Page:History of Delaware County (1856).djvu/64

40 HISTORY OF his dark eye^ and the cold drops of sweat that gathered upon his icy, but manly forehead, revealed in unmistakeahle lan- guage, " That the golden bowl was broken," and that life hung for a time hut hy a flickering and dissevered thread. It was indeed a time for mourning ; that little hand of hrave men had wives and children and hearth-stones of their own, and it was for these, the dearest and tenderest of all human interests, that they had come forth and taken upon themselves the armor of war, to protect and defend them; and when the expiring man with his last accent breathed sweet counsel to his wife and children, who depended upon him for their daily bread, there arose spontaneous in every bosom, the reflected counterpart of their own homes; perhaps at that instant the ruthless savage has raised the fierce war-whoop, and with tomahawk in hand has passed the threshold of his own domicile to drink the heart's blood of his own kindred, or ^ if they escape death, to be carried into a captivity, if possible, worse even than death. But pass this picture ! for already have the eyes of the unfortunate man closed, and he has sunk^ in the embrace of that sleep which wakes only at the resur- rection morn. A rude and shallow grave is prepared,' in which, without cofiin or shroud, or monument to mark his resting place, they placed him with his arms slightly folded, and without removing his clothes. ' The death of Dumond was an unfortunate circumstance for his family. He was the father of a large family of children, most of whom at that time were small. My informant, Cyrus Burr, Esq., knew three of the sons, John, David, and Herma- nns, all of whom are now dead, and two daughters, both of whom married men by the name of Yaples. One of them,