The Bloomfield times. [volume] (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1867-187?, 1870-02-22
SU N D AY r E A , I N .
For The Bloomfield Times.
LIFE'S DECAY.
BY q. j. s-R.

nNE beautiful summer evening, as the
~ sun was sinking in the Western
horizon, tinting everything with its de-
parting rays, youth and fair maiden
were sitting in a delightful grove, enjoy
ing the refreshing breeze, and sweet per-
fume that surrounded them. Everything
seemed dazzling to their youthful visions,
and never, for moment, did they dream
that anything was in store for them, in
the future, but unalloyed pleasure and
uninterrupted bliss. Many were the low
ing words spoken, and the air-castles
built by them. The fact that they were
mortal, and that death not only cut down
the aged who are tottering on the verge
of eternity but also the young, amidst
all their hopes and plans for the mysteri-
Gus future, did not seem to be realized by
them; and the future appeared as clear
and unclouded as the past
A few years have passed since the
youth and maiden were sitting in that
delightful bower-years fraught with
many changes. The bell in the church.
tower is tolling, sending abroad the sa'
intelligence that soul has been sum
moned by the dark angel of death, an,
that the body was being borne to its 6na
resting place.
"Who lies beneath that cofin-hd?
said |, to my companion "is it an age'
person or a youth; q male or female"
Do you remember" replied he, " the
happy, youthful couple, we saw in that
lovely grove, one fine summer evening,
years ago ?"
Well do I remember" I replied. 81
can yet, in imagination, see them at that
very spot, smiling,a and beaming with Joy"
That coffin, % resumed he, " contains
all that is mortal of that fair madden
All her earthly hopes have been blasted,
and she has been cut off in the beauty OF
her womanhood This is the day on
which she was to have been married.
But, alas how sad the change Instead
of her bridal day, it is the day on which
she is to be consigned to the dark, dreary
tomb"
We followed the cortege into the church
yard, and stood around the open grave
prepared for the reception of that once
fair and fourishing, but now cold and
lifeless maiden. We saw the coffin low
cred, and heard the words of the minis
ter, Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, and
dust to DUST" as he committed the body
to its mother earth.
We fingered around the sacred spot,
and when the sound of the clods, as they
fell upon the coffin, came to my ears, /
thought, as l never thought before, Of
the instability of all that is earthly-of
the perishable nature of everything
which surrounds us in this world
9" What is life; and what is gained by
the struggle for wealth, and ambition, and
worldly honor?" thought I, "when il
the course of comparatively few shor
years, we, too, like this fair creature, will
fall asleep in the icy embrace of death
and be laid in the dismal confines of tn
grave. Then only one thing will be i'm
portant, aud that will be, whether "
have devoted ourselves to life of virtue
and lived according to the precepts of ou
Maker. The reward of such life j
eternal happiness in the society of Co
and His holy angels. But if, on tn,
other hand, we have lived life in direc.
conflict with the teachings of the Grea
Author Of our existence, the Lor
shall say unto us, Depart from me in
Everlasting Fire, prepared for the Dev
and his angels" Choose ye now viii
portion ye will strive to obtain.