My life : a record of events and opinions - Wallace-online.org

352 MY LIFEfrom the table, looking on. The medium, Mr. FredEvans, was quite a young man, whose remarkablegift had been developed under Mr. Owen's guidance.From a pile of small slates on a side-table fourwere taken at a time, cleaned with a damp sponge,and handed to us to examine, then laid in pairs onthe table. All our hands were then placed over themtill the signal was given, and on ourselves openingthem writing was found on both slates. Two otherpairs were then similarly placed on the table, on oneof which the medium drew two diagonal pencil lines,and on that slate writing was produced in fivedifferent colours—deep blue, red, light green-blue,pale red-lilac, deep lilac, and these could be seen allsuperposed upon the pencil cross-lines. My brother'sfolding-slate was then placed upon the floor a foot ortwo away from the table, and after we had conversedfor a few minutes, keeping it in sight, it was found tobe written on both the inner sides. It then occurredto me to ask the medium whether writing could beproduced on paper placed between slates. Aftera moment's pause, as if asking the question of hisguides, he told me to take a paper pad, tear off sixpieces, and place them all between a pair of slates.This I did, and we placed our hands over them asbefore, and in a few minutes, on opening them, wefound six portraits in a peculiar kind of crayondrawing.I will now describe the writings and drawings weobtained, which are now before me. The first was aletter filling the slate in small, clear, and delicatewriting, of which I will quote the concluding portion :" I wish I could describe to you my spirit home. ButI cannot find words suitable in your earthly languageto give it the expression it deserves. But you will