The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1883-09-26
Advice 70 an Expectant Bride
From Die Nashyi!le sanday Journal.l

From the Nashville Sunday Journal.
The following letter was recently ad-
dressed to lady about to become a
bride, by a gentleman acquaintance, in
acknowledgement Of the receipt Of her
welding-cards 1t gains Il melancholy
interest from the fact that the young
Miic died soon after her marriage;
am holding some pasteboard in
my hands, Addic-thrce stately pluck
ings from the bush of ceremony. am
gazing upon Il card, and upon a name
Il name with which your gentle lie be-
gan, name with which yOnr throbblng
heart was lost There j. nothing strange
about that card. The maiden sign still
looks up from it, calm ana customary
rs it looked on many Il friendly visit, us
it lies in many a forma! basket. am
gazing. too, upon card where the
nearer parent tells the world she will be
At Home Zone day, and that is nothing
new But there il another card, whose
mingling there puts tongue OF lire INTO
thi. specifies pastcbcard, enameIlng
fate too common place. 1t tells US that
feeling is maturing into destiny. and
that these cards are but the pale herald,
of Il coming crisis, when a hand that has
pressed friends hands, and pIucked
howcr., shall close down on him II
whom she shall be friend and flower
/ forever after. | have sent you few
/ flowers with which to adorn the dying
moments Of Il single life. They are the
gcntIcst types Of Il delicate and durable
friendship They spring up By oul
side when others have deserted il, and
they will be found watching over ON
graves when those who should cherisl
have forgotten US IT seems meet Il
me that past 50 calm and pure rs
yours should expire with kindred
sweetness about it; that flowers anc
music, kind friends aud earnest words
should con,ccratc tic hour when sen
timcnt Is passing into sacrament. Th'
three great stages Of our being are thu
birth, the bridal, and the burial. IL
the first We bring only weakness, for TIN
last We have nothing but dust. Blu
here, at the altar, where life joins life
the pair come throbblng up to the hol,
han, whispering the deep promise tina
arms each with the Others heart, t,
hclp on in the iic.struggle Of care AM
duty. The beautiful will be there, boz
rowing new beauty from the scene. Til
/, gay and the frivolous, they and thei
ilounces, will look solemn for once
aud youth will come to gaze on all il
sacred thoughts pant for; and age wi
totter up to hear the old words repcatc
that to their own lives have given tn
charm. Some will weep over it as if
r were Il tomb, and some will laugh Owe
c it as if it were Il joke; but two mu
stand BY it, for it is fate, not fun, tn
everlasting locking Of their lives. An
, now, can you, who have qucened it Owe
so many bending forms, can you con
down at last to the frugal diet of Il 81
C gle heart? Hitherto YOU have been
clock, giving your time to all the worl
Now you are watch, buried in OF
} particular bosom, warming only h
bosom, marking only his hours, m
ticking only to the beat % his hear
where time and feeling shall be in vi
son until these lower ties are lost
that higher wcdlock where all hear
C are united around the great Cent?
h Heart Of all. Hoping that calm su
c shine may hallow your cIaspcd hands,
r sink silently into signature