Cherokee phoenix. [volume], August 06, 1828, Image 1

About Cherokee phoenix. [volume] (New Echota [Ga.]) 1828-1829

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VOL. I.
EDITED BY ELIAS BOUDiNOTT
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PHCENIX.
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Mr. Thos. R. Gold, (an itinerant Gen
tleman.)
MOURNING.
" Black is the sign of mourning,"
says Rabelais, '-because it is the color
of darkness, which is melancholy, and
the opposite to white, which is the
color of light, of joy, and of happi
ness."
MOURNING.
The early poets asserted that souls,
after death, went into a dark and
gloomy empire. Probably it is in
consonance with this idea that they
imagined black was the most cougen
ial color for mourning. The Chinese
and the Siamese fchoose white, con
ceiving that the dead become benefi
cent genii.
In Turkey, mourning is composed
of blue or violet; in Ethiopia, of gray;
and at the time of the invasion of Pe-
ru by the Spaniards, the inhabitants
of that country wore it of mouse co
lor. Amongst the Japanese, white is
the sign of mourning and black of re
joicing. In Castile, mourning vest
ments were formerly of white serge.
The Persians clothed themselves in
brown, and they, their whole family,
and all their animals, were shaved.—•
In Lycia, the men wore female habili
ments during the whole time of their
mourning.
At Argos people dressed themselves
in white, and prepared large feasts
and Entertainments. At Delos thly
cut off their hair, which was deposit
ed upon'the sepulchre of the dead.—
The Egyptians tore their bosoms, and
covered their faces with mud, wear
ing clothes of the color of yellow, or
of dead leaves.
Amongst the Romans, the wives
were obliged to weep the death of
their husbands, and children that of
their father, during a whole year.—
Husbands did not mourn for their
Wives, nor fathers for their children
unless they were upwards of three
years old.
The full mourning of the Jews con-
I
CMEIiKEE
tinues for a year, and takes place up
on the death of parents. Tile chil
dren do not put on black, but are
obliged to wear, during the whole
year, the clothes which they had on
at the death of their father, without
being allowed to change them, let
them be ever so tattered. They last
on the anniversary of his death, every
year. Second mourning lasts a month,
and takes place on the demise of chil
dren, uncles, aunts. During that pe
riod they dare neither wash them
selves, shave, nor perfume them
selves, nor even cut their nails. They
do not eat in common in the family,
and the husband and wife live sepa
rately. Slight mourning continues on
ly for a week, and is worn on the de
cease of a husband or of a wife. On
returning frdm the funeral obsequies,
the husband, wearing his mourning
habits, washes his hands, uncovers his
feet, and seats himself on the ground,
remains in the same posture, and con
tinues to groan and weep, without pay
ing attention to any occupation, until
the seventh day.
The Chinese, when they are in
mourning, wear coarse white cloth,
and weep three years for. the loss of
the departed. The magistrate no long
er exercises his functions, the coun
sellor suspends his suits, and husbands
and wives, as with the Jews, live a
part from each other. Young people
live in seclusion, and cannot marry
till the end of the three years.
The mourning of the Caribbees con
sists in cutting off their hair, and in
fasting rigorously until the body putri
fy; after which they indulge in de
bauches, to drive all sadness away
from their minds.
Among certain nations in America,
the nature of the mourning depended
upon the age of the deceased. At the
death of children, the relations were
inconsolable; while scarcely
was given to the aged. Mourning for
children, in addition to its longer du
ration, was common, and they were
regretted by the whole town in which
they drew their first breath. On the
day of their demise, persons dared not
approach their parents, who made a
frightful noise in their house, yielded
to the most violent fits of despair,
howled like demons, tore their hair,
bit themselves, and scratched them
selves over the whole body. The fol
lowing day they threw themselves up
on a bed, which they watered with
their tears. The third day they com
menced their groaning for the loss of
their child; this lasted a whole year,
during which neither father nor moth
er ever washed themselves. The rest
! of the inhabitants of the place, in or
• der to evince their sympathy for the
' affliction of the parents, wept three
times a day until the body was borne
1 to the grave.
The following striking interposition
of Providence, is said to have taken
place duriftg Mr. Baxter's residence
in Coventry. Several ministers e
jected by the act of uniformity, who
resided in that city, united with Mr.
Baxter in establishing a lecture in a
private house on a neighboring com
mon. The time of worship was gen
erally a very early hour. Mr. Bax
ter left Coventry in the evening, in
tending to preach the Jecture the fol
lowing morning. The night being
dark, he lost his way, and wandering
about a considerable time, he came to
a gentleman's house, where he asked
for direction. The gentleman think
ing it would be unsafe for such a per
son to be wandering on the common
at so late an hour, requested the ser
vant to invite him in. Mr. Baxter
readily accepted the kind proposal,
and met with a very hospilable recep
tion. His conversation was such as
to give his host an exalted idea of his
good sense and extensive information.
The gentleman wishing to know the
quality of his guest, said after supper,
"As most porsons have some employ
ment or profession in lift-, I have no
NEW ECIIOTA, WEDNESDAY AUGUST 6, 1828.
RICHARD BAXTER.
doubt, sir, that you have yours."— b
"Yes, sir, I am a maa catcher." —"A »
man catcher, (said the gentleman, ti
are you? lam glad to hear, you say a
so, for you are the very person I want. w
lam a justice of the peace in this n
district, and am commissioned to seize 11
the person of Dick Baxter, who is
expected to preach at a conventicle P
in this neighborhood early to-morrow
morning; you shall go with me, and I
doubt not we shall easily apprehend v
the rogue." Mr. B. agreed to ac- c
[ company him. Accordingly, the next c
morning, the gentleman took Mr. Bax- n
ter in his carriage to the place where
the meeting was to be held. When *
they arrived at the spot, they saw a 1
considerable number of people hover
ing about, for seeing the carriage of 1
the justice, and suspecting his inten- r
tions, they were afraid to enter the 1
house. The justice observing ibis, f
said, to Mr. Baxter, "I am afraid
they have obtained information of my c
design; Baxter has probably been ap- .
prised of it, and will not fulfil his 1
engagements; foi you see the people J:
will not enter into the house. I think
if we extend our ride a little farther, '
our departure may encourage them
to assemble, and on our return we
may fulfil our commission." When
they returned, they found their efforts 1
useless, for the people still appeared j
unwilling to assemble. The magis
trate, thinking he should be disappoint
ed of the object he had in view, ob
served to his companion—"That as 1
the people were very much disaffected
to government, he would be much o
bliged to him to address them on the (
subject of good behaviour." Mr. j
Baxter replied "that perhaps this
would not be deemed sufficient; for
as the religious service was the object
for which they met together, they
would not be satisfied with auvice of (
that nature, but if the magistrate
would begin with prayer, he would
then endeavor to say something to
them." The gentleman replied, put
ting his hand into his pocket, "Indeed,
sir, I have not got my prayer book
with me, or I would readily comply
with your proposal. However, lam
persuaded that a person of your ap
pearance and respectability, wotjd
be able to pray with them, as well as
to talk to them. I beg, therefore,
that you will be so good as to begin
with prayer." This being agreed to,
they alighted from the carriage and
entered the house, & the people, hes
itating no longer, followed them. Mr.
Baxter then commenced the service
j by prayer, and prayed with that se
riousness and fervor for which he was
eminent. The magistrate standing
by, was soon melted into tears. The
good divine then preached in his ac
customed, lively, and zealous manner.
When he had concluded he turned to
the magistrate, and said, "I am the
very Dick Baxter of whom you are in
[ pursuit—l am entirely at your dispo
i sal." The justice, however, had
felt so much during the service, and
saw things in so different a light, that
i he laid aside entirely all his enmity to
' the non-conformists,& ever afterwards
l became their sincere friend and advo
- cate, and it is believed also a decided
. Christian.'
EARTHQUAKE.
At twenty-one minutes past eight of
- the morning of the twenty-third of
; February last, the shock of an earth
; quake was felt simultaneously at
J Liege, Maestrecht, and Tongres, in
1 the Netherlands; which lasted about
- ten seconds at those places. The
- previous night and the earlier part of
i the morning portended, from the ap
pearance of the sky, a high wind
r from the south-west; but the weather
, became suddenly calm a few moments
- before the earthquake was felt.—
s What renders this visitation the more
s remarkable, is its having been appa
i. rently confined to the low countries,
e which have been peculiarly exempted
', from such occurrences; and none has
- been remarked since that of 1755,
o when Lisbon was destroyed, and near-
ly the whole of Europe experienced,
in some degree, the earth's commo
tion. The cities we have alluded to
above, were those where the shock
was the severest. Liege being under
mined in its whole extent by coal pits,
its inhabitants were greatly as justly
terrified. At Maestrecht, a catholic
priest was in the act of performing
the burial service in the public ceme
tery, placed, as it would seem, on the
very line the earthquake most forcibly
evinced itself. Alarmed at the unac
countable phenomenon, he, with the
mourners, most unceremoniously left
•the dead to bury the dead,' and took
to his heels, none of the party pausing
to take breath until they had attained
the town. At Tongres, the mass lor
the dead was saying in the ancient and
remarkable church of that oldest of
the cities of the Netherlands; and the
corpse of a young woman was lying
before the altar, when the.coffin was
observed to move upon the tressels
that supported it, and a strange moan
ing sound was heard to fill the church:
unprepared for these unusual events,
fear got the better of devotion. With
out the 'let us start fair' formality of
the Cornish Curate, the Priest headed
his flock in the attempt to escape from
the church, but the doors opening in
waid, were at once closed by the rush
of the affrighted congregation; and
long and fearful was the struggle, and
the cries and shrieks of the candidates
for Catholic Emancipation most alarm
ing, ere a sortie could be effected.
FLOOD AT ST. PETERSBURGH. r
The following account of the flood f
of St. Petersburg!), in 1824, is given s
by Mr. Wilson in his "Travels in t
Russia,"&c: —"On the night of the '
24th of November the signal lamps ]
were hung round the top of the stee- <_
pie, in consequence of a strong west- j
erly wind impeding the rapid current (
from Ladago, and thereby causing a
tremendous swell in the Feva and all t
the canals. By 12 o'clock the follow- ,
ing day, nearly the whole city was A
laid under water, and a scene of hor- <
ror ensued that absolutely baffles de- j
scription; for sentry boxes, timber, i
furniture, and all kinds of provision (
might be seen floating in enormous j
masses along the streets, while dark |
rolling clouds added to the frightful ,
spectacle, and the water dashed over |
the roofs of the highest houses. In ,
one quarter of the town, that is called ,
the Smolensley, the very mansions of
the dead were invaded, graves torn o
pen, and the coffins every where float
ed about. The water was now 7
feet above the pavement in all parts
of the city. Many persons never sup
posing it would attain such a height,
had left their houses to witness the
increase of the Neva; but alas! on at
tempting to return to them, per
ished in the flood. All the bridges
were swept away, and the broken
barges, rafts of wood, galliots, and
vessels of various descriptions carried
along with them the lamp-posts,
smashed the windows, where hurling
to and fro, and some of the streets
were choked up by them. In another
quarter, th 2 Vissilli Ostov, where
most of the houses are of wood, the
destruction was tremendous; for these
buildings were torn up from their
very foundations, and entirely swept
away, with the dead bodies of their in
mates. Amidst these scenes of hor
ror, many instances truly wonderful,
and almost providential rescue from
destruction occurred, among which
the following deserves to be noticed:
In one house that was surrounded with
water: there were several children,
who as the flood increased, first had
recourse to a chair, and when it reach
ed top of that, they mounted a tabl£
In this situation, perilous as it was,
they fell asleep, and on awaking,
found that their floated couch nearly
touched the ceiling; by this means,
however, they were miraculously
I saved. The second instance is that
tof a cradle being carried away by the
flood with a male child in it, who like
another Moses, was wonderfully pre-
NO. 23.
served. A wooden house having been
lifted from its foundation, was afloat
and washed into the Admiralty yard,
and on searching this, it was found to
contain much property. On the wa
ter subsiding, the dead body of a fe
male was found kneeling, in the act of
supplicating to the image of a saint af
fixed to the wall. Throughout the
city all was terrour, despair and dis
may; for the terrified inhabitants im
agined a general deluge was about to
take place."
From the N. Y. Journal of Ccmmcree.
Some things can be done as well as
others.—On Friday last, at half pa9t
4 P. M. agreeable to appointment, a
hair-'urained fellow in Patterson, whose
name we do not recollect, leaped from
the Passiac Falls _just to gratify an
idle whim of his own. This is the
third time he has done it—the first
time lie did it by way of ex-
periment —lie then gave oat that he
would do it publicly lor the gratifica
tion of any who pleased to attend.—-
The authorities in Patterson were
justly alarmed, &. put him under keep
ing till they supposed he had abandon
ed the purpose, but lie watched the
jpportunity after he was freed from
restraint, and when a number of per
sons were present, in a favourable po
sition, he carried it into execution.—
Since that time the authorities have
dlowed him to consult for his own
afety, and he leaps from a precipice
>f a hundred feet whenever it takes
lis fancy. It does not appear that he
eceives or expects any compensation
"or performing this daring feat. He
:ays he "merely wants io show that some
kings can be dene as well as others.''''—
The position from which he leaped on
Friday is a few rods below the bridge
>11 the side towards the village, and,
f the falls are 70 feet (as commonly
stimatcd,) about 85 or 90 above the
water. The giddy precipices around
the chasm were covered with a pro
miscuous multitude of both sexes,
w hose curiosity had brought them to
gether to s t ee this singular feat of te
merity. The universal anxiety of the
multitude was manifest in their coun
tenance, and still more perfectly in
the silence that prevailed. When
the man made his appearance a dark
cloud had come over the spot, adding
to the sublimity of the cataract that
jf an approaching storm. As be walk
ed deliberately forward to his position
fou might have heard the beating of
heir hearts had it not been for the
ningled thunders, from the chasm bc
leath and the clouds above. When
le had divested himself of his coat,
■ est and shoes, and laid them careful
y by, as if debating the question
vhether he should want them again,
le commenced a short speech to the
ipectators which but few of course
•ould hear. He then stepped for
ward to the edge of the rock and look
?d'down, and the spectators on that
side supposing that he was going off,
•ame forward as their curiosity or
.heir fears moved them, and seemed
o those opposite as if all were about
o make the fatal leap; indeed there
vas great danger of a whole line of
hose in front being crowded off. Af
;er he had looked down a moment, he
itepped back a few feet, ran forward,
ind leaped into the abyss. He went
lown with his feet foremost, though
Irawn up somewhat. For this reason,
>r some other past comprehension, he
lid but just go under the water, for
le was immediately seen swimming
)iTas quietly as if he had done nothing,
»nd nothing had befallen him. The
xianiac, what else can he be call
id?) was greeted with a shout from
he spectators when they saw that he
vas still safe; and when he had reach
sd the shore, he marched round to
nis clothes with a look of composure
ind satisfaction, and they to their
lomes, some admiring his courage, but
.nore pitying his temerity.
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