March 7th, 1916
Received by:James Padgett
Washington D.C.
I am here, Louis I. O'Neil:
Yes, it is he who was called Judge. I merely want to say a word as I have not had the opportunity to write you for a long time.
I am now in a better condition than I was and am in more light and have less suffering thanks to the beautiful spirits with whom you brought me in contact. I find that as I get rid of some of my old beliefs the better I am and the more progress I make and the less darkness surrounds me.
Your wife has helped me a great deal and she is a wonderfully beautiful spirit and filled with love and kindness.
I see a number of my old friends, but I am sorry to say that a great many of them are in darkness and suffering. Lyscomb is in a very bad condition and has not progressed any, thus far, though I have tried to help him some, but as you know he had a dogmatic and all-knowing temperament on earth, so he has the same qualities here, and it is hard to make him see things differently from what he thinks they are or should be.
You may know that he frequently visits his old haunts in the neighborhood where he spent so many hours in drink and he is still drinking as he thinks and seems to get a kind of satisfaction out of the deceit and he does not seem to be inclined to turn his thoughts to anything of a higher nature.
I tell you that the appetites of earth are strong with the spirits who come to this world with them unsatisfied or not gotten rid of and it is so sad that he has them to the extent that he has when he passed over. But sometime I hope that he will have an awakening to the true condition of his existence and to the necessity of his having his thoughts away from these things and seeking those things which will enable him to get out of his awful darkness.
Now you must not think from this that I am a very highly developed spirit for I am not, but just as the higher spirits have a work to do, so have I and my work, of course, can be only with those who are in a worse condition than I am and strange as it may seem to you every time I help one of these lower spirits I realize that I help myself. What a wonderful provision of God this is, and if men Mould only realize this, they would live more in accordance with the Golden Rule.
Yes, I have seen Maurice Smith and John Clark and many others that we both know, and also Perry. He is in a bad condition, too and does not seem to be much inclined to listen to the advice of some spirits who come to him. Your grandmother seems to be trying hard to help him and he seems to have more confidence in her than in any other spirit and at times it looks as if she is helping him and I have no doubt that she is, but then he will relapse back into his old condition and bewail the awful deed that he committed. As you know he was a man of deep conviction and he seems now to have some conviction which holds him to his conditions of suffering and darkness.
Well, if we only knew while on earth what the truths of this spirit world are.
You certainly are wonderfully proud to have revealed to you all these things and I am told that the spirits from the Celestial Spheres come to you and give you their messages of truth. I will confirm this is unaccountable and you must wonder too, for when I was on earth I did not know that you had any conception of the things that come to you now. I know that I did not, and that my beliefs were only those which were to rely upon what the Bible taught as I thought, and there was no reality to me in these teachings and the only effect was to create in me beliefs which I now see in many particulars were all wrong. At least they have now been realized and I am told that they will not be and yet they cling to me in a way that holds me to my present condition. I wish when on earth I had known what you now know, for if I had I would, I am certain, be in a better condition of light and happiness.
Well I have written a long time and I feel better for having done so and I thank you for the opportunity. So with my kind regards and in hope that I may come to you at sometime and write again.
Your friend and well wisher,
Louis I. O'Neil