The southern enterprise. [volume] (Greenville, S.C.) 1854-1870, 1857-12-31
-..------- "a r EF Lex OF
maNuuEsa
GREENvILLE. SOUTH CAROLINA. II

was VIII me. roIty HiiliiOuS vi ulHIlOnS OF
tons weight was upon me- Oh, how l suf
focated snd smotheredl But dead rs was,
consciousness still cluug to me. had died.
why could Inot cease to be Time had pass
ed sway; there was no day, no night. But
f mortal measure could indicate the period
lay alone, and dark, and suffocate, be.
| meath that weight, centuries might have
flown above my head.
| The, silence was as dread as the suffoca-
tion was terrible. There was no sound.--
All was still, still dark and hopeless. Had
the mountain roared as it crushed, it would
have been an alienation. But it did its
work without sound, without remorse, like
Fate, grim and silent.
have said there was no measure of time
to tell how long his measureless weight
pressed me down. There came relief A
sense of hearing came to me, or, the inter-
nal Gres of earth had rolled nearer to me.
heard their voice, distant as yet, like the
wind in the leaves of ten thousand forests
like the surge of thousand unseen
oceans. felt its beat. But it was far
away. a new sense of suffocation came
upon me. This suffocating force now sur
rounded me, came within me, and pressed
me out. This suffocation within was like
some vast expanding force, but it did not
lift the weight of the mountain that was
upon me. That still held its awful pressure
But heard the Titans breathing as they
| fed the fires. This state lasted--who shall
say how longi y.,
Then came--was it true could be-
lieve it2-a dim sense of sight. / saw,
dimly and afar, the forms of those giants
who fed the central fires of the planet
They moved silent and grim, watching their
work; and when a ril of molten rock
glided apart from the mass, they staid it
with their ronderous feet, and scooped it
back to its place with vast hands.
Then the mountain began to lift and
swell. II seemed slowly TO rise-the hun.
dredth part of an inch. Then, part of the
way back il sank. 1t might have been a
year in rising the little space But at times
| could feel that it was rising. Into the
chinks that it made as it rose, pressed, hot
and fierce, vapors of sulphur from the fires.
These enpeloped Inc more closely than even
the mountains weight. prayed that the
mountain would again shut down and press
them out Its blank, dead suffocation, with
all its eternal weight, was better.
But the vapors thinned as the mountain
slightly, almost imperceptibly, lifted. Great
God felt the touch of human finger
live finger. 1t lay beneath my arm, in
the arm pit. felt it plainly-the artery
throbbed against il. Was there life was
it life7 No, no, the touch died away.
had no arteries-no human sensation. 1t
was dream of the sleep of death. awoke
from it-awoke to eternal death. the noun
tain's weight, and hot fiery vapors. Un-
yielding, they pressed me still within and
without.
Again-was it again dread dream IL
had a sense of light, yelled and clouded
light, as through sleeper's unopened lids.
| The light, dim as it was, was steady and
continued. / watched it long-long u
Ages was the only measure, if measure be-
yOnd ths grave there could be. But so
dim it was that hope grew sick, and died,
and rotted within me, and fell back into
the old desolate suffocation--the eternal,
I unvarying pressure Of the mountains weight
More ages went by.
Then all at once was light, and voice,
and human hand. Light, sound, touch,
flashed at once upon me. How they min.
gled and throbbed with the dead suffoca
tion! 1t was too much. Now, on the eve
Of relief, had my former prayer answered.
Sensation passed away. / was not. Ami.
hilation had come.
From annihilation-or from an utter
blank of consciousness---I awoke, with pain,
and fatigue and still the sense of weight un
utterable, to find that there was indeed light
and touch, and hearing. The touch--it was
a live hand-a human hand. God, the
merciful and kind it was my own fathers
hand ! it was his finger beneath my armpit.
Now / felt it meet the artery myself felt,
in sympathy with him, the throb. I had
come back to life. Death was over.
I Though it was no dream, this awakening
though | knew it to be real, yet for hours
held but state Of semi consciousness. -
But knew that death was oyer-1 knew
lived. recognised the various members OF
my family in my room. I heard my ia.
theirs voice, subdued but joyful, proclaiming
bis unwavenng faith during all, that was
alive.
Then the doctor came. He entered the
room where / lay.
/ "The boy is alive, doctor r. exclaimed my
father.
Il Nonsense n was the heartless kuaye's re.
i ply---this devil Of q doctor. AT times I fecl