François-Simon Louvet, of Le Havre.

The following communication was given spontaneously, at a Spiritist meeting in Le Havre, on February 12, 1863:

Will you have pity on a poor wretch who has long been undergoing cruel tortures? Oh! the void… space… I plunge down… I fall…! Help me! My God, I had such a miserable existence!… Poor devil, I went hungry many times in old age; and that is why I grew accustomed to drinking, to feeling shame and disgust at everything… I wished to die and threw myself… Oh! my God, what a moment!… And to what end such a desire, when the end was so near? Pray! so that I may not incessantly see this void beneath me… I am going to be dashed to pieces against these stones! I beseech you, you who know the miseries of those who do not belong to this world. You do not know me, but I suffer so much… To what end more trials? I suffer! Will that not be enough? Had I been hungry, instead of this more terrible suffering, and moreover imperceptible to you, you would not hesitate to relieve me with a crumb of bread. So I ask you to pray for me. I cannot remain any longer in this state. Ask any of these happy ones who are here, and you will know who I was. Pray for me. François-Simon Louvet.

Soon afterward the protecting Spirit of the medium said: This one who has just addressed you, my daughter, was a poor unfortunate who had on Earth the trial of misery; overcome by disgust, courage failed him, and the wretched man, instead of looking toward heaven as he ought, gave himself over to drunkenness; he descended to the utmost extremes of despair, putting an end to his sad trial: he threw himself from the Francis I tower, on July 22, 1857. Have pity on his poor soul, which is not advanced, but which glimpses enough of the future life to suffer and to desire a reparation. Beg God to grant him that grace, and thereby you will have done a meritorious work. I am happy to see you gathered together, my dear children; I am with you when you gather thus. I am always ready to give you my teachings. If a good Spirit could not communicate with you for lack of physical conditions, I would be his intermediary; but you are surrounded by good Spirits, and I let them instruct you. Persevere in the ways of the Lord and you will be blessed. Have patience in trials, do not refuse to do good because of the ingratitude of men. Soon men will be better and the times are near. Farewell, my well-beloved; I accompany you in your sorrows as in your joys. Peace be with you. Your Protecting Spirit.

Seeking information in this regard, the following local item was found in the Journal du Havre, of July 23, 1857:

“Yesterday, at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the passersby on the quay were painfully impressed by a horrible accident: – a man threw himself from the tower, coming to be dashed to pieces upon the stones. He was an old tow-hauler, whose inclination to drunkenness had dragged him to suicide. His name was François-Victor-Simon Louvet. The body was transported to the home of one of his daughters, on the rue de la Corderie. He was 67 years of age.”

Observation. – An unbeliever, to whom the mediumistic fact was related, as a proof of communications from beyond the grave, replied: “But who knows whether the medium did not have knowledge of the Journal du Havre and whether she did not construct the tale from the news item?” As one sees, trickery is always the last refuge of the deniers, when they cannot account for a fact whose material evidence ought not to be called into doubt. With them it is not even enough to show that one has nothing in one's hands or in one's pockets, because, they say, conjurers do the same and yet defy the keenness of the observer.

To this we ask, in our turn, what interest the medium would have in playing the comedy? Here one cannot even suppose an interest of self-love in a thing that takes place within the intimacy of the family, where she would only be deceiving herself and her own. Moreover, when one wishes to amuse oneself, one does not choose subjects of this nature, hardly recreational, and it is not admissible that a pious young woman would mix the name of God with a coarse jest. The absolute disinterestedness and the honorableness of the person are the best guarantees of sincerity and the most peremptory answer to give in cases such as these.

Besides, we will point out the punishment inflicted on the suicide. Dead for six years, he sees himself always falling from the tower and going to break upon the stones; he is terrified by the void before him; and this for six years! How long will it last? He does not know it, and the uncertainty increases his anguish. Does this not amount to hell and its flames? Who revealed such punishments to us? Did we invent them? It is those who themselves suffer them who come to describe them to us, just as others describe their joys.

[1] Translator's Note: See Heaven and Hell, Part 2, Chapter V.