The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1899-04-06
BENTON. LOUISIANA, THURSDAY, APRIL g. 1899.

of such scene as have been desc rib
ing. You have often had raging tempta-
tons, but you know what has held you
with supernatural grasp. l tell ypu a
man who has had such good home as
that never gets over it, and a man who
has had bad early home never gets
over it.
Again. home is type of Heaven. At
our best estate we are only pilgrims and
strangers here. Heaven is our home"
Death will never knock at the door of
that mansion, and in all that country
there is not a, single grave. How glad
parents are in the holidays to gather
their children home again! But have
noticed there is almost always son or
daughter absent-absent from home,
perhaps absent from the country, per-
haps absent from the world. Oh, how
glad our Heavenly Father will be when
He gets all His children home with Him
in Heaven! And how delightful ii will
be for brothers and sisters to meet aft
er long separations! Once they parted
at the door of the tomb. Now they
meet at the door of immortality. Once
they saw only Through glass dark
ly.' Now it is face to face. corruption,
interruption, mortality, immortality.
Where are now all their sins and sorrows
and troubles? Overwhelmed 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 sor-
rows howl like storms and roll like
seas. Home! Let thrones rot and
empires wither. Home! Let the world
die in earthquake struggle and be bur-
led amid procession of planets and
dirge of spheres. Home! Let ever.
lasting ages roll in irresistible sweep.
Home! No sorrow. No crying. No
tears. No death. But home, sweet
home. beautiful home, everlasting
home, home with each other, home
with angels, home with God!
One night, lying on my lounge when
very tired, my children all around about
me in full romp and hilarity and laugh
ter-on the lounge half awake and half
asleep-I dreamed this dream: [ was in
far country. 1t was not Persia. al
though more than oriental luxuriance
crowned the cities. It was not the
tropics. although more than tropical
fruitfulness filled the gardens. It was
not in Italy. although more than Ital-
ian softness filled the air. And wan
dered around looking for thorns and
nettles. but found that none of them
grew there. and / saw the sun rise, and
] watched to see it set. but it sank not.
And saw the people in holiday attire,
and said: when will they put off this
and put on workmen's garb and again
delve in the mine and swelter at the
forge?" But they never put off the
holiday attire.
And | wandered into the suburbs OF
the city to find the place where the
dead sleep. and looked all along the
lire of the beautiful hills, the place
where the dead might most peacefully
sleep. and saw towers and castles, but
not a mausOleum or monument or Z
white slab could see. And I went int<
the chapel of the great town, and
said: Where do the poor worship ant
where are the hard benches on which
they sit?" And the answer was made
ne: "We have no poor in this coun
try" And then wandered out to tint
the novels of the destitute, and fount
mansions of amber and worry ard gold
but not tear could / see, not sigl
could | hear. And l was bewildered
and sat down under the branches o
great tree, and I said: ..rhere am
and whence comes all this scent?' hnt
then, out from among the leaves ant
up the flowery paths and across th'
broad streams there came a beautiful
group thronging all about me. and a
saw them come / thought | knew
their step, and as they shouted
thought I knew their voices, but thel
they were so gloriously arrayed in ap
parel such as I had never before wit
| messed that l bowed as stranger t.
stranger. But when again they clappe'
their hands and shouted: "Welcome
WELCOMED" the mystery all vanished
and I found that time had gone an.
| eternity had come and we were al
| together again in our new home il
Heaven, and I looked around. and
said: .'Are we all here?" and tn
voices of many generations responded
sAll here!'' And while tears of GLAD
ness were running down our cheeks
and the branches of the Lebanon cedar
were clapping their hands, and the tow
ers Of the great city were Ginning thei
welcome, we all together began to lea
and shout and sing: Home! Home
Home!'
Waste of Animal Life In Africa.
Although in some particulars oxel