Staunton spectator, and general advertiser. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 183?-1849, 1839-04-18
EDUCATION OF THE BLIND.

From the 10th number of the Students
Magazine, a periodical published at the In
s,itu,ion for the Blind, in Philadslphia,
ws copy the following obituary, the compo-
sition Of HENRY JUETrK GaAY, son of
RoBERr GRAY, Esq. OF Rockingham,
Virgins, blind boy now in his fifteenth
year.
OBITUARY, by a Pnpii.-There il a de-
light, an inexpressible pleasure in hope,
when the mind looks forward TO futuriiy g
golden hours with an eye Of joy bu, there
is "a deep and awful gloom cast over tho
soul, when we refec. upon the past, with a
sad and melancholy regret. There is q
charm in the calm summer evening, when
the last rays of the setting sun psiuts the
horizon-whsa the warblers Of the groves
seek some breezy height to sing their fare-
we'll songs to departing day and there is a
charm 10 the eve when the blue vaul, Of
Heaven is bespaDgled with myriads oil
lwinkl'ng stars. But when the irrelig ious
man 10 In the twilight Of life, and The shades
OF the evening gather thick and heavy a.
round him-when he is just on the confin es OF
an eternal world, unknown, untiodden by
living man, therei s lear, a horror, a feels
Ing which he alone knows. But 10 the good
christian, whose evening Of life is uncloud-
ed anu uudimmed by crime, there 10 bliss,
though pain, in dying; and the Consciousness
OF well spent days gone by makes his dy-
ing pillow easy. Thus il was with our
friend and tutor, julius r. FRIEDLANp
Err, whose meniory will ever be cherished
by us, and whose name, in alter years, will
shine with undimmed brightness and luslre
IN the history OF benev client Institutions
Inc orator, the statesman, and the hero, all
seek Tor lame; but on the names of those
whom blind ambition has led through seas oil
blood there is left an indelible stigma, a tar
nish which time can never wear away. No,
go with our friend, our much lamented
friend.
Six years have not yet ELAPSED since this
good man, influenced BY the most humane
and noble feelings that ever warmed and an
imaied the bosom Of man, babe his kindred
and "his own, his native land" adieu, and
sought home in this, a land OF strangers
mot in pursuit of fame, not in pursuit oil
honors, not in pursuit OF wealth; but ia the
pursuit Of the more laudsbie and praise.
worthy object--the alienation of the afflic-
ions OF the unfortunate blind--ths aiiey ia
ton OF our affiictions-we, whose brows
Misfortune with her cruel hand has MAJ k ed
with sadness and with sorrow II was alone
10 pluck the thorns from the blind mans
dark and rugged path through life that he
sought our shores; and by his long and un.
wearied exertions, the dark gloom which
once surrounded os has been dispeIled, and
the bright mantle Of education partly thrown
around Us. But, alas he is no more. Ths.
Kind, that generous heart has ceased TO beat
bis feeble pulse has sunk TO sleep, his mild
and gentle voice is hushed, and bis brigh,
| beaming eyesar closed in death but the re
Is left no crime, no unmanly action, TO cast
a shade over his name. He is gone; YET
"all that's bright must fade, the brightest
still the fieetest." The iairest flower Of the
garden is loo often The fret to be piucked by
the rude hand OF the destroyer. He 10 gone
our friend is gone land gone forever, Though
his corpse lies low with The dead, tenant oi
the silent tomb, his pure soul has winged II.
way to that bright land of bliss, the haIlow ed
home Of God