Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1829-12-31

From the Spirit and Manners efte .age.
| FRAGMENTS 0F ~ ANTEDiLUVlAN DiARY
BY MISS JEwsBURY
Reflections Of Methusakh IN has yoafh-,R m'dds
are and in old age
Today am a hundred yeas old. How
b,issfuI are he feelings OF boyhood! My senses
are acute as the ,ree with he shrinking isai.
| NV blood bounds through my veins as the river
hours through The valley, rejoicing IN lis
strength. Life lies before me- like ano'her plain
of Shinar-vast, unoccupird, invi,ing VIII
fit il with ACHE vem-n's aud pleasures! In a.
bou, six v wears il will be tim for me TO 'hi"k
If marrying: nv kinswoman Zillah will by that
time have emerged from g%irlhood; SIC already
gives promise, I hear, of comeiiness and dis-
%cre,ion Twenty years hence will pay VI
sil TO her father, 'ha' ! may Sc how she grows;
meanwhile, | will buiI a city to receive her
when she becomes my wife:
Nearly three centuries have passed since my
marriage. Can il b.? II seems but'yes'e'day
since ! ,por,rd like a young antelope round my
fatnrr's tent. or, climbing the dark cedars, mes
tied like a bird among The thick ooughs -ana
row ] am a man in authority, as well asin me
prime Of life. lead out mp trained servants TO
the fight, and sit head Of the council, beneath
the verv tree where, as an infant, my mo'her
laid me to sleep Jazrd, my youngest born, a
lovely babe of 'hirty ummers is dead; out l
have four goodly sons remaining. Ana my
three daughters are fair as their mother, "heh
| first met her in the Acicis grove, where no"
sands one o my city watch towers. ihey are
he pride of the plain, no less for their acquire
men,s han their beauty. No camsrl carries
the pitt her from The fountain withihe grace OF
Adah, none Con dry the Summer frult IKE
Azubah-snd non can fashion a robe OF skins
wi h the skill of M,icah When heir cousin
Mahaleel has seen %apo'her halt century, he shai
take he choice OF he thrte.
NV eigh, hundredth birth day! And now I
feel the approach of age and iyhrml'y. MY
beard /. become white as he blossoms OF the
almond rec am constrained 10 use a SIAN
when ! Journey, The stars 10 k less bright than
formerly, the flowers smell less o%dorous; have
laid ZIlah in the ,omb of the rock; Mllcha is
gone TO the dwelling of Mahaleel; nv sous take
nv place "a, The council and in lht tetd; all Is
changed. The long future is become he short
pas,. The earth is foil Of violence; the ancient
and The Honorable are sinking beneath me
Young s. he vicious. The grams Stalk through
the length AID breadth of the land, where once
dwelt a quiet people; Ill is changed. The
bpas,s of the field and the monsters OF the deep
prowl and press on US with unwpntrd fury; ira
ditions. visions, and ,hrea,nlng, are abroa -
What fearful doom hangs OVER this fair world
know not; i, is enough tina, l am leaving II: yet
another nv, or eight score years and the tale
will be complete. Bu, have l.. in every deed,
rod this earth nearly a thousand year! Il Is
false. I avn vet a nov | have had a dr. am "a
long, long busy dream; of buying and selling;
mar, wing and gs,ing IN marriage; OF building
and II ming; Teasing and waIing; so'row'ng
and re- ioicineiloving and ha ing,huti it Is false 10
callits life. tio ,o-i, has been a vision OF
the night: and now rha, | am awake, | will tor
sv' il. L,"tee =. my son. n n w Ue iSde IT, river:
War gin not yes erday!' d" My father, dos'
I GU SD r;!" those oaks cas- a broad shadow
VIII, n nv >is,er carried ne b. meath them ~
her arms, and wove me 'haplets Of their lea,es."
9 Thou arr RICH my son, and ] am old Leao
me % Thy mo,hrr's tomn, and 'he't ave me
to medi ae VIII IN | the better f"' nv pas
length Of oeing? Ware will be its records
when | an gomez They are yonder-or al
sides. VIII those massy 'owtrs ian! WIZ
those gold, n plain, he' ONE d~rsola'r! VIII tie
children tina call M father, forge! The serrs
Il ter dark savIngs up n their harps, when they
sing If The future: hey say our descend MS
snail be mrn Of dwindled sa'urr; thai tn
W ars If their live, shali br con raced To ID
span of our boyhood; bu, wha' is 'ht future o
me? ave Listened 10 the tales oil Par die
nav, in the blue distance, | have seen the dark
tops Of is cedsrs-I have heard the solemn
melodies Of Ju1al when he sa' on he sea short,
and the sound Of The waves mingled win M
haT pirg. have seen angels the WIS., ans OF
m nj have seen an eud of all pfrfe ton
wha, is ,hefuturr tod ne?" >