342 



MY LIFE 



[Chap. 



no appearance of American smartness. The arrangement of 

 his stances was peculiar. The corner of a good-sized room 

 had a black curtain across it on a stretched cord about five 

 feet from the ground. Inside was a small table on which 

 was a tambourine and hand-bell. Any one, before the stances 

 began or afterwards, could examine this enclosed space, the 

 curtain, the floor, and the walls, as I did myself, the room 

 being fully lighted, and was quite satisfied that there was 

 absolutely nothing but what appeared at first sight, and no 

 arrangements whatever for ingress or egress but under the 

 curtain into the room. The curtain, too, was entire from end 

 to'end, a matter of importance in regard to certain phenomena 

 that occurred. Three chairs were placed close in front of this 

 curtain on which sat the medium and two persons from the 

 audience. Another black curtain was passed in front of 

 them across their chests so as to enclose their bodies in a 

 dark chamber, while their heads and the arms of the outer 

 sitter were free. The mediums two hands were placed on the 

 hands and wrist of the sitter next him. 



The sianU began with purely physical phenomena. The 

 tambourine was rattled and played on, then a hand appeared 

 above the curtain, and a stick was given to it which it seized. 

 Then the tambourine was lifted high on this stick and 

 whirled round with great rapidity, the bell being rung at the 

 same time. All the time the medium sat quiet and impassive, 

 and the person next him certified to his two hands beinsf on 

 his or hers. On one occasion a lady, a friend of Professor Elliott 

 Coues and a woman of unusual ability and character, was 

 the sitter, and certified at all critical times during the whole 

 stance that the medium's hands were felt by her. After these 

 and many other things were performed, the hand would 

 appear above the curtain, the fingers moving excitedly. This 

 was the signal for a pencil and a pad of note-paper (as com- 

 monly used in America) ; then rapid writing was heard, a slip 

 of paper torn off and thrown over the curtain, sometimes 

 two or three in rapid succession, and in the direction of certain 

 sitters. The director of the stance picked them up, read the 

 name signed, and asked if any one knew it, and when claimed 



