The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1888-11-14
An Evening Talk.

that meditative glow which is, some
how, so suggestive of serious thought,
lapsing, by and by, into quiet reverie.
We had been silent for some time. as
good friends can afford to be in each
others company, when my last thought
almost spoke itself aloud: "What an
awfully sad thing death isl" said l. A
stray tongue of flame played for a mo-
ment in one corner of the CRATE, casting
a rosy light over my friends gray hair
she was a good deal older than /
and rejecting itself in her eyes. She
looked at me for a moment before an
swering Do you think SOP" she said.
" Yes,' l answered, 1 can't think of
it in any other way than as awfully,
terribly sad" cit don't seem SC to
me-" she remarked, quietly. l was ST.
lent for few moments, looking into
the fire and wishing knew more of her
thought AT length she went on: 81
used to think of death as the end of
everything; but now, it seems to me
the beginning. Our souls are so cramped
and hedged in by these bodies of ours
that thought, feeling, imagination, in
short, all our spiritual faculties, act
under constraint and at disadvantage.
We only half see the realities of which
our earthly surroundings are the shad-
ows. But death is the hand which, at
one stroke, will set us free from all our
feshly disabilities, and l think we shall
realize then that we are but just begin
ming 10 live. Then we are so fond of
talking about our work in this world!
1t seems to us that the narrow horizon
of this life bounds the sphere of our ac-
complishment. You know how often
the lament is expressed at the death of
some good man that his work was cut
short so soon. l think we shall see
some time that his real work only began
where we thought it ended What he
did here was but preparation, learn
ing how, like the mechanics appren-
ticeship. When 1 think how rough
and imperfect is even our best work
here, and how far the highest of what
we call achievement falls short of our
desires and ideals, and when l remem-
Der that this is, perhaps, the result of a
whole lifetime of preparation and effort,
l cannot help feeling that, if death be
the utter end of all this, then human
life and work is the most pathetic fact
of the universe. But thinking of death
as the end only of the novitiate, the
beginning of the real service of eter-
nifty makes it all plain; and | love to
look forward to that world where the
work will be ceaseless because there
will be no need of rest. like Mary
Lyons idea of heaven as place of
intense activity"
She paused again, her fingers play
ing among the soft folds of her gown,
while the light in her eyes grew brighter.
Then she said in a low voice, " Some
times, when | think of death, | feel a
little thrill like that with which l used
to think of going home when l was
away at school, The thought of seeing
again those who have been out of our
sight so long, is almost too much hap
piness."
"Do you really expect to see them
and to know them?" / asked in a tone
am afraid, a little skeptical. There
were surprise and pity both in the quick
look she darted into my eyes as she
exclaimed, Certainly! Why not?"
"Oh!" l said, "these things all seem
so far off and shadowy to me 1t is al
one great perhaps. )" MY DEAR" she
answered, " Heaven is the most rea
place of all the universe. Our best
loves and joys here are only the shadow;
of its substance. You know, in Pill
grim's Progress Christian and Hope
full saw the Delectable Mountains
through the glass. Do you suppose
they ever doubted again that there was
Celestial City? No more need we, il
we turn the glass of faith heavenwart
and see it for ourselves" "Well, il
death be such a cheerful thing, ther
why are all it's accessories made Sc
gloomy and fearsome?' 81 think We
are wrong in making them So" she re
piled. 81 remember house l used Il
pass often, whose blinds were for {
long time kept closed or opened only {
crack, because some months before thu
good old mother of the family had gone
out of the dark into the exceeding ligh
of heaven. l always wanted to oper
those blinds and let the sunlight in t
suggest to the lonely daughters som'
sympathy with the light and joy int
which she had entered. The more viviC
our sense of the infinite happiness of gu
Christian friends in going to heaven
the better shall we be able to bear GU
grief at losing their visible presenc,