The Missing Link In Modern Spiritualism Part 30

"A desultory conversation here sprung up; after which Mr. Marsh resumed: 'In whose employ were you when I first knew you?'

"'Jenny Lind's.'

"DR. G.--'Oh! is that the man? I know now. I saw him in Springfield once; had some sharp words with him, too.'

"MR. STOCKWELL--'Is there any other Spirit present who was lost at sea?'

"'Yes.'

"MR. S.--'An acquaintance of mine?'

"'Yes.'

"'Will he tell in what steamer he was lost?'

"Correctly answered.

"'If I write a list of names, will he indicate his?'

"'Yes.'

"Mr. S. wrote a list of names; but neither of them was indicated by the Spirit, though he went through the list twice. A moment or two after, an earnest response was heard. Mr. S. had spelt the name wrong in the first instance; but instantly, on correcting it, the affirmative came. The last-mentioned facts were then stated to the company, no hint having been given in the course of the proceeding whether it was satisfactory or not. The name indicated was that of Samuel Stacy.

"Another friend of Mr. S. announced his presence. His name was correctly given; and a list of towns was written, with the request that he would point out where he died. No response came; but on changing the word Cambridge in the list, to Cambridge_port_, the sounds were promptly returned. In these last two instances was an accuracy of intelligence beyond what was looked for by the experimenter.

"'Will the Spirit tell his birth-place?'

"'Yes.'

"A list of towns being written by Mr. S., was pa.s.sed to Mr. Brown, with the request that the response might be given to him, Mr. B. being totally ignorant of the matter.

"Various tests of this nature were tried. The questions were asked by those ignorant of their answers, and the result was, without exception, correct.

"The question of a separate intelligence having had due consideration, experiments were tried with regard to the sounds. The mediums, by request, moved to various portions of the room; and the sounds were produced, varying in quality according to the different substances from which they apparently proceeded. The 'toe-joint' theory being suggested by some one, the mediums were requested to stand on the spring cushion of a sofa. This they did, and merely touching the tip of a finger against the plastering, the sounds were distinctly and abundantly heard on, or rather _in_ the wall. They were equally distinct to a person in the adjoining room. That the ladies had no other contact with the wall than to touch it lightly with the tip of a single finger, all present can testify."

Nor was this action of the members of the Press the only investigation by high authority which we two (Katie and I) underwent on this occasion of our visit to Boston, in 1857.

It was proposed by our friends that we should meet a party of Unitarian clergymen at the house of Rev. Dr. Harrington, in Summerville, about six miles from Boston.

They made a most thorough investigation. They held a consultation in a private room, and considered that now was the time to satisfy themselves in regard to the production of the sounds; as they had read the statement made by the Buffalo doctors, in which "knee-knocking" figures, and also the Burr toe-ological humbug, and many more wise theories, which they wished to prove true or silence forever.

Rev. Dr. Francis, a brother of Lydia Maria Child, and another distinguished clergyman, were appointed to hold our knees, and two ladies held our feet, rested on chairs, exposed plainly to view.

During the time we were held in this position, sounds were made all around the room--on chairs, on the floor, under their feet, etc. One old gentleman shouted out, "Thank G.o.d, I always believed the raps were genuine, and now I know they are." He then told us he was living near Rochester when we first came before the public, and always felt the deepest sympathy for us.

At the close of the investigation we were all invited to go into the dining-room, where a sumptuous banquet had been prepared for the party.

The Spirits of earth and heaven met and rejoiced together on this occasion; and there were many more of the invisible ones than of those still in the flesh. Many sweet songs were sung, and the timely echoes from the Spirit world told us plainly that they were not afar off. It was time for us to leave them. Mr. Alvin Adams had taken us there in his beautiful equipage, and he advised us of the hour. The party accompanied us to the carriage, and with many blessings and words of encouragement, bid us farewell.

There were fifteen or more Unitarian clergymen together with many of their lady and gentlemen friends. One of the clergymen, laying his hand on the shoulder of Dr. Francis, exclaimed, "Gentlemen, this is proof positive of that which we have all been grasping after, as a shadow, from time immemorial."

On our return to the hotel at Boston, a large party of friends had a.s.sembled in our parlor, and met us with outstretched hands. Wm. Lloyd Garrison said, "I know you have been successful, or you would not come in with such happy faces." The Spirits rapped in response to his exclamation, and we spent a pleasant evening.

The following morning a large party, who came from Vermont, occasioned considerable amus.e.m.e.nt.

They came "to see the mediums," which seemed to be all that some of them wanted. They waited in the reception-room. Several of them stood on the stairs. As we came from the breakfast table and pa.s.sed through the hall, one of them called out loudly to the others, "There! we've seen 'em without paying."

They came from the Green Mountains, with the idea that we were something curious to be seen: and they had concluded to spend a dollar in order to gratify their curiosity. Edwin Forrest and several of his friends were still at the breakfast table, and they enjoyed the joke very much.

The party were not all, however, of this kind; two or three came in and paid the admission fee. One woman had good evidence of communication with a daughter lately deceased.

We met many interesting persons at Mr. Parks's, among whom were Theodore Parker, and Rev. James Freeman Clark, who seemed very much interested, and kindly invited us to accompany Mr. and Mrs. Parks to his home, which invitation was accepted. We spent a pleasant day with his honored mother and sister, his wife being absent from home.

I shall ever remember the beaming, kindly face of Rev. Theodore Parker, who fearlessly, frankly, and honestly announced to his friends that he was a believer in Spiritualism. Subsequently he visited me several times in company with Rev. John Pierpont.

CHAPTER XXIII.

ROBERT DALE OWEN AND PROFESSOR FELTON, PRESIDENT OF HARVARD COLLEGE.

MASTERLY LETTER FROM MR. OWEN.

Although not directly connected with the affair of the Harvard Professors, yet it comes in natural sequence to the preceding chapter for me to mention that, after the appearance of Robert Dale Owen's "Footfalls on the Boundary of Another World," Professor Felton, who burned with angry zeal against Spiritualism, wrote him a letter (April 13, 1860), which was slow in reaching its destination. Mr. Owen, having written a reply to it, requested Felton's permission to publish the former with the latter; a request which was declined on the ground that "the letter was hastily written, and intended only for your eyes."

The letter referred to was a fair sample of the sort of criticism which he wrote on the subject, and which he was willing to retail out to others, and then decline to face any fair discussion with a highly honorable opponent, at least his equal in public and social position, who had unanswerably answered his bitterly libellous language. It is open to question whether Mr. Owen's delicacy was not excessive in respecting the privacy of Professor Felton's volunteered letter of controversial attack upon his book, and whether he would not have been perfectly justified in publishing it, as he asked permission to do, side by side with the masterly reply which it elicited. This reply, which I now proceed to publish, will suffice to show how little the Harvard dignitary, however learned in Greek, was a match in logical controversy for Mr. Owen, who had been a distinguished member of Congress, and who had recently vacated the post of U. S. Minister at the court of Naples.

The Professor stated that he had fully "investigated the subject both in this country and in Europe, and that the conclusion at which he had arrived was that the alleged physical phenomena, such as moving of tables without the ordinary application of physical force, _never take place_ under conditions which absolutely prevent the action of delusion or fraud." He is not the only man who has claimed to have "investigated," when he has visited a few mediums with the eyes of his mind so shut and sealed with hostile prejudice that what he calls his investigation had been but an idle farce.

Then again, in the same letter, he declares, in relation to the investigation in Boston, that "the whole thing failed, failed utterly."

I refrain from designating this as it deserves. I refer my readers to the history of that sham investigation for them to give it its proper designation. He knew the statement was not true of the manifestations during the investigation, if his own committee could be believed. The letter says, "If I ever have time I shall prepare a volume on the subject."

He did not, however, have time before he followed the course of Nature, and he has now found out for himself many things not falling within the scope of his studies as Professor of Greek, which he did not know before.

After this outpouring, he goes on to sanction the same thing in Christian Revelation. He says the cases are different. Yes, we have the absolute facts here, and that is better than those of long ago. The fact is, Prof. Felton never gave it one hour of fair investigation.

Though Prof. Felton refused permission for the publication of his letter, I am under no restraint for the publication of Mr. Owen's masterly reply to it; with which, as it has not before been published (to my knowledge), I am glad to be able to enrich this volume.

"PHILADELPHIA, November 12, 1860.

"MY DEAR SIR:

"It was only on my recent return from Europe that I had the pleasure of receiving your letter of the thirtieth of April last. I have since given to its strictures the earnest consideration to which the character and standing of the writer and his friendly tone justly ent.i.tle them.

"If, on a careful review, I had found cause to believe that the tendency of my work is such as you represent, it would be little consolation to feel that it was prompted by those good intentions which you are candid and courteous enough to ascribe to me. Prudence, painstaking discrimination, severe scrutiny of evidence, especially for the novel or the extraordinary, are, in an author, duties as imperative as good faith and uprightness; nor should he escape reprehension by pleading the one, if it appear that he has neglected the others.