MRS. LEONARD has written: "How greatly the sitter can help one's mediumship to develop! The wise, cautious, even skeptical sitter, if he has an open mind, gets the best results, and is a great factor in definitely building up, little by little, the Psychical and mental forces of the medium, and even of the control. The credulous 'I'm willing to believe anything, my dear. I don't want tests' kind of sitter does not improve the quality of one's mediumship, nor get the best results."

There is a general consensus of opinion that the high caliber of Mrs. Leonard's regular sitters was an asset to her development. And they have helped the subject of mediumship as a whole to be more clearly understood. Their carefully annotated long-term studies reveal the complications of communication in its deepest aspects as well as the satisfactions which occasionally arise.

First sitters encounter these same situations, usually facing them with less aplomb than seasoned participants. A few descriptions of initial sittings may lend some insight into the larger representation, which is gone into more fully in later chapters. Dr. John Thomas, a Psychical researcher from the United States, has given us a picture, of the difficulties of getting a sitting, and what a first sitter can expect to experience. Though he had gone to England primarily to study mediumship, Thomas found it not too easy to arrange sittings with the outstanding psychics. He had written to the Society for Psychical Research, and to Miss Nea Walker, secretary to Sir Oliver Lodge, for assistance in securing appointments with Mrs. Leonard; but both replied that her time was so much in demand that it would be hopeless. He then wrote to Mrs. Hewat McKenzie, principal of the British College for Psychic Science, and this organization assigned him one of the weekly dates with Mrs. Leonard at its disposal. He reached England on April 19, 1927, and his appointment with Mrs. Leonard was set for April 26. The sole notification to Mrs. Leonard was a card from the British College for Psychic Science giving the date and hour for an anonymous sitter. Thus he was not identified by name or otherwise, being introduced merely as "the sitter from the college. " A secretary accompanied him and took notes.

Most sitters who hoped to receive veridical information met Mrs. Leonard anonymously. With this she was in complete agreement, for she did not want the evidential value of the material she might produce in trance to be reduced by the possibility of her conscious or unconscious guessing as to the identity of the sitter.

Dr. Thomas, describing the usual mental attitude of a first sitter, states that unless he has had experience with genuine and continuously effective sensitives, he is apt to approach all trance material with the preconception that he will find merely a mass of inanities, vacuities, and generalities. This is not the case with Leonard material, he says, although it, too, has its shortcomings. It is often verbose, circumlocutory, vague, and indefinite. On the other hand, it is sometimes definite, concise, and literally correct. Occasionally an incident or place or person is illuminated by a key word or statement thrown into an otherwise puzzling account. These serve as clues which eventually clarify the preceding material.

"In the records," John Thomas writes, "persons and places are frequently talked about without giving their names. Incidents are developed through a series of statements about them rather than by directly detailing the facts. . . . Definite persons, places, and incidents become such only through accumulation of relevant and correct particulars. A good series of records, especially if it represents several sensitives, gives one the impression of a picture puzzle, or a dissected map, the parts of which must be intelligently fitted together in order to get a coherent, meaningful whole. . . .

"Because of the characteristics so far noted, there is always the danger of over-interpretation of the records, or reading into them what one might wish were there."

The Reverend Charles Drayton Thomas had especial need to be wary of "reading into them what one might wish," for early in his studies he became convinced that he was actually receiving communications from deceased relatives and friends. However, it is generally agreed that this Methodist minister, who devoted the last fifty years of his life to Psychical research, made strenuous efforts not to allow his convictions to interfere with his objectivity as a systematic investigator. As one reviewer of his book S 2 wrote:"One might quarrel with the conclusions reached or pick flaws in the accuracy of the hits [but] one cannot object to the very obvious honesty and courage of the author's presentation of his facts."

Drayton Thomas maintained rigorous standards in his experiments; and he kept full records of his sittings. These he made available to the Society for Psychical Research for its evaluation and use. At his first sitting Feda said:3

There is an elderly man with a beard here. The beard is greyish, his hair is thin at the top and rather sticking out at the sides. He has a moustache, the brows are predominant and grey. His face is good in shape. He is fine-looking and held himself up well.

This was an accurate description of Charles' father, John Drayton Thomas, in his later years. Feda went on to describe a photograph of him as a youth which still stood on his wife's dresser. She added:

He had been used to a room with books; it was a study and there were shelves of books. On the table were books and papers. The furniture was solid and dark. This man had met many people and had helped many. He must have been a fine character. The initial 'J' comes with him.

Feda spoke of his sudden death, his husky voice, and the strong character which made him stick to his own ideas; all this was true of John Drayton Thomas. He was a regular communicator after that at Drayton's sittings.

Margaerite Radclyffe-Hall and Una Vincenzo Troubridge went to Mrs. Leonard first as anonymous sitters recommended by Sir Oliver Lodge. Soon their cautious reports and comments had so impressed Sir Oliver that he took the time to train them in the ways of careful observation. They sat regularly once a week or sometimes oftener for the first several years, and their examination of Mrs. Leonard's mediumship continued for a period of eight years. One or the other acted as recorder at each sitting, taking down everything said by the sitter and the medium, before the onset of trance as well as during it. The records were hand copied or typed the same day, and the entire report was eventually filed with the Society.

In their first published paper about their experiences with Mrs. Leonard, Miss Radclyffe-Hall identifies the cast of characters as follows:

The purporting communicator has . . . been my friend who will be alluded to in the sittings as A. V. B. [She was Mabel Veronica (Mrs. George) Batten.] I shall appear as M. R. H., and Lady Troubridge as U. V. T. Feda is in the habit of addressing me as "Mrs. Twonnie," her own version of the name by which I am often called, [Johnnie], and Lady Troubridge as "Mrs. Una." During the sittings, Feda has gradually acquired the habit of calling A. V. B. "Ladye," a nickname which belonged to her in life, and was given spontaneously through Feda at an early sitting.

During those early sittings descriptions were received of The White Cottage, at Malvern Wells, a house much loved by my deceased friend and myself, together with a description of characteristic features of the neighborhood and references to the neighbors.

As the result of their investigations at Malvern Wells and in the surrounding district, it was ascertained that no inquiries regarding myself or my deceased friend had been made from any likely sources of information since her death. The detective also by my instructions made some inquiries in London, but here again he failed to discover anything suspicious.

We have recently informed Mrs. Leonard of the fact that detectives were employed by us in connection with her phenomena, and she fully realized that the reports furnished by the detectives represented a valuable testimonial to the genuineness of her powers.

Miss Radclyffe-Hall then introduces us to Feda in her role of control:

In our records we have not closely followed Feda's broken English; it would have taken too long to think out suitable spelling for her idiosyncrasies. Her knowledge of the English alphabet is shaky, and although she will at times recognize and mention letters quite accurately, at other times she appears to be at a loss, and is reduced to attempting to draw with her finger the letters that arc apparently shown her, or to such descriptions as: " It's a curly letter like a snake, " or "It's like a cross without a top." She will generally speak of 0 as a little circle, and she will also describe any letter that has a stroke above or below the line, as, for instance, small Y or B, as "a long letter, while others, such as small U or E, are "little letters. Her English varies; it is almost correct when she purports to be repeating a message verbatim, and at all times is quite intelligible in spite of its eccentricities.

Our thanks are due to Feda for the full and accurate records which we have been able to obtain. She has always shown the greatest solicitude on this point, repeating slowly and carefully, more than once, anything intricate that appeared to her to be of evidential value; unlike most controls she can be stopped with impunity should the recorder be in fear of getting behind-hand, and yet cleverly take up the thread the moment she is told that the recorder is ready. The above has been our experience; possibly we have been particularly fortunate, owing perhaps to the fact that a very real mutual liking has grown up between ourselves and Feda. This, we have been given to understand, is not invariably the case.

The fourth person, an elderly gentleman, was described in detail:
 

FEDA:	Brown's comments
And then I see the figure of an elderly man . . . He is quite gley (grey) color; he has a very fine face, what you call a thoughtful face, and yet a very kind face, too, a clever face. Wait a minute! His hair is grey; it is a little thin just on top of the temples. His features are good; but it is not so much that he is pletty (pretty) or handsome; it is more a fine and very clever face. His eyes are not pronounced- they are deeply set, and I can't quite see the color . . . His mouth is fine shape, the underlip a little full and he got a little bit of a habit sometimes of it sticks out more than the upper closing his mouth up like that! It is a kind face, but very thoughtful and serious looking. He is on the tall side. He has been a well set-up looking man, but towards the end of his life he stooped a little and let his head go a little bit forward like that ...	I may as well say at once that the impression I got, and still have, is that this man might have been my friend W - - A - -, who died a year before rather suddenly after an operation. (Except that he never stooped.)
This gentleman was able to keep working, and he kept doing things up to a little while before he passed over . . . Have you got books of his, printing of his? Books? . . .	He had published several books.
You used to like this man. I feel that you have liked him very much and he liked you.	I did like this man and I felt very deeply the breaking of the friendship through his death.
He keeps saying to me, "I am well and strong again." He says, "It is so much better over here; one isn't limited with all these physical difficulties. It leaves one's mind free, wanted to get on with his work, to make progress instead of being shackled with all these petty physical limitations."	This too reminds me of him, because the vague feelings of illness toward the end of his life discouraged him. He wanted to get on with his last play, but made little headway. He had written two acts, but the third act wouldn't come because of his failing health.
Will, W.A., is helping you from our side, he says.	Here his initials appear.

Several sittings later

BROWN. Who is W...... A......?
 

It is somebody over there, not on the earth . . . Alice-Ellis-Alice. Do you know-if the name Alice, Ellis, if that is a name that would be very close to him, of someone very near to him?

I did not recognize the name but have since been told by Mrs. A- - that Alys is the name of their daughter-in-law of whom W--A-- was very fond.

Brown continues:

With regard to this particular character, who reminds me, and reminds me strongly, of W- - A--, it gives me the impression of his personality as I knew him, although I really have tried to be as critical as possible in preventing "projection"-that is why one is so glad to get verbatim reports of the sittings.

Brown mentions that at one sitting Feda said, "Who is she talking about, taking care of fire?-Who's been setting fire to themselves? I am not sure if she means lately or some time ago." And she goes on to speak of a dangerous situation occurring to someone belonging to him regarding fire. He knew nothing about this and was not in the least interested. But Feda said that she got the word fire very strongly and that, "She would like you to investigate it. She rather hopes you don't know it, because what they want to do so much is to try to let you know that the things they tell you are not just in your mind."

Brown read this to his wife later and "a curious expression passed over her face. It appears that not long before, in the early morning, she was frying something on the gas stove in the cottage in the country, and the frying pan caught fire. That worried her because the gas meter had been foolishly fixed just above the stove, and she was afraid it would also catch fire and burn the cottage down. She was a bit disturbed by it, but she didn't tell me about it at the time. I quote that for what it is worth. I didn't know anything at all about it at the time of the sitting. I merely thought, 'Here's more waste of time on the part of Feda.' It is the impression one gets so frequently in these sittings. Then Feda relates more and more about this lady, and everything does fit. The more she says, instead of taking something away and making you feel it is someone else, the more it fits . . . "

Brown states as his conclusion:

There is coincidence to such an extent that it is far beyond the possibility of chance. I feel sure of that. What I have got has satisfied the statistical part of my mind that it is beyond chance. The explanation may be entirely in terms of telepathy and clairvoyance, or it may be partly in terms of these factors and partly in terms of outside spirit influence.

In quoting these results of sittings with Mrs. Leonard, I am fully aware that nothing in the nature of scientific proof of personal survival is furnished by them. . . . I present the reports merely as illustrations, obtained at first hand, of the kind of phenomena which occur in the mediumistic trance and which have bearing upon our scientific conception of the nature of personality and its possible survival of bodily death.

For three months, January 14 to April 15, 1918, Mrs. Leonard agreed to give sittings exclusively to persons for whom the Society for Psychical Research made appointments. Seventy-three sittings took place during these months, thirty-one being given to new sitters. The sittings were supervised on the Society's behalf by a small committee which arranged for the anonymous introduction of new sitters, and for the presence of a note-taker. It was felt that for a group of trained investigators to have the exclusive right to allocate sittings to selected sitters might be of immense value to research.

Records of these sittings were published by Mrs. W.H. Salter. In speaking of the evidence obtained by new sitters, Mrs. Salter writes:

In justice to Mrs. Leonard, it should be pointed out that the phenomena obtained in these circumstances are not likely to be as interesting or remarkable as those obtained by sitters who have sat regularly with Mrs. Leonard during some months or even years. First sittings, even when they are on the whole successful, are apt to be of a rather tentative nature, and they usually follow certain conventional lines. Moreover, they afford little scope for evidence concerning the character and personality of the supposed communicator. For one thing, such evidence is largely cumulative in its effect, and for another, whether it is obtained by telepathy between Mrs. Leonard and the communicator, or between Mrs. Leonard and the sitter, or by some combined interaction of all three minds together, it is likely that a well-established rapport between Mrs. Leonard and her sitter will facilitate matters. I think there is a general agreement among those who have sat repeatedly with Mrs. Leonard-among whom I may include myself-that good evidence of surviving personality is sometimes obtained.

Towards the end of a long war in which there had been many casualties, it was inevitable that many of the sitters should have lost some young relation or friend. If then, as happened, many of the communications should come from young men of the same general type, and having had much the same experiences in the war, cases of doubtful recognition were bound to arise. A reader studying the records years later cannot help wondering how far this source of error, which is fully admitted in the report, affects the results, since many of the communications were appropriate to the communicators rather than distinctive of them.

And yet there were enough "hits" to indicate that even first sittings can be fairly satisfactory. An example occurred at a sitting on February 25, 1918; Feda was speaking of an elderly lady whom the sitter thought to be his mother. Feda said:

This lady didn't pass over suddenly like the young man. Her passing over, when it came, was pretty peaceful, but she'd been ailing for some time. There was some poor condition in the blood, something internal. She's not very pale, but the condition of the blood was not good for some time, not clotted, stagnated somehow. Feda should think the legs or feet had felt it. She pats herself on the legs.

Upon this the sitter commented:

My mother had a long illness, but died suddenly at the last. She died from tubercular disease, which developed at the knee joint, and before her death her leg was amputated.