Very comforting, within rational limits, is the belief that the dead
are only separated from us for a brief interval, by a thin veil, th^jough
which we may, in happy moments, catch glimpses of them, and in
hours of gloom and solitude feel their cheering presence. Some per-
sons of strong spiritual perception feel this nearness and communion
as their greatest solace. With others it may sometimes become a
superstition, as indeed every other consolatory belief may. It is a
blessed and triumphant victory over human weakness when even a
mother can see and handle the toys and garments of her departed
little one, and feel grateful to God for having taken it into his safer
keeping to grow up among the angels and reach the fulness of its
immortal being by less painful processes than that of earth. It is a
grand sight that of a venerable father bearing patiently and hopefully
the death of a son whose talents and virtues were the praise of the
neighborhood or the country. And how often does this happen, that
one whose mathematical, scientific, artistic or literary genius gives
promise of a long career of honor to himself and happiness to all con-
nected with him is suddenly and mysteriously stricken down by
fatal illness, which surprises the physician not less than the patient
himself and those around him ! O what a calm and happy thing it
is to feel, as one looks again at the face now still and calm in death,
that the closed eyes of affection will open tenderly upon us when our
own journey is over and that we shall meet again " some summer
morning!"
Such a hope is possible to all of us, because it is rational and in
unison with the best feelings and yearnings of our nature. It does
not require any dogma or logical process of proof It is a feeling so
deep in our nature that death is not omnipotent and that the material
body cannot extinguish the bright and beautiful intelligence, that it
is found a much harder task than they bargained for when the Infidel
3(^^ THE hearthstone; or, life at home.
annihilationist tries to convert commonplace folks into the belief that
human affections are only animal weaknesses, and that the love of
parent to child is only that of the tiger or bear for its cubs. The
divine light within us, no matter whether we be of this church or of
that, or of U'O church at all, burns up at this dark and desolate ma-
terialism, and answers calmly that if there be any immaterial principle
in man at all, his best affections are not thus absolutely in the despotic
power of matter. Many a lonely traveller on the road of life has gone
through thirty or forty years, singing and making melody in the heart
all the time, in the full faith and happy consciousness that the child
or parent, the brother or sister they lost long years ago is still walk-
ing silently beside them and holding them by the hand. A faith so
pure and beautiful cannot be false.
Page 241
Presented as published in 1883. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Very comforting, within rational limits, is the belief that the dead are only separated from us for a brief interval, by a thin veil, through which we may, in happy moments, catch glimpses of them, and in hours of gloom and solitude feel their cheering presence. Some persons of strong spiritual perception feel this nearness and communion as their greatest solace. With others it may sometimes become a superstition, as indeed every other consolatory belief may. It is a blessed and triumphant victory over human weakness when even a mother can see and handle the toys and garments of her departed little one, and feel grateful to God for having taken it into his safer keeping to grow up among the angels and reach the fulness of its immortal being by less painful processes than that of earth. It is a grand sight that of a venerable father bearing patiently and hopefully the death of a son whose talents and virtues were the praise of the neighborhood or the country. And how often does this happen, that one whose mathematical, scientific, artistic or literary genius gives promise of a long career of honor to himself and happiness to all connected with him is suddenly and mysteriously stricken down by fatal illness, which surprises the physician not less than the patient himself and those around him ! O what a calm and happy thing it is to feel, as one looks again at the face now still and calm in death, that the closed eyes of affection will open tenderly upon us when our own journey is over and that we shall meet again " some summer morning!"
Such a hope is possible to all of us, because it is rational and in unison with the best feelings and yearnings of our nature. It does not require any dogma or logical process of proof It is a feeling so deep in our nature that death is not omnipotent and that the material body cannot extinguish the bright and beautiful intelligence, that it is found a much harder task than they bargained for when the Infidel
3(^^ THE hearthstone; or, life at home.
annihilationist tries to convert commonplace folks into the belief that human affections are only animal weaknesses, and that the love of parent to child is only that of the tiger or bear for its cubs. The divine light within us, no matter whether we be of this church or of that, or of no church at all, burns up at this dark and desolate materialism, and answers calmly that if there be any immaterial principle in man at all, his best affections are not thus absolutely in the despotic power of matter. Many a lonely traveller on the road of life has gone through thirty or forty years, singing and making melody in the heart all the time, in the full faith and happy consciousness that the child or parent, the brother or sister they lost long years ago is still walking silently beside them and holding them by the hand. A faith so pure and beautiful cannot be false.