Marshall County Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1855-1859, 1856-04-03
From the Vincennes Gazette.
Passing Away.

Of coming winter, our friends and acquain-
tances are filling around US. We scarcely
issue copy of our paper, without the an
nouncement that another eff our friends has
gone. has died. One day We chronicle the
flight of some lovely infant, ere the heart
had grown familiar with this worlds mis-
cry; the next, manhood in his pride and
strength, has bowed at the universal man.
date" to-day, the last lingering sand has
fallen from the aged pilgrim, and they are
gone, each to their reward. Passing array;
ftding, dying, an1 decay. is written upon
every fold of the great book of nature, in
characters as Of fire, and all who heed can
see the end Of all things earthly. Not a
breeze fans our aching brow, but signs q
requiem for the departed; not flower glis-
tens in the spring time, but whispers, pass
ing away. and writes upon one leaf of ma
lures scroll the great truth that duration is
not Of earth.
Behold yon sporting child, beautiful as
the first budding gem Of early spring; listen
to its silvery voice, its merry Shout Adj
rnire the healthful bloom upon the cheek;
the glistening twinkle of the clear blue eye.
You exclaim, How beautiful!
The bright vision fades from view, and
the slow and solemn funeral train bears to
It's narrow house in the city of the dead,
our sporting flower of yesterday. How
mournfull is the exclamation that trembles
on the lips. The sunshine of life, the tur-
MOL of business, and the eager pursuit of
some glittering bubble, soon dispel the Wis
ion, and with the world we move onward
and onward to cur destiney.
PASSING AwAYl Half dreaming, half
conscious, hardly knowing what characters
are traced, we write our thoughts and ideas
Of life's varying, ever changing condition.
We ask our own heart, if amid that vast
multitude which surrounds us, there is one
mind, one heart, one spirit, which vibrates
responsive to our own, and turning from
the drudgery of toll or the pursuit of pleas
ure, reads the great truth, hears the new
er.ceasing whisper of Nature,--Passing
away
Again we pause, and this time dark
cloud, like funeral pail, is passing over
our spirit-dre,m; not of DESPAIR, not of
dismay, but of DouJt. We listen to the
tempting whisper. We are alone, isolated
from all kindred ties,-upon life's great
stage
ALONE in life, alone in the last changing
scene. Wonder not, kind reader, that the
shadow rests upon the spirit, and hides
from the heart the genial rays of hope, and
trust in human sympathy and common
brotherhood.
FAITH, the anchor of the Christian, bids
US trust; tie shadow passes away and we
live again; not only live, but believe, in
what? Not only in our own existence, but
in connection with our fellows, part Of tie
great world, "a link nfhe great chain of
life. ever moving, changing. and passing
away.
How rapidly we trace these lines, yet
how slow and weary he who reads vii be,
perhaps: even the slightest thought that
perhaps one link in the great human chain
of existence may not weary our disjoined
dottings, is more than compromising our
throbbing brain Oh. our poor taper is dy-
ing away in lis socket, and its struggling
and fitting rays are uncertain: it burns
dim. 1t is gone
By the bright morning light we resume
our theme, and feel changed. Nay it not
be symboical of a new life, life after the
lamp Of this life is out; may it not be
faint, feeble type of heaven, of new be-
ing, of new existence in the great hereaf-
ter?
Again we pause, and while we dream,
but do not reason, Philosophy speaks
Listen vain creature of earth; canst thou
read the future? or canst thy puny vision
reveal the great hidden secret of another
world? Child of earth, what knowest thou
Of endless life beyond the ccnfnes Of the
grave?
Again, the shadow passes over the spirit,
and darkness rests upon the soul.
We read of terrible slaughterings, the
strife of battle, the fierce clangor Of war,
the groans Of the dying, and the smoke of
carnage, and shudder while we read Yet
all this is the merest nothing compared with
doubts of Immortality.
Weare passing away; all nature is chang
ing, mankind are dying, but there is an
unchanging essence of Immortality. We
trust, and the shadow is gone--the bright
morn Is again shining; our heart is again
light, and amid the decay of al things
earthly, we know there is Diety which
shapes our ends, and which will not pass