The Southern post and literary aspirant. (Macon, Ga.) 1837-1837, September 23, 1837, Image 2

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prove so firm under the anticipa ted adventure* us to warrant my further progre -gs in the science t had selected IV >r life. The inci dents of a col i. ege life also rela ted to me by «—>ur worthy precop-; tor, I)r. 11 ,had no little ten-! deucy to keep up that mental ex citement v,hie had already been enkindled by t lie keenness of my natural sensibilities. Whilst in my moments o i retirement 1 often reflected on t ric fearlullness of a scene sorepuf sive to my nature, as the one in -which I was about; to engage, till •lie goodness of my heart had almost driven me to ;t --bandon the profession of my choice, and se for a livelihood in a way morc3 congenial to my nature. It was a bleaky evening in Feb ruary, just at tl ie verge of twilight, when all nature began to wear the sombre appearance of night, and the busy stree ts of the city were assuming that beautiful cast they present under -The reflection of its myriad lights, as 11 and my sell were cn* Jiigert together in close conversation, concerning something wh Ich just at that time interested us v rry much; we were interrupted by tho entrance of a tlnrd person non the stage, who evidently bore3 about his appear ance the consciousness oi an 1111- assumed su.x riority. 44 Gentlememi,” said Dr. B , tor tiiis was it one other than the, personage already introduced to the reader as croijr preceptor, 44 the j long wished tVjr opportunity has' arrived wjien you may obtain a | subject for fie purpose of anatom-! ical demonstr millions —if you will I only nerve up yourselves withal proper degrees of courage to go in quest ol it, --when buried. Late this afternoon I was called in con sultation unarm the case of a poor man w!io, Is sispeet, has by this tune breathed his last. llis dis ease was certainly a very intri cate one, and to-morrow we have agreed to hold a post mortem on the body. 1 leave it with your selves to male such preparations as you deem necessary—in the mean time, 21 promise to assist, you all I can i 11 the furtherance of vour knowledge of medical sci ence.” We shanked the Doctor kindly for flu promise of bis as sistance, and sis he was one of the most humane and feeling of men, I was encouraged to enter upon the undertaking with a much greater hope success, Early the naext morning an as semblage 0! physicians, about the humble dwell Ing of the deceased, gave evident symptoms of their intentions up>oa the bo ly ; and, among the re*st, R and my sell termed no unimportant or un interested paxrt of the assemblage: for onr intent ion was not merely to participate- in the pathological observations -that might be enter ed into, but ;l Iso for the more sig nificant purpt >se of making such enquiries in 1- elation to the burial <d the deceits and iiis standing in life, as give us a clue to operate upon in stealing tvv tv the body. It did not take us long to learn that he was the husband of a-heartless woman, who had left him in the moments of extreme sickness to his own fate, nor ten dered so much as a cup of cold water to his fevered lips, whilst lying in the agonies of death.— The only request which the dy ing man had seemingly made was tb it he might be buried beside his only child, in a neighboring grave yard, distant from the city nearly two miles. This information sui ted our purposes exactly, as the place of rendezvous was much more retired than that within the immediate precincts of the city. One circumstance, however, stag gered my religion no little, the fact of our being necessitated to take him from die side of the lit tle child for whom he had evin ced all the affection of a fond pa rent. These scruples, however, w ere so severely ridiculed by my associate that L was almost asha med to mention any more objec tions. The post mortem pro ceeded in the usual ruthless way physicians have of preying on dead bodies, and before it had terminated 1 had gathered suffi cient courage to handle some of the internal viscera. The imme diate cause of death seemed to have had connection with an en larged and indurated omentum, which had given him in hie very much the appearance of an asci tic. All things being satisfactor ily adjusted, and the body care iully sow ed up again, the sons of Esculapius began to retire, one by one, until all had gone but if and myself, who had re mained until the coffin bad been deposited 111 the hearse and the soxton drove oil*, leaving us to our own reflections or observa tions. it now became necessary for us, in proceeding farther with the important matter in hand, to fer ric oin tile particular place of de posit, before the shades of even ing had indiscriminately mantled nil in the garb ol darkness and silence. ()ur restless spirits could not long remain in the study, or it there, they were more busily engaged in projecting schemes lor the anticipated adventure,than imbibing knowledge from the books we were reading. After allowing sufficient time, as we conjectured, ior the performance ot tiie last solemn obsequies of burial, and the return of the sex ton, we set out upon our expedi tion with throbbing hearts and breasts,elate with the hope of suc cess. Scarce, however, had we arrived at the foot of the hill, up on whose majestic summit the plat ot another Auburn lay in all its glory, than we saw the emblem ol deatii returning sullenly from the gloomy abode, where it had left the mortal remains of our ex pected victim. “ There is another mess,” said R , “ what in the deuce will become of us if this son of Styx should take it into his head to op pose our undertaking ?” “ W liy,” suit! I, we will be shot tit like; a parcel of hignwav robbers I suppose, and in all pro bability be destined to fall mglo riously on the field of the dead. What shall we do? To return at this stage of the game would excite more suspicion than w ere w e to proceed dauntlessly on our way.” 44 i have it!” said R , 44 let us enquire the way to some neigh boring house, w here the inference may be drawn that some invalid is lying who expects our atten dance.” 44 A good thought,” said I, and with that we hastened on, making the necessary enquiry of tire sex ton, who with all the good nature immaginahle gave us our wonted information. It took but little re search alter our arrival at the grave yard, to find the spot of earth which had been so recently shovelled, where the poor man lay beside bis infant child. Here again my heart sickened at the prospect, hilt lor the sake of my reputation, as a brave man, and a votary ol science, I resolved, at all hazards, to give no more hints of cowardice to my friend. As, by this time, it was growing to wards the close of another day, we hastened on our return to make such preperations as be came necessary in the acting out the even if ui scenes which were to fill up the chasm of another night. Dr. B li id promised to furnish us witii assistants and tar necessary implements tor our I intended expedition, all of whom j w ere to be ready or the march at 11 o'clock. During the intervecn, winch occurred between the hours ol ten and the appointed time, R and myself, with the auditing of II ——, another stu dent, were busily engaged in put ting on our masks and preparing our arms. We so managed it as to completely metamorphose our wearing apparel, adding very much 10 the fierceness of our ap pearance, by a huge pair of false whiskers ; in lact, so completely altered did we seem in our gener al habit and appearance that our most ultimate friends were com pletely at a loss to find out who we were. \V e also added to our costume each a pair of pistols— not. so much lor ornament as to he able to defend ourselves in case ol an attack, which we did not deem to be an impossible thing. For my own part, taking into consideration our contact with the Sexton and a few other circumstances, I was led to anti cipate some such rencountre, and thought we acted but the part of wise and prude # nt men to prepare for the onset. Just as the clock struck eleven, when the streets of the city began to assume the appearance of a long line of deserted habitations, and the few lights which yet feeb ly gleamed across the pavements presentented to view an occasion al straggler, who was in the hab it ol keeping late hours, there was seen to emerge from between the confines of a narrow alley in Main-street, two strange looking personages who evidently seemed to be but little acquainted with the geography of the place. This gave rise to various enquiries concerning certain points of the city, as the freaks of their fancy directed, w hich while it rendered them still more the objects of sus picion in certain particulars, di verted the attention from the more absorbing subject, which, as they knew so well made them conjecture that every other per son was perfectly well acquainted with. To a sober eye, they might have also presented the ap pearance of certain persons who had been mingling in the boister ous feasts oi Bacchus. MEDICUS. [to he continued.] For the Southern Post. (4.) THE SCRIBBLER. FLYING. “ What ? how! the devil, sir! do von suppose Fu tru«t my bones in that frail thing of ropes, to rise Above where ever hawk and buzzard rose— Chasing the lorn? tailed comet through the skies ; Like tom-cat, tied with hollow pumpkin to a kite, Some stormy night, among the clouds, old maids to fright.’ A good old Minister, among mv juvenile reminiscences, used to remark that the bursting forth oi the soul 44 at death’s release” from this tabernacle of clay, was l ike the bursting forth of a cliick en from the egg-shell—only, on a more infinite scale; the freed, un cramped spirit immediately ex panding, divested itself of all en cumbrance, casting far behind the iron shackles of gravitation and leaden weight of earthly affec tions, and soared at will from point to point in the vast space around 11s in a moment of time.— Sometimes when the corporeal pow ers are the most lax and indo lent, ’tis then the mind is most vivid, the imagination most wild, extravagant and fantastical in its gyrations, full of whimsies and strange fantasies. At such times I have often imagined I should like the power of flying thus: without limit, without let or hin drance—to dash aw ay far, far be yond the reach of human ken, in the pure regions of the blue ethe real ; to ride upon the thunder cloud, outstrip the swift-winged lightnings, leading the whirlwind and tornado in their march of de vastation ; now resting like O’- Rourke on the horns of the moon, light as a devil’s-darning-needle, or, a June-fly on a Canada this tle : now diving among the Plei ades and constellations,scattering them right and left like dew in the moonlight, or glittering rain drops shaken from the leaflets of spring. And, now again, sliding down the Milky-way—Jupiter’s rail road, McAdamized with stars —like some monstrous sprite, scaring the whole grand menage rie and museum of signs and pla nets out of their places, and as tonishing the sentinel angels. In this boasted age of mechanical skill and genius, I wonder man has not conjured up some method of flying—literally—like the birds of the air, or Peter Wilkins’ wile’s relations. The mind is consid ered superior to all the apparent deflects in the physical structure of man, as compared with that ot