Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1847-02-25

Excuse me, sir, replied his companion,
with some embarrassment, must trouble
you to explain yourself yet further
The nobleman repeated the information
in still palmer terms.
L am still at loss to comprehend you
perfectly said the stranger, turning deadly
pale. This must relate to something of
which was not only totally ignorant in my
own world but of which / have, as yet, had
no intimation in yours. / pray you, there
fore, to satisfy my curiosity-for if have
any clue to your meaning, this, surely, is
matter Of more mighty concernment than a.
ny to which you have hitherto directed me-
My good friend, replied the nobleman,
you must be, indeed, novice amongst us,
if you have yet to learn, that we must all,
sooner or later, submit to take our places in
these dismal abodes nor will | deny that it
is one of the least desirable of the circum-
stances which appertain to our condition;
for which reason it is matter rarely refer
red to in polite society, and this accounts for
your being hitherto uniformed on the SUBJ
ject. But truly, sir, if the inhabitants of
the place whence you came are not liable to
any similar misfortune, | advise you to betake
yourself back again with all speed; for be
guaranty your safety for a single hour
Alas p replied the adventurer-'I must
submit to the conditions of my enterprise,
of which, till now, little understood the
import. But explain to me, | beseech you,
something more of the nature and conse-
quences of this wondrous metamorphosis,
and tell me at what period it commonly hap
pens to man.
While he thus spoke, his voice faltered,
and his whole frame shook violently; his
countenance was pale as death, and cold
dew stood in large drops upon his forehead.
By this time, his companion, finding the
discourse becoming more serious than was
agreeable, declared that he must refer him
to the priests for further information this
subject being very much out of his province.
How = exclaimed the stranger then /
cannot have understood 700 do the priests
only die ARE you not to die also 2
His friend evading these questions, hasti-
ly conducted his importunate companion to
one of their magnificent temples, where he
gladly consigned him to the instructions of
the priesthood
The emotion which the stranger had be-
trayed when he received the first idea of
death, was yet slight in comparison with that
which he experienced as soon as he gather
ed from the discourses of the priests some
notion of immortality; and of the aterna-
tive of happiness or misery in future state.
But this agony of mind was exchanged for
transport, when he learned, that by the per-
Torrance of certain conditions before death,
the state of happiness might be secured;
his eagerness to learn the nature of these
cd tbo md bo
tempt of his sacred teachers. They advised
him to remain satisfied for the present with
the instructions he had received, and to de-
fer the remainder of the discussion till the
morrow.
Howl exclaimed the novice, say you
not that death may come at any hour may
it not then come this hour ?-and what if it
should come before | have performste these
conditions Oh withhold not this' excel
lent knowledge. from me single m6pcntp
The priests, suppressing a smile at his
simplicity, then proceeded to explain their
theology to their attentive auditor but who
shall describe the ecstacy of his happiness
when he was given to understand, that the
required conditions were, generally, of easy
and pleasant performance; and that the oc-
casional difficulties or inconveniences which
might attend them, would entirely cease.
with the short term of his earthly existence.
If then, l understand you rightly, said he
to his instructors, this event, which you call
death, and which seems in itself strangely
terrible, is desirable and blissful. What a
favor is this which is granted to me-. in be-
ing sent to inhabt planet in which can
die ? The priests again exchanged smiles
with each other; but their ridicule was
wholly lost on the enraptured stranger
When the first transports of his emotion
had subsidized, he began to reflect with sore
uneasiness, on the time he had already lost
since his arrival.
Alas! what have done exclaimed he.
This gold which l have been collecting,
tell me, reverend priests, will it avail me-
any thing when the thirty or forty years are
expired, which, you say, may possibly So
journ in your planet 2
Nay replied the priests, but verify YOU
will find it of excellent use so long as you
remain in it,
A very little of it shall suffice me- re-
piled he & for consider, how soon this peri
cd will be past what avails it what my con-
dition may be for so short season: will
betake myself from this hour to the grand
/ oohSoiho vi "hASh you h"NO Shoii'uDil III
formed me-
Accordingly from that period, continues
the legend, the stranger devoted himself to
the performance of those conditions, on
which, he was told, his future welfare de-
pended; but in so doing, he had an oppo-
sition to encounter wholly unexpected, and
for which he was even at loss to account
BY thus devoting his chief attention to his
chief interests, he excited the surprise, the
contempt, and even the enmity of most of
the inhabitants of the city; and they rarely
mentioned him but with term of reproach,
which has been variously rendered in all the
modern languages.
Nothing could equal the strangers sur
prise at this circumstance as well as that
of his fellow-citizens appearing, generally,
so extremely Indifferent as they did to their
own interests. That they should have so
little prudence and fore-thought as to pro-
vide only for their necessities and pleasures
for that short part of their existence IN
which they were to remain in this planet,
he could consider only as the effect of dis
ordered intellect; so that he ever returned
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