Mark Twain’s religion had to do chiefly with humanity in its present incarnation, and concerned itself very little with any possible measure of reward or punishment in some supposed court of the hereafter.  Nevertheless, psychic investigation always interested him, and he was good-naturedly willing to explore, even hoping, perhaps, to be convinced that individuality continues beyond death.  The letter which follows indicates his customary attitude in relation to spiritualistic research.  The experiments here mentioned, however, were not satisfactory.

To Mrs. Charles McQuiston: 

         &nb
sp;                                        Dobbsferry, N. Y.
          
                                             March 26, 1901. 
Dear Mrs. McQUISTON,—­I have never had an experience which moved me to believe the living can communicate with the dead, but my wife and I have experimented in the matter when opportunity offered and shall continue to do so.

I enclose a letter which came this morning—­the second from the same source.  Mrs. K——­is a Missourian, and lately she discovered, by accident, that she was a remarkable hypnotiser.  Her best subject is a Missouri girl, Miss White, who is to come here soon and sustain strictly scientific tests before professors at Columbia University.  Mrs. Clemens and I intend to be present.  And we shall ask the pair to come to our house to do whatever things they can do.  Meantime, if you thought well of it, you might write her and arrange a meeting, telling her it is by my suggestion and that I gave you her address.

Someone has told me that Mrs. Piper is discredited.  I cannot be sure, but I think it was Mr. Myers, President of the London Psychical Research Society—­we heard of his death yesterday.  He was a spiritualist.  I am afraid he was a very easily convinced man.  We visited two mediums whom he and Andrew Lang considered quite wonderful, but they were quite transparent frauds.

Mrs. Clemens corrects me:  One of those women was a fraud, the other not a
fraud, but only an innocent, well-meaning, driveling vacancy. 
                         Sincerely yours,
                                   S. L. Clemens.

In Mark Twain’s Bermuda chapters entitled Idle Notes of an Idle Excursion he tells of an old sea captain, one Hurricane Jones, who explained biblical miracles in a practical, even if somewhat startling, fashion.  In his story of the prophets of Baal, for instance, the old captain declared that the burning water was nothing more nor less than petroleum.  Upon reading the “notes,” Professor Phelps of Yale wrote that the same method of explaining miracles had been offered by Sir Thomas Browne.

     Perhaps it may be added that Captain Hurricane Jones also appears in
     Roughing It, as Captain Ned Blakely.

To Professor William Lyon Phelps;