The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-04-27

new s~epulcher. And, first, post NOR
tenn honors in contrast with ante NOR
tenn ignominies- If they could have
afforded Christ such a costly sepulcher,
why could not they have given him an
earthly residence? Will they give this
piece OF marble TO a dead Christ in
stead of a soft pillow for the living
Jesus? If they had expended a the
value Of that tomb to make Christ
comfortable, ii would not have been
so sad a story. He asked bread; they
gave him a tone.
Christ, like most OF the worlds bene-
factors. was appreciated better after
he was dead. Westminster abbey and
monumental Greenwood are the worlds
attempt to atone by honors to the dead
for wrongs to the living. Poets corner
in Westminster abbey attempts to pay
for h sufferings of Grub street
Go through that Poets corner in
Westminster abbey. There is Handel,
the great musician, from whose music
you hear today; but while l look at
his statue I cannot help but think Of
the discords with which his fellow mu-
sicians tried to destroy him. There Is
h tomb of John Dryden, a beautiful
monument; but I cannot help but think
at 20 years OF age he wrote of his being
oppressed in fortune and of the con-
tract that he had just made for a
thousand verses al sixpence a line.
And there, too, o find the monument
Of Samuel Butler, the author of HUI
dibras;" but while / look al his mon
ument in Poets corner / cannot but
ask myself where he died. In a garnet.
There / see the costly tablet in the
Paet's corner-the costly tablet to one
Of whom the celebrated Waller wrote:
1.-THE old blind schoolniaster, John
Milton, has just issued a tedious poem
on h fall of man. If the length of it
be no virtue, it has none" There is a
beautiful monument to Sheridan. Poor
Sheridan! If he could have only dis
counted that monument for a mutton
chop!
MAKE THE LIVING HAPPY.
Oh, you unflial children, do not give
your parent so much tombstone, but a
few more blankets-less funeral and
more bedroom! If 5 per cent. of the
money We now spend on Burns ban
quets could nave been expended in
making the living Scotch poet comfor-
table, he would not have been harried
with the drudgery of an exciseman.
Horace Greeley, outrageously buSe
while living, when dead is followed to-
ward Greenwood by the president of
the United States and the leading men
Of the army and navy. Massachusetts,
tries to atone at h grave of Charles
Sumner for the ignominious resolutions
with which her legislature denounced
the living senator. Do you think that
the tomb at Springfield can pay for
Booth bullet?
Oh, do justice to the living All the
justice you do them you must do this
side the gates of the Metropolis. They
cannot wake up to count the number
of carriages at the obsequies or to no
tice the polish of the Aberdeen granite
or to read epitaphal commemoration.
Gentleman'S mauSoleum in the sub
r,rh~ - DAL
lehem manger and Calvarean cross
n Pilates ruffian judiciary. Post
mortem honOrS cannot atone for ante
mortem ignOminies.
Again, standing in the garden of the
sepulcher, I am impressed with the
fact that floral and arborescent decora-
ions are appropriate for the place of
the dead. We are glad that among
flowers and sculptural adornments
Christ spent the short time of his in
humation.
1 cannot understand what 1 some
times see in the where the
obSequieS are announced and the friends
say in connection with it, Send no
flowers" Rather, if the means allow
I say if the means allow-Strew the
caSke with flowers, the hearse with
flowers, the grave with flowers. Put
them on the brow-it will suggest cor
onation; in their and will mean
victory.
Christ was buried in a garden. Flow
ers mean resurrection. DEATH is sad
enough anyhow. Let conservatory and
arboretum contribute to its allevia-
ton. The harbell will ring the vic
tory; h passion flower will express
the sympathy; the daffodil will kindle
its lamp and illumine the darkness.
The cluster of asters will be the on
stellation.. Your little child loved flow
ers when she was living. Put them in
her hand now that she can go forth
no more and pluck them for herself.
On sunshiny days take a fresh gar
land and put it owe the still heart.
PLANT FLOWERS.
Brooklyn has no grander glory than
its Greenwood, nor Boston than it's
Mount Auburn, nor Philadelphia thar
its Laurel Hill, nor Cincinnati than it's
Spring Grove, nor San Francisco than
its Lone Mountain. But what shall
We say to those country g~raveyapds,
with the vines broken down and the
slab aslant and the mound caved in
n the grass a pasture ground for
the sections cattle? Indeed, were your
father and mother of so little worth
that you cannot afford to AXE care of
their ashes? Some day turn out all
hands and s~traighten the slab and bank
up the mound and cut away the weeds
and plant the shrubs and flowers.
Some day you want ITO lie down to
your last slumber. You cannot expect
any respect for your bones if you have
no Difference for the bones Of your an
cestry. Do you think these relics are
Of no importance? You will see of
how much Importance they are in the
day when the archangel takes out his
trumpet. urn all your cemeteries into
gardens.
Again, standing in this garden of the
new sepulcher, I am impressed with
the dignity of private and unpretend-
ing obsequies.
Joseph was mourner sexton, livery
man-had entire charge of everything.
Only four people at the burial of the
King of h Universe! Oh, let this be
consolatory to those who through lack
of means or through lack of large &C
Quaintance have but little demonStra-
ton of grief at the graves OF their loved
ones. Long line of glittering e~quipage,
two rows of silver handles, casket of
richest wood, pallbearers gloved n
scarfed, are not necessary. If there be
six at the o-r2v Christ IaoGc dau-p