The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1891-04-10
before the King Of Grace. '"The Lord
l. Ho-ornnl Hnccornnf

Wnen one OF bne Olu SnElStldnS was
dying he said he saw on the sky the let
ter "V," and he said: 81 can not un-
derstand what that Is see against the
sky; it ia the letter "" A Chris
tian standing beside him said: 81
know what 1t means; that letter
w stands for victory" I gather up
all these flowers to-day, and strew
them over the graves of your Christian
dead in the letter ''V" for victory %
''R' for resurrection, '"T" for tri-
umph, - "H" for ''Heaven." ''The Lord
is risen" Hosannal
While standing around the place
where the Lord lay l am impressed
with the fact that mortuary honors
can not atone for wrongs to the living.
If they could have afforded Christ such a
costly sepulchre they could have af-
forded Him decent earthly residence.
VIII they give piece of marble to the
dead Christ when they might have given
a soft pillow to the living Christ. If
they had put half the expense of that
mausoleum in the making of Christ's S
life on earth comfortable, the story
would not have been so sad. He wanted
bread; they gave Him a stone. Christ,
like every other benefactor of the
world, was better appreciated af-
ter He was dead Westminster
abbey and monumental Greenwood
are to a certain extent the worlds at
tempts by mortuary honors to atone for
neglects to the living. Poets corner in
Westminster abbey an attempt to pay
for the sufferings of Grub street. l go
into that poets corner of Westminster
abbey and there l find the grave of
Handel, the musician from whose music
we hear to-day, as it goes down rever-
berating through the ages. While
stand at the costly tomb of Handel 1
can not forget that fact that his
fellow-musicians tried to destroy him
with their discords. 1 go a little
further in the poets corner of
Westminster abbey and 1 find the
grave of John Dryden, the great poet.
Costly monument, great .mortuary hon
ors, but can not forget the fact that
at seventy years of age he wrote about
the expressions of misfortune and that
he made contract for one thousand
verses at sixpence line. l go little
further on in thei poets corner and 1
find the grave of Samuel Butler, the
author of "Hudibras.'' Wonderful
monument, costly mortuary honors.
Where did he die? Ina garret. I move
further on in the poets corner, and /
find the grave of a poet of whom Waller
wrote: 'An old schoolmaster by the
name of John Milton has written a
tedious volume on the fall of man.
If it's length be no virtue, it has
none" 1 go little further on
in the poets corner end I find
the grave of Sheridan. Alasl for Sher-
idan. Poor Sheridan! Magnificent
mortuary honors. What pity it was
he could not have discounted that mon
ument for mouthful of something to
eat! o, unflial children, give your old
parents less tombstone and more
blankets, less funeral and more bed
room. Five per cent. of the money now
expended at Burns banquets would
have made the great Scotch poet COM
Portable and kept him from being al
most harried to death by the
drudgery of an exciseman. Horace
Greely, outrageously abused while he
lived, going out to his tomb was fol-
lowed by the president of the United
States and the leading men of the
army and the navy. Some people could
not say bitter enough things about him
while he lived; all the world rose up to
do him honor when he died. Massa-
chusetts at the tomb of Charles Sum-
ner, tried to atone for the ignominious
resolutions with which her legislature
1oDn,1noo6 hn =
too late. The costly monument at
Springfield, Ill, can not pay for Booths
bullet. Costly mortuary honors on
the banks of Lake Erie-honors that
cost between two hundred thousand
and three hundred thousand dollars
can not pay for the assassination
of James A. Garfield. Do justice to the
living. All the justice you do you will
have to do this side the gates of the
metropolis. The dead can not wake up
to count the number of carriages in the
procession, or see the polish on the
Aberdeen granite, or to read the words
of epitaphal commemoration. Costly
mausoleum of the gentleman in the
suburbs of Jerusalem can not atone for
Bethlehem's manger and Calvarean
Again! Standing in this place where
the Lord lay, am impressed with the
fact that floral and sculptural orna-
ments are appropriate for the places of
the dead. We are all right that in the
short time of the Saviour's inhumaufoz
He lay amid flowers and sculpture.
can not quite understand what / see in
the newspapers, where amid the an
nouncements of obsequies the friends
request "send no flowers" Why, there
is no place so appropriate for flowers as
the casket of the departed. If your
means allow repeat, if your means al
low-let there be flowers on the casket;
flowers on the hearse, flowers on the
grave. Put them on the brow; it means
Put them in the hand; it
means victory. Christ was buried in
a parterre. Christ was buried in a gar
den. Flowers are types of resurrection.
Death is sad enough anyhow. Let con-
servatory and arboretum do all they can
in the way of alleviation. Your little
girl loved flowers while she was alive.
Put them in her hands, now that she can
not go forth and pluck flowers for her
self. On sunshiny days twist garland
for her still heart. Brooklyn has no
grander glory than her Greenwood, nor
Boston than her Mount Auburn, nor
Philadelphia than her Laurel Hill, nor
Cincinnati than her Spring Grove, nor
San Francisco than her Lone Mountain.
What shall / say of these country grave
yards where the vines have fallen down
and the slab is aslant and the mound
in cayed in. and the grass is the Dasture