Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1892-04-20
Easter.

It is true that after the desolateness OF
winter we have the warmth and yer
dure of spring. The streams are re
leased from their icy letters; the
branches that were bare and brown re-
new their waving foliage; the robins
which left with the first chill Of autumn,
come back to greet us with their happy
song; the fruit trees once more put
out their fragrant blossoms, and the
lawn and meadow are carpeted again
with living green. Then follow the
long bright summer and the golden
harvest, and we half forget the bleak
over the earth its fatal mantle and
laid away all that was bright and love
ly to decay and death. And when the
winter once more comes creeping III
with its blighting touch, we recall the
vernal succession and wait with a
patient spirit for the promised return
of song. and leaf, and flower and fruit.
| We hope because our eyes have seen
the change in each revolving year.
The spring may have been delayed and
the icy fingers may have Knocked our
in releasing the frozen earth from their
deadly grasp, but all this seeming re-
luctance has had its end, and the
brightness and tbeauty have not only
been all the more welcome, but have
come in with swifter feet when called
to a new life by the impatient sun.
The eyes, unac eustomed to weeping,
see the lesson thus written upon the
revolving seasons, and the hearts which
have never been wrung with the
anguish of bereavement, accept the as
surance thus given that new life shall
follow the dreariness of decay. But
when the sorrow comes with its blind
ing tears and ties that made the hearts
sweetest comfort have been rudely
severed, the stars go out one by one
behind the gathering clouds, and to
the eye of sense there is no hope above
the hiding grave. The child has fallen
asleep in its mothers arms to lullaby
from the spirit land, and she cannot
bring back the lost color to its pallld
cheek. She wraps the stiffened form
in the daintiest robe, and hides it in a
siIken casket, and lays it away to its
rest. It is winter with her now, the
chill is in her heart, and verdure and
bloom have all gone out of her life
The flowers may blossom again about
her home and the birds sing once more
| beneath her windows, but will this one
bud so dear to her find some spring
| time for it's return?
Friends walk together in sweet con
verse along the path of life, 1.-TWO souls
| by love together knit, two hearts thai
beat as one,n until they come to the
dividing of the way. One fades from
the path into the land Of silence, ano
the other with bitter means and falter
ing, stumbling feet, as if the strength
had all gone out of the tottering limbs
goes on alone. The spring in the
natural world may come ever so early
after the desolate winter, but it does
not bring the glad sunshine to the
aching heart. When the frozen tur
hid beneath its covering so brown an(
bare no one that was fondly loved an(
longed for, the future seemed brighr
with the promise of returning verdure
But when the form of one so fondly
cherished lies buried in its icy clasp
the assuring voice seems but a knocking
echo. The fierce December blasts how
their hoarse dirges above the hiding
tomb, and there comes from neither
earth nor the brooding heavens any
answer to the agonizing cry. The
voices of nature make sweet harmony
for one whose happy spirit is attuned
to the music they sing, but they can
not restore the lost chord when the
hearts strings have been rudely Jared
or broken.
Into a life burdened at every step
with griefs that find so little of help or
comfort in the visible world about us
there comes with the Easter anthem
not only blessed hope, but positive
assurance that answers every question
of the aching heart. The old inquiry
that springs so often to the lip, "If a
man die shall he live again ~ does not
wait for a response at the portals OF
the hiding tomb. 1t has been answered
by One who burst the bars of death,
bringing life and immortality to light,
and leading captive the blighting frost
that makes the hopeless winter for
those who have been bereaved. The
seal of the sepulchre has been broken
and the hiding stone forever rolled
away. The resurrection is not some
thing to be revealed, but fact &C
complished. There comes to all the
children of men this day an invitation
within which is bound up new life
for lost and dying world. ''Come see
the place where the Lord lay.' has in
it the pledge of an open tomb for all
that have been laid away to the last
slumber any may know.
HE is not here; he is risen," has in
it the prophecy and pledge that every
eye now closed shall open once more to
the light of a new and brighter day
The first fruits are an earnest of the
harvest, but here we have the ground
of a still surer faith, for He, whose
rising we commemorate this day, has
promised that he will bring with Him
when the call is issued all that have
fallen asleep in this blessed hope. The
new life is no longer a theory it has
had it's beginning and there is to be no
after break in the glad procession. The
eternal spring time has come to glad
den every grief-stricken mourner, and
it has come to stay. 1t gilds with a
perpetual rainbow every mound that
hides mans mouldering dust, and
throws its brilliant hues over the waves