Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1852-03-13

old gentlenen with knitted brows lantern jaws ranges
Of bodies stood each side of him if laughing talk
ing praying, dying suffering, listening, rejoicing and
feasng at the banquet Of death. One little man, in
dngy suit of black sat in corner; the end of his
was eaten off by the worms his mouth compressed
and had pnched expression his hands grasped eagerly
at something. / thought that little miser,
whose death caused by starvation Another figure
large porty body, stood in conspicuous part Of the
fault; it was the corpse of fat old bishop whose jaws
were still rotund and smooth with good living and his
sleek hair pated down his head with the oil of by
gone roast bees and macaron soups and jolly cast of
countenance beokened system literally supplied with
the juices of fe and conscience rendered easy by at
tenon the creature comforts That lived easy
life and died of good feeding He carefully labelled
and carried his wrists jeweed There stood
in another part of the vault fiery orator, with open
mouth and distended arms. The head thrown back
the breast partially bare, few tufts Of black hair fell
from his pebad skull his round staring eyes stretch
ed open and his brows arched high his wrnkled fore
head; he looked toward heaven for inspiration fan
ced could hear the flaming torrent, it blazed and
cracked and scnlated from his thin ashy lips It
the glowing eloquence of ardent soul that left its part
ing impress upon the cay the form yet spoke but the
sound not there. Passing from vault to vault
saw here and there dead baby thrown upon shelf
its little innocent face sleeping calmly among the mou
dering skulls; o leg, or arm, old skull, from
which the lower jaw had fallen; now lively corpse
jumping with startling throe from its niche grim
skeleton in its dark chuekng at the ravages Of the
destroyer Who was the prince here Who the
great man, or the proud man, or the rich man? The
musty, grinning CHASTITY skeleton in the seemed
to chucke at the thought and say to himself Was it
you, there the right ugly noseless sghtess dis
gushing thing? Was it you that rode in your fine carriage
about year ago. and thought yourself great when you
ordered your coachman to drive the beggar if he did
not get out of the way Don't you he is handsome
as you now, and great man; you can't cut him
down now, old fellow And you, there the left What
nice figure you with your eshess shanks and your
worm eaten lips! 1t you that betrayed youth and
beauty and innocence and brought yourself here at last
to keep company with such fellows as am Why there
is not living thing now, the maggots that wouldn't
turn away in disgust from you. And you sir the OPP
poste side, how proud you when last you
officer Of state, great man in power who could crush all
below you and make the happy wife widowed mourner
and bring her little babes to starvation it you that
had innocent seized and cast in prison What can
you do now The meanest wretch that mocks you in this
vault of death is good you strong great as
tall broad, pretty piece of mortality and great
deal to heaven. Oh, you nice set of fellows
all mixing together without ceremony! Where your
rules of equete your fashionable ranks and your pie
throngs of eweed visitors Why the lowes of us has
many visitors here and many honest tears shed
you. Ha ha! This is jolly place, after all all
jolly set of republicans, and old Death is Pres-
dent!n
Turning away from this strange exhibition of deaths
dong followed the old monk into the vaults allotted
the Here the spectacle still more shock
ing and impressive. The bodies were placed in an
upright position like those of the men, but laid
out at full length in glass cases. the walls both sides
being covered
The young, the gay, the beautiful all here, laid
lowy in the relentless embrace of DEATH decked in
silken dresses laces and ewery in mockery of the
past Each corpse had its sad history. a. young
bride who stricken down in few brief months after
her marriage She dressed in her bridal costume
the bonnet and veil still on the white gloves drawn
her skeleton fingers few wihered flowers laid upon her
breast by the mourning she had left behind Through
the thin veil could be blanched grinnng, bony
face sunken sockets marked around with the dark lines
of decay and her long hair drawn in uxurant
over her wthered bosom. Another held in her arms
skeleton babe Some habited in walking dresses;
others in all the fnery of ballroom costume, with gay
silks, slippers, silk stockings, and tawdry lace 1t was
CHASTITY sight to look under the bonnets and gaze upon
the sunken ashy features decked around with artificial
flowers and trace in those withered neaments lnger
ing line of beauty, pickering ray of the immortal spi
rt but dreary history of mortal agony, decay and
rupton. Yet here the husband hold communion
with the beloved soul that dwet in that Wondering
corpse to look upon those banched features that were
animate with life and affection kiss the cold lips
and feel returning warmth And here too the father
brother sister, and wife to gaze upon the dead and
here the mother weep the wthered corpse
Of her babe Once year. learnt from the old monk
the relatives of the deceased pray for the saliva
ton Of their souls and deck their bodies with flowers
From the conversation Of the monk learnt that these
catacombs supported by contributions from the rea
tves Of the deceased who pay annually certain for
the preservation of the bodies Each placed
in temporary niche, and afterwards removed to per-
manent place. where he is permitted to remain long
the contributions continues but when the customary fees
are not forthcoming, the corpses thrown aside
Shelf where they lie till the relatives think proper have
them set up again Whole shelves are filed with skulls
and bodies of the dead put out of the way make room
for others Of more profitable character
might be supposed that the air of the catacombs is in
some degree affected by the fresh bodies but this is not
the There is offensive odor and the vster would
scarcely know, if he did them, that he was
rounded by the dead. could perceive no difference in
the atmosphere Of these vaults from that of any other
subterranean places except slight smell of mould not
altogether disagreeabe The fresh air is admitted from
the top and it is its dryness that the preserva
ton Of the bodies may be attributable.
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