Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1855-10-17
The Orphans of the Pestilence.
Alone alone !! all-all alone
Alone on the worlds wide sea y

We know of no state that is SO sad in its
relations as that of orphanage. 1t appeals
to human sympathy. That heart
must be irredeemably insensible to the better
feelings of man, if it does not glow with ten
der emotions when contemplating the con-
dition of a fatherless and ~motherless little
child.
The PestiIence, in Yellow Robes, at Nor
folk and Portsmouth has much in it to op-
press humanity. Homes have been broken,
hopes crushed and happy places been laid
desolate. But perhaps the most touching
relation in which it can be viewed is the or
phanare it has occasioned. Hundreds of
helpless children have been cast off alone
on the worlds wide sea-" A year ago and
they were the light, the JOY and the hope of
happy homes with counsellors and protectors.
But the arms of the fathers that protected
them now lie cold and rigid in the Potter's
Field, and the brightness ofthe mothers eyes
have been dimned and they sleep the long
night of Death in the sacred Goods Acrev'
Many of them are too young to realize their
great loss. In after days, they will not be.
able to remember the hands that ministered
unto them and the hearts that loved them
Many cannot tell the names by which they
were called, and will go forth under new
names. Some are old enoughto realize their
mournful condition, and will start out in life,
i ubpca ronrpsn~ - oIn,1o1 x-,4I. Io~l-o,o -
whose pathway will be crowded with the most
heart-rending memories.
We rejoice that the great heart of the ma
ton throbs with sympathy for the orphans of
the Pestilence. They have been cared for
by humane ladies. The needle and the purse
has been brought into requisition and their
present and most pressing wants supplied
But they are &c alone" and God help the or
phans when a sense of the present calamity
has passed away and become a matter of his
tory. Many of the orphans will have to bat
tie with life's cares unaided and ~uncounsel
led. God help the orphans left by the Vel
low Pestilence! ~
King Rum, in his Red Robe, sends forth
orphans from every city, town and hamlet il
the land. His Internal massacre goes on a
fearfully in the mountains as in the low land
by the sea. The Rum Plague has long res
} ted on our shores, and the orphans of thi
/, scourge cry at our own doors. The darl
9 wing shade of this Angel of Death darken
every land, and the life of the first born no
| sprinkling with hyssop and blood the Inlet
of the door, is sufficient sacrifice or securit
Y against further invasion. The wailing of run
; made orphans goes up to Heaven from tn
+ Carolinas, from the home of Washington
n from New England, from the lone Star State
from far off Oregon, the land of gold, fror
the Kingdoms beyond the sea and the isles
d the ocean. There is wailing everywher
where the foot of man has trodden from thi
$ wide spread curse. Is not the anguish of tn
e orphan who kneels at the unadorned grave
d the poor drunken father as bitter as that {
t his fellow mourner who weeps Ger the sod
his protector swept off by the prevailing pc
4 thence ? Is Death more terrible and berea'
n ing in Yellow Robes OF Red?
2 God helptheOrphansleft by the Red Plagr
of Rum !! X