_Evening of 7 Dec 1915_ The photograph was shown to the home members of the family, and examined by O. J. L. [Footnote 10: This bit not written to J. A. H., but is copied from Peters's sitting, of which Mr. Hill had seen the record.] CHAPTER V BEGINNING OF HISTORICAL RECORD OF SITTINGS Although this episode of the photograph is a good and evidential one, I should be sorry to base an important conclusion on any one piece of evidence, however cogent. All proofs are really cumulative; and though it is legitimate to emphasise anything like a crucial instance, it always needs supplementing by many others, lest there may have been some oversight. Accordingly, I now proceed to quote from sittings held by members of the family after Raymond's death--laying stress upon those which were arranged for, and held throughout, in an anonymous manner, so that there was not the slightest normal clue to identity. The first message came to us through a recent friend of ours in London, Mrs. Kennedy, who herself has the power of automatic writing, and who, having lost her specially beloved son Paul, has had her hand frequently controlled by him--usually only so as to give affectionate messages, but sometimes in a moderately evidential way. She had been sceptical about the genuineness of this power apparently possessed by herself; and it was her painful uncertainty on this point that had brought her into correspondence with me, for she was trying to test her own writing in various ways, as she was so anxious not to be deceived. The first I ever heard of her was the following letter which came while I was in Australia, and was dealt with by Mr. Hill:-- FIRST LETTER FROM MRS. KENNEDY TO O. J. L. "_16 August 1914_ "SIR OLIVER LODGE. "DEAR SIR,--Because of your investigations into spirit life, I venture to ask your help. "My only son died 23 June, eight weeks after a terrible accident. On 25 June (without my asking for it or having thought of it) I felt obliged to hold a pencil, and I received in automatic writing his name and 'yes' and 'no' in answer to questions. "Since then I have had several pages of writing from him every day and sometimes twice daily. I say 'from him'; the whole torturing question is--is it from him or am I self-deceived? "My knowledge is infinitesimal. Nineteen years ago a sister who had died the year before suddenly used my hand, and after that wrote short messages at intervals; another sister a year later, and my father one message sixteen years ago; but I felt so self-deceived that I always pushed it aside, until it came back to me, unasked, after my son's passing over.