Milford chronicle., 1906-02-23

drink and be merry. he may eat ant
drink, but he will always miss the mer
ry aftermath
Does Death End Anf
There is another reason why we re
volt at the idea of annihilation at the
grave. In our past career Of selfish
ness and sin we may have evolved
quite string Of logical arguments to
prove that death doth end ALL" We
may have read many works of a Vol
| taire, a Hume, BOlingbroke, a Glib
bon or a Paine. We may have even
argued ourselves into believing that we
were right and that when a man died
he simply died and that was the end Of
him. But some few years ago we had
all our annihlatiOn theories knocked
endwise. This was the way it happen
ed: Death came to you, not as an I'M
known quantity, but in a terrible form.
1t came and knocked at your door and
said: "Open! I want that mother. l
want your sister. want your wife. 1
want your child" And as Death walk
ed away with your dear one you called
out, "Oh, Death, is my darling child
dead forever?" And away off in the
distance you could hear your dear one
call back: Il am not dead. I am liv-
ing again. Believe me, l am living
again." Is not that statement true?
Deep down in your heart do you not
feel that tile spirits of your loved ones
are alive today though their bodies are
molderlng in the grave.
Oh, how quickly the sudden appear
ance Of death can shatter the conclu-
sions we have built up by years Of
painful theorizing! 1 had this fact il
lustrated in a remarkable way some
years ago when l was visiting the Gre
matOry Of Pittsburg. in which city
was living at that time. l was taken
into a vaulted room where quite a
number of tin cans, each about the size
of a two quart pail were standing
around on shelves. Each one Of these |
tin cans contained the ashes Of a hui /
man being. Some had more ashes in |
them than others. The older a man is /
s more his cartilages ossffy and .
therefore the more incombustible ma
terial there is left in the retort Of the
"Here are the ashes Of
George w. Ferris of the Ferris wheel
Of the Chicago Worlds fair. who died
)nly a few months ago." said my guide.
Yes, yesw l answered. Il knew Of
lin. He had been in my church Of
EN-" "And here are the ashes of Mr.
SO-and-so, and these belong to the child
If SO-and-so," mentioning names which
we're household words in the western
,art Of Pennsylvania Then my guide
,ave me one of the most dramatic ac-
cunts l have ever heard. He describ-
d Emma Abbott, the great American
ongsress, descending the same steps
descended and standing just where
was standing After she had care
ully examined the crematory she said,
Some day l am coming here to be
urned into ashes" Then she slightly
aised her skirts and began to dance
round the room, and as she danced
he sang, and she kept on singing I'M
Il she sang herself out of the door. /
And within twelve months" said the
nan, cher dead body was brought here
nd committed to the flames Yes, her
ody was burned in yoader furnace"
Believed In 1t Only In Theory.
After my guide had been speaking ;
hus to me for over an hour I said to
i'm: "DO you believe in cremation?
What is your own private opinion in
eference to it," He stopped a mo-
lent and then he slowly said: Il be ,
We in it in theory. But theories no
natter how well formed, do not always ]
York out in a practical result For
ears l have been preaching the bene-
IS Of cremation. But last year my
ably girl died. She was my only /
lild She was the idol of her mother
nd myself. The day after our little
ne had gone the mother came to me
nd said. Husband. shall we cremate
er? l said: No, Mary. No. We
annot burn her up Her body was
90 dear to us. Let us go and bury
er among the flowers" Yes. our
eautlful theories and the hard prac-
Of life are often as far
way from each other as the zenith is
Ugh above the nadir You may have
rgued for spiritual humiliation at
he grave but as soon as God took
our dear ones you knew they did not
lie and are not dead now. And with
D you today, in spite Of all that athe-
sts and skeptics may say. something
eeps singing: Il shall livel shall
vel shall live long after this earth
] cremated! l shall live as my dear
mes. whose bodies are sleeping in the
rave, are living noww All, my