The Corinth war eagle. [volume] (Corinth, Miss.) 1862-186?, 1862-08-07

was necessary to cut of his boots. The fol-
lowing were his last entries in the diary
entries singularly pathetic, whether ys sup
pose them to be his last excuses to The vorld,
OF she true rtterqneo Of his olc@ssssr-. o..
...s,sse tre3y Psillap@s 9 l.ss>t,rrs -ees,.,
Thursday, February 18Th - now
laid under some straw, by haystae1, near
Motpeth, last night and all day God Knows
if ever will be able to proceed further. l
would like to have got to Chestcr-le Street,
to be buried there, that my poor wife, when
she looked on my grave, might forgive and
weep
" Saturday, 15th.-One week ny punish
ment has lasted. still lie here, bu~very
weak and much panied in the bowels
" Sabbath 16th-Another day ~..hout
food or drink cold When will tb-.Frial
be over?
"Mondsy, 17th.-o God grant me patti
ence.
" Tuesday, 1sth.-Alone without !. soul
to see or speak to, bit of bread, or afop
Of drink for six days and nights; howslong
can it be ?
:" "Wednesday, 19th.-This cannot hold cut
long. Help, 0 Lord
Friday, 21st.-The ninth day without
food got drink of water last night
Sabbath, 23rd-Eleven days my legs
are useless. 0 God when will it end
Monday, 24th.-Oh, I am weary ons
part Of my body appears to be dead. can
not go for drink now. 9th Februar.t-
Seventeen days suffering during that line
had twice piece of bread, twelve Gays
without norsel
- -
wait. meet him without fear Jes,'s is
all. Oh, He has saved me, yet so as by fire,
these thirteen days 0 bless Him for them
to Him commit my SOUL my memory, my
family, my all. Amen"
The strange absence, here. of that self
horror which the intention of suicide usual
" creates, and the curious appearance in its
place of that glow of unhealthy enthusiasm
unhealthy in the agony of such death
which lights up the poor MANS reeling brain
in his last hour are singularly painful-the
more so, perhaps, if they were intended, for
the world than if they were not. in these
last days the poor editors survey of himself
can scarce have been more complete or faith
ful than his intellectual surveys Of Falkirk
from the steeple-top. Mixed with the
prayers for help and the hope of pardon
there must have come many bitter doubt,
or, if not, at least many All image which
would have caused doubt had his mind been
clear. Yet; perhaps, after all, these brief
editorials on his own fate were not much
less incomplete or distorted not only than
this particular editors liberal teachings to
Falkirk, but even many of the most valuable
products of our editorial class in general.
Those precious literary contributions in his
pocket that aided no doubt to nerve 1Jr.
Birnie, in the midst Of the most terrible
pangs of famine, against adrnittiag thSs4acts
Of beggary, and the consequent duty of beg
ging from his fs1low-men--against how many
equally stern facts of life do they not nerve
the literary class to rebellion How few
men of lis all can look at the fact as il is, if
literary reputation intervenes between it
and our eyes ? This man is rot the only
beggar who has imputed to himself literary
righteousness that he had not. To us there
seems something representative as we'll as
tragic about his career. The confusion be-
tween the pride of writing and the pride of
seeing, which took his editorial Imagination
up to pinnacle from which he could see,
not indeed all the regions of the earth, but
all the dwellings of his audience the over
throw of his ambition causing intoxiGtion
rather than humiliation; the stubborn litera-
ry pride, which urged him to a double act OF
suicide, and kept him to the last from appeal
ing to the mercy of his fellow-men; and
finally, the triumphant register of his suf-
! ferings, written in the tone of martyr, with
the eternal world SO close upon him and SO