Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1855-03-14

| grlet en9rosSeS all the available meSns o
the family, and that is expended upon the
dead which might, with careful manage
ment, have kept the living from starving,
Oh vanity Of vanities there is no folly on
earth that exceeds the vanity of this
There are many persons who put off
their grief when they put on their mourn
ing. and it is a miserable satire on man
kind to sec these sombre-c clad beings in
festal halls, mingling with the gay and
happy, their melancholy garments afford
ing painful contrast to light laughter,
and eyes sparkling with pleasure. Their
IeVity, however, must not be mistaken for
hypocrisy. The world is in fault, not they.
Their grief is already over-gone like a
cloud from before the sun-but they are
forced to wear black for a given time. -
They aro true to their nature, which teach
es them that mo grief with man is per-
manent," that the storms of to-day will
not darken the heavens tomorrow. 1t is
complying with a lying custona that makes
them hypocrites; and, AS the world always
Judges by appearances, it SO happens that
| by adhering to one of it's conventional
rules, appearances in this instance arc
| against them.
! Nay, the very persons who, in the first
genuine outburst of natural grief besought
! them to moderate their sorrow, to dry
their tears, and be comforted for the loss
they had sustained, are among the first 10
censure them for following the advice so
common and useless. Tears are as neces-
sarv to the afflicted as showers are to the
parched earth. and are the best and sweet
est remedy for excessive grief.
| 70 the mourner we would say, weep
on-nature requires your tears. They
are sent in mercy by Him who wept at the
grave of his friend Lazarus. The man of
sorrows himself taught US to weep:
! We once heard very beautiful volatile
Young lady eXclaim, with something very
! like gIee in her look and tone, after read
ing a letter she had received by the post,
( with its ominous black bordering and seal
-"Grandma is dead We shall have to
! go into deep mourning l am so glad, for
black is so becoming to me %
An old aunt, who was present, express
ed her surprise at this indecorous avowai;
when the yourg lady replied, with great
ndi1ete, 81 never saw grandma in my life.
! cannot be expected to feel any grief for
her DEATH"
"Perhaps not" said the aunt. "But
why, then, make show Of that which you
do not feel ?''
! "Oh it's the custom Of the world. You
know we must. 1t would be considered
! shocking not to go into deep mourning fo.
such near relation"
The young lady inherited q very nice
: Il ! l..
she spoken the truth, she would have said,
II cannot acecp for joy." Her mourning,
in consequence, was Of the deepest and
most expensive kind; and she really did
look charming in her "love Of black Grape
bonnet" as she skipped before the glass
admrng herself and it, when it came home
fresh from She milliner's.
In contrast with the pretty young heir
ess, we knew a sweet orphan girl whose
grief for the death of her mother, to whom
she was devotedlv attached, lay deeper
lhnn this hollow tinsel show; and vet the
painful thought that she was too poor to
pay this mark of aspect to the memory oi
her beloved parent, in a manner suited to
her birth and station, added greatly to the
poiguancy Of her sorrow.
A family who had long been burthened
with cross old aunt, who was martyr
to rheumatic gout, and whose violeht tenn
per kept the whole house in awe, and whom
they dared no: offi nj for fear other leaving
her wealth to strangers, were in the habit
of devoully wishing the old lady happy
release from her sutfcrings; when this long
anticipated event at length took place, the
very servants were put into the deepest
mourning. What a solemn farce-we
should say. lie-was this
The daughters Of wealthy farmer had
prepared every thing to attend the great
agricultural provincial show. Unfortu-
nately, grandfather to whom they all
seemed greatly attached, died most iucon-
veniently the day before. and as they sell
dom keep body in Canada over the sec
ond dav, he was buried early in the morn
ing Of the one appointed for their Journey
I They attended the remains to the grave,
but after the funeral was over they put of
1hcir black garments and started for the
show, and did not resume them until after
their return. People may think this shock.
ing. but it was not the laying aside the
black that was so, but the fact Of their be
ing able to go from grave to scene oI
confusion and gaycty. The black clothes
had nothing to do with this want Of feel,
ing, which would have remained the same
under black or scarlet vestment.
A gentleman in ,his ntighborhood. since
dead. who attended public ball the same
week that he had seen lovely child con
signed to the earth, would have remained
the same heartless parent dressed in the
deepest ssbles.
i No instance that have narrated Of the
business-like manner in which Canadian!
treat death is more ridiculously striking
than the following:
The wife of rich mechanic had bro
ther lying, it was supposed, at the poin
of death. His sister sent note TO me, re