Milford chronicle., 1904-11-11

I
man: "Your earthly life is to be very
very short. You are to spend yOul
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
leaff"
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 l 90
out in the autumn and look or upon
the hillsides and see the vineyards with
their dying leaves, the most over
wheming fact that forces itself upon
me is the rapidity with which genera
tions go. Aye, the me.abers 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 check Of Il 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 absurdity, for every
where we 20 and everywhere we turn
we hear the voices of the dead, crying:
Il am gone! l am gone! / am gone.
| have faded away as the leaf-as the
dying leafw
Oh, the rapidity with which the hu-
man family pass away! Some time
ago 1 picked up a bound annual vol
ume Of a weekly periodical I took for
some years. This volume recorded a
political campaign of some twenty
years ago. As l turned over the leaves
and saw the faces of the prominent
men Of that day l Involuntary ex-
claimed on turning over each of the
pictures: Dead! Dead. Dead! Deadl
Dead! Deadr' 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 autumu0l 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 a rule, does not spring out upon his
victims suddenly. Like a 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
mother sang a new song 'Now, chill
dren," said she, papa will soon be
here" Then came the preparation for
meeting the train Then came the eX-
pccted parent. Death comes to most
not as thief in the night As a rule,
death comes to lis as he comes to a
leaf, gradually, very gradually.
Death Comes Gradually.
Did l 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 a fearful at
tack of pneumonia. For days ard
days they thought you could not get
well. You recovered partially, but
your lungs since then have never been
strong. Every winter you catch cold.
Each year the cough is harder to get
rid of. Or years ago when a child you
had an attack of dreaded diphtheria.
The nurse let us sit US too soon, and
the strain was too great upon the
heart. 1t left it weak. For years you
did not mind, but now the old trouble
has come back. Or the message came
to you that death was on his way to
your home in failing eyesight. You
have to put on glasses now when you
read the Bible or the evening paper.
Or you can hear his footsteps in your
dulled hearing. You find out that peO-
pie do not talk as loud as they used
to do. You keep asking them the irri-
tating question, "Why do you not
speak ns5re distinctly than you dOY"
Or it came to you last week in star
Ting way. You had your picture taken