cheerful day, but cast a longing, lingering look behind. As the tree falls, so it lies. As on earth they cultivated only the spirit and tone of the earth; as they gave up to it their whole soul, hope, ambition, and exertion; as they molded and incorporated their tastes, feelings, yearnings, and passions into its nature; as they heaped up its riches as an eternal trophy from which nothing could sever them,- they have stepped into the spirit-regions as aliens, having no possible heritage or enjoyment in them, except in so far as these resemble those from which they have lately been ejected. An intense and agonizing yearning draws them back to the old haunts and conditions. of being; and they snatch with frenzied and convulsive fingers at whatever and whoever affords them the mediumistic means of regaining something, more or less, of the taste and consciousness of earth-life. Hence all the phenomena of possession and obsession which history has recorded, and which modern times have shown terrible examples of; hence the wild and frantic demonstrations of Morzine; hence cases of the most awful spiritual persecutions of particularly susceptible persons of to-day. These woeful spirits, drenched with the sensuous elements of the life which they led on earth, selfish as they were then to the very inmost depths of their natures,- rush with a reckless and gluttonness appetite into the tissues of unfortunately open constitutions, and exult in breathing, drinking in, pulsating, with a cruel and relentless ardor, the sensations and odors of this mortal life once more. . . . But the vast inspirations from the malevolent and destructive which we have been remarking on result from no cultivation of Spiritualism. They operate unconsciously and independently on the masses, credulous or incredulous, educated or uneducated, refined or vulgar. The calamities of war, of intoxication, and the other self or mutually inflicted crimes and follies of mankind, are too hideous and extraordinary to result from any mere natural cause. They are, as the apostles tell us, set on fire by hell, and by the 'powers and principalities against whom we wrestle, not against mere flesh and blood; by the rulers of the darkness of this world, the spiritual wickedness

in high places.' Those human excesses which pollute and desolate the earth from age to age, in spite of religion, and in spite of the highest reach of civilization, are too monstrous and too mad to result from any simple incentives of human infirmity. They proclaim their origin from the accumulated sorceries of the pandemoniums of the past."

The following remarkable case of obsession was related by Mr. Peebles's friend and co-laborer on The Spiritual Harp -J. O. Barrett. He says:

"Whilst in Boston, in the summer of 1868, editing The Spiritual Harp, we had frequent opportunities of being with Mr. Peebles in many an interesting experience. One day, he called at the office of The Banner of Light, asking if we would like to see a case of perfect obsession.' Arm-in-arm, we threaded our way through the crazy crowds, and entered a boarding-house kept by a Spiritualist lady. We knocked at the door of the room occupied by the unfortunate woman. No response. We pressed the door open; and there she lay alone on the hard floor, covered with her shawl (her kind attendant sister being absent for a moment), frothing at the mouth, and muttering strange sounds. 'Pity, oh, pity!' was our mutual ejaculation. The landlady could not have her there: she must leave!' Who would befriend her? We roused her from her stupor; and Mr. Peebles, kindly offering his arm, accompanied her to the United States Hotel, assuring the clerk that the bills should be paid. Procuring a suitable room, we endeavored magnetically to soothe the poor creature, and succeeded to that degree that she calmly told her history with tears of sorrow.

"A fascinating girl, she had many suitors, who flattered her with vain ideals of life. One she loved as woman's heart can love.

"Parents refused the banns, and by social considerations consummated a marriage with one she instinctively repelled, though he was rich and high-bred. The loss of her own lover, killed on board The Essex,' in the late rebellion, and marriage with her oppressor, who compelled her to murder her

babes, ere they breathed the air, to gratify his insatiate lusts, at length fell crushing her soul, maddened to gloom and despair. In her sorrow, she sought the spirits. Ignorant of magnetic subtilties, corrupted by promiscuous circles, cast off a lost woman by the Christian Church, stained by forced lusts till the very fountains of life were the nest of Eden's serpent, she incidently entangled herself in poisoned influences, and finally was completely enveloped in the magnetic coils of demoniac possessions. The manifestations were plainly spiritual, but disorderly.

“In a moment of sanity, she caught an impression, doubtless from a spirit, that she and her sister must go to Boston, and, if possible, secure the aid of the spiritual battery of The Banner of Light. It would not do. The editor of that paper saw the peril of such a sphere, introduced for covert designs. Mr. Colby was guard against that influence, like a faithful sentinel; Mr White full of charity, pondered upon his duty; Mr. Crowel was severe, and determined to expel that medium and her band from the city. The general caution, however, linked us all into a mutual responsibility.

The very

"Mr. Peebles, a few days after, was urgently sent for to see this poor woman at the United States Hotel. hells had broken loose upon her; madness, fury, insanity, were as legion' in her brain; her husband cursed, her departed lover invoked, her helplessness deplored, her clothes torn and ruined, and the despair of horror stamped upon her face. But the presence of Mr. Peebles partially calmed her; when she gave, at her better moments, beautiful tests, described spirits, presented fine drawings, improvised and sung exquisite poetry under spirit-influence. Mr. Peebles advised them to return home to Connecticut. She and her sister yielded at last. Messrs. White & Co., with Mr. Peebles, paid the bills. Having destroyed her bonnet, she asked for something to protect her head; and Mr. Peebles tied his handkerchief over it, and then, with hair desheveled and glaring eyes, she took his offered arm for the cars across the street. In the meanwhile the police had gathered into the hotel; and all the clerks, maids,

and waiters were on the qui vive at the confusion of the 'insane woman,' the fruit of Spiritualism!' as the genteel orthodox said of it. As Mr. Peebles and the woman, attended by her weeping sister, passed through the office, the crowd jeering in suppressed jokes, one of the clerks exclaimed, "There goes the old long-haired Israelite!' No chance for a just rebuke, he silently led her out, provoked at the taunts, but resolute to protect the unfortunate till the cars started. We both resolved, 'We will never patronize that hotel again.' The next morning, he was astonished to receive a telegram from Warren Chase of New York, asking him, in emphatic words, why he had sent that crazy person to him. Mr. Rich, of The Banner of Light, promptly exonerated Mr. Peebles from any blame, assuring him that she was expected to have gone home. But the spirits were evidently wiser than the rest. The obsessed was influenced to say, 'Send me to S. B. Brittan.' This experienced Spiritualist, thoroughly comprehending the case, immediately sought the assistance of Dr. A. S. Haywood, who undertook the task of restoring order. Meanwhile, a prudish lady (?) of New York, whose services were sought as a necessity, declared, 'The woman is base; and here is the evidence. of it,' she added, with a toss of the head, in this handkerchief: see the name of a man on it,- Peebles!' So she reported Mr. Peebles to her slandering associates a bad man.' Did not that handkerchief tell the story? Could wickedness descend to greater depths? Thus do the vile seek to turn our good against us. Dr. Haywood was successful. The obsessing influences left her: she was in her right mind, and soon after wrote a letter of deepest gratitude to Mr. Peebles for his philanthropic protection during her days of distress. From reliable authority we learn she is now well and happy. Thus self-sacrifice is always rewarded; and every kind act, like a wandering minstrel, blesses some dependent soul."

In Erie, Pennsylvania, there resided a lady — Mrs. Juliette Manley who was a member of the Episcopalian Church. To this lady a band of ancient spirits came and moved her hand to write mechanically. Many volumes were given through

this instrumentality. Through this channel Mr. Peebles occasionally came into communications with the old Prophets. From what they said to him from time to time on obsession and allied subjects, we extract the following:

"A foundling is oft laid aside as of no value in the households of harmonies, as a foundling is oft called a life of diseases and held as lost to virtue. A lovely child I once saw caught up in the arms of one worldly-wise, pressed to her bosom, and I saw the subtle essence of an adder enter that form; slowly enter that the life need sense the one condition of receiving the poison in the system. The soul of an adder did breathe the breath of life in that form and the love of the whole life turned to gall in the cup of the worldly-wise, a torn garment was that beautiful life, and lain aside as of no value by the moundbuilders, till the soul could be environed with higher soulforces. A hate is oft seen creeping insidiously into a form having fair proportions. The outer is held open, as it were, for all influences, and all becomes impregnated with hate at certain seasons. Woe be to those whose forms are impregnated with forces on certain days of the year. One orb of love rules at one season. At another season one power of hate and poison of the upas tree becomes infused into the arteries. Out of the slaughterhouses cometh dread lives of discord. A question is never answered: at what hour the breathings of love and wisdom can enter a form and cast out the old spirit of unrest.

"To the sons of men are sent teachers who divine the power of the laws and seek to raise up a people to a knowledge of their high calling. Were it not for the presence of these soul forces riot would lay waste the earth lands, and all nature would cry aloud for redress! All home fields would be ravaged by destroying forces. All home airs would be desolate indeed.

"A humble laborer I saw stand and weep. The days' labors were insufficient for the family. The dews of death stood on his brow. Slowly arose the spirit and passed to the outer, being wearied of the body. As the spirit departed the undying force of a Beneficent entered that bodily frame, and of the value of a kingdom was the exchange. The spirit did