GIFT OF 
 
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JOSEPH HARVEY MUNDELL 
 
 June 1921 
 
OUR JOE 
 
 OR 
 
 Why We Believe Our Brother 
 Lives ! 
 
 By 
 
 Charles S. Mundell 
 
 Published by 
 
 THE AUSTIN PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 Los Angeles, California 
 
Copyright, 1922 
 By CHARLES S. MUNDELL 
 
DEDICATION 
 
 This Book is Sacred to the Memory of My 
 Brother Joe, Who, on the Seventh day of 
 August, Nineteen and Twenty-One, Was 
 Accidentally Shot and Instantly Killed, But 
 Who We Believe Has Returned To Us, From 
 the Other Side of Death, With Messages of 
 Love and Hope, and With the Assurance 
 That, t( There Is No Death, What Seems So 
 Is Trasition." 
 
 468641 
 
Contents 
 
 Chapter. Page. 
 
 Introduction 7 
 
 I. The Tragedy 13 
 
 II. The Joe We Knew 27 
 
 III. The Problem of Pain and Evil 35 
 
 IV. If a Man Die Shall He Live Again? 47 
 
 V. Immortality in the Light of Evolution. . . . 59 
 
 VI. Our First Table Sitting 85 
 
 VII. First Sitting of C. S. M. with Mrs. Emma 
 
 Nanning 95 
 
 VIII. Second Sitting with Mrs. Nanning 99 
 
 IX. First Messages Received in Public Service. 105 
 
 X. Second Table Sitting at Home Ill 
 
 XI. Third Table Sitting 114 
 
 XII. First Messages Through Mrs. Marie Wallace 117 
 
 XIII. Messages from M. L. M.'s Father 123 
 
 XIV. Private Sitting of S. A. M. with Mrs. Wallace 124 
 XV. Fourth Table Sitting at Home 127 
 
 XVI. Fifth Table Sitting 129 
 
 XVII. Sixth Table Sitting 132 
 
 XVIII. Seventh Table Sitting 135 
 
 XIX. Message from Mrs. Hyams to C. S. M 136 
 
 XX. Table Sitting of October 18 136 
 
 XXI. Table Sitting of October 20 138 
 
 XXII. First Seance with Mrs. M. J. Isles 143 
 
 XXIII. Table Sitting of October 22 145 
 
 XXIV. Table Sitting of October 24 147 
 
 XXV. Private Sitting of V. M. M. with Mrs. Wallace 149 
 
 XXVI. Second Isles' Seance 152 
 
 XXVII. Our Strange Table Sitting of October 27. . 154 
 
 XXVIII. Table Sitting of October 28 158 
 
 XXIX. Table Sitting of October 29 161 
 
 XXX. Messages from Mrs. Hyams to V. M. M. . . 163 
 XXXI. Messages Received in Home Circle of Mrs. 
 
 R. Hyams 164 
 
 XXXII. Table Sitting of November 6 165 
 
 XXXIII. First Messages Through F. K. Brown 168 
 
 XXXIV. Third Isles' Seance 171 
 
 XXXV. Private Sitting of S. A.M. with Mrs. Isles. . 178 
 
 XXXVI. Private Sitting of C. S. M. with Mr. Brown. 184 
 
 XXXVII. Fourth Isles' Seance 199 
 
 First Appendix: Concerning Anticipated 
 "Explanations," "Objections," and 
 
 "Replies" 207 
 
 Second Appendix : Have Animals Immortal 
 Souls? .217 
 
Introduction 
 
 The author of this book has only recently come to a 
 conviction of the Truth of Spiritualism. 
 
 By profession I am a minister, and by denominational 
 affiliation, a Congregationalist. 
 
 I was baptized into the Baptist Church when I was 
 twelve years of age. Three years later I had definitely 
 entered the Christian ministry. 
 
 For five years I labored as an "evangelist," and was 
 known thru-out the South and West as the "Boy 
 Preacher." 
 
 I was ordained by a Baptist Presbytery, Nov. 17, 
 1912, when I lacked two days of being seventeen. 
 
 During those five years in which I "did the work of 
 an evangelist," I was rabidly and belligerently orthodox. 
 My highest aim and aspiration was ultimately to become 
 another "Billy" Sunday! 
 
 A volume of my sermons was published in the early 
 part of 1913. I had just closed a series of evangelistic 
 meetings at Colorado Springs, Colo. That the reader may 
 better understand my "soundness of doctrine," as I then 
 held it, permit me to quote a few sentences therefrom : 
 
 "Cain was the first Unitarian. He was the first to 
 substitute his own righteousness for the shed blood. A 
 Unitarian is not a Christian. Hell is full of these so- 
 called 'liberals'. Spiritualism is of the devil, and so is 
 Christian Science. If you follow these damnable cults, 
 you will surely go to hell !" 
 
 I was twenty years old when the crisis came. 
 
 For five years I had preached the "Old-fashioned 
 faith." I had held revival after revival, in which I plead 
 with men and women to "escape from the wrath to 
 come." 
 
 It was my conviction at that time that the whole 
 world was lost and ruined. 
 
To use an illuscrat-OT! of the noted Dr. I. M. Hal de- 
 man, of New York City : "The world, as such, is beyond 
 salvation. It is destined to grow worse and worse, until 
 the end of time. It is like a ship, which has struck a 
 rock, and is going down. Attempts at 'reforming' the 
 world are like rushing on board this sinking ship and 
 painting the floors, and decorating the panels. What's the 
 use ? The only wise thing for us as Christians to do, is 
 to get out the life-boats, and rescue all we can." 
 
 As an ordained minister of the Missionary Baptist 
 Church in the South, my theology was as crude, and as re- 
 actionary, as that of Calvin or Spurgeon, or William A. 
 Sunday. 
 
 No evangelist ever preached total depravity, blood- 
 atonement, or eternal damnation with more passion or 
 earnestness than I. 
 
 I was sincere ! I really believed these infamous dog- 
 mas, and believing them, considered myself Divinely called 
 to preach them. 
 
 My sermon on "A Message from Hell," taken from 
 the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, was a terrible 
 thing ! I shudder, even now, when I think of the infinite 
 slander which I was innocently guilty of, in preaching that 
 doctrine. 
 
 Should any of those who once heard me preach that 
 doctrine get hold of this book, permit me to assure you, 
 I would give my right hand if I could recall those false 
 and monstrous insults hurled in the name of the God of 
 Infinite Love and Mercy ! 
 
 From "Gospel Shots," the volume of sermons above 
 mentioned, page 72, in a sermon entitled, "Mother, Home 
 and Heaven," I quote the following "pearls" of "Ortho- 
 doxy:" 
 
 "I say, to hell with your damnable old doctrine of 
 Unitarianism. It is as rotten as hell. I got hold of a 
 Unitarian tract the other day, entitled, "Salvation by 
 Character." Great God! MY Bible says, "Saved by 
 Grace." No, sir! You will never see heaven until you 
 are saved by the precious blood of Jesus Christ." 
 
 The first thing that I want to bring out about Heaven 
 is, that Heaven is a Place. Jesus says, "I go to prepare 
 
a Place for you, and if I prepare a Place for you, I will 
 come again, and receive you unto myself." Heaven is not 
 a state, nor a condition, but it is a place ! 
 
 There are two things that I have never been able to 
 comprehend Eternity, and God's love. Eternity is a long 
 time, my friends; where are you going to spend it? You 
 have got to spend it in heaven or in hell ! Oh, eternity, 
 eternity, how long, how long? If God should commission a 
 bird to fly from Mars to the earth, once every thousand 
 years, and carry away one grain at a time, the time would 
 come when the earth would be all carried away eternity 
 has just begun! Or if the earth were a solid rock, and 
 God should have a worm crawl over it once every million 
 years, the time would be some day, when the entire earth 
 would be worn away yet, eternity has just begun! 
 Imagine spending that in the fires of the bottomless pits 
 of hell! We read that these pits are bottomless. Then 
 when the poor lost soul is cast****into the pit****it will 
 go down, and down, forever and forever. Every million 
 miles that you sink, you will be that much farther away 
 from God and hope. Oh, sinner! flee from the wrath to 
 come ! "But where shall I fly?" cries the poor, benighted, 
 lost, and damned sinner. "Fly to the bosom of Jesus 
 Christ and be eternally saved!" 
 
 Eight years have elapsed since that volume of ser- 
 mons was published, and I am ashamed to confess now, 
 that the book is literally full of just that kind of dry rot 
 and orthodox nonsense ! My fondest hope is that every 
 other volume besides the one I keep as a curio, has per- 
 ished and that its slanders against God are forgotten ! 
 
 Thank God, nearly six years ago I broke with the 
 awful nightmare of orthodox theology, and now my great- 
 est delight is in nailing its monstrous lies to the wall of 
 Truth! 
 
 I gave up evangelistic work when I was twenty-one, 
 for the reason that I found I had outgrown, and 
 could no longer honestly preach, the thread-bare dogmas 
 of evangelicalism. 
 
 The final break came largely as a result of my studies 
 in General Science ; particularly when I became convinced 
 of the truth of evolution. 
 
I left Texas and came to California, where I spent 
 three months in the Pacific Unitarian School, at Berkeley. 
 Here I came in contact with Dr. Earl M. Wilbur, and Dr. 
 William S. Morgan, two of the finest characters it has 
 ever been my privilege to know; and altho I was in the 
 school but a short time, I gained a great deal of good 
 from it. 
 
 From 1917 to 1920 I was active as a speaker and 
 lecturer. 
 
 It was in April, 1920, that I accepted a call to be- 
 come pastor of the First Congregational Church, at Jen- 
 nings, Oklahoma. In October of the same year, during the 
 Association Meeting, I was formally received into the 
 fellowship of the Eastern Association of Congregagtional 
 Churches and Ministers. 
 
 From Jennings I went to Oklahoma City, where I 
 was pastor until the tragic death of my dear brother. 
 
 Before entering upon the investigations recorded 
 in the following chapters, I had made a considerable study 
 of the literature of the Society of Psychic Research ; but 
 my interest at that time was purely speculative and philo- 
 sophical. I was open to conviction, but very skeptical, 
 with a bias against Spiritualism. 
 
 The reader is asked to weigh the evidence herein sub- 
 mitted candidly, fairly, and honestly. Draw your own 
 conclusions, and whether you are convinced or not, it is 
 my sincere hope that you may be furnished with food 
 for thought and further investigation. 
 
 Our reason for thus submitting to a critical public 
 these matters of family history, is two-fold ; 
 
 First, because we are thoroughly convinced ourselves 
 of the reality of communication between the two spheres 
 of existence, and have been, therefore, very grateful for 
 the messages of consolation and assurance which we be- 
 lieve have come through to us from our dear ones on the 
 other side; and especially from the one whose going has 
 been so recent, and which has torn our hearts with such 
 sorrow and grief; and because we have been comforted 
 and helped, we trust that others may be comforted and 
 helped ; 
 
Second, because we believe he has commanded this of 
 us, and because he wants it given out, for what good it 
 may do, we cannot shirk our sacred responsibility. 
 
 We fully realize that in giving to the world the con- 
 tents of this volume, we are exposing ourselves to the in- 
 credulity, suspicion, and uncharitableness of an unbeliev- 
 ing world ; nevertheless, we say with Paul of ancient days, 
 "We cannot be disobedient unto the heavenly vision." 
 
 My thanks are due to my mother and my wife for 
 their assistance in the preparation of this work, to my 
 friend the Rev.Robert Whitaker, for his careful read- 
 ing, his criticisms and suggestions in the revision of the 
 mansucript; and to the friendly mediums whose serv- 
 ices have made this investigation possible. 
 
 CHARLES S. MUNDELL, 
 December, 1921 Oakland, California. 
 
Our Joe 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 THE TRAGEDY 
 
 "YOUR BROTHER JOE KILLED IN MOUNTAINS WHILE 
 HUNTING. BODY WILL BE SHIPPED HOME TOMORROW. 
 WIRE YOUR PARENTS AT HOME WHETHER YOU CAN COME." 
 
 D. B. HUGGINS. 
 
 Such was the terrible telegram which greeted me on 
 Thursday, August 18, 1921, about 6 p.m. 
 
 I was in Baltimore, Maryland, when I received this 
 shocking news, and was supplying the pulpit of the Second 
 Congregational Church, Canton, with a view to a possible 
 call. I had been there since the previous Saturday, having 
 accepted an invitation from the Board of Trustees of the 
 Church to supply their pulpit for three Sundays during 
 the month of August. 
 
 I was minister, at that time, of the Community House 
 Branch of the Pilgrim Congregational Church, Oklahoma 
 City. 
 
 It was only after an extended correspondence be- 
 tween myself and the Clerk of the Baltimore Church that 
 I finally agreed to make the visit to Baltimore. I was 
 reluctant to leave my Oklahoma City field, having been 
 there but three months; however, the Trustees of the 
 Second Church, Baltimore, had practically refused to take 
 no for an answer, and had written, in answer to a letter 
 of mine declining the call, urging me to come for a "trial 
 period," and expressing the conviction that if I could only 
 see for myself the wonderful opportunities existing in 
 that field, I could then decide whether to accept the call, 
 or to return to Oklahoma City. 
 
14 OUR JOE 
 
 This proposition seemed fair enough, so I wrote the 
 Clerk that I would accept their invitation, with the dis- 
 tinct understanding that neither they nor I should be 
 considered under any obligation to the other; that the 
 whole matter should be purely tentative. 
 
 On the morning of that never-to-be-forgotten Thurs- 
 day a letter had come to me from my wife (who had re- 
 mained in Oklahoma City to take care of our work there) , 
 enclosing a letter to us from my mother, who had accom- 
 panied my father to a convention of the "Brotherhood of 
 Railway Carmen of America" (a Railroad Labor Union, 
 of which my father was a member, and a General Chair- 
 man of their Joint Protective Board on the Pacific Coast) , 
 at Toronto, Canada. 
 
 In her letter to us my mother mentioned the fact that 
 "Joe had gone on his hunting trip, to be gone about two 
 weeks," and that she had taken advantage of his going 
 away to visit Canada, fearing that such an opportunity 
 might never again come her way. 
 
 So I knew that my brother had gone on what later 
 proved to be his fatal hunting trip. 
 
 The telegram had been sent to me by my father's 
 secretary, and was sent from San Francisco to Okla- 
 homa City. 
 
 Mr. Huggins, unfortunately, did not know my Okla- 
 homa City street address. He did not know even the 
 name of the church with which I was connected. The 
 only thing he knew to do was to send me a telegram in 
 care of the First Congregational Church, but he made the 
 mistake of writing "First Presbyterian Church," so that 
 considerable time was lost before my wife finally re- 
 ceived the news. 
 
 Dr! Baird, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, 
 was away on his vacation, and the telegram was delivered 
 to the associate minister, Mr. Hicks. The telegram was 
 addressed to "Charles Mundell," and he didn't know any- 
 one by that name. 
 
 The first my wife knew of the matter was when a 
 reporter for the "Daily News" called her up and asked 
 
OUR JOE 15 
 
 her if she knew such a telegram had been received by 
 Mr. Hicks. 
 
 My wife then telephoned Mr. Hicks, and he referred 
 her to the Western Union. She called up the Western 
 Union, and the telegram was read to her. She then in- 
 structed them to forward a duplicate message to me, 704 
 S. Decker Ave., Baltimore, Md. 
 
 I was not staying at 704 S. Decker Ave., but was hav- 
 ing my mail sent to that address. Consequently, it was 
 several hours from the time the telegram was written in 
 San Francisco until it finally reached me at 3241 Elliott 
 St., Baltimore, where I was being entertained. 
 
 That afternoon I had been downtown, spending sev- 
 eral hours in the office of the Clerk of the Church. I had 
 written several letters, and among them letters to my wife 
 and to my mother. Earlier in the day I had sent a post- 
 card to my brother who I supposed, was still in Oakland 
 
 About nine o'clock that morning I left the house, 3241 
 Elliott St., instructing Mrs. Leonard, the kind lady whose 
 home was mine during my stay there, that I was expect- 
 ing the expressman to deliver my typewriter some time 
 that day, and for her to receive it if it came. 
 
 When I returned to the house a little before six 
 o'clock, the first words which greeted me were from Mr. 
 Leonard, and were : "Mr. Mundell, your typewriter 
 came," and then, "Here is a telegram for you, too!" 
 
 I was not expecting a telegram, and my first thoughts 
 were that perhaps something had happened to my little 
 boy, Charles, Jr., or to my wife, or to my mother. But I 
 never expected the terrible words which stared at me 
 from that yellow blank: "Your brother Joe killed in 
 mountains while hunting. Body will be shipped home 
 tomorrow. Wire your parents at home whether you can 
 come. (Signed) D. B. Huggins." 
 
 Words utterly fail me when I attempt to put on 
 paper the awful effect these words seemed to have upon 
 me. God in heaven only knows how intensely I suffered, 
 and what depth of grief was mine during those heart- 
 breaking moments which followed. 
 
16 OUR JOE 
 
 It seemed to me as though a sharp knife had been 
 plunged into my heart ! I was stunned ! Overwhelmed ! 
 Dazed ! 
 
 "My brother Joe killed ! Joe ? Our Joe ?" 
 
 I cannot recall, very distinctly, just what I did dur- 
 ing those moments of blinding grief, nor what I said, but 
 if you, my reader, have ever lost an only brother a dear, 
 loyal, faithful brother a childhood playmate and com- 
 panion of whom you were passionately proud and for 
 whom you felt a profound affection you can perhaps 
 imagine what I suffered! 
 
 I did not pretend, or even try, to sleep that terrible 
 night ! All night long I walked the streets of Baltimore, 
 trying to realize the significance of the news I had 
 received. 
 
 Could it be possible that Joe was dead? How thor- 
 oughly alive, and in what splendid, robust health, when I 
 had seen him last, about a year and a half before ! 
 
 My brother Joe was four years, three months, and 
 ten days younger than I. He was born Feb. 29, 1900, at 
 Stillwater, Oklahoma. He was a leap year child, and we 
 used to tease him to the effect that he could have but one 
 birthday every four years. 
 
 Joe was the baby. 
 
 Four chldren were born to my father and mother, in 
 the order here named: Anna Bell, Charles Samuel, Wil- 
 liam Jennings, and Joseph Harvey. Annie was born Sept. 
 19, 1893, and was, consequently, two years and two 
 months my senior. 
 
 I was born Nov. 19, 1895. It seems quite a coinci- 
 dence that my sister and I were both born on Tuesdays, 
 and both on the 19th day. 
 
 William Jennings (in honor of W. J. Bryan, of whom 
 my father and mother were great admirers) was born 
 Feb. 28, 1898 two years and three months younger 
 than I. 
 
 Sister Annie had reached the age of three months, 
 when she succumbed to an attack of pneumonia. Dear 
 
OUR JOE 17 
 
 little sister ! I was not permitted the pleasure of knowing 
 her. How I always wished for a sister! 
 
 Little Willie (for this was the "name we always called 
 him) reached the age of one year, five months, and one 
 day, when he, too, was taken from us by an attack of 
 summer complaint. 
 
 Our Joe was with us for twenty-one years and five 
 months, and was taken from us, seemingly, at the bright- 
 est and most promising period of his life. 
 
 At the time of his passing, Joe was a perfect picture 
 of health and strength. Of medium height, broad 
 shoulders, well-formed physique, except for the tragic 
 accident, it is likely Joe would have lived out a long life. 
 
 Of his physical beauty and perfectness of form, an 
 army physician said : "In all my experience as an army 
 physician, I have never examined a more splendid body." 
 
 The coroner who examined my brother's body was 
 credited with the exclamation : "My God ! What a per- 
 fect body!" 
 
 My brother was an unusual boy, in many respects, 
 and I believe the reader will agree with me when he con- 
 siders the following facts : 
 
 For about three years, and a half before his death he 
 was employed as an "Airman" at the West Oakland pas- 
 senger yards of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company. 
 
 During all that time, instead of spending his earn- 
 ings foolishly, or wasting them in "riotous" living, or in 
 other forms of extravagance and excess, he saved them. 
 He started a bank account, and each month would add to 
 it from his wages. 
 
 He was not "close" or "miserly" in this respect. 
 
 He contributed $30.00 per month to the family ex- 
 penses ; that is, he paid that much to his mother for board 
 and room. 
 
 He dressed well. He wore good clothes. He had his 
 amusements. He went out for "good times"; that is, he 
 would attend the theater and the dance, or he would take 
 a girl friend out to Idora Park for skating and dancing, 
 and to other places of harmless amusement. 
 
18 OUR JOE 
 
 But he did not dissipate. Only at extremely rare 
 intervals did he ever partake of intoxicating liquors. 
 
 He did not gamble, nor waste his substance in places 
 of vice and shame. 
 
 When I was at home a year and a half before, I had 
 occasion to need some money. Out of the goodness of his 
 generous and loyal heart he loaned his brother $150.00. 
 
 Out of his earnings as an employee of the Southern 
 Pacific he managed to save, in a little over three years' 
 time, four thousand dollars! 
 
 In February, before his passing in August, he had 
 become the owner of a $4,000 ten-room house on East 
 Eleventh Street, in Oakland. 
 
 Surely this is an unusual achievement for a boy 
 barely past 21 ! 
 
 And the thought that he was taken away from the 
 enjoyment of the fruit of his honest labor has been one 
 of the bitterest for us to endure! 
 
 My brother's property represented the fruit of his 
 honest toil! It had been ground out of his sweat and 
 labor! It was covered with no man's blood, for it had 
 been earned, and not won at the expense of someone else ! 
 
 "Your brother Joe killed!". Joe dead! "And this," 
 thought I, in my bitterness, "This is his reward for faith- 
 fulness and hard work!" 
 
 All night long, that miserable night, I battled with 
 the devils of bitterness, cynicism, infidelity, and rebellion 
 against God! It seemed to me that this, my brother's 
 tragedy, was a monstrous wrong, an infinite injustice! 
 
 Why should a benevolent, a just, a good God, permit 
 such a terrible thing to happen? If he were Almighty, 
 why, in the name of Right and Justice, did He not cause 
 something to intervene which would have prevented such 
 an untimely fate for such a promising young man ! 
 
 That night I sent the following telegram to my 
 father : 
 
 "Can funeral wait till I can make trip from Baltimore 
 to Oakland. If so, will start soon as receive answer. In 
 deepest sorrow, Charles Mundell." 
 
OUR JOE 19 
 
 The next morning I received the following reply : 
 
 "Our darling met death on August seventh and body 
 recovered only today. Impossible to hold body longer. 
 Would be glad if one or both of you could come for month. 
 (Signed) S. A. Mundell." 
 
 This was more terrible news. I was not even to be 
 permitted to see my dear brother's face, or even to attend 
 his funeral ! 
 
 As yet I had received only the barest particulars. My 
 brother Joe was dead! Had been killed on the 7th and 
 body not recovered until then. What could it mean ? 
 
 I could only surmise as to how he had been killed. 
 Whether he had been accidentally shot by another hunter, 
 or had shot himself; or whether he had been murdered, 
 or had fallen down a steep precipice, I did not know ! 
 
 For the next several days I was in an agony of 
 suspense. 
 
 From the news stands I purchased copies of the San 
 Francisco Chronicle, and the S. F. Examiner, and there in 
 the "Chronicle" I read: 
 
 "Searchers Find No Trace of Missing Boy," fol- 
 lowed by an account of how he had left camp the 7th, 
 and had been lost for more than a week. At the time this 
 article was published (Aug. 15) he had not been found, 
 and his fate was unknown.. 
 
 I determined to run down to Washington, where I 
 knew I could find the Oakland papers on file in the Con- 
 gressional Library. Accordingly, on the morning of 
 August 23d I caught the electric car for the capital. 
 
 During my visit to the Library of Congress, I read 
 the following accounts, as published in the "Oakland 
 Tribune" of Aug. 16 and Aug. 18, respectively: 
 
 "In a wild section of the mountains of Mendocino County, ten 
 miles from where young Joe Mundell of 904 Brush Street dis- 
 appeared on August 8 while hunting, searchers today found traces 
 of the missing lad. Scratches and blood splotches on the rocks 
 there indicated, searchers said, that the young man had staggered 
 or had been carried over the spot. That the Mundell youth had 
 been shot by another deer hunter, who mistook him for a deer, and 
 then, after discovering his act, dragged the body oif to a lonely spot 
 and buried it, was the theory advanced by Oscar and Charles Mun- 
 
20 OUR JOE 
 
 dell, brothers of the missing man, from Los Angeles, who arrived 
 on the scene today. 
 
 "Although three score searchers combed the mountainous 
 regions near Gwin's Camp in Mendocino County all day yesterday 
 and late into the night, no trace was found. 
 
 "MundelPs dog, an Airedale pup, which returned to camp on 
 the third, day after his master had failed to report back after a 
 hunting expedition, failed yesterday to lead a party to his master. 
 After three days of rest, he started out yesterday at the head of a 
 small party of searchers, who were confident that he would lead 
 them to the body of Mundell. The dog apparently had lost his trail 
 of three nights before, when he crawled back to camp so fatigued 
 and weak from the loss of blood that he could hardly stand and was 
 unable to back-track. He lost his own trail on a divide and made 
 several wide circles apparently in an effort to pick it up, but failed. 
 Old woodsmen believe that his injuries were caused by a panther, 
 or possibly a bear, but put little credence in the theory that a wild 
 animal probably attacked Mundell." 
 
 THE SECOND ACCOUNT PUBLISHED AFTER THE 
 FINDING OF THE BODY 
 
 "Joe Mundell, Oakland lad, whose body was found in the wilds 
 of Mendocino County late yesterday after he had been missing since 
 August 8, when he failed to return from a hunting trip, did not die 
 of starvation, as first reported from the posse that found the body, 
 but from a bullet which it is believed the lad may have fired into 
 his brain to prevent death from exhaustion and starvation. 
 
 "The body was found one and one-half miles from where Mun- 
 dell was last seen by his companions near Gwin's Camp. It was 
 lying face downward, a bullet hole in the face at the left side of 
 the nose. The back of the lad's head was completely torn away. 
 
 A few feet from the body lay MundelFs rifle, containing an 
 empty cartridge. Between the body and the rifle was a log, on 
 which it is believed the lad sat for some time at the end of his battle 
 against the cruel demands of the wilds, a loser. Facing starvation 
 and completely exhausted, it is believed by leaders of the posse that 
 he decided to end his sufferings rather than die by inches. 
 
 "Th body was taken into Ukiah, where a coroner's jury found 
 that Mundell died by the discharge of his own rifle. It was held by 
 some that the young hunter might have in some manner discharged 
 his rifle while stepping over the log. The jury held the shooting 
 accidental. The brush around the spot, evidence showed, had been 
 disturbed as though the lad had there on that spot made a desperate 
 effort to gain the upper hand in a battle against starvation. 
 
 "It is thought that Mundell probably died on the third day, 
 for it was that night that his dog, an Airedale pup, crawled back 
 into camp, bleeding and fatigued. It is believed by some that the 
 dog remained with his master's body until some wild animal, prob- 
 ably a panther, ventured too close, with the result that the dog 
 endeavored to fight it off and met with cruel punishment. The dog 
 
OUR JOE 21 
 
 endeavored to lead a party back to the body of its master, but lost 
 its own trail on a high ridge and gave up. 
 
 "More than 100 men have participated in the search, which 
 ended late yesterday when Dave Boyd found the body." 
 
 These two "Tribune" articles represent very good 
 examples of newspaper carelessness, exaggeration and 
 sensationalism. The reader will note several mistakes, as 
 well as the obvious fact that the author had allowed his 
 imagination free rein. 
 
 The "Charles and Oscar Mundell" referred to in the 
 account of Aug. 16 were uncles, and not brothers. I 
 happened to be Joe's only brother, and I was three thou- 
 sand miles away at the time of the search. Neither were 
 the Merckels relatives. They were merely friends, of 
 many years' standing. 
 
 The little Airedale dog referred to in the Tribune 
 articles did not belong to my brother. She belonged to 
 Mr. Walter Gschwend, another member of the hunting 
 party, but soon took up with Joe and refused to leave his 
 side. In spite of all protesting from her master, the dog 
 persisted in following Joe. My father has since pur- 
 chased the dog and she is in our home. 
 
 The account of the 18th, reporting the finding of the 
 body, was likewise an incorrect and distorted story. 
 
 The number that I saw in the reading room of the 
 Congressional Library was an "Extra" and had printed, 
 in bold box-car type, across the wKole front page, an abso- 
 lute and monstrous untruth : 
 
 "Lost Hunter, Starving, and Facing Exhaustion, 
 Ends Life, Is Belief." 
 
 Now, this was a deliberate falsehood, coined into 
 sensational reading by some cheap cub reporter, and made 
 to serve as a startliiig headline for the purpose of increas- 
 ing the paper sales. 
 
 What did this ambitious and apparently unscrupu- 
 lous cub reporter care for the misrepresentation he was 
 spreading broadcast, and sending into thousands of Ala- 
 meda County homes? 
 
22 OUR JOE 
 
 What did he care for the effect it might have upon 
 bereaved and loving hearts? upon the broken-hearted 
 mother? 
 
 It made sensational reading! Sensational headlines 
 sell ! And that is apparently all that concerns a modern, 
 city newspaper! 
 
 What reflects even more upon the fairness and 
 honesty of the "Tribune" is the fact that this misrepre- 
 sentation was printed across the front page, in bold type, 
 while the subsequent correction ivas hidden away in an 
 obscure part of the paper, almost surrounded with De- 
 partment Store and other advertisements ! 
 
 Why were not the facts given the front page ? 
 
 Simply because they did not make quite such sensa- 
 tional reading! 
 
 Doubtless there are thousands of persons around the 
 Bay who never learned the fact that Joe did not fire a 
 bullet into his own brain! 
 
 The facts, substantially set forth in the following, 
 reproduced from the "Tribune" of August 19, and cor- 
 roborated by the testimony of twenty-nine men who saw 
 the body, and of the Coroner's Jury, read : 
 
 MUNDELL'S DEATH DUE TO ACCIDENT, CLAIM 
 
 SEARCHERS 
 
 RIFLE DISCHARGED WHILE LIGHTING CIGARETTE, KILLING HIM, 
 Is OFFICIAL THEORY 
 
 That Joe Mundell of 9.04 Brush Street, Oakland, whose body 
 was found in the Mendocino mountains with a bullet hole in the 
 head, accidentally discharged his own rifle while sitting on a log 
 rolling a cigarette, was the conclusion of the authorities who have 
 been investigating the case at the request of S. A. Mundell, the lad's 
 father, who returned Thursday from Canada with Mrs. Mundell. 
 
 Mundell's body was found Wednesday by Dave Boyd of Philo, 
 member of a hunting party of three, after the young man had been 
 missing for ten days. 
 
 W. F. Gannon and George Vaselu of Oakland, who were 
 despatched to the scene of the finding of the body immediately after 
 word of its location had been received here, returnd to Oakland 
 today with the father. Gannon and Vaselu were the first of a party 
 to arrive at the spot after the body had been found. They were sent 
 from Oakland by Local 735 of the Carmen's Union, of which young 
 Mundell was a member. His father is general chairman of the 
 Brotherhood of Railway Carmen of America. 
 
OUR JOE 23 
 
 DETAILS OF FINDING BODY 
 
 With the return of Gannon and Vaselu comes the first authentic 
 details of the circumstances surrounding Mundell's death. 
 
 The body was located about one and one-half miles from Whip- 
 pie camp, on the Clow range. In despatches the camp was referred 
 to as Gwin's camp. Whipple camp is about seven miles east of 
 Philo. 
 
 The body was found by Boyd after searching parties had 
 combed the mountains for ten days. Boyd's dog came upon it and 
 attracted the attention of his master. Boyd remained with the party 
 while the others, A. E. Guntley and John Brown, went for help. 
 
 Circumstances upon which the authorities, as well as Mundell's 
 father and others have based the theory that young Mundell acci- 
 dentally shot himself and that he was not lost, are these: 
 ACCIDENTAL DEATH 
 
 The body was lying in a thick entanglement on one side of a 
 high log; his rifle, a 30-30 Winchester, containing an empty shell, on 
 the opposite side, showing that Mundell was sitting on the log when 
 he was killed. In his right hand he held a can of tobacco, and in his 
 hip pocket a pack of cigarette papers were partly pulled out, as 
 though he had first secured his tobacco and was in the act of reach- 
 ing for his cigarette papers when the gun was dropped from be- 
 tween his knees, the hammer striking a limb, which protruded out 
 from the high log. 
 
 It is the theory that Mundell's dog, an Airedale, was chasing 
 a wounded deer at the time, and that Mundell had followed, the dog 
 later returning to the body, where he remained for three days. The 
 dog's nest, or bed, was found within a few inches of the body. 
 Driven by hunger, it is believed the dog later returned to camp for 
 food. When he endeavored to lead a party back to the body he lost 
 his own trail and gave up. 
 
 No DISTRESS SIGNAL 
 
 That Mundll did not fire a distress signal was also proved. He 
 had with him eight cartridges the morning he left camp. Two 
 were found in the magazine, an empty one in the chamber and five 
 loaded cartridges in his pocket. He also had $76 in currency in 
 his shirt pocket. 
 
 It required six hours to carry the body out of the woods to the 
 WhipDle ranch, so dense was the undergrowth. The party of 30, 
 working in relays, left the scene of the shooting at 10:30 at night 
 an-} rr ached the Whipple ranch at 3:30 o'clock the next morning. 
 The coroner's inquest was held immediately afterward. 
 
 The funeral will be held tomorrow from a local undertaking- 
 parlor. 
 
 The reader can perhaps imagine the agony and the 
 suffering which I endured that 23d day of August, after 
 I had read those sensational stories from the "Oakland 
 Tribune." It was not until the next day, when I returned 
 
4 OUR JOE 
 
 to the library, and from the Aug. 19 number, read the 
 correct account of the tragedy; that I knew he had not 
 committed suicide, and that he had not experienced all 
 the suffering and agony which would have been involved 
 in being lost for several days, and in slow starvation, ex- 
 haustion, and despair! 
 
 I quote from a letter written to my wife from the 
 hotel in Washington, dated Tuesday evening, Aug. 23, 
 after I had read the "Tribune" of August 18 : 
 
 "At the library I read the files of all the California 
 papers, S. F. Chronicle, S. F. Examiner, Oakland Tribune, 
 Sacramento Bee, San Jose Mercury-Herald, Los Angeles 
 Times, and the Fresno Republican, covering the period 
 from the 8th to the 18th from the time of Joe's disap- 
 pearance to the finding of the body. The papers were 
 full of it especially the Oakland and San Francisco 
 papers ! 
 
 The "Tribune" had out an Extra about the finding of 
 the body. Oh, my God ! how it made my heart ache. 
 
 According to the latest Oakland paper (18th), Joe 
 must have been lost in the wilds two days and two nights, 
 and was starving, thirsty, utterly exhausted, and in 
 despair. The paper hinted that, to end his agony and 
 despair, he may have shot himself! Oh, if that be true, 
 think what horrors my poor brother must have suffered ! 
 Hungry, weary, heart-sick, hopeless he may have pulled 
 the trigger with his own hand ! 0, my poor, dear brother ! 
 My God ! I fear it will drive me mad ! 
 
 The Coroner's Jury, however, rendered the ooinion 
 that the rifle was accidentally discharged, possibly by his 
 falling over a log which was found near the body. He 
 was found lying face downward, with a bullet hole just to 
 the left of his nose, and the whole back of his head torn 
 away !" 
 
 My brother had been lost from Sunday morning to 
 the following Saturday, before my parents (who were still 
 attending the Toronto Convention) were notified. My 
 father received the following telegram from Mrs. J. H. 
 Merckel : 
 
OUR JOE 25 
 
 "Joe lost in mountains since Sunday. Impossible to 
 find him." 
 
 Reader, can you even imagine what my poor mother 
 suffered from the time this wire was received until, sev- 
 eral days later, when on the train en route to Oakland, 
 this grief-laden message came: 
 
 "Joe's body found. Details later. (Signed) D. B. 
 Huggins." 
 
 My own grief in the loss of a dear, true brother was 
 almost swallowed up in anxiety for my poor mother! 
 None knew better than I how dearly she loved her baby, 
 and none knew better than I how passionately he loved his 
 mother in return ! 
 
 Joe was a "Mother's Boy" in every sense of the word, 
 and he was never ashamed of it ! Bior, strong, noble fel- 
 low that he was, he was not afraid of the taunt, "Tied to 
 Mother's apron strings." 
 
 He and his mother were unusually intimate in their 
 relations. To her he always came with all his problems, 
 disappointments, joys, and sorrows. She was to him 
 Comrade and Pal, Mother and Sweetheart. 
 
 With the exception of a few months before the re- 
 moval of my parents to California, when my brother lived 
 with me, he was never away from home. 
 
 He loved his home! He rever liked to be away from 
 home, even for a night! 
 
 He often went out with his mother, escorting her to 
 the "movies." and he always seemed to enjoy her company 
 even more than the company of younger women. 
 
 He was pathetically proud of his mother. Proud of 
 her youthful aprearanee ! Happy to introduce her to his 
 friends, and to say, "This is my mother." 
 
 Reader, do you think any the less of him for that? 
 Is it not a sign of character, and of true nobility, for a 
 young man, strong and vital, to love and honor his 
 mother? 
 
 I recall a story I once heard from the lips of that 
 great Baptist preacher, Rev. Geo. W. Truett, of Dallas, 
 Texas. 
 
26 OUR JOE 
 
 Dr. Truett once met a fine, clean-cut young man, 
 whose employment placed him in a most unfavorable 
 environment. But in spite of temptations galore, the 
 young man remained loyal and true to the principles of 
 true manhood and morality. Dr. Truett said to him upon 
 one occasion : 
 
 "Young man, tell me, what is it that makes it pos- 
 sible for you to live such a clean life, in the midst of so 
 many temptations, and surrounded by so many unfavor- 
 able conditions ?" 
 
 The young man took from his pocket a letter from 
 his mother. It was worn and faded, and almost illegible. 
 Dr. Truett took the letter and read this passage, under- 
 scored several times : "My boy, whenever you are tempt- 
 ed to turn from the way, remember whose boy you are." 
 
 "Dr. Truett," said this young man, "I always remem- 
 ber this admonition from my mother whenever I am 
 tempted to do wrong, and it supplies me with the grace 
 and courage necessary to resist evil. I say to myself : 'If 
 you do not make good, it will be your Mother's son that 
 fails ! If you commit sin, it will be your Mother's son that 
 commits sin !' And that has been my inspiration and help 
 in my travel along the straight and narrow way." 
 
 The above applies with equal force to my dearly be- 
 loved brother ! Is it any wonder that his mother didn't 
 see how she could go on living without him? Is it any 
 wonder that she wrote in a letter to me : 
 
 "God only knows the heartache, the Dain, and the 
 suffering that I endure. Oh, my poor, dear boy ! If there 
 be a good and all-wise God, why did he let this terrible 
 thing happen to me ? Why did he take from me my dar- 
 ling? And he loved his mother so ! 
 
 "I know poor little Joe must be lonesome 'over there,' 
 without his mother. It seemed that I was always so 
 necessary to him! Oh, if God would only take me, too! 
 I can't bear to think of the long years which may be before 
 me until I can see my precious boy ! Oh, God. I how can I 
 live without my baby?" 
 
OUR JOE 27 
 
 Knowing my mother's nature and disposition as I 
 did, I realized only too well that if something didn't hap- 
 pen to prevent it, she would either lose her reason or 
 grieve herself to death. 
 
 I resolved to give up everything, and to return to 
 California, where I could be with my mother. I felt that 
 no one could comfort her as her own son, and the brother 
 of the loved and lost. 
 
 Accordingly, I immediately withdrew my candidacy 
 for the pulpit of the Baltimore Church, and, returning 
 to Oklahoma City, closed out my affairs there. 
 
 We arrived in Oakland on Tuesday morning, Sep- 
 tember 13. 
 
 God helping me, I never intend to leave my mother 
 again as long as she remains with us. 
 
 Dear friend, whoever you are, as you read this book, 
 will you not read it in the same spirit in which it is 
 written ? Remember that every page has been dictated by 
 love, and that the subject is one of perennial human in- 
 terest. It is too sacred for sneers and jeers, or scorn and 
 scoffing. If you cannot believe what follows, you can at 
 least refrain from questioning the honesty and motive of 
 the author. 
 
 In the sacred name of your own loved and lost, I ask 
 you this one small favor: Acceut or reiect my conclu- 
 sions as you will, please do not take them in vain ! 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 THE JOE WE KNEW 
 
 The purpose of this chapter is to introduce "Joe." 
 
 I want every reader to know and understand him ! 
 
 I hope to do him justice, and no more. All I desire is 
 that I may paint a picture of him as he was as we knew 
 him ! I want to make the picture true and nothing more ! 
 
 Above all, I shall guard against idealizing him! He 
 would not have me make him' otherwise than perfectly 
 human. 
 
2* OUR JOE 
 
 Joe was with us for twenty-one years. Does it not 
 seem hard that a young man should be so suddenly cut 
 down, at the mere age of 21 ? 
 
 As brothers, we were not a great deal alike. 
 
 We did not bear any striking resemblance to each 
 other. There may have been, and perhaps was, a slight 
 family resemblance, but nothing more. Seen together, we 
 did not look like brothers. 
 
 He was taller than Tby about three and one-half 
 inches. His hair and eyes were darker than mine, and he 
 was "husky" and broad-shouldered, while I was not. 
 
 I have always been a "talker," and a lover of books. 
 
 Joe was more quiet. As a rule, he preferred to be 
 "seen and not heard." He did not care for books, and his 
 reading was confined mostly to the papers. 
 
 I have always been intensely interested in religion, 
 politics, and philosophical speculation. 
 
 Joe was not. True, when he was a child, he made a 
 "profession of conversion," and was baptized into the 
 Baptist Church. However, he was not, strictly speaking, 
 a "religious," or "church-going" boy. 
 
 During the four or five years of his life preceding the 
 tragedy, he very seldom attended church. He worked 
 every Sunday, and it is unlikely he would have gone to 
 church if he had been off. He made no hypocritical pro- 
 fessions ; he did not claim to be more than he was. 
 
 To a cousin of ours he once said : "I wouldn't mind 
 being a Christian, or belonging to a Church, if I only knew 
 which one was right; but there are so many different 
 religions a fellow doesn't know what to do. I do not want 
 to be a hypocrite." 
 
 This does not imply that he was in any way antago- 
 nistic or opposed to the Church. He was not. He was 
 never ashamed of the fact that his brother was a minis- 
 ter. On the contrary, he was glad. 
 
 I remember I was out of the ministry for a period of 
 three or four years, and when I became pastor of the 
 Congregational Church at Jennings, Oklahoma, he wrote 
 
OUR JOE 29 
 
 me a letter telling me how glad he was that I was back 
 in the ministry, and that he wished me luck. 
 
 He honored his father and his mother. He respected 
 them with the reverence and loyalty of a true and faith- 
 ful son. 
 
 He never called his father "the old man," nor his 
 mother "the old woman." He was too much of a man 
 for that! 
 
 In every matter involving business judgment, he 
 sought his father's advice. He was sensible enough to 
 take it. Doubtless this contributed in a large measure to 
 his pecuniary success. 
 
 And what shall I say more concerning his high and 
 holy love for his mother ? It was as wide as the expanse, 
 as deep as the sea, and as high as the heavens ! 
 
 He was the noble son of a noble mother. 
 
 He honored and respected womankind! 
 
 We never heard him pass uncomplimentary remarks 
 about any woman, no matter what her character. We 
 have heard him defend those whom others called "scarlet," 
 and express sympathy for them, instead of censure. 
 
 He was modest. He never boasted of his financial 
 achievement; he never advertised it. The fact that he 
 had accumulated four thousand dollars had to be learned 
 from other than his own lips. He was extremely reticent 
 in this respect. He was never inclined to brag about any- 
 thing. 
 
 He was truthful. Many times, when he was a child, 
 he confessed the truth when he knew it would bring 
 punishment. My parents will bear me out in the state- 
 ment that when Joe was a child he never told a lie to 
 escape the conseauences of any disobedience. Asked out 
 and out if he did such and such a thing, he would tell 
 the truth. 
 
 He was honest. He was generous. 
 
 What shall I sav ore? The following testimonials 
 and tributes from his friends and fellow-workers are far 
 more eloquent than any further praise which I might 
 write : 
 
30 OUR JOE 
 
 FROM HIS UNCLE, OSCAR MUNDELL 
 (In a letter written from Los Angeles, Cal., Sept. 6, 1921) 
 "Well, Sam, how is Vernie getting along? Believe me, my 
 heart went out to poor Vernie, for nobody knows any more than I 
 what a devoted pal and loyal son Boy Joe was to dear mama. 
 And if all mothers were like her there would be more loyal sons. 
 But tell her to be brave, for she has one more dear son to live for 
 and advise. Give her my heartfelt sympathy. 
 
 Your loving brother, 
 
 OSCAR." 
 
 A tribute from his Brother Charles, written to his 
 parents from Baltimore, Md. (This will indicate what I 
 thought of him.) 
 
 (COPY) 
 
 (Letterhead of THE COMMUNITY CHURCH of Oklahoma City, 
 South Walker and Maple Streets, Charles S. Mundell, Minister.) 
 
 Baltimore, Md., August 20, 1921. 
 My poor, dear, heart-broken parents : 
 
 Like a bolt of lightning from a clear sky came the telegram 
 from Mr. Huggins informing me of the tragic and untimely death of 
 my only my baby brother. Since then I have been in a daze of 
 blinding grief unable to grasp or comprehend the overwhelming 
 significance of the terrible fact. Oh, my God, it is impossible for me 
 to realize that Joe Our Joe happy, smiling, good-natured Joe, has 
 been ushered into eternity in this sudden, violent way! Can it be 
 that I have no brother now? That I am the only one left? That 
 my own and only brother childhood playmate is gone, and that I 
 shall never see him again? Oh, papa! Oh, mama! I was so proud 
 of my brother Joe. I was so proud to show his picture to my 
 friends and to tell them what a strong, manly, thrifty boy he was! 
 But O, my dear father and mother, I know that my suffering can 
 be nothing compared with yours. He was your baby, and he was 
 always at home. I know your poor, dear hearts are broken and 
 bleeding, and I wish I were there to share it with you. It Is so 
 hard to be so far away, like this, and not even to be permitted to 
 weep over the casket containing his precious body. Oh, God! how I 
 wish now that I had remained at home. 
 
 Joe was a good boy a fine, healthy, clean, human fellow. He 
 was loyal to his friends and loved ones, and his tender, reverent love 
 for his mothfr was as beautiful as it was rare. To him the word 
 "Mama" was a symbol of all that is good, and pure, and noble. How 
 often I remember hearing him say, "No woman can ever mean to 
 me what mama has meant." He truly "honored his father and his 
 mother," for never in his life did he ever express to me any word 
 of father or mother that was not a word of honor and respect. 
 
 His love for his mother was so great that it was his sword and 
 shield in temptation and the inspiration of that love guided his foot- 
 steps past many and many a pitfall. Whenever he was assailed by 
 
OUR JOE 31 
 
 temptation, he "remembered whose boy he was," and he saw to it 
 that "mama's boy" did nothing that would grieve or disappoint his 
 mother's heart. To me Joe's passionate and holy love for his mother 
 will always remain my sweetest memory of him. 
 
 Being weary of the monotony and grind of daily toil, this young 
 man went forth to breathe the mountain air, on early mornings 
 when the dew still sparkled upon the leaves and grass. He wanted 
 to fill his strong lungs with the sweet, fragrant air of the mountains, 
 and to roam along in God's great out-of-doors looking for game, and 
 to enjoy the sport of kings. He was manly and free, in love with 
 life, with every nerve and sense alive with the joyous thrill of 
 being. His sun of life was yet young in the sky, for he died " 'ere 
 manhood's morning touches noon and while eager waves were kissing 
 every sail." Without warning, and without desire, he was suddenly 
 caught in the embrace of death, and by spirit hands his eyes were 
 closed in dreamless sleep, and his generous, noble soul was carried 
 over to that other realm of life. But, mother dear, father dear, 
 our Joe Lives! Somewhere, on some plane, it will be made up to 
 him what he has been robbed of here. For if he does not live, then 
 there is no reason or justice in the universe. If there is a better 
 world, and my brother isn't in it, / don't want it either! No God 
 could afford to lose a soul like Joe's! Therefore, Joe is as real to 
 me now as he ever was, and I know that Sometime, Somewhere, we 
 shall meet him again, and that then we'll understand! 
 
 Papa, Mama, Charlie's and Margie's love are all you've got left 
 now. We must help you bear this irreparable loss. Therefore, dear 
 ones, if you feel that you need us at home, we will give up every- 
 thing else and come home, to share your sorrow and loss as much as 
 is humanly possible. Our first duty is to our companions in grief 
 to our bereaved father and mother! 
 
 I don't doubt but that I could eventually find a church some- 
 where in the vicinity of San Francisco Bav. I would like to be at 
 home in this awful time, for this tragedy is one that we will never, 
 never get over, or forget. 
 
 Only Divine Love and Grace can avail us now. 
 
 Your heart-broken son, 
 
 CHARLIE. 
 
 P. S. Write or wire 3241 Elliott St., Baltimore, Ind., unless 
 you hear from me to the contrary. C. 
 
 In a letter to me, describing the funeral, which was 
 held at the home on Saturday, August 20, my mother 
 wrote : 
 
 "We never knew our darling had so many friends. They sent so 
 many floral offerings that his casket and grave were completely hid. 
 We also received many letters and notes of sympathy and con- 
 dolence from his friends and ours. Under separate cover* I am send- 
 ing you two photographs of the funeral." 
 
OUR JOE 
 
 JOE- 1920 
 
 JOE 
 By Robert Whitaker 
 
 We knew him as a gentle boy 
 
 Intent on doing well, 
 
 Who thought hard on his day's employ, 
 Nor much on heaven and hell. 
 
OUR JOE SS 
 
 He was so young, so fresh and fair 
 
 He seemed not to belong 
 To the world's wretchedness and care, 
 
 The bitter strife with wrong. 
 
 His mother's boy, he dwelt at home, 
 
 And home love dwelt in him; 
 He sought not in far lands to roam, 
 
 Nor danced at pleasure's whim. 
 
 His was the love of simple ways, 
 
 Of kindly, homely joys; 
 And so he kept him from the maze 
 
 Of Folly's glare and noise. 
 
 And yet he thrilled to open fields, 
 
 And answered to the wild, 
 As every healthy human yields 
 
 Himself as Nature's child. 
 
 And so upon the mountain's breast, 
 
 Far from the fevered town, 
 Close to the heart of Nature pressed 
 
 He slept, and cuddled down. 
 
 Nay, but he waked, as never yet! 
 
 And marvelled much to find 
 That somehow, strangely, he had met 
 
 Those who were of his kind. 
 
 The loved whom he had never known 
 
 Except as household names; 
 Who welcomed him with loving tone 
 
 And unexpected claims. 
 
 Long had he thought of them as dead, 
 
 Yet now, more quick than he, 
 They smoothed his hands, and held his head 
 
 And smiling, tenderly. 
 
 They led him gently to the truth 
 That he had passed from earth, 
 
 And his was now the timeless youth 
 Of a diviner birth. 
 
 A birth, but not forgetfulness, 
 
 As with our new born here; 
 Rather a deeper tenderness 
 
 Toward all whom earth made dear. 
 
 So deep in him, so very strong, 
 
 Beyond the strength of death, 
 He bore these earlier-born along, 
 
 As with a whirl-wind's breath. 
 
SJf OUR JOE 
 
 And down the mystic void between 
 
 That other world and ours, 
 They spoke from out of the unseen, 
 
 And their united powers 
 
 Pushed back our clouds of ignorance 
 
 As fog-drifts flee the sun, 
 And levelled every difference 
 
 To prove that love is one. 
 
 What though the fog-drifts come again, 
 
 And barriers rise anew? 
 Death never-more can be as when 
 
 Their words first trembled through. 
 
 So little yet our ears can guess 
 
 Of what our hearts would know, 
 We hardly venture to confess 
 
 That we have heard from Joe. 
 
 We doubt in spite of every proof 
 
 That filters through the veil; 
 And still we hold fair Faith aloft 
 
 When our crude testings fail. 
 
 But not in vain our loved ones yon 
 
 Break through the mystic screen, 
 And signal us whence they have gone 
 
 Into that vast unseen. 
 
 Columbus-like we hardly dare 
 
 The flotsam's urge believe; 
 Though birds are singing in the air, 
 
 We doubt, and fear, and grieve. 
 
 But morning comes, the land appears, 
 
 Our day, our day shall see 
 The long, long mystery of the years 
 
 Dissolved in certainty. 
 
 Written in San Francisco, California, Sunday 
 morning (Christmas) December 25, 1921. 
 
 THE COMMUNITY CHURCH New York City 
 
 Office of the Minister, 61 East 34th Street. 
 Dear Mr. Mundell: October 17th, 1921. 
 
 Mr. Whitaker has just written me of the tragic death of your 
 brother. I am inexpressibly distressed to hear this news and to 
 realize the affliction that it brings to you and your mother. Words 
 seem to fail completely when they are challenged to meet a situation 
 of this kind, so I am not going to try to offer you consolation, but 
 just ask you to know how deeply grieved I am for you all. I mourn 
 
OUR JOE 35 
 
 particularly for your mother, but am glad for her that you are 
 with her. 
 
 I suppose that your future is uncertain. Is there no possibility 
 of your getting back to Oklahoma and taking up the work there 
 again in your Community Church? There is no church in the 
 country of which I have cherished higher hopes or which has given 
 me greater encouragement in my work here. Let me hear from 
 you if you have opportunity to write. 
 With renewed sympathy, I remain 
 
 Very sincerely yours, 
 
 JOHN HAYNES HOLMES. 
 
 Mr. Charles Mundell, care Rev. Robert Whitaker, 
 1025 East 31st Street, Oakland, Calif. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 THE PROBLEM OF PAIN AND EVIL 
 
 The phenomena of pain and evil, in a Universe sup- 
 posedly governed by the will of a benevolent Deity, con- 
 stitutes one of the most difficult problems of modern 
 theology. 
 
 If God is good, and all-powerful, why does he permit, 
 in his Universe, such phenomena as cyclones, tornadoes, 
 floods, earthquakes, famines, pestilences, volcanoes, and 
 blizzards? Does he not know that all these things bring 
 destruction, suffering, and death in their wake? That 
 they render his children helpless, homeless, and broken- 
 hearted? That they make widows, orphans, and grief- 
 stricken loved ones ? 
 
 If He does not know these things, then He cannot be 
 God, for a God limited in understanding and knowledge is 
 unthinkable. We could not worship such a God. Our 
 most consoling thought in time of trouble or distress is 
 that God knows best. To be God, in the very nature of 
 the case, God must be Omniscient ! 
 
 Then if God knows these things, and still permits 
 them, we are up against this problem : If God is able to 
 prevent these things, and does not, is He Good? If he 
 would, and cannot, he is not Omnipotent. If God is not 
 Ail-Powerful, then Nature is greater than God! In fact, 
 if God is not all-powerful, how can we be expected to 
 
36 OUR JOE 
 
 reverence Him as God? If He is God, then he must be 
 omnipotent! 
 
 If God is benevolent, and loves us, and can prevent 
 these awful calamities, why doesn't He ? 
 
 Would not human fathers anticipate and prevent such 
 suffering and distress on the part of their children, if they 
 had the power? Of course they would. And yet, in 
 nature, we see some terrible things ! 
 
 It is easy enough to thoughtlessly sing, "Praise God 
 from whom all blessings flow," and to testify of His good- 
 ness in giving us sunshine, and rain, and harvest, and 
 grain ! 
 
 It is easy enough to write poems about God's good- 
 ness in storing the earth with coal, and oil, and iron, and 
 tin, and gold, and silver, and bronze ! It is easy enough 
 to grow eloquent about the flowers that bloom, and the 
 birds that sing, and the grass that grows, and the brooks 
 that babble, and the streams that ripple but what about 
 the lightning that rends, and the hail that beats, and the 
 tornado that sweeps everything in its path, and the earth- 
 quake that opens its yawning jaws and swallows a whole 
 city, or the volcano that vomits liquid fire and burning 
 lava upon sleeping towns and villages? What about the 
 angry floods which sweep down upon innocent and trust- 
 ing populations, sweeping away homes, and wives, and 
 children, and husbands, and fathers, and mothers ? What 
 about the great ocean storms which have dealt death and 
 destruction to thousands and thousands of peaceful ships ? 
 What about the northern blizzards which isolate and 
 freeze and starve thousands of souls to death ? 
 
 Why do we have to contend with such pests and de- 
 structive agencies as flies, mosquitoes, grasshoppers, 
 worms, disease-germs, etc. ? 
 
 Can we call a world so full of tragedy, suffering, and 
 death a good world? If you were God, would you have 
 filled the Universe with so much pain and strife ? 
 
 The path of organic evolution is strewn with the 
 bones and bodies of millions of innocent victims in the 
 
OUR JOE 37 
 
 fierce struggle for existence. Big fish eat little fish ; lions, 
 tigers, leopards, wolves, and other carnivora rend and tear 
 sentient, nervous creatures, and then devour them for 
 food. , 
 
 Why could not all this have been arranged dif- 
 ferently? 
 
 Don't you think, if you were going to create a world, 
 you would have created it different? 
 
 Oh love, could you and I with him conspire 
 
 To change this sorry scheme of things entire, 
 Would we not shatter it to bits and then 
 Rebuild it nearer to the heart's desire? 
 
 Omar Khayam. 
 
 If God created this earth for us, and if he wants us 
 to be secure and happy in it, then why are there so many 
 destructive agencies at work in nature which imperil the 
 welfare and happiness of human beings ? 
 
 Among the thousands of catastrophies in recent times 
 we need only to recall the San Francisco and Italian earth- 
 quakes, the Galveston, Pueblo, and Arkansas floods, the 
 Texas cyclones, and innumerable other tragedies too hor- 
 rible to describe. 
 
 Sometimes it seems that Nature's forces must be 
 blind, and that they operate entirely without any consid- 
 eration for the welfare of the sentient, suffering creatures 
 of this planet. 
 
 Such phenomena as these caused Epicurus, the Grecian 
 philosopher, to exclaim, "There may be gods, but they cer- 
 tainly pay no attention to the affairs of men." 
 
 These destructive forces of nature have destroyed 
 millions and millions of lives during the long, suffering 
 ages of the life-process upon the planet earth. They have 
 inflicted terrible, and almost universal pain and misery. 
 
 It is easy enough to sing, "Be not dismayed, what 
 e'er betide, God will take care of you," and, "All you may 
 need He will provide," but what about the all-too-familiar 
 fact that during famines, drouths, and pestilence, hun- 
 dreds of thousands of human beings die, in the most 
 agonizing and cruel way, of hunger, thirst, and disease? 
 
 Think of the unparalleled suffering now going on in 
 
38 OUR JOE 
 
 Russia, China, and the Near East, from hunger, disease, 
 and over- work! 
 
 Then, in addition to all this natural tragedy, think of 
 God's creating a race of. human beings so capable of in- 
 flicting pain and misery upon each other, as the human 
 race has done ! 
 
 Think of all the hundreds and thousands of cruel 
 wars which man has waged since his emergence from the 
 estate of savagery. 
 
 Think of the agony, and the pain, and the suffering, 
 caused by human beings, and then say that man is good ! 
 
 The above are some of the arguments advanced by 
 the philosophical pessimist, to prove that this is the worst 
 of all possible worlds, and that there is no evidence any- 
 where in nature for the idea of an Omnipotent, Omni- 
 scient, or Omnipresent God! There is no evidence any- 
 where of intelligence, benevolence, or design ! All nature 
 seems a tragic accident at least so far as the evolution 
 of life is concerned. 
 
 Our fathers used to account for the fact of sin and 
 evil by blaming everything except good upon a personal 
 devil. They said, "God is good ! The devil is bad ! All 
 good and perfect gifts come from God ! All pain, and evil, 
 and sin, and suffering, are caused by the devil ! But some 
 day God will kill the devil, and then there will be no more 
 pain and evil throughout the whole Universe.'* 
 
 This explanation of our fathers can no longer sat- 
 isfy us. 
 
 The very idea of a personal devil, to the modern mind, 
 is grotesque and impossible. For, if there be, indeed, such 
 a gentleman as the devil, our problem is no nearer solu- 
 tion, for, who created the devil? If he was never created, 
 then he is not a devil he is a god! 
 
 If he was created, God must have been the author of 
 his existence ! If God didn't know, when He created this 
 devil, that he was going to turn out to be a devil, then God 
 is not all-wise ! He doesn't know everything! And, as we 
 said before, if He does not know everythng, how can He 
 be God ? Can we conceive of a God limited in knowledge 
 and understanding? 
 
OUR JOE 39 
 
 If God did know, when he created this devil, that he 
 was going to turn out a devil, and still created him, is not 
 God indirectly responsible for all the evil, pain, and sin, 
 which is caused by the devil? 
 
 , If the devil be a fallen angel, and an outlaw, as some 
 think, then why does a good God permit him to be at large? 
 
 What would we think of a Police Force which per- 
 mitted a bad and dangerous criminal to roam at large, 
 when that force could put a stop to his depredations, and 
 wont? Would we consider such a force a good force? 
 
 Then if God is all-powerful more powerful than the 
 devil why does He not arrest this arch-criminal, and 
 either kill him, or confine him to some corner of the Uni- 
 verse where he can do no more harm ? 
 
 If we are God's children, and God can protect us from 
 the evil and the suffering caused by this devil, why 
 doesn't he? 
 
 Someone may reply, "But all this suffering and pain 
 in the world is the result of sin of the sin of Adam and 
 Eve in the Garden of Eden ! Had it not been for the dis- 
 obedience of our first parents there would never have been 
 any death, pain, or evil !" 
 
 In the first place, let me say that the Garden of Eden 
 story can no longer, by any possibility, be regarded as an 
 historical incident. Man has lived upon the earth at least 
 a hundred thousand years, and perhaps a half a million. 
 Sickness, pain, and death were known among men and 
 animals thousands of years before the tale of the Garden 
 of Eden was ever invented. 
 
 Furthermore, even granting that man's sin was re- 
 sponsible for pain and death among human beings, why 
 should the same evil befall the innocent animals? They 
 suffer and die, the same as do human beings. 
 
 From the standpoint of justice, does it seem right or 
 just that God should punish the whole human race, involv- 
 ing billions of human souls, for the petty offense of our 
 first parents ? Wouldn't it have been better to have wiped 
 Adam and Eve off the slate altogether, and to have com- 
 menced all over again? 
 
40 OUR JOE 
 
 After all, the so-called original sin consisted of an 
 extremely trivial offense! To punish billions of human 
 beings for such a petty transgression seems nothing short 
 of monstrous. Can we call a God good who would exact 
 such a penalty ? 
 
 Why should the innocent posterity of Adam suffer for 
 his sin? Do you think it is just to punish children for 
 the crimes of their parents? No human court of law 
 would make such a ruling! Is God less just than man? 
 
 Didn't God place temptation right before the innocent 
 man and woman ? Was not the tree of the knowledge of 
 good and evil set right in the midst of the trees of the 
 garden? So situated that they could see it from every 
 angle? 
 
 It is human nature to delve into the mysterious. You 
 tell a child not to get into the jam, and leave the jam 
 where he can easily get hold of it, and he wouldn't be 
 human if he didn't get into the jam! When God mysteri- 
 ously forbade their eating of the tree of the knowledge of 
 good and evil, without any explanation as to the why and 
 wherefore, he made it next to impossible for them to 
 resist the compulsion of their own curiosity. 
 
 Furthermore, the "fall" of Adam and Eve cannot 
 account for the apparent viciousness of the forces of 
 nature, as manifested in terrific storms, cyclones, tor- 
 nadoes, earthquakes, volcanoes, and floods, for the simple 
 reason that these phenomena are not confined to the earth 
 alone. Tremendous explosions are observable upon the 
 surface of the sun. The moon has been reduced to utter 
 ruin and desolation by the force of frequent volcanic erup- 
 tions of amazing magnitude, and by the rain of meteoric 
 stones upon its unprotected surface. 
 
 Snow storms, blizzards, cyclones, and floods doubt- 
 less occur upon the planet Mars. 
 
 Many of the other planets suffer violent internal 
 explosions, volcanoes, and earthquakes. 
 
 Can it be possible that the whole Universe was ren- 
 dered terrible because Adam and Eve ate of a forbidden 
 fruit? 
 
OUR JOE 41 
 
 Even worse than any of the tragedies we have men- 
 tioned above is the prophecy of science that some day our 
 blazing sun will burn out, and will cease to radiate heat 
 and light for the support of the myriads of forms of life 
 upon this and other possible worlds ! Then darkness will 
 envelop the vastness of our solar system, and our labors, 
 sufferings, and sacrifices will all come to naught. Scien- 
 tists tell us that, this catastrophe will not occur for two or 
 three million years but that it is nevertheless, inevitable! 
 What are we to say in answer to these arguments of 
 the school of philosophic pessimism ? Do they prove that, 
 in the light of the facts of nature, it is impossible to be- 
 lieve in the existence of a benevolent Deity, and that all 
 existence is, therefore, a curse and a tragedy? Shall we 
 agree with him that we are but the jokes of blind, unrea- 
 soning natural forces, or is there a satisfying solution of 
 this tremendous problem of pain and evil? If the pessi- 
 mist be right, then life is indeed not worth the living, and 
 it would be better if some wandering comet should sud- 
 denly strike the planet earth, and plunge everything of 
 consciousness and intelligence into the forgetfulness of 
 utter oblivion ! 
 
 Is there no alternative conclusion to this despairing 
 pessimism? Is there no intelligence, goodness, or hope 
 in the Universe? 
 
 In presenting the following I do not claim to have 
 solved all the perplexing and baffling questions involved in 
 this tremendous problem. Were I able to solve without 
 difficulty this eternal enigma, I would be possessed of 
 greater intelligence than anyone else who has ever lived. 
 This problem of pain and evil was the same problem 
 which Job wrestled with, thousands of years ago. The 
 greatest thinkers of all the ages have tried to penetrate 
 the veil of mystery which covers the face of this "riddle 
 of the sphinx." Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Seneca, Epic- 
 tetus, Epicurus, Augustine, Marcus Aurelius, Kant, Hegel, 
 Spencer, Martineau, and hosts of other brilliant philoso- 
 phers have attacked this problem and all they have been 
 able to offer have been suggestions, out of which we might 
 
42 OUR JOE 
 
 individually build our own solution of the problem of 
 pain and evil. 
 
 However, it is possible I may be able to offer some 
 argument why we should not despair, and perhaps I may 
 be able even to help you in laying hold of a satisfying faith 
 which will carry you through the maze of these soul- 
 stirring questions. 
 
 In the first place, I shall assume that we all want to 
 believe in God! Atheism is an unattractive and disap- 
 pointing philosophy ! It serves to stifle hope, and to create 
 despair. 
 
 Nevertheless, it is not a question of what we would 
 prefer to believe it is a question of what is true! 
 
 We would all rather believe that life persists after 
 death, and that we shall meet our loved ones again. But 
 the question is, is it true? 
 
 It is the aim of philosophy to find out the Truth of 
 everything, regardless of the effect which fact may have 
 upon the hopes and desires of human beings! And for 
 my part, I want to know the Truth, whether it may be 
 pleasant or unpleasant. I agree with Robert G. Ingersoll 
 when he says in his last poem, written shortly before his 
 death : 
 
 We have no falsehoods to defend, 
 
 We wants the Facts! 
 Our force, our thought, we do not spend, 
 
 In vain attacks. 
 And we will never meanly try 
 To save some fair, and pleasing, lie ! 
 
 The simple Truth is what we ask 
 
 Not the Ideal! 
 We've set ourselves the noble task, 
 
 To find the Real! 
 
 If all there is, is naught but dross 
 We want to know, and bear our loss ! 
 
 We will not willingly be fooled 
 
 By fables nursed; 
 Our hearts, by earnest thought are schooled, 
 
 To bear the worst! 
 And we can stand erect and dare 
 All things all facts that REALLY ARE! 
 
OUR JOE J+3 
 
 In the very beginning of our attempt to throw light 
 upon this problem, let us frankly admit that this is not a 
 perfect Universe! What we shall endeavor to prove is 
 that it is the Best Possible Universe, everything taken 
 into consideration, and viewed from the summit of 
 ultimate ends! 
 
 Of course, since evolution has won the right to be 
 regarded as an established fact of modern science, our 
 arguments will proceed frankly from the evolutionary 
 point of view. 
 
 The Universe is governed by law! From the most 
 stupendous world out in space, to the infinitesimal germ 
 of life, Law reigns! All phenomena occur in obedience 
 to inexorable, inviolable, Natural Law! 
 
 Whatever phenomena may occur in apparent viola- 
 tion of natural law, must be explained on the hypothesis 
 of some unknown, or undiscovered, law. 
 
 The question is, which would be better for us, in the 
 long run, to live in an orderly, smoothly -running Universe, 
 governed by law, or in a Universe subject to the arbitrary 
 whim of a fickle God? If God were always "butting in" 
 and interfering with the orderly processes of nature, the 
 universe would no longer be a cosmos governed by Uni- 
 versal Law, but the plaything of an irresponsible deity! 
 There can be no place for Miracle in a Law-governed Uni- 
 verse,, for every effect must be the result of an antecedent 
 cause, and there can be no effect without a cause, and no 
 cause without an effect! Hence, every fact fits into every 
 other fact in the universe, and that is how we can know 
 that it is a fact! Only a falsehood needs the support of 
 a miracle, for a miracle would mean the suspension of a 
 natural law, and the suspension of a single law of nature 
 would mean the upsetting of the whole order of the Uni- 
 verse! It would mean chaos, confusion, and illimitable 
 disorder ! 
 
 Before we can decide whether this is a good world, 
 or a bad world, we must take into consideration the work- 
 ings of natural law, as a whole. We must have the right 
 perspective, and this perspective must be the perspective 
 
44 OUR JOE 
 
 of Ultimate Ends, and not of Immediate Incidents! The 
 end justifies the means, provided, first, that there be In- 
 finite Wisdom back of the means, and second, that the end 
 is sufficiently Wholesome and Good. "Wisdom is justified 
 of her children." 
 
 Now the justification of Evolution, and of the Evo- 
 lutionary Process, or Method is this: that through mil- 
 lions of years, and through countless variations, and 
 through untold suffering, pain, and tragedy on the part 
 of millions of these variations of life, Evolution was at 
 work evolving Human Personality. All the experiences, 
 all the agony, and all the tragedy were necessary for the 
 complete development of Human Consciousness. 
 
 We are the creatures, not only of present environ- 
 ment, but of environments reaching back millions of years. 
 Into our innermost souls has been poured all the infinite 
 experiences of the race. 
 
 Embryology shows how every single individual passes 
 through all the physical variations in its own evolution 
 which the race has passed through in the uncounted mil- 
 leniums of the past. We all begin as a single cell, and we 
 pass through the stages of fish, reptile, mammal and all 
 the stages which the race has passed through. Thus 
 embryology gives us a sort of recapitulation argument for 
 evolution. 
 
 Man is the summit and crown of the evolutionary 
 process. In him physical evolution reaches its culmina- 
 tion, and the course of evolution changes from the physical 
 to the mental and spiritual. 
 
 Can we deny that Man, with his wonderful Mind, and 
 his capacity for achievement, justifies the process which 
 nature has used to evolve him? 
 
 Man is as yet unfinished and incomplete, but he is 
 wonderful, nevertheless. 
 
 The fundamental difference between Man and the 
 other animals is this : no other animal, save man, has the 
 capacity to rise above, and to modify, his environment. 
 Not by strength, but by Thought, has man become the 
 master of the brute creation. He has turned waste places 
 
OUR JOE 45 
 
 into vineyards, deserts into Edens ; he has bridged chasms, 
 changed the course of rivers, constructed huge canals, 
 giant skyscrapers, erected mammoth factories, and in- 
 vented telescopes through which to read the stars. He 
 has produced music, poetry, art, drama, and religion. 
 
 As declared above, with man the course of evolution 
 changes from the physical to the psychical, and from the 
 material to the spiritual. God is now engaged in the busi- 
 ness of evolving Souls! His ultimate end, so far as we 
 can glimpse it from the workings of evolution, is the evo- 
 lution of Character. And it is in this light that we can 
 arrive at a satisfying solution of the tremendous problem 
 of pain and evil. 
 
 In a Universe wholly free from pain and evil, can 
 you conceive of the development of such noble virtues as 
 Pity, Sympathy, Compassion, Generosity, Benevolence, 
 Kindness, Courage, Charity, Self -Control, or Altruism? 
 
 Can you conceive of a race which has never known 
 pain, and sorrow, and grief, and death? Could such a 
 race ever produce music, art, literature, drama, or re- 
 ligion? All these noble arts are but the expression of 
 Life, as it suffers, sorrows, rejoices, hopes, sings, sobs, 
 and prays. It is through pain and suffering that the high- 
 est types of character are evolved. 
 
 It is here that we arrive at our strongest argument in 
 favor of the hope of eternal life. It is evident that God 
 has a glorious destiny for us, sometime, somewhere. He 
 is working toward some sure, and definite, end. 
 
 If Character be the flower and fruit of the evolu- 
 tionary process, and if all the millions of years of suffer- 
 ing and pain were borne for this purpose, is it reasonable 
 to believe that all this work is to perish and come to 
 naught, in the grave? 
 
 The idea of Immortality is essential to the Reason- 
 ableness and Justice of the Universe. Without it, the 
 whole creation becomes a cruel joke and a mockery, and 
 instead of the logical result of Law, and of Order, we get 
 confusion, chaos, folly, and despair. 
 
OUR JOE 
 
 STILL GOD IS GOOD 
 
 I know not where His currents glide 
 
 Into the noiseless, tideless main; 
 I know His Love and Wisdom guide, 
 
 His Truth and Goodness still remain, 
 
 Asleep, awake on land or sea on mountain top or plain 
 Angelic love, God's Providence, His Watchcare still remain; 
 And God is good. 
 
 His fires may burn my treasured home, 
 
 His lightnings blast my garnered store; 
 And I be left o'er earth to roam 
 
 No friendly hand no welcome door 
 Still sings my soul this' glad refrain 
 
 Though homeless, friendless, sick, forlorn, 
 Though all my days be passed in pain, 
 
 And cherished hopes are from me torn; 
 Still God is good. 
 
 Though His Death Angel steals away 
 
 The friends I love and who love me, 
 And leaves all nature sombre gray 
 
 Though life becomes a tragedy 
 Still know I yet that truth Supreme 
 
 That back of all earth's loss and pain 
 My soul sings on its constant theme 
 
 "The Pillar and the Cloud' 'remain; 
 And God is good. 
 
 I see the truth writ large in life 
 
 That all earth's ills are for a day; 
 They cast their shadows, bring their strife, 
 
 Then gradually they pass away; 
 But Good is like the shining sun, 
 
 Though hidden by a passing shade, 
 Soon is the Course of Evil run, 
 
 And soon is Compensation made; 
 And God is good. 
 
 B. F. Austin. 
 
 (Written on the train, returning from Milwaukee, summoned home 
 by telegram announcing the death of his daughter.) 
 
OUR JOE 47 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 IF A MAN DIE, SHALL HE LIVE AGAIN? 
 
 It is easy enough to be complacent and to say, "Death 
 ends all," when life is full of vitality, beauty, and strength ; 
 when the family circle is unbroken; and when death 
 seems far, far away. 
 
 It is not so easy when one is brought face to face 
 with the stern reality of death ; when the grim reaper has 
 come into the home and snatched away one that is very 
 near and dear! 
 
 From that hour when the naked savage knelt by the 
 side of a loved one, and with hands raised to heaven cried, 
 "Is this the end?" until the present time, when contem- 
 plating the awful reality of death, the mind of man has 
 instinctively asked: "If a man die, shall he live again?" 
 
 There are some honest and sincere people who are 
 convinced that this life is the only life there is, and that 
 when this life is over, it marks the end of an individual 
 existence. 
 
 Far be it from me to denounce or condemn these men 
 and women ! 
 
 There is no doubt that they love their mothers, 
 fathers, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, sweethearts, 
 and friends, just as dearly, and as sincerely, as we love 
 ours! They miss and mourn for their dead, as we miss 
 and mourn for ours ! They are simply driven, by the logic 
 of their reasoning from certain premises, to the conclusion 
 that there is nothing in Nature or Science to warrant the 
 belief in a future life. 
 
 There is the atheist who honestly does not believe in 
 the existence of God. To him there is no evidence of any- 
 thing superior to matter, force, and motion. He rejects 
 the hypothesis of "design," and contends that he sees no 
 such thing in the Universe. 
 
 To the materialist, Life is no more than a chemical 
 reaction: it represents a certain combination and inter- 
 action of molecules, and nothing more. 
 
48 OUR JOE 
 
 Ernest Haeckel, Apostle of Modern Materialism, ex- 
 pressed the viewpoint thus : "All phenomena, from the 
 most material to the most spiritual, can be accounted for 
 in terms of matter and motion." 
 
 "Thought is a product of the brain, and there can be 
 no thought without a brain," insists the materialist. "Life 
 is not an entity ; it is merely the effect of certain material 
 causes. It is like the flame of the candle ; when the candle 
 is extinguished the light ceases to exist. So with the soul. 
 When the light of life is extinguished in the body, the 
 mind, or ego, or spirit, ceases to be. It is just as reason- 
 able to talk about the digestive process going on without a 
 stomach, as to talk about the continuance of consciousness 
 without a brain ! 
 
 "The eye is the organ of sight ; the nose is the organ 
 of smell ; and the ear is the organ of hearing. So also is 
 brain the organ of thought !" 
 
 It may be said in this connection that Science is never 
 dogmatic. 
 
 It is unscientific to be dogmatic about anything. All 
 that Science is willing to affirm is : "The preponderance 
 of evidence seems to prove such and such a proposition 
 to be true." 
 
 In suite of this fact, most materialists are extremely 
 dogmatic! As much so, sometimes, as our orthodox 
 friends in their religion. 
 
 But, besides the out-and-out materialist, or atheist, 
 there is the earnest, sincere, and honest agnostic. 
 
 The Agnostic does not deny the existence of God ! He 
 does not deny the existence of an immortal spirit, nor the 
 possibility of a life after death. 
 
 To use the words of the greatest agnostic of recent 
 times, Col. R. G. Ingersoll, the agnostic states : 
 
 "There may be in this universe an All-wise, All-good 
 Being, under whose protection the Universe exists; and 
 whose every thought is a glittering star, but I know 
 nothing about him! Not the slightest!" 
 
 Concerning the question of a life after death, Inger- 
 soll expressed himself as follows : 
 
OUR JOE 49 
 
 "I have said a thousand times, and I say again, that 
 we do not know, we cannot say, whether death is a wall or 
 a door the spreading of pinions to soar, or the folding 
 forever of wings the Rise or the Set of a Sun, or an end- 
 less life that brings rapture and love to everyone. 
 
 The idea of immortality, that like a sea has ebbed 
 and flowed in the human heart, with its countless waves 
 of hope and fear beating against the shores and rocks of 
 time and fate, was not born of any book, nor of any creed, 
 nor of any religion. It was born of human affection, and 
 will continue to ebb and flow beneath the mists and clouds 
 of doubt and darkness as long as Love kisses the lips of 
 Death. It is the rainbow Hope shining upon the tears 
 of grief. 
 
 If we are immortal, it is a fact in Nature, and we are 
 not indebted to priests for it, nor to bibles for it, and it 
 cannot be destroyed by unbelief." 
 
 In a letter written to a Mr. Geer, Ingersoll expresses 
 himself as follows : 
 
 117 East Twenty-first Street, 
 Gramercy Park, Apr. 24, '99. 
 My dear Mr. Geer: 
 
 What you said to Dr. Foote is beautiful, and for all I know it 
 may be true. Still, I have no evidence that human beings are im- 
 mortal. Neither have I any evidence that there is any Wise and 
 Beneficent power back of all creation. In fact, I have no evidence 
 of creation. 
 
 I believe that all matter and all force have existed from, and 
 will exist, to eternity. There is to me no evidence of the existence 
 of any power superior to Nature. In my opinion, the supernatural 
 does not exist. Still, we can wish in spite of, or against, evidence, 
 and we can hope without it. 
 
 Yours always, 
 
 R. G. INGERSOLL. 
 
 In the last poem written before his death, Ingersoll 
 said: 
 
 We do not pray, or weep, or wail; 
 
 We have no dread, 
 No fear to pass beyond the veil 
 
 That hides the dead. 
 And yet we question, dream, and guess, 
 But knowledge we do not possess. 
 
50 OUR JOE 
 
 We ask, yet nothing seems to know; 
 
 We cry in vain. 
 There is no "master of the show" 
 
 Who will explain, 
 Or from the future tear the mask; 
 And yet we dream, and still we ask : 
 
 Is there beyond the silent night 
 
 An endless day? 
 Is death a door that leads to light? 
 
 We cannot say. 
 
 The tongueless secret locked in fate 
 We do not know We hope and wait. 
 
 The above expresses the sentiment of thousands and 
 thousands of earnest souls. They would like to believe 
 that death does not end all; that there is a future, and 
 that the loved and lost will be regained in another world, 
 and upon another plane. Yet, they are too honest to pro- 
 fess a belief in something they have no evidence of. 
 
 Says Edward Clodd, the famous English Rationalist 
 and Author, in his book, "The Question: If a Man Die 
 Shall He Live Again?" "Nothing would make me happier 
 than to believe that I shall some day meet the dear mother 
 I have loved and lost. But the evidence available does not 
 seem, to me, to warrant any such hope." 
 
 From Robert J. Thompson's book, "Proofs of Life 
 After Death," I reproduce a letter from Dr. Hericourt : 
 
 "Like everybody, and in particular like those who 
 have lost dear ones, I would feel happy could I find argu- 
 ments in favor of the survival of human personality. 
 
 "Alas! I have found none that are capable of over- 
 coming scientific criticism. When the lamp goes out, 
 where goes the flame? To all appearances this flame had 
 a real existence, but was nothing but a series of vibrations 
 constantly renewed and dissipated constantly. 
 
 "Thus it is with our soul and its personality; it is a 
 flame of physiological conditions, resulting from vibra- 
 tions no sooner produced than dissipated, and which has 
 no more real existence than the flame of a lamp. 
 
OUR JOE 51 
 
 "What is immortal is the matter composing the lamp, 
 the matter composing our body, for matter is part of the 
 great whole which is indestructible. Matter, however, 
 does not interest us ; what does, is light, our personality ; 
 and this very thing is nothing ; for from each successive 
 generation of souls nothing more remains than what is 
 left of the lights of the last fete." 
 
 I also quote, in part, a letter from Prof. A. Brunot, 
 published in the same book : 
 
 "I must tell you in all frankness that, brought face 
 to face with death through a cruel loss, the cruelest, I 
 think, that one can have, that of an adored young wife, I 
 have never found even the shadow of a reason that would 
 lead me to believe I would find her again, preserving in 
 any manner or form her personality." 
 
 In the year 1917, if I remember rightly, a debate was 
 held in the city of Chicago between the famous criminal 
 lawyer, Clarence A. Darrow, and Professor Foster, of the 
 University of Chicago, on the question : "Is Life Worth 
 Living?" 
 
 Professor Foster said "Yes." Clarence Darrow said 
 "No." 
 
 One of Mr. Harrow's arguments impressed me very 
 strongly. It was this : 
 
 "If there is no life after this and there is no evi- 
 dence that there is it seems to me conclusive that life is 
 not worth living. Would you want to live your life over 
 again? I would not." 
 
 My conclusion is that Mr. Darrow is right. If this 
 life is all there is ; if the grave is the end of each and all ; 
 and if there is nothing in the Universe save matter and 
 motion, then life certainly is not worth the living, and 
 the most logical, sensible, and rational thing a man can do 
 is to commit suicide! 
 
 This life, at best, is full of suffering, trouble, and 
 sorrow. 
 
 Some of my materialistic-socialist friends tell me that 
 life is hardly worth living under the present system, but 
 
52 OUR JOE 
 
 that when Socialism becomes world-wide and complete, 
 life will then be worth living ! 
 
 It is a common fallacy to assume that economic inde- 
 pendence brings happiness ; that an abundance of the ma- 
 terial things of life precludes the possibility of misery 
 and discontent. 
 
 Can any change of economic conditions, any trans- 
 formation of society, any "Co-operative Commonwealth," 
 give us back our Joe ? 
 
 Can any proletarian or other "revolution" assuage 
 our grief, or drown our sorrow for his loss, if it be true, 
 indeed, that death ends all, and we shall never see him 
 again ? 
 
 Even with the coming of Utopia, death will still 
 snatch from the living those who love and are loved ! 
 
 Hearts will still break, and heads will still be bowed 
 in sorrow, no matter how perfect the economic and ma- 
 terial conditions may become ! 
 
 The fact that thousands of suicides occur among the 
 rich is proof sufficient that the material is not all that goes 
 to make life worth while ! 
 
 Give me a mansion to live in; a library, large and 
 beautiful ; a bank account running into the seven figures ; 
 a limousine all that goes with wealth and affluence and 
 I would give it all up for one proof positive that I shall 
 see my dear brother again ! 
 
 Is there a mother or father, a brother or sister, who 
 reads these pages, who would not rather have back a dear 
 one gone than all the wealth of the Rockefellers ? 
 
 If materialism be fact, then, for me, life certainly is 
 not worth the living! 
 
 The so-called joys and pleasures of life are but fleet- 
 ing and superficial at best. There is nothing permanently 
 satisfactory in any of it. 
 
 The ardent devotee of pleasure soon becomes tired 
 and bored with it all. He loses his appetite, and the zest 
 for living. He spends all his time in a fruitless endeavor 
 to get away from himself to avoid being bored to find 
 some new diversion! 
 
OUR JOE 58 
 
 Solomon tried it all. After a life spent in one mad 
 whirl of pleasure, he sums it all up with the cynical word : 
 "It is all vanity of vanities, and vexation of spirit." 
 
 The hungry heart of the world cannot be satisfied 
 with the husks of "worldly-pleasure" upon which the 
 "swine of materialism" feed ! 
 
 God alone can satisfy the hungry heart! And it is 
 God, under whatever name, that really brings solace and 
 comfort to the heart in time of bereavement, trouble, afflic- 
 tion, sorrow, and despair ! 
 
 To quote the language of that noble soul, Eugene V. 
 Debs, in a statement of faith published long before his 
 incarceration ; which faith has doubtless been his strength 
 and fortress during the bitter months of the past two and 
 a half years, and which echoes the words of the Psalmist : 
 
 "The Lord is my refuge and strength, a present help 
 in time of trouble." 
 
 "The God of the Universe is not a cruel, savage, 
 vengeful deity, filled with malice and breathing out his 
 malediction upon his hapless creatures, but a God of 
 boundless Love, whose Almighty Heart throbs in the 
 breast of every created being, and whose infinite soul 
 radiates in the hope and yearning and aspiration of the 
 race. 
 
 It was Voltaire who said that if there were no God, it 
 would be necessary to invent one. 
 
 Victor Hugo wrote : "Leibnitz praying is something 
 grand; Voltaire, worshipping, is something beautiful. 
 Deo Erexit Voltaire." 
 
 But these great souls * * * worshipped * * * a 
 God of Truth and Love, the God whose power thrills in 
 our veins when we grapple with the forces of evil and do 
 battle for the cause of Righteousness ; the God whose pas- 
 sion for justice surges in our souls, sustains us in every 
 dark and trying hour, and bears us in triumph to the 
 prison-gate or the gallows-tree in the pursuit of our ideals 
 and in the service of humanity. 
 
 "The soul which loves and which suffers is in the 
 sublime state." To love and to suffer is to enter the gate- 
 
54 OUR JOE 
 
 way of God and is the blessed heritage of all great souls. 
 "Upon the tenderest heart the deepest shadows fall." 
 
 It is the God of Love who sustains the souls that suffer 
 that other souls may know that Love is God. 
 
 A cannon ball travels at the rate of two thousand 
 miles a minute ; a ray of light two hundred thousand miles 
 a second. "That," says Victor Hugo, in one of his wonder- 
 ful epigrams, "is the difference between Napoleon Bona- 
 parte and Jesus Christ." 
 
 There are times when even the strongest among us 
 feel weak in the presence of the overwhelming odds that 
 confront us and threaten our cause with disaster; when 
 all our plans are seemingly shattered and all our years of 
 struggles vain and fruitless. It is then that the heart 
 grows faint and the spirit sinks within us if left to our 
 own naked selves and to our own paltry resources; but 
 if in the starless night of trial we can realize our kinship 
 to the God of Love and Truth and Righteousness, and feel 
 his omnipotent power pulsing in our veins, the vitalizing 
 current of life and hope and energy renewed from the 
 infinite reservoir speedily restores our strength, revives 
 our hope, renews our faith and courage, and turns ig- 
 nominious defeat into glorious victory. 
 
 Who has not, in some crisis of his life, felt himself 
 heartened by an unheard voice, sustained by an unseen 
 power, and pressed onward by unfelt hands? 
 
 The God I worship is the God who strengthens my 
 strength in the war for the weak ; the God who taught me 
 how to love and serve and suffer ; the God of Infinite Love, 
 who never damned a mortal soul, but gave to every living 
 creature his divine pledge of eternal love and salvation."* 
 
 * Reprinted from the Melting Pot. 
 
 And to quote a beautiful verse from my dear friend, 
 Robert Whitaker : 
 
 O Love Divine, our hearts entwine, 
 In Thee we live, and move, and are forever; 
 Tho wide our quest, we find no rest, 
 Until we rest in Thee. 
 
OUR JOE 55 
 
 The Idea of God is instinctive, and Universal. Man 
 is a religious animal. He is incurably religious. It is a 
 phenomenon common to all races, colors, and conditions 
 of men. 
 
 No matter where you go, what race of people you may 
 study, or what country, land, or clime you may visit, you 
 will find man worshipping something! He worships be- 
 cause it is his nature to worship. He cannot help it ! 
 
 I once heard this illustration, used in connection with 
 the above argument: 
 
 It is a very common thing to see little girls dress up 
 in their mothers' clothes ; to see them fondle and caress 
 their dolls, or pets, and to pretend they are mothers. 
 Why? Simply because it is feminine nature to mother 
 something! 
 
 So, also, it is human nature to worship something! 
 
 I have noticed the fact, all my life, that he who says, 
 
 "I don't believe in God," invariably deifies something else! 
 
 Not even the so-called atheist can get away from the 
 essential fact of his own nature ! He says (theoretically) 
 he does, not believe in any God, but he makes a god out of 
 something else! 
 
 He may call his God "Humanity," and himself a 
 "Humanitarian," and to the service of Man he may devote 
 his life! To the cause of humanity to the cause of Lib- 
 erty, Justice, and Righteousness, he may render a service 
 throbbing with moral and spiritual idealism. 
 
 He is worshipping God under a different name but 
 he worships he serves an ideal! Why? In response to 
 the urge of his own inner self ! 
 
 Or it may be that he worships at the shrine of 
 ''Socialism," "The Social Revolution" "Industrial Democ- 
 racy," "Science," "Truth," or "Country." Nevertheless, 
 he worships something, because it is his nature to do so, 
 and he can no more help it than he can help breathing, or 
 stop the beating of his heart ! 
 
56 OUR JOE 
 
 "THERE IS NO UNBELIEF 
 
 There is no unbelief; 
 Whoever plants a seed beneath the sod, 
 And waits to see it push away the clod 
 
 He trusts in God. 
 
 There is no unbelief; 
 
 Whoever says, when clouds are in the sky, 
 "Be patient heart, light cometh by and by," 
 
 Trusts the Most High. 
 
 There is no unbelief; 
 
 Whoever sees 'neath winter's field of snow, 
 The silent harvest of the future grow 
 
 God's power must know. 
 
 There is no unbelief; 
 
 Whoever lies down on his couch to sleep; 
 Content to lock each sense in slumber deep, 
 
 Knows God will keep. 
 
 There is no unbelief; 
 
 Whoever says, "Tomorrow," "the unknown," 
 "The Future," trusts that power alone, 
 
 He dares disown. 
 
 There is no unbelief; 
 
 The heart that looks on when the eye-lids close, 
 And dares to live when life has only woes, 
 
 God's comfort knows. 
 
 There is no unbelief; 
 
 And day by day, and night, unconsciously, 
 The heart lives by faith the lips deny 
 
 "God knoweth why." 
 
 In the Hindu Scriptures there is a passage attributed 
 to Brahma, which reads : "I am the same to all man- 
 kind. They who honestly serve other gods, involuntarily 
 worship me. I am He who partaketh of all worship, and 
 I am the reward of all worshippers." 
 
 It matters not what a man may call his God : the fact 
 is that he has one! Names, after all, signify but little; 
 they are only signs for ideas. So, it is a mere play on 
 words to substitute "Universal Essence," "Infinite 
 
OUR JOE 57 
 
 Spirit," "All-pervading Came," etc., for the brief word, 
 "God." 
 
 Jesus said: "God is Spirit, and they who worship 
 Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth" 
 
 EACH IN HIS OWN TONGUE 
 
 A fire-mist and a planet, a crystal and a cell; 
 A jellyfish and a saurian, and caves where the cave men dwell, 
 Then a sense of law and beauty, and a face turned from the clod 
 Some call it evolution, and others call it God. 
 
 A haze on the far horizon, the infinite tender sky, 
 The ripe, rich tint of the cornfields, and the wild geese sailing high; 
 And all over upland and lowland the charm of the goldenrod 
 Some of us call it autumn, and others call it God. 
 
 Like tides on the crescent sea-beach, when the moon is new and thin, 
 Into our hearts high yearnings come welling and surging in 
 Come from the mystic ocean, whose rim no foot has trod 
 Some of us call it longing, and others call it God. 
 
 A picket frozen on duty, a mother starved for her brood, 
 
 Socrates drinking the hemlock, and Jesus on the rood ; 
 
 And millions who, humble and nameless, the straight, hard pathway 
 
 trod 
 Some call it consecration, and others call it God! 
 
 Professor William Carruth. 
 
 The Idea of God is instinctive and Universal and so, 
 also, is the belief in a future life ! 
 
 There is a something in man which says : "I am im- 
 mortal! I shall never die! The grave will not swallow 
 up the last of me!" 
 
 When loved ones are put away there is a something 
 which says : "He is not dead ! He has only passed on ! 
 I shall see him again !" 
 
 Why has Nature planted this hope within, if it is all 
 a lie? 
 
 Is there any other sense, or instinct, in human life, 
 which is not in response to an actual fact ? 
 
 Why have we eyes the organ of sight? Because 
 there is something to see! 
 
 Why have we ears the sense of hearing? Because 
 there is something to hear! 
 
58 OUR JOE 
 
 Why have we a sense of taste? Because there is 
 something to taste ! Everything does not taste alike ! 
 
 Why have we the sense of touch? Because there is 
 something to touch ! 
 
 Why do we love ? Because there is something to love ! 
 
 Whence our esthetic sense ? Because there is beauty ! 
 
 So why is it instinctive to worship? Because there 
 is God! 
 
 Why is it instinctive to hope for a life beyond the 
 grave ? Because there is one ! 
 
 One of the most pathetic stories in all literature is the 
 story of Col. Robert G. Ingersoll at his brother's grave ! 
 
 Since the passing of my own dear brother, Ingersoll's 
 funeral oration at his brother's grave has exercised a 
 great fascination for me. It is very beautiful, and very 
 natural. I can understand now the grief which must have 
 been his in that hour. 
 
 Among the other beautiful things, he said : 
 
 "Life is a narrow vale between the cold and barren 
 peaks of two eternities. We strive in vain to look beyond 
 the heights. We cry aloud, and the only answer is the 
 echo of our wailing cry. From the voiceless lips of the 
 unreplying dead there comes no word " 
 
 Then it is said the great agnostic, overcome with 
 grief, bowed his head upon the casket and wept in uncon- 
 trollable grief, and it was some time before he could con- 
 tinue. Then, as the flower of faith sprang up in his heart, 
 he continued : "But in the night of death hope sees a star, 
 and listening love can hear the rustle of a wing. He who 
 sleeps here, when dying, mistaking the approach of death 
 for the return of health, muttered with his latest breath, 
 'I am better now.' Let us hope, dear friends, in spite of 
 dogmas and fears, grief and tears, that these dear words 
 are true of all the countless dead." 
 
 It is a singular thing that, twenty years later, these 
 words, "I am better now," were the last words of the great 
 agnostic himself. 
 
 Let us echo his own golden words and say, "Let us 
 hope he is better now." 
 
OUR JOE r >y 
 
 "Were there not a cosmic concord, 
 
 What would life's deep meaning be? 
 
 All the Universe is order, 
 
 Grandly moving as we see. 
 
 Could all this unending cosmos 
 
 Move in order deeply grand, 
 And there not be peace for pilgrims, 
 
 Rest Divine on every hand? 
 
 Under ocean's tossing billows 
 
 Is a calm, all waves below; 
 And beneath all mental raving, 
 
 Is a peace we all may know. 
 
 Depth that reacheth the Eternal, 
 
 Deeper far than thought or mind, 
 Is this concord, vast supernal, 
 
 Is this peace we all may find. 
 
 We are one in mystic import, 
 
 Sweet beyond all strains of earth ; 
 Manifest we now in earthland, 
 
 Yet are we of spirit birth; 
 
 Part of that geat Cosmic Concord, 
 
 Grandeur great beyond all thought! 
 
 Yet by depth of stringent suffering 
 
 Was our faith's sweet incense bought. 
 
 Harmony ecstatic enter, 
 
 Let each act be sweet divine, 
 In the love of our great leader 
 
 Lo, we see heaven's splendors shine." 
 
 (These verses were published anonymously in a weekly meta- 
 physical magazine. I would gladly give credit if I knew who wrote 
 them. C. S. M.) 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 IMMORTALITY IN THE LIGHT OF EVOLUTION 
 
 It is not the purpose of this chapter either to defend 
 or oppose the theory of evolution, but to treat the problem 
 of immortality from the standpoint of organic evolution. 
 
 Personally, I am as convinced of the general princi- 
 
60 OUR JOE 
 
 pies of evolution as I am of the law of gravitation, and it 
 is my opinion that we gain nothing by ignoring the fact 
 that, in scientific circles, the evolutionary hypothesis is 
 taken for granted. 
 
 The materialist looks upon the facts of evolution as a 
 vindication of his thesis that man is mortal. 
 
 Says he: "All beings have evolved, including man. 
 
 "Man has come up from the lower animals. He is an 
 animal. He is a first cousin of the anthropoid ape. The 
 ape, in turn, is evolved from a still lower form, and so on 
 down to the beginning of life upon the planet earth. 
 Therefore, if man is immortal, so must be the animals ! 
 
 "Evolution has established a universal kinship. 
 
 "Where does the mortal leave off, and the immortal 
 begin ? 
 
 "Physically, man is no different, in kind, from the 
 orders of life beneath him. 
 
 "In order to live (at least in the body), the animals 
 must have air, and food, and water. So must man. 
 
 "If the animal can live without a soul, so can man. 
 
 "If the animal must have a brain with which to think, 
 so must man. 
 
 "If the animal perishes at death, so must man." 
 
 Below is reproduced an article from "The Progres- 
 sive Thinker," a Spiritualist weekly, published in Chicago : 
 
 From the Progressive Thinker, of Oct. 29, 1921. 
 
 ZOO HEAD SAYS IF MAN HAS SOUL, SO HAS ANIMAL 
 BY W. B. SEABROOK 
 
 "If the lowest members of the human race have immortal souls, 
 then the higher animals also have immortal souls." 
 
 This statement was made to Universal Service by Dr. William 
 Temple Hornaday, director of the New York Zoological Gardens, 
 explorer on several continents, author of numerous books and Amer- 
 ica's leading authority on animal life. 
 
 Commenting on the declaration of the great French scientist, 
 Camille Flammarion, that he would shortly give the world scientific 
 proof of the existence of animals in the spirit world, Dr. Hornaday 
 said: 
 
 "My mind is wide open. But I would want to see the evidence 
 and I should insist on it being scientific and complete. 
 
OUR JOE 61 
 
 "I think few churchmen will disagree with me on the proposi- 
 tion or object to my assertion that belief in future life even for 
 human beings is now based on faith rather than on scientific proof. 
 
 "From a purely rationalistic standpoint, leaving religion and 
 revelation aside, I see no reason whv it is not just as likely that Mr. 
 Flammarion's dog should be immortal as that Mr. Flammarion him- 
 self should. If the human being exists after death there is no scien- 
 tific reason why other animal life should be excluded. 
 
 "Basically the human emotions are the same as those of the 
 higher animals. Man has simply elaborated and refined them. 
 
 "And the difference between animal intelligence and human 
 intelligence is a difference in degree rather than in kind. 
 
 "That animals have the power to reason from cause to effect 
 has been proven under my own observation. 
 
 "One of the most interesting cases I can attest is that of an 
 orang-outang in this zoo that discovered the principle of the lever. 
 
 "This beast decided that it wanted to tear down the running 
 bars of its cage. It was not powerful enough to do so by an appli- 
 cation of direct physical strength. 
 
 "After studying the situation and experimenting, it ripped 
 down the bar of its trapeze and, using the bar as a lever, managed 
 to tear down the running bars. 
 
 "Furthermore, finding its own strength insufficient at one point 
 it called another orang-outang to help it. 
 
 "This case was of sufficient importance to be written up in the 
 scientific magazines at the time. The orang-outang discovered for 
 itself the principle of the lever just as truly as Archimedes discov- 
 ered the principle of the screw. 
 
 "This orang-outang and other animals I have observed showed 
 more intelligence than some men have. I would point out that the 
 majority of psychologists in studying animal psychology have access 
 only to tame or domestic animals the dog, the horse, the cat. 
 
 "But wild animals, generally speaking, are more intelligent 
 than tame animals. This is natural because they are on their own 
 resources to provide for themselves food and shelter and to preserve 
 their lives. 
 
 "From long observation I am convinced that some of the higher 
 wild animals have intelligence superior to that of the lowest form of 
 human intelligence, and therefore I am willing to lay down my 
 original proposition with little fear of scientific contradiction, that 
 higher animals are just as likely to have souls as are lower members 
 of the human race." 
 
 The first book I ever read on evolution, and the one 
 which convinced me that the facts all point to evolution, 
 was J. Howard Moore's splendid little book, "The Univer- 
 sal Kinship." In the preface of the book he states the 
 thesis of his work : 
 
62 OUR JOE 
 
 ''The Universal Kinship means the kinship of all the 
 inhabitants of the planet Earth. Whether they came into 
 existence among the waters or among desert sands, in a 
 hole in the earth, in the hollow of a tree, or in a palace ; 
 whether they build nests or empires ; whether they swim, 
 fly, crawl, or ambulate ; and whether they realize it or not, 
 they are all related, physically, mentally, and morally. 
 But since man is the most gifted and influential of animals, 
 and since his relationship with other animals is more im- 
 portant and more reluctantly recognized than any other, 
 the chief purpose of these pages is to prove and interpret 
 the kinship of the human species with the other species 
 of animals." 
 
 On page 4 of the same book, the author continues: 
 "Man is an animal. However averse to accepting it we 
 may be on account of favorite traditions, man is an animal 
 in the most literal and materialistic meaning of the word. 
 * * * In important respects he is the most highly evolved 
 of animals ; but in origin, disposition, and form he is no 
 more 'divine' than the dog who laps his sores, the terrapin 
 who waddles over the earth in a carapace, or the fastidious 
 worm who dines on the dust of his feet. Man is not the 
 pedestalled individual pictured by his imagination a be- 
 ing glittering with prerogatives, and towering apart from 
 and above all other beings. He is a pain-shunning, pleas- 
 ure-seeking, death-dreading organism, differing in partic- 
 ulars, but not in kind, from the pain-shunning, pleasure- 
 seeking, death-dreading organisms below and around him. 
 Man is neither a rock, a vegetable, nor a deity. He be- 
 longs to the same class of existence, and has been brought 
 into existence by the same evolutional processes, as the 
 horse, the toad that hops in his garden, the firefly that 
 lights its twilight torch, and the bivalve that reluctantly 
 feeds him. 
 
 "Man's body is composed fundamentally of the same 
 materials as the bodies of all other animals. The bodies 
 of all animals are composed of clay. They are formed out 
 of the same elements as those that murmur in the waters, 
 gallop in the winds, and constitute the substance of the 
 
OUR JOE 63 
 
 insensate rocks and soils. More than two-thirds of the 
 weight of the human body is made up of Oxygen alone, a 
 gas which forms one-fifth of the weight of the air, more 
 than eight-ninths of that of the sea, and forty-seven per 
 cent, of the superficial solids of the earth. 
 
 "Man's body is composed of cells. So are the bodies 
 of all other animals. And the cells in the body of a human 
 being are not essentially different in composition or struc- 
 ture from the cells in the body of the sponge. All cells 
 are composed primarily of protoplasm, a compound of 
 carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen. Like all other 
 animals, man is incapable of producing a particle of the 
 essential substance of which the body is made. No animal 
 can produce protoplasm. This is the pow r er of the plant, 
 and the plant only. All that any animal can do is to burn 
 the compounds formed in the sun-lit laboratories of the 
 vegetable world. The human skeleton, like the skeletons 
 of nearly all other animals, is composed chiefly of lime 
 lime being, in the sea, where life spent so many of its 
 earlier centuries, the most available material for parts 
 whose purpose it is to furnish shape and durability to 
 the organism. 
 
 "Man grows from an egg. So do all creatures of 
 clay. Every animal commences at the same place in a 
 single, lowly, almost homogeneous cell. A dog, a frog, a 
 philosopher, and a worm cannot for a long time after 
 their embryonic commencement be distinguished from 
 each other. Like the oyster, the ox, the insect, and the fish, 
 like all that live, move, and breathe, man is mortal. He 
 increases in size and complexity through an allotted period 
 of time ; then, like all his kindred, wilts back into the in- 
 distinguishable flux from which he came. 
 
 "Man inhales oxygen and exhales carbon dioxide. So 
 does every animal that breathes, whether it breathe by 
 lungs, gills, skin, or ectosarc, and whether it breathe the 
 sunless ooze of the sea floor, or the ethereal blue of the 
 sky. Animals inhale oxygen because they eat carbon and 
 hydrogen. The energy of all animals is produced mainly 
 by the union of oxygen with the elements of carbon and 
 
64 OUR JOE 
 
 hydrogen in the tissues of animal bodies, the plentiful 
 and ardent oxygen being the most available supporter of 
 the combustion of these two elements. 
 
 "Man is, then, an animal, more highly evolved than 
 the most of his fellow-beings, but positively of the same 
 clay, and of the same fundamental make-up, with the 
 same eagerness to exceed and the same destiny, as his less 
 pompous kindred who float and frolic and pass away in 
 the seas and atmospheres, and creep over the land-patches 
 of a common clod." 
 
 On page 107 the same author continues: "Man is 
 not a fallen god, but a promoted reptile. The beings 
 around him are not conveniences, but cousins. Instead of 
 stretching away to the stars, man's pedigree slinks down 
 into the sea." 
 
 And on page 161 Mr. Moore declares: "I am not 
 one of those who regard the evidence for the post-mortem 
 existence of the human soul as being either abundant or 
 conclusive. But of one thing I am positive, and that is, 
 that there are the same grounds precisely for believing 
 in the immortality of the bird and the quadruped as there 
 are for the belief in human immortality. And it is de- 
 lightful to find great thinkers like Haeckel, great biolo- 
 gists and philosophers, holding the same opinion." 
 
 Ernst Haeckel, in his monumental work, Riddle of 
 the Universe, published in 1899, page 201, says : 
 
 ."If the human soul were to live for all eternity we 
 should have to grant the same privilege to the * * 
 higher animals, at least to those of the nearest related 
 mammals (apes, dogs, etc.) . For man is not distinguished 
 from them by a special kind of soul, or by any peculiar 
 and exclusive psychic function, but only by a higher de- 
 gree of psychic activity, a superior stage of development. 
 In particular, consciousness the function of the associa- 
 tion of ideas, thought, and reason has reached a higher 
 level in many men ( by no means in all) than in most of 
 the animals. Yet this difference is far from being so 
 great as is popularly supposed, and it is much slighter in 
 every respect than the corresponding difference between 
 
OUR JOE 65 
 
 the higher and lower animal souls, or even the difference 
 btween the highest and the lowest stages of the human 
 soul itself. If we ascribe 'personal immortality' to man, 
 we are bound to grant it also to the higher animals." 
 
 In his book, "The Spark in the Clod," page 120, Rev. 
 J. T. Sunderland sums up the matter thus : 
 
 "Another objection to the doctrine of immortality, 
 which is often made, is the claim that no line can be drawn 
 between man and the animals below him, so that if man 
 is immortal they also must be. They and he came into 
 being by the same path of Evolution many of them have 
 bodies close akin to his ; some even show moral qualities, 
 as fidelity, a sense of duty, an ability to distinguish be- 
 tween Right and Wrong. Must we not believe, therefore, 
 that they and he will have the same fate? If he lives 
 again, will not they ? If they perish, must not he ? 
 
 "In reply, the first thought that suggests itself is the 
 inquiry : Why may it not be possible that at least all the 
 nobler and more intelligent of the lower animals may live 
 again? It would seem easier to believe this than to be- 
 lieve that man is to perish. Indeed, for myself, I think it 
 would be easier to believe that all animals are immortal, 
 than that man is not." 
 
 In his excellent book, "Is Death the End," Rev. John 
 Haynes Holmes, in a footnote at the bottom of page 120, 
 writes : 
 
 "It may be well to note that not all persons have 
 found the thought of the immortality of animals certain 
 ones, at least! inconceivable, or even unpleasant. Wit- 
 ness the statement of John Galsworthy in reference to 
 dogs ! 'If we have spirits, they have. If we know after 
 our departure who we are, they do. No one, I think, who 
 really longs for the truth, can ever glibly say which it will 
 be for dog and man persistence or extinction of con- 
 sciousness/ ' 
 
 What shall we say in reply to this contention? 
 
 Does it prove that man is not immortal? I do not 
 think so. 
 
66 OUR JOE 
 
 Among the great evolutionary thinkers who believe 
 in immortality, there are three theories concerning the 
 relation of the Imomrtal Spirit to the evolutionary 
 process : 
 
 First, that the soul itself was evolved ; the theory of 
 the "inward flowering of the soul" ; 
 
 Second, that with the dawn of human consciousness, 
 or self-consciousness, man was given a ready-made, im- 
 mortal spirit, and that since this acquisition, he has been 
 set apart, and is in a class by himself different from all 
 other creatures ; 
 
 Third, that all creatures are immortal that all life 
 is eternal in character, and that, therefore, there is no 
 such thing as death anywhere (in the commonly accepted 
 sense of the word) , but that every death, whether for non- 
 human or human, represents merely a transition from one 
 state of existence to another. 
 
 In elucidation of the first theory, that of "the inward 
 flowering of trie soul," I quote from my friend Dr. Holmes' 
 book, "Is Death the End?" Chapter 4, pages 125, 126 
 and 127 : 
 
 "* * * There is the doctrine set forth by Joseph Le 
 Conte, for many years professor of geology and natural 
 history at the University of California, in his famous 
 book on 'Evolution and Its Relation to Religious Thought' 
 (pages 313-30) : 
 
 " 'I believe that the spirit of man was developed out 
 of the anima or conscious principle of animals, and this, 
 again, was developed out of the lower forms of life- 
 force, and this in its turn out of the chemical and physical 
 forces of Nature ; and that at a certain stage in this grad- 
 ual development, viz., with man, it acquired the property 
 of immortality precisely as it now, in the individual his- 
 tory of each man at a certain stage, acquired the capacity 
 of abstract thought/ 
 
 "In elucidation of this view, Le Conte traces the evo- 
 lution of organic life through its various stages, and shows 
 how each step of advancement is marked by the appear- 
 ance of new powers and properties, never apparent and 
 
OUR JOE 67 
 
 wholly unimaginable before. There was a time in the 
 history of the earth/ he reminds us, 'when only physical 
 forces existed/ At a certain stage in the process of de- 
 velopment, however, 'chemical affinity came into being' 
 a new form of force never seen before, having new and 
 peculiar phenomena, 'though doubtless derived from the 
 preceding/ Ages passed away, and then suddenly, when 
 conditions were favorable, life appeared 'a new and 
 higher form of force, producing a still more peculiar group 
 of phenomena, but still derived from the preceding/ 
 
 " 'Ages upon ages again passed away, during which 
 this life-force took on higher and higher forms, . . . until 
 finally, when the time was fully ripe and conditions were 
 exceptionally favorable, spirit, self-conscious, self-deter- 
 mining, rational, and moral, appeared a new and still 
 higher form of force, but still, as I am persuaded, derived 
 from the preceding/ 
 
 "Thus has life gone on developing from stage to 
 stage, each decisive onward step distinguished by the 
 sudden appearance of new properties and powers, all of 
 them derivative to be sure, but no one of them foreseen 
 or even foreseeable. This whole process, says Professor 
 Le Conte, interpreted in ultimate terms, is nothing but 
 the gradual evolution 'of spirit in the womb of Nature/ 
 
 " 'The universal Divine energy, unindivuated, but 
 only yet very imperfectly, is what we call the life-force 
 of plants. The same energy, more fully indivuated, but 
 not completely, we call the Anima of animals. The Anima, 
 or animal soul, as time went on, was indivuated more 
 and more, until it resembled and foreshadowed the spirit 
 of man. Finally, still the same energy, completely indi- 
 viduated as a separate entity and therefore self-conscious, 
 capable of separate existence and therefore immortal, w 
 call the spirit of man/ 
 
 "In man, in other words, the Omnipresent Divine 
 energy, after unnumbered centuries of what may be called 
 embryonic development, at last came to birth, and the new 
 and distinctive property or power which it assumed, at 
 this marvelous instant of final realization, was immor- 
 
68 
 
 OUR JOE 
 
 tality. 'As the organic embryo by birth reaches inde- 
 pendent material or temporal life,' says Le Conte, 'even 
 so, spirit embryo by birth attains independent spiritual 
 or eternal life.' ' 
 
 Says John Fiske: 
 
 "I can see no insuperable difficulty in the notion that, 
 at some period in the evolution of humanity, this the 
 divine spark may have acquired sufficient concentration 
 and steadiness to survive the wreck of material forms and 
 endure forever." (See The Destiny of Man, page 117.) 
 
 The second theory, that "with the dawn of Human, 
 or Self -C consciousness, man was given a ready-made, im- 
 mortal spirit a thing brand new, and foreign, to evolu- 
 tion and a thing which is possessed by man alone and 
 which is not possessed by any other animal," was the 
 theory held by Dr. Alfred Russell Wallace, co-discoverer 
 with Darwin of the principle of natural selection, and who 
 became convinced of the reality of Spiritualism, and by 
 many other evolutionists and spiritualists. 
 
 Says Dr. John Haynes Holmes, in contrasting the 
 view of Wallace with that of Le Conte : "Wallace * * * 
 is * * * emphatic in his opinion that the immortal spirit 
 is a 'new thing added at once, out of hand, to what was 
 already existing before.' It is somewhat difficult to get 
 hold of his exact idea in all its ramifications, but the basic 
 conception seems to be that of 'a world of spirit, to which 
 the world of matter is altogether subordinate.' ' 
 
 In defense of his position, Wallace emphasizes the 
 qualities of self-consciousness, moral idealism, spirituality, 
 etc., which differentiate man from the lower animals. He 
 argues that: 
 
 "These faculties either do not exist at all or exist in 
 a very rudimentary condition in savages, but appear 
 almost suddenly and in perfect development in the higher 
 races. These same faculties are further distinguished by 
 their sporadic character, being well developed only in a 
 very small proportion of the community ; and by the enor- 
 mous amount of variation in their development. * * * 
 Each of these characteristics is totally inconsistent with 
 
OUR JOE 69 
 
 any action of the law of natural selection in the production 
 of the faculties referred to ; and the facts taken in their 
 entirety, compel us to recognize some origin for them 
 wholly distinct from that which has served to account for 
 the animal characteristics of man." 
 
 Dr. Wallace finds this origin in what he calls "the 
 unseen universe of Spirit." 
 
 Dr. Holmes comments upon this as follows : "Man, 
 on this hypothesis, is a twofold creature. Superimposed 
 upon his animal nature is a spiritual nature, which repre- 
 sents what Wallace calls 'an influx of some portion of the 
 Spirit of the Deity.' By virtue of this 'influx/ man be- 
 came a living soul. On the basis of this 'influx' are to be 
 explained all the attributes and powers of man which 
 differentiate him from the brute." 
 
 It will be seen that this second theory exempts the 
 spirit of man from the operation of the law of evolution, 
 and makes of the "spiritualized animal" a new and a dis- 
 tinct creation, so that, however much man may have in 
 common with the other animals in the material way, he 
 has absolutely nothing in common with them in a spiritual 
 way. 
 
 Personally, I am less inclined to accept this "explana- 
 tion" than I am of either of the other two. 
 
 It does not seem to me that Wallace has made his case 
 at all plausible. He does not pretend to tell us when this 
 Spirit descended into the animal, and the animal ceased 
 to be mortal, and became immortal. Surely, on these 
 grounds, it seems that some animals are more worthy of 
 such an incarnation than some men ! 
 
 Says Edward Carpenter: 
 
 "I saw, deep in the eyes of the animals, the human 
 soul look out upon me. 
 
 "I saw where it was born down deep under feathers 
 and fur, or condemned for awhile to roam four-footed 
 among the brambles. I caught the clinging, mute glance 
 of the prisoner, and swore that I would be faithful. 
 
 "Thee, my brother and sister, I see and mistake not. 
 Do not be afraid. Dwelling thus and thus for awhile, f ul- 
 
70 OUR JOE 
 
 filling thy appointed time thou too shalt come to thyself 
 at last. 
 
 "Thy half-warm horns and long tongue lapping round 
 my wrist do not conceal thy humanity any more than the 
 learned talk of the pedant conceals his for all thou art 
 dumb, we have words and plenty between us." 
 
 The third theory, and the one which most appeals to 
 me, is that "All life is continuous immortal indestruc- 
 able ; that it is one of the primal elements of the Universe; 
 that, as we believe in the indestructability of matter, and 
 the conservation of energy, we must believe in the con- 
 tinuity of life! Not one single spark of life can be de- 
 stroyed, any more than a single atom of matter can be 
 destroyed ! 
 
 The clearest and most illuminating exposition of this 
 third theory which I have ever seen is to be found in 
 Sir Oliver Lodge's lecture on "The Continuity of Life," 
 or in Part Three : Life and Death section of his remark- 
 able book, Raymond, chapters 1 to 10. 
 
 In the "Continuity of Life," a lecture delivered before 
 the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 
 on the occasion of his election to the presidency of that 
 society, in 1913, Sir Oliver argues that Life is the direct- 
 ing energy which works in and through matter, and that 
 Life is independent of, and superior to, matter. 
 
 It might be well here to remind the reader that Sir 
 Oliver Lodge is one of the greatest of British scientists, 
 and that he became a Spiritualist only after years of rigid, 
 scientific investigation of psychic phenomena. 
 
 It is in the part of Raymond referred to, however, 
 that the clearest exposition is made of the "third theory" 
 to which we have called attention. 
 
 In Chapter 1, on "The Meaning of Life," Sir Oliver 
 says, among other things : 
 
 "By the term 'life' I wish to signify the vivifying 
 principle which animates matter. 
 
 "That the behavior of animated matter differs from 
 what is often called dead matter is familiar, and is illus- 
 
OUR JOE 71 
 
 trated by the description sometimes given of an uncanny 
 piece of mechanism that 'it behaves as if it were alive/ 
 
 "We must admit that the term 'dead matter' is often 
 misapplied. It is used sometimes to denote merely the 
 constituents of the general inorganic world. But it is in- 
 convenient to speak of utterly inanimate things, like 
 stones, as 'dead,' when no idea of life was ever associated 
 with them, and when 'inorganic' is all that is meant. The 
 term 'dead' applied to a piece of matter signifies the ab- 
 sence of a vivifying principle, no doubt, but it is most 
 properly applied to a collocation of organic matter which 
 has been animated. 
 
 " "Again, when animation has ceased, the thing we 
 properly call dead is not the complete organism, but that 
 material portion which is left behind ; we do not or should 
 not intend to make any assertion concerning the vivifying 
 principle which has left it beyond the bare fact of its 
 departure. We know too little about that principle to be 
 able to make safe general assertions. The life that is 
 transmitted by an acorn or other seed fruit is always 
 beyond our ken. We can but study its effects, and note its 
 presence or absence by results. 
 
 "Life must be considered SUI GENERIS; it is not a 
 form of energy, nor can it be expressed in terms of some- 
 thing else. Electricity is in the same predicament; it too 
 cannot be explained in terms of something else. This is 
 true of ALL fundamental forms of being. Magnetism 
 may be called a concomitant of moving electricity ; ordin- 
 ary matter can perhaps be resolved into electric charges : 
 but an electric charge can certainly not be expressed in 
 terms of either matter or energy. No more can life. To 
 show that the living principle in a seed is not one of the 
 forms of energy, it is sufficient to remember that that seed 
 can give rise to innumerable descendents, through count- 
 less generations, without limit. There is nothing like a 
 constant quantity of something to be shared, as there is 
 in all examples of energy ; there is no conservation about 
 it : the seed embodies a stimulating and organizing prin- 
 ciple which appears to well from a limitless source. 
 
72 OUR JOE 
 
 "But although life is not energy, any more than it is 
 matter, yet it directs energy, and thereby controls ar- 
 rangements of matter." 
 
 Therefore, insists Sir Oliver, Life is an entity per se; 
 it exists in itself, and it exerts influence over matter. He 
 continues : 
 
 "Through the agency of life specific structures are 
 composed which otherwise would not exist, from a sea- 
 shell to a cathedral, from a blade of grass to an oak ; and 
 specific distributions of energy are caused from the lumi- 
 nosity of a firefly to an electric arc, from the song of a 
 cricket to an oratorio. 
 
 "Life makes use of any automatic activities, or trans- 
 ferences and declensions of energy, which are either 
 potentially or actually occurring. In especial it makes 
 use of the torrent of ether tremors which reach the earth 
 from the sun. Every plant is doing it constantly. Ad- 
 mittedly life exerts no force, it does no work, but it makes 
 effective the energy available for an organism which it 
 controls and vivifies ; it determines in what direction and 
 when work shall be done. It is plain matter of fact that 
 it does this, whether we understand the method or not 
 and thus indirectly life interacts with and influences the 
 material world." 
 
 He goes on to say, "Energy controlled by life is not 
 random energy : the kind of self-composition or personal 
 structure built by it depends on the kind of life-unit which 
 is operating, not on the pabulum which is supplied. Food 
 which is assimilable at all takes a shape determined by 
 the nature of the operative organism, and indeed by the 
 portion of the organism actually reached by it. Uncon- 
 scious constructive ability is as active in each cell of the 
 body as in a honeycomb ; only in a beehive we can see the 
 operators at work. The construction of an eye or an ear 
 is still more astonishing. In the inorganic world such 
 structures would be meaningless, for there would be noth- 
 ing to respond to their stimulus ; they can only serve ele- 
 mentary mind and consciousness. The brain and nerve 
 
OUR JOE 73 
 
 system is an instrument of transmutation or translation 
 from the physical to the mental, and vice versa." 
 
 Again speaking of the organizing and directing func- 
 tion of the life-principle, he says, in his chapter on "Death 
 and Decay": 
 
 "The visible shape of the body is no accident, it cor- 
 responds to a reality, for it was caused by the indwelling 
 vivifying essence ; and affection entwines itself inevitably 
 round not only the true personality of the departed, but 
 round its material vehicle also the sign and symbol of so 
 much beauty, so much love." 
 
 In the following chapters Lodge goes on to discuss 
 "Continued Existence," "Interaction of Mind and Mat- 
 ter, Mind and Brain, and Life and Consciousness." 
 
 Let me say in this connection, Reader, if you have not 
 read "Raymond," by Sir Oliver Lodge, by all means do so. 
 It represents a wonderful piece of work, and no one inter- 
 ested in the question of a life after death can afford to 
 fail in reading it. 
 
 According to the theory of continuity, "Life" and 
 "Spirit" are one ; therefore, the animals, and even plants, 
 as well as man, must have a something which is inde- 
 structable and eternal. 
 
 In the chapter on "Life and Consciousness," Sir 
 Oliver, after discussing the points of view which I have 
 indicated in theories one and two, goes on to say : 
 
 "I would venture to extend the range of the term 
 'soul' down to a very large denominator to cases in which 
 the magnitude of the fraction becomes excessively minute 
 and tentatively admit to the possibility of survival, 
 though not individual survival, every form of life. As to 
 Individuality and Personality they can only survive 
 where they already exist; where they really exist they 
 persist; but bare survival, as an alternative to improbable 
 extinction, may be widespread. 
 
 "Matter forms an instrument, a means of manifesta- 
 tion, but it need not be the only one possible. We have 
 utilized matter to build up this beautiful bodily mechan- 
 ism, but when that is done with, the constructive ability 
 
OUR JOE 
 
 remains; and it can be expected to exercise its organizing 
 powers in other than material environment. If this 
 hypothesis be true at all (and admittedly I am now mak- 
 ing hypothesis) it must be true of all forms of life; for 
 what the process of evolution has accomplished here may 
 be accomplished elsewhere, under conditions at present 
 unknown. So I venture to surmise that the surroundings 
 of non-material existence will be far more homely and 
 habitual than people in general have been accustomed to 
 think likely. 
 
 "And how do I know that the visible material body 
 of anything is all the body, or all the existence, it pos- 
 sesses ? Why should not things exist also, or have etherial 
 counterparts in an etherial world? Perhaps everything 
 has already an etherial counterpart, of which our senses 
 tell us the material aspect only. I do not know. Such an 
 idea may be quoted as an absurdity ; but if the evidence 
 drives me in that direction, in that direction I will go, 
 without undue resistence. There have been those who do 
 not wait to be driven, but who lead; and the inspired 
 guidance of Plotinus in that direction may secure more 
 attention, and attract more disciples, when the way is 
 illuminated by discoverable facts. 
 
 "Meanwhile facts await discovery. 
 
 "My reference * * * to teachings of Plotinus about 
 the kind of things to be met with in the other world, or 
 the etherial world, or whatever it may be called, is due 
 to information from Professor J. H. Muirhead, that roughly 
 speaking, Plotinus teaches that things there are on the 
 same plan as things here: each thing here having its 
 counterpart or corresponding existence there, though glor- 
 ified and fuller of reality. Not to misrepresent this doc- 
 trine, but to illustrate it as far as can be by a short pas- 
 sage, Professor Muirhead has given me the following 
 translation from the Enneads : 
 
 " 'But again let us speak thus : for since we hold that 
 this universe is framed after the pattern of that, every 
 living thing must needs first be there; and since Its Being 
 is perfect, all must be there. Heaven then must there be 
 
OUR JOE 75 
 
 a living thing nor void of what are here called stars; 
 indeed such things belong to heaven. Clearly, too, the 
 earth which is m there is not an empty void, but is much 
 more full of life, wherein are all creatures that are here 
 called land animals and plants that are rooted in life. 
 And sea is there, and all water in ebb and flow and in 
 abiding life, and all creatures that are in the water. And 
 air is a part of the all that is there, and creatures of the 
 air in accordance with the nature and laws of air. For in 
 the living how should living things fail? How then can 
 any living thing fail to be there, seeing that as each of 
 the great parts of Nature is, so needs must be the living 
 things that therein are? As then heaven is, and there 
 exists, so are and exist all the creatures that inhabit it; 
 nor can these fail to be, else would those (on earth) not 
 be.' Enn. VI., vii. 
 
 "I expect it would be misleading to suppose that the 
 terms used by Plotinus really signify any difference of 
 locality. It may be nearer the truth to suppose that when 
 freed from our restricting and only matter-revealing 
 senses we become aware of much that was and is "Here" 
 all the time, interfused with the existence which we know 
 forming part indeed of the one and only complete exist- 
 ence, of which our present normal knowledge is limited to 
 a single aspect. We might think and speak of many inter- 
 penetrating universes, and yet recognize that ultimately 
 they must be all one. It is not likely that the present dif- 
 fers from what we now call the future except in our mode 
 of perceiving it." 
 
 According to this conception, the spirit-world is not 
 "far, far away," or "far beyond the skies," or "in the 
 skies," but it is here, there, everywhere! Fundamentally, 
 it is more of a state or condition than a place! 
 
 It is just as true, that even on the earth-plane, we 
 create our own moral, intellectual, and spiritual worlds. 
 It is also true, that even on the earth-plane people live in 
 "different worlds." 
 
 Some live in an atmosphere of refinement, culture, 
 beauty, and spirituality, while others live in an atmos- 
 
76 
 
 OUR JOE 
 
 phere of coarseness, vulgarity, ugliness, and materialism. 
 
 Some live in a world of music ; others in a world of 
 poetry ; others in a world of literature ; others in a world 
 of "tango and jazz"; others in a world of philosophy; 
 and so on ad infinitum. 
 
 On the earth-plane there are many kingdoms of life : 
 the vegetable kingdom, the life of the sea, the life of the 
 jungles, the life of the plains, of the valleys, and hills. 
 Each kingdom lives largely unto itself. 
 
 So it may be in the spirit-world. 
 
 So, then, whether we prefer any one of these theories 
 to the other, evolution does not present any insuperable 
 difficulty in the way of the belief in a future life. 
 
 If we accept the testimony purporting to come from 
 inhabitants of the Spirit-world, some animals, at least, do 
 survive the change called death. 
 
 In Raymond, page 203, during a sitting of Sir Oliver 
 Lodge with the famous Mrs. Leonard, the child-control, 
 Feda, speaking concerning Raymond: 
 
 "He has brought that doggie again, nice doggie. A 
 doggie that goes like this, and twists about (Feda indicat- 
 ing a wriggle) . He has got a nice tail, not a little stumpy 
 tail, nice tail with nice hair on it. He sits up like that 
 sometimes, and comes down again, and puts his tongue 
 out of his mouth. He's got a cat, too, plenty of animals, 
 he says. He hasn't seen any lions and tigers, but he sees 
 horses, cats, dogs, and birds. He says you know this 
 doggie ; he has nice hair, a little wavy, which sticks up all 
 over him, and has twists at the end. Now he's jumping 
 around. He hasn't got a very pointed face, but it isn't 
 like a little pug dog either ; it's rather a long shape. And 
 he has nice ears with flaps, not standing up; nice long 
 hairs on them, too. A darkish color he looks, darkish, as 
 near as Feda can see him." 
 
 O. J. L. : "Does he call him by any name?" 
 
 Feda : "He says, 'Not him/ (Sotto voce. What you 
 mean, not him'?) It is a 'him'; you don't call him 'it.' 
 No, he won't explain. No, he didn't give a name. It 
 can jump." 
 
OUR JOE 77 
 
 Sir Oliver states that the above was quite an accurate 
 description of a she-dog called "Curly," which had died 
 some years ago. A photograph of the dog is reproduced 
 on page 278. 
 
 During some of the table-sittings in our home we 
 have received affirmative answers to our questions if there 
 were any animals in the spirit-world. Both Grandma 
 H. M. P. and Joe specifically mentioned an old horse we 
 once owned, which went by the name of "Spot," a faith- 
 ful old creature. 
 
 In the literature of the Society for Psychical Re- 
 search, and in the books and pamphlets of Modern 
 Spiritualism, one will run across numerous spirit-com- 
 munications to the effect that there are animals who have 
 survived death, and that these animals have been seen. 
 
 In conclusion, the abstract question of immortality 
 in the light of evolution is of minor consequence, if it be 
 a fact that the spirits of the dead can, and do, communi- 
 cate with the living! 
 
 Whenever any new fact or truth is discovered, we are 
 compelled to adjust our former views accordingly. Hence, 
 if it can be proved that a single, bona fide message has 
 ever come from disembodied spirits, that one proof would 
 outweigh all the philosophical and speculative arguments 
 in the world. The question then is, Is spirit communica- 
 tion a fact? Can it be proved? If so, everything else is 
 incidental ! 
 
 I cannot close this chapter without pointing out the 
 affirmative aspects of Evolution in relation to the problem 
 of immortality. 
 
 Personally, Evolution itself is to me the strongest 
 argument, outside of actual observation and experience, 
 in favor of the hypothesis of immortality. To quote from 
 the great discoverer, Darwin himself : 
 
 "With respect to immortality nothing shows me how 
 strong and almost instinctive a belief it is as the consid- 
 eration of the view now held by most physicists, namely, 
 that the sun with all the planets will in time grow too 
 cold for life. . . . Believing as I do that man in the dis- 
 
78 
 
 OUR JOE 
 
 tant future will be a far more perfect creature than he 
 now is, it is an intolerable thought that he and all other 
 sentient beings are doomed to complete annihilation after 
 such long-continued slow process." Charles Darwin in 
 Life and Letters, vol. i., p. 282. 
 
 In other words, if man is to perish at death, evolu- 
 tion has been a purposeless, senseless process, for ulti- 
 mately all her works will sink into the oblivion of noth- 
 ingness ! 
 
 Says John Fiske, in The Destiny of Man, page 114: 
 
 "Is it all ephemeral, is it all a bubble that bursts, a 
 vision that fades? Are we to regard the Creator's (or 
 Nature's if preferred) work as like that of a child, who 
 builds houses out of blocks, just for the pleasure of knock- 
 ing them down?" 
 
 In that excellent work already quoted, "Is Death the 
 End," by Rev. John Haynes Holmes, pages 130-139, this 
 argument is elucidated as follows: 
 
 "Not yet, however, have we touched upon that phase 
 of the evolutionary conception which constitutes the real 
 contribution of the new science of our time to the hope 
 of immortality. We shall only begin to understand the 
 significance of this contribution when we see that in this, 
 as in every other problem of man's being, the issue is at 
 once shifted by the doctrine of evolution from the idea of 
 man as a separate individual to that of man as a part of 
 the entire cosmic order. Not man in himself, but man in 
 his relation to the all-embracing world of life, now be- 
 comes the almost exclusive point-of-view from which the 
 problem of eternity presents itself. At the heart of the 
 whole matter is the universe, and not merely an individual, 
 or group of individuals, within this universe. If im- 
 mortality is ever to be established at all, it must hence- 
 forth be upon the basis not of the peculiar powers and 
 purposes resident within the human soul as a separate 
 spiritual entity, but of the whole significance of that stu- 
 pendous evolutionary process, of which the development 
 of the soul is but a single incident. Not the argument 
 
OUR JOE 79 
 
 from man, but the argument from the cosmos, must be 
 now the deciding factor! 
 
 "Looked at from this point-of-view, man takes on at 
 once an altogether remarkable significance as an organic 
 being. Here in this universe, evolution tells us, a great 
 energy and spirit self-existent, eternal, infinite, con- 
 scious, intelligent, purposeful has been living through 
 unnumbered aeons of time, and manifesting itself in ever 
 higher and nobler forms of created life. These manifesta- 
 tions have always been controlled by the unvarying law of 
 development movement, that is, from the lower to the 
 higher, from the simple to the complex, 'from the homo- 
 geneous to the heterogeneous/ to quote the familiar gen- 
 eralization of Herbert Spencer. Manifesting itself first as 
 a mere particle of protoplasm, in unicellular form, it has 
 grown and expanded, has moved step by step, ever upward 
 and onward, from the inorganic to the organic, from the 
 vegetable to the animal, from the invertebrate to the 
 vertebrate, from the fish and bird to the mammal and 
 primate, until, at last, after millions of centuries of time, 
 man has appeared and with him the process has appar- 
 ently stopped ! No higher type of life has been evolved, 
 nor is there any indication that such a type will ever ap- 
 pear. Progress still continues, of course, but it is no 
 longer physical, but mental and spiritual, and, as such, is 
 within man, and not beyond him." 
 
 Says John Fiske, in The Destiny of Man, pages 31-32 : 
 "On earth there will never be a higher creature than 
 man . . . for man is still the goal toward which nature 
 tended from the beginning. ... He who has mastered 
 the Darwinian theory sees that in the deadly struggle for 
 existence, which has raged through countless aeons of 
 time, the whole creation has been groaning and travailing 
 together in order to bring forth the last consummate 
 specimen of God's handiwork the human soul." 
 
 And George Eliot puts the same great conclusion into 
 poetic phrase, when she says : 
 
80 
 
 OUR JOE 
 
 I, too, rest in faith 
 
 That man's perfection is the crowning flower, 
 Toward which the urgent sap in life's great tree 
 Is pressing seen in puny blossom now, 
 But in the world's great morrow to expand 
 With broadest petals and with deepest glow. 
 
 Now if this exaltation of man means anything at all, 
 it means that a steady purpose has been rising through all 
 the innumerable changing forms of life, and that man is 
 the fulfillment of this purpose. It means that man is the 
 end of all things, the goal toward which nature has beer 
 tending from the beginning, the "one far-off divine event, 
 toward which the whole creation" has ever, moved. It 
 means that all which has preceded him has been but the 
 preparation for his coming that all the aeons of creative 
 time have been fashioning the globe only that it might 
 become his fitting habitation that all plants and trees 
 have flourished, all fishes swum the sea, all birds coursed 
 through the air, all animals struggled and fought for 
 supremacy in life's battle, only that man might be the per- 
 fect creature, physical, mental, spiritual, that we see hiro 
 at the present moment. "So far from degrading human- 
 ity," says John Fiske, "the doctrine of evolution enlarges 
 tenfold the significance of human life and places it upon 
 an even loftier eminence" than even priests and prophets 
 have imagined. It makes man "the heir of all the ages," 
 the inheritor of all the strength and power and beauty of 
 the entire cosmic process. It ennobles him as the quintes- 
 sence of all the life of all the world, the embodiment of 
 everything that has gone before, the fulfillment and reve- 
 lation of the universe. It gives him a kinship with all 
 things that be, and thus endows him with a universal 
 ancestry. Lowell boasts that he can count the trees 
 "among his far progenitors" ; Shelley addresses the sky- 
 lark, Bryant the water-fowl, and Burns the field-mouse, 
 as kindred spirits ; Wordsworth feels in nature 
 
 .... a presence that disturbs me with the joy 
 
 Of elevated thoughts: a sense sublime 
 
 Of something far more deeply interfused. 
 
 Therefore . . . am I still 
 
 A lover of the meadows and the woods 
 
 And mountains. 
 
OUR JOE 81 
 
 And now we find, according to evolution, that these 
 fantastic visions of the poets are sober truth. The whole 
 universe, with its myriad forms of life, has joined together 
 for the making of the human soul we are what we are, 
 in thought and emotion, in ideal and aspiration, in the 
 mind that thinks and the heart that feels and the soul that 
 dreams its dreams and sees its visions, because we have 
 grown, little by little, step by step, part by part, in and 
 through and out of all that has gone before. "No poet's 
 fancy/' says Mr. J. T. Sunderland in The Spark in the 
 Clod, "ever dreamed such exaltation for man as science 
 in our day, in the light of evolution, is declaring to be 
 verified fact." 
 
 From the first, faint glimmerings of life, then, all 
 things have been working toward this one mighty goal 
 the production of man, with his art and poetry and music, 
 his cities and kingdoms, his civilizations and religions. 
 And now arises instantly the fateful question, inevitable 
 in the circumstances what does all this mean? Has all 
 this been done for nothing? Is all this ceaseless toil of 
 the ages to no permanent end? Has all this "groaning 
 and travailing" of the whole creation for millions upon 
 millions of centuries past brought forth nothing but this 
 transient creature man, who lives his few brief days upon 
 the earth and then vanishes forever, like Prospero's "un- 
 substantial pageant," leaving "not a rack behind"? The 
 material body of man is, as we know, cast aside and 
 returns unto the dust from which it came. Astronomers 
 tell us that that dreadful day is sure to come when the 
 earth shall at last be swallowed up by the sun, the solar 
 system be shattered to ruin, the heavens themselves vanish 
 "like a flaming scroll," and all the material universe again 
 be merged into the original fire-mist from which it first 
 evolved. And now, in the face of this stupendous cata- 
 clysm, there comes the question, does this utter dissolu- 
 tion of gross matter involve also the dissolution of the 
 intellectual, emotional, and spiritual nature of man? 
 Does man's soul, in other words this soul which is the 
 supreme goal towards which all the creative energy has 
 
82 OUR JOE 
 
 been ever moving perish even as the dust of the earth? 
 Has all this work of untold centuries, of millions upon 
 millions of years of time, been done for nothing? Has 
 chaos been reduced to order, this order fashioned into the 
 "matchless architecture of the heavens and the earth," 
 this structure clothed upon with life, this life unfolded 
 into the wonder of flower and tree, the beauty of fish and 
 bird, the miracle of man with his erect posture, his speak- 
 ing tongue, his dreaming mind, his loving heart, his aspir- 
 ing soul that this last great miracle may continue only 
 through life's little span and then cease forevermore ? 
 
 Such a conclusion as this, in the light of human 
 reason, is impossible. It is mere madness to conceive of 
 such a useless ending of the world such a vain and 
 empty outcome of the cosmic process. Just to assert that 
 the universe has been laboring for a million years to no 
 permanent end is to confess to lunacy. What, for instance, 
 would we think of a painter who should spend a lifetime 
 upon some great canvas toiling through weary days and 
 sleepless nights upon a masterpiece of creative workman- 
 ship only to display it for a single day to an admiring 
 world and then to slash it into bits? What would we 
 think of a musician who should devote his years to the 
 composition of a great opera, that sounded the deepest 
 depths and smote the loftiest heights of inspired song 
 only to produce it for a single night and then destroy it 
 forever? What would we think of an inspired poet, who 
 should labor from youth to old age upon some great epic, 
 which ran the whole gamut of human passion and scaled 
 the farthest peaks of human idealism only to read his 
 noble lines to the listening ears of men for one litle day, 
 and then to give his manuscript to the flames ? And what, 
 in the same way, would we think of God, if he has toiled 
 all these aeons and at the last has produced that "consum- 
 mate specimen of his handiwork, the human soul," only to 
 destroy it after one fleeting moment of existence ? Even 
 to imagine such a thing of God and of his world is im- 
 possible. The cosmic process through all these ages must 
 have been working to some permanent end, and must 
 
OUR JOE 83 
 
 have been seeking some abiding achievement and what 
 can this be but a soul that shall never die? Evolution 
 leads straight to immortality, or it leads nowhere. Evo- 
 lution leads to the eternal life as the next step in the un- 
 folding process, else there is no such unfolding process. 
 The human soul is immortal, else God is mad and evolu- 
 tion itself a baseless dream. 
 
 "The more thoroughly we comprehend the process of 
 evolution (says John Fiske, as the final result of his sur- 
 vey of the whole evolutionary process), the more we are 
 likely to feel that to deny the everlasting persistence of 
 the spiritual element in man is to rob the whole process of 
 its meaning. It goes far toward putting us to permanent 
 intellectual confusion. (See The Destiny of Man, pages 
 115, 116.")" 
 
 To the evolutionist, therefore, the denial of immor- 
 tality is "an intolerable thought." There must, in the 
 very nature of the case, be a future life for the human 
 soul, in order to justify the universal order, if nothing 
 more. For if evolution has taught us anything it has cer- 
 tainly taught us that the laws which govern the universe 
 are reasonable; that the evolutionary process is guided 
 by a rational idea and controlled by a moral purpose ; that 
 the creative energy, through all the ages past, has been 
 moving toward the attainment of something definite and 
 something also permanent. And that "something" is 
 surely nothing other than that which is the flower and 
 fruit of all unfolding life the aspiring soul of man. 
 When the earth has again been reduced to liquid fire, 
 when the heavens have again "rolled together like a flam- 
 ing scroll," and all the labor of the ages has ended in 
 the fire-mist of chaos, when darkness has again enveloped 
 an unformed world and silence is again brooding upon 
 the empty spaces of the deep all shall not be lost, all this 
 age-long process shall not have been in vain. There shall 
 still remain the soul of man as the evidence of what God 
 has done; there shall still survive the wreckage of space 
 and time the human spirit, as the supreme and indestruc- 
 tible product of God's creative handiwork. If the universe 
 
84 OUR JOE 
 
 is rational and evolution proves to us that it is the 
 soul of man must be immortal, and must endure even 
 when the sun is cold, the stars extinguished, and the earth 
 dissolved to nothing. It cannot be otherwise within the 
 bounds of human reason ; else is the world a delusion, the 
 evolutionary process "a vanity of vanities," and God him- 
 self an unproductive and hence unintelligent workman. 
 It is this which Dr. Fiske means when he gives us, as 
 his credo, "I believe in the immortality of the soul as a 
 supreme act of faith in the reasonableness of God's work !" 
 THERE IS NO DEATH 
 
 "There is no death! The stars go down 
 
 To rise upon some fairer shore, 
 And bright in heaven's jeweled crown 
 
 They shine for evermore. 
 
 There is no death! The leaves may fall, 
 The flowers may fade and pass away; 
 
 They only wait through wintry hours 
 The coming of the May. 
 
 There is no death! An angel form 
 
 Walks o'er the earth with silent tread ; 
 
 He bears our best loved things away, 
 And then we call them dead. 
 
 He leaves our hearts all desolate, 
 
 He plucks our fairest, sweetest flowers ; 
 
 Transplanted into bliss they now 
 Adorn immortal bowers. 
 
 The bird-like voice, whose joyous tones 
 
 Made glad these scenes of sin and strife, 
 
 Sings now an everlasting song 
 Amid the trees of life. 
 
 And where he sees a smile too bright 
 
 Or heart too pure for taint and vice, 
 
 He bears it to that world of light, 
 To dwell in Paradise. 
 
 Born unto that undying life, 
 
 They leave us but to come again; 
 
 With joy we welcome them the same, 
 Except in sin and pain. 
 
 And ever near us, though unseen, 
 
 The dear immortal spirits tread; 
 For all the boundless universe 
 
 Is Life there are no dead." 
 
OUR JOE 85 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 INVESTIGATIONS IN PSYCHIC RESEARCH 
 
 Report of our first table sitting, in our own home, 
 904 Brush St., Oakland, California, Saturday evening, 
 September 17, 1921. 
 
 We had been discussing the question of life after 
 death, immortality, materialism, Spiritualism, and Psychic 
 Research. We talked of the Proceedings of the Society 
 for Psychical Research, of ''Raymond," by Sir Oliver 
 Lodge, of Dr. Hyslop, Frederick W. H. Myers, Lombroso, 
 Alfred Russell Wallace, and the other distinguished scien- 
 tific exponents of the belief in Spirit Return. I remarked 
 to my mother, "Would you like to try some experiments in 
 table tipping?" 
 
 My wife and I had tried out these experiments before, 
 but mostly in a spirit of sheer curiosity, and largely in 
 fun. We had witnessed only one phenomenon : one night 
 in Oklahoma City, while I was minister of the Commun- 
 ity House Branch of the Pilgrim Congregational Church, 
 we were having a meeting of the Sunday School teachers 
 at the parsonage. After the meeting we tried some "Mind 
 Reading Stunts/' and then four of us sat around the 
 kitchen table and waited for the "spirits." 
 
 Much to our surprise, and to the real fright of two 
 of those around the table, we had been sitting there about 
 twenty minutes when the table tilted off the floor fully 
 six inches, and did this three times. We were not able 
 to get anything in the way of a message, or even of ques- 
 tions and answers, but we did see a table lifted off the 
 floor without any muscular or other human energy 
 whatever. 
 
 My mother assured me that she would like to try for 
 a sitting, so we gathered our chairs around the little stand- 
 table, dimming the light, and placing our hands very 
 lightly on the table, and waited for results. 
 
 There were three of us in the sitting: myself, my 
 wife, and my mother. In the report of the sittings the 
 initials of the sitters will be used : e.g., C. S. M. for 
 
86 OUR JOE 
 
 Charles S. Mundell, M. L. M. for Margaret Louise Mun- 
 dell, and V. M .M. for Verna May Mundell. 
 
 Our hands barely touched the table, for the three of 
 us being members of the same family, and all of us shar- 
 ing a common loss and grief, we were profoundly inter- 
 ested in receiving actual results. Under such circum- 
 stances the reader will agree that it is preposterous to 
 suppose that any one of the three of us would deliberately 
 practice trickery or deception upon the rest of us. Not 
 one of the three desired other than to know whether or 
 not it was possible for the Spirits of the Dead to com- 
 municate with the living through the mechanism of the 
 table. 
 
 The seance was opened with prayer earnest, rever- 
 ent, humble prayer. This was for the purpose of creating 
 the right conditions; to eliminate all elements of sheer 
 curiosity, fear, and irreverence ; and to prevent deception 
 by the impersonation of evil spirits. 
 
 It has been claimed by some Divines that all such 
 phenomena is the work of evil spirits devils and that it 
 all comes from Satan, and for the purpose of deceiving and 
 damning immortal souls. 
 
 I cannot believe that God would permit such decep- 
 tion after earnest, reverent prayer, in which there was 
 eager, broken-hearted petition for protection and en- 
 lightenment. Like attracts like, and it is inconceivable to 
 me that earnest souls, bowed in prayer, could attract evil 
 or malicious influences. 
 
 From the very depths of our sorrow-burdened hearts 
 we prayed that, if possible, some message might come to 
 us from the other side of the veil. 
 
 We sat thus for about a half hour with no response 
 whatever. We were beginning to think we were going 
 to be disappointed. Pushing back my chair, I said, "Well, 
 maybe there is no one of us possessing sufficient medium- 
 istic power to enable the spirits to get through." 
 
 My mother urged that we continue our sitting longer. 
 Said she : "I have read in books where sitters remained 
 quiet for hours, waiting for manifestations. Let us con- 
 tinue a while longer." 
 
OUR JOE 87 
 
 It was hardly fifteen minutes after this that we all 
 became conscious of the fact that the table was quivering 
 and vibrating like something alive. We were all keyed up 
 to a pitch of excitement and expectancy. Then, with 
 apparent difficulty, the little table was visibly lifted off 
 two of its legs, perhaps two or three inches from the floor. 
 
 This was done several times. 
 
 Question by C. S. M. "Is there some Spirit present 
 who will give us a message from the Spirit-side of life? 
 If so, let it be agreed that three tilts of the table shall con- 
 stitute 'Yes/ and one tilt shall constitute the sign for 
 'No.' " 
 
 The table slowly tilted three times. 
 
 C. S. M. : "Will you tilt the table towards the one you 
 wish to act as Medium in this sitting tonight?" 
 
 The table tilted toward C. S. M. The same question 
 was asked in several different ways, with the table tilting 
 in my direction each time. 
 
 C. S. M. : "All right, dear one, I will agree to act as 
 the Medium, although I didn't know I had any such 
 powers. Now will you tell us who you are?" 
 
 Answer: "Yes." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Will you tilt table at each letter of the 
 alphabet which spells your name, as I slowly call over 
 the letters?" 
 
 Answer: "Yes." 
 
 C. S. M. : "A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H" table slowly, and 
 with seeming difficulty tilted at the letter H. 
 
 "A" table again tilted. 
 
 "A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, 0, P, Q, R" 
 table tilted, a little more slowly, at "R." 
 
 The name of my dear Grandmother my mother's 
 mother, was Harriet. This dear soul had passed from 
 earth-life over two years before, after being lame for two 
 years, as a result of a fall. When the table had tilted at 
 the letters "H-A-R" we all thought, "It's going to spell 
 'Harriet,' " so I interrupted with : 
 
 "Is this Grandma?" 
 
 Answer : "Yes." 
 
88 
 
 OUR JOE 
 
 V. M. M. : "Well,mother dear, we're so glad you 
 came tonight!" 
 
 H. M. P. (Harriet Moss Painter) Answer: "Yes." 
 C. S. M. : "Are you happy, Grandma?" 
 "Yes." 
 "Mother dear, is our precious Joe with 
 
 H. M.P.: 
 V. M. M. : 
 you now?" 
 H. M.P.: 
 V. M. M. : 
 H. M.P.: 
 V. M. M. : 
 C.S. M.: 
 
 Ans. "Yes." 
 
 "How is he, mother? Is he happy, too?" 
 "Yes." Emphatically. 
 "Thank God!" 
 
 "Have you been with brother all the time 
 since he came over to your world ?" 
 
 H. M. P. : "Yes." Tilted vigorously, as though she 
 were gaing strength and momentum. 
 
 V. M. M. : "Mother dear, can Joe come to us through 
 the table?" 
 
 Table tilted about two inches off the floor, remained 
 poised for several seconds, raised higher, quivered and 
 vibrated as though pausing or hesitating before answer- 
 ing, then slowly descended, once, which we understood 
 to mean "No." 
 
 V. M. M. : "I wonder why?" (Comment) 
 
 M. L. M. : "Perhaps it's because he hasn't been over 
 there long enough, or hasn't developed sufficient 
 strength !" 
 
 Without any further question or comment from us, 
 the table tilted three times, as though the Spirit had heard 
 my wife's half-question, half-comment, and would answer 
 it "Yes, that's correct!" 
 
 C. S. M. : "Will Joe ever be able to come to us 
 through the table?" 
 
 H. M. P. : (Slowly, as with apparent hesistancy) 
 "Y-es!" 
 
 V. M. M. : "You will help Joe to learn how to 
 manipulate the table, won't you, mother?" 
 
 H. M. P. : "Yes." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Grandma, did you know, before Joe's 
 
OUR JOE 89 
 
 accident, that he was going to be killed? That is, did you 
 have any fore-knowledge of it?" 
 
 H. M. P. : "No." 
 
 C. S. M. : (Surprised) "You mean you didn't know 
 anything about it until it happened?" 
 
 H. M. P. : "Yes." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Then you don't know everything when 
 you reach the Spirit- wo rid ?" 
 
 H. M. P. : (Decidedly) "No!" 
 
 V. M. M. : "Mother dear, was our precious Joe sur- 
 prised, and bewildered, when he saw you, and realized 
 that he was in the Spirit- world?" 
 
 H. M. P. : (Slowly, as though sadly) "Yes." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Who was the first one to reach Joe, when 
 he found himself in the Spirit-world. Was it you?" 
 
 H. M. P.: (Emphatically) "Yes!" 
 
 V. M. M. : "Of course she was, bless her heart!" 
 
 H. M. P. : "Yes." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Are you getting tired, Grandma?" 
 
 H. M. P.: (Vigorously) "No!" 
 
 V. M. M. : "You want us to go on asking questions, 
 mother?" 
 
 H. M. P. : "Yes." 
 
 V. M. M. : "All right, mother dear ! Are you glad to 
 come to us in this way tonight?" 
 
 H. M. P.: "(Table tilted three times, the two legs 
 striking the floor each time) "Yes." 
 
 V. M. M. : "Have you wanted to come to us before?" 
 
 H. M. P. : "Yes." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Have you ever come through to any of us 
 before?" 
 
 H. M. P. : "Yes." 
 
 M. L. M. : "Was it through Mrs. Mertz, in Oklahoma 
 City, when she told Charles she saw Grandmother stand- 
 ing beside him, that time we attended her meeting in the 
 Terminal Building?" 
 
 H. M. P. : "Yes." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Is that the only time?" 
 
 H. M. P. : "Yes." 
 
90 
 
 OUR JOE 
 
 C. S. M. : "Grandma, where is the Spirit-world? Is 
 it very far away ? (from us) ." 
 H. M. P. : "No." 
 
 "Is it all around us, and and about us, 
 
 C. S. M.: 
 
 everywhere ?" 
 
 H.M.P.: 
 
 V. M. M. : 
 
 mother?" 
 
 H. M. P.: 
 C. S. M.: 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Is it a better plane, or world, than this, 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Grandma, when Joe was here with us in 
 the earth-life, he was very fond of music especially the 
 player-piano. Have you any music in the Spirit- world ?" 
 
 H. M. P. : (Emphatically) "Yes." 
 
 V. M. M. : "Ma, ask Joe if he is sorry he had to go so 
 young, when his life seemed to promise so much of 
 pleasure and enjoyment?" 
 
 H. M. P. : "No." 
 
 C. S. M. : "You mean Joe is not sorry?" 
 
 H. M. P. : "No." 
 
 V. M. M. : "Mother dear, I want to ask you a question 
 about the accident. Did Joe have any trouble, or any 
 misunderstanding, with any of the members of the hunt- 
 ing party, at any time during the trip ?" 
 
 H. M. P. : "No." 
 
 C. S. M. : "All was perfectly friendly, was it, Grand- 
 ma?" 
 
 H. M. P. : "Yes." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Grandma, the papers (newspapers) wrote 
 up a lot of stuff about Joe's being lost for several days, 
 and being hungry, and utterly exhausted, before the trag- 
 edy, and that he might have ended his own life. Was 
 there any truth whatever in that?" 
 
 H. M. P. : (Very loudly and emphatically) "No !" 
 
 C. S. M. : "It was purely an accident, and no one else 
 had anything to do with his death ?" 
 
 H. M. P. : "Yes." 
 
 V. M. M. : "Does Joe know where his papa is now?" 
 
 H. M. % P. : "Yes." 
 
 V. M. M. : "Is he in Los Angeles ?" 
 
H. M. P. 
 M. L. M. 
 H. M. P. 
 
 OUR JOE 91 
 
 "No." 
 
 "Maybe he is on the train, coming home.' 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 My father had been called to Los Angeles in connec- 
 tion with his work as General Chairman of the Joint Pro- 
 tective Board of the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen, to 
 adjust some grievances. He arrived in Oakland the next 
 morning, thus proving that the intelligence operating the 
 table was correct in saying he was on the train. 
 
 V. M. M. : "Are there any other Spirits with you 
 now, mother?" 
 
 H. M. P.: "Yes." 
 
 V. M. M. : "Is our little boy, Willie, who died when 
 he was a baby, there with you?" 
 
 H.M. P. : "Yes." 
 
 V. M. : "And is our little girl Annie with you ?" 
 
 H. M. P. : "Yes." 
 
 My sister Annie was the first child born to my par- 
 ents. She was two years older than I, or would have been 
 had she lived. She lived to be three months old. I never 
 had the pleasure of seeing my sister, as she died before 
 I was born. 
 
 Between Annie and me there was a little boy pre- 
 maturely born, whose pre-natal development had reached 
 the fifth month. 
 
 V. M. M. : "And is Grandpa Mundell there with you, 
 also?" 
 
 H. M. P. : "Yes." 
 
 At the time of this sitting Grandmother Mundell was 
 in very feeble health ; in fact, having reached the age of 
 83, and having been the mother of thirteen children, eleven 
 of whom are still living, and one of whom (George) 
 reached the age of 1 Syears, she was slowly, painlessly, 
 dying of old age. 
 
 Question by V. M. M. : "Does Grandpa Mundell know 
 the condition his wife is in now ?" 
 
 H. M. P. : "Yes." 
 
 V. M. M. : "Does he know exactly when she will pass 
 into Spirit-life?" 
 
92 OUR JOE 
 
 H. M. P. : "No." 
 
 C. S. M. : "You mean to say Grandpa Mundell does 
 not know when his companion will join him?" 
 
 H. M. P.: "No." (Probably, "No, he does not 
 know.") 
 
 C. S. M. : "Does he think it will not be long?" 
 
 H. M. P. : "Yes." 
 
 V. M. M. : "That is, he thinks she will soon join him 
 in the Spirit-world?" 
 
 H. M. P. : "Yes." 
 
 V. M. M. : "Mother, have you seen Pa's father, Sam 
 Painter, in the Spirit-world?" 
 
 H. M. P. : "Yes." 
 
 May I say by way of explanation that my Great- 
 Grandfather had disappeared from a ship, under very 
 mysterious circumstances. Neither his wife, nor any of 
 his survivors ever knew exactly what became of him; 
 whether he was murdered and thrown overboard by 
 enemies, or accidently fell overboad, or what. All that 
 was definitely known was as follows : 
 
 (Here is the story as told by my Grandfather, /. S. 
 Painter) 
 
 "My father and two of mother's brothers, John and 
 Joe Harry, were working on a freight boat, which plyed 
 the Ohio river. 
 
 "At the time of my father's disappearance they were 
 bound for Louisville, Ky. My father had had some dis- 
 agreement, or trouble with an Irish deckhand. He had 
 ordered this Irishman to perform some duty. The man 
 was drinking, and refused. There would have been a fight, 
 but the others would not permit it. My father was very 
 angry. Everytime he got angry, it made him sick. So 
 after the row was over, he went and laid down on the deck 
 of the boat, and probably went to sleep. When he was 
 needed his brothers-in-law asked the Irishman, 'Where 
 is Sam?' 
 
 "The Irishman replied: 'He is lying down asleep. 
 I'll go and wake him up.' 
 
OUR JOE 93 
 
 "The man departed, but did not return with my 
 father. After awhile my two uncles went to look for him, 
 but all they found was his hat. 
 
 "They suspected the Irishman of having thrown, or 
 pushed him overboard, but they had no proof. At any 
 rate, the Irishman disappeared after that, and was never 
 heard of since. The river was dragged for my father's 
 body, but it was never recovered. We never knew whether 
 he accidentally fell overboard, or whether this Irishman 
 pushed him over, or whether he committed suicide, or 
 what." 
 
 V. M. M. 
 
 us, how Grandfather Painter met his death?" 
 
 H. M. P. 
 V. M. M. 
 H. M. P. 
 V. M. M. 
 H. M. P. 
 C. S. M. : 
 H. M. P. 
 V. M. M. 
 H. M. P. 
 V. M. M. 
 H. M. P. 
 
 "Mother, do you know, and can you tell 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Was he murdered?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "Did he jump overboard?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "Was it an accident?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Did he fall overboard, and drown ?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Have you seen Grandma Stoneking?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 My Great-Grandmother, wife of Great-Grandpa 
 Painter, married again, over a year later, a man by name 
 of Elijah Stoneking. It was therefore my Grandfather's 
 mother to whom H. M. P. referred. 
 
 V. M. M. : "And Mother dear, is your own little boy 
 Charley with you now?" 
 
 H. M. P. : "Yes." 
 
 V. M. M. : "And your brother Frank, is he with 
 you." 
 
 H. M. P. : "Yes." 
 
 M. L. M. : "Have you seen my father, Herman 
 Brunke?" 
 
 H. M. P. : "Yes." 
 
 My wife's father was killed by falling from a high 
 building in the city of Chicago. He was a bricklayer, 
 
94 OUR JOE 
 
 and was thought to have stepped backwards off the edge 
 of the building under construction. He was killed when 
 Margaret was only about four years old. 
 
 M. L. M. : "Is my father there with you now?" 
 
 H. M. P. : "No." 
 
 This answer was a complete surprise to us all. It 
 was the only instance where she answered that the spirit 
 named was not there. Therefore, it does not seem rea- 
 sonable to imagine that the table-tipping could have been, 
 occasioned by our own unconscious psychic powers. 
 
 Furthermore, the tipping itself was by no means uni- 
 form. Sometimes the answers were very emphatic ; some- 
 times they were slow and deliberate; sometimes they 
 seemed doubtful, or uncertain. Thru-out the whole of 
 the sitting the table behaved just like a living creature. 
 Sometimes the table remained suspended on two legs as 
 tho waiting for us to repeat, or to make clearer, what it 
 was we wished to say. It betrayed emotion, humor, hesi- 
 tancy, impatience, and all those characteristic things 
 which might be expected under the circumstances. 
 
 M. L. M. : "Is my father on the same plane of spirit- 
 life that you are?" 
 
 H. M. P. : "Yes." 
 
 V. M. M. : "Is Grandpa MundelPs son George there 
 with you all?" 
 
 H. M. P. : "Yes." 
 
 V. M. M. : "And is his little girl with him too?" 
 
 H. M. P. : "Yes." 
 
 After this question the table seemed unable to tilt, tho 
 it made a number of attempts. 
 
 M. L. M. : "Maybe she is tired ?" 
 
 Table answered by three tilts, but slowly, and with 
 difficulty. 
 
 V. M. M. : "Mother, dear, do you want to say good- 
 night?" 
 
 H.M.P.: "Yes." 
 
 After this "goodnights" were said all round, and the 
 table responded with two raps, as tho to say, Good Night. 
 
OUR JOE 95 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 Report of sitting with Rev. Mrs. Emma Nanning, at 
 543 35th St., Oakland, California, Monday, Sept. 19, 1921, 
 at 11 o'clock. 
 
 By Charles S. Mundell 
 
 On the morning of September 19, 1921, I telephoned 
 to Mrs. Emma Nanning, Spiritualist Medium, and pastor 
 of the Spiritual Church of Truth and Light, Oakland, 
 simply stating that I would be glad to have a sitting with 
 her that morning. She named eleven o'clock as the hour, 
 and at the appointed time I was there. 
 
 When I was ushered into the room where the sitting 
 was to be held I gave the medium no name, other than 
 the fact that I was a Congregational Minister making an 
 investigation of Spiritualism and Psychic Phenomena. 
 After being seated on the opposite side of a small table 
 the seance began : 
 
 Mrs. Nanning : "When you came into this room I saw 
 a spirit come with you the spirit of of (someone very 
 rear to you yes, he says, he is very near to you)'* And 
 then, with no encouragement from me she continued: 
 "You have a brother who has just recently passed into the 
 Smrit- wo rid ? Yes, he says he is your brother your 
 brother J-o-e. You have a brother Joe, just recently 
 passed out?" 
 
 C. S.M.: "Yes." No more. 
 
 Mrs. Nanning : "This brother must have passed out 
 very quickly y-es, he shows me it was an accident. He 
 says, "Tell mama I didn't do it ; it was an accident" (pre- 
 sumably referring to a newspaper account in the Oak- 
 land Tribune which suggested that "Lost Hunter, Starv- 
 ing, Exhausted, Thought to Have Ended Life) . "I will 
 convince Mother I didn't do it " (abruptly) 
 
 Mrs. Nanning: "Who is George? He says something 
 about George. Do you know anything about a George?" 
 
 I did not know who George was. 
 
 She continued : "Joe says George is here. Oh, yes, 
 Uncle George. Have you an Uncle George?" 
 
69 OUR JOE 
 
 I had heard my father speak of a brother of his who 
 was dead, but I did not know his name, nor did I know 
 when that brother had passed out, or how old he was at 
 the time of his passing. 
 
 I answered : "No, I do not know Uncle George, but 
 I will ask at home and find out." 
 
 She continued: "Who is Edward? Joe says some- 
 thing about Edward also. He (Edward) does not seem 
 to be in the Spirit life." 
 
 I afterwards learned that my brother had a very dear 
 friend with whom he worked at the rairoad yards, whose 
 name was Edward, and who was familiarly called, 
 "Eddie." I did not know it at the time, but I afterward 
 learned from my parents that this friend had once been 
 in our home, as my brother's guest. 
 
 I assured the Medium that I hadn't the slightest idea 
 who Edward was, and she continued : 
 
 "Joe shows me mountains hills or something like 
 that and a high log ye-s a high log. He sits down on 
 the log." Sotto voice : "Why does he sit down on a log 
 this way yes, this way (indicating the way one would sit 
 down on a log). Oh! Oh!" Mrs. Nanning shuddered as 
 with extreme horror: "Wasn't your brother killed acci- 
 dentally?" 
 
 C. S. M. : "Yes." 
 
 Mrs. Nanning: "He was hunting must have been 
 hunting he shows me gun y-es! He says something 
 about a gun. Do you know what he means ?" 
 
 C. S. M. : "Yes, he was hunting, and had a gun." 
 
 Mrs. N. : "Joe says, 'It is true we live again. We do 
 not die!' He says, 'he is glad you came today.' He says 
 'he will convince mama.' 
 
 "I see also an old lady hobbling on crutches yes, she 
 was lame before she passed out do you recognize her?" 
 
 I answered that I thought so; that I had a Grand- 
 mother in Spirit life 
 
 Mrs. N. (Interrupting me) "Yes, yes! Your grand- 
 mother! Not your father's mother your mother's 
 
OUR JOE 
 
 97 
 
 mother! Joe says, 'Grandma was the first to reach me 
 when I got here !' Yes. Yes. 
 
 'There also comes an old man with a beard gray 
 beard like this (indicating with her hands a short beard, 
 covering face) and he rubs his head this way (medium 
 rubbed head) says, 'bald head! You will know me by 
 that.' " 
 
 Grandfather Mundell 
 Described by Mrs. Nanning. 
 
 C. S. M. : "Yes, I recognize him. It is my Grand- 
 father." 
 
 Mrs. N. : "Yes, yes ! He says, 'Grandpa ! I'm Grand- 
 pa.' What's this? He is showing me something looks 
 like a medal medal like this (drawing in air with 
 finger) also blue uniform (excitedly) A soldier! Yes! 
 Yes! That's it. Wasn't he a soldier?" 
 
 This was true. My paternal grandfather was a volun- 
 teer of Company C, 32nd Iowa Infantry, and fought in the 
 
98 OUR JOE 
 
 Civil War. Whether he ever received a medal of any 
 kind I do not know. Otherwise, it was very accurate. 
 
 Some one may say that all this is very wonderful, 
 but that it does not necessarily prove that Mrs. Nanning 
 was under "Spirit-Control", or that the remarkably ac- 
 curate information really came from the discarnate Spirit 
 of my brother, Joe ; that the medium may have received 
 it from me telepathically ; in other words, that she may 
 have read my mind. 
 
 However, there was one detail connected with the 
 reading which could hardly be explained by telepathy, and 
 which I consider very evidential. 
 
 She said : "About a mile and a half or two miles from 
 where your brother's body was found there is a cabin 
 yes, a little cabin, a little house. He saw this cabin and 
 intended going to it to find his way out ; he was lost for 
 just a little while." 
 
 Now I was familiar with all the facts except the 
 matter of the cabin, a mile and and a half or two miles 
 from where the body was found. I had never heard a 
 word mentioned about any cabin, nor was anything pub- 
 lished in any of the papers about a cabin, so far as I have 
 been able to ascertain. 
 
 My Uncle Oscar, who was among those who found 
 the body, had gone to Los Angeles, and was working there. 
 When I went down to L. A., to attend the funeral of my 
 paternal Grandmother, I asked my Uncle : "Oscar, do you 
 know if there was any cabin or house anywhere near the 
 place you found Joe's body?" His answer was, "Yes, 
 there ivas a little cabin, about a mile and a half or two 
 miles from there, but I don't think Joe ever saw, or knew 
 anything about, the house." 
 
 Obviously, the Medium could not have read from my 
 mind the deail of the cabin, for it ivasn't in my mind. I 
 knew nothing of it. Had never heard it mentioned. When 
 it was told to me I made a mental note of what she said, 
 and determined to use the point as a test, and if it proved 
 to be true or untrue, to consider the entire sitting more 
 or less in the light of what I should find out to be true. 
 
OUR JOE 99 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 Report of anonymous sitting with Mrs. Nanning, 
 Medium, at her home, 543 35th street, Oakland, Cali- 
 fornia, Saturday, Sept. 24, 1921, commencing 1:45 p. m. 
 
 When I related to my mother the particulars of my 
 sitting with Mrs. Nanning, she was deeply impressed, and 
 she expressed her desire then to have a sitting with the 
 medium at some future time. 
 
 That afternoon we received a telegram from my Uncle 
 Oscar, father's brother, from Los Angeles, informing us 
 that my father's mother was at the point of death, and not 
 expected to live thru the day. I called up my father on 
 the phone (he was in his San Francisco office) and read 
 the telegram to him. Then I caught a street car to Ala- 
 meda, to break the news to another of father's brothers, 
 Charles L. Mundell. The three of us drove down to Los 
 Angeles that night. I forgot to give my mother the name 
 and address of the Medium before leaving for. Los Angeles, 
 so she decided to wait until I should return before seeking 
 a sitting. Upon my return the following Friday night, I 
 gave her Mrs. Manning's name and address, and the next 
 day she and my wife, Margaret L. Mundell, went for a 
 sitting. Before starting my wife telephoned Mrs. Nann- 
 ing, asking if she would be at liberty to give a "reading" 
 if they came right over. The answer was in the affirma- 
 tive. No name was given over the phone, or when they 
 arrived at the house. My mother was particularly anxious 
 that Mrs. Nanning should not know who they were, or of 
 any connection with me. She wished to see if she and my 
 wife would receive anything like the same message that 
 was given to me. Mrs. Nanning positively had never seen 
 either my mother or my wife, and when she invited them 
 into her "seance" room she asked them no questions what- 
 ever, nor even requested their names. The report of the 
 sitting follows, just as taken down by my wife, (who took 
 notes) supplemented by explanatory remarks, just as I 
 received it from their lips : 
 
100 OUR JOE 
 
 Mrs. Nanning: (to mother) I get an over anxious 
 influence. You are over anxious. Don't be. It confuses. 
 Just relax. Be passive. All right, Spirit go back. Spirit 
 of man comes. I want to explain something. Tries to 
 speak thru to you. Your mother stands in back of you. 
 She says, 'I have brought Joe to you ! They are over- 
 anxious want to get thru so bad eager to give you mes- 
 sage. You sit at table on table no, at table made 
 table table rock this way " (evidently referring to 
 the fact that we had had a table sitting in our own home 
 a few nights before that, at which time my mother's 
 mother came. Mrs. Nanning illustrated by tilting the 
 small table before her) . 
 
 She continued: "Harriet says Who is Harriet?" 
 Mrs. V. M. Mundell : "That's my mother." 
 Mrs. N. : "Yes ! Harriet says, 'Keep on investigat- 
 ing. Will come again thru table. Give more messages. 
 It is all true it will be this we only change." 
 
 She hesitated, seemingly confused: "I see tracks 
 train tracks he shows me tracks (Joe evidently speak- 
 ing) Did he run on road?" 
 
 V. M. M. : "No, he did not run on the road.' 
 Joe did not run on the road, but he did work around 
 tracks at the West Oakland Passenger Yards. 
 
 
OUR JOE 
 
 101 
 
 Joe at work in the West Oakland 
 Passenger Yards. 
 
 Mrs. N. : "He says, 'Father does father run on 
 road?" 
 
 V. M. M. :"Well, he travels a great deal, working for 
 his Union, the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen. I sup- 
 pose Joe may mean that!" 
 
 Mrs. N. : "Yes, yes ! He says that's it. Joe says, 
 That's my mother/ (Mrs. Nanning pointed finger at my 
 mother) Joe says, 'Mother, you ought to be extremely 
 happy that I come to you. God has given, and God has 
 taken. Perhaps it seems strange, but it is so. I've 
 stepped away from the right road sometimes you know 
 what I mean.' ' Medium indicated by signs as tho she 
 had a pain in the stomach, then asked : "Did Joe drink?" 
 
 V. M. M. : "He didn't to say drink, that is, he didn't 
 drink often. Sometimes he would take a drink." 
 

 
 102' OUR JOE 
 
 My brother did not touch liquor often, altho he had 
 a natural craving for alcoholic drinks. Whenever he did, 
 it always made him very sick. That is probably why the 
 medium experienced the sensation of nausea. 
 
 Mrs. Nanning: "Joe says, 'Mama, I was with you 
 this morning. I didn't want you to feel so bad about me. 
 Don't think it was a fatal trip. I would have gone any- 
 way yes I went quickly perfectly satisfied I went 
 quick I couldn't have been saved (meaning probably, he 
 was instantly killed, and that nothing could have been 
 done for him if he had been found sooner) I am born 
 again, and extremely happy. You are wiping out my 
 Spiritual life by your tears." 
 
 Mrs. N. : "He tries to tell me he sat down some- 
 where it fell (sotto voce: What fell? Do not know 
 what fell." 
 
 "A woman wants to come to you (pointing to my 
 wife) Her name is Elizabeth !" 
 
 The name of my paternal Grandmother, who passed 
 away that week, was Elizabeth. My wife had never met 
 her, but that is no reason why she should not desire to 
 come to her. 
 
 After saying this Mrs. Nanning abruptly asked: 
 "What happened in the month of August? Someone 
 passed out. Joe says 'It was me.' Wait ! He wants to do 
 something. I can't see plainly just yet. He holds some- 
 thing up, like he had something in his hand." 
 
 Mrs. N. continued : "He takes a piece of paper all 
 white a piece of paper no letters on it he takes it in 
 his hand like this, (Mrs. Nanning here tore off a little 
 piece of newspaper, and held it in her fingers as one 
 would do preparatory to making a cigarette) He rolls it 
 up (Mrs. N. rolls piece of paper, turns one end down,- 
 wets the edges, going thru all the motions of rolling a 
 cigarette) like this, and sticks to mouth, (Mrs. N. puts 
 rolled paper in mouth). Then he gets shot! Oh!" Mrs. 
 Nanning shuddered as tho cold chills were passing over 
 her, and then sat back limply in her chair.) 
 
OUR JOE 103 
 
 Mrs. N. : "Ah, I see what it is now. This (holding 
 up rolled paper) was cigarette. What fell was his gun. 
 And then he got shot. (Here it seemed that Joe took 
 the conversation) "It is all true I got lost for awhile I 
 did want to go further along to that house. I wanted to 
 rest. I wasn't permitted to reach the cabin. I had to sit 
 there. My time had come. I don't want you to grieve. 
 I see, hear, and know all things. I go to my Father that 
 you may have light. We do live beyond the grave. Mother, 
 I know what it cost you. A mother's love grows stronger 
 day by day. We ought to be very grateful for the way 
 that way is God's way." 
 
 Mrs. Nanning : "I see many sitting around table." 
 
 Joe : "You keep sitting around table, and all raps 
 will be recognized. I had to come." 
 
 Mrs. Nanning said : "I have brought Spirits back, 
 when no one else could bring them back." 
 
 Question by Margaret L. Mundell: "Ask Joe if he 
 remembers Margie." 
 
 Mrs. N. "Joe says, 'Margie wants something, but 
 don't give it to her.' Joe says, 'Forget and Forgive.' I 
 see a photograph. Don't put it away. (Evidently refer- 
 ring to the large photograph of Joe which we kept on the 
 top of the piano, and which his mother took down and 
 kissed every night.) 
 
 "Joe says, 'I am glad they found me, for you never 
 would have been satisfied if they hadn't.' 
 
 "A man comes with a beard. 
 
 "Who is George?" 
 
 (Mrs. Nanning then picked up the rolled paper, repre- 
 senting a cigarette, and said,) " Joe says, 'I don't want 
 them anymore too material.' ' 
 
 Mrs. Nanning to my wife, M. L. M. : "You can do 
 inspirational writing. Sit down anytime, and your hand 
 will write thru you." 
 
 After saying this to my wife Mrs. Nanning returned 
 to my mother with, "Joe is telling me something about a 
 letter a letter a brown suit "(Mrs. Nanning: "Has 
 Joe got a brown suit dark brown suit?") 
 
104- OUR JOE 
 
 V. M. M. : "Yes, Joe had a brown suit, but he didn't 
 have it on him when he was killed." 
 
 Joe's brown suit was carefully packed away in his 
 trunk after his death, and the mention of it by the Medium 
 constitutes, to my mind, a remarkable piece of evidence 
 that it was really Joe speaking thru her. 
 
 Mrs. Nanning also said: "Joe says there was a 
 sealed letter, ready to be sent, or received by him." Here 
 she became confused and a part of what she said was not 
 correct. 
 
 Mrs. N. : "Joe says, 'I must have help. You are too 
 over anxious.' There is such an over anxious atmosphere. 
 It makes it hard to communicate. If you knew how satis- 
 fied he was (meaning Joe) you wouldn't have him come 
 back. (Joe speaking) 'Mama, here's your chance to 
 elevate me. We are only lent to one another. I didn't 
 always do right, but I did my best. I feel so much better 
 when you don't cry.' 
 
 "Frank comes now. (Evidently my mother's Uncle 
 Frank, her mother's brother, who passed into Spirit-life 
 thru an accident, when a child) 
 
 (Mrs. Nanning to my mother) "A wonderful influ- 
 ence comes with you, but you are so over-anxious." 
 
 Question by V. M. M. : "Joe, weren't you sorry to 
 leave this life so young?" 
 
 Joe : "No, I'm not disappointed. I would have gone 
 when sixteen. (We do not know exactly what Joe meant 
 by this statement) You will find everything so different, 
 better and beautiful here. Don't sigh for me." 
 
 Mrs. Nanning : "I see someone who is Eddie or Ed- 
 ward. Do you know who it is?" 
 
 V. M. M. : "I do not. That is, I know of no one in 
 the family by that name ; but Joe had a chum, a boy friend 
 by name of Eddie." 
 
 Mrs. Nanning: "No, there is no family connection. 
 That's right. Joe says, it is no family relative, but we 
 don't forget our friends over here, either. Joe wants to 
 touch his mother's cheeks. I will see if it can be done, 
 but it will take all my strength." 
 
OUR JOE 105 
 
 After trying, and apparently failing in this, Joe said, 
 "When you are of more faith, I will come to you in my 
 own strength." 
 
 Mrs. N. : "I see something in a box. Keep it. It's 
 a little brown box. (To mother : Has he shaving material 
 in it?") 
 
 V. M. M. : "No, I do not recognize it." 
 
 Question by V. M. M. : "Ask Joe what I have in my 
 purse of his, that he would recognize." 
 
 Joe: (thru Mrs. N.) "Mama you expect too much for 
 the first time." 
 
 Mrs. Nanning : "Joe says, he felt himself getting cold ; 
 he said in his thoughts, 'God bless you, my dear ones. 
 Thanks that I am permitted to come to you. Promise me 
 you won't grieve. It is best for all concerned. You be- 
 lieve in the Gospel, Christ and the Bible.' ' 
 
 Mrs. N. "Uncle passed out with beard; Uncle in an 
 indirect way. Seems more like your uncle than his 
 (nodding to my mother) he says, 'We're over-stepping our 
 time. Brace up. Your love is unlike all others. God 
 bless you and keep you I pray." 
 
 It may be well to add to the above that the remark- 
 able feature of it all was that the medium was able to give 
 anything at all. The sitting was frequently interrupted 
 by the ringing of the door bell others coming for sittings. 
 But withal and with a very few incorrect details, it was 
 a reading remarkable for its wealth of accurate detail. 
 
 It will be noted that the information given to my 
 mother and my wife corresponds in all essentials to that 
 given to me. 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 Report of messages received in public service, Odd 
 Fellows' Hall, Oakland, California, Sunday Evening, 
 September 25, 1921. 
 
 Following up the most satisfactory private sittings 
 with Rev. Mrs. Emma Nanning, my father, my wife and I 
 decided to attend one of the public services under the 
 auspices of Mrs. Nanning's Church, the Spiritual Church 
 
106 
 
 OUR JOE 
 
 of Truth and Light, which held forth in the Odd Fellows 
 Temple every Sunday Evening. 
 
 On the Sunday evening of Sept. 25, we made our way 
 thither. My mother did not accompany us for fear she 
 might suffer a disappointment similar to that of the Sun- 
 day night previous. 
 
 After the preliminary service of song and prayer, 
 the congregation was divided into three circles, and in- 
 formed that the meeting would be an "old-fashioned 
 circle." 
 
 There were three mediums present, and each of them 
 was given a circle for a half hour ; then the mediums were 
 changed about, until each circle had the advantage of 
 witnessing the work of each of the mediums. 
 
 The mediums present were: Mrs. Emma Nanning, 
 Mrs. Zimmerman, and Mrs. Salmon. Mrs. Zimmerman 
 was the first medium to take charge of the circle to which 
 we were attached. 
 
 The Medium first came to my wife, but altho she gave 
 her a "message," there was nothing in it which she could 
 recognize. 
 
 To me she said: "There comes someone who passed 
 out quickly like a flash! That's all I can get! Per- 
 haps you can sense who it is?" 
 
 C. S. M. : "Yes, I think I know who it is." 
 
 I did not give her any information whatever, and the 
 very fact that she did not say anything further concerning 
 the manner in which that one passed out quickly, like a 
 flash, nor did she seem to know anything more, seems to 
 me to preclude the supposition that Mrs. Nanning may 
 have communicated the facts to Mrs. Z., concerning our 
 sittings with Mrs. N. 
 
 She continued : "I feel like I want to have you alone 
 private feel could get much more about something than 
 I can get now. You ought to sit alone in dark with tablet 
 get writing from from brother yes, from your 
 brother. You'll be surprised. Would you also recognize 
 spirit which passed out in infancy?" 
 
OUR JOE 107 
 
 C. S. M. : "I know so many who have passed out in 
 infancy. I do not know which one comes to me now." 
 
 Mrs. Z. : "I can't seem to get who it is." 
 
 To my father she said: 
 
 "Would you recognize two men who worked on 
 engine? Hands dirty worked on train killed in wreck 
 young man and man with whiskers ?" 
 
 S. A. M. : "No, I can't say that I do, just now. You 
 say they were killed on an engine ?" 
 
 Mrs. Z. : "Yes." 
 
 At the moment neither my father or I could recall 
 any one we had ever known who had been killed in such a 
 wreck, but a few minutes later I said to my father (in a 
 whisper) "Didn't you ever know anyone at Dalhart who 
 got killed in a train wreck? Two men?" 
 
 "Oh, yes, I do now ! I'll bet she meant Rex Matthews 
 and Bob Ford." 
 
 The two men in question were killed in a train wreck. 
 The former was a young man, and the latter wore a 
 mustache. The Medium's description turned out to fit the 
 particular situation with remarkable accuracy. My father 
 and I cannot help but feel that this particular message has 
 real evidential value. 
 
 At 9:15 the mediums exchanged circles, and after 
 giving a few messages to others, Mrs. Nanning came over 
 to us. 
 
 Mrs. Nanning : (to me) "I get the name of Harry 
 Harry? Harr-i-e-t yes, that's it Harriet! Do you 
 know Harriet ? She comes to you ?" 
 
 C. S. M. : "Yes, I recognize Harriet. I think it must 
 be my Grandmother." 
 
 Mrs. N. : "Y-es! Well, Harriet says, 'Go in room 
 and relax. I will write thru you !" 
 
 Then to my father : 
 
 Mrs. N. : "Old man comes to you. Has beard. Must 
 be your father." 
 
 S. A. M. : "Yes, I guess it is father. What does he 
 say?" 
 
108 OUR JOE 
 
 Mrs. Nanning: "He wants to tell you something 
 that will make you know it's him. He does this way this 
 way (sotto voce) why does he do this way?" 
 
 The Medium here scraped the heel of her shoe on the 
 floor, like one pulling off shoe. 
 
 Mrs. N. : "He is showing me how he used to pull 
 off his shoes ! He shows me a piece of wood. It is forked 
 at one end. He says he used it to pull off his boots. A-a- 
 a-a a what?" 
 
 S.A. M.: "A bootjack?" 
 
 Mrs. N. (laughing, and laughing in a way similar to 
 the way my Grandfather used to laugh) "Yes, yes! He 
 says that's right ! Tell him that. He will remember that, 
 and know it's me !" 
 
 It seems to me that * the above should be considered 
 very evidential. My father says he had not thought of 
 that bootjack for thirty years, but that he well remembers 
 how his father used to pull off his boots that way, and 
 sometime, when the bootjack could not be found my father 
 had to get hold of the boots and pull them off. 
 
 Mrs. Nanning: "Elizabeth come to you. (to my 
 father) She says, Tm your mother, not her mother (evi- 
 dently meaning she was my father's mother, and not his 
 mother-inlaw. My Grandmother probably said this be- 
 cause of the fact that Grandma Painter had already come 
 thru the table, and thru Mrs. Nanning, and she was 
 anxious that we know which 'Mother' was meant" 
 
OUR JOE 
 
 109 
 
 Joe with his mother and "Grandma Mundell" 
 at 9O4 Brush Street. 
 
 Mrs. N. : "Elizabeth says, everything here is so 
 much different than I expected. I wasn't looking for this. 
 It is all so strange. You must help me, my son. I can't 
 understand it all yet ! I am groping for light. I am glad 
 I am permitted to come to you. I will come again/ ' 
 
 This does not seem at all strange, in view of the fact 
 that my paternal Grandmother was a faithful member 
 of an orthodox church, and had lived all her life in the be- 
 lief that, when death came to the Christian, the soul would 
 be ushered immediately into a heaven of "Golden Streets 
 and Pearly Gates, and Jasper Walls." To find the Spirit- 
 world no more than a continuation of this, except that it 
 is pitched on a higher plane, and is of a more etherial 
 nature, must indeed have seemed strange to her, and it 
 must have taken her some time to get her bearings. 
 
no 
 
 OUR JOE 
 
 S. A. M.: "Ask mother if George is with her?" 
 Mrs. Nanning (speaking as tho it were Grandmother 
 
 Mundell talking) : "Yes, we are all together." (Mrs. N. 
 
 slowly : "I hear so many names ; Elizabeth, Harriet, Joe, 
 
 George and Edward.") 
 
 Mrs. N. : "Joe comes to 'papa !' Joe says, 'Where is 
 
 mama ? Why isn't mama here ? I-I want to get to mama. 
 
 Tell mama I want her to investigate. Why didn't mama 
 
 come ?" 
 
 "Joe comes and kneels down by you and says, 'I used 
 to do things sometimes I am sorry for you'll forgive?" 
 
 S. A. M. : "You never did papa any wrong, son. I 
 have nothing to forgive." 
 
 As a matter of absolute frankness and fairness to 
 the spirit of fair investigation I want to say here that none 
 of the family have been able to think of any reason why 
 Joe should kneel to his father in a plea for forgiveness for 
 anything. 
 
 Mrs. Nanning : "Joe thinks someone is going on trip, 
 (to C. S. M.) Must be you. He stands by you. He says, 
 *Be careful.' He seems afraid." 
 
 Joe must have meant this message for his father in- 
 stead of for me. I did not have in mind any trip then, nor 
 have I had at this writing. On the other hand, his father, 
 being an official of the Carmen's Union, travels almost 
 constantly. 
 
 C. S. M. : "Ask Joe if he knows Margie's father?" 
 
 Mrs. N. : "Over anxious. Wait a minute." 
 
 The medium then staggered as tho drunk. The ques- 
 tion was never finished. 
 
 This ended the message of the first public service. . 
 
 It may be remarked that Mrs. Nanning did not add 
 very much to what she had told us of Joe in private sit- 
 tings. Her message from my Grandmother would seem 
 important as evidential matter. 
 
 My father's mother had passed away in Los Angeles, 
 the Monday night previous, and had been laid to rest be- 
 side her husband, Harvey Mundell, on Thursday. How 
 could Mrs. Nanning have learned of my Grandmother's 
 
OUR JOE 111 
 
 death, except thru the spirit of the deceased? 
 
 And how could she know that her name was Eliza- 
 beth? 
 
 And why should she describe my grandmother's re- 
 action to her spiritual environment in the way she did, 
 knowing nothing about her, if her message did not, in 
 reality, proceed from the other side of death? All that 
 she said was very probable. 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 Report of table sitting at home, September 26, 1921, 
 Monday evening. 
 
 Those present: S. A. Mundell, Verna Mae Mundell, 
 Charles S. Mundell, Margaret L. Mundell and J. S. 
 Painter. 
 
 On the evening following the good messages we had 
 received at the Public Meeting, at the "Spiritual Church 
 of Truth and Light" we had our second table-sitting at 
 home. My father was present at this sitting for his first 
 time. 
 
 Four of us were sitting at the table : S. A. M., V. M. 
 M., C. S. M. and M. L. M. 
 
 This time we had been sitting for hardly more than 
 ten minutes when the table manifested signs of being 
 shaken by some kind of power. 
 
 C. S. M. : "Are there any spirits present?" 
 
 Silence. 
 
 C. S. M. : "Are any of our loved ones here who wish 
 to communicate with us ?" 
 
 Silence. 
 
 S. A. M. : "Is this Mother Mundell ?" 
 
 Table: "No." 
 
 V. M. M. : "Call over the letters of the alphabet and 
 let them spell out who it is." 
 
 C. S. M. : (Alphabet repeated) "A, B, C, D, E, F, G, 
 H, I, J," table tilted at J. 
 
 "A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, 0," table 
 again tilted at 0. 
 
 Feeling sure it must be Joe who had come to us I 
 called out the letter 'E,' and the table tilted in assent. 
 
112 OUR JOE 
 
 V. M. M. : "Joe, darling, is this really you, and have 
 you come to comfort us?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes." 
 
 S. A. M. : "Do you love mama tonight, son?" 
 
 Joe: (emphatically and loud) "yes!" 
 
 S. A. M. : "Do you love papa, too?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes." 
 
 S. A. M. : "And do you love Charlie and Margie?" 
 
 Joe: "Yes." 
 
 S. A. M. : "Is Uncle George with you tonight?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes." 
 
 S. A. M. : "And is Mother Mundell with you to- 
 night?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes." 
 
 V. M. M. : "Is my dear mother, Grandma Painter, 
 with you, dear?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes." 
 
 S. A. M. : "Son, did you come to us last night thru 
 Mrs. Nanning?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes." 
 
 S. A. M. : "And did you say you missed mama?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes." 
 
 V. M. M. : "Joe, dear, would you like for us to call 
 Grandpa in to witness this?" 
 
 Joe: "Yes." 
 
 (Note by C. S. M. My Grandfather Painter, my 
 mother's father, and husband of Harriet M. Painter, had, 
 of course been duly informed of our table and medium 
 sittings. In spite of the fact that we were all of the family 
 and that he could not conceive that any of us would de- 
 liberately practice fraud upon the others, he was ex- 
 tremely skeptical. In fact, he hardly knew what to make 
 of it, and in his own mind probably wondered if our deep 
 sorrow had not affected our minds a little. However, he 
 exDressed his wish to witness the phenomenon of table- 
 tilting for himself. Accordingly, after Joe had indicated 
 his desire to have his Grandfather present at the sitting 
 my father went upstairs to Grandpa's room, and asked 
 him to come down to the Seance. Papa gave him his own 
 
OUR JOE 113 
 
 chair, and he himself stood near by where he could care- 
 fully observe the actions of all four sitters. 
 
 On account of my Grandfather's obvious skepticism 
 and suspicion, my father kept a close eye on us to see that 
 no legs were touching the table; that our feet were far 
 back from the table; and that our hands were kept very 
 lightly upon the table. 
 
 C. S. M. : "Well, Joe, are you aware that Grandpa 
 has taken Dad's place at the table?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes." 
 
 V. M. M. : "Joe, darling, are you glad to see Grand- 
 pa?" 
 
 Joe: "Yes." 
 
 J. S. P. : "Joe, is my little boy Charley with you 
 now?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes." 
 
 J. S. P. : "Is your mother's little sister, Lily, there 
 too?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes." 
 
 J. S. P. : "Joe, is Harriet lame now ?" 
 
 Joe : "No." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Grandma is well and strong now, isn't 
 she, Joe?" 
 
 Joe: "yes!" (Emphatically.) 
 
 J. S. P. : "Well, this is enough to convince me that 
 there is something to it." With which remark he yielded 
 the place to my father, who again took his place as one 
 of the sitters. 
 
 S. A. M. : "Joe, can Grandma Mundell come to us 
 thru this table?" 
 
 Joe : "No." 
 
 C. S. M. : "She hasn't been over long enough, and 
 hasn't sufficient strength, has she, Joe ?" 
 
 Joe : "No." 
 
 S. A. M. : "Joe, is Grandpa Mundell there?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes." 
 
 S. A. M. : "Joe, boy, did Grandpa Mundell come to 
 us last night thru Mrs. Nanning, and did he refer to that 
 'bootjack' to prove it was really him?" 
 
114 OUR JOE 
 
 Joe: "Yes." Here the table behaved as tho very- 
 much amused. 
 
 Following this the control seemed to grow weaker, 
 and when we asked Joe if he was tired, and wished to go 
 he answered : "Yes." 
 
 After Joe had relinquished control my father sug- 
 gested that we wait a few minutes, and possibly some 
 other spirit would come. 
 
 In about five minutes the table indicated spirit pres- 
 ence. I called over the alphabet and table spelled : 
 
 "A-N-N-" here papa interrupted with, "It must be 
 Annie." 
 
 Table : "Yes," very weakly. 
 
 V. M. M. : "Annie darling, we're so glad to have you 
 come." 
 
 Annie : "Yes." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Annie, my sweet little sister, I never saw 
 you, for you left this life before I was born, but I have 
 always cherished the thought of you, and have wished 
 you might have lived to be with me during my childhood 
 days." 
 
 Annie : "Yes." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Don't you think our Joe is a fine, noble 
 boy, and aren't you proud of him, over there?" 
 
 Annie : "Yes." (Considerably stronger, and more 
 emphatic. During this first communication with Annie 
 the operations were never very strong) . 
 
 V. M. M. : "Annie dear, is little brother Willie with 
 you and Joe, now?" 
 
 Annie : "Yes." 
 
 This was all from Annie. 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 Report of table sitting at home, Tuesday evening, 
 Sept. 27, 1921, 904 Brush street, Oakland, California. 
 
 Sitters: S. A. Mundell, Verna Mae Mundell, Charles 
 S. Mundell and Margaret L. Mundell. 
 
 On the Sunday evening previous to this table-sitting, 
 when my father, my wife and I were returning from the 
 
OUR JOE H5 
 
 service at Odd Fellows Temple, where Mrs. Zimmerman 
 and Mrs. Nanning had given us such excellent messages, 
 my wife was complaining because her father never came 
 to her. She couldn't understand why, if Spirit-return 
 were a fact, her own father did not come to her with a 
 message of love. 
 
 "It seems funny to me," she exclaimed, "why my 
 father never comes to me. I've been to Spiritualist meet- 
 ings in Oklahoma City and here, and have been present at 
 table seances, but my father has never come." 
 
 It is true that while we were living in Oklahoma City 
 a medium by the name of Mrs. Mary Mertz, had given 
 me a message purporting to come from Margaret's father, 
 but my wife was not present at this meeting. The message 
 could not be considered very evidential because of the fact 
 that I had, previous to the calling of the meeting to 
 order, unfortunately let fall a remark which Mrs. Mertz 
 heard, concerning my wife's step-father. However, when 
 I asked Mrs. Mertz to ask her guide the question if he 
 (the guide) could tell me how my wife's father met his 
 death, the answer was : 
 
 "It was very quick he was killed an accident." 
 
 I thought this was very good, and told my wife. But 
 of course, she very naturally could not be satisfied with a 
 message coming 'second-hand,' and was very anxious that 
 her father might come to her directly. 
 
 When we gathered around the little table on this 
 Tuesday evening, hardly five minutes had passed when the 
 table indicated Spirit presence. 
 
 S. A. M. : "Is this our dear boy, Joe ?" 
 
 Silence. 
 
 V. M. M. : "Joe, darling, is it you that wants to 
 come?" 
 
 No. response. 
 
 C. S. M. : "Is this sister Annie?" 
 
 Silence. 
 
 S. A. M. : "Is it our little boy, Willie ?" 
 
 Silence. 
 
 V. M. M. : "Is this my dear mother?" 
 
116 OUR JOE 
 
 No response. 
 
 Several other names were called, including Grandpa 
 Mundell, Grandma Mundell, but the table made no re- 
 sponse. Then : 
 
 M. L. M. : "Is this my father, Herman Brunke?" 
 
 Table slowly, and rather jerkily tilted three times ! 
 
 C. S. M. : "So this is Margie's father? Well, we are 
 glad to welcome you. Did you hear Margaret fussing last 
 night because you never came to her?" 
 
 H. B. : (Herman Brunke) "Yes." 
 
 M. L. M. : "You didn't blame me, did you papa, for 
 fussing?" 
 
 H.B.: "Yes/" (Emphatic). 
 
 We all laughed and indulged in some "teasing" at 
 Margaret's expense. 
 
 S. A. M. : "You don't think people should ever do 
 such things, do you ?" 
 
 H. B. : "No." 
 
 M. L. M. : "Papa, do you know where my mother 
 is?" 
 
 H. B. : "Yes." 
 
 M. L. M. : "Is she in the Spirit-world?" 
 
 H. B. : "No." 
 
 M. L. M. : "Is she all right, papa?" 
 
 H. B. : "Yes." 
 
 M. L. M. : "Vater, ist deine mutter dar?" 
 
 Note by C. S. M. My wife's father was of German 
 blood, and German born. To the best of her remembrance, 
 he spoke very little English. The mother (Margaret's 
 mother) was also German ; hence, in the home the father 
 and mother conversed in the German language.) 
 
 H. B. : "Yes." 
 
 Several other questions were asked in German, and 
 answers received accordingly. 
 
 M. L. M. : "Papa, do you know Charles? (Mean- 
 ing me.) 
 
 H. B. : "Yes." 
 
 M. L. M. : "Do you think he is a good husband for 
 me?" 
 
OUR JOE 117 
 
 H. B. : "Yes." 
 
 M. L. M. : "Papa, you know I was only about three 
 years old when you left us. I remember very little about 
 you, but I do remember one thing very distinctly. Do you 
 remember the evening you were reading your German 
 newspaper and you asked me to get your house-slippers 
 for you? I was busy playing with my dolls and didn't 
 want to be disturbed, so I merely looked around a little 
 and returned to my dolls, saying I couldn't find them. You 
 hit me on the head with the folded newspaper, not to hurt, 
 but lightly, to scare me a little. Do you remember that?" 
 
 H. B. : (As tho amused) "Yes." 
 
 M. L. M. : "You didn't hurt me any, tho, did you, 
 papa? You were only playing?" 
 
 H. B.: "Yes." 
 
 M. L. M. : "Papa, have you met Joe?" 
 
 H. B. : "Yes." 
 
 M. L. M. : "And have you met Charlie's Grand- 
 mother, Harriet, and Grandmother Mundell, and Grandpa 
 Mundell, and Willie, and Annie, and the others?" 
 
 H. B. : "Yes." 
 
 M. L. M. : "And have you seen your own son, my 
 brother, Ollie, was drowned when he was about 17 or 18?" 
 
 H. B. : "Yes." 
 
 M. L. M. : "Are you getting tired, vater?" 
 
 H. B. : "Yes." 
 
 M. L. M. : "Guten nacht, vater !" 
 
 Table responded twice. 
 
 We all considered this sitting particularly good. 
 Needless, to say my wife was elated, and somewhat asham- 
 ed of her impatience of the Sunday evening before. 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 Report of messages received in public meeting, at the 
 home of Mrs. Marie F. S. Wallace, San Francisco Medium, 
 1219 Fillmore St., September 28, 1921. 
 
 Of all the public meetings I have ever attended under 
 Spiritualist auspices, the messages given by Mrs. Marie 
 
118 OUR JOE 
 
 F. S. Wallace, at her home in San Francisco, on Monday 
 evening, Sept. 28, 1921, were the most generally accurate 
 and satisfactory. 
 
 Besides my mother, my wife, and myself, there were 
 perhaps twenty others present, and practically every mes- 
 sage given proved to be the exact truth. Practically every 
 one, with three or four exceptions, were there for the first 
 time. We talked to several persons at the close of the 
 meeting, and verified the startlingly true messages they 
 had received. 
 
 For instance, she came to one man, unknown to us 
 (who afterwards informed us he had never seen Mrs. 
 Wallace before, nor had he ever attended any of her 
 seances), and said: 
 
 Mrs. W. : "The Spirit of an elderly gentleman comes 
 to you. He is so tall (indicating by gesture), has white 
 hair, and a long white beard." (She went on to describe 
 the features, complexion, shape of nose and mouth, hands, 
 etc.) 
 
 The stranger (in manifest surprise) : "Yes, there is 
 no doubt in my mind who that is ! Does he tell you who 
 heisT 
 
 Mrs. W. : "He shows me that he is your father!" 
 
 Stranger (with obvious emotion, too strong to con- 
 ceal) : "Yes, that's right." 
 
 Mrs. W. : "He says he used to have a gold-headed 
 cane, so-so" (Mrs. Wallace described a cane). 
 
 S. : "Yes, I remember." 
 
 Mrs. W. : "He is laughing ! He says he used to get 
 angry at you sometimes, and that he would shake the 
 cane at you !" 
 
 S. (laughing) : "By George, that's right! He did!" 
 
 Mrs. W. : "He says he also used to chase you with 
 that cane sometimes, but never could catch you !" 
 
 S. (laughing heartily now) : "I'll say he did! No, I 
 could run faster than he could, so he never caught me." 
 
 The medium then related to the stranger (who, by the 
 way, was not a Spiritualist) many incidents of his past 
 
OUR JOE 119 
 
 life which he personally assured us were absolutely true, 
 and that no one present knew but himself. 
 
 After giving several messages around (all recognized 
 by those to whom they were given) , she came to my wife. 
 
 Mrs. W. : "I want to come to you, dear. A father 
 comes to you. You have a father in Spirit-life?" 
 
 M. L. M.: "Yes." 
 
 Mrs. W. : "Well, dear, your father comes to you 
 with a message of love. He wants you to be sure it is 
 your father, so he says, 'Do you remember the time I 
 slapped you over the head with a newspaper?' He says 
 that's all you remember about him !" 
 
 My wife was really so surprised she seemed unable 
 to reply. To our positive knowledge Mrs. Wallace had 
 never seen us before. Finally my wife said: "Yes, I 
 remember that." 
 
 Mrs. W. : "Your father shows me that he was killed 
 by an accident shows me a high building. 'Fell from 
 that,' he says. His foot struck something sham seems 
 like spike was run through foot, or something like that. 
 (Note: Mv wife does rot krow whether this detail is cor- 
 rect or not. She never heard of any injury to her father's 
 foot when he fell from the Chicago skyscraper. ) 
 
 Mrs. W. : "Your father says he heard you complain- 
 ing the other night, that you never could .e-et anything' 
 through from him. That's why he came tonight. He 
 says, I got Charlie for you." 
 
 M. L. M. : "Ask him if he knows where mama is?" 
 
 Mrs. W. : "He says you will hear from your mother 
 some day." (Note by C. S. M. : Considering that Mrs. 
 Wallace had never seen my wife before, the above was 
 either a most remarkable instance of telepathy or "mind 
 reading," or it was what it purported to me : i. e., a mes- 
 sage from the Spirit of my wife's father ! We believe it 
 was the latter.) 
 
 Mrs. Wallace came next to my mother. 
 
 Mrs. W. (picking up the ring my mother had placed 
 on the table, and without opening her eyes) : "The per- 
 son who owns this ring is very anxious for spiritual mani- 
 
120 OUR JOE 
 
 festations. But you don't want to be deceived. You are 
 an honest and sincere seeker for truth. 
 
 "As I come more closely into your vibration I hear 
 a spirit calling, 'Mama.' He (notice she said 'he') says, 
 'Mama, I wasn't hungry.' (Evidently referring to the 
 Tribune article, which advanced the idea that he might 
 have been starving, and that he ended his life.) 'I wasn't 
 lost I was lost for a little while I was trying to reach 
 that house (evidently the little cabin mentioned by Mrs. 
 Nanning. An excellent example of cross-correspondence) . 
 
 " 'I just sat down to rest. I was tired. I was leaning 
 on gun.' He says something about a gun leaning. Joe 
 says. 'It all happened so quickly like a flash.' Joe says, 
 'I still live.' He says something about black, 'Don't like 
 for mama to wear black.' 'Please don't grieve for me. I 
 am all right ! When you grieve it makes it harder for me 
 to get close to you it makes aura so dense (like a 
 cloud). He says, 'Willie is here, too and Annie!' Joe 
 says, 'I made Charlie come home.' (That is, Joe must 
 have impressed me to leave Oklahoma City and return 
 to my parents' home in Oakland. I only know that the 
 desire to return home was irrestible.) 
 
 'Joe also says, 'If Charlie hadn't come home, mama 
 would have been here, too, by this time." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Ask Joe if it was really him that wrote 
 his name through my hand the other night?" 
 
 (Note by C. S. M. : A night or two before this I had 
 gone into the parlor, and sitting down at the library table, 
 had waited, in the hope that I might get automatic writ- 
 ing. Very soon I became sleepy, and as I felt a drowsi- 
 ness creeping over me, I wrote, "Is there any spirit who 
 will write through my hand?" A few minutes later my 
 wife came in to call me to suuper, and when I looked at 
 the paper the word 'Joe' had been spelled, in letters very 
 unlike my normal handwriting. I was evtremely skepti- 
 cal about attributing the writing to anything else than my 
 own sub-conscious mind. Hence the question.) 
 
 
OUR JOE 
 
 Mrs. W. : "Yes, Joe says it was really him that 
 signed his name through your hand. He says, 'Keep it 
 up and you will receive more/ ' 
 
 Here Mrs. Wallace paused several seconds, as though 
 in profound thought, and added : 
 
 "Your brother and you did not resemble each other 
 very much?" 
 
 C. S. M. : "Not a great deal. Why?" 
 
 Mrs. W. : "Because I can see that he is taller, and 
 much stronger, than yourself. Also, his hair and eyes 
 are darker than yours." 
 
 Correct. We thought this very good. 
 
 Mrs. W. : "Joe says, 'Tell mama I can now go where 
 I please, and I don't have to pay any car-fare.' I don't 
 know what he means by that, but that's what he says: 
 Tell mama I can now go where I want to, and I don't have 
 to pay any fare!' ' 
 
 My mother felt that this statement was particularly 
 good, for the reason that, shortly before Joe went on his 
 fatal hunting trip, he and a friend of his, a fellow-worker 
 at the West Oakland passenger yards, had both put in 
 applications for transportation passes covering a pro- 
 posed trip. 
 
 Strangely enough, although both boys had made ap- 
 plication at about the same time, and in spite of the fact 
 that my brother had been working for the company longer 
 than his friend, the friend received his pass for all the 
 way, while my brother received his for only a part of the 
 way, with special rates covering the balance of the 
 journey. 
 
 My mother recalls that Joe was quite hurt at the time, 
 at what he felt to be an unjust discrimination. 
 
 He said, "I've been working for the company longer 
 than C has. If he is entitled to a pass all the way, I 
 don't see why I should have to pay fare for a part of 
 the way." 
 
 The matter was discussed quite thoroughly at the 
 time, making a deep impression upon his mother. Nat- 
 
122 OUR JOE 
 
 urally, she also felt resentment at what she considered an 
 unjust discrimination against her son. 
 
 Does it not seem reasonable that Joe should refer to 
 the matter, as a test, in order that it might convince his 
 mother it was really Joe who was speaking? 
 
 If this expression, "I can go where I please, and I 
 don't have to pay any car fare," does not constitute a re- 
 markable test, it seems to me that it would be impossible 
 to devise any statement that could be taken as a test. 
 
 How could he have made the reference stronger, if he 
 had tried? 
 
 Mrs. Wallace certainly could not have known about 
 this little matter of intimate family history. She did not 
 even know what Joe meant by the expression ! 
 
 Mrs. Wallace: "Elizabeth also comes to you (To 
 C. S. M.) . She says, 'I'm Grandmother M-M-a-u-n-d-a-1-l 
 no, that isn't right M-o-u-n-l-e-l-l something like that 
 M-a-u-n-d-a-l-l that's what is sounds like to me. Do 
 you know what that name is?" 
 
 The giving of a surname is not a very common thing 
 in such meetings, and when it is given, to strangers, it 
 seems to me that it ought to carry some weight. 
 
 Christian names, called out and recognized, cannot, 
 of course, be considered as important as the giving of a 
 surname especially when that surname happens to be a 
 rather unusual and uncommon name! 
 
 That is to say, there are many Joes, Charlies, Johns, 
 Williams, Marys, Marthas, etc., and sometimes when the 
 medium asks, for instance, "Who recognizes the name of 
 Helen?" several persons may claim the name as belong- 
 ing to some one of their loved and lost. 
 
 But the name Mundell is not a very common name. 
 Neither are we a very famous family. We are not suffi- 
 ciently well known in Greater San Francisco that our 
 name can be spelled out by every medium in the city. 
 
 The above seems especially significant in view of the 
 fact that all of Grandmother Mundell's grandchildren and 
 great-grandchildren distinguished her from other grand- 
 mothers by calling her "Grandma Mundell." 
 
OUR JOE 123 
 
 (Supplementary note by C. S. M. : The reader will 
 observe that Mrs. Nanning had said the gun "fell" (see 
 report of sitting with Mrs. Nanning, Sept. 24), while 
 Mrs. Wallace implied that Joe was "leaning" on the gun 
 when he was shot. This apparent discrepancy was cleared 
 up at a subsequent table sitting in our home (See table 
 sitting of Oct. 12). 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 Report of messages received from Mrs. Emma Nan- 
 ning, public meeting, Church of Truth and Light, Odd 
 Fellows' Temple, Oakland, California, Oct. 2, 1921, Sun- 
 day evening. 
 
 Those of us who attended: V. M. M., S. A. M., 
 C. S. M., and M. L. M. 
 
 On Sunday evening, Oct. 2, we all attended the open 
 meeting at Odd Fellows' Temple, under the auspices of 
 "The Spiritual Church of Truth and Light," Mrs. Emma 
 Nanning, pastor. 
 
 As a rule, there are two or more mediums who work 
 in every Spiritualist meeting, but on this occasion Mrs. 
 Nanning happened to be the only psychic present ; hence, 
 she gave all the messages. 
 
 To my father, and mother, and myself she gave mes- 
 sages of love and comfort from Joe, from "Harriet," from 
 George (Father's brother), and from Grandma and 
 Grandma Mundell. They were characteristic and helpful, 
 but in as much as they contained no new material, or any- 
 thing of what we call "evidential value," I omit them, 
 recording here the message given to my wife, M. L. M., 
 because it should be considered of exceptional importance. 
 
 A few nights previous, when we were returning home 
 on the Ferry from Mrs. Wallace's meeting, my wife had 
 remarked : "Mrs. Wallace's message to me was wonder- 
 ful, and her description of the accidental death of my 
 father very accurate, but I wish my father would come 
 to me and give me his name, and perhaps also a message 
 in German. That would sound more natural than a mes- 
 
124 OUR JOE 
 
 sage in English, for the reason that he spoke German at 
 home." 
 
 After giving messages to mother, father, and me, 
 the medium turned to M. L. M. 
 
 Mrs. N. : "A spirit comes to you from the other side 
 of life. He says it is (Mrs. N. sotto voice: He says he 
 wants to spell it) He says it is 'V-a-t-e-r' (German word 
 for 'Father'). He wants to spell his name in German: 
 (Here he spelled Herman) . Herman my wife's father's 
 first name indeed ! 
 
 Following the spelling of the name the medium gave 
 my wife a message in German. Since I do not understand 
 or speak German (except a precious little), I was not able 
 to take down the message. My wife assures me it was 
 exceptionally good. 
 
 Now the question is : How did Mrs. Nanning learn 
 that my wife was of German blood? She certainly does 
 not look to be! Almost everyone who ventures a guess 
 thinks she is either French or Spanish. She simply does 
 not look Teutonic ! But of much greater importance is the 
 question : How did she hit upon "Herman" as her father's 
 name ? Was it merely a fortunate guess ? True, Herman 
 is not an uncommon name for a German, but neither is 
 Fritz, or Frederick, or Rudolph, or a great many other 
 names ! 
 
 The reader may account for the fact by the hypothesis 
 of "guessing," but when I consider it in the light of her 
 past messages to us, both in private and from the plat- 
 form, I cannot help but seriously doubt the truth of the 
 suggestion that she merely made a fortunate "guess." 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 Report cf a private sitting of S. A. Mundell with Mrs. 
 Marie F. S. Wallace, of San Francisco, 1219 Fillmore, 
 Tuesday afternoon, Oct. 4, 1921. 
 
 My father was very much impressed with our report 
 of the messages given us in open meeting by Mrs. Wal- 
 lace, in San Francisco. It was decided that he would go 
 to Mrs. Wallace quite anonymously for a private sitting.. 
 
OUR JOE 125 
 
 Mother was particularly anxious that every pre- 
 caution sh uld be taken to keep my father's identity a 
 secret from Mrs. Wallace. So when he entered Mrs. W.'s 
 parlor he was careful not to betray his identity. He did 
 not give his name, nor did the medium ask for it. Neither 
 did he telephone for an appointment, preferring to "take 
 a chance" on finding the medium at liberty. 
 
 At about a quarter to three the reading began. I, of 
 course, was not present, so I am merely reporting what 
 my father related to me. 
 
 She gave him first what she called a "material" read- 
 ing, or a sketch of his life. With the exception of a few 
 minor mistakes, my father described the sketch as quite 
 accurate, and in many respects surprising. 
 
 She gave him a rather detailed account of his past 
 life, adventures, experiences, etc. Then coming to the 
 present she said : 
 
 Mrs. W. : "You are the leader of some organization 
 an official, of some sort." (True, my father's official 
 position was that of General Chairman of the Joint Pro- 
 tective Board, Brotherhood Railway Carmen of America.) 
 
 Mrs. W. continued : "You seem to have something to 
 do with railroads. The membership of your organization 
 have great faith in you. This has not always been true. 
 You have had a struggle, but you have triumphed." (All 
 this, of course, was quite true. However, all the time 
 she was giving this my father was impatient for her to 
 come to the "Spiritual." He (as was true of all of us) 
 was very little interested in the material question at all. 
 What we desired was communication from beyond.) 
 
 After a time she informed my father that there were 
 five children in the family. 
 
 S. A. M. : "No, only four." 
 
 Mrs. W. : "But I see five. Four are in the spirit- 
 world; one is at home." 
 
 S. A. M. : "Well, I don't know how there could be 
 five when only four children were born to us !" 
 
 Mrs. W. : "Well, there was a little girl ?" 
 
 S. A. M. : "Yes." 
 
126 OUR JOE 
 
 Mrs. W. : "Wasn't there a little boy prematurely 
 born? Only a few months in pre-natal development, but 
 still sufficiently developed to show life?" 
 
 S. A. M. (in considerable surprise) : "Why, yes, that 
 is true ! We never thought of that little one as being a 
 spirit in the spirit-world !" 
 
 (Not- by C. S. M.: See Table Sitting of Oct. 20. 
 Also page 150.) 
 
 Between my sister Annie and myself there was a mis- 
 carriage a little boy some five months in development. 
 Following this experience my mother was ill for a long- 
 time ; in fact, she came very near dying! More than once 
 her passing was considered only a matter of hours. 
 
 It seems to me that this insistance by the medium 
 upon the number five, over the objections of my father 
 that there were positively only four, constitutes a matter 
 of some evidential value. Certainly she did not read it 
 from my father's mind, for he was thinking of no such 
 thing, and was very much taken back when the medium 
 mentioned it. 
 
 Mrs. W. : "Then there was a little boy Willie who 
 passed out when he was about well, between a year and 
 a half and two years old." 
 
 S. A. M. : "That is true." 
 
 Mrs. Wallace: "And then Joe came. Is that not 
 true?" 
 
 S. A. M. : "Yes, that is true !" 
 
 Then Mrs. Wallace went on to describe how my dear 
 brother came to his untimely death, saying that although 
 his earthly life was cut short, he had a great work to do 
 in the Spirit-world. 
 
 Mrs. V 7 : "Joe has brought all this about (meaning* 
 our investigation of Spiritualism and psychic phe- 
 nomena) . It has been Joe who has made it possible for 
 other of your loved ones to come through to you, from the 
 other side of life. Joe was a good boy a noble, manly, 
 affectionate boy. You were very proud of him." 
 
 S. A. M.: "Yes, we were!" 
 
OUR JOE 127 
 
 Mrs. W. : "Joe keeps saying something about 
 'Charlie, Charlie.' Do you know who 'Charlie' is? He 
 isn't in the Spirit-world." 
 
 S. A. M. 
 Mrs. W. 
 
 preacher!' Is Charlie a preacher?" 
 
 S. A. M. 
 Mrs. W. 
 
 know who 'E izabeth' is?" 
 
 S. A. M. 
 Mrs. W. 
 
 "Charlie is our other son, Joe's brother." 
 "Yes, Joe says something about Preacher ! 
 
 "Yes, that is what he means !" 
 "Elizabeth also comes to you. Do you 
 
 "It must be my mother !" 
 
 "Well, she says, 'Tell Sam Father is with 
 
 me !' Who is Sam? She shows me you are Sam ! Is your 
 name Sam?" 
 
 S. A. M. : "Yes, that's my name !" 
 
 (Note : How did Mrs. Wallace know, never having 
 ,seen my father, that his name was Sam?) 
 
 Mrs. W. : "I don't know whether she means her 
 father, or your father. (Sotto voice: I think she means 
 your father.) Yes, that is what she means." 
 
 S. A. M. : "Can you get my father's first name?" 
 
 Mrs. W. : "I will try. I never like to ask the names, 
 for I'm afraid my own mind will steD in and I'll do a lot 
 of guessing. The spirits usually volunteer their names 
 whenever they want to give them." 
 
 (She did not succeed in getting the name of Grandpa 
 Mundell. After a moment of concentration, she gave it 
 up, saying, "I can't seem to get it." 
 
 Mrs. Wallace continued : "Joe says, 'Paua, I can go 
 where I please, and I don't have to wait for trains like 
 you do." 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 Notes of Table Sitting in our home, October 10. 1921 
 (Evening). Four persons in circle: S. A. Mundell, Mrs. 
 V. M. Mundell, Charles S. Mundell, Margaret L. Mundell. 
 
 After sitting quietly, with hands lightly on table for 
 15 or 20 minutes, vibrations and quivering could be felt 
 by all the sitters. 
 
128 OUR JOE 
 
 Question by C. S. M. : "Are there any spirits pres- 
 ent? Are any of our friends or loved ones here who wish 
 to communicate with us?" Table tilted three times, 
 toward V. M. M. 
 
 Question by C. S. M. : "Is this Joe?" Answer: three 
 tilts for yes! 
 
 Question by S. A. M. : "Is George with you now, 
 Joe?" A.: Yes. 
 
 Q. S. A. M.: "Joe, does George live on a higher 
 plane than you do? And does he just come down to the 
 first plane to help you?" 
 
 Table commenced tilting backwards and forwards 
 most peculiarly, tilting six or eight times from V. M. M. 
 to M. L. M. 
 
 Sitters were puzzled to know what communicator 
 wanted. 
 
 Q. by V. M. M. : "Joe dear, do you want us to call 
 over the letters of the alphabet so you can spell some- 
 thing?" 
 
 A. Joe: "Yes" (emphatically). Alphabet was re- 
 peated. Joe tilted at each letter forming the words of 
 the following : "Not exactly ; George lives in same plane 
 I do." 
 
 Q. S. A. M. : "George lives on same plane you do, 
 but he has progressed further, and understands more 
 about the spirit-life?" 
 
 A. Joe : "Yes." Table again tilted backwards and 
 forwards several times, indicating desire to spell out mes- 
 sage. Alphabet was repeated. 
 
 Joe: "I s-a-w M-a c-r-y-i-n-g f-o-r m-e t-o-d-a-y. 
 I-t h-u-r-t-s m-e a-n-d G-r-a-n-d-m-a t-o s-e-e m-a-m-a 
 g-r-i-e-v-e. 
 
 (Spelling continued) : Conditions are good here. 
 
 Joe: "Ask dad if he remembers banana-st (stick? 
 supplied by M. L. M.) ?" Answer: "Yes." 
 
 S. A. M. : "Well, bless his he^rt. He means the time 
 I whipped him with banana-stock." 
 
 Q. S. A. M. : "You'll forgive papa for that, won't 
 yoir son ?" 
 
OUR JOE 129 
 
 A. Joe: "Yes." (Again rocked table, indicating 
 desire to spell.) 
 
 Joe : "I needed it." 
 
 Q. V. M. M. : "Joe, darling, we're so sorry we ever 
 whipped you. You forgive us, don't you?" 
 
 Joe: "I don't hold anything against any (one? 
 .supplied by M. L. M.) (A. Yes) . 
 
 Joe : "Does mama recall how I was big baby. I am 
 still mama's boy." 
 
 Q. S. A. M.: "Joe loves mama?" 
 
 A. (emphatically) "Yes!" Table tilted over into 
 V. M. M.'s lap and remained until we pulled it away. 
 
 Q. S. A. M. : "Joe, do you remember when you 
 farmed with Tony Snyder?" 
 
 A. Joe: "Yes." 
 
 Q. C. S. M. : "You didn't like it much, did you Joe?" 
 
 A. (emphatically) : "No." Again indicated desire 
 to spell. 
 
 Joe (referring to time farmed with T. S.) : "I ate 
 hot cakes every day." 
 
 Q. M. L. M. : "Joe, do you remember what you sent 
 your sister Margie for a present last Christmas ?" 
 
 A. Joe : "Dancing pumps." 
 
 (Following this, Joe tilted twice for "Goodnight.") 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 Table Sitting in our home, 904 Brush Street, Oakland, 
 CaL, Wednesday evening, Oct. 12, 1921. Three sitters 
 present: Mrs. V. M. Mundell (Mother), Charles S. Mun- 
 dell (Brother) , and Margaret L. Mundell (Sister-in-Law) . 
 
 After sitting quietly for 20 or 25 minutes, table tilted 
 twice, indicating spirit-presence. Alphabet repeated. 
 Name spelled: H-a-r-r-i-e-t. 
 
 Q. C. S. M. : "Is this Grandma?" 
 
 A. H. M. P. : "Yes." 
 
 Q. V. M. M. "We're so glad to have you come 
 again dear Mother. We can't wait to ask later, Did you 
 bring Joe with you, and is he with you now?" 
 
OUR JOE 
 
 A. H. M. P.: "Yes." 
 
 Q. V. M. M. : "Is our darling all right, and is he 
 happy?" 
 
 A. H. M. P. : "Yes." (Rocking of table indicated 
 desire to spell. Alphabet repeated by C. S. M.) 
 
 H. M. P. : "Spirit- wo rid "is beautiful. Much better 
 than earth-plane." 
 
 Q. V. M. M. : "Ma, we heard Pa say a man de- 
 clared manipulating of table caused by electricity in our 
 hands, and that it couldn't be done with a cloth on table. 
 If you can tilt the table through cloth we wish you would. 
 Will you?" 
 
 A. H. M. P.. (weakly) : "Yes." 
 
 C. S. M. : "You mean you will try, don't you Grand- 
 ma?" 
 
 A. H. M. P. : "Yes." 
 
 A cloth was then laid over table top. After apparent 
 effort and some seeming difficulty table was tilted twice. 
 
 Q. V. M. M. : "It doesn't make any difference, does 
 it Ma?" 
 
 A. H. M. P. : "No." 
 
 Q. C. S. M. : "Grandma, can you explain to us how 
 the spirits do this (referring to physical phenomena) ? 
 Is it through electricity, or magnetism, or what?" 
 
 A. H. M. P. : "It isn't any known law of earth. It 
 is Spirit-Magnetism. I don't understand it, but I can 
 use it. Just like electricity is used on earth (without be- 
 ing understood) . Raymond Lodge is experimenting on it 
 in his father's laboratory. I am tired." 
 
 Q. V. M. M. : "Do you want to say 'goodnight,' 
 Ma?" 
 
 A. H. M. P. : "Yes. Joe says, 'Charlie, kiss my 
 darling mother for me.' ' (Table moves in indication 
 Joe is present.) 
 
 Q. V. M. M.: "Joe, you know Margie?" 
 
 A. Joe : "Yes." 
 
 Q. V. M. M.: "Can you spell Margie's name?" 
 Table tilted to M. L. M. 
 
OUR JOE 131 
 
 A. Joe: "Yes." Alphabet is called and "Af-o-r-' 
 g-i-e" is spelled. 
 
 Joe : "Margie is prettiest girl in flesh except mama. 
 All of you better be good to mama or I will haunt you. I 
 love my little mother better than anyone in earth or in 
 the Spirit-world." 
 
 Joe continues to spell : "I like the climate here. It 
 is warm and bright. No fog; no flees. I am going to 
 school in this world, and am learning what I didn't have 
 fair chance to learn when I was a kid. I have a swell 
 teacher. I have a class in spelling. Get pencil, I want 
 to tell details of accident." 
 
 Pencil and paper were procured, and the table spelled 
 out the following: 
 
 Joe: "I left camp Sunday morning in high spirits. 
 About three hours later I found fresh deer tracks. Dog 
 took cent (scent). I said, 'Here's where I get my deer. 
 I'll give those guys the horse-laugh when we get back. 
 
 "I ran quite far when I lost trail. I said, 'Ain't it 
 hell!' I started to go to cabin couple of miles. Got a 
 drink near. Walked a ways and lost sight of cabin. I 
 climbed hill for better view. It was no joke " 
 
 Q. C. S. M. : "You mean it was no joke climbing 
 the hill?" 
 
 A. Joe : "Yes. So I said, 'By golly, it's hot. Come 
 on sport (dog) let's have a smoke.' 
 
 "I climbed sort-a straddle on a fallen tree. I took 
 out my tobacco, but there wasn't enough for the dog and 
 me, too. I said, 'Old pal, you are out o' luck.' I rolled a 
 cigaret and throwed can down. Gun was leaning against 
 my leg. I reached for a match and knocked the rifle over. 
 The next thing I knew Grandma was holding my head. I 
 waked up in her arms. Willie held one of my hands; 
 Annie held the other. I suffered absolutely no pain. In 
 the Spirit-world I am with many friends and loved ones. 
 I am all in for this night." 
 
 Sitting ended after "goodnights' 'were said all around. 
 
132 OUR JOE 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 Report of Table Sitting at home, Friday evening, 
 October 14, 1921. Sitters: S. A. Mundell, Verna Mae 
 Mundell, Charles S. Mundell, and Margaret L. Mundell. 
 
 In a comparatively short time the table indicated, by 
 a trembling, quivering vibration, that spirits were present. 
 
 S. A. M. : "Is this Mother Mundell?" 
 
 No answer. 
 
 S.A. M.: "Is this Joe?" 
 
 Table tilted three times in assent. 
 
 S. A. M. : "Do you love mama tonight?" 
 
 Joe: "Yes." (Strong.) 
 
 V. M. M. : "Joe darling, would you like to spell out 
 a message while we repeat the alphabet?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes." 
 
 Table tilted at the letters which spelled: "T-h-e- 
 M-u-n-d-e-l-l-B-o-y" (The Mundell Boy). 
 
 We considered this very good, and very character- 
 istic, for the reason that Joe was called by his fellow- 
 workers at the S. P. Yards, and by his foreman and others, 
 "The Mundell Boy." For some time before his passing he 
 had fallen into the habit of calling himself that. 
 
 His mother recalls several instances where he came 
 in from work with the remark, "Well, the Mundell Boy 
 was up on the carpet today." That is, he was called into 
 the boss' private office for a reprimand for some real or 
 fancied negligence, or violation of company rules. When- 
 ever any workman was thus called into the "private 
 office" he was said to have been "on the carpet." 
 
 Sometimes Joe would say, "Well, Ma, the Mundell 
 Boy doesn't intend to slave away down there all his life." 
 
 Another expression which was very characteristic of 
 my brother was the calling of himself, "Old man Joe." 
 
 Sometimes when he would stay at home, instead of 
 going out for the evening, he would remark, "Well, I 
 guess Old Man Joe will stay in tonight." 
 
 After we had commented upon the striking phrase, 
 "The Mundell Boy," the table spelled out: 
 
OUR JOE 133 
 
 "Old Man Joe." 
 
 V. M. M. : "Joe dear, you are doing this to convince 
 us it is really you, and not some other spirit, operating 
 this table?" 
 
 Joe: "Yes." 
 
 The table then rocked back and forth in indication 
 that the alphabet was wanted. I called over the letters 
 and Joe spelled : 
 
 Joe: "George says, 'Ask Sam if he remembers pic- 
 ture of he and George, taken together?'." 
 
 S. A. M. : "Yes, son, Papa remembers that!" 
 
 Joe: "Mama, do you remember time hog got me 
 down ?" 
 
 Neither my father nor my wife had ever heard of this 
 incident, but my mother and I remember it well. 
 
 It was when Joe was about three years old. We were 
 living out on a ranch in the State of New Mexico. One 
 day when brother and I were playing in the yard, an old 
 sow got loose and started for Joe. She had him down on 
 his back, with her two feet on his chest, when his mother 
 came running out of the house with a broom and fought 
 the sow off. 
 
 Joe : "Mama, give Charlie my watch for I love 
 him." 
 
 (C. S. M.: "God bless the dear boy! I have his 
 watch now a beautiful, 21-jewel Elein, which he was 
 very proud of when he was on the earth-plane. I would 
 not part with that watch for a million dollars.) 
 
 Joe (continuing) : "Brother is all you have now." 
 
 This remark, purporting to come from Joe, caused 
 his mother to break down, and for a few minutes she was 
 unable to control her emotion. When her sobs had quieted 
 down, the table spelled out (apparently in reply to a 
 remark that poor brother was dead^ : 
 
 Joe: "Quit thinking I am dead. I am alive more 
 than on the earth-plane." (He continued) : "Death is 
 only the door into the next room. It is like moving out 
 of a dug-out into the Hotel Oak" Papa interrupted 
 with the question: "Hotel Oakland, son?' ' 
 
OUR JOE 
 
 Joe: "Yes." 
 
 After this, when we had finished commenting and 
 expressing our conviction that he must be in a very beau- 
 tiful place if that were true, he continued : 
 
 "I have a swell room!" 
 
 "I am employed, but have no boss." 
 
 After this the table spelled : 
 
 "I am through, but Annie " 
 
 S. A. M. : "Annie want to talk to us?" 
 
 Joe: "No!" 
 
 C. S. M. : "You mean Annie does not want to take 
 control?" 
 
 Joe : "No." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Well, go ahead, brother dear, say what 
 you want to say. (Sotto voice: Terhaps he wants to tell 
 us something about Annie/ " 
 
 Joe: "Willie" 
 
 C. S. M. : "Oh, you mean that Willie wants to talk 
 to us?" 
 
 Joe (as though offended at being interrupted so 
 often) : "No/" 
 
 C. S. M. : "All right, Joe. We won't interrupt you 
 any more. Go ahead." 
 
 Joe: "George, Grandma Mundell (and) Painter, 
 Harvey, Art " 
 
 V. M. M.: "Art McAnarny, Joe?" (A boyhood 
 friend, passed on sometime before.) 
 
 Joe: "Yes." (Continued spelling) : "W-a-l-l-i-s 
 
 We were all perplexed to know who "Wallis" could 
 be. We could not recall any "Wallis" we knew who had 
 passed on. 
 
 V. M. M.: "Wallis who, Joe? Will you tell us the 
 last name?" 
 
 Joe : "R-a-i-l-l-a-r-d!" 
 
 V. M. M. : "Oh, yes, Joe ! We know who you mean 
 now! You mean little Wallis Raillard at Dalhart?" 
 
 Joe (as though pleased) : "Yes." 
 
 Joe : "They give greetings." 
 
OUR JOE 1*5 
 
 (Note by C. S. M. : The sentence as a whole reads: 
 "I am through, but Annie, Willie, George, Grandma 
 Mundell and Grandma Painter, Harvey (Grandfather 
 Mundell probably), Art, (and) Wallis, give greetings.) 
 
 The table then spelled "Goodnight!" 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 Report of Table Sitting at Home, Oct. 15, 1921. 
 
 We had to wait a little longer than usual this evening. 
 Apparently the conditions were not particularly good. 
 
 When the table indicated Spirit presence my father 
 asked : 
 
 S.A. M.: "Is this Joe?" 
 
 No answer. 
 
 S. A. M. : "Is this the Mundell Boy?" 
 
 Very weak response, "Yes." 
 
 Alphabet was called for, and table spelled : 
 
 "This is G-e-o-r-g-e!" 
 
 S. A. M. : "Oh, this is brother George, is it?" 
 
 George : "Yes." 
 
 C. S. M. : "All right, Uncle George, while I call the 
 alphabet you give us whatever you want to." 
 
 George: "I want to say something about Joe, He 
 is so modest he won't tell you about himself." 
 
 V. M. M. : "Yes, George, we know how modest dear 
 Joe was !" 
 
 George: "Joe can do this (manipulate table) better 
 than any of us because he is a mechanic!" 
 
 C. S. M., S. A. M., V. M. M., M. L. M. (in chorus of 
 surprise) : "Because he is a mechanic?" 
 
 George: "Yes!" 
 
 (Note by C. S. M. : We were amazed by this state- 
 ment because we could not conceive how a knowledge of 
 mechanics could have anything to do with what Grandma 
 had styled "Spirit Magnetism.") 
 
 George continued : "Joe's experience as an air-man 
 has been a great help to us in the Spirit-world. I can't 
 explain how that is, but it is a fact!" 
 
136 OUR JOE 
 
 V. M. M. : "Isn't that strange !" 
 
 George : "Communication is hard tonight. Joe is a 
 fine boy. We are all proud of Joe. He is the life of the 
 whole bunch." 
 
 After this the table spelled out: "Goodnight." 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 Report of Message given to me by Mrs. R. Hyams, 
 Sunday evening, Oct. 16, at Public Meeting, Trinity 
 Spiritual Church, 529 Twelfth Street, Oakland, California. 
 
 Mrs. R. Hyams: "You are an investigator a deep 
 one you sift all evidence. You do not accept everything 
 you hear. That is right! 
 
 "You want to know for yourself. You cannot be 
 satisfied merely with the evidence of others. 
 
 "You are going to grow Spiritually. You are going 
 to see a departed loved one (apparition) and then you 
 will know he lives! You will 'jump when you see him! 
 Use your pencil you will get automatic writing." 
 
 C. S. M. : "You are not the only medium who has 
 told me I could get automatic writing !" 
 
 Mrs. R. Hyams: "Did I ever see you before, or did 
 you ever see me before?" 
 
 C. S. M. : "No, not that I was ever aware of. If I 
 ever saw. you before I certainly don't recall it." 
 
 Mrs. R. H. : "You really have strong psychic powers, 
 but you must develop them !" 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 Report of Table Sitting at Home, October 18, 1921, 
 Oakland, California. Sitters: J. S. Painter, V. M. Mun- 
 dell, C. S. Mundell, Margaret L. Mundell. 
 
 After prayer and a few minutes* silence, the table 
 indicated spirit presence. Alphabet was called for and 
 table spelled: H-a-r-r-i-e-t. 
 
 Grandpa Painter ( J. S. P.) was very glad of this, for 
 he had come down to the sitting for the purpose, not only 
 of again witnessing the queer phenomenon of a table tilt- . 
 ing back and forth without the application of muscular or 
 
OUR JOE 137 
 
 physical energy, but because he was quite anxious to ask 
 a few questions for his personal satisfaction. 
 
 After the table had spelled "Harriet," we told Grand- 
 pa to go ahead and ask his quesitons. 
 
 J. S. P. : "Well, Harriet, if this is really you, can 
 you tell me if my sister Jane, and her husband, are there 
 with you?" 
 
 H. M. P. : "Yes." 
 
 C. S. M. : "You mean, Grandma, that they are with 
 you?" 
 
 H. M. P. : "Yes." 
 
 J. S. P. : "Can you tell me if Vene and Henry are 
 there?" 
 
 H. M. P.: "Yes." 
 
 J. S. P. : "And the two children?" 
 
 No answer. 
 
 Table indicated alphabet was desired. 
 
 V. M. M. : "Do you want to spell?" 
 
 H. M. P.: "Yes." 
 
 The table then tilted off the following sentence, pur- 
 porting to come from Grandma Painter : 
 
 H. M. P. : "Charley is here with me and Lily. Joe 
 also. I love my Sam! (Meaning J. S. P.) I love all of 
 you." 
 
 (To V. M. M.) "Vernie, Joe says, 'I was with you 
 last night, but I could not materialize. I did my best, but 
 conditions made it impossible. Materializing is awful 
 hard without a good medium. I am afraid I can never 
 make you see or hear me without the help of a strong 
 medium. 
 
 "Ectoplasm, a psychic magnetism possessed by a very 
 few, is absolutely necessary to materialization. 
 
 "I am tired. We all wish you Goodnight !" 
 (End of Sitting of October 18.) 
 
 Concerning the message to my mother it might be 
 well to explain that she had, on the previous night, while 
 my wife and I were in Berkeley, where I delivered a lec- 
 ture, gone into the parlor where Joe was wont to spend so 
 much of his time at the player-piano, and waited in the 
 
138 OUR JOE 
 
 hope that she might see or hear her darling. No such 
 manifestation as clairvoyance or claraudience came, and 
 she was deeply disappointed. Hence, the message from 
 Joe to assure his mother that he was with her the evening 
 before, although he was unable to demonstrate his pres- 
 ence to her sight or hearing. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 Report of Table Sitting at Home, October 20, 1921, 
 Oakland, California. 
 
 Before I proceed to describe the table sitting of Oct. 
 20 it might be well to mention the fact that the previous 
 Sunday afternoon (Oct. 16) , my father and I had attended 
 a meeting under the auspices of the Fruitvale Spiritualist 
 Church, at Carpenters' Hall, on East Twelfth Street, Oak- 
 land. Nothing of very much consequence was received 
 at this meeting, but I mention it because Joe refers to it 
 in our table sitting of the 20th. 
 
 To those of my readers who may understand very 
 little about Modern Spiritualism, or who may never have 
 attended a Message service, I wish to offer a word of 
 caution : When you attend ^such a meeting, be prepared 
 to come away disappointed.* You may not receive any- 
 thing whatever of value ! You may be given a message, 
 not a word of which you are able to recognize! Or you 
 may even be given a "message," every word of which you 
 may know to be incorrect. I have seen this done many 
 times. 
 
 For instance, I have heard a confirmed old bachelor 
 given an extremely affectionate message from a spirit- 
 wife, when, as a matter of fact, he had never been 
 married ! 
 
 I have heard childless couples given messages from 
 spirit-children, when, as a matter of fact, the couple never 
 had a child! 
 
 I have heard messages given to sons and daughters 
 by fathers and mothers, when those fathers and mothers 
 were not even in spirit-life ! 
 
OUR JOE 139 
 
 I myself was once given a message from my mother, 
 when my mother was very much in the flesh ! 
 
 In the first appendix of this book these matters will be 
 taken up and treated with all seriousness. I mention them 
 in this connection merely as a warning to my readers not 
 to give up an investigation of Spiritualism and of Psychic 
 Phenomena because of a few experiences of this sort. 
 
 Among the mediums who gave messages at this ser- 
 vice (there were several) was a Mrs. Shields, a colored 
 woman. She picked up my fountain pen, which I had 
 placed on the table with numerous articles placed there 
 by others, and holding it a few seconds, with eyes closed, 
 said: 
 
 Mrs. Shields: "To the owner of this fountain pen 
 there comes three who have passed into spirit-life: it 
 seems that one must be a father (possibly my Grand- 
 father) , one is a brother who seems to have passed out 
 quickly, and the other is the Spirit of one who was lame 
 before passing out. They all show me that the owner of 
 this pen is a person of strong psychic powers himself, and 
 that he could use these powers in healing." 
 
 That was all, so far as I can remember. I may say, 
 however, that Mrs. Shields seemed to give some excellent 
 messages to several others; persons who professed to 
 "understand" them, and to recognize them as being 
 correct. 
 
 Those present at the Table Sitting of Oct. 20: 
 C. S. M., M. L. M., and V. M. M. 
 
 After a brief interval of prayer and concentration 
 the table began to move, and when the alphabet was re- 
 peated spelled out J-o-e! 
 
 Joe: "Mama, itkisstywmprue the table evi- 
 denced confusion. 
 
 V. M. M. : "We've made some mistake, haven't we, 
 Joe dear?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes." 
 
 V. M. M. : "All right, we'll begin again." 
 
 During the first several minutes of this sitting I was 
 aware of a peculiar feeling a sort of drowsiness, and 
 
140 OUR JOE 
 
 yet, not an ordinary drowsiness. My mother and Mar- 
 garet were a little vexed at me, I think, for what they 
 thought must be indifference. I felt a sort of numbness in 
 my hands and arms, and my head ached in a peculiar way. 
 
 Mama repeated the alphabet and the table spelled: 
 i. e., Joe spelled : 
 
 "I have been trying to seize Charlie's mind and con- 
 trol his physical organs. 
 
 "Grandma says Charlie has mediumistic powers." 
 
 C. S. M.: "Well, Joe! Is that really so? I have 
 been so informed by several mediums, but I haven't taken 
 any stock in it myself. Tell me, what kind of a medium 
 do you think I am? Will you answer my questions?" 
 
 Joe: "Yes." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Have I any clairvoyant powers?" 
 
 Joe: "Yes." 
 
 C.S.M.: "Clairaudient?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes." 
 
 C. S. M.: "Trance?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes." 
 
 C. S. M.: "Materializing?" 
 
 Joe: 'Wo/" (Emphatically) 
 
 (Note by C. S.M.) I really do not know what to say 
 about these things which mediums have told me, and 
 which are here recorded; concerning my possessing such 
 powers as clairvoyance, clairaudience, and trance. It may 
 be true, but certainly, as yet I have not discovered it. 
 Until I have received absolute and unquestionable proof 
 I shall neither affirm nor deny these assertions, but I 
 must have more evidence of the facts than I have yet 
 received. 
 
 C. S. M. : "Well, Joe, do you know any spirit who 
 has controlled anyone on the earth-plane?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes." 
 
 V. M. M. : "Anyone we know, Joe ?" 
 
 The table here rocked back and forth indicating 
 alphabet was desired. 
 
 Joe: "I controlled Emma Nanning and Marie 
 Wallace." 
 
OUR JOE J41 
 
 M. L. M. : "Did you come thru any others, Joe?" 
 
 Joe: "I came to Dad and Charlie last Sunday thru 
 Mrs. Shields." 
 
 C. S. M.: "Mrs. Shields, the colored medium?' 
 
 Joe: "In our world there is no difference in color!" 
 
 "Mama, do you remember how I used to hate the 
 wops?" 
 
 V. M.M. : "Yes, son, mama remembers how you 
 used to hate the wops ! You don't hate them so much now, 
 do you?" 
 
 Joe: "I am a Christian now, and Christians don't 
 hate anybody." 
 
 V. M. . : "Mama is awful glad oi that, dear boy." 
 
 Joe : "Yes." 
 
 V. M. M. : "Joe, darling, did you see mama at the 
 cemetery today, when she visited your grave?" 
 
 Joe: (very slowly, as tho sadLy) "Yes." Here the 
 table, with a deliberate suddenness tilted over into V. M. 
 M.'s lap, and did this three times, as tho desiring to 
 caress her. 
 
 V. M. M. : "Did you see the pretty flowers mama 
 placed on your grave?" 
 
 Joe: "Yes." Alphabet was again called for. 
 
 "Say mama, we sure will have some time when you 
 come to this beautiful place." 
 
 V. M. M. : "Will it be long, darling boy, before 
 mama comes to her b#by?" 
 
 Joe : "I don't want to take you away from Charlie 
 and Margie and Papa, but believe me, I will be glad to see 
 each of my dear ones as you come over." 
 
 V. M. M. : "Joe, dear, could you see your body, from 
 the time you (your spirit) left it until it was found?" 
 
 Jce : "Yes." 
 
 V. M. M. : "Joe, did you come to Toronto to mother 
 and impress her? (After the accident?) 
 
 Joe : "Grandma did, but I couldn't !" 
 
 "Let me go now for this time. I want you to have 
 another sitting with a good medium. I can demonstrate 
 better with help. Goodnight." 
 
142 OUR JOE 
 
 After this we waited a few minutes to give oppor- 
 tunity to any other spirit who might wish to come. In a 
 few moments the table moved, and then spelled out 
 A-n-n-i-e. 
 
 C. S. M. : "Oh, this is little sister Annie. Well, we 
 are very glad to have you come dear!" 
 
 (Here several questions were asked, but I omit them 
 because of their purely personal and intimate character.) 
 
 Annie: (tilting out the letters) : "Annie loves 
 mama !" 
 
 V. M. M. : "Yes, darling, mama knows you do. 
 Mama loves Anna too !" 
 
 Annie : "Yes." 
 
 "We all four love mama !" 
 
 C. S. M. : "All four, Annie? You mean Willie, and 
 Joe, and you, and who else? Grandma?" 
 
 Annie: "No!"' (Evidently meaning, "that's not the 
 fourth one I mean.) 
 
 M. L. M. : "You mean Charlie, who is here with us, 
 don't you Annie?" 
 
 Annie : "No." 
 
 V. M. M. : "Do you mean the little fellow we never 
 knew? The one Mrs. Wallace told papa passed out before 
 birth?" 
 
 Annie: (quite vigorously, as tho pleased) "Yes." 
 
 Then she spelled : "But Charlie loves mama too !" 
 
 C. S. M. : "You bet I do ! We all love mama, don't 
 we, little sister?" 
 
 Annie: (vigorously) "Yes." 
 
 V. M. M. : "Annie dear, do you know your cousin 
 Mae has been sick?" 
 
 Annie : "Yes." 
 
 V. M. M. : "Do you think Mae will come out of it all 
 right?" 
 
 Annie : "Yes." 
 
 V. M. M. : "That's good ! Annie dear, do you know 
 Mae's little boy, Jack, Jr., and all her little brothers and 
 sisters?" 
 
OUR JOE 143 
 
 Annie : "Yes." 
 
 V. M. M. : "Annie dear, do you know the condition 
 your Grandpa Painter is in now? His poor health?" 
 
 Annie : "Yes." 
 
 V. M. M.: "Do you think he will ever get well?" 
 
 Annie: "I don't know. God keeps some things from 
 us ! 
 
 "Sister is tired. Goodnight !" 
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 Report of messages received at Trance Seance, at 
 home of Mrs. M. J. Isles, 1288 California street, San 
 Francisco, Gal., Friday evening, Oct. 21, 1921. 
 
 We were impressed to attend a seance of Mrs. Isles, 
 by an item we read in The Progressive Thinker, a Chicago 
 Spiritualist Weekly, to the effect that Mrs. Isles was a 
 very gifted and powerful psychic and medium. 
 
 After music and a brief talk by one of the workers, 
 W. D. Rundall, on the scientific aspects of Spiritualism, 
 Mrs. Isles went into a trance. She professed to become 
 controled by her child-guide, Jewell. 
 
 After giving messages to perhaps ten or twelve other 
 parties, Mrs. Isles was led (by her control, her eyes being 
 closed during the whole of the trance) 'to my mother. 
 
 Before continuing further I want to strongly empha- 
 size the fact that this was positively our first time to see 
 or meet Mrs. Isles, and there is no reason to believe she 
 ever saw any of us before. 
 
 Mrs. Isles (to mother) "I want to come to a little 
 mama over here. Dear one, you have lost a dear boy, and 
 your heart has been broken. I feel just like I want to 
 love you." She took my mother's hands tenderly in her 
 own, and continued : "He shows me something green 
 away from here he passed out away from you." 
 
 (Note by C. S. M. Joe was evidently trying to show 
 Mrs. Isles the hillside, green with grass, where he was so 
 tragically killed.) 
 
144 OUR JOE 
 
 Mrs. I. : "He comes very close to you tonight. An- 
 other spirit comes to you dear one, a little boy who passed 
 out when very small. He says, 'I am Willie, and I'm with 
 Joey.' 
 
 "Also a beautiful girl comes. She passed out in in- 
 fancy, but she has grown up in the Spiritrworld, and is 
 now a beautiful young woman." 
 
 Then she came to M. L. M. 
 
 "I want to come to this little lady here. I hear the 
 name 'Margie/ or something like that." (She gave the 
 g a hard pronunciation.) "Margie," soft g, was our pet 
 name for Margaret. 
 
 "Your father comes to you dear. He passed out when 
 you were a very little girl. You don't remember much 
 about him, but he loves you dearly. He says you have 
 been worrying about hearing from someone a long way 
 from here. (This was quite true.) That dear one is all 
 right." 
 
 To C. S. M., she said : 
 
 Mrs. Isles : "Some one comes to you I get the name 
 'Arriet, Arriet,' something like that, (I knew Mrs. Isles 
 to be English, and knew also that the English have a 
 hard time pronouncing the letter *H,' except where it 
 ought not to be, so I imagined she was trying to say 
 'Harriet,' the name of my Grandmother. However, so 
 stubborn was I that I gave no sign until she finally suc- 
 ceeded in saying) , 'Arriet H arriet Harriet ! comes to 
 you !" 
 
 C. S. M. : "I am very glad." 
 
 Mrs. Isles : "Three other spirits come to you, and a 
 fourth the fourth says he is your guide. They say tell 
 you " (Here followed a series of personal admonitions 
 and advice. This is purposely omitted because of its 
 peculiarly intimate character.) 
 
 We considered these, our first messages from Mrs. 
 Tles. verv crood, ancj verv evidential. 
 
 The reader will note the fact that three unknown 
 mediums Mrs. Nanning, Mrs. Wallace and Mrs. Isles- 
 gave us practically the same sort of communications, and 
 each time at our first meetings with them. 
 
OUR JOE 145 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 Report of table sitting at home, Oct. 22, 1921. 
 
 After unusually earnest and reverent prayer and con- 
 centration the table tilted three times, and then spelled 
 out J-o-e. 
 
 C. S. M. : "We are so glad to have you come, dear 
 brother. You cannot know how we miss you, and how 
 dearly we love you. We never realized how much we did 
 love you till you were taken away from us !" 
 
 Joe : "Yes." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Joe, do you know that mama and Charlie 
 Mss your picture, and cry for you, every night?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes." 
 
 V. M. M. : "Darling, mother misses you so much, she 
 doesn't see how she can possibly live without you. You 
 know that?" 
 
 Joe: (slowly, and tenderly) "Yes." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Joe, boy, did you come to us last night 
 thru Mrs. Isles?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes." 
 
 V. M. M. : "Darling, do you want to spell something 
 thru the table?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes." 
 
 "Joe : "Mama Joe is all right. Mama, I love you. I 
 will always be mama's boy. My darling mother I know 
 liow you have suffered. I will help you. I will demon- 
 strate the fact that I live to the whole world." 
 
 V. M. M. : "Joe, are you still here?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes." 
 
 V. M. M. : "We're waiting, Joe." 
 
 Joe: "Mama, I never did take much interest in 
 spiritual questions before I came over here. Now I am 
 going to make up for lost time." 
 
 Joe : "I am glad you are writing down all we say 
 for I, that is, we want all this carefully recorded for future 
 publication. Do you remember last light when the medium 
 said, 'Someone would write a book." 
 
146 OUR JOE 
 
 (This astonished us somewhat, as it was what the 
 medium said, and none of us were thinking of it at the 
 time it was mentioned by Joe.) 
 
 "I want you (Charlie) to write a book in memory of 
 Joe." 
 
 C. S. M. : "All right, Joe, God helping me, I will, and 
 may God help me to be worthy of the task." 
 
 C. S. M. : "What shall I name the book, Joe?" 
 
 Joe : "Joe.' 
 
 C. S. M. : "Do you mean call the book "Joe." 
 
 Joe: "Yes." 
 
 " 'Raymond' helped thousands of broken-hearted 
 souls, 'Joe' may help to bring comfort and hope to many. 
 Grandma wants to come. Goodnight." 
 
 Table spelt "Harriet." 
 
 C. S. M. : "All right, Grandma. What is it you 
 wish to say?" 
 
 H. M. P. : "Joe says, 'Charlie you are a good writer. 
 Your book will make Joe live again/ Joe says, 'If it helps 
 convince the world of Spiritualism, his death will not have 
 been in vain.' You are tired. We will come again next 
 time." 
 
 V. M. M. : "You are tired, and want to say 'Good- 
 night,' mother?" 
 
 H. M. P. "Yes." 
 
 V. M. M. : "All right, mother, but I would like to 
 ask you a question before you go. You you know that Ed. 
 Stout, of Dalhart, has passed over?" 
 
 H. M. P. "Yes." 
 
 V. M. M. : "Have you seen him?" 
 
 H. M. P. "Yes." 
 
 V. M. M. : "Has he met his little boy, Mackie?" 
 
 H. M. P. "Yes." 
 
 V. M.M.: "And Art?" 
 
 F. M. P. "Yes." 
 
 V. M. M. : "Was he surprised to find the spirit-world 
 like it i?" 
 
 H. M. P. : "No." 
 
OUR JOE J47 
 
 V. M. M. : "Does he like it?" 
 H. M. P. "Yes." 
 
 V. M. M. : "Is he now so he realizes things?" 
 H. M. P. : "Yes." Then the table spelt "Goodnight" 
 and the sitting ended. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 Report of table sitting at home, Oct. 24, 1921. 
 
 Sitters : C. S. M., M. L. M., V. M. M. 
 
 This time we waited perhaps fifteen minutes when 
 Joe came. After spelling out his name he tilted the table 
 into his mother's lap, as tho in loving greeting. 
 
 Joe: "I want to say more about book. Mama can 
 help C" (here the table tilted over to me) then at 
 the letter "M" the table tilted oved to Margaret; after 
 this confusion, and discussion as to what Joe meant. 
 
 Joe: "Mama and Margie can help Charlie. Three 
 of you write book." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Joe, did you see us working on the book 
 yesterday, and did you see me typing off the reports of 
 our table and medium sittings ?" 
 
 Joe: "Yes." (Continued) "Book Joe will be help to 
 hundreds who have lost dear ones. Grandma put it in my 
 head. Charlie, do your level best. I will say no more 
 now." 
 
 V. M. M. : "Why, Joe, dear. Is something wrong?" 
 
 Joe: "No, but I want you to catch up with type- 
 writing before any of us come again." 
 
 V. M. M. : "Before you go, Joe dear, I want to ask 
 you a few questions. Will you answer them ?" 
 
 Joe : (emphatically) "Yes." 
 
 V. M. M. : "Do you know where papa is now?" 
 
 Joe: "No." 
 
 V. M. M. : (surprised) "You don't know where 
 papa is?" 
 
 Joe : "No." 
 
OUR JOE 
 
 V. M.'M. : Soto voce: "That's strange. He always 
 seemed to know before !' 
 
 M. L. M. : "Joe, do you know where he went?" 
 
 Joe: "Chi." 
 
 C. S. M. : "You mean he went to Chicago?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes." 
 
 (Note : This was true. My father had been called to 
 Chicago for a conference of all the general chairmen of 
 all the shop crafts, in connection with the railroad strike 
 crisis.) 
 
 M. L. M. : "Well, Joe, don't you know where your 
 papa is?" 
 
 Joe (spelling) "I think he is in bed." 
 
 This answer we thought rather amusing. 
 
 Joe : "Letter Miss " 
 
 (Note: In the morning's mail had come a letter to 
 Joe from a young lady in Oklahoma. She had written in 
 answer to a letter he had written over two months before. 
 She wrote that her delay had been occasioned by a mis- 
 placement of his address.) He went on to spell out that 
 he knew the letter had come, and that he had looked over 
 our shoulders at the snapshot pictures enclosed.) 
 
 Joe : "Write and explain to her (about his accident) . 
 She looks like some chicken!" 
 
 We were quite amused at this. It was a character- 
 istic remark of Joe's. He went on to say : 
 
 "Dance Idora Park*******have lots of fun!" 
 
 C. S. M. : "What do you mean, Joe? Do you mean 
 
 that Miss and you could have danced, and had 
 
 lots of fun, at Idora Park?" 
 
 Joe: (rocking the table as tho laughing) "Yes." 
 (continuing) Laff now. I like to see mama laff. I get a 
 kick out of seeing mama lauff . We have lots of fun over 
 here. The only thing that makes us sad, is when we see 
 you sad." 
 
 (End of sitting of the 24th.) 
 
OUR JOE 14-9 
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 Report of private sitting of V. M. M., with Mrs. Marie 
 Wallace, 1219 Fillmore, San Francisco, CaL, Wednesday 
 afternoon, Oct. 26, 1921. 
 
 Nearly a month had elapsed since my mother, my 
 wife, and I had dropped casually into Mrs. Wallace's Open 
 Meeting in San Francisco. Since that evening, Mrs. Wal- 
 lace had doubtless given messages and sittings to scores 
 of others. It had been 22 days since my father had been 
 given his sitting with her. My mother decided to go to 
 her for a private sitting, secretly hoping Mrs. Wallace 
 would not remember having seen her before. Whether or 
 not the medium did remember her, mother had no way 
 of knowing, but she certainly betrayed no recognition, 
 or manifested any sign, that she had ever seen my mother 
 before. It is possible she did not remember my mother. 
 Then again, it is possible she did. I wish to lay no 
 particular stress upon the matter, but I merely mention 
 it for what it is worth. 
 
 As must have been her method, she first gave my 
 mother a sketch of her life, from her birth to the present 
 time, all of which was quite accurate. 
 
 Mrs. W. : "You have had five children." 
 
 V. M. M. : "No, Mrs. Wallace, only four." 
 
 Mrs. W. : (apparently very much confused) "But 
 I see five!" 
 
 V. M. M. : "Well, there was one which did not reach 
 mature birth. Could that be the fifth ?" 
 
 Mrs. W. : "It must be! I see five. One girl and 
 four boys !" 
 
 (Mrs. W. continuing) "Three of these passed out in 
 infancy, and two grew up to manhood. 
 
 "I see very troubled conditions with one you baby. 
 (Joe was the baby) He went away somewhere. I can't 
 quite see what the trouble was! (Then the medium 
 shivered as tho in a chill, and continued) He passed out 
 quickly by an accident. 
 
150 OUR JOE 
 
 "Joe says, 'Mama, I am happy. Don't grieve.' I see a 
 light a beautiful light over your head it's the light he 
 (Joe) is carrying. 
 
 "Joe says he wants to give you a test (i. e., a proof 
 that it was really Joe talking, and not the medium's 
 imagination). 
 
 Joe: (speaking thru Mrs. Wallace) : "Tell Charlie to 
 go on with that book he is writing, and to leave that other 
 writing alone for the present. I will help him." 
 
 (Note by C. S. M.) How could Mrs. Wallace have 
 possibly known I was writing a book? Joe had com- 
 manded me, thru the table sitting of Oct. 22, only four 
 days before, to write down all our psychic investigations 
 for future publication, and to call the book "Joe." I had 
 not seen Mrs. W., or any other medium subsequent to 
 that, nor had I mentioned the matter to any one outside 
 the family. Unless Mrs. W. read this from my mother's 
 mind, it indicated a test : that Joe gave this thru Mrs. W, 
 as evidence that it was really him. 
 
 "That other writing," to which Joe referred, and 
 which he suggested I "leave alone for the present," evi- 
 dently meant some magazine articles and editorials I 
 had been contemplating, in connection with the starting 
 of a liberal religious and sociological monthly, "The Open 
 Mind." Robert Whitaker and I had been working on this 
 proposition, but we found the idea to be impractical, and 
 abandoned it. Again, I insist, how in God's name did Mrs. 
 W. learn all this, if it did not come from my brother Joe, 
 exactly as purported? 
 
 One peculiar feature of my mother's sitting with Mrs. 
 Wallace" was this : 
 
 Between the two (Mrs. W. and V. M. M.) was a 
 heavy, four-legged table, covered with a thick table cover, 
 and having a large flower-pot, dish of "calling cards," and 
 other articles on its top. 
 
 When Joe came the medium reached across the table 
 and took my mother's hands : immediately the table com- 
 menced moving toward my mother. Mrs. W. pulled it back 
 four or five times, but it continued moving over to V. M. 
 
OUR JOE 757 
 
 M. Also, a peculiar pulsating, throbbing, thump, thump, 
 thump could be heard on the table top, almost under my 
 mother's right arm. 
 
 Mrs. Wallace invited my mother to make inspection 
 around and under the table, to make sure there was no 
 trickery. My mother states she is sure Mrs. Wallace's 
 limbs were not even touching the table, nor, so far as my 
 mother could see, was the medium pushing the table in 
 any way. During the entire sitting the table thrilled and 
 quivered in most weird and peculiar manner. 
 
 Of course, in view of our table-sittings at home my 
 mother was not surprised. 
 
 When Mrs. Wallace seemed a little worried and sus- 
 picious lest my mother think there was some trickery 
 about the table's actions, V. M. M. assured her that it was 
 all right, and informed her that we had been having table- 
 sittings in our own home. 
 
 During the sitting "Harriet" also came, and mother 
 was asked if she knew "Harriet." She replied that she 
 did. 
 
 Mrs. W. : "Elizabeth also comes Elizabeth M-u-n- 
 d-e-l-l! Who is that?" 
 
 V. M. M. : "My husband's mother." 
 
 Shortly after this Mrs. Wallace indicated that the 
 "reading" was over, and gave my mother opportunity to 
 ask any questions she might wish. 
 
 V. M. M. : "Well, ask Joe what name they give to the 
 little brother we never knew. The one that passed out 
 before birth." 
 
 Mrs. W. : "I will try." (after a few moments' con- 
 centration) "I hear the name 'Sanl ! Sam! Do you know 
 any one by that name?" 
 
 V. M. M. : "Well, my father's father was named 
 Sam." 
 
 Mrs. W. : "I don't think that's the one he means." 
 Then she saked : "Isn't your husband's name Sam?" 
 V. M. M. : "Yes, it is." 
 
 Mrs. W. : "Well, I think that's what the 'little un- 
 known' is called Sam, for his papa." 
 
152 OUR JOE 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 Report of messages received from Mrs. M. J. Isles, 
 1288 California street, San Francisco, California, Wednes- 
 day evening, Oct. 26, 1921. 
 
 After giving messages to several others, Mrs. Isles 
 came to my mother. 
 
 Mrs. I. : "I want to come to this little lady here. . 
 
 "A young man comes to you he seems tall must 
 have passed out quickly! Others are helping him to 
 come. A lady and an old man come with him old man 
 has beard and (here medium's shoulders stooped) he looks 
 like a soldier yes he was an old soldier! (Evidently 
 Grandpa Mundell.) 
 
 "This young man that comes is very strong full of 
 force and life (he must have passed out quickly to be so 
 strong ! ) 
 
 (Note by C. S. M. See sitting with Mrs. Nanning, 
 Sept. 24, concerning Joe's coming with such unusual 
 strength.) 
 
 Mrs. I. : (continuing) "This young man seems tail- 
 has brown hair brown eyes was very strong and he 
 used to be in constant touch with you." 
 
 (Note: By studying Joe's latest picture, reproduced 
 in frontispiece, the reader will see that Mrs. Isles' descrip- 
 tion was very accurate. He did have light-brown hair, 
 brown eyes, was strong and husky, and was in constant 
 touch with his mother until the time of his passing. He 
 was not, however, very tall. In height he was approxi- 
 mately the same as his father. He really appeared taller 
 that he was. But he wars taller than his brother by a great 
 deal.) 
 
 "He says, 'Don't grieve.' (Precisely the same two 
 words used by Mrs. W. the same afternoon.) There 
 seems to have been some kind of affinity between you 
 seems like you are his mother and yet. both like a son 
 and sweetheart. Did he ever call you pal ?" 
 
 V. M. M. : "I don't remember that he ever did." 
 
 Mrs. I. : "Well, he says something about 'pal.' 
 
OUR JOE 153 
 
 (Note: This seems altogether appropriate, and per- 
 fectly natural for Joe to say. He and his mother were 
 pals, and tho he may never have called her that, it seems 
 as tho Joe must have been trying to tell the medium that 
 he and his mother were not so much like "sweethearts," 
 as she had hinted, but pals pals.) 
 
 Mrs. I.: "Did he ever call you 'mama?' ' 
 
 V. M. M. : "Yes." 
 
 Mrs. I. : "Well, I couldn't seem to tell whether he 
 meant a mama or a sweetheart. He calls you 'mama' and 
 he says, 'I am your boy still.' ' (See table sitting of Oct. 
 10, where Joe says: "Does mama remember how I was 
 big baby ? / am still mama's boy." Surely this is in the 
 nature of a remarkable cross-correspondence.) 
 
 Mrs. I. : (continuing) "A lady comes with him. He 
 has strong power wants to talk, and talk. He is laugh- 
 ing ! He says he has come to you humorously has joked 
 with you." (Quite true.) 
 
 (Here Mrs. Isles seemed to break off from direct 
 communication, and to soliloquize thus : (to mother) 
 "You have lived for your family. One taken from you. 
 This is going to be a break with the past. You used to 
 be orthodox raised up that way. You yourself have 
 mediumistic powers!") 
 
 V. M. M. : "Have I? I didn't know it !" 
 
 Mrs. I. : "Well, you have, and this young man is so 
 strong you may see him sometime in the spirit it takes 
 time (sotto voce) he is getting stronger he says he 
 will come when you least expect it. 
 
 "I hear the name 'Arriet, Arriet ! Do you know who 
 that is?" 
 
 V. M. M. : "Yes, I know who Harriet is." 
 
 Mrs. I. : "Well, 'Arriet comes, and George comes 
 all help Joe come back Joe says, 'I will come back.' 
 Soon as you are ready he will reveal himself to you. I 
 shouldn't be surprised if ultimately you are able to see 
 him. But it takes time." 
 
 (Note: The reader will remember Joe's Uncle 
 George, father's brother.) 
 
154 OUR JOE 
 
 To M. L. M. the medium came with : 
 
 "A man comes to you seems to have been in spirit- 
 life about twenty years must be your father. Have you 
 a father in spirit?" 
 
 M. L. M. : "Yes." 
 
 Mrs. I. : "He seems to have had shock before pass- 
 ing out was unconscious before death says you have 
 passed thru lots of trouble you have loving heart. Your 
 father has led you." (She followed this with considerable 
 of her own talk, explaining her belief that "We are led 
 and guided by our loved ones in spirit." 
 
 Mrs. I.: (continuing to M. L. M.) "You have a 
 Catholic guide. I see the Catholic symbol." 
 
 Her message to C. S. M. was in no way evidential, and 
 had to do purely with a character-reading (which my wife 
 and mother seemed to think applied to me well) and with 
 promises of a rosy future, etc. It is my personal con- 
 viction that all this emanated from the medium's own con- 
 sciousness. Hence, it is omitted. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 Report of our strange table sitting of Thursday 
 evening, Oct. 27, 1921, at home, 904 Brush street, Oakland, 
 California. 
 
 Sitters: C. S. M., M. L. M., V. M. M. 
 
 It was probably more than a half-hour before there 
 was any manifestation whatever. Then a very weak and 
 apparently difficult vibration. 
 
 C. S. M. : "Is there present the spirit of any of our 
 loved ones?" 
 
 Silence. 
 
 C. S. M. : "Joe, won't you come thru to us tonight?" 
 
 Silence. 
 
 V. M. M. : "Aren't there any of our loved ones pres- 
 ent tonight who will give us a message ? If so, we will be 
 so glad!" 
 
 Silence. 
 
OUR JOE 755 
 
 C. S. M. : "Well, whoever you are, if you come to 
 us in the 'Spirit of Jesus Christ' and with a message of 
 goodness and righteousness, we welcome you, whether 
 you are a stranger to us or not. Will you answer some 
 questions?" 
 
 The table tilted three times, slowly and with diffi- 
 culty, in assent. 
 
 C. S. M. : "Well, do we know who you are? Or have 
 we ever known you ? Any of the three of us ?" 
 
 "No/" 
 
 C. S. M. : "Well, do you know Joe?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Did you know him on the earth-plane?" 
 
 "No."' 
 
 C. S. M. : "Then you have just come to know him in 
 the Spirit-world?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Did Joe bring you here to us?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Will you give us your name?" 
 
 Silence. 
 
 C. S. M. : "Oh, I forgot ! You have never communi- 
 cated before?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Then perhaDs you don't understand our 
 method! Well, three tilts of the table means 'Yes;' one 
 tilt means 'No!' If you wish to sr>ell out anything I will 
 repeat the alphabet, and you can tilt the table once at each 
 letter which forms the words you want to spell. Would 
 you like to spell your name for us?" 
 
 "Yes."- 
 
 C. S. M. : "All right !" (Alphabet was repeated very 
 slowly, and table tilted first at E.) 
 
 C. S. M. : "All right, you've got that far. That is 
 the first letter of your Christian name?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 Here there was some discussion among us as to who 
 it might be. I thought, and expressed aloud the thought, 
 "Maybe it's Grandma Painter's sister, 'Emily.' 
 
156 OUR JOE 
 
 My mother thought possibly it might be 'Ed. Stout/ 
 an old friend who had passed out at Dalhart, Texas, a 
 short time before. (See table sitting of Oct. 22.) 
 
 My wife expressed the suggestion that it might be 
 "Emma," known to her. 
 
 The table tilted next at "M". Then at "M" again. 
 I was surprised. When it had spelled "Em" I thought sure 
 it would be "Emily," according to my first conviction, 
 so when I came to the letter "I" I lingered a few seconds 
 longer than usual. But in spite of all my mental coaxing, 
 the table would not tilt at "I", but waited till I called 
 "M" again. 
 
 C. S. M. : "All right, now we have 'Emm' ; go 
 ahead." 
 
 Table tilted again at "E" which was a surprise to 
 my wife, who confidently expected an 'a' to follow 'Emm/ 
 
 Table tilted next at "T", which made Emmet. 
 
 V. M. M. : "Go ahead, maybe there is more to the 
 name." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Is 'Emmet' the name you wished to 
 spell?" 
 ' "Yes." 
 
 C. S. M. : "And Emmet is your first name?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 Here followed discussion as to who "Emmet" could 
 be. None of us could recall ever having known anyone 
 by that name. 
 
 C. S. M. : "Well, Emmet, we don't know much more 
 than we did when we first commenced. We can't any of 
 us recall knowing any 'Emmet.' 
 
 Emmet : "No." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Well, will you give your last name? May- 
 be we can understand then." 
 
 Silence. 
 
 C. S. M. : "Come on now, won't you give us your 
 last name? We haven't the slightest idea who you are." 
 
 Silence. 
 
 C. S. M. : "Well, I'm going to call over the alphabet, 
 and you can spell your last name for us if you will." 
 
OUR JOE 757 
 
 Table tilted first at "S" and then at "M." 
 
 V. M. M. : "What name could possibly begin with 
 an 'S' followed by an 'M'?" 
 
 C. S. M. and M. L. M. answered: "Oh, lots of names; 
 Smith, for instance." 
 
 I was certain the name would be "Smith." 
 
 Table tilted again at "0". 
 
 C. S. M.: "S-m-o- well, what can that be?" 
 
 Table tilted again at "0." 
 
 M. L. M. : "S-ra- double 'o' is that right? 
 
 Table tilted three times in assent. 
 
 C. S. M. : "All, right, we understand 'S-m-o-o,' now 
 give us the rest." 
 
 Table tilted at "T." 
 
 V. M. M.: "Smoot!" 
 
 C. S. M. : "Emmet Smoot; is that your name?" 
 
 E. S. : "Yes." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Well, is there any message you want to 
 give us? Anything you desire to spell out?" 
 
 Silence. 
 
 We asked other questions, and waited fifteen or twen- 
 ty minutes after that, but we never succeeded in getting a 
 single other response. 
 
 From the very first to the last the manipulation of 
 the table was very peculiar, and very weak utterly un- 
 like anything we had experienced before. 
 
 Now the question I wish to ask of my more skeptical 
 and unconvinced readers is this : 
 
 "If all this table tilting phenomena can be attributed 
 to some r>svchic powers within our own natural selves, 
 and if the 'law of suggestion' has anything to do with it, 
 how account for the coming of 'Emmet Smoot," in this 
 mysterious manner, and in spite of our inner thoughts 
 trying to make out some other name? Certainly, in this 
 case, the surprise, the perplexity, and the strangeness of 
 the results must preclude the idea that the table operates 
 in response to our own thought, suggestions and desires." 
 
158- OUR JOE 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 Report of table sitting at home, Oct. 28, 1921, even- 
 ing. 
 
 In about five minutes Joe came strong! He lifted the 
 table up on one leg, and did several other "stunts" appar- 
 ently to demonstrate his power. 
 
 Instead of spelling "Joe" as usual, he spelled, J. H. 
 Mundell. This was his signature, and when in earth-life 
 he used it to sign all checks, letters, etc. 
 
 We asked Joe if he wanted alphabet, and he answered 
 "No." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Do you want us to ask you some ques- 
 tions?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes." 
 
 C. S. M. : "All right Joe, suppose you tell us who 
 are with you. Is George there?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 C. S. M.: "Grandma H?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 C. S. M.: "Grandma M?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Grandpa M?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 Willie, Annie, and the 'little fellow?' ' 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 V. M. M. : "Say, Joe, I want to ask you a question 
 about the 'little fellow.' The medium, Mrs. Wallace, told 
 me the 'little fellow' was called, 'Sam' for r>apa. Is that 
 correct, or was the medium just guessing?" 
 
 Joe : "George calls him 'Sam,' but Annie and Willie 
 call him 'Little Brother.' But he isn't little now!" 
 
 V. M. M. : "Is he as big as you are, Joe?" 
 
 Joe: "Yes." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Well, Joe, what color of eyes has little 
 brother?" 
 
 Joe: "Gray." 
 
 M. L. M. : "Has he light hair like Charlie's?" 
 
OUR JOE 159 
 
 Joe: "N-no" (some hesitation, as tho, "Well, not 
 exactly." 
 
 M. L. M. : "Is it brown, like yours?" 
 Joe: "Y-yes" (again with hesitation, as tho, "Well, 
 more like mine than Charlie's) 
 
 C. S. M. : "Well, Joe, who else is there now? Is 
 Ed Stout there?" 
 
 Joe : "No." 
 
 C. S. M. : "He isn't there? Well, is Margie's father 
 there?" 
 
 Joe : "No." 
 
 V. M. M. : "Say, Joe, when I was at Mrs. Wallace 
 the other day, did you make that table come over to me 
 like it did?" 
 
 Joe: (moving the table toward V. M. M.) "Yes." 
 
 M. L. M. : "Well, Joe, what do you think of Mrs. 
 Isles as a medium? Do you like her?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes." 
 
 M. L. M. : "Think she is a good medium?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Say, Joe, do you know I am still out of a 
 job?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes." 
 
 M. L. M. : "Say, Joe, do you think Margie ought to 
 get a job?" 
 
 Joe: (rocking the table as tho amused) "Yes." 
 
 M. L. M. : "You're joking now !" 
 
 Joe : "No." 
 
 C. S. M. : (in fun) "Women ought to do all the work, 
 eh, Joe?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes." 
 
 V. M. M. : "Joe, Mrs. Wallace said you were going to 
 be a teacher in the Spirit- world ? Is that true ? 
 
 Joe: "Well, I guess I could teach some things!" 
 
 C. S. M. : "Say, Joe, do you remember 'Nevada?' 
 
 Joe: "Yes!" (emphatically) 
 
 C. S. M. : "Tell us something about it, Joe. Some- 
 thing in the nature of a test, if you can." 
 
 Joe : "Wild Goose Chase !" 
 
160 OUR JOE 
 
 (Note: Joe always referred to his Nevada trip as a 
 "Wild Goose Chase," because he had gone there to find 
 work in the fall of 1917, and had returned broke.) 
 
 C. S. M. : "That's fine, Joe. We remember you used 
 to speak of it that way. Now what else?" 
 
 Joe: "Boots and overalls." 
 
 (By that Joe meant to recall the fact that he had 
 been compelled to pawn his suit and shoes, and had re- 
 turned to Berkeley (where I was living at that time) with 
 little more than a pair of boots he was wearing, and a 
 pair of overalls) . We thought the reference very striking, 
 and very evidential. 
 
 V. M. M. : "Well, Joe, have you met very many 
 spirits form Dalhart?' 
 
 (Dalhart, a little railroad town in the Panhandle of 
 Texas, was the town in which Joe was reared, and where 
 we lived for many years.) 
 
 Some .fifteen or twenty names were given, all correct. 
 
 Joe : "Mama, do you remember Mr. Sadler?" 
 
 V. M. M. : "Yes, dear, I remember him. That is a 
 very good test. He has been dead a long time." 
 
 Joe : "Fellow here from Chi !" 
 
 M. L. M. : "From Chicago, Joe ?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes." 
 
 (M. L. M. was born and reared in the city of Chi- 
 cago.) 
 
 M. L. M. : "Any one I know, Joe?" 
 
 Joe: "Yes. (he then spelled) Bob Horsely." 
 
 (Bob was a young man well known by both my wife 
 and myself.) 
 
 M. L. M. : "Anyone else I know from Chicago?" 
 
 Joe : "V-a-t-e-r." 
 
 M. L. M. : "My father, Well, that's fine, Joe ! Did 
 my father tell you to spell it that way?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes ! (the table rocked as tho he were laughing 
 because he had surprised us by spelling in German.) 
 
 Joe : " (Again spelling in German, all the time caus- 
 ing the table legs to srike the floor loudly and emphatically, 
 as tho he were thoroughly enjoying our surprise that he, 
 
OUR JOE 161 
 
 who never knew one word of the German language, should 
 spell out words in that tongue.) 
 
 "Grossmutter !" 
 
 M. L. M.: "My Grandmother? Well, I'm so glad. I 
 don't remember much about her,tho. Anyone else, Joe?'* 
 
 Joe: "Ollie!" 
 
 (Ollie, a half-brother, had been drowned, as before 
 stated in a previous report.) 
 
 M. L. M. : "Well, Joe, you must be learning German 
 over there ?" 
 
 Joe: (again rocking table) "Yes." 
 
 Joe : "J-e-n-n-i-e." 
 
 M. L. M. : "Well, Joe, I have heard my mother speak 
 of a Jennie, but I don't think I ever saw her. Is that who 
 you mean?" 
 
 Joe : "C-a-m-e-r-o-n." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Oh, yes, Joe ! We understand now. You 
 want to say something about our Aunt Jennie Mama's 
 sister?" 
 
 Joe: "Yes," Then spelled: "Her children all here!" 
 
 After this Joe spelled out that he was getting tired, 
 so we said, "Goodnight," all round, and the sitting ended. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX 
 
 Table sitting at home, Saturady evening, Oct. 29,, 
 1921. 
 
 Present : S. A. M., C. S. M., V. M. M., M. L. M. 
 
 My father had just that day returned from Chicago, 
 where he had attended conferences relating to the rail- 
 way crisis. On his return trip he had stopped off at Dai- 
 hart, Texas, our old home, for a little visit, and to attend 
 to a business matter. 
 
 The sitting of this date was different from all others 
 in many respects. 
 
 We had hardly touched the table with our hands 
 when it began to move about with considerable strength. 
 
162 OUR JOE 
 
 Joe came with apparent power, for about the first 
 thing he did was to do a few "stunts/' That is, he lifted 
 up the table until it stood on one leg; he caused it to 
 spin completely around, so that we had difficulty in keep- 
 ing our hands on its surface ! 
 
 The table indicated the alphabet was wanted, and 
 when it was called over spelled : 
 
 "Hello !" 
 
 S. A. M. : "Oh, this is Joe, and you want to tell papa 
 hello ! Well, bless your heart." 
 
 Joe: "Yes." 
 
 S. A. M. : "Are you glad to see papa back?" 
 
 Joe: "Yes." (Then he spelled out) "How's old Dai- 
 hart?" 
 
 S. A. M. : "Oh, Dalhart is all right. I saw lots of 
 your friends there, and they asked me all about you !" 
 
 Joe: "Dad, glad to get back?" 
 
 S. A. M. : "You bet I am, son ! Say son, were you 
 with papa Thursday night, when I was on the train be- 
 tween Tucson and Los Angeles?" 
 
 Joe: (answered three tilts) "Yes." (then spelled) 
 "I touched uapa's face !" 
 
 S. A. M. : "That's the way I felt, son !" 
 
 (My father relates that on this particular night, after 
 he had gone to bed, he was suddenly awakened, with the 
 feeling that someone had touched his cheek. For some 
 reason, he seemed to sense Joe's presence, and felt that 
 his son was in some way with him. Hence, the question.) 
 
 S. A. M. : "Was it your touch that woke me up, 
 son?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes." 
 
 S. A. M. : "Are you often with papa on the trains?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes." (Spelling) "I sometimes come to mama 
 in her dreams." 
 
 V. M. M. : "Thank God for that !" 
 
 Joe : "Sometime I think mama will see me. It isn't 
 because I don't try. I try to kiss mama many times. We 
 find it hard to get thru sometimes." 
 
 (Then to papa) 
 
OUR JOE 163 
 
 "How do you like Charlie's book?" 
 
 S. A. M. : "I was just reading some of it tonight, 
 son! Do you want us to publish all this?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes." 
 
 (After spelling out a few other things of intimate 
 family affairs, he indicated he was tired, and the sitting 
 ended.) 
 
 CHAPTER XXX 
 
 Report of message received by Mrs. V. M. Mundell, from 
 Mrs. R. Hyams, Spiritual Missionary and Medium, Sun- 
 day evening, Oct. 30, 1921, at Trinity Spiritual Church, 
 Oakland, California. 
 
 On Sunday evening, Oct. 30, there was some little 
 discussion in the family as to whether or not we should 
 go out to some Spiritual Service, and if so, where ? 
 
 We decided to try for a table-sitting. 
 
 After an interval of perhaps fifteen minutes, my 
 father's mother came, and when the alphabet was called, 
 she informed us that she wanted us to "Go to church." 
 
 Mr. F. K. Brown, minister of the Trinity Spiritual 
 Church, who. had just returned from the Detroit Conven- 
 tion of the National Suiritualist Alliance, was the first 
 one to give messages. He gave my father a message, but 
 as he was not able to recognize it, I will omit it. 
 
 Following Mr. Brown, Mrs. R. Hyams gave a few 
 messages, and to my mother she came saying : 
 
 "I want to come to the little lady there the one in 
 the black hat" 
 
 V. M. M. : "You mean me?" 
 
 Mrs. H. : "Yes, I w r ant to come to you. A young man 
 wants to get thru to you. He is very anxious to get to 
 you. He says, 'Mother, haven't you a son in spirit?' " 
 
 V. M. M. : "Yes." 
 
 Mrs. H. : "Well, your son comes to you, and he gives 
 me the name of 'Joseph.' Is that right?" 
 
 V. M. M. : (in tears) "Yes, that is right !" 
 
164- OUR JOE 
 
 Mrs. H. : "He shows me that he passed out quite 
 suddenly in the mountains beautiful mountains! He 
 says, 'Mother, do not grieve for me. You are not only 
 hurting yourself, but you are keeping me back from the 
 progress I could otherwise make.' He thinks he may 
 sometime be able to materialize in his own home he is so 
 strong ! He will also be able to control his own brother's 
 hand, and you will receive messages from him. 
 
 "Joe says, Tell father I watch over him all the time. 
 No accident will overtake him, for I will protect him.' ' 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI 
 
 Report of messages given to S. A. M. and C. S. M., 
 by Mrs. R. Hyam, at her residence, 1018 Lakeshore Ave., 
 Oakland, Calif., Tuesday, Nov. 1, 1921. 
 
 There were about twenty present at the "message 
 meeting" held by Mrs. R. Hyams, a veteran Spiritualist 
 worker and Medium, Tuesday evening, Nov. 1, 1921 at her 
 beautiful home, 1018 Lakeshore Ave., Oakland. My 
 father and I were among the number. 
 
 To my father the Medium came with. (As she picked 
 up his signet ring, a gift from Joe.) 
 
 "Seven spirits come to you, Sir ****** amon g them 
 comes your son. He tells me no one was in any way to 
 blame for his passing that it was purely an accident. 'I 
 woke up in a loved one's arms. Tell mother I am happy 
 and contented. I have accomplished a great deal. Last 
 Sunday night I came to mother and gave my name as 
 "Joseph." That was for proof. I will now give it as you 
 better knew it : "Joe." 
 
 To C. S. M. she said': "Young man comes to you 
 medium height, well-built says, "Go right ahead do 
 world of good. It seems like he refers to something treat- 
 ing of life beyond the grave. (Evidently the book I am 
 writing) . It will be scattered abroad to those in dark- 
 ness. 
 
 "Willie and Harriet also come to you. Understand ?" 
 
 C. S. M. : "Yes." 
 
OUR JOE 165 
 
 Here I asked if I might ask a test question. Mrs. 
 Hyams said she would "try" to get an answer. 
 
 I said : "Ask Joe if he can tell us what it is I now 
 have that was once his ?" 
 
 Immediately, and without hesitation, the medium 
 replied : 
 
 "Yes, you have his watch. He gave it to you be- 
 cause he knew you would take good care of it. I see a 
 pillow. Do you put the watch under your pillow at 
 night?" 
 
 We thought this test a very good one. It was correct, 
 both as to the watch, and as to my keeping it under my 
 pillow at night. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII 
 
 Report of Table Sitting at Home, Sunday, Nov. 6, 
 1921, 6 P. M. Present: R. S. Roberts, S. A. Mundell, 
 Charles S. Mundell, Margaret L. Mundell, Verna May 
 Mundell, and J. S. Painter. 
 
 It was our pleasure to receive a visit from a friend 
 of my father's, Mr. R. S. Roberts, Grand Lodge Deputy of 
 the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen of America, on Sun- 
 day morning, November 6. 
 
 Mr. Roberts accompanied us to church in the morn- 
 ing, where I filled the pulpit of the Park Congregational 
 Church. After the service we had luncheon down town, 
 and later in the afternoon Mr. Roberts returned to our 
 home for supper. While we were at the supper table, 
 someone broached the subject of religion. Mr. Roberts 
 informed us that although he was nominally a Baptist, 
 he was in no way prejudiced against any denomination 
 or sect, and assured us that he attended the services of all 
 churches; also that he believed there was good in all of 
 them. 
 
 I then asked the question : "Mr. Roberts, have you 
 ever attended a Spiritualist meeting?" 
 
166 OUR JOE 
 
 "No," he said, "I have never quite done that." 
 
 Further discussion followed, in which we told Mr. 
 Roberts something of our psychic experiences and investi- 
 gations. He appeared to be very much interested, and 
 assured us that he would "like to see some of it for him- 
 self ; that he had never investigated it ; had never attended 
 a seance ; and had never visited a medium." 
 
 My father suggested that we try for a sitting (it was 
 then about ten minutes to six) before going to a Spirit- 
 ualist meeting. It was agreed. 
 
 We carried the little table into another room, and 
 the five of us placed our hands thereon (R. S. R., S. A. M., 
 C. S. M., V. M. M., and M. L. M.). My grandfather 
 (J. S. P.) came down-stairs to watch the sitting. 
 
 The reader may perhaps imagine the skepticism of 
 Mr. Roberts. Although he had been very much impressed 
 with what we had told him of our experiences, we could 
 not expect that our investigations could suffice for him. 
 Obviously not. One must see and investigate for oneself 
 before one can be really satisfied. 
 
 He knew one thing, however. He knew my father 
 was not lying. He knew, as thousands of other members 
 of the B. R. C. of A. know, that my father is a man who 
 does not lie ! 
 
 After an interval of perhaps fifteen minutes, Joe 
 came, and he came strong! Mr. Roberts was very much 
 surprised. 
 
 S. A. M. : "Well, Joe, we sure are glad to have you 
 come tonight. Do you know there is a stranger here? 
 That is. a stranger to these sittings ; but you used to know 
 him. Can you tell us who it is?" 
 
 The table indicated that the alphabet was wanted. 
 I called the letters, and the table tilted out : R. S. Roberts! 
 
 S. A. M. : "Well, Joe, that's fine; Glad you know 
 who it is!" 
 
 Joe ( spelling) : "How's old L. A.?" 
 
 (Mr. Roberts' home was in Los Angeles.) 
 
 S. A. M. to R. S. R. : "He is asking you that question, 
 R. S. Tell him how it is." 
 
OUR JOE 167 
 
 R. S. R. : "Oh, I guess L. A. is all right, Joe." 
 S. A. M. : "Joe, Mr. Roberts don't know much about 
 this sort of thing. Can you give him a test or two?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 S. A. M. : "All right, R. S., ask him any question 
 you want to." 
 
 R. S. R. : "Well, Joe, I have a mother, and father, 
 and wife, and two children dead. Can you spell out my 
 mother's name?" 
 
 Joe : "They are all here." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Oh, you know them, do you ? Well, that's 
 good! But can't you spell out Mr. Roberts' mother's 
 first name?" 
 
 Joe : "M-a-r-y." 
 
 R. S. R. (in surprise) : "No, Joe. That's my wife's 
 name. That's all right, I'm glad you spelled her name, 
 but you got it mixed." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Try again, Joe ! Maybe you'll get it right 
 this time." 
 
 Joe: "E-l-l-e-n." 
 
 R. S. R. : "That's correct, Joe. Fine ! Now, can 
 you give me my father's name?" 
 
 Several attempts were made, but for some unknown 
 reason he was not able to spell out the father's name. 
 
 Joe: "He is trying to tell me, but I can't under- 
 stand." 
 
 S. A. M. : "Well, that's all right, son. We won't 
 keep you on that. Have you any message you want to 
 spell out to us?" 
 
 Joe: "Ask R. S. if he knows a man who lived in 
 Los (Angeles) who is here now?" 
 
 S. A. M. : "What's his name, Joe?" 
 
 Joe: "B-r-o-o-k-s!" 
 
 R. S. R. (surprised) : "Yes! I know him! He was 
 president of Local 1368 of our order in Los Angeles ! He 
 
 run over and killed!" 
 
 Joe: "Yes" (table tilted three times). 
 
 S. A. M. : "Is Mr. Brooks here now?" 
 
168 OUR JOE 
 
 Joe: "No." (Alphabet called for.) Do you remem- 
 ber Mr. Brown?" 
 
 S. A. M. : "Well, son, I remember so many Browns. 
 Where did he live?" 
 
 Joe : "D-a-l-h-a-r-t." 
 
 S. A. M. : "Oh, he lived at Dalhart ! Well, I remem- 
 ber two Mr. Browns who used to live at Dalhart, that are 
 now dead. Which one do you mean ?" 
 
 Joe : "He jumped in the river !" 
 
 (We were then able to recall the old man who was 
 meant.) 
 
 Joe: "I talked to medium F. K. Brown this after- 
 noon." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Is that so? Well, what did you tell Mr. 
 Brown?" 
 
 Joe : "I told him to give you a message tonight !" 
 
 S. A. M. : "Then you want us to quit this and go 
 to Mr. Brown's meeting?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes." 
 
 V. M. M. : "And will you come to us tonight, Joe, 
 through Mr. Brown?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes." 
 
 After this we told Joe we would expect him to come 
 at the meeting, and the sitting ended. 
 
 Mr. Roberts remarked: "Well, this beats anything 
 I ever saw! I will go with you to the meeting. I am 
 interested to see what comes of it." 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII 
 
 Report of Messages received from Rev. F. K. Brown, 
 in General Meeting, Sunday evening, November 6, 1921, 
 Trinity Spiritualist Church, Blake Bldg., Twelfth Street, 
 Oakland, California. 
 
 (See report of table sitting in previous chapter.) 
 Mr. F. K. Brown was minister of Trinity Spiritualist 
 Church. On this particular Sunday evening he seemed 
 to be unusually good. A number of excellent messages 
 
OUR JOE 
 
 169 
 
 were given to persons unknown to us. (That is, from 
 the recognition accorded the messages I deemed them 
 excellent. Of course, I am not able to verify or cor- 
 roborate any except that which was given to my mother.) 
 
 Mr. Brown: "I hear the name of Joe! Anyone 
 recognize the name?" 
 
 We waited a few seconds to see whether anyone else 
 claimed the name before my mother lifted her hand. 
 
 Mr. Brown (to V. M. M.) : "Well, this Joe is a young 
 man ; he must have had something to do with some hose 
 he shows me some hose (rubber?) . Didn't he have some- 
 thing to do with some hose?" 
 
 V. M. M. : "Yes." 
 
 Joe and the hose Mentioned by F. K. Brown. 
 
no OUR JOE 
 
 Mr. Brown : "He says, 'My coming was a shock and 
 a surprise! He shows me the hose again, and he says I 
 can use the hose as well now as ever ; I can squirt water 
 (?) with it as good as ever!" 
 
 (See Snapshot on page 169.) 
 
 Mr. Brown : "Didn't he used to get up early in the 
 morning?" 
 
 V. M. M. : "Yes." 
 
 Mr. Brown (laughing) : "Yes, he yawns and says, 
 'I used to have to get up early in the morning. I am well 
 and contented. I want to help my brother. My brother 
 left everything and came home he was impatient for the 
 train (Mr. Brown, sotto voice: It seems as though 
 there must have been some delay}. 
 
 (There was a considerable delay when we left Okla- 
 homa City. I received a part of my salary from the Con- 
 gregational Home Missionary Society, and we had to wait 
 several days for my August check to come from New York. 
 We were all ready to leave Friday afternoon (had our 
 trunk, etc., at the station), feeling sure my check would 
 come on the morning mail. It did not so we had to 
 remain over another day. Naturally, all this was the 
 occasion of no little impatience. Was this merely a for- 
 tunate guess from Mr. Brown, or did he get this informa- 
 tion from Joe as he claimed he did?) 
 
 Mr. Brown : "I can't seem to get just the manner in 
 which this young man passed out but he shows me it was 
 quick like that (Mr. B. snapped his fingers) ! ! He says, 
 'I come to you in twilight and early morning.' This young 
 man has nice lips very good teeth. He says, 'I keut won- 
 dering what will they all think?' (Probably referring to 
 the time which passed between the hour of his death and 
 the finding of the body.) 
 
 He used to lounge back in chair, cock his feet up, and 
 enjoy the pleasures of the hour. 
 
 (Mr. B. addressing my mother) "When the body was 
 in the casket you kept saying : "Can it really be? Can it 
 be possible?' ' 
 
 (I wish particularly to draw the reader's attention 
 
OUR JOE 171 
 
 to Mr. Brown's repeated reference to the "hose;" the 
 question: "Didn't he have something to do with hose?" 
 and the statement attributed to Joe : "I can use hose as 
 well now as ever.") 
 
 My brother did work a great deal with rubber hose in 
 connection with his job as airman at the Southern Pacific 
 See page 169. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV 
 
 Report of Afternoon Trance Seance, Monday, Novem- 
 ber 7, 1921, 2:30 P. M., at Home of Mrs. M. J. Isles, 1288 
 California Street, San Francisco, California. Charles S. 
 Mundell in attendance. 
 
 On the afternoon of Monday, November 7, I dropped 
 quite casually into the seance held by Mrs. M. J. Isles, at 
 her home, 1288 California St., in San Francisco. I had 
 come over to the city on another matter, but decided to 
 attend the meeting, as a part of the investigation I was 
 making of psychic phenomena. 
 
 There were perhaps twenty others present. 
 
 The seance was opened with song and prayer, fol- 
 lowed by a short address from the medium. 
 
 Mrs. Isles has a very pleasing and attractive per- 
 sonality. 
 
 She impresses one favorably from the first. 
 
 Evidently a woman of refinement, Mrs. Isles uses 
 good English, and impresses one with the conviction of 
 her absolute genuineness and sincerity. 
 
 She appears to be a comparatively young woman; 
 slender, graceful, obviously delicate, and seemingly very 
 sensitive. 
 
 At the close of the meeting it was my good pleasure 
 to be afforded an interview. In quiet, personal, conversa- 
 tion, Mrs. Isles is modest, diffident reluctant to talk 
 about herself but it was a pleasure to discuss with her 
 some of the scientific and philosophic aspects of the phe- 
 nomena of Spirit Control. 
 
172 OUR JOE 
 
 Physically, Mrs. Isles is quite good looking tall, deep 
 brown eyes, dark hair. Altogether, her personality is 
 very prepossessing. 
 
 At half-past two precisely, the seance began. 
 
 While those present sang "Nearer My God to Thee," 
 Mrs. Isles stood apart from the sitters, with her eyes 
 closed, as the little child-guide, Jewell, took control. 
 
 When Jewell had taken control the messages began, 
 all the while Mrs. Isles speaking with a lisp and accent 
 -of a child of eight or ten. 
 
 Inasmuch as this report is to deal specifically with 
 the evidential features of the messages which were given 
 to me (for obviously I am not in position to verify any 
 messages given to other parties, except as I am content to 
 take their word for the accuracy or inaccuracy of the 
 statements made), I shall not burden the reader with a 
 detailed report of all the messages which Jewell gave to 
 the sitters present. However, there was a part of one 
 message which I venture to pass on to my readers, as 
 being, at least, interesting. 
 
 Mrs. Isles (Jewell speaking) : "A zentleman wisses 
 (wishes) to come to zis lady here (approaching one of 
 the sitters). He ses he is Henry but he wath (was) 
 called Harry." 
 
 The lady recognized the spirit. 
 
 Jewell : "Henry ses he has got a new gown 'cause 
 he hath moved to to a new plane !" 
 
 Lady: "Well, that's fine. I'm glad to hear it, 
 Jewell." 
 
 Jewell : "Yeth. He says he has a beeg-a-labor-a-to-ry 
 la-bo r-a-to-ry you understand?" (Jewell stumbling 
 over pronunciation of "Laboratory.") 
 
 Lady: "Yes, Jewell, I understand. What does he 
 say about it?" 
 
 Jewell: "Well, he says, he's a dok-tor (doctor) nowi 
 He ses, They call me Doctor Henry!' An' he's on the 
 Fifth Plane!" 
 
 Lady: "Thanks, Jewell, that's fine! I'm glad he is 
 doing so well." 
 
OUR JOE 173 
 
 After giving several other messages, the medium 
 stepped back with the exclamation : "Some one is calling 
 for music music ! Want's us to sing ! Please sing some- 
 thing play the piano !" 
 
 The sitters took up a verse of "Nearer My God to 
 Thee." 
 
 Mrs. Isles stood quietly in the center of the circle for 
 several seconds ; then she commenced trembling from head 
 to feet trembling as though she was being shaken by- 
 some powerful influence, or was in the grip of a severe 
 chill ! Her knees seemed to give way, and she swayed as 
 though she were going to fall. Several of the sitters be- 
 came alarmed, but others said, "Keep away ! Don't touch 
 her. Jewell is giving way to the direct control of some 
 other spirit!" 
 
 Mrs. Isles did not fall instead, she staggered in my 
 direction (her eyes closed), and then, throwing out her 
 arms to me, she cried a cry of mingled joy and pain: 
 "Charlie! Charlie! I'm Joe! I'm Joe!" 
 
 Mrs. Isles swayed toward me, and would have fallen- 
 had I not risen from my seat and caught her ! 
 
 She threw both arms around me, in full abandon- 
 ment, exclaiming: 
 
 "Charlie, it's Joe! I want you to give mama my 
 love ! My brother ! My dear brother ! Charlie !" 
 
 C. S. M. : "Yes, Joe ! I know ! I thought you would 
 come to me today ! That's why I came here !" 
 
 Mrs. Isles (holding my hands) : "Oh ! he's so strong! 
 He's taking all my strength! He is crushing me! ! I 
 Oh! !" 
 
 The medium swayed, and fell back in a dead faint 
 her every nerve and muscle quivering, and her body shak- 
 ing as though with the ague. I caught her as she fell,, 
 exclaiming : 
 
 "Yes, Joe ! I know ! You're so glad to come ! But 
 you are hurting the medium! You must let her go now. 
 I will tell mother you came to me, and that you send her 
 your love." 
 
114- OUR JOE 
 
 It was several seconds before Mrs. Isles seemed to 
 be recovering of one thing I am certain she was utterly 
 unconscious for a time then she muttered in guttural 
 tones "play some more music!" 
 
 Music and singing were resumed, and gradually Mrs. 
 Isles regained her feet; then, as I sat back in my chair 
 (still holding her hands), she continued, in more quiet 
 tones : 
 
 "Joe wants me to tell you that he is working on 
 some new something something like wireless telegraphy 
 to make it easier for him to communicate with you. 
 Wasn't Joe a mechanic?" 
 
 C. S. M. : "Yes, that is right. He was." 
 
 Mrs. I. : "Well, he says he is trying to invent some 
 new device for communication." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Well, I hope he succeeds !" 
 
 Mrs. I. : "Joe also says he wants you to play music 
 in the home. It will help him to come through to you." 
 
 C. S. M. : "All right, Joe. I'll tell mama what you 
 say." 
 
 Mrs. I. : "Joe also says he brings Grandma 
 'Arriet' (impatiently). Recognize her?" 
 
 C. S. M. : "All right, I do. I'm glad to have you 
 come, Grandma." 
 
 Mrs. I. : "Joe says, Tell mama it is for her sake we 
 come!" 
 
 C. S. M. : "All right, Joe, I will tell her." 
 
 With this Mrs. Isles seemed to give way to another 
 control. She staggered back, shook a little, and then ap- 
 proaching an elderly gentleman present, she knelt down 
 before him, saying : "I'm Effie! I'm Effie ! Please stroke 
 my hair like you used to !" 
 
 The elderly, gray-haired gentleman referred to, over- 
 come with emotion, complied with her request, exclaim- 
 ing: "My darling Effie. God bless you." 
 
 I do not know what the relation was between the 
 elderly gentleman and "Effie," but I imagined she must be 
 his daughter. At any rate, he seemed to be extremely 
 happy that "Effie" should come to him. 
 
OUR JOE 
 
 175 
 
 Several other messages were given, and then (Mrs. 
 Isles standing apart) : 
 
 "I hear someone calling the name 'Willie Willie!' 
 (Then coming in my direction: "He comes to some one 
 right in here! (To a lady sitting beside me: Does Willie 
 come to you?" 
 
 The Lady : "No, I don't think so !" 
 
 C. S. M. : "I .think he comes to me. Isn't he my 
 brother Willie?" 
 
 "Brother Willie." 
 
 Mrs. I. : "Yes, he comes to you. He says, 'I have 
 also brought sister.' Have you got a sis-ter in spirit 
 
 life?" 
 
 C. S. M. : "Yes ! God bless my little sister !" 
 
 Mrs. I. : "Willie says, 'Joe is exhausted after his 
 
 strong effort, so I will talk! Joe wants me to tell you 
 
176 OUR JOE 
 
 to give mama his love." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Sure, Willie, I will." 
 
 Willie : "Give my love to mama, too ! 7 love mama, 
 too!" 
 
 C. S. M.: "Of course you do, Willie! I'll tell her 
 what you say." 
 
 Mrs. I. : "Willie says, 'We have taught Joe all we 
 know, and now he knows more than we do! He is like a 
 father to the rest of us." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Well, that's fine ! Tell Joe I am glad he's 
 getting along so well. By the way, Willie, do you know 
 I am writing a book about Joe?" 
 
 Wilile: "Yes, I know it. Put Willie in your book, 
 too!" 
 
 C. S. M.: "All right, I will. I have already! Say, 
 Willie, was Joe at church yesterday, and did he hear me 
 preach ? He told us through the table he would be there ?" 
 
 Willie : "Yes, he was there. And so was Grandma." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Well, I appreciate that." 
 
 (Note: The occasion referred to was that of the 
 previous morning (Sunday, Nov. 6, 11 a. m.) when I 
 filled the pulpit of the South Berkeley Community Church 
 (Park Congregational Church), in the absence of the 
 minister, my friend, Rev. Norman W. Pendleton.) 
 
 C. S. M. : "Say, Willie, I'd like to ask a test ques- 
 tion. Ask Joe if he can tell me this afternoon, what I 
 now have, that was once his?" 
 
 Willie (Mrs. I. hesitating a few seconds only) : 
 "Yes ! It is something in your pocket seems like some- 
 thing to tell time of day. I told mama to give it to you !" 
 
 (Note: This was the second time I had put this 
 test question, and to different mediums: the first time to 
 Mrs. Rose Hyams, of Oakland. Does it not seem rather 
 evidential that correct answers were given both times? 
 The reader will recall the table-sitting where Joe in- 
 structed my mother to give me his watch. The fact that 
 this detail was mentioned through Mrs. Isles seems proof 
 that our table-sittings were genuine.) 
 
OUR JOE 777 
 
 Willie: "Joe says, Tve brought the whole family 
 liere today! Say! How's mama feeling today?" 
 
 C. S. M. : "Much better, Willie, I think. These mes- 
 sages will help her, I know." 
 
 Willie : "Oh, yes ! Joe wants you to tell mama that 
 he came to her night-before-last in her dreams! She 
 dreamed about Joe all night He came strong It woke 
 her up." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Yes, Willie, mama told us about it." 
 
 (Note: All this was quite true, as my mother will 
 testify. All night that night she dreamed of Joe, and was 
 finally awakened by the feeling that someone was blowing 
 breath upon her face. She seemed to feel Joe's presence 
 in a peculiar way ; she seemed conscious of his presence 
 but when she opened her eyes and peered into the dark, 
 she could see nothing. How could Mrs. Isles have known 
 about this dream?) 
 
 Willie : "Joe says tell mama he will come again so 
 will /; Joe thinks a lot of Charlie ! Mama is getting along 
 much better in a spiritual way, isn't she?" 
 
 C. S. M. : "Yes, Willie, I'm sure she is much better." 
 
 Willie : "Well, Charlie, we don't want you to worry 
 about your affairs. Go ahead writing the book. That's 
 your work now. We feel that it will be very successful, 
 and will do lots of good." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Thank you, Willie." 
 
 (Note in conclusion: If Mrs. Isles did not really give 
 these messages from the "other side ;" if she was merely 
 "acting;" if her trembling, quivering, and shaking, were 
 all "put on," it was not only extremely well done with 
 every appearance of genuineness but it was the most 
 blasphemous mockery I ever saw ! I cannot believe that 
 Mrs. Isles whose personality seems to radiate sincerity 
 and truth could stoop to such a damnable, monstrous, 
 hypocritical pretense! If the phenomena were not gen- 
 uine, then God have mercy! It was a crime.) 
 
178 OUR JOE 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV 
 A VERY EVIDENTIAL SITTING 
 
 Report of Private Sitting of S. A. Mundell ivith Mrs. 
 M. J. Isles, at her home, 1288 California St., San Fran- 
 cisco, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 1921. C. S. M. present to take 
 notes. 
 
 My father and I called at the home of Mrs. Isles at 
 3:15 P.M. 
 
 We had previously telephoned from the office asking- 
 for an appointment, and were told we could come right 
 over. 
 
 We were received by the medium's little girl, and 
 ushered into the seance room. In about fifteen minutes 
 Mrs. Isles came in. 
 
 The usual formalities of introduction, comments on 
 the weather, etc., disposed of, we conversed for a while, 
 during which conversation Mrs. Isles (in response to a 
 question from my father as to how she had been led to 
 become a medium) told us the story of her psychic unfold- 
 ment, from the time she was a mere child to the time of 
 her definite surrender to the unseen forces. 
 
 Her story was intensely interesting, and in some 
 respects quite pathetic. 
 
 The full realization or revelation of her psychic life 
 came to her during a prolonged illness, following the 
 birth of her second child, who was born blind. This sad 
 affliction to her child proved to be her Gethsemane; the 
 suffering which purified and refined her spiritual per- 
 ceptions. 
 
 Following her convalescence she was induced to study 
 Christian Science, with only partial satisfaction. 
 
 Then she met a lady who was a Spiritualist, and 
 through her was led to attend Spiritualist meetings. 
 
 Her first experiences of this kind were disappointing. 
 
 She related the fact that her first "message" re- 
 ceived from the platform medium was to the effect that 
 there was some man across the sea with whom she would 
 
OUR JOE 179 
 
 shortly fall in love and marry. Of course, this was all 
 wrong ; she was already a wife and a mother. 
 
 However, she refused to become discouraged in her 
 search for truth. 
 
 Along about this time she began to receive manifes- 
 tations in her own home: she would become entranced, 
 and while in these trances give loving and comforting- 
 Spirit-messages to her husband, and to other members of 
 her family. 
 
 She attended an experiment under the auspices of 
 the Psychic Research Society, where another medium was 
 the subject of the experiments. No sooner had she come 
 into the room when she fell into a trance, and to the sur- 
 prise and delight of the circle of psychic researchers gave 
 demonstrations, messages, and other psychic phenomena. 
 
 Following this she was for some time employed by 
 the Psychic Research Society as a subject of study and 
 investigation. The scientists who experimented with her 
 became convinced of her psychic powers, and gave her a 
 cordial endorsement. 
 
 The sitting proper began at 4 :25. 
 
 Mrs. Isles and my father sat facing each other, while 
 I sat apart in a big arm-chair with my note book, pre- 
 pared to take down the whole of the reading. 
 
 Mrs. Isles closed her eyes, and remained for several 
 minutes in passive relaxation. Then : 
 
 "You have two guides. One has followed you since 
 childhood. He has the appearance of an old soldier, and 
 seems to have had something to do with the sea also." 
 
 S. A. M. : "You say he looks like an old soldier?" 
 
 Mrs. I. : "Yes, but it's not your father. This one is 
 your guide. Yet, he seems to have belonged to the family 
 a long time ago perhaps hundred years ago! He 
 shows me armor must have been in family long time 
 ago! This guide has led you with a star a star has led 
 you out of hell to gain heaven. You could have become a 
 drunkard and a professional gambler this guide kept 
 pulling you back." 
 
180 OUR JOE 
 
 S. A. M. : "Well, I guess that's right. I used to be 
 very successful when I tried to gamble. I suppose I could 
 have done fairly well, for I had mastered the art of read- 
 ing the other fellow's hand by the expressions of his face." 
 
 Mrs. I. : "Yes, but this guide wouldn't let you be- 
 come a great drunkard and gambler he kept pulling you 
 back! You are very psychic yourself! You have con- 
 siderable power! You could have developed it. This 
 guide of yours brings two other spirits to you now. 
 Wasn't your father's name Harvey?" 
 
 S. A. M. (a little surprised) : "Why, yes, that's his 
 name !" 
 
 Mrs. I. : "And wasn't your mother's name Eliza- 
 beth?" 
 
 S. A. M. : "Yes." 
 
 Mrs. I. : "Well, these are the two your guide brings 
 first. Your mother is being supported by your father- 
 she seems to be rather feeble your father's magnetism is 
 supporting your mother she isn't very strong yet they 
 are together all the time! Abruptly: "Didn't your 
 mother pass away in Los Angeles?" 
 
 S. A. M. : "Yes, ma'am, that's right?" 
 
 Mrs. I. : "I thought so the guide shows me South 
 'passed out in South,' he says. She hasn't been gone 
 very long? Just little while?" 
 
 S. A. M. : "Only about two months. No, not very 
 long." 
 
 Mrs. I. : "Your father gives me the names "Harvey 
 and Elizabeth/ He says, 'We have seen the boy!' ' 
 
 S. A. M. : "Says they have seen the boy?" 
 
 Mrs. I. : "Yes, that's what he says. The next spirit 
 that comes to you is that of a young soldier ; don't know 
 if you know him or not, but it seems like he is a com- 
 panion to the other boy." 
 
 S. A. M.: "The 'other' boy?" 
 
 Mrs. I. : "Yes. This young soldier comes with an- 
 other boy ; they are both of about the same height. The 
 boy (other boy) throws a purple aura round you. This 
 boy has brown eyes good features high forehead 
 
OUR JOE 
 
 181 
 
 brown hair not dark brown, but a nice brown parted 
 on side. The old man your father links his hand with 
 the boy's and puts them on your shoulder. The boy says, 
 Tell Dad' (confusion) he says something about 'name- 
 sake' no, the old man says something about namesake, 
 and the boy says, Tell Dad ' well, it is something about 
 some kind of connection between their names! Do you 
 understand ?" 
 
 S.A. M.: "I think I do!" 
 
 Mrs. I. (to father) : "Give me your hands ; you are 
 a little nervous ! Now, that's better. Say, haven't you a 
 little dog around the house a little dog like that (indi- 
 cating with hands a very small dog) ?" 
 
 S. A. M. : "No, we haven't any dog at our house. 
 Does he say something about a dog?" 
 
 "Sport" or "Pal" the "Psychic" Airedale, 
 in front.of 9O4 Brush Street. 
 
182 OUR JOE 
 
 Mrs. I.: "Yes. There is a little dog, isn't there?" 
 
 S. A. M. : "Well, we haven't any dog." 
 
 Mrs. I. : "This little dog has some connection with 
 the boy it was with him at the time of his passing! It is 
 not in the spirit; it is in the body! The boy shows me 
 how he would shout to the dog." 
 
 S. A. M. : "I think I know what he means now. 
 Yes, you are correct. There was a little Airedale dog with 
 him when he was killed." 
 
 Mrs. I.: "Yes. Well, it it sounds funny (she 
 laughed) but he says something about being in com- 
 munication with this dog ! Like as if the dog was clair- 
 voyant, or something like that! That sounds funny, 
 doesn't it?" 
 
 My father and I both agreed that it did sound funny : 
 a dog clairvoyant ! 
 
 Mrs. I. : "I never heard of such a thing ! Well, he 
 must communicate in some way with this dog. Don't 
 that sound funny? Anyway, he wants you to get this dog! 
 Wants it brought into his home !" 
 
 S. A. M. : "All right, Joe, I will see if I can get the 
 dog." 
 
 Mrs. I. : "This boy writes his name J-o-s-e-p-h 
 H-a-r-v-e-y." 
 
 S. A. M. : "Yes, that's his name all right!" 
 
 Mrs. I. : "Now I see what he meant by a connection 
 between the two names : your father's name was Harvey, 
 and your son's second name was Harvey." 
 
 S. A. M. : "Yes, that is correct." 
 
 Mrs. I. : "Didn't he call you 'papa'?" 
 
 S. A. M. : "Oh, yes, lots of times !' ' 
 
 Mrs. I. : "I mean he didn't call you 'daddy/ but 
 'papa'?'; 
 
 S. A. M. : "Well, sometimes he called me 'Dad,' but 
 he called me 'papa' most of the time." 
 
 Mrs. I. : "Well, Joe says, 'Papa, I want to tell you 
 I've got a perfect body, and a perfect face. Think of me 
 just as I ivas! In spirit but more beautiful, if you can. 
 Spirits out of the body of clay are more beautiful than 
 
OUR JOE 183 
 
 in body. I. can't forget the love of my first entering spirit 
 life on awakening to consciousness in Grandma's arms! 
 With Sister and Brother.' He smiles with power! He 
 is so strong! Don't you feel the power?" 
 
 My father describes the sensation as similar to that 
 of an electric current passing through hands and arms, 
 while holding on to knobs a very strong vibration ! 
 
 Mrs. I. : "Joe says, 'I am happy because I am in 
 touch with you and you know it. It gives every spirit- 
 he laughs, 'more pep.' He says, 'Remember you are a 
 spirit, too, and you have influence.' He speaks in connec- 
 tion with future welfare not material he is speaking- 
 in connection with some future development (psychic?) 
 in the home! Did he pass away with (confusion). He 
 was a fine boy !" 
 
 S. A. M. : "Yes, he was a beautiful boy!" 
 
 Mrs. I. : "Well, he is going to bring about some 
 wonderful manifestations. In the material you are all 
 right, but " (here, unfortunately, she was interrupted 
 by the telephone, much to her annoyance and perturba- 
 tion; she never seemed to gain as good connections as 
 before). 
 
 "Your guide says, you are all right financially, only 
 be cautious about your investments and your property. 
 You have worked hard sometimes wtih hands as well as 
 with brain isn't that right?" 
 
 S. A. M. : "Yes." 
 
 Mrs. I. : "You have had to battle all your life with 
 two forces. You are going to have a change of your 
 psychic powers why, I wouldn't be surprised if you 
 see and hear spirits soon ! You could have developed great 
 psychic nower! But there is a revelation ahead. You 
 are too busy to read much!" 
 
 S. A. M. : "Yes, that is about right !" 
 
 Mrs. I. : "You ought to have good manifestation in 
 your own home." 
 
 Here I interrupted to ask : "Mrs. Isles, as a sort of 
 test, I would like for you to see if you can get my father's 
 
184 OUR JOE 
 
 professional or business connections. That is, if you are 
 not over-taxed already." 
 
 Mrs. I. (after a moment's concentration) : "Well, I 
 can see that he has something to do with railroads." 
 
 Quite correct ! 
 
 Mrs. I. : "You are a good servant of your company 
 (whatever it is). Sometimes you are stationary 
 sometimes you are moving. Duty is a big word with you ! 
 Your forces make you do your duty ! You would be true 
 to your trust in spite of everything family, or any other 
 opposition. You have the power of will and command !" 
 
 The sitting ended at five minutes past five o'clock. 
 
 Note by C. S. M. : It seems to me that there were 
 several things about this sitting which might be called 
 very good, and very evidential: viz., the giving of the 
 names Harvey and Elizabeth (other mediums had given 
 Grandma's name, but this was the first time Grandpa's 
 name was given) ; also the stating of the fact that Grand- 
 ma had passed away in Los Angeles; the linking of the 
 names; the mention of the little dog (See page ^81) 
 and the description of my father's vocation, etc. The 
 reader will note, by comDaring other of Mrs. Isles' mes- 
 sages to members of the family, that there is considerable 
 new material. The question is: Hoiv could Mrs. Isles 
 give all this informtaion, if she did not get it from the 
 spirit world? 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI 
 
 Report of Very Evidential Sitting ivith Mr. F. K. 
 Brown, at his Apartment, 735 Seventeenth Street, Oak- 
 land, Wednesday, November 16, 11:00 A. M. 
 
 On the morning of November 16 I had an unusually 
 good sitting with Mr. F. K. Brown, who is minister of 
 Trinity Spiritual Church. My wife accompanied me to 
 Mr. Brown's rooms, and was present during the sitting 
 to take notes. Below is the report of the sitting, as recon- 
 structed from her notes : 
 
OUR JOE -185 
 
 The reading began at eleven o'clock. 
 
 Mr. Brown prefaced the reading proper by a half 
 hour's conversation on the general subject of Spiritualism, 
 communication, guide-control, etc., explaining that he 
 could not guarantee results ; he could only surrender him- 
 self to his Spirit Guides, and trust that they would be able 
 to get something through to me, that I could recognize, 
 and that would be of comfort and help. He explained to 
 us his understanding of the philosophic principles of 
 Modern Spiritualism, but inasmuch as we felt that we al- 
 ready possessed a fairly good understanding of these, but 
 very little was taken down in the report. 
 
 After Mr. Brown had "explained" at considerable 
 length, he gave way to the apparent control of his Spirit 
 Guides. 
 
 Mr. Brown : "The first one who comes to you from 
 the spirit side of life is a gentleman appears about mid- 
 dle-age ; has thick chest, fair hair, slightly tinged with 
 gray around the edges. He gives me no name, but he 
 seems like he might be a father or a grandfather. This 
 man, while on earth, was very devoted to his family ; loved 
 his home. Can you place him?" 
 
 C. S. M. : "No, I can't say that I do, with that de- 
 scription. It hardly fits Grandpa, and my father is not 
 in spirit life." 
 
 Mr. Brown: "Well, he comes surrounded by five 
 others ' (here Mr. Brown, or his Guide, broke off from 
 communication to exulain a few things about how spirits 
 communicate with us, and with other spirits). (Return- 
 ing to communication) : "You attract your loved ones 
 right to you. They rush quickly to you. You have kept 
 your soul in fitness. Your beloved brother rushed to you 
 instantly. He comes (now) as with a start as from a 
 seated position as if he were sitting leaps and starts. 
 He went out (of the body) instantly. He laughs! laugh 
 expresses it his face is illuminated ; his eyes are clear as 
 crystal fearless. He says, 'I used to have to fight my 
 way through, sometimes. I would swear sometimes, if I 
 had to. You rest at ease. I am going to help you. I touch 
 
186 OUR JOE 
 
 myself sometimes to see if it is the same me. I realize 
 what I went through. There are debts; they will all be 
 paid. 
 
 "Joe says, 'I became a little tired; stumped my toe; 
 walked through the shrubbery; I posed myself along a 
 tree I squatted set down my knapsack and gun. It 
 was a wonderful scene (probably meaning from where he 
 sat) . I went through my pockets to see what I had not 
 flushed with much saw what would bring me gain and 
 pleasure. (The reader will remember that $76 in cur- 
 rency was found on Joe's body) . 
 
 " 'I sat still and quiet for awhile and thought (sotto 
 voice: something moved; the dog moved) thought I would 
 have a little shot of smoke something moved a report 
 came . It is beyond me to describe how quickly all was 
 still saw my form quiver and move ! Went to city get 
 those (confusion). Charlie, there were three things in 
 gun which could be used. They overlooked things got 
 all bollixed up I harmed no one; no one harmed me. 
 They tried to make out that it was murder and suicide 
 and everything but what it was, a pure accident ! That's 
 all it was just an accident! 
 
 "Brother, I love you more than I ever did. I'm in no 
 torment. Love you more going to help you * * * we 
 all make mistakes. Remember when Isaid, 'Why don't 
 you get into something'?" 
 
 C. S. M. : "Yes, Joe, I remember that. Do you re- 
 member when you saw me last?" 
 
 Joe : "Sure. But don't magnify these things we get 
 through too much. I am getting stronger. More is yet 
 to come. Like a new job takes us long time to tell all 
 about it possibly six months. I'll keep coming in the 
 home." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Say, Joe, for the last several nights I 
 have thought, after going to bed, that I could hear some- 
 think like a voice in my ear. I decided maybe it was 
 imagination. Was it?" 
 
 Joe: "It was me saying 'goodnight.' I don't make 
 any disturbances; I want your bodies to have rest and 
 
OUR JOE 187 
 
 sleep. I still have my old white-handled knife. I like to 
 play pranks and jokes on others, and like to have them 
 play pranks on me. Used to, when the engine would stop, 
 we would stand around and talk. Some would chew, and 
 some would smoke. I never blame anyone that was ever 
 mean to me." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Say, Joe, do you remember Charles 
 Sides?" 
 
 Joe: "Don't be so anxious to get tests through 
 makes me feel bad. It's me. I want you to believe it's me. 
 I have met Al." 
 
 C. S. M. : "You have met Al? I don't remember Al. 
 Is he the young soldier that Mrs. Isles told papa was a 
 companion of yours?" 
 
 Joe: "No, that (the young soldier) was a dear fel- 
 low we met in transportation we helped he was in such 
 a predicament moaning and groaning. We talked him 
 out of his troubles. Say, extend my greetings to William 
 to Bill." (Mr. Brown, sotto voice: "He wants you to 
 say hello to Bill ; Bill must be some fellow in his frater- 
 nity.") 
 
 Joe (continuing) : "Just keep up with everything, 
 but don't rush. I will help to keep your pathway clear, 
 and you will get along nicely. Don't spend all your money, 
 and get broke." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Say, Joe ! Do you recall anything about 
 a bicycle?" 
 
 Joe : "Well I guess I do ! I skinned my knee once 
 (meaning probably he had once slipped and fallen from 
 the bicycle) ." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Well, do you remember where you got 
 
 the bicycle?" 
 
 Joe: "Yes, and I got it honestly! Didn't I?" 
 
 C. S. M. : "Yes, Joe. You bought it from me, and 
 
 paid me cash for it." 
 
188 
 
 OUR JOE 
 
 Joe and a friend repairing the "bicycle." 
 
 Joe: "They were always afraid I would get hurt. 
 But I want to talk of things that I am now in." 
 
 C. S. M. : "All right, Joe. That's fine. I am very 
 curious to hear whatever you want to say about your 
 world." 
 
 Joe : "If anyone tells you I am dead they are telling* 
 a falsehood. I am not dead. I am more alive than I ever 
 was. Say, you have been doing a lot of writing recently !" 
 
 C. S. M. : "Yes, Joe, I have." 
 
 Joe : "Yes, you have been writing and sending 
 away." 
 
 C. S. M. : "No, Joe, I haven't sent anything away; 
 that is, I haven't written anything that I have sent away 
 for publication !" 
 
OUR JOE 189 
 
 Joe : "No, but you have written something and sent 
 it away." 
 
 (Since the sitting I have been able to verify Joe's 
 statement as being correct. I wrote a long letter dealing 
 with Spiritualism to a lady whose home is near Santa 
 Cruz, California. I am reasonably certain that it was 
 this letter to which he referred, inasmuch as it was rather 
 important, and concerned matters in which he would be 
 likely to be interested. The party in question, like my- 
 self, was investigating the phenomena of Spiritualism. 
 This reference seemed to me rather evidential). 
 
 Joe : "A letter came to you expressing eagerness for 
 you to return to your work where you were !" 
 
 C. S. M. : "No, Joe, you are mistaken. No letter 
 came to me wanting me to return to my work in Oklahoma 
 City." 
 
 Joe: "Yes, you did receive such a letter! From a 
 long way off expressing hope you could return to that 
 work!" 
 
 C. S. M. : "Oh, yes, Joe ! You are right. I remem- 
 ber now. You mean the letter I received from Dr. Holmes? 
 (Rev. John Haynes Holmes : see pp. 34, 35.) 
 
 Joe: "Of course!" 
 
 (Note: This should be considered very good. Again 
 we ask, how on earth did Mr. Brown get this, if not from 
 Joe?) 
 
 C. S. M. : "Well, Joe, don't you think it was a nice 
 letter? Do you know all the kind things he said?" 
 
 Joe: "Yes****it was very flowery; and very nice!" 
 
 C. S. M. : "Joe, do you remember anything about 
 Nevada?" 
 
 Joe: "Yes! How did I ever get abound it! I was 
 doing it then ! You couldn't keep me still. That fellow 
 that went with me was no good. He sponged off me ! He 
 wanted to know everything I got. I'll get hold of him 
 some day and shake him !" 
 
 C. S. M.: "You don't mean you will hurt him?" 
 Joe : "Oh, no, but I'd like to shake him un a little. 
 He didn't do me right. But you Lowe you yet." 
 
190 OUR JOE 
 
 C. S. M. : "No, Joe. You don't owe me anything. 
 But I owe you." 
 
 Joe : "Well, I owe you, and you owe me. What 
 little I did for you was to help you out!" 
 
 (The test concerning "Nevada" was excellent. The 
 reader will remember that the same question was asked 
 once before during a table sitting in our own home. See 
 pp. 158, 159.) 
 
 As before stated, Joe went to Nevada in the fall of 
 1917, in search of work. A strike had been called in the 
 yards where my brother worked, throwing him out of em- 
 ployment. 
 
 He visited the Employment Bureaus in Oakland and 
 Berkeley for several days, and was finally offered a job 
 with a railroad gang in Nevada. He and a young man 
 came to sse me at the place where I was temporarily em- 
 ployed, and informed me of their intention to go to the 
 job. I was not at all pleased with the idea, and I said so. 
 My remonstrance was unavailing, however. It was prob- 
 ably a reference to the fact that I had attempted to talk 
 him out of the idea of going away, when he said : "I was 
 doing it then ! You couldn't keep me still." 
 
 "That fellow that went with me" referred to the 
 young man who had accompanied Joe on what he later 
 described as his "wild goose chase." My brother had 
 about $75 or $80 with him, while the other young man 
 had perhaps $10 or $15. "That fellow" held on to his own 
 money as much as was possible, permitting my brother 
 to bear all the experse. After Joe's return to Berkeley 
 about six weeks later he was able to realize to what ex- 
 tent he had been duped by his friend." 
 
 The reference "I owe you a lot" probably had to do 
 with the fn?t that I had "staked" him, and had helped 
 him to get on his feet again, following his return from 
 Nevada. 
 
 The statement "and you owe me," in reply to my ob- 
 jection that he owed me nothing seems quite clearly to 
 refer to the assistance he had given me (financially) prior 
 to my departure for New York City in February of 1920. 
 
OUR JOE 191 
 
 Mr. Brown (continuing) : "I see him drawing a 
 picture a scene cemetery. There is a 6 ft. monument; 
 goes to a peak. It is an old one ; been there for a number 
 of years he is drawing it it is away from here. I 
 see him drawing the letters A-n-n " (confusion) 
 
 C. S. M. : "Annie?" 
 
 Mr. B. "Yes, that is it. He shows me her grave. 
 There is another grave there, too !" 
 
 C. S. M. : "Yes, Joe, the body of little brother Willie 
 is right beside Annie's." 
 
 Mr. B. (Joe speaking) "She has been very good to 
 me?" 
 
 C. S. M. : "You mean Annie has?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes. She looks out for me." 
 
 (Note: The cemetery scene might very well be the 
 cemetery at Perkins, Oklahoma, where Willie and Annie 
 rest side by side (that is, where their dear little bodies 
 rest; the real sister and brother are not there) . The six 
 foot tombstone, however, could not refer to the stone at 
 Annie's grave. That stone was only a small one. How- 
 ever, it is possible that- there may be such a monument 
 next to, or near her grave. We cannot say.) 
 
 Joe : (continuing) "Wind up the watch and keep it 
 going. It ought to last you a long time. I used to keep it 
 right on the second. I still use it, and it keeps good time." 
 
 C. S. M. : "You mean you still use your watch? The 
 one you told mama to give to me?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Well, Joe, J don't see how that can be! 
 I don't see how you can have the watch, and use it, when 
 I have it, and use it too !" 
 
 Joe : "Well, I use it anyway. And it keeus just as 
 good time as it ever did. You've only got the shell ; I've 
 got the real watch !" 
 
 C. S. M. : "Well, Joe, that may be, you've got me 
 guessing now. I must confess that I don't get you. How 
 can you still use the watch, when I have it?" 
 
 Joe : "Well, I use it anyway !" 
 
192 
 
 OUR JOE 
 
 C. S. M. : ''All right, Joe, I'll take your word for it; 
 but it sounds queer." 
 
 Joe : "Say Charlie, do you remember the time they 
 had the streets all torn up dug up putting down pipes ?" 
 
 C. S. M. : "Where, Joe? Back at D?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes ! They were putting in the sewers deep 
 trenches dug dirt along the sides big pipes lying along 
 side trenches. We used to get down in the trenches and 
 play. Remember that?" 
 
 C. S. M. : "Yes, Joe, that's fine ! I remember that 
 quite well. We used to have some great times !" 
 
 Joe : "Do you remember fellow threw apple thru a 
 pipe I was looking into once ? It hit me on the nose, and 
 scratched it. I didn't tell anybody about the scratch. It 
 wasn't much of a scratch !" 
 
 C. S. M. : "No, I can't say that I remember that !" 
 
 Joe : "Well, you see you forget, too ! When we ask 
 you if you remember certain things, you don't always 
 do so. Yet you ask us if we remember lots of things. 
 Sometimes we can't just recall it at the instant. We're 
 just like you are about that." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Yes, Joe. We realize that. But do you 
 remember the Progress Theatre?" 
 
 Joe : "You bet ! I used to get mine. Used to sneak 
 in lots of times." 
 
 C. S. M. :"No, Joe, you are not thinking of the right 
 one. I remember how we used to sneak in the "Texas 
 Grand" at D-, but that isn't the one I mean. I mean the 
 Progress Theatre over on Fillmore Street, in San Fran- 
 cisco. Can you recall anything about that?" 
 
 Joe : "Sure ! I worked there !" 
 
 C. S. M. : "That's fine ! Yes, you did. Do you 
 remember the enormous salary you received ?" 
 
 Joe : "I'll say I do !" 
 
 (The answer to the question about the Progress 
 theatre was very good. Joe was employed there for about 
 three weeks, at a salary of $10 per week.) 
 
 Joe : "Say, mama has got a headache now ! Hasn't 
 she?" 
 
OUR JOE 193 
 
 C. S. M. : "Well, I didn't hear her say anything 
 about it, Joe, but I'll ask her when we get home. Are you 
 sure?" 
 
 Joe: "Yes, I'm sure. She has a headache, but she 
 isn't saying much about it. You'll see I'm right when 
 you get home." 
 
 (Note: This proved to be correct. My mother was 
 surprised when we told her Joe's statement, but she re- 
 plied : "Well, that was right. I have had a very severe 
 headache all morning.") 
 
 Joe: "I am very happy here. This Christmas I'll 
 get more gifts than ever before. Tell mama I kiss her 
 sometimes, but she can't feel it. I think mama will be the 
 next to come over here." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Well, we hope it won't be soon, Joe. We 
 couldn't spare mama. But say, Joe, you never answered 
 my question awhile ago about little Charles Sides. Remem- 
 ber him?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes. He's all right fine little fellow. Kinda 
 inclined go 'long in dream, but he will be very successful." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Well, I'm glad to hear that, Joe ! Do you 
 know he's going to school now, and that he is learning 
 very rapidly?" 
 
 Joe: "Give my love to them all by pounds and 
 ounces ! Give my regards to all the boys on the works !" 
 
 C. S. M. : "All right, Joe, boy. But say, you've no 
 idea how we miss you at home !" 
 
 Joe: "Yes, and I miss you too, but I stay around 
 home most of the time. You've got a picture of me at 
 home that makes me look like a doll baby looks too 
 pretty. It's hanging up up on the wall ! It's all right 
 though." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Yes, that's right, Joe. What else about 
 it?" 
 
 Joe : "You are up there too !" 
 
 (Note: This should be considered excellent.) 
 
 About two months before Joe's passing, the photo- 
 graphs were taken, one of which is reproduced in the 
 front is-piece. They were considered so good that my 
 
194 
 
 OUR JOE 
 
 mother had one of them enlarged, and tinted, i.e., finished 
 in colors, showing the hue of his hair and eyes. She al- 
 ready had a similar photograph of me. Both photographs 
 occupied places on the piano, one on the right end, the 
 other on the left, until about a month before the sitting 
 with Mr. Brown, when they were framed together, and 
 were hung up on the wall. 
 
 When Joe first saw the enlarged and tinted picture, 
 my mother remembered that it embarrassed him a little, 
 and that he said: "Aw, mama, that's too good looking 
 for me !" 
 
 The reader will observe that the description as given 
 thru Mr. Brown is very accurate, in every detail ! See 
 reproduction below. 
 
 The Photographs of "Joe" and "Charlie" Framed together. 
 
OUR JOE 195 
 
 C. S. M. : "Say, Joe, can you tell us how it is you 
 can get these messages through to us through this 
 medium?" 
 
 Joe: "Well, you remember I was always getting 
 into everything. One time on the corner of Market and 
 Stock Mason no, I don't remember what other street it 
 was but there was a man with a telescope, and he said, 
 "Come look at the moon." Everybody didn't look through 
 it, but I did. Well, it's like that. But sometimes it's 
 hard." 
 
 (Joe probably meant that getting messages over thru 
 a medium was similar to seeing thru a telescope ; that a 
 medium was the instrument, or channel, thru which com- 
 munications could be given, just as the telescope is the 
 channel thru which glimpses can be had of the moon.) 
 
 C. S. M. : "Well, Joe, do you remember telling us 
 thru the table one night that you talked with Mr. Brown 
 one Sunday afternoon, and that you told him he'd better 
 give us a message at Church that night?" (See table 
 sitting of Nov. 6.) 
 
 Joe : "Yes. I talked to him nearly all night once. 
 It was hard to make him understand me." 
 
 (Continuing) "Say Charlie, do you remember back 
 
 at D how we used to look thru the same knot-hole at 
 
 the ball games?" 
 
 C. S. M.: "Sure, Joe, I'll never forget that! I'm 
 glad you mentioned it. It's a good test! No one could 
 know about that but you and I." 
 
 Joe: "Well, I am not weak. I'm strong. But I 
 can't always get everything over like I'd like to !" 
 
 C. S. M. : "Joe, do you know what mama has in 
 your trunk?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes. Let her cherish them." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Well, Joe, mama wouldn't take a million 
 dollars for those things !" 
 
 Joe : "They are packed away, but I still use them. I 
 still use them over here !" 
 
 C. S. M. : (Surprised) . "you still use those clothes, 
 and wear that suit, and hat, and shoes?" 
 
196 OUR JOE 
 
 Joe: "Sure I do! They are all here. That is, the 
 life of them is here !" 
 
 C. S. M.: "Well, Joe, that get's my goat! Have 
 suits, and shoes, and hats, and watches got souls too ?" 
 
 Joe: "Sure they have! We have everything here 
 that you have there! You only have the material the 
 shell !" 
 
 C. S. M. : "Say Joe, what about the hose you spoke 
 about?" 
 
 Joe: "I still use it the air hose, and the one that 
 was used to wash off the engine. Be of good cheer. You'll 
 always know that I am in the home. Keep up the table 
 sittings. (How did Brown know about the table sittings ?) 
 But don't ask me such questions as 'who taught me my 
 A, B, C ! I can't always remember every little thing like 
 that!" 
 
 Mr. Brown : "Another spirit comes to you gives 
 me a name like E-linor or Elizabeth." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Elizabeth probably." 
 
 Mr. Brown : "Also someone by name of Smith 
 and another by name of Goodspeed." 
 
 C. S. M. : "I do not remember any Goodspeed." 
 
 Mr. Brown : "Another one gives me the name of 
 J-i-m, and the letter P. There's quite a lot come to greet 
 you. 
 
 "Another old gentleman comes not a relative just 
 a friend. He is anxious to greet you. You know him. 
 He used to be around a little church a lot used to think 
 a lot of you. He has a long well, not so very long 
 white beard and he has a Bible with him. Used to think 
 you had fine quality. Do you recognize him?" 
 
 C. S. M. : "Sure I do ! The description fits exactly 
 
 old Grandpa M , a good old gentleman I used to know 
 
 in D . Ask him if he still likes to argue about the 
 
 Bible and religion ?" 
 
 Mr. Brown (without answering question) "Also man 
 comes with name Mac In Mackin sounds like tosh, or 
 Macintarny! Place the name?" 
 
OUR JOE 197 
 
 C. S. M. : "Is it Maclnarny ?" 
 
 M. B. : "Something like that. I can't seem to get it 
 exactly." 
 
 (Note: I knew Mclnarny. The name is mentioned 
 elsewhere in these communications.) 
 
 Mr. B. : "Did you ever live in Canada?" 
 
 C. S. M. : "No." 
 
 Mr. B. : "Well, a lady and a man come, and they 
 show me that they used to live in Canada. The name 
 
 begins with a B sounds something like B-i-r-d. 1 
 
 wouldn't be sure." 
 
 C. S. M. : "What about George?" 
 
 Mr. B. : "I don't get George. Maybe he is not here 
 now. Also someone a couple come. They give me the 
 name of McHuen or MclJen, or something like that, 
 Also a little babe in the spirit world." 
 
 C. S. M.: "Not mine!" 
 
 Mr. B. : "No, not yours, but comes out of your circle 
 somewhere. It was so small when it passed out that the 
 casket was carried on someone's lap. There are lots of 
 others. Caroline also comes." 
 
 C. S. M. : "I don't know Caroline." 
 
 Mr. B. : "She's not a relation but you know her. 
 She says you know her. She was the one that engineered 
 that Church concert. It was in a church." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Well, I can't remember just now." 
 
 Mr. B. : "Well, she says you have a poor memory! 
 She remembered you well." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Was she a worker in the church?" 
 
 Mr. B. : "Yes, an active worker, she says." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Well, tell her I am sorry I can't recall her. 
 I've met so many thousands during my ministry. But 
 I'll try to look it up in my scrap book !" 
 
 Mr. B. : "Yes, do. She seems very anxious for you 
 to remember her. She says she has come before." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Yes, Mrs. Nanning called Caroline's 
 name two or three times, but I couldn't remember. Tell 
 her I will look it up." 
 
 Mr. B. : "Another young man comes. He gives me 
 
198 OUR JOE 
 
 a sensation like suffocating. He was drowned somewhere 
 near a gas house. He doesn't give any name." 
 
 (My wife had a brother, "Ollie" who was drowned, 
 but whether near a gas house or not, we do not know.) 
 
 Mr. B. : "Frank also comes. Frank says there is 
 someone here you have often wondered about. He was 
 an associate of your's a slender man he went away and 
 you never heard of him since." 
 
 C. S. M. : "I can't place him either." 
 
 Mr. B. : "You could easily get things for yourself. 
 But you require such strong proof like a doubting 
 Thomas." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Maybe so." 
 
 Mr. Brown then gave a startling accurate descrip- 
 tion of the interior of our house at 904 Brush street. He 
 described the hallway ; the stairs leading up to the second 
 story; the parlor, dining room, kitchen, and a clothes 
 closet under the stairs leading up from the kitchen. He 
 related an incident which my wife was able to verify; 
 namely, that in this cothes closet were two large drawers, 
 under a shelf. This was quite correct. Said he : 
 
 "This house (where we live) is a very old house." 
 Correct ! 
 
 "Well, two or three others (besides your brother and 
 grandmother) passed out from that house. Two others 
 passed out of the body in this house. They come there 
 sometimes. Its an old house, but you've changed it a 
 great deal." 
 
 (Since my father bought the house it has been com- 
 pletely renovated; the old gas lighting-fixtures were re- 
 moved ; the house was wired and electric lights installed, 
 and it was painted outside, repapered inside. Also, the 
 fireplace in the parlor was removed. Considerable change, 
 indeed, has been made in the house, inside as well as out, 
 since my father came into possession of it.) 
 
 Mr. B. : "But it is a good place, though. But I 
 prophesy that you won't always live there. I think you 
 will move within a year or two." 
 
OUR JOE 199 
 
 (I am not sure whether Mr. Brown meant the whole 
 family, or just my wife and I.) 
 
 Following this Mr. Brown talked awhile concerning 
 the life of a medium. But the "sitting" or "reading" was 
 over. 
 
 It was probably the longest sitting any of us have 
 yet had. 
 
 During the sitting I sat opposite Mr. Brown, while 
 M. L. M. sat to one side. While under control the medium's 
 facial expressions would frequently change and many 
 times, so like Joe did he talk, and move his head, that I 
 almost imagined it was really my brother. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII 
 
 Report of messages received by M. L. M. and C. S. M. 
 during trance seance at the home of Mrs. M. J. Isles, 1288 
 California st., San Francisco, Monday afternoon, Novem- 
 ber 21, 1921, about 4:00 o'clock. 
 
 The seance, as usual with the seances of Mrs. Isles, 
 was opened with music, singing and prayer. 
 
 The medium gave a very good preliminary talk con- 
 cerning certain aspects of her life and work as a sensitive. 
 Then, while we sang "Ne'er My God to Thee," Mrs. Isles 
 surrendered to the control of her child-guide, Jewell. 
 
 After giving spirit messages to perhaps a dozen 
 others, "Jewell' came over to M. L. M. 
 
 "Haven't you a papper (papa) in spirit?" 
 
 M. L. M. : "Yes." 
 
 Jewell : "He has been out of the body a long time. 
 You were just a little girl (girl) when he left you. But 
 he was very fond of you. You were more his favorite than 
 your mama's. He comes to you and puts his arms around 
 you. (Mrs. I. took M. L. M.'s hands) He says, 'I was with 
 you when you cried about mama. Don't worry about 
 mama. She is all right. 'Tisn't your fault you can't see 
 her.' He say, 'Margie, (hard g) this is a beautiful life! 
 Do you remember when I fell from the building?' " (See 
 message first received from Mrs. Wallace.) 
 
200 OUR JOE 
 
 M. L. M. : "Well, I can't remember it, but I've heard 
 mama tell about it." 
 
 H. B. : (Herman Brunke) "Do you remember when 
 I whipped you ?" 
 
 M. L. M. : "No, daddy, I don't remember you ever 
 whipped me." 
 
 H. B. : "Oh, I mean just in fun about the slippers!" 
 
 M. L. M. : "Sure I remember that. That's all / do 
 remember." (See pp. 94, 117, 119.) 
 
 Mrs. I. : (Jewell speaking) "You used to like to 
 play with dolls. Your papper (papa) bought you a nice 
 doll. Remember?" 
 
 M. L. M. : "I remember the doll, yes." 
 
 Mrs. I. : "Your papper says, 'We are not apart. I 
 am always with you. God is good.' " 
 
 M. L. M. : "Papa, is Ollie there too ?" 
 
 Mrs. I. : "Yes, he is here, and conditions are very 
 good! Don't you grieve about mama." (Jewell speak- 
 ing) "Your papper is a beautiful spirit. He loves you." 
 
 (Note: The mention of Mr. Brunke's fall from the 
 building, as well as the matter of the slippers is very 
 good. See table sitting of Sept. 27. Mrs. Wallace (in the 
 message of Sept. 28) had mentioned the matter of the 
 newspaper, but she did not speak of the slippers in con- 
 nection. This, the mention of the slippers (thru a med- 
 ium) seven weeks later, should be considered very evi- 
 dential.) 
 
 To C. S. M. (about twenty minutes later) "A very 
 strong spirit is coming to you a young man has brown 
 hair and eyes broad shoulders average height. He 
 ain't been out of the body very long." (Jewell was speak- 
 ing) He brings the children lots children with him, 'and 
 they bring flowers to you. Children say he (Joe) is a 
 live wire! He says, 'Tell them I am a long way from 
 dead! It didn't take me long to find my surroundings, 
 with Grandma's help, and brother's and sister's. When 
 Grandma told me I was out of the body I lost no time 
 getting into home. Death was not much of a shock to 
 me. I suffered no pain. When Grandma came I said, 
 
OUR JOE 201 
 
 "Why, Grandma, are you hunting too?" She said, "No, 
 only for souls. I came back to earth for mama's sake. I 
 want you to put all this in the book!' He laughs says, 
 'You can put this spots spots !" 
 
 C. S. M. : "Spot; Joe? Are you saying something 
 about 'spot?" 
 
 Mrs. I. (Jewell explaining) "No, no Sposs one drew 
 him up the hill !" 
 
 C. S. M. : "I can't understand." 
 
 Jewell: "S-p-o-r-t! little doggie Sport he led him 
 up the hill!" 
 
 C. S. M. : "Oh, yes ! Now I understand. You mean 
 the little dog that Joe was with !" 
 
 Mrs. I. : " Yes, of course ! Well, 'Sport' is psychic. 
 Joe has been communicating with 'Sport.' He says, Tm 
 communicating with Sport! It's easier to work with ani- 
 mals than with some tough knots !" 
 
 C. S. M.: "Well, Joe, we are trying to get 'Sport,' 
 but we haven't succeeded yet. But say, have you got 
 animals in the Spirit World?" 
 
 Joe : "Sure ! We've got 'Animal spheres' over here. 
 He says something about going after an old horse. You 
 know the one he means?" 
 
 C. S. M. : "Does he meand old 'Spot?' ' 
 
 Mrs. I. : "Yes, that's the one he means. He was very 
 fond of animals loved animals didn't he?" 
 
 C. S. M. : "Yes, Joe was very fond of animals. I 
 never knew him to mistreat one !" 
 
 Mrs. I. : "Joe says, 'I ain't going hunting any more, 
 except for souls !' ' 
 
 C. S. M, : "Say, Joe, can you tell me where mama, 
 and Margie, and I were this morning?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes you were by a little boy by my body. 
 But I wasn't in there. I was outside. I tried to make you 
 know it, but you couldn't! 
 
 C. S. M. : "Yes, Joe, that's right. We were out to 
 the cemetery this morning. We brought some flowers for 
 yours and Grandma's grave. It's awful hard for us to 
 bear, sometimes!" 
 
202 OUR JOE 
 
 I immediately regretted this statement, for the med- 
 ium, seemingly controlled by Joe, broke into weeping, and 
 sobbed until her whole frame trembled from head to feet ; 
 then, speaking as tho it were Joe : 
 
 "Charlie, your power draws me to you. I know you 
 miss me and I miss all of you that's why I'm around 
 the house so much ! But I'm contented. Mama will be all 
 right." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Do you know papa isn't at home now ?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes, he's quite a ways from home by now." 
 
 (A striking answer considering the fact that my 
 father had left for Chicago two days before, and was at 
 that moment perhaps half-way between home and Chi- 
 cago.) 
 
 C. S. M. : "Do you know I wrote to Dr. Austin today 
 about the book? And that I may make a trip to Los An- 
 geles to see about it soon?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes, I know. I think it will be all right !" 
 
 C. S. M. : "63^ the way, Joe, do you remember any- 
 thing about a house on East Eleventh street?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes, I remember the money we put into it !' 
 
 C. S. M.: "We?" 
 
 Joe: "I mean the money I put into it; but I got 
 some from Papa !" 
 
 C. S. M. : "Yes, but you paid that all back." 
 
 Joe : "Good old Pop !" 
 
 (Note: The answer to the question about the house 
 was very good. It was Joe's house to which I referred, 
 of course. The answer was quick, right to the point, and 
 quite correct. Lacking but $400 of the necessary $4,000, 
 my brother had borrowed that amount from his father. 
 Mrs. Isles, of course, could know nothing of this fact; 
 furthermore,! think the reader will agree that my ques- 
 tion was not worded so as to betray the answer. The 
 question could have referred simply to a house where a 
 friend of his lived; or where he had attended some party; 
 or any number of things ; yet, without evasion, and with- 
 out hesitancy, the reply covered all the essential facts in 
 connection with the purchase of Joe's house on East llth 
 street. 
 
OUR JOE 
 
 203 
 
 Joe's House at 938 East llth Street, Oakland 
 
 Joe : "Say, dad's father Harvey is here ! Grandpa 
 ig a brick ! I want to come back again." 
 
 C. S. M. : "Say, Joe, do you think you will be able 
 to write anything more thru my hand?" 
 
 Joe: "Just wait!" 
 
 C. S. M. : "Joe, you know we are very anxious to get 
 a nice Stone put up at your grave before Christmas. Do 
 you think we will be able to?" 
 
 Joe : "Don't worry about that ! That's the least of 
 my troubles ! The stone will get put up all right." 
 
 The others are with me Willie Grandma Grand- 
 pa." 
 
204- OUR JOE 
 
 C. S. M.: "And Annie?" 
 
 Joe: "Yes. Well, good bye Charlie (Mrs. Isles 
 shaking my hand.) Tell mama ^ t to worry, 'old man 
 Joe' is all right." 
 
 (See table sitting of O-i. 14, where "Old man Joe" 
 was spelled out. This was very evidential. While my 
 brother was paying back his father the four hundred 
 dollars which he had borrowed from him, he sacrificed his 
 ordinary pleasures and amusements, spending his even- 
 ings at home. After supper he would push back his chair, 
 roll a cigarette, and say : 'Well, I guess old man Joe will 
 stay at home tonight/ By this he meant that, like an old 
 man, and unlike a young man, he wasn't going out to 
 spend the evening in the pursuit of pleasure and amuse- 
 ment.) 
 
 (Perhaps an additional note should be added con- 
 cerning the strange remarks made in connection with the 
 little dog "Sport" as Joe here, and elsewhere, called her.) 
 (See page 181.) 
 
 The reader will remember that in a private sitting 
 with Mrs. Isles my father was told the same thing, viz : 
 that the little dog was in communication with Joe, and 
 that, altho it sounded "funny" it seemed that this little 
 dog must be "clairvoyant." 
 
 At a table sitting subsequent to my father's visit 
 with Mrs. Isles, Joe spelled out : "Papa, I am very anxious 
 for you to get that little dog. He sees me sometimes, and 
 when he does he jumps for joy. I think it will make it 
 easier for me to come strong in the home, if you will 
 get the little dog. 
 
 S. A. M. : "That little dog stayed with Joe several 
 days after Joe went out of 'HP body, didn't he?" 
 
 Joe : "Yes." 
 
 S. A. M. : "She's a fiiie little dog, isn't she, Joe ?" 
 
 Joe (emphatically) : "Yes!" (then spelling) "The 
 little dog has psychic power." 
 
 Mrs. Isles, of course, could have known nothing of 
 this message which came thru the table, in our own home! 
 We all agree with the reader that the idea seems ridicu- 
 
OUR JOE 205 
 
 lous ; however, there's so much we do not understand 
 about the whole subject, it is not for us to say that such a 
 thing is impossible.) 
 
 TRANSITION 
 
 There is no flock, however watched and tended, 
 
 But one dead lamb is there ; 
 There is no fireside, howsoe'er defended, 
 
 But has one vacant chair! 
 
 The air is full of farewells to the dying, 
 
 And mournings for the dead ; 
 The heart of Rachel, for her children crying, 
 
 Will not be comforted! 
 
 Let us be patient! These severe afflictions 
 
 Not from the ground arise, 
 But oftentimes celestial benedictions 
 
 Assume this dark disguise. 
 
 We see but dimly thru the mists and vapors ; 
 
 Amid these earthly damps 
 What seem to us but sad, funereal tapers 
 
 May be heaven's distant lamps. 
 
 There is no death ! What seems so is transition ; 
 
 This life of mortal breath 
 Is but a suburb of the life elysian, 
 
 Whose portal we call Death. 
 
 She is not dead, the child of our affection, 
 
 But gone unto that school 
 Where she no longer needs our poor protection, 
 
 And Christ himself doth rule. 
 
 In that great cloister's stillness and seclusion, 
 
 By guardian angels led, 
 Safe from temptation, safe from sin's pollution, 
 
 She lives whom we call dead. 
 
 Day after day we think what she is doing 
 
 In those bright realms of air; 
 Year after year, her tender steps pursuing, 
 
 Behold her grown more fair. 
 
206 OUR JOE 
 
 Thus do we walk with her, and keep unbroken, 
 
 The bond which nature gives, 
 Thinking that our remembrance, tho unspoken, 
 
 May reach her where she lives. 
 
 Not as a child shall we again behold her; 
 
 For when with raptures wild 
 In our embraces we again enfold her, 
 
 She will not be a child; 
 
 But a fair maiden, in her Father's mansion, 
 
 Clothed with celestial grace; 
 And beautiful with all the soul's expansion 
 
 Shall we behold her face. 
 
 And tho at times impetuous with emotion 
 
 And anguish long suppressed, 
 The swelling heart heaves moaning like the ocean, 
 
 That cannot be at rest, 
 
 We will be patient, and assuage the feeling 
 
 We may not wholly stay; 
 By silence sanctifying, not concealing, 
 
 The grief that must have way. 
 
 H. W. Longfellow. 
 
OUR JOE 207 
 
 APPENDIX No. 1 
 
 CONCERNING ANTICIPATED "EXPLANATIONS," 
 "OBJECTIONS" AND "REPLIES" 
 
 There is little doubt that when this book is published 
 there will be criticism. There will also be learned "ex- 
 planations" of the phenomena herein recorded, as well as 
 attempts at ridicule and sarcasm. 
 
 Someone will offer the suggestion that the story of 
 my brother's disappearance, the search made for him by 
 scores of men, and the ultimate finding of his body, were 
 published in all the newspapers, and that, therefore, these 
 mediums were in possession of all the facts concerning 
 the tragedy, and that they did not require any "super- 
 normal" inspiration to enable them to tell us all they did. 
 
 Granting that Mrs. Nanning, Mrs. Wallace, Mrs. 
 Isles, Mrs. Hyams, Mr. Brown, and the other mediums 
 whose communications are reported in this book, had 
 read these newspaper stories, and that they were all 
 indelibly impressed with the details at this time, may I 
 offer the following suggestions : 
 
 First. The daily papers are constantly publishing 
 stories of accidental deaths, suicides, murders and similar 
 tragedies. Since my brother's death the Oakland and San 
 Francisco papers have published hundreds of such stories. 
 Is it likely that all these mediums would have, or could 
 have, remembered all these details concerning my 
 brother's death, when his case was but one of many such 
 tragedies published during the weeks that elapsed from 
 the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th of August to the 19th of 
 September, and following? 
 
 Furthermore, the objections which applied to the 
 case of Sir Oliver Lodge, in his investigations, as reported 
 in Raymond, can hardly be applied to us, for the reason 
 that we were not widely known in the Bay region; we 
 were not Spiritualists, and we did not attend Spiritualist 
 meetings. 
 
 Why should any medium, or mediums, take the 
 trouble to clip from the papers, or to memorize, the 
 
208 OUR JOE 
 
 particulars concerning the mysterious disappearance, and 
 the subsequent finding, of an obscure, "common working" 
 lad? 
 
 What assurance could they have had that any of his 
 family would ever visit them for communications ? 
 
 Furthermore, I was away during the whole time of 
 the newspaper publicity concerning my brother. My 
 picture was not published in any of the papers. It had 
 been eighteen months since I had been in Oakland. 
 
 I went to see Mrs. Nanning anonymously. She did 
 not know me from Adam, nor did I know her. I simply 
 saw her name in the church notices and determined to 
 visit her for a reading. 
 
 Supposing Mrs. Nanning to be in possession of the 
 particulars concerning Joe, how did she know, when I 
 called, that I was the one to spring it on ? 
 
 I had been in Oakland but six days when I called upon 
 Mrs. Nanning. Yet, without any hints from me as to my 
 identity, she gave me the remarkable sitting recorded 
 under another heading. 
 
 How did Mrs. Wallace know who we were, when we 
 dropped anonymously into her Fillmore street apart- 
 ment, Sept. 28 ? Even supposing the medium to be f amilar 
 with the story of Joe, or to be in touch with a vast, in- 
 formation bureau maintained by Spiritualists, how could 
 she know the proper persons to tell it to? Must we as- 
 sume that she was in possession of photographs of the 
 mothers, fathers and brothers of all the victims of acci- 
 dent and tragedy in San Francisco region? 
 
 By referring to the report of the message received 
 from Mrs. Wallace on this occasion, the reader will notice 
 the "message" given to M. L. M. Surely Mrs. Wallace 
 did not get this information from the newspapers, as 
 well. 
 
 Possibly the "information bureau" had supplied her 
 with these facts which happened in Chicago fifteen years 
 ago! 
 
 Did the bureau also supply Mrs. Wallace with the 
 intimate detail of the folded newspaper, with which M. L. 
 
OUR JOE 209 
 
 M.'s father slapped her, and which incident happens to 
 be all that my wife remembers of her father ? 
 
 How did Mrs. Wallace know my father was con- 
 nected with Joe, the first time she ever saw him? And 
 how did she know that there had been a premature birth 
 more than twenty-five years ago? It was not published 
 in any newspapers that I ever heard of, and it happened 
 out in the country, while my parents were living on a 
 farm! 
 
 How did Mrs. Nanning know Joe had an Uncle 
 George? 
 
 Did she read in the newspaper how Grandpa Mundell 
 took off his boots thirty years ago ? 
 
 It is obvious that, while the publicity given my 
 brother's disappearance and accident might account for 
 some of the "communications" we received from mediums, 
 it could not possibly account for all. 
 
 None of these mediums could have learned from the 
 newspapers the facts concerning my little sister Annie, 
 and my little brother Willie. 
 
 The "explanations" do not explain. They are weighed 
 in the balance and found wanting. 
 
 But there will be another, and far more serious, ex- 
 planation offered, than the above insinuations of fraud, 
 newspaper-reading, "detective work, etc. It is the argu- 
 ment that the law of telepathy is sufficient to account for 
 all the "communcations" we have received. 
 
 The fact is, that the appeal to telepathy in account- 
 ing for psychic phenomena is just as much an appeal to 
 the unknown as is the spiritistic hypothesis. 
 
 Very little is actually known about the phenomena of 
 telepathy, beyond the fact that experiments have demon- 
 strated that it exists. 
 
 The foremost champion of the telepathic theory is 
 probably T. J. Hudson, author of the scholarly and brilli- 
 ant, "Law of Psychic Phenomena," and "Scientific Demon- 
 stration of a Future Life." 
 
 I have read, and thoroughly enjoyed both these books. 
 They are well written, and are calculated to stimulate 
 
210 OUR JOE 
 
 logical thinking. I hold that anything which compels 
 thought is a good thing ; hence, I do not hesitate to recom- 
 mend Dr. Hudson's two books as being about the best 
 treatment of Psychic Phenomena, from a negative stand- 
 point, that I have ever seen. 
 
 However, it seems to me that it requires much more 
 faith to accept many of Mr. Hudson's "explanations" of 
 psychic and spiritistic phenomena, than it does to accept 
 the hypothesis of Spirit intervention. It seemed to me 
 when I was reading the books above named (and I read 
 them before my brother was killed ; hence, with a more de- 
 tached and scientific attitude) that many of the explana- 
 tory suggestions were far-fetched and illogical; that the 
 "explanations" were even more "phenomenal" than the 
 phenomena they pretended to explain ! 
 
 Says Maeterlinck : "Let us not accept some grotesque 
 hypothesis rather than the simpler one of individual sur- 
 vival." 
 
 Many of the hypotheses suggested in the works of 
 T. J. Hudson, Dr. Henry Frank, and others of that school, 
 are grotesque and ridiculous in the extreme! 
 
 Many are the "objections" which are offered in re- 
 gard to Modern Spiritualism and Mediumship ! Not the 
 least frequent of these objections is the objection to what 
 we are pleased to style the "Fee system ;" i. e., the practice 
 of mediums in receiving "fees" of one to two or more 
 dollars for readings. 
 
 Personally, I believe that the "fee system" is a mis- 
 chievous thing not only as regards Mediumship, but also 
 as regards the practice of Law, Medicine, and many other 
 professions, and nothing could make me happier than to 
 see it completely abolished ! It is one of the rotten things 
 in our present economic and social system. 
 
 So many of the good and beautiful things of life are 
 grossly commercialized; art, poetry, music literature, 
 drama, healing, and well, practically everything in 
 modern life! 
 
 That it is unfortunate that mediums must charge, 
 or receive fees, I readily admit ; but I do not see any im- 
 
OUR JOE 211 
 
 mediate way out of the dilemma. What are the poor 
 mediums going to do ? They are not rich ; at least, I have 
 not met any who are. The mediums I have met have all 
 been poor, or in extremely moderate circumstances. 
 
 Should they give their readings to any and to all, 
 without money and without price, trusting only to the 
 goodness and generosity of those for whom they read? 
 Or should they depend upon "free-will" donations? 
 
 I have been a minister for eleven years. I know how 
 close, and how "stingy" thousands of people are ! There 
 are tens of thousands who will drop into the collection a 
 nickel, or a dime, or perhaps a quarter, in return for five 
 dollars worth of personal benefit! If you don't believe 
 this is true, ask any preacher, any lecturer, or any public 
 speaker, or any one who has depended upon "collections" 
 for support (or even for necessary expenses), and you 
 will be told that the responses of audiences in this respect 
 is almost sufficient to convert a humanitarian into a 
 "hard-boiled" cynic ! 
 
 There are too many people in this world who are 
 eternally wanting something for nothing! And if they 
 get it for nothing, they not only do not appreciate what 
 they get, but they half-despise the giver! 
 
 If you go into a telegraph or cable office, and wish to 
 get a telegram or cablegram thru to some friend or loved 
 one, you have to pay a rate. If you consider the message 
 really important, you do not object. Is not a message 
 from the "other side of death" of infinitely more value 
 than a telegram or cablegram? 
 
 And while we are on the illustration of telegraphy it 
 might be well to develop the analogy a little more. 
 
 There is a considerable parallel between the sending 
 and receiving of telegrams, and the sending and receiving 
 of "communications" between the spirits of the dead and 
 those living in the flesh. 
 
 Many people ask the Question : "If my loved ones can 
 come to me through a medium, why cannot they come to 
 me directly?" 
 
 Suppose I am in New York, and my wife is in 
 
212 OUR JOE 
 
 San Francisco. We will let "New York" represent the 
 Spirit World, and "San Francisco" the earth-plane. If 
 I wish to communicate with my wife by telegraph it is 
 necessary for me to go where there is a mechanical med- 
 ium! No matter how passionately I may long to com- 
 municate with my wife, it cannot be done except thru the 
 media of the telepraph instruments and the wires. It 
 may be that my wife is uncertain as to my whereabouts, 
 and that I am extremely anxious to send her some word 
 to the effect that I am still alive and happy. Yet, if I 
 am either ignorant of such a system as the telegraph sys- 
 tem ; or if I am unwilling to use it, I cannot communicate 
 with that loved one ! 
 
 Well, I go to the office to send a telegram. I am the 
 communicator. My wife is the "sitter." Can I send the 
 message directly? Not unless I am a telegrapher, and 
 not then unless the regular telegrapher is willing to give 
 way to me (which is not often likely.) So, then, there is 
 the communicator (myself) ; there is the control or guide, 
 the telegrapher, and at the other end there is another 
 telegrapher (the medium) and the recipient. 
 
 I give my message to the "control" (telegrapher) he 
 flashes it over the wires to the "medium" (another tele- 
 grapher), and he gives the message to my wife. Some- 
 times mistakes are made, and meanings are mixed up, 
 in the process of transmission. 
 
 For example, not very long ago I wired my father 
 that I would arrive in Oakland at the fortieth and San 
 Pablo Street Station. The telegram read, "at the Four- 
 teenth and San Pablo Station." My father went to four- 
 teenth and San Pablo, and missed me. Suppose he had 
 said, "Well, that message proved to be false; therefore 
 there is no such thing as telegraphy?" Would that have 
 been wise or judicious? 
 
 So it frequently happens that "communications" get 
 mixed up in the process of transmission from the com- 
 municator to' the control, and from the control to the 
 medium, and from the medium to the "sitter." Hence, due 
 allowance should be made for these "errors of trans- 
 mission." 
 
OUR JOE 2J3 
 
 * 
 
 Have you ever talked over long distance telephone? 
 If you have, you know how hard it is sometimes to under- 
 stand, and to make one's self understood. Sometimes it is 
 utterly impossible to make certain words clear. 
 
 I remember two or three years ago I telephoned a 
 party some sixty miles distant that I was leaving that day 
 for Beggs, Oklahoma. The party at the other end of the 
 line could not understand, altho I repeated it several times 
 thru the telephone. The party afterwards told me all she 
 could hear was "something about some eggs," and she 
 couldn't comprehend why I should call her up over long 
 distance to talk about eggs! 
 
 When the lines are in poor condition it is frequently 
 necessary for the communicator to give his message to 
 the operator, who then repeats it to the "Central" at the 
 .other end, who, in turn, repeats it to the recipient. I have 
 had this experience many, many times. 
 
 A medium is like a telegraph or a telephone opera- 
 tor. She is not always to blame for the mistakes and 
 errors which are made in transmission. Some times the 
 "lines" are down. Sometimes the "communicator" does 
 not make himself clear, and the medium has to "guess" at 
 much of his meaning. 
 
 I remember talking thru the telephone to a foreigner, 
 when I could not understand one iota of what he was driv- 
 ing at! 
 
 There is another thing, however, which should be 
 said in this connection. After making all due allowance 
 for "crossed wires," "mistakes in transmission," etc., it is 
 also true that many mediums are not as careful as they 
 should be, especially when giving messages from the public 
 platform, to avoid "guessing," "feeling for leads," and 
 "fishing for hints." Frankly, I have frequently come 
 away from Spiritualist message meetings sick at heart 
 and thoroughly disgusted! Why? Because I did not get 
 a satisfactory message? No. But because it was perfectly 
 obvious that the medium, in the apparent absence of 
 Spiritual Power, was resorting to cheap generalities, 
 
214 OUR JOE 
 
 vague and indefinite insinuations, pure "guessing," and 
 the nauseating tactics of the fortune-teller ! 
 
 For example, who is there who has attended Spirit- 
 ualist meetings with any degree of regularity, who has not 
 heard from the lips of mediums such slush and tommy-rot 
 as : "You have lived a good life, but you have had lots of 
 trouble. Your path has not always been one of roses. 
 You have had financial difficulties, obstacles and problems ; 
 but after the first of next year, or within two, three or 
 six months, all will be bright for you !" 
 
 In the name of God, who on earth is there who could 
 not accept all this as a personal application? All have 
 had troubles; all have worried about finances, one way 
 or another, and all are continually making various kinds 
 of changes. Oh, these changes which everybody is going 
 to make ! 
 
 I have heard so much of this sort of thing in message 
 meetings, but for the fact that I was dominated by a 
 sole purpose, I would have become thoroughly prejudiced 
 upon more than one occasion ! 
 
 To the psychics and mediums who may read this book 
 I wish to address this plea : If you do not feel that you 
 can give genuine spiritual messages at ^certain times, be 
 frank enough to tell the people so! Don't resort to guess- 
 ing and to a lot of vague, indefinite, generalizations! 
 
 Personally, J'd a thousand times rather receive no 
 message at all, than to be told all this bunk about "going 
 to make a change," have had "financial troubles," etc. I 
 probably know as much about that as anyone in the Spirit 
 World can know, and I am perfectly content to use my 
 own judgment in material things ! 
 
 There is also an assumption of infallibility on the 
 part of some mediums which is very offensive to me. 
 
 Not very long ago a medium was professing to give 
 me a message from my brother which / knew ivas a posi- 
 tive mistake! I endeavored to explain to the medium that 
 she was off the track, but was curtly informed that, "I 
 am giving you not one word except what I get from the 
 Spirits." 
 
OUR JOE 215 
 
 Well, I knew that the nonsense she was telling me 
 simply could not, by any conceivable possibility, come 
 from my brother* simply because it was wholly and en- 
 tirely incorrect! 
 
 Suppose this had been my first experience, and that I 
 had not read enough about the subject to appreciate the 
 difficulties involved? I would probably have taken a 
 solemn oath never to have anything more to do with 
 Spiritualism ! 
 
 My purpose in recounting the above is to warn the 
 reader not to become discouraged if you run into in- 
 stances of this sort. Remember that it is often necessary 
 to dig down through a mass of dirt and rubbish to find 
 one diamond, but the finding of one diamond is worth the 
 digging ! 
 
 In a very large measure the public itself is responsi- 
 ble for these unfortunate features which characterize so 
 many Spiritualist meetings. This is especially true in the 
 private circles, where every one present feels that he or 
 she must receive a "message." The medium, feeling 
 under a sort of obligation to give "something" to every 
 one, very often gets excellent messages through for some, 
 and failures for pthers. 
 
 If I could have my way I would certainly make the 
 requirements for professional mediumship much stricter 
 than they are in the Spiritualist Associations ; but I would 
 do more; I would endow every worthy and competent 
 medium with sufficient to guarantee economic independ- 
 ence, so that the psychic would not be dependent upon 
 "fees." 
 
OUR JOE 2H 
 
 APPENDIX NO, 2 
 
 Have Animals Immortal Souls? Do they, as well as human 
 oeings, survive death? 
 
 From the Introduction of "Proofs of Immortality," by Dr. J. 
 M. Peebles, page 5: "The eminent John Wesley (founder of 
 Methodism) and other noted men of the past, believed in the im- 
 mortality of animals. Their existence is certainly dual. They 
 have instinct, sensation, and they reason on a certain plane of 
 consciousness. But whether immortal or not, they deserve our 
 tenderest care. 
 
 a * * * There is a peculiar worm the nais which, when 
 cut into several sections, will reproduce itself from every section, 
 showing conclusively that there was a vital entity in each section 
 capable of reproducing this re-growth. Amputate the leg of a 
 salamander, and it will be reproduced to the minutest details, 
 joints, veins, nerves. And why? Because the real entity the 
 invisible leg was not removed. The material at best is but a 
 shadow. The vital leg remained, serving as the attractive force 
 for the bioplasmic cells to rebuild the exact form of the displaced 
 leg, even to the muscles, tendons, arteries, bones, each and all in 
 their proper relations. * * * 
 
 "If the animals and insects of earth exist in the spirit world, 
 which is plausible, it do'es not prove that they will so progress, or 
 so exist consciously in the celestial or angelic world, destination 
 being considered the measure of aspiration." 
 
 There is in Scripture but one, single passage, which can legiti- 
 mately be quoted against the supposition that animals also have 
 souls; namely, Eccl. 3:21: "Who knoweth the spirit of man that 
 goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward 
 to the earth?" A little examination of this text, however, will 
 reveal its utter inadequacy as a proof-text. It is a text which 
 should not be quoted apart from its context. So far as teaching 
 that man has a spirit "which goes upward." and the beast a spirit 
 which "goes downward," it does nothing of the kind; on the con- 
 trary, the implication is the very opposite, viz., that man has not 
 a spirit which goes upward, any more than has the beast! 
 
 "For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; 
 even one thing befalleth them: As the one dieth, so dieth the other; 
 yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no pre-eminence 
 above a beast" (v. 19). There is no misunderstanding this state- 
 ment. It places human-life in precisely the same category as an- 
 imal-life,- and declares that so far as death is concerned, the chances 
 of the beast are equally as good as those of man! Notice the 
 phrase: A man hath no pre-eminence over the beast; (v.20) all 
 go unto one place; all are dust, and all turn to dust again." 
 
 Verse 21 is not a statement to the effect that man has a spirit 
 which sets him apart from the brute-creation; it is a cynical ques- 
 tion: "Who knows that 'the spirit of man goeth upward, and the 
 spirit of the beast goeth downward to the earth?' " The preceding 
 
218 OUR JOE 
 
 verses indicate clearly that the author of the book of Ecclesiastes 
 took no stock in the notion that man is essentially different from 
 the beasts: he declares that such is not the case, for "All go unto 
 one place." Therefore, if man dies, and the beast dies, and they 
 have spirits, they must all "go unto one place." 
 
 In the eleventh chapter of Isaiah there is a description of the 
 time when the Kingdom of God shall be established. It is to be 
 a "Spiritual" Kingdom, and it is expressly declared that there 
 will be certain animals therein. 
 
 ''The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall 
 lie with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling 
 together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the 
 bear shall feed ; their young ones shall lie down together : and the 
 lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the suckling child shall 
 play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his 
 hand on the cockatrice's (adder a poisonous snake) den. They 
 shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth 
 shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the 
 sea (Isa. 11:6-9)." See also Isa. 65:25. 
 
 The above is obviously a prophecy of the time when "Thy King- 
 dom (has) come, and Thy Will (is) -done, on earth, as it is in 
 heaven"; i. e., in the Spirit World! 
 
 In Hosea 2:18 there is another prophecy concerning the coming 
 of the same Kingdom : "And in that day will I make a covenant 
 for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, 
 and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the 
 bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and I will 
 make them to lie down safely." 
 
 It seems reasonable to believe, in the lieiit of the nrayer which 
 Jesus taught his disciples to pray (Mt. 6:10), that God is work- 
 ing toward the ultimate end of a transformation of the earth 
 into the likeness, or into a reflection, of Heaven ; ( See page .... 
 for the teaching of Plotinus on this subject) at any rate, this has 
 been the dream of the prophets and seers of all ages, races, climes, 
 and tongues! 
 
 If the earth is ultimately to be transformed into the likeness 
 or into an exact replica of heaven; and if, when that glad time 
 comes, "the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopaid lie 
 with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling to- 
 gether; and the cow and the bear feed together," then it is a logi- 
 cal inference that such a condition must prevail in heaven; that is, 
 in the Spirit World. 
 
 We are told by John the Revelator that he saw horses in heaven 
 (Rev. 6:2; 19:11). See also Zech. 1:8; 6:3. 
 
 In the fifteenth chapter of I Corinthians, in connection with his 
 famous argument on the resurrection, Paul seems to imply that 
 men, and beasts, and fish, and birds, all survive death and are 
 given "spiritual bodies." (V. 39.) "All flesh is not the same flesh : 
 but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, an- 
 
OUR JOE 219 
 
 other of fishes, and another of birds. * * * So also is the 
 resurrection of the dead (v. 42)." 
 
 In Rev. 22:15 we read: "For without are dogs, and sorcerers, 
 and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever 
 loveth and maketh a lie." This would imply that dogs will survive 
 death, but are not to be permitted to "enter in through the gates 
 into the city"; that is, into the highest heaven! 
 
 That there is more than one heaven is mplied over and over in 
 the Scriptures. See Acts 2:34; Psa. 2:4; 18:13; 36:5; 89:2; 
 103:19; 115:3; 123:1; Luke 12:33; II Cor. 5:1; Heb. 8:9; 9:23. 
 
 Paul was caught up "into the third heaven" (II Cor. 12:24). 
 
 Jesus said: "In my Father's House (Universe) there are many 
 mansions (dwellings or habitations)." That is to say. "In my 
 Father's house (and the whole universe is God's house. Acts 
 17:24-29; 7:48, 49; Jno. 4:21-24), there are many 'Mansions,'" 
 or kingdoms, planes, spheres, worlds (Jno. 14:2). The American 
 Standard Version places a reference number after the word "man- 
 sions," and in the margin indicates that it may be translated "abid- 
 ing-places." The Twentieth Century Modern English Translation 
 renders the passage thus: "In my Father's home there are many 
 dwellings." 
 
 There are many kingdoms of life upon the earth : Vegetable life, 
 ocean, river, and sea life, jungle life, the kingdom of birds and 
 fowls, etc. Many of these kingdoms of material life are far re- 
 moved from the life of human beings: such as ants (which crea- 
 tures build cities, keep slaves, bury their dead, wage war, plant 
 and harvest crops, etc.), fish, birds, and myriads of forms of life 
 down in the earth. 
 
 Is it inconceivable that all these kingdoms may have their Spir- 
 itual or ethereal counterparts? 1 And that in the Spirit World man 
 may have as his companions certain of the animals which have been 
 his companions and friends in the earth-life? And that many of 
 these kingdoms will be as remote from his life in the spirit as 
 they were from his life in the flesh? 
 
Reader's Attention! 
 
 In the very near future (as soon as funds are 
 available) another book will be published by 
 Charles S. Mundell, under the Title, "The Bible, 
 The Churches and Spirit Return." 
 
 As an ordained minister of the Congregational 
 Church, Mr. Mundell thoroughly understands the 
 psychology and the difficulties of the average 
 Church folk, and the problems which must be met 
 in winning them to the Truth Of Spirit Return. 
 
 He has written this book especially to reach the 
 clergy and the laity of the orthodox and liberal 
 churches. One hundred pages will be devoted to 
 the Bible Argument for Spiritualism; fifty pages 
 will discuss ths question, "What is the Spirit 
 World Like : In the Light Of the Scriptures, and 
 Of Modern Spiritualism ;" and fifty pages will be 
 devoted to the relation between the organized 
 churches and the movements known as Psychical 
 Research and Modern Spiritualism. 
 
 Would you like to help publish this book? If 
 so, send in your own order at once. Your name 
 and address will be carefully filed, and when the 
 book is published, a few months hence, you will 
 receive one of the first copies, PERSONALLY 
 AUTOGRAPHED BY MR. MUNDELL. 
 
 The book will be bound in heavy paper, sewn, 
 and will be printed on finest quality stock. 
 
 Price : $1.00 per copy. 
 
 Send orders and remittances to: Rev. Chas. S. 
 Mundell, 904 Brush St., Oakland, Calif. 
 
 NOTE : Should any reader of "Our Joe" care to 
 send a contribution or donation in addition to 
 the price of the copy of the book, the money will 
 help to hasten the publication. 
 
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 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY