The Cairo daily bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1870-1872, 1872-08-25

with which tits dreaded. And II death
bc really what Oit is represented, are W
not struck at the indifference with which
man regards III Introduce the subject
in ordinary conversation and you are
greeted with EXPLANATIONS Of fear.
sympathy by the melancholy crash with
which it falls upon their minds. But a
little time and this sadness disappears
another sensation is produced and, as
things progress, you become convinced
that they dread death, not because of its
/ real nature, but because it is customary TO
do So
IL you have occasion to mourn the loss
of a friend, and 60 forth in the morning
with eyes stepped in the expression OF
griefan acquaintance perchance meets you,
and, after extending all the sympathy pos
sible, concludes by saying "Well, It's
nothing more than what we, ourselves,
must undergo; we all must die" Here a
ray Of consolation strikes your heart.
You feel relieved at the thought that
your friend died not because he was dear
to you, but because he was man. But
the business of the sympathizer demands
his presence in another quarter; a separa-
ton ensues; the one goes to think upon
the probable condition Of the market, the
other to mediate upon the words sffording
such relief, and to apply to his own case
the lesson they contain. Now we would
ask, how did the sympathizer feel the
words which he had uttered Alas his
language found its source upon the sur
face Of his lips, and was uttered but to die.
There is nothing more natural than this.
How many feel what they say when they
tell you that death is the fatal legacy Of
man How few OF those who remind us
of its certainty ever think that it opens
into an eternity where all is abyss, "whose
end no eye can reach u How many know
that when God clothed man in the garb of
mortality he gave him an immortal soul
whose future state would depend upon his
labors during life? These are questions
simple but important, for when death is
considered, formality should know no
place.
Close observation will reveal q great
many things hitherto unknown to us, and IL
we only follow the actions Of some we
shall find them acting upon the very same
principles they condemn, graphing at the
riches which in public they would affect to
despise, and swelling with the applause
they created by showing us the vanity of
all earthly grandeur, since death will in q
few years make our loves mockery by
destroying not only ourselves, but every
thing it was our care to erect. And TO
show how the sentiments Of men conflict
even upon this subject, we are told by one
that we should drain the cup of pleasure
to the dregs, lest tomorrow death may
snatch it from our lips by another, tina
man is neoer happy until he is no NOR
himself, "when all the psngs that grint
his soul in rapture and sweet oblivion
lost, yield a short interval and ease from
pain
Life indeed is a pleasant drama, but lie
US step behind the scenes and behold i
stripped of its attractions. Let us ente
the chamber Of disease, and there Sc
vanity Invested of its robes riches with
out influence, and fame in the nakednes
of its fallacy. Let us gaze upon that hu
, man wreck, upon that countensnce, one
beautiful, but now horrible in the impres
, of death, upon those eyes once sparkln
|, in the gaiety of life, now vapid, almo'
| lost in their sockets, and about TO be close
b. with the final seal. Let us enter Il
8 wreck and behold the delusion. Ever
n passion is now still every desire is no
h. appeased; the foundation Of every plan
"A about to split upon the rock of its inevi
l. able fate. What are the thoughts tn
il here seize us? We are as one transportt
ic into the midst Of some ancient ruin. "
O. gaze upon those naked walls once emilia
It oned with the tapestry Of wealth v
e tread lightly through the dark passag,
g where formerly rung the cry of mirth
!. We enter those halls once replete with fe
tivity, now deserted; every passage oper
into space; we look around us; ever
, thing is silence, desertion, decay. Alas
: the hearts that once enlivened those vac
uums are now cold-the spirits that CAV
6 them their warmth have fed.
= "There they stand as stands the lofty mine
Worn, but unstooping TO the baser crow,
II All tenantless, save to the crannying win,
f.. or holding dark communion with tn
cloud
e We pause. This trembling remnant ,
: ancient splendor must also yield to ii
inevitable stroke. We are ourselves agai
= We look anew upon that frail edidce
y humanity. We recall its history. 1t
u but blot upon the records of time, place
thereon but TO record series Of unrave
T. ings. We depart, and renew the sayin
! Of Horace.
i "Mors ultima LENA ycrum est"