Houma Ceres. [volume] (Houma, Parish of Terrebonne, La.) 1855-18??, 1856-04-10

su8I0CtOlS 0lO q 1uOAV MUMMY |
i've contracts but an empty form. In this
ransitive state, this state Of dizzy revoiu'
ion, when the mind Of whole country is
on fire, the crude visions Of theorists are
taken as the oracles Of truth, and measures
adopted less from the deliberations Of rea'
son. than from the wish or necessity OF do
ing something. But we in this country
are in imminent danger, not only OF dlves''
ing ourselves ofthe worthless erurie which
had gathered over the surface Of society
and grown inveterate by the neglect OF
centuries, but also of tearing away many
of those integuments which are neediui
for the beauty and protection OF the BODY
polite, and even Of laying bare the vital
organs.
There are many things in which we are
getting to be entirely too modern. The
old fashioned duties of industry and sobrie-
~, economy and contentment, are becom'
ing somewhat too musty in our catalogue
of virtues. These virtues, having in them
nothing of the spirit of the nineteenth
century" and being Of discovery far prior
to that Of steam, or even ofgunpowder, are
pushedly sadly into the back ground by Ia
ter inventions. The obi. ations to strict
Justice, and undertaking honesty, and the
propriety Of even mans attending to his
own business, and remaining in that sta
ton for which he is best fitted-obligations
which have been recognized ever since the
flood-are growing rather obsolete among
us. Judging by the portentous progress
made among them by the 'march Of mind, !"
the more deeply indoctrinated among a
certain political party. may soon be ex-
pected to advocate total abolition Of the
statute book and the ''iex scripta," and in
their place, the substitution Of variable
and voluntary "le1 non sripta," as the sole
rule from the conduct Of the individual man
]-ridelicit, his within, his interest, or bis
impulse.
The claims Of antiquity to respectful at
tention, and Of universal belief to religious
veneration, are losing greatly Of their
strength among our omnicient sages. Yet
according to our modes Of thinking, these
sober virtues and this reverential awe Al
the voice Of buried world, are absolute.
ly essential to the lasting posserity Of q M
ton. We do not mean that we are Il
tread with scrupulous precision in the foot
steps Of our fathers, and suffer an unrea'
soning reverence for .'hoay eld' t
shackle our free limbs with their childish
prejudices, and plunge US into all their alb
surdities Of belief and ennImities Of action
But the condensed experience Of ages, ant
the gathered warnings Of race, whose
lessons have been conned but too deeply
in the school Of affection, should sink int
our hearts with the weight Of prophecy
The fact that every government, Of what
ever description, and however prosperou'
for time, has at last gone down into thu
grave Of nations, ought to chasten our con
fdence with an awful fear. We, if w
are prudent, can draw blessings from thei
sorrows, and wisdom from their folly
! strength from their weakness, and lirmnes
from their fall. But the same tide which
swallowed them in its whirlpools CT dashe'
q them on its ragged rocks, is bearing u
Ionward with resistless force. If VI
awake not in time. and watch the buoy
and lighthouses set up by History alonl
tho wreck.strewn shore, we shall not evel
dream Of danger, till the roar Of the break
lers shall thunder in our ears, and the una
Iriners shall spring in horror from thei
thoughtless repose, and the ship Of Stat
founder and 60 down in darkness.
Ancicnt.-Lord Lindsey states that il
ths course Of his wanderings amid th
, Pyramids Of Egypt, he stumbled ON
: mummy, proved BY its hieroglphics to b
Ma I.A 0nnn 800. - >.n ~ >~>,~su