Sharp County record., 1891-04-23

ter W. and he said: II can not un-
derstand what that Is l see against the
sky; it is the letter "" A Chris
tian standing beside him said: Il
know what it means; that letter
w stands for victory" gather up
all these flowers to-day, and l strew
them over the graves of your Christian
dead in the letter ~" for victory, "
"R" for resurrection, IT. for tri-
umph, III for Heaven" THE Lord
is risen" HOsanna.
While standing around the place
where the Lord lay l am impress ed
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 a decent earthly residence.
viii they give a 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
life on earth comfortable. the story
would not have been so sad. He wanted
bread; they gave Him stone. Christ,
like every other benefactor of the
world, was better appreciated af-
ter He was dead. Westminster
abbey and monumental Greenwood
are to 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. | 60
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 l
stand at the costly tomb of Handel l
can not forget that fact that his
fellow-musicians tried to destroy him
with their discords. l go little
further in the poets corner Of
Westminster abbey and l find the
grave of John Dryden, the great poet.
Costly monument, great 'mortuary hon
ors, but I can not forget the fact that
at seventy years Of age he wrote about
the expressions of misfortune and that
he made a contract for one thousand
verses at sixpence line go little
further on in thei poets corner and |
find the grave of Samuel Butler, the
author of "Hudibras." Wonderful
monument, costly mortuary honors.
Where did he die? Ina garret. l move
further on in the poets corner, and |
find the grave Of 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 its length be no virtue, it has
none" l go a little further on
in the poets corner and l find
the grave of Sheridan. Alas! 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 ol ~
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 tho 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
denounced the living Senator, 1t was
too late. The costly monument at
Springfield, H., 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 cptaphal commemoration, Costly
mausolcum Of the gentleman in the
suburbs Of Jerusalem can not atone for
Bcthlehcm's manger and Caiyarcan
cross and Pilates ruflan Judiciary.
Again, Standing in this place where
the Lord lay, am impressed with the
fact that floral and sculptural oina-
ments are appropriate for the places Of
the dead We are all right that in the
short time of the Sayiours inhumation
He lay amM flowers and sculpture. |
can not quite understand what see in
the newspapers, where amid the an
Of obsequies the friends
request "send no flowers" Why, there
is no place so appropriate for flowers as
the caslict Of the departed. II your
means allow--I repeat, II your means al
low-lct there be flowers on the caskct;
flowers on the hcOrse, flowers ON the
grave, Put them on the ow;itmcans
coronation. Put them IN the hand; II
means victory Christ was buried in
"A nnrinrrn Christ yyng buricd In n pnr-