The Elbert County tribune., 1903-04-09
AN EASTER VISION

1t was Easter Sunday The streets
were thronged with well-dresssed peo-
pie on their way to church, and the
spring air was full OF the joyous
sound of bells.
What hollow mockery!" thought
one sad-faced woman as she stood
amid the worshipers in the crowded
transept.
The priest stretched out his hands
toward the kneeling flock and spoke
of the butterfly and the chrysalis. the
marvel OF revivified and blossoming
earth. Yet his words were meaning
less, cold and empty in the ears of
the sad. black-robed woman who
sought in vain for consolation.
Were they indeed those mansions
of God of which the rector spoke?
Had these people found them? Why,
then, were they barred to her? All, in
her bitterness, she doubted If she
really cared for such joys. All she
yearned for was the one tender.
human smile which they told her was
forever banished. Her heart rose up
in a spasm of eebellion. 1t could not
be true that anything so good was
irrevocably gone.
Christ is risen-is risen from the
deadi" sang the choir; but the sad
and lonely woman turned and left the
church.
That afternoon she walked along
country roads, through the delicious
doors of the springfield air. As she
trod the brown meadows the sky was
aglow with the dulling gold of the
sunshine and the wind bore to her the
scent of fresh hyacinths.
Still she wandered on, unheeding.
absorbed in the bitterness of her own
heart, until she saw before her a
country churchyard, where a woman.
black-robed, like herself. bent sobbing
above new-made grave. Drawn by
some intangible chord of sympathy,
she walked over to where the other
i.neeled at the tomb.
1T is Easter" said the second
woman, mechanically lifting her
heavy eyes. "and he is dead" A
sudden comprehension came to her
glance; she reached out her hand
ana touched the strangers gown.
You understand she cried. you
too"
Yes. l understand" answered the
first woman, monotonously. your
story is also mine. He is dead"
They are gone from us forever"
cried the woman at the grave. with
burst of wild weeping. 'Ah. for
one sign of immorta.-.y, for one hope.
one dream tnat 1t is not forever-that
they but sleep to live againl"
And then for both these sorrowing
souls was wrought a miracle! Life.
for the instant, threw aside its mask
of death and revealed itself in its
serene majesty of reality. The sky
became more vivid and opaline; the
wind blew more freshly, bearing a
> ousand scents; hepaticas were
blooming at their feet; a bird scared,
singing. from the ground.
For the moment they seemed to
feel the swirl of the earth on its axis,
the stars revolving in their spheres,
the mighty heave of the great oceans
of life, and knew that there was
nothing in time nor space nor exist
ence, but change, motion and vitality.
IN that one brief moment they felt
and knew the presence of their dead
infinitely near and comforting, and
were assured beyond all doubt that
there was
The freer step. the fuller breath, the
wide horizons grander view.
The sense of life that knows no DEATH
the life that maketh all things
new.
And then the vision passed. the
scales fell upon their eyes, their ears
once more grew dull. And yet its
memory remained. They stood to-
gether in the world. as they had
known it. alone; but nevermore DESC
late.