CHAPTER I.

A SITTING WITH A SPIRITUAL MEDIUM.

ISRAEL, with his friend Thomaston sitting a little apart, was placed in a position.just before the medium. She rubbed her eyes, dropped her head, on which she made passes, and giving one or two long breaths, all was ready. The chasm between earth and the invisible world was bridged.

"I see," she began in a low, disjointed, but yet confident voice, “ some one standing just behind you who is out of the form, I think. Yes, she is out of the form. By that, I mean, she is what we call dead. She is of medium height, is slight in figure, and graceful in her movements. I think she must have died of consumption. Her face is thin, and wears a hectic flush. Her eyes are sunken, but very bright; they are of a dark hazel color. Her hair is also dark, and is put back from her brow in two or three long curls. She must have been beautiful when in health. She has a small scar upon her right temple. She wears a black dress, and appears to be in mourning. They come to us as they looked in life, that we may identify them. Do you know who this person can be?" "No," answered Israel, with a slightly unsteady

tone.

The assertion that one who was dead stood just

behind them, with a hand on his head, made him rather uncomfortable.

“I should think," said the medium, "that she was about twenty-seven or thirty years old when she died."

She paused now, her eyes remaining closed; and after a few minutes, resumed by saying, “she tells me you are her son. She must be your mother! mother out of the form?"

Is your

"My mother is dead," answered Israel, with increasing awe.

"She says, 'My dear boy, how glad I am that you have come to talk with me. For this privilege I have waited long and prayerfully. I am almost always near you, though you do not know it.'

"Another person out of the form appears now at her side. It is a man who was considerably older than your mother when he died. He was rather full in figure. He breathes with difficulty, and he often lays his hand on his heart. This is to show that some disease connected with his heart was the occasion of his death. He has very light hair, a blue eye, but penetrating and dark in its expression, and a Roman nose. His mouth is wide, firm, but pleasant, and his whole appearance is of a man of superior culture. I think he was highly educated. By the books and papers which I see about him, I should judge he belonged to one of the professions the Law, I think.

Can you tell who this person is?"

"If my mother is here, ask her," said Israel. After a brief silence, she said : "Your mother tells me it is your father. Are your parents both dead?"

Israel admitted the fact rather reluctantly. "But my father was not a lawyer," he added.

"Perhaps he was a physician, though I see no special signs of that profession. No, I think now he was a clergyman. He appears to be reading a book which I think is in some foreign language, and I see something there which looks like a written sermon. But if he was a clergyman, he did not preach as much as he- he did something else - I cannot quite make it out. Let me examine further. He wrote books, I think. Was it so?"

"If he preached," said Israel evasively, "he would write manuscripts."

"But I think they were more than sermons," she persisted; "they look larger; and then- I see-them afterwards like books. Will you please to tell me if I am all wrong?"

"Go on," said Israel smiling.

"But it is better to be frank with me," said the medium, appearing troubled.

"All right, Mrs. Kennett," now interrupted Thomaston.. "Pray go on, and not mind his scepticism."

"Your father now speaks," said the medium, “and his voice is a little peculiar. There is a slight impediment, I should think. He says this was the reason why he wrote more and spoke less in public. But I think he had a great influence over others while he lived-and-through his books, his influence con

tinues."

"What is his message to me?" asked Israel. "He says my dear son, you have been searching a long time. You are in a state of indecision about

-what is it? I cannot yet understand· -a churchreligion some such thing as that, I believe.'"

"Does he say that?" asked Israel, in a surprise which he could not conceal.

very dear to his She looks very

"Yes. And he says that you are heart. Your mother says that, too. happy. I think she was a very sweet person when in the form."

"But about what I am searching for,” said Israel ; "can he assist me? I should be intensely glad to have him tell me what is right for me to do?"

"He says he can and does assist you. He has always helped you."

"Will he tell me where I am to go for peace?"

"He answers, 'God is a spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.'" "But how does that apply to me?"

"He says, by the spirit operating upon your spirit. Every effect has its cause many causes sometimes. You have to go through what you are now going through, in order to arrive at the result."

Israel. "What will be the result?"

Medium. "You will come to a more settled and peaceful state of mind. You will be happier than ever before. You will see things in a truer light, and your soul will expand under the influence of an enlarged sphere of truths."

I. "Will he please to be more definite. What church had I better join?"

M. "He says it is not permitted him to tell you. Whatever is for your good, he will freely impart; but there are things which they must not divulge to those

who are in the form, however much they are desired to do so by their beloved ones. He adds, I am no bigot, nor never was when in the form.' Other spirits now appear. I see a child about you a little girl with fair hair like your father's, but eyes like your mother's. Had you a sister?"

M. 66 Perhaps it is one who is yet to come into the form. Or, it may be one of the children of some of your friends. I think you are very fond of children." Another pause.

M. "Your mother says the child was one you knew where you boarded, when you was at school. You made a great pet of her, and she loved you very dearly. She died suddenly of croup or some difficulty of the throat."

I. "There was such a child. Ask her name."
M. "I hear, Kitty, Katie, and Caddie."

I. (Much moved.) "Yes, I called her Kitty. Others called her the other names. What does she do now?"

M.." She says, 'I play now, but it is all more beautiful.' She says, 'I also learn heavenly things. I am with my aunt, who died the year before I did. I am very happy. I have so much that is lovely! I visit my dear mamma and papa very often.'

I. "Truly there must be something in this. You have given me so many tests, I begin to believe that my parents are here."

M.

"Your mother says, 'Believe, my dear son.' She lays her hand again on your head, and she weeps weeps tears of joy."