Southern Argus. [volume] (Columbus, Miss.) 1834-1842, 1841-03-03


men pressed their children 10 their breasts
and the whole tribe walked into the bay
and were drowned" Where in the legends
of any people, can be found a sterner in.
stance of what was once termed virtue.
than this Where in what is called elias.
sic history, is there such an instance of
the heroic self .devotion of whole people |
The Roman Senator fell uDon his own
sword rather than witness the degrade
ton of his country. The Roman people
bowed their necks to the yoke. Here the
whole nation, warrior and prophet, brave
and boy, the mother with her child press.
ed to her bosom, the father with the son |
of his pride by tie hand, lovers rejoicing |
that their lots were not divided-walked |
down to the grave together. To them
.Pascagoula was but ford which they
must Passto the happy hunting grounds i
and poetical fitting it is that their death
song should still
-Float upon the silver wave
OfPascagoula bay.
Phazma says 81 listened TO this mu.
sic with establishment and delight the eve-
ming before the verses were written
Philosophers may assign cause for it
| have no suggestion to make. The res.
dents all about the bay have heard this
singular melody, and remember it for fifty
years, land tell the legend which | have
here woven into verse
THE SPIRIT SONG.
Moonlight is sleeping or the wave,
Yen sandy beach shines in the ray,
And silver are thesands that pave
Fair Pascagoula Bay.
Yon isles OF green seem spirit bound,
While spell like silence floats around,
And yon mysterious object mark
Far DER the CLASSY surface see
The branching root ofsome dead tree,
Peep out above the shallow sea,
Like water spirit dark.
Like some lone spirit of the water
Gazing upon the fair moonlight,
Or signing for some earthly daughter,
In silence and in night,
Does sorrow dwell beneath the wave,
In coral grot and chrystal cave?
All! do the nymphs and naiads know
To weep! Does now some fair Undine
| Beneath yon bay of silver sheen
Hiding her face in tresses green,
| Drop amber tears of woe.
All! sorrow DER the earth
| With Joy goes hand In hand,
Changing and mingling pain and mirth
Thick as yon silver sand.
The songsters on their summer wings,
The fairest and best of things,
Find mirth still mingled with alloy.
All sadness seemeth everywhere
| Upon the earth, and in the air,
And meath the water, even there,
Grief mlngles still with JOY!
Hark! Listen! Doth my musing, lone,
And dismal, lift my fancy high!
Or whence this sad and signing tone
OF music floating by?
Now swells II Ger leaf and bough,
Beneath along the water now,
And ah! how very sad it seems!
Mournful as solemn tolling BELLS
Echoes ofby gone funeral knells,-
Like spirits singing their farewels,
Or music heard in dreams!
And It's not fancy, for they tell
How long ago was heard the sound,
How here the red men fought and fell,
And in the bay were drowned.
They say it is a spirit band,
Mourning in Pascagou as sand
The bones of whole tribe are there,
Their means left echoes in the waves,
That roll eternal DER their graves,
And as the beach the water laves,
Soft music fills the air!
Again! how strange! 1t cannot be
The night wind, for the night is still,
! And not leaf stirs on the tree,
! Or blade upon the hill.
Now deep, now distant, now so near,
You start, and smile at your own fear;
And all so mournful swens along
The sound 1t thrills on feeling deep,
You long to steal away and weep,
] You sigh to listen and to sleep,
] Lulled by the spirit song!
Not when the tempest whips the wave,
Not when the storm-tiend's rage is stirred
t But when tits silent as the grave,
g Then is the music heard
/ Then wildly, sweetly from the lake,
n The spirit songis heard to break,
q And DER the glossy waves to play,
The war-song of the Indian brave
Comes from his deep and watery grave,
= And floats upon the silver wave
IS OfPascagoula Bay