Connecticut western news., 1899-04-06

the wedding marcn tnunuers SalVO or joy at the departing crowd, but sigh
 on that anniversary day scatters the
 scene Under the deep fetched breath the altar, the flowers, the congratulat-
 ing groups are scattered, and there is nothing left but trembling hand hold ing faded rosebud, which is put into the paper and then into the box and the box carefully placed in the bureau,
 and with sharp. sudden click of the lock the scene is over.
 Handful of Blossoms.
 An, my friends. let not the prophecies of the flowers on your wedding day
 be false prophecies Be blind to each other's s faults Make the most of each
 others excellences Remember the
 vows, the ring on the third finger of the left hand and the benediction of the calla lilies.
 If you ask me the question, What are flowers good forT I answer, they
 are good to honor and comfort the o5se- quies. The worst gash ever made into the side of our poor earth is the gash of the grave. It is so deep, it is so cruel, it is so incurable, that it needs some thing to cover it up. Flowers for the casket, flowers for the hearse, flowers for the cemetery. What contrast be- tween grave in a country churchyard, with the fence broken down and the
 tombstone aslant and the neighborine cattle browsing amid the mullein stalks and the Canada missiles, and a
 June morning in Greenwood, the wave of roseate bloom rolling to the top of the
 mounds and then breaking into foam ing crests of white flowers all around the pillows of dust. It is the difference between sleeping under rags and sleep ing under an embroidered blanket. We want old Mortality with his chisel to go through all the graveyards in Chris tendon. and while he carries a 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 are 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 bodiesP Why has God plant ed tgoldenrod' and wild flowers in the forest and on the prairie, where no human eye ever sees themH He planted them there for invisible intelligences to look at and admire. and when invisible intelligences come to look at the wild flowers of the woods and the table lands, will they not make excursion and see the flowers which you have planted in affectionate remembrance of themf When am dead. I would like to have a handful of violets-any one could pluck them out of the grass, or some one could lift from the edge of the pond water ily-nothing rarely expensive, no insane display, as some times at funeral rites, where the dis play takes the bread from the children's 8 mouths and the clothes from their backs, but something from the great democracy of flowers. Rather than inn perial catafalque of Russian czar, I ask some one whom may have helped by gospel sermon or Christian deed to bring a sprig of arbutus or handful of China asters
 The Floral Gospel.
 It was left for modern times to spell respect for the departed and comfort for the living in letters of floral gospel. Pillow of flowers, meaning rest for the pilgrim who has got to the end of his journey Anchor of flowers, suggesting the Christian hope which we have as an anchor of the soul sure and stead fast. Cross of flowers, suggesting the tree on which our sins were slain. If had my way. would cover up all the dreamless sleepers, whether in golden handled casket or pine box, whether q kings mausoleum or potter's field. with radiant or aromatic arborescence. The Bible says, "In the midst of the garden there was sepulcher. I wish that
 every sepulcher might be in the midst of the garden. ft.@a
 | If you ask me the question, What are flowers good for answer, "For reli- jed Scriptural flora The Bible is an ar boretum. it is divine conservatory, it is herbarium of exquisite beauty. If you want to illustrate the brevity of the brightest human life, you will quote from Job, "Man cometh forth as flower and is cut down" Or you will quote from the psalmist. "As the flower of the field. go he perisheth; the wind passeth over it and 1t is gone" Or you will quote from Isaiah, "All flesh is grass. and the goodliness thereof is as
 the flower of the field" Or you will quote from James the apostle, "As the flower of the grass, so he passeth away" What graphic Bible symbolism
 All the cut flowers will soon be dead. whatever care you take of them. Though morning and night you baptize hem in the name of the shower, the baptism will not be to them a 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. Botanists tell us that flowers breathe, they take nourishment, they eat, they drink. They are sensitive. They have their likes and dislikes.
 They sleep, they wake. They live in families They have their ancestors and their descendants, their birth, their
 burial, their cradle, their grave. The zephyr rocks the one, and the storm digs the trench for the other. The cow | slip must leave it's gold, the lily must leave its silver, the rose must leave its diamond necklace of morning dew. ,of t<> G. | per, we spread abroad, we die. as the l hower-as the fowerl
 Change and decay in all around see; o thou who ohangest not, abide with mel Symbolism of Christ.
 Flowers also afford mighty symbol | ism of Christ, who compared himself to
 the ancient queen, the lily, and the
 modern queen, the rose, when he said: "I am the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valley" Redolent like the one,