St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1883-01-19

rallTOdu ulSdSIeT anu I1dThees popular
ity. Big funeral sermon expected +;
minister specially happy in his mate
rial there, too such a faultless life
calm, serene as a summers eve
could almost preach upon it myself /;
so unlike my last case, when the min
lister was positively at his wits end to
get hold of anything to the credit OF
the departed. He did his best, though,
and made him ont almost n saint. But
Harkee, here, was lovely in his life,
and in death he is not divided'-that's
not exactly the wording of the text,
perhaps the preaching, you know, is
not my vocation, but my business is,
as Harkee was lovely out of his coffin,
to make him lovely within it; so here's
to duty" And amid subdued laughter
| was lifted out of my snug retreat, and
re-arrayed for the tomb in more elabO-
rate and costly apparel. All this, as
before intimated, sadly sundered the
thread of my solemn reflections, and
by the time | was satisfactorily be-
slowed, and adjusted, in the five hun
dred dollar casket, | was so fatigued
and disgusted that, while endeavoring
to recover my habitual equanimity,
fell asleep only to be awaked by fresh
devices of the undertaken, preparatory
to the private funeral, which | under
stood was to precede the public. 1t
was the mention of my wife's name
that awakened me.
r "Mrs. Harkee is hard to manage
about the funeral, >" said the undertaken.
"She's not fond of display, would like
to be much with her dead-prepOster-
Gus idea that deprives our profession
of its only opportunity. Great ado
there is to find one withered rosebud,
which lost out of the first coffin. 1t
seems he put it on her bosom the
morning he left home, so she wants
that and makes nothing of five hun
dred dollars worth of hOt-hOuse flow
ers. They couldn't get her off her
knees to have her mourning fitted
till we appealed to her respect for the
dead. She don't care even for his
funeral sermon, but told the minister
looking herself more like a corpse
than Harkee here-says she to her
pastor, Dear sir, this is an hour for
honest words, and alas, neither you
nor yet | have interested ourselves to
know if his soul, in life, was at peace
with God. Summoned in an instant,
what dare we say of its future : |
would give my soul to know that his
is safe for | love him better than
do myself"
"GOd save her intellects," sOlemnly
put in the florist. "She must be go
ing wild to answer the reverend gen.
tleman that way. So many tender,
sweet things she might have told him
to ornament the funeral sermon. The
effect of that lily on the pillow is fine :;
the cheek, by contrast, has almost Il
lifelike glow. Uncommon corpse J"
| tried to he calm in my coffin and
prepare to die but such fuss was
there, above, about, around, over and
under, beside and beneath me, with
notices, wreaths, crosses, harps,
crowns, anchors, and no end of floral
decorations, and | felt my poor souls
chances were so slender as to he scarce
ly worth considering.
"Sweet notices." breathed an amia-
BILE lady, Amy's friend, overlooking
the work. % Safe in the arms of
Jesus Sweet rest in Heaven 'The
gates ajar,' angels welcome thee "A
crown upon his forehead, harp with
in his hand Beautiful floral idea,
that actual crown and harp of flowers,
with the rest of the motto spelled III
flowers between That must go over
to the church."
Awful to relate, the last "beautiful
floral idea" so struck my inherent sense
of the ridiculous that | laughed
spirit-and then, either for horror that
| had laughed, or from an empty
stomach, | once more tainted, and re-
vived only as they jostled me on en-
tering the church. The first sounds
took in were the words spoken by the
minister as | was borne up the aisle
''He that liveth and believeth in Me
shall never die" My soul grasped
them. In sweet rest No, no. That
was my mothers rest, my Amy's rest
| knew there is such a rest, and that
| possessed it not. Yet the organ and
the choir were chanting, "RequieScat IN
Pace" | stopped my ears, to use Il
metaphor, and said boldly to my soul
''Be calm, and deal truly with thyself,
o immortal soul though organs,
choirs, hymns, notices, sermons and
! their authors lie, lie thou not to thy
self, for soon thou wilt be with thy
| God. where truth alone shall stand
Thus charged, my sOul made honest
| answer &: ''ThOu art no believer, and
| 'IIe that believeth not the Son shall
not see life, but the wrath of God
abideth on him." The singing O
sweet hymns of love and peace il
heaven kept creeping in to mock me
and over my head the pastor read O
the pearly gates and golden streets
| I EGTha / ic thn li,rl,
thereof" and "Whose names are in tn,
book of life"
They meant it kindly for me,
knew but they all might have knOwr
that if my spirit heard should know
better than to think it appropriate
Then my solemn dealing with my sou
was sadly put about by the sermon. |
seems very ungrateful to come down oil
a man, especially on a good man, my
own dear pastor, he my personal frienC
and classmate, too, for anything 81
well meant, so solemn, tender, appro
pirate, and altogether up to the time
as a model funeral sermon over a calm
peaceable, moral man in his coffin
But truth compels me to say it almOs
cost me my soul to lie there and listel
to it. 1t put me into heaven so neatly
in theory, that had not the cirum
stances made it Indispensable for III
to get there in reality, and without an.
but insurmountable delays, its sophis
try might have cheated me. 1t wa
! very distracting to hear what a goo
son, amiable brother, devoted husband
dear friend, worthy citizen, and benev
olent helper, had been, just as wa
agonizing in spirit to learn, ere it wa
l forever too late, the meaning of tina
belief in the Lord Jesus Christ whic
= is unto eternal life.
2 Pathetically the sermon closed. TIL
D audience were melted to tears, and tn
: organ sObbed in sympathy with tn