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 PRINTED IN U S A 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028955388 
 
LETTERS FROM 
 HARRY AND HELEN 
 
LETTERS 
 
 FROM 
 
 HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 WRITTEN DOWN 
 .BY 
 
 MARY BLOUNT WHITE 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 MITCHELL KENNERLEY 
 
 1917 
 
COPYRIGHT I917 BY 
 MITCHELL KENNERLEY 
 
 
 PRINTED IN AMERICA 
 
PREFATORY NOTE 
 
 I have been asked to tell how I first came to 
 know I could write automatically. It was 
 soon after my sister's death when my mother's 
 thoughts were turned to the possibility or 
 probability of conscious existence after death, 
 and she was seeking light on the subject, that I 
 heard, for the first time, about the Ouija 
 Board, and secured one out of curiosity. The 
 results were rather startling, and interested us 
 both. I found that I had more power to move 
 the pointer than any one in the house. 
 
 We received messages from Helen, and 
 none of the nonsensical stuff often called out 
 by the ordinary users of the board, who ask 
 foolish questions and make a game of it. It 
 was a serious matter to my mother. Finally, 
 after several weeks of occasional sittings, and 
 spelling out of messages, it suddenly occurred 
 to me one evening that I had heard of people 
 getting messages through the hand and I be- 
 
vi PREFATORY NOTE 
 
 came eager to see what I could do. I asked 
 Papa for a pencil and the moment it touched 
 the paper I felt as if I held a galvanic battery 
 in my hand. 
 
 After a few written words I felt my arm 
 quiver from the shoulder down and I said, 
 "Why I could write a lot," and securing a 
 pad, wrote many pages, getting a letter from 
 a brother of my mother who had met Helen, 
 and explained to her that she had died, and 
 was not having a bad dream, as she had sup- 
 posed. He said that a feeling of bitterness 
 toward my father had held him back, and that 
 when he had taken Helen on his knee, and 
 dried her tears of distress, and explained to 
 her about her present state, the hard spot had 
 melted from his heart, and he was able to "go 
 on." He said that he had not known whose 
 child it was he had been sent to help until he 
 had her in his arms. 
 
 All this talk was Greek to me. I scarcely 
 knew this Uncle who died when I was small, 
 and I had never heard of "going on"; in 
 fact a more ignorant person than I was on 
 such topics could hardly have been found. 
 
PREFATORY NOTE vii 
 
 I was not only ignorant but indifferent. 
 
 To please my mother, who seemed greatly 
 comforted by letters from Helen, I continued 
 to write automatically upon various occasions 
 for about three years. I had a mild curiosity 
 but no deep feeling and no personal pleasure, 
 and finally was greatly bored by friends beg- 
 ging me to try to get some messages from 
 their lost relatives. I hated the idea of being 
 called a "medium" and, the keenness of my 
 mother's grief having become softened by time 
 and lightened by these letters, I abandoned 
 the writing altogether, and for more than 
 twenty years had received nothing — although 
 I had sat once or twice during that time with 
 no results. Consequently, believing I had 
 lost my former power, it was rather startling 
 to feel the old quiver along my arm again and 
 the impulse to sit for Helen. 
 
 In the later years Helen had been almost 
 daily in my thoughts, though I never ex- 
 pected to hear from her again. I was sit- 
 ting alone one day in the practice room of a 
 private conservatory of music in New York 
 City, waiting for an aunt who was late for her 
 
viii PREFATORY NOTE 
 
 appointment ; and feeling the impulse so 
 strongly to write, I went next door, and bor- 
 rowed paper and pencil; then, instead of 
 Helen's free message, came a cramped, hesi- 
 tating scrawl from Harry, chiding me for not 
 writing for him, as I had for Helen. 
 
 This was the beginning of the second flood 
 of letters from the other side. This time I 
 was delighted to receive them, and most grate- 
 ful for their coming. One's heart and brain 
 expand after twenty-three years, 
 
 Maky Blount White. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 In presenting these letters to the public I 
 feel that a little explanation is demanded. 
 
 In 1892 my 16-year-old daughter Helen 
 died; and soon afterwards my daughter Mary, 
 discovering she could write automatically, re- 
 ceived what we considered remarkable mes- 
 sages from one so yoimg. A prominent 
 clergyman, who has himself written much 
 upon life after death, considered them worth 
 publishing, and offered to edit them; but we 
 shrank from publicity, so that only our inti- 
 mate friends shared them with us. 
 
 Then, after more than twenty years of si- 
 lence, came these letters from Harry and 
 Helen, and the contents seemed to us so re- 
 markable that in December, 1914, we had 
 printed a small pamphlet containing a few of 
 the letters, which we sent to relatives and 
 friends as a Christmas gift. This pamphlet, 
 being read by others, brought such an ava- 
 
 ix 
 
X INTRODUCTION 
 
 lanche of letters, asking for copies, begging 
 for another edition, and telling us we could 
 not realize how eager the world was for just 
 such messages as these letters contained, that 
 we felt we could no longer refuse to give the 
 letters to the world. 
 
 It was a very difficult matter to decide what 
 to omit in such a mass of very personal letters; 
 especially as we felt we ought to put in every 
 thing which in our opinion might be helpful 
 to other troubled or struggling souls. Even 
 though all these ideas of love and self-sacrifice 
 are to be found in the Bible, yet it does help 
 sometimes to have specifications. 
 
 I know I have worked harder to down the 
 *'old Adam" in me than ever before; and sev- 
 eral of my friends claim that the few letters 
 in the pamphlet have caused them to face 
 about and look at life differently. To me the 
 book will be of no value unless it can do just 
 that. 
 
 The reader will notice the very distinct per- 
 sonality of each writer, and will observe how 
 Harry progresses. In life, while he was a 
 firm believer in reincarnation, he seldom went 
 
INTRODUCTION xi 
 
 to church, and he would never allow me to 
 talk on these matters or to read "spirit mes- 
 sages" to him, because he said he was not at 
 all afraid to die, and that we could never knotv 
 in this life about these things; it was guess- 
 work with every one, and he was satisfied to 
 know when he arrived on the other side. 
 
 I respected his feehngs, but "Sister" in- 
 sisted on talking with him that last summer, 
 while we were all at the seashore — for which 
 he thanks her in one of the first letters. 
 
 I put in a letter from my mother because it 
 was so old-fashioned and exactly as she used 
 to speak, showing a decided difference in style; 
 and then some of it seems to me quite touching, 
 and that might help others. I struggled for 
 months against the idea of exposing our ten- 
 derest feelings to outsiders — Harry's shrink- 
 ing from "being made a show of" he takes 
 straight from me — ^but nothing ever touches 
 others' hearts unless it comes live and palpitat- 
 ing from one's own heart. So I finally came 
 to be willing to let the world have what had 
 seemed valuable and intimate to me. 
 
 I thought at first to make it anonymous, 
 
xii INTRODUCTION 
 
 but many friends begged me to come out 
 boldly with my own name, face the world's 
 skepticism — and that of some members of my 
 own family too! — and so I have yielded to 
 their opinions. 
 
 Should these letters appeal to any one as 
 true, and be an inspiration to live the life of 
 brotherhood more nearly, I shall feel it quite 
 worth the effort it takes to share these inti- 
 mate and dear messages from my own people. 
 
 Ltjcia E. Bloitnt. 
 September, 1916, 
 The Oaks, Washington, D, C. 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY 
 AND HELEN 
 
 November 14, 1913. 
 
 Sister, don't tell anyone of this writing; it is 
 better not. I only want to be of use, and not to 
 be made a show of; so cut out the publicity stuff 
 and keep mum. 
 
 Shucks, this is no holy place I've struck, so 
 why affect the part? I am well, surely, and 
 strong as before, but don't forget I have plenty 
 to correct in myself. It's me for my small boy 
 these days. I sit for hours, watching him, try- 
 ing to see how and where to begin his instruc- 
 tion. He has to acquire poise, and it's up to 
 me, I imagine. 
 
 Papa's mind is divided, as part of it is on this 
 
 side forming his new body. It's a peach too, 
 
 tall and strong and sweet. This is a big world, 
 
 and a bully place to be in, believe me. Sin is 
 
 1 
 
2 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 not what you and I thought it was, but merely 
 animal excess in life force, spilling over, npt 
 soul-shrivelling as we dreaded. Anyway it 
 looks so to me, but I haven't begun to get a 
 line on how the game stacks up here yet, being, 
 as it were, a tenderfoot. All the tales you told 
 me, utterly against my will, surely helped out. 
 I am glad now you were so persistent about fill- 
 ing me up. Don't worry about writing what I 
 am trying to get over. You can't go far 
 wrong, and if I see you getting beside the mark 
 I'll quit. 
 
 Harry. 
 
II 
 
 November 21, 1913. 
 Sister, please forgive me for being so aw- 
 fully blind and selfish this past svimmer. I 
 can see now I was not half myself, and — 
 
 Hakry. 
 
 Harry is too weak to write. Sister. I am 
 here, Helen. Yes, it* is years since I have 
 written, but I have been on the upper planes 
 working at fine things, really big things. Yes, 
 viohn, and also color. I am working on color 
 with musical tones at high rates of vibration, 
 which also register in form. All things have, 
 roots in common. That is the beauty of the 
 Work here, its relation not to allied arts, but 
 to material expression of life forms. Crea- 
 tions have, first, life as the tap root; then 
 form, then tone, then color, then spirit; what 
 you call character, or temperamental essence. 
 Oh, words fail me here. I can't now express 
 what I mean. One needs a larger vocabulary 
 
4 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 to convey a sense of these higher .forms of life. 
 No matter, you get a suggestion of the idea, 
 which suffices for the moment. 
 
 When artists fail, it is mainly from the lack 
 of proper balance, due to over-stimulation of 
 certain destructive qualities springing from 
 selfishness. Success is as easy as failure. If 
 you and I could only see the whole structure 
 for one illuminating instant! It is the dig- 
 ging out of the thing, one limb at a time, which 
 requires such tedious effort. Two elements 
 combine to bring this about: first, the building 
 of the individual ego as an independent force; 
 and second, the bringing into proper relation- 
 ship pf this three-fold nature: atomic, mental, 
 and' psychic. No, three-fold is not as the 
 word is used with you. The three-fold unit 
 of life is that which registers on different 
 planes of expression, so when an artist turns 
 too far in one direction he finds that destiny, 
 or law, steps in. Success is only the knowl- 
 edge which belongs to Truth, and that has no 
 fear of so called death, or change. I happen 
 to be one of the humbler students of art, and 
 was fortimate enough to escape here long 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 5 
 
 before being taught the false standards of art 
 and success on your plane. It is a boon for 
 which I cannot be too grateful. 
 
 Tell my brother "Tee" ^ that what he most 
 lacks is not a chance, but a more direct contact 
 with his fellow humans. Let him get at that 
 side of his art ^ and he will have all the work he 
 can perform, both there and here. This art is 
 one of the most comprehensive, and takes a 
 high rank here as a developer of individual 
 growth, as you may readily see. His career is 
 being thwarted at that point, so what he must 
 do is to sit in the silence, and wait till his in- 
 ner sense tells him what is needed to right his 
 balance, and allow his further progress; that 
 is, if he is really a true artist, one of the elect, 
 as it were. The sham product achieves 
 worldly success, and arrives here a blank. His 
 foundation has been laid narrowly, so his struc- 
 ture topples over as soon as the truth breathes 
 upon it. 
 
 Helen. 
 
 1 Helen died years before her sister Mary married "Tee," 
 by which nickname the members of her family addressed her 
 husband. — ^L. E. B. 
 
 2 He was an actor. — L. E. B, 
 
Ill 
 
 Thanksgiving, 
 November 27, 1913. 
 Here we are. Sister. Harry wants me to 
 write first, as he is too weak to push through 
 the separating wall of neutral matter which 
 lies between your plane and ours. Tell 
 Mamma that when Harry left his body he was 
 not at all aware he was gone until he saw me 
 beside him instead of the doctor; and, too, he 
 came through the dark belt in a few seconds, 
 so was full of thoughts, and almost words he 
 had been using there. The sight of my face 
 startled him, and made him take himself to 
 task for sleeping so soon after dinner. Then 
 I laughed, and something about that giggle 
 recalled his little boy memory of me. He 
 smiled at me, saying: "Am I really out of it 
 at last, and is this Helen? Sister said last 
 summer you would be on hand when I came 
 over here. My, but you are good to look at. 
 I had forgotten what fine eyes you had. I 
 
 6 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 7 
 
 remember now, and that habit of wrinkling 
 your nose when you laughed* It was that 
 which opened up the door of memory, and that 
 giggle. Well, I suppose it is up to us to re- 
 new our relationship. Put me wise to this 
 deal." 
 
 Then he remembered Marie, and said : 
 "What will she do now, poor girl? She is 
 about all in anyway, and now I have shd out 
 of the game she will be not only all in, but 
 heartbroken besides, for she loves me. How 
 can I help her, Helen?" So we both went into 
 the room with her upstairs when she was hav- 
 ing such an awful time about her sleep. Then 
 we went into the West Parlor, and Harrj^ 
 stood silent a long time beside his old body. 
 "Poor devil," he muttered, as he looked. 
 "What a thin old hulk it is! The marvel is 
 how I managed the old machine so long." 
 Then he stretched his arms up and out and 
 smiled at the sense of power and health he felt, 
 and said: "Gee, Helen, isn't it just great 
 to really live?" When you all came in so 
 sweetly time after time to speak to him we 
 stood and the tears flowed at the sight of such 
 
8 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 love and devotion. He said : "Helen, I 
 wasn't worth all that; I couldn't have been. 
 It's the sort of thing a saint ought to get, not 
 a chap like me." He wanted to get into his 
 old body just long enough to take you by the 
 hand and thank you for it all. His face did 
 reflect a bit of the love which welled up in his 
 heart. 
 
 After it was all over, what a beautiful time 
 we all did have with the music as we sat to- 
 gether. Sister felt us first, but all of you did 
 before we left. "Tee" is very near to us both. 
 His eyes almost see through, and his spirit is 
 most beautiful; so is Papa's. You don't real- 
 ize this now, but you will some day when he is 
 all here, and can meet you as you come over, 
 one by one. His is a hospitable spirit, and his 
 win be the first to greet you after he is here. 
 Harry and I can see that far ahead now. 
 
 [Harry continues the letter.] We stand 
 here hand in hand, and it is good to have 
 such a fine big sister to show me the ropes and 
 help me to bear the separation from my own 
 folks. You never can see or hear me when 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 9 
 
 I sit among you and want to butt in on any- 
 little gab-fest you are having, nor can you 
 realize how big and strong I look. I am 
 rather struck on my looks. It is a long time 
 since I looked like a real man, and I cannot 
 help feeling fine over it. I cheer myself up, 
 feeling my arms and legs, and finding them 
 hard as ever they were. What "gets my 
 goat" still is how I can feel so firm and hard 
 and material, and yet sail right through the 
 sitting room wall or clpsed door. It keeps me 
 wondering at the marvels of nature, for of 
 course it is as natural and customary here as 
 walking upstairs is with you. This getting- 
 about game here has wireless skinned a million 
 miles; it is so simple, seemingly, and so swift, 
 and so altogether satisfactory. Yet I am the 
 sub-freshman in a kindergarten class when it 
 comes to really knowing anything about this 
 place. I am too much interested in you all 
 there to spend much time over the marvels 
 here. They will keep, you won't; and I have 
 a bit of sentiment about doing things over here 
 with Papa in the party.^ No one has to hurry 
 
 1 Harry thought papa would soon come over, and he wanted 
 to wait to do things together with him. — ^L. E. B. 
 
10 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 here; we have time to burn, or rather no time 
 at all; just a sort of continuous performance. 
 I see you are tired. Sister, so thanks, and au 
 revoir. 
 
 Goodbye from Helen and Harry — partners. 
 
IV 
 
 November 30, 1913. 
 
 Helen is here now, and Sister, always wait 
 for me. I see you can feel a false hand at 
 your side. Tell Papa we are both with him all 
 the time; that every day Harry has work at 
 his home, and I am working also, as is my habit, 
 but we keep well in touch with Papa. We 
 feel he is the nearest to us. We do all we 
 know how to make his coming over as swift 
 and sweet as Harry's was. 
 
 I cannot describe my own work as well as I 
 wish I might, as it registers on the sort of ma- 
 terial you are all unfamiliar with. Yes, that 
 is bad grammar, I know, but it is not so easy 
 to get one's best over. Conditions must be 
 dealt with as well as may be. 
 
 F. met L., as he did his own boy. I was not 
 
 there to see, but I believe his was not so happy 
 
 a crossing as ours. We don't pry into these 
 
 things here, but do only what is our special 
 
 11 
 
12 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 duty. Only the idle minds are curious about 
 what is none of their concern. F. was with his 
 mother when her other boy came over. I can 
 tell you this much, that the latter came as a 
 little child. ^ His mother has him to care for, 
 and she feels she was much at fault for his 
 present apparent age. She might have helped 
 his soul to grow there, as she will do now here. 
 Mothers always do what they can here to rec- 
 tify blunders made on earth. Mother-love is 
 a most God-like attribute, and is a big factor in 
 evolving the race. 
 
 Yes, I have seen Grandma B. She is beau- 
 tiful too. Grandma E. is very beautiful here; 
 tall and full of a grace she never had in her 
 earthly body. She is so strong and sweet, and 
 so full of love for all of us. She is always 
 very near to Sister, whom she helps much. 
 Grandma B. is rather smaller, but full of a 
 certain quiet fun we all enjoy. Harry was 
 more than delighted when I took him to her 
 home. 
 
 Oh, yes, she has a home, surely, and in that 
 will Papa first stay until he can build his own. 
 
 1 He died a middle-aged man. — h, E. B. 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 13 
 
 Grandma E. has a home too, full of flowers 
 which seem to be a part of herself,. Grandma 
 B. likes other things more. We all build for 
 ourselves here, and for those who shall come 
 after us; it is our recreation. Our work is done 
 only for those who need, and to increase the 
 fund of knowledge. Our playtime is home 
 building, and we do put our best efforts into 
 it. We study every detail, so that in all min- 
 ute parts it shall be perfect, and fit those for 
 whom it was builded. 
 
 Grandma B. lives in the lighter country 
 where it is forever smiling summer; "Always 
 May," she says. She has her boys about her, 
 and some of them are very small/ Papa will 
 help her bring them up ; he is really her eldest 
 now. Yes, you see we too have child souls 
 here to watch over, and try what we can do, 
 for a while. If we fail, then they are taken 
 elsewhere to grow by other means, 
 
 I don't know, Sister, about reincarnation, 
 Harry seems sure of it, and it may be so; we 
 cannot disprove it. People do disappear from 
 our ken here, as with you. Where they go we 
 
 1 All were grown men when they died. — ^L. E. B. 
 
14 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 cannot tell. We speculate, of course, and we 
 try hard to see when they go, and which way, 
 but I, for one, have never been on hand when 
 anyone I knew left here. Up or down they 
 might have gone; we can only surmise by their 
 looks. Some shrink and darken; some grow 
 larger, taller, and brighter. We guess, but 
 we can prove nothing. We have work to do, 
 and pray to be of the brighter bands who go. 
 Common sense suggests that with them one's 
 chance is best- So we work and wait for our 
 dear ones, and are happy as a rule. 
 
 Helen. 
 
Note: ''Tee'' was taken very ill and we had 
 to have two physicians and a blood specialist; 
 also a trained nurse. The doctors could not 
 diagnose the case^ never having seen anything 
 like it. On Sunday^ when feeling a little 
 eased of severe pain, "Tee'' wished to try to get 
 a message from his brother Hugh. The at- 
 tempt was a failure. — ^l. e. b. 
 
 Oh, Sister, you can't connect with anyone 
 on a higher plane than ours because of the rates 
 of vibration being so much more rapid. Only 
 we "low-brows" can deal with you direct. 
 Tell "Tee" that his brother is with him to- 
 night, as his father said, and by results to- 
 morrow he will see. Hughey is with "Tee" 
 now, but is too bright a light for my dull per- 
 son to be "comfy" with. J. S. Senior is hov- 
 ering on the outskirts, but even he is in a class 
 above us. Cheer up! There are plenty of 
 
 15 
 
16 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 classes here, sealed up literally out of sight. 
 It's a big game, this life; real hfe, I mean. 
 Makes a chap dizzy just to get a hasty look. 
 There are so many more layers or zones than 
 I ever could have imagined. 
 
 Gee, Sister, we are getting on fine. Tires 
 you, I see. Never mind, it pleases me, and 
 will be some stunt when we get it perfected. I 
 should be helped to write if I could get over 
 my own fist. I always was keen for that, 
 you — , no, you don't know. I was about to 
 say "you know," that classic sentence used by 
 all civihzed people. Helen isn't so keen on 
 autographs as I am, so she puts in more time 
 on ideas. Oh well, we'll cut it out for now as 
 I see you are so tired. See if we can pull off 
 some good signatures first, — (His name in full 
 and his town.) How's that. Sister? Ask 
 Papa. 
 
 Harry. 
 
 Note: Sister had not been able to see well 
 enough to read for years. Her vision had be- 
 come impaired before her younger brother 
 Harry was old enough to have learned to write. 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 17 
 
 SO she had really never seen Ms writing. Her 
 handwriting was very coarse^ so when Harry 
 attempted to give a test of his personality by 
 making her get his own handwriting which was 
 very fine^ it tired her eootremely^ and she was 
 sure no one could read it, as it had seemed to 
 her she was writing the letters over each other. 
 When Harry finally did write his own name 
 and city it was startlingly like his own hand, 
 and was a convincing test to many, as she could 
 not possibly have known what his handwriting 
 was like, even had she wished to imitate it, 
 
 L« Et B* 
 
VI 
 
 December 13, 1913. 
 
 Hello "Tee": What gets my goat is that 
 I have to rest up like a chap rumiing to catch 
 a car when I try to do this stimt. Ordinarily 
 I feel like a two-year-old, but not at this game. 
 Cigarette, bully ! Enjoy yourself, "Tee." 
 Hit it up. It won't hurt him a bit. Sister. 
 Let the autograph drop. Me for a gab-fest 
 with "Tee." You obUterate yourseK, seel 
 
 Say, "Tee," this is the best ever. If I only 
 had a pal! The place is so full of doings — new 
 and mighty interesting in detail. I am rather 
 lonely just now for a friend and brother like 
 "Tee" there. Join me? Rats, old man! Cut 
 that idea till you've had a square deal where 
 you are. Sit tight. Don't let anybody shove 
 you off your own dump. It is a bully good 
 dump at that. If you can be game to the 
 finish, no matter what stumps are placed in 
 your path, you can be one of the elect here all 
 
 18 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 19 
 
 right, and when you figure that this is on the 
 big time you are not going to make any bad 
 bluffs at sticking to your work. What's the 
 use of a man loving anything if it is not worth 
 following any longer than he gets a crack at it 
 over on your side of the fence? We feel here 
 that if a chap has the grit to stick to any old 
 thing till he cashes in, he stands a pretty de- 
 cent chance of having his heart satisfied. 
 What's the odds, "Tee," whether stock you 
 wanted is going to succeed or peter out? It's 
 a cinch you won't, anyway. Just believe your 
 little brother Harry this much; you'll arrive 
 O. K. there if it is in the cards. You have 
 to tarry over a year, and if it is my good luck 
 you join me here after that you will have no 
 trouble getting all the work you want in this 
 place. 
 
 Cheer up. Sister, he's not gone yet. Wet 
 headl Dry up quick. You gum the game. 
 Now, "Tee," old man, take a brace, pull your- 
 self up, and hit up the feed. Doc is too slow. 
 Good old Doc, he did me many a fine turn, but 
 he is slow. Shoot some genuine food at "Tee," 
 and see him blossom. Bacon, eggs, potatoes, 
 
20 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 and real meat; yes, steak. Gee, "Tee," I sure 
 hanker to take you out and tank you up a bit, 
 as of yore. Remember how we hit it up that 
 time you were here sick, at that grill joint, 
 where the egg-nog was so superb? I can't 
 help a dim regret when I let my mundane mind 
 dwell on such low pastimes. I sigh for "them 
 days" once in a while here; not for the booze 
 or cigarettes, but for the fine feeling which 
 went with them. Just to sit and "sodder," as 
 it were, with the smoke curling upwards, and 
 the thin glasses chnking with the ice, and the 
 eyes of my brother shining with the love which 
 outlives the body and the place and the time. 
 I can feel that my time with you and "Tee," 
 is short; that the growing interest and feeling 
 of inner strength will lure me further on. I 
 too have a work. Don't know yet what it is, 
 but I feel its grip in advance. No decent 
 chap, no real man can loaf very long and keep 
 his self-respect. I am marked for the laboring 
 class. I see it coming. 
 
 "Tee" must cut out worry, fear, and dis- 
 couragement, and believe in the dignity and 
 use of what he has within to offer the public. 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 21 
 
 He is on the right track to be able to continue 
 here without breaking the thread as I had to do. 
 Not business, but art is eternal, and goes right 
 across the border called death. Thank God, 
 you have had the sense to choose a real lasting 
 work. Here I am, foot-loose, and at sea, with 
 not an idea in my head as to a future. Had I 
 only kept up my music or art I'd have had at 
 least a start here. It's me for the employment 
 bureau. Nothing doing. I've got to start at 
 day labor under someone who has been wise 
 elsewhere. If a chap could only know in ad- 
 vance what piffle he would land here with, only 
 money in his hands, or rather in his head, and 
 business methods! It's rest and a thinking 
 part for his until he can get a line on some 
 real work. I have a couple of rudiments,^ 
 that's true, but they are so very small it's me 
 for a teacher, "muy pronto." 
 
 Helen has been bully. She is such a big 
 fine woman, better than any of us. She has 
 a wholesome way of cheering me up, so I feel 
 I can trust her to put me wise and on the right 
 track. 
 
 1 Music and drawing. — ^L. E. B. 
 
22 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 Yes, Sister, this may be my last spiel for a 
 while, but take it from me, love and work are 
 all that cut any real figure anywhere. Live 
 if you can, earn as you must, but keep heart 
 and soul and mind free of the taint which 
 comes of money-getting as an end. It is too 
 absorbing to allow the development of the art 
 work which lasts. What can we do here with 
 anything else? Just service and study, that's 
 the whole deal. Work and love are two other 
 terms for the same idea. Be happy, no mat- 
 ter how the game turns. Be sure of my hearty 
 welcome when you too arrive. Don't hurry. 
 You can work there and find the place here 
 ready and waiting. Au revoir. 
 
 Harry. 
 
VII 
 
 December 15, 1913. 
 "Tee" is much better, Sister, and when we 
 all are with him you ought to see what stunts 
 we can do. Oh, we all take deep breaths of 
 the air up here, then spread our hands over 
 "Tee," and watch the vital current run through 
 him. 
 
 Haeky. 
 
 This is Helen. Harry wasn't really strong 
 enough to help "Tee" and write besides. Yes, 
 it is queer about that, but we have a worse 
 time trying to get words to you than we do to 
 accomplish a tremendous amount of work over 
 here. Harry is still a newcomer, and not en- 
 tirely rhythmic yet. That only means his vi- 
 brations are jerky, which keeps him behind us 
 when we are hastening to do some emergency 
 work. Well, that sort of work means, as a 
 
 23 
 
24 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 rule, to join a circle banded together to help 
 some sick person who hasn't run his course 
 yet. 
 
 Do people die before their time? Yes, of- 
 ten; it happens to thousands. I mean people 
 on your plane come here through accident or 
 disease before they have built the bodies they 
 need here. 
 
 Do you have to build your own body? Yes, 
 you all build your future bodies, as we do our 
 abiding places, and when one is hurled over 
 too soon it is not comfortable. 
 
 How is that? Oh, they cannot see, maybe, 
 or cannot hear, or perhaps are unable to move 
 about. Yes, it is horrid, rather. That is why 
 we all ynite so readily to keep a soul in his 
 body till we are sure he will arrive here in 
 first-class condition. 
 
 I daresay it does seem queer to you to speak 
 thus about the so-called dead, but we know it 
 is very e^sy to arrange things here all right, 
 and it gives us things to do while we remain on 
 the plane near you. People come over sort of 
 *'half baked," Harry says. This side of our 
 life interests Harry very much. 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 25 
 
 Well, to go back, when our circle is com- 
 plete about "Tee" we take deep rhythmic 
 breaths and then expel them in unison. This 
 creates a steady flow of vital force from us 
 through him, and then back to us again. If 
 we are all very much in earnest and don't let 
 ourselves be diverted by other people who like 
 to meddle, we can always raise the resisting 
 power of our patient, and his own force does 
 the repair work. "Tee" should not be given 
 any sort of "dope."^ It is bad in every way, 
 and prevents our getting to his center. It acts 
 like a sort of smoke or cloud all about him. 
 Harry says ''tell 'Tee' to cut it out." . . . 
 
 (Later.) No, F. H. isn't here, not near 
 us in any event. . . . No, we don't mingle, 
 I don't know why. Yes, people of his faith 
 take so long to shake off beliefs that it impairs ■ 
 their freedom as workers in the open field. 
 Open field means to be able to respond to any 
 call for help, no matter on what plane. It 
 strikes us Hke a bell ringing. No, not loud, 
 but penetrating. We always gather at the 
 call if it is in any of our harmonics. Our own 
 
 1 The doctors had been giving him morphine. — ^L. E. B. 
 
26 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 people register in some harmonic of your per- 
 sonal tone or sound vibration. When we hear 
 any bell tone belonging in our key we stop what 
 we are doing and drift swiftly towards it, or 
 let our magnetic sense carry us instead of our 
 will. It always takes us more swiftly than 
 anything else. When all respond to a call 
 they recognize one another as a family group. 
 
 Those of F. H.'s faith form groups apart 
 working for their own. F. H. is still with 
 that group. 
 
 Isn't he beyond that yet? 
 
 No, he believes he belongs there, but later 
 he will realize the common call as we do. Yes, 
 they are good ; it is not that which binds them 
 close, but belief which holds them captive to a 
 smaller area of usefulness. Help "Tee" now. 
 Au revoir. 
 
 (Later.) Yes, Sister, we have concluded to 
 let ''Tee's" brother come again, as he is so 
 much more powerful than any of us. Of 
 course he wants to help, but the laws are such 
 here that he cannot unless we all make links 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 27 
 
 in the chain of Tee's friends and relatives. 
 Yes, father and all; father makes the first link. 
 Yes, that is it, the bridge; and we act as re- 
 ducers, Harry being next to "Tee." There 
 are ten of us. With a perfectly harmonious 
 chain we can do a great deal, provided ''Tee" 
 helps by being relaxed in his mind; that is, 
 feeling certain of our help. This mental at- 
 titude makes the first link strong enough to 
 carry more vital force than it could if he were 
 just despondent or discouraged. We must 
 have connections all along the line, which are 
 strong. Mental color can harm or help to a 
 vast degree. Mental color is the term we use 
 here for mood. In truth it is merely a higher 
 or lower rate of vibration. 
 
 Helen. 
 
VIII 
 
 December 17, 1913. 
 
 Harry is with you now. Notice how much 
 faster I write now? Helen is off on one of 
 the emergency cases she told you about. Oh, 
 I don't know who is in trouble ; it is some fam- 
 ily party she is mixed up with. She has a 
 great many friends, and it is some of them. 
 Being only more or less of a looker-on, I am 
 not in on her trips elsewhere. I sit round 
 and watch old ''Tee." Tell him he can bet 
 on his little brother Harry sitting tight till he 
 passes up all doctors. 
 
 Oh, I loaf round him, sitting on the bed, or 
 close by. I wish I could let "Tee" in for a 
 good old fashioned talk, the sort with plenty 
 of pauses drifting along through it. I wish he 
 could get my voice, even as near like it as this 
 writing. 
 
 Helen is nothing if not a hustler. She has 
 the busy bureau beaten to a finish, always go- 
 
 28 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 29 
 
 ing. Yes, Sister, I seem to be doomed to snag 
 up against the people who work in places I 
 cannot loaf in. I have a sneaking hunch that 
 before long the work bug will begin to burrow 
 into me also. I begin to feel a deep stirring 
 desire to get busy. I feel so well and strong 
 and fine it seems only decent to get into line 
 and lend a boost where it is needed. Tell old 
 "Tee" I am using him as "the dog" to try it 
 on. If I make good where I can throw into 
 the job so much heart, maybe I can help a per- 
 son elsewhere who is simply needy. There is 
 no hurry over here; one can take all the time 
 he needs to decide just the sort of thing he 
 wants to begin on. I never was one to sweat 
 the steers when it came to deciding any vital 
 question. 
 
 Harry. 
 
 Harry has gone to rest. This is Helen. I 
 will tell you about V. She is in a beautiful 
 home of her own, with her husband and child. 
 I have not taken Harry yet, as his eyes are not 
 strong enough to bear the light which shines 
 
30 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 there. He will gain his powers as soon as he 
 begins to take part in the unselfish work, 
 
 No, we never tell anyone this. It must come 
 from within. He begins to feel the stir of it 
 already, but there is no hurry. He will soon 
 find his own centre and begin to generate power 
 greater than he needs for his own use. When 
 once he can reahze that he will commence work. 
 As yet he only believes it is the old, natural vi- 
 tahty returned. Soon he will begin to see that 
 it is something else, and will wonder what it 
 is ; what splendid driving force lies within him, 
 and then the light will break, and his soul will 
 respond in the big way his can. His will be a 
 tremendous power, once his mind, soul, and 
 heart are linked. Trinity it is. Mysterious 
 and subtle; mind, heart, and soul. It is the 
 unison of the three in perfect balance which 
 "Tee's" brother has, and that is why he lives 
 at such a tremendous rate of vibration. Saints 
 are only just that. Theirs is the life in the 
 Golden Country, where the simshine is bril- 
 liant, yet soft as moonlight. 
 
 Helen. 
 
IX 
 
 December 24, 1913. 
 Hello Pal: I see you have bucked up, and 
 are almost back at the mines. It is too early to 
 predict what sort of job I land, but it is a 
 cinch it won't be easy. I reaUze daily I have 
 grown rusty while sick, and while I feel bully 
 I am not what I wish I were. No one is that, 
 I suppose, but I seem particularly useless, just 
 a big, husky loafer. Sure thing, when I find 
 what I can do maybe I can get another note to 
 you, but this communication stunt eats up 
 energy like a boat race or a gruelling contest 
 of any sort, and besides it is hard on Sister, 
 lots harder than she reaUzes, so cannot aflPord 
 to waste myself or her in just pleasant converse. 
 I realize I must make a career for myself as 
 an excuse for being alive. I must either make 
 good at something or go into the discard. 
 Don't know how or what that is exactly, but 
 you get me. Make good I must; make good 
 
 31 
 
32 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 I wish to ; and I have a hunch it is not so easy 
 here as it looks at first, I cannot even get a 
 look-in where your brother lives and enjoys 
 working. He is so far above us I feel ashamed. 
 What a mean, selfish cuss I must be when a 
 chap like him out-classes me so far I cannot 
 even look at him. 
 
 Your little brother Harry has done some tall 
 self-examination of late, and is wise to quite a 
 few points of his makeup he wasn't on to be- 
 fore. That is one satisfaction, "Tee"; you can 
 sit and think until hell freezes over, and no one 
 is at all annoyed at your leisurely processes. 
 
 On the whole, this is the place for a square 
 deal. You get what is yours, and get noth- 
 ing more nor less. Some of us are a bit peeved 
 now and then, but one can't put up a kick, as 
 the boss of the works isn't visible, or rather, 
 between us, you yourself are judge and jury. 
 That is the slick part of the arrangement. 
 Self accused, you have no escape. You get a 
 true line on your own past, your own true mo- 
 tives, and this innate force within does the rest. 
 I can't but admire the simplicity and the lack 
 of waste of the plan. Omar is right: "Thou, 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 33 
 
 thyself art heaven and hell." Think of the 
 labor saving device it is. The system sets a 
 soul free, leaves it alone, and the contained 
 ingredients do the rest. Can you beat that, 
 say? I must stop now. I see Sister is all in. 
 So am I, if it's not impolite to state it. Here's 
 to you, now and always. 
 
 Harry. 
 Christmas Eve. 
 
X 
 
 Christmas, 1913. 
 
 I promised to write once more. It's not 
 Harry but Helen who writes. Harry is not 
 strong enough for a long letter, and we both 
 feel Sister can't endure the drain he puts on 
 her. I have more vigor to give, so I don't need 
 to use such a lot of Sister, see? 
 
 We want to tell you about the life here, as 
 we feel it's wise or useful to you all. When 
 we say we are not permitted, we don't mean to 
 say some outsider refuses consent, but that we 
 ourselves feel it either unwise or ungenerous to 
 tell certain things. Your brains have limits 
 beyond which we dare not lead you, as the sub- 
 structure of your habitual thought won't bear 
 it. Foolish people here have often, from both 
 kind and unselfish motives, brought on insanity 
 to those they wished to help most, so we grow 
 cautious. 
 
 I have often seen "Tee's" brother, and am 
 his pupil on the violin, as well as in experi- 
 
 34 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 85 
 
 mental work with nature forms in music. He 
 is one of our great music masters here, and it 
 was on his plane I spent most of my time since 
 I wrote bef ore. His home is higher than mine, 
 but I can study there with benefit, as it has a 
 tremendous uplifting power. I have arranged 
 that Harry shall be a student with him, just as 
 soon as he has prepared himself to enter. One 
 goes through regular tests before such en- 
 trance, such as one must pass before entering 
 any other art or study. The tests differ of 
 course, and are almost all character strains — 
 tests of nerve, of will, of benevolence, of char- 
 ity, and of constructive force. The student 
 may take all the time needed to pass, or to 
 prepare himself. Harry will do well, of 
 course, as soon as he rids himself of his most 
 prominent limitations. I don't feel it wise or 
 kind to tell what these are. Here is Harry 
 at last. He was off with M. while I was do- 
 ing this part of our joint letter. 
 
 Helen. 
 
 Here I am, folks, feeling particularly fit. 
 I feel a heap more cheerful since I know I 
 
36 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 am to be a pupil with "Tee's" brother, and un- 
 der my big sister Helen's wing, Helen is 
 taller than Sister, and looks like her picture a 
 bit, but has a glorious coloring, and hair long 
 as well as curly. Cheer up. Sister; you shall 
 have long hair too, up here; just as big a wad 
 as you wish; that is provided always that you 
 pass your character tests. It isn't so disheart- 
 ening either as it seems at first, since you aren't 
 hustled or worried about the other fellows' 
 marks. Competition is eliminated here. One 
 wrestles with one's inner enemy, the selfish self. 
 Therefore, one spends all one's energy on a 
 concentrated effort to improve and qualify for 
 the upper class. The worst is past when one 
 comprehends the general drift of the system. 
 I begin to realize the marvels of the sim- 
 ple system, and grow reverent and himible 
 as I get a ghmpse of its beauty and justice. 
 Lucky you can't see it, or you'd never tarry to 
 finish the game. Your work there is like try- 
 ing to carve ivory with an axe. Your inten- 
 tions may be noble, but the workmanship is 
 coarse. I am only too thankful I came when 
 I did, though it was long before I was needed 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 37 
 
 here, and so I must remain a student until my 
 life clock should have run down of its own ac- 
 cord. I came here for a fault of my own, and 
 for that mistake I must pay the price "The 
 Law" requires of ignorance as well as insight. 
 "Tee" is right in his instinct to cut out every 
 atom which will cloud or dim his senses, as he 
 must do all of his "prep" school work there 
 if he possibly can, in order to enter the man's 
 class here. He should guard his vitality at all 
 its points of leakage, even overwork. Even 
 that counts against him here. Guard your 
 highest power, "Tee," and if you carefully 
 watch all small leaks, you can do all required 
 to earn your bread and cheese. It's always 
 the vmnoted drains or leaks, the dribble, which 
 empties the reservoir in the end; never the legi- 
 timate call. Ponder on this, "Tee," for the 
 sake of our living comradeship. I am not 
 preaching, just giving you a tip, as man to 
 man. 
 
 Harry. 
 
XI 
 
 December 29, 1913. 
 Do you wish me to tell you about old Kate? 
 She is as white as any of us here. No, most 
 beautiful, with a shining body and hair. She 
 is one of us here who is helping you there. 
 Yes: negroes don't exist here. Why? Be- 
 cause souls are either good or bad, and good 
 means always bright or white. Black G's soul 
 is wonderful. He doesn't seem to have any 
 dark spots at all. He serves singing. By that 
 we know the elect, or chosen ones, who rise 
 at once to the bright country ; those whose serv- 
 ice is given with a glad heart. It's the mark 
 of nobility here to be one of the "singing souls." 
 Dark souls indicate selfishness, greed, and 
 crime. Crime means here self-destruction by 
 disregarding others entirely. That makes one 
 blacker than murder. Murder may be done 
 through an instant's insanity, but selfishness 
 eats deeply and steadily at the root of life it- 
 
 38 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 39 
 
 self. It can wither a beautiful body like fire, 
 and darken and distort till the soul looks al- 
 most inhuman or unhuman. Negroes have fre- 
 quently far brighter bodies here than those they 
 served there. Never forget this, and watch 
 the secret creeping growth of selfishness as if 
 it were a smouldering fire, eating into the home, 
 by stealth, while you make merry. Selfishness 
 and greed are the only real destructive things 
 I have seen here. Goodnight. 
 
 Helen. 
 
XII 
 
 January 4, 1914. 
 We want to tell you how Harry is getting 
 on. He went up with me to the bright coun- 
 try where our music master lives. Harry had 
 an awfully hard time to manage with his eyes. 
 Oh, it is so much lighter than any other light 
 he had ever experienced, and so much more de- 
 pressing. Why? Because I forced his en- 
 trance before he was properly fitted for it, and 
 he experienced a shock when he took the first 
 look into his own heart. I felt he was strong 
 in his mind, and I was so very happy to have 
 him with me, and so longed to get him to 
 work that I let him take the plunge; though 
 I knew what he hadn't learned, that the higher 
 one rises here the more transparent [becomes] 
 one's self-protecting veil of ignorance about 
 oneself. I took the long chance, both because 
 he wished it, and because I did. I never hap- 
 pened to be with anyone before when the light 
 
 40 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 41 
 
 of self revelation broke over him. If I had 
 I should have hesitated some time before rmi- 
 ning such a risk. Harry came through 
 bravely, as I knew he would, but it was awful; 
 awful in a way none of you there can realize. 
 He went blind at first, and just crumpled up 
 hke a wilted flower. Truth is the most with- 
 ering thing in the universe, and it requires the 
 greatest courage to face the truth about one- 
 self. No matter how humble we fancy our- 
 selves, the discovery awaits us that we are more 
 arrogant than anyone we ever met. When 
 revelation comes it sets out every detail of our 
 lives with a clean-cut distinctness no eyes can 
 mistake, no charity cover. Each soul must 
 face himself alone at some time ; look, see, and 
 judge. Then, however prostrated, rise and 
 begin to fight his way up toward perfection, 
 undaunted and fearless, with hope as well as 
 courage. 
 
 Harry met his trial, faced it, and after the 
 shock rose up with the courage that was always 
 his. When he felt the light breaking his eyes 
 closed, and for a while he felt sure he was blind 
 for good and all, but I was near enough to re- 
 
42 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 assure him, and his own strength did the rest. 
 Now we are both students with the Master, 
 "Tee's" brother. Harry will first play the 
 piano until he can move up to the handling of 
 tone color. He has a most wonderful compre- 
 hension of the relation of things. His work 
 with piano will lead him beside me, so we can 
 do creative and experimental work together. 
 It was for this we both agreed to risk his com- 
 ing here so soon. Harry's love of his own is so 
 strong he couldn't bear the idea of separation 
 from me for so long. This work with the Mas- 
 ter is of course only part of what we do. We 
 belong to the band who follow the open field 
 work, and we, like all of that band, respond to 
 the "common call" for help. Harry is so de- 
 lighted to be "in it" as he says, and is gaining 
 poise so rapidly that life here is a constant 
 delight in spite of the separation in a way from 
 you. Now that we are really no longer apart 
 we have very little to cloud our perfect happi- 
 ness. 
 
 Helen. 
 
XIII 
 
 Evening, January 4, 1914. 
 Yes, Sister, it is I. Helen has told all about 
 the stunt higher up. I can feel that, although, 
 I wasn't at hand myself. Somehow, I begin 
 to feel older and more serious. That word 
 "stunt," for instance, does not fit at all. It 
 was the most momentous instant, or eternitj'- 
 — I can't say which even now — of my up to 
 now recalled existence. Hell, as you imagine 
 it, is a mild and milky term to express a real- 
 ity Uke the one I still marvel I survived. 
 Helen's faith in me was firm, or I could never 
 have come through with my senses left. No 
 use dreading it, Mamma. That won't help a 
 bit, and it simply weakens the resisting power 
 besides. Just put your house in order as 
 swiftly as possible, and cut out everything you 
 can see there as unworthy. Then when your 
 moment comes it will be not only easier, but 
 less prostrating. I never clogged myself with 
 
 43 
 
44 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 possessions, God knows; but even with that 
 handicap off I nearly went under for keeps. 
 
 Mamma wants to know whether smoking did 
 not cut the largest figure in my destiny there. 
 No, it did nothing of the sort. It was lack of 
 faith and courage, and a self pity that did the 
 tissue-breaking which caused death. Once 
 and for all get the idea out of your head that 
 any appetite or indulgence cuts a big figure in 
 any destructive way here. It merely affects 
 the body there, and only that because it is in 
 connection with mental and spiritual destruc- 
 tive forces. I cannot put this too emphatic- 
 ally, not only for Mamma, but for all of you. 
 One fit of temper, for instance, can break down 
 more healthy cells in the body than a year's 
 smoking or eating or drinking; because, and 
 note this carefully, the forces of mental and 
 spiritual elements are as a thousand to one of 
 physical ones. Depression, cowardice, in all 
 their forms, are more potent than T, B. germs 
 at their most riotous moments. This fact hides 
 the secret of all so-called New Thought and 
 Christian Science cures. They try to teach 
 the full subservience of physical matter to 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 45 
 
 spirit or soul quality. These qualities are 
 about as close together, say, as a rock and a 
 man; a lumbering ox or elephant cart beside 
 the latest automobile. Don't class at all, in 
 fact. When doctors will quit studying germs, 
 and begin to study characteristics and tempera- 
 ments, they will come a heap nearer the goal 
 they seek. Gloom, pessimism, fear, discour- 
 agement, hopelessness ; these are what kill peo- 
 ple, not the so-called disease. Bad temper, 
 harsh judgments, lack of patience, and small 
 powers of loving are what destroy bodies. 
 
 Look well to the spirit of intolerance, all of 
 you. Live and let live; fight and let fight. 
 Every fellow has a full sized job of his own 
 on hand if he only knew it. One ought not 
 to waste one ounce of power in criticism; he 
 needs all he has, and then some, to meet and 
 grapple with his own problems. This doesn't 
 mean just Mamma and her smoke mania; it 
 means each and all. There is no one who 
 doesn't waste more or less time passing judg- 
 ment on somebody else's faults or weaknesses. 
 If we all could realize that every word or 
 thought in such a case acts as a weight himg 
 
46 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 about our own necks, a weight we must free 
 ourselves from before we can join any decent 
 society here, we would keep a watch on our- 
 selves that would soon bring joy all along the 
 line, as well as health and power. 
 
 I suppose I take a chance in telling all this, 
 but I want, if possible, to help you from the 
 awful hole I was in, and it can do no harm. 
 Look closely to your own habits, your thoughts, 
 and see what can be profitably eliminated. 
 One must come over here light. Light means 
 in all senses. I begin to see truth in the Bible 
 I never noticed before. Those old fellows got 
 wise to the game. "Lay not up treasures on 
 earth," etc. I'm short on quotation, but you 
 recall the idea. The treasures were to be laid 
 up over here where they had some true value. 
 Earth values are so false. They almost over- 
 look entirely what lasts, what moulds the uni- 
 verse, which is human character. That's the 
 answer to everything — character. It has noth- 
 ing to do with property, or possessions so- 
 called. B's true value, that is, what his money 
 means to him, is just being an honest man; 
 that's what he brings here, and it is all he brings 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 47 
 
 of what he calls his wealth, and he could have 
 had the same place here without one cent in 
 his purse, or a bond in the bank. "An honest 
 man" : that's nobility enough. That's the hall 
 mark. These may gather from diverse quar- 
 ters; any who have worked and been honest, 
 whether for salary, income, or wages, it makes 
 no difference whatever. Even one's garments 
 here are made from one's quality of character. 
 I am only glad mine are not quite black. I 
 can assure you they are not white, though hap- 
 pily lighter than when I came. Sometimes I 
 am wild to tell all I have found out; then I 
 wonder if it would do any real good. Per- 
 haps; I can't say. 
 
 Harry. 
 
XIV 
 
 January 8, 1914. 
 
 Sister : About the cremation. I didn't feel 
 it at all, nor did Helen, but there are those 
 here who say it is not as comfortable a way 
 to come over as being buried. Why? Well, I 
 fancy it breaks up tissue roughly, but so far as 
 any of us are concerned, we beheve it a safer 
 way to destroy the body than to risk being at- 
 tached to it too long. A lingering disease so 
 loosens all the particles of the body that the 
 envelope is slipped out of easily. With oth- 
 ers, who for any reason are too closely knit to- 
 gether, it is painful, but at worst it is only for 
 a few moments or seconds, and if a person has 
 any spirit at all worth while it is a blessing to 
 be so swiftly separated. 
 
 Here there are as many opinions regarding 
 cremation as with you, both for and against, 
 according to individual experience or prefer- 
 
 48 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 49 
 
 ence. A slow, patient temperament dislikes 
 it. To such it seems too much like being 
 "yanked" over here, while with me I am only 
 too glad to feel it was done. I don't hanker 
 to tarry long away from my own. So far as 
 I can see, it is about a stand-off, with the bal- 
 ance, if any, in favor of cremation, there being 
 only discomfort in that, and no risk. What 
 do I mean by risk? Well, when a soul and 
 body separate too gradually the soul has to 
 stay on a low plane, peopled with the scimi of 
 life. These often amuse themselves by tortur- 
 ing the soul with all sorts of ingenious tales as 
 to their whereabouts. These low souls are fre- 
 quently very clever and can fool the ignorant 
 new arrival, and hamper his unfoldment. He 
 knows nothing, usually, of what he is up 
 against, and they play upon his credulity and 
 keep him from coming higher as long as they 
 can. Do you get me? Besides, the crema- 
 tory is never a gathering place for harpies. 
 They are better amused in graveyards, which 
 remind me that there is a reason for so many 
 primitive minds fearing a graveyard. It is 
 the instinctive shrinking from contamination, 
 
50 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 for these places are filled with the worst ele- 
 ments here, crowded. The embalmed bodies 
 last so long that frequently their souls are tied 
 there, and so make sport for the vicious-minded 
 here. It is one of our missions to go to places 
 of that sort, and fight for the decent people 
 there. The weak or vicious dead we cannot 
 help, they are among their own and must suf- 
 fer, so you can well see why I far prefer crema- 
 tion. 
 
 Tell C. her feelings were not the counterpart 
 of what we must suffer, but that she was the 
 victim of obsession. She is so mediumistic 
 that she is a prey to any trick some of us here 
 care to play. Tell her to set her will against all 
 demonstrations of any sort from this side, and 
 she will grow much stronger. She has had 
 her vitality drained for years by souls from 
 this side. If she will take herself in hand at 
 all points, and keep her will against all forms 
 of mediiraiship she will find she has a wonder- 
 ful constitution. If she had not been really 
 very strong she would have been drained dry 
 long ago. Those who live on her surplus vital- 
 ity are members of her own family over here. 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 51 
 
 They are the mean ones, of course, and they 
 should be stopped. Helen and I have talked 
 over plans to help her free herself, and we think 
 we can help her if she will aid us from her side. 
 
 Harry. 
 
XV 
 
 January 17, 1914. 
 Sister: I will try to answer the question 
 you wanted to ask for J. I have seen Dr. M. 
 We had some mutual work to do in the matter 
 of our personal relations. I misjudged him, 
 and of course had a strong desire to repair my 
 fault. The doctor is working hard, and is one 
 of the big helpers over here along his own lines. 
 He was far too easily influenced from this side 
 toward the later years of his life, and so fell 
 into the power of the unscrupulous souls so 
 thick over here. Because of the obsession of 
 this man here, the doctor, who has a splendid 
 strong soul, was victimized, and almost swept 
 away from his moorings. It was the wonder- 
 ful devotion of his friend, J., which saved his 
 soul as well as his body. For this service Dr. 
 M. is doing all he can here, and wishes me to 
 have you tell J. that he will see to it he never 
 has any long illness there before he passes over. 
 
 52 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 53 
 
 He shall come through swiftly, and without 
 pain of any sort. With this love working for 
 him here, he need never worry over future 
 trouble, "I know how to repay great service, 
 tell him, and he may count on my help always." 
 If J. will let you tell him about what you 
 have already had from me, he will gain a fair 
 idea of conditions here. The influence which 
 tried to wreck Dr. M. was from one who had 
 followed his life for years. Thanks to J. he 
 has been absolutely eliminated. Dr. M. says 
 he tries always to prevent J. from taking up 
 with any mediums, as he now reaUzes why it 
 was so disastrous for him. He let down the 
 bars of his splendid will, and so laid himself 
 open to the fate which almost got him. Sis- 
 ter, do not Avrite much; it is too risky. Just 
 as soon as any of the unscrupulous find out you 
 are open to our vibratory connection they will 
 try to push us away, and replace us, using you 
 to their own ends. You are already easy, and 
 for that reason be careful. I am working 
 daily on the plane Helen told you about, so 
 caimot come to you as quickly or easily as be- 
 fore. Because of this fact it is a danger that 
 
54 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 unscrupulous spirits can profit by. Only 
 when you have some really vital question to 
 ask allow yourself to write. Otherwise wait 
 until one of us causes you to feel impelled to, 
 as to-day. I find you always feel my will, so 
 there is no danger of losing our connection. 
 Au revoir^ 
 
 Harry. 
 
XVI 
 
 January 25, 1914. 
 We are writing, Sister, Helen and Harry 
 too. R, wishes to know, naturally, about her 
 mother and other relatives. We have seen 
 all those she knows, including S. He comes 
 first on our list, as he is nearest her plane. He 
 is — ^well, very small, a very young child, even 
 younger and less developed than his own boy 
 Georgie, who is a beautiful soul, tall and fair. 
 The boy is close to his mother, and will be 
 first to meet her when she comes over here. S. 
 is just one of the young, imdeveloped souls; 
 weak, not vicious. For him there is a lot of 
 hope. George looks more Uke his mother than 
 any of her other children, and he has a sweet- 
 ness and courage she will be very glad of when 
 she sees him. After George comes an aunt. 
 She is not so high up as her mother, but she 
 too is fine and loving, and interested in R. 
 We have been to her home as well as to her 
 mother's. Grandma B. We find it queer to 
 
 55 
 
56 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 call the grandmothers "Grandma," as they 
 look and are so young and full of life and 
 youth. We call them by their real names. 
 Yes, we have different names here, names which 
 fit us, which tell what we are. Grandma B, is 
 — queer; but I cannot write the name. Sister. 
 It cannot be spoken in one of our new words. 
 I had forgotten that you did not know them. 
 I can say that her name means "Light." 
 
 We grow into our names, as we grow into 
 our bodies. We build them, and as we grow 
 in grace of nature and heart we change our 
 bodies to correspond, and become more beau- 
 tiful or ugly, as we develop or retrograde. 
 Personal beauty of form and color we attain. 
 We earn our good looks, we do indeed. 
 
 The members of this band are fair and tall 
 and straight. Some have dark eyes, some blue, 
 but all have light hair. Hair denotes the 
 status of the soul quicker than even the eyes, 
 because of the nimbus about the head, and dark 
 hair makes no nimbus. We range from red- 
 dish gold to almost pure white hair, depending 
 on character, red being an indication of great 
 vitality rather than of spirituality, which is 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 57 
 
 white or pale yellow. Martha's skin is very 
 light, but her eyes are dark and deep, like lakes 
 which reflect the sky and stars at night. Hers 
 is one of the most beautiful faces we have seen. 
 She is so unselfish! Her heart is full of the 
 balm which heals hurt souls; hence her work 
 takes her into lower planes than we dare go 
 to. She works among those whom we call the 
 saints over here. They are so strong them- 
 selves that they can go into darkest hells and 
 come out victorious, because in them lurks no 
 taint of either vanity or selfishness. We all 
 aspire to be in such bands of workers. Mar- 
 tha waits for R. with keenest interest and love. 
 She will be with Georgie when R. comes over 
 here. 
 
 Now, about your two dearest friends. Sister. 
 Edith is here now, beside you. Edith is one 
 of your best guides here. She is as devoted to 
 you now as she was when she was with you. 
 She is a healer, as you may have guessed, be- 
 cause of her tastes. Juha is among us artists. 
 She is also devoted to you, as is Captain M, 
 Sister, you have a splendid band of friends 
 near you; that is why you never have accidents. 
 
58 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 as they protect you. Captain M. is so beauti- 
 ful you will be glad when you can see his real 
 body. F. H. has often been near you, too. 
 He was so glad when he saw you with C. She 
 is his great care, and for her he works verj^ 
 hard. He wishes her kept there as long as 
 possible, as he feels she must stay with her boy. 
 F. H. sees how we feel about his religious be- 
 hef, yet he is fair, and full of fine gifts and 
 service. 
 
 Yes, Sister, I know it is tiresome to write so 
 much, but we cannot come again for some time. 
 Tell R, the boy she speaks of is here, and 
 works for his father faithfully along helpful 
 lines. He is beautiful. 
 
 Did you not notice how John escaped scarlet 
 fever? Edith did that all alone. You need 
 not worry about him. He has friends here 
 better than any of your doctors there. 
 
 Tell brother "Tee" we are trying to get him 
 the right sort of work. Don't leave Papa, Sis- 
 ter. We cannot tell exactly when he is coming, 
 but it will not be long, so "sit tight," as Harry 
 says. You will not regret it. 
 
 [Helen] 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 59 
 
 [Harry begins:] Sister, I am so much hap- 
 pier than before I cleaned house. . . . 
 
 [Helen resumes:] Sister, I am here now. 
 Some one else tried to write. Stop now. 
 
 Helen. 
 
XVII 
 
 February 8, 1914. 
 Helen's birthday. 
 
 Sister: Here I am, Helen. I was going to 
 come anjrway to-day, as I have news for you. 
 Harry has gone up with Hugh, "Tee's" 
 brother, to stay all the time, so he cannot come 
 to you again imless I come too, because when 
 his vibrations have risen to the standard re- 
 quired there, he will lose his power to link him- 
 self to you without a reducer. Yes, that is 
 why I stay on this lower plane so long, in order 
 to be able to help you when you need me most. 
 Harry has risen so fast he has abeady lost much 
 of his power to connect with you. He wants 
 to write "Tee" once more before the door closes 
 his free speech. Of course he will serve you 
 all there, as I do here, but he cannot talk 
 to you or answer questions directly, as I do. 
 
 Thanks for the flowers, they warm the heart. 
 Isn't it splendid Harry can hve with the Mas- 
 ter? It is really nothing for me to stay be- 
 
 60 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 61 
 
 hind. I can be there later. Time is nothing 
 to us here. I am always busy, always happy 
 anywhere. I may still stay there part of the 
 time. This birthday is to be Harry's day of 
 entrance into the glad country of the bright 
 sun where life and work are more intense, more 
 selfless, so it is our double birthday. Sister, 
 you must not write any more now. 
 My love to you all, as ever. 
 
 Helen. 
 
 Dear Mamma: It is I, Harry. I leave to- 
 day to live with the Master. I wish to say just 
 a word, autre nous^ before I go into the higher 
 life work. See if you can get into a state of 
 mind where it is easier to give than to keep or 
 take. If you can learn that one thing, all else 
 will be easy, "Easier to give than to take or 
 keep." That's all. It is a mental trait, and 
 your mind will do what you ask of it. 
 
 Helen to-day gives up her opportunity to 
 enter the higher life because if she did there 
 would be no link between us. I have never 
 seen a nobler sacrifice. Helen has a generos- 
 
62 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 ity past belief. Her love for us all is as bright 
 as a ray of pure sunlight. We should all feel 
 the inspiration of her loving sacrifice. You 
 can hear of me through Helen often enough 
 to bridge the gulf. It is only an au revoir. 
 Mamma. We shall all behere in a little while. 
 I know by what is in me that you will rise 
 to your duty, and learn your individual lesson. 
 With the love which has no death, 
 
 Yovu" boy. 
 
 Harry. 
 
 Helen's birthday is mine. 
 
 (Later.) 
 Sister, I am here, Harry. First it is a word 
 to dear old "Tee." I want him to know where 
 I shall be from to-day on. It is with your 
 brother, "Tee," whom we call the Master. I 
 am fortunate enough to have qualified there, 
 and I shall try to live on his plane. I have 
 the strength to endure, and please God, I shall 
 hold up my end there as befits a man. You, 
 my brother, shall be one of us when the time 
 comes, but do not try to come until you can 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 63 
 
 take your own work here, as it is too uncertain. 
 I feel I only got in by a special effort of the 
 Master, and more for your sake than my own. 
 He loves you "Tee," so deeply that the light 
 of it blesses all whom you care for as well. 
 What we shall do, and the method of it, is so 
 far from methods, as well as means, with you, 
 that it is fruitless to explain. 
 
 One thing I wish to impress on you is to 
 stick close to your wife. In her animal mag- 
 netism you have a fountain of the sort of force 
 you lack. She gives freely, without depleting 
 her own strength, and you need her. Have 
 no fear that it is unfair to her. It is a part of 
 her work to supply this lack of your magnet- 
 ism. You see, in your work you give more 
 than you can generate, whereas with her, she 
 generates more than she herself can use. It 
 is one of the economies of nature, this balance 
 between husband and wife. Without her sup- 
 ply you cannot do your best. She dislikes 
 writing this, but it is I speaking, not she her- 
 self. I have no other line of communication 
 open. 
 
 Stick to your present line, "Tee." Stick, no 
 
64 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 matter what the barriers are. It is the road to 
 Hughey. JSTever forget that. Use every ma- 
 terial advantage put in your way. Guard 
 your life as a sacred thing. Watch all leaks, 
 all waste. Express art in as many forms as 
 you like, but do nothing which does not bear 
 in one way or another on the main subject, 
 dramatic expression through personality. 
 That is it. Human experiences made to ex- 
 press some hope, some form of development. 
 It will grow into the work here step by step. 
 Keep faith with us, your two brothers; keep 
 faith with your highest ideals. Leave all the 
 small things in their true relative positions, and 
 with faith in your work, faith in yourself, and 
 faith in us here, you will do your part in the 
 one work there. I feel this is my last talk 
 with you directly. When my vibrations are 
 raised to a uniform rate I shall lose the power 
 to write through Sister, as she will then need 
 a reducer between us. Helen, with her big, 
 unselfish heart, gives up her fuller life here in 
 order to keep the way open between us. Hers 
 is one of the most generous natures I have ever 
 seen. 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 65 
 
 One thing more before I go. Remember 
 that Hughey and I need the dramatic art to 
 complete the work we plan to do together. 
 Get all you can there for the sake of our future 
 combined effort to develop a fuller, higher art 
 here. Each can give a different experience, 
 equally of value to the new product. Com- 
 plete your own portion there, carrying it as far 
 as possible, not only in the technique, but in 
 the spirit of it, in its ethical phase. Study the 
 cause and effect of certain plays on different 
 classes, and study also methods of graduated 
 developers of brain power and moral sense. 
 Try leading the ignorant along pleasant by- 
 ways to unconscious planes of moral strength. 
 We strong are "Our brother's keeper." It is 
 up to us to lead him out of the gray twilight 
 of moral and mental inaction into the sunlight 
 of intelligent moral consciousness, and self- 
 conscious effort to better Hving. It is up to 
 you, old man. It is up to us all. It is all we 
 are here for, just to help. That is the keynote 
 of the universal song. We give and we take 
 help. Bury pride. Vanity has no place in 
 oiu" work. Use the tools presented, but keep 
 
66 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 the idea clear before you. Give, take, work, 
 and be glad. It is a man's game. It is worth 
 while, "Tee." Adios. 
 
 Harry, 
 Your brother, and Hughey's brother, too. 
 
XVIII 
 
 Note: The first part of this letter was lost 
 in transmission because of the invasion of other 
 influences during its communication. 
 
 La £> B* 
 
 When people receive messages from here 
 you are helpless to determine who the senders 
 are, so it is only by the character of the con- 
 tents of each message that you can have any 
 feeling of security that the person whose name 
 is attached is giving the message. 
 
 R's mother has been for years on a very higK 
 plane. But — and this you must note well — 
 there have been none able to take her messages 
 before we came and completed the chain of 
 love from here to there. It takes love, and 
 those who care, to make the chain strong 
 enough to carry past the borderland of dark- 
 ness where spirits live who love to deliver false 
 messages from us to you. We feel even more 
 
 67 
 
68 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 strongly than you the injustice of this ar- 
 rangement. It is one of the laws we resent 
 and cannot understand, this being unable to 
 prevent inferior personalities from linking 
 themselves more readily with you than we who 
 wish only good, and never misuse the power 
 given one of you to make the link with us 
 here. We sometimes have to fight to keep the 
 harpies and vampires away from those we love, 
 because our people are so ignorant they allow 
 themselves to drift below the boundary line 
 where we always conquer. We must be very, 
 very strong in spirit to be able to vanquish the 
 low when they are on our plane. We must 
 have been here long, and have wiped from our 
 own hearts all lower qualities in order not to 
 risk being at least crippled by a band of the 
 strong lower souls. Were we high enough to 
 easily conquer them we should then be unable 
 to connect with you. See how it works? 
 Those who remain on the border are subject to 
 the ills this plane has. We, as well as you, 
 must pay a price for all we enjoy. R's mother 
 can now send a message direct through Harry 
 and me. We have chains now in many direc- 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 69 
 
 tions, quite complete. R. has no more loving 
 or loyal helper than her own sister J., who was 
 only a baby when she came over, and so has 
 more knowledge of this place than of your 
 plane. She has a nature more like her moth- 
 er's than R's, yet she is so sweet and bright she 
 can penetrate into darker places than we dare 
 to go, and can help direct us as to what is best 
 to do in certain crises of your lives. We try 
 to protect our own plane from evil influences. 
 J. is D's best protector. Her love keeps oflf all 
 evil thought directed toward him. She has 
 helped to keep his mind clean and pure as R. 
 has. Mothers must sleep sometimes, and can- 
 not always be there to protect their beloved 
 ones. We watch over them while she sleeps, 
 or is occupied with other duties. We have the 
 advantage of being able to see evils approach- 
 ing. R's mother directs us many times, and 
 shows us where and how to give the help she 
 cannot herself perform. Oh, it is all a big, 
 splendid system for helping. Harry told it — 
 it is just give and take help, giv6 with love, take 
 with gladness. 
 
 Sister, don't worry about any of the things 
 
70 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 we have you write. F. is quite right about 
 testing us well. Why should you resent that 
 if you have the feeling that precludes real 
 test. There must be sympathy or the chain 
 breaks. Goodbye, 
 
 Helen. 
 
XIX 
 
 March 13, 1914. 
 
 At New York City. 
 
 . . . The oozing out of vigor of life and joy 
 is a deadly thing to allow to continue. It is 
 one of the points of leakage Harry mentioned 
 in "Tee's" letter. Enthusiasm is a life giver. 
 It means a speeded or lifted vibration, and that 
 means more life current, more power. 
 
 Both "Tee" and you should watch that, and 
 when you see things beginning to drag, do 
 something new. Keep your life current at its 
 best, and good of all sorts will come. That 
 one thing is absolutely essential to "Tee's" 
 work. He is too apt to take what comes, let- 
 ting himself drift instead of taking a vigorous 
 hold on circumstances, and changing the rate 
 of his own vibrations. He could help his own 
 lowered condition by going about to shows, 
 but the other way is better, as it helps John up 
 also. The unselfish thing is always best when 
 
 71 
 
72 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 possible. The machine will pull all of you up 
 higher. That is what I have wanted to say 
 ever since you came, but you wouldn't let me. 
 
 I am glad always to see you hesitate, as it 
 means you will be safe from others. It is more 
 difficult to connect with you in the city, as you 
 will guess, and I must often renew my strength 
 from Harry who helps me that way. He is so 
 full of life now, and so eager to help "Tee" and 
 you. We will write a letter on your wedding 
 anniversary. 
 
 With love from both, 
 
 Harry and Helen. 
 
XX 
 
 April 6, 1914. 
 At New York City. 
 
 Helen is here. This is the day we promised 
 to write again. First, Harry wants to tell 
 "Tee" that he has been with the Master con- 
 stantly since we last wrote, and that things 
 have opened up for him ; that he is wild to get 
 over to "Tee" as it would enable him to master 
 his own problem so easily. But he has learned 
 also that one can no more force another's ex- 
 perience than one can force open a flower be- 
 fore it is ready and willing to open itself. 
 
 Harry has thought hard to find some way to 
 help "Tee" get away from his present impedi- 
 ment, but he is baffled at all points. Harry 
 says it is the eternal game of seek and find for 
 oneself. The only hint we can give is just to 
 harp on what all other teachers from the be- 
 ginning have harped on. Love and service, 
 faith and a serene trust — all terms as dead as 
 door nails unless one has seen the answer. 
 
 73 
 
74 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 Deep down in the heart of all lies the key to 
 success, no matter what sort, but none but 
 self can use it and none but self can locate it. 
 That is the difficulty as well as the justice of it. 
 With the best intent, and a constant effort to 
 find the hidden push-button which frees our 
 power, we must grope alone. 
 
 "Tee" has intuition, so have you. Each 
 must follow his own. We were both so sure 
 the buying of the car would help, but even 
 we hadn't reckoned on your mental attitude, 
 which would have blocked any good in the 
 thing itself. You see it is hard for us here to 
 realize the real weight of material standards 
 with you. We see moral and mental condi- 
 tions so far out-weigh money or its equivalent 
 that we feel with a distinct shock their hold 
 over you there. This fact we must reckon 
 with, or rather you must. It seems childish, 
 even silly to us, these conventional standards 
 about things. If you could only for one illu- 
 minating instant get a look at true values as 
 they exist here, all your troubles would melt 
 like a snow bank in July. 
 
 ,Then, we say, what next? We must help 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 75 
 
 you in some way. We must still have some 
 ideas in common. We can't allow ourselves 
 to degenerate into a bureau for information as 
 to the location and status of relatives and 
 friends passed from your sight. Life is too 
 big and serious a matter for that. What we 
 want to do is to get some idea across which 
 will the quicker solve the problems which ma- 
 terial conditions daily present: Some glim- 
 mer of the big, eternal law we all hve in. That 
 is the question we ponder. It is as truly a 
 problem as it would be for a land animal to 
 instruct a fish how to develop lungs and legs. 
 It resolves itself into how to accelerate evolu- 
 tion. It's a matter of growth. The impulse 
 of growth is desire — life, aspiration, what you 
 will. When the desire is intense enough it 
 will create conditions. Creation comes from 
 within us. Exterior agents assist only casu- 
 ally, as the sun helps to open the bud. The 
 desire to open comes from within, and it can 
 and will open without the sun, but the sun 
 quickens the ultimate result. Fundamentally, 
 the desire, the impulse must be strong at the 
 center of being. 
 
76 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 Success in any work depends upon how much 
 we really love that thing. The more strongly 
 we feel, the surer we are of success or achieve- 
 ment. Impediments are the cross currents of 
 mental attitudes which will deflect the general 
 direction and retard results. One's eye must 
 be single to any success. Not so selfishly sin- 
 gle as worldly success demands, but single 
 as to the sweeping aside of all personal vanity 
 or petty feeling. 
 
 One may love an art, and yet only sacrifice 
 oneself to achieve success there. The element 
 of sacrifice seems one of the inevitable ingred- 
 ients or elements of real success. However, 
 we sacrifice too easily material things, holding 
 back the sacrifices of our personal habits or 
 mental traits, or our ideas. We can part with 
 anything sooner than with our own set mental 
 states, wrong though they be by every higher 
 standard of ethics. Our ideas of what is right 
 and proper we cling to long after they can be 
 proved false and useless. One almost despairs 
 of being able to do anything for those on the 
 material plane. If your ideas were as fluidic 
 as ours, if you let go of your preconceived no- 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 77 
 
 tions as easily as we do, you could forge ahead 
 by leaps and bounds. A hot blast of suffering 
 soinetimes melts you up, when reason could 
 chip away for years at some idea and never 
 dislodge it. It would be funny if it were not 
 so near tragedy, this tenacity of ideas. A new 
 idea is as hard to get accepted as any fact in 
 nature. Our only comfort lies in the effect 
 which coming here produces on so many of you. 
 Having been obliged to see you had a mistaken 
 idea about death, makes it possible to give hos- 
 pitality to other new and startling facts. 
 
 One's mind must be as open as a child's to 
 profit by teaching, no matter on what plane of 
 life. An open mind and a hospitable heart 
 are what we all must have to secure more than 
 we have of anything. Harry says that "Tee" 
 must follow his own inner light and work on 
 his personal defects, with the idea of getting 
 his whole mental and spiritual system loosened 
 up, just as he would work on a stiff muscle. 
 
 Kick over conventional standards of con- 
 duct, make a set of his own wherein selfishness 
 is the only sin ; a desire to do and be his best his 
 only impulse. It really cuts very little swath 
 
78 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 what color the flower be, just so it opens up — 
 opening up at this stage of the game being the 
 one object to strive for. Let us look deep 
 within and see what we really love most, then 
 go after it. The primal impulse must be 
 strong to push through obstructions. The ob- 
 structions are there to test its strength merely. 
 Few of us know what we really desire. When 
 we do we arrive, because desire is the great 
 creator- Desire and love. There isn't a thing 
 on earth as strong as these. All bend before 
 and beneath them. 
 
 What work do you love, and why? Ask 
 yourself that, and see that you answer truth- 
 fully. An unworthy desire has death in its 
 success. It may come up to the barrier; even 
 from unworthy work earnestly pursued. But 
 at the barrier the unworthy is left behind. 
 Here the idea with the big thing behind it only 
 can enter and grow and develop. Not the 
 work, but what we feel about the work gives 
 it its desirable quality; makes it worthy the 
 larger life; makes it able to withstand the disin- 
 tegrating process of more rapid vibration. 
 Without some percentage of eternal stuff or 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 79 
 
 living matter no idea or work can pass into the 
 more stable realm we live in. 
 
 You know that certain elements with you 
 disintegrate with heat. ' A very little heat will 
 spoil meat or vegetable matter, while metals 
 will stand much. The law holds along the line 
 from cabbages to friendship. Many give way 
 under certain adverse conditions. If they pass 
 these tests they are made of the right material, 
 and will retain individual life. Our mistake 
 is in labeling the transient with the mark of the 
 permanent. Love or friendship not based on 
 unselfishness surely crtmibles at the test. 
 
 Everything has its place. The wise enjoy 
 each in its place, use it and pass on. Tell 
 Mamma that we can see our dear ones if we 
 choose, but earth ties soon resolve themselves 
 into comradeships with work as a common 
 bond. Those who live at our vibratory rate 
 are our comrades unless a great love has linked 
 us there, in which case we serve those if they 
 are beneath us, and they are thus helped by us 
 to lift themselves higher here. 
 
 A few simple rules are enough to help any 
 one to right living. Get them down to simple 
 
80 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 primary impulses, and all you need is time, to 
 arrive. It's easy when you know how, like 
 walking, or breathing, or loving. A step at a 
 time, one breath at a time. Love first close 
 to one's heart, then in ever widening circles 
 until it includes all life. It is too simple — the 
 mind shoots past the mark, hunting difiicul- 
 ties. 
 
 First causes are always simple. Take life, 
 for instance, a hf e germ. What is it ? A tiny, 
 invisible something, yet so powerful, so wise it 
 can build a tree, or a man, or a world about 
 itself. We sometimes feel we have solved the 
 eternal question when we say the vital spark 
 is Love, because we can see what power that 
 force has here. It seems able to create, though 
 of course there may be something behind that. 
 Harry and the Master and I often discuss it, 
 and try to prove our position by creating some 
 wonderful fabric, or work of music with that 
 force only. The Master thinks it is only one 
 of the aspects of creative principle, but low in 
 the scale of souls as we are, we can do wonder- 
 ful things with it. Elements and feehng here 
 are interchangeable terms. Substance also 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 81 
 
 can be resolved back and forth from one to an- 
 other; tone into color, form into tone, and back 
 again. One learns to build an idea into many- 
 forms of expression, the idea only remaining 
 the same. 
 
 Of course you know it's the artist who is 
 permanent, not the form of his work. The 
 artist is the personification of a permanent idea 
 or attitude. He may use any material he likes ; 
 could do so always if he but knew it; make 
 music, or machines, or pictures, or cook and 
 serve a meal without impairing at all his per- 
 sonahty as an artist, or a creator of feeling- 
 producing work. Any one who creates any- 
 thing with his heart in his work is an artist, 
 and capable, after preparation, of creating 
 other things. One must belong to the creative 
 class or death ensues. Rewards have nothing 
 to do with it as such. Every one must produce 
 something of his own. You can easily see that 
 living under different conditions, we must work 
 each in his own way, and explanations are fu- 
 tile. Essential things we discover, each for 
 himself, having the key. A numberless throng 
 have found the way to swifter progressive life. 
 
82 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 Swift or slow, it matters very little, so we move 
 on an upward slant. Lucky the one who can 
 do his work singing. It's the sun to the closed 
 bud. It reveals the secret of life the sooner. 
 
 Bring all the joy you can into your own life, 
 and let it shine elsewhere. Gloom is deadly. 
 The path is upward, the sky is clear, and the 
 sun shines. Remember, the sun shines for all 
 of you. The clouds which lie between are of 
 your own making. One succeeds or fails be- 
 cause of himself, because he has neither the 
 strong desire, the courage, nor the joy of work- 
 ing in his heart. I wish I could make you see 
 what a joy life is. The beauty of it, the swing 
 of it, the life, the song, the color. If you could 
 feel it just once! The raising of your vibra- 
 tions would dispel all your difficulties, as the 
 sun the fog. You cower before a shadow, the 
 shadow of your own doubt. Get more vibrant 
 with life, and you will sweep everjrthing before 
 you. People will be glad to give you all you 
 want, or need. There is nothing so hypnotic 
 as joy. Get and give all you can. That is 
 our last word for some time. What good is it 
 to you? Try to live out some of the things we 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 83 
 
 suggest and then we may speak again. We 
 greet you and give you God speed. 
 
 Helen and Harry. 
 
 Sister, we must try to explain why Harry 
 developed faster than I did, because there 
 seems to be doubt about it, or rather question- 
 ing. Harry arrived here vmder unusually 
 happy circumstances. I had been preparing 
 for his advent for five years, or from the mo- 
 ment he became a prey to my own deadly dis- 
 ease, T. B, I saw his end from the beginning, 
 and prepared for it by bringing together all 
 who could be made of service towards his rapid 
 development. 
 
 You see when I came over there were so few 
 of my own people on my plane that I had but 
 little help, and what development I secured 
 was by my own personal effort, and was of 
 slower acquisition. When one has relatives or 
 friends of such recent arrival here as to be still 
 on the lower planes, one has one's path cleared 
 in advance of stumbling blocks to rapid pro- 
 gress. 
 
84 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 Then, too, Harry's mind was far less posi- 
 tive than mine; I mean he was more tolerant 
 of new ideas than I, and more teachable. You 
 will recall that Harry could and did accept cor- 
 rection, even from servants, with a modesty and 
 sense of justice most unusual in a hoy or man. 
 No criticism of personal conduct was ever re- 
 sented by him; he examined each, weighed each, 
 and casting aside the false he accepted the true 
 and just, and acted Upon it. This trait is as 
 rare as it is valuable as an asset for rapid de- 
 velopment. Harry was always hospitable to- 
 wards criticism while I blindly resented it. 
 
 Over here we have as sharply defined limita- 
 tions as you have there. One of these was the 
 foreknowledge of the time element in Harry's 
 progress. Latent within his own character 
 lay the strongest instruments of power — ^mod- 
 esty, open mindedness and common sense ; these 
 were more potent accelerators than even the 
 helping hands of loving relatives. 
 
 Helen. 
 
XXI 
 
 May 1, 1914. 
 
 At Evansville, Indiana. 
 
 Sister, we want to say a few words for 
 Papa's birthday. Harry and I will be with 
 you at the factory. Harry is so happy over 
 the way things look there. He is going to be 
 of the party. We both wish the family could 
 see as well as know we are with them. Tell 
 Papa we wish him as few more birthdays there 
 as possible, and a glad welcome here. We 
 can't see when he will come though we have 
 tried hard. We can see that his body here 
 seems quite ready, but we know very little of 
 the laws which release the life spark. Those 
 here who study along these lines are doctors 
 and scientists who have done years of prepara- 
 tory work on your plane. 
 
 There is such a vast field of knowledge to be 
 gained along all lines of work that we all try 
 
 85 
 
86 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 to specialize. Harry and I belong to the 
 music group. We know that ultimately the 
 paths all converge to a common central point. 
 We detect the gist of things even from here. 
 This common center must be directly the 
 mother of all life as well as all knowledge. 
 The delight of living hes chiefly in the working 
 out of relationships of apparently isolated in- 
 dividual arts or sciences, as well as races and 
 peoples. All are kin; rock and worm; man and 
 angel; all made from the same primeval sub- 
 stance, God or force, no matter what you call 
 it. The father of fire is the mother of water ; 
 both come from the same great mysterious be- 
 ginning. You study there to love your neigh- 
 bor as yourself. He is yourself, really. You 
 have a hand and a foot, each different, yet each 
 yoiu'self ; but neither is all of yourself. You 
 see the drift? When a foot calls a hand an 
 aristocrat and only an ornament, exalting feet 
 as the true useful members, we could smile. 
 One of you is as useful to the whole as the other, 
 and exactly as hard to replace. Each fills his 
 own niche. The mistake is only in the individ- 
 ual point of view, as all life is common to all. 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 87 
 
 Harry is at the table with you, feel that? I 
 am now talking for him. 
 
 Sister, I was touched very deeply at 
 
 the feeling of the men and all of you. It helps 
 me at my work here to see that after all I was 
 not a complete failure there.^ What we all 
 need is just to know we haven't had the misfor- 
 tune to fail utterly in the vital things. I am 
 cut away now from active work at the factory, 
 but see that I can influence the esprit de corps. 
 
 Yours was a fine idea to increase the beauty 
 of the dining room at the works, as well as 
 the comfort of it. Artistic influences are sub- 
 tle in their effects on moods and people's feel- 
 ing. White with'^ "true blue" will be a good 
 fotmdation. Color has a big significance. 
 Whenever we have time I want to tell what I 
 have learned about color as a factor in soul de- 
 velopment. 
 
 Dear Mamma! Tell her I sat near her and 
 
 1 Harry was General Manager at the Blount Plow Works. 
 The custom for thirty years had been to give a banquet on Mr. 
 Blount's birthday to all the employees and their families. — 
 L. E. B. 
 
 2 The name of the best plows.— L. E. B. 
 
88 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 held her hand close in mine. I am glad the 
 flowers were at my place, but that is another 
 story too. What we started to talk about was 
 the absolute kinship of all that exists, things 
 as well as people. When any of us criticize a 
 relative or friend we injure not only ourselves 
 but the whole fabric of life. A selfish or ill- 
 natured thought lowers the rate of vibration of 
 the entire universe, even affecting climate. If 
 people were all unselfish and full of love and 
 real helpfulness there would never be a storm 
 at sea or a railroad wreck. It is the jarring of 
 the rhythmic vibrations all along the Une which 
 makes for disaster anywhere. Lightning 
 strikes because some one, somewhere, has vio- 
 lated the law, has had anarchy in his heart. 
 The marvel of this great system is that it takes 
 every atom in it to bring the perfect whole. 
 One atom in rebellion makes for discord all 
 along the line, from earthquake to revolution. 
 Did you ever notice how much more conflict 
 there is in earthquake countries? Did you 
 ever put two and two together? What we 
 can see is that wherever men are inharmonious, 
 earth and climate feel the lack of rhythm, and 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 89 
 
 register the same. All each can do is just to 
 study his own heart and life and see that never 
 for a moment is he in any state but that of love 
 and sympathy toward the rest of the race, as 
 well as toward all other forms of life ; from a 
 horse to a rock; from a sky born star to a tad- 
 pole; from a president to a murderer. We are 
 all children of life, linked together close as 
 brain cells. We rise and fall together. No 
 one can rise or fall alone. Never forget that. 
 We belong to the eternal brotherhood of Life. 
 Call it "God" or "Father" if it suits you better. 
 "Life" covers it. There is nothing dead any- 
 where. The higher one can see, the more hum- 
 ble one grows. Vanity vanishes as the dark- 
 ness before light when a little knowledge en- 
 ters. 
 
 Oh, you dear ones, don't waste time. Learn 
 this one big truth if you can: "Each for all, 
 and all for each," ^ because the each is the all, 
 and the all is the each. Work for harmony, 
 work for love, work for the united state of all 
 life. There is no escape; no "you" or "I," or 
 "another"; just all, necessary parts of God or 
 
 iThis is the motto of the factory, — ^L. E. B. 
 
90 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 Life, equal because necessary. Give us the 
 hands of a firmer, sweeter fellowship, we who 
 are here, and you who are there, or seem there. 
 God bless us, every one. 
 
 Helen and Harry. 
 
XXII 
 
 June 4, 1914. 
 At Portsmouth, Ohio. 
 
 Helen is here, also Harry. He has been 
 waiting to tell you of several things you might 
 use to advantage. Sister, it is about color 
 as a factor in spiritual advancement. I know 
 you have felt vaguely its influence. That was 
 intuition. That phase of our art study belongs 
 to you. Color has value as it vibrates, either 
 with or against the rhythm of personal har- 
 monics. You see it is allied to music, and to 
 me tone and color are so closely hnked I speak 
 of each in terms of the other. Each of us 
 is related through the law of vibration to some 
 tone and color which represents our stage of 
 development. From the lower rates of vibra- 
 tion to the higher there are millions of differ- 
 ences, and as a true progression the soul must 
 pass through each. 
 
 The more a soul concentrates the clearer is 
 
 91 
 
92 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 his or her color. No matter how low in the 
 scale of evolution one is living one should be 
 intensely all that plane indicates. It is the 
 lukewarm attitude which is so deadly. Be all 
 that you feel at this time, but be all of that 
 fearlessly and freely. Get out of each situa- 
 tion all it holds of experience and feeling. Do 
 and be, heartily and sincerely what you feel 
 at the time. If you are on a wrong track the 
 sooner will you reap the harvest of your mis- 
 takes and see their error. Then, seeing clearly 
 that such and such things cost more than they 
 are worth, you see the point and change accord- 
 ingly. 
 
 Experience alone enables one to graduate 
 from one plane into another. As if we began 
 with fire, say, enjoyed it, felt its warmth, then 
 played with it until it grew and consumed us 
 or what we loved most; then we learned that 
 fire must be governed, controlled, to be of real 
 use to us, and that fire in itself is not at all to 
 be desired or striven for. 
 
 When we learn this and raise ourselves to 
 something else, we pass beyond the plane where 
 fire, the passion, and the red, rule. Our own 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 93 
 
 vibratory rate is raised above red, and we have 
 entered the upward path. Red we know and 
 value in its place, and we use it, but we never 
 after abuse nor let it consume us. Pure, clear 
 red is what no soul can pass by. It is funda- 
 mental force. It does things. It is the color 
 of the heart's blood, the inner fire of the earth. 
 No song, no picture, no music, can be vital 
 without red and what it represents. It is the 
 dull, muddy shades of red, the passion tinged 
 with selfishness, the fire where sulphurous 
 smoke poisons, the smothering smoke, the dull- 
 ing, clogging mixtures, which are dishearten- 
 ing to work with. It is never the fearless vil- 
 lain one dreads ; it is the sneak, the selfish cow- 
 ard. His personal note is a bltu* of sound, and 
 his color muddy red. Get him once to be 
 frankly what he is, and there is hope for him. 
 
 Colors each have a spiritual or moral mean- 
 ing. It is the personal law of vibratory rates 
 which gives color a value as an indication of 
 advancement. Each color has as its compan- 
 ion a personal tone which is a harmonic of the 
 color value or note. I find the terms familiar 
 to you hard to use with any real effect. We 
 
94s LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 have an entire vocabulary for this study of 
 musical color. 
 
 As we advance we add form as well; then 
 other things whose connection with color seem 
 to you yet more remote. We pass along nor- 
 mal evolutionary lines up the scale of color, 
 each step indicating growth, from simple pri- 
 mary to complex and delicate shadings, ever 
 toward the center and mother of all color which 
 is light — ^vibrant, palpitating, life-giving light, 
 a single ray of which is blinding to all but per- 
 fected souls. You there haven't seen real color 
 or heard one pure musical tone yet. Your 
 nerves couldn't endure it. Whenever a great 
 artist strikes a tone even approaching ours, 
 your hearts melt and you are so emotionally 
 stirred that you are worthless as workers. 
 Fancy how intense life would be with all one's 
 hours filled with such, and far, far better, more 
 thrilling and melting. One must be intense 
 throughout for one's nature to be able to exist 
 in such a tuneful atmosphere. 
 
 We are each born with some color and tone 
 dominating us. Harry thinks that to be an in- 
 dication of a previous life, as each starts at a 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 95 
 
 different point of development. Little John, 
 now, is living in the blue. That is a far more 
 spiritual color than any of us started out with. 
 Harry's note was intense red, a red of power 
 and life. Now he has gone into yellow-orange 
 which indicates spiritualized power. The blue 
 is one of the higher notes, but needs to develop 
 yellow and red to master material success. It 
 is a brain color. Ideas live in it. Harry says 
 it's a "high-brow" color, a fore-runner of the 
 concrete thing men use. Dreams, inventions, 
 books, lie within it, but they are never concrete 
 facts until the soul with that note adds another, 
 either red or yellow, when at once the dream 
 becomes available. As a matter of interest, 
 watch what color next attracts John; green, 
 red, purple, or yellow. He has such keen in- 
 tuitions you can tell whether it will be power or 
 money he will turn toward. Red, or its mix- 
 ture, purple, means power or force ; green, com- 
 mercial success. 
 
 Sister, we hope we can finish to-day about the 
 third color, yellow. We were saying yellow is 
 the color of happiness. It is also the color of 
 the life element, the higher life element that 
 
96 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 strikes you as the sunlight. The sun isn't truly 
 golden, but white; only as it passes along to- 
 ward you it goes through a sort of reducing 
 process or element which cuts it down to the 
 rate of vibration you can endure. 
 
 You see we earth-born souls are pretty low 
 down in the scale of evolution, as you may guess 
 by what you see every day about you. An in- 
 telligence so primitive that it must seek per- 
 sonal satisfaction in physical violence or ma- 
 terial possessions is very low indeed. It is the 
 infant mind merely, to which such means of 
 satisfaction appeal. 
 
 If we have time now let us finish the color 
 story. Yellow is one of the fimdamental col- 
 ors, yet it rims higher even than the blue with 
 you. It has the life element in it. It is the 
 sunlight of vital force toned down from the 
 pure white so as to be endurable to those on 
 our planes. You see we too must live in the 
 light stream. Though we can bear far higher 
 rates of vibration than you, still we have our 
 limitations of both endurance and perception. 
 There are points beyond which each would lose 
 consciousness. The machinery they carry 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 97 
 
 would fail to register anything. Only the 
 gradual growth of all one's senses enables one 
 to see and hear and feel what transpires about 
 us when on an elevation above our normal or 
 present one. 
 
 Enfolded within each is the germ of every- 
 thing, — the capacity to become. It is no greater 
 miracle than the oak within the acorn. It takes 
 certain exterior agents or conditions to develop 
 the oak, just as it does to develop higher per- 
 ceptions. Light exists, life exists, over 
 through, and about us ; but we perceive it only 
 gradually. The life without calls to itself 
 within, and then petal by petal, idea by idea, 
 the flower and the man's heart open. 
 
 Life, love, light! It's all one. It is always 
 calling to its enclosed self to come forth and 
 complete its fimctioning on that plane, that it 
 may make the circle of life again higher. The 
 yellow represents the joy of living, of motion, 
 of doing. It is the symbol of happiness, as 
 red is of force, and blue of mind. 
 
 Helen. 
 
XXIII 
 
 June 25, 1914. 
 At Portsmouth, Ohio. 
 
 Sister: We wish to send a message to the 
 folks for the wedding dinner.^ Harry and I 
 want to tell them how much we wish they could 
 see us when they are all at the table. We shall 
 be with them, bringing the hght of the upper 
 coimtry where Harry is now living, and where 
 I work a great deal. We can take your spirit 
 there too if you will sit alone at the dinner horn*. 
 
 Papa has been coming over here almost every 
 day, and we can see his face so clearly, as it 
 will be when he is all here. Mamma has been 
 building her body too, much more rapidly than 
 Papa, in the last few weeks. We wonder if 
 she won't be ready to come here as soon as, or 
 even before. Papa does. I feel she must do all 
 
 1 A celebration of the Golden Wedding of the parents was 
 participated in by all the children except "Sister" and her 
 husband, who could not be present. For the convenience of 
 children living at a distance the celebration was not held on 
 the exact anniversary day. — L. E. B. 
 
 08 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 99 
 
 she has to do without any waste of time. Her 
 body is far more beautiful than it was six 
 months ago. She must realize that time to 
 work there is short, and so she can't afford any 
 but fine thoughts and happy days. We feel it 
 most fitting, the reunion coming now; and on 
 your birthday too. You could be better spared 
 than any of the others, as we represent you 
 there, and you have already given all you could 
 to increase the harmony in the family. The 
 absence of a person's body is a little thing 
 when his spirit is right. We shall be with you 
 in the morning, and at home with the family in 
 the afternoon. We will give a birthday letter. 
 You have been doing well. 
 
 Helen. 
 
XXIV 
 
 June 26, 1914. 
 At Portsmouth, Ohio. 
 
 One's path in any race must be cleared for 
 action if there is to be distance travelled. One 
 may gain for soul advancement under trying 
 conditions, but work for the public must be 
 done under smooth, easy, personal surround- 
 ings. One has more energy left for the race if 
 one has not to stop to mend the road. There is 
 always need of workers for the general or pub- 
 lic good, and to make these most effective we 
 try to clear their path of stumbling blocks. 
 
 Here we are always looking for people to 
 serve the masses. When one is found with a 
 show of promise for such work, we try him out 
 to see how much strain he can bear, and then 
 lead him to the gaps which need filling, and his 
 intuition forces him into the public service. 
 
 National life must be maintained by the vol- 
 untary service of the strong, who set aside their 
 
 100 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 101 
 
 smaller personal problems for the sake of pub- 
 lic duty. Hopeful timber is being selected 
 constantly by those who work here. The pos- 
 sible saviours are being sorted out and put 
 into training to leaven the mass of slow moving 
 humanity. They are tested out in a hundred 
 ways for the role of some impending service. 
 A weakling, at the point of greatest strain in 
 a crisis, retards the evolution of an entire race 
 sometimes. We here also must make no mis- 
 takes. 
 
 When any souls on your plane can sink their 
 personal ambition or vanity in love for the rest 
 of the race, they then become candidates for 
 the class of higher service, and we make their 
 personal path as easy and free as possible. 
 When one can be willing to lose his life for 
 others he then saves it for himself. It is like 
 learning to swim. When you relax and stop 
 struggling you float. All the big things fol- 
 low the same law. The wild desire for self- 
 preservation kills, because the mind is not re- 
 laxed nor receptive, and the flow of knowledge 
 is cut off. No one generates knowledge by 
 himself. He is just a medium for the expres- 
 
102 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 sion of existing truth. The less he thinks he 
 is, or knows, the more he can express. Your 
 mind can obstruct or discolor the light, but it 
 does not create it. It is merely a transmitter. 
 You see the point? 
 
 There is a succession of graduated planes or 
 evolutionary steps over here, each governed or 
 mastered by the most advanced soul on that 
 plane, who is responsible for the work in that 
 division. Above him are others, ever higher, 
 ever more complex or exalted. The great gen- 
 eral plan is doubtless known only to the Ulti- 
 mate Mind or Creator, each lower master work- 
 ing out some idea or detail, which in its turn 
 fits in with some other part. 
 
 The same plans descend to you. No one 
 man on earth knows the entire plan of the 
 earth's solution. He does his small part, and 
 should be proud to do it well for the beauty of 
 the ultimate product. We deal only with the 
 transient details. We waste little time specu- 
 lating on failures. We are too busy. We 
 revel in the splendid swing of life as it is in 
 the making, and gladly do our part. The 
 greater om* capacity and intelhgence, the more 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 103 
 
 we see to do and be. The one who can does 
 freely and without stint. There is neither the 
 desire nor the idea of holding back. We throw 
 all we have, and are, into the stream, and find 
 our highest joy in giving up self. 
 
 It is hard to get any real true idea of the plan 
 of life over to you, but perhaps it is not a waste 
 of energy to try at least. You and "Tee" have 
 responded so well thus far that it is a great 
 happiness to us here, and our vision of what 
 you may be able to do expands. The limit lies 
 with your own mental attitude merely. So 
 long as you are in a receptive state you will 
 grow. When your minds close we are help- 
 less to serve you except in the slightest way, at 
 points you have left, as it were, unlocked. 
 
 Helen. 
 
XXV 
 
 July 5, 1914. 
 At Portsmouth, Ohio. 
 Yes, Sister, we are here. Harry is always 
 with me, as a matter of course. You need have 
 no fear of his being away at any time. It has 
 been in our minds to ask you to let us work out 
 one of our questions of personality, and its 
 force or power over different people, through 
 either you or "Tee" as mediums of transmis- 
 sion. We have been able, so far, to get over 
 several ideas to each of you. Now suppose we 
 try to work out our theory of personal power, 
 or the omnipotence of the creative element of 
 love. Let either of you put all your surplus 
 energy into a desire, say, for a larger field of 
 work. As it happens, your work lies at pres- 
 ent along parallel lines, so what either desires 
 means better conditions for both. Put your 
 combined forces therefore into the same chan- 
 nel. Both desire a winter of broader use and 
 
 104 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 105 
 
 fullness, with a higher position for "Tee," and 
 a broader acquaintance for you. Back of per- 
 sonal desire must lie altruistic motive in order 
 to attract and hold the helpers here. Let your 
 hearts fill with love and sympathy for your fel- 
 lows ; expect help from us ; then ask for a larger 
 place to work. The details as to how and 
 where will be our business. We are unham- 
 pered by physical limitations, and can find 
 what we seek for better than you. The push 
 which brings you into the bigger stream of life 
 will be the elemental or fundamental desire to 
 help. Trust us for details, and don't waste en- 
 ergy in worry or disintegrating emotions of 
 any sort. Keep as happy as possible. Let 
 the spirit of tolerance and charity tinge every 
 thought you entertain toward any one. This 
 is absolutely essential to any successful help 
 from us. We cannot work where vibrations 
 are discordant. 
 
 The Master says if "Tee" will habituate him- 
 self to working by day he can master his parts 
 quicker. Night work is bad because of the 
 drain to which a preoccupied mind is open from 
 vampire souls who are strongest at night. In 
 
106 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 sleep we are with him, but we cannot help him 
 when he studies at night instead of sleeping. 
 Repair work should be done at night by his 
 body plus our force, but conditions are not 
 good during dayhght for repair, as life is ac- 
 tive and we are going against the current. 
 Hughey says to try sleeping at night for two 
 weeks, and see if it will not improve his work. 
 He can study out of doors if he likes by day, 
 and he will discover that his memory will im- 
 prove under the altered conditions. Let him 
 take the car and go out early and sit by some 
 stream and study an hour or two alone. His 
 brother will be beside him. Let him try it for 
 two weeks, as a test of what day work and night 
 sleep will do, and let him watch both his bodily 
 and mental vigor, 
 
 Au revoir, 
 Helen^ Harry and always Hughey too, we 
 three. 
 
 You were right about special direction as to 
 work. ... It is a plan in process of construc- 
 tion. You are particularly responsive to the 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 107 
 
 ideas we discuss. Harry laughs over it, say- 
 ing: '* Watch Sister catch that." It is this 
 response which makes you appear to originate 
 ideas. This is a blow, Sister, but never mind. 
 It is fine to be a true transmitter. All ideas 
 come from above. They have to filter some 
 distance before even we get them. Oh, we do 
 not mean that every detail of your life is fil- 
 tered down to you. It is only the big ideas. 
 Any of us can crystallize a detail from the main 
 mass. Only, as Harry says, by the time you 
 get it most of the combinations have been 
 worked. Harry's sense of humor is always 
 alive and busy. 
 
 Helen. 
 
XXVI 
 
 July 14, 1914. 
 At Portsmouth, Ohio. 
 Sister, we do want to tell you something new. 
 Your depression is due entirely to the currents 
 of trouble in and about your house. There are 
 several people near you whom you have at- 
 tracted, a large number of souls from the dark 
 countries, where even we rarely go except un- 
 der guards who can hft us quickly at any dan- 
 gerous sign. Neither you nor we have the re- 
 sistance to cope with a number of these darker 
 souls. Now, it was this truth about the law 
 we wished you to know. You yourself belong 
 to the brighter country in the yellow light, and 
 so at all normal times you are buoyant, cheer- 
 ful. Whenever you get "low in your mind," 
 as you say, it is always the result of a depres- 
 sant from without, and at such times you should 
 go away somewhere and stay for hours. You 
 would be better at the park, or out of town as 
 
 108 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 109 
 
 many hours a day as possible. That is why 
 the motor is so needf id to you three. Keep one 
 always, no matter where you go, as an escape 
 from what cities are frequently so full of: that 
 is, the lower soul element from here. It is not 
 the landlady's troubles so much that depress 
 you. It is the disembodied trouble you cannot 
 see. Being such a good transmitter you feel 
 the bad as well as the good, and need this warn- 
 ing. Why can't we protect you? Because we 
 need our force for constructive work, not just 
 to act as life preservers or shields for you. 
 Were this to be any permanent injury we 
 should of course guard you at all points, but it 
 isn't so serious, so we just decided to warn you 
 and let you care for yourself. 
 
 We are at work on your winter's location 
 now. You will be well cared for then, and can 
 go away in April at latest. "Tee" should get a 
 full three months on the other side, Harry and 
 his brothers say. John won't be in the way, 
 Sister. He is part of our plan. 
 
 I see you feel somewhat peevish at being only 
 the instrument of our plans, but you are mighty 
 important to us, as well as to the two you and 
 
110 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 we wish to serve and develop for higher service. 
 Rememher your motto is "Love, Serve." You 
 don't wish to lead or shine really. Sister, down 
 in your heart. Your motto is a true one. It 
 is a big and beautiful thing to serve with love. 
 It is the song of the golden country where your 
 home will be, so never despise any service, how- 
 ever low, for any you love. To gain your per- 
 manent residence in that country you must 
 serve those whom you despise, with love. That 
 is the deed that opens the gates there. To 
 serve the mean, the selfish, the vicious with a 
 patience and an overwhelming love. What 
 you do is easy, sweet, and full of rewards, as 
 your journey takes you nearer the place you 
 seek. The love must be so big, so fine, and so 
 strong that it can blot out all the others' mean 
 unworthiness, and leave only pity. They 
 know not what they do, but you know that for 
 you, now and always, the motto is "Love, 
 Serve." Now go, and you three hunt up a 
 new road. Never mind mud. Get out and 
 away. We all ask it. 
 
 It is all right about "Tee's" work. He will 
 find the right thing soon, so do not let worry 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 111 
 
 enter in at all. We are with you in force now, 
 and can protect you all three from evil influ- 
 ences, so be at peace. That is the attitude 
 needed for results. No need to write more. 
 You do well to read over our letters often. It 
 augments the connection between us. Be of 
 good cheer; all is going well. 
 
 All Three H's. 
 
XXVII 
 
 July 21, 1914. 
 At Portsmouth, Ohio. 
 Yes, Sister, it is I, Helen. We are so glad 
 John is safe from the illness he was drifting 
 toward. Don't get discouraged about being 
 nervous. We have been getting so much vital- 
 ity from you for both the others that you are 
 a bit short yoiu'self. You will be balanced 
 again soon. We will help you. You see we 
 can fill your vital tank, as it were, so easily. 
 We get a bit careless sometimes, and let your 
 reserve fall too low. When you be^an sneez- 
 ing yesterday we saw it and made provisions 
 for you. When any of you get cold and shiver, 
 the vital force has gone below the point where 
 it is safe, • . . Never mind, it is not a bad in- 
 terruption. What I want to say is that you 
 must get away early and alone with "Tee" to- 
 night. You need the rest and quiet to get your 
 equilibrium. You will be rested to-morrow. 
 
 112 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 113 
 
 We think you had better not take any more 
 long drives in a party. Go alone, you three. 
 You and John need more space to rest in. It 
 would have been better all around had you 
 gone alone Sunday. Never take so many so 
 far again. They are like vampires when they 
 get tired, and the most sensitive get drawn on 
 to supply the lack. The car might carry four, 
 if the fourth were quiet and congenial; but 
 never five, for over an hour's trip. After about 
 an hour they will begin to vampirize you. Re- 
 member, in Harry's last drive how tired Marie 
 was? Harry used all her vitality, and took so 
 much of it he lasted hours longer than he could 
 otherwise have done. Of course this absorp- 
 tion of another's vital force or magnetism is 
 unconscious, and so none can be blamed for 
 being the vampire. We tell you as a warning. 
 Don't let any one go with you abroad, either, 
 no matter how much they may want to go. 
 Only you three are in our plan. It is all we 
 can work for this time. 
 
 Helen. 
 
XXVIII 
 
 July 27, 1914, 
 Portsmouth, Ohio. 
 Note : Before communication "was thor- 
 oughly established between Sister and Helen a 
 meaningless jumble of words from some out- 
 side influence was crowded in. l. e. b. 
 
 Sister, why will you allow that? We told 
 you yesterday we would not write again, but 
 we knew you were too weak to resist these peo- 
 ple who have been trying so long to get closer 
 to you as a good way to vitalize themselves. 
 Harry wouldn't leave you till we had made 
 our warning stronger. "Tee" is also being ex- 
 perimented with from this side. Tell him, for 
 all our sakes, to put a watch on his own soul 
 when asleep. His will can protect him if he 
 sets his mind to pray, as a small child^ for safety 
 while asleep. He was taken to see the lower 
 
 114 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 115 
 
 souls whose desires have misshapen their 
 spiritual bodies. Such visits weaken him. 
 He must not allow them. Let him call on 
 Hughey when he is in trouble, or let the love 
 of his own heart blaze up and shield him. His 
 enemy was one of the advocates of greed, hate, 
 and power of a low order. In all spiritual en- 
 counters Love is the conquering weapon — 
 Love and Pity. 
 
 We would have told you all about our work 
 yesterday, only you were all in, as Harry says, 
 and we stopped earlier than we had expected. 
 We have been doing constructive work for the 
 raising of color and sounds into shapes similar 
 to buildings, bridges, and tunnels; a sort of 
 combination architecture and engineering 
 work. Every material expression in life is the 
 visible form of some mental quality or attri- 
 bute. Bridges represent the extending of a 
 helping hand to a fellow in need. Tunnels 
 burrow deep through some problem of life, 
 seemingly insurmountable. It is one way out 
 or through a difficulty. There is always a way 
 to arrive over, under, or through. One just 
 must arrive. One with spiritual material can 
 
116 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 master and transmute ideas or things into 
 many expressed forms. 
 
 The will is back of all effort. Then we take 
 our closer mediimi of expression and push 
 through that to other forms or construction. 
 You see one can change the medium of expres- 
 sion (as that horrid soul did his form) without 
 at all weakening what is behind it. Form, or 
 the apparently solid thing, is actually fluidic, 
 transient. Mind, Spirit, Idea, Motive, is the 
 true substance. Circumstance never really 
 hampers anyone. As we have explained re- 
 peatedly, it is the indestructible thing behind 
 it. Call it God, Will, Mind, Personality, 
 what you please. Spirit is as good a term as 
 we need. To be able to project one's spirit 
 into a given channel for a definite purpose, and 
 hold it there against the opposing current un- 
 til it fulfils its purpose — ^this is to cultivate 
 power as belongs to the infinite; to feel steadily, 
 to be, and do, one thing, then turn and do one 
 other thing with the same steadfastness and 
 concentration. You can begin this practice, 
 carefully making plans, then focussing your 
 will and thought upon them till they material- 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 117 
 
 ize before you. Harry says the trick has been 
 turned by all masters of finance. They simply 
 knew what they wanted, and bent iron wills to 
 that one end. 
 
 Any quality grows by what it feeds upon. 
 Power upon power, greed upon greed, until 
 one gets into the higher law, when one gains 
 by giving up. One grows strong by yielding. 
 One conquers by love, never by hate. This is 
 the thing we call the law. Whenever we re- 
 fer to "law" we mean the rule of the spirit, or 
 the life-giving, dominating quality called love 
 in all its phases. 
 
 If "Tee" in his struggles last night had sim- 
 ply stood still and turned on his tormentors the 
 full force of his power of love, there would 
 have been a revelation he might live years be- 
 fore realizing. Let him think and feel more 
 about this truth, about what Hughey has dem- 
 onstrated, and the thing Hughey showed him. 
 
 Our work goes deeper and ever deeper into 
 its marvelous power. As we work we grow, 
 and, growing, wish for you and that you could 
 learn this principle before you come here. Not 
 for your own sake, because you could learn 
 
118 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 it here as we did, but for what that knowl- 
 edge would do for others there; people we can- 
 not reach except indirectly. Personal con- 
 tact means so much to the undeveloped soul, 
 still groping hopelessly for some solid footing 
 for the will to stand upon; some sure feeling as 
 a starting point from which to fight the hidden 
 enemies. Personal contact is a great thing. 
 
 "Tee" must live and develop for the sake 
 of his weaker associates in the theater. They 
 need what he is able to give. He should give 
 more to all in and about the place where he 
 works. Let him take personal interest in all 
 at the theaters, and say the right word to help. 
 Let them see that he cares whether they go up 
 or down. Let him be more of a — yes, Sister, 
 write what is in your head — "buttinsky." 
 That's it. Let him take an interest and talk 
 more. Remember, we are none of us here for 
 ourselves, but for the sake of every human be- 
 ing whose life touches ours. Every one of 
 them is a part of our business here. We leave 
 none without some mark upon them of our 
 making, for better or for worse. We pass this 
 way but once. This is our great opportunity. 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 119 
 
 Look to it that we all do our very best every 
 day, to each and every human heart our spirit 
 touches. Let us leave a trail of blessing in our 
 wake. Selfishness isn't always aggressive. 
 Sometimes it is most active when we shut our- 
 selves away, when we think we are minding 
 our own business best. It is then we are idlest, 
 most selfish. People are our business. Better 
 be a spendthrift than a miser, any day. Give 
 to all who need the little word of warning or 
 encouragement. Love is in the open with a 
 glad heart, and the sun will shine on you as 
 well as on those you try to help. 
 
 We feel it is time to go now. Sister. Don't 
 try to write. If you find you need help we 
 will come, but not unless it is necessary. You 
 must leave off long enough to let those other 
 people who use you stop trying. We have 
 really given you all you need. Be content. 
 Protect yourself from invasion, and blessings 
 will follow you- Our love is always about you. 
 Helen, Harry, and the Master. 
 
XXIX 
 
 July 28, 1914. 
 At Portsmouth, Ohio. 
 All right. Sister. We are here and have 
 come to tell you about our work on a still 
 higher plane. We shall be vibrating at a 
 vastly greater rate. Helen will be nearer you, 
 but she feels you cannot stand such frequent 
 drains on your nerve force. No, we shall be 
 nearer you than before, in one way, but at the 
 same time less able to let you hear from us 
 directly, so we wish you to take what we have 
 previously given and know that the future will 
 be looked after, and that "Tee" will be helped 
 always if he is cheerful; and particularly if he 
 is hopeful, that being a state of mind easier to 
 lift higher. This he knows already. Plan 
 for the trip abroad of which we spoke. Use 
 every means presented for advancement along 
 all lines or branches of "Tee's" work. If he 
 will let himself dream dreams and build castles 
 as you do, they will be more apt to materialize 
 than if he is simply patient and waits for cir- 
 
 120 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 121 
 
 cumstances to open the way. Make plans, 
 look forward joyfully to good times, and you 
 will then be well on your way there. The 
 planning of futures is not an empty pastime; 
 it is the building plans, the blueprint of the 
 work. Nothing just happens. Someone's 
 mind first makes the blueprint, then all can 
 help to construct the thing into visible form. 
 Sister's long suit is dreaming dreams. "Tee's" 
 hopelessness about his own future cut off that 
 future but for the force of Sister's optimism. 
 If "Tee" will look back he will trace all sorts 
 of things to Sister's visions. Her plans so 
 often come true because she made them. Had 
 he made them they would have come just as 
 swiftly. It is not the person; it is the law. 
 There must be a plan, a vision, what you will, 
 before anything can materialize for either good 
 or bad. The law works both ways. Make 
 plans; think of them; see them coming; and 
 those of us here who love you most will build 
 in all the parts beyond your reach. 
 
 "Tee" has so far taken our suggestions so 
 well we feel this one last step will put him into 
 the independent class. Let him think out just 
 
122 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 what he wants, then expect to get it, and go 
 after it without douht in his heart, and it is 
 his. 
 
 A mastering amhition or desire carries all 
 before it. Apparent obstructions crumble at 
 its confident approach and melt away. Noth- 
 ing can withstand the determined march of the 
 spirit toward its own. You can't ever fail be- 
 cause of outside obstacles. The real and only- 
 obstacles lie within yourself. Never forget 
 that, either of you. Make definite plans and 
 see how easily material things obey the com- 
 mand of the soul. 
 
 Re-read all we have said from time to time, 
 and speed gladly on your own way. With love 
 in your hearts, and joy in your eyes, nothing 
 can down you. We shall be near, working and 
 watching and loving. 
 
 The Master says he may teach again by a 
 dream if need be, but not for long, he thinks. 
 Don't feel us far. The better you know the 
 law the closer we will be drawn. Time is noth- 
 ing. We shall soon meet for work, and study, 
 and larger service. Au revoir, 
 
 Helen, Harry and Hughey. 
 
XXX 
 
 August 26, 1914. 
 At New York City, 
 
 The War, you know, is only a faint reflec- 
 tion of the real conflict here, where elements 
 can be wielded with a force appalling to us 
 who are still among the non-combatants. You 
 see, here we are having the long deferred strug- 
 gle which seems to occur at stated intervals 
 in the history of the world's evolution. 
 
 Now and again there seem to evolve two 
 separate forces here which appear to be in di- 
 rect opposition. What generates the darker 
 half or evil of life we cannot tell from where 
 we look on. In the larger plan of life it must 
 be only a logical part of the human or soul's 
 evolution. Our vision here is too limited to 
 see the causes or larger plan, which makes these 
 occasional titanic struggles necessary and 
 right, or at least, only a phase of the normal 
 action and reaction of life forces. 
 
 123 
 
124 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 To US, here where we can see, a seething 
 mass of souls desperately strugghng for seem- 
 ing existence, it is difficult to keep our mental 
 poise and realize that there is nothing but good, 
 which always conquers. This lesson has been 
 taught us from a hundred different angles, 
 that it might enter and arouse our minds 
 against all sorts of apparent conflicting facts, 
 and in order that we should always believe so 
 firmly in the power of good as to be, in a way, 
 impregnable to any contrary idea. 
 
 This vast, world-wide struggle is a part of 
 the plan of evolution. In the processes of all 
 growth there are always generated elements 
 or forces which when occurring in larger quan- 
 tities than necessary, must be eliminated from 
 the body of matter, as is true in your physical 
 bodies. You generate in the processes of di- 
 gestion, for instance, certain acids and gases 
 which are essential to the manufacture of blood 
 and bodily tissue. When these products are 
 manufactured in excess there is a general dis- 
 turbance all through the system, necessitating 
 drastic measures for the prevention of destruc- 
 tive results. Then some disagreeable but 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 125 
 
 quite necessary acute disease ensues, and de- 
 stroys the superabundant poisonous acids, and 
 an equilibrium is restored. 
 
 We feel that law is consistent and holds good 
 all along the line, and all we need to under- 
 stand it is to observe its working carefully at 
 any minor point. Force is a most necessary 
 element in progressive evolution, yet force car- 
 ries with it certain destructive elements such 
 as the selfish lust of power which is born of 
 arrogance, which is also a child of abihty or ca- 
 pacity. When any soul has the capacity to 
 achieve, he also has the latent desire to rule, 
 to dominate. The greatest thing we can con- 
 ceive is a soul which has capacity for achieve- 
 ment, and with it humility, sympathy, and love. 
 This seems to be the mark of the perfected 
 human soul. One must have force and indi- 
 vidual capacity, or there is no forward move- 
 ment ; but force must learn that even it yields to 
 the higher law. "The meek shall inherit the 
 earth," because with the pride of power goes 
 the element of self destruction. 
 
 Watch your view of war. Germany has the 
 force and the arrogance. She must learn the 
 
126 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 subsequent lesson of humility and service. 
 Force is blind and so can only be taught by the 
 means it can comprehend. We feel there is 
 now enough unselfish love on earth to save the 
 weak from annihilation. Up here we join all 
 our forces to strengthen the line of opposing 
 love. We have no doubts as to the ultimate 
 issue. Hughey has gone to throw all he 
 possesses of light into the dark struggle, caused 
 by ignorance, he thinks. Where the light 
 shines, the truth can be perceived and the strug- 
 gle ceases. Love and intelligence are one. 
 No one breaks the Law who realizes the futil- 
 ity of such an act. When anyone or any na- 
 tion fails to realize the common brotherhood of 
 nations he is ignorant of the Law, and so liable 
 to the penalty. 
 
 We rise or fall as a conmion whole, not in 
 isolated groups. Each, by his habitual 
 thought, allies himself with either the lifters, 
 or the drags. See to it that you guard care- 
 fully your every thought, that you may do your 
 part in the enlightening of the world. The 
 Law acts with you as with us. "Tee" and you 
 both must absolutely eliminate all destructive 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 127 
 
 ideas and emotions for the good of the whole, 
 incidentally only for your own. The chain is 
 just as strong as its weakest link. You and 
 he are both links, and upon each depends far 
 more than any realize. Live your own lives 
 well because this living — and by this living I 
 mean mental life as well — affects all other 
 souls, both below and above. If the integrity 
 of a single atom can affect a universe then im- 
 agine what damage a selfish, disordered, 
 gloomy mind can do. We belong to the 
 brotherhood of man. Let us be sure we can 
 qualify for that fraternity. 
 
 Conflict such as is raging now is terrible, but 
 hopeful too, for it means a purifying of the 
 body of the earth; a fresh start on a higher 
 plane. The surplus force and the destructive 
 energy will spend itself. Then what remains 
 will have learned a great lesson, viz.: the fu- 
 tility of struggle and the hopelessness of try- 
 ing to conquer by force. The Germans never 
 really conquered France. To do that they 
 should have shown brotherly love and sympa- 
 thy, as we did to the Southern army when con- 
 quered. Without friendship, without sympa- 
 
128 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 thy, none ever really conquers. Will the con- 
 querors now learn that? Will they rejoiqe at 
 another's increase in trade, in art, or in science? 
 Will they really learn to be brothers? We 
 shall see. This is the real issue: the conquer- 
 ing of jealousy and selfish greed. All must 
 learn to live and let live. We call on all to do 
 their part. Let us belong to the glad volun- 
 teers, giving our best freely and fully. Our 
 best in this case is a steadfast optimism in the 
 good on all planes of life. Faith in all that 
 lifts the mass of ignorant life, faith in our own 
 share of that work, belief in our ability to mas- 
 ter material conditions, to do our work in the 
 best way. Faith, not in ourselves as geniuses, 
 but as fit instruments for human betterment. 
 
 Helen. 
 
XXXI 
 
 September 24, 1914. 
 
 This will be a straight dictation from Harry, 
 so, as the "middleman," I, Helen, shall obliter- 
 ate myself — this being Harry's day. . . . 
 
 Greetings for you all on this birthday of 
 mine. While I have grown vastly and com- 
 plexly in certain directions in this year of your 
 time, I am at heart just as I was at parting, 
 full of the personal interests of each and all. 
 We, who have lived and worked on this side 
 of life for any space of time, realize that fam- 
 ily association means very little as regards the 
 age question or the physical relationship of 
 parent and child, brother and sister. We 
 know that ties, based upon mutual understand- 
 ing, link with far stronger bonds than mere 
 blood connection. What any two have in com- 
 mon, whether it be work or aspiration, is the 
 "tie that binds." It so easily becomes natural 
 to drop into comradeships here, with either 
 young or old, men or women, when there is a 
 common interest. There is no age which de- 
 
 129 
 
130 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 mands respect or reverence. Only the merit 
 of a strong and beautiful character can receive 
 either. Conventional standards are non-exist- 
 ent. The spirit, being of a stability you little 
 comprehend, sets its own standard, and those 
 who pass into this Ufe must perforce accept 
 this standard. One has no choice any more 
 than one has about mathematics, as two and 
 two being four is past argument at all times 
 and in every place. It is so here about the 
 attributes of character. A selfish act is a self- 
 ish act in all places, and in all epochs of time. 
 For such there is always but one opinion. 
 There are no such things as extenuating cir- 
 cumstances. First, of course, one must define 
 one's terms. A selfish act is a simple proposi- 
 tion. Anything which does not consider the 
 personal consequences to the other fellow first 
 is selfish. A spoken word which has the power 
 to wound another, no matter how carelessly 
 dropped into the air, has weight in the final 
 judgment. No soul has a right, consciously or 
 unconsciously, to lay burdens on any other. It 
 may be that this other is just struggling to lift 
 its head out of the dark pool of ignorance, 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 131 
 
 straining every nerve to drag its heavy body up 
 into the light; it quivers with the strain of ef- 
 fort. At this point a careless push, however 
 light, may plunge it backward from whence it 
 came, retarding its evolution for years, per- 
 haps for ages. 
 
 We are brothers all, and the soul's develop- 
 ment is a result of what the strong do for the 
 weak. Chivalry abhors the coward who strikes 
 a cripple, a child, or a woman, but what sort 
 of human is it who refuses his hand to a brother 
 because of that brother's ignorance, dirt, or 
 color? There are no terms black enough for 
 the sins of the spirit. Intolerance, contempt, 
 repulsion — these belong to cowards. These 
 are what retard evolution, not war or blood- 
 shed. The darkest crimes are bloodless. 
 The deepest sin is not in your criminal code. 
 You fail even to recognize it as such. This 
 much I have learned of the true law since I 
 came. Brotherhood, in its deepest meaning, is 
 the comprehensive term. It is not so much 
 food and money the poor need, but love and a 
 true, not a patronizing sympathy. 
 
 What are we, half — yes, even less than half 
 
132 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 — developed humans that we are? We know 
 nothing of true values. We smile at the sav- 
 age who barters priceless ivory for a piece of 
 red calico, or a bit of mirror, but we give all 
 that is finest in us, crush all that is best in 
 others, for money or power. We barter 
 eternal soul-stuff in return for transient gain, 
 which, even as we clutch at it, melts away. 
 Our bonds prove worthless, our big palaces 
 burn down, our art treasures are stolen or 
 cut to pieces. The savage has made an even 
 trade. His gold and ivory were only material, 
 as was that he received in return. His soul 
 was no poorer after the exchange than before. 
 He lived wisely, but any man who values 
 money, or its equivalent, above the spiritual 
 thing he usually loses to attain it, is in truth 
 the ignoramus — to use the mildest of terms. 
 A man outwits his competitor, gains what his 
 brother loses, and counts himself honest. It 
 is not honest to use one's superior wisdom to 
 rob a child, even though the child make no out- 
 cry. 
 
 We are our brother's keeper. His ultimate 
 good should be our first thought and our last. 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 133 
 
 True charity teaches the man to help himself, 
 and it goes deeper than material limitations. 
 The rich, that is the wise, are the protectors of 
 the poor, the ignorant. The wise man must 
 have the loving patience of the true mother to 
 really be worth an immortal soul and a con- 
 tinuous life. 
 
 Our work here is on a far higher plane than 
 yours, and so it is with a sort of misgiving I 
 shall attempt explanation. We work with the 
 living matter you call emotions or impulses, 
 which rise spontaneously from the love or de- 
 votion of some person or thing. It is handled 
 as one of you handles and works with and 
 upon an electric current. We take some given 
 emotion, follow it back until we find its source 
 or root, then classify it and take another. 
 
 Emotions and motives lie deep in the secret 
 places of each soul, and are the fibers of which 
 character is made. When any soul has enough 
 of the vital emotions, of worthy and unselfish 
 motives in him, to be twisted into a thread of 
 strength, he is then sm^e of protracted evolu- 
 tion. This thread or cable is what anchors 
 him, or rescues him from shipwreck as he 
 
134 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 journeys from life to life, across the sea of 
 death and rebirth. I fear I have no simile apt 
 enough to explain the idea. We speak a dif- 
 fering language. 
 
 The whole thing resolves itself into the vital 
 question of how much eternal stuff any one 
 soul possesses to hve on indefinitely. We dis- 
 sect a character as a student at a medical school 
 dissects a body. We find that when a nature 
 has selfishness developed beyond a given point 
 he disintegrates. But one, no matter how 
 heavily laden with defects other than that, 
 evolves if he only has love of his kind strong 
 within him. 
 
 Love and active sympathy with one*s hxmian 
 fellow seems to be the strongest fiber known. 
 It passes all sorts of tests with absolutely in- 
 destructible quality, whereupon we conclude 
 that this then is vitally important to man's in- 
 dividual progress. No true thing is lost, but 
 individuality is something one achieves and 
 keeps only because one has at the bottom true 
 love and sympathy for one's neighbor. To 
 love one's neighbor as oneself is simply the 
 law of self preservation, and I might add that 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 135 
 
 if you don't do that your game ends right there. 
 
 "Them that has, gets," Yes, and those who 
 have not the love referred to are promptly re- 
 lieved of whatever quahties they have that are 
 worth while. These can be taken and appro- 
 priated by any who have the vital spark which 
 only insures continuous individual existence. 
 
 It is as if a chair should lack a seat, thus be- 
 coming absolutely worthless for the purpose 
 for which it was created. The chair may have 
 an excellent back and several perfect legs, but 
 these avail nothing when a chair is seatless, 
 though they may be used to beautify or 
 strengthen some other chair, and always do 
 this service, as nothing good can be lost. You 
 see that, don't you? 
 
 The vital part of an individual is his heart, 
 his love. Take that away and his game is up. 
 His hair and teeth and bones can be useful else- 
 where, but they serve another individual. The 
 "I," the particular ego that heart made, is non- 
 existent. He couldn't qualify. So it be- 
 hooves all and each of you to regard carefully 
 your main asset. Add to it continuously to 
 prevent a final dissolution. No one can af- 
 
136 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 ford to take chances, or rest on his oars. 
 Neither you nor I know what tests of char- 
 acter lie ahead. We are in the stream of evo- 
 lution. Those weaklings who fail to meet its 
 tests perish. The tests are varied and con- 
 stant, and unperceived until passed. One 
 must prepare constantly for the day of reckon- 
 ing. None of us are ever quite ready for the 
 test, and we escape by a hair's breadth only. 
 One can't dodge. The progress of the stream 
 is slow but steady, and we must work continu- 
 ously to survive. 
 
 Look into your own hearts and note your 
 wares. Try out each thing you see there. 
 See if it has real value, is made of eternal stuff. 
 Get a line on true values, what in life is of vital 
 importance. The test is always: Can you 
 take the thing with you out of life? A hasty 
 glance seems to show that one can take noth- 
 ing. Look again. One takes patience, char- 
 ity, unselfishness, another's gratitude, which is 
 blessing, too. One may take the result of 
 kindness and help which expanded and lifted 
 another human pilgrim. Sunshine, courage, 
 simple faith, and sweetness. Oh! the things 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 137 
 
 we may carry away are manifold. The man 
 or woman who lays aside a business problem to 
 care for the distress or perplexity of a little 
 child has chosen the real and laid by the unim- 
 portant thing. Any help to a soul in trouble 
 is a vital service which registers here, and helps 
 determine what class you enter. 
 
 While time doesn't exist here, opportunity 
 and work do, and progression is continuous, 
 so I feel that for the good of all you should 
 waste no time. Do what you may while you 
 have the chance. People whose needs you can 
 supply move on, out of your circle, and your 
 chance to help and to grow go with them. No 
 day passes without an opportunity. It's sick- 
 ening to see how many you let slip. Why not 
 try to live a day at a time? One can only chew 
 what he has in his mouth. What remains on 
 his plate doesn't concern him. 
 
 If you would all do this — concentrate on the 
 day's work, keeping eyes wide open to see a 
 brother's need! Oh, it makes my heart swell 
 to think what that would mean. To-day is 
 really all you have for service, for growth ; yet 
 you sit idle, with busy hands and empty hearts. 
 
138 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 You sit and play with toys while your brother 
 is drowning within your arm's reach. With 
 vacant eyes fixed on some selfish golden future 
 you sit, strong men and women — you sit inac- 
 tive, letting your chance of immortahty slip 
 past you. 
 
 Wake up. Rouse yourself. Be worth im- 
 mortality. Earn it. This bloody war typifies 
 what you all are — in less degree. Which of 
 you is entitled to cast the first stone? Which 
 of you but has wounded some heart, trodden 
 on some upturned face seeking only the light. 
 
 Ignorance is no excuse. The Law holds all 
 to account. When any of you can show love, 
 pity, and sympathy for each human soul you 
 meet, then, and only then have you the right 
 to cast the first stone. Live the good your 
 heads know, try to qualify for immortality. 
 Speak less and do more. 
 
 But I see I write too long. Forgive the 
 sting if there be any in these last hnes. I love 
 you all too deeply to speak but for your help. 
 We must lay aside smaller interests for greater. 
 A glad, warm hand-clasp I give you this day. 
 Hakry (through Helen). 
 
XXXII 
 
 October 23, 1914. 
 At Orangeburg, South Carolina. 
 
 Yes, now we are all three here. 
 
 Oh, not at all, a dull place. Sister. It's quite 
 radiant if you could but see, really. It's as the 
 "Living Dead Man" ^ said: "We generate 
 our own hght here, and so it is always just as 
 bright as we are within," which naturally varies 
 with each individual, but when several of us 
 unite we make any room gay. 
 
 It's first to discuss the Western trip. 
 
 The Master says he will arrange things as 
 well as possible. He hkes the idea, because it 
 means so much for his mother. He feels if he 
 can bring pleasure to her before she comes over 
 here she can live better here. Her life lacks 
 the happy elements, and she worries so much 
 she is enveloped in a cloud most of the 
 time. "Tee" is her brightest hght, and he can 
 
 1 "Letters from a Living Dead Man." 
 139 
 
140 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 do her more good than anyone there, with the 
 exception of the grandchildren, John espe- 
 cially. Hiighey wishes her to see more of you 
 and John, as well as "Tee." To this end we 
 will all work. But remember, the plan must 
 be made by you and "Tee," and we will fill in 
 only the parts you can't manage yourselves. 
 
 Harry and I will go with you as our holiday, 
 and I believe Harry will enjoy it as much as 
 you can. He so loved a camp, especially 
 sleeping out under the stars. You have a few 
 pleasures we can't have here. That's why 
 Harry insists we reincarnate. There is a zest 
 and charm about a rough camp and a red fire 
 with smoke in your eyes, and burned meat, 
 which beats any meal civilization can get up. 
 Harry says he is sure the lure of the flesh, and 
 what that means in the hand to hand grapple 
 with material conditions, will draw him back 
 to rebirth, but not yet. He must know more 
 of this place, and work out some things with 
 you and "Tee" before you return in a group to 
 rebirth and work on earthly planes again. 
 
 The book ^ you are reading has fired Harry, 
 
 1 "Letters from a Living Dead Man." 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 141 
 
 and he and the Master both determined to 
 prove what is there stated. Even Hughey 
 hasn't been about as much as he might, because 
 of his work and service; but at this time, as a 
 reaction after the war struggle, he will travel 
 and study more, serving less for a time. 
 
 Harry has found a company now who claim 
 they can show him a soul reincarnate. With 
 this proof before us, we shall, for a time at least, 
 stop our creative work and try to find our past 
 lives, and by the trend of these see what we lack 
 most, and readjust our work accordingly. We 
 never knew until last night when you read it, 
 that we both, with Hughey's help, might have 
 built a protecting wall about you so those evil 
 souls couldn't have disturbed you. Now, how- 
 ever, you have protected yourself, so perhaps 
 it is just as well. 
 
 There is so much to learn, and we love it all, 
 Harry says he was getting too much absorbed 
 in the marvels of the law to follow up other 
 threads. We all feel that we have learned 
 enough of the Law of Love and Brotherhood 
 to have it become a part of ourselves, so we may 
 follow other lines of knowledge now. 
 
142 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 You can see now that the new ideas don't all 
 come from us ; that you can teach us as well as 
 we you. It's a mutual exchange of benefits. 
 
 Helen. 
 
xxxin 
 
 At Florence, South Carolina. 
 
 Yes, Sister, Helen. I can write if you wish 
 it this evening, but prefer daylight. 
 
 Yes, Harry and I sat with you on the bed 
 and listened to that book. He is going to hunt 
 up that man, and get more data on reincarna- 
 tion. He knows several Masters who teach 
 other things, mostly science along medical lines, 
 but he hasn't been off alone yet on any separ- 
 ate quests for information. 
 
 Can't "Tee" read us some more before din- 
 ner? Thanks. We are all ears. 
 
 Helen. 
 
 143 
 
XXXIV 
 
 October 30, 1914. 
 
 I am here Sister, Helen. 
 
 What do you think we had better do about 
 the preface to the book of our letters? 
 
 Harry says you really needn't write it at all. 
 He thinks as the letters are for private circula- 
 tion only, what need of the conventional pref- 
 ace? Besides B. wouldn't care for those first 
 letters, anyway. Both she and R. are easily 
 shocked, and Harry's letters written just after 
 coming here have a strong earthly flavor. 
 They are in fact, decidedly human. To 
 some this fact is additional proof of the indi- 
 vidual existence after bodily dissolution. 
 Again, however, those strictly masculine pas- 
 sages shock the sense of decorum. They seem, 
 in a way, sacrilegious. The so-called dead are 
 in reality no more holy than they were before 
 they died; but on the other hand custom has 
 built up a sort of sanctified atmosphere about 
 those passed beyond, which it may not be worth 
 
 144 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 145 
 
 while to disturb. It's another of the beautiful 
 Santa Claus myths which hurt no one. 
 
 So as Sister suggests suppose you print the 
 letters as leaflets; then use discrimination in 
 their distribution. Let them stand on their 
 merits, without any word of comment or ex- 
 planation/ 
 
 Yes, Sister, we didn't wish you to stay longer 
 because of what Mamma was doing. You can 
 help her with her giving away her things. Tell 
 her to give as many things outright as she can. 
 It will all help to lighten her own craft, and 
 she can do far higher work there as soon as 
 she has fewer possessions about her. Let her 
 keep what lace and jewelry she can and will 
 wear herself. Only a few choice things she 
 can keep. Let her decide what, and where the 
 things are to go, and then ship them out of the 
 house- This alone will raise her vibrations to a 
 great extent. Simplify life. Cut down the 
 clothing as low as her best judgment counsels. 
 Let her keep no more about her than she could 
 travel with in two trunks. 
 
 1 This in reference to the pamphlet in which some of these 
 letters were first printed for private circulation. — L, E. B. 
 
14.6 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 We wanted you to help her do this. You 
 had better send the pink dress to B. You 
 won't wear it. Send away to her what you see 
 you won't wear this winter. Lace and a few 
 good bits of jeweby you can use, and these 
 won't hurt your progress- Everything else 
 should be wisely passed on. Cut down! Cut 
 down! And then again, cut down! 
 
 We see a great work ahead for you and 
 Mamma, so we want you both cleared for ac- 
 tion. 
 
 Helen. 
 
XXXV 
 
 November 1, 1914. 
 
 Sister: Several of us wish to write to-day, 
 so plan to stay at home. Perhaps I had better 
 write first, as I'll tire you least of any one. 
 What you wished to know was why I didn't 
 write for over twenty years. Two reasons: 
 First, because it was bad for you; and second, 
 because I was being trained for service. 
 
 When any one on your plane has the gift you 
 have of being an able transmitter, or a true 
 medium of communication between the two 
 worlds of earth and spirit, they are, by that 
 quality, a target or focus for all those who live 
 upon the earth on human magnetism. Those 
 vampires — for such they become if allowed — 
 have the power to draw off all the surplus vi- 
 tality of one on your plane, till that one has no 
 reserve left with which to combat disease should 
 he fall a victim to that. 
 
 Worse, these harpies from our side have 
 
 147 
 
148 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 neither judgment nor mercy, and they often 
 take not only their victim's surplus, but what 
 he needs to live upon from day to day, reducing 
 him to a physical as well as a mental wreck. 
 This I learned soon after coming here, and so, 
 not because I lost interest, but as a matter of 
 safeguarding you, I kept away. 
 
 I learned that there are safe means of com- 
 munication open to those whose vibratory rate 
 is high enough to take them above the lowest 
 plane where the vicious live. So, never doubt- 
 ing that sooner or later we would resume our 
 lost connection, I did my part to raise myself 
 above the danger zone. 
 
 Harry has spoken often of how strange it 
 was that you held me so faithfully in your 
 thoughts all these years, as if I were as vital 
 a personality as when I left. I was often with 
 you, especially down in Cuba, and before John 
 came. Harry is sure it indicates a far older 
 and stronger tie in some mental past shared 
 together, loving and loved. Perhaps he is 
 right; I can't say. I prefer proof to surmise. 
 When I see a soul incarnate itself I shall know. 
 Meantime I listen. It is quite possible such 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 149 
 
 a place exists, as this universe is so vast it would 
 take centuries to see it all, and seeing, to under- 
 stand. 
 
 I am one who works and waits for my family, 
 studying and helping all I can. There is time 
 to learn all. 
 
 The "Living Dead Man's" book speaks of a 
 "Churchly Conventional Heaven." Maybe it 
 does exist, but we haven't seen it, and we have 
 consoled many who were hunting it. I, how- 
 ever, have never travelled far, but will travel 
 later. Growth is what we seek now. The 
 "Living Dead Man" was old and wise before 
 he came over here, so he had a right to travel 
 more than we. His book has made a deep im- 
 pression on us here. Grandma E. was espe- 
 cially interested. She and Harry are most 
 congenial. Perhaps she would like to write 
 now, so I will be the link that guides your hand 
 from now on, and let each of those who wish so 
 much to talk to you do so. 
 
 Helen. 
 
XXXVI 
 
 I am your old grandma, Mamie, but Helen 
 had better hold the pencil/ It does not seem 
 long since you took me home on the train and 
 were so thoughtful and kind to me. I neither 
 look nor feel old now, but I am no less your 
 grandmother, for all that. 
 
 Ask your mother to look for that portrait of 
 me she has stored away somewhere, and take it 
 to N. N. loves me very deeply. She remem- 
 bers me in a way that is very gratifying. L. 
 should be generous as well as charitable with 
 N. as they both belong to our workers here, and 
 should feel their comradeship while there. 
 
 Let L. gather up a few keep-sakes and take 
 them with her to N. What other richer gifts 
 she has in mind she may send later, but I hope 
 she will not meet N. now empty-handed. I 
 know that a beautiful gift with sentiment be- 
 hind it warms the heart. It will help me to 
 
 1 The first line of this letter was written in a finer hand than 
 the usual style of these communications. — L. E. B. 
 
 150 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 161 
 
 grow here if my children are in sympathy and 
 harmony. 
 
 L. has a generous heart, and her father's 
 quick, impulsive nature; traits I have learned 
 to appreciate since coming here. 
 
 Yom* father, L., takes a keen interest in all 
 you strive to do. Of all our children you are 
 nearest his heart, because he imderstands you 
 best. 
 
 Give G. the portrait of his father. He longs 
 for it, and it can do him no harm. L. need not 
 fear making mistakes about dividing her keep- 
 sakes wisely. With you to advise, through 
 whom we so easily pass our own desires, she 
 can't go far wrong. 
 
 Ask your mother to try to give N. the little 
 dressing table she used to have. This will be 
 hard to do, I know, but it is the thing N. wishes 
 most, and the gift will warm her heart as no 
 amount of money would. Besides, the sacrifice 
 on L.'s part will lift her higher here than any 
 other one thing I can see. I hope she is now 
 strong enough to make this gift. 
 
 We watch so eagerly every step she takes 
 toward imselfishness, her father and I, and are 
 
152 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 made as happy as we were when as a baby she 
 learned to walk between us. Each wavering 
 step toward the right path is rejoiced over and 
 applauded with an interest and enthusiasm no 
 young parents could exceed. 
 
 She must not forget that she is our first child 
 to set her feet on the upward path. We should 
 have felt ourselves failures but for her. You 
 see it is pathetic, don't you, that we feel this 
 sense of failure about our children? J. is not a 
 failure, but we did not train him. C. is a good 
 boy, but we have left none who have repaired 
 our mistakes, so we look to L. to do more than 
 her share. If she only does that for us we may 
 rest easy, and feel happier about the work we 
 failed to do. 
 
 Thank you for writing all this. I see you 
 will not fail with your boy, Mamie. He is 
 quite a remarkable child already, and with our 
 continued help should accomplish many fine 
 things. 
 
 Perhaps I may come again some day. I ap- 
 preciate the loyal devotion to my memory, and 
 I shall strive to merit all you have given. 
 
 L. C £. 
 
XXXVII 
 
 November 16, 1914. 
 
 All right, Sister, it's Helen. You see how 
 much more easily we come to you after the 
 duties have been done. Harry wishes to talk 
 more. . . . 
 
 It's about the less personal work, Sister. 
 Each individual has two branches of work, both 
 equally important to himself as a progressive 
 soul. One pertains to his smaller individual 
 development. The other is what is required of 
 him as a citizen. We classify in this manner, 
 as it makes our meaning clearer to you. Now, 
 when we are willing to become citizens of the 
 world we live upon, certain sacrifices are de- 
 manded as a guarantee of faith. We must 
 serve our fellows as a community as well as in- 
 dividually. 
 
 Each unit has two sorts of duty, the larger 
 being the secondary in case of personal emer- 
 gency only. One may never lose sight of his 
 
 153 
 
154 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 civic or impersonal duty, because his future life 
 can be assured through that alone, whereas the 
 smaller duty is not sufficient to insure him 
 against individual extinction, as it may be 
 purely selfish. A pubhc service cannot so be 
 if it is sincerely performed. One presupposes 
 sincerity in either case. 
 
 Now when any of you has mind enough to 
 grasp a problem of national ethics or civic re- 
 form, by that fact alone you are made a mem- 
 ber of the class of pubhc servants, and mingled 
 with your intimate family duties and pursuits 
 there must run a strain of active interest in a 
 larger life. It must be your neighbor's welfare 
 you study, along with your own; your city's 
 interest and progressive life ; your nation's atti- 
 tude toward all himian interests both at home 
 and abroad. This will keep your brain and 
 heart open to the larger service required of all 
 who have capacity. A man's or woman's duty 
 is defined by that same test ; capacity to do and 
 be better than some other, less richly endowed. 
 The plan of the entire universe seems to entail 
 working each individual up to his capacity, 
 without either strain or slack; just an even. 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 155 
 
 steady pull, each according to his ability; no 
 more, no less. 
 
 As soon as one's soul is illumined by a 
 glimpse of truth it must assume the obligation 
 of such illumination, must live it. No one is 
 responsible until he has comprehension. Only 
 then does the ''Law" begin to act. An unseen 
 duty does not exist, but once perceived it be- 
 comes imperative. That is why it is both stu- 
 pid and unkind to judge another by our own 
 standards. I am my own best judge, my only 
 best judge. Can a child judge a parent? Can 
 a criminal understand an Emerson? All great 
 teachers have spoken of this, but their words 
 were empty sounds to all but those who were 
 enlightened. Slowly, very slowly the race 
 evolves, circling round and round, ever higher. 
 All are needed to help the mass to keep the 
 pace. 
 
 You will see, as you lighten your barque of 
 personal freight, how much each may do to- 
 ward the general welfare. Keep on passing 
 out your extra goods and chattels to those who 
 still need toys to keep them happy. Chil- 
 dren need content and undisturbed play-time. 
 
156 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 That, too, is a part of growth. Who can say 
 but that the greatest seed of all lies germinat- 
 ing deep within, while the child-heart sits in the 
 sunshine playing with its toys? So, don't be 
 scornful of those to whom their toys seem good. 
 They are growing. Later their adult duty will 
 claim them for its own, as yours does now. 
 The only fault in toys arises when they are cher- 
 ished after their owner has grown beyond 
 them. No one of you can tell the exact mo- 
 ment when the dormant, unseen seed will push 
 its way up into the air and sunshine, a living, 
 green thing. The greatest miracle of all is 
 performed in the dark, unseen. 
 
 Plant life is a good illustration for soul life. 
 We see only after the miracle has been per- 
 formed. Its processes are secret and unseen 
 always. Plant your seed then, and wait, with 
 faith and hope. What you must do will come 
 straight before you if you have eyes to see. 
 Home missions always come first. In one's 
 own house he the materials to build one's char- 
 acter, to perfect one's soul. Are your eyes yet 
 open, or are you still playing happily with toys? 
 I need say no more to-night. Harry. 
 
XXXVIII 
 
 November 19, 1914. 
 
 Helen is here now. 
 
 Let's try writing finer. . . . It's only one of 
 the usual pauses to adjust the vibratory con- 
 nections. All right now. Sister. 
 
 What Harry said last was not quite finished. 
 He wishes me to tell of the things we have 
 learned about the Law. First, you must know 
 that we here live in groups or companies, work- 
 ing or studying along much the same lines; 
 people between certain character or brain lim- 
 its forming one group, those above or below 
 belonging to other classes among those of their 
 own sort. 
 
 When one belongs to an active group or 
 class, one has neither opportunity nor leisure 
 to drift beyond or outside, since strictly adher- 
 ing to the point in hand is one of the main es- 
 sentials of progress. Without concentrated 
 attention one could not expect to master a study 
 
 157 
 
158 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 of anything, or accomplish any actual work. 
 This fact alone will account for much apparent 
 ignorance along other hnes of work or study. 
 We attempt only that which is at the moment 
 within our intellectual grasp. We advance a 
 step at a time. We strive to take each step 
 firmly, and with absolute mastery. 
 
 We arrive on this plane of life at many dif- 
 ferent stages of development, from the sleeping 
 infant to the sage. Between these extremes 
 lies a vast area, peopled by students in every 
 known stage of development. Those who pass 
 the death gate may go directly beyond our 
 reach, so that unless they happened to be per- 
 sonal friends in life, we never are aware that 
 they are here. While no place here seems 
 crowded, yet millions pass and repass. One 
 might sit a lifetime, watching the procession. 
 We pause sometimes, and glance at the long 
 procession passing along our high road; but 
 duty presses, and we may not tarry long in idle- 
 ness here any more than you can there. 
 
 We who belong to the workers of the open 
 field must reheve distress whenever we see it. 
 Some day I shall also pass beyond this plane. 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 159 
 
 when I shall have earned my holiday to rest 
 with you and those I love, I sometimes long 
 for that time, when I get a passing glimpse of 
 what life higher up means for those fitted to 
 live there. I am not discontented; I did not 
 mean that. But sometimes even we grow 
 weary from long continued work, and rest 
 looks inviting. Harry says I work far too 
 continuously, but I had far to travel, and 
 wished to make sure I could have my rest and 
 play-time on as high a plane as my own people 
 could reach, 
 
 A. has gone higher, and many others I once 
 worked with. Even Harry lives always above 
 my own working place. I live part of the time 
 with him, but not half, or I would risk the loss 
 of my connection with you. But let us lay 
 aside personal things for the moment. 
 
 Harry wishes me to say that whenever you 
 forgive those whom you fancy have injured 
 you, you are placing under each a stepping 
 stone to a higher life. It is never the injured 
 party who needs pity, but the one who did the 
 injury. It is in his soul that the weakness lies. 
 Help those who have injured, or rather have 
 
160 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 tried to injure you. They are groping in the 
 dark. Lend a hand. Do them all the service 
 you can. The mean, the selfish, the miserly; 
 these are the starving ones. Their souls are 
 poor and crippled. 
 
 It is almost a subject for a smile to see how 
 your sympathy goes out toward those troubled 
 by the physical hunger. The suffering of these 
 even disturbs your sleep; while those whose 
 souls are starving, shrinking, and shrivelling 
 from lack of heart and generosity, you pass 
 with an uncharitable glance only, and oh, how 
 much more their need! A starving body 
 bravely borne has no real loss to meet. But 
 when a soul starves it faces the only real death 
 in all the universe. Look deeper. Judge 
 more wisely in your charities. A flannel shirt 
 is a pleasant gift in winter to a freezing pauper, 
 true; but a word, a look of sympathy, may save 
 a soul from moral suicide. I wouldn't have 
 you stop giving shirts, but only ask you to real- 
 ize that the kind and patient word, the chari- 
 table judgment, is vastly more important. 
 The poor we have always with us, even if our 
 associates be exclusively millionaires. 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 161 
 
 See that your charity is always alert, and 
 your eyes keen to see another's need- 
 Yes, Sister, I wiU answer questions now. 
 
 Harry has gone with the Master on a tour, 
 with a still greater teacher than "Tee's" 
 brother. After they return perhaps we shall 
 hear their experiences. Edith couldn't go, as 
 John is in her charge; but JuUa and Grandma 
 E. went with them. 
 
 That book you read with "Tee" planted the 
 seed of desire to look further into conditions 
 here. Harry wished to find the records of his 
 past lives, and Julia was going for study too. 
 
 I cannot say that I am lonely exactly, for I 
 have you and Edith and my work; but I miss 
 them. I had learned to depend on Harry for 
 love and sympathy and conversations over ques- 
 tions of constantly occurring importance, so I 
 miss him. I can't say when they will be back. 
 I hope soon. 
 
 [Later.] Sister, don't be blue. It's all 
 right. Cheer up I I love you, and I've just 
 had a message from Harry. He says : 
 
 "Tell Sister we have all been together in 
 other lives, in many combinations of relation- 
 
162 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 ship, so it is not strange we are so closely knit 
 this time. And tell her John is one of those 
 who will have a world message that he can 
 speak in any of three ways this time, as he has 
 earned that right. Tell her to teach him all 
 she laiows of art, as well as religion, that he may 
 begin here where he left off before. Oh, yes, 
 John has been with you repeatedly, as I have, 
 and Helen, and 'Tee,' too. 
 
 "I have been reading our four records, as 
 well as Mamma's and M's, and have found out 
 volumes of interest to us. Any or all of us 
 may have lived one or two isolated lives, but 
 we four belong to the same group. That is, 
 our souls are about equally developed, and we 
 gravitate toward each other repeatedly. . . . 
 
 "After one passes through every emotional 
 combination sex and flesh are heir to, one can 
 then know what others feel and are. One holds 
 the keys which open human hearts, and we may 
 then incarnate and live without any sex ties, 
 having lived enough to lay aside any but 
 friendly feeling. One's love expands only 
 after having been satisfied completely in its sex 
 and family relation. It can then overflow, and 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 163 
 
 fertilize all who need sympathy and under- 
 standing." 
 
 Harry also has learned more about Catholic 
 priests, and how fine their work is. The idea 
 of a celibate life comes from a high ideal. It's 
 what all souls aspire to — ^to live and serve with- 
 out the selfish distraction of a family tie. The 
 idea is splendid and true, but it's only a soul 
 of vast experience who can live such a life per- 
 fectly. If any soul has not been previously 
 satisfied, the strain is too great. It either takes 
 too much will power to fight down the normal 
 sex call, or else the man gives way and becomes 
 what is called a sinner. He is not that; he is 
 simply out of place at the moment. He took 
 the teacher's task too soon; that's all. 
 
 When I spoke of Cathohcs before I was sim- 
 ply ignorant, and should never have given an 
 opinion. I judged by my own small circle, and 
 gave an untrue picture. I'm sorry — doubly so 
 — as you read this narrow opinion to others. 
 Please strike it from your book. I think 
 Father H. as fine a soul as we have seen. 
 
 Sister, your loyalty after what we said makes 
 us feel you are quite safe from any xmworthy 
 
164 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 influence from here. As Harry says: "Sister 
 never swallows us whole." Luckily, I add. 
 
 You can fancy how eager we are to learn all 
 about Harry's reincarnation discoveries. This 
 story will be most instructive and inspiring, as 
 it enables us to get ourselves ready for further 
 work. Now we can plan exactly the sort of 
 work we need most to make us able to help 
 others in our next earth life. It may be we 
 shall separate widely in order to bring the 
 same idea to many peoples by different ave- 
 nues : through science, or teaching in the per- 
 sonal way a priest or preacher does. We shall 
 plan our work here, then when we are quite pre- 
 pared we shall descend and begin to live it out. 
 
 Yes, go to the lecture. Never shirk those 
 things. 
 
 Au revoir, 
 
 Helen. 
 
XXXIX 
 
 November 22, 1914. 
 Helen is here. We wish to begin the story 
 of Harry's travels, so I shall quote Harry di- 
 
 rC^V/La • • • 
 
 It is I, Harry. 
 
 I am in a real dilemma as to just where and 
 how to begin ; also what to tell and what to leave 
 untold, especially the latter. Some ideas are so 
 startling they overshoot the mark and lose their 
 potency as stimulation to swifter, surer action, 
 I find myself embarrassed by riches, which per- 
 chance you will fail to recognize as such. You 
 may well imagine that the fact you pass these 
 letters on deters us from giving much which 
 we should not hesitate to hand over to you 
 alone. I shall trust yom' judgment, as I must 
 if I decide to give all I wish to. 
 
 I was able, with a teacher's help, to trace the 
 
 165 
 
166 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 course of my own soul backward several thou- 
 sands of years; back, in fact, to that lost con- 
 tinent of Atlantis, where I left off, as it opened 
 a vista too absorbing for present needs, 
 
 I saw no life in detail except those which were 
 spent with any of you there now or those here 
 with me now. 
 
 In company with Hughey I traced "Tee's" 
 life path as far back as my own; also Sister's, 
 B's, W's, Mamma's and Papa's; seeing in ad- 
 dition where we first lived joint lives. 
 
 What I tried to find out was the general 
 trend of each from its first vital or moral im- 
 pulse reaching toward the light, as well as what 
 made the fundamental desires of each which 
 carried over from life to life. These differed 
 in most of us, yet drew us back repeatedly to 
 similar environment. 
 
 Mamma has been with Papa over and over 
 again, because he supplemented her nature, and 
 gave her congenial environment for work she 
 felt a deep desire to perform. With the in- 
 tense spirit of the fanatic she has given life af- 
 ter life for her ideal of human liberty. Liberty 
 of mind and soul has been her slogan for a 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 167 
 
 thousand years. Always a woman, she has fre- 
 quently almost unsexed herself for her dream 
 of liberty — personal, individual liberty even 
 more than civil liberty. Hers has been the ef- 
 fort to be and do whatever she felt in her in- 
 most soul was right and just. She, along with 
 nearly every other member of the family, has 
 suffered martyrdom in dozens of different 
 ways. 
 
 That blood-sealed idea seems to lift a soul 
 above selfishness sooner than any other. To 
 give all one has of life and opportunity is do- 
 ing one's utmost to further Truth as we vision 
 it. It was this dream of freedom and personal 
 liberty which made the Christian martyrs such 
 a power. Mamma has given her life repeat- 
 edly, but even giving up at times ceases to be 
 the most effective means of progress. A soul 
 grows vain of that as well as of other things. 
 It gets to be a sort of sanctified habit, and must 
 be eliminated. 
 
 Mamma's present faults spring from an in- 
 ner conviction of being right at bottom every 
 time. A certain balance must be maintained, 
 even in virtue. No soul can endure too much 
 
168 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 virtue consciously. One is apt to make un- 
 charitable judgments. One can see too many 
 fools and weaklings about. In fact, the habit 
 of martyrdom breeds intolerance. 
 
 Mamma is learning. Some day she will ar- 
 rive at the point where a smoker will fail to 
 rouse a spark of criticism, or even of interest. 
 When that day comes she will have learned 
 what she is living for this time. Understand 
 me, it's not the smoke that is bad or good, but 
 what she feels about it, which concerns her. 
 Her attitude is simply a relic of that fanaticism 
 which repeated martyrdom breeds. 
 
 She has the vision of what she died for — per- 
 sonal liberty, not for herself alone, but for each 
 and all. 
 
 Think it over. 
 
 Harey. 
 
XL 
 
 November 27* 1914. 
 Helen is here. Harry is ready with more in- 
 formation about his travels and study. . . . 
 
 It's now Harry. As I said before, I spent 
 much of my time and study on the records of 
 our family, collective as well as individual life 
 history. As the "Living Dead Man" ex- 
 plained in his letters, the past is preserved in 
 records as indestructible as existing Ufe itself, 
 and one's own past is easily read if the will 
 power is strong enough to magnify the pictures 
 which he, layer upon layer, on the tenuous ma- 
 terial used to preserve them. 
 
 One may see any section of one's previous ex- 
 istences at will, like a sort of moving picture, 
 plus the revival in one's heart of each emotion 
 which accompanied the circumstance. This is 
 an improvement on the earth's picture shows, 
 
 169 
 
170 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 which rarely stir my emotion beyond that of 
 interest or amusement, and frequently not even 
 that. Having sketched the manner of becom- 
 ing conscious of one's own past, I shall now 
 go on with the account. 
 
 I was able to follow not only my own past, 
 but that of each member of my family as well 
 as my wife. It was not only a most fascinating 
 and absorbing task, but tremendously inspir- 
 ing to be able to trace from primitive impulse 
 the development of one's conscious, awakening 
 soul ; to note the sort of thing which let in light 
 from time to time; to observe which exper- 
 iences taught truth, and which only befuddled 
 the mind and reason. This was worth more 
 than anything else I can mention as a compari- 
 son. 
 
 Once it was the devotion of a dog which 
 taught me what real love might mean; a love 
 without hope of reward, just devotion pure and 
 simple. Another time it was a long prison sen- 
 tence which tiaught me what freedom — real 
 freedom — was. That showed me that no one 
 is a prisoner except he shut his own heart away 
 from love and pity and the desire to help. 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 171 
 
 You have before you a wonderful example 
 of this same idea in Helen Keller, who is a liv- 
 ing witness of the freedom of a soul. Impris- 
 oned apparently beyond hope, behind the closed 
 door of sense, eyes and ears gone, one would 
 say all was lost in despair. There is no prison 
 flesh can build which has power to enclose and 
 stifle a soul who knows the Law. Unselfish- 
 ness is the key unlocking every closed door. 
 Unselfishness is only another name for love. 
 
 Why are any unhappy? Simply because 
 they are thinking of themselves first. There 
 is neither destruction nor pain nor failure of 
 any sort that the soul who loves has not the 
 power to dispel. Study that statement, 
 please. 
 
 In all my study this one thing stands out as 
 if written in lines of fire. We are our own, and 
 what is more our only destruction. God lies 
 within every one of us, waiting till we discover 
 His presence; then, like the small child who 
 discovers his father in hiding, with a glad cry 
 we clasp our own. We too are God, which 
 means that within every heart that beats there 
 lies the power to do and be all that any man 
 
172 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 on earth has ever been and done. *'What man 
 has done man may do." 
 
 It is as though we sat in the dark with an 
 electric switch within arm's reach, which when 
 touched would send a flood of light about us. 
 The energetic, curious person, sitting so, would 
 feel about, expecting to find the means of light, 
 while the inert would sit quietly accepting the 
 dark as inevitable, or lamenting loudly about 
 his desolate condition. Expect the best, then 
 himt for it with vigor. 
 
 Another thing I discovered was how fre- 
 quently I had made similar mistakes along par- 
 allel lines ; in short, how slow I was to grasp an 
 idea. I seemed to sink before the same situa- 
 tion over and over again, because I had not 
 the brain to grasp underlying principles. 
 
 To illustrate : Two and two sticks of wood 
 equalled four sticks of wood, but two and two 
 apples baffled all my mental equipment. And 
 when it came to two and two acts I sat down 
 in despair and gave it up. This is an illustra- 
 tion merely. 
 
 The fundamental principles underlying any 
 law follow life in every form, and what himian 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 178 
 
 beings take so long to learn is the fact that the 
 Law exists and acts always the same, through 
 an endless variety of conditions. 
 
 The Law is simple, but its aspects are mani- 
 fold, each aspect appearing to us like another 
 law. We look always at the surface of things. 
 Even people of intellectual development do so. 
 One has to dig but a little way beneath the 
 surface to discover the common root. 
 
 I have often watched a fly which had entered 
 a trap by an opening plenty large enough to 
 afford its exit also. Did the fly sit down 
 quietly and flgure out how it got in there, and 
 then reason that if it got in it was equally able 
 to get out? Not at all. It flew distractedly 
 about, panic stricken, luring curious compan- 
 ions into its self sought prison. 
 
 One may smile at the folly of the fly, but how 
 much farther has the human evolved beyond the 
 fly's reasoning power? Behold the European 
 War? Did any of the rulers of Europe sit 
 down quietly and reason out the situation? 
 Not one! Yet any one of them had intelli- 
 gence enough to see that a war never yet ad- 
 vanced any nation, either victor or vanquished. 
 
174 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 any more than any other form of destruction 
 has advanced them — except that what remains 
 is too weak to destroy anything at the moment, 
 and so directs all its energy toward construct- 
 ive employments. 
 
 When hatred has destroyed all it can, the 
 idea of brotherhood flourishes for a time, sim- 
 ply as the normal reaction. The world of men 
 hasn't learned that brotherhood pays, and that 
 hatred and conflict do not. It's a simple law, 
 but they do not see it yet except in isolated 
 groups of individuals. 
 
 They only half believe that honesty pays. 
 But some people do — enough to allow com- 
 merce to flourish. I sometimes wonder at the 
 colossal stupidity of the human race as a whole- 
 Evolution is painfully slow. 
 
 But to return to the topic we started. In 
 records of the past I noted a certain similarity 
 of motive, and a strong desire among us to de- 
 velop, which accoimted for our simultaneously 
 gravitating toward rebirth so often. We are 
 earnest in our desire to know the "truth." 
 Conventions have not deterred us from think- 
 ing things out for ourselves. Individual inde- 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 175 
 
 pendence seems strongly marked. Like the 
 Yankee, "we want to know." 
 
 Fear does not exist on the mental plane. I 
 wonder why the superstition of fear exists with 
 us at all. It is always an indication of ignor- 
 ance. You do not fear death now, nor hell, 
 both being transitory states; merely incidents 
 along the path. Why then fear poverty, or 
 sickness, or loss of sight, or property? 
 
 One must play the game. The child who 
 hugs his ball within his pocket's shelter, fearing 
 he may lose it if he plays the game, we know is 
 silly. Worse! He robs himself of not only 
 the health exercise brings, but the joy of the 
 game, the exhilaration of contest. He is stupid 
 in the extreme who is unwilling to risk his pos- 
 session by throwing it into the open, letting 
 some one else share the game his treasure has 
 power to launch. 
 
 Let us be simple and enjoy playing life's 
 game, regardless of the possible loss of our ball. 
 The real treasure, of course, is what oiu* souls 
 can extract from the play. 
 
 Each must use whatever he is, or has, in as 
 many ways, and for the benefit of as many peo- 
 
176 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 pie, as possible. I don't mean to say one 
 should crowd one's talents or attentions on out- 
 siders, but that the personal gifts or posses- 
 sions we enjoy must be cultivated, and divided 
 or shared with those whose lives touch ours, and 
 whose need seems to require what we can give. 
 
 Hoarding is criminal as well as stupid. It 
 is a sort of colossal selfishness no one can afford 
 to indulge in. Haven't you intelligence 
 enough to realize the truth of that statement? 
 
 When you have two chairs, and are able to 
 occupy but one, and there are others with no 
 chair, a very little arithmetic will show that the 
 extra chair in your possession is out of place. 
 To be still more explicit : this house has at least 
 three or four beds too many. Three or four 
 guest beds should be enough in any house. Ex- 
 ceed that number and you are doing some one 
 else, somewhere, a wrong. Those extra beds 
 must be used. Look about you and see who 
 needs them. It is the same with fifty other 
 things. Get them moving. Pass them on. 
 Don't be stupid, please. Give away more 
 clothes, rags, junk of all sorts. Let most of 
 your keepsakes be in the hearts of other people. 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 177 
 
 I repeat, don't hoard anything from furni- 
 ture to ideas. The real things are free. Love, 
 service, ideas, landscapes, God; all are or should 
 he common to all. 
 
 I talk too long. 
 
 Harry. 
 
XLI 
 
 December 3, 1914. 
 
 Sister ; I will repeat what I told you before, 
 and you destroyed as merely personal. It ap- 
 plies to any one else who has lost all or part 
 of any of their five senses. The Law never 
 varies. 
 
 I told you that it puzzled us to know why, 
 before you had time to commit any sin, scarlet 
 fever had destroyed your eyes to such an ex- 
 tent you had to forego all those pursuits that 
 you were both fitted for and loved best. We 
 had been here long enough to see that the loss 
 of sight always indicated brutal selfishness and 
 injury of another. Why then were you 
 stricken, when you were guilty of neither of 
 these? 
 
 Harry always insisted that reincarnation 
 would solve many baffling problems, did we 
 only accept that theory of life. We knew 
 there was no injustice in the universe, hence 
 
 178 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 179 
 
 there must be somewhere a perfectly good and 
 just reason for your loss of sight; a moral 
 reason. There are no physical expressions 
 anywhere without a moral or spiritual cause. 
 So without any prejudice we started to discover 
 the Law. Harry found a teacher whose task is 
 to read the records of life, past and present, and 
 by these records he found that the individual 
 soul lived many earth lives in order to gather 
 its education, or evolve its God-self. 
 
 He saw away back in the experience of your 
 soul that you had wantonly put out the eyes 
 of a little child, then abandoned it to its fate. 
 For this brutal and selfish act you, because of 
 your ignorance, must learn that such an act was 
 wrong. Being ignorant and blind of soul, it 
 took a long, long time to teach you the real 
 lesson of blindness. Four times you were born 
 blind, and always you were unhappy and 
 mourned your cruel fate. Three times then 
 you were given partial sight. Still, through 
 life after life, you thought only of your own 
 privations, your own lack of opportunity to be 
 great. Then little by little the bitterness 
 melted out of your heart. Resentment at joxxr 
 
180 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 condition passed into a cheerful acceptance of 
 conditions. Only within a few years now, has 
 light dawned in your soul. 
 
 Now you feel a sort of despair that the great- 
 est loss of all comes through your being helpless 
 to serve those you love. You cannot read to 
 your boy, nor to your husband, nor to your par- 
 ents, whose sight is going also. This hurts. 
 This impotence when help is needed is mad- 
 dening, and this suffering has paid your debt. 
 You will never be blind again. 
 
 Not what you lost, but what you could not 
 give! Not what any of us suffer, no matter 
 where, for our personal privation, but what we 
 are powerless to give others, is the illumination 
 of the Law. 
 
 So long as those without money bemoan their 
 personal privation they will be poor over and 
 over again. Until they see that poverty pre- 
 vents them from helping those in a worse plight 
 they have missed their lesson. 
 
 To serve our fellows is one of the two fun- 
 damental means of growth. Until we accept 
 that, we remain in the kindergarten of life, and 
 suffer blindly. There is no torment equal to 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 181 
 
 a baffled desire to serve. After we learn that, 
 we can enter the class which has dominion over 
 all the elements of earth. We then may wield 
 real power. 
 
 Jesus taught this law of service over and 
 over, to a blind people. They, as well as you, 
 worshipped gain. Success meant the posses- 
 sion of material things. The conception of 
 success with most of you has not altered much. 
 You know nothing of power — ^real power. 
 You can torture a dog or a man until through 
 fear of physical violence he obeys your com- 
 mand. Power could have obedience more com- 
 plete through the voluntary service of both 
 dog and man because of love. 
 
 True love casteth out fear, and there has now 
 and then been a man so fearless, so full of love 
 for all living things, that he masters them, and 
 to him comes no harm from any. There is a 
 brotherhood of life which will give one a true 
 dominion over the earth. 
 
 What is power? Surely not the ability to 
 trap and cage a wild beast. That is only stu- 
 pid force. Power is that quaUty in the soul of 
 man which can make a wild beast lie beside one 
 
182 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 and lick his feet in dumb symbol of devotion, 
 and a great love is the only means of achieving 
 such power. When a king is so strong that his 
 subjects will lay aside selfish desires for his 
 sake, he is truly a king. 
 
 Love and absolute brotherhood between man 
 and beast is the solution of all the earth's prob- 
 lems. Cheerful, loving service is far ahead of 
 the sullen task compelled by a lash of any sort. 
 
 How blind and stupid most people are. It 
 is pitiful. Forgive your enemy. It is the 
 only way to help him learn his lesson. Serve 
 him. Be patient. Forgive seventy times 
 seven. 
 
 How many of us forgive at all? Some one 
 has hurt us, we who are kind and good and well 
 meaning. Therefore that one is mean, cruel, 
 base. We hate and shun him. We let him 
 severely alone and thank God that we are dif- 
 ferent. Are we? 
 
 Even a very low type of man finds it ex- 
 ceedingly difficult to injure a person repeat- 
 edly who bears no resentment and even per- 
 forms services for him. The voice of the God 
 within cries out to his other self in the heart of 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 183 
 
 one who returns good for evil, and in time the 
 injurer must bow to its power. 
 
 Love — not hate — conquers. 
 
 The God within the heart of man is the only- 
 ruler who is victorious beyond any doubt. The 
 tangled skein of human life will all come 
 straight when each has learned that one truth. 
 How long will it be before more than a pitiful 
 handful at a time will learn that? 
 
 Helen. 
 
 December 10, 1914. 
 
 Yes, Sister, we are both ready to write, 
 Harry first. 
 
 Tell Marie I am delighted with her life as she 
 has been living it. She may be certain I know 
 and feel all her trials, as well as see and ap- 
 plaud her successes. We live nearer now than 
 before, which seems strange, doesn't it? But 
 clearer understanding always brings people 
 closer together. She may do whatever seems 
 best in her judgment, and bank on my being 
 pleased and satisfied every time. She can't 
 possibly fail because she has the true spirit of 
 
184 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 unselfishness. I marvel at the beauty of her 
 soul every day she lives. 
 
 Tell Marie I am learning from her, and try- 
 ing to make good here as she does there. She 
 is one of my most powerful inspirations. A 
 wife like her is a gold mine to any man if he 
 only knew it. "Tee" knows, and I know, but 
 few can see it. It takes men ages to see what 
 they owe to the woman soul. But they are 
 waking up all along the line, up here as well 
 as with you. 
 
 Tell Marie that A. won't hurt her in any way 
 so long as she can keep her own spirit happy 
 and serene. A's darker nature is powerless 
 against any who stand in the sun. M. knows 
 what that means. Just let her live her hfe as 
 usual, and she will be impervious to harm from 
 any one. 
 
 Do try. Sister, to rise above that angry feel- 
 ing A. inspires. It is stupid for it hurts your 
 own soul. A. can harm none but himself un- 
 less the others allow hate and unkind judg- 
 ments to enter into their own hearts. Only 
 what is within can hurt us. No danger, no 
 harm comes from without. Everything, good 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 185 
 
 or bad, comes first from within our own na- 
 tures. This attracts to itself either good or 
 bad. Like seeks like. This is the law. If 
 you would love and pity A, instead of knocking 
 and hating him, you would call out all the 
 natural good in him, and so help to save his 
 soul. Can't you at least try that method? 
 You all know the Law. Why don't you live it ? 
 Never say a word again in criticism. Keep 
 still and pray for more love. See how much 
 it will improve the situation. It is the only 
 way out. Do, we beg of you, try. "Buck 
 up!" 
 
 Harry. 
 
XLII 
 
 December 15, 1914. 
 
 Helen is here now, and Harry will be here 
 later. He has asked me to write first this time, 
 as he has important work on hand. 
 
 When you were so busy at home yesterday, 
 we were making up our next year's outline, 
 looking ahead to see in what direction it would 
 be best for you to travel. The future stretches 
 out ahead of you in a sort of picture. Yet, un- 
 like the past, it is capable of slight alterations 
 by us, and could be entirely changed by you 
 were you to set your will power against it. 
 
 You see, life is like a game of chess. With 
 some types you can know in advance just what 
 sort of moves they will make under given con- 
 ditions, and what conditions they will create 
 under certain combinations of emotions or feel- 
 ing. We can, for instance, tell in advance with 
 absolute certainty what some people will do if 
 
 186 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 187 
 
 confronted with poverty or loss of any sort. A 
 fine, strong nature, with a closely knit will, 
 never fails to rise and put forth greater effort 
 than before ; while a weak, selfish nature whines 
 and then looks for an easy berth, a pleasant way 
 out. To these latter, physical ease and free- 
 dom from responsibiUty are always sought, and 
 excuses given for accepting them when even 
 personal honor is sacrificed. 
 
 No strong soul ever yields to dishonor, no 
 matter what the pressure from without. Only 
 a weakhng prefers physical ease to death when 
 such an issue presents itself. 
 
 Will is free, always. But only the strong 
 make destiny or the path carved out of life by 
 will — will and desire. 
 
 There is no future we can read in advance 
 for a strong soul, because at any moment he 
 may alter the course of his life and create a 
 different environment. We cannot see the in- 
 ner flash of conviction which directs one soul 
 this way, and another that. 
 
 When any one becomes aware of the fact 
 that he is in a school, with tasks before him 
 which must be mastered, he then gravitates to- 
 
188 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 ward the environment where this or that lesson 
 can be best learned. There is a center in each, 
 which if perceived, will be a sure guide to one's 
 best development. Like a magnet it will draw 
 to one all the requisite tools or conditions for 
 the performance of one's necessary work. It 
 is in very truth the voice of God, and it comes 
 only from within. We must listen to that in- 
 ner voice. It is there, if we only knew, or had 
 faith to believe. 
 
 Look at the history of all so-called "Holy 
 ones." Contemplation, silence, prayer, retire-- 
 ment, were large factors in the life of each. 
 Why? They were waiting in the silence for 
 the voice of God to speak from their own cen- 
 ter. 
 
 We prattle a lot of God, but how many real- 
 ize for a moment that it is the personal presence 
 of God at the center of each which enables him 
 to exist? 
 
 God is Life. God is the Creator, and he cre- 
 ates constantly, continuously, throughout the 
 universe. That is the secret of life. God is 
 behind and through everything, from a rock 
 to a man, planet, or sim. All have life. All 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 189 
 
 vibrate. All move. Law is the will of God. 
 It is the fundamental impulse of living, the 
 push from within. 
 
 Force is the greater xmit of life. Or, putting 
 it another way, a forceful man is one who has 
 gathered gradually to his center more of God, 
 more of creative power. As any soul opens his 
 mind to truth, more light flows into him, 
 through him. God is within each; but not all 
 of God, only a fragment. The plan is to add 
 to this fragment from without until it becomes 
 greater and greater. By looking within" we 
 become aware of the nature of God or Life. 
 Then we may recognize him when we see him 
 without. 
 
 When one "Knows God" he has the key to 
 all wisdom, for thereafter he gathers only true 
 knowledge, and encumbers his soul with noth- 
 ing valueless. 
 
 Knowledge is power. Why? Because one 
 is then carrying no weights whatever, but is 
 free to advance and to serve. One is like a 
 splendid athlete stripped for battle or contest; 
 every ounce counts. There is no waste any- 
 where, no drag or impediment. One can then 
 
190 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 carve his own fortune, direct his own destiny. 
 He is then Free. 
 
 When one has this power, one can master 
 circumstances as easily as a man wades a brook. 
 Jesus had the power to conquer an earthly 
 kingdom, but with that power came the wisdom 
 to see how paltry and childish such ambitions 
 are. The possession of dead riches is unwor- 
 thy the desire of an adult human soul. The 
 living treasure of the hearts of men was the 
 kingdom Jesus sought; the kingdom of Heaven 
 within each human heart. 
 
 Locked within each living thing lies the 
 treasure, God. Jesus tried to open these inner 
 doors and disclose to each soul its eternal riches. 
 Love only can penetrate into the inner recesses 
 of any soul; love, patient and hopeful. The 
 doors may be thick, but no matter how far be- 
 low the surface of a man the light is buried, it 
 is surely there, waiting discovery, liberation. 
 If it were not there, life, even of body, would 
 be extinct. "While there is life there is hope," 
 is only too true ; hope that to-day some one may 
 love enough to open that heart and free the 
 imprisoned glory. 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 191 
 
 When we criticize or condemn, we are thick- 
 ening the wall between that person's God and 
 the light without. When we insist upon his 
 goodness, his better nature, we are removing 
 some of the entombing material, and helping 
 him toward freedom and light. We must be- 
 lieve in every one's best. That is one of the 
 greatest lessons Jesus tried to teach: charity 
 toward all. "Father, forgive them, for they 
 know not what they do." He knew those 
 who persecuted him were building walls 
 about their own hearts, darkening their own 
 lives. 
 
 It is almost Christmas time. Let us all 
 think of what that means, and live the Christ 
 life more fully. Let us try during this year 
 ahead of us to love with a deeper, truer, more 
 intelligent love, serving all who touch our lives, 
 by a splendid faith in their best. Let us have 
 the humble spirit of one who knows his own 
 limitations. No one can feel superior so long 
 as there lies in his own mind an uncharitable 
 thought for any other. 
 
 Give yourselves this test of faith, and see how 
 you can emerge from it. We are all children 
 
192 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 of God. Some of us are older and wiser than 
 others, but we belong to the same family. 
 
 Let us join hands and wish each other God- 
 speed. 
 
 Helen. 
 
 When you gather round the table Christmas 
 Day, remember us here, and feel that we too 
 share in your Christmas cheer. We love to feel 
 you count us in when you are all together. 
 
 We feel happier this year than ever before, 
 and hope you realize what these letters mean 
 to us. 
 
 With all the love and service we have the 
 power to give, we wish you a Merry Christmas, 
 and a happy, useful, and prosperous New Year, 
 
 Helen and Harry. 
 
 All of us join in this greeting. 
 
XLIII 
 
 January 17, 1915. 
 
 Helen is here. Oh, yes, I've been wanting 
 to get you for days. It's for the news about 
 Harry. Something quite wonderful has hap- 
 pened to him. He has gone with Hughey for 
 a trip through space to study other planets, 
 and will go right on with his music study, get- 
 ting deeper iijto the heart of it by seeing its 
 force or power in the eternal rhythm of planets 
 and worlds, and all sorts of big whirling bodies. 
 
 Hughey and Harry are studying the rela- 
 tion of music to force, or that push from behind 
 which implies motion, the evolving of things. 
 You know motion or vibration is continuous, 
 and each atom evolves and combines into forms, 
 and as things progress they sing, or create 
 tones, musical or otherwise, as the motion is 
 smooth or jerky, rhythmic or broken. Noth- 
 ing lives or moves without sound. Even vege- 
 
 193 
 
194 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 tation sings its growth song. The ripping and 
 snapping of an opening bud is a sort of music, 
 were your ears keen enough to hear. 
 
 Seeing all this, we got the idea that behind all 
 growth, which is another term for evolution, 
 lay a great principle connected with music ; in 
 fact, that music was a part of life itself. Now 
 what we wished to know was its effect on 
 growth ; whether it is only a result, and not co- 
 equal or coordinate with cause. 
 
 These are not the right words. I will try 
 again; whether music is so united with life force 
 as to be a part of it, and not a by-product 
 merely; that it is really what you would call 
 useful material instead of a luxury or thing of 
 beauty merely. 
 
 Beauty, we feel, is never a useless or orna- 
 mental thing. It is of deep and vital use. 
 Trace anything back to its source, and one will 
 find it a vital factor in the evolution or develop- 
 ment of God. I know this sounds rather wild, 
 but if God includes all life, then God is in the 
 process of growth. Believing ourselves a part 
 of Divinity, we study to understand the plan 
 of this everlasting opening up and growing 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 195 
 
 from the "in" outward, this continuous circling 
 through life forms. 
 
 Of course it is simple and easy to say God is 
 all, God is Life, God is Soul, and let it go 
 at that. But within each unit we call individ- 
 ual there is a restless, poignant desire to know, 
 to find out the why, and how, and when. No 
 matter on what plane a soul may be, it is never 
 content for long. The inward desire pushes it 
 on to learn the enclosed truth, the hidden an- 
 swer to the human question, why? 
 
 We say this is vital, and that is unimportant. 
 We say art, music, acting, sculpture are all the 
 ornamental, unimportant work of men. Did 
 you ever stop to think that in the heart of the 
 flower lies the seed of the plant? It's not the 
 roots nor the leaves, but the apparent ornament 
 of bloom, which is most vital to a plant. In its 
 beauty is hidden its future. 
 
 The soul of a people lies in its art. In the 
 so-called flower of its civilization, and away 
 back of this, lies some vital truth yet undiscov- 
 ered; the mechanical force, if you will, of the 
 so-called ornaments of life. What inherent 
 power has music, for instance, that being the 
 
196 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 aspect of art we study. It is this the two men 
 have gone to seek out if they can find it. 
 
 You must go now. Tell Papa it is better 
 here because we create our own sunshine. 
 
 Helen. 
 
XLIV 
 
 January 22, 1915. 
 
 All right. Sister. Thanks for waiting. I 
 was with Grandma E. She is working in her 
 flowers for knowledge of cures for spiritual ail- 
 ments. You know what wonders are contained 
 in odors ; what a close link there is between the 
 sense of smell and the emotions. People with 
 you study little into this side of science, which 
 we find so useful, as well as fascinating. 
 
 Mental states can be altered and controlled 
 through the introduction of a perfume or dis- 
 agreeable odor. Grandma, loving flowers as 
 she does, drifted quite naturally into this study; 
 and being also a born teacher, she uses her gifts 
 in combination with wonderful results. 
 
 Each soul has a special perfume which seems 
 a sort of personal property, and which will af- 
 fect it more than any other. As you have 
 guessed, yours is the tube rose. That belongs 
 to you on your present plane, though the rose 
 
 197 
 
198 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 odor La France also belongs to you. If I were 
 you I would discard any other perfume and 
 stick to roses. They mean something, and can 
 help you on your way. 
 
 "Tee" needs you. Sister. . . . 
 
 It's rather hard to keep from advising you to 
 do things. That is why I stopped then. It is 
 better for you to work it out for yourselves. 
 You will give the best advice, I feel sure. 
 
 "Tee" needs you even more than he is aware. 
 It may be wise for him to take a long rest, and 
 look at life from a different angle for a while. 
 He must do what looks best to him, remember- 
 ing that a detour sometimes brings the revela- 
 tion of an even better path upward. Detours 
 matter very little if the main direction be kept; 
 and when taken with faith and a desire to do 
 and be what is best, they never fail to reveal 
 finer things. 
 
 Helen. 
 
XLV 
 
 January 26, 1915. 
 
 As we promised, we are here. Harry will 
 write now, or rather dictate, as usual. 
 
 I scarcely know how or where to begin my 
 story, Sister. Hughey, Edith and I, with a 
 great teacher who acted as guide, were taken 
 to several other planets inhabited by beings who 
 were once just people hke us. I can't describe 
 what they seem to be. They are infinitely 
 finer, clearer eyed, and more beautiful than we, 
 being a race made up wholly of what we speak 
 of as ideal; in coloring, form, grace of move- 
 ment, and melodiousness of voice, just each a 
 perfect human creature. But — and here all 
 likeness ceases — absolutely devoid of material 
 ambition, lust of power or possession. A race 
 of students, living for the good of the race; 
 utterly unselfish; able to train and use ele- 
 ments as we use carpenters' tools, yet seeing be- 
 fore them as much to learn, apparently, as we 
 do. 
 
 199 
 
200 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 Seeing these people and glimpsing their 
 horizon lifted my spirit beyond the fear of ever 
 being depressed. Life, this big splendid un- 
 foldment, is so tremendously interesting and 
 inspiring, that one has no time to sit down and 
 snap at flies. Just as if you were there watch- 
 ing some magnificent pageant you would be ut- 
 terly oblivious to a mosquito biting your ankle. 
 That is the way the petty bickerings and heart- 
 aches of your lives look after a glimpse of that 
 other. Life further on is so beautiful, so splen- 
 did, so full of work and power to do, it takes 
 one's breath just to see it, and realize that we 
 are candidates for that larger life if we keep 
 on doing our best ; keep on weeding out of our 
 lives the non-essentials; keep on striving to- 
 ward the highest we can conceive. 
 
 Each turn of the wheel brings revelation, an 
 opening out of the higher path. What seems 
 vital at one point a little further on drops out 
 of the picture altogether. 
 
 Growth, change, is vital. Anything which 
 tends to harden om* outlines is suicidal. We 
 are petrifying when we hold on to anything, 
 either material, mental, or moral, after we get 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 201 
 
 a glimpse of better things. We must leave our 
 minds open to revelation, to change, to expan- 
 sion. I feel we may have done you a wrong 
 when telling you to hold to this or that form of 
 work. Holding on to anything indefinitely is 
 a dangerous attitude of mind. One's mind as 
 well as one's heart should be kept expectant, 
 ready to see the next lesson God presents. 
 
 I am not half so sure now as I was a short 
 time ago, that I know what is best. I have 
 seen whole systems melt and break up and ap- 
 parently dissolve, and out of the chaos I have 
 seen rise something far more beautiful, more 
 subtly true than the first, and yet containing 
 the same elements, the same life, the same big 
 desire. 
 
 Having seen, I hasten back to you, not to 
 unsay what I have said before, but to add a fur- 
 ther word of hope. Through all life, all work, 
 runs a golden thread of eternal truth; through 
 each task, be it a duty or an art, a mere liveli- 
 hood, or a love. The things we do are just dif- 
 ferently colored and variously shaped beads on 
 the same string. The Creator cares as much 
 for the bead of clay or glass as the jewel of 
 
202 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 gold, but each must be strung on the thread of 
 honest desire and unselfish devotion. 
 
 My horizon has opened out. I see now that 
 music and so-called art work is absolutely the 
 same as any other result of honest human ef- 
 fort. What matters in any work is the spirit 
 back of it, the love we mix with it. Now it is 
 possible, as I say, to love every sort of work 
 equally, and to turn from one to the other with- 
 out altering one atom in the combination. 
 
 What is our pet work or preference? It re- 
 sults merely from our childish idea that good is 
 limited. A child likes only one or two sorts of 
 food at first. Gradually it learns that food is 
 meant mainly to sustain life, and there are 
 many sorts of food capable of that service. It 
 is so with work. What any work is for is to 
 develop the soul and help mould character. 
 We begin by doing only what we find most at- 
 tractive. Later, as we progress beyond the 
 infant class, we see that any and all work is 
 good, if it be needed, and that the need of the 
 work, not the desire of the worker, is its raison 
 d'etre. 
 
 Character grows in any climate, but only by 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 203 
 
 the adult mind can this truth be perceived. 
 Human beings continually seek congenial en- 
 vironment, the work they love; when all they 
 need is a realization of the principles of human 
 development, and the desire to evolve. It is 
 imperative that each soul give his or her utmost, 
 no matter what or how, the main thing being 
 that we give to the utmost. 
 
 If one possesses some great gift one should 
 naturally cultivate that and share it gener- 
 ously. But unless one has the gift, the call is 
 only for one's best. Use one's mind in selec- 
 tion of work, but if circumstances seem to hem 
 one in, then do cheerfully the next best thing, 
 knowing for a certainty all roads lead to the 
 same goal. 
 
 Why do artists starve in garrets when there 
 is so great a need for field hands? Simply be- 
 cause they are stupid, and believe there is only 
 one road to glory. Do what needs to be done, 
 whether it is in your chosen line or not. It is 
 just as good a means of building fine things 
 into your character as the work you prefer, per- 
 haps better. 
 
 Life and growth are free and within the 
 
204 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 reach of all. Fit your work to your environ- 
 ment, and keep on improving your methods- 
 You see what I mean? Get the underlying 
 principle of anything and you can then soon 
 master all its combinations. 
 
 That's all for now. I see you are tired. 
 Sister. Thanks. 
 
 Harry. 
 
XLVI 
 
 January 30, 1915. 
 Here we are, Sister. You have learned the 
 best way to us now, doing duties first. This 
 always leaves your mind and heart open to our 
 influences. Harry wishes to talk again. This 
 time it is for "Tee" only. . . . 
 
 *'Tee," old pal, let's have another heart to 
 heart talk, which isn't possible, as I expect to 
 do another monologue. I want to teU what I 
 saw in your past lives, in order that you may 
 save both time and energy in eliminating the 
 unprofitable elements you have acquired along 
 the unknown path. 
 
 I suppose the Creator knows his own busi- 
 ness best, but there have been moments when I 
 felt I could suggest improvements. For in- 
 stance, had I been running affairs I should have 
 been a httle more open about this reincarna- 
 tion plan of elevating the individual. Why 
 
 205 
 
206 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 let a soul boggle along blindly for numberless 
 lives when just a friendly tip would have il- 
 luminated the whole situation and enabled him 
 to plan with far less waste? 
 
 I can't for the hf e of me reconcile myself to 
 the waste I see repeatedly going on all through 
 natiu'e, from acorns and seeds to people. Of 
 course I'm no such fool as to imagine I could 
 have planned things better. But being limited 
 in vision I see apparent waste all along the hne. 
 However, that is neither here nor there, such 
 discussion being "jolly" pure and simple. God 
 knows; I don't. That's the whole thing in a 
 nutshell. 
 
 Well, to continue. A man's memory of his 
 plural past would save repetition of mistakes, 
 as it takes numberless incidents of the same 
 type to cut a dent deep enough to mould con- 
 duct. 
 
 For instance, if you were aware that you had 
 been born and bred a tyrant or ruler repeatedly, 
 you would examine carefully into the qualities 
 likely to develop as a consequence, and watch 
 with keenest interest the mental and moral 
 warpings which are the logical fruit of 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 207 
 
 such environment. Intolerance and self-will 
 being the commonest traits developing under 
 these conditions, one should in each subsequent 
 life make an effort to cultivate such opposite 
 tendencies as would balance the character. 
 
 He who is master of tener than slave, develops 
 the selfish pleasure of the monarch, and enjoys 
 doing rather than being, giving rather than tak- 
 ing. I have my doubts about its being better 
 to give than to receive. I find it requires a far 
 higher type of man to accept favors with dig- 
 nity and grace than it does to shower blessings 
 on a flattering populace. 
 
 Of course there is a giving which is splendid, 
 and a taking which is degrading, but many of 
 us have not yet reached the stage where we en- 
 joy accepting from others. We have this big 
 thing yet to learn: to be ennobled by a favor, 
 humbled by giving. 
 
 We must give that which we cherish most, 
 ourselves, our ideas, our privacy, our sacred 
 reserves, all with love. . . . 
 
 You desire what yoiu- heart cries out for, and 
 should Fate deny you, life would be more or 
 less a makeshift. Isn't that true? Could you 
 
208 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 ever give up your chosen work gladly? Not 
 yet, I fancy. I didn't. No man does until the 
 truth has been rubbed in so often that it reaches 
 the bones. But if you knew and believed, as I 
 do now, that one does not need one's fancied 
 heart's desire to get the utmost out of life, that 
 any life spent chasing one's heart's desire is 
 pure waste, one would sit down and figure out 
 just what would net him the most progress in 
 the long rim, and forget everything else of a 
 strictly personal nature. 
 
 Far be it from me to coerce any human be- 
 ing, but I will lay open your past in its main 
 points and let you look at it. 
 
 You owe a great deal to John. He has been 
 your stepping stone to success over and over 
 throughout the past, and this is yoiu' first op- 
 portunity to repay him for these repeated 
 favors. It looks to me as though you would 
 have a great chance to make good. Sister is 
 also in his debt, and it is up to her too. 
 
 Your instinct would suggest there was a 
 duty in that quarter, and, being parents, you 
 would see in convention an added help. But 
 it strikes me that a knowledge of facts would 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 209 
 
 help even more and preclude the chance of any 
 mistake. John is the one person you two are 
 put here to further on his way. Whatever 
 move brings more into his life is the move you 
 should make. You both will best further your 
 ultimate progress by seeing to his. 
 
 This is the main subject about which I 
 wished to speak. Think it over, "Tee," and 
 you, too. Sister. Be sure you do everything 
 gladly, freely, and because you honestly wish 
 it. Otherwise it is all wasted sacrifice with a 
 sting in it. A shadow of regret renders worth- 
 less ; remember that. 
 
 Better trot right along as you are xmless you 
 can hand over your entire output without a 
 qualm or reservation of any sort. If you can 
 hand over everything, then his debt is paid in 
 full, and you two are again free. 
 
 How is it? 
 
 Harry. 
 
XL VII 
 
 February 1, 1915. 
 
 As we are so far along the road to self knowl- 
 edge, I wish to say something more about the 
 difficulty of seeing and doing what is best in 
 the ultimate. 
 
 Being aware that I am of necessity a most 
 imperfect product, I have sometimes an almost 
 panicky feeling of self distrust. But after sit- 
 ting down quietly and taking my bearings, I 
 see that while I am in a most humiliating state 
 of partial development, I may, in spite of that 
 fact, be nearer the light than you, and so I am 
 in a position to help you at least a little way 
 toward illumination. 
 
 You are blind. I am just opening my eyes 
 a trifle. Then if I refuse to give what I have, 
 however pitifully small the gift, I am vain, and 
 therefore hold back that little because of its 
 smallnessj when perhaps you could only re- 
 ceive that much, and more would pass your 
 comprehension. 
 
 210 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 211 
 
 I want you to know that I do not preach to 
 you as from an eminence, for I am lifted only 
 the merest trifle above your own range of vi- 
 sion, seeing merely a bit more of the vast hori- 
 zon we all long to achieve. I beg you won't 
 take the small fragments of truth I write as the 
 gospel of final truth. I only pass you the best 
 I have, with the assurance of a sincere desire 
 to help, and the belief that one's progress is 
 never ending, but is, in fact, continuous, toward 
 Godhood. 
 
 Always believe in change and growth, as well 
 here with us as there with you. As we evolve 
 we perceive the higher law, law being progres- 
 sive as well as other things. I want to make 
 this quite clear to both you and ''Tee." 
 
 Another thing I wish to ask of you is never 
 to take any statement from me without first 
 testing it out in the crucible of your own high- 
 est judgment. It is difiicult to transmit ideas 
 across the border of differing life elements, and 
 errors often occur through no fault that can 
 be avoided. Up to now these errors have been 
 so few as to count but little. However, I real- 
 ize the danger of possible mistakes and errors 
 
212 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 as our work widens out, and I want to warn you 
 to allow for such possible accidents. Common 
 sense is your one safeguard. Accept nothing 
 which fails to pass that test, and you are safe. 
 
 Of course we are all happy that our small 
 efforts have proved so helpful, and this makes 
 us feel that we may do even better with your 
 help. What people need is hope and comfort, 
 and the conviction that life is continuous, both 
 before and after death. The more people who 
 beheve this, the sooner will arrive the age of 
 brotherhood. One's ambition must be trans- 
 ferred from material success to spiritual in- 
 sight. Work to get must be altered into ef- 
 fort to become. Happiness follows the one 
 who is on the upward path of becoming. 
 
 Of course one should be a doer, but one must 
 also be. To do the decent thing one is just 
 obliged to be decent. Be decent then first, or 
 the veneer of doing decently will some day 
 crack off and show the sham beneath, and to be 
 discovered a sham is about the greatest humilia- 
 tion one can undergo. 
 
 To the one who has fought the fight for self 
 mastery sympathy is easy, so if you find your- 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 213 
 
 self judging some fellow traveller harshly be- 
 cause of some particularly mean trait, that will 
 be proof positive you yourseK have never con- 
 quered it within your own heart. For if you 
 had, you would realize the struggle entailed, 
 and so accord a sympathy both deep and sin- 
 cere. The victor is always generous, and in 
 moral conflicts the victory is gained by such a 
 narrow margin invariably, that one feels he 
 has escaped only by the grace of God, and so 
 feels a true sympathy for the one who must 
 fight the same bitter and perilous battle with 
 his inner enemy. No one ever wins an easy 
 victory. It takes his utmost effort, and the 
 result rests upon a hair's breadth, so no one 
 can feel superior to his neighbor. 
 
 Give each struggling soul the helping hand 
 of a kindly sympathy. He needs all he can 
 get, and then may fail. Do you care to be 
 the one who helped his failure? Are you in a 
 position to cast the first stone? 
 
 Each harsh thought we indulge in is a drag 
 on the soul who is battling for his eternal life. 
 How cowardly in anyone to cripple another, 
 either before or during his conscientious strug- 
 
214 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 gle to master his inner enemy. How dare we, 
 when we know we shall reap what we sow? 
 How dare we throw that boomerang? No one 
 who knows oppresses in any way the weak, I 
 hate to appeal to your desire for self preserva- 
 tion, but I can. 
 
 You may save your hfe by wilhngly giving 
 it up, but you lose it permanently by saving it, 
 by sacrificing another. You gain by giving, 
 not by grasping. The miser is the greatest 
 pauper of them all. But I have spoken of this 
 law often before. 
 
 Adios^ 
 
 Haery. 
 
XLVIII 
 
 February 7, 1915. 
 
 All right, Sister. I'm here, Helen. 
 
 To-morrow is my birthday, and we shall cele- 
 brate it by a visit with you all. Let us have 
 music in the evening, and some violin things. 
 I have been feeling as if I might some day 
 play with John. He is the type to make a 
 famous artist, and may carry our message to 
 those you could not reach with words. Music 
 penetrates deep into the fundamental elements 
 of being, and so there may be a way to reach 
 each living heart. 
 
 There always is some way, only we haven't 
 realized that. Music being an integralpart 
 of life itself, it must have great stirring power. 
 Train John's hands, and his visual technique of 
 music. Before he is given a violin let him learn 
 to read music, and have primary lessons in 
 harmony. Lay a broad foundation. 
 
 You see in any branch of art one should first 
 train the muscles before intentional technique 
 begins. I will explain. Any occupation 
 
 215 
 
216 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 which trains the hands to do skillful work and 
 accurate tasks will fit those same hands for 
 other work. A painter can be trained by the 
 use of carpenters' tools. The eye grows keen 
 and the hand efiicient. With the violin one's 
 ear is quite as important as one's eye, and hence 
 lessons in singing and piano make a splendid 
 foundation for violin work, as well as some 
 manual training work. Any occupation which 
 develops the muscles and trains the ear and eye, 
 helps one immensely to master an instrument. 
 
 I want little John to take lots of time in 
 preparation before he is allowed to handle the 
 instrument we so love. The Master feels John 
 has a future before him we all may share, but 
 it is your duty to look to his bodily welfare 
 and the wholesomeness of his mind and heart. 
 
 "Tee" has his share also in John's develop- 
 ment. He must not be allowed to develop in a 
 one-sided way. All that tends to strengthen 
 his body and make his mind clear and rational 
 will be of untold value. To give the great mes- 
 sage, the giver must be balanced, sane. The 
 message is Love, and one must be able to live 
 the life, to make it strike deep into other lives. 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 217 
 
 'Not blind love, but clear, patient, and under- 
 standing love, is what humanity needs, and 
 music has power to stir the depths of any soul, 
 and plant hope there, and fair desire, and am- 
 bition to achieve. 
 
 Too much time is usually taken for master- 
 ing the mechanics of any art. More time 
 should be taken for developing the soul and 
 mind and heart, that the message may be some- 
 thing besides exalted mechanics, gymnastics. 
 A great violinist need not be such a marvelous 
 gymnast. He may play quite simple compo- 
 sitions, and yet put a power of personality be- 
 hind and through them that will affect the 
 daily life of each listener. 
 
 The music of the future will be less complex, 
 but it will grip the soul and deliver its message. 
 
 Teach John first the beauty and value of life. 
 Let him live his message before he lets it speak. 
 Then he will wield the only true power on 
 earth. The whole great secret of Jesus lay in 
 the fact of his clear vision, his love, his honest 
 life. He lived what he believed, and his life is 
 still doing its work. It is again that power of 
 personality. 
 
218 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 Why can't musicians grip the hearts of peo- 
 ple more than they do, with the marvelous aid 
 that is theirs? Simply because they neither 
 live the life, have the vision, nor love humanity. 
 Most of them are vain and shallow and selfish, 
 and pass away without leaving any permanent 
 mark on history- A true musician must play 
 his own compositions, and he must have a wor- 
 thy message. There always has to be one 
 great personality to go before as a pathfinder. 
 
 We hope John may find the path for the 
 new music. Guard his life at all points, that 
 he may learn only fine things, and keep him 
 clean for the higher service. 
 
 These things are for you and "Tee" to work 
 out together. You shall each do your own 
 personal work, but your main use will be that 
 you two form the pedestal on which stands the 
 one who shall point out the new way — who will 
 teach the vital truths of life through music. 
 But for you the work could not be done so soon, 
 so you are of deep importance to the project. 
 
 We know you will perform your part faith- 
 fully. 
 
 Helen and the Master. 
 
XLIX 
 
 February 8, 1915. 
 
 All right, Sister, here we are for a birthday 
 message. 
 
 Whenever we can have uninterrupted time to 
 write, we wish to go on with the reincarnation 
 story. "Tee's" was not finished, Harry says, 
 nor yours- And B. has a wonderful past. 
 
 To-day, if you don't mind, I should like to 
 tell B's story. She has been marked for pub- 
 lic service for many lives, and has the "public 
 habit" in spite of her gentle ways and speech. 
 
 She has belonged to the reformer class as far 
 back as Harry went.. She has been fired with 
 the love of justice and individual liberty, throw- 
 ing her all into the balance repeatedly. The 
 habit of public service has rather crowded out 
 the smaller personal point of view. She has 
 developed beyond its need. So, Sister, you 
 needn't worry. 
 
 The personal, narrow, home circle is all right 
 for the individual with the narrow vision, and 
 
 219 
 
220 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 for the majority. But in all communities 
 there must always be those who serve the mass 
 outside the family circle. These broader duties 
 tend to create a .sort of carelessness of detail, 
 which is irritating but not vital. 
 
 Of you all B. has grasped the biggest idea 
 and is living it. It is for this she is so well 
 guarded as to bodily health and accident. E. 
 owes more to us than he realizes, who guard his 
 environment for her sake, as well as for the sake 
 of his own fine service. 
 
 Sister, your part is less showy, but not a bit 
 less needed. Each according to his or her per- 
 sonal gifts. The main idea being identical, 
 what is the use of the label? All are so very 
 important. 
 
 Helen. 
 
 The following is M's past history and its 
 important points, as seen on Harry's journey 
 into the past. 
 
 First, she has always been a woman, never a 
 man. Sex, so far as we have been able to see, 
 remains the same always. 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 221 
 
 Always a woman, she has evolved her in- 
 dependent personality through fighting her op- 
 pressors at all points. She has felt the sacred- 
 ness and justice of individual liberty ever since 
 she followed the teacher Jesus in his life. Her 
 eyes were opened to the real meaning of his 
 symbolic lessons. She grasped, even at that 
 time, what he vainly tried to impress on all: — 
 the right of each soul to itself to be and think 
 as it seems right from the standpoint of its own 
 conscience. She felt the inner stir of that call 
 for justice and liberty, and for this she was 
 martyred many times, never being conquered 
 by a despot. 
 
 Several times a nun, she learned what a cell 
 can teach. She also learned the value of being 
 a complete woman. The natural heart hunger 
 of her starved nature as a celibate had made 
 motherhood seem intensely desirable. She has 
 not yet been satisfied, and will mother many 
 more before her heart is surfeited. 
 
 As a Roman matron she took a keen interest 
 in government, and her judgment was solicited 
 by statesmen and patriots. 
 
 As a Puritan she was full of courage and re- 
 
222 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 source, and led her frailer sisters in matters of 
 common welfare, and also of steadfast faith. 
 
 Her latest life was led in New England in 
 the eighteenth century. It was a long one, and 
 she passed out in 1800. 
 
 Her faults were always those which are born 
 of an intense personality and efficiency. 
 Frugality degenerates into hoarding if not 
 guarded against; capacity into a small form of 
 tyranny, a tendency to boss others. These are 
 now the only faults she need work upon. She 
 has seen it, and is doing nobly. 
 
 She must realize, and does, I think, that each 
 soul must be left to work out its own future. 
 Love is about the only thing one is allowed to 
 give without limit. Advice should never be 
 offered until asked, as it is useless until desired. 
 
 Possessions of all sorts must be limited to 
 the individual's ability to use them actively. 
 One should not just sit in the midst of things, 
 but live in a place where what is about one is in 
 active service. No ornaments, either pictures 
 or furniture, should be stored away. What 
 cannot be enjoyed daily should be passed on. 
 
 The same is true about jewelry and clothes: 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 223 
 
 pass them on. Keep things circulating and 
 they don't die. This is a great truth. Things 
 live and have a character as well as people. 
 They absorb the personahty of their owners, 
 and give off the atmosphere or feeling of them. 
 That is why one can feel at once whether the 
 people who live in a place are fine and hospita- 
 ble, or selfish and cold. Their things talk. 
 
 Helen. 
 
February 19, 1915. 
 
 All right, Sister, this is Helen, Oh, I don't 
 mind the criticism about being too wordy. It's 
 true, and so I need it. If you would rather 
 have Harry, he will come. Yes, I understand. 
 I am not easily hurt when I feel you all love 
 me. Feeling hurt is always the result of self- 
 pity, and we don't indulge in that here. 
 
 "Tee" wishes to know about the souls of ani- 
 mals here. Perhaps I can answer before he 
 arrives. We did not see any animals when I 
 first came, but later they seemed to gravitate 
 here, or perhaps we drifted elsewhere. It is 
 hard to tell sometimes whether we ourselves 
 move on, or the environment comes where we 
 are. We all have power to create environment, 
 and it may be that animals came when we 
 felt a desire for them. Here one must have 
 a hospitable spirit or there are no guests. 
 
 Oh, yes, any can be alone who so elects. Soli- 
 
 224 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 225 
 
 tude is a simple proposition. We can create it 
 anywhere. Any one may, in any place, even 
 with you. It only requires concentration. 
 Just draw into your own shell. Each soul 
 must be able to withdraw from others at times. 
 No one can bear to give out constantly. He 
 must take in once in a while — live rhythmically, 
 in fact. Work and play, give and take, strug- 
 gle and rest. Otherwise there is no balance, no 
 poise. That is what ails you right now. You 
 need to relax and rest, to take in. Stop going 
 for a while. Rest until the desire is strong to 
 work again, no matter how long. 
 
 Don't fret about the dog, or the letters. 
 Life is too fine and beautiful for that. Just 
 sit happily and make plans for next summer. 
 Harry says the western trip is perfectly feasi- 
 ble in spite of tales to the contrary.* 
 
 Let other things slide for a time, and look up 
 routes. Go somewhere every day alone with 
 John, and begin improvements on the car. 
 Don't do anjrthing from a sense of duty for a 
 while. It is not your duty to care for any one 
 
 1 A proposed trip to the Pacific Coast by automobile. — 
 L. E. B. 
 
226 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 but John and "Tee." Enjoy the little boy 
 while he is little. They are so soon grown 
 up. This is your chance to be rested and jolly. 
 Cut out everything which interferes with per- 
 sonal poise. You help none when nervous. 
 I will write for you to-morrow. Sister. Yes, 
 go now, and cheer up. 
 
 Helen. 
 
LI 
 
 February 20, 1915. 
 Harry is here to write "Tee" a personal 
 letter. . . . 
 
 Sister has been going down hill badly from 
 overdoing, and Helen told her yesterday to 
 quit. I want to add a word along the same 
 line. 
 
 It's a true test of whether you are obeying 
 the law when you find yourself either sick or 
 nervous or blue. You know by any of these 
 symptoms that you have drawn too heavily on 
 your reserve vitality and let other people drain 
 you. The remedy is perfectly simple. After 
 work hours just disappear from people. Go 
 into your shell and wait until you have time to 
 fill up again. Relax your whole nature. 
 Don't give anything out, either by sympathy 
 or brain power, but lie quietly and make happy 
 plans for the future. 
 
 Always remember the cheerful thought is 
 
 227 
 
228 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 what renews one's poise. Never brood over 
 disaster. Forget it as rapidly as possible, and 
 begin to make prosperous pictures of your 
 future. Always picture the future, whether 
 to-morrow, next year, or after death, as happy; 
 as full of pleasant possibilities and happy inci- 
 dents. We thus insure our futiu'e against evil 
 happenings. 
 
 The plan of your happy future is a real con- 
 crete substance which must be destroyed on 
 this plane before any contrary fact can be born 
 on your plane. Some one then must deliber- 
 ately design your downfall or unhappiness, and 
 work hard over here to that end before your 
 own pictured future can be eliminated. Do 
 you get me? 
 
 I will repeat to make sure. A personal plan 
 or vision of a desired future is a visible, concrete 
 thing here, holding solidly together so long as 
 the creator of it holds it firmly in his brain. 
 More than this the vision has power to build on 
 your plane its counterpart in what you call fact, 
 by a process of magnetic attraction. The law 
 is one of the basic ones, and never fails unless 
 the person is vacillating or weak. 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 229 
 
 Picture a certain form of disaster and you 
 create it just as certainly as a stone falls 
 through air when dropped from a height. The 
 law is that we create by our own thought our 
 future environment. The swiftness of the ac- 
 tual materialization depends upon the concen- 
 tration of our thought, and the distinct quahty 
 of our vision; as well also as whether we build 
 it while feeling happy. Happy, cheerful states 
 are splendid creators. 
 
 Sister makes most solidly built plans, 
 strengthened by frequent reviews and much 
 detail. If she could plan as well for her re- 
 stored sight she would get it. 
 
 Now, "Tee," I will try to answer your query 
 about the dog Pat. Animals here are a most 
 interesting study. They appear only when 
 people seem to expect them. Pat came to me 
 one day as I sat alone, thinking over my life 
 with M. As I brought back the picture of 
 Cuba I recalled Pat, and at that moment I felt 
 his tongue on my hand. He seemed overjoyed 
 to see me, and has rarely left me since. I be- 
 lieve he has a soul, and I am trying to find out 
 if he is a descending human, or a man in the 
 
230 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 making, I can't say. We are studying this 
 in a class I belong to, and we gather data from 
 all sorts of places. I sometimes feel he is a 
 descending man, instead of a rising brute, be- 
 cause he does not obey. The lower orders obey 
 instinctively, but man is a natural anarchist. 
 
 Harry. 
 
LII 
 
 April 2, 1915. 
 All right. Sister, we are here. Harry wants 
 to dictate. . . . 
 
 Sister, tell "Tee" I am no quitter. I have 
 been on the band wagon the entire trip up to 
 now, and you can bank on me clear through. 
 Weather conditions don't bother us here, and 
 we enjoy all sorts of landscape. We all com- 
 mended the spirit of you there in the car.^ 
 Nothing vitally wrong can occur to any who 
 keep that spirit. Don't forget this fact. 
 These variations only make for adventure. 
 We enjoy hairbreadth escapes more than you 
 do. They add zest to an otherwise tame trip. 
 Just keep your nerve and all will succeed. 
 
 It's my birthday, isn't it? Well, I'm still 
 young and getting more so every day, as the 
 spirit of this great life journey appeals to me. 
 
 1 Referring to a close call they had with a traction car, where 
 they escaped destruction by only six inches. — ^L. K. B. 
 
 231 
 
232 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 It's such a fine, big, stimulating, wholesome 
 thing, this life game. 
 
 Mamma may well envy Mrs. T. I have 
 seen her with her son. It was a touching meet- 
 ing. She was quite fit to come, and we all wel- 
 comed her after she had seen her son and hus- 
 band. They will direct the grandson from 
 here, and he is safer now than her own man- 
 agement alone could ensure. 
 
 Mrs. T. wishes mamma to tell the boy that 
 he will be looked after, and never to forget 
 they see all he does and that he must live so his 
 acts will never grieve those who watch and 
 wait above him. This fact should make his 
 inner hfe just as clean and fair as the one 
 your world can see. 
 
 Sister, you are too tired to get a good letter 
 through to-day; but take it from me, I love my 
 own now as always, and will write again when 
 you are less shaken up and lame. 
 
 Toujours a toi, 
 
 Harry. 
 
LIII 
 
 August 10, 1915. 
 
 . . . With confidence comes fair weather, 
 and mind governs the planet in all its details — 
 mind, which includes feeling as well. "As a 
 man thinketh, so is he." As a world feeleth, 
 so is it. The light of faith, held by a few souls, 
 has more than once illumined the path of es- 
 cape when world disaster threatened. 
 
 Leaven is a sort of magic. Faith is like that. 
 The great faith of a few has been able to lift a 
 race — a race otherwise lost. Belgium to-day- 
 is more alive, more successful, than Germany, 
 because her faith is backed up by the undying 
 power of justice. Germany's faith makes for 
 worldly success, but it is built on sand and 
 cannot stand the flood which will come. Right 
 and justice only are immortal. Any success 
 not founded on them has no stability. You 
 have but to look at history. Where material 
 interests outweighed moral interests — ^that 
 
 233 
 
234 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 state was doomed. Only through moral in- 
 tegrity, the ideals of individual liberty, and a 
 deep consideration for one's fellow-men, can be 
 secured the immortality of individual or nation. 
 When the cry is to help instead of to dominate, 
 both here and in all other lands, that day the 
 earth sets its foot on the threshold of immor- 
 tality, and man will rise to be broken on the 
 wheel no more. One must lose one's life, or 
 rather give one's life, to keep it eternally. 
 That is, one must unselfishly give all one has 
 for the general good; not for glory, but for 
 right. To serve one's fellows is to build one's 
 immortality. 
 
 Good luck and good cheer from all of us. 
 
 Helen. 
 
LIV 
 
 September 13, 1915. 
 
 All right, Sister, we will talk now about the 
 book. We selected C. L. for Mamma's helper, 
 as we knew of no one else fit for such a task. 
 She really cares, and whenever one can put 
 heart into a work such work succeeds as no 
 other can. 
 
 Let C. L. feel she has a future. We are all 
 helping to train her for it, U. C. most of all, 
 naturally ; aided most efficiently by G. E. The 
 latter is C. L's guardian spirit, and what C, L. 
 lacks most, these two both have in dominating 
 quantity, that is, steadfastness- With a bit 
 more of the feeling of security or faith, there 
 will be a wonderful improvement in C. L's 
 life from day to day. 
 
 She must strive to live only a day at a time, 
 for she alone must. She has strong direction 
 and trainers for a most beautiful work. Her 
 fibre needs solidifying; that's all. This takes 
 
 235 
 
236 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 time for a character as well as for a tree. One 
 need not be disheartened at any slowness, so 
 long as one detects the gradual drift upward. 
 
 C. L. is on the up slant. Let her find peace 
 in that great and wonderful fact. The finest 
 things take time to develop. The strongest, 
 most enduring metal must be repeatedly broken 
 up by heat, that its particles may reassemble 
 in closer formation. Suffering souls who are 
 frequently moved about are being tempered 
 thus for service. 
 
 This new move of T's is one of those tem- 
 pering fires. It is not a vain or undirected 
 move. It is a vital part of the training. C. L. 
 is also in training as T. is, for larger service 
 than the rank and file are capable of perform- 
 ing. 
 
 All growth proceeds in the dark. This is ac- 
 cording to law. Were any soul given power to 
 watch his or her development at each instant 
 of its procedure, interest in self would draw 
 off most of the energy necessary for develop- 
 ment. That is perhaps why we cannot see or 
 remember our personal past; it would deflect 
 energy needed elsewhere, while here on our side 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 237 
 
 of life we can see, recall, and assimilate what 
 our past has builded. Then we apprehend 
 just what we lack to balance our character, and 
 with strong conviction as to the remedying of 
 this lack we stamp our inborn new self at the 
 instant of rebirth, so that we are bom with con- 
 viction of duty along lines we ourselves have 
 previously studied out. 
 
 Each new born himian is given a certain im- 
 petus along lines it desires to travel or develop. 
 If from ignorance, or other cause, that push 
 was not sufficiently strong to propel itself for- 
 ward far enough, then its guardians and friends 
 help it to fulfill its destiny as planned. 
 
 C. L's love of beauty had led her to neglect 
 the substructure somewhat. She is now re- 
 pairing this lack by doing uncongenial work 
 with a most beautiful faithfulness. Let her 
 continue a little longer and then her body will 
 indicate, as well as her mind, when the training 
 is over. She will not get tired when she has 
 completed her work of solidifying. 
 
 There is a short cut to poise and peace 
 through the direct contact with spirit- Should 
 she link herself with that all would arrive soon. 
 
238 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 The true Christian Scientist does that, but any- 
 one who believes in the power of prayer gets 
 like results. There are numerous paths to the 
 same center. One should pray for light and 
 peace, and then quit thinking of oneself at all. 
 True happiness comes when one loses sight of 
 oneself altogether. 
 
 Let one just keep one's eyes open to the 
 other fellow's need, and live a day at a time, 
 giving as much happiness as one can to others 
 each day. It is very simple, and quite easy, if 
 one could only realize it. 
 
 Helen. 
 
 Yes, Sister, I know what you wish, it is a 
 test for D,, but we do not feel as if tests were 
 wise things even if we knew how or what we 
 might do to convince a mind like his that we 
 yet live. Neither his father nor mother over 
 here think such things advisable, because as 
 "Tee" says, "Belief or doubt is a matter of the 
 heart not of the head." When one is devoid 
 of faith how simple and easy to say "Mental 
 telepathy." 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 239 
 
 Faith has its rise, hke Truth, within our- 
 selves ; it never enters from without. You are 
 perfectly right. Sister, in your feeling against 
 tests. Your message is only for those in whose 
 hearts the seed of faith has already begun to 
 germinate. D. will beheve when he allows 
 his heart to govern his head, not before. If 
 his wife should come here before him, the light 
 would break within him; if not, she must pa- 
 tiently wait, and pray for his development. . . . 
 
 In all vital matters we feel it a dishonor to 
 use our unseen power to influence thought. 
 Each soul should be free to decide its fate for, 
 if unwise, it may be that the ensuing suffering 
 is vital to that soul's development. . . . 
 
 At some past, near or distant, we also were 
 foolish and prized the shadow above the reahty. 
 It is youth, it is in the day's work, and we each 
 must pass that way. God is just. He knows 
 no favorites. He tolerates all, and imder- 
 stands where and what we are. When evil en- 
 ters in is when a soul, knowing right, deliber- 
 ately chooses wrong; then what follows is real 
 
240 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 punishment. For these there seems a harsh 
 retribution, be the sinner man, or city, or coun- 
 try. Remember when wholesale calamity falls 
 it never strikes the guiltless or innocent. The 
 innocent women and children hurt in the great 
 war were every one past sinners. God is never 
 imjust. None escape His justice, and He has 
 no victims, remember that. One dies, always, 
 by his own hand. One sows in each life, and 
 one rarely reaps until another. Often one 
 reaps a harvest many hves before had planted. 
 Believe one thing, Karma is as relentless as it is 
 just. In each life look to it that your planting 
 be of fine, clean, honorable things, so that the 
 reaping may be sweet; not for that alone, of 
 course, but because in this course lies the higher 
 service. We grow accustomed to the smaller 
 outlook and get the habit of giving that out, 
 rather than the larger one. Both are true, but 
 only adult souls seek service and ignore re- 
 wards. 
 
 Helen. 
 
LV 
 
 Harry wants to tell "Tee" where he went 
 with the Master last month. Back over their 
 past lives for a thousand years or more, tracing 
 the development of what we call the aspiring 
 instinct. 
 
 You see none of us were what is commonly 
 called religious, and yet we all have a deep de- 
 sire to help our brother upward, as well as to 
 improve ourselves. This stretching upward, 
 or aspiring, if you prefer the word, began a 
 way back at the time of the Christian era. 
 Jesus taught the dignity and value of individ- 
 ual liberty, human liberty. He fired us all 
 with this illuminating idea. Previous to his 
 teaching, class divisions were so absolute none 
 even questioned or desired what seemed ada- 
 mant. To be sure, Socrates and Epictetus 
 taught that the soul was free, but they did not 
 teach the brotherhood of all men. They 
 taught personal individual liberty of soul, but 
 
 241 
 
242 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 Jesus went further and taught equality as far 
 as heart went — ^kindness toward all without re- 
 gard to either intelligence or merit. 
 
 One must establish the kingdom of heaven 
 within, else nothing availed. The first requi- 
 site therefore is patient sympathy for each, and 
 a deep love for all life, because without love 
 no great thing can develop. Chickens must 
 be hovered now and then or they die. The 
 hovering idea threads through aU life from the 
 brooding of a young thing to the sheltering 
 sympathy of the wise for the foolish. 
 
 Wisdom must be the sun to help to germin- 
 ate better mental habits in the meagerly en- 
 dowed. Under the warmth of sympathy the 
 seed of wisdom germinates in the brain of the 
 fool. Jesus, above all, imderstood children, 
 and the child mind. 
 
 Harry says, "Look at the rum bunch he had 
 as disciples. None of them had either brain or 
 courage; they all gave Him the go-by in His 
 trouble. Not a MAN in the outfit apparently ; 
 yet look what Jesus developed out of that lot 
 with patient love as his main asset. They got 
 busy and died game, and developed so far along 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 243 
 
 the real road that this example alone should 
 have made the Universe sit up and take notice. 
 "What sort of power was it that could trans- 
 form a lot of dubs into heroes and martyrs and 
 hustlers for the good? I never heard any one 
 preach on that subject. Jesus took a lot of 
 low-brows and made them over in one life. He 
 had to die to make a dent on them, but they 
 woke up at last, as He knew they would, as any 
 one might know who knows that the greatest 
 stimulant in the universe is Love, and that all 
 souls respond to it if you give them time — even 
 the Devil, but that is another story." 
 
 Helen. 
 
LVI 
 
 October, 1915. 
 Well, "Tee," you and I will be a No, 1 team 
 of farmers yet.^ I can feel the seed in my hair 
 now! Wait till we gather in our crops this 
 fall, Whoopee! I can see your oily smile of 
 satisfaction, and hear you brag of how much 
 better it would have been if instead of — etc., 
 etc. But all the same it's a fine, wholesome 
 game. I shall make a study of it for a future 
 life. You see it is almost wholly constructive, 
 whereas any sort of business must needs de- 
 stroy more or less to retain life. If the farmer 
 class had the faintest idea what a great oppor- 
 tunity they had as a spiritual uplifter in this 
 profession, it would push along the world at a 
 rate to make a man dizzy. Think of it, *'Tee," 
 never to destroy anything good, or crush it 
 aside for one's own advancement, but to de- 
 stroy only small evils, and leave beauty and 
 
 1 Tee had bought a small farm, having decided that country 
 life was best for all three.— L. E. B. 
 
 244 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 245 
 
 good living things in their place, wheat for 
 weeds, trees for briars, pastxires where a 
 stumpy wilderness was before, and happy con- 
 tentment from your hens and calves to children 
 and friends. At the moment I cannot think of 
 a thing in life which has so many perfect points, 
 and no bad ones. It is the serene and quiet 
 spots and people who are the anchors for those 
 who must toss and struggle in the thick of 
 things. You farmers are the roots of a nation 
 that nourish and hold in place the storm tossed 
 tree bending and writhing in the wind, in test- 
 ing out its right to live. 
 
 I can see from here the splendid possibilities 
 of a life close to nature; it appeals tremend- 
 ously, and if you don't mind, I'll join you in 
 your work, and study into it as deeply as I can, 
 for future use as well as present diversion and 
 incidental help to you and Sister. I am glad 
 you hked the grain idea for chickens. It is my 
 idea to study out every possible way to improve 
 the land and increase its yield, as well as pro- 
 vide for all on the place and expand the soul 
 at the same time. You must arrange your 
 work to strain your body as Httle as possible, al- 
 
246 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 ternating the strenuous with lighter tasks, oth- 
 erwise there will be destructive force instead 
 of all constructive. Take one day off, "Tee." 
 Old Moses knew his job, and his people. He 
 learned the law of rhythm. A steady pull 
 breaks the rope. Let up, now and then — once 
 a week, in fact. Fix up your car and take a 
 Sunday afternoon ride about the country and 
 learn things, and get freshened up — and widen 
 your horizon; you need the change for your 
 mental health. You, and Sister too. Listen, 
 you old sport, to little brother's advice; it is 
 good; more than that, it is vital. There is quite 
 a bunch over here living on your farm already 
 — who begin taking a proprietary interest in 
 having it run right. I refer to your kin, and 
 Sister's. We feel peeved if you make any 
 wasteful moves, as it is to our interest also that 
 things grow and blossom and develop as fast as 
 possible. We look ahead and grow excited at 
 the prospect, and begin pushing eagerly toward 
 what we see. The Sunday afternoon outing 
 makes for progress as much as your twelve 
 hour day — ^you Union breaker! 
 
 I'll see you don't land in the poor-house, be- 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 247 
 
 ing opulent at present. I feel as if I owned 
 this earth, and half the other side sometimes. 
 In weak moments I get almost cocky at what I 
 have learned here in three years. I sit and 
 figure out how far I could go in a hundred such 
 rich years, and I see myself boss of the whole 
 works; then I get some bump that lands me 
 where I belong, at the bottom, where it's hard 
 and solid. Adios, Tee — I can smell coffee in 
 the offing. 
 
 Your partner, 
 
 Harry. 
 
LVII 
 
 November 26, 1915. 
 
 Isn't that a fine book of the Judge's? 
 
 Harry met him weeks ago, and with him has 
 been in France, as our knowing that language 
 has permitted us to help the poor French sol- 
 diers as they arrived here. You see even I 
 could help, as I knew more French than Harry 
 at first. Soon he remembered, and we worked 
 day and night for weeks. How glad we were 
 to be of service in our dear France 1 We met 
 Madame Laget, also, helping her soldiers, and 
 Mrs. Williams, too — in fact all whom we had 
 known who knew French, and were on this 
 side. This war has stimulated many who 
 would otherwise have drifted for years in sel- 
 fish pleasure-seeking. Now we work as the 
 Red Cross people work, only we wear a white 
 cross as a symbol of oxu' Leader. We seem to 
 have grown years older since this war work in 
 France began for us. You see the more en- 
 
 248 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 249 
 
 ergy we can center in helpful service, the 
 greater is the inflow of power and hght — from 
 above. Had Harry or I not been able to 
 speak French I doubt if we had been used in 
 this work, as we are new-comers and not as 
 strong as the Master or most of those who work 
 along that awful battle line. 
 
 Helen. 
 
LVIII 
 
 Peace Valley, 
 December 23, 1915. 
 
 That's right. Sister, be exact as to dates; 
 it is not Christmas yet, though at this time all 
 Christendom feels the pull of the millions of 
 loving thoughts sent out. Nearly every one is 
 a little kinder, a little less selfish, at this season 
 than at others, and it is the time we take to 
 lift as many souls as we can just one notch 
 higher. 
 
 When there is a big surge forward along a 
 great line there are many who never recede 
 again, but keep on rising. Just this impetus 
 of human love in great masses of people has a 
 marvelous power for good ; and so we are all 
 glad that it comes once a year. This year it 
 is of especial interest as the long battle lines in 
 Europe would be utterly bleak without it. 
 
 Men at the front are all growing homesick 
 and heartsick for peace, and think with more 
 
 250 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 251 
 
 earnestness than ever before of the One who 
 said : "Love thy neighbor as thyself." Many 
 a common soldier will have his heart and mind 
 open in this year to what Jesus really meant by 
 His love and brotherhood teaching, 
 
 These Songs of Germany — of hate, and 
 swords — are the last efforts of the darker pow- 
 ers to keep hate alive. The people of the rank 
 and file are getting sick of hate, and blood, and 
 fighting; they think of what it was like when 
 they were all friendly, and begin to see, and 
 resent being the tools of Kings and Rulers. 
 The longer they are kept at the front, the deep- 
 er will the desire for peace take root. Poor 
 tired boys! We see them as they fall and hear 
 them call. "Mother, where are you? It is 
 dark, and I am so tired, and so afraid" is what 
 we hear again and again, till our hearts ache 
 with the pity of it. So very many are just 
 boys in their 'teens, and have no more hate in 
 them than if they were ten. When these in- 
 carnate again — and they will soon — ^they will 
 be bom with such a passion for peace that war 
 will be impossible. They will die for peace, 
 but never again for war. 
 
252 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 Never mind. Sister, I used to cry, too, at 
 first, but I see now that a lasting peace is 
 bought by the lives of those who go out hating 
 war. Their suifering cuts so deeply it will im- 
 press the next incarnation. 
 
 We still work for France, Harry and I, as I 
 told you before. Poor France I But her soul 
 is immortal now; she has been dragged through 
 the fire and her men and boys have burned away 
 all that was unclean, and false, and cowardly. 
 The lilies of our France are now dazzling white, 
 and gleam above the smoke and blood like 
 stars. I wish you might see the battles from 
 here, as we do ; all the fine things on either side, 
 register here as wonderful lights. A real hero 
 bears glory about him even when living, and 
 we see him go about shedding light, as though 
 he were a living candelabra. It is inspiring as 
 well as heartrending, this war and its personal 
 incidents. We hope it will soon end now, as 
 people do everywhere. The world is sick of 
 war. The sun of peace is rising in the east 
 and this Christmas love will help it to be seen 
 by all. 
 
 Helen. 
 
LIX 
 
 February 8, 1916. 
 
 Sister, here we are, all of us ! I thought you 
 would like to give me a birthday party. Oh, 
 it's not so unselfish as you think. It's a keen 
 pleasure to share one's blessing when possible. 
 First I want you to write a message for 
 Grandma E . Begin here : 
 
 Dear Mamie: We are pleasantly surprised 
 at the rapid progress you have made in clear- 
 ing away rubbish on your home farm. 
 
 What we admire most is the spirit of opti- 
 mism shown by all three, despite many small ir- 
 ritations that might easily have brought gloom 
 to most in yovu* situation. While I appreciate 
 more fully than most, your difficulties, I am 
 more than pleased at your cheerful attitude of 
 mind; with such an adjunct to your equipment, 
 success must follow swiftly in your path. 
 
 Tell your husband that those briars are the 
 evil intentions made concrete of those whose 
 
 253 
 
254 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 lives are unsuccessful because of idleness and 
 selfish indolence. With proper mental states 
 he can uproot them permanently with but httle 
 more physical effort. Weeds are the visible 
 form of an unwholesome state of mind on this 
 side of life. A cheerful determination to 
 conquer these pests will weaken their hold on 
 life and they will be overcome. 
 
 One thing more while we are on this subject. 
 You should be made aware of the cleansing 
 property of water. I refer to this in an out- 
 door sense. A stream of running water is 
 death to all smaller evil personahties. You 
 will recall the legend of the witches who could 
 not cross any stream of running water. There 
 was a great psychic truth in that notion. Stag- 
 nant water harbors evil spirits, but clear and 
 moving streams purify all in their vicinity, and 
 are safeguards. 
 
 Were I in your place I should, as time and 
 opportunity permitted, develop all the springs 
 you may find on your property and clear a path 
 for them, so that there may be running water 
 at several points; clearing away weeds and 
 planting in their stead alders and willows and 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 255 
 
 such like clean and blossomed growths will aug- 
 ment the felicitous situation at many angles, 
 and in time so strengthen the bright spirits who 
 congregate in such congenial spots that crop 
 conditions will improve like magic, and all you 
 attempt will thrive. You will then be enabled 
 to radiate much helpful spiritual power to your 
 less fortunate neighbors, and be a center for 
 good we should all be glad to see. 
 
 A harmonious spot on earth harbors the ref- 
 ugees from overpowering evil influences, like 
 those cities in the Bible history, where the 
 hunted could find shelter. When we on this 
 side make a sally into some pest-hole of vice 
 where the demons are very strong and venge- 
 ful, we need the retreat of some earth spot of 
 peace in which to rest and gather strength for 
 further attacks. We weaker souls are like pri- 
 vates in an army; we cannot endure, and 
 haven't the recuperative power of our betters, 
 so we seek what shelter offers, and strike again 
 when able.-^ This home you are preparing will 
 become such a haven, if you continue as you 
 have begun. 
 
 Plant flowers for me, Mamie, and I will tell 
 
256 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 you the value of each as a spiritual balm, or 
 healing lotion. I rejoice to see your newly 
 awakened interest in flowers . They have 
 great value here, and with you also, tho' un- 
 suspected. Plant along the streams the most 
 fragile and delicate plants that will thrive in 
 such places. These will reinforce the spiritual 
 power of the water, and add greatly to the re- 
 cuperation of those spent in the battle against 
 vice and crime. 
 
 I see you received this message and were 
 about to act upon it, unconscious of its origin. 
 It was from me. My love for flowers has en- 
 abled me to rise some distance in the study and 
 application of perfumes to ills of the soul or 
 spirit; it is a study in itself; a science, in fact, 
 akin to medicine. Our ancestors were medical 
 men. I belong to the body of healers over 
 here, who approximate that profession with 
 you. We must on these lower planes use the 
 material aids presented, rather than spiritual 
 forces alone, as is the custom higher up; 
 whereas with you drugs are aids to defective 
 bodily health, here we use perfumes in their 
 place, with excellent results frequently. As 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 257 
 
 with your medicines, we have frequent failures ; 
 yet our percentage of success is far larger than 
 with you. 
 
 I see you begin to weary. I will therefore 
 retire in favor of Helen herself or others. Be 
 of good heart. You have many here who can 
 and will help you. 
 
 L. C. E. 
 
LX 
 
 March 10, 1916. 
 
 Yes, Sister, you have caught the idea; John's 
 fever comes from your own waste of what he 
 needs. Mothers are the direct cause of over 
 half the sickness of babies. Dear little chil- 
 dren! The mother's first duty is not only to 
 protect her child from his own imhappy moods, 
 but from other people's, her own included. A 
 mother's spirit should be a shield against all 
 evils ; mothers should be calm and quiet, full of 
 that sustaining power the weak crave . . . 
 (here there was an interruption). 
 
 Perhaps we can finish now, although it is al- 
 ways difficult to join on smoothly to an inter- 
 rupted letter. Harry says I must boil down my 
 ideas and shoot them in when I can, taking no 
 chances. That has always been a hard thing 
 for me to accomphsh. I should merely have 
 said that being a mother means just that at all 
 
 258 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 259 
 
 points. The mother broods the race, and must 
 learn her duty; it does not end with the body. 
 She must also brood the tender spirit imtil it 
 gains poise, and strength, to protect itself. 
 Everything harsh, physical or spiritual, must be 
 barred from the infant in her charge ; she must 
 be wise, gentle, patient, sympathetic, happy, 
 and serene. Harry says that's a man's size job, 
 and he has no envy in his soul for that particular 
 situation. Harry is so full of fun that he finds 
 a smile in everything, and helps us all, who 
 sometimes feel too much in earnest to be jolly. 
 That's all now. Good night. Sister, 
 
 Helen. 
 
LXI 
 
 April 1, 1916. 
 
 What splendid work France is doing, and 
 her allies, and how much self-sacrifice and true 
 bravery is daily offered on all sides. This ter- 
 rible war will make the soul of the world over 
 on a higher plane. Out of such gigantic up- 
 heavals spirituality is born. 
 
 If you could only see what we see on this 
 side for one day it would lift up your hearts 
 for all time. Every soul over here is at work 
 there now. Few of us are powerful enough 
 to materialize in a flesh body, but there are 
 those here who can, and do. The "Camarade 
 Blanc" is no fancy — and he is not the only one 
 at work. Your brother has been able for a 
 short time to live in a human body, and so trans- 
 form it by his use that when the sick soldier to 
 whom it belonged had it back he was lifted to 
 a higher level of spiritual exaltation than he 
 ever knew before; and while he lives he will 
 
 260 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 261 
 
 bless the day he lay wounded, beyond the help 
 of his comrades. There are those at the front 
 who shall live to tell their children of those 
 kindly visitors who came and saved them on the 
 battle line. . . . 
 
 Helen. 
 
LXII 
 
 July 31, 1916. 
 All right, Sister, we are here; you guessed 
 rightly as to Harry's and my wish to speak of 
 our own work. You have had enough per- 
 sonal messages for a while, and we have been 
 having experiences quite as interesting to you 
 both as to ourselves. I refer to what we have 
 been learning of the power of personality, and 
 what that means, and why it is such a potent 
 factor in world evolution as well as individual 
 growth. Personality is that part of a soul each 
 individual develops for or by his own will, col- 
 ored by circumstance, hardened and shaped by 
 feeling, and unified or solidified by intelligent 
 suffering. I speak of intelligent suffering ad- 
 visedly, for without a rational understanding 
 of cause and effect no experience registers any 
 permanent mark on individual character. 
 Suffering per se is futile, except to break down 
 obstinate egotism. It sometimes does that, but 
 
 262 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 263 
 
 unless the sufferer applies his reason to his pain, 
 and investigates the why of it, he makes no 
 conscious growth. Conscious development is 
 what gives power and mastery. One cannot 
 blimder into a fine character ; one achieves that 
 through effort, will power, and a definite desire. 
 Through a defined intelligent desire we attain 
 self mastery, which includes mastership else- 
 where as well. 
 
 When any soul has acquired the brain and 
 the reasoning faculty to a sufiicient degree to 
 link effect with cause, and lapse with punish- 
 ment, he has his feet planted firmly on the up- 
 ward path. To adapt means to ends, manners 
 to morals, one must belong to the upper class, 
 where permanent or future gain outweighs 
 present comfort or benefit. The child mind 
 and the child heart only sees what is within his 
 hand's clutch. With him the desire to possess 
 always outweighs the desire to give or the pas- 
 sion of service; he must handle what he sees 
 and admires, and retain for his own whatever 
 seems good to him; he may share more or less 
 grudgingly with his fellow — ^but relinquish his 
 treasure? Never^ so long as he has power to 
 
264 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 fight or breath to protest. A primitive exhibi- 
 tion of power, isn't it — this holding on by main 
 force, and at all costs, to what one fears to lose, 
 and finds desirable to possess? To clutch and 
 cling, and struggle and fight — a most undig- 
 nified method of securing any good, isn't it? 
 When one's grasp is loosened, beaten oflP, or 
 what not, we sink in the sea of failure. Why? 
 Think once, quite simply and quietly. Bene- 
 fits are free as air; good is free, service is free, 
 work is free, love, aspiration, ambition, achieve- 
 ment — all are free for all who care to accept 
 the requirements. Large aims, sympathetic 
 insight, scrupulous honesty and charity towards 
 our neighbor, cheerful, helpfulness, an absence 
 of criticism, thought or expressed, a boimdless 
 faith in the power of good, and the simple de- 
 sire to do one's utmost to advance the whole, 
 regardless of personal applause and individual 
 advancement. Why should any one care to 
 exceed his neighbor's possessions, except as a 
 means to help him? To bring it down to a sim- 
 ple illustration: a man buys a worn-out, dilapi- 
 dated, little farm, in a poor, discouraged neigh- 
 borhood. What is that man's duty, as weU as 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 265 
 
 his opportunity? He works to make his poor 
 ground yield its utmost ; he puts up neat build- 
 ings, shelters his tools, is humane to his stock — 
 in fact he does his best along all lines. 
 
 His neighbors take courage ; seeing what he 
 has done, they begin to see hope ahead for them 
 also; they imitate him, better their surround- 
 ings, do more work on the land, enter into a 
 brotherly spirit, raise better crops, better stock, 
 better children — because a stronger personal- 
 ity has blazed their trail and carried before 
 them a lantern of hope. None are so dull as to 
 escape this personal appeal. One man or 
 woman inspired by the true spirit can lift any 
 neighborhood to any height, determined only 
 by the quality of the example and the sympa- 
 thy of the path-maker. What do you suppose 
 would have happened if Jesus had taught His 
 philosophy unsympathetically, or to a single 
 class? The human family is very simple in its 
 relationships, and its power to comprehend. 
 Fellowship and sympathy speak but one 
 language, and all understand. Individual 
 achievement is nothing; universal service is the 
 insignia of the Master. Never belittle service. 
 
266 LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 
 
 or bewail a lost ambition. Ambition to service 
 is the only one which passes the barrier, and the 
 mode of service should be trusted to those whose 
 business it is to direct our lives to the end of 
 larger service, greater personal ability, stronger 
 personahty, and deeper insight into the Law. 
 
 Harry and I have been studying the lives 
 of so-called celebrities, and also those whose 
 personal services have swept the race on nearer 
 to its goal. The result has been illuminating, 
 and, once holding the key, quite easy to see and 
 comprehend. Now we try to apply the lesson 
 — ^to live the theory. This is what shows 
 whether we have learned or not. All of us 
 have strong primitive feelings, and just as per- 
 fectly sane and intelligent persons may sud- 
 denly feel the grip of jealousy or fear, they re- 
 vert suddenly and without warning to some 
 primitive emotion which can only be eliminated 
 by a great service with deep sympathy. Until 
 they outgrow such savage and unreasoning im- 
 pulses they must seek rebirth again and again, 
 until they learn such things are not real, and be- 
 long only to the childhood of the soul. It is 
 rather starthng to have some primal emotion 
 
LETTERS FROM HARRY AND HELEN 267 
 
 spring at one, after many so-called years of dis- 
 cretion have become habitual, and one feels se- 
 cure in one's adult estate. The cave man and 
 the cave woman he just beneath the surface of 
 us all, ready to break out whenever some race 
 instinct is violated. 
 
 I see. Sister, this is going to be too long for 
 you, so we must postpone the rest. Perhaps 
 you may get something you value in just this. 
 
 With love as always, 
 
 Helen and Harry. 
 
 THE END