Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1853-08-23


dir to the depth of foot or more.but so loose
~. that the myraids of fires found entry be-
tween the loose cods. down 10 the cracked
seams of the coffinsand bnzzed and blew there
their oparia creating each hour their new hatch
ed swarms.
Bm no sound was there of sorrow within
that wide Gehenns. Men used 10 the scent
of dissolution. had forgotten all touch oil sym
patty. Uuconlh abnrers, with their bare
shock heads. stood under the broiling heat of
the sun, digging in the earth; and as anon they
ould encounter All oi'strucIlng root or lump,
would swear a hideous oath, remove to anoth
or spot, and GO on digging as before. Now
and lhenlhe matock or spade would disturb
the bones of some former tenant Of the mould.
forgotten their amid The armies ofthe accu
mulated victims, and the sturdy laborer with
a glbe would hurl The broken fragments on
the sward. growI forth an energetic d-n. and
chuckle in the excess of glre. Skull bones
were dug up from their long sepultnre, with
ghastness starting out,
From each lack lustre eyeless hole"
without elciting an Alas poor Yorick, and
with onf an exclamation from the digger, of
room for your hetlersP'
Economy ol space was the source of Gun
ming calculation in hesto"ng away the dead
men. Side by side were laid TWO Of gigantic
proportions, bloated 10y corruption to The size
Of Titans. The central projections OF their
Collins left spaces between them at their head
aud heels. THIS was too much room to be
filled With earth. How should the space be
savedl Opportunely the material is at hand,
TOR a cart comes lumberlngin with the corpses
OF a mother and her two little children Chuck
the ch ldren in the spaces at the heads and
the heels of the Titans, and lay the mother
by herself, out there alone! A comrade for
her will be found anon and herself and babes
will sleep not the less soundly from the un.
wonted contact!
The tunes rise up in dealhly calculations
from the accumuatlng hecstombs of fast com
Ing corpses. Men wear at their noses bags of
camphor and odorous spces-for there are
crowds there u no have no business but TO look
on and contemplate the vas. congregation OF
the dead. They don't care fthey die them
selvrs-they have become used to the reek
OF corrnp Tor. They even laugh at the riot
ngs of the skeleton Death, and crack Jokes in
the horrid atmosphere here scarcely they
can draw breath for utterenre
The st0ical negroes too, who are hired al
live dollars per hour to assist in the work of
'nlerment, sagg"r under the sitting fumes,
and can only be kept at their work by deep
and continued potarions Of the fire water"-
They gulp deep draughts of the stimulating
hold, and reeling to their tasks, hold their no
SEES with one hand, lille with the other they
grasp the spade, heave on the mould and
rush back 10 the bottle 10 gulp again. 1t is a
oily tune with these ebon laborers and with
their bite coWorkers as thoup htless and as
Jolly. and full as much intoxicated as them
selves.
And thus, what 18th the songs and obscene
'"sts of the grave dggers, the buzzing of the
flies the sing song cries OF the huxtur women
vending their corrections, the hoarse oaths OF
the men who drive the dead carts. The merry
whistle of the boys, and the sitting reek from
scores OF blackened corpses the day ears a
pace, the work Of seputure is done, end night
draw the curtain.