In an episode that has been variously interpreted, Mrs. Patterson simulated a trance and wrote “spirit letters” to Mrs. Crosby purporting to come from Albert Baker. The most reasonable explanation, in view of her known opposition to spiritualism and of the admonition in these letters to “lean on no material or spiritual medium,” is that she used this rather drastic method to show Mrs. Crosby how easy it was to produce such sham “manifestations.”¹⁴⁹ Mrs. Crosby, on the other hand, refused to believe they were not genuine.

The episode indicates, if nothing else, the overheated mental atmosphere of that period. On the one hand the “psychic” and on the other the “magnetic” laid claim to the word “spiritual.” The overcredulous or self-willed person was likely to find either one of these more attractive than the path of rational and spiritual self-discipline to which a serious explorer of ideas was necessarily committed, whatever his temporary bafflements and expedients.¹⁵⁰

Nevertheless, the advice in the “letters” to Mrs. Crosby was not all wasted. Later she wrote: “I am sure my experience with Mrs. Eddy gave me a clearer understanding of my own capabilities as well as a better knowledge of the world.”¹⁵¹ Not long after the visit Sarah Crosby studied stenography, became a court stenographer, and pushed ahead in a keen if rather hard way.

During the stay at Albion Mrs. Patterson gave a lecture at Waterville, Maine, on “The South and the North.” It was reported in the Waterville Mail of September 9 by a Dr. Sheldon, pastor of the Unitarian Church and for many years president of [Waterville] College, who also introduced her. The attendance was small, but the chivalrous Sheldon reported that the subject was presented “with a sharpness of logic   ● ● ●