Southern planter., 1832-12-08
THE DEAD.

How few there are, as has been remarked by
Jorcible and impressive writer, who read the "
dinary lists Of deaths. who know any thing Of ih'
deptk Of human feelag, or the intensity OF human
suffering which is recorded in the simple and brie
notices which we read with so much careessness
and coldness in the newspapers. Finding no Ia
miliar name to arrest attention or awaken sympa-
Thy, we think no more of the matter, for, what care
we for long midnight yiQils ofwatchfu ahectionate
fFiendship-the weary aching head-lhe afflicted
depending heart-we do not feel the pain, the Ian
gushing sufferer has experienced, and We know
nothing Of the agony which exhausted his frame,
and wore on his weary nature, or care we for the
spirit which has fed its fra tenement, and uttered
it's last, final qaspnq farewell We know nothing
Of the hearbreaknQ anguish that is felt or the hol
burning tears which gush oHt in agony of severed
friendship, from bosoms swelling and bursting from
an excess Of passionate grief. Weknow nothing Of
the bitterness Of parting, Of the strength Of afec-
tons which have been torn asunder--of the hope
lessness Of the first food of tears-of the death Of
proiracted suffering, or Of the intensity Of the af-
Elections which real friends have been called upon
to suffer and endure
Il is a melancholy, though instructive consdera-
ton, that the tendency Of every thing earthly is to
decay; that the happest prospects aud the bright
est visions Of future bliss, but deusive lances
which become extinguished when they shine out
most wildly aud give the strongest evidence Of per
inanent duraiion "Hopes which were angels in
their BIRTH" become from their intimacy and close
connection with human ffaly and decay, but things
Of earth And thus il is, that those dear objects up.
on which we have avishedt the most fiauerng hopes
Of future happiness and bliss, are removed from US
before we are conscious Of the palsyng illness,
which quenched the spirit and laid them low. We
Rrove that they are iaken from Us so suddenly
that they could not have been spared a little Ion
Rer-that we could not have appreciated their
worth; returned there manifod kindness, g. gradual.
~ prepared themselves for that event. which fromis
sudden occurrence unmans our resolutions and
prOslrates Us in the dus, by the semness and
severity Of the blow. There IS anothee'ad thought
but nevertheless true one-tiat the more friend
ship we form, the more attachments we make. the
more tender and endeariDg connections weave
around us and invest ourselves with in this world,
the more ofgrief and suffering we shall be called
to endure A time will come when all ear0l at
tachments must be severed, and the moI4 fond
we have been of friends, and the more des o8d to
connections, the more agonzing will be The sinig-
gle which separates us, and tears away from a.
monq them. Il NAV DO that Stoic's life IS produc-
tive eventually, ofless pain and suffering than that
individual endures, who possesses more delicate
seDsbiiy and is alive to the generous impulses of
nature and the finest feelings Of the human heart
4 may be so, but yet his cold enioymenis, and be
numbiDg sympaihies afford him but poor comfort,
when most be needs the sympathy, the sustaining
hand and upholding arm Of ardent erdearng friend.
ship. Life would not be worth possessing, ifths
polar star did not illuminate its dark paths and
throw around iis drearinoss, an evidence Of sym
pathetic love for each other; and though separa-
ton, when il comes, crushes the heart aud tears
nsunder It's very hbres yet how eagerly we taste of
its delicious sweets aud exult in the participation
Of lis deliious enioymenls