ur chosen life
work. They are very proud of you, their beloved son and only child. They
bid me give you a message of love with the assurance that they will
speak to you through this trumpet very soon."

"Mr. Fenwick," said Fillmore Flagg, "I thank you for the encouragement
of your kindly greeting and for the many pleasant things you have said
of me and my work. In the future I shall strive conscientiously to merit
your praise, and hope to earn your lasting friendship. As to the glad
tidings from my parents in spirit life, I am rejoiced. In my heart the
torch of hope is lighted; its pure flame is fast burning away the
barriers of the belief I have so long entertained, that 'Death ends
all,' also of the equally depressing creed of my Presbyterian people,
who have so long taught and thought that 'The dead know not anything;'
that my parents, with that vast army of souls, having passed the portals
of the tomb, are now lost in the oblivion of that long unconscious,
dreamless slumber, which stretches from the new made grave to The Day of
Judgment. Hence, the message of love from my parents, with the assurance
that they will speak to me so soon, has made me very happy. I am content
to wait patiently for such further messages as opportunity may bring to
me. I am ready and eager, Mr. Fenwick, to hear your plans. Please
proceed."

"Very well," said Fennimore Fenwick. "Fern, my daughter, you are to
remain at your desk with pencil and note book, prepared to take down
what I have to say."

CHAPTER XIV.

THE ETHICS OF PLANETARY EVOLUTION.

"In order to plan this work wisely, and to discuss it understandingly,
it will be necessary at the beginning to go back to first principles, to
try to discover the real object and purpose of human life on this
planet. In searching along the pathway of countless ages in our planet's
history, we discover a continuous upward movement in the progression of
the manifestations of life; from the mineral to the vegetable; from the
vegetable to the animal; from the animal to man. Man representing the
apex of progress in the constantly ascending spiral of the evolution of
life from the birth of the planet to the present time. Therefore, both
spirit and mortal, we are all children of the planet, chained to its
destiny, all alike working factors in the achievement of its purpose so
mighty. Through the planet, its solar system, and the system of systems
in a long line of an infinite series, far be