Sunbury American and Shamokin journal. [volume] (Sunbury, Northumberland Co., Pa.) 1840-1848, 1841-05-22
From tie Netu Uwld.
A Thrilling story.
"The important question is, not that we die,
But how we de-"

"The important question is, not that we die,
But how we de."
The Hospital at New Orleans, during
the prevalence of an epidemic, presents
a sight beyond the power of descrip>
tion, and of which our Northern friends
can form but an imperfect idea. The
invalids 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 insttu-
ton, with the place of birth, time of
arrival, &C., and their departure from
thence as scrupulously noted. The ia
tai word DEAD opposite many of the
names meets the eye of the visiter, and
calls up feelings in no wise calculated
to render his sojourn there one of meie
pleasure or amusement; it is, in fact, a
visit to charnel house, where death
rcvols in his majesty of strength, and
makes the human frame the scene of
his "banquet song." the music of which
is
The groan, the kncll, the pail, the bier
Death becomes familiar amid such
scenes, and the heart callous to his pow
er; they look upon it as one of the pri>
vileges of human nature, and as eff life
without it were not worth taking 1t
is indeed here
-"The poor the prisoner, and the mourner
Fly for relief and day their burdens DORM"
The writer of this has frequently
looked over the books of entry, and a.
mong the recorded names he has rccog-
nised many who have left their peace
full homes and cain fire sides" 10 salts
fly either rowing disposition, or to a.
void mans inhumanity to man, which
in northern cities pursues the poor and
necessitous even to the prison walls, so
as to glut the tender mercies of credi-
tors with the knowledge of their VIC
TINS incarceration; and for what? Ay,
for what? Simply because the poor
wretch cannot pay him few dollars
debt incurred under an accumulation
of miseries, and for the payment OF
which he had asked time for the regain,
ing Of health and a prospect of employ.
ment. With a prison in the perspec.
tive, 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 resting place in the "City of the
dead" The widows son here breathed
his last, while she mourned his absence
not his death; her letters remained al
the post Office, and she censures him ii
her silent hours of grief for his neglect
But she excuses him on the ground o
youth, and smiles in her widowhood OF
the hope-little dreaming it is but hope
deferred, "melting even i'll the ray ii
which it glitters."
The lover, too, sleeps in death, anc
the maiden, in her far off home, dream,
of joy and hope which can never be
hers. One name among those is writ
ten on memory's tablet, and will only
disappear when the mirrored surface i
broken, and recorded things washet
out by the stream of time, leading, as i
does, down the ocean of oblivion. Th,
name of HUGH REiNAGLE is engraved
on piece of marble in the American
burying- ground, New Orleans-erectet
TO his memory by one who loved hin
living, and mourns him dead. Peac,
TO his ashes
Many blooming cheek has faded
many a bright eye grown dim and lus
treless, many a Joyous heart has fallel
beneath the Upas breath of the icnd o
the South.
What contrast there is between tn,
summer and winter of the South! TIN
first, which in all other climes is all sun
shine and joy TO the young heart, i
there all gloom and sorrow Their
winters are the sunshine and spring o
the year.
| But let us return to the Hospital
The reader must imagine 10 himself
long room, on each side of which, cx
tending the whole length, is a range Q
single beds; on each one, (Which is lre
quently the case during an epidemic,
let him picture a victim lying in all tn
agony of mental and physical suilerin,
let him also imagine the effect of til
disease upon the inmates, which, accor
ding TO their different constitutions, o
the nature of the attack, act in diilcrer
ways. One in the last gasp of deaf
vomits up the dark particles, formed b
modification, and which is terme
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