The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1855-09-28
"iYhen | am Dead !.

aOiSlilu iDtHHdtlOu uUiObiS USSlI al
their utterance. -Four simple little monosylIa-
oleS-how much gloom ye convey. How
: ye speak in funeral tones The extinguishment
Of earthly hope-of the spirit that has struggled
IN vain, and Is painfully quiet now
"When am dead ~ is uttered calmly but
what a calm such as the tornado lravrs when
silence broods over desoIation. The voice pro-
Fnouncing that despaIring phrase, has not ali its
moarnfuness from itself. The listening ears
hear nothing more for from those words the
groans OF high ASPIRATIONS quenched, and hopes
pale and bleeding upon the sharp rocks of advrr-
Sity, come up, phantom-like, amid the ghastiy
scenes OF the buried past.
''When | am dead :" We have heard il Of
ten, like the Pealing bell that tolls the body OF
the departed to It's final rest. The last word
''eead'1 fingers strangely and echoes sadly in
the ear, and through the portals of the sympa-
thlzng soul. Dead-dead -dead-and The
world grows grey, and the heart STILLS, and the
eye maistenS, TO that mysterious sound The
spirit irembles before the rushing flood of con-
tiicting emotions which follow the dark echo.
and essay TO glance through its import. But
the echo fades amidst encIrciing mist, and the
spirit turns back confused with blindness
Even the echo of death cannot be penetrated.
The few feet Of mould that composed the grave
are wider than the globe, higher than the stars.
Not the minds eye, not the anxious soul, can
glance through the barripr-the boundary be-
tween Time and Eternity
''When | am Dead . more or less signifies
resignation, or dependent wo, fnltilment of
nature, a perverslon of its end, may these
words express, though sad they are at best
When the aged man, whose steps have grown
| f.a.t I,N q T..
hand tremble with the fruits of his off given
charity, utters these words, they fall from the
lips a prayer TO heaven. In them his will
harmonIzes with bis destiny, and the tear that
starts for supefior soul about to leave its clay,
gllstens in the light OF happiness CLEANS out OF
the heart at the prospective reward of tie iu-
ture The lips, too, that never pressed the rim
OF the iount OF Natures Poesy, may murmur
"When am dead 20 but death to such one,
is better, perhaps, than life. His heart holds
no music, Ginning in cadences 10 veal or wo,
his inward existence is void, and the rough sur
face OF his being, chrckered though not bright
ened by the halt stray thoughts, darkens but
little with the panoply Of the tomb. How dif-
G."4nt ,nhsn ,'nnfh glnVinE with beauty Of
soui dhu hearl. rich with The treasures of mind
ana warm with sympathy for all of Iovellness.
signs, Ike The south wind, s'When | am dead -
n spirit seems to wall lis anthem, and an ecIIDsi
Oh the noontide sun 10 fall upon the picture of
a high nature checked in lis purpose-tprned
Lloih uuicet waves upon coral reef, against
Tue rocks OF destructive shore
''When ] am dead 20 1t is as mournfnl as
Ine plant oil ghost on the tempest and mid
nisht "lhd. But We must all say il some time
Tor the grave lies at hand, yawnng through a
oed OF thorns or CLEANING like white avenue
d nope leaning against the stars.
"N hen ain dead !" Strange and fearful
import bath II to the utterer, but il is a weak
'hrase to others, the great world Who speaks
may think the single going forth of a soul
vii move none-all will be as before. When
e, and you, and we, gentle reader. are folded
our shrouds, friends dearest and those who
2vtd US best, will dry their tears ere they have
u begun 10 flow. The heart that beats with
iPture against our own will freeze above our
emory IN brief time-briefrr than woman's
uSt or mans period of goodness
But 1t is well thus It's the worlds custom
ID natures law. We weep not for the dead
1t while they die We shall soon b. with
EN- and 1t may be good 10 go early TO their
rrow homes.
NoRTnUMBEGIA Cornrv Tho n ..