Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1846-09-16
Life and its Rapid Disappearance.

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" Said Z friend IA me- Inc other dsy You
speak 81 autumn Is cheerful, and awaken.
ing only cheerful emotions. Do you not
think it was designed to teach us our own
uncertain existence? 1t is said, by way of
instruction flesh is grass, and all the
goodness thereof as the flower ofthe field. ,"
Struck with his manner, and moro than all |
with the hue of consumption in his face, |
turned away musing upon his words Poor
fellow, he saw in the dying year about him
symbol of himself, and he felt that decay
in any form could not be cheerful.
A few days after this encounter was in
the country again, and strolling through the
forest, his words rang in my ear like a
knell, GAIL flesh is grass and as / walked
along, the rustling Of leaves to my tread,
and their silent descent one after another
from the branches, the dropping of the
herbage, and the desolateness Of the sur
rounding scenery, reminded me that nature
had undergone remarkable change since
/ last looked on her beauties. As | gazed
off upon the fields short time ago crowned
with verdure and waving with plenty, now
a barren waste: as saw the flower fallen
before the blast, and the herbage withering
before the frost, | seemed to hear the voice.
ofmy friend whispering in my ear--"All
flesh is grass, and the goodness thereof as
the flower of the field" looked and
listened, and asI heard the moving of
heavy enginery below meas the sound
arose on the dull air--the rattling Of wheels
passing rapidly along the highway-and
saw the workmen going to their shops, and
the farmer toiling in the field, thought that
voice was an erring one. | saw nature
dying and knew that winter would soon
wrap her in her funeral shroud, but the
d strong and moving multitude about me
could not be thus passing away. And YET
those words were more than human words,
and the lips that first uttered them did MOI
Ierr. Iistrue, "All flesh is grass. There
is no difference. The blast of death that
sweeps the field Of this fair world shows no
distinctions Of rank, wealth or intellect, but
laying the human family in one common
grave, sings above them one common
requiem, call flesh is grass" Where are
Adam and Eve i? Their ashes sleep upon
our earth, but they have no tombstone and
no epitaph. Where are Noah, Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob, and all the patriarchs F.
Their bones repose on the fields they once
trod, but heir graves have disappeared:
The voices Of Isaiah and Elijah and David
have passed from the earth like dying
echo King David has no tombstone and
Solomon no monument. They have all
passed away, together with the armies they
led and the people they ruled; for the goodh-
ness thereof is as the flower of the field
Where once stood gorgeous palaces, herds
men now stable their cattle Even the
sacred temple has vanished away. Where
the high priests ministered at the alter, the
owl now boots to his fellow, and where
dwelt the holy Shechinah Of God, the Arab
fastens his steed. The lion has almost
"made his lair in the scpulchre of,he Saw
our" Cities, where formerly the poor
struggled for subsistence, where all was
, anxiety at the fluctuations Of the markets
. and rise and fall of friends and rivals, anc
men walked in the pride Of power, now lie
desolate without an inhabitant. As the
, waves break in succession on the shore and
die away on the bosom Of the deep, SO do
! the generations of men dash on the shore ol
time, murmur and foam moment, ndther
: retire silently, darkly, into the bosom Of the
< unknown deep. The earth is one mighty
$ burial-place, with the ruins Of cities ant
!, temples as monuments.
> When under the cloud Of life's agitation
we look on the earth, our existence appears
long; the work to be accomplished immea
surably great our sufferings and our Joy
% infinitely important. Thrones are reared
n empires founded, governments organized
battles fought and won, seas traverset
7 planets weighed, and the measuring-lin
thrown over the stars by man in his brit
E. life. Yet what are we oil /? Carlyle, j
>! his strange yet earnest language, answers
n .We are spirits shaped into body. Me
It startle at ghosts we are all ghosts, soon
]. vanish like thin air. Nearly thousar
,r millions Of these visible ghosts walk u
n earth at monday and ! might add, tens
I thousands will vanish before the sun shs
" sink in the west. aThese limbs, what .
Il they; whence their fire and force? VIII
Of this life-blood, with its burning passionsY-
70 Dust and shadow 2 That war horse trea'
le the earth proudly--6re in his eye aI
w strength in his limbs. But warrior q.
m war-horse are a vision. They tread Y
earth as if ii too were firm subsistence. 2
the earth is a film. 1t cracks in TWAIN
40 warrior and was-horse sink beyond plur
sii NETS sounding.n Thus i has ever PEE
ys. &c generation after generation takes to ltss
"a tho form OF body and forth.rushing
M Heavens mission, appears. What Tor
and thought in each he expends. q