Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1904-11-12

life u 4 leaf our earthly existence
""ags INTO budding life has its short
,..,Jn 81 glorious maturity and then
faces and fails with rapidity that
s;ar,e us Joseph Cook seems TO
streicE mans earthly life out almost
endicSSly Mans life" said he,
mems tender teens teachabie twen-
ties. t.rcless th.rtieS fiery forties. forci-
bic fiitieS serious sixties. sacred seven
ties. aching eighties. shortening breath.
death the sod. God But. Oh though
we may live our threescore years and
ten. OF 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 fiostS 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 Ole side Of the leaf the snow
bank and upon the other side of the
leaf the iceberg Of another winter. He
then says 10 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
look like the diSmantled and ruined
palaces of Il king" So God says to
man: Your earthly life is TO be very.
very short. You are to spend your
ea:,l.ly days as the life of 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-
mon; that you must soon fade away
as tie leaf. as the dying autumnal
leaf:"
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
whelm.n: fact that forces itself upon
me is the rapidity with which genera
tions 20. Aye. the members of the gen
eration which preceded us as well as
many members of our own generation
seem 10 have disappeared as the miSts
at the Sunris;iIg. as the dewdrops are
kissed off the lips of the leaves. rs the
tears on the cheek of little child are
wiped away by Il sympathetic mother.
Wandering up and down the world, we
think of all the friends we have on the
other :: L. of the grave. Then we seem
to feel that the great character of the
''Wandcrin. jew" created by Eugene
Sue. is not an absurlity. for every
where we 20 ana everywhere we turn
we hear the voices of the dead. crying:
Il am gone. am gone. am gone!
have faded away rs the leaf-as the
dying leaf
Oh. the rapidity with which the hu-
man family pass away, Some time
ago | picked UP bound annual vol
ume of Il weekly periodical l 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 involuntarily ex-
claimed OH turning over each of the
pictures: Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead.
Dead. Dead SO. speaking today of
the dead. the multitudeS of our depart
ell Lowell ones seem to pass before us.
There are scores ana hundreds of
them. As tie 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 tie aut;'mnal leaves.
But. though the span of life may be
very short as Il whole. yet. after ALL
when death comes TO most of us, 1t will
come as To tie leaf. gradually. Death.
as Il 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 durin" 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 new song. Now. chill
dren.' said she papa will soon be
here" Then came the preparation for
meeting the train. Then came the ex-
pecicd parent Death comes to most
not us thief in the night. AS u rule.
death come; to us rs he comes TO
leaf. gradually. very gradually.
Death Comes Gradually.
Dill ! 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 wien you were about twenty
years of age You had fearful at
tack of pneumonia. For days and
days they thought you could not get
well. You recovered partially but
your lun-S since then have never been
strong Every winter you catch cold
Each vpnr fIp foIuh iS ha rdar IN srat