Seen and Unseen | Page 9

gentleman was constantly walking up to the
cabinet and being embraced by a white figure, whose arms we could
just see, thrown round his neck, in the dim light. (I note that the light
here was much less than with Mrs Stoddart Gray in New York.)
The only excitement was the chance of some disturbance before we left;
for Mrs Porter became more and more indignant with the "gross
imposture," which culminated when at length she was called up and
told that "a young man wished to speak with her." She asserted that it
was "the most horrible, grinning, painted creature who hissed into her
ears."
The master of the house begged her to be patient, and try to hear what
the spirit wished to say, but with a very emphatic "NO, NO, NO" she
resumed her seat, amidst a general titter of laughter.
At the last we were told that three little girls, whose mother sat near the
cabinet, wished to materialise, but found it difficult to do so, owing to
the absence of children in the audience.
The mother seemed very anxious to see them; but suddenly the gas was

turned up, and the séance declared over--a very abrupt finale to a piece
of unmitigated humbug, I should say.
These extracts sufficiently show the spirit in which I entered upon my
investigations and the result of that spirit. I think even Mr Podmore
would have considered me thoroughly sound on that first evening. I
have no doubt that the violence of Mrs Porter's antagonism, and the
smiling cynicism of Mrs Hall in face of the "American experience" she
had proposed for us, added to my own preconceived prejudices.
I am aware that the Berry Sisters have been "exposed," thus sharing the
fate of all other public mediums. In the light of later experiences,
however, I feel sure that I might have received something personally
evidential on this occasion had my attitude of mind given hospitality to
any possible visitors from the Unseen.
The next extracts from my diary refer to a séance which we attended in
New York a few days after our arrival there, and some two or three
weeks later than the Boston sitting already described.
Our stay in Boston had extended to three months from the original
fortnight we had planned for the visit. I had taken a few very good
introductions there: to Dr Oliver Wendell Holmes, Colonel Wentworth
Higginson, and others of the Boston alumni, and as several receptions
had been kindly arranged for us, and my name had appeared many
times during the winter in various local papers, it would have been easy
for the Sisters Berry to find out something about me and my companion,
and utilise the knowledge by faking up a convenient spirit, who could
have talked glibly of my literary tastes, and so forth. Nothing of the sort
occurred, however, although our first séance only took place a week or
two before we left Boston, after my three months' stay there.
This fact should certainly be "counted as righteousness" to the much
abused Sisters!
It was the more curious, that our first séance in New York, within a few
days of our arrival, and in a metropolis where at the time we were
absolute strangers, should have been so much more successful as

regards evidential experiences.
I will again quote from my diary of 1886. The medium visited on this
occasion was Mrs Cadwell, who has since died.
* * * * *
We knew nothing beforehand of the medium, who lived in a small flat
in an unfashionable quarter. Some eight people only were assembled in
the extremely small room. All were perfect strangers to Miss Greenlow
and me, but a fancied likeness in one lady present to a picture I had
seen of Mrs Beecher Stowe led me to ask if it were she, and I was told
that my surmise was correct.
There was no room for a cabinet, so a curtain was hung across a tiny
alcove, just the ordinary "arch" found in most rooms of the kind.
When I went behind the curtain with the female medium, before the
sitting began, there was barely space for us both to turn round in. The
carpet on either side the curtain was one piece. There was absolutely no
room for any trap-door machinery, even could such have been worked
successfully in the perfect silence in which we sat, within two feet of
the alcove. The room was about the size of the small back dining-room
in an ordinary London lodging--say in Oxford or Cambridge Terrace,
for example.
The medium sat amongst us at first, only going behind the curtain after
a few moments, when she was "under control" as it is called.
A little child of hers,