Page:The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy.djvu/151

Rh Mary Ellis Bartlett, being duly sworn, deposes and says:

I am 55 years of age, and I am a citizen of Boston, Massachusetts. I am the daughter of William R. Ellis and Mary Jane Ellis, and the granddaughter of Captain Nathaniel Webster and Mary Webster, who for many years resided in Amesbury, Massachusetts. In the years between 1865 and 1870 my grandparents, Captain and Mrs. Webster, were living in Amesbury, Mass., at what is now No. 5 Merrimac Street. Captain Webster was a retired sea captain, and at that time was superintendent of cotton mills in Manchester, New Hampshire, of which E. A. Straw, his son-in-law, who was later Governor of New Hampshire, was agent for many years. My Grandmother Webster was a well-known Spiritualist. Grandfather Webster was away from home, attending to his business in Manchester, much of the time, returning home to Amesbury about once in two weeks, to remain over Sunday. My grandmother was, therefore, much alone, and because of this, and for the further reason that she was deeply interested in Spiritualism in all its forms, she had at her house constant visitors and charity patients who were Spiritualists. Invalids, cripples, and other unfortunate persons were made welcome, and my grandmother took care of them when they were ill and lodged and boarded them free of charge. She had, or believed she had, spiritual communications in regard to their various ailments, which she followed in prescribing for them and in her treatment of them. My grandmother was what was called a "drawing medium" and a "healing medium." She drew strange pictures under the influence of the spirits. Many of these pictures are now in existence, and some of them are in my possession, having been given to me by my grandmother.

Grandmother Webster had a room in her house which was used for spiritual'séances, and for all grandmother's spiritistic work. This room was on the ground floor, situated in the rear of the front parlour. It was decorated in blue, according to the direction of grandmother's spirit control,—blue being a colour favoured by the spirits. The room was furnished with the usual chairs, tables, couch, etc., but this furniture was called by my grandmother and her Spiritualist friends, "spiritual furniture," because it was used only for spiritual purposes. There was a couch which grandmother called her "spiritual couch." She thought she could sleep upon it when she could not sleep elsewhere. Upon it she took her daytime naps, and sometimes during a restless night she was able to sleep if she lay upon this couch. There was a table in the room which was used for the laying on of hands by the Spiritualists at the'séances held in the room, and there was an old chair which had belonged to Captain Webster's mother, in which grandmother always sat for her spirit communications. Above this room, which was known as the "spiritual room," was a bedroom.

One night in the autumn of 1867, as nearly as I can fix the date, a