Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1876-01-10
Mortality.

The following scrap Of poetry. had well nigh been
east out aud trodden under foot Of men, having been
found among some loose pieces of paper that had
been judged good for nothing The sentiment il con
tans, eourmeuds itself every rejecting mind Rsa
der. candidly Icruse IL and II worldly honors and
distinctions tempt your vanity, remember that the
time must ere long arrive when the rich and the
poor, the proud and the humble shah rest ON a com
mon level beneath the elods Of the valley
REI- IS0UIREK
~ why should the spirit Of mortals be proud.
Like a last fitting meteor. a fast flying cloud;
A Hash Of the lightning break Of the wave.
he passes from he to rest in the grave.
The leaves Of the oak and the willow shall Jade.
Be scattered around, aud together be laid:
And the young and the old and the low and the high
shall noulder to dust and together shall he.
The child that a mother attended and loved
The mother that Infants affection that proved
The husband that mother and infant that blest
Each all are away To their dwelling Of rest.
The maid ON whose cheek. whose brow ON whose
eve.
shone beauty and pieasure-her triumphs are by.
And the memory Of those that loved her and praised
Are alike from the minds Of the living erased.
The hand Of the king that the soeptre hath borne
The brow Of the priest that the mitre hath worn.
The eve Of the sage and the heart of the brave
Are hidden and lost In the depths Of the grave.
The peasant whose lot was to SOW aud to reap
The hersman who climbed with his goats to the steep
The begear that wandered in search Of his bread,
Have faded away IKE the grass that tread.
The saint that enjoyed the communion of heaven,
The sinner that dared remain unforgiven
The wise and the foolish, the guilty and Just
Have quickly mingled their bones in the dust
So the multitude eoes-Iike the flower and the weed
That wither away 10 bet others succeed;
SO the multitude eones-even those We behold
To repeat every tale that hath often been told
Far We the same that our fathers have been.
We the same sights that our fathers have seen.
We drink the same stream, and we feel the same SUM-
And We run the same that fathers have
The thoughts sre thinking our fathers would think
Prom the death We are shrinking from they too
would shrink
To the life clingng TO. they too would cling
But Il speeds from <he earth like bird on the wing
They love,E but their story we cannot unfold;
They scOrned-but the heart of the naughty is cold;
They grieved-but wall from their slumber may
come =.
They joyed-but the voice Of their gladness is dumb
They died-aye they ded-and we things that are now
Who walk on the turf that lies their brow,
Who make In their dwelling transient abode.
Meet the charges they met on the pilgrimage road
Yea hope and despondence, and pleasure and pain.
Are mingled together in sunshine and rain;
And the smile and the tear, and the song and the
dirge
Stin follow each other like surge upon surge.
'is the twink of an eye-'ts the drauglt Of breath
Prom the blossom Of health the paeness of death
Prom the gilded saloon to the bier and the shroud
ON Why should the spirit of mortal be proud