Life in the Clearings versus the Bush

ourning f

ath?--my si

rother, bre

rth on whi

t empire o

a--its myr

o'er countl

d ocean a

their dep

ale exten

s of the c

d and spake

bliss and

shrouded

ery of my

.

s so much abused, and to which mankind so fondly clings, as that of wearing mourning for the dead!--from the ostentatious public mourning appo

this outward sign of a deep and heartfelt sorrow, that to deprive death of his sable habiliments--the melancholy hearse, funeral plumes, sombre pall, and a long array of drooping night-clad mourners, together with the awf

n for these extravagant demonstrations of grief; but in every object around us we see inscribed the mysterious law of change. The very mountains crumble and decay with years; the great sea shrinks and grows aga

proud tyrant man down to the blind worm his iron heel tramples in the earth. Then wherefore

ey have

e is no longe

r knocks at

of mishap--fa

desire

rms a black cloud, whose dense shadow obscures the light of life to the living. And why, we ask, should death be invested with such horror? Death in itself is not dreadful; i

ever runs its

which but divi

can but for a

en the future

a fixed law of their being, instead as an awful pumshment for sin--as the friend and benefactor of mankind, not the remorseless tyrant and persecutor--to die would no longer be considered an evil. Let this hideous skeleton be banished into darkness, and replaced by a benignant angel, wiping away all t

despise the magnificent boon of life by the bad use they make of it, by their blas

viving friends. By the former, the dreaded enemy is hailed as a messenger of

ruition of his being, the eternal blessedness promised to him in the Gospel, which places him beyond the wants and woes of time. The death of s

ther, whose resemblance it bears, and whose presence we all sedulously court? Invest sleep, however, with the same dismal garb; let your bed be a coffin, your canopy a pall,

tion to the living? Morally or physically, does it produce the least good? Does it soften one regretful pang, or dry one bitter tear, or make the wearers wiser or better? If it does not produce any ultimate benefit, it

nflicted by the self-tortured mourner for his own sins, and those of the dead. If this grief were not of a deep or lasting nature, the mourner found relief for his mental agonies in humiliation and personal suffering. He did not array himself in

urn to the sackcloth and ashes, as the most consistent demonstr

uld wound the delicate skin of a fine lady; it could not be confined in graceful folds by clasps of jet, and pearl, and ornaments in black and gold. "Sackcloth? Faug

which the loss of the beloved had taught them to despise. But who now would have the fortitude and self-denial to imitate such an example? The

allen circumstances glided by in her rusty weeds, "What shabby black that woman wea

ce of many a necessary meal. Ah, this putting of a poor family into black, and all the funeral trappings for

ected to pay the expenses of the funeral, and put his family into decent mourning, but every exertion must be made to do this. The money that might, after the funeral was over, have paid the rent of a small house, and secured the widow and h

opper to find us in bread." The sorrow of obtaining this useless outward show of grief engrosses all the available means of the family, and that is expended upon t

satire on mankind to see these somber-clad beings in festal halls mingling with the gay and happy, the

for a given time. They are true to their nature, which teaches them that "no grief with man is permanent," that the storms of to-day will not darken the heavens to-morrow. It is complying with a

, and be comforted for the loss they had sustained, are among the first to censure them for following advice so common and useless.

rs. They are sent in mercy by Him who wept at the grave of his

tone, after reading a letter she had received by the post, with its ominous black bordering and seal--"G

vowal; when the young lady replied, with great na?veté--"I never saw gran

"But why, then, make a show

ust. It would be considered shocking not to go i

from her grandmamma; and, had she spoken the tru

really did look charming in her "love of a black crape bonnet!" as she skipped bef

tedly attached, lay deeper than this hollow tinsel show; and yet the painful thought that she was too poor to pay this mark of res

they dared not offend for fear of her leaving her wealth to strangers, were in the habit of devoutly wishing the old lady a happy release from her sufferings.

as buried early in the morning of the one appointed for their journey. They attended the remains to the grave, but after the funeral was over they put off their black garments and started for the show, and did not resume them again until after their return. People may think this very

the same week that he had seen a lovely child consigned to the earth, wo

-like manner in which Canadians treat death, is

e to me, requesting me to relinquish an engagement I had made with a sewing girl in her favour, as she wanted

release. "I have known instances of persons being too late with their mourning to atte

irl returned to he

e, is Mr.

his sister is so vexed that she bought such

nd of a very pretty wife, and the father of a family, while she, p

she made. Her husband, as an inducement to keep the child quiet, said, "Mary, if you do not q

rnished with silk gloves, scarfs, and hatbands, and a dinner was provided after the funeral was over at one of the large hotels. "A merrier set than we were on that day," said my cousin, "I never saw.

in'd m

aches when the f

n the day that she attained her majority her parents gave a large dinner party, followed by a ball in the evening, to celebrate the event. It was during the winter; the night was very cold, the crowded rooms overhea

o convey her from the hot-bed of luxury to the cold, damp vault of St. Giles's melancholy looking church! I stood at Mrs. L---'s window, which commanded a view of the whole square, to watch the procession pass up Russell-street to t

l their feather

rom the house and deposited in the gloomy depths of the stately hearse. The hired mourners, in their sable dresses and long white hatbands and scarfs, rode slowly forward mounted on white horses, to attend this bride of death to her last resting place. The first three carriages that followed contained the family physician and surgeon, a clergyman, and the male servants of the house, in deep sables. The family carriage too was there, but empty, and of a procession in which 145 private carria

volved many hundred pounds, which had bee

of the necessity that compels people to wear it for so long a period after the death of a near relation,

hey go into mourning for their friends o

friend, it must be morally necessary for the poor to do the same. We see no difference in the degrees of moral feeling; the soul of man is of no rank, but of equal value in our eyes,

than allow their neighbours to suspect that they cannot afford a handsome funeral and good mournings for any deceased member of their family. If such persons would but follow the dictates of true wisdom, honesty, and truth, no dread of the opinion of others should tempt them to do what t

emselves in the way of picking up these stray loaves and fishes. A lady, who lived in the same town with me after I was married, boasted to me that her husband (who always contriv

ith them was not for the kings' death, but that he had not died. On these public occasions of grief, great is the stir and bustle in economical families, who wish to show a decent concern for the death of the monarch, but who do not exactly like to go to the expense of buying new clothes for such a short period as a court mourning. All the old family stores are rummaged carefully over, and every stuff gown, worn ribbon, or shabby shawl, that can take a black dye, is handed over to the vat; and these second-hand black garments have a more mournful appearance than the glossy suits of the gay and wealthy, for it is actual

streets and scare our little ones. Men would wear their grief in their hearts and not around their hats; and widows would be better known by their serious deportment than by their weeds. I feel c

ng Of

ay!--frail h

t thou soo

read thy w

in immo

ds more

g thy

crown and r

st!--false h

s the mor

e confid

es light

owers t

the

thout the po

th!--vain jo

ur found

verrate y

ough life

oon w

ars mus

is still al

e!--fond h

shipp'd at

ot the sa

em'd thy po

, thy

ldly

earth to se

aven!--love

y for thin

by thee

joys that

hee we

dark t

an stain the