The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1894-12-21

i miscellaneous.
From GethSemane to Central Park.
Written for The Egis.
The time was drawing near to Chist-
mas and vast preparations were being
made to celebrate the greatest of all
christian festivals. In one of our
largest cities there lived a young girl
named Esther Woodward, who seem
ed to be blessed with all the best gifts
of this life that anyone could wish or
hope for. She was young, remarkably
handsome, highly gifted and educat-
ed, enjoyed the best of health, and
was rich to her hearts content. She
had spent her young life, SO far, in the
whirl of what was considered the best
society in the city, and with all her
accomplishments and surroundings it
can readily be supposed that she was
sought after and petted by the select
circle in which she moved. At the
time of her introduction into this tale
she had justreturnedf from grand ball,
and had entered her room to retire
for the remainder of the night. But
with all the favors which nature and
fortune had bestowed on this young
lady, she was not happy. For two
years she had been the pet of society,
and it seemed to her that during this
whole time it had been her only care
to seek her own enjoyment She
could not think of a single instance
where she had taken the slightest
pains to procure or add to the happi-
ness or comfort of another. 1t is true
she was a member of church and at
tended services regularly, but when
she came to analyZe the cause of this
church-going, she thought it might be
merely a routine habit, and because it
was expected of her. She had attend
ed missionary meeting and had given
money freely for the conversion
of the heather. But had the heather
been converted? Had not the soldier
of civilized nations done more to civil
lie the savages of the world, than the
missionary?
The frivolity and empty show of So
ciety had palled on her. She had
been the belle and favorite of the ball
from which she had just returned,
but this had so often occurred that it
no longer gave her pleasure. She had
seen others at the ball just as hand
some and accomplished as she, but
because they were not nearly so rich
they had been neglected. Young as
she was she had already had more
than one offer of marriage, but this
gave her no satisfaction as she had
never had the slightest love for any
one that could lead to this result. She
had entered her bed, and in this dis
satisfied mood she finally fell asleep,
and after time she dreamed. And
this was the substance of her dream.
Time had rolled her back more than
eighteen centuries. Some force had
carried her nearly six thousand miles
away and she was i'll Jerusalem, the
Holy City of our Lord. 1t seemed
perfectly natural for her to be there
and she did not realize but that she
had always been there. The streets
appeared as familiar to her as
those of her native city. There was
quite crowd of people on the streets
and from their conversation it appear
| ed that something unusual was going
on She soon found that the subject
| of their conversation was the Christ.
A majority of the crowd appeared to
| be opposed to him, but there were
many also who spoke of him with
| bated breath and in the kindest man.
ner. She discovered that a majority
of those who seemed to favor him
were women, and some of them called
him the Lord, and Master. No one
seemed to take the slightest notice of
! Esther, and she passed through the
crowded street and over the Brook
| Kedron into what she knew was the
| Garden of Gethsemane. The place
was most beautiful one, and spout
| ing fountains, fruit-laden fig trees and
| lovely flowers were all around her.
Feeling somewhat fatigued she took a
seat, as there were plenty of them
scattered around. AS she sat there,
night suddenly fell upon the earth,
but as if by magic lighted torches
f1ared up all over the garden. When
she had been there for some time she
was attracted by the sound of voices,
and on looking in the direction from
whence came the sound, she beheld a
procession of some twelve or thirteen
persons coming toward her. At the
| head of the procession walked the
form of Him whom she Immediately
knew to be the Christ, and the others,
she supposed, were his disciples.
Thinking that she should not stay
| there, she arose and moved much far
ther back in the garden. Jesus and
his disciples seated themselves neal
where she had sat and entered into
conversation, but their distance from
her was so great that she could not
hear what they said. After awhile
Jesus and two or three of the others
arose and passing by Esther disap-
peared behind some fig trees from
whence f1oated the words of a most
solemn and pleading prayer. Soon
they returned to their companions,
but twice more the same proceeding
was repeated. In their journey back
and forth they came very near to
Esther, but they did not seem to see
or notice her. AS they returned the
third time Jesus was walking several
PAGES behind the Others, and with a
mighty effort Esther addressed him
on me-" Jesus turned and looking
upon her said "Woman what wouldst
thou" She answered him Il would
follow thee" He said ''In the flesh
thou canst not follow me, as go pres.
emily to put off this flesh for immor,
tality, but in the spirit thou canst
follow me always. My work in the
flesh is nearly finished, but in the
spirit it has just begun, and that work
must go on until all the people of the
earth are redeemed. Thou, and thy
sisters, can aid much in this work
now, and in the ages to come. &c
forth, follow my teachings and it will
be we'll with thee" Then laying His
hands on her head, he blessed her and
was gone.
On awakening it was some time be
fore Esther could realize her situation
and even her whereabouts. The
dream was so vivid and it had made
so strong an impression on her that il
took her freshly awakened mind some
time to dissipate it. And even then
she asked herself WAS it dream OF
was it revelation p But when she
came to fully realize that it was merel,