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Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1866 > September
September
The Davenport BrothersThe Davenport brothers have just spent some time in Brussels, where they peacefully gave their performances; we have numerous correspondents in that country, and neither through them nor through the newspapers we have heard that those gentlemen had been the subject of regrettable scenes as those that happened in Paris. Would the Belgians give the Parisians lessons of urbanity? One could believe it, by comparing the two situations. What is evident is that there was a preconceived idea in Paris, an organized conspiracy against them, and the proof of that is that they were attacked before people knew what they would do, even before they had started. They can boo those that fail, who do not do what they announced, it is a right acquired with the purchase of a ticket everywhere. But to scoff, insult and mistreat them, break their instruments even before they enter the scene, that would not be allowed against the last tearaway of the fair. Irrespective of the way those gentlemen are considered, such behavior has no excuse in a civilized people.
What are they accused of? For presenting themselves as mediums? For pretending to operate with the help of the Spirits? If it were, from their part, a fraudulent way of attracting the curiosity of the public, who would have the right to complain? The Spiritists could feel sorry for the exhibition of a respectable thing. Well, who complained? Who shouted against the scandal, the imposture and profanation? It was precisely those that do not believe in the Spirits.
But, among those that scream stronger that there aren’t Spirits, that there is nothing beyond man, there are some that after hearing so much about the manifestations, end up perhaps not believing but may fear that there is something. The fear that the Davenport brothers could prove it has clearly unleashed a true rage against them, which, if one were certain that they were nothing but skillful conjurers, the rage wouldn’t have more meaning than against the first illusionist that appeared. Yes, we are convinced that the fear of seeing them victorious was the main cause of such hostility, that preceded their public appearance, and prepared the means of aborting their first exhibition.
But the Davenport brothers were only a pretext; personally, they were not the target, but Spiritism that they thought could get a sanction, and for the great disappointment of its adversaries, enjoys the effects of slander through its prudent reservation from which it has never moved away, despite all the efforts made to force it to do so. To many people it is a nightmare. It would be necessary to know it very little to believe that those gentlemen, putting themselves in conditions that Spiritism disapprove, could operate as their helpers. Nonetheless, they served the cause by making people talk about it on the occasion, and the critic, unwillingly, reached out, provoking the exam of the doctrine.
It is noticeable that all the uproar created around Spiritism is the work of the very ones that wanted to muffle it. Whatever had been done against it, Spiritism never cried. It was the adversaries that cried out, as if believing that they were already dead.
We extracted from the Office de Publicité, a Brussels’ newspaper that is said to have a circulation of 25,000 copies, the following passages from two articles published in the last July 8th and 22nd issues about the Davenport brothers, as well as two letters of refutation, fairly inserted in the same newspaper. Although a bit worn out, the subject still has its instructive side.
What are they accused of? For presenting themselves as mediums? For pretending to operate with the help of the Spirits? If it were, from their part, a fraudulent way of attracting the curiosity of the public, who would have the right to complain? The Spiritists could feel sorry for the exhibition of a respectable thing. Well, who complained? Who shouted against the scandal, the imposture and profanation? It was precisely those that do not believe in the Spirits.
But, among those that scream stronger that there aren’t Spirits, that there is nothing beyond man, there are some that after hearing so much about the manifestations, end up perhaps not believing but may fear that there is something. The fear that the Davenport brothers could prove it has clearly unleashed a true rage against them, which, if one were certain that they were nothing but skillful conjurers, the rage wouldn’t have more meaning than against the first illusionist that appeared. Yes, we are convinced that the fear of seeing them victorious was the main cause of such hostility, that preceded their public appearance, and prepared the means of aborting their first exhibition.
But the Davenport brothers were only a pretext; personally, they were not the target, but Spiritism that they thought could get a sanction, and for the great disappointment of its adversaries, enjoys the effects of slander through its prudent reservation from which it has never moved away, despite all the efforts made to force it to do so. To many people it is a nightmare. It would be necessary to know it very little to believe that those gentlemen, putting themselves in conditions that Spiritism disapprove, could operate as their helpers. Nonetheless, they served the cause by making people talk about it on the occasion, and the critic, unwillingly, reached out, provoking the exam of the doctrine.
It is noticeable that all the uproar created around Spiritism is the work of the very ones that wanted to muffle it. Whatever had been done against it, Spiritism never cried. It was the adversaries that cried out, as if believing that they were already dead.
We extracted from the Office de Publicité, a Brussels’ newspaper that is said to have a circulation of 25,000 copies, the following passages from two articles published in the last July 8th and 22nd issues about the Davenport brothers, as well as two letters of refutation, fairly inserted in the same newspaper. Although a bit worn out, the subject still has its instructive side.
Chronicle of Brussels
“It is quite true that everything happens and that one must not say: “Fountain, I will not drink your water.” If I were told that I would never see the wardrobe of the Davenport brothers, nor the renowned wizards, I would have sworn that this has no importance, because it is enough to hear that someone is a sorcerer to take away any curiosity about him. Witchcraft and the supernatural have no more stubborn enemy than me. I would not go to see a miracle when it was shown for free; these things inspire aversion in me, as much as the two headed calves, the bearded woman, and all monsters. I find the rapping Spirits and the wise tables stupid, and there is no superstition that makes me run to the end of the world. Now think if with such dispositions I could have joined the crowd of the Davenport brothers, when it was said that they kept an irregular trade with the Spirits! I also admit that the idea of unmasking the trickery or breaking their wardrobe proving that they were not witches, would not have occurred to me either, because, by doing so, I would have given proof that I had believed myself in their art and apparatuses. It would have seemed infinitely simpler to reject, from the beginning, that hypothetical witchery, and suppose that they must be very skillful creatures in their works, for having deceived so many people. As for the understanding, I would not have bothered. Since the Spirits are not involved, what would be the point? And if there were Spirits poor enough in the other world to play the role of their accomplices, would that still be worth it?
I read over time with great attention, although I had something better to do with my time, the majority of the books used by the Spiritists and I found there everything that was necessary to satisfy the need of a new religion, but not what could convert me to this old novelty. Having consulted all the Spirits, whose answers are cited, they said nothing that had not been said before them, and in better terms than what they repeated. They taught us that we must love good and hate evil, that truth is the opposite of lie, that the soul is immortal, that man must incessantly strive to improve and that life is a test, all known things for thousands of years, for a revelation that was useless to evoke so many illustrious dead, and even personalities that however renowned they might be, they made the mistake of having never existed. I do not speak of the Wandering Jew, but imagine if I evoke Don Quixote and that he comes back, wouldn’t that be the last joke?
I had only one objection about the Davenport brothers once they were just skillful sorcerers. That objection was summed-up in that having Spiritism kept away, in good will and mutual agreement, their exercises could just be a mediocre amusement. It is unlikely that I would have the idea of watching them if, given the gracious offer to go there, I had not considered that the chronicle obliges, that not everything is rosy in this life and the chronicler must go where the public is, and be bothered a little as a compensation.
Having decided to do things conscientiously, to begin with I went to the room of the Artistic and Literary Circle where they were busy putting up the famous wardrobe. I saw it still incomplete, at day light, stripped from all its “poetry”. If solitude and the shadows of night are necessary to the ruins, the trickery of the prestidigitators needed the gas light, the credulous crowd, and the distance.
But the Davenport brothers are good players and put their cards on the table. We could see and anybody could get inside. An American worker calmly assembled the wardrobe; the guitars, Basque drums, the strings, the bells were there, mixed up with chests, clothes, pieces of rugs, wrapping cloths; everything left to the reach of anybody, as a challenge to curiosity. All that seemed to say: turn, turn again, examine, search, touch, shake! You will know nothing.
There isn’t anything more insolently simple than the wardrobe. It is a cabinet that absolutely has no appearance of having been made to house Spirits. It seemed to be walnut to me. It has three doors instead of two in front, and it seems tired of the trips it made and assaults it suffered. I glanced at it, not too close, for open as it was, I imagined that such a mysterious piece of furniture must smell stale, like the magic spinet in which Mozart was hidden as a child.
I formally declare that unless I put my laundry or clothes there, I would not know that to do with the wardrobe of the Davenport brothers. Each thing its function. I saw it again at night, isolated on the stage, in front of the ramp; it already had a monumental appearance. The room was packed, as it had never been in the days when Mozart, Beethoven and their performers alone paid for the evening. The most beautiful public that one can have: the kindest, the wittiest, the prettiest women of Brussels, then the Counselors of the Court of Cassation, judicial and literary presidents; all the academies, senators, ministers, representatives, journalists, artists, contractors, cabinetmakers, “that was like a bouquet of flowers”. The honorable Mr. Rogier, Minister of Foreign Affairs, was at this evening, accompanied by a former President of the Chamber. Mr. Vervoort that having returned to human grandeur, only preserved the presidency of the Circle, a charming Royalty, as a matter of fact. I felt quite reassured after this sight. One of the best painters, Mr. Robie, echoed my thoughts, by saying: “You see! Austria and Prussia may fight as much as they wish. As long as the European crisis does not disturb our Minister of Foreign Affairs, Belgium may sleep in peace.” That seemed peremptory to me, you will judge, and knowing that Mr. Rogier attended the show of the Davenport brothers smiling, you will sleep soundly. It is the best thing for you to do.
I saw all the exercises of the Davenport brothers and I absolutely did not try to understand their mystery. All I can say, without thinking the least in diminishing their success, is that it is impossible to me to feel pleasure in these things. They do not interest me. The Davenport brothers were tied up in my presence; it was said that they were tied up very well; then they put flour in their hands and locked them in the wardrobe, dimed the light and I heard a big noise of guitars, bells and Basque drums in the dresser. Suddenly the cabinet opened – a drum rolled violently up to my feet and the Davenport brothers showed up untied, waving to the public, shaking off the flour from their hands. They got a lot of applause; that it!
-Finally, how do you explain this?
-There are people in the Circle that explains it very well. As for myself, however much I try, I do not have absolutely any wish to understand. They untied themselves, that is all, and the trick of flour was well done. I find the preparations long; the noise annoying and everything not much entertaining. And no Spirit, not in the singular, not in the plural.
-Then, don’t you believe?
-Yes, I believe in the boredom I had.
-And Spiritism, don’t you believe?
-That is Sganarelle’s question to Don Juan. You will soon ask if I believe in the Bourru Monk. I will respond, like Don Juan, that I believe that two plus two is four and four plus four is eight. I still don’t know that after seeing what happens in Germany and elsewhere I wouldn’t be forced to make reservations.
-So, are you an atheist?
-No. Without modesty, I am the most religious person on Earth.
-Therefore, you believe in God, in the immortality of the soul, in…
-I do. It is my happiness and my hope.
-And everything is reconciled with your four plus four is eight!
-Precisely. That is everything. Turkish is a beautiful language.
-Do you go to the masses?
-No, but I do not preclude you from going. The bird on the branch, the worm shining on the grass, the globes in space and my heart full of worship sing the mass to me day and night. I love God with passion and without fear. What do you want me to do with this, with religions and other varieties of Davenportism?
-How about Spiritism? And Allan Kardec?
-I believe Mr. Allan Kardec, that would to much better if using his real name, is as much a good citizen as you and me. His moral does not differ from the common moral, that is enough to me. As for his revelations, I like them as much as I do the wardrobe of the Davenports, with our without guitars. I read the revelation of the Spirits; their style is not to the level of Bossuet, and except for the citations made to illustrious men, it is heavy and sometimes common. I wouldn’t like to write as the strongest of the group does. My editor would say that the pasta is good but we must not abuse. Spiritism has supernatural and dogmas and I am suspicious of this floured party. I said this five years ago, speaking about the doctrine because it is a doctrine: it has everything that is needed to establish a new religion. I would be better to be simply religious and do not go beyond the revelations of the universe. I see this religion emerge. It is already a sect, and a considerable one, for you cannot evaluate the number and seriousness of the letters that I have already received, for having dealt with Spiritism lately. It has its fanatics, it will have its intolerant, and its preachers, because the dogma requires the intermediary action and the Spirits have their classes and preferences. Therefore, if there is ten percent to gain with this new dogma, a clergy will be seen. I believe it will inherit Catholicism given its seducing aspects. Just wait for the smarty ones to mix there, and the prophets and privileged evokers will surge through the mystery of the thing, that is kind and poetic, like the weed in the wheat field. Below you have two letters addressed to me. They come from loyal, simple and convict persons. That is why I publish them.
To Mr. Bertram.
Four years ago, I was what can be called a frank latecomer; a since Catholic, I believed in the miracles, in the devil, in the Papal infallibility. Therefore, I would have accepted Pio IX encyclic without discussion, with all its consequences in the political life. But you will ask, what is the objective of such a confession from an unknown person? My word, Mr. Bertram, I will tell you with the risk of exciting your teasing vein, or to make you run to the end of the world. One day, in Antwerp, I saw a little table (vulgarly called speaking table) that answered to my mental question in my native language, unknown to the attendees; there was, among them, strong minds, masons that did not believe even in God nor in the soul. The event made them think; they read with great interest the works of Mr. Allan Kardec; I did the same, in particular when several priests had assured me that such phenomena were exclusive works of the… devil, and I assure you that I do not regret the time it took me, much to the contrary. I not only found in those books a rational and very natural solution to the phenomenon above, but also an explanation to many questions, many problems that had appeared to me before. You found in them matter for a new religion; but do you believe, Mr. Bertram, that it would be too bad if that occurred? Is Catholicism so much associated to the needs of our society that it cannot be renovated nor replaced advantageously? Or do you believe that humanity may do without every religious belief? Liberalism proclaims beautiful principles, but it is mostly skeptical and materialistic. In such condition it would never attract the masses to itself, as the same applies to the ultramontane Catholicism. If Spiritism one day is called to become a religion, it will be the natural religion, well developed and understood, and certainly not new. It is, as you say, an old novelty. But it is also a neutral ground, where all opinions, both political and religious, will one day walk hand in hand.
In any case, since I became a Spiritist, some gossip has it that I am accused of having become a free thinker. It is true that since then, as with the strong minds that I mentioned above, I no longer believe in the supernatural and in the devil; but, instead, we all believe a bit more in God, in the immortality of the soul, in the plurality of the existences; children of the nineteenth century, we perceive a safe road and want to push the car of progress through that, instead of delaying it. See, therefore, that Spiritism still has good things, for it can operate such changes.
And now, returning to the Davenport brothers, it would be a mistake to avoid the experiments or conclude with a preconceived idea against them, for the simple fact that they are new. The more extraordinary the facts that are presented to us, the more they deserve to be observed conscientiously and without preconceived ideas, because who would be able to brag about knowing all the secrets of nature? I have never seen the Davenport brothers, but I read what the French press wrote about them and was surprised by the ill-faith placed in the case. The amateurs can take advantage of reading Des forces naturelles inconnues (the unknown natural forces) by Hermes (Paris, Didier 1865). It is a refutation, from the point of view of science, of the criticism addressed to them. If it is true that those gentlemen do not introduce themselves as Spiritists and do not know the doctrine, Spiritism must not come out in their defense. All that can be said is that facts similar to the ones they present are possible, obeying a natural law that is now known, and by the intervention of inferior Spirits. It is only that up until now these facts had not been produced in such unfavorable condition, at fixed time and with such regularity. I hope, Sir, that you will welcome these disinterested observations and that you may accommodate them in your newspaper. May they be able to elucidate an issue that is more interesting to your readers than you may suppose.
Your subscriber,
H. Vanderyst.”
Here it is, published! I will not be accused of putting the “candle under the basket.”[1]
To begin with I do not have a basket; moreover, without the shadow of mockery, I do not see much light here. I have never objected to the Spiritist moral; it is pure. The Spiritists are honest and benefactors. Their donations to the nurseries proved that to me. If they get attached to their superior and inferior Spirits, I do not have a problem with that. It is a matter between their instinct and their reason.
The letter has a post scriptum that says: “Allow me to draw your attention to the book that has just been honored in the Index: The plurality of the existences of the soul, by Pezzani, attorney, where this question is treated outside of the Spiritist revelation.”
Let us move on to the next letter:
(a letter with the same intent as the preceding one follows, ending as below):
“I have the conviction that when the press strives to develop everything beautiful that Spiritism contains, the world will make immense moral progress. Making perceptible to mankind that each one carries inside the true religion, the conscience; allowing one to be in the presence of oneself to respond for one’s actions before the Supreme Being, that is important! Wouldn’t that be the destruction of materialism that harms the world so much? Wouldn’t that be a barrier against pride, ambition, and envy, things that make man unhappy? Teach man that he must do good to deserve his reward; there are certainly men that are convinced about all that, but how many with respect to the total? And all that may be taught to man. From my side, I evoked by father and thanks to the obtained answers, doubt is no longer possible.
If I were fortunate enough to handle the pen as you do, I would treat Spiritism as if called to bring a soothing and pleasant moral. My first article would be entitled Spiritism, or the destruction of fanaticism. The fall of the Jesuits and of all those that live out of human credulity. All these ideas are drawn from the excellent book of Mr. Allan Kardec. How much I would enjoy having you seeing Spiritism the way I do! How good would you do to the moral! But, my dear Bertram, how could you find supernatural and witchery in Spiritism? I do not believe it to be more extraordinary to communicate with our parents and friends that passed to the other world, through the fluid that allows us to contact them, than to communicate with our brothers from this world through fabulous distances, by the electric wire!
**
Everything published without observation or comments, only to demonstrate that Spiritism in Belgium has ardent followers in their faith. Positively, the sect makes progress and Catholicism will soon have to count on that.
The Parisian press did not show ill-faith to the Davenport brothers. What it made very clear is that they no longer claim pretension to the supernatural. They no longer hold exhibitions at fifty francs per head, as far as I know. However, I believe that the persons that wanted to pay such price for a spot would not be badly received. To conclude, I affirm that to me their experiments do not seem cut to exert great influence upon the future of human societies.
Bertram”
After the two letters that we have just read, there is little to say about the article. Their moderation contrasts with the acrimony of the majority of what was written about the same subject in the past. At least the author does not contest the right of opinion to the Spiritists, that he respects although he does not share. Inline with certain apostles of progress, he acknowledges that the freedom of conscience is everybody’s right. It is already something. He even agrees that the Spiritists have good things and are in good faith. He attests, finally, the progresses of the doctrine and confesses that it has an enticing side. We will, therefore, only make a few observations.
Mr. Bertram even considers us as good a citizen as he is, and we are thankful, but he adds that we would do better by using our true name. From our side we allow us to ask him why he signs his articles with Bertram, instead of Eugène Landois, that subtracts nothing from his personal qualities, for we know that he is the main organizer of the nursery Saint-Josse-Tennoode, to which he devotes the most commendable solicitude. If Mr. Bertram had read the Spiritist books with such attention as he says, he would know if the Spiritists are so silly to evoke the Wandering Jew and Don Quixote; he would know that Spiritism accepts and rejects; he would not try to present it as a religion, because, by the same token, all philosophies would be religions, for it is part of its essence to discuss the basis of all religions: God and the nature of the soul. Finally, he would understand that if one day Spiritism became a religion, it would not be able to become intolerant nor deny its principle that is the universal fraternity, without distinction of sect and belief; without renouncing to its moto: there is no salvation outside charity, the most explicit symbol of love towards the neighbor, of tolerance and freedom of conscience. Spiritism never says: “there is no salvation outside Spiritism”. If a religion would be based on Spiritism with the exclusion of its principles, it would no longer be Spiritism.
Spiritism is a philosophical doctrine that touches every humanitarian issue. By the profound modifications that it brings to the ideas, it leads to facing things from another point of view, and from there, to the future, inevitable changes in the social relationships. It is a fecund mine where the religions, as sciences, and the civilian institutions, will reap elements of progress. But because it touches in certain religious beliefs, it does not constitute a new cult, as it is not a particular system of politics, legislation, or social economy. It temples, ceremonies and priests are in the imagination of its detractors and in those that fear to see it becoming a religion.
Mr. Bertram criticizes the style of the Spirits and places his own much higher: it is his own right and we do not contest it. We do not challenge either his opinion that in matters of moral, the Spirits do not teach us anything new. This demonstrates one thing, that men are the most to blame for practicing it so little. Is it therefore surprising that God, in His solicitude, repeats it in so many ways? If, by that point of view, the teaching of the Spirits is so useless, that of Christ was equally so because it only developed the commandments of the Sinai. The writings of all moralists are also useless, for the only thing they do is to repeat the same thing in different terms. With such a system, how many people, how much work would be useless, not including the chroniclers that, given their condition, must not invent anything.
One must forcibly acknowledge, therefore, that the moral of the Spirits is as old as the world, what does not come as a surprise if we take into account that the moral is God’s law and this law must exist since eternity and that the creature cannot add anything to the works of the Creator. But, isn’t there anything new in the way of teaching? Up until now the moral code had only been promulgated by a few individuals; it was reproduced in books that not everybody reads or understands. Well then! This very code is taught today not by a few men but by millions of Spirits, that were men, in all countries, in each family, and in a way, to everyone.
Would you believe that someone that was indifferent after reading a book, that treated the maxims that the same contain as a common place, wouldn’t be impressed if his father, his mother or a loved one that he respects comes to say, even in a style inferior to Bossuet: “I am not lost to you, as you thought; I am here by your side, I see and hear you, I know you better when alive, because I read your thoughts. To be happy in the world where I am, here is the code of conduct to be followed; such action is good, the other is bad, etc.” As you see, it is a direct teaching, or if you prefer, a new means of publicity, even more efficient because it goes directly to the heart; because it costs nothing; because it addresses everyone, from the small to the great, from the poor to the rich, from the ignorant to the educated, and because it challenges human despotism that would like to impose it a barrier.
But you may ask, is that possible? Isn’t that an illusion? Such doubt would be natural if those communications were made to a single privileged person, for there wouldn’t be any proof that it may be mistaken. But when thousands of individuals receive similar messages every day, in all countries, is it sensible to believe that they are all mistaken? If the teachings of Spiritism were only contained exclusively in the Spiritist books, it would not have conquered one percent of the followers that it has. Those books do no more than summarize and coordinate that teaching, and what constitute its success is the fact that each person finds the confirmation of what they contain in their inner self.
One will be right by saying that the teaching of the Spirits is superfluous when it is demonstrated that men are sufficiently good to have it dismissed. Until then, there is no surprise in seeing it repeated in all forms and all tones.
What do I care, you say, Mr. Bertram, that there are or there aren’t Spirits! It is possible that this is indifferent to you, but that is not the same with everybody. It is absolutely as if you said: “Why do I care that there are inhabitants in America and that the electric cable demonstrates that to me!” Scientifically it is only the proof of the existence of the invisible world; morally it is a lot, because the confirmation of the existence of the Spirits populating the space, that we thought uninhabited, is the discovery of a whole world, the revelation of the future and destiny of mankind, a revolution in their beliefs. Now, if the thing exists, every denial will not be able to preclude it form existing. Its inevitable results are well deserved of our concern. You are a man of progress and do you repel an element of progress; a means of improving humanity, of cementing fraternity among men; a discovery that leads to the reformation of the social abuse, against which you constantly claim? You believe in your immortal soul, and don’t you absolutely worry about knowing what becomes of it, what becomes of your parents and friends? Frankly, this is not much rational. You say that it is not the in the Davenport’s wardrobe that you are going to find it. We agree. We have never said that that is Spiritism. However, in that same wardrobe, precisely because with or without reason, they made the Spirits intervene, that made them talk about the Spirits, even those that did not believe in them. From that, studies and researches that would not have been made if those gentlemen had presented themselves as simple prestidigitators.
If the Spirits were not in their wardrobe, they could well provoke the means of having a lot of people to come out of their indifference. You can see that you, yourself, inadvertently, were led to sow the idea among your numerous readers, something that you would not have done without that famous wardrobe.
As for the new truths that stand out from the Spiritist revelations, beyond moral, we recommend the article published in the Spiritist Review, January 1865 with the title Instructions by the Spirits.
[1] Matthew 5:15 – “No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket” (T.N.)
I read over time with great attention, although I had something better to do with my time, the majority of the books used by the Spiritists and I found there everything that was necessary to satisfy the need of a new religion, but not what could convert me to this old novelty. Having consulted all the Spirits, whose answers are cited, they said nothing that had not been said before them, and in better terms than what they repeated. They taught us that we must love good and hate evil, that truth is the opposite of lie, that the soul is immortal, that man must incessantly strive to improve and that life is a test, all known things for thousands of years, for a revelation that was useless to evoke so many illustrious dead, and even personalities that however renowned they might be, they made the mistake of having never existed. I do not speak of the Wandering Jew, but imagine if I evoke Don Quixote and that he comes back, wouldn’t that be the last joke?
I had only one objection about the Davenport brothers once they were just skillful sorcerers. That objection was summed-up in that having Spiritism kept away, in good will and mutual agreement, their exercises could just be a mediocre amusement. It is unlikely that I would have the idea of watching them if, given the gracious offer to go there, I had not considered that the chronicle obliges, that not everything is rosy in this life and the chronicler must go where the public is, and be bothered a little as a compensation.
Having decided to do things conscientiously, to begin with I went to the room of the Artistic and Literary Circle where they were busy putting up the famous wardrobe. I saw it still incomplete, at day light, stripped from all its “poetry”. If solitude and the shadows of night are necessary to the ruins, the trickery of the prestidigitators needed the gas light, the credulous crowd, and the distance.
But the Davenport brothers are good players and put their cards on the table. We could see and anybody could get inside. An American worker calmly assembled the wardrobe; the guitars, Basque drums, the strings, the bells were there, mixed up with chests, clothes, pieces of rugs, wrapping cloths; everything left to the reach of anybody, as a challenge to curiosity. All that seemed to say: turn, turn again, examine, search, touch, shake! You will know nothing.
There isn’t anything more insolently simple than the wardrobe. It is a cabinet that absolutely has no appearance of having been made to house Spirits. It seemed to be walnut to me. It has three doors instead of two in front, and it seems tired of the trips it made and assaults it suffered. I glanced at it, not too close, for open as it was, I imagined that such a mysterious piece of furniture must smell stale, like the magic spinet in which Mozart was hidden as a child.
I formally declare that unless I put my laundry or clothes there, I would not know that to do with the wardrobe of the Davenport brothers. Each thing its function. I saw it again at night, isolated on the stage, in front of the ramp; it already had a monumental appearance. The room was packed, as it had never been in the days when Mozart, Beethoven and their performers alone paid for the evening. The most beautiful public that one can have: the kindest, the wittiest, the prettiest women of Brussels, then the Counselors of the Court of Cassation, judicial and literary presidents; all the academies, senators, ministers, representatives, journalists, artists, contractors, cabinetmakers, “that was like a bouquet of flowers”. The honorable Mr. Rogier, Minister of Foreign Affairs, was at this evening, accompanied by a former President of the Chamber. Mr. Vervoort that having returned to human grandeur, only preserved the presidency of the Circle, a charming Royalty, as a matter of fact. I felt quite reassured after this sight. One of the best painters, Mr. Robie, echoed my thoughts, by saying: “You see! Austria and Prussia may fight as much as they wish. As long as the European crisis does not disturb our Minister of Foreign Affairs, Belgium may sleep in peace.” That seemed peremptory to me, you will judge, and knowing that Mr. Rogier attended the show of the Davenport brothers smiling, you will sleep soundly. It is the best thing for you to do.
I saw all the exercises of the Davenport brothers and I absolutely did not try to understand their mystery. All I can say, without thinking the least in diminishing their success, is that it is impossible to me to feel pleasure in these things. They do not interest me. The Davenport brothers were tied up in my presence; it was said that they were tied up very well; then they put flour in their hands and locked them in the wardrobe, dimed the light and I heard a big noise of guitars, bells and Basque drums in the dresser. Suddenly the cabinet opened – a drum rolled violently up to my feet and the Davenport brothers showed up untied, waving to the public, shaking off the flour from their hands. They got a lot of applause; that it!
-Finally, how do you explain this?
-There are people in the Circle that explains it very well. As for myself, however much I try, I do not have absolutely any wish to understand. They untied themselves, that is all, and the trick of flour was well done. I find the preparations long; the noise annoying and everything not much entertaining. And no Spirit, not in the singular, not in the plural.
-Then, don’t you believe?
-Yes, I believe in the boredom I had.
-And Spiritism, don’t you believe?
-That is Sganarelle’s question to Don Juan. You will soon ask if I believe in the Bourru Monk. I will respond, like Don Juan, that I believe that two plus two is four and four plus four is eight. I still don’t know that after seeing what happens in Germany and elsewhere I wouldn’t be forced to make reservations.
-So, are you an atheist?
-No. Without modesty, I am the most religious person on Earth.
-Therefore, you believe in God, in the immortality of the soul, in…
-I do. It is my happiness and my hope.
-And everything is reconciled with your four plus four is eight!
-Precisely. That is everything. Turkish is a beautiful language.
-Do you go to the masses?
-No, but I do not preclude you from going. The bird on the branch, the worm shining on the grass, the globes in space and my heart full of worship sing the mass to me day and night. I love God with passion and without fear. What do you want me to do with this, with religions and other varieties of Davenportism?
-How about Spiritism? And Allan Kardec?
-I believe Mr. Allan Kardec, that would to much better if using his real name, is as much a good citizen as you and me. His moral does not differ from the common moral, that is enough to me. As for his revelations, I like them as much as I do the wardrobe of the Davenports, with our without guitars. I read the revelation of the Spirits; their style is not to the level of Bossuet, and except for the citations made to illustrious men, it is heavy and sometimes common. I wouldn’t like to write as the strongest of the group does. My editor would say that the pasta is good but we must not abuse. Spiritism has supernatural and dogmas and I am suspicious of this floured party. I said this five years ago, speaking about the doctrine because it is a doctrine: it has everything that is needed to establish a new religion. I would be better to be simply religious and do not go beyond the revelations of the universe. I see this religion emerge. It is already a sect, and a considerable one, for you cannot evaluate the number and seriousness of the letters that I have already received, for having dealt with Spiritism lately. It has its fanatics, it will have its intolerant, and its preachers, because the dogma requires the intermediary action and the Spirits have their classes and preferences. Therefore, if there is ten percent to gain with this new dogma, a clergy will be seen. I believe it will inherit Catholicism given its seducing aspects. Just wait for the smarty ones to mix there, and the prophets and privileged evokers will surge through the mystery of the thing, that is kind and poetic, like the weed in the wheat field. Below you have two letters addressed to me. They come from loyal, simple and convict persons. That is why I publish them.
To Mr. Bertram.
Four years ago, I was what can be called a frank latecomer; a since Catholic, I believed in the miracles, in the devil, in the Papal infallibility. Therefore, I would have accepted Pio IX encyclic without discussion, with all its consequences in the political life. But you will ask, what is the objective of such a confession from an unknown person? My word, Mr. Bertram, I will tell you with the risk of exciting your teasing vein, or to make you run to the end of the world. One day, in Antwerp, I saw a little table (vulgarly called speaking table) that answered to my mental question in my native language, unknown to the attendees; there was, among them, strong minds, masons that did not believe even in God nor in the soul. The event made them think; they read with great interest the works of Mr. Allan Kardec; I did the same, in particular when several priests had assured me that such phenomena were exclusive works of the… devil, and I assure you that I do not regret the time it took me, much to the contrary. I not only found in those books a rational and very natural solution to the phenomenon above, but also an explanation to many questions, many problems that had appeared to me before. You found in them matter for a new religion; but do you believe, Mr. Bertram, that it would be too bad if that occurred? Is Catholicism so much associated to the needs of our society that it cannot be renovated nor replaced advantageously? Or do you believe that humanity may do without every religious belief? Liberalism proclaims beautiful principles, but it is mostly skeptical and materialistic. In such condition it would never attract the masses to itself, as the same applies to the ultramontane Catholicism. If Spiritism one day is called to become a religion, it will be the natural religion, well developed and understood, and certainly not new. It is, as you say, an old novelty. But it is also a neutral ground, where all opinions, both political and religious, will one day walk hand in hand.
In any case, since I became a Spiritist, some gossip has it that I am accused of having become a free thinker. It is true that since then, as with the strong minds that I mentioned above, I no longer believe in the supernatural and in the devil; but, instead, we all believe a bit more in God, in the immortality of the soul, in the plurality of the existences; children of the nineteenth century, we perceive a safe road and want to push the car of progress through that, instead of delaying it. See, therefore, that Spiritism still has good things, for it can operate such changes.
And now, returning to the Davenport brothers, it would be a mistake to avoid the experiments or conclude with a preconceived idea against them, for the simple fact that they are new. The more extraordinary the facts that are presented to us, the more they deserve to be observed conscientiously and without preconceived ideas, because who would be able to brag about knowing all the secrets of nature? I have never seen the Davenport brothers, but I read what the French press wrote about them and was surprised by the ill-faith placed in the case. The amateurs can take advantage of reading Des forces naturelles inconnues (the unknown natural forces) by Hermes (Paris, Didier 1865). It is a refutation, from the point of view of science, of the criticism addressed to them. If it is true that those gentlemen do not introduce themselves as Spiritists and do not know the doctrine, Spiritism must not come out in their defense. All that can be said is that facts similar to the ones they present are possible, obeying a natural law that is now known, and by the intervention of inferior Spirits. It is only that up until now these facts had not been produced in such unfavorable condition, at fixed time and with such regularity. I hope, Sir, that you will welcome these disinterested observations and that you may accommodate them in your newspaper. May they be able to elucidate an issue that is more interesting to your readers than you may suppose.
Your subscriber,
H. Vanderyst.”
Here it is, published! I will not be accused of putting the “candle under the basket.”[1]
To begin with I do not have a basket; moreover, without the shadow of mockery, I do not see much light here. I have never objected to the Spiritist moral; it is pure. The Spiritists are honest and benefactors. Their donations to the nurseries proved that to me. If they get attached to their superior and inferior Spirits, I do not have a problem with that. It is a matter between their instinct and their reason.
The letter has a post scriptum that says: “Allow me to draw your attention to the book that has just been honored in the Index: The plurality of the existences of the soul, by Pezzani, attorney, where this question is treated outside of the Spiritist revelation.”
Let us move on to the next letter:
(a letter with the same intent as the preceding one follows, ending as below):
“I have the conviction that when the press strives to develop everything beautiful that Spiritism contains, the world will make immense moral progress. Making perceptible to mankind that each one carries inside the true religion, the conscience; allowing one to be in the presence of oneself to respond for one’s actions before the Supreme Being, that is important! Wouldn’t that be the destruction of materialism that harms the world so much? Wouldn’t that be a barrier against pride, ambition, and envy, things that make man unhappy? Teach man that he must do good to deserve his reward; there are certainly men that are convinced about all that, but how many with respect to the total? And all that may be taught to man. From my side, I evoked by father and thanks to the obtained answers, doubt is no longer possible.
If I were fortunate enough to handle the pen as you do, I would treat Spiritism as if called to bring a soothing and pleasant moral. My first article would be entitled Spiritism, or the destruction of fanaticism. The fall of the Jesuits and of all those that live out of human credulity. All these ideas are drawn from the excellent book of Mr. Allan Kardec. How much I would enjoy having you seeing Spiritism the way I do! How good would you do to the moral! But, my dear Bertram, how could you find supernatural and witchery in Spiritism? I do not believe it to be more extraordinary to communicate with our parents and friends that passed to the other world, through the fluid that allows us to contact them, than to communicate with our brothers from this world through fabulous distances, by the electric wire!
**
Everything published without observation or comments, only to demonstrate that Spiritism in Belgium has ardent followers in their faith. Positively, the sect makes progress and Catholicism will soon have to count on that.
The Parisian press did not show ill-faith to the Davenport brothers. What it made very clear is that they no longer claim pretension to the supernatural. They no longer hold exhibitions at fifty francs per head, as far as I know. However, I believe that the persons that wanted to pay such price for a spot would not be badly received. To conclude, I affirm that to me their experiments do not seem cut to exert great influence upon the future of human societies.
Bertram”
After the two letters that we have just read, there is little to say about the article. Their moderation contrasts with the acrimony of the majority of what was written about the same subject in the past. At least the author does not contest the right of opinion to the Spiritists, that he respects although he does not share. Inline with certain apostles of progress, he acknowledges that the freedom of conscience is everybody’s right. It is already something. He even agrees that the Spiritists have good things and are in good faith. He attests, finally, the progresses of the doctrine and confesses that it has an enticing side. We will, therefore, only make a few observations.
Mr. Bertram even considers us as good a citizen as he is, and we are thankful, but he adds that we would do better by using our true name. From our side we allow us to ask him why he signs his articles with Bertram, instead of Eugène Landois, that subtracts nothing from his personal qualities, for we know that he is the main organizer of the nursery Saint-Josse-Tennoode, to which he devotes the most commendable solicitude. If Mr. Bertram had read the Spiritist books with such attention as he says, he would know if the Spiritists are so silly to evoke the Wandering Jew and Don Quixote; he would know that Spiritism accepts and rejects; he would not try to present it as a religion, because, by the same token, all philosophies would be religions, for it is part of its essence to discuss the basis of all religions: God and the nature of the soul. Finally, he would understand that if one day Spiritism became a religion, it would not be able to become intolerant nor deny its principle that is the universal fraternity, without distinction of sect and belief; without renouncing to its moto: there is no salvation outside charity, the most explicit symbol of love towards the neighbor, of tolerance and freedom of conscience. Spiritism never says: “there is no salvation outside Spiritism”. If a religion would be based on Spiritism with the exclusion of its principles, it would no longer be Spiritism.
Spiritism is a philosophical doctrine that touches every humanitarian issue. By the profound modifications that it brings to the ideas, it leads to facing things from another point of view, and from there, to the future, inevitable changes in the social relationships. It is a fecund mine where the religions, as sciences, and the civilian institutions, will reap elements of progress. But because it touches in certain religious beliefs, it does not constitute a new cult, as it is not a particular system of politics, legislation, or social economy. It temples, ceremonies and priests are in the imagination of its detractors and in those that fear to see it becoming a religion.
Mr. Bertram criticizes the style of the Spirits and places his own much higher: it is his own right and we do not contest it. We do not challenge either his opinion that in matters of moral, the Spirits do not teach us anything new. This demonstrates one thing, that men are the most to blame for practicing it so little. Is it therefore surprising that God, in His solicitude, repeats it in so many ways? If, by that point of view, the teaching of the Spirits is so useless, that of Christ was equally so because it only developed the commandments of the Sinai. The writings of all moralists are also useless, for the only thing they do is to repeat the same thing in different terms. With such a system, how many people, how much work would be useless, not including the chroniclers that, given their condition, must not invent anything.
One must forcibly acknowledge, therefore, that the moral of the Spirits is as old as the world, what does not come as a surprise if we take into account that the moral is God’s law and this law must exist since eternity and that the creature cannot add anything to the works of the Creator. But, isn’t there anything new in the way of teaching? Up until now the moral code had only been promulgated by a few individuals; it was reproduced in books that not everybody reads or understands. Well then! This very code is taught today not by a few men but by millions of Spirits, that were men, in all countries, in each family, and in a way, to everyone.
Would you believe that someone that was indifferent after reading a book, that treated the maxims that the same contain as a common place, wouldn’t be impressed if his father, his mother or a loved one that he respects comes to say, even in a style inferior to Bossuet: “I am not lost to you, as you thought; I am here by your side, I see and hear you, I know you better when alive, because I read your thoughts. To be happy in the world where I am, here is the code of conduct to be followed; such action is good, the other is bad, etc.” As you see, it is a direct teaching, or if you prefer, a new means of publicity, even more efficient because it goes directly to the heart; because it costs nothing; because it addresses everyone, from the small to the great, from the poor to the rich, from the ignorant to the educated, and because it challenges human despotism that would like to impose it a barrier.
But you may ask, is that possible? Isn’t that an illusion? Such doubt would be natural if those communications were made to a single privileged person, for there wouldn’t be any proof that it may be mistaken. But when thousands of individuals receive similar messages every day, in all countries, is it sensible to believe that they are all mistaken? If the teachings of Spiritism were only contained exclusively in the Spiritist books, it would not have conquered one percent of the followers that it has. Those books do no more than summarize and coordinate that teaching, and what constitute its success is the fact that each person finds the confirmation of what they contain in their inner self.
One will be right by saying that the teaching of the Spirits is superfluous when it is demonstrated that men are sufficiently good to have it dismissed. Until then, there is no surprise in seeing it repeated in all forms and all tones.
What do I care, you say, Mr. Bertram, that there are or there aren’t Spirits! It is possible that this is indifferent to you, but that is not the same with everybody. It is absolutely as if you said: “Why do I care that there are inhabitants in America and that the electric cable demonstrates that to me!” Scientifically it is only the proof of the existence of the invisible world; morally it is a lot, because the confirmation of the existence of the Spirits populating the space, that we thought uninhabited, is the discovery of a whole world, the revelation of the future and destiny of mankind, a revolution in their beliefs. Now, if the thing exists, every denial will not be able to preclude it form existing. Its inevitable results are well deserved of our concern. You are a man of progress and do you repel an element of progress; a means of improving humanity, of cementing fraternity among men; a discovery that leads to the reformation of the social abuse, against which you constantly claim? You believe in your immortal soul, and don’t you absolutely worry about knowing what becomes of it, what becomes of your parents and friends? Frankly, this is not much rational. You say that it is not the in the Davenport’s wardrobe that you are going to find it. We agree. We have never said that that is Spiritism. However, in that same wardrobe, precisely because with or without reason, they made the Spirits intervene, that made them talk about the Spirits, even those that did not believe in them. From that, studies and researches that would not have been made if those gentlemen had presented themselves as simple prestidigitators.
If the Spirits were not in their wardrobe, they could well provoke the means of having a lot of people to come out of their indifference. You can see that you, yourself, inadvertently, were led to sow the idea among your numerous readers, something that you would not have done without that famous wardrobe.
As for the new truths that stand out from the Spiritist revelations, beyond moral, we recommend the article published in the Spiritist Review, January 1865 with the title Instructions by the Spirits.
[1] Matthew 5:15 – “No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket” (T.N.)
Spiritism Only Asks to Be Recognized
It is an attested fact that since when Spiritism became the target of the critic, it has demonstrated the most complete ignorance of its principles, even the most elemental ones. The critic demonstrated that abundantly, making Spiritism say precisely the opposite of what it says, attributing it with ideas that are in opposition to the ones that it professes. Since Spiritism is just a fantasy to the critic, it said to oneself: “Spiritism must say this and that.” In a word, the critic judged by what they imagined Spiritism could be, and not by which it really is. It would be undoubtedly easy for the critic to clarify itself. However, that would require reading, studying, and deepening the investigation of a purely philosophical doctrine, analyze the idea, the reach of the words. However, that is a serious work and does not pleases everybody and is tiresome to some. Most writers, finding in the writings of their comrades a ready-made judgment, according to their skeptical ideas, accepted the substance without further examination, limiting themselves to point out to some of their formal variations. That is how the falsest ideas propagated like echoes in the press, and consequently in part of the public. This, however, could not last long. The Spiritist Doctrine, that has nothing hidden, that is clear, precise, without allegories or ambiguities, without abstract formulas, should end up being better known. The very violence with which it was attacked should provoke its examination. That is what happened, and that is what provokes the reaction that is observed today. It does not mean that all of those that study it, even seriously so, must became its apostles. Certainly not, but it is impossible that a careful study, done without preconceived ideas, does not at least attenuate the prevention that had been conceived, if not completely dissipate it. It was evident that the hostility driven towards Spiritism should lead to this result. That is why we were never worried about it.
Given the fact that Spiritism makes less noise at this time, some people think that there is stagnation in its progressive march. But then, there is no value in the turnaround of opinion that is taking place? Is it an insignificant conquest to be seen with less evil eyes? Since the beginning Spiritism has attracted those that, so to speak, had these ideas in a state of intuition. It had only to show itself to be eagerly accepted. That is what explains its rapid numeric growth. Today, that it has harvested what was ripe, it acts upon the refractory mass. The work takes longer, and the means of action are different and appropriate to the nature of the difficulties, but with the fluctuations of opinion, one feels that the mass is shaken by the ax of the Spirits that strike it incessantly in a thousand ways. Progress is not less real for being less apparent. It is like a construction work that raises rapidly and that seems to stop when the work happens inside.
As for the Spiritists, the first moment was that of enthusiasm. But a state of super excitation cannot be permanent; a calmer state followed the expansive, exterior movement; faith is also lively, although colder and more reasoned, and for that very reason more solid. Effervescence has given way to a softer intimate satisfaction, better appreciated every day, by the serenity given by the unshakable trust in the future.
Spiritism, therefore, today begins to be judged from another point of view. It is no longer seen as strange or ridiculous because they know it better. The Spiritists are no longer pointed at, like curious animals. If many people still reject the fact of manifestations that they cannot reconcile with the idea that they make of the invisible world, they no longer contest the philosophical reach of the doctrine. Be its moral old or new, it still is a moral doctrine that can only stimulate the practice of good by those that profess it. That is what is acknowledged by those that know it. Now, everything that is censored in the Spiritists is the fact that they believe in the communication of the Spirits, but that small weakness as excused in favor of the rest. In this case, it is up to the Spirits to show if they exist.
The article by Mr. Bertram, from Brussels, cited above, seems to be the expression of the feeling that tends to propagate in the world of the mockers mentioned there, and will develop as Spiritism becomes better known.
The following article deals with the same subject but reveals a more complete conviction. It is extracted from the Soleil of May 5th.
“At the same time that The Apostles appeared, by Mr. Ernest Renan, Mr. J.B. Roustaing, enlightened follower of Spiritism, published through the Central Bookstore a considerable work entitled The Four Gospels, followed by commandments explained in spirit and truth by the evangelists assisted by the apostles. The Parisian mass almost only knows, in matters of Spiritism, the gallimaufry of some deceivers that uselessly try to abuse the credulity of an incredulous public. These charlatans were booed, what is well deserved; but the Spiritists, full or ardor and faith, continued their experiments and their rapid propaganda.
In Paris, the most serious things are treated the same way as the most futile ones. It is here that in most cases it is enquired if it is a god, a table, or a basin. The brief experiments tried between two cups of tea by two adulterous women and a few pretentious youngsters were enough to the curiosity of the Parisians. It the table gave signs that it would move, they laughed a lot; if, on the contrary, the table remained firm, they laughed even more, and that is how the issue was deepened. This was different with the more thoughtful population of the country. The minimum result animated the proselytes, exciting their enthusiasm. The Spirits of their relatives responded to their expectation, and each one of them, talking to the soul of their deceased father or brother, became convinced of having lifted the veil of death, that from thereafter could not cause them fear. If there has ever being a reassuring doctrine, this is the one: the preserved individuality beyond the grave, the formal promise of another life that is, in fact, the continuation of the previous one. The family survives and love does not die with the person; there is no separation. Every night, in the South or in the West of France, the attentive Spiritist gatherings become more abundant. They pray, evoke, and believe. Persons that cannot write, write; their hand is guided by the Spirit.
Spiritism is not a social danger. Thus, it can spread without the opposition of barriers. If Spiritism were persecuted it would have its martyrs, like Babism in Persia. Besides the more serious mediumistic answers there are indications and advices that provoke smiles. The author of The Four Gospels, Mr. Roustaing, attorney at the Imperial Court of Bordeaux, is not naïve nor a dilletante, and in his preface there is the following communication: “It is time for you to give publicity to this work. We do not establish limits; employ your time with wisdom and ponderation to spare your energy. The publication can start in the next month of August; from now on, work as promptly as possible, but without going beyond human forces, so that the publication is finished in the month of August 1866.”
Signed: Moses, Matthews, Mark, Luke and John, assisted by the apostles.”
The reader becomes surprised for not seeing Moses, Matthews, Luke and John taking their advice to the extreme by adding: - You will have the book printed at the house Lavertujon, Rue des Treilles 7, in Bordeaux, and will have it for sale at the Central Bookstore, Boulevard des Italiens 24, in Paris.
We also stopped at the passage that recommends the author to not go beyond human forces. Would the author then have surpassed it without such a paternal recommendation by the Messrs. Moses, Matthews, Mark, Luke, and John?
Without initially talking about Spiritism, Mr. Renan makes several references to this new doctrine, whose importance he seems to not ignore. The author of the Apostles remembers on page 8, a fundamental passage of St. Paul that establishes: 1st – the reality of the apparitions; 2nd – the long duration of the apparitions. Mr. Renan meddles with Spiritism only once. On page 22, second note, he says:
To conceive the possibility of similar illusions, it is enough to refer to the scenes of our days, in which gathered persons unanimously acknowledge to hear inexistent noises, and that in perfect good faith. The wait, the effort of imagination, the disposition to believe, sometimes innocent complacencies, explain those among the phenomena that are not the direct product of fraud.
These complacencies, in general, come from convinced persons, animated by a feeling of benevolence, that does not want that the session ends badly, and wish to spare embarrassment to the owners of the house. When you believe in miracles, you always help it without noticing. Doubt and denial are impossible in that kind of meetings. It would be painful for the believers and for those that invited. That is why such experiments give result in a small group and generally fail before a paying public, and always fail with scientific commissions.
Here, as elsewhere, the book of Mr. Renan lacks good reasons. With a smooth and enchanting style, replacing logic by poetry, Apostles should be called The Last Abencerrages. The references to useless documents, the false proofs that overloads the book give it every appearance of childishness with which it was conceived. There is no mistaking it.
Mr. Renan says that Mary of Magdala, crying by the foot of the tomb, had a vision, a simple vision. Who told him? She thought she heard a voice. How does he know she really didn’t hear it? All the affirmations contained in the work have more or less the same force.
If the Spiritists can only offer their good faith for explanation, Mr. Renan does not even have that resource. Here we can only comment the book by Mr. Roustaing; we do not have the right to discuss it, any more than see where it leads us. As a matter of fact, this would not be the place to enter into consideration that the reader does not seek in our columns. The work is serious, the style is clear and firm. The author did not fall in the ordinary deviation of the commentators, that are frequently more obscure than the text itself that they want to clarify. Spiritism that had its catechism, will have from now on its annotated code and its course of jurisprudence. It will only lack the proof of the martyrdom.
Aurélien Scholl
Given the fact that Spiritism makes less noise at this time, some people think that there is stagnation in its progressive march. But then, there is no value in the turnaround of opinion that is taking place? Is it an insignificant conquest to be seen with less evil eyes? Since the beginning Spiritism has attracted those that, so to speak, had these ideas in a state of intuition. It had only to show itself to be eagerly accepted. That is what explains its rapid numeric growth. Today, that it has harvested what was ripe, it acts upon the refractory mass. The work takes longer, and the means of action are different and appropriate to the nature of the difficulties, but with the fluctuations of opinion, one feels that the mass is shaken by the ax of the Spirits that strike it incessantly in a thousand ways. Progress is not less real for being less apparent. It is like a construction work that raises rapidly and that seems to stop when the work happens inside.
As for the Spiritists, the first moment was that of enthusiasm. But a state of super excitation cannot be permanent; a calmer state followed the expansive, exterior movement; faith is also lively, although colder and more reasoned, and for that very reason more solid. Effervescence has given way to a softer intimate satisfaction, better appreciated every day, by the serenity given by the unshakable trust in the future.
Spiritism, therefore, today begins to be judged from another point of view. It is no longer seen as strange or ridiculous because they know it better. The Spiritists are no longer pointed at, like curious animals. If many people still reject the fact of manifestations that they cannot reconcile with the idea that they make of the invisible world, they no longer contest the philosophical reach of the doctrine. Be its moral old or new, it still is a moral doctrine that can only stimulate the practice of good by those that profess it. That is what is acknowledged by those that know it. Now, everything that is censored in the Spiritists is the fact that they believe in the communication of the Spirits, but that small weakness as excused in favor of the rest. In this case, it is up to the Spirits to show if they exist.
The article by Mr. Bertram, from Brussels, cited above, seems to be the expression of the feeling that tends to propagate in the world of the mockers mentioned there, and will develop as Spiritism becomes better known.
The following article deals with the same subject but reveals a more complete conviction. It is extracted from the Soleil of May 5th.
“At the same time that The Apostles appeared, by Mr. Ernest Renan, Mr. J.B. Roustaing, enlightened follower of Spiritism, published through the Central Bookstore a considerable work entitled The Four Gospels, followed by commandments explained in spirit and truth by the evangelists assisted by the apostles. The Parisian mass almost only knows, in matters of Spiritism, the gallimaufry of some deceivers that uselessly try to abuse the credulity of an incredulous public. These charlatans were booed, what is well deserved; but the Spiritists, full or ardor and faith, continued their experiments and their rapid propaganda.
In Paris, the most serious things are treated the same way as the most futile ones. It is here that in most cases it is enquired if it is a god, a table, or a basin. The brief experiments tried between two cups of tea by two adulterous women and a few pretentious youngsters were enough to the curiosity of the Parisians. It the table gave signs that it would move, they laughed a lot; if, on the contrary, the table remained firm, they laughed even more, and that is how the issue was deepened. This was different with the more thoughtful population of the country. The minimum result animated the proselytes, exciting their enthusiasm. The Spirits of their relatives responded to their expectation, and each one of them, talking to the soul of their deceased father or brother, became convinced of having lifted the veil of death, that from thereafter could not cause them fear. If there has ever being a reassuring doctrine, this is the one: the preserved individuality beyond the grave, the formal promise of another life that is, in fact, the continuation of the previous one. The family survives and love does not die with the person; there is no separation. Every night, in the South or in the West of France, the attentive Spiritist gatherings become more abundant. They pray, evoke, and believe. Persons that cannot write, write; their hand is guided by the Spirit.
Spiritism is not a social danger. Thus, it can spread without the opposition of barriers. If Spiritism were persecuted it would have its martyrs, like Babism in Persia. Besides the more serious mediumistic answers there are indications and advices that provoke smiles. The author of The Four Gospels, Mr. Roustaing, attorney at the Imperial Court of Bordeaux, is not naïve nor a dilletante, and in his preface there is the following communication: “It is time for you to give publicity to this work. We do not establish limits; employ your time with wisdom and ponderation to spare your energy. The publication can start in the next month of August; from now on, work as promptly as possible, but without going beyond human forces, so that the publication is finished in the month of August 1866.”
Signed: Moses, Matthews, Mark, Luke and John, assisted by the apostles.”
The reader becomes surprised for not seeing Moses, Matthews, Luke and John taking their advice to the extreme by adding: - You will have the book printed at the house Lavertujon, Rue des Treilles 7, in Bordeaux, and will have it for sale at the Central Bookstore, Boulevard des Italiens 24, in Paris.
We also stopped at the passage that recommends the author to not go beyond human forces. Would the author then have surpassed it without such a paternal recommendation by the Messrs. Moses, Matthews, Mark, Luke, and John?
Without initially talking about Spiritism, Mr. Renan makes several references to this new doctrine, whose importance he seems to not ignore. The author of the Apostles remembers on page 8, a fundamental passage of St. Paul that establishes: 1st – the reality of the apparitions; 2nd – the long duration of the apparitions. Mr. Renan meddles with Spiritism only once. On page 22, second note, he says:
To conceive the possibility of similar illusions, it is enough to refer to the scenes of our days, in which gathered persons unanimously acknowledge to hear inexistent noises, and that in perfect good faith. The wait, the effort of imagination, the disposition to believe, sometimes innocent complacencies, explain those among the phenomena that are not the direct product of fraud.
These complacencies, in general, come from convinced persons, animated by a feeling of benevolence, that does not want that the session ends badly, and wish to spare embarrassment to the owners of the house. When you believe in miracles, you always help it without noticing. Doubt and denial are impossible in that kind of meetings. It would be painful for the believers and for those that invited. That is why such experiments give result in a small group and generally fail before a paying public, and always fail with scientific commissions.
Here, as elsewhere, the book of Mr. Renan lacks good reasons. With a smooth and enchanting style, replacing logic by poetry, Apostles should be called The Last Abencerrages. The references to useless documents, the false proofs that overloads the book give it every appearance of childishness with which it was conceived. There is no mistaking it.
Mr. Renan says that Mary of Magdala, crying by the foot of the tomb, had a vision, a simple vision. Who told him? She thought she heard a voice. How does he know she really didn’t hear it? All the affirmations contained in the work have more or less the same force.
If the Spiritists can only offer their good faith for explanation, Mr. Renan does not even have that resource. Here we can only comment the book by Mr. Roustaing; we do not have the right to discuss it, any more than see where it leads us. As a matter of fact, this would not be the place to enter into consideration that the reader does not seek in our columns. The work is serious, the style is clear and firm. The author did not fall in the ordinary deviation of the commentators, that are frequently more obscure than the text itself that they want to clarify. Spiritism that had its catechism, will have from now on its annotated code and its course of jurisprudence. It will only lack the proof of the martyrdom.
Aurélien Scholl
Extracted from the Colonial Progress of Mauritius – Spiritist Communication
It is not only in our country that the newspapers, we wouldn’t say sympathize yet, but are humanized with Spiritism to which they begin to acknowledge the right of citizenship. The Progrès Colonial, a journal of Port Louis, Mauritius Island, on June 15th, 1866 reads:
“Every day we receive two or three of these Spiritist communications, but if we have abstained from reproducing them up until now, it is for the fact that we are not yet prepared to dedicate a space to this extraordinary thing called Spiritism. May our naturally curious readers have a little bit of patience, for they will not wait long. If we publish this small text signed Lazarus, it is for the fact that it is about this poor Georges, so miserably deceased and buried.
Sir,
Today I read a correspondence inserted in your journal, signed “A eyewitness”, reporting how the body of the miserable G. Lemeure was buried. For a long time, Sir, I new that if misery is not a vice, it is at least one of the greatest misfortunes that there is in the world. However, what I did not want to admit was that men were worships of the golden calf, to the point of not respecting anymore everything that is most solemn, great, and most sacred to us: death!... Thus, poor George, of a calm, honest and modest character, condemned to live in the greatest poverty, enduring the trials of this world with courage and even with joviality, always ready serve his neighbor, you had to die like that, isolated, far from the ones that loved you and that may perhaps be sorry for you; and to humiliate your shadow, it is still necessary that men dig a hole for you in the earth, alone, alone with nothingness! As if your poverty had made you unworthy of sharing a sacred land with your fellow citizens. Besides, you were not even given the charity of a four-piece plank coffin! Despite all that, you are very happy, thinks this good humanity, for resting on the cold and damp earth, forgotten by all! Moreover, what does it matter to them that your body rotten there, without a single friend shedding a tear there, or laying a flower or bringing a memory? I stop here, because I am still outraged that one has not even followed the formalities established in similar circumstances with the most unfortunate ones. In every civilized country, they give twenty-four hours for the relatives of a dead person, found by the authorities, to come to recognize and claim him. If nobody has come at the end of that interval, the person is then buried in a sacred land, always observing the respect that is due to death. But here, one abstains from such formalities, and if you cannot pay for the expenses of the coffin, one is content to throw you to any corner, like a beast, covering you with two or three handfuls of dust.
I repeat, Sir, misery is a great scourge.
Lazarus”
“Every day we receive two or three of these Spiritist communications, but if we have abstained from reproducing them up until now, it is for the fact that we are not yet prepared to dedicate a space to this extraordinary thing called Spiritism. May our naturally curious readers have a little bit of patience, for they will not wait long. If we publish this small text signed Lazarus, it is for the fact that it is about this poor Georges, so miserably deceased and buried.
Sir,
Today I read a correspondence inserted in your journal, signed “A eyewitness”, reporting how the body of the miserable G. Lemeure was buried. For a long time, Sir, I new that if misery is not a vice, it is at least one of the greatest misfortunes that there is in the world. However, what I did not want to admit was that men were worships of the golden calf, to the point of not respecting anymore everything that is most solemn, great, and most sacred to us: death!... Thus, poor George, of a calm, honest and modest character, condemned to live in the greatest poverty, enduring the trials of this world with courage and even with joviality, always ready serve his neighbor, you had to die like that, isolated, far from the ones that loved you and that may perhaps be sorry for you; and to humiliate your shadow, it is still necessary that men dig a hole for you in the earth, alone, alone with nothingness! As if your poverty had made you unworthy of sharing a sacred land with your fellow citizens. Besides, you were not even given the charity of a four-piece plank coffin! Despite all that, you are very happy, thinks this good humanity, for resting on the cold and damp earth, forgotten by all! Moreover, what does it matter to them that your body rotten there, without a single friend shedding a tear there, or laying a flower or bringing a memory? I stop here, because I am still outraged that one has not even followed the formalities established in similar circumstances with the most unfortunate ones. In every civilized country, they give twenty-four hours for the relatives of a dead person, found by the authorities, to come to recognize and claim him. If nobody has come at the end of that interval, the person is then buried in a sacred land, always observing the respect that is due to death. But here, one abstains from such formalities, and if you cannot pay for the expenses of the coffin, one is content to throw you to any corner, like a beast, covering you with two or three handfuls of dust.
I repeat, Sir, misery is a great scourge.
Lazarus”
The Apocryphal Phenomena
The following fact was reported by the Evénement, on August 2nd, 1866:
“A few days ago the inhabitants of the region neighboring Church of Saint-Médard were very shaken by a singular, mysterious event that gave rise to the most dismal reports and commentaries.
Demolitions are taking place around the church; most houses were built in the area of a cemetery associated to the story of supposed miracles, that in the beginning of the eighteenth century motivated a decree by the government, on January 27th, 1733, ordering the closure of that cemetery, that then had the following epigram written on its door the next day:
-By the order of King… God is prohibited of making miracles in this place.
However, the houses respected by the demolishing hammer, were devastated every night by a hail of stones, sometimes very large, that broke the glasses and fell on the roofs that were damaged. Despite the most active researches, nobody found out the origin of the projectiles. It was even said that the dead of the cemetery, disturbed in their rest by the demolitions, thus manifested their discontent. But less credulous people, believing that those stones that continued to fall every night, were thrown by a living creature, demanded the intervention of Mr. Cazeaux, police chief, that established a surveillance by his agents.
While they were exercising it, the stones did not appear, but as soon as they stopped, they fell again, even more abundantly. They did not know what to do to solve that mystery when Mrs. X…, owner of a house at Censier road, declared to the police chief that, for being scared with the event, she had consulted with a somnambulist. She revealed to me, said the woman, that the stones were thrown by a young woman that had an illness on the head. Precisely my maid, the sixteen-year-old Felicia F…, had herps in that part of the body. Although the police chief gave no importance to this indication, he agreed to question Felicia, thus obtaining a full confession. Acting by the inspiration of a Spirit that had appeared to her, she had amassed a large quantity of stones in an attic, and every night she would wake up to throw part of the stones through the window of the attic onto the neighboring houses. On the assumption that the girl could be mentally ill, the police chief had her sent to the Prefecture so that she could be examined by specialized doctors.”
This fact demonstrates that one must avoid attributing all events of this sort to a hidden cause, and when there is a material cause it is always discovered, and that does not prove anything against the possibility of another origin, in certain cases, that can only be assessed by the whole circumstances, like in the case of Poitiers. Unless the hidden cause is demonstrated by evidence, doubt is the wiser party. It is, therefore, convenient to exercise caution.
One must suspect, above all, the traps prepared by malevolence with the objective of enjoying the mystification of the Spiritists. The fixated idea of the majority of the adversaries is that Spiritism is entirely the physical phenomena and that it cannot live without it; that this is the only objective of the Spiritists’ faith, being this the reason why the believe to be able to kill it by discrediting the effects, be it by simulating them or by inventing them in ridiculous conditions. Their ignorance of Spiritism makes them unnoticeably miss the fundamental side of the question, that is the moral and philosophical point of view.
Some, however, know very well this side of the doctrine; but since it is unassailable, they charge onto the other more vulnerable one, and that is more easily prone to charlatanism. They would like to make the Spiritists to be seen as superstitious and credulous admirers of the fantastic, blindly accepting everything. It comes as a great disappointment to them not to see the Spiritists ecstatic before the smallest fact with the appearance of supernatural, and finding them, with respect to certain phenomena, even more skeptical than those that do not know Spiritism. Now, it is precisely because they know it that they are aware of what is possible and what is not, and do not see the action of the Spirits in everything.
In the event mentioned above it is very curious to see the true cause revealed by a somnambulist. It is the consecration of the phenomenon of lucidity. As for the young woman that said to have acted by the impulse of a Spirit, it is certain that it was not her knowledge of Spiritism that gave her such an idea. Where has it come from? It is quite possible that she would be under the domain of an obsession that was taken for madness, as always. It that is so, she will not be cured with medication. We have seen many times, in similar cases, persons speaking spontaneously of Spirits, because they see them, and it is then said that they are hallucinated.
We suppose she is in good faith, because we have no reason to be suspicious of her. Unfortunately, however, there are facts whose nature arouse mistrust. We remember a woman that simulated mental illness when she left a meeting to which she had been admitted, the only one that she had attended. After been immediately taken to a mental hospital, she soon confessed having received fifty francs to represent a comedy. It was the time when they were trying to propagate the idea that mental institutions were overcrowded with Spiritists. This woman allowed herself to be seduced by some money; others may yield to other influences. We do not mean that this is the case of this young woman; we only wanted to show that when one wants to degrade something, all means are good. It is to the Spiritists one more reason to be on guard, observing everything scrupulously. As a matter of fact, if everything that is secretly plotted demonstrates that the struggle has not ended and that is necessary to double vigilance and firmness, it is equally a proof that not everyone looks at Spiritism like a chimera.
Side by side with the deaf war, there is the open warfare, more generally waged by the mocking incredulity. This has evidently changed. The increasing number of events; the adhesions of persons whose good-faith and reason cannot be suspected; the impassibility of the Spiritists, as well as their calm and moderation before the storms raised against them, has given food for thought. The press registers Spiritists facts daily. If there are some true facts among them, there are others evidently invented by the needs of the cause of opposition. It no longer denies the phenomena but tries to make them ridiculous by exaggeration. It is a very inoffensive tactic because today it is not difficult, in certain matters, to play the part of unlikelihood. The American newspapers do not fall behind in the inventions about it, and ours promptly imitate them. That is how most of them repeated the following story in the last month of March:
United States: A man by the name Dr. Hughes, was executed in Cleveland, Ohio, that at the time of his death gave a speech, revealing an extraordinary firmness and sharpness of mind. He took advantage of the occasion to make a dissertation, that lasted less than half an hour, about the utility and justice of the death penalty. Such a maximum penalty, he said, is simply ridiculous. What is the advantage of taking my life? None. It will certainly not be my example that will discourage others of a crime. Do I remember having fired that pistol shot? Today I have absolutely no recollection of that. I can accept that Ohio’s law may reach me fairly, but I say, at the same time, that it is silly and useless. If you pretend that this rope that will be tied around my neck, and tighten until I die, will prevent murder, I say that your thought is silly and vain, because the state of mind of John W. Hughes, when he committed murder, there isn’t any example on this Earth that could have precluded a man from doing what I did, whoever that man is. I bow before the state law, with the thought that taking my life is as useless as it is cruel. I hope that my ordeal does not remain as an example of death penalty, but as an argument that proves its uselessness.
After that, Hughes made an examination of conscience, and elaborated a lot about religion and the immortality of the soul. His theories, in these serious matters, are not positively orthodox, but at least attest a singular cold blood. He also spoke of Spiritualism, or better saying, of Spiritism. He said:
-“I know, from my own experience, that there is an incessant communication between those that leave this life and those that remain. Today I will face the supreme legal penalty, but at the same time, I have the certainty that I will be with you after my execution, as I am now. My judges and my executioners will always see me before their eyes, and you that came here to see me dying, there isn’t a single one of you that will not see me again in flesh and blood, dressed in black, carrying my own premature grief, as much in your sleep as in the hours of your daily occupations. Goodbye, ladies, and gentlemen. I hope none of you will do what I did. If there is, however, someone that is in the same mental state that I was when I committed the crime, it certainly will not be the memory of this day that will preclude that. Goodbye.”
After that screed, the trap door of the gallows fell, and Dr. Hughes hanged. But his words had produced a profound impression upon the audience, that resulted in singular effects. Here is what we found about it in the Herald of Cleveland:
“In the gallows, with the rope around his neck, Dr. Hughes said that he would be with those that heard him, as he was before his death, and we can say that he took his words seriously. Among those persons that had visited him before his execution, there was an honest German butcher. This man cannot take Dr. Hughes out of his mind, since the interview with the prisoner. Day and night, nonstop, he sees prisons, gallows, hanging men. He no longer sleeps or eat and doesn’t take care of his family or his business, and such a vision almost killed him last night. He had just entered the stables to treat the animals when he saw Dr Hughes, standing near his horse, dressed in the same black clothes that he wore when he left our planet, appearing to enjoy perfect health. The poor butcher screamed terrified, a scream from another world, and fell on his back. He was promptly helped and lifted; his eyes were vague, the face livid and the lips trembling, and with a panting voice he asked, after recovering consciousness, if Dr Hughes was still there. He said that he had just seen him, and that if he were no longer in the stables, he could not be far. It took a lot of effort to calm him down and take him home. The sight continued to chase him and the last information we have is that he could not calm down from his agitated state.
But here it is what is even more curious. The butcher is not the only one to whom Dr Hughes appeared after dying. Two days after the execution, all prisoners saw him with their own eyes, entering the prison and walking around the aisles. He looked perfectly fine, dressed in black as in the gallows; he always passed his hand on the neck and produced a guttural sound that vibrated between the teeth. He climbed the stairs that led to his cell, got inside, sat down, and began writing verses. That is what the prisoners said and nothing in this world could convince them that they had been victims of an illusion.”
This case still has its instructive side, by the words of the patient. It is true, with respect to the main subject, but since he thought to be appropriate to speak of Spiritualism or Spiritism in his last speech, the story teller thought appropriate to inflate the report with cases of apparitions that only existed in his pen, except the first one, of the butcher that seems to be real.
Tom, the blind, is not a novel about a ghost, but an incredible phenomenon of intelligence. Tom is a black, seventeen-year-old young man, born blind, supposedly gifted by a wonderful musical instinct. The Harpers Weekly, illustrated newspaper of New York, dedicates a long article to him, from which we extracted the following passages:
“Since less than two years, he translated everything that had reached his years into songs, and the accuracy and easiness with which he captured a melodic fragment was such that he could execute his part just by hearing the first notes of a music. He soon started following with the second voice, although he had never heard, but an instinct told him that he should sing a similar thing. He heard a piano for the first time when he was four years old. When the instrument arrived, he was playing in the back yard as he usually did. The first vibration of the string attracted him to the living room. He was allowed to pass his fingers on the keyboard, just to satisfy his curiosity and do not deny his innocent pleasure of making some noise. Once, after mid-night, he was in the living room where he had learned to enter. The piano had not been closed and the ladies of the house were awakened by the sound of the instrument. To their great surprise, they heard Tom playing one of their pieces, and in the morning, he was still found at the piano. He was then allowed to play as much as he wished. He made such remarkable and speedy progress that the piano became the echo of everything that he heard. He then developed new and prodigious skills, up until then unknown in the musical world, and whose monopoly, it seems, God had reserved to Tom. He was less than five when, after a storm, he composed what he called: “What the wind, the thunder and the rain tell me.”
In Philadelphia, seventy music teachers spontaneously signed off a declaration that ends like this: “In fact, by any kind of musical examination, execution, composition and improvisation, he demonstrated a power and a capacity that put him among the most remarkable phenomena whose memory had been kept by the history of music. The signees believe it to be impossible to explain such prodigious results by any hypothesis that may be given by the laws of Art or Science.”
Today the plays the most difficult music of the great composers with a subtlety of touch, a power and an expression rarely heard. In the next Spring he must go to Europe.”
Here is the explanation given about this through the medium Mr. Morin, in a Spiritist meeting in Paris, in the house of Princess O…, on May 13th, 1866, in which we were present. It may serve as a guide in all similar cases.
“Not so fast in believing in the arrival of the famous blind black musician. His musical skills are much exalted by the great propagators of news, that are not stingy when it comes to imaginary facts, destined to satisfy the curiosity of their subscribers. You must be suspicious of reproductions, and above all the hypothetical or real borrowings from your journalists of their overseas colleagues. Many trial balloons are released with the objective of having the Spiritists falling in the trap, and in hopes of dragging Spiritism and its followers through the domain of ridicule. Therefore, be on your guard and never comment an event without being previously well informed and without having asked for the opinion of your guides.
You cannot imagine all the gimmicks employed by slayers of new ideas, to surprise a misstep, a fault, a palpable absurd made by the Spirits of their too confident proselytes. Traps are lay down to the Spirits everywhere; they are improved every day; young and old alike are on the prowl, and the most beautiful day of their lives would be the one to catch the chief in error, with the hands on the sack of ridicule. They have such self-confidence that they rejoice in anticipation; but there is an old proverb that says: - one must not sell the skin of the bear before killing it. Spiritism, however, their pet peeve, still stands, and could well allow them to wear their shoes off before being reached. It is with their heads down that the will, one day, burn incense before of the altar of truth that will soon be recognized by everybody.
By advising you to keep your reservation, I do not pretend that the deeds and gestures attributed to that blind man are impossible, but you must not believe in them before having seen them, and specially, heard them.”
Ebelmann
Such a prodigy, even giving a lot of room to exaggeration, would be the most eloquent defense in favor of the rehabilitation of the black race, in a country where the prejudice of color is so deeply rooted, and if it cannot be explained by the known laws of science, it would be more clearly and more rationally by reincarnation, not of a black in a black, but of a white in a black, because such an instinctive premature faculty could only be the intuitive memory of knowledge acquired in a previous life.
But then, it will be said, it will be a regression of the Spirit, to pass from the white to the black race? Decline of social position, no doubt, that is seen every day, when a rich person is born poor or a master becomes a servant, but not regression of the Spirit, since the aptitudes and acquisitions would have been preserved. Such a position would be a test or an atonement; perhaps even a mission, demonstrating that that race is not doomed to an absolute inferiority by nature. We reason here on the hypothesis of the reality of the fact and for similar cases that may appear.
The two following facts are from the same factory and do not need another remark in addition to what has just been given. The first, reported by the Soleil on July 19th, is supposedly of American origin; the second, extracted from the Événement of April, is supposed to be Parisian. The Spirits will incontestably be the most hardened unbelievers. As for the others, curiosity could well lead more than one to seek the thing that is said to produce so many wonders.
“The rapping Spirits and others seemed to have settled in Tauton, and that have chosen the house of an unfortunate doctor of that town for theater of their adventures. The basement, the halls, the rooms, the kitchen and even the attic of the professional are haunted at night by the shadows of all those that he sent to a better world. These are screams, moaning, curses, bloody ironies, according to the Spirit of the shadows that sometime does not have a shadow of Spirit.
-Your last potion killed me, says a cavernous voice.
-Allopathic, you are not worth a Homeopathist.
-I am your victim 299, the last one, says another apparition. At least make a cross when you reach 300.
And so forth. The life of the poor doctor is no longer bearable.”
The second anecdote is also witty:
“It is Sunday evening, during this dreadful thunderstorm which yesterday’s newspapers enumerated the devastations. A horse-drawn carriage was descending the avenue de Neuilly through rain and lightning; inside were four people; they had dined together in a very amiable and very hospitable house, near the park of Neuilly, and enlivened by this pleasant evening, the four travelers, heedless of the storm, engaged in a rather light conversation. They talked badly about women, even slandered them somewhat. The name of a young person was brought up, and someone expressed doubts about the nationality of the victim, insinuating that it was certainly not born in Nanterre. Suddenly, a thunderbolt makes the doors shiver, a lightning strike flashes the whole car and the rain lashes the windows, almost shattering them. Illuminated by the lightning, the four travelers then saw, standing in front of them in the car, a fifth traveler - it was a woman, dressed in white, a specter, an angel. The apparition vanished with the lightning, then as if the phantom wanted to protest against the calumny that was directed against the young absent woman, a rain of orange blossoms fell on the four companions of journey and covered them with balmy fog. There was, indeed, a medium among the four travelers.
Nothing forces you to believe this incredible story, and I don't believe a word of it myself. It was one of the four travelers that told me and confirms it to me. It seemed original to me, that's all! "
“A few days ago the inhabitants of the region neighboring Church of Saint-Médard were very shaken by a singular, mysterious event that gave rise to the most dismal reports and commentaries.
Demolitions are taking place around the church; most houses were built in the area of a cemetery associated to the story of supposed miracles, that in the beginning of the eighteenth century motivated a decree by the government, on January 27th, 1733, ordering the closure of that cemetery, that then had the following epigram written on its door the next day:
-By the order of King… God is prohibited of making miracles in this place.
However, the houses respected by the demolishing hammer, were devastated every night by a hail of stones, sometimes very large, that broke the glasses and fell on the roofs that were damaged. Despite the most active researches, nobody found out the origin of the projectiles. It was even said that the dead of the cemetery, disturbed in their rest by the demolitions, thus manifested their discontent. But less credulous people, believing that those stones that continued to fall every night, were thrown by a living creature, demanded the intervention of Mr. Cazeaux, police chief, that established a surveillance by his agents.
While they were exercising it, the stones did not appear, but as soon as they stopped, they fell again, even more abundantly. They did not know what to do to solve that mystery when Mrs. X…, owner of a house at Censier road, declared to the police chief that, for being scared with the event, she had consulted with a somnambulist. She revealed to me, said the woman, that the stones were thrown by a young woman that had an illness on the head. Precisely my maid, the sixteen-year-old Felicia F…, had herps in that part of the body. Although the police chief gave no importance to this indication, he agreed to question Felicia, thus obtaining a full confession. Acting by the inspiration of a Spirit that had appeared to her, she had amassed a large quantity of stones in an attic, and every night she would wake up to throw part of the stones through the window of the attic onto the neighboring houses. On the assumption that the girl could be mentally ill, the police chief had her sent to the Prefecture so that she could be examined by specialized doctors.”
This fact demonstrates that one must avoid attributing all events of this sort to a hidden cause, and when there is a material cause it is always discovered, and that does not prove anything against the possibility of another origin, in certain cases, that can only be assessed by the whole circumstances, like in the case of Poitiers. Unless the hidden cause is demonstrated by evidence, doubt is the wiser party. It is, therefore, convenient to exercise caution.
One must suspect, above all, the traps prepared by malevolence with the objective of enjoying the mystification of the Spiritists. The fixated idea of the majority of the adversaries is that Spiritism is entirely the physical phenomena and that it cannot live without it; that this is the only objective of the Spiritists’ faith, being this the reason why the believe to be able to kill it by discrediting the effects, be it by simulating them or by inventing them in ridiculous conditions. Their ignorance of Spiritism makes them unnoticeably miss the fundamental side of the question, that is the moral and philosophical point of view.
Some, however, know very well this side of the doctrine; but since it is unassailable, they charge onto the other more vulnerable one, and that is more easily prone to charlatanism. They would like to make the Spiritists to be seen as superstitious and credulous admirers of the fantastic, blindly accepting everything. It comes as a great disappointment to them not to see the Spiritists ecstatic before the smallest fact with the appearance of supernatural, and finding them, with respect to certain phenomena, even more skeptical than those that do not know Spiritism. Now, it is precisely because they know it that they are aware of what is possible and what is not, and do not see the action of the Spirits in everything.
In the event mentioned above it is very curious to see the true cause revealed by a somnambulist. It is the consecration of the phenomenon of lucidity. As for the young woman that said to have acted by the impulse of a Spirit, it is certain that it was not her knowledge of Spiritism that gave her such an idea. Where has it come from? It is quite possible that she would be under the domain of an obsession that was taken for madness, as always. It that is so, she will not be cured with medication. We have seen many times, in similar cases, persons speaking spontaneously of Spirits, because they see them, and it is then said that they are hallucinated.
We suppose she is in good faith, because we have no reason to be suspicious of her. Unfortunately, however, there are facts whose nature arouse mistrust. We remember a woman that simulated mental illness when she left a meeting to which she had been admitted, the only one that she had attended. After been immediately taken to a mental hospital, she soon confessed having received fifty francs to represent a comedy. It was the time when they were trying to propagate the idea that mental institutions were overcrowded with Spiritists. This woman allowed herself to be seduced by some money; others may yield to other influences. We do not mean that this is the case of this young woman; we only wanted to show that when one wants to degrade something, all means are good. It is to the Spiritists one more reason to be on guard, observing everything scrupulously. As a matter of fact, if everything that is secretly plotted demonstrates that the struggle has not ended and that is necessary to double vigilance and firmness, it is equally a proof that not everyone looks at Spiritism like a chimera.
Side by side with the deaf war, there is the open warfare, more generally waged by the mocking incredulity. This has evidently changed. The increasing number of events; the adhesions of persons whose good-faith and reason cannot be suspected; the impassibility of the Spiritists, as well as their calm and moderation before the storms raised against them, has given food for thought. The press registers Spiritists facts daily. If there are some true facts among them, there are others evidently invented by the needs of the cause of opposition. It no longer denies the phenomena but tries to make them ridiculous by exaggeration. It is a very inoffensive tactic because today it is not difficult, in certain matters, to play the part of unlikelihood. The American newspapers do not fall behind in the inventions about it, and ours promptly imitate them. That is how most of them repeated the following story in the last month of March:
United States: A man by the name Dr. Hughes, was executed in Cleveland, Ohio, that at the time of his death gave a speech, revealing an extraordinary firmness and sharpness of mind. He took advantage of the occasion to make a dissertation, that lasted less than half an hour, about the utility and justice of the death penalty. Such a maximum penalty, he said, is simply ridiculous. What is the advantage of taking my life? None. It will certainly not be my example that will discourage others of a crime. Do I remember having fired that pistol shot? Today I have absolutely no recollection of that. I can accept that Ohio’s law may reach me fairly, but I say, at the same time, that it is silly and useless. If you pretend that this rope that will be tied around my neck, and tighten until I die, will prevent murder, I say that your thought is silly and vain, because the state of mind of John W. Hughes, when he committed murder, there isn’t any example on this Earth that could have precluded a man from doing what I did, whoever that man is. I bow before the state law, with the thought that taking my life is as useless as it is cruel. I hope that my ordeal does not remain as an example of death penalty, but as an argument that proves its uselessness.
After that, Hughes made an examination of conscience, and elaborated a lot about religion and the immortality of the soul. His theories, in these serious matters, are not positively orthodox, but at least attest a singular cold blood. He also spoke of Spiritualism, or better saying, of Spiritism. He said:
-“I know, from my own experience, that there is an incessant communication between those that leave this life and those that remain. Today I will face the supreme legal penalty, but at the same time, I have the certainty that I will be with you after my execution, as I am now. My judges and my executioners will always see me before their eyes, and you that came here to see me dying, there isn’t a single one of you that will not see me again in flesh and blood, dressed in black, carrying my own premature grief, as much in your sleep as in the hours of your daily occupations. Goodbye, ladies, and gentlemen. I hope none of you will do what I did. If there is, however, someone that is in the same mental state that I was when I committed the crime, it certainly will not be the memory of this day that will preclude that. Goodbye.”
After that screed, the trap door of the gallows fell, and Dr. Hughes hanged. But his words had produced a profound impression upon the audience, that resulted in singular effects. Here is what we found about it in the Herald of Cleveland:
“In the gallows, with the rope around his neck, Dr. Hughes said that he would be with those that heard him, as he was before his death, and we can say that he took his words seriously. Among those persons that had visited him before his execution, there was an honest German butcher. This man cannot take Dr. Hughes out of his mind, since the interview with the prisoner. Day and night, nonstop, he sees prisons, gallows, hanging men. He no longer sleeps or eat and doesn’t take care of his family or his business, and such a vision almost killed him last night. He had just entered the stables to treat the animals when he saw Dr Hughes, standing near his horse, dressed in the same black clothes that he wore when he left our planet, appearing to enjoy perfect health. The poor butcher screamed terrified, a scream from another world, and fell on his back. He was promptly helped and lifted; his eyes were vague, the face livid and the lips trembling, and with a panting voice he asked, after recovering consciousness, if Dr Hughes was still there. He said that he had just seen him, and that if he were no longer in the stables, he could not be far. It took a lot of effort to calm him down and take him home. The sight continued to chase him and the last information we have is that he could not calm down from his agitated state.
But here it is what is even more curious. The butcher is not the only one to whom Dr Hughes appeared after dying. Two days after the execution, all prisoners saw him with their own eyes, entering the prison and walking around the aisles. He looked perfectly fine, dressed in black as in the gallows; he always passed his hand on the neck and produced a guttural sound that vibrated between the teeth. He climbed the stairs that led to his cell, got inside, sat down, and began writing verses. That is what the prisoners said and nothing in this world could convince them that they had been victims of an illusion.”
This case still has its instructive side, by the words of the patient. It is true, with respect to the main subject, but since he thought to be appropriate to speak of Spiritualism or Spiritism in his last speech, the story teller thought appropriate to inflate the report with cases of apparitions that only existed in his pen, except the first one, of the butcher that seems to be real.
Tom, the blind, is not a novel about a ghost, but an incredible phenomenon of intelligence. Tom is a black, seventeen-year-old young man, born blind, supposedly gifted by a wonderful musical instinct. The Harpers Weekly, illustrated newspaper of New York, dedicates a long article to him, from which we extracted the following passages:
“Since less than two years, he translated everything that had reached his years into songs, and the accuracy and easiness with which he captured a melodic fragment was such that he could execute his part just by hearing the first notes of a music. He soon started following with the second voice, although he had never heard, but an instinct told him that he should sing a similar thing. He heard a piano for the first time when he was four years old. When the instrument arrived, he was playing in the back yard as he usually did. The first vibration of the string attracted him to the living room. He was allowed to pass his fingers on the keyboard, just to satisfy his curiosity and do not deny his innocent pleasure of making some noise. Once, after mid-night, he was in the living room where he had learned to enter. The piano had not been closed and the ladies of the house were awakened by the sound of the instrument. To their great surprise, they heard Tom playing one of their pieces, and in the morning, he was still found at the piano. He was then allowed to play as much as he wished. He made such remarkable and speedy progress that the piano became the echo of everything that he heard. He then developed new and prodigious skills, up until then unknown in the musical world, and whose monopoly, it seems, God had reserved to Tom. He was less than five when, after a storm, he composed what he called: “What the wind, the thunder and the rain tell me.”
In Philadelphia, seventy music teachers spontaneously signed off a declaration that ends like this: “In fact, by any kind of musical examination, execution, composition and improvisation, he demonstrated a power and a capacity that put him among the most remarkable phenomena whose memory had been kept by the history of music. The signees believe it to be impossible to explain such prodigious results by any hypothesis that may be given by the laws of Art or Science.”
Today the plays the most difficult music of the great composers with a subtlety of touch, a power and an expression rarely heard. In the next Spring he must go to Europe.”
Here is the explanation given about this through the medium Mr. Morin, in a Spiritist meeting in Paris, in the house of Princess O…, on May 13th, 1866, in which we were present. It may serve as a guide in all similar cases.
“Not so fast in believing in the arrival of the famous blind black musician. His musical skills are much exalted by the great propagators of news, that are not stingy when it comes to imaginary facts, destined to satisfy the curiosity of their subscribers. You must be suspicious of reproductions, and above all the hypothetical or real borrowings from your journalists of their overseas colleagues. Many trial balloons are released with the objective of having the Spiritists falling in the trap, and in hopes of dragging Spiritism and its followers through the domain of ridicule. Therefore, be on your guard and never comment an event without being previously well informed and without having asked for the opinion of your guides.
You cannot imagine all the gimmicks employed by slayers of new ideas, to surprise a misstep, a fault, a palpable absurd made by the Spirits of their too confident proselytes. Traps are lay down to the Spirits everywhere; they are improved every day; young and old alike are on the prowl, and the most beautiful day of their lives would be the one to catch the chief in error, with the hands on the sack of ridicule. They have such self-confidence that they rejoice in anticipation; but there is an old proverb that says: - one must not sell the skin of the bear before killing it. Spiritism, however, their pet peeve, still stands, and could well allow them to wear their shoes off before being reached. It is with their heads down that the will, one day, burn incense before of the altar of truth that will soon be recognized by everybody.
By advising you to keep your reservation, I do not pretend that the deeds and gestures attributed to that blind man are impossible, but you must not believe in them before having seen them, and specially, heard them.”
Ebelmann
Such a prodigy, even giving a lot of room to exaggeration, would be the most eloquent defense in favor of the rehabilitation of the black race, in a country where the prejudice of color is so deeply rooted, and if it cannot be explained by the known laws of science, it would be more clearly and more rationally by reincarnation, not of a black in a black, but of a white in a black, because such an instinctive premature faculty could only be the intuitive memory of knowledge acquired in a previous life.
But then, it will be said, it will be a regression of the Spirit, to pass from the white to the black race? Decline of social position, no doubt, that is seen every day, when a rich person is born poor or a master becomes a servant, but not regression of the Spirit, since the aptitudes and acquisitions would have been preserved. Such a position would be a test or an atonement; perhaps even a mission, demonstrating that that race is not doomed to an absolute inferiority by nature. We reason here on the hypothesis of the reality of the fact and for similar cases that may appear.
The two following facts are from the same factory and do not need another remark in addition to what has just been given. The first, reported by the Soleil on July 19th, is supposedly of American origin; the second, extracted from the Événement of April, is supposed to be Parisian. The Spirits will incontestably be the most hardened unbelievers. As for the others, curiosity could well lead more than one to seek the thing that is said to produce so many wonders.
“The rapping Spirits and others seemed to have settled in Tauton, and that have chosen the house of an unfortunate doctor of that town for theater of their adventures. The basement, the halls, the rooms, the kitchen and even the attic of the professional are haunted at night by the shadows of all those that he sent to a better world. These are screams, moaning, curses, bloody ironies, according to the Spirit of the shadows that sometime does not have a shadow of Spirit.
-Your last potion killed me, says a cavernous voice.
-Allopathic, you are not worth a Homeopathist.
-I am your victim 299, the last one, says another apparition. At least make a cross when you reach 300.
And so forth. The life of the poor doctor is no longer bearable.”
The second anecdote is also witty:
“It is Sunday evening, during this dreadful thunderstorm which yesterday’s newspapers enumerated the devastations. A horse-drawn carriage was descending the avenue de Neuilly through rain and lightning; inside were four people; they had dined together in a very amiable and very hospitable house, near the park of Neuilly, and enlivened by this pleasant evening, the four travelers, heedless of the storm, engaged in a rather light conversation. They talked badly about women, even slandered them somewhat. The name of a young person was brought up, and someone expressed doubts about the nationality of the victim, insinuating that it was certainly not born in Nanterre. Suddenly, a thunderbolt makes the doors shiver, a lightning strike flashes the whole car and the rain lashes the windows, almost shattering them. Illuminated by the lightning, the four travelers then saw, standing in front of them in the car, a fifth traveler - it was a woman, dressed in white, a specter, an angel. The apparition vanished with the lightning, then as if the phantom wanted to protest against the calumny that was directed against the young absent woman, a rain of orange blossoms fell on the four companions of journey and covered them with balmy fog. There was, indeed, a medium among the four travelers.
Nothing forces you to believe this incredible story, and I don't believe a word of it myself. It was one of the four travelers that told me and confirms it to me. It seemed original to me, that's all! "
Hair Grayed by the Impression of a Dream
The Petit Journal of May 14th, 1866 reads:
“Mr. Émile Gaboriau, commenting the fact attributed to the husband that had murdered his wife while dreaming, tells in the Pays, this dramatic episode that we are going to read:
But low and behold, it is stronger, and I must say that I believe in the fact, whose authenticity was attested to me by the hero himself. The hero, my college mate, is an engineer in his thirties, a man of wit and talent, of methodical character and cold temperament. While traveling in Brittany, two years ago, he had to spend the night in an isolated hostel, a few hundred yards form a mine that he intended to visit the next day.
He was worn out. He went to bed early and soon fell asleep. Soon he was dreaming. He had just been put in chart of the exploration of that neighboring mine. He was watching the workers when the owner arrived.
That brutal and ill-educated man criticized him for staying out, arms crossed, when he should be inside, busy making the plan.
-It is okay, I will go down, responded the young engineer.
He, in fact, went down, walked the galleries, and sketched a plan. When the task was over, he jumped on a basket that should bring him back up. The basket was suspended by a huge cable. The mine was extraordinarily deep, and the engineer assessed that the ascent would take well a quarter of an hour. He then made himself as comfortable as possible. He climbed for two or three minutes when, raising his eyes serendipitously, he thought he had seen that the cable that held his life was cut a few feet above his head, too high for him to reach it. At first his fear was such that he almost fainted. He then tried to recover, reassuring himself. Could he be mistaken, had he not seen badly? He had to appeal to all his courage to dare look again. No, he was not wrong. The cable had been damaged by the friction of the rock and slowly, but visibly, it was unraveling. At that point it was not thicker than one inch in diameter. The unfortunate one felt lost. A mortal cold froze him up to the marrow. He wanted to scream; impossible. Besides, what for? He was then halfway through. At the bottom, at a vertiginous depth, he noticed the lights of the workers, less shiny than glowworms in the grass. Above he saw the opening of the well, so tight that it seemed less narrow than the diameter of a bottleneck. He was always going up, and one by one the hemp threads were cracking. And there was no way to avoid the horrible fall, for, he saw it, he felt it, the cable would break well before the basked reached the top.
His anguish was such that he thought of ending the ordeal by jumping. He hesitated when the basket reached the surface. He was saved. He jumped to the ground with a formidable scream. The scream woke him up. The horrible adventure was only a dream. But he was in terrible state, bathed in sweat, hardly breathing, incapable of the slightest movement. He finally rang the bell and they came for his aid. But the persons in the hostel almost refused to recognize him. His black hair had turned grey. On the foot of the bed was, sketched by him, the plan of the mine that he did not know. The plan was of a marvelous accuracy.”
We have no other guarantee of authenticity of this fact than the report above. Without prejudging anything about it, we say that everything that is reported is possible. The plan of the mine, sketched by the engineer during his sleep, is no different that the works carried out by the somnambulists. To do it accurately he had to see it. Since he could not see with the eyes of the body, he saw it with the eyes of the soul. His Spirit explored the mine during the sleep; the plan is the material proof. As for the danger, it is evident that there was nothing real about it; it was just a nightmare. What is remarkable is the fact that under the impression of an imaginary danger, his hair turned gray.
This phenomenon is explained by the fluidic links that the impressions of the soul transmit to the body, when the former is away from the latter. The soul was not aware of such separation; the perispirit took the place of the material body, as it many times happens after death, with certain Spirits that still believe to be alive, imagining themselves still occupied with their regular businesses. The Spirit of the engineer, although alive, was on an analogous situation; it was all so real in his mind, as if he were in his body of flesh and blood. Hence the horror that he experimented by feeling close to be thrown in the abyss.
Where has such a fantastic image come from? He created it himself, through his thoughts, a fluidic image in which he was the actor, exactly like Mrs. Cantianille and Sister Elmérich that we mentioned in our preceding number. The difference is in their usual occupations. The engineer naturally thought of the mines, whereas Mrs. Cantianille in her nunnery thought of hell. She undoubtedly believed to be in a state of mortal sin, for some breach of the rule, carried out by the instigation of the demons; by exaggerating its consequences she already saw herself dominated by them. The words: “I only got to deserve very well their trust” demonstrates that her conscience was not appeased. Moreover, the image that she makes of hell is somewhat seducing to certain persons, for those that admit to say blasphemy against God and praise the devil, and that have the courage to challenge the flames, are rewarded by entirely mundane pleasures. In this image it was possible to notice a reflex of the Masonic tests, that had been shown to her as the hall of hell. As for Sister Elmérich, her concerns are milder. She is satisfied with the beatitude and veneration of holy things; her visions, therefore, are their reproductions.
In the vision of the engineer, there are two distinct parts: the first real and positive, attested by the accuracy of the mine plan; the second purely fantastic: that danger that he run. This may perhaps be the effect of a real accident of that kind in which he had been the victim in his preceding life. It might have been provoked as a warning for him to take the necessary precautions. Overseeing the direction of the mine, after such a warning, would not neglect the cautionary measures. That is an example of the impression that one may preserve from sensations experienced in another existence.
We do not know if we have already cited it elsewhere; without time to dig it up, we bring it back with the risk of repeating it, in support of what we want to say.
A lady of our acquaintance had been educated in a boarding school in Rouen. When the students went out to the church or at leisure, at a certain point of the road she was taken by an extraordinary idea and apprehension: she felt like she was going to fall into an abyss, and that repeated every time she passed that place, during the whole time she was in the boarding school. She had left the Rouen for more than twenty years and having returned a few years ago she had the curiosity of going to see again the house where she had lived. When passing by the same street she experienced the same sensation. Later, having become a Spiritist, and having this fact come back to her memory, she requested an explanation and she was told that in the past, in that same place, there were gullies with deep wells full of water; that she was part of a group of ladies that joined efforts to defend the town against the English and that they had been thrown in those wells, where they had perished. This event is reported in the history of Rouen.
Thus, many centuries later, the terrible impression of that catastrophe had not yet faded away from her Spirit. If she no longer had the same material body, she had the same fluidic body or perispirit that had received the first impression, and that reacted in her present body. A dream, therefore, could trace the image back to her and produce an emotion like that of the engineer.
How many things the principle of the perpetuity of the Spirit and the bond that links the Spirit to matter teach us! The newspapers may have never, perhaps, in denying Spiritism, reported so many facts in support of the truths that it proclaims.
“Mr. Émile Gaboriau, commenting the fact attributed to the husband that had murdered his wife while dreaming, tells in the Pays, this dramatic episode that we are going to read:
But low and behold, it is stronger, and I must say that I believe in the fact, whose authenticity was attested to me by the hero himself. The hero, my college mate, is an engineer in his thirties, a man of wit and talent, of methodical character and cold temperament. While traveling in Brittany, two years ago, he had to spend the night in an isolated hostel, a few hundred yards form a mine that he intended to visit the next day.
He was worn out. He went to bed early and soon fell asleep. Soon he was dreaming. He had just been put in chart of the exploration of that neighboring mine. He was watching the workers when the owner arrived.
That brutal and ill-educated man criticized him for staying out, arms crossed, when he should be inside, busy making the plan.
-It is okay, I will go down, responded the young engineer.
He, in fact, went down, walked the galleries, and sketched a plan. When the task was over, he jumped on a basket that should bring him back up. The basket was suspended by a huge cable. The mine was extraordinarily deep, and the engineer assessed that the ascent would take well a quarter of an hour. He then made himself as comfortable as possible. He climbed for two or three minutes when, raising his eyes serendipitously, he thought he had seen that the cable that held his life was cut a few feet above his head, too high for him to reach it. At first his fear was such that he almost fainted. He then tried to recover, reassuring himself. Could he be mistaken, had he not seen badly? He had to appeal to all his courage to dare look again. No, he was not wrong. The cable had been damaged by the friction of the rock and slowly, but visibly, it was unraveling. At that point it was not thicker than one inch in diameter. The unfortunate one felt lost. A mortal cold froze him up to the marrow. He wanted to scream; impossible. Besides, what for? He was then halfway through. At the bottom, at a vertiginous depth, he noticed the lights of the workers, less shiny than glowworms in the grass. Above he saw the opening of the well, so tight that it seemed less narrow than the diameter of a bottleneck. He was always going up, and one by one the hemp threads were cracking. And there was no way to avoid the horrible fall, for, he saw it, he felt it, the cable would break well before the basked reached the top.
His anguish was such that he thought of ending the ordeal by jumping. He hesitated when the basket reached the surface. He was saved. He jumped to the ground with a formidable scream. The scream woke him up. The horrible adventure was only a dream. But he was in terrible state, bathed in sweat, hardly breathing, incapable of the slightest movement. He finally rang the bell and they came for his aid. But the persons in the hostel almost refused to recognize him. His black hair had turned grey. On the foot of the bed was, sketched by him, the plan of the mine that he did not know. The plan was of a marvelous accuracy.”
We have no other guarantee of authenticity of this fact than the report above. Without prejudging anything about it, we say that everything that is reported is possible. The plan of the mine, sketched by the engineer during his sleep, is no different that the works carried out by the somnambulists. To do it accurately he had to see it. Since he could not see with the eyes of the body, he saw it with the eyes of the soul. His Spirit explored the mine during the sleep; the plan is the material proof. As for the danger, it is evident that there was nothing real about it; it was just a nightmare. What is remarkable is the fact that under the impression of an imaginary danger, his hair turned gray.
This phenomenon is explained by the fluidic links that the impressions of the soul transmit to the body, when the former is away from the latter. The soul was not aware of such separation; the perispirit took the place of the material body, as it many times happens after death, with certain Spirits that still believe to be alive, imagining themselves still occupied with their regular businesses. The Spirit of the engineer, although alive, was on an analogous situation; it was all so real in his mind, as if he were in his body of flesh and blood. Hence the horror that he experimented by feeling close to be thrown in the abyss.
Where has such a fantastic image come from? He created it himself, through his thoughts, a fluidic image in which he was the actor, exactly like Mrs. Cantianille and Sister Elmérich that we mentioned in our preceding number. The difference is in their usual occupations. The engineer naturally thought of the mines, whereas Mrs. Cantianille in her nunnery thought of hell. She undoubtedly believed to be in a state of mortal sin, for some breach of the rule, carried out by the instigation of the demons; by exaggerating its consequences she already saw herself dominated by them. The words: “I only got to deserve very well their trust” demonstrates that her conscience was not appeased. Moreover, the image that she makes of hell is somewhat seducing to certain persons, for those that admit to say blasphemy against God and praise the devil, and that have the courage to challenge the flames, are rewarded by entirely mundane pleasures. In this image it was possible to notice a reflex of the Masonic tests, that had been shown to her as the hall of hell. As for Sister Elmérich, her concerns are milder. She is satisfied with the beatitude and veneration of holy things; her visions, therefore, are their reproductions.
In the vision of the engineer, there are two distinct parts: the first real and positive, attested by the accuracy of the mine plan; the second purely fantastic: that danger that he run. This may perhaps be the effect of a real accident of that kind in which he had been the victim in his preceding life. It might have been provoked as a warning for him to take the necessary precautions. Overseeing the direction of the mine, after such a warning, would not neglect the cautionary measures. That is an example of the impression that one may preserve from sensations experienced in another existence.
We do not know if we have already cited it elsewhere; without time to dig it up, we bring it back with the risk of repeating it, in support of what we want to say.
A lady of our acquaintance had been educated in a boarding school in Rouen. When the students went out to the church or at leisure, at a certain point of the road she was taken by an extraordinary idea and apprehension: she felt like she was going to fall into an abyss, and that repeated every time she passed that place, during the whole time she was in the boarding school. She had left the Rouen for more than twenty years and having returned a few years ago she had the curiosity of going to see again the house where she had lived. When passing by the same street she experienced the same sensation. Later, having become a Spiritist, and having this fact come back to her memory, she requested an explanation and she was told that in the past, in that same place, there were gullies with deep wells full of water; that she was part of a group of ladies that joined efforts to defend the town against the English and that they had been thrown in those wells, where they had perished. This event is reported in the history of Rouen.
Thus, many centuries later, the terrible impression of that catastrophe had not yet faded away from her Spirit. If she no longer had the same material body, she had the same fluidic body or perispirit that had received the first impression, and that reacted in her present body. A dream, therefore, could trace the image back to her and produce an emotion like that of the engineer.
How many things the principle of the perpetuity of the Spirit and the bond that links the Spirit to matter teach us! The newspapers may have never, perhaps, in denying Spiritism, reported so many facts in support of the truths that it proclaims.
Varieties
Clairvoyance in Children
One of our correspondents writes from Caen:
“A few days ago I was at hotel St. Peter in Caen. I was drinking a glass of beer and reading a newspaper. The little girl of the house, of approximately four years old, was sitting at the stairs, eating cherries. She did not notice that I saw her that seemed entirely entertained in a conversation with invisible beings, to whom she offered cherries. It all seemed that way: the physiognomy, the gestures, the inflexions of the voice. She soon turned roughly and said:
-You will not have it, because you are not nice.
-This is for you, she said to another one.
-What is it that you throw at me? She asked a third one.
One would say that she was surrounded by other children. She sometimes extended her hand offering what she had, sometimes her eyes followed objects that were invisible to me, that made her sad or laugh. That little scene lasted more than half a hour and the conversation only ended when the little one noticed that I was observing her. I know that children many times have fun with sidetracks of this kind, but here it was completely different; the face and the gestures reflected real impressions that were not those of a representation. I thought that it was undoubtedly about a clairvoyant medium in her infancy, and said to myself, that if every mother had been initiated in the laws of Spiritism, they would then collect many cases of observation, and would understand may facts that go unnoticed, whose knowledge could be useful to the education of their children.”
It is regrettable that our correspondent did not have the idea of question the little girl about the persons she was talking to. He could have ensured if the conversation had really been with invisible beings. In such a case it could have produced an important instruction, since our correspondent is a Spiritist and very enlightened, and could have usefully addressed those questions. Nevertheless, many other facts demonstrate that the clairvoyant mediumship, if it is not general, it is at least very common in children, and that is providential. When the child leaves the spiritual world, her guides come to take her to the port of disembark onto the earthly world, as they come to get her on the return. They appear to them in their first moments so that there isn’t too much of a rough transition; they then fade away progressively, as the child grows and can act on her own free-will. She is then left to her own strength, disappearing from her eyes, without losing sight of her. The girl above, instead of being, as our correspondent believes, a clairvoyant medium that begins, she could well be declining, and no longer enjoy such a faculty for the rest of her life. (See Spiritist Review, February 1865: Spirits Instructors of Childhood).
One of our correspondents writes from Caen:
“A few days ago I was at hotel St. Peter in Caen. I was drinking a glass of beer and reading a newspaper. The little girl of the house, of approximately four years old, was sitting at the stairs, eating cherries. She did not notice that I saw her that seemed entirely entertained in a conversation with invisible beings, to whom she offered cherries. It all seemed that way: the physiognomy, the gestures, the inflexions of the voice. She soon turned roughly and said:
-You will not have it, because you are not nice.
-This is for you, she said to another one.
-What is it that you throw at me? She asked a third one.
One would say that she was surrounded by other children. She sometimes extended her hand offering what she had, sometimes her eyes followed objects that were invisible to me, that made her sad or laugh. That little scene lasted more than half a hour and the conversation only ended when the little one noticed that I was observing her. I know that children many times have fun with sidetracks of this kind, but here it was completely different; the face and the gestures reflected real impressions that were not those of a representation. I thought that it was undoubtedly about a clairvoyant medium in her infancy, and said to myself, that if every mother had been initiated in the laws of Spiritism, they would then collect many cases of observation, and would understand may facts that go unnoticed, whose knowledge could be useful to the education of their children.”
It is regrettable that our correspondent did not have the idea of question the little girl about the persons she was talking to. He could have ensured if the conversation had really been with invisible beings. In such a case it could have produced an important instruction, since our correspondent is a Spiritist and very enlightened, and could have usefully addressed those questions. Nevertheless, many other facts demonstrate that the clairvoyant mediumship, if it is not general, it is at least very common in children, and that is providential. When the child leaves the spiritual world, her guides come to take her to the port of disembark onto the earthly world, as they come to get her on the return. They appear to them in their first moments so that there isn’t too much of a rough transition; they then fade away progressively, as the child grows and can act on her own free-will. She is then left to her own strength, disappearing from her eyes, without losing sight of her. The girl above, instead of being, as our correspondent believes, a clairvoyant medium that begins, she could well be declining, and no longer enjoy such a faculty for the rest of her life. (See Spiritist Review, February 1865: Spirits Instructors of Childhood).