Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1888-04-13

81 will for better or for worse" and the
wedding march thunders a salvo of joy at
the departing crowd; but n sigh on that an :
niversary day scatters the scene. Under
the deep fetched breath, the altar, the
flowers, the congratulating groups are
i trembling hand holding faded rosebud.
which is put into the paper, and then into
the box. apd the box carefully placed in
the bureau, and. with sharp, sudden
click OF the lock, the scene is over,
All, my friends, let not the prophecies of
the flowers on your wedding day be false
/ prophecies. Be blind to each others faults.
Make the most of each others eXcellencies.
/ Above all, do not both got mad at once!
! Remember the VOWS, the ring on the third
I finger of the left hand, and the benediction
of the Gala lilies.
/ 3. II you insist on asking me the ques-
ton, what are flowers good for? ans wer,
they are good to honor and comfort the
obsequies. The worst cash ever made into
the side of our poor earth is the cash of
the grave. 1t is so deep, it is so cruel, it
is SO incurable that it needs something to
cover it up. Flowers for the casket, flow
ers for the hearse, flowers for the cemo-
/ terry.
What contrast between a grave in a
country 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 n
June morning in Greenwood. the wave of
roscate bloom rolling to the top OF the
mounds, and then breaking into foaming
cres!s of white flowers eli around the pill
| lows of dust. 1t is the difference between
| sleeping under rags and sleeping under an
embroidered blanket. We want Old Nor
tality with his chisel TO go through all the
graveyards of Christendom, and while he
carries a chissl i'll one hand, we want Old
! Mortality to have some flower seed in the
! the palm of the other hand.
ooh" you say, "the dead don't know; it
makes no difference to them" There are
not so many steamers and rail trains COM
ing to any living city as there are con-
voys coming from Heaven to earth;
and ii there be instantaneous and constant
communication between this world and the
better world, do you not suppose your de-
parted friends know what you do with
their bodies? Why has God planted
sgoldcn rod" and wild flowers in the for
est and on the prairie where no human
eye ever sees them? He planted them
there for invisible intelligences to look
at and admire, and when invisible intelli-
woods and table lands, will they not make
excursions and see the flowers which you
have planted in atfectionate remembrance
of thom?
When am dead, / would like to have a
handful of violets-any one could pluck
them out of the grass, or some could lift
from the edge of the pond a water lily
nothing rarely expensive or insane display,
as sometimes at funeral rites whore the
| display takes the bread from the chiidren's
mouths. and the clothes from thoir backs,
but something from the great democracy
OF flowers. Rather than imperial cata-
whom may have helped by gospel sermon
or Christian deed to bring sprig of ar
butus or handful of china asters.
1t was left for modern times TO spell re-
spect for the departed and comfort the
living in letters of floral gospel. Pillows
of flowers, meaning rest for the pilgrim
who has get to the end of his journey.
Anchor of flowers, suggesting the Chris
! tian hope which We have as an anchor to
tho 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 sleepers, whether in golden
handled casket or pine box, whether q
kings mausoleum or Potters Field, will
radiant and aromatic aboresence. The
Bible says, in the midst of the garden
there was sepulcher. wish that every
sepulcher might be in the midst OF gar
den.
4. If you insist on asking me the ques-
ton: What are flowers good for? l an
swer for religious symbolism. Have you
ever studied Scriptural flora? The Bible
is on arbetum, it is divine conservatory,
want to illust. ate the brevitv of the bright.
est human life, you will quote from Job:
"a man cometh forth as flower and is cut
down." Or you will quote from the Psalm.
list: CAS- the flower of the field, so he
perisheth; the wind passeth over it, and il
is gone." Or you will quote from Isaiah
Call flesh is grass, and the goodness
thereof is as the flower of the field" Oh
you will quote from James the apostle: "Ae
the flower of the grass, SO he passett
away" What graphic Bible symbolism!
All the cut flowers this Easter day viii
soon be dead. whatever care you take Of
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; the,
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 anc
dis]ikes. They sleep, they wake. They
live in families. They have their ancestor.
and their descendants, their birth, thei
; burial, their cradle, their grave. The
zephyr rocks the one, aud the storm dig
the trench for the other. The cowsli,
must leave it's gold, the lily must leave it
silver, the rose must leave its diamond
necklace of morning dew. Dust to dust
So We come up, we prosper, we sprea,
abroad, we die, as the tlower-as th,
flower!
Change and decay on all sides see;
o thou who changest not, abide with me!
Flowers also afford mighty symbolism
of Christ, who compared himself to tn.
ancient queen, the lily, and the moder,
/ queen, the rose, when He said: II am tn
, rose of Sharon and the lily of the valleys.
Redolent like the one, humble like til.
other. Like both, appropriate for the sad
who want sympathizers, and for the re.
joicing, who want banqueters. Hoverins
over the marriage ceremony like weddinl
, bell, or folded like chaplet on the pulse
less heart of the dead.
J Oh, Christ! let the perfume or thy nam,
be waited all around the earth-iily ant
, rose lilv and rOse-unfi1 the uil1erras