New-York tribune., 1869-05-28
NEW PUBLICATIONS
rr1r ADvENTTREs OF TWO GHOSTS.


The title of Future Life; or, Scenes IN Another
World but the publishers failed after its ap-
pearapce and MI Wood reaped from it neither the
fame nor the profit to which he probably deems him.
self fairly entitled. The success of Miss Phelpss
"The Gates Aar to have suggested the reissue
of this unfortunate little essay with new title.
The name is not ill-chOsen. If Miss Phelps peeped
through the portals of the next world Mr.. Wood
may be said to have boldly pushed his way inside;
and the record of what he when he got there is
certainly amazing enough, whatever we may think
of its probability. The central figures of the
Rnegorv are Peter Schlemihl and Mrs. Anna
Jay. Happening to die almost simultane-
Duslv, they are both conducted together to the
regions of the blest. These are not what we gener
ally understand by heaven. but rather series OF
delightful worlds, through which the souls OF the
redeemed are conducted in progression mastering
the secrets of before they pass ON TO the hoAV
The world into which Mrs Jag and Peter are ln''o
dueed is Zone of the centers Of the Fine Arts Wneio
the blessed ghosts are instructed IN music anu ~
arts of design. The newly arrived srIl'S SUI
two Of their old friends, deacon ana MIS- GOIsa'e,
and proceed with them upon rouhI oi eApioi
We are sorry that the Deacon was Coig"to. DeV"uS
that name however poetical II may De III IseiI'
ino,itol,Iv suggests to New-Yorkers bar OF brown
.oo,, ftLo Deacon vas an accomplished guide, how
ov,cr and led the strangers through variety OF
beantifnl scenes, until evening came on, ana they
- m ~ supper (Mr. Wood explains that
sprits are not obliged to eats they only
do it for fun The next morning inc
Deacon unfolds to his friends some OF
the wonders Of their new life. The world upon which
they find themselves is Of fftytwo planets whose
history goes back many millions of years, and every
noe an ago of progress. Their authors works are
written in language forever changing, making the
literature of one cycle unintelgble to those of the
next and all these changes to be studied and at
tanned before the books piled up in public libraries
can be .readp Thus it will be seen that there Is
preatdeal of work to be done in heaven and progress
through the successive spheres is no joke. Comnu-
nicaton is maintained between these various woIlds
by telegraph the Deacon remarking that although
the spirits did Mt think much Of steam ana printing
Professor Morses discovery fairly knocked them ana
they never had been able TO improve upon It, Steam
purposes has been superseded IN the
future world by the discovery Of "a very
simple and safe process of lberating the in
conceivable power Of electricity latent III water'
Itlsn easy to understand however, the necessity
for ships since the denizens of this happy country
are able to transport themselves at will through the
air The population is not more than fifty or seventy
6ve thousand scattered through numerous cities,
towns villages, and hamets The higher classes
Asually sneak English with great purity. This
are natives of Great Britain and North America"
There are common people also, and the arisocracy
seem TO be blessed with the boon of excellent
servants After some hours spent in sightseeing
Mrs. Jay and Peter went to hear new oratorO, the
composition of Handel Haydn, Beethoven, and
Mozart combined, all four Of these great mu-
scians conducting the performance simultane-
ously The concert took place in grand
Metropolitan Temple erected by Michael Angelo,
-, he 1ayt e. fhp
same noble art to which they devoted themselves in
this. 1t is reassuring however to learn that no
American architect has yet obtained job. The or
atorO Of course very fine, and after il was over
Dur travellers roamed about in company with another
American ghost, tho gifted Mr.. LauTens' of whom
they asked a number Of questions by the by
said Peter, "haye you met Adam and Eve, and
where arc they to be seen !" Mr. Laurens strange
10 saw had not been able to get upon the track of
his first parents. to learn anything about them. 1t
afterward appeared that they were on another
planet studying languages. In the course OF their
ramblings Mrs Jay and Peter were introduced to a
splendid woman whom their guide called " st. Per
petua" and who began a conversation by straight
way asking Mrs. Jay if she was "a ROmanist.' As
snred by that lady that she was most
Protestant. and member Of the Anglo
Eaxon-American-Protesta Episcopal Church, and
commitment Of Trinity" the saint proceeded
TO inveigh against the corTuptOns Of Rome, and the
cruetes of the papacy, in a style which would do
credit to the American and Foreign Christian Union.
Many other splendid women did Mrs. Jay meet,
some them honored with the title Of saint, others
plain American DANES and one Lady Alice De We're
from the West End Of London. There were tea par
ties and charming talks about the fashions among
these ladies' and the woman question came in for
considerable discussion. We regret to say that ST.
Perpetua and Mrs. Jay had little spat but IT was
soon over. One day our wanderers took fly to the
Palace Gardens, where dances were going On. in
the midst of the festivities mature maiden arrived
from NcWburypOrt, Massachusetts,, and was dread
fully shocked, or. as she herself terscly ex
pressed it, taken all aback" Miss
MehitaJle however got to like dancing after awhile
q change Of mind 10 doubt hastened by severe
snubbing administered to her by Mrs. Jay. ST.
John Chrysostom happened to be passing through
town and was prevailed upon TO lecture in the Acad-
envy of Dlusic but Mrs Jay was not fortunate
enough to hear him, being engaged with party OF
friends Of her own sex in gossip and other feminine
amusements The next morning she got up early
and walked on the piazza. "bssfully exercising her
soul with the recollection Of 4 blind kitten and
shina doll without any nose. which used TO belong
TO her when she was q little Pirl. Morning calls
more gossip about dress. and a visit to Con
necticut family who had a fine country seat
q little way out of town, filled up the rest
Of that day: and on the next our friends went to
hear a new Orat0ro by Mozart. Among the
audience they saw "a lady and gentleman" who
burned out to be Beatrice and Dante. We are our
selves ratlyT taken aback 10 find Dante expressing
preference for the Psalms and HYMNS Of Doctor
Watts over all the epcs tho world has ever seen.