Glimpses Of The Next State.Pdf - Spiritualists' National Union

179us to sit, as fellow-psychics, that we wished it known we were not willing to exercise our gift,without payment, for them or any other people.”Note—(1) Two years previous to this (1909) the Bangs Sisters told me they had sat for theportrait of Dr. Sharp some years before, free of charge to Mrs. Wriedt. (2) No allusion whateverhad been made to Dr. Sharp or his portrait on this visit (1911).But, about a week before the above message from Sharp to Lizzie Bangs, I had asked Mrs.Wriedt, in her drawing-room at Detroit: “How much did you pay the Bangs Sisters for thatbeautiful picture of Dr. Sharp ?“ She replied: “Thirty dollars.” I said: “That is curious; they toldme that they sat for nothing.” Mrs. Wriedt looked very embarrassed, and the subject was changed.When the impression from Sharp was blurted out by Lizzie Bangs I was delighted, thinking I hadreceived a magnificent test. That evening I wrote to Mrs. Wriedt reporting what the Chicagomedium had said, and feeling sure she would corroborate the story. I met her on February 3.Imagine my astonishment when she gravely announced that the story was untrue. She said:“Admiral, if that had been so I would have told you, for I do not tell lies even for the convenience ofthe Bangs Sisters; I paid, as I told you, thirty dollars. It is true that this sum is less than they usuallycharged at Lily Dale. Some pictures they sat for, of the same size, were forty-five dollars.”I ask: Does this look like collusion between Mrs. Wriedt and the Bangs Sisters? Dr. Sharp,who invariably expresses the greatest regard for the Bangs Sisters, said, spontaneously, whenmaterialised on February 3, at Jonson’s, Toledo: “It will be straightened out about the price of mypicture”; and when I asked him again, on February 7, at Detroit, he said: “Those poor girls, theyhave so much to do, they have forgotten.” This is very probable; neither of the sisters has a goodmemory.Incidentally, I may state that the picture in question is the best precipitation I have ever seenwhich has been accomplished in the presence of the Bangs Sisters. As a portrait I can say nothingabout it, but as a work of art it has a value far exceeding the modest sum paid for it. I take it to beworth at least one hundred dollars as a painting. Two in my possession are nearly as good; they costme thirty-five dollars each. I have had them appraised here as coloured copies of photographs, andthe lowest estimate given is one hundred dollars (£20). They are both in this book, but the blackand-whitereproductions from carbon photos give no idea of their intrinsic worth.Anyway, that is not the question for the moment. I had not mentioned one word to the BangsSisters respecting the money paid by Mrs. Wriedt for the picture; the impression given voice to byLizzie Bangs came to me as a great surprise. I can readily understand that the old spirit control,who is devoted to his medium, and has, at the same time, a great regard for the good work done bythe Bangs Sisters, was troubled about the talk he had heard between Mrs. Wriedt and myself, andendeavoured to put it right. What the truth of the matter really is was no business of mine, and itwas not in my thoughts on January 28, 1911.I now turn to another symptom of absence of collusion between Mrs. Wriedt and theChicago psychics. Iola and I had arranged at Detroit that the portrait was to be altogether a spiritpicture; this would mean that her hair would be loose. Now, it so happened that I afterwardsregretted this, and mentally desired that this feature should be somehow avoided, for I could notfancy it would look well. As I have described in Chapter IX., the Sisters saw the formclairvoyantly. At first, the hair was loose; again I mentally objected, and the clairvoyants saw itdrawn back behind the head, one saying: “She sees you do not like the hair loose, and she hasarranged it differently.” So differently did she eventually arrange it that it might now be mistakenfor the most modern style of hairdressing. There is a wreath of flowers on the top of the hair whichconveys an association to me, but which was, so to speak, not in the programme.Though anxious to thrash out anything which may be said by way of normal explanation, Icannot find in my notes one tittle of evidence which would show that the Jonsons and Mrs. Wriedtcorresponded with one another, or that the Bangs Sisters corresponded with the Jonsons or withMrs. Wriedt. What has led to some confusion on the part of novices as to collusion betweenmediums is this: spirit controls of different mediums do meet one another from time to time, and, Ihave no doubt, exchange ideas and information on the “other side”; if the mediums have met, theyachieve this with great facility. But, instead of this fact being brought forward as testimonyagainst the truth of spiritism, it is really one of the best evidences in favour of it. Detroit is nearly