True Democrat. (Paulding, Miss.) 1845-18??, 1846-09-16

after week it came pouring from the clouds,
till it was like one falling sheet of water,
and the Inhabitants could no longer stir
from their doors. The rich valleys that
lay along the rivers were flooded, and the
peasants had sought the eminences around
for safety. Yet still the water rose round
them, till all through the valley nothing
but little black islands OF human beings
were seen on the surface. Oh, then what
fierce struggles there were for life among
them. The mother lifted her infant above
her head, while she strove to maintain her
uncertain footing in the sweeping waters;
the strong crowded off the weak, as each
sought for the highest point; while the liv-
ing mass slowly crumbed away till the
water swept smooth and noiseIessly above
them all Men were heard talking of
the number of lives lost and the amount
of wealth destroyed, and that such flood
mad not happened in the remembrance of
the Oldest man. No one yet dreamed of
high grounds being covered, least ofall the
mountains. TO drown the world it must
ram till the ocean itself was filled above
its level for miles, and SO men feared ii not,
aud sought for amusement within doors
till the storm should abate. Oh, what
scenes of vice, and shame, and brutality,
and revelry, did that storm witness IN the
lhronged city, and what unhalIowed songs
mingled in the pauses of the blast that
swept by.
But at length another sound was heard
that sent paIeness TO every cheek, and
chained every tongue in mute terror 1t
was a far distant roar faint but fearful, yet
sounding more distinct and ominous every
moment, Till it filled the air. The earth
trembed and groaned under it as if an
earthquake was on its march, and ever and
anon came a crash as ifthe cribs 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 food, the
hoodn-and 10, a new sea, the like of which
no man had ever seen before, came rolling
over the crouchng earth. Stretching from
horizon to horizon, as far rs the eve could
reach, losing itselflk limitleS wall in the
clouds above, it came pouring its green
! and massive waters onward, while the
continu I'd and rapid crash OF falling forests,
and crushed aud 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 onruShing ocean, as city after
city, and kingdom after kingdom diSap-
peared, made scene of terror and horror
inconcevabIe, ndescribabe. "Ihe fouH-
tainS ofhe great deep wcre broken up"
But the last cry of human agony was at
length huShed-ocean met ocean in its
flow, and the waves swept on without
shore. oh, what wreck was there! the
wreck of two thousand years, with its
cities, its cultivated fields, and mighty
population. Not snivered masts and bro
ken limbers, the wreck of some gallant
vessel, were seen on that turbulen surface,
but the fragments of crushed and broken
world! Ii was noble wreck splendid
cities and towers, gorgeous palaces, gay
apparel tho accumulated wealth aud luxu-
~ oftwenty centuries strewing the bosom
of the deIuge, like autumn leaves the sur
face of some forest stream.
But amid the sudden midnight that had
wrapped the earth, and the frenzy Of the
elements and utter overthrow aud chaos of
all things, there was one heart that beat as
calmly as in sleep; for in the solitary ark
that lifted TO the heaving biIIow, the aged
patriarch knelt IN prayer. Amid the surg
ing of the fierce ocean his voice may not
have been heard by mortal ear, but the
light of faith shone around his aged form,
and the moving lip spoke a repose as tran
quill as childhood's Oh the bosom of mater
nal love. Tue patriarch'S God ruled that
wild scene, and Noah ielt his frail vessel
culver in every timber, without one tremor
himself Upborne on the food, the heaven
protected ark roseover the buried cities and
mountains, and hoatcd away on the shore
less deep. Like a single drop Of dew tins
round sphere OF ours hung and iremblrd-
globe Of water IN md heaven. have
often wondered what the conversations
were dunag the long days aud nights that
lone ark was riding on the deep. As II
rose and fell on the long protracled swell,
massive ruins would 20 laundering by,
whole forests sink and rise with the bill
lows while, ever aud anon uptom h.ll, as
borne along By the resislleSs tide it struck
a buried mJnHain, would loom Cor mo-
msnt like some black monster over the
waves then plunge again % the iaihomless
bottom. Amid this wreck aud these sights