THE-
AN EXCELLENT)
ADVERTISING MEDIUM
Circulates extensively In Ihe Counties el
Washington, Martin, Tyrrell and Bizuforti
Official Organ of Washington County.
FIRST OF ALL THE NEWS.
Job Printing In ItsVarious Branches.
J.OO A "YKAli IN ADVAXCK.
"FOH GOD, FOR COUNTRY, AND FOB TRUTH."
SIXGLK CO!Y, 5 C19NTS.
VOL. X.
PLYMOUTH, N. C, FRIDAY, APRIL 21, 1800.
NO. 31.
A SONG.
lng me a sweet, low song of night
Before the moon is risen.
A song that tells ot the star's delight
Escaped from clay's bright prison.
A song that croons with the cricket's voice,
That sleeps with the shadowed trees,
A song that shall bid my heart rejoice
At its tender mysteries .
rr. A- A jw A'"I'lt'lt,'lt"llr Jv w Jfc l
rpTT-Rl nOHTOPR STORY I
By Charles S.
31y diploma (dated 1878) four years
old, and from one of the best medical
colleges in the land, had maintained
its prominent position on the wall of
my little country office for nearly
three years, and as I sat musing be
fore the great box stove and its roaring
wood fire one wintry day, mentally
covering a fair countryside drive, I
concluded that those three years had
been reasonably prosperous.
As I dreamed along in this fashion
my office door was opened with a rush,
and Darius llobison plunged before
me, very scant of breath, with the
news that his little boy was critically
ill of croup and that Dr. Squiers, who
had been attending him, had recom
mended that I be called to "put a tube
or something in the child's throat;"
that it was a new but sure cure with
which Squiers was unacquainted, so
far as his own practice was concerned,
but that he had heard of several suc
cessful operations I had performed.
"Will you come, doctor V" asked liob
isou in tones and manner indicating
doubt and the gravest anxiety.
"Certainly, Mr. Eobisou," I replied;
"I will be there within half an hour,"
at which with a "Thank you, doctor,"
Darius bounced out of the office, and
the .next instant he was ruuning across
the street to the general store a com
bination of postoflice, drug store and
all kinds of merchandise.
Within five minutes I was ready
with my instruments and medicine
case, and, a minute or two later the
stable boy brought my horse and cut
ter over from the country tavern,
where I boarded, and I was oft'. The
two-mile drive over good sleighing
with a fresh horse. was a short one, so
that within 20 minutes I was at the
side of the suffering child with the
grief-stricken parents and good old
Dr. Squiers, very dignified but inter
ested, watching my movements with
the closest scrutiny.
I found the boy, about four years old,
suffering from acute membraneous
laryngitis. He was creeping about,
over the bed, pursing hh lips,opening
his mouth, gasping and reaching out
with his hands, as if to pull the air
down to his little lungs; his face was
blue, the chest was flattened and de
pressed between the ribs and above
the clavicles, and the pitch and char
acter of his very difficult breathing in
dicated the presence of membraneous
obstruction in the larynx and glottis.
Dr. Squiers administered the chloro
fotm, and 1 performed the operation
if tracheotomy, inserting a tube. The
breathing of tho child improved so
iuiddeuly and so well that theshock
caused the father, who had watTned
the operation, to fall iu a fainting con
dition, thus adding to the terror of the
mother and wife, who was waiting in
an adjoining room. Dr. Squiers prompt
ly attended to this side incident, how
ever, and in a short time the respira
tions of the child were easy and regu
lar, the natural color had returned to
its face, and he had taken a small
portion of food. Meanwhile the father
and mother had acquired a condition
of self-control and happiness, so that
when I started home it was in the
midst of one of those dense and wholly
beautiful halosof gratitude and adula
tion which come so frequently to all
practitioners of medicine and which go
3t 1 ng way toward wiping out the fa
tigue and disappointments so common
to the profession..
These details told today, in the
light of new instruments, new methods
and new operations, sound common
place, but 20 years ago they were un
usual and dramatic, and besides, at
Ihe time of which I speak, Darius Eob
isou was a county supervisor and was
' the supervisor whose vote defeated my
desire to serve the county. Moreover,
he had shown au unaccountable an
tipathy toward myself ever since I had
located in the county.
Eobison was raised a farmer and had
ft district school education, but he was
of an observing, investigating turn of
mind, and, being industrious, frugal
and correct as to hi habits, he was
recognized as a valuablo citizen who
was well informed, interested iu cur
lent affairs and sincere in his devotion
to the prosperity of his township.
Among other things he had made a
special study of the tramp problem
and by extensive reading upon phil
osophical subjects, and the causes
which are supposed to lead to mendi
cacy and itineracy, had views quite in
advance of those held by his neigh
bors. t
However, he was appreciative and
grateful, as were his w ife ami boy, over
the service I had performed, so that
while I enjoyed hearing the Avords of
upraise, sometimes quite fulsome.I did
occasionally grow weary over the same
details of the same story and the same
commendations which I was certain to
And then when the song is ended, love,
Bend down your head unto roe.
Whisper the word that was born above
Ere the moon had swayed the sea.
Ere the oldest star began to shine,
Or the farthest sun to burn,
The oldest of words, O heart of mine,
let newest, and Bwet to learn:
Hildegarde Hawthorne, in Harper's Magazine.
6
Hathaway.
hear each time I met him or any mem
ber of his family.
Therefore when I learned, about a
year later, that the Eobisons were
goiug to move to the northern part of
Wisconsin to engage in the lumber
business, I felt some regret and some
satisfaction in that while I might be
losing a local friend, my reputation
would be carried into the outer world
possibly to my own advantage. They
had been gone a year or more when I
received a letter telling me as to the
good health of the family, that Eobison
was making money and urging me,
when I took a vacation, to pay them a
visit. I made Kroner acknowledgment
of the receipt of the letter and forgot
the matter until a year later Ireceived
another letter of similar import, add
ing that the deer hunting in their vi
cinity was fine. Again I was obliged
to decline the invitation with thanks.
Then, for a couple of years, I heard
nothing further until one day I re
ceived a telegram summoning me to a
small lumber town but a few - miles
from Eobison's mill to perform an op
eration. That evening I took the train, and
on the following afternoon I reached
the place, performed tho operation and
was askiug the proprietor of the hotel
where I was stopping as to a midnight
train I might take on my way home,
when I was very much astonished to
see my old friend Eobison enter the
hotel. He was cordial to enthusi
asm, told me how, hearing of my com
ing,he had driven into town especially
to get me and tako me to his home
for a visit, told what a fine lad his boy
had grown to be aud all about the
prosperity and happiness of . himself
and Avife. He would not be put oft', so
that finally I agreed to go, and we re
tired for the night.
The following morning I visited my
patient to find him doing nicely and
returned to the hotel just as mj friend
drove up to the office door with a fine
dark bay horse hitched to an open
buggy. As I put my foot on the step
to climb to my seat 1 noticed, under
the seat partly covered by robes, two
or three large stones netted with ropes
like the stone anchors improvised
sometimes by fishermen. These an
chors did not excite especial curiosity
at the time, but, as we drove along, my
friend very exuberant and talkative,
those anchors would flash into my
mind every little while so that between
listening to my companion and musing
as to the stones I had little else to do.
I was surprised at Eobison's volu
bility at first, and then I was puzzled
by the variety of topics he discussed
aud the unusual energy and excite
ment he showed as he talked. He was
still interested in the tramp question
and said he was about to solve it by
erecting two large treadmills which
he was going to turn iu opposite di
rections by tramp power. The shafts
of these treadmills were joined to
gether at an angle so that they would
press against each other, the ends of
the shafts when they came together
being protected by plates of iron and
a universal joint. The friction result
ing from the opposite movement of the
two treadmills and the plates of iron
would generate heat sufficient to boil
water and produce steam with which
to warm his mill, run his electric lights
and grind wood into pulp for paper
making purposes.
Then I was certain I was driving
with a madman, and the curiously
covered stones under the seat recurred
to my mind.
At this point Eobison turned his
horse from the main road into a little
wood road, remarking as he did so
that he wanted to leave the highway
and take a look at some shingle tim
ber which he had skidded on the bank
of a lake nearby, preparatory to float
ing it over to his mill.
I was not frightened because physi
cally I felt far superior to my madman.
Reaching a point quite a distance
from the main road, my friend stopped
his horse, and as he jumped from the
buggy I observed that while his face
was covered Avith a strange pallor his
eyes Avere weirdly bright, Avhile a ner
vous twitching kept his lips in a rest
less state. Surely the climax Avas at
hand, but what Avas it?
Jumping from the buggy I saw, over
a slight eminence a very pretty little
lake, and on the bank in the foreground
Avas a small boat a scow made of
rough pine boards. I remarked the
presence of the boat and asked Avhat it
Avas for.
''It is for you to ride in if you wish,'
he answered in a quivering, shrill
voice at which I stepped more closely
to him. Then he said, as he stepped
upon a log, "let's get up on the logs;
Ave'll get a better view." As he did
this I saw, in the baud farthest from
me, the handle of a revolver, and with
a poAverful spring I leaped up at him,
seized the hand holding the pistol and
speaking Avith all the calmness I could
command said: "My dear Eobison,
you do not Avaut to shoot me; it would
be the mistake of your life to commit
such a crime."
Instantly his eyes filled with tears.
he released his hold upon the weapon
and ansAvered: "Doctor, I did intend
to shoot you; I have Avanted to do it
for years, but I am very thankful 1
have been prevented. As soon as 1
heard you were coming up this Avay I
resolved to kill you and end my suf
ferings."
"Sufferings?" I exclaimed iu amaze
ment.
"Yes. They have been dreadful foi
years," he answered. "Shortly aftei
Ave moved up here and when my boA
became old enough to talk iu a mature,
reasonable way, he avouUI engage his
mother in conversation about his ill
ness, about the operation, about your
skill and about my opposition to you
Avhen yon desired the county appoint
ment. It was their " chief recreation,
the one topic in which they seemed te
find perfect happiness, and at lost it
became almost unbearable, Why, I
have had that boy and his mother tell
me over and over again that they loved
vou better than they loved me."
"And you have brooded over this
delusion," I said, "until at last you
enticed me to this spot to shoot me, to
fasten the stone anchors in your buggy
to my body, take me out into this lake
and put me out of sight forever."
With a face instantly lighted bA- a
sort of fiendish glee and yet in a voice
decidedly normal and commonplace he
confessed that I had made a perfect
forecast of his designs. I continued
the ordinary demeanor, talked mod
erately and gently and at once realized
I Avas master of the situation. The
result was Ave re-entered the buggy,
drove to his home and received a most
cordial Avelcome. There was not, so
far as Eobison was concerned, the
slightest evidence of the dreadful trag
edy he had planned, and I fancy there
Avas no sign given by myself. In fact,
save upon the single to23ic and I had
that Avell under control my friend
was not only Avholly sane, but he was
exceptionally intelligent and interest
ing. I met the foreman of his mill and
his chief machinist, I Avalked through
the mill and about the entire premises
Avith Eobison and his Avife and child
as my corapanions,learning all the de
tails large aud small of their prosperity
and comfort; but during the entire
time I think I saw and noted every ar
ticle my friend touched and every time
he put his hand into his pocket. I
did not propose to be caught napping.
We had a superb dinner, the wife
seeming to outdo herself and her re
sources in the result, and Avhen Ave
Eobison and myself entered the
buggy for the return trip to the toAv u
on the railway, I Avas fully determined
to notify the local physician with
Avhom I Avas acquainted as to the Aveak
spot in my friend's condition.
During the ride I kmt my hand on
Eobison's revolver I still have it in
my possession and by great good
fortune so retained my control upon
his understanding that the ride was
Avithout iucident. At the hotel I
parte ! Avith him in the most friendly
way possible. After he had started
home I ascertained that the physician
I desired to consult Avas away on his
drive, and so, resolving to write to
him a completo history of the case as
soon I reached home, I boarded the
cars.
For one reason and another it was
nearly two weeks before I got my let
ter off to the Wisconsin physician, and
the day after it left my hands I read
t:ie following iu the general news col
umn of a Chicago paper:
"Darius Eobison, a Avealthy mill
owner and one of the most enterpris
ing, public-spirited citizens in the
state, committed suicide on the 10th
iust. by shooting himself through the
head in his mill at . Temporary
insanity is believed to have been the
cause." Detroit Free Press.
. Just ft Hint.
"Father," asked Tommy, the other
day, "why is it that the boy is said
to be the father of the man?"
Mr. Tompkins had never given this
subject any thought and was hardly
prepared to answer offhand.
"Why, Avhy," he said, stnmblingly,
"it's so because it is, I suppose."
"Well," said Tommy, "since I'm
your father, I'm going to give you a
ticket to a theatre and half a cioavu
besides. I always said that if I Avas a
lather I Avouldn't be so strngy as the
rest of them are. Go iu and have a
good time while you're young. I
never had a chance myself."
"Mr. Tompkins gazed in blank as
tonishment at Tommy. Slowly the
significance of the hint dawned upon
him. Producing the silver coin, he
said:
"Take it, Thomas When you
really do become a father T hope it
won't be your misfortune to have a
son Avho is smarter than yourself."
Tit-Bits.
Highly Accomplished.
He Yes, Miss Wilder is a very
sharp girl. '
She Yes I uctj?e she cuts you
whenever you jfceet.--New York
r
Times.
WHY SNAKES FASCINATE.
They Are Symbols of Everything Loath
some and Hence Cause Dread.
"Ever since William Gilmore Simms
gave to the world that remarkable
yarn about the rattlesnake's fascinat
ing the maiden with its 'rich, starlike
glance,' tales of other persons similar
ly affected have been circulated, and
in many instances have been accepted
at their face value," says a naturalist
in The Sun. " The acceptance involves
a deal of gullibility, for a rattler Avill
never remain long enough in the hu
man presence to exert the 'charm' if
it is possible to get away. When
driven into a corner it may prepare to
defend itself, as Avill the most timor
ous animal, but it is seldom that it is
the aggressor. Poisonous snakes have
no more courage than the non-poisonous
reptiles. They go on and on in a
straight line and attack no creature
unless prompted by hunger, in Avbich
event they seek animals no larger than
they can stoAV away.
"The fact of the Avhole matter is
that the snake, aud more particularly
the poisonous snake, has stood so long
as the symbol of all that is loathsome
and diabolical that its presence fills lis
"all with" dread. In some of us this is
a cowardly dread. Jn the very brav
est of nsit is a vague, unaeknQAvledged,
but none the less real dread. Evan it.
Ave know the snake to be harmless,
even if we go prepared and determined
to slay or capture it, the sight of the
creeping Avirthing thing causes au iu
Avard convulsion impossible to sup
press. Walk into a museum of nat
ural history, and even a glimpse of the
dead and pickled coils,' while causing
no physical fear, will excite in your
bosom a vague, palpitating uneasiness
which I term a sort of psychological,
emblematic or symbolic fear probably
because I knoAV not Avhat else to call
it.
"The very men Avho are most inde
fatigable in their herpetological inves
tigations experience this, aud fail to
explain it because it involves neither
physical dread nor moral 'repulsion.
In fact, it's beyond human ken. I
have seen many examples of this mys
terious dread. Yon know that if you
decapitate a suake and then pinch its
tail the stump of the neck will return
and Avith more or less accuracy strike
your hand provided you have nerve
enough to hold on. When this ex
periment Avas made some time ago in
the laboratory of a herpetologist of
my acquaintance one young man, who
was skeptical of the possibility of this
movement, was so horrified at receiv
ing a bloAV from the bloody stump that
he swooned dead away. Several old
experimenters repeated the feat, but
each confessed that nausea succeeded
shortly after. Noav, the majority of
these men Avere physicians, some of
them blessed Avith an exteusive prac
tice, aud accustomed, perhaps hard
ened, to the sight of terrible mutila
tious. Nevertheless, that mysterious
drcrd of the snake and the spectacle
of a headless reptile in action Avere
sufficient to overcome them. Odd,
Avasn't it?"
A Romance of tlio Railway.
Passengers on the Woodlawn trains
of the Illinois Central are enjoying a
little romance which is being enacted
before their eyes. A certain young
man is a confidential employe in a
downtown bank. A pretty girl Avho
lives next door to his home is private
secretary iu a Avholesale house ou
Lake street. Every evening the t;vo
ride together on the 5.30 train. Their
appearance is such a regular thing
that the conductors feel something is
wrong if they fail to come, and if one
boards the train without the other.
Staid old fellows lay doAvn their news
papers for a minute to cast an eye up
and doAvn the car to see whether they
are aboard. If by any chance the
young man passes through the gate
without the girl the turnstile man
smiles reassuringly and says:
"She's ou the car, sir," or "She
ain't been by this evening."
This, however, is not often, because
the young fellow goes past the windoAV
of the girl's office every morning. He
gets down a half hour later than she
does. There is nearly always a tiny
card inconspicuously placed in the
coiner of the window. It reads,
"5.15 train," or "5.30 train," as the
case may be. The passengers on the
Illinois Central are sure there is going
to be a Avedding some day. So there
is, tAvo of them. The man is engaged
to another girl, and the girl to another
mau. Curious, but true! Chicago
Times-Herald.
Trifles.
A friend once called upon Michael
Angelo, Avho Avas finishing a statue.
Some time after, Jie called ngaiu,and,
looking at the figure, said: "You have
been idle since I last saw you."
"By no means, "replied the sculptor.
"I have retouched this part, polished
that; I have softened this feature.and
giA'en more expression to this lip."
"Well, Avell," said the friend; "but
these are mere trifles."
"It may be so," answered Angelo,
"but recollect that trifles make per
fection, and perfection is no tritie."
The average height of Americans
has been about five feet seven for men,
five feet four for women. The aver
age has unquestionably been lowered
by immigration of srnill races, lika
the Italian.
DR TALMAGS SERMON.
SUNDAY'S DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.
Subjects "Significance of the Flowers"
They Bear, Messages of Cheer"- to the
Heart-sick and Despairing Their Aj
lirourlateness at Obsequies.
Txt: "If then God so olothe the gras;
which is to-dav in the field, and to-mo
row is cast Into the oven, how much moije
will He olothe you, O ye of little laitnir
Luke xii., 28.
The lily ia the queen of Bible flowers
The rose may have disputed her throne ftn
modern times and won it, but the rose orig
inally had only five petals It was undjer
the long continued and intense gaze of tjue
world that the rose blushed into its pres
ent beauty. In the Bible train, cassia and
hvssop and frankincense and myrrh ajnd
spikenard and camphor and the rose fol
low tho lily. Fourteen times in the Bijble
is the lily mentioned; only twice the raise.
The rose may now have wider empire, (but
the lily reigned in the time of Esther! in
the time of Solomon, in the time of Chjfist.
Csesar had his throne on the bills. Tbeluiy
bad her throne in the valley. In the great
est sirmou that was ever preached there
was only one flower, and that a lily. !The
Bedford dreamer, John Bunyan, entered
the nouse of the interpreter, and , was
shown a cluster of flowers and was tojd to
"consider the lilies." ;
We may study or reject other sciences at
our option it is so with astronomy, it is
o with chemistry, it is so with juris
prudence, it is so with physiology, it is so
with geology but the science of batany
"Ch'rlat commands us to study wbii He
says, '''-Consider the lilies." Measurf them
from ro"SftL Jp of petal. Inhalef'their
breath. Notice TtIL.pracefulness oljtheir
poise. Hear the wtispef'ofilJfi ' Hps
f the Eastern and the red lipsM'J the
American lily. J
Belonging to this royal family off lilies
ire the lily of the Nile, the Japan lil'y. the
Lady Washington of the Sierras.the Golden
band lily, the Giant lily of Nepaul, the
Turk's cap lily, the African lily from the
Cape of Good Hope. All these lilies have
the royal blood in their vein3. But I take
the lilies of my text this morning as typical
of all flowers, and their voice o floral
beauty seems to address us, saying, "Con
sider the lilies, consider the azaleas, con
sider the fuchsias, consider the geraniums,
consider the ivies, consider the hyacinths,
consider the heliotropes, consider the
oleanders." With deferential and grateful
and intelligent and worshipful souls con
sider them. Not with insipid sent'mental
ism or with sophomoric vaporing, but for
grand and practical and everyday and, if
need be, homely uses, consider them.
The flowers are the angels of the grass.
They all have voices. When the clouds
speak, they thunder; when the whirlwinds
speak they scream, whn the cataracts
speak they roar, but when the f -Vers
speak they always whisper. I stand here
to interpret their message. What have
vou to say to us, O ye angels of the grass?
This morning I mean to discuss what flow
ers are good for. That is my subject,
"What are flowers good for?"
I remark, in the first place, they are good
for lessons of God's providential care.
That was Christ's first thought, j All these
flowers seem to address us to-day, saying,
"God will give you apparel and jfood." We
, have no wheel with which to splln, no loom
with which to weaA'e, no sickle Ivyith which
to harvest, no well sweep with which to
draw water, but God slacks oui thirst with
the dew, and God feeds us with, the bread
of the sunshine, and God has appareled us
with more than .Solomonic regality. We
are prophetesses of adequate Avardrobo.
"If God so clothed us, the grasy of the field,
will He not much more clothejyou, O ye of
little faith?" Men and womei of worldly
anxieties, take this message! home with
you. now long nas itoa taney care oi youc
Quarter of the journey of line? Half the
journey of life? Three-quart
rs the jour
ney of.li s't Can you not trus
of the way? God does not
Him the rest
promise you
anything like that which th lloman em
peror had on his table at vast expense 500
nightingales' tongues but H has promised
to take care of you. . He has 'promised you
the necessities, not the luxuries bread,
not cake. If God so luxuriantly clothes
the grass of the field, will He not provide
for you, His living and immoirtal children?
He will.
No wonder Martin Luther always had a
flower on his writing desk for inspiration!
Through the cracks of the prison floor a
flower grew up to cheer Ticeiola. Mungo
l'ark, the great traveler and explorer, had
his lite saved by a flower. ,He sank down
in the desert to die; but, seeing a flower
nenr by, it suggested God's merciful care,
and he got up with new courage and
traveled on to safety. I ald tne flowers
are the angels of tho grass. 1 add now they
am evangels ot the sky. !
If you ask me the question, What are
floAvers good for? I respond, they are
good for the bridal day. The bride must
have them on her brow, and she must
have thorn in her hand). The marriage
altar must be covered with tlibm. A wed
ding without flowers would be as inappro
priate as a wedding without music. At
such a time they are for congratulation
and prophecies of good. So much of the
pathway of life is covered up with thorns,
we ought to cover the beginning with or
ange blossoms.
Flowers are appropriate on such oc
casions, for in ninuty-nitie out of 100 cases
it is the very best thing that could have
happened. Tne world may criticise und
pronounce it an inaptitude and may lift
its eyebrows in surpri.-e find think it might
suggest something better, but tho God
Avho sees the twenty, forty, lifty years of
wedded life before they have begun ar
ranges for the bent. So that llowers, in
almost all cases, are appropriate for the
marriage day. The divergences of disposi
tion will become correspondences, reck
lessness will become prudence, frivolity
Will bo turned into practicality.
There has been many nn aged widowed
soul Avho had a carefully locked bu
reau and in the bureau a bos and in th
box a folded paper and in the folded
paper a half blown rose, slightly fragrant,
discolored, carefully pressed. She put it
there forty or lifty Jyears ago. Ou the
anniversary day oi her wedding she
will ko to the bureau, she will lift the
box. she will unfold the paper and to her
eyes will lie exposed the half blown bud,
and the memories ot th past will rush
upon her and h tear will drop upoutbe
flower and suddenly it is transfigured, and
there is a stir in the d ust of the anther and
it rounds out audit is full of lifo and it
begins to tremble in the procession up tlio
church aisle, and the dead music of a half
century ago c!es throbbing through the
air, aud vanished faces reuppear and right
hands are joined and u manly voice prom
ises, "I whI, for better or for worse," and
the wed dim; march thunders a salvo of
joy at the departing crowd, but a sigh on
that anniversary day tcuiters the scene.
Under the- deep fetched breath the altar,
the flowers, tho congratulating groups are
scattered, and there is nothing left but a
trembling hand holding a faded rteebud,
which is put intoihe. paper and then into
the box and the box carefully pJaced in th
bureau, and with a sharp, sadden click oC
the lock the seene is over. ;
Ah, my friends, let not the prophecies.or
the flowers on your wedding day be fals
prophecies! Be blind to each other's
faults. Make the most of each other's ex
cellences. Itemember the vows, the ring?
on the third linger ot the left hand and the
benediction of the calla lilies.
It you ask me the question. What;
wire flowers good for? I answer, they-
- i . . a . . . . t . i
nl?. igouu to uonor ana comion iuo
obsequies. The worst gash ever.,
made "toto the side of our poor,
earth is tfiegas" of the grave. It ia so
deep, itisso ciuel.it is so incurable, that
it needs sometbiirSto cover it up. Flowers
for the casket, flrs for the hearse
flowers for the cemeteOvliat Mlltiast
between a grave in a counHychnrchyard,!
with the fence broken d0.?,? , 0
tombstone aslant and the neiShoryff
cnttlo hrnwatrir' nimM tViA mil HetnNltalkS
and the Canada thistles, and a June
ing in Greenwood, the wave ot rosea
bloom rollinir to the too of the mound.o.
and then breaking into foaming crests ofj
white flowers all around the billows oft
dust. It is the difference between sleeping!
under rags and sleeping under an em-
broidered blanket. We want old Mortality,
yards in Christendom, and while he carries
a chisel in one hand we want old Mortality
to haA'e some flower seed in the palm oi
the other hand.
"Oh," you say, "the dead don't know;
it make3 no difference to them." I think
you are mistaken. There are not so many
steamers and trains coming to any living
city, as ther9 are convoys coming from,
heaven to earth, and if there be instan
taneous und constant communication be
tween this world und the better world, do
you not suppose your departed friends
know what you do with their bodies?
WThy had God planted "goldenrod" and
wild flowers in the forest and on the prai
rie, where no human eye ever sees them.
He planted them there for invisible intelli
gences to look at and admire, and when in
visible intelligences come to look at the
wild flowers of thewoods and the table
lands, will they not make excursion and
see the flowers which you have planted In'
affectionate remembrance of them?
When I am dead, I would like to have a
handful of violets any one could pftck
them out of the grass, or some one could
lift from the edge of the pond a water lily
nothing rarely expensive, no insane dis
play, as sometimes at funeral rites, where,
tte display takes the bread from the chil
dren's mouths and the clothes from their
backs, but something from the great de
mocracy of flowers. Bather than imperil
catafalque ot Russian Czar, I ask some one
whom I may have helped by gospel sermon
or Christian deed to bring a sprig of ar
butus or a handful of China asters.
Flowers also afford mighty symbolism of
Christ, who compared Himself to the ancient
queen, the lily, and the modern queen, the
rose, when He said: "I am the rose of
Sharon and the lily of the valley." Redo
lent like the one, humble like the other.
Like both appropriate for the sad who want
sympathizers and for tne rejoicjng wn
want banqueters. Hovering over the mar
riage ceremony like a wedding bell, o
folded like a chaplet on the pulseless heart
of Thy name be waftedall around the earthjj
niy ana rose, my ana rose unut tnt
wilderness crimson into a garden and thef
round earth turn into one great bud of im-
mortal beauty laid against the warm heartf
of God! Snatch down from the world'ff
banners eagle and lion and put on lily andf
rose, lily and rose.
But, my friends, flowers have no grander!
use that when on faster morning we cele
brate the reanimation of Christ from th;
catacombs. The flowers spell resurrection
There is not a nook or eorner in all th
building but is touched with the incense
The women carried spices to the tomb o
Christ, and they dropped spices all around!
about the tomb, and from these spice
have grown all the flowers of Easter morn
The two white robed angels that hurled th.
stone away from the door ot the torn!
hurled it with such violence down the hil
that it crashed in the door of the world'
sepulcher, and millions of dead shall com
tortn. .
However labyrinthine the mausoleum
however costly the sarcophagus, howeve
architecturally grand the necropolis, how
ever beautifully parterred the famil'
grounds, we want them all broken up b
the Lord of the resurrection. The formf
that we laid away with our broken heart!
must rise again. Father and mother-4
they must come out. Husbands and wive
they must come out. Brothers and sister
they must come out. Our darling chi
dren they must come out. The eyes thai
with trembline flnger3 we closed mus)
open in the lustre ot resurrection mon
The arms that we folded in death must joi
ours in embrace of reunion. The belove
voice that was hushed must bo returnei
Tho beloved form must come up without
its infirmities, without its fatigues it mu
come up. Oh. how long it seems for som1
of youl Waiting waiting for the resuif
rection! How long! How long! I mak
for your broken hearts to-dav a cool, so
bandage of lilies. I comfort you this dw
with the thought of resurrection.
When Lord Nelson was bur'ed in S
Taul's Cathedral in London, th ) heart
all England was stirred. The processioj
passed on amid the sobbing of a nation
There were tuirty trumpeters stationed
the door of the cathedral with instrumen
of music in hand waiting for the signa
and when the illustrious dead arrived
the gates of Bt. Paul's Cathedral the
thirty trumpeters gave one united bias
and then all was silent. Yet tne trumpe
did not wake the dead. He slept rignt o
But I have to tell you what thirty trumpe.
ers could not do for one man one truif
peter will do for all nations. The ag
have rolled on aud the clock of the worh
destiny strikes 9, 10, 11, 12, and time shi
bei no longerl Behold the archangel hov
ing! He takes the trumpet, points it tl
way, puts its lips to his lips, and th
blows ono long, loud, terrific, thunderoi
reverberating and resurrectionary bla
Look, look! They rise! The dead, t
dead! Some coming forth from the fai
ily vault, some from the city cemetei
some from the country graveyard. He
a spirit is joined to its body, and there
other spirit is joined to anotner ooay, a
millions of departed spirits are assorti
tho bodies, and then reclothing tnemselv
in forms radiant for ascension.
The earth begins to burn, the bonfire
a great victory. All ready now for t
procession of reconstructea humani
Upward and away! Christ leads aud
the Christian dead follow, battalion nf;
battalion, nation after nation. Up,
On, on! Forward, ye ranks of God ,
migbtyl Lift up your heads, ye everla
ing gates, and let ttie conquerors come
Resurre 'ciou! Resurrection!
And so I twist all the festal flowers
the chapels and catnedrals of all Christ f
flora into one great cuniu, nou wua i i
chain I bind the Easter morning ot lj
with the closing Easter of the world's if
tory resurrection! May the God ot pe.s
that brought agatn from the dead our L
Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sh (
thror.gh the blood of the covenant m:f
you perfect in every ;;ood work to do
Willi