Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1904-11-07

Like the fa01ng leaf, mans craOle anO
grave are not very far apart. Like the
life Of leaf. our earthly existence
springs into budding life. has its short
season Of glorious maturity, and then
fades and falls with a rapdity that
startles US. Joseph Cook seems &c
stretch mans earthly life out almost
endlessly. Mans life" said he.
means tender teens. teachable TWEEN
ties. tireless thirties, fiery fOrties. forci-
bic ffties. serious sixties. sacred seven
ties. aching eighties. shortening breath,
death. the sod. God" But. oh. though
we may live our threescOre years and
ten. or even fOurscOre years. how soon
those years slip away. AS the months
of the spring quickly change them
selves into the months of the summer.
and the months of the summer change
into the frosts of the autumn, we can
see our lives slipping away. We can
see them go as the sands of an hour
glass run away before our eyes. God
puts upon one side of the leaf the snow
bank and upon the other side of the
leaf the iceberg Of another winter. He
then says to the embryo Of the leaf:
you must not begin to sprOut before
the whstling winds of March have
died away. You must, on the other
hand. be ready to surrender your life
before the December storms have
trampled all the tapestries of the for
ests under foot. making the bare trees
palaces Of a king" So God says to
man: Your earthly life is to be very,
very short. You are to spend your
earthly days as the life of a leaf.
Therefore, what you are to do for me
and for the world you must do quick
ly. Hear We not in the signing of the
autumnal winds the forthcoming sum
mons that you must soon fade away
as the leaf, as the dying autumnal
leafY'
A symbol of Earth.
The fading autumnal leaf, the sym
Dol of the passing away of the human
generations! Can you not see it? Can
you not feel it? To me it is the most
startling symbol of earth, for, as | go
out in the autumn and look off upon
the hillsides and see the vineyards with
their dying leaves, the most over
whelming fact that forces itself upon
me is the rapidity with which genera
tons go. Aye, the members of the gen
Grafton which preceded us as well as
many members of our own generation
seem to have disappeared as the mists
at the sunrising, as the dewdrOps are
kissed off the lips of the leaves. as the
tears on the cheek of a little child are
wiped away by a, sympathetic mother.
Wandering up and down, the world, we
think of all the friends we have on the
other side of the grave Then we seem
to feel that the great character OF the
Wandering Jew" created by Eugene
Sue, is not an ahsurdity, for every
where we go and everywhere we turn
we hear the voices of the dead, crying:
II am gone! i am gone! l am gone!
/ have faded away as the leaf-as the
dying leaf"
Oh, the rapidity with which the hui
man family pass away! Some time
ago / picked up bound annual vol
ume of weekly periodical 1 took for
some years. This volume recorded a
political campaign of some twenty
years ago. AS turned over the leaves
and saw the faces of the prominent
men of that day l invOluntarny ex-
claimed on turning over each Of the
pictures Dead! Dead! Dead! Dead!
Dead! Deadw So, speaking today of
the dead, the multitudes of our depart
ed loved ones seem to pass before us.
There are scores and hundreds of
them. AS the autumnal leaves fall, so
they died. Whatever we are to do for
God we must do quickly, for we all do
fade away as the leaf. We are dying
as the autumnal leaves.
But, though the span of life may be
very short as a whole, yet, after ALL
when death comes to most of us, it will
come as to the leaf, gradually. Death
as rule, does not spring out upon his
| victims suddenly. Like loved friend
travelling abroad, he sends message aft
er message that he is coming. He
sends notice after notice. He sends
word to you just the same as the sol
diers fighting in the United States ar
my during the civil war sent mes
sages to their children at home. At
night the mother used to read those
letters to her babies. Then she would
say: Papa is coming. Yes, some day
papa is going to come" Then when
the surrender at AppOmattox came the
mother sang a new song. NOW, chill
dren," said she, papa will soon be
here" Then came the preparation fol
meeting the train. Then came the ex
pected parent. Death comes to most
not as thief in the night AS a rule
death comes to US as he comes to g
leaf, gradually, very gradually.
Death Comes Gradually.
Did 1 say death is coming to you
gradually? Oh, yes, he has sent mes
sage after message to notify you of his
early arrival. The first message came
to you when you were about twenty
years of age. You had fearful at
| tack of pneumonia For DAYS arc