The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1914-04-17

On Easter Sunday morning new
preacher was standing In the pulpit,
and when the time for the sermon
came he gave out his tex, and COM
ncneed something like thi5: NY
dear friends, hope you'll forgive me
if l begin by telling you little about
my own history II any Of You had
| locked at me few months ago, You
would never suppose that you saw the
same person standing before you this
morning. | looked then as thoIgh l
were the potatoes second cousin, or
the o.qion's own cousin. was an 1gly
grayish-browaish bulb, and I was iy-
ing in a pile of bul8s in Il corner a. a
dark cellar | didn't think anybody IN
p! Tire world cared for me and | HdPt
/ care for anybody Nobody appeared to
Think ne worth looking at, and nevef
Ia the widest dreams did I imagine
that q big congregation of people
wcuIc like to see me up in front of
tTgem, and would say to each other
How beautiful"
One day a man came down into
1.-THE cellar and picked me up. | was
TERRIBLY scared, for I hadn't an idea
what he wanted to do with me. He
took pot with some damp earth in
it, and then he dug hole in the pot
with lis trowel, and pEt me in it; and
/ before [ had tine to know where |
was he covered Lqe all ever with diTt-
Oh, how dark and lonely it was in
| there-mlch darker even than in the
cedar. and without even the bulbs to-
keep me, company. The man took the
/ pot with ME in it, and set it in a very
sunny spot under a big glass roof or
course I couldn't see either the sun
| or tile roof then; all [ knUsT was that
/ the dirt around me grew little
warmer Every once ana a while he2
came along with a green can with a
B long Eeck anu a sprinkler" att the end
/ of it, and poured water on me. L
could feel the drops come trfcIlling0
down through the dirt.
by and by I felt the most terrible
gains; Thought was gong to pieces.
AND l was. Something inside me
had never knUwn before was waking
ap anG growing and pashfng out.
The old bulb that had been my body
aid fafp to pieces, and out from it's
top l came-a small tip Of Il thing
sFiat was' pIlIkisi-wIlite color at first.
II pushed my way up through the dirt
and Changed into a spear Of green.
was above the top of the pot now,
and coGfd' LOOK around and gee I what
hT was. I was in beautiful big place
with tine sun str>, ming down on me
and whole lot other small green
things just like me in ali the pots
around mine. The man / had been
afraid of I found the kindest person
II had ever met; ne took such good
| care Of me- and everything he pos
sibly could to make me and all my
| little brothers and sisters just as love-
] ly as could be. SO, with the kindness
he showed me In seeing chat | got
all the sunlight and warmth and
water l needed grew taller and tai
| Ter, and at last queer cucumber
shaped head formed at the top of all,
and in few days it opened up, and
| became this lovely white lilly you
are so delighted to look ac this morn
ing, and I myself think that my East
er clothes are beautiful
Now, my friends" DR.: Lilly went
on, my sermon has two points: First,
just what happened to me has hap
pened to some people you are very
fond of. A great gardener came along
and took them away, and the last you
saw of them was in the graveyard
where they were buried Well, the
gardener, of whom you perhaps were
afraid, and at whom you may have
felt angry when he took away some
one you dearly loved is the kindest
Being in the world Their bodies. like
my bulb, have turned to dust, but
that was not the end the Gardener
planned for them. They are looking
about them in place as much more
beautiful than our earth as this place
| find in today is lovelier than the
dark cellar l can remember Some
day he will place your body in a
grave; don't be in the least afraid:
the good Gardener win take care
that you grow up and blossom in the
glorious life of heaven.
And the other lesson I want to
draw from my story is this: Do you
know that, if you could see yourselves
you would see persons just as hideous
as was as a grayish-brownish bulb?