We do not propose to enter into the details of the trip, nor of their welcome to their sister’s home. The expectations of Mr. Harris seemed about to be realized. The excitement of the journey, the change of scene and of atmospheric influences, appeared to exert a beneficial effect upon his wife. The extreme degree of lassitude, formerly so frequent with her, departed; her step became firmer, her eye clearer, her voice more cheerful. Her appetite also began to improve, her new life seemed full of interest to her, and, best of all,—in her husband’s opinion,—no more was heard from her of nightly vision and visiting spirit.
It was a beautiful morning in summer, when Mrs. Harris startled her husband by exclaiming: “I had a visit from Mrs. Stevens again last night, who said to me: ‘Remember your promise; my child is in trouble; he will be brought to you ere twenty-four hours have gone over your head; I trust you to take care of him.’ And when she passed from my sight, our Freddie came, looking so beautiful that I almost cried aloud, so anxious was I to hold him in my arms, and he said: ‘Dear mamma, I come to you in this way, for I love you, and I want you to see how happy I am in the spirit world. I love you and papa dearly, but I don’t want to come back here to live. You will come to me by-and-bye; but I want you to have a little boy here to love and care for, and we will bring you Georgie Stevens. The cruel man beats and curses him; you and papa must love him, and teach him of God and the angels; he will be their gift to you.’”
The lady ceased speaking, and the husband stood looking upon her in silence. The sweetness and solemnity in her tones impressed him deeply, yet a terrible fear that his wife had become insane filled his soul with speechless sorrow.
THE STRANGE DREAMS FULFILLED.
It was the evening of the same day that Mrs. Webster sat watching for her husband’s return from the distant city. He was late, and anxious fears for his safety disturbed the serenity of her mind. Mr. and Mrs. Harris had retired, but not to rest; for the minds of both were disturbed,—the one over her vision of the night before, the other over the condition of his wife.
It was near the midnight hour when at length Mr. Webster arrived, bearing a burden,—the form of an unconscious child found by him on the roadside. The noise and bustle of the arrival aroused Mr. Harris, who decided to investigate. Judge of his surprise to find his brother-in-law burdened with a waif of apparently nine years of age,—one, too, whose sunburned features seemed strangely familiar to him. Actuated by a feeling of uneasiness, Mrs. Harris wrapped a light shawl around her, and also descended to the lower part of the house to ascertain why her brother had been detained so late.
No sooner had the eyes of the lady rested upon the face of the child—who had been conveyed to a bed-room and placed upon the couch, where Mrs. Webster was now attending to him—than she started forward, exclaiming: “It is, it is Georgie Stevens!”
In a moment her husband was beside her, and as he, too, gazed upon the form before him, the conviction fastened upon his mind that it was no other than the little boy whom he had more than once seen in his own house, and whom he knew to be the son of a poor yet worthy woman employed in former times by his wife as a seamstress. A startled silence fell upon all in that apartment, for each one present knew of the “strange dreams” that had visited Mrs. Harris; and as the stillness deepened, a peculiar light shone above the face of the fever-tossed child, which formed into letters, and then words, until the sentence: “God’s and the Angels’ Gift,” could be read, and having been read slowly faded from sight.
When the fever abated, and little Georgie returned to consciousness, he found himself cared for by loving friends, who had accepted their charge reverently and gladly; and when he became able to relate the story of his miserable life in the West, under the persecutions of his cruel master, the confirmation of the spirits’ statements to Mrs. Harris was received. In a little while the child was able to travel, and he was taken by Mr. and Mrs. Harris to their eastern home; for these good people had determined to adopt and educate him as their son.
Through these occurrences, Mr. Harris sought to investigate Spiritualism, which he did to his satisfaction, receiving unbounded evidence of its truth. His wife still continues to have “visions” and to hold communion with the spirits, and her soul is happy and at rest.