The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1851-02-22

price for produce, plough over his MOTIF
cr's craze "Ihey tell us we must put
on mourning out Of respect to the dead,
and to keep their memory green in our
souls. Alas for such reasonsm The
man who can speak thus from his heart,
it seems to us, would pawn the miniature
of his best friend for ribbon or cigar,
in two days after his burial, though it
were given him by that friends dying
hand, and he who would do this, would
be a dangerous companion on lonely
road if he knew you had gold about you.
Ii is a hopeless thing to reason with
men into whose intellects and feelings
YOU must hew your way througlAan ice.
berg. The principle on which X, throws
scorn upon the general way Of express
ing sorrow for the dead, would, if car
ried out, annihilate in the human being,
almost every ennobling sentiment, and
eiTectually brutalize the human race.
We could not lingcr among the pros
trate columns of a mighty city and con-
template its crumbling glory with emo
tions of a loltier character than we could
contemplate the ruins of last years hay
stuck, beside our fathers barn. That
which forbids my shedding tears at. my
brothers or mothers funeral, or even
wringing my hands, or wearing black
for years after he or she had been moul-
dcring in the grave, would forbid, also,
my lifting a stone or carving line to the
memory of one of the greatest and, best
of mankind. Carry out this principle,
and you may not write sonnet to a
faithful dog now dcad,-you cannot
have any more graye-yards or tomb
stoncs-you must bury your friends IN
the highway, and drive your cart over
them for economy's sake-and Brandy
wine, Waterloo, Thermopylae, and Bum
kcr Hill, awaken memories in our boz
SONS of no holier, lofticr nature, than if
dozen wild hunters had Lutchered a
dozen or two of wild boars on each OF
these fields. Ralph talks of the hypoc-
risy of mourning. Because he cannot
feel sorrow, nobody can; because there
is one hyrocrite all men are dissemblers;
because Joe Smith pretended to be In
srircd and Was not inspired, therefore
Paul, Isaiah and Noses, were not inspired!
, ! lis is the drift of his argument.
Il. thlnls that the '.cusiom' cannot eth
er benefit the del arted, the world Or the
wearer. AS to its bcnetltng the world,
we are sure of one thing, viz: that it is
por of the world, the great world Of
spirit, of affection, of feeling, or at least,
that which prompts it, is part; and
with just as much propriety may one
throw dishonor upon any other feeling
or faculty, reverence, love, hope, as upon
this.
fit is part of the world, we must be-
lieve it had a Designer-and it will, we
think, be hard for Il. to say, that that
Designer is evil--delights in pain, or
can be accused Of folly. 1t is pretty safe
then, to affirm that the thing in question,
the expression of sorrow for the dead,
either in tears or ''black," is not so very
bad, so very hypocritical after all. Hear
a Heather talk about the dead. "To af-
firm the dead take no thought for the
good of the living, is a disparagement to
the laws of that friendship, which, in
their state of separation, they cannot be
tempted to rescind." This is not quoted
as a proot-but it shows how the thoughts
Of gTeat men are not all alike. 1t is Aris-
totle: how much more encouraging his
language is than Ralph's
Hear also jeremy Taylor. eve
should do well also to remember that in
this world we are something besides flesh
and blood; that we may not, without
violent necessities, run into new rcla-
tons, but preserve the affections we bore
to our dead friends when they were alive;
we must not so live as if they were per-
ishcd, but so as pressing forward to the
most intimate communion OF saints.
And we also have some ways to express
this relation, and TO bear part in this
communion by actions of intercourse
with them and yet, proper to our state /;
such as are strictly performing the will
of the dead, providing for, and tenderly
and wisely educating their children,
paying their debts, initiating their good
example, preserving their memories, pri-
vatcly, and pubIicIy, keeping their mem
orials." Hear him farther. "Though
the relict of a man or woman hath lib
erty to contract new relation, | do not
find they have liberty to cast off the old,
as if there were no such thing as immor-
tally fsouls. Remember that we shall
converse together again--that we shall
meet again in the presence Of God" "
How much more cheering his language
than Rs, how it rings with immortality.
M.