Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1848-01-07

they sold Marossi to him for an old Jacket
Terrible were the shrieks of mother and child,
when they were torn asundeT. With frantic
energy the poor widowed one tossed her arms
IN the air, and called her youngest and best
beloved, who vainly struggled in the strong
arms of the boor. The desolate child heard
the loud snap of the whip, as they drove her
away, and the sound cut deep into his tortur-
ed soul. That night. as he lay weepinr on
the mud floor of the Dutch cabin, he thought
over the beautiful words of the Morayian
Missionary, and he could not understand
how il was that these men believed in the
same God.
Two wretched years he lived in the Dutch.
mans service, beaten by him, and kicked by
his sons, whenever they drank too much
peach-brandy, or met with any accident that
rufled their tempers. Every seventh dav thew
r~efrained from work, and sometimes n man
came among them who read from a big book.
and talked and prayed. But Marossi herded
with the pigs and the dogs, and no notice was
taken of him. Once he had his ears soundly
boxed for making the dogs bark on a Sunday,
but this was all the religion he was ever
taught; and certainly the fact that dogs might
bark every other day in the week, but that
utiko did not like to have them bark on the
seventh day, was not remarkably well calcu-
lated to enlighten his benighted soul. And
the heart Of the orphan was starving, even
more than his mind. He had not heard the
tones of kindness since his mother was torn
away from him. His only comfort was an
antelope he had tanned, whose mild ewes re-
minded him Of the playmate of his early chill
hood. But the DOORS son took a fancy to the
animals beautiful skin, and swore he would
have it for a jacket. When Marossi claimed
the antelope for his own, and refused TO part
with it, the old Dutchman gave him a fog
ging for his impudence. Under such influ-
enGes, clouds of stupidity of course gathered
fast over the originally bright young soul;
but the strong affections, which were now all
centered on one small animal, could not be
easily stifled. He inwardly vowed that he
would suffer anything, death itself, rather
than SEQ his %favorite companion cut up to
make the young DOORS jacket. So he rose
stealthily at midnight, and ran away with his
beautiful antelope. II was a fearful under
taking for a boy of ten years to 90 forth alone
into the Wilderness, where hyenas laughed
in the darkness, and lions made their lair
But he was less afraid of lions and hyenas,
than OF those Christian men, who whipped
him for claiming his own, as they had whip
ped him for making a noise while the preach
er talked of Utiko, who had sent a great
prophet on earth to proclaim peace and good
will.
The morning light showed stupendous
mountain ridges, the sides of which he eager
ly climbed, TO avoid pursuers. The antelope
was used 10 such rugged passes, and sprang
lightly from rock TO rock, sometimes appa-
rently lost, but always returning to her mas
ter's whistle. From the cliffs above, the ca
giles swooped round him with wild screams,
and in the r%avines below, balloons pelted him
as he passed. The sharp rocks cut his weary
ieet, but he was afraid TO stop long, and ever
and anon he walked through streams of wa
ter, lest the hounds of the Dutchman should
get on his track. About noon, he came along
a billowy chaos of huge precipices, frightful
in their fantastic grandeur, and skirted by
dark, dense forests, through which tramped
great herds of buffaloes and elephants. How
awful was The landscape TO that poor ignorant
boy! Vague ideas Of what his mother said
of Udali the Creator, and what the missiona-
ry taught concerning Utiko, the Beautiful,
fitted through his mind with ghost-like, OPP
p~ressive solemnity. He wondered whether
Udali lived up there among that sea of preci-
pices, and whether Utiko knew that he, the
iriendless child, was traversing those great
mountains all alone. The elephants had sor-
ced a way for him through forests tangled
with interlacing boughs and r~ope-like vines.
Through these deeply-shaded paths, the wea-
ry wanderer came at last in sight of a wide,
dreary plain, where no verdure was. A few
ostrichcs were seen in the distance, and here
and there a tall Secretary-bird stalked awk-
wdrdly about in search OF snakes. No rain
had fallen for some time, and the country was
| so parched that not even the buzz of a wild
bee, or the chirr OF a grass-hopper, broke the
dismal silence. Marossi had a dread of en-
} tering upon this level tract, where no hiding
place Of rocks or thickets, could be found
But from what he had heard the preacher say,
J he judged that a Moravian settlement lay in
that direction, and his heart yearned for the
kind missionary who came to his fathers
hut, and told them of Utiko, the Beautiful,
who filled the whole heavens and earth with
, his love.
AS he travelled on, even the ostriches dis
appeared, and no living creature could be seen,
but myriads Of ants crawling in black streams
; over the ground, or building their numerous
pyramids of clay, on the sides of which, green
and speckled lizards basked in the hot sun
) shine. The little streams that dubbed up in
the mountains were heard no more, and nei-
4 Their roots nor berries could be found. But
t here and there wild water-melons lay on the
. sand, and with them Marossi refreshed him
self and fed his painting antelope. Fortunate
i ly, he could sleep with comparative safety OF
these dreary plains, where there was neithe
food nor drink to allure wild beasts. Day
} passed, and the half famished boy again cam,
h to mountain ridges, without having seen
n single human habitation. He climed tn,
submits eagerly, to search for roots, Will,
IS his antelope browsed on the foliage. Far be
+ low him lay a verdant valley, through whicI
OF flowed a silver stream, fringed with the grace
I'd full willows of Babylon. Flocks of zebra
lie fed in the meadows, their glossy striped coat
he shining in the sun. And there, oh joyfu
ng sight! in a grove Of mimosa trees, on the maj
us nin of the riunr uar n nlnntnr or a.Linnl