Staunton spectator, and general advertiser. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 183?-1849, 1837-08-03

NdtheiS ell iefnieSluOuS clouds, which, black
ening, spread,
Unt,i ;heir blended masses overwhelmed
The hemisphere OF day and, adding gloom
70 nght'S dark empire, 1T from IONS tu
SWEPT the vast shadow, swallowing up ali
light,
And Covering The encireling armament
As with a .h.y pail law in the dust
Bowed the a.f:g lIted nations, worshipuipg.
Anon the o'ercharged garners Of The storm
Burst with their growing burden iiei CO
and last
Shot down the ponderous rain. sheeted
Hood
s'hai Slanted not before the haflled winds.
}5ut, with an arrowy ard unwavering rush.
Dashed kissing ear.hwsrd. Soon the rivers
And roaring fed their channels; and calm
lakes
a woke eyulIing from their leihargy,
And poured destruction ON their peaceful
shores.
The lighIning fiekered 10 tie deluged air,
And ieetiy through tie shout of gathering
Multered the sliAsd thunder. Day nor
night
Ceased The descending streams ; and If the
gloom
4 lille brig hiened. when the Hurled morn
Rose on the starless midnight, twas To show
The lifting up of waters. Bid aud beast
IN"Isook the flooded plains, aud YEARLY
The ehirering muItIIuhes of human doomed
i 'vlied up before the insatiate element.
Oceans were blant, and The levia;hdn
WAS borne nioft on tho ascending seas
To wilsre the eagle nestled. Mountains
now
We're the sole land marks, and their sides
were clothed
With clustering myriadS, from the weltering
waste
Whose ssurges clasped them, to their ;ormost
peaks,
SwAthed in the stopping cloud. The hand OF
Doah
Smote millions as they climbed; YET denser
1 he crowded nations, as the oncroaching
waves
Narrowed their Little world
And in that hour
Was the sole instinct and the strong timbed
With imprecations smote the palsied sire
That chung 10 him tor succor Woman trod
tVith watering step the rrecipice's brow,
= nd found ann 10 grasp on The dread
verge
Der which she leaned and trembled. Self
shRess
Sat like an Incubus on every heart,
tsmoIheriag the voice OF love. The giant's
Was on the stripling's neck and oft De-
spair
GrappIed the ready steel, and kindred blood
Polluted the las, remnant o! that earth
NJ hich God was deluging To purity.
Huge monsters from The plains, hose skel-
elons
The midew of succeeding centuries
Has failed 10 crumble, with Unwieldy
strength
Crushed through the solid crowds and fer
cest birds
Beat down " ard by the ever. rushing rain,
With blinded eyes, drenched pIumes, and
trailing wings,
Staggered unconscious DER tie trampled
prey.
The Mountains were submerged; the bar
rier CHAINS
That mapped ont nations sank until q.
length
One Titan peak alone o'ertopped the waves,
GGaconing a sunken world And of The
Thai bIackened every alp, one man suryiy-
ed
And he stood shivering hopeless, sbelterless,
Upon that fragment OF the universe
The surges of the universal sea
Broke on his naked feet. On his gray head
Which fear, not time, had silyered, The black
cloud
Poured its Implying torrents while around
IN the green twilight dimly visible,
Rolled The grim iegions Of the CHASTITY drown
ed,
And seemed to beckon with their tossing
arms
Their brother TO his doom.
He smote his brow,
And, maddened, would have leapi to their
embrace,
When 10! before him, riding on the deep,
Eoomed d vast fabric, aud familiar sounds
Proclaimed that il was peopled. Hope once
more
Cheered the wan outcest, and imploringly
He stretched his arms forth towards the float
ing walls,
and cried aloud for mercy, But his prayer
Man might not answer, whom bis God con
demned.
Tho ark swept onward, and the pillows rose
And buried their last victim
Then the gloom
Broke from the face of heav'n, and sunlight
streamed
Upon the shoreless sea, and on The roof
That rose for shelter Ger the living germ
Whose increase should repopulaIe wofld.
n. YORK, MAY, 1887. }. BARBER.