Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1832-09-21


In darkness cell confines him deep,
Gives prejudice the keys to keep:
Untaught. she asks him wise to be
| In chains. she bids him TO be free
She scorns his prayer, and mocks his moan,
He asks for bread, and he receives stone!"
RS-STEAMBOATTR TRAVELLING.
The following pleasant article is from the Pc, 4
one of the talented editors of the New York
Mirror Had we met with it without knowing
its author. we should have attributed it to the
pen Of Paulding:-
Has it ever befaen the gentle reader to sleep
in a crowded hotel, in an apartment shared by
several others; or a stage travelling all night: or
ON board steamboat? Ii so. you must have
suffered from a nuisance, we fear, beyond the
reach of satire. viz. snoring. Whether it is
an 4n,cricnnisn,, like whiting, splitting, putting
the feet on the ,nau.Iepiece, and wearing hats
! with long nap, we do not at this time wish to
discuss; nor whether it is one of those general
evils Incident to the universal iN6r'nities of hu-
man nature; but we do say,-that your regular
| snorer is an enemy to society. and ought either
| to cure his propensity, Or turn hermit. Our OBJ
iact IN writing this I, to sUirlt the attention OF
the learned on subject intimately connected
/ with human comfort, that some means may be
! A .opted either to have the class OF sn0rers kept
distinct from other people, III different part OF
the town, and compelled to travel in a line OF sta
ges and steamboats, constructed expressly for
| them or else to check the propensity IN early
childhood, by a rigid course OF education Our
youth are taught TO dance, sing play the fiddle,
Sit straight, eat with their fork and be vir,uous
but not a word about snoring; r.oi a nat Of this
faculty, growing up in the secrecy Of night, like
a rank luxuriant weed, within their character, to
break the peace of innocent families, and ruin,
night after night that precious baimy slumber
winch hes so 'sstarkley in the travellers bones. \"
| Snorers, why they are monsters. We avoid
them in our rural pere. rinat,ons. and smile in
wartly on finding their acquaintance cultivated
By unwary strangers, who little think what a
trap thep are falling into. We are one Of that
extensive class of human creatures who enjoy a
fair nights rest. The day emphaticallv belongs
to earth. We yield it without reluctance to
care and abour. We toll, we drudge, we pant,
we play the hack horse; we do things smingy
from which, IN secret, we recQll; we pass by
sweet spots and rare faces, that our very heart
yearns for, without betrsying the effort 1t costs;
and thus we drag through the twelve long hours,
disguised almost, but gladdened withal, that the
mask will have an end, and the tedious game be
over and our visor and our weapons be laid aside.
But the night is the gift of heaven. 1t brings
freedom aud repose; its influence falls coolty
aud gratefully upon the mind as we'll as the body;
and when we drop the extinguisher upon the
round untouched pillow. we. at the same time,
put out a world of cares and perplexites. -
What, then. must be our disappointment to had
ourselves full length, side by side, with profess
sed. regular bred, fulbooded norer.aYhen the
spell of sleep is every few moments forming on
US; and then broken by the anomalous. inc"nsru-
Gus, nasal vociferations against which. at this
particular moment, we are endeavouring to ex.
cite the Indignation Of the reader:
1t is one of the advantages OF snthHrs 2,
however, that even evils. b. V'sld'ry 9lH'il
subjects for the pen, may be mad, .t- I
amusement and profit We eXperltnt. :
the other night, when returning from day 40
sence the travellers vicissitudes sent Us 10 slee(
on board steamboat, plying between this CIT
and Albany. Fancy us, g"od reader. you kno's
for, for we have been hand and glove with you
for so long time, you ought to know. our sly
peachant for comfort-our harmless pieces oil
spicureansm on small scaIe-our enjovmen,
oi a shady. still corneI-0ur horror. Of being
pushed and thrust about 'sany how" We have
even, on occasions. BETRAYED too many Of our
secret tastes and antipatbies, and have been rat
ed BY anonymous correspondents (those taml
liar invisible gentry.) for preferring slant sun
beam througha heavy curtain to one that comes
in like other beams.
Imagine US, then, in ''nisht boat" which
even the captain confessed was !" slow;' the
wind and tide against US, hot night, numerous
passengers, the engine heavlng and working Ia
boriouslv, with regular and heavy impulse, thai
Jared through the massive vessel with jerks and
shocks like little earthquskes.a and the subtle Ian
suor of slumber stealing through our limbs, and
hanging on our eyelids A hundred or two ira
vellers had already "turned in." AID we were
ushered below into the cabin, aod directed by q
clerk to berth, where, our guide informed US
we were to sleep To sleep! We looked at the
fellows face. 1t was perfectly grave and re
ispectful. A glance satisfied US he had intended
no insult. He left US, and We paused to look
around. All the cabin Of steamboat is me