Democratic messenger., 1894-11-10

he last time
Oh. the long agony of earthly scpara-
ion. 1t Is awful 10 stand i'll your nurs-
cry fighting death back from the couch
If your child. and try to hold fast the
little one, and see all the time that he is
getting weaker. and the breath is short
er, and make outcry to God 10 help us
and to the doctors To save him. and see
il is of no avail. and then to know that
his spirit is gone and that you have
nothing left but the caskct that held the
jewel, and that i'll two or three days
you must even put that away and walk
around about the house and find it des-
plate, sometimes feeling rcbellious, and
then TO resolve to feel differently and Ia
resolve OH self control, and just as you
have come to what you think is perfect
self control to suddenly come upon some
little coat or picture or shoe half worn
out and how all the floods Of the soul
burst i'll one wild wall of agony. Oh.
my God, how hard il Is to part, To close
the eyes that never can look merry at
our coming. to kiss the hand that will
never again do Us u kindness. l know
religion gives great consolation i'll such
an hour. and We ought to be comforteG,
but anyhow and anyway You make ii
il is awful
No Tears Nor Grape.
On steamboat wharf and at rail car
window we may smile when wo say
farewell, but these goodbys at the death
bcd-they just take hold of the heart
with iron pincherS and tear il ont by
the roots until all the fibers quiver and
curl i'll the torture and drop thick blood.
These separations are wine presses, into
which our hearts. like red clusters, are
thrown, and then trouble turns the
windlass round and round until we are
utterly crushed and have no more ca
pacity to suffer, and we stop crying be-
cause We have wept all our tears
On every street. on every doorstep, by
every couch, there have been partings.
But once past the heavenly portals. and
you are through with such scenes for
ever. In that land there are many hand
claspings and embracings, but only in
recognition. That great home circle
never breaks. Once find your comrades
there. and you have them forever. No
Grape floats from the door of that bliss
full residence. No cleft hillside where
the dead sleep All awake. wide awake.
and forever. No pushing out of emf
grant ship for foreign shore. No tolling
of bell as the funeral passes. Whole
generations in glory. Hand to hand,
heart to heart, joy to joy. No creeping
up the limbs of the death chill, the feet
cold until hot fiannels cannot warm
them. Norattle of scpulchral gates. No
parting, no pain.
Further. the heavenly city will have
no pain of body. The race is pierced
with sharp distresses. The surgeon 5
knife must cut. The dentists pinchers
must pull. Pain is fought with pain.
The world is a hospital. Scores of dis
eases, like vultures contending for u car
cass, struggle rs To which shall have it.
Our natures are infinitely susceptible to
suffering. The eye, the foot, the hand,
with immense capacity of anguish.
The little child meets at the entrance
of life manifold diseases. You hear the
shrill cry of infancy as the lancet strikes
into the swollen gum. You see its head
toss in consuming fevers that take more
than half of them into the dust. Old
age passes. dizzy and weak and short
breathed and ,lim sighted On every
northeast wind come down picurisies
and pneumonias. War lifts its sword
and hacks away the life of whole gencr-
ations. The hospitals of the earth groan
into the ear of God their complaint.
Asiatic choleras and ship fevers and ty-
phoids and London plaques make the
worlds knees knock together
Earthly Suffering
Pain has gone through every street
and up every ladder and down every
shaft. II is on the wave, on the mast,
on the beach. Wounds from clip of ele-
plants tusk and addcr's sting and croc-
odile's tooth and horses hoof and
wheels revolution. We gather up the
infirmitics of our parents and transmit
10 our children the inheritance aug
mented by our own sicknesses, and they
add to them their own disorders To
pass the inheritance to other genera
tions. In A. ID. 26a the plague in Rome
smotc into the dust j. 900 citizens daily
In 5i4. in Constantinople. 1000 grave
diggers We're not enough to bury the
dead. In 1913 ophthalmia seized the
whole Prussian army. At times the
earth has swcltcred with suffering
Count mp the pains of AusterlitZ
where 80, 0U0 fell; of Fontenoy, where
100, 900 fell; of Chalons. where 800, 900
fell; of Marius' fight, in which 29O, 600
fell; of the tragedy at Herat. where
Gcnghis Khan massacred 1, 600, 900 men.
/ and of Nishar where he slew !. 141, 900
people; of the Is, 900, 900 this monster
sacrificed i'll II years rs he went forth
to do rs he declared. TO exterminate the
entire Chinese nation and make the en-
pire n pasture for cattle.
Think of the death throes OF the
5, ZOO, 600 men sacrificed i'll one cam
paign of Xerxes Think of the l20, 600
| that perished in the siege of Ostend, of
800, 600 dead ut Acre. of /, 100, 600 dead
in the siege of Jerusalem, of l.Si6, 600
of the dead at Troy. and then complete
the review by considering the stupen-
dous estimate of Edmund Burke, that the
loss by war had been 30 times the en-
tire then present population of the globe.
Go through and examine the lacera-
| tions, tho gunshot fractures. the saber
wounds. the ga>hes of the battleax.
the slain of bombshell and exploded
mine and falling wall and those de-
stroyed under the gun carriage. and the
hoof of the cavalry horse. the burning
thirsts. the camp fcvers, the frosts that
shivered. the tropical suns that smote.
Add it up gather it into one line. COM
press it into one word. spell it i'll one
syllable, clank it in one chain. pour it
out in one groan. distill it into one tear.
Ave, the world has writhcd in q, 900
years of suffering. Why doubt tho pos
sibility of future world of suffering
when we see the tortureS that have been
inflicted in this? A deserter from Sevas-
topol. coming over To the army Of the