Delaware weekly Republican. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1841-188?, 1857-12-03

swath or hoed my row with the pesl, ~ M u
fortunate hour became the victim OF medl-
cine which than prevailed, but which now,
happily is nearly disused. had some sort
of fever Nc doubt was Ill enough. FROM
my right arm. one day tho physician took
ounces Of blood-how many know not GER
tainiy, In liquid measure, gallon Of the RED
fluid flowed / did not mend that day at
least. suppose did not, for on the next day
he cut my left arm. and took from thence
like measnre--the crimson measure OF hali
life. was dead man then But a shudder
or two always must come before the conscious
soul let's go its hold upon the frame. WIN
me the shudders were in the shape OF cold /
sweats There were three of them. BY the |
slock--so some one ut my bedside whispered
the chill and sweat lasted six hours. Six
din, dark centuries they were to me. The
third--its commencement, its fierce chill, Its
dead cold, compared with which Ice were
pleasing warmth--its dread slow march, 1 re
member, bur nothing more. In tho midst OF
it, / lost all sense of life and its pains. The
great gates of.the valley OF death rolled On
their ponderous hinges and shut nae in.
l do not recollect the circumstances of flu
neral and iuterment. In fact, do not deem
that was buried. The weight l felt above
me knew was no more than ten feet of earth,
in quiet nook, with daisies springing from it.
The mountains were resting on ME. realized
5 their weight. Straight up TO the Ii ht--if light
sxisted-as under the centre OF the central
AhouuAiiu LAY, IL WAS lu1nJ Ihlica tltOhEh opi-
Id rock. was not imbeded in the rock, like
cold toad, caught in during the formative
era Of the geologies. It lay upon me. felt
all its weight. Sense had gone, but conscious
ness was with me. Forty millions OF millions
OF tons weisht was upon me. Oh, how spt'
fscated aud smothored But, dead as was,
consciousness still chung to ne. had died.
why could not cease to bel Time had pass
ed away Z; there was no day, no night. But if
mortal measure could indicate the period
lay alone, and dark, and sutfocate, beneath
that weight, centuries might have flown above
my head.
The silence was as dread as the suffocatlon
was terrible. There was no sound. AL was
atill, dark and hopeless. Had the mountain
reared as it crushed, it would have all been an
aleviation. But it did its work without
sound, without remorss, like Fate, grim and
silent.
have said there was ne measure of time to
tell how long this measureless weight pressed
me down. There came relief. A sense Of
hearing came to me, or, the internal fires OF
earth had rolled nearer to me. 1 heard their
voices, distant as yet, like the wind in the
leaves of ten thousand foreSts-like the surge
of thousand unseen oceans. l felt its beat,
butt was far away. A new sense of suffoca-
ton came upon me. This sutfocating force
now surrounded me, came within me, and
pressed me out. The suiiocaton 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. Bnt
heard the Titans breathing as they fed ths
fires. This state lasted who shall say hos
long7
Then came--was il true 7--could believe
III ia dim sense of sight. saw, dimly atlo
afar, the forms of those giants who fed the
central fires of the planet. They moved 81
lent and grim, watching their work and wheI
rill of molten rock glided apart from til,
mass, they staid it with their ponderous feet
and scooped it back to its place with vas
hands.
Then the mountain began to lift aud swell
1t seemed slowly4o rise--the hundreth part o.
an inch. Then, part of the way back it sank
1t might have been year rising that little
space. But at times could feel that it was
rising. Into the chinks that it made as it rose
pressed hot aud fierce vapors of sulphur from
the fires. These enveloped me more clos oily
than even the mountains weight. prayet
that the mountain would again shut down aud
press them out. Its blank, dead suffocation
with all its eternal weight, was better.
But the v8pors thinned as the mountain
slightly, almost imperceptibly, lifted. Grea
God felt tho touch Of a human fingers
Linz llS p pt. fet psihy-tRo artery t6robbed
against it.. Was there life was IL life No
no. The touch died away. had no arteries
mo human sensation. 1t was dream Of the
sleep of death. l awoke from Invoke Il
eternal death, the mountains weight and hu
fiery vapors. Unyielding, they pressed MI
still within and without.
Again-was it again dread dream; l ha,
q sense of light, yelled and clouded light, a
through a sleeper's unopened lids. The ligh
dim as it was, was steady and continued.
watched it long-long Ages was the onl.
measure, if measure beyond the grave Their
could be. But so dim it was that hope grey
sick and died, aud rotted within me and
tell back into the oil, desolate sutfocatiens-
thp eternal, unvarying pressure OF the noun
tains weight. More ages went by.
Then all at once was light, and a voice, an
human hand. Light, sound, touch, fashet
at once upon me. How they mingled AM
throbbed with tue dead suffocation! 1t wa
too much. Now on the eve of relief, hal
my former prayer answered. SENSATION passc
away. WAS not. Annihilation had come.
FroRl annihilation--9r from an utter blan
of consciousneGs-I awoke, with pain, aud ia
tigue and still tho sense of weight unulterablc
to find that there was indeed light, and touch
and bearing. The touch-it was live han
"a human hand. God, the mercifnl and Kind
it was my own fathers hand 1t was his fling
CT beneath my armpit. Now islt il NEE
the arleryl 1 myself felt, in sympathy wit
him, the throb. L had como back to iife,-
Death was over.
Though it was no DREAM this awakening
though knew it to be real, yet for hours
held but state of semi-consciousness. BIT
/ knew tia death was over-I knew lived
recognize inc various members OIL my ian
lily in my room. / heard my fathers voice
subdued but with joyful, tones proclaimin
his unwaveriug faith, during all, that wa
alive.
Then tho Doctor came He entered tn
room where lay.
The boy is alive, doctor, !" exclaimed In
father.
/" Nonsense 20 was the heartess kpaye,s re
ply-this devil of doctor. At times fee
must hate him, this doctor who had colIeq
warrant on parchment to murder and bur
beneath mountains.
d" lie does live, Doctor 70 persisted my fatl
or. g Feel beneath his arm.''
The doctor pat hiA band his faithless, col
skilless hand, beneath my arm.
Tho little life there was in me recoiled fror
the contact, fled back to its sources, an
gave no response to his murderous touch.
s'There is no beat there p said he, contemr
tuously turning 10 my father. t'It was all OF
fancy"
My father put his hand beneath my all
again. Trembling, taith-shaken, wayering-
his touch told all that, as he pressed the AFTER
long and no response. The little rill {
life WAS too faint and weak to flow.
Long he held his finger there, and throug
1t could feel his hope die away. He with
drew it at last, and he gazed on the face q
his dead son. He looked long. lie was
kind, good father. | know where the pras
grows above his grave. He gazed long ant
turned away as one who babe farewell
An hour passed. He came back resoInto
hope dauntless in his eye, as It some inspire
frenzy made him hope against hope, and bea
his faith into the presence of despair.
He touched again the artery beneath m,
arm. He felt the throb. 1t was fuller mn
faster, as hope seized and animated me an