Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1897-02-08

but calculate You know what it is to
be homesick even amid pleasurable sur
roundings, bit Christ slept in huts, and
he was athirst, and he was a-hungered,
and he was on the way from being born
in one mans barn to being buried in
another mans grave. 1 have read how
the Swiss, when they are far away from
their native country, at the sound of
their national air get SO homesick that
they fall into melancholy, and some
times they die under the homesickness.
But, oh, the homesickness of Christ!
Poverty, homesick for celestial riches.
Persecution, homesick for hosanna. Wea-
riness, homesick for rest. Homesick for
angelic and archangelic companion
ship. Homesick to go out of the night
and out of the storm and the worlds
execration and all that inconsistencies
suffered to get us home!
The Heavenly Home.
At our best estate we are only pill
grims and strangers here. Heaven is
our home. Death will never knock at
the door of that mansion, and in all
that country there is not single grave.
How glad parents are in holiday time
to gather their children home againl
But have noticed that almost always
there is son or a daughter absent
absent 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
dren 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 darkly;'' 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 dry
shod.
Gates of pearl, capstones of amethyst,
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. Homel Let
thrones rot and empires wither. Homel
Let the world die in an earthquake
struggle and be buried amid procession
Let everlasting ages roll in irresistible
sweep. Home! No sorrow, no crying.
No tears, no death, but home. sweet
home; home, beautiful home, everlast-
ing home, home with each other, home
with angels, home with God
The Dream.
One night, lying on my lounge when
me in full romp and hilarity and laugh
ter. on the lounge, half awake and half
asleep, dreamed this dream: was in
far country. It was not Persia, although
more than oriental luxuriance crowned
the cities. 1t was not the tropics, al
though more than tropical fruitfulness
filed the gardens. 1t was not Italy, al
though more than Italian softness filled
the air. And l wandered around look
ing for thorns and nettles, but [ found
that none Of them grew there, and
saw the sun rise, and watched to see
it set, but 1T sank not. And / saw the
people in holiday attire, and / 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 |
And 1 wandered in the suburbs of the
city to find the place where the dead |
sleep, and looked all along the line of |
the beautiful hills, the place where the
dead might most blissfully sleep, and / |
saw towers and castles, but not a MAUI
solemn or a monument or white slab |
could | see. And I went into the chapel |
Of the great town, and / said, "Where
10 the poor worship, and where are the
hard benches on which they sit?'' And
5he answer was made me, s'We have no
poor in this country" And then wan
Tered out to find the novels of the desti-
ute, and l found mansions of amber
md ivory and gold, but not tear could
see, not a sigh could hear, and was
oewildered, and sat down under the
of great tree, and said:
Where am /? And whence comes all
his scene?'' And then out from among
he leaves and up the fiowery paths and
lcross the bright streams there came
beautiful group, thronging all about
ne, and as l saw them come thought
knew their step, and as they shouted
thought l knew their voices, but then
hey We're so gloriously arrayed in APP
,arel, such as l had never before wit
lessed, that / bowed as stranger to
tranger. But when again they clapped
heir hands and shouted, Welcome,
Welcomed the mystery all vanished,
nd I found that time had gone and
ternity had come, and we were all to-
,ether again in our new home in heaven.
And looked around, and said, care
We all here?' and the voices of many
responded, 'All herel"
And while tears of gladness were rain
ng down our cheeks, and the branches
f the Lebanon cedars were clapping
heir hands, and the towers of the great
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