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almost swimming in a puddle of
filthy and offensive water, that
had forced itself through the pores
of the moist earth and found a
resting place in the dead man’s
coffin. On gently elevating it 1
was startled almost 10 Irenzv by
a gutteral sound proceeding from
about the mouth of the poor man,
who was lying cold and stiff in
the icy arms of death. My phil
osophy and religion were now
completely put to a stand. Could
it be a voice from the dead 1 had
heard, or was it the freak of a
disordered fancy ? Be it what it
might I thought myself in its pow
er, and as such was resolved to
renew the effort until 1 became
more fully convinced of its char
acter. On a second trial, how
ever, my mind was completely re
lieved trom its fear by evidence
afforded of its being produced
iVom the gurgling of the water
that had gathered in his throat.
We now proceeded to raise the *
body from its narrow place of con
finement, which, to me particular
ly, as I stood at the head, was no
easy task. Having elevated i;
as high as my own head, I was
forced to stand in tins position,
with his ghastly face nearly incon
tact with mine, and all the bles
sings it confercd upon my olfac
tories, nearly suffocating me be
fore 1 could get one of the das
tardly fellows outside the grave to
extricate me. At length, by my
repeated remonstrances and
threats, R was induced to lay
held of his arms and relieve me
ot my burden. Our attention was
now directed to the filling up of
the gr ive, which was consumma
ted in such a little time, and the
appearance of day not as yet to
he seen gleaming above the hori
zon, wo entertained good hope of
completing our expedition with
considerable credit to ourselves
in the eyes of all who were at all
acquainted with it. We took up
the line of march from the grave
by engaging four to the body, and
the rest to carry the tools. We
had not proceeded far, however,
be!ore we discovered a mistake
which we thought likely to prove
troublesome to us. In the burry
of the moment, we had inadver
tantly carried him on his belly in
stead ol his back; the conse
quence of which proved to be a
complete emptying of all the in
ternal viscera from-die abdomen,
which had so recently been open
ed for the purpose of autopsic ob
servations. We were soon re
leived of this difficulty, however,
bv the interposition of R who
gathered up the intestines in his
hands and bore them off triumph
antly to a neighboring fence, at
the same time letting drop an
oath which 1 dare not repeat. —
When we had ourselves safely
crossed the fence, a change of
procedure was entered into in re
lation to carrying the body : cer
tain portions ol the w inding sheet
were tightly drawn around the
arms and legs, and a pole ran thro’
them, each end of which was ele
vated on the shoulders of two of
the company, and thus the body
was borne off as successfully and
expertly as ever swineherd car
ried hog to market. We leave
the lmmagination of the reader
to depict for himself, the ludic
rous appearance presented by the
motley group composing ourcoin
pany, as we bore the man of tiie
shades so ruthlessly on the w ind
ing way, over field and woodland
heath and meadow, carefully se
lecting the most retired and un
frequented paths as those which
suited our purposes best For
me, I felt something like one might
feel who has ventured on the
shores ol Styx, and stolen from
old Charron’s self one of the
shades of the departed which he
had not safely secured in his
boat, and now was bearing him
in triumph he knew not where.
MEDICUS.
[to be continued.]
For the Southern Post.
Messrs. Editors : The num
ber oi your paper containing an
article from “The Scribbler,” on
the subject ol “ Old Bachelors,”
has just fallen into my h aids, and
without intending a direct reply
to that piece, I would here take
occasion to animadvert for a mo
ment upon some of the senti
ments therein expressed. In do
ing so, 1 wo dd, by no means, be
considered as advocating the
postponement of the subject of
matrimony, until all the sunny
feelings oi the heart have passed
away, and the thousand streams
oi toe affections nave been frozen
by the chilling blasts of age ; but,'
Mr. Scribbler, when you urge j
matrimony, urge it in a respect
iul manner, and, above all, point
oui the “ mode and manner of
redress” to tiiose who are suffer
ing under me privations of celi
bacy.
Before proceeding farther, how
ever, permit me Here to premise,
that mere is a difference between
marrying and marrying well. All
men who get married do not get
a wife* One gets a lady who sits
at tiie head ol his table, boxes the
children, culls the servants, and
scoids all who come under her
jurisdiction—who calls him “my
dear” in company, and abuses
him by his fireside— who meets
him with a scornful look, when he
hoped for a smile—who, in short,
opposes every thing, is pleased
With nothing, and cannot even
pleaso iierseii—,nis is marrying .
but to be joined to one who, by
her angelic smiles, is continually
chasing away the frowns of care
winch have gathered on your
brow'—one, who in health is a
joyous spirit urging you oil to the
acquisition ot new pleasures, and
restraining their excesses, and in
sickness is a guardian angel to
watch by your bed-side and alle
viate your misery—one, who
moves in majesty among her
household and controls their ac
tions as by a spell—one, whose
\oiee is music, whose look is gen
tleu ss,whose will is her husbands
—fins is marrying well . What
s,i y you then, Mr. Scribbler ? do
you advise us to marry uncondi
tionally, unj at all hazards, or
should we marry well f
Again, “ The Scribbler,” in
his article, gives no regular defi
nition of a Bachelor, but rather
intimates that all unmarried men
under the age ot 25 should be con
sidered as belonging to that class.
He then goes on to give a descrip
tion oi the life and character of a
Bachelor, his manners, &c., and
then holds up the picture before
their view, to Irigtiten them into
matrimony. He seems to speak
experimentally on the subject;
knows very well what kind of
iurmture decorates their rooms,
and at w hat hour of the night
they return from their wanderings
—and, irom his intimacy on these
subjects, i rather opine that “Q”
is some reformed old Bachelor,
wiio had been well nigh stranded
on the rocks oi dissipation, but
was in due season picked up by
some tender hearted female and
placed in a comfortable situation.
1 not lie feels verv grateful.
But, Mr. Scribbler, you have
mistaken tiie signification of
iiacnelor, and have confounded
tiie term with that of debauchee ;
you appear to think them synony
mous. If, so-, you mean o say
tne description vou have given of
tiie habits oi a Bachelor applies
to every unmarried man over the
age ot 25 ; if you say that all, or
even a majority of the unmarried
men over the age of even 30, are
as dissipated in their habits, as
you have represented them then
your position is not correct.—
Don’t confound terms, sir; take
the condition ol a Bachelor who
is a fair example, and it is bad
enough : in the name of all that
is honorable, then, do not mis
represent.
But, sir, yon seem to be very
solicitous that ail our young men
should be married ; you have ex
horted them to it, and you have
held up their picture to scare
them into it. But if that picture
be correct, and the ladies believe
it, none of them who have the
least self-respect would suffer
such a man as you have described
to come into their presence, much
less could she entertain the least
spark ot the tend t passion for
him. \ou will thus be instru
mental in effectually preventing
tiie very object, you seem desir
ous to promote. So then, if your
tale be true, and it is really desir
ous that young men should get
married, you have been very un
kind in exposing them—and if it
be not true, I leave you to your
own reflections. But if it be so
great a desideratum in the regu
lations of society, and for the hap
piness of individuals that all the
unmarried should change their
state, why has not “ The Seri -
bier” or some other tender phil
anthropist, who has been redeem
ed from the thraldom of celibacy,
and whose heart yearns over the
desolate and miserable condition
ol those who still remain subject j
to its dominion : why has he not'
furnished them with a plan of op
eration ! why has he not pointed
out to them the “ mode and inoa
-B,|res of redress” ? Lt is true, he \
has said that “all men have some
thing about them to please some
body ; ’ but the question is, have
all women ? lam w ell aware that
there is not the least difficulty in
loving a handsome lady; and the
greatest difficulty is to keep from
! loving iliose w ho are beyond our
grasp. But, perhaps, the very
one which a Bachelor might fan
cy, could see nothing in him to ad
mire ; and those who could see
that “ something about him to
! please somebody,” perhaps, have
nothing about them to please any
body. Still Mr. Scribbler says
marry, and I have no doubt w ould
add, well too, if you can. Hie
labor , hoc opus est. Here conies
that melancholy monitor from the
tomb of departed years, if you
can , to remind one of his many
unsuccessful attempts.
One remark of 4 The Scribbler’
I cannot pass in silence. He
says, (quoting from memory,)
that “no o’d Bachelor will ever
get to Heaven.” How' do you
know, Mr.Q. ? Will you be kind
enough to give us the chapter and
verse of that text, and answer us
where do you think Paul is ? Os
one thing, however, I am certain
that if their exclusion depends up
on your testimony, they are sure
Oi admittance : you will not be there
to give in your evidence —and if
there, 1 doubt whether it would
be received, inasmuch as in the
former part ol your life you were
w hat the Lawyers particcps
criminis .
In the close, sir, I would say to
you confidentially, that I am ex
ceedingly desirous of finding out
who you are. I h ive a few friends
who have seen your “exposition”
of their*situ it'On, and are anxious
to extricate themselves from it as
soon as possible, and they are so
licitous of holding a consultation
with you, and obtaining the ben
efit of your experience in the mat
ter. Any information on the sub
ject left with the Printer, will be
thankfully received by the sub
scriber. Q. S.
LABOR AND RECREATION.
It is said that in the town of
Marblehead, the girls have made
improvement in ironing, which
beats tiie steam-engine on com
mon roads all hollow ! They
spread out all the clothes on a
smooth platform, and fasten the
hot flat-irons to their feet, and
skate over them, ad libitim. This
is combining the recreative with
the useful and ornamental.
HEALTH OF THE CITY.
It is generally conceded that
the sickness ol our city has dimi
nished. The new cases are not
many, and those are of such a
character as yield rapidly to med
icine. The interments are few
er. Indeed, the weather and ev
ery thing, within the
seem to work in our favor for the
better. Business is more active.
Bur., there is still and uiger. Until
we have a frost, no one unaccli
mated can feel himself safe—at
least so agreeth the medical fac
ulty. N. O. Picayune.