The Louisiana cotton-boll. [volume] (Vermilionville [i.e. Lafayette], Attakapas, La.) 1872-1883, 1873-02-26
THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW

II is calculated that there die each
lay upon this earth 81, 1874 human
heings-which gives 3 1926 hour by hour,
and g. every minute, Each tick of the
lock sounds the funeral knell of a pass
ng spirit. To each one that departs.
the world has come to an end, ns much
rs it will be to those who witness the
o~onHagration of the last day. Despite
This perpetual experince, Death re
mains to the great majority of man
tind strange, melancholy. inscrutable,
fhe heart Of universal mankind darkens
ut his approach. "The last enemy
whice shall be destroyed is Death, and
ns an enemy he is already destroyed to
those who are not, like children, alarm
I'd by the darkness, but sec beyond it
the lights in their Fathers house. and
are introduced to q brighterand happier
state of existence.
But, sadder and more bitter than the
]prodigious daily array of deaths which
we have named are the bitter tears and
heart broken sighs of the hereaved.
We may count the deaths, but who shall
count those sighs and tears? Even
Jesus wept at the grave of Lazarus.
Where sting of Death if taken away by
the grace which Christ bestows, the
survivors are more to be compassionated
than the dead. Why should he he
commiBerated who has exchanged a life
Of tribulation for a smooth haven and
eternal safety ? It is those who are
left it is the anguished living hearts
that demand our sympathy. Yet ever
Of these, when servants of God, it is
Raid HE putteth their tears in His
bottle" He preserves the tears of his
saints, Blessed are they that mourn.
for they shall be comforted. Every
sacred drop of sanctiied affection, shall
one day be luminous with the gloriesof
Heaven, as the sunbeams shine in the
dew drops.
Far sadder, it has always seemed to
than ever the first anguish of
bereavement, is the gradual effaoing of
The ~recolleoting OF the dead which il
wrought by time. It is n mercifuI pro-
ision to man that Time should bring
healing on It's wings to wounded souls,
else each bereaved household would
ever filled with the sights and sounds
IF woe. And yet, humanity speaking,
We never so entirely part with the dead.
IS when the familiar face has begun to
ade away in the dim distance of wears.
md event which once convulsed us with
lgony can be spoken of without emotion.
n the II case our friends have died
o HIS; in the other, we die TO orr
riendH. And how soon, az one has =,
aid, the dead are forgotten ! Surely :
% wish could be more rational in the
wing than that those they leave should 4
OF bury them in oblivion Ms well AS -,
he grave and no invocation more =
ational to the survivors than,-sLord. .
eep thee memory green" 81
Yet even the sadness of the "oblivious n
ntidote" which Time is mercifullv I
Instrumental in administering to human c
is relieved by the thought that the o
e%surreotion will one day bring upfrom .,
le grave not only the body, but the =,
with all It's memories and affec- n,
'ns are fresh and strong, as when n,
cath hid with his dark shadow the to
yht of their earthly home, so that az
who are separated here shall not HI
ly meet in Heaven, but meet feeling 90
they would have felt, if the dead had no
ea restored to life ere the grave had ri
'eived them as the widow of Main On
: when the Saviour gave the dead y,
II back TO his mother. -