Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1888-04-02

tne bureau, and with sharp, sudden click
OF the lock the scene is over.
Ah, my friends, Let not the prophecies
of the flowers ON your wedding day bt
false prophecies. Be blind to each Others
faults. Make the most Of each others ex.
cellencies. Above all do not both gel
mad at oncel Remember the vows, the
ring On the finger of the left hand, and
the benediction OF the Gala lilies.
III. If you insist on asking me the
question: What are flowers good forP
answer, they are good to honor and com,
fort the obsaquies. The worst cash ever
made into the side Of our poor earth i
the cash Of the grave. 1t is so deep, it is
30 cruel, it is 30 incurable that il needs
something to cover It mp.
FLOWERS FOR THE CAsKEr.
flowers for the hearse, flowers for the
cemetery. q
What contrast between a grave in a
country churehyard, with the fence broken
down and the tombstone aslant, and the
neighboring catlie browsing amid the
MULLEN stalks, and the Canada thistles,
aud a June morning in Greenwood, the
wave of roseate bloom rolling to the top OF
the mounds, and then breaking into foam
ing crests OF white flowers all around the
pillows Of dust. 1t is the difference be.
tween sleeping under rags and sleeping
uuder an embroidered blanket. We want
Old Mortality with his chisel to 90 through
all the graveyards 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;
il makes no difference to them" / think
you are mistaken. There are not steamers
and railroad trains coming tO any living
city as there are conveys coming frouI
heaven to earth; and if there be instan-
taneous and constant communication be-
tween this world aud 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 eve ever sees themp He
planted them there for invisible intelli-
gences to look at and admire, and when
invisible intelligences come TO look at the
wildflowers of the woods and the table
lands. will they not make excursions to see
the flowers which you have planted in
affectionate remembrance Of them?
When am dead, would like 10 have q
handful Of viOlets-anyone can pluck them
out of the grass, or someone could lift
them from the edge OF the pond water
lily-nothiDg really expensive or insane
display, as sometimes 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 may have
helped by Gospel sermon CT Christian deed
to bring sprig of arbutus or handful of
China asters.
II was left for modern times 10 spell re-
spect 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. Cross 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
handled Casket or pine box, whether a
Kings mausoleum~r Potter's Field. with
radiant and aromatic arborescencs. The
Bible says, in the midst OF the garden
there was sepulchre. wish that every
sepulchre might be in the midst OF gar
den.
". If you insist on asking me the
question: What are flowers good foI? an.
swer for religious symbolism. Have you
ever studied Scriptural flora? The Bible
is an arbetum, it is a divine conservatory,
il is herbarium OF exquisite beauty. If
you want TO illustrate the brevity of the
brightest human life, you will quote from
Job: "A man cometh forth as q flower and
is cut down" Or will You quote from
the Psslmist: "As the flower OF the field,
50 he perisheth; the wind passeth over it,
and it Is gone" Or you will quote from
Isaiah: "All flesh is grass, and the goOdli.
ness thereof il as the flower of the field"
Or you will quote from james the Apostle:
"As the flower of the grass, 80 he passeth
away" What graphic Bible symbolism!
All the cut flowers of this Easter day
will soon be dead, whatever care you take
of them. Through 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 nos. The fra
GRANGE in the air is their departing and
ascending spirits.
Oh yes! flowers are almost human.
Botanists tell us that flowers breathe, they
take nouTishment, they eat, they drink
They are sensitive. They have their likes
and Gislikes. 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
necklace Of morning dew. Dust
to dust. So we came up, we prosper, we
spread abroad, We die, IS the flower as
the hower!
Change and decay on all around / see:
o Thou who changest not, abide with me,
Flowers also afford mighty sym bOlism
of Christ, who compared Himself to the
ancient queen, the lily, aud the modern
queen, the rose, when he said: ~ 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 re-
ioicipg who want banQuetsrs. lowering
over the marriage ceremony like wedding
bell, or folded like chaplet on the pulse
less heart Of the dead.
On, Christ let the perfume Of thy name
be waited all around the earth-lily and
rose, lily and rose-until the wilderness
crimson into a 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.
But, my friends, flowers have no grander
use than when on Easter morning we cele-
brate the resurrection Of Christ from the
catacombs. All the flowers Of to-day spell
There is not nook or cor
ner in all the building bat that is touched
With the incense. The women carried to
the tomb Of Christ, and they dropped
spices all around about the tomb, and iron
those spices hsve grown all the flowers Of
Easter morn. The two white-robed angels
a :. l-I-l Az .ko,a a-av f.,,, Ar 49,