Publisher's Synopsis
For by death is wrought greater change than hath been shown. Whereas in general thespirit that removed cometh back upon occasion, and is sometimes seen of those in flesh(appearing in the form of the body it bore) yet it hath happened that the veritable bodywithout the spirit hath walked. And it is attested of those encountering who have lived tospeak thereon that a lich so raised up hath no natural affection, nor remembrance thereof, but only hate. Also, it is known that some spirits which in life were benign become bydeath evil altogether.-Hali.ONE dark night in midsummer a man waking from a dreamless sleep in a forest lifted hishead from the earth, and staring a few moments into the blackness, said: "CatherineLarue." He said nothing more; no reason was known to him why he should have said somuch.The man was Halpin Frayser. He lived in St. Helena, but where he lives now is uncertain, for he is dead. One who practices sleeping in the woods with nothing under him but thedry leaves and the damp earth, and nothing over him but the branches from which theleaves have fallen and the sky from which the earth has fallen, cannot hope for greatlongevity, and Frayser had already attained the age of thirty-two. There are persons in thisworld, millions of persons, and far and away the best persons, who regard that as a veryadvanced age. They are the children. To those who view the voyage of life from the port ofdeparture the bark that has accomplished any considerable distance appears already inclose approach to the farther shore. However, it is not certain that Halpin Frayser came tohis death by exposure.
