independent of our pressure. Long and detailed
messages came through, which purported to be from a
spirit who gave his name and said he was a commercial
traveller who bad lost his life in a recent fire at a
theatre at Exeter. All the details were exact, and he
implored us to write to his family, who lived, he said,
at a place called Slattenmere, in Cumberland. I
did so, but my letter came back, appropriately enough,
through the dead letter office. To this day I do not
know whether we were deceived, or whether there was
some mistake in the name of the place; but there are
the facts, and I was so disgusted that for some time my
interest in the whole subject waned. It was one thing
to study a subject, but when the subject began to play
elaborate practical jokes it seemed time to call a
halt. If there is such a place as Slattenmere in the
world I should even now be glad to know it.

I was in practice in Southsea at this time, and
dwelling there was General Drayson, a man of very
remarkable character, and one of the pioneers of
Spiritualism in this country. To him I went with my
difficulties, and he listened to them very patiently.
He made light of my criticism of the foolish nature of
many of these messages, and of the absolute falseness
of some. "You have not got the fundamental truth into
your head," said he. "That truth is, that every spirit
in the flesh passes over to the next world exactly as
it is, with no change whatever. This world is full
of weak or foolish people. So is the next. You need