Milford chronicle., 1905-02-17
Like Luray Cave.

Or our lives, if they are not like the
Styx of a Mammoth cave, supporting
only a few blind fish swimming hun
dreds Of feet below the surface of the
earth, may be like the wonderfully
suggestive beauties of a Luray cave of
old Virginia, which likewise are doing
no good to any one. That Luray cave
is a marvellous place. Though its beau
ties were buried for centuries, yet un-
der the flash of light it looks as though
its walls had been erected only yester-
day and, like the TAI Mahal of india
are glittering mass Of dead precious
/ stones. Yonder stand the columns of
stalagmite as statuary in vestal gar
ments Of purest white. Here are the
| drippings of a cataract, as though the
mad rush of a Niagara had been in
stantly halted and, like an open mouth
ed lion, dared not utter one growl, al
though even now we seem to hear the
echo of its last wild, mad roar Yonder
is the "ballroom," where our imagina-
ton tells us the nymphs and the fairies
used to sport and Gance and make mer-
ry. Near to this "ball hall" is the "cem-
etery ridge" where those nymphs ana
fairies were buried ages on ages ago
Here are the hanging wells Of the god
desses," so thin that through them
flashes the light Of our guides lamps
so red that they seem to have been
dipped in the blood of the soldiers who
over this very mountain once followed
Stonewall Jackson in his last raid or
into the blood of those soldiers who re-
coiled before the cavalry charge of
Lightning Horse" Phil Sheridan.
From yOnder cathedral, with its domes
and spires and steeples and minarets
and strange carvings. there come echo
ing up the solemn notes of an organ
which roll and swell and thunder and
whisper and pray and chant and die
From out of every grottO stretches
some hand or lifts some snOwbank or
flaps some wing or, like cats eye.
blinks some emerald or, tiger-like,
glares the bloodshot eyeball of some
ruby or flashes some emerald And |
while all the chimes of all the towers |
are beginning to ring suddenly a sta
lactite many tons in weight breaks |
loose and crashes upon the floor. It |
shivers. rolls over once or twice and l
then lies still, to be decomposed by the
coming ages. A marvellous and en-
chanting place is Luray cave of old
Virginia.
All its walls are strangely sculptured,
Column high and chasm wide.
'Tis the place where all the shadows
OF the past years silent hide.
Pvt when l stood within the walls
Of that fascinating place l said to my
sell: How like selfish man is this cave!
His heart is a heart of stone Amid
the su1rerings and troubles of a sinful
world, with all his vast resources for
dog good, he buries himself in a wall
ed citadel. which is called his home or
his store. He lives, he breathes, he
eats, he sleeps he works for himself
and himself alone Oh, brother may
your gospel peace be not like the gilt
tering grandeur hidden in the darkness
Of Igray cave in Virginia or Of a ST.
lent river Styx flowing through the
dark halls of a Mammoth cave Of old
Kentucky! May it be a river of life,
bringing peace and joy and hope to all
who are willing to bend down their
parched and sinful lips to lap of the
spiritual waters.
A River OF Triumph.
But / cannot close this sermon upon
this beautiful text without finding one
more symbol The pleading river is
not only a river of conservation to God,
but a river Of triumph. It is not only
the crystal gates through which, as the
Jordan of death, we shall enter the
tomb, but it is the crystal gates by
which we shall leave the wilderness of
trouble and earthly wanderings and en-
ter into the promised land of heaven
and eternal joy. Shall our peace, which
Is like a river, stop at the brink of the
grave?
We have read how George Frederick
Handel on the river Thames won his
great musical victory over the irate
George L of England. When King