QUti tt^ic^ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, ShelfBXl5L.6\ & UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from Th e l_i brary of G onq ress V ^IPllL'tsii m®& http://www.archive.org/details/liftingveilorintOOfinc m !«^S f-v^- 7£sic<- fife Lifting the Veil: OR, INTERIOR EXPERIENCES MANIFESTATIONS. & \ i SUSAN J. and ANDREW A. FINCK. " Between the Here and the Hereafter, Heaven's repose and earthly strife, Hangs a mystic screen, dividing Souls from souls, and life from life. Soft as dew falls on the waters, Or the mist o'er hill and dale ; Soundless as a hud's unfolding, Is the lifting of the veil." BOSTON: COLBY & RICH, PUBLISHERS, 9 Bosworth Street. 1887. Copyright, 1S87, by ANDREW A. FINCK. Habitation. [given bt independent slate writing through the medial instrumentality of one of the authors.] TO the Laboring Men and Women of America, whom we are Striving to Uplift and Bless, is this Work most Lovingly Dedicated by the Pre- siding Spirit of a Faithful Band. PEEFACE. Lsr offering this narrative of incidents and experi- ences to the public we make no apology. Should they but encourage investigation, and serve in any degree to strengthen the fainting endeavors of some earnest seeker after light and truth, we shall feel amply rewarded. We do not claim all the ideas herein given as orig- inal, neither do we acknowledge them as borrowed. Some, we doubt not, are the offspring of our perusal of other works — perhaps their echoes still lingering in the brain. Yet we do claim, simple as is the style in which this work is written, the constant influence, and often the complete psj^chological control of various spirits who once inhabited human forms. Whenever we have attempted to write, or during our circle hour have been requested by the presiding spirit to record any event, when the time for writing came we invari- ably felt the presence and inspiring influence of the particular spirit whose thoughts and experiences were to be given, be that one a red man of the forest or a poor negro slave. If, however, some note was to be made in regard to a spirit who still inhabits an earthly 6 PREFACE. form, some friend or relative of theirs from life's other side would be present, supplying the needed aid and influence. And we would state that we have found it impossible to write only when surrounded by condi- tions of perfect quiet and content, — such as are inva- riably found needful for all spiritual intercourse. These different influences and inspirations, we think, will account for much in this work being given in a somewhat disconnected manner. While the influence of one immortal was upon us, we have sensed a feeling of hurry, as though others who were around were im- patiently waiting for an opportunity to give some mes- sage or have some forgotten incident recorded. Often has the hand while writing been forcibly moved aside, and made to pen other and different thoughts from those being written. At times these feelings of haste and interruption have been so decided, that we have been compelled to lay the writing aside until the emo- tion subsided and order was restored. The greater number of the following experiences and events have been written just as received, seemingly regardless, at times, of that order and system which should characterize a work on any subject. These pages have not been intended for rhetorical display, but are meant to reach down into human souls, and awaken the tender emotions of the heart, — to stimulate higher and holier aspirations, which this age of rapid thought and ceaseless activity too often ignores. PEEFACE. 7 While some who peruse these pages, hungering for "the bread of life," may be enabled to gain some spirit- ual sustenance, — for which we shall feel both pleased and proud, — others will consider it delusion or some "cunningly devised fable." Of all such, we frankly say, they are assuredly entitled to their own opinion. We would not, if we could, deny them the freedom to think and speak upon this as well as all other subjects. We have ever considered freedom of thought, and its expression, as the first plank of the spiritual platform, ■ — the first principle to be recognized in any and all reformatory or formatory movements. To these sceptical minds we would state, that there are millions of people in our own country alone who believe as we do ; who have had positive proof of immor- tality, and that our departed can and do bear us mes- sages of love from unseen shores. So great a number of persons would hardly band themselves together for purposes of fraud ; neither can they all be charged with delusion. Some must be honest and sane ; and had we but a single well-established fact of the return of one spirit, the proof that others could do the same would be complete. The same law permitting one would another. The door to the inner mysteries of the soul is as broad as the universe, but so low, that each individual must enter it on bended knees, with the trusting sim- plicity of little children. Nature kindly provides for all our wants, and is 8 PREFACE. found adequate to meet every demand ; and where but in Spiritualism can be found an answer to that oft- repeated question, " If a man die, shall he live again ? " From what source can the hungerings of the human soul be as fully satisfied ? All through the sad scenes and troubled changes of our eventful lives the spiritual philosophy has been our staff and stay, — the only gleam of light that gave to life a ray of hope. It has been the comfort and light of our souls when our darlings were taken, — one by fire, the other through flood. Even when our fair land was deluged with the blood of its braves, and the heart grew sick over the memories of the slain, — even then, amid the smoke of the field of battle, would their radiant faces be seen; and above the sound of the deadly cannon's roar could their ' cheering voices be heard, giving the comforting assurance that " there is no death ! " And to-day we find it the only panacea to offer as a balm of healing for every bleeding, mourn- ing heart. THE AUTHORS. OOIsTTE^TS. CHAPTEE I. Early Recollections of One of the Authors. — Sketch of Planta- tion Life in Slave Days. — The Negro Sceptic. — Visit to the Quarter. — Catechised by the Minister. — The Creedal School, and its Effects. — Conviction and Conversion. — Dawning Light... 13 CHAPTER II. Early Recollections continued. — Seeking for Truth. — An In- fidel's Experience. — The Spirit of an Indian Maid. — The Spirit Mother 29 CHAPTER III. Joining another Church. — Leaving this Church. — The Spirit Rap. — The Little Philosopher. — A Plea for Lyceums 39 CHAPTER IV. A Spirit Message. — A Seance with Dr. Slade 45 CHAPTER V. Eorming a Circle. — A Spirit Messenger. — Celestial Music. — Messages from the Upper World 52 CHAPTER VI. Remarks on Orthodox Jews and Orthodox Christians. — Spirit Messages 61 CHAPTER VII. A Millionaire's Home. — His Message. — Seance with a Gentle- man. — The Spiritual Aura. — Experience from " Ghost Land " of Chevalier de B. — Vision of A. J. Davis 66 10 CONTENTS. CHAPTER VIII. Transition of a Babe. — A Clairvoyant Scene. — Thoughts on Reformers 75 CHAPTER IX. Free Agency. — Controversy between Two Christians. — Devel- oping Paper. — Magnetized paper for the Sick 80 CHAPTER X. Testing the Spirit Indian. — The Esquimaux Spirit. — A Strange Experience. — Letter from a Medium. — Interesting Seances. — A Season of Doubt 92 CHAPTER XI. A Letter causing Pain. — Manifestations through a Negro Slave. ■ — An Amusing Seance with a Negro 106 CHAPTER XII. The Need of the Age. — A Eairy Story. — Mediums and Mes- sages. — Some Thoughts on Mediums and Development 117 CHAPTER XIII. Thoughts on Dreams. — Somnambulistic Experiences 134 CHAPTER XIV. A Dream, and what followed. — The Vision of a Friend. — A Strange Experience. — Visions of a Negro Slave. — A Chris- tian Convert's Dream. — Dreams of Different Persons 142 CHAPTER XV. Presentiments and Warnings 153 CHAPTER XVI. A Singular Phenomenon. — An Expose of Spiritualism. — A Warn- ing and Sad Accident. — Message from the Spirit of a Negro. . 163 CONTENTS. 11 CHAPTER XVII. Spiritual Manifestations of Past Ages 170 CHAPTER XVIII. A Spirit's Presence and Revealments 178 CHAPTER XIX. How the Sea Captain informed his Family of his Death. — A Seance at Sea. — The Doctor and Spirit 181 CHAPTER XX. e from Gen. Sam Houston 188 CHAPTER XXI. The Trumpets. — A Trance Experience. — A Spirit Poem. — A Controversy on Inspiration. — A Minister's Visit 192 CHAPTER XXII. A Spirit Message and Narrative. — A Poem 206 CHAPTER XXIII. A Minister and his Spirit Brother. — A Spirit's Strange Mistake. . 222 CHAPTER XXIV. Magnetic Healing. — A Spirit Message 232 CHAPTER XXV. How Spirits have aided us. — Spiritual Seances 240 CHAPTER XXVI. A Sudden Journey and its Results. — Letters from Friends. — Healing. — Independent Slate-Writing 257 APPENDIX 283 LIFTING THE VEIL: OK, INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFES- TATIONS. CHAPTER I. EARLY DAYS AND MEMOIRS OF ONE OF THE AUTHORS. " But woe unto you, scribes aud Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men : for ye neither go in yourselves ; neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in." — Jesus. Born of Christian parents, and early taught the faith and customs of an Orthodox church, I soon began to seek for spiritual nourishment within its sacred enclosure ; yet its stringent rules at that time were anything but inviting to the buoyant feelings of child- hood. In those days there were but few inducements offered to children who excelled in Gospel lore. No cards of merit, no picture books or papers, to encour- age the weary hearts and weak endeavors of the little ones. No church fairs, picnics, or festivals to change the monotony. Oh no ! children were expected to accept the Gospel without these inviting entertain- ments. My earliest recollections are of my religious training; of the hard lessons to be learned Sabbath after Sabbath, with only the promise of an unending Sabbath in the hereafter as a reward : no wonder little 13 14 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, children of that time sighed to have Sunday come. Well do I remember how I would try to look pious, and creep about the house, with bated breath and quiet step on that day, lest the solemn stillness be disturbed. The long hours will never be forgotten which were spent poring over the theories of the early fathers of Christianity, and puzzling the tender brain with theo- logical problems that the brightest lights of the church had failed to solve. At times I would look up from the difficult task of unravelling orthodox mysteries, and see my kind father restlessly walking about the house. He had but little time for study, as the children were ever asking him the most perplexing questions. He must have had the spirit of a martyr to have endured as he did the con- stant questioning and close scrutiny of his children. He, of course, must be their example, and he did his best to lead them right ; yet he could not conceal the weariness and impatience within : it was plainly pic- tured upon his face. But he would while away some of the long hours humming the old song, "How tedious and tasteless the hour," which was a great favorite with him, and strange to say was the only song I ever heard him attempt to sing. He must at such times have been inspired. I well remember with what mortal awe and dread I used to regard ministers. They always made my father's house their home, on their monthly ministerial visits to the little country village in which we lived. My father was then a slave-holder and planter in the State of Louisiana. These small towns, that were often seen through the State, were located among the hills, some distance from the rivers, to insure health. At the time of which I now write these towns were INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 15 inhabited almost entirely by Red River planters and their families. They had smaller farms surrounding these villages for the purpose of cultivating and raising such things as were necessary for home consumption, while the more fertile river soil was appropriated solely to the production of cotton. These villages were adorned with fine churches and creedal colleges, wherein the rising generation was thoroughly instructed and prepared to act their part on life's stage. With all their wealth, however, and mate- rial display, they seldom had a settled minister, but were dependent upon what was then, and it may be now, styled "a circuit rider," and "presiding elder," for religious instruction. When the stated time came for our share of the labor of one of these, great prepara- tion was made for his reception. At such times the children and servants would be taken aside and lec- tured in regard to their manner of conduct while the minister was present. Each child and servant would listen, looking into the honest, candid faces of our par- ents, with open-eyed wonder, yet taking their first les- sons in the art of dissembling. On the occasion of these visits the negroes were all called from the different fields and given a Saturday holiday, that they might prepare for the coming Sab- bath instruction. The children alwa} r s enjoyed these days quite as much as did the slaves, for they were about the only times that either of us were granted much liberty. While the older members of the family were engaged entertaining the preacher, and drinking in every syl- lable that fell from his godly lips, I was usually infill- ing with inspiration from a very different source. I would go hopping gladly as an uncaged bird, to what 16 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, on southern plantations was called "The Quarter." This was built up with small cottages, in which the various negro families dwelt. A somewhat larger building usually stood in the centre of these, in which the odious " overseer" lived. At the time referred to he always took his holiday, and the blacks were left in full enjoy- ment of their freedom. On all well-regulated plantations, where the slaves were properly cared for and humanely treated, and their comfort regarded, these quarters presented quite a pleasant scene. The Sunday garments of each negro were overhauled, aired, and put in order, ready to be used on the eventful to-morrow. The inside of these houses would then present the appearance of a curiosity shop. Fashions that were in, and fashions that were out, were displayed and seemed to vie with each other as to their beauty and utility. These various articles of clothing had been gathered from year to year, usu- ally from the cast-off wardrobe of their more fortunate owners. Many such articles had been worn half a cen- tury previous by " ole massa " or " ole missus." Not unfrequently would be seen a lady of color clad in the fashion of the day, with a thirty years ago Leghorn, rearing its tall front high on the top of the head ; thus attired she would strive to imitate the manners of her mistress. By some method to me unknown these blacks have the faculty of adapting their forms to any size garment. They seem to contract when the gar- ment is too small, and expand when too large : either way, they manage to make them suit. They had their gardens, and fowls, and other person- al property, and were often more contented than their more enlightened owners. They seemed to verify the old proverb that, " Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 17 to be wise." Be it said, however, of the greater num- ber of them, that they were sincere in their religious devotion, while the services lasted and the minister remained ; but when " meeting " was over, and the preacher was gone, the next Saturday night would find them dancing to the entrancing music of the famous " tin pan " or banjo. The village churches were generally located about a mile distant, in some quiet, shady grove, and were sur- rounded by the resting-places of the sacred dust of the so-called dead. At the entrance to these church buildings seats were usually prepared for the accommodation of the colored brethren and sisters. Although not so near the sanc- tuary, yet they seemed to imbibe a full share of the divine afflatus. Those were indeed happy days in the lives of the slaves. No potentate ever felt so important or half so happy as did they, when standing behind the family coach, or seated proudly in front, attending their masters to church. When later years came, bringing their burden of grief and care, I have often gone back in memory to the old days, and looked upon these poor slaves with feelings akin to envy. My father cared for his apart from their moneyed value, and now that they are free, they revere his memory, not as a master, but as a kind benefactor. When we take into consideration the responsibilities and care that attended slavery, we are forced to regard the master as the greater slave of the two ; that is, where slaves were well cared for and kindly treated. All such slave-owners are now more than content that they are free, and would not, under any circumstances, assume their former places as owners. These negroes had the greatest reverence for minis- ters. The younger ones used to tell us they rained 18 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, down from God, and to disobey or insult one, the offender would be struck dead or paralyzed. I was half inclined to believe this, as well as other remarkable stories they would tell of certain calamities that had befallen persons who would have the courage to assail one or their doctrine. The deference that was ever being shown to them hj our elders, and the preparation always made for their reception, left the impression upon my mind that ministers were widely different from other men. There was amongst these slaves one of those rare curiosities seldom found in negro communities, — a " dis- believer." He was an old rheumatic man, who did nothing but manufacture baskets for plantation use. He was looked upon by all his comrades as a monstros- ity, and the subject of much abuse and ridicule. By some then unaccountable influence I felt much drawn to the helpless old man. His mind was well stored with fairy tales and stories of witchcraft, to which I often listened with the most rapt attention. He had in past years been owned by a minister who misused and abused him, and finally sold him away from his wife and children ; and the presence of one on the place always provoked in him feelings of great indigation. Often he would remark, " Chillun, I ruther 'long to old Saten heself, dan for one of dem preachers to own me." The old man wept like a child when a beautiful sister was wedded to one. During the ceremony, when the officiating minister was asking the bridegroom "if he would take the woman to love and cherish?" the poor old man turned to leave, and with tears streaming from his eyes, he exclaimed in an undertone, " Yes, Lord, it will be to perish ! " which prophecy in after years was fulfilled in a spiritual sense, as my dear sister never INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 19 could with patience wear the galling chains of creedal- ism. Her spiritual nature was starved. This old man, ignorant as he seemed, and unnoticed as he was, nevertheless had his uses. He closely criti- cised and watched the other negroes who were " pro- fessors," as well as those who, as they termed it, were " yet in the wilderness." He also served to lessen my regard for pious professors and ministers, and awoke in my young mind thoughts that would have greatly shocked me, had they been expressed in words. On these Saturday holidays I usually persuaded the cook to give me a portion of the dainties in course of preparation for the ministers. Then I would hasten to the Quarter, followed by a bevy of little negroes, each eager for a taste of the good things I had in my possession. After the cravings of father Adam's appetite had been fully satisfied, I would take a seat on a low stool in front of the old man, and in the midst of the small negroes, and quietly await further developments. After a few moments of silence, in which he seemed in profound study, he would say, " What de white folks doing up at de big house ? " " Talking to the preachers," I would answer. " Ah, law, chile ! " he would say ; " dey better go to work for dere libin'. Dey don't know no more about 'ligion dan dis poor old nigger." " Dey aint no niggers ; de devil's a nigger," a little darkey would saucily interrupt. "Keep your mouf; the devil made you all the same," old Adam would reply. Then he would con- tinue : " De preachers never seen God nor hebin, nor likewise de debil, and dey knows nothin 'tall about any of dem any more dan we does ; and if ole massa done 20 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, quit feedin' dem on bam and eggs and chickens, dey wouldn't trouble dis place much. Dey never goes roun' poo' white trash, and dem is de main ones what needs dare sarvice. Dat's de Lord's truf, bunny. Dey not give a cuss whar old massa went, so dey gits plenty to eat, and a sofa to lay down on. It's truf, chile, fore de Lord ; dem preachers every one are lookin' out for demselves. I would just like to be in old massa shoes for awhile. I would bust the las' one of dar galls fore dey should lay roun' dis place, and eat up de las' chicken ; fore de Lord I would, hunny." While such talk would sound coarse and harsh, it served to awaken serious thoughts and doubts in my mind, of the reliability of much that was doled out Sun- day after Sunday from the pulpit, and which we were taught to believe was truth ; and years of theological training never did obliterate them. In fact, these con- versations with old father Adam, proved to be the first of those waves that in after times landed me upon the bleak shore of infidelity. They awoke in my mind a strange mixture of faith and distrust, and caused me to a'void the preachers. When Saturday evening came round, we were all called up to be catechised by the minister, that he might judge of our spiritual progress and the condition of our souls. We were all marched up, trembling in every limb for fear we might stumble or step amiss. Never did a soldier go to battle with more dread than I went to face these messengers who professed to bring "glad tidings," and try as I would "to be good," and answer correctly the questions asked, I was sure to leave in disgrace. At one time, on being told the devil was a fallen angel, I unhesitatingly asked "why God did not kill him or burn him up, so he would not make INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 21 people bad. " " That is not a proper question for a little girl to ask," the minister very solemnly replied. I hung down my head in confusion, while a blush of shame suffused my young face. I felt I had in some indefinable way committed a gross error ; the preach- er's stern look said as much : but were any one to-day to receive a like reprimand, the blush would be apt to mantle the minister's cheek, as children of larger growth will no longer suffer such evasions as the mys- teries of Godliness, and other subterfuges to which the clergy are constantly being driven when they fail to explain what they do not comprehend. My childish inquisitiveness was always plunging me into difficulties and disgrace. A mischievous feeling to ask perplexing questions would invariably arise when in the presence of ministers (and I must say it is still the case). These infidel ideas were ever swelling up in my mind, and, try as I would to suppress them, they would, in defiance of all efforts to the contrary, find expression. They would not down at the bidding, but were ever cropping out in the form of some question that was considered blasphemy to ask, and to which an answer was always denied. Upon one occasion, when catechised, and being in- structed in regard to the fall of man, and his consequent expulsion from Eden, the question was asked, — " What made Adam eat the apple which caused such dire destruction to his own happiness, as well as that of the whole human family ? " Without the least thought as to what should be said I unhesitatingly replied, " Because he thought it was good." A reprimand for want of reverence was the result, and the correct answer stated to be, " Because Eve tempted him." 22 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, My brain was more puzzled than before, but I man- aged to crush down the doubts that were surging through my mind, fearing the keen scrutiny of the minister, and the usual disgrace. I wanted to ask why God had placed it thus; all the while thinking how cruel it was to place delicious fruit within the sight and reach of a man and woman, and then forbid them to eat of it. I inwardly decided that I would have eaten it too. The minister went on to tell of the beauties of Eden, of its silvery streams and fair flowers, in whose blissful atmosphere neither sickness nor death could enter, and how our first parents had forfeited all, both for themselves and us, and were turned out strangers in a strange world, " to earn their bread by the sweat of their brow" (the most redeeming feature of the fall), and meet every imaginable difficulty, and henceforth be subjects of sorrow, disease, and death. My feeling of sympathy became so wrought upon that I raised my eyes to the minister's face and sobbingly said : " I am so sony; but I can't help it. Why did God not undo his work, and make another good man and woman, and see if they would not do better?" — another "mystery of godliness," and a question altogether wanting in rev- erence — one which after-years of study and investiga- tion could not satisfactorily solve. Quite an amusing incident occurred in these days of ministerial visits and training. The minister in charge had wedded a lady many years his senior, and at the time they were comfortably quartered at my father's house, taking a week of rest and quiet. It was a cold November day, and Father Adam was sitting in the warm sunshine in front of his cabin door plying his trade. The oaken splits were moving in and out around a half-finished basket. The motion was accompanied INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANtFESTATIONS. 23 by a low, plaintive tune of an old plantation song which the old man was pathetically humming. Something in the words must have touched a tender chord within his heart, for, as he raised his head to look at the minister, who in his morning walk had strayed that way, a tear glistened upon his ebony cheek. Regardless, however, of this sign of emotion, the minister in a careless tone of voice said, — ■ " Good morning, Adam ; where is Eve ? " " You got her, massa," the old man replied. This got abroad, and was a source of much amuse- ment at the preacher's expense. It fully compensated the old negro for the want of consideration in the preacher who thus addressed him. About three years were passed. These ministerial visits and instruction came as regularly as clockwork, with about the same monotony, excepting that one month in each year the minister's services and visits were missing, as he would go away to attend the yearly conference. Usually we had sent us a new or strange one ; but that brought but little change ; it only served to keep alive the awe the first inspired. These years, notwithstanding their sameness, were fraught with much joy. Much of the time was passed roaming over the virgin hills of a Southern forest, be- neath the grand old pines, which waved their feathery leaves above, and whose sturdy branches reached out and around, with a seeming promise of protection. With what a gladsome heart have I listened to the cheerful songs of the birds, and the merry chirp of the squirrel, as it sprang lightly from branch to branch. With what eager, childish delight have I gathered the wild fruit, which was then to be found in great abundance throughout these woodlands — fruit of God's own plant- 24 LIFTING THE VEIL: OE, ing. Thus immersed in the very bosom of nature, I would feel that freedom of soul that is the legitimate birthright of every son and daughter of man. Nature's lessons were far easier learned than were those of theology, and left a deeper impression — one that time cannot efface. It seemed that a force was acquired that counteracted all erroneous instructions and awoke within my soul a feel- ing of profound reverence ; and, from the depths of a worshipful heart, I have thrown up my hands in childish delight and exclaimed, " God is good ! " Kind reader, if born and raised within the confines of a city home, and denied the blissful privilege of being alone with nature, in the days of childhood and youth, then you are to be pitied, for you have been cheated out of a great luxury, and debarred from the holiest influences of life. But with me, these silent teachings of nature must, alas ! be hushed, and the Eden of childhood's innocency closed. I was sent off to college, after an affectionate leave-taking of every familiar scene, a good-by to all the birds, the grand old trees, and fair flowers of my early home ; also a tearful parting with all the faithful slaves, who were much endeared to me. I was sent to a Methodist college in the eastern part of the "Lone Star State." In addition to the usual knowledge obtained, I there received a most thorough orthodox training. In that respect I never found any cause to complain of the least neglect. Religious instructions came regularly day by day, "line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little," until all the natural emotions of my heart were for the time crushed, and I so infilled with orthodoxy, that it required years of effort to regain my former selfhood. While at college the Sabbath was regarded with the INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 25 most profound reverence, and no indulgence in any youthful pastimes was ever tolerated. Any amusement was enjoyed at the expense and sacrifice of some inborn good, which should have been stimulated into action. We were never allowed to converse upon any subject which did not relate to religion, nor even enjoy a merry laugh, and we invariably did both, feeling all the while condemned, not for the act, but for the deception prac- tised to hide it. ' All were required to attend church, read the Bible and other religious books, and look mournful and solemn. In this way we all learned to dissemble. In this way I, like thousands of others, was educated. When my school days were ended and I returned to my childhood's home, I could scarcely realize I was my- self, — the once happy-hearted, trusting, and innocent being, who a few years previous was exiled from its sacred precinct. When I heard the praise of a fond father and friends bestowed upon me because of my great improvement, I turned away with the utmost loathing. Of the little useful knowledge gained I indeed felt proud, yet the vague sense felt of not being the same joyous, innocent creature as before cast a shade of sadness over all the pleasures of home ; not that I had been any worse than others, but thanks to my noble parents, who bequeathed to me a fine sense of honor, I could not look upon the false life I had been leading with any degree of. allow- ance. The little acts of deception I had been led into through the force of religious circumstances grew in proportion as they were reflected upon, and the contrast between the then and now was too great to be recon- ciled. A feeling of melancholy which could not be cast off settled like a dark cloud upon my life. It was soon 26 LIFTING THE VEIL: OE, observed by the family that my former cheerfulness was gone, and great fears were entertained for my health. However, after becoming satisfied that my physical condition was as good as could be desired, the minister suggested that I might be under " conviction," which, upon the whole, may have been tinctured with truth. It was evident that I was not myself, but a breathing bundle of orthodox ideas. I was a medium, and had been taking on and in all the influences by which I had been surrounded ; and if I was not a " sin- ner" and "fitted for the wrath of God" when sent away to be schooled by ministers, I now felt there must be something I knew was interiorly wrong. I even hated myself for the repeated dissemblings I was driven to enact of seeming to be what I was not ; all was outside show and glitter, while the inner temple was a scene of unrest and commotion. How simple and easy now seems the remedy, kind reader; yet I had no human hand to point the way, and was so enwrapt in the darkness of error that I could not see the light from above, or hear the interior voice of truth. It seems from the present standpoint that orthodox train- ing and exercises make more sinners than orthodox ministers will ever be able to convert. The remedy for these mental agitations I must give, hoping that in doing so I may aid some other troubled soul that has drifted into a sea of uncertainty : it is, Be thyself. Make no outivard professions to any creed that in your soul you cannot fully accept. Had some good angel but whispered these words into my dull ears, they would have saved me a world of mental torture. The minister lost no opportunity to persuade me that I was under " conviction," and at last it ended in my being admitted on probation into the Methodist Episco- INTEEIOE EXPEEIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 27 pal Church, and I tried with all my heart and soul and strength to be what they called a Christian, and failed. I was not long in realizing that I had made bad worse ; that now I was from necessity compelled to assume far more than I could feel or approve ; but I kept striving to get used to it for six months, and could not : then I withdrew with feelings of extreme repulsion and disgust. As soon as the clergy had us all safe, as they thought, within an orthodox enclosure, they laid aside much of their former reserve and ministerial dignity. They would have much merriment over the efforts of some simple-minded sister to entertain them, and laugh hear- tily about how the poor fowls would fly, run, and hide, at their approach. They used frequently to congregate at our house and discuss the tangled doctrines of their creed. Upon one such occasion, previous to my with- drawal from their number, my father ventured to take a part in one of their arguments, and he became so angry and disgusted with their unjust and unreasonable ideas, that he denounced the minister in charge as an unmitigated fraud, and ordered his name erased from their church book ; nor was he struck dead, or paralyzed for the act. I have always regarded my dear, honest father as a type of honorable manhood ; but that day he, to me, assumed the appearance of divine manhood. I thought how brave he was, and my admiration for him was never before so great. After this we all experienced such a feeling of relief, that we laughingly called it our "conver- sion," and I suppose we were not far wrong. We seemed to breathe a free atmosphere, and needed no longer to creep about the house on tiptoe when these pious gentle- men were about. We felt some independence, and they saw it. Light enough had dawned upon our darkened 28 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, mentality to see that these holy men were no better than others, and many times not half so good; that they often made a cloak of the ministry with which to cover some vice or deformity. The estimate now upon their worth in the light of our clearer judgment fell far short of what it formerly was. They had suddenly been precipitated from the high pedestal upon which, in our minds, they once stood, to their legitimate places among other men. We at last found out that the church made no man better. We knew very many good men and women belonged to it, but we also knew they were such before being church members. We easily perceived by their discussions and disa- greements that preachers are in serious doubt of many things they dole out as facts from the pulpit Sabbath after Sabbath. Some of these " blind leaders of the blind " had now "fallen into the ditch," and could there Jie, so far as their future use to us was concerned. Preachers and followers were in my estimation much like the colored minister and his flock of whom I have heard, who was striving to indoctrinate them in regard to the origin of man. He said, " My bruderin, God made the first man out of clay, and sot him agin de fence to dry." "Who made de fence? " asked another brother. " Keep silence, bruder ; anoder sich a question gwine to bus' up dis church," replied the preachei\_J I found the further I went into these theological thickets, the darker and more tangled they became ; and both my father and self began to investigate its claims as to divine origin. This however was done with the greatest privacy. It was not popular to doubt the prevailing belief, and the utmost caution was observed. We were like birds with untried wings, fear- ing to leave the parent nest. INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 29 CHAPTER IT. " Use and Habit are powers Far stronger that Passion, in this world of ours. The great laws of life readjust their infraction, And to every emotion appoint a reaction." Of all the difficult tasks to perform, that of divest- ing one's self of life-long habits is the hardest; habits and customs, too, established by our forefathers, and handed down to their children from generation to gen- eration. New ideas and theories are strange and untried. The old are at least familiar, and at that time, it re- quired a larger amount of independence and moral courage than now to go out to — we knew not where. That huge giant, Public Opinion, stood just before us, grim and forbidding, and was the most formidable foe to our spiritual progress. After being cautioned by my over-prudent father not to make public our doubts, he declaring that it would be considered a disgrace to array our opposing views against those of the church. ; that it would bring upon us useless reproach and ostracism, as we should be unable to persuade others to think and feel as we did, we began our search for the true church; but as thousands of others have done, and still are doing, we never looked within. My father began his investigation by carefully read- ing Josephus, to ascertain what he had recorded about 30 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, the divinity of Christ. He found the little informa- tion there given by the Jewish historian only proved him to be a most wonderful man ; no more so, how- ever, than many who have since lived. One night after I had retired to rest my father called to me to come to him. I immediately arose and entered the room in which he was sitting reading Josephus. He had come to the description of the seance of Saul with the woman at Endor. He wanted me to hear it. He had often read of it in the Bible, but said it now seemed to convey to his mind a different impression. Said he : " The woman certainly manifested an unusual foresight. She knew that it was the king, and greatly feared. She described Samuel, who prophesied of his coming fate. She showed much sympathy for the erring Saul, more even than the Jewish deity ; for when the consultation had ended, the poor frightened woman, in the night-time, 'killed a calf and kneaded dough' for the king. This," said my father, "she seemed to do with as much ease as one would draw for a neighbor a cup of tea." I could have related some startling discoveries I had made, but feared his displeasure at the progress I was making. My dear, honest father ! he had more trouble in his efforts to free his mind from religious supersti- tions than I. He was more prudent, and with him they were of longer standing. He, too, was less sensi- tive to spirit influence and impression. A few days previous to this a man had been employed to make some repairs about a well in our yard, and I felt a strong impression to go where he was at work and talk with him. This man was a notorious character in our locality. Persons who made any pretensions to ordinary respectability scarcely ever addressed him, INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 31 particularly women. It was well known that at one time he had been a Methodist minister, and an intelli- gent one; but that he had committed an unpardonable sin, no- one entertained the least doubt. Preachers, every one who knew him, said he had ; that was suffi- cient. He was now an infidel, in consequence of which he and his family were shunned and ostracized by the entire community. My kind father, although doubt- ing the whole religious system, would have thought one of his children contaminated by showing the man any courtesy or countenance. So with caution, fearing I should be discovered in conversation with him, I sought an interview. After going to where he was at work, and standing some moments in silence, I ventured to ask, — "Mr. Woodruff, were you once a minister?" " I am ashamed to own that I was," he replied. " Would it be amiss to ask you why ? " I inquired. " Not in the least." After a moment's pause, he continued: "I was raised by Christian parents, and in my early years never enter- tained a doubt in regard to the truthfulness of the orthodox creeds. I preached several years, and accept- ably ; was finally sent as a local minister to the city of M , in one of the States. The preachers here all know me, and are aware of the fact. The sisters of the church there fitted me up a suite of rooms good enough for a prince, and I was petted and flattered by them to my heart's full satisfaction. None could desire to be more happily situated ; my word was considered gospel truth, and I assure you I felt both happy and proud of the attention bestowed so freely upon me. But I did not long enjoy either the deference shown me, or my sumptuous surroundings. One winter 32 LIFTING THE VEIL: OE, morning when the snow had robed the earth in its emblem of purity, and I was comfortably seated in my cushioned chair, in front of a warm fire, I found it diffi- cult to withdraw my thoughts from the beauty without. However, after repeated efforts, I succeeded in applying my mind to the Sabbath morning's sermon. I had dur- ing my study occasion to refer to the Bible, and as I opened it, my eyes fell upon these words, 'If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.' " You will find them in the Gospel as recorded by Luke, fourteenth chapter, and twenty-sixth verse. " They seemed to stand out in letters of fire. My eyes were fixed upon them, while a feeling of unutter- able horror and repugnance pervaded my entire being, I thought, could these be the words of God? Did he create these sacred loves within the human heart to be crushed out by their possessor? What is there left of any man or woman, worthy of immortality, when the best part of them has been murdered? Could I worship a God who required such sacrifice ? The mur- der of love ! No, no, a thousand times no ! So many thoughts of a similar kind passed swiftly through my mind, it would take hours to relate them. It seemed in a very few moments I was enabled to see a lifetime of errors, and before I could fully realize what I was doing, I threw the Book that contained this monstrous doctrine into the fire, and rushed wildly from the house. I presume I had many times before read these same words, and why they had so affected me at that time I am unable to say. Ministers say it was the tempting of the devil. But what the devil does and says should not affect the goodness of God. The words were in INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 66 the Bible, given as words of God, and they seemed burned upon my brain. They are now as vividly pic- tured there as they were that day I went forth friend- less and alone to vindicate my manhood and what I considered truth. Since that eventful time I have been the byword of the clergy. I had, in their judgment, ' sinned away the day of grace,' and forfeited all claims to respectability. Every business avenue to me has been closed. No man can combat successfully against such odds, and my days have been passed in poverty ; often have both my family and self suffered want. Preachers, through ostracism and persecution, have caused it. The influence they exercised could not be withstood. I am to-day pointed at as a living example of God's displeasure, but I have my self-respect left, which is a rich reward. I would rather be cursed than blest by such a God as theirs ; would prefer to endure all the ills I brought upon myself and mine than to appear to worship at such a shrine." He then drew from his coat pocket a well-worn copy of Paine's " Age of Reason," saying, " Read this ; it will help you through a wilderness of doubt." I did read, and re-read it, by hiding aAvay to do it. I kept it in the hollow of a large oak-tree, beneath whose cool shade I often sat to read and think. The knowl- edge I obtained through its perusal I was most anxious to share with my father, but could not call forth the courage at that time, and I think he never did know of the act. He was more experienced than I was, and well knew the storm of abuse that was sure to follow should such things become public. At the very name of " Tom Paine " the hands of the church would be uplifted in holy horror. Neither was my father willing to be landed upon the bleak shore of infidelity. He had 34 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, loved ones gone to somewhere, whose memory was too dear to be ignored; and not for a moment would he part with his belief in meeting them again. This night, after our conversation about Saul and the exiled medium, we both were silent for some moments, during which a strange feeling of the presence of others came over me. I realized in particular, and distinct from others, a beautiful Indian maiden, of whom I had many times dreamed, and become in that way very familiar witli her appearance. In a state of somnam- bulism I have wandered through the woods with her, over hill and dale, and returned 'home, much to my father's annoyance. I would always wake him up on returning, to show him something beautiful which the Indian had given me, and which I thought was safely held in my closed hand. I had in waking moments heard her voice, when alone in the woods, and she was interiorly as real to my consciousness as any one of my human associates. While silently sitting that night, my father and I, the voice of the Indian was heard saying, " Worship the Great Spirit." Intuitively I was able to quickly grasp the entire meaning. We had been much with Indians, and were familiar with their customs and belief. That the views of these aboriginal worshippers, and their cherished tradition of an endless possession of a hunt- ing-ground in the hereafter, was by far the nearest approximation to truth, I felt inclined to accept. I could not at that time explain the manner in which this was conveyed, for then any allusion to spirits or spirit intercourse would have been considered the height of folly and superstition. I did not know but these influences were felt by all, and that these soundless voices were heard by all alike, and never INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 35 questioned their origin, or philosophy. Therefore, with- out airy comment, I said to my father " that I thought the views of the Indians the most satisfying, were they divested of their crudities, and accepted by progressed minds on a higher plane of life." He laid aside Jose- phus, and I left him walking back and forth in the room, pondering the problem of what is to be our future condition, and where in infinitude are we to dwell. A few evenings after this, the conversation about Indians was resumed, and I remarked that " whenever we were speaking of the subject of death, a hereafter, or a person who was dead, that I experienced a most chilling sensation, so much so that it often made me shiver, and it seemed as though persons who were not visible at such times attended us." My father immediately arose, and in an excited man- ner said, " Then let us speak of other things ; you must not encourage these feelings; they will ruin you. Peo- ple who get their minds absorbed on such subjects are in danger of becoming insane. You are too young to grapple with such problems, and I see it has been unwise in me to stimulate your imagination. We will drop the subject altogether, and trust to wiser heads than ours to investigate and expound these mysteries. Never let the idea enter your mind that the dead are around us ; I know that it is impossible for them to return. Had it been true, your dear mother would have come to me. She believed she had seen her loved departed, and by them had been warned of danger, and comforted in sorrow; and she many times assured me that she would return if I would go to certain places at stated times, and wait for her. It was all imagination. I went and waited as directed, but she never came. I would have parted with every earthly possession for the 36 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, least sign of her presence, but she never gave it, and had I not by determined effort discarded it from my mind, I should have gone mad. Let us never resume these conversations. The effect might prove ruinous to you." My dear father was so overcome with emotion that he took his hat and went from the house. This com- pletely put an end to any exchange of ideas between us, of a religious character. I was left alone with my thoughts, yet with intense hungering to express my feelings to some congenial listener. With me, my beloved mother did not seem to be far away; she seemed to be present yet in our home, and in my sleep I lived with her as in days of yore, and her angel presence brought in my waking hours sweet memories of her kind counsel and tender care. This knowledge I could not then express by words, but it was a joy and comfort to my life. Not long after this, I was taken violently ill, so much so, that all hope of recovery was gone. I was speech- less, although not insensible, and knew all that was being said and done around me. During this time, I felt myself to be at a great distance from all that surrounded me ; too far off to be heard, were I to make an effort to speak. The voices of those near by, though distinctly heard, seemed, at a distance. My mother then was plainly visible ; she stood over me with anxious face ; while the beautiful Indian maiden would come at times, bringing with her a milky looking atmosphere, in which I would become enveloped. She would pass her hands over me soothingly. This was repeated two and three times a day, until the crisis was passed and I began to recover. One day, while still too weak to leave the bed, my INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 37 father and step-mother were sitting close beside me, and I requested that a slate and pencil be given me. I was restless from long confinement, and passed much of the time drawing pictures and puzzles upon the slate. A servant was called, who brought them, and placed the pillows that I might recline in a comfortable posi- tion. When she had finished, and was turning to leave, I looked up and beheld my beautiful mother standing over me ; on her face was a look of intense pity and affection. For a moment I gazed on this heavenly vision with feelings of rapture, then she stretched forth her hand and gently passed it over my face. It was icy cold, and I screamed through fright. In an instant my father clasped me in his arms, and I told him what had transpired. Some time elapsed before he succeeded in allaying my fears. He said it was all imagination, or hallucina- tion, caused by extreme debility, but I afterwards over- heard him telling my step-mother "that he was at the time thinking about my mother, and feeling her to be so near that he could scarcely resist the impulse to reach out his hand and try to touch her." This was consoling to me, as I could not be persuaded, nor did I wish to be convinced, that I had not seen and felt my mother. My father was now as willing and ready to account for any spiritual phenomena, upon the plea of imagina- tion, as were the ministers to account for what they could not explain by their favorite resort, "the mystery of Godliness." I have always regretted my needless fear on that occasion, for never since, but at rare intervals, have I ever been sensible of my mother's loving presence. The watchful care of the Indian girl has never failed, 38 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, Through all the after years of ray life I have been con- scious of her attendance and aid, and upon occasions when human assistance and sympathy were beyond my reach. INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 39 CHAPTER III. "But what then? I push on All the faster perchance that I yet feel the pain Of my last fall, albeit I may stumble again. God means every man to be happy ; be sure, He sends us no sorrows that have not some cure." Some years after this I was persuaded to join another church, holding different views from the first, and twelve years of my life were spent among the Baptists. While my association with these good-meaning people lasted, the time that should have been passed in spirit- ual culture was devoted to wrangling over the essentials and non-essentials of the Christian church. It is amusing to look back a few years at the Christian ardor that was manifested in the heated debates on baptism, election, and final perseverance of the saints. Truly, we were engaged in "Christian warfare," — not " with the world, the flesh, and the devil," but with one another. Learned men of the past dispensation did just what learned men of this new spiritual era are in great danger of doing ; namely, they lured the unthinking masses beyond the simplicity of the gospel, into the frozen regions of theory and science. The prophecy given through Paul of " the destruction of the wisdom of the wise," and the "bringing to naught the understanding of the prudent," and " the foolishness of the wisdom of this world," has on the part of the Christian church been fully realized. 40 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, When the Christian dispensation was first inaugurated, it was to the learned Jew "a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness," yet it gained a mighty power which is gradually lessening the further its expounders and followers get from its original simplicity. The kingdom of heaven, or harmony within, which can only be entered in the spirit of innocent, child-like trust, has been the "stumbling stone" that was in the Zion of the past, and unless great foresight and care be exercised, it will prove " the rock of offence " in this new spiritual dispensation. The wisdom of the learned to account for and explain the phenomena and interior manifestations of the present time will prove a failure so long as they resort to human skill and science as the means to attain the coveted knowledge. Men can no more test the reality of spirit phenomena by the use of their chemical knowl- edge than they could by its laws test the strength of human affection. They need to study in a higher school the chemistry of the human soul. As before remarked, the members of this last church into which I had drifted were forever contending for essential doctrines, and each was closely watched by all others, lest some false doctrine should be introduced in their assembly. Upon one occasion, I was told by the minister in charge of the church, who at the time was teaching a Bible class to which I belonged, that I was subject to church discipline for entertaining and expressing my views on the new or second birth. The question was asked : " What do you understand by the new birth?" Answer: "The birth of the spirit at the death of the physical body." I well knew what the answer should have been according to orthodox dicta- tion, but the answer was given by the promptings of that interior voice. INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 41 When reprimanded, I excused the reply by saying I spoke without thought. I had spoken wiser than I knew, and to-day feel a confirmation of its truthfulness. For some years I remained in this church, earnestly striving, with numbers of others, to reconcile its doc- trine with the teachings of their scriptures, and both doctrine and scriptures too with the character and attributes of a God whose nature and name is Love. During these years of creedal contention, study, and investigation, I felt much like a ship at sea, without compass or rudder, drifting about with every changing wave of thought. At times I seemed to stand on the highest pinnacle of hope ; at others was cast in the deepest, darkest, gloom ; but most of the time I was upon the stool of repentance, for I would doubt, and "he that doubteth is damned." I have suffered agony because I could not believe orthodox doctrine. Repeated contentions and disagreements finally caused me to sever my connection with the Baptist denomina- tion. These creedal agitations and heated debates did not meet my views of " brotherly love " ; and I greatly preferred no existence to that of an eternity spent in such strife, and in a heaven, too, from which many whom I loved would be excluded. I came out from among them, heroically determined to share the fate of thousands of others who cannot believe in the dogmas of the Christian church, and tried to believe there was no hereafter. Not long after this, my attention was attracted to the manifestations of Modern Spiritualism ; and we began holding circles within our own home. To my great delight, we were blest with most remarkable results, some of which will be given in coming chapters. The happy discovery was made that the entire family were mediums. 42 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, The first sound of the " tiny rap " that ever fell upon my mortal ears thrilled and filled me with unspeakable delight. I intuitively knew that I had found what to me was "the pearl of great price"; I had found that which would bring evidence of immortality ; the evi- dence for which I had so long searched, but in vain, until now. In all the darkness through which I had passed I was assured that wisdom was at the helm guid- ing life's frail boat ; that angels' hands had led me safely through every wave of doubt and distrust to where the soul could rest satisfied. I have raised a large family of children to manhood and womanhood, who have enjoyed religious freedom. They have had but one moral precept urged upon their consideration, — the one given by Confucius hundreds of years before Christ, and promulgated by every moral law given in after years, — which is, " Do unto another what you would that others should do unto you." At one time one of the little girls expressed a wish to attend an Orthodox Sabbath-school. She had per- mission to do so. I knew the little ones felt the need of some social gathering on that day, which has been wisely set apart for rest and spiritual culture, even as children of larger growth do. She went a few times, and then no persuasion of teacher or children was suffi- cient to induce her to go again. I A few Sabbaths were spent at home after this ; theii'~she said, " Mamma, would you care if I went to the German Sunday- school?" "My child," I replied, "you would not understand one word the minister or teachers would say." " That is why I want to go, mamma. When they preach and teach about burning people in fire and brimstone forever it frightens me. If I go to the Ger- INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 43 man school, then, you see, I won't know it when they talk about that. And it is near Christmas, and I want to get something nice off the Christmas-tree." While I greatly admired the little philosopher, I at the same time reproached myself with having neglected the spiritual wants of the children. I felt that through my fear of restricting their liberty I had neglected their interior needs, and had left their souls to starve. Such incidents show the demand for places of public instruction ; places that will draw out and develop the thoughts of the young, and furnish means for their social enjoyment. Is it not the imperative duty of Spiritualists everywhere to see that this is done ? Many have the money, ability, and time, which cannot be appropriated to a more laudable purpose. The close of the great rebellion left us, like thousands of others, perfectly impoverished, and with but little experience in any kind of labor. The demand for con- stant activity to provide for our material wants pre- cluded the possibility of giving the desired attention to spirit communion and interior unfoldment; yet I must say, had it not been for the timely aid of unseen guardians and friends, my spirit would many times have fallen into despondency on life's rugged roadside. Many are the times that my way has been hedged about with seemingly insurmountable difficulties, and loved ones "over yonder" have been prompt to answer every call of need, and have opened avenues for our deliverance in the most unexpected ways. Thus, kind reader, have I struggled through the most trying scenes, receiving the aid and direction of the blest immortals when heart and flesh had failed. Others, too, have been consoled and strengthened by loving messages given through my humble organism, 44 LIFTING THE VEIL: OK, when conditions were favorable and opportunities of- fered. My children, now men and women grown, have never given me cause to regret allowing them perfect liberty; each one of them any mother might justly feel proud of. They each fill their places on life's eventful stage with credit to themselves and honor to me. With more time, and better conditions, my son and self have again organized another home circle, for the purpose of developing his mediumistic gifts, and giving to others our experiences in this new phase of human life. If but simple and little, these experiences will, we trust, encourage others to investigate the subject of spirit communion. We present them as the only and best return we can offer the angel world for their ever- watchful care through life's changing scenes. " 'Tis well ; the way was often dull and weary, The spirit fainted oft beneath its load; No sunshine came from skies all gray and dreary, And yet our feet were bound to tread that road. $ $ $ $ He $ 4 Gladly, with spirits braced, the future facing, We leave behind the dusty, footworn track. " C ^r^zc^Le^o- G^^^/i^La^r^i INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 45 CHAPTER IV. " And ever near us, though unseen, The dear immortal spirits tread; For all the houndless universe Is life ; there are no dead." We do not propose to write an essay on the spiritual philosophy, but to give the reader an honest and candid account of some seances and experiences held within the privacy of home ; also incidents in private life that may prove interesting and instructive. We are told that there is at least one medium or sensitive in every family : often we find more. We are ever urged by our unseen friends and loved ones to make conditions, and they will joyfully come and convince us that death was powerless to destroy them, and that they can return and tell us of their present existence, homes, and occupations. These frome circles will compel charlatans and trick- sters who have long been as festering sores on Spirit- ualism to seek other means of gaining wealth than by ruthlessly trifling with the most sacred feelings of the human heart. Bankrupts from every department of life have flocked to Spiritualism, with the hope of finding a field of labor in which they might build anew their different fortunes, and retrieve their past social positions. And Spiritual- ism with open arms received and welcomed them all. Religious bankrupts many, together with the social, 46 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, political, financial, and, in fact, bankrupts of every class and from every ism. Is it at all surprising with such an array of seekers for knowledge and assistance from spirit friends and loved ones, that we have had such a variety of mani- festations and such different grades of inspirations and influences? Many of the learned, the wise, and good have indeed sought light from on high solely for the purpose of elevating and emancipating a creed-bound humanity, and to gratify a heart-felt yearning for some tidings of their dear ones. Science and religion as ever have arisen in bitter opposition, and Spiritualism has battled for every inch of ground gained, steadily moving onward independent of all obstacles, and to-day numbers among its advo- cates thousands of earth's brightest and best. The " Old Ship of Zion " was not large enough, nor suitably provisioned for the hungering millions, — the millions who, in answer to their cry for bread, were receiving the stones of tradition ; and when asking for fish were handed the old serpent of Theology (the devil.) This new ship, "Progression," can accommodate all, feed all; furnish the nourishment sought by every class of intellect ; take on board all nations, all creeds, their saints and sinners, their wise and foolish, and land them safely in their appropriate places, their own mansions which day by day each is building. We regret to say that Spiritualism has not yet in the southern country attained that position in society to which it is justly entitled, nor a just recognition of its phenomena; hence we, with others, suffer and have suf- fered much social ostracism, mostly, however, from the INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 47 churches and their followers. But when we count the benefits that in various ways we have received, together with the comforts and blessings our departed have bestowed upon us, we are more than willing to accept the inconvenience and struggle it has cost. The high price that travelling media are necessitated to charge for spiritual seances has debarred many of the laboring poor from the benefit of much knowledge and comfort that the more wealthy can easily obtain. We, however, hope that they will be led to do as we have done, make conditions; that a Jacob's ladder may be raised in every household, whereon angels may descend to illuminate their homes with their shining presence, and bring warmth, courage, and comfort, to their wait- ing souls. All along the checkered paths of our lives we have felt the attendance and ministry of loved ones who have passed away ; but in our gross materiality and through our ignorance have often abused it. After such times, long intervals would elapse between messages from the dear immortals. During these sea- sons of silence on their part, we were made to realize that a knowledge of their presence was needed to pro- mote our happiness. Then we would be overwhelmed with penitence, on receiving some new token of their continued love and watchful care over us. Some time previous to Dr. Henry Slade's visit to Galveston, Texas, and while passing through one of these seasons of coldness and neglect, to our great pleas- ure and surprise, the well-remembered voice of a son and brother who resides above was heard saying " A noted medium is coming." At the time, we were out for an evening walk in company with a friend ; as soon as we received the message we repeated it to her. She 48 LIFTING THE VEIL : OR, said, " I have heard of none coming." We walked on a short distance in silence, when again the same well- known voice slowly said, " Go to Mr. Talbot's." Being at the time near this gentleman's residence we concluded to go in and see what would be gained. On entering we spoke of the message just received, and were informed that a letter had a few hours previous been brought by the postman from Dr. Slacle, announc- ing his coming. That no one had been told of the loiter, the above-named gentleman assured us. The test was simple, yet it brought to each of us renewed faith and joy. On Dr. Slade's arrival here, this same precious spirit acquainted us with the fact, and we were so influenced to go and have a sitting with him that we found it irre- sistible. We first went to hear him lecture, and came home filled with a wonderful sympathy for this noble instrument of the spirit world, and wondered that any could neglect the opportunity of learning something of the great beyond and those who resided there. Most of all, we could not see how two young men, who were with us, could resist the influences of their sainted mothers, — influences that we strongly felt to be urging them to go. They were both sensitives, and we could see they felt altogether uncomfortable. We hoped they would yield to the tender mother pleading, but, alas ! they resisted it, even as we overcame the influ- ence to tell them. Oh, what cowards do our surroundings make of us ! We so fear crossing the line of discretion, in this deli- cate and but little understood subject, that we often fall short of accomplishing great good to others. This we now feel was the case in this instance, as both the young men have since manifested the greatest interest in spirit communion. INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 49 On the day after attending the lecture, we called at the Washington Hotel for a seance with the world-re- nowned Dr. Henry Slacle, with the following results : — ■ In a sun-lighted room we took our seats at a common leaf table, with both leaves up and table uncovered, and were at once inspired with the utmost confidence in his honesty. Just at the moment he placed his hand upon the slate, for the purpose of ascertaining if any spirits were present, the slate was pulled with great force from his hand, and handed to one of us. Dr. Slade excitedly re- marked, "Why, young man, you are taking my power." He then took another slate, upon which was written, "They have no need of coming here for communica- tions ; they both are good mediums, and only need to make proper conditions to obtain all they want." This intelligence gave us both spiritual strength and joy ; it was a confirmation of our mediumistic gifts, apart from ourselves, through the organism of another. Two new slates, that were carried there by us who were sitting, were now placed together, with a small bit of pencil between them, one end of the slates resting on the shoulder of the son, Dr. Slade holding the other ends together with the thumb and fingers of one hand, while the other joined ours upon the top of the table, in full sight. These slates had not been touched by Dr. Slade, until he took them up for the purpose of getting communications. We would here remark we had a son and brother drowned in that long to be remembered storm of 1875, which did so much damage to life and property on the western coast of the Gulf of Mexico, — the same who had informed us of the intended coming of Dr. Slade to Galveston. 50 LIFTING THE VEIL: OE, We were both thinking that if he would only give us information concerning that sad event, how thankful we should be. We wanted to know if he was at the light-house he was keeping in Matagorda Bay, or where, when drowned, and what he had suffered. These thoughts were passing through our minds while listen- ing to the movements of that magic pencil. However, the following was written, under the above-named con- ditions : — " My dear Mother and Brother : You ask the cause of my death. I do not care to refer to it ; let it go ; it will do you no good to know. I wish Jim* would sit for me ; I could do much for him and you all. I do come to you, and try to make you feel my presence. Give my love to all. I am your affectionate son and brother, Ned." Immediately following this were a few lines, im- perfectly written, as though by a child, and signed "Charley." The remark was made by one of us that we thought it a good test, as he had passed away some years ago, when quite small. In a moment the follow- ing was written : — " My dear Mother : I am not a child. I have grown to be quite a man. Say to papa I often am with him, with Ned. Do hold circles at home, and we will come. I am your loving son, Charley." We were touched by unseen forms or forces ; leaned against heavily and sensibly. A hand, quick as a flash, took from a slate a pencil that was lying upon it, and tossed it very lightly and quickly upon the table. One of us was raised at least two feet from the floor, with * Another brother, who is a fine medium, but refuses to have any- thing to do with circles. INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 51 the chair upon which we were sitting. A chair was lifted in the air. A slate was passed around the table by a force as strong as ours, which was tested by one of us catching hold of the slate. All this took place with Dr. Slade in full view. When we say wonderful, the word does not half ex- press the feeling that this seance inspired in our minds. With grateful hearts we walked homeward, resolving never again to doubt this blessed truth of spirit return; resolving that we would do our utmost to make condi- tions, that our darlings might come and hold sweet con- verse with us in our own home and by our own fireside. In so doing, we have felt their sweet presence and holy ministration. 52 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, CHAPTER V. "The discovery and application of truth is the constant problem of human intellect ; thus investigation is found to be the precedent of all progress ; research, the requisite of all happiness. " Edward S. Wheeler. We formed a circle consisting of ourselves and a lady- friend, making our number three. We arranged the circle by our impressions, with hands joined in the usual manner of forming such circles. At some few sit- tings we had raps and tipping of the table, by which we learned nothing worthy of note, only to be punctual to time and to have a certain hour and day to meet. Soon, however, we failed to receive the raps and tipping, and for some unknown cause seemed to be deserted by our unseen friends. For some days we were discour- aged and impatient, but felt a strong desire to perse- vere. One evening, after getting nothing and having left the circle room, one of us, becoming psychologized, gave the following message : — " My name is ' White Eagle.' I superintend many circles, my friends, and have come to assist you in your efforts to establish a line of communication between yours and the spirit world. You will need the assist- ance of the red man. This is his country ; he is an outgrowth from this soil and climate, and can effect more as a spirit than can his pale-face brother and suc- cessor. Fear him not; he will bring you no ill. His INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 53 is more material than are the spirits of pale-faces. He lived nearer to the requirements of nature ; while on your earth, had a better developed physical body, one free from abuse and disease. He can bring health and strength to mediums. He can come en rapport with your material conditions, far easier than can the pale- face spirits. He gave his help to make conditions for this to be a country and clime fit for the pale-faces to inhabit. Now he comes in a more sublime capacity; he comes to aid in making fast the cable, and bridging with magnetic wires that great gulf which has so long been considered impassable. The blood of both races flowed through my veins, and because of this I can form a connecting link between the two, and bring them into harmonious relations, whereby both will be bene- fited and elevated. Both races were and are my brothers by ties of blood and affection. I speak in the interest of both. / " The red man will serve faithfully at your command, and as a compensation will learn of your more enlight- ened modes of life. See that you give them no unholy example, for it will bring unto you curses in the place of blessings. Live holy, just, and pure lives, with clean bodies, and souls filled with lofty aspirations. Never suffer them to become your masters, but accept their services as aids. You will soon find as you live they will imitate you, and adopt your customs, be they good or evil. Mediums have the power to mould or educate these untutored minds much to their liking. I warn you to beware of your daily thoughts and actions. Purify yourselves from every evil thought and desire, that the good and true may be attracted to your side. " The war whoop is never heard in the prairie land of the Great Spirit. The tomahawk lies buried in the red 54 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, man's grave; and now he stretches forth his hands in kindly greeting to his pale-face brethren. Bid him welcome ; he will safely pilot you through the dismal swamps of life's journey, and be unto you a source of strength in your mediumistic work. My friends, I bid you adieu. I shall again visit you; until then, adieu." The control then left, after throwing showers of mag- netism on all present, which was long and sensibly felt by each one. On the memorable evening of Oct. 10, 1884, we were sitting by an open window, admiring the wonder- ful system and beauty of the universe, as far as the limited physical sight could penetrate. The air was fragrant with autumn blossoms, and laden with the richness of maturity. Through the atmosphere there came, while thus sitting, a cool stream from above, which seemed to penetrate to the brain, and cause what felt to be an opening on the top of the head. With the sensation came these words : " We are here." For some moments we listened, but heard no more. After the expiration of some thirty minutes, a low, faint, buzzing sound was heard in the adjoining room. It gradually increased in volume, until the entire upper portion of the house was filled with the softest, fullest, sweetest, most enchanting strains of music. . At times it would die away, and almost cease ; then on again rising, we could discern hundreds of voices, which would soon be- come so harmoniously blended that it seemed one grand melodious strain. We went below, but could hear nothing. The house was undisturbed by sound or mo- tion; all was profound silence. Upon again coming up stairs, it would be repeated. It was in the atmos- phere outside, as well as the inside of the upper portion of the house, and to our great delight, was heard by INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 55 each member of the household as they came in and up. This lasted at least an hour; but the memory of that evening will abide with us while time endures. At our next seance, soon after taking our usual places, an Indian spirit psychologized the medium, a most pow- erful one, if judged by the influence each one felt. He said, " Me am big Indian, me got much power, me come from the spirit hunting-ground, me will help young brave ; will make his wigwam light and warm. Now Swift Foot go." We would here say that many times we have gone to our circle room feeling tired, depressed, and almost ill, and after one of our Indian brothers had come, we would be relieved and strengthened, both mentally and phys- ically. After the Indian's departure came the presiding spirit. He manifested great delight, as one would who had long been' absent, and inspiring each one present with the same feelings of inexpressible joy. After an affectionate greeting, and the emotions of the meeting had subsided, he said : — " I have come, I have come. At last I have entered my earthly home in a tangible form, and can speak words of love to its dear ones. I have long been trying to be more fully recognized, to make you more sensibly realize that it is indeed I, your loved brother, not dead, nor lost, but alive in every sense of the word and with you to- night. Oh ! the joy of this meeting ! the joy it gives me to once more clasp the hand of loved ones ! Joy un- told that I am privileged to use the precious hand of her who gave me life (patting the medium tenderly on her cheeks and head). Oh, my dear ones, long have I been trying to make myself known, and would have done so the last sitting you had, but those strange men were here (here he whispered to his brother), and I feared they 5G LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, would laugh at me. You know, brother, when we do come to speak a few words to earthly friends, they expect too much from us ; you know we have had no education, and I feel its effects when assuming earthly conditions and coming in earthly atmospheres; yet in time it will wear off, or I shall progress in the use of language and be able to overcome it entirely. " You know so-called death don't make us any wiser ; we walk out of the material body and step into the spir- itual just the same men and women as we were before, with the same affections and feelings, the same morally and intellectually. Death don't make a philosopher of an idiot, as many suppose, nor a saint out of a sinner. Literary attainment with us, as with you of earth, must be sought and won by earnest endeavor. I have studied hard and learned much since coming on this side of life. You know, my brother, we were poor ; had none of the refining influences that wealth might and sometimes does throw around persons, if used wisely. We still are poor, are still strugling to surmount the ills that ever follow in its train. Don't despair, we shall yet succeed ; succeed in gaining riches that will be imperishable, that will clothe us in garments of light, and deck our brows with jewels of priceless value and immortal brightness. Let us strive to attain something higher, gain something better than earthly gold or material positions. I have learned much since leaving earthly scenes, gained much knowledge that will benefit you, and I need more of earth experiences which I can gain from you. Let us work together, my brother, hand in hand, in this great field of progress and reform. This is the way I am to grow rich and rise ; you want to rise ; Blue Jacket even wants to rise ; all our band are aspirants after something higher and better. My brother, you wanted the raps : INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 57 we gave them ; you might sit in circles and listen to raps one hundred and fifty years, and end where you first began, — with raps. They are needful for new begin- ners, skeptics and investigators. But you are convinced of the power of spirits to return. I took you to Dr. Slade and gave you proof positive of our continued existence and ability to manifest our presence ; and even now, you feel that it is I, your brother, and no other. Oh ! with what eager interest and impatient yearning did I follow Dr. Slade ! I knew he would help me open the door of communication, — the door whose hinges were growing rusty. Now we will give you raps, through the aid of Blue Jacket : command him, and when conditions are favorable you shall have them by way of desert ; but we must not let them hinder nor interfere with higher and more important work. "My brother, understand me fully. I do not wish to interrupt nor control you in any of your earth-work, nor control you in any way against your reason, which should ever be your highest and best authority ; but I ask the privilege of being near you, that I may warn you of danger, strengthen your righteous resolves, and help you to resist all evil. " I want us to work together in this way. Have a record kept of some of our seances ; do it honestly and faithfully. All the little details which often to you may seem trifling, but to others may be important, showing the efforts of the spirits to be identified, have them carefully written down — the good, the bad, and indif- ferent. When we have finished all that is required, we shall find a way to have it published and give it to the world. It may touch some other hearts and cause them to open a door, that other yearning souls, on life's spiritual side may come to bless and bring comfort to dear ones. 58 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, " Thanks to you, my kind brother, for this harmonious home ; you have labored for it late and early, and have succeeded in surrounding our dear ones with comfort. How I have longed to put forth a helping hand. Thanks to you, my brother, thanks. " When we once get our band in good working order and in harmony with your circle, we shall be able to give some food for which thousands, especially of the laboring class, are now hungering, and all the while be gathering unfading laurels to bind upon our brows. " We need a scribe, and I thought our mother could fill that place, and Jimmy would let me control him ; but he is not ready yet, so we must fall back upon our mother. You know that I must talk and you must keep order on your side, until we get things well regu- lated. You are self-centred and most fitted for this. In the meantime you will be developing your medium- istic gifts — seeing first. "Be careful that no disturbing influences enter on your side. Suffer no arguments nor discussions within the circle nor within your home ; don't suffer indiscrimi- nate mortals to take all the life and strength from your circle. There are human vampires many, that would leave you drained. We must take care of our mother ; Oh! I want her with me, but must wait; she is needed on your side now. Charley is here and is so anxious to speak. Brother, we have Magnetic Institutes in spirit life, and we have in our band an Indian who is well acquainted with the way to them, Swift Foot, who is a noble specimen of the red man, quick to go, and can be safely trusted with all messages. We have a Dr. C. Smith, who will come when needed, and with the help we can command, can with your assistance, pre- pare magnetized paper for the sick and for developing INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 59 mediums, which will help you some financially. I don't want you always to stay in that shop, and don't think you will. We want you to help us prepare food for starving thousands of the laboring class, that class of which we are honored members. Have no fear of the result. Those who are hungering for spiritual food will gladly partake ; those who are not will refuse, no matter in what guise it be given. "Now, my brother, I would impress upon your mind that we over here are unchanged, and that we live in a world similar to yours in all respects, only it is purer and better. We have laws, few but better, and far more rigidly executed. There is no evading any of our spiritual laws, try one ever so much. Why, it would amuse you to see John * who belongs to this band. He is what you would call a police officer. He is proud of his office and regalia, which he has a right to be ; he has earned them by industry and faithfulness. " Here we all earn everything we get, and further- more, we get what we earn ; never wanting to take, neither being allowed to take what has been earned by another. We do this in obedience to the eternal law of justice. I am reluctant to leave, but must go." We wish it were in our power to pen the above with the same impressiveness with which it was given, but language fails to portray the deep soul-stirring pathos that attended its delivery. With grateful hearts do we receive these messages so fraught with love and stimulating to our faltering footsteps. The time was, in the past, that we feared ridicule, and kept such things wrapped in secret within our own hearts ; but that day has forever passed away. * A friend of both brothers from bovhood. 60 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, It would now be as futile to tell us these manifestations were delusion or imagination, as for one who is blind to try to convince us that there was no sun or that it does not shine. INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 61 CHAPTER VI. "Theology sits like a tyrant enthroned, A system per se with a fixed nomenclature, Derived from strange doctrines, and dogmas, and creeds, At war with man's reason, with God, and with Nature; And he who subscribes to the popular faith, Never questions the fact of divine inspiration, But holds to the Bible as absolute truth, From Genesis through to St. John's Revelation." Lizzie Doten. Learned theologians have preached and prophesied of the second coming of the Christ, and lo ! is it not here, — " The Christ spirit" and yet by them it is rejected. The Jews refused to welcome the teacher and re- former whose coming their prophets and seers had pre- dicted. They were expecting the advent of a Messiah, who was to appear in great material splendor, and when he came, born of a woman in a lowly manger at Beth- lehem, it shocked their national dignity. When he went into their gorgeous temples and drove out the money-changers, it was as a death blow to their theolog- ical pride. Are present orthodox Christians not following the example of the ancient orthodox Jew in their rejection of the present spiritual outpouring? We think it a par- allel case. The incoming of this new spiritual era was foretold by the Christian prophets, as this light that was " to shine 62 LIFTING THE VEIL: OK, out of darkness," but it did not come in accordance with the views of the established creeds, and behold they re- ject it. It came rapping for admittance in the humble home of the Fox's, through the instrumentality of little children, and Christians closed their hearts and eyes, and cried devil, delusion. We pity them ! We were once of their number, and know that there are thousands who are being led blindly along, fearing to think for themselves, who are sincere and honest in their professions. We will aid them to our utmost in the spirit of love, knowing that as long as their theo- logical garments are comfortable they will wear them, and when outgrown, they will be willingly laid aside as were their infant clothing. When orthodox food be- comes distasteful, its advocates will seek greener pas- tures ; when their inspirations of other ages become stale, they will search for that which is new and fresh, and adapted to the present age. Their war upon Spir- itualism is doing no harm. Calumny cannot mar the truth, neither those who live above it. We were once bound by these same chains of old theology. During that spiritual bondage we realized all its strength and power over its victims, and regard its errors with charity. At our next seance the presiding spirit came, but with less animation than at our previous sitting. He said : — " I am tired ; you, too, are tired.* We have worked too hard. I have been busy at one of our Electric Institutes studying the powers of electricity. Oh! it is grand to see men of scientific mind and ability mak- ing it subject to their wills. They work with an energy *The spirit doubtless felt the medium's condition. ' INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 63 and determination beyond the conception of the human mind. I cannot express to-night my thoughts; have not the power. You need more in your circle to give it strength. Good night." 'Then came another spirit who said, "I ain't Master Edd. You is Miss Susan's son, ain't you? Well, young master, I belongs to dis ban', and being that the whole ban' has to come so you can get acquainted with them, I took this time to make myself known. Mass Edd. give me the privilege, sir, to come.* I used to belong to your grandfather in slave days; but we all are free now. Then I used to be round about the white folks, and waited on old master. Hope, sir, you won't take any 'ceptions at my coming. You see, young mas- ter, I has the soul dirt to take from this room when you all get done settin. Blue Jacket only makes the lights and knocks, and I cleans the room. I am learning like white folks and does a good many things for you. I flung some lightning on your sick turkey the other night, and in the morning you all found it able to eat corn and gobble. I see Mass Edd. working round the lightning, and so I tried ; yet he told me in particular not to try it on any human. Some time I want to head a ban' of spirits my own color, but they are too scary now. I know one woman whose eyes looks two ways that I can come through. I must go ; they are pulling me from the other side. Good evening, young master." This closed our circle for a limited time. We were instructed by the presiding spirit to write up the result of our seances at their close, but have neglected it until we cannot do justice to the record. We also feel so * The spirit felt that some hesitation was manifested in his recep- tion. 64 LIFTING THE VEIL: OB, incapable of such an undertaking, with the cares of living pressing heavily upon us ; yet we shall strive to be faithful, and see 'what the outcome is to be. Our circle next met at 8 o'clock, the hour agreed upon. After sitting quietly for a few moments, Charley, another son and brother, took control, yet could say but little. He fondly caressed his brother and inquired for the other members of the family. He seemed delighted, "but suffered some inconvenience from having never be- fore manifested through a medium, and finally said the atmosphere was pressing so heavily he could not stay. A hand was then clairvoyantly seen, very bright and luminous, making the deaf and dumb alphabet, which was recognized. After this we had raps loud and dis- tinct, more so than on any former occasion. This encouraged us and stimulated our interest in the seances. After rapping and moving the table about for some time, the spirit influenced one of the mediums in quite a rough way, striking upon the table, throwing magnetism about the room and upon members of the circle, producing upon all a most chilling sensation. He gave a few big Indian grunts and left. Swift Foot, our Indian messenger then taking control, and fondling in a most tender manner his young brave said, "Squaw not strong; not big like young brave. Us want young brave ; us go with him ; us stay long, and do much ; us make young brave heap strong. Blue Jacket not talk ; can't understand. He got to learn ; not been here many moons. Blue Jacket want peace pipe, want pale-face brave and squaws smoke." Here the pipe was prepared and given to the medium to smoke, then passed around the circle ; when all had gone through the smoking process, the pipe was again taken by the medium and passed about the room, as if INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 65 to invisible attendants. After a benediction upon all, our kind messenger gave up his control. Perhaps some reader not accustomed to spirit control may exclaim, How foolish ! yet we reply, if these red brothers of ours do return to earth, and are unchanged by the process of death, they must come as Indians, with their former characteristics, else they would not be Indians, but other intelligences. Upon one occasion, when the medium was under the control of a familiar spirit, the question was asked if they never improved in their manner of expressing themselves in spirit life. The answer was : " We never use human language to express thought on our side of life. There is no need of it, as the faculty of percep- tion is more developed, and by its use we can under- stand each other's wishes and thoughts more perfectly than if expressed by your earthy mode. So you can perceive, through disuse of language, we often fail to impress the fact upon your minds that we are progress- ing intellectually and morally." 66 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, CHAPTER VII. "Not in vain the distance beckons, Forward, forward, let us range ; Let the people spin forever Down the ringing grooves of change." Tennyson. Our, household has been undergoing quite a change. We were, at the commencement of our sittings, boarding the two young men referred to in a former chapter. We felt much attached to one of these, who had for a long time been an inmate of our home. He was ex- tremely sensitive, and possessed many sterling traits of character ; but our kind spirit attendants insisted that they were a great obstacle to our spiritual progress and development as mediums, though they possessed fine mediumistic gifts themselves. But from causes which we do not feel at liberty to give, they opposed with much determination all intercourse with the dwellers of the other world. Although it cost us man3 r a bitter pang, caused, we know, from that sweet mother-love that ever attended them, our connection with them ceased. This change in our home affairs resulted in our having more time and mental quiet to devote to our circles and to do the required writing. In parting with our young friends we invoked the blessings of the angels upon them. The last communication we had from the presiding spirit was a request that we have in our next entry a description of a picture painted by what purported to be INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 67 an Indian spirit, calling herself Wildflower, — the same who had ever attended us since our earliest recollec- tions. (See page 34.) This was painted about five years ago, through the organism of one of the mediums now used. It was done in a psychological state, under very unfavorable conditions, the medium knowing noth- ing whatever of painting or drawing. As some years have elapsed since this with other pic- tures was given, we feel it impossible at this time of writing to give the reader all the information we then received from our spirit friends and guides about their present homes in spirit land. The painting is very crude, yet it may serve as a les- son perhaps to many who know no higher aim than a love to gather gold. " The love of gold, that meanest rage, And latest folly of man's sinking age : Which, rarely venturing in the van of life, While nobler passions wage their heated strife Comes skulking last with selfishness and fear, And dies collecting lumber in the rear." — Moore. " cursed love of gold ; when for thy sake The fool throws up his interest in both worlds, First starved in this, then damn'd in that to come." Blair's Grave. "Gold! gold! gold! gold! Bright and yellow, hard and cold ; Molten, graven, hammered and rolled; Heavy to get, and light to hold; Hoarded, bartered, bought and sold ; Stolen, borrowed, squandered, doled : Spurned by the young, but hugged by the old To the very verge of the churchyard mould; Price of many a crime untold." "Gold! gold! gold! gold! Good or bad a thousand fold ! 68 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, How widely its agencies vary — To save, to ruin, to curse, to bless, — As even its minted coins express, Now stamped with the image of good Queen Bess, -■ And now of a Bloody Mary." — Hood. The foregoing lines of these inspired poets well ex- press our ideas of miserly minds. The subject of the painting was brought by the spirit guide of the medium. He was seemingly laboring under some heavy weight, which was soon discovered to be that of gold and silver, the miserly hoardings of many long, painful years. He refused to give his name, or any clue to his identity, save what is repre- sented in his spiritual surroundings. He said during the most of his earth life he resided in Galveston, Texas, where, from year to year, he had gathered this filthy load, and now he wished others who were spend- ing all their energies for wealth alone to see the out- growth. He said : " My first resolve when on the verge of manhood was to obtain wealth ; my second and last resolve was to obtain more. I forfeited my manhood, stinted my poor body, and starved my soul, all for this gold." His money was pouring from the sack on his shoulder, all over his torn and soiled garments, but it never grew empty. Serpents were crawling all around his dismal cave in all their slimy filth; dark spirits, even more repulsive than himself, were his companions, many of whom had been tempted and ruined through his gold. His countenance was expressive of great agony; his cheeks sunken and tear-stained. The trees about his cave were black and leafless ; the weeds and grass looked burnt and crisp. These were the outgrowths of the i* ■ i • ■^r^^ Hj B 1 INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 69 materials his earth life had furnished. Yet he is not bej^ond the reach of angel love and holy ministration. Above his bent form are spirits he cannot see, robed in colors symbolic of their office. Those who are nearest, seem to be pouring from something resembling a horn an amber colored stream, which we are told is the baptism of knowledge. It has been the influence of this baptism that roused his mentality to a consciousness of his con- dition and its causes, and a desire to escape their penalties. The next figure above is administering to him the baptism of fire, which awakens within him a feeling of the keenest remorse. The highest angel is trying by the magic power of love to throw some gleams of light into his darkened abode. But he knows of none of this, only feels the influence, — like the man in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, who was so busy with the muck rake that he could not see the crown above his head. We have been asked how long we thought these con- ditions would last, and have often wished the opinion of others more gifted than we. Some years past, while residing in a small village in the far west, an old gentleman came to us for a spiritual seance. He said, " I have no rest, day nor night." In a few moments we were taken with such severe cramps through our body and limbs that we were com- pelled to leave the room for a short time. On returning, a spirit took control of our organism, telling him the day of judgment had come ; that often it came before death ; that he was suffering all the torture of having helped to poison his wife years ago, and that was what had affected the medium. Much more was communicated which has escaped our memory, and which it is not necessary to mention. Said he : " It is all true ; but what am I to do ? How long must I suffer ? " 70 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, The spirit replied : " We cannot tell ; if you transgress any physical law, the penalty of a certain degree of pain is attached to its violation which cannot by any possi- bility be avoided ; as, for instance, you burn your finger, you must suffer until offended law is appeased. So in the spiritual universe, you must pay the penalty of every transgression of its laws." The poor man got no comfort, and so great was his mental agony that our souls went out in sympathy to him, as we wiped the falling tears from our cheeks. Sad indeed it was to be brought face to face with such mental anguish and heartfelt contrition. Our spirit guides and friends tell us ever to be watch- ful over the materials we are constantly furnishing, in thought and act, for the building of our future homes. That if they be low, gross, and grovelling, we must not expect to find our mansions beautiful. They say many come from earthly huts into rich palaces, and many come from magnificent homes into hovels. From all the information we have been able to gain from those residing on life's other side, we are forced to the conclusion that man is the architect of his future home, and perhaps he dwells in it interiorly even here and now. The surroundings of the poor spirit in the picture, the toads and vipers, were recalled to memory when, in later years, reading of the clairvoyant experiences of the Chevalier de B. in Mrs. Britten's " Ghost Land." He says he saw upon what he calls the " photosphere " of his companions, in distinct and vivid characters, the events of their past lives and the motives which had prompted them to their acts. "Now it became clear as sunlight that one set of motives were wrong and another right; and that one set of actions (those INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 71 prompted by wrong motives) produced horrible deform- ities and loathsome appearances on the photosphere, while the other set of actions prompted by right motives seemed to illuminate the soul aura with indescribable brightness, and cast a halo of such beauty and radiance over the whole being, that one old man in particular, who was of a singularly uncomely and withered appear- ance as a mortal, shone as a soul in the light of his noble life and glorious emanations like a perfect angel. I could write a folio volume on the interior disclosures which are revealed to the soul's eye, and which are hid- den away or unknown to the bodily senses. I cannot dwell upon them now, though I think it would be well to write many books on this subject, provided men would read and believe them. In that case I feel confident human beings would shrink back aghast and terror- stricken from crime, or even from bad thoughts, so hideous do they show upon the soul, and so full of torment and pain does the photosphere become that is charged with evil." The Nazarene said, "the kingdom of heaven is within you," and it may be that it is projected as far without and around us as the soul aura extends. If heaven or harmony dwells within, so also, in its absence, must hell be within. To further corroborate the fact of these spiritual out- growths and surroundings, we quote from " The Heav- enly Home," by A. J. Davis, pages 35, 36 and 37 : — " I beheld a city of living, throbbing, rainbow-tinted beauty. The streets and the buildings on either side, the trees in the parks, the water flowing through the pipes, the very air — all were perfectly represented, down to the minutest detail, as plainly as any of these things ever looked to my external eyes. I could see 72 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, the shape and location of furniture in the rooms every where, and the appearance of the occupants, and their situation and circumstances, whether sick or well, whether rich or poor ; and often I could even discrimi- nate as to the color of their garments, but especially the affections and thoughts which were occupying their feelings and brains and time. It was like stripping New York of its material vesture, peeling off its coating or shell, so to speak, and viewing its actual, vital, spiritual existence. Even after so much of this kind of experience, I could hardly guard my mind from believing and my soul from exclaiming : Why, truly, this is New York in the spiritual world ; that is to say, it was so difficult to keep faithfully to the fact, which for the time was totally obscured and forgotten, that what I was witnessing was actually and locally within the familiar city on old Manhattan Isle. Therefore, the people in the streets and stores, in the saloons, hotels, habitations, and hospitals, began to assume ap- pearances, according to their ruling loves, desires, quali- ties, conditions, and occupations. One gentleman's shoulder was loaded with the head of a certain horse, upon which his thoughts and affections were set ; an- other presented the head and face of a lamb, although he was awaiting the day of execution for a crime proved against him ; another's right arm and hand looked like a vicious serpent; a black bird rode on the head of a gentleman high in office ; a man, seem- ingly great in control, wore a dog-collar around his neck, with the initials of his office engraved upon it ; a handsome-faced man in a beautiful residence had the hind legs and hips of a goat; a quiet, very modest person in a great store had the bust of a lion ; a minis- terial looking man walked like a beetle, which was an INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 73 Egyptian symbol of the world ; a splendid ram's head surmounted the face of a public character, which cor- responded to intellect and pride destitute of love and good will ; a medical gentleman carried a dove upon his shoulder, which meant pure affection, while another doctor had the facial expression of a night-hawk ; and yet another wore upon his bosom the image of a wolf ; a lady, beautifully organized, was covered with sores, and repulsive colors ; a very ordinary appearing woman had the most attractive crown of white lilies upon her brow; a procession of persons, intent on deeds of char- ity, for the sake of their faith, looked like a flock of ravens ; a cluster of thorny vines enveloped the head of a dealer in cheese and butter ; a man in the attitude of prayer, in a church, had the top of his head covered with a cap of gold coins ; a dealer in gold and silver was all over perfectly black, except his hands and fore- head ; another man, in the same place, had beautiful, tiny flowers growing out of his shoulders, showing that it was only the force of circumstances that made him a money-changer, his affections and aspirations being far different." We also take from Mrs. Crowe's "Night Side of Nature " the following : " These spirits also presented very different aspects ; some were entirely pervaded by a mild, clear radiance, like that of the full moon ; through others there appeared faint streaks that dimin- ished this splendor; while others, on the contrary, were distinguished by spots or strips of black, or of a dark color, like the marks on the skin of a viper." We presume the reader will be very sceptical and hard to be convinced that every detail of his life, how- ever small, has produced something either beautiful or repulsive, but as nothing in nature's boundless realm is 74 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, ever lost, it might be either to our sorrow or jjy, that each thought and act exists somewhere, on some tablet in the unseen, and that some day, not a great distance in the future, we may have them to face, or their spiritual realities. INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 75 CHAPTER VIII. "Oft from the summer heights of love, Along the ways of time, The pilgrims of this lower sphere Catch gleams of light sublime, That stream adown the azure way, From heaven's unshadowed clime." — Lizzie Doten. We feel impressed to record a vision given not long since, and a few hours after the transition of a sweet babe closely related to and much beloved by us. We had just left the house where its little body lay cold in death's embrace, and its fond parents, whose hearts were torn and bleeding over the loss of their only child. We entered our home, saddened and sor- rowing, and gathered around our circle table, hoping to receive some consoling message from spirit friends. We had waited but a short while when there was clairvoyantly seen, a short distance above, a large con- course of angels. So bright was this heavenly assem- bly that the surrounding scene became illuminated by the light they emitted. They were slowly coming from the direction where the body lay. In front of this shining multitude was a crowned angel of indescribable brightness and beauty. She bore in her arms the spirit form of the darling babe. The procession passed over our heads in a northerly direction, slowly ascending, until lost in the distance. We had not expected this, but looked for some com- forting message from the unseen world; yet it came 76 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, not. Bat while sitting in that holy calm and silence a hand was seen, with a finger pointing upward; no more, not even a rap; but we were thankful for the beautiful vision. ' In the innermost depths of our souls we could, like one of old, exclaim, " O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" When next Ave held a seance we were informed by the presiding spirit that he was not present on the evening the vision was presented. He said he was with his brother, who was the father of the child, im- parting to him consolation and strength to enable him. to pass through the trying ordeal. "Holy ministers of light, Hidden from our mortal sight; But whose presence can impart Peace and comfort to the heart." Not long after the departure of the little babe, our precious son and brother sent to the mourning parents the following message : — "Tell my dear brother and wife to dry their tears, to grieve no more ; that their darling still lives, and is tenderly cared for ; that it will be a guiding light to their on-going footsteps. Tell them to come up out of the valley and shadow of death where they now languish ; come up into the glorious sunlight of the new dispensation." Alas ! we wish that not only they but every bereaved heart would come and drink, not of the waters of death, but " life," freely. During seasons of great persecution and ostracism we have often resolved we would never name spirit com- munion to another, save those of our own household; yet we soon found ourselves again pouring its consoling INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 77 balm into some weary mourner's heart. It seems such an admirable characteristic of human nature to wish others to share their joys, and to desire to impart any good they think they possess, especially if it is calcu- lated to throw any light or give any information upon that great question : " If a man die, shall he live again ? " On relating this incident to a friend a few evenings after, she very interestedly and feelingly remarked: "I wish I could believe as you do ; but I cannot. I fear it may be wrong to hold converse with the dead ; were it right, God would not allow any obstacle to inter- vene; our friends could approach us at all hours and at all times." Now, were such reasonings extended through every department of life and applied to the obtaining of all knowledge requisite for our development as men and women, where would it lead, unless, as we think, to Egyptian darkness and complete mental stagnation ? We think, we labor and plan, trade, study, and investi- gate ; imagine, invent, and construct, to obtain any standard of eminence or perfection in any and every avenue of human existence. When it was imagined by Columbus that there was a western continent, God did not remove the impedi- ments attached to its discovery from the fact that it really existed; neither does any sane mind to-day doubt the perfect righteousness of its discovery. When the over-tender conscience is assailed by fear of the right to commune with their loved departed, we would suggest a good remedy: let such bear in mind that God is the " God of the living spirit," not the dead body. We feel impressed to state that when a little more 78 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, than another century is sleeping in the past that humanity will be divested of these old theological dregs and encumbrances to progression, and no man or woman will doubt or deny the fact of spirit inter- course or its righteousness : " For all shall know, from the least even unto the greatest " mentally developed. When interiorly analyzing our own feelings, experi- ences, affections, and fears, the more are we convinced that we have inherited much of the doubt of the present age from our ancestors ; that the psychological influ- ence of our fathers and mother still encircles us. We feel assured that the character of ancestors have affected the lives of their successors more or less, generation after generation, mentally and morally, even as their children bear their physical resemblance. One generation has its agitators and reformers, who wage a warfare against wrong, and by dint of hard battling succeed in establishing a higher state of excel- lence both morally and politically. They then usually settle down in that groove, well satisfied that the cost has been great enough to ensure all the truth for all time to come. But by and by their children come along singing, and very truly, too : — " The sound of the gospel is passing away, That sound that enraptured my mother." And forthwith, some brave, bold one among them is fired with enthusiasm, and begins to look forward and upward, in search of the next higher and better. His inspirations urge him on ; yet who can realize the struggle it takes to break away from customs grown hoary by age and pull up out of the time-worn grooves? Memory goes back to the brave sire, and the valiant labor performed to establish the very order of things INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 79 that the son is so ardent to demolish. The tender, loving tones of his sainted mother's voice is still sound- ing in his ear ; her words of encouragement and hope. These are yet so dear ; the memory of the past so sacred ; and it is comfortable travelling so easily along the old paths that the aching feet of loved ones had made smooth. It is hard to leave them for those untried, that lead he knows not whither. But in answer to the interior cry of onward, he rushes forth with his new theories, new discoveries, and new inven- tions ; with his more exalted ideas of truth, his keener sense of wrong, and higher views of justice, and repeats on a broader platform the same scenes his forefathers had before enacted on life's ever-changing stage. 80 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, CHAPTER IX. " Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven ? Canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth ? " Many events in human life prove the fact of some governing intelligence over the affairs of men, which stands apart from the consideration of either their wills or calculations. We hear " special providence " coming as an answer or cause from many minds. From whence or whom this interposing influence pro- ceeds, we are unable to say. But that we do not always, if ever, shape or control material life or its affairs, we most firmly believe. That while man " proposes " some unseen and more powerful intelligence "disposes," we have not the least reason to doubt. We are aware that many things that are constantly transpiring are the results of past causes, either individually or collectively ; it is not to such that we allude, but to those that bear the stamp of both cause and effect. As straws are said to indicate which way the wind blows, we shall relate a simple occurrence that tran- spired a short time ago, wherein we can trace the inter- position of spirit power or planning. We had long promised to visit a friend who resides near a distant village. This estimable lady is an invalid, but a firm believer in the spiritual philosophy. The place was so isolated that public media found it too inconvenient to visit the little town. Our dear sister and friend insisted that we should spend some time with her in her beauti- INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 81 ful forest home, — a week, which was to be to her a spiritual feast, and on our part, one of pleasure and rest. Between us was arranged a certain time for our departure for her home, when a month before the time, to our great surprise, we received from our kind guide this message : " The time has come to make the prom- ised visit to Industry, Texas. Go by all means on the morning train." We went as directed, and every incident of the jour- ney proved favorable. Our visit was one of extreme delight and rest on our part, and on that of our sister a season of spiritual joy. Later developments proved the fact that had we awaited the expected time for the visit, it would not have afforded either the pleasure to us or benefit to her,. that was expected. We were at one time much amused, as well as inter- ested, by a controversy going on near us, between two Christian gentlemen. One was a Baptist, the other was of the Methodist persuasion. The Baptist said, " I tell you, my brother, the Word of God confirms the doc- trine of fatality. We are not free agents ; if we are born the children of wrath, and not elected to heaven from before the foundations of the world were laid, then no prayers, no tears will avail ; we shall surely be lost." Said the Methodist, "What a pernicious doctrine ! I would not believe it for this world filled with gold. No, sir; no." Baptist. Do you believe the Bible to be the Word of God? Methodist. Every word of it is from God. Baptist. Then what are you going to do about the ninth chapter of Romans, wherein it states, " it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy," and other and similar verses in the same chapter? 82 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, Methodist. I don't propose to do anything with them. I read such portions of Scripture backwards from what you do. Baptist. That is an evasion, brother. " Well," replied the Methodist, " I am a free agent. I do just as I please in all things. Good and evil are placed before me, and it lies in my power to choose whichever suits me best, and I alone am the responsible agent; I stand on my own footing." Now this man was so very poor that he had not sufficient food for his family, nor clothing; neither a shelter to cover their heads, except one furnished by the kind charity of a human angel. At this crisis in their conversation, we presumed to ask, " Would you not like to better your present condi- tion, to have some money, some food and clothing, and a home for your wife and self and children? If you do just as you like in all things, you must be easy pleased, or you would immediately go to work to better your condition. If by your choice you have surrounded yourself and family with want and poverty, you, indeed, must be a singular man. Now, it seems that either yourself or some other planning, governing intelligence has been manifested all along through your life, and if it is yours, why not place yourself and family at least above want." " Why," he slowly replied, " I never looked upon it in that way. Of course, I've always been fighting against poverty and misfortune, and it's no fault nor will of my own that I'm so situated, and I can't think it the will of a good God, so it must be the devil's doings." And thus, candid reader, do we all seem to be pushed into life, and pushed through life, with very little will of our own ; finding ourselves often pursuing distasteful INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 83 occupations, and meeting at every turn in life's lane uncongenial companionship, difficulties, and dangers, all of which we would most gladly divest our lives of, did it lie within our power. Since, however, we cannot by any means avoid many sorrows consequent upon this rudimental plane of life, we may, if wise, draw from them many useful lessons. Said the Methodist brother, "I had just as well sit quietly down and fold my hands, if I am governed by some other intelligence than my own." Yet we find ourselves even powerless to do this, for there is a something within us that will not allow it, be we ever so much inclined ; a something that is ever forc- ing us onward and upward. About this time a lady friend and true Spiritualist, who had been regularly sitting with us, was preparing to leave the city. She came over and requested that we would sit for her benefit, which we readily did. The controlling spirit expressed great regret at her expected departure, thanked her warmly for her kind help, and at her request prepared her some pieces of developing paper. For this purpose common blotting paper was used, from three to four inches wide and some eight inches long ; on it in the centre was the design shown on the next page, which we were told was the seal of one of the institutes where electricity was divested of its crudities and humanized, made into human magnetism. We were told that Indians were used to effect this, and were constantly employed bringing it within earthly circles. On the reverse the directions were written as follows : " Place the paper upon a table and sit passively, in a darkened room, at the same hour of the day and on the same day of the week." 84 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, We much missed the presence of our kind friend at our meetings, her cheering words and happy influence. Truly, as she often remarked, we had received during our sittings "a baptism of love," and each member of our household felt the benefit derived from its sacred influence. Life to us was fraught with new meaning, and mate- rial things assumed new beauties. Even that grim old monster, Death, was looked upon as the kind deliverer who would some day " unlock life's golden door and set the imprisoned spirit free." On several evenings after her departure the presid- ing spirit would psychologize his brother as soon as he returned from his place of business and became rested and passive. Then others would follow, leaving as soon as recognized. While this lasted no clairvoyant perceptions were given. The last sitting up to the present writing we were plainly touched, and upon one of us becoming fright- ened something fell beneath the table, producing a sound like that of the breaking of a bundle of dry INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 85 sticks, and something seemed to rush suddenly away. We were afterwards informed by our presiding spirit that Blue Jacket got frightened and spoiled some mani- festation he was in the act of giving. This announcement was entirely new and strange to us, yet in a conversation since with a gentleman of much and varied experience in spirit phenomena, he said it very frequently occurred that when any one in the circle became alarmed, most especially mediums, the Indians would also take fright and for some time be very shy at circles. The further we investigate and the more we see of this beautiful philosophy, the more do our hearts go out and up in wonder and thanksgiving to that great Source of every good and perfect gift. At our next regular seance an order came for the magnetized paper for a suffering woman who resided in the city. As soon as we had formed a circle the presiding spirit psychologized one of the mediums, and said he would give Swift Foot the number of the Institute where magnetism was prepared for the sick, under the superintendence of Dr. Smith, and summon him, which was immediately done. In a few moments we were informed that the doctor had come and he would give place for him. This spirit then took control and wrote, " We are not allowed to use up the vitality of this cir- cle at the present time only for the purpose of magne- tizing paper for the sick." This was done by a process similar to that of prepar- ing the paper for development, but it had a different seal and number on one side of it; thus, — On the reverse was written, "Apply to the part affected until relieved. C. Smith, D.M." 86 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, N9 1997 The writing was all done from right to left, and in order to read it we were compelled to hold it in front of a mirror. Some one present inquired how long the paper would last or retain the magnetism, and we were informed by the presiding spirit that it would last " about as long as a human body would keep, uninhabited by a spirit, which, on an average, was three days, unless wrapped up." He said that when we wished to preserve any pack- age we always wrapped it carefully up. He told us when we wished the paper to send away or to keep for any length of time, to request Swift Foot to wrap it up before we left the circle, just as soon as it was mag- netized. He stated, also, that it would make the paper impervious to any influence, save that of the sick. This paper has been tried in numbers of cases already, and has never failed so far to effect a cure when the directions were followed. We do not pretend to give the modus operandi of these cures ; we can only say they have been effected." INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 87 We would here remark that after preparing paper for development or for the sick, a feeling of great ex- haustion always follows which often lasts for many- hours. We are well aware that all this is hard to accept by a sceptical humanity, yet they accept more on far less evidence. They really believe that there is a north pole, yet no human eye, so far as is known, has ever looked upon it. They believe there is a Pekin, a Lon- don and Paris, although many have never visited them. Scientists may deny spirit communion, because they cannot test the phenomena by physical laws, quite ignoring the fact that they are governed by interior and spiritual laws. They might as well try to determine the moral status of human kind by their crucibles and other chemical apparatuses, as to endeavor with them to fathom spirit phenomena. And should they fail in their analysis, then comes the cry of delusion, illusion, sleight-of-hand and humbug, with a general denuncia- tion of all mediums and mediumship. These painful thrusts, that are ever being thrown out, bear, like all other thoughts and acts, their own legitimate fruit, — some, we think, in the shape of hum- bugs and tricksters, which humanity has well earned ; others crop out as obstructions in the way of honest and effectual communication between the two worlds. Do not for a moment suppose we uphold fraud, im- postors, or mountebanks ; far from it. Yet we do assert that this sceptical age has more than earned them ; and maintain that when not qualified to distinguish the false from the true, it is not best to sit in judgment on any. If food neither morally nor spiritually be given through media, none are compelled to partake. If Spiritualism be from God, no one can effect its over- LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, throw; if it be of man it will come to naught; it is use- less to resist it. The wise gardener uses great care, when pruning and cutting thorns and weeds, lest he injure or uproot some plant of value. In our endeavors to classify, analyze, and arrange spirit phenomena and communications, let us, at least, be as wise as he. From our present plane of life and standpoint, we behold such a multiplicity of causes for what is called dishonest mediumship, that we feel slow indeed to cen- sure. All mediums should be placed above material want, that they be not tempted to use their gifts for mercenary purposes. They should be wholly free from all unholy, disagreeable magnetisms, and approached only by ear- nest seekers for spiritual light and truth. Mediums during development, in the privacy of their own homes and when they first appear before the public, are generally reliable, and doubtless would so remain were it not for the many obstacles that are ever being thrown in their pathway. When it is once realized that media are as mirrors, reflecting whatever is presented before their surface, be it good or evil, mankind will begin to take much of the blame upon themselves that they now so freely bestow upon them. Were they to endure but for an hour some of the many bitter pangs that all media must necessa- rily bear, the souls of human kind would more frequently go out in sympathy to them. There is no "royal road" to mediumship. The me- diums to-day, as did the medium of Nazareth, have their Gethsemanes to enter, temptations to resist, their own crosses to bear, and, too often, crucifixions to suffer. In the place of so much fault-finding, time could be INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 89 more profitably spent in analyzing, appropriating, and digesting the immense spiritual outpouring of good, bad, and indifferent, of the past few years. Just so long as men and women who are good, bad, and indifferent hunger for the bread of life, just so long will their at- tending spirit friends bring to them a quality of spirit- ual sustenance best suited to their condition and needs. In a private conversation with Dr. Slade, while in Galveston, he remarked to us, " Use your mediumship for your own comfort and upbuilding, but I would advise you to never go before the public unless you expect to suffer mart}^rdom." Oh ! what a sad reflec- tion upon the human family has been the experience of this brave defender and noble worker in the present field of reform. Our prayers and sympathies will ever follow him. Our dear attendant spirits ever speak of him with the most interested affection. They say they shall "make for him a wreath of myrtle ; that while the world may condemn any faults found in him, they should remember they evoked them." They tell us that "unseen bright immortals hover over him and minister to his wants, and when hardly dealt by, they place healing, strengthening hands upon his weary, aching brow." Sensitives, more than any other class of persons, are constantly coming in contact with forces and influ- ences of which the world is yet ignorant, and the won- der is that they do so well. We were speaking with a gentleman at one time, who has had remarkable manifestations, and who had been cured of a long-standing disease by spirit power, one that had baffled learned doctors. This gentleman is wealthy, and an out-spoken Spiritualist, yet he thinks as the spirits do these things, they should be done free, 90 LIFTING THE VEIL: OK, without cost. Said he : " If clothing and other articles can be materialized in the presence of media, why can spirits not make them durable, and bring along money and food, so that mediums can give their time with- out charge." In short and plain phraseology, Why not do this and let men hoard their money to their future ruin ? Immediately these lines of the poet flashed through our mind : — "A little learning is a dangerous thing; Drink deep, or taste not, the Pierian spring ; For shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, And drinking deeply sobers us again." This good gentleman seemed entirely to forget that man should earn what he gets, if it is to be truly a bless- ing, either spiritually or physically. Without exertion, into what a deplorable state of degradation would man soon fall ! Mediums would furnish no exception. Man- kind are not yet educated up to that high standard of spirituality, which only craves gold for conditions of comfort and the good that may be accomplished through its use. Every physical surrounding and pos- session should be subordinate to spirit to be truly a blessing ; but instead, spirit is a slave to its material conditions; a prisoner bound to earth by the strong chains of materiality. A medium who could transmute some other metal to a nugget of gold, or materialize it from favorable surroundings, would perhaps be, as it were, swallowed up by the people; at least, we feel from various evils it would generate, that their mediumship would soon be a thing of the past. Mediums, like others, are human, and unlike others INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 91 often possess but little individuality. They are influ- enced by every changing condition and each passer-by, whether mortal or immortal, and are, as a consequence, drawn hither and thither ; and while at times borne to greater heights, are liable to be carried to greater depths than ordinary humanity. All things are moving forward and tending to regu- late themselves ; when we are prepared for a higher order of conditions, they will surely come in answer to the immutable law of demand and supply. Nature holds somewhere in her great storehouse, that which meets all demands and supplies all wants ; and we need only to grow up to her requirements to have them freely lavished upon us. Since the advent of Modern Spiritualism we have been supplied with more instruction than we can ap- propriate, so much light that we seem at times over- whelmed by its brilliancy. 92 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, CHAPTER X. " Not with anguish — nor with weeping — But with rapture should we hail Every beckoning of the angels, Every lifting of the veil." We have found it extremely difficult, in fact, quite impossible, to determine how many of the thousands of thoughts that daily pass through our minds originate with us, and how many of them are the production of some other intelligence. It is difficult to decide where our own planning ends and that of others begins. Some clays ago, to test the capacity of Swift Foot as a messenger, he was sent by one of us from the office where employed, to bring a message regarding the de- parture of a person with whom we had important busi- ness still unsettled. It was the hour of twelve, and no one at home. An hour or two later, we were impressed to return, and soon after a gentleman came in quite un- expectedly, bringing the information. In the evening, during our seance, Swift Foot was asked "if he deliv- ered the message," it not having been previously spoken about. He said he came to our wigwam, and there was no light; that all were gone; but he had impressed us to return ; also the gentleman, who is a sensitive, to come and deliver the message ; the gentleman, however, being in ignorance of the fact of having been used merely as an instrument by the spirit. Thus do our unseen and faithful attendants often contrive ways and means we least expect, to aid and bless their mortal friends. INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 93 Upon another occasion, a gentleman was approaching the house about twilight, and when about two blocks distant, we were suddenly seized with a feeling of in- tense cold, so cold that we could not persuade ourself but that we had ague ; and by the time the gentleman had entered the house we were wrapped up in bed. This being our regular circle evening,' it was by a great effort that we rose to attend it. While there we were informed that a little Esquimaux spirit that at- tended the man, and who had preceded him to the house, had affected the medium with the sensation of cold. No further inconvenience was felt. About five years ago, we awoke one morning much earlier than usual, with an unaccountable feeling of restlessness, together with a strong desire to see a much-loved absent friend who was a medium, and through whose organism we had previously received many messages; among others, one telling of the writ- ing of this book. The mental disturbance was so great that we found it impossible to fix our mind upon any subject. In our impatience we had tried to will it away, to work it off, but to no purpose. It had, it seemed, come to stay, at least until it had accomplished that for which it had come. Near evening the postman brought from our pure, sweet sister and sufferer, a letter which proved to be the sequel to our disturbance. The sad contents, most of which we give below, deeply affected us : " Ever Dear Sister and Friend : — ' "Your last kind letter should have been answered last week ; but it seemed impossible to write. . . . Oh, the trials and sorrows of this gross earth life ! How happy we shall be in the bright summer land, after we have 94 LIFTING THE VEIL: OK, learned all the lessons and passed through all the needed experiences of this rudimental plane, and are purified and fitted for it! I suppose you will be very much astonished to hear that I have joined the Metho- dist church. Take a long breath, but don't cast me from you. I love you ; I love you ; and firmly believe that the same hand that led me out twenty years ago, has led me back for an especial purpose. At all events, I am most powerfully, influenced, and still trust in that kind providence that reigns over all. My faith or be- lief has not changed ; but I have been made to mourn in sackcloth and ashes, as it were, the presence and par- tial influence of dark, undeveloped beings for two years. Long years have they seemed to me, and all my efforts to progress them, or prayers to get rid of seeing or feel- ing them near, have signally failed. When you were here, they left, but returned again soon after your de- parture. I wished then to tell you, but could not. My poor, aged, mediumistic mother, I have feared they would set distracted. They are here now, and seem to be very angry because I tell you. I cannot class them ; in appearance they resemble both human and animal, or brute, beings. When there has been fervent pnvyer, as at church meetings, they disappear. One day, however, at church, thousands of them appeared and entirely surrounded the house. No words can picture the scene, nor language express the terrible agony I suffered. It was so intense that I was obliged to kneel and try to pray for some relief; but it was all of no avail ; and, as if nailed to the spot, there I continued to kneel, until the minister suddenly exclaimed, 'Let us all pray!' And when in his pra} r er he said, ' Oh, great God Al- mighty, drive back the powers of darkness and let thy good angels surround the house,' they disappeared in INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 95 all their slimy filthiness. Oh, the millions of wretched souls who wander in darkness and doubt ; some who are not even sorry for their wrong-doing, and are not in a condition to receive light. Age on age will per- haps roll on before they will be free. "Precious sister and friend, let me hear from you soon ; your impressions freely and fully. Never mind feelings ; spiritual media are not supposed to have any, particularly those of twenty years of toil, self-denial, and persecution." Thus wrote our friend ; and as soon as we had fin- ished reading the contents of the letter, we arose to get writing materials to reply, when — will you believe it, friendly reader? — we were seized with a sudden and most startling blindness. Stunned by fear, we stood for a few moments irresolute ; we knew not what to do; when lo ! there grew out of that dense darkness horrid human forms, reeking with blood and crime. These were as distinctly before our mental vision as is this paper on which we now write. They had a menacing and threatening appearance, and told us if we attempted to answer that letter we should remain blind. Horror of horrors ! what moments of mental anguish were suf- fered, until we decided not to write. Then both they and the darkness passed away, we trust never to re- turn. Now, we would ask of the metaphysicians who pro- fess to know something of the science of the soul, if through the above experience they cannot trace direct spirit influences? if not, to what can it be attributed? Why was the minister moved to offer that particular prayer at that very time, and why were we so disturbed before the arrival of that sad missive ? 96 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, It seemed that these demons of darkness had come before the letter, and had overshadowed us with their restlessness and gloom, and had by that means opened an avenue through which they might gain access to us, and thereby cut off all possibility of affording any con- solation or counsel to our sweet sister and suffering friend. This is the darkest spot in all our spiritualistic expe- rience ; and we would gladly pass it over, but for the fact that this negative power of good does exist, and forms the dark side of the spiritual philosophy. And we think it well for us all to understand that there is a dark as well as a bright side to it, in order that we may strive to shun the former by all and every means within our power. We believe, from the little light we have been en- abled to get, that all media should be very certain that they are surrounded by a strong band of reliable spirit friends and guides, before they give way to their influ- ences and control. But you ask, candid reader, how are we to know? We reply, by that infallible rule, '•'■Try the spirits." When they come with great prom- ises of wealth and material grandeur, under the disguise of high-sounding titles and great names, and tell you things that your better judgment and higher reason contradict, know to be impossible, discard them at once. Spirits of all classes are eager to possess themselves of earthly organisms, more especially the earth-bound spirits, some of whom are good, many of whom are not. They have various purposes for wishing to return; as various, perhaps more so, than mortals for seeking in- tercourse with them. We should bear in mind, as a general rule, "like seeks like"; yet there are excep- tions to this rule. Some of these dwellers on immortal INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 97 shores come fraught with love and blessings to man- kind ; but often others come to gratify their evil pas- sions. If a person, particularly one who is mediumistic, should be suddenly seized with a desire to do some hor- rid deed or commit a crime, such a course being wholly foreign to his nature, he may take it as strong evidence of the presence of an unseen evil influence, which should be discarded at once, by a determined exercise of will-power. We think some one who may read this will exclaim, " Well, if Spiritualism has such a dark side, I don't want anything to do with it." But these facts really exist, whether we reject or accept the philosophy ; and man- kind are in much ignorance, daily meeting and striving, often blindly, to combat them. Spiritualism seems to be less troubled with these demons of darkness, however, than were those of the past dispensation in its early stages of development. We rarely hear of a person being possessed of more than one evil spirit, but in the record of those early days of the dispensation referred to, we read of a man who had so many he was named " Legion." We sin- cerely hope, before the close of this present new era that all evil spirits and influences will have become extinct. We must not suppose that innate goodness is always a safeguard. It did not so })rove in the case of our dear friend. We assure you some of earth's brightest and best have fallen and are falling a prey to these unseen evil influences. Mrs, Emma Harclinge-Britten, in her " Ghost Land," says : — " I may be asked : Where, then, are our good angels ? And why do they not interpose to save us from these dark and malignant powers? I answer, they are ever near, potential to aid and prompt to inspire us, either 98 LIFTING THE VEIL: OE, to fly from or resist the evil; but that they are always successful the facts of human history emphatically deny. Perhaps coarse, gross, and material spirits are nearer to earth than the pure and refined. Whatever be the cause, it is as idle as injurious, to disregard the facts for the sake of upholding a theory of morals which is only valuable when it is proved to be practical. Our best safeguard against evil powers and evil machinations in general is to cultivate a pure and innocent nature, which, in itself, is a repelling force against evil. "But when that pure and innocent nature has become the subject of magnetic influence, it is imperative for us to deal no longer with moral, but with magnetic laws, and these, as I have frequently alleged before, act upon principles of their own, which do not regard morals at all. We must adopt the principles of nature as we find them, not as we deem they ought to be, nor as we in our egotism suppose they will become, in defer- ence to our peculiar excellence ; neither must we delude ourselves with the idea that our ignorance will shield us from dangers we know nothing about. ... It may be very satisfactory to remain in ignorance of the fact that the midnight marauder is prowling around our doors, provided he takes no advantage of our fancied security to break in upon us ; but when we are aware of his presence and our liability to danger from his intrusions, we shall be able to guard against him, without any proviso." We have every reason and the best of reasons for believing our much-loved friend to be among the purest and best, and yet she had long suffered from these dark and repulsive influences. We have speculated much upon her particular case, without, however, arriving at any conclusion until very recently, on the occasion of INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 99 a visit from her spirit husband, who urged us now to write to her, saying we should not suffer anything unpleasant. Over five years had elapsed since receiv- ing the letter that had caused us so much pain. Dur- ing these years nothing had been heard of the husband, although he was before much around Us, and had on many occasions given messages to his wife through our organism. The kind spirit went on to say that the locality where his wife resided afforded very favorable conditions for spirit return and manifestation. But very unfortu- nately it was noted for its many deeds of violence and bloodshed. That bad men and women had been mur- dered there, and often these same murderers were taken out of prison and lynched. That their spirits had attached to them others equally vile, until the spiritual side of the little village presented a perfect pandemo- nium. That their power was so great that no good angels could for a time approach the place. That they had repulsed him, and he could not afford his wife the needed aid and comfort. That she had from many causes ceased to use her mediumistic gifts in a way her guides had directed, and the consequence was the bright spirits who had formerly attended her had disbanded, leaving her a prey to these diabolical influences. In our late reply to our beloved sister's letter, we did not state these particulars in regard to our long silence; but she will read them here, and from the depths of her own loving heart we feel she will forgive us. Over twenty years ago she prophesied of the present writing, and oh, we often yearn for her kind encourag- ing words and sympathy. We must not pass over a seance held with this lady on our first acquaintance many years since. She was just returning from a northern tour, upon which she had gone with an afflicted 100 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, relative, and was at the time our guest. Soon after entering the house her countenance assumed an expres- sion of great pain, whereupon she arose to leave the room, saying, "I is here and trying to get control of me ; I must leave the room and try to throw it off, and rid myself of his presence." This relative died raving at her for a loaded pistol, with which he might take his life and end his misery. Just as she was passing through the door of the room, the influence left her and controlled us, saying to her, "Come back, I will trouble you no more"; and she came back, sank down upon a chair, and began to weep. These were the first tears she had been able to shed since the departure of her relative. This too was the first definite communication ever given through our organism as far as we know, and we felt to be in the same dilemma as was a prophet of old, w T ho went to a king and told him, " The Lord thy God saith thou shalt surely die, yet thou mavest recover;" we were doubt- ful. " "Oh!" said our friend, "it is I ; do I not see him ? He left me, and 1 saw him approach you." We replied, " We cannot say ; this experience is en- tirely new and strange to us. At least, the expression of our interior conviction is. We have all through life on different occasions been similarly affected, but dared not give voice to what we felt was foreign to our own minds. Fearing that we might deceive ourselves and mislead others, we said, "It must be the spirit of your relative, yet we cannot say. Judge for 3'ourself, and take it for what you think it is worth." This spirit had much to say to her of his affairs and family, which perfectly proved his identity ; but as the greater part was of a strictly private nature we do not INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 101 feel at liberty to give it here. However, we will relate that which was not of that character. He through us ordered all his clothing, which had been left in a distant city, to be well fumigated before they were sent to his family, that the unpleasant odor caused from his disease might not be offensive to them and wound their feelings. Said he, " In the inner pocket of a black satin vest there is a five-dollar note, given me by Mr. H on our way north, that will pay all expenses." No one knew of this money having been given, yet upon inquiry it was found to be correct. The spirit requested his relative to go with him to the home of his mother. " Why not- to your wife and children?" she asked. " No, no," replied the spirit. " I have much to learn, and must begin again beside my mother's knee." She did as he requested, and after expressing many thanks for our assistance to his mother, they went. On next meeting our dear friend she told us the spirit often insisted that his mother should sing to him the old songs she sang in his childhood, for they were soothing to him. The mother was a fine medium, and she and her spirit son held long and comforting conversations together. At one time he requested his mother to place him a chair and plate at the table whenever they dined or supped. After this had been done a few times the mother remarked, "I , we have prepared you a place, but you never partake of food." " Mother," he replied, " I occupy the seat, and can absorb the vapor that arises from the food, and it is needful for me while I am so earth-bound." This recalled to our mind the custom of a tribe of 102 LIFTING THE VEIL: OE, Indians, who some years before the Indian war lived in what was then called the Creek Nation in the State of Alabama. These natives would always, upon the death of one of their number, bury with them all their earthly possessions. They have been known to even kill the ponies of their warriors and put them in graves with their owners. The surviving relatives would then carry food to the graves and leave it, that they might not hun- ger during their journey to the happy hunting-ground of the Great Spirit. They would then build a fire in the centre of their wigwam, form themselves into a cir- cle and with joined hands dance around the camp-fire, chanting a low, mournful dirge. Underlying these crudities, we doubt not, are many beautiful truths, overlooked and ignored by learned religious expounders of this enlightened age. Numbers of spirits came manifesting feelings of hun- ger and thirst for some particular article of food or drink. It would not be reasonable to suppose that they could appropriate it in any other manner, apart from a medium, than by absorbing the spiritual essence. We once went to the home of a lady and held a seance ; she had not long before parted with her only daughter. Soon this daughter manifested her presence, and gave to her sorrowing mother and friends unques- tionable evidence of her identity, closing by saying, " I would like for you to get a nice orange, such as Mr. brought me last summer when I was so ill ; cut it in two, and place it on the mantel in my room, mother dear ; it will do me good." At the time the orange was brought by the step-father we were unacquainted with the family ; this gave satisfac- tory proof of the identity of the spirit, and the request for. another orange was complied with. INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 103 Negroes who once were owned as slaves by this family, but who were regarded as dead, came, giving them positive proof of their continued existence. As to the manner of appropriating food above-named, we know nothing only what the immortals tell us, which we have no reason to doubt. We do not assume to give it as fact, neither do we deny its possibility. What information the immortals give, that we perhaps through our ignorance cannot now comprehend, we are slow to contradict, but prefer to await further inves- tigation and future developments. We do not even attempt to give the whys and where- fores of much we have experienced, but only state the facts that actually occurred. Since the sad experience with our dear friend and fraternal sister, a gentleman friend of ours asked our opinion of his case, wherein his spirit attendants had long been silent, after giving through him many remark- able manifestations. We instantly felt that his medium? istic gifts had been misused, and so informed him. He said upon reflection he believed it to be true, that they often would trifle with the communicating intelligence for amusement, unaware that it would be attended with serious results. We have known of other similar results, on not using wisely these powers so little understood, or through using them for mercenary purposes, or, perhaps, for self- ishly keeping them secret and not exercising them for the benefit of others. Some years ago we were made to sorrow by the long silence and seeming departure of our spirit attendants. Various causes might be suggested in our case. The manifesting intelligence would be tested, cross-ques- tioned, and disputed with more critically than ever was a witness in a court of justice. 104 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, Through our gross ignorance, we would often order them to leave, condemning them as evil spirits, when on further trial we found them altogether truthful. At this time we were having remarkable sittings. Tables were covered with lights, that shone like so many diamonds, and thus illuminated, were raised to the ceiling. Rings were taken from the finger of one person in the circle and put upon that of another. We had clairvoyant visions and personations through the children. Writing was beautifully done by one so young he had not learned his letters ; yet we would not be satisfied; the material scales were still blinding our eyes. Our spirit guardians wished us to give the light to humanity, which we felt we could not do. We feared it might be wrong; we were not prepared to suffer the consequences which we knew would follow, and resisted their influences. On one occasion the controlling spirit was requested to give his wife's name, which was unknown to every one present except the person who had asked for it. The spirit, who purported to be the brother of the questioner, could not give it at the time, perhaps for the reason that the positive state of our minds inter- fered, as each one would think or ask if it were a par- ticular name. The spirit in either event, or from some cause, refused to give the name ; he was, consequently, ordered away and denounced as evil. However, in a few moments the child medium began to draw lines across the slate upon which he had been writing ; then proceeded to cross them with other lines, forming a number of squares, in which he made the letters that formed the uncommon name of Katrina, — the correct one. The letters were made in an irregular manner, and afterwards pointed out by the medium, until the INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 105 right name was spelled. We were much grieved and vexed with ourselves on account of the rudeness we had shown the spirit ; and, while trying to frame some apology in our minds to offer, he left. After many months of silence on the part of our unseen friends, and unfeigned regret and repentance on our part, we were again blessed by other spirit attend- ants. But that one has never returned ; nor have we ever thus far had the same class of physical mani- festations. While sitting a few evenings since, a most imposing funeral procession was seen wending its way to the city of the dead. The impression was that some per- son of notoriety had passed away. The next morning brought the sad intelligence of the death of a warm advocate of the spiritual philosophy, a government official, and gentleman of culture and high social posi- tion here. An illuminated hand was at the same time clairvoyantly seen, with the finger pointing upward. 106 LIFTING THE VEIL: OE, CHAPTER XI. " Through the shadowy past, Like a tomb-searcher, memory ran, Lifting each shroud that time had cast O'er buried hopes." — Mooke. Memory has taken us back to scenes and incidents of other days ; and the influence of past years is upon us. Thus have we been moved to look up and again peruse an old tear-stained letter of long ago. It was written by a loved brother and uncle, whose name we feel it would not be wise to give, as he opposes the philosophy of spirit return. He is an emi- nent physician, and possessed of every quality that constitutes true manhood ; and, although we know his conclusions to be incorrect, we at the same time know them to be honestly held and expressed. Yet how the letter pained us ! Even now we feel its withering effects. It was written in reply to one from us, bearing him a spirit message. He wrote : — "I know something about the workings of the human mind, both in a natural, and a diseased condition. Your mind is in an excited, feverish state. The mind being diseased, all its imaginative products are diseased also. You coin facts out of a diseased imagination ; and your good sense is bound to tell you when you reflect that such coin is of a spurious nature. It will not bear the test of reason. Its glitter and brightness attracts and allures the weak mind, and, finally, reason is no INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 107 longer called to act in the matter. The result is a rnonomaniacal condition of the mind, which is the result of not applying to and testing our thoughts and imagi- nations, by reason free from all prejudice. Excuse me for thus expressing myself upon the subject of spirit communion. Ours is a difference of opinion, and, I trust, an honest one." This portion of his letter still remains unanswered. However, we would here say, if we have lost our reasoning faculties, it is consoling to think that in these United States alone we have the company of some ten or eleven millions of others, besides vast numbers in all parts of the habitable globe, among whom may be found some of the most scientific minds and deepest thinkers of the age. We would try just here to apply " unprejudiced reason " in the case of the messages received through Dr. Slade, and see Avhat the result would be. Could our diseased minds have had anything to do with the messages given between two closed slates? Could it have caused the movements of that tiny bit of pencil between them ? Could our " monomania " have fur- nished the intelligence written, and the correct names — names of others who were not present, but living, and of whom we were not thinking at the time? We surely think not; but rather think we should show symptoms of lunacy were we to doubt that these mes- sages came from any other source, or were produced by any other cause than that claimed by the intelligence writing. Besides what we have enumerated, we have other unmistakable tests of spirit power and presence, received at different times through other mediums. In addition, thousand upon thousands of tests are being daily received by others all over the world. Let calm, 108 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, honest, unprejudiced reason answer, if it be the most plausible to accept or reject the manifestations. We feel from our past experience that it is a delicate and painful thing to close our doors upon angel visitants — our mothers, fathers, and children. Years ago, long before the manifestations through the little girls at Hydesville, one of us saw a negro woman brought from the field of our father in an insen- sible condition. The woman was brought to the house by negro men who at the time were working in the same field. They laid her on the floor of the portico where we were sitting, saying, " Master, Katy is dead." She was examined and no signs of life were discovered. A physician was sent for who lived some miles distant. When he came he pronounced it to be " determination of blood to the head," and said bleeding would relieve her. He immediately began to bandage her arm pre- paratory to the operation. But on applying the lancet no blood came — not a drop. Then the other arm was tried, but with no better success. The doctor looked confused. He again examined the woman more care- fully and finally pronounced her dead. She was ordered to be taken to the "quarter," and hot remedies applied, which was done ; but the result was the same. She lay thus entranced for two or three days, and all hope of her recover}'' was gone. Suddenly, however, she arose, seemingly as well as usual, and went again to work without further inconvenience. She could give no account of the strange manner in which she had been affected. This trance condition became of frequent occurrence. It was soon a common thing to find the poor negro medium entranced, though it was some years before she could narrate her interior experiences, and then they were much distorted by the prevailing opinions of the day. INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 109 During these years of unintelligible trance the negro had been given to a sister and aunt of ours, whose hus- band was an Orthodox minister. Her change in owners was greatly to her disadvantage materially, yet it seemed to afford conditions for development spiritually. Soon after her change of homes she began to make strange and sometimes startling disclosures. She would become entranced at any time or hour, and dictate to each one what they should do or how act ; whether they should go on some expected journey or remain at home ; warn the family of danger, and proph- esy of coming events. We will remind the reader that all this occurred long before we had heard anything of Modern Spiritualism. Ignorance of spirit return and control is the only excuse to be offered for much of the injustice this poor negro medium suffered from all with whom she came in con- tact, especially her owners. Upon one occasion, when the minister was going with rope and whip in hand to punish her for not being at work, he was met by the entranced woman, who told him she did not intend that he should lay the weight of that whip upon her, but that he should stand still and remain quiet while she related some of her interior ex- periences. Said she : "You now, by an unjust law, hold me bound as your slave, but I shall yet be as free as you are. I have seen the white man who will sign my free papers" — here giv- ing a most perfect description of the immortal Lincoln. " Furthermore, I saw a radiant presence approach me. At first it seemed but a cloud in the distance, yet it gradually grew nearer and nearer, until it was within three feet from where I stood. Then it seemed to open out and envelop me, and a man, clad in shining gar- 110 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, ments, stood before me. I thought it was the Christ ; whereupon I asked, ' Master, are you our Saviour ? ' He replied, ' No.' ' Then are you the angel Gabriel ? ' ' No,' he answered, 'I am one who long ago was held in creedal bondage. Death broke the chains of that bond- age and made me free ; behold, I come to the lowly of earth, and to those who are oppressed by the galling chains of slavery, in the Christ spirit. I come to help open the eyes of the blind, and set the captives free. I am your guide ; follow me.' And so, sir, he first took me to a beautiful country, whose surface was covered with trees and flowers of rare beauty and luxuriant growth ; whose landscapes were interspersed with hill and dale, much like our own earth. Streams clear as crystal were winding through the valleys, whose mu- sical rippling of waters fell like enchantment upon our ear. This, my guide told me, was heaven. I was grieved because I saw no God, no Christ. Yet I met many who had come out of great tribulation, which both I and you have known. Soon my guide said, 'We will go,' and we began to descend ; the scenery all the while becoming grosser and less attractive, the trees assuming a wilted appearance, the flowers becoming less fragrant. Mingled voices of sighs and groans were beginning to reach our ears. My guide, on beholding my look of perplexity, informed me that we were ' journeying to the region of darkness.' " The scenery now began to grow repulsive. Dark spirits were seen rushing recklessly over roads that had grown black and muddy. We saw, not far from the one in which we were going, a large, black hall. It was so very black I thought it built of tar. By request of my guide we approached it, and he said, ' Behold the half-way place between Heaven and Hell.' I looked in, INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. Ill and beheld a lurid kind of light that seemed to ema- nate from the inmates of this dismal place. By this light I was enabled to see a woman, perfectly nude, lying upon a table in the centre of the room ; all were black. A deck of cards lay upon the breast of the woman, and she was surrounded by drunken, hideous beings, in the form of men. At the woman's head was a jug of whiskey, from whose top issued flames of fire. The men were engaged in fierce altercations over the woman ; their oaths and curses were terrible to hear. Wicked, sir, as I know I am, they made me tremble. ' The half-way place between Heaven and Hell, — Woman, Cards, and Whiskey," 1 — said my guide. Then on we passed until the scene became so horrifying that it is beyond the power of language to describe it. Human tongue could not tell it." This was the first communication of that nature the poor slave ever gave. All who heard it were for the time spell-bound. Each one knew her to be utterly in- capable, within herself, of any such manifestation. The minister was perplexed. The whip had dropped from his hand and lay beside him. He seemed for a moment dazed, then turned and entered the house, the worse whipped of the two. For some time he sat pondering in his mind what manner of woman this could be. Then he arose, saying, as it has many times been said by the clergy, " She hath a devil." The negro was warned that if she persisted in this kind of demonstration she would be sent away and sold ; yet the manifestations would be given as usual. Not long after this, her young mistress, of whom she was very fond, was to be sent from home to a distant college. Her mother was employed arranging her ward- robe and packing her trunk, preparatory to her depart- 112 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, lire, when the negro came hurriedly in, saying to her mistress, " You must not let the child go : if you do you will never see her again. " But, as was the custom, the woman was denounced and repulsed. The young girl was sent away, and in a short time passed to a higher life. The mother was informed of the sad event by the medium some days before the intelligence came from material sources. The negro had been hired out after the young girl left home, and was passing the house on an errand. Her mistress was looking at her at the time. She saw the negro suddenly stop as she got opposite the house ; she saw her stand a moment, then open her arms, and clasp them upon her breast. After this, the woman came quickly to where her mistress stood, saying, "Mis- tress, your child is dead. She died yesterday, just be- fore the sun went down. She met me where you saw me stop, and I reached out my arms to embrace her ; but they seemed to pass through her form, and my arms were empty. She said, ' Mammy, you can't touch me ; I am a spirit. Go to my mother and tell her not to weep ; I am well and happy. Say to her that papa will be home in three days, and will tell her all. I will meet you all again. Go to my mother now.' " At the expiration of the time the father came, and verified the statement made by the beautiful spirit daughter. The family became so afraid of the negro that she was finally sent away from her husband and children, and sold, the minister still alleging "She hath a devil." For many years we neither saw nor heard any- thing of this remarkable negro. But when the scales had fallen from our own eyes, and we began to know INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 113 something of the phenomena and facts of Modern Spir- itualism, the memory of the manifestations, given through this humble instrument of spirit power, was a source of great encouragement and comfort. Especially was this the case when the presence of our angel visi- tants was withdrawn, or their forms obscured by doubt. Some years after the close of the late war, we were informed that this woman had again found her children, and was then living with them, not more than a day's journey from where we now write. We then knew how to appreciate her marvellous gifts, and we immediately penned her a long, consoling letter, asking her about her' later experiences, and expressing our great joy at her reunion with her family, and their deliverance from bondage. In her reply to our letter, she wrote : — " In regard to my mediumistic power, I will say I still possess it, although it brought unto me such intense suffering, I would pass through it all again, rather than part with the heavenly gift. I will relate the fol- lowing experience, which you may be able to explain : Two or three years ago, as I was coming home in a trance from a neighbor's house, I saw a man coming from the north, on a white horse, and it seemed as if he had half the world with him. These people were all dressed alike, or very much so. They were earnestly talking together on some subject that seemed impor- tant. " Their clothing was the color of a dove, and they all wore on their heads strange looking caps. The man on the white horse rode up to me and inquired, ' Where are your husband and children ? ' I told him the children were at work, and my husband was on a plan- tation up the river, living with another woman. He 114 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, looked on me, and said, ' Pity, pity, pity.' Whilst I was talking to him, a little boy rode up to him, and the man reached his hand into his right vest pocket, and took from it a chain, or the end of one, and gave it to the boy. The other end remaining in his right pocket. They then both rode on. I could now understand that these people were all talking of judgment, judgment. " There came a lot of people from the north for about a month, and yet these last did not seem like human, when they came gliding through the air. They came upon the ground and ate of the grass and bushes. Their heads were like that of a turkey buzzard's, and their garments were like that of a peafowl's tail. They said their names were ' Jacks.' The same I saw many years before the war, and see them now every six months. Then they talk with me day and night. To other people they appear like peafowls, but when they see me, they stand up, and look like other people. They are very portly, and their heads assume a human shape. They sometimes holla out curiously, and when they do the owls answer them." We have copied this from the letter just as it was written. We have our views of this strange vision; think it very significant, but refrain from giving our explanation, preferring that others judge for themselves as to the meaning. We must not forget that these strange revealments came through the untutored mind of a negro. We indeed feel happy that memory recalls no un- kindness on our part to this humble, misunderstood instrument of spirit power. She ever found in us warm sympathy and friendship. In a vague way we always felt that some great movement was beneath all this, and that it was very wrong to persecute the poor woman. INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS . 115 Since having ourselves been conscious of being used by the spirit world, we have remarked with how much more ease communications can be given to the colored than the more intelligent white people. To one gifted with seeing, their life lines appear plain, and may be read as an open book. Not long since we had occasion to go to the house of a negro family, living near by, for the purpose of bor- rowing a rake. We found the man of the house was absent, but his wife came to the door, and to her we made known our want. Said she, " My husband is gone, but don't think he would loan the rake if he was home." We saw she was looking us over in an uneasy, in- quisitive manner, for which we could not account, until she asked, " Arn't you de folks what call up de dead?" "Well, aunty," we replied, "perhaps they have no need of being called, as we now see beside you a mulatto woman, clad in a blue dress, dotted with white. She coughs as though she had passed away from con- sumption. She tells me she died at the city hospital, where you frequently went and ministered to her wants. She thanks jon for your kindness, and wishes you to know that she still lives." She here interrupted the message by excitedly ex- claiming, " It's sister Dorcas, fore de Lord ; O bless de Lord, den, we do live ! Take de rake, honey ; take de rake. Bless de Lord ! take de rake. George not gwine to keer. Bless de Lord ! take de rake." Not many days after this the old woman came and asked us to tell her something more, and we had quite an interesting seance with her. An aged man came to her, — a white man, — who said he had been a minister. His head was white as snow, with eyes and brows black 116 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, as any raven. He said he had preached to the negroes, to the church of which the woman had been a member, but that he had misled them, and wanted now to say that if they expected to be saved from suffering they must not depend upon another ; a good life alone was their only hope ; that the good deeds of other men would avail them nothing ; that they must work out their own salvation. This sitting quite satisfied the poor woman that noth- ing was hidden ; that we all are attended by some un- seen watchers, and we notice a change in her daily life. She formerly had been quarrelsome and boisterous, now she is kind and gentle. INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 117 CHAPTER XII. " Judge not, the working of his brain And of his heart thou canst not see ; What looks to thy dim eyes a stain, In God's pure light may only be A scar, brought from the well-worn field - Where thou wouldst only faint and yield." The need of the present age is more confidence in the indwelling good of humanity. The distrust en- lodged in the human mind through social, political, and religious upheavals cause men to stand in awe of one another; and a feeling of dread of what is yet to be, pervades the souls of each and all. Scarce do time-honored institutions, governments, and religions arrive at the zenith of their power, and present to the understanding models of perfection, before they, in obedience to the law of progression, begin to topple and fall. They met the demand of the age in which they were founded, and warmed into life through the necessities of the times. Having met the demands, they become useless, and must pass away, giving place to the incoming tide of events. These continuous changes, which may be traced all along down the cor- ridors of time, make men doubt the stability of every earth-born good. This is wise; were it otherwise, no forward step would ever be taken, progress would cease, and humanity stagnate. While we admit the great and good results to which this building and tearing down and building again 118 LIFTING THE VEIL: OE, lead, we cannot but also admit that it has its attendant evil : it creates in the mind a feeling of distrust in all things, and, most of all, of one another. Distrust is contagious ; it goes from the aura of one and intermingles with that of another, until to-day one man can scarcely trust his brother. This state of affairs brings forth its own legitimate fruit. Deny the fact as men may, they are constantly being swayed by the influences of their surroundings, both seen and unseen. They are more or less subject to the thoughts and opinions of others whom they come in contact with. We know that many are generated with evil natures; but, at the same time, we are well aware that society is ever preparing a soil in which the evil will germinate in place of that which is calculated to call into exist- ence and action loftier and better qualities. We hear it remarked of some particular person, " He is going down " ; all thoughts and all eyes are forthwith upon that one, waiting and watching for his fall; thus actively stimulating the conditions to accomplish a fellow-mortal's material overthrow. Let a stranger sud- denly make an appearance in any community, and numbers of the curious are anxious to ascertain every detail of his history; and should he be simple enough to gratify them, or wise enough to keep his own coun- sel, — it matters but little which, — some judgment of his character will surely be rendered. Should it be unfavorable, it is whispered from one to another, until the very atmosphere pulsates with evil surmises. If that individual be not endowed with the attributes of an angel, he will nine times out of ten succumb to public opinion. The good will be suppressed and all the evil aroused ; and generally, he is found to meet INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 119 all the expectations of those by whom he is surrounded. But should the impressions and opinions be in his favor, he will strive to fulfil all requirements. We know there are exceptions to this ; but they are monstrosities, and do not come under the general rule. We need to keep our atmosphere cleansed of slander- ous thoughts and expressions for the sake of moral health and vigor. Is it to be wondered at that when there is heard " On all sides from innumerable tongues A dismal universal hiss, the sound Of public scorn," man feels intimidated, it matters not how irreproach- able be his life and morals ? The mental machinery of some men and women seems wholly adapted to the manufacture of trouble for themselves and others; while others are as pure fountains of living water, casting their healthy emana- tions around in life's arid desert, generating sunshine and gladness wherever they go. When small we read an old fairy story that is well worth recording here for the moral it carries with it. As we remember, it was this : — Once upon a time, two sisters dwelt together ; one was ill-tempered and exacting, the other amiable and loving. The first imposed all the menial labor and service upon her uncomplaining sister, whom she al- ways rewarded with rebukes. It happened upon a time that this sister was sent for a pitcher of water to a dis- tant spring. She there met a fairy, who asked of her a drink. Always kind and obliging, she was quick to respond to the request, giving, too, some kindly words to the fairy, who was disguised as an old woman. The 120 LIFTING THE VEIL: OE, other sister becoming thirsty, and angered at the delay, went also to the spring, where she found the tardy sister in conversation with the old woman ; whereupon she began to abuse both of them. When her ill-temper became exhausted, the fairy said, "Because of your harsh words and abusive manner, toads and vipers shall henceforth fall from your mouth with every word you speak." She left, abusing her sister, and the toads and vipers falling with every word. But to the sweet dis- posed sister she said, " Go, kind girl ! henceforth there shall drop diamonds and jewels with every word you speak " ; and as she went away, thanking the fairy, dia- monds and jewels fell from her mouth whenever she spoke. This mythical story fed the fancy of early years, and in after-times unfolded the fact worthy of note, that with our words fall either blessings or curses on hu- manity. Thought is potent for either good or evil ; but words are either the jewels or vipers of human lives. Of all classes of sufferers from the thought emana- tions and expressions of the public, mediums are the greatest, owing to their extreme sensitiveness. To be reliable, they require conditions of perfect trust. None should enter their presence with a feeling or atmosphere of doubt. When they cannot be met without such feel- ing, it is far better, for investigator and medium, that they remain apart. We have been instructed by our kind spirit guide to beware of such as carry with and around them repul- sive influences, and not to allow fierce discussions within our home ; for they are sure to produce spiritual swamps and muddy pools, through which they must pass to approach us. The general outcry throughout the world, especially INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 121 in the ranks of Spiritualists is, " Give us pure mediums", yet what conditions are furnished by humanity to produce such ? This is a question in which all are interested, as Spiritualism is wholy dependent upon mediumship for existence. No imaginative mind can picture the varied and many times startling revela- tions made in the seance room, or the different motives that influence people to seek aid and relief from their embarrassments, which are of every class, from the mercenary money hunter down to those who are writh- ing in social wreck and ruin. If one who is pure, and good, and gifted with ordinary perception could for a day fill the position of public media, they would wonder that they are not less re- liable than they are. Three ladies once called for a seance with us ; they were highly elated with the hope of finding a fortune said to have been buried beneath a house, by a former occupant who had passed to the world of spirits. They were anxious to consult this immortal in regard to its exact locality. On making known the nature of their mission, and receiving a decided refusal to comply with their request, they left in anything but an amiable mood. One of them, however, more persistent than the others, that evening addressed us a note, from which we copy the following : " I hope, pray, and trust that you will reconsider your decision about going to the ' Brown House ' to sit for us, for I am sure there is a large amount of money buried under it, and through you it will be found. Make up your mind to go for me, my dear friend. I can see no harm whatever in the act, and I know if I had the money I could do so much good in the world ; for that reason if no other, you should be willing to go and assist us in obtaining 122 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, it. Can't you be induced to go ? Change your mind and go with us this evening. Should you consent I will give you the following named articles, which I hope you will be willing to accept, as a just reward for your time and services : ^-gallon glass demijohn, 1 sugar can, 1 wash board, 1 water bucket, 1 bird cage, and a scrub brush." Reader, we still declined to go. The above is given as an illustration of the demands that are frequently made upon sensitives, and the na- ture of the influences that are daily being brought into the seance room and aura of mediums. These are the conditions that make media unworthy of confidence. When such requests are granted, who is to blame? A few days ago, while giving a gentleman a seance, he asked the communicating intelligence something about business transactions; for some time an answer was seemingly evaded, but he persisted in repeating the question, and obtained this reply: "Let this and all other transactions of life, be in accordance with your most exalted views of justice, both to yourself and others. What often times seems to you to be failures, are life's grandest successes. When all business is con- ducted by the rule 'Do as you would be done by,' then humanity may wisely seek our assistance." It is greatly to be deplored that spirit communion should ever be prostituted to such unholy purposes ; but so long as mediums are sought for such, just that long will the demand be supplied. Withdraw the demand for mediums who will pander to the require- ments of this class of investigators, and they will cease to exist. We believe the services of media should alone be sought for messages of a spiritual nature, and to ascertain the fact of a continued existence, after so- INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 123 called death. All material thoughts and desires should for the time be laid aside, thus surrounding media with a spiritual aura, through which may come exalted mes- sages, making both investigator and medium the better. The brief history of Modern Spiritualism furnishes strong evidence of the unhappy result of investigation for material gain, or impure purposes, and many have learned useful lessons, often at considerable cost. We at times doubt whether the information obtained through spirit media of a material character comes from spirit sources. Might it not be possible that it emanates from the surroundings and atmospheres that sensitives are constantly being subject to? To better illustrate the idea we wish to convey, we will relate an experience with a gentleman who at one time attended our circle. A few moments after the circle was formed, we began to feel terribly wicked; felt as though we wanted to curse, swear, and fight ; and on speaking of our disagreeable feeling, some one remarked, "It's some wicked or unde- veloped spirit, come to be progressed out of its dark condition ; " but we concluded to throw off the influ- ence by leaving the circle. As Ave were in the act of doing so, the gentleman said, "Keep your seat, and I will move back ; perhaps I may be the cause." He did so, but the same unhappy feeling continued, and we broke up the circle. The gentleman then told us that he had just had a fierce altercation with another man, and that he was then armed, expecting to renew the dispute when they met. In the above incident we can trace the feeling manifested to material influences. May there not be many others that are similar, coming from the material side of life. We were speaking in regard to the subject of spirit influence and control, not long since, during our circle, 124 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, and this was given to a person present : " Richard, my son, when in a tranquil state of mind consider well this fact: all replies to questions descend from the same plane of life to which your questions ascend." We here give another spirit message that may throw some light upon the subject : — " We are ever striving to penetrate the gross mate- riality by which humanity is surrounded, that we may project into the mind some knowledge of the spiritual. The aura of attendant spirits is many times so per- fectly blended with that of the medium through which they manifest, that doubts often arise as to their origin ■ — doubts even in the mind of the medium through whom they come. "When the minds of all present are divested of every thought of a material nature, the inflowings that then are of a spiritual nature are from spirit sources. "All facts that are gained of material things reach you through the intellect, by the use of the material senses ; all knowledge of spiritual things is derived from spirit through the intuitions. This may aid you in discrimi- nating between the belongings of the two worlds, or what originates in the mind, from that which is pro- jected into it from a higher source. — C. Smith." Following this came a message from the presiding spirit which we regard of value, especially to the great number who are seeking to develop mediumistic gifts : it is this, — "Let all seeking to be mediums first purify themselves." It seems that at times too much is accepted as from spirit sources, and at others, too little; but when, where, and how, to make the distinction, we are still seeking to find out. We are assured of the fact of spirit interven- tion in many occurrences in our own lives, and many in INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 125 the lives of others, which at the time were considered purely material. Some months ago we were influenced to write thoughts on mediums and development, which appeared in one of our journals, and we feel impressed to insert it here. THOUGHTS ON MEDIUMS AND DEVELOPMENT. Now that Modern Spiritualism has outlived much of the ostracism that attended the early days of its advent ; now that it is attracting the attention and interest of scientists and scholars, and assuming an attitude of defiance and independence towards its oppressors, the inquiry is, "How can I become a medium?" Learned advocates of the Spiritual Philosophy have written lengthy essays on developing spiritual gifts, all of which, we feel, have failed to throw much light upon the sub- ject, for the most simple of reasons, namely : That man- kind do not differ in this respect from their usual mode of seeking knowledge of facts; they are ever prone to wander from the simple and true, quite forgetting, in their eager haste to acquire, that " God has stamped simplicity on all his works." Thus they make, and cause others to make, long, fruitless journeys after some coveted knowledge or blessing, and find at last that they are compelled to return and seek it from within and around them, and then find it through the simplest of means. To meet this demand we also find advertised persons who for a stated sum of money agree to furnish all needed information and aid in the development of mediums, both at home and at a distance. Some years ago, when first interested in spiritual manifestations, we invested largely in this kind of promised information, 126 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, but learned, after much time spent in trying to follow directions that were given, that we were pursuing an ignis fatuus. But even that knowledge we now think was worth the money expended, as it proved the means of bringing us back to self and a reliance on our own innate powers and exertion to attain it. It, too, has enabled us to point out this first false step, as we con- sider it, to those seeking the development of mediumis- tic gifts. In the place of striving to change the habits and nature, one should be natural, and do that which makes them the most comfortable. The palate will determine the quality and quantity of diet, when not rendered morbid through abuse. Nature has given it for this purpose, and no other but one's self can know what is best. Eat, drink, sleep — in short, live naturally. If a mistake should he made, nature will demand the penalty attached to all her broken laws, and it will be readily discovered by the disorder of the system. This has been our experience in development, and we willingly give it, hoping it may benefit others; give it without money and without price. Mediums (and when we say mediums we mean it, not mountebanks and frauds) are well aware that it lies beyond their power to develop spiritual gifts in any one ; that each and all must grow up to it naturally. By naturally we mean that the soul powers must be unfolded gradually, and to us almost imperceptibly. To illustrate, take the de- velopment of a crop. The ground must first be pre- pared, then the planting; after comes its cultivation — not forgetting to keep down the weeds. Sunshine and showers are needed ; the positive influences of day, the negative influences of night, to slowly unfold and mature it. This cannot be done in a day — neither can mediums be so developed. Life's ups and downs, its INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 127 joys and griefs, its smiles and frowns, the friends and foes, all are necessary to the development of a reli- able, honest medium. There is no royal road to it, but it is obtained like all else of any worth, through earnest endeavor for spiritual ascendency and suprem- acy. A close observation of nature and her multifarious and multitudinous workings, and a feeling of kinship with the expression of spirit through her crudest forms, ever finding in all something of truth, the human and the divine, all tend to harmonize and develop the facul- ties unused in the every-day affairs of physical life, but which must be worked up into activity if used by higher powers. Spirit is striving to more perfectly express itself through the grossest forms of matter, and does so to the fullest extent of the capacity of matter to receive ; when that capacity is enlarged by the law of evolution, a fuller and freer expression of spirit will be the result. One great hindrance to mediumistic development is to distinguish the thoughts that belong to and originate in the mind from those projected into it by some other intelligence. Seldom do we think and plan alone. Some dear one "over there " is ever watch- ing and waiting opportunities to aid in every endeavor of life. We have many times noted the fact that those who had no near and dear angel friends always found it more difficult to encounter and combat difficulties that are ever meeting all on life's highway, or to gain any spiritual eminence. The kind hand of spirit guid- ance is needed to beckon upward and onward earth's weary travellers, and their loving aid wanted to supply human deficiencies. When the mortal has made the utmost exertion, then will come this unseen help. When we take into consideration how very little to 128 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, the liking of each is their situation and surroundings, we can readily perceive that some other intelligence is planning and guiding, even in the every-day affairs of life. In our experience in development, we have fre- quently passed, unnoticed at the time, some feeble ex- pression of spirit, and have many times so repulsed and discouraged the kind spirit, that the effort would never be repeated. We think when sitting for development the better way is to obey the impressions that come for the time — that is, should there be nothing in them morally wrong. They may at first seem of a trifling, even silly nature; but often further development might prove them to be of great importance. We well remember at one time a number of persons had formed a circle at our house. A few hours previous we had been bitten by a spider on the hand, which was at that time so swollen and painful that we found it impossible 'to join the circle, and took a seat some distance from it by the fire, as it was winter and cold. We were sitting very uncomfortably on a small chair of one of the children. Soon the table began a very undignified tipping and tossing, and finally succeeded in getting one leg be- tween the rounds of a chair near by, and slowly moved the chair to where we were sitting. Both table and chair were taken back, but only to cause a repetition of the movement. Each of us regarded it as a silly per- formance of some mischievous spirit, and when the last exercise was gone through with, and it was concluded to break up the circle, one of the children exclaimed, "Why, mamma, the spirit has got you a chair! " We took it, and placing the well hand on the table, the alphabet was called for, and through the raps we found it to be the spirit of a darling son, who, as he stated, had brought a doctor to have something done for my hand. INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 129 Several things were called for and ordered to be placed upon the table to be magnetized. We were then told to put the salve thus made on the bite, which was done, relieving the pain in a few moments. The feeling of tenderness that this loving act inspired within us brought tears of joy and gratitude. Sometimes poor media suffer mental tortures, fearing that they have been the willing instruments for decep- tion, so perfectly may the spirit's aura be blended with theirs. We have for this cause had our soul tortured with anguish, when after incidents would prove beyond doubt that it was spirit control. At one time we were, for our own peace of mind, driven to the necessity of telling any one to whom we gave communications, that we did not know what the power was through which it was done ; to take the intelligence given for what they thought it was worth, and to account for it as best they could. Development has inspired us with a dread of humanity, fearing to be censured or misunderstood, hence we have ever avoided publicity. Spirits themselves are often ignorant of the results of their control of mediums, and many times both medium and spirits might reasonably be accused of deception, when further efforts would prove that the spirits may have been experimenting — finding out how much power the medium possessed that could be utilized by them. Since we know but little of the modus operandi of spirit control, we think it not wise to hastily pass judgment upon any manifestation until we see the result. It should be borne in mind that mediums are mediums at all times, and in all places, whether sitting for mani- festations or otherwise. Another important fact may also be noted : spirits have various ways and means of supplying their mediums with knowledge of events, 130 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, which many times cause them to doubt even their own honesty. How our souls go out in sympathy to them, subject as they are to every influence by which they are surrounded, whether in or out of a material body. All media have their own peculiar crosses to bear, their Gethsemanes to enter, and too often crucifixions to endure. As imperfect as are our media of to-day, they notwithstanding are the salt of the earth ; they alone, through spirit power, can enter into the lioly of holies of the human heart, and supply the interior needs of the human soul. If development be in the hands of spirit guardians and friends, they will manage it with far more wisdom than can mortals. Our attendant spirit friends object to mesmerism as a means of development. They tell us that each one is surrounded by an atmosphere or aura peculiar to themselves, to protect the individ- uality of each, and that mesmerism breaks this barrier that nature has kindly and wisely thrown around each and all as a means of warning and protection, when approaching the uncongenial, injurious, and often poi- sonous magnetism of others. They tell us to exercise great care how we come under the psychological influ- ence of others, as it is calculated to destroy individ- uality, and transfer any impurity possessed by the psychologist as readily as it would a spiritual gift. Every one with spirit aid may develop some phase of mediumship, and that one should be accepted which is the most adapted to his organism and spiritual advance- ment. All cannot make good musicians, nor be suc- cessful mathematicians; neither can all be astronomers or mechanics. There are manifest even to our material sense a diversity of gifts, and that one the most mani- fest is sure to be the best and greatest success. We are as much spirits now as we shall ever be. Let us be INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 131 guided by this knowledge. After being sufficiently developed to obtain intelligent communications from spirits, we have many times become impatient and dis- couraged in our efforts to obtain better results, and have resolved to try again some help foreign to ourselves. But as often have been told " develop your own powers," and after a while our strivings have ended with success. One could, with the same wisdom, undertake to teach a child Greek before it had learned its letters, as to endeavor to develop mediumistic gifts in those who have not grown up to where it can be done ; to where spirit- ual things can be discerned and grasped ; when the mind can discriminate between its interior workings and that of immortals who surround them. There must needs come seasons of withdrawal from the world ; days in the wilderness of doubt and the tempting of evil spirits, either in or out of the body, who will offer mediums all the pleasures of the world if allowed to control them; and just at this stage of development, if the medium has the moral courage to say, as was said by a medium of old, "Get thee behind me, Satan," they are quite likely to make their mediumship a joy and comfort to themselves and a blessing to humanity. Let us look at the human wrecks that are strewn all over the land by yielding to such influences, and take warning. That same old theological purse has lured many mediums, who were good and true, to ruin, — ruined by an abuse and indiscriminate use of their gifts. Kind guardians and spirit friends, while developing mediums, may be able to exorcise a low developed spirit, and leave the interior empty of it, swept and garnished ; yet their after life may be such as to invite it back again. The door now being open, — or mediumship de- veloped, — others too may come, even more wicked than 132 LIFTING THE VEIL: OE, the first ; and behold, the last state of that one is worse than the first — better far to never have been developed. The above remarks have reference to those who are not mediums from birth. Dr. Dodd asserts that there is one out of every twenty-five born in a psychological condition ; that they live in that state, and will die in it. These only need the kind hand of affection to draw out and utilize their soul powers. This is as necessary for them as is that of the mother for the babe, from whose maternal breast its life is drawn. Science would freeze up the fountain of inspiration, and the keen criticisms of an unprogressed material world wither and blast. Science cannot reach these interior workings of the human soul, because they are not governed by physical laws, but by spiritual. We would here say, if mediums of this class are not what they should be, it is because of the imperfections and ignorance of humanity. We are told that these spirit manifestations are born of our own souls. Make for media better conditions ; sur- round them with holier influences, and more pure mag- netisms, and soon the cry of impure mediums will no more be heard. To all who are seeking to be mediums, we would say, bear in mind that development means very much more than many usually think. Not only may individuals develop a spiritual and exalted state, but they may develop much that is repulsive and hereditary that is lying dormant in their nature, and would perhaps remain so, but for the special efforts made by them for spiritual development. This may be why Swedenborg taught against common humanity as a medium between the two worlds. It certainly should be a caution to all, more especially those inheriting any trait of evil, and stimulate them to live pure lives. After over twenty INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 133 years of experience, though never having ourselves suffered from the control of anything of a repulsive nature, to-clay we stand in awe of mediumship, it is so freighted with weal or woe to its possessor and to humanity. Spiritualism is commanding the attention of hundreds to-day who are living in the Lone Star State. Many of them are earnestly striving to develop themselves into mediums ; numbers seek information from us. Develop your own powers, never allowing a spirit in or out of the flesh to use your material organism in any way in which you would not yourself use it. All are capable of doing more for themselves than can be done by another; ex- ertion will unfold spiritual perceptions. Learned men of the past dispensation made big mistakes, and led others who dared not think for themselves to do the same. Unless great care be exercised, the learned ones of the incoming spiritual era will repeat the same. To me the intuitions of a little child are of far more value as a guide in spiritual matters than those of learned pro- fessors who may be seeking place and power. Sue J. Finck. 134 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, CHAPTER XIII. It is evident to every analytical mind that we are living a twofold life : one compounded of material wants and necessities ; the other requiring spiritual sus- tenance and development ; and that it is the office of the human mind, acting through the physical body, to search, explore, and gather from nature's vast realm, all that is wanting to facilitate the growth and develop- ment of each. Man's material wants are, and, it seems, ever will be, first, while on this rudimental plane of life, because his physical demands are immediate and urgent. We therefore find him putting forth all his energies, first to secure comfort, then elegance, then grandeur. Thus has he gained height after height in mechanical skill and in a knowledge of the arts and sciences, until it verily seems that there is nothing more to be learned. Past achievements, however, never give lasting satis- faction to the restless, aspiring soul of man. In truth, he hardly pauses long enough to review the ground already gone over, or to examine and utilize the knowl- edge he has from time to time forced from nature's hid- den laboratory, before we again behold him bounding forth with renewed energies in quest of something still grander and more elevating, until to-day we verily find him " but little lower than the angels," the crowning outgrowth of all animal and vegetable life, and destined in the future to be the grand ultimate of all of life's unfoldings. INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 135 Surmounting the opposition of the clergy, and heed- less of priestly anathemas, the scientific mind has stead- ily marched onward, regardless of all obstacles; has measured oceans' depths, spanned their mighty waves with electric wires, and linked continent to continent. It has tamed the lightning, and made it a submissive servant and willing carrier of messages from one point of the globe to another. The nineteenth century has far exceeded any past three centuries in its scientific discoveries and mechanical in- ventions. Never before in the annals of the world have the intellectual powers of man developed with such rapid- ity ; yet in his breathless haste for more knowledge, man often misses many golden facts that lie at his very feet ; and because they may be but in embryo, because they may be as yet but tender buds of promise, he fan- cies their conditions to be distant, and makes long, fruitless, mental journeys in search of them, being at last compelled to return, and with childlike trust and simplicity gather them up, from within and around him. More especially do we find this true in regard to those who are seeking the kingdom of heaven or har- mony. Men go from this church to that, from one creed to another, and find it not ; for behold, it lieth just where the son of Mary and Joseph the carpenter proclaimed it to be over eighteen hundred years ago, — "within you." We have noticed it to be true, both of ourselves and of others, that when the mind becomes dissatisfied with itself it gets restless, and invariably seeks change of place as a palliative, and is as often doomed to meet with disappointment, for the reason that self must always be carried along, wherein lies the chief cause of all disturbance. 136 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, Is it to be considered in any way marvellous that the spiritual philosophy should come at this most opportune time, promulgating the kingdom of heaven within man ? Is it to be wondered at, that while man has been achieving such grand results on a material plane of life, that Modern Spiritualism, backed by its phenomena and incontrovertible facts, should come in answer to the demand of advanced, enlarged human soul? Since man must, through all this whirling round of activity, stop and lie down in the quiet arms of death, it is found necessary to look after the conditions of the soul and its future welfare. In bygone days of great spiritual enlightenment, the orthodox creed was fully satisfying, but to-day the soul of man has broadened out. The capacities of his mind have become enlarged with his material nature, and call aloud from mountain top to valley for a higher dispensation of spiritual views, to meet and satisfy the hungering soul. " Hark ! from the tomb, a doleful sound " no longer serves as a lullaby to the sorrow-stricken soul when the earthly casket of some loved one is being laid away from mortal sight. But rather would we sing, — " The dead are not departed; Only the dross laid by; The good and the true-hearted Are ever hovering nigh." Is it not satisfying to reflect how peaceful has been the incoming of this new spiritual dispensation? Not a drop of blood has been spilled to tarnish its purity. How different from the inauguration of all other forms of religious belief! A benevolent smile lights up the face when the mind goes back to past days and returns to reflect upon the present. We find all the former INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 137 avenues to religious liberty paved with dead and gory with the slain. Even in our own favored land, cries of persecution have rent the air, and angels have wept to behold the scene. Still onward and upward has been the soul cry of humanity, until Pagan and Jew, Christian and Infidel, dare to stand upon a nation's free platform and openly express their views. Men are finding many Bibles in the place of the one they have hitherto relied upon, and are beginning to throw aside the teachings of any that conflict with reason and demonstrated facts. They no longer stop to wrangle about the translation of Gehenna, care not if it means the grave or some other place ; not what Tartarus is, nor if Hades means only a hole in the ground; for all seem as nothing when compared to the living facts of the spiritual dispensation. These old theological views of the hereafter are much like the manna that the Israelites gathered in the wilderness; they spoil when kept too long. We need new and more progressed ideas, living facts, to meet the requirements of the advanced humanity of to-day. The time is fast approaching when the immense wealth that is expended on costly church edifices and in supporting the clergy will, under angel guidance, be appropriated to the relief of the poor, who often live within the shadow of church steeples their money has helped to build, having been extorted from them for that purpose. The widow's mite, which is so unduly pressed from the purse of penury, will go, if at all, to help elevate degraded human kind. Good Christian people will then have time to bestow upon their physi- cal necessities; time to study the laws of health, and to 138 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, learn how to make of the human temple a pleasant habitation for the indwelling spirit; how to make a heaven of every home, now and here. Men are ransacking heaven above and earth beneath for more light and knowledge. Old traditions and superstitions are passing away, never to return. The weary travellers through the interminable thickets of Theology are dropping by the wayside, and the wilder- ness of doubt is fast being swept away. Satan's king- dom is tottering and tumbling ; human idols are being broken, and light from the superior world is stream- ing down upon the nineteenth century. Heaven and earth are no longer at such incalculable distances. Angel hands have spanned immensity with unseen lines of communication from world to world, and to-day we can interiorly behold " the gates ajar." Our young men and maidens are having visions, and the old ones are dreaming beautiful dreams. Seers are telling of sunny, fruitful climes, and prophesying of the good time coming for all. Knowing all this we can afford to labor and wait with patience, being hopeful, faithful, thankful, and withal watchful. We find numbers of the creed-bound of the day who are ashamed of its narrowness, coming secretly, as went one of old to Jesus, to inquire of these new truths; and it is both noticeable and affecting to see with what avidity they are accepted. Not long since a lady of very prepossessing appear- ance was seen standing near our door; she had re- mained there so long it attracted our attention, and upon addressing her we soon found her to be insane. A gentleman was passing by at the time, and paused to inquire what it was that troubled her. She asked if he ever attended the Presbyterian church. He told her he was one of that faith. INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 139 "Then," said she, "go and ask its members to pray for me." Having said this, she left. The gentleman turned to us, saying, " If that lady is a good Presbyterian, I can't see why she should become insane." We, without the least hesitation, replied, that if she was a good Presbyterian, and held to the articles of faith such were supposed to hold, and was possessed of any human affection, we saw no reason whatever why she should not be insane. He walked on in a medita- tive manner ; whether to his church, we cannot say. As we have before said, it is a severe trial to cut loose and break away from these old, settled ideas ; yet when light begins to dawn upon the mind, it is sure to guide the anxious soul onward unto its noonday efful- gence. This is why Spiritualism is so much dreaded by all the churches. It has been a great wonder to us that humanity has been able to struggle against such formidable opposi- tion, even to their present plane of liberality, when we consider the effort it has cost. They must have had some helping hand to point the way and lead them on. Swedenborg's theory of divine influx may account for the fact that human souls have recognized a few gleams of light, now and then flashing across the world's mental darkness. Yet to us there seems another cause for man's spiritual unfoldment, and that is a close and intimate association with our loved departed, who live on life's other side. In the night-time, when " deep sleep falleth upon man," some Eve from celestial Edens may bring unto him of their spiritual knowledge. We have the most convincing proofs that they watch over, associate with, comfort, and instruct us during the time that the material senses are wrapped in slumber. 140 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, The jarrings and discords consequent upon our daily existence crowd out and drive back the tender emotions of the human soul. We find but little time for the exercise of the spiritual faculties amid the din of a con- stant strife to supply our material needs. Where, then, but apart from them, under the quieting influences of darkness and sleep, can the spiritual faculties be used and unfolded ? What more propitious time have we to enter the inner kingdom, wherein the spirit resides, and listen to its divine teachings and warnings ? Even the earth, with its sun-parched vegetation, needs these same hours of darkness and repose for its perfect un- folclment of life, that all things may drink in the re- freshing dews from heaven. Must " Night, restful, mysterious, beautiful, star-eyed Night," not bring in some way the needed aid and in- struction for the growth and development of the soul? Are there no gentle voices of love ? No celestial dews that fall upon and refresh the agonized soul? Does the tired body merely rest? Then what of its occu- pant? Gains it no knowledge, then, of the interior universe, which the material light of day obscures, to satisfy its immortal longings ? If not, then when and where must we look ? It is not supposed, neither is it reasonable, to think that our spirits ever grow tired. Then what are their occupations, and where are they during the time the body is wrapped in sleep? To us it seems the most reasonable deduction that they are with their loved ones on life's spiritual side, being instructed and educated, that when the time for their departure comes, they will not be called to gaze upon strange faces and unfamiliar scenes, and to meet the forms of loved ones, many of whom otherwise would have grown beyond their knowledge. INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 141 We know that memory recalls but little of this sleep life, yet that little affords ample proof of the continued activity of the spirit and its constant wakefulness. We think we bring back to material life and our waking moments the memory of far more incidents and experiences of the soul than we take of physical trans- actions to what is commonly called dreamland. If it be true that our waking hours belong to the material side of life and its occupations and necessities, and our sleeping hours to the spiritual side and its occupations and wants, then we can perceive the phi- losophy of so-called death. One can plainly see that the need is as great for the companionship of loved ones and friends on that side as it is on this. Mankind has in every stage of mental growth been greatly impressed by remarkable dreams ; yet but little is ever said of them, as people fear ridicule, or the greater number do, and no one will court it. Few, if any, however, are exempt from having had some startling experience that has been denominated "only a dream." We transcribe from the writings of Byron the follow- ing appropriate and beautiful lines: — " Our life is twofold ; sleep hath its own world. A boundary between the things misnamed Death and existence : sleep hath its own world And a wild realm of wild reality; And dreams in their development have breath, And tears and tortures, and the touch of joy; They leave a weight upon our waking thoughts, They take a weight from off our waking toils, They do divide our being ; they become A portion of ourselves as of our time, And look like heralds of eternity." 142 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, CHAPTER XIV. Dreams have formed a prominent feature in our ex- periences, and we feel it will not be amiss to devote some pages in recording a few of our own, as well as some coming from other sources. To us our dream life seems as real as does this, and far more interesting and beautiful. The night spent in dreamless slumber seems a blank in our existence ; it seems as though some page had been lost from life's book. Many dreams, when their meaning is revealed to the understanding., appear to originate in some realm of life as substantial, if not more so, than is our earthly plane. Whether these prophetic visions, seen in sleep, are grasped by our own awakened perceptions, or whether they are scenes executed by some kind guardian or loving spirit friend, we are unable to say. They may be obtained through our own perception as well as that of angel help. Our experiences and those of others indicate this to be true. We once belonged to an Orthodox church, one of the members of which was to be tried for an offence against its laws — that of sabbath breaking. The night before the church meeting and trial, we dreamed of going to the church, and as we were in the act of entering the door a light shower of rain fell, not enough, however, to cause inconvenience. As we came up among the congregation we found them all curious, INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 143 excited, and confused, and on looking around beheld another than our usual minister occupying the pulpit. He had the appearance of being a very black, coarse woman, and yet we knew him to be a white man. He had the peculiarity, when speaking, of drawing down first one, then the other corner of his mouth. This we remarked very closely. While we were trying to account for this strange presence, he reached out his hand and took from the altar a stalk of sugar-cane, and broke it in two parts, laying the part held in his right hand down again upon the altar. He then proceeded to use the part held in the left hand for a spy-glass, through which to look at the congregation. Then we all began to leave the house in an excited, disorderly manner, except a few church members, who remained quietly seated. This dream we related to two of our church deacons the next morning before going to the meeting, saying that we could recognize the minister by the peculiarity named. The dream left the impression on our mind that we should have some serious church difficulties, and it was with much reluctance that we attended service the following day. Nevertheless we did, and at the door encountered the light rainfall; also the two deacons with whom we had previously been speaking about our dream. They hastened to inform us that a strange minister was there and would officiate. As soon as he began to speak, we knew him to be the one of our dream by the manner he had of drawing down the corners of his mouth. We had spent the evening and night previous with the brother who was that day to be tried. 144 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, This brother had a wife, as soft-spoken and beguiling as one Delilah of old ; and we presume, from the ser- mon he preached, she had quite won him over in her husband's favor. At least we were all severely repri- manded, and a perfect commotion ensued. Letters of dismissal from the church were loudly and angrily demanded, and granted in the same spirit. Then a part of the church, members, with the congregation, left in a state of the utmost excitement and confusion. The minister had used the sister's sweetness, of which the sugar-cane was a type, to see the condition of the church, and he, being black of heart, could see no further through it than he had seen through her sweetness of manner. The breaking of the cane was symbolic of the sundered church, and the right-hand end was significant of truth : and let us bear in mind it was never used, but laid upon the altar. Towards evening, after our boisterous church scene, one of the deacons, to whom we had related our strange dream, came to us to ask what we intended to do about a church, remarking that he also had a vision the same evening, that had greatly impressed him as to his future course. He said: "I was walking slowly past the church or meeting-house, thinking if it could be true that of all creeds ours was alone blest with the presence of Christ, when I heard a voice say, 'Look up and behold the Christ,' whereupon I looked up and saw you standing just before me. Now I am going to the church of your choice, for I know that Christ dwelleth there." We told him that we that day had as much of church experience as we wanted; also as much religion, so- called, as we desired, — quite enough to last us as long as we should live. INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 145 He has never joined another church, or had not as long as we knew of him. Should his eyes ever trace these lines, we would here invite him to look for the spirit of Christ shadowed forth in this new spiritual dispensation, of which we were to him but a symbol. We assure him that the glorious light emanating there- from will be all-sufficient to guide him safely to an Eden of sweet repose. Some pious church members will doubtless exclaim, " What superstition ! " We will remind all such of Joseph's dreams, and the dreams and visions which form the only foundation of their religious dispensation. We once had business that called us to a house in this city, where we had never before been. All its inmates were entire strangers to us. On meeting the lady of the house, she said : — " Oh ! I know you well, but cannot recall your name." We replied : " We also know you, yet do not remem- ber your name." Neither of our names were familiar to either of us. After a long conversation about the different places in which we had lived and the people we had formerly known, we gave up all hope of arriving at any conclu- sion as to where we had before met. We then pro- ceeded to speak of the business which had called us there, when a flash of light passed before our vision, bringing to our mind where we had previously known and met the lady. We therefore interrupted the business conversation, and said, " We can now tell you all about our past ac- quaintance : we lived many years in your society in a dream." " That is true," she replied. 146 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, Then this lady proceeded to relate many incidents that had from time to time occurred during our strange dream life, all of it perfectly agreeing with our own experiences. We had during our dreams become most warmly attached to each other, and at this time both promised a renewal of that close intimacy so vaguely begun on life's other side. We have met many others still dwelling in the flesh whose acquaintance had been formed during the hours of sleep. We will here quote a few passages from a letter be- fore us, of the negro medium referred to in a previous chapter illustrative of the subject under consideration. She writes : " I have been three times with you in the spirit world lately. We met there and travelled together a whole day. We met many in our jour- neying whom we had known upon earth, but who were no longer in the flesh. Many of these were relatives with whom we conversed upon past family affairs. They all seemed perfectly familiar to us, nor were we the least surprised at the meeting; yet after the day was spent it was painful that we had to part again. The most of the conversation I have on meeting or seeing any of the departed is about judgment. . . . About four weeks ago I saw a great sight in the East, and wish you would write what is its meaning. I saw the heads of millions of people in the sky, and from the immense crowd I beheld three beautiful women with radiant faces come shouting to earth. It was between one and two o'clock. They paused near me and inquired if I knew who they were. I told them I did not. They then told me that they were Israelites, and said that on the morrow a war would begin, and an INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 147 encampment would take place. They nodded their heads at the church houses, as if the encampment would take place there. I must tell you of another vision that alarmed me for a time. I saw a person who had been killed rise out of a lagoon into which he had been thrown, after having been put into a cow's carcass. Then I also saw another rise from the same lagoon that had been placed in the carcass of a horse. This last was darker than the first. They both ap- proached me and began to speak about judgment. . . . I saw a dark spot on your otherwise white garments. Upon inquiry I found it to be caused by your having owned and sold slaves during the slave days. I met in spirit all your colored people, both living on earth and those who had departed, and together we prayed that the curse might be removed, for the spot was a curse. The white man, who is my guide, said you would soon be delivered from the curse." We once knew a lady, whose veracity was never doubted, who had been attending a revival meeting where two or three different creeds were represented. She told us that one evening she had concluded that she would attach herself to one of these churches, but could not tell which was the right one, as they all seemed to greatly differ on very essential points. She had no prejudices in favor or against any of them ; her earnest desire was for truth and to follow in the footsteps of Christ. That night she dreamed she went to the meeting, and among the different creeds searched for Christ. Upon every church altar she beheld a repulsive, inanimate idol, gaudily clad in theatrical toggery. With a sigh she turned to leave, when a little child who was stand- ing at her right took her by the hand and led her away. 148 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, She said, " So impressed was I by the dream that I never joined either church, nor do I think I ever shall." We could fill pages with well authenticated cases, wherein persons have been warned of impending dan- ger in dreams. We have an instance in mind : one of many found in Mrs. Crowe's " Night Side of Nature." "A butcher named Bone, residing at Holy town, dreamed a few years since that he was stopped at a par- ticular spot on his way to market, whither he was going on the following day to purchase cattle, by two men in blue clothes, who cut his throat. He told the dream to his wife who laughed at him ; but as it was repeated two or three times and she saw he was really alarmed, she advised him to join somebody who was going the same road. He accordingly listened until he heard a cart passing his door, and then went out and joined the man, telling him the reason for so doing. When they came to the spot, the two men in blue clothes actually stood there, who, seeing he was not alone, took to their heels and ran." Before us, in the Banner of Light of Sept. 20, 1884, we find the following: "In Binghamton, N. Y., awhile since, a woman named Whitney dreamed that a woman in white came to her bedside, and said, " Get up, get up immediately ; you are needed ! " The woman awoke and went to the sitting-room below, where she found that the lamp which she had left on the table had exploded and set the objects near it on fire. A few pails of water extinguished it, and the lives of a mother and four children were saved by a dream." We well knew a family who lived on a newly settled place some three miles from a country village. The husband was unexpectedly called to town one afternoon during the summer months. Rattlesnakes were at that INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 149 time both numerous and very dangerous. He was com- pelled to go on foot, as no horse was convenient. Soon after he left, the wife lay down for her usual afternoon sleep. She dreamed her mother came to her, and said, " Your husband has been bitten by a large snake, and it is impossible for him to return home." She awoke to find the sun already setting and her husband still absent. Nor did he return until found and brought home lifeless, having been bitten by one of the poison- ous rattlesnakes with which the place was at that time infested. The most touching and beautiful vision or dream we have ever read or heard related, is related by Professor J. W. Cadwell, the noted mesmerist. The most won- derful part of it being its verification by the material- ized form of a spirit. We have never had the good fortune of meeting this energetic worker for humanity, yet his fame is widely known in many states of the Union where he has lec- tured and given public exhibitions of his power as a mesmerist. Underlying all that he writes flows a deep current of earnestness and truth that reaches directly into our own souls. His contributions to different jour- nals are always freighted with the needed nourishment for hungry humanity. In the Banner of Light, Oct. 11, 1884, we find a touching incident described by him in an article under the caption, " Some Questions Answered." Professor Cadwell therein says : — " My wife wrote me some four j^ears ago, while I was away from home, that she had a very wonderful vision of the night and asked me if it was a dream or a reality. She thought she was in a beautiful garden of the rarest and most gorgeous flowers, and while almost lost in amazement at their vast numbers and exquisite loveli- 150 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, ness, our daughter Emma, then recently deceased, sprang up from behind a rose-bush and threw a wreath of flowers over her head. She then informed her mother that she had helped her out of the body that she might visit what was to be her future home. While convers- ing with Emma, she saw our little grandchild we have taken care of for many years, and who for the last seven has not been able to walk, gathering a nice bouquet and running around free from his earthly and unfortu- nate condition as happy as an angel. She was finally conducted back to the portals of the earth life, and awoke as if from a dream. The first thing the boy said on awaking an hour later was, ' Oh ! grandma, I had such a funny dream ! I thought that you and I were in a most beautiful garden with Aunt Emma, and I was not lame any more, and I gathered a great lot of flowers and made a nice bouquet.' " A few days later I mesmerized two ladies in Albany, N.Y. By following my instructions, they soon became good mediums, and at my request sat for materializa- tion. On the first night my daughter Emma material- ized sufficiently to speak in her natural voice. The first words she said were, ' Father, I am here ! ' and in a few minutes she told me that her mother and Charlie were with her in her spirit home about two weeks pre- vious; that her mother thought it was all a dream, but it was not a dream, as she had helped her mother to come over to her spirit home, that she might realize on earth that which awaited her in the life to come. About two years ago she fully materialized at Mrs. H. V. Ross' seance in Providence, R.I., in the light, and talked with her mother of that beautiful garden in which she had seen herself and Charlie, and with her own mate- rialized lips, in presence of more than thirty people, INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 151 assured her mother that what she thought a dream was not a dream but a grand reality." These unseen attendants of ours often employ strange means to attract attention and make us aware of their presence. The Gainesville (Ga.) Eagle lately gave an account of the strange antics of an old family clock. It says : — "In the death of Mr. Andrew J. Smith, last Sunday morning, who lived about two miles from this city, we are presented with one of the strangest coincidences we have ever chronicled. This family is the possessor of an old-time clock, made entirely of wood. It is between three and four feet in height, and had ' kept the time, with its soft and muffled chime,' for twenty- five years, up to about six years ago, when it ' stopped short, never to go again,' and no amount of fixing or coaxing could ever induce its silent pendulum to meas- ure again the metres of time. Little was thought of its curious antics, as it was supposed it had passed its day of usefulness and it was 'set by ' to be handed down to posterity as a family heir-loom, and a newer and more elaborate one took its accustomed place, and per- formed the silent watches of time as only a clock can. " Time went by ; the dust of years accumulated on its face and wheels, and still it stood there as dumb as it was on the day it so suddenly and mysteriously stopped some six years ago. " Several months ago Mr. Smith was taken very ill and confined to his bed with a fatal disease. Long and patiently did loving hands labor to assuage his pain, and sleepless eyes watched with tender care his wasting form, until about two weeks ago at midnight, when the long-forgotten clock pealed forth the hour of twelve in its most musical and silvery tones. The family were 152 LIFTING THE VEIL: OE, dumbfounded; the clock never ticked, but stood as silently as before. Precisely twelve days afterwards, and on the twelfth hour of that day, the restless soul of the sufferer left its prison of clay and plumed its flight to the great beyond. These facts are gathered from members of the family, and can be substantiated by a number of citizens who had gathered at the bed- side of the sick man on the night mentioned." Some time since we dreamed of entering a garden, large and finely located, but it was, or had been, over- grown by grass and weeds, which then were dead and dry. This we knew was our own garden, which it seemed had not been before entered for a long period of time. We at once went to work to clear away the grass, which was found to be covering pots containing the most valuable plants. This discovery brought us much joy and increased our interest. A few of the plants were in bloom, and their rich perfume scented the surrounding atmosphere. These were autumn flowers. In some way we realized that they were neither as fragrant nor beautiful as those yet to bud and bloom. While taking the grass away, sometimes the hand would touch a leaf or stem and cause it to emit a rich odor, and in our delight we would exclaim, " Oh ! if the stems and leaves be so sweet, what will the flowers be ! " That was the garden of our soul so long neglected. A short time after this Ave received this communi- cation, through a medium friend : — " Thorns and thistles have grown in your path, Making you think of the Deity's wrath ; But flowers are blooming, and, laden with dew, In the future bright pathway, just coming in view." INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 153 CHAPTER XV. "In all its phases a spiritual revelation that reveals a truth is valu- able to the world, as it states a fact." Men and women will read and continue to publish such incidents as have been related in the previous chapter, if nothing be said of spirit communion or Spiritualism ; but when such appear in any journal devoted to the philosophy of spirit return, they forth- with reject them as absurd. Our loved ones on life's other side sometimes give messages and warnings in strange and unexpected ways. Why this is done we are unable to state ; we believe, however, presentiments of impending danger would more frequently, and perhaps always, be given, were the perception or intuitions of humanity more fully developed. As before stated, on the material side of life where the cares and worry of daily existence occupy so much of our time and thoughts, we fail to give the needed attention to these interior voices of the soul; and furthermore our intuitions have no room for action. We can give no reason for much that we are com- pelled intuitively to accept as true and known to be facts, that would satisfy this materialistic age. Reason assuredly should be our highest guide ; but when we leave the physical plane of life, we seem to be guided by something higher than reason, — intuition, or perception, or perhaps, reason intensified. At least, we 154 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, seem to grasp facts and know them as such, without, or independent of, our common slow process of reason- ing. If we are not mistaken there is a vast amount of false, incorrect reasoning done ; but intuition we ever find to be unerring. Do not for a moment, friendly reader, suppose we would ignore or banish our reasoning faculties. We do not wish to be misunderstood. We believe reason to be our highest earthly authority and guide, by the light of which all material things should be tested and tried. But we do think there are a multitude of facts existing that transcend all human reason, and which can only be grasped intuitively. Our daily journals sometimes pause to register what is termed " a strange coincidence," and hungry souls will feed upon it in private, without the moral courage to express their honest views. But once let one or two persons in a crowd come out boldly with some strange story, and forthwith the most of them will be moved to relate experiences that are often startling. Let us who are willing to avow the truth concerning these things, not suppose that their truth is wholly unknown to others, though they say but little and often nothing about it. Every human heart has its own interior experiences, whether it acknowledges it or no. We all, both those who accept and those who reject, have, we think, these emotions or intuitions, but many times feel them to be too sacred to be exposed to the cold criticism of an unfeeling, unprogressecl world. The Sandusky (Ohio) Register not long ago contained the following, which we deem worthy of note : " We have come into possession of some very singular facts in relation to the escape of a Bellevue man in two rail- road accidents, one of them that of Ashtabula. The INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 155 gentleman is a Mr. Freese, and the truth of his story is vouched for by some of the best people in Huron and Sandusky counties. It is said by those who know him that his reputation for veracity is unquestioned. Sev- eral years ago, Mr. Freese and his entire family (wife and two children) went from Bellevue to a village in Pennsylvania to visit some relatives. " After stajdng at their relatives' home for a few days, Mr. Freese and his family started one evening to return to Bellevue. They took the cars at Erie. Mr. Freese says the moment he stepped aboard the train he felt a strange and unaccountable disinclination to commence the journey. There was something that seemed to op- press his mind, and he felt an impulse to turn back and take some later train ; but he shook off the feeling as best he could, and tried to laugh at himself for enter- taining what he considered a wild and foolish notion, of which he was even ashamed to speak to his wife. As the train moved on, he held one of his children on his lap and fell into a doze. While thus half asleep he had a dream, in which he saw, with startling distinctness, his wife and children lying in coffins, and all the prepa- rations being made for a funeral service. Such a sight was well calculated to carry terror even to the stoutest heart; but the worst was yet to come, — the awful real- ization of the dream. In a few moments there was a jar and a jerk of the train ; a shiver seemed to run through every timber of the coaches ; there was a crash, a fall, and the cars plunged into the water. A bridge had given away, Mr. Freese found himself held down in the water by a piece of timber, but he succeeded in releasing himself, and crawled out of the car. He saw a train employee with a lantern, passing along on a log beside the train, and the man helped him out of the 156 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, wreck and put him on his feet. Mr. Freese found that he had suffered no special injury, but he felt completely unnerved. The terrible reality of the presentiment flashed upon his mind, and his brain reeled as he thought that he should see his wife and children lying cold in death, as they had appeared to him in his dream. A search resulted in discovering Mrs. Freese in the wrecked car, dead. The dead bodies of the children were found near by. The remains were taken to Bellevue for interment. "Some time thereafter Mr. Freese married again, and a while prior to the Ashtabula accident he and his family went East. They determined upon a day to start home; but when the time arrived Mr. Freese felt a strong dis- inclination to start. A strange impulse again seized him, and he felt that if he were to go then, something terrible would happen on the way. He disregarded this feeling once, but he had resolved never to do so again ; consequently he decided to start one day earlier, and to go a part of the way by a different route than he had anticipated taking. It was at first his intention to reach Cleveland on Friday night, Dec. 29, and the train which he and his family would have been com- pelled to take to do so would have been the ill-fated one that went into the terrible abyss at Ashtabula. The change which he made in time and trains kept him and his family out of one of the most terrible accidents in the history of railways." People so often seemingly ask, " Why, if these pre- sentiments can be given, is it not always done?" We reply that those that are given are seldom heeded, and if at all, generally after such a dreadful lesson as above recorded. In a late Banner of Light we find this : — INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 157 " Singular Premonition. The following, purport- ing to be an extract from a private letter from New York, was published originally in the Hartford Times, but is now going the rounds of the press in many parts of the country : — " ' The lady of the house where I live was brought to New York by her father and mother (from Hamburg) when she was eleven years old, and with her, two younger sisters, all of them charming married women in this city now. It is an old storj-, but vividly fresh in the minds of the whole family. One night, in this city, the mother of the three girls, having been kept up by some household duties, had gone to bed about midnight, when, besides herself, the whole house was hushed. Scarcely had she taken off her clothes and got into bed, when she had occasion to violently wake up her sleep- ing husband with this : " Do you know that my mothei is in America? She has just been in here, but would not speak to me, and this moment she has gone into the room with the children ! Go in and bring her out. How she has found us out at this late hour of the night I do not know." The aroused husband went into the next room, turned up the gas, and saw only three beau- tiful little girls, smiling and sleeping in one wide bed. He noted date and hour. The next steamer mail from Hamburg brought news that the grandmother of the children, in that very night and hour, had gone to the Beyond. Did she stop in this city to bless the children on the way? Who shall tell? Strangest of all to the unbelieving — shall I say uninitiated? — on the morning after the appearance, all the three little girls told at breakfast about having dreamed of Grandmother.' " Were detailed accounts of all such incidents pub- lished they would form a large library. Another from 158 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, the many we have read of and know in our own expe- rience, we find in Light for Thinkers (Chattanooga, Tenn.), reprinted from The Boston Courier. "Women's Sixth Sense. Here is a singular instance of the working of that subtle, fine, sixth sense, which is apt to affect women more than men, and which is so mysterious in character that we often incline to deny its existence at all. A lady sat sewing quietly in her sitting-room ; in an inner chamber the nurse had just put the baby to sleep, and laid her in her basinette. As the nurse came out of the chamber, she said to her mistress, ' The little thing is asleep for three hours, ma'am, I'll warrant.' The nurse went down stairs, and for about a minute the mother sewed on. Sud- denly a desire seized her to go and take the sleeping child from its crib. ' What nonsense ! ' she said to herself. 'Baby is sound asleep; nurse has just put her down. I shall not go.' Instantly, however, some power, stronger even than the last, urged the mother to go to her baby ; and after a moment she arose, half vexed with herself, and went to her chamber. The baby was asleep in her little bed, safely tucked in with soft wbite-and-pink blankets. One small hand was thrown above the brown head. It was half open, the exquisite fingers slightly curved, and the palm as rosy as the depths of a lovely shell. ' My baby ! ' whis- pered the mother, adoring the little sleeper as mothers will; 'my own little baby!' She bent over suddenly a third time, impelled by that mysterious force which was controlling her for no apparent reason, took the sleep- ing baby in her arms, and went swiftly into the other room. She had scarcely crossed the threshold when a startling sound caused her to look back. Through a stifling cloud of thick clay dust, she saw that the ceil- INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 159 ing above the baby's cradle had fallen, burying the heaps of rosy blankets, and lying heaviest of all upon that spot where, but for mystic warning, her little child would have been lying." Many learned men in all ages have written lengthy essays on dreams and dreamland, and some of them account for dreams and visions by presenting the theory of a disordered brain or body. To us, all such theories fall short of rationally accounting for the facts and of satisfying our interior convictions, because they seem to carry us away beyond the natural. Wise geometricians might learn of the simple bee, and the builder of the suspension bridges take lessons of the common spider. We ever find nature a simple teacher, whose lessons go direct to the human heart and under- standing. We intuitively feel that all the learned and wise exponents of dreams and dream life will yet be compelled to accept the simple theor}^ that dreams be- long to the spiritual side of our existence and that they are a portion of our lives, — that portion we experience during the hours of sleep, and wherein we obtain in- struction and renewed strength of soul, to enable us to go forward and fulfil the great design of human life, though we may be unconscious of it in our waking hours. That very many and perhaps the greater number of our dreams are disordered and seemingly senseless, is no argument against the theory that during sleep we are living on the spiritual plane of life, and are asso- ciated with our dear ones who dwell there, but may be adduced as one in its favor. When we consider that we do not always bring to our waking moments the memory of an entire dream, and that the mind is then weighed down more or less 160 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, with thoughts of the material, it seems to us not in the least strange that we cannot perfectly recall them. We know not but that during sleep, when we and freed from the anxiety of waking life, we may be sub- ject to a multiplicity of influences arising not only from our solar system, but also from other worlds and' their millions of inhabitants, — influences which we may be ignorant of in our hours of sleep, and which we as- suredly are during our time of wakefulness. The physical organism is most wonderfully and beauti- fully adapted to material needs and surroundings, yet our magnifying glasses reveal to us the existence of millions of things not perceptible to the naked eye; sounds that are likewise inaudible to the human ear fall gently on those attuned to the music of the spheres. Men in their ignorance will ridicule much that is beautiful and true. It is truly a sorrowful fact that they are so enwrapped in garments of clay, that they will doubt the existence of higher faculties that are so rarely unfolded upon earth, and even then at the ex- pense of being pronounced insane, because they have no reference to the material side of existence, and can- not be converted into dollars and cents. Mesmerism has been the means of developing a vast amount of hidden possibilities ; has thrown a flood of light on many of these interior experiences, and will, we think, in the future be the active agent in unfolding still grander possibilities of the human soul. Many things, through its agency, will be made clear which are now shrouded in mystery and darkness. The human mind surrounded by the distraction, the turmoil, and materialism of the outer world often loses sight of the grandeur to which it is heir, and seems to INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 161 forget that it is a child of God, — a portion of the In- finite. We are all prone to measure things by the capacity of our own minds, and to ridicule and deny what they in their incapacity cannot grasp. High authorities have made great mistakes, and men have been persecuted and denounced for advancing theories that future ages accepted as facts. We to-day find ourselves ignorant of a vast number of things that we know to exist and which from time to time are revealing themselves to our mental observation. If we do not know all about what now is, by what unknown rule are we to judge of what is to be unfolded in coming time ? These learned authorities who are ever being mistaken, hang like leaden weights on the wheels of religious progress. They are constantly deceiving vast mul- titudes that dare not venture to think for themselves, but fasten upon and are pulled along by prevailing opinions. We, as a general thing, find that persons who inhabit rural districts, away from the clamor of business life, out of the sound of church bells, and away from the psychological influence of their religious teachings, are, by far, the best developed intuitively. They are gener- ally faithful, industrious, and loving, and are ever mani- festing the nicest sense of justice. They live closer to nature and her requirements than those who dwell in densely populated and foul cities. In the beautiful lines of Whittier: — " So sometimes comes to soul and sense The feeling which is evidence, That very near about us lies The realm of spiritual mysteries. 162 LIFTING THE VEIL: OK, The sphere of the supernal powers Impinges on this world of ours. The low and dark horizon lifts, To light the scenic terror shifts ; The breath of a diviner air Blows down the answer of a prayer: — That all our sorrow, pain, and doubt A great compassion clasps about, And law and goodness, love and force Are wedded fast beyond divorce." Mary and Joseph never lost Christ until they entered a town, and never discovered their loss until they were a day's journey away, when they found it somewhat difficult to again find him. INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 163 CHAPTER XVI. "There are moments, I think, when the spirit receives Whole volumes of thought on its unwritten leaves ; When the folds of the heart in a moment unclose Like the innermost leaves from the heart of a rose." The above beautiful lines, by a gifted woman, recall to mind experiences of our own at different times, a record of which may be interesting to the reader. These revealments have usually come after the mind had discharged some heavy cargo, gathered from time to time while gliding down the river of life. After we were free from the influences of the opin- ions of others, and had thrown our own aside, impatient at delay and disappointment in our search for truth, at times, always unexpected and unsought, there would come to our mentality clear and vivid perceptions of truth, attended by a stream of light like unto that of a flash of lightning. We are inclined to think it a kind of mental light- ning, needful, perhaps, to clear the atmosphere of the mind after some storm-cloud of doubt had spent itself, that we might become more receptive to truth. We have many times listened while another related some unusual incident, the truth or falsity of the state- ment coming to the mind accompanied by that same flash of light. We have entered the chambers of the sick, where all hope of their continuance in this life was gone, and in the same way realized the fact of their recovery. In other cases where one has been con- 164 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, sidered but slightly ill, we readily perceived that death was unavoidable. In the first instance, had our minds been prejudiced either way as to the character for veracity of the nar- rator, no such convictions would have been produced; we should have been left in a state of doubt. Before entering the sick-room, had our minds been rilled with the hopes or fears of others, no revealments would come. Nor have we ever been able to grasp any facts in this waj^, when it has been our purpose so to do. Neither, if in the pride of our hearts we were vaunting this gift or power before others for notoriety or to gain applause, could we obtain favorable results. We have had similar phenomena occur when so inter- ested in the perusal of works by different authors, especially on the subject of spirit communion, that we seemed for the time lost to all sense of our material surroundings. At such times we have had small, rain- bow-colored lights move along the lines as we read. By these lights it seemed we were enabled to read far more than was printed by leaden type upon the page before us, and much more rapidly than we could the printed words. This, however, never occurred if we were reading with a view to criticise. We can better illustrate this mode of acquiring facts by relating some incidents wherein we have been saved from error and imposition, and doubtless from danger. At one time, some years ago, a man who announced his name as Baldwin, gave in this city what he called an expose of Spiritualism, at the Opera House. We felt no interest whatever in the performance, and re- mained uninfluenced by the opinions of those around us. But on carelessly glancing over one of the pro- grammes, we saw these same lights referred to, and INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 165 Were enabled to ascertain the moral status of the man, and the character of the manifestations. Among other things we were enabled to grasp the fact that he was going; to use the sacred and beautiful truths of the spiritual philosophy as an exposS, which was evident to every one was done who witnessed the phenomena and were not blinded by prejudice. The tying and untying was done outside the cabinet in full view of the audience. Coats were taken off and put on while the man was securely tied. The audience saw it done, but to this day cannot tell how it was. Yet when the feat with the handcuffs was attempted, it proved a failure. They remained upon Baldwin's wrists until removed by human hands. He stated that he was subject to heart difficulties, under which he was then laboring, and could not fulfil that part of his pro- gramme until the following evening, at which time it was done. Those here who opposed Spiritualism expressed so much indignation at the first night's failure that they resolved he should forfeit the five hundred dollars offered in case of failure. But they were so jubilant over the last evening's success that they failed to per- ceive the fraud that was practised upon them, and Spiritualism was condemned by many as a humbug, while others were benefited by the knowledge of the fact that the greater part of the performances were genuine spirit manifestations. After this hundreds could tell how they were pro- duced, yet strange to relate, when asked to give them, they found they were utterly unable to do so. We learned from good authority that several had pri- vate seances with this same man, and found him to be a genuine medium. To such he was reported as stating 166 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, that he could make more money by giving the manifes- tations in the way of an expose. Heartless deed, candid reader ; yet such knaves exist in every organization and throughout every department of life, whose very pres- ence is contaminating. Two or three years after this there again appeared an- other programme, announcing a public spiritual seance, to be given at the same place, by one who, we think, called himself Davenport, attended by some other man and a woman, who, the programme stated, was one of the most wonderful mediums the world ever produced. We were to have spirit phenomena in the dark and in the light, including materializations ; in fact, every phase of manifestation. We had heard of it all and became expectant and excited. We tried to reason in regard to the probability and possibility of its being done, and sought the opinions of others. With our minds thus disturbed, we carefully read over the pro- gramme without, however, the experience of any re- vealment of truth ; we were still in doubt. We went to try and satisfy ourselves in regard to the promised manifestations. We found a crowded house of eager spectators, so much so that there was not standing room. Many had gone away. It was touching to be- hold hundreds of hungering souls, eager for spiritual food, who were doomed to bitter disappointment. The performance proved to be one of the most palpable im- positions ever practised upon an intelligent community, from the effects of which the people here have not yet fully recovered. They now can scarcely be induced to witness genuine manifestations when an opportunity offers. Now had we been disinterested and passive on the last occasion, as we were on the first, we doubt not but INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 167 we would have been able to ascertain the truth in the same manner as we did in the first instance. At one time as we were in the act of placing a dear little boy in his wagon for his morning's ride, one of these flashes of light passed across our vision, and with it the knowledge that some fearful accident would attend it. Whereupon we took him out. But as he was fretful on not having his usual ride and forgetting our experience, we made another attempt to put him in the wagon, but with the same result. So convinced were we that some disastrous consequence would follow if we persisted, that we locked the wagon up in the store-room for the day, although at the expense of being derided and called superstitious by those who knew of it. One morning not long after this, while one of lis was quietly seated before the fire, holding this same darling boy, something required our attention elsewhere in another part of the house. As we were in the act of putting him down to leave the room, this light again streamed before our vision and revealed the fact that should we leave the room a terrible scene would be enacted. So impressed were we by the feelings of hor- ror that the revelation left upon our mind, that we made no further attempt to go. Some moments after this others came in and urged the necessity of our going, saying to us that nothing would or could happen such as we feared. We put the child down, but with the great- est reluctance, and went where we were needed. When next we saw our darling, friendly reader, the fire fiend had done its fatal work ; he was burned beyond recovery. Horrors of horrors ! What a lesson, to be thus pain- fully learned ; but it has been to us a lasting one. Now that years have come and gone, when we recall that 168 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, day, the darkest that could come into any mortal life, we wonder that we had not gone mad. We were stricken with such regret and despair that we were be- yond the sympathetic heart throbs of mortal friends, and alone battled with these trying conditions. Now We realize the necessity of keeping the mind free from the opinions and psychological influence of others, either verbally expressed or written. The mind of each to them is their kingdom, and should not be overrun with the theories of others especially to the exclusion of their own. We can exchange mental commodities with profit to each, but to surrender the crown of kingship to any would be doing violence to our own selfhood. In this age of so many books and such a variety of published opinions, the thoughtless investigator is in great danger of being led astray by heeding the cry of " Lo here ! " and " Lo there ! " We have in the past been led into doubt and error in this way, and at last have been compelled to return to self and listen to the coun- sel of our own souls. Every reasoning mind is gifted with a divine inheri- tance, an innate conception of the measure of truth that can be appropriated ; also the kind best adapted to its mental needs and spiritual growth, even as the physical appetite can best determine the nature and quantity of the nourishment received. None should come under the psychological influence of another, nor can they without forfeiting for the time their natural and legiti- mate birthright. A few evenings since the spirit negro who attends our circle gave us a communication, which we think will be appropriate as an illustration of the inconvenience of being weighed down with the opinions of others. INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 169 For several evenings we had been sitting without receiving any spirit manifestation, and were in a com- plaining state of mind at the time the message was given. It was this : — " Young Master. Our presiding spirit has sent me to tell you about a move old master made when we both lived on earth. You see, sir, he got tired living in old Carolina, and concluded to move to Alabama where, folks said, the land was better. Old master, howsom- ever, was troubled about taking all the things he had been gathering from year to year, and a great many he had that his father before him had been raking together for him. Well, sir, after studying on it for a long time, old master found out it was impossible to take them along. It was a grief to part with them, but he took courage and left them behind. We started on our journey with light hearts and teams, but in a few days our wagons begun to run heavy and our hearts to fail. " One day old master stopped to get some provisions we needed, but when we went to put them in the wagons there was no room, every place was full; so we went to work to unload. Old master had a colored woman, named Daphney, who always would walk be- hind the wagons, and she was a mighty stingy, saving old woman ; and when we would pass the camp-fires of travellers who had passed on, she would pick up all their cast-off things ; and sir, she had loaded down the teams and filled the wagons with their old trash. We soon emptied them all out, then had room for what we needed. So, j r oung master, sometimes you all come here to be fed, but have no room to put anything we bring. You gather something wherever you stop, and never think to unload before coming here. — Spence." 170 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, CHAPTER XVII. " For every age has felt this need, All peoples sorely tried Have bowed their souls, have sown truth's seed, And God's voice lias replied. No age in darkness has remained, No world without His word, Like sword of might its point has cleft, And sparkling like the sword, Both right and left, with wondrous might, His voice of Love was heard." We have from various sources given incidents of the interior workings of the human mind and the reveal- ments and presentiments with which mortals have been from time to time favored, the most of which belong to the present age ; but as learned theologians claim that "light and immortality" first dawned upon the human understanding through the advent of the Christian Dis- pensation and the gospel of Christ, let us hear the testi- mony of some, among whom were philosophers, who lived' prior to that dispensation. Fetichism with its crudest form of worship ; Brali- manism with Avatar ; Vishnu and Llama and the vast numbers of deities and angels of Asia, together with those of Africa, claim to be ministering spirits to those who yet dwell in the flesh, and are crude guide-posts on the road of time pointing to immortality, and inspir- ing the coming traveller with the hope of a future life. The Aztecs had " Eagle Mountain " on which they INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 171 burned incense to their gods, and the Teutonic temples were made hideous with the agonized shrieks of the vic- tims offered to propitiate the fancied anger of their deities. In the Oriental world the wild Bedouin paid devotion to his adored Allah, and the Greeks and Romans erected pantheons and temples to unknown gods. The Talmud, the Zendavesta of the Persians, the Veda and Shaster of the Hindoos, the Koran of the Moslems, the religion of the Japanese, the belief of the Chinese and the legends of Confucius, together with the Runic Edda of the Scythians and the whole theology of the Scandinavians, — all point to some great hereafter as a panacea for every human woe. The Hindoo prophet taught that the sinner suffers in this world and will suffer in the next world ; in both worlds he suffers. The virtuous man rejoices in this world and he will rejoice in the next world ; in both worlds he has joy. The Gymnosophists of India be- lieved they could send messages by the dying to those already passed away. When we look from these dim legends and traditions that threw gleams of light all along the pathway of time, we behold the mighty soul of a Socrates stirring afresh the religious element in the minds of men, and throwing a new glory around his philosophy. When arraigned before the learned of the age he said, " I am moved by a certain divine and spiritual influence, which also Meli- tus, through mockery, has set out in the indictment. This began with me in childhood, being a kind of voice which, when present, always diverts me from what I am about to do, but never urges me on. Bat this duty, as I said, has been enjoined me by the Deity, by oracles, by dreams, and by every other mode by which any other di- vine decree has ever enjoined anything for man to do." 172 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, When referring to his coining death and a future life, in his last address before his judges, he said, "If this be true, O my judges, what greater good can there be than this ? At what rate would not either of you pur- chase a conference with Orpheus and Musseus, with Hesiod and others, both male and female, that might be mentioned ? For to converse and associate with them would be an inestimable felicity. Truly, I should be willing to die often if these things are true." Crito asked him how he would like to be buried. " Just as you please," he replied ; " that is, if you can find me," and with a smile added, " Crito thinks that I am he whom he will shortly see dead, whereas I, Socra- tes, shall have then departed to the joys of the blessed. Unless I thought," said he, " that I should depart to other Gods who are wise and good, and to the society, of men who have gone from this life and are better now than when among us, I might well be troubled at death. But now I believe assuredly that I shall go to the Gods, who are perfectly good, and I hope to dwell with wise and good men, so that I cannot be afflicted at the thought of dying ; believing that death is not the end of us, and that it will be much better for the good than the evil." He claimed to be attended by a ministering angel, who by the Greeks was called a demon, who ever faithfully warned him of danger and wooed him to the good. As this did not occur on the day he drank of the fatal hemlock, he considered his death no evil. What death scene in our enlightened nineteenth cen- tury is adorned with a greater lustre than was this, sev- eral hundred years before the Christian era had shed any light upon immortality. Plato recorded thoughts that unsealed men's vision, INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 173 and were as beacon lights to guide unborn generations. He says : " The soul is self-motive. That which is self- motive inherently and perpetually moves ; that which always moves with an inward motion always lives. Hence the soul is immortal. Again, if the soul is self- motive, it is itself the principle of motion] but the principle of motion must be unbegotten and of course immortal. Again, nothing foreign to itself can ever destroy it; and its own evils, such as injustice and wickedness, cannot destroy it, since they render it, if possible, more alive and sensible to suffering than be- fore." Again he says : " We are then initiated into and made spectators of entire, simple, quietly stable, and blessed visions, resident in a pure light, being ourselves pure, and liberated from this surrounding vestment which we call body and to which we are now bound like an oyster to his shell. Among the eternal emanations of which I have spoken were not only gods of different orders — the intelligible and intellectual, the super-celestial and mundane — but also demons, heroes, and the souls of men. The demons were an order of beings superior to ourselves, some good and some bad, occupying a sort of middle between gods and men." Cicero expressed the grand truths of immortality as follows : " I look forward with pleasure to the glorious day when I shall go into the great assembly of spirits, and shall be gathered to the best of mankind who have gone before me. I feel impelled by the desire of joining the society of my two departed friends, your illustrious fathers, whom I reverenced and loved. Oh, illustrious day, when I shall go hence to that divine council and assembly of souls, when I shall escape from this crowd and rabble; for I shall go not only to those illustrious 174 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, men of whom I have before spoken, but also to my Cato, than whom one more excellent in goodness was never born." Darius is represented by his historian as still possessing the same characteristics as were manifest while in the flesh. When the dews of death had gathered upon the brow of Plotinus, he exclaimed : " I am struggling to liberate the divinity within me." Cyrits, over five hundred years before the coming of Christ, expressed himself thus : " Think not, my dearest children, that when I depart from you I shall be no more ; remember that my soul, even while I lived among you, was invisible : yet by my action you were sensible it existed in this body. Believe it, therefore, existing still, though it still be unseen. How quickly would the honors of illustrious men perish after death, if their souls performed nothing to preserve their fame. For my part, I could never think that the soul which, while in a mor- tal body, lives, when departed from it, dies ; or that its consciousness is lost when it is discharged out of an unconscious habitation. On the contrary, it must truly exist when it is freed from all corporeal alliance." Thus has light upon immortality been streaming down the ages from time immemorable ; and when we hear modern divines assert that immortality was brought to light solely by the Christian's Bible, we commiserate their ignorance. Let us see what has been said by some of the ancient authorities in regard to apparitions and dreams. A sen- ator, Proculus, swore to the Roman senate that the spirit of Romulus appeared to him and communicated. Josephus records the circumstance of Galphira having seen and talked with her first husband. He says, "After the death of her first two husbands (being married to a INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 175 third, who was a brother of her first husband) she had a veiy odd kind of a dream. She fancied that she saw her first husband come toward her, and that she em- braced him with great tenderness. When in the midst of the great pleasure which she expressed at the sight of him, he reproached her after the following manner: ' Galphira, thou hast made good the old saying, that women are not to be trusted. Was not I the husband of thy virginity? Have I not children by thee ? How could thou so far forget our loves as to enter into other marriages, — nay, to marry my own brother? However, for the sake of our past loves, I shall free thee from thy present reproach and make thee mine forever.' Gal- phira told this dream to several women of her acquaint- ance and died soon after." The historian goes on to say, "I thought the story might not be impertinent in this j)lace, wherein I speak of those kings. Besides that, the example deserves to be taken notice of, as it contains a most certain proof of the immortality of souls and of Divine Providence. If any man thinks these things incredible, let him enjoy his opinions to himself, but let him not endeavor to disturb the belief of others who, by instances of this nature, are excited to the study of virtue." " Cornelius Agrippa," says DTsraeli, " before he wrote his 'Varieties of the Arts and Sciences,' intended to re- duce into a system and method the secret of communi- cation with spirits and demons. On good authority, — that of Porphyricas, Plessus, Plotinus, Iamblicus, and bet- ter, were it necessary to allege it, — he was well assured that the upper regions of the air swarmed with what the Greeks called demons, just as our lower atmosphere is full of birds, and waters of fish, and our earth of insects." 176 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, The wife of Caesar had a presentiment of Caesar's death and strove to persuade him from going to the Senate on that fatal day. Plutarch averred that his spirit appeared twice to Brutus and spoke to him, prom- ising to " meet him at Philippi, sword in hand." And there we are told that Brutus on his own sword fully expiated his treachery to the murdered Caesar. Jeanne D'Arc who fell a martyr to the ignorance of a bigoted priesthood, when told that the celestial beings she represented as appearing to and inspiring her with deeds of valor were but appearances, not realities, said : " Whether they be apparent or real, I have proved them, and I would rather lose my head than deny their being." Lord Littleton was visited by the spirit of a mother, whose daughter he had wronged, who tauntingly prophesied of his death, even to the day and hour. After his own death he appeared to his friend Andruro. Sir Walter Scott saw the apparition of Lord Byron. Lord Chedworth, who was an infidel, said one morning at breakfast: — " I had a strange vision last night ; my old friend B came to me." "How?" asked his niece, "did he come after I retired?" " His spirit did," said Lord Chedworth solemnly. " O, my dear uncle ; how could the spirit of a living man appear?" "He is dead beyond doubt," replied his lordship. " Listen, and then laugh as much as you please. I had not entered my bedroom many minutes when he stood before me. Like you, I could not believe but that I was looking on the living man, and so accosted him ; but he, the spirit, answered, ' Chedworth, I died this INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 177 night at eight o'clock. I came to tell you there is another world beyond the grave; there is a righteous God that judgeth all." "Depend upon it, uncle, it was only a dream;" but while Miss Wright was speaking, a groom on horseback rode tip the avenue and immediately delivered a letter to Lord Chedworth, announcing the sudden death of his friend. The effect on the mind of Lord Chedworth was as happy as it was permanent; all his doubts were at once and forever removed. Inspired writers have recorded, and poets in all ages have hymned, this hope of the human heart. The wife of Pilate had premonitions of future events. Lord Byron was superstitious. The Wesleys had spirit manifestations. Adam Clark the commentator admitted their superhuman origin. Swedenborg lived among the unseen. Wordsworth admitted there were prophets. Coleridge believed in inspiration, and Raphael acknowl- edged his ideal of beauty came from his immortal mother. We might go on noting authorities and giving page after page of evidence of the immortality of the soul, and the power of the spirit to return and communicate; but we know that each must and should experience these things for themselves, at the same time realizing that many outwardly deny facts, through fear of public opinion, while interiorly they are convinced of ' their truth. With an honest doubter we have the greatest patience and most heartfelt sympathy; but for the nineteenth century sycophant we feel the utmost contempt. 178 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, CHAPTER XVIII. " Welcome, angels, pure and bright, Children of the living light ; Welcome to our home on earth, Children of the glorious birth." One beautiful morning, on the anniversary of the spiritual birth of our dear son and brother, we were suddenly awakened from a sweet sleep, and on looking up beheld his loved and well-remembered form bending over us. Once before had we seen him. The night of the storm that swept him away, when the angry waves of the Gulf were roaring. around us, he was plainly seen by two of us at nearly the same time. He was then dripping wet and had a dazed expression upon his face ; he stood a moment in silence and disappeared. We suspected he had been drowned, and a few days verified the truth of our suspicion. A year had gone by, and although we were holding circles weekly, he gave no manifestation of his presence, notwithstanding he was himself a medium while on earth, and understood our manner of communicating with the unseen. This morn- ing of which we are writing he addressed us in his usual way. So fearful were we that it was a dream, we called to a member of the family who at the time was passing, and was answered. After becoming con- vinced of the fact of our perfect wakefulness, the follow- ing conversation passed between us: — " Are you dead, dear ? " INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 179 "No; my body was drowned, but your Ned is alive and here." " Why have you not come to us before ? " "I could not." " Can you tell us why ? " " I was building a boat and could not leave "until I had finished it." "Have you been alone all this time?" " Oh, no ! This young man's body was drowned near where mine was, and we have been together ever since." We looked and saw the form of a young man beside him, whose name he said was Hill. "Have you not wanted for attention all this while that you have been so far from any human reach and help?" "Angels have ministered to and supplied all our wants. Now I must leave you, but don't think of me as dead ; I will come again." We have regretted that we did not ask more questions of our darling ; j r et while we knew we were awake, there came over us such a feeling of perfect quiet, that it was only by great effort we could ask the few questions we did. When he had gone, much we wished to know came rushing to our mind, much we might have asked, but it was then too late. Some months after this he wrote through the hand of his little sister, answering all inquiries to our perfect satisfaction. Finally he wrote that he was going to leave us for a time. He said his sister was so young he feared his using her organism would injure her. He left, and nearly six years passed before we received from him another message, the first of which was on the occasion of Dr. Slade's visit here, as recorded in a former chapter. 180 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, As to the building of the boat, we will say that for some time previous to the storm in which he was swept away he had been engaged in the construction of a sail boat, in which he took great pride, and with which "he was much enthused. Now, since death leaves us un- changed, it is not in the least surprising that he found himself still interested in the completion of his boat. All his pride and energies were centred in that boat, and where our treasures are, there will we be also. When next he came, his face was radiant with joy and expressive of spiritual thought and culture. The surviving interest at first manifested in the boat, and which may have been needful for him at the time, seemed to have passed away, as he never at any subse- quent time referred to it, nor to the circumstances or cause of his death. INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 181 CHAPTER XIX. In looking over the morning's JVetvs, we found several interesting incidents related in a Boston letter to the Minneapolis (Minn.) Tribune, which we here tran- scribe : — " Somewhere back in the sixties — I think just after the war — the family of a sea captain, absent on a long cruise, lived in the town I speak of. This family com- prised a wife and several daughters. (I would give names and places were it not for making public what was given me in confidence.) Well, one night when the family had gone to bed, one of the daughters, named Carrie, had a very impressive dream ; she started in her sleep, and finally arose from her bed, her eyes open but fixed, her whole manner that of a person who sees some dreadful vision. She moved from chamber to chamber, arousing the different members of the family, and led them to the sitting-room. A lamp was lighted, and the little gathering, clad in night-dresses and shawls, won- deringly obeyed the directions of the dreamer. She called for a sheet of paper and pen and ink. No writ- ing paper could be found in the house, but at last a piece of grocer's wrapping-paper was brought, and the somnambulist appeared satisfied. Taking the pen, she began writing in a large, masculine hand. There was profound silence in the little group, and a feeling of terror and dread settled upon mother and daughters. None dared look over the shoulder of the writer, who 182 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, at last, finishing, gave a sigh of relief and went directly up stairs to her chamber. The mother, no longer able to restrain her curiosity, yet fearing something dread- ful, took up the brown sheet and began to read. 'Chil- dren,' she exclaimed, 'it is your father's handwriting!' It was dated at sea, the longitude and latitude being given. In terse language it described the coming up of a hurricane, the horrors of the tempest, and final losing of every hope, and the sinking of the craft in the angry waters with all on board. After a brief, but pathetic message to his family, the drowned captain signed his name in characteristic fashion. " This was the manner in which Captain P s, of the little town in Maine, sent word to his wife and daughters at home of the manner of his taking off. Was there ever anything more dramatic ? This is the first time that this story, known to fully a thousand people, has ever been put in print. It was given me several years ago by an intimate friend of the family. Did that ship go down ? No one knows ; all that is certain is, that she never came into port. This story would give the Society for Psychical Research a month of solid work. The Spiritualists will see nothing won- derful in it. Perhaps it is only one of the common- places of the supernatural. "A gentleman of veracity told me thatfor three nights he dreamed that a man with a full red face appeared to him in his dreams, carrying a hammer which he held over his head in a menacing manner. On the morning after the last dream the gentleman went to his place of business as usual ; on his way he passed a shop. The door was open and there stood, with hammer uplifted, the man seen in the dream. The two men stopped and looked at each other and said nothing. A queer coin- cidence. INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 183 " A Massachusetts State senator, a man of ultra-scepti- cal views, went a while ago to visit a noted Spiritualist, who has puzzled the czar in his winter palace. The senator was asked to seat himself in a large and very heavy arm-chair. While there seated, he was lifted by a force unknown to him, so that his head nearly touched the ceiling. He was not cured of his scepticism, but he fully believes, that he was not the victim of a delu- sion." Before the forenoon had passed more than a dozen persons called our attention to the above article, and related to us some strange experiences of their own. Yet these same individuals denounce the spiritual phenomena and philosophy. We are led to believe that no amount of evidence will avail in converting one to a belief in the spiritual philosophy until the scales of materiality fall from their eyes and their intuitions come into exercise. Men and women must grow up to these truths before they can feel or discern them. Not long since we were on board a boat, steaming along on the then placid waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Groups of passengers were seated outside the cabin enjoying the cool breeze of a summer's eve, and watch- ing a most gorgeous sunset. All seemed wrapt in profound thought. For the time the soul seemed lifted above its material surroundings to where it could catch glimpses of still more enchanting climes and scenes, somewhere in the vast infinitude. Out of sight of land, on the bosom of the billowy deep, what a glorious sense of freedom creeps over the soul ! At this time silence had sealed the lips of each, and all felt free to drink in the inspiration of the hour. Every one had found some seat fitted for observation and thought, save one gentle- 184 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, man, who was impatiently pacing the steamer's deck. We noticed whenever he came near the group of which we formed a part, he would, pause and look wistfully at us, and we soon became disturbed in our happy train of thoughts by the influences that surrounded him. After many times walking thus back and forth he took a seat beside us, and made some remark about the beauty of the sunset scene which, however, fell quite unheeded upon our mortal ear. In place of responding to his remarks, we said : " Sir, there is with you a young man, so like you in form and figure that one would suppose you to be brothers, and twin brothers. He says, ' Oh, John, don't give way to these feelings of despondency ! They ruined me and they will ruin you. Be brave, my brother, and live your allotted time on earth. You will fail if you attempt to obliterate } r our existence, even as I have failed. There is no death ; there is no death.' " Without a reply he arose and again began the walking. No question was asked by those who heard the communication, nor was the opinion of any one ex- J3ressed in our hearing Not long after arriving at our place of destination this gentleman called upon us and made the following statement. " When I met you," said he, " I was return- ing from a visit North, where I had gone to try and throw off a melancholy that was fast settling upon my mind, which I found myself unable to do here, where I live and where I have grown from childhood to manhood. This despondent feeling was caused by a twin brother of mine having committed suicide. At the time of the sad occurrence we were each on a different schooner. These vessels lay side by side in this port, and were connected by a plank, each end of which rested on the decks of the different boats, forming a means of passage INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 185 from one to the other. I saw my brother, who was standing on the deck of his schooner, take from his pocket a pistol, and as he did so the thought flashed through my mind that he was going to take his life. I instantly started to cross over the plank, to go where he stood, when at the same time, by some unaccountable means, the boats drifted apart and the plank fell into the water. I was thus prevented boarding the boat. In speechless agony I was compelled to stand and see my brother, who was dear as life to me, shoot himself through the head. These are the circumstances that have enwrapped me in such gloom, and from which my brother would save and has saved me. Change of place and other scenes I thought would relieve me. But on my return, the nearer I got home the more despondent I grew, and I was mentally resolving upon my own de- struction when the warning message came and saved me." This gentleman was urgent in the request that we should give him a seance. Yet we declined, knowing we could give him nothing more. We have always found it impossible to get or give messages of this nature when seeking to do so : why, we are unable to say. Like mental illuminations in our case they always come when not expected and come unsought. A short time ago we were at home, quietly seated beside a window that opened on the street. On care- lessly looking out we saw three men riding by on horse- back. We remarked to those present, that the nearest one was a doctor who lived in a village some miles dis- tant, of whom we had heard but never seen. The cir- cumstance seemed of no importance and soon passed from all our minds ; but to our surprise the doctor called upon us a few hours later, and after stating to 186 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, him the fact of the recognition, he informed us he was a believer in Spiritualism. From our conversation grew a very interesting seance, in which he was told that his success as a physician was not due to his medical skill, but to his magnetic power, together with the aid of a spirit attendant. He was urged to throw physic aside and depend wholly upon these powers. Said he " If the communicating spirit will satisfy me of the fact that I am so aided, I will do what is required." The spirit replied : " A few days since you were called to a patient who was very ill. You had exhausted all your medical skill, and the disease so far had mastered both you and it; but as something must be done you took from your case of medicine a small vial containing physic which, had it been given, would have proved fatal. As you were in the act of dropping some from the vial I caused it to fall from your hand, and it fell upon a stone hearth by which you were standing, and was broken. I then used our combined powers and your patient recovered. At another time you left a woman who was dangerously ill, but whom you thought slightly so ; yet you were not a mile distant before your horse was made so lame that you were compelled to return and remain for the night, that she might receive the needed benefit and attention." " You are correct," said the doctor. " Now I am satisfied of the intervention of the unseen in human affairs in this life, as well as their ability to aid us. If the kind spirit to whom I am indebted for past favors will give his or her name, I shall be most grateful. I am ready and willing to comply with the request." The response was : " It is one with whom you have sympathized when the soul, which was forced from its earthly connection, was shrouded in gloom. That INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 187 sympathy threw across my darkened path the first ray of light, and brought to my wounded spirit the first gleam of hope, to brighten the new, strange life into which I was violently forced. Be faithful and trust me, and I will fill your earth life with blessings. I will aid you in your laudable endeavor to relieve suffering humanity. The spirit of the martyred Mrs. Surratt will guard you through life's ills, and will be the first to welcome and greet you on this side of life, where the secrets and the true worth of every human heart are made known. Adieu." The gentleman acknowledged the sympathy that always attended any thought or mention of the spirit whose name was mentioned. He expressed great de- light at the revelation made, and was satisfied that it came from the source it claimed. He was a foreigner by birth, and soon after left for his native land. We feel assured he kept his promise to the spirit. It will be seen from the incidents just related that these unseen friends, and perhaps enemies too, are ever near to make or mar our happiness. In this last instance, the kind sympathy of the doctor for the suf- fering spirit brought unto him a rich reward. Others, however, may suffer much inconvenience and pain from unseen influences and interference, upon the same principle. 188 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, CHAPTER XX. MESSAGE FROM GEN. SAM. HOUSTON. On the eve of Jan. 1, 1885, we assembled around our communion table with a few friends, to await the presence and blessing of the angels. Soon each one present felt a powerful uplifting influence. There was clairvoyantly seen clasped hands and a hand with a finger pointing upward. Another of the mediums was then controlled to imitate the beating of a drum upon the table ; after which the presiding spirit of our band controlled the medium, and said, " We are pleased and proud to introduce to our home and circle one of the illustrious heroes of Texas, known to you as Gen. Sam. Houston, but to us as the ' Spiritual Knight of Texas.' " That spirit then controlled the medium, giving the following communication : — " My countrymen and women : While inhabiting a mortal body the labors of my life were freely given to build up the material interests of Texas. The welfare of the ' Lone Star State ' was the pride of my earthly existence. Undaunted I stood upon the gory fields of battle, in the cause of our material independence and liberty. It was the proudest day of my earthly exis- tence when called to share the honors that were accorded her heroes, — when at last our efforts were crowned with success. INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 189 " My interest in my country did not cease with the dissolution of my mortal body, but it has survived the change called death. Although regarded by many as dead, yet we still live, think, and speak; still love, labor, and wait. My love for my country is sacredly treasured with other loves, and with them will ever form a part of my immortal being. By the potency of that love I have been drawn to your earthly homes to minister unto your spiritual needs; to urge you to make your lives fruitful and beautiful, by serving humanity, by uplifting the down-trodden, and comfort- ing mourning souls. " Long after I had been divested of my mortal body, I lingered around familiar scenes and longed to make my voice again heard in your halls of state. But I soon found that my material usefulness had passed away with my material form. I turned away in sorrow on finding that I could no longer be of use. I then began to ex- plore this new country to which I had so strangely come, and soon found it one of surpassing beauty and teeming with grand possibilities. But the warrior's courage was unavailing to achieve honor and distinc- tion here. It failed to open an avenue by which I could enter in and enjoy the beneficent feelings that pervaded the place. The old soldier stood awed and dumb by the surrounding spiritual harmony and beauty; and in humility of soul the head that had never bowed to the mandates of mortal man would fain then have been laid in the dust before that angelic throng I beheld. I was there being weighed in the balances of universal justice, and was found wanting. Love here outweighed every other attribute of excellence and reigned supreme. I was not long in finding that it was the only key that would unlock these soul possibilities. I soon realized 190 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, that it was my greatest and only source of wealth. Through its magic power I have been enabled to ascend to the company of illustrious councillors, and with them to stand upon the loftier heights, where the soul can expand in the ethereal atmosphere of the divine. From that angelic point of observation we have realized your great need of spiritual liberty and social reform. For this cause have I and others come, "My countrymen and women, we are drumming up soldiers to fight another battle, not with the musket and sword of steel, but with the sword of truth. The heroes of San Jaciuto still live, and bid you buckle on your armor and battle valiantly in the cause of spiritual lib- erty and universal justice. " The wheels of progress are moving around with whirl- ing activity. There is now no room nor safe retreat for drones ; all must move forward or be crushed beneath their ponderous weight. Texas must not be left behind in this great spiritual upheaval, but must arise and awake to the duties of the hour; must help to bury the dead past and actively engage in the living issues of the day. Seek ye not help from afar. Texas, with her ascended heroes and illustrious statesmen, is fully adequate to develop her own spiritual resources. Our fair State is teeming with souls both brave and strong, who are awaiting the angel voice within, and when heard, they are ready to obey. Their hearts are true, but they need their spiritual perceptions quickened, their ears and eyes opened; then they will joyfully come and join in the grand army of human progression. " The spiritual philosophy and its propagation is the glorious means through which this is to be out wrought in this land we still hold dear. But hard battling must be done against error in high places. Battles must be INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 191 fought at the cost of much that man holds dearer than mortal life. Yet fear not; a mighty host of unseen war- riors will give strength to your arms. Even now they are bringing cheering words through the lips of your inspired mediums; they are causing your hearts to throb and thrill by the power of fraternal love. Illus- trious men, whose lives were freely laid upon their country's altar, lead and direct this spiritual movement. Be earnest and untiring in your search for truth, and when found, bravely uphold it. We shall bring unto your souls the rich treasures of our love, making your hearts hopeful while dispensing the grand truths of Spiritualism to a hungering humanity. "In conclusion, I would say that when at last the souls of men shall become free from the erroneous teachings of the past, and shall stand forth upon their worth alone ; when the worthy rich and the worthy poor shall sit side by side around the same table of communion, in full recognition of the common fatherhood of God and universal brotherhood of man ; when all hearts shall beat responsive to the throb of angelic love, then shall be added the crowning lustre to our star of state; then it will shine with a brilliancy unsurpassed by none in the nation's galaxy; then yours shall be the victor's crown — the crown in which the myrtle shall be inter- twined among the laurel." 192 LIFTING THE VEIL: OR, CHAPTER XXI. " O Hearts that never cease to yearn ! brimming tears that ne'er are dried! The dead, though they depart, return As though they had not died ! The living are the only dead; The dead live, — nevermore to die; And often when we mourn them fled, They never were so nigh." Dueing one of our late circles, a beautiful pure spirit was clairvoyantly seen approaching from a distance, bringing with her a most hallowed influence. She was holding something in each hand. She came and stood between us, presenting each with a trumpet (for it was perceived that it was two trumpets she was holding in her hands). One seemed to be of silver, the other of brass. On the small end of each were tags, with writ- ing upon them, which was soon seen to be F and F. We were afterwards told by the presiding spirit that they were brought by his grandmother, and that they were the gospel trumpets of this New Dispensation, and that we must sound them. He also spoke many kind words of encouragement, and gave directions about our book and circle. In our impatience and hunger for these blessed truths, we many times forget the aid and comfort we have so often, in past times, received through the ministry of angels; and we murmur that they do not give us more INTERIOR EXPERIENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS. 193 f reeky of this hidden manna. Upon one such occasion, a day or so since, one of us became entranced, and the controlling spirit made unto us some remarkable reveal- ments, and as we were about to give them utterance, he impressed so vividly upon our mind, the great responsi- bility attending the possession of such knowledge or gift, and. the exalted state of purity demanded, for its use, that we came out of the trance, exclaiming, " Oh, take it back ; its purity would be sullied by the world ; we are not yet ready." We have since experienced such a keen sense of hav- ing forfeited, in some way, knowledge that would be of importance to us and humanity, that we feel great grief at Its being withheld. However, we resolved by earnest endeavor, to deserve more from the spirit world before we ask for their beautiful truths, to be misused and tar- nished by an unprogressed world. We think of all people, Spiritualists should lead the most pure lives. Spiritualism demands it of them, most especially its media, for they are the foundation upon which its phenomena are based, and form the most im- portant factor in its vast superstructure. At one of our home circles a few years ago, we had a spirit suddenly control our hand, and write the follow- ing lines : — Charity, sweet spirit, that's nurtured above, Descend to the earth on thy mission of love ; Go, linger where mortals are bending the knee To worship a God they know not nor can see. Each one softly approach, and say to each soul That true worship consists in love for the whole. Not bounded by creed, nor condition, nor birth ; — The lordling, the peasant, the lowest of earth, The Christian, the sinner, the wise, and the great, The convict, the ruler, and head of the State, 194 lifting THE veil: ok, All need thy kind spirit; thy mantle let fall, A sweet benediction, to rest upon all. The convict that dwells alone in his cell Has tales of temptation and sorrow to tell; And angels look on him with pitying eye, While man, his earth brother, is passing him by. Charity, charity, go soften each heart, And lessons of love to earth's children impart. Go, linger where woman is bending in shame So vile, she's a reproach to even the name ; The burden of anguish, oh, lift from her heart, That in joy and peace she may rise and depart. Charity, charity, go dwell in each soul; Broaden and widen the hearts of the whole." This was signed "Hope." We well remember the occasion upon which it was given. Before the seance we all had been severely criticising the actions of some persons of our acquaintance. The practical reprimand was timely, and proved effectual. We have been directed by our kind guide to have another picture, "A Summerland Scene," here inserted. It was the first of the pictures given some years ago, and, as before stated, very crude. Persons acquainted with spirit control know how quickly some of the manifestations are produced. This was done in a much shorter time than human mind and hands alone could have produced it. Herein we think lies its chief merit, as it exhibits no artistic skill. Yet pictures, although crude, convey truths to some minds that other means would fail