Strange Visitors | Page 3

groan, to cry out and
struggle from under it, but it held me fast. After this I seemed to be
falling backward through a blackness--an inky blackness. It came close
to me, and pressed close upon my lips and my eyes. It smothered me; I
could not breathe.

Then ensued a struggle within me such as Lazarus might have felt
when he endeavored to break through his grave cerements. It was
frightful, that effort for mastery!
I understand it now. It was the soul fighting its way into birth as a
spiritual being, like a child fighting its way out of its mother's womb.
I remember feeling faint and confused after that, like one who has long
been deprived of food. An unconsciousness stole over me for a moment,
from which I was awakened by a sudden burst of light. I seemed to
open my eyes upon some glorious morning. I felt an arm around me; I
turned and met the smiling face of my son. I thought myself in a dream,
and yet I was filled with awe.
I had a consciousness that some strange transformation had taken place.
My son's voice murmured in my ear, "Father, go with me now." As he
spoke, his voice sounded like the vibration of distant bells. When he
touched me a fire seemed to thrill through my veins. I felt like a boy; a
wild, prankish sensation of freedom possessed me. My body lay upon
the ground. I laughed at it; I could have taken it and tossed it in the air.
"Come, let's go," said I; "don't stay here."
My chief desire was to get out of the house. Like a boy who must fly
his kite, out I would go. I feared I might be caught and taken back if I
did not hasten, and moved toward the door. The seams of that door,
which I had always thought well joined, seemed now to stand twelve
inches or more apart. Every atom of that wood which had appeared so
solid to me was now more porous than any sponge or honey-comb. Out
we went through the crevice. A party of men were standing upon the
doorsteps. One put forth his hand to grasp mine. I laughed aloud when I
recognized the person as James Harper! Another was Richmond;
another, one of my associates in the editorial corps. I was perfectly
amazed, and set up a hilarious shout, which they echoed in great glee.
We started forth, a convivial party. The atmosphere hung in heavy
masses around the houses, like the morning mists about the base of a
mountain.

We did not walk on the ground; the air was solid enough to bear us. I
felt that we were rising above the city. My senses seemed magnified.
The comprehension of all I did was very acute. We kept along the
earth's atmosphere for quite a distance.
"Let us sail out," said I, at last.
"We cannot yet; we must wait till we reach the current. If we go outside
of that, we may be lost in the intense cold and the poisonous gases, or
we may be swallowed up in the vortex of some flaming comet,"
answered my wise companions.
The statement looked very reasonable, so I allowed myself to be guided
and we soon found ourselves in a great belt of light of a pale rose-color,
in which we sailed seemingly without any effort, moving the hands and
arms at times and at other times folding them across our breasts.
As we advanced the channel in which we moved increased in depth and
brilliancy of color, and I grew more and more exhilarated. Finally we
paused and commenced to descend. The air was very luminous,
radiating and scintillating like the flashing of diamonds, and so electric
that the concussion of sound vibrated like the peal from some distant
organ.
Looking down through the glittering atmosphere that surrounded me, I
perceived what appeared to be the uplifting peak of a mountain. A halo
of light rested upon its summit, and we seemed drawn toward it with a
gentle force.
This mountain, I was informed, was one of a magnetic chain which
belts the spirit world. In color and material it was like an opal.
I was told that a peculiar sympathy existed between it and the human
spirit. When individuals on earth are in juxtaposition with this
mountain they feel a strange yearning for the spirit home.
Now then the mysterious riddle is solved, thought I; and this must be
the spiritual north pole!

We soon stood upon _terra-firma_, if these translucent rocks could be
called _terra-firma_ which rose in glittering and polished peaks all
around us. They were wonderfully iridescent, so that no bed of
gorgeously-colored flowers could have filled the eye with