Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1841-05-21
From the New World.
A Thrilling STORY.
lat importnn, question is, not that we die,

pTcNuieH,c VI du eI'lueI1lC, pTeScHtS SISIt
beyond the power of description, and of
which our Northern friends can form but an
imperfect idea. The invallds are chiefly
strangers, far from home, kindred, and
friends. Upon their entrance through its
massive walls, 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 as scrupulously noted. The fatal
word DEAD opposite many OF the names meets
the eye of the visitor, and calls up feelings in
no wise calculated to render his so ourn there
ono of mere pleasure or amuscment--it is,
in fact, visit to u charncl-liouse, where
death revels in his majesty of strength, and
makes the human frame the scene of his
"banquct song," the music of which is
| "rhe groan, the kncll, the pail the bicrn
Death becomes familiar amid such scenes
and the heart callous to his powerfully
look upon it as one of the privileges of hui
man nature, and as, "if life without it were
not worth taking" 1t is indeed here
| 1.-THE poor, the prisoner, and the mourner
| Fly for relief and lay their burdens dorn.'
The writer of this has frequently looked
over the books of ENTRY, and among the re-
corded names he has recognized many who
have left their peaceful homes and d" ain fire
Sides to satisfy either rowing disposition,
or TO avoid mans inhuma nj y = man, which
IN northern cities pursues the poor and ne
cessitous even to the prison walls, so as to
glut the tender mercics of creditors with
The knowledge oftlcir victims incarceration
and for whatl Ay, for whatl Simply
| horuuso tho ,,ra,cI,
few dollars--a debt incurred under an accu-
mutation of miseries, and for the payment of
which he had asked time for the regaining
of health and prospect of employment.--
With prison in the perspective, a Christian
landto'd in the front, threatening him with
instant seizure, the heart broken crea,ur,
flies from his home, his family, and his
friends,and finds a resting place in the 'Chv
of the Dead The widows son here
breaihcd his last, while she mourned his alb
sccncc- not bis dcatll--her letters remain
ed at the post-ollicc, and she censurcs him
in her silent hours of grief for his neglect
But she excuses him on the ground of youth.
and smiles in her widowhood on the hope
little dreaming it is but hope deferred, mel
ting even in the ray in which it elters."
The lover, %, sleeps IN death, and the
maiden, in her far of home, dreams of iov
and hope which can never be hers. One
name among those is written on memory,
tablet, and will only disappear when the mir
rored surface is broken, and recorded things
washed out by the stream of time, leading,
as it does, down the ocean of oblivion.-
The name of HuGH RETNGALE is engraved
on piece of marble in the American | ury-
ing ground, New Orleans--crectcd to his
memory by one who loved him living. and
mourns him dead. Peace to his ashes,
Many a blooming cheek has faded, many
a bright eye grown dim and luslreless, many
joyous heart has fallen beneath the Upas
breatl, of the tiend of the South.
q What contrast there is between the sum-
mer and winter of the South the first,
winch in all other climcs is all sunshine and
JOY TO the young heart, is there all gloom and
sorrow! There winters are the 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 single beds-on each
one, (Which is Frequently the case during an
Epidemic let him picture victim lying in
all the agony of mental and physical suffer-
| no-let him also imagine the effect of the
disease upon the Inmates. which, according
to their different constitutions, or the nature
of the attack, 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.
senses gone, his limbs writing Another
| 1
to pieces, and rolling off on to the floor dies
ere the attendants can replace him. Let
the reader picture such scene, and he will
form tolerable idea of the place which
words are inadequate to describe. In no CT
ty, however, are the poor more carefully at
tended, during the severe scourge, than they
are in New Orlcans-bu, nv readers must
take into consideration the number misfor-
tune renders amcnablc to the cause of
death.
On one of the beds near the centre Of the
room lays sick man in the last stages of the
disease. The officiating physician had lust
informed him there was no hopc-dcath was
doing its work. Tue man resigned himself
calmly to his fate. On the bed which stood
Immediately opposite to that of the diving
idH " ds o'iS WIZ iIttu Uccll Just pro IN Il ON
his boarding house-his case was also con-
sidered desperate.
In sick room-and who has not cxpc-
rienced the agonizing feelings and suilcrngs
Of one!-,hcre are objects upon which the
eye rests in those moments when pain per-
nits the reason to roam in its mental wander
ings, and gazcs upon some object, calling up
as it were the dreams of the past, when
health and strength went hand in hand with
hope, and lhe bright sunshine of the happy
| future cleaned before us-thcrc is dreamy
luxury in this which can only be realized bv
those who have experienced tins exercise Of
mind in the moment of danger, and who love
to dwell upon ii.
The writer Of this, in 1882, during the
prevalence of as severe am epidemic as ever
prevailed in New Orleans, suffered an attack
of the yellow fever, and believes that his
life was saved, by his strength of mind,
overcoming the alarm created by the idea of
dying among strangers, and Of disease
Il