Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1848-07-21

Some eighteen years ago, when lived IN
the dream-land of romantic youth, and thought
nothing of slavery, or any other evils that IN
fest the social system, an intelligent young
lady from The South told an adventure which
made a strong impression upon my imagina'
ton. She was travelling with her brotherin
the interior of eastern Virginia. Marks OF
diminishing prosperity everywhere met their
view. One day they entered upon q region
which seemed entirely deserted. Here ana
there some elegant Villa indicated the former
presence of wealth piazzas had fallen' and
front doors had either dropped, or hung sus-
pended upon one hinge. Here and there a
stray garden-hower peeped forth amid the
~chUaking wilderness of weeds, and vines once
carefully trained on %lattices, spread over the
ground in tangled confusion. Nothing dis
turbed the silence, save the twiiering of some
startled bird, or the boot and scream OF gloo-
my wood creatures, scared by the unusual
noise of travellers.
AT last, they came TO a church, through
the roof of which a tree, rooted in the central
aisle beneath, sent up its veTdant branches
into the sunlight above. Leaving their horse
TO browse on the grass-grown road, they pass
ed into the building TO examine the Interior.
Their entrance startled innUmerabie birds and
bats. which few ciTcling around iheir heads,
and through broken windows. The pews
had coats-of-arms blazoned on the door-pan-
nels; but birds had built their nests in the
corners, and grass had grown up through The
chinks OF the floor. The handsome trimmings
of the phlpit were so covered with dust, as
to leave the original color extremely doubt
ful. On the cushion lay a gilt edged Bible,
still open, probably at the place where rell-
gious lessons had last been read.
have before my minds eye a vivid picture
of that lonely church, standing in the silence
of the forest. In some moods OF mind how
pleasant it would be TO spend the Sabbath
there alone, listening 10 the insects singing
their prayers, or to the p~laintive voice of the
ring-dove, coming up from the Utmost heart
T of the shaded forest,
! Whose deep, low note, is like the gentle
wife,
, A poor, a ~pensive, we, a happy one
Stealing, when daylights common tasks are
! done,
An hour for mothers work and singing low,
E While her tired husband and her children
sleep"
In the stiffness of Nature there Is ever
something sacred for she Pleadeth tenderly
with the man that he will live no more at dis
cord with her; and, like the eloquent dumb
boy, she ever c~arryeth great names for God
in her heart"
''Neath clustered boughs, each floral bell
that swingeth;
n And tolls its perfume on the passing air,
$ Makes Sabbaths in the fields; and ever ring
. eth
II A call to prayer"
] can never forget that adventure in The
wilderness. There is something sadly i'm
d pressive in such complete desolation, where
life hoe npch haep huSu and nay-and "a feFo
rs human pride has inscribed IFS transient histo-
n ny with the Wondering insignia of rank and
rs wealth.
e. The rapid ruin and the nnbroken stiffness
ht seemed so much like a work of enchantment,
2, that the travellers named the place, The Ham
let of the Seven Sleepers. AT the next in
habited village. they obtained a brief outline
y of its history. 1t had been originally settled
by wealthy families with large plantations
o and numerous slaves. They were Virginia
e gentlemen of the olden school, and would
have felt themselves disgraced by the modern
business Of breeding slaves for market. In
e fact, strong family pride made them extreme
: ly averse to selling any slaves that had be-
S longed TO their ancestors. So the slaves mol
I tiplied on their hands, and it soon took "all
. their corn to feed their hogs, and all their
t hogs to feed their negroes" Matters grew
S worse ard worse in these old families. The
. strong soil was al last exhausted by the mis-
. cradle system of slavery, and would no long
. er yield its increase. What could these arIs-
~tocratic gentlemen do for their sons, under
. such circumstances Plantations must be
/. purchased for them in the far Southwest; and
: they must ~dispeTse with their iiain of human
cattle, 10 blight other new and fertile regions.
. There is an old superstition, that no grass
grows where the devil has danced; and the
: effects of slavery show that this tradition, like
j most others, is born of truth. 1t is not, as
+ some suppose, a special vengeance on the
. wicked system; it is a simple result of the
universal and intimate relation between spir-
n it and matter. Freedom writes itself on the
e earth in growth and beauty oppression, in
dreariness and decay. If we attempt to trace
II this effect analytically, we shall find that it
originates in the landholders too proud TO
work, in laborers deprived Of healthful motive,
in the inevitable intermediate class of over
seers, who have no interest in the soil or the
laborers, but whose pay depends on the fore
ed product they can eXtort from them both.
MIR. Faulkner, of Virginia, has stated the case
impressively Compare the condition of
e the slaveholding portion of this Common
v wealth, barren, d~esolate, and scared as it were
d by the avenging hand Of Heaven, with the
e description which we have of this same coun-
try from those who broke its soil. To what
Is this change ascribed? Alone to the blast
. ing and whitening effects of slavery. To that
r vice in the organization of society by which
T one half its inhabitants are arrayed in interest
. and feeling against the other half; to that
d condition Of things, in which half a million
e of your population can feel no sympathy with
. society, in the prosperity of which they are
S forbidden to participate, and no attachment to
S d government at whose hands they receive
3 nothing but injustice"
DIR. Meade, of Virginia, in the records of
. an official tour through the State. speaks of