It was a large, very beautiful, quite fresh flower, which I now have preserved in a glass jar with deodorized alcohol. On seeing this flower my wife's idea was that the flower had been brought from some garden, and I thought the spirits made it, which caused me, at a slate-writing seance the 24th of October, to ask which of us was right. On the slate was this answer: "Mary and I, with the assistance of the medium's band, _created it_ for you and dear mamma, and you will find a dove in the center." On a close examination we found to our astonishment a small dove there. CHAPTER VIII. SURE IDENTITY OF MY FATHER-IN-LAW--MADAM EHRENBORG WRITES TO ME IN SWEDISH. On the 8th of December, 1881, I and my wife had a slate-writing seance in the forenoon, and were present in the evening at a trumpet seance with Mrs. Green, and as my wife received a strong convincing test through the name of her father, it is necessary before relating the facts to make a short sketch of a part of his life. He was a Swedish nobleman, named Otto Jacob Natt och Dag, who, by the favor of the dethroned King Gustaf Adolf the Fourth, was educated in the military academy, and afterwards served as officer in a rank regiment in Stockholm, which the new King Charles the Fourteenth, Johan, the former Napoleon's General Bernadott, looked upon with great favor. This young nobleman wrote an anonymous book about reorganizing the Swedish army, in which many good and necessary reforms were proposed. This book was not intended for sale, but a few copies had been printed for his intimate friends. Some of his so-called friends reported this, and mentioned his name to the King, who became enraged that a young officer should dare to have the impertinence to interfere with his business, and want to teach him, who had such a vast experience in military affairs, the consequence of which was that he was transported to serve in a common infantry regiment, far up in the northern part of the country, a long distance from his near and dear relatives. Such treatment naturally made him feel bad, and he asked permission to travel in foreign countries, which he got, and went straight to Baden, in Germany, where he called on his former King, Gustaf Adolf, and was kindly received. There he republished his book in the German language, with some additions, which the Swedish minister reported to the King, who then considered him a traitor, and ordered his arrest, but his Swedish friends informed him of this in time, and he went to America under the name of Frederick Franks, which was the name of a German student, who gave him his passport, and which he afterwards adopted and used until his death. The King, Charles the Fourteenth, had him adjudged, unheard and absent, by a court for high treason, for daring to pay a visit to the dethroned King, and the judgment was that he should lose his place and rank in the army. Many years afterwards the King regretted his harsh and unjust treatment of his