"I cannot say, and I will not say That he is dead--he is just away, With a cheery smile, and a wave of the hand, He has wandered into an unknown land, And left us dreaming how very fair It needs must be, since he lingers there; We think of him faring on, as dear In the love of there as the love of here, Think of him still as the same, I say, He is not dead--he is just away." Soon after the departure of my brother to the better land, our spirit-band informed us very plainly through "Ouija," that it was our duty to remove to Boston in order that our children might have better educational facilities, and be admitted to the "musical swim" of the "Hub of the Universe." We obeyed their mandate, and the predictions of our angel friends were fully verified. In our new home the older girls met those to whom they were married in Heaven, and to whom they gave their hands and hearts. I now look back over a half century of existence on this earth, and my muse inspires me to record that: I have ships that went to sea More than fifty years ago. None have yet come back to me, But keep sailing to and fro, Plunging through the shoreless deep, With tattered sails and battered hulls While around them scream the gulls. I have wondered why they stayed From me, sailing round the world And I've said, "I'm half afraid That their sails will ne'er be furled." Great the treasures that they hold, Silks, and plumes, and bars of gold, While the spices which they bear Fill with fragrance all the air. I have waited on the piers Gazing for them down the bay, Days and nights, for many years, Till I turned heart-sick away. But the pilots, when they land, Kindly take me by the hand, Saying, "Surely they will come to thee, Thy proud vessels from the sea." So I never quite despair, Nor let hope or courage fail, And some day, when skies are fair, Up the bay my ships will sail. CHAPTER XXVI. HAND IN HAND WITH ANGELS. In our Boston home, there came to us one of the most wonderful and inspiring experiences ever vouchsafed to mortals beneath the stars; an experience which solved forever for us the problem of immortality, which all the religious teachings of all the ages had been powerless to accomplish. It confirmed beyond a shadow of doubt, our knowledge of the future life obtained previously at Onset Bay, as the following named events transpired in our own house in the presence of witnesses under test circumstances which precluded all possibility of deception.