The following account of the last days of Daisy Irene Dryden (recorded originally by her mother) was published in the Journal of the American S.P.R., edited by Dr. James H. Hyslop (Volume XII, Number 6). A considerably abridged report was compiled by Miss H.A. Dallas. The summary given below is edited from the book Death-Bed Visions, by Sir William Barrett, published in 1986, by The Aquarian Press of England.
Please note: Daisy and her family were NOT member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However, this account ties in precisely to many LDS doctrines as shown in the footnotes.
Daisy Irene Dryden was born in Marysvill,California, onSeptember 9th, 1854. She died at the age of ten inSan Jose,California, onOctober 8th, 1864. In the summer of 1864 Daisy was attacked by bilious fever. After five weeks of illness the fever left her, and for two weeks she seemed to gain strength. She smiled and sang and seemed like herself again, until one night when she was taken with enteritis. She suffered much for the first twenty-four hours but from that time on she had very little pain until she died four days later. Her poor little body had become so weakened that there was little left for the disease to work upon. But her mind was very active and remarkably clear. Her faculties appeared sharpened.
She loved to have us read the scriptures to her. I read in John 16: “It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart I will send Him unto you.” At this she looked up to me. “Mamma, when I go away, the Comforter will come to you, and maybe He will let me come too sometimes. I’ll ask Allie about it.” She often said this when she felt uncertain about anything. Allie was her brother who had passed away at the age of six, seven months before. 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 till 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.1 He says it is possible, but you will not know when I am there. But I may speak to your thoughts.” 2
Daisy lingered on the borderland for three days. Her physical frame had become so emaciated that there was only enough to hold the spirit in its feeble embrace. During this time she dwelt in both worlds, as she expressed it. 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 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.”3
And she stretched out her little hands 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.” We asked her to tell us something of that other world and how it looked to her but she said, “I cannot describe it. It is so different, I could not make you understand.” 4
Mrs. Brown, a neighbor, did not believe in a future state. She was in deep distress, having recently lost her husband and a twelve-year-old son, named Bateman. She came with Mrs. Wilcox one evening, and sitting beside the bed, began asking questions. Daisy said to her, “Bateman is here, and says he is alive and well, and is in such a good place that he would not come home for anything. He says he is learning how to be good. 5 He says to you, ‘Mother, don’t fret about me. It is better I did not grow up.’ ”
The following morning, when alone with Daisy, Mrs. Wilcox asked Daisy how she could think Mrs. Brown’s son was happy. “For,” she said, “when he was here, he was such a bad boy. Don’t you remember how he used to swear, and steal your playthings, and break them up? We did not allow him to play with you nor with my children because he was so bad.” Daisy replied, “Oh, Auntie. Don’t you know he never went to Sunday school, and was always hearing so much swearing? God knows he did not have half a chance.” 6
The same day her Sunday school teacher, Mrs. Howell, was sitting beside her, when Daisy said to her, “Your two children are here.” Now, these children had died several years before Daisy would have known them. Daisy had never heard anyone speak of them, nor did the mother have any pictures of them so she could not have known anything 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 idea of them so she said, “How can that be? They were children when they died.” Daisy answered, “Allie says that children do not stay children. They grow up as they do in this life.” 7 Mrs. Howell 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.” 8
Mrs. Wilcox, who had lost her father a short time previous, wanted to know if Daisy had seen him, and brought his picture to let her see if she could recognize him. But in the evening, when she came again, Daisy told her she had not seen him and that Allie had not seen him either, but that Allie had said he would ask someone who could tell him about him. In a moment Daisy said, “Allie is here and says, to tell Auntie that her father wants her to meet him in heaven, for he is there.” Mrs. Wilcox then said, “Daisy, why did not Allie know at once about my father?” She replied, “Because those who die go into different states or places and do not see each other at all times, but all the good are in the state of the blessed.” 9
Once she said, “Oh, Papa. Do you hear that? It is the singing of the angels. You ought to hear it, for the room is full of it and I can see them. There are so many. I can see them miles and miles away.” During those last days of illness Daisy loved to listen to her sister Louise sing for her. Louise sang one song, the chorus of which was:
“Oh! Come angel band, Come and around me stand,
“Oh! Bear me away on your snowy wings, To my immortal home.”
When she had finished, Daisy said, “Oh isn’t it strange? We always thought the angels had wings. But it is a mistake. They don’t have any.” 10 Louise asked, “But then how do they fly down from heaven?” Daisy replied, “Oh, but they don’t fly. They just come. When I think of Allie, he is here.” Once I inquired, “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 couldn’t begin to count the people. Some are near, and I know them. Others I have never seen before.” 11
I was then sitting beside her bed, her hand clasped in mine. Looking up so wistfully to me, she said, “Dear Mamma, I do wish you could see Allie. He is standing beside you.” Involuntarily I looked round, but Daisy continued, “He says you cannot see him because your spirit eyes are closed,12 but that I can, because my body only holds my spirit, as it were, by a thread of life.” I then inquired, “Does he say that now?” She answered, “Yes, right now.” Then wondering how she could be conversing with her brother when I saw not the least sign of conversation, I asked, “Daisy, how do you speak to Allie? I do not hear you or see your lips move.” She smilingly replied, “We just talk with our thoughts.” I then asked her further, “Daisy, how does Allie appear to you? What is he wearing?” She answered, “There seems to be about him a white, beautiful something, so fine and thin and glistening, and oh, so white,13 and yet there is not a fold, or a sign of thread in it. But it makes him look so lovely.” Her father then quoted from the Psalmist, “He is clothed with light as a garment.” She replied, “Oh, yes. That’s it.”
She often spoke of dying and seemed to have such a vivid sense of her future life and happiness that the dread of death was all dispelled. The mystery of the soul’s departure was to her no more a mystery. It was only a continuation of life,14 a growing up from the conditions of earth-life into the air and sunshine of heaven. 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 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 mirror 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. 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,15 for it is with my spiritual eyes I see the heavenly world while my body is still here. I shall have a beautiful spiritual body like Allie’s.” Then she said to me, “Mamma, open the shutters and let me look out at the world. Before another morning I shall be gone.” As I obeyed her request, she said to her father, “Raise me up, Papa.” Then, supported by her father, she looked through the window and called out, “Goodbye, sky. Goodbye, trees. Goodbye, flowers. Goodbye, white rose. Goodbye, red rose. Goodbye, beautiful world. Oh, 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 sitting on her father’s lap with her head upon his shoulder. She said, “Papa, I want to die here. When the time comes, I will tell you.”
Louise had been singing to her, and as half-past eight was Louise’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 tenderly stroking her sister’s face, said goodnight to her. When Louise was half-way up the stairs, Daisy called out after her, in a clear, earnest tone, “Goodnight and goodbye my sweet sister.”
At about quarter past eleven she said, “Now, Papa, take me up. Allie has come for me. After her father had taken her up, she asked us to sing. Someone said, “Call Louise.” But Daisy promptly answered, “Don’t disturb her. She is asleep.” And then just as the hands of the clock pointed to half-past the hour, the time she had predicted that Allie was to come to take her with him, she lifted up both arms and said, “Come to me, Allie.” Her arms dropped and she breathed no more.
Footnotes:
Note the similarities to gospel doctrine revealed in modern times.
1 Joseph F. Smith said: “[They] will not be deprived in the spirit world from looking down upon the results of their labors [on earth]. I believe they are as deeply interested in our welfare today, if not with greater capacity, with far more interest, behind the veil, than they were in the flesh . . . they see us, they are solicitous for our welfare, they love us now more than ever” (Conference Report, April 1916, pp. 2-3.)
2 Spiritual promptings. Genealogy work – Many have felt assistance from the other side in finding names. The hearts of the fathers will turn to the children and the children to their fathers. (Malachi 4:5-6, D&C 110:13-16.)
3 Brigham Young said: “Where is the spirit world? It is incorporated within this celestial system. Can you see it with your natural eyes? No. Can you see spirits in this room? No. Suppose the Lord should touch your eyes that you might see, could you then see the spirits? Yes, . . . If the Lord would permit it, you could see the spirits that have departed from this world as plainly as you now see bodies with your natural eyes” (Journal of Discourses 3:368.)
4 Joseph Smith said that a man would learn more by looking into heaven for five minutes than by reading all the books that had ever been written on the subject. (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 324) He said that even theTelestialKingdom was beyond description and that if a man could see theTelestialKingdom, he would give up his life just to go there.
5 Missionary work takes place in the spirit world. The wicked can repent and improve and accept the gospel of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 3:18-20, 1 Peter 4:6)
6 See (5). Those who died without a knowledge of the gospel will have the opportunity to hear and accept it in the spirit world.
7 Joseph Fielding Smith said: “The spirits of our children are immortal before they come to us, and their spirits, after death, are like they were before they came. They are as they would appear if they had lived in the flesh, to grow to maturity, or to develop their physical bodies to the full stature of their spirits. If you see one of your children that has passed away it may appear to you in the form in which you would recognize it, the form of childhood; but it . . . could perhaps come as the spirit of Bishop Edward Hunter’s son (who died in childhood) came to him, in the stature of full-grown manhood, and revealed himself to his father, and said, ‘I am your son.’ The prophet Joseph Smith taught that the infant child that was laid away in death would come up in the resurrection (when the spirit and body are reunited) as a child; and, pointing to the mother of a lifeless child, he said to her, ‘You will have the joy, the pleasure, and satisfaction of nurturing this child, after its resurrection, until it reaches the full stature of its spirit’ “ (Gospel Doctrine, pp. 452-456; Answers to Gospel Questions, vol. 1, page 60.)
8 Only the body in this life is deformed and subject to infirmities. The spirit itself is perfect, without deformity. Speaking of deformities and the resurrection, Joseph F. Smith said: “Deformity will be removed; defects will be eliminated, and men and women shall attain to the perfection of their spirits, to the perfection that God designed in the beginning. …The spirits of mankind and all other creatures were in a perfect form in the spirit world” (Gospel Doctrine, pp. 23-24; Answers to Gospel Questions, vol. 4, pp. 187-189.)
9 After death, spirits go to different places based on how they lived on earth. The “good” go to the spirit paradise while the wicked go to the spirit prison. (Alma40:11-14.)
10 Joseph Field Smith said that the wings of angels are symbolic. “The cherubim (angels) on the Ark of the Covenant were placed there as symbolic figures, representing guardians, whose wings protected the altar . . . Just when the notion arose that angels have wings may not be very clear . . .” (Answers to Gospel Questions, vol. 2, pp. 96-98). Also, Joseph Smith’s description of Moroni contained many details and no mention of wings. (Joseph Smith – History 1:30-32.)
11 Billions of spirits live in the spirit world. All those who have lived and died on the earth live in the spirit world. See (3).
12 See (3).
13 Psalm 104:1-2. Speaking of the angel Moroni, Joseph Smith said: “He had on a loose robe of most exquisite whiteness. It was a whiteness beyond anything earthly I had ever seen; nor do I believe that any earthly thing could be made to appear so exceedingly white and brilliant . . . not only was his robe exceedingly white, but his whole person was glorious beyond description, and his countenance truly like lightning” (Joseph Smith – History 1: 31-32.)
14 Gordon B. Hinckley said: “Death, though bitter to observe, is not the end, but is rather, only another graduation from which we go on to a better life” (Ensign, November 1987, p. 65.) Neal A. Maxwell said: “Death is a mere comma, not an exclamation point!” (Ensign, Nov. 1976, p. 46.)
15 The soul consists of the spirit and the body. Each mortal on this earth has a spirit within the body. (D&C 88:15.)
Joseph Smith said: “The only difference between the old and the young dying is, one lives longer in heaven and eternal light and glory than the other, and is freed a little sooner from this miserable, wicked world” (History of the Church 4:554).
Quotes from Brigham Young:
“If we could see things as they are, and as we shall see and understand them, this dark shadow and valley is so trifling that we shall turn round and look upon [the valley of death] and think, when we have crossed it, why this is the greatest advantage of my whole existence, for I have passed from a state of sorrow, grief, mourning, woe, misery, pain, anguish and disappointment into a state of existence where I can enjoy life to the fullest extent as far as that can be done without a body. My spirit is set free, I thirst no more, I want to sleep no more, I hunger no more, I tire no more, I run, I walk I labor, I go, I come, I do this, I do that, whatever is required of me, nothing like pain or weariness, I am full of life, full of vigor, and I enjoy the presence of my Heavenly Father” (JD 17:142).
“I can say with regard to parting with our friends, and going ourselves, that I have been near enough to understand etermity so that I have had to exercise a great deal more faith to desire to live than I ever exercised in my whole life to live. The brightness and glory of the [spirit world] is inexpressible. [In this life as] we advance in years we have to be stubbing along and be careful lest we fall down. [The spirits] move with ease and like lightning.” If we want to visit Jerusalem as it was in the days of the Savior; or if we want to see the Garden of Eden as it was when created, there we are, and we see it as it existed spiritually, for it was created first spiritually and then temporally, and spiritually it still remains” (DBY, 380).
“Can you see spirits in this room? No. Suppose the Lord should touch your eyes that you might see, could you then see the spirits? Yes, as plainly as you now see bodies, as did the servant of [Elisha] (see 2 Kings 6:16-17). If the Lord would permit it, and it was his will that it should be done, you could see the spirits that have departed from this world, as plainly as you now see bodies with your natural eyes” (DBY, 367-77).
“[The Saints] are just as busy in the spirit world as you and I are here. They can see us, but we cannot see them unless our eyes were opened. What are they doing there? They are preaching, preaching all the time, and preparing the way for us to hasten our work in building temples here and elsewhere (DBY, 378)
“The spirits of the spirit world are busy learning, increasing, growing in grace and in the knowledge of the truth and also in preaching the gospel to the spirits in prison who have not yet heard the gospel. (See Brigham Young, Teaching for our Times).
“A congregated mass of inhabitants there in spirit, mingling with each other, as they do here? Yes,…. No doubt they yet, more or less, see, hear, converse and have to do with each other…” (DBY, 378).
“When you are in the spirit world, everything will appear as natural as things now do. Spirits will be familiar with spirits in the spirit world—will converse, behold, and exercise every variety of communication with one another as familiarly and naturally as while here in tabernacles….” (DBY, 380).
“Spirits are just as familiar with spirits as bodies are with bodies, though spirits are composed of matter so refined as not to be tangible to this coarser organization. They walk, converse, and have their meetings; and the spirits of good men like Joseph and the Elders, who have left this Church on earth for a season to operate in another sphere, are rallying all their powers and going from place to place preaching the Gospel…” (DBY, 379)
“When we get through this state of being…we are not going to stop there. We shall still go on, doing all the good we can, administering and officiating for all whom we are permitted to administer and officiate for, and then go on to the next, and to the next, until the Lord shall crown all who have been faithful on this earth, and the work pertaining to the earth is finished, and the Savior, whom we have been helping, has completed his task, and the earth, with all things pertaining to it, is presented to the Father. Then these faithful ones will receive their blessings and crowns, and their inheritances will be set off to them and be given to them, and they will then go on, worlds upon worlds, increasing forever and ever.” (DBY, p. 376)
“If we are faithful to our religion, when we go into the spirit world the fallen spirits–Lucifer and the third part of the heavenly hosts that came with him, and the spirits of wicked men who have dwelt upon this earth, the whole of them combined will have no influence over our spirits. Is not that an advantage? Yes. All the rest of the children of men are more or less subject to them, and they are subject to them as they were while here in the flesh” (DBY, 379).
“We have more friends behind the veil than on this side, and they will hail us more joyfully than you were ever welcomed by your parents and friends in this world; and you will rejoice more when you meet them than you ever rejoiced to see a friend in this life; and then we shall go on from step to step, from rejoicing to rejoicing, and from one intelligence and power to another, our happiness becoming more and more exquisite and sensible as we proceed in the words and powers of life.” (DBY, 379-80)
“The earth and the fullness of the earth and all that pertains to this earth in an earthly capacity is no comparision with the glory, joy, and peace and happiness of the soul that departs in peace.”
More quotes from Brigham Young:
What is it like in the spirit world?
Speaking at the funeral for Elder Thomas Williams in 1874, Brigham Young said:
“I would like to say to you, my friends and brethren, if we could see things as they are, and as we shall see and understand them, this dark shadow and valley is so trifling that we shall turn round and look about upon it and think, when we have crossed it, why this is the greatest advantage of my whole existence, for I have passed from a state of sorrow, grief, mourning, woe, misery, pain, anguish and disappointment into a state of existence, where I can enjoy life to the fullest extent as far as that can be done without a body. My spirit is set free, I thirst no more, I want to sleep no more, I hunger no more, I tire no more, I run, I walk, I labor, I go, I come, I do this, I do that, whatever is required of me, nothing like pain or weariness, I am full of life, full of vigor, and I enjoy the presence of my heavenly Father, by the power of his Spirit. I want to say to my friends, if you will live your religion, live so as to be full of the faith of God, that the light of eternity will shine upon you, you can see and understand these things for yourselves.”
Brigham Young also said, “The earth and the fullness of the earth and all that pertains to this earth in an earthly capacity is no comparison with the glory, joy and peace and happiness of the soul that departs in peace.”
What do the spirits do in the spirit world?
“[They] are just as busy in the spirit world as you and I are here. What are they doing there? They are preaching, preaching all the time, and preparing the way for us to hasten our work in building temples here and elsewhere.”
“When the spirits leave their bodies,…they are prepared then to see, hear and understand spiritual things…”
“When we pass into the spirit world we shall possess a measure of his power. Here, we are continually troubled with ills and ailments of various kinds. In the spirit world we are free from all this and enjoy life, glory, and intelligence; and we have the Father to speak to us, Jesus to speak to us, and angels to speak to us, and we shall enjoy the society of the just and the pure who are in the spirit world until the resurrection (DBY, 380–81).”
What is it like in the spirit world?
“When you are in the spirit world, everything there will appear as natural as things now do. They walk, converse, and have their meetings.”
Indeed, the spirit world is an absolutely wonderful place for the righteous. Brigham Young said: “I can say with regard to parting with our friends, and going ourselves, that I have been near enough to understand eternity so that I have had to exercise a great deal more faith to desire to live than I ever exercised in my whole life to live. The brightness and glory of the [spirit world] is inexpressible. It is not encumbered so that when we advance in years we have to be stubbing along and be careful lest we fall down. [The spirits] move with ease and like lightning.”
Brigham Young also said: Satan and his wicked spirits “will have no influence over our spirits [in the spirit world]. “…when we go into the spirit world there we are masters over the power of Satan, and he cannot afflict us any more.”
The spirits of the spirit world are busy “learning, increasing, growing in grace and in the knowledge of the truth” and also in preaching the gospel to the spirits in “prison,” who have not yet heard the gospel.
“We have more friends behind the veil than on this side, and they will hail us more joyfully than you were ever welcomed by your parents and friends in this world; and you will rejoice more when you meet them than you ever rejoiced to see a friend in this life; and then we shall go on from step to step, from rejoicing to rejoicing, and from one intelligence and power to another, our happiness becoming more and more exquisite and sensible as we proceed in the words and powers of life.” (DBY, 379–80)
“When we get through this state of being, to the next room, I may call it, we are not going to stop there. We shall still go on, doing all the good we can, administering and officiating for all whom we are permitted to administer and officiate for, and then go on to the next, and to the next, until the Lord shall crown all who have been faithful on this earth, and the work pertaining to the earth is finished, and the Savior, whom we have been helping, has completed his task, and the earth, with all things pertaining to it, is presented to the Father. Then these faithful ones will receive their blessings and crowns, and their inheritances will be set off to them and be given to them, and they will then go on, worlds upon worlds, increasing for ever and ever.” (DBY, 376)
How beautiful and comforting this knowledge is to me. How grateful I am for the scriptures and the Lord’s prophets that have given us deeper insights into the plan of salvation. I am so grateful for the spirit world and the peace and happiness we will have there. I rejoice in the knowledge of the resurrection, that we will all receive glorified bodies. And I know and am so grateful that we will be able to live as eternal families; that we will also be with Dad and Papa again. And then this painful separation will seem so brief and we will have forever to be together.
Small Talk with Bill Ross 