The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1888-04-13


What contrast between . grave in q
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 Q
June morning in Greenwood. the wave Of
roseato bloom rolling to the top Of the
mounds, and then breaking into foaming
crests Of white flowers all around the pill
lows Of dust. It Is the difference between
sleeping under rags and sleeping under an
embroidered blanket We want Old Nor
taiity with his chisel to 60 through all the
graveyards OF ChristendOm. and while he
carries chisel In one hand, we want Old
Mortality to have some flvwer-seed IN the
palm Of the other hand.
TO-" you say, 1.-THE dead don't know; 1t
makes no difference to them" think you
are mistaken. There are not 30 many
steamers and rail trains coming to any
living city as there are conveys coming
from Heaven to earth; and il there be in
Simultaneous and constant communication
between this world and the better world,
dc you not suppose your departed friends
know what you do with their bOdiesl Why
has God planted 'golden rod" and wild
flowers in the forest and on the prairies
where no human eye ever sees them! He
planted them there for invisible intelli-
gences to look at and admire. and when in
visible inteliigences 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
affectionate remembrance Of theml
When am dead would like to have a
handful Of viOlcts-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 dis
play, as sometimes at funeral rites where
the display takes the bread from the chill
dren's mouths, and the clothes from their
backs, but some thing from the great
democracy of flowers. Rather than i'm
perial catafalque of Russian Gar, 1 ask
some one whom may have helped by
gospel sermon or Christian deed to bring a
sprig Of arbutus or o handful Of china
aster5.
II had my way would cover up all the
dreamless sleepers, whethe in golden.
handled casket or pine box, whether a
kings mausOleum or potter's field, with
radiant and aromatic arborescence. The
Bible says, in the midst OF the garden there
was a sepulcher. wish that every sepul-
cher might be in the midst of garden.
FOurth-If you insist on asking me the
question: What are flowers good fort
answer for religious symbolism. Have you
ever studied scriptural fioral The Bible is
an arboretum, it is a divine conservatory,
it is herbarium Of exquisite beauty. II
you want to illustrate the brevity of the
brightest human life, you will quote from
Job: "A man cometh forth as flower and
is cut down." Or you will quote from the
Psalmist: 'As 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 godliness there
of is as the flower of the field" Or you
will quote from James the Apostle: LAS
the flower Of the grass, so he passelh
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 you
baptlze them in the name of the shower,
the baptism will not be to them saving
ordinance. They have been fatally wound
cd 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.
u. yesi 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, 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, tho lily
must leave its silver, the rose must leave
its diamond necklace OF morning dow. Dust
to dust. So we come up. we prosper, we
spread abroad, we die, Us the fower-as
the flowers!
Change and decay on all around see:
o Thou who changest not. abide with mel
Flowers also afford mighty symbol. SIN OF
Christ. who compared Himself to the
ancient queen, the lily and the modern
queen. the rose, when He said: ~ am the
rose OF Sharon. and the lilv Of the valley"
Redolcnt like the one, humble like the
other. Like both, appropriate for the sad
who want sympathizers, and for the rejo:c-
ing who want banqueters. lowering over
the marriage ceremony like wedding bell,
or folded like q chaplet on the pulseless
heart OF the dead.
o Christi let the perfume Of Thy name
be waited all arouni the earth-lily and
rose, lily and rose-until the wilderness
crimson into q 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 termination Of Christ from the
catacombs. All the flowers Of to-day spell
resurrection. There Is not nook or corner
in all the building but Is touched with the
incense. 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 whiterobed angels that
hurled 1t with such violence down the bill
that it crashed in the door Of the worlds
sepulcher, and millions Of tho stark and
dead shall come forth.
However labyrinthian the mausoleum,
however costly the sarcophagus, however
architecturaly grand the metropolis, how
ever beautifully parterred the family
grounds, we want them all broken up by
the Lord Of the resurrection The forms
that we laid away our broken hearts must
raise 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
mora. The arms that we fold
ed in death must loin ours in embrace OF re-
union. The beloved voice that was hushed
must be returned. The beloved form must
come up without its infrmities, without its
1t must come up.
o, how long it seems for some Of you.
Waiting-waiting for the resurrection.
How long! hov long! l make for your
broken hearts ts-day a cool, soft bandage
of Easter lilies. Last night we mad come in
the mails o beautiful Easter card, on the