Petals Plucked from Sunny ClimesBrooks, A. M. (Abbie M.)
History
Petals Plucked from Sunny Climes
Brooks, A. M. (Abbie M.)
Cuba -- Description and travel; Florida -- Description and travel; Florida -- History
Many who have never spent a winter in Florida think there is no
religion, or churches either, which is quite the reverse, as the finest
pulpit-talent in the North visit St. Augustine during the winter to rest
and prepare for the arduous and responsible duties which await them on
their return. The change of scenery and surroundings give these
clergymen inspiration, when visitors often listen to some heavenly
sermons. Imagine a Sabbath here in January, pleasant as a June holiday,
North, among the roses, with a soft air floating through the house,
which much resembles a new-born spring.
The Presbyterian church is a good, old-fashioned, well-preserved
specimen of coquina walls. Many pleasant faces, whose homes are far away
in icy regions, worship here every Sabbath. The table in front of the
pulpit has a tall vase filled with the most beautiful flowers that ever
bloomed in any clime--rose-buds, tinted like the sunset sky,
orange-blooms, pomegranates, and snowy jasmines, all fresh from their
bath in the morning dew, exhaling their sweet odors, mingled with the
pæans of God's people--thus giving a holy peace to this blessed hour.
The flowers are from the gardens of Messrs. Atwood and Alexander, who
both have a cultivated taste for the beautiful. Two young men have just
walked in, who are obliged to talk, whether they say any thing of
importance or not. One of them remarked, "I think flowers in a church
look too gushing!" This house, which is capable of containing over four
hundred people, is filled nearly every Sabbath.
Dr. Daniel F. March, the author of "Night Scenes in the Bible," preached
to-day. He always tells us something sweet to think of during the week,
to lighten life of half its burden, that we can take along and travel
its rough, rugged paths, singing instead of sighing. While associated
with so much that is pleasant, the earth appears like a purified
pedestal to a higher life, rather than a vale of wickedness. Dr. March
has given a dissertation to-day upon small matters, which make up the
great sum of life. He says: "Thousands of homes in our land might be
made heaven by kind words. One little pleasant sentence spoken in the
morning will ring all day in a sensitive heart like the song of a
seraphim."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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