Gradually it seemed to me in my swoon as if this frightful field was moving further and further off, while its sounds of horror died away into songs of swans. And out of the distance floated up to me, on the gentle breezes, the tones of shepherd's flutes,--now far off, now near,--breaking, at length, with full sound upon my ear. And then I was lifted up and borne along on wings of ether, with the light breaking through my closed eyelids. And a creative finger touched me, and high in heaven, upon a green cloud, I opened my eyes. Above me was the blue abyss of the stars; below me stretched a blue ocean, on whose horizon glittered, in the glow of the sunset, the countless islands of the blessed; around me floated scattered cloudlets, tinted with the red and white of roses and of lilies, and with the many colors of manifold flowers. "Who, O God, has brought me to life out of my woe?" I cried. "Child of man, it is my Father who has done it," answered a soft voice very near me. But I saw no form of any person; only a halo of glory hovering near me indicated the place of the invisible being. Under the stare now, on high, rose again, like the songs of the spheres, the old mournful tones. The islands on the horizon began to move, and swim in joy around one another. Many of them dipped into the dark waves, and came up again brilliant as the colors of the morning. Some went down into the sea, and reappeared covered with pearls. But one of them, crowned with cedars and palms and oaks, with strong young giants on its shores, went straight out into the ocean, toward the east. "Am I upon earth?" I inquired. "Ask me not," replied the voice, "for I know all thy thoughts, and will answer thee in thy heart. Thou wilt be upon the earth when it rises in the east from the sea; beneath the sea it circles swiftly round the sun. The sea of time is the wave on the ocean of eternity." As if borne upon a stream, the cedar island came ever nearer to the green cloud. Youths greater than those of earth looked down upon the blue sea, and sang songs of gladness,--or gazed in rapture upon the heavens, and folded their hands in prayer,--or slumbered in arbors of rainbows and tears of joy. Behind them stood lions; above them circled eagles. "Upon the cedar island dwell men _who, like me_, have died for the earth; but in earthly faces shall it be revealed to thee how the Infinite Father rewards those who have shed their blood for their country. The youths who are looking down into the waves have a nearer view of their old earth moving in the waters, as the island moves with it. They see only happy countries, and their friends who rejoice in their deeds, and posterity which praises them. And every flower which sprang from their blood is shown to them of God.