East Saginaw courier., 1866-05-16


as they goes, and / shall be gone long
before they gets TO me-"
Then the horror of death came
again, and leaped up and beat my
self about till l was drenched with
blood and sweat, and then lay still
again, with my heart throbbing and
beating, and, try what i would, l
couldn't get enough breath. / tried
to reach the face of my poor mate,
and found it still warm, and that the
earth had not settled over it. II was
company to be able to touch it so long
as he was alive; but thought about
what must come, and then shivered
as felt that should scrape the loose
gravel over it, and creep to the far
end of the narrow hole. And now l
began, for the first time, to think
about home, and my two girls, and
their mother and there was no COM
fort there, for began to wonder what
was to become of them when l was
gone. Quietly as could be, | calcu-
lated what my funeral would cost the
Odd Fellows, and then about the al
lowance thero'd be for my people out
o. the Widow and Orphans Fund,
and then L thought how things might
have been worse than they was. AT
last of all, i feels quiet and patient
like, and, for the first time since I'd
been buried, l was down on my knees
with nv face in my hands.
/ don't know how long l stopped
like that, when all at once / fancied /
heard voice speaking, and / started
mp; but it sounded no more, and as L
sat listening | could see again all sorts
of things coming and going Now it
was cofhns; now strange looking beasts
and things without any particular
shape; and as they moved, and coiled,
and rolled forward, kept feeling as
though they must touch me; but no,
they glided of again, and at last, to
keep from thinking, stripped off coat
and waistcoat, and cropping about till
/ got hold of the shovel, l cried out,
"God help me" and began TO try and
dig way out.
" Every man for himself" / half
roared, and the curious, stifled sound
of my voice frightened M; ; but /
worked on till / had thrown back q
few spadefuls, when i found that 1
had put it off too long, and that l
could do nothing but sink down, pant
ing for air. j couldn't keep off the
idea that something was pressing down
upon me and trying to force out my
breath; at last this idea got to be so
strong that kept thrustiug out my
hands and trying to push the some
thing away. l don't know how the
time won't, hut at last i was lying,
worn out and helpless, upon the
ground, feebly trying to grub or bur-
row way ont with my fingers.
All at once l remembered poor Sam,
and, after good deal of cropping
.~i-----., I found the board again, and
laid my hand upon his face, but only
to snatch it away with a chill running
through nae, for it was as cold as ice
! hen i tried - teaei, his breaat. hut
soon gave up; for; with the exception
of his face, he was completely bodied
in the earth, while the board had only
saved him at the first moment from
instantaneous death.
/ crept as far off as / could for
now it seemed that death was very
near me, and that my own time must
be pretty well run out.
won't tell you how weak I was
again, and how all my past actions
came trooping past me- There they
all were, from boyhood till tho present;
and / couldn't help grooming as saw
how precious little good there was in
them-iust here and there bright
spark amongst all the blackness. At
last began to think it was all over,
FOR a heavy stupid faintness came over
me, and l battled against it with all
my might; but it was like-to me,
there, in that dGrkness-like great
bird coming nearer and nearer with
heavy shadowy wings; an1 as | tried
to drive il off. it went back, but only
to come again, till at last the place
seemed to fade away; for after cropping
round and round the place such
many times, | seemed to see and
know every bit Of it as well as if /
saw it with my eyes, till it faded away,
and all seemed to be gone.
Mex thing as remembers is dull
"thud-thud-thudding" noise, and it
woke me up so that | sat holding my
head, which achcd as though it would
split, and trying to recollect once more
where / was; and I s'pose my poor
mind must have been bit touched,
for i could make nothing out until /
had crawled and felt about few times
over, when once more it all came back
with flash, and remember thinking
how much better it would have been
if had kept half stunned, for now L
knew what the noise was, and | could
hardly contain the hope, which seemed
TO drive me almost mad. Would they
get to me before / was dead Could
l help them? Would they give up
in despair, and leave me?
! lay listening to the thud-thud-
thud," till all at once it stopped, and
the stiffness that succeeded was so
awful that l shrieked out, for tho't
they had given up digging. But the
dull distant sound reused me again,
and once more l lay listening and |
counting the spadefuls, that | knew
were being laboriously and slowly
thrown out. Now was crying weakly, /
now foaming at the mouth, every now
and thu the noise could not he heard;
at last, when l could just family hear
the sound of voices and triei to shout
in reply, found l couldn't do more
than whisper.
All at once the earth came caving
in again, and l was half buried. :
Weak as was, it took me long enough
to get free, and to crawl up and sit.
behind an upright post OF two, and IL