Sharp County record., 1888-04-19

urv ago comes thrODDlnS lulou9A
tba air; and vanished faces reap
near. and right hands are joined,
and a manly voice promises: Twill 1or
better or for worse" and the wedding
march thunders a salvo of joy at the de-
narting crowd: but sigh on that an
niversary day scatters the scene. Unuel
the deep fetched breath, the affair." lne
flowers, the congratulatlng groups arc
scattered, and there is nothing left Dut
trembling hand holding faded rose
bud. which is put into the paper, ana the1
into tbe box, and the box carefully placed
in tbe bureau, and with a sharp, sudden
click of the lock the scene is over
All, my friends, let not the prophecle5S
of the flowers on your wedding DAY DO
false prophecies. Be blind to each others
faults. Make the most of each others
excelencies. Above ALL do not both get
mad at once! Remember the VOWS, the
ring on the third finger of the left hand
and the benediction Of the Gala lilies.
3, If YOU insist on asking me the ques-
ton; What are flowers good for? an
swer: They are good to honor and COM
fort the obsequies. The worst cash ever
made into the side of our poor earth IS the
cash of the grave. 1t is so deep, 1t IS SO
cruel. it is so oincurable that it needs some
thing to cover it up. Flowers for the cas-
ket, flowers for the hearse, flowers for the
cemetery.
What contrast between a grave IN a
country church yard, with the fence broken
down and the tombstone aslant and the
neighboring cattle browsing amid the
mullen stalks and the Canada thistle, and
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
sleeping under rags and sleeping under
an embroidered blanket. We want Old
Mortality with his chisel to go through the
grave-yards of Christendom, and while he
carries a 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
| living city as there are conveys coming
from Heaven to earth and if there be in
Simultaneous 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 W1lG
flowers in the forest and on the prairie
where no human eye ever sees them? He
planted them there for invisible intel
ligences to look at and admire
and when invisible intelligences
come to look at the wild flow
ers of the woods and the tablelands, vii
they not make excursion and see the flow
ers which you have planted in affection
ate remembrance Of them?
When | am dead l would like to have 6
handful of violets-any one could plucl
them out of the grass, or some one coult
| lift from the edge of the pond water lily
nothing rarely expensive or insane dis
play, as sometimes at funeral rites where
the display takes the bread from the chill
dren's mouths and the clothes from theil
backs, but something from the grea
| democracy of flowers. Rather than i'm
perial catafalqHe Of Russian Car, ash
some one whom may have helped by
| GosOel sermon or Christian deed to bring
a sprig of arbutus or handful Of China
astors.
| 1t was left for modern times to spell re
spect for the departed and comfort for the
living in letters of floral Gospel. Pillows
of flowers meaning rest for the pilgrim
who has got to the end of his journey
Anchor of flowers, suggesting the Christ
ian hope which we have as an anchor tC
the soul, sure and steadfast. Cross o.
flowers, suggesting the tree on which oul
sins were slain.
If had my way would cover up all the
dreamless sleepers, whether in golden
handled casket or pine box, whether {
kings mausOleum or potter's field witt
radiant and aromatic arborescence. The
Bible says, in the midst of the garder
there was sepulcher. / wish that every
sepulcher might be in the midst of the
garden.
A. If you insist on asking me the ques
ton: What are flowers good for? l an
swer for religious symbolism. Have yol
ever studied scriptural fora? The Bible
is an aboretum, it is divine conservatory
it is an 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 a flower and is Gu
down.
Or you will quote from the Psalmist:
As the flower of the field, so he perisheth tht
wind passeth over it. and it is gone.
Or you will quote from Isaiah:
All flesh is grass, and the goodness thereo
is as the flower of the field.
Or you will quote from James the apos
tie:
AS the flower of the grass, so he passetl
away.
What graphic Bible symbolism!
All the cut flowers of this Easter day
will soon be Dead whatever care you take
of them. Though morning and night yor
baptize them in the name of the shower
the baptism will not be to them a 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 all
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 dislikes. They sleep, they wake. They
live in families. They have their ancestors
and their descendants, the birth, theil