ALIVE TWO THOUSAND YEARS.
IN the course of his wanderings among the pyramids of Egypt, Lord Lindsay, the celebrated English traveler, accidentally came across a mummy, which the inscription upon it proved to be two thousand years old. In examining the mummy, after it was carefully unwrapped, he found in one of its enclosed hands a small, round root. Wondering how long vegetable life could last, he took the little bulb from the mummy’s hand, and planted it in a sunny soil, allowed the dews and rains of heaven to descend upon it, and in the course of a few weeks, to his astonishment and joy, that root burst forth and bloomed into a beautiful flower. This interesting incident suggested to Mrs. S. H. Bradford, an American poetess, the following verses upon Two thousand years ago a flower
Bloomed lightly in a far-off land;
Two thousand years ago its reed
Was placed within a dead man’s hand. Before the Saviour came to earth,
That man had lived and loved and died,
And even in that far-off time,
The flower had spread its perfume wide. Suns rose and set, years came and went,
The dead hand kept its treasure well;
Nations were born and turned to dust,
While life was hidden in that shell. The shriveled hand is robbed at last,
The reed is buried in the earth;
When, lo! the life—long hidden there—
Into a glorious flower burst forth. Just such a plant as that which grew,
From such a reed when buried low;
Just such a flower in Egypt bloomed
And died two thousand years ago. And will not He who watched the reed
And kept the life within the shell,
When those He loves are laid to rest,
Watch o’er their buried dust as well? And will He not from ’neath the sod
Cause something glorious to arise?
Aye, though it sleep two thousand years,
Yet all that buried dust shall rise. Just such a face as greets you now,
Just such a form as here we wear,
Only more glorious far, will rise
To meet the Saviour in the air. Then will I lay me down in peace,
When called to leave this vale of tears,
For “in my flesh shall I see God,”
E’en though I sleep two thousand years.