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diff --git a/13237-0.txt b/13237-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..52b32b5 --- /dev/null +++ b/13237-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7143 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13237 *** + + STRANGE VISITORS: + +A SERIES OF ORIGINAL PAPERS, EMBRACING PHILOSOPHY, SCIENCE, GOVERNMENT, +RELIGION, POETRY, ART, FICTION, SATIRE, HUMOR, NARRATIVE, AND PROPHECY. + +BY THE _SPIRITS OF IRVING, WILLIS, THACKERAY, BRONTE, RICHTER, BYRON, +HUMBOLDT, HAWTHORNE, WESLEY, BROWNING_, AND OTHERS NOW DWELLING IN THE +SPIRIT WORLD + +DICTATED THROUGH A CLAIRVOYANT, WHILE IN AN ABNORMAL OR TRANCE STATE. + + 1871 + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS. + + HENRY J. RAYMOND _To the New York Public_ + MARGARET FULLER _Literature in Spirit Life_ + LORD BYRON _To His Accusers_ + NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE _Apparitions_ + WASHINGTON IRVING _Visit to Henry Clay_ + NAPOLEON BONAPARTE _To The French Nation_ + W. M. THACKERAY _His Post Mortem Experience_ + ARCHBISHOP HUGHES _Two Natural Religions_ + EDGAR A. POE _The Lost Soul_ + JEAN PAUL RICHTER _Invisible Influences_ + CHARLOTTE BRONTE _Agnes Reef. A Tale_ + ELIZABETH B. BROWNING _To Her Husband_ + ARTEMUS WARD _In and Out of Purgatory_ + LADY BLESSINGTON _Distinguished Women_ + PROFESSOR OLMSTEAD _Locality of the Spirit World_ + ADAH ISAACS MENKEN _Hold Me Not_ + N.P. WILLIS _Off-Hand Sketches_ + MARGARET FULLER _City of Spring Garden_ + GILBERT STUART _Art Conversation_ + EDWARD EVERETT _Government_ + FREDERIKA BREMER _Flight to my Starry Home_ + REV. LYMAN BEECHER _The Sabbath--Its Uses_ + PROF. GEORGE BUSH _Life and Marriage in Spirit Life_ + JUNIUS BRUTUS BOOTH _Acting by Spirit Influence_ + REV. JOHN WESLEY _Church of Christ_ + N. P. WILLIS _A Spirit Revisiting Earth_ + ALLAN CUNNINGHAM _Alone_ + BARON VON HUMBOLDT _The Earthquake_ + SIR DAVID BREWSTER _Naturalness of Spirit Life_ + H.T. BUCKLE _Mormons_ + W.E. BURTON _Drama in Spirit Life_ + CHAS. L. ELLIOTT _Painting in Spirit Life_ + COMEDIAN’S POETRY _Rollicking Song_ + LADY HESTER STANHOPE _Prophecy_ + PROFESSOR MITCHELL _The Planets_ + DR. JOHN W. FRANCIS _Causes of Disease and Insanity_ + ADELAIDE PROCTER _The Spirit Bride_ + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + +_BY THE EDITOR_. + + +In placing before the public a work with such novel and extraordinary +demands upon its consideration, a few explanatory words seem +appropriate. + +Its title and contents will doubtless at first sight cause a smile of +incredulity, and will be regarded by many as one of the devices which +are sometimes put forward to entrap an unsuspecting public into the +perusal of a sensational hoax. + +For a number of years past the community has been surprised with +accounts of most incredible marvels; and from time to time the press +has reported various phenomena in connection with an _unrecognized +force and intelligence,_ as occurring in almost every locality +throughout the habitable globe. + +These phenomena are thought by many to be mere illusions, and by some +attributed to peculiar electrical conditions; while others seek their +solution in an abnormal state of the brain; and others still believe +them dependent on an actual intercourse between mortals and those who +have passed beyond the grave. + +Having become interested in this mysterious and exciting subject, and +finding the means at hand for testing the various phenomena, I resolved +to undertake a series of experiments, with the hope of exposing a +delusion, if such it were, or perchance, of clearing up a mystery +which, by the magnitude and importance it has already assumed, is +disturbing the foundations of old beliefs and steadily diffusing it’s +theories and doctrines into the very heart of society. + +Among other expedients to attain this end (assuming the hypothesis +that spirits of the departed were in a condition to communicate with +mortals), I interrogated, through the instrumentality of a clairvoyant +gifted with the remarkable power of passing at will into an unconscious +or trance state, the spirits of a number of well-known individuals +concerning their views and sentiments in their present state of +existence. + +In response to my questions, an intelligent answer was received from +the Countess Ossoli (Margaret Fuller), with the assurance that my +desire was apprehended and would receive the hearty co-operation of +those to whom it was addressed. + +The process by which the papers were given was that of dictation +through the clairvoyant while in an abnormal or trance condition and +with her eyes closed. The matter was written in pencil as it fell from +her lips, and subsequently transcribed for the press. + +The difficulties attending the transmission of ideas through the medium +of another mind, even under ordinary circumstances, must be apparent +to all, and the unprejudiced reader may readily perceive obstacles to +the literal reproduction of their respective styles and language by the +various contributors. + +Yet, notwithstanding the impediments to felicity of expression, I feel +assured that persons at all familiar with the characteristics of the +originals will readily perceive a marked resemblance in style to that +of the authors named. + +In the delivery of the articles, their composers would usually assume +or personate their own individual characteristics; thus, Artemus Ward’s +conversation and gestures were exceedingly ludicrous. He was the very +personification of mirth, occasionally going to the wall and humorously +“chalking out” his designs. Archbishop Hughes expressed himself in +a quiet, earnest, and eloquent manner. Lady Blessington was full of +vivacity, and Margaret Fuller was our Presiding Angel; while Booth +would become vehement to an intense degree, and at times would mount +some article of furniture in the room, becoming passionately eloquent, +as if again upon the “mimic stage of life.” + +An intelligent public will perceive the mental effort incident upon +the production of a series of articles so unusually varied; embracing +the distinctive qualities of Philosophy, Science, Religion, Political +Economy, Government, Satire, Humor, Poetry, Fiction, Narrative, Art, +Astronomy, etc., etc.; and the query has fitly been advanced,--what +mind, in the exercise of its normal functions,--has furnished a +consecutive number of essays so surprising in novelty, so diverse +in sentiment, so consistent in treatment, and so forcibly original, +as those embraced in this volume? What intellect so versatile as to +reproduce in song and narrative the characteristic styles of so many, +and yet so dissimilar authors? + +In designating the locality of the Second Life, frequent repetition of +certain terms, such as spirit world, etc., were unavoidable. For weeks +and months the unseen visitors were punctual to their appointments, +and this novel mode of book-making proceeded steadily in interest and +variety until the volume was completed. + +The work is now inscribed to a discriminating public, with a lively +confidence that the advanced intelligence and freedom of the age will +yield it an ingenuous reception. + +HENRY J. HORN. + +NEW YORK, _October 1st_, 1869. + + + + +STRANGE VISITORS. + + + + +HENRY J. RAYMOND. + +_TO THE NEW YORK PUBLIC_. + + +I have often thought that if it should ever be my privilege to become +a ghost I would enlighten the poor, benighted denizens of the earth as +to how _I did it_, and give a more definite account of what I should +see, and the transformation that would befall me, than either Benjamin +Franklin or George Washington had been able to do in the jargon that +had been set before me by Spiritualists as coming from those worthies. + +“Stuff!” I have exclaimed again and again, after looking over spirit +communications and wondering why a man should become so stilted because +he had lost his avoirdupoise. + +The opportunity which I boasted I would not let slip has arrived. The +public must judge of how I avail myself of this ghostly power. + +Now and then I was troubled with strange misgivings about the future +life. I had a hope that man might live hereafter, but death was a +solemn fact to me, into whose mystery I did not wish too closely to pry. + +“Presentiments,” as the great English novelist remarks, “are strange +things.” That connection with some coming event which one feels like a +shadowy hand softly touching him, is inexplicable to most men. + +I remember to have felt several times in my life undefined +foreshadowings of some future which was to befall me; and just previous +to my departure from earth, as has been generally stated in the +journals of the day, I experienced a similar sensation. An awful blank +seemed before me--a great chasm into which I would soon be hurled. This +undefined terror took no positive shape. + +After the death of my son I felt like one who stood upon a round ball +which rolled from under him and left him nowhere. + +The sudden death of James Harper added another shock to that which +I had already felt. I did not understand then, though I have since +comprehended it, that I was like some great tree, rooted in the ground, +which could not be dragged from the earth in which it was buried until +it had received some sudden blow to loosen its hold and make its grip +less tenacious. + +But in the very midst of these feelings I sought the society of +friends, and endeavored around the social board to exhilarate my senses +and drown these undesirable fancies. + +Life seemed more secure among friends, but death was not to be dodged. +It caught me unarmed and alone at midnight in the very doorway of my +house. + +I had crossed the threshold, and remember trying to find the stairs +and being seized with a dizziness. The place seemed to spin around and +I felt that I was falling. Next, a great weight seemed to press me +down like some horrid nightmare. I endeavored to groan, to cry out and +struggle from under it, but it held me fast. After this I seemed to be +falling backward through a blackness--an inky blackness. It came close +to me, and pressed close upon my lips and my eyes. It smothered me; I +could not breathe. + +Then ensued a struggle within me such as Lazarus might have felt when +he endeavored to break through his grave cerements. It was frightful, +that effort for mastery! + +I understand it now. It was the soul fighting its way into birth as a +spiritual being, like a child fighting its way out of its mother’s womb. + +I remember feeling faint and confused after that, like one who has long +been deprived of food. An unconsciousness stole over me for a moment, +from which I was awakened by a sudden burst of light. I seemed to open +my eyes upon some glorious morning. I felt an arm around me; I turned +and met the smiling face of my son. I thought myself in a dream, and +yet I was filled with awe. + +I had a consciousness that some strange transformation had taken place. +My son’s voice murmured in my ear, “Father, go with me now.” As he +spoke, his voice sounded like the vibration of distant bells. When he +touched me a fire seemed to thrill through my veins. I felt like a boy; +a wild, prankish sensation of freedom possessed me. My body lay upon +the ground. I laughed at it; I could have taken it and tossed it in the +air. + +“Come, let’s go,” said I; “don’t stay here.” + +My chief desire was to get out of the house. Like a boy who must fly +his kite, out I would go. I feared I might be caught and taken back if +I did not hasten, and moved toward the door. The seams of that door, +which I had always thought well joined, seemed now to stand twelve +inches or more apart. Every atom of that wood which had appeared so +solid to me was now more porous than any sponge or honey-comb. Out +we went through the crevice. A party of men were standing upon the +doorsteps. One put forth his hand to grasp mine. I laughed aloud when I +recognized the person as James Harper! Another was Richmond; another, +one of my associates in the editorial corps. I was perfectly amazed, +and set up a hilarious shout, which they echoed in great glee. We +started forth, a convivial party. The atmosphere hung in heavy masses +around the houses, like the morning mists about the base of a mountain. + +We did not walk on the ground; the air was solid enough to bear us. I +felt that we were rising above the city. My senses seemed magnified. +The comprehension of all I did was very acute. We kept along the +earth’s atmosphere for quite a distance. + +“Let us sail out,” said I, at last. + +“We cannot yet; we must wait till we reach the current. If we go +outside of that, we may be lost in the intense cold and the poisonous +gases, or we may be swallowed up in the vortex of some flaming comet,” +answered my wise companions. + +The statement looked very reasonable, so I allowed myself to be +guided and we soon found ourselves in a great belt of light of a pale +rose-color, in which we sailed seemingly without any effort, moving +the hands and arms at times and at other times folding them across our +breasts. + +As we advanced the channel in which we moved increased in depth and +brilliancy of color, and I grew more and more exhilarated. Finally we +paused and commenced to descend. The air was very luminous, radiating +and scintillating like the flashing of diamonds, and so electric that +the concussion of sound vibrated like the peal from some distant organ. + +Looking down through the glittering atmosphere that surrounded me, I +perceived what appeared to be the uplifting peak of a mountain. A halo +of light rested upon its summit, and we seemed drawn toward it with a +gentle force. + +This mountain, I was informed, was one of a magnetic chain which belts +the spirit world. In color and material it was like an opal. + +I was told that a peculiar sympathy existed between it and the human +spirit. When individuals on earth are in juxtaposition with this +mountain they feel a strange yearning for the spirit home. + +Now then the mysterious riddle is solved, thought I; and this must be +the spiritual north pole! + +We soon stood upon _terra-firma_, if these translucent rocks could +be called _terra-firma_ which rose in glittering and polished peaks +all around us. They were wonderfully iridescent, so that no bed of +gorgeously-colored flowers could have filled the eye with a greater +variety of tints. + +A few steps around a projecting bluff brought us within sight of what +appeared to me a magnificent palace of alabaster. This palace I soon +learned was a hotel, or place of resort for travellers. + +In ascending its polished steps I was met by some half dozen persons +whom I had known. You may be sure a wonderful handshaking ensued. We +remained here but a few moments, partook of refreshments, and then +proceeded to the court-yard, where I was told a car awaited to carry us +to our destination. + +The car seemed to be a frame-work, apparently of silver wire. We now +comfortably seated ourselves, when two large wings struck out from it +like those of some great condor. We moved rapidly over the acclivity. +This is a new way of crossing the mountains, thought I; I will have to +introduce it in the Sierra Nevada and Colorados. + +I inquired how the machine was propelled, and was informed, “Simply by +a chemical arrangement similar to your galvanic battery.” + +You may conceive my astonishment when we descended into a park of a +vast city. + +“My God!” exclaimed I, “it cannot be that I am in the spirit world! +Why, look at the houses and churches, and temples! What magnificent +buildings!” But I must say the material alone struck me as something +sublime and unearthly. So transparent and rich in color, reflecting +light as if through a veil or mist! “This caps all,” said I, as doctors +and lawyers, artists and authors, whom I had known, stepped up to greet +me, smiling and full of life. “Why, how is this?” “Is this you?” “Where +did you come from?” Questions like these came from all sides. Francis +and Brady, Willis, Morris, and a host of New Yorkers who had slipped +out of sight and almost out of mind, now gathered around me as if by +miracle. I rubbed my eyes in wonder. Spying Brown, I cried out, “Why, +how is this, Brown? It can’t be that I am in heaven! Do you have such +things here? Houses, stores, and works of art on every side?” + +“Yes; people must live,” said he, “wherever they be.” + +“And are men here the same, with all their faculties?” I asked. + +“Yes; why not? Have you any you’d like to lose?” + +I shook my head and walked on absorbed in thought. And are all our +paraphernalia for funerals, our solemn black, and our long prayers but +useless ceremonies? Why, according to this, the beliefs of the Chinese, +Hottentot, African, and Indian are nearer the truth than our civilized +creeds! + +I find that there are few things in which society in this world so much +differs from that of earth as in its social and political arrangements. + +All the great system of living for appearances, and the habit of +self-deception whereby men live outwardly what their secret lives +disavow, are here entirely done away with. + +In the first place the marriage relations differ materially from those +of earth, and no false sentiment nor custom, nor religious belief, +holds together as companions those who are dissimilar in their nature. +Neither do men crucify their tastes and feelings from a mistaken idea +of duty. + +The miseries and disasters which are attendant on a life on earth they +view as a parent would view the whooping-cough or scarlatina which +afflict the body of his child--as necessary steps toward his growth and +progress from youth to manhood. + +A remarkable instance of this came under my own observation. You +remember that the singular and sudden death of Abraham Lincoln was a +matter of surprise to us. We could not see the purpose of an all-wise +Providence in this sudden closing of an eventful career. It was +discussed in every newspaper in the land, and the conclusion was that +the Creator had some special purpose in his removal, and this we all +believed. + +But here the enigma is solved. + +Standing face to face and walking side by side, as I have done for the +last few days with this man, raised as some suppose for the special +purpose of freeing the slave--a martyr for principle--I find that he +enjoys as a good joke, this martyrdom, and I have also ascertained the +solemn fact that he was removed, not by God, but by spirit politicians, +God’s agents. + +And the state of the case is this: the Southern rebels, hot-blooded +and revengeful, who were arriving daily by scores and hundreds, in +the spirit world, finding their cause discomfited and worsted, became +mutinous. They were too raw and new to fall into the harmony of the +spirit life, and they threatened a second war in Heaven; a war which +those young Lucifers would have waged with terrific power. + +To quell this disturbance and produce a counteraction, it was necessary +that one whom they looked upon as the great leader of the Northern +cohorts should be withdrawn from the post which he occupied. + +A man of calm, dispassionate judgment, not vindictive, who could hold +the reins with a firm hand, yet look with a lenient eye on the follies +which he did not share, was needed in the spirit world, and that man +was Abraham Lincoln. + +When those young Southern bloods had conspired with their co-patriot to +his downfall, had instigated and accomplished his assassination, and +when he appeared in their midst, the simple, unaffected, _uncrafty_ man +that he was, a revulsion of feeling immediately took place. + +The liberal party in the spirit world, friends to humanity and +progress, could have prevented his removal had they wished; but not +desiring to do so, they prepared his mind by dreams and visions for +what was about to take place. + +For a short time in the spirit world he held the position of +Pacificator and chief ruler over that portion of the American, spirit +world represented by the North and South. + +But after averting this peril, which would have involved the States in +anarchy and war such as they had not yet experienced, he retired to +private life. + +Another instance, proving that the inhabitants of the spirit world, +like their great prototype, the Creator, do not look at immediate +distress, but at the advantages that may accrue therefrom, presents +itself in my removal from the sphere in which I had probably worked out +all that would be useful to humanity. + +Like a _chargé d’affaires_ called back to Washington because he can +fill a better post, so I, through the solicitations of relatives and +fellow-citizens who have preceded me to this new world, was called here +for the purpose of editing a journal and assisting in ameliorating the +condition of the inhabitants of the Southern States, and also to use my +influence in the Congress and Senate at Washington toward producing a +better comprehension of their needs. + +I have one thing to say to my brother journalist, Horace Greeley, and +that is that the Utopian ideas which have for so many years formed the +principal topic of his radical sheet are here put in operation. + +Each one seems desirous of cooperating with his neighbor, and people +of like tastes and feelings associate together and live in vast +communities or cities. They do not settle down to one routine, as they +do with you. The cost of travelling depending chiefly on the will +and energy of the individual, the inhabitants are ever in motion, +ever ready for a change, if wisdom or pleasure should dictate it. +The condition of the common people is vastly improved, and America +has been the chief agent in placing the lower classes in a condition +which adapts them to a higher spiritualized life. I say lower classes, +because under the system of monarchical governments, the peasants and +laborers of Europe have been kept in a state of besotted ignorance, +developing chiefly in the animal propensities, and not fitting +themselves for the higher enjoyments of the spirit life. + +Finding that the spirit world was likely to be overrun by this class of +ignorant and superstitions people, its wise rulers have instigated the +legislators of the United States to provide means for the education and +development of these lower classes of society. + +It is only by assimilating with those of a higher intellectual +development that the ignorant become enlightened, and America, in +throwing down all barriers to political and social advancement, has +been the chief instrument of lifting the great mass of humanity to +a position of power in the spirit world; still there are crowds of +beings, ignorant and superstitious, who enter the spirit world, and +their intellects can only be unfolded by the labor and guidance of some +master mind. + +I was surprised to find that physical labor here, as on earth, was +one of the chief means employed to assist in mental growth; and I +found swarms of English, Irish, and German people happily at work, +cultivating the land and erecting houses for themselves and others, and +assisting in the great machinery of life, which here, as in the other +world, revolves its constant round. + +I had nearly forgotten to mention that since leaving your world I +returned on one occasion to attend a _séance_, as it is termed, for +physical manifestations, and had the pleasure of seeing how our +chemists combine from the elements the semblance of the human form. I +had been interested when on earth in an experiment recently made by +scientific men, whereby, through a peculiar combination of metals, +a flame is caused to assume the shapes of flowers, leaves, fishes, +and reptiles, apparently developed from the air, and I discovered an +intelligent solution of the remarkable experiment in the manifestations +I witnessed at this _séance_. + +It appears that every particle in nature throws off a gaseous +emanation, partaking of its particular shape. These gaseous particles +are not discernible with the material eye, excepting when by chance +they coalesce, and then a phosphorescent light ensues, which renders +them apparent. + +A similar effect to this is seen in electricity, which lies latent and +viewless till by a sudden coalescing of its parts it manifests itself +in zigzag lines and flashes of light which illuminate the heavens. + +Now certain material bodies have the power of drawing those atoms in +close affinity, and when they are thus drawn, the shapes alluded to are +clearly discernible by the human eye. + +I discovered another fact, and that is that every human being emits a +light, and in the case of those called “mediums,” it is intense like +the Drummond light, and a spirit standing in its rays will become +visible to mortal sight. + +These experiments interested me highly, as they had been heretofore +inexplicable to my mind. + +_Apropos_ of the topics of to-day, I must here relate what I have heard +of the “Lord Byron scandal,” which is creating so marked a sensation +at present. I am told by Byron and others that Lady Byron, recently +arriving in the spirit world and finding matters very different from +what she had expected, and that she was received nowhere as the wife of +Lord Byron (who having resided there some thirty years had formed a new +and happy alliance), was stung with jealousy and vexation and hastened +to inspire Mrs. Stowe to repeat the story which had become a matter of +faith with her, hoping thereby to inflict a punishment on Byron, who +ignored his relation to her. + +If she had waited until she had resided a little longer in spirit life +she would not have pursued so foolish a course. But I must bring this +long letter to a close, assuring my friends that I have the prospect of +as active a life before me as the one I have just closed on earth. + + + + +MARGARET FULLER. + +_LITERATURE IN SPIRIT LIFE_. + + +To a mind familiar with the literature of the ancient Greeks and +Romans, which has studied the Scandinavian Edda, and is intimate with +the more modern German, French, and English authors, the literature of +the spirit world opens up a mine of interminable wealth. + +The libraries in this world are vast catacombs or repositories of +buried knowledge. Here are found histories of decayed races, dynasties, +and nations which have vanished from earth, leaving scarce a monument +of their progress in art, science, and mental culture. In these +libraries the student of history will find the exploits of ancient +peoples recorded, and a description of their cities, with the temples +and towers which they built and the colossal images which they created. + +I own to the surprise which I experienced when I discovered that +printed books were a part of the treasures of the spirit world. But +the scholar will rejoice as I did to find the literary productions of +remotest ages garnered in the spacious halls of science that adorn our +cities. + +It is a principle of being--a condition of immortality--as inseparable +from spirit existence as from earth life, that thought should express +itself in external forms. Even the Great Spirit, the Creator of all, +gives shape to his thoughts in the formation of trees, flowers, men, +beasts, and myriad worlds with their constant motion, their sound and +song. + +It has been aptly said that the “stars are the poetry of God.” He, the +Great Spirit of all, writes his thoughts legibly; and so man, like his +originator, whether living in the natural body or existing as a spirit, +gives outward shape to his ideas; hence books become a necessity of +spirit existence, and the writers from earth have still a desire to +perpetuate their thoughts. + +Oral communication is too evanescent, and therefore the dear old books +still find a place in the spheres. + +There are various modes of making these volumes, and the writer may +become his own printer. + +Some authors prefer to dictate, and a little instrument marks off the +variations of sound which make the word, and thus, as he speaks, the +word is impressed on the sheet. + +Others, if the thought be clear and distinct enough, and the will +sufficiently under abeyance, act through the mind upon a conductor, +which dots down the thought in a manner somewhat similar to telegraphic +printing. + +The material used to receive the impression is of a soft, vellum-like +nature, which can be folded up in any manner without destroying its +form; it is very light and thin, but opaque, like the creamy petals of +a lily. + +The phonetic alphabet is used extensively, though we have many books +printed in the mode usually adopted on earth. + +All nature is constantly changing and progressing. The bards who sang +upon the earth centuries ago--Homer, Virgil, the Greek and Roman, the +Celtic and Saxon writers of old--have passed beyond the spirit sphere +which I inhabit to a spirit planet still more refined, and have left +behind only the records of their strange experience. + +The eighteenth century cannot walk side by side with the third or +fourth century more readily in the spirit world than on earth. + +The character of the spirit literature of the present day is +essentially scientific and explorative. We have in our world, as you +have in yours, intrepid travellers--learned men, who make voyages to +almost inaccessible planets--and they return even as those of earth, +with sketches and graphic outlines of the strange sights they have +witnessed; and those less venturesome who remain at home are as anxious +as your citizens might be to hear accounts of wonderful regions that +have been visited. And such books of travel are sought eagerly. + +We have but few works on theology; the nature and essence of God is +discussed with us, but not so elaborately as with you. + +Spirits who have passed into a second life have so nearly approached +the mystery of a Divine Being that they do not desire to debate the +subject. + +A large proportion of our writers are devoted to what you would here +term transcendental thought, a kind of literature which lies between +poetry and music, which awakens a feeling of ecstasy, and gives, as it +were, wings to the soul. + +The poets who sang upon earth during the last century, of whom Shelly, +Keats, and Byron are an English type, and Halleck, Pierrepont, Dana, +and Willis the American representatives, are among the most inspired +and far-reaching of our present writers of poetry and song. + +Our literature has one great advantage over that of earth, in that our +separate nationalities become merged in one grand unit. We do not need +translators, as we have adopted a universal written language. There +are some writers who still retain, as I have said, the modes adopted +on earth, but those who have been resident any length of time in the +spirit sphere employ the plan of writing by signs, which are understood +and acknowledged by every nationality. + +I should like, in closing, to introduce an extract from an old volume +which I found in a library in the city of Spring Garden. + +It was written by Addison during his sojourn in that city, in the +year 1720, and is in the form of a letter, supposed to be written to +a friend on earth. In it he essays to portray the expansion of mind +he has experienced in his new home through the magnetic influence of +thought language: + +“Behold the far off luminary suspended millions and billions and +trillions of miles in space; then turn the eye yonder and see that +infinitesimal point of vegetation, earth--a speck, countless multitudes +of which heaped and piled together would form but a point compared with +that majestic sun! + +“Yet behold it move and expand beneath the long fibrous rays which that +effulgent orb sends down through so many billions of miles to the place +of its minute existence. Even as that poor little existence shoots out +its fibres to meet those rays which have travelled such great lengths, +so a spirit in the spheres feels the quickening, effulgent rays thrown +out by the brain of some prophet or poet existing millions and billions +and trillions of miles away on some distant spirit planet, and his +thought expands and enlarges beneath the warming action of that far-off +brain, until it assumes a shape and form which its own emulation never +prophesied.” + + + + +BYRON. + +_TO HIS ACCUSERS_. + + +I. + + My soul is sick of calumny and lies: + Men gloat on evil--even woman’s hand + Will dabble in the mire, nor heed the cries + Of the poor victim whom she seeks to brand + In thy sweet name, Religion, through the land! + Like the keen tempest she doth strip her prey, + Tossing him bare and wrecked upon the strand, + While vaunting her misdeeds before the day, +Bearing a monument which crumbles like the clay. + +II. + + My sister, have I lived to see thy name + Dishonored? Thou, who wast my pride, my stay; + Shall Jealousy and Fraud thy love defame + And I be dumb? Just Heaven, let a ray + From thy majestic light illume earth’s clay,[A] + That through her I may scorch the slander vile, + And light throughout the land a torch to-day, + Which shall reveal how false and full of guile +Are they who seek thy name, Augusta, to defile. + +[Footnote A: The Clairvoyant.] + +III. + + She who has borne my title and my name, + In deeds fraternal saw some monster crime; + To her base level sought my heart to tame, + Made mock of each aspiring thought sublime, + And sought to bury me beneath the slime + Of her imaginings. All--all are gone + Who could defend me. From the grave of time + I am unearth’d--by sland’rous miscreants torn, +And rise to feel again the ills I once have borne. + +IV. + + Is this a Christian deed, to flaunt a vice, + And with another’s failings gild your own? + To hearken to the whisperings and device + Of old age, selfish, to suspicion grown? + To misconstrue each friendly look--each tone-- + And out of natural love create vile lust? + Must brother’s heart his very kin disown, + While rudest hand disturbs her mouldering dust? +Is this a Christian deed? Shall mankind call it just? + +V. + + But let that pass. I hear a nation’s voice + Raised to defend the absent, wronged child; + My hopes and aims were high, albeit my choice + Was fixed on one who felt not for my wild + And wayward nature; one who never smiled + On imperfection. From my home of light + Unscathed, I see life’s blackening billows piled, + Ready to sweep the daring soul from sight, +Sinking his name and memory in darkest night. + +VI. + + I rise again above the woes of earth, + Like unchained bird, seeking my native air. + Men seldom see their fellow-creatures’ worth, + But blot sweet nature’s page, however fair. + Away, my soul, and seek thy nobler state, + Where loving angels breathe their softest prayer, + Where sweetest seraphs for thy coming wait, +And ne’er suspicion’s breath can pass the Golden Gate. + + + + +NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE. + +_APPARITIONS_. + + +Returning one evening from a visit to a friend on earth, I was impelled +to take a route with which I was unfamiliar. It led me far beyond +the habitations of the city, into an open country whose surface was +diversified by sloping hills and broad valleys. + +The sun was quite low in the horizon, and dark purple clouds, gathering +in the west, indicated an approaching storm. Anxious to reach my +spirit-home before such an event, I was nevertheless compelled to keep +within the earth’s atmosphere. + +The aspect of the country became more uneven as I advanced, and the +disappearing sun threw out the hills in cold blue relief against the +evening sky. One peak to the northward stood high and isolated from +the surrounding hills, and was crowned by a spacious dwelling house; +the high peaked roof and dark gloomy color of its exterior comported +strangely with the landscape. + +To this building an unseen influence drew me. As I approached nearer +I discovered the figure of a man walking with restless step upon +the piazza which surrounded the dwelling. At times he would suspend +his walk, and crouch, shuddering as with fear, against the shadowed +balustrade. His face was of ashy paleness, and his hair, black as +night, fell in neglected masses around his head. His eyes were bright +and glassy, and their expression frightful to look upon. + +Unconscious of my proximity, he arose from his crouching position, +stood for a moment irresolute, and then walked up to the heavy oaken, +door and knocked. + +Presently the door was opened by a lady; she looked out, but could see +no one. “It must have been the wind,” said she, shuddering slightly, +and drawing her shawl closely around her, was about to close the door. +But before she could accomplish her purpose the unseen guest had +entered, with myself following closely behind, hoping to give comfort +where it appeared most sorely needed. + +Up a broad staircase he ascended and at a chamber door he paused--then +entered. I followed. His presence seemed to cause the very furniture to +shake and rattle. + +“Here,” thought I, “I will solve the enigma. Here, without doubt, has +occurred some grand disturbance of nature. The walls of this apartment, +its casements, its decorations, have been witness to some fell crime. +The spectre of evil impresses itself upon matter.” + +While reflecting upon this wonderful law, which all my life I had +perceived dimly, I observed with care the evidently unhappy man. A +bedstead of rich workmanship occupied one side of the apartment. +Rushing toward it he burst forth in a cry of frenzy, swaying his hands +fearfully and ejaculating and groaning in most piteous accents. + +At this juncture steps were heard outside ascending the stairs, and +several members of the household entered, bearing lights. They looked +about the room, at first timidly; then, gathering courage, peered under +the bed, opened closets, and scrutinized every nook and corner of the +apartment. Foiled in their efforts to discover the inmate they turned +to each other with amazement. + +“I am positive the sounds came from this room,” said one. “There is no +one to be seen here,” replied another; “what can it mean?” + +The culprit stood in the corner, gesticulating violently, but they with +their mortal eyes could not see him. They passed close to him, but +their lighted candles could not reveal the shadowless! + +Having satisfied themselves that the room was tenantless, they +departed. Then I approached the unhappy wretch: + +“Friend,” said I, “let me aid you. Unburden your woo to me; I too have +suffered and am not without sin.” + +Casting his eyes upon me now for the first time, the man scowled with +dogged sullenness, and said: + +“I want no help.” + +“Nay,” said I, “your looks belie your words; come, go with me to my +quiet cottage; there you shall refresh yourself; you shall sleep +to-night in peace.” + +“Peace!” he repeated scornfully. “I know no peace; nor can I leave this +spot till every eye beholds the horrid deed that I committed here.” + +“Friend,” said I, “tell me the nature of your crime; reveal to me your +secret and your heart will be lighter for it.” + +“Ha! ha!” he answered, his voice dying away in a low wail. “Look upon +that wall opposite the bed; it will speak better than I can.” I looked, +and beheld a faint photograph or impression of the couch, with its +handsome drapery. Upon it reclined the figure of a female, and bending +over her appeared the form of a man, whose livid face and black, +disordered hair I recognized as an unmistakable reflection of the +unfortunate man before me. + +“You see that ‘the very stones cry out against me,’” said he. “Every +night for two years have I enacted that same scene, and I am held by +some unseen, influence to this baneful spot.” + +“Tell me your story,” said I; “hide nothing--I am your friend.” + +He ran his thin fingers through his tangled hair, and with a voice +husky with emotion answered: + +“I will tell you. Some years ago, when a young man, haughty and +passionate, I had the misfortune to love a girl whose youth and beauty +proved my bane, and in a moment of recklessness I married her. In her +nature were mingled the qualities of the serpent and the dove. She was +my inferior, and I could not own her outwardly nor inwardly as my wife; +but, unhappily for the peace of both, I could not rid myself of her. I +gave her money, but it availed not; she was ignorant, and persisted in +following me.” Here the man looked around with a nervous air, as if he +expected to see the unwelcome face peering at him through the shadows. + +“To avoid her,” he continued, “I secretly purchased this dwelling, +remote from the place of her abode. There I lived for a brief time, +happy; a new life with loftier purposes dawned upon me; I formed +another attachment--a higher and more noble one. + +“One evening as I was walking upon the balcony thinking of my new-found +joys, a figure came creeping up through the shrubbery towards me. To my +amazement it proved to be the girl who claimed me. + +“When I saw her, rage entered my heart, and I felt as if I could +annihilate her. But, suppressing all show of feeling, I went with her +into the house, and appointed her this room for the night. A demoniac +idea had presented itself to my mind; it came unsought, but under the +excitement of the moment it seemed like a good angel of deliverance. + +“To further this idea, I lay down beside her. Presently she fell into +a light slumber. At first a slight expression of pleasure played upon +her lips, but ere long the fatigue of her journey overcame her, and she +slept heavily. + +“Then,” said he, his countenance assuming a convulsive and ghastly +aspect, “I arose on tiptoe, and collecting the heavy comforters and +large downy pillows of the bed, I deliberately piled them on her one +upon the other, and pressing them down with all my gathered force, I +stifled her in her sleep! + +“No cry, no groan from my victim betrayed the unhallowed deed, and +before the first dawn of day I was driving furiously over the road to +the river’s bank, from which into the watery depth below I threw this +millstone of my life. + +“When I drove back the morning had dawned. The daylight seemed to pry +into the secrets of the past night. I would fain shun it--the garish +light disturbed me. The morning sun, which had ever been my delight, +seemed now a mocking imp of curiosity; the house and grounds looked +bare and desolate; a blight had fallen upon their former comeliness. + +“A strange fascination again drew me into the chamber which had been +the scene of my crime. When there I re-enacted the last night’s work. +The bed and furniture seemed to come toward me and taunt me with the +fell crime I had committed. ‘I was justified in the act,’ said I to +these dumb accusers, as though they had been, living witnesses. ‘She +was the bane of my existence.’ And with cunning precision I arranged +the disordered room, smoothed the pillows, and levelled the coverlet. +‘The dead cannot speak,’ said I. ‘This thing is hidden.’ + +“After this performance I went forth, hoping by a sharp walk to drown +the memory of the momentary deed. I passed through the garden and +reached the sloping hill. There, where the low fence joined the open +road, I was met by the lady whom I loved. She was taking the morning +air, and with her smiling face seemed drinking in its balmy freshness. + +“‘You look ill,’ said she, with a pitying glance. ‘See what I have +brought for you,’ and she held forth a newly-plucked bouquet of flowers. + +“I took the proffered blossoms hurriedly, dreading to meet her clear +eye, which I felt must surely read my guilt. Burying the flowers in my +breast, and with an effort to smile that sickened me, I bowed low to +the ground and hurried on. + +“When beyond her sight I drew the nosegay from its hiding place--it was +withered as if scorched by a burning heat! Upon looking closer at this +strange phenomena, I beheld, to my horror, in dim outline, the face of +the murdered! Whence came the impression? Had my riotous heart burnt +the secret upon those blushing petals? + +“Frantically I tore open my shirt, when lo! upon my breast I beheld +imprinted a picture of the direful deed--seared in by rays more potent +than the sun’s--photographed there, as if by the lightning’s fierce +stroke! + +“Presently a band of children on their way to school overtook me, and +began to whisper to each other as they passed. I saw that they looked +at me with suspicion in their eyes. ‘They too can see the brand,’ +thought I; ‘they are mouthing about it now.’ + +“Urged to desperation, I plunged into a thicket near by. Amid a group +of trees in its centre, one lifted itself higher and straighter than +its companions. Upon its topmost branch, as I chanced to lift my eyes, +I beheld to my terror the woman whom I had sent into eternity, looking +down upon me with scoffs and grimaces! + +“The ghostly apparition wrought me to frenzy. In hot haste I climbed +the tree. Its straight, smooth sides, under ordinary circumstances +would have proved a barrier to my efforts, but in my excitement they +formed no obstacle. Reaching the top, I endeavored to grasp her. +Stretching out my arms and clasping frantically the air, I fell dead to +the ground. + +“Thus was I born into the spirit world. The idea that last possessed me +on earth, first possessed me in the spirit life. + +“No mortal man can describe the horror I experienced on finding myself +in the midst of a boundless space, face to face with mine enemy. Her +narrow intellect and strong animal nature seemed to have expanded, +even as I have seen the face of a child expand from pleasing infancy +into idiotic youth. This animal part of her immortality roused my +ire--struck some savage chord in my nature--and I rose up like a wild +beast to attack her; but the creature laughed and jeered at my vain +efforts. She led me thus, in fruitless pursuit, further and further +into space; inciting me on by her taunts and ringing laugh, until I +found myself in a dark and noisome pit, when she suddenly vanished. + +“Ignorant of the peculiarities of spirit condition, I could not grope +my way out of this place, which appeared to me a very hell. I wandered +in this gloomy labyrinth, breathing the foul air, and uttering fearful +cries which struck my ears with anguish. Black, threatening shapes +appeared to stand in the intricate windings of that gloomy cavern, +ready to seize me if I dared to essay my escape. When my agony had +reached its utmost bounds of endurance, I felt myself growing strangely +light, and like some thin vapor I ascended to the mouth of the pit and +made my exit into the outer air. + +“The place I then discovered to be merely a cavern or deserted mine, +but to my unhappy condition of mind it had appeared as the home of the +damned. + +“Out into space again, I saw afar off, as across the continent, the +dwelling where I had passed the last days of my eventful life. A +current of air like the shock from an electric wire carried me back to +the spot. + +“Returned to the scene of my crime, I became possessed with the desire +to expose to view the deed I had committed, and to reveal my villany +to the community. For two weary years I have hovered around this place +for that purpose; but I have failed hitherto, as you have seen me fail +to-night.” + +As he finished his narrative I observed he seemed about to relax into +a morbid condition again. To prevent this, I seized him kindly by the +shoulder and exclaimed, “Friend, you must come with me. Your life, +your future welfare is imperiled. You are like one shut up in a vault, +breathing his own exhalations. You do not understand the science of +mind.” + +“The science of mind?” said he. “What have I to do with that? ’Tis the +curse of Cain resting upon me. I cannot undo the evil that I have done. +I am an outcast!” + +“The wrong you have done,” said I, “becomes doubly, trebly magnified +by thus living it over day by day. You have committed a crime. Do you +wish to perpetuate that crime? You pursue the very course to make it +permanent and enduring. Mind acts upon matter and matter reacts upon +mind. You have made the house a partner to the deed you have committed +by constantly associating it with the act. You have tainted its walls +and poisoned it within and without. + +“It becomes sentient and reacts upon you. It becomes a magnet, a +loadstone to draw you. Your constant habit of associating it in your +mind with the past, creates around it an atmosphere which is a part of +your being and welds you to it, so that you, the house, and the deed, +become one mighty monster, inseparable. The idea that you can expiate +the deed by this self-torture is vain. You can neither confer good upon +yourself nor your victim. Leave off and follow me.” + +These last words seemed to have the desired effect, for he raised his +eyes with a sad smile, placed his hand in mine, and said: + +“I will go with you.” + +Happy that my efforts proved availing, I hurried on in a joyous mood, +soon rising above the earth and bearing my companion to my spirit home. + +The pure air of the fragrant fields revived him, and by the time we +arrived at my own garden-home he seemed born into a new life. + +I set him down under my arbor, now dripping with golden fruits, +and having refreshed him with cordial (angels’ food), I called his +attention to the beauties around us; the birds, the flowers, and the +luxurious growth of nature, which shed such abundance around my home. + +“See,” said I, “how nature works. If the roots of the tree meet with +obstacles they start off in another direction. They do not wind and +wind themselves around one spot. If they did death would ensue. + +“In every man’s life there are deeds to be regretted--wrongs which he +would gladly undo--but painful imaginings and fruitless remorse will +not set them right. Only by being actively engaged in some nobler +direction can atonement be made. + +“This woman, whom you have injured, is in magnetic rapport with you; +and while you are in this moody, self-denunciatory frame of mind, your +restless, unhappy condition acts upon her, preventing her from becoming +contented and happy; then her state reacts back upon you, and thus an +evil equilibrium is maintained.” + +“I see my error,” he exclaimed. “Tell me what to do and I will do it.” + +It was arranged that he should remain with me. We worked together; he +became happy and his mind no longer reverted to the past, but active +and healthful employment engaged his hours. + +When he had recovered sufficiently I took him to see his former +companion. He found her in a pleasant home, looking buoyant and happy. +All that was demoniac had vanished from her face. Surprised, he burst +into tears as he beheld her. “Weep not,” said she, “for I am happy now. +The past is forgotten.” + +They compared notes, and found that peace had entered into her soul +when he had obliterated the past from his memory and commenced his +labors in a new life. + +Thus we see that the evil passions and attributes of one nature may +awaken and kindle like passions in another, which can only be subdued +by letting them pass unnoticed, and also by arousing the higher +faculties into activity. + + + + +WASHINGTON IRVING. + +_VISIT TO HENRY CLAY_. + + +Having recovered my health after a sojourn of two weeks amid the +charming scenery of Mount Rosalia, or the “Rose-colored Mount,” I set +forth one morning, accompanied by a competent guide, to visit the home +of my friend, Henry Clay. The morning was uncommonly fine, even for the +sweet Land of the Blest, and the fragrance from the roses blooming upon +the hill-side was fairly intoxicating. + +Our phaeton was a small, white, swan-shaped carriage, ornamented with +golden designs, and propelled by a galvanic battery in the graceful +swan-head, which at my request took the place of the ordinary steed. + +This was, to me, an exceedingly novel mode of travel, which my short +sojourn in the spirit world had prevented me from before enjoying. + +We glided over the electric ground with the speed of lightning and +smooth harmony of music. The road over which we rolled was white and +lustrous as parian marble, and adorned on either side with most rare +and beautiful forms of foliage; ever and anon we passed gay cavalcades +and bands of spirits, who were evidently, from their festal garments, +and the bright emanations which they diffused through the air, bound +for some harmonial gathering on one of the numerous islands which dot +the sparkling river Washingtonia, so named after George Washington. + +The distance from the point whence I started, according to earth’s +computation, was over one hundred miles; but though I desired my guide +to move onward as slowly as possible, that I might enjoy the prospect +before me, we reached our destination in less than a quarter of an hour! + +I had received a special invitation from Henry Clay to visit him on +this occasion, as he had called together some choice friends to give +me welcome; yet, although I knew I was expected, my surprise cannot +be described upon beholding the air filled with bevies of beautiful +ladies, like radiant birds, approaching, with the sound of music and +flutter of flowers, to receive me. Thus surrounded and escorted, I was +borne to the noble palace (for such it may be justly termed) of Henry +Clay. + +The structure is of white alabaster, faced with a pale yellow +semi-transparent stone, which glistened most gorgeously. The form of +the building is unlike any order of architecture with which I had +been acquainted. The avenue by which it was approached was decorated +alternately with statues of representative Americans, and a peculiar +flowering tree, whose green leaves and yellow blossoms, of gossamer +texture, resembled the fine mist of a summer morning. Terminating, +this avenue was the main entrance, surmounted by the grand dome of +the edifice. In the rear of this rotunda, extending on either side, +appeared the main building, rising, turret on turret, like a stupendous +mountain of alabaster beaming as with soft moonlight in the clear +summer air. + +We entered by ascending a staircase composed of twelve broad steps. +And here let me pause, before recounting my interview with the +celebrated statesman, to describe the main hall, whose magnificence I, +upon entering, hastily surveyed, but which I afterward studied more +completely. The floor of this hall was formed of delicate cerulean +blue gems. From its centre sprang, like a fountain, a most wonderful +representation of a flowering plant resembling the lotus, composed +of precious and brilliant stones. The green leaves forming the base +were of transparent emerald, and the white lily which surmounted +the stem blossomed out clearer than any crystal. The yellow centre, +corresponding to the pistils, formed a divan. This beautiful ornament +was intended for the desk of the orator. The dome, which was several +hundred feet high, was open to the summer sky, and arranged in tiers +graduated one above the other. The lower tier was filled with paintings +indicating the progress of the United States of America. Surmounting +this was a gallery of small compartments, each hung with silver +and gold gauze drapery, and similar in construction to the boxes +of a theatre; these opened into halls or alleys leading to private +apartments connecting with the main building. Above these boxes were +placed artistically-carved animals, representing the native beasts of +America. Above these again, appeared groups in marble of the fruits of +the country. + +No sooner had I entered the building which I have been describing, than +a peculiar rushing sound like distant music reached my ear; on lifting +my eyes in the direction of the sound, I beheld descending through +the air the majestic form of Henry Clay. He approached with extended +hand and fascinating smile to receive me. How like and yet how unlike +the famous man I had known on earth! The gray hair of age had given +place to the abundant glossy locks of youth. The intellectual eye +beamed with a new life and his whole person sent forth an effulgence +most attractive. Those of my readers who knew him on earth will well +remember the peculiar fascination of his sphere, but they can form from +the remembrance but a slight idea of the attractive aura he sheds forth +in this existence. I immediately felt myself drawn by an invisible +power toward him. He grasped my hand with the frank cordiality and +grace of former days, and leading me thus, we arose together and, +passing through one of the arched compartments of the upper tier, +entered another portion of the building. As we moved on I seemed to +live portions of my earthly life, long past. The gorgeous and fantastic +architecture which everywhere met my eye reminded me of the halls of +the Alhambra. Swiftly passing, we emerged through a spacious arch upon +an open arbor, where were congregated the priests whom I had been +invited to meet. I started back with a shock of delight when I beheld, +in the centre of the group, the immortal figure of George Washington. +I knew him instantly, partly from the likenesses which had been extant +on earth, and partly from the noble spirit which emanated like a sun +from his person. The group parted as we entered and I immediately felt, +resting upon my shoulder like a benediction, the soft, firm hand of the +Father of his Country. “Washington!” I exclaimed, fervidly grasping his +hand. “At length we have met!” he responded, and a smile of ineffable +joy lighted his countenance. He then spoke of the many changes through +which the United States had passed since his removal to the spirit +land. I was surprised at the extent of knowledge he displayed. Not the +slightest variation in the scale of political economy had escaped his +notice. He expressed himself pleased especially at the great progress +and development of the people within the last twenty years. He alluded +to their rapid march through the western territories; the founding +of new and important States; the development of the agricultural +and mineral resources of countries supposed to be almost valueless; +of the invention and construction of machinery adapted to the wants +and necessities of those new and rapidly-increasing States. “This +marvellous growth is owing to their being essentially a mediumistic +people--is it not so?” said he, smiling and turning to the assembled +guests. “Yes, yes!” I heard repeated on all sides. On this commenced a +general conversation. I listened as one in a dream. Around me I beheld +the faces and forms of the heroes of past history, each bearing the +shape and semblance of humanity, though removed from earth millions of +miles into space. One and all emitted, like stars, their own peculiar +luminous aura. Collected in motley groups were Benjamin Franklin, John +Hancock, William Penn, Old General Jackson, John Jacob Astor, De Witt +Clinton, and many of the old Knickerbocker residents of New York; with +Sir Robert Peel, Lord Brougham, the Duke of Wellington, Hunt, Keats, +Byron, Scott, Cowper, Hume, Goethe, De Stael, Mrs. Hemans, and many +others. + +“The people of America have progressed to an astonishing degree,” said +a musical voice at my left. “We must initiate Irving into the means by +which we impart knowledge to the mediumistic nation through the Cabinet +at Washington.” + +“Certainly,” responded Henry Clay. “Let all formalities cease. We will +partake of refreshments, and then Franklin will make him acquainted +with the wonderful aids to science and humanity with which he has +supplied my residence.” + +As he ceased speaking, a shower of sound, like the music from the +ringing of innumerable crystal bells, filled the air. Accompanying +this, and apparently descending from the ceiling, a soft light of +aromatic odor diffused itself through the apartment. This was followed +by the appearance of a shining disk of amber and pearl, revolving +rapidly in its descent till it reached the congregated party. This +magic circle (which Thomas Hood, who was present, facetiously termed +the “wheel of fortune”) was supplied with refreshments truly supernal. +Here were fruits of most brilliant dyes; some of soft, pulpy flesh, +and others of the consistency of honey; some more transparent than the +diamonds of earth; others substantial, seemingly intended to supply the +demands of hunger. Here were confections resembling foam and cloud, +whose very taste was elysium. The guests ate and chatted vivaciously. I +received much information concerning the various products of this great +land which were displayed upon the table. The most luscious fruits, +I considered, both in flavor and quality, were those produced on an +island in the spirit land corresponding to your island of Cuba, which +was under the protection of a band of spirits called the “Good Sisters.” + +The company having regaled themselves at the table, arose and divided +into groups, laughing and chatting like ordinary mortals. I felt +immediately attracted to a cluster of which Benjamin Franklin was +the magnetic centre. I reminded him of the duties imposed on him by +our host, and told him playfully that I desired to investigate the +mysteries of this wonderful palace. He cordially acquiesced, and, in +company with a few friends, we commenced our explorations. I inquired +as to the construction of the table from which we had just arisen, +so superior to the cumbersome ones of earth. “It is a very simple +contrivance,” he smilingly remarked. “You observe inserted in these +twisted columns, ornamented with leaves, which support the ceiling, +an electric wire, similar to that of a telegraph. From each of these +central columns, this wire connects with the upper gallery. Here,” said +he, pointing to one of the leafy ornaments, “you perceive the means +of communicating. Unobserved by you, our gracious host touched one of +these springs which are connected with the crystal bells, and announced +to his servants his desire for refreshments.” “Servants!” exclaimed I. +“How singular! I little supposed, from the religious teachings I had +received, that there would be menials in heaven!” + +“Thee has a poor memory,” remarked William Penn, with a bright smile, +“Did not the Bible teach thee that there was an upper and a lower seat? +These servants are composed mostly of those who were held in slavery on +earth and who desire to receive instruction that they may progress in +the spheres. They are willing assistants; giving, that they may receive +in return. If thee dislike the term ‘servant,’ thee may use the term +‘friend,’ for they are friends and co-workers. Through those doors in +the gallery they bring the refreshments which they gather from the +hanging gardens without, where they live like the Peries of the East. +The luxury of the princes of earth cannot compare with the life of +enjoyment and freedom led by those whom I have termed ‘servants.’” + +I here took the opportunity to ask Franklin if it was necessary, +in communicating with absent individuals, to use those external +appliances? “Not always; thought can commune with thought if upon the +same plane; but a mind like that of our great statesman cannot readily +communicate with one whose mind on earth never rose above the domestic +affairs of life. In such cases, external means are necessary.” + +“Come,” said he, turning; “I will show you something more remarkable +than this.” So saying, he led me through an open door into one of the +spacious gardens which grace the palace on either side. We walked but +a few moments, arm in arm, over a soft velvet like lawn, of the color +of a delicate violet. Exquisite tints everywhere met my eye. The air +was like wine, and so luscious and entrancing were the surroundings +that I felt inclined to tarry, but my sage guide, calling my attention +to the majestic dome towering in the air, desired me to exert my will +to ascend. I did so, and immediately felt myself rising as if pressed +up by some elastic substance, until I reached the top. The dome, which +appeared to be composed of glass, I perceived, as I approached, was +covered with a thin web resembling that of a spider. The apex of this +dome was surmounted by a globe representing the planet earth, with its +continents and seas. Openings corresponding to the different continents +admitted persons into the globe. We entered that corresponding to +the continent of North America. Each of these entrances, I was told, +was particularly adapted to the admission of the inhabitants of the +different localities they represented. On looking down I beheld the +apartment I had first entered. It was no longer vacant--each gallery +was filled with spectators. On the lily-shaped rostrum stood Henry +Clay and George Washington--Washington speaking to the people. “You +observe,” said my guide, “a secondary stem from that lily branches +off and extends to this point. It appears to you a mere ornament, but +it transmits the thoughts and words of the speaker to the city of +Washington. Other branches, as you notice, lead in other directions. If +the speaker desires his thoughts to be transmitted to any given point, +he leans toward the stem leading to that point. This silken web which +you have admired, is a sensitive electric telegraph. It is composed of +the elements of mind; in the world you have lately inhabited it would +be intangible, but it has a subtle connection with the human brain, +and spirit thoughts directed through it go with the promptness of +electricity to their destination. Thought is electric, but its power +of transmitting itself is, like that of the human voice, limited; +the voice requires the artificial assistance of a speaking-trumpet +to throw its sound beyond the ordinary distance; thought requires a +similar artificial conductor. You remember,” said Franklin, “in my +early experiments with the kite and key, I could not obtain the spark +until I had established the necessary attraction, although the air +was filled with the electric current. So of the thought-electricity, +which is constantly flowing; we have to apply means to concentrate it +and give it form and expression. On earth, word and gesture are media +for thought, but the savans have not yet discovered the means by which +unspoken thought can take form and expression. No galvanic wire nor +chemical battery has yet been invented by them, through which these +electric sparks may be drawn down from their unseen habitations among +the clouds; but in the world of spirits this great discovery, as I +have shown you, has been made. In this appliance you find the thoughts +of the speaker running through these sensitive wires until, like +telegraphic messages, they reach their destination on earth.” + +I listened to Franklin’s explanation of this gigantic sensorium with +my soul filled with love and admiration for the great Creator who +had formed the human mind with its vast capacity for penetrating the +sublime mysteries of nature. + +After leaving the dome I continued my inspection of the edifice. But of +its halls and galleries, its boudoirs, libraries, and peerless gardens, +I will speak at some future time. + + + + +NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. + +_TO THE FRENCH NATION_. + + +Triumph sits regent upon the Napoleonic banner. Napoleon the First is +dictator to Napoleon the Third. By my side stands Josephine. We were +not destined to part eternally. In Louis Napoleon Bonaparte her blood +and mine commingle. _Restez-vous, mon patrie; Napoleon shall decide +aright. _No, petit garçon, _Napoleon le Grand will place you upon the +highest pinnacle of peace. + +Fate is inexorable. The decrees of destiny are more potent than the +wisdom of man. France and Napoleon are indissoluble. The star of +Bonaparte is destined to shine yet for the next half-century. None but +a patriot shall rule France. No proud Austrian, nor weak and haughty +Bourbon shall flame their colors from the palaces of France. No, my +countryman! he who serves you, who leads your armies to victory, who +raises your citizens to distinction, he whose courage is undaunted, he +who has the power of prescience--is Napoleon. + +When Louis shall join me his spirit and mine will still animate the +Bonapartes who shall come after us. + +Repose entire confidence in his discretion. Napoleon the Third lives +only for France. + +You cry for liberty of speech and liberty of the press. But liberty is +anarchy. Would you demand liberty for the army? Without a head to guide +and control it, the army of France would be a scourge. + +Through calamity the most depressing, the hand of destiny has led Louis +Napoleon to the throne of France, and against sickness and disease, +against the hand of the assassin, and against vilifications of his +enemies, it will hold him there, firm. His time has not yet come. +Before he bids adieu to life he will secure an able leader for France. + +I give him my hand. I embrace him in spirit. The shadow of Napoleon +attends him by day and by night. + +Adieu, NAPOLEON. + + + + +W. M. THACKERAY. + +_HIS POST MORTEM EXPERIENCE_. + + +Poor Will Thackeray, when a stripling, was fit to kneel in the street +before his mistress, that bright luminary who shone to his boyish eyes +like a star of the first magnitude! Alas, he discovered her to be one +of the sixteenth, and by the time he had ceased to care for polished +boots and stiff, broad collars, she had dwindled down to an ordinary +piece of humanity! + +He found his boon companions, like himself, liable to mistake an ant +for a whale and think the King of England next in royalty to a god! + +What a fool he made of himself in the eyes of those who were wiser than +he, when he swore the crown of England was made of unalloyed gold! The +water he drank was filled with animalculae, yet he swore it was pure +as the gods’ nectar. The best and freshest air he breathed contained +poison, yet his boyish wisdom knew better than that. + +Poor Thackeray! wiser men than he knew that youthful imagination was +a cheat; that the mistress of his heart was not a goddess; and wiser +beings than they all knew--angelic beings, living in the golden streets +of Paradise, knew--that the conception of what the spirit after death +would be able to do was as far from the truth as were his boyish dreams +of the mistress of his heart! + +Poor Thackeray! he has attained that superior wisdom now! He walks, +himself a ghost, among the ghosts of the past; and these “airy +nothings” nod and smile, and shake hands, and say: + +“Yes, we are ourselves.” + +He thrusts his hands into his trowsers pockets, and remembers the time +when he thought it would be indecent to go naked in the New Jerusalem! +Trowsers, forsooth! Yes, here they are, pockets and all; and he dives +his hands in deeper, jingling something which strongly resembles cash; +and struts about and hobnobs with Addison, Spencer, Sterne, old Dean +Swift, and he asks himself, “are these the great men of my fancy?” On +reflection he finds he had expected to meet these luminaries shining +like actual stars in the firmament, attended by some undefined splendor. + +Poor Will Thackeray! he finds the same dross in the gold, the same +animalculae in the water, the same poison in the air, the same fact +that men are not gods in that much-vaunted place called heaven, as on +the much-abused earth. But he wipes his spectacles, and clears away the +mist of speculation and fancy, which has bedimmed his eyes, and looks +about him more hopefully and trustfully than in the days when he walked +through Vanity Fair and saw how Mr. Timms, with not a penny in the +bank, pinched himself to give a little dinner in imitation of a great +lord who gave a great dinner, and had gold beyond his count; snobs, who +wore paste jewels and cotton-backed velvet, who cursed a fellow and +strutted about in imitation of noble lords, who wore real diamonds and +silken velvets! mimicking the follies of the great, but never their +noble deeds and heroisms. + +He is beyond snobs now. He is in the land of heroisms and heroes. Yet +he feels he has been cheated by the fat parson who stole sovereigns +from his pocket to keep him out of h----! His spiritual bones fairly +ache with the leagues he has travelled, hunting up the throne of God! +“Where the deuce,” he mutters, “is the showman?” He can’t find the lake +of fire and brimstone without a guide. + +Poor Thackeray! he again wipes his spectacles and feels he has been +sold! This life on the other side of Jordan he finds to be what his +American cousins would call a “humbug,” a downright swindle upon +the sympathies and good taste of those who wear long streamers of +crape, and groan and sob over his funeral rites! He feels in duty +bound (out of consideration for those mourners who expect nothing +else) to go scudding through the air in a loose white shroud, or to +rest cosily housed away in the “bosom of his Maker,” like a big, +grown-up infant that he is, or else to be howling at the top of his +lungs hallelujahs!--he that could never raise a note. And, if not so, +certainly, out of compliment to the judgment of his boon companions, +he should be engaged in the dread alternative of sitting astride a +pair of balances and being “weighed and found wanting;” or having been +sent by the relentless Judge into everlasting torment “where there is +cursing and gnashing of teeth,” he should be found there tormenting his +fellow-imps! + +But alas! to his mortification, nothing of the kind is occurring or +seems likely to occur. + +He has been as active as the next man since his arrival in ghostdom. +He has peeped under the _chapeaux_ of every solemn pilgrim whom he has +passed, but failed to find the four-and-twenty elders who have washed +their robes in the blood of the Lamb. What has he found? He really is +ashamed to own up to the number of mountain sides and sloping hills +he has inspected in the vain search for a place he used to call h---- +(he thought it blasphemy to add the other three letters); but neither +cloven foot, nor forked tail, nor horns, nor any kind of fearful person +in black, has pounced upon him; nor has he been seized by any claimant +for leaving the world unshriven, as he did. + +Poor Will Thackeray! it has been a great disappointment to him! He +expected some kind of sensational reception--thunder or lightning, or +some big God whose towering front might vie with Chimborazo--to awe him +into the consideration that he had become a spirit and was launched +into the awful precincts of eternity! No wonder he feels dogged and +put upon to find himself thus bamboozled! He undertook a long and +venturesome journey to “see the elephant,” but it wasn’t there! + +He can’t complain against the citizens of this famous “undiscovered +bourne”; they have done all that’s fair and square by him; they have +shown all that they have got; and he is too much of a gentleman +to taunt them. He knows they feel ashamed that they haven’t those +curiosities that their Vicegerents on earth had vouched for their +having; he can see it in their faces; but he considers himself in duty +bound to prepare his fellow-citizens for what they are to expect. + + + + +ARCHBISHOP HUGHES. + +_TWO NATURAL RELIGIONS_. + + +There are two great natural religions before the world, the Roman +Catholic and the Spiritualistic; and both are adapted to the wants of +the race. + +Man naturally gives expression to his thoughts by external forms +corresponding to his ideas. + +The Roman Catholic religion is accused of being a system of forms and +ceremonies, but therein lies its wonderful adaptation to humanity. +Thought ever seeks expression in form, even as a mother’s love for her +infant finds expression in her ardent embrace. + +Love is the prevailing element of the Catholic religion, as shown by +the love of the Son of God for poor, ignorant, sinful creatures. + +We do not present this to the mind ideally. We call in the outcast and +the beggar, and we expose to their view, in the great cathedrals, the +Son of God, as he appeared in all his various experiences of human life. + +The parent who can earn but a scanty pittance for his offspring, sees +before him Jesus lying in the manger, equal in squalid poverty with the +lowest of mankind. + +The majesty and glory of the courts of Heaven are symbolized in the +Roman Church. _There_ is gathered the wealth of the world! All that is +yet attained in the representation of the grand, the beautiful, the +majestic, the sublime, and the devotional, is collected in the Mother +of Churches. + +What earthly king, in his noble palace, with its costly architecture, +its ornaments of silver and gold, its rare paintings and statuary, +the wealth and accumulation of many sovereigns, would admit into its +sacred precincts the poor and the lowly, the beggar and the thief, the +Magdalen and the Lazarus to sully with their presence his royal abode? + +But we erect palaces to the King of Heaven! regal in architecture, +and adorned with beauty surpassing in magnificence earthly royalty, +in which the lowliest may enter on an equality with the prince; his +untutored mind, his uncultivated senses may listen to music of the +highest order. The pealing tones of the organ resound under the touch +of the highest masters of art for his simple ear. Listening to those +strains, his mind forms a conception of the harmony and beatitude of +Heaven! + +Even death is not looked upon with horror by the Catholic. If he lose a +friend in this life, unlike the Protestant, he does not abandon him in +oblivion, but his sympathies still extend to him by offering masses for +his soul. And it is because it is so adapted to man’s spiritual nature +that the Catholic religion has withstood the shock and surge of ages! + +The restless, heaving billows of time have washed against the +seven-hilled Church in vain. + +My soul rests in peace. It has taken its abode in Elysium. And in this +world among the stars, seeing clearer and further than when I inhabited +the lowly planet earth, I look down upon the struggling, dying race I +have left behind, and feel still, that the _Roman Catholic religion is +the religion for the masses_. + +A great majority of men are born into the world but little higher than +the beasts that perish. Their spiritual natures, though feeble, need +food that is adapted to their wants. That food we furnish. + +Our priests, our sisters of charity, our holy fathers, our Benedictine +monks, our nuns, are to be found in every quarter of the globe. On the +mountains of everlasting snow, among the icebergs of the Polar Sea, and +in the sandy deserts; on inhospitable shores, in the torrid zone, under +the burning rays of the equatorial sun; with the savage and with the +sage they are found ever ready to stimulate the spiritual nature, to +give earthly advice, and supply material wants. + +As a spirit I speak of what I think best adapted to the needs of man. +I endeavor to throw aside the prejudices of education. I look upon the +Protestant religion as unnatural; a monstrous belief which deforms man. +So far as I can see, its influence has been blighting. It takes youth, +joy, and animation from the world. It grants no indulgence for sin, nor +for the mistakes of ignorance. It is cruel and harsh, and men become +narrow and self-elated under its teachings. + +The Spiritualistic religion resembles the Catholic in its breadth and +amplitude, and in its humanizing and equalizing influence. I expect the +day will come when all minor beliefs will be swallowed up in these two +great religions. + +The Catholic Church in the spirit world is not so extensive as it +is upon earth. Its usefulness is more especially adapted to earthly +conditions. + +There are some noble cathedrals in the spirit world. Mass is offered up +every morning at the cathedral of the Five Virgins in my bishopric. + +The sisterhood of the Five Wise Virgins, newly organized, inhabit +beautiful and commodious edifices adjacent. + +It is their business to escort from earth youthful souls who have been +baptized in the Church, and who are friendless and vagrant, having +inhabited while on earth such parts of New York City as the Five Points +and Water street, and having neither kindred nor connection to claim +them. + +These are received into the beautiful home of the sisterhood. They +bathe in the golden fountains of youth, and are instructed in various +ways. They are taught the uses of magnetism, mesmerism, and psychology, +and return to earth to rap, write, and speak, through media, and to +bring back the stray lambs to the fold. + + + + +EDGAR A. POE. + +_THE LOST SOUL_. + + +Hark the bell! the funeral bell, + Calling the soul + To its goal. +Oh! the haunted human heart, +From its idol doomed to part! +Yet a twofold being bearing, +She and I apart are tearing; +She to heaven I to hell! +Going, going! Hark the bell! + Far in hell, + Tolling, tolling. + Fiends are rolling, +Whitened bones, and coffins reeking, +Fearful darkness grimly creeping + On my soul, + My vision searing, + She disappearing, + Drawn from me + By a soul I cannot see, +Whom I know can never love her. +Oh! that soul could I discover, + I would go, + Steeped in woe, +Down to darkness, down to hell! +Hark the bell! Farewell! farewell! + + + + +JEAN PAUL RICHTER. + +_INVISIBLE INFLUENCES._ + + +A ship is on the ocean. The wind is fair. All hands are in motion. +But a few hours since, it left port. Among its passengers is a gay +traveller; he wears a silken cloak fringed with gold. The sailors +admire his splendor; they gather around him as he walks the deck with +his flying robe. They put forth their rough hands to feel its soft +texture; its warm, bright color gives pleasure to their eyes. As they +gaze their pulses heighten, their steps become unsteady, their eyes +wander from duty, their great sturdy frames quiver with emotion. The +captain rallies them, but in vain. + +What secret foe is in their midst? Their parched tongues, cleaving +to the roofs of their mouths, call for the surgeon. He comes--he +questions, “From whence comest thou?” “From the Orient,” the traveller +replies. The surgeon gasps and shakes his head. He, too, is stricken +with fear. “’Tis the _plague_!” he whispers. An unseen, deadly foe is +stalking beneath that gay cloak! The traveller hears and shudders; he +flings off his gay vestment. The waves gather up the silken folds. But +the sacrifice is useless. A fell hand strikes down both traveller and +sailor. As they gasp and die they are hurried to the ship’s side; they +are plunged overboard; a seething, foaming grave yawns to receive them. + +The ship glides on. Those who remain wash the deck with water. They +cannot wash away the demon, which is everywhere and yet nowhere.... +Poisons as subtle attend the human spirit, baneful and contagious as +the plague! + +See yonder peaceful cottage, nestling by the hillside; hope and +contentment dwell therein; within its walls beauty and grace awaken +harmony. Lured by the bright sunshine, a stranger enters the door. He +sits and chats awhile with the inmates. His talk is pleasant, and as he +converses a cloud falls upon the house, the sunshine becomes darkened, +and the dwellers within the pretty cottage shiver as with cold. They +heed not the change, for the chat of their guest delights them. But +when he departs he leaves behind him a poison more baneful than the +plague. + +The inmates of the peaceful cottage look with gloomy eyes one upon the +other; they become dissatisfied and distracted among themselves, and +discord takes the place of harmony. + +Secret influences are at work, poisons thrown out by the sphere of +the guest. A worse fate befalls them than befell the sailors who were +invaded by the insidious Plague. + +I have seen in nature a fair face clouded suddenly--made gloomy +and unlovely--by the unspoken thought of another. Thought is +contagious--some varieties of it poisonous! I have seen the countenance +of an innocent child transformed into ugliness by a poisonous thought. +I have seen those who have looked upon her receive that thought and +become likewise infected. + +I have seen also to this picture another and a brighter side. I have +seen secret influences drawing individuals together, sustaining and +upholding them; as the long line filaments of wool clasp each other +and draw together the separate particles, so have I seen individuals +united. Thus was the first Napoleon united to Josephine. A secret +influence as potent as the plague passed from one to the other; but it +breathed health and not poison. + +Napoleon, with his powerful will, disrupted these magnetic relations; +he tore apart the unseen filaments that bound them; and, the sustaining +influence gone, he fell--a mighty wreck--on the bleak shore of St. +Helena. + +What man or woman can comprehend the secret influences that surround +the soul. Keep guard; and when the blood stagnates within, when secret +shudders, and gloomy thoughts, and inharmonious feelings arise, be sure +that some poison-breathing foe is at hand. + +Set the door ajar, and resolutely turn your face from the secret +influence that would destroy you. + + + + +CHARLOTTE BRONTÉ. + +(CURRER BELL.) + +_AGNES REEF.--A TALE_. + +CHAPTER I. + + +I was brought up and educated by my bachelor uncle. He was a reticent, +moody man, and with his aged housekeeper and myself, led a solitary and +unsocial life in the old rambling house which had been his father’s +before him. + +I was but a child of six years when destiny placed me under his charge, +and with him I remained eleven years; a scared, repressed little thing, +revelling in strange fancies in the spidery attic rooms, and looking +down through the dusty cobwebbed windows upon the life and movement +below, unconscious that I formed a part of that active humanity. + +Thus I lived until I entered my seventeenth year. For the last two +years my mind had been expanding and growing discontented with my lot. +The moroseness of my uncle, the sullenness of his housekeeper, the +gloom and dinginess of the bare rooms had grown insupportable to me. +These alone I might have endured, but added to them were other sources +of disquiet, not the least of which being hints from the housekeeper +that it was time I began to do something for myself. Youth, pride, and +ambition stirred within me, and I actively set about looking, for a +situation. + +I had not long to wait; in one of the weekly papers, of which my uncle +took many, I one day discovered an advertisement, which to my morbid +fancy seemed sent by fate especially to me. + +A young lady was wanted to take charge of the education of a boy of +eleven years. Upon reading this advertisement, I immediately sat down +and wrote a letter, offering my services. + +By return mail I received a note acknowledging the receipt of mine, +and stating that as I was the only applicant and my testimonials +satisfactory, I was accepted. + +I informed my uncle of my good fortune. He received the news with a +gruff approval, adding that he hoped I would do well, as I could expect +no further pecuniary aid from him than would be sufficient to carry me +there. + +My emotions, as I packed my little trunk on that memorable Saturday, +were of a mixed character; but pleasure predominated. Hope beckoned me +on; and the sadness attendant on breaking loose from the unfriendly +home in which I had lived so long was but transitory. + +Monday morning saw me seated composedly in the rail-coach on the way +to “Bristed Hall,” my destination. Towards nightfall we stopped at a +station in a desolate, sparsely-inhabited district. My road diverging +here, I hurried out, and the long train which connected me with my past +life sped out of sight. + +Drawing my veil closely to my face to hide a few falling tears, I +looked around the desolate waiting-room, to see if any fellow-creature +was expecting me. As I did so a heavy, thumping footstep sounded upon +the platform, and a surly voice inquired: + +“Are you Miss Reef?” accompanying the question by a slight pull at my +shawl. + +Turning, I beheld a deformed little man with long arms and a high back, +awaiting my answer to his question. I summoned courage to ask: + +“Were you sent for Miss Reef?” + +“Yes,” he replied, “I am Mr. Bristed’s man. He told me to drive here +and fetch home a Miss Reef--if you are that person, miss!” touching his +hat with an effort at politeness. + +“I am,” I answered, and without further ado we proceeded to the +carriage, which he had left waiting at the rear platform. + +The evening air was chilly, for it was quite sunset. Drawing my shawl +around me, I ensconced myself in a corner of the vehicle, and watched +the fading landscape with stolid indifference to whatever might befall +me. + +We drove on thus for a good hour and a half, halting at length before a +dark, massy object, the form of which my dozy eyes could not discern. +However, it proved to be Bristed Hall. + +I emerged from the carriage and passed up the steps to an open door +which, at the pausing of our carriage wheels, had been set ajar. An +old woman, the feminine counterpart of my sulky driver, stood in the +dimly-lighted passage-way to receive me. She vouchsafed me but a grum +welcome, but I felt already too desolate and weary to experience any +further depression from her humor. + +Bidding me follow her, and ordering the man to carry my luggage, she +led me directly through the hall up the stairway to a chamber evidently +prepared for my use. The apartment was prettily furnished, and its tidy +appearance and the cheerful fire burning on the hearth quite roused my +drooping spirits. + +After assisting me to remove my bonnet and shawl, my conductress left +me, returning ere long with a tray containing refreshments. These she +set before me with silent hospitality; then bade me goodnight, saying +she would call me in the morning at eight o’clock for breakfast. + +My sleep that night was disturbed by dreams, which though vague filled +me with terror. + +I imagined that I was walking through a long corridor, opening into a +sumptuous apartment, its interior partly concealed by rich folds of +damask curtains. I lifted the heavy drapery and essayed to enter, but +a cold hand grasped mine and prevented me. A woman’s figure, slight +and youthful, with white face, great sad eyes, and long yellow hair, +stood in the arched doorway and pressed me back with her clammy hand. +I started up from my pillow in alarm to find myself alone; the pale +moonbeams streaming through the looped curtains of the window and +glancing upon my forehead, I thought, probably accounted for the cold +hand of my dream. I slept, and dreamed again. The scene was changed: +a field of stubble lay before me; through it I must make my way; the +rough ground hurt my feet; I stumbled and fell; attempting to rise, I +saw painted in clear relief against the horizon the same female figure. + +Her pale, golden hair hung long and loose over her shoulders. As she +caught my eye she lifted her finger as if in warning, and disappeared +from sight. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +From these dreams I awakened in the morning perplexed, disturbed, and +unrefreshed. After dressing, I was summoned to breakfast by the person +who had received me the previous night. She led me down the stairway +and through the hall into the breakfast room. + +It was a long, narrow apartment, with wainscots and floor of polished +oak. A bright fire blazed upon the hearth. A small round stand was set +forth, upon which was placed my solitary repast. I seated myself and +partook, with a relish, of the nice cakes, fragrant coffee, and sweet +clover butter. + +Having finished my meal, I arose and walked to one of the deep-set +windows which lighted the apartment. Lifting the curtain, I looked out. + +A grassy lawn overhung with trees; clear gravel paths and well-trimmed +shrubbery; beyond, rocks relieved by a patch of blue sky; a thin +line of light, neutral tinted, winding through the distant meadows, +indicating a streamlet; these constituted the landscape. + +Having spent a full quarter of an hour in abstractedly gazing at this +scene, I was called to reality by the opening of the room door, and a +strange voice repeating my name. The person presenting herself appeared +to be an upper servant--a tall, thin woman, with dark hair sprinkled +with gray, and an amiable, weak face. + +“If you have finished your breakfast, Miss, I will show you to Mr. +Bristed’s room.” + +I assured her it was completed, and, following her. I crossed the hall +and entered a door at the left. A pleasant odor of flowers met my +grateful senses. The room was spacious, wide and deep, and handsomely +carpeted. The walls were ornamented with paintings and engravings. + +An ample arm-chair, which the owner had evidently just vacated, and +a table containing books and papers, gave a tone of both comfort and +elegance to the room, which was decidedly congenial to my taste. + +Two great glass doors, reflecting clearly the morning sunbeams, led +into a conservatory from whence issued the fragrance I perceived on +entering. + +Among the flowers moved a tall, manly figure. As I entered, the +gentleman came forward. + +“Miss Reef, Mr. Bristed,” said my companion, by way of introduction. + +So this was my employer. As he stood before me, I surveyed him; a +well-formed gentleman, above the ordinary height, with pale complexion, +set off by dark, penetrative eyes; a shapely head covered with long, +heavy masses of straight dark hair. The impression his appearance +conveyed to me was that of a person benevolent but apathetic; unhappy +without the will or power to shake off his burden. + +He bade me be seated. “You are young,” said he, reflectively. “May I +ask your age?” + +“Seventeen,” I replied. + +“Very young,” he reiterated, thoughtfully shaking his head; “however, +as you are here, if you wish to remain, Mary will introduce you to your +pupil.” + +“I certainly wish to remain,” said I, impatiently; “I have journeyed +quite a distance for that purpose, and shall be happy to commence the +instruction of my pupil immediately.” + +“Very well,” said he. “Mary, take her to the nursery, and attend to any +of her wants.” + +The girl opened a door adjoining that which we had entered by; a narrow +hall and a flight of stairs led us to the room indicated. + +A little solitary figure, breathing upon the window-glass, and tracing +thereon letters with long, thin fingers, was the first object that +presented itself to my eye, + +“Here is your governess, Herbert,” said Mary. + +The little boy turned and surveyed me with his large, blue, mournful +eyes. They sent a quiver through my frame from their strange +resemblance to eyes I had seen but the night before in my dream. + +He was apparently satisfied with his inspection, and his thin scarlet +lips parted into a smile. + +I called him to me. He came forward timidly. + +Taking his small hand, I asked him a few questions about his studies. +I found him intelligent, but grave beyond his years; very docile and +obedient, and ere the end of the day we became excellent friends. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +I had lived six weeks at Bristed Hall, and, excepting on my first +arrival, had not interchanged a word with its master. ’Tis true I would +see him at times from the school-room window, walking through his park, +or smoking upon the long piazza, but he might have been across the +ocean for all the intercourse we had together. + +It was early June; roses bloomed on every hedge. A season of dry +weather had succeeded the showers of spring, the mornings were +sparkling, the air delicious. I arose early one particularly sunny +morn, that I might take a walk, before the studies of the day +commenced, to a natural lake which I had discovered about a mile from +the Hall. + +Herbert begged to accompany me, and I, who loved at times the quiet of +my own thoughts, reluctantly granted his request. + +We strolled out of the inclosure, and were leisurely wending our way +over the road, when our attention was attracted by the sound of wheels +emerging from a cross path. A carriage rolled briskly in view. The +little hand of my companion, which I held locked in mine, trembled +violently. + +“Oh, Miss Agnes, Miss Agnes!” he cried, pointing to the occupant of the +carriage, “there is Uncle Richard.” + +As it neared us, the driver reined in his horses, which snorted +impatiently as he paused, and a musical voice called out: + +“Hallo! you young varlet; where are you going so early in the morning?” + +Herbert answered faintly, “I am going with Miss Reef to the lake.” + +The gentleman at this reply waved his jewelled hand gracefully toward +me. “Miss Reef, I am happy to make your acquaintance. So you are the +young lady who has undertaken to be bored with my little nephew?” + +“He is not a bore,” said I, smilingly, captivated by the grace and +abandon of the traveller. And truly his handsome countenance might have +captivated a girl more experienced in the world’s ways than myself. +His was a gay, spirited face, complexion fair and rosy; full red lips, +graced with a curling moustache; golden locks fit for an Adonis; sunny, +dancing eyes, and a figure rather massive, but well formed. Such was +the impression I received of this “Uncle Richard.” + +“Allow me to give you a seat in my brougham,” said he. + +I thanked him, but refused. + +“Bound on some romantic expedition,” he said, laughing; “I can see +it in your beaming eyes. Well, I suppose I must continue my solitary +drive; but don’t tarry long at the dismal lake; hasten back, as I shall +want a companion to chat with in the empty Hall.” + +I found Herbert unwilling to talk about his uncle, so I tried to +dismiss the new comer from my thoughts, and engaged with my pupil +in gathering wild flowers and grasses wherewith to form wreaths and +bouquets to adorn our school-room. After rambling about for an hour, we +turned homeward. + +I felt quite excited upon reaching the Hall, and hurried to my room to +smooth my hair preparatory to commencing the labors of the day. If I +stood over my mirror longer than usual, remember I was young, and had +a laudable desire to please. As I surveyed myself in the glass, I was +guilty of a pleasurable cognizance of the figure and face reflected +there. The walk and unexpected encounter had given an unwonted +brilliancy and vivacity to my countenance. My cheeks glowed; my eyes +sparkled; and from my chestnut curls depended wild flowers, and wreaths +of Herbert’s twining; altogether a pleasing picture presented itself to +view, which, without vanity, I was thankful to behold. + +We had not been long at our lessons when a voice, gaily singing, +approached the door, and without the ceremony of knocking, the +gentleman whom we had passed in our morning ramble entered the room. + +“I have been looking all over for you; why are you hiding yourself +away up here?” said he, merrily. “Can you not take another pupil, Miss +Reef?” at the same time drawing up his chair to the table at which +Herbert and myself were seated. + +“If he is as tractable as Herbert, I might venture,” I replied, +assuming the gay, mocking tone of my questioner. + +I soon saw that he was bent on remaining; so, taking from my desk a +drawing-book and pencil, I placed them before him. + +“There is your task; please not to interrupt me.” I was determined not +to be beguiled from my duty by this gay cavalier. He permitted us to +pursue our studies uninterruptedly till he had finished his drawing. + +“There,” he exclaimed, placing it before me. “Will you not reward me +for my industry?” + +I looked at the sketch. It was bold and clear, shaded with a firm hand, +spirited and original. I was truly surprised at the skill evinced. + +After that day he visited our room often, calling in during the morning +to exchange a pleasant word, or at the close of the school hours to +loiter over our drawings and chat of books and music. His visits began +to grow too pleasant to me. Some effort must be made on my side to +render them less attractive. + +One afternoon he entered as usual, and waited patiently till Herbert +had recited his closing lesson. Then he arose, and taking a guitar from +its case, commenced playing and singing a song in a most bewitching +manner. + +“Come, Miss Reef,” said he, when he had finished, “that beautiful hand +is just made to glide over this instrument. Allow me to give you a +lesson.” + +Feeling that if I permitted him to encroach upon my position as +governess I would be lost, I refused. I must give him to understand +that I know my place and will not be trifled with, I thought; so +I arose and rang the bell for Mary. She soon appeared, apparently +surprised at seeing Mr. Richard Bristed so much at home in the +school-room. + +“Mary, sit down; I wish you to hem this handkerchief for Herbert,” said +I. + +She seated herself with my work-box before her, and commenced plying +her needle industriously. The young gentleman looked on my arrangement +with a lurking smile for a few moments, and then uttering a long, +low whistle, arose from his chair and sauntered out. Passing me, he +whispered: + +“I will remember you for this, Miss Reef.” He did seem to remember it, +as several days elapsed without his presenting himself. + +Once I met him in the hall, and he merely bowed. If he had wished to +arouse in me an interest in himself, he could not have pursued a better +plan; for I grew restless and uneasy, regretting heartily that I had +offended him. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +After three days had passed thus, I concluded I would explain to him my +motive. Accordingly, in the afternoon, when my hour of recreation came, +I brushed my hair carefully, changed my dress, and descended to the +piazza on which he generally lounged in the afternoon with a cigar. + +As he was not there, I seated myself on a rustic chair to watch for +him. I had not sat many minutes when I heard the wheels of a carriage +on the gravel path; then the gay voice of Mr. Richard met my ear. I +turned: he was seated in the vehicle with a valise beside him, and was +apparently bound on a journey. As he caught sight of me, he raised his +hat, bowed distantly, and drove off. + +A dreary sense of loneliness crept over me. The setting sun filled the +west with its golden splendor. Great yellow bars of sunlight streamed +through the railing, and lit up the floor of the piazza. Sitting there +I was bathed in its ruddy flood. Happy birds poured forth their evening +song in the bushes near by; but I was miserable and alone. All nature +seemed to rejoice, while I, her child, was desolate. + +“You appear sad, miss,” said a voice close beside me. I looked up and +beheld the elder Mr. Bristed. He had evidently observed my emotion, and +his dark eye looked a reproof that his lips did not utter. + +Presently, he seated himself near me, and asked a few questions as to +the progress my pupil was making. Having satisfied him on those points, +he inquired kindly if I was lonely or discontented. + +“Oh, no,” I answered, heartily, hoping to place a barrier to any +further inquiries on that point. + +“But you have been weeping,” said he, in a subdued voice. + +“Not because I am lonely,” said I, resolved to have the truth out; “but +I fear I have wounded the feelings of your brother.” + +“My brother!” he repeated. “Ah! you have become acquainted with him? +He is bright and glittering like the sun; but be careful, my child, be +careful! Young birds should avoid the glittering steel of the fowler. +But youth will seek its own experience,” he remarked, with a deep +sigh. “No friendly warning will teach the young to beware of danger. +But consider me your friend, Miss Reef, and let me likewise be your +monitor.” + +Without waiting for my reply, he hastily left me and entered the house. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +Four weeks elapsed ere Richard’s return. During his absence Mr. Bristed +showed his sympathy for my lonely situation by many little attentions; +sending up to the school-room, now and then, choice fruit from his +hot-house, or a bouquet of conservatory flowers, and, several times in +the early evening, he sent for me to read aloud to him. + +I found him to be a quiet, polished gentleman; and I grew to like +him, and to look for his tokens of kindness after my daily labors +with growing interest, and, if they came not, to feel disappointed +and unhappy. He had travelled much and could talk well, and under the +influence of a sympathetic listener, his countenance lit up with kindly +emotion, and the sad lines of his face disappeared beneath a happy +smile. + +But in the glowing midsummer his truant brother returned, and my +new-born interest vanished like snow before the harvest sun. + +Again Mr. Richard exerted his varied powers to fascinate and amuse +me. Again I listened, and struggled, as formerly, against his wiles, +and finally bent a too willing ear to his soft words of praise and +admiration. With secret pleasure I reveled in his ardent language, +hugging to my heart the belief that I was loved. + +How that summer sped by on its golden wings! Time passed on, as in some +delicious opium dream! And when the short clays and long nights of the +Christmas holidays set in, I found myself secretly engaged in marriage +to Richard Bristed. + +Of our plans and attachment his brother was not at present to be +informed: this stern brother who shut himself up apart from his +species, and who, Richard told me, was of too cold a nature to +sympathize with love. + +“He will dismiss you, Agnes, if he hears of it,” he said. “Wait till I +have settled up my affairs, and then he can do his worst.” + +I believed this statement; I forgot all my former good impressions of +Mr. Bristed, and listened to the tales that were told me of how he +had wronged Richard. I learned to regard him as a robber, a hypocrite +whose statements could not be relied on; a false, dark, bad man. As for +Richard, he seemed a king in comparison; a noble, magnanimous being, +whom some kind fairy had bestowed upon me. + +But that cold, relentless Fate, which comes to tear off the painted +wrappings of life, revealing the bare and ugly reality beneath, was +fast pursuing me. + +At the close of a cold, snowy day, I had retired early to my room, and +having locked the door that I might be free from interruption, sat +down to look over the dainty articles of dress which I had been shyly +accumulating for my approaching marriage. + +It was but a scanty outfit, but to me it appeared munificent as that of +a princess. I could never weary of looking at these beautiful garments; +I placed them in one light, and then in another; I folded and unfolded +them, and finally ended by trying them on, and admiring in the mirror +their perfect adaptation to my face and figure. A long time must have +passed in this way, when the hall clock struck the hour of midnight. +Astonished at the lateness of the night, I threw down the laces and +ribbons which I was combining into some airy article of dress, and was +preparing to remove my bridal attire, when I was amazed to hear a key +turning in the lock of my door. Fear and surprise nailed me to the +floor. The door glided softly open and in stepped Mr. Richard Bristed! +He seemed surprised to see me thus. + +“What! up and dressed?” he exclaimed, in a loud whisper. “O my beauty! +my wife! I have come to claim you to-night. You shall be mine. No power +on earth shall withhold us now!” + +“How strangely you talk, Richard,” said I. “You forget it is so late. +We cannot go to church at this hour.” + +“Ah, dearest, this is church! See, I have brought you this ring. We +will stand up before God and our own hearts, and I will marry you here. +We need no other witnesses than ourselves and this ring!” + +Though my youthful heart was blinded by love and passion, I was not +prepared for this. Excitement and the strangeness of the proposition +overcame me, and I broke forth into sobs. + +He endeavored to soothe me, urging his request with a pleading force +which I could scarcely withstand. + +“I am not prepared, Richard,” said I, drying my tears; “this is so +sudden, so unlooked for, I must have time for thought.” + +But thought only revealed a gaping abyss, from which I must fly. + +He continued to urge his plea; but seeing I would not yield, his +countenance changed. The sweet, seductive smile vanished. He grew white +as the moonbeam, and, clenching his hand and setting his teeth, bent +over me, whispering huskily: + +“Agnes, I shall not step from this room to-night. I have the key. You +have promised to be mine. You shall keep that promise. To-night you +shall keep that promise!” + +If he was pale, I became paler. A cold chill crept over me. But I took +my resolution, unyielding as death, not to grant his request. + +A chasm seemed to yawn before me. The loneliness and friendlessness of +my position were presented to my mind with terrific reality. A deadly +swoon-like feeling ensued. To yield in this might seal my fate. I paced +the floor rapidly, praying for help. + +Help came suddenly. As I passed the door of my wardrobe, I remembered +that the same key unlocked this and the door of my apartment. I drew it +forth, and in the twinkling of an eye I was free. + +The cool air from the outside passage, and the prospect of liberty, +cooled my excited nerves, and revived me for the work I had to +accomplish. + +“Richard,” said I, my hand upon the latch, “you or I must leave.” + +He made no reply, but violently rising from his chair, grasped +something that lay near him, and tearing it to atoms, rushed by me +without word or look, and reaching the stairs, hastened out of sight. + +Mechanically I sat down, and with sad, straining eyes surveyed the +wreck before me. My bridal wreath was shivered into fragments; its +white petals, like fruit blossoms caught in an untimely blast, +sprinkled the floor; my laces were in shreds like the riven mast of +some shipwrecked vessel. + +Of course there was no sleep for me that night. When worn out with +thinking and weeping, I drew a large easy chair up to the door and sat +there as guard, listening, with the hope which moment after moment grew +fainter, that he would return and whisper in my willing ear a sweet +demand for pardon, some word in extenuation for his unseemly conduct; +but he came not. + +Toward daybreak, I was aroused from the lethargy into which I had +fallen from sheer exhaustion by the sound of excited voices and hurried +movements in the room below. As these subsided and the gray morning +broke, I was startled by the sound of a horse’s hoofs on the graveled +walk. + +A fearful foreboding possessed me; what could it mean? Somebody was +riding away; who was it? Through the gate and down the avenue I heard +the galloping steed. + +I dragged my nerveless limbs to the window and peered forth. Clear +against the horizon, now streaked with pale crimson rays of dawn, +rising in bold relief I beheld the receding figure of Richard Bristed. + +He was leaving me without word or sign. My head reeled; I grasped the +window casement to steady myself, and sank insensible upon the floor. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +I must have remained in this condition some hours, for the sun was high +in the heavens when I opened my eyes and became conscious. Where was I? +Not in my own room, surely; the fragrance of exotics did not penetrate +my lattice; the simple honeysuckle that twined around my window +breathed forth a different perfume from this. My heart gave one glad +leap. Oh, it is all a dream! I thought; Richard’s galloping down the +road, and all the past night’s misery is a dream! With this reflection +a happy tranquillity was stealing over me, when I heard a well-known +voice exclaim: + +“Look, Mary, attend her; she has opened her eyes, thank God.” + +It was Mr. Bristed’s voice, and as he spoke Mary approached me, and +bending over, bathed my head with scented water. “Hope you feel better, +Miss,” said she. + +“Have I been ill, Mary? Where am I?” + +“In master’s library.” + +Surely it was so. I was lying upon a divan near the conservatory. Alas, +I was not dreaming! I sat up and looked drearily around, and as I did +so Mr. Bristed drew near with a beautiful lily in his hand, which he +offered to me. He inquired kindly after my health and looked pleased +when I told him I felt quite strong. Indeed I did feel strong for the +moment, and arose determined to leave the room. + +“Sit still--where are you going?” he asked anxiously. + +“Going to the school-room--going to see Herbert,” I replied. + +“Herbert,” said he, and his countenance darkened; “you cannot see +Herbert, he is ill.” + +Not see Herbert, and he ill? What could be the matter? He was well but +yesterday. + +Mr. Bristed’s strange manner, coupled with Richard’s absence and the +fearful events of the night, seemed likely to turn my brain. + +He saw my startled look of inquiry, and said, “Be quiet awhile; I have +something of importance which I will communicate to you by-and-by, when +you are composed.” + +“Mary,” he ordered, “ring the bell for breakfast to be sent hither; +meanwhile, Miss Reef, while awaiting our coffee, if you will walk with +me in the conservatory I will take pleasure in showing you my tropical +curiosities.” + +I followed him languidly with wandering thoughts. Gradually, however, I +grew interested and listened with increased attention to his animated +description of the homes and haunts of the wonders by which he was +surrounded. He had visited many climes, and gathered each strange +flower and plant he had seen in its native clime. He became eloquent +and genial as he described the strange habits and peculiarities of his +floral companions, which he seemed to regard as a species of humanity; +to him they were not inanimate existences--creations--but objects +endowed with soul and sensation. + +While we were thus conversing, Mary announced that breakfast was ready, +and I reluctantly accompanied him to the library. He almost compelled +me to eat, selecting for me dainty morsels to tempt my appetite. + +Mr. Bristed evidently labored under some mental disquiet, which he +evinced by undue efforts at cheerfulness. + +Breakfast being removed I sought to withdraw from the room, but he +requested me to remain, and dismissing Mary, seated himself in an easy +chair next the ottoman on which I rested, and warming his hands over +the fire, his eyes bent upon the blaze, said, with an abruptness that +was natural to him: + +“I am not accustomed to concern myself about strangers, Miss Reef, but +in you I have felt a peculiar interest since the day we first met. +You will remember I warned you then that you were too young for the +responsibility which I foresaw awaited you. I feared at that time that +Richard, on seeing so bright a flower, would endeavor to snatch it from +its stem. My fears have been realized; you see I am acquainted with +what has taken place, and now the hour has come when you and I must +part.” + +“Oh no,” cried I gaspingly, “not yet, not yet.” + +“Miss Reef,” he demanded solemnly, “why will you delay? I understand +what you would say; you desire to see Richard again, but that can +never be; you have looked your last upon him in this life. I know his +magnetic influence over you; once again under that influence you are +lost!” + +I did not like what he said. He overstepped the bounds of courtesy, I +thought. The warning which Richard had given me against him revived in +force and I recoiled from him, saying: + +“Sir, your brother is my friend; I can listen to nothing in his +disfavor.” + +He sighed, “Ah, Agnes, you are but a child. The sun just rising above +yonder horizon must soon be darkened; I see the gathering cloud and +would warn you of the approaching storm. Why will you turn from me when +I desire to help you?” + +His musical voice was so sympathetic that it moved me deeply; but I +shook my head and answered passionately, “I cannot trust you. You wrong +him, and would compel me to wrong him too.” + +“My child,” said he sadly, “I had hoped to have saved you from further +anguish, but perhaps it is best that you should know all. Come with me.” + +He opened the door and led me to a room on the opposite side of the +hall. I knew it to be the room where Herbert slept. + +“Let us go in,” he whispered. + +We entered softly: the apartment was darkened, but a dainty crib which +occupied the centre of the floor could be dimly seen. As we stepped in, +his nurse, who was bending over the cot, moved with hushed footsteps +away to give us room. + +There he lay, my dear, sick lamb! I was so glad to be permitted to see +him. But the result of no ordinary sickness met my eye. + +Great purple rings had settled around his closed eyelids, his lips +were blue, his sweet mouth partly opened, he seemed to breathe with +difficulty. I could not speak. Mr. Bristed turned down the coverlet +from the little shoulders. + +“Look, Miss Reef,” said he hoarsely, his voice quivering with +agitation, pointing to some hideous marks on the little sufferer’s +throat--“those are _his_ finger marks.” + +I sickened. What crime was this that he hinted at so strangely? But the +insinuation was too incredible. The thought that he was working on my +credulity exasperated me. + +“If you want me to leave your house, Mr. Bristed, command me and I will +go, but you cannot force me to believe this horrid inference.” + +He must have felt the disdain with which I spurned him, for he turned +upon his heel and left the room. + +I then spoke to Herbert. At the sound of my voice he moved, and I +seated myself by his side. Quietness seemed desirable, and I was not +inclined to break it. Now and then I moistened his lips with a little +wine and water. Seeing that I still sat by the crib, the nurse lay down +upon a settee and fell asleep. + +Hours thus passed. The days were short and twilight came on rapidly. +Sitting there in the gathering gloom, I began to hum inadvertently a +little song which Herbert loved me to sing to him. Hearing my voice +chant his favorite ditty, the poor little creature stirred in his crib, +and his pale lips parted into a smile. Presently, in broken tones he +asked, “Is that Miss Reef?” + +“Yes, Herbert, darling, I have come to sing to you,” said I, mastering +my emotions and chirruping more loudly his beloved song. + +The effect seemed truly magical--he endeavored to raise up his little +body. “Oh sing it again,” he cried. + +“Would you like to sit upon my knee?” + +He nodded assent, and I made an effort to lift him up, but he was weak +and heavy, and I not sufficiently strong to sustain him. As he fell +back, my eyes caught sight again of those fearful marks. Some power +outside of myself forced me to ask, “Herbert, what ails your throat; +has any one hurt you?” + +At the question, a tremor fearful to witness passed through his frame, +and looking at me with an expression of preternatural intelligence, he +whispered, “He tried to choke me.” + +Stunned with horror at this again repeated assertion, I sank down and +buried my face in my hands. I could think but one thought, and that was +a wish that I were dead! + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +But my nature would not permit me at such a crisis to remain passive +long. I must arouse myself and act. Calling the nurse to take my place, +I went to seek Mr. Bristed. I found him, as usual, in his library. + +“Sir,” said I, “I am calm now; will you not explain to me this +frightful mystery? I will listen and thank you.” + +He placed a chair for me to be seated, and taking my hand, said +gently:-- + +“Miss Reef--Agnes, you are too weak to hear this that you seek to know.” + +“No, no,” I exclaimed, vehemently; “I am not weak; I must know all.” + +He arose and paced the floor hurriedly for a few moments; then +muttering, “It is best--I will tell her,” he said: + +“You have been surprised, no doubt, Agnes, at the frankness with which +I have expressed my opinion of Richard’s character--let me inform you +that he and I are not brothers. He is a half-brother, the offspring of +my father’s second marriage; though indeed I doubt if he have a right +to even that relationship. I have heard dark hints thrown out that my +father had been deceived, and that this child who claimed to be his son +should look in a lower quarter for his father. Richard’s mother was +not a woman of high moral principle, and he partakes of her nature. My +father provided for him well, but as I was the elder son the bulk of +his large property became mine by inheritance; but Richard has always +made the Hall his home when in England--indeed, he has a legal right +during his lifetime to the use of the room he occupies. He has not, +however, often availed himself of this right since I have had his son +Herbert under my protection.” + +“His son Herbert?” I repeated, mechanically. + +“Yes, poor child, his son; though the boy has always been taught to +call him uncle. Neither Richard nor myself desire the relationship to +be known, and it is only in hope of serving you that I reveal it.” + +“Richard married?” I said, falteringly. + +“Ah, Agnes, there are many women whom he should never have seen, as +he could not marry them,” said he, with the slow determination of a +man resolved on uttering a repulsive truth. Herbert’s mother was a +beautiful but penniless orphan of good family, who visited this house +some years since in the capacity of companion to our great-aunt. + +“During that visit I became enamoured with her, and we were secretly +engaged in marriage. It was before the death of my father, and I was +not my own master; but I loved her truly, and meant well by her, only +desiring her to wait till I should be free to please myself. But +Richard stepped in between me and my happiness. He stole this girl’s +heart from me; gained her love as he has endeavored to obtain yours, +by flattery and dissimulation you see I am not wily and smooth enough +to please women--but also he destroyed her peace under promise of +marriage; leaving her soon after and going abroad without acquainting +her with his purpose. + +“I was temporarily from home when this occurred. On returning in the +course of a month, Richard fled, as I have stated; but I was ignorant +then of the cause, and it was not till in the agony of shame she came +to me for help with her secret, that I became aware of his perfidy. + +“I need not tell you that I gave her all the aid in my power; her +child Herbert was born and secretly cared for. When he was about two +years old, the great-aunt of whom I have spoken died, leaving a large +proportion of her property to Alice, of whose misfortune she had never +dreamed. + +“Wealth came to the unfortunate girl too late. The shock she had +received from Richard’s deceit had preyed upon her health, and she was +failing rapidly, when he, hearing of her good fortune, returned home. + +“With his specious address he might have regained his old ascendancy +over her had I not interfered. You know well, Agnes, his peculiar gift +of fascination. I believe he could by some unexplainable psychological +process make any great wrong appear right to a woman. But I induced her +to bequeath her wealth to Herbert, and secure it, for a time at least, +beyond Richard’s control--and he owes me a grudge for it. + +“Herbert, she left under my care, unless, of his own free will, he +chose to reside with Richard, who in that case was to become his +guardian; and in the event of Herbert’s death before reaching his +majority, the whole property was to revert to Richard Bristed. You see +she loved him still. Unjust but womanlike, her love was stronger than +her judgment. + +“Well,” said he, after eyeing me thoughtfully, “you listen as if you +did not rightly comprehend what I have been saying!” + +I was indeed stunned by his communication. Could it be, I thought, +with suppressed fear, that the shadowy figure which had haunted my +bed-chamber and had visited me in dreams was the same wronged Alice? +Had she arisen from her grave beneath the granite of the church-yard +to warn me? Or are the dead jealous of their rights? Do they cling to +their earthly love? I queried. But when he spoke I shook off these +thoughts that were rising like mist to obscure my judgment, and +answered, “_I_ am. I am listening; proceed.” + +“Agnes, through your influence Richard has hoped to obtain possession +of Herbert and control over his fortune. He has thought to entrap you +as he did Alice, and through his power over you has calculated to carry +out the project of his prolific brain.” + +Till this moment I had listened silently to his strange recital, but +I could not brook this insinuation. The story, to my mind, did not +appear clear. How could Richard expect to obtain, through my agency, +possession of a son whom he had never acknowledged? Tis true I +remembered him to have said that he feared I would miss my pupil very +much. He had asked playfully what would Herbert do without me, but he +had not suggested taking the child away with us, and therefore Mr. +Bristed’s charge appeared to my mind unfounded, and I told him so. + +“Ah, my child!” he replied, “you know not the devising power of this +man. He has an agent here in this place, in the shape of old Crisp, the +hunchback. It has been his plan, under promise of marriage, to decoy +you from this house; he would probably have left his child to Crisp’s +good agency, with orders to join you. Herbert loves you, and would +have gone willingly in your company, but alone with Richard he would +not have moved one step. Once out of my reach in some distant city, +he would have had the reins in his own hand. It was by an unexpected, +but I hope fortunate chance, that I overheard a conversation to this +effect between him and the deformed servant. I could not ascertain the +day set for this adventure, but I surmised that it was at no remote +date, and I have kept alert. You have avoided me, Miss Reef, and I have +been obliged to watch your movements distantly. Not from suspicion of +you, for I know you to be pure and honorable, but because you are under +my protection, and because”--he hesitated--I wondered what was coming +next. I had a presentiment that he was about to make an avowal which I +ought to shun, but before I could evade him he turned suddenly toward +me, his face white with emotion, and continued--“I love you, Agnes, +though it is no time now to speak of my passion, and have watched over +you as a father, a brother, a _lover_ would watch.” + +This announcement affected me more than I care to confess, considering +I did not return his love, but it was the allusion to his sheltering +care that moved me. + +“Yes, I have watched over you; orphan that you are, you need some +guardian care. I knew by your frequent journeys to the village, by your +cloistering in your own apartment, and more than all, by your speaking +countenance, that you were preparing for some great event in your life. + +“Last night I could not sleep; I laid my head upon my pillow, but +finding it impossible to close my eyes I arose and dressed. Sitting by +my window I thought I heard a commotion in your room. I listened until +my surmises grew into certainty. The hour was midnight, and your door, +which at that season is usually closed like a cloister-gate, swung on +its hinges. + +“This alarmed me; I unlocked my door and looked out. Soon a hasty step +retreating from your chamber met my ear. Descending the stairs, this +untimely visitor entered the room where Herbert lay sleeping. A strange +suspicion came over me. Can the intruder be Richard? I thought. If so, +what was he doing at that hour of the night? I seized a lighted candle +and rushed to the boy’s apartment, and there I found Richard, maddened, +and beside himself with liquor and frenzy. I was just in time to save +Herbert’s life from his insane fury. + +“I know not what had occurred between you and him, Agnes, but this I +know, he had failed in some diabolical plot he had contemplated. Chance +or a friendly Providence had thwarted his purpose. I had him in my +power, and compelled him to leave the house, not to return until you +have been removed where he will never find you. + +“I cannot leave my beautiful bird, my pet dove, where the charms of +this wily serpent may ensnare her.” + +He ceased. My eyes were dry, my heart turned to stone. I arose, and +mechanically moved toward the door. + +“Where are you going, Agnes? Tell me of your plans; regard me as your +friend, I beg.” + +“Take me away--take me away,” I cried hysterically; “I must go! Oh, oh, +oh!” I should have fallen, but he caught me in his arms. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +On reviving came the dread feeling that I must go. Go whither? I had +no home. I could not return to my uncle who had cast me adrift. The +inquisitive glance of his grim housekeeper would annihilate me. But go +I must, and that speedily. + +With weary head and aching heart I commenced packing my little +wardrobe. My bridal attire I hastily covered from sight that it might +remain until time and mildew should obliterate it. My dream of love was +past. I felt that my youth and beauty were buried in that crushed pile +of broken flowers, pale silk, and dishevelled lace. + +I had concluded my work, and was tying my bonnet-strings, when a knock +at the door announced Mr. Bristed. He appeared surprised at seeing me +arranged for my journey. + +“So soon, Agnes?” said he. “You are not yet able to leave.” + +But as I expressed very emphatically my ability and determination to +start immediately, he saw expostulation would be useless. + +“Well,” said he, “let me hear where you contemplate going.” + +I told him I should take the railway or coach to some point, I cared +not where; any distant city or village from whence I could advertise +for another situation. I was too hopeless then to care whither I went. + +“And do you think I would permit you to leave me thus at random, going, +you know not where, without any preconceived plans? Oh my poor, poor +child, to be thrown thus upon the world!” + +He walked the floor several times, apparently in great agitation; then, +suddenly pausing, said abruptly, almost violently, “It must not be! +Agnes, don’t go,” lowering his voice, and placing his hand gently on my +shoulder; “stay with me--become my wife. I love you and will cherish +you. No rude blast that my arm can shield you from shall assail you. My +life has been one of gloom, you can render it one of sunshine. Stay, +dear one, oh, stay!” and in his transport he seized my hands. + +“What do you mean, Mr. Bristed?” said I, recoiling from him. “Surely, +you must forget yourself and the circumstances which have so recently +occurred; you have accused me of loving your brother, how, then, can I +transfer my affections to you? Oh, you are cruel, cruel!” + +“Forgive me,” said he, penitently; “I will do anything for you, +Agnes--take you away, if you wish; only let me go with you and see that +you are properly cared for.” + +I shook my head. + +“Richard may seek to find you; you may fall again into his evil hands +if you insist on going thus alone.” + +“Mr. Bristed,” said I, “thus far I have acted as you directed. I will +depart at your solicitation; but further than this, I must be free. If +Richard seeks me out, and I can aid him, I will do so. Degraded and +fallen though he be, my love will not shrink from him. I will help him +to rise.” + +“You are a noble woman, Agnes,” he said with a sad smile, “God protect +you!” and he left me. + +As he went out, I heard him order the carriage. The serving-man came +for my luggage, and I summoned courage to pay a farewell visit to +Herbert. + +The poor little invalid became very much excited at seeing me, and +clung so tightly about my neck that it was with effort I could leave. +I did not then inform him of my intended departure, and with an aching +heart and forced smile I parted from the dear sufferer. + +I met Mary in the hall; she told me Mr. Bristed had ordered her to +accompany me on my journey. + +I did not want her company, my mind craved solitude; I would not have +her. I sought her master, and told him so. “At a time like this I must +be alone,” said I, excitedly; “I want no spy upon my actions. I will go +wherever you wish me to go, but let me proceed alone.” + +“Well,” said he, musingly, “I desire but to serve you. Go to the town +of M., present this letter according to its directions. You refuse my +further aid, but if ever you need a friend, send for me; otherwise, I +will never trouble you.” + +I answered that I would do as he requested, and with a heavy heart +entered his carriage, which was waiting to drive me to the railway +station. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +I will pass over my journey, and the lonely, miserable days which +succeeded my arrival in M. I made fruitless effort to obtain service, +and waited and watched for an application in my dreary lodgings until +my small hoard of wages was nigh exhausted. + +I had been in the city a fortnight, broken in spirit and dejected +by want of success, when I happened to bethink me of the letter Mr. +Bristed had given me. + +I took it from its undisturbed nook in my trunk, and having read the +superscription, set about to find the party to whom it was addressed. +The direction led me to a large manufacturing establishment. + +The gentleman to whom it was written appeared to be a foreigner. Having +presented the epistle to him, he perused it hastily, then taking my +hand with great eagerness, he exclaimed: + +“O Mees! I am greatly honored. Mons. Bristeed is my very good friend; +I well acquaint with him in Paris. I congratulate you on having one +so grand a gentleman for your acquaintance. He tell me you look for a +school.” + +“Yes, sir,” said I, glad to find my tastes had been studied; “I do +desire a school.” + +“I will assist with pleasure, Mees. Be seated; in a few moments I will +accompany you.” + +I sat down, wondering whither the gay, loquacious gentleman would lead +me. + +He soon rejoined me, hat in hand. + +“Will you accept my escort, Mees; the place is near by,” said he, +reading the note. “No. 14 B----, street. Will you walk, or shall I call +a cab?” + +“I will walk,” I answered, scarcely knowing what reply was expected. As +we turned the corner of the street I ventured to ask: + +“Is it to some school you are guiding me?” + +“Ah, Mees,” said he, rubbing his hands together and laughing, “it is +some great secret. Mons. Bristeed would surprise you. Have a leetle +patience, and all will be divulged.” + +We walked rapidly for a space and then paused before a handsome +building. + +Entering the courtyard, we rang the silver bell. A servant answered our +summons and invited us in. Seated in the drawing-room, I heard the buzz +of many voices. + +“Is it an academy?” I whispered to Monsieur Pilot, my conductor. He +smiled encouragingly. + +“This is a young ladies’ seminary, Mees.” + +Before I could question further, the room door opened, and a lady of +tall, imposing figure entered. + +Monsieur Pilot commenced a vehement conversation with her in French. +She responded in the same tongue. The dialogue ended, he turned to me +and said: + +“Mees Reef, permit me to introduce you to Madame Fontenelle.” + +Madame smiled very graciously upon me, and then recommenced the +gesticulation and babble of the two. At length she appeared satisfied +with the understanding at which they arrived. I was growing uneasy at +their prolonged volubility, when Monsieur Pilot pirouetted up to me, +and said: + +“Mees Reef, I beg to congratulate you. Madame consents to transfer +this mansion into your hands, She accepts our recommendation and that +of your own intelligent countenance. Mons. Bristeed was not mistaken +in the impression you would make. I wish you joy in having become the +proprietress of this splendid institution.” + +“How,” I cried in astonishment; “I proprietor? I do not understand. +Please explain.” + +Madame looked blandly on; my remarks were evidently unintelligible to +her. + +“It is a very onerous and responsible position, +Mademoiselle”--shrugging her shoulders--“I should not like to advise +you. Do you comprehend the extent of the undertaking? I should not be +willing to trust my pupils in timid hands.” + +Her remarks stung me, and gave, I presume, the favorable turn to my +destiny, for I felt the power to undertake a task which I would before +have shrunk from. + +“I will do my duty in all cases to the best of my ability, madame!” was +my brief reply. + +“Ah, you do not comprehend, Madame,” said Monsieur Pilot, coming +briskly to the rescue. “This is a surprise to Mees Reef. My very good +friend Monsieur Bristeed has not apprised the young lady of his bounty. +I have his commission to purchase for her this establishment, which he +is aware you desire to dispose of, Madame. His recommendation of the +young lady is surely sufficient.” + +“The whole establishment?” I asked, with an effort at composure. + +“Yes,” replied Madame. “I am obliged to start for the West Indies, and +must dispose of all. The present instructors are thoroughly competent +for their various positions; they merely need a supervisor. You appear +young, but I presume experience has fitted you for the office.” + +“Eminently so, eminently,” answered Monsieur Pilot promptly, as if he +had been guardian of my reputation for years. “We will consider the +arrangements as complete, my clear Madame. I will call tomorrow and +close the transaction. _Bon jour_, Madame.” + +And with rapid strides he hurried me away. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +The school became mine. By vigilance and perseverance, I not only +retained the pupils Madame had transmitted to my care, but added many +thereto. + +Monsieur Pilot, lively and friendly, visited me frequently. I liked the +little Frenchman; his gaiety served to divert my mind from reflections +on the past, which like spectres would sometimes stalk grimly before me +when unoccupied, I sought the quiet of my own chamber. + +With my increasing success, my pupils’ interest fully occupied every +moment of my time. Meantime, not a line or word reached me from Bristed +Hall. Upon my installment as proprietor of Madame’s seminary, I had +written to Mr. Bristed, thanking him for his kindness, and informing +him that I should take measures to repay the expenditures he had +incurred in my behalf, by placing quarterly in the hands of Monsieur +Pilot a sum such as I could spare from my income, by means of which I +hoped in time to repay my external indebtedness. + +The only reply I received to this letter was a peremptory refusal, sent +through Monsieur Pilot, to accept any return. + +I had been more than a year in my new home. Constant employment had +developed my mind, and I flattered myself on having acquired a wisdom +and sedateness such as ten years of quiet experience could not have +given me. But of this I was lamentably mistaken. + +Of my silly yielding to circumstances which follow, the reader must not +judge too harshly. I was still but an immature woman, not yet twenty; +the glamour of youth still hung over me. I craved human love, and took +the first that presented itself, just as any other ardent, imaginative +girl in my place would have done. + +One night late in autumn, when the sharp winds were already giving +signals of the coming winter, of leafless trees and frozen ground, +feeling the usual sadness which accompanies this season of the year, +I walked out upon the piazza in front of the house, looking down upon +the street. I thought the keen air would put my blood in more active +circulation, and thus dispel from my mind the brown and yellow fancies +that filled it as the dying leaves of October strewed the ground. + +My pupils had all retired to their rooms, and relieved of my charge, +my thoughts were free to recreate. I walked quickly back and forth, +drawing in long draughts of the invigorating air, and reviewing the +morning’s duties. While thus engaged, my attention was arrested by the +appearance of a tall man on the opposite side of the street, standing +still and watching me. As he caught my startled gaze he lifted his hat +and bowed, and before I had time to reflect on his strange proceedings, +had crossed the street and was standing on the pavement below. + +“Agnes!” + +My God, he called me by name! My blood became like ice. Shaking from +head to foot I covered my eyes with my hands, and would have run in, +but the whistling wind brought the cry again: + +“Agnes! Let me speak with you.” + +Quick as the words were uttered the dark figure mounted the stone +steps, only the little iron railing of the balcony dividing us. + +I knew then who it was. + +“Will you open the door, or shall I?” said a voice which I remembered +too well. + +I saw no alternative, without disturbing the neighborhood and betraying +myself; so, like a criminal, I stepped softly to the hall and unlocked +the door. He came in with a light, free step, and seated himself upon a +couch with the ease of an old friend and accomplished gentleman. It was +Richard Bristed! + +I will not detail what passed at this interview. But I fell again under +his fascination; his magnetic presence lulled my faculties, and, alas, +I must relate that this nocturnal intrusion was followed quickly by +others! + +He assumed his old ascendancy over me. The past became like an +unpleasant dream in my mind, dimly remembered, but never distinctly +recalled. + +Occasionally, however, a sharp doubt obtruded itself, and roused me for +an instant. One evening I ventured to ask: + +“Richard, why are your visits so brief, and made only in the night?” + +“Why?” he repeated, as if startled by the suddenness of the question, +then adding carelessly: “Because you always have that deuced old +fellow, Monsieur Pilot, running here. I am not very jealous, yet it +would torment me to meet one who dares raise his thoughts to my Agnes. +He wants to marry you. Do dismiss him!” + +This conjecture proved true, and I was obliged to give a cold rebuff to +the man who had befriended me. It is possible Richard Bristed did not +care to be recognized by his brother’s agent, but I did not think of +this at that time. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +After this affair happened Richard visited me more openly, and my +pupils, when by chance they met him, were charmed with the stranger. He +was only known as “Mr. Richard.” “Call me that, Agnes, I hate the name +of Bristed. Introduce me to your friends as Mr. Richard,” he said, and +I had done so. + +About this time he explained satisfactorily, to my credulous mind, the +cause of his sudden retreat from Bristed Hall, and gave me reason to +believe that the statements his brother had made concerning him were +untrue and evil in design. + +“My brother, as you have surely discovered, Agnes, is a cold, proud +man, and as I was not his equal in wealth or position he selected an +heiress, both old and disagreeable, whom he designed me to marry. Your +youth and beauty he intended to appropriate to himself. I feared if I +made him acquainted with my purpose to unite myself to you he would +frustrate all my wishes, and when I discovered that he knew of my +plans, I determined to forestall him by making you my wife that very +night. I intended to have gone through the form of marriage, which the +next day could have been legalized, for I feared the influence of his +wealth and position upon your unsophisticated mind. + +“However, you refused to trust me, and I left your room maddened by +anger and the fear of losing you. + +“I met my brother in the hall-way; he said Herbert was ill, and I +accused him of trying to injure the boy that he might defraud me. +Sharp words passed between us. I left him, and in blind haste mounted +my horse, thinking I would ride over to N., a distance of some twenty +miles, to get the clergyman of the parish, an intimate friend of mine, +to drive with me to the Hall and perform the important ceremony. + +“The ride I accomplished in a few hours, but I found my friend absent +from home. The excitement and disappointment, added to the severe cold +to which I was exposed, broke me down, and I was taken suddenly ill. +When I recovered, I returned to Bristed Hall only to find my priceless +bird flown, and no clue to be had to her whereabouts. + +“As to the tale about Herbert, that is all a _ruse_; he is not my +son, and only distantly connected with either of us. He is heir to a +considerable estate, and Mr. Bristed is managing so that upon Herbert’s +decease (and poor child, he cannot live long) the inheritance will fall +to his lot.” + +Such was his version of the story, and as I loved him I believed it +willingly. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +In his gay society the winter passed quickly. With the opening spring +he departed--on business, as he said. I felt his loss, but as it was a +busy time with me it did not affect me as it otherwise would have done. +Many changes were being made in my seminary. I was obliged to employ +workmen to add new dormitories to the great house, for pupils were +crowding in from every point. + +The reputation of the school was growing; I was immersed in business. +Some months elapsed; I ceased to hear from Richard, almost to think of +him, amid the activity of the spring term. + +“Circumstances,” some say, “are the Devil,” and I almost believe +that saying. While employed I was happy, my mind well balanced and +energetic; but unfortunately for me, summer vacation drew near. It came +finally; a sultry sun, parched earth, and scorched verdure made life in +the city undesirable. My pupils fled to the country and to their homes +until the fall session, and I was left alone. Even my servants were +absent, all save one. + +Shut up in the empty mansion alone with my own thoughts, I was growing +morbidly lonesome. + +It was at this unpropitious moment that Richard Bristed returned. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +He arranged quiet strolls to the country--little excursions here and +there with himself as my sole companion--and many sweet happy days of +unsullied pleasure I passed in his society. + +One sultry morning, to my delight, he came in an open carriage, saying +that the atmosphere was so heated he would drive me out of town to a +charming little village with which he was familiar. + +The prospect of such a jaunt was to me indeed agreeable; and as he +liked to see me in becoming dress, I arrayed myself in white, placed +a fillet of pale blue ribbon round my hair and a bouquet of blue +forget-me-nots in the bosom of my dress, and thus adorned set forth, +sitting by Richard’s side. + +I was as happy as a young queen; all the black suspicions which had +darkened my horizon were absorbed in the fierce heat of that summer +morning. His beauty, his fascinating smile, his lively conversation, +filled me with rapture. + +Arrived at the village, we stopped at a small but pretty tavern and +alighted. While I entered the dwelling Richard drove his horses under +shelter. He soon joined me, looking much disconcerted. + +“Agnes, my darling, what shall we do? We cannot ride back to-night; the +carriage is out of order, and I fear the horse is injured by the heat +and rapid driving.” + +“O Richard, I must return home to-night!” I answered decidedly. + +“Well, I will see what can be done, but we will rest awhile and take +some refreshments.” + +A delightful half hour passed while we were regaling ourselves with +country fare and looking at the strange place from the window of the +little inn. Then Richard proposed that we should walk out while waiting +for repairs to our vehicle. Together we strolled through the quiet +lanes and open commons till we came upon a pretty, unpretending church, +half hidden in ivy and creeping vines. The door stood open. “Come,” +said he, “let us go in.” I followed him in. To my surprise I discovered +a clergyman in his robes at the altar. Richard whispered in my ear some +words which I could not understand and their import I could only guess +at, but his tender manner brought the hot blood to my face. + +“Agnes,” he continued, speaking with quiet determination; “you must +be mine; everything is in readiness. We cannot return to-night; Fate +ordains it!” + +It did appear to me that Fate, as he said, ordained the events which +followed that country drive. All the love and sentiment of my nature +was aroused; but reason told my intoxicated senses that I must not act +without forethought, so I shook my head to his passionate urgency and +endeavored to withdraw. But my companion pressed me gently back into an +open pew, and hastened past me up the aisle. + +A rapid conversation then took place between himself and the clergyman, +who, after casting his eyes in my direction, went to his desk and took +up his prayer-book. + +Richard returned with quick steps to where I was sitting. + +“Come,” said he, smiling; “he is waiting.” + +Startled and trembling, I made no answer save an effort to reach the +door. + +“For heaven’s sake, Agnes, do not make a scene! Recover your usual +good sense. Do you not see that it is best?” whispered Richard, with +earnestness almost fierce. + +And so hurried, flushed and doubting, overcome with heat and +excitement, I permitted myself to be led to the altar. + +The ceremony soon ended. As the clerk shut his book and we turned to +depart, I could not realize that this abrupt, informal marriage was a +reality. As I passed down the aisle, a white, fluttering, impalpable, +and yet clearly-defined form arose from one of the empty seats, and +unobstructed by carved wood or heavy upholstery, passed out through +frame and plaster! The slight figure, the golden hair, I remembered too +well--it was that of the _ghost of Bristed Hall_! + +I clenched Richard’s arm so that he muttered an oath, and said sharply, +“My God, Agnes, what are you doing?” + +“Did you not see that figure? It passed straight through the wall,” I +whispered in affright. + +“Move on--none of your d--d nonsense, Agnes,” said Richard, scowling; +then hastily adding, “Excuse me, love, you confuse me. My happiness +makes me forget myself.” + +My mind surged with conflicting emotions. I felt a secret joy in the +knowledge that I was united to the man I loved. This romantic, half +run-away match pleased the romance of my nature, and yet I was unable +to resist the feeling that I had done wrong. A strange foreboding of +evil intruded upon my joy. + +Richard that evening was gay almost to wildness. “O Agnes! Agnes! we +have outwitted them, the fools! They thought they had conquered me, but +you are mine, and I have won!” + +He talked so disconnectedly, I thought he had taken too much wine. +Indeed, to this he owned. + +“I could drink flask after flask of it, I am so happy!” he exclaimed. + +We were happy that night and drove home in the cool of the morning. + +It was arranged that our marriage should for the present be kept +private, as Richard thought if it were known it might disorganize my +school. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +We had been wedded but two weeks when one morning Richard asked me to +show him my deed of the property. + +“How strange,” said he, as he looked it over. “Do you know, Agnes, +before I wedded you I might have married many a woman of wealth, but I +would not unite myself with a lady who would not honor me by giving me +sole control of all her possessions.” + +“Well, Richard,” answered I, laughing, “you can control mine if you +like. It matters little to me who holds the deed, so long as my +dominion over the young ladies is not invaded.” + +“That is what I expected of your, loving nature, Agnes, and yet I +suppose you would hesitate to convey your property to me.” + +“No; why should I?” I exclaimed. “I will go with you to an attorney +this moment, if you desire it.” + +“Well, come, we shall see; get your bonnet,” said he gaily. + +I tied on my bonnet, and accompanied him down the street into a little +dingy office in a narrow thoroughfare. + +At the door, laying his hand upon my shoulder, he said jokingly: + +“Agnes, go back, I was only trying you; I wanted to see if you meant +what you said.” + +“Of course I meant it, and I will not go back till it is done.” + +“Well, well, you must have your own way, I see!” and with a gay, +exulting smile he led me into the office. + +I signed the paper giving to him the house and lands, and was glad when +it was done, for I felt that it might atone for any suspicion or doubt +of his goodness which had crossed my mind, for he had made me very +happy since our marriage. + +I returned to my school and its duties. In the interval between the +recitations, I had time to reflect. I had acted impulsively, and +perhaps unfairly. What right had I to give away a property given to me +for an especial purpose? + +Had I done right? That was the question which annoyed me--the question +which constantly thrust itself before me during the live-long day. +My sleep that night was disturbed. The form of the elder Mr. Bristed +appeared in my dreams. He seemed to reproach me by his looks, and when +I endeavored to speak to him, vanished from my sight. + +Richard had left me after my signing the paper. He told me he was +obliged to leave town on business, and I had no one to council with. My +own thoughts startled me; I became nervous, and finally quite ill. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +At length, after two days of unrest and self-condemnation, I quieted +myself with the assurance that I would go to the Hall and see Mr. +Bristed; then also I could see dear Herbert, to whom my heart went +often out with longing. His name was never mentioned between Richard +and myself. I avoided the subject; a dread which I could not overcome +forbade me to speak of it. But now a strange, irrepressible desire to +see the child filled my mind. + +Yielding to this intense feeling, I arranged my affairs, and taking a +coach, set off early in the morning for the train which would convey +me to Bristed Hall. To my astonishment I met Richard at the depot. +Overwhelmed with surprise at the encounter, and ashamed to confess +my intended journey, I made some petty excuse for being there, and +returned home again. Richard handed me into the cab, but excused +himself from accompanying me as he had a friend awaiting him. + +That day, after luncheon, taking me aside he informed me that a noble +lord had placed in his charge a lad who was partially idiotic and sole +heir to an immense estate; that it was necessary he should have at his +disposal a room in the upper part of the building in which he could +keep him from observation, as it had been discovered the sight of +strangers increased the boy’s malady, and perfect seclusion would be +the only means of restoring him to reason. + +I immediately directed a servant to put in order one of the rooms in +a remote portion of the dwelling; this was done, and towards dusk +Richard, who had left the house, returned in a handsome coach with the +poor, helpless, deranged boy. From the window I saw them alight. A +slight, tall figure, wrapped in a cloak, descended from the coach. This +undoubtedly was the afflicted youth. He walked so feebly I should have +hastened to his assistance, but Richard’s command that I should not +permit him to see strange faces withheld me. + +However, I stood in the partly opened door, hoping I should be called. +As the muffled figure passed me on the way up the staircase I vainly +sought to catch a glimpse of the youth’s face, but he turned neither to +the right nor left. + +Richard, however, saw me and shook his head, indicating with an angry, +peremptory gesture, that I should withdraw. + +For days I felt a strange curiosity about this youth, but as Richard +gave my inquisitiveness no food, and conducted his attentions to his +charge in an orderly, business-like manner, I dismissed the subject +from my mind. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +Nothing new transpired the remainder of those autumn days. November +was now close upon us. About this time I remarked a sudden falling +off of my hitherto prosperous school. Determined to know the cause, I +inquired of one of my assistants, in whom I confided, if she was aware +of the cause of this decline. She hesitated to reply to my question, +but when pressed for her opinion she informed me that my pupils were +dissatisfied with my relations with Mr. Richard, and also with his +conduct respecting the youth who had been imprisoned on the upper +floor. They asserted they had heard groans proceeding from the room he +occupied, and feared to remain in a house where mystery and secrecy +were rife. + +I was astonished and alarmed at this information. You, reader, will be +surprised to learn that I was at that time more ignorant of events that +transpired around me than my own pupils. But I was not of a suspicious +nature, and happy in my new life of love, the few weeks that had +elapsed since my marriage passed as in a delicious dream. + +But now I was thoroughly aroused and ready to return to duty. I thanked +the teacher for her information and then dismissed her, as I wished to +be alone. + +When left to the quiet of my own thoughts I reflected how best to +proceed in the matter. Richard was not at home, I could not question +him, and he had the key of his ward’s room with him. + +I finally concluded I would go to the door of this private room and +listen if I could detect any unusual noise from within. + +With trepidation I ascended the back staircase leading to the secluded +apartment. + +Near the door I paused against the alcove of the great window that +lighted the hall, and looked out. The sky was dull and leaden; a scanty +snow was falling, and the wind, blowing furiously, drove it hither and +yon. I stood for some moments looking out upon the gloomy prospect so +in accordance with my state of mind. Suddenly I caught a glimpse of +Richard crossing the street. I started when I saw him and was about +to retreat, when a thought arrested me. Why should I hurry away? Was +I afraid of Richard? Was he not the proper person to consult in my +dilemma? I would let him know that I desired to enter the room! + +So thinking, I approached the door and tried it. It was locked, but at +the sound of the turning knob a sad, dreary moan arose from within--a +cry of mingled fear and weakness. The sound of that moaning voice +seemed familiar to my ear. What could it mean? + +As I stood thus in suspense, listening for further development of the +mystery, I heard a step close beside me. I turned, and discovered +Richard. His fair, handsome face scowled at me fiendishly; his +countenance seemed transformed; his eyes gleamed like those of a +panther. + +“What are you doing here?” said he, laying a heavy hand upon me and +speaking through his set teeth. “Go down stairs!” and he pushed me from +him violently. + +I suppose his physical power and angry mood awed me, for I forgot my +determination to solve the mystery--forgot my own rights, and hurried +precipitately down the stairs. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +With my mind filled with dreadful forebodings, I reached my own private +chamber, entered it, and bolted the door, that I might consider, +undisturbed, the best course of action to pursue under these fearful +suspicions that haunted me. Hour after hour passed as I sat thus +absorbed in thought which seemed to turn my very hair gray from its +intensity. + +I heard Richard descend the stairs and go out into the street. Not +long; after this the door-bell rang violently and the servant knocked +at my door to say that a gentleman in the drawing-room wished to see +me. Smoothing my hair and arranging my toilet, I obeyed the summons, +but started back on discovering the stranger to be no other than Mr. +Bristed. He pressed my hands and said: + +“Agnes, can I converse with you in private here a few moments?” + +My first surprise over, I answered, “Come with me; we will not be +disturbed here.” Withdrawing to a small room adjoining, he drew forward +an ottoman and seating himself beside me, said: + +“Agnes, Herbert is missing; can you tell me where I can find him?” + +“Herbert missing!” said I with a shudder. + +“Yes,” said he, “I have heard, Agnes, that a gentleman visits you whom +I surmise to be my brother, and, if so, I thought perhaps you would +know through him of Herbert’s place of hiding.” + +“Has Herbert left you?” said I. “Tell me--what do you mean, Mr. +Bristed?” + +“Yes,” said he; “some few weeks since, I left the Hall to visit an old +friend. I expected to be absent a fortnight. While I was gone Herbert +disappeared, the servants knew not how nor where. At first, hoping +to discover that he had strayed off of his own accord and would soon +be found, they searched the country in every direction, but in vain. +They were at last obliged to send me word of his disappearance. You +can imagine my sensations on arriving at the Hall and finding the dear +child’s room vacant. I made inquiries in every quarter, sent couriers +out in all parts of the neighboring country, but no trace of him could +be found. + +“I at length thought of you, that you might have seen or heard of my +brother. He is the one person likely to be concerned in the singular +disappearance of Herbert.” + +I trembled from head to foot. What could I say? Evidently he was not +aware of my marriage with his brother. How should I act? Richard might +come in at any moment and discover himself. I recollected him to have +incidentally mentioned that the following day he had an engagement at +the race-course with a friend; I therefore said hurriedly: + +“Mr. Bristed, I have seen Richard recently, but tonight can tell you +nothing further. If you will call to-morrow morning at eleven, I will +tell you all I know.” + +He seized my hand, exclaiming, “Tell me to-night, Agnes, and set my +mind at ease.” + +My head seemed on fire--I groaned audibly. + +“I can tell you nothing of a certainty. It is all surmise, and my brain +is distracted to-night. Give me till to-morrow.” + +“I will, Agnes; I feel that I can confide in you.” + +“Now go,” I replied. “My position is such that your presence here will +only destroy the purpose of your visit.” + +He clasped my hand in his and left me. + +The next morning before leaving for the racecourse, while adjusting his +neck-tie, Richard said: + +“I fear we shall lose our imbecile pupil up-stairs, Ag. I brought a +doctor in to see him last night, and he says he cannot live long.” + +I could not see his face, for he looked persistently away. + +“If he is ill, I must see him, Richard,” I managed to reply. + +“Oh, no!” said he; “I thought you were foolishly scared to hear him +groan yesterday, but if he does not get better I will send him home to +his friends.” This he said carelessly, as he walked out of the room +humming a lively air. + +How coolly he talks about the lad! thought I, half ashamed of my +suspicions. Perhaps I have wronged him. I have been too impetuous in my +surmises. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +The time drew near for his brother’s arrival. He was prompt to the hour. + +“Well, Agnes,” said he, “I have passed a sleepless night. I hope you +will relieve my mind of its anxiety.” + +“Mr. Bristed,” said I, covering my eyes with my hand, for I could not +endure his eager gaze, “I must first tell you I am married to your +brother Richard.” + +“Married to Richard!” he exclaimed, starting up violently agitated; and +seizing my shoulder with nervous gripe he set me off from him at arm’s +length--“You married to Richard! why, Agnes, that cannot be; has he not +a wife now living in France? But be calm, child,” said he, “be calm,” +patting me gently on the head; “perhaps I am misinformed; we will talk +of this hereafter. Now about Herbert. Tell me what you know.” + +This question recalled me. I then informed him of the idiotic pupil +who had been received in the house about a fortnight since, and how my +suspicions as to his identity had been aroused the day previous. + +He could scarcely wait till I had finished my account. “Come, quick! +come! show me the way to the room!” + +I led him up the stairs in the direction of the suspected chamber. As +we neared the door a low moan could be heard distinctly. + +“O my God, it is Herbert!” he exclaimed. “Quick, where is the key?” + +“I have no key--you must pry the lock open.” No sooner said than +done--he burst open the door and entered. I followed. Alas! our +surmises proved too true! There upon the couch lay the wasted form of +poor Herbert. + +As he recognized us his wan face lighted up with an angelic smile, and +he endeavored to raise himself at our coming, but he was too weak, and +his head sank nerveless back upon the pillow. + +Silently and hushed, as in the chamber of death, we stepped to his +bedside. He held out his thin hand to his uncle, who clasped it between +his own, and, kneeling by his couch, bowed his head and sobbed aloud. +His first moments of bitter grief subsiding, he said to me, “Send for +some wine.” Then, stroking the child’s fair forehead, he groaned, “O +Herbert, Herbert, have I found you at last, sick and alone!” + +Herbert attempted to reply, but his voice was weak and faint; we could +not distinguish his words. A servant brought the wine, and I moistened +his colorless lips with it. How I felt, it is useless to describe. +Words would fail to express my terror. + +The rich, warm juice of the grape and the application of stimulants +seemed to restore him to life. His first effort on recovering was to +call me by name. I answered by bending over him and bathing his pale +forehead. At this he smiled, pleased and happy. + +“Now, Herbert, my poor boy,” said Mr. Bristed, “if it will not fatigue +you too much to talk, tell us how you came here. Who brought you? Why +did you leave Bristed Hall?” + +“Uncle Richard brought me,” said he, heaving a melancholy sigh. “He +came after you had gone, uncle, and told me that Agnes Reef was sick +and going to die, and wanted to see me and you, and that if you were +home you would let me go, because you loved her; and I thought so too. +He gave me this ring which Agnes sent so I would know it was her.” And, +saying this, he held up a thin, transparent hand, and there, indeed, +upon it gleamed one of my rings, so loose that the wasted fingers could +scarce retain it. + +“My ring! So Richard gave you that,” said I, with scorn I could not +conceal, even in the sick chamber. + +“Yes,” he murmured, “and he told me he would bring me straight back +before uncle got home, and he brought me here into this room, but Agnes +was not here. I could not find her. Then he locked the door and would +not let me out, and I have been hungry and cold. And when I cried, he +would kick me, and that made me sick, I think. Do take me home, uncle, +before he comes, and I will never go away again!” + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + +During this recital Mr. Bristed and I exchanged glances of horror. We +could not speak. When it was finished, he said: + +“Agnes, order the coach. I must take him away from this place.” + +I felt that the boy was too feeble to move, but I dared not suggest it. +I too wanted him removed from the baneful influences of the house. We +proposed to carry him down on the pallet, and thus convey him to the +carriage. One hour or more elapsed before everything was in readiness. +While we were moving him Richard appeared, unannounced. A wild, +unearthly scream from Herbert first gave notice of his arrival. + +“O uncle! Miss Reef! save me! He will beat me to death!” + +His uncle endeavored to calm him with his assurance of protection, and, +turning to Richard, in a voice husky with emotion said: + +“Look, this, is your work! If there is a God ruling the universe, your +punishment, though tardy, must be sure.” + +“I see nothing strange about it,” said Richard, with an assumption of +indifference which made his handsome face look to me at that moment +like that of a Judas. “If he is my child, as you say, why should he not +be here? Who has a better right to him than I? The little imp professes +to dislike me, but that is some of your teaching, and I will soon cure +him of it.” + +“You cannot have him, Richard. He must go with me.” + +“I know my rights, and I will use them,” he replied, excitedly. +“Move that boy at your peril;” and he clapped his hand upon his +silver-mounted pocket-pistol. He had evidently been drinking. His day +at the race-course had maddened him. He was in a dangerous mood to +oppose. This Mr. Bristed evidently saw, as I did, for he beckoned me +to go out for assistance. As I was moving toward the door for that +purpose, Richard’s eye lit upon me. + +“Ah, ha!” shouted he, coming toward me. “So you are the one who +has been prying into my affairs. It is you I must thank for this +interference. Out of this room directly! Get you gone!” + +I should have obeyed, but a sound from Herbert’s bed arrested me--a +sound that awed me more than the angry voice of Richard! I hurried to +the bedside. Mr. Bristed was there before me. I looked at the sinking +boy. A stronger hand than his father’s grasped him now. _That_ hand was +_Death’s_! + +No need now to remove the little sufferer from his couch to the +carriage in waiting. He would be borne soon by the white-robed angels +from the reach of us all! + +Even Richard, whose cruel grasp he had eluded, seemed awed as the +little spirit burst from its tenement, and a transcendent smile settled +on the thin, waxen face, and the white hands folded themselves across +the breast with an air of unutterable peace. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + +Early the next morning Mr. Bristed accompanied the lifeless body of +little Herbert to Bristed Hall. He begged me to go with him, but I +refused his solicitations. I had other duties before me, which I must +perform. I should have been glad to have rid myself from every one, but +that could not be. Richard did not return, and I was alone; the days +dragged heavily away. I felt that I stood on the brink of a yawning +chasm from which I could turn neither to the right nor the left. The +thought of remaining with Richard was abhorrent, and the prospect of +leaving him and commencing life anew was also a dreadful alternative. + +What shall I do?--I reflected, as I went my weary way through the +classes. Richard solved that question for me when he returned after an +absence of three days. + +My pupils had just retired when a message came that he had returned and +desired to see me in the library. With a heavy heart I went to meet +him. He was not alone. A tall, passionate-looking woman, with dark hair +and restless eyes, sat beside him. She was richly appareled, and gazed +at me with a haughty stare as I entered. + +Richard nodded to me a bare recognition and said, “I have sent for +you, as I wish you to inform your pupils that they must leave in the +morning. I have other uses for this building.” + +At this cool announcement I staggered. Good God! would he undo me? What +plan had he now in view? “Remove my pupils!” I exclaimed. + +“Yes; do I not speak clearly? And as you have been plotting and +scheming for some time against me, I would advise you to leave, also. +Bristed Hall,” said he sneeringly, “is likely to prove an agreeable +shelter to you.” + +“_I_ leave!” said I, now fairly awake to the danger. “What do you mean, +sir?” + +“I mean,” he replied with diabolical blandness, “that this lady is my +wife, and will from this time take charge of this establishment.” + +“Richard Bristed, you cannot, dare not make that assertion! I am your +wife, though I acknowledge it with shame and sorrow. He has misled you, +madam,” said I, turning to the lady. “You are mistaken if you suppose I +shall abandon my rights.” + +“Ha, ha!” he laughed, “_she_ knows all about you. You cannot enlighten +her, so you had better hasten and pack your trunks.” + +“I shall not leave, sir; I shall defend my position here. I am a woman, +and you shall not sully my fair name,” said I, maddened by his manner. +“Your brother will help me--the law will aid me. Here I remain!” + +“You will?” said he; “we will see. This house is mine,” and he drew out +his pistol with which to frighten me. + +“Richard,” said I, hoping to restore him to calmness, “put up that +pistol. You cannot, dare not use it.” + +“Dare not!” he exclaimed, coming up to me, his hot breath smelling of +wine; “I will show you if I dare not!” + +I was alarmed as he suddenly cocked the weapon. What might he not do in +his drunken excitement? + +“She is a coward, Dick,” said the lady. “Don’t trouble yourself about +her,” and then turning to me and stamping her foot, “How dare you say +you are his wife!” she exclaimed. “Go out from here!” + +I shook from head to foot, but did not leave. + +“Come, Dick, give me the pistol,” said the lady; “You don’t know what +you might do with it.” + +“Don’t meddle with me,” said he, as she attempted to wrest it from his +grasp. “Why does that girl stand glowering at me?” + +“O Richard,” I sobbed, “my heart is ready to burst! Don’t act so; +remember Herbert!” + +“Remember Herbert!” he muttered; “I do remember him. You killed him +with your pranks, and now you would accuse me. Go, leave my house, or I +will compel you.” + +I believe he would have fired upon me at that moment, but the lady +sprang forward and caught his arm. A slight struggle ensued, then +followed a sharp report, and the pistol fell to the ground; a fearful +shriek rent the air, and Richard fell heavily to the floor, covered +with blood. I rushed to help him. He raised his glassy eyes to mine, +and faintly murmuring “My God! I am lost!” expired. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + +The shock was too much for me. I was seized with fearful dizziness. +The objects in the room became black before my eyes, and I fell to the +floor beside the bleeding corpse, insensible. + +Convulsions, I was afterwards told, followed this swoon. A raging fever +attacked me, and for weeks my life was despaired of. At length the +crisis passed; my youthful constitution conquered the disease, and I +was again restored to the world in which I had experienced so much joy +and so much misery. + +One morning the delicious feeling of returning consciousness revived +me. Where was I? The room looked familiar, yet strange. Surely I had +seen that silken coverlet before! The carved footboard of the bed on +which I was lying was not new to my sight. My weak brain was busy with +conjectures, when a woman approached, carrying a glass and spoon. It +was Mary, the housekeeper of Bristed Hall. + +“Why, Mary, are you here?” I asked in surprise. + +“Yes, Miss, but you must not talk. Take these drops. I am heartily glad +you are better, Miss.” + +A sense of rest and peace stole over me, followed by a few hours of +natural sleep. + +On opening my eyes from this refreshing slumber, I found Mary still +sitting near me. + +“Mary,” said I, “you must tell me where I am; everything here looks so +natural, and yet as if I were in a dream.” + +“You are not dreaming, Miss. You are in your own chamber in Bristed +Hall.” + +Bristed Hall! A warm gush of gratitude pervaded my being. So I was not +friendless! I was cared for. + +“Where is Mr. Bristed?” I asked after a pause. + +“We have persuaded him to drive out, miss, as the doctor said you were +out of danger. Anxiety for you and grief for Herbert’s death have quite +taken his strength away.” + +“I must get up, Mary. You must help me to dress.” + +“Oh no, miss!” she replied; “you are not strong enough yet.” + +“I am quite strong. Besides, it will revive me; I am weary of the bed, +and need a change.” + +She acquiesced in my wish, dressed me neatly, and smoothed my hair. + +“Now, take me down,” I requested. “I wish to surprise Mr. Bristed.” + +Of course she remonstrated, said I would bring on the fever again, and +all that; but as I persisted in my determination, she led me down the +stairs. The fresh air invigorated me; I felt every minute increased +power. At my request, she took me to Mr. Bristed’s conservatory. The +bright flowers, the singing birds in their ornamented cages, and the +adjoining study with its well-filled shelves, all reminded me of the +past. Tears came to my eyes as I recalled the bitter changes I had seen +since leaving that sunny home! + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + +I had not been long in the conservatory when I heard the wheels of a +carriage. Mr. Bristed had returned. He ascended the steps: I heard his +voice in the hall. His first words were an inquiry after my welfare. +He was told that I was better. Passing through his apartments, he +entered the study. I could see him plainly from the windows of the +conservatory. He looked, I thought, thin and sad; his hair had become +sprinkled with gray since the time when I resided in his mansion. +Turning to Mary, who was waiting there for me, he said: “I feel faint; +bring me a cup of tea.” + +Mary left the room on her mission, and I stole from my hiding place. + +“Mr. Bristed,” whispered I, coming softly up behind his chair. + +He started. “Whose voice is that? Agnes, where are you?” + +“Here, sir,” I answered, as I touched him lightly. + +He turned toward me, his face flushed with pleasure, his eyes expectant. + +“You, Agnes--you, verily? How came you here? I thought you were ill off +your pillow. What pleasant trick is this you have been playing me?” +Then taking both my hands in his and surveying me, his eyes the while +beaming with soft pleasure, he said: + +“Oh, I am so happy that you are better. But you are wrong to come here; +you will make yourself ill again.” + +I told him how I had awakened, and of my glad surprise in finding +myself in my old chamber again, and how I had insisted on coming down +to thank him for his kindness in bringing me hither. + +“Don’t thank me, Agnes; for you I could do anything. This place shall +always be your home. Some day, Agnes, you may learn to appreciate the +worth of a heart that truly loves you.” + +I fell upon my knees before him. “O Mr. Bristed, I do appreciate!” I +cried. “I do know that you love me. Let me live for you. Let me by a +life of devotion atone for the mistakes of the past!” + +He lifted me up, and folded me to his breast. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + + +A few weeks of balmy spring air and soft sunshine completely restored +me to health. + +One day when strolling in company with Mr. Bristed through a path +blooming with early hyacinths and crocuses, I ventured to ask him about +my school. + +“It is entirely broken up, Agnes. After the fearful tragedy that +transpired within its walls, your pupils scattered like dust in +the wind. I arrived the next morning after the death of Richard, +unconscious of what had occurred in my absence, but intending to take +you home with me. I found you, as I then thought, on your death-bed. I +settled with your separate teachers, and closed the school. With the +French woman who claimed to be Richard’s wife, and with whom he had +probably gone through the form of marriage, as with you, I made an +arrangement satisfactory to her to sell the property and give her an +equivalent for its value.” + +“But what motive,” I asked hesitatingly, “could Richard have had for +his course?” + +“Motive? The same that had actuated him through life. With you, Agnes, +he would have lived probably as he did with others, until his versatile +heart demanded a change. Then, with your little estate in his hands and +Herbert’s property in his power, he would have deserted you for some +new beauty. + +“But let the grave cover his mistakes and evils. I believe that a +good God will not punish him too severely for propensities which he +inherited.” + +Once more I yielded to the charms of companionship and love. Severe +trials had proved Mr. Bristed’s worth, and when he again asked me to +make the remnant of his life happy by my care and love--to become his +wife, and share his home, and reign queen of his heart--I consented. +When the June roses blossomed, we were married. The balmy air and +opening buds spoke of a new life. They typified my new life, truly. The +glitter and gloss which had deceived me in youth would never beguile me +more. I had learned that it was not the external man, but the internal +that was worthy of love. + +The shadowy form of Alice never troubled me again, I believe reparation +can be made beyond the tomb, and that in some far-off world the +new-born spirit of Richard atones to Alice and Herbert for the wrong he +did them in this. + + + + +ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING + +_TO HER HUSBAND_. + + + Dead! dead! You call her dead! +You cannot see her in her glad surprise, +Kissing the tear-drops from your weeping eyes; +Moving about you through the ambient air, +Smoothing the whitening ripples of your hair. + + Dead! dead! You call her dead! +You cannot see the flowers she daily twines +In garlands for you, from immortal vines; +The danger she averts you never know; +For her sweet care you only tears bestow. + + Dead! dead! You call her dead! +Vainly you’ll wait until the last trump sound! +Vainly your love entombed beneath the ground! +Vainly in kirk-yard raise your mournful wail! +Your loved is living in some sunnier vale. + + Dead! dead! You call her dead! +You think her gone to her eternal rest, +Like some strange bird forever left her nest! +Her sweet voice hush’d within the silent grave, +While o’er her dust the weeping willows wave. + + Dead! dead! You call her dead! +And yet she lives, and loves! Oh, wondrous truth! +In golden skies she breathes immortal youth! +Look upward! where the roseate sunset beams, +Her airy form amid the brightness gleams! + + Dead! dead! You call her dead! +Oh, speak not thus! her tender heart you grieve, +And ’twixt her love and yours a barrier weave! +Call her by sweetest name, your voice she’ll hear, +And through the darkness like a star appear. + + Dead! dead! You call her dead! +Lift up your eyes! she is no longer dead! +In your lone path the unseen angels tread! +And when your weary night of earth shall close, +She’ll lead you where eternal summer blows. + + + + +ARTEMUS WARD. + +_AND OUT OF PURGATORY._ + +ARTEMUS WARD’S LECTURES TO POOR, PERISHING HUMANITY. + +LECTER I. + + +You’ll remember, relatives and nabors, how I crost the Atlantic Ocean +and never agin set foot on my native soil. I naterally thought my +opportunities there, in the British Mooseum and with those Egyptian +Carcusses dun up in rags, and remaining for the space of six days +and six nights with a skeleton grinning at me and pointing its long +skinless fingers in my face and looking in an awful licentious manner, +showing its pivoted legs--I say I naterally thought such an unheard-of +experience would have prepared me for “the awful change” that follered. +But it didn’t. + +One nite, cummin’ hum from the Mooseum, where I had been instructin’ +and elevatin’ several thousand pussons, male and female, I innocently +swallered a fog--swallered it hull. I’d bin swallerin on ’em ever since +I’d bin in England, but that night I took in a bigger one than ever, +and it made me _sick_. + +I sent for the physicians that received the patronage of the +noble lords and dooks and they made me _sicker_; and finally for +the physicain “to her most gracious majisty the Queen of Great +Britain,”--but their aristocratic attention to me was of no use. As I +lie tossing on what is known as “the bed of pain,” I seed a big light +coming through the dark towards me. Behind that light appeared a grim +skeleton, just like the pictur of Death in the Alminack, walkin’ on +tiptoe toward me; and quicker than a wink he put out his long bony +hand and touched me--firstly, in the pit of the stomach, so I couldn’t +holler; nextly, he pressed his finger tips on my eye-balls, and they +sunk right back into their sockets. + +I tried to shake him off, and to yell, but I couldn’t! Then I knew I +was “dun fur.” Next came what a printer’s devil would call a ---- blank. + +I was skeered out of my seven senses, and when I cum to and tried to +recolect myself, I was like the old woman in the song who fell asleep, +and + +“By came a pedlar and his name was Stout + And he cut her petticoats all round about; +He cut her petticoats up to her knees, + Which made the old woman begin for to freeze.” + +I was in the same predicament, for I was now only in my bare bones, and +knew I was a rolecking old skeleton. + +Wall, it gin me an awful shock to find myself like a skull and +cross-bones on a tombstone, sittin’ on my own coffin! + +Presently I was grappled by a big worm with a hundred legs. He then +sent for his feller worms, and they licked me from skull to toe-jint. +After I had stood the lickin’ as long as I could (they tickled so), +I concluded to run away, so I started on a full gallop, and arter +I had run awhile, where should I fetch up but in the vicinity of +Vic’s Palace. I know’d by pussonal experience suthin’ of the feelin’ +manner with which the British public look upon the Royal Family, and +a sensation of relief cum over my mind as I thought if I once entered +their ground no one dared foiler me. So I gin a spring and leaped right +atop of the middle chimny. Owin’ to private considerations, I did’nt +mind the soot, but I clambered down, and there I was, to my amazement, +rite in the private apartments of the Queen. She was sittin’ at a table +lookin’ at a dogerotipe of Prince Albert; and I walked straight up to +her, not feel in’ a bit afeared, and making my manners, axed her if I +didn’t resemble the Prince?--rememberin’ that the preacher had kindly +said over my coffin that “there was no distinction in the grave.” + +I thought that as I was a pooty gay image of Death, I might remind her +of the “Prince Consort.” + +She looked up kinder sideways as I spoke, but she must have bin a +leetle hard o’ hearing, for she shook her head. + +Then I thought I’d try her on another tack. So I placed my hands on +my shakey knees, and bendin’ over in this guise, so she could see me +plainly, while my teeth rattled in my skull as I shook my head at her +and growled: + +“Haint you afeared of me, Madam?” With the pirsistent obstinacy of the +feminine gender, she refused to notice me. So I thought she was kinder +“set up on her pins,” and I shouted louder: + +“Victoria _Brown_! Aint you afeared of me? Aint you afeared I’ll tell +Prince Albert of your _dooins_?” + +At that she gin an awful yell, and flung herself down upon a yaller +satin divan, trimed with gold, and slobbered it all over with tears. + +I know’d then I had a “_mission to perform_,” and that my fleshless +bones were not given me for useless pleasure, but as a “warnin’ to my +race.” + +Arter this adventer I left the palace as I had entered it, “leavin’ not +a trace behind me.” + +Since that affair, I have bin goin’ about “doin’ good,” frightnin’ the +wicked into fits, and follerin’ in the steps of the parsen, and thus +working my way out of Purgatory. + + + + +LECTER II. + +ARTEMUS WARD.--OUT OF PURGATORY. + + +Relatives and nabors,--Thinkin’ you’ll, like to know whether I’d bin +roastin’ in brimstone, along with Solomen and Lot’s wife, and that you +might feel consarned to know sumthin’ about my further adventers, I’ll +continoo. + +One mornin’ soon after this, havin’ spent a restless nite, I was +thinkin’ what I had best do, when I seed, cumin’ rite out of a big +marble edifice, a nice little woman about as raw-boned as myself. As +she carried an open paper in her hand which was certified to by two +bishops and three clergeymen that she’d bin baptised and her sins +washed away, I felt it would be safe for me to foller her, knowin’ I +had no such dockerment to admit me into the good graces of Abraham or +Peter, or whatever porter might keep the gates of Paradise. + +She seemed kinder skeered and tremblin’ like for a minit, not knowin’ +what to do; then with a sudden start she spread herself out just like +the eagel of Ameriky, and soared rite up into the sky with nothin’ to +histe her by. I felt in my heart to foller her, and spread out just as +she did, keeping near her on the sly. + +As she went on she began to shine like a star, shootin’ on through the +azure heavens for all the world like a sky-rocket. + +That put me on my pluck, and I bust out just like a sky-rocket too. My +blazers! If it didn’t make my head spin. + +When I collected my idees, I thought I’d look and see if I resembled +a glow-worm behind, and there, by thunder, was a long stream of +light, just like the tail of a comet! I tell you, I felt happy! She’s +regenerated me, thought I; and I, too, am one of the “shining hosts”! +And then directly, without any warnin’ or noise of any kind, all around +began to look about the color of a yaller sun-flower, and I began to +scent a powerful smell of roses and violets. + +The female sank down in the golden air, and I kept cluss beside her, +and as she kept droppin’ she suddenly changed, like the old woman in +the fairy-book, into a bouncin’ girl, the very pictur of the goddess of +liberty! + +Arter this, she turned and smiled on me. She looked just like alabaster +cream; the most dazzlingest creetur that ever startled the beholder! + +I was took quite aback when she held out her little hand for mine; +I felt kinder delicate like that she should see my big jints. But +howsomever, “here goes,” said I, and I stuck out my bony fist, and, by +Jupiter, it was kivered with flesh, jest as soft and delicate as Uncle +Sam’s babies!!! + +I stood starin’ from my hands to her about a minit, and then she bust +out a-laughin’, and I bust out a-laughin’ too! + +“How shaller you be!” said she. + +“It’s duced amoosin’,” said I. + +“Who be you?” said she. + +“Artemus Ward, the great lecterer on ‘Women’s Rites and Mormons,’” said +I. + +At this she seemed mighty tickled. + +“I heerd you speak on those momentous subjects in Liverpool,” said she. + +“And arter that when I read the affectin’ account of your death in a +strange land, I cried.” + +“Cried?” said I, “I’m much obleeged to you, but there’s nothin’ to cry +for as I know.” + +“So there be’nt,” said she, puckerin’ up her pretty little mouth; “but +tell me, now, is this reely you?” + +“I don’t know,” said I, “whether its reely myself or not, for I haven’t +seed myself--how do I look?” + +She naterally blushed and answered: + +“Ansom.” + +That was too much for me. I took her round her waist and whispered--I +wont tell you what. She shook her head so that the ringlets fell +downall over her neck like the ashes from a tobaccy pipe, and in a +mighty reprovin’ manner said: + +“Artemus Ward, I am a poetess!” + +(By Jupiter! that was a stunner.) + +“Is it Mrs. _Browning_?” said I, ready to drop on my knees (thinkin’ of +Robert). + +She shook her head agin, and moved off, and I follered, kinder ashamed +of bein’ so abrupt. Lookin’ loftily at me, she said: + +“I must leave you.” + +“Leave me!” said I, “You cruel monster of beauty! Leave when I am +_sealed_ to you?” + +(That kinder frightened her--I learned suthin’ from bein’ among the +Mormons.) + +“You may foller me,” said she, while descendin’ in the midst of a +garden which opened rite before us. I did as she advised, and stepped +rite down in a place where there was a mighty display of trees, +flowers, and fountains, and a pretty big sprinklin’ of people. + +Good Heavens! thought I. Is this the New Jerusalem? and lookin’ around +timidly for the man with the key, fearin’ I might be turned out, but +seein’ nothin’ but common lookin’ men and women, and no “flamin’ +cherubim,” and creaters with wings stuck on their heads, and no bodies, +such as I had naterally expected to find in such a place, I took +courage and stept forward boldly. + +The people all commenced cryin’ out as loud as they could: + +“Artemus Ward! Artemus Ward!” + +I felt kinder abashed at this, but advanced and called out, “Hear! +hear! Friends, it’s an amazin’ mystery how you know’d my name.” (I +felt diffident at not havin’ my lecter in my pocket, and not bein’ +accustomed to speakin’ verbatim.) Howsumever, as they continooed +to clap their hands and shout, I got together all the brass I used +to carry “down East,” and jumped right atop of one of the roarin’ +fountains--the very biggest on ’em all. I surmised it was kinder +dangerous, havin’ always experienced a religious awe of the “water of +life,” and not knowin’ but what this might be it. “Here goes,” said +I; “faint heart never won fair lady,” for rite at the foot was that +bootiful poetess to whom allusion has been made, lookin’ straight at me +with all her eyes. + +I wanted to make a grand impression and let ’em know that I cum from +a nation that could fight for the Constitution, and wasn’t afeard +of spirits. And as for the “gold and pearls,” the “jasper and the +sardonix,” they needn’t expect to snub me off with this, for I had been +all through the gold and silver regions of Ameriky, and could tell as +big a story as any on ’em. + +“The fact is, friends and nabors,” said I, “it is one thing to read of +a place, and another to see it. Now I must say, that geography and book +of travels called the ‘Bible’ is suthin’ like ‘Gulliver’s Travels,’ +rather loose in description; and, for all I see around me, the grand +nation of Ameriky can beat you all holler in wonders.” + +Havin’ thus spoken a good word for my country, I dismissed them, and +hurried back to commence these lecters, which is only a beginnin’ of +what I intend to do for the Amerikan People. + + + + +LADY BLESSINGTON. + +_DISTINGUISHED WOMEN_. + + +It is remarkable to what a degree woman develops her intellect in the +spirit world. + +Freed from the cares of maternity, she seems like some young goddess +fresh from the hand of Jupiter. All nerve, electricity, and motion--her +thoughts sparkling and full of flavor, and light, and life, this +new-born Eve of the celestial kingdom inspires the down-trodden Eve +of earth, and kindles to a blaze the whole male population of the +spiritual globe. + +Prominent among the women of the times who have emigrated to these +shores from populous America, stands Margaret Fuller--a tall and +impressive blonde--a woman of strong bias, and resolute as a lion when +she has set foot upon a project. Earnest, passionate, and brilliant +in conversation, she wields a powerful influence over many minds of +a peculiar order; and through the few mediums whom she selects to +represent her characteristics, she displays a calmness and coolness of +reasoning and an excellence of judgment such as few are able to exhibit +thus second handed. + +She has, through the exercise of her genius, erected a beautiful villa +upon a southern island, wherein she has displayed her poetic taste to +advantage. There, in the midst of a luxuriant garden, she resides with +her beautiful Angelo, a child of graceful form who was washed ashore +from the sad wreck years ago, but now approaching the years of manhood, +and in his looks the very personification of a young Mercury, blending +the fire and passion of a Southern nature with the zeal and activity of +the Northern. + +Count Ossoli and his noble wife tear themselves away from the pleasures +of this delightful state of existence and devote their sacred energies +to the enfranchisement of Italy. + +No Roman patriot, neither Garibaldi nor any of his compeers, equals +them in their efforts for the freedom of that sunny land. + +Madame Ossoli is sanguine of success. + +Defeat she considers merely the plough and harrow for the ripe harvest +of victory which will follow. + +From her own eloquent lips I have heard her address to the Italian +soldiers who, defeated and killed, marched to the spirit land. + +She told them how she, in the midst of her new-born joy, in sight of +her own native land, fought the fierce battle of the briny waves, and +felt as she sat dying on the sinking wreck, that all she had striven +for was in vain; how she had found that defeat, that engulping billow, +had proved in the end a victory, and had placed her where she could +watch over the destiny of Italia, her adopted country, and work for its +regeneration, and fight for its liberty, as she could not have done had +she been more successful in her plans on earth. + +Another American woman, of less note, but also a reformer, is Eliza +Farnham. She is not so emotional, has less sentiment and considerable +originality, and is honest in her opinions and determined in her +efforts to uplift her sex and ameliorate their condition. + +She wields a powerful influence over a certain clique in the spirit +world and on earth, and therefore deserves to be noticed among the +women of the times. In person she is of dark complexion, with black +hair and eyes, and strongly-marked brows, possessing much vivacity and +caustic wit. + +She is matron of a large Institution, or Circulorium, erected for the +use of those spirits who make a practice of communicating with the +inhabitants of earth. They there meet to converse upon the various +means which they employ for transmitting intelligence, and to relate +their successes and defeats with the various trance and clairvoyant +mediums through whom they operate. There congregate those lecturers +and orators who discourse through the organisms of numerous trance +and inspirational mediums on earth. There also convene physicians and +“medicine men” who control the large number of healing mediums who +exercise their power throughout the United States and Europe. There, +also, gather the prophets and seers, who, with vision clearer than that +of ordinary spirits, warn mankind of danger and impress individuals +to pursue certain courses of action, to go or come, to undertake and +prosecute great designs for the seeming weal or woe of humanity. + +From this lofty aviary she still sends forth her delicious, strains. +The children of earth hear them in fainter notes through young poets +who catch her inspiration. What she is doing for women in the world she +inhabits will be felt ere long in both the continents of Europe and +America. + +Another remarkable person in this coterie of illustrious women must +be mentioned--Charlotte Bronté--a lady who feels the true dignity +and intellect of her sex with a force akin to manliness. Modest and +retiring, she would yet pick up the gauntlet like any knight against +the man who should say of a work of literary merit, “that it could +never have been penned by a woman.” + +Soft and delicate, yet strong and full of heroism, she represents +woman, quicker to perceive the right than man, and capable of +undergoing greater perils in executing her duty. + +Charlotte Bronté is a slight, brown-haired girl, with an eye full of +clairvoyant power. With her father, sisters, and poor reprobate of a +brother, all united like a cluster-diamond, she lives in a home which +they have selected, remarkable for its wild and picturesque beauty. + +As a family they are like the ancient Scots, clannish--not in a vulgar +acceptation of the term, but for the reason that they are kindred +souls. The torch of genius flames in every member of that family, +but Charlotte is the mover, the inspirer of them all. She possesses +a greater degree of concentration and energy, and is more chivalrous +and venturesome. She is exceedingly interested in woman, and devotes +daily a portion of her time to visiting earth and suggesting ideas and +thoughts to those whom she can influence. + +In her new home she draws around her a circle of chosen spirits, among +whom may be mentioned Thackeray (who esteems her as about the finest +specimen of womanhood he has seen), Prince Albert, Scott, Hawthorne, +the German Goethe, De Quincy, and others. + +Few writers of romance have done more than she towards raising her sex +above the frivolities of dress and fortune, and placing them where they +shine conspicuous for their intellect and noble affections. + +Bold and unsparing in analyzing woman’s heart in its uncontaminated +simplicity as well as in its subtlety, she lighted a torch in behalf +of her sex which flamed throughout the literary world, startling and +dazzling the beholder--a light which will never be quenched. + +Charlotte Bronté was on earth what is now known as a medium. Her belief +in the supernatural she evinced in her works. If she had not indicated +so much intellect, the critics would have termed her superstitious. +They have inferred that it was the loneliness and sadness of her +life which caused her to imagine she saw her beloved dead and heard +unearthly voices calling her. But she has since told me that those +mysterious influences were not morbid fancies, but realities. Being +thus endowed clairvoyantly, and not only receptive but able to impart +that which she receives, she exerts at the present moment an influence +in the world of letters little dreamed of on earth. + +I may here, without infringing on the requirements of good taste, +allude to the tale she has dictated through this medium. That it is a +story of powerful interest, all who read it will confess. + +To many minds it will prove that her power is unabated, but every +reader will perceive the characteristics of the Bronté family in +the tale--characteristics which cannot be imitated--which are +individualized in that family, and breathe of the lone moor on which +they spent their earth ife, one of sad struggle of genius against +circumstance and destiny. + + + + +PROFESSOR OLMSTEAD. + +_THE LOCALITY OF THE SPIRIT WORLD, AND ITS MAGNETIC RELATIONS TO THIS_. + + +How near is the spirit world to earth? is a question often put by the +inquiring mind. Some suppose it lies contiguous, just in the suburbs; +others imagine the spirit world to be within the atmosphere of this +earth; others again set it afar off in a given locality. + +The last theory is correct, and the spirit world is really several +billions of miles from earth; yet the suppositions are true (in a +certain sense), for the inhabitants of the spirit world are migratory, +and there are many millions of them living within the earth’s +atmosphere, drawn thither on errands of pleasure and duty. + +But there is a spiritual earth revolving around its spiritual sun, just +as this earth revolves around its sun. + +It has shape and form like this planet, and is indeed the spiritual +body of the earth. + +It existed before the creation of man on this globe, and was ready +for the reception of the soul or spirit of the first human being who +perished on earth. + +As a spirit’s body is constructed from the spiritual emanations of man, +so the spiritual globe is formed of the magnetic emanations of the +earth. The refined gases which were thrown off during the process of +the formation of the material globe which man now inhabits, form the +basis of the spirit earth. + +Each planet in the vast universe has its correspondent spirit world, +and invisible magnetic rays are constantly exchanging between the +spirit planet and its earth. + +These magnetic currents or rays, like waves of silver light, constantly +transmit thoughts from the spirit world to this. + +All spirit is matter. + +The spirit globe, being primarily composed of gases, in revolving +around its central sun ultimates in a substance which is similar to the +soil of your earth. + +The same system which marks the development of the material world also +is displayed in the development of the spiritual world. + +Order is God. No spirit world can exist without form, neither can it +exist without motion. Motion produces the spheroid, and the rotation of +the spheroid produces atmosphere and diversity of surface; all these +variations characterize the spirit globe. + +When these facts are carefully reflected upon and understood, the +majesty of the Creator assumes a magnitude most stupendous. + +The astronomer searching through space for undiscovered planets and +suns, has failed to fix his telescope upon these spiritual worlds, but +the day will come when science will discover their existence. + +The spirit world is not an arid desert. As I have said, it has soil. +It is not a thin, vaporish flat, without depth or density; and its +circumference exceeds that of the earth. + +One of the component elements of its soil is magnetism. Its vegetation +is of rapid growth and beautiful beyond anything that your planet can +display. + +As the atmosphere of the spirit world is not so dense as yours, and +as the rays of the spiritual sun are not obliged to penetrate through +so much cloud and vapor, the colors of all objects are sparkling and +beautiful in variety and tone. + +The specific gravity of the spirit upon his globe is not so great, +comparatively, as that of man in the natural world. He can rise in his +native air with little difficulty, and can dart with unerring accuracy +upon the magnetic current flowing from the spirit world to the one he +once inhabited. + +The investigator in searching for the spirit world has but to direct +his attention to the north star and his eye will embrace, unwittingly, +the locality of that world. The north pole is the great gate which +leads to it direct. + +The aurora borealis or Northern lights is an electric current which +flows from that world to earth, and is sent in through the great gate. +The scintillations of these rays are caught up by the clouds and vapors +and are repeated in many portions of the globe, and faint rays from +them are seen even in this temperate climate. + + + + +ADAH ISAACS MENKEN. + +_HOLD ME NOT_. + + +Up to the zenith mount! + Far into space-- +Ah! all thy tears I count, + Sad, loving face. + +Clasp not my garments so, + Love of my soul; +Clinging, you drag me low, + Where tortures roll. + +Soil not my angel wing; + Keep not from rest; +How can I upward spring, + Clasped to thy breast? + +Hold me not, lover--friend-- + Earth I would fly; +Passion and torture end + In the blest sky! + +Life brought but woe to me, + Even thy kiss +Gave me but agony-- + Remorse with bliss! + +Let go thy earthly hold-- + Fain would I fly; +Voices with love untold + Call from on high. + +Farewell--the dregs are drank + Of life’s sad cup; +It proved but poison rank; + Life’s lease is up! + + + + +N.P. WILLIS. + +_OFF-HAND SKETCHES_. + + +Since my friend Morris joined me, we’ve been as busy as Wall street +brokers in a gold panic--eyes and ears, and every sense filled with +the novel sights and sounds that greet us on every side in this most +delightful, charming, incomparably beautiful summer land. + +Whom have we not seen, from Napoleon down to the last suicide? + +I have a memorandum which would reach from here to Idlewild, filled +with the names of notables and celebrities, whom I have met in the +short space of a year. + +We do matters quickly here, among the celestials. I used to think life +sped fast in the great cities of London, Paris, and New York, but we +live faster here. With every means of travelling which human ingenuity +can invent--flying machines, balloons, the will and the magnet--we +fairly outdo thought and light, which you consider emblems of rapidity +on earth. + +Morris and I made a point of visiting Byron, Moore, Hunt, Scott, and +that clique. You must bear in mind that we do not all live on one point +of space _here_; among so many thousand million, billion, trillion, +quadrillion, sextillion, and countless illions, there must be some +persons who are further apart than Morris and I, who are side by side! + +It is a peculiarity which you Yankees seldom think of, that Englishmen +can’t endure to live in America. Well, that peculiarity is just as +active after they “shuffle off the mortal coil.” They must have their +little England, even in the spirit world. + +So I telegraphed to that quarter of the celestial planet that two +strangers from the great emporium of intellect, and civilization, +New York City, were about to visit that locality. We so arranged our +journey as to arrive about a day after the dispatch had reached them. + +It was proposed that we should meet at the beautiful villa belonging to +the Countess of Blessington. + +I can assure you that on arriving there it was with a slightly +palpitating heart I ascended the noble steps of her residence. The +Countess met us graciously, and by her vivacity and charming candor +dispelled the feeling of modest diffidence as to our merits, naturally +awakened by the thought of being presented to those illustrious persons +who so long held sway over English literature. + +Ere we were aware, we were ushered into the midst of a hilarious group +of authors, who welcomed us in a most cordial manner. + +I did not need to have them introduced to me by name, as I recognized +each readily from likenesses I had seen on earth. + +Lord Byron’s countenance is much handsomer and more spiritualized +in expression than any portrait of him extant. I noticed that the +deformity of his foot, which had been a severe affliction to him on +earth, was no longer apparent. + +Scott looked as good and as jovial as ever, and Tom Moore, the very +pink of perfection and elegance. + +As for the Countess, when I last saw her on earth I thought her +incomparable. But whether it was through the cosmetic influences of +the spirit air, or from other causes, she had now become bewitchingly +beautiful. + +After we had conversed awhile on general topics and I had answered +their questions in regard to the changes which had occurred in certain +terrestrial localities with which, they were familiar, the Countess +invited us out to survey the landscape from her balcony. + +The view from this point was extremely romantic. Just beyond the +spacious park extended a lovely lake, whose waters were of a rich +golden-green color. Upon its limpid bosom several gondolas floated, and +gay parties waved their handkerchiefs to us from beneath the silken +hangings as they passed. + +“Countess,” said I, after my eye had surveyed the fine landscape and +noble residence, “I am but a wandering Bohemian, and you must excuse +my audacity if I ask how it, is possible that in this “world of +shadows” you have surrounded yourself by so much that is beautiful and +substantial? You could not bring your title and your lands with you +from earth. Your jewels and costly raiment you must have left behind; +then whence comes all this wealth and luxury?” + +The Countess smiled. “Ah,” said she, roguishly, “you did not study your +Bible lesson well if you did not learn that you could ’lay up treasures +in heaven.’ Why, all the time I was living on earth I had friends +working for me--admirers who had been drawing interest from my youthful +talent and had laid it up to my account. We go upon the tithe system +here, and ’render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.” + +She told me that works of interest which are published on earth are +reproduced in the spirit world and the author credited with a tithe of +what accrues from them. + +Byron, Scott, and Moore have also been doing double duty while on +earth, and have been recompensed for their industry in the spirit world. + +Byron, she privately informed me, had been united to the Mary of his +early love, and under her sweet womanly influence had lost much of the +misanthropy which had annoyed his friends in this life. + +As my stay was short, I had only opportunity to converse with these men +of mark on general topics. + +On the whole, we spent a very interesting morning, and, after partaking +of refreshments, we left, having inquired after Count D’Orsay, whom we +learned was then on a trip to earth. Bidding adieu to the Countess and +her friends, we started for the celebrated island called the “Golden +Nest,” which lies in a south-westerly direction from the Countess’s +villa. + +After having travelled some hours in our own diligence (i.e., driven +through the air by our own will), moving along quite leisurely that we +might survey the country beneath us, we reached a group of beautiful +lakes, reminding me strongly in size and appearance of lakes Erie, +Huron, Michigan, and Superior, the famed lakes of my own native clime. + +In the centre of the largest of these lakes lay the island we were +seeking. We descended like skilful aeronauts into the centre of a +group of happy children, who were playing like little fairies amid the +flowers blooming profusely everywhere. + +Singling out two of the prettiest, we addressed them. + +Directly a merry band gathered about us, answering our questions +intelligently and skipping before us to lead the way to the “Golden +Nest,” as the superb structure was called in which these little +soul-birds were sheltered. + +Everywhere, as we advanced, our eyes lit upon pretty bands of children; +some swinging in the tree-boughs like birds, some waltzing in the air, +others sitting upon the green, chattering and singing, filling the +surrounding air with their melody. + +Certainly it was a most enlivening sight to witness their enjoyment. +After having amused ourselves for a while with their gambols, we turned +our steps toward the Home. + +The building was oval in form, and composed of a golden fleecy +incrustation from which it derived it, name. Within, the “Nest” was +like Aladdin’s palace. + +Innumerable compartments, hung with silks and tissues of tender and. +harmonious colors, and decorated with birds’ plumage of varied hues, +arrested the eye. These spacious alcoves were each furnished with a +domed skylight, adorned with hanging tassels and glittering ornaments. +Ladies were busy in nearly all of these compartments in instructing +children under their care. + +In some that I entered I was shown new-born babes not an hour old, torn +from their mothers’ bosoms on earth, and lying upon fleecy pillows, +attended by lovely women, who looked the angels which they were. + +One of these gay baby-nests in which I lingered was decorated with +peculiar tastefulness, and seemed like a perfect aviary. Singular birds +of splendid plumage were perched on various projections about the +spacious apartment, warbling away like silver bells. + +The lady of this chamber was engaged in teaching a little girl of some +two summers to mount to the skylight by her will. + +This lady, I was informed, was the noble lady R----, so famed for her +charity on earth. + +She was very gracious and communicative, and told me that some children +exercised their ability to rise in air more readily than others; that +the difficulties their instructor had to guard against were the fickle, +versatile nature of their wills, and their inability for continuous +thought. Their wayward minds could not be directed long at one point. +They would wander from the path like the poor little Babes in the Wood, +and on their way to special destinations, would change their thoughts, +unharness their will, and come suddenly down, sometimes in lonely and +unfrequented spots. + +Owing to this dereliction, it was found difficult to make frequent +excursions to earth with them. Those attracted to their terrestrial +homes were attended by ladies who had them in charge, and who would +kindly accompany them, for one or two weeks, to visit their friends +upon earth. + +I told her that I had lost a child some years ago, and had thought till +recently to find it still an infant. + +Many cases of this kind, she said, had occurred under her observation. +People did not view the matter rationally. Ladies had called at the +“Golden Nest” to inquire for children that had left earth twenty or +thirty years ago, and it was painful to witness the distress they +exhibited when told that their children were grown men and women. + +One lady had called there some three days since, and claimed as her own +a little child, an infant about two months old, who had been brought +from earth three weeks previous, while the child she had lost had been +in the spirit world seventeen years! + +But no amount of argument would convince her that her child had grown +up, and that the infant she selected was not her own. + +She was finally permitted to take the child away, as they knew it would +be properly cared for. Many of the children while young were thus +adopted. + +“It appears marvellous,” remarked this noble lady, “that any parent +should wish to cramp the body and soul of his child by keeping it +in a state of infancy, when, if it had remained on earth, it would +necessarily have arrived at years of maturity. + +“Nature does not suspend her operations in transplanting from earth to +heaven! The soul is formed for expansion, and surely the spirit world +is not the place to suppress unfoldment!” + +As I listened to her intelligent conversation, I blushed to be reminded +of my own error in supposing my own darling, who had reached the +spirit world so long before, would greet me with the prattling talk of +babyhood! + +Pleased with our visit and the information we had received, we bade +adieu to Lady R. and the “Golden Nest,” and pursued our flight in +another direction. + +“Do let us next find out,” said I to Morris, “what they do here with +criminals; there must be many a wicked reprobate who arrives here from +earth fresh from murders and villanies of all sorts.” + +As I spoke, two grave-looking gentlemen, whom I took to be either +doctors or judges, crossed the path before us, and I proposed to make +these inquiries of them. + +Who should they prove to be but William Penn and the omnipresent +Benjamin Franklin! + +“Yes, yes,” said Penn, in reply to our questions shaking his head +deprecatingly; “’tis too true; we are obliged to have what Swedenborg +calls “our hells,” for you send your criminals from earth so hardened +that we are compelled to keep them under guard. Come with us and we’ll +show you how we treat them.” + +We were very glad of this opportune meeting, and followed with alacrity. + +Presently, leaving the beautiful country far behind us, we came upon +a desert waste, and as I am extremely sensitive to conditions, I felt +somewhat like a criminal in passing through it. Having got safely over, +however, there burst upon our sight a scene of surpassing beauty; as +far as the eye could reach extended a most highly-cultivated district +of country. + +Groves of fruit resembling the oranges and pineapples of our tropics, +noble trees like the palm, the fig, and date, were to be seen in every +quarter, rearing their boughs against the summer sky. The air was laden +with fragrance from tree and vine. + +Great bunches of purple grapes like the fabled fruit of Canaan in the +Old Testament, a single bunch of which required two men to bear it, +drooped heavily from twining vines, while from many a bough and twig +swung golden, crimson, and cream-colored fruit, which fairly made one’s +mouth water. + +It was a picture rich enough in color for a Claude or Turner. + +“This is delicious,” said I to Penn. “Do tell us to what fairy prince +this magnificent land belongs!” + +“We will show you the fairy prince himself, very soon,” said he. “Do +you see the tip of his castle yonder?” + +I looked, and as we moved swiftly in the direction indicated an +unexpected spectacle loomed in sight. It was a building so delicate and +perfect in its structure that it appeared like a vision. + +Pillars and arches, dome and architrave, were wrought in a style +exquisitely beautiful; the material of which it was composed seemed +like polished sea-shells, so transparent that you could see through it +the forms of the inmates. + +“This,” said William Penn, “is one of our prisons. Let us enter.” + +We followed in amazement, and were ushered into a hall hung with +paintings rich in design and color, while distributed around in +various alcoves were cases containing books and articles of curious +workmanship, of which I had not yet learned the use. + +This hall formed the court within the main building. + +From where we stood we could see hundreds of men in white suits moving +about. Some seemed engaged in conversation, others in sportive games, +and others in various employments. + +“You do not mean to tell us that these men are prisoners,” said I. + +“Yes; they have passed for years on earth a life of evil, yet all the +beauty you behold here is the work of their hands. Idleness is the +mother of crime. We teach them to become industrious, and surround them +with beauty to develop their love of harmony. + +“Ignorance and poverty are supposed to be the principal causes of evil +on earth. But many fearful offences have been committed in high places +from thwarted love and ambition. We have many of that character in this +prison, but they are young. This is intended as a place to educate and +restrain men who would return to earth and incite impressible beings to +evil. + +“The material of which this building is composed, though seemingly so +fragile, is a non-conductor of thought, and while detained within it +the inmates gradually free themselves from their old influences and +disorderly desires. + +“Cultivating the fruits of the earth calls into action only their most +harmonious organs. A great mistake made by the legislators of earth is +in employing criminals in stone-cutting, or placing them in gangs, as +they do on the Continent, to work the rugged road. + +“Employment of this kind awakens the very propensities which should be +subdued. The composing, softening influences induced by tilling the +soil would go far toward converting your evil men into good citizens.” + +I was struck with the truthfulness of his suggestions, and put them +down in my note-book for the benefit of humanity, and now hand them +over to my readers for consideration. + +After leaving this place we paid a visit to Edgar A. Poe, +whose unfortunate life on earth you are all familiar with. His +brilliant imagination we found as active as of old. He welcomed us +enthusiastically, and eagerly led us into a small theatre which he had +constructed and filled with most marvellous creations from his own +fancy. He inherited from his father and mother, who were actors, a love +for dramatic effect, and in theatrical impersonations he found some +vent for his exuberant imagination. + +“Stand here,” said he, placing us near the entrance; “I have something +curious to show you.” He then suspended upon the stage a curtain, whose +peculiarity was its pure, soft blue color, like an Italian sky. + +“Watch,” said he, pointing his uplifted finger to the hanging. +Presently appeared upon it figures like shadows on a phantasmagoria. + +One form was that of a female sitting upon a low chair, apparently +reading a book. + +“That,” said Poe, “is Miss D. I can control her and will her to reflect +her figure upon the curtain; and that man is T.L. Harris. It is my own +invention,” said he; “I studied it out and applied chemicals to my +canvas till it produced this sensitive surface. All I have to do is to +send my thoughts to them, and will them to appear, and there they are. +Coleridge has a similar curtain, and some few others. But it requires +a peculiar spirit brain to magnetize the subject sufficiently.” He +offered to show me in the same manner any friend of mine with whom he +could come in rapport. + +This proposition delighted Morris and I, and we spent an agreeable +evening in seeing certain of our friends on earth thus revealed. + +Some were busy eating at the time, the _gourmands_! Others, more +studious, were poring over books and papers, and one, whose name I +shall not mention, was reproduced in the very act of making love! + +The, dear old faces awakened such sad memories, and the occupations +in which they were engaged were in the main so ludicrous, that we +were held between tears and laughter till after midnight. But that is +an Irish bull--for you must know that we have no night in the spirit +world. Our diurnal revolutions are so rapid, and the atmosphere so +magnetically luminous, that it is never dark here. But, however, +according to earth’s parlance, it was midnight before we got through. + +I will now bid adieu to my friends and readers until we meet again. + + + + +MARGARET FULLER + +_CITY OF SPRING GARDEN_. + + +I am at present domiciled with my excellent friend Abraham Lincoln, +in the beautiful city of Spring Garden. This place contains between +sixty and seventy thousand inhabitants, a majority of whom are engaged +in literary and artistic pursuits. It might vie with ancient Athens +for the wealth of mind which is concentrated within its precincts. It +is not compactly built, the city covering about thrice the surface of +ground that would be occupied by one on earth of the same number of +inhabitants. The streets are handsome, the pavements being covered with +a gay enamel which is formed by dampening a certain yellow powder, +which, when hardened, shines like amber. They are laid out in circles, +surrounding a large park of several acres, which forms the centre of +the city. This park is embellished with trees and flowering plants of +every description, and does not differ materially from the extensive +parks to be found on earth, except in its management. + +Booths are erected at the various gates, which are supplied with fruits +and confections free to all who present a ticket to the keeper. These +tickets are furnished by the city authorities to those who desire them. +This class is composed chiefly of children, and of grown persons who +are incompetent to supply by their labor their own wants. Here they can +walk through the pleasant grounds, rock themselves in swings, which are +numerous, and, when weary with exercise, their appetites stimulated by +the refreshing air, which circulates through its hills and dales as +freely as in the open country, they can apply for refreshments at any +one of the booths or tables within the park. A very delicious drink +manufactured from the exudence of a flower not known on earth may here +be procured. The grounds are provided with various other apparatus +for amusement and pleasure, among which are elegantly-formed sleds +on galvanic runners, which glide over the ground with swiftness most +exhilarating to the senses. Air carriages are also furnished, and, in +short, nothing is wanting for the pleasure and entertainment of the +visitors who throng daily the extensive avenues. + +Forming an outer circle to the park is the main thoroughfare of the +city. The streets, as I have said, are laid out in graduated circles +which increase in circumference as they recede from the centre. The +outermost circle is bordered by trees, which form a natural wall. +This city might be called the circle of palaces, from the numerous +magnificent edifices which adorn it at every point. + +The buildings are of a light, graceful style of architecture, adapted +to the climate and the out-door life which the people generally lead. + +The street facing the park is devoted to the display of commodities and +creations of the spirit world and its inhabitants. + +In this section are exposed to view beautiful fabrics, finer than the +web of a spider, glistening like threads of sunbeam and ornamented with +most exquisite floral designs taken from nature. Some of these fabrics +emblemize the blue heaven glittering with silver stars; others the +clouds, with sunlight shimmering through them. + +Some have shadowy designs of birds and curious animals strown over a +ground of amber or violet. These beautiful devices are photographed +on the material; or, as the transcendentalist would say, they are +projected there by the will. + +Electricity with us is so potent an agent that it is used for this +purpose, transferring the image and stamping it there. + +These fabrics are more delicate and gossamer-like than any with which +you are familiar on earth. + +Exquisite materials are not only indulged in by ladies, but _male +angels_ robe themselves in attire more fanciful and gorgeous than they +have been accustomed to wear in their first life; except, indeed, the +Orientals, who more nearly approach us Celestials in that particular. + +I will state for the benefit of ladies that we have no millinery +establishments, as the females wear simply their own beautiful hair, +which they adorn with flowers and a peculiar lace, as thin as a breath. +The hair, owing to electrical conditions, is usually abundant and of +beautiful texture, forming the chief ornament of the head. + +On the street I have described are also many studios for artists. These +_attelliers_ are very ornamental in appearance, being placed in the +centre of a large court. They are of various fanciful shapes, according +to the design of the artist, generally open on the sides, with a dome +supported by pillars, and resembling in form an ancient temple. Within, +they are hung with rich draperies, which are adjusted at pleasure. +The open dome admits the light and may be covered by a screen when +necessary. + +These studios are all on the ground floor, and usually with airy +reception rooms attached, opening upon a court gay with flowers, birds, +and fountains, making it a pleasant retreat for the artist and his +friends. As my friend H---- gaily suggests, these accessible studios +compensate the artist for the _attics_ which he occupied on earth. + +The art of painting is here carried to greater perfection than it ever +has been on earth. + +As the development of the intellect in the material world depends upon +the subservience of matter to mind, so in the spirit world, the same +principle is the great motor power; for there we have matter (that is, +spirit matter), and this we work into forms of beauty as we desire. + +Speaking of art, I must digress to allude to the _fête_ which we held +in our park in honor of three quite eminent artists, who have recently +arrived in the spirit world and taken up their abode in this city. + +As they were all new-comers, and but slightly acquainted with our +manners and customs, we gave this celebration to surprise them, and +also as a token of our appreciation of their efforts to spiritualize +humanity; for art we regard as one of our most spiritualizing agencies. + +In the centre of the park, I had forgotten to state, we have a temple +erected, somewhat resembling those of ancient Greece, and which is for +the use of orators and public singers. This temple was beautifully +decorated with garlands and paintings by spirit artists. Within it +were seated the visitors and a few friends, and without were stationed +musicians, with curious instruments of melody, such as are unknown to +earth. + +Various ingenious machines for locomotion and amusement attracted +general attention. Another source of interest were the graceful and +picturesque groups of children moving in the air. At intervals, one +of the most fascinating of their number would descend with offerings +of fruits and flowers for our guests. The amazement expressed by our +visitors, as these lovely children would suddenly sweep down through +the air like graceful birds of radiant plumage was delightful for us +older inhabitants to witness. + +This city contains several institutions of learning which are +accessible to all; not only those can become inhabitants of this +city who have a taste for the beauties and refinements of life, but +needy aspirants from earth may be introduced by them into these +establishments. + +Previous to entering the spirit world I had supposed everything here +would be free, but I have found here, as on earth, that nothing can be +attained but by exertion, and that the great diversity of talent and of +gifts necessarily enforces a system of exchange. + +All men are not alike inventive in the spirit world. The inventor, by +his fertile brain, constructs an article which the majority desire to +possess, and for that article they give him an equivalent. It may be a +picture or it may be a song. + +Here the artisan is not hampered as on earth; his time--the mere time +employed in mechanical labor--is of short duration. Our facilities +for creating are so immensely superior to those of earth that but a +brief period is required for producing a result. The remaining time is +devoted mainly to the development of the mind, to amusement, and to +scientific research. + +I stated in the beginning of my letter that I was visiting the home of +Abraham Lincoln. He is residing here with some members of his family, +and appears very happy and contented. The son for whose loss he grieved +amid the honors of the White House, is now his friend and companion. + +Matters of state, as I learn from conversation with him, occupy his +mind but little; but he is deeply interested in humanity, and is +anxious to elevate and harmonize the whole human family. + +His influence for good is powerful, and he exerts it constantly. + +Theodore Parker and Hawthorne both reside in this city. Parker, as I +have been told, when he first came here, decided to devote himself to +the cultivation of land; but he has drifted again into the rostrum, and +twice a week you may see the fair maidens and gallant swains of Spring +Garden wending their way to his beautiful little home and garden in the +suburbs, where, amid the flowers, he descants to them, in his eloquent +way, on life and the attributes of the human soul, and also upon his +earth experiences. + +So you perceive he exemplifies by his own actions the wise saying, +“Once a prophet, always a prophet.” His original mind cannot keep +silent, and his thoughts find readiest utterance in speech. + +Hawthorne is living here with his beautiful daughter, who devotes her +attention to art. + +His mind is as active as ever. He informs me that many of the mysteries +that seemed inexplicable to him while on earth are now cleared up. + +I have spoken of the noble buildings of this city, surrounded by +spacious gardens and beautified by trees and flowers, fountains and +singing birds; but I have not alluded to the way in which property is +held, and the reader will naturally inquire if these handsome dwellings +are owned by their occupants. + +They are not, but are simply loaned to them. Spirits congenial to those +at present residing here lived in them ages agone. + +It is true, each individual taste may alter and embellish the buildings +and surroundings, but these improvements belong to the city and not +to the individuals. The titles are vested in the community, and its +members can vote, as in the case of Abraham Lincoln, in reference to +any individual coming among them. + +There are three daily papers issued in the city, and only three. One +is especially devoted to reporting news from earth,--revolutions that +transpire, changes in state and national politics, recent accidents +which have thrown individuals suddenly into the spirit world, and to +recording the names, as far as possible, of persons who have deceased +from earth. + +Disasters that occur on sea and land are immediately telegraphed to the +newspapers in Spring Garden and published for the use of the community. + +It may be interesting to the curious to know that in cases like the +sinking of a vessel, where fifty or a hundred individuals are suddenly +ushered into the spirit world, delegates are sent out from this and +other cities to meet the sufferers and offer them the hospitalities of +the city, in accordance with their individual merits and degrees of +development. + +Our method of printing newspapers differs materially from that in vogue +on earth. + +Our papers might be termed photo-telegrams. A much less space is +occupied by a communication of a given length than the same would +require in your papers. We have a system of short-hand, understood by +all, similar to that used by your telegraphic operator. + +We have various places of public amusement, two fine theatres which +are devoted to dramas originating with the inhabitants of our world, +and another appropriated to the representation of dramas familiar to +earth. Our places of amusement are of large capacity, hence but few are +needed; and the people of this city being congenial in their natures, +as many as possible like to assemble in one place. + +The several actors who have been famed on earth appear at the theatres +in Spring Garden. Garrick, Kean, Kemble, Booth, Vandenhoff, Cooke, +Macready, Rachel, and Mrs. Siddons, visit us from time to time. + +Among our distinguished actors are many who on earth were clergymen, +politicians, and of other occupations.[A] + +[Footnote A: I am told that the Rev. Newland Maffit is at present a +distinguished actor in the spirit world. ED.] + + + + +GILBERT STUART. + +_ART CONVERSATION_. + + +People are fools in religion, and worship as divine the most stupid +monstrosities ever conceived of! Only tell the masses that St. Luke, +St. John, or Mary Magdalen was the author of some absurdity, which, if +you or I had originated, they would scoff at, and they will clasp their +hands in mute admiration over that miracle of art! + +So it seems to me to be with Spiritualists. Drawings devoid of taste, +hard, and out of proportion, are received by them with acclamations of +joy, and credited, if they are figures, to Raphael, and if landscapes, +to Claude Lorraine or some other great master of art. + +Now I, for one, wish people would use their brains, and not be so +easily gulled. + +It is truly wonderful that a spirit can make a person draw a straight +line who never could draw any but a crooked one. It partakes something +of the miraculous, I admit; and that spirits should produce likenesses, +and representations of flowers, scrolls, and ornamental designs, and +unearthly landscapes, through mediums whose powers of representation +and artistic talents have never been developed, is indeed marvellous! +but that these drawings should be called works of art, and looked upon +as the genuine offspring of those immortal painters, is ridiculous, and +a thing to be deprecated by every intelligent spirit and Spiritualist, +either here or in any other world! + +Why, God Almighty himself could not take a raw, unschooled, +undisciplined hand, and produce a work of art! + +If a medium is content with what he has done, if he does not comprehend +the faults of his work, if his eye and brain are not educated +artistically,--then he must stand like a machine working in a groove. + +Neither Phidias nor any of his descendants could inspire a high +production through such means! + +Now I do wish that _educated artists_ would seek to be controlled by us +spirits; or that those mediums whom we do influence would go to school, +and submit to the drudgery that is necessary to give them skill in +design and execution. + +Then could we hope to represent something of the progress of art in the +spirit world; and would be enabled to depict marvels of landscapes, and +the seraphic beauty of the human face with its grace and perfection of +form, as it meets us in this artistic land. + +Yon ask if we have galleries of art here. I should think so: art-love +is immortal! You do not suppose that Benjamin West, Washington Allston, +Henry Inman, Copely, Stuart, and we Americans who loved our art, would +be satisfied with laying down the brush, and would have contented +ourselves with singing and playing on cymbals constantly for the +hundred years or so that we’ve been here? Now, where there is a will +there is a way, and having the will, we have found the way to exercise +the genius which God gave us. + +Speaking of music, the gift is cultivated here to an extent that would +set the _dilettanti_ of earth wild with ecstasy! + +_Music, Poetry, Art, Oratory_, and _Scientific Research_, form the +principal occupations of the beings in this immortal world of ours, and +language is incapable of conveying an idea of the perfection which our +noble and glorious faculties have attained. + +Art is about to undergo a revolution. At present too much attention is +given to the literal rendering of a fact, and imagination, which is +merely a faculty for reaching the immaterial, is checked; but ere long +painters will turn their attention to representing scenes in spirit +life, and the inspiration which attended the old masters when they +gave wings to their fancy and cut loose from identical imitation, will +return. + +Let the camera and the photograph reproduce the exact outline and +minutiae, but let the artist paint with the pencil of imagination and +inspiration! Only permit imagination to have root in the material +world. As no man can become a good angel who has not developed his +physical nature in harmony with his spiritual, so neither painter +nor medium can represent the artistic beauties of the natural world, +nor of the spirit world, unless he has had a good physical training. +It is only through the _physical_ that the imagination can express +itself with beauty and correctness. Truth is beauty, and is always +proportionate; the light equalizing the dark, precisely as in the +perfection of art a mass of shadow is balanced by a proportion of light. + +One of the most agreeable places of rest or there-abouts is the +artists’ rendezvous--a building larger than St. Peter’s at Home, +magnificent in structure, and filled with wonderful paintings. + +Here artists and authors of all nations are to be found. You can step +in any morning and have a chat with Lawrence, Reynolds, Lessing, +Delaroche Hazlitt, Coleridge, Charles Lamb, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, +Rossini, Willis, Irving, Anthon, Sigourney, Osgood, Booth, Kemble, +Kean, Cooper, Vandenhoff, Palmerston, Pitt, O’Connel, Lamartine, +Napoleon, Margaret Fuller, Charlotte Bronté, Lady Blessington, and +others of note, who have made themselves illustrious during the +eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. People of congenial tastes and +aspirations can readily obtain admittance, and all freely engage in +conversation on topics connected with art and literature. + +A large garden is attached to the building, filled with every manner +of fruit-tree, and is accessible to all; any poor devil of an artist +can go there and some bewitching Houri will present him with all the +delicious condiments which his taste or fancy can demand. + +In these matters the inhabitants of earth need to take a lesson from us. + +I prophesy that America will be a pioneer in these reformations, and +will, in some Central Park, erect a building similar to this, where +aspiring artists may receive food for the soul and the body, and where +artistic minds can meet and interchange ideas. + + + + +EDWARD EVERETT. + +_GOVERNMENT_. + + +The Christianized world supposes that the form of government now +existing in the heavenly system is that of a monarchy; that God is the +supreme ruler of the whole universe, embracing not only the little +planet Earth, but the countless starry worlds and invisible systems +that roll through space. But more directly in its imagination does it +place him as the sole monarch and kingly ruler of the spirit world. It +seats him in fancy upon a gorgeous throne, material in every aspect of +its magnificence; a throne of gold and jewels, as described by that +Miltonic poet, St. John, in his “Revelations.” + +This is the prevailing faith of Christendom; a faith which to the +majority seems knowledge as positive as the fact that Victoria rules +the British people, and sits upon the English throne. + +Yet this is the conception of a people fond of barbaric pomp and +splendor. A conception unsupported by reason and at variance with fact. + +Nearer to the truth was the old Greek nation; a nation which embodied +the intellect, the wisdom, and the refinement of the present age. + +That nation, in its belief in the government of the spiritual universe, +was wholly Polytheistic, believing in many gods, and, as I have said, +approached nearer the idea of the form of government as existing in the +spirit world, for it is a Republic of Gods. + +It is a law of the universe that all vast bodies must be divided and +subdivided into smaller ones. Every system is a constellation and every +constellation is a congeries. + +In accordance with this law, the universal world of _spirit_ is broken +up, is divided and subdivided. + +In these divisions and subdivisions forms of government ensue, +differing slightly one from another, according to the progressive +development of the people; and an unlimited monarchy is not known in +the spirit world. + +There are some clinging to their old habits, associations, and +education, who would fain raise the representatives of royalty on earth +to the same positions in the spirit world when they become residents +there. But the effort, when made, cannot be sustained. The one-man +power is incompatible with spiritual laws and spiritual justice. + +In a world where the external trappings are torn away and the internal +nature of man is exposed to observation, the prerogatives of earthly +kings have but little power. + +The republican form of government is destined to overthrow all the +monarchies of earth. As the world progresses and knowledge becomes +universal, individuals will be able to govern themselves. + +It has been only through ignorance and superstition, and the limited +knowledge of the masses, that the kings and emperors of earth have been +enabled to sway their jewelled sceptres over the necks of the people. +But their reign is drawing to a close; their glories have culminated; +and the day is rapidly approaching when earth will be governed even as +the heavens above are governed. As in the world of nature, “the same +chance happens alike to all,” and every child in time may become a +man and every infant a father, and the experience of one becomes the +experience of all, so in the government of the spirit world, every man +can rise and become for a space of time the patriarchal dictator of a +republic. + +The prevailing form of our republic differs from that of the American +republic in many particulars. Our term of office is of shorter duration +than with you. Our directors while in office make friendly excursions +to other republics. Matters of state with us are not so weighty or +complicated as with you, nor are encroachments and reprisals so common. +We are not compelled to sustain such vast armies and navies, involving +the necessity of directing and superintending them. + +As a rule, people who have entered the second stage of existence desire +a change. They desire to live with more simplicity and freedom, and are +eager to begin their new life with nobler aspirations. Therefore, they +assimilate with comparative ease with our form of government. + +Our directors are our fathers. The nearest approach to our system is +the government of the Mormons in Utah. Pardon me, if, in making this +statement, I offend any delicate sensibility. I allude not to their +creed, but to their mode of public administration. + +As I have stated, the inhabitants of the spirit world are divided and +subdivided into associations, or bodies, which in your world would be +termed nations and states. For example, the nation to which I belong is +represented by the American people. The nationalities of earth present +different traits and characteristics which set them apart, though in a +general aspect they present one whole. Even as in the ornithological +world different species of birds represent the feathered race, and +though differing in many particulars and forming separate varieties, +yet assimilate as a whole, so nations migrating to the spirit world +form separate nationalities. And, as I have stated, some of them, +educated in the belief of the divine right of kings, choose a form +of rule nearer approaching the monarchial than the republican. Among +such often arises a Napoleon, a man of powerful intellect, a mind to +grasp all circumstances, and a will to direct, who succeeds in placing +himself in a position which he retains for years. + +But as the hereditary right of kings cannot exist in the spirit world, +the emperor or dictator is chosen by the people, as was the custom of +the ancient Romans. + +Intercourse of nations with us is not bounded by the obstacles that +exist on earth. Prominent ideas prevailing among the most intelligent +masses of spirits become the views of the whole. This your own world +exemplifies. As the means of communication become more facile, as +the various arts of locomotion obliterate distance, the remote and +barbarous nations, brought into proximity with the civilized, assume +their habits, adopt their modes of action, and follow their form of +government. + +I can safely predict for you a similar result. In the spirit world +those nations once most tenacious of kingly rights and of the majesty +of the throne, lay quietly down their regal crowns, and assume the +unostentatious cap of the republic. So will all the nations of earth +follow their spiritual leaders and hurl out from the round globe the +crumbling thrones and sceptres of kings and emperors and the tottering +papal chair of Rome, down, down, into the vast tomb of antiquity! + + + + +FREDERIKA BREMER + +_FLIGHT TO MY STARRY HOME_. + + +I was in Stockholm when the ambassador, who is sent by the all-wise +Father to pilot his children to the unknown land of roses, called for +me, and I was obliged to part with the body which, though homely and +unattractive, like the dear, good “family roof,”[A] had rendered me +service in many a stormy day. + +[Footnote A: Swedish term for umbrella.] + +The feeling I experienced in taking my departure was like that of going +out into a pitiless storm, and it was followed by an intense prickling +sensation, similar to that familiarly known as the “foot asleep.” This, +I afterwards understood, was occasioned by the electrical current +passing through my spirit as it assumed shape upon emerging from its +old frame. + +Some twenty minutes perhaps elapsed after the breath leaving the body +before I became perfectly conscious in my new form. Upon recovering +the use of my senses, my whole attention was drawn from myself to the +friends who had gathered in the room which had so recently been my sick +chamber. + +As I watched them combing the hair and attiring the white, stiff +figure that lay so solemnly stretched upon the couch, my emotions were +indescribable. I endeavored to speak, but my voice gave but a faint +sound, which they evidently did not hear--as a spirit, I attracted no +attention. This caused me deep grief, for I desired them all to see me +still living. + +My sad emotions were presently dispelled by the sound of most +mellifluous music bursting upon my senses; and as I turned my eyes to +discover the source from whence it proceeded, I beheld, resurrected +before me, a group of dear old friends, whose bodies were already +dust and ashes in the Swedish grave-yards, and in the cemeteries of +the old and new worlds. A hearty burst of joy escaped from my lips as +I recognized them. We laughed, cried, shook hands, and kissed first +on one cheek and then on the other, with the same enthusiasm and +naturalness we would have shown had we been inhabitants of dear old +mother Earth. + +“Come, Frederika! Dear Frederika! don’t stay gazing on that old body! +Leave friends who cannot talk with you and come with us!” they clamored +on all sides. Their voices were like a full orchestra; besides, some +had instruments of music, upon which they improvised little songs to my +honor. I was fairly bewildered. Presently they formed a circle about +me and commenced whirling rapidly around and around. I felt as in a +hammock swayed by the wind; a dreamy lethargy stole over me, and I +gradually became unconscious; and thus, I am told, they bore me through +the earth’s atmosphere, out in the stellar spaces, to a new world--a +world not of the earth, earthy, but the New Jerusalem which I had so +often pictured to my fancy. + +A soft, pleasant breeze blowing directly upon my face, restored me to +consciousness. I opened my eyes, and, lo! I was reclining upon a divan +in a great pavilion. The friends whom I had previously recognized were +around me, some making magnetic passes over me, others engaged in +preparations for my comfort. Upon seeing me awaken, several friends +approached with flowers and fruits. The term “flowers,” though a +beautiful appellation, gives but a faint idea of these marvellous +creations. + +My attention was particularly attracted to one whose corolla was of +deep violet striped with gold, having long silvery filaments spreading +out from the cup in lines of light like the luminous trail of a comet. + +In a state of delicious languor, I watched the varied wonders before +me. The pavilion, which was of silver lace or filagree woven in the +most exquisite patterns, was a hundred or more feet in circumference, +and adorned with open arches and columns on its several sides. These +columns and arches were of coral and gold, which contrasted with the +silver network, and the blossoms and foliage of curious plants and +vines which graced the interior, forming altogether a structure of +singular elegance and beauty. + +Numberless forms like the fabled peris and gods of mythology glided in +and out of these arches, and approached me with offerings of welcome. +One blooming Venetian maiden presented me with a crystal containing a +golden liquid, which she said was the elixir of the poets and painters +of her nation. The name she gave it was “The Poet’s Fancy,” and she +informed me that it was distilled from a plant which fed upon or +absorbed the emanations which the active mentalities of these poetic +beings exhaled. + +This information was quite new to me, and gave me pleasure, as it +accorded with my ideas of correspondence. So I sipped the “Poet’s +Fancy,” and imagined that its delicious, aromatic flavor vivified +me like rays of sunshine. If, previously, I had been charmed, I now +certainly experienced a power of enjoyment and quickness of perception +tenfold increased. + +I then inquired for Swedenborg, Spurzheim, and Lavatar. “You will meet +them further on,” said she, smiling. “They are not here.” I was so well +pleased with her that I twined my arm around her fairy-like form and +we glided away together. As I desired to obtain a peep at the outside +of the beautiful pavilion, my companion led the way, pausing here and +there to present me to groups who had advanced for that purpose. The +company I found to be composed of writers and painters, interspersed +with a few of my own personal friends; and I felt gratified to +find myself so well received by those whom I had known on earth as +celebrities. + +“’Tis strange,” I remarked to my companion, “that such choice minds +should all be gathered together in one place.” + +“They are spirits congenial to your own,” said she. “Like attracts +like, and they have come from their respective homes in the spirit +world to welcome you here.” + +“Ah,” said I, “I now begin to understand what all this fine company +means! This is my reception.” + +As we were leaving the pavilion we were joined by Herr Von ----, the +celebrated Swedish naturalist who had recently entered the spirit +world. He congratulated me upon my safe arrival, and kindly offered to +act as _cicerone_ and to point out to me the marvels by which I was +surrounded. + +To my astonishment, on reaching the open air I discovered that the +pavilion was located upon the summit of a lofty mountain. The face of +this mountain was of many colors and glistened like precious stones. My +friend led me to the point of a precipice on one side and bade me look +down. This I did, and beheld phosphorescent rays issuing from the sides. + +“What wonder is this?” I asked. He informed me the mountain was +magnetic in its character, and that it was, so to speak, the first +station from earth, and a point easily attained by a spirit newly +arriving from that planet. He said I was not permanently to remain upon +the mountain, but was placed there until I should become acclimated to +the spirit atmosphere, and to acquire strength before travelling to +that portion of the spirit land which would form my permanent abode. + +The apex of the mountain formed a flat plain about two miles in extent. +We walked onward some distance, when he pointed out to me another +pavilion, much larger than the one to which I had been borne. The +exterior form of each was alike, and resembled a Turkish mosque; the +crown-like canopy which formed the top being surmounted by a ball so +dazzling in brightness that I was obliged to turn my gaze from it. This +ball was composed of an electric combination, which shed its rays far +through space. “And,” said the good Herr Von ----, “as the pavilion is +used for the reception of the friendless and the homeless, they are +attracted and guided to it by its coruscations.” + +We proceeded some steps further, and he showed me how the mountain, +which is steep and precipitous on the northern exposure, sloped into +broken chains and lower elevations on the southern; and from this +point, looking down, I beheld through the clear atmosphere a billowy +landscape, clothed with soft, rich verdure, more fresh and green to the +eye than that which covers dear mother Earth. + +“How wonderful are thy works, O God!” I exclaimed, as we retraced our +steps. And I could not but reflect upon the singular trait exhibited by +Jesus of frequenting a high mountain to pray. Surely, altitude elevates +one into the spiritual state, and no doubt Christ felt nearer to the +spirit world when elevated far above Jerusalem, on the mountain-top, +amid the clouds. Thus, looking down from the sublime height, I realized +for the first time that I too was a spirit and an inhabitant of the +world in which Jesus dwelt! + + + + +LYMAN BEECHER. + +_THE SABBATH_. + + +In the days of my ministrations on earth, it was pretty generally +believed that the Sabbath day was one of peculiar sanctity; and +that the Creator, having completed the creation of the earth in six +days, had rested upon the _seventh_ from the labor attendant on that +work. But science, which is ever at war with the Jewish record, has +established the fact that the world was not created in that short space +of time. + +The multiplicity of worlds created also disprove the idea that the +Creator could have rested during any set period of time. + +Some zealous skeptics, to counteract the belief in the sanctity of the +Sabbath, have asserted that mind can never rest, and that as _God_ is a +spirit, rest to him is impossible. + +Even granting this hypothesis, history and research have proven the +wisdom and utility of the Jewish Sabbath, as established by the great +lawgiver, Moses. + +The Jews at that time were an active, restless, laboring people. Their +industry had enriched Egypt, and having escaped from her oppressive +bondage, they were liable, in their efforts to found a nation of their +own, to carry their habits of industry to excess. + +Probably they overworked their slaves, their cattle, themselves, and +the “stranger within their gates.” Their wise lawgiver, under the +direct influence of spiritual guides, promulgated this law: “Six days +shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but the seventh is the Sabbath of +the Lord; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy man-servant, +thy maid-servant, thy cattle, nor the stranger within thy gates.” + +And this commandment has been handed down from the Jewish to the +Christian nations. With the early Jews it was a day of recreation, of +dancing, and of song. The early Christians employed the day at first +in social intercourse, afterwards it became a day of sacred ordinance; +and, as copies of the Scriptures were rare, they met on that day to +hear them read, and in their simple faith would select passages and +apply them to their own necessities. + +When the Christian religion invaded Pagan countries and became +established, the days which had formerly been appropriated to feasting +and sacrificing to the gods and goddesses became the fast-days of the +Romish Church. + +When Protestantism arose, she swept off from her calendar these +fast-days, and returned to the simplicity of the Jewish Sabbath. + +Puritanism followed and gave a literal meaning to the text, “Thou +shalt do no work.” Under her reign, all labor was suspended on the +seventh day. A strict watch was set upon the actions of the individual: +household duties were neglected: fires were not lighted or food cooked. +The great world of activity stood still. + +Rest so severe embittered men’s judgment, and the Sabbath became a day +for prying into the derelictions of each other. A rigid observance was +placed upon men’s actions, and stringent laws were made to punish the +offender against this enforced rest. + +So tyrannous and exacting did the Puritan observers of the Sabbath +become, that their rigid formulas created a rebellion in the minds of +the succeeding generation, and so great has been the reaction, that in +our day it has become a common assertion that “all days are alike,” +and the steam-car and the horse-car, the coach, and the hack, ply +their busy wheels through the streets of our large cities, and the +church-goers travel thereon to their different sanctuaries. + +“All days are alike to God,” says the reformer; “why should we +observe the Sabbath more than any other day?” I will tell you why: a +concentration of the spiritual nature of men throughout Christendom +necessarily creates a magnetic atmosphere through which spiritual +beings can approach. The sincere and devout worshippers in every land +congregating in churches upon one day, send forth waves of magnetic +light which extend into the world of spirits. The music and the prayers +are borne upward on this current, and great batteries are thereby +formed that cannot but affect the souls in Paradise. They respond to +the music and the prayers, and worshippers in the churches feel their +magnetic influences. Those who are sincere in their religious faith +say that they feel “heaven opened to them.” Even those who attend +church from fashion, or for the purpose of meeting their friends and +neighbors, are there brought in contact with spiritual influences which +could reach them in no other way. + +The experience I have gained since my entrance into my spiritual home +has given me more liberal ideas of the uses of the Sabbath, and taught +me that to the working man it is a necessary day of recreation. But I +lift my voice against its becoming one of beer-drinking and boisterous +sports. The workman who is confined to the bench or the workshop, in +the midst of a crowded city, for six days of the week, will certainly +be benefited by seeking the green fields and healthful influences of +the country; but on reaching that desirable Eden, let means be provided +for his instruction; so, while sitting under the leafy trees, his mind +may be benefited, and his bodily organism rested, rather than injured +by feasting and rioting in the public gardens and parks. + +Field preaching should become a regular institution of the Sabbath; and +discourses instructing the mind in morals and sciences should be given +in the tent, or under trees, in parks and woods set apart for that +purpose. Then would, the object of the Sabbath be attained. As I have +said, the spiritual nature is more open to the reception of truth on +that day. + +The state of sleepiness, which is a well-known attendant on the +Sabbath, is indicative of the magnetic influence; and those who discard +the day, and secretly pursue their active employments, would do well to +heed the remarks I have made. + +Before I close, I wish to make some observations upon the present +style of preaching as compared with the sermonizing of my day. When I +occupied the pulpit, the doctrines of election and predestination were +the principal themes that engaged the attention of ministers. + +Free will and coerced will were questions which puzzled the theologian. +Looking upon the Bible as an inspired book, the most careless sentence +therein expressed became a word of weighty import. We engaged the minds +of our hearers with abstract questionings and reasonings. But we never +could make the doctrine of predestination accord with that of free +will. Nor could we clearly account for the presence of evil, while we +believed the Creator to be all wise, all powerful, and cognizant of the +end from the beginning. Yet these were the topics which the minister +of my day discussed and endeavored to make clear to the comprehension +of his hearers. We did not treat of every-day life; the pulpit we +considered too sacred for such topics. Religion with the masses became +an abstract state of holiness. Men assumed long faces and sober +bearings upon the seventh day; but their every-day life was something +different, which the minister and his ministering did not reach. + +But the pulpits of to-day are platforms of another kind. They have +altered, even as their shape has altered. Their outward construction +corresponds to their teachings. In my day the pulpit was narrow and +straight, and was lifted high above the people. But at the present +day a step only separates it from the congregation. It is broad, low, +and open. The teachings received from it correspond with its change +of form. The ministers of to-day are one with their flock. Their +discourses are practical, relating to every-day affairs. They no more +discuss the questions of Satan, of angels, and archangels, nor arouse +an undefined fear by descanting on the mysterious prophecies of Daniel: +they talk to you like _human beings._ + +I remember being somewhat shocked while listening to sermons preached +by my son, H.W. Beecher. I recall sitting near his pulpit, and longing +to get up and tell the congregation my views of texts and matters of +which he was discoursing. I thought then it was because the race was +going backward--becoming less intellectual--that men should be content +to listen to sermons that contained so little theology. But experience +in spirit life has caused me to change my opinion. + +I now see that Beecher, Spurgeon, and a vast host of others, are +teaching human souls the great truths which will fit them for life +hereafter. I have done now with endeavoring to solve improbable +problems, and with simple faith in man’s efforts for his own +progression, I give my testimony as to the uses of the Sabbath, and the +advantages of religion in advancing their progress, and in preparing +the spirit for its future home. + + + + +PROFESSOR GEORGE BUSH. + +_LIFE AND MARRIAGE IN THE SPIRIT WORLD_. + + +The two worlds--the spiritual and the material--are like twin sisters +whom I have seen, so similar that their acquaintances could not +distinguish between them, and yet so dissimilar that an intimate friend +would wonder why one should ever be mistaken for the other. + +I propose to give a short account of the society and conditions of life +in the spiritual spheres. + +The Swedenborgian Society of which I was a member while on earth, +continues to exist as a body in the spirit world, though Swedenborg, +the great seer and founder of that sect, is not a leader among them. +He has his country seat in Swedenborgia, a beautiful and intellectual +settlement named after him, where he retires within himself, and +directs his great mind in developing his science of correspondences, +which he proposes to arrange so systematically that it will become a +part of the teachings of earth’s children. + +It was never his design to become the leader of a sect, but his desire +was simply to reveal like a telescope that which was unknown. He is +deeply interested in the political condition of Sweden, Norway, and +Germany, and exerts his vast intellect towards emancipating the minds +of those nations from the bondage of church and state. + +It is curious to witness with what fidelity Swedenborg described in +many instances the condition of the soul after death; and also to +perceive in other instances how utterly he misinterpreted the visions +presented. + +Such discrepancies are incidental to all clairvoyant states; and this +is not surprising, for it is incidental to humanity. + +Man sees clearly when the prejudices of education and the influence of +his loves do not pervert his vision. + +What political economist, strongly biased in favor of one mode of +government, can contemplate dispassionately an opposing form? + +The theological belief which Swedenborg imbibed in his early youth, +tinctured his description of the heavens and hells of the spirit +world, causing him to represent the soul as reaching a period in its +love of evil when it cannot retrace its steps. The hells of the spirit +are similar to the hells of earth, being like them the result of the +ignorance and perverted loves of animal man. + +What hell more fearful than the hell of licentiousness? Yet it is +merely the animal side of the heaven of love. + +Swedenborg discovered hells in spiritual existence, where the inmates +lived lives of prostitution. His statement concerning such hells is +true. Individuals who have lived such lives upon earth cannot suddenly +be transformed. Their habits become _spiritual diseases_ with them. + +Now, as to marriage, the mere form does not make the wife different +from the courtezan, but her love exalts her above that condition. If +she be united to a man who is repulsive to her nature, and yet submits +to his embraces for the considerations of family, or home, or public +opinion, she is on the same plane with the courtezan. + +It is a proposition generally believed, that there is a soul-mate +for every human being, and it is usually supposed that in the spirit +world those mates are found, and that those united there live together +inseparably. But as there exists in the spirit world the same states, +the same variety of progressive development among men and women as +in this world, so unions are formed there in which one soul develops +beyond the capacity of the other, and in such cases changes must ensue. + +I will now speak of marriages more in detail. + +In the summer land the union of the man with the woman occurs from +very similar causes to those which bring about like unions upon +earth--the man is drawn to the woman and the woman to the man through +the operation of a natural law. If instinct were not so impaired by the +cultivation of the external faculties, there would arise but little +difficulty--on earth in selecting partners adapted to each other. +Considerations of wealth and position are permitted to influence your +selections rather than the idea of congeniality and adaptability. + +In spirit life this method is reversed, and the marriages formed there +are productive of greater happiness than those among men in the first +condition of life. + +But as I have stated, marriage in the spirit world is not an +indissoluble bond. Some minds associate together in harmony and expand +in the same direction, and with these the union is permanent. I have +seen such in the spirit world,--beautiful and noble souls intertwined +and aspiring together. + +There be others whose states and conditions after a time become +changed. Such seek new companions, and this is permitted without +discredit to the individuals. + +Many forms of marriage ceremonies are extant in the different societies +and countries. Garlands of flowers and symphonies of divine music are +bestowed upon the bride and groom. Bright bands of spirits from the +celestial heavens attend them, for they represent in their love and in +their wedded joy the harmonies of nature! + +While they love, sin, sorrow, darkness, and all evils shrink from sight. + +From these spiritual marriages are born soul attributes. Human beings +are never generated in the second condition; they need what is known as +the material world for their nurture and growth; and yet I understand +that in some of the more refined spiritual existences births have +occurred. The beings born there are indigenous--not generated by earth +parents, but offspring of those refined conditions. + +I know not of this as a fact; yet if we take the old Jewish Bible as +a history, we find an analogous statement there in the assertion that +Christ was born of God in a spiritual state of existence previous to +entering this earth plane. + +Spirit soils and atmosphere interblend and produce trees, shrubs, +flowers, and the cereals, but the human being, after the second birth, +ceases to reproduce his species. His children are thoughts born of the +spirit. After birth succeeds death. The soul passes through many stages +of existence in the process of refinement. The next state of existence +to the material, I term the spiritual, and the one beyond that the +celestial, and beyond that the seraphic. + +In the next state, to which I in common with all men who have not +passed some hundreds of years in the spirit world belong, individuals +pass through a condition analogous to death upon the earth. + +Spiritual bodies are subject to a process of refinement and decay; and +the soul, as the winged butterfly to which it is likened, throws off +its cerement and assumes a new form. + +But with us the transmigration is not veiled in darkness and mystery as +with you. We can watch the transformation; we can see the spirit emerge +from its old casement more ethereal than ourselves, but still visible; +and we can hold communion with it. + +So slight is this change with us that your mediums seldom touch upon +the fact. + +Spirit is inseparable from matter, and can give neither form nor +expression without it. + +The Great Invisible Creator of the Universe must have thought of trees, +flowers, beasts, birds, fish, and the wonderful exhibitions of form +through the vast realm of matter, previous to their existence. + +But he had to give them shape in matter--perishable but re-creative +matter; and if the Master-mind of all cannot express his thought +otherwise than with this ever changing, yet ever reconstructing +thing called matter, how can the human soul manifest but through a +spiritualized condition of matter, ever changing yet ever re-creating +and refining, mounting higher and higher, from the earthly to the +spiritual, from the spiritual-to the celestial, on--on--till finally +reaches Deity--himself! + + + + +JUNIUS BRUTUS BOOTH + +_ACTING_. + + +All great actors are media for spirit influx. It would be a marvellous +sight if the curtain which hangs between the spirit world and the stage +were uplifted, and the invisible drama which is being enacted exposed +to view. Then would you behold “the airy spirits” to whom Shakspeare +so truthfully alludes, moving like comets in gorgeous light around the +inspired actor! + +Inspiration is _motion, acceleration, intensity_; it has no part or +parcel with lethargy. + +I recall my past experience, portions of which I review with regret. In +endeavoring to obtain this energy, this motion, this acceleration, I +was obliged in my ignorance to resort to artificial means. A knowledge +of the laws of spirit life would have enabled me to have avoided this +mistake; but that knowledge I did not possess. + +The actor of the present day is blessed with the knowledge that he +has merely to throw himself into the magnetic state, and become _en +rapport_ with spiritual conditions, to find himself inspired--inflated +with the divine magnetic current which flows from the spirit world to +the inhabitants of earth. If a player desires to represent a certain +character,--let it be the subtle, fiend-like Richard III. or the +crafty Richelieu,--the customary mode of studying such characters is +to endeavor to imagine one’s self to be the person. That is the first +step towards mediumship; for it is one degree from the natural, towards +the superior state. Usually, through ignorance, the student proceeds no +further than this point; and the spirit assistants can only partially +aid him. But an actor possessing the knowledge of placing himself +_en rapport_ with these characters, whether traditional or real, is +immediately cut loose from his surroundings and becomes the Richard or +Richelieu whom he would personate. + +From the brain of every spirit medium ascends a blazing sun, which +burns the brighter when the magnetic relations between it and the +spirit world are most perfect. This blazing light, this radiant +effulgence, is perceived instinctively, though not knowingly, by every +individual who listens to a discourse from a “trance medium.” So +from the brain of the actor this glorious light throws out its rays +into the assembly, and when he becomes fully inspired, its magnetic +influence is felt with overpowering vividness; and the result is, the +audience themselves are set in motion, and from pit to gallery you hear +vociferous applause. + +There are actors who are good, and who acquire fame, who have never +felt this divine afilatus. The intellect of the audience appreciates +them for their declamation, for the art and artifice which they +manifest; but the humblest and most illiterate of that assembly know +well that this studied eloquence does not fire the brain. + +But it will not do to trust blindly to spirit control; a knowledge and +constant study of human nature is necessary. + +It is a well-known fact that a person steadily looking at one point +will influence twenty others to look at that point also, and to imagine +they see some object before them. Understanding this principle, you may +work upon each attribute in the minds of your audience. If fear is to +be aroused, do as your neighbor does as he hastily enters your house +after meeting with a fearful calamity. You become excited before even +hearing the evil which has befallen him. Every faculty can be acted +upon in the same manner--grief and joy alike. + +Of the ventriloquial powers of the human voice, many speakers are +ignorant. The tyro on the stage wishing to make the remotest individual +in his audience hear, bawls at the top of his lungs. He is unaware +that the organs of the human voice are a kind of electrical machine, +governed by the will-power, and that the actor has merely to throw his +will and direct his mind to a given point, for his voice to reach that +point and produce a far more startling effect than the loudest blast +that any pair of lungs could bring forth. Thus the lowest whisper can +be made to tell at the farthest corner of the theatre. + +But perhaps I have said enough of the methods best adapted to produce +representations of character on the stage. The question may arise in +the mind of the reader, whether there is any opportunity of exercising +the talent of acting in the spirit world, supposing that talent to have +been cultivated in this. + +In the remotest ages, and among the most uncultivated nations, as well +as among the most highly civilized, the power of representing human +passions and events has been exercised instinctively, showing this +power to be as much a portion of the soul’s attributes as the gift of +thought or of fancy. If one belongs to the immortal condition, the +other does also. + +One of the chief enjoyments which the all-wise Creator has made +attainable to the inhabitants of the starry heavens is that of dramatic +representations of life, character, and events, transpiring in the +countless worlds that wheel through space. + +The field of the actor for depicting the truths of human nature in the +world of spirits is vast and unconfined! + +Eloquence is appreciated on earth, but that appreciation is weak and +tasteless compared with the estimation of that “gift of the gods” by +the inhabitants of the summer land. + +Some blind, short-sighted investigators tell you there is no speech +among us; they would lead you to imagine that we inhabit a world blank +and void of sound; that stillness more unbroken than the grave pervades +our mysterious realm. + +Conjure up the picture in your fancy, reader--the soul shrinks back +from such a state! The spirit world is _all_ voice. Never have I heard +notes clearer, louder, deeper, than resound through the electric air +that surrounds my home. + +The gift of speaking, and of representing individualities separate from +your own identity, is a spiritual gift decidedly; and with us theatres +and amphitheatres are as numerous as churches are with you. I will +leave the description of these structures for the ready pen and speech +of our friend Burton. + + + + +JOHN WESLEY. + +“_THE DIVISION OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST, INTO SEVERAL BODIES, AND ITS +RE-ORGANIZATION INTO ONE GENERAL BODY.”_ + + +I will take for my text this sentiment from the New Testament: “I will +draw all men unto me, and there shall be one church and one people.” + +The church which was organized by our Lord[A] Jesus Christ was designed +to establish a feeling of brotherhood between separate and distinct +classes of people, and to abolish the system of castes, which was the +prevailing sin of the eastern nations. + +[Footnote A: The word “Lord” is used in the sense of an earthly lord +who cares for his people.] + +Christ made no distinction between the Sadducee and the Pharisee, the +publican and the saint, the high priest of the temple and the lowliest +of his followers. He placed the affections above the intellect, truth +and sincerity above wealth and worldly position. + +The church which he originated for many years followed in his +footsteps. But as it increased in numbers it accumulated wealth, +and with wealth came power, and from that power issued discord and +separation. + +Thus, the church divided and subdivided, and split into a thousand +pieces, formed new interests, created new beliefs, and sowed dissension +and envy with a free hand. + +Such has been the condition of the church for the past ten or twelve +centuries. Meanwhile, in the Heaven of Heavens, has arisen a powerful +movement directed towards restoring it to its original state of purity +and simplicity. This great movement, like a mighty river seeking its +outlet, has rushed on, diverging at several points, and at length found +the reservoir it sought in what is termed _Spiritualism_. + +The spiritualistic movement opened the gates for the expression of +skepticism, which the formalism, the tyranny, bigotry, and externalism +of the Church awakened in the minds of the people of every enlightened +Christian nation; and the result has been a criticism so pungent, and +an examination so thorough and direct, into the deformities of the +Church, that she has been obliged to contemplate her own condition and +the rottenness of her position, until she fairly trembles at the view +of her disjointed parts. + +On every hand now, at the present moment, efforts are being made to +consolidate--to rejoin. On one side you behold the Protestant Episcopal +Church offering to unite with the Methodists, from whom, since my day, +they have stood aloof, as an illegal and fanatical people whom they +could not fellowship. + +On the other side, you see them stretching to the Roman Church, forming +a brotherly compact of forms and ceremonies with Papacy. + +One branch of the Presbyterian Church wears the robes of the Roman +Church, and thus that is linked to Catholicism. + +All these denominations which have stood apart so long, whose theology +has been so antagonistic, are now merging into one Church. + +In the face of the great danger which Spiritualism or Liberalism has +brought to their sight, they endeavor to return to their first estate, +but in returning they lose their identity. + +This result is sure, though unperceived by them. + +One by one, they will give up this point of difference and that point +of difference, this creed and that creed, for the sake of harmony. +This vestment they lay aside, and that form, until they will all +be swallowed up, and neither Methodists nor Calvinists, Baptists +nor Lutherans, Armenians, Jews, nor Gentiles, will remain. Then the +primitive Church of Christ will be revived again upon earth, simple and +unostentatious; its creed will be the creed of Jesus Christ: + +“The brotherhood of man, and the love of God for his children.” + +This creed, you perceive, embraces the whole of the spiritualistic +faith, which is causing these great changes throughout the Church of +Christ on earth. + + * * * * * + +At this point it will not be inappropriate to make some allusion to the +mysterious sounds which occurred in my house in Lincolnshire, England, +at intervals within the space of three or more years during my earthly +ministrations. + +These mysterious sounds, even in that day, were supposed to have been +caused by spirit agency. I have ascertained that that supposition +was correct; and my attention has since been directed to the fact in +Church history, that every separation from the Church body which has +originated in a desire to return to the simplicity and purity of the +primitive followers of Jesus, has been attended by similar mysterious +demonstrations. + +Luther and Mclancthon, Knox and Calvin, and the earnest dissenters +and reformers of every age, have been haunted in like manner. I say +haunted, for they generally have misunderstood the aim of these +spiritual visitants.[A] It has devolved upon the scientific researches +and the skeptical but investigating mind of the nineteenth century to +form a process by which the spirit of the departed can communicate with +the dwellers in Time. + +[Footnote A: The spirit of Rev. Dr. John M. Krebbs, of New York, states +through this clairvoyant that the cause of his mental aberration while +on earth was a misinterpretation by him of a spiritual vision which +he was permitted to receive. Thus misunderstanding the aim of his +spiritual visitants, he became haunted with a fallacy which ultimated +in his death. ED.] + +To me this science was unknown. Had I been acquainted with the facts +with which I am now familiar, I might have established a more liberal +Church, but as it was, this daily association with an unseen spiritual +presence enlarged my views of the condition attending the soul after +death, and caused me to give utterance to thoughts which happily have +aided in preparing the world for the Universal Church which ere long +will lift its towering dome toward Heaven. + + + + +N.P. WILLIS. + +_A SPIRIT REVISITING EARTH_. + +(A FRAGMENT.) + + + How wondrous I +Through illimitable space, where myriad suns +And systems roll their mighty orbs, +The spirit moves like some strange wingless bird, +Darting through space with rapid flight +Until he nears his native home, +The earth. + + His home no longer; +He has become the denizen of a world +More rare and beautiful than earth. +With quickening pulse and grand emotion +He gazes down upon the globe, +Whose habitations he has left forever! +Cities with their palaces and towers, +Surging seas, leafy forests, and fields of grain, +The towering mountain and the massy +Icebergs of the Polar sea sweep past +His sight like fading visions. + + + + +ALLAN CUNNINGHAM. + +_ALONE_. + + +Far away from earthly care, +Free as a bird, I soar through air, +And think of thee in thy sad, lonely home, +Watching and waiting for thy love to come. +Dost thou hear me call thee, Sweet! Sweet! +Many the years till we shall meet. + +My spirit home is bright and fair +With flowers and birds and wonders rare. +Seraphic the faces that on me smile, +But the one I love is on earth the while, +Will she hear me calling, Sweet! Sweet! +Many the years till we shall meet. + +Many the years I’ll watch and wait +Till I see thee at the golden gate, +Then in my arms will I bear thee away +To my jewelled home where sunbeams play. +Then together we’ll sing, Sweet! Sweet! +Well worth the waiting thus to meet. + + + + +BARON VON HUMBOLDT. + +_THE EARTHQUAKE_. + + +This mysterious and awful visitant, which convulses the earth +apparently without warning, is, however, like all the manifestations +of nature, preceded by signs which the observing and understanding eye +can perceive and calculate upon as unerringly as the astronomer can +determine the approach of a comet. + +The inhabitable earth is merely a shell or crust over the great mass +of uninhabitable matter. The world beneath the earth’s surface is as +diversified as the world above. It has its mountains, its streams, its +plains, its caverns, and its internal volcanoes. + +As fearful storms, accompanied by lightning and rumbling thunder, sweep +over the earth’s surface, so beneath the crust occur electric storms, +accompanied with terrific combustions of gases, which in their efforts +to escape convulse the outer earth, and in many cases rend the shell +asunder. + +The earthquake which has recently (August 13, 14, 15, and 16, 1868) +shaken the Pacific coast was occasioned by the discharge of the pent-up +gases beneath, and also in part by the heated condition of the outer +surface. + +The “tidal phenomenon,” as it is called, is the effect of the +electrical condition of the earth beneath. The chemical components of +the sea form a sensitive magnetic body, which is subject to attraction +and repulsion, and as the magnetic current extended for several +thousands of miles, and was caused by a collision of negative and +positive forces, the sea was attracted and repulsed along the whole +line of the internal commotion by the action of these forces. + +The northern portion of this globe has in times past suffered from +convulsions similar to those which now visit the tropical climates. + +The fearful privations and heart-rending calamities which visited the +earlier inhabitants of the earth are only known to the student of the +cosmos of nature after he has attained the second birth. + +The forces within and around the earth are now in comparative +subjugation, but in the earlier periods of its existence, while still +it was in the process of changing from a state adapted to a lower +condition of animal life to one fitted to a higher state of animal +and intellectual existence, the elements were in a frequent state of +rupture and disorder. + +No mortal pen can depict the scene which I recently witnessed on the +occurrence of the earthquake on the Pacific coast. Forty thousand souls +arising amid smoke and blackened clouds of flying stones and upheaving +earth, with outstretched arms, and faces strained with horror, emerging +suddenly from their old bodies into their spirit-forms--looking +awestruck into each other’s faces; a vast swarm clinging together +almost as helplessly as young bees to their hive--suddenly cut off from +their occupations and their pleasures, their homes, and their familiar +affairs of earth! + +But what they experienced, proud and noble cities of the past have +experienced likewise. Grace and ornament, art and grandeur, beauty, +love, and manly strength have been swept away time and again by the +bursting of the treacherous doors that lead into the heart of the earth! + +Change marks the footsteps of the Creator. The solid mountain, the +firm, unyielding earth, which to the unthinking mind seem durable and +eternal in their strength, like mankind carry within themselves the +seeds of their own dissolution. + +Yet the day will come when man, by the aid of science, will, through +these premonitory symptoms, foresee the coming events, even as the wise +physician can discern the time when his patient’s soul will leave its +body. + +Nature misunderstood is a fearful mystery; but understood, she is a +simple and beautiful piece of mechanism; and the earthquake may not +be more disastrous than the flood or the avalanche when science and +experience have taught men to avoid the localities of danger, and to +watch the hour of its approach, that they may flee before it. + +Nature is never abrupt in her actions. She heralds her intentions +long before she enacts them, but as it requires the quick ear of the +savage--the child of nature--to detect the far-off prey, so it requires +the student of nature to discover the distant tread of the earthquake. + + + + +SIR DAVID BREWSTER + +_NATURALNESS OF SPIRIT LIFE_. + + +The human mind is subject to false and specious reasoning, and time +after time opinions which have been held and argued upon with seeming +logical acumen, have, by further developments and discoveries, been +proven fallacious. And yet of so elastic a nature is the mind of man +that he is not crushed nor discouraged by his mistakes, but immediately +commences to build new theories; but as he establishes them by +specialties instead of generalities, he is again defeated. + +The European mind has adopted a certain line of thought respecting the +future state of existence, which it substantiates by narrow reasonings +and isolated facts. + +Of the future we can only judge by analogy of the past with the present. + +Nature ever shadows forth her new developments upon the old. + +The many periods or stages through which the earth has passed in +reaching her present state of refinement, have been stamped one upon +the other so that the Geologist can determine definitely what would +be the result of a certain period from the characteristics of the +foregoing. + +Now it is educible: if the Creator of the race of men who inhabit the +terrestrial globe had intended for them a future state or destination +differing in every respect from their present one, he would have +prepared their minds for different pursuits, and ordained them for +other occupations than those they follow to the very grave. + +Take man in his most natural condition--examine those nations that are +most ancient, and unmixed with other races--and you will perceive that +their ideas of a future state were in accordance with the life they +were living on earth. + +The Asiatic race in burying its dead prepares the favorite food of the +deceased, the fragrant tea, and the money so useful on earth. Also +slips of paper on which messages are written to departed friends are +lighted at these burial ceremonies, and reduced to ashes, that the +spirit of the text may be transmitted to their friends in the world of +souls. + +In these “Pagan rites,” as they are termed, we discern the workings +of an intuitive belief that the spirit of man still retains the +sensations, attributes, and desires which have accompanied it through +life. + +The ancient Greeks and Romans held similar opinions, likewise the +Africans, Hindoos, and the Indians of North and South America. + +By far the largest portion of mankind believe in a _natural state_ +hereafter, corresponding to their earth existence, but the European +nations which are supposed to be advanced in science, art, and +philosophical attainments beyond all the nations of the earth, have, +in their speculations and in their efforts to penetrate the mysteries +of the world of spirits, lost sight, of the natural and entered +the supernatural, where they are surrounded by fogs, clouds, and +_ignes-fatui._ + +Now if these people are told that the spirit world is divided into +states and continents, cities and towns, as is their own world (though +under spirit appellations), they would scoff at the statement. + +But as mankind has a natural love of locality, and as congenial minds +will select similar locations, adapted to their ideas of beauty and +comfort, the result is that spirit inhabitants unite and form cities +and towns as on earth. Thus combining, they must have some points of +interest to occupy their minds, and as they still possess their power +of construction and ingenuity, their love of beautiful forms and of +architecture, they prefer not to live in the open air and on the bare +ground (as they can certainly do), but choose rather to employ their +various faculties in building cities and habitations in accordance with +their tastes and ideas of convenience. + +Once grant that man is provided with a spiritual body after he emerges +from his original one--accept the hypothesis that this body must +possess form and sensation, and with sensation, eyes, ears, mouth, +taste, and motion--then you must provide means for that body to exist. +In providing these means you must place him upon a soil capable of +producing vegetation, where his intelligence may compound the various +articles adapted to his use. + +Some individuals enter the spirit world deformed, some feeble in +intellect, some incapable of constructing or arranging. All these must +have provision made for them; their wants must be supplied. The effort +to supply want or demand produces a system of exchange or barter. + +Many of the inhabitants of the spirit world are both good and kind. +They are spiritualized in their natures, and are influenced by a desire +to assist those who are needy. + +Nature, or God, has ordained that existence should depend upon effort; +that a state of inactivity should produce dissolution; and much the +same means are taken there to enforce activity as in the material world. + +True, some men possess natural gifts, by which knowledge is acquired +without labor. The power of seeing before the demonstration belongs +to all humanity. It is the negative form of knowledge; but combined +with that power is the positive, which compels man to desire a visible +representation or demonstration of the knowledge he has received by +intuition. + +The astronomer thus, before he constructs his telescope, perceives +intuitively the very stars which his telescope proves as existing, +where none are visible to the eye. + +It was this active-positive principle, that made him construct the +instrument; and in the spirit world, as on earth, that active-positive +principle acts in conjunction with the negative-intuitive one, in +impelling him to exertion, and forcing him to acquire knowledge in +every department of science, art, philosophy and religion. As well +expect this earth to rest in her revolution and still retain her place +in the solar system, as to suppose that the spirit of man can lose its +activity and sink to rest eternal. + +Man is not only active in constructing and exploring in the spirit +world, but he is also engaged in inventions. Most of the discoveries +that have lessened manual labor and made gross matter subservient to +man’s use originated in the land of spirits. The inventor finds full +field for his talents in the superior state. + +Man naturally delights in knowledge, and the individual who knows +how to construct a steam locomotive finds a thrill of satisfaction +in the possession of that ability. So does he who can arrange and +construct any piece of mechanism, any domestic tool. That feeling of +gratification at the accomplishment of his plans accompanies man to the +spirit life. + +All persons do not follow the same pursuits in which they were engaged +on earth, yet they adopt a kindred and congenial employment. The +clergyman thinks his work done when he leaves the earth; but in the +next state, also, he will find beings who need to have their spiritual +and moral natures instructed--men who desire to be led--who cannot +think for themselves, but lean upon the thoughts and inferences of +others. + +So with almost every pursuit--there is opportunity to exercise it in +the world of spirits. The painter finds nobler themes for his pencil, +more angelic faces for his canvas; and the desire to reproduce them +as they appear is as intense there as it is here. Although a spirit +can impress his form in color and raiment upon the sensitive plate in +the spirit world, and the image remains fixed and permanent (for the +photographic art is essentially spiritual in its origin), that result +though definite, is as unsatisfactory to some minds in the spirit +world as it is in the natural. And thus, while persons differ in +their desires and perceptions, there will be the same varied modes of +expressing thought in the superior life as in this. + +The question is often asked, “Why should immortals walk, when they can +move with greater velocity than light?” + +In return I would inquire, “Why, when men can travel by the +steam-engine, do they prefer the slow movements of the horse?” + +Again, it is asked, “Why, if spirits can converse by +thought-language--if they can express with their eyes, or impress +magnetically their wishes, or the words they desire to utter--why +should they employ their vocal organs?” + +But I rejoin that the deaf and dumb on earth converse by signs with +great celerity, yet would gladly express their thoughts with voice also. + +Many trancendentalists and idealists fancy that the inhabitants of the +spirit world do not converse audibly; yet they would be greatly shocked +if told that in that world there reigned one vast silence; that sound +was unknown; and yet such a condition would exist, if their mode of +reasoning were correct. + +No unbiased person would suppose for a moment, that song was unheard +in this land of the immortals; that the voices of the spirit maidens +never burst forth into melody; and that they could not give utterance +to their feelings and sentiments, in the warbling notes of music! + +Spirits can read each other’s thoughts, although possessing a universal +spoken language, and also retaining in many sections the native dialect +they used on earth. + +Though the spirit world is a world of marvels and miracles, and things +unutterable, which the tongue cannot express, yet it is a world similar +to the natural one; a glorified body of the old earth. + +The soul visiting that new country will not feel itself an utter +stranger on its shore, but will find that it can assimilate with the +thoughts and feelings of the residents of that land, and the knowledge +and experience which it developed on earth will be useful to it there. + +If the teachers on your planet, and those who instruct concerning the +condition of the soul after death, would employ the same reason and +intelligence that they exercise in investigating any other obscure +subjects--either chemistry, astronomy, or natural philosophy,--they +would arrive at more truthful data respecting the spirit globe which +ultimately they are all destined to inhabit. + + + + +H.T. BUCKLE. + +_THE MORMONS_. + + +Looking upon the world, the voyager through space discerns vast tracts +of land, uninhabited barren wastes, and immense forests echoing only +the tread of the wild beast and the cries of birds of prey. + +It becomes the duty of the political economist to reclaim these lands +and place them in the hands of civilization. + +How is this to be done? Shall it be by following in the beaten track of +custom? No: it can only be accomplished by the zeal of the enthusiast. + +Joe Smith was an inspired man; even as Columbus was he inspired. +Through his agency a colony was started near the dismal Salt Lake. +Through his agency, and by the aid of his apostles or followers, +the hardy men and women from the overcrowded population of Europe, +cramped by man, and priest-ridden, have been brought across the ocean +into republican America. They have been placed in this seemingly +unpropitious Salt Lake country. There they have founded a city; they +have erected factories and mills. The steam engine, the plow, and the +sewing machine have aided them; and now, in place of a company of +barbarous peasants, ignorant and benighted, and steeped in poverty, you +find them transformed into energetic, intelligent citizens, surrounded +with comforts and luxuries. + +And all this has been brought about by a religious enthusiast; by an +enthusiast whose religion is believed to be inferior to the religion of +Protestants. + +Imagine for a moment what result would ensue from a movement of this +kind set on foot by the followers of the Protestant religion as it is +taught by the churches of the present day. No theatres or places of +amusement would add gayety to the sombre city. The dance and the sound +of mirth would be hushed. The inhabitants would walk ever in solemn +fear of the awful future that might await them; they would despise +their physical frames, crucify their passions, and trample under foot +the most divine attributes of their nature. + +But the religion of the Mormons is a natural religion; it is primitive. +They people the world even as God peopled it in the time of Abraham and +Isaac. + +They enrich the state by their tithes. They bring in their corn, their +wine, and their fruits, as offerings, and the state pays them back by +improving their roads and building houses for instruction and pleasure +for them. + +Their domestic system, which has been so much despised and ridiculed, +does not greatly differ from the custom of the civilized world. Such as +are wives with them become with you the neglected women of the town. +What with you is considered dishonorable, with them becomes honorable. + +The man of wealth in Utah does not concentrate his riches on a few +relatives; he distributes it among his many wives and numerous +children. In all times, nations which have grown rapidly and have been +developed in arts and sciences have been peopled in the same manner. +The female element introduces into a community taste, ornament, and +grace. Look at California previous to the emigration of women to that +land! Misrule and misery reigned. It is a law of nature that men +and women should be united. In the present form of civilization, a +large proportion of women are compelled to remain single, and their +usefulness to community and humanity is dissipated. The Mormon system +eradicates this evil. + +The progress of civilization points to a time when a magnetic relation +shall be established between all the inhabitants of earth; when the +globe shall form one vast circle of mind as it does now of matter. At +present the chain is broken; the intermediate spaces are not filled +up by population. The spirit world is using all its skill to bring +about this magnetic connection, but till this is complete the magnetic +relation between the spirit world and earth cannot be perfect. + +Wise intelligences in the world of spirits have originated and +guided the Mormon movement, and these intelligences will develop new +communities under similar auspices. The legislators of the land, the +Napoleons of the day, would do well to investigate the policy of the +leaders of Utah. + +The crimes common in your large cities are not known among the Mormons. +They live on friendly terms with the red men of the plains, and are +just in their dealings. + +Each citizen is taught that the public welfare is his own welfare. In +your own large towns the citizens shirk public duties; but in Utah +there is a oneness of feeling, which it would be well for those who +consider themselves superior in the scale of civilization to imitate. + + + + +W. E. BURTON. + +_DRAMA IN SPIRIT LIFE_. + + +“Honor pricks me on. Yea; but how if honor pricks me off when I come +on? How then? Can honor set-to a leg? No. Or an arm? No. Or take away +the grief of a wound? No. Honor hath no skill in surgery, then? No. +What is honor? A word. What is that word, honor? Air. A trim reckoning! +Who hath it? He that died o’ Wednesday. Doth he feel it? No. Doth he +hear it? No. Is it insensible, then? Yea, to the dead. But will it not +live with the living? No. Why? Detraction will not suffer it.” + +What is honor? A mere word. What is Heaven? A word--a phantasy. A +vaporish place, too delicate and subtle for such fun-loving, corpulent +specimens of the Creator’s wisdom as old Jack Falstaff. + +O rare Jack Falstaff! He was a child of nature, and to my thinking, his +homely phrases displayed more intuitive knowledge of the laws of nature +than the finest transcendental imaginings ever discovered. + +We shock the feelings of a thousand playwrights and play-goers by +asserting that in this impalpable land of souls we are guilty of +encouraging the playhouse! But so it is; we cannot live on “honors;” +the fame and glory which has been awarded to us by our fellow-men on +earth is like chaff to us. + +It was with hardly an emotion of surprise that I beheld theatres in +the spirit land, though I have seen many who, having been fed on the +false system of religion, and pampered on glittering imaginings, start +back with alarm on beholding the magnificent buildings we have erected +to the drama, thinking, that by some strange turning, they had entered +through the wrong gate. + +The drama with us is a source of both enjoyment and instruction. The +history of past ages in the spirit world is enacted with thrilling +interest, and each new spirit from earth has an opportunity thus to +become acquainted with the transactions of the past in the land of +spirits. + +The gay and brilliant theatre of which I have been induced to take the +management, is original in its structure, and of a light and beautiful +style of architecture. The balconies are suspended and movable. Outside +the building, and overlooking a placid sheet of water, are galleries +connected with and corresponding to those within, where persons who +desire may pass out during intermission, and regale themselves with the +fresh fruit and the fine prospect. + +The partitions are constructed of light frames with ornamented pillars, +covered with a fabric resembling parchment. As the climate is warm, the +partitions on the outside of the gallery are merely trellis-screens, +and the whole building is open in structure and perfectly ventilated. + +The plays which are enacted are generally composed by persons in the +spiritual condition. We have many good farces; and an unending source +of material for amusing plays is found in the relationship between +the spirit world and earth, and the eccentric conditions growing out +of that relationship. For instance, there is a laughable comedy being +enacted at my theatre, depicting the adventures of a pious merchant, +who, after the toils and cares of life, becomes a resident of the +spirit world. + +The graces and beauties of the angelic women whom he meets on every +side enamour him; he forgets his past life, forgets the wife who has +ruled him on earth, and in a moment of ecstasy chooses another mate. + +While in the enjoyment of his bliss, and surrounded by bands of +immortals, the news runs through the electric wire that his earth-wife +is deceased, and has come in search of him. The consternation and fear +of the poor man furnishes ample occasion for amusement, hilarity, and +fellow-sympathy. + +Our tragedies are cast in a higher mould; many of them are more sublime +than those of earth, representing the catastrophes of worlds. We also +have dramas which awaken the affections, representing the condition of +those from earth who are neglected, or who, in consequence of a long +career of vice and misery, cannot be approached by friends. + +These brief hints will give a slight idea of the source and character +of our dramatic representations. + +Some men are born actors, as others are born painters, poets or +preachers; and in the spirit world they can no more lay aside those +powers which have become a part of them, than they can lay aside the +gifts of observation or reflection. Understanding this fact, it will +not surprise you to learn that those most famous in the histrionic art +exercise their talents to listening thousands in the spirit world. + +Garrick, Kemble, Kean, Booth, Cooke, also Rachel, Mrs. Siddons, and a +host of illustrious actors of different nations, are now “treading the +boards” of spiritual theatres. + +Their time, however, is not exclusively devoted to the exercise of +these gifts, as on earth. A considerable portion is spent in the study +of the arts and sciences; and many a noted actor becomes an able +painter or musician, and many a low comedian a philosopher. Our life is +one round of pleasant progression. + +What I have said about our attractive theatre and my enjoyable +condition, I hope will not induce any of you, my fellow-players, to +emigrate to these shores before you are sent for; but, like good Jack +Falstaff, I trust you will live in your own world as long as you can, +and when Dame Nature is done with you, we will give you a hearty +welcome and _a free pass to the dress circle_. + + + + +CHARLES L. ELLIOTT. + +_PAINTING IN SPIRIT LIFE_. + + +My friends know that I was not much given to writing or speaking, and I +reluctantly answer the call that has been made for me to give my views +on art in the spirit existence. + +The old masters whom we have worshipped from boyhood, Raphael, +Titian, Michael Angelo, Da Vinci, and all the illustrious names of +the Bolognese and Venetian schools of art, have passed away from +this sphere of spirit life, and no longer walk the streets of these +wonderful cities which they have adorned with their works. + +Reynolds, however, is with us still, and most of the army of painters +who have been born on earth since his day, here live in bodily shape; +and I have had the pleasure of meeting many admirable geniuses of +the French, German, and English schools, and have seen some of their +extraordinary works, which, for diversity of subject and majesty of +conception, seem to rival omnipotence itself! + +The great majority of American artists are secretly spiritualistic +in their faith, and believe that they can be inspired by departed +painters. Innes, Page, Church, and Powers, have each felt and +acknowledged the inspiration of the spirit of some great master in art. + +I must confess that these masters are not existing in the sphere +occupied by spirits who visit earth, and will explain the manner in +which they impress persons congenial and partaking of like sympathies +with themselves. + +I am informed that it is not material to what sublimated sphere they +may have ascended; it is merely a mesmeric influence which they exert +over their disciples, and this influence can penetrate through all +degrees of matter. + +The reason why all artists are not alike inspired by the great masters +is that they are not all subject to mesmeric influence, or on the same +plane of thought. + +Every disciple of high art, I have no doubt, has observed the magnetic +quality which seems to pour forth from the canvas of any great master. + +This arises from the brain effluvia which they have left upon the +canvas, which is more powerful in its quality than a grain of musk, +which will impart its odor for a hundred years. + +The colors which the artists here use are formed upon the same model +as those they have been in the habit of using on earth. They are more +brilliant pigments, but color has always the same origin. Some paint +with the brush and some paint with their fingers. + +I had heard it remarked that the spirit had only to breathe on the +canvas, and his thought would be represented, painted, and shaded in a +second of time. + +The substance of this statement is correct, but there is a slight +misapplication of the facts. + +’Tis true we have the power which we had on earth to a modified degree, +of projecting the desired form upon the canvas. I remember always, +after looking at my sitter, I could trace in imagination on the canvas +the outline and expression of his countenance. This is what we do: the +power of execution is so rapid that the time required for painting a +picture might with you pass for a moment; but it is only a trained +artist whose thoughts and comprehension are skilful enough to produce +an effect so rapidly. + +Those who have not learned to give form and shape to their ideas while +on earth have to pursue a more painful and laborious process. + +The modern school of color differs widely from the Venetian, being +crude, cold, and sharp in comparison; and, in accounting for this +difference, I can simply state that one can only represent what one +sees. + +The poetic, dreamy age, when men saw nature as through a veil, is past; +the matter-of-fact, investigating mind has lifted that veil, and now +sees objects as if in mid-day; but, as no condition is stationary, I +am told that the mind is gradually moving on in the world of art to a +point where it will again see nature in a more subdued and generalized +light, as under the declining sun. + +The past represented the morning, the present exhibits the noonday, and +the future will indicate the evening. + +Such is the constant revolution of mind, and its revolution though slow +is certain. + +In our works of art, sentiment is the prevailing characteristic. +Portraits are in great demand. + +Spirits send portrait-painters to earth to obtain likenesses of their +friends; and those spirit-artists who have the power of seeing the +lineaments of these friends and portraying them are constantly engaged. + +Leutze has been employed by Lincoln and others to represent scenes in +the American rebellion; and Colonel Trumbull, also, has executed some +magnificent pictures of the battles of Seven Pines, Fair Oaks, and a +skirmish at Hampton Roads. + +Stuart has completed a splendid portrait of General Grant, and is now +engaged by John Jacob Astor on a likeness of a beautiful lady dwelling +on earth. I have received a commission from Mr. James Harper to paint +a portrait of his daughter, who occupied the carriage with him when he +lost his life. I am at present engaged on a likeness of a lady residing +at Albany. + + + + +COMEDIAN’S POETRY. + +_ROLLICKING SONG_. + + +Hurrah! hurrah I my boys so bright, +For merry ghosts meet here to-night. +We’ll sing and dance till dawn of day, +Then up we’ll mount, away! away! + Then up, up, and away! + +We live in spirit land so gay, +And with grim Satan’s fires we play. +You need not fear the future state, +For we will meet you at the gate. + Then up, up, and away! + +Come, friends of earth, and read our bill, +’Tis called the “sugar-coated pill;” +’Twill sweeten all life’s bitter care, +And lead you up, the saints know where, + Then up, up, and away! + +Come laugh with us each man and wife; +A player’s stage is earthly life; +The sting of death is only a prick, +And _hell_ the parson’s “_trap-door trick_,” + Then up, up, and away! + +Here’s Garrick, Booth, and Kean so bright, +They shine like stars to give you light. +So haste and join the merry throng, +And loudly swell our happy song. + Then up, up, and away! + + + + +LADY HESTER STANHOPE. + +_PROPHECY_. + + +The star of prophecy shines in the east. To those nations who +were first in the order of creation belongs by right the power of +investigating the mysteries of life. + +The people of the East have been known in all past history for their +gift of prophecy. + +As water gravitates to its level, so I gravitated to the East. + +I left my native land, and for many years sojourned among the wandering +Arabs. This course of action was not understood by my countrymen. They +could not see the mystic star that drew me away from their busy haunts. +The Magi of the East had stood at my cradle and endowed me with the +noble gift of the Seeress. + +The power of reading the future does not belong to the Northern people. +It is the darkest and deepest well that reflects the star above it; the +dark and swarthy East is thus endowed. The pale North cannot give out +impressions. I was an exception to this rule. + +There are those who at birth are possessed of Eastern +spirits--Asiatics. Andrew Jackson Davis is not a Northern man--he is an +Asiatic. Look at his olive complexion, his keen eye, his beard and hair +of jetty black, his visage,--all betray the race which inspired him. + +The faculty of discerning the future belongs only to certain races, and +it cannot be universal. Many spirits profess to read the future, but +few can do so correctly. + +Yet the life of man is mapped out in every particular, even before +his birth. Men are like planets. The future of the planet Earth could +have been foretold before it was thrown off from the sun and while it +was yet in a molten state; so each step in an individual life could be +foretold: yet it requires ability to enter into the peculiar magnetic +condition in order to obtain the power of foretelling. It may be said +if the future of man is thus mapped out, even as was the creation and +progression of the earth, it becomes merely a scientific affair to +prophesy the future of any given individual. This is true, but the +inquirer will observe how many hundreds and hundreds of years science +has been engaged in discovering facts concerning this world’s history. +The eye of prophecy could foresee those facts and foretell them, though +it could not lay down any scientific basis in regard to them. + +The events which will take place to-morrow may be said to have already +transpired. + +The water that is rising from yon creek will increase in volume. +Conditions which have been for days and weeks in preparation will +suddenly conspire, causing the stream to rise to such a height that the +city will be overflowed, bridges swept away, and certain individuals +submerged by the current and their lives lost. + +This disastrous occurrence is governed by a law which the keen observer +of nature could have foretold years previous to the event. + +As in the natural world the traveller in the desert beholds the mirage +of some city which is hundreds of miles distant, suddenly arising +upon the sandy waste, so, in the spirit world, the spectrum form is +projected, and events which are to take place are made visible before +their actual occurrence. But, as in the natural world spectrum forms +occur only under certain atmospheric conditions, so in the spirit world +it is the conjunction of circumstances and the blending of magnetic +currents that make it possible for coming events to be revealed upon +the level plane which is set apart for this purpose in the summer land. + +Man at the present day is so constituted that a revealment to him of +coming events in detail would be injurious; and experience proves +that such disclosures, when made to him in dreams or otherwise, +are profitless, as he always fails to foil the evil of which he is +forewarned. + +History and biography show that individuals have time and again, been +admonished by their assiduous friends of evils or calamities that were +to befall them, yet the admonition, though timely given, seldom enabled +them to avoid their fate. Men have been warned of murderous assaults, +but they have not evaded them; premonitions have been given of falling +buildings, and these have fallen, involving in their destruction the +loss of the individual’s life at the precise date which his dream +foreshadowed. + +The time will come in the far future when man will understand prophecy +as a science. There are few persons living at the present day, who, +looking back upon their past history, would conscientiously wish it had +been all revealed to them at the outset of their career. + +The withered, faded beauty, at the dawn of her life of youthful triumph +could not have endured a vision of the haggard unfortunate wretch which +she would represent in the course of a few years. + +These remarks apply more especially to the so-called civilized state of +society at the present day. + +The semi-barbarous nations, so termed, are in closer sympathy with +nature. Life and death, prosperity and adversity, are to them as +natural effects as the sunshine and rain of the terrestrial globe. + +Their equanimity, their perfect repose upon the bosom of nature, causes +them to see more clearly into the future than do civilized nations. +There is a spirit of prophecy which does not comprehend the detail, and +only takes cognizance of the grand events of life. + +This prophetic condition is attainable by every being in a certain +state of exaltation. + +The poet, the painter, the statesman, the preacher, can alike in +moments of ecstasy ascend this mount of inspiration, and foretell the +advancement of the world in relation to art, science, and spiritual +development. But the oracle, the sybil of the East can penetrate a +height beyond and above this mount, and can perceive the detail of an +individual life in its minutest events. + +The Bible prophecy which foretold that “knowledge should cover the +earth, even as the waters cover the sea,” and that “the wilderness +should blossom as the rose,” was given in an ecstatic vision, and was +simply a spiritual comprehension of the power of soul over matter. + +As a knowledge of distance is relative, a keen perception on the part +of the prophet revealed to him, as he beheld the birds soaring in air, +that the journey to lands beyond the sea was no greater distance to +those winged creatures than a few miles would be to him. The prophecy +Isaiah made more than eighteen hundred years ago, is fulfilled to-day. +Science has annihilated space; knowledge becomes universal, and the +wilderness disappears. + +The sages of centuries agone are animating the bodies of to-day. The +doctrine of pre-existence is not a fable, yet to have lived two lives +belongs only to a chosen few, or those whom a fortuitous circumstance +has blest. + +Napoleon was one of these. The spirit of a great warrior took +possession of him at birth. + +But the condition of a pre-existing soul taking possession of a body +can occur only under peculiar circumstances. The soul principle is male +and female, and its perfection depends upon the two sexes as much as +the formation of the body depends upon the coalition of the two. In +states superinduced by opium or intoxicating liquor upon one party, the +spirit principle becomes deadened so that an active immortal spirit may +take its place. + +This male and female spirit principle, after forming a magnetic +relation by the joined bodies, lies inactive in the soul atmosphere of +the mother until material birth. If, as is sometimes caused through +accident, there is but one spirit principle active, the child when +born will be idiotic. If the male or female spirit of the pre-existing +intelligence is of superior order, then the child, as its intellectual +faculties develop, will display extraordinary abilities, which will be +in accordance with the peculiar development of the pre-existent spirit. + +The history of individuals thus circumstanced can be more clearly +discerned than others. Prophecy in bold and clear characters foretells +the events which will transpire in their earth life. + +In like manner Jesus, the celebrated child of Bethlehem, had lived +a pre-existent life on earth. He had reigned over a people in his +previous life, a wise and loving king. Vague remembrances continuously +fluttered across his vision and colored the thoughts to which he gave +utterance. + +When his mother conceived him, she was not conscious; delirium of +religious ecstasy, superinduced by priestly influence, rendered her +oblivious to events, and enabled this wise, tender, loving king to take +the place of the native spirit. Christ never married in this life, +because the spirits which possessed him were not male and female.[A] + +[Footnote A: The well-known eccentric character of this writer while on +earth may partly explain the singular views here set forth. ED.] + +The power of foretelling the future is yet in its infancy. Coming +events are said to cast their shadows before; and as the barometer +indicates to a skilful eye the approach of a storm when no sign is +visible in the calm sky above, so the events which will befall an +individual are marked upon the delicate spiritual barometer which forms +a part of his being, and can be read with unerring precision by the +clear and practiced eye of the optimist. + + + + +PROFESSOR MITCHELL. + +_THE PLANETS_. + + +The worlds of light that nightly illume the firmament of earth are not +mere spheres of uninhabitable matter, nor are they simply appendages +to earth,--glittering ornaments to attract the eye of man,--but vast +systems of suns and tributary planets, with worlds whose products and +inhabitants far exceed in organized development those of this little +planet Earth, whose astronomers are just beginning to realize the +capacities of the worlds revealed through their telescopes. + +Many of these worlds have existed centuries prior to the formation of +the planet you inhabit, and their inhabitants have attained a degree of +civilization which only time can give to you. + +The intellectual development of many of the dwellers of these planets +is as far superior to your highest state of culture as your condition +is in advance of the first stages of barbarism. + +Men of earth erect temples to their God--their Deity--which to them are +imposing and grand; but compared to the magnificent structures that +rear their towers high into space from those glittering points that +attract your eye, they are poor and insignificant. + +Yet, as being the highest expression of your intellectual unfolding, we +look upon them with admiration, even as you regard the rude attempts of +the Egyptians and the earlier races in their grotesquely formed images +and temples. + +The inhabitants of some of the planets attain a life many times the +duration of man’s. One of the causes of this prolonged existence is +the great age and refinement of the planet. While it is undergoing +change, and preparing the vegetable for the animal, and the animal for +the mental creation, the conditions that ensue are insalubrious, and +conducive to disease and death. But when the perfection of the natural +world is attained--when it becomes, so to say, spiritualized, and its +grosser elements are absorbed--then the human being can live on its +surface arid develop his faculties from century to century. + +The thoughtful reader will perceive from this statement that the +spirits who have inhabited these superior planets must have attained a +far greater perfection than those who have inhabited your earth, and +the spiritual existence, or heaven, to which such beings migrate, is in +advance of the heavens in which the dwellers of earth are born. + +The spiritual heavens correspond to the firmament of the natural world, +and thus there are myriads of systems of spiritual worlds. + +The residents of these planets visit earth as elder brothers who take +by the hand the little faltering infants. But intercourse with the +earth is more difficult for them than for your own native spirits, from +the fact that the magnetic atmosphere does not assimilate with them. +From the earth’s spirit world, scientific minds of rare development +only have been able to visit the spirit homes of those planetary +inhabitants. + +What I have said can give but a faint idea of the population of the +unseen worlds. As a drop of water which is clear and unoccupied to the +eye, when viewed through the microscope is found to be peopled with +living creations, so the worlds that overspread the heavens are peopled +in every part that the eye can cover. + +Man is indeed nothing; and yet he is the whole--a mere speck, a point, +and yet God himself in the aggregate. + + + + +DR. JOHN W. FRANCIS. + +_THE INFLUENCE OF MIND UPON MATTER, AND THE CAUSES OF INSANITY AND THE +VARIOUS DISEASES WHICH AFFLICT HUMANITY AT THE PRESENT DAY_. + + +The rude nations of the earth believed that disease was the result of +evil spiritual agencies, and the untutored savage, without the aid of +books or any of the advantages which the learned physician possesses of +studying the human system, arrived at the conclusion that disease was +inflicted by living, unseen individualities. + +Science has discarded that idea. It has dissected the human body, +and, finding the result of the diseases, has assumed to have found +the cause; assumed that it is mere bodily disarrangement. Yet any +intelligent physician will tell you that in his own experience he has +witnessed the effect of mind upon the body; that he can give a bread +pill to a patient, informing him that it is a purgative, and it will +act in that manner; that a certain powder will create nausea or a +burning sensation, and it will produce those results when the powder +itself is harmless. + +As the body, if permitted to decay, comes to be infested with vermin, +so the spirit, if allowed to remain idle and inactive, will become +infested by spiritual vermin which will taint and destroy it; and the +savage idea that disease is caused by spiritual agency is correct. + +If an individual permit any one idea to obtain predominance, and he +dwell upon that idea to the exclusion of other thoughts, he will +attract spirits who fill the air--not organized spiritual beings who +inhabit the spirit world, but half-organized beings (polypus) who live +in this atmosphere and were originated from the brains and the physical +organisms of the inhabitants of the earth; these beings, finding his +mind concentrated or magnetized to a point, will effect an entrance. +Suppose, for instance the person centres his mind upon the loss of a +friend or of money: this concentration becomes a magnet, which, like +the rays of sunlight acting upon a portion of vegetation, produces +decomposition upon which spirit vermin may feed. So by dwelling too +continuously upon one thought, certain faculties of the mind become +excited by constant action, while others become paralyzed and the +result is insanity. + +Now spiritualists, or believers in spirit intercourse, should be +the most healthy persons in the community, for they understand, or +should understand, the laws of psychology which teach that constant +dwelling upon one thought will bring spirits of like character who +will intensify that thought, and they also know that they have but to +use their will and the whole magnetic relations will change and a new +influence will be brought to bear. + +Tell a man he has heart disease, make him believe it, and his heart +will beat like a sledge-hammer. Tell him his liver is diseased, make +him believe it, and he will feel bilious and look bilious. + +Tell a man he looks well, compliment him upon his appearance, and he +will feel well, look spruce, and his spirits will become elastic. + +It has been a matter of surprise to some why the spirits have taken +such an interest in the science of medicine, and why they have +developed so many as healers. It is that they may teach man that +disease is generally a magnetic condition; and they hope to teach the +community, through those physicians whom they develop, to discard drugs +and rely upon magnetic influences and the power of the will to keep the +body in its normal condition of health. + +Too much stress cannot be laid upon the power of the will in dispelling +disease, and in expelling it. + +A diseased patient may be likened to a medium who is possessed by a +spiritual being of low order. The very low condition of the spirit +causes him to adhere and cling to the medium, and unless the will is +directed to exorcise him, he will keep his subject continually under +his influence and the proper individuality of the person will be +annihilated. + +Thus, disease, like an evil spirit, takes its hold upon an individual, +and can only be overthrown from its position by a strong will, which +sends it shrinking away like a criminal from the body it has infested. + +If the will of the patient is not sufficiently strong, then the will of +some good friend must be used. These good friends are known as healing +mediums. Also a change of air and scene should be obtained, which +brings the will into a new action, and thus dislodges the tenant. + +The will is like a sharp two-edged sword, which cuts right and left, +and leaves no chance for skulking to anything to which it has directed +its power. + +I will close my remarks by repeating that the savage is right in his +belief, and that disease is indeed the result of--I might call them +spiritual harpies, who, though they may not in these civilized times +be driven out by the beating of drums, the tom-tom, and the howling of +frenzied savages, yet can be dislodged by kindred manipulations, such +as mesmeric passes, deep breathing, and a positive though almost quiet +exercise of the will. + +Some of my brethren of the profession will be surprised to find these +views advanced by one whom they believe held more rational opinions on +earth; but there are others whose keen intellects have pierced through +the wisdom of the schools, and have discovered that the physics they +have concocted, when applied to the complex mechanism of the human +system, in palliating the disorders of one function disarrange some +half a dozen others, and that the soul and the body are so interblended +that we must heal a disease of the body through and in conjunction with +the spirit, its counterpart. + + + + +ADELAIDE PROCTER. + +_THE SPIRIT BRIDE_. + + +You told me you loved me, and vowed of old, +When you reached that land of jasper and gold, +To me you’d return in the hush of night, +And show me a glimpse of your land of light. + +I sit in the shadows, and wearily wait +To see you throw open the starry gate: +Through my golden ringlets the chill winds blow, +While I watch your coming through falling snow. + +How long must I wait? Are you ling’ring where +The blue-eyed angels your sweet kisses share? +Is your home so radiant that never more +Your steps will be heard at my lowly door? + +Ah! what do I see through my blinding tears?--What +misty form through the tempest appears? +A cold hand now touches my burning brow, +A low voice whispers, “I am near thee now.” + +Bend low--let me kiss thee, thou viewless thing; +No rising passion thy cold lips bring; +But hushed is the throb of my burning heart +As upward he bears me--no more to part. + + +THE END. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13237 *** |