It is an amazing experience!... To sit all alone here and have that
foolish toy move firmly and definitely under my hands, write things I
have to puzzle out, sign names of persons who are what we call “dead,”
and beg me to send messages to those they love—all this is startling and
deeply impressive. Deeply moving.
* * * * *
The next day I joined Cass at Atlantic City. He had never seen a
planchette used, and was much interested in the whole matter. In the
evening we experimented, and “Mary Kendal” was written at once.
He exclaimed, “God bless you, Mary Kendal!”
“God bless you, too. Tell Manse I love him. Don’t fail to tell him
that.” During all the preceding days this had been her constant plea.
Repeatedly I assured her that I had told him, and as often she urged,
“Tell him again.”
Then came a strong, brisk movement, to and fro, for a space of about
five inches. I asked if this were Frederick, and received an affirmative
answer, after which planchette ran about, as if in uncontrollable
excitement, presently pausing to write:
“You are a trump!” We laughed, and he added, “You bet!”
As we had never known Frederick, and were unaware at that time of the
continuance of what some one familiar with this experience has defined
as “the subtleties of personality,” this enthusiastic use of slang was
startling.
When I asked if he had thought I would fail him, he replied, “No, but I
was afraid Mother would not come.”
[The next day Mrs. Gaylord told me that when Frederick begged me, on
Wednesday, to send her a message about coming at once, she had almost
decided to postpone her visit until after our return to New York.]
More running about followed, during which Cass said that it was a pity to
obliterate the earlier messages in that way. Planchette then swung back
to a clear space and wrote clearly, “Mother is coming!” Beneath this, the
bow-knot flourish we have since learned to associate with Frederick.
“You are a brick!” was a later comment. When Cass said he had thought the
last word would be friend, Frederick concluded: “Friend, too. Thank you a
million times.”
* * * * *
An interesting, but rather confusing, feature of these earlier
communications was the constant interruption by Annie Manning. On all
occasions, frequently even breaking into messages from some other person,
she wrote her name and her one request,“Tell Manning.” During this
period, also, I repeatedly asked Frederick to give me a message for his
father, and was unable to account for his invariable refusal.
Once, I asked Mary Kendal if she had no message for me, personally, and
she returned, “Yes, believe,” which seemed, at the moment, somewhat
cryptic, though the relation of my faith to the full development of this
intercourse was afterward explained.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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