The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1885-02-05

the final destruction of tho world, because
II Ia going TO decide where you will DO
after all the worlds shall DO demolished,
som by collision and some by explosion,
some by fracture and same by cyclone,
some by frost and some by confiagration-
all gone but two, and these two rolling on,
the one through cycles and lmmensities OF
rapture, and tho other rolling on through
cycles and immenslties OF pang, rolling
up, rolling up, rolling down, rolling down;
two worlds-the ono a charred and the
other al irradiated sphericity.
II you continue 10 ask me how the past
appears TO mo, l reply IL appears like four
or five picture galleries running into each
other--a Dusseldorf, a Louvre, a Luxem-
bourg, their corridors adjoining. Boy
hood gallery, church gallery, home gall
lery.
In the boyhood gallery are the faces OF
school-mates and collego'mates. shut
my eyes and my memory walks through
that gallery. l soc them now flying kites,
playing ball, trundling the hoop, ranging
the woods for nuts, ooasting the hillside.
or, later, with me, bending over lexicons,
and algebras and trigonomotries. The
most OF these companions are departed. A
large number OF those who were not posi-
lively Christian died disslpated, and per-
ished In sin before thirty years OF age.
Tho wine.cup, with It's sharp edge, cut tho
jugular vein OF their immortal soul. Poor
fellowsl They tried tho world without
God, and the world slew them Splendid
fellowsl What foreheads for brain What
muscle for strength And what endearing
letters they got from homo, and how they
carried OIL the bouquets on commencement
day. But thoy mado the terrific, the fatal
mistake OF thinking religion a super0uity,
and they are in the picture gallery not so
much IA canvas as sculpture-Laocoons
writing and struggling 10 vain until mus
clos snap and eyes start from their sockets,
amid tho crushing folds Of horrors, SER
pentino and CHASTITY. p
Here also In my memory Is the church
gallery of departed ones 10 whom | minis
terod-Bolloyillo gallery, Syracuse gallery,
Philadelphia gallery, Brooklyn gallery.
These figures appear to me In frames OF
hosannas and halloluJahs, Sweet spirits,
glorious spirits, transported spirits, spirits
blcstl Expiring children with the face OF
Raphael's Madonna, octogenarlana with
| patrlarchal domeanor and look that made
one think that Elijah, safely arrived, had
sent back his fiery chariot for another pas
genger. Fair maidens whose last hours
were n TRANSPORTATION, Young men going
out Of life with anthems on the lips and
The fash Of pearllno portals In their eyes.
Here also In my memory Ia the home
gallery. o, how dear tho facos, old faces,
and youngl Faces moro and more hal
lowed by tho recession Of yenrs; faces into
which we looked when we sat on their laps;
faces that looked up At us while they sat In
our lap; faces wrinkled without age; faces
all afush with infantile %jocundity, faces
that wepti faces that laughed; faces that
disappeared; faces gone.
But, you ask, as | stand on top OF tho
hill, how does tho othor road look, tho one
that winds down TO the white marble slab
at the footY | answer, the road 10 travel
seems brighter than the ono passed. |
would not want 10 live over again, ~ many
wish. We would do better next time than
we did this. The fact Is, tho life we have
had was lived over by five hundred other
people whom we know, and II we did not
improve by those Ave hundred experiences
We would not improve by our own. IL we
who have como TO the noontide OF life, the
twelve or ono o'clock, could be put back TO.
ak O'Clock IN the morning, we would sim
ply repeat tho previous Journey. l would
not want 10 go back and pick up tho ole
burdens and fight tho old BATTLES and woOp
over tho samo graves.
But, says somo one, you don't know what
may be ahead OF misfortune or trial or
duty. or course not. But II / have a rail-
road journey OF athousand miles 10 travel,
and for the first lvo hundred miles | have
found tho tracks solid and the bridges safe
and the conductors competent and the on-
gineers wide. awake, II increases my COM
ndonco for tho other five hundred miles.
For this life | believe | have a through
ticket and, though tho track may wind
this way and that and thoro may DO dark
tunnels 10 traverse and we may OCCASION
ally switch Off 10 lot some othOr trains
pass, and We may sometimes havoh hot
box and pass places whore tho rod flag
bids us slow up, we are 10 como out No tho
right place. Whatever our duties and
tsiols arc, we shall DO able 20 meet thom,
And thon, Notwithstanding all the baldor-
dash Of the inadols, and f%roothinkors, and
atheists, and n%othingists about Tho great
future, | still believe that our lifo horo Is
only q small fragment OF an unonding
existence, Tho throo miles that mako up
this life ars not an inch long compared
with what hereafter shall open.
That picture gallery ahoad Ia brighter
and moro thrilling than the picture gallery
behind. Indcod, we take down tho best
pictures Of tho earthly gallery and go up
on stop-laddurs Of amethyst and hang
them on tho FURNISHED walls OF Hoaycn.
Lookl There IL Christi For earthly gal.
lerles Rubons painted Him, and Cuyp and
C%orregglo painted Hin, and Tlutorrcto
painted Him, aud Benjamin Wost painted
Him, aud Doro painted Him; but this
| ocllpsos tbom NIL; and IL the masterpiece
OF Heaven. Lookl Thoro Is Paul, tho
hero OF Sanhodrim, and A%grlppa's Court,
aud Mars Hin, and Noro'a infany, and
who shook his chained fist In the face Of
tooth- ohattorlng royalty. Look There 10
Joshua, the man who postponed sundown;
and Vashtl, whose veil tho proflgacy of u
Persian court could not lift or tear. Be-
hold them along tho corridora--Day with
his harp, and Miriam With her c~ymbals,
and Zacharlah with his scroll, and ~, John
with his sevon viHlg, and tho Resurrection
Angel with his trumpet. Yea, thorou are
our transported loved onoa, tho cough COMO
from tho throat, tho woarinoss from the
amba. che ianguor from the owe. tho wan
ness from the cnecK. LOT Ia 60 up and ON
brace them. Lot us 20 up and 1.-Two WITH
Thorn. From this hilltop Of my journey !
catch a glimpse OF that hilltop whore ol
sorrow aud signing shall DO done away