Fifty Years a Medium – Chapter 10, 5/7 by Estelle Roberts

“The message read:
‘Mijn Vader Broeder
Ikben heir
Ik vond het zeer moeielijk (te) spreek (en) Mijn les is moeielijker dan de uwe

Ik kon de deur neit open doen
Ik moet een Brief Schrijven
Ik zal morgen avond aan U (denken?) Wiltt U mij helpen
Om het te doen

Schrift
Ap.’
Translation:
`My Father Brother
I am here I found it very difficult (to) speak

My lesson is more difficult than yours I could not open the door
I must Write a Letter
I shall (think?) of you tomorrow night Will you help me
to do it

Writing
Ap.’
“With regard to the conditions under which this direct writing was achieved it is important to note the following:

(1) The sitting was held in total darkness.
(2) The medium was controlled as to her movements throughout by the contact of her foot on that of her neighbour.
(3) All members of the circle were linked by their hands.
(4) The door was locked.

(5) The blackboard was on the floor and the writing was done with chalk, neatly and clearly, with accurate space between most of the words, on straight lines and correct dotting all through.
“With regard to the message itself, the following should be noted:

“(1) The words between brackets were not actually written. They must have been omitted in the rush of writing under such conditions.
“(2) The capitals of Brief and Schrijven are superfluous and I would ascribe them to the same reasons as above.

“(3) Only the words heir’ andneit’ are spelled wrongly. The e and i have changed places, which is a common mistake in Dutch and one my brother often made when writing in a hurry. At first sight I also thought that the words `moeielijk’ and ‘moeielijker’ (the latter is the comparative of the former) were wrongly spelled.

I was under the impression that the second e’ was superfluous, although when spoken this letter is actually pronounced. However, on looking it up in a dictionary, I found that it is equally correct to writemoeielijk’ or moeilijk.’ The lettersij’ were rendered on the blackboard as the letter `y’ with a dot over it. This is correct Dutch and only in the Dutch language is this letter ever dotted.

(4) The three first words of the sixth line were not well spaced, which I again would ascribe to the sense of urgency under which the message was written. Likewise, there was a growing largeness in the size of the last lines, probably due to waning power and loss of control.