Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1878-01-16
RsautlfuI Words 10 q Bride.

Inc fOlleWluk ucauhiui '~s'NA
written several yeara age BY a gentle
n.an to bride on receiving her wedding
cards. 1, is exquisitely fresh and org
inal, and full of poetry. Though not
iatended for publication, it found lis
way into print. and We think it is too
nuch of gem 70 be lost entirely:
II hold some pastsboard in my
hands, Addie three stately. pluckings
fron, the bush Of ceremony! L am gazing
upon a card and q nane-a name with
which yonr gentle LIE began, name
with which your throbbing heart was
lost The maiden sign still looks up
from it, calm and customary, as it look
ed on many friendly visit, as it lies in
many a formal basket. 1 am gazing,
too. upon card where the nearer parent
tells the world she will beat Home'one
dsy, and that is nothing new! But there
Is another card whose mingling there
puts tongue of FIRE into this speechless
pasteboard, enamelling fate on common
place. 1t tells US that feeling is matur-
ing into destiny, and that these cards
are but the pale heralds of coming
crisis, when a hand that has pressed
friends hands and plucked flowers,
shall close down on him to whom she
shall be friend and fewer forever. l
have sent you few Aowers to adern
the dying moments Of your single life.
They are the gentiest types 0fs delicate
and durable friendship. They spring
up by our SIDE when others have desert
cd it, and they will bs found watching
ever our graves when those whs should
cherish hsvs forgotten Us. 1t seems
meet TO me that q past,so calm and pure
as yours, should expire with q kindred
sweetness about it; the flowers and nu-
sic, king friends ane earnest words
should eonsecrate the hour when sen
tineut is passing into sacrament.
''Ths three great stages Of our being
are the birth, the bridal, the burial. To the
6rst We bring snly weakness, for the
a,t we have nothing bat dnsu But here,
at the altar, where lite joins lifo, the
pair cvns throbbing mp 20 the holy
man, whispered the deep promise that
arm. each With tho others heart, 10
help on in the lifs-struggle Of care and
duty. The beautiful will be there, bor-
rowing new beauty FROM the scene. The
raw an the frivolous, they and their
aounces will look solemn for once. And
youth will csms to gare on all its sacred
thoughts pant for: and age will tott'r
up to hear the old words repeated that
to their own lives have given the charm.
"ssme will weep sverit as if it were
tomb, and some will laugh over it as
liz It were joke, but two must stand by
| It. for it is fate not fun this everlasting
| locking Of their livs=!
And now can ysu, whs have queen
ed it over % nnany bending forms, can
you como down at last to the frugal die
Of . single hesrR
"Hithsrto you have been q clock, Civ
your time to oil the world! Now you
are . watch, buried IN one partietula
bosom, warming only his beast, max
ing only bis hours, aad ticking only to
the beat Of his heart-whsre time and
feeling shall bs in unison, unit. these
| lower ties are lest in that higher we'd
lock where all hearts are united around
the Great Central Heart ofall.
Hoping that calm sunshine may bal
| low your clasped hands, ! sink silently
into signature. ~. Y. D.