Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1899-05-12

ulNcFRenceS VI ulSpoSltloIi VIA p'NoihN
correspondence, rechlessness will be-
come prudence, frivolity will DC turned
into practically.
There has been many an aged wild
owed soul who had carefully-locked
bureau, and in the bureau n box and IN
the box folded paper, and in the
folded paper haf-blown rose, slight
" fragrant, discolored, carefully
pressed. She put it there 40 or 80 years
ago. On the anniversary day of her
wedding she will go to the bureau, she
will lift the box, she will unfold the
paper, and to her eyes will be exposed
the half-blown bud, and the memories
of the past will rush upon her, and
tear will drop upon the flower, and sud
denly it is TRANSPORTED, and there is
stir in the dust of the anther, and 1T
rounds out, and it is full of life, and it
begins to tremble in the procession up
the church aisle, and the dead music of
half century ago comes throbbing
through the air, and vanished faces re-
appear, and right hands are joined, and
manly voice promises: 81 will, for
better or for worse" and the wedding
march thunders salvo of JOY at the
departing crowd, but Il sigh on that
anniversary day scatters the scene. I'M
der the deep-fetched breath the altar,
the flowers, the congratulating groups
are scattered, and there is nothing left
but a 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 n
sharp, sudden click of the lock the scene
is over.
All, my friends let not the prophecies
of the flowers on your wedding day he
false prophecies. BE blind TO each 9th
| cr'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
sequies. 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 grave in country
churchyard, with the fence broken
down and the tombstone aslant end the
neighboring cattle browsing amid the
mullen stalks and the Canada thistlcs,
and n June morning in Greenwood, the
wave of roseate bloom rolling TO the
| top of the mounds and then brca king
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 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 bodies? Why has God
planted golden-rod and wild flowers in
the forest and on the prairie, where no
human eye ever sees them? lie planted
them there for invisible intelligences
to look at and admire, and when in
visible intelligenccs come TO look al
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 remcm'
brance of them?
When / am dead would like TO have
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-Dothing rarely expensive
no insane display, as sometimes at fu
neral rites, where the display takes the
bread from the childrcn's mouths and
the clothes from their backs, but some
thing from the great democracy OF
flowers. Rather than imperial cata
falque of Russian car, | ask some one
whom ! may have helped by n Gospe
sermon or Christian deed to bring {
sprig of arbutus or handful of Chin;
astcrs.
1t was left for modern times to spell
respect for the departed and comfor
for the living in letters of floral gos
pei. Pillow of flowers, meaning res
for the pilgrim who has got to the enc
of his Journey. Anchor of flowers, sug
gesting the Christian hope which W,
must have as an anchor of the soul, sur
and steadfast. Cross of flowers, sug
, costing the tree on which our sins wer
: slain. If had my way, would cove
up all the dreamlesr sleepers, whethe
: in goldcn-bandled caskct or pine box
whether kings mausoleum or pot
t ter's field, with radiant or aromatic ar
, borescenee. The Bible says; in tn
midst of the garden there was a sepul
, cher" | wish that every scpulche
, might be in the midst of garden.
If you asked me the question: "Wha
t are flowers good for?" Ianswer "Fo
, religious symbolism" Have you eve
, studied Scriptural flora? The Bible i
, an arboretum, it is q Divine consery0
= tory, it is herbarium of eXquisit
beauty. If you want to illustrate tn
$ brevty of the brightest human life 20
{ will quote from job: Man comet
= forth as a flower and is cut down." Q
, you will quote from the psalmist: "a
| the flower of the field, so he pcrisheth