THE REAPING OF THE DEATH ANGEL.
"Towards the close of the summer of 1895, my father placed me in the
preparatory department of Vassar College, where I made rapid progress. I
began to appreciate the superior wisdom of the methods of teaching which
my parents had so systematically carried out for my improvement. Thanks
to their efforts, I held the key to all of the sciences, history and
literature, prose and poetry! All of their principal words or terms with
their definitions, were familiar friends to me; while all new facts
regarding their various subdivisions, auxiliaries, etc., and the
relations existing between them as such, were matters of absorbing
interest to me; so much so, that I soon became master of the subject I
was studying, very often proving a puzzling surprise to my teachers. At
the age of twelve I entered the regular course and graduated from
college just as I was entering my eighteenth year, being by four years
the youngest member of a graduating class of one hundred girls.
"Some months after my fourteenth birthday, my darling mother was taken
from me in the mortal form, very suddenly and most unexpectedly. My
father was away from home on a long trip to Alaska. I was at Vassar. My
mother was with a congenial party of friends at a favorite seaside
resort. One day while bathing, one lady of the party swam too far out,
was taken with a cramp and shrieked for help. My mother, who was
nearest, being an excellent swimmer, courageously went to her
assistance. Unfortunately, the tide was running full and strong and was
against my mother in her heroic struggle to save her friend. Alas!
before aid could reach them both sank beneath the waves and were lost.
My noble mother had generously sacrificed her earthly existence in her
brave effort to save the life of another! This was my first experience
of the grief and desolation that follows the reaping of the Death Angel.
In my youth, my half-dazed condition, I could neither realize nor
understand what later became so plain to me; that to die is to live
again. That death, so-called, is but the change from one form of life to
another, which is still higher in the scale of progress. Nor could I
then realize, that for the purpose of bringing to me a consciousness of
the possibilities of my spiritual being; under the ministrations of the
angel of compensation, out of the very depths of the gulf of bereavement
and sadness through which I was passing, there was coming to me the
precious gift of a priceless mediumship, the marvelous key! the
all-potent 'open sesame' with which to unlock the gates between the two
worlds and reunite the separated loved ones on either side.
"At that time Mrs. Bainbridge, then but recently widowed, was in charge
of the old home here. She was an excellent medium who had often proved
herself worthy of my mother's entire confidence. Acting under the
guidance of my arisen mother, she at once, without hesitation, took
charge of all business arrangements, especially those of preparing for
the cremation of my mother's body, in accordance with her often
expressed wish. She telegraphed the sad news to my father in Alaska,
asking for instructions. He replied at once that the body must be
cremated, as my mother had directed in her will. He would return as soon
as possible, but at the best he could not hope to arrive in less than
two months. In the meantime, Mrs. Bainbridge was authorized to take
entire charge of 'Fern,' and of his business affairs that needed
attention, until he came.
"I came home from college, sorely grieved and shocked at the awful
suddenness of my mother's transition, but through the mediumship of Mrs.
Bainbridge, my mother, having her in a deep trance, was soon able to
comfort me; to make me realize that she was not dead, but still near me
with all a mother's love and tender care. From time to time she directed
Mrs. Bainbridge how to manage the pressing business that came up. She
told me that she had long known that I was endowed with wonderful
mediumistic power, which must now be fully developed for her sake, as a
necessary and natural channel of communication so desirable to her,
which she should prize very highly. Also as a source of comfort for
myself and my father, especially as a joyful surprise for him when he
came home. Therefore it was decided between us that I was to sit one
hour each day with Mrs. Bainbridge for development. My mother seemed to
feel sure that I would make an excellent trumpet medium, and encouraged
me by predicting my speedy development as such. Strangely enough, so it
proved. My progress was rapid. In two weeks time my mother could speak
to me through the trumpet without difficulty and much to my delight. I
began to appreciate the great value of my wonderful gift and to
understand what it meant. Our dear family circle, which in my despair I
had thought broken forever, was now reunited. Father, mother, daughter!
just us three as of yore. And--the wonder of it--I, the youngest, the
weakest and the least wise of the trio, was the instrument! When I
thought of the possibilities, of the joy and consolation it would bring
to my father and mother, my heart swelled with gratitude and
thankfulness that this mighty power had come to me. The power to destroy
the dread of death; to demonstrate the continuity of life; to prove that
the binding love of family ties, kindred, and cherished friends still
shone with untarnished lustre beyond the shadows of the silent grave.
How beautiful, how wonderful, how glorious it was! And with this power
came the solemn charge that I was to cherish it with care and keep it
pure and holy. Yes, I resolved that I would do this conscientiously. It
should be my highest ambition to ever use my mediumship with my best and
most unselfish aspirations, to keep it apart from the grosser things of
life, to dedicate it to good and to good alone. And thus it was that my
mediumship continued to develop and grow in perfection. My mother could
talk with me as often as she wished and as long at each sitting as she
desired. I was no longer alone or despondent, my darling mother still
could be, and was really, my mentor, friend, parent, teacher and
spiritual guide. I forgot to mourn or to feel lonely, though I longed
for my father's homecoming that we might share this new found joy. So
interested was I and so occupied, that the two months quickly passed and
my dear father reached his home in safety. I had arranged for a quiet
evening with him alone. When my mother, through the trumpet, joined in
the conversation and welcomed him with loving words of endearment, so
familiar in the greetings of other days, he was almost overcome by the
flood of ecstatic emotions that moved and thrilled him as he began to
appreciate the significance of such a miraculous surprise. His heart was
glowing and his entire being permeated with this great wave of
happiness. His face was radiant with joy and beamed with fatherly
affection and pride as he pressed me to his heart again and again,
thanking me for my thoughtful spiritual work in the development of my
wonderful gift, which, for his consolation, I had striven so
unselfishly, so ardently and so earnestly to attain, while facing alone
the one great crisis of my young life. Still holding me in his arms, he
looked into my eyes long and fondly, almost adoringly, as he said: 'With
such a daughter, whose loving heart and purity of soul has won for her
the marvellous power to reunite our broken family circle, I am indeed
the most fortunate of all men.' Then in a moment I perceived that I was
no longer a child, I was a woman; that henceforth my father would think
of me as a woman--still his loving daughter--but also his equal, his
confidant, his trusted friend, his adviser in times of need, his oracle,
his medium of communication with the loved ones who dwelt in the world
of spirit. How good and beautiful was life in the light of this new
vista of possibilities and responsibilities for me! For the moment I
seemed to be transported to some grand spiritual height, where as a
responsive spiritual unit, I felt the throbbing of the limitless sea of
environmental life surrounding me like a golden mist, on every hand.
Every pulsation proclaimed my immortality as a part of that boundless
sea; boundless, fathomless, unthinkably shoreless! of life,
all-producing, all-containing! My soul no longer questioned. It was
filled with a peace and joy that passeth the power of words to describe.
"Thus inspired and encouraged for the future, I was ready and eager to
take up again the active duties of life. In resuming my collegiate
studies, it was agreed between my father and mother and myself, that I
should come home from Vassar every Friday evening, returning by the
early train Monday morning, the intervening time to be sacredly devoted
to our trumpet family circles. Oh, Mr. Flagg! How happy we were then!
For the next three years nothing was allowed to interfere with these
delightful reunions, whose memories are associated with so many
incidents that bound us three so closely with the silver cords of pure
affection.
"After leaving college, I accompanied my father in all of his
journeyings after new data in economics and agriculture. For this
purpose we spent the winter of 1902-3, travelling in France, Italy,
Germany and England, returning to America in April, 1903."