The weekly intelligencer., 1899-04-08

are flowers good for? / answer, they
are good TO honor and comfort the OBJ
ssquies. The worst cash ever made into
the side Of our poor earth is the gash
Of the grave. 1t is so deep. it is 80
cruel. IL 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 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 June morning in Greenwood, the
wave Of roseate bloom rolling 70 the
top OF the mounds and then breaking
into foaming crests of white flowers all
around the pillows of dust. II In the
difference between sleeping under rags
and under an embroidered blanket. We
want old Mortality with his chisel TO 20
through all the graveyards in Chrisien-
dom. md 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;
IL makes no difference to them" l
think you are mistaken. There are not
so many steamers and trains coming to
any living city as there are conveys
coming from Heaven TO earth, and IL
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 bodies2 Why has God
planted golden-rod and wild flowers in
the forest and on the prairie, where no
human eye ever sees them? He planted
them there for invisible intelligence.
to look at and admire, and when in
visible intelligences come to look at
the wild flowers of the woods and the
table lands, will they not make excur-
sion and see the flowers which you
have planted in affection and remem-
brance of them?
When l am dead / would like 10 have
handful Of violets-anyone could
pluck them out of the grass, or some
one could lift from the edge of the pond
q 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 I may have helped by Gospel
sermon or Christian deed to bring a
sptg OF nrbutus or o handful of China
asters
II was left for modern times to spell
respect for the departed and comfort
for 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-
gestlng 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 had my way, / would cover
up all the dreamless sleepers, whether
in goldcn.handled casket or pine box,
whether kings mausoleum or pot
ter's field, with radiant or aromatic ar.
borescence. The Bible says: "In the
midst Of the garden there was a sepul.
cher" wish that every sepulcher
might be In the midst of q garden.
lfyou asked me the question: What
are flowers good for?" Ianawer: "For
religious symbolism" Have you ever
studied scriptural fora? The Bible il
an hrboretum, 1t Is Divine conserva-
tory, II is a herbarium OF exquisite
beauty. II you want TO illustrate the
brevity of the brightest human life you
will quote from Job: "Man cometh
forth ss flower and Is cut down" Or
you will quote from the psalmist: "AA
the flower Of the field, so he perisheth;
the wind passeth over II, and 1t Is gone. I"
Or you will quote from Isaiah: "All
flesh is grass, and the godliness thereof
ia as the flower Of the field" Or you
will quote from James the apostle. 9As
the flower Of the grass, so he passeth
away" What graphic Bible SYM
bolism!
All the cut flowers will soon be dead,
whatever care you take of them
Though morning and night you bsptize
them in the name Of the shower, the
baptism will not be 10 them q saving
ordinance. They have been fatally
wounded with the knife that cut them.
They are bleeding their life away; they
are dying now. The fragrance in the
air is their departing and ascending
spirits. Oh, yesl Flowers are almost
human. Botsnists tell us that flowers
breathe, they take nourishment, they
eat, they drink. They are sensitive,
They have their likes and dlslikes They
sleep, they wake. They live In families.
They have their ancestors and their de-
scendanta, their birth, their burial,
their cradle, their grave. The zephyr
rocks tie one aud the storm digs the
trench for the other. The cOwslip must
leave Its gold, the lily must leave its
silver, the rose must leave its diamond
necklace Of morning dew. Dust to
dust. So we come up. so we prosper, we
spread abroad, we die, as the flower
as the fowerl
Change and decay In sll around l see;
o Thou who changest not, abide with mel
Flowers also afford mighty symbol.
ism OF Christ, who compared Himself TO
the ancient queen, the lily, and the mod.
ern queen, the rose, when He said: II
am the rose Of Sharon, and the lily OF
The VALLEY" Redolent like the. Ops,