Part 18 (1/2)

Our sy infant, and we resolved to rescue it if possible frorave My wife and I, accoe as drivers, canvassed the entire town, asking all wethe perishi+ng,” and we soon secured an and to hire a ake pastor Ada played the new organ; May formed a quartette with herself as soprano, Ida often acco in the Sunday-school,as chairman of the Parish Committee, and soon our church was filled with attentive andClub, which soon included in itsmusical and dramatic talent of the town We met weekly in the church vestry which was soon decorated by handsoifts of oura very spacious and attractive resort

This club over which I presided, developed to a reree the latent talents of ht the the public We had an orchestra of stringed and brass instruan, Ida second violin, while all our four girls sang solos, duets, trios, and quartettes Many elderly people paid generous fees for honorary e, active ularly when called upon with musical, literary, or draht prefer It was a delightful and instructive syht to be found in every town

The Channing Club soon becae audiences at high ad towns as well as in Boston, thus replenishi+ng the church treasury and greatly proular dances and suppers which ether byto the call of the president to render his or her full share of entertainood 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; class distinctions were banished, envy and jealousy disappeared like snow before the sun, and good fellowshi+p reigned supreether as brothers and sisters

Such an organization in churches would soon banish class 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 passes all over the state, and devoted e tracts of land in various counties, but found none tountil 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 tehlands Here, as nowhere else in the world, nature has provided all the essentials to agricultural success; there was but one reatest strawberry rasses render cattle and sheep raising throughout the year a source of great revenue, and the maximum of crop returns is secured with a hout the state, we found our ideal location for a colony, and I bonded over 6,000 acres of fertile, ooded lands, returned hoave the appropriate suggestive name of ”Woodlawn”

I successfully pursuedan 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 hirand 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 dreaers there; We think of hi 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 inforh ”Ouija,” that it was our duty to reht have better educational facilities, and be admitted to the ”musical swim” of the ”Hub of the Universe” We obeyed their el friends were fully verified In our new hoirls met those to whoave 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 shi+ps that went to sea More than fifty years ago

None have yet coh the shoreless deep, With tattered sails and battered hulls While around theulls

I have wondered why they stayed Fro 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 pluold, While the spices which they bear Fill with fragrance all the air

I have waited on the piers Gazing for thehts, for many years, Till I turned heart-sick away

But the pilots, when they land, Kindly take , ”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 shi+ps will sail

CHAPTER XXVI

HAND IN HAND WITH ANGELS

In our Boston ho experiences ever vouchsafed to mortals beneath the stars; an experience which solved forever for us the probles of all the ages had been powerless to accoe 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 circumstances which precluded all possibility of deception

Mrs B----, of Boston, caratuitously, on her own volition, sat within a few feet of our entire fa no cabinet or any paraphernalia which are always required by those charlatans who have associated 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 for ere ”still born”; my brother Joshua, who had been in spirit life a little over one year canized bywithin two feet of the rip of a Master Mason; his hand was like that of a living hu that we should have no fear if trouble caood, and disappeared athis breast with his hand ”You see, I am all here,” he said; ”I am John Mansfield, formerly of New Jersey