Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1851-06-17
A PRETTY YET MouRsFuL INCIDENT.



"There is little story connected with
that plant, said friend, pointing to pref
| ty fragrant geranium.
Instantly we were all attention; how
quick the commonest thing, which bcf,re
seemed merely pleasing became an all en-
crossing object OF interest when the spring Of
some sad or tender emotion is touched and
its presence calls forth the low sad tone that
! dwells on some tender recollection Of the de-
parted.
| A darkcned room and dying bed these
are the usual preludes to those heart sketch
es, that flowing fresh from memory, stamp
kindred hearts with their beauty or their
gloom.
In this little instance related, young girl
in her fresh womanhood was serencly gliding
into the brighter world The angels had
| deputed their pale browed brother, with his
white robes and his cold deep eyes, that NOR
| tails tremble to meet, to summon the gentle
spirit. and pass with it oyer the swift tide Of
the dark, rapid river of death. Beyond that
river it is sweet to fancy, stands forms of
| loneliness; and pure hands, with no earth
strain to mark their fairness, array the dis
embodied soul in beautiful garments
There was no longer any encouragement
that health would return, though love still
nursed the Pickering fame Of hopes and the
weeping eyes gazed yearningly as though
they would stay life with their earnest CLAN
ccs upon the paling cheek and send the red
tide once more to the white, quiverine lip.
The hand of this young girl rraspcd
blooming branch Of gerauium. PEREZ ancei its
sweet fragrance was grateful to her failing
senses, or some cherished memory gave to
the frail. delicate leaves beauty, brighter
to the dim eyes Of the dying than others
could find; but even till the parting breath,
the pretty plant rested within her icy hand.
Hours passed, and the dead was shyoudcd !;
yet little longer and the heavy sods pressed
upon her young bosom, and the mourners
went back from the silent home 10 the church.
yard, to one almost as silent, and to them,
even more dcsolatc.
We may imagine that the mother often
fingered in that still chamber, often smooth
cd down the snowy covering of that deserted
bed, and gazed mournfully upon the lone
pillow that I'D been pressed BY the Gear brow
of her child A day or two after the funeral,
a little wiltcd sprig of green was found in the
room, and the mother recognized it as the
same her child had chung to with SO tenacious
a grasp in the dark hour. 1t was dear
relic, though all its beauty had departed /;
the twining fingers, which SO often in infancy
had been clasped together around her neck,
which childhoods years had clung to her own
and which had, in maturer age, often cooled
her heated brow. and ministered to he's want.
the touch Of those dear fingers, had as il
were, sanctiied the withered plant; and as
she looked mournfully upon it, she wcpt as
only mothers can weep.
She moistened it with water, and after a
few days placed it within pot of earth
She hardly knew why she did this, there were
no promise of life--it was, apparently dead as
the poor hand that was mouldering in the
grave. Day after day the bereayed one
watched the delicate sprig, and to her sur
prise it gradually cniivened. the dead looking
, stem put forth tiny leaves; they brighteued
, deepencd. and enlarged, new branches shot
forth, the roots spread, and now that little
! wilted droowng branch is large aud luxu-
RANT bush, in fact a tree in miniature
This renovation embodies beautifully tho
/, idea of the resurrection of the dead, and lead.
! the parent to think Of her chill as now, Clio
rious in beauty. shining among the seraphs
, with mind and intellect enlarged quickeuet
and strengthened, made meet for tie com.
. companionship oe angels
1t is a sweet, impressive lesson to us, a
type of that Immortality to which the sou
inspires and to taste which it would !ar
E burst the earthly tenement and wing its way
, upward. The little plant which called forth
the incident, is slip of that identical tree
and highly priced and tenderly cultivated by
my friend who gave me these particulars.