Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1863-01-22

|
the CANDY epauette, or the gilded shoulder
strap with its three glittering stars But the
worlds criterion of merit is not founded upon
those noble aud sterling qualities of the heart,
| which are the true index of the man, but Of
tener upon wealth, rank and social position.
The world has yet to learn that heart may
beat with just as true aud generous impulses
| beneath rags or homespun as under satin or
broadcoth
What a terrible harvest has the Great
Reaper been gathering in during the past year.
In the camp and on the battle fed-by dis
ease and the bullet, he has been gathering in his
harvest,-been reaping with a busy, tireless
hand And we are daily proving the truth
OF Shelley's words, when he says
Death is here and death is there,
Death is busy everywhere,
All around, within, beneath,
Above is death--and are death.
First our pleasures de-and then
Our hopes, and then our tears-and when
These are dead, the debt is due,
Dust claims dust-and we die too"
AT last the lengthening shadows admonish
ed US, and we turned our steps cityward As
we were quitting the grounds the sound of
the toliing bell again fell upon the ear, aud
sent its mournful echoes far out over the busy,
tumultuous city. What a contrast ! Here,
around US, lie the inhabitants of the city of
the dead-where all is beautiful, where eter-
nal silence ever reigns, save the tolliug of the
bell, which is but the welcoming peal of an.
other recruit to the Silent Army, while from
the city at our feet, ever and anon comes up
the noise, the jargon of the hurrying, bustling
throng. Toli-toll- Such is the com,
mon requiem Of Man-to.day he is working
al t,ln H.
as with the worker, SO with the workS-they
must perish !; and not only the works of man
but the works of Nature itself, are doomed to
pass away, to vanish like a feeting shadow.
Aye =
Thr The islondeapt towers the gorgeous palaces
YEA all which it inherit, shall dissolve;
And, like an unsubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a wreck hind.''-ShakSpeaTe
Toil-tol-toIl ! A long hearse, followed
by magnificent cortege, moved past. The
ostentaton, the pomp told plainly that Que
had been taken from the higher walks of life,
and as we turned away we asked ourselves the
question if this poor devotee at Mammon's
shrine is any the happier now for being borne
to his grave, surrounded by the pomp and pa
geantry, the glittering parapAernaa of wealth,
OF pride and place if the waves of Lethe's
tabled stream roll more calmly over his breast
than they do over that of the poor pauper who
is kicked into bis grave, aud over whose death
the world gives sigh of relief that be is out
of the way if his sleep will be sweeter be-
meath gorgeous mausoleum, than that of the
beggar who lies q little way off without
mark or stone? No Death is the leveler
of all human distinctions Beyond the River
all will meet on an equality-the high and
the low, the rich and the poor, the prince and
the pauper the proud and the humble. Death
has been unjustIy termed remorSeless tyrant,
and yet, why should we fear him The sleep
he brings is a tranquil, dreamless sleep, where
no cOrrodng cares break in upon its reposes.
Ills but a rest from the wearyng strife of
earth-a rest after years Of toll and hardships
When tired of these, we can fold our hands
and lie down to that sleep which is hushed,
deep and Oreatbless, with the assurance that
its sumbers will be unbroken--ts duration
eternal. Yes
'1|s long, It's last, 'tis beautiful rest,
When all sorrow has passed from the brow and the
breast
And the lone spirit, it wisely may crave,
That sleep which is dreamleSsthG sleep of the grave.
NEWPORT, r, l.. ID Oct, 1862.