South Branch intelligencer. [volume] (Romney, Va. [W. Va.]) 1830-1896, 1835-03-21

Esq, we extract from the Wheeling Ca
zatte, ola recent date.
Tie Cholera. The Richmond Reli.
gious Telegraph of the Esd ult. con
sains an extract from en- unpublished
poem, which, from the initials in the
signature, we judge TO be shs produc.
s;on Of William Naylor, Esq. Of Rom.
ney, Va. The extract ia the Telegraph
describes the progress of the cholera
the first year OF its visit 10 this county
! lite appearance at Quebec--iis flight
up the St. Lawrence, and its expansion
over the whole valley of The MISSISSIPPI
pi. We cannot resist che temptation
20 insert the passage, though we know
il will recall many melancholy associa.
tons, and cause perhaps, the rankling
afresh Of wounds which Time had
soothed. X is not the subjec, alone
which will interest the reader: the
poetry is Of q superior order, and pro-
ceeds from no ordinary mind. Indeed
she author is no ordinary man. For
the last 80 years ne has been devoted
practtiones Of the bar, and long since
attained the 1rst rank in the profession.
For great portion ofthat time he was
also engaged political life, from which,
however, he withdrew in 1880, on &c.
turning from the state convention, of
which he was prominent member
He has since blended with The practice
OF his profession the cultivation Of lit.
creature, aud has written prose volume
and two poems, which, if published,
would prove his high reputation as az
author.
PROGRESS OF THE CHOLERA.
Like rayless lightning on the wings Of
night
The life reversing mandatory came
Far DER the deep, and struck the western
world
Not in the sickly south. lest men should
think
The climate was the sword with which
be Slew
But right into the cities of the north.
up the st. Lawrence, from its icy capes,
To pierce the rock bound city of Quebec,
|Iie dashed his mighty arm then on
wards yoll'd
The current. counter to great Natures
law,
With upheav'd overwhelming food of
death,
Ear thrown above the Niagara's pitch $
And in the forest, where the woodman
roves,
Beside his quarry laid the hunter dead, 1
land Frustrated the ranks of men at arms ;
And the blood drinking savage whom they
chas'd,
From murder fresh. Of mothers and their
babes,
And smote the rescued down in numbers
far
Beyond the victims oftheir ruthless foe.
Then over that Unreasonable sweep
Of beauty and magnifcence, reserv'd
For man in, these late ages Of the world
From Allegheny to the Rocky mount,
He held the sparse inhabitants, or dense,
AS frighted captives in his mighty hand.
Ohio mourn'd--its silver stream was dim
Its banks. which o1sr'd life, became q
tomb
For those who dwelt or those who So
journ'd there.
THE frewing'd chariots Of the waters
next,
(which shot afar on Mississippi's tide.
Where each a TRAVELLING colony contained,
Were then arrested in their mid career,
And turn'd to seek for graves upon the
shore,
And slowly gain'd at last their destined
port,
With few survivors ft,-like ships of
war,
From desp'rate, bloody battle on the seas.
Circumvalating, and prevailing thus,
Throughout its empires breadth he took
the land,
And held it in funereai duress.
And filrd it with dark thoughts, which
made men wish
1t were afrightfnl dream, from which they
would
Awake and shake it off,-an incubus
Cfpond'rous weight which prest upon the
soul.
And SO they .did-as lift were dream
AS subjects ofan earthquake might have
done,
Between the shocks, where. in each pre-
vious one
SO many of their neighbors had gone
down.
For thus it was, when Mercy interposed
TO stop the tide Of death, and give men
space
ITO look to God, before another wave
Should be let loose. For in that pause,
their hearts
Revolted from their fears; like the bent
steel,
Rebounding when its pressure is removed,
Unsoftened, unannealed, g. unreciaimed.
NJ 1 i q L