“Dear Florence,” wrote Dawn, some months after they had been away, “I have seen gay, smiling France, and beautiful Italy with its wealth of sunlight, and its treasures of art.  I have seen classic Greece,—­of which we have talked so many hours,—­and its fairy islands nestling in the blue Archipelago,—­isles where Sappho sang.  I have been among the Alps, and have seen the sunset touch with its last gleam, the eternal waste of snow; but more than all, I love dear Germany, the land of music and flowers, scholarship and mystic legends.

“Now, my good friend and teacher, how shall I describe to you my state amid all this new life?  At first I felt as though my former existence had been one long sleep, or as I suppose the mineral kingdom might feel in passing to the vegetable order, as some one has expressed it.

“It was an awakening that thrilled my being with intensest delight; a fullness which left nothing to hope for.  A new revelation of life has arisen within me, as sudden and grand as the appearing of those mysterious isles which are upheaved in a single night from the depths of the ocean.

“A deeper pulsation than I have ever known, now stirs my blood.  I feel the claims of humanity calling me to labor.  My purpose is strong; I shall return with this thrill in my heart, and become one of God’s willing instruments.  That He will own me, I feel in every heart-beat.  My mission is to erring women, and you, my friend, will smile, I know, on my purpose.

“The other night I dreamed that a beautiful being stood by my side, while a light, such as I have never seen on earth, shone about her.

“‘Tell me,’ I said, ’why this heavenly halo is around you? and if I, too, may become like you?’

“‘Listen.’  She answered.  ’Years ago, I lived on earth and passed through much suffering.  I seemed to be placed in a close, high building, into which all the light that could enter came from above.  I could only look up, with no power to turn to the right or left.  After being years in this state, the rays coming thus directly from above, cleansed my soul, whitened my garment, and made it spotless.  This light became a part of myself; it followed me to the other world, and now, when I approach earth, it enables me to see all the errors and virtues of humanity.  Wouldst thou be willing to become a light by which pilgrims can see the way to Heaven?’

“‘I would.  My only desire is to do good,’ I replied.

“‘It is easy to desire this,’ she remarked, sadly.

“’But wouldst thou be willing to be almost annihilated, were it by that only you might become a lamp to the pilgrim’s feet?’

“I looked into my heart, and think I spoke truthfully, when I answered that I would.

“‘Then thou art accepted,’ the angel said.  ’It shall not be literal annihilation, although akin to it, for all your earthly desires must be swept away; all ambition, fame, learning, friends, must be sacrificed upon this altar.  The light you will bear is fed alone from heavenly sources.  Think again, child, if all these things can be as naught.’