Elizabeth-Town gazette. [volume] (Elizabeth-Town, N.J.) 1818-1821, 1821-01-02


i came to the tombs of my friends, and asked
" Where are they ~ and echo answered.
Where ~
To me there is melancholy pleasure
10 lettering about the grounds assigned TO
those who have gone before US; III read
ing the tablets which friendship, and per-
haps pride, has affixed there: not SO much,
however. the marbles Of the great, as the
stones which mark those OF humble birth,
each with its simple couplet. To this
spot, consecrated, as ii were, by the ashes
Of the good who are there entombed, |
wandered few days since. The grass
had now lost its freshness, and the only
tree that fingers there, had scattered its
few leaves upon the grave which IT was
planted to shade. 1t was in harmony
with the scene, and tranquilIized rather
than excited emotion. Even the urchins
from the neighbouring schoolhouse, who,
in the hours Of intermission, sported on
these grounds, gave finish to the picture.
i saw before me the beginning and the end
Of life the cradle and the grave.--At
once the rod and the task half finished
we're forgotten; and they frolicked their
allotted moments, unconscious that the
fate of those from behind whose monu-
menis they we're peeping, must soon be
theirs. But at this time the place as
sumed an appearance which contrasied
with the one | had noticed on my last
visit, sensibly affected me. Then, as my
eye run over the records of departed
worth, there was scarcely mound on
which the wild weed aud the briar had
not mingled. Now, the newly turned
sod was visible at every step and It told
of bereavements sudden and numerous.
Then the grave seemed to open but for
those who sunk through the infrmities Of
age for those who needed not the world,
nor its enjoyments; aud for whom death
had no terrors. Now 1t seized upon the
middle aged aud the young. In the midst
Of their usefulness they we're cut down );
and parent, and child, and bosom friend
and companion, we're as I" the shadow
that 6 coniinueth not" But few days
had elapsed since / had met many, buoy
ant with hope and promise, who now slum-
bered around me and the friendly pres
sure OF the hand, now cold aud stiffened,
was fresh in my OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
had been the companions of my boyhood ::
some, of my ripper years. Beside them
there was one whose admonitious had
often checked our wanderings, and re-
called us TO the path OF duty but the
teacher aud the taught here rested to-
gether, aud their inheritance shall an.
other take" Upon few Of the hillocks,
I looked 10 vain even for the name OF its
tenant upon others, the marble was CO.
pious as to the virtues Of the deceased,
their irreparable loss, and the diseases
which consumed them. Even then, me-
thought. there were some that told not half
the tale; and that the forms beneath,
could they have uttered, would have add
cd 6 isagratitude,a TO the list which bal.
fed the physicians skill.
passed on; but il was TO encounter
the mourner, as she quit with reluctant
step, the remains Of her beloved. She
was returning TO her home, but not 10
await his coming to the solitary hearth,
where the vacant chair and the deserted
corner, but too forcibIy recalled his i'm
age 10 the babe, whose smile mast awak-
en- a keener sorrow--for its guide and
protector would return no more. Thou
who art floating on the sea of folly, turn
Thy bark towards this noiseless strand,
where thou must rest at last. Thou wilt
see flowers once fair as thine, biighted in
the morning: suns as bright, sinking
IL nocn" Thou wilt learn that pleasure
can Irvine no wreath in which the cypress
viil not mingie; and that the brow which
wcars il must be wrung to agony, unless
lashed in the 'vaters Of eternallJs. D.