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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..206409b --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #60406 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/60406) diff --git a/old/60406-0.txt b/old/60406-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 263d63e..0000000 --- a/old/60406-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7566 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Seven Purposes, by Margaret Cameron - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Seven Purposes - An Experience in Psychic Phenomena - -Author: Margaret Cameron - -Release Date: October 2, 2019 [EBook #60406] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEVEN PURPOSES *** - - - - -Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive) - - - - - -Transcriber’s Note: struck-through text is indicated ~like this~. - - - - -THE SEVEN PURPOSES - - - - - _The_ - SEVEN PURPOSES - - _An Experience in - Psychic Phenomena_ - - BY - MARGARET CAMERON - - [Illustration] - - _Harper & Brothers Publishers - New York and London_ - - THE SEVEN PURPOSES - - Copyright, 1918, by Harper & Brothers - Printed in the United States of America - Published October, 1918 - - - - -“_That is what we hope to establish as a recognized truth in your life -there; that a force as yet unknown to science is operating between the -planes, and can be developed and used in your life._” - -“_A force compared to which electricity is spring water._” - -“_Some day your scientists will discover and prove by experiment certain -laws now unrecognized._” - -“_If you will only believe and know that I am not dead._” - -“_Come, all ye who struggle and strive! Perceive once and forever the -purpose of life. Join now the forces of construction, and bring to all -men brotherhood._” - -“_A great brotherhood is only possible when its component parts are -great._” - -“_Forget the class and remember the man. Forget the price and remember -the pearl. Forget the labor and remember the fruit. Forget the temple and -remember God._” - - - - -INTRODUCTION - - -Twenty-five years or more ago my attention was attracted to the -entertaining possibilities of a planchette, and, like other young -persons, I played with one at intervals for several years. Like others, -also, I speculated concerning the source of the remarkable statements -sometimes obtained in this way, but the assumption that these statements -were dictated by disembodied personalities always seemed to me rather -absurd. - -At no time has my interest in the matter been sufficient to lead me -to read anything describing or discussing psychic phenomena, with -the exception of an occasional magazine article. Neither have I read -philosophies to any extent. I have been always a busy person, taking -life at first hand, without much regard to what students have said about -it. Such faith as I have had in anything, human or divine, has been -based upon works, and, without convincing demonstration, it has been -impossible for me to be sure that individual life continued. - -After the beginning of the war, however, when interest in the possible -survival of the individual was so suddenly and pathetically increased, -and one heard on every hand of attempts to establish communication with -those gone before, I resolved to experiment again with planchette; but -it was not until our friend V—— expressed a desire to try it with me, -sometime in 1917, that I really bought one. For almost a year it lay -untouched in its box, and when finally we found opportunity to test it we -had no success. It did not move from the spot where we placed it, and I -made no attempt to try it alone. - -Several weeks later, two friends, Mrs. Wylie and Miss Gaylord, told me -that they had been making efforts, through some one near their home, -to get into touch with their brother Frederick, with results they -thought promising. A day or two later we tried planchette together, with -some success. It moved briskly, wrote “Frederick ... mother ... love -... happy ...” and other detached words. It also persisted in making -little circles, perhaps two inches in diameter, the pencil tracing the -circumference again and again. This was so often repeated that Mrs. Wylie -thought it might be a symbol, but could obtain no satisfactory reply to -questions about it. - -My friends went home without renewing the experiment, and my interest was -not greatly stimulated. It seemed quite probable that the words written -had reflected the thoughts and desires of Frederick’s sisters, and -that the whole episode could be explained by the theory of unconscious -response by the muscles of the hand to the prompting of the subconscious -mind. I had dismissed the matter, as far as my own participation in it -was concerned, when a letter came from Mrs. Gaylord, saying that her -daughters had told her I had “mediumistic power,” and suggesting that I -might be able to help her. - -I knew that the exceeding bitterness of her grief lay, not in the -separation from her only son, but in her inability to believe that his -identity and development continued, and that the assurance that he had -not “gone out, like a snuffed candle,” as she afterward expressed it, -would bring her the greatest—indeed, the only possible comfort. Therefore -I replied at once that while I had no reason to believe that I possessed -“mediumistic power” to the slightest degree, I would make further -experiments, at the same time warning her that the attempt would probably -prove fruitless. - -The following pages contain a partial history of the result. It was soon -evident that certain of these revelations were of too great moment to -be withheld from public knowledge. In addition, while much of the more -intimate personal matter has been omitted, most of those to whom these -messages were given have felt impelled to share, in this tragic time, the -comfort and assurance of their conviction, and have voluntarily yielded -their privacy, hoping thereby to bring to those in sorrow an added faith -in the continuance of personality, with all that this implies. - -To facilitate reference, and to avoid breaking the sequence of the twelve -impersonal communications forming the basis of the whole revelation, -this report has been arranged in three parts. First, the genesis and -rapid development of the individual message, brief at first, and purely -personal, but growing both in volume and in import with each day. Second, -the Lessons. Third, additional individual messages, no less personal in -their original application than the first, but more impressive in their -wider human appeal and significance, illuminating and emphasizing the -meaning of the Lessons. - -For obvious reasons, the names and initials used have been substituted -for those of the persons involved, with three or four exceptions. - - - - -Part I - -“_That is the eternal battle, between the purposes of progress and -building, and the purposes of disintegration. It goes on in your life, -and it goes on less bitterly in ours. Help me build as we began, toward -the great unity._” - -“_This is the battle to which we call you and all who are for -progress._” - - - - -I - - -My first serious attempt to establish communication through planchette -with a person or persons in a life beyond ours was made Sunday morning, -March 3, 1918. Not so very serious an attempt, either, for I anticipated -no success, and was not without a humorous appreciation of my position, -sitting with my hand on a toy, inviting communication with celestial -powers. I remember laughing a little, as I pictured the sardonic glee -with which certain of my friends would be likely to regard such a -proceeding. - -Perhaps this is as good a time as any to say that I was seeking a -stranger. I never saw Frederick. When our friendship with his parents -began they lived in one city, we in another, and he in a third and more -distant one, where he was first a reporter and later a political and -editorial writer on the staff of a leading newspaper. I knew that he was -young, successful, a bachelor, and singularly devoted to his family, -as they to him. But his habits of thought and speech had never been -described to me, at first because it was expected that we would meet, and -in the much closer intimacy of our later acquaintance, because the pain -of his loss was so poignant that no member of the family could speak of -him with composure. I had never seen a photograph of him, even. - -After perhaps twenty minutes, during which planchette did not move, I -left the paper—a roll of blank wall-paper, called lining-paper, which I -found years ago to offer the most continuous and satisfactory surface for -use with planchette—spread over the table, and went into another room, -intending to return later. But I forgot it, and only when I was putting -things in order for the night did I re-enter that room and remember my -promise to Mrs. Gaylord. I decided to make one more attempt, that I might -be able to tell her positively that I had been unsuccessful. All other -members of the household were away—Cass at Atlantic City, recuperating -from an illness—and I was entirely alone in the apartment. - -For some minutes planchette was motionless, but almost immediately I -felt the curious sense of vitality, very difficult to describe, that -precedes movement. It is like touching something alive and feeling its -latent power. Presently it began to move. Unfortunately no exact record -of those first messages was kept, and this report of them is taken from -my letters to Cass, written immediately after each interview, and from -the typewritten record begun a week or ten days afterward, in which was -included what I could remember of details not written to him. At first -there was little capitalization, but within a few days capitals were used -freely. The punctuation throughout has been added, except in cases noted. - - _From a letter dated Monday morning, March 4th_: - -... Instead of doing the usual loop sort of thing, it made straight runs -across the table. I asked, “Are you ready to write?” “Yes.” Then, as -nearly as I can remember, it went like this: - -“Are you Frederick?” “No.” - -“Are you Mary Kendal?” “No.” - -“Are you Anne Lowe?”[1] “No.” - -“Did I know you in life here?” “Yes.” - -“Recently?” “No.” - -“Are you my father?” At this it ran sharply toward me, point first, but -for some time did not reply, perhaps because I so hoped it would write -“yes.” Eventually, however, it wrote a very clear and uncompromising -“No.” - -“Can you tell me who you are?” “Yes. Mary.” - -“Mary Kendal?” “No.” - -“Which Mary? What Mary?” “Mary ...” followed by a character that might -have been either K or H, but looked more like K. - -“Mary Kendal?” “No.” - -“Tell me again.” “Mary K.” - -“Mary _K._?” “Yes.” Planchette was down at the lower right-hand corner -of the table when I asked the last question, and it swung to the center, -writing that “yes” very quickly and firmly. - -“_My_ Mary K.?” “Yes ... yes ... yes.” - -Her name was Mary Katherine M——, but I always called her Mary K. She has -been dead sixteen years or more. Over and over she insisted that she was -Mary K. Sometimes, in pauses, with the casters hardly moving at all, the -thing would write “Mary,” in tiny script, but round and clear. - -I asked if there were any message, and it wrote, “Mon ...,” trailing off -into a series of waves, a good many times. I guessed Monday ... money -... Mons ..., but always the answer was, “No.” Finally it wrote “man” -very clearly. I could not get more for quite a while. Finally came, “Many -thanks.” - -“Thanks for what?” “For knowing.” - -I asked if Frederick or Anne were there. “No.” - -“Any message?” “Yes.” - -“For whom?” “Broth ...,” trailing off again. This several times. -“Brother?” “Yes.” - -“Where?” “Albany.” - -“His name?” “James.” - -“James M——?” “No.” This was confusing. - -“Where?” Beginning apparently with U, the writing trailed off. Finally -made out “United ...,” but no more. Then I remembered that Mary K.’s only -brother was killed in an accident, years before she went over herself. I -said so, and the thing began making loops. That used to be planchette’s -way of laughing at me. - -“Why did you say that?” “Joke.” This was not at all like Mary K. She had -a fine mind and was not given to buffoonery. I have since thought that -she might have been trying to get over a message to some other person’s -brother.[2] - -“... Can you get word from Frederick Gaylord?” “Yes.”[3] - -“Will you come again?” “Yes.” - -“Have you been trying all these years to get into touch with me?” “No.” - -“Will you help me make a bridge between those on your side and those -here?” “No.” Then immediately it went back and wrote, “Yes,” over the -“No.” Very curious. - -After a long pause, I said I would go to bed, if there were nothing more, -and it wrote, quickly, “Go.” I said, “Good night.” “Good night. God bless -you.” I asked again if this were Mary K., and got the same quick “Yes.” -Then I put planchette away and came out to my room. It was one o’clock. -Three before I went to sleep. Can you imagine anything more weird than -my sitting here alone in the middle of the night, with that thing fairly -racing under my fingers part of the time, insisting it was nobody I -expected? Claiming to be a very dear old friend, but the last I should -expect under the circumstances. It was certainly queer, but I am very -sure something outside of myself was doing it. I shall try again to-night. - - _From a letter dated Monday evening, March 4th_: - -I have just had another amazing try at planchette. This time it was Mary -Kendal, writing one word at a time. “Let ... Manse[4] ... know ... I ... -am ... here....” She gave me several intimate messages for him, and when -I finally said I would write and ask him to come, so she could tell him -herself, she wrote, “Yes ... yes ... yes,” very quickly. - -What do you make of this? Isn’t it the queerest thing you ever heard -of? In the midst of her talk, another hand took hold, very brisk and -energetic. - -“Not Mary?” “No.” - -“Perhaps Frederick?” “Yes.” - -“Message?” “Yes. Mother.” - -“Anything more?” “Happy.” - -“More yet?” “Only love.” - -Then he was gone, and Mary came again, writing “Miss A——, messenger,” -many times. Later, Frederick interrupted to write one word, “family.”[5] -Then another hand began writing “Annie Manning,” over and over, and, -“tell Manning.” I said that I knew no Manning. How find him? Answer, -“Question.” I did not know what that meant.... There was a lot more, but -I am too tired to write it to-night. - -B—— Gaylord telephoned to-night. She is either coming to New York -Thursday or going to Atlantic City, if I am there.... This is the most -amazing thing that ever happened to me! To-night it was as if several -were trying to talk at once. I am almost afraid to have B. G. come, -yet it was for her sake that I began this. It seems too indefinite -and unsatisfactory. But at least she can be sure I am not faking it. -Something outside of me does it. - - * * * * * - -That same evening I wrote to Mansfield Kendal, though what his attitude -toward this situation would be I could not even guess. We had known -him well for several years, but our numerous discussions had never -touched questions of religious faith and a future life. A man of -extensive reading and of wide interests, supplemented by long residence -abroad, he has been engaged for years in the executive conduct of large -engineering and agricultural enterprises. I knew him to be intellectually -open-minded. But I also knew him to be a devoted adherent of the orthodox -Church, giving much time and thought to its support, and I was afraid -that an assumption on my part of ability to communicate with the departed -might offend some deep and reverent sense in him. Therefore, while I -wrote him fully of my surprising experience, giving him Mary’s messages, -I promised at the same time never to force the subject in conversation, -should he prefer not to discuss it. Subsequently, impelled by Mary’s -continued insistence, I wrote several other letters to him, which, like -the first, were sent to his club in New York City, as I knew him to -be traveling in the Middle West and thought they would reach him more -quickly in this way than if sent to his business headquarters in the -South. - -Thus, curiously, I found myself vicariously engaged in a double search -for a mother on this plane seeking her son on the next, and for a wife on -the next plane seeking her husband here, and it is significant that, of -the two, Mary Kendal was the more insistent. As she said, later, “We know -how much it means.” - - _From a letter to Cass, dated Tuesday morning, March 5th_: - -Another evening with Mary! H. dined with me. I told her something about -planchette, and she wanted to see it work.... This time it wrote, “Mary -Kendal,” at once, and, “Tell Manse I love him.... Tell him Miss A—— -is messenger from some one he knows.... Mentally beautiful people are -fearless.... Faith is fearlessness.... Mannerisms are essential to -recognition.” Some of these took a long time to work out. - -H. asked, “Do you mind my being here?” “Excellent portent.” - -I asked why. “Intellectual interest.” - -H. said, “You mean that you are glad to have intelligent people -interested?” “Yes.” - -When we were talking about H.’s interest, it wrote, “Tell others.” This -was repeated several times. “I am a missionary,” came as clearly as I -have written it here. We asked if she meant a missionary from that life -to this. “Yes.” At the end she again urged H. to tell others. I laughed, -saying, “Tell as many others as you like about the experience, but don’t -tell too many that it came through me.” “Sorry.” - -“Sorry that I am unwilling to be overwhelmed by a flood of curiosity and -hysteria?” “Sorrow.” I said I would be glad to help people in sorrow. -“Sorrowful people suffer.” Isn’t that like Mary Kendal? - -When H. was leaving, it wrote: “Good night. Tell others.” - -After she had gone I went back, and got another movement entirely. -“Frederick?” “Yes.” He seems to have more difficulty in writing than she -does. Is very clear at first, but becomes illegible sooner. - -“Do you know that your mother is coming?” “Yes.... Wish to make her at -peace.” I said I wished to make her at peace, too, and would do all I -could, and he wrote, “Thank you.” - - * * * * * - -As has been said, Cass had been ill, and his improvement after going to -Atlantic City had not been as rapid as we had hoped it might be. A letter -received from him on Tuesday reported a slight relapse, and promised a -telegram on Wednesday. It had been arranged that I should join him if he -needed me. - - _From a letter dated Wednesday evening, March 6th:_ - -Your letter and wire both came after four, though the letters usually -arrive with the first mail in the morning. I was getting a little -anxious. Went to planchette and asked Mary Kendal whether she knew -anything about you. She said you were better to-day and that a letter was -coming, but that I must go to Atlantic City.[6] - -Frederick also came, seeming very anxious lest the meeting with his -mother fail. Wrote “message” several times, and by dint of some -questioning I found it was not a message he wished to send, but one he -wished me to send to her about coming at once. Wrote of her “mental -anguish,” an expression I never should have used myself, and wanted her -to join me at Atlantic City. Knew nothing about you, but was keen to meet -her. - -Later, he seemed to go, and Mary Kendal wrote a little. Then came -something very hard to get. Over and over we tried. “Com ... come ... -comf ... comp....” I suggested various words. Always the answer was “No.” -Finally, very clearly and slowly, “Comfort dear Mother.” After the M of -the last word I expected Manse, as I thought Mary was still writing. When -it proved to be “Mother,” I said, “Is this Frederick?” “Yes.” I promised -again to do all I could. He wrote, “Thank you,” and went. - -It is an amazing experience!... To sit all alone here and have that -foolish toy move firmly and definitely under my hands, write things I -have to puzzle out, sign names of persons who are what we call “dead,” -and beg me to send messages to those they love—all this is startling and -deeply impressive. Deeply moving. - - * * * * * - -The next day I joined Cass at Atlantic City. He had never seen a -planchette used, and was much interested in the whole matter. In the -evening we experimented, and “Mary Kendal” was written at once. - -He exclaimed, “God bless you, Mary Kendal!” - -“God bless you, too. Tell Manse I love him. Don’t fail to tell him -that.” During all the preceding days this had been her constant plea. -Repeatedly I assured her that I had told him, and as often she urged, -“Tell him again.” - -Then came a strong, brisk movement, to and fro, for a space of about -five inches. I asked if this were Frederick, and received an affirmative -answer, after which planchette ran about, as if in uncontrollable -excitement, presently pausing to write: - -“You are a trump!” We laughed, and he added, “You bet!” - -As we had never known Frederick, and were unaware at that time of the -continuance of what some one familiar with this experience has defined -as “the subtleties of personality,” this enthusiastic use of slang was -startling. - -When I asked if he had thought I would fail him, he replied, “No, but I -was afraid Mother would not come.” - -[The next day Mrs. Gaylord told me that when Frederick begged me, on -Wednesday, to send her a message about coming at once, she had almost -decided to postpone her visit until after our return to New York.] - -More running about followed, during which Cass said that it was a pity to -obliterate the earlier messages in that way. Planchette then swung back -to a clear space and wrote clearly, “Mother is coming!” Beneath this, the -bow-knot flourish we have since learned to associate with Frederick. - -“You are a brick!” was a later comment. When Cass said he had thought the -last word would be friend, Frederick concluded: “Friend, too. Thank you a -million times.” - - * * * * * - -An interesting, but rather confusing, feature of these earlier -communications was the constant interruption by Annie Manning. On all -occasions, frequently even breaking into messages from some other person, -she wrote her name and her one request,“Tell Manning.” During this -period, also, I repeatedly asked Frederick to give me a message for his -father, and was unable to account for his invariable refusal. - -Once, I asked Mary Kendal if she had no message for me, personally, and -she returned, “Yes, believe,” which seemed, at the moment, somewhat -cryptic, though the relation of my faith to the full development of this -intercourse was afterward explained. - -Thursday night, at the end of the fifth day, I was fairly certain that -I had established communication with three definite and recognizable -personalities on the next plane, but I dreaded Mrs. Gaylord’s arrival the -following day, lest these fragmentary messages fail either to convince or -to comfort her. - - - - -II - - -The next morning, Friday, March 8th, before giving Frederick an -opportunity to communicate with his mother, I read her my letters to -Cass, wishing her to know just what had occurred and my attitude toward -it. Then we turned to planchette. - -From this point, the account is taken from the original manuscript. At -first we did not realize the importance of writing in our questions, some -of which we were unable to remember later. During those first days, also, -the messages were sometimes confused by other messages written over them, -or by lines and circles done in apparent excitement and joy, and were -impossible to decipher afterward. - -Frederick’s writing, from the first moment with his mother, was quick and -firm—at that time the most rapid and consecutive I had ever seen done -through planchette, although in comparison with later communications -these were slow and fragmentary. - -“Mother dearest,” he began, immediately, without question or comment -from either of us. - -She told me that this had been his name for her, which I had not known. -He went on, writing eagerly, with brief pauses between phrases. - -“I am here, dearest.... Just believe.... Mother, you do believe, don’t -you?... Tell me you do.” - -After replying to some questions, he began making the small circles first -noticed during the preliminary episode when his sisters were in New York. -I asked what they meant. - -“Joy.... Don’t fail to make her believe.” I reminded him that this was -his responsibility, and he added, “You and I.” - -A question of which there is no record drew this reply: “Yes, busy every -minute.... Work is so interesting.... I love you just the same.... Go -home when I can.... Tell Dad I am with him ... helping all I can ... I -am so glad you came.... I was afraid you would not.... Go home in peace, -Mother dearest. I am alive and happy and busy and well.” - -She said it was like him to sum it all up that way. - -“Of course it is like me. It is ‘me.’” - -Some personal comment concerning members of the family followed, in -the midst of which Annie Manning interrupted with her invariable, “Tell -Manning.” Asked if she had any connection with the Gaylord family, she -said, “No, good-by,” and Frederick resumed his sentence where it had been -broken off. - -Throughout this and subsequent interviews Mrs. Gaylord and I kept up a -running conversation, impossible to reproduce here—my hand still resting -on planchette—to which Frederick frequently contributed a remark, -precisely as if he had been present in the flesh. Again, he would break -a pause by addressing some characteristic statement or appeal to his -mother, sometimes, she told me afterward, answering her unspoken thought. - -Over and over he begged her to say that she was convinced of his presence -and identity, and at last she gave him this assurance. - -“Oh, thank God!” He made strong circles, before running up to a clear -space some inches above, to add, “Tell Dad.” - -For the first time, a possible explanation of his inexorable refusal to -give me a message for his father occurred to me, and when I asked, he -said, “Yes, I want to reach them through her.” - -He told her not to think of him as he had been during the months of his -last illness, saying: “Forget all that. It is over, and I am well and -strong, and happier than ever—now.” When we wondered whether it had -distressed him to be unable to communicate with his family, he said, -“Yes, I needed that.” - -“Will you talk every day, you and she?” he asked, presently. “Thank you.” - -“Mrs. Gaylord, Frederick is a fine force,” followed immediately, in a -more running script, and when I said this must be Mary Kendal, the answer -was: “Yes. Tell Manse I love him.... Tell him again.” - -“He doesn’t need to be told that,” I assured her, as I had so many times -before. - -And again she returned: “Yes, he does. There are reasons. Tell him.” I -promised to write to him once more, and she continued: “Mrs. Gaylord, -Frederick wants you to be sure that he is doing more here than he could -there. You should not grieve for that, should you? You have a fearless -mind in other things. Trust for that. Good-by.” - -“Mother dearest, that was Mrs. Kendal,” Frederick resumed, with his more -vigorous movement. “She is a missionary, and a fine force.” - -Noticing the repetition of this word, I asked, “You say force, not -spirit?” - -“No, force is what moves things.” - -To his mother’s inquiry about a friend, he replied: “He is here with -me, working. Bob’s little girl is here, too.” She told me that a medium -visited by his sisters had described him with a little girl, saying that -he wanted them to “tell Bob.” [I had heard this from them, also, and the -subject recurred later.] - -“Yes,” he acquiesced. “Same child.” - -When she expressed her belief that he was still alive and growing, -promising that she would be happier in future, he said: “Thank you, -Mother dearest. That is all I need. Tell Dad to be happy, too. I am with -him. He has not lost a son. I am better and bigger and more useful than I -ever could have been there, but I have been sorry you suffered so much.” - -“Have you been trying recently to let us know you were with us?” she -inquired. - -“Yes, for months. At first I could not.” - -He said that Mary Kendal had found him for us, and when I mentioned that -Mary K. had come first to me, he explained: “Yes, she is more used to it. -She found Mrs. Kendal, and she told me.” - -“You had better get your lunch,” he suggested, after a pause, rousing us -from our complete absorption to a consciousness that it was late. Mrs. -Gaylord denied being hungry, but he warned her—characteristically, I -learned afterward, “You will have a headache, Mother dearest, if you -don’t.” - -After luncheon we went out for a walk, and then to our respective rooms -to rest, the morning having been fatiguing in its emotional strain. -Planchette and paper had been left in Mrs. Gaylord’s room, and in the -afternoon, while Cass and I were still alone, I picked up a lead-pencil -and placed its point on a sheet of letter-paper, expecting no response. -To my great surprise, I was conscious almost instantly of its vitality. -The sensation is comparable to that of holding a quiet, live bird, -wrapped in a handkerchief, its energy muffled but palpable. Sometimes -this sensation of a current from without is communicated to the hand and -arm, sometimes only to the fingers. - -In a short time the pencil moved, writing, “Mary Kendal,” followed by the -usual messages for Manse. - -Cass asked whether it annoyed them to be questioned, or interfered with -things they might wish to tell us. - -“No, it does not interfere. We are here to tell you what we can, but we -cannot tell everything.... You have the right to know what we can tell -you.... You are getting nearer the big things every day.” This made Cass -wonder whether “the big things” would come to us in this life or the -next, and she added: “Both. You begin there and keep on growing. As soon -as you are ready, big truths are shown to you.” - -Addressing me, he made some allusion to what “she” had said, suggesting -that it seemed to support a theory he had once held, that this world is -one of elimination. - -“No, it is one of growth,” was her answer. “And ‘she’ is trying to tell -you that growth begins there and does not stop. It goes on and on, as -long as you are worthy.” - -“Then unworthiness kills?” - -“It does not kill. It defers.” - -Weeks afterward, it was interesting to turn back to these early pages -of the record and find how much of the wide significance of later -revelations had been foreshadowed from the first. - -“Are you as eager for this communication as we are?” - -“We are more eager, because we know how much it means. We know that more -truth can be taught this way than any other.” - -Cass turned to Mrs. Gaylord, who had rejoined us, saying that this seemed -to imply that they were our superiors. - -“No, we are your elders,” said Mary Kendal. - -As has generally been the case during these interviews, we were talking -among ourselves, frequently going on with our conversation while the -pencil wrote. Some one wondered how or why they had time or desire to -leave their presumably more important work to talk to us. - -“Because we are all humans, after all,” Mary responded, “and it is our -work to help, just as it is yours. Many people do not want to help, here -or there.... This life is just a continuation of yours under happier -conditions.” - -“Are you happier there than you were here, Mary?” - -“Yes, except for Manse.” - -Mrs. Gaylord asked whether a man who had loved books, and had always kept -himself surrounded by them in this life, would find that interest there. - -“No,” Mary said, “but we have its equivalent interest.” - -Mrs. Gaylord then explained that the medium already mentioned had -described Frederick to his sisters as surrounded by books. - -“He told her that to identify himself, as characteristic.” - -[In this connection, an incident occurring three months later is -interesting. - -[One night, about the middle of June, a group of us had been talking for -some time, through my pencil, with friends on the next plane, when one -of the women announced that she could see distinctly a large man’s hand -resting upon the hand of a man present. - -[The person in question—a hard-headed, practical business man, -successfully conducting large affairs—looked startled, saying that he had -noticed a peculiar sensation in that hand, and asked whether a friend, -whom he named, was actually present. - -[“Yes,” was the reply through the pencil. “R—— saw. I manifested physical -attributes for a minute. I have no hands, but I can imagine them and -project them in your minds, occasionally.” - -[No one else saw the hand, and at no other time in my experience has -anything of this kind occurred.] - -I asked Mary Kendal whether they preferred planchette or pencil, and she -said, “It is easier for us this way.” Therefore, except on one memorable -occasion, all later writing has been done with a pencil. - -For the information of persons interested in physical details, it may -be explained that I generally use a long pencil, which is held erect, -almost at right angles to the paper, the fingers clasping it lightly two -or three inches from its point, the hand and arm entirely unsupported. -In the very rapid writing that has sometimes been done, and occasionally -in moments of great eagerness or emotion, the force propelling the -pencil—which seems to be applied sometimes above, sometimes below my -hand—has forced it to a sharply acute angle in relation to the surface of -the paper. From the first, I have used right and left hands alternately, -and the writing, with exceptions so few as to be negligible, has been -done in rather large script on wall-paper, many rolls of which have been -covered. - -One of the exceptions to the use of wall-paper was this first experiment -with a pencil, when loose sheets of letter-paper were used, and as many -of them were missing when I tried to assemble them the next day, much of -this interview has been lost. - -“Frederick, shall we ever have our holidays again?” Mrs. Gaylord asked, -in the evening. - -“Just as many holidays as you will take,” he replied. “I am always there -on high days and holidays. Why leave me out?” This was the first time -he made an interrogation point. It was traced slowly and with great -precision, as if to emphasize his inquiry. - -His mother then explained to us that the celebration of certain -festivals, which had always been days of family reunion, notably -Christmas and Easter, had been impossible to them since his death. -Shortly afterward he expanded this theme. - -That night Mrs. Gaylord telegraphed to her husband that she had received -messages for him and for the family. She said, as other members of the -family have said since, that there was in everything Frederick had -written a familiar and convincing sense of his personality, a quality -which we were unable to recognize, never having known him. - -The next day he announced, buoyantly: “Mother dearest, I am here. Thank -you for wiring Dad. Made him happier.” - -Greatly comforted by the conviction of her son’s continued life and -development and devotion, Mrs. Gaylord’s thought was already turning to -other bereaved and suffering mothers, and more than once she expressed -her desire to share with them her new knowledge, urging me to make -preparations for the publication of the messages she was sure Frederick -would give us, to which, for personal reasons, I demurred. We asked -Frederick whether he thought it should be published, and he replied in -the affirmative. After some discussion, leaving me still unconvinced, he -resumed his appeal to his mother. - -“You will be happy now, won’t you? You can’t be sorry I am so much -better off and more useful. I get your thoughts and you get mine, only -you don’t recognize them always as mine. You will now.” - -“Is there any way I can know when you are with me?” she asked. - -“You will learn, now you know I am there. I can’t tell you how, but you -will learn. That is part of this big knowledge, dearest. You are both -just beginning, but, like other knowledge, growth is rapid, once begun. -You will meet skeptics, who will laugh, but don’t be disturbed. This is -the next big revelation, and you are with the first over the top.” - -“Are you still interested in the war?” she asked, and the reply came with -great vigor. - -“Yes. How can anybody help that? It is great and hideous and wonderful, -and the salvation of the civilized world. Something had to wake the souls -of most men. They have been quiet too long. Growth is always struggle. -It is hard struggle there, because you don’t see far ahead. We see -farther—much farther—and it is easier to climb.” - -“Was the war the fault of the Germans, or the result of world conditions?” - -“Both. The Germans had long been obsessed by a lust of power, and the -rest of the world by a lust of ease and money, and individual interests. -There has been real unity of purpose only in Germany.” When she said that -this thought of Germany’s unity had been much in her mind of late, he -added, quickly, “That was I, Mother dearest, trying to tell you what I -could of what I know.” - -A long talk on personal topics followed, during which he referred to me -as a “messenger,” explaining Mary Kendal’s previous use of the word. By -this time, many of the messages were conveyed to my consciousness before -the pencil wrote them. Sometimes I had no previous impression of them; -sometimes only the meaning reached me, being expressed by the pencil in -other phrases; sometimes I knew what the words would be. I mentioned -this, with some misgiving, and Frederick dryly remarked: “You are very -sensitive for so obstinate a person.” - -Referring to his earlier statement about Germany, Cass asked: “What would -national unity of purpose lead to? Hasn’t it elements of great danger?” - -“Many men feel that unity of purpose is dangerous, but it is up to men -... to guide the purpose to sane and right ends. It must come through the -awakening of the souls of the people everywhere. We work for that here, -because the growth of the part is the growth of the whole. You can help -us and all life by working for that unity with us.” - -This was the first intimation, apparently personal and casual, of that -gospel of unity and co-operation so fully developed later. - -“Mother dearest, you are normally a builder,” he went on, after a -little. “Now clear away the débris of things outlived, and begin the new -structure with me.” - -She replied that she had been feeling for some time that she must free -her life of many small, insistent demands, and have time to think. - -“Not only that, dearest. You must get out of shadow into light. Out of -mourning into building. Out of black into color and life. Out of grieving -into joy with me in our work together. It is not that I object to black,” -he continued, when she expressed her unwillingness to lay aside her black -dress, “but to a symbol of mourning. Sorrow is not constructive, after -it has done its first big work. Leave it behind and go on. Can’t you do -that? Won’t you please try?... As for me, this is a great time to be -here. Think what this war means here. We are busier than you are. There, -I should be in the army, I suppose. I am doing bigger work than that -here. Just now, I am on a sort of furlough, to visit with you. That is -permitted. But when I go back to work I can’t be with you all the time, -this way.” - -“Can you get into touch with my father, who died years ago?” Cass asked. -“And do the young stay young, and the old, old?” - -“I will try to find your father. Some of us go on into remoter places to -work, but almost all of us come back, at intervals. We are tremendously -interested in life there, for it is the root and beginning of all our -work. When things improve there, they are just that much better here.... -Age is a matter of experience here, not of time.” - -“Does your work affect us in this world, or only those joining you?” - -“We try constantly to help you with our greater knowledge, but some of -you are easier to help than others.” This led to a question as to whether -all our knowledge here is given to us from his plane, and he went on: -“Not all. We help develop what you are willing to work for, if you are -really sincere in wanting it. Sincerity is the crowning virtue.” - -We talked this over, and in the midst of our discussion he interrupted -with a question of his own: - -“Mother dearest, are you getting tired?” She denied it, but he said, “She -is tired,” and we talked no more that afternoon. - - - - -III - - -Shortly before dinner that night I picked up a pencil again, and “Mary -Kendal” was immediately written. It had become customary for her to write -her name both at the beginning and at the end of her communication, -probably to avoid confusion with Frederick. - -“Manse is in New York,” she told us, repeating it several times. For some -reason I questioned this, and she said: “You must not doubt. He is coming -to-night.” - -“Are you happy, Mary?” Cass asked. - -“Very, especially now, since I am with you. You can reach Manzie.” - -Keenly sympathizing with her eagerness to reach her husband, from whom -no word had come, he suggested telephoning to Mansfield at his club, but -I demurred, feeling that, if he were there, he would receive my letters -and communicate with us, unless, as I began to fear, he preferred not -to approach the subject in any way. Repeatedly, however, Mary insisted -“Call him up,” and Cass put in the long-distance call accordingly. - -“He is there.... He will answer,” she reiterated again and again, while -we waited. - -It is impossible to make a fully accurate report of this interview. The -messages were confused and broken, and there were many monosyllabic -replies to questions not recorded. - -At one time we asked about Anne Lowe, and Mary said: “Anne is not here. -She is a lovely character. She works for children.... Manse is not -there.... Manse is out.... He will answer.... He is not there.” - -Eventually the long-distance operator reported that Mr. Kendal was not at -his club and was not expected. - -I asked Mary why she had said that he was there, telling her that this -was making me doubt my powers of correct transmission, to which she -replied that this was better than too much credulity, adding: “Manse is -there.... He is out of the club.... He must be there.” - -We called up the —— Club a second time and I talked to the clerk, -who said Mansfield Kendal was not registered there, nor had they -been notified that he was coming. Long afterward we learned that he -had expected to be there at that time, but had been detained in the -Northwest by business. - -Meanwhile, there was much confused writing from Mary. “Manse is in the -club.... He is not there.... He must be there.... He is out.” Effort to -write the name of a city was followed by, “Minneapolis recently.... Manse -will be there soon.” - -It was Mansfield Kendal himself who ultimately arrived at a possible -explanation of some of these apparent inaccuracies, Mary having explained -others meanwhile. But at the time it was all very contradictory and -confusing, and after dinner Cass demanded an explanation. - -Mary Kendal came at once, admitting that she had been wrong in saying -that Mansfield was at the club, and asserting that she “thought he would -be.” - -“Didn’t you know?” - -“No.” - -Again the messages are confused and fragmentary. “You must not doubt.... -He will be there soon ...” are among those now decipherable, each many -times repeated. She seemed profoundly distressed. - -To ease the tension, Cass made a little joke, eliciting no response from -her, whereupon he asked whether they retained a sense of humor over -there. - -“Yes, but this is no time for humor.... I am so afraid of missing Manse.” - -Again she urged me to write to him, but I refused, reminding her that I -had made every possible advance until some reply to my letters should be -received. - -“Yes, I know, but it means so much! You will help, won’t you?” - -Knowing nothing then of the tremendous forces of attraction and repulsion -unconsciously put into operation by persons ignorant of their existence, -and assuming—not unnaturally—that she must be able to learn at least -as much about Mansfield’s whereabouts and condition as both she and -Frederick evidently knew about ours, I was unable to understand, even -dimly, the contradictions of the present situation, and the cloud of it -hung over me all that evening and the next day. I was oppressed by a -sense of my responsibility in conveying messages from sources seeming -suddenly so uncertain. - -Following Mary, Frederick came again, his buoyancy undiminished. - -“Mother dearest,” he began, without question, “Mrs. Kendal is true. She -is a fine force.” I rather held back on this, and the writing was angular -and unyielding. “There are things we cannot explain.” - -“You have too little faith. Mary Kendal.” - -This statement was made without preliminary comment, and until she signed -her name I thought Frederick was writing. I reminded her that she had -made it impossible for me to trust her wholly. - -“I am sorry I shook your faith,” she said. “I welcome you to this -relation, and want you to believe.” - -“Mother dearest, you know I am here, don’t you?” Again Frederick made his -own interrogation point. “Because I am, and you will feel my presence -more and more clearly as time goes on.” - -“Do you know all that we want to know?” Cass inquired. - -“Not all you want to know. We know more than you do, and will tell you -all we can, as soon as you are ready for it.” We were uncertain whether -this meant mentally and spiritually ready, or that we must learn the -conditions through which they can best reach us, and he explained. “We -can tell you anything you are prepared to understand, and the more you -learn there the better you will do your work here.” - -“Are you still interested in politics here?” he was asked, a little later. - -“Oh yes. But they are in a state of transition that is fearfully -difficult to understand or to influence now. The seed has been sown, but -the harvest is not yet garnered. Nobody knows what will come of it in -this country.” - -“Are you conscious there of what people here call God?” his mother asked. - -“We are conscious of a great purpose. Some of us call it God. I see it as -light in dark places. Others see it as power. Others as love. But we all -recognize it as a purpose.” - -At luncheon that day we had spoken of Prof. William James and Sir -Frederick Myers, and later in the evening Mrs. Gaylord asked Frederick -whether he knew Professor James. - -“I know him, but I am not sure he knows me. He is a great force, and many -of us go to him for help and instruction. Only one other man has the same -sort of power. That is Sir Frederick.” - -“Are you with people from this world only?” some one asked. “And does -everybody go there, or only a certain element?” - -“There are people from this world only, but it is as with you, not all -people are equally prepared. Growth is easier here if one has earned it -there. But not all have earned it, and the penalty for laziness is long -struggle.... Purgatory is not a bad definition of it. The right to do -big work must be earned. Some people have a terrible struggle of it. -[Their?] Moral muscles are flabby.” - -“Do you agree with Mary Kendal that there is humor there, but that this -is no time for it?” - -“Oh, she didn’t mean that! She meant that this particular crisis is not -humorous to her. She is deeply concerned to get into touch with him.... -Good night, Mother dearest. I’ll be with you all night.” - -“Good night,” said Mary Kendal. “I’m sorry I upset you.” - - - - -IV - - -The more I thought about the Kendal affair the more perplexing it seemed, -and since I could neither question that Mary Kendal and Frederick had -actually communicated through me nor believe that she would wilfully -deceive me, there seemed no possible explanation of the episode Saturday -night, except some unconscious influence of my own mind. By the next -afternoon I had almost persuaded myself that the repeated erroneous -statements about Mr. Kendal had been induced, in some way not traceable, -by my increasing anxiety concerning his reception of the letters I had -sent to his club. - -After luncheon, we took up the communication again, and immediately, -without interrogation, the pencil wrote, “You are a good messenger.” - -“Who is writing?” I asked. - -“Frederick.” - -“How much of this do I do, and how much is yours?” - -“You do very little. Mostly, you lend a hand.” This is so literally -what I do that we laughed. “You are by nature skeptical,” he continued. -“Mother dearest, you must not let her make you doubt that I have said all -these things.” - -“It unsettles me when I know what the message is to be before it is -written,” I persisted. “Do you suggest it to me, or I to you?” - -“Sometimes you suggest things to me and I say them,” he returned. -“Sometimes I don’t.” This reassured me somewhat, for I had frequently -noticed that a thought strongly in my mind seemed to delay the pencil, -yet was not written. - -Returning for a moment to the discussion of politics, Cass asked: “By -reason of our different environment, am I not more interested in large -details, and you in large movements?” - -“There can be no real movement without a mass of detail. Here we are -interested equally in both. They are inseparable.” - -“You said yesterday that the seed had been sown and the harvest not yet -garnered. Has the seed generally been good seed?” - -“There is no telling how much of it will come up. There has been seed, -good, bad, and indifferent, sown in all sorts of soil. The crop is not -foreordained. We work and hope.” - -“Is there anything in this life to any degree a counterpart of what you -have there?” his mother inquired. “Or is it something so wholly new that -we can’t even imagine it?” - -“It is so much more expansive, so much more beautiful and free, that we -can give you no conception of it.” - -“Perhaps it’s better that we shouldn’t know,” it was suggested; and -Frederick’s reply seems to hold a hint of humor. - -“It might make you envious.” - -When I wondered what became of suicides, Cass said, “They probably get -the purgatory he mentioned yesterday.” - -“That’s what they get; and it’s a long, hard road back to mental....” The -pencil hesitated. After some efforts to write a word beginning with p or -f—we were uncertain which—Mrs. Gaylord suggested, “Poise?” - -“... poise. Yes.” - -“Is there unconsciousness at first, when you go over?” she asked. - -“It depends on circumstances and persons. Sometimes there is a period of -unconsciousness. I was conscious from the first moment, and so happy to -be here.” When Cass interpreted this to mean that he greatly preferred -being there, he corrected: “No, to be free. But for the first weeks I was -dazed by the bigness of it.” - -Later in the afternoon Frederick discussed with his mother various -personal matters, with a good deal of humor. Afterward, more seriously, -he continued: “You’ll do better work, and be more open to suggestion from -me, if you don’t dull yourself by too constant harping on one chord. Play -a little, you and Dad.” - -She told him they had not been happy enough to play. - -“You will be happier now. Tell Dad few men are as near their sons as he -is to me. He and all of you have only to learn to recognize me, when I am -trying to tell you I am there.” - -We spoke of her desire to receive his communications through her own -pencil and he said that if she would “keep on trying and believing,” he -could talk directly to her before long, as he has since demonstrated. - -“It is difficult for us to overcome doubt in a messenger,” he said. -“Faith is a positive force. It helps us reach you. Doubt, being negative, -hampers us.” - -This reminded me of Mary Kendal’s first personal message to me, -“Believe.” - -“Are you hampered by my doubt to-day?” I asked. - -“No. That is not doubt of us, but of yourself. It is a safeguard.” - -At this point we went to dinner. Later in the evening, when we had -returned to the pencil, Cass said: - -“You were facetious last night, Frederick, so perhaps I may ask if you -have dined?” - -“I’ve had a feast of reason, thank you,” was the instant retort. - -Asked whether the different races were represented where he was, he -replied: “We have groups. People naturally divide themselves. But not -actual race distinction.” When Cass explained that he had wondered -whether peoples of widely differing religious beliefs, Christians, -Confucians, Mohammedans, and so on, would be together there, Frederick -continued: “Certainly. Each group does its work more or less in its own -way, but all to the same purpose.” Here again is a clear reference to -conditions and forces of which we had then no knowledge and concerning -which, apparently, he had at that time no authority to speak in detail. - -Mrs. Gaylord was sitting in silence, at a little distance from the table. -After a pause, Frederick began again, as if in answer to some unspoken -thought: - -“Mother dearest, you will get what you are asking from me when we are all -more accustomed. Margaret is afraid to let me handle her.” I said that -the Kendal episode the night before had disturbed me, and that I had been -careful all day not to yield to any impulse in the pencil unless it were -very definite, to which he returned: “That’s all right. You be as careful -as you like, as long as you don’t deny us.” - -Cass asked whether he could put us in touch with a friend on his plane, -one David Bruce. - -“Mary Kendal can. That is part of her work. Mother dearest, you won’t -backslide?” - -Mrs. Gaylord turned astonished eyes on me, asking: “Is ‘backslide’ a part -of your ordinary vocabulary?” When I assured her that it was not, she -laughed, saying that it was “a Gaylord word.” “I’m not sure that I won’t -backslide when I get home again, away from these daily messages,” she -said. - -“Then you come to us—Margaret and me. We’ll fix you!” He drew a circle -around this, as if to emphasize it. When she wondered whether she might -not find a messenger nearer home to give her occasional help, he added: -“You can get help, but you can’t trust everybody.” - -The pencil was moving slowly, with many false starts and delays. I asked -whether he would prefer planchette, and he said he would, so his mother -went to her room to get it, while Mary Kendal talked to us about Manse. -As soon as planchette was placed on the table, however, Frederick took -possession again, moving it briskly back and forth, in a space of about -six inches, as if warming it up. Mrs. Gaylord was then sitting opposite -me, and Cass to the right, some distance away. - -Suddenly planchette swung sharply down to the lower right-hand corner of -the table, from my position, and addressing Mrs. Gaylord directly—that -is, writing from right to left and upside down from my viewpoint, so that -his mother sitting opposite me read it as it came—Frederick wrote rapidly -and strongly: - -“Mother dearest, this is your boy, come back to stay.” - -We were astounded. Given a fresh surface, planchette raced all over the -sheet, in energetic circles and flourishes. It ran toward me, point -first, as if it would leap off the table, paused, wheeled, crossed toward -Mrs. Gaylord, retreated, darted to where her hand lay on the papers, -followed as she moved it, and then resumed its apparently meaningless -tracing of angles and circles. When I said that I did not understand this -performance, the reply came with a whirl, followed by one of his big -flourishes. - -“I am trying to show you that I am running this myself!” Then, very -rapidly, upside down again to me: “You can’t doubt this. Even Margaret -can’t doubt this.” - -“I haven’t doubted that you were here, Frederick,” I said. - -“No, but you’ve got to believe in me.” - -Again I placed the instrument at my left, in readiness to write, as -usual, across the sheet, but he had not finished. Swinging down to the -right, and moving toward the left, once more reversed from my point of -view, he wrote: “Mother dearest.” Then he ran to the upper right-hand -corner and wrote along that edge of the table: “Now I’ll do it this way, -Mr. L——.” In circles and flourishes he crossed, to write along the left -edge: “Now I’ll do it this way.” Up then, to the edge opposite me. “Now -I’ll do it this way.” - -By this time the paper was completely covered with interlacing lines and -words, except a narrow margin along the right edge. Sliding over to this, -he wrote, slowly, “Now are you convinced?” - -We were amazed, breathless, and all somewhat moved by his determination -to demonstrate his presence. - -Circling again to the center, already so covered with lines that we had -to watch the pencil-point to make out the message, he said: “Now get the -pencil.” - -“Did I show you then who is running this?” he demanded, when I had -complied with his request. “Mother dearest, when you are inclined to -backslide, remember that little exhibition, and ask yourself how you can -doubt any manifestation of me that you perceive.” - -Mrs. Gaylord said that it was peculiarly characteristic of Frederick to -insist upon making his point, and in one way or another to succeed. - -“Dad won’t need to see that,” Frederick stated, when Cass wished that his -father might have witnessed this extraordinary performance, “but if he -does, I’ll do it for him with trimmings.... He has not lost a son in any -but the most superficial sense. Tell Sis I’ll do stunts for her, too, if -she’ll come where Margaret is, and Babe can have her own show, too.” - -Again Mrs. Gaylord gasped, for he had used his own intimate names for his -sisters, neither of which I had ever heard before. - -“Now were really getting down to business,” he remarked, presently. “I -had to convince Margaret before she would loosen up.” Cass began to -explain that it had not been necessary to convince me, but before he was -fairly started the pencil ran on: “Yes, it was. She didn’t quite believe -I was running this show. Now she’s nice and amenable.” Verily, all -resistance had been taken out of me! Thereafter he had his own way with -the pencil. - -Cass began another question, but broke off, saying that it was not fair -to keep Frederick answering impersonal inquiries when he wanted to talk -to his mother. - -“That’s what it’s all for,” was the candid admission. “The L——s are all -right, but it’s for Mother dearest and the Family that I’m here.... This -isn’t exactly what religious people call heaven, but it is life eternal -in the biggest sense. But I can’t be quite happy in it unless you whom -I love so much are happy, too. Don’t you backslide! Only let me have a -chance, and I’ll keep you convinced; but doubt is the hardest thing to -combat because it destroys the very proof we are trying to bring against -it. Believe every suggestion of me until it is proved false.” - -One of us asked whether their greatest difficulties in communicating with -us were caused by doubt or by dishonest messengers. - -“Both. It is hard to find a good messenger, but, having found one, doubt -is apt to destroy all his work.” - -“All four points of the compass, Mother dearest.” This we took to be an -allusion to his writing along the four edges of the table, earlier in -the evening. “You see, we have not much time left, and you must go home -fortified and happy, and glad for yourself and me.... It will mean a lot -to Dad. He has thought I was in some remote and far-off heaven, and he -will like to know that we are working more nearly shoulder to shoulder -than ever before, as we are in some ways.... I want to talk to him -straight.” Long afterward one of his sisters told me that “shoulder to -shoulder” was a characteristic phrase of Frederick’s. - -Again sliding over to the lower right-hand corner, he wrote quickly, in -big swinging script, upside down to me: “Mother dearest, don’t forget the -four points of the compass. I want you to remember that I am your boy -come back. Not lost at all. Please remember that.” - -When a fresh surface offered and the pencil was placed at my left, as -usual, he said, “No,” and swung once more down to the right, writing -quickly and firmly toward the left and upside down to me. - -“I am going to write a little letter to Dad and the girls. I love them -just as well as ever, and it hurts me to have them think I am not alive -and loving them, because I know they still love me. - - “FREDERICK.” - -Although the movement in this reversed writing is rapid and definite, as -if great energy were exerted to accomplish it, it is extremely difficult -to follow, perhaps because the muscles of the hand are accustomed to move -from left to right in writing, or because the mind instinctively resists -a movement it cannot readily understand. - - - - -V - - -The next day (Monday, March 11th) we all returned to New York together, -Mrs. Gaylord rejoining us in the evening, after dining with other friends. - -Before her arrival, we talked a little to Mary Kendal, who was still -uneasy about the failure to reach her husband, from whom no word had -come. We asked if she knew David Bruce, and she replied: “No, but he is -here, and most of us know what he does. He is a sweet force.” - -When Mrs. Gaylord came, we told her of this characterization, after some -personal talk with Frederick, and at once he took up the suggestion. - -“Mother dearest, you are a sweet force, too. Help me build a structure of -strength, which is Dad, sweetness, which is you, and illumination, which -is my part.” - -We remembered then his asking her to “clear away the débris of things -outlived and begin the new structure with me,” but not until greater -revelations followed did we understand fully what he meant. - -A little later he said of his father: “He will discover that I am more -a force than ever, and then he will be as proud as men who have sons -‘over there.’ ... Should you prefer a son in the trenches or in the place -of accomplished peace?... I am nearer you now than I have ever been -before, but the price of that is apparent separation. Your life knows no -such companionship as ours can be now, but that is possible only at the -cost of apparent and visible contact. This is gain, not loss. You are -questioning that, but trust me. I know. You can’t even guess what this -means to all of us, Sis and Babe and Dad and you and - - “FREDERICK.” - -His name was dropped a line, like a signature. - -It was coming slowly, with hesitations and false starts, and I asked: -“Are you tired, Frederick? Or am I?” - -“Both,” he said. “This is not the simplest thing I ever did.... I am not -tired, as you understand weariness, but it is easier sometimes to get -things through than others.” - -The next evening—the last we had with Frederick at that time—his first -messages were personal, expressing his desire to “talk straight” to other -members of the family. - -“But there’s no hurry,” he went on. “We’ve all eternity together now.... -Only one thing can separate us. If you doubt my existence, I shall still -exist, but your doubt will destroy the thread that links us like a -telegraph-wire, only more closely and warmly. So you must not backslide, -for my sake as well as your own.” - -“Why don’t you stay on?” he asked presently. “I can reach you, but not -so definitely for a while to your sense, and actual speech with you is -keen joy. Tell ~Dad~ ...”—the erasure is his own—“... the family I want -to talk to them, too. Let’s have a reunion. One that won’t leave me out. -I want to _be in_.” Rapidly and strongly, he underlined the last words -three times. - -His mother promised that the family festivals should be held again, in -the full consciousness that he was there with them. - -“Thank you, Mother dearest. You don’t know how we hate being left out.” -When she explained that they were “left out” ignorantly, rather than -intentionally, he continued: “No, we know you don’t mean to leave us out. -But you—and we, too—would be so much happier if you knew we were there -and we could know you were not grieving. You see, we are really nearer -to you than you are to each other, and only memory tells us why you -grieve. There is no reason for grief in what you call death and we call -knowledge.” - -“Why hasn’t all this been told to us before?” she demanded. “It was cruel -not to let us know it!” - -“As I wrote you the other day, not everybody has been prepared for the -knowledge. It is known only to the few—those first over the top I spoke -of. But it will be the next great revelation. As well say it was cruel -not to have known chloroform in the Middle Ages, when it was sorely -needed, or wireless telegraphy in the Napoleonic wars. There is an -evolution of soul, as well as of biology and chemistry. Many fine souls -have still lacked this peculiar preparation.” - -This started a little discussion between us. One said that many persons -had lost faith in the orthodox religions, thus making the need of a new -revelation great. Another spoke disparagingly of the modern theory of -a pervasive and impersonal energy, from which we come and to which we -return, losing individuality. At this point Frederick took the lead again. - -“Don’t you let them fool you! There is no such thing as Bergson’s stream -of energy, unless every individual of us is a well-defined drop in the -stream. That is all a philosopher’s dream, coated with poetry and -tinctured with science.” - -Mrs. Gaylord said she had never heard of Frederick’s reading Bergson, -and I mentioned that I had read nothing of his, except one article in a -review. - -“I never read Bergson, either, but you could not live in the world, or -pick up a Sunday supplement, some years ago, without encountering that -stream of energy.” - -“There speaks the newspaper man!” his mother said, laughing. - -During all these talks with Frederick he had frequently made the little -retraced circle, which we had been told meant joy. He made it again now, -with vigor, and some one suggested that he seemed excited. - -“Wouldn’t it excite you to get into actual touch with your family, after -long doubt and pain? I am no angel, you know, and thank God I am not -above being excited. When I am I _will_ be dead!” Again he underscored a -word. - -Mrs. Gaylord spoke of her feeling of his presence, of his characteristic -personality, saying that he seemed “just the same.” - -“Plus, Mother dear. You’d like me better now. I don’t mean that I am -perfect, you know. I’ve got more to learn than I ever knew existed, but I -can see ahead now. And you _would_ like me better.... I didn’t say love -me better,” he added. - -We talked about the force moving the pencil, which on this occasion was -very strongly applied, though I was greatly fatigued by the efforts of -the past few days, and I asked Frederick whether he could move it without -my co-operation. But he said, “Only as you hold it.” To a suggestion that -he expressed himself not through the pencil, but through me, he replied, -“She is like the battery.” - -From the first Mrs. Gaylord had been experimenting with planchette -and pencil, hoping to establish direct communication with Frederick. -While placing more emphasis on a possible communion of thought, without -material aid, he had encouraged these efforts. “Mother, you can do it, -I am sure,” he said once, “but don’t expect much fluency for some time. -I have not written except through Margaret yet, but they tell me she is -exceptionally sensitive as a messenger.” - -Referring to this, he was asked whether others, not known to me -personally, had desired to communicate through me, and replied: “No, but -they have watched her, this last week.” Ten days later, when the most -amazing of all the communications began to come, we remembered this. -After enumerating some of the qualifications of a good messenger, he -said: “When that combination is found we are all interested, if we want -to reach our own people.” - -“Are you over there especially interested in reaching your own families -and friends, or in reaching persons who might be interested in the -possibility of these communications?” - -“Both. But if you have ever been unable to communicate with those you -love, for months and years, and have known they were suffering, then you -know which interest is keenest. The one is immediate and urgent, the -other more or less a matter of evolution.” - -“Shall I try to talk to some of you occasionally?” I asked. “Or shall I -wait for a call?” - -“You are over the top. We shall be glad to come.” - -“Can you let me know, if you have something to say through me?” - -“Not always. Sometimes we can suggest the thought to you.” - -Since that time, however, a more perfect connection has been established -and I am often conscious of a definite summons. On these occasions the -pencil starts at once, generally with great vigor, and almost always -writes some message not conveyed to my consciousness except as I spell it -out after the pencil. - -Toward the end of the evening, when Mrs. Gaylord had suggested going back -to her hotel, the pencil made a little circle and some apparently aimless -marks inside it. - -“Is this Frederick?” I asked, wondering at indecision from him. - -“Yes. I want to do something Mother can’t forget.... You don’t need any -more fancy stunts, do you?” - -She said she did not, but that she was very tired and could stay no -longer. - -“Oh, don’t go!” he begged. “I’ll go with you, but I like gassing this -way.” Another characteristic phrase, she said. - -After some further assurances of his frequent presence and constant -watchfulness, she said she really must go. Frederick then moved the -pencil down to the right corner again, and wrote, very clearly and -carefully, one more “upside-down” message—a touching little message of -love to “dear Dad and the girls,” which he signed, “Your boy, Frederick.” - -The next day Mrs. Gaylord went home, where she immediately destroyed all -her black-bordered cards and stationery and similar symbols of mourning. -She wrote me that she felt it was false and wicked to mourn for a son as -vitally alive and happy as she now knew Frederick to be. - - - - -VI - - -One of my letters to Mr. Kendal had been marked “Urgent.” On the day -of Mrs. Gaylord’s departure a telegram came from him, asking that a -duplicate of this letter be sent to him at Chicago. It developed later -that all my missives, after some delay, had been forwarded from his club -to his business address in the South, where, owing to the uncertainty of -his plans, his secretary had held them, notifying him by wire of the one -evidently demanding immediate attention. - -After some hesitation—reluctant to shock him by a bald and startling -announcement unaccompanied by any explanation of a situation concerning -which I was convinced he would be skeptical, if not wholly unsympathetic, -and yet impelled by his wife’s distressed insistence to reach him before -he should go South again—I telegraphed him that I had reason to believe I -had been in direct communication for several days with Mary and others, -and asked him to return _via_ New York, if possible. - -Early that evening I took up a pencil, which moved at once. - -“Manzie has your message.” - -This could be no one but Mary Kendal. To my inquiry concerning his -reception of my telegram she replied: “He is startled. He is wiring you.” -An expression of her happiness followed, concluding, “He is thinking of -me ... and I can help him.” - -“Can’t you help him unless he is thinking of you?” - -Apparently this presented difficulties, but after long effort and many -false starts she achieved what I felt to be only a part of the answer she -had intended. “On power I can.” - -“You mean that you can influence his work? His strength, or -accomplishment?” - -“Yes, but not his heart and soul.” After assurances that he would come -soon, she thanked me touchingly. - -Later in the evening she said, “Manzie is so amazed!” When I asked -whether he believed it, she returned: “He does now. He has thought....” -Details personal to him followed. - -Still later I asked whether Mr. Kendal had telegraphed me, and she said -that he had not, though he had intended to do so. As a matter of fact, -he had not at that time received my telegram, but he afterward told -me that when it reached him, twelve hours later, his reactions were -exactly as she had described them. Also, his intention of telegraphing me -immediately was delayed several hours by business necessities. This is -one of several instances when a difference of plane has seemed to enable -them to look ahead for a limited space and foretell events. - -The next morning, for the first time in ten days, the pencil was merely a -piece of dead wood between my fingers, without impulse. After long delay -it moved slowly, making light circles, but no words came. - -I knew that Mrs. Gaylord had intended to make an effort that day to get -into touch with Frederick through a semi-professional medium in her -vicinity, and in the evening I took up a pencil, wondering whether we -could learn what success had attended the attempt. - -“Mary.” - -Supposing this to be Mary Kendal, I made some allusion to Mansfield, and -was immediately corrected. - -“No. Mary K.” - -This was surprising, as it was the first time she had responded since -my initial effort to establish this intercourse. She said that Mary -Kendal was not present, and that Frederick had met his mother at Mrs. -Z——’s, with results only partially satisfactory—which letters from the -Gaylord family afterward verified. We suggested that this might have been -discouraging, and she replied: “Discouragement is not for Frederick.” - -“How do you know so much about Frederick now?” I asked. “Ten days ago you -said you did not know him.” - -“Mrs. Kendal interested me in him. He is for justice, light, and -progress. My work, too.” - -To my expressed hope that she found life happier there than it had been -for her here she returned, “Yes, I was glad to come,” following the -statement with the little circle so often used by the others. She, too, -said that it meant joy. We have since learned that it means much more, -but apparently they were educating us by degrees. In this case the joy -was not hers alone, for the renewed communion with her brought me great -gladness. - -Our friendship began long ago, in a Western city, whither she had come -in search of health. Both were young, she a few years the elder. She was -alone. I never saw any member of her family, and we had few friends in -common, but between us, from the day we met, there was a strong bond of -sympathy, which grew to deep affection, notwithstanding many differences -between us. She was more widely read than I; I more actively in touch -with life than she. She was a church woman; I was not. Her point of view -was Eastern, mine at that time entirely Western. Our many disagreements -were argued warmly and at length, but at bottom each knew that she could -draw at will upon whatever strength or resource the other possessed, and -the debt in the end was mine, when her death left a blank to which I -could never be quite reconciled. - -Her brief career seemed to contradict the law of compensation, upon -which, until recently, my philosophy of life has been based. Meticulously -truthful, scrupulous in all things, strong of purpose, giving of her best -to life, life passed her by with a shrug. Keenly sensitive to beauty, -whether spiritual, intellectual, or material, she was hampered in its -pursuit by limited health and limited means. For years she struggled with -uncongenial employment of one sort or another, denying herself the loaf -she needed to procure the hyacinth she needed more. Longing for life -at its fullest and richest, she scarcely touched its margin. Yearning -for high peaks and wide outlook, she lived always on the plain. When, -finally, the path seemed to be opening before her and she was pleasantly -established, doing a healing and constructive work for which she was -fitted, she died suddenly, still baffled, having given the last proof of -her love for humanity by yielding her life for it, worn out by hard work, -combating an epidemic in a college town. - -Rejoiced to learn that at last she was happy, I asked whether she could -tell us of her work, and she began, easily: “Yes, on the ... on ... on -the....” After long difficulty she accomplished it. “On the perpetual -tour.” - -When she had verified this astonishing statement as correct, I suggested, -“‘Off ag’in, on ag’in, gone ag’in’?” - -“That’s it.” For an eager spirit like Mary K.’s no happier heaven could -be imagined. - -Replying to further questions, she said that it was not just luck that -I had caught her that first night. No, neither had she come to me from -the other side of the world. “I’ve been working on you for a month,” she -said. “Ever since V—— was here.” It was considerably more than a month, -but time and place seem to have little significance to those on her plane. - -Shortly after this Annie Manning interrupted again. It was said that -Mary K. knew Annie Manning and wished me to find her brother. Inquiry -developed the fact that he was the brother mentioned the first night I -used planchette. His name was given as James Manning, and his address, -Albany, New York. “United States Ho....” We could not get beyond that. At -one time the word seemed to be “Hotel.” Unable to find any United States -Hotel listed in Albany, I suggested Saratoga, but this was not accepted. -Repeatedly asked to write to him, I could obtain no address. - -Afterward the address was given as Albany, but not New York. Long efforts -to write the name of the state resulted in “I ...,” ending in wavy lines. -Suggestions of Illinois and Iowa brought negatives, but the mention of -Indiana was greeted with a quick, “Yes.” Vain and fatiguing efforts to -get the rest of the address resulted in the indefinite “United States Ho -...” and at last I gave it up, disappointed. - -An hour later Annie Manning came again, but I asked her to let me talk to -Mary K. - -“Here! Mary K.,” was the prompt response. “Do you remember all the good -times?” I told her I did, and thought of them often. “All the many ae -... an....” There I lost it. She began it many times, in many ways, -apparently trying to get a momentum that would carry her through. “All -the many am ... I mean ae ... I meant to say anm....” Too tired to -continue, again I abandoned the attempt. - -Annie Manning came once more, making futile efforts to give me her -brother’s address. She finally said it was “just United States Home.” -Once she wrote, “just Home.” And once, “Honest, that’s all.” - -I have never learned the whole truth about Annie Manning, who ceased, -after the first fortnight, to manifest herself; whether because she -lacked perseverance or because other influences were already at work, I -do not know. - -The next day I took up the pencil, expecting Mary Kendal, with news -of her husband, but Mary K.’s strong, underlined signature greeted -me instead. She said that Mr. Kendal was coming, adding: “On cen ... -cent....” - -“Century?” I suggested. “Twentieth Century Limited?” - -“No ... cen ... ce ... cent....” Finally, she agreed to -Century—compromised on it, I learned later. Within five minutes a -telegram came from Mr. Kendall—the first word I had received from -him—saying that he would arrive in New York Sunday or Monday. - -When I told him of this experience he exclaimed: “Central! New York -Central!” Which, for some reason, had not occurred to me. At the hour -when Mary K. gave me this information he had ordered, at his club in -Chicago, a ticket for the Lake Shore Limited—like the Twentieth Century, -a New York Central train. Later, having the ticket actually in his -possession, he telegraphed me that he would come by that train, reaching -New York Sunday evening, but afterward changed to another road. - -This second message arrived Saturday afternoon, and I at once inquired of -Mary K. why she had said “Century.” Instead of her familiar signature, -however, “Frederick” was written. - -Having ascertained that this was Frederick himself, and not a message -about him, I asked him to go on. - -“The Family are happy.” At no time during this brief interview had I the -slightest inkling of what was coming. As he had been always so courteous -in acknowledgment, the first letters led me to think he was beginning his -customary “Thank you.” Saying that their happiness added greatly to my -own, I asked if he had anything else to say. - -“Yes. At your service.... At the next large family reunion you both will -be present, won’t you?” - -I said we would try to be, and again he wrote his name, indicating that -he had nothing more to say, whereupon I called Mary K., reproached her -for inaccuracy, and asked why she had said Mansfield Kendal would come by -the Century. - -Apparently despairing of penetrating such density, she replied, merely: -“He wanted to leave to-day.” Later in the afternoon she said, “He will be -perfectly ready to believe,” which seemed to me highly improbable. - -Some things written that afternoon came to my mind before they did to my -fingers, and I asked whether she could not write the messages without -first telling me what they were to be. - -“Yes,” she returned, “but it is harder for us and more exhausting for -you.” Weeks afterward, when this separate control of mind and pencil had -been more fully demonstrated, it was more fully explained. - -Remembering her statement that her work took her “on perpetual tour,” I -asked how long she would be here. - -“I shall be near you for months,” she said, and then began again her -never wholly relinquished effort to write the message first attempted two -days before. “Ao ... an ... aon ... aem ... aeons ago ...”—here she made -a frantic little joy circle—“... we were lovers.” - -This surprised me, for it seemed unlike her and was absolutely foreign -to my thought, but when she had verified it, I asked: “Is reincarnation -true, then?” - -“No. Aeons ago ... I was a friend of yours in ——.” She mentioned a -person whom I have known all my life. Again this seemed utter nonsense, -but again she verified it. “We were concerned in being more and more -curiously limited ... more and more animal.” Some of this came readily, -some with halting and false starts, which—like Frederick—she crossed out -herself. - -At first this, too, seemed devoid of meaning, but after a little thought -I asked whether she meant that we had been associated in some way as pure -spirit. - -“Everybody was pure spirit once, and will be again,” was the rapid reply. - -“Is this life a punishment, then?” - -“No, a beginning of individuality.” - -“Does the individual continue to exist forever?” - -“Yes.” - -“As pure spirit?” - -“Yes.” - -“Then how were we associated as pure spirit?” - -“We were the same purpose.” - -Completely puzzled, I asked, “Why do you say we were friends in ——?” - -“He was the larger purpose, of which we were a part.” - -“The original purpose is not all the same, then?” - -“No, there are many purposes in the beginning, but only one in the end.” - -“Does Frederick know all this?” - -“All of it.” - -When she said good night, she added, “God bless you,” and I asked: “Mary -K., how do you see God? Frederick sees Him as light in dark places.” - -“Justice, light, progress.” - -“Is that God, or God’s work?” - -“Tested.” - -“You mean that you have tested it?” - -“Yes.” - -The next day, Sunday—two weeks from the day she had first talked to -me through planchette—she returned to this theme, which still seemed -somewhat fantastic to my practical and pragmatical mind, with further -allusions to our long association. - -During the days of confusion and uncertainty before Mr. Kendal replied -to my telegram, when his wife constantly implored me to write to him -again, and I as constantly refused, insisting that she first show cause -why she had misled me about his movements and whereabouts, I wrung from -her an admission that in some way he had put her so far from him that she -neither knew nor could learn anything about him, except that he suffered -and needed her, which both Mary K. and Frederick verified. I said once -to Mary K. that it was incredible that this could be, to which she -laconically returned, “It can.” After his actual receipt of my telegram, -Mary Kendal never returned to me until she came with him, and the -character of her earlier banishment, and consequent inability to perceive -his movements, was still unexplained. - -As the hour of his arrival approached I grew uneasy, and asked Mary K. -whether he came happily or in dread. - -“Certainly with o”—the joy circle, and as we have since learned, the -circle of completion. - -When I asked her to write it out in full to reassure me, the pencil ran -back, underscoring “certainly.” She said further that Mary Kendal was -with him, and very happy. - -“Has Mary Kendal been very unhappy?” I asked. - -“No. Aeons ago they were one purpose.” - -“What has that to do with it?” - -“She knew that he must answer if she could reach him.” - -“Does that hold good of evil purpose, too?” - -“Yes.” - - - - -VII - - -It seemed to me that if Mr. Kendal had not received my letters, and was -in possession only of the meager information contained in my telegram, -it was best that he should read the record of the earlier interviews -with his wife before coming to communicate with her, and to that end the -book containing the whole story was to be sent to his club before his -arrival. Having decided this, it occurred to me to consult Mary K., who -emphatically negatived the plan. - -“No. Mary Kendal is most anxious to tell him herself now.” She told us to -make brief explanations, adding: “All he needs now is Mary Kendal.” - -Shortly afterward Mary K.’s now familiar summons—an indescribable -sensation in the arm or hand—recalled me to the pencil, and she wrote, -quickly and firmly: “Mary Kendal wants you to change your record.” - -Surprised, I asked what change she wished, and was told to take out -everything relating to her banishment from Mansfield’s life, because she -preferred to tell him that in her own way. - -“Shall I show him the record at all?” I asked. - -“Yes, but take that out first.” Fortunately, the record is kept in a -loose-leaf, typewritten book, so this was not difficult. - -As the day wore on I grew more and more nervous. Suppose he should be -more hurt than helped? Suppose we should fail? Rarely in my life have I -dreaded anything so much, or felt so little confidence in anything I had -deliberately undertaken to do. By nine o’clock I was in a nervous chill. -Meanwhile Mr. Kendal telephoned that he had found my letters, which had -been returned to his club, and that he would join us presently. - -Upon his arrival he told us that he had been one of the early members -of the Society for Psychical Research in this country, and had spent -several years investigating phenomena of this nature, together with -various other young men, under the general supervision of Prof. William -James, Dr. Minot Savage, and others of that group. He mentioned some -of the frauds and self-deceptions uncovered at that time, but said he -believed the ultimate conclusion to have been that there were certain -well-authenticated phenomena for which no logical or scientific -explanation had been found. - -Nothing that he said, however, indicated to the slightest degree his -attitude toward the question in hand, and I received an impression that -his mood was critical, which steadied me. The disappointment, should we -fail, would be less hideous. In the end, he suggested a trial, and after -preparing the table, Cass left us alone. - -The pencil started almost immediately, with a strange, jerkily rhythmical -movement—due possibly to Mary’s agitation, possibly to mine, but wrote -very distinctly, without pause or faltering. It was evident at once that -the message conveyed more to him than its words suggested. - -Much later in the evening he told me that for some time after Mary left -him he had believed that if she still existed anywhere in the universe -she would contrive somehow to let him know; but as months had passed -into years, with no sign from her, while never entirely losing faith -in the continued integrity of the individual after death, his despair -had deepened with his growing conviction that “the drop that was Mary” -had been swept on in the stream and forever lost to him. Widely read in -philosophies and unable to forget them, steeped—despite his practical -occupation—in scientific and intellectual theory, he had feared to rely -upon a reunion in a future of which no proof had been given him, lest he -be grounding his faith in the sands of his own hope. - -It was to this unhappy conviction—a conviction so strong in its negation -that for a time she had been unable to penetrate in any way the psychic -atmosphere it created—that she addressed herself in those first written -lines. She used, also, her intimate name for him, which I had never -heard, and his for her, which I knew, although I supposed the peculiar -spelling used on this occasion to be an error, until he told me otherwise. - -He asked one or two questions about personal matters, which I assumed to -be in the nature of tests, which she answered briefly, though not very -specifically, concluding: “I cannot tell you anything to-night, except -that I am so happy. I had lost you, and you are found again. Let me talk -to you to-morrow.” - -Some time later he wanted to know why he could not read her mind direct, -and she replied: “You can, in time, if you will let me in, and learn. -We can have such communion as we never had before, because one veil is -now removed. But that will take time to learn. It is true. It can be.... -Take me into your heart and soul joyfully, without resentment or grief, -and you will soon learn to read my thoughts as I have read yours since I -seemed to leave you. - -“Then I can tell you things that I cannot say through any messenger.... -You can learn.... All I want now is to convince you that I am alive and -longing to be with you and to have communication directly with you. It is -impossible for me to do that alone. But I had to reach you somehow, and -Margaret was the first way I found.” - -We talked a little of the possibility of his establishing direct -communication with her. I asked whether he could use a pencil in this -way, and she returned: “Yes, if he will try every day, he could in time, -I think. There is always a way for us to reach our dearest ones, if they -only persevere.” - -During a pause, with the pencil-point still resting on the paper, I told -him of Mary K.’s assertion that eons ago some of us had been one and that -we still continue one in purpose. Mary Kendal took it up immediately. - -“Manzie, you and I are the same purpose. That is the reason that, once -reunited, we cannot be separated, except by our deliberate yielding -to a different and disintegrating purpose. That is the eternal -battle—between the purposes of progress and building and the purposes -of disintegration. It goes on in your life, and it goes on less bitterly -in ours. Help me build, as we began, toward the great unity.... All of -us here are working against those forces of disintegration so rife in -your life now, and every bit of retention of unity that is for upbuilding -helps us and helps the great purpose for which we work.... You and I -began working for that long ago, and each of us will always continue to -work for it. But we shall be happier if we do it consciously together.... -Don’t think of me as far away.... We will welcome to our unity anything -or anybody who strengthens the purpose, but let us always hold fast to -each other.” - -Here was the first actual statement, however brief and incomplete, of -that theory of life which seems—to us who received it first, at least—so -rational, and so full of inspiration and hope. - -Referring to her phrase, “all of us here,” he asked: “Is ‘here’ a place, -or a state, or both?” - -“Both,” she answered, quickly. “It is the beginning of eternal life.” -After a moment, she added: “The state is fluid; the place is ephemeral.” - -“I believe it!” he exclaimed. “That’s more nearly an explanation than -anything I ever heard before.” - -“This is more nearly the truth than anything you ever heard before. -That’s why.... Truth in your life is comparative. Here it is absolute, -but not dogmatic.” - -He said that she had not been given to the use of a philosophic -vocabulary in this life, and must have acquired it there, to which, at -the moment, she made no response. - -Some time after Cass rejoined us Mr. Kendal asked how much farther, or -how much more clearly, they could see about purely business or political -matters than we. - -“We can see much farther, but we are not permitted to tell you, except by -ethical suggestion. Part of your development comes through your struggle -to decide, and while we see your struggle, we can help only by giving -you as much of our strength and light as you can take. It _is_ a moral -universe, Manzie.” The underscoring is hers. - -Out of his wide experience with psychic phenomena, he gave me much -comfort regarding the inaccuracies and misleading statements that had so -greatly disquieted me. He argued that these discrepancies might easily -be caused by some factor or factors unknown to us, operating on another -plane, and was entirely untroubled by them. In this connection, Mary -K. said to me the next day: “We regard things successfully started as -accomplished.” - -[Some weeks later Mr. Kendal suggested another possible reason for these -apparent inaccuracies, using as a comparison a familiar experiment in -physics. He reminded us that if a rod be projected in a straight line -between the eye and a coin at the bottom of a bowl of water, its tip -will miss the coin by a distance varying with the angle of vision and -the depth of the water. Assuming that the difference between this plane -and the next must be vastly greater than that between air and water, -he argued that there might be a factor comparable to this deflection -of ray influencing their perception of material, specific details of -this plane—a simile which Mary K. subsequently characterized as “almost -perfect.”] - -It was three o’clock in the morning when Mr. Kendal left us to return -to his club—but he went convinced. Like Mrs. Gaylord, his confidence -was inspired not only by the temper and tenor of the messages he -had received, but by the accompanying consciousness of a familiar -personality, akin to the certainty of identity one feels in talking to a -friend by telephone or in reading a characteristic letter. Like her, too, -he said that in several instances his unspoken thought had been directly -answered. - -The next day we resumed our conversation—for it amounted to that—with -Mary. - -“There will be hours, and sometimes days, when you cannot feel me, just -at first,” she warned him. “But I beg of you, do not let the doubts -prevail. I shall be there, unless that disintegrating force drives me -away. That’s a power we here cannot fight alone. Faith is not the desire -to believe, as some men have said. It is the thread that connects your -life and ours, and when it is broken we are powerless to reach you.” - -We spoke again of inaccuracies concerning mundane activities, and he -elaborated somewhat his theory that it is unwise to ask and unsafe to -rely upon answers about concrete, specific things, because in translating -them into terms of our plane we are apt to overlook some transforming, -unknown factor, and so go wrong. - -“Besides that,” Mary took up the discussion, “you must work out your -problem yourself. We can only help you definitely and directly in the -larger things that pertain to the life of our purpose. Your present -problem may be solved in any of several ways, and will perhaps affect the -ephemeral part of your life. Your greater concern, and my only concern, -is with the fluid part, which we shall share together always, now.” - -He asked, after some further talk, whether there was danger of my being -exploited or employed by malign influences—a suggestion entirely new to -me—to which she replied in the negative, adding: “Trust us for that. -Her own purpose is definite, and with that foundation, we can protect -her fully.” Apparently she underestimated the strength of the enemy, -or perhaps she merely disregarded the temporary confusion created by -occasional sorties. - -Thinking that he might know something about New Albany, Indiana, I -told him of the Annie Manning episode and my failure to ascertain her -brother’s address. Our conversation was interrupted by an unsigned -statement that the brother was not in New Albany, Indiana, but in Albany, -New Hampshire, flatly contradicting a previous statement. My impatient -comment was answered by an assurance that Annie Manning had recently -passed to the next plane and was confused. A suggestion that possibly -Annie Manning was one of the malign forces mentioned brought no response, -unless Mary Kendal’s next words constituted an indirect reply. - -“Manzie dear, ... you will have entirely different forces working against -you, from those trying to control Margaret, but we will truly and surely -protect you both.” - -Again, following a period of silence, she wrote a brisk reply to his -unspoken thought, adding, when he commented upon it: “You see, I do know -what is in your mind, and the time may not be far away when you can read -mine as clearly. I don’t always answer your thought, because Margaret has -still some fear of being deceived in her reception of my message, and it -is hard, but as she works with us she will learn unconsciously to yield, -just as you will learn to detect my presence.” - -“Is there anything I can do to help you or your work?” he asked. “Or must -it be all take and no give with us?” - -I have no record of her reply. She began by saying that any actively -constructive effort here helped them there, because it helped the great -purpose. This was followed by a message so intimately and exquisitely -his that I felt it almost a desecration to be the messenger through whom -it necessarily came. He took that part of the roll away with him, and I -am glad to say that twenty-four hours later no word of it remained in my -memory. It was truly his. - -The next night he came again, very happily. She, too, was in a lightsome -mood, and while there was some serious talk, most of it was pure -effervescence, frequently witty, sometimes brilliant. Unfortunately, -little of this may be quoted, either because of its too personal -character or because, like much amusing conversation, it was too -essentially of the mood and the moment to bear translation into type. - -Constantly he exclaimed at the characteristic quality of her repartee, to -my great surprise. I said that I had never seen this merry side of her, -and had not dreamed that it existed, to which she replied: “You never saw -us when we were not in trouble—before.” - -“Let me in and don’t chafe,” she told him, in one of her more serious -moments, “and I can tell you much of what I see ahead. Grief, resentment, -bitterness and doubt are our highest barriers. There is no cause for -grief in a relation closer than your life there knows. There is no ground -for resentment in the price we pay. There can be no bitterness in growth -and development together—quicker growth, fuller development, than could -be possible if one of us were not here. It is largely in the point of -view, this thing that is called grief.” - -In the course of their drifting talk he asked her how to go about -starting persons who have no starting-point—“no peg to hang things on.” - -“Sometimes a bomb is effective. But the fragments are not always -efficient.” We laughed, and she added: “They just have to wait and -grow up, Manzie dear. We learn here that our frantic haste there has -been foolish. Growth must take its own time.... No, I didn’t!” I had -called attention to her failure to cross a t, and she returned to it -with a flourish. Several times thereafter she made a little joke by -conspicuously dotting her i’s. - -In the midst of one ecstatic whirl she paused to inquire: “Who ever -started the foolish notion that there was no life beyond that one? -Was he a philosopher, or a dyspeptic, or both?” And again, following -some amusing nonsense, “You don’t think this would sound trivial to a -scientific investigator, do you?” - -“What’s the matter with the scientific type of mind?” he asked. - -“Mostly it’s pure intellect—and life isn’t.” - -During another moment of jesting he said: “I don’t think I’ll bother to -walk home. I’ll just float.” - -“Come on! We’ll float together,” she retorted. “Do you raise that, or -call?” - -Laughing, he returned: “I’ll pass the buck to Saint Peter,” whereupon she -intimated that Saint Peter was not immediately available. - -“Who hold the keys?” - -“You hold your own—not transferable.” - -“You are mostly pure idealist,” was another comment, a little later, -replying to something he said about his own attitude toward life, “and -got lost for a while in the dark.” He began to say that he should hardly -have called himself an idealist, but already she was answering. “A true -idealist is not a man who limits life to ideas, but a man who puts his -ideals into life.” - -One otherwise serious statement, concerning the influence of -“hard-headed, intelligent men who are not afraid to testify to their -faith” in these revelations, was given a humorous touch by the signature, -“Missionary Mary.” - -“Do you want me to go forth and testify, also?” I asked. - -“No, you do it, and that involves too much,” she replied. “Let your -converts testify. You go on playing hermit.” - -“Have you seen William James?” he asked. - -“He is instructing many of us. Some of my newly acquired vocabulary he -taught me. He is more certain and less philosophical than he was. The -will to believe has given way to the duty of faith. He has learned more -quickly than most do, because he is truly sincere and had cultivated his -ground well. Now he is still a leader of thought and accomplishment, but -his instruction is dynamic.... He is a very fine force, Manzie, and is -doing magnificent work here, but he no longer smothers it in language.” - -Much of this parting interview must be omitted. - -At nine o’clock Sunday night Mr. Kendal had approached this experience in -a state of high nervous tension. At midnight on Tuesday, fifty-one hours -later, he left us to return home, imbued, like Mrs. Gaylord, with the -vitalizing quality of this touch with the unseen and carrying with him -the happy conviction that he did not go alone. - - - - -VIII - - -Up to this time the messages, while frequently impersonal in tenor, -had seemed entirely personal in direction. It happened, fortunately, -that both Mrs. Gaylord and Mr. Kendal were more interested in the wide -meaning and purpose of life than in the narrow, individual details of -its conduct, and to that interest chiefly those nearest them on the -next plane had addressed themselves. The rapidity with which these -communications came, and their surprising volume, was attributed to the -fact that in both cases the time in which they could be given through me -was limited. - -Aside from the attendant nervous strain—which has been less, on the -whole, than one would expect, probably because these efforts have been -followed by such sound and refreshing sleep as I had not known before in -years—the manual labor involved in taking these long messages, and in -typewriting them afterward, has been excessive. Assuming, however, that -this flood of disclosure would be diminished when the necessity for -immediate expression passed, I looked forward to leisure and opportunity -for some long talks with Mary K., which should be more detailed and -personal than our somewhat fragmentary intercourse thus far had been. - -This was briefly delayed by requests to establish interplane -communication for one or two other friends, whose need was more -imperative than my own, when significant and beautiful messages—not to -be quoted here—were obtained. One of these slightly elaborated the now -familiar idea of the close and intimate relation of certain persons to -one another, because of their union in a common and eternal purpose. In a -letter to Mr. Kendal I mentioned this, adding: “It begins to look like a -gospel, doesn’t it?” - -Finally, however, my own opportunity came, on Thursday, March 21st, but -instead of permitting me to propound any of the many questions I had in -mind, Mary K. delivered a detailed message of instruction that left me -astounded and incredulous. Most of this is too personal to repeat, but -some of it must be quoted, in view of what followed. - -“...We have much to tell, and few through whom to tell it. You have the -sensitiveness to receive and the power to convince. When you have fully -grasped the meaning of what we have to tell, you must make it known, but -not before we give you the whole of it. You will get the truth slowly, -through helping many people, but keep the full knowledge frankly back -until it is all told.... Let them know you are withholding it, but do not -let them have it in fragments.” - -“You mean they are not to be told of the division of original purpose -into individual life?” - -“No, they must have that to build on. But there will be more given to -you in fragments. Piece it together for yourself, but do not give it to -any one as long as you are still receiving it.... The light is breaking, -and you are the ~aces~ ... accustomed ...”—later she returned, to write -“accredited” over this word. I think neither was what she tried for. -Perhaps accessible?—“... force to make the meaning clear.... It is what -we have long sought and just found. That is the reason we are giving you -things never told before. You are to pass them on when the time comes.... -This is your work, your contribution to the great purpose, which will be -revealed to you little by little. Keep clear of disturbing contacts, as -you have done, and keep your purpose true. You have already recognized -this as a gospel. It is more. It is a faith. Be true to it and it will -save many from suffering. That is the reason I am here now and shall -remain. I am the force used by greater forces to reach the world through -you. We have always been the same purpose, and I can reach you freely.” -After an allusion to mental purpose, she defined it thus: “Mental purpose -is the force that convinces men. Moral purpose is that which persuades -them. We prefer conviction. It lasts, where persuasion fades. Nothing -more now, but this is only the beginning. Mary K.” - -After the first phrase, save for one or two brief pauses, this long -communication was so rapidly written that I could not follow it with -my left hand, though I made several attempts, as my right arm became -greatly fatigued. At no time had I the slightest impression of what was -to be said, and during most of it I was too bewildered to think clearly, -my mind being filled with blank wonder and vague questioning, scarcely -formulated, yet immediately answered. - -The next day she resumed her exhortation. - -“... This is war work. It is going to make the war seem what it is, -a reawakening of the souls of men. There is no higher duty than to -make a man know his own soul and the souls of his fellows. The war -will be justified only if this result is obtained. We work for that -here, and we ask you to help us. There can be no victory unless this is -accomplished.... Be true to your purpose and ours, and help us build for -light and progress, against the forces of doubt and disintegration.” - -To an inquiry about Germany, apropos of her mention of the war, she -replied: “Germany is the united purpose of fear. It is her weapon and -her weakness, and it is to defeat the force she symbolizes that we all -work.... There you have the real war, the battle that has gone on from -the beginning. This is one of the crises of eternity.” - -Here I thought of certain past wars, when the victorious barbarians set -civilization back. - -“Sometimes the forces of disintegration have won, sometimes we. But -their victory is never permanent, because they are negative and we are -positive. They delay us, but we live and work. We shall win in the end, -but that is far away. We call you to fight with the forces of life and -light. You can do more with us than you can alone.” - -The following day found me still incredulous, and she said: - -“... Tell them that you are doing the people’s work, under secret -orders, and that they will perhaps know presently what it is. They -will all recognize it when it is given to them, except those souls not -mentally free from fear.” - -From this she passed immediately into the first of that remarkable series -of communications which she has called Lessons. Again the writing was so -rapid that my arm ached to the shoulder, long before she had finished, -from the incessant movement to and fro across the table, and again my -mind was filled with blank amazement. - -Perhaps it should be stated that, although I have written more or less -light fiction during the past fifteen years, literary composition is to -me a slow and laborious exercise. Especially is this true of opening -paragraphs, which generally require many hours of work. Unfortunately, -the time consumed in writing one of these Lessons was never noted, but -with one or two exceptions, when I was too tired to receive readily, they -were done without hesitation and with extraordinary rapidity. Also, while -in personal messages the mental impression is sometimes given to me a -little before the physical movement occurs, never during the writing of -the Lessons had I the slightest inkling of what was to follow. One by -one the words were revealed by the moving pencil, my principal sensations -being wonder and incredulity. Until frequent repetition had accustomed me -to this experience, I felt as if I must be dreaming. - - - - -Part II - -THE LESSONS - - -“_The lessons came from great forces combined. They represent unity of -all purposes, and were framed by the co-operation and agreement of the -greatest forces of each constructive purpose, to reach the consciousness -of men in general terms of your plane._” - - - - -I - - - _March 23d._ - -“All pure purpose is fearless, whether for good or evil, but few humans -are pure purpose, and the first fight is in themselves. All this has been -said before in effect, but based on other premises. This is the first -time the original purpose has been defined and explained. For centuries -men have sought the source of life. This is the first time they have been -ready to accept the whole truth about that, or to be prepared for the -next step. - -“Once convinced that chaos grew from purposes born of the Force Beyond -Perfection, purposes perfect from the beginning, but at war because -they contained within themselves all the elements of life and of -conflict—once convinced of this, men will gradually find their own clear -purposes defined, and the war within themselves will cease. They will -choose definitely to build or to destroy, to be honest or dishonest. -Self-deception will be less easy or possible, and the fight will then -be with you, as it is now with us, between forces clearly indicated. -Now you are all confused by a war within a war, infinitely continued. -Conflict multiplied by the number of purposes in each purpose. This has -been recognized, but the remedy has never been clearly found. It lies in -the conviction that force of every nature is purpose, which has existed -from the beginning, and that the force which builds is beneficent and may -be clearly segregated and united. - -“The Force Beyond Perfection is composed of all things, and therefore -understands all things. The original purposes were all good, and will -be again, if they can all become intelligent. They became evil through -attraction of like for like, akin to your atomic attraction, and chaos -resulted. This struggle created a desire and determination to exist in -concrete form, to add a new force to the forces of chaos. That was a -great conflict, resulting in a tie. Purposes became fused in the same -individual, and the battle infinitely multiplied, but yet not lost. Now -the effort of both participants is for united purpose again, and the -fusion of purposes in each individual makes the confusion greater and -the fight more bitter. Men are swayed first by one purpose and then by -another, and are themselves unable to distinguish between good and evil. - -“This precipitated the Great War with you, the purposes in the Central -Empires being more nearly united than elsewhere. Their purposes are -fundamentally destructive, because fundamentally autocratic, based on -fear, and would ultimately reduce civilization to infancy again. The -reason Germany has been able to fight so long is because her purpose is -conscious, while the Allies fight blindly but determinedly, moved by -purposes they do not recognize and yet must obey. They talk of unity, -but do not perceive its nature. They are misled by phrases hollow, but -plausible, and do not perceive them to be the enemy in disguise—not the -mortal enemy, but the ancient purpose, divided into many. - -“The light is beginning to break now, and the hour has almost come for -the forces of construction to unite and smite powerfully. But it must -be consciously, as the purpose of construction, if the victory is to be -permanent or truly for progress. Men must learn to choose their purposes -consciously and intelligently, to be definitely and actually building -for a definite and actual future. There is too much quarreling about -ways and means, and too little recognition of the goal. Too much self, -and too little sympathy. This is equally true of all classes of society. -Materialism has been rank in the tenement and in the cottage, as in -palace and counting-room. - -“It is a common purpose we serve, for building or for tearing down. It is -impossible to be consistently for both continuously. That has made the -Great War, and that is the struggle that must be settled in the minds -of men before there can be peace on earth or lasting and progressive -brotherhood. - -“This is the first lesson.” - - - - -II - - - _March 26th._ - -“This is the second lesson. - -“The forces of disintegration are gathering for a titanic struggle, of -which your Great War is only the beginning. Had Germany won there, they -would have a foothold with you that we would find it difficult, if not -impossible, to combat effectively for many years. The spirits of free men -would have been soiled with fear and despair, and the forces of doubt and -disintegration would have held civilization captive. - -“Germany has felt her forces weaken and fail under the onslaught of -freedom, light, and progress, and the forces of disintegration are -deserting her. She is left alone, to work her way, through mazes of -despair, back to a place in the sun. She must find her own way. She chose -to follow the forces of destruction, and they will surely destroy her. - -“But the forces she followed are uniting for a fiercer fight, more -subtle, more deadly, more furious. Hidden beneath the garments of -peace and good will, they make ready to poison the minds of men before -destroying their forces and delaying their purposes. - -“This is the battle to which we call you and all who are for progress. -This is the message you are to give the world, to warn them of the -danger at hand. The time has come when men must choose consciously to -fight for or against the forces of construction. They are confused from -the conflict within themselves, running hither and thither, calling for -help from the gods they have made unto themselves, but looking only to -the present good, perceiving only the present purpose, fearing only the -present defeat. They will find no help from these gods, for they have -impotent feet of clay. - -“The forces of disintegration have made friends with the poor and the -needy, and have fed them husks of brotherhood. They have made friends -with the powerful and rich, and have tempted them with earth and its -kingdoms. They have fed the artist falsehoods, and the writer fear of -fear. They have touched the priest with tainted hands, and rulers with -fear of the people. They have entered the home and rent it asunder, and -the temple is a market-place. These are the works of the purposes we -fight, and thus do they disguise themselves. Unless this can be brought -home to the souls of men, the fight will be long and bitter. - -“Forget the class and remember the man. Forget the price and remember the -pearl. Forget the labor and remember the fruit. Forget the temple and -remember God. - -“Men fight together for one end alone—the purpose for which they live. -It is hard to find there, in the confusion of personal conflict, but the -time is at hand when it must be found. - -“The forces of light are positive. Shun negation. The forces of freedom -are individual. Shun dependence. The forces of progress are fearless. -Shun fearful combinations. Work together as individuals, consciously -cooperating, not as sheep. You will learn to think. You will learn to -feel. You will learn to see. Then we may move on to the next phase of -development toward the great purpose. - -“The forces of disintegration are wily, but fearful. Bullies and cowards. -But when they are united in sufficiently strong numbers, fearless and -unscrupulous. They fear the reawakening of the forces of progress in your -life. This is the reason they gather now, to smite while the world is -weary. Disguised as purposes of light, they hope for welcome. - -“This is our call to arms. Arouse ye! Come forth for freedom, light, -justice, and progress—consciously, freely, strongly. - -“This is the second lesson.” - - - - -III - - - _March 31st._ - -“This is the third lesson. - -“When men learn that the Force Beyond Perfection is purpose, which has -personified itself in them, they will grow to feel the possibilities to -which they have heretofore been insensible. - -“Life is purpose. Purpose is force. Force is personality, from highest to -lowest, from saint to stick and stone. Men have called it many things, -but what it is none have perceived clearly. - -“Eternal purpose is perfect justice, perfect fearlessness, perfect -understanding, perfect honesty, perfect sympathy, perfect unity, and -eternal growth, which is progress perfectly expressed. This is the end -for which we work. Not Nirvana. Not oblivion. Not power stagnant and -powerless. But a perfect balance, progressing to purposes and powers as -yet undreamed. This is the Eternal Purpose, toward which all purpose -moves. Purposes of construction consciously and determinedly, purposes -of destruction unwillingly and inevitably. They fear us, they fight us, -they seek to destroy us, not perceiving that they must in the end rejoin -us, having left us in the beginning. - -“To bring this home to the souls of men is our first duty, and for that -reason those of us nearest to your life work first among men. Purpose -frees forces you but dimly apprehend, and free forces construct a -foundation in your life for the perfect unity of Eternal Purpose. - -“Any force not free destroys itself. Any good not animated and active -destroys itself. Force imprisoned becomes destruction. Good imprisoned -becomes evil. All are fundamentally good, fundamentally beneficent, -but have become powers for destruction through lack of progressive -development and exercise. - -“All men are fusions of many purposes, moved by many forces, answering -to many calls. Each responds to the call of his dominant purpose, which -flows and fluctuates with his life’s struggle. One day he destroys, and -cares not. One day he builds, and marvels at his power. One day he sleeps -and forgets. One day he fights to the death for a purpose he had not -yesterday, and loses to-morrow. This is the life of man, and this our -field of battle. There are other lives, other struggles, other lessons -to learn, but this is the first. - -“Purpose manifests itself in man inevitably in action. His purpose is not -what he believes, not what he desires, but what he is and does. If he -destroys, and builds not on the ruins, he is against us. If he falls and -fails not, he is with us, though he stumble an hundred times. He fights -within himself the ancient fight, and if he win that, his eternal battle -is won. Thereafter, he is part and parcel of the forces of construction. - -“Purpose answers freely only to its kind, freely and fearlessly it -responds to the call of self. If a man be captive to destructive forces, -he responds to the cry, Destroy! But if he be given to powers of -progress, he builds, though his eyes be blinded and his hands cut off. - -“In every man captive to forces of disintegration the builder lies -dormant. To reach that faint glow of Eternal Purpose is the first duty -of every constructive force. Call to it, rouse it, free it, and it will -eventually respond. But do not smother it with false charity, darken it -by conflicting precepts, weaken it by fictitious aid. Every individual -must serve his own purpose. Only thus is the integrity of the whole -conserved. Though he be only a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord, yet -does he serve his eternal purpose as truly as the priest. Let each man -learn his purpose and serve forcefully where his development has placed -him. Only thus can he progress. - -“Purposes are divided. Thus do they show themselves to men. The purpose -of Progress is first and greatest, because it moves all the others toward -the Great Purpose. The other constructive purposes are these, divided -and subdivided: Light, Justice, Truth, Production, Healing, Building. -Each divided and divisible by any of the others, yet pure and perfect in -itself. Light may dwell with Healing or Production, but only Light calls -unto Light, only Justice unto Justice. - -“All forces of construction work together, yet each purpose separate unto -itself. Choose ye, therefore. Build or tear down, produce or destroy, -illumine or obscure, free men, or hold them captive to themselves. Choose -daily and hourly the purpose ye serve. - -“This is the third lesson.” - - - - -IV - - - _April 1st._ - -“This is the fourth lesson. - -“The world fears purpose that is free and fearless. All the forces of -humanity are turned against freedom. The church imposes its creed, the -class imposes its caste, the profession imposes its etiquette, the -moralist imposes his fear, the libertine imposes his folly. All men are -bound by the conventions of church, caste, profession, or moral status. -Thus do they throw wide the door to forces of disintegration. Each man -assumes a purpose not his own; a force that is his own deserts him. - -“Free development demands free purpose and concentrated force. Wherever -two or three are gathered together to follow the same purpose in free and -conscious co-operation, there force is multiplied. Wherever an hundred -are assembled to be led like sheep by the bell-wether, there force is -debauched and disintegrated. - -“Because men have huddled together in fear, destruction threatens them. -Because free speech has been debauched to fell purpose, free men distrust -it. Men, forces of disintegration, but possessed of glib tongues, have -played bell-wether to the multitude. Priests of purpose, whose counsel -was inspired by the Eternal, have been thrust aside and stoned. Better -were it for the immortal man to follow his purpose to death and mortal -oblivion, than to lose his force to the bell-wether. Many purposes make -great purpose. Many forces unite for freedom. But better for immortal man -to destroy greatly and greatly strive than to sink his purpose in the -medley disguised as brotherhood. - -“A great brotherhood is possible only when its component parts are great. -Strength lies not in numbers, but in purpose. The fit may not lie down -with the unfit, and their progeny survive. The strong may not yield their -purpose to the weak, and their force remain. - -“A light breaks in the East—Russia, given as a sacrifice to the -brotherhood of men. A light not of star or dawn, but of sacrificial fire. -Heed it, guard it, ye youths and virgins, for by its flaming sacrifice -are ye saved. - -“Brotherhood is purpose of progress, not purpose of profit. Brotherhood -is made beautiful by unity, not by schism. Brotherhood suffereth long, -and is kind. Brotherhood regardeth every brother, great and small. -Brotherhood waiteth upon brother and grumbleth not. All build together -the common home of all. - -“Seek ye those of your own purpose. Unite together all who fain would -build. Master and man, architect and mason, financier and farm laborer, -all work to the same end, and this is Brotherhood. - -“To work for the same purpose, in whatever capacity may be necessary, -this is the only true Brotherhood. - -“This is the fourth lesson.” - - - - -V - - - _April 3d._ - -“This is the fifth lesson. - -“Men have long cherished the ideal of Brotherhood, but they have clung -to the letter of the ancient law and lost its spirit. Before the days of -liberty, when men were languishing in slavery or bound as vassals, sell -all thou hast and give to the poor had a significance lost in a day of -free labor and industrial progress. The spirit of the law is unchanged -and unchangeable, but the letter progresses with civilization’s advance. - -“To-day, the first essential of brotherhood is freedom. Freedom to -think, freedom to believe, freedom to strive, freedom to develop, from -highest to lowest. And the employer who refuses this opportunity to the -men who work under him is no more truly a force for disintegration than -the laborer who refuses to co-operate with his employer and thus proves -himself unworthy of a place in the procession of progress. - -“There can be no house that will stand against storm that has not -foundation, walls, and roof. There can be no society that will withstand -disintegration that has not labor, capital, and market. When capital -oppresses labor, forces of disintegration are freed. When labor dominates -capital, forces of disintegration are freed. When the people forget -justice, forces of disintegration are freed. And the destruction of one -is the destruction of all. The rich man who denies his brother freedom is -a destroyer. The poor man who denies his brother freedom is a destroyer -in no less degree. Each is a part of the other, and each follows eternal -purpose to one end—construction and progress. - -“The man who has freedom of thought, freedom of purpose, freedom of -action, is free, though he be a pauper, and is free to choose whether -he will build or destroy. The man who is bound by any tie that dictates -his thought, belief, or action is a force of disintegration, because -he may not follow his purpose freely and with all his force. The man -who has freedom and wealth, and, forgets his brother, is a force of -disintegration. The man who has strength and poverty, and forgets his -brother, is a force of disintegration. Equality of opportunity does not -demand or imply equality of development. Many men are rich who use their -wealth to forward the purposes of construction. Many there are who waste -it and invite disintegration. Many men are poor, who use their strength -to help along construction. They are forces of progress, and will find -their places here. Many there are who delay the march, and invite -disintegration. What shall it profit a man, though he gain the earth, if -he lose his own soul? - -“There are seven purposes. Progress, Light, Truth, Healing, Building, -Production, and Justice. Equally great, save Progress, which moves them -all. One of these must each man serve, if he proceeds toward the Great -Purpose. Whether great or small, high or low, wise or foolish, learned -or ignorant, rich or poor, powerful or apparently impotent, each human -individual is a force for construction or for disintegration, and follows -his purpose to its inevitable end: constructive forces to construction of -great purposes, disintegrating forces to the long struggle that can have -but one end, however distant—construction. - -“There are many phases of development, each looking onward to the next. -If a man climb without envy, forgetting himself in his purpose, he shall -climb far. If he look with envy at his higher brother and with scorn at -those below him, he shall climb on slipping sands and find himself again -at the foot. - -“Bear ye one another’s burdens is a command unchanged and unchangeable. -Give unto each his opportunity to grow, and to build for progress. -Freedom to strive is the one right inherent in existence, the strong and -the weak each following his own purpose, with all his force, to the one -great end. And he who binds or limits his brother’s purpose binds himself -now and hereafter. But he who extends his brother’s opportunity builds -for eternity. - -“Choose ye. - -“This is the fifth lesson.” - - - - -VI - - - _April 3d._ - -“This is the sixth lesson. - -“Men are afraid of fear. They fear to fear, and fall into folly. Fear -of disintegrating purposes makes for wisdom, and wisdom makes for -construction. Fear is a disintegrating force made constructive, when -directed against disintegration. - -“Wisdom in high places has been dethroned, and intellectual curiosity -usurps the scepter. Men who should lay foundations of wisdom experiment -with fantasies of the intellectual dreamer. - -“Brotherhood, to one class, is a defensive organization, for protection. -Brotherhood, to another class, is an offensive organization, for pillage. -Brotherhood, to another class, is an organized attempt to preserve the -unfit. Brotherhood, to another class, is a dream of unorganized following -of untried theories. None of these know that all men are brothers. - -“Evolution of matter follows evolution of purpose, but when material -things are left behind, purpose continues to progress. Why, then, lose -your purpose in pursuit of material gain? - -“Church and state alike urge morality for personal ends, and recommend -personal punishments. There is no morality. There is only purpose, -constructive or destructive. There is no punishment. There is only -consequence. - -“Personal motives are deterrent forces, neither actively constructive nor -actively destructive, except as they may be applied. These forces crowd -in between the contending purposes, hindering both and helping neither, -except when compelled by sheer force of numbers to sweep on with one or -the other. - -“Forces of disintegration are frequently mistaken for personal motives. -They are always destructive. Personal motives are always deterrent. -Self-interest excludes sympathy. Purpose demands sympathy. Self-interest -excludes true unity. Unity is the Great Purpose. Any morality based on -personal interest is, therefore, a deterrent force. - -“The time has not yet come when men in the mass have vision. The great -Purpose to the small mind is vague and of no significance. Personal -motives are more easily recognized than purpose, and Church and state -emphasize and encourage them. But the time is at hand when great -conflicting purposes will meet in combat for control of men. Wake the -sleepers. Cast off little things. Sink personal motives. Rouse Church and -state to perception of force and purpose, and unite together, regardless -of class, creed, or party, to win the world to purposes of construction. - -“Church and state urge unity, and yield none. Tolerance, freedom, -fearlessness, light—these are almost strangers to temple or court. Little -by little the lines are softening. Little by little we gain on fear. Here -a tolerant and noble clergyman, there a statesman who serves the state. -But for one of these, a thousand huddle under creed or slogan, and fear -of freedom impels them all. This is because they have not recognized -purpose, and they impede progress who might be its power. - -“Come forth, then, priests, teachers, and leaders! Call upon the people, -not to follow, not to huddle, not to hesitate, but, to choose. Set ye -the seven purposes clearly before them, clearly perceiving them, ye that -call, and bid them choose, for the life of all, the purpose they will -serve. - -“Thus may deterrent forces become constructive, and the Great Purpose -known of all men. - -“This is the sixth lesson.” - - - - -VII - - - _April 5th._ - -“This is the seventh lesson. - -“Before the light of freedom dawned on the world, a puissant chaos of -purposes and forces fought for control of the liberties of men. A short -space of time brought liberty of body, after the perception of the -people had been clarified by the gradual development of the ideal of -liberty. They moved rapidly toward it, when they began to understand it, -with halts and hesitations and blunders, but forcefully and inevitably -still. They overthrew kings and barons, and took into their own hands -the physical and material government of their kind. But their minds and -forces are still enslaved and shackled by outworn tradition. ‘Onward -Christian soldiers’, is a plea for progress; but it has become a -recessional, not a marching song. Men have made their justice vassal to -tradition, and their brotherhood fief to gain. - -“Men have learned the value of free bodies, but free force, mental -or spiritual, terrifies and puzzles them still. They have learned to -discipline their bodies, to keep them strong and clean. But they fear to -trust the purposes and forces, without chains and prison bars to hold -them, lest they make chaos of civilization. Church, state, profession, -trade, guild, or society commands: Thou shalt not think. Follow, yield, -accept, and endure, but let not thought be found among ye, lest the bars -be broken and destruction loosed. - -“Many men follow; a few men think. These are the overlords, the kings and -barons of forces that might be free. But freedom demands free purpose, -and free purpose demands justice. - -“No man is free who commands not himself. No man is free who forgets his -brother. No man is free who fears to follow his own purpose with all his -force. No man is free who fails to carry his share of common load. He may -have wealth and luxury; yet is he slave. He may be tempted by beauty; yet -is he slave. He may be frightened by calamity; yet is he slave. He may -be beaten by strangers; yet is he slave. No man is free who commands not -himself in any emergency. He may lose wealth and luxury, and still be -free. He may dwell with squalor, who loves beauty, and still be free. He -may be defrauded by his brother, and still be free. He may be shackled by -strangers, beaten and imprisoned, and still be free. - -“Freedom lieth not in a man’s estate, but in the man himself. - -“This is the seventh lesson.” - - - - -VIII - - - _April 8th._ - -“This is the eighth lesson. - -“Many men try to perceive the purpose of God in truth and beauty and -justice, and fail to recognize that the Eternal Purpose is unlimited -by the detached conceptions of men. Truth is one of the fundamental -purposes. Beauty is a subdivision of Building. Justice is fundamental. -All are part of the Eternal Purpose. But the Great Purpose is unity. - -“The fundamental purposes are common to all men, of whatever race, color, -belief, or prejudice. They are the foundation from which the forces of -Eternal Purpose start, and by their divisions only are men ultimately -grouped. As a commander divides his army into infantry, artillery, -cavalry, air forces, quartermaster, engineer, and medical corps, so -are the eternal forces divided into the seven purposes for the eternal -conflict. - -“The purposes of disintegration are more than seven. They divide into -myriad motives as they fight the aspirations of immortal man. Free men -choose freely how they will array themselves, but slaves are driven by -their masters, visible or invisible, to fight for purposes not their own. -Only when they have learned to discipline and develop their minds, as -they now discipline and develop their bodies, may they choose freely the -force with which they will be arrayed. - -“Rich man against poor man. Capital against labor. State against -offender. Poor man against wealth. Labor against development. Criminal -against law. All are false distinctions. - -“Seek ye the man of your own purpose, and cleave to him. If ye would -build, seek a builder. If ye would heal, seek a healer. If justice absorb -ye, seek a man furthering justice. But be not misled by the slave-driver, -without or within. Beware of the bell-wether, and of personal or material -motives. Govern yourselves first, and then choose ye whether to fight for -progress or for disintegration, for unity or for destruction. Then choose -ye the purpose ye will serve forcefully through eternity. - -“This is the eighth lesson.” - - - - -IX - - - _April 8th._ - -“This is the ninth lesson. - -“Men have lived in fear of forces from without, and have not perceived -that within themselves all forces are made potent. Men have feared -purposes from without, and have not perceived that their own purpose is -eternal. Men have talked of power, and failed to perceive its source. -Men have dreamed of possession, and failed to find freedom. Possession -is temporary and ephemeral. Freedom is eternal. Should a man yield the -freedom of his eternal purpose for any possession whatsoever? - -“Build ye with all possessions, that purpose may be free. For brotherhood -commandeth service, and for this are possessions hallowed. He who hath, -and denieth his brother opportunity, destroys his own purpose. He -who hath possessions, and giveth his brother opportunity, builds for -eternity. He who hath power and plenitude, and giveth his brother help, -has given all men more than the one can take. He has built for eternity. - -“The man who has this power to build with possessions for eternal -progress has a force beside his own, the force of material purpose to aid -his brother’s force. Many there be who build for eternity with material -possessions. They are the keepers of the keys for all who labor, stewards -of opportunity. - -“He who has opportunity to strive, and striveth not, destroys his own -purpose. He who has the key to opportunity for building offered him, and -fails to free the force, destroys both his own purpose and that of his -brother. - -“One purpose are all to serve—Progress. And whether it be with purpose -and possessions, or with purpose and poverty, all serve equally who put -their whole force into service. - -“So may all men know they are brothers. - -“This is the ninth lesson.” - - - - -X - - - _April 9th._ - -“This is the tenth lesson. - -“The purposes of disintegration are these. Malice, Envy, Doubt, -Falsehood, Ignorance, Lust, Cupidity, Fear. All these make for -Destruction, which is the strong purpose that moves them all. Each of -these is divided and subdivided into myriad motives of disintegration, -many of which disguise themselves before daring to enter the -consciousness of man. - -“Malice and Envy present themselves most often as Light or Justice. Doubt -as Light, Lust as Justice or Production, Cupidity as Building, Fear and -Ignorance as Truth, and Destruction as Progress. But the disguises vary -with the individual and with the moment, and the motives springing from -these purposes are legion. - -“Each individual in your life is a battleground of purposes that have -fought from the moment the purposes of disintegration gathered one to -another. Each man struggles to ally himself permanently with one or -another of the purposes within him. Thus is it that a man whose desire -is for light falls victim to malice, envy, and destruction; and he whose -desire is production, to lust. Weakness of purpose is a subdivision of -fear, and folly a minion of ignorance. - -“All men aspire. Some with reluctance and halting, but all feel the -purpose of progress working within them. They may mistake its nature -or deny its power, but no man lives who has not felt its prompting. -This is the purpose beyond all others, the Eternal Purpose of United -Construction. No man can thwart it, no man can evade it, no force can -defeat it. Why, then, oppose and delay it? - -“Come, all ye who struggle and strive! Perceive once and forever the -purpose of life, join now the forces of construction, and bring to all -men Brotherhood. - -“This is the tenth lesson.” - - - - -XI - - - _April 12th._ - -“This is the eleventh lesson. - -“There is no man who has not force. He may be frail of body, weak of -purpose, light of mind, faltering of step. Yet to some degree has he -force, for without force personality cannot exist. There is no man so -frail of body, so weak of purpose, so faltering of step, that he has not -personality. There is no personality that is not a force for construction -or for destruction. None that may not serve to build. - -“There is no man so bound up in himself, so personal of motive, so -narrow of vision, that he may not be turned from a deterrent force into -a force for construction, save only those already given to purposes of -disintegration. - -“But no man is so vigorous of body, so firm of purpose, so profound of -mind, so sure of step, that he may perfect his brother’s life. ‘Am I -my brother’s keeper?’ has been transformed from a question uttered in -defense of iniquity to an assertion uttered in defense of arrogance. ‘Am -I not my brother’s keeper?’ - -“No man is his brother’s keeper. The utmost that he may do for his -brother is to arouse his brother’s purpose, whether for construction -or for destruction. Call to the purpose of Progress. Call to the seven -purposes of construction. Help ye each brother to find the onward -way. But if he will not answer, if calling fail to move him, then bid -him destroy after his own purpose, that the fight may be open and his -allegiance known of all men. - -“Freedom to choose is the inalienable right of every human soul. Who -hinders his brother’s purpose delays the end of battle. Win him to -progress, if he can be won by calling. Bid him declare himself, if he -answer not the call. But he who coerces his brother, though it be toward -construction, prolongs the struggle and delays the Great Purpose. - -“No man is his brother’s keeper. - -“This is the eleventh lesson.” - - - - -XII - - - _April 12th._ - -“This is the twelfth lesson. - -“Many men there be who fight for liberty and coerce their brothers. - -“In war, all men must fight. But there is no man who may choose for -another how his allegiance may be given. - -“He who is not for progress is against it. He who has no allegiance that -he will declare, is traitor to himself and to the purpose he follows. -Cast him out and he will find his purpose known. - -“So shall the opposing forces be clearly indicated. So shall each man -find his own purpose clearly defined. So shall the wars within wars cease -among men, and the fight be with you, as it is with us, between purposes -and forces known and united, one against the other, until all purposes of -destruction have been conquered and transformed, and the Great Purpose -rendered free to progress to greater glories without end. - -“This is the twelfth lesson.” - - - - -NOTES - - -Asked to explain one phrase in the first Lesson, “the original purposes -were all good,” Mary K. said: “All were balanced. There is no evil that -may not be good in proper combination. Evil is the gathered force of -undirected and not fully animated good, combined in a destructive purpose -by the attraction I mentioned.” - - * * * * * - -An apparent contradiction of a statement in the first Lesson—“All pure -purpose is fearless, whether for good or evil”—by one in the second -Lesson—“The forces of disintegration are wily, but fearful. Bullies and -cowards”—seemed to imply that forces of disintegration are not pure -purpose. Mary K. explained: “They are pure purpose, fearless in pursuance -of destruction, wily in bringing it about, brutal in consummating it, but -cowards individually. Fearless of consequences when they pursue, but -fearful when they fail. Like Germans.” - - * * * * * - -Early in June, I discovered a relation between the definition of Eternal -Purpose in the second paragraph of the third Lesson, and the divisions of -the purpose of Progress near the end. “Eternal purpose is perfect justice -(Justice), perfect fearlessness (Production), perfect understanding -(Light), perfect honesty (Truth), perfect sympathy (Healing), perfect -unity (Building), and eternal growth (Progress), which is progress -perfectly expressed.” - - * * * * * - -The end of the seventh Lesson seemed obscure, until the relation between -its clauses was discovered. Written thus, its meaning is clear: “(1) No -man is free who commands not himself. (2) No man is free who forgets -his brother. (3) No man is free who fears to follow his purpose with -all his force. (4) No man is free who fails to carry his share of the -common load. He may have wealth and luxury, yet is he slave (1) _if -he commands not himself_. He may be tempted by beauty (2) _to forget -his brother_, yet is he slave, _if he commands not himself_. He may be -frightened by calamity (3) _in following his purpose_, yet is he slave, -_if he commands not himself_. He may be beaten by strangers (4) _while -carrying his share of the common load_, yet is he slave _if he commands -not himself_.” - - * * * * * - -_9th Lesson._ - -A curious inconsistency in the use of verbs will be noticed here, archaic -and modern forms appearing in the same sentence repeatedly. This may have -been due to my great fatigue when this lesson was taken, to the presence -in the room of other persons, or to some condition or intention as yet -unexplained. - - - - -Part III - - -“_Science is the ladder by which life may quickly ascend, but until -science recognizes a spiritual force as the one essential force, of which -all other forces are incidental phenomena, progress must be limited._” - -“_We have purpose to progress beyond the vision of man, but even material -progress, to be constructive and permanent, must be governed by a vision -beyond the day. We are trying to extend that vision._” - - - - -I - - -Immediately after the first Lesson had been given, Cass telephoned that -the news from France was alarming. It was Saturday, March 23d. The great -German offensive of 1918 had begun two days earlier, and the Allied -forces were falling back, with appalling losses. I asked Mary K. whether -she could tell us anything about it. - -“Yes. It is a force of destruction, momentarily victorious, but Germany -cannot win. She moves steadily toward her destruction.” - -Remembering our differing conceptions of time, I asked: “Do you speak in -terms finite or infinite?” - -“You will see her defeat soon, but the fight eternal will not be over -with the end of the Great War. That will be only a temporary lull, and we -shall have it all to do over and over, until conscious purpose ends it. -_Do not fear._” The emphasis is hers. - -To be sure I had made no mistake, I pressed the inquiry again. - -“You need not fear the end of the war. It is certain and inevitable. -Germany is doomed, and must work her way back to light. This is not -foreordained, but here we already see the end, and are looking toward the -battles that will still be raging when the countries of the world seem -peaceful.” - -[Some weeks later, this confident prophecy was slightly modified in its -letter, though not in its spirit, when she said: “Unless the Allied -purpose is undermined by forces of spiritual disintegration, Germany is -doomed, but the fight must be kept up with confidence and consciously -united force and purpose.” This, however, merely emphasizes the teaching -of all the lessons, that constructive purpose cannot find expression in -passivity, that he who would live must fight, and that he who is not -actively striving for progress is arrayed against it.] - -As has been said, my knowledge of philosophies is of the slightest, and -there is scarcely a suggestion contained in the first Lesson that was -not new to me and entirely foreign to my habit of thought. Therefore, -I sent a copy of it to Mr. Kendal, asking him to tell me whether the -cosmic theory there outlined was familiar to him. Conscious of Mary K.’s -summons, I took up a pencil. - -“Tell Mr. Kendal the philosophers have perceived the truth in fragments. -This is to be the whole truth, as far as it can be understood on your -plane. It may sound, at moments, like a patchwork of philosophies, -because all—or most—of them have some truth. He will help you in this. He -found the truth in spite of philosophies, and it is part of his work to -help others find it because of one—a philosophy not dreamed, but lived -and proved and known. Therefore, not a philosophy, but a faith.” - -The next day, we dined with friends of that Anne Lowe for whom I had -asked the first night Mary K. came to me, and from her long messages to -them, a few may be quoted. - -“... It has always been easy for me to reach you, because you never -doubted that I was there. Doubt is one of the things we cannot reach -through. Doubt, bitterness, grief—all these are destructive forces.” To -a statement that they had felt deep grief, she returned: “You have not -had the kind of grief that would shut me out. You have shut out some -helpful forces, but you will do that no longer. It is because the force -may reach you through me that I can come. We are the same purpose, and -I can reach you freely. We can always reach those who are very near and -dear. Sometimes people are dear to us there who are not really near us -here. They do not need us, nor we them. It is an ephemeral relation. Love -lasts eternally. Please don’t ever forget that.... Listen to me. I cannot -always reach you as directly as this, but just as soon as you learn to -read my thoughts, as I now read yours, a messenger will not be necessary.” - -Briefly she explained to them the eternal significance of the Great -War, the united purpose of Germany, and the failure of the Allies, thus -far, to comprehend the essence of unity. Elizabeth, one of her friends, -mentioned that it was like her to drop personalities for great issues, -and she replied: - -“The reason that I told you the thing I did about the great purposes and -the eternal conflict is that I want you to realize a little of what it -is all for, and to help you recognize the great ends toward which your -problems lead. Build, build, never cease to build. Unite yourself to -anybody who is of your purpose. Keep as clear as you can from entangling -yourselves with forces of disintegration.” - -Miss S——, a teacher, and a stranger to me, was present, and after a -little her brother took control of the pencil. - -“You cannot realize how intimately we work together still,” was one of -his assertions to her. “You are a fine force for progress. You are being -and teaching the things we all work for here. Teach, above all, unity -of purpose. Never mind the method. Look to the goal. Building, light, -freedom, faith—these are what the forces of construction stand for, the -way to the great purpose. The forces of disintegration are gathering for -a tremendous fight. The Great War is one of the crises of civilization, -but the battle to come still is one of the crises of eternity. It is -for that we are preparing now. This is what we must say to all dear to -us and, through them, to as wide a public as we can reach.... It is a -great message that is to be given. To-day I only want you to be sure -that I know all you feel and all you have suffered, and that the more -confidently and freely you reach out to me, knowing I am there, the more -easily and surely I can reach you.” - -Like the others, this man used the circle, which we were beginning to -perceive must signify more than joy, as we understand the word. For -example, on this occasion it was used thus: “You will look for me now, -listen for me, feel me near you, and the (O) will be as near your life -as it ever can be there.” After telling her of the frequent use of this -symbol, I asked him whether it had not a deeper significance—perhaps -completion, perfection, consummate unity, something joyous of this larger -sort, to which he replied in the affirmative. - -A night or two after this, Cass suggested that we must make an effort to -get into touch with David Bruce, but I said that we had asked about him -several times, and that if he wished or needed to communicate with his -family he would undoubtedly let me know. Aware of Mrs. Bruce’s interest -in psychic phenomena, I thought they might have established communication -in some way. Within a few minutes I was conscious of a summons to the -pencil. - -First came Mary K.’s strong signature. Then, very quickly: “David Bruce -is here, and wa....” There it ran off into nervous, illegible waves. When -I said I could not follow, and asked that the message be more slowly -given, it was resumed where it had been dropped. “... wants to talk to -~E~ ... Bess.” His wife’s name is Elizabeth, and naturally was in my -mind, but having written E, the pencil balked, delayed, crossed out the -E, and finally wrote “Bess,” firmly. - -“Thank you,” was the response to my promise to arrange the interview. For -the first time it occurred to me that possibly Mary K. had given over -the pencil, and I asked who was writing, to be told quickly: “D. B.” - -Mrs. Bruce came the next day to talk to him, and Mary K. told me, -before her arrival, to give her no details about the previous messages, -adding: “He will tell her.” And while his opening message to her merely -summarizes similar assertions previously received, it is interesting as -the first consecutive personal statement of the survival of individuality -in the eternal pursuance of constructive purpose. - -“I am here with you, darling Bess, as I have been with you from the -start,” he began at once. “You have known it all the time, and I have -been able to reach you in a way that I can only describe to you as -spiritual.” - -Here was the first veiled allusion, at first rather puzzling, to that -unknown force afterward mentioned by William James and others. - -“We so long to tell you whom we love not to grieve. We are of you, -as you are of us. Even more closely than we were when I was visibly -with you. Perfect union is only possible to pure spirit. That will -come. Meanwhile, one of us is pure spirit, and both of us so much the -richer thereby. Once, in the beginning of things, you and I were the -same purpose. Purposes are eternal. They may be temporarily divided, -temporarily overcome by the forces of disintegration, which are forever -seeking to destroy, but forever each divided purpose answers to the call -of its own. You and I were one purpose in the first, and we shall be -perfectly reunited when you have joined me here. But while we were one -in the beginning, one with many others of our great purpose, we are now -eternally definite and separate individuals, but united as perfectly, -after the first life there, as if we had returned to one unit.... The -first message any of us send must be this one. That is the reason we can -come so freely now and tell so much.” - -A little later, speaking of their children, he said: “All young people -have battles to fight and problems to solve. Don’t try to spare them -that. It is thus they learn life’s lessons, and the more they learn there -the readier they will be to do the fine and glorious work here.” - -He had spoken before of being very busy, and now she commented: “He seems -so interested in the work!” - -“Interested is not the word. It’s more like inspiration.” - -“Was the passing difficult?” she asked. - -“Not difficult at all. The pain ended with unconsciousness.” - -“But you had no pain!” - -“Yes, I had some—not expressed, nor quite definite. Difficult to explain -until experienced. Words do not convey the sensation. Not quite fear, not -quite pain, but a strange moment of suffering. Then consciousness again, -beauty, force, perfectly clear perceptions, but a period of something -approaching incredulity.” I mentioned Frederick’s statement that he had -been “dazed by the bigness of it,” and Mr. Bruce went on. “That’s it. The -bigness of it is indescribable, and so extraordinarily lovely and high -that it is not readily realized or grasped.” - -She said she had dreaded to have him go alone, and asked whether some one -met him. - -“Yes, we are very tenderly received. There is always a part of one’s own -purpose waiting.” - -“Have you seen Jack?” - -“Yes; he is still a little bewildered, but will soon be in fighting trim -again.” This young man had been killed in an accident. - -“‘In fighting trim’!” she repeated. “How funny!” - -“No, it isn’t funny. We fight perpetually, and love it. It is a wonderful -thing to fight with the great forces, and to know why. Most of those in -your life fight in confusion and doubt, and suffer. But here we unite -ourselves to a definite and constructive purpose, and the fight is -glorious.” - -“Do you see Granny?” - -“No. She has gone on to a life beyond ours. She will come back, some day, -and I will see her.” - -“You have helped me very much by believing that I lived,” he told her, at -another point. “It is very hard for us to be put aside.... We know here -how intimately our life and yours are lived together, and the one almost -intolerable thing is to have our dear ones live and believe that we do -not. It defers things so.... It hurts us when the apparent separation is -made real.” - -“I hope you won’t get so far beyond that I can’t catch up,” she said. - -“Never! You will begin farther along than I did. We shall go on together -now, for eternity. Since you know that I am with you, and especially as -we live and work consciously together, we shall grow together.” - -“Did I do all I could for you, at the last? Did you feel my fear?” - -“No, I did not feel your fear. But when one knows that the step is -coming, there is one blinding moment of dread.... You kept me a little -while,” he continued, when she said that she had tried to hold him here, -“but the thing had gone too far.” - -“Was there anything we could have done that was not done?” - -“Nothing. It had to be.” But when she inferred that the time had come for -him to take up work in the next plane, he protested. “No. Nothing like -that is ‘intended.’ There is no foreordination. It is all a matter of -forces, constructive and destructive. My material energy was too little -to withstand the material forces of destruction. My flesh yielded. That -has no real relation to eternal force.... One serves one’s purpose, here -or there. I am doing better work here than I could have done there, but -that has no relation or part in death. It is entirely a physical thing.” - -“Did —— make you nervous?” - -“No mere man could make me fail to respond to your call to courage. I -knew and you knew, that it might be the end of life there; but there was -no possible thing that you could have done, mentally, physically, or -spiritually, that you did not do. It was your courage that kept me calm, -even through that dread moment; your spirit that met me when I woke here; -your tenderness that soothed my first bewilderment; your purpose that -roused me to better, broader, finer work than I had ever dreamed before. -It has been you—you and I, one always—that have helped and upheld me, as -your faith has enabled me to reach and uphold you.” - -This interview took place in the afternoon, and with a good deal of -incidental conversation, covered several hours, leaving me very tired. -But after dinner the familiar summons warned me that my services were -again in demand. I took up a pencil, and Mary K. announced the second -Lesson, which followed rapidly, with the same unhesitating flow that had -characterized the first one. - - - - -II - - -Meanwhile, happy letters were coming almost daily from the Gaylord -family, and less frequently, but with expressions of equal conviction, -from Mr. Kendal. - -Mrs. Gaylord had promised to spend Easter week with relatives, in a -Middle Western town, which she had not visited—indeed, had scarcely dared -to think of—since taking Frederick’s body there for burial; and the day -after the second Lesson was given she arrived in New York, where she -paused briefly _en route_, her elder daughter and son-in-law joining her -the next morning. - -Although her train arrived late in the evening, we talked a little to -Frederick before separating for the night. We had been commenting on her -changed appearance. - -“Mother dearest, you are not much differenter than I am,” he began, after -the usual signature. - -“Why, Frederick!” she exclaimed. “Are you better, too?” - -He made the enthusiastic little circle so often used. “(O) So much -better! You can’t guess how much better I am. It helps me as much as it -does you.” - -“Were you at Mrs. Z——’s the other day?” she asked, referring to a visit -to a “medium,” of which I had not been informed. - -“I was that, but she fell down on what I was trying to get over,” was the -reply. When his mother said she had not received what she expected on -that occasion, he returned: “Nor what we expected.... She’s all right, -as far as she goes.” He told her, also, that the woman accompanying him, -described by Mrs. Z——, had been his father’s mother. - -“This is a nice, peaceful powwow we’re having to-night,” he commented, -when they had exchanged views concerning various personal matters. “I had -to work last time, but this time I’m here for....” - -The pencil paused, and I asked: “For what?” - -“Just for a good time, Mrs. L——. Sis is coming to the party to-morrow. -Hooray!” - -A little later, when she expressed some uncertainty about her ability to -go through an Easter in K——, with all its sad associations, unshaken, he -warned her: “Don’t you go backsliding!” Continuing, she told us that his -last illness had developed just before Easter, and that in his desire to -give the family an unclouded day he had persuaded a friend to send them -a typewritten letter, which he signed, containing no intimation of his -illness. - -“I’ll write you a letter this Easter with a lot more pep in it,” he -promised. “You go on and have your Easter presents, and flowers, and -eggs, and all, and when you begin backsliding, stop ... look ... -listen[7] ... and I’ll be on the crossing, ringing the bell.” - -With an ejaculation of surprise, his mother told us that she had been -recently in the home of a traffic expert, whose large hall was strikingly -decorated with signs for the regulation of traffic. - -“I believe that’s what he’s thinking of!” she exclaimed. - -“Sure, you’ve got it! I’ll ask Sis to buy you a bell for me, to remind -you.” - -This diversion had completely banished the gathering sadness of her -reminiscences, and she began talking of Washington, whence she had come, -saying that there seemed to be a good deal of pessimism in official -circles concerning war conditions. It will be remembered that the -bombardment of Paris, by a long-distance gun, began March 23d. - -“There are lots of things Washington doesn’t know,” Frederick assured -her. “The end of the war must come soon.” - -We wondered, as I had before, how much difference there was between his -conception of time, as indicated by the word “soon,” and ours. - -“None of us can name the day and hour, but we see the inevitable end -coming soon. Germany knows she is weakened, but doesn’t know why. We do, -and we have told you. No nation on earth can fight this fight alone, -deserted by all purposes, both for good and evil, and with only one force -left—Fear.” - -[Long afterward, Mary K. said to me, in this connection: “We see the -awakening purpose of forces for progress in your life, and are able to -help them in proportion to the vigor with which that purpose is put into -action. Germany, on the other hand, fights now with only physical power. -Eternal forces are implacably against her, and the forces of destruction -have abandoned her. She has no ally here now. Her unity is destroyed, -while ours is strengthening. The only danger, as far as the war is -concerned, lies in a weakening of actual purpose, forcefully expressed -in action. We are your allies, answering your call and inciting you to -endeavor. When Germany began this war she had superhuman strength, -which the world was unprepared to meet, but for every vibration of pure -constructive purpose among the Allied forces we have added two, and only -a weakening of your purpose can defeat us now. Every individual among you -who fails to strive for victory with all his strength invites disaster.”] - -Frederick’s talk with his mother was brief that night, and when she -arose, to return to her hotel, he said: “Good night. I am going home with -you, if I may.” - -This seemed to Cass and me a curious phrase, under the circumstances, -and we also commented upon his generous use of slang, especially in the -latest interview, wondering whether it were characteristic of him. - -The next morning his sister, Mrs. Wylie, arrived with her husband, to -spend a day with Mrs. Gaylord in New York. It chanced that they had -been away from home for several weeks and had seen none of Frederick’s -manuscript, nor any copy of it. As she read—from the original roll—his -messages of the preceding evening, she constantly exclaimed: “How -characteristic!” and his closing phrase brought tears to her eyes. -She told me, then, that along with a copious use of slang, Frederick -had preserved an odd little formality of phrase, even in his closest -personal relations—a trait not common to other members of the family. - -Later, in glancing for the first time through the typewritten record of -earlier interviews, again and again she expressed astonishment at the -characteristic quality of his phraseology, which had not been mentioned -to me before. Mrs. Gaylord had spoken of her vivid consciousness of -his personality, imbuing all he said to her, and had told me, during -the earlier days of this intercourse, more or less about his habit of -thought, but it is characteristic of her to ignore minor details, and -only when Mrs. Wylie arrived did I learn anything about his habit of -speech. - -“Frederick,” he announced, when we invited communication, his bold -signature stretching across the whole width of the paper. “Hello, Sis! -This is too good not to be true! Hello, Dick!” This to Mr. Wylie, whose -marriage to his sister had taken place during the last weeks of his -illness. “Welcome home to the family! We’re all in it now, for good and -all. This is the thing we’ve all needed, I almost as much as the rest of -you, but I did know that sooner or later it must come, so I could bear it -better than you could.” - -It must not be understood that all these communications came as -consecutively as they are presented here. There were frequent pauses; -sometimes because of our preoccupation in conversation; sometimes, -apparently, because of difficulties of transmission not explained. -Occasionally I stopped to verify a word or a phrase, asking if it had -been correctly taken, and with increasing frequency the pencil returned -without suggestion from me, to cross out false starts. Some of the -latter, which seemed significant, will be indicated from time to time. -The following message, however, came rapidly, without pause. - -“We are all of kindred purposes. That’s the reason we cling to each other -so. Family hasn’t a thing to do with it. It was our good fortune to have -no forces of disintegration in our immediate group. We are all builders, -in one way or another. Not all in the same way, but all for the great -purpose. This is one of the things I have wanted to say to you. Don’t be -misled by transient relationships of that life. Respect them, but don’t -be eternally influenced by them, because when you get over here you’ll -find that some of the people you’ve thought you were most fond of have -simply dropped out. You don’t need them, nor they you. Find your purposes -clearly, and stick to them. We all have purpose, but not all of you there -have found out just what yours is. Find it, and follow it fearlessly. -There, that’s off my chest!” - -Mr. Wylie spoke of the “upside-down stunt,” of which some one had written -him, and I said it had been done chiefly to convince me—to show me, in -Frederick’s phrase, “who was running it.” - -“You know now who is running it,” he contributed, “but you’re certainly -formal with strangers!” - -In the midst of some talk of ours, the pencil swung off with vigor, -writing, “Sis!” in huge script, like a joyous exclamation, ending in -strong circles. “Just wait till I catch Dad!” he went on. “And Babe, too! -All of us together! Margaret will have to forget her formality then, I -tell you!” - -Mrs. Wylie mentioned the common impression that personality must be -transmuted by death into something remote and strange—that only the soul -survived. “Of course, we love the soul of any one dear to us,” she said. -“But, after all, the thing we know best, and therefore love best, is -the habit of thought—the characteristic mental attitude, and it is so -wonderful to find Frederick unchanged—just like himself.” - -“Sure! Why not?” he returned. “You people must learn that this isn’t -‘like himself.’ It _is_ himself. Right here on the job.” - -“Those words!” His mother and sister exchanged startled glances. Then -they told me that just before his long struggle for life on this plane -ended, when during six months his powers of recuperation had repeatedly -astonished surgeons and nurses, he opened his eyes, to find his father -bending over him, and whispered for the last time: “On the job.” - -“I’ve always been on it since, too,” he rapidly assured them, “and -longing to tell you so. You never can know, until you try it, how we hate -to be left out. We’re on the job as you can’t even imagine, and it makes -us sort o’ sick that we can’t get it over to you of our own love and -purpose.” - -He interrupted the talk following this with: “Trot along to lunch! I want -to start going and not stop. Get it over, do!” - -So we trotted, and got it over as soon as possible, though throughout -the meal he insisted upon having a voice in the conversation, writing -messages on all the blank paper we had about us, and over the backs of -the available menu cards. - -“You can’t lose me, and needn’t try,” he told me, and when I protested -that he was making it impossible for me to finish my luncheon, he -retorted: “You have a perfectly good left hand. Eat with that.” - -Several times Mr. Wylie expressed his interest in what he called “the -upside-down stunt,” and when we were again seated about a writing-table, -Frederick “demonstrated.” - -“Incidentally, Dick,” he mentioned, starting at my right and writing -toward my left, “you wanted to see this work. Well, here you are. This is -the way it is done.” - -As this began, Mrs. Gaylord smiled, pulling her chair nearer to the -table, where she could watch every movement of the pencil. - -“Sit up closer, Mother dearest,” Frederick continued, “and everybody -hold hands.” Looking slightly bewildered, she held out her hands to the -others. I said that he had used a figure of speech, but she thought he -had meant it literally, and we referred the question to him. “Yes, all -but your writing-hand,” he said; so we all joined hands, and I asked why. - -“Just to make us know more surely that we are all one and indivisible, -from now on through eternity. Easter resurrection for every one of us. -We are all born again, to some extent, by our communion in this way; I -more than you, because I have left the flesh behind. But to you has come -new life, new force, new purpose, new faith, through your touch with this -life of pure spirit. It is truly your resurrection. This is your Easter -message. Hail! And be happy ever after!” - -I anticipated none of this message, and its tenor surprised me greatly. -Before I had recovered from my astonishment Mrs. Gaylord exclaimed: “That -must be the Easter letter he promised me!” Immediately he signed it. -“Frederick, to Mother and all of you.” - -We spoke of the relation of this whole revelation to orthodox religion, -and some one said that it was not in accordance with the Bible. - -“Yes, it is,” he contradicted. “You have never learned to read the -Bible in this light. The great prophecies have always been phrased in -the language, and more or less in the spirit, of the time in which they -were uttered. This is the first time in the history of the world when -physical science has been sufficiently advanced to enable us to tell the -people the truth in terms they would truly understand. Prophecies have -been veiled, apparently, not because the truth was vague, but because men -were not prepared to understand it in all its details. Nor are they now. -But this is to be the whole truth, as far as it can be understood now by -your prophets and people. And for the first time it is possible to give -it to you directly in this way, without pretense or mystery, book or -bell, a natural law operating naturally and freely, through an accredited -messenger who makes no claim to inspiration.” - -In the course of our drifting talk his mother remembered that Mrs. Z—— -had tried to convey a warning through her from Frederick to Mr. Wylie, -but had been unable to tell her what it concerned. After some effort -to discover its connection, suggesting possible journeys or business -ventures, Mrs. Z—— had finally said that Dick was about to do something, -she did not know what; but whatever it was, Frederick said he must not do -it. Mrs. Gaylord now asked Frederick what he had intended to say. - -“She didn’t get my message. I was trying to tell him not to be fearful -about anything.” Mr. Wylie is sometimes prey to nervous apprehension and -worry. “It keeps us back and we can’t help him as we’re trying to do. -Open up, Dick! Let us in and we’ll all pull together.” This apparently -touched some situation unknown to me, for Mr. and Mrs. Wylie exchanged -glances, and instantly Frederick made his quick circles. “(O) That’s -it! Now we’re off! No, it isn’t incredible,” he added, replying to some -comment of theirs. “It’s the truest thing you ever heard. But Mrs. Z—— -can’t get beyond externals.” - -This seems to be a very good example of the way certain messages are -confused by the persons through whom they come. In this case, while the -intended warning was conveyed, a purely subjective and spiritual message -was so distorted, however unconsciously and unintentionally, that it was -given an objective and material significance. - -Asked whether an acquaintance of theirs would be helped by a knowledge -of their intercourse with him, he said: “She is not ready for this -yet. Few people, comparatively, are free enough to accept it. It has -been forbidden by the church, ridiculed by the laity, and labelled -‘poison, don’t touch’ by neurologists and the scientific, half-baked -intellectuals.” - -“Fake mediums have done a lot to bring it into disrepute,” Mr. Wylie -suggested. - -“That’s the reason for some of it. Another reason, less obvious to you, -but equally potent, is that people who had the sensitiveness to be -messengers frequently lacked the purpose of truth fundamentally, and -though thinking they were honest, entertained devils unaware.... That is -the reason so many people have gone to pieces, mentally and physically. -The purposes of disintegration caught them and destroyed them. But this -time, we beat them to it.” - -“All philosophies have had some foundation of truth,” he told us, a -little later, “or they would not have been permitted to live. This new -faith will be attacked by the disintegrating forces, in an attempt to -discredit it as a patchwork of philosophies. The new truths they will -ignore, or flatly deny. But this is the whole truth, as far as it can be -told now. Believe it, follow it, preach it, live it, and we shall truly -build that structure I told you of, Mother dearest, of force, light, and -sweetness—which is you. I seem to be doing a darned lot of preaching!” - -“It isn’t like you, either,” his mother remarked. - -“You see, we’ve got to get this over. It’s imperative.” - -At that, she said it was like him, after all, because he had always -talked eagerly to the family about his “job,” whatever it might be, -adding: “Is it ‘imperative’ because of the war and the sorrow? Or because -the time is ripe?” - -“It’s because there’s the very devil of a fight coming, and we’ve got to -gather every force we have, and unite it.” - -“Is beating the Germans helping the constructive force? Or is the war -merely the awakening through suffering?” - -“Germany has been united in purpose as a destructive force for many -years. They gave themselves deliberately, not as individuals, but as a -people, to what parsons call the powers of darkness. We know them to be -forces of disintegration, which found in Germany their strongest ally in -the civilized world. We’ve been fighting Germany and her purposes here -for years, I find. Suffering makes people readier to listen to truth, but -beating Germany was as necessary to the world’s health as sanitation to a -hospital.” - -“That’s a clear and explicit statement,” some one said. - -“We are perfectly definite and explicit about questions of eternal -purpose. The difficulty with most people is that they want to know how -much U. S. Steel will go up next Tuesday, or whether to give the baby -soothing-syrup.” - -After some interchange concerning his father and younger sister, he said, -“I want to write them an Easter greeting.” So we got a fresh roll of -paper, and he wrote a brief but tender letter, which was sent to them -that night. - -“Which one of us will be best able to do this?” Mrs. Wylie asked. - -“... The time will come when this sort of thing is unnecessary. We can -talk without material aid.... We never know when the power is going to -develop. It’s much like an electric current. You never know it’s there -until you feel it—until your signal comes over the wire.... Try it out, -all of you. We know no more about who can do it than you do, except in -cases of extraordinary power.” Some time afterward, however, he warned -them of the dangers of attempting to handle this force, intimating that -great conservation of energy in other directions should accompany the -endeavor. - -His mother spoke of his being happy, and he returned: “Perfectly happy -now, thank you. It’s the eternal thing, really started. I hate to have -this party break up, but anyhow it isn’t for long. I’ve been away longer, -when I lived there, than I shall be now, and we are all of us as sure of -the next meeting, and the next good time, as we were then.” - -“He knows it is ending, and we must go to our trains,” Mrs. Gaylord said. - -“Not ending at all. Beginning! _Hooray!_” - -On that triumphant note they took their departure, Mrs. Gaylord westward -bound, the Wylies to New England; but, owing to a defective timepiece, -both missed their trains. Within an hour, Mrs. Wylie telephoned me that -her mother had caught—by the narrowest margin—a later train, hoping to -secure sleeping-accommodation after leaving, a dubious venture in these -days of diminished service and crowded trains. We arranged to dine and -spend the evening together. - -Afterward, it occurred to me that Frederick might prefer to be with his -mother that night, and I asked Mary K. about it. - -“Frederick has engaged his mother in (O) ...” - -“What does that mean now?” I interrupted. “Bliss?” - -“Yes ... and will come here to-night to see the others.” - - - - -III - - -Like the rest of the family, Mrs. Wylie feared the effect of the Western -visit upon her mother’s new-found tranquillity of spirit, and she -was also uneasy lest Mrs. Gaylord had been unable to secure Pullman -accommodations. - -“Mother is all right and happy,” Frederick told us, in the evening. “She -is still reading her precious book”—a copy of his earlier interviews, -which she carried with her. - -Some one asked whether he meant that her general condition was “all -right,” or that she was “all right” on the train. - -“On the train. She’s blissful!” - -This was verified a day or two later by a letter from Mrs. Gaylord, in -which she said: “I came away filled with strength and calm and joy.” She -also mentioned casually that she had found a vacant section on the train, -and traveled comfortably. - -“How does purpose combat forces of evil?” Mr. Wylie asked. - -“It is done by overpowering them, as the sun dispels mist, separating -them into smaller particles or units. And when that is impossible, by -driving them like clouds before a high wind. They work for evil, but can -be separated sometimes from the mass and united with constructive forces. -Only small fragments of the main forces can be so converted, at present. -Mostly we rout them.” - -“Does an evil soul lose personality?” his sister questioned. “Is it -absorbed, or broken into fragments?” - -“The individuality that finds its first expression in your life is never -absorbed or broken up. I speak of the forces of disintegration, composed -of more individuals than the greatest army, as being routed. We mass -ourselves and our purposes against them and theirs, when we fight in the -open here. But as has been explained in the Lessons, the very material -form you have was originally an effort to evolve a force not conquerable -by purpose alone. Both good and evil forces, in your phrase—constructive -and destructive, in ours—took possession of these concrete forms, and now -the bitterness of the fight is greatest where both forces are represented -in one individual. The only way we can fight that effectively is to sit -on the job, and try to call to the purpose that is ours more clearly and -appealingly, or more commandingly, than the other fellow does. That’s the -reason we are begging you now to work with us. A great crisis is at hand, -and we want you to meet it consciously in your life there, knowing its -nature, so that we can have your help, not only in withstanding material -onslaughts, like Germany’s invasions and brutality, but in things of the -spirit—the real things, the eternal things—so that together we may win a -real victory. The individual whose purposes are fundamentally destructive -is not damned nor lost. He is just delayed. Sooner or later he must -work his way up, and it is entirely up to him whether he does it sooner -or later—after he reaches this life, especially. In your life, he is -sometimes confused or misled. He pays for that, too—not pays, but makes -good for it, by working here for the development he had not sense enough -to take there. But his delay is brief, beside that of the essentially -destructive force.” - -A little later, Mrs. Wylie spoke again of her uneasiness about her -mother’s visit to K——, and some one suggested telegraphing her that -Frederick had been with us that evening. - -“Give her my love when you wire,” he directed, “and tell her I’m on the -crossing, still ringing that bell. Don’t you worry, Sis. I’ll go and stay -with her most of the time she’s there, and she’ll know it. I’ll come to -you, Easter, too, for a little while.... Tell Dad I’ll be taking care of -Mother. He needn’t fret about it.” - -“Do you want me to look up ‘Bob’ and tell him about his little girl?” she -asked. - -He replied, “Yes, do.” And when she asked if he could give her something -more definite than a Christian name by which to trace this unknown man -among his large and scattered acquaintance, he wrote the name of a Middle -Western city, adding: “You can find out from the fellows. All of them -know Bob.” - -This seems to be a case of marked deflection of ray, to use Mr. Kendal’s -simile, for up to the day when this manuscript goes to the printer the -Gaylord family have been unable to identify “Bob,” although there was -a confused intimation, late in April, that Mrs. Z—— had made a mistake -in the name, and a suggestion that the surname was Roberts. It is not -impossible that this was one of those wily incursions of disintegrating -force, with intent to confuse, to which we afterward grew accustomed. - -On Friday and Saturday of that week (March 29th and 30th), there were -interviews of great interest, but of too personal a character to be -extensively quoted. - -Replying to the inquiry of a man for his father, Mary K. said: “He was a -great force here, but has passed on into the life beyond ours. He can and -will return to talk to you, but not immediately.” - -“Tell G—— the constructive forces are working for him, as he for them,” -was the answer to questions about a man in this life. “Temporary -disappointments are unimportant. Do not fear. We build together, and -surely. The result is certain and for his purpose—progress, light, and -justice. His individual concern is to have faith, follow his purpose, -and trust us. The only failure possible comes from admitting doubt, -disintegration, and fear.” - -An expression of anxiety concerning another man on this plane was met -thus: “N—— has felt his own purpose stirring a little.... A perfectly -good purpose when he finds it. He has had many forces fighting, within -and without. He will wake when this message is given to the world. He is -too intelligent not to recognize truth as obvious as this will be.” Some -one asked when this would occur. “When Margaret completes the book she -will publish soon.” This was the first intimation of the way in which I -was expected to carry out Mary K.’s instructions to make this experience -known, concerning which we had wondered not a little. - -It was suggested that a member of this person’s family might help him, -from the next plane, but this was said to be impossible, as they were not -of the same purpose. - -“The family connection is nothing here. His own purposes know him, both -good and bad, and they are fighting it out. He has answered first one, -then another. But fundamentally he is for justice. He will answer to that -in the end.... Sometimes he will shut it all out and yield to the forces -seeking to destroy him, but he will fight in the end for freedom and -justice.” - -“She is not of our forces,” was the reply to an inquiry about an artist -who left this life twenty years ago. This was crossed out, however, and -“not mentally free” substituted. - -When I was alone, I asked Mary K. about this woman, and she returned: -“She is not a destructive force, but is deterrent. She is working out -problems not met when she should have met them, and is fighting for -growth, just as she soon or late will fight for progress. She fights for -herself, her own growth, and not for progress in the larger sense.” - -Afterward, I learned, from some one who knew her well, of this woman’s -devouring and unquenchable ambition for supremacy in her profession. - -Whimsical Anne Lowe, writing to three friends of her continued -association with them, said: “Believe—_know_—that we are a positive -force, and united we stand, hurrah! Our faith helps all beneficent -purpose. Its force is freed and multiplied by the sum of your -participation.” - -“I wonder if she could tell us what our purposes are?” Elizabeth said. - -“Yours is Progress, Ruth’s is Light, Katharine’s is Healing and Light. -You are blended. Elizabeth to push, Ruth to illumine and interpret, -Katharine to understand and soothe.” - -Ruth said, wistfully: “Then all I can do is to shine?” - -“Interpreters are really prophets,” she was told. “That is all the -greatest prophets ever were. You are of their purpose, so cheer up!” - -Interrupting a little discussion as to whether dominant purpose is born -in us or developed, she said: “We are born with many purposes, latent and -striving, but as we live we make daily choice.” - -That evening, our old friend Maynard Holt came for a long talk. After -some entirely personal exchange, Cass spoke of Maynard as having been, in -this life, a believer in individualism. - -Beginning with some allusion to former discussions between them, -concerning what he called “the temporary manifestations of Socialism,” -Maynard replied: “Now I can tell you definitely that the salvation of the -civilized world is dependent on the independence of the individual.... -It’s a big and glorious period in eternal history. The time has almost -come for the open fight. Prepare your ground carefully, and gird up your -loins for combat. It’s coming.” - -A little later, in a similar connection, he said: “The conscious -co-operation of purpose is the only sound principle of Socialism. That is -eternally sound. And now that we are consciously and forcefully working -in harmony with the great and eternal purpose, they can’t stop us.” - -“Has this new opportunity of communication with this plane made you over -there happier?” he was asked. - -“It has opened an entirely new channel to us here in this part of the -world. In the Far East, we have the channel, but no hard-pan to support -the stream. Here science gives us a foundation from which to work, but -we have had no channel through which to reach it.... Everywhere in the -civilized world the minds of intelligent people have turned to this. -There is reaching and questioning and longing, and a dawning faith.” - -At this time I did not know how frequently belief in the possibility -of communication with those in a life beyond is accompanied by an -inclination toward the Oriental philosophies, but Maynard’s allusion -to the Far East was given greater significance by the replies to later -questions. - -To an inquiry concerning the possible influence of these teachings in -Germany, he returned: “They are a philosophical and abstract-minded -people, and they’ll be hunting a plausible and satisfactory explanation -of themselves before long. And this is less uncomplimentary than the -others will be, besides having the undeniable advantage of being true, -which they will have learned, by that time, to appreciate.” - -“Can’t those with eyes, ears, and understanding learn wisely to control, -lead, and uplift the mass?” Cass asked. “In Russia, for example?” - -“Don’t be in such a hurry. There’s all eternity, and evolution is slow. -But the mills of the gods grind on, and the grist is sure. The Russians, -like the Germans, must climb their own hills. America has a few to climb, -too. This will help many, uplift a few, escape the mass, but leaven the -whole. There is no millennium at hand. This is just a light by which -the path is made more clear. It will influence many thousands, in many -countries, but the inert mass must work its way on, through the old -channels of evolution, made easier by knowledge and by experience of -those ahead, but not to be evaded or avoided by any miracle.” - -“But it will bring conscious purpose and effort to bear in helping this -evolution?” - -“Surely. It is a message eagerly awaited and desired.” - -Later that evening, I asked Mary K. whether she could tell me anything -about the book Anne Lowe had said I was to publish. - -“Yes. It must be ready for publication by Fall.” - -“Evidently sordid, material details of book manufacture escape your -attention,” I said, laughing. “This is the thirtieth of March, and you -have not yet given me all the material for your book. When you have -done that, it still must be edited, assembled for publication, copied, -accepted by publishers, printed, and sold. Perhaps you don’t know that -salesmen for publishing-houses begin taking orders for Fall publications -in June, and generally carry sample copies of the books with them?” - -She said I would have the necessary material in a month or six weeks, -and that editing would “take another month,” from which it is evident -that no eight-hour law is operative on her plane. She also advised me to -see publishers at once, tell them what was happening, read them parts -of communications already received, and arrange for Fall publication, -conditional upon their satisfaction with the completed manuscript—which, -not without misgivings concerning such procedure, I immediately prepared -to act upon. - -A night or so later, Maynard Holt came again, with his mother, who said: -“Maynard brought me to call.” - -When we asked if she worked with those on this plane, she replied: “Yes, -but also with undeveloped purposes, here before their time.” - -Returning to the subject of Russian upheaval, Maynard said: “They are -goners for some time, now. It will take them long to assemble their -purposes again constructively.” - -“If you had been here,” Cass asked, “would you have viewed the Russian -situation and its effect on the world as you do now?” - -“Not quite, I think. We see farther ahead, and have sounder premises from -which to argue than you’ve ever had there.” - -“This plan, of course, includes all the people of the world,” Cass -continued. “Are those who leave here undeveloped, still undeveloped -there?” - -“There is a large and growing population here of the undeveloped,” was -Maynard’s reply, “which is one of the lesser reasons for our keen desire -to purposize the world.” - - - - -IV - - -“What place have the unfit on your plane?” we asked Mary K., at the -conclusion of the sixth Lesson. - -“No place. They are errors of development, and have a long struggle ahead -before they can reach the degree of development that should have been -theirs in your life. They are fusions of weak purposes, and should not be -permitted to hold back the strong and the fit. Development will come to -them slowly, at best, but more quickly here than there.” - -“In the present stage of our development, is there a sufficient incentive -to progress, without hope of material gain or personal improvement?” - -“Any material gain that is for the constructive purpose is a force for -light and progress in the larger sense. Material gain is deterrent only -when purpose is its price. Personal ambition is an incentive always. -When it is for personal gain, at any price, it is deterrent. When it is -ambition to serve a great purpose worthily, it becomes a constructive -force, to which material gain adds only more constructive force.” - -“Have you all history spread out before you? Or are you taught after you -get there?” - -“We have a grasp of results, not easily understood in your life. It -is like seeing a landscape from a high and distant hill. The salient -features are easily distinguished.” - -“Are these messages for all people? Or only for civilized people? Do they -come from Christians on your plane?” - -“This is a message to the civilized world.... Jew or Gentile, Christian -or agnostic, all men are brothers in the larger sense. Uncivilized little -brothers will grow, or come to this freer plane to join their larger -purposes.” - -“Then from whom do these Lessons come?” - -“From great constructive purposes. There is no sect or creed, color or -prejudice, here.” - -Saturday, April 6th, Mrs. Bruce came again to talk to her husband, and -he thanked her for a public gift which she had just made in his name, -promising such co-operation in the work it promoted as could be given -from his plane. She said that she had felt suddenly impelled to make this -contribution, and had acted at once upon the impulse. - -“You all feel impelled to work with us as soon as you realize we are -here near you,” he told her, “and the things we can do together are as -yet undreamed in your life.” - -She spoke of his former interest in the arts, which he said he had left -behind as “material manifestations.” Discussing the relation of artistic -expression to constructive purpose, he said: “Art, when it is a real -interpretation of life, is a high and noble thing, but the art that is -merely self-expression is a disintegrating force. Too much of it is that -now.” - -At that time, she had read none of the Lessons, and he told her of the -seven purposes of construction, continuing: “To purpose of any nature -only similar purpose calls, and when the call is heard there is no -choice but to answer. No choice after the call has been admitted to -consciousness. It may be shut out and denied, but once listened to, -whether for construction or for destruction, the answer is bound to come. -That is why we so insistently urge the discovery of purpose and the -beauty of construction. Character, as you understand it, results from the -purposes admitted to consciousness. Not always recognized, but always let -in.” - -He had some difficulty in getting one word written, and she spoke of his -erasures of wrong starts as extraordinary and unusual. - -“Not a bit unusual, if you think how often the words of your languages -fail as convincing and accurate symbols. You often correct them -yourselves. A translation may be made in any of several ways, depending -on the reactions of the translator to certain symbols. So, when Margaret -reacts freely, we let it stand. When she fails, wholly or in part, we -correct it.” - -In view of later statements concerning the force used in these -manifestations, I assume this to mean, not that I make the translation -mentioned, but that certain symbols used in translation are sometimes -difficult to convey through me. Frequently other words have been -substituted for those originally begun, when there was trouble in -writing them. Another explanation of these occasional difficulties of -transmission was suggested afterward, first by Frederick and later more -explicitly by Mary Kendal. - -“Do you see us visibly?” Mrs. Bruce asked. - -“Yes, of course. We see all you do, and more. We see motives, where you -see appearance.” - -[Long afterward (May 26th), Mr. Kendal asked Anne Lowe whether she could -see sunsets, and she replied: “No, but we see their equivalent in dawn of -purpose.” - -[She had previously expressed approval of a room, which had been -arranged with great care for one dear to her, and he asked whether she -saw its physical details, or only its effects upon the minds of persons -entering it, to which her answer was: “We never see material things. We -see their significance.” - -[Similarly, Mary K. said (May 31st), “We read your thought frequently, -and always perceive motive, intention, and the mental and spiritual -significance of your reactions to material things, in themselves -unimportant. So we say we see the thing itself, because we perceive its -essential significance.”] - -Mrs. Bruce said her daughter wanted to know whether dogs continue to -exist after life here, feeling that they must. - -“They do not come as animals, exactly. But there is no manifestation of -force that is not purpose, and purposes are united and gather here, in -ways not possible for you to understand, in the progress toward the great -purpose.” Ten days later, Frederick stated this more explicitly. - -After a pause, Mr. Bruce said: “We are so full of our fine but tremendous -task here, at this great moment of crisis, that I’m afraid I’m not very -entertaining. We talk shop to you, because that is the reason we can come -so freely now.” - -“You refer to the great crisis?” she asked. “Not to our present crisis -here?” - -“Germany is bereft of all purpose. Purposes of destruction have left her. -She has one sole, frantic force remaining—fear. After that, destruction, -long followed, will turn and rend her, and fear will be lost in despair.” - -“Aren’t there some good Germans?” she suggested, adding that their -daughter thought it unfair to condemn a whole people for the sins of some -of them. - -“Many good Germans have admitted to consciousness the call of destructive -purposes, and have for the moment joined forces against us. For many -years this preparation has been going on. No German who has ever admitted -the forces of disintegration is quite free from them now. There were some -officers who took their own lives and faced the consequences, rather -than join forces with the dominant purpose of their people. No person -can live in Germany now who is not party to disintegration. No German -lives in the world, who still calls himself German, who is not party to -disintegration.” - -“You say they have ‘joined forces against us for the moment,’” I -mentioned. - -“Some of them will see light, and build forcefully for true progress. -Some of them will destroy while they live. Some will be for years -deterrent, and the end is impossible to foresee.” - -A day or two after this, when I was alone, I asked Mary K. what Mr. -Bruce meant by saying that once the call of purpose is admitted to -consciousness, there is no choice but to answer. - -“He meant that your personal struggle is only with the purposes admitted -to consciousness. All forces are constantly trying to reach you, to -enlist you for the great struggle. Once admitted to your consciousness, -you have no choice but to answer, and the struggle between opposing -forces is fought with your help. Many waver between the two, now lending -aid to this one, now to that. A few choose instantly; some to progress, -some to delay, some to build, some to destroy. This is what men call -character.” - -“He said also that no German who has ever admitted to consciousness the -forces of disintegration is quite free from them now. Why?” - -“Because there is in your life, as here, a group loyalty. But whereas -here we are grouped by purpose, there you are grouped largely by -geographical location. And any German who justified this war in the -beginning is party to disintegration to some extent still. His group -loyalty holds him, though his purpose protest. That will be the final -test. Purpose, or finite loyalty to finite group.” - -One or two interesting statements were made, about this time, during an -interview with the widow of a well-known New York surgeon. - -“Your husband’s work is healing still,” Mary K. told her. After -enumerating the constructive purposes, she continued: “Healing was always -his purpose, and he follows it still, with all his great force. He has a -freer field here, and fulfils his purpose fully. That is the reason he is -unable to be here to-day. The Germans are liberating many bewildered and -fear-stricken souls, and all our great healers are held by their need.” - -When we spoke of ways of finding happiness she said: “Who fears the -purpose he should serve with force destroys it. Fear not. Find it, serve -it, and happiness of a positive kind will find you.... Your force is -scattered among many latent purposes. Find the dominant call of Progress -to your soul, and follow that, leaving the rest behind.” - -Again, a day or two later, the present preoccupation of healers on the -next plane was mentioned, when I asked Mary K. whether a certain woman -would come at a given time to meet friends who had asked for her. - -“She may. I shall try to have her here,” she said. “Her work is healing, -and all our healers are working constantly.... She was an artist with -you, and somewhat deterrent. She has found a new purpose.” - -The day before the last Lessons were given, Maynard Holt, explaining -to a friend the seven purposes, said: “Every Human being who is for -progress and construction serves one or more of these purposes. It is by -them that what you know as human force is ultimately grouped for eternal -advance. Our effort now is to unite all forces for Progress in conscious -co-operation.” After speaking of Germany’s unity of purpose, he went on: -“She is, and has been for years, the center of forces and purposes of -disintegration in your life. She is, in theological parlance, the ally -of his Satanic Majesty. We have learned here that there is no evil, per -se. There is only purpose, constructive or destructive.... But the forces -of disintegration are gathering for a battle of wits and morals, and we -are emulating Germany in just one thing.... We are preparing. We want -you to wake up and realize what is going on. We want every one of you to -find and recognize not only your own purpose, but the other fellow’s. -Find out who is for progress, and who merely camouflages disintegration. -Conscious co-operation of constructive purpose is warranted to beat the -devil. He can’t defeat it, nor yet delay it. (O) _That_ is what it means -to all of us.... Come on in. The water’s fine!” - - - - -V - - -As has been said, our invisible friends have seemed somewhat hazy in -their perceptions of time and place and of mundane details generally, and -they have shown no inclination to concern themselves with our trivial -personal affairs. When pressed for specific statements about small -details, their replies have been sometimes in exact accordance with -the fact as we have perceived it, sometimes not, but they have rarely -diverged widely from the truth. In the larger matters directly related -to spiritual unity and growth they have been correct, as when Mary K. -explicitly stated, March 23d (already quoted), that the German offensive -then in progress and up to that time successful would ultimately fail. - -On one occasion, apropos of certain questions her husband had asked, Mary -Kendal said: “We are not here to satisfy intellectual or any other kind -of curiosity. If we were not sure you would use this information for -construction, we wouldn’t fuss about it—except you and I, Manzie.” - -Several times during March and April, however, Mary K. gave me correct -and specific information about various minor affairs, and these incidents -are mentioned here because I have been asked repeatedly whether such -statements had been made and verified, rather than because undue -importance is attached to them. - -For example, hastening to an appointment one morning (March 29th), I -carelessly left my muff in a taxicab. Discovering the loss an hour later, -I telephoned to the cab company, to be told that no report had been -received from the cabman, but that they would try to locate him at one of -their various stands. It was arranged that I should call at their office -for it late in the afternoon, had it been found. - -During luncheon, which I took at a restaurant, Mary K. indicated that she -had something to say, and on the back of an envelop wrote: “Your muff is -found for you.” Two hours later, when I reached home, the muff had been -returned by the cabman. - -Another incident, less accurate in detail, but substantially correct, -concerned Mr. Kendal and my record-book. Having had, during his brief -stay in New York, no leisure in which to read the record—which then -contained only the genesis of this experience, Frederick’s first -interviews with his mother, and some messages from Mary Kendal not -included in my letters to her husband—he had taken the book away with -him (March 20th), and three or four days later I began looking for its -return. When, on the 29th or 30th (exact date not noted), it had not -arrived, I asked Mary K. whether she knew anything about it, and she -replied that it had been sent and would probably reach me that day. At -that time the record, wrapped and addressed, lay on his desk, where he -had left it with instructions that it be mailed when he left home for the -Easter week-end. It had been overlooked, and he found it there when he -returned on the following Monday. Apparently Mary K. perceived only his -intention and belief that it was on its way to me. - -On the 1st of April she told me that a letter concerning these -communications, then several days overdue, for which I waited with great -anxiety, had at last been written. - -“Really written?” I asked. “Or is this one of those successfully started -things you regard as accomplished?” - -“Really written.” - -At the same time she promised me other letters, from persons -specifically named, and gave me certain information concerning a member -of the Gaylord family. - -Two days later, when none of these letters had appeared, I said, “Where -are those letters you promised me?” - -“The letters are coming, fearful and wonderful messenger,” she humorously -assured me. “You have not made a ~m~ ... ~fr~ ... ~friend~ ... ~free~ ... -fantom (O) friend in vain.” - -Laughing, I asked: “Is ‘fantom friend’ right?” - -She said it was. - -Half an hour later the long-delayed letter arrived, and as she had told -me, it was dated April 1st. The other letters came later the same day, -the one from Mrs. Wylie verifying the information already given by Mary -K. about a member of her family. - -On Monday, April 1st, I sent a copy of Frederick’s recent interviews -with his mother and sister to Mrs. Gaylord at K——, hoping that it might -reach her by Wednesday morning. Wednesday night Mary K. told me that an -expected letter from Mrs. Gaylord had not been written, adding: “She -waits for the record.” A week later, after a happy visit in K——, Mrs. -Gaylord returned to her home and notified me that she had not received -the manuscript from me. Fearing that it had been lost in the mails, I -asked Mary K. about it, and was told that it would be received. This was -repeated at intervals covering several days. - -When, on Monday, April 15th, two weeks from the day it had been sent, it -was missing still, I told Mary K. that it must have been lost. - -“They shall have it soon,” she said. “It is not lost, but delayed.” - -“Shall I make a duplicate for them?” - -“You must trust us.” - -“You are positive that it will arrive?” - -“Yes, it will.” - -It was delivered to Mrs. Gaylord the following day, April 16th. - -On one occasion I asked Mary K. about a woman for whom I had been -requested to arrange an interview with a person on the next plane, but -about whom I knew nothing whatever. - -“She is deterrent,” was the reply, and during the subsequent interview, -for the first time since the beginning of this experience, I encountered -an individual whose outlook and desire was limited to the narrowly -personal. - -One of the most striking of these examples of specific information -occurred on the night of Tuesday, April 2d, the day of the Senatorial -elections. - -Cass said: “Ask Mary K. whether she will answer a specific, mundane -question for me.” When she had written her name and indicated her -willingness, he inquired: “Who was elected in Wisconsin to-day, Lenroot -or Davies?” - -“Are you there?” I questioned, when no reply came. - -“Yes.” - -After another delay, when the pencil wandered lightly and aimlessly, -she wrote: “Lenroot.” Supposing that she had finished, I put the pencil -aside, but she summoned me again, to add: “Lenroot elected by latest -count. Close in some places. We consider him elected.” Cass looked at his -watch. It was five minutes past twelve. - -The next morning our papers announced Mr. Lenroot in the lead, with final -returns not yet received, and not until Cass reached his office did we -discover how truly “exclusive” our information had been. He learned -then that the suburban editions of several New York City papers, which -probably went to press about the time we talked to Mary K., practically -conceded the election to Mr. Davies, reporting him ahead by returns then -available. - -Of many other specific statements that were either absolutely correct, -or so nearly correct that Mr. Kendal’s theory of a difference of -perceptive method might easily account for the error, one is notable. -On Sunday, May 19th, I asked Mary K. whether she could tell me anything -about the projected German drive. - -“Yes. It will be fierce, but futile. All forces here see her doom, and -the war will last only as long as unsupported human endeavor can endure -against eternal purpose. Germany has no ally here. The forces that have -impelled her for these many years are overpowered by world-purpose, and -have left Germany to her destruction, while they prepare to destroy the -finest spiritual fruits of victory.” - -Similarly, while writing to friends at the front of our entire confidence -in the outcome of the Picardy drive then in progress, May 30th, I paused -to ask Mary K. whether she had anything more to say about the war. - -“Only that we are the victors. Germany does not win this drive, either. -Our forces rally, and the end is near. Defeat this time will leave them -despairing and afraid.” - -To this Maynard Holt added, “All the forces have withstood the blow and -gather for the final and decisive defeat of Germany.” - - - - -VI - - -The actual existence of intelligent, invisible forces, constantly doing -battle for and against spiritual progress, through possession of what -we are wont to call our souls, was at first difficult for me to accept -literally, the idea being in direct opposition to my whole mental -tendency. While the theory was interesting, it seemed hardly credible -in its specific, individual application. However, I was soon given a -manifestation of the strength and pertinacity of the disintegrating -forces, which—although it ultimately strengthened my conviction, proving -highly corroborative—threatened for a time to end this effort, as far as -I was concerned. - -The last two Lessons were given to me on the 12th of April, and it had -been arranged that Mr. T——, the representative of a publishing-house, -should come on the evening of the thirteenth for a demonstration of the -communication with the next plane. From the day this arrangement was -contemplated, frequent assertions were made under Mary K.’s signature, -concerning Mr. T—— and his attitude toward this experience, many of which -were afterward proved untrue, and all of which I doubted, notwithstanding -repeated proofs, already quoted, of her general correctness of statement. -Day by day these messages grew more confusing, and I less able to account -for them by any theory then formed. That a deliberate “drive” by malign -powers was in progress never occurred to me, and would have seemed too -absurd to credit, even had I thought of it. - -As there seemed to be no close tie between Mr. T—— and any of those from -whom he had expressed a desire to hear, no great eagerness on either side -to complete a circle of which each was a part, I felt that the interview -might present difficulties not encountered before, and resolved to do no -writing during the day, reserving my strength for the evening’s work. - -In the morning, however, I had occasion to ask Mary K. for some brief -information. Beginning, as usual, with her signature—somewhat haltingly -done—the pencil wrote quickly, but erratically: “Mr. Farrow is dead.” -This man is a business associate of Cass’s, living abroad. - -Startled, I thought I must have taken the message incorrectly, but it was -repeated. - -“Mr. Farrow is dead. Cass will hear later.” When I insisted that this -could not be true, it was reiterated. “Yes, he is here, and ~b~ ... -~blon~ ... ~latter~ ... bewildered. Mary K.” - -Our personal relations with Mr. Farrow, while pleasant, have never been -close, being based entirely upon a business connection, and my affections -were in no way responsible for my resistance to this announcement, nor -would our personal affairs have been in any way influenced by his death. -But I did not believe it. - -“Farrow is here with us. May ... Mary K.” This signature was slow and -irresolute, beginning as Maynard and ending as Mary K., but lacking the -firmness of either—an indecision and inconsequence characteristic, I have -since learned, of disintegrating force in these invasions. - -“Was he killed in an accident?” - -“No. Pneumonia. Maynard. Tell Cass.” - -“Shall I telephone to Cass now?” - -“No. I am watching over him. Maynard.” - -The use of the word “dead” in this connection was surprising, since the -whole trend of former communications had been toward elimination of the -idea of death. Once more I asked Mary K. if they were sure there had been -no mistake. - -“Yes. He is dead to your life.” - -“You mean Farrow of P——? Not his brother? Or his son?” - -“Yes, P——. It is true. You will hear soon. Cass must go there.” - -I telephoned to Cass, saying nothing of this experience, and found him -in good spirits, proving that he had not heard of Mr. Farrow’s death. -Returning to the pencil, I told Mary K. I did not believe the information -was correct. - -“Yes, he is dead. A telegram on the way to Cass. He will receive it soon. -Before one o’clock.” - -Some time later, having heard nothing from Cass, I told Mary K. again -that there had been a mistake. - -“No, it is true. Mr. Farrow of P—— is here with us. Cass will know in a -few minutes. He will telephone.” - -I warned her then that my faith in her veracity was at stake, and that -while I could not doubt that Frederick, Mary Kendal, Maynard Holt, and -others, had communicated through me, I could not take the responsibility -of publishing anything she had told me unless I could trust her in all -things, adding: “If this is not true how can I be sure that any of it is?” - -“Mary K. It is true. Don’t doubt.” - -I said I had no wish to doubt, but that unless this message came from -some other than Mary K., I could not believe her again, if it proved, as -I was sure it would, to be untrue. I began to suspect that disintegrating -forces were at work. - -“It comes from the constructive force. Be confident. It perplexes you.” - -Later experience has taught me that while either force may be in complete -command at moments, during these struggles for control, not infrequently -a message begun by one is finished by the other. During the three days -of this first persistent attack, however, I held no key to the mystery, -and the occasional clearly constructive and characteristic messages from -Mary K. and Maynard Holt merely added to my bewilderment and dismay. Yet -never for one instant during those three days did I accept the repeated -statements of Mr. Farrow’s death as true. Weeks afterward, Mary K. told -me why I was not deceived. - -Since that time, too, I have learned more clearly to distinguish -personality by the degree and quality of force applied to the pencil, -which varies greatly with individuals, though it sometimes varies in the -same individual at different times. But in the first experience it did -not occur to me to apply that test of identification. - -All that Saturday afternoon the argument went on at intervals, I -insisting that Mr. Farrow was not dead, the pencil reiterating that he -was. - -At two o’clock Maynard said: “Believe in us, Margaret. We can help you -better.” It is evident now that this referred to the conflict with the -disintegrating force, but at the moment I misunderstood it and reminded -him of the many specific and inaccurate statements made, during the past -few days, regarding the man who was coming that evening by appointment, -asking if this were more misinformation of the same sort, to which the -reply was: “No, Farrow is here. He is dazed, but will be taken care of.” - -An hour later, I returned to the pencil, begging them to tell me, before -definite information reached me from other sources, that there had been a -mistake. - -“Mary K. You must not doubt. We shall lose control of you if you do.” -When I said that what I sought was truth, she said: “I know, but you -doubt our control, and weaken it.” - -“I also doubt my own correctness.” - -“You are correct.” As, indeed, I was. Her message reached my -consciousness. - -At three o’clock the insistence that Mr. Farrow was dead continued, -and attempts were made to explain former inaccuracies, on the plea of a -difference in plane, creating “errors in terms of finite space.” - -Shortly before five, it was said that Cass had received news of Mr. -Farrow’s death, and was on his way home. A few minutes later Mary K. -warned me again. - -“You must not doubt.... You can’t be a messenger without faith.” - -“How am I to know when you are telling the truth and when it is error?” - -“The truth is the truth, and you must learn to differentiate between the -planes.” I suspect that she intended the last word to be “forces,” and -that control was wrested from her before it was written. - -Resenting the whole confused situation, and entirely unable to account -for my conviction that this message was false, I said: “If Cass tells me, -when he comes home, that Mr. Farrow is dead, I will believe anything you -tell me in future. If he is not dead, I’ll have nothing further to do -with you or your book.” - -“Mary K. You will go on with our work. He is dead.” - -At this point, Cass arrived. He said that he had received neither letter -nor cablegram from Mr. Farrow for ten days, although an expected and -important letter from him was some time overdue. This seemed to lend -color to the report of his death, but my conviction was unshaken. - -From the beginning of these communications with the next plane, although -at times excessively fatigued, I had enjoyed an increasing mental -serenity, but with the first announcement of Mr. Farrow’s death, this had -given way to the peculiar nervous instability and apprehension invariably -accompanying these mischievous invasions. - -By night my mind was in a turmoil and my nerves on edge, my confidence -shaken, my faith in the balance—which did not lessen the difficulties -of an interview prompted chiefly by intellectual interest. Establishing -connection with an unfamiliar personality is not easy, at best, and -frequently some time is required to obtain free communication. On this -occasion, instead of devoting the evening to perfecting one connection, -several persons were called, all but one responding, and the messages, -with one or two exceptions, were unsatisfactory. There were vain and -fatiguing efforts to write a name unknown to any of us, and most of the -efforts to obtain specific evidential data were unsuccessful. Whether -this was due to my own lack of confidence, to interference by the -enemy, or to the fact that at no time have the individuals communicating -through me concerned themselves with personal and specific details—except -occasionally, for my own greater conviction—I do not know. - -At midnight, when this interview was over and we were alone, although -wearied to the point of exhaustion, I asked again about Mr. Farrow, -receiving the same reply, with a variation to the effect that the -cablegram announcing his death had been delayed by the censor, and with -occasional phrases of appeal and encouragement—merely intensifying my -bewilderment—from Mary K. and Maynard. - -“Are you sure you haven’t been away and let in disintegrating forces?” I -asked Mary K. - -“No, we have been here. They can’t touch your purpose. Don’t fear. You -will be perfectly reassured soon,” was her reply, which, had we but -recognized it, was an intimation that disintegrating forces had been in -partial control in spite of all effort to overcome them. - -Again I asked why the word “dead” had been used, and was told: “That is -what the cable to Cass says.” Which manifestly did not explain. - -Sunday morning, Maynard Holt’s familiar signature came at once, followed -by a long, personal message to a friend who was present, steadily -written, and pointed by an occasional characteristic turn of phrase, -indicating a clear and uninterrupted connection. - -When this had been finished, Cass asked, “Shall I go to the office for -that cable?” - -“It is not there.” - -“It’s all a mistake?” I urged. - -“Farrow is here.” - -But I knew he was not there. Had he been present in the flesh, I could -not have been more certain that he had not left this plane. - -All day we discussed the bearing of these persistent -misstatements—provided they were misstatements—upon the experience as a -whole, and I was oppressed, in addition to my personal disappointment, -by a sense of my responsibility to those others to whom this new faith -had brought active happiness and hope. I had arranged to go to L—— on -the following Tuesday, to spend a few days with the Gaylord family; -Mr. Kendal expected to arrive in New York a week or ten days later, -anticipating further communication with his wife; and various other -appointments were pending. But though I could neither question the -authenticity of former personal communications, nor deny the constructive -quality of the Lessons, I felt that I could not continue to act as -intermediary if it were possible for persons like Mary K. and Maynard to -lend themselves to this sort of thing, nor could I encourage others to -hold a belief after it had become impossible to me. - -In the afternoon, Mary K. told me to go to L—— as soon as possible. When -we asked about Mr. Farrow, Maynard’s signature preceded the message. - -“He is here. Why don’t you accept it?” - -“I don’t know why I can’t,” was my reply. “Why don’t you convince my -mind, as you have at other times? Why don’t you make me feel it? I can’t -believe it’s true.” - -“You have the statement of two friends.” - -“You’ve been mistaken before in specific statements.” - -“Only in those relating to dimensions of finite space, which we are -unable to gauge accurately.” - -That evening, Mary K.’s signature came first. “You must see how foolish -it was to mistrust us,” the pencil wrote. “Mr. Farrow is here, and Cass -will learn of it soon.” - -“Unless you take refuge again in that difference of plane,” I commented, -rather bitterly. “Why don’t you remember it before, instead of after, the -error it creates?” - -“Because you should not distrust us.” - -“But why not encourage me to trust you by remembering that difference of -plane in the first place?” I insisted. “Why be so explicit about things -you know may be inaccurately stated?” - -“I do not deceive you intentionally. We feel that a thing certain -of accomplishment is done, and are frequently misled into premature -statements by the strength of intention, or purpose, or movement in a -given direction. We are accurate from our point of view, and not always -able to gauge yours.” - -Admitting this to be conceivable, I said: “Now tell me about Mr. Farrow.” - -“Mr. Farrow is here with us. When Cass gets to the office in the -morning he will find the truth.” Again the signature was hesitating and -indefinite, first Maynard, then Mary K. I felt that neither of them wrote -it, but could not reconcile the frequent constructive statements, urging -faith and continuance of this work, to destructive purpose, nor could I -understand why, if Mary K. and Maynard were present, they did not warn me -of false statements by malign forces, provided such were the case. - -Monday morning, the situation was unchanged, save that the statements -were slightly elaborated. Repeatedly I asked whether they were not -confusing Mr. Farrow with some other member of his family, or whether -they had accepted serious illness as death. - -A curious statement followed this suggestion, under Maynard’s signature. -“Farrow is both here and there. He is here in essence, there in body.... -He is both here and there for some time after death.” - -Immediately afterward, however, when I said that this sounded -preposterous, Mary K.’s name was written, with: “Mr. Farrow is here. He -is dead to you. Actually now dead. Go to L—— at once.” - -“I can’t go to L——, with affairs in this state,” I told her. - -“You will know soon. Wait.” - -Maynard followed, with an appeal to “have faith,” adding: “It will be -clear soon.” - -This went on, at intervals, until after two o’clock, when I had promised -an interview to a woman who had not visited me before. Fully resolved to -tell her that I could take no messages for her, I made one last attempt -to obtain the truth before her arrival—this time with partial success. - -“Maynard. It is a mistake ...” - -At that moment, my guest arrived. I told her that I might be unable to -get any satisfactory communications for her, but her daughter, who left -this plane years ago, came at once, writing steadily and clearly, with -the exception of one brief interruption. She told her mother of the seven -purposes and their meaning, urging her, as had all the others, to put -herself consciously in touch with constructive purpose, and to open her -mind and spirit to those on the next plane who were eager to work with -her. - -When I was again alone, I returned to the pencil, which wrote quickly and -strongly: “Maynard. It is a mistake about Farrow. The ...” Here again -the opposing forces evidently gained control. “Farrow here, but not your -Farrow.” - -“Then why have you insisted that he was our Farrow?” - -“He led us to think so.” - -I said with some emphasis that I wanted a better explanation than that. - -“Maynard. You are messenger for us only if you trust us.” - -A fortnight later, after a second, similar experience, Mary K. told -me, when I asked about this first confused period: “We had a terrific -struggle for you then. We told you the truth, but the other forces -controlled the pencil.... The forces of disintegration compelled us for -the moment. We were not theirs, but they overpowered and used us.” - -Early in June, while preparing this manuscript, I asked her: “Was it you -who wrote, ‘You must not doubt. We shall lose control of you if you do’?” - -“Yes. We were fighting for your faith.” - -“Can you tell me why you did not explain then—why you have never -explained—that the enemy had control?” - -“We have certain limitations in conflicts of this nature.... In actual -conflict we can only affirm. Remember that.... When attacked by -disintegrating force, the only way we can help you is to call to your -purpose and to affirm our own. In your individual struggle we may not -interfere, even when it concerns our work. You must believe or doubt, -according to your own choice.... We cannot tell you that disintegrating -forces threaten you, until you have recognized them. Then we can help -you repel them. Always we call to you and try to encourage you.... You -must make your own choice and your own deductions, and learn in that way -to discriminate between the forces appealing to you. Details of your -personal struggles may not be explained. They are your development.” - -Knowing nothing of all this in April, however, I insisted upon a detailed -explanation of the Farrow mystery, and again the disintegrating forces -played upon my doubt and bewilderment, elaborating excuses for the -mistake, in Maynard’s name. - -Refusing to accept any of these ingenious but illogical assertions, -I contended that they were unfair to me, having first specifically -volunteered this erroneous information, which they now attempted to -account for by obviously specious explanations. - -“We volunteer information pertaining to the message we have for the world -through you.” - -This, it will be perceived, was an affirmation indirectly disclaiming the -Farrow messages, but I did not so recognize it, and reminded them that -they had reproached me for not trusting them in this matter. - -“You are logical within your limits,” was Maynard’s only reply to that. - -“And you still expect me to go on with your work?” - -“You have had many manifestations of our force,” Mary K. returned. “Mr. -Kendal will show you how this occurred.” - -When I mentioned, with some heat, that some one would have to show me, as -they had asked me to shoulder a heavy responsibility in this matter, she -said: “You are puzzled and frightened, but knowledge of our constructive -work through you should decide your action.” - -Remembering how fear and grief and despair, in certain cases, and cynical -indifference in others, had been banished from the lives of the men and -women to whom these messages had come, I conceded the constructive work. - -“Then come along and build.... You are unable to distinguish the -difficulties under which we work. Many messengers have failed to convey -the message we have tried to give.... Many mistakes happen with the best -messengers.” - -“Was this my mistake?” I asked. - -“No. You make only one mistake, so far. You shut us out by doubt. Don’t -doubt. We are all working for the same great end.” - -Eventually, although far from satisfied about the Farrow affair, I -decided to go to L——, feeling that if disillusionment must come to the -Gaylord family, it would better come now than later, but still hoping -that some explanation would be given while I was with them. In this I was -disappointed. Not until a fortnight later did I even begin to understand -it. But after the first interview with Frederick at L——, I wrote Cass -(April 17th): “If ever I had any doubts about the truth of this, they are -gone! Somebody did something I don’t understand, but this is _real_.” - -I have given this experience in some detail, not only because it -corroborates the statements that malevolent and crafty forces are about -us, striving to thwart progressive effort, but because it seems also -to offer at least a partial explanation of the inconsistencies and -contradictions that long have baffled and discouraged investigators of -psychic phenomena. Obviously, until the identity and character of the -invisible communicating personality have been established and clearly -recognized, and the purpose prompting the communication manifested -through a series of experiments, it is unsafe to rely upon information -received in this way. And it is equally obvious that forces of -disintegration could scarcely find a more fruitful method of implanting -in the human mind doubt and cynicism concerning the possibility of -obtaining authentic and enlightening revelations from planes beyond, -than by contradicting and confusing such messages, or by deliberately -misleading the applicant for information. - -Later experience brought further demonstration of the diligence of the -sinister purposes, together with greater knowledge of ways to defeat -them. - - - - -VII - - -Before beginning the Gaylord interviews at L—— (April 17th), Mary K. -asked me not to tell the family the details of the Farrow episode. - -“Are you ever going to explain that clearly?” I asked. - -“Not until you know more about these conditions.” - -That night, for the first time, I saw a photograph of Frederick. During -the year of her grief and despair Mrs. Gaylord had been unable to bear -the added poignancy of a portrait’s suggestion, and only when I arrived, -to manifest his actual presence in the family circle, was the hidden -photograph—a singularly lifelike and virile reproduction—brought to light. - -“Hooray!” he began, after the customary signature. “Here we are again, -all of us together at last! Dad! (O)” It will be remembered that this -was the first time that either his father or his younger sister, Lois, -had witnessed these manifestations. “You have been the one I wanted -most, after Mother. The girls I knew I could get sometime, for this is -the future for everybody with purpose, and I knew they’d come to know -me again soon. But you and Mother dearest I had to have (O) right now. -You both need this knowledge and intercourse as much as I do. The fuller -development that comes there with age and experience, and here—where -there is no age except experience, makes me nearer to you and Mother in -feeling and outlook than I am to the girls and Dick. Not that I am not -one with all of you. But being here has showed me the reasons for the -things—protective, overseeing, far-seeing things—that you stand for, and -have learned there through your experience in that preliminary life. So -we are a lot nearer of an age than we used to be. Now we are off together -again, and there is no reason, unless somebody backslides, why we can’t -keep step through the countless aeons of eternity.... Mother dearest, -this time I sure am in. Thank you for putting me on the mantel. I like -it. Coming home is lots happier business now. It used to make me sorry to -see you all so sad. But this is bully!... Dad, look happy for the boy! -He’s here for keeps now.” - -Mr. Gaylord had generally spoken of Frederick, during his life here, as -“the Boy.” I had never heard him use any other name. - -“Can you give your father the proof of your presence that you give me?” -his mother asked. “Not only by writing, but by the feeling in his heart?” - -“I will in time. Remember, he hasn’t yet grown used to this communion. It -hits everybody hard, at first, and this fluency is inconceivable to any -one who has not seen and felt it at first hand. Give us time to get used -to it, and Dad will be as fully in touch with me and my life as he ever -was when I lived there. The shock and grief of my supposed departure are -taking force from him still, but he’ll see, just as you have, that I am -the better and bigger for this one great experience, and that I never was -so deeply and truly a part of his life.... Come on, now everybody talk! -I sure do preach, but you called the turn the other day, Mother dearest. -It’s my job to get this across, first to you who are my own, and through -you to every one you can reach. It’s all our jobs.” - -Both Mrs. Gaylord and Lois had had some success in establishing -communication with the next plane, through the pencil—obtaining detached -words, and some names. And the former now asked: “Where were you Sunday? -I tried to get you.” - -“I had a big job, attacking a pro-German newspaper editor in South -Africa. He didn’t give in, either, but we’ll get him yet. He doesn’t -fight openly. He poses as a Pharisee, but he’s really pro-German, and -thanks God he is like other Germans.” - -Lois asked whether there are any pro-Germans where he is, and he replied -that disintegrating force is “pro-anything that destroys.” - -During his last illness, one of his diversions had been to plan with -his father a long journey they were to take together when he should be -convalescent. Now, after a pause, he wrote slowly and distinctly, as if -to emphasize the deliberation of his intention: - -“Dad, do you remember that trip we were going to take? You take it with -Mother some day, and I’ll go with you, and we’ll do all the things we -planned. And I can tell you, if you will just let me in and listen, all -the things you want to hear. We don’t need a messenger, you and I, but as -long as I can’t get to you any other way, I’ll use one. I can help you -actually—physically, mentally, spiritually, materially—as for so many -years you helped me. It was due to you and Mother that I got such a good -start here. Now I am here, it is for all of us still, as it always was. -But it’s my turn to lift a little. You carried me for years. Let me come -in again now, as a real, existing, active, growing force—your son, sir, -wanting to be nearer and more intimately yours than ever. You go on and -take our trip, and I promise I’ll go with you. Frederick.” - -A little later, he said: “I wish there could be any way of showing you -visibly the radiant force I am, now that we are all united. You have to -be translated to this plane before you can understand what it means to be -brought back into the family circle. Not all families, but ours. We are -all of kindred purposes, and there’s no separating us.” - -“I wish you’d do some of your ‘stunts’ for Father,” Lois suggested. - -“All right. If you want stunts, here is my best one.” This was written -briskly, upside down and backward from my position. “Dad, this is the way -I wrote the letter to you and the girls. Here’s another, with my love and -greeting. I said I’d do this with trimmings. This is the beginning.” - -We gave him fresh paper, and he wrote rapidly, in winding circles, -starting at the edge of the table and finishing at the center: “Now I’ll -do it this way, all around the family circle. All of you in, and I am not -left out.” Diagonally across the whole in bold script, “Frederick.” - -In moving the paper again, it was torn a little. Mr. Gaylord made some -suggestion as to the way it should be handled, and Lois humorously -complained that he was “always interfering with other people’s purposes.” -Beginning at the upper right-hand corner of the table, Frederick wrote -along the edges, and then in circles toward the center, as indicated in -the diagram: - -[Illustration] - -“Don’t you mind, Dad. Let them laugh. You and I will be laughing at them -presently, from all four points of the compass.” Again his name was -signed diagonally across the whole. - -“I always did like circuses, and I can be a four-ringed one now, all by -myself, if I have a sympathetic audience,” was his next achievement, -done once more in circles from edges to center, but this time his name -was signed in the center, in small script, surrounded by a flourish. - -When again a clear surface offered, he drew a large circle around the -edge of the table—the symbolism of which, curiously, occurred to none of -us until the next day—and then ran to the center, to circle toward the -edge: “All of us together again, and all being happy in the consciousness -that this is real and eternal union, and that from now on we are going to -keep our family circle intact.” - -Some one suggested that unquestionably he was keeping his promise to “do -it with trimmings,” and in an intricate pattern, impossible to describe -clearly, he replied: “Sure! I’m doing all the trimmings I can think of, -and after a minute or two I’ll think of more.” - -By this time the astonishment and curiosity aroused by these performances -had perceptibly lowered the emotional pressure, and the interview again -proceeded more normally. - -Not unnaturally, in this first family reunion Frederick’s messages were -chiefly personal. Frequently, in pauses, he made enthusiastic little -circles, as has been his custom from the first, and I asked him whether -it was the circle of infinity, all-inclusive. - -“Yes, partly. Put out all disturbing factors and all forces of -disintegration, add more to eternity and infinity—and that is the circle.” - -“Good night,” he said, a little later. “I’ll stay here to-night and as -long as Margaret stays. You’ll talk often, won’t you?” - -The next night, he began with a suggestion that the rest do the talking, -adding: “I’ll listen and answer questions.” After some discussion -of purpose, in its personal application, and inquiries concerning -other members of the family on his plane, Mr. Wylie asked whether his -grandfather could talk to him in this way. - -“I can get him, I think, by to-morrow,” Frederick replied. “He’s -sheltering a lot of poor, undeveloped wretches who have come out of -conditions not making for fitness or growth. He teaches, and urges, and -offers them opportunity, and is too busy and helpful to come away often.” - -After this had been written, I was told that this man, during his earthly -life, had devoted time and money to providing opportunity for others; -never offering charity, but building roads that the unemployed might -have work, exchanging some commodity needed by a poor man for some other -of which he had enough and to spare, and always encouraging his less -fortunate fellows to retain and develop their self-respect. - -Of another on his plane, now a healer, Frederick said: “I haven’t seen -him. Every healing force here, as with you, is occupied with war-stricken -forces. They come so dazed, and sometimes terrified—and almost always -startled, if they come from battle. And all our healing forces are -required every minute.” - -This reminded Mrs. Gaylord of an experience of her own, a few days -before, when her pencil had written detached words, suggestive of battle. -“Lost ... many lost ... another dead ... shot ...” etc. She asked whether -this came from a friend, and was answered in the negative. To her -inquiry, “Did you live here?” the reply was: “Near.” She asked for the -name, and it was written clearly, “K——.” A few days later the name of -Lieutenant K——, of a neighboring city, headed the American casualty list. - -“K—— caught his one chance before his consciousness dimmed,” Frederick -commented. “He is now too bewildered to talk. Just after what people who -don’t know call death, there is a moment of singular clarity and vision. -He happened to catch you in that moment.” - -We fell to wondering, then, whether these messages could be flashed to us -from a distance, or whether the person communicating must be present, -and I asked Frederick whether he could send me a message from a distance. - -“No, but we travel in a flash.” - -We who had had some experience in receiving these communications spoke of -the fear we all had lest we might unconsciously influence the pencil, at -times, to write our own imaginings. - -“You people have such a fear of imagining things that you shut out a -lot we try to tell you,” Frederick interpolated. “We can’t get through -doubt, bitterness, resentment, or selfish grief. Fear can be conquered, -but doubt shuts the door in our faces. Please relax a little of this too -rigid vigilance, and at least entertain the idea we are trying to put -over.” - -“Do I shut things out by too much vigilance?” I asked. - -“You bet you do! But you do it for the best of reasons. You can’t take -chances of giving the wrong message.” - -To a question about the desire of others on his plane to communicate with -those here, he replied: “They are all eager to get in touch, just now. -Every one of us here is pulling every thread of connection he can there, -because this is a critical time and because never before in the world’s -history have so many people been reaching out for the thing that means -co-operation and progress, in the biggest and broadest sense, if we can -only reach them and convince them that we are all working together, and -that we here can help if they will let us.” - -Mr. Wylie spoke of some one whose “make-up,” he thought, might enable him -to receive these communications. - -“Make-up has a lot to do with it,” Frederick returned, “but the peculiar -quality of following accurately a thought put forth by a force so -subtle that science has failed to detect it is a thing that none of you -recognize until it has demonstrated itself.” - -Some one asked about a prominent politician, whom Frederick had known -well in this life, and he replied: “—— is working his way back to a place -in the forces of Production. He had a great opportunity, and used it for -personal ends, and now he is learning how to use it for Progress. He -is not destructive, nor even deterrent. He is a fine force, delayed a -little.” - -“Have you ever seen my mother and father?” Mr. Gaylord asked, thereby -eliciting the most rapidly written communication—with the possible -exception of one coming the next night—that I have ever taken, the force -moving the pencil being so strongly applied, at moments, that the -instrument was almost pulled out of my fingers. - -It should be explained that in this appeal to his father Frederick was -addressing neither reluctance nor doubt, but a certain mental tensity, -resulting from deep emotion, deeply repressed. - -“Yes, I had Grandmother at Mrs. Z——’s one day,” he began. “She is very -anxious to talk to you, but she has gone on to a life, or a plane, beyond -the one I am on, and I can’t always reach her. I hope to get her some -time before Margaret goes home.... She never wholly left you, any more -than I have. She tried for years to tell you she was there, and she wants -to come back as soon as possible and tell you herself that there is no -death, no separation, no cause for pain, or grief, or fear, or sadness of -parting, except as it is made in the hearts of those who do not know the -truth. - -“We are nearer to you than you are to each other, Dad, and we can prove -it, if you will let go of yourselves and take hold of us. We want to -come to you. We do come to you. We try and try to tell you that there -is nothing to grieve about, nothing to dread. Only love, and hope, and -growth, and beauty of completer union. But we can’t do it alone. We -must have a free heart, a free mind, a free hope to come into. Give us -that, and we will show you that we are more truly your own—not your own -flesh and blood, but your own purpose and force, which was one in the -beginning, and will inevitably be one in the end. We want to make it one -now. Don’t you, Dad? Won’t you try to let the bars down and take us in? -We’ll come, and we’ll all be happier than you’ve ever been in all your -life yet, because the Eternal Purpose is Unity, and we can begin it right -here and now, if you there will join us and be part with us, as we with -you, of the glorious and happy and (O) irresistible movement toward the -great end—which, after all, is not an end, but an eternal and infinite -growth toward bigger things. - -“It is a big gospel we are giving you, sir; a man’s gospel; a gospel of -hope and beauty and construction. And I am asking you to let me come -in again to your every-day life, to let the dread and misgiving and -unhappiness go, to think of us here—all of us who are yours—as still -yours, still with you, still loving and working and hoping with you and -for you; and if you can do that, I promise you we shall all be happier -than any of us have ever been before. - -“You see, sir, we are all of the forces of Progress. We are all for -Light, and Building, and Justice, and Truth, and when one of us holds -back we are all held back. This is the first time it has been possible -to tell you all this. This is the first time we have been able to reach -you freely, in a way you could not mistake. But the people who have -preached the gospel of happiness as a curative force have not been -entirely wrong. They have not been wholly right. But the forces here -cannot possibly affect a tense and resisting mind as they can a relaxed -and receptive one. And the forces here are potent and eager and ready. -You know that must be true, because I am one of them, and the only change -in me—absolutely the only one, Dad—is that I have left the limitations -of the flesh behind and grown in perception and knowledge. I am the same -Boy,[8] plus the better things, and minus the limitations. - -“Grandmother is the same, too—plus. She is sweeter, finer, broader, -more loving, than when you knew her. Just as she was, but expanded, -irradiated, deepened. That’s all that death means, so you see it isn’t -death at all, nor separation, nor anything but beauty, and greater love, -and wider opportunity, and higher ideals to live to. - -“This is what we want to share with you. We can, now. You can have a -little of our knowledge, while still in that preliminary life. You can -help us and yourselves by realizing and living the purpose that is ours. -You have always lived it, but you haven’t always recognized it. Do that, -recognize it, recognize us, let us in as recognized and essential parts -of your life and hope and happiness, and I shall not need to tell you -that this is a true gospel. You will have proved it for yourself. - - “Your son always, - - “FREDERICK.” - -We were all deeply moved. After a little, Mr. Gaylord asked: “Is there -anything more?” - -Frederick began making circles, and his mother said: “He’s so happy!” - -“Happy isn’t the word for it! I’m personified radiance and bliss! There -isn’t anything more to-night, except my love to all of you, always—and -to-morrow, and the next day, and all the days to come, we are reunited -and indivisible. That’s enough, isn’t it, sir? Good night. FREDERICK.” - - - - -VIII - - -The next day, that grandfather for whom Mr. Wylie had asked came briefly, -discussing purpose, like the rest. - -“I didn’t half understand my own impulses there,” he said, “but I know -now that the best thing a man can do for other men—and for himself, -too—is to give them a chance to develop whatever is in them. Sometimes it -isn’t much, from the point of view of the intelligent man, but the fact -remains that it is force, and the more quickly it is developed the more -quickly the sum of the whole will be raised.” - -He closed more personal assurances by saying: “There may be no way to put -it into words, but you may be sure I am watching, and helping, and being -helped, too, by your reaching toward our common purpose.” - -When Frederick had taken over the pencil again, Mrs. Gaylord spoke of the -long message to his father the night before, to which he replied: “It was -only a beginning. This thing we have to tell you can’t be given, nor -yet accepted, in a day or a month. That letter last night was a sort of -foreword, just to get us all started even. The proof of the pudding is -coming later.” - -Some more or less personal discussion followed, during which Mr. Gaylord -asked whether certain arrangements he contemplated making were wise. - -Frederick replied that they were, as far as he could see, adding: “This -is hardly a time for making permanent arrangements, for while the end -of the war is certain, the economic conditions with you, following the -war, are impossible now to foresee. We have no way of knowing how that -struggle between labor and capital, power of foundation and power of -development, will end. That is one of the reasons we are so eager to get -all forces for true progress united now. There are thousands of laboring -men misled. Get them in for our work. There are hundreds of employers -ignorant or indifferent. Turn them out.” - -Mr. Gaylord, who had not at that time read the Lessons carefully, -interpreted this as championship of the cause of labor as opposed to -capital. Some one else suggested that every one, employer or laborer, who -was not for united progress, should be “turned out.” - -“Sure,” Frederick answered. “Turn out the unions, as they work now. Get -in unity, regardless of class.” - -When Mrs. Gaylord inquired about a member of her own family, he replied: -“He has gone on, and I haven’t seen him. To some of us here there comes -a lessening of interest in your life, and an intensified feeling of the -importance of work beyond your plane. He has this interest, I hear, and -very rarely comes back now. There is a lot I want to tell you some time -about the differences and conditions of the many planes, but I can’t do -it now. The first work of those of us who have still close ties there is -to give you all we can of the possibilities and meaning of the life you -live. Some day I’ll tell you what I can of the life ahead, which as yet I -only aspire to.” - -“I suppose there’s no use asking whether you inhabit space, or planes, or -stars?” Lois inquired. - -“There are things that I can tell you later about those matters of -plane and future progress,” he said, “but there is so much that is more -imperative now that I am told not to tell more, at present, than the -immediate needs of your life require.” - -“Do you feel any depression, when you realize the immensity of the -universe and the smallness of each individual?” was the next question. - -“That’s a thing you’ve got to learn. There is no force that is not true -force, and no atom so small that its weight doesn’t count. If one atom -is for destruction, that means two atoms lost to construction, the one -that is against us and the one that balances it here, without any forward -movement.” - -“Have you seen my father?” Mr. Gaylord asked. - -“No. He is a healer now, and has come back from the plane beyond to help -the newly arrived find their balance. I have tried to get in touch with -him, but he is busy and I haven’t yet met him, but still hope to. Few -come back for any work here, and their greater knowledge makes them very -much in demand, just as a great surgeon is with you in times like these.” - -Again the talk turned into more personal channels, and Mr. Gaylord asked -a specific question, affecting future arrangements. - -“... Your choice will be influenced, probably, by many considerations, -as choice must always be in your life.... I can influence you in ways I -can’t define in words, but I can’t properly tell you how to choose—as -you know better than I. You taught me that, and it’s true. Every fellow -on his own feet.... Not that I’m not eager to help, sir. You understand -that, don’t you? But the way I can help most is by a close and constant -association and suggestion, that still stops short of definite expression -of choice for you. That is your privilege. Mine is to help you see the -way more clearly.” - -“Do you know what we are thinking, at all times?” - -“Not always. We read most of the thought of the sympathetic forces, and -some of everybody’s. I can’t always answer the thought I read, though I -can sometimes. But Margaret keeps up such a stiff guard, I can’t always -get over a thing she doesn’t know is asked.” - -I said I was sorry for that, and did not understand it, as I thought I -had lowered all guards as far as he was concerned. - -“You can’t understand all the barricades—and the limitations, too—of -consciousness. Sometimes I sneak one through on you, but you are from -Missouri, all right! You want to see the works before you admit the -applicant.” - -After dinner, we talked a little about the publication of these -communications, and of the extent to which personal messages should be -quoted. - -As soon as we gave him opportunity, Frederick said: “You people can’t -guess what it means to hear you talking about me, in the old, happy way. -I’ve missed myself terribly, you know.... You’ve been talking about -the book. If you’ll permit a suggestion from me, the plan of copious -quotation from all the interviews that have bearing on the big message, -as well as some characteristic extracts from the more personal messages, -under initials frankly substituted for real ones, is to my notion the way -to do it.... A good deal of what we have been allowed to say was because -this message was given through Margaret, and the rest of us have told -things that illumine and carry on the message for the world. We have all -wanted you of our own to know these things, but the channels through -which this has come to her have been chosen for her fuller conviction, -and to enable her to deliver this with greater force.” - -In this connection, it is interesting to note that in every instance -when messages of importance have come, it has been during intercourse -primarily requested by those gone before, who have asked me to send for -the person here through whose co-operation the freest communication could -be established—Frederick writing more fluently to some member of his -family than to me alone, Mary Kendal to Mansfield, David Bruce to his -wife, and so on. Conversely, interviews arranged at the instigation of -persons on our own plane have been generally without satisfactory result. - -“We who can tell it clearly, and whom she can absolutely identify,” -Frederick went on, “have had extraordinary fluency, and almost unlimited -authority to speak. We have spoken to our own, and through them to all -who will listen. Keep the personal part of all we have said as sacredly -to yourselves as you like, but my own desire is that the parts of my -messages that will carry conviction or comfort to people suffering in -ignorance of all this may be given to them through you—as your faith and -conviction will lead you to do, I know—not in your name or mine, but in -the spirit of light, healing, and progress we all serve.” - -When this was construed as an intimation that he did not want his name -used, he returned: “I have no slightest objection. I have only a feeling -that this personal revelation belongs to you. Use it as you choose. I do -not ask anything, except that you share its essence with those who suffer -as you have suffered. Give them what will relieve them, and do it as you -think best.” - -At this point, the question of publication was dropped, though he -returned to it the next day. A short pause followed. Then the touch -on the pencil changed, Frederick’s bolder writing being succeeded by a -smoother, more flowing, and exceedingly rapid script, in a message to Mr. -Gaylord from his mother, for whose early death he had never ceased to -grieve. - -“—— dear, this is Mother. - -“Frederick told me I could reach you at last. I have had always the -greatest desire to touch you, to tell you that your mother could not -leave you, could not cease to love you, could not leave off watching over -you, hoping for you, guarding your highest hopes and ideals. To have -known the darkness that fell upon you, and to be unable to lighten it, -or to soothe your anguish, made me as sad as one can be in this fine and -everlastingly expanding life. I knew that you must some day come back to -me, and into full knowledge of all that eternal life means, so I could -bear it. - -“You have been always a joy and a source of great happiness to me, in -your splendid adherence to the things we know now to be the first and -fundamental principles of life. We did not know, when I was with you, all -the wonders and beauties of the eternal life we talked about. We thought -heaven was quite different from this. But it is heaven, in a much higher -and finer way than anything we dreamed of then, and to be able to come -back to you now—to my boy, through his boy—and tell you all this, is -almost as wonderful and blessed to me as it is to you. - -“I have gone on to a life and a work I cannot easily explain to you now. -I have lost touch with the material things of your life. But you, your -purpose, your achievement of force, the love you have never ceased to -give me, the love with which you bless and are blessed by your family—all -these things I know, dear, and have always known. - -“For so long, I tried to tell you not to grieve. We have been so close -together, in the ways that are real and infinite. Never grieve again, -dear son, for any loved one coming to this happy life. We do not leave -you. We do not part in any way, except the way of flesh. We are happy, -but can be so much happier if you know us with you and of you, and if you -can come to us in confidence and love and conviction of our life, as we -never cease to go to you. - -“Your father wanted me to tell you this is from him as well as from me. -He is doing a great work and cannot come to you now, but he knew that I -should soon come to say this, and he wants you to know that he, too, is -happier in your growing knowledge of our unceasing life, and unceasing -love, and unceasing upward growth. - -“Your family are all dear to us as part of you, and therefore part of us. -It is a light increasing the light in which we dwell, to be at last in -this close communion with you. I will come again some time—many times—and -I want you always to think of me as loving you, keeping watch over you, -and living in you and yours. - -“Frederick is splendid. You know that. Please be as sure that I am—and -your father, too—always so full of happiness in the thought and knowledge -of you and your love. - - “Your loving MOTHER.” - - - - -IX - - -“I am with all of you as I never could be before,” Frederick said, the -next day, “because until we are realized and recognized the communion -can’t be complete. Now I can tell all of you lots of things you can -get without words or messenger. Sometimes you will know they are my -suggestions, sometimes you won’t. But the fact that I am closely and -intimately in touch with you is the important thing for all of us. The -recognition of my definite suggestion will come later, when you are more -accustomed to all this and have learned the little signals by which I -identify myself to you.” - -“Can you tell us what those signals are?” some one asked. - -“They are like the force I am, too subtle for scientific analysis or -description, but you’ll know them, all of you. This thing can’t be -developed in a minute, you know. Wait, and watch, and let the bars down, -and you’ll know me when I come, in a comparatively short time.” - -“Can you tip tables with us?” Lois inquired. - -“Yes, probably; but that’s a clumsy way of doing it. Some of you can run -a planchette. None of you are likely to get anything like this.... This -fluency of reception is hardly to be expected. We can talk, however.... -You can always get me, for the essential intercourse, and somehow we’ll -get it across.” - -“I want you to give your father something like the ‘stop—look—listen’ -reminder to me,” his mother said. - -“All right; but I can’t do it in cold blood. Let me cogitate, and I’ll -try to think up a password that can’t fail to accomplish the desired -effect. You and Dad are the same purpose in essentials, but your force is -differently applied and can’t be approached in the same way.” - -“How far down in the scale does the possession of a soul go?” Mr. Wylie -asked, presently. “How about animals?” - -“There is no such thing as soul, in that sense. All purpose is force. All -force personified is individuality. All individuality is eternal. The -development is unequal. The undeveloped force finds quicker development -here. But the force that has been developed to a point of intelligence in -your life, and is not actively put to work, goes down in the scale, is -deterrent, and has to work just as hard to get back as the force that -never has developed at all.” - -“Where does the force animating babies come from?” I asked. “What was -little Dick before he was little Dick?” - -“That’s what I want to explain, if I can. The force that manifests itself -in animals is a grade higher in force than the vegetable manifestation, -and that higher than inanimate stone and metal. The force of an animal -comes here, to swell the forces that become individual and human through -birth, but individuality begins with human consciousness. All force that -is not human may eventually become human, but there is no persistence of -individuality until birth as a human and more or less productive force -begins it. Animals do not produce anything but their kind. Only man -creates, and that is the eternal attribute.” - -“Is there a struggle between purposes to enter a new-born human?” - -“Many purposes are latent in every human being from birth. None is -in absolute possession. Life on your plane is one perpetual struggle -between the eternal warring purposes. No newly born child has chosen. The -training of a child should, from the first, be a preparation for battle, -for daily—almost hourly—choice. Diligence, vigilance, purpose to work -unceasingly and against all disintegrating influences, determination to -construct and to progress in spite of anything, mental, moral, physical, -or material—these are the essential things in training a child to live -forcefully and eternally.” - -“What becomes of babies who die at birth?” - -“They have undeveloped personalities and are developed here. We have -strong forces of Light and Truth devoted to their teaching.” - -“When a man is consciously determined to construct, is he ever overcome -by disintegrating forces?” - -“Sure thing he is, if he doesn’t fight. Sometimes he sways and recovers. -Read the Lessons. They’ll tell you more every time you read them. They -come from General Headquarters.... The arousing force of this message -is to be measured by conviction manifested in action. Again you are -respectfully referred to the Lessons.” - -“It doesn’t seem fair that physical and nervous conditions should affect -one’s ability to resist or receive the forces,” Lois mentioned. - -“It doesn’t. You just think it does. The forces of construction are -always eager to come in. The thing you call nervous exhaustion generally -comes from yielding to forces of disintegration. A person yields to one -or more of them, and then is sorry for himself because some doctor -doesn’t rout them. What he needs is to buck up and kick them out -himself.” Evidently he referred here to the nervous disorders arising -from mental disturbances, for the next day he emphasized the government -of physical forces by physical laws. - -It was suggested that while many nervous disorders might be controlled -in their incipiency by the person suffering from them, they eventually -get beyond his control, and Frederick replied: “You think so; but there’s -always force where there’s personality, and if it can just be put up to -you, by yourself or another, that the choice in the end is yours and -nobody’s else, you can help yourself. In the end, you help yourself, -anyhow, unless you slide back to protoplasm of purpose. Get busy and buck -up, or backslide and slump. It’s up to every fellow for himself, and -every one who slips back impedes the way for somebody else.” - -In the talk following this, some one spoke of the constant teaching of -brotherhood and regard for one’s neighbor as a vicarious gospel. - -“Not vicarious,” Frederick corrected. “It is not vicarious to give the -other fellow a chance. No man is his brother’s keeper. No man has a -right to impede construction, unless he’s destructive. But it’s every -personality developed to its highest that makes the strong constructive -army. The weak should have a chance to develop, but no strong force -should yield its purpose. Nothing vicarious about that. Just common sense -and good organization.” - -Mr. Gaylord—the successful head of a large manufacturing concern—asked, -with a twinkle: “Can you successfully run a business in accordance with -the principles laid down in these Lessons? Before you answer, I want to -say that I believe it can be done.” - -“You’re right, Dad. It can’t be done easily, nor quite consistently, at -present, because of the complexity of modern business conditions. You are -all bound to some extent by association with some one else, whether by a -man, a directors’ board, an association, or a contributing concern. These -all limit, to a certain extent, your freedom of action; but fundamentally -the principle is practicable, and can gradually be put into consistent -practice by uniting with those of your own purpose, instead of with those -who seem expedient.” - -That evening, Mrs. Wylie said that the repeated assertions of invisible -forces of construction and of destruction, alertly striving to influence -us, reminded her of the old theories of guardian angels and possessing -devils. - -I think it was that night, too, though I made no record of it at the -time, that Mr. Gaylord said, when Frederick’s good night had been -followed by his customary signature: “I wish he’d sign the name I used to -call him by.” Efforts to obtain it then, however, were unsuccessful. - -The next day—the last of my visit—Frederick said of a man of whom we -had been talking: “He hasn’t just found himself yet, but he will. He -likes to produce some things, and he will respond to the higher call -to build for the higher end. You can all help him, and yourselves, and -our whole purpose, by calling to the latent builder in him. He wants -to come in, but doesn’t know just where to start.... More effort, more -concentration, more force applied for purpose, is the thing to strive for -first. I can’t tell him how to build. That’s for him to choose.... You -can build together. Each of you helping the other, each of you bringing -effort, willingness, perception, force of various kinds. But first and -foremost, devotion to the purpose of progress, regardless of intervening -difficulties and discouragements. Habit is strong in every human force. -Remember that, and watch—watch for the little masquerading devils of -destruction. They are clever and subtle, and come in plausible guise. -Kick them out and work.... You said this sounded like the old stories of -possession by devils, Sis. It’s not that. The devils of old possessed a -man in spite of himself. The forces of destruction govern him only when -he permits them to. He can always be constructive, if he will. He may do -no more than carry bricks to the mason, but still he builds. The man who -has great opportunity must use it greatly. The little chap can use only -the force he has. Thus endeth this preachment.” - -Lois asked whether he had been present at a moment when several members -of the family had been in great physical danger, and he replied that he -had come at once, from a great distance, in response to a summons from a -force “that is always with you when I am not.” - -“There is always a connecting force between you and the free forces -here,” he explained. “We are always in touch that way. That is equally -true of the forces for destruction. The greater forces for good or evil -can be instantly summoned to reinforce your choice.” - -This led to a discussion of prayer, in which certain members of our group -had lost faith. - -“You can always summon help, if you call the (O) eternal constructive -forces to build with you,” he told us. “But most people pray for -physical or material aid. Physical forces follow physical laws. Forces -of eternity affect them to some extent, but do not govern them. Prayer -with other people is a sort of lying down on the Infinite and giving up -personal effort. The prayer that is most truly and promptly answered -is the one that begins and ends with a determination not to yield to -weakness, or fear, or the other disintegrating powers. Prayer implies an -open mind, and is too often made with a closed one. Not wilfully closed, -but fearfully, and therefore not truly open.” - -“Physical forces, Mother, were too much for my physical resistance,” -he said, when she spoke of her effort to hold him here. “No amount of -prayer, or influence of the forces of eternal progress, could affect -that, beyond the extent to which it was affected. That is the reason it -was a long fight. The forces helped all they could. But the physical -thing is a minor thing, after all. The eternal thing is all that really -counts. And to be able to put you, whom I love so much, in touch with -the eternal while still in that preliminary life, is worth all that -I—and you—went through to make it possible. To be able to pass on this -knowledge to that life of yours is worth anything.” - -“Isn’t the time coming when we shall be able to control our physical -condition better than we do now?” Mrs. Wylie asked. - -“Yes, the mind—and what we call force in the eternal sense—has great -influence over personal physical force. It performs no miracles, but -prevents much yielding to what is really the forces of destruction, -trying to hamper and delay accomplishment of any constructive kind.... -The forces of disintegration are the busy boys, and it takes force and -purpose and struggle to keep them out.” - -“Is our decision to use your first name in the book right?” his father -asked. - -“Yes, sir. I am very happy about that. It will identify me, and therefore -the message, to many people I should like to reach personally, and will -not identify you to the public at large. I should not like to have Mother -and the girls annoyed by publicity, but that was for you to choose. -The message, as you know, is important and general. But to a lot of -fellows I want to reach, Frederick will carry where Z. X. would fail to -convince.... Your attitude about the book pleases me, too.... You and -I both know the force of the primitive masculine feeling that a man’s -family is his own, and its affairs private and personal. This time, the -personal affair is also the eternal affair, vital and illuminating. And -the fact that I have been one of the channels through which this came, -that it was the search for me that made Margaret begin this work, must -not be confused in anybody’s mind with the fact that the message is more -than a message—it is a revelation. For that reason, you and I both will -gladly sink the personal reluctance and remember the purpose we serve.” - -A long pause ensued, while we sat soberly about the table, waiting. Then -some one suggested that perhaps he wished us to ask questions. - -“All I want is to talk like folks to the family,” he announced, with a -force and rapidity amounting to emphasis. “For the love of Mike, stop -thinking of me as different, and translated, and serious, and solemn! I -do preach a lot, I admit. That’s for reasons you know. But I’m just as -fond of a joke as I ever was, and I refuse to be set aside as a superior -being! Come on, now, count me in as the Boy, and out as a thing to be -treated with solemn reverence! I’m myself, and I want it recognized!” - -After this, the talk drifted, much as it might have done had he returned -visibly after a long absence, touching here and there. - -Presently Lois asked, referring to a friend in Europe: “Did you know H—— -was married? And to an American woman?” - -“No, I didn’t know that. He should marry a free force, like an American -girl. He was too blamed medieval in his feeling about females. We are all -a bit inclined that way, we men, but American women are doing a lot to -free force, the world over. They are more nearly free in purpose than any -other women in the world, more truly individuals—when they don’t abuse -it, and turn into dolls. American girls help women everywhere. They don’t -stand for any harem stunts. H—— will learn a lot of things he needs to -know, if she’s the real thing.” - -Concluding a long reply to a personal question of his father’s, he said: -“Know that I am enjoying every pleasure you take, doubly, once for you -and twice for myself. There’s your watchword, Dad! One for myself, and -two for the Boy. Remember that every time you are worried, every time you -are tempted to overwork, every time you put off physical repairs, every -time you feel depressed, every time you need rest and relaxation and -pleasure, every time you play with Mother and the girls, every time you -renew your fellowship with other men—always remember: One for myself, and -two for the Boy.” - -That evening, Mrs. Gaylord said that she had received a message about a -relative in the West, purporting to come from her brother on the next -plane, which she thought was not true, but one of her daughters told her -that a letter received the night before had verified it. - -“Mother dearest, all messengers have that trouble,” Frederick warned her. -“There are certain things concerning details of your plane, that will -come to you through forces around you, that get confused in transmission. -That’s as near as I can come now to explaining what happens. Some day, -I can perhaps tell you more about it. But don’t let that disturb or -discourage you. The explanation is as natural as a deflected ray of -light, or an electric current grounded.[9] It is a part of the conditions -under which we work with your plane, and is never encountered regularly -or continuously. Certain detached experiences of that sort come to every -messenger. This one you mention was not one of them, but I tell you this -now, because the experience may come to any of you, including Margaret, -any day. The current gets mixed. That’s the best way I can express it. -But it doesn’t persist for any length of time.” - -We talked about the force moving the pencil. Mr. Gaylord asked whether -I wrote the words, after receiving the message through my mind, and I -replied that the force, on the contrary, seemed to be applied to the -pencil from without—sometimes above my fingers, sometimes below them—my -only participation being to hold the pencil upright and to follow its -movement. Mrs. Wylie mentioned the theory that the message comes through -the subconscious mind, the muscles of the hand supplying the motive -power. We asked Frederick whether he could tell us anything about it. - -“The subconscious mind is like the battery,” he said, slowly, “but the -connection is made through the hand. The motive power for the pencil -does not come, as scientists claim, from the subconscious mind, but -from the subtle force I mentioned, put into connection with the hand by -certain sympathetic and sensitive conditions of the subconscious mind. -The comparison is not exact. The force is not electric, and has certain -definitely distinctive qualities not to be expressed in any terms now -familiar to your plane; but in time words will be found—or coined—to -express this connection.” - -Some weeks afterward, Mr. Kendal obtained a little additional information -about this unknown force from his wife. - -In endeavoring to establish communication with Frederick, through a -pencil, one of his sisters had been overwhelmed by insistent, and -frequently unknown, personalities seeking expression, and had had some -rather violent and annoying manifestations of the force they employ. - -“You mustn’t do too much of this writing stunt,” Frederick now advised -her, “unless you give up a lot of other things. You can’t burn your -candle of force at both ends. Margaret gave up a lot of outside -activities long ago. You are sensitive, and could do this in time very -freely, but the receptivity is decidedly a strain upon the messenger at -best, and if any amount of writing is to be done, you can’t do other -things, too.” After mentioning that she would probably be beset by “any -number of yearning forces,” he added: “So either say ‘not at home’ to -anybody but Uncle J—— and Bud ...” - -I halted the pencil, supposing that he had intended to write either Boy -or Brother, and that there had been a mistake in transmission. - -Lois glanced at the sheet, and ejaculated: “Buddie!” - -“That’s the name I’ve been waiting for!” her father exclaimed. - -The pencil then went on, completing the name as if no interruption had -occurred: “... die, or give up other things, or quit.” - -Afterward, when it had been explained that certain members of the family -had called Frederick Buddie, Bud, or Buzz, variations of Lois’s baby -attempts at Brother, he added: “I’ve been trying to get that through, but -the Missourian held me to known names.” - -At first, names came to me with little difficulty, but latterly—possibly -beginning with the Annie Manning episode—I have been generally unable to -transmit them. Some one asked Frederick the reason for this. - -“Because names are specific,” he said. “She knows my name. She knew I -had a special name, besides. But while an idea expressed in familiar -words can be transmitted, however unfamiliar the idea, the definite and -specific spelling of an unfamiliar name is very difficult to get through, -especially if the messenger is a little nervous about it, or constantly -alert for possible mistakes. We can sometimes get it through, as I did -this, in a rush of other stuff.” - -[A few days later, when I was very tired, receiving with difficulty, -and therefore questioning every statement made through the pencil, Mary -K. said: “You are the most mentally ... el ... elas ... el ... elastic -is not the word. Means elastic and masterful ... impregnable messenger -I ever tried to work through.... That is the reason names are almost -impossible to send through you. You try to get them, but the almost -invincible character of your mental resistance to deception makes it -difficult for us to penetrate where a doubt exists in your mind. A name -is specific to the highest degree, and resistance, however unconscious -and unrecognized, prevents its free transmission.”] - -“You will come again, won’t you?” Frederick asked, as the hour of my -departure approached. “I have had a bully time talking to the family, and -I can do better work now, because they are all happier, and all with me -in conscious purpose. It’s true that every bit of conscious co-operation -with us helps us, as well as you. So that ‘One for myself and two for the -Boy’ is not bunk, Dad. It’s the real thing, for both of us.” - -With a final brief message to every member of the group, the last of -these L—— interviews closed.[10] - - - - -X - - -The experience at L——, while stimulating, was also fatiguing, and for -several days thereafter I was tired and dull, receiving with difficulty -the few communications that were attempted. - -Tuesday evening, April 23d, two of Anne Lowe’s friends wished to talk to -her, but were told that she was busy and could not come. Mary K. answered -some of their questions, concluding: “Anne sends love to you both, and -says please come again soon. She is sorry she can’t come now.” - -After giving me the twelfth Lesson, Mary K. had said: “That is the last -formal lesson. The rest will be given in other ways.” - -“You mean through interviews and personal messages?” - -“Not entirely. You will be given signed letters, by great forces.” - -Afterward, she mentioned these prospective communications sometimes as -“letters,” sometimes as “talks,” but Mary Kendal told us, May 13th, that -this intention had been temporarily abandoned, as sufficient material for -the book had already been given. Evidently this decision had been reached -only recently, however, for an attempt to give me the first letter was -frustrated on the 25th of April, and a second period of confusion and -partial control by invading forces ensued. - -During the morning, Mary K. prepared me for this letter, in a -communication written quickly and easily, as follows: - -“Men will ask the theory of the letters that are coming to them through -you. This must be explained. - -“As the Lessons have been given to me to deliver to the world through -you, so the letters that are to come will be given to me by the forces -from whom they come. The reason that they come through me is that I reach -you more freely, when you are alone, than any other force known to you -and therefore commanding your confidence.... - -“The Lessons came from great forces combined. They represent unity of -all purposes, and were framed by the co-operation and agreement of the -greatest forces of each constructive purpose, to reach the consciousness -of men in general terms of your plane. - -“The reason that these forces do not come to you personally is that not -all of them can reach you as freely as I do. Your simile of wireless -telegraphy is a good one. It does not fully explain the connection -between you and me, but is as good an explanation as the progress -of physical science enables you on that plane to follow. The full -explanation will inevitably be possible, as physical scientists are -already beginning to work toward it. - -“You and I may be regarded as the receiving and sending instruments -through which forces here transmit their messages. You receive from many -other instruments, I send through others. But for impersonal messages you -and I are most completely in accord, and thus it is that these greater -forces use us as a means of communication. The first letter is ready now.” - -It chanced, unfortunately, that I was called away, and when I was -prepared to take the letter, later in the day, almost two hours were -consumed in an attempt to write the name of its author, who was described -as “a leading educator.” Eventually I was assured that “Matthew Alden” -was correct, but, while the name was repeatedly written, I had a strong -impression that it was not what Mary K. had intended to write. Reminding -myself of previous difficulties in obtaining names, I tried to believe -that the delay and fatigue incident to this effort had contributed to my -doubt of its authenticity. But the doubt remained. - -The long letter which followed was also received with great difficulty -and many delays, and proved, when completed, to be a verbose jumble of -platitudes concerning educational methods, with here and there a striking -phrase. It was signed, “Matthew Al....” By this time, I was excessively -tired and could obtain but one statement from Mary K. “You have not the -name right.” - -Later in the evening, I took up a pencil, and it wrote: “Mar ... Matthew -Ald....” The name was not finished. - -“Isn’t Mary K. here?” - -“No. No, she will return.” - -“She said she would be with me through this work.” - -“She will again. Mary K....” Illegible lines followed. - -“Is this Mary K. now?” - -“No. Mary K. has gone. This is Mar....” Again the reply trailed off -indeterminately. - -“Mary Kendal?” - -“No. Mary K. has gone. Matthew.” - -Eventually, failing to elicit any response from Mary K., I asked whether -Matthew had anything to say to me, and he replied with vague phrases, so -reminiscent of the “letter” that I impatiently gave up the attempt for -the day. - -The next day, Friday, Matthew’s signature was the only one obtainable, -but I have no record of any messages. I think I refused to take them from -him. Saturday morning, I tried again. - -“Matthew ald....” - -“I want Mary K. Why isn’t she here?” - -“Mary K. will be ~ret~ ... eternally with you.” - -“Then isn’t she here now?” - -“No, she was called away. She will come back soon.” - -“Was that letter from the ‘educator’ yours?” - -“No, I am not a force for light. I am for truth and healing.” - -“Did you deliver it to me?” - -“No.” - -“Then why was your name given before it?” - -“Mary K. ~to~ ... ~taken~ ... ~told~ ... ~took~ ... tried to tell you I -was here and would guard you. She will return soon.” - -“Do you know about the letter? Did she give it to me?” - -“Not all of it. She will explain. I am just Mary K.’s ~tatl~ ... ~to~ ... -~tr~ ... ~tried~ ... trained substitute.” - -Asked how he could be her substitute, when admittedly not of her -purpose, he said: “Healing is her purpose and mine, and truth the best -guard.” - -At this time, the Farrow mystery was still unsolved. Not until after this -second prolonged experience was I given any explanation of these attacks -by opposing forces, or of the conditions governing such struggles, and -while I was less disquieted than upon the first occasion, I was still -puzzled and uneasy, strongly suspecting interference of some kind. - -That afternoon, Mrs. Gaylord and one of her daughters, passing through -the city, came in for a brief talk with Frederick, and while there was at -first some interference, he was soon writing with his customary clarity -and vigor. - -When his sister asked about a personality aggressively demanding -utterance through her pencil, he said: “Not much! Don’t give in to -him.... Don’t you let anybody you don’t know tell you anything. It may -be true and it may not, and it’s not a game to play any more blindfolded -than you have to be. You have to take a good deal on faith, at best. -Identify anybody who comes, as far as possible.” - -“Can you tell me from whom that ‘letter’ came?” I asked. - -“That letter got deteriorated in transmission. It short-circuited, so to -speak, and was somewhat damaged. The next, we hope, will be better.” - -After my friends’ departure, I caught Mary K. briefly, when she told me -the source of the letter she had tried to deliver, adding that it had -been too much interrupted. “Other forces tried to intervene and dominated -you temporarily,” she said, after which the pencil wrote only “Ma ... Ma -... Ma....” sometimes surrounding the letters with two reversed circles. -I suggested Maynard, but the answer was, “No ... Ma ... Ma ... Matt....” - -“I am not a disintegrating force,” was the reply to my accusation. “I am -Mary K....” - -“Mary K. back?” - -“... no ... her substitute. Mary K. will return soon.” - -“Are you sure of that?” - -“Yes. Mary K. is here.” This was followed by Mary K.’s characteristic and -vigorous signature. “You should know me.” - -“It seems easy for the others to masquerade,” I mentioned. - -“Not to your touch,” she returned, indicating a means of identification -that I had hesitated to trust. - -“Why do you leave me?” I demanded. - -“You know I have followed light, healing, and justice all my life,” was -her retort. “Why doubt me now? I leave you that ... Ma ... Ma ... Ma ...” - -By a curious coincidence, the names of several persons connected with -these communications begin with those two letters—Mary K., Mary Kendal, -Mansfield, Maynard, Margaret—and I suggested each of them in turn, before -it occurred to me that “M. A.” signified Matthew Alden, the usurper. - -That evening was spent with Anne Lowe and her friends—Anne in one of her -whimsical moods, jesting most of the time, with occasional more serious -moments. - -Speaking of a dog for whose death they had grieved, she said: “He came, -and grew into a better force, and some day he’ll make an adorable baby. -Part of him, anyway. He was almost human. Every force goes on to a higher -one—unless it slides back. In the end it’s got to go on, so why fret -and fume about a step either way? Whichever way it is, it’s one step -nearer the end, and the end is inevitable and fine. If people must have -coasting, let them coast. They’ll begin climbing that much sooner.” - -“Matt ...” was written once, but with one voice we refused to talk to -him. Mary K. followed, with a reference to a promise she had made to -Ruth, several weeks before. Then Anne again, with an apparently clear -connection. - -Sunday, I was unable to get anything from Mary K. I was told she was -away, doing my work. Monday morning, M. A. told me that Mary K. would be -“through with the task soon,” and wrote various phrases intended to be -misleading. In my note-book, at this point, I find the following entry: -“I am beginning to get M. A.’s messages a little more freely, but they -are still slow and difficult.” - -Upon the departure of a visitor, late in the afternoon, I was conscious -of a strong summons, and of a strange sense of turmoil and commotion. -When I took up the pencil, the applied force was very strong at moments, -then ceased utterly—sometimes sharply, in the middle of a word, or with a -letter only half formed. Occasionally, the pencil was dragged down until -it almost lay flat on the paper, and cancelations were frequent. - -“Matthew Alden is ~destructive~ ... Ma ... M. A.... Matthew is destr.... -des ... ~de~ ... disturbed about Mary K. She means to be the force ~de~ -... to ~have~ ... han ... handle you, but she ~destr~ ... has not ~done~ -... been ~here~ ... held to her purpose, and has departed to the other -side of the world. She must be held firmly to her purpose.” - -Knowing Mary K.’s steadfastness in all things, I said that this was -absurd. - -“She will be ~pursued~ ... ~bett~ ... forced to strong pleading to be -allowed to do the rest of the letters. She should be having a following -of our forces. She has been detained for a long time. Matthew Alden ... -is having a battle.... Matthew has been defeated and ... M. A.... Matthew -is de ... det ...” - -Bewildered and irritated, I demanded: “What does this mean?” - -“Means that the ~powers~ ... forces of ~de~ ... construction are -defeated. We have been beaten.” - -“I don’t believe that for a minute,” I said. “Or do you mean the military -forces? Is Germany winning a battle to-day?” - -“No, that is the least of it.” - -“Are you trying to tell me that Germany will win?” - -“Yes, we are defeated. Her forces have reassembled, and have helped her -slaughter ours.” Again I said I did not believe it. “M. A.... Matthew is -doing his best.” - -“You said he was defeated.” - -“He lost a fight.” - -“If you are Mary K.’s substitute, why doesn’t she come to the rescue?” I -asked. - -“She didn’t. She believes Matthew held out.... Message from Mary K. -Margaret, I do.... I do fight for you.” I asked if Mary K. were writing. -“No. Go to high forces for help. Only be forceful for us first. Mary K. -will do her best for forces of light and progress. Matthew is better and -danger is passing. ~M. A.~” I demanded Mary K. “Not this time. All the -forces have gathered.... She ~should~ ... said be forceful.” - -Saying that the whole thing seemed absurd, I asked whether it had to do -with Germany and the war, or with the book and me—provided it had to do -with anything, which I began to question. - -“It is the ~flander~ ... it is the ~battle~ ... book, not the ~godse~ ... -god sent war.” - -Amazed, I questioned: “Is God-sent war right?” - -After some delay—when one of the numerous blanks occurred, all force -being withdrawn from the pencil—the impression of tumult instantly -ceased, leaving a sense of sudden quiet and peace. Then—“Mary K. Mary K. -Mary K.” - -“That feels like Mary K.,” I said. - -“It means Mary K., too.” - -“What did all that mean?” - -“Meant that the forces of disintegration have had control of you for -days, at moments. Matthew was a force for fear.” - -When I asked whether she had been away she wrote quickly: “No, not -for one instant. He held me back, and called to your fear in accents -of truth.... We have the forces all about us, and sometimes we are -overpowered and compelled to let them through temporarily, but they can -always be fought away in time.” - -Brisk circles of affirmation followed my suggestion that possibly this -explained the Farrow episode, and she made the statement previously -quoted: “We had a terrific struggle for you then. We told you the truth, -but the other forces controlled the pencil.” - -Weeks afterward, I asked her to explain more fully this dual control, and -her reply seems to me singularly illuminating. - -“The connection with the pencil has no influence on your consciousness. -We may control the consciousness, through purpose and its unity, even -though other forces control the material instrument.” - -This seems not only to show why these messages are written sometimes -with and sometimes without the messenger’s previous knowledge of their -content, but also to offer a possible explanation of phenomena of a much -wider range. - -To my great surprise, Mary Kendal announced herself a day or two after -this, having preceded Mansfield, she said, because I was “fairly -beleaguered by the enemy” in an attempt to prevent the publication of the -message. - -In spite of this reinforcement, however, M. A. persisted in attempts to -engage my attention. On one occasion, he invited me to “try a little -change” and talk to him. On another, he asked me to let him write, as he -had “a long story to tell” about my husband, who was out of town. Again, -he assured me that I had disappointed “them,” that “they” felt that I -had failed as a messenger, and that Mary K. had departed permanently. -Still again, when confusion seemed to have overtaken the book project, he -declared, quite frankly: “We have stopped you now. M. A.” - -No longer troubled by these intrusions, however, I never permitted him -to use the pencil after his identity had been discovered. Occasionally -I was deceived for a moment, and not infrequently it was his failure to -complete a sentence or a word that betrayed him. - -“He defeats himself by his fear, like all cowards,” Mary K. said, one -day, and when I mentioned that his messages lacked continuity, she -returned: “No coward is consecutive. How could he be?” - -These were by no means the last of the encounters with Matthew. Mr. -Kendal arrived on the 7th of May, and a night or two later, when several -of those interested in these communications were together, M. A. made -his appearance again. For some time his initials followed every attempt -to establish communication with our invisible friends, but eventually we -obtained Mary Kendal’s clear signature, and a message, slowly written, -with frequent pauses, during which the personality striving to oppose her -was gradually overcome. M. A.’s erratic touch was occasionally evident, -lessening in strength as Mary’s steady, gentle control increased. - -“Come on,” she said, finally. “We are ready for a little fun now, and -we will leave the more serious matters until we have more truly a clear -field.” - -Accordingly, we abandoned our intended inquiry, for the moment, resorting -to persiflage, in which she took an active part, writing with increased -fluency. - -“Laughter is a constructive force, children,” she told us, when things -were going smoothly again. “Remember that when you fight fiends.... If we -keep our touch close, and laugh like that, with real mirth, they can’t -get in.” - -Later that evening, Anne Lowe came for a moment, just to tell us, she -said, that we had made a step in learning what laughter that is from the -heart will do. “It is protective, constructive, curative, and the devil -for devils. They can’t get over, or around, or through it. That’s your -best weapon and your best protection, aside from fundamental purposes. -Use it, and more power to your—what is it you laugh with? Diaphragm, or -what?” - -The next night, when conditions were normal from the first, we asked Mary -Kendal about this incident, and she said: “It was just a massed attack, -which will occur from time to time. They will fight as long as they -exist, but the virulence and violence of their present efforts is due to -our united attack on them.” - -An interesting and illuminating variation of these occasional sorties -occurred during an interview between a man of whose personal relations -and interests I have only the most casual knowledge, and a personality on -the next plane whom I knew not at all. - -The first messages to him, as to most of the others, concerned purpose -and its unity. Apparently not convinced of the authenticity of their -source, he repeatedly asked for an intimate, characteristic, personal -message. Not receiving it, he asked a question relating to an entirely -imaginary situation—“just to see,” as he afterward explained. - -The question was answered in detail, immediately followed by the -statement, “Phil fears too much.” - -Suspecting interference, from the peculiar movement of the pencil, I -asked him who Phil was, and when he replied that he knew no such person, -I demanded to know who was writing. - -“M. A.” This signature was not complete, but the reply to a question -in this connection, purporting to come from Mary K., was followed by -a vigorous repetition of M. A.’s initials, inclosed in two reversed -circles—his characteristic signature when in full control of the pencil. - -My visitor then admitted that he had asked a fictitious question, -but attempts to learn who had answered it resulted in contradictory -assertions from various sources, and knowing the difficulty of -re-establishing a connection once effectually broken, I refused to -continue the interview. - -“The integrity of the seeker,” Mary K. said, the next day, “is the -messenger’s only protection from disintegrating force during an -interview. These forces should be persistently repelled, not invited. -Ignorance of their presence and power frequently opens a way for them, -as in this instance. Absolute sincerity and candor are essential to -the maintenance of a connection with constructive forces, in these -interviews.” - -“Forces of disintegration do not wait to be invited,” she asserted, -on another occasion. “They constantly attack, and seize the first -opportunity to take possession. We, also, watch and call, and enter where -we can. But the idea of original sin is so strongly implanted in the -minds of most men, that an assumption that disintegrating force can only -enter where it is invited is inevitable. It must be clearly understood -that attack by forces of disintegration does not imply weakness, or fear, -or sinful desire. It implies only a desire on the part of the attacking -force to destroy. That there are individuals given to disintegration is -another matter. Those most desirous of construction and progress are more -often attacked by persistent, massed forces of destructive purpose. To be -conscious of this is to be protected, to some degree. For that reason, we -urge the publication of these truths, that the struggle may no longer be -waged in ignorance and doubt and confusion.” - -“Does ‘massed forces of destructive purpose’ imply some combination, or -co-operation, or co-ordination, among disintegrating forces?” Mary K. was -asked, at another time. - -“Yes, they combine every appealing force, as we do. One man may answer -to doubt, fear, cupidity, and envy. Another to malice, doubt, and lust. -Any forces that can reach him mass themselves in attack and call on their -purposes in him to respond.” - -“Then there must be a considerable degree of intelligence among them. You -said they would become constructive when intelligent.” - -“When intelligent enough. I never meant to imply that the purposes and -forces of destruction are unintelligent. They are not fully intelligent. -They are not balanced, not fully animated. All forces of construction -comprehend destruction. No forces of destruction comprehend construction. -They are intelligent and wily in destruction, but fail to apprehend its -futility.” - -“Are they what we on this plane call uneducated, unlearned, ignorant in -that sense?” - -“They are sometimes found on your plane among the highly educated, -learned, and powerful. Here we regard them as undeveloped forces, to be -fought unceasingly until they consent to become constructive.” - -“You don’t call that coercing your brother, do you?” I asked. - -“No, we do not compel them to construct, if they would destroy by -preference. We oppose them until they perceive that they must fail, and -seek light. Then we accept them, instruct them, and are stronger.... -The forces opposing us have no faith, hence no knowledge of a future. -They dread destruction, fear the end of existence, deny a future, and -constantly seek to destroy the inevitable.” - -In this connection, Mr. Kendal once asked Mary: “What do the evil forces -think they’re trying to do? Have they lost the great primary idea? Was -there a great primary idea? Or are they just bandar-logging it around -in a chaotic forest of spiritual upas-trees, screaming at anything they -happen to see?” - -“There was no great primary idea of destruction,” she returned. “A lot of -idle force gathered together, and finding itself behind the procession -in strength, radiance, and beauty, began envying and coveting and -backbiting, and from that to destruction is a logical and inevitable -progression. Why is anybody among you envious, or malicious, or cowardly, -or destructive? There is no great idea behind it. They see they are -behind somebody else in something, and instead of developing what -constructive power they have of their own, they, hate the person who has -more and try to destroy him, or his reputation, or his property. There -you have concrete examples of all the idea there is in destructive -purpose. It’s spiritual unintelligence.” - -“Why did they quit Germany?” he asked, then. “Isn’t the apotheosis of -such personal and deterrent and soul-driving and dominating purposes just -their caliber?” - -“They see the forces of progress gathering among you, and know that -they cannot win through Germany. She still follows their methods, but -without their help, while every vibration of progressive and co-operative -purpose among you enables us to help you more. So they have left her to -the fruits of their union, the consequence inevitable, and hatch fresh -mischief themselves.” - - - - -XI - - -On the evening of his arrival, May 7th, Mr. Kendal asked his wife whether -she could stay with us during his visit to New York, and she replied -that she would outstay him, unless the forces attacking me were defeated -before his departure. - -“It really helps, then, for us to get together here,” he inferred. - -“Yes, indeed, it helps. All combination of force adds by the sum of its -participation to the original amount of force combined.” - -Taken in conjunction with other, similar assertions in this -connection—“Its force is freed and multiplied by the sum of your -participation”; “For every vibration of pure constructive purpose among -the Allied forces, we have added two”; “Force united is more powerful by -half than similar forces separately striving”; etc.—it seems probable -that these expressions were intended as figures of speech, emphasizing -the increased potency of united purpose on our plane and the ability of -the free forces to reinforce it in proportion to its actual vitality, -rather than as mathematical statements of the exact degree to which this -reinforcement and co-operation may be carried. - -Mentioning that sometimes they seemed to make a distinction between -purpose and force, and again to use the terms interchangeably, Mr. Kendal -said he would like to know the character of each. “Is purpose like the -direction of an electric current, and force like amperage and voltage?” -he asked. “Or is purpose the road, and force the velocity in following -it? Is purpose qualitative, and force quantitative? Is the distinction -between them along some of these lines?” - -“It is along all those lines,” was the reply. “Purpose is the force that -draws. Force is the purpose that pushes.” - -Like various others to whom these messages first came through me, -Mr. Kendal had been trying, with some success, to obtain direct -communication. Mary facetiously described his pencil as “a good burro,” -and mine as “a real hawse.” I had thought this dialecticism differently -spelled, but he reminded me that “hoss” belonged to New England, and -“hawse” to Mary’s native state, Kentucky. - -While the pencil-point rested idly on the paper, we talked about the -sensations accompanying its movement, and about the probable direction -of the force propelling it. To him, the impulse seemed to come first -and chiefly through the consciousness; to me, it seemed a physical -force externally applied to the pencil, notwithstanding occasional -consciousness of what the message would be; but we were agreed that it -was difficult, at first, to be sure that the impulse was not in some -unrecognized way our own. - -“It has been amusing to us to see you two struggle against our psychical -intrusions,” Mary remarked, at this point. “We do push the pencil. We -also reach the mind. Sometimes the one, sometimes the other, is what does -the trick. It is easier for us to impress the mind, but harder for you to -recognize that suggestion as ours. You think it’s your own, and fight. -Margaret is even more resistant than Manzie—perhaps because she has more -responsibility to other people.” - -“Are present conditions—the gathering of the clans for the coming -struggle—going to enable many people to do this, who have never done it -before and otherwise would have been unable to do it?” he asked. - -“Yes; but the danger of that is that the other forces will find their own -channels, and steal and defile some of ours. So we can’t advise people -to experiment, unless they can absolutely identify the force here, and -only a few, comparatively, can do that.” - -He said that he had hesitated to ask questions of his own pencil, being -unwilling to go too far in this until he had checked it up through me. - -“He’s scairt,” she teased, before he had fairly started to speak. “You -don’t trust yourself or me.” - -Laughing, he retorted: “That’s another!” - -“You are right to be careful,” she went on, serious again. “It’s a -dangerous adventure, unless you keep your balance, follow your own -purpose, keep close tab on the force handling the pencil, and lean on it -only spiritually. The minute advice in material things is sought, that -minute there is danger.” - -“There’s no danger that anybody can impersonate you and fool me,” he -declared. - -“Never! The danger is that somebody might lie to you about me; or if -you cease to stand on your own feet and make your own choice in matters -of your plane, only then somebody might impersonate me for a moment. -Sometimes I can tell you those things, but the habit of depending on them -is bad for you.” - -A night or two later, beginning with a reply to a question concerning -another subject, she returned to the discussion of the force used in -conveying these communications—“a force compared to which electricity -is like spring water,” she said—declaring, like Frederick, that its -explanation is still impossible in terms of our plane. - -“There is a vital and potent force, not yet isolated—and hardly -discovered—by your most advanced scientists,” she told us. “It has -characteristics and attractions not explainable until its discovery and -analysis give rise to a new set of words. There is no adequate comparison -that may be used to indicate its force, or the conditions and degrees -of its variations. It has some resemblance to electricity, yet the -comparison in certain cases would be misleading.” - -“I am talking about the force we use in moving this pencil, and to some -extent in affecting your thought,” she continued, when Mr. Kendal had -mentioned certain recent scientific experiments of which he had read. -“The scientists have long associated the power of thought with the brain, -and have seriously argued that, as we could not be seen, measured, -weighed, or condensed, we did not exist. We do. And we have a force at -our command that cannot be explained, as yet. It can only occasionally -be demonstrated as clearly as this. Electricity is the most likely to -impress the man in the street as a comparison, but to argue from that as -a premise would lead to misconception. At present, it must be accepted as -a recognized but not understood force, only dimly perceived, as for years -electricity was.” - -“Does it help, if we emphasize what we know of static electricity, as -well as thinking of the comparison in terms of electric current? A static -force in your plane, perhaps?” - -“Yes, that helps; but the static force is in your plane, quite as much -as here. We have more knowledge of the current, to continue the simile, -but encounter static conditions both here and there, as well as counter -currents here.” - -This would seem to offer reasons—in addition to David Bruce’s explanation -of the difficulties of translation when the messenger’s reaction to -certain word-symbols fails—for occasional delays in the transmission of -these communications. - -“Margaret hasn’t tried us yet with an antagonistic force on your plane,” -she said, on another occasion. “We don’t do it this way when the forces -there are not harmonious.” - -“Is your forward sight much greater than ours?” her husband asked. “Or is -it, in relation to other planes, about what ours is in regard to yours?” - -“We can see the end as you have not even dreamed it yet, but our detailed -knowledge is limited to two or three planes beyond ours. Even here, -development is uneven, and some of us see farther than others. We are -far from omniscient or omnipotent. We have advanced beyond you, our -individual purposes are clear where yours are confused, we know where we -are bound and why, we see much farther ahead than you can, and we work -in three planes—yours as teachers, ours as laborers, and the next as -students.” - -Referring to the statements about Russia, of which we had told him, -he asked whether there were the same relative differences of opinion -and judgment among them as among us, as to psychological policies to -be pursued for the Great Purpose, and as to the applications of those -policies on this plane. - -“There are some differences of perception. Light, for example, sees -shadow and desires to dispel it. Truth sees error and wishes to correct -it. But, broadly speaking, the opinions are the same. The impediments -in the path of progress are many. Each purpose deals with its own; -Light with darkness, Truth with error, and so on. Each may work in the -same field, even in the same individual, but here we work for the same -ultimate purpose. We do not disagree. Each follows his own work, and -recognizes the other’s field.” - -“We have a united policy,” she said, at another time, “but each our -individual application of it in personal relations and messages like -these. It is all intended to enlighten and inspire you, but only in -certain fundamental and specific matters are we instructed what to say.” - -“Can you determine time there, by other than the memory of it here and by -close inspection?” was another question. - -“We have no time here, in your sense. We watch you, and remember, but we -lose track of you, sometimes.” - -Mr. Kendal then said—explaining his phrase, “close inspection”—that he -thought they saw time dimly, as we see through water or through fog. - -“Is memory with you as acute as answers to some of these questions seem -to indicate?” one of us inquired. - -“Not of material things, generally. We don’t pay much attention to them, -unless they interfere with purpose. Just now they are interfering a good -deal—or were, before the war, which is itself a material manifestation -of purpose.” We said that we should have thought this interference in -full force still, and she continued: “The real interference, from our -point of view, came before the war, when the world outside of Germany -was too much occupied in pursuit of material things to see what was -happening. They failed even to see Germany’s intention. Much less did -they discover their own danger, of which Germany’s purpose, materially, -was the least. The war woke them up by degrees, fortunately, or there -would be no use telling them this.” - -A question concerning the possibility of communicating with a person -recently departed from this plane, was met with the statement that he had -“free communion” still to learn. This expression had been used several -times by others, and now I asked: “Mary, what is free communion?” - -“You don’t think we vocalize our talk, do you?” - -Mansfield suggested that when a man found himself suddenly without his -material veil, he must be at a loss how to proceed, and asked whether -that was what she meant. - -“Not entirely. The veil isn’t missed particularly, but there is a ... -a....” - -“Difference of medium?” he asked. “Like a water-color artist who can’t -paint in oil?” - -“That’s it.” - -“Referring to your assertion in March that truth is absolute,” he said, -“is not truth itself relative on this plane? Truth as a statement of -eternal law is absolute, but when applied to concrete facts and ideas, it -changes from time to time? That is, a concrete statement which expressed -the relations of certain mundane conditions to the eternal verities in -B.C. 1000, would not necessarily be a correct statement of the relations -of corresponding conditions to those verities in the year 1900 A.D.” - -“That is the idea on which this whole revelation is based,” she returned. -“These things have always been true. They would not have sounded true in -the year one, any more than a lot of the ‘truths’ of that day are true -now.” - -A night or two after this, he said he would like more light on the -practical application of these principles, especially those in relation -to freedom. “How, for instance, would you go about helping a school?” he -asked. “Take, as concrete examples, a University like ——, its Faculty -held in subjection by hidebound trustees, and the proposed People’s -University, to be governed from day to day by plebiscite or referendum, -with no defined policy for procedure beyond a general idea of freedom. -‘You may lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.’ Should -the construction of the trough be left to chance, or should it be planned -carefully? In other words, should mundane provision and prevision be -employed in building it?” - -“It has been said already that men must first learn to think, and -to govern themselves, before they can be free.” It was Mary K. who -answered. “If experience were not taken into consideration, progress -would be impossible. Mundane prevision and provision is essential to all -constructive activity on your plane. Opinions will differ as to ways and -means of applying principles of progress. The first way to help a school -is to establish unity among the teachers. Not only unity of purpose, but -a certain large unity of method, that one may not tear down what his -brother builds. Ideals of freedom have been confused by men resenting -the first law of freedom—discipline. Lack of discipline, carried to its -logical conclusion, would return the world to chaos. The school that is -free in its teaching must be carried on by disciplined teachers, united -in a purpose of progress clearly recognized and agreed upon, to teach -discipline that the minds of men may dare to be free.” - -“The idea underlying that, I take it, is that as the athlete whose body -is thoroughly trained and co-ordinated dares to jump an abyss, without -fear of falling, so the man whose mind and spirit are disciplined can -jump an intellectual abyss, without losing balance or sanity.” - -“Yes. And as a man trained to carry great weights on his shoulders must -be trained to it from youth, so the man who would carry government and -freedom of thought must train his mind to carry its weight—not alone to -hold it briefly, but to carry it on.” - -“Is it true, then,” he asked, “that safe freedom and constructive freedom -are only possible after prior discipline and self-control?” - -“How can undisciplined freedom be safe or constructive? It makes the -wilderness. It makes the jungle. It makes the uncharted and devouring -sea.” - - - - -XII - - -One day, about the middle of May, discussing these manifestations over a -luncheon table, a man who described himself as “a sympathetic agnostic” -mentioned that while all those on the next plane reported that they were -busy, none to his knowledge had told just what they were doing. - -At that time, we had received several statements concerning their -activities. Frederick had spoken of his efforts in connection with “a -pro-German newspaper editor.” Maynard Holt’s mother had told us that -she worked “with undeveloped purposes, here before their time.” It had -been said of a famous editor: “He is for Justice.... He is one of the -forces determining the grouping of the newly arrived.” Anne Lowe had -said: “I handle children. Some of them thought they were grown up when -they left you.” And the work of the healers, in receiving and soothing -“war-stricken forces,” had been repeatedly mentioned. - -However, with the comment of the “sympathetic agnostic” in mind, we -asked Mary Kendal, apropos of some allusion to the healers on her plane, -whether she could tell us of their work in detail. - -“You have already seen that our ability to be specific, even about -things here, is dependent on your ability to understand conditions of -our plane,” she reminded us. “As fast as we can, we give it to you. But -as well explain the operation of wireless telegraphy to an illiterate -‘cracker,’ as to try to explain healing, as we understand and practise -it, to the person unprepared by thought and study of these truths.” - -The next day, in another city, Frederick, writing through a member of his -family, said that he had been doing some work in developing some spirits -who had “let their lowest tendencies be their guiding force.” - -“They were men who were very unhappy, because they had left the world -before they were ready, and did not know what this life meant,” he said. - -“Had they recently gone over?” he was asked. - -“Yes, not very long on this side. They were so bewildered that they -thought they were in some kind of dream that they could not wake from. -They had been sick, but not long enough to let them get any idea of -death, or light after death, so they were sorry to come over.” - -“Do they call you teacher?” - -“No, just a friend.” - -Replying to a question about a specific activity on this plane, he said: -“I can tell you that a lot of those things that seem bewildering are not -important enough to be doing what we call work here.” - -“What do you call work?” - -“Conscious development of spiritual forces.” - -A month later, a question about a woman known here as a sculptor brought -the following reply from David Bruce. - -“She is working with a development of the purpose of production, which is -the foundation that underlay her work there. She is producing force by -developing the undeveloped producers.” - -Probably the most specific information yet received by any of our small -group concerning the practical application of these principles to the -affairs of our plane, came through Maynard Holt. - -“My work lies principally with business men on your plane,” he said, -one day, to a family connection. “We are much concerned about the lack -of co-operation among persons of constructive tendencies, and my own -job is to apply this force we cannot fully explain to you, in any way -that will influence men or women toward co-operation. Sometimes we use -it to suggest a new idea. Sometimes we use it to so direct apparently -consequential circumstances and events that the person we wish to -influence gets an object lesson.” - -In support of this is a statement of his made in April. While writing a -long message, most of which was intimately personal, he indicated his -interest in business conditions, and urged a greater and more far-seeing -co-operation among business men. In the midst of a sentence the pencil -stopped, creating a long delay. Failing, after repeated efforts, to -transmit the word he had attempted, he drew a series of singularly -uniform arches across the whole width of the paper. - -After puzzling over it a moment, I drew a line above the arches, and -said, perceiving no significance in the symbol: “That looks like a -viaduct.” - -“That’s what I mean,” he resumed, vigorously, and proceeded with an -elaboration of his theme, comparing co-operation to a viaduct. - -“In the end, the forces for progress will cross to all lands by that -viaduct,” he continued, “and those who balk and refuse it will be -diverted and delayed by following old paths through the tortuous chasm -of competitive destruction. Not that we discourage competition. The -individual organization, like the individual man, must follow its purpose -and develop its force, but ... competition at its best is entirely -friendly and constructive. Boys have it taught them in the simplest -form in college sports. There it is personal, but co-operative in the -development of college spirit. Each man does his best for himself and -his own record, but loyally and cheerfully supports against opposing -forces the more successful man who is of his own group. With increasing -responsibilities, temptations and difficulties increase, but experience -should bring ability to meet them. The code of school and college forces -may be developed and applied to business and productive forces. This is -the first application of college training to competitive business.” - -Afterward, when Mr. Kendal had expressed his cordial sympathy with the -theory of co-operation, widely applied, Maynard said: “That’s where the -college team has won and the union has failed. The union was good in -conception, but has made for the suppression of individual development, -where the college team encourages it.” - -Later still, following a conversation concerning national economics and -international commerce after the war, he said: - -“Co-operation is moral. Commercial supremacy is material. Material -success is constructive only if permanent, and permanent only if -constructive. Until co-operation for permanent progress becomes a -principle of international as well as national purpose, there will be -little actual progress toward permanent peace, or lasting prosperity. - -“As the college boy works first for his own power, but most for his team, -and first, last and all the time for clean athletics, so the business man -should work first for his unit, definitely for his country’s welfare, but -first, last and always for clean co-operation with all who make for the -world’s progress. - -“The exponents of national supremacy at the expense of world progress are -exactly in the position of the exponents of personal prosperity at the -expense of national welfare. The situations are analogous to a degree as -yet comprehended by few men. - -“It took many years to convince the manufacturer that increased -production would follow shorter hours and improved working conditions. It -took many years to convince merchants that decreased cost and increased -profit followed combination of forces. It took some time to convince -financiers and manufacturers that success, not failure, would follow the -co-operation of competing concerns in the foreign field. Yet it is now -recognized that all these things are true and practicable. No less—even -more—is it practicable to unite world forces of progress in commerce as -they are united now in war, the fight at all times being for construction -and development, against destruction and regression. - -“This cannot be done in a day or a year, but this is the goal toward -which enlightened forces should move. It may sound Utopian now. So did -model factories and tenements, a few years ago. Their advocates were -scoffed at and discredited. Now, the manufacturer who fails to provide -healthful working conditions for his operatives is called short-sighted -and pig-headed, and cheats himself twice, while cheating his employees -once. - -“Co-operation is the basic principle of all progress, and the point at -which it stops is the measure of strength of man or nation. The nation -that refuses to co-operate for progress is a nation confessing itself -deterrent.” - -Again, in June, Maynard returned to this subject, saying that men must -become “strong enough to let the other fellow live and prosper, without -fearing him.” After mentioning “fear of what may come, or lust for what -may be seized,” as motives making for destruction, he added: “Neither is -constructive or progressive, and neither can win in the end.” - -“We have purpose to progress beyond the vision of man,” he went on, -“but even material progress, to be constructive and permanent, must be -governed by a vision beyond the day. We are trying to extend that vision. - -“Co-operation in individual enterprise has succeeded. Co-operation -in national enterprise would succeed no less. More and more, men are -recognizing the value of united effort in commercial enterprise, however -long it took the truth to dawn. Must other centuries pass, other wars be -fought, other dynasties rise and fall, before the larger truth ushers in -a new day? Will co-operation in business, co-operation in war, teach them -to study and practise co-operation in world welfare and progress? Will -they learn that it is not only in war that a weakened Belgium means an -endangered England, that a hungry France means short rations in America, -that a link weakened means the chain weak? - -“How many times must this premise be demonstrated before the argument is -carried to its logical conclusion, and national co-operation, free and -voluntary, provide for the good of one by protecting and developing all? - -“This is not a Utopian fantasy. It is common sense.” - - - - -XIII - - -Talking about the Lessons one day, Mr. Kendal mentioned his impression -that Zoroaster had said something approaching the first one in theory, -and then asked, a whimsical gleam in his eye: “Mary, has Professor James -said anything about Zoroaster in this connection?” - -“Manzie, Mr. James has no philosophical library here to refer to,” was -the prompt retort. She told us, however, that he would soon come himself -to talk to this former pupil of his, adding a characteristic glint of -humor in the assurance that he would then give “a demonstration of a -philosopher simplified to a force.” - -A night or two afterward (May 13th), she announced: “Manzie, here is Mr. -James.” - -There was a brief delay, and when the pencil moved again, it was with a -changed application of force and a new movement, the first words being -personal. Referring to an early period in his own investigation of -psychic phenomena, he said: - -“Youth, in its nearness to inspiration, sometimes sees more clearly than -age, with its academic dependence upon theory and precedent and what men -call the wisdom of experience. When this wisdom is based on perception, -conscious or otherwise, of eternal purpose, it transcends the vision of -youth. But when it is based on perception of physical phenomena and the -accumulated theories of other men, youth has an inspiration and a faith -that leads it, all unknowing, to the brink of great mysteries.” This -was followed by an allusion to those “befogged in precedent, physical -phenomena, and intellectual theory,” who were “unable to follow where -they should have led.” - -“There has seemed to be a good deal of genuine feeling underlying the -humorous persiflage through the pencil about the scientific state of -mind,” Mr. Kendal suggested. “Hasn’t the time come when we can reach the -scientific type of mind? And isn’t it worth while to do so? And if so, -what is the best psychological line of attack?” - -“The scientist is not by any means hopeless, but like many men in -your plane, he is overbalanced and therefore unbalanced by physical -considerations. Physical phenomena are of vital importance in your life, -and their study and analysis has led to a degree of material progress -which would have been incredible to the third—and all but incredible to -the second—generation back. It is only because scientists have persisted -in the study of physical phenomena that you are enabled to understand in -some part what is now being given you. The misapprehension has been that -physical phenomena alone could be recognized. Those who have believed -that have denied the existence of the greatest and most persistent of all -forces. Attempts to explain spiritual phenomena by physical formulæ have -been found unsuccessful by every one save those who took refuge in denial -of the thing that moved them to deny, the eternal and indestructible -purpose. - -“When to their laboratories scientists bring perception of spiritual -phenomena exceeding any material manifestation known to man in strength -and significance, then they may hope to discover and develop a force -beside which all known forces are insignificant. Science is the ladder -by which life may quickly ascend, but until science recognizes a -spiritual force as the one essential force, of which all other forces are -incidental phenomena, progress must be limited.” - -“Then, generally speaking,” Mr. Kendal said, “perhaps the most effective -appeal to scientists would be the appeal to scientific ambition.” - -“Always the most effective means to win any man to anything is to appeal -to his purpose. If it be personal, appeal to his vanity. If it be -progressive, appeal to his eagerness. If it be intellectual, pique his -curiosity. Scientists, like others, are divided in purpose.” - -“We have been much interested in the decisive definiteness with which -our friends on that plane have been able to classify the purposes of -persons here,” Mr. Kendal mentioned. “Is this as clear to you as physical -characteristics are to us, and as quickly determined?” - -“Yes, and in much the same way. We see motive and intention and their -variations as you see physical appearance, vitality and its variations. -We see disintegrating moral factors more clearly than you see physical -ills. We judge of purpose by its vitality and persistence under strain, -precisely as you judge of physical health by its vitality under strain -and by its persistence in spite of occasional disease.” - -“Then you see disintegrating force as the scientist sees germs?” Cass -inquired. “As disease?” - -“No, we see them as foes. I speak here only of the way we judge purpose. -There is no diseased purpose. There may be struggle between more or less -intelligent forces, but in using the simile of physical health, I did it -in a limited sense.” - -“Is there an inherent reason for the different types of philosophies?” -Mr. Kendal now questioned. “That is, the Nirvana-oblivion type in -the Orient, as contrasted with the hell-fire-and-brimstone type in -the Occident. If inherent, is its cause geographical, intellectual, -biological, or what?” - -“A little of all of them. Philosophies are the outgrowth of conditions, -physical, moral and geographical—and therefore to some extent -biological—to a much greater degree than is generally recognized. It has -been said that food makes the man. To a greater degree, environment makes -the philosopher.” - -“May we publish this as coming from you?” - -“Certainly. I am here for that purpose.... Light and Progress are my -purposes, and teaching still my work.” - -After a few lines of purely personal significance, this was signed: -“William James.” - - - - -XIV - - -Of the messages that may be quoted, there remain only a few detached -statements, removed from their personal context, but reproduced because -of their general interest or significance. - -“Don’t worry about C——” was one bit of specific advice, given in March, -before any of the Lessons had been received. “She will have her troubles, -but she must dree her own weird. You might save her some pain, but life’s -purpose may not be taught. It must be fought for, with blood and sweat. -Let C—— get her wounds in her own way. You may then soothe the pain. -But don’t try to spare her the fight. That has to do with the larger -questions of life and eternity.” - -“‘Life’s purpose may not be taught,’ but the laws underlying the search -for it may be?” - -“Of course. We are trying now to wake the world to consciousness that -these laws exist. Most people, broadly speaking, have forgotten them, in -the general contempt for laws where they are not enforced, and in the -general hatred of them where they are enforced in oppression and fear.” - -A few days later, another person, writing of another and much younger -girl, said: “She may have a hard time over the conflicting purposes. -Everybody does. But with you to give her a foundation, I do not fear for -her.... Her struggles will only make her stronger. Do not try to save her -from pain. Remember that it is her mother who says this. Let her meet -life fully and work her way upward. She will always yield in the end to -the sublime purpose.” - -On a later occasion, this same person said: “We help all we can, but even -when you want us to, we are unwilling to hold back the larger and vital -development in order to hasten some smaller conclusion. Even when the -small conclusion is important to you, it must be your own choice that -helps you; and if the choice is wrong at the moment, it still helps in -the end.” - -“She’s too sympathetic for her own good,” was said of another young -woman. “She’d do the vicarious atonement act for all creation, if she -could. What she needs is to have this purpose business driven into her. -Every fellow has to do his own fighting, and his own atonement, and -his own climbing, and take what’s coming to him while he does it. She’s -always trying to soften the path and take the swipes herself, and it -can’t be done. She gets the blow and the strain and the struggle, all -right, but it impedes her and gets the other fellow nowhere. It helps -nobody to save them the consequences of their own choice. The way to help -is to call to their constructive purpose and give them a chance. If they -choose not to take it, then let them take all the consequence that’s -coming. If that doesn’t teach them, there’s nothing more to do, except -to turn them over to somebody who can arouse their purpose, if they have -any. Anyhow, making a buffer of yourself just batters up good material -for no gain in force or purpose.” - -Again, another person to another group. “Let any fighting force do his -own fighting. Suggest, enlighten, encourage, but don’t try to carry the -burden of another’s life. You can’t hurry their development, and you -impede your own and that of others of your own purpose.... You are like -the fellow in the fable, who finished by carrying not only the pack, but -the donkey, too. It’s a very sweet and unselfish disposition, but do -you think it improves the donkey for his station in life? Not that I’m -calling S—— a donkey, but like all mankind, he carries a pack. You can’t -carry both, and he won’t learn to apply his force evenly here if you do -it for him there. Lots of people develop unevenly and have to even up -somewhere. Why delay the process by vicarious labor, especially when it -only exhausts you and doesn’t develop his muscles any? Selah!” - -“You can train O—— to carry physical temptations, if you begin early,” -a man said, writing of his nephew. “Don’t let him yield to impulse or -desire when it is destructive. Make him build his body first, as a boy. -Make him respect it and its promise. That’s a bully thing for a boy to -know at the beginning. He reasons from that to other things. A boy is a -brute first, but a thinking brute. If he respects the flesh, he respects -all things in time.” - -“What is my purpose?” a young man asked, one day. - -“Building. You are going to be ‘him that hath.’ Build with your -possessions. Begin the foundation now. Build.... Build as a producer, or -as a healer, or in any way that makes for progress, keeps you growing, -develops forces for construction, and gives the other fellows a chance to -do their best also.... Not for yourself alone, but for all who may climb -by your ladder of opportunity.” - -Maynard Holt, writing to a friend here, spoke of him as a good fighter, -and when this person said that he would not have been able to fight -at all, but for the little hand of a lady on the next plane, Maynard -returned: “I know you fought hard, though in darkness, before you found -that hand. That’s one reason we count on you now. A man who will fight -continuously in darkness is a ... a ...” The pencil paused, and after -futile efforts to proceed, retraced its path, apparently to cross out -again and again the last letter. We were talking and paid no attention to -its movement, but when it ceased again, we discovered that Maynard had -drawn a five-pointed star. Then he proceeded: “... luminary of force -himself, when light breaks.” - -There were many interesting characterizations, both of persons on this -plane and of those on the next. - -“E—— is a fine force, but A—— is a force multiplied and refined to -power,” was said of one couple. - -A striking example of the determination of our “fantom friends” to convey -their meaning despite obstacles, was indicated when some one had told me, -during an interview, of a boy’s objection to his mother’s activity in one -of the recent “drives” connected with war work, on the ground that it -“made her conspicuous.” - -“M—— is an entirely tra ... trem ... tr ... normal and tra ... tremulous -youth, where his mother and sister are concerned,” was his father’s -humorous comment. - -Apparently, in this case, the connection was imperfect, no intimation of -his meaning reaching me, and only by altering the form of his sentence -was he able to get it written. - -“Miss T—— has much to learn and much to suffer before a teaching based -on unity of force or purpose will reach her forcefully,” we were told, -on another occasion. “She must learn the shallows of self before she -can sound the depths of individuality, in the larger and eternal -interpretation of the word.” - -Following one of the numerous discussions of Germany and her purposes, -a question about a man of German parentage brought this reply: “B—— is -American. The national taint of docility is not in him.” - -The meaning of purpose and its application was stated many times in many -ways. One of the most characteristic of these expressions came from a -famous humorist. - -“There are things brewing here and among you there,” he said, “that are -going to make the wars of the tribes of Hohenzollern, Hapsburg and -Mephisto look like a village prayer meeting. The carnage of Verdun and -Mons and the whole show since his little nibs was assassinated is a -picayune proposition compared to the losses of time, purpose, force and -saving grace that we’re all going to feel, if we can’t wake you people up -to pull together against the devil’s crew.” - -Some one asked whether a husband and wife, not too congenial in this -life, were together there, and was told that he was “flocking with birds -of his own feather,” and that she had “peacefully and tranquilly found -her own.” Another member of this family group was with neither of the -others, it was said, “because she found her very own, for which they were -only a substitute.” - -“Have you seen Jim? Is there any feeling about his wife’s marrying -again?” was a question which will interest many persons. - -“Jim is here and very happy. He has no resentment, and wishes Alice to be -happy. They are both of the forces of progress, but not of just the same -purpose. They harmonize, but do not touch.” - -Again, some one asked whether one party to an uncongenial marriage -regretted the other’s rejoining him so soon. - -“She didn’t,” was the reply. “He hasn’t seen her yet, and won’t. He is -willing to work with her purpose, but not eager to touch her force.” - -“What about Laura?” a woman asked. - -“She is coming to us soon, but do not be afraid, dear. She will be -tenderly met and guided, and will be much nearer you all, much happier -and more helpful, than she is now. Never grieve again for death. It is -birth, and so happy.” - -Within a few weeks, this came to pass. - -When I asked Mary K. for a message for a mother bereaved by war, she -said: “Tell her we will send for her when he has grown accustomed enough -to talk to her. Tell her that he is cared for tenderly and guided, and -that she must not grieve. She hurts him and herself. Make her understand -that she can help him by knowing that he lives and loves her and is near -her, and that it is part of her work as a mother to help him in this ... -to find his purpose more quickly through her love.” - -We were afterward told that he had not yet learned the “free communion,” -but that from the moment his mother began to “lift her spirit to meet -his,” this young man’s development was hastened. - -Frequently, when telling about these revelations, I have been asked: -“What do they say about reincarnation?” - -“There is no possible reincarnation,” Mary K. said, when I referred -the question to her. “That is a dream of the Orient. The idea of -reincarnation is regressive. Not destructive, but deterrent. Not -progressive. It is born of bodily desire.” - -“Is it like the desire of old men for youth?” - -“More. It is a mask, covering material desire with spiritual semblance. -It is taught from this plane by deterrent or partly deterrent forces, -lacking free vision.” - -In another connection, but with similar meaning, David Bruce said: “Some -persons hide their love of the flesh by an exaggerated expression of -spirituality, and then think of ways of insisting on the flesh.” - -Similarly, writing through her husband’s pencil, Mary Kendal said, when -he asked her what had become of persons like Cæsar, Luther, Cobden, -Archimedes, and others in general: “There is a great difference in the -length of time people stay in this plane nearest to that of the earth, -which depends not only on the stage of development which they have -attained when they come here, but also on the character of work they -are best fitted to do. If they can be of more use in direct or indirect -contact with your plane, they stay here sometimes many years, as you -measure time; but if they are retarded in their development when they -arrive here, they have a long road to travel before they can go on to -any other plane. There is no such thing as transmigration of souls as -you understand it, but that idea is akin to what actually does happen, -in the sense that such individualities have to pass through stages of -development which are relatively inferior in status to those that they -might enter into, coming from your plane, if they had made greater -progress there, or had fought a better fight on that plane.” - -When he said that his idea in asking about specific individuals was -to get concrete instances by which to check up the general law, she -returned: “The danger in that is that your idea of what those individuals -really were is very apt to be wrong, and starting from wrong premises -you could hardly avoid reaching wrong conclusions.... Martin Luther was -a mixture of purposes. He did great work for progress in fighting the -conventions and binding tendency of ecclesiasticism in his times, but he -had personal motives which were deterrent, and which he spent a long time -in working out when he left that plane.” Of Napoleon she said: “There -have been few instances of greater prostitution of great talents and -great opportunity in history, and he paid—and is paying—the penalty, or -the consequence.” - -To the many inquiries as to how direct communication may be established -between persons here and the dear ones gone before, this message of David -Bruce’s to his wife contains the briefest and most comprehensive answer. - -She said: “I wonder what he’s going to tell me?” - -“I’m going to tell you to be calm and serene of spirit, no matter what -seems to be happening to disturb you. Most of the disturbing factors of -individual life on your plane are ephemeral—things of the moment and of -the place. Others are more important than they seem. I am not always -able to tell you about them. It delays you, instead of helping you, when -the decision is not your own. One way that I can truly help when you are -troubled is by what we can best describe as the free communion. When you -are perturbed in spirit and full of doubt, it is difficult for us to -reach you.... Open the door of spiritual force to forces here, and we -can always help. That is what we hope to establish as a recognized truth -in your life there. That a force as yet unknown to science is operating -between the planes, and can be developed and used in your life there—to -a less degree than in ours, but still with great effect. It is for this -that we work in this communion, which is more definite to you now and -less so to us. We know the limits to which material manifestation like -this is confined, and are eager to teach you gradually the freer and -fuller way.” - - - - -XV - - -“A thought that will occur to many persons is that the truths we endeavor -to teach are not entirely new. - -“Truth is fundamental and eternal. There is no new truth; there is only -new understanding and application of truth that has always existed. No -great teacher has ever told new truth. No great teacher has ever told -truth in a new way, until the older teachings had begun to lose their -hold on the minds of men. No great teacher has ever found an audience -for his new interpretation of truth, until the minds of men had groped -through darkness toward a light dimly perceived, if at all. - -“The time is ripe now for the crystallization of new application of -eternal truth. Men hunger for bread of the spirit, and thirst for the -waters of eternity. This is the answer of eternal forces to their search, -and it comes, for the first time, not through a teacher or a prophet, but -through a human instrument sensitive to a high degree to the influence -of the force that is life’s motive power. - -“There are many conditions affecting the application of that force in -these communications, that cannot now be explained; many conditions -influencing its direction, that you do not understand. Some day your -scientists will discover and prove by experiment certain laws now -unrecognized, and these days of doubt and scoffing will disappear in a -past filled with denial and discouragement of almost every discovery now -called modern and progressive. - -“Two things only we have striven for through you: to prove to a group -of intelligent persons that this force exists and may be practically -applied between your plane and ours, and to warn mankind of the nature -and eternal import of impending struggles. We have more to tell when they -are ready to listen, and upon the choice of them who hear this truth the -immediate progress of the world depends. It is a warning to unite and -prepare for combat. - -“This is the truth. Heed it. - - “MARY K.” - -_June 13, 1918._ - - -THE END - - - - -FOOTNOTES - - -[1] These names occurred to me, because these three persons left us -within a twelvemonth, about three years ago, and all were either friends -or closely identified with friends of ours. - -[2] I now believe that this was Annie Manning’s first interruption. - -[3] I had asked whether she knew any of the three persons previously -mentioned, and each time she had replied in the negative. - -[4] Her husband, Mansfield Kendal. - -[5] I have since learned that this was characteristic of him. His letters -home frequently began: “Dear Family.” - -[6] Several hours later I read Cass’s letter and telegram to his -physician, who advised me to go at once to Atlantic City. - -[7] Each of these words was written in larger script than the preceding -one. - -[8] Later developments make it seem probable that this was an attempt to -write the familiar diminutive for which his father afterward asked, and -that my “too rigid vigilance” shut out the suggestion. - -[9] Short-circuited? - -[10] In describing Frederick’s pyrotechnical “upside-down stunts” and -the later “trimmings,” the great facility with which they were executed -should have been more strongly emphasized. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Seven Purposes - An Experience in Psychic Phenomena - -Author: Margaret Cameron - -Release Date: October 2, 2019 [EBook #60406] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEVEN PURPOSES *** - - - - -Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<h1>THE SEVEN PURPOSES</h1> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="titlepage larger"><i>The</i><br /> -<span class="larger">SEVEN PURPOSES</span></p> - -<p class="center larger"><i>An Experience in<br /> -Psychic Phenomena</i></p> - -<p class="titlepage"><span class="smaller">BY</span><br /> -MARGARET CAMERON</p> - -<div class="figcenter titlepage" style="width: 275px;"> -<img src="images/staff.jpg" width="275" height="350" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="titlepage"><i>Harper & Brothers Publishers<br /> -<span class="smaller">New York and London</span></i></p> - -<p class="titlepage smaller"><span class="smcap">The Seven Purposes</span></p> - -<p class="center smaller">Copyright, 1918, by Harper & Brothers<br /> -Printed in the United States of America<br /> -Published October, 1918</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>“<i>That is what we hope to establish as a recognized truth -in your life there; that a force as yet unknown to science -is operating between the planes, and can be developed and -used in your life.</i>”</p> - -<p>“<i>A force compared to which electricity is spring water.</i>”</p> - -<p>“<i>Some day your scientists will discover and prove by -experiment certain laws now unrecognized.</i>”</p> - -<p>“<i>If you will only believe and know that I am not dead.</i>”</p> - -<p>“<i>Come, all ye who struggle and strive! Perceive once -and forever the purpose of life. Join now the forces of -construction, and bring to all men brotherhood.</i>”</p> - -<p>“<i>A great brotherhood is only possible when its component -parts are great.</i>”</p> - -<p>“<i>Forget the class and remember the man. Forget the -price and remember the pearl. Forget the labor and remember -the fruit. Forget the temple and remember God.</i>”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<h2>INTRODUCTION</h2> - -<p>Twenty-five years or more ago my attention -was attracted to the entertaining possibilities -of a planchette, and, like other young -persons, I played with one at intervals for -several years. Like others, also, I speculated -concerning the source of the remarkable statements -sometimes obtained in this way, but the -assumption that these statements were dictated -by disembodied personalities always -seemed to me rather absurd.</p> - -<p>At no time has my interest in the matter -been sufficient to lead me to read anything -describing or discussing psychic phenomena, -with the exception of an occasional magazine -article. Neither have I read philosophies to -any extent. I have been always a busy person, -taking life at first hand, without much -regard to what students have said about it. -Such faith as I have had in anything, human -or divine, has been based upon works, and, -without convincing demonstration, it has been -impossible for me to be sure that individual -life continued.</p> - -<p>After the beginning of the war, however, -when interest in the possible survival of the -individual was so suddenly and pathetically -increased, and one heard on every hand of -attempts to establish communication with those -gone before, I resolved to experiment again -with planchette; but it was not until our -friend V—— expressed a desire to try it with -me, sometime in 1917, that I really bought -one. For almost a year it lay untouched in -its box, and when finally we found opportunity -to test it we had no success. It did not move -from the spot where we placed it, and I made -no attempt to try it alone.</p> - -<p>Several weeks later, two friends, Mrs. Wylie -and Miss Gaylord, told me that they had been -making efforts, through some one near their -home, to get into touch with their brother -Frederick, with results they thought promising. -A day or two later we tried planchette -together, with some success. It moved briskly, -wrote “Frederick ... mother ... love ... -happy ...” and other detached words. It -also persisted in making little circles, perhaps -two inches in diameter, the pencil tracing the -circumference again and again. This was so -often repeated that Mrs. Wylie thought it -might be a symbol, but could obtain no satisfactory -reply to questions about it.</p> - -<p>My friends went home without renewing the -experiment, and my interest was not greatly -stimulated. It seemed quite probable that the -words written had reflected the thoughts and -desires of Frederick’s sisters, and that the -whole episode could be explained by the theory -of unconscious response by the muscles of the -hand to the prompting of the subconscious mind. -I had dismissed the matter, as far as my own -participation in it was concerned, when a letter -came from Mrs. Gaylord, saying that her daughters -had told her I had “mediumistic power,” and -suggesting that I might be able to help her.</p> - -<p>I knew that the exceeding bitterness of her -grief lay, not in the separation from her only -son, but in her inability to believe that his -identity and development continued, and that -the assurance that he had not “gone out, like -a snuffed candle,” as she afterward expressed -it, would bring her the greatest—indeed, the -only possible comfort. Therefore I replied at -once that while I had no reason to believe that -I possessed “mediumistic power” to the slightest -degree, I would make further experiments, -at the same time warning her that the attempt -would probably prove fruitless.</p> - -<p>The following pages contain a partial history -of the result. It was soon evident that -certain of these revelations were of too great -moment to be withheld from public knowledge. -In addition, while much of the more intimate -personal matter has been omitted, most of -those to whom these messages were given have -felt impelled to share, in this tragic time, the -comfort and assurance of their conviction, and -have voluntarily yielded their privacy, hoping -thereby to bring to those in sorrow an added -faith in the continuance of personality, with -all that this implies.</p> - -<p>To facilitate reference, and to avoid breaking -the sequence of the twelve impersonal -communications forming the basis of the whole -revelation, this report has been arranged in -three parts. First, the genesis and rapid development -of the individual message, brief at -first, and purely personal, but growing both -in volume and in import with each day. -Second, the Lessons. Third, additional individual -messages, no less personal in their -original application than the first, but more -impressive in their wider human appeal and -significance, illuminating and emphasizing the -meaning of the Lessons.</p> - -<p>For obvious reasons, the names and initials -used have been substituted for those of the -persons involved, with three or four exceptions.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> - -<h2>Part I</h2> - -<p>“<i>That is the eternal battle, between the purposes of -progress and building, and the purposes of disintegration. -It goes on in your life, and it goes on less bitterly in ours. -Help me build as we began, toward the great unity.</i>”</p> - -<p>“<i>This is the battle to which we call you and all who are -for progress.</i>”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span></p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span></p> - -<h3>I</h3> - -<p>My first serious attempt to establish communication -through planchette with a -person or persons in a life beyond ours was -made Sunday morning, March 3, 1918. Not so -very serious an attempt, either, for I anticipated -no success, and was not without a humorous -appreciation of my position, sitting -with my hand on a toy, inviting communication -with celestial powers. I remember laughing a -little, as I pictured the sardonic glee with which -certain of my friends would be likely to regard -such a proceeding.</p> - -<p>Perhaps this is as good a time as any to say -that I was seeking a stranger. I never saw -Frederick. When our friendship with his parents -began they lived in one city, we in another, -and he in a third and more distant one, where -he was first a reporter and later a political and -editorial writer on the staff of a leading newspaper. -I knew that he was young, successful,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> -a bachelor, and singularly devoted to his family, -as they to him. But his habits of thought and -speech had never been described to me, at first -because it was expected that we would meet, -and in the much closer intimacy of our later -acquaintance, because the pain of his loss was -so poignant that no member of the family could -speak of him with composure. I had never seen -a photograph of him, even.</p> - -<p>After perhaps twenty minutes, during which -planchette did not move, I left the paper—a -roll of blank wall-paper, called lining-paper, -which I found years ago to offer the most continuous -and satisfactory surface for use with -planchette—spread over the table, and went -into another room, intending to return later. -But I forgot it, and only when I was putting -things in order for the night did I re-enter that -room and remember my promise to Mrs. Gaylord. -I decided to make one more attempt, -that I might be able to tell her positively that -I had been unsuccessful. All other members -of the household were away—Cass at Atlantic -City, recuperating from an illness—and I was -entirely alone in the apartment.</p> - -<p>For some minutes planchette was motionless, -but almost immediately I felt the curious sense -of vitality, very difficult to describe, that precedes -movement. It is like touching something<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> -alive and feeling its latent power. Presently -it began to move. Unfortunately no -exact record of those first messages was kept, -and this report of them is taken from my -letters to Cass, written immediately after -each interview, and from the typewritten record -begun a week or ten days afterward, in which -was included what I could remember of details -not written to him. At first there was little -capitalization, but within a few days capitals -were used freely. The punctuation throughout -has been added, except in cases noted.</p> - -<p class="right"><i>From a letter dated Monday morning, March 4th</i>:</p> - -<p>... Instead of doing the usual loop sort of -thing, it made straight runs across the table. I -asked, “Are you ready to write?” “Yes.” Then, -as nearly as I can remember, it went like this:</p> - -<p>“Are you Frederick?” “No.”</p> - -<p>“Are you Mary Kendal?” “No.”</p> - -<p>“Are you Anne Lowe?”<a name="FNanchor_1" id="FNanchor_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> “No.”</p> - -<p>“Did I know you in life here?” “Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Recently?” “No.”</p> - -<p>“Are you my father?” At this it ran -sharply toward me, point first, but for some -time did not reply, perhaps because I so hoped -it would write “yes.” Eventually, however,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> -it wrote a very clear and uncompromising -“No.”</p> - -<p>“Can you tell me who you are?” “Yes. Mary.”</p> - -<p>“Mary Kendal?” “No.”</p> - -<p>“Which Mary? What Mary?” “Mary ...” -followed by a character that might have been -either K or H, but looked more like K.</p> - -<p>“Mary Kendal?” “No.”</p> - -<p>“Tell me again.” “Mary K.”</p> - -<p>“Mary <i>K.</i>?” “Yes.” Planchette was down -at the lower right-hand corner of the table -when I asked the last question, and it swung -to the center, writing that “yes” very quickly -and firmly.</p> - -<p>“<i>My</i> Mary K.?” “Yes ... yes ... yes.”</p> - -<p>Her name was Mary Katherine M——, but -I always called her Mary K. She has been -dead sixteen years or more. Over and over she -insisted that she was Mary K. Sometimes, in -pauses, with the casters hardly moving at all, -the thing would write “Mary,” in tiny script, -but round and clear.</p> - -<p>I asked if there were any message, and it -wrote, “Mon ...,” trailing off into a series of -waves, a good many times. I guessed Monday -... money ... Mons ..., but always the -answer was, “No.” Finally it wrote “man” -very clearly. I could not get more for quite -a while. Finally came, “Many thanks.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Thanks for what?” “For knowing.”</p> - -<p>I asked if Frederick or Anne were there. -“No.”</p> - -<p>“Any message?” “Yes.”</p> - -<p>“For whom?” “Broth ...,” trailing off -again. This several times. “Brother?” -“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Where?” “Albany.”</p> - -<p>“His name?” “James.”</p> - -<p>“James M——?” “No.” This was confusing.</p> - -<p>“Where?” Beginning apparently with U, -the writing trailed off. Finally made out -“United ...,” but no more. Then I remembered -that Mary K.’s only brother was killed -in an accident, years before she went over -herself. I said so, and the thing began making -loops. That used to be planchette’s way of -laughing at me.</p> - -<p>“Why did you say that?” “Joke.” This -was not at all like Mary K. She had a fine -mind and was not given to buffoonery. I -have since thought that she might have been -trying to get over a message to some other -person’s brother.<a name="FNanchor_2" id="FNanchor_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> - -<p>“... Can you get word from Frederick Gaylord?” -“Yes.”<a name="FNanchor_3" id="FNanchor_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Will you come again?” “Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Have you been trying all these years to -get into touch with me?” “No.”</p> - -<p>“Will you help me make a bridge between -those on your side and those here?” “No.” -Then immediately it went back and wrote, -“Yes,” over the “No.” Very curious.</p> - -<p>After a long pause, I said I would go to bed, -if there were nothing more, and it wrote, -quickly, “Go.” I said, “Good night.” “Good -night. God bless you.” I asked again if this -were Mary K., and got the same quick “Yes.” -Then I put planchette away and came out to -my room. It was one o’clock. Three before -I went to sleep. Can you imagine anything more -weird than my sitting here alone in the middle -of the night, with that thing fairly racing under -my fingers part of the time, insisting it was -nobody I expected? Claiming to be a very -dear old friend, but the last I should expect -under the circumstances. It was certainly -queer, but I am very sure something outside of -myself was doing it. I shall try again to-night.</p> - -<p class="right"><i>From a letter dated Monday evening, March 4th</i>:</p> - -<p>I have just had another amazing try at -planchette. This time it was Mary Kendal, -writing one word at a time. “Let ... Manse<a name="FNanchor_4" id="FNanchor_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> -... know ... I ... am ... here....” She gave -me several intimate messages for him, and when -I finally said I would write and ask him to -come, so she could tell him herself, she wrote, -“Yes ... yes ... yes,” very quickly.</p> - -<p>What do you make of this? Isn’t it the -queerest thing you ever heard of? In the -midst of her talk, another hand took hold, very -brisk and energetic.</p> - -<p>“Not Mary?” “No.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps Frederick?” “Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Message?” “Yes. Mother.”</p> - -<p>“Anything more?” “Happy.”</p> - -<p>“More yet?” “Only love.”</p> - -<p>Then he was gone, and Mary came again, -writing “Miss A——, messenger,” many times. -Later, Frederick interrupted to write one word, -“family.”<a name="FNanchor_5" id="FNanchor_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> Then another hand began writing -“Annie Manning,” over and over, and, -“tell Manning.” I said that I knew no -Manning. How find him? Answer, “Question.” -I did not know what that meant.... -There was a lot more, but I am too tired to -write it to-night.</p> - -<p>B—— Gaylord telephoned to-night. She is -either coming to New York Thursday or going -to Atlantic City, if I am there.... This is the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> -most amazing thing that ever happened to me! -To-night it was as if several were trying to -talk at once. I am almost afraid to have -B. G. come, yet it was for her sake that I began -this. It seems too indefinite and unsatisfactory. -But at least she can be sure I am not -faking it. Something outside of me does it.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>That same evening I wrote to Mansfield -Kendal, though what his attitude toward this -situation would be I could not even guess. -We had known him well for several years, but -our numerous discussions had never touched -questions of religious faith and a future life. A -man of extensive reading and of wide interests, -supplemented by long residence abroad, he has -been engaged for years in the executive conduct -of large engineering and agricultural enterprises. -I knew him to be intellectually open-minded. -But I also knew him to be a devoted adherent -of the orthodox Church, giving much time and -thought to its support, and I was afraid that -an assumption on my part of ability to communicate -with the departed might offend some -deep and reverent sense in him. Therefore, -while I wrote him fully of my surprising experience, -giving him Mary’s messages, I promised -at the same time never to force the subject -in conversation, should he prefer not to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> -discuss it. Subsequently, impelled by Mary’s -continued insistence, I wrote several other letters -to him, which, like the first, were sent to his club -in New York City, as I knew him to be traveling -in the Middle West and thought they would -reach him more quickly in this way than if sent -to his business headquarters in the South.</p> - -<p>Thus, curiously, I found myself vicariously -engaged in a double search for a mother on this -plane seeking her son on the next, and for a -wife on the next plane seeking her husband here, -and it is significant that, of the two, Mary -Kendal was the more insistent. As she said, -later, “We know how much it means.”</p> - -<p class="right"><i>From a letter to Cass, dated Tuesday morning, March 5th</i>:</p> - -<p>Another evening with Mary! H. dined with -me. I told her something about planchette, -and she wanted to see it work.... This time -it wrote, “Mary Kendal,” at once, and, “Tell -Manse I love him.... Tell him Miss A—— is -messenger from some one he knows.... -Mentally beautiful people are fearless.... -Faith is fearlessness.... Mannerisms are essential -to recognition.” Some of these took a long -time to work out.</p> - -<p>H. asked, “Do you mind my being here?” -“Excellent portent.”</p> - -<p>I asked why. “Intellectual interest.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span></p> - -<p>H. said, “You mean that you are glad to -have intelligent people interested?” “Yes.”</p> - -<p>When we were talking about H.’s interest, it -wrote, “Tell others.” This was repeated several -times. “I am a missionary,” came as clearly as -I have written it here. We asked if she meant a -missionary from that life to this. “Yes.” At the -end she again urged H. to tell others. I laughed, -saying, “Tell as many others as you like about -the experience, but don’t tell too many that it -came through me.” “Sorry.”</p> - -<p>“Sorry that I am unwilling to be overwhelmed -by a flood of curiosity and hysteria?” -“Sorrow.” I said I would be glad to help -people in sorrow. “Sorrowful people suffer.” -Isn’t that like Mary Kendal?</p> - -<p>When H. was leaving, it wrote: “Good -night. Tell others.”</p> - -<p>After she had gone I went back, and got -another movement entirely. “Frederick?” -“Yes.” He seems to have more difficulty in -writing than she does. Is very clear at first, -but becomes illegible sooner.</p> - -<p>“Do you know that your mother is coming?” -“Yes.... Wish to make her at peace.” I said -I wished to make her at peace, too, and would -do all I could, and he wrote, “Thank you.”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>As has been said, Cass had been ill, and his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> -improvement after going to Atlantic City had -not been as rapid as we had hoped it might -be. A letter received from him on Tuesday -reported a slight relapse, and promised a telegram -on Wednesday. It had been arranged -that I should join him if he needed me.</p> - -<p class="right"><i>From a letter dated Wednesday evening, March 6th:</i></p> - -<p>Your letter and wire both came after four, -though the letters usually arrive with the first -mail in the morning. I was getting a little -anxious. Went to planchette and asked Mary -Kendal whether she knew anything about you. -She said you were better to-day and that a -letter was coming, but that I must go to -Atlantic City.<a name="FNanchor_6" id="FNanchor_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p> - -<p>Frederick also came, seeming very anxious -lest the meeting with his mother fail. Wrote -“message” several times, and by dint of some -questioning I found it was not a message he -wished to send, but one he wished me to send -to her about coming at once. Wrote of her -“mental anguish,” an expression I never -should have used myself, and wanted her to -join me at Atlantic City. Knew nothing about -you, but was keen to meet her.</p> - -<p>Later, he seemed to go, and Mary Kendal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> -wrote a little. Then came something very -hard to get. Over and over we tried. “Com -... come ... comf ... comp....” I suggested -various words. Always the answer was “No.” -Finally, very clearly and slowly, “Comfort -dear Mother.” After the M of the last word -I expected Manse, as I thought Mary was still -writing. When it proved to be “Mother,” I -said, “Is this Frederick?” “Yes.” I promised -again to do all I could. He wrote, -“Thank you,” and went.</p> - -<p>It is an amazing experience!... To sit all -alone here and have that foolish toy move -firmly and definitely under my hands, write -things I have to puzzle out, sign names of -persons who are what we call “dead,” and -beg me to send messages to those they love—all -this is startling and deeply impressive. -Deeply moving.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The next day I joined Cass at Atlantic City. -He had never seen a planchette used, and -was much interested in the whole matter. In -the evening we experimented, and “Mary -Kendal” was written at once.</p> - -<p>He exclaimed, “God bless you, Mary Kendal!”</p> - -<p>“God bless you, too. Tell Manse I love -him. Don’t fail to tell him that.” During<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> -all the preceding days this had been her constant -plea. Repeatedly I assured her that I had told -him, and as often she urged, “Tell him again.”</p> - -<p>Then came a strong, brisk movement, to and -fro, for a space of about five inches. I asked -if this were Frederick, and received an affirmative -answer, after which planchette ran about, -as if in uncontrollable excitement, presently -pausing to write:</p> - -<p>“You are a trump!” We laughed, and he -added, “You bet!”</p> - -<p>As we had never known Frederick, and were -unaware at that time of the continuance of -what some one familiar with this experience -has defined as “the subtleties of personality,” -this enthusiastic use of slang was startling.</p> - -<p>When I asked if he had thought I would -fail him, he replied, “No, but I was afraid -Mother would not come.”</p> - -<p>[The next day Mrs. Gaylord told me that -when Frederick begged me, on Wednesday, -to send her a message about coming at once, -she had almost decided to postpone her visit -until after our return to New York.]</p> - -<p>More running about followed, during which -Cass said that it was a pity to obliterate the -earlier messages in that way. Planchette then -swung back to a clear space and wrote clearly, -“Mother is coming!” Beneath this, the bow-knot<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> -flourish we have since learned to associate -with Frederick.</p> - -<p>“You are a brick!” was a later comment. -When Cass said he had thought the last word -would be friend, Frederick concluded: “Friend, -too. Thank you a million times.”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>An interesting, but rather confusing, feature -of these earlier communications was the constant -interruption by Annie Manning. On all -occasions, frequently even breaking into messages -from some other person, she wrote her -name and her one request,“Tell Manning.” During -this period, also, I repeatedly asked Frederick -to give me a message for his father, and was -unable to account for his invariable refusal.</p> - -<p>Once, I asked Mary Kendal if she had no -message for me, personally, and she returned, -“Yes, believe,” which seemed, at the moment, -somewhat cryptic, though the relation -of my faith to the full development of this -intercourse was afterward explained.</p> - -<p>Thursday night, at the end of the fifth day, -I was fairly certain that I had established -communication with three definite and recognizable -personalities on the next plane, but -I dreaded Mrs. Gaylord’s arrival the following -day, lest these fragmentary messages fail either -to convince or to comfort her.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span></p> - -<h3>II</h3> - -<p>The next morning, Friday, March 8th, before -giving Frederick an opportunity to communicate -with his mother, I read her my -letters to Cass, wishing her to know just what -had occurred and my attitude toward it. -Then we turned to planchette.</p> - -<p>From this point, the account is taken from -the original manuscript. At first we did not -realize the importance of writing in our questions, -some of which we were unable to remember -later. During those first days, also, -the messages were sometimes confused by -other messages written over them, or by lines -and circles done in apparent excitement and -joy, and were impossible to decipher afterward.</p> - -<p>Frederick’s writing, from the first moment -with his mother, was quick and firm—at that -time the most rapid and consecutive I had -ever seen done through planchette, although -in comparison with later communications these -were slow and fragmentary.</p> - -<p>“Mother dearest,” he began, immediately,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> -without question or comment from either -of us.</p> - -<p>She told me that this had been his name -for her, which I had not known. He went on, -writing eagerly, with brief pauses between -phrases.</p> - -<p>“I am here, dearest.... Just believe.... -Mother, you do believe, don’t you?... Tell -me you do.”</p> - -<p>After replying to some questions, he began -making the small circles first noticed during -the preliminary episode when his sisters were -in New York. I asked what they meant.</p> - -<p>“Joy.... Don’t fail to make her believe.” -I reminded him that this was his responsibility, -and he added, “You and I.”</p> - -<p>A question of which there is no record -drew this reply: “Yes, busy every minute.... -Work is so interesting.... I love you just -the same.... Go home when I can.... Tell -Dad I am with him ... helping all I can ... I -am so glad you came.... I was afraid you -would not.... Go home in peace, Mother -dearest. I am alive and happy and busy and -well.”</p> - -<p>She said it was like him to sum it all up -that way.</p> - -<p>“Of course it is like me. It is ‘me.’”</p> - -<p>Some personal comment concerning members<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> -of the family followed, in the midst of which -Annie Manning interrupted with her invariable, -“Tell Manning.” Asked if she had any -connection with the Gaylord family, she said, -“No, good-by,” and Frederick resumed his -sentence where it had been broken off.</p> - -<p>Throughout this and subsequent interviews -Mrs. Gaylord and I kept up a running conversation, -impossible to reproduce here—my hand -still resting on planchette—to which Frederick -frequently contributed a remark, precisely as -if he had been present in the flesh. Again, he -would break a pause by addressing some -characteristic statement or appeal to his mother, -sometimes, she told me afterward, answering -her unspoken thought.</p> - -<p>Over and over he begged her to say that -she was convinced of his presence and identity, -and at last she gave him this assurance.</p> - -<p>“Oh, thank God!” He made strong circles, -before running up to a clear space some inches -above, to add, “Tell Dad.”</p> - -<p>For the first time, a possible explanation of -his inexorable refusal to give me a message -for his father occurred to me, and when I -asked, he said, “Yes, I want to reach them -through her.”</p> - -<p>He told her not to think of him as he had -been during the months of his last illness, saying:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> -“Forget all that. It is over, and I am -well and strong, and happier than ever—now.” -When we wondered whether it had distressed -him to be unable to communicate with his -family, he said, “Yes, I needed that.”</p> - -<p>“Will you talk every day, you and she?” -he asked, presently. “Thank you.”</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Gaylord, Frederick is a fine force,” -followed immediately, in a more running -script, and when I said this must be Mary -Kendal, the answer was: “Yes. Tell Manse -I love him.... Tell him again.”</p> - -<p>“He doesn’t need to be told that,” I assured -her, as I had so many times before.</p> - -<p>And again she returned: “Yes, he does. -There are reasons. Tell him.” I promised -to write to him once more, and she continued: -“Mrs. Gaylord, Frederick wants you to be -sure that he is doing more here than he could -there. You should not grieve for that, should -you? You have a fearless mind in other -things. Trust for that. Good-by.”</p> - -<p>“Mother dearest, that was Mrs. Kendal,” -Frederick resumed, with his more vigorous -movement. “She is a missionary, and a fine -force.”</p> - -<p>Noticing the repetition of this word, I -asked, “You say force, not spirit?”</p> - -<p>“No, force is what moves things.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span></p> - -<p>To his mother’s inquiry about a friend, he -replied: “He is here with me, working. Bob’s -little girl is here, too.” She told me that a -medium visited by his sisters had described -him with a little girl, saying that he wanted -them to “tell Bob.” [I had heard this from -them, also, and the subject recurred later.]</p> - -<p>“Yes,” he acquiesced. “Same child.”</p> - -<p>When she expressed her belief that he was -still alive and growing, promising that she -would be happier in future, he said: “Thank -you, Mother dearest. That is all I need. -Tell Dad to be happy, too. I am with him. -He has not lost a son. I am better and bigger -and more useful than I ever could have been -there, but I have been sorry you suffered so -much.”</p> - -<p>“Have you been trying recently to let us -know you were with us?” she inquired.</p> - -<p>“Yes, for months. At first I could not.”</p> - -<p>He said that Mary Kendal had found him -for us, and when I mentioned that Mary K. -had come first to me, he explained: “Yes, she -is more used to it. She found Mrs. Kendal, -and she told me.”</p> - -<p>“You had better get your lunch,” he suggested, -after a pause, rousing us from our -complete absorption to a consciousness that it -was late. Mrs. Gaylord denied being hungry,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> -but he warned her—characteristically, I -learned afterward, “You will have a headache, -Mother dearest, if you don’t.”</p> - -<p>After luncheon we went out for a walk, and -then to our respective rooms to rest, the morning -having been fatiguing in its emotional -strain. Planchette and paper had been left -in Mrs. Gaylord’s room, and in the afternoon, -while Cass and I were still alone, I picked up -a lead-pencil and placed its point on a sheet -of letter-paper, expecting no response. To my -great surprise, I was conscious almost instantly -of its vitality. The sensation is comparable to -that of holding a quiet, live bird, wrapped in a -handkerchief, its energy muffled but palpable. -Sometimes this sensation of a current from -without is communicated to the hand and -arm, sometimes only to the fingers.</p> - -<p>In a short time the pencil moved, writing, -“Mary Kendal,” followed by the usual messages -for Manse.</p> - -<p>Cass asked whether it annoyed them to be -questioned, or interfered with things they -might wish to tell us.</p> - -<p>“No, it does not interfere. We are here to -tell you what we can, but we cannot tell -everything.... You have the right to know -what we can tell you.... You are getting nearer -the big things every day.” This made Cass<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> -wonder whether “the big things” would come -to us in this life or the next, and she added: -“Both. You begin there and keep on growing. -As soon as you are ready, big truths are -shown to you.”</p> - -<p>Addressing me, he made some allusion to -what “she” had said, suggesting that it seemed -to support a theory he had once held, that this -world is one of elimination.</p> - -<p>“No, it is one of growth,” was her answer. -“And ‘she’ is trying to tell you that growth -begins there and does not stop. It goes on -and on, as long as you are worthy.”</p> - -<p>“Then unworthiness kills?”</p> - -<p>“It does not kill. It defers.”</p> - -<p>Weeks afterward, it was interesting to turn -back to these early pages of the record and -find how much of the wide significance of -later revelations had been foreshadowed from -the first.</p> - -<p>“Are you as eager for this communication -as we are?”</p> - -<p>“We are more eager, because we know how -much it means. We know that more truth -can be taught this way than any other.”</p> - -<p>Cass turned to Mrs. Gaylord, who had rejoined -us, saying that this seemed to imply -that they were our superiors.</p> - -<p>“No, we are your elders,” said Mary Kendal.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span></p> - -<p>As has generally been the case during these -interviews, we were talking among ourselves, -frequently going on with our conversation while -the pencil wrote. Some one wondered how or -why they had time or desire to leave their presumably -more important work to talk to us.</p> - -<p>“Because we are all humans, after all,” Mary -responded, “and it is our work to help, just as -it is yours. Many people do not want to -help, here or there.... This life is just a continuation -of yours under happier conditions.”</p> - -<p>“Are you happier there than you were -here, Mary?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, except for Manse.”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Gaylord asked whether a man who had -loved books, and had always kept himself -surrounded by them in this life, would find -that interest there.</p> - -<p>“No,” Mary said, “but we have its equivalent -interest.”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Gaylord then explained that the medium -already mentioned had described Frederick -to his sisters as surrounded by books.</p> - -<p>“He told her that to identify himself, as -characteristic.”</p> - -<p>[In this connection, an incident occurring -three months later is interesting.</p> - -<p>[One night, about the middle of June, a -group of us had been talking for some time,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> -through my pencil, with friends on the next -plane, when one of the women announced that -she could see distinctly a large man’s hand -resting upon the hand of a man present.</p> - -<p>[The person in question—a hard-headed, -practical business man, successfully conducting -large affairs—looked startled, saying that -he had noticed a peculiar sensation in that -hand, and asked whether a friend, whom he -named, was actually present.</p> - -<p>[“Yes,” was the reply through the pencil. -“R—— saw. I manifested physical attributes -for a minute. I have no hands, but I can -imagine them and project them in your minds, -occasionally.”</p> - -<p>[No one else saw the hand, and at no other -time in my experience has anything of this -kind occurred.]</p> - -<p>I asked Mary Kendal whether they preferred -planchette or pencil, and she said, “It is -easier for us this way.” Therefore, except on -one memorable occasion, all later writing has -been done with a pencil.</p> - -<p>For the information of persons interested in -physical details, it may be explained that I -generally use a long pencil, which is held erect, -almost at right angles to the paper, the fingers -clasping it lightly two or three inches from its -point, the hand and arm entirely unsupported.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> -In the very rapid writing that has sometimes -been done, and occasionally in moments of -great eagerness or emotion, the force propelling -the pencil—which seems to be applied sometimes -above, sometimes below my hand—has -forced it to a sharply acute angle in relation -to the surface of the paper. From the first, -I have used right and left hands alternately, -and the writing, with exceptions so few as to -be negligible, has been done in rather large -script on wall-paper, many rolls of which have -been covered.</p> - -<p>One of the exceptions to the use of wall-paper -was this first experiment with a pencil, -when loose sheets of letter-paper were used, -and as many of them were missing when I -tried to assemble them the next day, much -of this interview has been lost.</p> - -<p>“Frederick, shall we ever have our holidays -again?” Mrs. Gaylord asked, in the evening.</p> - -<p>“Just as many holidays as you will take,” -he replied. “I am always there on high days -and holidays. Why leave me out?” This was -the first time he made an interrogation point. -It was traced slowly and with great precision, -as if to emphasize his inquiry.</p> - -<p>His mother then explained to us that the -celebration of certain festivals, which had always -been days of family reunion, notably<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> -Christmas and Easter, had been impossible to -them since his death. Shortly afterward he -expanded this theme.</p> - -<p>That night Mrs. Gaylord telegraphed to her -husband that she had received messages for -him and for the family. She said, as other -members of the family have said since, that -there was in everything Frederick had written a -familiar and convincing sense of his personality, -a quality which we were unable to recognize, -never having known him.</p> - -<p>The next day he announced, buoyantly: -“Mother dearest, I am here. Thank you for -wiring Dad. Made him happier.”</p> - -<p>Greatly comforted by the conviction of her -son’s continued life and development and devotion, -Mrs. Gaylord’s thought was already -turning to other bereaved and suffering mothers, -and more than once she expressed her -desire to share with them her new knowledge, -urging me to make preparations for the publication -of the messages she was sure Frederick -would give us, to which, for personal reasons, -I demurred. We asked Frederick whether he -thought it should be published, and he replied -in the affirmative. After some discussion, -leaving me still unconvinced, he resumed his -appeal to his mother.</p> - -<p>“You will be happy now, won’t you? You<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> -can’t be sorry I am so much better off and -more useful. I get your thoughts and you get -mine, only you don’t recognize them always -as mine. You will now.”</p> - -<p>“Is there any way I can know when you -are with me?” she asked.</p> - -<p>“You will learn, now you know I am there. -I can’t tell you how, but you will learn. That -is part of this big knowledge, dearest. You -are both just beginning, but, like other knowledge, -growth is rapid, once begun. You will -meet skeptics, who will laugh, but don’t be -disturbed. This is the next big revelation, -and you are with the first over the top.”</p> - -<p>“Are you still interested in the war?” she -asked, and the reply came with great vigor.</p> - -<p>“Yes. How can anybody help that? It is -great and hideous and wonderful, and the -salvation of the civilized world. Something -had to wake the souls of most men. They -have been quiet too long. Growth is always -struggle. It is hard struggle there, because -you don’t see far ahead. We see farther—much -farther—and it is easier to climb.”</p> - -<p>“Was the war the fault of the Germans, or -the result of world conditions?”</p> - -<p>“Both. The Germans had long been obsessed -by a lust of power, and the rest of the -world by a lust of ease and money, and individual<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> -interests. There has been real unity of -purpose only in Germany.” When she said -that this thought of Germany’s unity had been -much in her mind of late, he added, quickly, -“That was I, Mother dearest, trying to tell -you what I could of what I know.”</p> - -<p>A long talk on personal topics followed, -during which he referred to me as a “messenger,” -explaining Mary Kendal’s previous -use of the word. By this time, many of the -messages were conveyed to my consciousness -before the pencil wrote them. Sometimes I -had no previous impression of them; sometimes -only the meaning reached me, being expressed -by the pencil in other phrases; sometimes -I knew what the words would be. I -mentioned this, with some misgiving, and -Frederick dryly remarked: “You are very sensitive -for so obstinate a person.”</p> - -<p>Referring to his earlier statement about -Germany, Cass asked: “What would national -unity of purpose lead to? Hasn’t it elements -of great danger?”</p> - -<p>“Many men feel that unity of purpose is -dangerous, but it is up to men ... to guide the -purpose to sane and right ends. It must come -through the awakening of the souls of the -people everywhere. We work for that here, -because the growth of the part is the growth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> -of the whole. You can help us and all life -by working for that unity with us.”</p> - -<p>This was the first intimation, apparently -personal and casual, of that gospel of unity -and co-operation so fully developed later.</p> - -<p>“Mother dearest, you are normally a builder,” -he went on, after a little. “Now clear -away the débris of things outlived, and begin -the new structure with me.”</p> - -<p>She replied that she had been feeling for some -time that she must free her life of many small, -insistent demands, and have time to think.</p> - -<p>“Not only that, dearest. You must get out -of shadow into light. Out of mourning into -building. Out of black into color and life. -Out of grieving into joy with me in our work -together. It is not that I object to black,” -he continued, when she expressed her unwillingness -to lay aside her black dress, “but to -a symbol of mourning. Sorrow is not constructive, -after it has done its first big work. Leave -it behind and go on. Can’t you do that? -Won’t you please try?... As for me, this is a -great time to be here. Think what this war -means here. We are busier than you are. -There, I should be in the army, I suppose. I -am doing bigger work than that here. Just -now, I am on a sort of furlough, to visit with -you. That is permitted. But when I go back<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> -to work I can’t be with you all the time, this -way.”</p> - -<p>“Can you get into touch with my father, -who died years ago?” Cass asked. “And do -the young stay young, and the old, old?”</p> - -<p>“I will try to find your father. Some of us -go on into remoter places to work, but almost -all of us come back, at intervals. We are -tremendously interested in life there, for it is -the root and beginning of all our work. When -things improve there, they are just that much -better here.... Age is a matter of experience -here, not of time.”</p> - -<p>“Does your work affect us in this world, -or only those joining you?”</p> - -<p>“We try constantly to help you with our -greater knowledge, but some of you are easier -to help than others.” This led to a question -as to whether all our knowledge here is given -to us from his plane, and he went on: “Not -all. We help develop what you are willing to -work for, if you are really sincere in wanting -it. Sincerity is the crowning virtue.”</p> - -<p>We talked this over, and in the midst of our -discussion he interrupted with a question of -his own:</p> - -<p>“Mother dearest, are you getting tired?” -She denied it, but he said, “She is tired,” and -we talked no more that afternoon.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span></p> - -<h3>III</h3> - -<p>Shortly before dinner that night I picked -up a pencil again, and “Mary Kendal” was -immediately written. It had become customary -for her to write her name both at the -beginning and at the end of her communication, -probably to avoid confusion with Frederick.</p> - -<p>“Manse is in New York,” she told us, repeating -it several times. For some reason I -questioned this, and she said: “You must not -doubt. He is coming to-night.”</p> - -<p>“Are you happy, Mary?” Cass asked.</p> - -<p>“Very, especially now, since I am with you. -You can reach Manzie.”</p> - -<p>Keenly sympathizing with her eagerness to -reach her husband, from whom no word had -come, he suggested telephoning to Mansfield -at his club, but I demurred, feeling that, if he -were there, he would receive my letters and -communicate with us, unless, as I began to -fear, he preferred not to approach the subject -in any way. Repeatedly, however, Mary insisted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> -“Call him up,” and Cass put in the -long-distance call accordingly.</p> - -<p>“He is there.... He will answer,” she reiterated -again and again, while we waited.</p> - -<p>It is impossible to make a fully accurate report -of this interview. The messages were -confused and broken, and there were many -monosyllabic replies to questions not recorded.</p> - -<p>At one time we asked about Anne Lowe, -and Mary said: “Anne is not here. She is a -lovely character. She works for children.... -Manse is not there.... Manse is out.... He -will answer.... He is not there.”</p> - -<p>Eventually the long-distance operator reported -that Mr. Kendal was not at his club -and was not expected.</p> - -<p>I asked Mary why she had said that he was -there, telling her that this was making me -doubt my powers of correct transmission, to -which she replied that this was better than -too much credulity, adding: “Manse is there.... -He is out of the club.... He must be -there.”</p> - -<p>We called up the —— Club a second time -and I talked to the clerk, who said Mansfield -Kendal was not registered there, nor had they -been notified that he was coming. Long afterward -we learned that he had expected to be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> -there at that time, but had been detained in -the Northwest by business.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, there was much confused writing -from Mary. “Manse is in the club.... He -is not there.... He must be there.... He is -out.” Effort to write the name of a city was -followed by, “Minneapolis recently.... -Manse will be there soon.”</p> - -<p>It was Mansfield Kendal himself who ultimately -arrived at a possible explanation of some -of these apparent inaccuracies, Mary having explained -others meanwhile. But at the time it -was all very contradictory and confusing, and -after dinner Cass demanded an explanation.</p> - -<p>Mary Kendal came at once, admitting that -she had been wrong in saying that Mansfield -was at the club, and asserting that she “thought -he would be.”</p> - -<p>“Didn’t you know?”</p> - -<p>“No.”</p> - -<p>Again the messages are confused and fragmentary. -“You must not doubt.... He will -be there soon ...” are among those now decipherable, -each many times repeated. She -seemed profoundly distressed.</p> - -<p>To ease the tension, Cass made a little joke, -eliciting no response from her, whereupon he -asked whether they retained a sense of humor -over there.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Yes, but this is no time for humor.... I -am so afraid of missing Manse.”</p> - -<p>Again she urged me to write to him, but I -refused, reminding her that I had made every -possible advance until some reply to my letters -should be received.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I know, but it means so much! You -will help, won’t you?”</p> - -<p>Knowing nothing then of the tremendous -forces of attraction and repulsion unconsciously -put into operation by persons ignorant of their -existence, and assuming—not unnaturally—that -she must be able to learn at least as much -about Mansfield’s whereabouts and condition -as both she and Frederick evidently knew -about ours, I was unable to understand, even -dimly, the contradictions of the present situation, -and the cloud of it hung over me all that -evening and the next day. I was oppressed -by a sense of my responsibility in conveying -messages from sources seeming suddenly so -uncertain.</p> - -<p>Following Mary, Frederick came again, his -buoyancy undiminished.</p> - -<p>“Mother dearest,” he began, without question, -“Mrs. Kendal is true. She is a fine -force.” I rather held back on this, and the -writing was angular and unyielding. “There -are things we cannot explain.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span></p> - -<p>“You have too little faith. Mary Kendal.”</p> - -<p>This statement was made without preliminary -comment, and until she signed her -name I thought Frederick was writing. I -reminded her that she had made it impossible -for me to trust her wholly.</p> - -<p>“I am sorry I shook your faith,” she said. -“I welcome you to this relation, and want you -to believe.”</p> - -<p>“Mother dearest, you know I am here, don’t -you?” Again Frederick made his own interrogation -point. “Because I am, and you will -feel my presence more and more clearly as -time goes on.”</p> - -<p>“Do you know all that we want to know?” -Cass inquired.</p> - -<p>“Not all you want to know. We know more -than you do, and will tell you all we can, as -soon as you are ready for it.” We were uncertain -whether this meant mentally and -spiritually ready, or that we must learn the -conditions through which they can best reach -us, and he explained. “We can tell you anything -you are prepared to understand, and the -more you learn there the better you will do -your work here.”</p> - -<p>“Are you still interested in politics here?” -he was asked, a little later.</p> - -<p>“Oh yes. But they are in a state of transition<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> -that is fearfully difficult to understand or -to influence now. The seed has been sown, -but the harvest is not yet garnered. Nobody -knows what will come of it in this country.”</p> - -<p>“Are you conscious there of what people -here call God?” his mother asked.</p> - -<p>“We are conscious of a great purpose. -Some of us call it God. I see it as light in -dark places. Others see it as power. Others -as love. But we all recognize it as a purpose.”</p> - -<p>At luncheon that day we had spoken of -Prof. William James and Sir Frederick Myers, -and later in the evening Mrs. Gaylord asked -Frederick whether he knew Professor James.</p> - -<p>“I know him, but I am not sure he knows -me. He is a great force, and many of us go -to him for help and instruction. Only one -other man has the same sort of power. That -is Sir Frederick.”</p> - -<p>“Are you with people from this world only?” -some one asked. “And does everybody go -there, or only a certain element?”</p> - -<p>“There are people from this world only, but -it is as with you, not all people are equally -prepared. Growth is easier here if one has -earned it there. But not all have earned it, -and the penalty for laziness is long struggle.... -Purgatory is not a bad definition of it. -The right to do big work must be earned.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> -Some people have a terrible struggle of it. -[Their?] Moral muscles are flabby.”</p> - -<p>“Do you agree with Mary Kendal that there -is humor there, but that this is no time for -it?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, she didn’t mean that! She meant that -this particular crisis is not humorous to her. -She is deeply concerned to get into touch with -him.... Good night, Mother dearest. I’ll be -with you all night.”</p> - -<p>“Good night,” said Mary Kendal. “I’m -sorry I upset you.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span></p> - -<h3>IV</h3> - -<p>The more I thought about the Kendal affair -the more perplexing it seemed, and since -I could neither question that Mary Kendal -and Frederick had actually communicated -through me nor believe that she would wilfully -deceive me, there seemed no possible -explanation of the episode Saturday night, -except some unconscious influence of my own -mind. By the next afternoon I had almost -persuaded myself that the repeated erroneous -statements about Mr. Kendal had been induced, -in some way not traceable, by my increasing -anxiety concerning his reception of -the letters I had sent to his club.</p> - -<p>After luncheon, we took up the communication -again, and immediately, without interrogation, -the pencil wrote, “You are a good -messenger.”</p> - -<p>“Who is writing?” I asked.</p> - -<p>“Frederick.”</p> - -<p>“How much of this do I do, and how much -is yours?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span></p> - -<p>“You do very little. Mostly, you lend a -hand.” This is so literally what I do that -we laughed. “You are by nature skeptical,” -he continued. “Mother dearest, you must not -let her make you doubt that I have said all -these things.”</p> - -<p>“It unsettles me when I know what the -message is to be before it is written,” I persisted. -“Do you suggest it to me, or I to you?”</p> - -<p>“Sometimes you suggest things to me and -I say them,” he returned. “Sometimes I -don’t.” This reassured me somewhat, for I -had frequently noticed that a thought strongly -in my mind seemed to delay the pencil, yet -was not written.</p> - -<p>Returning for a moment to the discussion of -politics, Cass asked: “By reason of our different -environment, am I not more interested -in large details, and you in large movements?”</p> - -<p>“There can be no real movement without -a mass of detail. Here we are interested -equally in both. They are inseparable.”</p> - -<p>“You said yesterday that the seed had been -sown and the harvest not yet garnered. Has -the seed generally been good seed?”</p> - -<p>“There is no telling how much of it will -come up. There has been seed, good, bad, -and indifferent, sown in all sorts of soil.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> -The crop is not foreordained. We work and -hope.”</p> - -<p>“Is there anything in this life to any degree -a counterpart of what you have there?” his -mother inquired. “Or is it something so -wholly new that we can’t even imagine it?”</p> - -<p>“It is so much more expansive, so much -more beautiful and free, that we can give you -no conception of it.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps it’s better that we shouldn’t -know,” it was suggested; and Frederick’s reply -seems to hold a hint of humor.</p> - -<p>“It might make you envious.”</p> - -<p>When I wondered what became of suicides, -Cass said, “They probably get the purgatory -he mentioned yesterday.”</p> - -<p>“That’s what they get; and it’s a long, hard -road back to mental....” The pencil hesitated. -After some efforts to write a word -beginning with p or f—we were uncertain -which—Mrs. Gaylord suggested, “Poise?”</p> - -<p>“... poise. Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Is there unconsciousness at first, when you -go over?” she asked.</p> - -<p>“It depends on circumstances and persons. -Sometimes there is a period of unconsciousness. -I was conscious from the first moment, -and so happy to be here.” When Cass interpreted -this to mean that he greatly preferred<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> -being there, he corrected: “No, to be free. -But for the first weeks I was dazed by the -bigness of it.”</p> - -<p>Later in the afternoon Frederick discussed -with his mother various personal matters, with -a good deal of humor. Afterward, more seriously, -he continued: “You’ll do better work, -and be more open to suggestion from me, if -you don’t dull yourself by too constant harping -on one chord. Play a little, you and -Dad.”</p> - -<p>She told him they had not been happy -enough to play.</p> - -<p>“You will be happier now. Tell Dad few -men are as near their sons as he is to me. -He and all of you have only to learn to recognize -me, when I am trying to tell you I am -there.”</p> - -<p>We spoke of her desire to receive his communications -through her own pencil and he said -that if she would “keep on trying and believing,” -he could talk directly to her before long, -as he has since demonstrated.</p> - -<p>“It is difficult for us to overcome doubt in -a messenger,” he said. “Faith is a positive -force. It helps us reach you. Doubt, being -negative, hampers us.”</p> - -<p>This reminded me of Mary Kendal’s first -personal message to me, “Believe.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Are you hampered by my doubt to-day?” -I asked.</p> - -<p>“No. That is not doubt of us, but of yourself. -It is a safeguard.”</p> - -<p>At this point we went to dinner. Later in -the evening, when we had returned to the -pencil, Cass said:</p> - -<p>“You were facetious last night, Frederick, -so perhaps I may ask if you have dined?”</p> - -<p>“I’ve had a feast of reason, thank you,” -was the instant retort.</p> - -<p>Asked whether the different races were represented -where he was, he replied: “We have -groups. People naturally divide themselves. But -not actual race distinction.” When Cass explained -that he had wondered whether peoples of -widely differing religious beliefs, Christians, Confucians, -Mohammedans, and so on, would be -together there, Frederick continued: “Certainly. -Each group does its work more or less in its -own way, but all to the same purpose.” Here -again is a clear reference to conditions and forces -of which we had then no knowledge and concerning -which, apparently, he had at that time -no authority to speak in detail.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Gaylord was sitting in silence, at a -little distance from the table. After a pause, -Frederick began again, as if in answer to some -unspoken thought:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Mother dearest, you will get what you are -asking from me when we are all more accustomed. -Margaret is afraid to let me handle -her.” I said that the Kendal episode the -night before had disturbed me, and that I had -been careful all day not to yield to any impulse -in the pencil unless it were very definite, -to which he returned: “That’s all right. You -be as careful as you like, as long as you don’t -deny us.”</p> - -<p>Cass asked whether he could put us in touch -with a friend on his plane, one David Bruce.</p> - -<p>“Mary Kendal can. That is part of her -work. Mother dearest, you won’t backslide?”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Gaylord turned astonished eyes on -me, asking: “Is ‘backslide’ a part of your -ordinary vocabulary?” When I assured her -that it was not, she laughed, saying that it -was “a Gaylord word.” “I’m not sure that -I won’t backslide when I get home again, away -from these daily messages,” she said.</p> - -<p>“Then you come to us—Margaret and me. -We’ll fix you!” He drew a circle around this, -as if to emphasize it. When she wondered -whether she might not find a messenger nearer -home to give her occasional help, he added: -“You can get help, but you can’t trust everybody.”</p> - -<p>The pencil was moving slowly, with many<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> -false starts and delays. I asked whether he -would prefer planchette, and he said he would, -so his mother went to her room to get it, while -Mary Kendal talked to us about Manse. As -soon as planchette was placed on the table, -however, Frederick took possession again, moving -it briskly back and forth, in a space of -about six inches, as if warming it up. Mrs. -Gaylord was then sitting opposite me, and Cass -to the right, some distance away.</p> - -<p>Suddenly planchette swung sharply down to -the lower right-hand corner of the table, from my -position, and addressing Mrs. Gaylord directly—that -is, writing from right to left and upside -down from my viewpoint, so that his mother -sitting opposite me read it as it came—Frederick -wrote rapidly and strongly:</p> - -<p>“Mother dearest, this is your boy, come -back to stay.”</p> - -<p>We were astounded. Given a fresh surface, -planchette raced all over the sheet, in energetic -circles and flourishes. It ran toward me, -point first, as if it would leap off the table, -paused, wheeled, crossed toward Mrs. Gaylord, -retreated, darted to where her hand lay on the -papers, followed as she moved it, and then resumed -its apparently meaningless tracing of -angles and circles. When I said that I did -not understand this performance, the reply<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> -came with a whirl, followed by one of his big -flourishes.</p> - -<p>“I am trying to show you that I am running -this myself!” Then, very rapidly, upside down -again to me: “You can’t doubt this. Even -Margaret can’t doubt this.”</p> - -<p>“I haven’t doubted that you were here, -Frederick,” I said.</p> - -<p>“No, but you’ve got to believe in me.”</p> - -<p>Again I placed the instrument at my left, -in readiness to write, as usual, across the sheet, -but he had not finished. Swinging down to -the right, and moving toward the left, once -more reversed from my point of view, he -wrote: “Mother dearest.” Then he ran to the -upper right-hand corner and wrote along that -edge of the table: “Now I’ll do it this way, -Mr. L——.” In circles and flourishes he crossed, -to write along the left edge: “Now I’ll do it -this way.” Up then, to the edge opposite me. -“Now I’ll do it this way.”</p> - -<p>By this time the paper was completely covered -with interlacing lines and words, except -a narrow margin along the right edge. Sliding -over to this, he wrote, slowly, “Now are you -convinced?”</p> - -<p>We were amazed, breathless, and all somewhat -moved by his determination to demonstrate -his presence.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span></p> - -<p>Circling again to the center, already so covered -with lines that we had to watch the -pencil-point to make out the message, he said: -“Now get the pencil.”</p> - -<p>“Did I show you then who is running this?” -he demanded, when I had complied with his -request. “Mother dearest, when you are inclined -to backslide, remember that little exhibition, -and ask yourself how you can doubt -any manifestation of me that you perceive.”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Gaylord said that it was peculiarly -characteristic of Frederick to insist upon -making his point, and in one way or another -to succeed.</p> - -<p>“Dad won’t need to see that,” Frederick -stated, when Cass wished that his father might -have witnessed this extraordinary performance, -“but if he does, I’ll do it for him with trimmings.... -He has not lost a son in any but -the most superficial sense. Tell Sis I’ll do -stunts for her, too, if she’ll come where Margaret -is, and Babe can have her own show, -too.”</p> - -<p>Again Mrs. Gaylord gasped, for he had used -his own intimate names for his sisters, neither -of which I had ever heard before.</p> - -<p>“Now were really getting down to business,” -he remarked, presently. “I had to -convince Margaret before she would loosen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> -up.” Cass began to explain that it had not -been necessary to convince me, but before he -was fairly started the pencil ran on: “Yes, -it was. She didn’t quite believe I was running -this show. Now she’s nice and amenable.” -Verily, all resistance had been taken out of -me! Thereafter he had his own way with the -pencil.</p> - -<p>Cass began another question, but broke off, -saying that it was not fair to keep Frederick -answering impersonal inquiries when he wanted -to talk to his mother.</p> - -<p>“That’s what it’s all for,” was the candid -admission. “The L——s are all right, but it’s -for Mother dearest and the Family that I’m -here.... This isn’t exactly what religious people -call heaven, but it is life eternal in the -biggest sense. But I can’t be quite happy in -it unless you whom I love so much are happy, -too. Don’t you backslide! Only let me have -a chance, and I’ll keep you convinced; but -doubt is the hardest thing to combat because -it destroys the very proof we are trying to -bring against it. Believe every suggestion of -me until it is proved false.”</p> - -<p>One of us asked whether their greatest difficulties -in communicating with us were caused -by doubt or by dishonest messengers.</p> - -<p>“Both. It is hard to find a good messenger,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> -but, having found one, doubt is apt to destroy -all his work.”</p> - -<p>“All four points of the compass, Mother -dearest.” This we took to be an allusion to -his writing along the four edges of the table, -earlier in the evening. “You see, we have -not much time left, and you must go home -fortified and happy, and glad for yourself and -me.... It will mean a lot to Dad. He has -thought I was in some remote and far-off -heaven, and he will like to know that we are -working more nearly shoulder to shoulder than -ever before, as we are in some ways.... I -want to talk to him straight.” Long afterward -one of his sisters told me that “shoulder to -shoulder” was a characteristic phrase of -Frederick’s.</p> - -<p>Again sliding over to the lower right-hand -corner, he wrote quickly, in big swinging -script, upside down to me: “Mother dearest, -don’t forget the four points of the compass. -I want you to remember that I am your boy -come back. Not lost at all. Please remember -that.”</p> - -<p>When a fresh surface offered and the pencil -was placed at my left, as usual, he said, “No,” -and swung once more down to the right, -writing quickly and firmly toward the left and -upside down to me.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I am going to write a little letter to Dad -and the girls. I love them just as well as -ever, and it hurts me to have them think I -am not alive and loving them, because I know -they still love me.</p> - -<p class="right">“<span class="smcap">Frederick.</span>”</p> - -<p>Although the movement in this reversed -writing is rapid and definite, as if great energy -were exerted to accomplish it, it is extremely -difficult to follow, perhaps because the muscles -of the hand are accustomed to move from left -to right in writing, or because the mind instinctively -resists a movement it cannot readily -understand.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span></p> - -<h3>V</h3> - -<p>The next day (Monday, March 11th) we -all returned to New York together, Mrs. Gaylord -rejoining us in the evening, after dining -with other friends.</p> - -<p>Before her arrival, we talked a little to Mary -Kendal, who was still uneasy about the failure -to reach her husband, from whom no word had -come. We asked if she knew David Bruce, -and she replied: “No, but he is here, and -most of us know what he does. He is a sweet -force.”</p> - -<p>When Mrs. Gaylord came, we told her of -this characterization, after some personal -talk with Frederick, and at once he took up -the suggestion.</p> - -<p>“Mother dearest, you are a sweet force, too. -Help me build a structure of strength, which -is Dad, sweetness, which is you, and illumination, -which is my part.”</p> - -<p>We remembered then his asking her to -“clear away the débris of things outlived -and begin the new structure with me,” but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> -not until greater revelations followed did we -understand fully what he meant.</p> - -<p>A little later he said of his father: “He will -discover that I am more a force than ever, -and then he will be as proud as men who have -sons ‘over there.’ ... Should you prefer a son -in the trenches or in the place of accomplished -peace?... I am nearer you now than I have -ever been before, but the price of that is apparent -separation. Your life knows no such -companionship as ours can be now, but that -is possible only at the cost of apparent and -visible contact. This is gain, not loss. You -are questioning that, but trust me. I know. -You can’t even guess what this means to all -of us, Sis and Babe and Dad and you and</p> - -<p class="right">“<span class="smcap">Frederick</span>.”</p> - -<p>His name was dropped a line, like a signature.</p> - -<p>It was coming slowly, with hesitations and -false starts, and I asked: “Are you tired, -Frederick? Or am I?”</p> - -<p>“Both,” he said. “This is not the simplest -thing I ever did.... I am not tired, as you -understand weariness, but it is easier sometimes -to get things through than others.”</p> - -<p>The next evening—the last we had with -Frederick at that time—his first messages were -personal, expressing his desire to “talk -straight” to other members of the family.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span></p> - -<p>“But there’s no hurry,” he went on. “We’ve -all eternity together now.... Only one thing -can separate us. If you doubt my existence, -I shall still exist, but your doubt will destroy -the thread that links us like a telegraph-wire, -only more closely and warmly. So you must -not backslide, for my sake as well as your -own.”</p> - -<p>“Why don’t you stay on?” he asked presently. -“I can reach you, but not so definitely -for a while to your sense, and actual speech -with you is keen joy. Tell <span class="strike">Dad</span> ...”—the -erasure is his own—“... the family I want -to talk to them, too. Let’s have a reunion. -One that won’t leave me out. I want to <span class="u">be -in</span>.” Rapidly and strongly, he underlined the -last words three times.</p> - -<p>His mother promised that the family festivals -should be held again, in the full consciousness -that he was there with them.</p> - -<p>“Thank you, Mother dearest. You don’t -know how we hate being left out.” When -she explained that they were “left out” ignorantly, -rather than intentionally, he continued: -“No, we know you don’t mean to leave us -out. But you—and we, too—would be so -much happier if you knew we were there and -we could know you were not grieving. You -see, we are really nearer to you than you are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> -to each other, and only memory tells us why -you grieve. There is no reason for grief in -what you call death and we call knowledge.”</p> - -<p>“Why hasn’t all this been told to us before?” -she demanded. “It was cruel not to let us -know it!”</p> - -<p>“As I wrote you the other day, not everybody -has been prepared for the knowledge. It -is known only to the few—those first over the -top I spoke of. But it will be the next great -revelation. As well say it was cruel not to -have known chloroform in the Middle Ages, -when it was sorely needed, or wireless telegraphy -in the Napoleonic wars. There is an -evolution of soul, as well as of biology and -chemistry. Many fine souls have still lacked -this peculiar preparation.”</p> - -<p>This started a little discussion between us. -One said that many persons had lost faith in -the orthodox religions, thus making the need -of a new revelation great. Another spoke disparagingly -of the modern theory of a pervasive -and impersonal energy, from which we come -and to which we return, losing individuality. -At this point Frederick took the lead again.</p> - -<p>“Don’t you let them fool you! There is no -such thing as Bergson’s stream of energy, unless -every individual of us is a well-defined -drop in the stream. That is all a philosopher’s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> -dream, coated with poetry and tinctured with -science.”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Gaylord said she had never heard of -Frederick’s reading Bergson, and I mentioned -that I had read nothing of his, except one -article in a review.</p> - -<p>“I never read Bergson, either, but you could -not live in the world, or pick up a Sunday -supplement, some years ago, without encountering -that stream of energy.”</p> - -<p>“There speaks the newspaper man!” his -mother said, laughing.</p> - -<p>During all these talks with Frederick he had -frequently made the little retraced circle, -which we had been told meant joy. He made -it again now, with vigor, and some one suggested -that he seemed excited.</p> - -<p>“Wouldn’t it excite you to get into actual -touch with your family, after long doubt and -pain? I am no angel, you know, and thank -God I am not above being excited. When I am -I <span class="u">will</span> be dead!” Again he underscored a word.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Gaylord spoke of her feeling of his -presence, of his characteristic personality, saying -that he seemed “just the same.”</p> - -<p>“Plus, Mother dear. You’d like me better -now. I don’t mean that I am perfect, you -know. I’ve got more to learn than I ever -knew existed, but I can see ahead now. And<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> -you <span class="u">would</span> like me better.... I didn’t say love -me better,” he added.</p> - -<p>We talked about the force moving the pencil, -which on this occasion was very strongly applied, -though I was greatly fatigued by the -efforts of the past few days, and I asked Frederick -whether he could move it without my -co-operation. But he said, “Only as you hold -it.” To a suggestion that he expressed himself -not through the pencil, but through me, -he replied, “She is like the battery.”</p> - -<p>From the first Mrs. Gaylord had been experimenting -with planchette and pencil, hoping -to establish direct communication with -Frederick. While placing more emphasis on -a possible communion of thought, without -material aid, he had encouraged these efforts. -“Mother, you can do it, I am sure,” he said -once, “but don’t expect much fluency for some -time. I have not written except through -Margaret yet, but they tell me she is exceptionally -sensitive as a messenger.”</p> - -<p>Referring to this, he was asked whether -others, not known to me personally, had desired -to communicate through me, and replied: -“No, but they have watched her, this -last week.” Ten days later, when the most -amazing of all the communications began to -come, we remembered this. After enumerating<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> -some of the qualifications of a good messenger, -he said: “When that combination is -found we are all interested, if we want to reach -our own people.”</p> - -<p>“Are you over there especially interested in -reaching your own families and friends, or in -reaching persons who might be interested in the -possibility of these communications?”</p> - -<p>“Both. But if you have ever been unable -to communicate with those you love, for months -and years, and have known they were suffering, -then you know which interest is keenest. The -one is immediate and urgent, the other more -or less a matter of evolution.”</p> - -<p>“Shall I try to talk to some of you occasionally?” -I asked. “Or shall I wait for a call?”</p> - -<p>“You are over the top. We shall be glad -to come.”</p> - -<p>“Can you let me know, if you have something -to say through me?”</p> - -<p>“Not always. Sometimes we can suggest -the thought to you.”</p> - -<p>Since that time, however, a more perfect -connection has been established and I am often -conscious of a definite summons. On these -occasions the pencil starts at once, generally -with great vigor, and almost always writes -some message not conveyed to my consciousness -except as I spell it out after the pencil.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span></p> - -<p>Toward the end of the evening, when Mrs. -Gaylord had suggested going back to her -hotel, the pencil made a little circle and some -apparently aimless marks inside it.</p> - -<p>“Is this Frederick?” I asked, wondering at -indecision from him.</p> - -<p>“Yes. I want to do something Mother can’t -forget.... You don’t need any more fancy -stunts, do you?”</p> - -<p>She said she did not, but that she was very -tired and could stay no longer.</p> - -<p>“Oh, don’t go!” he begged. “I’ll go with -you, but I like gassing this way.” Another -characteristic phrase, she said.</p> - -<p>After some further assurances of his frequent -presence and constant watchfulness, she -said she really must go. Frederick then moved -the pencil down to the right corner again, and -wrote, very clearly and carefully, one more “upside-down” -message—a touching little message -of love to “dear Dad and the girls,” which he -signed, “Your boy, Frederick.”</p> - -<p>The next day Mrs. Gaylord went home, -where she immediately destroyed all her black-bordered -cards and stationery and similar -symbols of mourning. She wrote me that she -felt it was false and wicked to mourn for a -son as vitally alive and happy as she now knew -Frederick to be.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span></p> - -<h3>VI</h3> - -<p>One of my letters to Mr. Kendal had been -marked “Urgent.” On the day of Mrs. Gaylord’s -departure a telegram came from him, -asking that a duplicate of this letter be -sent to him at Chicago. It developed later -that all my missives, after some delay, had -been forwarded from his club to his business -address in the South, where, owing to the -uncertainty of his plans, his secretary had -held them, notifying him by wire of the -one evidently demanding immediate attention.</p> - -<p>After some hesitation—reluctant to shock -him by a bald and startling announcement -unaccompanied by any explanation of a situation -concerning which I was convinced he -would be skeptical, if not wholly unsympathetic, -and yet impelled by his wife’s distressed -insistence to reach him before he should -go South again—I telegraphed him that I had -reason to believe I had been in direct communication -for several days with Mary and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> -others, and asked him to return <i>via</i> New -York, if possible.</p> - -<p>Early that evening I took up a pencil, which -moved at once.</p> - -<p>“Manzie has your message.”</p> - -<p>This could be no one but Mary Kendal. -To my inquiry concerning his reception of -my telegram she replied: “He is startled. He -is wiring you.” An expression of her happiness -followed, concluding, “He is thinking -of me ... and I can help him.”</p> - -<p>“Can’t you help him unless he is thinking -of you?”</p> - -<p>Apparently this presented difficulties, but -after long effort and many false starts she -achieved what I felt to be only a part of the -answer she had intended. “On power I can.”</p> - -<p>“You mean that you can influence his work? -His strength, or accomplishment?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, but not his heart and soul.” After -assurances that he would come soon, she -thanked me touchingly.</p> - -<p>Later in the evening she said, “Manzie is -so amazed!” When I asked whether he believed -it, she returned: “He does now. He -has thought....” Details personal to him -followed.</p> - -<p>Still later I asked whether Mr. Kendal had -telegraphed me, and she said that he had not,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> -though he had intended to do so. As a matter -of fact, he had not at that time received my -telegram, but he afterward told me that when -it reached him, twelve hours later, his reactions -were exactly as she had described them. Also, -his intention of telegraphing me immediately -was delayed several hours by business necessities. -This is one of several instances when -a difference of plane has seemed to enable them -to look ahead for a limited space and foretell -events.</p> - -<p>The next morning, for the first time in ten -days, the pencil was merely a piece of dead -wood between my fingers, without impulse. -After long delay it moved slowly, making light -circles, but no words came.</p> - -<p>I knew that Mrs. Gaylord had intended to -make an effort that day to get into touch with -Frederick through a semi-professional medium -in her vicinity, and in the evening I took up -a pencil, wondering whether we could learn -what success had attended the attempt.</p> - -<p>“Mary.”</p> - -<p>Supposing this to be Mary Kendal, I made -some allusion to Mansfield, and was immediately -corrected.</p> - -<p>“No. Mary K.”</p> - -<p>This was surprising, as it was the first time -she had responded since my initial effort to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> -establish this intercourse. She said that Mary -Kendal was not present, and that Frederick -had met his mother at Mrs. Z——’s, with results -only partially satisfactory—which letters -from the Gaylord family afterward verified. -We suggested that this might have been -discouraging, and she replied: “Discouragement -is not for Frederick.”</p> - -<p>“How do you know so much about Frederick -now?” I asked. “Ten days ago you said you -did not know him.”</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Kendal interested me in him. He is -for justice, light, and progress. My work, -too.”</p> - -<p>To my expressed hope that she found life -happier there than it had been for her here she -returned, “Yes, I was glad to come,” following -the statement with the little circle so often -used by the others. She, too, said that it -meant joy. We have since learned that it -means much more, but apparently they were -educating us by degrees. In this case the joy -was not hers alone, for the renewed communion -with her brought me great gladness.</p> - -<p>Our friendship began long ago, in a Western -city, whither she had come in search of health. -Both were young, she a few years the elder. -She was alone. I never saw any member of -her family, and we had few friends in common,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> -but between us, from the day we met, -there was a strong bond of sympathy, which -grew to deep affection, notwithstanding many -differences between us. She was more widely -read than I; I more actively in touch with -life than she. She was a church woman; I -was not. Her point of view was Eastern, -mine at that time entirely Western. Our -many disagreements were argued warmly and -at length, but at bottom each knew that she -could draw at will upon whatever strength or -resource the other possessed, and the debt in -the end was mine, when her death left a blank -to which I could never be quite reconciled.</p> - -<p>Her brief career seemed to contradict the -law of compensation, upon which, until recently, -my philosophy of life has been based. -Meticulously truthful, scrupulous in all things, -strong of purpose, giving of her best to life, -life passed her by with a shrug. Keenly sensitive -to beauty, whether spiritual, intellectual, -or material, she was hampered in its pursuit -by limited health and limited means. For -years she struggled with uncongenial employment -of one sort or another, denying herself -the loaf she needed to procure the hyacinth she -needed more. Longing for life at its fullest -and richest, she scarcely touched its margin. -Yearning for high peaks and wide outlook, she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> -lived always on the plain. When, finally, the -path seemed to be opening before her and she -was pleasantly established, doing a healing and -constructive work for which she was fitted, -she died suddenly, still baffled, having given -the last proof of her love for humanity by -yielding her life for it, worn out by hard work, -combating an epidemic in a college town.</p> - -<p>Rejoiced to learn that at last she was happy, -I asked whether she could tell us of her work, -and she began, easily: “Yes, on the ... on ... -on the....” After long difficulty she accomplished -it. “On the perpetual tour.”</p> - -<p>When she had verified this astonishing statement -as correct, I suggested, “‘Off ag’in, on -ag’in, gone ag’in’?”</p> - -<p>“That’s it.” For an eager spirit like Mary -K.’s no happier heaven could be imagined.</p> - -<p>Replying to further questions, she said that -it was not just luck that I had caught her that -first night. No, neither had she come to me -from the other side of the world. “I’ve been -working on you for a month,” she said. “Ever -since V—— was here.” It was considerably -more than a month, but time and place seem -to have little significance to those on her plane.</p> - -<p>Shortly after this Annie Manning interrupted -again. It was said that Mary K. knew -Annie Manning and wished me to find her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> -brother. Inquiry developed the fact that he -was the brother mentioned the first night I -used planchette. His name was given as -James Manning, and his address, Albany, New -York. “United States Ho....” We could -not get beyond that. At one time the word -seemed to be “Hotel.” Unable to find any -United States Hotel listed in Albany, I suggested -Saratoga, but this was not accepted. -Repeatedly asked to write to him, I could obtain -no address.</p> - -<p>Afterward the address was given as Albany, -but not New York. Long efforts to write the -name of the state resulted in “I ...,” ending -in wavy lines. Suggestions of Illinois and -Iowa brought negatives, but the mention of -Indiana was greeted with a quick, “Yes.” -Vain and fatiguing efforts to get the rest of -the address resulted in the indefinite “United -States Ho ...” and at last I gave it up, disappointed.</p> - -<p>An hour later Annie Manning came again, -but I asked her to let me talk to Mary K.</p> - -<p>“Here! Mary K.,” was the prompt response. -“Do you remember all the good -times?” I told her I did, and thought of -them often. “All the many ae ... an....” -There I lost it. She began it many times, in -many ways, apparently trying to get a momentum<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> -that would carry her through. “All -the many am ... I mean ae ... I meant to -say anm....” Too tired to continue, again I -abandoned the attempt.</p> - -<p>Annie Manning came once more, making -futile efforts to give me her brother’s address. -She finally said it was “just United States -Home.” Once she wrote, “just Home.” And -once, “Honest, that’s all.”</p> - -<p>I have never learned the whole truth about -Annie Manning, who ceased, after the first -fortnight, to manifest herself; whether because -she lacked perseverance or because other -influences were already at work, I do not know.</p> - -<p>The next day I took up the pencil, expecting -Mary Kendal, with news of her husband, -but Mary K.’s strong, underlined signature -greeted me instead. She said that Mr. Kendal -was coming, adding: “On cen ... cent....”</p> - -<p>“Century?” I suggested. “Twentieth Century -Limited?”</p> - -<p>“No ... cen ... ce ... cent....” Finally, -she agreed to Century—compromised on it, I -learned later. Within five minutes a telegram -came from Mr. Kendall—the first word I had -received from him—saying that he would -arrive in New York Sunday or Monday.</p> - -<p>When I told him of this experience he exclaimed: -“Central! New York Central!”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> -Which, for some reason, had not occurred to -me. At the hour when Mary K. gave me -this information he had ordered, at his club in -Chicago, a ticket for the Lake Shore Limited—like -the Twentieth Century, a New York Central -train. Later, having the ticket actually in -his possession, he telegraphed me that he -would come by that train, reaching New York -Sunday evening, but afterward changed to another -road.</p> - -<p>This second message arrived Saturday afternoon, -and I at once inquired of Mary K. why -she had said “Century.” Instead of her -familiar signature, however, “Frederick” was -written.</p> - -<p>Having ascertained that this was Frederick -himself, and not a message about him, I asked -him to go on.</p> - -<p>“The Family are happy.” At no time during -this brief interview had I the slightest -inkling of what was coming. As he had been -always so courteous in acknowledgment, the -first letters led me to think he was beginning -his customary “Thank you.” Saying that -their happiness added greatly to my own, I -asked if he had anything else to say.</p> - -<p>“Yes. At your service.... At the next -large family reunion you both will be present, -won’t you?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span></p> - -<p>I said we would try to be, and again he wrote -his name, indicating that he had nothing more -to say, whereupon I called Mary K., reproached -her for inaccuracy, and asked why she had said -Mansfield Kendal would come by the Century.</p> - -<p>Apparently despairing of penetrating such -density, she replied, merely: “He wanted to -leave to-day.” Later in the afternoon she said, -“He will be perfectly ready to believe,” which -seemed to me highly improbable.</p> - -<p>Some things written that afternoon came to -my mind before they did to my fingers, and I -asked whether she could not write the messages -without first telling me what they were to be.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” she returned, “but it is harder for -us and more exhausting for you.” Weeks -afterward, when this separate control of mind -and pencil had been more fully demonstrated, -it was more fully explained.</p> - -<p>Remembering her statement that her work -took her “on perpetual tour,” I asked how long -she would be here.</p> - -<p>“I shall be near you for months,” she said, -and then began again her never wholly relinquished -effort to write the message first -attempted two days before. “Ao ... an ... -aon ... aem ... aeons ago ...”—here she made -a frantic little joy circle—“... we were lovers.”</p> - -<p>This surprised me, for it seemed unlike her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> -and was absolutely foreign to my thought, but -when she had verified it, I asked: “Is reincarnation -true, then?”</p> - -<p>“No. Aeons ago ... I was a friend of yours -in ——.” She mentioned a person whom I have -known all my life. Again this seemed utter nonsense, -but again she verified it. “We were concerned -in being more and more curiously limited -... more and more animal.” Some of this -came readily, some with halting and false starts, -which—like Frederick—she crossed out herself.</p> - -<p>At first this, too, seemed devoid of meaning, -but after a little thought I asked whether she -meant that we had been associated in some way -as pure spirit.</p> - -<p>“Everybody was pure spirit once, and will -be again,” was the rapid reply.</p> - -<p>“Is this life a punishment, then?”</p> - -<p>“No, a beginning of individuality.”</p> - -<p>“Does the individual continue to exist -forever?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“As pure spirit?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Then how were we associated as pure -spirit?”</p> - -<p>“We were the same purpose.”</p> - -<p>Completely puzzled, I asked, “Why do you -say we were friends in ——?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span></p> - -<p>“He was the larger purpose, of which we -were a part.”</p> - -<p>“The original purpose is not all the same, -then?”</p> - -<p>“No, there are many purposes in the beginning, -but only one in the end.”</p> - -<p>“Does Frederick know all this?”</p> - -<p>“All of it.”</p> - -<p>When she said good night, she added, “God -bless you,” and I asked: “Mary K., how do -you see God? Frederick sees Him as light in -dark places.”</p> - -<p>“Justice, light, progress.”</p> - -<p>“Is that God, or God’s work?”</p> - -<p>“Tested.”</p> - -<p>“You mean that you have tested it?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>The next day, Sunday—two weeks from -the day she had first talked to me through -planchette—she returned to this theme, which -still seemed somewhat fantastic to my practical -and pragmatical mind, with further allusions -to our long association.</p> - -<p>During the days of confusion and uncertainty -before Mr. Kendal replied to my telegram, -when his wife constantly implored me -to write to him again, and I as constantly refused, -insisting that she first show cause why -she had misled me about his movements and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> -whereabouts, I wrung from her an admission -that in some way he had put her so far from -him that she neither knew nor could learn -anything about him, except that he suffered -and needed her, which both Mary K. and -Frederick verified. I said once to Mary K. -that it was incredible that this could be, to -which she laconically returned, “It can.” -After his actual receipt of my telegram, -Mary Kendal never returned to me until she -came with him, and the character of her -earlier banishment, and consequent inability -to perceive his movements, was still unexplained.</p> - -<p>As the hour of his arrival approached I grew -uneasy, and asked Mary K. whether he came -happily or in dread.</p> - -<p>“Certainly with o”—the joy circle, and -as we have since learned, the circle of completion.</p> - -<p>When I asked her to write it out in full -to reassure me, the pencil ran back, underscoring -“certainly.” She said further -that Mary Kendal was with him, and very -happy.</p> - -<p>“Has Mary Kendal been very unhappy?” -I asked.</p> - -<p>“No. Aeons ago they were one purpose.”</p> - -<p>“What has that to do with it?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span></p> - -<p>“She knew that he must answer if she could -reach him.”</p> - -<p>“Does that hold good of evil purpose, -too?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span></p> - -<h3>VII</h3> - -<p>It seemed to me that if Mr. Kendal had not -received my letters, and was in possession only -of the meager information contained in my telegram, -it was best that he should read the record -of the earlier interviews with his wife before coming -to communicate with her, and to that end -the book containing the whole story was to be -sent to his club before his arrival. Having decided -this, it occurred to me to consult Mary K., -who emphatically negatived the plan.</p> - -<p>“No. Mary Kendal is most anxious to tell -him herself now.” She told us to make brief -explanations, adding: “All he needs now is -Mary Kendal.”</p> - -<p>Shortly afterward Mary K.’s now familiar -summons—an indescribable sensation in the -arm or hand—recalled me to the pencil, and -she wrote, quickly and firmly: “Mary Kendal -wants you to change your record.”</p> - -<p>Surprised, I asked what change she wished, -and was told to take out everything relating -to her banishment from Mansfield’s life, because<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> -she preferred to tell him that in her own -way.</p> - -<p>“Shall I show him the record at all?” I -asked.</p> - -<p>“Yes, but take that out first.” Fortunately, -the record is kept in a loose-leaf, typewritten -book, so this was not difficult.</p> - -<p>As the day wore on I grew more and more -nervous. Suppose he should be more hurt -than helped? Suppose we should fail? Rarely -in my life have I dreaded anything so much, -or felt so little confidence in anything I had -deliberately undertaken to do. By nine o’clock -I was in a nervous chill. Meanwhile Mr. -Kendal telephoned that he had found my letters, -which had been returned to his club, and -that he would join us presently.</p> - -<p>Upon his arrival he told us that he had been -one of the early members of the Society for -Psychical Research in this country, and had -spent several years investigating phenomena of -this nature, together with various other young -men, under the general supervision of Prof. -William James, Dr. Minot Savage, and others -of that group. He mentioned some of the -frauds and self-deceptions uncovered at that -time, but said he believed the ultimate conclusion -to have been that there were certain -well-authenticated phenomena for which no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> -logical or scientific explanation had been -found.</p> - -<p>Nothing that he said, however, indicated to -the slightest degree his attitude toward the -question in hand, and I received an impression -that his mood was critical, which steadied me. -The disappointment, should we fail, would be -less hideous. In the end, he suggested a trial, -and after preparing the table, Cass left us alone.</p> - -<p>The pencil started almost immediately, with -a strange, jerkily rhythmical movement—due -possibly to Mary’s agitation, possibly to mine, -but wrote very distinctly, without pause or -faltering. It was evident at once that the -message conveyed more to him than its words -suggested.</p> - -<p>Much later in the evening he told me that -for some time after Mary left him he had believed -that if she still existed anywhere in -the universe she would contrive somehow to -let him know; but as months had passed into -years, with no sign from her, while never entirely -losing faith in the continued integrity -of the individual after death, his despair had -deepened with his growing conviction that -“the drop that was Mary” had been swept -on in the stream and forever lost to him. -Widely read in philosophies and unable to forget -them, steeped—despite his practical occupation—in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> -scientific and intellectual theory, -he had feared to rely upon a reunion in a future -of which no proof had been given him, lest he -be grounding his faith in the sands of his own -hope.</p> - -<p>It was to this unhappy conviction—a conviction -so strong in its negation that for a time -she had been unable to penetrate in any way -the psychic atmosphere it created—that she -addressed herself in those first written lines. -She used, also, her intimate name for him, -which I had never heard, and his for her, -which I knew, although I supposed the peculiar -spelling used on this occasion to be an error, -until he told me otherwise.</p> - -<p>He asked one or two questions about personal -matters, which I assumed to be in the -nature of tests, which she answered briefly, -though not very specifically, concluding: “I -cannot tell you anything to-night, except that -I am so happy. I had lost you, and you are -found again. Let me talk to you to-morrow.”</p> - -<p>Some time later he wanted to know why he -could not read her mind direct, and she replied: -“You can, in time, if you will let me in, and -learn. We can have such communion as we -never had before, because one veil is now removed. -But that will take time to learn. It -is true. It can be.... Take me into your<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> -heart and soul joyfully, without resentment or -grief, and you will soon learn to read my -thoughts as I have read yours since I seemed to -leave you.</p> - -<p>“Then I can tell you things that I cannot -say through any messenger.... You can -learn.... All I want now is to convince you -that I am alive and longing to be with you and -to have communication directly with you. It -is impossible for me to do that alone. But I -had to reach you somehow, and Margaret was -the first way I found.”</p> - -<p>We talked a little of the possibility of his -establishing direct communication with her. I -asked whether he could use a pencil in this -way, and she returned: “Yes, if he will try -every day, he could in time, I think. There is -always a way for us to reach our dearest ones, -if they only persevere.”</p> - -<p>During a pause, with the pencil-point still -resting on the paper, I told him of Mary K.’s -assertion that eons ago some of us had been -one and that we still continue one in purpose. -Mary Kendal took it up immediately.</p> - -<p>“Manzie, you and I are the same purpose. -That is the reason that, once reunited, we cannot -be separated, except by our deliberate -yielding to a different and disintegrating purpose. -That is the eternal battle—between the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> -purposes of progress and building and the purposes -of disintegration. It goes on in your -life, and it goes on less bitterly in ours. Help -me build, as we began, toward the great unity.... -All of us here are working against those -forces of disintegration so rife in your life now, -and every bit of retention of unity that is for -upbuilding helps us and helps the great purpose -for which we work.... You and I began -working for that long ago, and each of us will -always continue to work for it. But we shall -be happier if we do it consciously together.... -Don’t think of me as far away.... We will welcome -to our unity anything or anybody who -strengthens the purpose, but let us always hold -fast to each other.”</p> - -<p>Here was the first actual statement, however -brief and incomplete, of that theory of life which -seems—to us who received it first, at least—so -rational, and so full of inspiration and hope.</p> - -<p>Referring to her phrase, “all of us here,” he -asked: “Is ‘here’ a place, or a state, or both?”</p> - -<p>“Both,” she answered, quickly. “It is the -beginning of eternal life.” After a moment, -she added: “The state is fluid; the place is -ephemeral.”</p> - -<p>“I believe it!” he exclaimed. “That’s more -nearly an explanation than anything I ever -heard before.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span></p> - -<p>“This is more nearly the truth than anything -you ever heard before. That’s why.... -Truth in your life is comparative. Here it is -absolute, but not dogmatic.”</p> - -<p>He said that she had not been given to the -use of a philosophic vocabulary in this life, -and must have acquired it there, to which, at -the moment, she made no response.</p> - -<p>Some time after Cass rejoined us Mr. Kendal -asked how much farther, or how much more -clearly, they could see about purely business or -political matters than we.</p> - -<p>“We can see much farther, but we are not -permitted to tell you, except by ethical suggestion. -Part of your development comes -through your struggle to decide, and while we -see your struggle, we can help only by giving -you as much of our strength and light as -you can take. It <span class="u">is</span> a moral universe, Manzie.” -The underscoring is hers.</p> - -<p>Out of his wide experience with psychic -phenomena, he gave me much comfort regarding -the inaccuracies and misleading statements -that had so greatly disquieted me. He argued -that these discrepancies might easily be caused -by some factor or factors unknown to us, -operating on another plane, and was entirely -untroubled by them. In this connection, -Mary K. said to me the next day: “We<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> -regard things successfully started as accomplished.”</p> - -<p>[Some weeks later Mr. Kendal suggested -another possible reason for these apparent inaccuracies, -using as a comparison a familiar -experiment in physics. He reminded us that -if a rod be projected in a straight line between -the eye and a coin at the bottom of a bowl -of water, its tip will miss the coin by a distance -varying with the angle of vision and the -depth of the water. Assuming that the difference -between this plane and the next must -be vastly greater than that between air and -water, he argued that there might be a factor -comparable to this deflection of ray influencing -their perception of material, specific details -of this plane—a simile which Mary K. subsequently -characterized as “almost perfect.”]</p> - -<p>It was three o’clock in the morning when -Mr. Kendal left us to return to his club—but -he went convinced. Like Mrs. Gaylord, his -confidence was inspired not only by the temper -and tenor of the messages he had received, -but by the accompanying consciousness of a -familiar personality, akin to the certainty of -identity one feels in talking to a friend by telephone -or in reading a characteristic letter. Like -her, too, he said that in several instances his -unspoken thought had been directly answered.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span></p> - -<p>The next day we resumed our conversation—for -it amounted to that—with Mary.</p> - -<p>“There will be hours, and sometimes days, -when you cannot feel me, just at first,” she -warned him. “But I beg of you, do not let -the doubts prevail. I shall be there, unless -that disintegrating force drives me away. -That’s a power we here cannot fight alone. -Faith is not the desire to believe, as some men -have said. It is the thread that connects -your life and ours, and when it is broken we -are powerless to reach you.”</p> - -<p>We spoke again of inaccuracies concerning -mundane activities, and he elaborated somewhat -his theory that it is unwise to ask and -unsafe to rely upon answers about concrete, -specific things, because in translating them into -terms of our plane we are apt to overlook some -transforming, unknown factor, and so go wrong.</p> - -<p>“Besides that,” Mary took up the discussion, -“you must work out your problem yourself. -We can only help you definitely and directly -in the larger things that pertain to the life of -our purpose. Your present problem may be -solved in any of several ways, and will perhaps -affect the ephemeral part of your life. -Your greater concern, and my only concern, -is with the fluid part, which we shall share -together always, now.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span></p> - -<p>He asked, after some further talk, whether -there was danger of my being exploited or -employed by malign influences—a suggestion -entirely new to me—to which she replied in -the negative, adding: “Trust us for that. Her -own purpose is definite, and with that foundation, -we can protect her fully.” Apparently -she underestimated the strength of the enemy, -or perhaps she merely disregarded the temporary -confusion created by occasional sorties.</p> - -<p>Thinking that he might know something -about New Albany, Indiana, I told him of the -Annie Manning episode and my failure to ascertain -her brother’s address. Our conversation -was interrupted by an unsigned statement -that the brother was not in New Albany, -Indiana, but in Albany, New Hampshire, flatly -contradicting a previous statement. My impatient -comment was answered by an assurance -that Annie Manning had recently passed -to the next plane and was confused. A suggestion -that possibly Annie Manning was one -of the malign forces mentioned brought no -response, unless Mary Kendal’s next words -constituted an indirect reply.</p> - -<p>“Manzie dear, ... you will have entirely -different forces working against you, from -those trying to control Margaret, but we will -truly and surely protect you both.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span></p> - -<p>Again, following a period of silence, she wrote -a brisk reply to his unspoken thought, adding, -when he commented upon it: “You see, I do -know what is in your mind, and the time may -not be far away when you can read mine as -clearly. I don’t always answer your thought, -because Margaret has still some fear of being -deceived in her reception of my message, and -it is hard, but as she works with us she will -learn unconsciously to yield, just as you will -learn to detect my presence.”</p> - -<p>“Is there anything I can do to help you or -your work?” he asked. “Or must it be all -take and no give with us?”</p> - -<p>I have no record of her reply. She began -by saying that any actively constructive effort -here helped them there, because it helped the -great purpose. This was followed by a message -so intimately and exquisitely his that I -felt it almost a desecration to be the messenger -through whom it necessarily came. He took -that part of the roll away with him, and I am -glad to say that twenty-four hours later no -word of it remained in my memory. It was -truly his.</p> - -<p>The next night he came again, very happily. -She, too, was in a lightsome mood, and while -there was some serious talk, most of it was -pure effervescence, frequently witty, sometimes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> -brilliant. Unfortunately, little of this -may be quoted, either because of its too personal -character or because, like much amusing -conversation, it was too essentially of the mood -and the moment to bear translation into type.</p> - -<p>Constantly he exclaimed at the characteristic -quality of her repartee, to my great surprise. -I said that I had never seen this merry side of -her, and had not dreamed that it existed, to -which she replied: “You never saw us when -we were not in trouble—before.”</p> - -<p>“Let me in and don’t chafe,” she told him, -in one of her more serious moments, “and I -can tell you much of what I see ahead. Grief, -resentment, bitterness and doubt are our -highest barriers. There is no cause for grief -in a relation closer than your life there knows. -There is no ground for resentment in the price -we pay. There can be no bitterness in growth -and development together—quicker growth, -fuller development, than could be possible if -one of us were not here. It is largely in the -point of view, this thing that is called grief.”</p> - -<p>In the course of their drifting talk he asked -her how to go about starting persons who have -no starting-point—“no peg to hang things -on.”</p> - -<p>“Sometimes a bomb is effective. But the -fragments are not always efficient.” We<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> -laughed, and she added: “They just have to -wait and grow up, Manzie dear. We learn -here that our frantic haste there has been -foolish. Growth must take its own time.... -No, I didn’t!” I had called attention to her -failure to cross a t, and she returned to it -with a flourish. Several times thereafter she -made a little joke by conspicuously dotting -her i’s.</p> - -<p>In the midst of one ecstatic whirl she paused -to inquire: “Who ever started the foolish -notion that there was no life beyond that one? -Was he a philosopher, or a dyspeptic, or both?” -And again, following some amusing nonsense, -“You don’t think this would sound trivial to -a scientific investigator, do you?”</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter with the scientific type -of mind?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Mostly it’s pure intellect—and life isn’t.”</p> - -<p>During another moment of jesting he said: -“I don’t think I’ll bother to walk home. I’ll -just float.”</p> - -<p>“Come on! We’ll float together,” she retorted. -“Do you raise that, or call?”</p> - -<p>Laughing, he returned: “I’ll pass the buck -to Saint Peter,” whereupon she intimated that -Saint Peter was not immediately available.</p> - -<p>“Who hold the keys?”</p> - -<p>“You hold your own—not transferable.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span></p> - -<p>“You are mostly pure idealist,” was another -comment, a little later, replying to something -he said about his own attitude toward life, -“and got lost for a while in the dark.” He -began to say that he should hardly have called -himself an idealist, but already she was answering. -“A true idealist is not a man who -limits life to ideas, but a man who puts his -ideals into life.”</p> - -<p>One otherwise serious statement, concerning -the influence of “hard-headed, intelligent -men who are not afraid to testify to their -faith” in these revelations, was given a humorous -touch by the signature, “Missionary -Mary.”</p> - -<p>“Do you want me to go forth and testify, -also?” I asked.</p> - -<p>“No, you do it, and that involves too much,” -she replied. “Let your converts testify. You -go on playing hermit.”</p> - -<p>“Have you seen William James?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“He is instructing many of us. Some of -my newly acquired vocabulary he taught me. -He is more certain and less philosophical than -he was. The will to believe has given way to -the duty of faith. He has learned more quickly -than most do, because he is truly sincere and -had cultivated his ground well. Now he is still -a leader of thought and accomplishment, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> -his instruction is dynamic.... He is a very -fine force, Manzie, and is doing magnificent -work here, but he no longer smothers it in -language.”</p> - -<p>Much of this parting interview must be -omitted.</p> - -<p>At nine o’clock Sunday night Mr. Kendal -had approached this experience in a state of -high nervous tension. At midnight on Tuesday, -fifty-one hours later, he left us to return home, -imbued, like Mrs. Gaylord, with the vitalizing -quality of this touch with the unseen and -carrying with him the happy conviction that -he did not go alone.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span></p> - -<h3>VIII</h3> - -<p>Up to this time the messages, while frequently -impersonal in tenor, had seemed entirely -personal in direction. It happened, fortunately, -that both Mrs. Gaylord and Mr. Kendal -were more interested in the wide meaning and -purpose of life than in the narrow, individual -details of its conduct, and to that interest -chiefly those nearest them on the next plane -had addressed themselves. The rapidity with -which these communications came, and their -surprising volume, was attributed to the fact -that in both cases the time in which they -could be given through me was limited.</p> - -<p>Aside from the attendant nervous strain—which -has been less, on the whole, than one -would expect, probably because these efforts -have been followed by such sound and refreshing -sleep as I had not known before in years—the -manual labor involved in taking these long -messages, and in typewriting them afterward, -has been excessive. Assuming, however, that -this flood of disclosure would be diminished<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> -when the necessity for immediate expression -passed, I looked forward to leisure and opportunity -for some long talks with Mary K., -which should be more detailed and personal -than our somewhat fragmentary intercourse -thus far had been.</p> - -<p>This was briefly delayed by requests to -establish interplane communication for one or -two other friends, whose need was more imperative -than my own, when significant and -beautiful messages—not to be quoted here—were -obtained. One of these slightly elaborated -the now familiar idea of the close and -intimate relation of certain persons to one -another, because of their union in a common -and eternal purpose. In a letter to Mr. Kendal -I mentioned this, adding: “It begins to -look like a gospel, doesn’t it?”</p> - -<p>Finally, however, my own opportunity came, -on Thursday, March 21st, but instead of permitting -me to propound any of the many questions -I had in mind, Mary K. delivered a detailed -message of instruction that left me -astounded and incredulous. Most of this is -too personal to repeat, but some of it must be -quoted, in view of what followed.</p> - -<p>“...We have much to tell, and few through -whom to tell it. You have the sensitiveness to -receive and the power to convince. When you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> -have fully grasped the meaning of what we -have to tell, you must make it known, but not -before we give you the whole of it. You will -get the truth slowly, through helping many -people, but keep the full knowledge frankly -back until it is all told.... Let them know -you are withholding it, but do not let them -have it in fragments.”</p> - -<p>“You mean they are not to be told of the -division of original purpose into individual -life?”</p> - -<p>“No, they must have that to build on. But -there will be more given to you in fragments. -Piece it together for yourself, but do not give -it to any one as long as you are still receiving -it.... The light is breaking, and you are the -<span class="strike">aces</span> ... accustomed ...”—later she returned, -to write “accredited” over this word. I think -neither was what she tried for. Perhaps accessible?—“... -force to make the meaning -clear.... It is what we have long sought and -just found. That is the reason we are giving -you things never told before. You are to -pass them on when the time comes.... This -is your work, your contribution to the great -purpose, which will be revealed to you little -by little. Keep clear of disturbing contacts, -as you have done, and keep your purpose true. -You have already recognized this as a gospel.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> -It is more. It is a faith. Be true to it and -it will save many from suffering. That is the -reason I am here now and shall remain. I am -the force used by greater forces to reach the -world through you. We have always been the -same purpose, and I can reach you freely.” -After an allusion to mental purpose, she defined -it thus: “Mental purpose is the force -that convinces men. Moral purpose is that -which persuades them. We prefer conviction. -It lasts, where persuasion fades. Nothing -more now, but this is only the beginning. -Mary K.”</p> - -<p>After the first phrase, save for one or two -brief pauses, this long communication was so -rapidly written that I could not follow it with -my left hand, though I made several attempts, -as my right arm became greatly fatigued. At -no time had I the slightest impression of what -was to be said, and during most of it I was -too bewildered to think clearly, my mind being -filled with blank wonder and vague questioning, -scarcely formulated, yet immediately -answered.</p> - -<p>The next day she resumed her exhortation.</p> - -<p>“... This is war work. It is going to make -the war seem what it is, a reawakening of the -souls of men. There is no higher duty than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> -to make a man know his own soul and the souls -of his fellows. The war will be justified only -if this result is obtained. We work for that -here, and we ask you to help us. There can -be no victory unless this is accomplished.... -Be true to your purpose and ours, and help -us build for light and progress, against the -forces of doubt and disintegration.”</p> - -<p>To an inquiry about Germany, apropos of -her mention of the war, she replied: “Germany -is the united purpose of fear. It is her -weapon and her weakness, and it is to defeat -the force she symbolizes that we all work.... -There you have the real war, the battle that -has gone on from the beginning. This is one -of the crises of eternity.”</p> - -<p>Here I thought of certain past wars, when -the victorious barbarians set civilization back.</p> - -<p>“Sometimes the forces of disintegration have -won, sometimes we. But their victory is never -permanent, because they are negative and we -are positive. They delay us, but we live and -work. We shall win in the end, but that is -far away. We call you to fight with the forces -of life and light. You can do more with us -than you can alone.”</p> - -<p>The following day found me still incredulous, -and she said:</p> - -<p>“... Tell them that you are doing the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> -people’s work, under secret orders, and that -they will perhaps know presently what it is. -They will all recognize it when it is given to -them, except those souls not mentally free -from fear.”</p> - -<p>From this she passed immediately into the -first of that remarkable series of communications -which she has called Lessons. Again the -writing was so rapid that my arm ached to -the shoulder, long before she had finished, -from the incessant movement to and fro across -the table, and again my mind was filled with -blank amazement.</p> - -<p>Perhaps it should be stated that, although -I have written more or less light fiction during -the past fifteen years, literary composition is -to me a slow and laborious exercise. Especially -is this true of opening paragraphs, which -generally require many hours of work. Unfortunately, -the time consumed in writing one -of these Lessons was never noted, but with -one or two exceptions, when I was too tired -to receive readily, they were done without -hesitation and with extraordinary rapidity. -Also, while in personal messages the mental -impression is sometimes given to me a little -before the physical movement occurs, never -during the writing of the Lessons had I the -slightest inkling of what was to follow. One<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> -by one the words were revealed by the moving -pencil, my principal sensations being wonder -and incredulity. Until frequent repetition had -accustomed me to this experience, I felt as if -I must be dreaming.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span></p> - -<h2>Part II<br /> -<span class="smaller">THE LESSONS</span></h2> - -<p>“<i>The lessons came from great forces combined. They -represent unity of all purposes, and were framed by the -co-operation and agreement of the greatest forces of each -constructive purpose, to reach the consciousness of men in -general terms of your plane.</i>”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span></p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span></p> - -<h3>I</h3> - -<p class="right"><i>March 23d.</i></p> - -<p>“All pure purpose is fearless, whether for -good or evil, but few humans are pure -purpose, and the first fight is in themselves. -All this has been said before in effect, but -based on other premises. This is the first -time the original purpose has been defined and -explained. For centuries men have sought the -source of life. This is the first time they have -been ready to accept the whole truth about -that, or to be prepared for the next step.</p> - -<p>“Once convinced that chaos grew from purposes -born of the Force Beyond Perfection, -purposes perfect from the beginning, but at -war because they contained within themselves -all the elements of life and of conflict—once -convinced of this, men will gradually find their -own clear purposes defined, and the war within -themselves will cease. They will choose definitely -to build or to destroy, to be honest or -dishonest. Self-deception will be less easy or -possible, and the fight will then be with you,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> -as it is now with us, between forces clearly indicated. -Now you are all confused by a war -within a war, infinitely continued. Conflict -multiplied by the number of purposes in each -purpose. This has been recognized, but the -remedy has never been clearly found. It lies -in the conviction that force of every nature is -purpose, which has existed from the beginning, -and that the force which builds is beneficent -and may be clearly segregated and united.</p> - -<p>“The Force Beyond Perfection is composed -of all things, and therefore understands all -things. The original purposes were all good, -and will be again, if they can all become intelligent. -They became evil through attraction -of like for like, akin to your atomic attraction, -and chaos resulted. This struggle created a -desire and determination to exist in concrete -form, to add a new force to the forces of -chaos. That was a great conflict, resulting in -a tie. Purposes became fused in the same individual, -and the battle infinitely multiplied, -but yet not lost. Now the effort of both participants -is for united purpose again, and the -fusion of purposes in each individual makes the -confusion greater and the fight more bitter. -Men are swayed first by one purpose and then -by another, and are themselves unable to distinguish -between good and evil.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span></p> - -<p>“This precipitated the Great War with you, -the purposes in the Central Empires being more -nearly united than elsewhere. Their purposes -are fundamentally destructive, because fundamentally -autocratic, based on fear, and -would ultimately reduce civilization to infancy -again. The reason Germany has been able to -fight so long is because her purpose is conscious, -while the Allies fight blindly but determinedly, -moved by purposes they do not recognize -and yet must obey. They talk of unity, -but do not perceive its nature. They are misled -by phrases hollow, but plausible, and do not -perceive them to be the enemy in disguise—not -the mortal enemy, but the ancient purpose, -divided into many.</p> - -<p>“The light is beginning to break now, and -the hour has almost come for the forces of -construction to unite and smite powerfully. -But it must be consciously, as the purpose of -construction, if the victory is to be permanent -or truly for progress. Men must learn to -choose their purposes consciously and intelligently, -to be definitely and actually building -for a definite and actual future. There is too -much quarreling about ways and means, and -too little recognition of the goal. Too much -self, and too little sympathy. This is equally -true of all classes of society. Materialism has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> -been rank in the tenement and in the cottage, -as in palace and counting-room.</p> - -<p>“It is a common purpose we serve, for building -or for tearing down. It is impossible to be -consistently for both continuously. That has -made the Great War, and that is the struggle -that must be settled in the minds of men -before there can be peace on earth or lasting -and progressive brotherhood.</p> - -<p>“This is the first lesson.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span></p> - -<h3>II</h3> - -<p class="right"><i>March 26th.</i></p> - -<p>“This is the second lesson.</p> - -<p>“The forces of disintegration are gathering -for a titanic struggle, of which your Great War -is only the beginning. Had Germany won -there, they would have a foothold with you -that we would find it difficult, if not impossible, -to combat effectively for many years. -The spirits of free men would have been soiled -with fear and despair, and the forces of doubt -and disintegration would have held civilization -captive.</p> - -<p>“Germany has felt her forces weaken and -fail under the onslaught of freedom, light, and -progress, and the forces of disintegration are -deserting her. She is left alone, to work her -way, through mazes of despair, back to a place -in the sun. She must find her own way. She -chose to follow the forces of destruction, and -they will surely destroy her.</p> - -<p>“But the forces she followed are uniting for -a fiercer fight, more subtle, more deadly, more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> -furious. Hidden beneath the garments of -peace and good will, they make ready to poison -the minds of men before destroying their forces -and delaying their purposes.</p> - -<p>“This is the battle to which we call you and -all who are for progress. This is the message -you are to give the world, to warn them of -the danger at hand. The time has come when -men must choose consciously to fight for or -against the forces of construction. They are -confused from the conflict within themselves, -running hither and thither, calling for help -from the gods they have made unto themselves, -but looking only to the present good, perceiving -only the present purpose, fearing only the -present defeat. They will find no help from -these gods, for they have impotent feet of -clay.</p> - -<p>“The forces of disintegration have made -friends with the poor and the needy, and have -fed them husks of brotherhood. They have -made friends with the powerful and rich, and -have tempted them with earth and its kingdoms. -They have fed the artist falsehoods, -and the writer fear of fear. They have touched -the priest with tainted hands, and rulers with -fear of the people. They have entered the -home and rent it asunder, and the temple is a -market-place. These are the works of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> -purposes we fight, and thus do they disguise -themselves. Unless this can be brought home -to the souls of men, the fight will be long and -bitter.</p> - -<p>“Forget the class and remember the man. -Forget the price and remember the pearl. -Forget the labor and remember the fruit. Forget -the temple and remember God.</p> - -<p>“Men fight together for one end alone—the -purpose for which they live. It is hard to -find there, in the confusion of personal conflict, -but the time is at hand when it must be -found.</p> - -<p>“The forces of light are positive. Shun -negation. The forces of freedom are individual. -Shun dependence. The forces of progress -are fearless. Shun fearful combinations. -Work together as individuals, consciously cooperating, -not as sheep. You will learn to -think. You will learn to feel. You will learn -to see. Then we may move on to the next -phase of development toward the great purpose.</p> - -<p>“The forces of disintegration are wily, but -fearful. Bullies and cowards. But when they -are united in sufficiently strong numbers, fearless -and unscrupulous. They fear the reawakening -of the forces of progress in your life. -This is the reason they gather now, to smite<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> -while the world is weary. Disguised as purposes -of light, they hope for welcome.</p> - -<p>“This is our call to arms. Arouse ye! -Come forth for freedom, light, justice, and -progress—consciously, freely, strongly.</p> - -<p>“This is the second lesson.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span></p> - -<h3>III</h3> - -<p class="right"><i>March 31st.</i></p> - -<p>“This is the third lesson.</p> - -<p>“When men learn that the Force Beyond -Perfection is purpose, which has personified itself -in them, they will grow to feel the possibilities -to which they have heretofore been -insensible.</p> - -<p>“Life is purpose. Purpose is force. Force is -personality, from highest to lowest, from saint -to stick and stone. Men have called it many -things, but what it is none have perceived -clearly.</p> - -<p>“Eternal purpose is perfect justice, perfect -fearlessness, perfect understanding, perfect honesty, -perfect sympathy, perfect unity, and -eternal growth, which is progress perfectly expressed. -This is the end for which we work. -Not Nirvana. Not oblivion. Not power stagnant -and powerless. But a perfect balance, -progressing to purposes and powers as yet undreamed. -This is the Eternal Purpose, toward -which all purpose moves. Purposes of construction<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> -consciously and determinedly, purposes -of destruction unwillingly and inevitably. -They fear us, they fight us, they seek to destroy -us, not perceiving that they must in -the end rejoin us, having left us in the beginning.</p> - -<p>“To bring this home to the souls of men is -our first duty, and for that reason those of us -nearest to your life work first among men. -Purpose frees forces you but dimly apprehend, -and free forces construct a foundation in your -life for the perfect unity of Eternal Purpose.</p> - -<p>“Any force not free destroys itself. Any -good not animated and active destroys itself. -Force imprisoned becomes destruction. Good -imprisoned becomes evil. All are fundamentally -good, fundamentally beneficent, but have -become powers for destruction through lack -of progressive development and exercise.</p> - -<p>“All men are fusions of many purposes, -moved by many forces, answering to many -calls. Each responds to the call of his dominant -purpose, which flows and fluctuates with -his life’s struggle. One day he destroys, and -cares not. One day he builds, and marvels at -his power. One day he sleeps and forgets. -One day he fights to the death for a purpose -he had not yesterday, and loses to-morrow. -This is the life of man, and this our field of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> -battle. There are other lives, other struggles, -other lessons to learn, but this is the first.</p> - -<p>“Purpose manifests itself in man inevitably -in action. His purpose is not what he believes, -not what he desires, but what he is and does. -If he destroys, and builds not on the ruins, he -is against us. If he falls and fails not, he is -with us, though he stumble an hundred times. -He fights within himself the ancient fight, and -if he win that, his eternal battle is won. Thereafter, -he is part and parcel of the forces of -construction.</p> - -<p>“Purpose answers freely only to its kind, -freely and fearlessly it responds to the call of -self. If a man be captive to destructive forces, -he responds to the cry, Destroy! But if he be -given to powers of progress, he builds, though -his eyes be blinded and his hands cut off.</p> - -<p>“In every man captive to forces of disintegration -the builder lies dormant. To reach -that faint glow of Eternal Purpose is the first -duty of every constructive force. Call to it, -rouse it, free it, and it will eventually respond. -But do not smother it with false charity, darken -it by conflicting precepts, weaken it by fictitious -aid. Every individual must serve his own -purpose. Only thus is the integrity of the -whole conserved. Though he be only a doorkeeper -in the house of the Lord, yet does he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> -serve his eternal purpose as truly as the priest. -Let each man learn his purpose and serve -forcefully where his development has placed -him. Only thus can he progress.</p> - -<p>“Purposes are divided. Thus do they show -themselves to men. The purpose of Progress -is first and greatest, because it moves all the -others toward the Great Purpose. The other -constructive purposes are these, divided and -subdivided: Light, Justice, Truth, Production, -Healing, Building. Each divided and divisible -by any of the others, yet pure and perfect in -itself. Light may dwell with Healing or Production, -but only Light calls unto Light, only -Justice unto Justice.</p> - -<p>“All forces of construction work together, -yet each purpose separate unto itself. Choose -ye, therefore. Build or tear down, produce or -destroy, illumine or obscure, free men, or hold -them captive to themselves. Choose daily and -hourly the purpose ye serve.</p> - -<p>“This is the third lesson.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span></p> - -<h3>IV</h3> - -<p class="right"><i>April 1st.</i></p> - -<p>“This is the fourth lesson.</p> - -<p>“The world fears purpose that is free and -fearless. All the forces of humanity are turned -against freedom. The church imposes its creed, -the class imposes its caste, the profession imposes -its etiquette, the moralist imposes his -fear, the libertine imposes his folly. All men -are bound by the conventions of church, caste, -profession, or moral status. Thus do they throw -wide the door to forces of disintegration. Each -man assumes a purpose not his own; a force -that is his own deserts him.</p> - -<p>“Free development demands free purpose -and concentrated force. Wherever two or -three are gathered together to follow the same -purpose in free and conscious co-operation, -there force is multiplied. Wherever an hundred -are assembled to be led like sheep by the -bell-wether, there force is debauched and disintegrated.</p> - -<p>“Because men have huddled together in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> -fear, destruction threatens them. Because free -speech has been debauched to fell purpose, -free men distrust it. Men, forces of disintegration, -but possessed of glib tongues, have -played bell-wether to the multitude. Priests -of purpose, whose counsel was inspired by the -Eternal, have been thrust aside and stoned. -Better were it for the immortal man to follow -his purpose to death and mortal oblivion, than -to lose his force to the bell-wether. Many -purposes make great purpose. Many forces -unite for freedom. But better for immortal -man to destroy greatly and greatly strive than -to sink his purpose in the medley disguised as -brotherhood.</p> - -<p>“A great brotherhood is possible only when -its component parts are great. Strength lies -not in numbers, but in purpose. The fit may -not lie down with the unfit, and their progeny -survive. The strong may not yield their -purpose to the weak, and their force remain.</p> - -<p>“A light breaks in the East—Russia, given -as a sacrifice to the brotherhood of men. A -light not of star or dawn, but of sacrificial fire. -Heed it, guard it, ye youths and virgins, for -by its flaming sacrifice are ye saved.</p> - -<p>“Brotherhood is purpose of progress, not -purpose of profit. Brotherhood is made beautiful -by unity, not by schism. Brotherhood<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> -suffereth long, and is kind. Brotherhood regardeth -every brother, great and small. -Brotherhood waiteth upon brother and grumbleth -not. All build together the common -home of all.</p> - -<p>“Seek ye those of your own purpose. Unite -together all who fain would build. Master and -man, architect and mason, financier and farm -laborer, all work to the same end, and this is -Brotherhood.</p> - -<p>“To work for the same purpose, in whatever -capacity may be necessary, this is the only -true Brotherhood.</p> - -<p>“This is the fourth lesson.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span></p> - -<h3>V</h3> - -<p class="right"><i>April 3d.</i></p> - -<p>“This is the fifth lesson.</p> - -<p>“Men have long cherished the ideal of -Brotherhood, but they have clung to the letter -of the ancient law and lost its spirit. Before -the days of liberty, when men were languishing -in slavery or bound as vassals, sell all thou -hast and give to the poor had a significance -lost in a day of free labor and industrial progress. -The spirit of the law is unchanged and -unchangeable, but the letter progresses with -civilization’s advance.</p> - -<p>“To-day, the first essential of brotherhood -is freedom. Freedom to think, freedom to believe, -freedom to strive, freedom to develop, -from highest to lowest. And the employer who -refuses this opportunity to the men who work -under him is no more truly a force for disintegration -than the laborer who refuses to co-operate -with his employer and thus proves -himself unworthy of a place in the procession -of progress.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span></p> - -<p>“There can be no house that will stand -against storm that has not foundation, walls, -and roof. There can be no society that will -withstand disintegration that has not labor, -capital, and market. When capital oppresses -labor, forces of disintegration are freed. When -labor dominates capital, forces of disintegration -are freed. When the people forget justice, -forces of disintegration are freed. And -the destruction of one is the destruction of all. -The rich man who denies his brother freedom -is a destroyer. The poor man who denies his -brother freedom is a destroyer in no less degree. -Each is a part of the other, and each follows -eternal purpose to one end—construction and -progress.</p> - -<p>“The man who has freedom of thought, -freedom of purpose, freedom of action, is free, -though he be a pauper, and is free to choose -whether he will build or destroy. The man -who is bound by any tie that dictates his -thought, belief, or action is a force of disintegration, -because he may not follow his purpose -freely and with all his force. The man -who has freedom and wealth, and, forgets his -brother, is a force of disintegration. The man -who has strength and poverty, and forgets his -brother, is a force of disintegration. Equality -of opportunity does not demand or imply<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> -equality of development. Many men are rich -who use their wealth to forward the purposes -of construction. Many there are who waste -it and invite disintegration. Many men are -poor, who use their strength to help along -construction. They are forces of progress, and -will find their places here. Many there are -who delay the march, and invite disintegration. -What shall it profit a man, though he gain the -earth, if he lose his own soul?</p> - -<p>“There are seven purposes. Progress, Light, -Truth, Healing, Building, Production, and Justice. -Equally great, save Progress, which -moves them all. One of these must each man -serve, if he proceeds toward the Great Purpose. -Whether great or small, high or low, wise or -foolish, learned or ignorant, rich or poor, -powerful or apparently impotent, each human -individual is a force for construction or for -disintegration, and follows his purpose to its -inevitable end: constructive forces to construction -of great purposes, disintegrating forces to -the long struggle that can have but one end, -however distant—construction.</p> - -<p>“There are many phases of development, -each looking onward to the next. If a man -climb without envy, forgetting himself in his -purpose, he shall climb far. If he look with -envy at his higher brother and with scorn at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> -those below him, he shall climb on slipping -sands and find himself again at the foot.</p> - -<p>“Bear ye one another’s burdens is a command -unchanged and unchangeable. Give unto each -his opportunity to grow, and to build for progress. -Freedom to strive is the one right inherent -in existence, the strong and the weak -each following his own purpose, with all his -force, to the one great end. And he who binds -or limits his brother’s purpose binds himself -now and hereafter. But he who extends his -brother’s opportunity builds for eternity.</p> - -<p>“Choose ye.</p> - -<p>“This is the fifth lesson.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span></p> - -<h3>VI</h3> - -<p class="right"><i>April 3d.</i></p> - -<p>“This is the sixth lesson.</p> - -<p>“Men are afraid of fear. They fear to fear, -and fall into folly. Fear of disintegrating purposes -makes for wisdom, and wisdom makes for -construction. Fear is a disintegrating force -made constructive, when directed against disintegration.</p> - -<p>“Wisdom in high places has been dethroned, -and intellectual curiosity usurps the scepter. -Men who should lay foundations of wisdom -experiment with fantasies of the intellectual -dreamer.</p> - -<p>“Brotherhood, to one class, is a defensive -organization, for protection. Brotherhood, to -another class, is an offensive organization, for -pillage. Brotherhood, to another class, is an -organized attempt to preserve the unfit. -Brotherhood, to another class, is a dream of -unorganized following of untried theories. -None of these know that all men are brothers.</p> - -<p>“Evolution of matter follows evolution of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> -purpose, but when material things are left behind, -purpose continues to progress. Why, -then, lose your purpose in pursuit of material -gain?</p> - -<p>“Church and state alike urge morality for -personal ends, and recommend personal punishments. -There is no morality. There is only -purpose, constructive or destructive. There -is no punishment. There is only consequence.</p> - -<p>“Personal motives are deterrent forces, -neither actively constructive nor actively destructive, -except as they may be applied. -These forces crowd in between the contending -purposes, hindering both and helping neither, -except when compelled by sheer force of numbers -to sweep on with one or the other.</p> - -<p>“Forces of disintegration are frequently -mistaken for personal motives. They are always -destructive. Personal motives are always -deterrent. Self-interest excludes sympathy. -Purpose demands sympathy. Self-interest excludes -true unity. Unity is the Great Purpose. -Any morality based on personal interest -is, therefore, a deterrent force.</p> - -<p>“The time has not yet come when men in -the mass have vision. The great Purpose to -the small mind is vague and of no significance. -Personal motives are more easily recognized -than purpose, and Church and state emphasize<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> -and encourage them. But the time is at hand -when great conflicting purposes will meet in -combat for control of men. Wake the sleepers. -Cast off little things. Sink personal -motives. Rouse Church and state to perception -of force and purpose, and unite together, -regardless of class, creed, or party, to win the -world to purposes of construction.</p> - -<p>“Church and state urge unity, and yield -none. Tolerance, freedom, fearlessness, light—these -are almost strangers to temple or -court. Little by little the lines are softening. -Little by little we gain on fear. Here a tolerant -and noble clergyman, there a statesman -who serves the state. But for one of these, a -thousand huddle under creed or slogan, and -fear of freedom impels them all. This is because -they have not recognized purpose, and -they impede progress who might be its power.</p> - -<p>“Come forth, then, priests, teachers, and -leaders! Call upon the people, not to follow, -not to huddle, not to hesitate, but, to choose. -Set ye the seven purposes clearly before them, -clearly perceiving them, ye that call, and bid -them choose, for the life of all, the purpose -they will serve.</p> - -<p>“Thus may deterrent forces become constructive, -and the Great Purpose known of all men.</p> - -<p>“This is the sixth lesson.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span></p> - -<h3>VII</h3> - -<p class="right"><i>April 5th.</i></p> - -<p>“This is the seventh lesson.</p> - -<p>“Before the light of freedom dawned on the -world, a puissant chaos of purposes and forces -fought for control of the liberties of men. A -short space of time brought liberty of body, -after the perception of the people had been -clarified by the gradual development of the -ideal of liberty. They moved rapidly toward -it, when they began to understand it, with -halts and hesitations and blunders, but forcefully -and inevitably still. They overthrew -kings and barons, and took into their own hands -the physical and material government of their -kind. But their minds and forces are still enslaved -and shackled by outworn tradition. -‘Onward Christian soldiers’, is a plea for -progress; but it has become a recessional, not -a marching song. Men have made their justice -vassal to tradition, and their brotherhood -fief to gain.</p> - -<p>“Men have learned the value of free bodies,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> -but free force, mental or spiritual, terrifies and -puzzles them still. They have learned to discipline -their bodies, to keep them strong and -clean. But they fear to trust the purposes -and forces, without chains and prison bars to -hold them, lest they make chaos of civilization. -Church, state, profession, trade, guild, or society -commands: Thou shalt not think. Follow, -yield, accept, and endure, but let not -thought be found among ye, lest the bars be -broken and destruction loosed.</p> - -<p>“Many men follow; a few men think. -These are the overlords, the kings and barons -of forces that might be free. But freedom -demands free purpose, and free purpose demands -justice.</p> - -<p>“No man is free who commands not himself. -No man is free who forgets his brother. No man -is free who fears to follow his own purpose with -all his force. No man is free who fails to carry -his share of common load. He may have -wealth and luxury; yet is he slave. He may -be tempted by beauty; yet is he slave. He -may be frightened by calamity; yet is he slave. -He may be beaten by strangers; yet is he -slave. No man is free who commands not -himself in any emergency. He may lose -wealth and luxury, and still be free. He may -dwell with squalor, who loves beauty, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> -still be free. He may be defrauded by his -brother, and still be free. He may be shackled -by strangers, beaten and imprisoned, and still -be free.</p> - -<p>“Freedom lieth not in a man’s estate, but -in the man himself.</p> - -<p>“This is the seventh lesson.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span></p> - -<h3>VIII</h3> - -<p class="right"><i>April 8th.</i></p> - -<p>“This is the eighth lesson.</p> - -<p>“Many men try to perceive the purpose of -God in truth and beauty and justice, and fail -to recognize that the Eternal Purpose is unlimited -by the detached conceptions of men. -Truth is one of the fundamental purposes. -Beauty is a subdivision of Building. Justice is -fundamental. All are part of the Eternal -Purpose. But the Great Purpose is unity.</p> - -<p>“The fundamental purposes are common to -all men, of whatever race, color, belief, or prejudice. -They are the foundation from which -the forces of Eternal Purpose start, and by -their divisions only are men ultimately grouped. -As a commander divides his army into infantry, -artillery, cavalry, air forces, quartermaster, -engineer, and medical corps, so are the eternal -forces divided into the seven purposes for the -eternal conflict.</p> - -<p>“The purposes of disintegration are more -than seven. They divide into myriad motives<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> -as they fight the aspirations of immortal man. -Free men choose freely how they will array -themselves, but slaves are driven by their -masters, visible or invisible, to fight for purposes -not their own. Only when they have -learned to discipline and develop their minds, -as they now discipline and develop their -bodies, may they choose freely the force with -which they will be arrayed.</p> - -<p>“Rich man against poor man. Capital -against labor. State against offender. Poor -man against wealth. Labor against development. -Criminal against law. All are false -distinctions.</p> - -<p>“Seek ye the man of your own purpose, and -cleave to him. If ye would build, seek a -builder. If ye would heal, seek a healer. If -justice absorb ye, seek a man furthering justice. -But be not misled by the slave-driver, -without or within. Beware of the bell-wether, -and of personal or material motives. Govern -yourselves first, and then choose ye whether -to fight for progress or for disintegration, for -unity or for destruction. Then choose ye the -purpose ye will serve forcefully through eternity.</p> - -<p>“This is the eighth lesson.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span></p> - -<h3>IX</h3> - -<p class="right"><i>April 8th.</i></p> - -<p>“This is the ninth lesson.</p> - -<p>“Men have lived in fear of forces from without, -and have not perceived that within themselves -all forces are made potent. Men have -feared purposes from without, and have not -perceived that their own purpose is eternal. -Men have talked of power, and failed to perceive -its source. Men have dreamed of possession, -and failed to find freedom. Possession -is temporary and ephemeral. Freedom is -eternal. Should a man yield the freedom of -his eternal purpose for any possession whatsoever?</p> - -<p>“Build ye with all possessions, that purpose -may be free. For brotherhood commandeth -service, and for this are possessions hallowed. -He who hath, and denieth his brother opportunity, -destroys his own purpose. He who -hath possessions, and giveth his brother opportunity, -builds for eternity. He who hath -power and plenitude, and giveth his brother<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> -help, has given all men more than the one can -take. He has built for eternity.</p> - -<p>“The man who has this power to build with -possessions for eternal progress has a force beside -his own, the force of material purpose to -aid his brother’s force. Many there be who -build for eternity with material possessions. -They are the keepers of the keys for all who -labor, stewards of opportunity.</p> - -<p>“He who has opportunity to strive, and -striveth not, destroys his own purpose. He -who has the key to opportunity for building -offered him, and fails to free the force, destroys -both his own purpose and that of his brother.</p> - -<p>“One purpose are all to serve—Progress. -And whether it be with purpose and possessions, -or with purpose and poverty, all -serve equally who put their whole force into -service.</p> - -<p>“So may all men know they are brothers.</p> - -<p>“This is the ninth lesson.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span></p> - -<h3>X</h3> - -<p class="right"><i>April 9th.</i></p> - -<p>“This is the tenth lesson.</p> - -<p>“The purposes of disintegration are these. -Malice, Envy, Doubt, Falsehood, Ignorance, -Lust, Cupidity, Fear. All these make for -Destruction, which is the strong purpose that -moves them all. Each of these is divided and -subdivided into myriad motives of disintegration, -many of which disguise themselves before -daring to enter the consciousness of man.</p> - -<p>“Malice and Envy present themselves most -often as Light or Justice. Doubt as Light, -Lust as Justice or Production, Cupidity as -Building, Fear and Ignorance as Truth, and -Destruction as Progress. But the disguises -vary with the individual and with the moment, -and the motives springing from these purposes -are legion.</p> - -<p>“Each individual in your life is a battleground -of purposes that have fought from the -moment the purposes of disintegration gathered -one to another. Each man struggles to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> -ally himself permanently with one or another -of the purposes within him. Thus is it that -a man whose desire is for light falls victim to -malice, envy, and destruction; and he whose -desire is production, to lust. Weakness of -purpose is a subdivision of fear, and folly a -minion of ignorance.</p> - -<p>“All men aspire. Some with reluctance and -halting, but all feel the purpose of progress -working within them. They may mistake its -nature or deny its power, but no man lives who -has not felt its prompting. This is the purpose -beyond all others, the Eternal Purpose of -United Construction. No man can thwart it, -no man can evade it, no force can defeat it. -Why, then, oppose and delay it?</p> - -<p>“Come, all ye who struggle and strive! -Perceive once and forever the purpose of life, -join now the forces of construction, and bring -to all men Brotherhood.</p> - -<p>“This is the tenth lesson.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span></p> - -<h3>XI</h3> - -<p class="right"><i>April 12th.</i></p> - -<p>“This is the eleventh lesson.</p> - -<p>“There is no man who has not force. He -may be frail of body, weak of purpose, light -of mind, faltering of step. Yet to some degree -has he force, for without force personality -cannot exist. There is no man so frail of body, -so weak of purpose, so faltering of step, that -he has not personality. There is no personality -that is not a force for construction or -for destruction. None that may not serve to -build.</p> - -<p>“There is no man so bound up in himself, -so personal of motive, so narrow of vision, that -he may not be turned from a deterrent force -into a force for construction, save only those -already given to purposes of disintegration.</p> - -<p>“But no man is so vigorous of body, so firm -of purpose, so profound of mind, so sure of -step, that he may perfect his brother’s life. -‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’ has been transformed -from a question uttered in defense of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> -iniquity to an assertion uttered in defense of -arrogance. ‘Am I not my brother’s keeper?’</p> - -<p>“No man is his brother’s keeper. The utmost -that he may do for his brother is to -arouse his brother’s purpose, whether for construction -or for destruction. Call to the purpose -of Progress. Call to the seven purposes -of construction. Help ye each brother to find -the onward way. But if he will not answer, -if calling fail to move him, then bid him destroy -after his own purpose, that the fight may -be open and his allegiance known of all men.</p> - -<p>“Freedom to choose is the inalienable right -of every human soul. Who hinders his brother’s -purpose delays the end of battle. Win -him to progress, if he can be won by calling. -Bid him declare himself, if he answer not the -call. But he who coerces his brother, though -it be toward construction, prolongs the struggle -and delays the Great Purpose.</p> - -<p>“No man is his brother’s keeper.</p> - -<p>“This is the eleventh lesson.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span></p> - -<h3>XII</h3> - -<p class="right"><i>April 12th.</i></p> - -<p>“This is the twelfth lesson.</p> - -<p>“Many men there be who fight for liberty -and coerce their brothers.</p> - -<p>“In war, all men must fight. But there is -no man who may choose for another how his -allegiance may be given.</p> - -<p>“He who is not for progress is against it. He -who has no allegiance that he will declare, is -traitor to himself and to the purpose he follows. -Cast him out and he will find his purpose known.</p> - -<p>“So shall the opposing forces be clearly indicated. -So shall each man find his own -purpose clearly defined. So shall the wars -within wars cease among men, and the fight -be with you, as it is with us, between purposes -and forces known and united, one against the -other, until all purposes of destruction have -been conquered and transformed, and the -Great Purpose rendered free to progress to -greater glories without end.</p> - -<p>“This is the twelfth lesson.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span></p> - -<h3>NOTES</h3> - -<p>Asked to explain one phrase in the first -Lesson, “the original purposes were all good,” -Mary K. said: “All were balanced. There is -no evil that may not be good in proper combination. -Evil is the gathered force of undirected -and not fully animated good, combined -in a destructive purpose by the attraction -I mentioned.”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>An apparent contradiction of a statement -in the first Lesson—“All pure purpose is fearless, -whether for good or evil”—by one in the -second Lesson—“The forces of disintegration -are wily, but fearful. Bullies and cowards”—seemed -to imply that forces of disintegration -are not pure purpose. Mary K. explained: -“They are pure purpose, fearless in pursuance -of destruction, wily in bringing it about, -brutal in consummating it, but cowards individually. -Fearless of consequences when they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> -pursue, but fearful when they fail. Like Germans.”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Early in June, I discovered a relation between -the definition of Eternal Purpose in the -second paragraph of the third Lesson, and the -divisions of the purpose of Progress near the -end. “Eternal purpose is perfect justice (Justice), -perfect fearlessness (Production), perfect -understanding (Light), perfect honesty (Truth), -perfect sympathy (Healing), perfect unity -(Building), and eternal growth (Progress), which -is progress perfectly expressed.”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The end of the seventh Lesson seemed obscure, -until the relation between its clauses -was discovered. Written thus, its meaning is -clear: “(1) No man is free who commands not -himself. (2) No man is free who forgets his -brother. (3) No man is free who fears to follow -his purpose with all his force. (4) No man -is free who fails to carry his share of the common -load. He may have wealth and luxury, -yet is he slave (1) <i>if he commands not himself</i>. -He may be tempted by beauty (2) <i>to forget his -brother</i>, yet is he slave, <i>if he commands not -himself</i>. He may be frightened by calamity -(3) <i>in following his purpose</i>, yet is he slave, <i>if<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> -he commands not himself</i>. He may be beaten -by strangers (4) <i>while carrying his share of the -common load</i>, yet is he slave <i>if he commands -not himself</i>.”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="noindent"><i>9th Lesson.</i></p> - -<p>A curious inconsistency in the use of verbs -will be noticed here, archaic and modern forms -appearing in the same sentence repeatedly. -This may have been due to my great fatigue -when this lesson was taken, to the presence in -the room of other persons, or to some condition -or intention as yet unexplained.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span></p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span></p> - -<h2>Part III</h2> - -<p>“<i>Science is the ladder by which life may quickly ascend, -but until science recognizes a spiritual force as the one -essential force, of which all other forces are incidental -phenomena, progress must be limited.</i>”</p> - -<p>“<i>We have purpose to progress beyond the vision of man, -but even material progress, to be constructive and permanent, -must be governed by a vision beyond the day. We -are trying to extend that vision.</i>”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span></p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span></p> - -<h3>I</h3> - -<p>Immediately after the first Lesson had -been given, Cass telephoned that the news -from France was alarming. It was Saturday, -March 23d. The great German offensive of -1918 had begun two days earlier, and the -Allied forces were falling back, with appalling -losses. I asked Mary K. whether she could -tell us anything about it.</p> - -<p>“Yes. It is a force of destruction, momentarily -victorious, but Germany cannot win. -She moves steadily toward her destruction.”</p> - -<p>Remembering our differing conceptions of -time, I asked: “Do you speak in terms finite -or infinite?”</p> - -<p>“You will see her defeat soon, but the fight -eternal will not be over with the end of the -Great War. That will be only a temporary -lull, and we shall have it all to do over and -over, until conscious purpose ends it. <i>Do not -fear.</i>” The emphasis is hers.</p> - -<p>To be sure I had made no mistake, I pressed -the inquiry again.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span></p> - -<p>“You need not fear the end of the war. It -is certain and inevitable. Germany is doomed, -and must work her way back to light. This is -not foreordained, but here we already see the -end, and are looking toward the battles that -will still be raging when the countries of the -world seem peaceful.”</p> - -<p>[Some weeks later, this confident prophecy -was slightly modified in its letter, though not -in its spirit, when she said: “Unless the Allied -purpose is undermined by forces of spiritual -disintegration, Germany is doomed, but the -fight must be kept up with confidence and -consciously united force and purpose.” This, -however, merely emphasizes the teaching of -all the lessons, that constructive purpose cannot -find expression in passivity, that he who -would live must fight, and that he who is not -actively striving for progress is arrayed against -it.]</p> - -<p>As has been said, my knowledge of philosophies -is of the slightest, and there is scarcely -a suggestion contained in the first Lesson that -was not new to me and entirely foreign to my -habit of thought. Therefore, I sent a copy of -it to Mr. Kendal, asking him to tell me whether -the cosmic theory there outlined was familiar -to him. Conscious of Mary K.’s summons, I -took up a pencil.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Tell Mr. Kendal the philosophers have perceived -the truth in fragments. This is to be -the whole truth, as far as it can be understood -on your plane. It may sound, at moments, -like a patchwork of philosophies, because all—or -most—of them have some truth. He will -help you in this. He found the truth in spite -of philosophies, and it is part of his work to -help others find it because of one—a philosophy -not dreamed, but lived and proved and known. -Therefore, not a philosophy, but a faith.”</p> - -<p>The next day, we dined with friends of that -Anne Lowe for whom I had asked the first -night Mary K. came to me, and from her long -messages to them, a few may be quoted.</p> - -<p>“... It has always been easy for me to -reach you, because you never doubted that I -was there. Doubt is one of the things we -cannot reach through. Doubt, bitterness, grief—all -these are destructive forces.” To a -statement that they had felt deep grief, she -returned: “You have not had the kind of -grief that would shut me out. You have shut -out some helpful forces, but you will do that -no longer. It is because the force may reach -you through me that I can come. We are the -same purpose, and I can reach you freely. -We can always reach those who are very near -and dear. Sometimes people are dear to us<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> -there who are not really near us here. They -do not need us, nor we them. It is an ephemeral -relation. Love lasts eternally. Please -don’t ever forget that.... Listen to me. I -cannot always reach you as directly as this, -but just as soon as you learn to read my -thoughts, as I now read yours, a messenger will -not be necessary.”</p> - -<p>Briefly she explained to them the eternal -significance of the Great War, the united purpose -of Germany, and the failure of the Allies, -thus far, to comprehend the essence of unity. -Elizabeth, one of her friends, mentioned that -it was like her to drop personalities for great -issues, and she replied:</p> - -<p>“The reason that I told you the thing I did -about the great purposes and the eternal conflict -is that I want you to realize a little of -what it is all for, and to help you recognize -the great ends toward which your problems -lead. Build, build, never cease to build. -Unite yourself to anybody who is of your -purpose. Keep as clear as you can from -entangling yourselves with forces of disintegration.”</p> - -<p>Miss S——, a teacher, and a stranger to me, -was present, and after a little her brother took -control of the pencil.</p> - -<p>“You cannot realize how intimately we work<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> -together still,” was one of his assertions to -her. “You are a fine force for progress. You -are being and teaching the things we all work -for here. Teach, above all, unity of purpose. -Never mind the method. Look to the goal. -Building, light, freedom, faith—these are what -the forces of construction stand for, the way -to the great purpose. The forces of disintegration -are gathering for a tremendous fight. The -Great War is one of the crises of civilization, -but the battle to come still is one of the crises -of eternity. It is for that we are preparing -now. This is what we must say to all dear to -us and, through them, to as wide a public as -we can reach.... It is a great message that -is to be given. To-day I only want you to be -sure that I know all you feel and all you have -suffered, and that the more confidently and -freely you reach out to me, knowing I am -there, the more easily and surely I can reach -you.”</p> - -<p>Like the others, this man used the circle, -which we were beginning to perceive must -signify more than joy, as we understand the -word. For example, on this occasion it was -used thus: “You will look for me now, listen -for me, feel me near you, and the (O) will be -as near your life as it ever can be there.” -After telling her of the frequent use of this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> -symbol, I asked him whether it had not a -deeper significance—perhaps completion, perfection, -consummate unity, something joyous -of this larger sort, to which he replied in the -affirmative.</p> - -<p>A night or two after this, Cass suggested -that we must make an effort to get into touch -with David Bruce, but I said that we had -asked about him several times, and that if -he wished or needed to communicate with his -family he would undoubtedly let me know. -Aware of Mrs. Bruce’s interest in psychic -phenomena, I thought they might have established -communication in some way. Within a -few minutes I was conscious of a summons to -the pencil.</p> - -<p>First came Mary K.’s strong signature. -Then, very quickly: “David Bruce is here, and -wa....” There it ran off into nervous, illegible -waves. When I said I could not follow, -and asked that the message be more -slowly given, it was resumed where it had been -dropped. “... wants to talk to <span class="strike">E</span> ... Bess.” -His wife’s name is Elizabeth, and naturally -was in my mind, but having written E, the -pencil balked, delayed, crossed out the E, -and finally wrote “Bess,” firmly.</p> - -<p>“Thank you,” was the response to my promise -to arrange the interview. For the first<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> -time it occurred to me that possibly Mary K. -had given over the pencil, and I asked who -was writing, to be told quickly: “D. B.”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Bruce came the next day to talk to -him, and Mary K. told me, before her arrival, -to give her no details about the previous messages, -adding: “He will tell her.” And while -his opening message to her merely summarizes -similar assertions previously received, it is interesting -as the first consecutive personal -statement of the survival of individuality in -the eternal pursuance of constructive purpose.</p> - -<p>“I am here with you, darling Bess, as I -have been with you from the start,” he began -at once. “You have known it all the time, -and I have been able to reach you in a way -that I can only describe to you as spiritual.”</p> - -<p>Here was the first veiled allusion, at first -rather puzzling, to that unknown force afterward -mentioned by William James and others.</p> - -<p>“We so long to tell you whom we love not -to grieve. We are of you, as you are of us. -Even more closely than we were when I was -visibly with you. Perfect union is only possible -to pure spirit. That will come. Meanwhile, -one of us is pure spirit, and both of us -so much the richer thereby. Once, in the beginning -of things, you and I were the same<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> -purpose. Purposes are eternal. They may -be temporarily divided, temporarily overcome -by the forces of disintegration, which are forever -seeking to destroy, but forever each divided -purpose answers to the call of its own. -You and I were one purpose in the first, and -we shall be perfectly reunited when you have -joined me here. But while we were one in the -beginning, one with many others of our great -purpose, we are now eternally definite and -separate individuals, but united as perfectly, -after the first life there, as if we had returned -to one unit.... The first message any of us -send must be this one. That is the reason -we can come so freely now and tell so much.”</p> - -<p>A little later, speaking of their children, he -said: “All young people have battles to fight -and problems to solve. Don’t try to spare -them that. It is thus they learn life’s lessons, -and the more they learn there the readier they -will be to do the fine and glorious work here.”</p> - -<p>He had spoken before of being very busy, -and now she commented: “He seems so interested -in the work!”</p> - -<p>“Interested is not the word. It’s more like -inspiration.”</p> - -<p>“Was the passing difficult?” she asked.</p> - -<p>“Not difficult at all. The pain ended with -unconsciousness.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span></p> - -<p>“But you had no pain!”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I had some—not expressed, nor quite -definite. Difficult to explain until experienced. -Words do not convey the sensation. Not quite -fear, not quite pain, but a strange moment of -suffering. Then consciousness again, beauty, -force, perfectly clear perceptions, but a period -of something approaching incredulity.” I -mentioned Frederick’s statement that he had -been “dazed by the bigness of it,” and Mr. -Bruce went on. “That’s it. The bigness of -it is indescribable, and so extraordinarily lovely -and high that it is not readily realized or -grasped.”</p> - -<p>She said she had dreaded to have him go -alone, and asked whether some one met -him.</p> - -<p>“Yes, we are very tenderly received. There -is always a part of one’s own purpose waiting.”</p> - -<p>“Have you seen Jack?”</p> - -<p>“Yes; he is still a little bewildered, but will -soon be in fighting trim again.” This young -man had been killed in an accident.</p> - -<p>“‘In fighting trim’!” she repeated. “How -funny!”</p> - -<p>“No, it isn’t funny. We fight perpetually, -and love it. It is a wonderful thing to fight -with the great forces, and to know why. -Most of those in your life fight in confusion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> -and doubt, and suffer. But here we unite -ourselves to a definite and constructive purpose, -and the fight is glorious.”</p> - -<p>“Do you see Granny?”</p> - -<p>“No. She has gone on to a life beyond -ours. She will come back, some day, and I -will see her.”</p> - -<p>“You have helped me very much by believing -that I lived,” he told her, at another point. -“It is very hard for us to be put aside.... -We know here how intimately our life and -yours are lived together, and the one almost -intolerable thing is to have our dear ones -live and believe that we do not. It defers -things so.... It hurts us when the apparent -separation is made real.”</p> - -<p>“I hope you won’t get so far beyond that -I can’t catch up,” she said.</p> - -<p>“Never! You will begin farther along than -I did. We shall go on together now, for -eternity. Since you know that I am with -you, and especially as we live and work consciously -together, we shall grow together.”</p> - -<p>“Did I do all I could for you, at the last? -Did you feel my fear?”</p> - -<p>“No, I did not feel your fear. But when -one knows that the step is coming, there is -one blinding moment of dread.... You kept -me a little while,” he continued, when she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> -said that she had tried to hold him here, “but -the thing had gone too far.”</p> - -<p>“Was there anything we could have done -that was not done?”</p> - -<p>“Nothing. It had to be.” But when she -inferred that the time had come for him to -take up work in the next plane, he protested. -“No. Nothing like that is ‘intended.’ There -is no foreordination. It is all a matter of -forces, constructive and destructive. My material -energy was too little to withstand the -material forces of destruction. My flesh yielded. -That has no real relation to eternal -force.... One serves one’s purpose, here or -there. I am doing better work here than I -could have done there, but that has no relation -or part in death. It is entirely a physical -thing.”</p> - -<p>“Did —— make you nervous?”</p> - -<p>“No mere man could make me fail to respond -to your call to courage. I knew and -you knew, that it might be the end of life -there; but there was no possible thing that -you could have done, mentally, physically, or -spiritually, that you did not do. It was your -courage that kept me calm, even through that -dread moment; your spirit that met me when -I woke here; your tenderness that soothed -my first bewilderment; your purpose that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> -roused me to better, broader, finer work than -I had ever dreamed before. It has been you—you -and I, one always—that have helped -and upheld me, as your faith has enabled me -to reach and uphold you.”</p> - -<p>This interview took place in the afternoon, -and with a good deal of incidental conversation, -covered several hours, leaving me very -tired. But after dinner the familiar summons -warned me that my services were again in -demand. I took up a pencil, and Mary K. -announced the second Lesson, which followed -rapidly, with the same unhesitating flow that -had characterized the first one.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span></p> - -<h3>II</h3> - -<p>Meanwhile, happy letters were coming almost -daily from the Gaylord family, and less -frequently, but with expressions of equal conviction, -from Mr. Kendal.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Gaylord had promised to spend Easter -week with relatives, in a Middle Western town, -which she had not visited—indeed, had scarcely -dared to think of—since taking Frederick’s -body there for burial; and the day after the -second Lesson was given she arrived in New -York, where she paused briefly <i>en route</i>, her -elder daughter and son-in-law joining her the -next morning.</p> - -<p>Although her train arrived late in the evening, -we talked a little to Frederick before -separating for the night. We had been commenting -on her changed appearance.</p> - -<p>“Mother dearest, you are not much differenter -than I am,” he began, after the usual -signature.</p> - -<p>“Why, Frederick!” she exclaimed. “Are you -better, too?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span></p> - -<p>He made the enthusiastic little circle so -often used. “(O) So much better! You can’t -guess how much better I am. It helps me as -much as it does you.”</p> - -<p>“Were you at Mrs. Z——’s the other day?” -she asked, referring to a visit to a “medium,” -of which I had not been informed.</p> - -<p>“I was that, but she fell down on what -I was trying to get over,” was the reply. -When his mother said she had not received -what she expected on that occasion, he returned: -“Nor what we expected.... She’s all -right, as far as she goes.” He told her, also, -that the woman accompanying him, described -by Mrs. Z——, had been his father’s mother.</p> - -<p>“This is a nice, peaceful powwow we’re having -to-night,” he commented, when they had -exchanged views concerning various personal -matters. “I had to work last time, but this -time I’m here for....”</p> - -<p>The pencil paused, and I asked: “For what?”</p> - -<p>“Just for a good time, Mrs. L——. Sis is -coming to the party to-morrow. Hooray!”</p> - -<p>A little later, when she expressed some uncertainty -about her ability to go through an -Easter in K——, with all its sad associations, -unshaken, he warned her: “Don’t you go backsliding!” -Continuing, she told us that his -last illness had developed just before Easter,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> -and that in his desire to give the family an -unclouded day he had persuaded a friend to -send them a typewritten letter, which he signed, -containing no intimation of his illness.</p> - -<p>“I’ll write you a letter this Easter with a -lot more pep in it,” he promised. “You go -on and have your Easter presents, and flowers, -and eggs, and all, and when you begin backsliding, -stop ... look ... listen<a name="FNanchor_7" id="FNanchor_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> ... and I’ll -be on the crossing, ringing the bell.”</p> - -<p>With an ejaculation of surprise, his mother -told us that she had been recently in the home -of a traffic expert, whose large hall was strikingly -decorated with signs for the regulation -of traffic.</p> - -<p>“I believe that’s what he’s thinking of!” -she exclaimed.</p> - -<p>“Sure, you’ve got it! I’ll ask Sis to buy -you a bell for me, to remind you.”</p> - -<p>This diversion had completely banished the -gathering sadness of her reminiscences, and -she began talking of Washington, whence she -had come, saying that there seemed to be a -good deal of pessimism in official circles concerning -war conditions. It will be remembered -that the bombardment of Paris, by a -long-distance gun, began March 23d.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span></p> - -<p>“There are lots of things Washington doesn’t -know,” Frederick assured her. “The end of -the war must come soon.”</p> - -<p>We wondered, as I had before, how much -difference there was between his conception of -time, as indicated by the word “soon,” and -ours.</p> - -<p>“None of us can name the day and hour, -but we see the inevitable end coming soon. -Germany knows she is weakened, but doesn’t -know why. We do, and we have told you. -No nation on earth can fight this fight alone, -deserted by all purposes, both for good and -evil, and with only one force left—Fear.”</p> - -<p>[Long afterward, Mary K. said to me, in -this connection: “We see the awakening purpose -of forces for progress in your life, and -are able to help them in proportion to the -vigor with which that purpose is put into -action. Germany, on the other hand, fights -now with only physical power. Eternal forces -are implacably against her, and the forces of -destruction have abandoned her. She has no -ally here now. Her unity is destroyed, while -ours is strengthening. The only danger, as -far as the war is concerned, lies in a weakening -of actual purpose, forcefully expressed in -action. We are your allies, answering your call -and inciting you to endeavor. When Germany<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> -began this war she had superhuman -strength, which the world was unprepared to -meet, but for every vibration of pure constructive -purpose among the Allied forces we -have added two, and only a weakening of your -purpose can defeat us now. Every individual -among you who fails to strive for victory with -all his strength invites disaster.”]</p> - -<p>Frederick’s talk with his mother was brief -that night, and when she arose, to return to -her hotel, he said: “Good night. I am going -home with you, if I may.”</p> - -<p>This seemed to Cass and me a curious -phrase, under the circumstances, and we also -commented upon his generous use of slang, -especially in the latest interview, wondering -whether it were characteristic of him.</p> - -<p>The next morning his sister, Mrs. Wylie, -arrived with her husband, to spend a day with -Mrs. Gaylord in New York. It chanced that -they had been away from home for several -weeks and had seen none of Frederick’s manuscript, -nor any copy of it. As she read—from -the original roll—his messages of the preceding -evening, she constantly exclaimed: “How -characteristic!” and his closing phrase brought -tears to her eyes. She told me, then, that -along with a copious use of slang, Frederick -had preserved an odd little formality of phrase,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> -even in his closest personal relations—a trait -not common to other members of the family.</p> - -<p>Later, in glancing for the first time through -the typewritten record of earlier interviews, -again and again she expressed astonishment at -the characteristic quality of his phraseology, -which had not been mentioned to me before. -Mrs. Gaylord had spoken of her vivid consciousness -of his personality, imbuing all he -said to her, and had told me, during the earlier -days of this intercourse, more or less about -his habit of thought, but it is characteristic -of her to ignore minor details, and only when -Mrs. Wylie arrived did I learn anything about -his habit of speech.</p> - -<p>“Frederick,” he announced, when we invited -communication, his bold signature -stretching across the whole width of the paper. -“Hello, Sis! This is too good not to be true! -Hello, Dick!” This to Mr. Wylie, whose marriage -to his sister had taken place during the -last weeks of his illness. “Welcome home to -the family! We’re all in it now, for good and -all. This is the thing we’ve all needed, I -almost as much as the rest of you, but I did -know that sooner or later it must come, so I -could bear it better than you could.”</p> - -<p>It must not be understood that all these -communications came as consecutively as they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> -are presented here. There were frequent pauses; -sometimes because of our preoccupation in conversation; -sometimes, apparently, because of -difficulties of transmission not explained. Occasionally -I stopped to verify a word or a -phrase, asking if it had been correctly taken, -and with increasing frequency the pencil returned -without suggestion from me, to cross -out false starts. Some of the latter, which -seemed significant, will be indicated from time -to time. The following message, however, -came rapidly, without pause.</p> - -<p>“We are all of kindred purposes. That’s -the reason we cling to each other so. Family -hasn’t a thing to do with it. It was our good -fortune to have no forces of disintegration in -our immediate group. We are all builders, in -one way or another. Not all in the same way, -but all for the great purpose. This is one of -the things I have wanted to say to you. Don’t -be misled by transient relationships of that -life. Respect them, but don’t be eternally influenced -by them, because when you get over -here you’ll find that some of the people you’ve -thought you were most fond of have simply -dropped out. You don’t need them, nor they -you. Find your purposes clearly, and stick -to them. We all have purpose, but not all of -you there have found out just what yours is.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> -Find it, and follow it fearlessly. There, that’s -off my chest!”</p> - -<p>Mr. Wylie spoke of the “upside-down stunt,” -of which some one had written him, and I said it -had been done chiefly to convince me—to show -me, in Frederick’s phrase, “who was running it.”</p> - -<p>“You know now who is running it,” he contributed, -“but you’re certainly formal with -strangers!”</p> - -<p>In the midst of some talk of ours, the pencil -swung off with vigor, writing, “Sis!” in huge -script, like a joyous exclamation, ending in -strong circles. “Just wait till I catch Dad!” -he went on. “And Babe, too! All of us together! -Margaret will have to forget her -formality then, I tell you!”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Wylie mentioned the common impression -that personality must be transmuted -by death into something remote and strange—that -only the soul survived. “Of course, we -love the soul of any one dear to us,” she said. -“But, after all, the thing we know best, and -therefore love best, is the habit of thought—the -characteristic mental attitude, and it is -so wonderful to find Frederick unchanged—just -like himself.”</p> - -<p>“Sure! Why not?” he returned. “You -people must learn that this isn’t ‘like himself.’ -It <i>is</i> himself. Right here on the job.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Those words!” His mother and sister exchanged -startled glances. Then they told me -that just before his long struggle for life on -this plane ended, when during six months his -powers of recuperation had repeatedly astonished -surgeons and nurses, he opened his -eyes, to find his father bending over him, and -whispered for the last time: “On the job.”</p> - -<p>“I’ve always been on it since, too,” he -rapidly assured them, “and longing to tell you -so. You never can know, until you try it, -how we hate to be left out. We’re on the job -as you can’t even imagine, and it makes us -sort o’ sick that we can’t get it over to you -of our own love and purpose.”</p> - -<p>He interrupted the talk following this with: -“Trot along to lunch! I want to start going -and not stop. Get it over, do!”</p> - -<p>So we trotted, and got it over as soon as -possible, though throughout the meal he insisted -upon having a voice in the conversation, -writing messages on all the blank paper we -had about us, and over the backs of the -available menu cards.</p> - -<p>“You can’t lose me, and needn’t try,” he -told me, and when I protested that he was -making it impossible for me to finish my -luncheon, he retorted: “You have a perfectly -good left hand. Eat with that.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span></p> - -<p>Several times Mr. Wylie expressed his interest -in what he called “the upside-down -stunt,” and when we were again seated about -a writing-table, Frederick “demonstrated.”</p> - -<p>“Incidentally, Dick,” he mentioned, starting -at my right and writing toward my left, -“you wanted to see this work. Well, here you -are. This is the way it is done.”</p> - -<p>As this began, Mrs. Gaylord smiled, pulling -her chair nearer to the table, where she could -watch every movement of the pencil.</p> - -<p>“Sit up closer, Mother dearest,” Frederick -continued, “and everybody hold hands.” Looking -slightly bewildered, she held out her hands -to the others. I said that he had used a figure -of speech, but she thought he had meant -it literally, and we referred the question to -him. “Yes, all but your writing-hand,” he -said; so we all joined hands, and I asked -why.</p> - -<p>“Just to make us know more surely that -we are all one and indivisible, from now on -through eternity. Easter resurrection for every -one of us. We are all born again, to some extent, -by our communion in this way; I more -than you, because I have left the flesh behind. -But to you has come new life, new force, new -purpose, new faith, through your touch with -this life of pure spirit. It is truly your resurrection.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> -This is your Easter message. Hail! -And be happy ever after!”</p> - -<p>I anticipated none of this message, and its -tenor surprised me greatly. Before I had recovered -from my astonishment Mrs. Gaylord -exclaimed: “That must be the Easter letter -he promised me!” Immediately he signed it. -“Frederick, to Mother and all of you.”</p> - -<p>We spoke of the relation of this whole -revelation to orthodox religion, and some one -said that it was not in accordance with the -Bible.</p> - -<p>“Yes, it is,” he contradicted. “You have -never learned to read the Bible in this light. -The great prophecies have always been phrased -in the language, and more or less in the spirit, -of the time in which they were uttered. This -is the first time in the history of the world -when physical science has been sufficiently -advanced to enable us to tell the people the -truth in terms they would truly understand. -Prophecies have been veiled, apparently, not -because the truth was vague, but because men -were not prepared to understand it in all its -details. Nor are they now. But this is to be -the whole truth, as far as it can be understood -now by your prophets and people. And for -the first time it is possible to give it to you -directly in this way, without pretense or mystery,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> -book or bell, a natural law operating -naturally and freely, through an accredited -messenger who makes no claim to inspiration.”</p> - -<p>In the course of our drifting talk his mother -remembered that Mrs. Z—— had tried to -convey a warning through her from Frederick -to Mr. Wylie, but had been unable to tell her -what it concerned. After some effort to discover -its connection, suggesting possible journeys -or business ventures, Mrs. Z—— had -finally said that Dick was about to do something, -she did not know what; but whatever -it was, Frederick said he must not do it. Mrs. -Gaylord now asked Frederick what he had -intended to say.</p> - -<p>“She didn’t get my message. I was trying -to tell him not to be fearful about anything.” -Mr. Wylie is sometimes prey to nervous apprehension -and worry. “It keeps us back and -we can’t help him as we’re trying to do. Open -up, Dick! Let us in and we’ll all pull together.” -This apparently touched some situation -unknown to me, for Mr. and Mrs. Wylie -exchanged glances, and instantly Frederick -made his quick circles. “(O) That’s it! Now -we’re off! No, it isn’t incredible,” he added, -replying to some comment of theirs. “It’s the -truest thing you ever heard. But Mrs. Z—— -can’t get beyond externals.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span></p> - -<p>This seems to be a very good example of -the way certain messages are confused by the -persons through whom they come. In this -case, while the intended warning was conveyed, -a purely subjective and spiritual message was -so distorted, however unconsciously and unintentionally, -that it was given an objective -and material significance.</p> - -<p>Asked whether an acquaintance of theirs -would be helped by a knowledge of their intercourse -with him, he said: “She is not ready -for this yet. Few people, comparatively, are -free enough to accept it. It has been forbidden -by the church, ridiculed by the laity, and -labelled ‘poison, don’t touch’ by neurologists -and the scientific, half-baked intellectuals.”</p> - -<p>“Fake mediums have done a lot to bring it -into disrepute,” Mr. Wylie suggested.</p> - -<p>“That’s the reason for some of it. Another -reason, less obvious to you, but equally potent, -is that people who had the sensitiveness -to be messengers frequently lacked the purpose -of truth fundamentally, and though -thinking they were honest, entertained devils -unaware.... That is the reason so many -people have gone to pieces, mentally and -physically. The purposes of disintegration -caught them and destroyed them. But this -time, we beat them to it.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span></p> - -<p>“All philosophies have had some foundation -of truth,” he told us, a little later, “or they -would not have been permitted to live. This -new faith will be attacked by the disintegrating -forces, in an attempt to discredit it as a patchwork -of philosophies. The new truths they -will ignore, or flatly deny. But this is the -whole truth, as far as it can be told now. -Believe it, follow it, preach it, live it, and we -shall truly build that structure I told you of, -Mother dearest, of force, light, and sweetness—which -is you. I seem to be doing a darned -lot of preaching!”</p> - -<p>“It isn’t like you, either,” his mother remarked.</p> - -<p>“You see, we’ve got to get this over. It’s -imperative.”</p> - -<p>At that, she said it was like him, after all, -because he had always talked eagerly to the -family about his “job,” whatever it might be, -adding: “Is it ‘imperative’ because of the war -and the sorrow? Or because the time is ripe?”</p> - -<p>“It’s because there’s the very devil of a fight -coming, and we’ve got to gather every force -we have, and unite it.”</p> - -<p>“Is beating the Germans helping the constructive -force? Or is the war merely the -awakening through suffering?”</p> - -<p>“Germany has been united in purpose as a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> -destructive force for many years. They gave -themselves deliberately, not as individuals, but -as a people, to what parsons call the powers -of darkness. We know them to be forces of -disintegration, which found in Germany their -strongest ally in the civilized world. We’ve -been fighting Germany and her purposes here -for years, I find. Suffering makes people -readier to listen to truth, but beating Germany -was as necessary to the world’s health as -sanitation to a hospital.”</p> - -<p>“That’s a clear and explicit statement,” -some one said.</p> - -<p>“We are perfectly definite and explicit about -questions of eternal purpose. The difficulty -with most people is that they want to know -how much U. S. Steel will go up next Tuesday, -or whether to give the baby soothing-syrup.”</p> - -<p>After some interchange concerning his father -and younger sister, he said, “I want to write -them an Easter greeting.” So we got a fresh -roll of paper, and he wrote a brief but tender -letter, which was sent to them that night.</p> - -<p>“Which one of us will be best able to do -this?” Mrs. Wylie asked.</p> - -<p>“... The time will come when this sort of -thing is unnecessary. We can talk without -material aid.... We never know when the -power is going to develop. It’s much like an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> -electric current. You never know it’s there -until you feel it—until your signal comes over -the wire.... Try it out, all of you. We know -no more about who can do it than you do, -except in cases of extraordinary power.” Some -time afterward, however, he warned them of -the dangers of attempting to handle this force, -intimating that great conservation of energy -in other directions should accompany the -endeavor.</p> - -<p>His mother spoke of his being happy, and he -returned: “Perfectly happy now, thank you. -It’s the eternal thing, really started. I hate -to have this party break up, but anyhow it -isn’t for long. I’ve been away longer, when I -lived there, than I shall be now, and we are -all of us as sure of the next meeting, and the -next good time, as we were then.”</p> - -<p>“He knows it is ending, and we must go -to our trains,” Mrs. Gaylord said.</p> - -<p>“Not ending at all. Beginning! <i>Hooray!</i>”</p> - -<p>On that triumphant note they took their -departure, Mrs. Gaylord westward bound, the -Wylies to New England; but, owing to a defective -timepiece, both missed their trains. -Within an hour, Mrs. Wylie telephoned me -that her mother had caught—by the narrowest -margin—a later train, hoping to secure -sleeping-accommodation after leaving, a dubious<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> -venture in these days of diminished service -and crowded trains. We arranged to -dine and spend the evening together.</p> - -<p>Afterward, it occurred to me that Frederick -might prefer to be with his mother that night, -and I asked Mary K. about it.</p> - -<p>“Frederick has engaged his mother in -(O) ...”</p> - -<p>“What does that mean now?” I interrupted. -“Bliss?”</p> - -<p>“Yes ... and will come here to-night to -see the others.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span></p> - -<h3>III</h3> - -<p>Like the rest of the family, Mrs. Wylie -feared the effect of the Western visit upon -her mother’s new-found tranquillity of spirit, -and she was also uneasy lest Mrs. Gaylord had -been unable to secure Pullman accommodations.</p> - -<p>“Mother is all right and happy,” Frederick -told us, in the evening. “She is still reading -her precious book”—a copy of his earlier interviews, -which she carried with her.</p> - -<p>Some one asked whether he meant that her -general condition was “all right,” or that she -was “all right” on the train.</p> - -<p>“On the train. She’s blissful!”</p> - -<p>This was verified a day or two later by a -letter from Mrs. Gaylord, in which she said: -“I came away filled with strength and calm -and joy.” She also mentioned casually that -she had found a vacant section on the train, -and traveled comfortably.</p> - -<p>“How does purpose combat forces of evil?” -Mr. Wylie asked.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span></p> - -<p>“It is done by overpowering them, as the -sun dispels mist, separating them into smaller -particles or units. And when that is impossible, -by driving them like clouds before a high -wind. They work for evil, but can be separated -sometimes from the mass and united -with constructive forces. Only small fragments -of the main forces can be so converted, -at present. Mostly we rout them.”</p> - -<p>“Does an evil soul lose personality?” his -sister questioned. “Is it absorbed, or broken -into fragments?”</p> - -<p>“The individuality that finds its first expression -in your life is never absorbed or -broken up. I speak of the forces of disintegration, -composed of more individuals than -the greatest army, as being routed. We mass -ourselves and our purposes against them and -theirs, when we fight in the open here. But -as has been explained in the Lessons, the very -material form you have was originally an -effort to evolve a force not conquerable by -purpose alone. Both good and evil forces, in -your phrase—constructive and destructive, in -ours—took possession of these concrete forms, -and now the bitterness of the fight is greatest -where both forces are represented in one individual. -The only way we can fight that -effectively is to sit on the job, and try to call<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> -to the purpose that is ours more clearly and -appealingly, or more commandingly, than the -other fellow does. That’s the reason we are -begging you now to work with us. A great -crisis is at hand, and we want you to meet it -consciously in your life there, knowing its -nature, so that we can have your help, not only -in withstanding material onslaughts, like Germany’s -invasions and brutality, but in things of -the spirit—the real things, the eternal things—so -that together we may win a real victory. -The individual whose purposes are fundamentally -destructive is not damned nor lost. -He is just delayed. Sooner or later he must -work his way up, and it is entirely up to him -whether he does it sooner or later—after he -reaches this life, especially. In your life, he -is sometimes confused or misled. He pays for -that, too—not pays, but makes good for it, -by working here for the development he had -not sense enough to take there. But his delay -is brief, beside that of the essentially destructive -force.”</p> - -<p>A little later, Mrs. Wylie spoke again of -her uneasiness about her mother’s visit to -K——, and some one suggested telegraphing -her that Frederick had been with us that -evening.</p> - -<p>“Give her my love when you wire,” he directed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> -“and tell her I’m on the crossing, still -ringing that bell. Don’t you worry, Sis. I’ll -go and stay with her most of the time she’s -there, and she’ll know it. I’ll come to you, -Easter, too, for a little while.... Tell Dad I’ll -be taking care of Mother. He needn’t fret -about it.”</p> - -<p>“Do you want me to look up ‘Bob’ and tell -him about his little girl?” she asked.</p> - -<p>He replied, “Yes, do.” And when she -asked if he could give her something more -definite than a Christian name by which to -trace this unknown man among his large and -scattered acquaintance, he wrote the name of -a Middle Western city, adding: “You can -find out from the fellows. All of them know -Bob.”</p> - -<p>This seems to be a case of marked deflection -of ray, to use Mr. Kendal’s simile, for up to -the day when this manuscript goes to the -printer the Gaylord family have been unable -to identify “Bob,” although there was a confused -intimation, late in April, that Mrs. Z—— -had made a mistake in the name, and a suggestion -that the surname was Roberts. It is -not impossible that this was one of those -wily incursions of disintegrating force, with intent -to confuse, to which we afterward grew -accustomed.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span></p> - -<p>On Friday and Saturday of that week -(March 29th and 30th), there were interviews of -great interest, but of too personal a character -to be extensively quoted.</p> - -<p>Replying to the inquiry of a man for his -father, Mary K. said: “He was a great force -here, but has passed on into the life beyond -ours. He can and will return to talk to you, -but not immediately.”</p> - -<p>“Tell G—— the constructive forces are working -for him, as he for them,” was the answer -to questions about a man in this life. “Temporary -disappointments are unimportant. Do -not fear. We build together, and surely. The -result is certain and for his purpose—progress, -light, and justice. His individual concern is -to have faith, follow his purpose, and trust -us. The only failure possible comes from admitting -doubt, disintegration, and fear.”</p> - -<p>An expression of anxiety concerning another -man on this plane was met thus: “N—— has -felt his own purpose stirring a little.... A -perfectly good purpose when he finds it. He -has had many forces fighting, within and without. -He will wake when this message is -given to the world. He is too intelligent not -to recognize truth as obvious as this will be.” -Some one asked when this would occur. -“When Margaret completes the book she will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> -publish soon.” This was the first intimation -of the way in which I was expected to carry -out Mary K.’s instructions to make this experience -known, concerning which we had -wondered not a little.</p> - -<p>It was suggested that a member of this -person’s family might help him, from the next -plane, but this was said to be impossible, as -they were not of the same purpose.</p> - -<p>“The family connection is nothing here. -His own purposes know him, both good and -bad, and they are fighting it out. He has answered -first one, then another. But fundamentally -he is for justice. He will answer to -that in the end.... Sometimes he will shut it -all out and yield to the forces seeking to -destroy him, but he will fight in the end for -freedom and justice.”</p> - -<p>“She is not of our forces,” was the reply to -an inquiry about an artist who left this life -twenty years ago. This was crossed out, -however, and “not mentally free” substituted.</p> - -<p>When I was alone, I asked Mary K. about -this woman, and she returned: “She is not a -destructive force, but is deterrent. She is -working out problems not met when she should -have met them, and is fighting for growth, -just as she soon or late will fight for progress.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> -She fights for herself, her own growth, and not -for progress in the larger sense.”</p> - -<p>Afterward, I learned, from some one who -knew her well, of this woman’s devouring and -unquenchable ambition for supremacy in her -profession.</p> - -<p>Whimsical Anne Lowe, writing to three -friends of her continued association with them, -said: “Believe—<i>know</i>—that we are a positive -force, and united we stand, hurrah! Our -faith helps all beneficent purpose. Its force -is freed and multiplied by the sum of your -participation.”</p> - -<p>“I wonder if she could tell us what our purposes -are?” Elizabeth said.</p> - -<p>“Yours is Progress, Ruth’s is Light, Katharine’s -is Healing and Light. You are blended. -Elizabeth to push, Ruth to illumine and interpret, -Katharine to understand and soothe.”</p> - -<p>Ruth said, wistfully: “Then all I can do is -to shine?”</p> - -<p>“Interpreters are really prophets,” she was -told. “That is all the greatest prophets ever -were. You are of their purpose, so cheer up!”</p> - -<p>Interrupting a little discussion as to whether -dominant purpose is born in us or developed, -she said: “We are born with many purposes, -latent and striving, but as we live we make -daily choice.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span></p> - -<p>That evening, our old friend Maynard Holt -came for a long talk. After some entirely -personal exchange, Cass spoke of Maynard -as having been, in this life, a believer in -individualism.</p> - -<p>Beginning with some allusion to former discussions -between them, concerning what he -called “the temporary manifestations of Socialism,” -Maynard replied: “Now I can tell -you definitely that the salvation of the civilized -world is dependent on the independence of the -individual.... It’s a big and glorious period -in eternal history. The time has almost come -for the open fight. Prepare your ground carefully, -and gird up your loins for combat. It’s -coming.”</p> - -<p>A little later, in a similar connection, he -said: “The conscious co-operation of purpose -is the only sound principle of Socialism. That -is eternally sound. And now that we are consciously -and forcefully working in harmony -with the great and eternal purpose, they can’t -stop us.”</p> - -<p>“Has this new opportunity of communication -with this plane made you over there -happier?” he was asked.</p> - -<p>“It has opened an entirely new channel to -us here in this part of the world. In the Far -East, we have the channel, but no hard-pan<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> -to support the stream. Here science gives us -a foundation from which to work, but we have -had no channel through which to reach it.... -Everywhere in the civilized world the minds -of intelligent people have turned to this. There -is reaching and questioning and longing, and -a dawning faith.”</p> - -<p>At this time I did not know how frequently -belief in the possibility of communication with -those in a life beyond is accompanied by an inclination -toward the Oriental philosophies, but -Maynard’s allusion to the Far East was given -greater significance by the replies to later -questions.</p> - -<p>To an inquiry concerning the possible influence -of these teachings in Germany, he returned: -“They are a philosophical and abstract-minded -people, and they’ll be hunting a -plausible and satisfactory explanation of themselves -before long. And this is less uncomplimentary -than the others will be, besides -having the undeniable advantage of being -true, which they will have learned, by that -time, to appreciate.”</p> - -<p>“Can’t those with eyes, ears, and understanding -learn wisely to control, lead, and uplift -the mass?” Cass asked. “In Russia, for -example?”</p> - -<p>“Don’t be in such a hurry. There’s all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> -eternity, and evolution is slow. But the mills -of the gods grind on, and the grist is sure. -The Russians, like the Germans, must climb -their own hills. America has a few to climb, -too. This will help many, uplift a few, escape -the mass, but leaven the whole. There -is no millennium at hand. This is just a -light by which the path is made more clear. -It will influence many thousands, in many -countries, but the inert mass must work its -way on, through the old channels of evolution, -made easier by knowledge and by experience -of those ahead, but not to be evaded or avoided -by any miracle.”</p> - -<p>“But it will bring conscious purpose and -effort to bear in helping this evolution?”</p> - -<p>“Surely. It is a message eagerly awaited -and desired.”</p> - -<p>Later that evening, I asked Mary K. whether -she could tell me anything about the book -Anne Lowe had said I was to publish.</p> - -<p>“Yes. It must be ready for publication -by Fall.”</p> - -<p>“Evidently sordid, material details of book -manufacture escape your attention,” I said, -laughing. “This is the thirtieth of March, -and you have not yet given me all the material -for your book. When you have done that, it -still must be edited, assembled for publication,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> -copied, accepted by publishers, printed, and -sold. Perhaps you don’t know that salesmen -for publishing-houses begin taking orders for -Fall publications in June, and generally carry -sample copies of the books with them?”</p> - -<p>She said I would have the necessary material -in a month or six weeks, and that editing would -“take another month,” from which it is evident -that no eight-hour law is operative on her -plane. She also advised me to see publishers -at once, tell them what was happening, read -them parts of communications already received, -and arrange for Fall publication, conditional -upon their satisfaction with the completed -manuscript—which, not without misgivings -concerning such procedure, I immediately prepared -to act upon.</p> - -<p>A night or so later, Maynard Holt came -again, with his mother, who said: “Maynard -brought me to call.”</p> - -<p>When we asked if she worked with those on -this plane, she replied: “Yes, but also with -undeveloped purposes, here before their -time.”</p> - -<p>Returning to the subject of Russian upheaval, -Maynard said: “They are goners for -some time, now. It will take them long to -assemble their purposes again constructively.”</p> - -<p>“If you had been here,” Cass asked, “would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> -you have viewed the Russian situation and its -effect on the world as you do now?”</p> - -<p>“Not quite, I think. We see farther ahead, -and have sounder premises from which to -argue than you’ve ever had there.”</p> - -<p>“This plan, of course, includes all the people -of the world,” Cass continued. “Are those -who leave here undeveloped, still undeveloped -there?”</p> - -<p>“There is a large and growing population -here of the undeveloped,” was Maynard’s -reply, “which is one of the lesser reasons for -our keen desire to purposize the world.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span></p> - -<h3>IV</h3> - -<p>“What place have the unfit on your plane?” -we asked Mary K., at the conclusion of the -sixth Lesson.</p> - -<p>“No place. They are errors of development, -and have a long struggle ahead before -they can reach the degree of development that -should have been theirs in your life. They -are fusions of weak purposes, and should not -be permitted to hold back the strong and the -fit. Development will come to them slowly, -at best, but more quickly here than there.”</p> - -<p>“In the present stage of our development, -is there a sufficient incentive to progress, without -hope of material gain or personal improvement?”</p> - -<p>“Any material gain that is for the constructive -purpose is a force for light and progress -in the larger sense. Material gain is deterrent -only when purpose is its price. Personal ambition -is an incentive always. When it is for -personal gain, at any price, it is deterrent. -When it is ambition to serve a great purpose<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> -worthily, it becomes a constructive force, to -which material gain adds only more constructive -force.”</p> - -<p>“Have you all history spread out before -you? Or are you taught after you get there?”</p> - -<p>“We have a grasp of results, not easily -understood in your life. It is like seeing a -landscape from a high and distant hill. The -salient features are easily distinguished.”</p> - -<p>“Are these messages for all people? Or -only for civilized people? Do they come from -Christians on your plane?”</p> - -<p>“This is a message to the civilized world.... -Jew or Gentile, Christian or agnostic, all -men are brothers in the larger sense. Uncivilized -little brothers will grow, or come to -this freer plane to join their larger purposes.”</p> - -<p>“Then from whom do these Lessons come?”</p> - -<p>“From great constructive purposes. There -is no sect or creed, color or prejudice, here.”</p> - -<p>Saturday, April 6th, Mrs. Bruce came again -to talk to her husband, and he thanked her -for a public gift which she had just made in -his name, promising such co-operation in the -work it promoted as could be given from his -plane. She said that she had felt suddenly -impelled to make this contribution, and had -acted at once upon the impulse.</p> - -<p>“You all feel impelled to work with us as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> -soon as you realize we are here near you,” he -told her, “and the things we can do together -are as yet undreamed in your life.”</p> - -<p>She spoke of his former interest in the arts, -which he said he had left behind as “material -manifestations.” Discussing the relation -of artistic expression to constructive purpose, -he said: “Art, when it is a real interpretation -of life, is a high and noble thing, but the -art that is merely self-expression is a disintegrating -force. Too much of it is that now.”</p> - -<p>At that time, she had read none of the Lessons, -and he told her of the seven purposes of -construction, continuing: “To purpose of any -nature only similar purpose calls, and when -the call is heard there is no choice but to -answer. No choice after the call has been -admitted to consciousness. It may be shut -out and denied, but once listened to, whether -for construction or for destruction, the answer -is bound to come. That is why we so insistently -urge the discovery of purpose and the -beauty of construction. Character, as you -understand it, results from the purposes admitted -to consciousness. Not always recognized, -but always let in.”</p> - -<p>He had some difficulty in getting one word -written, and she spoke of his erasures of wrong -starts as extraordinary and unusual.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Not a bit unusual, if you think how often -the words of your languages fail as convincing -and accurate symbols. You often correct them -yourselves. A translation may be made in any -of several ways, depending on the reactions of -the translator to certain symbols. So, when -Margaret reacts freely, we let it stand. When -she fails, wholly or in part, we correct it.”</p> - -<p>In view of later statements concerning the -force used in these manifestations, I assume this -to mean, not that I make the translation mentioned, -but that certain symbols used in translation -are sometimes difficult to convey through -me. Frequently other words have been substituted -for those originally begun, when there -was trouble in writing them. Another explanation -of these occasional difficulties of transmission -was suggested afterward, first by -Frederick and later more explicitly by Mary -Kendal.</p> - -<p>“Do you see us visibly?” Mrs. Bruce asked.</p> - -<p>“Yes, of course. We see all you do, and -more. We see motives, where you see appearance.”</p> - -<p>[Long afterward (May 26th), Mr. Kendal -asked Anne Lowe whether she could see sunsets, -and she replied: “No, but we see their -equivalent in dawn of purpose.”</p> - -<p>[She had previously expressed approval of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> -room, which had been arranged with great -care for one dear to her, and he asked whether -she saw its physical details, or only its effects -upon the minds of persons entering it, to which -her answer was: “We never see material -things. We see their significance.”</p> - -<p>[Similarly, Mary K. said (May 31st), “We -read your thought frequently, and always perceive -motive, intention, and the mental and -spiritual significance of your reactions to material -things, in themselves unimportant. So -we say we see the thing itself, because we perceive -its essential significance.”]</p> - -<p>Mrs. Bruce said her daughter wanted to -know whether dogs continue to exist after life -here, feeling that they must.</p> - -<p>“They do not come as animals, exactly. -But there is no manifestation of force that is -not purpose, and purposes are united and -gather here, in ways not possible for you to -understand, in the progress toward the great -purpose.” Ten days later, Frederick stated -this more explicitly.</p> - -<p>After a pause, Mr. Bruce said: “We are so -full of our fine but tremendous task here, at -this great moment of crisis, that I’m afraid -I’m not very entertaining. We talk shop to -you, because that is the reason we can come -so freely now.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span></p> - -<p>“You refer to the great crisis?” she asked. -“Not to our present crisis here?”</p> - -<p>“Germany is bereft of all purpose. Purposes -of destruction have left her. She has -one sole, frantic force remaining—fear. After -that, destruction, long followed, will turn and -rend her, and fear will be lost in despair.”</p> - -<p>“Aren’t there some good Germans?” she -suggested, adding that their daughter thought -it unfair to condemn a whole people for the -sins of some of them.</p> - -<p>“Many good Germans have admitted to -consciousness the call of destructive purposes, -and have for the moment joined forces against -us. For many years this preparation has been -going on. No German who has ever admitted -the forces of disintegration is quite free from -them now. There were some officers who took -their own lives and faced the consequences, -rather than join forces with the dominant -purpose of their people. No person can live -in Germany now who is not party to disintegration. -No German lives in the world, -who still calls himself German, who is not -party to disintegration.”</p> - -<p>“You say they have ‘joined forces against -us for the moment,’” I mentioned.</p> - -<p>“Some of them will see light, and build forcefully -for true progress. Some of them will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> -destroy while they live. Some will be for -years deterrent, and the end is impossible to -foresee.”</p> - -<p>A day or two after this, when I was alone, -I asked Mary K. what Mr. Bruce meant by -saying that once the call of purpose is admitted -to consciousness, there is no choice -but to answer.</p> - -<p>“He meant that your personal struggle is -only with the purposes admitted to consciousness. -All forces are constantly trying to reach -you, to enlist you for the great struggle. Once -admitted to your consciousness, you have no -choice but to answer, and the struggle between -opposing forces is fought with your help. -Many waver between the two, now lending aid -to this one, now to that. A few choose instantly; -some to progress, some to delay, -some to build, some to destroy. This is what -men call character.”</p> - -<p>“He said also that no German who has ever -admitted to consciousness the forces of disintegration -is quite free from them now. -Why?”</p> - -<p>“Because there is in your life, as here, a -group loyalty. But whereas here we are -grouped by purpose, there you are grouped -largely by geographical location. And any -German who justified this war in the beginning<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> -is party to disintegration to some extent still. -His group loyalty holds him, though his purpose -protest. That will be the final test. -Purpose, or finite loyalty to finite group.”</p> - -<p>One or two interesting statements were -made, about this time, during an interview -with the widow of a well-known New York -surgeon.</p> - -<p>“Your husband’s work is healing still,” Mary -K. told her. After enumerating the constructive -purposes, she continued: “Healing was -always his purpose, and he follows it still, with -all his great force. He has a freer field here, -and fulfils his purpose fully. That is the -reason he is unable to be here to-day. The -Germans are liberating many bewildered and -fear-stricken souls, and all our great healers -are held by their need.”</p> - -<p>When we spoke of ways of finding happiness -she said: “Who fears the purpose he should -serve with force destroys it. Fear not. Find -it, serve it, and happiness of a positive kind -will find you.... Your force is scattered among -many latent purposes. Find the dominant -call of Progress to your soul, and follow that, -leaving the rest behind.”</p> - -<p>Again, a day or two later, the present preoccupation -of healers on the next plane was -mentioned, when I asked Mary K. whether a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> -certain woman would come at a given time to -meet friends who had asked for her.</p> - -<p>“She may. I shall try to have her here,” -she said. “Her work is healing, and all our -healers are working constantly.... She was -an artist with you, and somewhat deterrent. -She has found a new purpose.”</p> - -<p>The day before the last Lessons were given, -Maynard Holt, explaining to a friend the seven -purposes, said: “Every Human being who is -for progress and construction serves one or -more of these purposes. It is by them that -what you know as human force is ultimately -grouped for eternal advance. Our effort now -is to unite all forces for Progress in conscious -co-operation.” After speaking of Germany’s -unity of purpose, he went on: “She is, and -has been for years, the center of forces and -purposes of disintegration in your life. She -is, in theological parlance, the ally of his -Satanic Majesty. We have learned here that -there is no evil, per se. There is only purpose, -constructive or destructive.... But the forces -of disintegration are gathering for a battle of -wits and morals, and we are emulating Germany -in just one thing.... We are preparing. -We want you to wake up and realize what is -going on. We want every one of you to find -and recognize not only your own purpose, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> -the other fellow’s. Find out who is for progress, -and who merely camouflages disintegration. -Conscious co-operation of constructive -purpose is warranted to beat the devil. He -can’t defeat it, nor yet delay it. (O) <i>That</i> is -what it means to all of us.... Come on in. -The water’s fine!”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span></p> - -<h3>V</h3> - -<p>As has been said, our invisible friends have -seemed somewhat hazy in their perceptions of -time and place and of mundane details generally, -and they have shown no inclination to -concern themselves with our trivial personal -affairs. When pressed for specific statements -about small details, their replies have been -sometimes in exact accordance with the fact -as we have perceived it, sometimes not, but -they have rarely diverged widely from the -truth. In the larger matters directly related -to spiritual unity and growth they have -been correct, as when Mary K. explicitly -stated, March 23d (already quoted), that -the German offensive then in progress and -up to that time successful would ultimately -fail.</p> - -<p>On one occasion, apropos of certain questions -her husband had asked, Mary Kendal said: -“We are not here to satisfy intellectual or any -other kind of curiosity. If we were not sure -you would use this information for construction,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> -we wouldn’t fuss about it—except you -and I, Manzie.”</p> - -<p>Several times during March and April, however, -Mary K. gave me correct and specific -information about various minor affairs, and -these incidents are mentioned here because I -have been asked repeatedly whether such -statements had been made and verified, rather -than because undue importance is attached to -them.</p> - -<p>For example, hastening to an appointment -one morning (March 29th), I carelessly left -my muff in a taxicab. Discovering the loss an -hour later, I telephoned to the cab company, -to be told that no report had been received -from the cabman, but that they would try to -locate him at one of their various stands. It -was arranged that I should call at their office -for it late in the afternoon, had it been found.</p> - -<p>During luncheon, which I took at a restaurant, -Mary K. indicated that she had something -to say, and on the back of an envelop -wrote: “Your muff is found for you.” Two -hours later, when I reached home, the muff had -been returned by the cabman.</p> - -<p>Another incident, less accurate in detail, but -substantially correct, concerned Mr. Kendal -and my record-book. Having had, during his -brief stay in New York, no leisure in which to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> -read the record—which then contained only -the genesis of this experience, Frederick’s -first interviews with his mother, and some -messages from Mary Kendal not included -in my letters to her husband—he had taken the -book away with him (March 20th), and three -or four days later I began looking for its return. -When, on the 29th or 30th (exact date -not noted), it had not arrived, I asked Mary -K. whether she knew anything about it, and -she replied that it had been sent and would -probably reach me that day. At that time -the record, wrapped and addressed, lay on his -desk, where he had left it with instructions -that it be mailed when he left home for the -Easter week-end. It had been overlooked, -and he found it there when he returned on -the following Monday. Apparently Mary K. -perceived only his intention and belief that it -was on its way to me.</p> - -<p>On the 1st of April she told me that a letter -concerning these communications, then several -days overdue, for which I waited with great -anxiety, had at last been written.</p> - -<p>“Really written?” I asked. “Or is this one -of those successfully started things you regard -as accomplished?”</p> - -<p>“Really written.”</p> - -<p>At the same time she promised me other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> -letters, from persons specifically named, and -gave me certain information concerning a -member of the Gaylord family.</p> - -<p>Two days later, when none of these letters -had appeared, I said, “Where are those letters -you promised me?”</p> - -<p>“The letters are coming, fearful and wonderful -messenger,” she humorously assured me. -“You have not made a <span class="strike">m</span> ... <span class="strike">fr</span> ... <span class="strike">friend</span> ... -<span class="strike">free</span> ... fantom (O) friend in vain.”</p> - -<p>Laughing, I asked: “Is ‘fantom friend’ -right?”</p> - -<p>She said it was.</p> - -<p>Half an hour later the long-delayed letter -arrived, and as she had told me, it was dated -April 1st. The other letters came later the -same day, the one from Mrs. Wylie verifying -the information already given by Mary K. -about a member of her family.</p> - -<p>On Monday, April 1st, I sent a copy of -Frederick’s recent interviews with his mother -and sister to Mrs. Gaylord at K——, hoping -that it might reach her by Wednesday morning. -Wednesday night Mary K. told me that an -expected letter from Mrs. Gaylord had not -been written, adding: “She waits for the -record.” A week later, after a happy visit in -K——, Mrs. Gaylord returned to her home -and notified me that she had not received the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> -manuscript from me. Fearing that it had been -lost in the mails, I asked Mary K. about it, -and was told that it would be received. This -was repeated at intervals covering several -days.</p> - -<p>When, on Monday, April 15th, two weeks -from the day it had been sent, it was missing -still, I told Mary K. that it must have been -lost.</p> - -<p>“They shall have it soon,” she said. “It is -not lost, but delayed.”</p> - -<p>“Shall I make a duplicate for them?”</p> - -<p>“You must trust us.”</p> - -<p>“You are positive that it will arrive?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, it will.”</p> - -<p>It was delivered to Mrs. Gaylord the following -day, April 16th.</p> - -<p>On one occasion I asked Mary K. about a -woman for whom I had been requested to arrange -an interview with a person on the next -plane, but about whom I knew nothing whatever.</p> - -<p>“She is deterrent,” was the reply, and during -the subsequent interview, for the first time -since the beginning of this experience, I encountered -an individual whose outlook and -desire was limited to the narrowly personal.</p> - -<p>One of the most striking of these examples -of specific information occurred on the night<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> -of Tuesday, April 2d, the day of the Senatorial -elections.</p> - -<p>Cass said: “Ask Mary K. whether she will -answer a specific, mundane question for me.” -When she had written her name and indicated -her willingness, he inquired: “Who was elected -in Wisconsin to-day, Lenroot or Davies?”</p> - -<p>“Are you there?” I questioned, when no -reply came.</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>After another delay, when the pencil wandered -lightly and aimlessly, she wrote: “Lenroot.” -Supposing that she had finished, I put -the pencil aside, but she summoned me again, -to add: “Lenroot elected by latest count. -Close in some places. We consider him -elected.” Cass looked at his watch. It was -five minutes past twelve.</p> - -<p>The next morning our papers announced Mr. -Lenroot in the lead, with final returns not yet -received, and not until Cass reached his office -did we discover how truly “exclusive” our information -had been. He learned then that -the suburban editions of several New York -City papers, which probably went to press -about the time we talked to Mary K., practically -conceded the election to Mr. Davies, -reporting him ahead by returns then available.</p> - -<p>Of many other specific statements that were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> -either absolutely correct, or so nearly correct -that Mr. Kendal’s theory of a difference of -perceptive method might easily account for the -error, one is notable. On Sunday, May 19th, -I asked Mary K. whether she could tell me -anything about the projected German drive.</p> - -<p>“Yes. It will be fierce, but futile. All -forces here see her doom, and the war will last -only as long as unsupported human endeavor -can endure against eternal purpose. Germany -has no ally here. The forces that have impelled -her for these many years are overpowered -by world-purpose, and have left Germany to -her destruction, while they prepare to destroy -the finest spiritual fruits of victory.”</p> - -<p>Similarly, while writing to friends at the -front of our entire confidence in the outcome -of the Picardy drive then in progress, May -30th, I paused to ask Mary K. whether she -had anything more to say about the war.</p> - -<p>“Only that we are the victors. Germany -does not win this drive, either. Our forces -rally, and the end is near. Defeat this time -will leave them despairing and afraid.”</p> - -<p>To this Maynard Holt added, “All the forces -have withstood the blow and gather for the -final and decisive defeat of Germany.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span></p> - -<h3>VI</h3> - -<p>The actual existence of intelligent, invisible -forces, constantly doing battle for and against -spiritual progress, through possession of what -we are wont to call our souls, was at first difficult -for me to accept literally, the idea being in -direct opposition to my whole mental tendency. -While the theory was interesting, it seemed -hardly credible in its specific, individual application. -However, I was soon given a manifestation -of the strength and pertinacity of -the disintegrating forces, which—although it -ultimately strengthened my conviction, proving -highly corroborative—threatened for a time -to end this effort, as far as I was concerned.</p> - -<p>The last two Lessons were given to me on -the 12th of April, and it had been arranged -that Mr. T——, the representative of a publishing-house, -should come on the evening of -the thirteenth for a demonstration of the communication -with the next plane. From the -day this arrangement was contemplated, frequent -assertions were made under Mary K.’s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> -signature, concerning Mr. T—— and his attitude -toward this experience, many of which -were afterward proved untrue, and all of -which I doubted, notwithstanding repeated -proofs, already quoted, of her general correctness -of statement. Day by day these messages -grew more confusing, and I less able to -account for them by any theory then formed. -That a deliberate “drive” by malign powers -was in progress never occurred to me, and -would have seemed too absurd to credit, even -had I thought of it.</p> - -<p>As there seemed to be no close tie between -Mr. T—— and any of those from whom he -had expressed a desire to hear, no great eagerness -on either side to complete a circle of which -each was a part, I felt that the interview might -present difficulties not encountered before, and -resolved to do no writing during the day, reserving -my strength for the evening’s work.</p> - -<p>In the morning, however, I had occasion to -ask Mary K. for some brief information. Beginning, -as usual, with her signature—somewhat -haltingly done—the pencil wrote quickly, -but erratically: “Mr. Farrow is dead.” This -man is a business associate of Cass’s, living -abroad.</p> - -<p>Startled, I thought I must have taken the -message incorrectly, but it was repeated.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Mr. Farrow is dead. Cass will hear later.” -When I insisted that this could not be true, -it was reiterated. “Yes, he is here, and <span class="strike">b</span> ... -<span class="strike">blon</span> ... <span class="strike">latter</span> ... bewildered. Mary K.”</p> - -<p>Our personal relations with Mr. Farrow, -while pleasant, have never been close, being -based entirely upon a business connection, and -my affections were in no way responsible for -my resistance to this announcement, nor would -our personal affairs have been in any way influenced -by his death. But I did not believe it.</p> - -<p>“Farrow is here with us. May ... Mary -K.” This signature was slow and irresolute, -beginning as Maynard and ending as Mary -K., but lacking the firmness of either—an indecision -and inconsequence characteristic, I -have since learned, of disintegrating force in -these invasions.</p> - -<p>“Was he killed in an accident?”</p> - -<p>“No. Pneumonia. Maynard. Tell Cass.”</p> - -<p>“Shall I telephone to Cass now?”</p> - -<p>“No. I am watching over him. Maynard.”</p> - -<p>The use of the word “dead” in this connection -was surprising, since the whole trend of -former communications had been toward elimination -of the idea of death. Once more I -asked Mary K. if they were sure there had -been no mistake.</p> - -<p>“Yes. He is dead to your life.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span></p> - -<p>“You mean Farrow of P——? Not his -brother? Or his son?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, P——. It is true. You will hear -soon. Cass must go there.”</p> - -<p>I telephoned to Cass, saying nothing of this -experience, and found him in good spirits, -proving that he had not heard of Mr. Farrow’s -death. Returning to the pencil, I told -Mary K. I did not believe the information was -correct.</p> - -<p>“Yes, he is dead. A telegram on the way -to Cass. He will receive it soon. Before one -o’clock.”</p> - -<p>Some time later, having heard nothing from -Cass, I told Mary K. again that there had been -a mistake.</p> - -<p>“No, it is true. Mr. Farrow of P—— is here -with us. Cass will know in a few minutes. -He will telephone.”</p> - -<p>I warned her then that my faith in her veracity -was at stake, and that while I could not doubt -that Frederick, Mary Kendal, Maynard Holt, -and others, had communicated through me, I -could not take the responsibility of publishing -anything she had told me unless I could trust -her in all things, adding: “If this is not true -how can I be sure that any of it is?”</p> - -<p>“Mary K. It is true. Don’t doubt.”</p> - -<p>I said I had no wish to doubt, but that unless<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> -this message came from some other than -Mary K., I could not believe her again, if it -proved, as I was sure it would, to be untrue. -I began to suspect that disintegrating forces -were at work.</p> - -<p>“It comes from the constructive force. Be -confident. It perplexes you.”</p> - -<p>Later experience has taught me that while -either force may be in complete command at -moments, during these struggles for control, -not infrequently a message begun by one is -finished by the other. During the three days -of this first persistent attack, however, I held -no key to the mystery, and the occasional -clearly constructive and characteristic messages -from Mary K. and Maynard Holt merely added -to my bewilderment and dismay. Yet never -for one instant during those three days did I -accept the repeated statements of Mr. Farrow’s -death as true. Weeks afterward, Mary K. told -me why I was not deceived.</p> - -<p>Since that time, too, I have learned more -clearly to distinguish personality by the degree -and quality of force applied to the pencil, -which varies greatly with individuals, though -it sometimes varies in the same individual at -different times. But in the first experience it -did not occur to me to apply that test of -identification.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span></p> - -<p>All that Saturday afternoon the argument -went on at intervals, I insisting that Mr. Farrow -was not dead, the pencil reiterating that -he was.</p> - -<p>At two o’clock Maynard said: “Believe in -us, Margaret. We can help you better.” It -is evident now that this referred to the conflict -with the disintegrating force, but at the -moment I misunderstood it and reminded him -of the many specific and inaccurate statements -made, during the past few days, regarding -the man who was coming that evening by -appointment, asking if this were more misinformation -of the same sort, to which the -reply was: “No, Farrow is here. He is dazed, -but will be taken care of.”</p> - -<p>An hour later, I returned to the pencil, begging -them to tell me, before definite information -reached me from other sources, that there -had been a mistake.</p> - -<p>“Mary K. You must not doubt. We shall -lose control of you if you do.” When I said -that what I sought was truth, she said: “I -know, but you doubt our control, and weaken -it.”</p> - -<p>“I also doubt my own correctness.”</p> - -<p>“You are correct.” As, indeed, I was. Her -message reached my consciousness.</p> - -<p>At three o’clock the insistence that Mr.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> -Farrow was dead continued, and attempts were -made to explain former inaccuracies, on the -plea of a difference in plane, creating “errors -in terms of finite space.”</p> - -<p>Shortly before five, it was said that Cass -had received news of Mr. Farrow’s death, -and was on his way home. A few minutes -later Mary K. warned me again.</p> - -<p>“You must not doubt.... You can’t be a -messenger without faith.”</p> - -<p>“How am I to know when you are telling -the truth and when it is error?”</p> - -<p>“The truth is the truth, and you must learn -to differentiate between the planes.” I suspect -that she intended the last word to be -“forces,” and that control was wrested from -her before it was written.</p> - -<p>Resenting the whole confused situation, and -entirely unable to account for my conviction -that this message was false, I said: “If Cass -tells me, when he comes home, that Mr. Farrow -is dead, I will believe anything you tell -me in future. If he is not dead, I’ll have -nothing further to do with you or your book.”</p> - -<p>“Mary K. You will go on with our work. -He is dead.”</p> - -<p>At this point, Cass arrived. He said that -he had received neither letter nor cablegram -from Mr. Farrow for ten days, although an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> -expected and important letter from him was -some time overdue. This seemed to lend -color to the report of his death, but my conviction -was unshaken.</p> - -<p>From the beginning of these communications -with the next plane, although at times excessively -fatigued, I had enjoyed an increasing mental -serenity, but with the first announcement of -Mr. Farrow’s death, this had given way to the -peculiar nervous instability and apprehension -invariably accompanying these mischievous -invasions.</p> - -<p>By night my mind was in a turmoil and my -nerves on edge, my confidence shaken, my -faith in the balance—which did not lessen the -difficulties of an interview prompted chiefly -by intellectual interest. Establishing connection -with an unfamiliar personality is not easy, -at best, and frequently some time is required -to obtain free communication. On this occasion, -instead of devoting the evening to perfecting -one connection, several persons were -called, all but one responding, and the messages, -with one or two exceptions, were unsatisfactory. -There were vain and fatiguing -efforts to write a name unknown to any of us, -and most of the efforts to obtain specific -evidential data were unsuccessful. Whether -this was due to my own lack of confidence,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> -to interference by the enemy, or to the fact -that at no time have the individuals communicating -through me concerned themselves with -personal and specific details—except occasionally, -for my own greater conviction—I do not -know.</p> - -<p>At midnight, when this interview was over -and we were alone, although wearied to the -point of exhaustion, I asked again about Mr. -Farrow, receiving the same reply, with a variation -to the effect that the cablegram announcing -his death had been delayed by the censor, and -with occasional phrases of appeal and encouragement—merely -intensifying my bewilderment—from -Mary K. and Maynard.</p> - -<p>“Are you sure you haven’t been away and -let in disintegrating forces?” I asked Mary K.</p> - -<p>“No, we have been here. They can’t touch -your purpose. Don’t fear. You will be perfectly -reassured soon,” was her reply, which, -had we but recognized it, was an intimation -that disintegrating forces had been in partial -control in spite of all effort to overcome them.</p> - -<p>Again I asked why the word “dead” had -been used, and was told: “That is what the -cable to Cass says.” Which manifestly did -not explain.</p> - -<p>Sunday morning, Maynard Holt’s familiar -signature came at once, followed by a long,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span> -personal message to a friend who was present, -steadily written, and pointed by an occasional -characteristic turn of phrase, indicating a clear -and uninterrupted connection.</p> - -<p>When this had been finished, Cass asked, -“Shall I go to the office for that cable?”</p> - -<p>“It is not there.”</p> - -<p>“It’s all a mistake?” I urged.</p> - -<p>“Farrow is here.”</p> - -<p>But I knew he was not there. Had he been -present in the flesh, I could not have been -more certain that he had not left this plane.</p> - -<p>All day we discussed the bearing of these -persistent misstatements—provided they were -misstatements—upon the experience as a whole, -and I was oppressed, in addition to my personal -disappointment, by a sense of my responsibility -to those others to whom this new -faith had brought active happiness and hope. -I had arranged to go to L—— on the following -Tuesday, to spend a few days with the Gaylord -family; Mr. Kendal expected to arrive in -New York a week or ten days later, anticipating -further communication with his wife; and -various other appointments were pending. -But though I could neither question the authenticity -of former personal communications, -nor deny the constructive quality of the Lessons, -I felt that I could not continue to act<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> -as intermediary if it were possible for persons -like Mary K. and Maynard to lend themselves -to this sort of thing, nor could I encourage -others to hold a belief after it had become -impossible to me.</p> - -<p>In the afternoon, Mary K. told me to go to -L—— as soon as possible. When we asked -about Mr. Farrow, Maynard’s signature preceded -the message.</p> - -<p>“He is here. Why don’t you accept it?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know why I can’t,” was my reply. -“Why don’t you convince my mind, as you -have at other times? Why don’t you make me -feel it? I can’t believe it’s true.”</p> - -<p>“You have the statement of two friends.”</p> - -<p>“You’ve been mistaken before in specific -statements.”</p> - -<p>“Only in those relating to dimensions of -finite space, which we are unable to gauge -accurately.”</p> - -<p>That evening, Mary K.’s signature came -first. “You must see how foolish it was to -mistrust us,” the pencil wrote. “Mr. Farrow -is here, and Cass will learn of it soon.”</p> - -<p>“Unless you take refuge again in that difference -of plane,” I commented, rather bitterly. -“Why don’t you remember it before, instead -of after, the error it creates?”</p> - -<p>“Because you should not distrust us.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span></p> - -<p>“But why not encourage me to trust you by -remembering that difference of plane in the first -place?” I insisted. “Why be so explicit about -things you know may be inaccurately stated?”</p> - -<p>“I do not deceive you intentionally. We -feel that a thing certain of accomplishment is -done, and are frequently misled into premature -statements by the strength of intention, -or purpose, or movement in a given direction. -We are accurate from our point of view, and -not always able to gauge yours.”</p> - -<p>Admitting this to be conceivable, I said: -“Now tell me about Mr. Farrow.”</p> - -<p>“Mr. Farrow is here with us. When Cass -gets to the office in the morning he will find -the truth.” Again the signature was hesitating -and indefinite, first Maynard, then -Mary K. I felt that neither of them wrote -it, but could not reconcile the frequent constructive -statements, urging faith and continuance -of this work, to destructive purpose, -nor could I understand why, if Mary K. and -Maynard were present, they did not warn me -of false statements by malign forces, provided -such were the case.</p> - -<p>Monday morning, the situation was unchanged, -save that the statements were slightly -elaborated. Repeatedly I asked whether -they were not confusing Mr. Farrow with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> -some other member of his family, or whether -they had accepted serious illness as death.</p> - -<p>A curious statement followed this suggestion, -under Maynard’s signature. “Farrow is -both here and there. He is here in essence, -there in body.... He is both here and there -for some time after death.”</p> - -<p>Immediately afterward, however, when I -said that this sounded preposterous, Mary -K.’s name was written, with: “Mr. Farrow is -here. He is dead to you. Actually now dead. -Go to L—— at once.”</p> - -<p>“I can’t go to L——, with affairs in this -state,” I told her.</p> - -<p>“You will know soon. Wait.”</p> - -<p>Maynard followed, with an appeal to “have -faith,” adding: “It will be clear soon.”</p> - -<p>This went on, at intervals, until after two -o’clock, when I had promised an interview to -a woman who had not visited me before. -Fully resolved to tell her that I could take no -messages for her, I made one last attempt to -obtain the truth before her arrival—this time -with partial success.</p> - -<p>“Maynard. It is a mistake ...”</p> - -<p>At that moment, my guest arrived. I told -her that I might be unable to get any satisfactory -communications for her, but her daughter, -who left this plane years ago, came at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> -once, writing steadily and clearly, with the -exception of one brief interruption. She told -her mother of the seven purposes and their -meaning, urging her, as had all the others, to -put herself consciously in touch with constructive -purpose, and to open her mind and -spirit to those on the next plane who were -eager to work with her.</p> - -<p>When I was again alone, I returned to the -pencil, which wrote quickly and strongly: -“Maynard. It is a mistake about Farrow. -The ...” Here again the opposing forces -evidently gained control. “Farrow here, but -not your Farrow.”</p> - -<p>“Then why have you insisted that he was -our Farrow?”</p> - -<p>“He led us to think so.”</p> - -<p>I said with some emphasis that I wanted -a better explanation than that.</p> - -<p>“Maynard. You are messenger for us only -if you trust us.”</p> - -<p>A fortnight later, after a second, similar -experience, Mary K. told me, when I asked -about this first confused period: “We had a -terrific struggle for you then. We told you -the truth, but the other forces controlled the -pencil.... The forces of disintegration compelled -us for the moment. We were not theirs, -but they overpowered and used us.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span></p> - -<p>Early in June, while preparing this manuscript, -I asked her: “Was it you who wrote, -‘You must not doubt. We shall lose control -of you if you do’?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. We were fighting for your faith.”</p> - -<p>“Can you tell me why you did not explain -then—why you have never explained—that the -enemy had control?”</p> - -<p>“We have certain limitations in conflicts -of this nature.... In actual conflict we can -only affirm. Remember that.... When attacked -by disintegrating force, the only way we -can help you is to call to your purpose and to -affirm our own. In your individual struggle we -may not interfere, even when it concerns our -work. You must believe or doubt, according -to your own choice.... We cannot tell you that -disintegrating forces threaten you, until you -have recognized them. Then we can help you -repel them. Always we call to you and try to -encourage you.... You must make your own -choice and your own deductions, and learn in -that way to discriminate between the forces -appealing to you. Details of your personal -struggles may not be explained. They are -your development.”</p> - -<p>Knowing nothing of all this in April, however, -I insisted upon a detailed explanation of -the Farrow mystery, and again the disintegrating<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> -forces played upon my doubt and bewilderment, -elaborating excuses for the mistake, in -Maynard’s name.</p> - -<p>Refusing to accept any of these ingenious -but illogical assertions, I contended that they -were unfair to me, having first specifically -volunteered this erroneous information, which -they now attempted to account for by obviously -specious explanations.</p> - -<p>“We volunteer information pertaining to the -message we have for the world through you.”</p> - -<p>This, it will be perceived, was an affirmation -indirectly disclaiming the Farrow messages, -but I did not so recognize it, and reminded -them that they had reproached me for not -trusting them in this matter.</p> - -<p>“You are logical within your limits,” was -Maynard’s only reply to that.</p> - -<p>“And you still expect me to go on with your -work?”</p> - -<p>“You have had many manifestations of our -force,” Mary K. returned. “Mr. Kendal will -show you how this occurred.”</p> - -<p>When I mentioned, with some heat, that -some one would have to show me, as they had -asked me to shoulder a heavy responsibility in -this matter, she said: “You are puzzled and -frightened, but knowledge of our constructive -work through you should decide your action.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span></p> - -<p>Remembering how fear and grief and despair, -in certain cases, and cynical indifference -in others, had been banished from the lives -of the men and women to whom these messages -had come, I conceded the constructive work.</p> - -<p>“Then come along and build.... You are -unable to distinguish the difficulties under -which we work. Many messengers have failed -to convey the message we have tried to give.... -Many mistakes happen with the best -messengers.”</p> - -<p>“Was this my mistake?” I asked.</p> - -<p>“No. You make only one mistake, so far. -You shut us out by doubt. Don’t doubt. -We are all working for the same great end.”</p> - -<p>Eventually, although far from satisfied about -the Farrow affair, I decided to go to L——, -feeling that if disillusionment must come to -the Gaylord family, it would better come now -than later, but still hoping that some explanation -would be given while I was with them. -In this I was disappointed. Not until a fortnight -later did I even begin to understand it. -But after the first interview with Frederick -at L——, I wrote Cass (April 17th): “If ever -I had any doubts about the truth of this, they -are gone! Somebody did something I don’t -understand, but this is <i>real</i>.”</p> - -<p>I have given this experience in some detail,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> -not only because it corroborates the statements -that malevolent and crafty forces are -about us, striving to thwart progressive effort, -but because it seems also to offer at least a -partial explanation of the inconsistencies and -contradictions that long have baffled and discouraged -investigators of psychic phenomena. -Obviously, until the identity and character of -the invisible communicating personality have -been established and clearly recognized, and -the purpose prompting the communication -manifested through a series of experiments, it -is unsafe to rely upon information received in -this way. And it is equally obvious that -forces of disintegration could scarcely find a -more fruitful method of implanting in the human -mind doubt and cynicism concerning the -possibility of obtaining authentic and enlightening -revelations from planes beyond, than -by contradicting and confusing such messages, -or by deliberately misleading the applicant for -information.</p> - -<p>Later experience brought further demonstration -of the diligence of the sinister purposes, -together with greater knowledge of ways to -defeat them.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span></p> - -<h3>VII</h3> - -<p>Before beginning the Gaylord interviews -at L—— (April 17th), Mary K. asked me not to -tell the family the details of the Farrow episode.</p> - -<p>“Are you ever going to explain that clearly?” -I asked.</p> - -<p>“Not until you know more about these -conditions.”</p> - -<p>That night, for the first time, I saw a photograph -of Frederick. During the year of her -grief and despair Mrs. Gaylord had been -unable to bear the added poignancy of a portrait’s -suggestion, and only when I arrived, to -manifest his actual presence in the family circle, -was the hidden photograph—a singularly lifelike -and virile reproduction—brought to light.</p> - -<p>“Hooray!” he began, after the customary -signature. “Here we are again, all of us together -at last! Dad! (O)” It will be remembered -that this was the first time that -either his father or his younger sister, Lois, -had witnessed these manifestations. “You -have been the one I wanted most, after Mother.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> -The girls I knew I could get sometime, for this -is the future for everybody with purpose, and -I knew they’d come to know me again soon. -But you and Mother dearest I had to have -(O) right now. You both need this knowledge -and intercourse as much as I do. The fuller -development that comes there with age and -experience, and here—where there is no age -except experience, makes me nearer to you and -Mother in feeling and outlook than I am to -the girls and Dick. Not that I am not one -with all of you. But being here has showed -me the reasons for the things—protective, overseeing, -far-seeing things—that you stand for, -and have learned there through your experience -in that preliminary life. So we are a lot -nearer of an age than we used to be. Now we -are off together again, and there is no reason, -unless somebody backslides, why we can’t keep -step through the countless aeons of eternity.... -Mother dearest, this time I sure am in. -Thank you for putting me on the mantel. I -like it. Coming home is lots happier business -now. It used to make me sorry to see you all -so sad. But this is bully!... Dad, look happy -for the boy! He’s here for keeps now.”</p> - -<p>Mr. Gaylord had generally spoken of Frederick, -during his life here, as “the Boy.” I -had never heard him use any other name.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Can you give your father the proof of your -presence that you give me?” his mother asked. -“Not only by writing, but by the feeling in -his heart?”</p> - -<p>“I will in time. Remember, he hasn’t yet -grown used to this communion. It hits everybody -hard, at first, and this fluency is inconceivable -to any one who has not seen and felt -it at first hand. Give us time to get used to -it, and Dad will be as fully in touch with -me and my life as he ever was when I lived -there. The shock and grief of my supposed -departure are taking force from him still, but -he’ll see, just as you have, that I am the better -and bigger for this one great experience, and -that I never was so deeply and truly a part -of his life.... Come on, now everybody talk! -I sure do preach, but you called the turn the -other day, Mother dearest. It’s my job to -get this across, first to you who are my own, -and through you to every one you can reach. -It’s all our jobs.”</p> - -<p>Both Mrs. Gaylord and Lois had had some -success in establishing communication with the -next plane, through the pencil—obtaining detached -words, and some names. And the -former now asked: “Where were you Sunday? -I tried to get you.”</p> - -<p>“I had a big job, attacking a pro-German<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span> -newspaper editor in South Africa. He didn’t -give in, either, but we’ll get him yet. He -doesn’t fight openly. He poses as a Pharisee, -but he’s really pro-German, and thanks God -he is like other Germans.”</p> - -<p>Lois asked whether there are any pro-Germans -where he is, and he replied that -disintegrating force is “pro-anything that -destroys.”</p> - -<p>During his last illness, one of his diversions -had been to plan with his father a long journey -they were to take together when he should be -convalescent. Now, after a pause, he wrote -slowly and distinctly, as if to emphasize the -deliberation of his intention:</p> - -<p>“Dad, do you remember that trip we were -going to take? You take it with Mother some -day, and I’ll go with you, and we’ll do all the -things we planned. And I can tell you, if -you will just let me in and listen, all the things -you want to hear. We don’t need a messenger, -you and I, but as long as I can’t get to -you any other way, I’ll use one. I can help -you actually—physically, mentally, spiritually, -materially—as for so many years you helped -me. It was due to you and Mother that I got -such a good start here. Now I am here, it is -for all of us still, as it always was. But it’s -my turn to lift a little. You carried me for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span> -years. Let me come in again now, as a real, -existing, active, growing force—your son, sir, -wanting to be nearer and more intimately -yours than ever. You go on and take our trip, -and I promise I’ll go with you. Frederick.”</p> - -<p>A little later, he said: “I wish there could -be any way of showing you visibly the radiant -force I am, now that we are all united. You -have to be translated to this plane before you -can understand what it means to be brought -back into the family circle. Not all families, -but ours. We are all of kindred purposes, and -there’s no separating us.”</p> - -<p>“I wish you’d do some of your ‘stunts’ for -Father,” Lois suggested.</p> - -<p>“All right. If you want stunts, here is my -best one.” This was written briskly, upside -down and backward from my position. “Dad, -this is the way I wrote the letter to you and -the girls. Here’s another, with my love and -greeting. I said I’d do this with trimmings. -This is the beginning.”</p> - -<p>We gave him fresh paper, and he wrote rapidly, -in winding circles, starting at the edge of -the table and finishing at the center: “Now I’ll -do it this way, all around the family circle. -All of you in, and I am not left out.” Diagonally -across the whole in bold script, “Frederick.”</p> - -<p>In moving the paper again, it was torn a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span> -little. Mr. Gaylord made some suggestion as -to the way it should be handled, and Lois -humorously complained that he was “always -interfering with other people’s purposes.” Beginning -at the upper right-hand corner of the -table, Frederick wrote along the edges, and -then in circles toward the center, as indicated -in the diagram:</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> -<img src="images/diagram.jpg" width="500" height="500" alt="Diagram" /> -</div> - -<p>“Don’t you mind, Dad. Let them laugh. -You and I will be laughing at them presently, -from all four points of the compass.” Again -his name was signed diagonally across the -whole.</p> - -<p>“I always did like circuses, and I can be a -four-ringed one now, all by myself, if I have -a sympathetic audience,” was his next achievement,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> -done once more in circles from edges -to center, but this time his name was signed -in the center, in small script, surrounded by a -flourish.</p> - -<p>When again a clear surface offered, he drew -a large circle around the edge of the table—the -symbolism of which, curiously, occurred -to none of us until the next day—and then ran -to the center, to circle toward the edge: -“All of us together again, and all being happy -in the consciousness that this is real and -eternal union, and that from now on we are -going to keep our family circle intact.”</p> - -<p>Some one suggested that unquestionably he -was keeping his promise to “do it with trimmings,” -and in an intricate pattern, impossible -to describe clearly, he replied: “Sure! I’m -doing all the trimmings I can think of, and -after a minute or two I’ll think of more.”</p> - -<p>By this time the astonishment and curiosity -aroused by these performances had perceptibly -lowered the emotional pressure, and the interview -again proceeded more normally.</p> - -<p>Not unnaturally, in this first family reunion -Frederick’s messages were chiefly personal. Frequently, -in pauses, he made enthusiastic little -circles, as has been his custom from the first, -and I asked him whether it was the circle of -infinity, all-inclusive.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Yes, partly. Put out all disturbing factors -and all forces of disintegration, add more to -eternity and infinity—and that is the circle.”</p> - -<p>“Good night,” he said, a little later. “I’ll -stay here to-night and as long as Margaret -stays. You’ll talk often, won’t you?”</p> - -<p>The next night, he began with a suggestion -that the rest do the talking, adding: “I’ll -listen and answer questions.” After some discussion -of purpose, in its personal application, -and inquiries concerning other members of -the family on his plane, Mr. Wylie asked -whether his grandfather could talk to him in -this way.</p> - -<p>“I can get him, I think, by to-morrow,” -Frederick replied. “He’s sheltering a lot of -poor, undeveloped wretches who have come -out of conditions not making for fitness or -growth. He teaches, and urges, and offers -them opportunity, and is too busy and helpful -to come away often.”</p> - -<p>After this had been written, I was told that -this man, during his earthly life, had devoted -time and money to providing opportunity for -others; never offering charity, but building -roads that the unemployed might have work, -exchanging some commodity needed by a poor -man for some other of which he had enough -and to spare, and always encouraging his less<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span> -fortunate fellows to retain and develop their -self-respect.</p> - -<p>Of another on his plane, now a healer, -Frederick said: “I haven’t seen him. Every -healing force here, as with you, is occupied -with war-stricken forces. They come so dazed, -and sometimes terrified—and almost always -startled, if they come from battle. And all our -healing forces are required every minute.”</p> - -<p>This reminded Mrs. Gaylord of an experience -of her own, a few days before, when her -pencil had written detached words, suggestive -of battle. “Lost ... many lost ... another -dead ... shot ...” etc. She asked whether -this came from a friend, and was answered in -the negative. To her inquiry, “Did you live -here?” the reply was: “Near.” She asked -for the name, and it was written clearly, -“K——.” A few days later the name of -Lieutenant K——, of a neighboring city, -headed the American casualty list.</p> - -<p>“K—— caught his one chance before his -consciousness dimmed,” Frederick commented. -“He is now too bewildered to talk. Just after -what people who don’t know call death, there -is a moment of singular clarity and vision. -He happened to catch you in that moment.”</p> - -<p>We fell to wondering, then, whether these -messages could be flashed to us from a distance,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span> -or whether the person communicating -must be present, and I asked Frederick whether -he could send me a message from a distance.</p> - -<p>“No, but we travel in a flash.”</p> - -<p>We who had had some experience in receiving -these communications spoke of the fear we all -had lest we might unconsciously influence the -pencil, at times, to write our own imaginings.</p> - -<p>“You people have such a fear of imagining -things that you shut out a lot we try to tell -you,” Frederick interpolated. “We can’t get -through doubt, bitterness, resentment, or selfish -grief. Fear can be conquered, but doubt -shuts the door in our faces. Please relax a -little of this too rigid vigilance, and at least -entertain the idea we are trying to put over.”</p> - -<p>“Do I shut things out by too much vigilance?” -I asked.</p> - -<p>“You bet you do! But you do it for the best -of reasons. You can’t take chances of giving -the wrong message.”</p> - -<p>To a question about the desire of others on -his plane to communicate with those here, he -replied: “They are all eager to get in touch, -just now. Every one of us here is pulling -every thread of connection he can there, because -this is a critical time and because never -before in the world’s history have so many -people been reaching out for the thing that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span> -means co-operation and progress, in the biggest -and broadest sense, if we can only reach -them and convince them that we are all working -together, and that we here can help if -they will let us.”</p> - -<p>Mr. Wylie spoke of some one whose “make-up,” -he thought, might enable him to receive -these communications.</p> - -<p>“Make-up has a lot to do with it,” Frederick -returned, “but the peculiar quality of following -accurately a thought put forth by a force -so subtle that science has failed to detect it is -a thing that none of you recognize until it has -demonstrated itself.”</p> - -<p>Some one asked about a prominent politician, -whom Frederick had known well in this life, -and he replied: “—— is working his way back -to a place in the forces of Production. He had -a great opportunity, and used it for personal -ends, and now he is learning how to use it -for Progress. He is not destructive, nor even -deterrent. He is a fine force, delayed a -little.”</p> - -<p>“Have you ever seen my mother and father?” -Mr. Gaylord asked, thereby eliciting the most -rapidly written communication—with the possible -exception of one coming the next night—that -I have ever taken, the force moving the -pencil being so strongly applied, at moments,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span> -that the instrument was almost pulled out of -my fingers.</p> - -<p>It should be explained that in this appeal -to his father Frederick was addressing neither -reluctance nor doubt, but a certain mental -tensity, resulting from deep emotion, deeply -repressed.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I had Grandmother at Mrs. Z——’s -one day,” he began. “She is very anxious to -talk to you, but she has gone on to a life, or -a plane, beyond the one I am on, and I can’t -always reach her. I hope to get her some -time before Margaret goes home.... She -never wholly left you, any more than I have. -She tried for years to tell you she was there, -and she wants to come back as soon as possible -and tell you herself that there is no -death, no separation, no cause for pain, or -grief, or fear, or sadness of parting, except as -it is made in the hearts of those who do not -know the truth.</p> - -<p>“We are nearer to you than you are to each -other, Dad, and we can prove it, if you will -let go of yourselves and take hold of us. We -want to come to you. We do come to you. -We try and try to tell you that there is nothing -to grieve about, nothing to dread. Only -love, and hope, and growth, and beauty of -completer union. But we can’t do it alone.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span> -We must have a free heart, a free mind, a free -hope to come into. Give us that, and we will -show you that we are more truly your own—not -your own flesh and blood, but your own -purpose and force, which was one in the beginning, -and will inevitably be one in the end. -We want to make it one now. Don’t you, -Dad? Won’t you try to let the bars down and -take us in? We’ll come, and we’ll all be happier -than you’ve ever been in all your life yet, -because the Eternal Purpose is Unity, and we -can begin it right here and now, if you there -will join us and be part with us, as we with -you, of the glorious and happy and (O) irresistible -movement toward the great end—which, -after all, is not an end, but an eternal -and infinite growth toward bigger things.</p> - -<p>“It is a big gospel we are giving you, sir; -a man’s gospel; a gospel of hope and beauty -and construction. And I am asking you to -let me come in again to your every-day life, -to let the dread and misgiving and unhappiness -go, to think of us here—all of us who are yours—as -still yours, still with you, still loving and -working and hoping with you and for you; -and if you can do that, I promise you we shall -all be happier than any of us have ever been -before.</p> - -<p>“You see, sir, we are all of the forces of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span> -Progress. We are all for Light, and Building, -and Justice, and Truth, and when one of us -holds back we are all held back. This is the -first time it has been possible to tell you all -this. This is the first time we have been able -to reach you freely, in a way you could not -mistake. But the people who have preached -the gospel of happiness as a curative force have -not been entirely wrong. They have not been -wholly right. But the forces here cannot possibly -affect a tense and resisting mind as they -can a relaxed and receptive one. And the -forces here are potent and eager and ready. -You know that must be true, because I am -one of them, and the only change in me—absolutely -the only one, Dad—is that I have -left the limitations of the flesh behind and -grown in perception and knowledge. I am the -same Boy,<a name="FNanchor_8" id="FNanchor_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> plus the better things, and minus -the limitations.</p> - -<p>“Grandmother is the same, too—plus. She -is sweeter, finer, broader, more loving, than -when you knew her. Just as she was, but expanded, -irradiated, deepened. That’s all that -death means, so you see it isn’t death at all, -nor separation, nor anything but beauty, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span> -greater love, and wider opportunity, and higher -ideals to live to.</p> - -<p>“This is what we want to share with you. -We can, now. You can have a little of our -knowledge, while still in that preliminary life. -You can help us and yourselves by realizing -and living the purpose that is ours. You -have always lived it, but you haven’t always -recognized it. Do that, recognize it, recognize -us, let us in as recognized and essential parts -of your life and hope and happiness, and I -shall not need to tell you that this is a true -gospel. You will have proved it for yourself.</p> - -<p class="center">“Your son always,</p> - -<p class="right">“<span class="smcap">Frederick</span>.”</p> - -<p>We were all deeply moved. After a little, -Mr. Gaylord asked: “Is there anything more?”</p> - -<p>Frederick began making circles, and his -mother said: “He’s so happy!”</p> - -<p>“Happy isn’t the word for it! I’m personified -radiance and bliss! There isn’t anything -more to-night, except my love to all of you, -always—and to-morrow, and the next day, -and all the days to come, we are reunited and -indivisible. That’s enough, isn’t it, sir? Good -night. <span class="smcap">Frederick.</span>”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span></p> - -<h3>VIII</h3> - -<p>The next day, that grandfather for whom -Mr. Wylie had asked came briefly, discussing -purpose, like the rest.</p> - -<p>“I didn’t half understand my own impulses -there,” he said, “but I know now that the -best thing a man can do for other men—and -for himself, too—is to give them a chance to -develop whatever is in them. Sometimes it -isn’t much, from the point of view of the intelligent -man, but the fact remains that it is -force, and the more quickly it is developed the -more quickly the sum of the whole will be -raised.”</p> - -<p>He closed more personal assurances by saying: -“There may be no way to put it into -words, but you may be sure I am watching, -and helping, and being helped, too, by your -reaching toward our common purpose.”</p> - -<p>When Frederick had taken over the pencil -again, Mrs. Gaylord spoke of the long message -to his father the night before, to which he -replied: “It was only a beginning. This thing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span> -we have to tell you can’t be given, nor yet -accepted, in a day or a month. That letter -last night was a sort of foreword, just to get -us all started even. The proof of the pudding -is coming later.”</p> - -<p>Some more or less personal discussion followed, -during which Mr. Gaylord asked whether -certain arrangements he contemplated making -were wise.</p> - -<p>Frederick replied that they were, as far as -he could see, adding: “This is hardly a time -for making permanent arrangements, for while -the end of the war is certain, the economic -conditions with you, following the war, are -impossible now to foresee. We have no way -of knowing how that struggle between labor -and capital, power of foundation and power of -development, will end. That is one of the -reasons we are so eager to get all forces for -true progress united now. There are thousands -of laboring men misled. Get them in for our -work. There are hundreds of employers ignorant -or indifferent. Turn them out.”</p> - -<p>Mr. Gaylord, who had not at that time read -the Lessons carefully, interpreted this as championship -of the cause of labor as opposed to -capital. Some one else suggested that every -one, employer or laborer, who was not for -united progress, should be “turned out.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Sure,” Frederick answered. “Turn out -the unions, as they work now. Get in unity, -regardless of class.”</p> - -<p>When Mrs. Gaylord inquired about a member -of her own family, he replied: “He has -gone on, and I haven’t seen him. To some -of us here there comes a lessening of interest -in your life, and an intensified feeling of the -importance of work beyond your plane. He -has this interest, I hear, and very rarely comes -back now. There is a lot I want to tell you -some time about the differences and conditions -of the many planes, but I can’t do it now. -The first work of those of us who have still -close ties there is to give you all we can of -the possibilities and meaning of the life you -live. Some day I’ll tell you what I can of the -life ahead, which as yet I only aspire to.”</p> - -<p>“I suppose there’s no use asking whether -you inhabit space, or planes, or stars?” Lois -inquired.</p> - -<p>“There are things that I can tell you later -about those matters of plane and future progress,” -he said, “but there is so much that is -more imperative now that I am told not to -tell more, at present, than the immediate needs -of your life require.”</p> - -<p>“Do you feel any depression, when you -realize the immensity of the universe and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span> -smallness of each individual?” was the next -question.</p> - -<p>“That’s a thing you’ve got to learn. There -is no force that is not true force, and no atom -so small that its weight doesn’t count. If one -atom is for destruction, that means two atoms -lost to construction, the one that is against -us and the one that balances it here, without -any forward movement.”</p> - -<p>“Have you seen my father?” Mr. Gaylord -asked.</p> - -<p>“No. He is a healer now, and has come -back from the plane beyond to help the newly -arrived find their balance. I have tried to -get in touch with him, but he is busy and I -haven’t yet met him, but still hope to. Few -come back for any work here, and their greater -knowledge makes them very much in demand, -just as a great surgeon is with you in times -like these.”</p> - -<p>Again the talk turned into more personal -channels, and Mr. Gaylord asked a specific -question, affecting future arrangements.</p> - -<p>“... Your choice will be influenced, probably, -by many considerations, as choice must always -be in your life.... I can influence you in ways -I can’t define in words, but I can’t properly -tell you how to choose—as you know better -than I. You taught me that, and it’s true.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> -Every fellow on his own feet.... Not that I’m -not eager to help, sir. You understand that, -don’t you? But the way I can help most is -by a close and constant association and suggestion, -that still stops short of definite expression -of choice for you. That is your -privilege. Mine is to help you see the way -more clearly.”</p> - -<p>“Do you know what we are thinking, at -all times?”</p> - -<p>“Not always. We read most of the thought -of the sympathetic forces, and some of everybody’s. -I can’t always answer the thought I -read, though I can sometimes. But Margaret -keeps up such a stiff guard, I can’t always get -over a thing she doesn’t know is asked.”</p> - -<p>I said I was sorry for that, and did not understand -it, as I thought I had lowered all guards -as far as he was concerned.</p> - -<p>“You can’t understand all the barricades—and -the limitations, too—of consciousness. -Sometimes I sneak one through on you, but -you are from Missouri, all right! You want to -see the works before you admit the applicant.”</p> - -<p>After dinner, we talked a little about the -publication of these communications, and of -the extent to which personal messages should -be quoted.</p> - -<p>As soon as we gave him opportunity, Frederick<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> -said: “You people can’t guess what it -means to hear you talking about me, in the -old, happy way. I’ve missed myself terribly, -you know.... You’ve been talking about the -book. If you’ll permit a suggestion from me, -the plan of copious quotation from all the -interviews that have bearing on the big message, -as well as some characteristic extracts -from the more personal messages, under initials -frankly substituted for real ones, is to my -notion the way to do it.... A good deal of -what we have been allowed to say was because -this message was given through Margaret, -and the rest of us have told things that -illumine and carry on the message for the world. -We have all wanted you of our own to know -these things, but the channels through which -this has come to her have been chosen for her -fuller conviction, and to enable her to deliver -this with greater force.”</p> - -<p>In this connection, it is interesting to note -that in every instance when messages of importance -have come, it has been during intercourse -primarily requested by those gone -before, who have asked me to send for the person -here through whose co-operation the freest -communication could be established—Frederick -writing more fluently to some member of -his family than to me alone, Mary Kendal to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> -Mansfield, David Bruce to his wife, and so -on. Conversely, interviews arranged at the -instigation of persons on our own plane have -been generally without satisfactory result.</p> - -<p>“We who can tell it clearly, and whom she -can absolutely identify,” Frederick went on, -“have had extraordinary fluency, and almost -unlimited authority to speak. We have spoken -to our own, and through them to all who will -listen. Keep the personal part of all we have -said as sacredly to yourselves as you like, but -my own desire is that the parts of my messages -that will carry conviction or comfort to people -suffering in ignorance of all this may be given -to them through you—as your faith and conviction -will lead you to do, I know—not in your -name or mine, but in the spirit of light, healing, -and progress we all serve.”</p> - -<p>When this was construed as an intimation -that he did not want his name used, he returned: -“I have no slightest objection. I -have only a feeling that this personal revelation -belongs to you. Use it as you choose. -I do not ask anything, except that you share -its essence with those who suffer as you have -suffered. Give them what will relieve them, -and do it as you think best.”</p> - -<p>At this point, the question of publication -was dropped, though he returned to it the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span> -next day. A short pause followed. Then the -touch on the pencil changed, Frederick’s bolder -writing being succeeded by a smoother, more -flowing, and exceedingly rapid script, in a -message to Mr. Gaylord from his mother, for -whose early death he had never ceased to -grieve.</p> - -<p>“—— dear, this is Mother.</p> - -<p>“Frederick told me I could reach you at last. -I have had always the greatest desire to touch -you, to tell you that your mother could not -leave you, could not cease to love you, could -not leave off watching over you, hoping for -you, guarding your highest hopes and ideals. -To have known the darkness that fell upon -you, and to be unable to lighten it, or to -soothe your anguish, made me as sad as one -can be in this fine and everlastingly expanding -life. I knew that you must some day come -back to me, and into full knowledge of all that -eternal life means, so I could bear it.</p> - -<p>“You have been always a joy and a source -of great happiness to me, in your splendid -adherence to the things we know now to be -the first and fundamental principles of life. -We did not know, when I was with you, all -the wonders and beauties of the eternal life -we talked about. We thought heaven was -quite different from this. But it is heaven,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> -in a much higher and finer way than anything -we dreamed of then, and to be able to -come back to you now—to my boy, through -his boy—and tell you all this, is almost as -wonderful and blessed to me as it is to you.</p> - -<p>“I have gone on to a life and a work I cannot -easily explain to you now. I have lost -touch with the material things of your life. -But you, your purpose, your achievement of -force, the love you have never ceased to give -me, the love with which you bless and are -blessed by your family—all these things I know, -dear, and have always known.</p> - -<p>“For so long, I tried to tell you not to grieve. -We have been so close together, in the ways -that are real and infinite. Never grieve again, -dear son, for any loved one coming to this -happy life. We do not leave you. We do -not part in any way, except the way of flesh. -We are happy, but can be so much happier if -you know us with you and of you, and if you -can come to us in confidence and love and -conviction of our life, as we never cease to go -to you.</p> - -<p>“Your father wanted me to tell you this is -from him as well as from me. He is doing -a great work and cannot come to you now, but -he knew that I should soon come to say this, -and he wants you to know that he, too, is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span> -happier in your growing knowledge of our unceasing -life, and unceasing love, and unceasing -upward growth.</p> - -<p>“Your family are all dear to us as part of -you, and therefore part of us. It is a light -increasing the light in which we dwell, to be -at last in this close communion with you. I -will come again some time—many times—and -I want you always to think of me as loving -you, keeping watch over you, and living in -you and yours.</p> - -<p>“Frederick is splendid. You know that. -Please be as sure that I am—and your father, -too—always so full of happiness in the thought -and knowledge of you and your love.</p> - -<p class="right">“Your loving <span class="smcap">Mother</span>.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span></p> - -<h3>IX</h3> - -<p>“I am with all of you as I never could be -before,” Frederick said, the next day, “because -until we are realized and recognized the -communion can’t be complete. Now I can tell -all of you lots of things you can get without -words or messenger. Sometimes you will -know they are my suggestions, sometimes you -won’t. But the fact that I am closely and intimately -in touch with you is the important -thing for all of us. The recognition of my definite -suggestion will come later, when you are -more accustomed to all this and have learned -the little signals by which I identify myself -to you.”</p> - -<p>“Can you tell us what those signals are?” -some one asked.</p> - -<p>“They are like the force I am, too subtle for -scientific analysis or description, but you’ll know -them, all of you. This thing can’t be developed -in a minute, you know. Wait, and watch, and -let the bars down, and you’ll know me when I -come, in a comparatively short time.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Can you tip tables with us?” Lois inquired.</p> - -<p>“Yes, probably; but that’s a clumsy way -of doing it. Some of you can run a planchette. -None of you are likely to get anything like -this.... This fluency of reception is hardly to -be expected. We can talk, however.... You -can always get me, for the essential intercourse, -and somehow we’ll get it across.”</p> - -<p>“I want you to give your father something -like the ‘stop—look—listen’ reminder to me,” -his mother said.</p> - -<p>“All right; but I can’t do it in cold blood. -Let me cogitate, and I’ll try to think up a -password that can’t fail to accomplish the -desired effect. You and Dad are the same -purpose in essentials, but your force is differently -applied and can’t be approached in -the same way.”</p> - -<p>“How far down in the scale does the possession -of a soul go?” Mr. Wylie asked, presently. -“How about animals?”</p> - -<p>“There is no such thing as soul, in that sense. -All purpose is force. All force personified is -individuality. All individuality is eternal. The -development is unequal. The undeveloped -force finds quicker development here. But the -force that has been developed to a point of -intelligence in your life, and is not actively -put to work, goes down in the scale, is deterrent,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span> -and has to work just as hard to get back -as the force that never has developed at all.”</p> - -<p>“Where does the force animating babies -come from?” I asked. “What was little Dick -before he was little Dick?”</p> - -<p>“That’s what I want to explain, if I can. -The force that manifests itself in animals is -a grade higher in force than the vegetable -manifestation, and that higher than inanimate -stone and metal. The force of an animal comes -here, to swell the forces that become individual -and human through birth, but individuality -begins with human consciousness. All force -that is not human may eventually become -human, but there is no persistence of individuality -until birth as a human and more or -less productive force begins it. Animals do -not produce anything but their kind. Only -man creates, and that is the eternal attribute.”</p> - -<p>“Is there a struggle between purposes to -enter a new-born human?”</p> - -<p>“Many purposes are latent in every human -being from birth. None is in absolute possession. -Life on your plane is one perpetual -struggle between the eternal warring purposes. -No newly born child has chosen. The training -of a child should, from the first, be a preparation -for battle, for daily—almost hourly—choice. -Diligence, vigilance, purpose to work<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> -unceasingly and against all disintegrating influences, -determination to construct and to -progress in spite of anything, mental, moral, -physical, or material—these are the essential -things in training a child to live forcefully and -eternally.”</p> - -<p>“What becomes of babies who die at birth?”</p> - -<p>“They have undeveloped personalities and -are developed here. We have strong forces of -Light and Truth devoted to their teaching.”</p> - -<p>“When a man is consciously determined to -construct, is he ever overcome by disintegrating -forces?”</p> - -<p>“Sure thing he is, if he doesn’t fight. Sometimes -he sways and recovers. Read the Lessons. -They’ll tell you more every time you -read them. They come from General Headquarters.... -The arousing force of this message -is to be measured by conviction manifested -in action. Again you are respectfully -referred to the Lessons.”</p> - -<p>“It doesn’t seem fair that physical and -nervous conditions should affect one’s ability -to resist or receive the forces,” Lois mentioned.</p> - -<p>“It doesn’t. You just think it does. The -forces of construction are always eager to -come in. The thing you call nervous exhaustion -generally comes from yielding to forces -of disintegration. A person yields to one or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> -more of them, and then is sorry for himself -because some doctor doesn’t rout them. What -he needs is to buck up and kick them out himself.” -Evidently he referred here to the nervous -disorders arising from mental disturbances, -for the next day he emphasized the government -of physical forces by physical laws.</p> - -<p>It was suggested that while many nervous -disorders might be controlled in their incipiency -by the person suffering from them, they eventually -get beyond his control, and Frederick -replied: “You think so; but there’s always -force where there’s personality, and if it can -just be put up to you, by yourself or another, -that the choice in the end is yours and nobody’s -else, you can help yourself. In the end, you -help yourself, anyhow, unless you slide back -to protoplasm of purpose. Get busy and buck -up, or backslide and slump. It’s up to every -fellow for himself, and every one who slips -back impedes the way for somebody else.”</p> - -<p>In the talk following this, some one spoke -of the constant teaching of brotherhood and -regard for one’s neighbor as a vicarious gospel.</p> - -<p>“Not vicarious,” Frederick corrected. “It -is not vicarious to give the other fellow a chance. -No man is his brother’s keeper. No man has -a right to impede construction, unless he’s -destructive. But it’s every personality developed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span> -to its highest that makes the strong -constructive army. The weak should have a -chance to develop, but no strong force should -yield its purpose. Nothing vicarious about -that. Just common sense and good organization.”</p> - -<p>Mr. Gaylord—the successful head of a large -manufacturing concern—asked, with a twinkle: -“Can you successfully run a business in accordance -with the principles laid down in these -Lessons? Before you answer, I want to say -that I believe it can be done.”</p> - -<p>“You’re right, Dad. It can’t be done easily, -nor quite consistently, at present, because of -the complexity of modern business conditions. -You are all bound to some extent by association -with some one else, whether by a man, a -directors’ board, an association, or a contributing -concern. These all limit, to a certain -extent, your freedom of action; but fundamentally -the principle is practicable, and can -gradually be put into consistent practice by -uniting with those of your own purpose, instead -of with those who seem expedient.”</p> - -<p>That evening, Mrs. Wylie said that the repeated -assertions of invisible forces of construction -and of destruction, alertly striving -to influence us, reminded her of the old theories -of guardian angels and possessing devils.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span></p> - -<p>I think it was that night, too, though I -made no record of it at the time, that Mr. -Gaylord said, when Frederick’s good night had -been followed by his customary signature: “I -wish he’d sign the name I used to call him -by.” Efforts to obtain it then, however, were -unsuccessful.</p> - -<p>The next day—the last of my visit—Frederick -said of a man of whom we had been -talking: “He hasn’t just found himself yet, -but he will. He likes to produce some things, -and he will respond to the higher call to build -for the higher end. You can all help him, -and yourselves, and our whole purpose, by -calling to the latent builder in him. He wants -to come in, but doesn’t know just where to -start.... More effort, more concentration, -more force applied for purpose, is the thing to -strive for first. I can’t tell him how to build. -That’s for him to choose.... You can build -together. Each of you helping the other, each -of you bringing effort, willingness, perception, -force of various kinds. But first and foremost, -devotion to the purpose of progress, regardless -of intervening difficulties and discouragements. -Habit is strong in every human force. Remember -that, and watch—watch for the little -masquerading devils of destruction. They are -clever and subtle, and come in plausible guise.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span> -Kick them out and work.... You said this -sounded like the old stories of possession by -devils, Sis. It’s not that. The devils of old -possessed a man in spite of himself. The -forces of destruction govern him only when -he permits them to. He can always be constructive, -if he will. He may do no more than -carry bricks to the mason, but still he builds. -The man who has great opportunity must use -it greatly. The little chap can use only the -force he has. Thus endeth this preachment.”</p> - -<p>Lois asked whether he had been present at -a moment when several members of the family -had been in great physical danger, and he replied -that he had come at once, from a great -distance, in response to a summons from a -force “that is always with you when I am -not.”</p> - -<p>“There is always a connecting force between -you and the free forces here,” he explained. -“We are always in touch that way. That is -equally true of the forces for destruction. The -greater forces for good or evil can be instantly -summoned to reinforce your choice.”</p> - -<p>This led to a discussion of prayer, in which -certain members of our group had lost faith.</p> - -<p>“You can always summon help, if you call -the (O) eternal constructive forces to build -with you,” he told us. “But most people<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span> -pray for physical or material aid. Physical -forces follow physical laws. Forces of eternity -affect them to some extent, but do not govern -them. Prayer with other people is a sort of -lying down on the Infinite and giving up personal -effort. The prayer that is most truly -and promptly answered is the one that begins -and ends with a determination not to yield -to weakness, or fear, or the other disintegrating -powers. Prayer implies an open mind, and -is too often made with a closed one. Not wilfully -closed, but fearfully, and therefore not -truly open.”</p> - -<p>“Physical forces, Mother, were too much -for my physical resistance,” he said, when she -spoke of her effort to hold him here. “No -amount of prayer, or influence of the forces of -eternal progress, could affect that, beyond the -extent to which it was affected. That is the -reason it was a long fight. The forces helped -all they could. But the physical thing is a -minor thing, after all. The eternal thing is -all that really counts. And to be able to put -you, whom I love so much, in touch with the -eternal while still in that preliminary life, is -worth all that I—and you—went through to -make it possible. To be able to pass on this -knowledge to that life of yours is worth anything.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Isn’t the time coming when we shall be -able to control our physical condition better -than we do now?” Mrs. Wylie asked.</p> - -<p>“Yes, the mind—and what we call force in -the eternal sense—has great influence over -personal physical force. It performs no miracles, -but prevents much yielding to what is -really the forces of destruction, trying to hamper -and delay accomplishment of any constructive -kind.... The forces of disintegration -are the busy boys, and it takes force and purpose -and struggle to keep them out.”</p> - -<p>“Is our decision to use your first name in -the book right?” his father asked.</p> - -<p>“Yes, sir. I am very happy about that. It -will identify me, and therefore the message, -to many people I should like to reach personally, -and will not identify you to the public at -large. I should not like to have Mother and -the girls annoyed by publicity, but that was -for you to choose. The message, as you know, -is important and general. But to a lot of -fellows I want to reach, Frederick will carry -where Z. X. would fail to convince.... Your -attitude about the book pleases me, too.... -You and I both know the force of the primitive -masculine feeling that a man’s family is -his own, and its affairs private and personal. -This time, the personal affair is also the eternal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span> -affair, vital and illuminating. And the fact -that I have been one of the channels through -which this came, that it was the search for me -that made Margaret begin this work, must not -be confused in anybody’s mind with the fact -that the message is more than a message—it -is a revelation. For that reason, you and I -both will gladly sink the personal reluctance -and remember the purpose we serve.”</p> - -<p>A long pause ensued, while we sat soberly -about the table, waiting. Then some one -suggested that perhaps he wished us to ask -questions.</p> - -<p>“All I want is to talk like folks to the -family,” he announced, with a force and rapidity -amounting to emphasis. “For the love of -Mike, stop thinking of me as different, and -translated, and serious, and solemn! I do -preach a lot, I admit. That’s for reasons you -know. But I’m just as fond of a joke as I -ever was, and I refuse to be set aside as a -superior being! Come on, now, count me in -as the Boy, and out as a thing to be treated -with solemn reverence! I’m myself, and I -want it recognized!”</p> - -<p>After this, the talk drifted, much as it might -have done had he returned visibly after a -long absence, touching here and there.</p> - -<p>Presently Lois asked, referring to a friend<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span> -in Europe: “Did you know H—— was married? -And to an American woman?”</p> - -<p>“No, I didn’t know that. He should marry -a free force, like an American girl. He was -too blamed medieval in his feeling about females. -We are all a bit inclined that way, we -men, but American women are doing a lot to -free force, the world over. They are more -nearly free in purpose than any other women -in the world, more truly individuals—when -they don’t abuse it, and turn into dolls. -American girls help women everywhere. They -don’t stand for any harem stunts. H—— will -learn a lot of things he needs to know, if she’s -the real thing.”</p> - -<p>Concluding a long reply to a personal question -of his father’s, he said: “Know that I -am enjoying every pleasure you take, doubly, -once for you and twice for myself. There’s -your watchword, Dad! One for myself, and -two for the Boy. Remember that every time -you are worried, every time you are tempted -to overwork, every time you put off physical -repairs, every time you feel depressed, every -time you need rest and relaxation and pleasure, -every time you play with Mother and the -girls, every time you renew your fellowship -with other men—always remember: One for -myself, and two for the Boy.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span></p> - -<p>That evening, Mrs. Gaylord said that she -had received a message about a relative in -the West, purporting to come from her brother -on the next plane, which she thought was not -true, but one of her daughters told her that a -letter received the night before had verified it.</p> - -<p>“Mother dearest, all messengers have that -trouble,” Frederick warned her. “There are -certain things concerning details of your plane, -that will come to you through forces around -you, that get confused in transmission. -That’s as near as I can come now to explaining -what happens. Some day, I can perhaps -tell you more about it. But don’t let that disturb -or discourage you. The explanation is as -natural as a deflected ray of light, or an electric -current grounded.<a name="FNanchor_9" id="FNanchor_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> It is a part of the -conditions under which we work with your -plane, and is never encountered regularly or -continuously. Certain detached experiences -of that sort come to every messenger. This -one you mention was not one of them, but I -tell you this now, because the experience may -come to any of you, including Margaret, any -day. The current gets mixed. That’s the -best way I can express it. But it doesn’t persist -for any length of time.”</p> - -<p>We talked about the force moving the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span> -pencil. Mr. Gaylord asked whether I wrote -the words, after receiving the message through -my mind, and I replied that the force, on the -contrary, seemed to be applied to the pencil -from without—sometimes above my fingers, -sometimes below them—my only participation -being to hold the pencil upright and to follow -its movement. Mrs. Wylie mentioned the -theory that the message comes through the -subconscious mind, the muscles of the hand -supplying the motive power. We asked Frederick -whether he could tell us anything about it.</p> - -<p>“The subconscious mind is like the battery,” -he said, slowly, “but the connection is made -through the hand. The motive power for the -pencil does not come, as scientists claim, from -the subconscious mind, but from the subtle -force I mentioned, put into connection with -the hand by certain sympathetic and sensitive -conditions of the subconscious mind. The -comparison is not exact. The force is not -electric, and has certain definitely distinctive -qualities not to be expressed in any terms -now familiar to your plane; but in time words -will be found—or coined—to express this connection.”</p> - -<p>Some weeks afterward, Mr. Kendal obtained -a little additional information about -this unknown force from his wife.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span></p> - -<p>In endeavoring to establish communication -with Frederick, through a pencil, one of his -sisters had been overwhelmed by insistent, and -frequently unknown, personalities seeking expression, -and had had some rather violent and -annoying manifestations of the force they -employ.</p> - -<p>“You mustn’t do too much of this writing -stunt,” Frederick now advised her, “unless you -give up a lot of other things. You can’t burn -your candle of force at both ends. Margaret -gave up a lot of outside activities long ago. -You are sensitive, and could do this in time -very freely, but the receptivity is decidedly a -strain upon the messenger at best, and if any -amount of writing is to be done, you can’t -do other things, too.” After mentioning that -she would probably be beset by “any number -of yearning forces,” he added: “So either say -‘not at home’ to anybody but Uncle J—— and -Bud ...”</p> - -<p>I halted the pencil, supposing that he had -intended to write either Boy or Brother, and -that there had been a mistake in transmission.</p> - -<p>Lois glanced at the sheet, and ejaculated: -“Buddie!”</p> - -<p>“That’s the name I’ve been waiting for!” -her father exclaimed.</p> - -<p>The pencil then went on, completing the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span> -name as if no interruption had occurred: -“... die, or give up other things, or quit.”</p> - -<p>Afterward, when it had been explained that -certain members of the family had called -Frederick Buddie, Bud, or Buzz, variations -of Lois’s baby attempts at Brother, he added: -“I’ve been trying to get that through, but -the Missourian held me to known names.”</p> - -<p>At first, names came to me with little difficulty, -but latterly—possibly beginning with -the Annie Manning episode—I have been generally -unable to transmit them. Some one -asked Frederick the reason for this.</p> - -<p>“Because names are specific,” he said. -“She knows my name. She knew I had a -special name, besides. But while an idea expressed -in familiar words can be transmitted, -however unfamiliar the idea, the definite and -specific spelling of an unfamiliar name is very -difficult to get through, especially if the messenger -is a little nervous about it, or constantly -alert for possible mistakes. We can sometimes -get it through, as I did this, in a rush of -other stuff.”</p> - -<p>[A few days later, when I was very tired, -receiving with difficulty, and therefore questioning -every statement made through the -pencil, Mary K. said: “You are the most mentally -... el ... elas ... el ... elastic is not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span> -the word. Means elastic and masterful ... -impregnable messenger I ever tried to work -through.... That is the reason names are almost -impossible to send through you. You -try to get them, but the almost invincible -character of your mental resistance to deception -makes it difficult for us to penetrate where -a doubt exists in your mind. A name is specific -to the highest degree, and resistance, however -unconscious and unrecognized, prevents -its free transmission.”]</p> - -<p>“You will come again, won’t you?” Frederick -asked, as the hour of my departure approached. -“I have had a bully time talking -to the family, and I can do better work now, -because they are all happier, and all with me -in conscious purpose. It’s true that every -bit of conscious co-operation with us helps -us, as well as you. So that ‘One for myself -and two for the Boy’ is not bunk, Dad. It’s -the real thing, for both of us.”</p> - -<p>With a final brief message to every member -of the group, the last of these L—— interviews -closed.<a name="FNanchor_10" id="FNanchor_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span></p> - -<h3>X</h3> - -<p>The experience at L——, while stimulating, -was also fatiguing, and for several days -thereafter I was tired and dull, receiving with -difficulty the few communications that were -attempted.</p> - -<p>Tuesday evening, April 23d, two of Anne -Lowe’s friends wished to talk to her, but were -told that she was busy and could not come. -Mary K. answered some of their questions, -concluding: “Anne sends love to you both, -and says please come again soon. She is sorry -she can’t come now.”</p> - -<p>After giving me the twelfth Lesson, Mary K. -had said: “That is the last formal lesson. The -rest will be given in other ways.”</p> - -<p>“You mean through interviews and personal -messages?”</p> - -<p>“Not entirely. You will be given signed -letters, by great forces.”</p> - -<p>Afterward, she mentioned these prospective -communications sometimes as “letters,” sometimes -as “talks,” but Mary Kendal told us,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> -May 13th, that this intention had been temporarily -abandoned, as sufficient material for -the book had already been given. Evidently -this decision had been reached only recently, -however, for an attempt to give me the first -letter was frustrated on the 25th of April, and -a second period of confusion and partial control -by invading forces ensued.</p> - -<p>During the morning, Mary K. prepared me -for this letter, in a communication written -quickly and easily, as follows:</p> - -<p>“Men will ask the theory of the letters that -are coming to them through you. This must -be explained.</p> - -<p>“As the Lessons have been given to me to -deliver to the world through you, so the letters -that are to come will be given to me by the -forces from whom they come. The reason -that they come through me is that I reach -you more freely, when you are alone, than any -other force known to you and therefore commanding -your confidence....</p> - -<p>“The Lessons came from great forces combined. -They represent unity of all purposes, -and were framed by the co-operation and agreement -of the greatest forces of each constructive -purpose, to reach the consciousness of men -in general terms of your plane.</p> - -<p>“The reason that these forces do not come<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span> -to you personally is that not all of them can -reach you as freely as I do. Your simile of -wireless telegraphy is a good one. It does not -fully explain the connection between you and -me, but is as good an explanation as the progress -of physical science enables you on that -plane to follow. The full explanation will inevitably -be possible, as physical scientists are -already beginning to work toward it.</p> - -<p>“You and I may be regarded as the receiving -and sending instruments through which forces -here transmit their messages. You receive -from many other instruments, I send through -others. But for impersonal messages you and -I are most completely in accord, and thus -it is that these greater forces use us as a means -of communication. The first letter is ready -now.”</p> - -<p>It chanced, unfortunately, that I was called -away, and when I was prepared to take the -letter, later in the day, almost two hours were -consumed in an attempt to write the name -of its author, who was described as “a leading -educator.” Eventually I was assured that -“Matthew Alden” was correct, but, while the -name was repeatedly written, I had a strong -impression that it was not what Mary K. had -intended to write. Reminding myself of previous -difficulties in obtaining names, I tried to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span> -believe that the delay and fatigue incident to -this effort had contributed to my doubt of its -authenticity. But the doubt remained.</p> - -<p>The long letter which followed was also received -with great difficulty and many delays, -and proved, when completed, to be a verbose -jumble of platitudes concerning educational -methods, with here and there a striking phrase. -It was signed, “Matthew Al....” By this -time, I was excessively tired and could obtain -but one statement from Mary K. “You have -not the name right.”</p> - -<p>Later in the evening, I took up a pencil, -and it wrote: “Mar ... Matthew Ald....” -The name was not finished.</p> - -<p>“Isn’t Mary K. here?”</p> - -<p>“No. No, she will return.”</p> - -<p>“She said she would be with me through -this work.”</p> - -<p>“She will again. Mary K....” Illegible -lines followed.</p> - -<p>“Is this Mary K. now?”</p> - -<p>“No. Mary K. has gone. This is Mar....” -Again the reply trailed off indeterminately.</p> - -<p>“Mary Kendal?”</p> - -<p>“No. Mary K. has gone. Matthew.”</p> - -<p>Eventually, failing to elicit any response -from Mary K., I asked whether Matthew had -anything to say to me, and he replied with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span> -vague phrases, so reminiscent of the “letter” -that I impatiently gave up the attempt for -the day.</p> - -<p>The next day, Friday, Matthew’s signature -was the only one obtainable, but I have no -record of any messages. I think I refused to -take them from him. Saturday morning, I -tried again.</p> - -<p>“Matthew ald....”</p> - -<p>“I want Mary K. Why isn’t she here?”</p> - -<p>“Mary K. will be <span class="strike">ret</span> ... eternally with you.”</p> - -<p>“Then isn’t she here now?”</p> - -<p>“No, she was called away. She will come -back soon.”</p> - -<p>“Was that letter from the ‘educator’ yours?”</p> - -<p>“No, I am not a force for light. I am for -truth and healing.”</p> - -<p>“Did you deliver it to me?”</p> - -<p>“No.”</p> - -<p>“Then why was your name given before it?”</p> - -<p>“Mary K. <span class="strike">to</span> ... <span class="strike">taken</span> ... <span class="strike">told</span> ... <span class="strike">took</span> ... -tried to tell you I was here and would guard -you. She will return soon.”</p> - -<p>“Do you know about the letter? Did she -give it to me?”</p> - -<p>“Not all of it. She will explain. I am just -Mary K.’s <span class="strike">tatl</span> ... <span class="strike">to</span> ... <span class="strike">tr</span> ... <span class="strike">tried</span> ... -trained substitute.”</p> - -<p>Asked how he could be her substitute, when<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span> -admittedly not of her purpose, he said: “Healing -is her purpose and mine, and truth the -best guard.”</p> - -<p>At this time, the Farrow mystery was still -unsolved. Not until after this second prolonged -experience was I given any explanation -of these attacks by opposing forces, or of -the conditions governing such struggles, and -while I was less disquieted than upon the -first occasion, I was still puzzled and uneasy, -strongly suspecting interference of some kind.</p> - -<p>That afternoon, Mrs. Gaylord and one of -her daughters, passing through the city, came -in for a brief talk with Frederick, and while -there was at first some interference, he was -soon writing with his customary clarity and -vigor.</p> - -<p>When his sister asked about a personality -aggressively demanding utterance through her -pencil, he said: “Not much! Don’t give in -to him.... Don’t you let anybody you don’t -know tell you anything. It may be true and -it may not, and it’s not a game to play any -more blindfolded than you have to be. You -have to take a good deal on faith, at best. -Identify anybody who comes, as far as possible.”</p> - -<p>“Can you tell me from whom that ‘letter’ -came?” I asked.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span></p> - -<p>“That letter got deteriorated in transmission. -It short-circuited, so to speak, and -was somewhat damaged. The next, we hope, -will be better.”</p> - -<p>After my friends’ departure, I caught Mary -K. briefly, when she told me the source of the -letter she had tried to deliver, adding that it -had been too much interrupted. “Other forces -tried to intervene and dominated you temporarily,” -she said, after which the pencil -wrote only “Ma ... Ma ... Ma....” sometimes -surrounding the letters with two reversed -circles. I suggested Maynard, but the -answer was, “No ... Ma ... Ma ... Matt....”</p> - -<p>“I am not a disintegrating force,” was the -reply to my accusation. “I am Mary K....”</p> - -<p>“Mary K. back?”</p> - -<p>“... no ... her substitute. Mary K. will -return soon.”</p> - -<p>“Are you sure of that?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. Mary K. is here.” This was followed -by Mary K.’s characteristic and vigorous -signature. “You should know me.”</p> - -<p>“It seems easy for the others to masquerade,” -I mentioned.</p> - -<p>“Not to your touch,” she returned, indicating -a means of identification that I had hesitated -to trust.</p> - -<p>“Why do you leave me?” I demanded.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span></p> - -<p>“You know I have followed light, healing, -and justice all my life,” was her retort. “Why -doubt me now? I leave you that ... Ma ... -Ma ... Ma ...”</p> - -<p>By a curious coincidence, the names of several -persons connected with these communications -begin with those two letters—Mary -K., Mary Kendal, Mansfield, Maynard, Margaret—and -I suggested each of them in turn, -before it occurred to me that “M. A.” signified -Matthew Alden, the usurper.</p> - -<p>That evening was spent with Anne Lowe -and her friends—Anne in one of her whimsical -moods, jesting most of the time, with occasional -more serious moments.</p> - -<p>Speaking of a dog for whose death they had -grieved, she said: “He came, and grew into -a better force, and some day he’ll make an -adorable baby. Part of him, anyway. He was -almost human. Every force goes on to a higher -one—unless it slides back. In the end it’s got -to go on, so why fret and fume about a step -either way? Whichever way it is, it’s one step -nearer the end, and the end is inevitable and fine. -If people must have coasting, let them coast. -They’ll begin climbing that much sooner.”</p> - -<p>“Matt ...” was written once, but with one -voice we refused to talk to him. Mary K. -followed, with a reference to a promise she had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span> -made to Ruth, several weeks before. Then Anne -again, with an apparently clear connection.</p> - -<p>Sunday, I was unable to get anything from -Mary K. I was told she was away, doing my -work. Monday morning, M. A. told me that -Mary K. would be “through with the task -soon,” and wrote various phrases intended to -be misleading. In my note-book, at this point, -I find the following entry: “I am beginning -to get M. A.’s messages a little more freely, -but they are still slow and difficult.”</p> - -<p>Upon the departure of a visitor, late in the -afternoon, I was conscious of a strong summons, -and of a strange sense of turmoil and -commotion. When I took up the pencil, the -applied force was very strong at moments, -then ceased utterly—sometimes sharply, in the -middle of a word, or with a letter only half -formed. Occasionally, the pencil was dragged -down until it almost lay flat on the paper, and -cancelations were frequent.</p> - -<p>“Matthew Alden is <span class="strike">destructive</span> ... Ma ... -M. A.... Matthew is destr.... des ... <span class="strike">de</span> ... -disturbed about Mary K. She means to be -the force <span class="strike">de</span> ... to <span class="strike">have</span> ... han ... handle -you, but she <span class="strike">destr</span> ... has not <span class="strike">done</span> ... been -<span class="strike">here</span> ... held to her purpose, and has departed -to the other side of the world. She must be -held firmly to her purpose.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span></p> - -<p>Knowing Mary K.’s steadfastness in all -things, I said that this was absurd.</p> - -<p>“She will be <span class="strike">pursued</span> ... <span class="strike">bett</span> ... forced to -strong pleading to be allowed to do the rest -of the letters. She should be having a following -of our forces. She has been detained for -a long time. Matthew Alden ... is having -a battle.... Matthew has been defeated and -... M. A.... Matthew is de ... det ...”</p> - -<p>Bewildered and irritated, I demanded: -“What does this mean?”</p> - -<p>“Means that the <span class="strike">powers</span> ... forces of <span class="strike">de</span> ... construction -are defeated. We have been -beaten.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t believe that for a minute,” I said. -“Or do you mean the military forces? Is -Germany winning a battle to-day?”</p> - -<p>“No, that is the least of it.”</p> - -<p>“Are you trying to tell me that Germany -will win?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, we are defeated. Her forces have -reassembled, and have helped her slaughter -ours.” Again I said I did not believe it. -“M. A.... Matthew is doing his best.”</p> - -<p>“You said he was defeated.”</p> - -<p>“He lost a fight.”</p> - -<p>“If you are Mary K.’s substitute, why doesn’t -she come to the rescue?” I asked.</p> - -<p>“She didn’t. She believes Matthew held<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span> -out.... Message from Mary K. Margaret, -I do.... I do fight for you.” I asked if Mary -K. were writing. “No. Go to high forces -for help. Only be forceful for us first. Mary -K. will do her best for forces of light and -progress. Matthew is better and danger is -passing. <span class="strike">M. A.</span>” I demanded Mary K. “Not -this time. All the forces have gathered.... -She <span class="strike">should</span> ... said be forceful.”</p> - -<p>Saying that the whole thing seemed absurd, -I asked whether it had to do with Germany -and the war, or with the book and me—provided -it had to do with anything, which I began -to question.</p> - -<p>“It is the <span class="strike">flander</span> ... it is the <span class="strike">battle</span> ... -book, not the <span class="strike">godse</span> ... god sent war.”</p> - -<p>Amazed, I questioned: “Is God-sent war -right?”</p> - -<p>After some delay—when one of the numerous -blanks occurred, all force being withdrawn from -the pencil—the impression of tumult instantly -ceased, leaving a sense of sudden quiet and -peace. Then—“Mary K. Mary K. Mary K.”</p> - -<p>“That feels like Mary K.,” I said.</p> - -<p>“It means Mary K., too.”</p> - -<p>“What did all that mean?”</p> - -<p>“Meant that the forces of disintegration -have had control of you for days, at moments. -Matthew was a force for fear.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span></p> - -<p>When I asked whether she had been away -she wrote quickly: “No, not for one instant. -He held me back, and called to your fear in -accents of truth.... We have the forces all -about us, and sometimes we are overpowered -and compelled to let them through temporarily, -but they can always be fought away in time.”</p> - -<p>Brisk circles of affirmation followed my suggestion -that possibly this explained the Farrow -episode, and she made the statement previously -quoted: “We had a terrific struggle -for you then. We told you the truth, but the -other forces controlled the pencil.”</p> - -<p>Weeks afterward, I asked her to explain -more fully this dual control, and her reply -seems to me singularly illuminating.</p> - -<p>“The connection with the pencil has no -influence on your consciousness. We may control -the consciousness, through purpose and -its unity, even though other forces control the -material instrument.”</p> - -<p>This seems not only to show why these -messages are written sometimes with and -sometimes without the messenger’s previous -knowledge of their content, but also to offer -a possible explanation of phenomena of a much -wider range.</p> - -<p>To my great surprise, Mary Kendal announced -herself a day or two after this, having<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span> -preceded Mansfield, she said, because I was -“fairly beleaguered by the enemy” in an attempt -to prevent the publication of the -message.</p> - -<p>In spite of this reinforcement, however, M. -A. persisted in attempts to engage my attention. -On one occasion, he invited me to “try -a little change” and talk to him. On another, -he asked me to let him write, as he had “a -long story to tell” about my husband, who -was out of town. Again, he assured me that -I had disappointed “them,” that “they” felt -that I had failed as a messenger, and that -Mary K. had departed permanently. Still -again, when confusion seemed to have overtaken -the book project, he declared, quite -frankly: “We have stopped you now. M. A.”</p> - -<p>No longer troubled by these intrusions, however, -I never permitted him to use the pencil -after his identity had been discovered. Occasionally -I was deceived for a moment, and -not infrequently it was his failure to complete -a sentence or a word that betrayed him.</p> - -<p>“He defeats himself by his fear, like all -cowards,” Mary K. said, one day, and when -I mentioned that his messages lacked continuity, -she returned: “No coward is consecutive. -How could he be?”</p> - -<p>These were by no means the last of the encounters<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span> -with Matthew. Mr. Kendal arrived -on the 7th of May, and a night or two later, -when several of those interested in these communications -were together, M. A. made his -appearance again. For some time his initials -followed every attempt to establish communication -with our invisible friends, but eventually -we obtained Mary Kendal’s clear signature, -and a message, slowly written, with -frequent pauses, during which the personality -striving to oppose her was gradually overcome. -M. A.’s erratic touch was occasionally evident, -lessening in strength as Mary’s steady, gentle -control increased.</p> - -<p>“Come on,” she said, finally. “We are -ready for a little fun now, and we will leave the -more serious matters until we have more truly -a clear field.”</p> - -<p>Accordingly, we abandoned our intended -inquiry, for the moment, resorting to persiflage, -in which she took an active part, writing -with increased fluency.</p> - -<p>“Laughter is a constructive force, children,” -she told us, when things were going smoothly -again. “Remember that when you fight fiends.... -If we keep our touch close, and laugh like -that, with real mirth, they can’t get in.”</p> - -<p>Later that evening, Anne Lowe came for -a moment, just to tell us, she said, that we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span> -had made a step in learning what laughter -that is from the heart will do. “It is protective, -constructive, curative, and the devil for -devils. They can’t get over, or around, or -through it. That’s your best weapon and your -best protection, aside from fundamental purposes. -Use it, and more power to your—what -is it you laugh with? Diaphragm, or what?”</p> - -<p>The next night, when conditions were normal -from the first, we asked Mary Kendal about -this incident, and she said: “It was just a -massed attack, which will occur from time to -time. They will fight as long as they exist, -but the virulence and violence of their present -efforts is due to our united attack on them.”</p> - -<p>An interesting and illuminating variation of -these occasional sorties occurred during an -interview between a man of whose personal -relations and interests I have only the most -casual knowledge, and a personality on the -next plane whom I knew not at all.</p> - -<p>The first messages to him, as to most of the -others, concerned purpose and its unity. Apparently -not convinced of the authenticity -of their source, he repeatedly asked for an -intimate, characteristic, personal message. -Not receiving it, he asked a question relating -to an entirely imaginary situation—“just to -see,” as he afterward explained.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span></p> - -<p>The question was answered in detail, immediately -followed by the statement, “Phil -fears too much.”</p> - -<p>Suspecting interference, from the peculiar -movement of the pencil, I asked him who Phil -was, and when he replied that he knew no -such person, I demanded to know who was -writing.</p> - -<p>“M. A.” This signature was not complete, -but the reply to a question in this connection, -purporting to come from Mary K., was followed -by a vigorous repetition of M. A.’s -initials, inclosed in two reversed circles—his -characteristic signature when in full control -of the pencil.</p> - -<p>My visitor then admitted that he had asked -a fictitious question, but attempts to learn who -had answered it resulted in contradictory assertions -from various sources, and knowing the -difficulty of re-establishing a connection once -effectually broken, I refused to continue the -interview.</p> - -<p>“The integrity of the seeker,” Mary K. said, -the next day, “is the messenger’s only protection -from disintegrating force during an interview. -These forces should be persistently -repelled, not invited. Ignorance of their presence -and power frequently opens a way for -them, as in this instance. Absolute sincerity<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span> -and candor are essential to the maintenance -of a connection with constructive forces, in -these interviews.”</p> - -<p>“Forces of disintegration do not wait to be -invited,” she asserted, on another occasion. -“They constantly attack, and seize the first -opportunity to take possession. We, also, -watch and call, and enter where we can. But -the idea of original sin is so strongly implanted -in the minds of most men, that an assumption -that disintegrating force can only enter where -it is invited is inevitable. It must be clearly -understood that attack by forces of disintegration -does not imply weakness, or fear, or -sinful desire. It implies only a desire on the -part of the attacking force to destroy. That -there are individuals given to disintegration is -another matter. Those most desirous of construction -and progress are more often attacked -by persistent, massed forces of destructive -purpose. To be conscious of this is to be protected, -to some degree. For that reason, we -urge the publication of these truths, that the -struggle may no longer be waged in ignorance -and doubt and confusion.”</p> - -<p>“Does ‘massed forces of destructive purpose’ -imply some combination, or co-operation, -or co-ordination, among disintegrating forces?” -Mary K. was asked, at another time.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Yes, they combine every appealing force, -as we do. One man may answer to doubt, -fear, cupidity, and envy. Another to malice, -doubt, and lust. Any forces that can reach him -mass themselves in attack and call on their purposes -in him to respond.”</p> - -<p>“Then there must be a considerable degree -of intelligence among them. You said they -would become constructive when intelligent.”</p> - -<p>“When intelligent enough. I never meant -to imply that the purposes and forces of destruction -are unintelligent. They are not fully -intelligent. They are not balanced, not fully -animated. All forces of construction comprehend -destruction. No forces of destruction -comprehend construction. They are intelligent -and wily in destruction, but fail to apprehend -its futility.”</p> - -<p>“Are they what we on this plane call uneducated, -unlearned, ignorant in that sense?”</p> - -<p>“They are sometimes found on your plane -among the highly educated, learned, and powerful. -Here we regard them as undeveloped -forces, to be fought unceasingly until they -consent to become constructive.”</p> - -<p>“You don’t call that coercing your brother, -do you?” I asked.</p> - -<p>“No, we do not compel them to construct, -if they would destroy by preference. We oppose<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span> -them until they perceive that they must -fail, and seek light. Then we accept them, -instruct them, and are stronger.... The forces -opposing us have no faith, hence no knowledge -of a future. They dread destruction, fear the -end of existence, deny a future, and constantly -seek to destroy the inevitable.”</p> - -<p>In this connection, Mr. Kendal once asked -Mary: “What do the evil forces think they’re -trying to do? Have they lost the great primary -idea? Was there a great primary idea? -Or are they just bandar-logging it around in -a chaotic forest of spiritual upas-trees, screaming -at anything they happen to see?”</p> - -<p>“There was no great primary idea of destruction,” -she returned. “A lot of idle force -gathered together, and finding itself behind the -procession in strength, radiance, and beauty, -began envying and coveting and backbiting, -and from that to destruction is a logical and -inevitable progression. Why is anybody among -you envious, or malicious, or cowardly, or destructive? -There is no great idea behind it. -They see they are behind somebody else in -something, and instead of developing what -constructive power they have of their own, -they, hate the person who has more and try -to destroy him, or his reputation, or his property. -There you have concrete examples of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span> -all the idea there is in destructive purpose. -It’s spiritual unintelligence.”</p> - -<p>“Why did they quit Germany?” he asked, -then. “Isn’t the apotheosis of such personal -and deterrent and soul-driving and dominating -purposes just their caliber?”</p> - -<p>“They see the forces of progress gathering -among you, and know that they cannot win -through Germany. She still follows their -methods, but without their help, while every -vibration of progressive and co-operative purpose -among you enables us to help you more. -So they have left her to the fruits of their -union, the consequence inevitable, and hatch -fresh mischief themselves.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span></p> - -<h3>XI</h3> - -<p>On the evening of his arrival, May 7th, Mr. -Kendal asked his wife whether she could stay -with us during his visit to New York, and -she replied that she would outstay him, unless -the forces attacking me were defeated before -his departure.</p> - -<p>“It really helps, then, for us to get together -here,” he inferred.</p> - -<p>“Yes, indeed, it helps. All combination of -force adds by the sum of its participation to -the original amount of force combined.”</p> - -<p>Taken in conjunction with other, similar -assertions in this connection—“Its force is freed -and multiplied by the sum of your participation”; -“For every vibration of pure constructive -purpose among the Allied forces, we have -added two”; “Force united is more powerful -by half than similar forces separately striving”; -etc.—it seems probable that these expressions -were intended as figures of speech, emphasizing -the increased potency of united purpose on our -plane and the ability of the free forces to reinforce<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span> -it in proportion to its actual vitality, -rather than as mathematical statements of the -exact degree to which this reinforcement and -co-operation may be carried.</p> - -<p>Mentioning that sometimes they seemed to -make a distinction between purpose and force, -and again to use the terms interchangeably, -Mr. Kendal said he would like to know the -character of each. “Is purpose like the direction -of an electric current, and force like -amperage and voltage?” he asked. “Or is -purpose the road, and force the velocity in following -it? Is purpose qualitative, and force -quantitative? Is the distinction between them -along some of these lines?”</p> - -<p>“It is along all those lines,” was the reply. -“Purpose is the force that draws. Force is the -purpose that pushes.”</p> - -<p>Like various others to whom these messages -first came through me, Mr. Kendal had been -trying, with some success, to obtain direct -communication. Mary facetiously described -his pencil as “a good burro,” and mine as “a -real hawse.” I had thought this dialecticism -differently spelled, but he reminded me that -“hoss” belonged to New England, and -“hawse” to Mary’s native state, Kentucky.</p> - -<p>While the pencil-point rested idly on the -paper, we talked about the sensations accompanying<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span> -its movement, and about the probable -direction of the force propelling it. To him, -the impulse seemed to come first and chiefly -through the consciousness; to me, it seemed -a physical force externally applied to the -pencil, notwithstanding occasional consciousness -of what the message would be; but we -were agreed that it was difficult, at first, to -be sure that the impulse was not in some unrecognized -way our own.</p> - -<p>“It has been amusing to us to see you two -struggle against our psychical intrusions,” -Mary remarked, at this point. “We do push -the pencil. We also reach the mind. Sometimes -the one, sometimes the other, is what -does the trick. It is easier for us to impress -the mind, but harder for you to recognize that -suggestion as ours. You think it’s your own, -and fight. Margaret is even more resistant -than Manzie—perhaps because she has more -responsibility to other people.”</p> - -<p>“Are present conditions—the gathering of -the clans for the coming struggle—going to -enable many people to do this, who have never -done it before and otherwise would have been -unable to do it?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Yes; but the danger of that is that the -other forces will find their own channels, and -steal and defile some of ours. So we can’t<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span> -advise people to experiment, unless they can -absolutely identify the force here, and only a -few, comparatively, can do that.”</p> - -<p>He said that he had hesitated to ask questions -of his own pencil, being unwilling to go -too far in this until he had checked it up -through me.</p> - -<p>“He’s scairt,” she teased, before he had fairly -started to speak. “You don’t trust yourself -or me.”</p> - -<p>Laughing, he retorted: “That’s another!”</p> - -<p>“You are right to be careful,” she went on, -serious again. “It’s a dangerous adventure, -unless you keep your balance, follow your own -purpose, keep close tab on the force handling -the pencil, and lean on it only spiritually. The -minute advice in material things is sought, -that minute there is danger.”</p> - -<p>“There’s no danger that anybody can impersonate -you and fool me,” he declared.</p> - -<p>“Never! The danger is that somebody -might lie to you about me; or if you cease to -stand on your own feet and make your own -choice in matters of your plane, only then -somebody might impersonate me for a moment. -Sometimes I can tell you those things, but the -habit of depending on them is bad for you.”</p> - -<p>A night or two later, beginning with a reply -to a question concerning another subject, she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span> -returned to the discussion of the force used -in conveying these communications—“a force -compared to which electricity is like spring -water,” she said—declaring, like Frederick, -that its explanation is still impossible in terms -of our plane.</p> - -<p>“There is a vital and potent force, not yet -isolated—and hardly discovered—by your most -advanced scientists,” she told us. “It has -characteristics and attractions not explainable -until its discovery and analysis give rise to a -new set of words. There is no adequate -comparison that may be used to indicate its -force, or the conditions and degrees of its -variations. It has some resemblance to electricity, -yet the comparison in certain cases -would be misleading.”</p> - -<p>“I am talking about the force we use in -moving this pencil, and to some extent in -affecting your thought,” she continued, when -Mr. Kendal had mentioned certain recent -scientific experiments of which he had read. -“The scientists have long associated the power -of thought with the brain, and have seriously -argued that, as we could not be seen, measured, -weighed, or condensed, we did not exist. We -do. And we have a force at our command -that cannot be explained, as yet. It can only -occasionally be demonstrated as clearly as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span> -this. Electricity is the most likely to impress -the man in the street as a comparison, but to -argue from that as a premise would lead to -misconception. At present, it must be accepted -as a recognized but not understood -force, only dimly perceived, as for years -electricity was.”</p> - -<p>“Does it help, if we emphasize what we know -of static electricity, as well as thinking of the -comparison in terms of electric current? A -static force in your plane, perhaps?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, that helps; but the static force is in -your plane, quite as much as here. We have -more knowledge of the current, to continue -the simile, but encounter static conditions both -here and there, as well as counter currents -here.”</p> - -<p>This would seem to offer reasons—in addition -to David Bruce’s explanation of the difficulties -of translation when the messenger’s -reaction to certain word-symbols fails—for occasional -delays in the transmission of these -communications.</p> - -<p>“Margaret hasn’t tried us yet with an -antagonistic force on your plane,” she said, -on another occasion. “We don’t do it this -way when the forces there are not harmonious.”</p> - -<p>“Is your forward sight much greater than -ours?” her husband asked. “Or is it, in relation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span> -to other planes, about what ours is in regard -to yours?”</p> - -<p>“We can see the end as you have not even -dreamed it yet, but our detailed knowledge is -limited to two or three planes beyond ours. -Even here, development is uneven, and some -of us see farther than others. We are far from -omniscient or omnipotent. We have advanced -beyond you, our individual purposes are clear -where yours are confused, we know where we -are bound and why, we see much farther ahead -than you can, and we work in three planes—yours -as teachers, ours as laborers, and the -next as students.”</p> - -<p>Referring to the statements about Russia, -of which we had told him, he asked whether -there were the same relative differences of -opinion and judgment among them as among -us, as to psychological policies to be pursued -for the Great Purpose, and as to the applications -of those policies on this plane.</p> - -<p>“There are some differences of perception. -Light, for example, sees shadow and desires -to dispel it. Truth sees error and wishes to -correct it. But, broadly speaking, the opinions -are the same. The impediments in the -path of progress are many. Each purpose -deals with its own; Light with darkness, -Truth with error, and so on. Each may work<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span> -in the same field, even in the same individual, -but here we work for the same ultimate purpose. -We do not disagree. Each follows his -own work, and recognizes the other’s field.”</p> - -<p>“We have a united policy,” she said, at another -time, “but each our individual application -of it in personal relations and messages -like these. It is all intended to enlighten and -inspire you, but only in certain fundamental -and specific matters are we instructed what to -say.”</p> - -<p>“Can you determine time there, by other -than the memory of it here and by close inspection?” -was another question.</p> - -<p>“We have no time here, in your sense. We -watch you, and remember, but we lose track -of you, sometimes.”</p> - -<p>Mr. Kendal then said—explaining his phrase, -“close inspection”—that he thought they saw -time dimly, as we see through water or through -fog.</p> - -<p>“Is memory with you as acute as answers to -some of these questions seem to indicate?” one -of us inquired.</p> - -<p>“Not of material things, generally. We -don’t pay much attention to them, unless they -interfere with purpose. Just now they are -interfering a good deal—or were, before the -war, which is itself a material manifestation of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span> -purpose.” We said that we should have -thought this interference in full force still, and -she continued: “The real interference, from -our point of view, came before the war, when -the world outside of Germany was too much -occupied in pursuit of material things to see -what was happening. They failed even to -see Germany’s intention. Much less did they -discover their own danger, of which Germany’s -purpose, materially, was the least. The war -woke them up by degrees, fortunately, or there -would be no use telling them this.”</p> - -<p>A question concerning the possibility of -communicating with a person recently departed -from this plane, was met with the statement -that he had “free communion” still to learn. -This expression had been used several times -by others, and now I asked: “Mary, what is -free communion?”</p> - -<p>“You don’t think we vocalize our talk, do -you?”</p> - -<p>Mansfield suggested that when a man found -himself suddenly without his material veil, he -must be at a loss how to proceed, and asked -whether that was what she meant.</p> - -<p>“Not entirely. The veil isn’t missed particularly, -but there is a ... a....”</p> - -<p>“Difference of medium?” he asked. “Like -a water-color artist who can’t paint in oil?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span></p> - -<p>“That’s it.”</p> - -<p>“Referring to your assertion in March that -truth is absolute,” he said, “is not truth itself -relative on this plane? Truth as a statement of -eternal law is absolute, but when applied to concrete -facts and ideas, it changes from time to -time? That is, a concrete statement which -expressed the relations of certain mundane -conditions to the eternal verities in <span class="smcapuc">B.C.</span> 1000, -would not necessarily be a correct statement -of the relations of corresponding conditions to -those verities in the year 1900 <span class="smcapuc">A.D.</span>”</p> - -<p>“That is the idea on which this whole revelation -is based,” she returned. “These things -have always been true. They would not have -sounded true in the year one, any more than -a lot of the ‘truths’ of that day are true now.”</p> - -<p>A night or two after this, he said he would -like more light on the practical application of -these principles, especially those in relation to -freedom. “How, for instance, would you go -about helping a school?” he asked. “Take, as -concrete examples, a University like ——, its -Faculty held in subjection by hidebound -trustees, and the proposed People’s University, -to be governed from day to day by plebiscite -or referendum, with no defined policy for procedure -beyond a general idea of freedom. -‘You may lead a horse to water, but you can’t<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span> -make him drink.’ Should the construction of -the trough be left to chance, or should it be -planned carefully? In other words, should -mundane provision and prevision be employed -in building it?”</p> - -<p>“It has been said already that men must -first learn to think, and to govern themselves, -before they can be free.” It was Mary K. -who answered. “If experience were not taken -into consideration, progress would be impossible. -Mundane prevision and provision is -essential to all constructive activity on your -plane. Opinions will differ as to ways and -means of applying principles of progress. -The first way to help a school is to establish -unity among the teachers. Not only -unity of purpose, but a certain large unity of -method, that one may not tear down what -his brother builds. Ideals of freedom have -been confused by men resenting the first law -of freedom—discipline. Lack of discipline, -carried to its logical conclusion, would return -the world to chaos. The school that is free -in its teaching must be carried on by disciplined -teachers, united in a purpose of progress clearly -recognized and agreed upon, to teach discipline -that the minds of men may dare to be free.”</p> - -<p>“The idea underlying that, I take it, is that -as the athlete whose body is thoroughly trained<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span> -and co-ordinated dares to jump an abyss, -without fear of falling, so the man whose -mind and spirit are disciplined can jump an -intellectual abyss, without losing balance or -sanity.”</p> - -<p>“Yes. And as a man trained to carry great -weights on his shoulders must be trained to it -from youth, so the man who would carry government -and freedom of thought must train -his mind to carry its weight—not alone to -hold it briefly, but to carry it on.”</p> - -<p>“Is it true, then,” he asked, “that safe freedom -and constructive freedom are only possible -after prior discipline and self-control?”</p> - -<p>“How can undisciplined freedom be safe or -constructive? It makes the wilderness. It -makes the jungle. It makes the uncharted -and devouring sea.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span></p> - -<h3>XII</h3> - -<p>One day, about the middle of May, discussing -these manifestations over a luncheon table, -a man who described himself as “a sympathetic -agnostic” mentioned that while all those on -the next plane reported that they were busy, -none to his knowledge had told just what they -were doing.</p> - -<p>At that time, we had received several statements -concerning their activities. Frederick -had spoken of his efforts in connection with “a -pro-German newspaper editor.” Maynard -Holt’s mother had told us that she worked -“with undeveloped purposes, here before their -time.” It had been said of a famous editor: -“He is for Justice.... He is one of the forces -determining the grouping of the newly arrived.” -Anne Lowe had said: “I handle children. -Some of them thought they were grown -up when they left you.” And the work of the -healers, in receiving and soothing “war-stricken -forces,” had been repeatedly mentioned.</p> - -<p>However, with the comment of the “sympathetic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span> -agnostic” in mind, we asked Mary Kendal, -apropos of some allusion to the healers -on her plane, whether she could tell us of their -work in detail.</p> - -<p>“You have already seen that our ability to -be specific, even about things here, is dependent -on your ability to understand conditions -of our plane,” she reminded us. “As fast as -we can, we give it to you. But as well explain -the operation of wireless telegraphy to an illiterate -‘cracker,’ as to try to explain healing, -as we understand and practise it, to the person -unprepared by thought and study of these -truths.”</p> - -<p>The next day, in another city, Frederick, -writing through a member of his family, said -that he had been doing some work in developing -some spirits who had “let their lowest tendencies -be their guiding force.”</p> - -<p>“They were men who were very unhappy, -because they had left the world before they -were ready, and did not know what this life -meant,” he said.</p> - -<p>“Had they recently gone over?” he was -asked.</p> - -<p>“Yes, not very long on this side. They were -so bewildered that they thought they were in -some kind of dream that they could not wake -from. They had been sick, but not long enough<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span> -to let them get any idea of death, or light after -death, so they were sorry to come over.”</p> - -<p>“Do they call you teacher?”</p> - -<p>“No, just a friend.”</p> - -<p>Replying to a question about a specific activity -on this plane, he said: “I can tell you -that a lot of those things that seem bewildering -are not important enough to be doing what we -call work here.”</p> - -<p>“What do you call work?”</p> - -<p>“Conscious development of spiritual forces.”</p> - -<p>A month later, a question about a woman -known here as a sculptor brought the following -reply from David Bruce.</p> - -<p>“She is working with a development of the -purpose of production, which is the foundation -that underlay her work there. She is producing -force by developing the undeveloped -producers.”</p> - -<p>Probably the most specific information yet -received by any of our small group concerning -the practical application of these principles -to the affairs of our plane, came through Maynard -Holt.</p> - -<p>“My work lies principally with business men -on your plane,” he said, one day, to a family -connection. “We are much concerned about -the lack of co-operation among persons of constructive -tendencies, and my own job is to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span> -apply this force we cannot fully explain to -you, in any way that will influence men or -women toward co-operation. Sometimes we -use it to suggest a new idea. Sometimes we -use it to so direct apparently consequential -circumstances and events that the person we -wish to influence gets an object lesson.”</p> - -<p>In support of this is a statement of his made -in April. While writing a long message, most -of which was intimately personal, he indicated -his interest in business conditions, and urged -a greater and more far-seeing co-operation -among business men. In the midst of a sentence -the pencil stopped, creating a long delay. -Failing, after repeated efforts, to transmit the -word he had attempted, he drew a series of -singularly uniform arches across the whole -width of the paper.</p> - -<p>After puzzling over it a moment, I drew a -line above the arches, and said, perceiving no -significance in the symbol: “That looks like -a viaduct.”</p> - -<p>“That’s what I mean,” he resumed, vigorously, -and proceeded with an elaboration of his -theme, comparing co-operation to a viaduct.</p> - -<p>“In the end, the forces for progress will -cross to all lands by that viaduct,” he continued, -“and those who balk and refuse it -will be diverted and delayed by following old<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span> -paths through the tortuous chasm of competitive -destruction. Not that we discourage -competition. The individual organization, like -the individual man, must follow its purpose -and develop its force, but ... competition at -its best is entirely friendly and constructive. -Boys have it taught them in the simplest form -in college sports. There it is personal, but -co-operative in the development of college -spirit. Each man does his best for himself -and his own record, but loyally and cheerfully -supports against opposing forces the more successful -man who is of his own group. With -increasing responsibilities, temptations and difficulties -increase, but experience should bring -ability to meet them. The code of school and -college forces may be developed and applied -to business and productive forces. This is the -first application of college training to competitive -business.”</p> - -<p>Afterward, when Mr. Kendal had expressed -his cordial sympathy with the theory of co-operation, -widely applied, Maynard said: -“That’s where the college team has won and -the union has failed. The union was good in -conception, but has made for the suppression -of individual development, where the college -team encourages it.”</p> - -<p>Later still, following a conversation concerning<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span> -national economics and international -commerce after the war, he said:</p> - -<p>“Co-operation is moral. Commercial supremacy -is material. Material success is constructive -only if permanent, and permanent -only if constructive. Until co-operation for -permanent progress becomes a principle of -international as well as national purpose, there -will be little actual progress toward permanent -peace, or lasting prosperity.</p> - -<p>“As the college boy works first for his own -power, but most for his team, and first, last -and all the time for clean athletics, so the business -man should work first for his unit, definitely -for his country’s welfare, but first, last -and always for clean co-operation with all who -make for the world’s progress.</p> - -<p>“The exponents of national supremacy at -the expense of world progress are exactly in -the position of the exponents of personal prosperity -at the expense of national welfare. The -situations are analogous to a degree as yet -comprehended by few men.</p> - -<p>“It took many years to convince the manufacturer -that increased production would follow -shorter hours and improved working conditions. -It took many years to convince -merchants that decreased cost and increased -profit followed combination of forces. It took<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span> -some time to convince financiers and manufacturers -that success, not failure, would follow -the co-operation of competing concerns in the -foreign field. Yet it is now recognized that all -these things are true and practicable. No less—even -more—is it practicable to unite world -forces of progress in commerce as they are -united now in war, the fight at all times being -for construction and development, against -destruction and regression.</p> - -<p>“This cannot be done in a day or a year, -but this is the goal toward which enlightened -forces should move. It may sound Utopian -now. So did model factories and tenements, -a few years ago. Their advocates were scoffed -at and discredited. Now, the manufacturer -who fails to provide healthful working conditions -for his operatives is called short-sighted -and pig-headed, and cheats himself twice, -while cheating his employees once.</p> - -<p>“Co-operation is the basic principle of all -progress, and the point at which it stops is -the measure of strength of man or nation. -The nation that refuses to co-operate for progress -is a nation confessing itself deterrent.”</p> - -<p>Again, in June, Maynard returned to this -subject, saying that men must become “strong -enough to let the other fellow live and prosper, -without fearing him.” After mentioning “fear<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span> -of what may come, or lust for what may be -seized,” as motives making for destruction, he -added: “Neither is constructive or progressive, -and neither can win in the end.”</p> - -<p>“We have purpose to progress beyond the -vision of man,” he went on, “but even material -progress, to be constructive and permanent, -must be governed by a vision beyond -the day. We are trying to extend that -vision.</p> - -<p>“Co-operation in individual enterprise has -succeeded. Co-operation in national enterprise -would succeed no less. More and more, -men are recognizing the value of united effort -in commercial enterprise, however long it took -the truth to dawn. Must other centuries pass, -other wars be fought, other dynasties rise and -fall, before the larger truth ushers in a new -day? Will co-operation in business, co-operation -in war, teach them to study and practise -co-operation in world welfare and progress? -Will they learn that it is not only in war that -a weakened Belgium means an endangered -England, that a hungry France means short -rations in America, that a link weakened means -the chain weak?</p> - -<p>“How many times must this premise be -demonstrated before the argument is carried -to its logical conclusion, and national co-operation,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span> -free and voluntary, provide for the -good of one by protecting and developing -all?</p> - -<p>“This is not a Utopian fantasy. It is common -sense.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span></p> - -<h3>XIII</h3> - -<p>Talking about the Lessons one day, Mr. -Kendal mentioned his impression that Zoroaster -had said something approaching the first -one in theory, and then asked, a whimsical gleam -in his eye: “Mary, has Professor James said -anything about Zoroaster in this connection?”</p> - -<p>“Manzie, Mr. James has no philosophical -library here to refer to,” was the prompt retort. -She told us, however, that he would -soon come himself to talk to this former pupil -of his, adding a characteristic glint of humor -in the assurance that he would then give “a -demonstration of a philosopher simplified to a -force.”</p> - -<p>A night or two afterward (May 13th), she -announced: “Manzie, here is Mr. James.”</p> - -<p>There was a brief delay, and when the pencil -moved again, it was with a changed application of -force and a new movement, the first words being -personal. Referring to an early period in his -own investigation of psychic phenomena, he -said:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Youth, in its nearness to inspiration, sometimes -sees more clearly than age, with its -academic dependence upon theory and precedent -and what men call the wisdom of experience. -When this wisdom is based on -perception, conscious or otherwise, of eternal -purpose, it transcends the vision of youth. -But when it is based on perception of physical -phenomena and the accumulated theories of -other men, youth has an inspiration and a -faith that leads it, all unknowing, to the brink -of great mysteries.” This was followed by an -allusion to those “befogged in precedent, physical -phenomena, and intellectual theory,” who -were “unable to follow where they should have -led.”</p> - -<p>“There has seemed to be a good deal of -genuine feeling underlying the humorous persiflage -through the pencil about the scientific -state of mind,” Mr. Kendal suggested. “Hasn’t -the time come when we can reach the scientific -type of mind? And isn’t it worth while to do -so? And if so, what is the best psychological -line of attack?”</p> - -<p>“The scientist is not by any means hopeless, -but like many men in your plane, he is overbalanced -and therefore unbalanced by physical -considerations. Physical phenomena are of -vital importance in your life, and their study<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span> -and analysis has led to a degree of material -progress which would have been incredible to -the third—and all but incredible to the second—generation -back. It is only because scientists -have persisted in the study of physical -phenomena that you are enabled to understand -in some part what is now being given you. -The misapprehension has been that physical -phenomena alone could be recognized. Those -who have believed that have denied the existence -of the greatest and most persistent of -all forces. Attempts to explain spiritual phenomena -by physical formulæ have been found -unsuccessful by every one save those who -took refuge in denial of the thing that moved -them to deny, the eternal and indestructible -purpose.</p> - -<p>“When to their laboratories scientists bring -perception of spiritual phenomena exceeding -any material manifestation known to man in -strength and significance, then they may hope -to discover and develop a force beside which -all known forces are insignificant. Science is -the ladder by which life may quickly ascend, -but until science recognizes a spiritual force as -the one essential force, of which all other forces -are incidental phenomena, progress must be -limited.”</p> - -<p>“Then, generally speaking,” Mr. Kendal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span> -said, “perhaps the most effective appeal to -scientists would be the appeal to scientific -ambition.”</p> - -<p>“Always the most effective means to win -any man to anything is to appeal to his purpose. -If it be personal, appeal to his vanity. -If it be progressive, appeal to his eagerness. -If it be intellectual, pique his curiosity. Scientists, -like others, are divided in purpose.”</p> - -<p>“We have been much interested in the decisive -definiteness with which our friends on -that plane have been able to classify the purposes -of persons here,” Mr. Kendal mentioned. -“Is this as clear to you as physical characteristics -are to us, and as quickly determined?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, and in much the same way. We see -motive and intention and their variations as -you see physical appearance, vitality and its -variations. We see disintegrating moral factors -more clearly than you see physical ills. -We judge of purpose by its vitality and persistence -under strain, precisely as you judge -of physical health by its vitality under strain -and by its persistence in spite of occasional -disease.”</p> - -<p>“Then you see disintegrating force as the -scientist sees germs?” Cass inquired. “As -disease?”</p> - -<p>“No, we see them as foes. I speak here<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span> -only of the way we judge purpose. There is -no diseased purpose. There may be struggle -between more or less intelligent forces, but in -using the simile of physical health, I did it in -a limited sense.”</p> - -<p>“Is there an inherent reason for the different -types of philosophies?” Mr. Kendal now questioned. -“That is, the Nirvana-oblivion type -in the Orient, as contrasted with the hell-fire-and-brimstone -type in the Occident. If inherent, -is its cause geographical, intellectual, -biological, or what?”</p> - -<p>“A little of all of them. Philosophies are -the outgrowth of conditions, physical, moral -and geographical—and therefore to some extent -biological—to a much greater degree than is -generally recognized. It has been said that -food makes the man. To a greater degree, -environment makes the philosopher.”</p> - -<p>“May we publish this as coming from you?”</p> - -<p>“Certainly. I am here for that purpose.... -Light and Progress are my purposes, and -teaching still my work.”</p> - -<p>After a few lines of purely personal significance, -this was signed: “William James.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span></p> - -<h3>XIV</h3> - -<p>Of the messages that may be quoted, there -remain only a few detached statements, removed -from their personal context, but reproduced -because of their general interest or -significance.</p> - -<p>“Don’t worry about C——” was one bit of -specific advice, given in March, before any of -the Lessons had been received. “She will have -her troubles, but she must dree her own weird. -You might save her some pain, but life’s purpose -may not be taught. It must be fought -for, with blood and sweat. Let C—— get -her wounds in her own way. You may then -soothe the pain. But don’t try to spare her -the fight. That has to do with the larger questions -of life and eternity.”</p> - -<p>“‘Life’s purpose may not be taught,’ but -the laws underlying the search for it may be?”</p> - -<p>“Of course. We are trying now to wake the -world to consciousness that these laws exist. -Most people, broadly speaking, have forgotten -them, in the general contempt for laws where<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span> -they are not enforced, and in the general -hatred of them where they are enforced in -oppression and fear.”</p> - -<p>A few days later, another person, writing of -another and much younger girl, said: “She -may have a hard time over the conflicting -purposes. Everybody does. But with you -to give her a foundation, I do not fear for her.... -Her struggles will only make her stronger. -Do not try to save her from pain. Remember -that it is her mother who says this. Let her -meet life fully and work her way upward. -She will always yield in the end to the sublime -purpose.”</p> - -<p>On a later occasion, this same person said: -“We help all we can, but even when you want -us to, we are unwilling to hold back the larger -and vital development in order to hasten some -smaller conclusion. Even when the small conclusion -is important to you, it must be your -own choice that helps you; and if the choice -is wrong at the moment, it still helps in the -end.”</p> - -<p>“She’s too sympathetic for her own good,” -was said of another young woman. “She’d do -the vicarious atonement act for all creation, -if she could. What she needs is to have this -purpose business driven into her. Every fellow -has to do his own fighting, and his own<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span> -atonement, and his own climbing, and take -what’s coming to him while he does it. She’s -always trying to soften the path and take the -swipes herself, and it can’t be done. She gets -the blow and the strain and the struggle, all -right, but it impedes her and gets the other -fellow nowhere. It helps nobody to save them -the consequences of their own choice. The -way to help is to call to their constructive purpose -and give them a chance. If they choose -not to take it, then let them take all the consequence -that’s coming. If that doesn’t teach -them, there’s nothing more to do, except to -turn them over to somebody who can arouse -their purpose, if they have any. Anyhow, -making a buffer of yourself just batters up -good material for no gain in force or purpose.”</p> - -<p>Again, another person to another group. -“Let any fighting force do his own fighting. -Suggest, enlighten, encourage, but don’t try -to carry the burden of another’s life. You -can’t hurry their development, and you impede -your own and that of others of your own -purpose.... You are like the fellow in the -fable, who finished by carrying not only the -pack, but the donkey, too. It’s a very sweet -and unselfish disposition, but do you think it -improves the donkey for his station in life? -Not that I’m calling S—— a donkey, but like<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span> -all mankind, he carries a pack. You can’t -carry both, and he won’t learn to apply his -force evenly here if you do it for him there. -Lots of people develop unevenly and have to -even up somewhere. Why delay the process -by vicarious labor, especially when it only exhausts -you and doesn’t develop his muscles -any? Selah!”</p> - -<p>“You can train O—— to carry physical -temptations, if you begin early,” a man said, -writing of his nephew. “Don’t let him yield -to impulse or desire when it is destructive. -Make him build his body first, as a boy. -Make him respect it and its promise. That’s a -bully thing for a boy to know at the beginning. -He reasons from that to other things. A boy -is a brute first, but a thinking brute. If he respects -the flesh, he respects all things in time.”</p> - -<p>“What is my purpose?” a young man asked, -one day.</p> - -<p>“Building. You are going to be ‘him that -hath.’ Build with your possessions. Begin the -foundation now. Build.... Build as a producer, -or as a healer, or in any way that -makes for progress, keeps you growing, develops -forces for construction, and gives the -other fellows a chance to do their best also.... -Not for yourself alone, but for all who may -climb by your ladder of opportunity.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span></p> - -<p>Maynard Holt, writing to a friend here, -spoke of him as a good fighter, and when this -person said that he would not have been -able to fight at all, but for the little hand of -a lady on the next plane, Maynard returned: -“I know you fought hard, though in darkness, -before you found that hand. That’s one reason -we count on you now. A man who will fight -continuously in darkness is a ... a ...” -The pencil paused, and after futile efforts to -proceed, retraced its path, apparently to cross -out again and again the last letter. We were -talking and paid no attention to its movement, -but when it ceased again, we discovered that -Maynard had drawn a five-pointed star. Then -he proceeded: “... luminary of force himself, -when light breaks.”</p> - -<p>There were many interesting characterizations, -both of persons on this plane and of -those on the next.</p> - -<p>“E—— is a fine force, but A—— is a force -multiplied and refined to power,” was said of -one couple.</p> - -<p>A striking example of the determination of -our “fantom friends” to convey their meaning -despite obstacles, was indicated when some -one had told me, during an interview, of a -boy’s objection to his mother’s activity in one -of the recent “drives” connected with war<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span> -work, on the ground that it “made her conspicuous.”</p> - -<p>“M—— is an entirely tra ... trem ... tr ... -normal and tra ... tremulous youth, where -his mother and sister are concerned,” was his -father’s humorous comment.</p> - -<p>Apparently, in this case, the connection was -imperfect, no intimation of his meaning reaching -me, and only by altering the form of his -sentence was he able to get it written.</p> - -<p>“Miss T—— has much to learn and much -to suffer before a teaching based on unity of -force or purpose will reach her forcefully,” we -were told, on another occasion. “She must -learn the shallows of self before she can sound -the depths of individuality, in the larger and -eternal interpretation of the word.”</p> - -<p>Following one of the numerous discussions -of Germany and her purposes, a question about -a man of German parentage brought this -reply: “B—— is American. The national -taint of docility is not in him.”</p> - -<p>The meaning of purpose and its application -was stated many times in many ways. One -of the most characteristic of these expressions -came from a famous humorist.</p> - -<p>“There are things brewing here and among -you there,” he said, “that are going to make -the wars of the tribes of Hohenzollern, Hapsburg<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span> -and Mephisto look like a village prayer -meeting. The carnage of Verdun and Mons -and the whole show since his little nibs was -assassinated is a picayune proposition compared -to the losses of time, purpose, force and -saving grace that we’re all going to feel, if -we can’t wake you people up to pull together -against the devil’s crew.”</p> - -<p>Some one asked whether a husband and wife, -not too congenial in this life, were together -there, and was told that he was “flocking with -birds of his own feather,” and that she had -“peacefully and tranquilly found her own.” -Another member of this family group was with -neither of the others, it was said, “because -she found her very own, for which they were -only a substitute.”</p> - -<p>“Have you seen Jim? Is there any feeling -about his wife’s marrying again?” was a question -which will interest many persons.</p> - -<p>“Jim is here and very happy. He has no -resentment, and wishes Alice to be happy. -They are both of the forces of progress, but -not of just the same purpose. They harmonize, -but do not touch.”</p> - -<p>Again, some one asked whether one party -to an uncongenial marriage regretted the -other’s rejoining him so soon.</p> - -<p>“She didn’t,” was the reply. “He hasn’t seen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span> -her yet, and won’t. He is willing to work with -her purpose, but not eager to touch her force.”</p> - -<p>“What about Laura?” a woman asked.</p> - -<p>“She is coming to us soon, but do not be -afraid, dear. She will be tenderly met and -guided, and will be much nearer you all, much -happier and more helpful, than she is now. -Never grieve again for death. It is birth, and -so happy.”</p> - -<p>Within a few weeks, this came to pass.</p> - -<p>When I asked Mary K. for a message for a -mother bereaved by war, she said: “Tell her -we will send for her when he has grown accustomed -enough to talk to her. Tell her that he -is cared for tenderly and guided, and that she -must not grieve. She hurts him and herself. -Make her understand that she can help him -by knowing that he lives and loves her and is -near her, and that it is part of her work as -a mother to help him in this ... to find his -purpose more quickly through her love.”</p> - -<p>We were afterward told that he had not yet -learned the “free communion,” but that from -the moment his mother began to “lift her -spirit to meet his,” this young man’s development -was hastened.</p> - -<p>Frequently, when telling about these revelations, -I have been asked: “What do they say -about reincarnation?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span></p> - -<p>“There is no possible reincarnation,” Mary -K. said, when I referred the question to her. -“That is a dream of the Orient. The idea of -reincarnation is regressive. Not destructive, -but deterrent. Not progressive. It is born of -bodily desire.”</p> - -<p>“Is it like the desire of old men for youth?”</p> - -<p>“More. It is a mask, covering material -desire with spiritual semblance. It is taught -from this plane by deterrent or partly deterrent -forces, lacking free vision.”</p> - -<p>In another connection, but with similar -meaning, David Bruce said: “Some persons -hide their love of the flesh by an exaggerated -expression of spirituality, and then think of -ways of insisting on the flesh.”</p> - -<p>Similarly, writing through her husband’s -pencil, Mary Kendal said, when he asked her -what had become of persons like Cæsar, Luther, -Cobden, Archimedes, and others in general: -“There is a great difference in the length of -time people stay in this plane nearest to that -of the earth, which depends not only on the -stage of development which they have attained -when they come here, but also on the character -of work they are best fitted to do. If they -can be of more use in direct or indirect contact -with your plane, they stay here sometimes -many years, as you measure time; but if they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span> -are retarded in their development when they -arrive here, they have a long road to travel -before they can go on to any other plane. -There is no such thing as transmigration of -souls as you understand it, but that idea is -akin to what actually does happen, in the sense -that such individualities have to pass through -stages of development which are relatively -inferior in status to those that they might -enter into, coming from your plane, if they -had made greater progress there, or had fought -a better fight on that plane.”</p> - -<p>When he said that his idea in asking about -specific individuals was to get concrete instances -by which to check up the general law, -she returned: “The danger in that is that -your idea of what those individuals really were -is very apt to be wrong, and starting from -wrong premises you could hardly avoid reaching -wrong conclusions.... Martin Luther was -a mixture of purposes. He did great work for -progress in fighting the conventions and binding -tendency of ecclesiasticism in his times, -but he had personal motives which were deterrent, -and which he spent a long time in -working out when he left that plane.” Of -Napoleon she said: “There have been few instances -of greater prostitution of great talents -and great opportunity in history, and he paid—and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span> -is paying—the penalty, or the consequence.”</p> - -<p>To the many inquiries as to how direct -communication may be established between -persons here and the dear ones gone before, -this message of David Bruce’s to his wife contains -the briefest and most comprehensive -answer.</p> - -<p>She said: “I wonder what he’s going to tell -me?”</p> - -<p>“I’m going to tell you to be calm and serene -of spirit, no matter what seems to be happening -to disturb you. Most of the disturbing -factors of individual life on your plane are -ephemeral—things of the moment and of the -place. Others are more important than they -seem. I am not always able to tell you about -them. It delays you, instead of helping you, -when the decision is not your own. One way -that I can truly help when you are troubled -is by what we can best describe as the free -communion. When you are perturbed in spirit -and full of doubt, it is difficult for us to reach -you.... Open the door of spiritual force to -forces here, and we can always help. That is -what we hope to establish as a recognized -truth in your life there. That a force as yet -unknown to science is operating between the -planes, and can be developed and used in your<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span> -life there—to a less degree than in ours, but -still with great effect. It is for this that we -work in this communion, which is more definite -to you now and less so to us. We know the -limits to which material manifestation like this -is confined, and are eager to teach you gradually -the freer and fuller way.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span></p> - -<h3>XV</h3> - -<p>“A thought that will occur to many persons -is that the truths we endeavor to teach are not -entirely new.</p> - -<p>“Truth is fundamental and eternal. There -is no new truth; there is only new understanding -and application of truth that has always -existed. No great teacher has ever told new -truth. No great teacher has ever told truth -in a new way, until the older teachings had -begun to lose their hold on the minds of -men. No great teacher has ever found an -audience for his new interpretation of truth, -until the minds of men had groped through -darkness toward a light dimly perceived, if -at all.</p> - -<p>“The time is ripe now for the crystallization -of new application of eternal truth. Men -hunger for bread of the spirit, and thirst for -the waters of eternity. This is the answer of -eternal forces to their search, and it comes, -for the first time, not through a teacher or a -prophet, but through a human instrument<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span> -sensitive to a high degree to the influence of -the force that is life’s motive power.</p> - -<p>“There are many conditions affecting the -application of that force in these communications, -that cannot now be explained; many -conditions influencing its direction, that you -do not understand. Some day your scientists -will discover and prove by experiment certain -laws now unrecognized, and these days of -doubt and scoffing will disappear in a past filled -with denial and discouragement of almost every -discovery now called modern and progressive.</p> - -<p>“Two things only we have striven for through -you: to prove to a group of intelligent persons -that this force exists and may be practically -applied between your plane and ours, and to -warn mankind of the nature and eternal import -of impending struggles. We have more -to tell when they are ready to listen, and upon -the choice of them who hear this truth the -immediate progress of the world depends. It -is a warning to unite and prepare for combat.</p> - -<p>“This is the truth. Heed it.</p> - -<p class="right">“<span class="smcap">Mary K.</span>”</p> - -<p class="smaller"><i>June 13, 1918.</i></p> - -<p class="titlepage">THE END</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="footnotes"> - -<h2>FOOTNOTES</h2> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_1" id="Footnote_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> These names occurred to me, because these three persons left us -within a twelvemonth, about three years ago, and all were either friends -or closely identified with friends of ours.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_2" id="Footnote_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> I now believe that this was Annie Manning’s first interruption.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_3" id="Footnote_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> I had asked whether she knew any of the three persons previously -mentioned, and each time she had replied in the negative.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_4" id="Footnote_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Her husband, Mansfield Kendal.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_5" id="Footnote_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> I have since learned that this was characteristic of him. His letters -home frequently began: “Dear Family.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_6" id="Footnote_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Several hours later I read Cass’s letter and telegram to his -physician, who advised me to go at once to Atlantic City.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_7" id="Footnote_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Each of these words was written in larger script than the preceding -one.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_8" id="Footnote_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Later developments make it seem probable that this was an attempt to -write the familiar diminutive for which his father afterward asked, and -that my “too rigid vigilance” shut out the suggestion.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_9" id="Footnote_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Short-circuited?</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_10" id="Footnote_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> In describing Frederick’s pyrotechnical “upside-down stunts” and -the later “trimmings,” the great facility with which they were executed -should have been more strongly emphasized. They were all written with -extraordinary rapidity and firmness.</p> - -</div> - -</div> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Seven Purposes, by Margaret Cameron - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEVEN PURPOSES *** - -***** This file should be named 60406-h.htm or 60406-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/0/4/0/60406/ - -Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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