A normal ten-year-old girl, never exhibiting a predilection for spiritual thought or actions, communicated with the dead, with the spirit world, in the last three days of her life. What her family heard and saw so amazed them, her mother wrote a book about the entire ordeal. What is all the more remarkable, is that her passing occurred in 1864, in San Jose, California, as the Civil War was coming to an end.

Daisy Dryden – A Memoir

The book, Daisy Dryden – A Memoir, published in 1909, written by her mother, Mrs. S. H. Dryden, was based upon notes she kept during Daisy’s illness. Mrs. S. H. Dryden also relied on recollections from other family and friends who were around her during the seventy-two hours of her daughter’s slow physical deterioration – all the while Daisy was mentally alert. The book was copied by Internet Archive and is posted here. It is also available to buy on Amazon.

Accounts of near death experiences, of people seeing, hearing, and feeling the presence of intelligent life in another dimension are as old as history. But the stories have, until the present internet age, always seemed isolated. As if a chance occurrence, like a tornado setting down, plowing up an abandoned field and subsequently disappearing. Now, more people are coming forward – with their own tales. People of all religions, cultures, and races … all discussing similar themes and knowledge from beyond.

In fact, so many reports from reputable sources which had hard to dispute recollections of scenes while the person was declared clinically dead, that researchers are now engaged in collecting evidence. Some studies have been published. With the conclusion that there is indeed an unexplainable phenomena occurring.

I read about Daisy’s last days and saw the enormous parallels with modern-day accounts – the discussions with deceased family members – life in the spirit realm; that I wanted to demonstrate the unbroken narrative from over 150 years ago to today. I wish to convey to all readers that the spirit world is and has always been with us and communicating to us. We are spirits and our bodies are but temporary. A vehicle for us to live a short time in order to learn the lessons assigned to us.

Daisy

Daisy Irene Dryden was born in Marysville, California, on September 9th, 1854. Her father was a Methodist Minister who brought his family west. They landed at San Francisco, just after a great fire and saw the city devoid of standing buildings, except for a few on the outer hills.

Daisy had brown eyes and long brunette curls. Her mother describes her thus:

“In most ways Daisy was very much like other children. It has been said, until it has almost become a proverb: that good children die young. But Daisy was not always good. There were times when she was self-willed even to stubbornness. Obedience was often a very bitter morsel. She had a quick temper. There would be a sudden flaming up of fire in those brown eyes, and angry words would follow. And then there would be just as sudden repentance. She tried hard, however, to subdue this fateful weakness in her nature. I remember once, on the afternoon of a day when she had told me she had not been angry for a week— and seemed so happy over it — that she came in from the yard where she had been playing with some other children, and ran upstairs to her room with a flushed face. I knew from her looks that something had gone wrong. Presently I heard her sobs. I went half way up the stairs, thinking to comfort her; but was at that point arrested by these words, ‘Oh, dear Lord, forgive me, and make me strong, so I won’t get cross when I can’t have my own way.’”[1]

When Daisy was eight-years-old the family moved to San Jose, California, known at that time as the “Garden City” of California. Then Daisy came down with a sickness; her mother tells us:

“In the summer of ‘sixty-four, Daisy was attacked with bilious fever, from which, however, she seemed to recover, so that we thought her almost well. But she continued to droop in the afternoons and complained of great weariness. We called in a physician, and he decided that she had typhoid fever; and it had such a hold on the system, owing to her reduced condition, made so by the bilious attack, that it was feared it would have to run its course, and that it only depended on her vital forces, whether or not she would get well.

For five weeks she lay under the blighting hand of the consuming fever. Then it left her, and a second time she seemed on the road to recovery, so that the doctor remarked one morning, ‘ Well, Daisy, I guess we are out of the woods.’ and taking a new silver half-dollar from his pocket, gave it to her, saying, ‘This is for, the little girl who takes her medicine so well.’ But when the doctor had gone, she said, ‘Mamma, don’t build up any hopes on what he says, for I don’t think I am ever going to get well.’ This same remark she had previously made during the early part of her illness. Some days after this I said, ‘Daisy, we are going to Nevada City to live, and I will get you a suit of flannel and you shall have a warm cloak; because you are so thin, and it is cold up there’ I thought she would be pleased, as she could remember having lived there before, but she replied, ‘Mamma, you will go to Nevada City, but I don’t think you will take me with you.'”[2]

Imagine the dread of any disease your child may have had in the days before antibiotics and other medicines. Only each individual’s constitution and will-power stood between life and death. Bacteria could lay fallow in one’s system for great lengths of time, only to flare up whenever the body was weakened.

The night after Daisy told her mother, she wouldn’t be traveling, she was struck with enteritis – an inflammation of the small intestine. Very curable in our present day, but often fatal in the 19th century.

For the first twenty-four hours, she was in great pain and was unable to keep any food or medicine in her system. After that first day of great discomfort, she felt little agony during the last three days of her life.

Daisy, like so many before her, from stories of people in their deathbed at home, to the accounts that any staff at intensive care units can tell you – many people have premonitions of their death and are ready for it.

Daisy was actively assisted in her last hours. She had the companionship of her brother, Allie, who had passed away six months earlier by scarlet fever. Mrs. Dryden found out about Allie when she asked if Daisy could come back and visit here after she went to heaven. Mrs. Dryden wrote:

“He seemed to be with her a great deal of the time during those last three days, because when we asked her questions which she could not answer, she would say, ‘Wait until Allie comes, and I will ask him.’ On this occasion she waited only a short time and then said, ‘Allie says I may go to you sometimes; he says it is possible, but you will not know when I am there; but I can speak to your thought.’”[3]

The spirit realm, brought a person close to her to help her through her ordeal of leaving her body. They knew how to mentally prepare her for separation from her loving mother and father. The love of the spirit realm for our plight on earth can’t be overestimated.

Death Bed Assistance

Daisy, a loving and innocent child was given the utmost care during her three days of impending departure. Adults are also frequently assisted – for those of us that have accumulated a bounty of love along the path of our life, the spirit world lends us and our family a hand in our final passage. In the book, Workers of the Life Eternal, dictated to Francisco (Chico) C. Xavier by the spirit Andre Luiz; Andre is a member of a team that assist people to leave their physical bodies to return to life in the spirit world. The discarnated father of the man dying with his family around him asks the other spirits to work with him to make his son’s, Fabio, last hours pleasant. He asks the team:

“I know that Fabio’s liberation will require a great deal of effort. However, I would like to help him with the last home worship in which he will physically participate at his family’s side. As a general rule, a dying person’s last words are more affectionately recorded in the memory of those who remain behind. For that reason, I would really like to help him say a few words of advice and encouragement to his wife.”[4]

The team of spirits applied length-wise passes over Fabio’s whole body, giving him the strength to participate at his last family gathering. Fabio tells his wife that he will always love her and that she should find comfort with another if that is her wish. He tells her that he will help her all he can while in the spirit realm.

Fabio’s father put his hand on Fabio’s forehead and inspires Fabio to say;

“I’m happy to have this opportunity to exchange ideas with you alone according to the faith we share. Significant is the absence of our old friends, who, for so many years, have accompanied us in our family prayers. There is a reason for that. We must talk about our needs, full of courage but never forgetting about the upcoming farewell. These words of the Apostle to the Gentiles are symbolic for our current situation. Just as there are mortal bodies, there are also spiritual bodies. And we can’t ignore the fact that my mortal body will soon be returned to the welcoming earth, the common mother of the perishable forms in which we move about on the face of the globe. Something deep down tells me that this will perhaps be the last night that I will meet with you in this material body … At times when sleep blesses me, I feel that I am on the verge of the great deliverance … I can see that enlightened friends have been preparing my soul, and I am sure I will leave at the first opportunity. I believe all the necessary measures have already been taken to ensure our tranquility during these moments before the separation. In fact, I’m not leaving you any money but I find comfort in knowing that we have built the spiritual home of our sublime union, and it will be an indelible source of reference for our everlasting happiness …”[5]

Fabio dies peacefully later that night, while his loving family is consoled and deeply touched by his last words. What better ending to a physical life than what Fabio and his spirit helpers were able to construct. He gave spiritual advice, joy, and hope in his final moments. There would be no need for second guessing from his family about the end. No regrets of not saying the final farewell.

For the last words are not about saying goodbye forever, but a message of see you soon. For at some point of time in the future, all shall be reunited in the real world, the domain of the spirits. The universe where we actually live the vast majority of the time, for as we gain purity, we reincarnate less and less. Until, we come to the junction where to reincarnate is a choice, a mission gladly undertaken to help others as others have supported us before.

Spiritism explains why we are here on this particular planet. The Doctrine of Spiritism reveals to us that we are immortal souls, who travel through a multitude of lives in a quest to become a pure spirit. That each time we incarnate on earth, we are assigned trials which pay for our past wrongs and provide us new knowledge. To learn more, read my overview of Spiritism, Spiritism 101 – The 3rd Revelation.

Daisy’s Last Days

As Fabio was surrounded by physical and spiritual family – so was Daisy. How many of us understood when Jesus said, “Let the dead bury their own dead”, in Matthew 8:22, what He really meant. Spiritism reveals his meaning – Spiritism pulls the covers off of many of His parables. Jesus knew the spirit realm and how it functioned. He fully realized the time and effort our spirit guides consumed in fashioning a blissful transition from our physical form to our true spirit bodies.

Daisy was well-appraised of what was awaiting her. Her mother recounts:

“Two days before she left us, the Sunday School superintendent came to see her. She talked very freely about going, and sent a message by him to the Sunday school. When he was about to leave, he said, ‘Well, Daisy, you will soon be over the ‘ dark river.’’ After he had gone, she asked her father what he meant by the ‘dark river.’ He tried to explain it, but she said, ‘It is all a mistake; there is no river; there is no curtain; there is not even a line that separates this life from the other life.’ And she stretched out her little hand from the bed, and with a gesture said, ‘It is here and it is there, I know it is so, for I can see you all, and I see them there at the same time.’”[6]

For a brief moment of time, Daisy served as a bridge between two worlds. Daisy gave comfort to a mother who had lost two children to illnesses:

“The same day her Sunday school teacher, Mrs. H., who also was with her a great deal, was sitting beside her, when Daisy said to her, ‘Your two children are here.’ Now, these children had gone to the other life several years before, and if they had lived in this world would have been nearly grown up. Daisy had never heard anyone speak of them, nor did the mother have any pictures of them, so she could not have known anything whatever about them before seeing them in the spiritual world. When asked to describe them, her description of them as full-grown did not agree with the mother’s ideas of them, so she said, ‘How can that be? They were children when they died.’ Daisy answered, ‘Allie says, ‘ Children do not stay children; they grow up as they do in this life.’ Mrs. H. then said, ‘But my little daughter Mary fell, and was so injured that she could not stand straight.’

To this Daisy replied, ‘She is all right now; she is straight and beautiful; and your son is looking so noble and happy.’”[7]

Allie is partially correct. Most children who pass away are raised and cared for in the spirit world, but high, more mature spirits, revert back to their true form and have no need to relive childhood years which allows for their character to be molded for the better.

What Happens When a Child Dies?

Some religions which profess the existence of reincarnation believe that when a child dies, the spirit returns to an adult form, so they may start over. In a few of the books by the spirit Andre Luiz, there are mentions of places where spirits care for children. One would think this would be a rare occurrence; after all newly formed spirits are first reincarnated upon primitive worlds, then live many successive lives.

There is an explanation to this mystery in the book Between Heaven and Earth, by Francisco C. Xavier, inspired by the spirit Andre Luiz. Andre Luiz is talking to his companions when they are visiting a center for spirit children and as usual Andre is curious about such centers, he records the following conversation;

“According to the old, classical theology, newborns remained in limbo after death, without the glory of heaven or the torment of hell, whereas of late, with the new concepts of spiritualism, such discarnates have been thought to immediately resume their adult personage.”

‘A lot of times that is what actually happens.’ explains Blandina. ‘When the spirit has reached an elevated evolutionary level and has assumed mental command of itself, it acquires the ability to easily disengage itself from the imposition of the physical form, overcoming the difficulties of pre-adult discarnation. We know of great souls who were reborn for a very short time, simply with the objective of awakening beloved hearts to the acquisition of moral values. Then, right afterwards, they recover their former appearance. However, the same does not apply for most children that discarnate. Souls that are still prisoners of unconscious automatism are relatively a long way from self-governance. They rest and are led by nature, like babies in their mothers’ laps. They are unable to undo the ties that bind them to the rigid principles that guide the world of forms: thus, they need time in order to be renewed. That is why we cannot do without the recovery time needed for someone who has left the physical vehicle in infancy, because after the biological struggle of reincarnation or discarnation for those who are in the early stages of acquiring mental power, time has to function as an indispensable element for restoration. The length of that time depends on how the learner applies him or herself to acquire inner light through his or her own moral growth.’”[8]

Hence, once again, our ability to free ourselves from the materialistic world and concentrate on loving and helping others does make a difference in subsequent lives. With a superior pool of knowledge we are able to recover our spiritual form, while those who have been reincarnated to begin another trial without first attaining a taste of the wonderfulness of spiritual life are at a disadvantage. We truly are creatures of our own mind. We should invest as much energy in the development of our inner bodies as we do in our outward appearance.

If you would like to learn more about reincarnation and how we are part of the planning for our next life, read my book The Case for Reincarnation – Your Path to Perfection.

Daisy’s Description of the Other World

Daisy didn’t only tell her family about the spirits around her, but of the spirit realm too. Her mother heard her tell her sister, Lulu:

“Daisy exclaimed, ‘Oh! Lulu, is it not strange? We always thought the angels had wings! But it is a mistake; they don’t have any.’ Lulu replied, ‘But they must have wings, else how do they fly down from heaven?’

‘Oh, but they don’t fly,’ she answered, ‘they just come. When I think of Allie, he is here.’”[9]

Daisy thought, in her ten-year-old mind, that merely thinking of a person caused them to come. Her understanding is correct, except the process is not only in her mind. Her thought reached her brother, Allie, then he came to her.

Spirits are able to move by thought. Spiritism calls it volitation, movement by thinking of your destination and then one travels there, it is as fast as the speed of the idea will take you.

She described the juxtaposition of two dimensions in the same location. Her mother inquired:

“Once I enquired, ‘How do you see the angels?” She replied, ‘I do not see them all the time; but when I do, the walls seem to go away, and I can see ever so far, and you could not begin to count the people; some are near, and I know them; others I have never seen before.’

She mentioned the name of Mary CT the sister of Mrs. S., who was a neighbor of ours in Nevada City, and said, ‘You know she had such a bad cough,’ but she is well now, and so beautiful, and she is smiling to me.’

I was then sitting by her bedside, her hand clasped in mine.”[10]

Our earth, what we see, what we feel, what we hear is but a fraction of what is actually all around us; there is so much more. There are beings, sights and sounds that are invisible to all but a tiny minority of us. Where we see an opaque wall, Daisy sees beyond it and beholds an expanse, a landscape, with people, trees, and animals … a whole world.

Daisy, lying in bed on the surface of the earth, could only see the “Lower Zone” – that area where souls who have not yet found their way into one of the heavenly spheres must reside until they learn to follow the path of the light. While spirits from higher levels are free to roam at any level below theirs, spirits in the Lower Zone are not able to ascend.

When Daisy leaves behind her frail body and climbs the steps to heaven, she will witness a whole new range of colors, sounds, and light. She will feel that overwhelming sense of love that others spirit journeyers have documented.

Daisy’s Death

Daisy’s mother wrote about her last hours:

“The morning of the day she died she asked me to let her have a small mirror. I hesitated, thinking the sight of her emaciated face would be a shock to her. But her father, sitting by her, remarked, ‘Let her look at her poor little face if she wants to.’ So I gave it to her. Taking the glass in her two hands, she looked at her image for a time, calmly and sadly.

At length she said, ‘This body of mine is about worn out. It is like that old dress of mamma’s hanging there in the closet. She doesn’t wear it any more, and I won’t wear my body any more, because I have a new spiritual body which will take its place. Indeed, I have it now, for it is with my spiritual senses I see the heavenly world while my body is still here. You will lay my body in the grave because I will not need it again. It was made for my life here, and now my life here is at an end, and this poor body will be laid away, and I shall, have a beautiful body like Allie’s. Do not cry, mamma, it is much better for me to go now. I might have grown up to be a wicked woman, like so many do. God knew what was best for me. Papa, you love the children; so do I; and you will try to do them good and teach them. Then she said to me, ‘Mamma, open the shutters and let me look out at the world for the last time. Before another morning I shall be gone/’. As I obeyed her loving request, she said to her father, ‘Raise me up, papa.’

Then, supported by her father, she looked through the window whose shutters I had opened, and called out, ‘Good-bye, sky. Good-bye, trees. Good-bye, flowers. Good-bye, white rose. Good-bye, red rose. Good-bye, beautiful world,’’ and added, ‘How I love it, but I do not wish to stay.’

That evening, when it was half-past eight, she herself observed the time, and remarked, ‘It is half-past eight now; when it is half-past eleven, Allie will come for me.’ She was then, for the time being, reclining on her father’s breast, with her head upon his shoulder. This was a favorite position, as it rested her.

She said, ‘Papa, I want to die here. When the time comes, I will tell you.’

Lulu had been singing for her and as half-past eight was Lulu’s bedtime, she arose to go. Bending over Daisy, as she always did, she kissed her, and said, ‘Good-night.’

Daisy put up her hand and, stroking tenderly her sister’s face, said her ‘Good-night’ When Lulu was half-way up the stairs, Daisy again called out after her, in a clear, sweet, earnest tone, ‘Good-night and good-bye, my sweet, darling Lulu.’

At about a quarter past eleven she said, ‘Now, papa, take me up; Allie has come for me.’ After her father had taken her, she asked us to sing. Presently someone said, ‘Call Lulu,’ but Daisy answered promptly, ‘Don’t disturb her, she is asleep,’ and then, just as the hands of the clock pointed to the half-hour past eleven, the time she had predicted that Allie was to come to take her with him, she lifted up both arms and said, ‘Come, Allie,’ and breathed no more. Then tenderly laying her loved but lifeless form upon the pillow, her father said, ‘The dear child has gone’ and added, ‘she will suffer no more.’”[11]

The death of a child is always a tragedy to the parents, their joint creation; the object of their undying love who leaves them before the natural separation which occurs as a child moves to young-adulthood.

Daisy’s narrative, her description of what she saw, what she heard, allowed her family to realize she was merely passing from one loving family to another – that nothing would harm her in her new home. On the contrary, life couldn’t be more perfect, more loving, more healthy.

Daisy sojourn on earth was for a purpose. She experienced one small step in her learning process to rid herself of any blemishes, any imperfections which would impede her upward quest to become a better spirit.

Daisy’s death would serve as inspiration to her parents and to all who came into contact with her during her last hours. A glimpse was given to that tight community of what existed on the other side. That we don’t just deteriorate and our essence lost forever – we transform into a lighter being, a spirit – retaining our personality, knowledge, and characteristics. Death is not the end, it is the reintroduction – back into the world from whence you came. Hopefully, a superior person.

If you wish to fully comprehend what is the spirit realm and how does it differ from our physical plane, read my book, Explore Your Destiny – Since Your Life’s Path is (mostly) Predetermined. You will discover what life is like in your true home – the spirit realm.

Author:

Brian Foster has a BSCS degree and a MBA. He has worked in R&D for medical device corporations and in IT for large financial institutions. Brian Foster has a blog at www.nwspiritism.com.

Works Cited

Dryden, S. H. (1909). Daisy Dryden – A Memoir. Boston: Colonial Press.

Xavier, F. C. (2011). Between Heaven and Earth. Brasilia (DF), Brazil: International Spiritist Council.

Xavier, F. C. (2013). Sex and Destiny. Miami, FL: EDICEI of America.

[1] Dryden, S. H., Daisy Dryden – A Memoir, Colonial Press, Boston, pp. 20-21

[2] Dryden, S. H., Daisy Dryden – A Memoir, Colonial Press, Boston, pp. 31-33

[3] Dryden, S. H., Daisy Dryden – A Memoir, Colonial Press, Boston, p. 35

[4] Xavier, F.C. Sex and Destiny, EDICEI, p. 315

[5] Xavier, F.C. Sex and Destiny, EDICEI, pp. 318-319

[6] Dryden, S. H., Daisy Dryden – A Memoir, Colonial Press, Boston, pp. 37-38

[7] Dryden, S. H., Daisy Dryden – A Memoir, Colonial Press, Boston, pp. 41-42

[8] XAVIER, Francisco C. Between Heaven and Earth, EDICEI, p. 68

[9] Dryden, S. H., Daisy Dryden – A Memoir, Colonial Press, Boston, p. 45

[10] Dryden, S. H., Daisy Dryden – A Memoir, Colonial Press, Boston, pp. 46-47

[11] Dryden, S. H., Daisy Dryden – A Memoir, Colonial Press, Boston, pp. 50-53