“It appears marvellous,” remarked this noble lady, “that any parent should wish to cramp the body and soul of his child by keeping it in a state of infancy, when, if it had remained on earth, it would necessarily have arrived at years of maturity.
“Nature does not suspend her operations in transplanting from earth to heaven! The soul is formed for expansion, and surely the spirit world is not the place to suppress unfoldment!”
As I listened to her intelligent conversation, I blushed to be reminded of my own error in supposing my own darling, who had reached the spirit world so long before, would greet me with the prattling talk of babyhood!
Pleased with our visit and the information we had received, we bade adieu to Lady R. and the “Golden Nest,” and pursued our flight in another direction.
“Do let us next find out,” said I to Morris, “what they do here with criminals; there must be many a wicked reprobate who arrives here from earth fresh from murders and villanies of all sorts.”
As I spoke, two grave-looking gentlemen, whom I took to be either doctors or judges, crossed the path before us, and I proposed to make these inquiries of them.
Who should they prove to be but William Penn and the omnipresent Benjamin Franklin!
“Yes, yes,” said Penn, in reply to our questions shaking his head deprecatingly; “’tis too true; we are obliged to have what Swedenborg calls “our hells,” for you send your criminals from earth so hardened that we are compelled to keep them under guard. Come with us and we’ll show you how we treat them.”
We were very glad of this opportune meeting, and followed with alacrity.
Presently, leaving the beautiful country far behind us, we came upon a desert waste, and as I am extremely sensitive to conditions, I felt somewhat like a criminal in passing through it. Having got safely over, however, there burst upon our sight a scene of surpassing beauty; as far as the eye could reach extended a most highly-cultivated district of country.