Doctor Jones' Picnic Part 24

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 att.i.tude toward G.o.d 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, gla.s.sy 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 G.o.d! 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 canon 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 canon 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 G.o.d 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: G.o.d 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. G.o.d 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 G.o.d 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."

CHAPTER XXII.

Familiar Scenes and Faces.

Silver Cloud was wafted by a gentle breeze to the center of Lower Michigan. For two or three hours after sunrise there was nearly a dead calm. Then a brisk breeze from due east arose, and they started for Lake Michigan at a great speed.

"This will never do," said Dr. Jones. "We will go down and get fresh supplies and the morning papers. There lies a good-looking town a few miles west. We will anchor there. Stand by the anchor, boys."

In a few moments Silver Cloud, with her characteristic swiftness, descended upon the town, and soon was safely anch.o.r.ed to several large trees in the center of it. It proved to be the thrifty little town of L----r, of between three and four thousand inhabitants. Silver Cloud was drawn to within fifty or sixty feet of the earth, and the voyagers rapidly descended in the cage to the main street.

That all the men, women, and children crowded to the vicinity of the globe, and that our friends were the cynosure of thousands of wondering eyes will be readily believed. And the glistening sphere that gently oscillated in the breeze above the city excited the unbounded astonishment and praise of all. Newspaper reporters gathered eagerly about the party, and plied them with questions concerning their trip and adventures. All, of course, were acquainted with the facts concerning their sailing from Was.h.i.+ngton four months previously, and a few of them had witnessed that notable event. The travelers were informed that they had been mourned as lost for many weeks past, and Government was fitting out a party to seek them as soon as possible. The general opinion was, that the globe had collapsed or exploded, and that the foolhardy explorers had all perished in the forests of Upper Canada. This was the accepted theory, and nothing could exceed the severity with which the editors of the papers politically opposed to the administration censured it for the extravagance and all-round idiocy of the whole "Aluminum Bubble Scheme," as they termed it. Dr. Jones was voted a lunatic, and the balance of the party was commiserated in the "Ahs!" and "Dear me's!"

and "Poor things!" of the whole nation.

And we can well imagine that the telegraph wires were kept busy that day all over the land. And the papers which in their previous issues had inveighed so cuttingly and mercilessly against the Government and Dr.

Jones, and everybody in any way connected with the Aluminum Globe Bubble, now came out in flaming double headings, under telegraphic dispatches and in editorials, sounding the praises of Dr. Jones and company in unbounded terms of commendation. They had always predicted their speedy and triumphant return, so they had, etc.

Telegrams and phonograms poured in upon them until they were really unable to attend to them. Very numerous were the offers of engagements to Dr. Jones and Professor Gray for a course of lectures at liberal prices.

"I was satisfied, Professor, that we should stir them up," said Dr.

Jones, perspiring and glowing with the excitement and hurry, "but I did not look for this avalanche. I would rather be off into our native element, the deep blue sky, than to be smothered in this fas.h.i.+on."

"Keep cool, Doctor," replied Professor Gray. "You may as well get used to being lionized, for you will get no end of it at Was.h.i.+ngton."

"All right, Professor. I'll do the best I can, but I really do not enjoy so much of it. Suppose we give the people a reception at the Opera House."

"O good!" cried Mattie. "And let's give them a concert. We can render them an hour of music that I am sure will please them very much."

"Good girl!" shouted Fred, who was always in for anything in the line of music and innocent pleasure.

All instantly agreed, and the town and neighboring places were informed of the fact of the intended reception that night. All necessary preparations were made, and it is needless to say that the building was packed to its utmost limits long before the appointed hour.

At eight o'clock the curtain raised, and our friends marched upon the stage and sang in their best form an anthem of praise and thanksgiving to G.o.d. All were in the pink of health, free from all carking cares and vanities of life, and they sang as if inspired. Such singing had never been heard by the audience; and this fact, added to the romance connected with the occasion, carried the thousands of listeners completely off their feet. The encore that went up at the conclusion of the piece was tremendous beyond description. Nor would the excited audience cease an instant until our friends had rendered another song.

Then Dr. Jones stepped forward, and raising his hand to invoke silence, said:

"Your mayor will now address a few words to you."