Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1820-12-12
FROM THE NEW HAMPSHIRE PATRIOT.
MOURNING DRESSES.

"When grief is feign'd how i'll such forms ap-
pear,
| And oh how useless, when the grief's SIN
cere.''
The influence, the power and the
authority which custom exercises over
the human mind are great and extensive :;
the tax which it levics upon the labor
and property of man, if prudently used,
| would supply his wants and furnish the
eonveniences of life. How great por-
| ton of our time, our labor and our mo-
ney do we expend, not for useful pur-
poses, but merely to conform 10 custom.
The real wants of man are few, and
easily gratihed; but those which custom,
fashion, and habit have created are ma
ny, snd bard 10 be supplied. Custom
| and fashion cost US more than al! the
taxes we pay to support the government
| Of our country. We complain of those
which government demand, but submit
| without murmur to those more griev-
GUS which our own folly imposes.-An4
honce, as lord Bacon justly observes
since custom is the principal magis-
rate Of mans life, let men by all means
cn1eayor to obtain good caStom8.''
There is no law which custom has
more arbitrarily imposed. none whose
| mandates are more generally obeyed,
and none by which some families suffer
more severely, than that respecting
mourning afharek-Whena person dies
custom demands that all the relatives,
particularly those who are nearly allied
to the deceased, should be clad in black,
and wear that dress for considerable
time. The length of time is different in
different sections Of the country, bat tn.
| practice pervades every part OF the ma
ton. 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 pro-
| pertv, as with economy and industry
| would render them comfortable Il
such families their mourning apparel Is
considerable for they think it must be
better than that OF the class below them
| have known many who were poor,
made much poorer by this practice, and
their sufferings greatly increased. |
have Witnessed several instances of large
families who lived we'll SO long rs their
parent existed, but when he died the
children were not only deprived of his
support, but the pittance of property he
left them was materially impaired by the
unnecessary purchase OF such mourning.
In popu,ous towns this practice is car
ried to an extravagant height--they wear
for the first period a full mourning dress,
Cor the second half mourning Dress
The evils resulting from it are serious,
not only TO the family, but sometimes TO
the creditors Of the deceased, who are
deprived of their Just dues. Reason and
reflection condemn the custom as I'M
necessary and useless. It is not pre-
tended that it can better the condition of
the dead, and certainly does not improve
that of the living. No other cause can
be assigned for its support, than that the
tyrant custom, the lord of fools and the
plague of wisemen, demands If.
There is no reason, IN the nature and
fitness of things, why those who have
lest 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
color of their clothes should be black
any more than that they should be blue.
Different nations nave adopted different
colors as signals Of their grlefs, and those
have varied at different periods. In the
United States and Europe the ordinary
color for mourning is black; in China it
is white; in Turkey, blue or violet; in
Egypt, yellow; in Ethiopia, brown
White obtained formerly in CASTLE on
the death of their Princes. Herrara
observes, d" that the last time it was used
was in 1893, at the death of Prince John.
Each people pretend to have their
reasons for the particular color of their
mourning: white Is supposed to denote
purity: yellow that death is the end OF
human hopes, in regard that leaves when
they fall, and flowers when they fade,
become yellow brown denotes the earth,
whittier the dead return; black the prl-
walton of life blue expresses the happi-
ness which it is hoped the deceased does
enjoy; and purple or violet, sorrow on
the one side, and hope on the other, as
being a mixture of black and blue"
Though mourning dresses have gene
rally prevailed, there have been indi-
viduals, as we'll a, religious sects, who
have who ly abstsined from then. o