them to him. I took the papers, and wrote on seven of
them the names of my father and mother, my eldest and my youngest
brothers, a sister, a sister-in-law, and an aunt, one name on each; and
one I left blank. I retired to a corner of the room to do the writing,
where there was neither glass nor window, and I was so careful not to
give any one a chance of knowing what I wrote, that I wrote with a short
pencil, so that even the motion of the top of my pencil could not be
seen. I was besides entirely alone in that part of the room, with my
face to the dark wall. The bits of paper which the medium had given me
were soft, so that I had no difficulty in rolling them into round
pellets, about the size of small peas. I rolled them up, and could no
more have told which was blank and which was written on, nor which,
among the seven I had written on, contained the name of any one of my
friends, and which the names of the rest, than I can tell at this moment
what is taking place in the remotest orbs of heaven. Having rolled up
the papers as described, I laid them on a round table, about three feet
broad. I laid on the table at the same time a letter, wrapped up, but
not sealed, written to my father, but with no address outside. I also
laid down a few loose leaves of note paper. The medium sat on one side
the table, and I sat on the other, and the pellets of paper and the
letter lay between us. We had not sat over a minute, I think, when there
came very lively raps on the table, and the medium seemed excited. He
seized a pencil, and wrote on the outside of my letter, wrong side up,
and from right to left, so that what he wrote lay right for me to read,
these words: "I CAME IN WITH YOU, BUT YOU NEITHER SAW ME NOR FELT
ME. WILLIAM BARKER." And immediately he seized me by the hand, and
shook hands with me.

This rather startled me. I felt very strange. For WILLIAM BARKER was the
name of my youngest brother, who had died in Ohio some two or three
years before. I had never named him, I believe, in Philadelphia, and I
have no reason to suppose that any one in the city was aware that I had
ever had such a brother, much less that he was dead. I did not tell the
medium that the name that he had written was the name of a brother of
mine; but I asked, "Is the name of this person among those written in
the paper pellets on the table?"

The answer was instantly given by three loudish raps, "Yes."

I asked, "Can he select the paper containing