The Wheeling repository — Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.], 1808-02-04 00:00:00, page 1

WHEELING REPOSITORY.
(Vol. I.) Thursday, 4th February, 1808. (No. 39 )
icmmmncassa^— __ -
MJS C E LLANT.
■— — _
iFor the Wheeling Repository,
Mr. Armstrong,
I lie subjoined verses were com
posed and set to music, to be sung by
the Masonic procession at Charlestown,
on the Ohio, on the 22d February, 1800,
the anniversary of W ashington’s birth
day, and a short time alter his decease.
I neir publication at this time will pro
bably be as acceptable to many of your
readers, as the dialogue of Critic and
Crito, and the poetical commentary of
t:ie t armi'.r. • I hey are at your service,
aiid you tan dispose of them as you
think proper. pj,
II AIL! all auspicious, glorious morn,
On which, lor mighty deeds, was born
Columbia’s son ;
I he Chiet w ho Freedom’s flag unfurl’d,
And sav’d from chains tin- west rnworld,
—Great Washington.
tils fame we sing, the good, the great,
\\ ho freed, by toil and blood, the state
From Slavery.
In power and worth, he Kings out-vied,
JfLs country’s glory, boast and pride,
lie made her flee.
Tn war he was her strength ; in jyace
He steered her bark to purest bliss
To nation’s given.
He kept the path where Virtue trod,
And trac’d the source of civil good
liest gift of Heaven.
Why now is every heart dismay’d ?
Why a whole land in mourning clad,
And solemn gloom?
Why weeps the thoughtless youth?8c why
Flows the san tear from Beauty’s eve
In virgin bloom?
Alas/ the friend of peace is flown ;
H eaven has just claim’d him for its own;
His spirit’s fled.
Our strength in war is now no more;
He sleeps, borne oft t’ Oblivion’* shore,
Among the dead.
A people’s tears, a nation’s groans,
The muffled church bell’s chilling moans,
All joys forbid :
The sabled edge of “morning’s wings,”
The mournful news, in dirges, brings,
Our Chief is dead.
Great Chief, adieu/ Thy spotless fame,
I hy virtuous precepts, and thy name,
Remain our boast:
These we shall love, till the last dav
Shall worlds and systems sweep away,
In chaos lost.
"1 wo of the Professors of Yale Col
lege, in Connecticut, have published a
long article relative to the masses of
stone which have lately fallen in that
state* Our readers are already in pos
session of Mr. Bronson’s letter, giving
a concise account of this phenomenon.
The Professors conclude their report
with the following observations respect
the descent of similar stones in other
parts of the world, and remarks on dif
ferent theories relative to their forma
tion.
“ It remains to be observed, that this
account of the appearance of the stone
accords very exactly with the descrip
tions, now become considerably nu
merous, of similar bodies which have
fallen in other countries, at various pe
riods, and with specimens which one of
us has inspected, of stones that have
fallen in India, France and 9cotland.
1’he chemical analysis also proves that
their composition is the same, and it is
well known to mineralogists and che
mists, that no such stones have been
found among the productions of this
globe.
The falling of stones from the clouds,
is an eventWhich has frequently hap
pened in Europe, Asia and South-Ame
rica. The accounts of such phenomena
were for a long time rejected by philo
sophers, as the offspring of ignorance
and superstition. Several facts of this
kmdjjKWevei^within a lew-years have
been proved by evidence so unexcep
tionable, as to overcome the most obsti-'
natc incredulity.
In 1492, on the /th of November, at
Ensisheim, in Upper Alsace, a storfe fell
Irom the atmosphere which weighed 20CT
pounds. Contemporary writers ^tgree
in stating, that on this day, between 11
and 12 o’clock in the morning, a loud
explosion was heard at Ensisheim, and
that this stone was seen to fall in a field
at no great distance from the town.—
This stone, till Nvithin a few years, was
preserved in- the parish church of Ensi
sheim.
In 1762, two stones fell near Verona,
one of which weighed 200 aud the other
300 pounds. Three or four hundred
persons were witnesses of the event.
In 1790, on the 24th of July, a show
er of stones fell near Agen, in Guienne.
About 9 or 10 o’clock at night a meteor
was seen moving through the atmos
phere w’th great velocity. A loud ex
plosion was soon heard, which was fol
lowed, after a short interval, by a shower
of stones over a considerable extent of
country.
In April 1802,1116 same thing hap
pened at L’Aiglc. Biot, a member of
the French National Institute, who vi
sited the place to ascertain the fact,
writes to this effect:—Persons of all pro
fessions, manners and opinions, ecclesi
astics, soldiers and labourers, men, wo
men and children, agree in referring the
event to the same day, the same hour,
the same minute. They say they saw
the stones descending along the roofs of
the houses* break the branches of the
trees, and rebound after they fell upon
the pavement. They say they saw the
earth smoke around the largest of them,
and that the stones were still hot after
they had taken them in their hands.
Within fifteen years past, the falling
of similar bodies, under similar circum
stances, has happened in Portugal, Bo
hemia, France,Great-Britain, India and
South-America.
To account for the existence of these
svones, various theories have been form-'
m