Weekly Clarksville chronicle. [volume] (Clarksville, Tenn.) 185?-1857, 1857-01-30
@l2CELbAyy.

BY JAMES H, DANA.
+ CONCLUDED.

looking cavalier stoOd 10 the streets OF Lonuph'
and gszcd around him with mingled astonisb
ment, awe and horror. II was the year o. ih''
great plague. The pesiilence was A. It's height,
The whole city, as If doomed 10 destruction.
had put on sackcloth and ashes. On every
hand around him was fear, misery; distress and
death The houses of entertainment were
cosed-the shops seemed to have been shut up
for months-lhe streets were silent, deserted,
and in many places grass-grown; and every
where around him, in the hurried pace Of the
passengers the desolaton on every visible
thing, and most of all in the closed houses,
with the terrible cross chaked upon them, and
the fearful motto. "the Lord have mercy upon
u.s." written above to tell of infection within,
the cavalier saw the marks Of the destroying
pes;ience.
Long and with wonder he gszed around him.
He had obviously just arrived in The city, for
everything seemed to wear to him an unex'
pecled aspect A stranger! and ir such place.
What madness could hive prompted him to en-
ter the infected walls! ar
The mien of The cavalier wns noble as we
have said; but it only WED with he spleDdor of
his costume. Net that there was aught Of
foppery In his dress. On the contrary, every.
thing he wore, was for that age. singularly
plain. But the materials were all of The most
costly kind, and there was an air of wealth in
everything upon his person. Even the few
IN, ,ha ipvo aril
lifted their hats to him as he passed He was
unattended, however by servants; for riches
themselves tailed to tempt men into this fearful
pus,-house. Why then was he here!
The night was closing in when The stranger
reached Church. The congregation ap
peared about leaving the doors He stepped
up to them, but all shrank from him, as they
shrank from each other. Few as their mum.
bers were they seemed 10 fear contamination
from every one they met. The cavalier looked
within the church. 1t was almost deserted
The clergyman had already disappeared An
old sexton, except the rapidly re,reating
worshippers, was the only person visible.
But even he appeared about avoiSing the
stranger, until piece of gold, bestowed on
him by the cavalier proved too strong for his
fears.
Your honor" said the old man, in a thin
piping voice, which told how nigh the owner
was to the grave. 'would not deceive me, for
the love of God. You are not nfected''
'l am not; but it must be terrible visitation
when such question has to be asked"
"Terribe-terrible it is indeed. The Lord
have mercy upon U.s." answered The sexton
"what would your honor say If l told you al
most a thousand die daily, and that the grave
yards are full long gol They bury them now
in trenches, hundreds at time. The plague
increases hourly. A neighbor meets you 20
day and tomorrow he is dead. Yon know 10.
whom to trust. Even now-thodgh Gnd Ior
bid-your honor may have the tokens up""
you, and before midnight be a corpse. Good
Lord deliver us!''
Is it indeed so owfula-l am stranger
and had heard something of this, but the truth
far exceeds the worst description.
al thought your honor was not citizen, or
mayhap might not have been so ready to
talk with you; no offence, I hope. But as you
say it is an awful time. Nobody comes here
to church but these few you saw, and they are
nearly ali the people who are yet healthy in
our parish. All! but they thin daily. There
was one young lady here but yesterday. She
went home. and complained of feeling unwell.
Her mother tore off the scarf from her bosom,
and found the token there. She shreked out
and tainted away. Well to-day the mother
too is carried off, for needn't say that the
daughter died in less thAn an hour after she
reached home Yesterday"
Good God!" said the cavalier, sand is this
indeed true!"
"True ss that I'm talking now to your honor
But that ia not the worst. Whole families are
sometimes cut off in few days. As soon as .
house gets infected they mark it and close II,
setting waichmen to guard it, and GO errOnds
for those inside. They allow nobody TO go in
but nurse Sometimes she enters, and the
house is then shut, never 10 be opened again
until the watchmen break ia and find them all
dead. And this too happens every day. That
large brick house yonder last week had
happy family within it Five days ago the
youngest child was taken with the plagne-lhe
house wss marked-lhey learned day ailer
that two more were sick, and then nothing was
heard from inside for two days, ill the watch
men, fearing all was not right, broke 10, aud
found them all dead to a soul. On! your hon
or it is a terrible visitation, the Lord God Al
mighty have mercy upon us."
"Amen!" calculated the cavalier.
"They do say, too that 1t il even worss in
the next parish. What few of the nobility re-