th great speed and decision. The answers
were often quite opposed to what I expected, so that I could not
believe that I was influencing them. He said that he was happy, that
he did not wish to return to earth. He had been a free-thinker, but had
not suffered in the next life for that reason. Prayer, however, was a
good thing, as keeping us in touch with the spiritual world. If he had
prayed more he would have been higher in the spirit world.

This, I may remark, seemed rather in conflict with his assertion that
he had not suffered through being a free-thinker, and yet, of course,
many men neglect prayer who are not free-thinkers.

His death was painless. He remembered the death of Polwhele, a young
officer who died before him. When he (Dodd) died he had found people
to welcome him, but Polwhele had not been among them.

He had work to do. He was aware of the Fall of Dongola, but had not
been present in spirit at the banquet at Cairo afterwards. He knew
more than he did in life. He remembered our conversation in Cairo.
Duration of life in the next sphere was shorter than on earth. He had
not seen General Gordon, nor any other famous spirit. Spirits lived in
families and in communities. Married people did not necessarily meet
again, but those who loved each other did meet again.

I have given this synopsis of a communication to show the kind of thing
we got--though this was a very favourable specimen, both for length and
for coherence. It shows that it is not just to say, as many critics
say, that nothing but folly comes through. There was no folly here
unless we call everything folly which does not agree with preconceived
ideas. On the other hand, what proof was there that these statements
were true? I could see no such proof, and they simply left me
bewildered. Now, with a larger experience, in which I find that the
same sort of information has come to very, many people independently in
many lands, I think that the agreement of the witnesses does, as in all
cases of evidence, constitute some argument for their truth. At the
time I could not fit such a conception of the future world into my own
scheme of philosophy, and I merely noted it and passed on.

I continued to read many books upon the subject and to appreciate more
and more what a cloud of witnesses existed, and how careful their
observations had been. This impressed my mind very much more than the
limited phenomena which came within the rea