Literary cadet and Rhode-Island statesman. [volume] (Providence, R.I.) 1827-1829, 1827-05-30

The SEpULcHRE.-The man, who will
ransack the domestic domieH, and enter the
scpuIcire of the dead, and riot among the
ashes OF those no slumber to the plaintive
music ofthe graves" to enable himself 10 put
specious colouring on false argument,
must possess the heart Of Hyena, and the IL
religious feelings of an infdel.'
BY the way of any apology, offered to the
young gentlemen of this place, who had been
accused of the crane Of intemperance, a wri-
ter, in one of the newspapers of the town,
yesterday, announced, that he had been indu-
ced to speak on the subject Of intemperancc,
in consequence of his having witnessed the
untimely fall of young man, recently placed
beneath the :" cold clod Of tie valley" who
now moulders in the dust, and sleeps an sew
erlasting Sleep" among the ashes of his an
cestors. Whatever might have been the faults
of the hapless victim, since he dwells in the
"narrow house of cay," his memory should
have been spared, and the already lacerated
feelings of his friends, should not have been
narrowed up. But an individual wished to
gain point and reckless OF the feelings of the
friends of the deplrted unfortunate, he spoke
of him, in the following strain Of coarse and
vulgar abuse:-
"Such instances, [of degradation by in
temperance1 are but too frequent in every
community, and we have just seen most mel
ancholy one, IN the recent death of young
man once intelligent, industrious and highly re-
spected among US, who doubtless by frequent
ing such places. The respectable Inns of the
town] gradually lost all self-respcct, and am
bition, until ho was thrown upon public chari-
tn, and died the tenant of an Aims HOUSE,"
The name of the unfortunate, alluded 10 in
the foregoing extract, we shall not mention,
since our readers will recognize it, without
our rcsorting to such step; and Il is 20 de-
fend his memory, thus maliCiously assalled,
that We have noticed the transaction. He
was a young man, one of the companions of
our youth, and was the pride and solace of his
ftmily. At IN elrly age, he discovered talents
of an Iri4ler order; and his friends, proud of bis
dawnng excellence, ANXIOUS 10 assisi him, and
to cultivate the talents which GoD had 9. ven
HIM, at too early period IN j fe. placed him
at the head of IN important business ronc srn,
which, for while, prove ed unusually produc-
tive. He was then on the highway TO fortune,
but when he dreamt noJ of adversely, the
times changed, the political relitons between
this country and Groai Britain, assumed diff
ferent aspect, and he, with theirs, was inv OIL
we'd in ruin. An aged father and an aged mo-
ther, looked up TO him for supports AID cheer
fully did he yield to them, the last shilling of
his hard-Garned gains, to rock the cradle of
their declining age. But when, he saw that
his prospects were cut of, and that he could
not do his duty to his aged parents, despair
stricken, he resortcd to cxciterhents for relief;
and ere he was aware of his danger, he be-
came a victim of ntemperance. Struggling
against the torrent that oppressed him, and
overcome by his sorrows, he at last bade hope
farewell; when re lson lost her empire, and he
became confirmed maniac.
He had now become so wretched, and SO
disgusting a maniac, that his friends, though
they loved him, and would have sacrificed all;
TO have restored his shipwrecked mind,'
were compelled, from necessity, TO confne
him in one Of the cells Of our Aims House, the
only receptacle--and TO our shame it is said
we have for the crazed. There, under the
guardianship of his hmane and attentive kee-
per, he fingered his ] fe out, and died the
death of an unfortunate maniac, divested of
reason, by the concurrence of ten thousand
mIsfor unes During he melancholy period Of
his insanity, he received the atten' IONS of his
relatives, and their repeat ed acts Of kindness,
IN no small degree, smoohed his passage to the
grave, and "lulled his senses into forgetful-
ness.'
Whilst he was an inmate Of mad-house we
| of,en visited him; and whilst we listened TO his
HaH nlIelilS DIE ldnpuage anu TdNHDgS, we
pited his sorro $, and lamented that we could
moi administer 10 his d sordered mind. He was
connected with several of the wealthy nd
most respectable f,milies of the town, who are
now unfeelmgl old, that he unhappy maniac
died drunk ard, covered with ignominy and
crime, and that so lost was he 10 all the de-
cencies Of life, thai they suffered him to die in
a common Aims House!
On Sunday last, le was placed among those
"who slumber IN eernll sleeps and they who
once were his compan ons IN arms, mournfully
followed him to the grave, and offered 10 his
last remains, the honofs of The solder Thus
| fell one, who had been the PRIDE of h s parents
| and an honour TO society, and who, because
| he died maniac, is traduced and DETAINED.
Alas! three miserable unforunale, where will
thy suferings end! The world warred against
thee, unkind fortune frowned upon thy early
hopes, the cold grave affords thee no asylum,
and calumny riots among thy ashes And
who, that beheld the companions of his bet
ter days, sadly folio ing hnm o q, o "narrow
| house of clay," with arms reversed, and be-
slowing upon HIM the honors of The lfeless sol
d or, and heard the plalnfWe straius Of the
bugle and the murmurs Of the mu ed drum,
would have believed tha ere h ID slimber-
cd in the sepulchre day, puoLc Press, would
have been employed in defhng his memory!
Gladly do we retire from the subject, and
leave the friends Of the dep lrcd, les We add
fresh wounds 10 their alfe I'd lacerated hears;
whilst the public may consider the motives,
which melted the traducer 10 acton.
|