Easter Music and Its Symbolism I I ages and aee what connection mere is uevweru mv ,uudwu Eastertide, nature and music. It la not a, bard study. Look with me at yonder drama which was to bo the consummation of a principle, for which a man the Son of Man was about to die, and which has given to the world what la now called the Christian religion. On a cross yonder the Savior of the world is being crucified. Not In a square In the city, not In a public thoroughfare. Other men have died for a principle and have met death upon a scaffold, in a courtyard. In palacea and In royal prisons; but Jesus of Naaareth was crucified upon "a green hill far away." And so we find that the city Is not chosen as the site of the world's great sacrifice, where He of the spotless and blameless life was crucified tor mankind's benefit; and today the messages which are cheering mankind are the words which were spoken by Him many years ago. In fields and on shores by Him who loved nature, by Him who saw God in nature. When He was discouraged He went for relief to the bosom of nature; when He would rest, it was beside a well, or on the mountain side. It was In the city that He was tempted and tried by the Pharisees and the Herodl ans. One of the greatest lessons which He left for our Raster contemplation, and the les son which la embodied in our Easter music, and the lesson which ofttimea the church appears to be forgetting, is this, where He says: "God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." And we are told that the people were all astonished at His doctrine. . 8 And so at Eastertide we have this great lesson brought home to us. In nature more than anywhere else. The brooks which have slept in winter's fast embrace have awakened to new life. The birds of the field have awaited patiently this return of life to the world, to sing their morning carols of hope and cheer and Joy. the lilies of the field have raised their heads and breathed forth the truth of the word "resurrection;" the trees have garbed themselves In choicest raiment, and the blossoms, fruit-promising, have shot forth triumphant from every spray, and each ono sings with the lambs In the pastures, and the colts and the young cattle, "Hallelujah! for God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." And the church is today emphasizing the lessons taught in the "life" of Christ, more frequently than It accentuates the "bleed ing, mangled form." Golgotha is not so clcee to us, does not affect us so deeply aa does Galilee, blue Galilee, with Its lessons of love and sympathy and kindness, or even Gethsemane, the place of discouragement, the garden we all must enter some time. The Christ of nature is not the Christ of the dead, but of the living. Do you enjoy that bird singing In the tree, that beautiful sunset, that rippling I the New York Times, of a Texan local exhorter who wished to offer prayer when the vigilantes were preparing to hang a horse thief. "Your prayer may be all right merely as a supplication," said the critical one. "I have no fault to find with the prayer as a prayer. But it la plumb Inconsistent to pray at this time and place." "Why ro?" inquired the preacher. "Thla man Is about to go Into eternity, and be should be comforted and hia soul saved if pcsuible." "Saved coining." said the other. "You want to send up a petition to get this felon into heaven when we are hanging him because he Isn't fit to live in Texas!" A lawyer who spent the briefless daya of his career in New York City and Is now a successful practitioner In Milwaukee, told at the Fifth Avenue the other day of the debt he cwea to Justice P. Henry Dugro for teaching him to curb and tame the tumultuous voice with which nature has endowed him. "I was a vociferous cub," said the lawyer, quoted by the Mail and Express, "until one day Justice Dugro lifted me- Into the sev enth heaven of Judicial approbation and let me down suddenly Into the inferno cf ridi cule. " 'I am sure my argument must ccnvlnce your hcr.or." I said, after a trn-mlnute assault-en the ear drums ot the court. " 'It is oerwhelming,' remarked Justice Dugro, quietly, and my chest expanded. " 'Indeed, my ears are still buaxlng,' added the Jubtlce. 'I deny your motion.' "A ad I slipped out ot court chastened in spirit." . An licr.ee t farmer, so a Puck stcry goes, went to a lawyer for some advice. He was in no particular need of advice, but be thought it would be a good thing to have In the house. The lawyer wrote a few words on a bit of paper, which he gave to the farmer, charging him $10. When the farmer got home it waa pretty brook, that broad expanse of green carpet which nature has spread on your meadow? Then If you consider the source you are worshiping God, in spirit and In truth. Can you feel unkind now? Couldn't you, now, forgive that thing that bothers you? Couldn't you let that little matter pass away now Into oblivion? This is the lesson of Eastertlmo, and If you are stirred with those feelings aud prompted by those impulses, you are in deed worshiping God, I care not what your creed Is or whether you have any, and you are listening to the words of that great . teacher who told them that day, over In Jerusalem, after he bad ridden in meekly on an ass's colt, and upon a carpet of tree branches, that "God -vas not the God of the dead, but of the living." The symbolism of Eastertide. Let us look at tho most beautiful titles applied to this man of Nazareth. We will pass over the prince and king, and the high priest, and those titles which perhaps may not mean so much to us. But when It comes down to the titles of nature and we think of this Christ who has made the Eastertide that we know, our bouIs like to dwell upon the "Good Shepherd." the "Lamb of God." "The Branch," "The Vine." "The Tree of Life," "The Lily of the Valley," "The Rose of Sharon," "The Shadow of a Great Rock," "As Rivers of Water in a Dry Place," "As a Tender Plant," "As Rain Upon the Mown Grass," "As An Hiding Place From the Wind." Where can we get more beautiful symbol Ism than these, when applied to the prin ciples He set forth, His own life. His gen tle Influence, which can be felt today by anyone who really wants to feel.it, without protruding His own personality. And then He was always alluding to nature and the peaceful pursuits of the country, drawing lessons from the simple things that every one knew about: "Behold the fowls of the air; for they sow net, neither do they reap nor gather Into barns; yet your heavenly father feedeth them." "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow." "Do men gather grapes of .thorns or figs of thistles?" "Even so, every good tr brlngeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree brlngeth forth evil fruit," etc., etc. "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests," etc. "Pray ye thereforo the Lord of the harv est, that He will send forth labourers Into His harvest," etc. That beautiful American poet, Sidney Lanier, has given us a beautiful Illustration of the Cbrlst-in-nature thoughts which ap peal to us as an Easter meditation on the thought "God is not tha God of the dead, but of the living." He calls it a "Ballad of Trees and the Master:" "Into the woods my Master went. Clean forspent, forspent. Into the woods my Master came. Forspent with love and shame. Gleanings From the late, and bis boys and the hired man had about decided not to haul la the hay. "We'll haul it In," said the farmer. "I have consulted a lawyer, and while I haven't read hia advlco, I have no doubt he tells me never to put off till tomorrow what I can do today." Accordingly they all pretty nearly broke their backs and hauled In the hay. But It did not rain that night. Instead, the barn .took fire and burned to the ground. The next morning the farmer thought ha would read the lawyer's advice. Just fcr a cod. It ran something like this: "Keep up your Insurance." In the marble room of the senate Is a blackboard, upon which each morning dur ing the sessions different colored chalks In dicate the temperature and general weather conditions prevailing throughout the coun try. Senator Hale, while talking to a con stituent, unconsciously backed up against this board, and a little later started for the senate chamber, covered with green, red, yellow and white dust. "Why. senator, you are a sick man and ought to bo la bed," said Senator Dubois, with anxiety In his voice. "What's the matter with me?" asked the Maine man, passing bis hand over his fore head. "Any man," explained the Idaho senator, laughing and tapping the other on the back, . "who Is ss cold between the shoulders and as hot over tha kidneys as you are certainly needs a doctor." When Mr. Brown first went out to Caracas as the United States minister, rrlatra the Saturday Evening Post, President CaUro called on him cue af:ernoon. Tbs two went into the garden and Mr. Bowea waa expressing his amazement at the rapidity of all vegetable growth In that climate. "A seed planted over night wou d re u't In forty trees the next day," was the laugh ing remark. Just then " an Amerl an photographer passed and asked to 1'ko at picture of the two distinguished mei as the stocd among the flowers. As he snipped the camera he made some laughing, dis But the olives they were not Mind to Him, The little gray leaves were kind to Him; Tho thorntree hnd a mind to lllm, When Into the woods lie came. Out of the woods my Master went. And He was well content. Out of the woods my Master came. Content with death and pnumo. "When Drath and Shame would woo Him last, From under the trees they drew lllm last: 'Twas on a tree they slew lllm last When out of the woods He came." ' And that dear writer of childhood, Ku gene Field, says, In one of his little 'Trof itatlo Tales," something along the same Hues, and which I cannot forbear to copy here: "One day the Tree heard some one com ing through the forest. Hitherto the angel had hastened to its side when men ap proached; but now the angel strode away and atood under the cedars yonder. 'Dear angel.' cried the tree, 'can you not hear the footsteps of some one approach ing? Why do you leave me? " 'Have no fear,' said the angel, 'for He who comes Is tte Master.' "Many times after that that Master came to the forest, and when He came. It always waa to where the tree stood. Many times He rested beneath the tree and enjoyed the shade of its foliage, and listened to the music of the wind as It swept through tha rustling leaves. Many times He slept there, and the tree watched over Him, and the forest was still, and all Us voices were bushed. "Ever and anon men came with the Mas ter to the forest, and sat with Him in the shade of the tree, and talked with Him of i matters which the tree never could under stand; only it heard that the talk was of love and charity and gentleness, and It saw that the Master was beloved and vener ated by the others. "The Master came one night alone Into the forest, and His l'ace was pale with an guish and wet with tears, and He fell upon His knees and prayed. The tree heard Him and all the forest was still, as It It were standing in the presence of death." Then the slery goes on to tell about the commotion In the forest when a band of strange men came there with swords and staves and loud voices and came to the tree, and cut It down mercilessly and stripped It of Its foliage, and the poor trcs was eeen no more by the forest. "But the night wind that swept down from the city of the great king that night, to ruffle the bosom of distant Galilee, tart rled in the forest awhile to say that it had seen that day a cross upraised on Calvary the tree on which was stretched the body of the dying Master." And so at Eastertide, the day which cel ebrates the resurrection of this Master, nature puts on her best array and gives forth her immortal voice singing "AUelulla forth In duteous praise," while we, the children of man, shall say: Almighty Christ, to Thee our voices sins; Glory for evermore; to Thee we bring An endless AUelulla! Story Tellers' paraging remark about the picture being the long and short of It. Mr. Bowen Is six feet four Inches and President Caatro reaches about to hia shoulder. Tha presi dent did not like the unkindly eompar slon and looked up quickly at the new American minister with a frown. "Ah, Mr, President." said Mr. Bowen. "I was very small when I got here, but I shot up over night la this marvelous cli mate of yours." . Associate Justice Holmes of the supreme court relates the following dialogue which he once bad with a colored man who was a witness: " 'My drsr sir, whst Is your name? " 'John Smith, air.' ".'Now, Mr. Smith, what business do you follow or what work are you engaged la?' " 'Notbln,' sir.' " 'Surely you must do something. What are you? " 'I'm a Smith.' " 'Yes, yes. but what kind of a smith?" " 'Nothln' but a black Smith.' The presiding Judge at this Juncture could not resist making; a remark, and he aald: " This proves that a white Smith may be a blacksmith, but a colored Smith must be a black 8ml to.' " Much that la going on In the political world recalls aa Incident of the general election which resulted In making Abraham Lincoln president, relates the New York Times. 'Twas la Vermont, then, as now, and always, what la known as "Republican," only then the prefix "Black was Invariably added by those "not so." There wsa a mass meeting In one of the smaller towns. Two ot three speakers, all ot them of the Immediate neighborhood) had delivered their testimouy In favor of Lincoln. One (I will call him "Jim Blake") was speaking, and over, and over again referred to the candi date ho favcred aa "Honest Old Abe." At a pause iu his speech, "to wipe his heated brew," "Tom Haines," -sitting on a rail fence across from the speaker, quietly remarked: What the Day and Its Songs Signify to Mankind Ever since the year 374 A. D., when thai sainted old bishop of Milan, Anibroslus, wrote his Tauter hymo, "This Is the very day of God," there has been rolling down through the ages an accumulated wealth of hymn literature, about the Kaalcrtlde. And the hymna of lasting Importance are those which remind us that "Ood is not the Gcd of the dead, but el the living." Compare this hymn, which a decrepit ortho doxy liked to dwell upon, with tho ona which follows it: Lord! nnd am 1 yet eHve Not In torment, not In hell! Still doth Thy good pplrlt rtrlve With the chief of sinners dwelll Turn aside, a sight t'admiiv, ' 1 the living wonder am! Se a buth that burns with fire, Unconaumed amidst tho ttamet O, the miracle of grace 1 Tell It out tJ sinners, tell! Men, ard fiends, and anmla gnse 1 am, l am out of hi ll! And this, from the early part of the sixth century: Welcxmo. happy morning! age to ago shall say: Hell today Is vanquished, henv'n Is won today; Ix! the dead Is living. Gad forevcrmore! Him. their true Creator, all Ills worka adore. Earth her Joy confesses, clothing her for spring. All fresh gifts returned with her return ing King; Bloom in every meadow, leaves on every boiiRh, Speak His sorrow ended, hall Ills triumph now. Here Is another of the old materlallstlo style which was supposed to be so very spiritual: My Savior's pierced side Poured out a double Hood; By water we are purified. And pardoned by bis blood. Called from above I rise. And wash away my sin; The stream to which my spirit file Can make the foulest clean. It runs divinely clear, A fountain deep and wide; Twas opened by the soldier's spear. In my Redeemer's side! This Is more sanguine and loss sangui nary: Sing, with all the sons of glory. Sing the resurrection song! Death and sorrow, earth's dark story. To the "former days" belong. Even now the dawn la breaking. Boon the night of time shall ceana And. in God's own likeness waking; Man shall know eternal peace. I Life eternal! Heaven rejoices; Jesus lives who once was dead; . Join. Oh man, the deathless voices; Child of Ood. lift up thy head. Patriarchs from diwtant ages, Saints all longing for their heaven. Prophets, psalmists, seers and Bagea, All await the glory given. Tha voices of nature and the voices ot mankind and the voices of the angels unite today In one grand Easter anthem and their theme is this: Hallelujah! God Is not the' God of the. dead, but ot the living! Hallelujah! . THOMAS KELLY. Pack "Jim, tell the boys why you call klna Honest Old Abe.' " . Blake undertook to establish the claim to the title with Its specific adjective. Then be stopped. The question was repeated with emphasis on "Why?" Again Blake went over the usual, ' natural, and very appropriate reasons, when he was stopped by Haines. "Oh. I know all that, but Juat tell tha boys 'why' you call him 'Honest Old Abe?' " "Well," replied Blake. "I don't know any other reasons than those I have al ready given." "Ah! I thought so," said Haines. "Shall I tell the boys?" "Yes, if you know better than I do." "To distinguish him from all the rest of the party." They are telling a Joka on a certain over-ambitious young lawyer who lives not many miles from Chicago. He has met with aome success and In the charging for ad vice has followed the assertion made by veterans In all professions that the higher the bill the greater the confidence ot Jho publie in the skill of the man concerned. Not long ago a young woman who Is de cidedly handsome, but who may boast of little money, came to tho young lawyer with a suit, not complicated, but of much Importance to ber. Tho evidence waa all la her favor and tho suit waa won. The lawyer, however, took much credit upon . himself for cleverness In bringing the oaso to a successful close for his client and forthwith sent her a bill for (1.000. The next day tho young woman called at his office. "Mr. J," sho said soberly, "were you really In "tamest In proposing to me?" The lawyer looked at her a moment In astonishment and then exclaimed rather excitedly: "In proposing to you, madam! Why, I didn't propose to you!" "No?" she said calmly. "Well, your let ter of yesterday asked me for my fortane and I thought you'd perhaps have tho grace to take mo with It." The bill was cut to 1500.