Transcription
Lily Dale, 4-25-96
Dear Mrs. Peck,
Yours of 22nd at hand, the former one, which I was glad to get also. I shall hope to see you with
us the coming season and also Mr. Cox and family. I am so glad Mrs. Allen is keeping
lighthearted and cheerful as she seems to be. It will do much toward building up her health. She
is thinking of coming to Lily Dale again this season. I do not anticipate that the cloud shadowing
Lily Dale will be permanent. I hope it will result in a wholesome weeding out of fraud and
“ringing in of the true”. I do not question the mediumship for many of these people, but their
greed of gain prompts them to descend to actions that true spiritualists cannot condone nor
sanction. But that does not do away with the real in our cause. I do not, and never did believe
that physical manifestations are the basis of spiritual belief. How can material things prove
spiritual things when they are diametrically opposed to each other in expression? I think the great
danger to our cause lies in the physical manifestations they can’t be or are not proved only in rare
cases and in the long run make more skeptics than believers. Then too it is the lowest order of
spiritualism I think always of the earth-earthy. How much grander is it for people who like
yourself are willing to think and reason to be able to turn their thoughts and aspirations inward
and upward and find the truth glowing upon the mountaintops of inspiration and exaltation than
to always be groping for it among material shadows as you would drag a sluggish stream to find
only a dead body. How sad to think there are so many gross, animalistic, drunken, debauched
mediums trying to represent our cause and getting a large following too among many dear good
people who allow their emotions to get the better of their reason and in their allegiance to their
spirit friends as they believe fail to see that they are being duped sadly oftentimes. I believe in
mediumship. I believe we have some good honest souls who come in rapport with spirit entities;
but for most of the commercial mediumship I have but little regard or respect. Christ and the
apostles who were the finest mediums the world has ever known did not sell their spiritual gifts
at so much per item. The world is running mad over money and so called “spirit mediums” seem
to be the maddest of all. I don’t believe true spirituality can be bought and sold either by the
ounce or by the ton and just so long as this mad craze for phenomenal spiritualism continues, it
will prove an overwhelming temptation to the poor, negative, greedy medium who like other
people forgets his soul in pandering to his body - to sell his birthright for a mess of pottage if
there is only a silver dollar in it. Yes I do not question but that Hugh Moore was a medium; no
doubt they all are more or less, but when they cannot get enough genuine to satisfy the morbid
appetites of marvel suckers, they back on the false and then cry continually about “conditions” to
keep away honest investigation and cover up their tricks. If spiritualists would only think more
they could not be so easily gulled and our beautiful faith would not be so degraded and trailed in
the mire of falsity and beastiality. Hugh Moore is said to be keeping a whiskey saloon in Dayton
O. He jumped his bail in Cincinnati and left his confederates who helped “play spirits” unpaid.
Just think of his being an “ordained minister” according to one of the fooleries that has been
tacked on to our faith by too indiscriminate admiration of physical mediumship. With all the
chance for fraud that it allows and engenders? May all wise power brought into action by the
highest holiest efforts of our spirit friends and assistants who have risen above earth bound
conditions hasten the day when we as believers in immortality shall rise enfranchised into the
god realm of spiritual unfoldment instead of struggling in pain sorrow and doubt in the valley of
physical phenomena always wanting a new test to strengthen our faith and us really doubting it
as soon as we begin to think and reason about the many vague and unsatisfactory things that are
usually associated with it. But I fear I am tiring your patience so with the assertion that I am a
firmer spiritualist today than ever before because of my hope that false conditions are passing out
and being overcome and the genuine will triumph at last. I will turn to your questions. I do not
fancy that the Meadville band is engaged at Lily Dale for life because with a change of officers
usually comes a change of applicants but they are engaged for this season were engaged by the
stockholders last August at the public meeting. If you want to try for another season the best way
is to put in an application for the position before the August meeting which occurs the third
Monday of Aug. If the members of that band come here next summer let them bring their
instruments and show people here what they can do then their application would doubtless have
an effect. There has never been any competition here on the music to my knowledge so it is
always the same old story. I think we will have a better general class of people here next summer
than usual because the thinking classes are glad the false is being “weeded out”. With love and
best wishes to you all and I hope to meet you all here the coming summer. I will close hoping to
hear from you again in the near future.
Sincerely Mrs. J E HydeTranscriber
Johnson, JillLanguage
English
