Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-04-02


something better; but the God who sees
the twenty, forty, fifty years of welded
! life before they have begun arrapges sll
for the best. So that flowers, IN Amos,
all cases, are appropriate for the marriage
day. The divergences OF disposition will
become correspondence, recklessness
turned into practically.
There has been m ,ny 81 aged widowed
soul who mad carefully Locked bureau,
aud In the bureau b1x, end In the box q
folded papar, and in the folded paper q
half-blown rose, slightly fragrant, dis
colored, carefully pressed. She put II
there forty or fifty years ago. On the an
niversary day Of her wedding she will 60
to the bureau, she will lift the box, she
will unfold the paper, and to her eyes
will be exposed the half-blown bud, and
the memories Of the past will
rush upon her, and tear
will drop upon the flower; and suddenly
it is trans figured, and there Is stir In
the dust Of the anther, and II rounds out,
and it is full of life, and il begins to
tremble in 'be procession up the church
aisle, and the dead music Of q half CEN
fury ago comes throbbing. through the
air; and vanished faces resppear, and
right hands a-e >ined, and manly voice
promises: 81 wi for better or for worse,"
and the wedding march thunders salvo
OF Joy at the departing crowd; but sigh
on that anniversary day scatters the scene.
Under the deep-fstched breath, the altar,
the flowers, the c0ngratu ating groups
are scattered, and there is nothing left
but trembling hand holding q faded
rosebud, which is put into the paper, and
then into the box, and the box carefully
placed in the bureau, and with sharp,
sudden click of the ok
THE SCENE IS OVER.
All, my friends, let not the prophecies
Of The hDwers on your wedding day be
false prophecies. Be blind to each 9TH
er's faults. Make the most of each 9TH
er's ex ;ellencieg. Above all, do not both
get mad st once! Remember the vows,
the ring on the third nager of the right
hand, and the benediction of the Gala
lilies.
8. II You insist on asking me the
question: What are flowers good for2 l
answer, they are good to honor and com
fort the obse quies. The worst cash ever
made into the side of our poor earth is
the cash OF the grave. It ia 30 deep, 1t is
SO cruel, 1t Is so incursble that 1t needs
something TO cover it up. Flowers for
the casket, fowers for the hearse, fiow-
ers for the cemetery.
What q contrast between grave in q
country churchysrd, " tn the fence
broken down and the tom ostone aslsnt,
and the neig hboring cattle browsing amid
the mullen stalks, and the Canada this
in
The wave of roseate bloom rolling to the
top Of the mounds, and then breskiug in
to foeming crests Of white flowers all
around the pillows Of dust. 1t Is the dif-
ference between sleeping under rags and
sleeping under an embroidered blanket.
We want Old Mortality with his chisel to
go through ell the grsVeysrds OF CIris-
tendon, and while he carries chisel in
one hand, we want o d Mortality to have
some fower-seed IN the palm of the Other
hand
"Oh," you say, "tbe dead don't know;
il makes no difference to them" think
you are mistaken. There are not so
many steamers and rail trains coming
to any living city as there are conveys
coming from heaven 10 earth; and il
there be instantaneous and constant
communication between this world and
the better world, do you not suppose
your departed friends know what you DO
with their bodies? Why has God planted
"golden rod" and wild flowers in the
forest and on the prairie where no human
eye ever sees them? He planted them
there for
INVISIBLE INTELIGRNCEs
to look at and admire, and when invisi
BILE intelligences come to look at the wild
flowers of the woods and the table lands,
will they not make excursion and see the
flowers which you have planted in afec-
tionate remembrance of them7
When am dead, 1 would like to have q
handful Of vislets-any one could pluck
them out Of .he grass, or some one could
lift from the edge of the pond water-lily
nothing rarely expensive or insane dis
play, as sometimes at funeral rites where
the display takes the bread from the chill
dren's mouths, and the clothes from their
backs, but something from the great
democracy Of fowers rather than impe-
rial ca.afa'q que of Russian Gear, ask
some one whom l may have helped by
gospel sermon or Christian deed to bring
q sprig of arbutus or q handful of China
asters.
It was left for modern times to spell
respect for the departed and comfort for
the living in letters Of floral gospel. Pill
low of flowers, meaning rest for the pill
grim who ras got % the end Of his jour-
ney. AIcnor Of Fl wers, suggesting the
Christian hops which we have as an an
Choir ~ the soul, sure and steadfast.
Cross OF Il weIs, suggesting the tree On
which our sins were slain.
III mad my way, would cover up all
tie dreomless sleepers, whether in gold
en-handled cssket or pine box, whether a
kings nsusoleum or Potter's Field, with
radiant and aroma ic arborescence. The
Bible says, in the midst Of the garden
there was & sepulchre. wish that every
stpu,chre might be
INTHE MIDST OF GARDEN.
1. II you insist on asking me the ques-
ton: What are flowers good for? 1 an
swer, for religious symbolism. Have
you ever studied scTiptural fora? The
Bible is an srbetum, 1t is divine con-
servatory, it is herbsrium OF exquisite
beauty. II you want to illustrate the
brevity of the brightest human life, you
will quote from Job: "a man cometh
forth as flower and is cut down." Or
you will quote from the Psslmist: Gas
the q )wer of the fald so he perisheth;