The mountain sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1844-1853, 1853-04-21
The Levers in Jel ulale m.

the interest attached to tins unfortunate class
OF beings, (arismg from the frequent ailusiol
made to them In the Scripture,) there is much
in their appearance and mode of life to attract
attention, and enlist the sympathy OF the strah-
ger. Dirt and disease go revoltingly together
here; gauut famine stalks through the streets
Q constant cry of suffering sweiis upon the dead
dir, and sin broods darkly over the rum II mas
wrought in that gloomy and ill-fated spot
Wasted forms sit the door ways; faces cover
ed with white scales, and sightless eyes are tur-
ned upwards; skeleton arms, distorted and fetid
with the rayages of leprosy, are outstretched
from the foul, moving mass and a low howl is
heard the howl of the stricken for aims Aims
oh, stranger, for the love of God! aims to feed
the inexorable destroyer; aims to prolong this
dreary and hopeless misery. Look upon 1t.
stranger, you who walk forth in all your pride
and strength and breathe the fresh air OF hea-
ven you who have never known what 1T is to
be Stunned by your fellow men as thing un-
clean and accursed; you who deem yourself un-
blessed with all the blessings that God has given
you upon earth; look upon 1t, and learn that
there is misery beyond all that you have con-
ceived in your gloomiest hours-a misery that
can be endured. Learn that even the leper,
with death gnawing at his vitals, and unceasing
tortures in his blood, cast out from the society
Of his fellow man; forbidden to touch, in friend
ship or affection, the hand of the untanted still
struggles for life, and deems eath hour precious
that keeps him from the grave. The quarter of
the Lepers is sad and impressive place. by
the laws of the land, which have existed from
Scriptural times, they are isolated from all ac-
tual contact with their felowmen yet there
seems to be no prohibition to their going out be-
yond the walls of Jerusalem and begging by the
road side. Near the gate of Zion, on the way
80 Bethlehem, saw many of them sitting on the
rocks, their hideous faces uncovered, thrustng
forth their scaly hands for aims. Their huts are
rudely constructed of earth and stones, seldom
with more than apartment, and this so filthy
and loathsome that it seemed unfit to be occu-
pied by swine. Here they live and propagate
whole families together, without distinction OF
sex; and their dreadful maiady is perpetuated
from generation t. generation; the groans of
the aged and dying being mingled with the fee
bic wall of the young that are brought forth
branded for life of misery. Strange and
nournful thoughts arise in the contemplation of
the sad condition and probably destiny of these
Inflated beings. Among so many. there must
be some in whose breasts the power Of true love
is implanted love for woman in its purest sense,
FOR offspring, for all the endearments of dOmes
tic life which the untaned are capable of feel
ing Yet they are doomed never to exercise the
affections without perpetuating the curse
There must be some, too, in whom there are hid
den powers of mind, unknown save to them
selves, ambition that corrodes with unayaiing
aspirations; n thirst for action that burns within
increasingly, yet never can be assuaged all the
ruling passions that can be implanted in man
for great and poble purposes-never, never TO
give one moments pleasure unmixed with the
perpetual gloom of that curse which dwells in
their blood. As plodded my way for the last
time through this den of sickening sights, Wis
ion of human misery was impressed upon my
mind that time cannot efface. l passed when
the rays OF the sun cold and the light was
dim; and there came out from the reeking how
els leprous men, gaunt with famine, and they
barred their hdeous bodies, and howled like
beasts women held out their loathsOme md ac-
cursed babies, and tore away the rags that COW
cred than, and pointing to the shapeess mass.
shrieked for aims. All disease. and sin,
and sorrow, wherever / went; and as passed
on, unable to relieve thousandth part of the
misery, of despair, and bowling curses
followed me, and the lepers crawled back into
their novels to rot in their filth. and die when
God willed.-Frona the Diary Of American
Traveller.
''Ihe Flag Of our Union
One thing has been established by Captain
Schuyler Hamilton recent investigations res
pecting the national flag. namely, that it means
and was intended to mean, UNION! 1t grew out
of the Union Jack. Its star Of stars symbolizes
Union. Its thirteen stripes are the record of the
UNION. From ten thousand iag-stnffs and ma St
heads it is ever keeping alive the spirit of UNION
Captain liamilton's work enables to compile
its brief history.
On the seventeenth of January 1776, the cap
tain OF an English transport, then lying in the
port of Boston, wrote home TO his owners Il
cnn see the rebels camp very plain. whose COL
ours. little while ago, were entirely r d: but
on the receipt of the kings speech (Which they
burnt) they hoisted the Union Flag which is here
supposed TO imnitate the union of tn prOvin-
ces." The captain could not probably, discern
the devices upon the flag but he noted the
change of colour. from royal red to union blue.
variety of flags were used by the continen-
tails IN the early months of the revolutionary
struggle. AT the taking of Fort Johnson Sep
tember lI16. peculiar flag was employed,
which Holmes, in his Annals. refers to thus -
ga flag being thought necessary for the purpose
of signals. Colonel Moultrie, who was reques-
ted by the Council of Safety to procure one had
a large blue flag made, with n crescent in one
corner. to be n uniform with the troops This
was the first American flag (adds Hoimes) dis
played in South Carolina." The crescent be it
observed is emblem of sorereignfy On the
twentieth of October, in the same year, Colonel
John Reed wrote this order to Colonel Glover
and Stephen Maylan PLEASE to fix upon some
particular color for flag and n signal. by which
our vessels may know another. What do
you think OF q flag with n white ground-n tree
IN the middle-the motto, appeal to Heavenr
This is the flag of our floating batteries" Feb
nary ninth. lI76, Colonel Gadsden proposed the
following design for naval iag:-..A yellow
field, with a lively representation of rattle
snake III the middle in the attitude of going to
strike, and the words underneath. Don't tread
Oh me !! =" Many other desIgbs for flags were
proposed and several, as we have Just observed.
were in use.
1t was not till June fourteenth, 1777, that
Congress passed the resolution which ca se to the
infant nation National Flag. That resolution
was IN the following words - esolved That