Jeffersonian Republican. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1840-1853, 1847-09-02
Drowning.

The following is from letter by Admiral
| BEAUFORT 10 DR.. WALLAsToN, in the Memoirs
of Sir JOHN BARROW, jus, Published in Lon
don: .i...i
| MANY years ago, when was youngs,er
on board one Of his Majesty's ships, in Ports
mouth harbor, after scung abou. in very
small boat was endeavoring TO lasien her
alongside the ship 10 one of The scu,tle-rlngs );
in foolish eagerness stepped upon the gun
vale, the boa, OF course upset, and fell into
the water, and not knowing how TO swim, all
my efforts 10 lay hold either Of the boat or Of
the floating sculls were fruitless. The trans
action had not been observed by the sen'lnel
on the gangway, and therefore 1t was not I'LL
The Tide had dnfed me some distance astern oil
The ship that man in the forelop saw me
splashing in the waler, and gave the alarm
The first lieut., Instantly and gallanlly jumped
overheard, The carpenter followed his example,
and the gunner has,ened into a boat and pulled
after them. rN -,
"With The violent bu, vain attempts TO make
myself heard had swallowed much. water;
was soon exhausted by my struggles, aud before
any relief reached me | had sunk below the
surface all hope had fled, all cxeron ceased,
and felt ,ha, was drowning.
I" So far these facts were either partially re-
membered after my recovery, or supplied by
those who had lauerly Witnessed the scene;
for during an interval Of such agitation drown
ing person is too much occupied in catching al
every passing straw or too much absorbed by
alternate hope and despair, to mark the success
sion of events very accurately. Not SO, how
ever, with the facts which Immediately ensued
my mind had then undergone The sudden revo-
luton which appeared TO you so remarkable j;
and all the circumstances of hlch are now as
viyidly fresh in my memory as if they had oc-
cured but yesterday.
From The moment that all exertion had
ceased-which | imagine was the Immediate
cons equence of. complete sufocation-a calm
feeling of the most perfect tranquility superse-
ded the previous iumutuous sensatlOns-ll
might be called apathy, certainly not resignation,
for drowning no longer appeared 20 be an evil
no longer thought of berng rescued, nor was
in any bodily pain. On the contrary, my
sensations were now Of rather a pleasurabe
cast, partaking of that dull but contended sort
of feeling which precedes the sleep produced
by fatigue. Though he senses were thus dead
| ened, not so the mind lis activity seemed to
be invigorated, in a ratio which dehes all de-
scripuon-for thought rose after thought with
rapldity of succession that is not only indescrl-
babe, but probably nconcelvable, by any one
who has not himself been in similar situation.
The course. Of those thoughts can even now
| in great measure re,race--the event which
had just taken place-,he awkwardness that
had produced 1.-THE buslle it must have occa-
stoned (for had observed 2 persons jump from
the chains)-the effect it would have on a most
affectiona,e father the manner in which he
| Il n IN tho oG n fsml!V-aDu
thousand other circumstances minuiely assocla-
ted with home, were the frs, series of reflections
that occurred. They took then a wider range
our last cruise--a former voyage, and ship
wreck-my school--,he progress had made
there, and the time had misspent- land even
all my boyish pursuits and adventures. Thus
travelling backwards. every passed incident OF
my life seemed 10 glance across my recollee-
lion in retrograde succession not, however. In
mere outline, as here stated, but the picture
filled up with every minute and collateral lea
lure in short, the whole period OF my exls-
ence seemed to be placed before me IN a kind
of panoramic review, and each act OF 1t seemed
10 be accompanied by consciousness OF right
or wrong, or by some reflection on its cause or
its consequences indeed, many lrifing events
which had been long forgotten then crowded
. INTO my ina gina,ion, and with the character OF
recent familiarity.
May not this be some indication of the al
mos. infinite power Of memory with which we
may awaken in another world and thus be COM
PEELED to contemplate our past lives! Or might
it no. in some degree warrant the Inference that
death is only change or modification oil our
existence, in which there is no real pause OF
interruption But, however that may be. one
circumstance was highly remarkable; that the
innumerable ideas which flashed inio my mind
were all retrospective yet had been religi.
ously brough, up; my hopes aud fears of the
next world had los. nothing OF their early
strength, and a, any other period intense inter
est and awful anxiety would have been excited
by the mere probability that was on The 'hres-
hold Of eternity, ys, at that inexpicable mo-
ment. when | had full conviction that had
already crossed that Threshold not single
thought wandered into The future--.l was wrapi
entirely in the past.
"The length of tine that was occupied by
this deluge of ideas, or rather the shorlness of
time into hich they were condensed. cannot
now state with precision, ye certainly Two