Beyond the river

Contents

LETTER PAGE

Frontispiece.

Foreword 25

Introduction

The Picture

HE following momentous events had their inception in the year 1882, A. D. Feeling impelled so to do, I wrote an article which, to my surprise, was published in the Progressive Thinker, a beacon of light published at Chicago, 111. A short time after its publication, I received a letter from a person residing at Carthage, Mo., who manifested much interest in the subject, and requested further light on some points. This I promptly furnished, expecting that to terminate our correspondence. He was at that time practicing the healing art by the "laying on of hands" and manipulation. That letter was signed, Dr. Anderson.

To my surprise, he again wrote, expressing his thanks, then imparting this revelation :

"By the way, there is a beautiful spirit, a lady, comes with your letter, who manifests much interest in you. If there is a good medium in your city, find out who she is. If a guide, let us know, and we will take her likeness as a gift from her and us.

(Signed) Wella P. Anderson, Spirit Artist."

Seeing that name, I knew that I was face to face with real phenomena. Sometime previous to this, by merest chance, I picked up a book, which proved to be a short biography of some of the older mediums and their work.

On the page at which I opened that book was the copy of a beautifully executed pencil drawing of a spirit being by this noted spirit artist. It stated that he did that kind of work while under full trance, in a perfectly dark closet, the materials used being Faber's lead pencils, Nos. I and 2, etc. Such is the process by which the picture sent me was taken and from which the frontispiece is a copy. While the proportions of this picture are faulty, the artistic execution cannot be denied. It is hardly necessary to state that the entranced human organism is an unwieldly instrument for so delicate a work.

At that time I thought it strange, since he manifested no doubt of being able to take her likeness, that he should ask me to find out who she was ; but we must remember that he was only the entranced instrument in this wonderful work. I informed him that there was no sensitive in our city capable of giving the desired information, and requested him to see what he could get. The answer came promptly, in part as follows :

"Yes, she again comes with your letter, bright and beautiful as a dream. It is well that you do not see her, or you might feel like the boy who cried : 'I want to go home !' When conditions are right, we will take her likeness, as a gift from her and us. We take it in order to cause two souls to rejoice, and two hearts to beat as one. There will be no charges, and no feelings of obligation in any way." (She explains in Letter 4 as to how he was enabled to see her.)

In describing her, he said :

"She appears to be about twenty- four years of age (see confirmation of that in Letter 5), and when you see her likeness, you must compare it as with the block of marble alongside of the finished statue. It is impossible to portray angelic loveliness on paper."

THE POEM (in part)

You ask for the name of your beautiful guide

Who comes arrayed in white, With glittering sparks all over her dress

That twinkle like stars in the night.

You ask why she is with you,

And you wonder if she is going to stay;

Well, it takes two halves of an apple To make a whole apple, they say.

Substance and shadow are always together

All over this world so wide; You never see one without the other,

And so with you and your guide.

I lost no time in letting him know that such a present would be regarded as a gift of gifts.

Many obstacles came in his way, so that about seven years elapsed, but the picture finally came as a New Year's gift for the year 1900.

I freely confess that, should I have had to bargain for it and pay the regular price, which at that time was high for that class of work, I should in all probability have regarded it in the light of a commercial transaction only. But coming from a total stranger, except for our correspondence, unexpected and unasked for, absolutely free of cost to me, for even the express charges were prepaid, leaves it wholly free from any taint of commercialism, and as there can be no effect without an adequate cause, I shall accept it fully as bona fide. As for the upturned eyes, the inference is so plain that I will let them speak for themselves.

The Letters

About six years after the receipt of the picture, I visited a medium thru whose vocal organs the author of the letters, but previous to that time, had spoken to me, and also the place where I discovered the book which gave me the first knowledge of Wella P. Anderson and his wonderful mediumship. When seeing me, she exclaimed :

"Oh, Mr. Peterson ! Why didn't you come five minutes sooner ? A young man has just left that you must be sure to meet. But never mind, he will call again, and then I will arrange a meeting."

In a short time we heard a knock on the door, and when it was opened, there he stood. On seeing him she again exclaimed :

"Why, what brings you back so soon ?".

Looking at us earnestly, he replied :

"I don't know ; I had to come."

On his first visit he passed four doors, and felt impelled to stop at this one, which was the fifth from the entrance to the second floor.

For reasons to me at that time unknown, I felt strangely drawn to that young man. I wanted to fold my arms around and protect him from himself and the whole world — an impossible task, for he was in the all-knowing age.

The unseen forces, however, did their part, so that we spent a portion of the following winter in California, and thirty days of that time in the Peterselia summer cottage at Long Beach.

When we were comfortably settled there, he asked for pencil and paper, but surprised me by wanting paper of a certain color, which could only be had in manuscript tablet size. When I placed these materials on the table, he sat down and began to write very rapidly, tore off the sheets, and flung them on the floor. Thinking that he was writing letters to friends, and fearing that the sheets were getting mixed, I picked up and numbered them. The writing continued till I had fifteen or more closely written

INTRODUCTION II

pages. Watching him closely, I noticed that his face was flushed, causing a tired look to appear, and then first did it dawn upon me as to what was going on. Deeming it time to interfere, I asked if he hadn't better rest a while. Hearing my voice, he pulled himself together, rubbed his eyes, and said :

"Yes, perhaps I had."

I then remarked that he was a very long letter writer, and asked what the story was about. To my surprise, he said :

"I don't know !"

"You don't know ! Could you have written all this and not know what it is?"

"I don't know what has been written. Read the stuff, and let us find out what it is."

After the reading, I put it in a drawer, got him out into the sun, and down to the seashore. The next day, and for several days in succession, the same performance was repeated, until we had a manuscript of about one hundred and thirty-five pages, using about one hour of time each day. But to my certain knowledge, not a single time did he ever examine what had previously been written in order to refresh his memory. The closing of the work developed another surprise, and a supremely gratifying revelation, for the living soul, who succeeded in giving her likeness to me, subscribed her name to the manuscript as its author. And thus did she also succeed in getting the letters into my hands. (It must be remembered that he had never seen the picture, and knew nothing of the incidents connected therewith.)

The medium took very little interest in the writing. The subject did not interest him at all. When I spoke of life beyond the grave, he seemed to regard me as several degrees out of balance, as he remarked ;

"There is no life beyond the grave. When we die, that's the end."

As the subject matter was the exact opposite to his belief, we are forced to conclude that his mentality did not dictate the writing of the letters. And thus, thru the hand of a comparative stranger, were events in my life made clear, which, up to that time, had been a puzzle to me.

Now, having told by what means the picture and the letters came into my hands, I could terminate the part assigned me in this work. But, I do not feel at liberty so to do, yet. The world is spiritually hungry; hungry for the answer to Job's question: "If we die, shall we live again?" I must, therefore, not be a shirker, but bravely do my part.

Wella P. Anderson was one of earth's real noblemen. His unselfish soul and willing hand made it possible for this picture to be produced, and the same remarks will apply regarding the letters. The spirit artist was called to higher duties over ten years ago. The automatic hand is still imprisoned in flesh, thru which we hope to reap other golden truths for man's enlightenment.

Thru this automatic hand, Wella P. Anderson succeeded in wafting across the mystic barrier one message for me. Yea, even from that bourne they have so persistently told us that "no traveler ever returns." But let us see. The following incidents will, I think, at least furnish food for thought.

About three months after my brother's demise, I went to Eureka, Calif., to meet our medium, in hopes of getting something of value to the world. But having to scramble for a living, which is most destructive to the delicately sensitive state necessary to respond to the higher vibrations, my trip came near being a failure. The unexpected happened, however, for Lucelia wrote a welcome

INTRODUCTION

J 3 letter from my brother. I cannot refrain from saying that I considered him an exceptional specimen of humanity ; now proven true by his ability to reach the high plane where she and our parents dwell. So she wrote:

"Having known your parents a long time, and being aware of the new arrival, I concluded to visit them, and also to learn how he liked the new world in which he found himself. He knew me by the picture he had seen. When he saw me, his face lit up with joy, and greeting me most cordially, he said: 'You come very near being like the picture, or the picture like you.'

"I asked how he had, so far, found things to his liking, and he said that he was agreeably surprised, but not as much so as he would have been had he not read our description of his parents'' home. Said he :

" 'It is wonderful how familiar your letters made this valley to me. ... I could be well pleased, but they, that is, my friends, have me located in different places. Some fear that I found not my Saviour in the days of my youth, and consequently, well, they judge not. Then there are others who think it is not practical to live, after we are dead. So, I will follow in the footsteps of my father, and with the exception of a payment of the natural love debt due to Mary and my brother, I will try to make myself comfortable here, as per request.' [When alone with him a few days before the change, I made exactly such a request.]

" 'To be sure, I will not remain idle very long before we will begin to prepare for the building of our new home.

" 'My friends were all about me, and I realized their emotions. Then I suddenly became aware of the presence of others, whom I heretofore had not seen. I tried to convey this information, but know not if they understood.

i 4

I wish I did ! [He tried so hard for a few moments, but the power to articulate was gone.] Then, as I was trying to tell the glad news, I suddenly realized myself to be separate from my body, hovering above it, between father and sister, whom I immediately recognized. The woe of the situation dawned upon me. Our earthly ignorance appalled me.

" 'They looked upon the clay, referring to it as he. They should have known better ! Too bad that we do not see the spirit, and understand the subject properly. I could not bear the sight of earthly suffering, neither could I speak, nor make myself known. So, I just gave up, and away we went. What followed, I do not recollect, nor until I found myself at our parents' home did I seem to give the matter further attention. Here I seemed to be no stranger. They knew all about me/

"But memory soon revived. The pull of earth took hold and there followed a space of sympathetic misery that made this land of joy a place of sorrow.

" 'You might call their attention to the eight-foot boards and the pickets we split, and by that they will know that this message is all right, as the medium knows nothing of the especial things and incidents mentioned/ [He had never met my brother. The boards and pickets were split in an isolated place, by us two, absolutely unknown to the medium and forgotten by me at the time of writing.]

"He requested me to write thru the hand of our instrument his unqualified appreciation of the truth manifested in our work, and to speak a word of comfort to the one he left. To say that he would be with her to comfort and to strengthen. He wants her to look forward with hope to the final reunion.

"Like all the rest who come from the earth, he came both naked and bare ; he can here have whatever his heart desires, according to his ability to use.

" 'The earth is God's and the fulness thereof/ says the Bible. We say : The earth is ours, and the fulness thereof.' It is for humanity to use, that all may be supplied. We hold the spiritual earth for our spiritual needs. All can take and use freely, to the extent of their ability and desire."

In justice to us, I wish to say that we did know better. But such are trying times, and even tho we feel sure of knowing that the separation is only for a span, we are as yet an embodiment of ancient mental training which confines the mind to matter. Instead of being schooled to the joy of their liberation, we grieve at the loss of the physical companionship. To alleviate that sorrow, and to show the brighter side, is the aim and hope of this work.

Later on, Lucelia favored me with a description of the new home brother spoke of preparing, as follows :

"He stood at the entrance of a rustic gate, that bore all the marks of recent construction, his arms resting on a post, as I came up. This rustic fence divides a handsome garden from the main road. A pebble strewn path leads to a vine-embowered cottage, just beyond the garden. At the rear of this there is a strip of woodland, and still farther back, the stream that flows past his parents' home babbles musically. The stream makes a bend here, and the road cuts across the country for a short distance, leaving a peninsula-like arm of land. This arm is fenced off, chiefly for artistic effect, and here he has built his home. Here he dwells with his daughter, and his sister has also taken up her abode with him, altho that will not be for any great length of time, as she is about to make a change of location in accordance with the requirements of her education."

l6 BEYOND THE RIVER

The following incidents also transpired during the unfolding of this drama in my life, and can hardly be omitted :

Being at Los Angeles, and having the medium with me, I felt a desire to again visit the Petersilea home. Taking the Glendale car, we got there about eleven o'clock a. m. and met with a hearty reception. After an hour of pleasant conversation, we arose to take leave, but no. We were pressed to remain for lunch. In a reasonable time thereafter we attempted to depart, but again no. Said she :

"I wish you to spend the night here. You will find the room upstairs just as you left it."

When time to retire, I took the lamp (there were no electric lights at that time) and started for the stairs, the medium going on ahead. On entering the door, which was open, he gave a jump and a kick, exclaiming, "Get out of here." Surprised, I asked for an explanation, and he said:

"There was a man standing in the center of the room, and I want him to get out."

Asking whether it did so, he answered :

"Yes, he went into that room and out of the window." (The dressing room was lighted by a window over the front porch.)

When comfortably settled in bed, raps began to drum on the headboard. Being tired and sleepy, he ordered the performance none too politely to cease. The request was respected for a few moments, when again it started. From the bed to the wall, then to the ceiling, and from there to a lot of books in the further corner, it moved. The books, being done up in brown wrappers, which had become dry, the rustling was very lively.

After a time he passed into a semi-conscious state, and then with a determined effort began to use his vocal organs.

INTRODUCTION

Soon, words were laboriously stuttered out in the Norse language, clear enough for me to understand. I answered mentally, in the same language, which was readily understood. (The medium does not speak that language.)

EXPLANATION

I was brought to Chicago at the age of eleven years. Our parents being of the Lutheran faith, mother took me and brother with her to the Lutheran Church, presided over by the Rev. Pastor Peterson. Confirmation being a part of the formula of that church, Pastor Peterson put us thru that ceremony. The influence that tried so persistently to identify itself that night proved to my entire satisfaction to be that selfsame Pastor Peterson.

As these personal experiences seem to be interwoven with this work, I must explain how I came to visit the Petersilea home the first time.

I do not remember how long it was after his demise that I received a letter from our medium (we were living in different States at the time) containing a message from Prof. Petersilea imploring me to hasten to his wife, as she was contemplating suicide. Instinctively feeling the force of the message, I lost no time in starting, as it takes several days to reach Los Angeles from Seattle, leaving my friends to believe that I went to seek bodily health only.

While speeding south, I cudgeled my brain as to how I should introduce myself. I had an instinctive feeling that the use of the simple truth would have rendered my trip abortive. She would have regarded the statement that I came at his request simply as a subterfuge to gain admission, and shut the door in my face. Having arranged that in my mind, the next task was to find their home.

When presenting myself, I discovered her to be of a very cautious and reserved nature, so that she opened the door just enough to permit us to converse. But in a short time she flung the door wide open, and I received a hearty welcome. As I sat at dusk of the evening, listening, while she was bemoaning her sad fate, she said :

"I have had twenty-five years of happiness. But it is all over now. He is forever gone. I shall never see him again, and I want to drown myself to end it all."

A startling admission of the genuineness of the message, even to me, who had put full faith therein. Like all the best mediums for mental phenomena that it has been my pleasure to meet, when not supported by higher forces she sank down into the depths of materialism, and was unable to see any further than the grave. I did not dare to leave her, neither could I console her in the slightest degree, and my task proved to be anything but a bed of roses.

When we became better acquainted, I did attempt to hold out hope that the separation would not be for very long, when her eyes took on a new light, and I saw that she was being overshadowed. Soon she faced me, extended her hand, and in a masculine voice said :

"Good evening, Brother Peterson. We extend you a welcome to our home. We have been a very interested listener to the consolation you have been trying to impart to our dear one. But we must caution you to use care. She is much the best instrument for us the way she is, mentally."

That is a great truth of which I was well aware. It is the best proof we have that their own mentality does not enter into their work. I am at liberty to reveal these events now. She has rejoined her mate, on a plane of expression where it is safe to speak the truth, and where the untruthful cannot enter. I have received more than one message from both, in which he expresses his gratitude for the service I rendered, and she her surprise at how well I understood the nature of their work and its value to a misguided world.

After leaving their home we exchanged letters, and later on she wrote :

"I have been rather despondent of late, and must tell you that Carlisle came yesterday and said that there was a letter in the mail from you ; also describing its contents. Then said I to myself, 'Hallucination at work again !' But sure enough, the letter was there, and his statement proved true in every way."

And so, in a way, we are indeed "our brother's keeper." When humanity becomes humane, it will realize that the sweetest satisfaction can only be gained thru unselfish service.

In my dealings with sensitives, I never seek material advice. The pure in spirit, being liberated from and wafted out beyond the confines of crude matter, and having as many problems before them to solve as we, they have neither the time nor the ability to aid us in our individual material affairs. But they do have time, and it is a part of their duty, to strive to enlighten us spiritually, so that we may awaken to the wonderful possibilities of the powers of the soul. That was the object St. Paul had in mind when he wrote :

"There are divers gifts, but the same spirits" (soul powers), and "with regard to spiritual things, brethren, I would not have ye ignorant."

Indeed not. It is high time that humanity took up the study of self, for the physical frame is not us. Such knowledge would help to banish the monster, Superstition, and fit us to establish heavenly conditions on earth. But unless we are clairvoyant or clearaudient, or otherwise sensitive to their approach, those ethereal beings can only reach us by mental impressions, and the mind, well, we call it our mind, and let it go at that. If wc would pay careful heed to the voice within, soul promptings, it would become the guide of guides.

The mental phase, phenomena of mind, is treated of in the letters. And there is another phase called physical phenomena, also spoken of.

It is self-evident that the coarser substances in nature form the lower stratas ; a natural condition which follows along the line of attenuation in the evolutionary progress of matter, from which man is not exempt

We are admonished to "try the spirits, to see whether they be of good or evil intent," and we earnestly wish that the world understood the real import and depth of meaning in that admonition. We frequently hear people say : "I don't know why I did it !" A true knowledge of real life will reveal the seeming mystery.

We have to keep an army of guards with gun in pocket and club in hand to protect us from the crude and vicious yet visible to us. How much more the necessity, then, to be on our guard against the same dangerous class who can roam among us at will, unseen and even unsuspected by the large majority.

The gifted seer, Andrew Jackson Davis, calls them "the meddlesome Diaka." They being of the lower strata, and in close harmony with sordid humanity, find us all too easy of access. That is the class who delight to surround a sensitive (and there are hosts of human beings who now vibrate high enough to be subject to their vicious influence), lower her or him down to their own mental level, and give all sorts of material advice, which cannot possibly be otherwise than worthless.

Our experience is that it is dangerous business to open the psychic door and fraternize with such company. Were our medium to commercialize his sacred gifts, it would sink him down to the plane among that class, and he would be lost as an instrument of use for those on the refined plane of spirit, called heaven. Such is the caution our coworkers give to us.

It is not so much a question of spirit return, as it is so to live that, when we cast off the mortal covering, we may be sufficiently refined, both physically and mentally, as to be able and willing to leave the selfishness of the earth plane and go where harmony and peace reign. But before we can blend therewith we must have developed harmony — heaven within. And what then? The higher we reach in the scale of refinement, to that degree are we disconnected from the physical, which naturally increases the difficulty of reaching the loved ones on earth.

The dense ignorance with regard to real life, life of the spirit, finds its root largely in the crude ancient and selfish teaching that thru man-made formula and arrogated claims of the power of absolution the red-handed murderer can be absolved and permitted to drop from the scaffold of the lowest degradation into a heaven of harmony, love, and peace. This is a sadly misleading teaching. It is not what we believe, but what we do, from day to day that traces the indelible record on the pages of the book of life. The crude is not converted into the refined thru belief. "Whatsover ye sow, that shall ye also reap," is the inexorable law. The act of forgiving has no power to right any wrong. The indulgent parent may forgive the child a thousand times for tearing its clothes, but the tear still remains as evidence of the mischief done.

There is no short cut from the crude to the refined in nature's domain. Only by persistent effort and slow growth can we develop the better side in or out of the mortal form. But the inhuman system fostered among us chokes out the better tendencies, and develops only the sordid greed that makes us inhuman, and lowers us even below the level of the brutes in the forest. It is leading to its ruin, and forcing the terrible house-cleaning now going on. Will there be enough intelligence left of a sufficiently high order to establish a humane system on its ruins? That is the only hope of the race.

We are, as yet, struggling in the commercial age. The one to follow, should be the humanitarian age. The speed of its coming rests in the hands of man. The world is as good as we make it. It never can rise above that source.

A study of the social and the spiritual side of man go hand in hand, with the same aim in view — happiness — Heaven. Instead of being satisfied to await the enjoyment of a heavenly state until we have passed thru the gateway called death, we would set to work and develop humanity and intelligence enough to establish such conditions on the earth plane ; then would we also be ripe to harmonize with and help to maintain such conditions on higher planes of unfoldment.

After having passed thru the "second birth," we enter into a higher rate of vibration, so that, whatever our cravings may be, in the same ratio they become more firmly fixed. Therefore, all useless habits should be persistently outgrown on the earth plane. And we assure all who will heed this warning, that they will have eternal cause for thankfulness.