Theos-Talk Archives (September 1996 Message tl00284)

Those of us who have more than a passing interest in Theosophical History
have sometimes wondered how the great feud between HPB and A O Hume got
started.  Well, the other night I was futzing around with my akashic cd
player (we don't use records any more) and discovered the event that set it
off.
It seems that HPB was paying the redoubtable Mr. Hume a visit when she sat
down on an antique chair next to the door of his study.  The chair was not
sufficiently strong to hold her poundage and gave way beneath her, sending
her rolling out the door, down the hall, down the stairs and out the front
door, squashing the three ladies of the evening who were just arriving for
their weekly appointment with Mr. Hume.
She proceeded to tumble down the street until she ended up upended in a
manhole plugging it so thoroughly that even the derrick summoned by the
hysterical authorities could not budge her.  Ultimately, a large air
compressor was brought in and the swere pipe was pumped full of hot air until
Madame Blavatsky shot out like a cork from a child's pop-gun, going fully
fifty feet into the air and landing on a nearby shrubbery.  She escaped with
minor scratches and some wounds to her dignity, but the shrubbery never
recovered and had to be replaced.
Mr. Hume never forgave her for spoiling his chair.
Is any of that true?  I don't know, but it is vouched for by both the Master
Pollidentus Asseninus and Robert Muller's dead wife and several of his
dead--er-intimate friends.
Geoffrey Hodson was unavailable for comment as he was off at Manu school with
George Arundale.
Nighty night.

Chuck the Heretic