The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1869-02-06

aetive. Intelligent and capable Of joy or misery
still Y oompsllsd to inhsbit il, shuddsr at thai
possibility.
VIE knsws that death ends the connection
between The bedy and spirit9 Who can say 81
what time. or 1t what stage Of decomposition
the spirit takes it, fight from it, earthly tens
msatf Who can cay ct what time unconscious
nees intervepes after what We call death hal
taken plASs7 The physioisn will talk lsar.sdly
sn the subject, and inform you that death in.
wolves the Immediate separation Of the corporal
froa the incsrporsal part Of man. But does be
know2 Its his theory! Nothing more! It i.
scarcely stranger because it has been the theory
Of HE prefsssion IN al ages. Neither 10 much
but IN assumptiou-sf Ill mankind, that such il
the laok What does al this weigh against ny
eva expsnsIcei wss, to all appearance, and
according 70 medical dscisisn. dead. Being dead,
I ought TO have bssn incapable, scoori Hing to the
same authority, Of seeing, feeling, hearing OF
understanding. and yet was in the fall enjoy
meat u then al.
These thoughts sad spsculations al passed
through ny nind while the preparations vent
% tommy funeral. It seems to me, new, that
never VA ~ miAd 70 active; that never before
could grasp 20 sasily abstruss questions or prob.
lens. Whether ny seaditisu q candidate 70.
vital inhumatoa produced this state Of the iatsl.
leotual faculties. or whether there 10 throwing
on OF clay that here opprssses us, when We 70
down to death, 10 not my prerogativs to state. I
only nstios tho iast Of . kind of pretsruatursl
mental activity and breadth Of intellectual c.
paoity.
It could have Sssa bat few moments that I
was engaged in these msditstions, although then
and now, the time seemed as ages, for was
called to closer realisation Of my condition BY
the bAaropa 0h0 fOp~apd IN al L. I.
and take me away. 1t may be supposed that my
efforts were renewed to convince my friends that
WAS yet living. Bat all efferts were unavailing
The sexton laid the cloth over my face, and still
was not capable of . single not the slightest
motion. The lid was laid on, and above the sobs
and means Of the dear girl who had pleaded 90
feellngly for delay in the funeral ceremonies,
could hear the low, harsh grating Of the screws
as they turned in the wood, and shut me from
the life and love forever. could distinctly hear
the whispered conference between the bearers q
they raised the coffin from the trestles ON which
1t stood. Already had they commenced moving
forward towards shat undiscovered country
from whose bourne no traveller returns
With ono wild shrek, my betrothed sprane
forward, throwing herself upon the cetin. The
unexpected impetus precipitated the coffin and it,
contents 70 the door, and the violence with which
It struck split it from end to end. To my own
astsnishment, a. we'll 80 to the infinite terror Of
my friends. the shsck had restored TO me the
control Of my muscles, and sat up. "Msry, I
arm not dead! told you would not die !"
Those were the words I feebly artioulatsd.
There Wa . moment Of astonishment, and
then was folded, all in the habiliments of the
grave % l was, in the faithful arms which had
been the means Of my salvation. When others
found it was net ghost, and that really was
not dead, they came forward with their congrst-
ulatisna was again placed in bed, and shortly
became oenvalsscent recovered, bat have
never yet been able to solve, to my own sstisfso-
ton, the problem Of my death. Was /, or was
l not dead knew not But this know, that
but for the interposition Of my faithful wife, I
should have been buried alive What the conse-
queAee OF such IN event must be, we may learn
from tho case narrated ~ the commencement Of
this article.
IL it any wsader that am fearful Of the ter.
ribls consequences of early burisls? That I,
who have alnsst passed the portals of tho grave
In the full possession Of every faculty except
motion, have horror Of this inhuman, unneces-
ssry and horrible custom? No friend of mine
shall b buried when an present whose body
shall not show uSmistaksble indications Of decay.
Though his body be cold, stiff and apparently
dead, If tho disOslored flesh does not show thst
decay has commenced, friend or undertaken at.
tenpts to remove him to the cemetery ut his psr.
il. Rather than that great wrong should BE-
done would fit either friend or undertaken for
the last Offices of friendship in such manner
that his readiness should be unnistakabls and
evident. Hs>JE8g
The moral Of this narrative is never to run the
risk, BY an early burial, of subjecting human
being to the fearful agony-ths terrible fate of
vital inhumstien-of being buried alive-Pto-
ria National DSUsocrat.