Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1852-03-10
cHAPTER II.
Death is terrible-the tear,
til L-.1l A. L..

NOFmeU ITO AGuIiilIttlCG VIII btIC OAtlNA y 'Ft@1l
no intimate acquaintance, we mean neither
had he with the widow or Juliet; he talked but
very little with any one, but was attentive TO
his duties and meddled with nothing besides
When he applied for service in the Mansion ne
was soiled and begrimed with a long foot-travel,
but from whence he came no one knew, indeed
there was but little inquiry made; for one OF
the servants ventured to ask him his name the
day after his arrival and also from where he
hailed, but he repented this for it came near
being the prelude to a broken head with him
"John john" screamed the new conner
John John, from the reeking den of hends
-FIENDs." At the conclusion ofthe sentence
n heavy billet of wood was hurled at the head
of the inoffensive querist, but happily missing
him it taught him a lesson which he did rot
forget soon-not to ask any useless question
Of the new servant.
It was soon ascertained that John had an un-
conquerable fear Of death, and any idea bear
ing upon that sublime state, struck terror to
his very soul. The mention or the sight of a
grave. ! coffin, a shroud or a corpse, filled poor
John with horror, which he expressed in the
widest Wells for some minutes, and then grad
ually became himself again, after a long fit of
the most agonizing weeping.
This strange popularity was not known to
exist TO such a painful degree until an accident
at the Mansion developed it. One day the
cooks child had found its way to the roof Of
the Mansion by means of a window that open
ed there. 1t was seen playing among the tufts
of moss on the roof, and the cook was so
frightened that her screams terrified the child
and instead Of going back the way it cam 1t
rushed towards its mothers open arms and
sprung from its giddy height and fell at its
VnOfbar'S faaf a poupOln6 p0rpanl
John saw this, and when it was announced
that the child was dead he fell upon it and
pressed his foaming lips to the mouth of the
child, and vainly tried to breathe a living breath
into it again. It's lips and its brow grew cold.
and the frantic John was torn away from the
~lifeless corpse.
"Dead! ~ screamed poor John. "Death, loved
that child. and, o! you tyrant, you dashed it
on the stones and killed it-kiIed Il dead! o
cruel Death, | will hide me; you will seek me
next. Killed a child"
1t was many days before John fully recover.
ed from the shock produced by the sight Of the
child's corpse; he wept most bitterly, and al
times he would give utterance to the widest
incoherencies respecting the dead, and showed
that he had an agoniZing fear of death. The
child was buried in the Mansion Cemetery, a
the western side of the grounds, where severa
marble slabs were erected to mark the resting
place of the dust of those who had passed TIN
solemn portals Of the silent and gloomy cham
Der Of death.
The actions ofJohn were remarkably strange
yet he carefully performed his duties as a sci
want to Mrs. Meredith, which elected the SUI
prise of ali the household. At times he woul
be heard muttering to himself some broke
sentences, and death and the dead were Away
its solemn burthcn. No one needed his strang
actions, yet an eye was generally kept on hir
lest he do some mischief. lie was not wicke
however, but it was feared he might do som
injury to himself; for it was beginning 20 b
whispered among the residents Of the MansiO
that John was a mailman, and the children {
the village and surrounding country had MAJ
niied him into a terror. Upon the generalit
of subjects he seemed quite rational upon al
in fact, except death and its attributes-upo
this he was surely a n onomaniac.
One day he had wandered off through tn
grounds of the Mansion, and as he was abser
longer than usual another servant was sent t
look for him. He had not been gone long III
til he FASTENED back with terror depicted in hi
face, and rushing into the parIor where Mr.
Meredith aud Juliet was sitting exclaimed
John, poor John, has been cutting himself
ni0ng the tOmbSP
The family rushed to the Cemetery, an
there lay poor John among the graves. III
fresh red dirt of the child's grave WAS seattle
cd around and his hands were soiled and bleeC
inp-the grass and flowers were torn from I'll
graves of those who had departed years ag
and John was stretched in the midst of tt
tombs insensible, and a frightful cash gapir
in his temple from which was spouting Il erin
son current of blood. Upon the sharp ed!
Of a tombstone was some stains Of blood al
n few matted hairs, evidently the instrume
that inflicted the wound by the unfortun.
man falling on it. He was conveyed to t
Mansion and the village Surgeon hastily Sc
for.
DR.. Winslow Dulany came and dressed t
poor mans wounds and took him under cnarg
The Doctor found his patient stretched OF
bed, perfectly insensible, with Mrs. Meredit
Juliet and the servants gathered around /
bed. After his wound was dressed and a Gle
linen bandage folded around his brow, he p
scented a fearful appearance at times he won
lay perfectly quiet for some minutes, and tn
all of n sudden start up with the Widest
coherencies and spasmodic twltchings OF
frame. At length he became sufficient
aroused to take cognizance OF what was TAXI
place around him, and during a minute of
lucid intervals he heard Mrs. Meredith inqu
of the Doctor if he thought poor John wol
survive
'DoctorP exclaimed the sufferer-'Is tn,
n Doctor at hand? Well that is capital-it
Doctor, Doctor, don't let me die-die! "
you, sir? have a most horrible idea of dea
Doctor have indeed. To be crammed do
in the cold throat of a filthy grave with noeO
panjons but worms, and in the dark at that
rayless night, sir-there to lay helpless
sightless, a feast for foul worms-Gf feast
Bah! 1t is horrible, Doctor, 20 lay 50 long
such a place, with a burthen of clods on
breast and a thousand SHOWS, and rains,
%sleets, and storms beating their fury on me
Ii is horrible to die, Doctor! Please you
LEI me die l have an unconquerable feal
DEATH
The strange manner and the wildness "
which this WAS delivered, startled his att
dants with a contagious fear, and the Doe
was 1t n loss for IN answer. An answer
not needed however, for the poor man
lost again in his wild fancies.