The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1896-10-01
aAlL AAMlLToNs STRANGE VISION.
she Wrote just Before Her Death Telling
of tho Future Life.

Gail Hamilton left behind her the
story of her life-a story weird and
mysterious; a story that to believers in
the occult will carry conviction; story
that TO the superstltious- will prove
most mystifying. and a story that even
the cynical will be compelled to stop
and ponder over. 1t is a story that
goes beyond the pale of life aud passes
into the land of death. 1t is story
supernatural in all its essential feat
ures, and yet it is a story of her own
life, told by Gaii Hamilton before she
passed finally into the land of the great
unknown.
In "By-way of History" written by
Abigail Dodge and published by her in
1896 under the title of * Rays" she
took her readers not only into the Val
ley of the Shadow of Death. but be-
yond. Referring to herself, Miss
Dodge wrote:
I'm 1893 | was taken i'll. and no one
thought | could recover | turned my
head on one side of the bed. | saw a
man, n stranger, with heavenly face,
looking at me. l said What do you
wishT He answered, L have come to
take you to spirit life for treatment.
l said, How will you take meT Just
as you are on your bed l said was
willing to go. Instantly the cloth about
my bed was changed to most beautiful
textures. The material seemed to be
inlaid; it had all the brillancy of gems.
AS we swept through the space the
light which met my eyes warmed me.
l seemed to float in ii. | said to my
guide. Whence comes this lightT He
answered from the throne of God
said, Let me stay in it. 1t gives me
strength Many bands of spirits
passed by. l recognized one of their
number. His name was G.. T. | said
| wished to speak to that young man, to
tell him about his family. The man
who walked at rs side looked up at me
and shook his head in the negative
the man who was G's guide | have
never seen in earth life. When after
ward described him | was told 1t was
G.'s father.
Presently l noticed q house at my
left; there We're five steps leading
down from the door; below these steps
was short hill, which led down to
where | was resting. Looking at the
house, and wishing that some one
would come whom l knew, n young
girl came TO the door. closed it and de-
scended the steps. She was dressed
in white. with close-cut hair did not
know the girl. Was Informed by my
guide she was J. G.'s sister "a brother
in-law), who passed away when she
was sixteen years of age. / thought
she was coming to speak to me. but
she vanished. ! still gazed at the
door, longing to see some of my own
dear ones coming to greet me, and no
sooner had | thought than Aunt l..
came down the stairs. She saw me.
smiled, bowed her head. AS / looked
at her, Uncle B. came and stood by her
side. She pointed to me. he turned
his head, smiled and also bowed, then
clasped in each others hands they
vanished from sight.
Immediately in the distance l
heard a sweet voice singing a familiar
air. While trying to recall the voice,
a. r. "a dear friend stood before me.
She and her band seemed to fill all
space with a flood of angelic melody.
while from distance, softly harmon
izing with the voice of the singer was
heard the rich strain of an instru-
mental band, My delight was intense:
it was too much for my poor. weak
nature. l lost consciousness. When
again myself the band had gone"
Philosophizing. Miss Dodge said:
"The natural body gathered from
our planet and its atmosphere serves
the spirit for awhile, and when it is
eutworn returns again to become a
part Of the planet whence it was Or
ganized, and the spirit served alone by
its spiritual body can be seen no more
by planetary eyes. But we must re-
member that by them 1t never was
seen, not even his closest friend has a
man ever seen. Side by side through
childhood and manhood we live with
our dear ones. and know their voice.
laughter, footsteps afar off. Then
comes the dread day of silence. The
lips that spoke, the eyes that smiled.
the feet that were swift to do good all
remain. Everything that we saw is
still there. Only that is gone which is
always inyisible-the spirit which vivi-
fed and controlled, which made char
acter and constancy. which seques-
tered in sacredness the earthly body,
which gave TO us a mortal love and be-
queaths TO us immortal longing. That
dear spirit the Christian Imagination
follows and invests with a spiritual
body, which it declares, but does no.
define or attempt TO analyze. Paurs