Carroll free press. [volume] (Carrollton [Ohio]) 1834-1861, 1842-11-18
CAIN.
BY J. ToMLIN.

thai prompted MIN 10 Ine commission OF
that vile deed, which sickens the very
heart in thinking on il. He must have
had a natural love of blood, TO have i'm
bued his unpractised hand with a STAN
that nothing could wash away! He
could not have been prompted TO the
commission oflhe deed from any thing
he had Witnessed on the earth; for the
first epoch Of crime was made in the
death OF his brother, aud the recording
Annalist shuddered for the first time as
he took note Of it How deeply pene.
trating 10 the heart must have been that
sorrow when he saw bis brother expir.
ing in the cold dews OF dea!h-that
death of which he heard so much, but Of
which, until now, he had known moth
ing. How poignant must have been
his grief-how inconsoIable his agony ?
When The young morning arose in
bushes from her eastern couch, the two
brothers were al play on the banks Of
the Euphrates. The chrystal waters
gurgled along beneath their canopy of
e~ntangled vines, and the birds we're ca.
rolling among their balmy branches.
Nothing could have been more lovely
than the sky, and nothing sweeter than
the hushed silence Of The hour, disturb
ed only by the hum Of birds, and the
murmur Of waters. By the rivers
brink the brothers. played, and from the
glossy wave their faces we're reflected.
The fawn tripped lightly on the dewy
grass, but stirred not the twigs beneath
lis feet. The brothers looked into each
others eyes and were happy. They
discoursed but little by words. Their
~eloquence consisted more in looks than
in any thing else. They had but little
knowledge. They could not have had
much, for experience is the ource from
whence ii is derived. Simple as they
were, they were not less simple than
they were happy. Oppression had not
bound them down in iron chains, nor
wreathed around them its folds Of un
pitying links! The sorrows Of years
= had not accumulated a grieftoo poignant
for life. Some sorrow they had had
and they had been borne with manly
iortilude. Something had whispered in
their ears that their parents had don g
wrong; but Of its import they knew
nothing. They did not understand what
had been the cause Of their error, nor
did they know why there had been a
disturbance between the God Of their
being and them. They only knew that
far back in the by gone days Of their
parents history, something had been
done by them, that had not received
the sanction OF the Great God above.
They had some vague recollection Of
their mother telling them that there
was a time when SIN was not. But oil
the meaning of the word they had no
definite idea. While they were yet
young, their mother bad impaired to
them a tradition Of a time when the
earth yielded her fruit spontaneously
when the summer winds we're cool and
refreshing, and there was no winter on
the earth! A perennial spring crown
ed the Ii%ve.Iong days with dladems Of
flowers, and the birds chirped the music
of the earth. No winds Of icy GOODNESS
swept along their pathway 10 freeze
their blood! All was a day Of one re
Ireshing sunshine On the face oil the
earth,
As the brothers, Cain and Abel, play.
ed on the banks Of the young Euphrat
es, they looked into each others face
and smiled. They had been together
from their youth to that present hour
and together they had lived as brothers
No strifes had been between them-nt
ieuds that had made them enemies
Side by side they had slept on the flow
ers OF the earth, and on each Others
breasts often had they %pillowed theiI
heads! As the sun assembled the skie,
10 the noon Of the day, the younge
brother reared on the brink oflhe rive
nm altar for sacrifice,
What dost lhouf' asked Cain OF hi
brother.
u am Offering IN sacTlhce a lamb I
my Godr replied Abel, meekly.
AHWhy dosI thou do itF
He has commanded me 10 do it, bro
therr
what were his reasonsT
Il know not bruther-but he said
should do it!
'And thou hast o6eyed himH'
u have.
'Dosl the God which thou worship
pes, delight in bloodr
Thou shouldest not, my brother
speak thus!
Does The bleeding victim which tho
givest iu offering, sPPease his ven