joy. This he readily imparts to others, often through his letters, but more especially through his voice and magnetic personal presence. Wherever he may be, or to whatever point his personal sphere radiates, his influence makes for gladness and peace. We have known, but one other physician in this country who sustained a similar relation to his patients, namely, Dr. James C. Jackson, of water-cure fame in western New York State. We are persuaded that Dr. Peebles's success as a physician is largely, if not chiefly, due to this personal quality of love and faith, that he communicates to his patients. "I was feeling so badly," writes one; "but when your letter came, the dark clouds sped away, and it seemed I immediately gained new strength and courage to continue the fight for health." And so the list might be indefinitely extended, of people who have written him their grateful acknowledgements.

"Companion of my school-boy years,
Partaker of my joys and tears,

A brother's LOVE in thee I found,

When those less faithful on me frowned,
Thine open hand and heart, to me
Were full of aid and sympathy,

And bore my sinking spirits up

While drinking from life's bitter cup,
Our very souls together blent,

And many happy hours we spent

In boyish pranks, and healthful jokes

Which sometimes shocked more sober folks!

"Our hearts were open to each other,
Like trusting child unto its mother,
We ate, and slept, and laughed together,
And prayed and sang of joy forever,
When universal love shall reign,
And severed links be joined again.
And now my faithful, dearest friend,
My hearty greetings I extend."

-From Spirit Life, J. H. Harter.

XLI

A BIRTHDAY GREETING

TO MY FRIEND PEEBLES

"Thy friends outnumber God's bright stars
Which circle o'er our continent,
And are as varied in intent:
From Venus sweet to flaming Mars
How many ways their spirits tend!
But thou art unto ALL a friend.

"Ah! Friendship was too opulent,

To braid such massive wreaths for you,
Bright vernals and celestial blue
And lily-snows and rose hues blent!
And yet ye won the treasure so

We would not pluck one bloom I know.

"Ye won it by no false pretense;

Ye did not daze by gems and gold,
Nor buy by flatteries sweetly told;

But by thy soul's magnificence

And kinship to thy God maintained.
Our spirits unto thine are chained.

"I will not pray, as others do,

That angel messengers attend
Thy every footstep, oh, my friend;
But rather, till life's play be through,
Thou may'st sustain thy lofty part

AND BE THE ANGEL THAT THOU ART!"
- Emma Tuttle.

It was at the spring equinox, the year of 1896. Our brother had come out of the fire at San Antonio, and planted himself

a home in San Diego, where his public and private ministrations for two years had won him a host of friends. Seventyfour years of his earth pilgrimage had gone to record. A birthday reception was planned by prominent Spiritualists and liberalists in San Diego, National City, and Chula Vista, and on the evening of the 23d of March, 1896, there was a brilliant gathering of the friends of Dr. Peebles, at his residence,― 3121 K Street, San Diego,— clergymen, judges, lawyers, prominent lecturers, poets,- over sixty in number,- in honor of the Doctor's seventy-fifth birthday. It should be remembered that the spring equinox in San Diego has no unpleasant climatic associations, no blustering winds with sleet and slush, but rejoices in the budding glories of a New England June.

The parlors, under the supervision of Mrs. Christensen, floral artist and musician, were magnificently decorated with roses, lilies, smilax, heliotropes, twining vines, and baskets of flowers. The Rev. Solon Lauer - Unitarian was selected as the presiding officer of the evening. Upon taking the chair he said in substance:

"I do not know exactly why I have been invited to act as chairman of this meeting, unless it is because I have become so near and dear to Dr. Peebles, in my short acquaintance with him; near, as I am his neighbor, and dear, as I have made him considerable extra expense in repainting and repapering his cottage which I have just rented. Another reason may be that, inasmuch as reading the Scriptures is a part of a clergyman's duties, it was deemed fitting that I should have the pleasant duty of reading aloud these tributes to Dr. Peebles, which are certainly inspired by the spirit of devoted friendship. We may well celebrate with these friendly tributes the long lifetime of public work, for which Dr. Peebles is distinguished and known around the world. To arrive at one's seventy-fifth milestone on the journey of life, with a frame erect and vigorous, a mind unclouded by disease or weakness, a soul still alive to every good cause, a heart still warmly pulsing for humanity, with hope large enough to include an eternity of good for man,- this, I say, is an event worthy the congratula

tions of the Doctor's many friends. Although I have but recently had the pleasure of a personal acquaintance with Dr. Peebles, I have heard his name since boyhood, and always in connection with some great reform work. Communion with divine principles keeps mind and body young; and it is not surprising that Dr. Peebles has renewed his youth like the eagles, when we remember that his mind is constantly occupied with the mighty problems that tend to the elevation of the human race. May he have many happy returns of this day, and grow old gracefully, until he shall have reached a hundred years, and more."

At the close of Rev. Mr. Lauer's address, he introduced Mr. Geo. E. Rogers, President of the First Spiritualist Society, who, in a neat little speech, presented the Doctor the congratulations of the society, together with a set of Encyclopedia Britannica, to repair in part the loss of his library in San Antonio, by fire.

After the presentation of the books, poems from James G. Clark, Emma Rood Tuttle, Rev. Wm. Brunton (Malden, Mass.), Mrs. C. K. Smith (in her seventy-ninth year), San Diego, and Mrs. S. M. James, San Diego, and nearly a dozen papers, were read by the Doctor's old-time friends; several short speeches were also made.

Here follow some of the poems and extracts from some of the letters and papers read:

ETERNAL YOUTH.

["To my friend, Dr. J. M. Peebles, on the seventy-fifth anniversary of his birthday, March 23, 1896.]

"On the camping ground of Life,

Kind Pilgrim, Sage, and Friend!

You stand with strong and youthful face
Where two worlds meet and blend,
Defying Time's rude hand to trace
On brow or cheek
a line

That angel hands may not efface,

Or touch with light divine.

"On the battlefield of Life,

Bold hero of the Right!

There are conflicts to be fought and won

Against the foes of Light:
Wherever work pleads to be done,

In every phase of Truth,

We see you face the rising sun
With all the zeal of youth.

From the signal heights of Life,

Brave Traveler, Friend, and Seer!

We hail you from a hundred lands

And nations far and near

From India's shrines, and Jordan's strands,
From Islands far away,

We lift our hearts, we lift our hands,

And greet our friend to-day.

"Always your friend,

"JAMES G. CLARK.

"Pasadena, Cal."

"Mrs. Harter-Reynolds, writer and artist, contributed a most interesting letter. Here is an extract:

"I remember well the first time that I ever saw you. It was more than fifty years ago, when you were laboring publicly in Genoa, about twelve miles south of Scipio, N. Y., my birthplace. You could not have been over twenty years of age, as I recollect your face and figure. You were tall, lean, lightcomplexioned, flaxen-haired, graceful, poetic, and flowery in your public deliverances. You exchanged with the Rev. Harvey Boughton. You lectured, too, in those times, young as you were, upon temperance, abolitionism, botanic roots and herbs, as preferable, in your estimation, to poisonous drugs. You gave everything the tinge of sunshine. Life seemed a gala-day, and your life journey a pathway paved with gold. You believed God too good to eternally torment anybody. You ever helped the wronged and the downtrodden. You advocated the immediate emancipation of the slave. You was by nature an enthusiast, energetic, impetuous, and intensely pushing in