Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1894-03-29
THE TWENTY.THlRD SEANCE.
by Frank Gelett Burgess.

BY Frank Gelett Burgess.
H cannot describe how l loved him and
how absolute was our friendship
We seldom spoke of it to each other
for we each knew it as the very first
principle of our lives. If he had
told me with his own lips that all
was over, and we could never be what we
had been to each other; if he had repeat.
ed it 20 times seven, l would never have
believed it while l lived, for our alliance
was literally the most important thing
for US in this world, and without it !
would not have lived.
Walter was second self. | knew
him, / believe, as well as he knew him
self, and, of course, the reverse was also
true. Such friendship is given to few
it is of the soul and eternal. | can
not believe it had its beginning in this
life merely, nor do l think such union
is fully translatable through the mind,
for it was spiritual connection deeper
than we could comprehend, and we felt
that not only when we thought ourselves
into each others presence were we to-
gether, but that we might commune on
higher attitudes than conceived of by
our senses.
had many friends and warm ones,
but to Walter only could | ever bear to
gasp out confessions of those. trivial
shames and weaknesses which ones own
mind itself breads to can too closely. |
think it is by these gifts of confidence in
matters which are of slight Importance,
but agony to betray, that true love is
tried. ''Those secret experiences which
the soul never tells, but which it never
atcs' oil CHI v,,it No
For years before my departure from
R we had known that we must part
when / had completed nay college course
AS the time drew near every hour that
could possibly be stolen was spent to-
gether, trying to prepare ourselves in
the fittest way for our inevitable separa-
ton, so that we might work together to
make the best use of what opportunities
might present themselves. Our friend
ship was so actually part of our lives
that we were sure of ultimate reunion /;
and secure in the knowledge that we
were truly united in spirit, we never
feared dissolution of our intimacy,
though our minds chilled at the prospect
of the years that might drag past while
we were absent from each other.
Eight months had passed since I babe
Walter goodby and gripped his hand in
the town to which he had accompanied
me on my journey. Every Tuesday
night at an appointed time we had
agreed to devote an hour to each other
and remain alone, seeking to continue
together in spirit though still thousands
of miles apart. Some of our seances, as
we called them, were more effective thar
others, but it was these evenings that re-
vived my tagging ambition and inspired
me anew with the resolve to exert all my
powers that the result for which we wei {
both working might be attained at last
Not that we had ever succeeded in estab.
fishing direct communication, but / felt
as if he were near me, as l thought OF
me indescribable good, for | was lonely
and homesick in a strange city.
X
Twas tired out that day with many
hours of riding by rail, and | had beer
seated in the coach for long while
modify watching the scurrying land
scape as it revolved around the centerE
Of the slowly drifting hills in the distance
when l suddenly remembered that it was
Tuesday, the appointed timeifOr our Sc
ance. Il seemed strange that l should
have so nearly forgotten it when | wa!
so weary and lonesome; and, stranger
still, when, upon looking at my watch,
found it was the exact hour when W.
were to be together in thought.
l closed my eyes and gave myself uE
to reverie, recalling to my mental vision
the face Of my friend and surrounding |,
with recollections of our happiest hours
together. For while idly shifted the
scenes of memory about the figure Of
Walter, upon whom l still kept the un.
dercurrent of my thoughts. and then
gradually, the rhythmical motion of the
cars and the pickering light died away
and fell asleep.
say asleep, although it was not like
that; yet it was like swoon, too, for
did not remember doing at all, but sud
denly felt my senses slowly returning
to me with the feeling that something
strange had hsppened-that l had beer
unconscious. AT first l feared that
had oversight myself, but began to fee
thing appeared as usual. The clank o.
the vince S SCI med the same sound al
that which was the last impression 1 re
membered as fell asleep, yet when
glanced out of the window my eyes wer,
met by an unexpected scene. / coult
not believe what saw was true, for a
we slowed up, instead of the long desert
ed train house, with its ferry landing an,
staircases, saw the flashing lights an,
the glare of great city, and we rolle'
into huge brick station and stoppe,
amid the resonant pantinfs of loct,mC