Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1861-09-20
The Dread of Dying.

S VI
The pain of dying must be distinguished
from the pain of the previous disease for
when life ebbs, sensibility declines. AS
death is the final extinction Of corporeal
feelings, SO numbuess increases as death
ccmes on. The prostration of disease, ike
healthiul fatigue, engerders growing stu
Por-a sensation Of subsiding softly into a
coveted repose. The transition resembles
what might be seen in those lofty noun
tains, whose sides exhibiting every climate
in regular graduation, vegetation luxuriates
at their base, aud dwindles in the approach
to the regions Of snow, till its feeblest man.
/ Hesitation Is repressed by cold. The so call
ed agony can never be greater Than when
the brain is the last 10 90, and the mind
| preserves 10 the end rational cognizance
of the state of the body. Yet persons thus
situated attest that there are few things in
life less painful than the close. "If ! had
strength enough TO hold a pen, said Will
L
delightful it is 10 die" "If this be DYING"
said the niece of Newton of Olney, 1T is a
pleasant thing to die" "The very expires
sion," adds her uncle, (which another friend
Of mine made use Of on her death bed
few years ago" The same words have so
often been uttered under similar eircum-
stances. that we could fill pages with instan-
ees which are only varied by the name of
the speaker. IF this be dying" said Lady
Glenorchy, sit is the easiest thing imagin-
able" Il thought that dying had been
more difficult said Louis XIV. II did
not suppose it was so SO sweet to die, said
Francis Saurez, the Spanish theologian.-
An agreeable surprise was the prevailing
sentiment with them all. They expected
the stream to terminate in the dash of the
torrent, and they found it was losing itself
in the gentIest current. The whole of the
faculties seems sometimes concentrated on
the placid enjoyment. The day Arthur
Murphy died, he kept repeating from Pope:
Taught half by reason, half by mere decay,
10 seleoms death AID calmly pass away"
Nor does the calm pariake of the sensi-
tiveuess of sickness. There was swell in
the sea the day Collingwood breathed his
last, upon the element which had been the
scene Of his glory. Captain Thomas ex-
pressed fear that he was disturbed by the
tossing of tho ship. "No, Thomas" he re-
piled, II am row in a state in which nothing
in this world can disturb me more. | am
dying and am sure it must be consolatory
to you and all who love me, to see how COM
fortably am coming to my end"
A second and common condition of the
dying is TO be lost to themselves and all
around them, in utter unconsciousness.-l
Countenances and gestures might in many
cases suggest that however dead 10 the ex-
ternal world, an interior sensibilty still re-
manned. But we have the evidence of those
whom disease has left at the eleventh hour,
that while their supposed suferings were
pilied by their friends, existence was blank.
Montaigne, when stunned by fall from his
horse, tore open his doublet; but he was
entirely insensible, and only knew after
wards that he did it from the information of
his attendants.
The deIirium of fever is distressing to
witness, but the victim awakcs from it as
from heavy sleep, totally ignorant that be
has passed days and nights tossing YEARLY
and talking wildly. Perceptions which had
occupied the entire man could hardly be OBJ
liberated in the instant of recovery or if |
any were inclined TO adopt a solution, there
is yet proof that the callousness is real, in
the unfnching mar ner in which bad sores
are rolled upon, that are too tender to bear
touching when the sense was restored
Wherever there is insensibility, virtual
death precedes death itself, and to die is TO
awake in another world. -Loadon Quarter
b.
, a broker, not long ago, when escorting a
fair damsel home, asked her what kind Of
money she liked best. OF course the blush
ing beauty instantly suggested matrimony.
F." What rate Of interest does il bring in
quired the man of current funds aud Wild
cat documents. If properly invested
iisped the fair eharmer-~ if properly in
vested, it will double the original stock