es of some, at
least, of the messages. They were not always absolutely stupid. For
example, I find that on one occasion, on my asking some test question,
such as how many coins I had in my pocket, the table spelt out: "We
are here to educate and to elevate, not to guess riddles." And then:
"The religious frame of mind, not the critical, is what we wish to
inculcate." Now, no one could say that that was a puerile message. On
the other hand, I was always haunted by the fear of involuntary
pressure from the hands of the sitters. Then there came an incident
which puzzled and disgusted me very much. We had very good conditions
one evening, and an amount of movement which seemed quite independent
of our pressure. Long and detailed messages came through, which
purported to be from a spirit who gave his name and said he was a
commercial traveller who bad lost his life in a recent fire at a
theatre at Exeter. All the details were exact, and he implored us to
write to his family, who lived, he said, at a place called Slattenmere,
in Cumberland. I did so, but my letter came back, appropriately
enough, through the dead letter office. To this day I do not know
whether we were deceived, or whether there was some mistake in the name
of the place; but there are the facts, and I was so disgusted that for
some time my interest in the whole subject waned. It was one thing to
study a subject, but when the subject began to play elaborate practical
jokes it seemed time to call a halt. If there is such a place as
Slattenmere in the world I should even now be glad to know it.

I was in practice in Southsea at this time, and dwelling there was
General Drayson, a man of very remarkable character, and one of the
pioneers of Spiritualism in this country. To him I went with my
difficulties, and he listened to them very patiently. He made light of
my criticism of the foolish nature of many of these messages, and of
the absolute falseness of some. "You have not got the fundamental
truth into your head," said he. "That truth is, that every spirit in
the flesh passes over to the next world exactly as it is, with no
change whatever. This world is full of weak or foolish people. So is
the next. You need not mix with them, any more than you do in this
world. One chooses one's companions. But suppose a man in this world,
who had lived in his house alone and never mixed with his fellows, was
at last to put his head out of the window to see