The Newtown bee. (Newtown, Conn.) 1877-current, 1902-12-26
of it as the fallen leaves are scattered

of it as the fallen leaves are scattered
before the wind.
eve are all as an unclean thing, and
our righteousness are as, filthy rags;
and we all do fade as leaf; and our
iniquities like the wind have taken US
away"
All this desolation, which jeremiah
weeps over, he having witnessed the
fultillment of the prophecy, was
brought upon Israel by their iniquities.
When sinners take their destiny in
their own hands, there remains for
them only "a certain fearful looking
for of Judgment and fiery indignation
which shall ldevour the adversaries.
away by the malignant and violent
wind of their own iniquity; it withers
them and then blasts them.
We have come to the full autumn
time of year. All the beauty of spring
and summer is faded and gone. The
amiable jasmlne-the arbor vitae, with
it's unchanging friendship-the dis
dainful carnation-the columbine with
its folly-the innocent daisy THE lily
with its sweetness and coquetry-the
devoted heliotrOpe- SURPRISING
qualities of the mignOnette-thes stern
thistle, and the tender field grasses
all have faded, their beauty is gone,
and their fragrance has been borne
away upon the autumn winds.
The music of the spring birds is
hushed The bobolink with the
witchery of it's song, the melody of the
meadow lark, the twitter and chatter
of the chimney swallow, the enchant-
ing sunset song of the robin, and the
inSiStant demands of the Whip-pOOr-
will are hushed into silence. These
feathered SOngSterS are gone to milder
chimes where the winds blow softly
and the sun shines with warmer
glow.
We stand in the absence of deserted
pleasures and in the midst of the desc
lations that Time has wrought in the
beauties and fragrance of the years
and 1falling all about us. Nature
withers and decays beneath the ac-
cumulated weight of time fit emblem
of human life.
THE LEAF. FADES NATURALLY
1t is as natural for tie leaf to fade
as it is for it to come forth from the
bud which unfolds it in the spring
time. Leaves have their time to fade
and to fall. 1t is not necessary that
the Autumn king should touch them
with his icy sceptre, nor that the boar
frost should be scattered upon them.
When they ripen they will fade and
wither and decay. The cOlorS in the
thousands of pores that are under the
green surface of single leaf appear
which the leaf was nOuriShed, to en-
tomb itself within the roots, the seat
of life of the tree, and then the fading
begins.
It is Gods decree that man should
die. The fiat went forth from the
Almighty, "Dust thou art and unto
dust shalt thou return" For as by
one man sin entered into the world,
and death by sin, so death was passed
upon all men for that all have sinned.
We may deny many things that have
not passed before our vision, and that
have never entered into our experience,
and from which we have never received
any communication. Men may deny
the creation of matter, from which all
life and form have come. They may
dispute the fact of future rewards and
punishment; they may 60 so far as to
deny the existence of personal God.
But no man, however skeptical on
other things, can deny the fact that
he must die-that old age is sure tc
come when life reaches out into the
three score and ten years.
The leaf fades from different causes.
The storm wind may wrench it from
it's stem in it's youth time and hurl it
to the earth where it fades, and goes
into premature decay. The forest fires
slightly thing. The frost may blight
it. All these accidental and unnatural
causes may step in and do the bungling
work which Nature, had she had hel
way, would have done gracefully and
beautifully. The natural process Is
for the leaf to grow old, and ripen, ano
then fade into beauty.
HUMAN LIFE HAS ITS CASUALTIES.
Those events which may be considered
accidental to the fading process, may
step in, and undertake the work which
belongs exclusively to Nature to &C
complish.
Who has not seen the beautiful
young lady become the victim of that
willy, treacherous, designing and de
ceptive disease She
who was the bright spirit of her asso
ciateS, and the most beautiful of all
in form and feature, begins to fade
The glow of health departs from hel
cheeks, leaving no color but the ON
inous spot which tells every one, but
herself, that the Iinsidious disease il
there. We have seen her in hel
casket, lying among the tuberose'
and camelias and myrtle a faded leaf
hurled from the hilltop of youth, anC
health, and beauty, into the valley O.
shadows, because smitten by the vino
storm of disease, in whose path she
CHANGED to stand. In such case az
this Nature has been defrauded Of bel
legitimate work. go