Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1853-10-19
g8H8AT READING.
FOR THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE.
Night Thoughts upon the Grave. No. 8

FOR THE SPIRIT OF THE AGR.
Night Thoughts upon the Grave. NO, 8.
death waits on all, yet waits on none."
The triumphs of death are universal
nothing can Withstand the attacks of the
grim tyrant. lie is indexible and %irresis-
tible in the execution of his purpose. Pow.
CT can not successfully oppose him. Wig
lance can not shun him-sympathy can
not sway him-wealth can not bride him,
neither human ~eloquence or wisdom can
persuade him to stop his ravagcs among the
children ofmen. lie waits upon theyoung
and the aged, on the rich and the poor, on
the master and the servant; he alike waits
on the king upon his throne, and the pea
sent upon his stool.
In pcrusing the epistolary communica-
tions of eminent bards and sages who -four
ished in the palmiest days of the Golden
Age, the inquiry presents itself to us,
"Wherc now are the sages of antiquity"
the Bards-Philosophers Legislators and
Orators of ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome?
Where l ask are the Heroes of Rome? for
Moore has said, Heroes are the common
growth of Rome.
Once they were, but now they are no
more. Where are her Statesmen, whose
discriminating intellect could with case ad-
just the complicated affairs of nations
whose powerful arm welded the rod of en-
pires, and whose influence is unbounded ?
Where is now the influence and author
ity Of the Persian King, who reigned from
India to Ethiopia, over a hundred and
twenty-seven provinces ?
Where are the mighty warriors and
chiefs of ancient and modern times, whose
only delight was in human butcheries and
blood-shed?
1t is recorded of one oftho most naughty
and powerful of the Persian Monarchs, that
when he had collected his forces for the
invasion of Greece, and seated upon an
ivory throne reviewing them as they over
spread the land and sea, as far as his eye
could reach, at first he gloried in the great
ness of his strength, the absoluteness Of his
power and the extent of his dominion but
afterwards his countenance was overcast
with pensiveness, and tears suddenly forced
their way down his cheeks. And wher
questioned as to the cause of his grief, re
piled "In one hundred years all thi
vast multitude will be dead"
Many who were near and dear to us b,
the sacred ties of consanguinity and natur
have VIC followed to their long home, "wh,
when called shall no longer hear" The,
are now sleeping the sleep that knows n
waking, beneath the cold clods of the val
ley, where they shall slumber undisturbed
until the sun Of righteousness shall appea
upon earth, clothed in glory and majesty
declaring with awful and laundering EN-
phasis, that doleful decree" Time was
time has been, but time shall be no more.
Yes, some of the brightest and best Of thos
whom we have loved and lost, loaded wit
the weight and wisdom Of years, hav
dropped into the silent tomb. Others hav
been nipped like morning flowers, ere thei
beauties were half expanded, and their oper
ing glories have been blasted by the ur
timely frost of death. Just as the ment,
powers began to develope themselves, an
the buds Of genius and virtue put fort
their sweetness and blossoms, they sicl
sned, died, and all our joyous hopes an
bright a~nticipations were shrouded in Il
sadness and gloom of the sepulchre.
II. b. JAMES.
BEECH SPRINGS, Gates Co., Oct. S.