legraph Hill late in the afternoon, rose gradually upon the view. It
was in nowise changed; the inscriptions on the sides were the same, and
the identical figure stood with folded arms and uplifted brow upon the
top. I now heard a rushing sound, such as stuns the ear at Niagara, or
greets it during a hurricane at sea, when the shrouds of the ship are
whistling to the blast, and the flashing billows are dashing against her
sides.

Suddenly the pyramid commenced changing its form, and before many
moments elapsed it had assumed the rotundity of a globe, and I beheld it
covered with seas, and hills, and lakes, and mountains, and plains, and
fertile fields. But the human figure still stood upon its crest. Then
came forth the single blast of a bugle, such as the soldier hears on the
morn of a world-changing battle. Caesar heard it at Pharsalia, Titus at
Jerusalem, Washington at Yorktown, and Wellington at Waterloo.

No lightning flash ever rended forest king from crest to root quicker
than the transformation which now overspread the earth. In a second of
time it became as transparent as crystal, and as brilliant as the sun.
But in every other respect it preserved its identity. On casting my eyes
toward the human being, I perceived that he still preserved his
position, but his feet did not seem to touch the earth. He appeared to
be floating upon its arch, as the halcyon floats in the atmosphere. His
features were lit up with a heavenly radiance, and assumed an expression
of superhuman beauty.

The thought crossed my mind, Can this be a spirit? As sudden as the
question came forth the response, "I am." But, inquired my mind, for my
lips did not move, you have never passed the portals of the grave? Again
I read in his features the answer, "For ages this earth existed as a
natural body, and all its inhabitants partook of its characteristics;
gradually it approached the spiritual state, and by a law like that
which transforms the egg into the songster, or the worm into the
butterfly, it has just accomplished one of its mighty cycles, and now
gleams forth with the refulgence of the stars. I did not die, but passed
as naturally into the spiritual world as the huge earth itself. Prophets
and apostles predicted this change many hundred years ago; but the blind
infatuation of our race did not permit them to realize its truth. Your
own mind, in common with the sages of all time, long brooded over the
idea, and oftentimes have you excl