Page:Message of Psychic Science to the World.djvu/14

x. he wished me to do with it. His verdict was emphatic; it was to this effect:—

"I cannot advise the publication of a book which I do not understand. If you have any doubts, it is safest to delay. But if you see your way, let nothing stop you." The MS. was then given to Messrs. Macmillan, who accepted it. The first chapter was put in type.

But Maurice's friends could not consent to the publication of a book which, if much read, would have convinced the public that the grand old Leader had inadvertently misled the whole party into committing themselves to publishing nonsense about a topic as to which they were profoundly ignorant. Pressure which Messrs. Macmillan considered irresistible was put on them to suppress the book. A lady member of the Macmillan family afterwards asked me to preserve the letter which finally determined the action of the firm; it will not be published during the life time of persons who knew and loved the writer of it. The "Message" was returned to me, along with a printed copy of the first chapter, annotated with clerical comments.

My way was thenceforth not difficult to see:—If they reject you in one clique flee to another. I became secretary to James Hinton, a man liberal as to doctrines but a fanatical opponent of the Established Church. I contributed the chapter on Mental Hygiene in Sickness to a series which he was editing in the People's Journal. After his death I got into connection with the Jewish penny weekly press, a world-wide