The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1880-12-09

What bright anticipstions, auC
bitter disappointments, lofty hopes,
aud stern realities, 60 to make uL
our changeful lives From infancy
to youth, from youth TO old age, we
are ever chasing the phantom pleas
are, too frequently to grasp the re,
atty, pain. The little toddling in
FAINT stops in vain, to catch in its wee,
dimpled hands the bright sunbeams
that dance play fuIly over the carpet,
before its delighted eyes But how
soon smiles give place to tears, on
that childish face, when it fails to
gather she brightness ia its eager
little pain. Fit emblem is this Of
l;te--the clouds, and sunshine that
brighten, aud darken, HES pathway.
Smiles and tears, clouds aud sum
shine, still follow us as we tread the
Intricate mazss Of infancy and
youth. Now, the future with all it's
brightness looms up before us. We
wonder how we could have been
content with the trivial things of
the past, when such a glorious
future awaits us. The busy world
holds out her allurements to our en-
thusiast,c senses. We hasten on,
happiness, the one great object
which the possession of wealth or
fame, but ust precedeS, seems al
most wi hin our grasp only a little
beyond. But the boon that we
have toiIed for, our end, our aim,
before we reach that bright Boy
is swept from our sight, and we
look around US, in the same sorrow
full amazement as when We failed TO
catch the sunshine, in our baby fists,
aud wondered how it had eIuded US
Ah, the bright threads and the
sombre ones we daily weave into
the web Of our strange lives. Ex-
perience has taught US that life
holds not for US only sunshine. -
Tempests must come, clouds must
gather, battles must be fought, but
after the tempest, there comes 3
calm, after the clouds, sunshine, af
ter the battle, victory.
Then there comes time to US all
when ali the world recedes from our
vision. We call it, Death. The
throbbipg heart is stiHed, The tired
soul has gone to dwell in spirit
world Yes, "all that breathee
must share thy destiny All, me
thinks that death would be Invested
Of half its paugs, could we bat know
tina, some Que would mourn us, that
some heart throne would be vacant,
that some one would miss our tender
words,ou presence Oh, God when
thy good tine shall come to call me
hence, even me, let one, pray
thee, be left, who can visit the spot
where my ashes shall repose, and
cay from the depth of heart, 81
miss thee y We can suffer death
in another form still Did you nev-
or rear within the temple of your
heart an idol, the embodimedt of all
you ;booght good and pure and no
ole ? Have you bowed, yes, wor-
shipped there, poured forth on its
altar your hearts richest obIations,
then as you stood to think over all
your love, have you seen it crumbIe
at your feet? That is death Did
not pail Of darkness enshfoad The
door of that vacant heart room z
Oh, did you dare then to look into
the future, maize cold and bleak and
bare, by the sirocco which had so
recently swept over your life Alb,
yes, we can die, though our pulses
throb o0, aud respiration ceases not,
for oh, what heighls and depths of
misery ;be human heart is capable
of feeling How much we can suffer,
yet bow patiently, and quietly
Bot, thank God, this ia not all. lfI
it wore could we endure these heart
dearths, so calmly ? No, alb no
But beyond this littla span Of days
,and years, there is another world,
another life One in which the dis
embodied spirits know no longings
unsatiafed, no hopes unrealized, no
regrets, no sorrow, where they
hunger no more" for the Lamb |
which is in the midst of the throne
shall feed them, ano shall lead them
into living fountains of waters land
God shall wipe away all tears from
their eyes" Byzantine.