Newspapers / Masonic Journal (Greensboro, N.C.) / Jan. 6, 1876, edition 1 / Page 4
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msrnmmaRi THE 31 A S 0 N 1 C J 0 U H N A L ' f '■ti' ^ J'’f! '• 4 J rf ' 1 ? '* I’ ;■ I'iT" ifij* j i|Mf III It a s -p 4 * ‘ibS;~ WM‘ From tlicy Kcstoiie. Buried Alive. My case is not without precedent. Oth ers have been buried aUve before me, and bv good fortune, exhibted evidences of consciousness in time to secure a rescue. ]jut I pre.sume that I am the first Free mason ever subjected to this discipline. Will the readers of the Kcyswne listen to my story ? My health from boyhood has been fee ble. I am not scholar enough to des cribe, or even name my peculiar ail ment; but I was always hard to awake from sleep, sometimes had fainting fits, suffered much from swimming in the head, a.id the like. I b came, a Mason at the age of twenty-four, and fouml the association, in all respects pleasing and useful. The Lodge woi-ked carefully anl well. No erring brother stood a chance ef being overlooked until his sin f,re\\ chronic within him. We have no dispu table brethren among us. Yet we were social, and had high jinks whenever the craft was “called from labor to refresh ment.” We sung the Masonic songs well and freely Twice a year a bouoteou.s banquet was .spread, which, with the at ieudantjogabilities, was always anticipa ted by the members with rare relish. In brief, ours was more than an ordinary Lodge. One afternoon I had gone into the woods to select a piece of timber for a particular work—1 am a wagonmaker by trade—and finding a suitable tree, I be gan to out it down. While doing so a large snake came suddently out from a hollow place near the ground, and pissed directly between my leet. I always had an antipathy to snakes, and the sudden ness of its appearance threw me int.o a fit, I fell backward to the ground as if dead. The woodohopper who was with me took me on his shoulder—I am a very light weight—and cairied me directly to mv boarding-house, summoning a physician, whose office we passed, to wait upon me. A.11 efforts to resuscitate me, however, failed. Applications of all sorts, even tht most pungent vivications, the hot bath, electricity itself, was tried upon me ; but luy appearance was that of a dead man, and at last the medical practitioner de clared that “life was extinct.” i It was about this time that my dor mant senses returned to me; at least, 1 cannot remember with distinctness any thing which occured before I heard—and oh! how distinctly the voice fell upon my ears, “He is dead Some one re marking upon my florid appearance, and the warmth of my flesh, heard the doc tor explain, with quite a display of erudi tion, that “that phenomena were not rare in persons of my peculiar temperament; but that these were not appearances of vitality. ’ He advised, however, that no steps should be taken for my burial un til the plainest evidences of death were apparent. Then I heard the doctor leave the room, and the conversation of the two or three persona around me, express ing surprise (no one gave utterance to grief) at my sudden death. Tnen my body was laid out in the usual manner, but with what I thought to be unneces- gary coarseness aad indelicacy, and I was left, nude and alone, in a dark room. All this time, I confess, my feelings were rather of a ludicrous nature, iningied with some idignation, than of fear. I felt so confident of reviving in a feiv hours that the thought of how droll would be the scene of my unexpected re suscitation was uppermost iii my mind. I liad that indistinct perception of passing objects common to a state of coma, yet could consentrate my ideas upon a single point with considerable force. J,he lines. ‘‘Solemn strike.s the funeral chimes,” rang in my mind. The job on which I had been engaged occupied much of my thoughts, and I computed over and over the measurements of the timber upon which I was reflecting at the moment of my attack. The night passed rapidly enough, and daylight seemed as plain to me, through my clo.sed lids, us on any other occasion. Then I became x silent witnees of a scene never to be eradicated from my memory. A delegation from the Lodge came to the room, and for a considerable period, stood around me in consultation. Their words were tender and sympathetic. They had telegraphed, as I learned, to my widowed mother, and the funeral would proceed as soon as she arrived. At a called meeting, the evening before, they had assumed all the expenses of iny in terment, together with those for a monu ment, which they had already ordered. They had adopted eu.ogistic resolutions in my honor. They had, in brief, taken prompt steps to assure my mother, my friends, and the entire community, of their respect for my memory. Now I was laid in the coffin, and my body removed to the Masonic Hall, where a guard of brethren was detailed to stand watch over me through the second night. It must h.ive been one or two o’clock in the morning that a final con sultation was held over my body, to de ciile the solemn question of death. The ruddy appearance of my skin, and the high temperature of my flesh, before ad verted to, had excited much surprise, and no less than four physicians, together, with the coroner, several experienced un dertakers, and others, stood around me to settle the question. And now, for the first time, I began to feel some alarm. The reader will, of course, understand that my mind was not in a logical condition. In truth, it must have been in a feeble state of action, sc much so that I had not previously con templated the possibility of premature burial, nor realized the horrible condi tion in which I w,as placed. But as one after the other tests failed, when acrid substances put undei my eyelids, and sharp instruments penetrating my nerves, and great charges of galvanism, throwing my muscles into spams, failed to elicit a single evidence of real life ; when I heard the coroner and the undertakers, one and all, declare me “dead as Jalius Caisar” — in fact, when the last of the experts ceas ed his experiments, and retired from the Lodge room, a horrible fear began to come over me, te which language is inadequate to give expres.^ioii, a fear which continu ed hut with ever-increasing intentness iin til the end of the chapter. My life was saved by tbe fortuitous cir cumstance of a railroad accident, which prevented the arrival of my mother. This necessitated placing my body in a vault, that upon her coming she might once more look upon my face, before mv lemains were finally interred. In all other respects the funeral services pro ceeded as though I was to bi^ placed in mother earth. The beautiful iMasonio services were performed in opening a Fu neral Lodge, my coffin lying tiearllie al tar in the center. The appoini ment of a Marshal, his orderly arrangements for a procession, the beautiful prayer ot the CbaplaiH, the selections of palf-bearers how well I understand these details / Every word of the Master’s eulogy fell «pon myear, and I followed” him, mentally, line by line, as lie recited that funeral poem, commem ing ; “Dead, but wliere now,” etc. It would be spinning out this subject uiinecessarily to describe the procession and the proceedings at the church a-id receiving vault. Suffice that all things were done with exceeding gravity and decorum. My body was taken first to the Methodist church, where a iuiural dis- ! course was given, in which my character I was tenderly reviewed; then to tbe graveyard, where I was deposited, as I have said, in one of the vaults, fortunate- i ly opened to the air. At the suggestion of j one of those who liad retained a lurking skepticism as to the fact of my ueath, the ! lid of tbe coffin immediately above iny i face was slightly loo.sened, to which cir- I cumstance I probably owe my life. The horrors of that night why should I relate? Consciousness fully returned. One by one ray muscles yielded to my agonized will, and I moved my feet and hands, and opened my eyelids ; I screamed aloud. More than once I must haved fainted and recovered. And when my mother, tot tering into that horrible recejitacle of tbe dead, came to look upon my face, it was bathed with a olamniy perspiration, the eyes were open, an expression of horror overspread it, which was too much for her affectionate heart. She fell upon my cof fin senseless, and was long in being re vived. I need not say that no : w.is ost releasing me from my confined situation, and restor ng me by tlie aid of hot baths and tendereat care to strength. A hand some sum of money wa.s made up, by which I was enabled to travel for sever- montlis in the company of my mother, and until the horrible impre.ssions of that premature interment faded from my mind. SCRAPS. What I Have Seen- An old man of experience says ; I have seen a young man sell a good farm, turn merchant, and die in the in sane asylum. I have seen a farmer travel about so much that tfieie was nothing at home worth looking at. I have seen a man spend more money in folly than would support his family in comfort and independence. I have seen a young girl marry a young man of dissolute habits, and repent of it as long as she lived. I have seen a man depart from truth wliere caudor and veracity woald have served him to a much bettor purpose. I have seen the extravagance and folly of children bring their parents to poverty and want, and themselves to disgrace. I have seen a prudent and industrious wife retrieve the fortunes of a family when the husband pulled at the other end of the rope. I have seen a young man who despised the counsels of the wise and advice of the good, and his career end in poverty and wretchedness. We should never play with favor- cannot too closely embrace it when it * real, nor fly too far from it when 't ■* false. ‘ Humility is a grace that adorns and beautifies every other grace ; withontit the most splendid natural and acquired acquisitions lose their charn. i’rejudice lurks in hidden corners of all minds over which knowledgs nas shed its penetrating light, and prejud’e* is the natural f-ie of magniuiimity. I Sloth makes all things difficult, butij. j dustry all easy ; and he that rise, ij,j must trot all day, and .shall scarce ovsr take his busines,s at night; whilelazine.j travels so slowly that poverty soon over- take.s him. Far from the crushed flowers of gi,d. ness on the road of life a .sweet perfume is wafted over to the present hour, as march, ing armies often send out from heaths the fragrance of the trampled plants. A pious cottager residing in the midst of a lone and dreary heath was asked hr a visitor; “Are you not sometimes afraij in your lonely situation, especially in the winter?” He replied: “Oh, not faith shuts the door at night, and mir- cy opens it in the morning.'^ Ingratitude is too base to return i kindness, and too prou.t to regard it-, much like the tops of mountains, barren, indeed hut yet lofty; they produce noth-' ing, they feed nobody, they clothe nobody, they clothe nobody, yet are high and stately, and look down upon all the ivorkl about them. A Close Call.—A Detroit boy sur prised his father the other day by asking: ‘Father do you like mothc’-?’ •Why, yes, of course.’ ‘And she likes you ?’ ‘Of course she does.’ ‘Did she ever say so ?’ ‘Many a time, my son.’ 'Did she marry you because she The Shah’s Strong Box. yon ?> loved Tbe strong box of the Shah of Persia consists of a small room 28x14 feet. Here, spread upon carpets, lie jewels val ued at .-£7,000,000. Chief among them is the Kaianian crown, shaped like a flow er—piot, and topped by an uncut ruby as large as a hen’s egg, and supposed to have coue from Siam. Near the crown are two lamoskiii caps adorned with splendid aigrettes of diamonds ; and before them lay trays of jiearl, ruby and emerald necklaces, and hundreds of rings. A Mr. Eastwick, who is reported to have been allowed to examine the collection, states j lu jiupiess iimhu that conspicuous among Uie gauntlets and ' pcisoner a realizing sense of tbe enorciit.'' belts covered with jiearlsand diamonds is olkis guilt said : “I think you are a bad the Kaianian belt, about a foot deep, j ^an and deserve alieavy punishment for weighing perhaps eighteen pounds, which y-our crime. I will sentence you to the penitentiary for two years.” Imagine his disgust and surprise whev. the prison er jumped forward, seized his lianJ and 'Certainly she did.’ The boy looked the old man over aid after a long pause asked : ‘Well, was she as near sighted then at ohe is now 7—Free Press. “My son, I hope you won’t make afro! of yourself and drink brandy Christmas— will you?” asked a widowed motherof her little son. 'No, ma, I gis tell you the truth—I don't drink brandy.’ ‘That 3 right, my son, voii are a good and truthful boy ; and I’m going to get you some fire-crackers,’ commendinglj said his mother. ‘If I can't git whiskey,’ he continued, ‘I won't drink brandy. In the United States Court at Indian apolis, a man was .tried for passing coun terfeit money-. Tbe evidence w ae conclu sive, and the Judge, when about to sen tence him, thinking to impress upon tii* is one complete mass of pearls, diamonds, emeralds and rubies. One or two scab bards of swords are said to be worth a quarter of a million each. There is al.co shook it warmly, saving ; “Well, now, the finest turquoise in the world, three or - Jtidge, do you know that under the cir- foiir inches long, and without a flaw ; ^ oumstances, I think that's mighty kind also an emerald aa big as a walnut, cover- j you ? Let’s shake I ’ And shake thi.v ed with the name.3 of the kings who cos- ■ did, although there wasn't much wanntli sessed it. j jjj Judge's manijei,.
Masonic Journal (Greensboro, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Jan. 6, 1876, edition 1
4
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