Evening star., 1922-10-20
"Our American Adventure"
Author Finds Boston Much Changed After 28 Years
and Comments Upon the Spiritualistic Interest
He Found in Hub City.
BY SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.

ERE I was in Boston again
- after twenty-eight years.
Save for the gilded dome of
the State House should
hardly have known the place. Gone.
or thrust into a corner. and dwarfed
are the dear old crooked streets Of
faded brick. in which a European
felt at home. 1t is now rich and
broad and spacious. 1t seems to have
gained the whole world and lost
some of its own soul. Miles of motor
factories and sale shops line the busy
thoroughfare. Commerce has tri-
umphed. But where now are the Park
mans. the Emersons, the Lowells, the
Longfellows, all the wonderful circle
which for time put New England
above old England in culture?
Boston then was a world force. No
doubt 1t will be so again. But much
of the good old stock has moved to
the middle west, and no one can
wonder at it who sees the barren
and boulder-studded farms from
NA'~y 'dsS mas CuIlulC
gone with them? A young friend of
mine at Harvard assures me that it
Is not SO. and that a great school.
mainly Of poetry. is springing up
there. the fame of which has not yet
reached us in Europe. Well. maybe
so. Anyhow somewhere in America
the old literary blood must linger and
must, from time to time. ferment into
immortal production. At present. how
ever. 1t seems very quiescent.
I plunged instantly into spiritual
exploration and on Sunday visited
church three times, and was forced
to address the congregation each time.
SO that my much-needed day of rest
did not come up to expectation. But
was repaid by what I saw, and by
the fine sane, well groomed and well
balanced spiritualist audiences. who
listened kindly to my exhortation to
be broad in our IDEALS charitable to
each others views, and merciless to
those who lower our standards of
conduct.
Clergymen Clairvoyants.
b Two of my visits were to the church
Of Mr.. Wiggin and one to that OF Mr..
-NASeASAoohs ShC AoIlCI dA IlSHIuou
from Huddersfeld. Mr.. Nicholson is
a fine clairvoyant and claims that
among other spirits who assist him is
that Of William Terriss whom have
met in the flesh before his lamented
murder. Such statement cannot be
checked. but what can be checked.
and will bear checking. is that he
pours out a stream Of opposite mes
sages to his congregation. containing
names and knowledge which he can
get by no normal means.
1t Is. of course. only the old dis
one of the signs Of true gospel
teacher. but the churches have wan
dered SO far away from early Chris
tian Ideas that it stands out now as
a wonderful novelty. No one could
be present and have the least doubt
of the honesty OF the gift. though I
suppose that like all spiritual powers
it GIBBS and flows.
Even more wonderful was Mr.. Wig
gin. His audience had sent him up
innumerab!e notes with questions for
their dead. The pastor sat with the
papers heaped before him. He wore
d pair ol opaque SpecldCleS. Sltt1Ig
beside him and watching him closely
could see that there was no trick
of any kind. though l had no assur-
ance that the paper he was holding
was always the one that he was an
swering. He dealt with about thirty,
and the appearance of the people
who admitted the correctness of the
answers made collusion quite impos-
sible. The exactness of the detail
was wonderful. was the. least
fortunate as a spirit came without a
name and giving only the clue that
his left shoulder was injured. Be,
yond my brother breaking his collar
OF this and had to write 1t off as a
failure. but it was one of the very
few which could be SO described.
Comic Answers Given.
Sometimes there were comic touches
at both sittings. Your wife is here.
She tells me you got rid of the furni-
ture after her death. You gave it
away. did you not?" well. practi-
cally." said the widower in a gloomy
did also when Mr. wiggin called some
name, and received in reply an explo-
sive "Yip." which told how eagerly
the inquirer was waiting for his an
swer.
It was all an example Of what St.
Paul meant when he said that he
taught the gospel not merely by
words. but also by power. So long
as clergyman and medium can be
united in one person all Is simple. l
fancy that the trouble in the early
church began when they were twain
and opposed. In the third century
two discreet women for prophecy
which meant general PSYCHIC service
were attached to each Christian
church. So says the "Apostoitc con