Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1888-04-07

Above all, do not both get mad at once! Re
member the VOWS, thoring on the third finger
of tho left hand and the bencdiction of the
Gala lilies.
III. II you insist on asking mo tho question:
What are flowers good fori 1 answer, they
are good to honor and comfort tho obscquics
The worst gash ever made into the side Of
our poor corti is the gasll Of the grave. 1t
is SO deep, it is so cruel, it is so ncurablo that
it needs something to cover it up. Flowers
for the casket, flowers for the hearse, flowers
for tho cemetery.
What n contrast between grave in coun-
try churchyard, with the fence broken
down, and the tombstone ashanti, and the
neighboring cattle browsing amid tho null
lcin stalks and the Canada thistles, and-a
June morning in Greenwood, the waves Of
roseate bloom rolling to the top Of the
mounds and then breaking into foaming
crests of white flowers oil around the pillows
Sofsdnst. 1t is the difference between sleeping
:undei. rags and sleeping under an embroid-
erred blanket Wewantt Old Mortality with
( his. chisel to go through all the grdyeyards of
s Christendom, and while he carries chiselin;
. ono hand ,Swe want Old Mortality to- haYe
some flower seodsi tile palm the other
hand
"Oh,n you say, /" the. dead don't know: it
makes no difference to thcnl.n think you
are mistaken. There arc not SO many steam
ers and rail trims coming to any living city
rs there are conveys coming from heaven to
earth; and if there be instantaneous and con-
slant communication between this world and
the better world do you not suppose your
departed friends know what you do with
their bodics9 Why has Gcd planted golden
rod" and wild flowers in the forest and on
the prairie where no human eye ever sees
them2 lie planted them there for invisible
intelligenccs to look at and admire, and
when invisible intclligenccs come to look at
the wild flowers of the woods and tho table
lands, will they not make excursions and see
the flowers which you lave planted in affec-
Tomato remembrance of thenI9
When am dead would like to have
handful of violcts-any one could pluck them
out of the grass, or scinc one could lift from
the edge of tic pond Il water lily-nothing
rarely expensive or insane display, as some
times at funeral rites where the display takes
the bread from the cliildren's mouths and
tho clothes from their backs, but something
from the great democracy of flowers. Rather
than imperial catafalquc of Russian car, 1
ask some one whom I may have helped by
gospel sermon or Christian deed to bring a
Sprig Of arbutus or handful of china asterS.
1t was left for modern times to spell respect
for the departed and comfort for the living
III letters Of floral gospel. Pillow Of flowers,
meaning rest for the pilgrim who has got to
tho end of his journey. Anchor of flowers,
suggesting the Christian hope which we have
us an anchor to the SOUL sure and steadfast.
Cross Of flowers, suggesting the tree on which
our sins were slain.
If had my way, would cover up all the
dreamless slccpcrs, whether in golden ham
died caskct or pine box, whether q kings
mausoeum or potters field, with radiant
and aromatic arborcsence. Tho Bible says,
in the midst of the garden there was u sep
ulcher. wish that every sscpulcher might
be in the midst of garden.
". If you insist on asking me thequestion,
What arc flowers good forl / answer. for
religious symbolism. Havo you ever studied
Scrlptural flora? The Bible is an arLetum,
it is q divine conservatory, it is herbarium
of exquisite beauty. If you want to Illus
trate the brevity Of the brightest human
life, you will quote from Job: "a man
cometh forth as flower and is cut down. u.
zOr7yUu rr1.1-1s-vro
the flower of the field, so he perishcth; the
wind passcth over it and it is gone" Or you
will quote from Isaiah: ''All flesh is grass,
end the goodness thereof is as the flower
of tho field" Or you will quote from James
the Apostle: "As the flower of tho grass, so
he passeth away" What graphic Bible SYM
bolism!
All the cat flowers of this Easter day will
soon be dead, whatever care you take of them.
Though morning and night you baptize them
in the name of tho shower, tho baptism will
not be to them saving ordinance. They
have been fatally wounded with the knife
that cut them They arc bleeding their life
eway; they are dying now. The fragrance
in tho air is their departing and ascending
spirits.
Oh yesl flowers arc almost human. Bot
anists tell us that flowers breathe, they take
nourishment, they eat. they drink They
arc sensitive They have their likes and dis
likes. They sleep, they wake. They live in
families. They have their ancestors and
their descendants, their birth, their burial,
their cradle, their grave. The zephyr rocks
the one, and the storm digs the trench for
tho other The cowslip must leave its gold,
the lily must leave its silver, the rose must
leave its diamond necklace Of morning dew.
Dust to dust. So wo come up, VIC prosper,
we spread abroad, we die, as tho fowcr-as
the fower
Change and decay Oh all around see:
o thou who changest not, abide with mel
Flowers also afford mighty symbolism of
Christ, who compared himself to the IN
Gent queen, tho lily, and tho modern
queen, the rose, when he said 81 am the
rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys"
Rcdolent like tho ono humble like the other.
Like both, appropriate for the sad who want
sympathizcrs and for the rejoicing who
want banqueters lowering over the mar
riago ceremony like wedding bell, or folded
like u chaplet on the pulseless heart of the
dead.
Oh, Christi let the perfume Of thy name
be waited around the earth-lily and rose,
lily and rose-until the wilderness crimson
into garden, and tile round Garth turn into
one great bud of immortal beauty laid
against the warm heart of God. Snatch
down from the worlds banners eagle and
lion, and put on lily and roso, lily and rose.
But, my friends, flowers have no grander
use than when on Easter morning VIC cele-
brate the termination Of Christ from the
cctacombs. ALI tho flowers of to-day spell
resurrection. There is not a nook or corner
in ell tho building but is touched with the in
ccnse. The women carried spices to the
tomb of Christ, and they dropped spices all
around about the tomb, and from those
spices have grown all tho flowers of Easter
morn. The two white robed angels that
hurled the stone away from the door OF the
tomb, hurled it with such violence down the
hill that it crashed in the door of the worlds
sepulcher, and millions of the stark and dead
shall como forth.
However labyrinthian the mausoleum,
however costly the sarcophagus, however
INTELLECTUALLY grand the metropolis, how