Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1843-09-22
From the United States Gazette.
RESPECT REMEMBERED.

worthy OF imitation,
II is a custom worthy OF commentator
If the heart is ever soitened to delicate inn
pressions, il is when wruug by the loss Of
some cherished one Then the most trining
kindness, having the deprivation as a mo-
tive, is dearly felt, aud Iastingly cherished
And he who, in the hour Of agony for death
of a relative, comes to ms with sympathy, or
only that he may show respect to our grief
may ever after claim our kindest considera-
lion.
More than forty years ago, there were
seen in the county Of Plymouth, funeral
tram moving solenny along the highway,
towards the common burial ground of the
town. They we're carrying to the last earth
~ abode one who, in the funess Of years,
had sunk away to rest after a life of con-
staut excellence. of much active benevo-
lence, OF more passive virtue The neigh
borhood had shared in her bounty and deyo-
ton, bu, her family had witnessed her pa
tent resignation, her plous hope. When
such an one is buried in the primitive socle-
ty that then distinguished that portion of the
State, solemnny pervades the vicinity, and
accordingly, the cortege was long and as
it passed upwards towards the burial place,
il seemed from the silence around, as if ev-
cry one had lost mother and was cherish
ing the recollection Of her eminent virtues
In the train was a boy, then about ten
wears of age He was pale with much grief
and long anxiety, aud nervously sensitive 10
all that was around. He had lived in the
measured kindness Of the deceased, and had
thought then as he thinks now, that her yir-
tues had been equaled by few on this earth !;
and the respectful quiet that marked the so
IDENTITIES of the afternoon, was soothing 10
his boyish feelings, and be hoped that no
thing would disturb the tomb-lke silence
that pervaded the scene. Not sentence he
knew would be spoken al the grave, save the
few words OF the sexton, who, lifting his hat
when the coffin had been lowered into the
narrow house, would say, as he always had
said, in low murmuring voice, 81 will see
that the rest be done in decency and in or
der" The solemn bow of the chief mourn
er was the only response, and then the pro-
cession would return in silence as il had
come 1t was soothing to the child TO think
that his feelings would not be disturbed, nor
his grief be rendered clamorous by pointed
illusions 10 the virtue Of the dead, and to
his OWE irreparable loss.
But as the procession gained the brow Of
gentle rising in the road, there was dis
covered approaching large team of oxen,
dragging timber to the ship-yard, and driv-
en.by young man, who to ignorance ad-
ded drunkenness, and its consequent man
ners. His passage through the village was
invariably marked by the loud utterance Of
every kind of indecency, vulgarity and pro-
family and the threats TO make him anne
nable to the law, had only been answered by
oaths to take private vengeance on the COM
plainani.
The child, who knew this, trembled at
the dissertation which was likely to ensue.
He had seen female delicacy outraged by
the backyard, and "the hoary head, u
which in that section of the country was "a
crown of glory" insulted by his indelicate
eering; and the funeral train of one SC
much respected-the wife, too, of the very
man who had threatened TO punish his impt
cites, would be an opportunity to display hi:
contempt for the decency Of society, and hi:
revenge for wholesome admontion too good
too rare TO be neglected. His voice wa:
heard at distance shouting 10 his cattle
and the wind bore towards the mourner,
several of the wretches favorite blasphemies
and gave a sickening foretaste of what wa.
TO shock their feelings.
At length the head Of the funeral was op
posite the team, and the mourner had trem
blcd-at the thought of the outrage TO which
his feelings had been subjected. He wonlc
have stepped forward, and besought th'
teamster TO spare him but if age and sta
ton had been poweress, what could a chile
do! and he turned his fearful eye upon tn,
offensive man, and moved onward with hi
fellow mourners.
The noisy driver stepped rapidly forward
and stopped his cattle without uttering
word. Then moving slowly backwards Il
the wagon, he turned himself towards tn,
funeral train, shifted his whip to his LEI
: hand. barred his head, and stood half bowe,
in respectful silence until the whole process
sion had moved past; then slowly covering
himself. he silently goaded his team into mo
ton, and went forward on his business.
The feelings Of the boy at that momen
; cannot be described, but he made, as an oil
fering TO the names Of the beloved dead,
solemn vow that he would, should circum
/ stances ever warrant the act, repay That MAJ
$ for his timely remembrance Of the virtues @
: the departed, and the grief of the mourners
, But the boy was not likely to find the op
: portunty Of repaying that debt which b
a never forgot He found residence hun
/ dreds Of miles from the fixed home of tn
: man.
$ Thirty years after that event, he who j
I boyhood had registered the vow under sue
S circumstances, was in the city of Boston o
q visit and willing to compare the appliar
f ces of the government of that city with thos
& Of a southern metropolis, with which he wa
I connected, he took his seat one morning J