The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1903-03-04
BEAUTIFUL WORDS.
Heartfelt Sestimenas FeeIingIy Ex.
pressed.


pressed.
The following beautiful letter was
written several years ago by gentle
man to bride on receiving her wed.
ding cards. It Is exquisitely fresh and
full Of poetry. Though not intended
for publication, it found Its ways In.
to print, and we think It too much Of
q gem to be lost entirely:
I am holding some pasteboard In my
hands, Addie three stately pluckings
from the bush Of ceremony! I am
gazing upon o card and q name-a
name with which your gentle life be-
gan, q name with which your tbrob-
bling heart was lost. There ID nothing
strange about that card. The maiden
sign still looks from It, calm and Gus
tomary, as It looked on many q friend.
IL visit, as 1t lies In many q formal
basket. ] am gazing, too, upon q card
where the nearer parent tells the
world she will be AT Home one day,
and that Is nothing new! But there
Is another card, whose mingling
there puts q tongue Of fire into this
speechless pasteboard, enameliDg tate
on commonplace. It tells Us that feel.
Ing 10 maturing into destiny, and
that these cards are but the pale her
aids OF coming crisis, when o hand
that has pressed friends hands and
plucked flowers shall close down on
him to whom she shall be friend and
flower forever.
I have sent you o few flowers to
adorn the dying moments OF your sim
gle life. They are the gentlest types
Of a delicate and durable friendship.
They spring up by our side when
Others have deserted l., and they will
be found watching owe: our graves
when those who should cherish have
forgotten Us. II seems meet to me that
q past 30 calm and pure as yours
should expire with o kindred sweet
ness about It; that flowers and music,
kind friends, and earnest words should
consecrate the hour when Q sentiment
is passing into sacrament.
The three great stages Of our being
are the birth, the bridal, the burial.
To the first we bring only weakness;
for the last We have nothing but dust!
But here at the altar, where life Joins
life, the pair come throbbiog up to the
holy man, whispering the deep prom
ise that arms each with the others
heart, to help on the lffe's struggle OF
cara and duty. The beautiful will be
there, borrowing new beauty from
the scene. The gay and the frivolous,
they and their founces will look sol.
emn for once. .,
And youth will come to gaze on all
It's sacred thoughts pant for, and age
will totter up to hear the old words
repeated that to their own lives have
given the charm. Some will weep
over it "a il it were q tomb, and aome
will laugh over It as II 1t were . joke,
but two must stand By 1t, for 1t is fate.
not fun, this everlasting locking ol
their lives!
And now can you, who have queen
ed It over 80 many bending forms, car
you come down ut last 10 the frugal
diet Of single heart?
Hitherto you have been clock CIV
ing your time to all the world! Now
you are watch, buried In one partic
ular bosom, marking only his hours
and ticking only the beat Of his hear
where time and feeling shall be IL
unison, and these lower ties are loe
in that higher wedlock where al
hearts are united around the Great
Central Heart Of all. Hoping thai
calm sunshine may hallow your clasp
[ ed hands, I sink silently into sigma
ture.