Evening star., 1922-10-28
ONTINUING his discussion Of
Canada as observed on his
4 tour. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
nolAs

- oNTINUING his discussion Of
Canada as observed on his
~ A tour, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
said:
I spent some hours in driving
around Toronto. which has great
ly extended and improved since
my first visit. nearly thirty years
before. It has massive solidity,
which Is essentially Canadian. They
are wonderful people. strong. un-
bending. obstinate. good friends and
dangerous enemies. The insensate
hostility which many American news
papers have shown to the British
Empire has deeply alienated them
from their neighbors, and they are
almost fierce in their loyalty. No
where else in all my travels have /
had God Save the King" sung as the
termination of my lecture.
l had the pleasure of meeting
some of the Canadian officers whom
We were privileged to entertain dur
ing the war when Canadian division
was stationed at Crowborough. An
other person Of interest whom ] met
was Sir Donald Mann. who drove the
Great Northern railway through the
prairie and over the Rockies. an
amazing feat when one considers how
few towns were on the road-in fact.
the line went fifst and the towns fol.
lowed. He looks the man for such a
job. broad and square, cut out Of
granite. with a powerful. impassive
face and two eyes which from under
their dropping lids miss nothing
which passes. If all else failed him
he could find job as the iron man of
AFFAIRS in the movies. I also met at
had served under me in the Layman
Hospital in the South African war.
Spiritualism is in a curious condi-
tion IN Toronto. There are six or
eight small churches run upon a low
plane, which wiz. hope. unite and
deal OF Indifferent mediumship. most
ly Of . very worldly fortune-telling
order. Apart from this there was a
society calling itself The Twentieth
Plane" which is best known because
a member Of it. DR.. Watson. wrote
two books upon it, one under that
name and the other Death Is Birth"
The medium was a Mr.. Benjamin. a
young Jew. whose communications
are undeniably lofty, though they are
disflgured by that use of great names.
Shelley. Coleridge. even Sappho.
which is possibly the fault of the
control rather than of the medium.
plane. though vague and unevidential.
EIevatiaE Eject OF Messages.
/ had a private sitting with Mr..
Benjamin in my private room at the
hotel, and received while he was in a
trance state Che allows pins to be
driven into him) certain messages
which carried no particular convic-
ton. but were none the less helpful
and weighty. Whether his messages
be Of the spirit or whether they be
the emerging under trance Of some
subconscious personality, they can
have nothing but an elevating effect.
There were some rather bitter at
tacks in the Toronto papers. includ-
ing one leader in the Evening Tele-
gram which was so narrow and il
liberal that do not think the most
have been guilty of it. 1t was to the
effect that British lecturers took
money out of the town; that they did
not give the moneys worth. and that
they should be discouraged. "Poking
them in the eye" was the dignified
title. 1t did not seem to occur to
the writer that a comic opera or q
bedroom comedy was equally taking
the money out Of the town, but that
the main purpose served by lectures.
whether one agreed with the>fubject
or not, was that they kept the public
in first-hand touch with the great
current questions Of mankind.
Pays Visit to Detroit.
1 am bound to say that no other
Toronto paper sank to the depth Of
the Evening Telegram, but the gen.
eral atmosphere was the least pleas
ant that had met with in my Amer
lean travels. and I was glad to unite
with my family once more and to
find myself among the kindly folks
of Detroit. There l found myself in
a very sympathetic community and
was told as a welcome that Dean
Rogers of st. Paurs Cathedral had
given q sermon. and broadcasted
sermon at that. to commend my at
tempt to spiritualize our petrif1ed
churches and material social life. 1t
is an interesting fact that Dean Ed
wards, who was the predecessor OF
Dean Rogers at ST. Paul's. became q
convinced spiritua!ist after being
brought by Mr.. Wriedt into contact
with his son, who had died in the war.
Dean Edwards resigned his position
and il is greatly hoped by the spirit
ualists of America that he will now
devote his eloquence and his learning,
for both of which he was famed, to