Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1850-08-09


dead were deposited here-none but
the illustrious and renowned. A.
mong others, | found the remains of
a celebrated minister, who represent
ed IN life one of the most powerful
kingdoms of the earth. How hui
initiating the thought that those who
once controlled whole empires, who
disposed of vast revenues, who lived
in state and ''iared sumptuously ev-
cry day." should be compelled to re-
sign all and be confined within few
sheets of lead, and laid away out Of
sight in this dark niche
In the southwest corner of the
ground may be seen the column
erected to the memory of Major
General Brown, who was once com
mandcr-in-ch;ef of our army. 1T is
simply broken shaft, and is poetical
III the extreme. 70 the north ofthis
stand row of monuments, similar
in design, erected over the graves of
members of Congress who have died
at Washington. Between General
Brown and Judge Barbour Qate of
the Supreme Court lie the remains
OF the brilliant and accomplished
William Writ, unmarked even by a
single stone to tell where his dust re-
poses "Oh, Shame! where is thy
blush - The eloquent Writ lies
without monument, while hundreds
OF costly ceno;aphs rise in the same
nc'osurc over those to whom the
following satirical epitaph of Cowper
might be more appropriately applied;
"For tlrcescorc years this life our herolcd;
At morn he rosc--at night he went to bed"
Satiri&c and phi!osophi2e as we
may, we yet shrink> with an instinc-
tive horror, from the desecration of
our remains by placing them on a
level with those of lie brute. Who
would like to be buried as thcv bury
their dead at Naples Mr.. Willis,
in his "PcnciIings by the Way"
gives a graphic description of the
m0cln& operumi in that city.
'.1hcre are three hundred and six
ty-hve pits, one of which is opened
daily for The dead of the city, who
are thrown in, without shroud or cof-
fin, and the pit is sealed up at night
fora year; and thus are flung into
these noisomc pits, like beasts, the
greater part of the population of this
vast city-thc young and the old
the virtuous and vicious together,
without the dcccncy even of rag
to keep up the distinctions of life /
never was so Inundated in my life
as by this horrid spectacle. | did not
think anything human could be SO
reck!essly abandoned. Pah! it makes
one sick at heart. God grant / may
never die at Nap,es!"
There are but few who cannot feel
the beauty of the Eastern benedic-
tlon-"May you die among your kin
dred, and sleep with the dust of those
you love!" 1t is true that it matters
not to the unconscious dead where
Their remains reposc, but the deep
feelings of the living require their
ashes to be treated with respect. AS
Irving says, "I'he sorrow for the
dead is the only sorrow from which
we refuse to be divorced. Every
other wound we seek to heal-evcry
other af1liction to forget: but this we
consider dnty to keep open: this
nffiiction we brood over in Solitude"
Who would accept of consolation
that must be bought by forgetfulness?
The love which survives the tomb is
one of the noblest attributes of the
soul, as it reGnes and spiritlaliZcs the
mind, and makes the survivors long
for that preparation of heart which
will enable them at death to join their
friends in that world where separa-
ton comesno more.-Godey's Lody's
Book.