The ministering band of spirits who have thus far cared for the newly-arisen one, now leave her in the care of the motherly soul who has been awaiting her in the cottage home; and she immediately learns that this new friend is her own grandmother, who has been dead for many years. This is a home never dreamed of by the poor, working girl, and it seems almost like enchanted ground to her.
But a short time had passed since the spirit departed the body; she had lain in the bower of roses, tended by gentle missionary spirits; sunk in a semi-unconscious condition, but wrapped in a sense of ecstasy, very exquisite to the weary soul, until after the burial of her body, when she had been aroused and borne to her spirit home by her attendants.
Oh, how she enjoyed the sweet song of the birds, the balmy air and the fragrant flowers. The house she inhabited possessed no grand adornments; only white drapery, rustic yet graceful furniture, polished floors, here and there a tiny picture or bit of color within; climbing vines and fragrant flowers without; yet all was beautiful and sweet; and best of all, this pretty home had been reared bit by bit from the daily life of its occupant. Patience, self-sacrifice, devotion to an invalid parent, cheerfulness, and a spirit of perseverance, that faltered not in the midst of suffering, poverty, and affliction, together with an almost passionate love of the beautiful, had thrown out material from the life of this young girl that had been eagerly seized on by her spirit guides with which to rear her cottage home.
And within a tender grandmother had been domiciled to give her greeting and companionship. From the entrance of this little home, its occupants could look out, beyond the blooming garden, into the glowing valley, with its stately trees, its rippling brooks and mossy dells, with here and there a white homestead, around which gardens spread, and before the doors of which children made glad music. Nestling between two massive mountain ranges, the crags of which glowed in the sunlight like bronze, or deepened into purple radiance at twilight, the valley presented a scene of smiling peace and tranquility.
But you are not to think the girl, who had been borne from the cares of material life to this beautiful spot, had forgotten that invalid mother whom she had left to suffer earthly sorrow and care. Not so; her whole soul went out in love, sympathy, and longing toward that lonely parent, and guided by a slender cord of silvery light which, though invisible to others, yet was always visible to herself, and which extended from her own spirit home to the spot where her mother lay, she constantly returned to the side of her she loved so well, and by her ministrations soothed many a weary pain, and eased her mother’s passage to the spirit land.
She found that her mother had been removed from her former habitation to one of the wards of a hospital, and she—the spirit child—found among the nurses one whom she could influence to act tenderly towards the invalid under her care.
But it was not long that tenderness of earth was needed. The shock of her daughter’s sudden illness and death was too much for the poor invalid, and in one month from the decease of that daughter the mother joined her in the spirit world.
As I was privileged to be with the guardian band who had attended the younger spirit into the Higher Life, so I also had the privilege of being present at the spirit birth of the elder woman; but the first to greet her was that daughter who had preceded her to the immortal realms, and who now, radiant as an angel of light, returned to bear her mother to rest in her own sweet, little home.
The expressions of delight at her appearance from her mother first called the attention of the daughter to herself; for the first time since her change she discovered that she was no longer pale, wan, and weary-looking, but radiant, bright, and beautiful. With the self-devotion so natural to her, she had been so absorbed in her mother’s condition that she had no idea of the beauty which now enveloped her own being like a halo of light. These spirits,—mother and daughter,—with the noble grandmother, dwell happily together in their valley home; and their time is spent in doing good, and in influencing others to assist the needy and suffering.