Lady Doyle Believes Three Children Will Be Psychics
Lady Doyle Believes Three Children Will Be Psychics is an article written by Hortense Saunders published in The Springfield Leader and The Bee (Danville) on 17 april 1922.
Editions
- in The Springfield Leader (17 april 1922 [US])
- in The Bee (Danville) (17 april 1922 [US])
Lady Doyle Believes Three Children Will Be Psychics
By Hortense Saunders.
NEW YORK, April 17. — While Sir Arthur Conan Doyle preaches the doctrines of spiritualism to the world, his wife makes a practical application of them in the home.
Lady Doyle is rearing three young spiritualists, Denis, 13, Malcolm, 11, and a daughter, Billy, 9, and she expects them to develop physchic powers far beyond those of their parents.
It would be hard to find three more normal, happy, enthusiastic, and affectionate youngsters than the Doyle children.
"Why shouldn't they be happy?" Lady Doyle asked. "The most terrible thing in the world — fear — has been completely eliminated from their lives.
No Fear of Death.
"They do not fear death, for they know that it means only passing from one room to another — from a room where there is dissension and confusion, to one where there is only beauty and harmony.
"They know that our pleasant home life will be continued in heaven, in much the same manner that it has been on earth, except that we shall find our natures purged of the faults and shortcomings that brought sorrow here.
"They do not fear life. They will not be afraid to live courageously and fearlessly, for they know that this existence is only a training school that fits them for something bigger. All the accomplishments and talents they develop here are capable of infinitely greater development there.
"If they are selfish and inconsiderate in this life, they believe that this may unfit them for heaven, and cause their spirits, after death, to go to a lower rather than a higher sphere."
Normal and Naughty.
Asked if her children ever manifested any human traits like selfishness or disobedience, she laughed heartily.
"Of course they do," she replied. "I shouldn't want them to be anything but normal children, and normal children are frequently naughty, but I manage them by appealing to their sense of love rather than their sense of fear.
"I do not believe in corporal punishment. When they have disobeyed I send them in a room by themselves and let them think things over until they are in a reasonable frame of mind.
"I find that they will always respond to an appeal to their intelligence."
The Doyle children have never attended a demonstration of spiritualism, but they have frequently asked to be allowed to do so. They particularly want to speak to their step-brother, who was killed in the war.
"Psychic demonstrations, are not the place for children," Lady Doyle observed, "Until they are 18, or possibly older, we shall not want them to have actual communication with the spirit world.
"However, the children have grown up in such an atmosphere of spiritualism that they have thoroughly absorbed the philosophy of it."
Lady Doyle is typically English — tall, athletic and wholesome looking. In her dress she is most simple, and her manner is cordial and gracious.
