Elizabeth-Town gazette. [volume] (Elizabeth-Town, N.J.) 1818-1821, 1820-10-31
From the Concord Patriot.

From the Concord PATRIOT.
EXTRAvAGANCE1 IN MOURNING DRESS
" When grief is feign'd how i'll such forms appear
And oh how useless when the grief's sineere.''
The influence, the power and the au-
thority which custom exercises over the
human mind are great aud extensive; the
tax which it levies upon the labor and
property Of mau, If prudently used, would
supply his wants aud furnish The conve-
niences of life. How great a portion OF
our time, our labonr and our money do
we expend, mol for useful purposes, but
merely to conform to custom The real
wants of man are few, and easily gratifi-
| ed; but those which custom, fashion, aud
nabit have created are many, aud hard to
be supplied. Custom and fashion cost us
more than all the taxes we pay to support
the government Of our country. We com
plain Of those which government demand,
but submit without murmur 10 those
more grievous winch our own folly i'm.
poses. And heuce, as lord Bacon Justly
observes, g since custom is the principal
magistrate of mans life, let men by all
means endeavor to obtain good cusloms. y
There is no law which custom has
more arbitrarily imposed, none whose
mandates are more generally obeyed, aud
none by which some families suffer more
severely, than that respecting mourning
apparel When person dies, custom
demands that all the relatives, particular
| iy those who are nearly allied to the de.
ceased, should be clad 10 black, and wear
that dress for considerable time. The
length of time is different in different Sec
lions of the country, but the practice
pervades every part of the nation. This
expense is, indeed, borne by the wealthy
without subjecting them to Inconvenience
but it presses hard, not only upon the
poor, but upon many families who have
such portion of property, as with econ.
omy and industry would render them
comfortable. To such families their
mourning apparel is considerable 70,
they think it must be better than that oI
1.-THE class below them. / have known ma
ny who were poor, made much poorer By
this practice, and their sufferings greatly
Increased. / have witnessed several 10
stances of large families who lived we'll SC
Hong as their parent existed, but when be
died the children were not only deprived
of his support, but the pi,tance of proper
Ity.he left them was materially impaired
by the unnecessary purchase of sucf
mourning. 10 populons towns this prac
lice is carried TO an extravagant height
|they wear for the first period full mourn
ling dress, for the second a half mourning
ldress. The evils resulting from it are Sc
lrious, not only to the family, but some
times to the creditors Of the deceased, who
are deprived of their just dues. Reason
and reflection condemn the custom as un
necessary and useless. II is not pretend
ed that it can better the condition of thu
dead. and certainly does not improve that
of the living. No other cause can BIZ
assigned for its support, than that the ty.
rant custom, the lord OF fools and the
plague of wise men, demands it.
There is no reason, in the nature and
fitness of things, why those who have los,
parent or other relative, should lay aside
Their former useful apparel merely to
wear those of another colour and form
There is no reason why the colour Of
their clothes should be black any more
than that they should be blue. Different
nations have adopted different colours as
signals OF their griefs, and those have va
ried at different periods. In the United
States and Europe the ordinary colour Cor
mourning is black; ia China it is white ;