1925

Jan 4 - May 10

January 4, 1925,

An impromptu sitting. E.M. unexpectedly visited 185 Kelvin.

A Ouija board happened to be in sight, and in a spirit of fun she put her hands on the pointer.  At once the pointer spelled: "The world is full of a number of things - for Kings.  R.  L. S."

Script:

"Joining in many games enriches many a delightful circumstance."

Verification: "The dullest of clowns tells, or tries to tell, himself a story, as the feeblest of children uses invention in his play; and even the imaginative grown person, joining in the game, at once enriches it with many delightful circumstances ...".  From "A Gossip on Romance, Memories and Portraits."  Page 236.

Vision: R. L. Stevenson ready for some kind of game.

Verification: "The world is so full of a number of things, I am sure we should all be as happy as kings!"  (Page 20, "A Child's Garden of verse.")
Comment: Here we find a clever paraphrase of words written in life; or rather, an adaptation of old words to a new meaning.  To join in games enriches life, and enriches further, circumstances already delightful.  The vision emphasizes the idea - the game.


January 11, 1925.                  

A thought from "A Gossip on Romance."
(Trance 1).

Script:

"... children ... imitation ... at play"  (Trance  I)

Vision:

E.M. meets R. L. S. out in the country someplace.  He tells her something about children.  She saw children playing.

Trance  II. More on the Journey with the Donkey.  First night out-of-doors.

Vision:

"Well, I was up a pretty road in the hills, and I had my friend and his donkey.  And he had a great big old carpet bag.  The donkey was kind of grey.  He took things out of his bag and spread them down for a bed.  He made up the bed and took a kind of flask, and he was eating, and he fed the donkey too.  He talked all the time he was feeding it.  He talked ... I don't know whether it was to me or the donkey.  He had on a tweed suit - knee pants.  There was some other blankets he had thrown all over the donkey.  I was away between mountains."



January 18, 1924.          

"A Gossip on Romance" - writing very poor.  (Trance 1).

Script poor:

"Circling ... footprints, shouting."  (Trance  I)

Verification:

"A Gossip on Romance, Memories and Portraits", page 237.

Trance  II.  Brief transcription for the poem "In the States.  Two very loud blows on the cabinet back wall.  Non-contact.
(Raps spell out: Y-o-u-r -b-r-o-t-h-e-r  W-O-H.)        Table keeps time to music.  Non-contact.  Conversational raps.

Vision notes lost.


January 25, 1925.        

"The Land o' the Leal", and Graham Balfour
Script:

"The climate of Samoa affected Mr. Graham Balfour .... Absen t... Stevenson ... Land of the Leal ... (look this up in new book on Stevenson - (Margaret .H. Bach.)

Verification:

I have been unable to verify the claim that the Samoan climate affected Graham Balfour.  It is true that he was absent from Samoa when R. L. Stevenson died.

"... I had left Samoa for five weeks before (R. L. Stevenson's death) for a long cruise in the Islands when the news reached me in the Carolines in the following March."  (Balfour, volume 2.  Footnote, page 153).

Vision:

"I got into a house and there is a gentleman in it.  I saw  heavy mohair chairs and a big sideboard.  I did not see Stevenson.  I got something about the Land of Leal.  I saw it up in the air in letters of light."

Vision depicts some imaginary home (in Scotland?)  from which R. L. Stevenson is absent.  The vision of the words "Land of the Leal" makes it certain that this absence refers to death.  Even here, the matching of the concepts continues.

Trance  II.        
Script gives an abridged form of the poem from the "A Child's Garden of Verse."  Vision shows Stevenson as a young lad talking to Cummie.  "When I am grown to a man's estate - I shall be very proud and great, and tell the other girls and boys, Not to meddle with my toys!"  (CGV XII "Looking Forward")

Poem "Looking Forward"  from "A Child's Garden of Verse."

After First Trance period, the group sings. 

One loud blow on the cabinet wall.  T. G. H. asks for two blows.  Two are struck.  Asks for three.  Three are struck. 

E.M. did not leave her chair, she could not touch the back wall.

Later the table moves in time to the music; then falls over, with no contact. 

E. M. sees Arthur Hamilton (who died in 1919 at age 3+).  Says he is larger than his twin, Jimmy.


February 1, 1925.        

Note: The phenomena were not as strong as usual; two sitters absent, and Lillian H. not well.

Raps weak.  One contact levitation.  One loud blow.

Brief excerpt from "A Notes on Spelling Scots."  Vision of R. L. Stevenson driving in a buggy in Scotland.  Medium is with him.  (Trance I).

Trance II.        

Script, and another picture of Scotland.  Poor.

Direct personal message from R. L. Stevenson to sitters:

"Don't look for too much from my little friend.  R. L. S.


February 2, 1925

A long letter from someone at 15 Buckingham Palace Mansions to Lillian Hamilton:


February 8, 1925.        

Script and vision almost meaningless.


February 12, 1925.        

Script:

"My bed is like a little boat.  Nurse helps me when I embark, and puts on my sailor coat, and puts me in the dark."        

Trance I.  Vision:

"I was in a little house by the shore.  I saw my friend as a little boy of about seven or eight.  His nurse was with him.  They were getting him to bed - and yet she was putting a coat on him!  He said his prayers but I didna catch it, only "Our Heavenly Father."

Verification: "My bed is like a little boat; nurse keeps me in when I embark.  She girds me in my sailor coat and starts me in the dark."  (CGV, page 28)

Remarks:

The medium's visual response is sensitive.  As in the poem, the little R. L. Stevenson is being put to bed by his nurse; and the same pretense is set out in E.M.'s one meaningful sentence:

"His nurse ... was getting him to bed and she was putting a coat on him!  To the original picture has been added the little house by the sea, and the prayer.  A new output, in line with the old.  Also doubtless a way of getting past Poole's critical eye and at the same time conveying the thought that "going to sleep" is like "going on a journey".

Cummie, teacher of the drama.  (Trance 2).


February 15, 1925.        

Cummie and the Drama.

Trance  I. - an excerpt from "In the States."

Vision represents a poor home of some kind, in keeping with the ideas in the poem.  Notes that R. L. Stevenson's hair is too long.

Trance  II.        Script:

"Gaiety long since dead."  (This was true of R.  L.   Stevenson in his last years.) 

Vision not clear.

E.M. sees letters of light:  "Cummie ... my laddie ..." One loud rap.


February 22, 1925.

Form of  "Treasure Island."?  Surprising.

Script: "Surprise ... years later, little book famous"

Vision:

R. L. Stevenson seen wearing a sailor cap. 

Meaning not clear, but probably a reference to "Treasure Island."


March 1, 1925.

Hands of sitters placed on tabletop; it levitates and inverts.  Contact table levitation and inversion.

One loud blow.  Table comes out of the cabinet with non-contact.

Script and vision poor.  Not understood.  (Trance  I)

E. M. sees letters in the air. "Full are the days."

"The Requiem" in a New Setting.  (Trance II)

Script:

"under the wide and starry sky ... dig the grave and let me lie ... Gladly will I die ..."

Verification:

"Under the wide and starry sky dig my grave and let me lie.
Glad did I live and gladly die, and I laid me down with a will."
(Verse one of the Requiem, by R. L. Stevenson "Underwoods", page 119.)

Vision:

"I was away on the island.  I was away in a flat place and it was all green.  My friend was sitting up there.  He was sitting where the stone is now.  He had a book and he was writing.  He was writing with a pencil.  He was awful poor looking."

Comment: Here the communicator deliberately selects, in his imagination, a new place for writing the Requiem (actually written 10 years before his death at Hyeres, France, following a close brush with death from a tubercular hemorrhage (1884).  Now he pretends in his picture that he is writing on the top of Mount Vaea, where he was to be buried.

The flatness of the location is recorded by Lloyd Osbourne in Balfour, volume II.  Page 157).


March 6, 1925.                

The  R. L. Stevenson personality begins to use three (?)trance states at one sitting.

Loud blow on back of cabinet. Conversational raps. ( from W. T. Stead).

The "Verse"  business and "A Friend."  (Trance 1).

Script:

"In the first verse business I write what I like myself", he wrote to a friend.

Vision of R.  L. Stevenson writing.

Verification:

Is this true?  Who is the friend?  On page 59, volume of "R. L. Stevenson Letters", we find an answer to both questions.  He writes to W. E. Henley:

"I am a weak brother in verse ... I did not try to make good verse, but to say as well as verse would let me.  (April, 1879).

Comment: R. L. Stevenson correctly recalls his attitude towards his work as a minor poet.  Note that out of more than five hundred R. L. Stevenson transmissions, this is the only reference to this friend of his youth, and it is an indirect reference.

Students of  R. L. Stevenson are fully aware of the bitter quarrel with Henley, carried on by correspondence while R. L .Stevenson was in the U.S., near Saranac Sanatorium. 

Henley had publicly accused Mrs. R. L. Stevenson of plagiarism - stating that he had read a short story she had written and claiming that the plot had really been devised by R. L. Stevenson's cousin.  R. L. Stevenson was deeply hurt to find one of his best-loved friends attacking his wife, without having first ascertained the true facts.

Henley's later attack, after the publication of Balfour's biography, is still a matter of controversy in the literary world.  (See "Notorious Literary Attacks", by Mordell.)  Has the sting of all of this been carried over in R. L. Stevenson's memory past death? 

His reticence - and silence about this matter, implies this attitude.  (L. H.)  (See Steuart on R. L. S.) 

Steuart believes that this terrible hurt to R. L. Stevenson was the main cause of R. L. Stevenson's deep depression of spirits when he left San Francisco to begin his island voyages in the South Pacific.  Of course, this is purely speculative.

Trance II.  Direct message to researchers.  Script:

"Have mercy on my little friend."  No vision.

Unusually strong physical phenomena.  One loud blow on the wall below E. M.'s chair.

Personal message to sitters.  No vision (Trance 2) "Have mercy on my little friend."

[Note: at this sitting the physical phenomena were extremely powerful, the 10-pound séance room table was levitated and inverted several times.  Loud raps were struck on the back of the Cabinet.]

T.  G.  H. questions R. L. Stevenson about the letters seen by E.M. He is answered by raps which spell out that  R. L. Stevenson builds up letters as a materialization, seen by E.M.  He explains that her visions are seen through her brain, and not by the normal eye; yet the visions are built up "materially" for her to see.

R.  L. Stevenson was a good communicator because he in life was quite psychic.

A medium is one whose "spirit" body readily separates from the material body.


March 8, 1925.        

(a) Memories of "A Note on Spelling Scots."  (Trance 1)
(b) Memories of Skerryvore Lighthouse (Trance 1). 
(c) Memories of Skerryvore Home (Trance 1).

The most complex phenomena yet obtained.  Related memories.  Memories of "A Note on Spelling Scots."  Skerryvore lighthouse and Skerryvore  House.  Ingenious linking of vision and script.

Script:

"And indeed I am from the Lothians myself.  It was there I first ... language of my childhood ... spoken drawling ... I repeat it ..."

Verification:

"And indeed I am from the Lothians myself; it is there I heard the language spoken about my childhood; and it is in the drawling Lothian voice that I repeat it to myself."  (See "A Note on Spelling Scots", Underwood poems.)

Trance I - Vision:

"I've been in this place (Skerryvore) afor.  I saw the lighthouse ...he met me and I walked along with him ... he had on white flannel pants and sandals and a seafaring cap and he stood and looked at the lighthouse.  I got the name of it too.  I'm sure it was Skerryvore.  And I went up to his cottage and he read some books to me in an awful drawling way.  I don't know what kind of language it was.  I have seen the lighthouse afore on my travels.  I was standing on the gravel but it seemed to be standing on a rock.  He looked about thirty."

Comment:

The image-pattern is remarkable in its richness, fanciful yet unquestionably evidential.  As the note was written at  R. L. Stevenson's Skerryvore home ( Bournemouth, England.)  he quite properly shows this house in its sea-coast setting. 
Equally appropriately he moves Skerryvore Lighthouse from Argyleshire to this English coast where he now visits it in his memory.  Back in his Skerryvore home he reproduces the drawling voice which illustrates, in pantomime, one of the script's ideas, and the facts that are in the note.  The seafaring outfit is a bit of R. L. Stevenson fun. 

In life he loved to "dress up"; in the trance, we find the same propensity.

Memory of poem "Skerryvore" (Trance 2)  added.

Script:

"For the love of the lovely word, Love of my kinsmen and countrymen, Skerryvore."

Verification:

"For love of lovely words, and for the sake of those my countrymen and my kinsman, who early and late in the windy ocean toiled to plot a star for seamen, where it was then the  surfy haunt of seals and cormorants.  I on the lintel of this cot, inscribe the name of a strong tower"  ("Underwoods", page 132.  "Skerryvore, a poem written to commemorate the naming of  R. L. Stevenson's home in Bournemouth, given to him by his father.  See Balfour.)

Vision: (Trance II):

"I was back in the same place as afore.  Skerryvore.  This was a repetition.  I walked myself.  I got him up at the cottage.  There were flowers in beds and clusters."

Comment:

This experiment marks a great step forward in the science and art of communicating, by the double impact of motor and sensory stimuli.  Four separate but inter-related memories have been summoned in the two outlets:

1.        Memories of Skerryvore lighthouse in Argyleshire.
2.        Memories of the Bournemouth home, named for this lighthouse.
3.        Memories of the dialect spoken by the Scots of the Lothian District.
4.                        .        Memories of the poem "Skerryvore" written to commemorate the naming of the home at Bournemouth.

The vision has been constructed by a mind; not only does it remember, but it is capable of a planned imaginative effort.  The vision was planned before the work began.  This is solidly supported by the fact that one vision does duty for two sets of memories.  Fact and fancy are blended with impressive results.  The laws of logic are never violated.  With E.M. we move through the vision with a feeling of complete naturalness, and lucidity; the evidentiality of it all is hidden from view until we study the verse as a whole.        (L.H.)


March 15, 1925.        

Mrs. C. (a sitter) hit in the back by supernormal forces.  Table strikes floor very strongly.  Table up-ended until top level with sitters' faces.  Table levitated non-contact.

Two Scottish ministers remembered. (Trance 1).

Memories of parish church and the poem "The Sick Child."

Trance  I. References to two ministers in the parish church.

Vision poor.

Verification: (found on January 24, 1926 - "Underwoods", page 150)

Script:

"There is nothing, the night is still.  Nothing to fear.  The lamps are lighted all through the town."

"Fear not at all; the night is still;
nothing is here that makes you ill -
Nothing but lamps the whole town through,
and never a child awake but you."  (CGV page 126)

Verification: "The Sick Child"
"The Sick Child." - poem (Trance 2)

Trance  II. Vision:

"I don't know where I was.  I was in a house anyway.  There was a boy in bed and his mother was beside him.  I think it was his mother.  She was talking to him.  I seemed to get into that house at once, but something else was rushing.  I seen him in two ways - in bed, and when he was older, almost immediately after."

Comment: Correspondence between the poem section and the imagery of the vision.  In both, there is a child in bed, and a mother speaking to him.  The vision does not suggest that the child is ill.


At the sitting of March 22, 1925,

the sitters were Mr. Reed, the Creightons, the Cummings, Mrs. Wallace, Miss Forrester, Miss MacDonald, Mr. S. Brown, Lillian Hamilton, Dr. Hamilton, Mrs. Poole.        

(Trance, 1).

Memories of parish minister and poem "The Country of?".
The two ministers again.

Second script refers to "Minister of the parish".

Verification:

Footnote, page 150, "Underwoods".

Vision:

E. M. sees R .L. Stevenson out-of-doors.  She talks to him.

The country of the Camisards.  (Trance 2).

Second Trance:

Trance  II.        Script:

Period of relaxed quiet condition more prolonged than the first. 

Medium writes:

"They pass and smile - the children of the word ... along ..."

Another version:

"They pass and smile, the children of the sword - the sword they wield along the battle-field."

Describes the vision:

"I was away at that place I was in last Sunday ... I went away up and around and past that house ... he ( R. L. S.) had that red man with him ... He was sitting on a camp stool at the door of the tent, the dog lay at his feet ... the dark man stood a little way off ... he came toward me ... then he went off again ... I think  R. L. S. was talking to me ... I know he was rhyming something off to me."

Another version:

Vision:

"I was away in a tent and R. L. S. was there.  He had a red man with him this time.  He was sitting at the door of the tent on a campus stool.  R. L. Stevenson was rhyming something off to me ..."

Verification:

"They pass and smile, the children of the sword. 
No more the sword they wield;
And oh, how deep the corn along the battlefield!"        

(Underwoods, page 132.  Verse 2 of "The Country of the Camisards.")  (See also "Travels with a Donkey", Chapter XI.)

Comment: The relationship of vision to the script is not apparent.  The presence of the "red" man would suggest Island memories and a Samoan servant.  (To E.M. all Samoans seen in her visions were "red" men.)  During the vision-sleep E.M. stirred uneasily, as if afraid of something.  After describing this vision, she unexpectedly took on a third trance, and R. L. Stevenson wrote:
Third trance message (given after a short interval after writing of second message before the medium quite regained consciousness):

"Do not be afraid of my servant."

(Trance  III).  "Don't be afraid of my servant."

Personal message of reassurance to E.M.: "Don't be afraid of my servant."  (Seen in vision as a Samoan.)  (Trance 3).

This suggests that the communicator was aware of her fear, and took this way of re-assuring her.  He is quite aware of the apparent reality to E.M. of her post-hypnotic visions.  This suggests that R. L. Stevenson has a definite hypnotic power, which he employs to put over his messages.

The singing of hymns - "Unto the Hills", "The Lord is my Shepherd", "Nearer my God to Thee" (two verses), "Lead, Kindly Light".

Medium in trance "comes up" and writes first trance message which as yet cannot be all deciphered.  Some of the words are - "The preacher of the text has ... I'll do not particl...parich when ... was? he might? ..." The description of the vision was as follows:

(Started to give vision when she saw the letters appearing in the air which she gave one by one as follows: "l-e-t-c-h-r-i-s-t-a-i-n-f-a-i-t-h- (I think I missed one.)
"I was in an awful pretty place ... I don't think I was ever there before ... a house between two hills covered with trees.  The house had a green roof.  The house seemed to have vines on it ... they looked like grape vines to me.  There was an awful lot of flowers around ... flowers on bushes ... one was something like a Peony rose ... the leaf was heavy ... the flower a pinkish white.  The vines were on both sides of the door.  I couldn't see any windows for the vines ... I could see a window above the door the lower part was all covered with vines.  I saw my friend sitting on the seat in a kind of a arbor place ... a big black dog was with him ... I patted the dog ... it had a white spot on its face."

Physical phenomena - some slight movements of table - not so strong as usual.

Physical Phenomena:

A few faint raps were heard. No attempt to carry on conversation.

Medium sees a little boy standing between Dr. Creighton and herself - says she sees him looking up into Dr. Creighton's face.  She describes him as being chubby in the face, broad forehead - fair rather.  Can't get a good look at him.

Verification:

Lillian's note:

(Read until 1:00am in "Poems Both Old and New", looking for "They pass and smile - the children of the sword ..." - could not see it - it has rhythm in it so will search again when time permits.)

Medium has seen this "red" man before and always seems to be nervous at his "presence".  The communicator evidently wishes to reassure her.

(Near close of sitting)

Medium:  "Did I no tell you that I saw the word "Crosby" near the letters?"

"No, you did not tell us."

"Well, I saw it.  I don't know what it means."

Note:

Some of the sitters thought that it was the name of a hymn tune - looked in the "Book of Presbyterian Praise" - not there.  Someone else recalled the name of "Crossley", the famous evangelist, who wrote many hymns.  Supposed it was meant to have something to do with the hymns indicated - "Let Christian Faith" (what ever this is taken from)

Next morning, Mrs. Cummings notices in the morning paper that the anniversary of the birth of Fanny Crosby was being celebrated in one of the city churches at the time of our sitting, or probably a little before.  Many of her hymns were sung.  None of us attended this particular church and did not know anything about her anniversary.  Is this telepathy or evidence of knowledge of earthly affairs by the communicators?


March 29, 1925.        

E.M. and Reed place hands on table. In good red light it moves rapidly toward Mr. D. B. MacDonald, who has just come in.  It dances and bounds about, presses him into the corner, appears to be welcoming him back, with an air of mischief hard to describe. (Mr. MacDonald had been a sitter for two years.)


At the sitting of March 29, 1925, 14 were persons present.

The sitters gather around the piano previous to the sitting and sing a few of the hymns and paraphrases indicated by the communicators.

"Behold My Servant, See Him Rise" ,
"The Hour of My Departure", and
"Let Christian Faith and Hope".

Sitting commenced with the singing of "Unto the Hills", "O God of Bethel", "That Man Hath Perfect Blessedness", and "Lead, Kindly Light"
Medium now passes into deep trance. (Red light tried but trance state dispelled at its presence, so it had to be abandoned)

Medium writes slowly and carefully.  Writing folded and kept to be read after sitting.

First trance script:

"His health did not improve but his work was never better.  His wife traveled San Fran ... yacht ... all through the South seas..."

First trance vision:

"I was away on a boat ... a yacht ... a long way away ... I don't know where I was.  I saw my friend but he had on a great big highland cloak ... he was lying on a kind of lounge ... his wife was there and she was reading to him.  The water was awful pretty ... it was very blue ... I was a long way away.  I was down in the hold and up on top.  I saw some sailors but I was not drawn to them."

Verification:

Gravely ill from a tubercular lung hemorrhage at Skerryvore, England, in July 1887, Stevenson, his mother, his wife and stepson, sailed for New York in August, in a search for health.  They arrived in New York September 6.  R. L. Stevenson now acclaimed as a famous author.  "Kidnapped", "Treasure Island", "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", and numerous essays and poems, including the "A Child's Garden of Verse." 

They went to Saranac Lake for the winter of 1881 in the care of the then famous Tuberculosis specialist Dr. Trudeau.  R. L. Stevenson's health temporarily improved. 

He wrote his now famous essays - "A Christmas Sermon", "The Lantern Bearer", "A Chapter on Dreams", etc. Also, he conceived and planned the novel "The Master of Ballantrae", and wrote some of its first chapters.  His health was precarious but his literary output still maintained a high level.

But more travel and change lay ahead.  Near the end of March, Mrs. Stevenson visited her relatives in California; while in San Francisco, she rented a yacht for a cruise among the South Sea Islands, in the hope that here, in a warm climate, R. L. Stevenson might find health. 

On June 28, 1888, the great adventure began - a two year cruise among the islands, four years of home life in Samoa, and then death six and a half years later, in December, 1894.  (See various biographies.)

We can understand the communicator's somewhat saddened recollections of these adventures.

Medium regained partial consciousness - relapsed again into trance - wrote excitedly and looked continually around towards the back of her chair as if she saw something that alarmed her.

Waking stage, "Do you see him?"

Dr. Hamilton: "Who is it?"

Medium:  "F... there he is.  He touched me on the shoulder.  He said 'Where have you been tonight, Mrs. Poole?'"

("That man is gone now")

Dr. Hamilton is called to telephone.  Mr. D. B. MacDonald comes into the room - has not been at sitting for several months - Mrs. Poole and Mr. Reed place fingers on table in fair light (red).

Table runs rapidly toward Mr. D.B. MacDonald, who is in a corner farthest from medium.  Table dances and bounds about in front of  D.B. MacDonald - presses him into the corner - all are amused - appears to be welcoming him back with an air of mischief hard to describe. (As Mr. D.B. MacDonald had sat with us for more than two years, he would be well known to the communicators.)

Intermission:

Trance II.        

Red light out - singing resumed - medium again passes into trance - again writes - slowly and carefully.  Writing laid by to be examined later. (Sing hymn by Miss Crosby - "Draw Me Nearer")

Medium recovers consciousness.

Second trance script:

"Pity the bird that wanders,
Pity the sailor ashore.
Hurry him home,
Come here no more.

Second trance vision:

"I was away back in the yacht.  He rhymed something off.  I don't know what it was.  His wife was there.  She looked the same.  I was talking to them both; I remember nothing what they said to me.  It was very pretty, the water was so blue."

"See-see ... there are the letters - above Mrs. Cummings."

Medium calls out letters:

"T\WAS\ON\THAT\NIGHT."

Medium sinks back exhausted and perspiring.

A hymn is sung - more letters appear.   "CROSBY 700."
Medium again feels faint.

Hymn:  "Safe In the Arms of Jesus" by Crosby is sung.  While singing is going on medium spells out more letters.  Dr. Hamilton records:

"700 hymns"

We sing another Crosby hymn - "Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross"

Letters again appear:    "NEARERMYGOD"

We sing  "Nearer My God to Thee".

Medium sees a bouquet of blue flowers growing out of the table.

By repeating the vision in all its main details the communicator makes it clear that he, the ill R. L. Stevenson is the bird who has wandered, who is away from home, away from the Scotland he loved so.  The intimation is that Stevenson, when he left on this cruise ( from which he intended to return to Scotland when his health was restored) was not only ill, but already desperately homesick.

Steuart (a biographer) has attributed Stevenson's depression at this time mainly to the quarrel with Henley; but there is no suggestion of such a memory here.  The sorrow over the quarrel may have been a contributing factor, but I believe it was one of the lesser causes of sadness which grew out of R. L. Stevenson's continued ill-health and his longing for the land he had left.  Letters written home from the yacht, and from Samoa, reveal again and again that R. L. Stevenson longing for home remained one of the deepest, most permanent parts of his sensitive nature.  (See Letters, 1893-4).

When looking for "Pity the bird that wanders", Lillian stumbled on, "they pass and smile, the children of the sword"  in a poem called "The Country of the Camisards" from "Travels with a Donkey"  (See "Underwoods", page 132)

Note by Lillian:

Do not understand what the vision in this case is meant to signify - what has a South Sea picture to do with this poem?  He recites it to her so perhaps he recalled it as fitting to apply to the natives of Samoa who had so many and frequent tribal wars - "Yet all the land was green; and love we found, the peace, where fire and war had been.  They pass and smile - the children of the sword".  It is certainly true that R. L. Stevenson found love and a measure of peace, at least, in Samoa.  It was truly a green land.

Séance closes.

When others downstairs were having tea, the writing is examined by Dr. and Lillian Hamilton, and found to be as follows:
"Pity the bird that wanders
Pity the sailor ashore
Hurry him home
...come here no more".

Verification:

Pity the bird that has wandered! 
Pity the sailor ashore! 
Hurry him home to the ocean;
Let him come here no more." 

("Underwoods" page 103 "A Visit from the Sea")

Notes on R. L. Stevenson's highland cloak.

Steuart records that Stevenson did wear a cloak of this kind.

"... During that visit to the Riviera he met Andrew Lang, to whom he was introduced by Mr. Colvin ... Lang described Louis as girlish and hectic, with long hair.  Clad in a long, blue cloak, he looked nothing less than English, except Scotch ... (Steuart, volume 1, page 153).

This was Stevenson wearing a cloak, at age 23.
Lillian Hamilton finds evidence of a cloak worn by Louis at age 29.

[Comment: "In July, 1926, I called on Mrs. Salisbury Field    (Isobel Strong, R. L. Stevenson's stepdaughter) at her home at Santa Barbara.  While she was disinterested in our evidence for the survival of  R. L. Stevenson, she graciously answered my questions regarding certain points which had not been verified by any biography. - L. H.]

Question: "Did  R. L. Stevenson wear a highland cloak when he arrived in California in 1879 to see and marry your mother?"

She replied that he did.  She recalled this fact vividly: in her younger years, then, he looked to her both odd and exceedingly romantic.  (L. H.)

The cloak in the above vision is in line with facts of  R. L. Stevenson's life. (L. H.)


At the seance of April 5, 1925, the sitters:

Sing three hymns:

"Come Let Us Sing"
"By Cool  Siloam" and
"Twas On That Night."

Sitting commences with singing:

"Unto the Hills"
"Nearer My God, To Thee" and
"The Lord's My Shepherd".

Mrs. Poole, Lillian, and Drs. Hamilton and Cummings place hands on the table; table moves about with considerable force - finally levitates suddenly in an inverted position. Is flung violently up into the cabinet.

Medium passes into trance.  Writes - writing laid by. 

Medium partially recovers normal consciousness - Dr. Hamilton suggests that she take the pencil again and see if there will be any more writing:

Medium commences to write again - seems to be in a semi-trance state.

Trance  I.  Memories of meeting Mrs. Osbourne on a trip at Grez, at the artists' colony.

First trance script:

"An ... a small, young woman with very delicate features and... sable hair sitting drawing of her future husband."

First trance vision:

Vision: Stevenson and wife are young: she is painting in the glen.

"I saw a woman sitting drawing a picture ... see was at the foot of a hill ... a young man came along but I know now who he was ... I saw him twice the night ... before that I saw Stevenson ... he was making over for the woman ... I went through an old town ... he was in tweed and knickerbockers. (He might be 30 or over, or maybe not).  He was standing beside this woman ... she has brownish hair ... she had on a big hat at first but in the last picture it was laying on the ground beside her.  She had an easel and was drawing something.

"I stood a little behind them.  I saw there was black stuff on the easel.  I saw her putting up that stand ... it was all folded up ... she had a folding camp stool too.  I heard names at the first but I can't remember them now."

Second trance script: script laid by to be examined later.

"My bonnie man (or man) it is true this world is not for you or me ... it is just a place to warstle through" ... joh ..."

This is a short excerpt from a poem:

"My Bonnie now, the world, it's true,
Was made for neither me nor you;
It's just a place to warstle through,
As Job confessed o't"

Here it is addressed to the lady who was to become his wife.  The original poem was addressed to his friend Henley:

Verification:

"My Bonnie man it is true this world is not for me nor you;
just a place to wrastle through as Job confessed."

(There is no vision of this - no time apparently)

Describes vision:

(Sees letters forming near Mrs. Cummings - we sing "O, God of Bethel" - letters come one by one - medium calls them out and Dr. Hamilton records: -

"RESUE THEPERESHING CROSBY."

(Medium is not sure whether the last letter was a "y" or a "g")

Medium relaxed - complains of being "all done out"; is very tired.

We sing "Rescue the Perishing"  (It is written by Fanny Crosby.)

We sing another Crosby hymn, "I am Thine, O Lord".

No further phenomena appear.  Mrs. Poole complains of being very tired. (Has been very busy all day.)

Sitting closes.

[ Photo of table levitation and inversion - Apr. 5, 1925 ]

[ Photo of Elizabeth Poole charging the table - Apr., 1925 ]

[ Photo of Mr. Withers in front of cabinet, blocking table - undated ]


At the sitting of April 12, 1925.

First trance vision:

They are older, on the island.  All memories dealing with his wife.

[Note: in life R. L. Stevenson often addressed his wife as "My dear Fellow".  (Letters.  Volume 3.  Page 90, 194.)]

Medium pulled against wall.  Reed's chair moved.  Conversational raps.  Force very strong.


April 16, 1925

Letter from Lloyd Osbourne to Mrs. Hamilton - from France:

"... Dear Madam:

"... I read your letter of March 5th with very great interest, less for its description of psychic phenomena than for the revelation of a charming and sympathetic person.  Personally, I am an utter skeptic in regard to Spiritualism; its results, even if one accepts them, have always seemed to me so futile.  But having said that, and made my own position clear, I am most willing to give you any help in my power.  One good way, I imagine would be to suggest several questions of which I alone know the answers:

"... Please get the medium to ask   R. L. Stevenson:
Who was Doudney, and what became of him?

What was inscribed on the metal tag of the key to my bungalow in Apia?

Who was the one man in all of Stevenson's acquaintance that he really hated?

What was the occasion of his being unjustly whipped as a little boy of five?

In answer to the list of questions at the end of your letter:

1. There was such a bust in Vailima, not Skerryvore; it was  R. L. Stevenson's grand-father, Robert Stevenson

1. There were no flower-beds in Vailima shaped either as

1. a star or
2. as an anchor.  In fact, there was no garden at all in the accepted sense.

1. Yes, one took a bus from the Bournemouth station to reach Skerryvore.

1. Yes, there was a deep glen or "chine" at the end of the Skerryvore garden.

1. Animal skin on the wall of Vailima?  No, but there was a large piece of  "symbolic" embroidery, framed like a picture - vague flowers and petals, etc.

1. Vailima faced South.  There was no verandah on the West side.

1. The only pole in Vailima was the flag-pole; it was varnished, not painted.

1. Stevenson never used a quill pen, or any penholder that suggested such a thing.   In truth, he had a peculiar fancy in his pen holders which should be more easy to describe.

I am taking the liberty of sending your letter to my sister, Mrs. Salisbury Field, who I know will be much interested in it.  Her address is Serena, near Carpinteria, Santa Barbara County, California.

Trusting to hear from you again, and with very kind regards, ..."


At the April 19, 1925 sitting there were fifteen people present at this séance.                                
Very powerful phenomena.  Loud clear raps. Blows on back of cabinet. One, then two, on request.

Medium moved about on chair - into cabinet, then out again and pulled up behind T. G. H., then into center; chair partly levitated.
E.M. very nervous.

Raps spell:

By non-contact raps: "Do not fear, little woman.  No harm will come to you.  W. T. S."

Script and vision based on "A Gossip on Romance."

First trance script:

"To seize the heart of every suggestion."

First trance vision:

"I was away up between the hills ... I passed an Inn, and I went along way past it.  I was away near a water.  There were a good many people there, both ladies and gentlemen, and he was there too.  There were a great big fuschia hanging outside the door and all in flower like a bush. He was not writing - he only talked."

I see letters coming: 

"S A Y W H E R E I S R E F U G E"

Those letters seemed to come from Mrs. Cummings's mouth.

"C R O S B Y"

That Stead, who in life possessed some degree of prophetic insight, seems now in the new life to posses related faculties, is evidenced by certain scripts obtained from two separate mediums from this source.


In May of 1925, in the midst of the Stevenson, Stead and other evidential scripts coming to light at this time through the Elizabeth M. trance output, came this strange - and at that time inexplicable - message:

"What of the night!  Behold it is fulfilled.  Men of all nations, waking and sleeping, are in fear; they run from the carnage.  Christ is coming.  He is not far away.  The might of the King shall reign."

A warning and a promise.  A worldwide conflict imminent, but in the end righteousness prevailing - a message that was seen plainly to indicate Stead's foreknowledge of the terrible conflict so recently ended.

[In this same strongly exalted apocalyptic strain we find the same Stead writing through Dawn of the great struggle, scripts in which he again predicts victory for righteousness and as well intimates the coming of a prophet who will proclaim victory while the conflict still is raging.

Is Raymond this prophet?  Can we discover in his Scripts any of these elements that would lead us to place this intelligence in this category?
The facts must speak for themselves.]

For  W.  T.  Stead's prophetic gifts see "My Father" by Miss Estelle Stead, published in 1913 by William Heinemann.

[The envelope with seals unbroken was opened at 185 Kelvin Street on August 25th, 1943, in the presence of Lillian Hamilton - Ada (.....) Turner - Mr. and Mrs. Wither and Mr. and Mrs. J. A.(F.). Campbell.

J. A.(F.) Campbell.


April 22, 1925.        

Note: E.M.'s hand was held by Mr. Isaac Pitblado, Q.C., outstanding lawyer.

From a "A Gossip on Romance", and from the poem: "In the States":

"He longed to seize the heart of every suggestion and make the country famous.  It is quite a thing to give body and blood ... the youth is brave and strong and free ... age must decay."  (Writing clear.)

Vision:

"... I was walking and I saw beautiful scenery.  I saw a lot of people drawing pictures of the scenery.  They were in a glen, and I saw a pretty stream of water.  R. L. was doing the talking."


April 25, 1925.        

Loud blow, then three on request.  Conversational raps
say that W. T.  Stead is using raps. 

Raps have initials of the one striking the blows - "W.O.H."

E.M. puts feet on the rungs of her chair.  She is shot forward out of the cabinet.  Table levitated and inverted (contact.)


April 27, 1925.          

Poor in both trance periods.


April 29, 1925.

Two trances.  Vision and text in each.  Poor delineation, not clear. 


At the seance of May 3, 1925,

the sitters were  Dr. and Lillian Hamilton,  Dr. James Hamilton,  Mr. and Mrs. I. Pitblado,  Mr. S. G. Freeman,  Mrs. Creighton,  E. A. Lawrence,  Mr. Reed and Mrs. Poole.  (Mrs. Poole - medium)

The Pitblados and the Reverend  E.G.D. Freeman are guests. 

Séance held at Dr. Hamilton's residence -  9:15pm.

The medium has luminous wristlets on both hands; Mr. Reed and Mrs. Hamilton each having a wristlet on one hand.

Mr. Pitblado asked if the phosphorescent light were increased, that is, if the walls of the room, for instance, were phosphorescent, would it be an improvement upon the present condition.  Dr. Hamilton stated he did not think it would have very much effect; also, he stated, it would be quite an undertaking to do this.

Hymns: - "Unto the Hills" - , "O, God of Bethel"  "The Lord is my Shepherd" - "Near My God to Thee."

At 9:30pm the medium goes into trance.

Hymn: - "Lead Kindly Light."

Medium writes, while in trance.  These writings pertain in all cases to the vision described by the medium when she comes out of trance.  9:45pm.

"A Gossip on Romance".  Literary dictation  (Trance 1)

First trance script:

"The strands of a tale well interwoven at proper intervals to form a web, whole character."

First trance vision:

Upon inquiry as to what she saw when in trance, the medium stated she was in the same place, that is, on the island; but, this time she was on a hill.  She saw R. L. Stevenson and his wife.  He was sitting in an invalid chair.  His wife had a shawl and hat on.  His coat, the medium stated, had no color.  He talked to the medium.  She saw plenty of blossoms, some faded and some in full bloom.  They were pink, yellow and white.  There were several different kinds on the ground.  With R. L. Stevenson and his wife there was a boy of about fourteen years.  Medium then stated she was on a boat with the family; they were sitting on steamer chairs.  There was a big black dog with them, one of its paws being white.  Medium thought it was too big for a sheepdog.  Mrs. Stevenson smiled at the medium, but did not talk to her, neither did the boy.  Medium said she passed by their house on the island.  It is on the right side of the island.  They did not give the medium the impression of being very happy at that time.

Mr. Reed and the medium then put headbands on.  The table at this time was in the middle of the circle.  Hymn: - "Pass me not, O gentle Savior."

The table starts to move.  The medium's chair is moved to the back of the cabinet.  Dr. Hamilton pulls the table to the medium so that she can put her hands on it without too much stretching.

Hymn: - "I Am Thine, O Lord."

The medium's chair was then pulled out of the cabinet, shot forward and back into the cabinet a second time. 

Hymn: "I am thine, O Lord."

Table turned on its side.  Medium goes into trance.  Table moved out of cabinet and back in again.  Medium in deep trance, writing.  Short time in trance.  States she was back in the same place.  Dr. Hamilton asked her if R. L. Stevenson was talking to her, to which she replied, "Yes."

Second trance script:

"Leave not my soul in the unforgotten field, nor my debt unhonored..."

Second trance vision:

"I was back in the same place.  He talked to me quite a lot ... yes ... there is something he wants me to do."

Verification: "Leave not, my soul, Thy unfoughten field, nor leave Thy debts dishonored, nor Thy place desert without due service rendered."  (See "Underwoods", page 123.)

Hymn: "Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross."

Medium then saw these letters near Mrs. Cummings - M-Y-S-A-V-I-O-U-R-L-E-A-D-S-M-E, which was interpreted to mean the hymn entitled, "Aways My Saviour Leads Me." 

Medium sees the Chinaman near Mr. Reed.  Table moves to back of cabinet without contact. Singing.  Table in front of cabinet,  then halfway into cabinet.  The medium has one hand on the cabinet, while Dr. Hamilton holds the other.  Medium states she sees a little boy standing in front of Mrs. Creighton.  He has a fair complexion and wavy hair.

Hymn: -"Pass Me Not O Gentle Saviour."

Medium sees a man standing beside Mr. Freeman.  He is not large and has rather small features.  Medium, Mr. Reed, and Mrs. Hamilton all have their hands on the table.  Table tips over.  The medium was sitting between Dr. Hamilton and the cabinet.

Hymn: - "By Cool Siloam's Shady Rill." 

Medium's chair was then lifted to Dr. Hamilton's side.  Medium lifted about four or five inches, chair and all, between Dr. Hamilton and the table with the water and  wax.  Her hands were on the table in front of her.

Hymn: "Shall We Gather At the River."

Medium's chair was again levitated, chair coming down quite easily on its four feet.

Raps were then asked for by Dr. Hamilton.

Raps answer T. G. H.'s questions, and indicate that letters seen by E.M. are ectoplasmic.

Q.        "Will you spell out a message by Raps?"  ( 1 rap)

Q.        "Will you answer questions by Raps?"  (3 raps)

Q.        "How many on your side are concerned in this communicating?"   (8 raps)

Q.        "Did you say eight? Are we right?  (3 raps)

Q.        "Were you trying to lift the medium in her chair?   (3 raps)

Q.        "Just as an exhibition of your physical power?"   (3 raps)

Q.        "How many were concerned in lifting the medium?"   (1 rap)

Q.        "Is that just one?"   (3 raps)

Q.        "Will you give the name of the party doing the lifting?"   (1 rap)

Q.        "Could you lift any person similarly?"  (2 raps)

1. Does your ability to lift depend upon the mediumistic power of the party lifted?  (3 raps.)

1. Is the force with which this party is lifted what we call ectoplasm?   (No answer.)

1. Is that force distributed by the person lifted?  (2 raps)

1. Is red light less harmful than a white light?   (2 raps)

1. You mean then that all forms or colors of light are harmful         (3 raps)

1. Did you succeed in lifting the medium?   (2 raps)

1. Do you mean you do not know?   (3 raps)

1. Was  R. L. Stevenson here tonight?   (3 raps)

1. Did you say there were eight here tonight in your circle?   (3 raps)

1. Is  R. L. Stevenson in the group on the other side?   (3 raps)

1. Did you have Fanny Crosby here?   (3 raps)

1. Was she transmitting some of her hymns?   (3 raps)

1. Is this method of transmitting hymns peculiar to her?   (No answer)

1. Are these letters the medium sees as letters of light, are they composed of ectoplasm?   (3 raps)

1. Is it possible that others in this circle could produce these letters as well as Mrs. Cunningham?  (No answer)

The power appears to have gone.

Adjourned 10:45pm.


At the sitting of May 10, 1925,

the sitters were Dr. and Lillian. Hamilton, Dr. and Mrs. Creighton, Mr. Reed,  Dr. J. Hamilton,  Mrs. Aitken, Miss Lawrence, Mr. and Mrs. Cummings, Mr. Moorehouse, Mr. Dunn and Mrs. Poole.  Medium: Mrs. Poole.

Sitting at Dr. Hamilton's residence, Sunday evening at 9:20pm.

Hymns: - "Unto the Hills" - "The Lord is my Shepherd" - " Jesus, Lover of My Soul"
At 9:30pm medium goes into trance, clapping her hands.  At 9:45, medium, while in trance, writes:

Hymn - "Lead Kindly Light."

First trance script:

"The time had come when he must tell his father he could not take an interest in ... the determination ..."

First trance vision:

R. L. Stevenson seen talking to his father.

Medium then comes out of trance.  Upon being questioned she stated she was at the house where she had been before.  The house was large and square.  There was quite a lot of ground, with trees, at the back.  She also saw lots of children playing.  Robert Louis Stevenson was there and appeared to be quite a young man. 

He was talking  to another man who was stoutly built with broad shoulders and round head.  She did not see his face.  He was just about as tall as R. L. Stevenson, who she said was looking better, his hair being much shorter. 

R. L. Stevenson spoke to the medium, but the older man didn't.  There was a boy of about seven or eight years.  Medium again mentioned the number of kiddies on the lawn in front of the house.  She did not remember what R. L. Stevenson said to her.  Medium did not remember how she got there, did not travel at all.