The Gentleman from Everywhere Part 18

Our sympathies were aroused for this expiring infant, and we resolved to rescue it if possible from its open grave. My wife and I, accompanied by the "Triplets," on the front seat of our carriage as drivers, canva.s.sed the entire town, asking all we met to lay up treasures in heaven by "rescuing the perishing," and we soon secured money to buy a fine toned organ and to hire a wideawake pastor. Ada played the new organ; May formed a quartette with herself as soprano, Ida often accompanying with her violin; my wife teaching in the Sunday-school, myself serving as chairman of the Parish Committee, and soon our church was filled with attentive and much edified listeners and helpers. I organized the Channing Club, which soon included in its membership all the leading musical and dramatic talent of the town. We met weekly in the church vestry which was soon decorated by handsome pictures, scenery and bric-a-brac, the gifts of our members, making a very s.p.a.cious and attractive resort.

This club over which I presided, developed to a remarkable degree the latent talents of many who had never before thought themselves capable of entertaining and instructing the public. We had an orchestra of stringed and bra.s.s instruments, in which May played the flute, Ada the piano and organ, Ida second violin, while all our four girls sang solos, duets, trios, and quartettes. Many elderly people paid generous fees for honorary membership, while the large, active membership, responded regularly when called upon with musical, literary, or dramatic renditions individually or in combination as they might prefer. It was a delightful and instructive symposium which ought to be found in every town.

The Channing Club soon became famous, and gave first-cla.s.s entertainments to very large audiences at high admission fees in our own and surrounding towns as well as in Boston, thus replenishing the church treasury and greatly promoting sociability and friendship by regular dances and suppers which made hundreds seem like one large family, bound together by many friendly ties, each one readily responding to the call of the president to render his or her full share of entertainment and good cheer for the good of all.

It was an ideal socialistic order, and we truly "sat together in heavenly places." All gladly contributed to the needs of the poor or the sick; we chartered steamers and went on picnic excursions to attractive island resorts in our beautiful harbor; cla.s.s distinctions were banished, envy and jealousy disappeared like snow before the sun, and good fellowship reigned supreme. Our rich and poor met together as brothers and sisters.

Such an organization in churches would soon banish cla.s.s hatreds, and do much to make this world a paradise like to that above.

The winter of 1892 was a red-letter season in the history of us all.

We rented our house in W----, to a friend, and lived in Florida, our four girls attending Rollins College at Winter Park, where they enjoyed life immensely in the incomparable climate which, with their studies in this excellent school, was of great benefit to them, physically and mentally. I was favored with free pa.s.ses all over the state, and devoted my time to a careful examination of large tracts of land in various counties, but found none to my liking until on our return trip, we spent several weeks at Lawtey, in the county of Bradford.

Florida, within its vast area, contains a great variety of land and climates, and the person who has traversed only the beaten track of the tourist knows nothing of the fertile tracts and delightful temperatures of these green-gra.s.sed and Piny-woods Highlands. Here, as nowhere else in the world, nature has provided all the essentials to agricultural success; there was but one mortgaged homestead in the entire township; it is the greatest strawberry mart in the world; the abundance of nutritious wild gra.s.ses render cattle and sheep raising throughout the year a source of great revenue, and the maximum of crop returns is secured with a minimum of labor.

At last, after years of search throughout the state, we found our ideal location for a colony, and I bonded over 6,000 acres of fertile, well-wooded lands, returned home, formed a syndicate, and paid for our tract, to which we gave the appropriate suggestive name of "Woodlawn."

I successfully pursued my avocation of advertising and selling our lands, having an office in Boston and cooperating agents in several states.

On June 11th, 1894, my brother Joshua, the last of my father's family except myself, was suddenly called to join our many loved ones in the spirit world. All our lives we had been as David and Jonathan, and not a cloud had swept across the azure of our sky of mutual affection, until the advent of his second wife. He was one of the best men that ever lived, and nearly everyone in his town had been benefited by his well-known generosity and self-sacrifice, and he found awaiting him, many treasures in the grand bank of heaven.

"I cannot say, and I will not say That he is dead--he is just away, With a cheery smile, and a wave of the hand, He has wandered into an unknown land, And left us dreaming how very fair It needs must be, since he lingers there; We think of him faring on, as dear In the love of there as the love of here, Think of him still as the same, I say, He is not dead--he is just away."

Soon after the departure of my brother to the better land, our spirit-band informed us very plainly through "Ouija," that it was our duty to remove to Boston in order that our children might have better educational facilities, and be admitted to the "musical swim" of the "Hub of the Universe." We obeyed their mandate, and the predictions of our angel friends were fully verified. In our new home the older girls met those to whom they were married in Heaven, and to whom they gave their hands and hearts. I now look back over a half century of existence on this earth, and my muse inspires me to record that:

I have ships that went to sea More than fifty years ago.

None have yet come back to me, But keep sailing to and fro, Plunging through the sh.o.r.eless deep, With tattered sails and battered hulls While around them scream the gulls.

I have wondered why they stayed From me, sailing round the world And I've said, "I'm half afraid That their sails will ne'er be furled."

Great the treasures that they hold, Silks, and plumes, and bars of gold, While the spices which they bear Fill with fragrance all the air.

I have waited on the piers Gazing for them down the bay, Days and nights, for many years, Till I turned heart-sick away.

But the pilots, when they land, Kindly take me by the hand, Saying, "Surely they will come to thee, Thy proud vessels from the sea."

So I never quite despair, Nor let hope or courage fail, And some day, when skies are fair, Up the bay my ships will sail.

CHAPTER XXVI.

HAND IN HAND WITH ANGELS.

In our Boston home, there came to us one of the most wonderful and inspiring experiences ever vouchsafed to mortals beneath the stars; an experience which solved forever for us the problem of immortality, which all the religious teachings of all the ages had been powerless to accomplish. It confirmed beyond a shadow of doubt, our knowledge of the future life obtained previously at Onset Bay, as the following named events transpired in our own house in the presence of witnesses under test circ.u.mstances which precluded all possibility of deception.

Mrs. B----, of Boston, came to our house alone, gratuitously, on her own volition, sat within a few feet of our entire family and two of our neighbors, having no cabinet or any paraphernalia which are always required by those charlatans who have a.s.sociated the fair name of spiritualism with fraud and chicanery. In about one hour there appeared in our parlor, in full view of us all, more than thirty forms; some tall as were ever seen on earth, others little children, the forms of our offspring who were "still born"; my brother Joshua, who had been in spirit life a little over one year came fully materialized and was clearly recognized by my entire family.

He gave me, while I was standing within two feet of the medium, the firm grip of a Master Mason; his hand was like that of a living human being; he whispered a few intelligible words, saying that we should have no fear if trouble came, that all would turn out for our ultimate good, and disappeared at my feet; then a tall, finely-formed young man with dark moustache came, beating his breast with his hand. "You see, I am all here," he said; "I am John Mansfield, formerly of New Jersey.

I was attracted to your house by the music. I am guardian of your girls; I am going to try to help in your father and mother." He vanished; then returned, trying to bring the half-materialized but recognizable forms as he had promised; but they were weak, and seen but dimly.

Then came the clearly defined form of the children's aunt, and the girls, who were somewhat timid, recognized her at once. She kissed each one several times in rapid succession just as she used to do when she met them in the long ago; called them and my wife by name, and disappeared, apparently through the floor. Then appeared Mary, my spirit-wife, and many others whom we could not recognize.

Little Blue Bell, one of the medium's cabinet spirits, them came, pointing to the door, saying: "See that little fat snoozer?" we looked around and saw the wondering eyes of our Bessie, who we supposed was "snoozing" in bed; she had come down in her night-dress. Finally, Nellie, our hired girl, who, being a Catholic, had been warned by the priest never to countenance spiritualism, and had locked herself in her room, came into the parlor, wild-eyed and with her hair streaming over her shoulders, saying she was compelled to come in. At once the form of a young Irish girl clad in peasant costume, with hair to her waist, appeared, and clasped Nellie in her arms; they talked a few minutes, and the form vanished in air. Nellie told us that it was a schoolmate of hers who died in Ireland fifteen years before, that they had been great friends, and vied with each other in growing the longer hair.

These facts may seem incredible to those who have never received visitations from the other world; but we know that we saw and felt the forms of our spirit friends on that occasion, as surely as we know that we ever saw them when they were with us daily in the body on earth.

When alone that night, I "dropped into poetry," and here is what my spirit-guided hand wrote, February 4th, 1895.

Out of the darkness cometh a light, Out of the silence cometh a voice, The pathway of life grows suddenly bright, And as never before we all rejoice.

The dearly beloved who have gone before Come back to bless from the beautiful sh.o.r.e; They speak to us words of lofty cheer, That banish the clouds of darksome fear.

How sweet to _know_ that there is no death, That the soul outlives the fleeting breath; That guardian angels surround us ever With a deathless love no power can sever.

We mourn no more the vanished youth, We are nearing the heaven of eternal truth; We lament no more the earthly ills, For their power will cease on the heavenly hills.

We grieve no more for the wrinkled brow, Nor for withering locks as white as snow, For soon will we greet what is unseen now, Soon to the sunlit heights will we go.

For many years doubt's saddening shade On our hearts its pall has laid: But a gleam comes from the bright forever, And gloom and fear shall haunt us never.

We have felt the touch of the vanished hand, We have heard the sound of the voice that is still; They have come to us from the better land, Their cheering words our spirits thrill.

"We will know the loved who have gone before, And joyfully sweet will the meeting be When over the river, the beautiful river, The angel of death shall carry me."

CHAPTER XXVII.

AMONG THE LAW-SHARKS.

It seems to be an unwritten law of human life that every great joy shall be quickly followed by a great sorrow. The materialized forms of our spirit loved-ones had scarcely vanished from sight, when the trouble of which my brother had forewarned us fell like a thunderbolt from a cloudless sky.

We had, without a thought of deception, and at prices which then prevailed, sold to many persons, lands in Florida, some for settlement, some as investments. Phosphate had been discovered in the immediate vicinity of some of our tracts, and this fact had led speculators to buy our lands, hoping that these deposits might greatly enhance values; but the usual compet.i.tion to sell this valuable fertilizer had for the time reduced prices to a non-paying basis; then, too, an unprecedented freeze, which once in about a hundred years visits all semi-tropical countries, had destroyed many orange groves in the State, and so frightened short-sighted, timid people, that Florida lands were at a great discount, and, as when a panic sweeps over Wall Street, many frantically hastened to sell, and there were but few buyers.

This led several of my customers to conspire to frighten me into paying them large sums as hush money, pretending that I had secured their purchases under false pretenses; but the Yankee spirit of our fathers, "millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute,"

prompted me to defy their infamous demands.

Under the lead of a fiendishly "smart" lawyer, they declared that I told them their lands were full of phosphate, and within city limits, although my published circulars and maps stated nothing of the kind.

They denounced me as a fraud in the newspapers, brought lawsuits against me, attached property, and proceeded in a most brutal manner to compel payment of their unjust claims.

My word for half a century had everywhere been as good as my bond, and my bond as good as gold. I had never before had a lawsuit or any trouble with any one, and so in my inexperience I employed a lawyer friend, who was no match for my enemies' human tiger. They testified unfairly in court, and after many crushing annoyances from the law's delays, my lawyer, putting in no defense, in order, as he said, to save his ammunition for use in the Superior Court, to which he appealed, they secured judgment.

All these slanders broke my never firm health; I was soon on the verge of nervous prostration, and was ordered by my physician to at once secure a change of climate to save my life. My innocent lawyer supposed that a court of justice would postpone my trial until my return; but we have now some "courts of injustice."

Some lawyers are worse than highway robbers; they make the laws as legislators to suit their own iniquitous, selfish purposes, so worded that they are susceptible of almost any interpretation, thus leading to endless litigations by which these cannibal devourers of reputations are robbing the public of their possessions. They employ spies to stir up strife, and some lawyers and judges seem to be banded together to fleece the confiding lambs of the public. The judge not only refused to postpone the trial until I was able to attend, but refused to have the jury informed that I was absent on account of serious sickness.

We are bound hand and foot, the slaves of these law-sharks, and it seems as if nothing but revolution and the banishing of these tyrants, will ever deliver the public from the worse than African slavery to which some lawyers subject us. We have seen innocent, modest lady witnesses subjected to bull-dozing and abuse by barbarous lawyers, until they suffered tortures to which those of the Spanish Inquisition were merciful.