The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1899-04-12


and il is full Of life, and it begins (
tremble in the procession up the church
aisle, and the dead music Of a half cen.
Jury ago comes throbbirg through The
all, and vanished faces reappear and
right hands are Joined, and a manly
voice promises, i will, for better OF
for worse, aud the wedding march
lhuudcrs salvo Of JOY at the depart.
ing crowd. but sigh on that anniver
-ary day scatters the scene. Under
the deep retoned breath the alt ,he
lowers, the coDgratulatins groups are
scattered, and there's nothing left but
a trembling hand holding faded rose:
oud, which is put into the paper ana
hen into the box, and the box careful,
Jy placed in the bureau, and with a
sharp, sudden click Of the lock the
scene is over.
All, my friends, let not the prophe-
cies Of the flowers on your wedding Gay
10 raise prophecies. Be blind to each
others faults. Make the most Of each
other ezcellenccs. Remember the
VOWS. the ring on the third finger of the
IeGs hand, ard the beuediction of the
Gala lilies.
Ityou ask me the question, What
are flowers good for?' | answer, they
IRE good 20 honor and comfort the obse-
quies. The worst gash ever made into
the siGe Of our poor earth is the cash of
the grave. Ii is so deep, it is SO cruel,
It is So incurable, that it needs some-
thing to cove it up. Flowers for the
casket, flowers for the hearSe, flowers
for the cemetery. What a contrast be-
tween a grave in country churchyard,
witk the fence broken down aud the
tombstone aslaut and the Deighboring
cattle browsing amid the mullen stalks
and the Canada shistles, and u June
morning in Greenwood, tie 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. 1t is the differ
ence between sleeping under rags
and sleeping under al embroidered
blanket. We want old Mortality
with his chisel to go through all
the graveyards in ChristenGom, and
while he carries chisel in one hand
we want old Mortality to have some
flower seed in the palm Of the other
hand
"Ob, you say, the dead don't
know; it 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 convoys COM
ing from heaven to earth, and if there
be instantaneous and constant COM
munication 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 goldenrod and wild flowers in
the forest and on prairie, where no hu-
man eye ever sees them? He planted
them there for invisible intelligences
to look at and admire, and when invisi-
bic intelligences come to look at the
wild flowers of the woods and the table
lands, will they net make excursion
and see the flowers which you have
planted in afectionate remembrance Of
them2
When l am dead, 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 lily-nothiug
rarely expensive, no insane display,
as sometimes at funeral rites. where the
display takes the bread from the chill
dreus mouths and the clothes from
their backs, but something from the
great democracy of flowers. Rather
than imperial catafalque of Russian
car, ask some one whom | may have
helped by gospel sermon or Christian
deed; to bring sprig Of arbutus or a
handful Of China asters.
1t 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
aDchor Of the soul, sure and steadfast.
Cross of flowers, suggesting the tree on
which our sins were slain. If I had
my way, I would cover up all the
dreamless sleepers, whether in golden
handled casket or pine box, whether
8 kings mausoleum OF potter's field,
with radiant or aromatic arborescence.
The Bible says, In the midst of the
garden there was a sepulcher. :; wish
that every sepulcher might be in the
midst Of a garden.
If you asked me the question, wv hat
are flowers good for?' answer, For
religious symbolism. Have you ever
studied Scriptural fora? The Bible is
an arboretum, it is "a divine conserva-
tory, it is a herbarium Of exquisite
beauty. If you want to illustrate the
brevlty of the brightest human life,
you will quote from Job, Man cometh
forth as a flower and is cut down" Or
you will quote from the psalmist, "As
the flower Of the field, so he perisbeth;
the wind passeth over it, and it is gone.
Or you will quote from Isaiah, All
flesh IS grass, and the goodness there
of 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,
whatevercar you take Of them. Though
morning and night you baptize them in
the name of the shower, the baptism
will not be to them 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,
yes! Flowers are almost human. Bot