exing knots,
avowedly by Spirit power, proceeded to what is called the 'Ring Test,'
and I was honoured by being selected to make the experiment. I sat in
the centre of the room and held both her hands firmly in mine. I passed
my hands over her arms, without relaxing my grasp, so as to feel that
she had nothing secreted there; when suddenly a tambourine ring,
jinglers and all, was passed on to my arm. Very remarkable; but still
not necessarily spiritual. Certain clairvoyants present said they could
witness the 'disintegration' of the ring. I only felt it pass on to my
arm. On the occasion of my second visit this same feat was performed on
an elderly gentleman, a very confirmed sceptic indeed. This second
circle consisted of twenty persons, many of them very pronounced
disbelievers, and not a little inclined to be 'chaffy.' However all
went on swimmingly.

"After about an hour of rather riotous dark seance, lights were
rekindled and circles re-arranged for the Face Seance which takes place
in subdued light. In the space occupied by the folding doors between the
front and back room a large black screen is placed, with an aperture, or
peep-hole, about eighteen inches square, cut in it. The most minute
examination of this back room is allowed, and I took care to lock both
doors, leaving the keys crosswise in the key-hole, so that they could
not be opened from the outside. We then took our seats in the front room
in three or four lines. I myself occupied the centre of the first row,
about four feet from the screen, Mr. and Mrs. Holmes sitting at a small
table in front of the screen; the theory being that the spirits behind
collect from their 'emanations' material to form the faces. Soon after
we were in position a most ghostly-looking child's face appeared at the
aperture, but was not recognised. Several other corpse-like visages
followed with like absence of recognition. Then came a very old lady's
face, quite life-like, and Mrs. Holmes informed us that the cadaverous
people were those only recently deceased. The old lady looked anxiously
round as if expecting to be recognised, but nobody claimed acquaintance.
In fact no face was recognised at my first visit. The next was a jovial
Joe Bagstock kind of face which peered quite merrily round our circle,
and lastly came a most life-like countenance of an elderly man. This
face, which had a strange leaden look about the eyes, came so close to
the orifice that it actually _lifted_