CHAPTER V.
SOLEMN ABJURATION.
The news that Mrs. Margaret Fox Kane and Mrs. Catherine Fox Jencken had renounced and exposed Spiritualism, flew from one end of the country to the other, and caused excitement among spiritualists and non-spiritualists. Every newspaper in every city of the United States, and many in Europe, repeated the story published in New York.
The general opinion everywhere, where the wish was not the opposite, was that Spiritualism as such had received its death-blow.
Letters began to pour in upon Mrs. Kane which were strongly significant of the effect of her action. Many of them were written by persons who had been believers from the very first of the public exhibitions of the “rappings,” and who had based their whole faith on the truth and veritable inspiration of the “Fox Sisters.” It was almost pitiable to witness the honest-hearted distress of people of this sort, who now saw the fondest illusion of their lives dissolve before their eyes; their dearest, assured hope of an invisible world ruthlessly torn from them.
The anger of those who now anathematized the founders of the spiritualistic faith, and declared that all that they could now say in way of recantation was utterly false, while all that they had formerly said or performed as miraculous proof, was, of course, as true as gospel, or as the fact that the sun shines, was quite as ridiculous as the other sentiment was worthy of sympathy.
It was natural that those who had fed their baser passions upon Spiritualism—as the harpy upon carrion—should resort to the vilest methods of attacking Mrs. Kane, and in doing so should shelter themselves behind the cowardly refuge of anonymity.
A single communication from one of those who thus set the gauge for our estimate of spiritualistic hypocrisy, will suffice to complete the reader’s impression regarding them. It was written on a postal card and unsigned, and the italics and other literary peculiarities are wholly those of the person who wrote it:
“Mrs. Kane. Your anticipated action Thursday night reminds me very forcibly of several lines of ‘Beautiful snow’ only your Course is even more despicable and your rank in the history of the present day will be on a par with Benedict Arnold in ‘Beautiful Snow’ we find ‘Selling her soul to whoever would buy’ &c. you are going to sell your soul to an ignorant public by pretending to Expose what you very well Know cannot be Exposed by any man, woman or child dwelling in the Mortal sphere of Life—shame on you, but you will soon meet your reward in other spheres and suffer for your wickedness.”
It is hard to determine whether the above communication emanated from a professional spiritualist of the mercenary type or from one who finds his or her profit of self-gratification in the licentious tendencies and opportunities of private spiritualistic intercourse. In any event, it bears the stamp of ignorant selfishness and narrow vulgarity.