Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1857-02-26


], have crept up aud found home in tn
crevices. In front, four inscrip;ion-stone
S are embedded. They contain the names O
an ancient Dutch fami!y-one of the frs
:. probably, whose axe trenched for hom
u upon the forest that once thickly skirted th'
e shores of the Hudson. One began hi
$ youth at the same time with he last century
r and passed to his rest about the time tha
tried mems souls. The next stone is ;
: child's memorial. We gaze at it tenderly
it was little child of five-and thinG
: how Old it woHld have been had it lived ii |
, now, and wonder if it has been growing Old
in heaven. But .swhat is most remarkable
about it, is circular scar that detaces the
verses beneath, and renders them illegible.
A friend who is familiar with the history
Of the place, assures us that it was occa-
stoned by ball fred from British sloop-
of-war, passing up The river in those troubl-
Gus days Of old. This extraordinary cir
cumstance sets US upon a new train of re-
verie. Death battling against death! We
look down upon the river. calmly sleeping
in the setting sun, while the shadow fiom
the opposite headland slowly creeps towards
US over the waters. White-winged shiI S
go gently gliding up and down; and now a
swift-paced steamer rounds the point, and
her engine strokes reverberate upon the air.
With the present scene in our view, We
think Of the former days, when an enemy's
armed vessels were prowling around these
peaceful shores: or, farther still casting
back our Imagination. we see the high
proved ships of Heddrik Hudson lying at
anchor on the 'fappaan Zee,' while the
wondering natives peer from the thicEets,
and think the Great Mantto has come to
visit them in his ocean-dwelling.
Dropping our reverie, and turning to the
third tablet, we find the name spelled differ
emily, by two letters, from the others. The
suspicion strikes US, that, in its present form
it dose not look SO Dutch, after all. No
matter: their ancestry now concerns them
little. An ocean may here have divided
them from their parent. land, but now they
have reached the Common bourne of all gen.
eaations, where there shall be mo more sea-
to separate-at least let US hope that there
is no great gulf fixed between any of the
members of this little family band.
As we turn ana trace our way onward
among the furrows--for it is furrowed field,
and that which is sown is but the seed of
future life-some names of ancient fame
in the settlement of New Amsterdam m and
its precincts greet our view. Here sleeps
the dust OF the Van Tassels. Irvine's his
toric pen has made the name familiar We
think moment, and pass on, rejecting how
the pride of birth is ever quenched in the
lowliness Of death.
Here is pain, time-worn slab with no
name upon it. Whpse may it be, Was it
a bud that shrunk and dropped ere blossom
ing! or full-blown flower that gave forth
It's measure of perfume, and folded its leaves
In past maturity! We would question the
hoary memorial, but cur answer would be at
least as indefinite as was that which Hamlet,
when engaged in the same occupation as
Ourselves, ,recPIveu from the delvf1s sex TOM
"Hamiet-Whatmsn dosi thou dig that grave for!
ClOun For 10 man. sir.
Hamtet What woman, then2
CLOan For none, neither.
HdmLet.-Who is To buried int?
ClOaH.-One that was Il woman, cir, but, rest
her soul, she's dead"
The twilight shadows are falling and the
solemn stones-the visible 'black spirits
and white of this charnel-feld-begin to
look dim and .ghostiike We push side
the bushes that entangle our f. otsteps, and
make our way back to the entrance When
we have shut behind US the creaking gate,
we seem to have shut in a strange, sacred
spot, upon itself, and have brought forth
with US quiet pensivenoss of mind that
loves silence better than expression, while
the thoughts commune with one another
We have brought, too, little sprie OF ever
green that grew over the grave OF one we
knew. 1t is drbor vite-and how appro-
pirate and suggestive the e1blemI Ii re-
minds US of an aphori<m Of one whose large
heart is in full sympathy with human kind.
Death! translated into the heavenly tongue,
that word means life.'
How little do we like to think of the
time, so inevitably to come upon US all,
when tre shall rest our limbs beneath a
coverlet of turf, and have a tombstone
growing above our head! 1t seems strange
to US, when we are told that the mable as
tronomer in Greenwood, who, quadrant in
hand, is forever determining the altitude of
the sun, is not the representative of one
whose days upon earth are past and gone,
but that the living original, whose unusal
forethought--so unus Lal that it would be
iiu rou.id rat ,,-hip, -,
lreak-has caused it to be erected, is vet
hale and hearty. But why should We no.
think of the future abiding-plac of cur
body when we have done with It! As we
plant naples and eims about our dwellings,
why not plant roses ard hawthorn and mi
gnonnet.e about our prospective narrow
home, ,and associate with tpleasant thoughts
of spreading vines and budding flowers!-
Then the tnearing of the appointed hour
would bring with 1t less of dread; the pen
urnbra OF approaching dissolution would less
darken our souls. Then, methinks,
at were not sad to feel the heart
Crow pussJnesS and cold,
And ieel those lOHgInss 10 depart,
That cheered the saints of Ul:,
To clasp the faith winch looks on high.
Which tres the Christians dying eye,
And makes the curtaIn-iOld
That tails upon his wasting breast,
The door that leads 10 endless. r, ST.
EVENING STARs.-The larger Planets
now visible in the evening aker. sunset
are Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, Of
these, the three first mentioned are to Oe
seen in the western sky, and the last in the
eastern. Venus, the brightest of all, is now
a little to the west Of Jupiter, but appears
to be approaching nearer and nearer to that
L s,,,caadiprr unr