American watchman and Delaware advertiser. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1822-1828, 1826-02-07

which he had Just broen
=" The dell O sic trash o spades they make
noo,' mutered the old man, did ever It's
nae sax ooks since gae iva lilly White shlllings to
that rascal, Tom Carnoch the merchant for that
mussel-she there---dea, enough in conscience, even
though they hae risen 10 per cent in London. he
says He tauld me II was the ace o. spades but
vac betde me if he dnna ken to his cost thar
he's the knave o. hearts, as my names
Saunders Macknoc kke. Pretty trash o. wark tools
that they make moo. lis nae a fortnight since
break aft the end o. my pick, by striking against
the skull o. Geordy Gleelang--a dour loon the
Dominic says he was for his tawse could never
make ouy impression on his head-oh, that could
hae told the same tale abou, my pick Bui should
hae drawn lesson from hence, hot TO hae come in
conack VII sic hard material"
Upon this, the sexton sen, up flom the bottom
Of the grave such loud and long, and hearty laugh,
that the minister stood with utter amazement like
one petrifed and it was not till Knocke had fairly
exhausted himself. tha, Mr. Langtext could find
uterarce to rebuke This thoughlless beadle for his
unreasonable mirlh.
] have told you again and again, Saunders
Macknockie, of the danger to which you
posed, by leading life of sic thoughtlessness and
profanity but exhoration and warning are thrown
away upon you. If your heart were not utterly
calous and scared over, II would long ere now have
been impressed with some serious thoughts OF your
own fraty and mortality. Think. you grey head
SHINE, that your present seat will soon be your
dwelling place TO the end OF time-Oh, think where
you are sitting, and repent you Of the evil of
your ways
"Wi' your leave. most reverend and learned sir"
replied the sexton, Y" your advice comes an mixing
too late al present, for you ken weel enough that
there is no repentance in the srave'-the very
words were your text last Sunday. and coed SER
mon it was. Oh, you handled it brawly-and you
kept close to your text, Tor you came over 1t at the
end of every paragraph, which every minister Ell
spet Gfoandeep says, should DO; and she's great
Judge, and powerful scripture woman, for l saw
her once beat Elder Teuchbody at prolemlcs,
think she cad them. There's name that comes up
wiz you, sir, except, Perhaps, that grea; man frae
Eegy, Mr. Rantoul; WOW was that not noble
holding forth that he gave US on the afternoon o.
the last occasion-and was he no sweet on that elo'
Itious word Mesopotamia? Dootless it sac
|weel as yourself wad hae done. but surely it was
Ear frae deseryn that which your aud hoose
keeper Il dinna like that woman. she scrimps ms
of my milky passed upon it, vldelicet, as the Domi
ME says, that O. her masters lang obs was
worth an acre, Scotch measure, o. sic caud lieess,
fooshioness threadbare dscourses"
BY thus administering the cup OF fatery, which
lew refuse to swallow, the sexton averted the
storm that about to burst upon him for punnng
on the minister's text "a hopeless case" said
the good man, and wheeled away.
i The grave digger in the tragedy of Hamlet and
his brother in 8 Rlair's Crave poem which APP
proaches nearer the manner and language of Staks-
peare than any other in the wide range OF our lit
era,ure, are represented by these great writer's
pair of the most jovia bumorists, and most authors
indeed, when they describe the characters OF those
whose professions bring them much in contact with
the scenes of death and mortality, have generally
invested them with habits and feeling altogether
different iom those which naturally think they
should acquire from considering the circumstances
in which they are so frequently placed. This is
curious exhibition OF human nature, but it is true
one The pictures which the mighty writers al
ready mentioned have drawn, are not the airy
nothings'' of their imaginalions-they have
ia local habaton" in this world OF ours; they
are characters OF every-d occurrence. An expla-
nation of this phenomenon has been given by the
great dramast,--" custom hath made It a property
of easness;o to which may add, the nauial an
tpathy which the human mind has to dwell on the
gloomy thoughts of death and the grave. The
physlcian the undertaken, and the sexton are, per-
haps, the persons, of all Others, who think least on
such subjects. To the physician, death bed scene
will sugges. thoughts OF the nature OF the disease-
the ratio medendi- the cause prGdtsponentes, &c.
and his mind will pass from professional sub.
iect to another; ill at length it dwells on that
sweetest of conceptions-a fee. His constant sat-
elites The sexton and the undertaken, think Of
nothing else but the lee.
The same event, then. will suggest different
train OF thoughts to different individuals, which
will be regulated by their various professions,
habits, education, and thousand other crcum-
stances The power Of habit over the human mind,
seems in many cases to be in proportion to the
difficulty which 1t has to overcome its repugnaDcy to
what is naturally disagreeable to it. In this 1t re-
sembles the external sense of taste. Opium, ardent
spirits, tobacco, and the like. naturally very dis
agreeable hut when liking 10 them is once ac-
qured, they become absolutely necessary TO ones
existence. Such is the effect OF custom, in modi-
Tying our thoughts and sensations. We need not