St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-11-15
FUNERAL OF THE FLOWERS.

There is no orator more famous for his
woundrous pictures of word painting than
TALMAGE. And of all the masterpieces
which adorn the great orators gallery there
is none lovelier than the sketch of the
Funeral of the Flowers, which came from
his hand with the most delicate touches of
the oratorical brush during his usual prayer
meeting lecture last week. He had been
greatly impressed by the chrysanthe mum
show in New York and made it the subject
of his lecture. AS he stood by the cata-
falque of the dying year, covered as it was
with the golden rod and the china aster
and the chrysanthemum, and talked to his
audience of the lessons which are to be
learned from such scene, he said:
Have you heard of the funeral of the flow
ers? 1t was on long slope which at one side
dipped into the warm valleys, and on the other
side arose very high into the frosty air, so
that on one boundary line lived Cactus and
Orange Blossom and Camellia, and on the other
resided Balsam Pine and Alpine Strawberry,
and all kind of growths between, that the flu
neral of the flowers occurred. Living mid
way between that steep slope of land there was
a rose that in common parlance we call Giant
of Battle. 1t was hero among flowers.
Many of the grasses of the field wOrshiped it
as god, the Mignonette burning incense be-
meath it, the Marigold throwing its glittering
coin of beauty before it, the Mistletoe crawl
ing at its feet. The fame of this Giant of
Battle was worldwide, and some said that its
ancestors on the fathers side had stood on
the plains of Waterloo, and on its moth
er's side at Magenta, and drank them
selves drunk on human gore. But chill
dreu are not to blame for what their ancestors
do, and this rose, called Giant of Battle, was
collx odn Tlilt 10 iQr1fc cinl-
Whether it was from the poisonous breath of
the nightshade that had insolently kissed him
or from grief at the loss of damask rose that
had first won his heart by her bushes and then
died, we know not; but the Giant of Battle
was passing rapidly away. There was great
excitement up and down the slopes. A con-
sultation of botanical physicians was called,
and DR.. Byzantine came and thrust a thorn
for a lancet in the giants veins on the prin-
ciple that he had too much blood and was
apoplectic, and Dr.. Balm of Giead attempted
to heal the pain by poultices: but still the
giant grew worse and worse. The Primrose
called in the evening to see how the dying
hero was, and the Morning Glory stopped
before breakfast to see if it could do any
good Every flower or grass that called had
prescription for him that would surely
cure. Neighbor Horse Sorrel suggested acids,
and Honey Suckle proposed sugars, and
Myrrh suggested bitters, and Ladys Slipper,
patient wanted was more quiet about the
room. But too much changing of medicine
only made the giant more and more sick, and
one afternoon, while sitting up in bed with
the cup of boneysuckle to his lips and with
the fan of the south wind f1uttering in his
face, his head dropped and he died. As the
breath went out of him a Clematis that had
been overlooking the sad scene said: what
time is it?'' and cluster of Four oclocks an
swered, "a little past the middle of the after
noou.' The next morning the funeral bells
all rang; the Bluebells and the Canterbury
bells and the Foxgloye bells and the Harebells
and all fiowerdom came to the obsequies of
the Giant of Battle. He was laid out on
trellis and on catafaque such as dead
monarch never had-of dahlia and phloX and
magnolia and geranium and gladiOlus. There
was a great audience of flowers. Solemnity
came down upon them. Even Cocks
comb stopped strutting and Larkspur
ceased her fickleness and Snapdragon looked
gentle and Snowdrop seemed to melt, and
Bachelors Button wished it had some one to
express its grief to. Passion Flower
came in and threw herself on the pale cheek
of the giant with most ardent demonstrations
of affection. Amaranth and Fl ydrangea, and
Daffodil and Spiderwort and Spirea, having
come far through the night and dew, stood
around with their eyes full of tears. The
funeral services began. Rose of Sharon and
Lily of the Valley took part in them. The
Star of Bethlehem sang hymn to the tune
of ''Bonny Doom" A Forget-me-not said
few words of comm emoratlon. Then Hearts