The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1869-06-11
SELECT STORY.
Written for the Scottish Temperance League.
BLASTED TREES;
Or, Dying at the Top

nY REN. pR. IonN HAIL.

! Dr.. Jonathan Swift, the Dean OF
lSt. Patrick's, Dublin, was one OF the
most remarkable men of the last
century. His commanding talents,
his great political influence as wri-
Ger, his extraordinary relationship TO
1.-TWO women-each of whom loved
him, and each OF whom he admitted
to the most confidential intercourse,
without marriage and without scan
dal-and his unhappy end, render
him an object Of intense and very
melancholy interest. The most
charitable-perhaps the most reason
able-account that can tie given oi
his life, is to suppose him all along
suffering from the malady which at
length destroyed his great capacity
and consigned him to total imbe-
cility.
1t is stated on good authority
shat, walking with a friend, near
Dublin, the eye of the Dean rested
on a fine ash tree, all the highest
branches of which had been blight
ed, and were dry and lea1ess. Re-
garding it with the most touching
look of gloomy anticipation, he ex
claimed, "Look at that tree! shall
J be like 1T; l shall die at the top
touching, as he said it, his rugged
forehead. The foreboding was sad
ly realized. Under the influence OF
this feeling, he devoted the bulk of
his property to founding an asylum
for the insane; and "Swift's Hospi
tal,' as it is called Though "St. Pat
rick's" was the name given by the
founder, is permanent memorial
perhaps the most useful-of one
whose genius was too much conse-
Grated to worldly ambition, till it
sunk into the fixed torpor of idiocy.
Had his mind been well regulated
and well employed-above all, had
it been devoted to the service of the
Lord, as a minister's should bet is
hard to say how different his end
might have been-how far salutary
employment and the "peace that
passeth understanding" might have
counteracted disease. But, without
harshly Judging where so much Is
obscure, we may say generally, this
mental death, anticipating the disso
luton of the body, came from the
Divine hand.
But what if it came from his own :?
What if Jonathan Swift had himself
launched the bolt that blighted his
towering intellect? What if, direct
lily, deliberately, and by long per-
sistence in indulgence, the evil of
which he acknowledged himself, had
sapped the foundation of his strength,
to become a self-made ruin? To
any rightly judging man his actual
career was sad enough; then it had
been wrapped in tenfold gloom
We should have exclaimed, "Such
talents, culture, station, means, op-
portunities, all thrown away! This
is madness indeed, but madness that
is criminal before God and man."
But look around and inquire
Are there no blighted trees under
your observation Can you point
to none who are dying at the top?
If there he any obscurity about the
question, let me try To remove it by
detailing the process OF killing
| write down only what have seen,
or know on undoubted authority
We begin in the
| DINING ROOM.
Look around, and ere fish or sauce
has been tasted, you NAV see some
whet sluggish appeti.e with little
stimulant, which does what honest
labor and healthy hunger ought to
Ihave done. Each successive relay
lof food is accompanied by more
IstimuIant. There is, indeed, a small
and ornamental supply of water on
the table, but it is neglected for ale,
beer, or wine. If the occasion be
special, obsequious attendants re-
mind you of the duty of drinking,
or well-meanipg people invite you
to ruin your health in compliment 10
: theirs. The cloth is removed, and
the wine is put down. Why, it was
down all the time! Oh, yes; but
! i; now it is the wine, and as bottles
: pass and repass, you may see the
e effects in the opening condolences,
broader jokes, coarser wit, louder
talk, and more rubieund faces
Good society does not allow the
thing to go further "under the ma
sIhogaEy.' Now and then it will
happen that weak headed person
Joins the ladies with sn utterance
rather thick. Polite people, howev-
ler, wink hard and do not see it