St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1900-05-19

side with the military in that fight, re-
ceived a terrible cut from the angels
spear of fame, SO that he himself shall
go down after awhile under it. The
king of terrors retiring before the
King of Grace! The Lord is risen!
Let earth and Heaven keep Easter to-
day! Hosauna!
Some things strike my observation
while standing in this garden with .
new sepulcher. And, first, post NOR
TEN honors in contrast with ante NOR
tenn ignominies. If they could have af-
forded Christ such 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 soft pillow for the living
Jesus? If they had expended half the
value of that tomb to make Christ COM
Portable, it would not have been so sad
q story. He asked bread; they gave
Him a stone.
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 the sufferings of
Grub street.
Go through that Poets corner in
Westminster abbey. There is Handel,
the great musician, from whose mu-
sic you hear to-day; but while I look
at his statue cannot help but think
Of the discords with which his fellow
musicians tried to destroy him. There
is the tomb of John Dryden, beauti-
full monument; but cannot help but
thing at 20 years of age he wrote of
his being oppressed in fortune and Of
the contract that he had just made
for thousand verses at sixpence a
line. And there, too, you find the
monument Of Samuel Butler. the au-
thor of 'Hudibras;" but while look
1T his monument in Poets corner !
cannot but ask myself where he died.
In q garret. There l see the costly
tablet in the Poets corner-the costly
tablet to one of whom the celebrated
Waller wrote: "The old blind school
master, John Milton, has just issued
a tedious poem on the fall Of man. If
the length of it be no virtue, it has
none." There is . beautiful monument
to Sheridan. Poor Sheridan! II he
could only have discounted that mon
rynonf <or a r,n,,<<nn nh4rf
Oh, you unfllial children, do not give
your parents so much tombstone. but
q few more blankets-less funeral and
more bedroom! II five per cent. of
the money we now spend on Burns
banquets could have been expended
in making the living Scotch poet COM
Portable, he would not have been har-
ried with the drudgery of an excise
man. Horace Greeley. outrageously
abused while living, when dead Is fol-
lowed toward Greenwood by the pres
ident of the United States and the
leading men of the army and navy.
Massachusetts, tries to atone at the
grave OF Charles Sumner for the ig-
nominious resolutions with which her
legislature deounced the living sem
ator. Do you think that the tomb at
Springfield can pay for Booths bull
let?
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 10 count the number
of carriages at the obsequies or to
note the polish OF the Aberdeen gran
ite' or to read epitsphal commemora-
ton. Gentleman's mausoleum in the
suburbs of Jerusalem cannot pay for
Bethlehem manger and Calvarean
cross and Pilates ruffian judiciary.
Post mortem honcrs cannot atone for
ante mortem ignominies.
Again, standing in this garden Of
the sepulcher, I am impressed with
the fact that floral and arborescent
decorations are appropriate for the
place of the dead. We are glad that
among flowers and sculptural adorn-
ments Christ spent the short time Of
His inhumation.
/ cannot understand what I some
times see in the newspapers 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 al
low-strew the casket with flowers.
the hearse with flowers. the grave
with flowers. Put them on the brow
it will suggest coronation; in their
hand-it will mean victory.
Christ was buried in q garden.
Flowers mean resurrection. Death is
sad enough anyhow. Let conservatory
and arboretum contribute to its al
deviation. The harebell will ring the
victory; the passion flower will ex-
press the sympathy; the daffodil will
kindle its lamp and illumine the dark
ness. The cluster Of asters will be
the constellation. Your little child
loved flowers when she was living.
Put them in her hand now that she
can 90 forth no more and pluck them
for herself. On sunshiny days take j
fresh garland and put it over the still
heart.
Brooklyn has no grander glory than
its Greenwood, nor Boston than its
Mount Auburn, nor Philadelphia than
its Laurel Hill, nor Cincinnati than its
Spring Grove, nor San Francisco than
its Lone Mountain. But what shall we
say of those country graveyards, with
the vines broken down and the slabs
aslant and the mound caved in and the
grass a pasture ground for the sections
cattle?. Indeed, were your father and
mother of so little worth that you can
not afford to take care of their ashes?
Some day turn out all hands and
straighten the slab and bank up the
mound and cut away the weeds and
plant the shrubs and flowers.
Some day you will want to lie down
to your last slumber. You cannot ex-
pect any respect for your bones If you
have no Difference for the bones of your
ancestry. 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
Turn all your cemeteries
into gardens.