PLEASE NOTE

This text comes from Estelle W. Stead's book, "My Father: Personal and Spititual Reminiscences"  of which I have a jealously guarded copy. It was published in 1913 by Thomas Nelson and Sons Limited. No infringement of copyright is intended and as far as I know may still rest with the Company. This text may NOT be sold for profit and is given freely in that contex and for historical and private study.

Estelle Wilson Stead (Emma Wilson) was born in 1879 and died in Surrey in 1966. She never married. She accompanied her father on many of his travels.

WT Stead , she says, became interested in the Occult aaround 1880. It was talking to Mark Fooks (a North-country journalist) that precipitated this interest. Briefly Stead found that he could perform 'automatic writing'. His first seance was around this time (1880). It was after the death from blood-poisoning of his son known as 'Wille' (1874 to 14.12.1907 at 11.15pm) that he became much more interested. Through Stead, Willie wrote to him on the 15th December, 1911 (the first anniversary year of his death) a letter from 'beyond'. 

CHAPTER XXVI.
JULIA'S BUREAU.
	"I have been seeking, not to arrive at a given geographical point which everyone admitted must exist.  I have had to search and ascertain in the first place whether the Other World has any actual existence at all.  Its non-existence is stoutly affirmed 1)y a few, accepted as unknowable by many. Even those who nominally profess to believe that it exists, hold their faith so timorously that they shrink from putting it to the simple test of observation and experiment. The Other World, for the immense majority of men, orthodox or unbelievers, has become a kind of lost Atlantis lurking unknown beneath the Saragossa Sea, cumbered with the debris of a thousand religions creeds.  Yet if the almost universal tradition of the race has any foundation in fact; if the speculations of the greatest philosophers and the unwavering testimony of the founders of all religions be true ; the existence of the Other World affects us, every man and woman of us, most nearly.  For if beyond the valley of the shadow there lies another world into which all the children of men are destined in a few years to pass, it seems the height of irrationality to treat with indifference or contempt the attempt to ascertain some authentic evidence as to the nature of the country to which we are all bound, and the extent to which our lot there is affected by our conduct here."-W. T. STEAD
	" You see the sorrowing people on your side.
"I see them on my side.  Can we do nothing to help those who love so greatly to get into touch with each other? "JULIA A. AMES.

IN 1894 Julia wrote:
	" I want to ask you if you can help me at all in a matter in which I am much interested. I have long wanted to establish a place where those who have passed over could communicate with the loved ones left behind. At present the world is full of spirits longing to speak to those from whom they have been parted, just as I longed to speak to you, but without finding a hand to enable them to write. It is a strange spectacle. On your side, souls full of anguish for bereavement ; on this side, souls full of sadness because they cannot communicate with those whom they love. What can be done to bring these sombre, sorrow-laden persons together? To do so requires something which we cannot supply. You must help. But how? It is not impossible. And when it is done, death will have lost its sting and the grave its victory. The Apostle thought this was done.  But the grave has not been so easily defeated, and death keeps its sting.  Who can console us for the loss of our beloved? Only those who can show us that they are not lost, but are with us more than ever.  Do you not think I have been much more with my friend since I put off my flesh than I used to be? Why, I dwell with her in a way that before was quite impossible. I was never more with her than I have been since I came to this side.  But she would not have known it) nor would you have heard from me at all, but for the accident of your meeting her!
	"What is wanted is a bureau of communication between the two sides. Could you not establish some such sort of office with one or more trustworthy mediums? If only it were to enable the sorrowing on earth to know, if only for once, that their so-called dead live nearer them than ever before, it would help to dry many a tear and soothe many a sorrow. I think you could count upon the eager co-operation of all on this side.
	" We on this side are full of joy at the hope of this coming to pass. Imagine how grieved we must be to see so many whom we love, sorrowing without hope, when those for whom they sorrow are trying in vain by every means to make them conscious of their presence. And many also are racked with agony, imagining that their loved ones are lost in hell, when in reality they have been found in the all-embracing arms of the love of God. It is the most important thing there is to do. For it brings with it the trump of the Archangel, when those that were in their graves shall awake and walk forth once more among men.
" I was at first astonished to learn how much importance the spirits attach to the communications which they are allowed to have with those on earth. I can, of course, easily understand, because I feel it myself-the craving there is to speak to those whom you loved, and whom you love; but it is much more than this. What they tell me on all sides, and especially my dear guides, is that the time is come when there is to be a great eat spiritual awakening among the nations, and that the agency which is to bring this about is the sudden and conclusive demonstration, in every individual case which seeks for it, of the reality of the spirit, of the permanence of the soul, and the immanence of the Divine."
	But fifteen years were to pass before the way was to open out, and Father was to feel that the call had truly come and the means were to be forthcoming, for him to carry out Julia's wish and found a Bureau of communication.
During the autumn of 1908 Julia wrote telling him that the time had now come to start the Bureau, and that the money necessary would be forthcoming.
On October 15th, 1908, she wrote:
	"About the Bureau, that is all right. You will get the money you need for the establishment of the Bureau on a proper basis."
	October 19th, 1908, she wrote :
	" I am told off for this work. I must do it. It is in the plan. We do not see all the plan any more than you. But we see our duty written in it, and part of my duty is to help you to get the Bureau established. And you will be helped to do so soon; very soon it seems to us."
	A few days later she asked how much money would be necessary, and when told a thousand  pounds, wrote, " You will get it. It w ill come from America, and it will come in such a way that you will know it is the money for the Bureau."
In the beginning of December Father wrote an article entitled " How I know the Dead Return," in which he gave an account of his own experiences, and reasons for his belief. It was published in the Fortnightly Review, the New York American, in La Revue, in Australia and in India.
On December 20th, Julia wrote:
	" The time has come an and I think that before Xmas you will see your way clear."
	As a result of his article in the New York American, Mr. Hearst telegraphed asking him to become Special Correspondent to that paper, and offering him £500 a year.
This offer came on Christmas Eve--he came home and told me about it, and said, " I wonder if this is the money Julia means, but we want a thousand and this is only £500-f -anyhow, let's go double or quits," and he wrote to Mr. Hearst's London correspondent saying he would accept on condition he received £1 ,000 a year,
On Christmas Day Julia wrote :
	" I congratulate you, and also myself, upon the fulfilment of what I promised you. You need. have no fear about the results of the reference to New York. They will agree."
	By the middle of January there was no answer, but Julia was triumphantly confident, and on the 19th January a cable arrived from America agreeing to pay the £1,000, and I have before me as I write the telegram I received from Father that day sent from Hayling, where he was staying at the time. It reads as follows :
	"Hayling Island--10 0'c.  Received here 10.40 a.m.
	" Estelle Stead, 5 Smith Square, Westminster.
	Doxology Julia vindicated. American accepts."
	So he founded Julia's Bureau-and founded it for one purpose, and one purpose only-to enable those who had lost their dead, who were sorrowing over friends and relatives, to get into touch with them again; to minister to the aching heart, not to satisfy the inquisitive brain.
Referring to this, my Father wrote :
	" The question whether it is possible to bridge the grave and open communications with those who have passed to the other side, is one which most people have answered in the negative. But in all ages there have been some who have answered not less positively in the affirmative, and as the latter class, although in a minority, include the founders of the religions and the writers of the Bibles of the world, it can hardly be regarded as unreasonable to endeavour to ascertain the truth  by a series of carefully-conducted experiments, with carefully-selected subjects, on certain clear and well-defined lines.
		"Who are the persons with whom such experiments should be conducted? They should be selected exclusively from those who with singlesouled sincerity desire to communicate with those whom they love, from whom they have been divided by death. They should not be those who despair or who mourn as those who have no hope.
	"When so many long to hear again a word of greeting from lips that have been closed in death, it is absurd to waste time upon those who have no such desire. But it is not enough that the desire should be there. Its existence should be demonstrated by action. Many people say they desire this or that, but if they refuse to raise their hands in order to grasp it or to make any enquiry as to how they can secure it, no one can regard them as serious. What test can be imposed to demonstrate the sincerity of the suggested subject?
	" Fortunately the answer is not far to seek. If any one earnestly desires to communicate with those whom he loves in the other world, he must be anxious to hear something of the testimony of those who claim to have succeeded in establishing such commurncations. In other words, one test of sincerity in this quest is a determination to read the best works that have been written by those who have made the question a subject of earnest study and patient investigation.
	"Among such books may be mentioned : 
	'The Letters of Julia.' 
	' The Writings of Stainton Moses.' 
	' Mr. Myer's " Human Personality." , 
	'The Writings of Lombroso, Flammarion, Wallace and Crookes.'
	" It is not necessary to have read all these books to be accepted as a suitable subject. But to have read none of them is prima facie evidence that the desire to communicate was not very keen-unless, of course, there had been no opportunity to obtain these books or any of them. -
	" To remove the latter objection, there has been established, at Mowbray House, Norfolk Street, London, a small library of books relating to the subjects, to which any person may become a subscriber by the payment of a guinea a year."
	The Bureau was formally opened on April 24th, 1909, with Mowbray House as its London Office, and Cambridge House, Wimbledon-a house surrounded by a beautiful garden-as its " Inner Sanctuary." A gathering of many of the workers and sympathisers, chosen by Julia and my Father to undertake the great task that lay ahead, was held at Cambridge House, where a seance was held that they might commune with the workers on the Other Side  it was) opened by an address by my Father, after which he read messages from Julia, Mr. Myers and others, including one from a " High Spirit " on the spirit in which the Bureau should be conducted, which is given here:  "April 22nd, 1909.
	" Message as to the spirit in which the Bureau should be conducted. An auto-message from a High Spirit.
	" My dear disciples. What are you meeting to do?
	" To make manifest the invisible things of God to the senses of men. It is an undertaking which all men have desired from of old time. But their senses have been holden that they could not perceive. And their hearts have been hardened that they could not believe.
	"Even now amongst you there are many who fear that you are attempting the impossible. But the only impossibility is your lack of faith, and your want of the atmosphere of love, which alone gives that peace and repose needed for the opening of the inner eye.
	" You seek for visions which the saints have enjoyed. You can have them as they had, by living the life of the spirit, and cultivating the calm meditative mood.
	"You begin by seeking to unite the hearts that have been torn asunder. But although you do well to begin there, it is but as the threshold to the Temple at whose portals you are groping. For the dead whom you seek are but as a few scattered units in the midst of the innumerable hosts of the spiritual beings. Angels and archangels and all the heavenly host with whom you may, and if you are faithful you will, enter into communion. Yea, verily, there are no things hid which may not be revealed unto you. If so be you aspire with the aspiration of a God, and approach with the simple faith of a little child."
	After reading the messages, Father prayed for guidance, and this was followed by a few minutes of silent prayer.
	Many were present through whom those across the Border could manifest- -and many did ; and for some time loving converse was held between the two worlds. Julia was the first to speak, and addressing Father, she said :-
	"My cup runneth over, my heart is so full of joy that again in an upper room disciples meet in His name, which is Love. Christ came with that message of old, to bind up the broken-hearted, to comfort those who mourn, and it is such service of joy, for in Him we live, move, and have our very being. It is such a thin veil that separates us from each other. At times it seems almost impossible that those who are in the body do not know that their loved ones have returned from over the Borderland, and when the knowledge came to me, that I could not make my bereaved friends hear and talk to me, a big desire was created that others should not pass through that same Gethsemane. . . ."
	Many others gave loving messages of advice and encouragement. The afternoon meeting was followed by a dinner at night at the " First Avenue Hotel," followed by another " Sitting" and more communion.
	So the Bureau was formally opened, and when on the 25th of April the work began, all realised the responsibility which had been laid upon them but they were strong in the knowledge that they would be guided and helped by the many unseen helpers on the Other Side.
	Once more my Father knew without doubt, though often overwhelmed by his own unfitness for the task, that the " Sign " had been given, and it was for him to do his utmost to carry out the Senior Partner's bidding, and not to heed or fear the derision and scorn that were sure to follow the step he had taken.
	Before the Bureau was established, Julia wrote the following message, which was published in her Letters, pointing out clearly the possibility of the abuses, and the uses which there would be in the working of such an institution.
	"I am now going to give you what we think on this side is a word of advice which is much needed.
	You are very eager to make a Bridge, you say, between the two Worlds. And we are more so. But when you say this, do you realise' what it implies ?  What the realisation would effect ? I am more and more convinced that the establishment of the fact, and the certainty of communication between this world and yours, may be described without exaggeration as the most important thing in the whole range of the possible achievements of mortal man. There is nothing hike it for the far--reaching influence which it will exercise over all things. For it will modify thought, and thought makes the world in which you live. No one can understand how true that is when he is still immersed in matter.
	" My dearest friend, when you get the Bureau of Communication established, you will be overwhelmed with applications from both sides.
	" And you will find that there are multitudes who will ask for messages, but will receive none. You remember that I told you at the very beginning that I could either get you an answer, or tell you why no communication could be established. Now there are many on this side who have been trying to get into touch with those on your side, and they have failed. You have many on your side who will make the same attempt, and who will fail also. And so it will be. And so it ought to be. For there are many times when Death the Divider is the most necessary and the most useful agency that can be provided for the service of man. Nothing but evil would result if all the dead, as you call them, could haunt the living. The Other World, as you call it, would be too much for you. " Then had we better not let it alone?
	"No; I am quite sure that the Bureau could be a very great blessing. But it could also be a very great curse. When you have the dead hand--no, the phrase 'dead hand' is not right. But it would be wiser to say that there are multitudes of spirits whose removal from direct action upon the embodied living is much to be desired.
	" There are multitudes of souls to whom Death has been a great deliverance. I mean that it has taken away persons who have been harsh, cruel and despotic. Nay, it has sometimes been kinder in removing those who have been too kind, and whose care has dwarfed, whose love and tenderness have weakened, the growing life. These influences are to be deplored which prevent the full development of the soul. The benefit of what you call death is that it leaves room for the remaining ones to develop. What you have to do is to grow strong and independent. What you have to avoid is being mere shadows or echoes, or, worse still, mere puppets of another will. Death has rescued many of the living from what would have ruined them. And if you open your Bureau, they will try to avoid being saved. Those who have learned to lean will lean on the disembodied spirit, whereas they ought to lean on themselves. Who will not trust his own soul has lost it. And who will not rely upon the voice of God in his own soul will seek for it in vain in the voices from beyond the Border.
	" But there are many spirits hut lately disembodied, whose communications, even though framed with care and inspired by love, would be mischievous and not helpful. Why, my dear friend, when you ask me for guidance, I often feel that I might be a great curse to you if I gave it you as you wish to have it. What I can do--all that I can do is to tell you how things seem to me, to remind you that while I often see more than you, you, who are living in conditions that do not prevail here, are in a better position to judge as to many things than I can be. Occasionally I am permitted to tell you things in advance for purposes of test and to give you assurance. But I should be nothing but a curse to you if I were to attempt to tell you what to do. It would be hike a mother always carrying a child. It would never walk. Besides, I do not know. You must not think me omniscient because I have not got my body- -my old body.
	" Oh, my friend, if you would but see and understand what is the purpose of life, you would understand how fatal it would be to allow any and every cry for direction and guidance and help to be answered.  And there are many on this side who will, if the communication be opened, forget this and give advice and will attempt to direct those who consult them, and who will make sad trouble. For it is not for us to steer you. The object of life is to evoke, to develop the God within. And that is not to be evoked by allow ing others to direct you. But you will find the purpose of the Father will not be allowed to be spoiled by the folly of His children, whether on this side or on that. Those spirits that attempt to interfere too much will be confounded. They will err, and be found out. Their authority will be destroyed. And so in the end things will come right again.
	"A second class of persons to whom your Bureau will be mischievous is composed of those who are merely curious. Mere busybodies, with an inquisitive itch, will come to ask, from no deep longing for knowledge of the Other Side, from no real desire to communicate with the departed. They will throng your Bureau as they would go to a Dime Museum and put a penny in the slot to get some novelty. They will get no good. They are not serious. They merely come from motives of curiosity and a love of sensation. They will get no good. They may get harm.
	" Thirdly, there are those, who are by no means so few in number, who will wish to perpetuate a sinful relationship.  They will not admit this. But they will seek it earnestly, desperately, more often than you imagine. And it may be granted them. The alliance that had been severed by the  grave may be resumed  Yes, this is possible and is done. There is a possibility of the resumption of relations which you believed had been severed for ever by death. There is danger here, and it is a danger against which you must be on your guard. Therefore, I say, do not think that the Bureau will be unmixed good! Much as I desire its establishment, I see that for many it will work almost unmixed evil.
	"Men will find what they bring. And the majority of men will seek not good, but what they desire. Now, the desire of men is by no means always for that which is highest and best. 		" Then, do you think we had better drop the idea ?
	" My dear friend, what nonsense you talk ! Do you propose to drop navigation because you hear of storms and rocks and quicksands? No! no ! no ! What is necessary is to recognise that the Borderland is (at least) as important to cross as the Atlantic, but that it is not any more safe. What you seem to forget is that the Bureau, with all its risks, will do what is the most important thing of all. It will practically abolish the conception of death which now prevails in the world. You have become mere materialists  We must break through the wall of matter which is stifling your souls. And the Bureau will make a way for the light from beyond to shine through. That is enough to justify the facing of any risks such as I have described.
	" Avoid as much as possible the three classes of whom I have written, and corifine your attention and concentrate your efforts upon the verification of the continuity of existence, and the possibility of securing unmistakable communications from those who have crossed the Borderland. Telephones, no doubt, may easily become a nuisance. And this Bureau of mine might be a nuisance. But just think what it implies. If you could secure the communication so as to prove that life continues, that love lasts, that the other world is in contact with this- is that not enough ? If it were only that, and nothing more, it would be worth while. Only to restore the consciousness of the Invisible World and the reality of Eternal Love. Only !"
	To minimise the risks and diminish the dangers attaching to this attempt to bridge the grave, Julia undertook the personal direction of the Bureau, and herself defined the rules and conditions which had to be observed by all those who wished to avail themselves of its advantages. Every applicant to the Bureau had to sign the following form :
APPLICATION FORM. A	No .......................      
I....................	having done my best to study the subject of Communications with the other world, hereby make application for the use of the Bureau in order to attempt to enter into communication with..............., my...... late of..............who passed into the Spirit World on	..........	This application is solely prompted by motives of affection, in the belief that, if it be permitted, the deceased would desire such an opening-up of Communication as earnestly as does the applicant.  I have read the pamphlet entitled "Julia's Bureau and Borderland Library," and also the first series of " Letters from Julia." With a full understanding of conditions, limitations, and dangers therein defined, I make this application, and I am willing to submit in all things to the decision of the Director of the Bureau conveyed to me by one or other of her amanuenses.
	When this application was signed and sent in to the Bureau, it was submitted to the Director, who within two or three days intimated whether in her judgement the case was one which was fit and proper to be taken in hand.  If the Director rejected the application for any cause, or without specifying any cause, the applicant had to acquiesce in her decision.
	If at any subsequent stage it should have appeared that earthbound spirits or undesirable intelligences were endeavouring to obtrude themselves upon the applicant, the Director would at once arrest, in that case, the further prosecution of the attempt to establish communications with the Other Side. Submission, unquestioning and ungrudging submission, to the judgement of the Director was a sine qua non.
	Application Form A. was submitted (I) to a psychometrist, (2) to Julia's Secretary No. I, and (3)	to Julia's Secretary No.2, all of whom, acting  independently, filled in separate forms which were then compared. If their contents agreed, which was almost always the case, the application was either rejected or accepted. If, as very seldom happened, the automatists and the psychometrist differed as to how an application should be treated. appeal was made to Julia in Council, when her decision, received by a clairvoyant, was final.
	When the decision of Julia was favourable- -which it was in the majority of cases, although some were postponed-the applicant was informed of the fact.
	He was then asked to fill in and sign the following Form H, which he then enclosed in a sealed envelope, and retained in his possession until the experiment was complete. 

H.	No.........................     
To be enclosed in sealed envelope and retained by the applicant until he returns it with the annotated reports to the Bureau.
What would be Satisfactory Tests? From                     Address	Register No.        
In submitting to the Bureau the case of               I would regard it as satisfactory evidence that I had been put in communication with my beloved one if the sensitives could give me any of the following particulars :I.	Personal particulars. (a)	Name in full; (b) date of birth; (c) date of death; and (d) place of death. 2.	Personal appearance of deceased. Specifying :(a)	Approximate height ; (b) apparent age; (c) general aspect ; (d) colour of hair and eyes ; (c) expression of features; (f) any peculiarity.
Description of death.  Specifying :(a) Apparent cause of; (b) any scene at death; (C) any incidents or messages. 4.	Reference to any of the following incidents in past life known to deceased and myself.
5.	Giving (a) any pet name of	deceased's or of my own, as
	 for instance	;	(b) or the names of
	 any relatives or friends, e.g.                   
	 or (c) the names of any place,	house, &c., known to us
	 both, e.g.                     6.	Giving any message to me about affairs not known to the sensitive.
7.	The use of any characteristic words, phrases, slang, nicknames, as for instance                     
	If all or any of the above are obtained from the sensitives, I will be satisfied that, if telepathy be excluded, I have been put in communication with beloved dead.
If the sensitives were to give me a message containing information known to the deceased, but which was not in my possession, and which I subsequently verified as true, I should regard it as suggesting that in the other cases telepathy was not the explanation.
To further ascertain whether the telepathic hypothesis is to be relied upon, I undertake, as each sensitive is drawing to the close of the sitting, to try to impress as strongly as I can upon their mind the name of  ...............who has no connection whatever with my beloved dead.
I sign this and will seal it before going to the sensitives, and undertake to forward the envelope with seal  unbroken to the Bureau after annotating the reports of the sittings.

On receipt of Form D, signed by the applicant, the experiment began.

 FORM D.
I hereby inform you that I have filled in Form H, and have enclosed it in a sealed envelope, affixing the seal on          19...	When I have received and annotated the reports of the three sensitives, I will forward this envelope with seal unbroken to the Bureau, together with the annotated reports. (Signed)                 

	The documents being all in order, the action of the Bureau began.
	Applicants living in or near London were asked to attend personally at the Bureau.
	Applicants living abroad, or at a distance, were requested to send in some article that had been in personal contact with the friend or relative with whom they wished to come into communications scrap of handwriting, a lock of hair, an old glove--anything with which there had been contact. It was requested when possible to send three such small articles, so that each sensitive could deal with one not handled by the other.
	The applicant in the first ease met the psychic who was stationed at the office of the Bureau, with whom the first sitting took place. This psychic, being a member of the regular staff, was necessarily acquainted with the name of the applicant, and that of the person inquired after, and the date of the decease, as these particulars were entered in the Form A.
The applicant was then passed on to two other sensitives not sitting at the office, who were not informed either as to the name of the applicant or as to the person inquired after.
	No payment whatever was allowed to be made to the medium or the stenographer by the sitter, and it was a strict rule that no complaint whatever was to be made if the medium failed altogether in obtaining any Communication. No medium was employed who was not believed to be thoroughly honest. " Every sitter ought to be fully aware of the fact that the law governing communication between the two worlds is very complex and very delicate, and the medium is the last person who should be blamed should no communication be obtained."
	At each sitting the applicant was accompanied by a stenographer, who took down everything said at the three sittings. There was usually no substantial difference between the communications received by Sensitive No. i who knew the names in Form A., and those received by Sensitives No.2 and No.3 who knew absolutely nothing about the applicant.
	In cases where the applicant could not attend in person, the article which had been in touch with the friend inquired after was taken to Sensitives i, 2, and 3 in succession by a stenographer, who care fully recorded results.
	Reports of each of the three sittings were then sent to the applicant with a request that the applicant would "(i) go through the three Reports carefully, line by line, stating exactly what is correct and what is not; (2) append to the report in each case his own impression as to how far the communications made by the medium could be explained by telepathy from the conscious mind or from the unconscious mind, or whether he suspects that the accurate information could have been conveyed to the mind of the medium by any other means ; and (3) give his final impression as to whether or not he thinks he has been brought into communication with his loved one."
	These Reports, the revised and the final impression, together with sealed envelope, Containing Form H, were then sent in to the Bureau, where the envelope would be opened and its contents compared with the results obtained from the three mediums.
	These annotated reports were carefully filed in the archives. The Bureau reserved to itself the right to publish these reports either in full or in extract, so long as the names and addresses of the persons concerned were omitted, unless special permission was given by the applicant for the publication of all particulars.
	Unfortunately it was here that some of the applicants did not carry out their part of the arrangement. Although professing themselves to be absolutely certain that beyond a doubt they had been brought into communication with friends and loved ones on the Other Side, many did not consider it
necessary to go through the three Reports carefully and give the final impression as requested.  So, although a certain number did do so, the archives do not contain as many annotated reports as they ought to do, had those who had benefited carried out their part of the arrangement.
	All applicants to the Bureau were requested to read the following at least twice--once on first reading the instructions, and again after their application had been approved and they were ready for sittings.
	" No cause frustrates the purpose of the Bureau so much as an unsympathetic, querulous or carping attitude, on the part of the sitter, towards the sensitive during the sitting. If the bereaved are not willing to treat the sensitive with courtesy, consideration and respect, they had much better make no application to Julia's Bureau.
	" Consider for a moment what it is that constitutes a medium. It is the fact that lie or she is more sensitive than ordinary mortals. They are higher in the scale of evolution than the rest of their fellows. They have developed a sixth sense. Just as an open eye is liable to suffer agony and injury from a speck of dust, while aii eye that is closed never feels a sandstorm that falls upon its lids, so that rare creature, a fully-developed psychic, winces under an unsympathetic word, look, or even thought. Some sitters will never get good results because their acrid, censorious, exacting spirit destroys the conditions which render it possible for the medium to see, to hear, or to be controlled. You might as well expect to get a good photograph with a long exposure, when the sitter was fidgeting and talking, as to get good results from a sitting when you are not passive, receptive and sympathetic. Mediums are not merely allowed by the rules of the Bureau, but are under the positive orders of Julia, to terminate any sitting at any moment without assigning any reason if to their finer perception the sitter gives way to a harsh, supercilious, carping, censorious spirit. This is not meant to depreciate the freest possible criticism or analysis of the results obtained after they are secured, but you might as well expect an astronorner to make a difficult observation of a distant star when you are shaking his telescope, as to expect good results unless you supply the medium with the necessary conditions of quiet restfulness, sympathy and passivity.  Answer any questions asked simply and directly.  Do not volunteer any information, but give it when asked for--the fact that it was asked for will be noted by the stenographer.
	" In a word, treat the medium as if you and he were gentlemen or ladies, as the case may be, who have met for the purpose of helping each other to achieve one of the greatest of all aims-the bridging of the River of Death.
	"When the Bureau is further developed, it is Julia's desire that a small chapel in the office  should be set apart in which every applicant should spend ten minutes in solitary premeditation and prayer before taking a sitting. This practice of the presence of the departed may be pursued with advantage without the chapel, by spending the time in quiet thought.
	" Remember that in most cases the failure to communicate is due more to the faults of the sitter than the incapacity of the medium.
	" There is another class of sitters who hinder the success they desire, not so much by influencing the medium, as by placing obstacles in the way of the return of their loved ones. Excessive grief, especially when accompanied by feelings of resentment or despair, seems to build up between the bereaved and their beloved an impervious curtain of cold grey mist, through which it is in vain to try to open communications."
	In the first four months there were 150 cases undertaken by the Bureau, and there was only one single case in which Julia's decisions, taken automatically, were not in entire accord. In the solitary exception Julia's explanation was clear and satisfactory. One of the Secretaries had tried to take her decision, when pressed for time, in circumstances not conducive to passivity and detachment. When the decision was asked for a second time under the conditions laid down by Julia the apparent difference disappeared. After the Bureau had been established three months Father wrote :" The result of three months' experience has been to confirm my conviction that it is perfectly possible to establish communications with those who sincerely love, even although they are divided by the grave, excepting under certain circumstances, in which it was inadvisable that such communication should be effected."
	In all, over 600 persons received help and consolation during the three years of the Bureau's activity, and were confident that they had been brought into communication with their loved ones who had passed on before. Many cases of despair and sorrow are recorded as having, by means of the Bureau, found comfort and joy in the realisation that those they mourned were in very deed not dead but living, and longing to communicate with those they had left behind. The telepathic test invariably failed; not one of the cases succeeded in impressing the test word on the sensitive.
	The cost of maintaining the Bureau fell entirely upon my Father, and although he dedicated the £1,000 earned by his " Special Correspondence" to the work, the cost was considerably over £1,000 for the first year. As every case entailed an out-of-pocket expenditure of £2 2S. 0d. over or any multiple of two guineas as a thank-offering to her Bureau." Four months after the Bureau started Father wrote :-"I confess that this reliance for the financing of the Bureau upon gratitude for services rendered  seems to most persons on the earth plane somewhat unbusiness-like.  So far the results have hardly justified the splendid confidence of Julia. But I am going on relying upon her assurance that the necessary funds will not fail to be provided when they are needed."
	However, extra funds were not forthcoming, and after the first year Mowbray House had to be given up, and the whole of the work was carried on from Cambridge House.
	Later on it was found impossible to give more than one Sitting to each applicant, though, if this one Sitting failed of results, a second was arranged with another medium.
	An attempt was made to expose Julia's Bureau, shortly after its foundation, by a well-known weekly. It was a dismal failure.  The representatives of the paper-although they came in the guise of authentic applicants wishing to be put into communion with their "loved ones "-- never got beyond the threshold of the Bureau, so vigilant were the workers on both sides. They were refused a sitting, but given at their request a list of mediums--to two of whom  they went, the Bureau having nothing whatever to do with the visits.  They based the alleged "Exposure " on the results obtained with these mediums- -and even then had to admit that some of the evidence they had received was difficult to explain, and considering the "conditions " these gentlemen must have gathered round them, it was to be won- dered at that they received anything at all.  
CHAPTER XXVII.
THE MORNING CIRCLE.
	"O God who art the Father of all the spirits who inhabit Thy Universe of Love, we come to Thee this morning as obedient children, to be taught our duty and receive strength faithborn to do it. Almighty, Whose name and nature is Love, enable us each to be temples of Love--Love to Thee, Love to each other, and Love to all the spirits that live in Thy whole Universe. Allow us the liberty of children with a Father and enable us to have wisdom and power to make manifest to the children of men the reality and the glory of the love which has triumphed over Death, and enabled us to bridge the grave for all who love. These things we ask in the name and for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, our risen Saviour. Amen."
Prayer written by Julia for use at the morning circle.
ONE of the most interesting features of the Bureau was undoubtedly the Morning Circle, when the staff met for communion with the helpers across the Border, and to ask for guidance and help during the day. A chair was always placed for Julia at the head of the table. Each member in turn had to take the service--choose the reading and prayer, Julia generally selecting the hymn. It was in reply to a query as to the opening prayer that Julia wrote the prayer quoted above, through Father's hand, with the following preface :" I have no more authority to prescribe your prayers than anyone else. I only supply a framework that may be used either with, or alternately with, the Lord's Prayer, by anyone who feels a difficulty in addressing our Father in his or her own terms. Alter or vary as you please. I only put down the heads of what we on this side regard as objects to be sought for. 
"JULIA A. AMES."
	The Morning Circle gradually grew to be a great meeting-ground for many who had thrown off the physical body and passed onward, to come and communicate with those still on the earth plane. Many were the religious discussions with, and communications from, those who had filled high places in the Churches of the world, as well as exciting political discussions with those who had held prominent office in Parliament and State. People of all nationalities--stretching far back into the ages- came to that upper chamber, and all testified to the continuance of life and work after passing through the veil, and gave impressions-- coming back to physical conditions, it appears to be impossible to do more- of what that life and work really is. The accounts of these communications and discussions suggest such a sense of reality and sincerity that it is hard to put the communicators aside as impersonators, gulling the credibility of those to whom they came  Still, when one pauses to think what it is one is really reading, it seems incredible, and we can but say-- " Time will prove."
	Still, again, if it be true that communication is  possible and an established fact, surely it is those who possessed the greatest minds, and who were ever in the van here, who would be the first, if they realised communication to be possible, to use such a means as that afforded in the quiet room at Julia's Bureau.
	When Mowbray House was given up it was impossible to hold the Morning Circle as before, and it gave place to the Wednesday Circle-- Julia's Circle it was always called-- held every Wednesday evening at Cambridge House, and conducted in exactly the same manner as the Morning Circle.
	This circle continued to meet till my Father's death, and was kept together, and met intermittently, during the summer following-- places always being reserved for Julia and the " Chief," wino had joined her now in the won-k beyond the veil.
	Some of the messages received at the Morning Circle seemed to Father so convincing that he was tempted to publish them, giving the sources from whence they came, and the name of the spirit supposed to be communicating. It was like setting a match to gunpowder- scorn and laughter and derision met him at every turn the papers declared that there was no proof in the alleged messages- they were not in the style of the person supposed to be communicating, or if they were in the style, then the medium through which the message had been communicated had been priming himself, or herself, beforehand, etc., etc.; anything rather than allow that there might be even an infinitesimal amount of truth in the possibility of communion with the dead.
	"Whatever can be known of earth we know," Sneered Europe's wise men in their 			snail-shells curled. "No!" said one man in Genoa, and that "No '3
	Out of the dark created this new world.--LOWELL.