Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1849-1856, 1849-12-13

aIiC shrieks again raving maniac
Her midnight cries disturb The keep
er's rest. Bloody stripes, inflicted on
her aitennated form fail to silence her,
Though echoed by her falher's groans,
and a cavern is made of rocks or dug
in the neighboring hill, where she is
dragged and chained, without light,
without fire, without clothing, for this
she tears in desperation Gom her limbs.
Follow her there, Mr.. Editor, make the
picture real, for such things have been.
Think Of the fond fathers agony, who
for years had debarred himself the nc
cessarics of life, to soothe the suffer-
ings of that poor, sickly. helpless girl.
Let your sight be borre on the winters
blast, twill wait il through the Granny
in her dungeons wall, there she lies,
crouching on the bare frozen ground,
spotted with blood torn from her frail
limbs by the rough iron chain.
Her feet are freezing
Toes she has none--hcy persisted on the cold FRI
days night year ago.
Her teeth seem Keys Oi some strange instrument,
On which the icy hands Of winter fercey play.
Her auburn hair, once fair and soft,
ls not now
lis matted now and hangs uncombcd DER her thin
Grizzled with suffering and white with frost.
she never weeps.
Poor thing, the fabric Of her brain is crushed
tears cannot flow;
But through drcary days and long dark nights she
wrthcs in agony,
And mutters to hersef-'ts cold---fs cruel cold
Or strikes at frighuul phantoms issuing from her
minds poor wreck,
Or shrnks from fanced blows from human fendY-
Or laughs or screams by turn. with pain
Or shouts and dances To the horrid music Of her
clatcring teet, and clankng chain.
Like crimes, quite as heinous and
revolving as the one here pictured, have
been enacted within this State as is
well known to many. And is t!.ere in
deed no earthly tribunal before which
communities or individuals who have
thus tormented their help'es. fellow
creatures, may he brought to JUSTICE
Methnks voice answers "none ~ By
heartfelt repentance towards God and
man alone, or by an eternity of punish
ment, can sucl dreadful crimes be ex-
plated,
1t matters but little what customs or
habits nations or communities may
contract, they are equally welded to
the most criminal, and as prone to de-
fend them, if of long standing. as they
are to the most ust and ri9htehous,-
those nations that frmerly worship
ped their god Mooche and cast their
screaming infants into the fiery furnace
held III thei. IDOLS brazen arms, we're
then as ready TO defend their conduct,
or any innovation on their cruel Gus
tom, as are those communities now
who sacrifice the poor and hating of
their species, to mammon, tie god Of
their idolatry. As they who for rmerly
should have sou IN, TO have preserved
the innocents from the burning flames,
would, in all probability, have them
selves been sacrificed for their humane
efforts. so must they expect to meet
with odium, who seek to lift the veil
that cloaks the evils that tester at the
roots of society now. In contemplating
those that lie at the foundation, or that
hare interviewer themselves with the
fabric of our religious, civil and social
institutions, my spirit Is often weighed
down under such sense of their null
tipliclty and magnitude, that ! am
ready to exclam with the mouruer of
old. "Oh, that my heod merr matcrs and
mine eyes merc q Fountain oftcarS, that
might mccp dug and night for the
slain Of the daughters Of my people"
1t is said that all earthly institutions
contain within themselves the seeds of
their own dissolution. And / have
thought that if our political institutions
were doomed to speedy destruction,
that the cause would be found to ema-
nate, in great measure, from our re-
missness in performing our duy to the
helpless aud poor, especially TO that
class who are denomina'ed psupers.--
Ii is trae that great amelioration of
their condition has taken place within
few years, but much yet remains to
be done. Many Of our towns asylums
now are exceedingly comiorta bic resi-
dences, SO far as physical wants are
concerned, but the best of them have
no suitable arrangements or accommo-
datlons for insane inmates, and none
should be placed there, especially such
as IT Is thought necessary to chain, or
even to coniinc. The needless suffer
ing that they themselves endure, and
cause to others of the household where
they are confined, is incaculablc.
Formerly, it was not inirequent for
men who possessed much political in
fluence in particular towns, TO use it
for the purpose Of having the towns
poor assigned to some partisan whose
party services they had already profit
ted by, or wished 10 secure for the lu-
ture-thus making merchandise of the
poor, and selling them for areward -
Another practise, if possible, still
worse, existed in some towns OF letting
out, as it was termed, their poor to the
lowest bidder, that is, to the one who
would take them off the hands of the
community and keep them for the low
est sum-thus grinding to a razor's
edge the face of the poor. BY expert
men,s under this system, it was pretty