The record-union., 1896-11-29
For the Record Union
GOD NIGHT HAVE MADE NO
FLOWERS.

For the '.Record-Union-"
GOD NIGHT HAVE MADE NO
FLOWERS.
Can allegory for children.)
What need to cover the earth with
flowers
When it might have been covered with
wheat!
| To waste the sunshine and drink up the
showers
When the want is something to eat!
| To load old Nature with garlands and
| pearls
When food is wanted for boys and girls.
why wasn't the lily made lettuce instead,
And the tulip to celery grown,
Why didp't the dahia its tuber wed
With the yam, I'd like TO know?
1t was just as easy to make a turnip
AS a needless thing for the beetles to sip.
why wasn't the ivy a pumpkin vine,
And the passion vine covered with peas,
The bitter oak apples filled with wine,
And fruits hung on all of the trees?
I'd like to know why this world of ours
Should be knee deep with worthless
flowers"
Young Gradgrind speaking in this tart
way,
Soon heard the fiutter of wings,
And an angel bright as the summer day
Directly before him springs
He was not the boy to soar very high,
But he couldn't doubt the pledge of his
eye.
The angel spoke, and at his word
Down from their stems the blossoms fell
A terrible tumult then was heard.
AS the carrot swallowed the daffodil,
And the ground flowers swelled into gar
den roots,
And the trees all loaded themselves with
fruits.
But he said to Gradgrind: Come with me,
The law immutable has it's way
And all things useless on land or sea,
Their terrible forfeit now must pay"
AS a flash of lightning they reached his
home;
He paused but the angel whispered
"Come!"
They crossed his threshold and in her
chair
His grandmother waited for him;
His heart was rough but his love was
And he sobbed and choked as her eyes
grew dim,
For he knew his wish with bitter breath.
And he saw he had shaken the tree of
death.
Come on my son. the messenger cried,
And they sprang DER the garden wall,
But the blossoms and "Floy' already had
died,
(She the most useless of them all,
A little sprite all smothered with curls,
The sweetest of sisters-the meanest of
girls)
But o, how he loved her! none of her
Stood in the way of his ready tears
Take back your gift,'' the poor boy
shrieks-
CThe moments just passed had grown to
years.
"a little longer and 1 have done,
Follow me closely now, my SON.
They passed the door of a gambling hail.
His brother with others sat in the den
A wave of the hand and all of them fall
And are passed from the ranks of living
men.
20! bid me save him! will give
My life as forfeit that he may live!'
One more journey and made in a trice-
This boy has stronger tie
Than sister or brother-held in wise
With love not born to die.
He sees the troth of his youthful life,
And he shrinks from the sight of his future
If ever blossom numbered the soil.
That only was bloom which to him was
balm,
Whose only effort was ever to coil
Around the heart like the soul of a
psalm,
Then she fulfilled it-useless quite,
Her place must be filled, she must go to-
night.
80, stay." cried the youthful pensioner,
stay!
I have murdered my brother and sister
to-day.
Ny good old grandame has passed away.
But how can part with my gentle May!''
'"Thy prayer is granted"-a touch of the
hand
And the old earth came at his command.
''Take back your mother of mothers, my
Take back your brother from paths of
sin;
Take back your sister with all your joy;
Your wife that is to be, and win
Your way in the world In the DID, old track,
Your flowers and fruits you may take them
back.
Learn from this that the Lord is love,
And the Lord is beauty as we'll:
That the flowers are whispers from above
OF bloom no tongue can tell:
That nothing is useess-smiles and tears
Are the flowers and fruits of our fading
years"
Let the sunshine paint the meadows.
1t has a passion for flowers
Let the roses bloom in the shadows,
And brighten the turn of the hours
Like the bloom of bright cheeks, they are
blessings from heaven
And beauty and blessing together are
given.
smile is weak till it follows cry,
Weak is cry till it chases a smile
And the life is weak that learns not to die
And welcome deaths mantle to cover its
guile
That Gods own way is the best of WAYS.
And He harrows the fallow to suit our
days.
That fruit and flowers is the fashion of life
And when the conflict ends,
There comes a time soon after the strife
When the flowers are our only friends,
For they mutely mark our crumbling mold
When the hand that planted are pulseless
and cold.
Their breath is the balm OF Paradise;
Their beauty the golden chain
That links to a home beyond the skies.
Where pleasure supplants all pain,
And every blossom points US home
With the voice of the Father who whis-
pers Gomez"
HIRAM HoYT RICHMOND.
Venerable Cricket Players.
Answering the query: (Which cricket
club has the oldest playing member?'
"Tit-Bits" answers: 'rMiddlesex. Chas.
Absolon the oldest living criketer. now
in his S0th year, played for Middlesex in
the early sixties, and last season played
a good game, though his cricket is now
naturally confined to minor matches. He
Is hard to beat in bowling lobs, and since
he was 40 he is said to have taken 6.O15
wickets and scored % 400 runs. A two