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Show 10 TilE LlDEU1'Y DELL. The incidents of those days arc immortalized by their being erected into a type of horrible and inevitable fate ; and above all other incidents, that of the little purple stains on tho brc~st. 'V c read and talk of the Plague-spot so familiarly that we have almost lost sight of what it means. It would be well to reconsider it, and dwell upon it. If there is such a thing, for instance, as a State with an established vice in it;- if we know of such a thing as a Democra~ic Republic with a deep-seated 'ryranny in the midst of it, and call tlmt tyranny a plague-spot, we had better ponder what that phrase truly means, and what it certainly forebodes. It is idle to take our eyes from it because the thoughtless exult in the vigorous youth of that State, in its bloom of promise,- in the opening before it of a new and blessed career. If the plague-spot is there, the bloom and the promise will vanish like the dew and the delicate beauty of the desert-flower when the simoom is on the way. Decay and putrescence are at hand. HENRIETTA, TirE DIUDE. 11 And is there no escape ? -There have been instances of recovery from the plague; one case among ten thousand. But in that one case, the stain has been at once recognized as a plague-spot, and instant and vigorous treatment has followed. WhercYer the sufferer has concealed and denied the token,- wherever he bas rushed forth into the street, declaring himself well, shouting forth his confidence, and mocking the pity and horror of tho world that looked on ; -in every such case, perdition has overtaken him, and his self-will has been his ironical epitaph, engraven on the memories of all survivors. Amble61de1 July 8, 1862. |
