What Bung People See

It is somewhat singular that the natural longing to penétrate the great secret of mortality Bhould not have suggested to some of the inquirers into socalled "spiritual" manifestations that before attempting to obtaüi conununication with tho dead, through such poor methods as raps and alphabets, they m;ghtmore properly, and with better hope of gaining a glimpse through the ' gatea ajar," watch closely the dying, and study the psychologioal phenomená which accompaiiy the aet of dissolution. Thus, it might bo possible to ascertain, by comparison of numerous instaaces' whether among those phenomená aró nMufeíS1 _seem_ to indícate that the son is ïiot undergoiug a procesa of' extinetion, but exhibiting such tokens as might be anticipatod were it entering upon a new phase of existence, and coming into possession of fresh faeulties. It is at least conceivable that some such indications might be observed, were we to look for them with care and caution, under the rare conditions wherein they could at any time be afforded ; and, if this shonld prove to be the fact, it is needless to dilate on the intense interest of even such semblance of confirmation of ourhopes. Tu a majority of deaths the accompanying physical conditions hide from the "spectators, whatever psychological phfuomena moy be taking place. The btüi of our poor human life mostly sets behind an impenetrable cloud. Of all forms of death, the commonest seems to be the awful "agony" with its unconscious groans and stertorous breath. The dying person seems to sink lower and lower, as if beneath the waters of an unfathomable sea ; a word, a motion, a glance, rising up at longer and longer intervals, till the last slow and distant sighs terminnte the woful strife, and the victory of Death is complete. Whea this is the mode of dissolution, it is of course hopeless to look for any indication of the fate ef the soul at its exodus ; and the same holds good as regards death in extreme oíd age, or after exhausting disease, when the sufferer very literally "falls asleep." Again, there are deaths whieh aro accompanied by great pain or delirium, or which are oaused by sudden accidents, altogether liiding from our olservation the mental condition of the patieut. ünly in a smull residue of cases the bodily conditions are such as to cause neither interference with, nor yet concealment of, the procesa of calm and peaceful dissolution, in tho full light of mental sanity, and it is to these only we can look with any hope of fruitful observation. We ask whether, in sueh cases, instanees have ever been known of occurronces having any significance, taken in connection with tho solemn event whcrewith they are associated ? Does our forerunner on the hilltop show by his looks and actions - since he is too far off to spcak to us - that ho beholds, from his " Peak in Daricn," an ocean yet hidden from our view ? I should hesitate altogether to affirm positively that such is the case ; bul, after many inquiries on tho subject, I am still more disinclined to issert the contrary. The truth seems to be that, in almost every familyor circle, questions will elici't recollecttons of deathbed sceues, wherein, with singular reourrence, appears one very significant incident, namely, that the dying person, precisely at the moment of death, and when t!ie power of speech was lost, or uearly lost, seemed to see something- or rather, to speak more exactly, to become conscious of somethiDg present (for actual sight is out of the question) of a very striking kind, which remained invisible to and unperceived by the assistimts. Again and again this incident is repeated. It is described almost in the same words by persons who have never heard of similar oceurrences, and who suppose their own experiences to be uniqne, and have raised no theory upon it, but merely considered it to be ' ' strauge, " " curioiis, " " añ'ecting, ' ' and nothing more. It is invariably explained that the dying person is lying quietly, when suddenly, in the very act oi expiring, he looks up - sometimos starts up in bed- and gazes on (what appears to be) vacancy, with an expression of astonishment, sometimes developing instantly into joy, and sometimes cut short in the first emotion of solemn wonder and awe. If the dying man were to soe some utterly unexpeoted but instantly-recognized visión, causing him a great surprise, or rapturous joy, his face could not better reveal the fact. The very instant this phenomenon ocoms death is actually taking place, and the eyes glaze even whila they gaze a the unknown sight. If a breath or tw Btill keave the chest, it is obvious tha the soul has already depart-ed. A few narrations of such observatious ohosea from a great number which hav been communicated to the writer, wil serve to show more exactly the poin which it is desired should be establishec by a larger ooncurrence of testimony The following are given in the words o: a friend on whose accuracy evei-y reliance niay be placed : "Ihavc heard numberless instances of dying persons showing unmistakably by their gestures, and sometimes by their words, that they saw in the moment o] dissolution what could not be seen by those around them. On three occasions facts of this nature came distinctly within my own knowledge, and I will, thereforo, limit myself to a detail of that .vhich I can give on rny own authority, althougk the circumstancïes were not so striking as raany others known to me, whioh I believe to be equnllv wue. X was watching one night beside a poor nian dying of consumption; liis case was hopeless, but tliere was no appearanco of tho end being very near; he was in full possession of his scnses, able to talk with a sfcrong voice, and not in the least drowsy. Ho had slept through the any, and was as wukefnl that had I been eonversing withhina on ordinarysubjects to while away tho long hours. Suddenly, while we wero thus talking quietly tojether, he became silent, and fixed his ïyes on one particular spot in the room wmch was entixely vacant, eveu of furniturc. At the same time a look of the greateat delight changed the whole expression of his face, and, aftera moment of what secmed to be intense scrutiny,lie said to me in a joyous tone, ' There is Jim. ' Jim was a little son whom he hac lost the year before, and whom I hac known well; but the dying man liad a Bon still living, named John, for whom he had sent, and I concluded it was oí John he was speaking, and that he thought lic heard him arriyiug, so I anawereii: " 'No. John has not been able to come.' 'Í-X ' ' The man turned to me impatiently and said, ' I do not mean John. I know he is not here, it is Jim, my little lame Jim; surely you remember him ?' "'Yes,' I said, 'I remember dear lítete .Jim.who died last year, quite well.' " ' Don't you see him then ? Therehe is, ' said the man, pointing to the vacant place on which his eyes were fixed, and, when I did not answer, he repeated almost fretfully. ' Don't you see him standing there?' "I answered that I could not see him, though I felt perfectly conyinced that somethiug was visible to the sick man whioh I could not perceive. When I gave him this answer he seemed quite amazed, and turned round to look at me "with a glance of indignation. As his eyes met mine, I saw that a film seemed to pass over them, the light of mtelligence died away, he gave a gentle sigh and expired. Se did not live five ot approaciimg deatü previous to tiiac moment. "Tlie second oase was that of a boy iibout 14 years of age, dying also of decline. He was a retined, highly-educated child, who througliout his long illness had lookeci forward with mttch hope and longing to the unknown life to which he believed he was hastening. On a bright Slimmer morning it beeame evident that he had reached his last hour. He lost üie power of speech, chieily from weakness, btit he was perfectly sensible, and made his wishes known to us by his intelligent looks. He was sitting propped up in bed, and had been looking rather sadly at the bright sunshine playing on the trees outsido his open window for somo time. He had turned away from this scène, however, and was facing the end of the room, where üiere was nothing whatever but a closed door, when all in a moment the whole expression of his face elianged to one of the most wondering rapture, which made his half-closed eyes open to their utmost extent, while hislips parted with a smile of ecstasy; it it was impossible to doiibt that some glorious sight was visible to him, and ironi the movement of his eyes it was plain that it was not one, but many jects on -whieh he gazed, for his look passed from end to end of what seemed to be the vacant wall before him, going backwnrd and forward with ever-increasing deliglit inanifcsted in his whole aspect. Hia mother then asked him if what he saw wan some wonderful sight beyond the confines of the world, to give lier a tokeu that it was so by pressing her hand. He at once took her hand and pressed it meanmgly, giving thereby an intelligent affirmative to lier question, though uuable to speak. As he did so a change passed over his face, his eyes closed, and in a few minutes he was gone. " The third case, which was thatof my own brother, was very similar to this last. He was an elderly man, dying of a painful disease, but ono which never for a moment obscured his faculties. Although it was known to be incurable, he had been told that he might live some months, when somcwhat suddenly the summons came on a dark January morning. It had been seen in the course of the night that he was sinking, but for some time hc had been perfectly silent and motionless, apparently in a state of stupor); his eyes closed, and his breathing scarcely perceptible. As the tardy dawn of the winter morning revended the rigid features of the countenanco from which life and intelligence seemed to have quite departed, those who watched him feit uncertain whether he still lived; but suddenly, while they bent over him to ascertain the truth, he opened bis eyes wide, and gazed eagerly upwaid with such an unmistakable expression of wonder and joy that a thrill of awe passed through all who witnessed it. His whoie face grow bright with a strange gladness, while the eloquent eyes seemed literally to shine as if reflecting some light on which they gazed ; he remained in this attitude ot' delighted surprise for some minutes, then in a moment the eyelids feil, the head dropped forward, and with one long breath the spirit departed." A different kind of case to those above narrated by my friend was that of a young girl known to me, who had passed through the miserable experiences of a sinful life at Aldershot, and then had tried to drown herself in the river Avon, near Clifton. She was in some way su, ved from suicide, and placed for a time in a penitentiair, but her health was found to be hopelessly ruined, and she was sent to die in the quaint old workhouse of St. Peter's at Bristol. For many months she lay in the inflrmary literally perishing piecemeal of disease, but exhibiting patience and sweetness of disposition quite wonderful to witness. She was only lSyears, poor young creature ! whon all her little round of error and pain had been run ; and her innocent, protty face might have been that of o child. She never used any sort of caut (no coniinon among woraen who have beeu inrefuges), but had apparently somehow got hold of a very living and real religión, which gave her comfort and courage and inspired her with the beautiful spirit with whieh she bore her frightful sufferings. On the wall opposite her bed there lmng by manee si print of the lost sheep, and Mary S , looking atitoneday, said to me, "Thntis just what I was, and what happened to me; but I am being brought safe home now." Por a long time before her death her weakness was suoh that she was quite incapable of lifting hprself np in bed, or of supporting herself when lifted, and she, of course, continued to lie vith her hcad on the pillow whilc life gradually and painfully ebbed away, and she seemingly became nearly unconcious. In this state she liad been lef t one Saturday night by the nurse in atendance. Early at dawn next morning - an Easter momkig, as it chanced - the joor old women who oocupied theother )eds in the ward were startled from theii' leep by seeing Mary 8 suddenly pringup to a sitting posture in her jed, with her arms and her ace raised, as if in a perfect rapturc of oy and welcome. ïhe next instant the )ody of the poor girl feJl back a corpse. 'er death had taken place in that moment of mysterions ecstasy. A totally different case again wás that oí a man of high intellectual distinction, well known in the world of letters. When dying peacefiüly, as beeame the close of a piofoundly religious life, and having already lost the power of speech, he was observed suddenly to look np as I if at some spectaole invisible to those around with an expression of solemn surprise and awe, very charaeteristie, it is said, of his habitual frame of mind At that instant, and before the look had time to íalter or chanco., iho. nhaclnxir nf death paascd over his face, and the ene liad come. In yet another case I ani told that al the last moment sobright a light seemeci suddenly to shme from the face of a dying man that the clergyman and anothei friend who were attending him actually turncd sinrultaneously to the window to seek for the cause. Another incident of a very striking character occurred in a well-known family, one of whose members narrated it to me. A dying lady, exhibiting the aspect of joyfnl surprise to which we have bo often referred, spoke of seeing, one after another, three of lier brothers who aad long been dead, and then apparently recognized, last of all, a fourth brother, who was believed by the bystanders to 3e still living in India. The coupling of his name with that of his dead brothers excited such awe and horror in the mind jf the person present that she rushed ïalf senseless from the room. In due course of time letters were received auïonncing the death of the brother in ndia, which had occurred some time bc'ore his dying sister seemed to recognize "Agam, m anoiiii-i uub; gLucunu who had lost his only son some years previously, and who had never recovered from the afflicting event, exclaimed suddenly when dying, with the air of u man niaking a most rapturous discovery, ' ' I see him ! I see him 1" Not to multiply such anecdotes too f ar, anecdotes whioh certainly possess a uniformity pointing to similar cause, whetlier that cause be physiological or psychical, I will now conclude with one authenticated by a near relative of the persons concerned. A late well-known Bishop was commonly called by his sisters " Charlie," and his eldest sister bore the pet name of " Liz." They had both been dead some years whon their younger sister, Mrs. W , also died, but before her death appeared to behold them both. While lying still and apparently unconscious, she suddenly opened her eyes and looked earncstly across the room, as if she saw some one entering. Presently, asif overjoyed, she exclaimed, "O Oharlie !" and then, after a moment's pause, with a new start of delight, as if he had been joined by some one else, she went on, "And Liz!" and then added, " Howbeautiful you are !" Atter seeming to gaze at the two beloved forma for a few minutes, slie f ell back on her pillow and died. Instances like tliese niight, I believe, be almost indeñnitely multiplied were attention directed to them, and the experiehoe of survivors more generally communieated and recordcd. Bevicwing them, the qnestion seems to press upon us, why should we not thus catch a glimpse of the spiritual world through tiie half-open portáis wherein our dying brother is passing ? If the soul of man exista at all alter the extinction of the lifc of the boJy, what is more probable than tliat it should begin at the very Listant when the veil of the flesh is dropping off to exercise those spiritual powers of perceptionwhich we must suppose it to possess '(else wcre its whele after-life a blank), and to bceome conscious of other things than those of which our dim senses can take cognizancc ? If it bc not destined to an eternity of solitude (an absurd hypothesis), its future oompanions nwy well be recognized at once, even as it goes fortli to meet them. It seems, indeed, almost a thing to be expected, tliat some of them should be ready waiting to welcome it on the threshold. Is there not, then, a little margin for hope - il' not for any conftlent belief- that our antieipations will be verified ; nay, that the actual oxperience of not a few bas verified them 2 May it not be that when that hour comes for ?ach of us tliat we have been wont to dread as ono of parting and soitow - The last long farewell on the shoro Of this wido world, ere we "put offintothc miknown dark," we may flnd that wc only leave, for a little time, the frieuds of earth to go straight to the embrace of those who have long been wniting for us to make perfect lor them the noble life beyond the grave ? May it not be tliat our very flrst dawning sense of that eiifranehised existence will be the rapture of reunión with the beioved ones whorn we have inourned as lost, but.who have been standing near, waiting longingly for our recognition, as a mother may w.'itrih beside the bed of a fevcr-strioken child till reason reilluminc its eycs, and with outstretehed arms it cries " Mother?" There are some, alas ! to whomitmust be very dreadful to think of thus meeting, on the threshold of oternity, the wronged, the deceived, the forsaken. But for most of lis, God be thanked, 110 dream of celestial glory has half tlie ecstasy of the thought that in dying we may meet - and meet at once, befare we have had a moment to feel the awftn lonelinoss of death - the parent, wife, husband, ehild, friond of our life, soul of our soul, whoni we consigned long ago with breaking hearts to the grave. Tlieir " beautiful" forma (as tlutt dying i lady fcoheld her broUier and sister) entering our chamber, standing besido our 1 bed of deatli, and come to rejoin us forever - what words can teil the happiness of such a visión 't It niay be awaiting us all. Thero is even, per'haps, a certain ijrobability that it is actnally the destiny of the human soiil, and that the afl'ections, whioh alone of carthly things emi snrvivo dissolution, -wil], like magnots, draw the boloved and loving spirits of the dead around the dyin. I see no reason why we ehonld not indulge so inefFubly blessed a hope. But, even if it be a dream, the l'aith remains, built on no snch evanescent and shadowy fountiation, that there ie one friend - and Ho the best - in whose arms we shall stu-ely fall asleep, and to whose love we may trust for the reunión, soonnr or later, of the severod links ot' sacred human affeotion.- Frnce Power Cobbc, in C'ontemporary licvicw.