Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-05-16
ONE /!
A Night KeverIc.

ONE!-The hour, solitary in It's sound
lonely in its melody, solemn in its gloomy
singleness, resounds in dull and dreamy
emphasis over the city, and reaches the
wanderer in the remotest corner of the
town. ONE-prefaced by a merry jingle
from the old clock on the Catholic Church
breaks through the still atmosphere upon
the ear like the voice of some gloomy spir-
it who dwels in the steeple. ONE!-the
clock has just struck, says the Citizen of the
World, the expiring taper rises and sinks
in the socket, the watchman forgets the
hour in slumber, the laborious and the hap
py are at rest, and nothing wakes but med
itation, guilt, revelry and despair. The
drunkard once more fills the destroying,
bowl, the robber walks his midnight round,
the ruined gambler stakes his last dollar on
the card, the suicide lifts his guilty hand
against his own person.
Let ME no longer waste the night over
the page of history, or the sallies of con-
temporary genius, but pursue the solitary
walk, where Vanity, ever changing, but a
few hours past walked before, where she
kept up the pageant, and now, like fro
ward child, seems hushed with her own i'm
portunities.
What gloom hangs all around! The
flickering lamp feebly emits yellow
CLEAN; no sound Is heard but of the Ginning
clock, or the evagabond dog. All the luster
of human pride is forgotten-an hour like
this may well display the emptiness of hui
man vanity. There will come time when
this temporary solitude may be made con-
tinual, and the city itself, like its inhabi-
tants, fade away and leave desert in its
room. What cities, as great and greater
than this, have once triumphed in exist
ence, had their victories as great joy as just
and as unbounded, and with short sighted
presumption, promised themselves immor-
tality. Posterity can hardly trace the sit
uation of some, the sorrowful traveller wan
ders over the awful ruins Of others, and as
he beholds he learns wisdom and feels the
transciencc of every earthly possession.-
The citadel is now ovcrgrown with
weeds; their senate houses now the haunt
of noXious reptiles; their temples and the
aters now one common heap OF ruins.
How few appear in those streets which
but few hours ago were crowded! and
those who appear now no longer wear their
daily mask, nor attempt to hide their lcwd-
ness or their misery. But who are those
who make the streets their couch, and find
Il short repose from wretchcdness at the
doors of strangers? These are strangers,
orphans and wanderers, whose circum-
stances are too humble for redress, and
whose distresses are too great even for pity.
Their wretchedness excites horror rather
than pity. Poor shivering females, once
knowing happier days, now covered with
rags, cmaciated with disease: the world has
disclaimed them; society turns its back up
on their misery, and has given them up to
nakedness, hunger and despair Prostitut-
ed to the gay, luxurious villain, they are
perhaps now prowling about the haunts of
their betrayers and sue to wretches whose
hearts are insensible, or debauchees who
may curse but will not relieve
them. These miserablcs may weep
unheeded, prosecuted by every subor-
dinate species of tyranny; and every
law which gives Others security becomes
an enemy to them. Why is the heart
formed with so much sensibility, when the
fortune is not adapted to its impulses. Gen
erosity, without capacity for relieving,
only makes the man who feels it more
wretched than the object which sues for ex-
istence. .r..
But let us turn from scene of such dis
tres to the sanctifed hypocrite, who has
been talking of virtue till the time of bed,
and now steals out to give loose to his
vices under the protection of midnight;
vices more atrocious because he attempts to
conceal them. See how lie pants down the
dark alley; and with fastening steps, fears
an acquaintance in every face. He has pass
ed the day in company he hates, and now
goes to prolong the night among company
that as heartily hate him. May his vices be
detected, and may the morning rise upon
his shame! ...