The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1881-04-28

for, and l answer to comfort the oDse'
uuies. The darkest cash ever made in
the side of the earth is the cash of the
grave. 1t is so deep, 80 cruel, 30 inCura-
BILE, that it needs something to cover II
up. Flowers for the Casket; flowers for
the hearse; fowers for the cemetery
What contrast b tween the grave in
country church yards, with fences bro.
ken down and the tombstones aslant,snd
neighboying cattle browsing among the
mullen stocks and Canada thistles, and a
June morning in Greenwood, the wave
of roseate blue rolling up to the top Of
the mound, and breaking in foaming
crest of white flowers all about the pill
lows of dust. The difference is between
sleeping under rags and embroidered
blanket. We want "Old Mortality"
chisel in hand, to visit all the dilapidat-
ed graveyards of Christendom. You
say, ut makes no difference to the dead,
and that they do not know" l think
you are mistaken. There are not 30
many railCars and steamers coming to
our living city as there are conveys from
heaven to earth, and constant and in
stRntaneous communication between
this world and q better world. 0fCouree
your departed know what you do with
their bodies. Why have there been
planted myriads Of golden rods and wild
flowers in the forest and prairie that are
never seer, by human eyer i suppose
God plants them for invisible intelligen-
Ces to look at and admire. And when
they come forth to see the wild flowers
Of the wood and of the table lands, they
will not fail to make excursion to see
the flowers planted in especial affection
for their memory. When | die should
like to have at least q handful OF violets.
Any one can pluck them out Of the grass;
or some one from the edge of the pond
could lift water lily. Nothing expen-
sively rare; not the insane display that
sometimes, in the last rites, takes bread
out of the Chlldren's mouths and cloth
ing from their backs, but sometime from
the great democracy Of flowers. Rather
than imperial Catafalque OF Russian
car, would have some one whom |
had helped by Gospel sermon or Christ.
ian deed, bring sprig OF trailing arbu-
tus on cluster of china asters. 1t has
been left for modern days ospell out re-
spect for the dead and comfort for the
living in letters of fl Jral Gospel, pillows
of flowers, suggesting rest for the pilgrim
just ended his journey; anchor OF tioW-
ers, which we have as an anchor; cross
of flowers, suggestive of that tree on
which our sins were slain. If | had my
way would cover up all the dreamless
sleepers, whether in golden handled cas-
ket or pine box, whether in King Is mau-
soleum or Potter's field, with radiant
and ar romatiC aboresCenCe.
Again, you ask what are f)wers good
forP answer, for religious symbolism.
Have you ever studied Scriptural flraP
Why, the Bible is an herbarium; it is
divine conservatory; it is an arboretum
of beauty. Do you want to illustrate
the brevity of the brightest life, you will
quote from Job: "Man Cometh forth like
a flower. and is cut down% or you will
quote from the Psalmist: "As a flower of
the field 80 he fourisheth; for the wind
pssseth over it and 1t is Gone;" or from
Isaiah: call flesh is grass, and all the
goodness thereof is as the flower OF the
field" or you will quote from James the
Apostle: "As the flower of the grass he
shall pass away" What vivid symbol
isml In few short days all the cut
flowers OF this Easter decoration will be
dead. You may take the best care Of
them; you NAV bsptize them morning
and evening in the name Of the shower,
but the baptism will not be saving or.
dinance, They have received fatal
wound by the knife that cut them. They
are bleeding their life away. They are
dying now. This fragrance in the air is
their departing and ascending spirits.
Yes, they are almost human. B)tanists
tell us that flowers breathe; they take
nourishment; they eat and drink; they
are sensitive; they have likes and dis
likes; they sleep and wake; they are in
families; they have ancestors and de-
sCendants; they have birth and burial,
cradle and grave. l put my finger on
their delicate pulses, and find them wea-
ker and weaker. The Cowslip may not
keep its gold, nor the lily its silver, nor
the rose its diamond necklace of morn
ing dew. Dust to dust. AS the f)wer,
so we come, so we prosper, 30 We spread
abroad, so we die, as the flower, as the
toweTl
"Change and decay on all around l see;
o, thou that changest not, abide with mel
Flowers afforded graphic symbolism
to Christ, who compared himself to the
ancient queen, the lily; and to the mod.
ern queen, the rose: II am the rose Of
Sharon ard the lily Of the valley" Red
olent like the one, humble like the other.
Like both, appropriate for ell places of
sadness, where they need consolation
and all places Of joy, where they want
sympathizsrs. Hoverlng over the mar.
riage ceremony like a wedding bell, and
twisted into a Chsplet for the pulseless
heart. Let the perfume Of his name be
waited all around the world, lily and
rose, till the wilderness becomes q gar.
den, and the round earth turns into one
great bud ofimmortal beauty laid against
the warm heart of God. Take off the
worlds banners, eagle and lion, and put
on lily and rose. t. O. olIb. 70
But flowers have no grander religious
use, than when on Easter morning we
bring them to celebrate the termination
of Christ from the catscombs. All the
flowers Of today spell Resurrection.
There is no nook in all the house but is
touched with the incense OF their CRATE.
full breath. The spices which the wo-
men brought to Christ's sepulcher were
dropped all around and inside the tomb,
and from that seed grew all the f1wers
of resurrection. morn. The two angels
In white that rolled from Chfist's grave
the stone, Alng ii with such violence
down the hill that it crushed the door Of
the worlds sepulCher; and the millions
Of stark and dead shall come forth.
H 1wever labyfinthine the mausoleun;
however exquisite the sarcophagus;how-
ever architeCturally crowned the family
vault; however ornamented the grounds;
we want them all broken up by the Lord
Of the Resurrection. They must come
out--those whom we haYe with broken
hearts buriedg Father and motheTgthey
must come out. Husband and wife,they
must come out. Brothers and sisters,
n n