A brief Spiritist excursion.

— The Society of Bordeaux, reconstituted, as we said in our preceding issue, gathered this year, as it did last year, at a banquet on the day of Pentecost, a simple banquet, let us say at once, as befits such a circumstance and people whose principal aim is to find an occasion to come together and tighten the bonds of fellowship; refinement and luxury there would be folly.

Despite the occupations that detained us in Paris, we were able to respond to the kind and insistent invitation extended to us to take part in it. The one last year, which was the first, had gathered no more than thirty guests; at this year's there were four times as many, some of whom came from a great distance; Toulouse, Marmande, Villeneuve, Libourne, Niort, Blaye and even Carcassonne, which is eighty leagues away, had their representatives there. All classes of society were merged in a communion of sentiments; there one found the artisan, the farmer beside the bourgeois, the merchant, the physician, the officials, the lawyers, the men of science, etc.

It would be superfluous to add that everything took place as it ought to have taken place, among people whose motto is: “Outside charity there is no salvation,” and who profess tolerance toward all opinions and all convictions. Thus, in the addresses suited to the occasion that were delivered, not a word was said that could wound the most somber sensibility; if our greatest adversaries had been present, they would not have heard a single word, nor an allusion that concerned them.

The authorities had shown themselves full of benevolence and courtesy toward this gathering, for which we owe them our thanks. We do not know whether they were represented covertly, but they could certainly convince themselves, as always, that the doctrines professed by the Spiritists, far from being subversive, are a guarantee of peace and tranquility; that public order has nothing to fear from people whose principles are those of respect for the laws, and who, under no circumstance, yielded to the suggestions of the agents provocateurs who sought to compromise them. They were always seen withdrawing and abstaining from any ostentatious manifestation, every time they feared that these might be taken as grounds for scandal. Is this weakness on their part? Certainly not; on the contrary, it is the awareness of the strength of their principles that makes them calm, and the certainty they have of the futility of the efforts attempted to stifle them; when they abstain, it is not to put themselves in safety, but to avoid anything that might splash upon the doctrine. They know that it has no need of outward demonstrations to triumph. They see their ideas germinating everywhere, spreading with an irresistible force; why would they need to make noise? They leave that task to their antagonists who, by their clamors, help its propagation. Even persecutions are the necessary baptism of all new ideas that are somewhat great; instead of harming them, they give them vigor. Their importance is measured by the obstinacy with which they are combated. Ideas that become established only by force of advertisement and display have but a factitious and short-lived vitality; those that spread of themselves and by the force of things have life within them, and are the only durable ones. This is the case in which Spiritism finds itself. The celebration ended with a collection for the benefit of the unfortunate, without distinction of beliefs, and with a precaution whose wisdom deserves only praise. In order to leave complete freedom, to humiliate no one and not to stimulate the vanity of those who would give more than the others, things were arranged in such a way that no one, not even the collectors, knew what each one had given. The receipts came to 85 fr. and commissioners were designated at once to make use of it.

Despite our short stay in Bordeaux, we were able to attend two sessions of the Society: one consecrated to the treatment of the sick and the other to philosophical studies. Thus we were able to ascertain for ourselves the good results that are always the fruit of perseverance and good will. From the report we published in our preceding issue about the Bordeaux society, we were able, with full knowledge of the matter, to add our personal congratulations. But it must not be concealed that, the more it prospers, the more it will be exposed to the attacks of our adversaries; let it be wary, above all, of the underhanded maneuvers that might be plotted against it and of the apples of discord that, under the appearance of exaggerated zeal, might be cast into its midst.

— The time of our absence from Paris being limited by the obligation to be back there on a fixed day, we were unable, to our great regret, to appear at the various centers to which we were invited. We could stop only a few moments in Tours and Orléans, which were on our way. There too we were able to ascertain the ascendancy that the doctrine acquires day by day in public opinion and its happy results which, though still individual, are no less satisfying.

In Tours the gathering was to number about one hundred and fifty people, both from the city and from the surroundings, but owing to the haste with which the convocation was made, only two-thirds were able to attend. An unforeseen circumstance not having allowed the use of the hall that had been chosen, we gathered, on a magnificent evening, in the garden of one of the members of the Society. In Orléans the Spiritists are less numerous, but it nonetheless counts among them sincere and devoted adherents, whose hands we had the pleasure of shaking.

A constant and characteristic fact, and one that must be considered as a great progress, is the gradual and more or less general diminution of the preventions against Spiritist ideas, even among those who do not share them.

Now each person is recognized to have the right to be a Spiritist, as to be a Jew or a Protestant; that is already something. Localities such as Illiers, in the Department of Eure-et-Loire, where the boys are incited to persecute them with stones, are exceptions that are increasingly rare. [see Illiers and the Spiritists.]

Another sign of progress no less characteristic is the slight importance that, everywhere, even in the less enlightened classes, the adherents attach to the facts of extraordinary manifestations. If effects of this kind occur spontaneously, people note them, but are not moved, do not seek them and, still less, exert themselves to provoke them. They attach little importance to what merely satisfies the eyes and curiosity; the serious aim of the doctrine, its moral consequences, the resources it can offer for the relief of suffering, the happiness of finding again the relatives or friends they have lost, of conversing with them, of listening to the counsels they come to give, constitute the exclusive and preferred aim of the Spiritist gatherings. Even in the countryside and among the artisans, a powerful medium of physical effects would be less appreciated than a good writing medium who gave, through rational communications, consolation and hope. What is sought in the doctrine is, above all, what touches the heart. It is a remarkable thing, the ease with which even the most unlettered people understand and assimilate the principles of this philosophy, for one need not be learned to have a heart and reason. Ah! they say, if we had always been spoken to in this way, we would never have doubted God and his goodness, even in the greatest miseries! Undoubtedly to believe is something, for it is already a foot set on the right path; but belief without practice is a dead letter. Now, we are happy to say that, in our brief excursion, among numerous examples of the moralizing effects of the doctrine, we found a good number of those Spiritists of the heart, whom we might call complete, if it were given to man to be complete in anything whatever, and who may be looked upon as the types of the transformed future generation; there are such of both sexes, of all ages and conditions, from youth to the extreme limit of age, who from this life already fulfill the promises that are made to us for the future. They are easy to recognize; there is in their whole being a reflection of frankness and sincerity that commands confidence; one feels at once that there is no ulterior motive concealed beneath gilded words or hypocritical compliments. Around them, and even in mediocrity, they know how to make calm and contentment reign. In these blessed homes one breathes a serene atmosphere that reconciles one with Humanity, and one understands the kingdom of God upon the Earth. Blessed are those who know how to enjoy it in anticipation! In our Spiritist excursions it is less the number of believers that we count, and what most satisfies us is that of those adherents who are the honor of the doctrine and, at the same time, its firmest supports, because they make it esteemed and respected in themselves. Seeing the number of the happy that Spiritism makes, we easily forget the fatigues inseparable from our task. Here is a satisfaction, a positive result, that the most obstinate malevolence cannot rob us of. They could take from us our life, our material goods, but never the happiness of having contributed to bringing peace to those ulcerated hearts. For whoever probes the secret motives that make certain men act, there are mires that soil those who throw them, and not those upon whom they are cast.

May all those who gave us, on this last journey, such touching testimonies of sympathy, receive here our most sincere thanks and be assured that they will be repaid in the same coin.

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ERRATUM — In the issue of July 1867, on page 197, line 71: The most illustrious creatures understand…, read: The most unlettered creatures… [Spiritist Review of January 1868.]