Wisconsin tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1847-1854, 1849-09-07
IBG6grGgJIWD.
From the Mirror of the Times.
THE LAST MOMENT.

Every moment In a mans life is important
and interesting. There are, however, some
moments more important and interesting than
others. OF all the periods and events of life,
the concluding scene IS accompanied with by
far the deepest interest, both to the person
himself and surviving relatives and friends.
Various are the ways In which we meet our
final end, and various the aspects it presents,
but IN all, even the most favorable, it is affect
ing and solemn. What can be more solemn
than the approach of that moment, which to
the dying man, is the boundary between time
and eternity, abruptly terminating the one, and
quickly commencing the other-putting an
end to all interes IS in this world, personal,
relative, social and moral, and fixing his des-
Tiny forever III the world TO come, What so
deeply solemn as those moments of silent
and indescribable anxiety, when the last sands
ct the numbered hours In life's glass are run
ning-when the beat of the heart has become
too languid to be felt at the extremities of the
trame-when the cold hand returns not the
gentle pressure-when the eye is fixed, and
tie ear turns no more towards the voice of con-
solIng klndness-when the restless limbs are
still and motIonless-when the breath, before
oppressive, becomes feebler and feebler, till it
dies away, and TO the listening ear there is no
sound amid the breathless sience-nor TO the
directed eye, that watches with the unceasing
look OF thrilling sollcltude for the last symp-
tom of remaining life, is longer susceptible -
when surrounding friends continue to speak in
whispers, and TO step through the chamber on
the up-toe of cautious quietness, as if still fear
tul of disturbing him whom the noise of a thou
sand thunders of the artillery of heaven would
not startle, Have you, thoughtless or incon-
SdeTate reader, witnessed such a scene as this
Ii YOU have not, then you have vet to expert
ence the most deeply solemn feelings of which
the human mind aud heart are susceptible -
and they feelings rendered more solemn
by the thought that what now witness in
another shall very soon be witnessed BY others
IN ourselves. The thoughtless man scarcely
permits a scene like this to leave other than a
trlling effect upon his mind, He is not will
ling to expect 1t 10 occur IN himself. But the
dying scene is one which will come to ALL
There is no passage to another world, but
through ''the valley of the shadow of DEATH"
10y this way all must 90. The departure of
somelS announced by the loud knell of church.
going bellS-the firing of cannons, the beating
OF drums, the rumbling of numerous carriage
wheels, and a large concourse of mourners,
real and pretended. The exit of others is not
known ont OF the immediate neighborhood
where they died, and perhaps hardly beyond
their own family circle. What of this He
whose death is as little regarded as the fall of
leaf in the forest, and he whose departure in
wolves nation In grief, are, in this view of the
subject, on level. Before the Eternal Be-
ing, into whose presence they enter, earthly
distinctions vanish, they are regarded not ac-
cording TO the meretricious and arbitrary rules
that govern anc control the conditions fchil-
dren of the earth in this world, but they are
considered In the light of accountable beings.
and Judged according TO the fixed and immuta-
bic principles of Infinite Love and Justice
Whatever may have been the differences be-
tween the characters and the conditions of
these departed ones, the true statement of the
TACT, Is, that in either case an immortal spirit
has finished its earthly destiny-has passed
the barriers of the invisible world, and an event
has taken place which involves consequences
u which nothing but an endless duration will
be sufficient to give scope for their develope-
ment. And shall the occurrence of death in
ouT family. or neighborhood pass from Us with
ont Improvement