Bernard--Dear mother. Dear, darling mother. Yes, it is I. Do not I look as I used to look? Do you see me clearly? Am I indeed so greatly changed? Why, mother, on entering the Spirit World every one changes in appearance. And you think I look younger than when I was on Earth and more spiritualized? I am glad if you see that for, mother, dear, as you well know, during my mortal existence I was not a spiritually minded man. I, foolishly, and against your loving entreaties, lived on a very material plane, and when I passed to the spirit side I went to the place or condition I was fitted for--_the home I had earned_. Do not cry, mother, please do not cry, for that bitter, but necessary, experience is a lesson of the past. Yes, mother, from soon after I passed to the Spirit side until now, I often have been with you and have so regretted that, while I could see and talk with you, you could not see me. On that morning when I kissed you good-bye how little either of us thought that we would in the mortal body, see each other no more. Mother, you know I was such a strong man and death seemed so far off that I did not think it possible that it could, for many, many years, come to me. When I found myself in the Spirit World, grief and dismay so filled my soul that I cried and prayed that I might return to mortal existence, if only for a little while so that, as far as possible, I might undo some thoughtless acts which, for the first time, I saw in their true light. To add to my despair your grief over my unlooked for death was so agonizing, that it was feared that you might pass from your physical body which, accidentally, had been more seriously injured than you or any one realized. During the first three days of my new existence I, with others of your dearest ones, watched for the change that might come to you. Mother dear, the aid you received from the Spirit Side was what kept you here to do the work you now are engaged in. On the fourth day the crisis was passed and you know what followed. Yes, because of your devitalized state, we were deterred from further communion with you. For myself, under the loving care and instruction of dear friends, I soon came to understand that the change called death was a rebirth into a higher life and that, through earnest endeavor, I might progress out of conditions that held me where I was. I learned that on entering the Spirit World, one finds themselves the result of all the successes and failures of all their past, including their last embodiment. For such successes as I found to my credit, I was thankful. For my failures, through loving service for mortals and Spirits, I have been, and am striving to pay my indebtedness. I also have learned that earned progress is a righteous law and that only through its fulfillment can any one grow in grace and such knowledge of truth as may further their Spiritual unfoldment.