STEAD'S TOUR AND SPIRITUALISM.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4575, 21 February 1893, Page 2

STEAD'S TOUR AND SPIRITUALISM.

[FROM OTJB LONDON COBBBSPONDBNT.] > London, Jan. 6. c I hear that Mr W. T. Stead is being - warmly pressed to go on to San Francisco after visiting Chicago next summer, and f to return home via New Zealand and 1 Australia. Mr Fitchett strongly urges hiß c chief to try and arrange this journey, and > has promised him a specially warm (N.B. i — i suppose this means cordial) welcome in Melbourne. If the "sage of Norfolk House" makes np his mind to the tour he will not improbably pay expenses ! by delivering a lecture or two on "Ghosts" or " Spiritualism," in your . chief cities. Mr Stead is now a firm believer in spiritualist phenomena. I He and Dr Parker have been thrilling readers of the Morning with Btories " of letters which they have written at the r dictation of " spirit hands." In the i Christmas number of the Review of Reviews * (" From the Old World to the New "), in 3 the chapter entitled " From the other ' side," Mr Stead gives, be tells us, an l account of an experience which absolutely i occurred to himself. The only difference 5 is that in the story, Rose, instead of the : editor of the Review of Reviews, writes the spirit letter, and her deceased husband, and not Mr Stead's deceased friend, con- > trols her hand. Dr Parker believes so firmly in the inspiration of disembodied spirits that at- the instigation of St Paul and other sacred writers he is adding ' chapters to the Bible. Some of those : privileged to hear this Holy Writ up-to-date have at once "recognised the soul and sentiments of St Paul," whilst others could see in it only " good old Parker." A great trial to fervent spiritualists of Mr Stead's BOrt must be the frivolity and triviality of most disembodied spirits. ' The messages which mediums, &0., bring us from our deceased relatives are almost invariably of a paltry and absurd character. / < ■ Tonr erstwhile "visitor, -Stuart Cumberland, has setsibly resolved to burk as far i as possible the renaissance of spiritualism. IHe offers to let .£IOOO that the | spiritualists cannot show him any phenomena which it will be out of his mundane power (1) to explain intelligently to the « satisfaction of a dispassionate Committee, : and (2) to reproduce. Mr Stead's alleged miracle matt9r-of-fact people consider especially mischievous, because it cannot be tested. He asks us to believe that, i when he sits down with a pen is his hand and paper before him, and spirit- ! voices in hiß ears, the pen moves over the paper without any volition of his own. It is controlled by a spirit-hand. But here are portions of an interview j ' with Mr Stead on this question, wbich he , clearly means to " boom." j I But do you really mean to say, Mr Stead, asked our interviewer, that you know of your own knowledge that tho lengthened j communications referred to ia the Review of Reviews wer6 absolutely written automatically, without any knowledge on the part of the person whose hand wrote them? I do, for the best of all reasons; because it was my hand tbat wrote them, and I am willing to assure you in the moat

olemn and serious manner that I had node* in the world what my hand was going <o write when it began to write. Then hew did yon start off— all of a mdden P It came about in this way. One of my ■riends had been accustomed for some time So do automatic writing, and when I was watching the process a message was written bo me to the effect tbat a certain deceased Lady wished to use my hand. I said I should be very glad, but it was absolutely impossible for my. hand to write except consciously, and that, as far as I knew, I had not a particle of medinmistic power. My own phrase was that I was blind, deafi and dumb in all psychical matters, and " I could neither do automatic handwriting, g<y into a trance, see ghosts, or do anything whatever in that line. The automatic bandwriting went on to say that I was mistaken ; that if I would put my hand atherdißpoßal for five minutes sh« could write with it. I said, "by all means try," but as my hand remained motion )e33 for- five minutes I said it wsß "no go." Then oame the message " I had not given her time enough." I said I would give her another five minutes, which I did with the same result, whereupon I said I would not go on fooling round any longer, as it wasi quite evidf nt that I had not the capacity, and that if there was any message to be delivered it must be given to me through, some person who was more gifted in that respect than myself. About a month, afterwards the suine person, who was doing ' the automatic handwriting before, wrote another message to the effect that the ptrson who had wished to communicatewith me was present, and was in great distress because sbo wished to speak', to me, and I would not give her a chance. I . said I haci given her two chances, and that I could not afford to sit for ever waiting until my hand moved. Tap message came "Will you give me nine minutes tomorrow morning before you begin your work V I said " yes," and I did, and to my immense surprise my band slowly, and with great difficulty, wrote out an almoßfe illegible message, to which was appended the narae of the person who had alleged she wished to communicate with me. That was the beginning of it. Are you quite Eure, Mr Stead, that you had no part in the matter P Consciously, not in the least. I was extremely surprised, because on previous' occasions my band had shown no inclination whatever toniovo. But on this occasion it did move, and wrote very illegibly and very slowly a distinct message.. Having once broken the ice I went on and found, as I suppose everyone else has found who has been willing to experiment, that the writing varies indefinitely,, sometimes being' very clear, end sometimes almost indecipherable. But where did these things transpire,. Mr Stead ?— ln my own study, at my own desk, at a table in a restaurant, in a railway carriage, at any time or any place,, whenever and wherever I may give my hand liberty to write for the invisible intelligence, whatever it may bo, that wishes to use it. But ib there always an invisible intelligence ready to use it P— For the moßt part "yes;" sometimes "no." Is it always the same intelligence P— By no means. As a rule yonr hand is moved by some agency which describes itself ashaving at one time lived on this earth. But do you believe it ?— Never, unless it gives proof that it is what it professes to be. That is to »ay, if my hand were to write or state tbat the Apostle Paul, or Shakapere, or Socrates was writing, I should believe that it was absolute nonsence, and should not let it go on. But how can you get proofs of the identity of the intelligence representing itself to be a disembodied spirit P— Well, I can best answer that by telling you the facts of the story that figures so conspicuously in my Christmas Number, "From the Old World to the New." I will not mention the real names, although I have no objection to tell them to you privately. I was staying at a country house in the West of England, when a lady who was present asked me one day, much to my surprise, if I knew of; any clairvoyant or medium.' I said, "Tea, but why?'* She said that about bix months before she had lost her dearest friend, a lady of great intelligence, whom I had met twice a year or two before. Thelady who addressed me said further that while her friend was alive they had long ago promised each other that whoever died, first would appear to the other if she could. " Now," she said, " my friend has appeared to me twice since she died, once very shortly after her decease, and' the second time only the other night, in this very honee." '• What ! " I said, " are there ghosts about here ? " She continued. " I was awakened in the middle of tba night—suddenly awakened by the consciousness of berpregence at my bedside. I saw her as distinctly as I 6ee you, but I could not hear if she spoke. Then she fainted away, and I only saw a light where she had been standing. I cannot bear to think that she has come back to see me, and that I cannot hear her voice. I thought that if you knew a trustworthy clairvoyant she might be able to tell me what my friend wants to say." I said, " Very well, when you come bnck to London, I will introduce you to Mrs Davies. But my hand has begun to^ write a little. I knew your friend, and if she is about I will see if she will write with my hand." Next morning before breakfast, in my bedroom, I took a pencil in my hand, put ie upon a sheet of paper, and said, "Now, Miss (naming the person), " if yon have any-. thing to communicate to Mies you can use my hand to say what you want." Then, without a moment's hesitation, my hand very slowly wrote her name and traced three lines of a message. I Baid then, "This is all very well, but now do I know that this is not merely the unconscious action of my own brain working in some mysterious way? How do I know that you. are what you profess to be ? Can you give me a test of your identity ?" My band wrote " Yea.' r Theu I received the test about Minerva, which was given almost exactly as it isstated in the chapter "From the Other Side" in the Christmas Number of ihe Review of Reviews. In fact, from this point the whole of the rest of the narrative is an ex»ct transcript cf what actually happened, the only differ no? being that it was my hand, not that of "Rose," that wrote, and that it wae controlled, not by Rose's hueband, but by the lady who bad died about six or seven months previously in America. All the rest of the story is quite exact, thdnames being altered, and the places also, so as not to reveal the identity of the persons concerned. But, Mr Stead, are you going to have this thing proved ?— Certainly. I have already seen Profeß'or Sidgwick and Mr W. H. M*-ers, leading memberß of the Psychical Research Society. I have submitted to them in outline the story that I have told you. and I am preparing a paper embodying all the fact with the vouchers, and formal evidence. lam quite Bure that when you have all the facts before yon, you will come to the same conclusion that I hare done, viz., that there is no escaping from the conclusion that the disembodied spirit of my friend does write with my hand. Theu are you a spiritualist, Mr Stead ? —Only in the sense in which every person who accepts the Bible is a spiritualist. I am simply an investigator. lam perfectly open to conviction, but I am also ready to recognise facts, and I hope I am at least j free from that superstition of unbelief I which is really much more dense and crass ' than the old kind of superstition against j which it makes war. Then is that your last word, Mr Stead P | —For the present my last word is this,. , that before many months are over, I think : it will be admitted by every candid mind that the persistence of the individual alter death, and the possibility of communicat- | ing with that individual, has been as well established on a scientific basis as any other fact in nature. That you may think is a hold assertion.. It is not an assertion. It is a prophecy, baaed upen facts which are within my own knowledge, and of which I speak with as much confidence as I do of anything which has ever com© within my own personal observation.