Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1896-10-26

| dead are as these autumnal leaves drift
/ ing under our feet today. We march Oh
| toward eternity, not by companies of a
| hundred. or regiments of a thousand, or
! brigades Of ten thousands but sixteen
| hundred millions abreasti Marching on |
Marching on!
Beauty Withers.
Again. as with variety of appearance
the leaves depart, SO do we. You have
noticed chat some trees, at the first touch
of the frost, lose all their beauty; they
stand yithered and uncomeIy and
ragged, waiting for the northeast storm
to drive them into the mire. The sun
shining at MONDAY gilds them with no
beauty. Ragged leavesl Dead leaves!
No one stands to study them, They are
gathered in no vase They are hung on
no wall. So death smites many There
is no beauty in their departure. One
sharp frost of sickness, or one blast of
the cold waters, and they are gone No
tinee of hope. No prophecy of heaven
Their spring was all abloom with bright
prospects, their summer thick foliaged
with opportunities; but October came,
and their glory went. Frostedl In early
autumn the frosts come, but do not seem
to damage vegetation. They are light
frosts But some morning you look out
Of the window and say, ''There was
black frost last night, - and you know
that from that day everything will
wither So men seem to get along with
out religion amid the annoyances and
vexations of life that nip them slightly
here and nip them there. But after
I'll IL L.
and all is ended.
Oh, what whitening and scattering
death makes among those not prepared
to meet it! They leave every thing pleas
ant behind them-their house, their
families, their friends, their books, their
pictures-and step out of the sunshine
into the shadow. They quit the presence
of bird and bloom and wave to go I'M
beckoned and unwelcomed. The bower
in which they stood and sang and wove
ohaplets and made themselves merry
has gone down under an awful equinoc-
tial. No bell can toll one-half the dole
fitness of their condition. Frosted
But. thank God, that is not the way
people always die Tell me on what
day of all the year the leaves of the
woodbine are as bright as they are to-
day So Christian character is never SO
attractive as in the dying hour Such
go into the grave not as a dog, with
frown and harsh voice, driven into a
kennel, but they pass away calmly,
brightly, sweetly, grandly! AS the leaf!
AS the leaf!
Why go to the deathbed Of distin-
guished men when there is hardly a
house ON this street but from it Chris
alan has departed? When your baby
died, there were enough angels in the
room to have chanted coronation.
When your father died, you sat watch
ing, and after awhile felt of his wrist,
and then put your hand under his arm
to see if there were any warmth lett,
and placed the mirror to the mouth to
see if there We're any sign Of breathing,
and when all was over you thought how
grandly he slept-a giant resting after
a battle. Oh, there are many Christian
deathbedst The chariots of God, come
to take his children home, are speeding
every whittier. This one halts at the
gate Of princes. The shout of captives,
breaking their chains, comes on the
morning air. The heavens ring again
and again with the coronation. The 10
gates Of heaven are crowded with the
ascending righteous. I see the accumu-
lated glories of a thousand Christian
deathbeds-an autumnal forest illumin-
ed by an autumnal sunset! They died
not in shame, but in triumph AS the
leafi AS the leafi
To Rise Again.
Lastly, as the leaves fade and fall
only to rise, so do we. All this golden
shower Of the woods is making the
ground richer, and in the juice and sap
and life Of the tree the leaves will come
up again. Next May the south wind
will blow the resurrection trumpet, and
they will rise. So we fall in the dust,
only to rise again ''The hour is coming
when all who are in their graves shall
hear his voice and come forth. = It
would be a horrible consideration to
think that our bodies were always to lie
in the ground. However beautiful the
flowers you plant there, we do not want
to make our everlasting residence in
such place.
I have with these eyes seen SO many
Of the glories of the natural world and
the radiant faces Of my friends that |
do not want to think that when I close
them in death I shall never open them
again. Tt is said enough to have a hand
or foot amputated. In hospital after
soldier had had his hand taken off, he
said, ''Goodby, dear old hand, you have
done me a great deal Of good service,
and burst into tears. It is more awful
thing to think of having the whole body
amO1tatnd from the s0ul forever 7