But I was telling you about the boy. He is all interest in regard to certain things I have told him about the earth,--especially aeroplanes, which were not yet very practicable when he came out. He wants to go back and fly in an aeroplane. I tell him that he can fly here without one, but that does not seem to be the same thing to him. He wants to get his fingers on machinery. I advise him not to be in any hurry about going back. The curious thing about it is that he can remember other and former lives of his on earth. Many out here have no more memory of their former lives, before the last one, than they had while in the body. This is not a place where everyone knows everything--far from it. Most souls are nearly as blind as they were in life. The boy was an inventor in a prior incarnation, and he came out this time by an accident, he says. He should stay here a little longer, I think, to get a stronger rhythm for a return. That is only my idea. I am so interested in the boy that I should like to keep him, and perhaps that influences my judgment somewhat. You see, we are still human. You asked me some questions, did you not? Will you speak them aloud? I can hear. Yes, I feel considerably younger than I have felt for a long time, and I am well. At first I felt about as I did in my illness, with times of depression and times of freedom from depression; but now I am all right. My body does not give me much trouble. I believe that old people grow younger here until they reach their prime again, and that then they may hold that for a long time. You see, I have not become all-wise. I have been able to pick up a good deal of knowledge which I had forgotten; but about all the details of this life I still have much to learn. Your curiosity will help me to study conditions and to make inquiries, which otherwise I might not have made for a long time, if ever. Most people do not seem to learn much out here, except that naturally they learn the best and easiest way of getting on, as in earth life. Yes, there are schools here where any who wish for instruction can receive it--if they are fit. But there are only a few _great_ teachers. The average college professor is not a being of supreme wisdom, whether here or there. LETTER XII THE PATTERN WORLD