If Any One
Has A Pretty House Or Place Here It Is All Exposed To The Public Gaze,
And Even _Use_, A Great Deal!
We then drove to Mrs. Bruen's, where
Hedley and I lunched.
I am surprised to find how _fresh_ the memory
of my brother Hedley still remains in the minds of people, who I thought
would have been too young to have heard of him at the time of his death,
or too old to remember now what they had heard and read. Miss Mason and
her friend spoke about him with such real feeling, and said they had
been _brought up_ on his "memoirs." Mrs. Bruen and her family, and
Professor Shields and many others speak to me as if I was quite a
_friend_, because of my relationship to Hedley! Isn't this curious
after thirty years? They all asked about _Lucy_, and were so
romantic as to be rather distressed that she had ever married; but I
told them what a good man her husband was, and that she was so active
and useful, and that it would have been a great pity if she had been
_lost_ as a wife and mother, &c. Mrs. Bruen, among other things,
spoke of spiritualism, and said she knew from personal experience there
was much truth in it. A relation and intimate friend was a powerful
medium, and many extraordinary things, such as moving of furniture,
(heavy chairs and tables, &c.) and raps, &c., took place under
circumstances which made imposition impossible, there being frequently
no one present but Mrs. Bruen and her two daughters and this lady
medium. A table at the _end_ of the room would suddenly tilt up and
rap. A large dining room table would tilt up, while all the things
arranged for dinner on it would remain immovable - the lady not touching
it. They all seemed to think that spiritualism had a bad influence, and
Mrs. Bruen thinks _bad_ spirits are at work. She is a wonderful old
lady, past ninety, but full of energy and interest, moving large trees
and making alterations constantly in her house and garden. She kissed me
at parting, and I said "I shall tell my mother what a charming old lady
you are," and she said, "give her my kind regards, and tell her how glad
I was to see you." Well, at last with many hand-shakes and all talking
at once, we parted, and I met Gibson at the station, and we returned to
Boston yesterday, October 25th. I am now writing to you on Sunday from
the Hotel Brunswick. Last evening Dick was out when we arrived, with
Evelyn at a concert, for which I had tickets, but I was too tired to go;
this morning we went to hear Dr. P. Brooks, the great preacher who
everyone was raving about last spring in London, (or was it _last_
year?) his church is like a great _temple_, or public hall, and
cost [pound symbol]180,000.
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