Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1897-02-11
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II the door OF that mansion, and In all
that country there is not a single grave.
How glad parents are il holiday time
to gather their children home again!
But l have noticed that almost always
there is a son or daughter absent-ab-
sent from home, perhaps absent from
the country, perhaps absent from the
world. Oh, how glad our heavenly Fa-
Their will be when He gets all His chill
1ren home with Him in heaven! And
how delightful it will be for brothers
and sisters to meet after long separa-
ton! Once they parted at the door OF
the tomb; now they meet at the door
of Immortality. Once they saw only
through a glass. darl5ly;' now it is
face to face corruption, incorrup-
ton; mortality, Immortality. Where
are now all their sins and sorrows and
troubles? Overwhelmed in the Red Sea
of death while they passed through
dryshod.
Gates of pearl, c%apstones of anne
thyst, thrones of dominion do not stir
my soul so much as the thought OF
home. Once there, let earthly sorrows
howl like storms and roll like seas.
Home! Let thrones rot and empires
wither. Home! Let the world die in
an earthquake struggle and be buried
amid procession of planets and dirge OF
spheres. Home! Let everlasting ages
roll in irresistible sweep. Home! No
sorrow, no crying. No tears. No
death. But home, sweet home; home,
beautiful home, everlasting home. home
with each other, home with angels,
home with God.
One night, lying On m lounge, when
very tired, my children all around
about me in full romp and hilarity and
laughter--on the lounge, half awake
and half asleep, l { dreamed this dream:
l was in a far country. 1t was not
Persia, although more than Oriental
luxuriance crowned the cities. 1t was
not the tropics, although more than
tropical fruitfulness filled the gardens.
1t was not Italy, although more than
Italian softness filled the air. And l
wandered around looking for thorns
and nettles, but l found that none of
them grew there, and 1 saw the sun
rise, and l watched to see 1t set,
but it sank not. And l saw the
people in holiday attire, and l said:
When will they put off this and put
on workmen's garb and again delve in
the mine or swelter at the forge?" But
they never put off their holiday attire.
And l wandered in the suburbs of the
city to find the place where the dead
sleep, and 1 looked all along the line
of the beautiful hills, the place where
the dead might most b%lissfully sleep,
and | saw towers and castles, but not
a mausoleum or a monument or a white
slab could l see. And l went into the
chanel of the great town and l said:
Where do the poor worship and where
are the hard benches on which they
sit?" And the answer was made me:
1--WE have no poor in this country"
And then 1 wandered out to find the
novels of the destitute, and l found
mansions of amber and ivory and gold,
but not a tear could I see, not a sigh
could I hear, and I was bewildered and
1 sat down under the branches of a
great tree. and / said: Where am 1?
And whence comes ali this scene?"
And then out from among the leaves,
and up the f1owery paths, and across
the bright treams there came a beau
tiful group, thronging all about me.
and as I saw them come I thought I
knew their step, and as they shouted
l thought l knew their voices; but then
they were SO g%loriously arrayed in ap-
parel, such as l had lever before wit
messed. that l bowed as stranger tc
stranger. But when they again
clapped their handsand shouted, "Wel-
come, WELCOMED" the mystery all van
ished, and l found that time had gone
and eternity had come, and we were ali
together again in u new home in
heaven. And l looked around and l
said: Are we all here?" and the voices
of many generations responded, "All
here!" And while tears of gladness
were raining down our cheeks, and the
branches of the Lebanon cedars were
clapping their hands, and the towers
of the great city were Ginning their
welcome, we all together began to leap
and shout and sing: Home, home,
home!"