The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-04-02

sion up the church aisle, and the dead music
of half century ago comes throbbing
through the air; and vanished faces reap
pear, and right hands are joined, and a
manly voice promises: Il will for better or
for worse, and the wedding march thunders
a salvo of joy at the departing crowd; but
a sigh on that anniversary day scatterS the
scene. Under the deep-fetched breath, the
altar, the flowers, the congratulating groups
are scattered, and there is nothing left but
trembling hand holding a faded rosebud.
which is put into the paper, and then into
the box, and the box carefully placed in the
bureau, and with a 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 get mad at once Re
member the VOWS, the ring on the third
finger of the left hand, and the benedction
of the Calla lilies.
III, Ii you insist on asking me the ques-
ton: What are flowers good for | an
swer, they are good to honor and comfort
the obsequles. 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 flowers
What contrast between a grave in n
country churchyard, with the fence broken
down and the tombstone aslant, and the
nelghboring cattle browsing amid the mul-
lein stalks, and the Canada thlstles, and a
June morning in Greenwood, the wave of
roseate bloom rolling to the top of the
mounds, and then breaking into foaming
creSts of white flowers all around the pill
lows of dust. 1t is the difference between
Cln ala
embroidered blanket. We want old NOR
tality with his chisel to go 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; it
makes no difference TO them" | think you
are mistaken. There are not so many
steamers and rail trains coming to any liv-
ing city as there are conveys coming from
heaven to earth; and if there be instanta-
neous 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 theml He planted
them there for invisible intelligences to look
at and admire, and when invisible intelh
gences come to look at the wild flowers of
the woods and the tablelands, will they not
make excursion and see the flowers which
you have planted in affectionate remem-
brance 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-lily-
nothing rarely expensive or insane display,
as sometimes at funeral rites where the dis
play takes the bread from the children's
mouths, and clothes from their backs, but
something from the great democracy of
flowers. Rather than imperial catafalque of
Russian Gar, | ask some one whom | may
ahve helped by Gospel sermon or Christian
deed to bring a sprig of arbutus or a handful
of China asters.
1t was left for modern times to 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.
If | had my way, would cover up all
the dreamless sleepers, whether in golden
handled casket or pine box whether a King
mausoleum or Potter's Field, with radiant
and aromatic arborescence. The Bible says
IL the midst of the garden there was a
sepulcher. / wish that every sepulcher
might be in the midst Of garden.
". IL you insist on asking me the ques-
tion: What are flowers good for? | answer
for religious symbolism. Have you ever
studied Scriptural fora? The Bible is an
arbetum, it is a divine conservatory, it is a
herbarium of exquisite beauty If you want
to illustrate the brevity Of the brightest
bup,ov Iifo van will 1nOta from, Lob. - A
man cometh forth as a flower and is cut
down" Or you will quote from the Psalm
ist "As the flower Of the field, so he perish
eth; the wind passeth over it, and it is
gone" Or you will quote from Isaiah :
"Al flesh Is grass, and the goodness thereof
is as the flower of tho field" Or you will
quote from James, the Apostle: "As the
flower of the grass, so he passeth away"
What graphic Bible symbolisml
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 n 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 de
parting and ascending spirits.
Oh yes flowers are almost human. Bot
anlSUS tell US JndJ mowers DfedJHe, Lney
take nourishment, they eat, they drink.
They are sensitive. They have their likes
and disikes. 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 di rs
the trench for the other.
The cowsllp must leave its gold the lily
must leave its silver, the rose must leave its
diamond necklace Of morning dew. Du
to dust. 50 we come up, we prosper, We
spread abroad, we die, as the fiower-as
the flower!
Change and decay on all around gee;
o Thou who changest not, abide with mef
Flowers also afford mighty symbolism Of
Christ, who compared himself to the an
cient queen, the lily, and the modern queen,
the rose, when he said: Il am the rose Of
Sharon and the lily of the valleys" Redo
lent like tho one, humble like the other.
Like both, appropriate for the sad who
want sympathizers, and for the rejoicing
who want bauqueters Hovering over the
marriage ceremony like a wedding bell or
folded Ike a chaplet on the pulseless heart
of the dead.
Oh, Christ, lot the perfume Of thy name
be waited all around the earth-lily and
rose, lily aud 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.
But, my friends, flowers have no grander
tgo than tvhan on Raster fnorninar wa rala-