St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1899-05-06

i
paper, and to her eyes will be exposed
| the half blown bud, and the memories
| of the past will rush upon her, and Z
| tear will drop upon the flower, and sud-
denly it is TRANSPORTED, and there is q
stir in the dust of the anther, and II
rounds out, and it is full of life, and il
begins to tremble in the procession up
! the church aisle, and the dead music OF
| half century ago comes throbblng
through the air, and vanished faces re
appear, and right hands are Joined, and
manly voice promises: 4 viii, Tor
better or for WORSE" and the wedding
march thundcrs a salvo of joy at the
departing crowd, but sigh on that
anniversary day scatters the scene. Un-
der the dcep-fetched breath the altar,
the flowers, the congratulating groups
are scattered. and there is nothingrieft
but trembling hand holding faded
rosebud, which is put into the paper
and then into the box, and the box care
fully placed in the bureau, and with
sharp, sudden click of the lock the scene
is over.
All, my friends, let not the prophecies
of the flowers on your wedding day be
false prophecies BE blind to each 9TH
er's faults. Make the most of each 9th
er's excellencies. Remember the vows,
the ring on the third finger of the left
hand, and the benediction of the Gala
lilies.
If you ask me the question: what
are flowers good for?" answer, they
are good to honor and comfort the OBJ
seqtlies. The worst cash ever made into
the side of our poor earth is the cash
of the grave. 1t is SO deep, it is so
cruel, it is so incurable, that it needs
something to cover it up. Flowers for
the casket, flowers for the hearse,
flowers for the cemetery. What con-
trast between a grave in a country
churchyard, with the fence broken
down and the tombstone aslant and the
neighboring cattle browsing amid the
MULLEN stalks and the Canada thistles,
and q June morning in Greenwood, the
wave of roseatc bloom rolling to the
top of the mounds and then breaking
into foaming crests of white flowers all
around the pillows of dust. 1t is the
difference between sleeping under rags
and under an embroidered blanket. We
want old Mortality with his chisel to go
through all the graveyards in Christen-
dom, and while he carries chisel in
one hand we want old Mortality to have
some flower seed in the palm of the
other hand.
"Oh," you say, "the dead don't know;
it makes no difference to them" /
think you are mistaken. There arc not
SO many steamers and trains coming to
any living city as there are conveys
coming from Heaven to earth, and if
there be instantaneous and constant
communication between this world and
the better world, do you not suppose.
your departed friends know what you
do with their bodies? Why has God
planted goltlen-rod and wild flowers in
the forest and on the prairie, where no
human eye ever sees them? He planted
them there for invisible intelligences
to look at and admire, and when in
visible intelligences come to look at
the wild fcwers of the woods and the
table lands, will they not make excur-
sion and see the flowers which you
have planted iE affection and remem-
brance of them?
When am dead would like to have
a handful of violets-anyone could
pluck them out of the grass, or some
one could lift from the edge of the pond
a water lily-nothing rarely expensive,
no insane display, as sometimes at fu-
neral rites, where the display takes the
bread from the children's mouths and
the clothes from their backs, but some
thing from the great democracy of
flowers. Rather than imperial cata-
falque of Russian czar, ask some one
whom / may haze helped by n Gospel
sermon or Christian deed to bring
sprig of srbutns or q handful of China
astcrs.
1t was left for modern times to spell
respect for the departed and comfort
tor the living in letters of floral gos-
pei. Pillow of flowers. meaning rest
for the pilgrim who has got to the end
of his journey. Anchor of flowers. sug-
costing the Christian hope which we
must have as an anchor of the soul, sure
and steadfast. Cross of flowers, sug-
gesting the tree on which our sins were
slain. II l had my way. would cover
up all the drcamlcss sleepcrs, whether
in golden-handled casket or pine box,
whether a kings mausoleum or pot
ter's field, with radiant or aromatic mr.
borcscence. The Bible says: I'm the
midst of the garden there was a sepul-
cher" i wish that every sepnlcher
might be in the midst of garden.
fyou asked me the question: "What
are flowers good FORE" Ianswcr: "For
religious symbolism" Have you ever
studied Scriptural flora? The Bible il
an arboretum. it is a Divine c6nsersa-
tory. it is n herharium of exquisite
beauty. Ii You want to illustrate the
brevity of the brightest human life you
will quote from job: MAN comeih
forth as flower and is cut down." Or
you will quote from the psalriist: As
the flower of the field. SO he lserisheth;
the windpasseth over it, and it is gone"
Or you will quote from Isaiah: "All
flesh is grass, and the godiiness thereof
is as the flower of the field.' Or you
will quote from James the apostle: "As
the flower of the grass, SO hc passeth
away" What graphic Bible SYM
bolism!
All the cut flowers will soon bo dead,
whatever care you take of them
Though morning and night you baptize
them in the name of the shower, the
baptism will not be to them q saving
ordinance. They have been fatally
with the knife that cnt them
They are bleeding their life away; they
are dying now. The fragrance in the
air is their departing end ascending
spirits. Oh. yes! Flowers are almost
human. Botanists tell Us that flowers
breathe. they take nourishment, they |
rat, they drink. They are sensitive,
They have their likes and dislikcs. They
sleep. they wake. They live in families. |
They have their ancestors and their de- |
,cendants. their birth, their burial, |
heir cradle. their grave. The zephyr |
rocks the one and the storm digs the |