Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1846-09-04

I'LL the Hood came and swept them all away"
that We can got any data by which We can
form any true conception OF the catastrophe.
Yet this statement is worth every thing, aud
with it before me, | have sometimes thought
! could paint the scene. Noah, whose head
was whilened by the irosts of six centuries.
laid the foundation Of this huge vessel on a
pleasant day, when all was serene and tran
gull. The fields were smiling in verdure
before his eyes; the perfuIped breezes hoated
by, and the music Of birds and sounds of busy
life were about him, when he, by faith alone,
laid the first beam of that structure that was
to sail over a buried planet. When men, on
inluir,ng the design OF that hugo ediice,
were told Its purpose they could hardly cred
ltiheir senses, and Noah, though accounted
by all a very upright and respectable man,
became a jest for children. As the farmer
returned at evening from the fields, and the
gay citizen OF the town drove past, they
christcned it "Noah's Folly" Those more
aged shook their heads wisely, saying, ''the
old man is mad" Even the workmen upon
it laughed a3 they drove the nails and hewed
the plank, yet declared they cared not SO
long 40 the foolish old man was able to paw.
Still tho ark went up, and the days w,ndcr
ceased to be talked about. When It Was fin
ished and curiosity satisfied, it was dismiss
ed from tleli minds as Il passing fclly.
Yet l have sometimes wondered what peo-
pie thought when they saw the beasts of tho
field and forest, and the fowls of the air; and
even the venomous serpent, and the strong
llmbed lion coming III pairs to the ark
This must have staggered them amazingly,
and made the ark for a while a 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 tho
faith of a single promise to wait the issue.-
That night lhe went down over the green
hills as beautiful as ever, and the stars came
out in tie blue sky, and nature breathed long
and peacefully. In the morning the sun .oso
with undimmed splendor and mounted the
heavens. Deep within the huge structure,
Noah could hear the mufled sound of life
without. The lowing Of herds came 10 his
car, and the song Of the husbandman going
TO his toll, and The rapid roll of carriage
wheels rolling past, and perhaps the ribald
shout aud laugh Of those without, as they
expended their wit on him aud his ark t.
geiher. To say nothing OF the improbability
Of the event; the idea was preposterous that
such a helmless affair could outride a wrecked
world. Thus day after day passed on until
a week had gone by, but still the faith of
that old MN never shook. At length the
sky became overcast, and a gentle rain de-
scended-to Noah thu beginning Of the food,
10 the world a welcome shower. The far
mer, as ha housed his cattle, reioiced in the
refreshing moisture, while the city never
checked It's galety, 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 SURFING
by, men cursed the storm that seemed deter
mined never to break up. The lowlands
were dcluged the streams broke over the
banks bearing houses and cattle away on their
maddened bosoms. Wealth was DESTROYED
and lives lost, ill men talked of ruined for
tunes. famine, and general desoldiion; but
still it rained on. Week after week it came
pouring from the clouds, till it was like ono
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 en-
inences around for safety, Yet still The wa
Ter rose round them, till all through the val
ley nothing but little black islands of human
beings were seen on the surface. Oh, then,
what fierce struggles for life there were
among them. The mother lifted her infant
above her head, while she strove to maintain
her uncertain footing in the sweeping waters;
Nih SNAcl'E W Ol lAb hGdh. d. each
sought for tho highest point; while the living
mass slowly crumbled away till the water
swept smooth and noiselessly above them
oil. Men were heard talking Of the number
OF lives lost and the amount of wealth de-
stFoyed, and that such a food had not hap
penod within the remembrance of the Oldest
man. No one yet dreamed of the high
grounds being covered, least of all tho noun
talns. To drown the world it must rain till
the ocean itself was filed above its level for
miles, and so men feared it not, and sought
for amusement within doors till the storm
should abate. Oh, what scenes of vice, and
shame, and brutality, and %rovelry, did that
storm witness in the t~hrcnged CITY, and what
unhallowed songs mingled in the pauses Of
the blast as it lurricl by.
But at length another sonnd was heard
that sent p~aleness to the cheek, and chained
every tongue in mute terror. IL was a far
distant roar, faint but fearful, yet sounding
more distinct and ominous every moment, till
il filed the air. The Garth lrembled and
gToaned under it as if an earthquake was on
its march, and ever and anon came a crash
as It the cribs Of nature" were hr~eaking.--
Nearer, and louder, and more terrible il grew,
till man, forgetting alike their pleasure and
anger, rushed out in the storm whispering,
"Ihe Hood, the nood"-and 10, IA new sea,
tho like OF which no mar had ever seen be-
fore. came rolling over the crouchinr earth.
Stretching from horizon to horizon, as far as
the eye could reach, losing itself like a lin
illess wall in the clouds above, it came pour
ing Its green and massive waters onward,
while the continued and rapid crash of fall
Jag forests, and crushed and uptorn noun
tains, that fell one after another in its pas
sage, and the successive shrieks that pierced
the heavens, rising even above the dealening
roar Of the onruslIing ocean, as city after city,
and kingdom after kingdom disappeared,
made a scene Of terror and horror inconcriv-
able, indescribable. ''The fountains OF the
great deep Were broken up"
But the last cry Ct human agony was at
length heard-ocean met ocean in its flow,
and the waves swept on without a Shore
Oh, what a wreck was there the wreck Of
two thousand years, with its cities, its cult
waited fields, and mighty population. Not
shivered masts and broken timbors, the wreck
Of some gallant vessel, were seen on that