Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1858-01-20
THE GAZETTE.
DISINTERMENT.
WEDNESDAY MORNING, JANUARY 20, 1858.

DISINTERMENT.
You have attended many iuneral5' Out
did YOU ever attend disintermenH You
have seen many loved form lowered into
its dreary tomb, but have you ever, after an
interval of many lougyears gone down again
70 the same tomb to look alter the cOnneo
dust, that you might remove 1t to more
Quiet and halowed resting-place? That was
nv business for a short time some few nights
ago in your busy city. There, where,
throughout the day, beats loudest the heart
of YOUR great metropolis, stood around
vault that had not been opened Tor thirty
wears, a few descendants of those whose re-
mains lay within. The quiet of the place at
that time contrasted strikingly with the din
and whirl of the day. The pedlars and
small tradesmen had moved their shops and
wares from the sidewalk. The tread of busy
human feet was no longer heard. The rush
ing, anxious multitudes of all ages and conal-
tions. that were few hours before coming
and going to deposit or to receive letters upon
which were suspended many joys or SORROWS
thew, too, had gone to come again o'mor-
row The larger stores are closed, and cast
their dark shadows upon the surrounding
gloo&.
How many had stood around that same
opening under other circumstances, and IN
the midst Of other scenes.
Nearly a hundred years had past since
the first interment had been made there
One of the early Tressurers Of the city was
among its first occupants; and he had been
buried there when it was green and almost
rural spot. There lay two wives, mother
and daughter, whose husbands belonged to
the staff of Washington; the last, NOZZLE wo-
man, the friend of Lady Washington; the
other, one of the most gay and beautiful OF
the military circle that shared the perlls OF
the camp There, too, lay the beloved
brother of this lady. He bad chosen lie
! Of service in another warfare, and has lett
his memorial on the hearts of some not yet
departed. The friend and companion OF
Hamilton. Mason, Miller, and Livingston,
he shope bright even amidst that galaxy OF
eloquent men, As his frame wound its
slow way around Broadway to the Ne'0
Dutch Church, the tragedian, Cooper, who
was looking on, exclaimed, "Thst was
good man; wish l was as sure of heaven as
he"
No one but he who has felt it, can know
the bitterness OF q memory renewed by look
ing upon and handling, after an interval OF
thirty, or forty, and fifty years, the collins
that then entered and left the houses OF mour-
ming for the first time. Those child collins
of the beautiful blue-eyed sisters that lighted
ND our household for two and three years,
and then were laid, amidst tears OF anguish,
in those narrow cribs, looking as IT asleep,
vet never to open those eyes again. There
their cofRns Law, with their loved names en-
prayed upon the lids; and although we knew
their spirits lived in unclOuded light, yet
memory brought back the scenes OF the past
the laughing prattling JOY of the house, the
first languor, the slow, lingering sickness,
the watching through long nights, the pale,
anxious mother, the fearful father, the alter
nate hopes and fears, the noiseess tread OF
the brothers and sisters peering into the
cradle, and then the dying throes, and the
stiffness of the heaving breast, and the loud
sobs of parents, and the wailings OF children,
and the sad, sad, funeral! The weepers and
the wept were together in in the flesh once
apaip-the living and dead met 10 that dark
sepulchral vault, never again to meet until
the final resurrection! What changes had
taken place around those tombs since we
had, more than forty years before, stood a
the outskirts of the city-then below Wall
street, was the court end of the town. The
Battery was the evening place Of resort, and
Trinity Church walk the centre OF the fash
ionsble promenade.
How time passes Fifty years hence, and
how few of the busy throng that now daily
toll with hurried step along that thorough
fare between the Custom House and the City
Hall, will be moving upon earth. Ii the
Saviour of the world should stand under the
shadow of that old building once consecrated
to his service, as be used to stand near the
Temple of Jerusalem, and cay, the hour Is
coming, in which all that are in their graves
shall hear bis voice and shall come forth;
"they that have done good, unto the resurreG-
ton of life, and they that have done evil
unto the resurrection of damnation," think
you that those busy men would believe and
repent? Alb, let them pause and reflect that
the tomb levels all distinctions but those
which are founded on the word of jesus
Cir. Int.