1925 - Oct 8 - Dec 27

1925

Oct 8 - Dec 27


"I was into the house ... I went in the front way and there were the three of them in the room and it was whatever this boy was saying was amusing them.  I gave a smile and then they pulled the boy on the back."

"The boy's mother had dark hair ... lots of it ... not a big woman ... her eyes looked dark ... I was not drawn to that.  The boy had on a short jacket.  He was 12 or 13 or 14.  He was sitting down on a low seat ... and he was writing.  Stevenson was at the table writing, and the wife was on the other side.  Stevenson at the left and Mrs. Stevenson after last and the boy was near to between them.

"I stood behind and back a bit from the boy.

"They had a knocker on the door and I knocked at the door.  They had a dog ...  a(.....) dog.  It came to me as I was going in.  It was (...... ).

"I saw no one there."

Trance II. 

David Livingstone.  

Vision: 

In Africa with 'red' men.  
DL/E.M.: speaks of the Boers of the mountain colony, Cashon district, also of Conn  or Donner - white troubles.

Verification: 

("Missionary Travels", page 25.)

Trance  II. 

David Livingstone speaks of an old man, Sakendala, and Chinge of Port ..."

Second trance vision: 

Sees old man.

Verification: 

See "Missionary Travels", p. 310.

By Raps, W. T .Stead gives instructions re trying to get photographs by influencing photo plate in darkness by supernormal means.

Sir Oliver Lodge, this day speaking at the London City Temple, had this to say:

"I know that there are beings in the universe much higher than man, and that we are surrounded by a multitude of helpers interested in our struggles, keen to assist this race to get the benefit of its birthright and to fulfill its destiny."

"I believe that the higher powers have in store for man - both as an individual and as a race - something beyond anything we can imagine.  It is evident to me that the race has risen because the higher powers took an interest in us and were filled with a passion for self-sacrifice on our behalf."

David Livingstone:

"Take my life - and let it be - consecrated - lord to thee."

"Take my moments - and my days let them  - flow in ceaseless - praise."


[ Photo  ]


[ Photo  ]


October 11, 1925.        

R. L. Stevenson. 

Trance  I. 

First trance script:

Learning to write (practice in rhythm and harmony).

First trance vision: 

R. L. Stevenson seen talking.

Verification:

(See Essay, "A College Magazine".)

Trance  II. 

David Livingstone.  Among the Inisims.

David Livingstone speaks: 

"Coanza - Juisamis ... independent tribe ... Portuguese ... Bushmen ... Hottentot ..."

Second trance script: 

"Come, let us praise the Lord for all the goodness to us in all our trials in the wilds."

Second trance script: 

"I saw all kinds of men this time ... away among tents and some houses.  I did not see Livingstone."
                                                
Verification:  

"The land on the north side of the Coanza belongs to the Juismans (Kinsanas)(an independent tribe which the Portuguese have not been able to subdue.  The few who came under my observation possessed much of the Bushmen or Hottentot features."

Table moves non-contact out of the cabinet. E.M.'s right hand and Dr. J. A. Hamilton's left hand pressing on the outside of the cabinet walls.

David Livingstone in third trance.

"Come let us praise the lord for all the goodness to us in all our trials in the world."

[Single sheet - automatic writing.  Number 256B.]

Not deciphered. (Communicator very angry - too excited to write.)


[ Photo ]

October 13, 1925.          

While this sitting was taking place Dr. T. G. Hamilton was in Boston,  U.S.A.

R. L. Stevenson. Cummie and the drama.

Raps give message: "Margaret, sister." (T. G. H. sister, who died at age 26 in Saskatoon, 1885.  E.M. sees young lady.)

Trance II. 

David Livingstone.  The Dutch in Loando and Angola.

Vision: In Africa with 'red' men.  

DL/E.M.: speaks of the Boers of the mountain colony, Cashon district, also of Conn  or Donner - white troubles.

Verification: ("Missionary Travels", page 25.)

Comment: 

David Livingstone now is able to follow fairly well in the pattern R. L. Stevenson has established; that is, he selects his basic recorded  set of facts, and indicates them in a telegram-like fashion in vision and script.  He uses as few words as possible, thus saving psychic energy.  The vision at this date can be regarded as relatively unimportant.  The script appears to be evidential of the David Livingstone of life.

October 13, 1925

From the sitting of October 13, 1925, Dr. T. Glen Hamilton, (later known the world over for his scientific researches with the mediums Elizabeth M. and Mary M., of Winnipeg, Canada,) found himself in the city of Boston.  He was privileged not only to be a house guest of Dr. and Mrs. Crandon, but also to attend a number of sittings.  Here are his own words describing his experiences:

"Previous to this time I had known Dr. Crandon both through his writings on surgical subjects and as a Harvard Clinician, and was now indeed delighted to find in the psychic researcher as true a scientist as had been manifest in the eminent surgeon.  

During my stay in Boston I attended, in all, eight sittings and saw, under satisfactory control, many of the brilliant phenomena associated with this medium.  

I repeatedly witnessed successful manipulation of the 'doughnut', apparently by a teleplasmic terminal; I observed the intermittent ringing of the Scientific American bell-box in good red light, without any visible contact; and as well I saw and felt ectoplasmic structures which, to my mind, were undoubtedly of psychic origin.  

In addition, I was privileged to take part in the tete-a-tete test with Dr. Richardson's justly famous Voice-Cut-Out machine, and found it to be absolutely fraud-proof and one hundred percent effective in preventing the independence of the "Walter" voice.  

I witnessed a number of other successful tests with this machine.  At one of these sittings I witnessed also one of the most arresting incidents in my research experiences: a trance so profound that the medium's respirations were reduced to six to the minute.  

To the laymen, perhaps, this is of little significance, but to one accustomed to watching for signs of danger in deep anaesthesia, an occurrence of this nature is indeed an exceedingly alarming one.  Undoubtedly this affords a very strong additional proof of the genuineness of the Margery mediumship ..."

"Margery, the Medium", by J. Malcolm Bird, publ. By Small, Maynard and Co., Boston, 1925

"Margery Harvard Veritas", A study in Psychics, by Richardson, Hill, Martin, Harlow, DeWyckoff, Crandon.  Publ. Blanchard Printing Co., Boston, 1925.

October 25, 1925.  

R.  L. Stevenson.  

Trance I.        

First trance script: 

"The golden age of  R. L .Stevenson's Literary works began after marriage."

First trance vision:

Of  R. L. Stevenson's writing, very pleased about something.  His wife is beside him.

Verification: 

Following his marriage in May, 1880, R. L. Stevenson and Fanny returned to Scotland, and then to Bournemouth, England to their home "Skerryvore", where they lived for some years. 

Considering his ill-health, he wrote quickly, and produced "Treasure Island", "Kidnapped", "A Child's Garden of Verse", "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", many of his best poems, and essays - "Talk and Talkers", "Familiar Study of Man and Books", "A Gossip on Romance", "A Humble Remonstrance", "The Silverado Squatters", "New Arabian Nights", and short stories, including "The Merry Men."

Then they returned to the U.S. and on to the South Sea cruises, and finally the Samoan home, where he died in 1894.  The literary flow did not cease.  

In his last years came "The Master of Ballantrae", many poems, noted essays, "A Chapter on Dreams", "The Lantern Bearers", "Beggars", "Pulvis et Umbra", "A Christmas Sermon", and near the end of his life, "The Beach of Falesa", "St. Ives", "Catrina", "The Weir of Hermiston" (unfinished), considered the very greatest work to come from the pen of this ill but courageous man.

And now, after death, to the beloved wife comes this lovely tribute.  Her care for his health, and her never-failing inspiration had carried him through!  (L. H.) (See Balfour, Masson et al.)

Trance II.

David Livingstone.  Poor.  Not placed.

Second trance script:

Very poor.  He could not put through the difficult African names.  

Second trance vision:

Vision was very vague.        

Trance  III. 

R. L. Stevenson.

Third trance script:

"Earthly friends look for too much."

November 1, 1925.          

R. L. Stevenson and David Livingstone. Each used his own trance.

R. L. Stevenson.  

Learning to write.  
First trance script:

A few broken phrases from the poem "The Celestial Surgeon."  

First trance vision:

Vision notes lost.

Trance  II. 

Native custom of circumcision.

DL./E.M.. speaks: "Livingstone ... seeker ... boy ... woman ... adventure ... Englishmen ... Gordon Cummings, January, 1853."

Verification: 

"...All Bechuana and Caffe tribes south of the Zambesi practice circumcision.  I was once the spectator of the second part of the ceremony called a "sechee".  Somewhat analogous ceremony takes place for young women..." (See "Missionary Travels", page 128, 131.)

Circumcision:        (boyuera) boy ceremony.
                        (boyale)  girl ceremony.

Vision: "I saw Livingstone.  I saw some black men with him and some boys and girls.  The boys were very thin ..."


November 3, 1925.        

Three loud blows on cabinet.


November 8, 1925.  

R. L. Stevenson.  

Trance I. 

Brief reference to devotion of Cummie to the child Stevenson.

First trance script: 

"If he had been deserted in his little crib, left to cough all his vitality away ... but for his sleepless nurse ... some said she had a proposal of marriage ..." (See Balfour and other Biographers.)

Comment: Length of script is growing.        

First trance vision: 

"I was thinking on somebody talking to me now."  

(She appears to be normal).  

"I saw the old home.  Louis was just a little child of six or seven.  The nurse was with him, but she is quite young ... and I saw a young man with whiskers.  He wants something but she refused.  This nurse is fair."

Comment: 

Apparently R. L. Stevenson wants to make his vision-meaning clearer, and so has Cummie's young man step into the picture.  A bit of fun.

Trance II. 

David Livingstone.

Sechele's grandfather mentioned.

Medium walks briskly across the floor and pounds on the door. 

Speaks as David Livingstone: 

"His grandfather ... Moe-h-e-s-e-l-e ... Dr. Cowan; Captain Donovan.  River Lampolo.  Was killed in Bank w--le--1808"

Second trance script: 

"The Lord reigneth ..."

T. G. H.: "Is this David?"
DL/E.M.: "Yes, yes!  (Shakes T. G. H.'s hand) Goodbye, Goodbye!"

Second trance vision: 

Simple picture of African huts.

Verification: 

"His (Sechele's) great-grandfather, Mochoasele, was the first that ever told the Bakwains of the existence of the white man.  
In his father's life time two white travelers - Dr. Cowan and Captain Donovan - passed through the country (1808) and, descending the river Limpopo, were with their party, all cut off by fever."  ("Missionary Travels", page 12.)

Comment: 

Recalling the earlier difficulty of getting names, E.M. responded amazingly well to the external impact of this message.  As these names had to be recorded phonetically, the wonder was that we came as close as we did to getting most of the names in a recognizable form.  

]The search to verify these took many months, and in some cases, years. - L. H.]

Raps - W. T. Stead.


November 13, 1925.             

R. L .Stevenson. (his birthday).  

Refers to "body chemistry."   Not understood.


November 16, 1925. 

Trance I. 

R.  L. Stevenson.  Peebles at 13, described  (Good)  and the Unseen Playmate.

First trance script: 

"At the age of thirteen he described the people of Peebles.  Bid you go to sleep and not bother your head; he will look after your plaything himself."

First trance vision: 

"He was there and his nurse, and they were working with the books.  His nurse has some arguing with him, and then I saw her taking him to his bedroom and after she got him there she began to gather up his things - toys and a wooden horse and a small ship and some books and a bridge made of wood.  She left a candle with him in the bedroom.  It was burning when I last saw it."

Verification: 

"Before the age of thirteen he described the inhabitants of Peebles in the style of "The Book of Snobs."  (See Balfour, volume 1, page 65).

"'Tis he, when at night you go off to your bed
Bids you go to your sleep and not trouble your head.

For wherever they are lying, in cupboard or shelf,
'Tis he will then care for your playthings himself."

("The Unseen Playmate", verse four.  "A Child's Garden of Verse",  Page 41).

Balfour and R. L. Stevenson do not quite agree on the age, one says before thirteen, the other, when thirteen.  

Note the changes in the poetic text: the sentence is shortened; 'trouble' is changed to 'bother'.  The vision is skillfully planned to show a change, but is still in line with the original.  e.g. the toys are not on a shelf, or in a cupboard, but on the floor, where most children leave them.  

I consider this an improvement over the original for the sake of better rhyming.  There is no hint of the unseen playmate: Cummie plays that part admirably.  The candle left to cheer little Louis! - a true Stevensonian touch!  (L. H.)

Trance II. 

David Livingstone:

Second trance script: 

"Held over the dead their Carnival."

Speaks: 

"Bostama - Khopana river - Lake Nigami - flowers liverccolored , 1853 ..."

Second trance vision:

"I was away at two places ... I was at some kind of fair or carnival.  They were holding it where they been burying somebody.  It was not to say a graveyard.  I could see no stones or signs of it ... Then I saw that other man - not R. L. Stevenson - down at the water ... a lot of dark men and such a curious looking boat."

Verification: 

"Having remained five days with their wretched Backwains, seeing the effects of war, we prepared to depart on the 15th of January, 1853 ... Several dogs had taken up their residence at the water ... it was plain that they had ... held over the dead and their carnival.  

On the way from Khopong, along the ancient riverbed which forms a pathway to Boatlanama, I found a species of cactus, being the third I had seen in the country ... one at Lake Ngami, the flower of which was liver-colored ..." (Missionary Travels", page 118.)

[David Livingstone - prior to trance - speaking][second trance]

"Held over the dead their carnival."

Comment: 

Here David Livingstone's use of imagery is almost equal to R. L. Stevenson's inventive skill.  

First it takes the idea of a carnival, and E.M. gets the idea - a carnival held where there has been death.  

But this was no burying ground.  She unerringly picks up this rather abstract idea.  Carnival and death are subtly indicated. 

The water is a reminder of the river of the text, the Khopong.  Each in his own trance has reached the highest point of imaginative, evidential concepts yet offered.  

One cannot imagine two more diverse streams of memory flowing through one entranced mind:        
1. Peebles and the unseen playmate for R. L. Stevenson.  

2.  The hungry dogs that feed on carrion, an African river, and flowers, for David Livingstone.)


[ Photo  ]


November 18, 1925.        

Raps - W. T. Stead.

R. L. Stevenson. 

First trance script:

Poor.  Something about exploiting personality.  In vision, R. L. Stevenson is sick, wife and stepson attending him.  

Another version:

"Exploring personality."  Not clear.    

First trance vision: 

Stevenson in bed, very ill. 

David Livingstone.  

Second trance script:

Writes of diseases of wild animals reported by the Bakalahari tribe on the way to Lake Ngami.  "Missionary Travels", ChapterVII.


November 19, 1925.  

R. L. Stevenson.  "Dedication to Underwoods" sentence.  

No David Livingstone.


November 22, 1925.          

R. L. Stevenson and David Livingstone attempt to work together.

R. L. Stevenson.  

First trance script: 

"When my nurse takes me out she wraps me in my comforter ... to keep the cool wind from hurting my face, freezing my nose." 

Verification: 

(See CGV, page 33.)

First trance vision:

Deeper trance than usual.  

"I have been far away.  I saw Stevenson and Livingstone.  They were pulling one another away ... I saw R. L.  Stevenson as a little boy and his nurse wrapping him up.  He was in a carriage.  They went up the street ... But Livingstone was there too, in a cloud."

Verification: "A Child's Garden of Verse", page 33.  "Winter Time.".

                "When I go out, my nurse doth wrap.
                Me in my comforter and cap;
                The cold wind burns my face and blows.
                Its frosty pepper up my nose."


Vision: "I have been far away ... I saw Livingstone and Stevenson; they were pulling one another away.  (This implies a sense of confusion of personality.)  I saw R. L. Stevenson as a little boy and his nurse wrapping him up and the nurse went with him.  He was in a carriage and they went up the street."

"But Livingstone was there in a cloud."

Trance II.        

David Livingstone.  

E.M. walks about the room.  

Speaks as Livingstone: 

Medium says she has seen Bushmen and a British man and Stevenson. 

"Sebituana ... Kopolo ... tribe.  Colin McKenzie ..."  When E. M. awakens from trance sleep, she says she has seen British man and Stevenson.  She complains of being confused.

A pencil is put in her hand but she does not write for Livingstone.

Second trance vision: 

Medium appears very confused in her ideas.

Comment: 

Note that this time, R. L. Stevenson seemed to stand the co-partnership quite well.

His work is clear.  We must interpret the "pulling and tugging" as a pantomime, suggesting that all is not well yet; when the two memory streams come too near to each other, confusion results in the medium's mind.  

David Livingstone's references were too brief to be of evidential value.  

Note; 'Sebituana' is the name of a noted native chief, friend of Livingstone.

Raps - W. T. Stead.  Re photo experiment.


November 25, 1925.          

Both poor.


November 29, 1925.          

R. L. Stevenson.  

First trance script: 

Poor .  Not decipherable.

First trance vision:

R. L. Stevenson very ill.  Lloyd Osbourne with him.

Raps - W. T. Stead. 

William Oliver Hamilton: 

"Lord Bless" 

Second first trance script:

"So greatly was his lot altered since he rode through in an express wagon - he refused thousand of dollar offer in little old New York."  

Second  trance vision:

"I was in a steamer the night.  I got to a town and a good big landing place ... a large dock.  I seen a whole lot of buildings.  R. L. Stevenson was there.  I got into a wagon with him.  There was a lot of parcels.  I was sitting on a box beside him in the wagon.  R. L. Stevenson had his carpet bag.  And then a man came and talked to him and he seemed not to agree with them.  The man seemed to be a reporter.  I left him there talking to them."

Comment: 

This is one of the best things R. L. Stevenson had turned out in some time.  Here are many memories interwoven into a complex.  Fancy is still in the saddle, with a bit of ironical fun on the side.

Verification: 

(R. L. Stevenson's second visit to U.S.A.)  "... They, (R. L. Stevenson, wife, stepson and R. L. Stevenson's' mother) in the steamship Ludgate Hill (August, 1887). 

By this time his reputation had crossed the Atlantic, chiefly by means of Jekyll and Hyde, and had spread there to an extent which he had not realized. 

He sighted the coastline of the states ... September 6, and the next day the Ludgate Hill arrived at New York, where Stevenson was met by a crowd of reporters ... 

He had already contracted to American magazines for several years - "Century" now and then; to the new periodical of Merrs. Scribner, for which he now undertook to write a series of 12 articles during the ensuing year.  For this he was to receive 700 pounds, and the bargain was followed shortly afterwards by an offer of 1600 pounds from another firm for the American serial rights of his next story.  

The first proposal of all - from the New York World - was for 2000 pounds for an article every week for a year; but this he had refused ... so great was the change in four years."  (Note, Balfour is in error here.  R. L. Stevensons's first visit was in 1879, his second 1887.  See Balfour, volume II. page 25-28.)

Comment: 

Whimsy and some gentle irony, in remembering the past, are evidentially combined.  

The communicator recalls the unknown amateur emigrant who had arrived in New York in 1879, almost penniless, in poor health, and certainly with no professional reputation.  Now, while his health is still poor, there is the difference that he is known and famous.  This being so, he can afford to come up a bit in the world, and now ride on a box in the express wagon, rather than lie on the straw in the bottom. 

The reporters interview him, and he does not agree with them - a hint of his growing financial independence.  In this vision the rain and the freight train are eliminated; concentration is on the main idea, the vast and improved difference in his financial and professional status.

Trance II.  

David Livingstone rises to new heights.  Native Coldstream Guards.

Idea used with great ingenuity.  Basic ideas illustrated.

Speaks:

DL/E.M.: " Regiments ... Mopata ...plural - mepato, singular ... guard.  Eniskillen, 1853."

Second trance vision:

"... I saw soldiers and some others awfully prettily dressed.  Some had black clothes with buttons; some had red coats and white pants.  There was a man there and he was laying into them pretty hard.   I saw flags, blue and red ones and something in the corner.  I saw that man Livingstone.  The soldiers were British, not natives.  I just seemed to be in this field for war."

Verification: 

"These bands or regiments, named Mepato in the plural, and Mopata in the singular (are) equivalent to our Coldstreams or Enniskellens ..." (from "Missionary Travels", page 129, 130.)  
Livingstone visited these guards in 1853.

Comments: 

Here the communicator has fixed on one basic idea: the well-dressed British guards to which the native guards are compared.  The vision-imagery is purely imaginative, simply the product of the communicator's own thought.  The speech is nearly accurate, the words Mepato and Mopoto displaced.  Otherwise, excellent control of deep trance speech.  

David Livingstone outdistanced R. L. Stevenson this time.  Why?

Second part of Trance II.  

David Livingstone speaks: 

"Melito ... Bangwaketse ... Backwains took possession ... men in front of women ... cattle ... Bangwaketse ..."

Second second trance vision: 

"... I was away in a wilderness with wild people ... they seemed to be wanting to fight.  The cattle seemed to lead the way; men first then women and their cattle.  I don't know whether it was to protect them. 
The men had long spears in their hands and the women and cattle followed behind.  There seemed to be a fight on ... I saw the enemy ... I saw Livingstone.  He was just walking along with the men.  He was friendly to the men who had the cattle."

Verification:

 "At Malita, the Bangwaketse collected the Backwains ... to eat them up."  Placing his men in front and the women behind the cattle, he routed the whole of his enemies at one blow.  

Having thus conquered ... the chief of the Bangwaketse, he took immediate possession of his town and all his goods.  (See "Missionary Travels", page 73.)

Comment: 

One slip - either by the communicator or the medium - the women came last and were thus protected by men and cattle.  Otherwise the effectiveness of the imagery is excellent; details exact, and good overall.  

One conclusive proof of the hallucinatory character of trance is the fact that Livingstone appears with the warring natives; in point of fact, in the original, David Livingstone is telling the story of Sebituana's early history.  

The psycho-hypnotic method of communicating is established again, by a second mind.  Livingstone was a friend of the Backwains; he worked among them for several years.  ("Missionary Travels", Chapter I.)


December 3, 1925.          

Trance I.

R. L. Stevenson.  The Wealthy Amateur Emigrant.  V. Good. 

Three loud blows.

Trance II.        

David Livingstone.  

The Story of Sebituana continued.  Good. The conquerors Bangwaketse tribe.


December 5.          

R. L. Stevenson:  

First trance script:

"... certain readers confessed the incompetence of his wit to interpret ... a clown ... story ... a dull one."

A. "Certain readers confessed the incompetence of his wit to interpret ..."

B. "A clown can write the story, though a very dull one." 

First trance vision: 

E.M. passes a show-ground decorated with flags and bunting.  (The clown in the offing?)  R. L. Stevenson lecturing to some men - tells them what to write.  (Echoes of "A Gossip on Romance.")

Vision: 

"... I was away in a place where R. L. Stevenson was writing, and other men.  He was telling them what to do.  I got the sign of a (.......) going in at the last. I came through fair grounds all decorated with flags and bunting.  Then I saw Stevenson again and he was telling them what to write."

Verification: 

Apparently memories of a literary dictum placed in "A Gossip on Romance ..."

The desire for meat is not the more deeply seated than the demand for striking incident.  The dullest of clowns tells, or tries to tell, himself a story, as the feeblest of children are imitators at play ..." (See "Memories and Portraits", page 236.)

Comment: 

It is interesting to note the imagery - the idea of a clown, and woven about it various fancies (clown at a fair).  Not wholly successful, but interesting.

Trance II. 

David Livingstone speaks: 

"Good evening.  I have never been conquered ... English ... Backwains ... constituted authorities ...Naga ..."

Another version:

"Good evening ... I have never been conquered by Mogalaski."  The story of Sebituana continued.  "Missionary  Travels",  page 32.

Second trance vision: 

Indicates Boers enslaving native tribes.  Not clear.  (See "Missionary Journals", page 32).


December 11, 1925.  

Raps.  Conversation, W. T. Stead.

R. L. Stevenson.
First trance script: 

"Preacher of the parish ... schoolmaster ... abroad."

"Dr. Wiley and his great kindness to a stranger.  We must be grateful to him, Dr. Herbert, who I only knew for a few days, and Dr. Cassiot, whom I knew for a few days.

First trance vision: 

R. L. Stevenson writing.  (See footnote, "Underwoods", page 150.)

"I was awful mixed up the night.  Stevenson was kind of rattled.  I saw him talking to two men.  They seemed to be medical men.  He did not speak to me nor I to him."

Verification: 

"... Gratitude is but a lame sentiment ... yet I must set forth mine to a few out of the many doctors who have brought me comfort and help: to Dr. Wiley of San Francisco, whose kindness to a stranger it must be as grateful to him, as it is touching to me, to remember ... to Dr. Heibert of Paris, whom I knew only for a week ... and a Dr. Cassiot whom I knew for ten days ..." (from "Dedication to Underwoods.")

Comment: 

We note success in "boiling down" the original passage of about 65 words, to 35, and retaining the bulk of memories.  This is the largest passage yet, reduced and used for communication.

The vision simply furnishes the selected text with an authoritative background - R. L. Stevenson writing, presumably the Dedication; and the idea of medical men, the central idea of the whole plot.

David Livingstone:

Second trance script:

Bakalahari ... dry village."

David Livingstone speaks: 

"Good evening ...Bualataua ... dry desert, springboks, monkeys, guniea fowl, Lupo, June 1849."

Second trance vision: 

"I was among the monkeys ... they were in the grass, and some other things; and some hens with pretty feathers, like fancy birds, guinea hens, and another animal, brownish, not a monkey.  It was a bright day and warm ..."

Verification: 

"... A few villages of the Bakalahari were found ... and great numbers of pallahs, springboks, guinea fowl and small monkeys. Lopepe came next ..." ("Missionary Travels", page 47.)

Comment: 

David Livingstone left the mission station at Kolbeng June 1, 1849, and started to explore the Kalahari Desert.  ("Missionary Travels", page 47.)

Second trance second vision: 

E.M.: 

"I seemed where there was a lot of water ... waves seem to come over me.  I am not yet away from the water.  It is broad daylight ... and was brought amongst the monkeys again; they were in the grass as before ... And I saw the hens with pretty feathers ... fancy birds like guinea hens.  I saw those brownish animals ... different from monkeys.  It was a bright day and very warm.  I saw David Livingstone and some other white men.  The four of us were talking about these beasts ..."

Verification:

"Boatlanama, our next station, is a lovely spot in an otherwise dry region ... The wells are deep but were well filled.  ("Missionary Travels", page 47.)

Trance II. 
David Livingstone speaks: 

"Presented King of Portugal ... Prince Consort, His Royal Highness, some of our great breed ..."

Second trance second vision: 

"... I had a beautiful picture the night, they seemed to be military men.  I saw one all gaily colored.  I saw a lot of Negroes ... it seemed a sort of festival.  I saw Livingstone, the only one I knew.  

The man with the brightest colors was walking about like a peacock, showing his beautiful coat and hat.  Gold was on the hat and he carried something in his hand ... I think it was a sword.  Livingstone was with these gaily dressed men.  

Stevenson did not appear.  There was a building all brilliantly colored ..."

Verification: 

"... They (the Mackalolo tribe) have two breeds of cattle among them.  One is of diminutive size but very beautiful, and closely resembles the shorthorns of our own country.  The little pair presented by the King of Portugal to His Royal Highness, the Prince Consort, is out of this breed."  ("Missionary Travels", page 167.)

Comment: 
Again conclusive proof that the communicator selects what he wishes, from his text, for vision purposes.  Here in the vision is a playlet based on the idea of a king, or royalty, the gay trappings merely part of the play.  (Note: D. L.'s first bit of whimsy.)


December 13, 1925.  

Trance I.

R. L. Stevenson.  Dedication to Underwoods.

Trance II

David Livingstone. Makalolo cattle.  (King).  Excellent. 

Trance   III.  R. L. Stevenson and D. Livingstone together.

Third trance script:

R. L. Stevenson  "To my mother."  David Livingstone.  Confusion.  

Script: 

                "You, my mother, read my rhymes,
                For love of forgotten times;
                And you may chance to hear once more
                The little feet along the floor."

"To My Mother."  ("A Child's Garden of Verse",  Page 66.)

Third trance vision: 

"They were at the foot of a hill.  R. L. Stevenson seemed to push  David Livingstone aside." 

"Then R. L. Stevenson talked to an old lady.  I don't know where she came in: he gave her a paper to read.  I was kept there with him talking to the old lady and getting this paper ... An awful mix up.  

"I had both of them together, and R. L. Stevenson was mad.  They are as bad as two kids!  I just watched them.  I did not take any part in the scrap.  I was more looking at the hill.  That hill belonged to Stevenson's picture."

Also, in Trance  III, R. L. Stevenson shows an awareness of the David Livingstone details in Trance  II, since, after Script of #272, it is written "Go to your king, my friend!"  

Thus we discover that the struggle between the two communicators, like all the rest of the imagery, is pure illusion, meant to signify the fact that they found it difficult to use the one trance sleep, one after the other.  Why this confusion?  We can only surmise that they were not fully aware of where one hypnotic impact began and the other ended. 

Future trials along these lines, solidify this possible explanation. 

Also, it must be remembered that the medium had no memory of the script re the King of Portugal.  

She had been awake, and had slipped back into sleep.  

Moreover, the sitters did not know, for the scripts were as yet not read.  No one knew all the facts, but the communicators.  (L. H.)


December 17, 1925.          

R. L. Stevenson.  The Celestial Surgeon.

Trance I. 

First trance script:        

                "I have faltered, more or less
                In my great task of happiness;        
                I have moved among many
                In my great race ... of happiness.

First trance vision:

"... I came to a little house and my friend was in bed.  He seemed very sick.  He read some poetry to me that night.  I don't know how I got here.  As usual he had his books and many papers around.  His hair was not so long looking that night.  I had a long talk with him ..."

Verification:        

                "If I have faltered, more or less        
                In my great task of happiness!
                If I have moved among my race
                And showed no glorious morning face:

                Lord, Thy most pointed pleasure take
                And stab my spirit broad awake ..."

        (From "The Celestial Surgeon", "Underwoods", XXII.)

Comment: 

The poem "The Celestial Surgeon", was written at Davos, Switzerland, where R. L. Stevenson had gone to be under the care of the doctors connected with the famous Swiss Sanatorium for Tuberculosis.  

While he was far from strong, R. L. Stevenson did not spend many days in bed; on the contrary he got about a good deal and did slowly regain a measure of health.  

The vision was probably not intended to be strictly factual, but rather to depict the main idea the poet had in mind: even if he is ill, he must still find happiness in living.  This was his task.  A great sermon!  (L.H.)

Trance II.

David Livingstone.  Salt pans of Kalahari.  Desert.  Mountains, elephants.  Good.

Speaks: 

"Backwains ... salt pass ... by country ... wild animals ... Mowona tries ... elephants ..."

Second trance vision: 

"I wish I could keep away from wild animals!  I saw some great big elephants.  Livingstone was standing with some others and looking at the elephants ..."

Verification: 

"... At Ukotsotsa we came upon the first of a great number of salt pans ... coming down the Zonga we had to look at its band ... The trees which adorn the banks are magnificent.  Two enormous Mowanas trees grow near its conference with the lake ... We found elephants in prodigious numbers on the southern bank.  ("Missionary Travels", page 54, 60, 61.)

Comment: 

The vision concerns only the idea of the elephants.  David Livingstone is among them, playing his part, a mere puppet, but real to E.M.


December 20, 1925.        

Trance I.

R. L. Stevenson.  From "Some Notes on Spelling Scots",  drawling and Burns. 

First trance script:

"Indeed I am from the Lothians myself.  It was there that I heard the language spoken ... but what matters?  The day draws near when this malleable tongue will be forgotten."

First trance vision: 

Places R. L. Stevenson in a house in a country village, chatting with friends.  Burns is one of them.  R. L. Stevenson speaks in a drawling voice.

Verification: 

The "idea" of Burns and the drawling voice is referred to in "A Note on Spelling Scots", Underwoods.

Trance II. 
David Livingstone.  Female Chief - Nyamera, Manenko. 

David Livingstone speaks: 

Good evening.  David Livingstone ...Nyanmoako ... Lady chief ... valid ... (valued?) ... beads ...Mananoakas ... doctor .... superstition ... Manacas ... husband drummer ... January, 1854 ... 71 years ago ..."

Verification: 

"11th of January, 1854.  On starting this morning Myamoana (Lady chief) presented a string of beads ... highly valued among them.  

We had to cross in a canoe a stream ...Manenko's doctor waved some charms over her ... so much superstition is quite unknown in the South ...Manenko (second Lady chief) was accompanied by her husband and her drummer; the latter continued to thump vigorously ... and on our Amazon went ... and at a pace that few of the men could keep up with ... Many men in admiration of her pedestrian powers ... remarked: 'Manenko is a soldier!'"


December 27, 1925.  

Trance  I. 

R. L. Stevenson.  The Hero from "A Gossip on Romance", in a new setting.  Good.

First trance script: 

"Not the character but the incident that plunges into the tale .... own person ... force of the billows; forget the character; the hero is set apart."

First trance vision: 

"I was down by a shore and saw a lot of boats coming in of different kinds ... one young lad who came in on the boat was being made a lot of because he had done something good.  I never saw him till he came in ... a lot of people were around ... I think it was boat racing.  There was a band stand.  I passed it when going to the boats ... nearly all of the men had white pants and like a blue coat with clear buttons and white caps with black bands on ... and rounded to flat on the top.  Some that came up after it had little ribbons on the side of the cap.  These men were all in (.......). There was a name on the front of the cap.  The young man was dressed like the rest.  Robert Louis had a white suit and dark coat.  He was a man grown ... he looked well.  Someone spoke to me but I don't know what they said.

Verification: 

"... It is not character, but the incident that wins us out of our reserve.  Some thing happens as we desire to have it happen to ourselves.  Then we forget the character; then we push the few aside; then we plunge into the tale in our own person, and bathe in fresh experience; then, and then only, do we say we have been reading a romance ..."

(From the Essay, "A Gossip on Romance", see "Memories and Portraits", page 247-8.)

Comment: 

The skill with which the substitution has been made gives conclusive proof of planned transmission.        

1.  In the original, the hero is pushed aside.        

2.  In the script the hero is set apart, singled out.

3.  In the vision the hero is a acclaimed.
        
4.  And she is a Water Hero, in keeping with the implied simile of the original.  

Note the care with which all the actors in this little scene are dressed - clothes suitable for just such an occasion - boating clothes; even the author and his dandified presence.  The fun loving whimsical  R. L. Stevenson who loved to dress  up and pretend is still here.  The game of pretense, but rooted in R. L. Stevensons's past. 

Vastly different from the David Livingstone play on memories.

Trance  II. 

David Livingstone.  In the Unku country.  (Good). 

Speaks: 

"Good evening.  Beauty ... country ... Unku ... Mohonon bush ... seized with fever ... cattle escaping ... mode of recapturing.  January, 1854"

Second trance vision: 

"I got into a nice-looking place as I traipsed along.  I saw cattle  running and a man running after them.  I saw D. Livingstone.  I saw a lot of tall trees and bushes.  It was more like going through a prairie.  I was scared when I was going through there.  I would not go through the cattle.  The community I first saw was fresh looking, nice and green."

Verification: 

"At Unku we came into a tract of country which had been visited by refreshing showers, and every spot was covered with grass ... Proceeding to the north ... we entered the dense Mohonono bush ... and on the 10th of March, four of the party were seized with fever ... every man in our party was in a few days laid low, except a Backwain lad and myself ... The grass here was so tall that the oxen became uneasy, and one night the sight of a hyena made them rush away into the forest to the east of us."  

"On rising on the morning of the 10th I found that my Backwains lad had run away with them.  This I have often seen with persons of this tribe, even when the cattle are startled by a lion.  Away go to the young men in company with them, and dash through bush and brake for miles, till they think the panic is a little subdued; they then commence whistling to the cattle in the manner they do on milking cows; having calmed them, they remain as a guard till the morning ... Our lad ... had gone after the oxen, and in such a country, it was wonderful how he managed without a compass, to find his way home at all, bringing about 50 oxen with him.  ("Missionary Travels", page 145-67, selected incidents.)

Comment: 

The David Livingstone transmission successfully covers a wide range both in speech and vision.

R. L. Stevenson:

"Early English ... undefiled ... abstract synthesized beauty, and hangs like a brooding dove."  Division: R. L. Stevenson and a lady talking - may be Mrs. Stilwell. 

Not verified.


[ Photo of chart of trance states - Dec., 1925 ]


[ Photo - 1925 - Dec 29 ]