{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_34683/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_34683","id":"gutenberg_34683","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/34683","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Religion/Spirituality","Heaven -- Christianity","Near-death experiences -- Religious aspects","Private revelations"],"text":"</pre>\n\n\n\nProduced by Al Haines\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIntra Muros\n\n\n_By_\n\n\nREBECCA RUTER SPRINGER\n\n\n\nDAVID C. COOK PUBLISHING CO.\n\nELGIN, ILLINOIS\n\n\n\n\nCopyright, 1898,\n\nBy David C. Cook Publishing Co.\n\nElgin, Illinois.\n\n\n\n\nAUTHOR'S PREFACE.\n\nThe pages of this little volume contain no fancy sketch, written to\nwhile away an idle hour; but are the true, though greatly condensed,\nrecord of an experience during days when life hung in the balance\nbetween Time and Eternity, with the scales dipping decidedly toward the\nEternity side.\n\nI am painfully aware of the fact that I can never paint for others the\nscenes as they appeared to me during those wonderful days.  If I can\nonly dimly show the close linking of the two lives--the mortal with the\ndivine--as they then appeared to me, I may be able to partly tear the\nveil from the death we so dread, and show it to be only an open door\ninto a new and beautiful phase of the life we now live.\n\nIf any of the scenes depicted should seem irreverent in view of our\nreligious training here, I can only say, \"I give it as it came to me.\"\nIn those strange, happy hours the close blending of the two lives, so\nwrapped about with the Father's watchful care and tender love; the\nreunion of friends, with the dear earth-ties unchanged; the satisfied\ndesires, the glad surprises and the divine joys, all intensified and\nillumined by the reverence and love and adoration that all hearts gave\nto the blessed Trinity, appeared to me the most perfect revelation of\nthat \"blessed life\" of which here we so fondly dream.  With the hope\nthat it may comfort and uplift some who read, even as it then did, and\nas its memory ever will do, for me, I submit this imperfect sketch of a\nmost perfect vision.\n\nR.R.S.\n\n\n\n\n\"_Shall we stop at that poor line, the grave, which all our\nChristianity is always trying to wipe out and make nothing of, and\nwhich we always insist on widening into a great gulf?  Shall we not\nstretch our thought beyond, and feel the life-blood of this holy\nchurch, this living body of Christ, pulsing out into the saints who are\nliving there, and coming back throbbing with tidings of their glorious\nand sympathetic life?_\"\n\n--_Rt. Rev. Phillips Brooks, D. D._\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\n  When the holy angels meet us,\n    As we go to join their band,\n  Shall we know the friends that greet us,\n    In the glorious spirit-land?\n  Shall we see the same eyes shining\n    On us, as in days of yore?\n  Shall we feel their dear arms twining\n    Fondly 'round us as before?\n  Shall we know each other there?\n                    --[Rev. R. Lowry.\n\n\nI was many hundred miles away from home and friends, and had been very\nill for many weeks.  I was entirely among strangers, and my only\nattendant, though of a kindly disposition, knew nothing whatever of the\nduties of the sick room; hence I had none of the many delicate\nattentions that keep up an invalid's failing strength.  I had taken no\nnourishment of any kind for nearly three weeks, scarcely even water,\nand was greatly reduced in both flesh and strength, and consciousness\nseemed at times to wholly desert me.  I had an unutterable longing for\nthe presence of my dear distant ones; for the gentle touch of beloved\nhands, and whispered words of love and courage; but they never\ncame--they could not.  Responsible duties, that I felt must not be\nneglected, kept these dear ones much of the time in distant scenes, and\nI would not recall them.\n\nI lay in a large, comfortable room, on the second floor of a house in\nKentville.  The bed stood in a recess at one end of the apartment, and\nfrom this recess a large stained-glass window opened upon a veranda\nfronting on the street.  During much of my illness I lay with my face\nto this window, and my back to the room; and I remember thinking how\neasy it would be to pass through the window to the veranda, if one so\ndesired.  When the longing for the loved distant faces and voices\nbecame more than I could bear, I prayed that the dear Christ would help\nme to realize his blessed presence; and that since the beloved ones of\nearth could not minister to me, I might feel the influence of the other\ndear ones who are \"all ministering spirits.\"  Especially did I ask to\nbe sustained should I indeed be called to pass through the dark waters\nalone.  It was no idle prayer, and the response came swiftly, speedily.\nAll anxieties and cares slipped away from me, as a worn-out garment,\nand peace, Christ's peace, enfolded me.  I was willing to wait God's\ntime for the coming of those so dear to me, and said to myself, more\nthan once, \"If not here, it will be there; there is no fear of\ndisappointment there.\"  In those wonderful days of agonized suffering,\nand great peace, I felt that I had truly found, as never before, the\nrefuge of \"the Everlasting Arms.\"  They lifted me; they upbore me; they\nenfolded me; and I rested in them, as a tired child upon its mother's\nbosom.  One morning, dark and cold and stormy, after a day and night of\nintense suffering, I seemed to be standing on the floor by the bed, in\nfront of the stained-glass window.  Some one was standing by me, and,\nwhen I looked up, I saw it was my husband's favorite brother, who\n\"Crossed the flood\" many years ago.\n\n\"My dear brother Frank!\" I cried out joyously, \"how good of you to\ncome!\"\n\n\"It was a great joy to me that I could do so, little sister,\" he said\ngently.  \"Shall we go now?\" and he drew me toward the window.\n\nI turned my head and looked back into the room that somehow I felt I\nwas about to leave forever.  It was in its usual good order: a cheery,\npretty room.  The attendant sat by the stove at the farther end,\ncomfortably reading a newspaper; and on the bed, turned toward the\nwindow, lay a white, still form, with the shadow of a smile on the\npoor, worn face.  My brother drew me gently, and I yielded, passing\nwith him through the window, out on the veranda, and from thence, in\nsome unaccountable way, down to the street.  There I paused and said\nearnestly:\n\n\"I cannot leave Will and our dear boy.\"\n\n\"They are not here, dear, but hundreds of miles away,\" he answered.\n\n\"Yes, I know, but they will be here.  Oh, Frank, they will need me--let\nme stay!\" I pleaded.\n\n\"Would it not be better if I brought you back a little later--after\nthey come?\" he said, with a kind smile.\n\n\"Would you surely do so?\" I asked.\n\n\"Most certainly, if you desire it.  You are worn out with the long\nsuffering, and a little rest will give you new strength.\"\n\nI felt that he was right, said so in a few words, and we started slowly\nup the street.  He had drawn my hand within his arm, and endeavored to\ninterest me, as we walked.  But my heart clung to the dear ones whom I\nfelt I was not to see again on earth, and several times I stopped and\nlooked wistfully back the way we had come.  He was very patient and\ngentle with me, waiting always till I was ready to proceed again; but\nat last my hesitation became so great that he said pleasantly:\n\n\"You are so weak I think I had better carry you;\" and without waiting\nfor a reply, he stooped and lifted me in his arms, as though I had been\na little child; and, like a child, I yielded, resting my head upon his\nshoulder, and laying my arm about his neck.  I felt so safe, so\ncontent, to be thus in his care.  It seemed so sweet, after the long,\nlonely struggle, to have some one assume the responsibility of caring\nthus tenderly for me.\n\nHe walked on with firm, swift steps, and I think I must have slept; for\nthe next I knew, I was sitting in a sheltered nook, made by flowering\nshrubs, upon the softest and most beautiful turf of grass, thickly\nstudded with fragrant flowers, many of them the flowers I had known and\nloved on earth.  I remember noticing heliotrope, violets, lilies of the\nvalley, and mignonette, with many others of like nature wholly\nunfamiliar to me.  But even in that first moment I observed how perfect\nin its way was every plant and flower.  For instance, the heliotrope,\nwhich with us often runs into long, ragged sprays, there grew upon\nshort, smooth stems, and each leaf was perfect and smooth and glossy,\ninstead of being rough and coarse-looking; and the flowers peeped up\nfrom the deep grass, so like velvet, with sweet, happy faces, as though\ninviting the admiration one could not withhold.\n\nAnd what a scene was that on which I looked as I rested upon this soft,\nfragrant cushion, secluded and yet not hidden!  Away, away--far beyond\nthe limit of my vision, I well knew--stretched this wonderful sward of\nperfect grass and flowers; and out of it grew equally wonderful trees,\nwhose drooping branches were laden with exquisite blossoms and fruits\nof many kinds.  I found myself thinking of St. John's vision in the\nIsle of Patmos, and \"the tree of life\" that grew in the midst of the\ngarden, bearing \"twelve manner of fruits, and whose leaves were for the\nhealing of the nations.\"  Beneath the trees, in many happy groups, were\nlittle children, laughing and playing, running hither and thither in\ntheir joy, and catching in their tiny hands the bright-winged birds\nthat flitted in and out among them, as though sharing in their sports,\nas they doubtless were.  All through the grounds, older people were\nwalking, sometimes in groups, sometimes by twos, sometimes alone, but\nall with an air of peacefulness and happiness that made itself felt by\neven me, a stranger.  All were in spotless white, though many wore\nabout them or carried in their hands clusters of beautiful flowers.  As\nI looked upon their happy faces and their spotless robes, again I\nthought, \"These are they who have washed their robes, and made them\nwhite in the blood of the Lamb.\"\n\nLook where I would, I saw, half hidden by the trees, elegant and\nbeautiful houses of strangely attractive architecture, that I felt must\nbe the homes of the happy inhabitants of this enchanted place.  I\ncaught glimpses of sparkling fountains in many directions, and close to\nmy retreat flowed a river, with placid breast and water clear as\ncrystal.  The walks that ran in many directions through the grounds\nappeared to me to be, and I afterward found were, of pearl, spotless\nand pure, bordered on either side by narrow streams of pellucid water,\nrunning over stones of gold.  The one thought that fastened itself upon\nme as I looked, breathless and speechless, upon this scene, was\n\"Purity, purity!\"  No shadow of dust; no taint of decay on fruit or\nflower; everything perfect, everything pure.  The grass and flowers\nlooked as though fresh-washed by summer showers, and not a single blade\nwas any color but the brightest green.  The air was soft and balmy,\nthough invigorating; and instead of sunlight there was a golden and\nrosy glory everywhere; something like the afterglow of a Southern\nsunset in midsummer.\n\nAs I drew in my breath with a short, quick gasp of delight, I heard my\nbrother, who was standing beside me, say softly, \"Well?\" and, looking\nup, I discovered that he was watching me with keen enjoyment.  I had,\nin my great surprise and delight, wholly forgotten his presence.\nRecalled to myself by his question, I faltered:\n\n\"Oh, Frank, that I--\" when such an overpowering sense of God's goodness\nand my own unworthiness swept over me that I dropped my face into my\nhands, and burst into uncontrollable and very human weeping.\n\n\"Ah!\" said my brother, in a tone of self-reproach, \"I am\ninconsiderate.\"  And lifting me gently to my feet, he said, \"Come, I\nwant to show you the river.\"\n\nWhen we reached the brink of the river, but a few steps distant, I\nfound that the lovely sward ran even to the water's edge, and in some\nplaces I saw the flowers blooming placidly down in the depths, among\nthe many-colored pebbles with which the entire bed of the river was\nlined.\n\n\"I want you to see these beautiful stones,\" said my brother, stepping\ninto the water and urging me to do the same.\n\nI drew back timidly, saying, \"I fear it is cold.\"\n\n\"Not in the least,\" he said, with a reassuring smile.  \"Come.\"\n\n\"Just as I am?\" I said, glancing down at my lovely robe, which, to my\ngreat joy, I found was similar to those of the dwellers in that happy\nplace.\n\n\"Just as you are,\" with another reassuring smile.\n\nThus encouraged, I, too, stepped into the \"gently flowing river,\" and\nto my great surprise found the water, in both temperature and density,\nalmost identical with the air.  Deeper and deeper grew the stream as we\npassed on, until I felt the soft, sweet ripples playing about my\nthroat.  As I stopped, my brother said, \"A little farther still.\"\n\n\"It will go over my head,\" I expostulated.\n\n\"Well, and what then?\"\n\n\"I cannot breathe under the water--I will suffocate.\"\n\nAn amused twinkle came into his eyes, though he said soberly enough,\n\"We do not do those things here.\"\n\nI realized the absurdity of my position, and with a happy laugh said,\n\"All right; come on,\" and plunged headlong into the bright water, which\nsoon bubbled and rippled several feet above my head.  To my surprise\nand delight, I found I could not only breathe, but laugh and talk, see\nand hear, as naturally under the water as above it.  I sat down in the\nmidst of the many-colored pebbles, and filled my hands with them, as a\nchild would have done.  My brother lay down upon them, as he would have\ndone on the green sward, and laughed and talked joyously with me.\n\n\"Do this,\" he said, rubbing his hands over his face, and running his\nfingers through his dark hair.\n\nI did as he told me, and the sensation was delightful.  I threw back my\nloose sleeves and rubbed my arms, then my throat, and again thrust my\nfingers through my long, loose hair, thinking at the time what a tangle\nit would be in when I left the water.  Then the thought came, as we at\nlast arose to return, \"What are we to do for towels?\" for the\nearth-thoughts still clung to me; and I wondered, too, if the lovely\nrobe was not entirely spoiled.  But behold, as we neared the shore and\nmy head once more emerged from the water, the moment the air struck my\nface and hair I realized that I would need no towel or brush.  My\nflesh, my hair, and even my beautiful garments, were soft and dry as\nbefore the water touched them.  The material out of which my robe was\nfashioned was unlike anything that I had ever seen.  It was soft and\nlight and shone with a faint luster, reminding me more of silk crepe\nthan anything I could recall, only infinitely more beautiful.  It fell\nabout me in soft, graceful folds, which the water seemed to have\nrendered even more lustrous than before.\n\n\"What marvelous water!  What wonderful air!\" I said to my brother, as\nwe again stepped upon the flowery sward \"Are all the rivers here like\nthis one?\"\n\n\"Not just the same, but similar,\" he replied.\n\nWe walked on a few steps, and then I turned and looked back at the\nshining river flowing on tranquilly.  \"Frank, what has that water done\nfor me?\" I said.  \"I feel as though I could fly.\"\n\nHe looked at me with earnest, tender eyes, as he answered gently, \"It\nhas washed away the last of the earth-life, and fitted you for the new\nlife upon which you have entered.\"\n\n\"It is divine!\" I whispered,\n\n\"Yes, it is divine,\" he said.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\n  O City of Peace! in thy palaces fair\n    Loved faces and forms we can see;\n  And sweet voices float to us thro' the calm air\n    That whisper, \"We're watching for thee!\"\n\n\nWe walked on for some distance in silence, my heart wrestling with the\nthoughts of the new, strange life, my eyes drinking in fresh beauty at\nevery step.  The houses, as we approached and passed them, seemed\nwondrously beautiful to me.  They were built of the finest marbles,\nencircled by broad verandas, the roofs or domes supported by massive or\ndelicate pillars or columns; and winding steps led down to the pearl\nand golden walks.  The style of the architecture was unlike anything I\nhad ever seen, and the flowers and vines that grew luxuriantly\neverywhere surpassed in beauty even those of my brightest dreams.\nHappy faces looked out from these columned walls, and happy voices rang\nupon the clear air, from many a celestial home.\n\n\"Frank, where are we going?\" at length I asked.\n\n\"Home, little sister,\" he answered tenderly.\n\n\"Home?  Have we a home, my brother?  Is it anything like these?\" I\nasked, with a wild desire in my heart to cry out for joy.\n\n\"Come and see,\" was his only answer, as he turned into a side path\nleading toward an exquisitely beautiful house whose columns of very\nlight gray marble shone through the green of the overhanging trees with\nmost inviting beauty.  Before I could join him, I heard a\nwell-remembered voice saying close beside me:\n\n\"I just had to be the first to bid you welcome!\" and looking around, I\nsaw the dearly-beloved face of my old-time friend, Mrs. Wickham.\n\n\"Oh!  Oh!\" I cried, as we met in a warm embrace.\n\n\"You will forgive me, Col. Sprague,\" she said a moment later, giving\nher hand cordially to my brother.  \"It seems unpardonable to intercept\nyou thus, in almost the first hour, but I heard that she was coming,\nand I could not wait.  But now that I have looked upon her face, and\nheard her dear voice, I will be patient till I can have her for a long,\nlong talk.\"\n\n\"You must come in and see her now,\" said my brother cordially.\n\n\"Do, do come!\" I urged.\n\n\"No, dear friends, not now.  You know, dear little Blossom,\" (the old\npet name for me years ago) \"we have all eternity before us!  But you\nwill bring her to me soon, Col. Sprague?\" she said.\n\n\"Just as soon as I may, dear madam,\" he replied, with an expressive\nlook into her eyes.\n\n\"Yes, I understand,\" she said softly, with a sympathetic glance at me.\nThen with a warm hand-clasp, and the parting injunction, \"Come very\nsoon,\" she passed swiftly out of my sight.\n\n\"Blessed woman!\" I said, \"what a joy to meet her again!\"\n\n\"Her home is not far away; you can often see her.  She is indeed a\nlovely woman.  Now, come, little sister, I long to give you welcome to\nour home,\" saying which, he took my hand and led me up the low steps on\nto the broad veranda, with its beautiful inlaid floor of rare and\ncostly marbles, and its massive columns of gray, between which, vines\ncovered with rich, glossy leaves of green were intermingled with\nflowers of exquisite color and delicate perfume hanging in heavy\nfestoons.  We paused a moment here, that I might see the charming view\npresented on every side.\n\n\"It is heavenly!\" I said.\n\n\"It is heavenly,\" he answered.  \"It could not be otherwise.\"\n\nI smiled my acknowledgment of this truth--my heart was too full for\nwords.\n\n\"The entire house, both below and above, is surrounded by these broad\nverandas.  But come within.\"\n\nHe led me through a doorway, between the marble columns, into a large\nreception hall, whose inlaid floor, mullioned window, and broad, low\nstairway at the far end, at once held my fancy.  Before I could speak,\nmy brother turned to me, and, taking both my hands, said:\n\n\"Welcome, a thousand welcomes, dearest sister, to your heavenly home!\"\n\n\"Is this beautiful place indeed to be my home?\" I asked, as well as my\nemotion would allow.\n\n\"Yes, dear,\" he replied.  \"I built it for you and my brother, and I\nassure you it has been a labor of love.\"\n\n\"It is your home, and I am to stay with you?\" I said, a little confused.\n\n\"No, it is your home, and I am to stay with you till my brother comes.\"\n\n\"Always, dear brother, always!\" I cried, clinging to his arm.\n\nHe smiled and said, \"We will enjoy the present; we never will be far\napart again.  But come, I am eager to show you all.\"\n\nTurning to the left, he led me, still through the beautiful marble\ncolumns that everywhere seemed substituted for doorways, into a large,\noblong room, upon whose threshold I stopped in wondering delight.  The\nentire walls and floor of the room were still of that exquisite light\ngray marble, polished to the greatest luster; but over walls and floors\nwere strewn exquisite, long-stemmed roses, of every variety and color,\nfrom the deepest crimson to the most delicate shades of pink and yellow.\n\n\"Come inside,\" said my brother.\n\n\"I do not wish to crush those perfect flowers,\" I answered.\n\n\"Well, then, suppose we gather some of them.\"\n\nI stooped to take one from the floor close to my feet, when lo! I found\nit was imbedded in the marble.  I tried another with the same\nastonishing result, then turning to my brother, I said:\n\n\"What does it mean?  You surely do not tell me that none of these are\nnatural flowers?\"\n\nHe nodded his head with a pleased smile, then said: \"This room has a\nhistory.  Come in and sit with me here upon this window-seat, where you\ncan see the whole room, and let me tell you about it.\"  I did as he\ndesired, and he continued: \"One day as I was busily working upon the\nhouse, a company of young people, boys and girls, came to the door, and\nasked if they might enter.  I gladly gave assent, and then one of them\nsaid:\n\n\"'Is this house really for Mr. and Mrs. Sprague?'\n\n\"'It is,' I answered.\n\n\"'We used to know and love them.  They are our friends, and the friends\nof our parents, and we want to know if we may not do something to help\nyou make it beautiful?'\n\n\"'Indeed you may,' I said, touched by the request.  'What can you do?'\n\n\"We were here at the time, and looking about, one of them asked, 'May\nwe beautify this room?'\n\n\"'Undoubtedly,' I said, wondering what they would try to do.\n\n\"At once the girls, all of whom had immense bunches of roses in their\nhands, began to throw the flowers broadcast over the floor and against\nthe walls.  Wherever they struck the walls, they, to even my surprise,\nremained, as though in some way permanently attached.  When the roses\nhad all been scattered, the room looked just as it does now, only the\nflowers were really fresh-gathered roses.  Then the boys each produced\na small case of delicate tools, and in a moment all, boys and girls,\nwere down upon the marble floor and busy at work.  How they did it I do\nnot know--it is one of the celestial arts, taught to those of highly\nartistic tastes--but they embedded each living flower just where and as\nit had fallen, in the marble, and preserved it as you see before you.\nThey came several times before the work was completed, for the flowers\ndo not wither here, nor fade, but were always fresh and perfect.  And\nsuch a merry, happy company of young people, I never saw before.  They\nlaughed and chatted and sang, as they worked; and I could not help\nwishing more than once that the friends whom they had left mourning for\nthem might look in upon this happy group, and see how little cause they\nhad for sorrow.  At last when all was complete, they called me to see\ntheir work, and I was not chary of my praises either for the beauty of\nthe work or for their skill in performing it.  Then, saying they would\nbe sure to return when either of you came, they went away together, to\ndo something of the kind elsewhere, I doubt not.\"\n\nHappy tears had been dropping upon my hands, clasped idly in my lap,\nduring much of this narrative, and now I asked half-brokenly, for I was\ngreatly touched:\n\n\"Who were these lovely people, Frank?  Do you know them?\"\n\n\"Of course, I know them now; but they were all strangers to me till\nthey came here that first morning, except Lulu Sprague.\"\n\n\"Who are they?\"\n\n\"There were three Marys--Mary Green, Mary Bates, Mary Chalmers; Lulu\nSprague and Mae Camden.  These were the girls, each lovely and\nbeautiful.  The boys, all manly, fine fellows, were Carroll Ashland,\nStanley and David Chalmers.\"\n\n\"Precious children!\" I said.  \"How little I thought my love for them,\nin the olden days, would ever bring to me this added happiness here!\nHow little we know of the links binding the two worlds!\"\n\n\"Ah, yes!\" said my brother, \"that is just it.  How little we know!  If\nonly we could realize while we are yet mortals, that day by day we are\nbuilding for eternity, how different our lives in many ways would be!\nEvery gentle word, every generous thought, every unselfish deed, will\nbecome a pillar of eternal beauty in the life to come.  We cannot be\nselfish and unloving in one life, and generous and loving in the next;\nthe two lives are too closely blended--one but a continuation of the\nother.  But come now to the library.\"\n\nRising, we crossed the room that henceforward was to hold for me such\ntender associations, and entered the library.  It was a glorious\napartment--the walls lined from ceiling to floor with rare and costly\nbooks.  A large, stained-glass window opened upon the front veranda,\nand two large bow-windows, not far apart, were in the back of the room.\nA semicircular row of shelves, supported by very delicate pillars of\ngray marble, about six feet high, extended some fifteen feet into the\nspacious main room and cut it into two sections lengthwise, each with\none of the bowed windows in the back, leaving still a large space\nbeyond the dividing line, where the two sections united again into one.\nThe concave side of the semicircle of shelves was toward the entrance\nof the room; and close to it, not far removed from the bowed window,\nstood a beautiful writing-desk, with everything ready for use; and upon\nit was a chaste golden bowl, filled with scarlet carnations, of whose\nspicy odor I had been dimly conscious for some time.\n\n\"My brother's desk,\" said Frank.\n\n\"And his favorite flowers,\" I added.\n\n\"Yes, that follows.  Here we never forget the tastes and preferences of\nthose we love.\"\n\nIt is not to be supposed that these details were at once noticed by me,\nbut they unfolded to me gradually as we lingered, talking together.  My\nfirst sensation upon entering the room was genuine surprise at the\nsight of the books, and my first words were:\n\n\"Why, have we books in heaven?\"\n\n\"Why not?\" asked my brother.  \"What strange ideas we mortals have of\nthe pleasures and duties of this blessed life!  We seem to think that\ndeath of the body means an entire change to the soul.  But that is not\nthe case, by any means.  We bring to this life the same tastes, the\nsame desires, the same knowledge, we had before death.  If these were\nnot sufficiently pure and good to form a part of this life, then we\nourselves may not enter.  What would be the use of our ofttimes long\nlives, given to the pursuit of certain worthy and legitimate knowledge,\nif at death it all counts as nothing, and we begin this life on a\nwholly different line of thought and study?  No, no; would that all\ncould understand, as I said before, that we are building for eternity\nduring our earthly life!  The purer the thoughts, the nobler the\nambitions, the loftier the aspirations, the higher the rank we take\namong the hosts of heaven; the more earnestly we follow the studies and\nduties in our life of probation, the better fitted we shall be to carry\nthem forward, on and on to completion and perfection here.\"\n\n\"But the books--who writes them?  Are any of them books we knew and\nloved below?\"\n\n\"Undoubtedly, many of them; all, indeed, that in any way helped to\nelevate the human mind or immortal soul.  Then, many of the rarest\nminds in the earth-life, upon entering on this higher life, gain such\nelevated and extended views of the subjects that have been with them\nlifelong studies, that, pursuing them with zest, they write out for the\nbenefit of those less gifted, the higher, stronger views they have\nthemselves acquired, thus remaining leaders and teachers in this rarer\nlife, as they were while yet in the world.  Is it to be expected that\nthe great soul who has so recently joined our ranks, whose 'Changed\nLife' and 'Pax Vobiscum' uplifted so many lives while on earth, should\nlay his pen aside when his clear brain and great heart have read the\nmystery of the higher knowledge?  Not so.  When he has conned his\nlessons well, he will write them out for the benefit of others, less\ngifted, who must follow.  Leaders there must always be, in this divine\nlife, as in the former life--leaders and teachers in many varied lines\nof thought.  But all this knowledge will come to you simply and\nnaturally as you grow into the new life.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\n  When I shall meet with those that I have loved,\n  Clasp in my arms the dear ones long removed,\n  And find how faithful Thou to me hast proved,\n        I shall be satisfied.\n                    --[Horatius Bonar.\n\n\nAfter a short rest in this lovely room among the books, my brother took\nme through all the remaining rooms of the house; each perfect and\nbeautiful in its way, and each distinctly and imperishably photographed\nupon my memory.  Of only one other will I speak at this time.  As he\ndrew aside the gauzy gray draperies, lined with the most delicate shade\nof amber, which hung before the columned doorway of a lovely room on\nthe second floor of the house, he said:\n\n\"Your own special place for rest and study.\"\n\nThe entire second story of the house, indoors, instead of being\nfinished in gray marble, as was the first floor, was finished with\ninlaid woods of fine, satiny texture and rare polish; and the room we\nnow entered was exquisite both in design and finish.  It was oblong in\nshape, with a large bowed window at one end, similar to those in the\nlibrary, a portion of which was directly beneath this room.  Within\nthis window, on one side, stood a writing desk of solid ivory, with\nsilver appointments; and opposite was a case of well-filled bookshelves\nof the same material.  Among the books I found afterward many of my\nfavorite authors.  Rich rugs, silver-gray in color, lay scattered over\nthe floor, and all the hangings in the room were of the same delicate\nhue and texture as those at the entrance.  The framework of the\nfurniture was of ivory; the upholstering of chairs and ottomans of\nsilver-gray cloth, with the finish of finest satin; and the pillows and\ncovering of the dainty couch were of the same.  A large bowl of wrought\nsilver stood upon the table near the front window, filled with pink and\nyellow roses, whose fragrance filled the air; and several rarely\ngraceful vases also were filled with roses.  The entire apartment was\nbeautiful beyond description; but I had seen it many times before I was\nfully able to comprehend its perfect completeness.  Only one picture\nhung upon the walls, and that was a life-size portrait of the Christ,\njust opposite the couch.  It was not an artist's conception of the\nhuman Christ, bowed under the weight of the sins of the world, nor yet\nthe thorn-crowned head of the crucified Savior of mankind; but the\nlikeness of the living Master, of Christ the victorious, of Christ the\ncrowned.  The wonderful eyes looked directly and tenderly into your\nown, and the lips seemed to pronounce the benediction of peace.  The\nineffable beauty of the divine face seemed to illumine the room with a\nholy light, and I fell upon my knees and pressed my lips to the\nsandaled feet so truthfully portrayed upon the canvas, while my heart\ncried, \"Master, beloved Master and Savior!\"  It was long before I could\nfix my attention on anything else; my whole being was full of adoration\nand thanksgiving for the great love that had guided me into this haven\nof rest, this wonderful home of peace and joy.\n\nAfter some time spent in this delightful place, we passed through the\nopen window on to the marble terrace.  A stairway of artistically\nfinished marble wound gracefully down from this terrace to the lawn\nbeneath the trees, no pathway of any kind approaching at its foot--only\nthe flowery turf.  The fruit-laden branches of the trees hung within\neasy reach from the terrace, and I noticed as I stood there that\nmorning seven varieties.  One kind resembled our fine Bartlett pear,\nonly much larger, and infinitely more delicious to the taste, as I soon\nfound.  Another variety was in clusters, the fruit also pear-shaped,\nbut smaller than the former, and of a consistency and flavor similar to\nthe finest frozen cream.  A third, something like a banana in shape,\nthey called bread-fruit; it was not unlike our dainty finger-rolls to\nthe taste.  It seemed to me at the time, and really proved to be so,\nthat in variety and excellence, food for the most elegant repast was\nhere provided without labor or care.  My brother gathered some of the\ndifferent varieties and bade me try them.  I did so with much relish\nand refreshment.  Once the rich juice from the pear-like fruit (whose\ndistinctive name I have forgotten, if indeed I ever knew it,) ran out\nprofusely over my hands and the front of my dress.  \"Oh!\" I cried, \"I\nhave ruined my dress, I fear!\"\n\nMy brother laughed genially, as he said, \"Show me the stains.\"\n\nTo my amazement not a spot could I find.\n\n\"Look at your hands,\" he said.\n\nI found them clean and fresh; as though just from the bath.\n\n\"What does it mean?  My hands were covered with the thick juice of the\nfruit.\"\n\n\"Simply,\" he answered, \"that no impurity can remain for an instant in\nthis air.  Nothing decays, nothing tarnishes, or in any way disfigures\nor mars the universal purity or beauty of the place.  As fast as the\nfruit ripens and falls, all that is not immediately gathered at once\nevaporates, not even the seed remaining.\"\n\nI had noticed that no fruit lay beneath the trees--this, then, was the\nreason for it.\n\n\"'And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defiled!,'\" I\nquoted thoughtfully.\n\n\"Yes, even so,\" he answered; \"even so.\"\n\nWe descended the steps and again entered the \"flower-room.\"  As I stood\nonce more admiring the inlaid roses, my brother asked:\n\n\"Whom, of all the friends you have in heaven, do you most wish to see?\"\n\n\"My father and mother,\" I answered quickly.\n\nHe smiled so significantly that I hastily turned, and there, advancing\nup the long room to meet me, I saw my dear father and mother, and with\nthem my youngest sister.  With a cry of joy, I flew into my father's\noutstretched arms, and heard, with a thrill of joy, his dear, familiar\n\"My precious little daughter!\"\n\n\"At last! at last!\" I cried, clinging to him.  \"At last I have you\nagain!\"\n\n\"At last!\" he echoed, with a deep-drawn breath of joy.  Then he\nresigned me to my dear mother, and we were soon clasped in each other's\nembrace.\n\n\"My precious mother!\"  \"My dear, dear child!\" we cried simultaneously;\nand my sister enfolding us both in her arms, exclaimed with a happy\nlaugh, \"I can not wait!  I will not be left outside!\" and disengaging\none arm, I threw it about her into the happy circle of our united love.\n\nOh, what an hour was that!  I did not dream that even heaven could hold\nsuch joy.  After a time my brother, who had shared our joy, said:\n\n\"Now, I can safely leave you for a few hours to this blessed reunion,\nfor I have other work before me.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said my father, \"you must go.  We will with joy take charge of\nour dear child.\"\n\n\"Then for a brief while good-by,\" said my brother kindly.  \"Do not\nforget that rest, especially to one but recently entered upon the new\nlife, is not only one of the pleasures, but one of the duties of\nheaven.\"\n\n\"Yes, we will see that she does not forget that,\" said my father, with\na kindly smile and glance.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\n  O joys that are gone, will you ever return\n    To gladden our hearts as of yore?\n  Will we find you awaiting us, some happy morn,\n    When we drift to Eternity's shore?\n  Will dear eyes meet our own, as in days that are past?\n    Will we thrill at the touch of a hand?\n  O joys that are gone, will we find you at last\n    On the shores of that wonderful land?\n\n\nSoon after my brother's departure my mother said, grasping my hand:\n\n\"Come, I am eager to have you in our own home;\" and we all passed out\nof the rear entrance, walked a few hundred yards across the soft turf,\nand entered a lovely home, somewhat similar to our own, yet still\nunlike it in many details.  It also was built of marble, but darker\nthan that of my brother's home.  Every room spoke of modest refinement\nand cultivated taste, and the home air about it was at once\ndelightfully perceptible.  My father's study was on the second floor,\nand the first thing I noticed on entering was the luxuriant branches\nand flowers of an old-fashioned hundred-leafed rose tree, that covered\nthe window by his desk.\n\n\"Ah!\" I cried, \"I can almost imagine myself in your old study at home,\nwhen I look at that window.\"\n\n\"Is it not a reminder?\" he said, laughing happily.  \"I almost think\nsometimes it is the same dear old bush, transplanted here.\"\n\n\"And it is still your favorite flower?\" I queried.\n\nHe nodded his head, and said, smiling:\n\n\"I see you remember still the childhood days.\"  And he patted my cheek\nas I gathered a rose and fastened it upon his breast.\n\n\"It seems to me this ought to be your home, dear; it is our father's\nhome,\" said my sister wistfully.\n\n\"Nay,\" my father quickly interposed.  \"Col. Sprague is her legitimate\nguardian and instructor.  It is a wise and admirable arrangement.  He\nis in every way the most suitable instructor she could possibly have.\nOur Father never errs.\"\n\n\"Is not my brother's a lovely character?\" I asked.\n\n\"Lovely indeed; and he stands very near to the Master.  Few have a\nclearer knowledge of the Divine Will, hence few are better fitted for\ninstructors.  But I, too, have duties that call me for a time away.\nHow blessed to know there can never again be long separations!  You\nwill have two homes now, dear child--your own and ours.\"\n\n\"Yes, yes!\" I said.  \"I shall be here, I suspect, almost as much as\nthere.\"\n\nAt this moment a swift messenger approached my father and spoke a few\nlow words.\n\n\"Yes, I shall go at once,\" he replied, and, waving his hand in adieu,\ndeparted with the angelic guide.\n\n\"Where do my father's duties mostly lie?\" I asked my mother.\n\n\"He is called usually to those who enter life with little\npreparation--that which on earth we call death-bed repentance.  You\nknow what wonderful success he always had in winning souls to Christ;\nand these poor spirits need to be taught from the very beginning.  They\nenter the spirit-life in its lowest phase, and it is your father's\npleasant duty to lead them upward step by step.  He is devoted to his\nwork and greatly beloved by those he thus helps.  He often allows me to\naccompany him and labor with him, and that is such a pleasure to me!\nAnd do you know\"--with an indescribable look of happiness--\"I forget\nnothing now!\"\n\nIt had been her great burden, for some years before her death, that\nmemory failed her sadly, and I could understand and sympathize with her\npresent delight.\n\n\"Dear heart!\" I cried, folding my arms tenderly about her, \"then it is\nlike the early years of your married life again?\"\n\n\"Precisely,\" she answered joyously.\n\nA little later my sister drew me tenderly aside and whispered, \"Tell me\nof my boy, of my precious son.  I often see him; but we are not\npermitted to know as much always of the earthly life as we once\nbelieved we should.  The Father's tender wisdom metes out to us the\nknowledge he sees is best, and we are content to wait his time for\nmore.  All you can tell would not be denied me.  Is he surely, surely\ncoming to me sometime?  Shall I hold him again in my arms, my darling\nboy?\"\n\n\"I am sure--yes, I am sure you will.  Your memory is very precious to\nhim.\"\n\nThen I told her all I could recall of the son with whom she had parted\nwhile he was but a child--now grown to man's estate, honored and loved,\nwith home and wife and son to comfort and bless him.\n\n\"Then I can wait,\" she said, \"if he is sure to come to me at last, when\nhis earthly work is done, bringing his wife and son.  How I shall love\nthem, too!\"\n\nAt this moment I felt myself encircled by tender arms, and a hand was\ngently laid on my eyes.\n\n\"Who is it?\" some one whispered softly.\n\n\"Oh, I know the voice, the touch!--dearest, dearest Nell!\" I cried,\nand, turning quickly, threw my arms about the neck of my only brother.\n\nHe gathered me a moment warmly to his heart, then in his old-time\nplayful way lifted me quite off my feet in his strong arms, saying:\n\n\"She has not grown an inch; and is not, I believe, a day older than\nwhen we last parted!  Is she, Joe?\" turning to our sister.\n\n\"It does not seem so,\" said my sister, \"but I thought she would never\ncome.\"\n\n\"Trust her for that!\" he said.  \"But come, now; they have had you long\nenough for the first visit; the rest of us want you for awhile.  Come\nwith us, Jodie.  Mother, I may have them both for a little time, may I\nnot? or will you come, too?\" turning to our mother with a caressing\ntouch.\n\n\"I cannot go, dear boy; I must be here when your father returns.  Take\nyour sisters; it is a blessed sight to see you all again together.\"\n\n\"Come then,\" he said; and, each taking one of my hands, we went out\ntogether.\n\n\"Halt!\" he suddenly called, in his old-time military fashion, after a\nshort walk, and we stopped abruptly in front of a dainty house built of\nthe finest polished woods.  It was beautiful both in architecture and\nfinish.\n\n\"How lovely!\" I cried; and with a bow of charming humility he said:\n\n\"The home of your humble servant.  Enter.\"\n\nI paused a moment on the wide veranda to examine a vine, wreathed about\nthe graceful columns of highly-polished wood, and my brother laughingly\nsaid to my sister:\n\n\"She is the same old Sis!  We will not get much good out of her until\nshe has learned the name of every flower, vine and plant in heaven.\"\n\n\"Yes, you will,\" I said, shaking my head at his happy face, \"but I mean\nto utilize you whenever I can; I have so much to learn.\"\n\n\"So you shall, dear,\" he answered gently.  \"But come in.\"\n\nStepping inside a lovely vestibule, out of which opened, from every\nside, spacious rooms, he called softly \"Alma!\"  At once from one of\nthese, a fair woman approached us.\n\n\"My dear child!\" I said, \"it does not seem possible!  You were but a\nchild when I last saw you.\"\n\n\"She is still her father's girl,\" said my brother, with a fond look.\n\"She and Carrie, whom you never saw, make a blessed home for me.  Where\nis your sister, daughter?\"\n\n\"She is at the great music-hall.  She has a very rich voice that she is\ncultivating,\" Alma said, turning to me.  \"We were going to find our\naunt when she returned,\" she added.\n\n\"True, true,\" said my brother; \"but come.\"\n\nThen they showed me the lovely home, perfect and charming in every\ndetail.  When we came out upon a side veranda, I saw we were so near an\nadjoining house that we could easily step from one veranda to the other.\n\n\"There!\" said my brother, lightly lifting me over the intervening\nspace.  \"There is some one here you will wish to see.\"  Before I could\nquestion him, he led me through the columned doorway, saying, \"People\nin heaven are never 'not at home' to their friends.\"\n\nThe house we entered was almost identical in construction and finish\nwith that of my brother Nell, and, as we entered, three persons came\neagerly forward to greet me.\n\n\"Dear Aunt Gray!\" I cried.  \"My dear Mary--my dear Martin!  What a joy\nto meet you again!\"\n\n\"And here,\" said my aunt reverently.\n\n\"Yes, here,\" I answered in like tone.\n\nIt was my father's sister, always a favorite aunt, with her son and his\nwife.  How we did talk and cling to one another, and ask and answer\nquestions!\n\n\"Pallas is also here, and Will, but they have gone with Carrie to the\nmusic hall,\" said Martin.\n\n\"Martin, can you sing here?\" I asked.  He always was trying to sing on\nearth, but could not master a tune.\n\n\"A little,\" he answered, with his old genial laugh and shrug; \"we can\ndo almost anything here that we really try to do.\"\n\n\"You should hear him now, cousin, when he tries to sing,\" said his\nwife, with a little touch of pride in her voice.  \"You would not know\nit was Martin.  But is it not nice to have Dr. Nell so near us?  We are\nalmost one household, you see.  All felt that we must be together.\"\n\n\"It is indeed,\" I answered, \"although you no longer need him in his\nprofessional capacity.\"\n\n\"No, thanks to the Father; but we need him quite as much in many other\nways.\"\n\n\"I rather think I am the one to be grateful,\" said my brother.  \"But,\nsister, I promised Frank that you should go to your own room awhile; he\nthought it wise that you should be alone for a time.  Shall we go now?\"\n\n\"I am ready,\" I answered, \"though these delightful reunions leave no\ndesire for rest.\"\n\n\"How blessed,\" said my aunt, \"that there is no limit here to our mutual\nenjoyment!  We have nothing to dread, nothing to fear.  We know at\nparting that we shall meet again.  We shall often see each other, my\nchild.\"\n\nThen my brother went with me to my own home, and, with a loving\nembrace, left me at the door of my room.\n\nOnce within, I lay down upon my couch to think over the events of this\nwonderful day; but, looking upward at the divine face above me, I\nforgot all else, and, Christ's peace enfolding me like a mantle, I\nbecame \"as one whom his mother comforteth.\"  While I lay in this\nblissful rest, my brother Frank returned, and, without rousing me, bore\nme in his strong arms again to earth.  I did not know, when he left us\nin our home, upon what mission he was going, though my father knew it\nwas to return to my dear husband and accompany him upon his sad journey\nto his dead wife; to comfort and sustain and strengthen him in those\nfirst lonely hours of sorrow.  They deemed it best, for wise reasons,\nthat I should wait awhile before returning, and taste the blessedness\nof the new life, thus gaining strength for the trial before me.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nAre they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them\nwho shall be heirs of salvation?--Heb. 1: 14.\n\n  How oft do they their silver bowers leave,\n    To come to succor us that succor want!\n  How oft do they with golden pinions cleave\n    The flitting skyes, like flying pursuivant,\n  Against fowle feendes to ayd us militant!\n    They for us fight, they watch, and dewly ward,\n  And their bright squadrons round about us plant.\n    And all for love, and nothing for reward;\n  O why should heavenly God to men have such regard!\n                    --[Edmund Spenser.\n\n\nWhen I aroused from my sleep it was in the gray light of earth's\nmorning, and I was standing on the doorstep of the house in Kentville\nthat my brother and I had left together, some thirty-six hours before,\nreckoned by earth-time.  I shuddered a little with a strange chill when\nI saw where we were, and turned quickly to my brother Frank, who stood\nbeside me.  He put his arm about me, and with a reassuring smile, said:\n\n\"For their sakes be brave and strong, and try to make them understand\nyour blessed change.\"\n\nI did not try to answer, though I took heart, and entered with him into\nthe house.  Everything was very quiet--no one seemed astir.  My brother\nsoftly opened a door immediately to the right of the entrance, and\nmotioned me to enter.  I did so, and he closed it behind me, remaining\nhimself outside.\n\nSomething stood in the center of the room, and I soon discovered that\nit was a pall.  It was a great relief to me to see that it was not\nblack, but a soft shade of gray.  Someone was kneeling beside it, and\nas I slowly approached I saw it was my dear son.  He was kneeling upon\none knee, with his elbow resting on the other knee, and his face buried\nin his hand.  One arm was thrown across the casket, as though he were\ntaking a last embrace of his \"little mother.\"  I saw that the form\nwithin the casket lay as though peacefully sleeping, and was clad in\nsilver gray, with soft white folds about the neck and breast.  I was\ngrateful that they had remembered my wishes so well.\n\nI put my arms about the neck of my darling son, and drew his head\ngently against my breast, resting my cheek upon his bowed head.  Then I\nwhispered, \"Dearest, I am here beside you--living, breathing, strong\nand well.  Will you not turn to me, instead of to that lifeless form in\nthe casket?  It is only the worn-out tenement--I am your living mother.\"\n\nHe lifted his head as though listening; then, laying his hand tenderly\nagainst the white face in the casket he whispered, \"Poor, dear little\nmother!\" and again dropped his face into both hands, while his form\nshook with convulsive sobs.\n\nAs I strove to comfort him, the door opened and his lovely girl-wife\nentered.  I turned to meet her as she came slowly towards us.  Midway\nin the room we met, and, taking both her hands tenderly in mine, I\nwhispered, \"Comfort him, darling girl, as only you can; he needs human\nlove.\"\n\nShe paused a moment irresolutely, looking directly into my eyes, then\npassed on and knelt beside him, laying her upturned face against his\nshoulder.  I saw his arm steal around her and draw her closely to him,\nthen I passed from the room, feeling comforted that they were together.\n\nOutside the door I paused an instant, then, slowly ascending the\nstairs, I entered the once familiar room, whose door was standing ajar.\nAll remained as when I had left it, save that no still form lay upon\nthe white bed.  As I expected, I found my precious husband in this\nroom.  He sat near the bay window, his arm resting upon the table, and\nhis eyes bent sorrowfully upon the floor.  My heart's best friend sat\nnear him and seemed trying to comfort him.  When I entered the room our\nbrother Frank arose from a chair close beside him and passed out, with\na sympathetic look at me.  I went at once to my dear husband, put my\narms about him, and whispered:\n\n\"Darling! darling, I am here!\"\n\nHe stirred restlessly without changing his position.  Virginia said, as\nthough continuing a conversation, \"I am sure she would say you left\nnothing undone that could possibly be done for her.\"\n\n\"She is right,\" I whispered.\n\n\"Still she was alone at the last,\" he moaned.\n\n\"Yes, dear, but who could know it was the last?  She sank so suddenly\nunder the pain.  What can I say to comfort you?  Oh, Will, come home\nwith us!  She would want you to, I am sure.\"\n\nHe shook his head sadly, while the tears were in his eyes, as he said:\n\"Work is my only salvation.  I must go back in a very few days.\"\n\nShe said no more, and he leaned back wearily in his easy-chair.  I\ncrept more closely to him and suddenly his arms closed about me.  I\nwhispered, \"There, dear, do you not see that I am really with you?\"\n\nHe was very still, and the room was very quiet but for the ticking of\nmy little clock still standing upon the dressing-case.  Presently I\nknew by his regular breathing that he had found a short respite from\nhis sorrow.  I slipped gently from his arms and went to my friend,\nkneeling beside her, and folding my arms about her.\n\n\"Virginia, Virginia!  You know I am not dead!  Why do you grieve?\"\n\nShe looked over at the worn face of the man before her, then dropped\nher face into her hand, whispering, as though she had heard me and\nwould answer:\n\n\"Oh, Bertha darling, how could you leave him?\"\n\n\"I am here, dearest!  Do realize that I am here!\"\n\nShe did not heed me, but sat absorbed in sorrowful thought.\n\nA few minutes later a stranger entered the room, and in a low voice\nsaid something about its being \"near train time,\" and brought my\nhusband his hat.  He arose and gave his arm to Virginia, and, our son\nand his wife meeting them at the door, they started to descend the\nstairs.  Just then my husband paused and cast one sorrowful glance\naround the room, his face white with pain.  Our dear daughter stepped\nquickly to him, and, placing both arms about his neck, drew his face\ndown to hers.  (\"God bless her in all things!\" I softly prayed.)  An\ninstant they stood thus, then stifling his emotion, they all passed\ndown the stairs into the room I had first entered.\n\nI kept very close to my dear husband, and never for a single instant\nleft him through all the solemn and impressive services; through the\nsad journey to our old home; the last rites at the grave; the\nafter-meeting with friends; and his final return to the weary routine\nof labor.  How thankful I was that I had been permitted to taste,\nduring that wonderful day in heaven, the joys of the blessed life!  How\nelse could I ever have passed calmly through those trying scenes, and\nwitnessed the sorrow of those so dear to my heart?  I recognize the\nwisdom and mercy of the Father in having so ordered it.\n\nI soon found that my husband was right; work was his great refuge.\nDuring the day the routine of labor kept brain and hands busy, leaving\nthe heart but little opportunity to indulge its sorrow.  Night was his\ntrying time.  Kind friends would stay with him till bedtime; after that\nhe was alone.  He would turn restlessly on his pillow, and often arise\nand go into the adjoining room that had formerly been mine, and gaze\nupon the vacant bed with tearful eyes.  It took all my powers to in any\ndegree soothe and quiet him.  After a time my brother Frank and I\narranged to spend alternate nights with him, that he might never be\nalone, and especially were we with him upon his journeys.  We found to\nour great joy that our influence over him was hourly growing stronger,\nand we were able to guide and help him in many ways.\n\nOne night as I was silently watching beside him while he slept, many\nmonths after he was alone, I became conscious that evil threatened him.\nHe was sleeping very peacefully, and I knew his dreams were happy ones\nby the smile upon his dear face.  I passed into the hall of the hotel\nwhere he was staying, and found it dense with smoke.  I hastened back\nto him and called, and tried to shake him, but he slept on peacefully.\nThen I called with all my strength, \"Will!\" close to his ear.\n\nInstantly he started up and said, \"Yes, dear, I am coming!\" just as he\nused to do when I called at night.  Then in a moment he sank back with\na sigh upon his pillow, murmuring, \"What a vivid dream!  I never heard\nher voice more distinctly in life.\"\n\n\"Will!\" I again called, pulling him by the hand with all my strength,\n\"rise quickly!  Your life is in danger!\"\n\nIn an instant he was out of bed, upon his feet, and hurriedly drawing\non his clothes.  \"I am sure I cannot tell why I am doing this,\" he\nmuttered to himself.  \"I only feel that I must!  That surely was her\nvoice I heard.\"\n\n\"Hurry!  Hurry!\" I urged.\n\nHe opened the door and met, not only the smoke, but tongues of flame.\n\n\"Do not try the stairway--come!\" and I drew him past the stairway, and\nthrough a narrow entrance to a second hall beyond, and down a second\nflight of stairs, filled with smoke, but as yet no flame.  Another\nflight still below these, then into the open air, where he staggered,\nfaint and exhausted, on to the sidewalk, and was quickly helped by\nfriends into a place of safety.\n\n\"I am sure I cannot tell what wakened me,\" he afterward said to a\nfriend.  \"I dreamed I heard my wife calling me, and before I knew it I\nwas dressing myself.\"\n\n\"You did hear her, I have no doubt,\" she said.  \"Are they not 'all\nministering spirits, sent forth to do service for the sake of them that\nshall inherit salvation'?  What lovelier service could she do than to\nthus save the life of one so dear to her, whose earth-work was not yet\ndone?  Yes, you did hear her call you in time to escape.  Thank God for\nsuch ministrations.\"\n\n\"Yes, it must be so,\" he answered, with a happy look.  \"Thank God\nindeed.\"\n\nAfter this he yielded much more readily to our influence, and thus\nbegan to enjoy, while yet upon earth, the reunion that so surely\nawaited us in the blessed life.  I often went also to the home of our\ndear children, but there was so much to make them happy that they did\nnot need me as their father did.  Sometimes in hours of great physical\nprostration, especially during the absence of his wife, I found that I\ncould quiet the overwrought nerves of my dear son, and lead his tired\nmind to restful thoughts; but with youth and strength and love to\nsupport him, the time had not yet come when my ministrations were\nessential.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\n  Many friends that traveled with me\n    Reached Heaven's portal long ago;\n  One by one they left me battling\n    With the dark and crafty foe.\n  They are watching at the portal,\n    They are waiting at the door;\n  Waiting only for my coming--\n    The beloved ones gone before.\n                    --[Mrs. H. M. Reasoner.\n\n\nThe first time I returned to the dear heavenly home after my long delay\non earth, as I approached the entrance, in the company of my brother\nFrank, we saw a tall young man standing close by the open gate, looking\nwistfully the way we came.  As we drew near, he said in an almost\npathetic voice:\n\n\"Is my mother coming?\"\n\nA closer scrutiny revealed his identity, and I exclaimed with joy,\nextending both hands to him, \"My dear Carroll!\"\n\nHe smiled a bright welcome as he extended his hands, but said\nwistfully, \"I so hoped my mother would return with you, aunt, when you\ncame back.  Did you see her?\"\n\n\"Once only, for a brief moment.  She is very happy and bears her years\nwell.  She will come to you now before long, but then you know it will\nbe forever.\"\n\n\"Yes, I know,\" he answered brightly.  \"I will be patient.  But,\" he\nadded confidentially, \"I so want her to see the lovely home I myself am\nbuilding for her.  Will you come and see it?\"\n\n\"Of course I will, gladly.\"\n\n\"Now?\"\n\n\"Yes, if I may\"; looking at my brother for his sanction.\n\nHe nodded his head pleasantly as he said: \"That is right, Carroll.\nHave her help you in every way you can.  I will leave you two together,\nand you will bring her to me later?\"\n\n\"Indeed, yes,\" said my nephew; and we went away happily together.\n\n\"Where is this wonderful house, Carroll?\"\n\n\"Not very far beyond Mrs. Wickham's,\" he said.\n\nWe soon reached it, and I was truly charmed with it in every way.  It\nwas fashioned much like my brother Nell's home, and was, like it, built\nof polished woods.  It was only partly finished, and was most\nartistically done.  Although uncompleted, I was struck with the fact\nthat everything was perfect so far as finished.  There was no debris\nanywhere; no chips, no shavings, no dust.  The wood seemed to have been\nperfectly prepared elsewhere--where, I have no idea.  The pieces were\nmade to fit accurately, like the parts of a great puzzle.  It required\nmuch skill and artistic taste to properly adjust each to its place.\nThis, my nephew, who even in the earthly life was quite a mechanical\ngenius, seemed to have no difficulty in doing, and the house was slowly\ngrowing into beauty and symmetry.  After showing me all over the house,\nhe at last drew aside the hangings before an entrance, beyond which\nwere two rooms, not only entirely finished, but beautifully furnished\nas well.\n\n\"I finished and furnished these rooms complete, so that if mother came\nbefore the house was ready, she could occupy them at once.  You know\nthere is no noise from workmen here; no hammering, no unwelcome sounds.\"\n\nI thought at once of the Temple of Jerusalem, where, during its\nerection, there was \"neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron\nheard in the house.\"\n\n\"It is very beautiful, my dear boy,\" I said enthusiastically.  \"It will\ngive her great joy to know you did it for her.  But what is this--a\nfireplace?\" pausing before a lovely open chimney, wherein wood was\npiled ready to be lighted.  \"Is it ever cold enough here for fires?\"\n\n\"It is never cold,\" he answered, \"but the fire here never sends out\nunneeded warmth.  We have its cheer and beauty and glow, without any of\nits discomforts.  You remember my mother loves to sit by an open fire;\nso I have arranged this for her.\"\n\n\"It is charming!  But you did not make the stained-glass windows also?\"\n\n\"No, I have a friend who has been taught that art, and we exchange\nwork.  He helps me with the windows, and I in turn help him with his\nfine woodwork and inlaying.  I am going to make a 'flower room' for my\nmother similar to yours, only of lilies and violets, which will retain\ntheir perfume always.\"\n\n\"How lovely!  I want to thank you, dear Carroll, for your share in our\n'flower room.'  It is the most exquisite work I ever saw; and it is\ndoubly so when I remember whose hands fashioned it.\"\n\n\"It was a labor of love with us all,\" he said simply.\n\n\"That is what enhances its beauty for me,\" I said.  \"But sit here by me\nnow, and tell me about yourself.  Do you spend all your time at this\ndelightful work?\"\n\n\"Oh, no, indeed!  Perhaps what we used to call two or three hours\ndaily.  Much of my time is still spent with my Grandfather R----.  I do\nnot know what I should have done when I first came here, but for him.\nI was so ignorant about this life, and came so suddenly.\"\n\n\"Yes, dear boy, I know,\" I said sympathetically.\n\n\"He met me at the very entrance, and took me at once home, where he and\ngrandma did everything possible to instruct and help me.  But I was, I\nam still, far below what I ought to be.  I would give a year out of\nthis blessed life--I would even go back to the old life for an entire\nyear--if I only could go to my old friends, or better, into every\nSunday-school in the world, and beseech the girls and boys to try to\nunderstand and profit by the instruction there received.  Why, I used\nto go to Sunday-school, Sunday after Sunday, help sing the hymns, and\nread the lesson, and listen to all that was said; and I really enjoyed\nevery moment of the time.  Sometimes I would feel a great longing after\na better life, but there seemed to be no one to especially guide or\nhelp me, and, the greater part of the time, what I heard one Sunday was\nnever once spoken of or even thought of till another Sunday came, so\nthat the impression made was very transient.  Why do not boys and girls\ntalk more together about what they hear at Sunday-school?  We were all\nready enough to talk about a show of any kind, after it was over, but\nseldom of the Sunday-school, when together socially.  Why do not\nteachers take more interest in the daily lives of their scholars?  Why\nis there so little really helpful talk in ordinary home life?  Oh, I\nwish I could go back and tell them this!\"\n\nHis face beamed with enthusiasm as he talked, and I, too, wished it\nmight be possible for him to do as he desired.  But alas! \"they will\nnot be persuaded even if one arise from the dead,\" I thought.\n\n\"It is now time for me to go with my grandfather,\" he said, rising,\n\"but we will walk together as far as your home; and you will let me\noften see you, will you not?\"\n\n\"Gladly,\" I answered, as we set forth.\n\nWe still conversed of many things, as we walked, and when we parted at\nthe door I said, \"I am soon to learn how to weave lovely draperies;\nthen I can help you, when you are ready for them.\"\n\n\"That will make my work more delightful still,\" was his reply, as he\nhastened on in the direction of my father's home.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\n  She is not dead--the child of our affection--\n    But gone unto that school\n  Where she no longer needs our poor protection,\n    And Christ himself doth rule.\n  Day after day we think what she is doing\n    In those bright realms of air;\n  Year after year, her tender steps pursuing,\n    Behold her grown more fair.\n                    --[Longfellow.\n\n  Hark! 'tis the voice of angels\n    Borne in a song to me,\n  Over the fields of glory,\n    Over the jasper sea!\n                    --[W. H. Doane.\n\n\nAs time passed, and I grew more accustomed to the heavenly life around\nme, I found its loveliness unfolded to me like the slow opening of a\nrare flower.  Delightful surprises met me at every turn.  Now a dear\nfriend, from whom I had parted years ago in the earth-life, would come\nunexpectedly upon me with cordial greeting; now one--perhaps on earth\ngreatly admired, but from whom I had held aloof, from the fear of\nunwelcome intrusion--would approach me, showing the lovely soul so full\nof responsive kindness and congenial thought, that I could but feel a\npang of regret for what I had lost.  Then the clear revelation of some\ntruth, only partly understood in life, though eagerly sought for, would\nstand out clear and strong before me, overwhelming me with its lustre,\nand perhaps showing the close tie linking the earth-life with the\ndivine.  But the most wonderful to me was the occasional meeting with\nsome one whom I had never hoped to meet \"over there,\" who, with eager\nhandclasp and tearful eyes, would pour forth his earnest thanks for\nsome helpful word, some solemn warning, or even some stern rebuke, that\nhad turned him, all unknown to myself, from the paths of sin into the\n\"life everlasting.\"  Oh, the joy to me of such a revelation!  Oh, the\nregret that my earth-life had not been more full of such work for\neternity!\n\nMy first impulse daily on arousing from happy, blissful rest, was to\nhasten to the \"river of life\" and plunge into its wonderful waters, so\nrefreshing, so invigorating, so inspiring.  With a heart full of\nthanksgiving and lips full of joyful praise, morning after morning,\nsometimes in company with my brother, sometimes alone, I hastened\nthither, returning always full of new life and hope and purpose to our\nhome, where for a time each day I listened to the entrancing\nrevelations and instructions of my brother.  One morning, soon after my\nreturn from my first visit to earth, as I was on the way to the river,\nmy voice joined to the wonderful anthem of praise everywhere sounding,\nI saw a lovely young girl approaching me swiftly, with outstretched\narms.\n\n\"Dear, dear Aunt Bertha!\" she called, as she drew near, \"do you not\nknow me?\"\n\n\"My little Mae!\" I cried, gathering the dainty creature into my arms.\n\"Where did you spring from so suddenly, dear?  Let me look at you\nagain!\" holding her a moment at arm's length, only to draw her again\ntenderly to me.\n\n\"You have grown very beautiful, my child.  I may say this to you here\nwithout fear, I am sure.  You were always lovely; you are simply\nradiant now.  Is it this divine life?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" she said modestly and sweetly; \"but most of all the being near\nthe Savior so much.\"\n\n\"Ah, yes, that is it--the being near Him!  That will make any being\nradiant and beautiful,\" I said.\n\n\"He is so good to me; so generous, so tender!  He seems to forget how\nlittle I have done to deserve his care.\"\n\n\"He knows you love him, dear heart; that means everything to him.\"\n\n\"Love him!  Oh, if loving him deserves reward, I am sure I ought to\nhave every wish of my heart, for I love him a thousandfold better than\nanything in earth or heaven.  I would die for him!\"\n\nThe sweet face grew surpassingly radiant and beautiful as she talked,\nand I began to dimly understand the wonderful power of Christ among the\nredeemed in heaven.  This dear child, so lovely in all mortal graces,\nso full of earth's keenest enjoyments during the whole of her brief\nlife--pure and good, as we count goodness below, yet seemingly too\nabsorbed in life's gayeties to think deeply of the things she yet in\nher heart revered and honored, now in this blessed life counted the\nprivilege of loving Christ, of being near him, beyond every other joy!\nAnd how that love refined and beautified the giver!  As a great earthly\nlove always shines through the face and elevates the whole character of\nthe one who loves, so this divine love uplifts and glorifies the giver,\nuntil not only the face but the entire person radiates the glory that\nfills the heart.\n\n\"Come with me to the river, Mae,\" I said presently, after we had talked\ntogether for some time; \"come with me for a delightful plunge.\"\n\n\"Gladly,\" she said; \"but have you ever been to the lake or the sea?\"\n\n\"The lake or the sea?\" I echoed.  \"No indeed.  Are there a lake and sea\nhere?\"\n\n\"Certainly there are,\" said Mae, with a little pardonable pride that\nshe should know more of the heavenly surroundings than I.  \"Shall we go\nto the lake to-day, and leave the sea for another day?  Which shall it\nbe?\"\n\n\"Let it be the lake to-day,\" I said.\n\nSo, turning in an entirely different direction from the path that led\nto the river, we walked joyously on, still talking as we went.  So much\nto ask, so much to recall, so much to look forward to with joy!\n\nOnce she turned to me and asked quickly:\n\n\"When is my Uncle Will coming?\"\n\nMy hand closed tightly over hers, and a sob almost rose in my throat,\nthough I answered calmly:\n\n\"That is in God's hands alone; we may not question.\"\n\n\"Yes, I know.  His will is always right; but I so long to see my dear\nuncle again; and to 'long' is not to repine.\"\n\nShe had grown so womanly, so wise, this child of tender years, since we\nparted, that it was a joy to talk with her.  I told her of my sad\nerrand to earth, and the sorrow of the dear ones I had left.\n\n\"Yes, yes, I know it all!\" she whispered, with her soft arms about me.\n\"But it will not be long to wait.  They will come soon.  It never seems\nlong to wait for anything here.  There is always so much to keep one\nbusy; so many pleasant duties, so many joys--oh, it will not be long!\"\n\nThus she cheered and comforted me as we walked through the ever-varying\nand always perfect landscape.  At length she cried, lifting her arm and\npointing with her rosy finger:\n\n\"Behold!  Is it not divinely beautiful?\"\n\nI caught my breath, then stopped abruptly and covered my face with my\nhands to shield my eyes from the glorified scene.  No wonder my brother\nhad not sooner brought me to this place; I was scarcely yet spiritually\nstrong enough to look upon it.  When I again slowly lifted my head, Mae\nwas standing like one entranced.  The golden morning light rested upon\nher face, and, mingling with the radiance that had birth within, almost\ntransfigured her.  Even she, so long an inhabitant here, had not yet\ngrown accustomed to its glory.\n\n\"Look, darling auntie!  It is God's will that you should see,\" she\nsoftly whispered, not once turning her eyes away from the scene before\nher.  \"He let me be the one to show you the glory of this place!\"\n\nI turned and looked, like one but half awakened.  Before us spread a\nlake as smooth as glass, but flooded with a golden glory caught from\nthe heavens, that made it like a sea of molten gold.  The blossom- and\nfruit-bearing trees grew down to its very border in many places, and\nfar, far away, across its shining waters, arose the domes and spires of\nwhat seemed to be a mighty city.  Many people were resting upon its\nflowery banks, and on the surface of the water were boats of wonderful\nstructure, filled with happy souls, and propelled by an unseen power.\nLittle children, as well as grown persons, were floating upon or\nswimming in the water; and as we looked a band of singing cherubs,\nfloating high overhead, drifted across the lake, their baby voices\nborne to us where we stood, in notes of joyful praise.\n\n\"Come,\" said Mae, seizing my hand, \"let us join them\"; and we hastened\nonward.\n\n\"Glory and honor!\" sang the child voices.  \"Dominion and power!\" caught\nup and answered the voices of the vast multitude together, and in the\nstrain I found that Mae and I were joining.  The cherub band floated\nonward, and away in the distance we caught the faint melody of their\nsweet voices, and the stronger cadence of the response from those\nwaiting below.\n\nWe stood upon the margin of the lake, and my cheeks were tear-bedewed\nand my eyes dim with emotion.  I felt weak as a little child; but oh,\nwhat rapture, what joy unspeakable filled and overmastered me!  Was I\ndreaming?  Or was this indeed but another phase of the immortal life?\n\nMae slipped her arm about my neck and whispered, \"Dearest, come.  After\nthe rapture--rest.\"\n\nI yielded to her passively; I could not do otherwise.  She led me into\nthe water, down, down into its crystal depths, and when it seemed to me\nwe must be hundreds of feet beneath the surface, she threw herself\nprostrate and bade me do the same.  I did so, and immediately we began\nto slowly rise.  Presently I found that we no longer rose, but were\nslowly floating in mid-current, many feet still beneath the surface.\nThen appeared to me a marvel.  Look where I would, perfect prismatic\nrays surrounded me.  I seemed to be resting in the heart of a prism;\nand such vivid yet delicate coloring, mortal eyes never rested upon.\nInstead of the seven colors, as we see them here, the colors blended in\nsuch rare graduation of shades as to make the rays seem almost\ninfinite, or they really were so; I could not decide which.\n\nAs I lay watching this marvelous panorama, for the colors deepened and\nfaded like the lights of the aurora borealis, I was attracted by the\nsound of distant music.  Although Mae and I no longer clung together,\nwe did not drift apart, as one would naturally suppose we might, but\nlay within easy speaking-distance of each other, although few words\nwere spoken by either of us; the silence seemed too sacred to be\nlightly broken.  We lay upon, or rather within, the water, as upon the\nsoftest couch.  It required no effort whatever to keep ourselves\nafloat; the gentle undulation of the waves soothed and rested us.  When\nthe distant music arrested my attention, I turned and looked at Mae.\nShe smiled back at me, but did not speak.  Presently I caught the\nwords, \"Glory and honor, dominion and power,\" and I knew it was still\nthe cherub choir, although they must now be many miles distant.  Then\nthe soft tones of a bell--a silver bell with silver tongue--fell on my\near, and as the last notes died away, I whispered:\n\n\"Tell me, Mae.\"\n\n\"Yes, dear, I will.  The waters of this lake catch the light in a most\nmarvelous manner, as you have seen; a wiser head than mine must tell\nyou why.  They also transmit musical sounds--only musical sounds--for a\ngreat distance.  The song was evidently from the distant shore of the\nlake.\"\n\n\"And the bell?\"\n\n\"That is the bell which in the city across the lake calls to certain\nduties at this hour.\"\n\n\"There never was a sweeter call to duty,\" I said.\n\n\"Yes, its notes are beautiful.  Hark! now it rings a chime.\"\n\nWe lay and listened, and as we listened a sweet spell wrapped me round,\nand I slept as peacefully as a child on its mother's bosom.  I awoke\nwith a strange sense of invigoration and strength.  It was a feeling\nwholly dissimilar to that experienced during a bath in the river, yet I\ncould not explain how.  Mae said:\n\n\"One takes away the last of the earth-life, and prepares us for the\nlife upon which we enter; the other fills us to overflowing with a\ndraught from the Celestial Life itself.\"\n\nAnd I think the child was right.\n\nWhen we emerged from the water we found the banks of the lake almost\ndeserted, every one having gone, at the call of the bell, to the happy\nduties of the hour.  Groups of children still played around in joyous\nfreedom.  Some climbed the trees that overhung the water, with the\nagility of squirrels, and dropped with happy shouts of laughter into\nthe lake, floating around upon its surface like immense and beautiful\nwater-lilies or lotus flowers.\n\n\"No fear of harm or danger; no dread of ill, or anxiety lest a mishap\noccur; security, security and joy and peace!  This is indeed the\nblessed life,\" I said, as we stood watching the sports of the happy\nchildren.\n\n\"I often think how we were taught to believe that heaven was where we\nwould wear crowns of gold and stand with harps always in our hands!\nOur crowns of gold are the halos His blessed presence casts about us;\nand we do not need harps to accentuate our songs of praise.  We do see\nthe crowns, and we do hear the angelic harps, when and as God wills it,\nbut our best worship is to do his blessed will,\" said Mae as we turned\nto go.\n\n\"You are wise in the lore of heaven, my child,\" I answered; \"how happy\nI am to learn from one so dear!  Tell me all about your life here.\"\n\nSo as we walked she told me the history of her years in heaven her\nduties, her joys, her friends, her home--with all the old-time freedom.\nI found her home was distant from our own--far beyond the spires of the\ngreat city across the lake--but she added:\n\n\"What is distance in heaven?  We come and go at will.  We feel no\nfatigue, no haste, experience no delays; it is blessed, blessed!\"\n\nNot far from our home we saw a group of children playing upon the\ngrass, and in their midst was a beautiful great dog, over which they\nwere rolling and tumbling with the greatest freedom.  As we approached\nhe broke away from them and came bounding to meet us, and crouched and\nfawned at my very feet with every gesture of glad welcome.\n\n\"Do you not know him, auntie?\" Mae asked brightly.\n\n\"It is dear old Sport!\" I cried, stooping and placing my arms about his\nneck, and resting my head on his silken hair.  \"Dear old fellow!  How\nhappy I am to have you here!\"\n\nHe responded to my caresses with every expression of delight, and Mae\nlaughed aloud at our mutual joy.\n\n\"I have often wondered if I should not some day find him here.  He\nsurely deserves a happy life for his faithfulness and devotion in the\nother life.  His intelligence and his fidelity were far above those of\nmany human beings whom we count immortal.\"\n\n======================================================================\n\n[Illustration: \"Hark! 'tis the voice of angels]\n\n  \"Hark! 'tis the voice of angels\n  Born in a song to me,\n  Over the fields of glory,\n  Over the jasper sea!\"]\n\n======================================================================\n\n\"Did he not sacrifice his life for little Will?\"\n\n\"Yes; he attempted to cross the track in front of an approaching train,\nbecause he saw it would pass between him and his little master, and\nfeared he was in danger.  It cost his life.  He always placed himself\nbetween any of us and threatened danger, but Will he seemed to consider\nhis especial charge.  He was a gallant fellow--he deserves immortality.\nDear, dear old Sport, you shall never leave me again!\" I said,\ncaressing him fondly.\n\nAt this he sprang to his feet, barking joyously, and gambolled and\nfrolicked before us the rest of the way home, then lay down upon the\ndoorstep, with an upward glance and a wag of his bushy tail, as though\nto say, \"See how I take you at your word!\"\n\n\"He understands every word we say,\" said Mae.\n\n\"Of course he does; he only lacks speech to make him perfect.  I\nsomehow hoped he might find it here.\"\n\n\"He would not be half so interesting if he could talk,\" said Mae.\n\n\"Possibly not.  How silken and beautiful his long hair is!\"\n\n\"He has his bath in the river every day, and it leaves its mark on him\nalso.  Do you know I think one of the sweetest proofs we have of the\nFather's loving care for us is, that we so often find in this life the\nthings which gave us great happiness below.  The more unexpected this\nis, the greater joy it brings.  I remember once seeing a beautiful\nlittle girl enter heaven, the very first to come of a large and\naffectionate family.  I afterward learned that the sorrowful cry of her\nmother was, 'Oh, if only we had someone there to meet her, to care for\nher!'  She came, lovingly nestled in the Master's own arms, and a\nlittle later, as he sat, still caressing and talking to her, a\nremarkably fine Angora kitten, of which the child had been very fond,\nand which had sickened and died some weeks before, to her great sorrow,\ncame running across the grass and sprang directly into her arms, where\nit lay contentedly.  Such a glad cry as she recognized her little\nfavorite, such a hugging and kissing as that kitten received, made joy\neven in heaven!  Who but our loving Father would have thought of such\ncomfort for a little child?  She had evidently been a timid child; but\nnow as the children gathered about her, with the delightful freedom\nthey always manifest in the presence of the beloved Master, she,\nlooking up confidingly into the tender eyes above her, began to shyly\ntell of the marvelous intelligence of her dumb pet, until at last Jesus\nleft her contentedly playing among the flowers with the little\ncompanions who had gathered about her.  Our Father never forgets us,\nbut provides pleasures and comforts for us all, according to our\nindividual needs.\"\n\n\"When shall I behold the Savior?  When shall I meet, face to face, him\nwhom my soul so loveth?\" my hungry heart began to cry out in its depths.\n\nMae, as though understanding the silent cry, placed both arms about my\nneck, looked tenderly into my eyes, and whispered:\n\n\"You, too, dearest, will see him soon.  He never delays when the time\nis ripe for his coming.  It will not be long; you, too, will see him\nsoon.\"\n\nSo we parted, each to the duties of the hour.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\n  Sae little noo I ken o' blessed, bonnie place,\n  I only ken it's Hame, whaur we shall see His face\n  It wad surely be eneuch forever mair to be\n  In the glory o' His presence, in oor ain countrie.\n  Like a bairn to his mither, a wee birdie to its nest,\n  I wad fain be gangin' noo unto my Savior's breast,\n  For he gathers in his bosom witless, worthless lambs like me,\n  And carries them himsel' to his ain countrie.\n                    --[Mary Lee Demarest.\n\n\nThe following morning my brother said to me, after an interesting hour\nof instruction:\n\n\"Shall we go for the promised visit to Mrs. Wickham now?\"\n\n\"Indeed, yes!\" I answered eagerly; so we at once set forth.\n\nWe soon reached her lovely home and found her waiting at the entrance\nas though expecting us.  After a cordial greeting to our friend, my\nbrother said:\n\n\"I will leave you together for that 'long talk' for which I know you\nare both eager, and will go my way to other duties.  I will find you,\nlater on, at home.\"  The last remark to me.\n\n\"All right,\" I answered.  \"I am familiar with the way now, and need no\nattendance.\"\n\nAfter he had gone, my friend took me all over her lovely home, showing\nme, with great pleasure, the rooms prepared for each beloved member of\nher earthly household still to come.  One very large room, into whose\nopen windows at each end the blossom- and fruit-laden boughs of the\nimmortal trees looked invitingly, was evidently her especial care; she\nwhispered to me, \"Douglass always did like a large room.  I am sure he\nwill like this one.\"  And I was also sure.\n\nReturning down the broad stairway, we found it entered into a very\nlarge music-room, with broad galleries supported by marble columns,\nrunning across three sides of it, on a level with the second floor.  In\nthis gallery was a number of musical instruments--harps, viols, and\nsome unlike any instruments I had ever seen elsewhere.  The room itself\nwas filled with easy-chairs, couches and window-seats, where listeners\ncould rest and hear the sweet harmonies from the galleries.\n\n\"My daughter,\" my friend explained, \"who left us in early childhood,\nhas received a fine musical training here, and is fond of gathering in\nher young friends and giving us quite often a musical treat.  You know\nour old home of Springville has furnished some rare voices for the\nheavenly choirs.  Mary Allis, Will Griggs, and many others you will\noften hear in this room, I trust.\"\n\nWe re-entered, from this room, the dainty reception hall opening upon\nthe front veranda and outer steps.  Here Mrs. Wickham drew me to a seat\nbeside her and said:\n\n\"Now, tell me everything of the dear home and all its blessed inmates.\"\n\nHolding each other's hands as we talked, she questioning, I answering,\nthings too sacred to be repeated here were dwelt upon for hours.  At\nlast she said, rising hastily:\n\n\"I will leave you for a little while--nay, you must not go,\" as I would\nhave risen, \"there is much yet to be said; wait here, I will return.\"\n\nI had already learned not to question the judgment of these wiser\nfriends, and yielded to her will.  As she passed through the doorway to\nthe inner house, I saw a stranger at the front entrance and arose to\nmeet him.  He was tall and commanding in form, with a face of ineffable\nsweetness and beauty.  Where had I seen him before?  Surely, surely I\nhad met him since I came.  \"Ah, now I know!\" I thought; \"it is St.\nJohn, the beloved disciple.\"  He had been pointed out to me one morning\nby the river-side.\n\n\"Peace be unto this house,\" was his salutation as he entered.\n\nHow his voice stirred and thrilled me!  No wonder the Master loved him,\nwith that voice and that face!\n\n\"Enter.  Thou art a welcome guest.  Enter, and I will call the\nmistress,\" I said, as I approached to bid him welcome.\n\n\"Nay, call her not.  She knows that I am here; she will return,\" he\nsaid.  \"Sit thou awhile beside me,\" he continued, as he saw that I\nstill stood, after I had seen him seated.  He arose and led me to a\nseat near him, and like a child I did as I was bidden; still watching,\nalways watching, the wonderful face before me.\n\n\"You have but lately come?\" he said.\n\n\"Yes, I am here but a short time.  So short that I know not how to\nreckon time as you count it here,\" I answered.\n\n\"Ah, that matters little,\" he said with a gentle smile.  \"Many cling\nalways to the old reckoning and the earth-language.  It is a link\nbetween the two lives; we would not have it otherwise.  How does the\nchange impress you?  How do you find life here?\"\n\n\"Ah,\" I said, \"if they could only know!  I never fully understood till\nnow the meaning of that sublime passage, 'Eye hath not seen, nor ear\nheard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God\nhath prepared for them that love him.'  It is indeed past human\nconception.\"  I spoke with deep feeling.\n\n\"'For them that love him'?  Do you believe that all Christians truly\nlove him?\" he asked.  \"Do you think they love the Father for the gift\nof the Son and the Son because of the Father's love and mercy?  Or is\ntheir worship ofttimes that of duty rather than love?\"  He spoke\nreflectively and gently.\n\n\"Oh,\" I said, \"you who so well know the beloved Master--who were so\nloved by him--how can you doubt the love he must inspire in all hearts\nwho seek to know him?\"\n\nA radiant glow overspread the wonderful face, which he lifted, looking\ndirectly at me--the mist rolled away from before my eyes--and I knew\nhim!  With a low cry of joy and adoration, I threw myself at his feet,\nbathing them with happy tears.  He gently stroked my bowed head for a\nmoment, then rising, lifted me to his side.\n\n\"My Savior--my King!\" I whispered, clinging closely to him.\n\n\"Yes, and Elder Brother and Friend,\" he added, wiping away tenderly the\ntears stealing from beneath my closed eyelids.\n\n\"Yes, yes, 'the chiefest among ten thousand, and the One altogether\nlovely!'\" again I whispered.\n\n\"Ah, now you begin to meet the conditions of the new life!  Like many\nanother, the changing of faith to sight with you has engendered a\nlittle shrinking, a little fear.  That is all wrong.  Have you\nforgotten the promise, 'I go to prepare a place for you; that where I\nam, there ye may be also'?  If you loved me when you could not see me\nexcept by faith, love me more now when we have really become 'co-heirs\nof the Father.'  Come to me with all that perplexes or gladdens; come\nto the Elder Brother always waiting to receive you with joy.\"\n\nThen he drew me to a seat, and conversed with me long and earnestly,\nunfolding many of the mysteries of the divine life.  I hung upon his\nwords; I drank in every tone of his voice; I watched eagerly every line\nof the beloved face; and I was exalted, uplifted, upborne, beyond the\npower of words to express.  At length with a divine smile, he arose.\n\n\"We will often meet,\" he said; and I, bending over, pressed my lips\nreverently to the hand still clasping my own.  Then laying his hands a\nmoment in blessing upon my bowed head, he passed noiselessly and\nswiftly from the house.\n\nAs I stood watching the Savior's fast-receding figure, passing beneath\nthe flower-laden trees, I saw two beautiful young girls approaching the\nway he went.  With arms intertwining they came, happily conversing\ntogether, sweet Mary Bates and Mae Camden.  When they saw the Master,\nwith a glad cry they flew to meet him, and as he joyously extended a\nhand to each, they turned, and each clinging to his hand, one upon\neither side, accompanied him on his way, looking up trustingly into his\nface as he talked with them, and apparently conversing with him with\nhappy freedom.  I saw his face from time to time in profile, as he\nturned and looked down lovingly, first upon one, then the other lovely\nupturned face, and I thought, \"That is the way he would have us be with\nhim--really as children with a beloved elder brother.\"  I watched them\ntill the trees hid them from my sight, longing to gather the dear girls\nto my heart, but knowing his presence was to them then more than aught\nelse; then I turned and passed softly through the house to the\nbeautiful entrance at the rear.  Just before I reached the door I met\nmy friend Mrs. Wickham.  Before I could speak, she said:\n\n\"I know all about it.  Do not try to speak; I know your heart is full.\nI will see you very soon--there, go!\" and she pushed me gently to the\ndoor.\n\nHow my heart blessed her--for it indeed seemed sacrilege to try to talk\non ordinary topics after this blessed experience.  I did not follow the\nwalk, but kept across the flowery turf, beneath the trees, till I\nreached home.  I found my brother sitting upon the veranda, and as I\nascended the steps he rose to meet me.  When he looked into my face, he\ntook both hands into his for an instant, and simply said, very gently:\n\n\"Ah, I see.  You have been with the Master!\" and stepped aside almost\nreverently for me to enter the house.\n\nI hastened to my room, and, dropping the draperies behind me at the\ndoor, I threw myself upon the couch, and with closed eyes lived over\nevery instant I had spent in that hallowed Presence.  I recalled every\nword and tone of the Savior's voice, and fastened the instructions he\nhad given me indelibly upon my memory.  I seemed to have been lifted to\na higher plane of existence, to have drunk deeper draughts from the\nfountain of all good, since I had met \"Him whom my soul loved.\"  It was\na long, blessed communion that I held thus with my own soul on that\nhallowed day.  When I looked upon the pictured face above me, I\nwondered that I had not at once recognized the Christ, the likeness was\nso perfect.  But I concluded that for some wise purpose my \"eyes were\nholden\" until it was his pleasure that I should see him as he is.\n\nWhen at last I arose, the soft golden twilight was about me, and I\nknelt by my couch, to offer my first prayer in heaven.  Up to this time\nmy life there had been a constant thanksgiving--there had seemed no\nroom for petition.  Now as I knelt all I could utter over and over, was:\n\n\"I thank Thee, blessed Father; I thank Thee, I thank Thee!\"\n\nWhen I at last descended the stairs, I found my brother standing in the\ngreat \"flower-room,\" and, going to him, I said softly:\n\n\"Frank, what do you do in heaven when you want to pray?\"\n\n\"We praise!\" he answered.\n\n\"Then let us praise now,\" I said.\n\nAnd standing there, with clasped hands, we lifted up our hearts and\nvoices in a hymn of praise to God; my brother with his clear, strong\nvoice leading, I following.  As the first notes sounded, I thought the\nroof echoed them; but I soon found that other voices blended with ours,\nuntil the whole house seemed filled with unseen singers.  Such a grand\nhymn of praise earth never heard.  And as the hymn went on, I\nrecognized many dear voices from the past--Will Griggs' pathetic tenor,\nMary Allis' exquisite soprano, and many another voice that wakened\nmemories of the long ago.  Then as I heard sweet child-voices, and\nlooked up, I saw above us such a cloud of radiant baby faces as flooded\nmy heart with joy.  The room seemed filled with them.\n\n\"Oh, what a life--what a divine life!\" I whispered, as, after standing\nuntil the last lingering notes had died away, my brother and I returned\nto the veranda and sat in the golden twilight.\n\n\"You are only in the first pages of its record,\" he said.  \"Its\nblessedness must be gradually unfolded to us, or we could not, even\nhere, bear its dazzling glory.\"\n\nThen followed an hour of hallowed intercourse, when he led my soul\nstill deeper into the mysteries of the glorious life upon which I had\nnow entered.  He taught me; I listened.  Sometimes I questioned, but\nrarely.  I was content to take of the heavenly manna as it was given\nme, with a heart full of gratitude and love.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\n  Not as a child shall we again behold her;\n    For when with rapture wild\n  In our embraces we again enfold her,\n    She will not be a child,\n  But a fair maiden, in her Father's Mansion,\n    Clothed with celestial grace,\n  And beautiful with all the soul's expansion\n    Shall we behold her face.\n                    --[Henry W. Longfellow\n\n\nThe next day, my brother being away upon an important mission, I\nstarted out alone to see if I might not find the dear young friends of\nwhom I had caught a fleeting glimpse the day before.  I knew that all\nthings were ordered aright in that happy world, and that sooner or\nlater I should find them again; yet I could but hope it might be very\nsoon.  I recalled the happy light upon their fresh young faces as they\nhad met the beloved Master, and I longed to talk with them of their\nlife from day to day.  From thinking of them, I began again to think of\nmy blessed interview with Him, and became so absorbed in these thoughts\nthat I was even oblivious to the beautiful world around me.  Suddenly I\nheard some one say:\n\n\"Surely that is Mrs. Sprague!\" and looking up, I saw sweet Mary Bates a\nfew steps away, regarding me intently.  I cried joyfully:\n\n\"My precious Mamie!\"\n\nShe flew to me, and folding me in her arms, drew my head to her\nshoulder in the old caressing way, almost sobbing in her great joy.\n\n\"Dear, dear little muzzer!\"--a pet name often used by her in the happy\npast--\"how glad, how glad I am to have you here!  I could scarcely wait\nto find you.\"\n\n\"How did you know I was here, Mamie?\"\n\n\"The Master told me,\" she said softly.  \"Mae had already told me, and\nwe were on the way to find you when we met him, and he told us he had\njust left you.  Then we knew we must wait a little,\" she said\nreverently.\n\nHow my heart thrilled!  He had thought about, had spoken of me, after\nwe parted!  I longed to ask her what he had said, but dared not.\nSeeming to divine my thoughts, she continued:\n\n\"He spoke so tenderly about you, and said we must be with you much.\nMae had work to do to-day, and as she had already seen you once, I came\nalone.  She may be here later on.  May I stay a long time with you?\nThere is so much to tell you, so much to ask about!\"\n\n\"Indeed you may.  I had started out to find you, when we met.  Come,\ndear child, let us return home at once.\"\n\nSo, clinging to each other, we set out toward my home.\n\n\"What shall I tell you first?\" I asked.\n\n\"Everything about the dear ones--every individual member of our beloved\nhousehold.  Begin with my precious, heart-broken mother;\" here her\nvoice broke a little, but she soon continued, \"I am with her often, but\nher great, and I fear unreconciled, sorrow, keeps me from being the\ncomfort to her I long to be.  If only she could spend one hour with me\nhere, could know God's wisdom and love as we know it, how the cloud\nwould lift from her life!  How she would see that the two lives, after\nall, are but one.\"\n\n\"Yes, dear,\" I answered, \"I always urged her to think of it in that\nlight and to trust implicitly in the Father's tender care and\nnever-failing love; but it is difficult for us to see beyond the lonely\nhearthstone and the vacant chair.  Still, I believe she does begin to\ndimly grasp the comfort you are so eager to impart.\"\n\n\"Ah, if only she knew that I need just that to complete my happiness\nnow!  We cannot sorrow here as we did on earth, because we have learned\nto know that the Will of the Father is always tender and wise; but even\nheaven can never be complete for me while I know that my precious\nmother is forgetful of her many rare blessings, simply because I may\nnot be with her, in the flesh, to share them.  There is my father, and\nthe boys--why, I am as truly hers still as they are!  I often sit with\nthem all, with her hand in mine, or my arms about her--my dear little\nmother!  Why must she see me, to recognize this?  But this is almost\ncomplaining, is it not?  Some day she will know all--we must be\npatient.\"\n\nAs we walked on slowly, conversing of the earth-life, still in many\nphases so dear to us, she asking eager questions, I answering as best I\ncould, we saw a group of four persons, three women and a man, standing\nunder the trees a little to one side of the walk.  The man's back was\ntowards us, but we at once recognized the Master.  The women were all\nstrangers, and one of them seemed to have just arrived.  Her hand the\nSavior held, as he talked with her, while all were intently listening\nto his words.  We regarded the group in silence as we slowly passed,\nnot hoping for recognition from him at such a time, but just as we were\nopposite to them, \"he turned and looked upon\" us.  He did not\nspeak--but oh, that look!  So full of tenderness and encouragement and\nbenediction!  It lifted us, it bore us upward, it enthralled and\nexalted us; and as we passed onward, the clasp of our hands tightened,\nand rapture unspeakable flooded our hearts.\n\nWe finished our walk in silence, and sat down on the marble steps in\nthe shadow of the overhanging trees.  The dear child nestled close\nagainst my side, and laid her head upon my shoulder, while I rested my\ncheek caressingly upon it.  After a time I whispered, half to myself,\n\"Was there ever such a look!\"\n\nInstantly she raised her head and looking at me, said eagerly: \"You\nthink so, too?  I was sure you would.  It is always just so.  If he is\ntoo much engaged to speak to you at the time, he just looks at you, and\nit is as though he had talked a long while with you.  Is he not\nwonderful!  Why, why could we not know him on earth as we know him\nhere?\"\n\n\"How long were you here before you met him?\" I asked.\n\n\"Oh, that is the wonderful part of it!  His was the first face I looked\nupon after I left the body.  I felt bewildered when I first realized\nthat I was free, and I stood for a moment irresolute.  Then I saw him\nstanding just beside me, with that same look upon his face.  At first I\nfelt timid and half afraid.  Then he stretched forth his hand to me,\nand said gently, 'My child, I have come to take care of you; trust me;\ndo not be afraid.'  Then I knew him, and instantly all fear left me,\nand I clung to him as I would have done to either of my brothers.  He\ndid not say much to me, but somehow I felt that he understood all of my\nthoughts.  After a moment, I asked:\n\n\"'May I not remain awhile with mamma?  She is heart-broken.'\n\n\"'Yes, dear child, as long as you desire,' he answered compassionately.\n\n\"'Will you also remain?' I asked, for I already felt I could not bear\nto have him leave me.\n\n\"He looked much pleased, as though he divined my thought, as he\nanswered: 'Yes, I will never leave you, till you are ready to accompany\nme.'\n\n\"Then I went to mamma and put my arms about her, and presently the\nMaster, too, came and whispered words of comfort to her; but I am not\nsure she recognized our presence, though I fancied that she grew more\ncalm beneath my caresses.  We stayed till all was over.  I never left\nmamma an instant, except that twice I stole to poor little Hal's\nsick-room when he was for a short time alone.  I have always felt that\nhe recognized my presence more than any of them, he lay so still and\ncalm when I talked to him.  He seemed to be listening.  When they\ngathered for the last time about my casket, it seemed to me I must\nspeak, I must show myself to them!  Could they for one instant have\nseen my living self, standing so calmly in their midst, they would have\nturned forever from the lifeless clay they had embalmed and beautified\nfor the tomb.  They would have known I was not there.  But they would\nnot recognize the truth.  At last I pleaded with the Master to let me\nshow myself once to them, there.  But he said, 'It is not the Father's\nwill.'\n\n\"After that I accepted fully the Father's will, and soon thereafter he\nbrought me here in his arms.  And what a blessed life it is!\"\n\nI can give only a brief outline of our conversation on that first happy\nday.  It is too sacred to be scanned by curious eyes.  We talked until\nthe golden twilight fell, and we watched the little birds nestling in\nthe vines, and heard afar the solemnly joyous notes of the angels'\nchoral song, and joined our voices in the hymn of praise.  Later we\nwent to my room, and lay down upon my dainty couch for rest, and the\nlast words I heard before sinking into heaven's blissful sleep were,\ntenderly whispered: \"Dear, dear little muzzer, I am so glad and happy\nthat you are here!\"\n\nMore than once the question has been asked, \"Was there night there?\"\nEmphatically, no!  What, for want of a better designation, we may call\n\"day,\" was full of a glorious radiance, a roseate golden light, which\nwas everywhere.  There is no language known to mortals that can\ndescribe this marvelous glory.  It flooded the sky; it was caught up\nand reflected in the waters; it filled all heaven with joy and all\nhearts with song.  After a period much longer than our longest earthly\nday, this glory mellowed and softened until it became a glowing\ntwilight full of peace.  The children ceased their playing beneath the\ntrees, the little birds nestled among the vines, and all who had been\nbusy in various ways throughout the day sought rest and quiet.  But\nthere was no darkness, no dusky shadows even---only a restful softening\nof the glory.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\n  O sweet and blessed country,\n    The home of God's elect!\n  O sweet and blessed country\n    That eager hearts expect!\n  There stand those halls of Zion\n    All jubilant with song,\n  And bright with many an angel,\n    And all the martyr throng.\n                    --[St. Bernard of Cluny.\n\n\nNot long after this my brother said, \"We will go to the grand\nauditorium this morning; it will be a rare day even here.  Martin\nLuther is to talk on 'The Reformation; Its Causes and Effects,' and\nthis will be supplemented by a talk from John Wesley.  There may also\nbe other speakers.\"\n\nIt was not the first time we had visited this great auditorium,\nalthough I have not hitherto described it.  It stood upon a slight\neminence, and the mighty dome was supported by massive columns of\nalternate amethyst and jasper.  There were no walls to the vast\nedifice; only the great dome and supporting columns.  A broad platform\nof precious marbles, inlaid in porphyry, arose from the center, from\nwhich the seats ascended on three sides, forming an immense\namphitheater.  The seats were of cedar wood highly polished; and back\nof the platform were heavy hangings of royal purple.  An altar of solid\npearl stood near the center of the platform.  The great dome was deep\nand dark in its immensity, so that only the golden statues around its\nlower border were distinctly visible.  All this I had noted at former\nvisits.\n\nWhen we entered, we found the building filled with people eagerly\nwaiting for what was to follow.  We soon were seated and also waiting.\nSoft strains of melody floated about us, from an invisible choir, and\nbefore long Martin Luther, in the prime of a vigorous manhood, ascended\nthe steps and stood before us.  It is not my purpose to dwell upon his\nappearance, so familiar to us all, except to say that his great\nintellect and spiritual strength seemed to have added to his already\npowerful physique, and made him a fit leader still, even in heavenly\nplaces.\n\nHis discourse would of itself fill a volume, and could not be given\neven in outline, in this brief sketch.  He held us enthralled by the\npower of his will and his eloquence.  When he at length retired, John\nWesley took his place, and the saintly beauty of his face, intensified\nby the heavenly light upon it, was wonderful.  His theme was \"God's\nlove;\" and if in the earth-life he dwelt upon it with power, he now\nswept our souls with the fire of his exaltation, until we were as wax\nin his hands.  He showed what that love had done for us, and how an\neternity of thanksgiving and praise could never repay it.\n\nSilence, save for the faint, sweet melody of the unseen choir, rested\nupon the vast audience for some time after he left.  All seemed lost in\ncontemplation of the theme so tenderly dwelt upon.  Then the heavy\ncurtains back of the platform parted, and a tall form, about whom all\nthe glory of heaven seemed to center, emerged from their folds and\nadvanced toward the middle of the platform.  Instantly the vast\nconcourse of souls arose to their feet, and burst forth as with one\nvoice into that grand anthem in which we had so often joined on earth:\n\n  \"All hail the power of Jesus' name,\n    Let angels prostrate fall;\n  Bring forth the royal diadem,\n    And crown him Lord of all.\"\n\n\nSuch a grand chorus of voices, such unity, such harmony, such volume,\nwas never heard on earth.  It rose, it swelled, it seemed to fill not\nonly the great auditorium, but heaven itself.  And still, above it all,\nwe heard the voices of the angel choir, no longer breathing the soft,\nsweet melody, but bursting forth into paeans of triumphant praise.  A\nflood of glory seemed to fill the place, and looking upward we beheld\nthe great dome ablaze with golden light, and the angelic forms of the\nno longer invisible choir in its midst, with their heavenly harps and\nviols, and their faces only less radiant than that of Him in whose\npraise they sang.  And he, before whom all heaven bowed in adoration,\nstood with uplifted face and kingly mien, the very God of earth and\nheaven.  He was the center of all light, and a divine radiance\nsurrounded him that was beyond compare.\n\nAs the hymn of praise and adoration ceased, all sank slowly to their\nknees, and every head was bowed and every face covered as the angel\nchoir chanted again the familiar words:\n\n\"Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.  As it\nwas in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.\nAmen, Amen!\"\n\n\nSlowly the voices died away, and a holy silence fell upon us.\nPresently, slowly and reverently, all arose and resumed their places.\nNo, not all.  Sweet Mary Bates had accompanied us to the sanctuary, and\nI now noticed that she alone still knelt in our midst, with clasped\nhands and radiant uplifted face, her lovely eyes fixed upon the Savior,\nas he still stood waiting before us, with such a look of self-forgetful\nadoration and love as made her herself truly divine.  She was so rapt I\ndared not disturb her; but in a moment the Master turned and met her\nadoring eyes with such a look of loving recognition, that with a deep\nsigh of satisfied desire, as he turned again, she quietly resumed her\nseat beside me, slipping her little hand into mine with all the\nconfidence of a child who feels sure it is understood to the utmost.\n\nAs I looked upon the glorious form before us, clothed in all the\nmajesty of the Godhead, my heart tremblingly asked: \"Can this indeed be\nthe Christ-man whom Pilate condemned to die an ignominious death upon\nthe cross?\"  I could not accept it.  It seemed impossible that any man,\nhowever vile, could be blind to the divinity so plainly revealed in him.\n\nThen the Savior began to speak, and the sweetness of his voice was far\nbeyond the melody of the heavenly choir.  And his gracious words!\nWould that I could, would that I dared, transcribe them as they fell\nfrom his lips.  Earth has no language by which I could convey their\nlofty meaning.  He first touched lightly upon the earth-life, and\nshowed so wonderfully the link of light uniting the two lives--the past\nwith the present.  Then he unfolded to us some of the earlier mysteries\nof the blessed life, and pointed out the joyous duties just before us.\n\nWhen he ceased, we sat with bowed heads as he withdrew.  Our hearts\nwere so enfolded, our souls so uplifted, our spirits so exalted, our\nwhole being so permeated with his divinity, that when we arose we left\nthe place silently and reverently, each bearing away a heart filled\nwith higher, more divine aspirations, and clearer views of the blessed\nlife upon which we were permitted to enter.\n\nI can touch but lightly upon these heavenly joys.  There is a depth, a\nmystery to all that pertains to the divine life, which I dare not try\nto describe; I could not if I would, I would not if I could.  A\nsacredness enfolds it all that curious eyes should not look upon.\nSuffice it to say, that no joy we know on earth, however rare, however\nsacred, can be more than the faintest shadow of the joy we there find;\nno dreams of rapture, here unrealized, approach the bliss of one\nmoment, even, in that divine world.  No sorrow; no pain; no sickness;\nno death; no partings; no disappointments; no tears but those of joy;\nno broken hopes; no mislaid plans; no night, nor storm, nor shadows\neven; but light and joy and love and peace and rest forever and\nforever.  \"Amen,\" and again my heart says reverently, \"Amen.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\n  Jerusalem!  Jerusalem!\n    Thy streets of pearl and gold\n  Are trod by the blest feet of them\n    We knew and loved of old.\n  Their voices full of calm delight\n    Steal through the radiant air--\n  Jerusalem!  Jerusalem!\n    Our hearts are with them there!\n\n\nAs the days passed I found my desires often led me to the sacred lake,\nsometimes alone, sometimes with one or more of my own family circle--my\nrevered father and precious mother, my dear brother and sister, and\nmany beloved friends both within and without the bond of consanguinity.\nIt was always to me an inspiration and an uplifting.  I never could\ngrow sufficiently familiar with it to overcome the first great awe with\nwhich it inspired me; but I found that the oftener I bathed or floated\nand slept in its pellucid current, the stronger I grew in spirit, and\nthe more clearly I comprehended the mysteries of the world about me.\nMy almost daily intercourse with the dear ones of our home life from\nwhom I had so long been separated, served to restore to me the home\nfeeling that had been the greatest solace of my mortal life; and I\nbegan to realize that this was indeed the true life, instead of that\nprobationary life which we had always regarded as such.  I think it was\nthe day after my return from my first visit to earth, that, as I had\nstarted to cross the sward lying between my father's house and our own,\nI heard my name called in affectionate tones.  I turned and saw\napproaching me a tall, fine-looking man, whose uncovered head was\nsilvery white, and whose deep blue eyes looked happily and tenderly\ninto mine, as he drew near.\n\n\"Oliver!\" I cried with outstretched hands of welcome, \"dear, dear\nOliver!\"  It was the husband of my eldest sister, always dearly loved.\n\n\"I did not know that you had come, until a few moments since, when our\nfather told me.  It is delightful to have you here; it seems more like\nthe old life to see you than any of the others who are here--we were\ntogether so much during the last years of my stay,\" he said, grasping\nmy hands warmly.  \"Where are you going now?  Can you not come with me\nawhile?  I was thinking only a few days ago how much I wished you could\nbe here a little while before Lu came; you know her tastes so well.\nAnd now here you are!  So often our unspoken wishes are thus gratified\nin heaven!\"\n\n\"Is my sister coming soon?\" I asked a little later.\n\n\"That I cannot confidently say; but you know the years of the\nearth-life are passing, and her coming cannot be much longer delayed.\nCan you come with me now?\"\n\n\"Gladly,\" I said, turning to walk with him.\n\n\"It is only a little way from here,\" he said.  \"Just where the river\nbends.  Lu loves the water so, I chose that spot in preference to one\neven nearer your home.\"\n\n\"This is truly enchanting!\" I cried, as we drew near the place.  \"I\nhave not been this way before.\"\n\n\"I want you to see the river from her room windows,\" he said; \"I know\nyou will enjoy it.\"\n\nWe entered the truly beautiful house, built of the purest white\ngranite, so embedded in the foliage of the flower-laden trees that from\nsome points only glimpses of its fine proportions could be seen.\n\n\"She loves flowers so much--will she not enjoy these trees?\" he asked\nwith almost boyish delight.\n\n\"Beyond everything,\" I answered.\n\nWe passed through several delightful rooms on the lower floor, and,\nascending the stairway, which in itself was a dream of beauty, entered\nthe room he was so anxious I should see.  I stopped upon the threshold\nwith an exclamation of delight, while he stood watching with keen\nenjoyment the expression on my face.\n\n\"It is the most delightful room I ever saw!\" I cried enthusiastically.\n\nThe framework of couches, chairs and desk was of pure and spotless\npearl, upholstered in dim gold; soft rugs and draperies everywhere; and\nthrough the low window, opening upon the flower-wreathed balcony, so\nenchanting a view of the broad, smooth river below, that again I caught\nmy breath in delight.  A thousand exquisite tints from the heavens\nabove were reflected upon the tranquil waters, and a boat floating on\nthe current was perfectly mirrored in the opaline-tinted ripples.  Far\nacross the shining waters the celestial hills arose, with domes and\npillared temples and sparkling fountains perceptible everywhere.  When\nat last I turned from this entrancing view, I saw on the opposite wall,\nsmiling down upon me, the same Divine face that I daily looked upon in\nmy own room at home.\n\nWe descended the stairs without a word, then I could only falter:\n\n\"Only heaven could give such perfection in everything!\"\n\nOliver pressed my hand sympathetically, and let me depart without a\nword.\n\nMany months, by earthly time, had passed since that day, and many times\nI had visited that lovely home and held sweet converse with one I loved\nso well.  I could suggest nothing that would add to the beauty of the\nplace, but we talked of it together, and planned for and anticipated\nthe joy of her coming.\n\nOne day I found him absent, and though I waited long for his return, he\ncame not.  I had not seen him for several days, and concluded he had\nbeen sent upon some mission by the Master.  As I passed onward to our\nhome, I met a group of happy young girls and boys, of different ages,\nhastening the way I had come, with their arms full of most beautiful\nflowers.  As they drew near I saw they were the grandchildren of my\ndear sister--Stanley and Mary and David and Lee and little Ruth.  As\nsoon as they saw me, they all with one accord began to shout joyfully:\n\n\"Grandma is coming!  Grandma is coming!  We are taking flowers to\nscatter everywhere!  We are so glad!\"\n\n\"How do you know she is coming, children?  I have just been to the\nhouse--no one is there!\"\n\n\"But she is coming,\" said little Lee.  \"We had a message from grandpa,\nand he is to bring her.\"\n\n\"Then I will tell the others, and we will all come to welcome her,\" I\nsaid.\n\nWith a great joy in my heart I hastened onward to my father's house.  I\nfound them awaiting me, full of joyful expectation.\n\n\"Yes, we also have had word,\" my father said, \"and were only awaiting\nyour return, that we might go together.\"\n\n\"Then I will go for brother Frank, that he also may accompany us,\" I\nsaid.\n\n\"He is here!\" said a genial voice; and, looking up, I saw him at the\ndoor.\n\n\"Col. Sprague is always present when he is needed,\" said my father\ncordially.\n\nSo we set forth, a goodly company, to welcome this dearly loved one to\nher home--my father, my mother, and my sister Jodie; my brother the\ndoctor, and his two fair daughters; my Aunt Gray, her son Martin, and\nhis wife and daughter; my brother Frank and I.\n\nAs we approached the house we heard the sound of joyous voices, and\nlooking in, we saw my sister standing in the room, her husband's arm\nabout her, and the happy grandchildren thronged around them, like\nhumming-birds among the flowers.  But what was this?  Could this\nradiant creature, with smooth brow and happy eyes, be the pale, wan\nwoman I had last seen, so bowed with suffering and sorrow?  I looked\nwith eager eyes.  Yes, it was my sister; but as she was full thirty\nyears ago, with the bloom of health upon her face, and the light of\nyouth in her tender eyes.  I drew back into the shadow of the vines and\nlet the others precede me, for my heart was full of a strange,\ntriumphant joy.  This truly was the \"victory over death\" so surely\npromised by our risen Lord.  I watched the happy greetings, and the way\nshe took each beloved one into her tender arms.  When, one by one, she\nhad greeted and embraced them all, I saw her, with a strange yearning\nat my heart, turn and look wistfully around, then whisper to my father:\n\n\"Is not my little sister here?\"\n\nI could wait no longer, but, hastening to her side, cried:\n\n\"Dearest, I am here!  Welcome!  Welcome!\"\n\nShe folded me to her heart and held me fast in her warm arms, she\nshowered me with kisses upon my upturned face, while I returned each\nloving caress, and laughed and cried for very gladness that she had\ncome at last.  Oh, what a family reunion was that inside the walls of\nheaven!  And how its bliss was heightened by the sure knowledge (not\nthe hope) that there should be no partings for us henceforth forever!\n\nMy brother Oliver looked on with proud and happy eyes.  The hour for\nwhich he had longed and waited had come to him at last; his home-life\nwould now be complete for evermore.  I told him how I had waited for\nhim that day, and he said, \"We saw you as you left the house, but were\ntoo distant to call you.  I had taken her into the river, and she had\nlooked at and admired the house very greatly before she knew it was our\nhome.\"\n\n\"What did she do when she saw her lovely room?\"\n\n\"Cried like a child, and clung to me, and said, 'This more than repays\nus for the lost home of earth!'  If the children had not come, I think\nshe would have been at that window still!\" he said, laughing happily.\n\n\"I am glad you had her all to yourself at the first,\" I whispered; \"you\ndeserved that happiness, dear, if any man ever did.\"\n\nHe smiled gratefully, and looked over at his wife, where she stood the\ncenter of a happy group.\n\n\"Does she not look very young to you, Oliver?\" I asked.\n\n\"The years rolled from her like a mask, as we sat beneath the water in\nthe river.  Ah, truly in those life-giving waters we do all 'renew our\nyouth'; but she became at once uncommonly fair and young.\"\n\n\"Her coming has brought youth likewise to you,\" I said, noting his\nfresh complexion and his sparkling eyes; \"but I hope it will not change\nyour silver hair, for that is to you a crown of glory.\"\n\nHe looked at me a moment critically, then said:\n\n\"I wonder if you realize the change that has likewise come to you in\nthis wonderful clime?\"\n\n\"I?\" I said, a little startled at the thought; \"I confess I have not\nonce thought of my personal appearance.  I realize what, through the\nFather's mercy, this life has done for me spiritually, but as for the\nother, I have never given it an instant's thought.\"\n\n\"The change is fully as great in your case as in Lu's, though with you\nthe change has been more gradual,\" he said.\n\nI felt a strange thrill of joy that when my dear husband should come to\nme, he would find me with the freshness and comeliness of our earlier\nyears.  It was a sweet thought, and my heart was full of gratitude to\nthe Father for this further evidence of his loving care.  So we talked\ntogether as the hours sped, until my father said:\n\n\"Come, children; we must not forget that this dear daughter of mine\nneeds rest this first day in her new home.  Let us leave her and her\nhappy husband to their new-found bliss.\"\n\nSo with light hearts we went our way, and left them to spend their\nfirst hours in heaven together.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\n  Holy, holy, holy!  All the saints adore Thee,\n  Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;\n  Cherubim and Seraphim falling down before Thee,\n  Which wert, and art, and evermore shalt be.\n                    --[Bishop Heber.\n\n\nAfter we had left my parents and friends on our return from our welcome\nto my sister, my brother hastened away upon some mission, and I walked\non alone toward the sacred lake.  I felt the need of a rest in its\nsoothing waters after the exciting scenes through which I had passed.\nI had hitherto visited the lake in the early morning hours; it was now\nsomething past noontide of the heavenly day, and but few persons\nlingered on the shore.  The boats that sped across its calm surface\nseemed to be filled rather with those intent upon some duty than simply\npleasure-seekers.  I walked slowly down into the water, and soon found\nmyself floating, as at former times, in mid-current.  The wonderful\nprismatic rays that in the early morning were such a marvel, now\nblended into a golden glory, with different shades of rose and purple\nflashing athwart their splendor.  To me it seemed even more beautiful\nthan the rainbow tints; just as the maturer joys of our earthly life\ncast into shadow, somewhat, the more evanescent pleasures of youth.  I\ncould but wonder what its evening glories would be, and resolved to\ncome at some glowing twilight, and see if they would not remind me of\nthe calm hours of life's closing day.  I heard the chimes from the\nsilver bell of the great city ringing an anthem as I lay, and its notes\nseemed to chant clearly:\n\n\"Holy!  Holy!  Holy!  Lord God Almighty!\"  The waters took up the song\nand a thousand waves about me responded, \"Holy!  Holy!  Holy!\"\n\nThe notes seemed to \"vibrate,\" if I may use the expression, upon the\nwaves, producing a wondrously harmonious effect.  The front row in the\nbattalion of advancing waves softly chanted \"Holy\" as they passed\nonward; immediately the second roll of waves took up the word that the\nfirst seemed to have dropped as it echoed the second \"Holy\" in the\ndivine chorus, then it, too, passed onward to take up the second note\nas the third advancing column caught the first; and so it passed and\nechoed from wave to wave, until it seemed millions of tiny waves about\nme had taken up and were bearing their part in this grand\ncrescendo--this wonderful anthem.  Language fails me--I cannot hope to\nconvey to others this experience as it came to me.  It was grand,\nwonderful, overpowering.  I lay and listened until my whole being was\nfilled with the divine melody, and I seemed to be a part of the great\nchorus, then I, too, lifted up my voice and joined with full heart in\nthe thrilling song of praise.\n\nI found that, contrary to my usual custom, I floated rapidly away from\nthe shore whence I had entered the water, and after a time was\nconscious that I was approaching a portion of the lake shore I had\nnever yet visited.  Refreshed and invigorated, I ascended the sloping\nbanks, to find myself in the midst of a lovely suburban village,\nsimilar to the one where our own home was situated.  There was some\ndifference in the architecture or construction of the houses, though\nthey were no less beautiful than others I had seen.  Many were\nconstructed of polished woods, and somewhat resembled the finest of the\nchalets one sees in Switzerland, though far surpassing them in all that\ngives pleasure to the artistic eye.\n\nAs I wandered on, feasting my eyes upon the lovely views about me, I\nwas particularly pleased by the appearance of an unusually attractive\nhouse.  Its broad verandas almost overhung the waters of the lake, the\nwide low steps running on one side of the house quite to the water's\nedge.  Several graceful swans were leisurely drifting about with the\ncurrent, and a bird similar to our Southern mocking-bird, but with\nsofter voice, was singing and swinging in the low branches overhead.\nThere were many larger and more imposing villas near, but none\npossessed for me the charm of this sweet home.\n\nBeneath one of the large flowering trees close by this cottage home, I\nsaw a woman sitting, weaving with her delicate hands, apparently\nwithout shuttle or needle, a snow-white gossamer-like fabric that fell\nin a soft fleecy heap at her side as the work progressed.  She was so\nvery small in stature that at first glance I supposed she was a child;\nbut a closer scrutiny showed her to be a mature woman, though with the\nglow of youth still upon her smooth cheek.  Something familiar in her\ngestures, rather than her appearance, caused me to feel that it was not\nthe first time we had met; and growing accustomed now to the delightful\nsurprises that met me everywhere in this world of rare delights, I drew\nnear to accost her, when, before I could speak, she looked up, and the\ndoubt was gone.\n\n\"Maggie!\"  \"Mrs. Sprague dear!\" we cried simultaneously, as, dropping\nher work from her hands, she stepped quickly up to greet me.\n\nOur greeting was warm and fervent, and her sweet face glowed with a\nwelcome that reminded me of the happy days when we had met, in the\nyears long gone, by the shore of that other beautiful lake in the world\nof our earth-life.\n\n\"Now I know why I came this way to-day--to find you, dear,\" I said, as\nwe sat side by side, talking as we never had talked on earth; for the\nsweet shyness of her mortal life had melted away in the balmy air of\nheaven.\n\n\"What is this lovely fabric you are weaving?\" I presently asked,\nlifting the silken fleecy web in my fingers as I spoke.\n\n\"Some draperies for Nellie's room,\" she said.  \"You know we two have\nlived alone together so much, I thought it would seem more like home to\nher, to us both, if we did the same here.  So this cottage is our own\nspecial home, just a step from Marie's,\" pointing to an imposing house\na few yards distant, \"and I am fitting it up as daintily as I can,\nespecially her room.\"\n\n\"Oh, let me help you, Maggie dear!\" I said.  \"It would be such a\npleasure to me.\"\n\nShe hesitated an instant, with something of the old-time shyness, then\nsaid:\n\n\"That is so like you, dear Mrs. Sprague.  I have set my heart on doing\nNellie's room entirely myself--there is no hurry about it, you\nknow--but if you really would enjoy it, I shall love to have you help\nme in the other rooms.\"\n\n\"And will you teach me how to weave these delicate hangings?\"\n\n\"Yes, indeed.  Shall I give you your first lesson now?\"\n\nLifting the dainty thread, she showed me how to toss and wind it\nthrough my fingers till it fell away in shining folds.  It was very\nlight and fascinating work, and I soon was weaving it almost as rapidly\nas she did.\n\n\"Now, I can help Carroll!\" was my happy thought, as I saw the\nshimmering fabric grow beneath my hands.  \"To-morrow I will go and show\nhim how beautifully we can drape the doors and windows.\"\n\nSo in heaven our first thought ever is to give pleasure to others.\n\n\"You are an apt scholar,\" said Maggie, laughing happily; \"and what a\ncharming hour you have given me!\"\n\n\"What a charming hour you have given me, my dear!\" I answered.\n\nWhen we parted it was with the understanding that every little while I\nwas to repeat the visit.  When I urged her likewise to come to me, the\nold-time shyness again appeared, as she said:\n\n\"Oh, they are all strangers to me, and here we shall be entirely alone.\nYou come to me.\"\n\nSo I yielded, as in heaven we never seek to gain reluctant consent for\nany pleasure, however dear; and many were the happy hours spent with\nher in the cottage by the lake.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n\n  \"I take these little lambs,\" said He\n    And lay them in my breast;\n  Protection they shall find in Me,\n    In Me be ever blest.\"\n                    --[Samuel Stennett.\n\n\nOn one of my walks about this time, I chanced upon a scene that brought\nto mind what Mae had said to me about the Savior's love for little\nchildren.  I found him sitting beneath one of the flowering trees upon\nthe lake shore, with about a dozen children of all ages clustered\naround him.  One dainty little tot, not more than a year old, was\nnestled in his arms, with her sunny head resting confidingly upon his\nbosom, her tiny hands filled with the lovely water-lilies that floated\neverywhere on the waters.  She was too young to realize how great her\nprivilege was, but seemed to be enjoying his care to the utmost.  The\nothers sat at his feet, or leaned upon his knees; and one dear little\nfellow, with earnest eyes, stood by him, leaning upon his shoulder,\nwhile the Master's right arm encircled him.  Every eye was fixed\neagerly upon Jesus, and each child appeared alert to catch every word\nhe said.  He seemed to be telling them some very absorbing story,\nadapted to their childish tastes and capacities.  I sat down upon the\nsward among a group of people, a little removed from the children, and\ntried to hear what he was saying, but we were too far away to catch\nmore than a sentence now and then, and in heaven one never intrudes\nupon another's privileges or pleasures.  So we simply enjoyed the\nsmiles and eager questions and exclamations of the children, and\ngathered a little of the tenor of the story from the disjointed\nsentences which floated to us.\n\n\"A little child lost in the dark woods of the lower world--\" we heard\nthe Master say, in response to the inquiring looks of the interested\nchildren.\n\n\"Lions and bears--\" came later on.\n\n\"Where was his papa?\" asked an anxious voice.\n\nWe could not hear the reply, but soon a little fellow leaning upon the\nSavior's knee, said confidently: \"No lions and bears up here!\"\n\n\"No,\" he replied, \"nothing to harm or frighten my little children here!\"\n\nThen as the story deepened and grew in interest, and the children\npressed more closely about the Master, he turned with a sweet\nsmile--and we could see an increased pressure of the encircling arm--to\nthe little fellow with the earnest eyes who leaned upon his shoulder,\nand said:\n\n\"What, Leslie, would you have done, then?\"\n\nWith a bright light in his eyes and a flush on his fair cheek, the\nchild answered quickly and emphatically:\n\n\"I should have prayed to Thee and asked Thee to 'close the lion's\nmouth,' as Thou didst for Daniel, and Thou wouldst have done it!\"\n\n\"Ah,\" I thought, \"could C---- and H---- see the look the beloved Master\ncast upon their boy as he made his brave reply, they would be comforted\neven for the absence of their darling.\"\n\nLost in these thoughts, I heard no more that passed, until an ecstatic\nshout from the little folks proclaimed how satisfactorily the story had\nended, and, looking up, I saw the Savior passing onward, with the baby\nstill in his arms, and the children trooping about him.\n\n\"Of such is the kingdom of heaven.\"  How well he understood!  How much\nhe loved them!\n\nI, too, arose and started homeward.  I had not gone far before I met my\nbrother Frank, who greeted me with:\n\n\"I am on my way to the city by the lake; will you accompany me?\"\n\n\"It has been long my wish to visit the city.  I only waited until you\nthought it wise for me to go,\" I answered.\n\n\"You are growing so fast in the knowledge of the heavenly ways,\" he\nsaid, \"that I think I might venture to take you almost anywhere with me\nnow.  You acquire the knowledge for the very love of it; not because\nyou feel it your duty to know what we would have you learn.  Your\neagerness to gather to yourself all truth, and at the same time your\npatient submission in waiting, ofttimes when I know the trial is great,\nhave won for you much praise and love from our dear Master, who watches\neagerly the progress of us all in the divine life.  I think it only\nright that you should know of this; we need encouragement here as well\nas in the earth-life, though in a different way.  I tell you this by\ndivine permission.  I think it will not be long before He trusts you\nwith a mission; but this I say of myself, not by his command.\"\n\nIt would be impossible for me to convey, in the language of earth, the\nimpression these words of commendation left upon me.  They were so\nunexpected, so unforeseen.  I had gone on, as my brother said, eagerly\ngathering the knowledge imparted to me, with a genuine love for the\nstudy of all things pertaining to the blessed life, without a thought\nthat I in any way deserved commendation for so doing; and now I had won\nthe approbation of the Master himself!  The happiness seemed almost\nmore than I had strength to bear.\n\n\"My brother, my dear brother!\" was all I could say, in my deep joy,\nstopping suddenly and looking up into his face with grateful tears.\n\n\"I am so glad for you, little sister!\" he said, warmly clasping my\nhand.  \"There are, you see, rewards in heaven; it does my soul good\nthat you have unconsciously won one of these so soon.\"\n\nI would I might record in detail the precious words of wisdom that fell\nfrom his lips; I would that I might recount minutely the events of that\nwonderful life as it was unfolded to me day by day; but I can only say,\n\"I may not.\"  When I undertook to make a record of that\nnever-to-be-forgotten time, I did not realize how many serious\ndifficulties I would have to encounter; how often I would have to pause\nand consider if I might really reveal this truth or paint that scene as\nit appeared to me.  The very heart has often been left out of some\nwonderful scene I was attempting to describe, because I found I dared\nnot reveal its sacred secret.  I realize painfully that the narrative,\nas I am forced to give it, falls infinitely short of what I hoped to\nmake it when I began.  But bear with me; it is no fancy sketch I am\ndrawing, but the veritable life beyond, as it appeared to me when the\nexalted spirit rose triumphant over the impoverished flesh, made\nslavishly subservient through suffering.\n\nMy brother and I walked slowly back to the margin of the lake, where we\nstepped into a boat lying near the shore, and were at once transported\nto the farther shore of the lake, and landed upon a marble terrace--the\nentrance to the city by the lake.  I never knew by what power these\nboats were propelled.  There were no oarsmen, no engine, no sails, upon\nthe one in which we crossed the water; but it moved steadily onward\ntill we were safely landed at our destination.  Luxuriously cushioned\nseats were all around it, and upon one of them lay a musical\ninstrument, something like a violin, although it had no bow, but seemed\nto be played by the fingers alone.  Upon another seat lay a book.  I\npicked it up and opened it; it seemed to be a continuation of that book\nthat has stirred and thrilled millions of hearts in the mortal\nlife--\"The Greatest Thing in the World.\"  As I glanced through it while\nwe journeyed, I grasped the truth that this great mind already had\ngrappled with the mighty things of eternity and given food to\nimmortals, even as he had to those in mortal life in the years gone by.\n\nI was roused from my thoughts by the boat touching the marble terrace,\nand found my brother already standing waiting to assist me to the\nshore.  Passing up a slight acclivity, we found ourselves in a broad\nstreet that led into the heart of the city.  The streets I found were\nall very broad and smooth, and paved with marble and precious stones of\nevery kind.  Though they were thronged with people intent on various\nduties, not an atom of debris, or even dust, was visible anywhere.\nThere seemed to be vast business houses of many kinds, though I saw\nnothing resembling our large mercantile establishments.  There were\nmany colleges and schools; many book and music-stores and publishing\nhouses; several large manufactories, where, I learned, were spun the\nfine silken threads of manifold colors which were so extensively used\nin the weaving of the draperies I have already mentioned.  There were\nart rooms, picture galleries and libraries, and many lecture halls and\nvast auditoriums.  But I saw no churches of any kind.  At first this\nsomewhat confused me, until I remembered that there are no creeds in\nheaven, but that all worship together in harmony and love--the children\nof one and the same loving Father.  \"Ah,\" I thought, \"what a pity that\nthat fact, if no other in the great economy of heaven, could not be\nproclaimed to the inhabitants of earth!  How it would do away with the\npetty contentions, jealousies and rivalries of the church militant!  No\ncreeds in heaven!  No controverted points of doctrine!  No charges of\nheresy brought by one professed Christian against another!  No building\nup of one denomination upon the ruins or downfall of a different sect!\nBut one great universal brotherhood whose head is Christ, and whose\ncorner-stone is Love.\"  I thought of the day we had listened in the\ngreat auditorium at home to the divine address of our beloved Master;\nof the bowed heads and uplifted voices of that vast multitude as every\nvoice joined in the glorious anthem, \"Crown Him Lord of All!\" and I\ncould have wept to think of the faces that must some day be bowed in\nshame when they remember how often they have in mortal life said to a\nbrother Christian, \"Stand aside; I am holier than thou!\"\n\nWe found no dwelling-houses anywhere in the midst of the city, until we\ncame to the suburbs.  Here they stood in great magnificence and\nsplendor.  But one pleasing fact was that every home had its large\ndoor-yard, full of trees and flowers and pleasant walks; indeed, it was\neverywhere, outside of the business center of the town, like one vast\npark dotted with lovely houses.  There was much that charmed, much that\nsurprised me in this great city, of which I may not fully speak, but\nwhich I never can forget.  We found in one place a very large park,\nwith walks and drives and fountains and miniature lakes and shaded\nseats, but no dwellings or buildings of any kind, except an immense\ncircular open temple capable of seating many hundred; and where, my\nbrother told me, a seraph choir assembled at a certain hour daily and\nrendered the oratorios written by the great musical composers of earth\nand heaven.  It had just departed, and the crowd who had enjoyed its\ndivine music yet lingered as though loath to leave a spot so hallowed.\n\n\"We will remember the hour,\" my brother said, \"and come again when we\ncan hear them.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n\n  Not all the archangels can tell\n    The joys of that holiest place,\n  Where the Father is pleased to reveal\n    The light of His heavenly face.\n                    --[Charles Wesley.\n\n\"And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from\nhis power.\"--Rev. 15: 8.\n\n\nStill passing through the park, we came out upon the open country, and\nwalked some distance through flowery meadows and undulating plains.  At\nlength we entered a vast forest whose great trees towered above us like\nswaying giants.  The day was well-nigh spent--the day so full of joy\nand glad surprises and happy hours!  Full as it had been I felt there\nwas still something left for me, deep hidden in the twilight-valley of\nthe day; something that held my soul in awe, as the last moments\npreceding the Holy Sacrament.\n\nMy brother walked by me, absorbed in silent thought, but with a touch\nbeyond even his usual gentleness.  I did not ask where we were going at\nthat unusual hour, so far from home, for fear and doubt and\nquestionings no longer vexed the quiet of my soul.  Although the forest\nwas dense, the golden glow of the twilight rested beneath the trees,\nand sifted down through the quivering branches overhead, as though\nfalling through the windows of some grand cathedral.\n\nAt length we emerged from the forest upon a vast plain that stretched\nout into illimitable space before us, and far away we faintly heard the\nthunder of the breaking waves of that immortal sea of which I had heard\nso much but had not yet seen.  But for their faint and distant\nreverberation the silence about us was intense.  We stood a moment upon\nthe verge of the forest, then as we advanced a few steps into the plain\nI became aware that immediately to our right the ground rose into quite\nan elevation; and, as I turned, a sight broke upon my bewildered eyes\nthat the eternal years of earth and heaven can never efface.  Upon the\nsummit of this gentle slope a Temple stood, whose vast dome, massive\npillars and solid walls were of unsullied pearl, and through whose\ngreat mullioned windows shone a white radiance that swallowed up the\ngolden glow of the twilight and made it its own.  I did not cry aloud\nnor hide my face, as at former revelations; but I sank slowly to my\nknees, and, crossing my hands upon my breast, with uplifted face,\nstilled heart and silent lips, laid my whole being in worship at His\nfeet \"who sitteth upon the throne.\"  How long I knelt thus I know not.\nEven immortal life seemed lost before that greatest of celestial\nmysteries.  At length my brother, who had been silently kneeling beside\nme, arose, and, lifting me to my feet, whispered gently, \"Come.\"\n\nI felt rather than saw that his face was colorless with the depth of\nhis emotion, and I yielded to his guidance in silence.  A long flight\nof low, broad steps, in gradations, rose from almost where we stood to\nthe very door of the Temple.  They, too, were of solid pearl, bordered\non either side by channels paved with golden stones through which\ncoursed crystal waters that met and mingled in one stream far out upon\nthe plain.  Ascending these steps, we entered the Temple, and for a\nmoment stood in silence.  I do not know how it was, but in that brief\ninstant--it may have been longer than I knew--every detail of that\nwonderful interior was fastened upon my memory as a scene is\nphotographed upon the artist's plate.  Heretofore it had taken repeated\nvisits to a room to enable me to describe it correctly in detail, but\nthis, in a lightning's flash, was stamped upon the tablet of my memory\nindelibly for all time--nay, for eternity.\n\nThe immense dome, at that moment filled with a luminous cloud, was\nupheld by three rows of massive pillars of gold.  The walls and floors\nwere of pearl, as also the great platform that filled at least\none-third of the Temple upon the eastern side.  There were no seats of\nany kind.  The great golden pillars stood like rows of sentinels upon\nthe shining floor.  A railing of gold ran entirely around the platform\nupon the three sides, so that it was inaccessible from the body of the\nTemple.  Beneath this railing, upon the temple-floor, a kneeling-step\npassed around the platform, also of pearl.  In the center of the\nplatform an immense altar of gold arose, supported by seraphs of gold\nwith outspread wings, one at each corner; and underneath it, in a great\npearl basin, a fountain of sparkling water played, and I knew\nintuitively it was the source of the magical river that flowed through\nthe gardens of heaven and bore from us the last stains of death and sin.\n\nNothing living, beside ourselves, was within the Temple except two\npersons who knelt with bowed heads beside the altar-rail upon the\nfarther side; but by the altar stood four angels, one upon either side,\ndressed in flowing garments of white, with long, slim trumpets of gold\nuplifted in their hands, as though waiting in expectancy the signal for\ntheir trumpet call.  Long draperies of silvery gossamer hung in heavy\nfolds back of the altar platform.  Suddenly, in the moment that we\nlooked, we saw the draperies tremble and glow until a radiance far\nbeyond the splendor of the sun at mid-day shone through them, and the\nwhole Temple was \"filled with the glory of the Lord.\"  We saw, in the\nmidst of the luminous cloud that filled the dome, the forms of angelic\nharpers, and as we dropped with bowed heads beside the altar-rail and\nhid our faces from the \"brightness of His coming,\" we heard the\ntrumpet-call of the four angels about the altar, and the voices of the\ncelestial harpers as they sang:\n\n  \"Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty!\n  All thy works shall praise thy name, in earth, and sky, and sea.\n  Holy, Holy, Holy, merciful and mighty,\n  God in three persons--blessed Trinity.  Amen!\"\n\n\nThe voices softly died away; the last notes of the golden trumpets had\nsounded; \"and there was silence in heaven.\"  We knew that the visible\nglory of the Lord was, for the present, withdrawn from the Temple which\nis his throne; still we knelt with bowed heads in silent worship before\nhim.  When at last we arose I did not lift my eyes while within the\nTemple; I desired it to remain upon my memory as it appeared when\nfilled with his glory.\n\nWe walked some time in silence, I leaning upon my brother's arm, for I\nyet trembled with emotion.  I was surprised that we did not return into\nthe forest, but went still farther out upon the plain.  But when I saw\nthat we approached the confluence of the two streams which issued from\nthe fountain beneath the altar, I began to understand that we would\nreturn by way of the river, instead of by forest and lake.\n\nWe reached the stream, at length, and, stepping into a boat that lay by\nthe shore, we were soon floating with the current toward home.  We\npassed through much beautiful scenery on our course that I had not seen\nbefore, and which I resolved I would visit in the future, when leisure\nfrom my daily duties would permit.  Lovely villas, surrounded by\nbeautiful grounds stretching directly up from the water's edge, lay on\nboth sides of the river, and formed a panorama upon which the eye never\ntired of resting.  Toward the end of the journey we passed my sister's\nlovely home, and we could plainly see her and her husband drinking in\nthe scene with enraptured eyes, from the window of her own room.\n\nMy brother and I were both silent the greater part of the time during\nour journey homeward, though each noted with observant eyes the signs\nof happy domestic life by which we were surrounded on every side.  The\nverandas and steps of the homes we passed were full of their happy\ninmates; glad voices could be constantly heard, and merry shouts of\nlaughter came from the throngs of little children playing everywhere\nupon the flowery lawns.  Once I broke our silence by saying to my\nbrother:\n\n\"I have been more than once delightfully surprised to hear the familiar\nsongs of earth reproduced in heaven, but never more so than I was\nto-day.  That hymn has long been a favorite of mine.\"\n\n\"These happy surprises do not come by chance,\" he answered.  \"One of\nthe delights of this rare life is that no occasion is ever overlooked\nfor reproducing here the pure enjoyments of our mortal life.  It is the\nFather's pleasure to make us realize that this existence is but a\ncontinuance of the former life, only without its imperfections and its\ncares.\"\n\n\"Frank, I believe you are the only one of our friends here who has\nnever questioned me about the dear ones left behind; why is it?\"\n\nHe smiled a peculiarly happy smile as he answered: \"Perhaps it is\nbecause I already know more than you could tell me.\"\n\n\"I wondered if it was not so,\" I said, for I remembered well how my\ndear father had said, in speaking of my brother upon the first day of\nmy coming, \"He stands very near to the Master,\" and I knew how often he\nwas sent upon missions to the world below.\n\nI lay down upon my couch, on our return, with a heart overflowing with\njoy and gratitude and love, beyond the power of expression; and it\nseemed to me the tenderness in the Divine eyes that looked down upon me\nfrom the wall was deeper, purer, holier than it had ever been before.\n\n\"I will reach the standard of perfection you have set for me, my\nSavior,\" I faltered, with clasped hands uplifted to him, \"if it takes\nall my life in heaven and all the help from all the angels of light to\naccomplish it;\" and with these words upon my lips, and his tender eyes\nresting upon me, I sank into the blissful repose of heaven.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV.\n\n  I shall know the loved who have gone before,\n    And joyfully sweet will the meeting be,\n  When over the river, the peaceful river,\n    The Angel of Death shall carry me.\n                    --[Nancy A. W. Priest.\n\n\nSo much occurred, and so rapidly, from the very hour of my entrance\nwithin the beautiful gates, that it is impossible for me to transcribe\nit all.  I have been able only to cull here and there incidents that\nhappened day by day; and in so doing many things I would gladly have\nrelated have unconsciously been omitted.  Of the many dear friends I\nmet, only a very few have been mentioned, for the reason that, of\nnecessity, such meetings are so similar in many respects that the\nconstant repetition, in detail, would become wearisome.  I have aimed\nprincipally to give such incidents as would show the beautiful domestic\nlife in that happy world; to make apparent the reverence and love all\nhearts feel toward the blessed Trinity for every good and perfect gift,\nand to show forth the marvelous power of the Christ-love even in the\nlife beyond the grave.\n\nThis world, strange and new to me, held multitudes of those I had loved\nin the years gone by, and there was scarcely an hour that did not renew\nfor me the ties that once were severed in the mortal life.  I remember\nthat as I was walking one day in the neighborhood of Mrs. Wickham's\nhome, shortly after my first memorable visit there, I was attracted by\nan unpretentious but very beautiful house, almost hidden by luxuriant\nclimbing rose vines, whose flowers of creamy whiteness were beyond\ncompare with any roses I had yet seen in earth or heaven.  Meeting Mrs.\nWickham, I pointed to the house and asked: \"Who lives there?\"\n\n\"Suppose you go over and see,\" she said.\n\n\"Is it any one I know?\" I asked.\n\n\"I fancy so.  See, someone is even now at the door as though expecting\nyou.\"\n\nI crossed over the snowy walk and flowery turf--for the house stood in\nan angle formed by two paths crossing, almost opposite Mrs.\nWickham's--and before I could ascend the steps I found myself in the\nembrace of two loving arms.\n\n\"Bertha Sprague!  I was sure it was you when I saw you go to Mrs.\nWickham's a day or two ago.  Did not she tell you I was here?\"\n\n\"She had no opportunity until to-day,\" I said.  \"But dear Aunt Ann, I\nshould have found you soon; I am sure you know that.\"\n\n\"Yes, I am sure you would.\"\n\nThen I recounted to her something of my visit to Mrs. Wickham's that\neventful day.  She listened with her dear face full of sympathy, then\nsaid:\n\n\"There, dear, you need not tell me.  Do I not know?  When the Master\ncomes to gladden my eyes, I have no thought or care for anything\nbeyond, for days and days!  Oh, the joy, the peace of knowing I am safe\nin this blessed haven!  How far beyond all our earthly dreams is this\ndivine life!\"\n\nShe sat for a moment lost in thought, then said wistfully: \"Now, tell\nme of my children--are they coming?\"\n\nI gladdened her heart with all the cheering news I could bring of her\nloved ones; and so we talked the hours away, recalling many sweet\nmemories of the earth-life, of friends and home and family ties, and\nlooking forward to the future coming to us of those whom even the joys\nof heaven could not banish from our hearts.\n\nThen also another evening, as the soft twilight fell, and many of our\ndear home circle were gathered with us in the great \"flower-room,\" we\nheard a step upon the veranda, and as my brother went to the open door\na gentle voice said:\n\n\"Is Mrs. Sprague really here?\"\n\n\"She is really here.  Come and see for yourself.\"  And sweet Mary Green\nentered the room.\n\n\"I am so glad to welcome you home!\" she said, coming to me with\nextended hands, and looking into mine with her tender, earnest eyes.\n\n\"My precious girl!\" I cried, taking her to my heart in a warm embrace.\n\"I have been asking about you, and longing to see you.\"\n\n\"I could scarcely wait to reach here when I heard that you had come.\nNow, tell me everything--everything!\" she said as I drew her to a seat\nclose beside me.\n\nBut questions asked and the answers given are too sacred for rehearsal\nhere.  Every individual member of her dear home-circle was discussed,\nand many were the incidents she recounted to me that had occurred in\nher presence when her mother and I were together and talking of the\ndear child we considered far removed from our presence.\n\n\"I was often so close that I could have touched you with my hand, had\nthe needed power been given,\" she said.\n\nAfter a long, close converse had been held between us, I took her to\nthe library, whither the rest had gone to examine a new book just that\nday received.  I introduced her to them all as the daughter of dear\nfriends still on earth, confident of the welcome she would receive.  My\nyoungest sister and she at once became interested in each other,\nfinding congeniality in many of their daily pursuits, and I was glad to\nbelieve they would henceforth see much of each other in many different\nways.\n\nThere was no measurement of time as we measure it here, although many\nstill spoke in the old-time language of \"months\" and \"days\" and\n\"years.\"  I have no way of describing it as it seemed to me then.\nThere were periods, and allotted times; there were hours for happy\nduties, hours for joyful pleasures, and hours for holy praise.  I only\nknow it was all harmony, all joy, all peace, at all times and in all\nconditions.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI.\n\nThere is an endearing tenderness in the love of a mother to a son, that\ntranscends all other affections of the heart.  It is neither to be\nchilled by selfishness, nor daunted by danger, nor weakened by\nworthlessness, nor stifled by ingratitude.  She will sacrifice every\ncomfort to his convenience; she will surrender every pleasure to his\nenjoyment; she will glory in his fame, and exult in his prosperity; and\nif adversity overtake him, he will be the dearer to her by misfortune;\nand if disgrace settle upon his name, she will still love and cherish\nhim; and if all the world beside cast him off, she will be all the\nworld to him.--[Washington Irving.\n\n\nThe current of my life flowed on in the heavenly ways, until the months\nbegan to lengthen into years and my daily studies ascended higher in\nthe scale of celestial mysteries.  I never wearied of study, though\nmuch was taught and gained through the medium of observation in the\njourneys that I was permitted to take with my brother into different\nparts of the heavenly kingdom.  I never lacked time for social\npleasures and enjoyments, for there is no clashing of duties with\ninclination, no unfulfilled desires, no vain strivings for the\nunattainable in that life, as in the life of earth.  Many precious\nhours of intercourse were spent in my dear father's home, and sometimes\non rare occasions I was permitted to accompany him to his field of\nlabor and assist him in instructing those lately come into the new life\nwith little or no preparation for its duties and responsibilities.  On\none occasion he said to me:\n\n\"I have the most difficult problem to deal with I have ever yet met in\nthis work.  It is how to enlighten and help a man who suddenly plunged\nfrom an apparently honorable life into the very depths of crime.  I\nhave never been able to get him to accompany me to the river, where\nthese earthly cobwebs would be swept from his poor brain; his excuse\nbeing always that God's mercy is so great in allowing him inside\nheaven's gates at all, that he is content to remain always in its\nlowest scale of enjoyment and life.  No argument or teaching thus far\ncan make him alter his decision.  He was led astray by infatuation for\na strange woman, and killed his aged mother in order to secure her\njewels for this wretched creature.  He was executed for the crime, of\nwhich in the end he sincerely repented, but he left life with all the\nhorror of the deed clinging to his soul.\"\n\n\"Has he seen his mother since coming here?  Does she know of his\narrival?\"\n\n\"No; she is entirely alone in this world, and it was not thought wise\nto tell her of his coming till his soul was in a better condition to\nreceive her.  He was an only child, and does not lack the elements of\nrefinement, but he was completely under the control of this vile though\nfascinating woman.  It is said she drugged his wine and incited him to\ndo the dreadful deed while under its influence, because of her hatred\nfor his mother, whose influence was against her.  When he came from\nunder the influence of the wine, he was horrified at what he had done,\nand his infatuation for the woman turned to loathing--but, alas, too\nlate!  He would not see her during his entire incarceration.\"\n\n\"How long was he in prison?\"\n\n\"Almost a year.\"\n\n\"Has he seen the Christ?\"\n\n\"No; he begs not to see him.  He is very repentant, and grateful to be\nsaved from the wrath he feels was his just punishment, but though he is\nconscious that his sin is forgiven, he does not yet feel that he can\never stand in the presence of the Holy One.  And here, as upon earth,\neach must be willing to receive him.  His presence is never given\nundesired.  I have not yet appealed for higher help; my ambition is to\nlead these weak souls upward through the strength entrusted to me.  Can\nyou suggest anything that would probably reach him?\"\n\n\"His mother.  May I bring her?\"\n\nHe thought a moment reflectively, then said: \"A woman's intuition.\nYes, bring her.\"\n\n======================================================================\n\n[Illustration: \"O sweet and blessed country,]\n\n  \"O sweet and blessed country,\n    The home of God's elect!\n  O sweet and blessed country\n    That eager hearts expect!\n  There stand those halls of Zion\n    All jubilant with song,\n  And bright with many an angel,\n    And all the martyr throng.\"]\n\n======================================================================\n\nI soon was on my way.  I found the poor woman, laid the facts gently\nbefore her, and waited her decision.  There was no hesitancy upon her\npart; in an instant she said, \"My poor boy!  Certainly I will go with\nyou at once.\"\n\nWe found my father waiting for us, and went immediately to the great\n\"Home\" where these \"students\"--would we call them?--stayed.  It was a\nbeautiful great building in the midst of a park, with shaded walks and\nfountains and flowers everywhere.  To one just freed from earth it\nseemed a paradise indeed; but to those of us who had tasted heaven's\nrarer joys, something was wanting.  We missed the lovely individual\nhomes, the little children playing on the lawns, the music of the angel\nchoir; it was tame indeed beside the pleasures we had tasted.\n\nWe found the young man seated beneath one of the flower-laden trees,\nintently perusing a book that my father had left with him.  There was a\npeaceful look on his pale face, but it was rather the look of patient\nresignation than of ardent joy.  His mother approached him alone; my\nfather and I remaining in the background.  After a little time he\nglanced up and saw his mother standing near him.  A startled look came\ninto his face, and he rose to his feet.  She extended her arms toward\nhim, and cried out pathetically, \"John, my dear boy, come home to me--I\nneed you!\"  That was all.\n\nWith a low cry he knelt at her feet and clasped her knees, sobbing:\n\"Mother! mother!\"\n\nShe stooped and put her tender arms about him; she drew his head gently\nto her breast and showered kisses on his bowed head.  Oh, the warm\nmother-love, the same in earth and heaven!  Only the Christ-love can\nexceed it.  Here was this outraged mother, sent into eternity by the\nhands of him who should have shielded and sustained her, bending above\nher repentant son with the mother-love with which her heart was\noverflowing shining upon him from her gentle eyes.  I saw my father\nturn his head to conceal his emotion, and I knew that my own eyes were\nwet.  My father had explained to the mother that the first thing to be\naccomplished was to get her son to the river, so we now heard her say\ncaressingly:\n\n\"Come, John, my boy, take the first step upward, for your mother's\nsake, that in time I may have the joy of seeing you in our own home.\nCome, John, with mother.\"\n\nShe gently drew him, and to our great joy we saw him rise and go with\nher, and their steps led them to the river.  They walked hand in hand,\nand as far as we could see them she seemed to be soothing and\ncomforting him.\n\n\"Thank God!\" said my father fervently.  \"There will be no further\ntrouble now.  When they return he will see with clearer vision.\"  And\nso it proved.\n\nAfter this, by divine permission, I became much of the time a\nco-laborer with my father, and thus enjoyed his society and his\ninstructions much oftener than otherwise I could have done.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII.\n\n  \"Some day,\" we say, and turn our eyes\n  Toward the fair hills of Paradise;\n  Some day, some time, a sweet new rest\n  Shall blossom, flower-like, in each breast.\n  Some day, some time, our eyes shall see\n  The faces kept in memory;\n  Some day their hand shall clasp our hand,\n  Just over in the Morning-land--\n  O Morning-land!  O Morning-land!\n                    --[Edward H. Phelps.\n\n\nOne evening, some three years--counted by the calendar of earth--after\nI had entered upon the joys and duties of the heavenly life, I sat\nresting upon the upper veranda of our home, after a somewhat arduous\njourney to a distant city of the heavenly realm.  From this part of the\nveranda we caught rare glimpses of the river through the overhanging\nbranches of the trees; and just below us, at a little distance, we\ncould see the happy children at their play upon the lawn.  Here my\nbrother sought me out, and throwing himself upon a soft veranda lounge\nnear, lay for a time motionless and silent.  He looked as wearied as\none can ever look in that life, but I felt no anxiety about him, for I\nknew the rest was sure.  He had been absent on some earth-mission much\nof the time for many days, and I knew from experience that some of the\nfatigue and care of earth will cling to us on such occasions, till we\nare restored by heaven's balmy air and life-giving waters.  He had not\ntold me, as he sometimes did, where his mission had led him, and I had\nnot asked him, feeling sure that all it was best I should know would be\nimparted.  My own duties had of late been unusually responsible,\nleading me daily to a distant part of the heavenly kingdom, hence I\nmyself had not visited the beloved of earth for a much longer period\nthan usually elapsed between my visits.  When last seen, all of the\ndear ones had seemed in such vigorous health and were so surrounded by\nearthly blessings that I had ceased to feel they needed my\nministrations as in the early days of their sorrow, hence I had thrown\nall of my energies into the work assigned me by the Master.\n\nAt length, after a time of rest, my brother arose to a sitting posture,\nand regarding me for a moment in silence, said gently: \"I have news for\nyou, little sister.\"\n\nA thrill like an electric shock passed through me, and in an instant I\ncried out joyously: \"He is coming!\"\n\nHe nodded his head, with a sympathetic smile, but did not at once reply.\n\n\"When will it be?  Am I to go to him?\" I asked.\n\nHe hesitated an instant before saying: \"Of course you are permitted to\ngo, if your heart will not be denied.\"\n\n\"Oh, I must go to him!  I must be the first to greet him!  Perhaps it\nmay be granted him to see me even while he is yet in the flesh.\"\n\nHe shook his head sadly at this, and said, \"No, dear; he will not know\nyou.\"\n\n\"Why?  Frank, tell me all--and why you think, as I plainly see you do,\nthat it is not best I should go.\"\n\n\"He was stricken suddenly in the midst of his work, while apparently in\nperfect health, and has not regained consciousness since; nor will he\never on earth.  Hence your presence could be no solace to him.\"\n\n\"When was this?\"\n\n\"Three days ago; I have been with him almost constantly by day and\nnight ever since.\"\n\n\"Oh, why did you not sooner tell me?\"\n\n\"It was thought wise to spare you the unnecessary pain of seeing him\nsuffer when you could not minister to him, and I have come to tell you\nnow that you may go if you still so desire.\"\n\n\"He will know me as soon as the struggle is past?\"\n\n\"Yes, but he will be bewildered and weak; he will need stronger help\nand guidance than you alone can give, and you will miss the rapture of\nthe meeting as it would be a little later on.\"\n\n\"What would you have me do?  You know I will yield to your wiser\njudgment even against the pleadings of my heart.  But I can wait!\"\n\n\"I will not say, 'do not go.'  You shall accompany me if you wish.  I\nonly think that after the first bewilderment of the change has passed,\nafter he has bathed in the waters of the River of Life, he will be\nbetter prepared for the delightful reunion which awaits him.  You\nremember what the waters did for you, and how bewildered and oppressed\nin spirit you were till you went with me that morning, into the river.\nIt is the same with all of us, only where there has been serious\ntrouble with the brain at last, it is even more needed than on ordinary\noccasions.  And that is the case with my brother; he will not be fully\nhimself until the magical waters have swept the clouds from his brain.\"\n\n\"You are always right, my brother, and I will yield to your wise\nadvice, although my heart cries out to hasten at once to his side.\nWhen will you return to him?\"\n\n\"Immediately.  There will be little time to wait.  With the quickening\nof the morning light we will be here.  My brave-hearted, wise little\nsister, the delay will be to you neither sorrowful nor long.\"\n\nHe arose, and, bending over me, dropped a kiss lightly on my brow, and\nin a moment he had passed from my sight.\n\n\"How strange,\" I thought, \"that even in this matter, so near to my\nheart, I am able to yield unmurmuringly!  Father, I thank Thee!  I\nthank Thee for the glad reunion so near at hand; but, even more than\nthat, for the sweet submission in all things that has grown into my\nlife; that I can yield to Thy will even when Thou wouldst permit it to\nbe otherwise.\"\n\nI bowed my head upon my hand and gave myself up to mingled sad and\nhappy thoughts.  Was he, this dearly loved one, indeed insensible to\nhis suffering?  Would the Father mercifully spare him even the pang of\nthe parting?  Oh, that the morning were here!  How could I wait even\nthat brief while for the sight of the beloved face!\n\nSuddenly a soft touch rested upon my bowed head, and a Voice I had\nlearned to recognize and love beyond all things in earth or heaven\nsaid: \"Have I not said truly, 'Though he were dead, yet shall he live\nagain'?  What are now the years of separation, since the meeting again\nis at hand?  Come, and let us reason a little together,\" the Master\nsaid, smiling down into my uplifted face.  He took my extended hand\ninto his own, and sitting down beside me, continued:\n\n\"Let us consider what these years have done for you.  Do you not feel\nthat you are infinitely better prepared to confer happiness than when\nyou parted from him you love?\"\n\nI nodded in glad affirmation.\n\n\"Do you not realize that you stand upon a higher plane, with more\nexalted ideas of life and its duties; and that, in the strength of the\nFather, you two henceforward will walk upward together?\"\n\nAgain I gladly acquiesced.\n\n\"Is the home-life here less attractive than it was in the earth-life?\"\n\n\"No, no!  A thousand times no!\" I cried.\n\n\"Then there is nothing but joy in the reunion at hand?\"\n\n\"Nothing but joy,\" I echoed.\n\nThen the Savior led me on to talk of the one so soon to come, and I\nopened my glad heart to him and told him of the noble life, the\nunselfish toil, the high aspirations, the unfaltering trust of him I\nloved.  I spoke of his fortitude in misfortune, his courage in the face\nof sore trial and disappointment, his forgiveness of even malicious\ninjury; and concluded by saying, \"He lived the Christianity many others\nprofessed.  He always distanced me in that.\"\n\nThe face of the Master glowed in sympathy as I talked, and when I\nceased he said: \"I perceive that you have discovered the secret which\nmakes marriage eternal as the years of heaven.\"\n\n\"Oh,\" I said, \"to me marriage must be eternal!  How could it be\notherwise when two grow together and become as one?  Death cannot\nseparate them without destroying; they are no longer two perfect\nbeings, but one in soul and spirit forever.\"\n\n\"Aye,\" he answered; \"but having the marriage rite pronounced does not\nproduce this change.  It is the divinity of soul wedded to soul alone\nthat can do it.\"\n\nSo he led me on until my soul flew upward as a lark in the early\nmorning.  He unfolded to me mysteries of the soul-life that filled my\nheart with rapture, but which I may not here reveal.  At length, to my\ninfinite surprise, I saw the rosy glow deepening across the sky, and\nknew that morning--love's morning--had dawned for me in heaven.  The\nMaster arose, and pointing to the radiance, said: \"By the time thou art\nready to receive them they will be here;\" and with a smile, and a touch\nthat made a benediction, he departed.\n\nAs I arose and stood with face uplifted to the coming day, I caught in\nthe near distance the triumphant notes of the angels' choral song; and\nthis morning, as though in sympathy with my thought, they sang:\n\n\"He is risen!  Hear it, ye heavens, and ye sons of earth!  He is risen,\nand has become the firstfruits of them that slept!\"\n\n\nI lifted up my voice with joy, and joined their thrilling song; and as\nthey swept onward and the cadence died away, I slowly descended the\nstairway, crossed the lawn whose flowers never crushed or withered\nbeneath our feet, and sank for a moment beneath the pure waters of the\nriver.  I felt no haste, no unwonted excitement or unrest, though I\nknew that he was coming for whom my soul had waited all these years.\nThe Master's presence had filled me with calm and peace that nothing\nhad power to disturb; had prepared and fitted me for the great\nhappiness lying just before me.\n\nUplifted with a new, strange delight, I recrossed the lawn, stopping\nupon the veranda before entering the house, to gather a knot of\ncream-white roses and fasten them to my breast.  Then going to the\nlibrary, I refilled the golden bowl with the spicy-breathed scarlet\ncarnations, laying one aside to fasten upon my husband's shoulder.  I\nwanted to myself gather the flowers that would greet him on his coming.\nI twisted up my hair in the manner that he had most admired, and\nfastened a creamy bud within the folds, that I might seem to him as I\nhad of old.\n\nSoon thereafter I heard voices and steps.  Listen!  Yes, it is the same\ndear step for which I had so often listened in the old home-life, the\nstep that had always brought gladness to my heart, and sunshine in our\nhome!  His step in heaven!  I flew to the open doorway, and in an\ninstant was held close in the strong arms and to the loving, throbbing\nheart of my dear husband.  Was there anything more for me that heaven\ncould give!\n\nMy brother, with thoughtful care, passed onward to the upper rooms of\nthe house, and for awhile we were alone together, we whose lives had\nrun, so happily mingled, through the long years of our mortal life.  I\ndrew him within the house, and in the vestibule again he took me in his\narms and drew me to his heart.\n\n\"This is heaven indeed!\" he said.\n\nWe passed into the \"flower-room,\" and on its threshold he stood a\nmoment, entranced with its beauty; but when I would have related to him\nits history, as my brother had given it to me, he said: \"Not to-day, my\ndear; I have only eyes and ears for you to-day; all else in heaven must\nwait.\"\n\nSo we sat and talked together as in the olden days, and the happy hours\ncame and went, and the day melted into the twilight glow, before we\nrealized it was half spent.  Our brother Frank had come to us about the\nnoontide, and together we had gone over the lovely house, had stood\nupon the broad verandas and eaten of the heavenly fruit.  Then we all\nsat together where I had spent the hours waiting in the presence of the\nblessed Master.  I told them much that he then had said to me, and how\nhe turned into triumphant rejoicing the hours which I had anticipated\nwould pass in lonely waiting.  The eyes of my dear husband were\ntear-filled, and he pressed my hand, which he still kept in his, in\ntender sympathy.\n\n\"Oh, darling, it is a blessed, blessed life!\" I said.\n\n\"I already realize the blessedness,\" he replied, \"for has it not given\nme back my brother and my wife--my precious wife!\"\n\nEarly the following morning I said to my husband and our brother: \"We\nmust go to father and mother Sprague's to-day.  They have the first\nclaim, after ours, Frank.\"\n\n\"Yes, we will go at once,\" they both replied.\n\nSo together we all started.  In the earliest days of my heavenly life I\nhad sought out with much joy the home of my husband's parents, and was\nby them accorded, as in the earth-life, a warm place in their hearts,\nand many happy hours had we spent together since.  Now we were taking\nto them a favorite son, and I realized how his coming would bring\ngladness to their hearts and home.  It was a joyful meeting, especially\nto our mother, and the day was far spent before we arose to return.\n\n\"William,\" said our mother, fondly laying her hand upon his arm, \"yours\nwas a happy home on earth--I used to think a perfect home; it will be\nfar happier here,\" with a loving glance at me.\n\n\"I am sure of that, mother.  I have my dear wife and Frank constantly\nwith me; and you and my father and Josephine\"--a favorite niece--\"to\ncome to here; and after awhile,\" with a little hesitation, \"the holier\njoys and privileges of heaven.\"\n\nWe turned to go, and upon the threshold met an aunt who in the\nearth-life--blind and helpless--had been a favorite with us all.\n\n\"My dear children,\" she exclaimed, \"how good it seems to see you all\nagain!\"\n\n\"Aunt Cynthia!\" my husband said fondly.\n\n\"Yes, Aunt Cynthia, but no longer groping helpless in the darkness.\n'Whereas I once was blind, now I see,'\" she quoted, smiling happily.\n\nAnd so it was--the Master's touch had rested on the sightless eyes,\nand, closing to the darkness of earth, they had opened upon the glories\nof heaven.  Marvelous transition!  No wonder we left her singing:\n\n  Glory to Him who this marvel hath wrought,\n    Filling my spirit with joy and delight!\n  Lo, in my blindness I safely have walked\n    Out of the darkness into the light!\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII.\n\n  Down by the sea, the crystal sea,\n  Where all of the redeemed shall be,\n  Where you and I, beloved, shall go,\n  Our crimson robes washed white as snow\n  In Christ's dear blood--what hymns of praise\n  Thro' countless ages we shall raise!\n  There all our loved ones we shall see--\n  Think what a meeting that will be\n  Down by the sea!\n                    --[From \"Songs by the Sea.\"\n\n\nDays lengthened into weeks, and weeks into months, and these in turn\ncrept onward into years, and the duties and joys of heaven grew clearer\nand dearer with each passing hour.  Our home-life was perfect, though\nwe looked forward with joy to the future coming of our son and daughter\nto make its ties complete.  We had often spoken of going together to\nthe great celestial sea, but the time had never seemed quite ripe for\nso doing.  We realized it was one of the great mysteries of heaven,\nalthough we knew not just what to expect, since there no one ever seeks\nto forestall sight by description.  One evening I said to my brother:\n\n\"I have a strange desire to go to the sea, if you think it wise that we\nshould do so.\"\n\n\"I am glad that it is your desire to go, as it is mine to have you.  I\nwas about to propose that you and my brother should take together this\nblessed journey.\"\n\n\"Will you not accompany us?\"\n\n\"Not at this time.  We will all take it again together, but it is best\nthat now you two should go alone.  You know the way.  Through the\nforest that leads to the Temple, till almost there; then bear to the\nright and follow the golden path that takes you direct to the shore.\"\n\nSo, in the quivering light of the glorious morning we started, full of\na holy joy that together we might take this special journey.  We\nentered and traversed the great forest, where the golden light fell\nthrough the quivering branches overhead, and birds of gorgeous plumage\nand thrilling song were darting everywhere.  We heard, nearer and ever\nnearer, the regular dashing of the waves against the shore; and now\nthere came to us bursts of triumphant song and the harmony of many\ninstruments of music.  At length we emerged from the forest, and stood\nmute and motionless before the overwhelming glory of the scene before\nus.\n\nCan I describe it as it appeared to me that day?  Never, until my lips\ncan speak, and your heart understand, the language of the royal courts\nabove.  From our very feet sloped downward toward the shore a golden\nstrand many hundred feet wide, and extending on either hand far beyond\nthe limits of our vision.  This strand caught and radiated the morning\nlight until wherever it was visible it glittered and glimmered like the\ndust of diamonds and other precious stones, and the waves, as they came\nand went in ceaseless motion, caught up this sparking sand and carried\nit on their crests, like the phosphorescence we sometimes see in the\nwake of a vessel in mid-ocean.  And the sea!  It spread out before us\nin a radiance that passes description in any language I have ever\nknown.  It was like the white glory that shone through the windows of\nthe Temple, and beneath this shining glory we caught in the roll of the\nwaves the blue tint of the waters of that sea which has no limit to its\ndepths or bounds.  Upon its shining bosom we saw in every direction\nboats, representing all nations, but in beauty of construction far\nsurpassing anything earth has ever known.  They were like great open\npleasure-barges, and were filled with people looking with eager faces\ntoward the shore, many in their eagerness standing erect and gazing\nwith wistful, expectant eyes into the faces of those upon the shore.\n\nAh, the people upon the shore!  \"Numberless as the sands of the sea,\"\nthey stood, far as the eye could reach, far as stretched the shore of\nthat illimitable sea, a great mass of beautiful souls clad in the\nspotless garments of the redeemed.  Many among them had golden harps\nand various instruments of music, and whenever a boat touched the shore\nand its inmates were welcomed by the glad voices and tender embraces of\ntheir beloved ones in the throng, the harps would be held aloft, all of\nthe golden instruments would sound, and the vast multitude would break\nforth into the triumphant song of victory over death and the grave.\n\n\"Do these people stand here always, I wonder?\" I said softly.\n\n\"Not the same people,\" said a radiant being near us, who had heard my\nquestion.  \"But there is always a throng of people here--those who are\nexpecting friends from the other life, and those who assemble to share\ntheir joy.  Some of the heavenly choristers also are always here, but\nnot always the same ones.  You will notice that most of those who\narrive are led quietly away by their friends, and many others are\nconstantly joining the multitude.\"\n\nHe passed onward toward the shore, and left us rapt in awe and wonder.\n\nWe soon became deeply interested in watching the reunions, and found\nourselves joining with rapture in the glad songs of rejoicing.  Now and\nthen a face we remembered to have seen on earth would be among the\neager faces in the boats, but none that had been especially dear to us;\nstill it made us notice more closely and sympathize more heartily with\nthose who welcomed beloved friends.  Now we would see a wife caught in\nthe close embrace of a waiting husband; now a little child with a glad\ncry would spring into the outstretched arms of the happy mother; friend\nwould clasp friend in glad reunion, and here an aged mother would be\nfolded to the heart of a beloved child.\n\nAs one boat of more than usual strength and beauty came riding\ngracefully over the waves, we observed the tall figure of a man\nstanding near her prow with his arms about a graceful woman who stood\nby his side.  Each shaded with uplifted hand from their dazzled eyes\nthe unwonted splendor and scanned, wistfully and searchingly, the faces\nof the crowd as the boat neared the shore.  Suddenly with a great\nthrill of joy surging through my being, I cried out:\n\n\"It is our precious son, and his dear wife!  And they have come\ntogether!\"\n\nIn an instant we were swiftly moving through the throng that parted in\nready sympathy to let us pass.  And, as the boat touched the shore,\nwith a swift movement they were both beside us--the dear daughter\nalready close clasped to the hearts of her own happy parents who were\nwaiting near the water's edge, while at the same instant we felt the\narms of our beloved son enfolding us; and soon thereafter we were all\nin each other's embrace.  Oh, what a rapturous moment was that!  Our\nhome life in heaven complete, no partings forever!  As we stood with\nencircling arms, scarcely realizing the unexpected bliss, the heavenly\nchoir broke into song; and with uplifted faces radiant with joy, eyes\nfilled with happy tears and voices trembling with emotion, we all\njoined in the glad anthem:\n\n  Glory be unto the Father, and unto the Son!\n  Glory be unto the ever-blessed Three in One!\n  No more sorrow, no more parting, no more grief or pain;\n  Christ has broken death's strong fetters, we are free again!\n  Heart to heart and hand to hand,\n  Meet we on the golden strand.\n  Glory, glory to the Father!  Glory to the Son!\n  Glory be unto the ever-blessed Three in One!\n  Alleluia!  Amen!\n\n\nThe song rose and swelled triumphantly as the vast multitude caught it\nup, and the surge of the waves made a deep undertone to the melody that\nincreased its solemnity, as with bowed heads and full hearts we passed\nonward hand in hand; and the light that fell about us was purer,\nholier, more divine, than it had ever been before.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIX.\n\n  Can such things be,\n  And overcome us like a summer's cloud,\n  Without our special wonder?\n                    --[Shakespeare.\n\n\nA time came when one day as I stood in my lovely room that had really\nbecome to me a shrine, and looked up into the pictured face of the\nChrist above me, I fancied that the tender eyes looking down into mine\nno longer told of a deathless love alone, but carried in their depths a\npity, a loving compassion which I had never noticed there before.  Then\nas I turned toward my couch I even fancied that his hands reached out\nfrom the canvas and rested in benediction on my head.  I stood a moment\nin blessed peace before him, then as the hands seemed to be withdrawn,\nI turned and lay down for an instant's rest.  But strange thoughts and\nfancies crept into my brain, such as I had not known in years.  I felt\nconfused and bewildered, and started up restlessly from my pillow, only\nto fall back again in doubt, and something akin to dread.  What could\nit mean?  Could the old unrest of earth find place in this divine\nretreat?  Then I heard unfamiliar voices.  Someone said:\n\n\"Her color is better than it has been for several days, I think.\"\n\n\"Yes, there is no doubt but she is better to-day.  There is really hope\nfor her now, I am sure.  But she came very near passing through the\nGates.\"\n\n\"Very near passing through the Gates\"!  As though I had not passed\nthrough, and in returning left them so ajar that gleams of the heavenly\nradiance from beyond them will fall about my life forever!\n\nI have been in my Father's house.\n\n\"We shall know each other there!\"\n\n\n\n\nSUPPLEMENTAL CHAPTER\n\nIn the many letters received since the publication of \"Intra Muros,\"\nrepeated inquiries have been made of me on different points contained\nin the book, requiring much correspondence, and it has been suggested\nthat possibly the addition of a few pages, as a supplement to the book,\nmight explain some matters, or, possibly, make more clear some points\nthat have not been fully comprehended by the reader.\n\nLet me in the beginning reassert what I have heretofore stated: that I\nhave never claimed that this strange experience is either a revelation\nor an inspiration.  It came to me during a period of great physical\nsuffering and prostration, and I have always considered it as sent in\ncompensation for that suffering.  Be this as it may, it has been a\ngreat comfort and help to me, and, through the letters received from\nothers, I am led to believe it has been the same to many who have read\nit, for which cause I am extremely gratified.  I wish that I might give\nthe entire experience just as it came to me, but I find that\nearth-language is wholly inadequate for me to do so.  There were so\nmany mysteries, so many teachings far beyond anything that in this life\nwe have known, that I find myself bewildered and lost when I attempt to\nconvey to others the marvelous things that at that time seemed indeed\nto me to be a most wonderful revelation.\n\nThe question has repeatedly been asked me, \"Was this a real experience,\nor merely a fanciful sketch?\"  What I have written above will as nearly\nanswer that question as it is possible for me to do.  The preface and\nearly pages as given in the little volume are as nearly accurate as I\ncan make them; and anything that I might add on that point would simply\nbe superfluous.  To me, at the time, it was as real as any experience\nin this life could possibly be.\n\nQuestions have been asked respecting the comparative distances in\nheaven and our powers of passing from one point to another; and the\nquestion has even been asked if in the other life we developed wings\nthat aided us in passage, as the wings of a bird.  These matter-of-fact\nquestions are sometimes quite difficult to answer, for my belief is,\nthat if I were really in the other life, as during this experience I\nseemed to be, my thoughts would be so far above, so lifted beyond such\ntemporal matters, that I would be unable to answer such inquiries\nsatisfactorily on my return to this life.  Looking back upon it now,\nand trying to gather facts from the impressions that I then received, I\nshould say that none who have ever passed through mortal life would in\nany way be changed from their present personal appearance, except to be\netherealized and glorified.  When I seemed to stand in that wonderful\nTemple filled with the Glory of God the Father, four angels with\nuplifted trumpets stood beside the golden altar on the great platform\nof pearl, and from their shoulders shadowy pinions enfolded them and\ntouched the floor upon which they stood.  And when, in a moment of\nbewildering emotion, I lifted my eyes to the erstwhile cloud-filled\ndome, I saw about the hitherto invisible choir, the shadowy pinions of\nwhich we so often read, half concealing the harps and instruments of\ngold.  Also, when at the close of that wonderful day when I had first\nmet the Savior, we heard the angel voices as we stood together in the\ngreat flower-room, and, looking upward, saw the child faces in the\ngolden twilight above us, they, too, had delicate shadowy wings, half\nconcealing the baby forms.  Except for this, I have no recollection of\nhaving seen any of those glorious wings of which we so often read.\n\nTo me it seems that to the angels of God who have always lived in\nheaven, these are given; but to those who have suffered and toiled and\nborne the cross below, is given only the glorified form, such as our\nSavior himself bore.  We appear to our friends when we meet them over\nthere just as they saw us here, only purified and perfect.  Still, we\nhad powers of locomotion given us that carried us from point to point\nswiftly and securely, as though borne by a boat upon the waters.\n\nI do not know how I can better illustrate this point than by giving a\nlittle incident not mentioned in the book.  I remember, as I sat one\nmorning upon the upper terrace in the house of my sister whom I had\nwelcomed there soon after my arrival, and who, though really then a\ndenizen of earth, has since passed over and taken possession of that\nbeautiful home prepared for her, that my sister said to me:\n\n\"I often look across the river to those lovely hills in the distance,\nand wonder if it is all as beautiful there as here.  I mean some day to\ngo and see.\"\n\n\"Why not go to-day?\" was my answer.\n\n\"Could you go with me this morning?\" was her inquiry, as she turned her\nradiant face again toward the river and the lovely fields beyond.\n\n\"With pleasure,\" I replied.  \"I have often wished to go myself.  There\nis something very inviting in the beautiful landscape beyond the river.\nWhere is my brother Oliver?\" I asked; \"will he not accompany us?\"\n\n\"No,\" she said, looking smilingly toward me, \"he has gone upon an\nimportant mission for the Master to-day; but you and I, dear, can go,\nand be at home again before his return.\"\n\n\"Then let us do so,\" I replied, rising and giving her my hand.\n\nShe at once arose, and, instead of turning toward the stairway in the\ncenter of the building, we turned and walked deliberately to the low\ncoping that surrounded the upper veranda.  Without a moment's\nhesitation we stepped over this into the sweet air that lay about us.\nThere was no more fear of falling than if our feet had been upon the\nsolid earth.  We had the power of passing through the air at will, and\nthrough the water, just as we had the power of walking upon the crystal\npaths and greensward about us.\n\nWe ascended slightly until we were just above the tree-tops, and\nthen--what shall I say?--we did not fly, we made no effort either with\nour hands or our feet; I can only think of the word \"drifting\" that\nwill at all describe this wonderful experience.  We went as a leaf or a\nfeather floats through the air on a balmy day, and the sensation was\nmost delightful.  We saw beneath us through the green branches of the\ntrees the little children playing, and the people walking--some for\npleasure, some for duty.  As we neared the river we looked down on the\npleasure-boats upon the water and upon the people sitting or lying or\nwalking on the pebbly bottom; and we saw them with the same\ndistinctness as though we were looking at them simply through the\natmosphere.\n\nConversing as we drifted onward, we soon were over the tops of the\nhills to which we had looked so longingly from the veranda of my\nsister's house, and, for some time, we had no words to exchange; our\nhearts were filled with sensations such as only the scenes of heaven\ncan give.  Then my sister said very softly, quoting from one of the old\nearth-hymns:\n\n  \"Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood.\n  Stand dressed in living green.\"\n\n\nAnd, in the same spirit, I answered, \"It is indeed a rapturous scene--\n\n          \"'That rises to our sight,\n  Sweet fields arrayed in living green, and rivers of delight.'\"\n\n\nAs we passed onward, in looking down we began to see many suburban\nvillages, similar to that in which our own happy homes were situated.\nAmong many of them there was an unfamiliar air, and the architecture of\nthe buildings in many respects seemed quite different from our own.  I\nsuggested to my sister that we drop downward a little.  On doing so, we\nsoon realized what caused this apparent difference in the architecture\nand surroundings.  Where our homes were situated we were surrounded by\npeople we had known and loved on earth, and of our own nationality.\nMany of these villages over which we were now passing we found were\nformed from what, to us, would be termed of foreign nations, and each\nvillage retained some of the peculiarities of its earth-life, and\nthese, to us, were naturally unfamiliar.  We recognized again the\nwisdom and goodness of the Father in thus allowing friends of the same\nnationality to be located near each other in heaven, as on earth.\n\nAs we still drifted onward, in passing over an exquisitely beautiful\nvalley, between low hills of the most enchanting verdure, we saw a\ngroup of people seated upon the ground in a semicircle.  They seemed to\nbe hundreds in number, and in their midst a man was standing who,\napparently, was talking to them.  Something familiar, and yet\nunfamiliar, in the scene attracted us, and I said, \"Let us go nearer,\nand hear, if possible, what he is saying, and see who these people are.\"\n\nUpon doing this we found the people to resemble in a great measure our\nown Indian tribes; their dress, in a manner, corresponding to that worn\nupon earth, though so etherealized as to be surpassingly beautiful.\nBut the dusky faces and the long black hair still remained.  The faces,\nwith intense interest depicted on each, were turned toward the man who,\nwe could see, was talking to them, and, looking upon him, we saw at\nonce that he belonged to the Anglo-Saxon race.  In a whisper of\nsurprise I said to my sister:\n\n\"Why, he is a missionary!\"\n\nAs so often seemed to me to happen in that experience, when a surprise\nor a difficulty presented itself, there was always some one near to\nanswer and enlighten us.  And so we found on this occasion that our\ninstructor was beside us ready to answer any surprise or question that\nmight be asked.  He said at once:\n\n\"Yes, you are right.  This is a missionary who gave his life to what on\nearth were called the heathen.  He spent many years in working for them\nand enlightening those who sat in darkness, with the result, as you see\nbefore you, of bringing hundreds into the kingdom of the Master.  But,\nas you will naturally suppose, they have much to learn, and here he\nstill gathers them about him, and day by day leads them higher and\nhigher into the blessed life.\"\n\n\"Are there many such,\" I asked, \"doing this work in this beautiful\nrealm?\"\n\n\"Many hundreds,\" he said.  \"To these poor minds, unenlightened as they\nwere when they first came, heaven is as beautiful and happy a place as\nit is to any who have ascended higher, simply because we can enjoy only\nin the capacity to which our souls can reach.  There are none of us who\nhave not much yet to learn of this wonderful country.\"\n\nIn several instances, as we drifted across above the villages, we heard\nsongs of praise arising from the temples, and from people collected in\ndifferent ways.  In many cases, to our surprise, the hymns and the\nwords were those with which we had been familiar on earth, and,\nalthough sung in a strange tongue, we understood them all.  That was\nanother of the wonderful surprises of heaven.  There was no language\nthere that we could not understand.\n\nOn, and on, and on, through wonderful scenes of beauty we passed,\nreturning finally to our own homes by a different way from that by\nwhich we had gone forth, seeming to have made almost a circle in our\npleasant journeyings.  When I left my sister in her own home she\nwhispered to me as she bade me good-by for the present:\n\n\"It has been a day of such wonderful rest and pleasure that we must\nsoon repeat it together.\"  And I answered:\n\n\"Yes, dear, we will.\"\n\n\nIn several instances the subject of dual marriages has been introduced.\nMore than once it has been suggested, \"If a man marrying in early life,\nand, being devotedly attached to the woman he has married, should\nunfortunately lose her, and after many years of solitary waiting find\nanother congenial soul to whom his whole heart goes out and marriage is\nthe result, and they have many years of wedded happiness together\nbefore she, too, is called, to whom will he belong in the other life?\"\n\nIn the many phases of the divine life that seemed to come to me in my\nvision, such thoughts as the above were never by any means suggested.\nSpeaking from my own natural intuitions, I cannot but think that as\nsoon as the immortal part of us leaves the earthly tenement, it lays\ndown forever, with that tenement, all thoughts that embarrassed or\ngrieved or pained the spirit.  In the homes of heaven there was\nperpetual love and joy and peace and happiness without measure.  This\none thing I know: In heaven are no conflicting ties; no questions that\nvex; no conditions that annoy; the whole heart springs up to do the\nwill of the Father, and nothing less than that will suffice.\n\nIn answer to the question in many instances proposed to me, as to\nwhether I consider this experience as a revelation, I can only say, as\nheretofore, that I gave it as it came to me, and every one must draw\nhis own inference concerning it.  I can be the guide for no one.\n\nThere are some seeming inconsistencies in the book, of which I myself\nam aware.  Looking back upon it after nearly four years have passed, it\nseems to me to be more a series of instructions such as we give little\nchildren here in a kindergarten.  It does not purport to be a\nrevelation of what has been or what will be, in the strict sense of the\nword, but, as I have already suggested, more as we would teach children\nin a kindergarten.  I myself noticed, in transcribing this strange\nexperience, the fact that the first lesson to be taught almost\ninvariably came as an illustration; and, after my wonder and pleasure\nhad taken in all that the picture itself would teach, then followed the\nrevelation, or a general application of its meaning.  For instance,\nthat I may make my meaning more clear: When I myself first entered\nwithin the gates, I was shown the wonders of the celestial gardens and\nthe magic of the beautiful river; then the meeting with the dear ones\nfrom whom I had been so long parted.  And so I came to know the rapture\nof the disembodied spirit on its first entrance \"Within the Walls.\"\nAfterwards followed the instruction or first lessons concerning this\nlife into which I seemed to have entered, until, as I said, the first\nillustrations and the instructions formed for me but one perfect\nlesson.  And when, as time passed, I met and welcomed my dear sister,\nmy husband and my son, I knew the other side of the question--the joy\nthat came even to the angels in heaven when they welcomed the beloved\nones who came to them from the world below.  And so, all through the\nbook, the instruction was invariably preceded by the illustration.\nThus I can but think, if any meaning can be attached to this strange\nvision, that it is simply a lesson in a general way of what we may\nexpect and hope for when we reach the thither shore.\n\nAgain, the question is many times repeated, \"Does this experience\nretain its vividness as time passes, or does it grow unreal and\ndreamlike to you?\"  I can partially forget some of the happiest\nexperiences of my earth-life, but time seems only to intensify to me\nthe wonders of those days when my feet really stood upon the\nborder-land of the two worlds.  It seemed to me that at every step we\ntook in the divine life our souls reached up toward something better,\nand we had no inclination to look behind to that which had passed, or\nto try to solve what in our mortal life had been intricate or\nperplexing questions or mysteries.  Like the cup that is filled to\noverflowing at the fountain with pure and sparkling water, so our souls\nwere filled--more than filled--with draughts from the fountain of all\ngood, until there was no longer room for aught else.  \"How then,\" you\nask, \"could you reach out for more, when you had all that you could\nreceive?\"  Because moment by moment, hour by hour, our souls grew and\nexpanded and opened to receive fresh draughts of divine instruction\nwhich was constantly lifting us nearer to the source of all perfection.\n\nSome of the letters that have come to me have been so pathetic in their\ninquiries, that they have called forth sympathetic tears, and an\nintense longing to speak with authority upon the questions raised.\nThat privilege God has not given me.  I can only tell how it seemed to\nme in those blissful hours when earth seemed remote and heaven very\nnear and real.  One suffering mother writes, \"Do you think I could pray\nstill for my darling girl?\"  How I longed to take her in sympathetic\narms and whisper to her that the dear child of her love, I doubted not,\nwas praising God continually and had no longer need of earthly prayer.\nShe loved and trusted the Savior as she went down into the Valley of\nShadows, and his loving arms received and comforted her.  To all such I\nwould say--and many are the letters of like import received:\n\n\"Look up, dear friends, and see the loved ones, as I saw those so dear\nto me, happy and blessed beyond all human conception in the house of\nmany mansions prepared for us by our loving Father.\"  Oh, those\nwonderful mansions upon which my longing heart looks back!  Believe in\nthem, look forward to them, beloved friends, for we have the Savior's\npromise that they at least are there: \"In my Father's house are many\nmansions.\"  His promises never fail; and I am sure of one thing they\nwill not be less beautiful than those I looked upon in my vision.\n\nThis thought, to me, answers in a measure the questions asked in regard\nto dual marriages.  My own belief, of this mortal life, is, that no two\nfriends can occupy the same place in our hearts.  Each heart is filled\nwith chambers stately and old, and to each beloved guest is assigned a\nchamber exclusively for himself.  That room is always his.  If death,\nor distance, or even disgrace, separates him from us, still the room is\nhis and his only forever.  No other person can ever occupy it.  Others\nmay have rooms equally choice, but when a guest has once departed from\nthe room he has held in another heart, the door of that room is barred\nforever; it is held inviolate--sacred to the departed guest.  And so,\nin heaven, each guest has his separate room or home.  \"In my Father's\nhouse are many mansions.  I go to prepare a place (room) for you.\"\n\nI am no advocate of second marriages.  The thought of two lives alone\nas one, is beautiful to me; but I do not, all the same, believe that a\nman sins against the memory of a wife beloved and lost, when he places\nby her side (not in her place) a good woman to cheer and brighten his\nhome.  She cannot, if she would, take the place left vacant in his home\nand heart; it is inviolate.  I speak, of course, of true marriages,\nwhere not only hands are joined, but hearts and souls are knit together\nas one forever.\n\n\"What are the duties of heaven?\"  So many and varied, I should judge,\nas to make the question unanswerable.  Much in \"Intra Muros\" shows the\ntrend of daily life.\n\n\"Rest?\"  One of the duties as well as the pleasures of heaven.  Rest\ndoes not of necessity mean inactivity.  How often in this life does\nlaying aside of one duty and taking up another bring rest to both mind\nand body!  Still, as I found it, there was at times absolute \"rest\" for\nboth mind and body in that blissful repose that only heaven can give.\n\nIn but one instance of the manifold letters received was any feeling\nproduced in their perusal except that of pleasure and gratitude that\nI--with so little physical strength of my own--could bring comfort and\npleasure into the lives of others.  I thank our gracious Father that he\nhas so kindly permitted it.  The one letter to which I refer contains\nso many almost puerile inquiries, that I simply laid it aside with a\nquotation from St. Paul, \"Of the earth earthy,\" and asked the Father to\nlift the heart of the writer into a purer light.\n\nIn conclusion I can only reiterate that I am no prophet, I am no seer;\nbut, in my inmost soul, I honestly believe that if the joys of heaven\nare greater, if the glories \"Within the Walls\" are more radiant than I\nin my vision beheld them, I cannot understand how even the immortal\nspirit can bear to look upon them.\n\nR. R. S.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<pre id=\"pg-footer\">","title":"Intra Muros","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":36671}