66 The occasion is a particularly happy one, not only on account of the social features, but it affords us an opportunity to say things about the Doctor, that on ordinary occasions we would not have the assurance to indulge in, so at the outset, we beg to warn him that no possible protest from him will be tolerated. The duty of the hour with him is silence. "In our attempt to give some faint expression of the high esteem in which this grand man is held, we realize the poverty of words at our command to do full justice to his life and work. "We, in this presence here to-night, are to speak not only from the fullness of our own heart, but for the multiplied thousands of spirits, both in the body and out of the body, who have been inspired and lifted up to nobler deeds by the soulful, magnetic words and writings of this broad-minded and truly just man; and who would, if present, gladly join us in praise of his manly character and helpful life." In Dr. Peebles's feeling and sympathetic response, he took occasion to remark: "Listening to the speeches, poems, and papers read, I think you are doing me altogether too much honor. I am but an unassuming, humble worker, author, and physician among a band of noble, self-sacrificing co-workers and toilers in the ripening fields of progress." After thanking the ladies for so profusely decorating the parlors, dining-room, and with trailing vines, roses, lilies, heliotropes, and baskets of flowers, Mrs. Christensen, a neighbor, providing the most of them; thanking Mrs. Bushyhead and Mrs. Custer for their good graces in the absence of Mrs. Peebles; thanking Mrs. Murphy for flowers sent from Los Angeles; thanking the First Spiritual Society for their gift of a set of Britannica Encyclopedia; thanking the office young men, for their presents of an elegant dictionary stand with adjustments, an enameled inkstand adapted to different colored inks, and a fine gold pen and other fine presents, not forgetting a magnificently embroidered pillow slip of remnants of silk and satin, artistically adjusted and woven into completeness by Mrs. S. J. Panoyer, of Bay City, Mich., the Doctor continued, referring feelingly to the letters and poems read, and the extempore addresses, not reported: "The letters read from friends of forty and fifty years ago revive thousands of pleasant memories. Friendship, unselfish friendships, never die. Love is immortal. Memory's loom pauses not in its weaving, nor are any of its golden threads broken. Many of the acts and minor events of our lives have partially died out, or cease to echo in the memory chambers of the soul, yet their results live in our characters. Nothing is lost. It is not wise to brood in sadness, or in rejoicings, over the past. The present is; and a golden future lies invitingly before us all. This whole mortal life is but a minute segment but as the tick of a clock compared to eternity. No matter about the soiled rounds behind us. Pictures must have a background. The summit of the temple is to be reached. Angels' hands are beckoning us all upward to the higher altitudes of heavenly truth and wisdom. Believing in God, the Absolute Good, and appreciating the moral grandeur of a broad religious optimism, I can scarcely refrain from repeating a part of one of Alice Carey's soul songs, this much:"I said, if I might go back again. "I would not make the path I have trod More pleasant, or ev'n more straight or wide; Nor change my course the breadth of a hair This way or that to either side. "My past is mine, and I take it all,— Its weakness, its folly if you please; Nay, even my sins if you come to that, May have been my helps,- not hindrances. "So let my past stand just as it stands, And let me now, as I may, grow old; I am what I am, and my life for me Is the best or, it had not been, I hold.' "Old age is a misleading phrase. The inmost spirit is always young. Existing in the center of eternity, it summers in eternal youth. Never did I feel younger, never, if I am judge, was I doing so much work; for, besides my literary pursuits, writing for the press, writing books, writing pamphlets, and writing (in connection with another pioneer) a three-volumed 'History of Spiritualism in All Lands,' I am attending to and treating over three hundred patients,- and yet I count upon another round quarter of a century's work before me and another voyage around the world. The world is my parish, and truth my authority. "Deeply do I regret, this evening, as do you, the absence of Mrs. Peebles. I expected from her a letter of congratulation. This may have been in the mail car that, with all the other cars of the train, were burned recently in the railroad wreck between here and Los Angeles. A letter just received from her informs me that she is visiting in Boston and Brookline, in the midst of a New England blizzard. God be praised for the frostless lands of the orange and the lemon, the palm and the pineapple. . . . Old age! The old age of the body is what people make it. Eternal youth comes from obedience to eternal law. There should be no death of the body,- there is no death of the spirit, because the spirit is a potentialized portion of God,- God incarnate in man." Ample refreshments were served the guests, and about eleven P. M., after a most enjoyable evening, the select assemblage broke up and repaired to their homes. During the following season the Doctor gave a number of receptions to gentlemen prominent in the cause of Spiritualism and reform work: one to Mr. Newman, of the Philosophical Journal; one to the poet singer, James G. Clark; and lastly, a reception to W. J. Colville, on his arrival in San Diego. XLII THIRD VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD "And thou shalt write! Behold we bring a pen Dipped in the burning flame of East and West! Early in 1896 Dr. Peebles began to feel an interior impulsion toward another Oriental journey; a journey long contemplated, which should constitute the crowning labor of his life. He had already instituted three distinct explorations in the far East, and twice completed the circuit of the globe. The first voyage only extended to Western Asia and Egypt. The second voyage first around the world was undertaken September, 1872, under an Australian engagement, not alone to see, but to teach as he traveled. Five years later he again girdled the globe, via Australia, India, Madagascar, Natal, South Africa, teaching and lecturing as he went on the great moral reform subjects of the age. But now he felt that his mission in the Orient was not yet completed. The field was not exhausted. He desired to again press his feet on the soil where the old ancestral peoples once lived and wrought; where the arts and poetry and philosophy arose in their splendor, making light for the races of the succeeding ages. Our brother was now advanced in years, when most men retire from the field of active conflict and content themselves with such laurels as they may have already won. His friends vehemently protested against his taking so hazardous a journey at his time in life—and especially not to undertake it alone. But the ardors of youth still survived in his veins. He would listen to no objections. His heart and purpose were set on this journey, and so he answered his friends with: "I know nothing of age. I am rollicking, glorying in the georgeous morning of abiding youth. Onward, then, O my soul, like the sandal-footed Solon of Grecian memory! Why not travel? Why not lift old manuscripts from their moldy recesses?" Moved by the missionary spirit, Dr. Peebles sailed from San Francisco December 5, 1896, for Melbourne, Australia. He went forth with a lofty purpose and feeling of kinship with the tribes, nations and races past and present — with whom he wished to enter into a more intimate communion. To him it would be like a revival and celebration of old family ties and friendships. He was not seeking alone to make a cold record of facts, but he was going to clasp hands with the populations of the Eastern Hemisphere, to greet them as brothers and to interrogate them on their interpretations of the past, and their hopes regarding that future toward which we are all drifting. It is not our purpose here to write in detail regarding this third tour around the world, but chiefly to speak of a portion of the Doctor's labors in Ceylon, where his work for the most part was pivoted. It is sufficient to state here, that this journey, now completed, has both an exoteric and esoteric use and significance. The exoteric part- what he saw and heard and felt is fitly recorded in this recent volume of travels. But the esoteric, and most important feature of this journey, will not be published now. Among the secondary objects connected with this tour, may be mentioned: (1) To prosecute his archæological explorations in the Far East; (2) to study more closely the psychic and spiritual phenomena in Oriental countries; (3) to advance the objects of the Medical Red Cross Commission a movement in which Clara Barton is identified; (4) to solicit memberships for the International Congress of Physicians and Surgeons, which will be convened at Paris in 1900. Arriving in Melbourne about the middle of January, our traveler was met at the steamer by a number of his old-time |