" THE STORY OF MY HEART" 285 



there was no bridgeless chasm, no unfathom- 

 able gulf of separation ; the spirit did not im- 

 mediately become inaccessible, leaping at a 

 bound to an immeasurable distance. Look at 

 another person while living ; the soul is not 

 visible, only the body which it animates. 

 Therefore, merely because after death the soul 

 is not visible is no demonstration that it does 

 not still live. The condition of being unseen 

 is the same condition which occurs while the 

 body is living, so that intrinsically there is 

 nothing exceptional, or supernatural, in the 

 life of the soul after death. Eesting by the 

 tumulus, the spirit of the man who had been 

 interred there was to me really alive, and very 

 close. This was quite natural, as natural and 

 simple as the grass waving in the wind, the 

 bees humming, and the larks* songs. Only 

 by the strongest effort of the mind could I 

 understand the idea of extinction; that was 

 supernatural, requiring a miracle; the im- 

 mortality of the soul natural, like earth. 

 Listening to the sighing of the grass I felt 

 immortality as I felt the beauty of the summer 

 morning." 



