The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1895-10-05

In looking at the great old trees as
they gradually lose their foliage and
become bare and ugly, something pa
thetic because it is suggestive of the
death element in all human life and
human history. These cottonwood
tress around US, few weeks ago they
were rustling in merriment. The
fresh sap circulated through their
trunks and limbs and veins. Their
boughs were the shady haunts OF
birds, their gloom softened the earth
beneath and kept the grass from
parching.
They did good by their very exist
ence; BUT now their erstwhlle silver
green leaves, are sere and yellow; they
must fall to the earth and decay.
For an instant we think it might have
been Just as well If they had never lived
and ouivered and shimmeree in the
sunlight. 1t all seems so useless, and
sad. We think this for an instant
only; then comes the counteracting
thought. Nay though the little leaves,
perish and do wither, yet are they still
of some use in Gods great universe.
The atoms that compose them will
unite with other atoms in nature and
will form new substances. May be IL
some of those atoms will be At
tracted toward the vapors of the flrma-
ment, and will tremble IN the
crimson, purple and glorious, gold
en- clouds of sunset; or else they may
glow with pale beauty in the delicate
tints of the rainbow: or may be 1t,
they care not to leave this old world
near which they have lived all during
! the sunni er time, and so will &C
sparkling in the bubbles of lit waters
1--WE change but we cannot die" The
little leaves did their duty here, and
they will do their duty elsewhere.
One cannot help being awed
when he realizes, how surely is totter
ing the empire of proud Queen, Sum
mer, One after another her rva
Autumn, sets fire to her luxurian
trees, and they are utterly consumed
One is awed at the sight OF the fadin!
: glory and his mind dwells with sadnes
e on the fall of all of those other king
. doms that have tottered and fallel
/, on this earth.
u Twenty centuries before Christ wa
; born, there fiorished on the banks
II the Nile one of the proudest nation
i of the world-Egypt. Her childre
were educated, her priests that woI
shipped the winged globe, tn
sun and the manifestion of life i
!. the wild beasts of the field, were pur
and holy men. Her temples were vas
!, and impressive; her social life, ga
aud luxurious. The Egyptian king
dom has fallen. 1t has tottered an
o decayed To-day, its wealth an
y civilization are but memory and
dream; however the pyramids OF EgyT
- still stand. The sphynlx still brood
D on the banks of the yellow Nile.
le Think you these monuments are use
10 lessp Think you they have not in
pressed millions and millions OF mine
&c with the solemn truth. "These stone
a were cut and fitted and placed wit
ID hands of flesh and blood. The hands tn;
g. reared them have long since crumble
20 into dust; but their work still remain
- If that which is executed by our pc
so ishable bodies lasts through SO man
is thousands of years, surely that whle
a rules the body; that which in life v
n always recognize as more powerf
- than the body. the soul. surely it wi
- last also.
al No wonder that the Egyptians, wi
lie built the pyramids believed in the ii
mortality of the spirit.
Nay, if we may trust history, so pc
ent are the tombs of the Pharoahs wi
the infience of their makers. that
lc- this nineteenth century they helped
he gam battle.
nv When Napoleon and the Fren
10 army stood on the Egyptian soil al
no faced the far more powerful ranks
ire the enemy the General pointed to the
on tombs of the Pharoahs and 81
az to his soldiers From yont
-. heights, twenty centuries 10
= down upon you The warriors +
e, the magnitude of their responsible
ire Twenty past centuries and twer
ers future centuries would know of tn
deeds. Their blood was fired. And
the Emperor gained The Battle
,ps the nile. =
Egypt has fallen, her life has pass