The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-03-10

home. perhaps ~ Arom the n
perhaps absent from the world. oh, how
he gets ali his chIldrea home with him
in heaven! And how delightful 1t viii be
for brothers and sisters to meet after
long separation. Once they parted at the
door of the tomb. now they mee1 at the
door Of immortality. Once they saw only
through a glass. X now Il is face
10 face-corruption, interruption: mortal
ity, Immortality. Where are now all their
whelmed in the Red sea of death. while
they pass 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. Home! Let thrones rot and
empires wither. Homei Let the world die
in earthquake struggle and be buried
amid procession Of planets and dirge OF
spheres. Homei Let everlasting ages roll
in irresistible sweep Home, No sorrow
No crying. No tears. No death. But
home. sweet home, beautiful home, ever
lasting home, home with each other'
home with angels, home with God!
DREAM OF A FAIR COUNTRY.
One Ugh lying on my lounge when
very tired, my children all round about
me in full romp and hilarity and laugh-
ter-on the lounge, half awake and half
asleep-I dreamed this dream: / was IN
a far country. II was not Persia, although
more than oriental luXuries crowned the
cities. 1t was not the tropics, a!tnougn
lAIOlC THAN NAOp1SN1 ~ "a 49, N@~
| gardens. It was not Italy, although more
than Italian softness filled the air, And
!. I wandered around looking for thorns
and nettles, but l found that none OF
| them grew there. And / saw the sun
| rise, and / watched 10 See il set. but It
| sank not. And i saw the people in hoii-
| day attire, and / said, When will they
| put off this and put on workmen's CARP,
and again delve in the mine and swell
ter at the forge?' But they never pu,
off the holiday attire.
- T 1-or1arnd in tho bar 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
I dead might most peacefully sleep, and
| / saw towers and castles, but not a maui
| soleum. or a monument, or a white slab
| could / see. And 1 went into the chapel
| of the great town, and l said, Where do
| the poor worship and where are the hard
benches on which they sit?" And the an
swer was made me, we have no poor in
this country" And then I wandered out
to find the novels of the destitute, and |
| found mansions of amber and ivory and
| gold, but not a tear could l see, not a
| sigh could I hear. And l was bewildered,
and L sat down under the branches OF a
! whence comes all this scene?" And then
out from among the leaves and up the
| howery paths and across the broad
| streams there came a beautiful group
%thronging all about me, and as l saw
them come I thought l knew their step,
and ashley shouted / thought l knew
their voices, but when they were so glo-
riously arrayed in apparel such as | had
never before witnessed tina I bowed as
stranger to stranger. But when again
they clapped their hands and shouted.
Welcome, welcome" the mystery. all
vanished, and I found that time had gone
an eternity had come, and We were all
| together again in our new home IN
heaven, and 1 looked around and l said,
Are we all here?' and the voices OF
many generations responded, "All here!'
| And while tears of gladness were run
ming down our cheeks, and the branches
of the lebanon cedars were clapplng
their hands, and the towers Of the great
city were Ginning their welcome we all
] together began to leap ana shout and
| sing, Home, .lome, home!'