Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1894-05-25

them away. Ziklag in ashesl And you
90 about, sometimes weeping and some
times enraged, wanting to get back your
loved ones as much as David and his
men wanted to reconstruct their de-
spoiled households. Ziklag in ashesl
Some of you went of from home. You
counted the days Of your absence. Every
day seemed as long as a week. Oh, how
glad you were when the time came for
Won to 90 aboard the steamboat or rail
car and start for home! You arrived.
You went up the street where your
dwelling was, and in the night you put
your hand on the doorbell, and, behold!
it was wrapped with the signal of be-
reavement, and You found that Amale-
Ltish death, which has devastated
thousand other households, had blasted
yours. You go about weeping amid
the desolation Of your once happy home,
thinking of the bright eyes closed, and
the noble hearts stopped, and the gentle
hands folded, and you weep until you
have no more power to weep. Ziklag in
ashes
A gentleman went to friend of mine
in the city Of Washington and asked
that through him he might get con-
sulship to some foreign port. Ny friend
said to him, "What do you want to go
away from your beautiful home for into
a foreign port?" "Oh, " he replied, my
home is gonel My six children are dead
must get away, sir. 1 can't stand it i'll
this country any longer" Ziklag in
ashesl
Shadows of Bereavement.
Why these long shadows Of bereave-
ment across this audience? Why is 1t
that in almost every assemblage black
is the predominant color Of the apparel?
Is it because you do not like saffron or
brown or violet? Oh, no! You say, 1.-The
world is not so bright to us as once 1t
was" and there is a story of silent
voices, and of still feet, and Of loved
ones gone, and when you look over the
hills expecting only beauty and lowell
ness you find only devastation and woe.
Ziklag in ashesl
One day, in Ulster county, n. Y, the
village church was decorated until the
fragrance Of the flowers was almost be-
wildering. The maidens Of the village
had emptied the place Of flowers upon
one marriage altar One Of their own
number was affianced to a minister OF
Christ, who had come to take her to his
own home With hands joined, amid
congratulatory audience, the vows were
taken. In three days from that time one
of those who stood at the altar ex-
changed earth for heaven. The wedding
march broke down into the funeral
dirge. There were not enough flowers
now for the coffin lid, because they had
all been taken for the bridal hour. The
dead minister Of Christ is brought to
another village.
He had gone out from them less than
a week before in his strength; now he
comes home lifeless The whole church
bewailed him. The solemn procession
moved around to look upon the still
face that once had beamed the messages
of salvation. Little children were lifted
up TO look at him. And some Of those
whom he had comforted in days Of sor-
row, when they passed that silent form,
made the place dreadful with their
weeping. Another village emptied Of
its iowers-some Of them put in the
shape Of o cross to symbolic his hope,
Others put in the shape Of a crown to
symbolic his triumph A hundred
lights blown out in one strong gust from
the open door OF a sepulcher. Ziklag in
ashesl