The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1867-04-21
The Dead.

How impressive, how monitory-I
had almost said, how irresistible. is
this teaching? Cast back your
thoughts to period of a century ago,
and who then filed the spheres of
life which we at this moment occupy?
The representatives of each one of
us!-in whatsoever pursuits we fol-
low, in whatsoever positions, social
or commercial, we now hold. Such
as we are, they were. They we're
fathers, they were mothers, they were
children, they were brothers and sis-
ters, they were friends and associates:
but the places that knew them we'll,
know them no more; the familiar
voices that called to them, and they
answered, are silent; they thought
only to ive-they thought not to die;
life was their reality, and they lost
it; death was their dream, and they
found it; oil the days that they lived
were thirty, forty, fifty, orseighty, or
ninety years, and they died. There
was the'man of wealth, with,his plans
and projects, his anxieties and tolls,
his ships and merchandise, his houses
and lots many; no gathered and he
builded; he builded houses for his
children, and portioned them; he
had much goods laid up for many
years, and he said to his soul, "Soul!
take thine ease, eat, drink and be
merry" but the day came at last, or
the night came, in which it was said,
"This day, this night, thy soul shall
be required of thee?" There was the
man of fashion and pleasure; he pos
sessed and he expended. or he was
lavish of that which was not his own;
he was anxious for notice, and in
trigueq for success; he put on gay
habiliments, and hurried to the feast
and the dance; the theatre knew him ;
the revel saw him; the giddy whirl of
pleasure heard his footsteps; but
what-lo! what is this! A marble
slence-a coffin-a pall He stirs
not beneath its awful fold; he hears
not the voice of his gay companion,
that says, 'Poor fellow! he is gone!'
There was the man of professional
ambition; he studied, and gained
stores of learning; he studied argu-
ments. and expounded them; he
wrote books, and published them; he
got fame, and men said that he was
''a great man." Where are his say
1ngs and doings now? his cases and
his tenures? his new theorems, his
controversies, his speeches? Perhaps
you will find them among moulder-
ing pamphlets in the library of some
historical Society. Perhaps they
hnger yet in the breath of mems
speech as by-gone fame. Itwas nv
fortune to witness the awful change
that passed over such one, in this
very city; one whom O shaft rises to
commemorate, by this very way
side in yonder graveyard. One
week L saw him in all the splendor
OF his eloquence; the next week, as l
walked, l saw funeral procession
and there were borne the remains of
one who was called the Cicero of his
order! So passes away this world,
and we pass away with it. Such as
we are, those, who have gone but o
little before us, were. And such nc
they are, we soon shall be. NOTHING
can stay our course. No hoard Of
gold, nor crown of honor, nor crowd
OF cares, nor pressure of engagements,
nor thronging visions of coming pros.
perity, nor momentous crises OF
affairs, can ward off the inevitable
hour. --Deuey.
The american artisan illustrates q
device for q combined water-coole,