Leacock, Stephen, 1869-1944 / 2008-07-24 00:00:00
"No," I answered, "to be quite candid, I have not."
Neither of us spoke for perhaps twenty minutes after
this, when my Friend said:
"Have you anything against it?"
I thought awhile and then I said:
"Yes, I have."
My Friend remained silent for perhaps half an hour. Then
he asked:
"What?"
I meditated for some time. Then I said:
"This--it seems to me that the whole thing is done for
money. How utterly unnatural it is to call up the
dead--one's great-grandfather, let us say--and pay money
for talking to him."
"Precisely," said my Friend without a moment's pause. "I
thought so. Now suppose I could bring you into contact
with the spirit world through a medium, or through
different _medii_, without there being any question of
money, other than a merely nominal fee, the money being,
as it were, left out of count, and regarded as only, so
to speak, nominal, something given merely _pro forma_
and _ad interim_. Under these circumstances, will you
try the experiment?"
I rose and took my Friend's hand."
"My dear fellow," I said, "I not only will, but I shall."
From this conversation dated my connection with
Spiritualism, which has since opened for me a new world.
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