Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1847-11-12
MISCELLANEOUS.
The Thinning.
nv John c. wnlrrlru.
Send for the millingtary.'
Moan CI.AYPoLE in Oliver Trust.


What's now in the wind Sounds Of dis
tant music float ut my window on this still
b October air. Hurrying drum-beat, shrill FIFE
tones, wailing busle.notes, and, by way Of
accompaniment, hurras from the urchins on
the crowded side-walksi Here come the cit
izen-soldiers, each martial foot beating up the
mud Of Yesterdays storm, with the slow, reg
ular, up and down movement of an old-fash-
toned churn-dasher. Keeping time with the
feet below, some three score Of plumcd heads
bob solemnly beneath me. Slant sunshine
glitters on polished gun-barrels, and t~inselled
uniform. Gravely and soberly they pass on,
as duly impressed with a sense of the deep
responsibility Of their position as self-consti-
tuied defenders of the worlds last hope-the
United States of America, and possibly Tex
as. They look out with honest, citizen IA
ces, under their leathern vizors, (their feroci-
~ being mostly the work of the tailor and
iinker,) and | doubt not, are at this moment
as innocent Of blood-thiistiness, as yonder
worthy tillcr of Tewksbury hills, who sits
quietly in his wagon, dispensing apples and
turnips, without SO much as giving a glance
at the procession. Probably there is not one
of them who would hesitate TO divide his last
tobacco quid with his worst enemy. Social,
kind-hearted, psalm singing, communicating,
Sabbath-kceping Christians /; and yet, II we
look at the fact of the matter, these very men
have been out the whole afternoon Of this
beautiful day, under Gods holy sunshine, as
busily at work as Satan himself could wish,
in learning how 10 butcher their fellow-crea-
lures. and acquire the true scientific method
Of impaling a poor forlorn Mexican on a bay
onet, or OF sinking a leaden missile into the
brain Of some unfortunate Briton. urged with
in its range by the douSle incentive Of six
pence a day in his pocket, and the cat-o'-nine-
tails on his back! E
Without intending any disparagement Of
my peaceable ancestry for many generations,
/ have still strong suspicious that somewhat
of the old Norman Understanding of the
grim Berseker spirit, has been bequeathed to
me. How else can account for The intense
childish eagerness with which | listened TO
the stories Of old campaigners, who some
times fought their battles over again in my
hearings Why did !, in my young fancy,
go up with Jonathan, the son Of Saul, TO smlte
the garrisoned Philistines Of Michmarsh, or
with the fierce son of Nun against the cities
of Canaanl Why was : Mr.. Greatheart,' in
Pilgrims Progress, my favorite characters
What gave such fascination to the narrative
Of tho grand lIotneric encounter between
Christian and Apollyon in The valley I Why
did | follow Ossian over Morven's battle
fields, ex%ulting in the vulture-screams of the
blind Scald, over his fallen enemies 7 Still
later, why did the newspapers furnish me
with subjects for H~ero-worship in the half
demented Sir Gregor McGregor, and Ypsi-
lanti at the head Of his knavish Greeks |
can account for it only on the supposition
that the mischief was inherited-an heir
loom from the old sea-kings Of the ninth cen
fury.
Education and reflection have indeed since
wrought a change in my feelings. The trum-
pet OF the Cid, or Kiska's drum even, could
not now awaken that old Martial spirit. The
bulldog ferocity of a half intoxicated Anglo
Saxon pushing his blind way against the con-
verging cannon-fre from the shattered walls
of Cindad Rodrigo, commende itself neither
to my reason nor fancy. | now regard the
accounts of the bloody passage of the Bridge
Of Lodi, and of French Curassiers madly
transfixing themselves upon the bayoneis of
Wellington's squares, with very much the
same feeling of horror, and loathing which is
excited by a detail of the exploits OF an In
dian Thug, or those of a mad Malay running
a muck, creese in hand, though the streets Of
Pulo Penang. Your Waterloo and battles OF
the Nile and Baltic, what are they in sober
fact but gladiatorial murder-games on a great
scale-human limitations Of bull-hghts, al
NV SoNoh oi'o ~ Siuhu EhiEudLu dnu wa
ter Of ceremonies! 1t is only when a great
thought incarnates itself in action, desperate.
ly striving to find utterance even in sabre
clash and gun-fre, or, when Truth and Free.
dom, in their mistaken zeal, and distrustful
Of their W powers, put OH battle-harnesses
that can feel any sympathy with merely
physical daring. The brawny butcher-worl
Of men whose wits, like those OF Ajax, lie If
their sinews, and who are $ yoked like draughl
oxen and made to plough up the wars is M
realization Of my ideal of true courage.
Yet ] am not console US of having lost. il
any degree, my early admiration of heroic
achievement. Tit feeling remains, but it ha.
found new and better objects. have learned
to appreciate what Milton calls the martyrs
irresistible might of meekness'-the calm
accomplishing endurance of those who car
bear up against persecution, uncheered by
sympathy or applause, and, with a full and
Keen appreciation OF the value of all which
they are called to sacrifice, confront danger
and death in unselfsh devotion to Duty.-
Fox, preaching through his prison-grates, or
rebuking Oliver Cromwell in the midst of
his Soldier-court; Henry Vane beneath the
axe of the headsman; Mary Dyer on the scaf-
fold at Boston; Luther closing his speech at
Worms with the sublime emphasis of his,
Here stand !; | n OTHERWISE; God
help me" William PENN defending the
rights of Englishmen from the hale dock of
the Fleet Prison; Clarkson climbing the
decks of Liverpool slave-ships, Howard PEN
stratlng to infected dungeons; meek sisters
OF Charity breathing contagion in thronged
hospital-all these, and such as these, now
help me to form the lofty ideal Of CHRISTIAN
HERoIsM. f - y -1GL Fir b
Blind Milton approaches nearly to my con-
cepuon Of a true hero. What a picture have
we Of that sublime old man, as sick. poor
i blind, and abandoned of friends, he sill held
fast his heroic integrity, rebuking with his
unbending republicanism the treachery, COW,
ardice and seryility Of his old associate He
had outliyed the hopes and beatifc yisions o
his youth he had seen the loud-mouthed ad
~vocates of liberty throwing down' a nations
, freedom at the feet of the shameless, debauch
> ed and PICTURED Charles the Second, crouch
ing 10 the harlot thEonged court of the tyrant
and foreswearings at Gree their religion anc
Z thar KrnuhlOa Rfgrn IT, 49,