al party of friends at a favorite seaside
resort. One day while bathing, one lady of the party swam too far out,
was taken with a cramp and shrieked for help. My mother, who was
nearest, being an excellent swimmer, courageously went to her
assistance. Unfortunately, the tide was running full and strong and was
against my mother in her heroic struggle to save her friend. Alas!
before aid could reach them both sank beneath the waves and were lost.
My noble mother had generously sacrificed her earthly existence in her
brave effort to save the life of another! This was my first experience
of the grief and desolation that follows the reaping of the Death Angel.
In my youth, my half-dazed condition, I could neither realize nor
understand what later became so plain to me; that to die is to live
again. That death, so-called, is but the change from one form of life to
another, which is still higher in the scale of progress. Nor could I
then realize, that for the purpose of bringing to me a consciousness of
the possibilities of my spiritual being; under the ministrations of the
angel of compensation, out of the very depths of the gulf of bereavement
and sadness through which I was passing, there was coming to me the
precious gift of a priceless mediumship, the marvelous key! the
all-potent 'open sesame' with which to unlock the gates between the two
worlds and reunite the separated loved ones on either side.

"At that time Mrs. Bainbridge, then but recently widowed, was in charge
of the old home here. She was an excellent medium who had often proved
herself worthy of my mother's entire confidence. Acting under the
guidance of my arisen mother, she at once, without hesitation, took
charge of all business arrangements, especially those of preparing for
the cremation of my mother's body, in accordance with her often
expressed wish. She telegraphed the sad news to my father in Alaska,
asking for instructions. He replied at once that the body must be
cremated, as my mother had directed in her will. He would return as soon
as possible, but at the best he could not hope to arrive in less than
two months. In the meantime, Mrs. Bainbridge was authorized to take
entire charge of 'Fern,' and of his business affairs that needed
attention, until he came.

"I came home from college, sorely grieved and shocked at the awful
suddenness of my mother's transition, but through the mediumship of Mrs.
Bainbridge, my mother, having her in a deep tranc