Again and again did she attempt a piece, and each time her success grew more sure and certain, until, when the curtains of evening fell, quite a little pile of delicately finished work lay before her shining though weary eyes.
On the following morning, our friend, after consuming a hasty meal of crackers and water, carried the work she had finished to one of the former patrons of her mother, who examined, bought, and paid for it, furnishing materials for more of the same kind.
The girl hastened home to resume her work, and again transpired that strange scene of an inexperienced, unskilled child performing work which required dexterity and practice, without making a single mistake; and so on, from day to day, week to week, until she was no longer inexperienced, but had become skilled in her task, and was enabled to take advantage of it, and thus gain more time for recreation for herself.
What was the solution of this—to the girl—seeming mystery? Why, merely that the spirit mother, drawn to her child day by day through the intensity of her love and anxiety, impressed that child to attempt the work, and guided her in the performance of it, not by unconsciously entrancing her and doing the labor—in which case she would not be teaching the daughter—but by impressing her how to proceed, guiding her fingers, and directing the work, until at length the daughter needed no teacher, for she had become an adept in the art of labor.
And yet another good than the power of earning her own living was received by the maiden; in close communion with her spirit mother, though she knew it not, she began to lose the sensation of loneliness and gloom, and gradually grew peaceful and calmly happy. Thus was a double good wrought by that spirit mother, whose anxiety for her child’s happiness first led her to make the mistake of rearing her in ignorance of manual labor, and afterward caused her to project her influence from the spirit sphere upon that child, thus becoming a teacher, in order to rectify the mistakes of the past.
To those interested in this narrative I will say the young girl soon made friends and companions, and she is now living a loving, happy, useful wife and mother.
Every spirit who cares more for others than for self—and all spirits will do so in time—has a work of some kind to perform, a work of uplifting, benefiting, and blessing one or more individuals—spirits or mortals; and he or she will pause not in despair in this labor of love until it is accomplished, and then at its completion the spirit will not lay down its power of work and say: “I have accomplished my labor; I will now rest;” but, instead, passes on with a smile to new departments and new scenes of labor.
PARENTS SUDDENLY BEREAVED.
A young and beautiful girl, the pet and pride of fond, indulgent parents, the joy of the household and its only flower, just passing into the budding stage of womanhood, met with an accident. She was out riding with a friend, when the coachman, who was partially intoxicated, lost control of the spirited animal he was driving, and it dashed along the road at headlong speed until brought to a sudden check by rushing against a great rock by the roadside. The carriage was overturned; one of its occupants escaped with but few injuries, as she fell upon her companion; but the other, the young girl of whom I write, was taken up senseless and conveyed to her home, where a medical examination revealed that a fatal injury had been inflicted upon the spine.
For nearly three weeks the young lady lingered, enduring the most excruciating agony of body, unable to move, while nothing but the administration of anæsthetics would give her a moment’s ease from pain. At length her exhausted spirit took its flight from the poor broken body, and she was at rest.