The Nevada journal., 1852-06-05


years dead, whose sunken eyes appear
ed still to burn with the fire Of life and
humor. His hands were lifted in a
deprecating manner over a congrega-
tion Of corpses sitting on shelf below.
Some appeared to be listening; some
grinning at his humorous harangus !;
others, with their heads together, seem
to question the propriety Of his anec-
dotes old gentlemen, with knitted
brows and lantern jaws ranges of bo-
dies stood on each side of him as il
laughing, talking, praying, suffering,
listening, rejoicing, and feasting at the
banquet Of death. One little man, in
a dingy suit of black. sat in corner i;
the end Of his nose was eaten off by the
worms, his mouth was compressed, and
had a pinched expression; his hands
grasped eagerly at something. tho't
that little man was miser, whose
death was caused by starvation. An
other figure, large portly body, stood
in conspicuous part of the vault; it
was the corpse of fat old bishop,
whose jaws were still round and smooth
with good living, and his sleek hair
pattcd down 10 his head as with the oil
of by-gone roast beefs and macaroni
soups, and jolly cast Of countenance,
betokened system literally supplied
with the juices of life, and conscience
rendered easy by attention to the crea-
ture comforts. That man lived an ca
sy life, and died Of good feeling. He
was carefully labelled, and carried on
his wrists a jewelled cross. There
stood in another part of the vault a
fiery orator, with open mouth & disten-
ded arms. The head was thrown back,
the breast partially bare, a few tufts of
black hair had fallen from his head !;
his round staring eyes were stretched
open, and his brow arched high on his
wrinklcd forehead he looked toward
heaven for inspiration. / fancied /
could hear the flaming torrent, as it
blazed and cracked, and scintillated
from his thin ashy lips. 1t was the
glowing eloquence Of an ardent soul
that left its parting impress upon the
clayi the form yet spoke, but the
sound was not there.
Passing on, from vault to vault, we
saw here and there a baby thrown up
on a shelf--its little innocent face
sleeping calmly among the mouldering
skulls; leg, or on arm, or an old
skull, from which tie lower jaw had
fallen; now lively corpse, jumping
with a startling throe from its niche,
or a grim skeleton in its dark corner
chuckling at the ravages Of the destroy
er. Who was the prince here? Who
was the great man, or the proud man,
or the rich man? The musty, grim
ming. ghastly skeleton in the corner
seemed to chuckle at the thought, and
say to himself, "Was it you, there on
the right, You ugly, noseless, sightless,
disgusting thing? Was it you that
rode in your fine carriage about year
ago, and thought yourself SO great
when you ordered your coachman to
drive over the beggar if he did not get
out Of the way? Don't you see he is
as handsome as you are now, and as
great q man? You can't cut him down
now, old fellow! And you there on
the left. What a nice figure You are
with your fleshless shanks, and your
worm eaten lips 1t was you that be-
trayed youth and beauty and inno>
cence, and brought yourself here at
last to keep company with such fellows
as lam. Why, there is nothing living
now, save the maggots, that wouldn't
turn away in disgust from you. And
you, sir, on the opposite side, how
proud you were when ] last saw you /;
an officer Of state. great man in pow
er, who could crush all below you, and
make the happy wife widowed
mourner, and bring her little babes to
starvation; it was you that had inno-
cent men seized and cast into prison.
What can you do now? The meanest
wretch that lmocks You IA this yaylts Of
death is as good aas YOU. assstrongsIas
great, as tall, as broad, as pretty a
piece OF mortality, and a great deal
nearer to heaven. Oh, you were a
nice set &C fellows, all mixed together
without ceremony! Where are your
rules Of etiquette; your fashionable
ranks; your thousand of admiring
friends, your thoughts of jewslled Wis
itors. Why, the lowest Of us has as
many visiters here, and as many hon.
est tears shed as you. Hal ha! This
is jolly place, after all, we are all a
jolly set of republicans, and old Death
is our president !"
l. T',Yrnspo xxax, f,o,t, th;s et,o ,,ra a -