"Oh! that they were all like her!" I cried.

"Then listen. You must act in such a manner that the good will eclipse these shadows, when they will disappear."

Saying this he vanished, and I, reflecting, said that I would at once free myself from the dreadful following. Opportunely there came a spirit moaning past me. Her brother on earth was contemplating a horrible crime. He had determined to take the life of his mother in order to become possessed of her estate. The sister had vainly attempted to give a warning or to influence him, and in despair at her failure she had left them to their fate. I said to her:

"Come. I will go with you, and perhaps together we can prevent this crime."

She fervently expressed her grat.i.tude as she conducted me to her mother's house. It was midnight when we arrived, as I saw in the dim lamplight by the tall clock, and the mother was sleeping.

"We can only watch," said my companion, "and if he should come, we can do nothing to save her."

"Do you not know that sometimes sleep unlocks the avenues of the spirit, and we can approach much nearer than in waking hours? When we thus come, people say they have dreamed."

I bent over the mother, her white locks fell from beneath her cap over the pillow, and there was something in the expression of her lips and cheeks reminding me of my own. I tested her sensitiveness and found that her mind responded. Then I willed these words:

"Edward intends to kill you with a knife. He will come into your room, and you must awake and charge him with the crime, and say to him that his sister came from heaven to tell you!"

She started as if by a blow, and with a horrified expression, she sprang upright.

"Who is here?" she cried. "Who spoke to me? I have had a fearful dream, so vivid that I thought it reality."

She sank again on the pillow, and there were light footsteps at the door, which slowly swung open, and the brother entered. The mother waited only a moment when she arose and addressed him in the words of her dream. It came so suddenly that he admitted his intentions, and pleaded for forgiveness. He had been made the victim of bad men, and if he could escape from them he might be saved. By nature he was not so bad, but he was weak.

Leaving them to each other, I started again for our home, my heart full of gladness, for I had followed the advice of the angel, and expected to thereby escape my companions. Judge of my surprise when on looking back, I saw a new form, more ugly than any of the others, the result of this act from which I had expected so much. As I gazed in despair, the angel came again, and with a smile said to me:

"It was a selfish act!"

"Selfish?" I asked.

"Aye; you had not the good of the woman or the salvation of the son or the happiness of the daughter at heart. You had only your own pleasure and gain. You would thereby relieve yourself of a burden. The world is ruined by such benevolence. You will have a long and weary road if you travel in that direction."

"I am a fool," I said, overwhelmed by my imbecility and want of spiritual understanding. "What can I do?" I implored.

"If I direct you, there will be no merit. You must determine for yourself."

As he spoke he vanished, and I sat down, resting like a weary pilgrim, overburdened. Then I saw a spirit coming rapidly toward me, and on approaching she hurriedly said:

"I am told you can influence mortals. My son is captain of a steamer, and having lost his course, is sailing directly on a rocky coast. Come and save not only him, but the hundreds of his slumbering pa.s.sengers."

Without a moment's delay, I followed her, and came to the steamer. The gray of morning was flushing the sky, and the crests of heavily rolling seas gleamed in the cold light. Everything was quiet on deck, for the pa.s.sengers were asleep, and nothing was heard but the steady pulsations of the engine. I looked beyond the bow, and saw the sh.o.r.e some distance away. It was a high promontory of black rocks, against which the surf was violently beating, and the ship was headed directly on the point where it was most violent. Whatever was to be done, must be done quickly. We went into the cabin where the captain sat with his head resting on his hands, between sleeping and waking. Could I impress him with his danger? I made the attempt and failed. I repeated several times with no better success. I became anxious, as the danger increased, for every pulsation of the engine brought the ship nearer to the rocks. The sleeping pa.s.sengers, strong men, helpless women and children, how soon they would be called to face certain destruction. What agony the now quiet decks would witness! What waiting and hoping against hope there would be in hundreds of desolate homes! The contemplation unnerved me, and I was unfitted to exercise my skill in impressing thoughts on mortal brain. I was recalled by the voice of the mother:

"Can you not save my son?"

I confess that when the picture of agony I have sketched came to my mind, in my wish to prevent the catastrophe, all selfish considerations were forgotten, and I would unhesitatingly have given my existence for the safety of the ship, were it possible to have done so.

"I can do nothing unless I have aid," I replied, and with my whole strength I invoked our elder brother. Instantly he came. He understands the methods of impressing thought so perfectly that, as you know, he rarely fails. He placed his hand on the captain's head, and the thought he gave was:

"Ship ahoy, breakers ahead!"

The captain sprang to his feet, and rubbing his eyes in a bewildered manner, rushed on deck.

"Who hailed us?" he demanded of the drowsy watch.

"No one, sir; all is quiet."

"We were hailed," he said firmly, and gaining the bridge he sought to penetrate the darkness. He listened, and his face paled, for distinctly came the boom of the surf.

Swift were the commands, and the ship by a sharp curve doubled on her course, the rocky ledge being so near that a few revolutions more and there would have been no escape.

A great many of the pa.s.sengers came up on deck, aroused by the unusual motion of the ship and the shouting of orders, and when they understood the peril they had so narrowly escaped, they embraced each other and cried for joy.

As I again sought our home, forgetful of everything but the benefit I had conferred by my journey, I glanced behind me, and saw a shining light, and afar off, in dim outline, the group of beings I so strongly desired to escape. Unconsciously I had performed an act that had placed a light between me and them. Rejoice with me, dear friends, I am enabled to be unselfish.

Then the elder said: "Our brother adds to his other good qualities, that of humility."

"The angel-life became more complete and perfect as year by year the loved ones came up from the shadows of earth, until our family circle was almost restored. After a time its old members will take their new places, and when my earth-friends are all here, there will be little attraction for me in the old life.

"It is yet new and strange, and cannot be described to mortal comprehension. Language itself must be spiritualized, and words given a new meaning.

"I have mingled tears of pity with those who have been bereft, at the same time knowing that their loss was gain to the departed ones.

"Activity is our happiness, and thinking right and doing our very best are the gateways to heaven. Earth-life is a joy only when the end is known. Here its infinite possibilities are realized. Not in a year or a century, but in the fullness of time can all this come. Weep, for it is human, when your loved ones pa.s.s the shadowy portals, remembering, however, that the spiritual sun on the other side will, by comparison, make your brightest day on earth a rayless night."

FROM EARTH TO THE INFINITE.

The mists are falling on the purple sea, The sun is sinking in the clouds aflame; For many a day the far receding sea And melting sky have seemed almost the same.

At first we met the bitter storm and cloud, With little sunshine on the darkling mere, The waves were high, the icy winds were loud; The days were dark, the nights were full of fear.

By every trial having gathered strength, And hopeful conquered every adverse gale, We now have reached a calmer sea at length, And with full hearts unbend the flowing sail.

Behind, the sinking sun reveals no sh.o.r.e Illumed with glory of his purple light; The land we left has pa.s.sed forever more Beyond the reach of longing mortal sight.

A boundless sea on every side expands; We're drifting slowly toward the glowing east; In faith expecting yet more welcome lands, When toiling care, and mortal life have ceased.

Behold, it comes in robes of azure light!

As sinks the sun behind the sullen waves, And on the pearly sh.o.r.e, enchanting sight, Are all the friends we thought within the grave.

And now, oh ship, your weary pinions fold, And rock to sleep upon the harbor's breast; This is the home, by faith our hearts foretold, Where we shall find activity and rest.