Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1848-05-05

nat is zone, we party may compute,
never what is resisted"
The bright sun OF a June morning was high
in the heavens, and the pretty village Of l.
lay smiling in its light. The dew-drops,
resting on every leaf, and blade of grass,
shone with the resplendeuce of jewels; the
wing Of bird and insect, that iuttered in the
balmy atmosphere, was brilliant with rain
bow-like hues, and the little river that wound
its way silently through the town, flashed
and CLEANED in The sunlight like molten sill
yer.
On a slight wooden bridge that s~panned
the bright stream, stood a small knot Of men
and boys, watching a dark mass that was
borne downwards by the current, while they
speculaled as to what it might be. One
thought it some waste material thrown from
the factories above another thought it a cap
sized boat, or some light shrubbery torn from
the bank while others, of keener vision, per-
sisted that it was a human body, floating OIL
the waters, and were d~eyisiug means to bring
ii TO the shore.
After some delay, a boat was obtained, and
two men put off from the shore towards the
floating body, which they, with some little
difficulty secured, and lifted into the boat,
when they rowed towards the shore. 1t was
as they had supposed the body was that Of
a young girl, hardly seventeen years of age,
and some among the crowd that had collected
on and around the bridge, recognized the
form and features of one Of the operatives Of
the factories, who, the day before, was tend
ing her looms among them.
They bore the body to the nearest dwell
ing, and every means was employed to bring
back the life that had departed but the vital
spark had wholly fled, and the physicians
made way for the coroner, who proceeded to
the usual formalities connected with holding
an inquest over the corpse. But the testlmo-
ny of the witnesses summoned, threw little
light on the circumstances of the poor girls
death and beyond the facts that she was a
new conner to the town, was reserved, serI-
Gus and uncommunicatiye in her manners,
preferTing to be much alone that she was
reputed 10 be unprlncipled and dishonest, and
was generally dlslIked by her fellow-opera.
tives, and Stunned by them, and had recelv-
ed that very day her discharge from the fac
tory-beyond these facts, little was ELECTED
by the cotoner's inquest. She was seen the
evening before, Tor the last time, about The
hour Of twilight, taking her accustomed walk
by the rivers side; but. neither she had
thrown herself into the stream, or had acct
dentdlly fallen in, could moi BIZ determined
from the evidence adduced, and the verdict OF
the coroner was rendered accordingly. As
there were no relatives or near friends 10
claim the body, or superintend its intermeni,
it was buried from the clearinghouse of the
deceased. The occurrence OF the death was
duly noticed in the journals of the town and
surrounding country, and then, like hundreds
OF similar cases, the whole was forgotten.
Could we read the sorrowlul histories that
lie back of the frequent suicides, whose bTlei
notice in the papers of the day ottracts our
attention for a moment, could we know the
cruel circumstances that c~onspire to drive a
human being to self-murder, the last refuge
of hopeless despair, We should behold more
OF sorrow, of unsoothed wretched ness than
we dream exists in actual life. That exist
ence must indeed be dark, which is ~volunta-
Iily thrown away-thal heart indeed BURDEN
ed, which refuses to hear up longer, and seeks
the rest Of the grave!
Let US unravel the past history Of the sui
eide of our story, and gather the circumstan-
ces that caused Ter to rush, unbidden, into
the dim and mystic Fu,ure-and then let us
remember that hers is bat one of a thousand
like cases.
Few who read the brief notice Of Elizabeth
Barnard's death, imagined how bitter a trial
had closed with her existence, nor how much
OF sorrow and suffering had been crowded in
to her short and humble life. From her very
birth sorrow seemed to have marked her as
her victim for she was born of parents, who
were not only stepped TO the very lips in pow
erty, but who were also wholly given TO hab-
its of intoAicatlon. Her earliest recollectIons
of home and parents were Sufficient 10 crush
all Joy from the heart of a being as deeply
sensitive as she and the terrible impression
made upon her youthful fancy by the horrid
death of her father, was never efIaced from
her mind. He died of delirium tremens; and
his furious struggles with the men who held
him on the ragged and unsightly bed on which
he died his fearful groans and shrieks, his
wild imprecations and terrible blasphemies
his distorted face, glaring and blood-sho
eyes, disiended nostrllS and foaming mouth
together with the small, ill-furnished, untidy
room, the broken chairs and tables, aud tn,
reeling form of her intoxicated mother, made
up a ghastly picture which was etched int
her very soul, and dwelt in her thoughts TO
the rest of life.
After this never forgotten event, came fou
or five years of familiarity with suffering il
its worst forms. The mothers all-absorbin!
appetite for intoxicating liquors rendered he
insenslble to the claims Of her child, and dea
to her wants; and the tender lutte girl wa
sent daily into the streets to beg for 'col,
y%icluals,' broken pieces and pennies, an
if she failed to obtain them, blows and cru
city awaited her return home. The tori
heat OF midsummer, and the icy SHOWS of wiz
ter alike witnessed the begging pilgrimage c
the poor little creature, when at that lende
age, at which most children are sheltered b
parental love, and guarded from the yer
breath Of heaven, lest it should visit them to
roughly. Many a mile did she walk, on tn
bleakest days Of our biting northern winte.
threading the crowded streets of The city ST
ing for pennies, which were sometimes gi,
en-, and sometimes denied, while the teal
would almost freeze on her thin, pinchec
! hl,na .l.n.le H. lt.l. ..