To those who toil still in the mists and darkness of uncertainty which veil the future oftheir earthly lives, I dedicate this record of the Wanderings of one who has passed fromearth life into the hidden mysteries of the Life Beyond, in the hope that through myexperiences now given to the world, some may be induced to pause in their downwardcareer and think ere they pass from the mortal life, as I did, with all their unrepented sinsthick upon them.It is to those of my brethren who are treading fast upon the downward path, that I wouldfain hope to speak, with the power which Truth ever has over those who do not blindlyseek to shut it out; for if the after consequences of a life spent in dissipation andselfishness are often terrible even during the earth-life, they are doubly so in the SpiritWorld, where all disguise is stripped from the soul, and it stands forth in all the nakedhideousness of its sins, with the scars of the spiritual disease contracted in its earthly lifestamped upon its spirit form--never to be effaced but by the healing powers of sincererepentance and the cleansing waters of its own sorrowful tears.I now ask these dwellers upon earth to believe that if these weary travelers of the otherlife can return to warn their brothers yet on earth, they are eager to do so. I would havethem to understand that spirits who materialize have a higher mission to perform thaneven the solacing of those who mourn in deep affliction for the beloved they have lost. Iwould have them to look and see that now even at the eleventh hour of man's pride andsin, these spirit wanderers are permitted by the Great Supreme to go back and tell themthe fate of all who outrage the laws of God and man. I would have even the idle andfrivolous to pause and think whether Spiritualism be not something higher, holier, nobler,than the passing of an idle hour in speculations as to whether there are occult forceswhich can move a table or rap out the Alphabet, and whether it is not possible that thesefeeble raps and apparently unmeaning tips and tilts of a table are but the opening doorsthrough which a flood of light is being let in upon the dark places of earth and of theNether World--faint signs that those who have gone before do now return to earth to warntheir brethren.As a warrior who has fought and conquered I look back upon the scenes of those battlesand the toils through which I have passed, and I feel that all has been cheaply won--allhas been gained for which I hoped and strove, and I seek now but to point out the BetterWay to others who are yet in the storm and stress of battle, that they may use theinvaluable time given to them upon earth to enter upon and follow with unfaltering stepthe Shining Path which shall lead them home to Rest and Peace at last.FRANCHEZZO.

2020-12-27