Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1869-09-22
-" No Death Bed"

BY HERBERT NEwBURN.
so death bed" They we're words Of
awe whispered with white lips, over the cof.
( in Of the strong man s,ntteu down instantly
1Y q death-blow from an ill-adjusted lever IN
his saw-nill
My mind wandered from that funeral ser.
vice and that coffin, to others then from the
dead to the living and thought
Who Of all this concourse will have q
death bed Who Of all | have loved. who Of
an have laborcd to benefit, who Of all have
ever known, has had a death-bed ? Many
oh, many have died but as they lived so
they died, scarcely one admitting, This is
my doath-bed.
My strong neighbor, Mr.. Williams, going
daily 70 hi, labor full of life and vigor, had
no death-bed. All Unexpectedly, a raging
fever boiled in his BRAIN from delirious raw
ings he passed to utter Inconsistencies, and
breathed no more
Mrs. Liyermore, the feeble sufferer, lnger-
ing SO long in view Of the grave, had after
all, no death-bed, Others marking the grad.
ual decline said d" She will never see another
summer She said My cough, and the
hard winter, keep me down next summer |
will 60 into the country and recruit But
her grave was made beneath that winters
snow.
Mary, the maiden of seventeen, had no
dcath-bed True, she died of consumption
and seeing her often with the fatal hectic on
her cheek | knew She had not long to live
The neighbors also said, " When the apple
blossoms fall she, too, will drop away" Yet
Nary parents, who believed that all would
be saved allowed no one to disturb their be.
loved daughter with whisper Of death. So
one fair May morning, she said to friend
" | am better, aud expect to ride out soon
At evening, suddenly waking from Sleep she
glsped " Mother, TN faint, and drew her
last breath
Arthur, the joyous school-boy, had NO
dcath-bed When | saw his weeping parents
alone they said THE doctor thinks he can.
not live the day out;" but when | went in
to the child he whispered, Only think my
throat is so sore they say can't 90 back to
school again this term. Isn't it too bad p
When | ventured to speak of death, he smiled
ncredulouslv; hut died that evening.
Old Mr.. Wallace, past his four-score years,
sinking inch by inch into his grave, surely he
had death-bed2 Alas, no.
Whenever we spoke to him of his end, he
answered, Il know | am old, but the young
9t often die first / have outlived a great
,C9ny that expected to see me die, and may
'.t.iye you; it takes a powerful constitution
20 take a man up to eighty-fve, a constitution
that may lift him into his second century. %
His cough grew worse one windy March.
" What wouder' said he; "such borrid
weather Half the town is barking worse
than j" That night he ceased to cough and
TO breathe.
Even poor Mr.. Livingstone, who lay help
less twcnty-six months, had no death-bed.
lie said continually, " \ man may live fifty
years with paralysis" While he slept the
stroke came. and he was no more.
a hundred instances, within my own knowl-
edge similar to tine above, might relate.
might, too if | could, speak from my heart
of those nearer and dearer but let it pass.
4. each lived, so each died.
Whenever | hear it said " Do not put of
the work of repentance to a dying bed, my
soul cries out, " The very thought of death
bed is dcuson. As we live we die"
All, yes as | live so shall die as
would die, so let me live In such an hour
as ye think not the Son of Man cometh."