"Oh, yes indeed; all the "patter," and some of the guile. For instance, when I want to use "those who have pa.s.sed on" I do so, and when I don"t I invent means to deceive them."
Mrs. Quigg caught me up on that. "Can you deceive "them"?"
"I don"t know that I do, really; but, at any rate, "they" are not always mind-readers--that I have proved very conclusively. In all my experience I have never had any satisfactory evidence of the clairvoyance of these manifesting intelligences."
"I thought "they" could read one"s every thought."
"I do not find that "they" can read so much as _one_ of my thoughts, and I would not invest a dollar on their recommendations. Seldom does so much as a familiar name come up in my sittings, and no message of any intimate sort has ever come from the shadow world for me. The messages are intelligent, but below rather than above the average. "They" always seem very fallible, very human to me, and nothing "they" do startles me.
I have no patience with those who make much of the morbid side of this business. To me it is neither "theism" nor "diabolism," and is neither destruction of an old religion or the basis of a new one--But all this verges on the controversial, and is not good for our psychic. Let"s sing some good old tune, like "Suwanee River" or "Lily Dale." We must keep to the genial side of conversation. Spread your hands wide on the table and be as comfortable as you can. We may have to wait a long time now, all on Miller"s account."
"Because he is a sceptic?"
"No; because he"s belligerent," I answered. "It doesn"t matter whether you believe or not if you do not stir up controversy. Miller"s "suggestion" is adverse to the serenity of the psychic, that"s all. The old-time sleepy back-parlor logic has no weight with me. Maxwell and Flammarion are my guides."
_For four hours we sat thus, and nothing happened._ How I kept them at it I do not now understand, but they stayed. We sang, joked, told stories, gossiped in desperate effort to kill time, and not one rap, tap, or crackle came to guide us or to give indication of the presence of any unusual power. Part of the time Mrs. Smiley was awake and sorely grieved at her failure. She understood very well the position in which I seemed to stand. To Miller I was a dupe, the victim of a trickster. He himself afterward confessed that at the time he almost regretted his preternatural acuteness, and was ready to take himself away in order to let the show go on. But he didn"t, and from time to time I encouraged our psychic by saying: "Never mind, Mrs. Smiley, there are other evenings to come. We will not despair."
At last she sank into profound sleep, and at exactly twelve o"clock I heard a faint tapping on top of the piano, just behind Miller. "Hooray, here they are!" I exclaimed, with vast relief. "What is the matter?" I asked of "the presence." "Aren"t we sitting right?"
"_No_," was the answer, by means of one decided tap.
"Am I right?"
"_No_," answered the taps.
I may explain at this point that in the accepted code of signals one tap means "_No_," three taps mean "_Yes_," and two taps, "_Don"t know_,"
"_Will try_," or any other doubtful state of mind. One has, of course, to guess at the precise meaning; but one may confirm one"s interpretation by putting it in the form of a question that can be answered by "_Yes_" or "_No_."
"Shall I change with Miller?" I asked.
Three brisk taps made affirmative answer.
I exchanged places with Miller, but did not again touch Mrs. Smiley"s hand. Immediately thereafter the sound of soft drumming came from the piano at a point entirely out of reach of the psychic, and at my request the drummer kept time to my whistling. After some minutes of this foolery "the force" left the piano abruptly, as if with a leap, and dropped to the middle of the table. A light, fumbling noise followed, and I called out: "Is every hand in the circle accounted for?"
While the members of the group were, in turn, a.s.suring me of this, a small bell on the table was taken up and rung, and the table itself was shoved powerfully toward the circle and away from the psychic. I a.s.sure you, my sitters were profoundly interested now, and some of the women were startled. A sharp, pecking sound came upon the cone. I called attention to the fact that this took place at least six feet from the psychic, and a moment later, with intent to detect her in any movement, I leaned far forward so that my head came close to her breast. I could not discern the slightest motion; I could not even hear her breathe. All this, while very impressive to me, was referred by the others to trickery on Mrs. Smiley"s part.
At my request, the drumming on the cone kept time to "Dixey" and "Yankee Doodle," and at length I said to "the spirit": "You must have liked topical songs when you were on the earth-plane."
Instantly _the cone was swept violently from the table, and a deep, jovial, strong whisper came from the horn to me_. "_I do now_," was the amazing answer.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"_Wilbur Thompson._"
"Oh, it is you, is it? Well, I am glad you"ve found a voice; I felt rather helpless up to this moment. Are we sitting right?"
"_All right._"
"What are you going to do for us to-night? Can you raise the table?"
"_I"ll try_," he whispered again.
"Are there other "spirits" here?"
"_Yes; many._"
"Can"t "they" write their names on the pad?"
There was a moment"s silence, and then the sound of writing began in the middle of the table. When this had finished, I said, "Did you succeed?"
Again the cone rose, and another whisper, a fainter voice, answered: "_Yes, but the writing is very miserable._"
The rest of the sitters were silent with amazement till Miller said, in a tone of disgust: "That is of no value. It is so easy for Howard, or some one else, to break the circle and write or speak through the cone."
"Yes, we"ll have to trust one another for to-night," I admitted.
The psychic now began to twist and moan and struggle, choking, gasping in such evident suffering that Mrs. Cameron cried out: "Mr. Garland, don"t you hear? She is ill! Let me go to her!"
"Don"t be alarmed," I replied. "This struggle almost always precedes her strongest manifestations. It seems cruel to say so, but, remember, Mrs.
Smiley has been through these paroxysms hundreds of times. It appears very painful and exhausting, but she has a.s.sured me that "they" take care of her. She suffers almost no ill effects from her trance."
Miller, living up to his character as remorseless scientist, remarked: "I"d like to control her hands. Shall I try?"
"Not now, not till the "guides" consent to it," I replied. "It is said to be dangerous to the psychic to touch her unexpectedly."
"I can understand that it might be inconvenient," remarked Harris, with biting brevity.
Again we sat in expectant silence until several of the group became restless. "What is she about now?" asked Cameron, wearily.
"She is in dead trance, apparently. Please be patient a little while longer. Are you still with us, "Wilbur"?"
I was delighted to hear the three taps that answer "_Yes_."
"Will you be able to do something more for us?"
_Tap, tap, tap_--given apparently with the pencil.
I observed: "From a strictly scientific standpoint, the movement of that pencil, provided it can be proved to have taken place without the agency of any known form of force, is as important as the fall of a mountain. It heralds a new day in science. Is every hand accounted for?"
Each answered, "_Yes_." At this moment there was a rustling at the base of the cone. "Listen! "they" are at work with the horn."
The cone rocked slowly on its base, and at last leaped over the shoulders of the sitters and fell with a crash to the floor. "Mercy on us!" gasped Mrs. Cameron.
"Don"t touch it! Don"t move!" I called out. "Everybody clasp hands now.
Here is a chance for a fine test. "Wilbur," can you put the cone back on the table?"
_Tap, tap_, answered "Wilbur." The two taps were given slowly, and I understood them to mean "_Don"t know_" or "_Will try_."
"Miller," I said, impressively, "unless some one of our circle is betraying us, we are having as good a demonstration as we could expect, barring the absence of light. Be watchful. "Wilbur," we"re trusting to you now. Let"s see what you can do."
As I spoke, the horn, with a ringing sc.r.a.pe, left the carpet, and a moment later b.u.mped down upon Mrs. Quigg"s head. "Oh!" she shrieked, "it hit me!"