American Republican and Baltimore daily clipper. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1844-1846, 1845-06-27
ffrOm the ChanbersbFg Wing
SUICIDE.

How much of an every dey occurrence has
suicide become $50 commsn a thing tina it
almost ceases to- excite moments attention,
unless 1t be with one who has occupied q, aos-
ton OF some prominence III society. And yet,
IS there not something in every event of the
kind trumpet-tcned in its address to the Under
standing and Heart, willing to think or capable
OF feeling! What a startling glance does it not
give into those barred and sealed prisons of the
bosom where the passions and emotions of the
hrmansou hold their mysterious ccnclave =
where the hydra-headeG demon Of Evi, rears
his trightful crest, and with eyes of malignant
glare, tongue torked and dripping with venom
end tangs ard claws th:rsting for havoc, meets
the Spirit of Good, ma, este as him who stood
one foot upon dry land and one upon the sea,
armed every point, serene, undismayed be-
nignant, calm and glorious as utIStained crea-
ton its morning in.ancy, when the Father
looked upon it and smiled. Yes, whoa man
falls by his own hand-dares to sever the brit
tie thread that holds him on this side scf eterni-
ty, and uncalled, unb:dden, madly leaps head
long into the yawnimg gulph, d0wr-down-
down through all its depths of dread mystery,
what does he not tell US by the act? stTired of
llte.'' ah! who has not at one time or other,
been tired" OF this precious gift, when the spi
rit of Evil obtainedsa temporary advantage =
But is THIS reason for an instant surrender of
the battlefield TO the legions Of perd.ton?-is
this a reason fog -efusing TO kearken to the
calls of the Spirit Of Good to t'leok az, to es-
cape to her mountain and repese in security
under the ample folds of her banner of love,
and exclaiming tG Hope, begone forever, and
to Despair, be thou my portion! And yet
strange, incomprehensible IS seems TO be the
impelling cause to the commission of self muir
n ,l..l 4
his own hearts prlsatons TO cease, "he died as
foot deth." Oh Move think of what he
has .jei-what he has suffered? Five knew him,
we drop tear to his memory-if a.stranger,
we leave him, alh-e unjudged and uncondemn-
ed by a fellow worm, to him who holds an
even balance in assigning to al their proper
destiny. q
With William Van Buskrk we were once
well acquainted--we were not his companion,
for he was some ten years our senior, and he
moved in a higher circle-b9t stl as,we walk
ed with our associates, we often met Elm with
Mcmahon, Howard, Golf, or Others of his
we met him in the various channels of every
day intercourse and when we parted, to meet
no more, he, as well as Mcmahon anG the rest
of them, were among those who had kind
"good bye" for as, and their names have never
bubbled up from the common current and met
oGl eye Ill ttsS PuollC heNtSdpefS, WltHoul
causing a chord in our "attacRment" to thrill
to the notes of "auld lang syne," But this
last!-BUsKIRK! thou who didst plead the cause
of Others, coulast thou not plead thine own
and before Judge not fallble and -erring as
they who wear the ermine in earthly courts,
but one whose eye searches the seore. cham
bers OF the heart, in whose ear the gy9an is
language requiring no interpreter, and whose
compassion is moved by sigh. Is this the
summing up of thy testimony to the. value of
half century of existence2-the sad postscript
to the journal of thy weary Pilgrmagag
emphatic, the eTytnSon "finis'' upon the last
page of the volume of thy ended works But
thou wilt not answer. With thee, life's ftfu
fever is over, and thou sleepest drearlless,
wakeless sleep.
There is yet thought in this connection
which we must indulge. How should not
such an occurrence as we have referred tc, ex-
cite the gratitude of every mind, whose "elay
tenement" is free from The Promethean fire
and insatiate vulture kinded and generated by
intempermece! Does it not speak as in the
combined voices of arch-angel, seraph and &C.
raphim, with the gibberng of tiends and the
weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth
of lost spirits, mingled in terrific tones OF
acerRing! Those who can walk forth upon the
green earth, 'clotheG and in their right minds"
even though bearing but feeble and faint YES
tige of the strength and beauty that once
graeed the inhabtants of Eden-whose eyes
can grasp the loveliness and whose ears are
open to the melody Of nature, what do they
not owe to the gver of it ALTO Him who
has made them to differ from Others!