The Wedding Guest | Page 9

she urged him to leave her and go to his
office where his duties called him, Paul feared that she would feel
lonely, and would fain have stayed beside her. But she said--

"No, dear Paul; I shall never be alone again; the spirit of the child will
be with me: it is so beautiful to have loved him on earth, for now I can
love him in Heaven." And so Paul left her, not as one in a dark land of
sorrow, but floating in a world of light and love. And how eagerly he
hastened back to his gentle, stricken dove, and folded her to his heart,
as though he would shield her from all sorrow! But he scarce found a
sorrow; she was all light and joy, and said--
"Oh, Paul, I am so happy, for I have been thinking all day how happy
the angels must be to have my little Paul with them! It seemed to me
that I could see them adorning him with heavenly garments, and I could
see his happy smile; and I was glad that he was no longer oppressed by
his weak, earthly body. Yes, he is now a blessed angel in Heaven, and
is it not beautiful, dear Paul, that we have given an angel to Heaven?"
Thus was the earth-sorrow turned to a heavenly joy. And though other
children were born to Paul and Rosa, yet their chief delight in them was,
that they were to be angels in Heaven. How often Rosa said, "Paul, they
are the children of the Lord--not ours; only we have the loving work to
teach them for Heaven."
Through Rosa, Paul realized this beautiful truth, and earnestly strove to
impart truth to the tender and impressible minds of his children; he
presented it to them in the most beautiful and attractive forms. But it
was Rosa that made them love it and live in it; it was the teachings of
the father that fell like "golden grains" in the earth of their minds; but it
was the gentle, never-ceasing culture of the mother, that caused it to
spring up into the sunshine of Heaven, and bear the fruit of kind and
loving actions. When Paul saw this, he felt himself a man in the true
sense of the word; one, who could perform the highest uses in life,
without being clogged and thwarted by the want of concert in action by
his partner in life. Thus it is that a harmony of thought and feeling
produces a harmony in action.
And how elevated and noble became all the ends of Paul's life! It was
Rosa that elevated and refined them, and directed them Heavenward. It
was beautiful to see how she could draw down the light of Heaven into
all the outer life. Everything on earth seemed to her but the symbol of
something in Heaven. And when Paul once gave her money, she
thanked him with such a grateful warmth of affection, that he
laughingly asked her, if she loved money, that she was so grateful for it.

She answered, "Yes, Paul; I love your money, because you have
worked for it; and when you give it to me, it seems to our outer life
what truth is to our inner life. If you gave me no truth, I could not adorn
your inner life with love; and if you gave me no money, I could not
adorn your outer life with good. I could not alone attain either money
or truth. I should be very poor, dear Paul, both spiritually and naturally,
without you. But you, as a husband, bring me truth and money. With
the first I call the angels around you; with the second I call earthly
friends around you; and thus, both your inner and outer life are made
glad and warm and genial."
And Paul knew this; for his home was beautiful,--a feminine taste and
tact reigned through it, and Rosa's diffusive charity made him the
centre of a circle to whom he dispensed not only earthly goods, but the
noble thoughts of his large understanding. And Paul realized that while
he guided all things by his wisdom, given to him of God, Rosa was as
the motive power to his existence. Her influence pervaded his every
thought and feeling, and while it made his life upon earth so full and
perfect, it allied him to Heaven; and thus he held her in his house and
heart as the Holy of holies.
Happy is the earth if it have one pair of such married ones, for through
such, the Spirit and life of God descend upon the earth, and bind it to
Heaven. But blessed, yea most blessed will be the earth when it has
many such, for