The Rodney telegraph. (Rodney, Miss.) 1838-1840, 1839-04-13
LIFE BEFORE THE FLOOD.


old. How blissful are the feelings Of boy
hood! My senses are acute as the tree
with the shrinking leaf My blood bounds
through my veins as the river pours through
the valley, rejoicing in its strength. Life
vast, unoccupied, inviting will fill it with
achievements aud pleasures! In about sixty
years It will be time for me to think Of
marrying: my kinswoman Zillah, will, by
that time, have emerged from girlhood; she
already gives promise, hear, Of comeli-
ness and discretion. Twenty years hence
will pay visit to her father, that l may
see how she grows; meanwhile will build
city, to receive her when she becomes my |
| wife.
Nearly three centuries have
passed since my marriage. Can it be? II |
seems but yesterday since sported like a
young antelope round my fathers tent, or,
climbing the dark cedars, nestled like bird
among the thick boughs-and now am q
man in authority, as we'll as in the prime of
life. l lead out my trained servants to the
fight, and sit head OF the council, beneath
the very tree where, as an infant, my mo-
Their laid me to sleep. Jazed, my youngest
born, q lovely babe Of thirty summers, is
dead; but have four goodly sons remain
4 ing. And my three daughters are fair as
their mother, when first met her in the
Acacia grove, where now stands one Of NY
city watch towers. They are the pride Of
the plain, no less for their requirements
than their beauty. No damsel carries the
pitcher from the fountain with the grace Of
Adah, none can dry the summer fruits like
Azubah--and none can fashion robe of
skins with the skill of Micah. When their
cousin Mahaleel has seen another half cen
fury, he shall take choice of the three.
!. My eight hundredth birth day
Y And now feel the approach of age and
It infrmity. My beard is become white as
e the blossoms of the almond treo am
e constrained to use staff when journey
t, the stars look less bright than formerly; tAe
+ flowers smell less oderous; have laid Iii
IS lah in the tomb in the rock; Micah is gone
is to the dwelling Of Mahaleel; my sons take
+ my place at the council and in the feld-al
J. is changed. The long future has become
d the short past. The earth IS full Of vic
4 lence; the ancient and the honorable art
Of sinking beneath the young and the vicious
$. The giants stalk through the length arr
ID breadth Of the land, where once dwelt qui
s. ct people; all is changed. The beasts of thu
Ut field and the monsters Of the deep growl an.
IS press on US with unwonted fury; traditions
s, visions, and threatenings, are abroad. Wha
es fearful doom hangs over this fair world,
r know not; it is enough that am leaving it
k. yet another FIVE or eight score years, ant
st the tale will be complete. But have /, il
e. very deed, trod thissearth nearly thousan,
K years? X is false; ! am yet a boy. hay,
p had dream-a long, long, busy dream
e Of buying and selling; marrying and givin;
is in marriage; Of building and planting; feast
lie ing and warning; sorrowing and rejoicing
M loving and hating but it is false to call it
ne life. Go tot has been q vision of tn,
ne night; and now that am awake, will for
r., get it. "Lamech, my son, how long is
I'd since we planted the garden of oaks besid,
ne the rivera Was it not yesterday?" an
lis father, dost thou sport? Those oaks cast
us broad shadow when my sister carried M
II, beneath them in her arms, and wove m
mi chaplets of their leaves" "Thou art right
my son, and am DID, Lead me TO my me
re theirs tomb, and there leave me to mediate
pa What am the better for my past length {
On beingf Where will be its records when
as am Comet They are yonder-on all side.
ed Will those MASSEY towers fallf Will thos
US golden plains become desolate? Will tn
IT. children that call me father, forget? TIL
& seers utter dark sayings upon their harp.
ad when they sing of the future; they say OF
er descendants shall be men of dwindIed sts
in ture; that the years Of their lives shall b
id, contracted to the span of our boyhood;-
Or but what is the future to met have lister
ed to the tales of Paradise-nay in the blu
distance, have seen the dark tops of i
ne cedars. have heard the solemn melodit
ID Of Jubal when he sat on the sea shore, "a
ce the sound of the waves mingled with h
he harping. have seen angels the visitan
ne- of men-I have seen an end Of all perfe
led tion-what is the future to met
ln-I
ng When Eschines applauded Phillip XII
= Of Macedon, as iovial man who wou
'n' drink freely, Demosthenes replied, ssthat
s sn' was good quality in a sponge, bur not in
e king
, t0I
ionl Toclcan pd;ss skat i not rnrnished. .
uss Put upon = plate sumo good whiting, ha
liza ready some warm water, q piece Of ia
mel, which dip inio the water and squee
nearly dry, then take as much whitening
one will adhere to it, apply it to the paint, VII
oys little rubbing will instantly remove d
in dit or grease, Paint thus cleansed lon
fa- equal to new; and without doing he Il,
hot inisrv ~ fia rnlnr