The Kosciusko star. (Kosciusko, Miss.) 18??-1898, 1895-08-23

sion to his faith in the words:
The Lord gave, and the Lord
hath taken away 1t was the
same Lord who gave and who took
away, and the same love. 1t does
not seem so to us. But if we
could see all things as God sees
them, we should find the same
goodness in the one as in the other.
Some day We shall see it. Jesus
said: What / do thou knowest
not now, but thou shalt know
hereafter" Faith accepts this
promise. and believes whatever
God does mnst be right. In this
confidence it abides, and, believing.
finds comfort and peace.
Comfort in bereavement comes
also through our memories of our
beloved ones. The first shock of
sorrow oftimes leaves the heart
stunned, like young bird thrown
out of its nest by wild storm
sweeping through the branches.
For Time all is confusion. Even
faith seems for time to be stag.
gered- One sees nothing but the
desolation of grief Every beautl.
full thing appears to be shattered.
No voices of comfort are heard in
the souls anguish. Even God
seems far off. In the amazement
and bewilderment it appears that
life never can have any joy again
that its old tasks never can be tax
en- up. All the memories are
memories of loss and sorrow. The
beautiful years Of life with their
love ana their gentle ministries
are hidden for the time IN the one
great sense of bereavement.
But, as the days pass, this Bit
terness also passes. A gentle
hand takes up the little bird, and
helps it back to its nest again.
The anguish is soothed by the as
surance of divine love that creeps
into the heart. Comfort comes as
the morning comes after the night,
and at last the sOrrowing one feels
Into the darkness creep a gentle hand,
And through the silence search loving
voice,
And then presence, sweet, pervasive
soft,
Brooding above the longing and the
need
And this at last IS shadow of Gods
wing"
In these after days, when the
poignancy OF the grief is cast,
when the light has begun to come
again, and when the grace of God
has reappeared, full of love, the
heart begins to find comfort in pre-
cious memories of those who are
gone. Death sweeps away the
faults, the flaws, the imperfections
which were 50 apparent ii our
friends when they were close be-
side US, aud brings out in them all
the beautiful things-only half
understood, half perceived, when
they were with us. Forgotten
kindnesses of years past are re-
membered when friends have gone.
A thousand fragments of beauty in
character and conduct, hidden,
unnoticed, before, memory now
gathers up, The result is a trans
figured life, in which all that was
good, tue, lovely, and worthy has
a place.
4 middle-aged man SAID recently
that his mother had been far more
TO him the ten years she had been
in heaven than theten years before
her departure. A woman of above
seventy said that her first baby.
which had been with Christ sfor
fifty years, had been a softening.
refining, spiritualizirg, upward
drawing influence in her life all
those years. There is no doubt
that in thousands. of cases our
friends are more to US in heaven
than ever th;y were while they
were with US. The influence of
glorifed children on parents and
homes is very marked. A baby in
heaven means more to many faith.
ers and mothers than baby in
their arms. lis magnet to draw
their hearts heavenward
When they began to build
great wire suspension bridge over
a wide river, kite was sent across
with the first fine wire. This was
fastened, and then on it other wires
were drawn across, until the great
bridge hung in the air, and thous-