Litchfield enquirer. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1829-current, 1841-10-21
From tie NeU World.
A THRILLING STORY.

! From tie New World.
A THRILLING STORY.
The Hospital at New Orleans during the
prevalence of an epidemic, presents sight
beyond the power of description, and Of
which our northern friends can form but an
imperfect idea. The invalds are chiefly
strangers, far from home, kindred and friends.
Upon their entrance through its massive
halls, and into its sombre cells, their names
are recorded upon the books of the institution,
with the place of birth, time of arrival, &c.
and their departure from thence is as scrupu-
lousy noted. The fatal word DEAD opposite
many of the names meets the eye Of the visi-
tor, and calls up feelings in no wise calcula-
ted to render his sojourn there one of mere
pleasure or amusement; it is, in fact, visit
| 10 a charnel house, where death revels in his
majesty Of strength. and makes the human
frame the scene of his banquet song, the
music of which is
"The groan, the knell, the pail, the BIER
Death becomes familiar amid such scenes
and the heart callous to his power they look
upon it as one of the privileges of human ma
ture, and as " if life without it were not worth
taking" 1t is indeed here -.
1.-THE poor, the prisoner, and the mourneT,
| Fly for relief, and lay their burdens dosrn."
| The writer of this has frequently looked
over the books Of entry, and among the rccor-
! ded names he has recognized many who
have left their peaceful homes and "ain fire
sides" TO satisfy either rowing disposition,
or to avoid mans inhu,nan:ty to man, which
in northern cities pursucs the poor andncces-
sitous even to the prison walls, so as to glut
the tender mercics Of creditors with the
knowledge of their victims incarceration !:
and for what! Ay, for what Simply be-
Az Foe
dollars-a debt incurred under an accuru
la,ion of miseries for the payment Of which
he had asked time for the regaining Of health
and prospect Of employment. With pris
OH in the perspcctive,a christian landlord in the
| 'front.' threatening him with instant seizure,
the heart-broken creature flies from his
home, his family, and his friends, and finds IL
resting place in the g city of the dead" The
widows son here breathed his last. while she
mourned his absence-not his death: her
letters remained at the post Office, and she
censures him in her silent hours of grief for
| his neglect. But she excuses him on the
ground of youth, and smiles in her widow.
hood on the hope little dreaming it is but
hope deferred, smelling even in the ray in
which it glitters."
The lover, too, sleeps in death, and the
maiden, in her far off home, dreams Of joy
and hope which can never be hers. One
name among those is written on memory s
tablet, and will only disappear when the
mirrored surface is broken, and recorded
things washed out by the stream of time,
leading, as it does, down to the ocean of
| oblivion. The name of HUGH REINAGLE is
engraved on piece of marble in the Ameri-
can burying ground, N. Orleans. erected to
his memory by one who loved him living,
and mourns him dead-Pe0ce to his ashes
Many blooming check has faded. many
a bright eye grown dim and lustrelesS, many
a joyous heart has fallen beneath the Upas
breath of the ficnd ofthe South.
What a contrast there is between the
summer and winter of the South ; the first,
which in other chimes is all sunshine and
joy to the young heart, is there all gloom
and sorrow! The winters are tho sunshine
and spring of the year.
! But let US return to the Hospital. The
reader must imagine TO himself long room,
on each side of which, extending the whole
length, is a range Of beds; on each. (Which is
frequently the case during an epidemic) let
him picture victim lying in all the agony
Of mental and physical suffering-let him
also imagine the effect of the disease upon
the minutes, which, according to their diff.
ferent constitutions, or the nature Of the at
tack. act in different ways. One in the last
| gasp of death vomits up the dark particles,
formed by modification, and which is termed
"black vomit," his eyes are fixed, his senses
gone. his limbs writhing. Another raves in
frenzy, wild, tearing the bed clothes in
pieces, and rolling on to the floor, dies ere
the attendants can replace him. Let the rea.
der picture such scene, and he will form a
tOlcrable idea of the place which words are
inadequate 10 describe. In no city, however,
are the poor more carefully attended. during
the severe scourge, than they are in New
Orleans; but my reader must take into con-
sideration the number misfortune renders
amenable TO the cause of health.
| On one of the beds near the centre of the
room lays a sick man in the last stages of the
disease. The officiating physician had just
informed him there was no hope-dea,h was
doing its work. The man resigned himself
calmly to his fate. On the bed which stood
Immediately opposite that of the dying mans
was one who had just been brought in from
his boarding house; his case was also consi-
dered desperate. s... Hi
! In sick room-and who has not expert
enced the agonizing feelings and sufferings
of one !-,hsre are objects upon which the
eye rests in those moments when pain per-
mlis the reason to roam in its mental wander.
lngs, and gazeS upon some object, calling up
as were the dreams of the past, when health
and strength went hand in hand with hope,
and the bright sunshine of the happy future
cleaned before us; there is a dreamy luxury
in this. which can only be realized by those
| ~ hAS u a.. -.