To me the place began to grow bright and beautiful. The gloom became permeated with streaks of rosy light. Sweet music floated through the air, which had lost its stinging sharpness. I lost sight of the barren rocks, the desert sand, and the dashing waves. Only the praying, tearful being before me, bloated and disfigured as he was, and the shining spirit at my side, were visible to me. The man’s tears redoubled, great sobs shook his frame, heavy sighs came welling up from his heaving breast; broken murmurs of remorse, contrition, and despair fell from his lips.
Still he did not see us; but to me the place grew brighter and brighter, until no ray of gloom remained.
Still continuing her magnetic passes, my friend cast a beam of light over the man’s face, and, looking up, he discovered her angel form bent in pity above him. Stretching out his hands with an imploring gesture, but with no sound, the miserable being gazed and gazed, as if to drink in hope, encouragement, even life itself, from the beautiful sight.
I soon became conscious of another presence beside me; an elderly female, bright, shining, beautiful, yet sad, very sad.
Catching sight of this new face bending over him, the suffering spirit cried: “My mother, oh, my mother!” and bowed his head from sight.
Drawing me away, my companion said: “We will leave him now to his mother’s tender care; she will help him to redeem himself. He is in the valley of tribulation, but soon he will arise to liberty and happiness.”
In company with that angel-missionary, my dear aunt, who passed from earth many years ago, a sweet, innocent maiden, I have many times visited these dark by-ways where undeveloped spirits, surrounded by gloomy clouds, remain, many of them perhaps indifferent to their condition. Yet we are always sure of finding one or more among them, who has grown weary, and become anxious for more light and goodness; and when we find them in this frame of mind, it is a beautiful task to talk to them, show them how they may grow better, and little by little lead them up to more pleasant conditions of existence.
AN OUTCAST FROM EARTH RETURNS TO AID THE FALLEN.
But to go on with my description of places I have seen: A thick, almost impenetrable forest, stretching out far and wide before us, its deep, dark undergrowth of shrubbery growing up in great thickets; tangled vines covering the trunks of the trees, and so interlaced that no sunbeams strayed through the leafy covert. No sound of singing bird, no scent of beautiful flower, could there be found. All was so dark, so lonely, so impervious, it seemed that not even a spirit might enter the confines of the gloomy place. But as we approached, the seemingly objective wood became subjective only; I found that we could pass through readily. In the depths of this forest, we came upon a female spirit, apparently asleep; wan, pale, and haggard, she presented an appearance of deep suffering.
My companion explained to me the meaning of this scene. This spirit had shortly before inhabited a mortal form. Tossed about here and there on the waves of poverty and misfortune, scorned and neglected and despised, she had felt herself an outcast from the human family, and in a fever of despair had ended her mortal life by poison.