The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1847-11-10

| " 'ii''H 'H".c vi our litH rs hand breadth ::
1t Is tale that is told its rapdi'v is like
the swift shuttle or the flying arrow; it is
brIci as the fading flower or the ,ransitorv
rainbow, or the dazzling mc,ior; i, is a
breath All every swing of the pendulum
spirit goes into eternity. Between the
rising and setting sun, for,y-two thousand
souls are summoned before the Creator
Death is very busy: night and day, at all
seasons, i'll all clmcs. True, as we'll rs
beautiful are those lines of Mrs. Hemans
| Leaves have their time to fall,
And flowers to wther at thu north winds breath.
And stars TO sct-but ALL
| Thou hast all Seasons for thine own oh Death,
lie is supplied with boundess variety
oil darts and arrows with which he accom-
pllshes his work. Could all the forms in
which death comes to man be written to-
gcther. what long and fearful catalogue
would it make. Think of the innumcra
! bic number of diseases at the command of
death. And, as though these were not
sufficient: see how man is exposed to fatal
accidents on every hand, and at every mo-
mcnt. 1t was saying Of FIavcl, that
the smallest pore in the body is door
| large enough to let in DEATH" The lcancst
gnat IN the air, says the same writer, may
choke one as IT did Adrian, or the Pope of
! Rome. A little hair in milk may stranplc
one, as ii did u counsellor in Roima A it,
| tie skin OF ii ralscn may stop ones breath,
rs 1t dld the lyric poet Anacreon. A little
ognall on finger recently proved the ave
nue. OF death TO Il physician, who was in the
vigor of life and health. Even the food we
eat to nourish us, and the air we breathe.
! nfn
And though every thing else should fail 10
harm us, we might fall beneath our own
hands: should God permit Il cloud to pass
how near is death What has been
SAID "t the mariner, in respect to his ship,
that "hc always sails within four i. clcs of
death" may be said Of the soul in relation
TO the body. lf,he ship split, then the sail
Or sinks; If our earthly vessel break, the
soul is plunged forever into the shoreless O.
cean OF eternity. Were our senses not be-
numbed and deadencd, we should read a
warning in every scar leaf, and hear an ad-
monltlon i'll every wind that sighs Even
sleep would be mi ghty monitor of death
! an ever present emblem of mortality.
| IEXAS--DERlVATIoM OF THE NAME
The Canlanchcs claim to be the lincal de-
| sccndants Of the empire Of Montcznma,
| and the OH y leg gitima,e owners Of tho whole
Mexican country. The Chiefs say that
when Cortes landed in Mexico, he found
| the country torn TO pieces by internal fac
| tons and WIS enabled, by employing the
disafected chiefs, to raise force to seize
upon their capital. Those chiefs believed
if they could destroy the power of Montczu-
ma, they could easily despatch the Span.
| lard, and have the control of the country
in their own hands. But too late they as
certaincd that they had introduced a harder
master, and that unconditional scrvitndc
was all they had to expect. They were
required 10 change their ancient religion.
and thousands ofthem were sent of to work
in the mines from which they rarely ever
made their escape. A great proportion of
them bowed their necks to the conqueror,
and became serfs and slaves to the Span
iards; but few, the noblest and best, pre-.
fcrred exile to seIvitude, and set out on a
pilgrimage to the north, in hopes to find a
land where they could enjoy their ancient
institutions in peace
They travelled for many weeks, and at
last came to the great river Of the north
the Rio Grandc-where they encamped,
and sent out twenty chosen men 10 examine
the adjacent country. They crossed the
great river, and ascended one ofthe highest
peaks Of the mountain, which overlooked
the adjacent plain. The prairie was cover
ed with buffalo, deer and anteIopes, and they
thought they had reached the happy hunt.
ing ground, and the word "rehas! Tehas!
TehasP' burst from every tongue. 1t was
decided unanimously that it should be their
future home, and that the country should
go by the name apparently furnished them
by the Great Spirit.
Tehas is the Camanchec name for the
residence of the happy spirit in the other
world, where they shall enj5y an eternal
felicity, and have plenty OF deer and buffA-
10 always at hand. BY taking the sound
as they pronounce it, and giving it the Spa
nish or,hography, it gives US the word
"Texas," which is the "happy hunting
ground" or the Elysum," OF the Canaan.