American Republican and Baltimore daily clipper. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1844-1846, 1846-07-21

the workmen engaged upon it laughed as they
drove the nails and hewed the plank, yet de-
clared they cared not as long as the foolish old
man was able to pay. Still the ark went up,
| and the days wonder ceased to he talked about
| When it was finished, and curiosity satisfied, it
was dismissed from the mind as passing folly.
| Yet have sometimes wondered what people
| thought when they saw the beasts of the field
and the forest, and fowls of the air, even the
venomous serpent and the strong-limbed lion
coming in pairs to the ark. This must have
staggered them amazingly, and made the ark
for a while fresh topic of conversation. At
length the patriarch with his family entered
the door was shut in the face of the world, and
he sat down on the strength of single promise
to await the issue. That night the sun went
down over the green hills beautiful as ever, and
the stars came out in the blue sky, and nature
breathed long and peacefully. In the morning
the sun rose in undimmed splendor and mount
ed the heavens. Deep within the huge stTuc
ture, Noah could hear the mufiied sound of life
without The lowing of herds came on his ear
and the song fthe husbandman going to his
toll, and the rapid roll Of carriage wheels as they
hurried past, and perhaps the ribald shout and
laugh of those without, as they expended their
wit on him and his ark together. To say moth
ing of the improbability OF the event, the idea
was preposterous that such a helmess affair
could outrde wrecked world Thus day af-
ter day passed on until week had gone by, but
still the faith of that old man never shook. At
length the sky became overcast, and the gentle
rain dsscended-to Noah the beginning of the
flood, to the world welcome shower. The
farmer as he housed his cattle, reloiced in the
refreshing moisture, while the city never check
ed its gaiety or the man of wealth his plans
But as the rain continued day after day, and
fell faster and iercer on the drenched earth, and
the swollen streams went surging by, men ours
ed the storm that seemed determined never to
break up. The lowlands were deluged; the
streams broke over their banks bearing houses
and cattle away on their maddened bosoms.
Wealth was destroyed and lives lost till men
talked of ruined fortunes, famine and general
desolation; but still it rained on. Week after
week it came pouring from the clouds till it
was like one falling sheet of water, and the in
habitants could no longer stir from their doors.
The rich valleys that lay along the rivers were
flooded, and the peasants had sought the emf
nences around for safety. Yet still the water
rose around them, till all through the valley
nothing but little black islands of human beings
were seen OIL the surface, Oh, then what fierce
struggles there were for life among them. The
mother lifted her infant above her head, while
/
| the sweeping waters; the strong crowded off
the weak as each sought the highest point;
while the living mass slowly crumbed away
till the water swept smooth and noiselessly
! above them all. Men were heard talking of
| the number of lives lost and the amount of
wealth destroyed, and that such flood had not
| happened in the remembrance of the oldest man.
No one yet dreamed of the high grounds being
! covered, least of all the mountains To drown
the world it must rain till the ocean itself was
filled above its level for miles, and so men fear
ed it not, and sought for amusement within
doors till the storm should abate. Oh, what
scenes of vice and shame and brutality and rev.
elry did that storm witness in the thronged city,
and what unhallowed songs mingled in the
pauses of the blast that swept by.
But at length another sound was heard that
sent paleness to every cheek and chained every
tongue in mute terror. 1t was a far distant
roar, faint but fearful, yet sounding more dis
tnct and ominous every moment till it filled
the air. The earth trembled and groaned I'M
der it as if an earthquake was on its march,
and ever and anon came crash as if the ''ribs
of nature" were breaking. Nearer and louder
and more terrible it grew, till men forgetting
alike their pleasure and anger, rushed out in the
storm whispering "The flood! the hood"-and
To- new sea, the like of which no man had
ever seen before, came rolling over the crouch
ing earth. Stretching from horizon 10 horizon,
as far as the eye could reach, losing itself like
limitless wall in the clouds above, it came
pouring its green and ma sive waters onward,
while the continual and rapid crash of falling
forests and crushed cities and uptorn mountains,
| that fell one after another in its passage, and
the successive shrieks that pierced the heavens,
| rising even above the deafening roar of the on
rushing ocean, as city after city, and kingdom
= after kingdom disappeared, made scene Of
f terror and horror inconcevable, ind escribable.
"Ihs fountains Of the great deep Were broken up"
But the last cry. of human agony was at
| length hushed-ocean met ocean in its flow,
r and the waves swept on without shore. Oh,
, what wreck was there! the wreck of ten thou
sand years, with its cities, its cultivated fields
! and mighty population. Not shivered masts
t and broken timbers, the wreck of some gallant
vessel, were seen OIL that turbulent surface, but
f the fragments of crushed and broken world.
t 1t was noble wreek-splendid cities and tow
ers, gorgeous palaces, gay apparel, the accu-
! mulated wealth and luxury of twenty centuries
= strewing the bosom of the deluge, like autumn
: leaves the surface ofsome forest stream.
But amid the sudden midnight that had
: wrapped the earth, and the frenzy of the Gle
. ments and utter overthrow and chaos of all
/ things, there was one heart that beat as calmly
j., as in sleep: one brow over which no breath oil
passion or of fear passed; for in the solitary ark
that lifted to the heaving blow, the aged patri-
e arch knelt in prayer. Amid the surging OF
!. that fierce ocean his voice may not have been
heard by mortal ear, but the light of faith shone
| round his aged form, and the moving lip spoke
e repose as tranquil as chiIdhood's on the bosom
: of maternal love. The patriarch's God ruled
a that wild scene and Noah felt his frail vessel
. culver in every timber, without one tremor
S himself. Upborne on the flood, the heaven-pro'