Democratic banner., 1848-05-22

ell SpISC III wv bo"H RlOS-SuOD' huu
such was the death of one who might now
have been the eloquent advocate, the warm
hearted friend and the happy man; as if
death were not sufficiently dreadful under
ordinary circumstances, but must derive
some additional horrors from self infection.
. Such are the victims of the fell destroy
er-the generous and the gifted. Is it not
so? Look around you. Which of your
friends is it that is destroyed? Alas! alas
tits !hose you priced the most. How often
have | heard it lamented that the other
wise good and useful are incorporate. 1t
may be that many are led astray by the in
flurnce Of appetite. But many. many 9th
ers are first influenced by other circumstan-
ces, till yielding to the habit they become
the mere creatures of appetite, the slaves
of sensual and beaStly desire. 0! what a
prostitution of a noble nature! And yet
how many exalted by their Maker have
thus cast themselves down, and now
ITO bcgglrly vile a~ppetites descend;
Ask aims OF earth for guests that came from
heaven:
Sink into slaves; and sell for present hire
Their rich reversion, and what shares its fate J
Their native freedom to the prince who sways
This neither world. And when his payments
fail,
When his foul basket gorges them no more,
Or their pllled palates loathe the basket full,
are instantly with wild dcmoniae rage
For breaking all the chains of Providence;
And bursting their confinement, tho fast bard
BY laws divine and human guarded strong
With horrors doubled to defend the pass,
The blacklist nature or dire guilt can raise
AMI moated round with fathomlcSs destruc-
ton.
Sure to receive and whelm them in their fall
4 Sen>ui! unrcflecting life is big
With INDUSTRIOUS births and suicide to crown
TIE black internal brood"
Such is the ruin it has wrought. And
more, | have seen the inmate of the poor
house whose bloated cheek and abiect look
tell plainly the cause of his d~esti.ution.
have seer in tbs house Of guilt the mar
of noble bearing, and he was melancholy
and wretched more than his fellows. Why
is he there? His brain was maddened BY
the hot furies of the wine-cup, and for a
.fancied injury he had slain his fellow, his
friend. And his sentence, and his degrade
ton and shame are not the worst If his pun.
iShment, for his heart is a noble one, and
sensitive to the touch Of guilt. He feels
blood upon his conscience.
And still with all these fearful consequent
ccs before his mind the votary Of Bacchus
shuts his eyes and rushes on in the same
track.
Il heard him curse his " misery, while he
tugged the chains that CALLED him;
For we'll had experience declared the Litter.
ness of guilty pleasure,
But habit with its iron net Involved him in IFS
folds.
Behind him lowered the thunderstorm, which
the caldron ofhis wickedness had brewed;
Before him was the smooth steep cliff whose
base is ruin and despair.
Lo he mAdly rushed on and tried TO forget his
being:
The noisy revel and the LOW debauch, and
finer excitement of play,
With dreary interchange of palling pleasures,
filled the dull round of his existence:
Memory was to him as a foe, SO he flew ior
false solace TO his wine-cup,
And stunned hi, enemy at even, but she rent
him as a giant in the morning"
But the guilty are not the only sufferers
have seen the widow whose face wa:
wan with weeping and care and wo. She
was the child of luxury and every though
had been happy and every feeling joy til
he whose fate was linked to hers became
sot, squandered her all, misused her in hel
misfortune, and dying left her to starve will
the children God had given her.
And | have seen the mother whose fonC
anticipations of solace in a beloved sol
were all blasted. And what q bereavement
was hers! 1t was a fearful calamity wheI
the dreaded consumption tore the favorit'
son from the family embrace. See thu
mother with all the gushing fountain of
mothers love follow him to the very gate Il
baptize him with her tears and bestow up
on him her last caresses. As long as thu
agitated air can reach his ear it brings thu
echo of her blessing upon him. He goe
into the hot strife Of battle, and there HI
falls. Oh! there is wailing in the home h,
left, there is grief in the reft mothers heart
But listen to her tale Of lamentations
With what pride she dwells upon ever.
generous trait of his character. How ex
UUItingly she speaks of his deeds of daring
upon the sanguinary plain. He is gone
but he fell doing battle in his country
-- II H. -.