
It may be doubted whether Materialism as a philosophy exists any
longer, in the sense of being sustained by serious philosophers;
but a few physiological writers, of skill and industry, continue
to advocate what they are pleased to call Scientific Materialism.
Properly regarded this is a Policy, not a Philosophy, as I will
explain; but they make the mistake of regarding it as a Philosophy
comprehensive enough to give them the right of negation as well
as of affirmation. They do this in the interest of what they feel
instinctively to be the ultimate achievement, a Monism in which mind
and matter can be recognised as aspects of some one fundamental
Reality. We can sympathise with the aim, and still feel how far from
accomplishment we are. Nothing is gained by undue haste, and by
unfounded negation much may be lost. We must not deny any part of the
Universe for the sake of a premature unification. Simplification by
exclusion or denial is a poverty-stricken device.
The strength of such workers is that they base themselves on the
experience and discoveries of the past, and, by artificial but
convenient limitation of outlook, achieve practical results. But they
are not satisfied with results actually achieved--they forget their
limitations--and, by a gigantic system of extrapolation from what has
been done, try to infer what is going to be done; their device being
to anticipate and speak of what they hope for, as if it were already
an accomplished fact. Some of the assumptions or blind guesses made
by men of this school are well illustrated by an exposition in _The
Hibbert Journal_ for July 1916, where an able writer states the main
propositions of Scientific Materialism thus:--
1. The law of universal causation;
2. The principle of mechanism--_i.e._ the denial of purpose in the
universe and all notions of absolute finalism or teleology;
3. The denial that there exists any form of 'spiritual' or 'mental'
entity that cannot be expressed in terms of matter and motion.
These appear to be its three propositions, and they are formulated by
the exponent "as being of the first importance in the representation
of materialistic thought."
Now proposition 1 is common property; materialistic thought has no
sort of exclusive right over it; and to claim propositions 2 and
3 as corollaries from it is farcical. Taking them as independent
postulates--which they are--all that need be said about proposition
2 is that a broad denial always needs more knowledge than a specific
assertion, and it is astonishing that any sane person can imagine
himself to know enough about the Universe as a whole to be able
complacently to deny the existence of any "purpose" in it. All he
can really mean is that scientific explanations must be framed so
as to exhibit the immediate means whereby results in nature are
accomplished; for whether, or in what sense, they are first or
simultaneously conceived in a Mind--as human undertakings are--is
a matter beyond our scientific ken. Thus Darwinian and Mendelian
attempts to explain how species arise, and how inheritance occurs,
are entirely legitimate and scientific. For our experience is that
every event has a proximate cause which we can investigate. Of
ultimate causes we as scientific men are ignorant: they belong to a
different region of inquiry. If the word "denial," therefore, in the
above proposition is replaced by the phrase "exclusion from practical
scientific attention," I for one have no quarrel with clause 2;
for it then becomes a mere self-denying ordinance, a convenient
limitation of scope. It represents Policy, not Philosophy.
But attention may be more usefully directed to the extravagantly
gratuitous guess involved in hypothesis 3. As a minor point, it is
not even carefully worded; for entities which cannot be expressed in
terms of matter and motion are common enough without going outside
the domain of physics. Light, for instance, and Electricity, have
not yet proved amenable, and do not appear likely to be amenable, to
purely dynamical theory.
Certain phenomena have been reduced to matter and motion,--heat, for
instance, and sound, the phenomena of gases and liquids, and all the
complexities of astronomy. And in a famous passage Newton expressed
an enthusiastic hope that all the phenomena of physics might some
day be similarly reduced to the attractive simplicity of the three
laws of motion--inertia, acceleration, and stress. And ever since
Newton it has been the aim of physics to explain everything in its
domain in terms of pure dynamics. The attempt has been only partially
successful: the Ether is recalcitrant. But its recalcitrance is not
like mere surly obstruction, it is of a helpful and illuminating
character, and I shall not be misleading anyone if I cheerfully
admit that in some modified and expanded form dynamical theory in
mathematical physics has proved itself to be supreme.
But does dominance of that kind give to that splendid science--the
glory of Britain and of Cambridge--the right to make a gigantic
extrapolation and sprawl over all the rest of the Universe, throwing
out tentacles even into regions which it has definitely abstracted
from its attention or excluded from its ken? There is not a physicist
who thinks so. The only people who try to think so are a few
enthusiasts of a more speculative habit of thought, who are annoyed
with the physicists, from Lord Kelvin downwards, for not agreeing
with them. And being unable to gather from competent authority any
specific instance in which dynamics has explained a single fact in
the region of either life or mind or consciousness or emotion or
purpose or will,--because it is known perfectly well that dynamical
jurisdiction does not extend into those regions,--these speculators
set up as authorities on their own account, and, on the strength of
their own expectation, propound the broad and sweeping dogma that
nothing in the Universe exists which is not fully expressible in
terms of matter and motion. And then, having accustomed themselves to
the sound of some such collocation of words, they call upon humanity
to shut its eyes to any facts of common experience which render such
an assertion ridiculous.
The energy and enthusiasm of these writers, and the good work
they may be doing in their own science, render them more or less
immune from attack; but every now and then it is necessary to say
clearly that such extravagant generalisations profane the modesty of
science: whose heritage it is to recognise the limitations of partial
knowledge, and to be always ready to gain fresh experience and learn
about the unknown. The new and unfamiliar is the vantage ground, not
of scientific dogmatism, but of scientific inquiry.
* * * * *
The expository or theoretical part of this book may at first appear
too abstract for the general reader who has had no experience of
the kind of facts already described. Such reader may fail to see a
connexion between this more didactic portion and the illustrations or
examples which have preceded it; but if he will give sufficient time
and thought to the subject, the connexion will dawn upon him with
considerable vividness.
It has always seemed to the author legitimate, and in every way
desirable, for an experimenter to interpret and make himself
responsible for an explanation or theory of his observations, so far
as he can. To record bare facts and expect a reader of the record
to arrive at the same conclusion as that reached by one who has
been immersed in them for a long time, is to expect too strenuous
an effort, and is not a fair procedure. Such a practice, though
not unusual and sometimes even commended in physical science, is
not followed by the most famous workers; and it has been known to
retard progress for a considerable time by loading the student with
an accumulation of undigested facts. The hypothesis on which an
observer has been working, or which he has arrived at in the course
of his investigations, may or may not be of permanent value, but if
his experience has led him to regard it as the best solution so far
attainable, and if he is known not to be a specially obstinate or
self-opinionated person, his views for what they are worth should be
set forth for the guidance of future inquirers. If he mauls the facts
in his direction, he will be detected; but such an accusation is a
serious one, and should not be made lightly or without opportunity
for reply.
The string on which beads are strung may not be extremely durable,
and in time it may give place to something stronger, but it is better
than a random heap of beads not threaded on anything at all.
The main thread linking all the facts together in the present case is
the hypothesis not only of continued or personal psychical existence
in the abstract, but a definite inter-locking or inter-communication
between two grades of existence,--the two in which we are most
immediately interested and about which we can ascertain most,--that
of the present and that of the immediate future for each individual;
together with the added probabilities that the actual grades of
existence are far more than two, and that the forthcoming transition,
in which we cannot but be interested even if we do not believe in it,
is only one of many of which we shall, in some barely imaginable way,
in due time become aware.
The hypothesis of continued existence in another set of conditions,
and of possible communication across a boundary, is not a gratuitous
one made for the sake of comfort and consolation, or because of a
dislike to the idea of extinction; it is a hypothesis which has been
gradually forced upon the author--as upon many other persons--by the
stringent coercion of definite experience. The foundation of the
atomic theory in Chemistry is to him no stronger. The evidence is
cumulative, and has broken the back of all legitimate and reasonable
scepticism.
And if by selecting the atomic theory as an example he has chosen one
upon which supplementary and most interesting facts have been grafted
in the progress of discovery--facts not really contradicting the old
knowledge, even when superficially appearing to do so, but adding to
it and illuminating it further, while making changes perhaps in its
manner of formulation--he has chosen such an example of set purpose,
as not unlikely to be imitated in the present case also.
CHAPTER I
THE MEANING OF THE TERM LIFE
"Eternal process moving on."--TENNYSON
The shorter the word the more inevitable it is that it will be used
in many significations; as can be proved by looking out almost any
monosyllable in a large dictionary. The tendency of a simple word to
have many glancing meanings--like shot silk, as Tennyson put it--is
a character of high literary value; though it may be occasionally
inconvenient for scientific purposes. It is unlikely that we can
escape an ambiguity due to this tendency, but I wish to use the term
'life' to signify the vivifying principle which animates matter.
That the behaviour of animated matter differs from what is often
called dead matter is familiar, and is illustrated by the description
sometimes given of an uncanny piece of mechanism--that "it behaves
as if it were alive." In the case of a jumping bean, for instance,
its spasmodic and capricious behaviour can be explained with apparent
simplicity, though with a suspicious trend towards superstition,
by the information that a live and active maggot inhabits a cavity
inside. It is thereby removed from the bare category of physics
only, though still perfectly obedient to physical laws: it jumps in
accordance with mechanics, but neither the times nor the direction of
its jumps can be predicted.[32]
We must admit that the term 'dead matter' is often misapplied. It
is used sometimes to denote merely the constituents of the general
inorganic world. But it is inconvenient to speak of utterly inanimate
things, like stones, as 'dead,' when no idea of life was ever
associated with them, and when 'inorganic' is all that is meant. The
term 'dead' applied to a piece of matter signifies the absence of a
vivifying principle, no doubt, but it is most properly applied to a
collocation of organic matter which has been animated.
Again, when animation has ceased, the thing we properly call dead
is not the complete organism, but that material portion which is
left behind; we do not or should not intend to make any assertion
concerning the vivifying principle which has left it,--beyond the
bare fact of its departure. We know too little about that principle
to be able to make safe general assertions. The life that is
transmitted by an acorn or other seed fruit is always beyond our ken.
We can but study its effects, and note its presence or its absence by
results.
Life must be considered _sui generis_; it is not a form of energy,
nor can it be expressed in terms of something else. Electricity is
in the same predicament; it too cannot be explained in terms of
something else. This is true of all fundamental forms of being.
Magnetism may be called a concomitant of moving electricity; ordinary
matter can perhaps be resolved into electric charges: but an electric
charge can certainly not be expressed in terms of either matter or
energy. No more can life. To show that the living principle in a seed
is not one of the forms of energy, it is sufficient to remember that
that seed can give rise to innumerable descendants, through countless
generations, without limit. There is nothing like a constant quantity
of something to be shared, as there is in all examples of energy:
there is no conservation about it: the seed embodies a stimulating
and organising principle which appears to well from a limitless
source.
But although life is not energy, any more than it is matter, yet it
directs energy and thereby controls arrangements of matter. Through
the agency of life specific structures are composed which would not
otherwise exist, from a sea-shell to a cathedral, from a blade of
grass to an oak; and specific distributions of energy are caused,
from the luminosity of a firefly to an electric arc, from the song of
a cricket to an oratorio.
Life makes use of any automatic activities, or transferences and
declensions of energy, which are either potentially or actually
occurring. In especial it makes use of the torrent of ether tremors
which reach the earth from the sun. Every plant is doing it
constantly. Admittedly life exerts no force, it does no work, but
it makes effective the energy available for an organism which it
controls and vivifies; it determines in what direction and when
work shall be done. It is plain matter of fact that it does this,
whether we understand the method or not,--and thus indirectly life
interacts with and influences the material world. The energy of
coal is indirectly wholly solar, but without human interference it
might remain buried in the earth, and certainly would never propel
a ship across the Atlantic. One way of putting the matter is to say
that life _times_, and _directs_. If it runs a railway train, it
runs the train not like a locomotive but like a General Manager.
It enters into battle with a walking-stick, but guns are fired to
its orders. It may be said to aim and fire: one of its functions is
to discriminate between the wholesome and the deleterious, between
friend and foe. That is a function outside the scope of physics.
Energy controlled by life is not random energy: the kind of
self-composition or personal structure built by it depends on the
kind of life-unit which is operating, not on the pabulum which is
supplied. The same food will serve to build a pig, a chicken, or
a man. Food which is assimilable at all takes a shape determined
by the nature of the operative organism, and indeed by the portion
of the organism actually reached by it. Unconscious constructive
ability is as active in each cell of the body as in a honeycomb; only
in a beehive we can see the operators at work. The construction of
an eye or an ear is still more astonishing. In the inorganic world
such structures would be meaningless, for there would be nothing
to respond to their stimulus; they can only serve elementary mind
and consciousness. The brain and nerve system is an instrument of
transmutation or translation from the physical to the mental, and
_vice versa_.
STAGES OF EVOLUTION
Steps in the progress of evolution--great stages which have been
likened by Sir James Crichton Browne to exceptional Mendelian
Mutations--may be rather imaginatively rehearsed somewhat thus:--
Starting with
The uniform Ether of Space, we can first suppose
The specialisation or organisation of specks of ether into Electrons;
followed by
Associated systems of electrons, constituting atoms of Matter; and so
The whole inorganic Universe.
Then, as a new and astonishing departure, comes--
The cell, or protoplasmic complex which Life can construct and
utilise for manifestation and development.[33]
And after that
A brain cell, which can become the physical organ for the rudiments
of Mind.
Followed by
Further mental development until Consciousness becomes possible.
With subsequent
Sublimation of consciousness into Ethics, Philosophy, and Religion.
We need not insist on these or any other stages for our present
purpose; yet something of the kind would seem to have occurred, in
the mysterious course of time.
THREE EXPLANATORY NOTES
NOTE A.--MECHANICS OF JUMPING BEAN
The biological explanation of a jumping bean is sometimes felt to be
puzzling, inasmuch as the creature is wholly enclosed; and a man in
a boat knows that he cannot propel it by movement inside, without
touching the water or something external. But the reaction of a
table can be made use of through the envelope, and a live thing can
momentarily vary its own weight-pressure and even reverse its sign.
This fact has a bearing on some psycho-physical experiments, and
hence is worthy of a moment's attention.
To weigh an animal that jumps and will not keep still is always
troublesome. It cannot alter its average weight, truly, but it can
redistribute it in time; at moments its apparent weight may be
excessive, and at other moments zero or even negative, as during the
middle of an energetic leap. Parenthetically we may here interpolate
a remark and say that what is called interference of light (two
lights producing darkness, in popular language) is a redistribution
of luminous energy in space. No light, nor any kind of wave motion,
is destroyed by interference when two sets of waves overlap, but the
energy rises to a maximum in some places, and in other places sinks
to zero. No wave energy is consumed by interference--only rearranged.
This fact is often misstated. And probably the other statement, about
the varying apparent weight--_i.e._ pressure on the ground--of a live
animal, may be misstated too: though there is no question of energy
about that, but only of force. The force or true weight, in the sense
of the earth's attraction, is there all the time, and is constant;
but the pressure on the ground, or the force needed to counteract the
weight, is not constant. After momentary violence, as in throwing, no
support need be supplied for several seconds; and, like the maggot
inside a hollow bean, a live thing turning itself into a projectile
may even carry something else up too. It is instructive also to
consider a flying bird, and a dirigible balloon, and to ask where the
still existing weight of these things can be found.
NOTE B.--DIFFERENCES BETWEEN A GROWING ORGANISM AND A GROWING
CRYSTAL
The properties which differentiate living matter from any kind of
inorganic imitation may be instinctively felt, but can hardly be
formulated without expert knowledge. The differences between a
growing organism and a growing crystal are many and various, but it
must suffice here to specify the simplest and most familiar sort of
difference; and as it is convenient to take a possibly controversial
statement of this kind from the writings of a physiologist, I quote
here a passage from an article by Professor Fraser Harris, of
Halifax, Nova Scotia, in the current number of the quarterly magazine
called _Science Progress_ edited by Sir Ronald Ross--
"Living animal bioplasm has the power of growing, that
is of assimilating matter in most cases chemically
quite unlike that of its own constitution. Now this is
a remarkable power, not in the least degree shared by
non-living matter. Its very familiarity has blinded us to
its uniqueness as a chemical phenomenon. The mere fact
that a man eating beef, bird, fish, lobster, sugar, fat,
and innumerable other things can transform these into
human bioplasm, something chemically very different even
from that of them which most resembles human tissue, is
one of the most extraordinary facts in animal physiology.
A crystal growing in a solution is not only not analogous
to this process, it is in the sharpest possible contrast
with it. The crystal grows only in the sense that it
increases in bulk by accretions to its exterior, and only
does that by being immersed in a solution of the same
material as its own substance. It takes up to itself only
material which is already similar to itself; this is not
assimilation, it is merely incorporation.
* * * * *
"The term 'growth,' strictly speaking, can be applied
only to metabolism in the immature or convalescent
organism. The healthy adult is not 'growing' in this
sense; when of constant weight he is adding neither to
his stature nor his girth, and yet he is assimilating as
truly as ever he did. Put more technically: in the adult
of stationary weight, anabolism is quantitatively equal
to katabolism, whereas in the truly growing organism
anabolism is prevailing over katabolism; and reversely in
the wasting of an organism or in senile decay, katabolism
is prevailing over anabolism. The crystal in its solution
offers no analogies with the adult or the senile
states--but these are of the very essence of the life of
an organism....
"The fact, of course familiar to every beginner in
biology, is that the crystal is only incorporating and
not excreting anything, whereas the living matter is
always excreting as well as assimilating. This one-sided
metabolism--if it can be dignified with that term--is
indeed characteristic of the crystal, but it is at no
time characteristic of the living organism. The organism,
whether truly growing or only in metabolic equilibrium,
is constantly taking up material to replace effete
material, is replenishing because it has previously
displenished itself or cast off material. The resemblance
between a so-called 'growing' crystal and a growing
organism is verily of the most superficial kind."
And Professor Fraser Harris concludes his article thus:--
"Between the living and the non-living there is a great
gulf fixed, and no efforts of ours, however heroic, have
as yet bridged it over."
NOTE C.--OLD AGE
We know that as vitality diminishes the bodily deterioration called
old age sets in, and that a certain amount of deterioration results
in death; but it turns out, on systematic inquiry, that old age and
death are not essential to living organisms. They represent the
deterioration and wearing out of working parts, so that the vivifying
principle is hampered in its manifestation and cannot achieve results
which with a younger and healthier machine were possible; but the
parts which wear out are not the essential bearers of the vivifying
principle; they are accreted or supplementary portions appropriate
to developed individual earth life, and it does not appear
improbable that the progress of discovery may at least postpone the
deterioration that we call old age, for a much longer time than at
present. Emphasis on this distinction between germ cell and body
cell, usually associated with Weismann, seems to have been formulated
before him by Herdman of Liverpool.
Biologists teach us that the phenomenon of old age is not evident in
the case of the unicellular organisms which reproduce by fission.
The cell can be killed, but it need neither grow old nor die. Death
appears to be a prerogative of the higher organisms. But even among
these Professor Weismann adopts and defends the view that "death is
not a primary necessity, but that it has been secondarily acquired
by adaptation." The cell is not inherently limited in its number
of cell-generations. The low unicellular organism is potentially
immortal; the higher multicellular form, with well-differentiated
organs, contains the germ of death within its _soma_. Death seems to
supervene by reason of its utility to the species: continued life of
an individual after a certain stage being comparatively useless. From
the point of view of the race the soma or main body is "a secondary
appendage of the real bearer of life--the reproductive cells."
The somatic cells probably lost their immortal qualities on this
immortality becoming useless to the species. Their mortality may have
been a mere consequence of their differentiation. "Natural death was
not introduced from absolute intrinsic necessity, inherent in the
nature of living matter," says Weismann, "but on grounds of utility;
that is from necessities which sprang up, not from the general
conditions of life, but from those special conditions which dominate
the life of multicellular organisms."
It is not the germ cell itself, but the bodily accretion or
appendage, which is abandoned by life, and which accordingly dies and
decays.
[Footnote 32: See Explanatory Note A at end of chapter.]
[Footnote 33: See Explanatory Note B.]