The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1888-04-06

IOf Tue cotneUery
What contrast between grave in a coun-
try churchyard, with the fence broken
down, and the tombstone aslant, and the
neighboring cattle browsing amid the null
lein stalks and the Canada thistles, and q
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 all around the pillows
Of dust. It is the difference between sleeping
under rags and sleeping under an embroid-
cred blanket We want Old Mortality with
his chisel to go through all the gravevards Of
Christendom, and while he carries chisel in
one hand, we want Old Mortality to have
some flower seed in the palm of the other
hand.
"Oh," you say, "the dead don't know; it
makes no difference to them.n think you
are mistaken. There are not 50 many steam
ars and rail trains coming to any living city
as there are conveys coming from heaven 70
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 bodiesa Why has God planted golden
rodn and wild flowers in the forest and on
the prairie where no human eye ever sees
them2 He planted them there for invisible
intelligences to look at and admire, and
when invisible intelligences come to look at
the wild flowers of the woods and the table
lands, will they not make excursions and see
the flowers which you have planted in affec-
tionate remembrance of them2
When am dead I would like to have a
handful Of violets-any one could pluck them
out Of the grass, or some one could lift from
the edge Of the pond water hIy-nothing
rarely expensive or insane display, as some
times at funeral rites where the display takes
the bread from the children's mouths, and
the clothes from their backs, but something
from the great democracy Of flowers. Rather
than imperial catafalque Of Russian car, /
ask some one whom l may have helped by
gospel sermon or Christian deed to bring a
sprig Of arbutus or a handful of china asters
Il was left for modern times to spell respect
for the departed and comfort for the living
in letters of floral gospel Pillow of flowers
meaning rest for the pilgrim who has got to
the end Of his journey. Anchor of flowers,
suggesting the Christian hope which we have
as an anchor to the soul, sure and steadfast
Gross of flowers, suggesting the tree on which
our sins were slain. ....
II had my way, l would cover up all the
dreamless sleepers, whether in golden ham
mausoleum or potter's field, with radiant
and aromatic arboresence. The Bible says,
in the midst of the garden there was sep
ulcher. I wish that every ssepulcher might
be in the midst of garden.
". If you insist on asking me the question,
What are flowers good for? l answer, for
religious Symbolism. Have you ever studied
ScrIptural 1i;sraf The Bible is an arbetum,
it is divine conservatory, it is a herbarium
of exquisite beIu5y. If You want to illus
trate the brevity of the brightest human
life, you viii quote from Job: "a man
cometh forth A. q foTer and is cut down"
Or you will quote from the psalmist: Gas
the flower OF the field, so he perisheth; the
wind passeth over it and it is gone" Or you
will quote from Isaiah: "All flesh is grass,
and the goodness thereof is as the flower
of the field" Or you will quote from James
the Apostle: "As the flower of the grass, so
he passeth away" What graphic Bible SYM
bolisml
All the cut 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 the shower, the baptism will
not be to them saving ordinance. They
have been fatally wounded with the knife
that cut them. They are bleeding their life
away; they are dying now. The fragrance
in the air is their departing and ascending
spirits.
Oh yes flowers are almost human Bot
anists tell US that flowers breathe, they take
nourishment, they eat they drink. They
are 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
the 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 we come up, we prosper,
we spread abroad, we die, as the flower-as
the howerI
Change and decay on all around see:
o thou who changest not, abide with me!
Flowers also afford mighty symbolism of
Christ, who compared himself to the an
Gent queen, the lily, and the modern
queen, the rose, when he said: al am the
rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys"
Redolent like the one, humble like the other
Like both, appropriate for the sad who want
sympathizers, and for the rejoicing who
want banqueters lowering over the mar
riage ceremony like a wedding bell, or folded
like chapIet 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 the round earth 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 rose, lily and rose.
r. l., a..
use than when on Easter morning we cele-
brate the termination of Christ from the
catacombs All the flowers of to-day spell
resurrection. There is not a nook or corner
in all the building but is touched with the in
cense 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 the 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
bill that it crashed in the door of the worlds
sepulcher, and millions Of the stark and dead
shall come forth.
However labyrinthian the mausoleum,
however costly the sarcophagus, however
INTELLECTUALLY grand the metropolis, how
ever beautifully parterred the family
grounds we want them all broken up by
the Lord Of resurrection. The forms that
we laid away with our broken hearts must
rise again. Father and mother-they must
come out Husband and wife-they must
come out. Brothers and sisters-they must
come out Our darling children-they must
come out. The eyes that with trembling
| fingers we closed must open in the luster Of
resurrection morn The arms that we folded
In death must join ours in embrace of re-
union. The beloved voice that was hushed
must be returned The beloved form must
come up without its infirmities, without its
fatigues-it must come up.
Oh, how long it seems for some Of you
Waiting-waiting for the resurrection. How
longl how longl make for your broken
hearts today cool, soft bandage Of Easter
lilies. Last night we had come in the mails
beautiful Easter card, on the top of IL q
| representation of that exquisite flower called
the trumpet creeper," and under it the In
scription: "The trumpet shall sound, and
the dead shall be raised.n / comfort you
| this day with the thought of resurrection.
When Lord Nelson was buried In St Paul's
cathedral, in London, the heart Of all Eng
land was stirred. The procession passed on
amid the sobbing Of nation. There were
| thirty trumpeters stationed at the door Of
the cathedral, with instruments Of music In
hand, waiting for the signal, and when the
| illustrious dead arrived at the gates Of St
Pauls cathedral these thirty trumpeters
gave one united blast, and then all was Sd
lent. Yet the trumpets did not wake the
dead He slept right on.
But have to tell You what thirty trumpet
ers could not do for one man, one trumpeter
win do for all nations. The ages have rolled
on, and the clock Of the worlds destiny strikes
Q, 10, IL, IL, and time shall be no longerl
Behold the archangel lowering. He takes