Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1886-01-23
-4MARTINSBURG INDEPENDENT
Saturday. Jan. 81, 1856.
THE HEREAFTER.

Our days from budding youth to golden
prime,
From thence to age seems stretching far
away,
When we in truth live but from day 10 day.
Each morning brings its allotted cares,
And with that ''daily cross" the strength
to bear;
Enough for us if with every setting sun
We hear the Masters whispered sweet
'sWell DONE"
What world of thought is con-
tanned in that one word-hereafter !
We are standing on q rockbound
coast u broad stretch of sand ex-
tends far and wide on either side of
us, while before rs lies the appar-
antly calm and peaceful ocean. No
tempests disturb its peaceful bosom;
perhaps now and then the warm
southern breezes laden with the fra
GRANGE Of flowers and orange-groyes
causes faint ripple to be percepti-
BILE upon its surface. A beautiful
boat is moore. close by, and we read
on the PROV the name Imagination
The desire to know what the land on
the other side contains for us inyar
liable takes possession of us. Lead
oy some instinct, we know not what,
we long to embark and sail across
this fathomless sea to the countries
beyond. A guilty sensibility pre-
vades our beings for we know that
this is trespassing. For the king Of
the King of the distant countries
has said, "Take no thought of the
morrow, but let the morrow take
thought for itself" We are as q lit
tie child the boat is tempting; we
step in; slight movement of the
oars and we are away, bound for the
sunny lands of the inevitable here
after. Does there await us in the
unseen future lofty mansions Of Par
ian marble surrounded by gardens,
where bloom flowers of the rarest
kinds, amid which tinkling fountains
throw upwards sprays of the clear
est water, which falling backwards,
drop into marble basins, where
pleasant groves invite us to q stroll
beneath the friendly shade of lofty
tree? Such are the pictures that
our imagination would like to paint.
When painting such pictures let us
not forget that Utopia was only a
production of the broad Imagination
of the author, and the real depends
upon hard labor and a willing heart.
Mansions are the fruits from the la
boring hands of some willing heart.
All of us cannot inhabit mansions
and those whose good fortune it is
to abide in such buildings cannot al
ways while this lamp of life burns,
Devoid Of some cares and anXieties.
Trouble is no respectcr Of persons,
the rich as well as the poor receive
from its bountiful hand.
We have heard from ancient writ
ers that what we SOW that shall we
reap. Why are we not at present
improving every spare moment, so
that in the misty hereafter we may
reap q gountiful harvest? Why,
spend so many precious moments in
dreaming of what we should like the
hereafter to be, when it is in our
power to make that herafter? Shall
we mould our future now in the
days Of our youth while the evil
days come not nor the years draw
nigh when we shall say there is no
pleasure in them? Some author has
said DO noble things. not dream
them all day long.
And so make life, death and that
vast forever one grand sweet song"
The wasted moments Of to-day will
be the barren sports Of the hereaf-
ter. But Heaven is kind to the
faithful heart, and if we are patient
and brave and calm, our fruits will
last, though flowers depart"
''Look not mournfully into the
Past, it comes not back again. Wise
" improve the Present, it is thine.
Go forth to meet the shadowy Flu