Things Material and Spiritual.

The wind continued all night as last noted, and Silver Cloud, without a tremor or swaying motion of any kind, was scurrying across the barren wastes of the Arctics at marvelous speed. At noon upon the second day from the Pole, Professor Gray took an observation, and announced that they then were at latitude 68 deg., 20 min., longitude 120 deg. 16 min., West Greenwich.

"We are about crossing the Arctic circle. We are just above the barren grounds north of Great Bear Lake," said the Professor. "Shortly after breakfast to-morrow morning we will cross the northern boundary of the United States at our present speed."

"What great body of water is that I see ahead?" asked Denison a little later.

"That is Great Bear Lake," replied Professor Gray. "See how the vegetation begins to show up."

The weather was superb, and the lake lay calm and smooth beneath them as a mirror. While they were tearing through the skies at express train speed, their elevation being a little over 3,000 feet, they could plainly see through their glasses that small birch trees and evergreens upon the banks were nearly motionless.

"Now you see an illustration of my theory," cried the delighted Doctor. "Here are we in a gale; below, scarcely a breath of air is stirring. It did not work in Russia, and we were obliged to anchor. But I shall regard that as a providential affair and shall stick to my theory. I would not for anything have failed to plant the good seed which we left there. Great good will come of it, and it may be the commencement of a general recognition throughout all Europe of God's great law of cure. If so, I shall count that as of infinitely greater importance than the location of the North Pole."

The wind veered to the northwest toward evening, and a consultation of the map showed that they were heading precisely as they wished to. On the following morning, they crossed what the Professor informed them was the Lake of the Woods.

"Before noon we shall be well into Northern Minnesota. We are peculiarly favored upon this trip. It is very doubtful whether we would encounter so many favorable gales in any number of future trips."

"We are not home yet, Professor, and we may have an opportunity to test the Doctor's theory as to air currents," said Will.

Soon after breakfast a further change in the wind occurred, and they found themselves going due east. They watched through their glasses the foliage below, but could see no difference in the direction of the lower atmospheric stratum.

"We will go as we look for a time," said the Doctor.

"What do I see yonder!" cried Denison. "A train of passenger cars, sure as you live! That must be the Canadian Pacific."

"It is," replied Professor Gray. "And away to the south, you see Lake Superior. We are passing along its northern coast."

"Don't those little settlements look beautiful!" said Mrs. Jones. "See the little white church yonder with its tiny spire! It just seems to me as if I should like to stop and attend service in that pretty little church."

"See the people rushing out to look at us!" observed Dr. Jones. "Suppose we lower to within a few hundred feet of them, and give them a good sight at the ship."

Accordingly Silver Cloud settled rapidly as it neared the little town. They crossed the village at a height of about 500 feet. They could see that the people were terribly frightened. Some were lying upon the ground as if dead; others were upon their knees with their hands stretched toward the globe that glistened like a star in the sunlight. Many were rushing screaming into their houses. A few could be seen fleeing from town, afoot or horseback, at the top of their speed.

"Don't be alarmed, good people," shouted Dr. Jones. "We are only aeronauts who have been to the North Pole. Good-bye!"

"I won't do that again," said he. "Some of those people may die from the effects of this fright. But here we are again for home."

Silver Cloud had again mounted skyward and encountered a splendid breeze from the north. A few moments later the blue, crystal waters of Lake Superior were undulating beneath them.

"Just see the shipping!" ejaculated Denison. "I sailed to the upper end of this great lake to Duluth, twenty-five years ago. Then but few steamers came up so far, and not many sailing vessels except those in the iron and copper trade. Now see them in every direction! I am astonished at the amount of traffic on these lakes."

Only those who have been away from their native land, and especially if their travels have extended over the barren wastes of the extreme north, can fully appreciate the immortal Scott:

"Breathes there a man with soul so dead
Who never to himself hath said;
'This is my own, my native land!'"

They traveled so rapidly over Upper Michigan that by evening they were across the strait of Mackinaw. Then the wind lulled to a ten-mile breeze and veered a point or two easterly. The great pine forests below were a cheerful contrast to the illimitable fields of ice and snow and uncultivable lands which they had so lately traversed. The farms and villages grew thicker every hour and their twinkling lights were pleasant sights to the voyagers as the night came on.

After dinner, all being tired from a long day of sightseeing, they gathered in the little smoking-room for their usual evening chat. For some reason, this time the conversation took a turn not unusual among creatures who have to do with two worlds, the spiritual and material.

"I would like to ask you, Dr. Jones," said the Professor, "if you ever encountered, or had any experience with what you were positive was supernatural?"

"I have," answered the Doctor.

"Well, Doctor, I confess that I never saw or heard anything in my life that could not be explained upon natural principles. It is not that I am especially skeptical, but my life has been spent in the study of things material, and the laws that govern them. So it may be that I have not been in a state of mind to apprehend spiritual phenomena, as I might otherwise have done. However that may be, I am very desirous of hearing a relation of your experiences on that line."

"There is nothing, Professor Gray," replied Dr. Jones, "that I am more positive of than that we are constantly surrounded by, and in actual contact with, spiritual forces. And further, that if we were but in a receptive condition, or were in the attitude toward God that we should be, we might, like Elisha's servant, see the hosts of the Lord camping upon the hills round about us. But my individual belief would be of no value if not based upon experience.

"The first thing I ever saw that I recognized as purely spiritual in its character was at the deathbed of a four year old boy. I was myself at this time but twelve years old, but I received an impression that I can never forget. I was standing at the foot of his little bed, his father and mother and three or four brothers and sisters were ranged along the sides and by his head. He was gasping in the last struggle with the grim monster, when he suddenly threw his hands toward the ceiling and cried out in a clear, strong voice, 'O papa! see there!' His little face that had been so distorted with suffering lightened up with the glory of the better world. His arms gradually sank to his side, and he was dead. But that heavenly smile remained upon his face long after death. One may explain away this glory-burst through the eyes of a dying child, calling it hallucination of a fevered or diseased brain if they will, but to me it was a revelation of spirit land.

"A few years ago I was permitted again to get a glimpse of the pearly gates, and this time it was the hand of a sweet little girl who lifted aside the veil for her sorrowing friends and myself. She was in the last extremity with diphtheritic croup. Her face was bloated and blue-black with suffocation. Her eyes were nearly bursting from their sockets, glassy and staring; and her face, always so sweet and beautiful, was now distorted so that her mother could not endure the sight, and cried in her agony, 'My God! is this my little Bertha? I cannot believe it!' Bertha, in her expiring effort for breath, had raised upon her knees in bed, when suddenly, as in the other case, she raised her hands, her face illumined with the 'light that is not seen upon sea or land,' and she said in a strong, clear whisper—for her vocal cords were so involved in the diphtheritic membranes that her voice was gone completely—'O mamma! I see Jesus!' The ecstasy lasted a moment or so, and then I laid her back upon the pillow—dead! Here again is an opportunity for the agnostic to cavil and reject such evidence. But of one thing you may be sure: If he derives as much pleasure from his unbelief as I do in believing, then he is a very happy man.

"And now I will relate what to me was still more startling and wonderful on the line of spiritual evidence or experience. I practiced medicine a few years in the Sierra Mountains, California. I was called one afternoon to see a patient in a mining camp some twelve or fifteen miles away. I rode a faithful, sure-footed little mare, and chose a short cut over a dangerous mountain trail. I had a deep caÑon to cross, and was coming down into it on my return, when night set in. It became so dark that I could not see the trail, but fully trusted my little mare. I dropped the reins upon her neck and let her choose her own way and gait. We were on the most dangerous part of the trail, where it was not more than twelve or fifteen inches wide, and upon my left hand was a black chasm, some fifty or seventy-five feet deep. I was singing a hymn as unconcernedly as I ever did in my life, when suddenly something said to me, 'Get off that horse!' I did not stop to reason or ask questions, but promptly threw myself off on the right side and stood a moment by the animal, not knowing what the meaning could be. It was not an audible voice that had spoken to me, yet it was none the less distinct and unmistakable. I stood two or three minutes thus, waiting for further developments. Then I stepped down in front of Mollie—as I called the mare—into the trail, and started to lead her. I did not dare to get into the saddle again, though I could not imagine what was coming next. I had not proceeded ten feet, when I came to an exceedingly steep pitch in the trail. I had gone down this pitch but a few feet when something held me and I could go no farther. I nearly fell over the obstruction which I felt holding my legs. I reached down and found a heavy wire drawn very tightly across the trail, just above my knees. You will never know the feelings I experienced at that moment. I saw in an instant that my Heavenly Father had interposed and saved me from a violent death."

"What was that wire, and how came it there?" asked Fred.

"It was a telegraph wire. The pole on the opposite side of the caÑon had been washed from its footing, and was hanging by its full weight from the wire, thus drawing it very taut across the trail."

"Could not this warning which you received be accounted for from a psychological standpoint?" asked Professor Gray.

"I will answer your question by asking another: If we reject the spiritual side of man's nature, then we have nothing left of him but the material. Now I ask you as a physicist, what is there in the laws governing matter that could in any degree account for the phenomenon that I have just related?"

"Nothing," answered the Professor.

"That is right, Professor. And I prefer to recognize the hand of God in this, and to believe that He exercises a special care over his children; that not a hair falls from the head of one of his believing children without the Father's notice. It is so much better to simply trust and believe. Nothing is so detestable as the spirit of skepticism abroad in the land to-day. The ministry itself is more or less permeated and honeycombed with the abominations called 'Higher Criticism,' 'Evolution,' etc. They would have us believe that the Bible is filled with interpolations, and that wicked men and devils, careless translators or copyists have been allowed to destroy to a very great extent the validity of that book. Now I simply take this stand: God has created you and me, and has endowed us each with an immortal principle which we call soul. He has placed us in this probationary state and has set before us two ways: The straight and narrow way that leads to Eternal Life, and the broad way that leads to Eternal Death. In order that we may know His will and so be able to fulfill the conditions of salvation, He has given us the Holy Bible. He is responsible for the validity of that book, and we may defy all the smart Alecks and devils in the universe to invalidate a single essential word of it. The gist of the whole matter reduces to a simple syllogism.

"The major proposition is: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.

"The minor proposition: I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

"The conclusion: Therefore I am saved.

"This is my faith, and He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him, Bible and all, till that day. I have given you several experiences that are not to be lightly explained away, nor scoffed aside by skepticism. I could relate you another still more wonderful experience, one on a par with Saul's conversion as he went to Damascus to kill the saints. I refer to my own conversion. But I think that you have had enough for once."

"Let me ask one question further, Doctor," said the Professor. "As we have disposed of the psychological hypothesis in explanation of the source of the impression that you received upon the trail, and which without doubt saved your life, we must accept the spiritual. I wish to ask, then, if it might not have been the spirit of a departed friend who thus warned you?"

"No, sir!" replied the Doctor with great emphasis. "Departed spirits have no such functions. On the other hand, we are told that 'He giveth His angels charge concerning thee to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.' And again: The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them. Also: Are they not ministering spirits sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation? It means infinitely much to be the child of a King. Angels to bear us up in their hands and to minister unto us if we will but comply with the terms. So there is no need of spooks, wraiths, and ghosts of departed men in our lives. God gives us all the light necessary. He lighteth every man that cometh into the world."

"Well, Doctor, there is still another difficulty that I think you have not met or settled. I have acquaintances that I know are sincere in their belief that they receive communications from departed friends. They are people who do not accept the Christian faith, and you have established the fact, from a biblical standpoint, that He giveth his angels charge over those who are Christians, or heirs of salvation. If, then, the spiritualist receives communications from the spirit world, and they come neither through angels nor departed friends, from whom do they come?"

"The Devil!"

"What!"

"The Devil, or one of his legions of imps."

"Excuse me, Doctor, but how is one to know whether his communications be from a good or evil spirit? How, for instance, do you know whether your communication which warned you of the wire across the trail was from an angel or devil?"

"That question is not worthy of you, Professor Gray. In all the history of this poor, sin-cursed world, the Devil never did one kind act to a human being. He never wiped away a tear of sorrow, or mitigated a heartache or pain, nor ever will. Jesus settled that matter when the Jews accused Him of casting out devils through the prince of devils, Beelzebub. If Satan be divided against Satan, his kingdom cannot stand. When Satan warns one servant of God of danger, and saves him from death his kingdom will fall. But say, let's to bed. We must be out by daylight in the morning."