The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1851-01-02

DR. singletsry is dead
We'll. what of it2 All who live die sooner or
10, and pray, who was DR.. Singletary, that his
"a. .hoald cisim particular attentionl
Why. in the first place, DIR. Singletary, as
nan horn to our common inheritance Of JOY and
arrow earthly interests and heavenward aspira-
inns our brother in sin and suffering, wisdom and
bllv. love and PRIDE and vanity, has claim upon
tbe universal sympathy. Besides, whatever the
living man may have been, death has now invested
him with its great solsmnity. He is with the i'm
mort,ls. For him the great curtain has been
lined The weaknesses, the follies, and repul-
siye mental and personal idiosyncracies, which
NAV have kept him without the sphere of our re-
spect and sympathy, have now fallen off, and he
s,n u -sAiaa. with .besyassfgpration of eternity,
Gods child our recognised and acknowledged
brother.
Dr. Siagle.ary IL dad He was an C'' -""n
and seldom, of latter years, ventured beyond the
precnts of his neighborhood. He was single
man. and his departure has broken no circle Of
family affection. He was little known to the pub
lie and is now little missed. The village news
paper simply appended to its announcement of his
disease the customary post morton compliment,
greatly respected by all who knew himp and in
me annual catalogue Of his alma Mater, an as
tar;sk has been added to his name, over which
,,rcbsnce some gray.hared survivor of his class
NAV breathe sigh as he calls up the image of the
fresh. faced bright-eyed boy, who aspiring, hope
nI vigorous, started with him on the journey of
rrs-a SIGH rather for himself than for its uncon-
ciOus awakener.
But few years have passed since he left US,
yet already well nigh all the outward manifesto
tons landmarks, and memorials Of tbs living man
nave passed away or been removed. His house,
with its broad, messy roof sloping down on one
side almost to the rose bushes and lilacs and its
comfortable little porch in front, where he used
to sit OF pleasant summer afternoon, has passed
into new hands, aud has been sadly dis6gured by
glaring coat of white paint, and in the place of
the good Doctors name, hardly legible on the
corner board, may now be seen in staring letters
Of black and gold, "vALESrIsx ORsos STuBBs,
NJ n Indian Doctor and Dealer in Roots and
Herbsn The good Doctor's old horse, ~ well
known as its owner to every nan, Son.an and child
in the village, has fallen into the newcomers
hands who being prepared to make the most Of
him. from the fact that he commenced the practice
of the healing art in the stable, rising from thence
to the parlOr) has rubbed him into comparative
sickness, cleaned his name and tail of the accu-
INFLATED burs of many autumns, and made quite a
gay nag of him. The wagon, too, in which at
least TWO generations Of boys and girls have rid.
den in noisy hilarity, whenever they encountered
it on their way to school, has been 30 smartly
painted and vanished, that IL its former owner
could look down from the hill where he lies, he
would scarcely know his once familiar vehicle as
it whirls glittering along the main road to the
village. For the rest, all things 60 on as usual
the miller grinds, the blacksmith strikes and
blows, the eobbler and tailor stitch and mend, old
men sit in the autumn sun, old gossips stir tea
aud scandal, revival meetings alternate with apple
bees aud huSkings-toil, pleasure, family jars,
petty neighbOrhoOd quarrels, courtship and mar
riage-all which makes up the daily life of q
country village, continue as before. The little
chasm which his death has made in the hearts Of
the people where he lived and labored seems
nearly closed up. There is only one more grave
in the burying ground-that is all
Let nobody infer from what have said that
the good man died unamented, for, indeed, it
was sad day with his neghbors, when the news
long expected, ran at last from house to house.
and from Workshop to workshop, "Dr. Smgleary
IS dsad" lie had not an enemy left among them !;
In one way or another he had been the friend and
benefacor Of all. Some owed to his skill their
recovery from sickness, others remembered how
he had watched with anxious solicitude bv the
bedside Of their dying relatives soothing them,
when all human MD was vain, with the weet con.
soations OF that Christian hope which alone
pierces the quiet shadow Of the grave, and shows
the safe stepping stones above the dark waters.
The old missed cheerful companion and friend
who had taught them much without woundine
their pride by an offensive display Of his supe.
Hority, and who while making jest Of his own
TRIALS and inhrmities, could still listen with real
sympathy to The querulous and mportunate com.
paints Of others For one day at least. even the
sunny iaces Of childhood were marked with un-
"0o'ed thoughtfulness; the shadow of the COM
mou bereavement fell over the playground and
nursery The little girl remembered, with tears.
now her broken-limbed doll had taxed the surei.
cat ingenuity Of her genial old friend, and the boy
showed sorrowfully to his playmates the top which
.ne good Doctor bad given him. If there were
''"' among the many who stood beside his grave,
capable OF rightly measuring and appreciating the
n'sh intellectual and spiritual nature which
'',@ed the background Of his simple social life,
-, could feel that no common loss had been sus-
"laed' aud that the kindly aud generous spirit
which had passed away from them had not lived
to himself alone.
AS you follow the windings Of one Of the love-
"e'' rivers Of New Eagand, few miles above
-' '''lnart, at its mosth, you can see on hill,
sr 's grassy slope is checkered with the graceful
s'.'ss Of the locust, and whose top stands re-
',''' against still higher elevation, dark with
"' Naluuts, the white stones OF the bury
pace IL is quiet spot; bat without gloom,
"'ns Gods Acren Below Is the village,
A Us sIoops and fishing boats at the wharves,
Us crescent Of white houses mirrored in the
'r Eastward is the misty line Of the great
a. blue peaks Of distant mountains roughen
= "''iIon 4 the North. Westward the broad,
naS f''er winds away into maze Of jutting
,.n and picturesque wooded headlands. The
he.. 'n''e stone on the westerly slope Of the hill
sra ' 'he name of Nicholas singletary, M. 4. .
marks the spot which he selected many wear.
the a, .s Death. When visited it last spring,
w..,, a'Ou' II was fragrant with the bloom Of
a,om. and blackberry, and the balsamIc
VI 'he sweet fern, birds we're singing In the