Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1859-07-08


dation for his feet. That splendid city
is in ruins-her philosopher sleeps in the
dust; and where are his engines of war
They are swept from the recollection OF
men. Go read another example in the
fate of far-famed Troy. Seek there for
the palaces of Priam, once illumined with
the smiles of the tickle, though beautiful
Helen, for whom Sparta fought, and Troy
fell Also, those palace halls are silent,
and the towers of Ilium lie level with the
dust. Old Priam has long since depart
ed from the earth, and the grave of Paris
and bis paramour are unknown. The
mighty Hector, too, the brave antagonist
of Achilles, is no more. The glory of the
house of Priam has departed forever.
The invaders and the invaded sleep to-
gether in the common mausoleum of time,
and their deeds lie only in the tide of
Homer's song.
Nor less has our own land been the
scene of desolation. Here may be seen
the ruins of an Indian empire, more ex-
tended than the empires of the East.
Though they were the children of the
forest, and left no monuments of sculp-
ture, painting, and poesy, yet great were
they in their fall, and sorrowful is the
story of their wrongs.
They once had cities but where are
they? They had their temple of the sun,
but the sanctuary is broken down, and
the beams of the deifed luminary extin-
guished. Though they worsbiped the
Great Spirit and the Genius of storms
E and darkness yet the sacred pages Of
revelation had never been unrolled to
them; the news of the Savior had new
or sounded in the ears of the poor chill
dren of the forest.
t Centuries passed away, and they still
royed the undisputed masters ofthe ives.
: tern world. But at length the white
t mans ship came, darkening on theil
j. shores. They yielded not their empire
e tamely, but they could not stand agains
the sons of light. With slow and solita
: ry steps they took their march to tht
( West, and yielded with a broken hear
r their native hills to another race. Thel
e left their homes and the graves of thei
It fathers, to explore Western wilds, wher,
# no human foot had ever trod, and no hu
e man eye ever penetrated.
a Unhappy children! the tear of pit,
g has been shed over your wrongs and you
e, sufferings. What bosom but beats wit
Is sympathy over the mournful story c
/, their woes. The march of mind has bee
N to them the march TO the grave. Ever
ie age they have rapidly declined, and
+ lingering remnant is now left to sigh owe
the ruins of their empire, and the memo
tn ry of their progenitors.
E. How must the poor child OF the fore
il weep, and how must his heart throb wit
of anguish, when he muses. on the ruins {
II his race, and the melancholy destiny
ne his children. Tho plowshare has passe
b. over the bones of his ancestors, and the
i'll sleep in the land of strangers, In ina
at ination ] see the stately Indian, as
lie. bends from the brow of the misty mou
ng tain, and surveys with swelling hea
ire the ruins of his fallen empire. IT
he griefof years is in his soul, and he ben
is his knee in meek submission before Il
al Great Spirit in the clouds. Unhapl
lilo child my heart mourns over the ruin
it'll hopes of your fading race. The time
the not far distant when the last of the "a
IN of the Red Man will lie him down
lck die upon the wild Pacific shore, with
erd one of his kindred to weep for his depa
low ure, nor wipe the death damp from
the aching brow, but the raging of the billo
ura alone shall howl his requiem, and
Wis, feathered songsters, that twitter in the
ltle liage above his cold, damp pillow, 81
ent, MARBLE his funeral dirge, as his sp
un- takes its noisless flight to Him who g
SEN it. Such are few instances of the ~
stu of time; yet it is scarce a glance at
.ood ceaseless ravages, for there is moth
mar material beneath the skies, which esca
ator its corroding touch. As the trav
rest passes along through our land his at
de- ton is here and there arrested by
nave mounds in the village church-yard,
ause he turns aside to wander through
rcb- city of the dead. Here the prince
beds the peasant, the oppressor and the
and pressed, the rich and the poor, the !
oucb and the low sleep together in the DO
allie of their mother earth" As we re
lrav- to our native land after few short v
esers of absence, how forcibly the changt
COM time are impressed upon our mind
fall Many happy forms that we loved
mana fsOr, sba roov,o- e no-.L Il -