QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.
At this point in her story, Fern Fenwick said: "Mr. Flagg, I now realize
the wonderful prescience of my father's promise of abundant and timely
help, especially when I consider your life work, and the masterly way
you have equipped yourself for it, and finally, by the mysterious manner
in which we were brought together. Is it not almost like a miracle?"
"Really, Miss Fenwick, I am lost in amazement! It seems to me that I
must be dreaming! The situation is so entirely outside of my experience,
so unthinkably strange to me, that I doubt my ability to discuss it
intelligently. Your story is the most marvelous of anything I have ever
heard. I feel quite sure that it must be strictly true, yet I can
scarcely comprehend it. A host of questions arise in my mind, which I
wish to ask, if I may be permitted. When you heard the voice from the
trumpet, how could you feel so sure it was your father speaking? That he
had been swallowed up by the sea? That the shipwreck had really
occurred?"
"I do not wonder at your questions, Mr. Flagg," said Fern Fenwick, "I
will gladly answer as best I can. Without considering or discussing the
fact that the crucial test of identity was disclosed by almost every
word which my father uttered, yet I could not for a moment doubt his
presence. I knew he was there. I recognized every intonation of the
voice. I felt the identity of his spiritual personality, radiant with
the silent force of his love for me, quite as plainly as though at that
moment his physical personality had entered the room. My experience
after my mother's transition, the development of my mediumship, and my
increased sensitiveness to the presence of spiritual entities, no doubt
aided me greatly. At that time I perceived and recognized without
question, that life in the physical is but the expression of the spirit,
or Ego; that after the passing of the physical, the Ego inherits and
possesses immortality as a conscious individual entity, clothed with a
spiritual body, perfectly fitted for its continued existence in the
realms of the world of spirit; that, through the action of a natural
law, the law of mediumship, such spirits can and do, come to and
communicate with their friends and loved ones in earth life. All these
things, I knew my father understood clearly, therefore I was prepared to
accept the verity of his spiritual presence as readily as I would any
other phenomenon of nature. In conclusion, I may as well tell you at
this point, that the letter referred to by father as having been written
by him in Alaska on December fifth, together with my conference in San
Francisco, some months later, with Dewitt C. Dunbar; the arrival in port
at that time of a China steamer, bringing the mate and four sailors as
sole survivors from the wreck of the ill-fated steamer, and my interview
with them, all confirmed, in every particular, the truth of the
statements concerning the matter, which were made by my spirit father,
just after his passage through the gateway of death from life mortal to
life spiritual. Can I add anything more convincing?"
"Pardon me, Miss Fenwick! I believe what you have told me is absolutely
true. I can perceive and appreciate its wonderful significance only in
part. I understand now clearly why it was necessary for me to know so
much of the story of your life and that of your noble father. I have
listened to your story with almost breathless interest, with all I am
profoundly impressed. A new world is opening to me. My mental and
spiritual horizon has been extended beyond the power of words to
express. Life has a thousand new meanings: In them I read the importance
and responsibility of the great work we are about to undertake. I wait
with increased interest for my personal interview with your father. Now
that I have heard so much of him, I bow with added reverence to his
great and noble love for humanity which prompted, and his wonderful
genius which conceived and planned the work so generously. I am proud
and thankful that I have been chosen as an instrument deemed capable and
worthy of helping to carry it forward.
"As to things spiritual, pertaining to a life beyond the grave, I am
intensely interested and eager to know more. May I hope, Miss Fenwick,
that you will kindly consent to become my teacher in this new school of
wonderful phenomena and spiritual law? I too, am alone in the world; my
father and mother have both passed the bitter flood of the dark river of
death. They too, like your parents, must now be living in the world of
spirit as conscious, loving father and mother, with hearts filled with a
living, glowing affection that can and will respond to my own. Can it be
possible that I am to feel and know this by direct communication with
them?"
"I shall be delighted, Mr. Flagg, to help you in this matter in any way
that I can. Your desire for a direct communication from your parents is
perfectly natural and right and, I doubt not, will be fully gratified in
a few days.
"In this connection, let me ask: Have you ever had a seance with a
medium? Do you know anything about the laws that control and govern
mediumship? Have you been interested to any extent in reading the
all-comprehensive philosophy which mediumship demonstrates?"
"I am very glad, Miss Fenwick, that you have put those questions. I
desire to state briefly and frankly my attitude, up to this time,
towards mediumship and the philosophy and phenomena of spiritual
manifestations generally: I believe I was a born agnostic. All my life I
have been skeptical as to the verity of a life beyond the grave. In this
I have differed widely from my people, a large majority of whom have
been zealous Presbyterians for at least five generations, while I have
followed Voltaire and Ingersoll. In the ranks of their following I have
been content to cry: 'I don't know! I can wait! One world at a time is
enough for me!' As to mediumship, or any manifestations of it, I know
almost nothing. The few mediums I have met accidentally, have
unfortunately failed to impress me favorably. All that I have heard or
read of them has had a strong tendency to prejudice me against them and
the philosophy they taught. Therefore, until my visit to this cottage, I
have never been at all interested in the matter. I now perceive that in
studying the great problem of life, and how best to learn most about it,
I have utterly ignored one of the most important sources of both
information and inspiration. My prejudice and indifference have
vanished. I wonder at myself, at my readiness to accept your point of
view regarding your most marvelous mediumship and its wonderful
manifestations; at my feverish interest and anxiety to learn all I can
about things spiritual at the earliest possible moment; at my intense
longing for the complete verification of all the beautiful propositions
relating to spiritual life which you have stated so eloquently and so
convincingly; but most of all do I wonder and am amazed that these
things are not miracles; that they occur through the action of natural
law, which, if true, makes it possible--nay probable--that mediumship
and its manifestations are as old as life itself. This, Miss Fenwick,
defines my position as clearly as I can state it. Do you think I am
likely to prove a pupil worthy of his teacher?"
"I most assuredly do, Mr. Flagg," said Fern. "I think you are now
prepared for the promised interview with my father. However, before he
joins us, I wish to say by way of explanation, that when I am here
alone, he can use the trumpet with ease at any moment and in any kind of
light, but in the presence of strangers, different conditions are
required. We shall at first be obliged to use another kind of light. By
the aid of this light you can plainly see the trumpet, supported
horizontally in the air just over his chair, but you will be unable to
discern even the faintest outline of the spiritual form holding it; as
in using the trumpet, the vital force of both the manifesting spirit and
the medium is concentrated in the trumpet in the effort of speaking. Sit
perfectly quiet for a moment; I will close the windows and prepare the
room."
A few touches on the small keyboard in her desk, and lo the heavy double
curtains swiftly and silently unrolled and covered the windows. At the
same moment, the beautifully ornamented, dome shaped center of the lofty
ceiling began to glow with a constellation of soft, phosphorescent
lights, filling the room with a radiance as mild and silvery as
moonlight, and yet even more soothing to the nerves. Presently the air
was vibrant with the low, sweet strains of distant music, soft and slow
and of such exquisite harmony that it seemed a rare combination of all
that was inspiring, charming and beautiful in the variations of time,
sound and rythm. The combined effect of the light and the music on
Fillmore Flagg was electrical. Every nerve was thrilled with rapture.
He was completely absorbed. As the music ceased he turned with a start
to look for the trumpet. As he looked, it slowly rose from the chair and
there came from it the clear tones of a manly voice, full of sweetness
and power. He heard these words: "Fern, my daughter, will you tell this
gentleman who I am?"
"My dear father," said Fern, "How glad I am that you have joined us! Mr.
Flagg, this is my father, Fennimore Fenwick, of whom I have told you so
much. Father, this is Mr. Fillmore Flagg, who, as you already know, has
promised to devote himself to our work."
As the trumpet slowly moved nearer, Mr. Fenwick said: "Mr. Flagg, as the
father of Fern Fenwick, I extend to you a cordial greeting and a most
hearty welcome to Fairy Fern Cottage. I trust this is but the
commencement of a long and uninterrupted acquaintance, which may soon
ripen into a true friendship, that shall bring much pleasure and profit
to both. I am exceedingly well pleased with your advanced ideas on the
subject of co-operative farming as the proper cure for the evils that
now make farm life so miserable and so unsatisfactory. I wish
particularly to congratulate you on the thoroughly systematic and
successful methods you have adopted to it yourself so well for this
peculiar work.
"Now my young friend, one moment to another matter which is likely to
prove of great interest to you. I find your parents in spirit life. I
met them since you came to the cottage. They approve of your chosen life
work. They are very proud of you, their beloved son and only child. They
bid me give you a message of love with the assurance that they will
speak to you through this trumpet very soon."
"Mr. Fenwick," said Fillmore Flagg, "I thank you for the encouragement
of your kindly greeting and for the many pleasant things you have said
of me and my work. In the future I shall strive conscientiously to merit
your praise, and hope to earn your lasting friendship. As to the glad
tidings from my parents in spirit life, I am rejoiced. In my heart the
torch of hope is lighted; its pure flame is fast burning away the
barriers of the belief I have so long entertained, that 'Death ends
all,' also of the equally depressing creed of my Presbyterian people,
who have so long taught and thought that 'The dead know not anything;'
that my parents, with that vast army of souls, having passed the portals
of the tomb, are now lost in the oblivion of that long unconscious,
dreamless slumber, which stretches from the new made grave to The Day of
Judgment. Hence, the message of love from my parents, with the assurance
that they will speak to me so soon, has made me very happy. I am content
to wait patiently for such further messages as opportunity may bring to
me. I am ready and eager, Mr. Fenwick, to hear your plans. Please
proceed."
"Very well," said Fennimore Fenwick. "Fern, my daughter, you are to
remain at your desk with pencil and note book, prepared to take down
what I have to say."