The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1856-07-23
r URAL FUNERAL Is.
BY WASHINGTON IRVING.

The sorrow for the dead is the onl
@ sorrow from which VIC refuse to be d
vorced. Every other wound we seek t
heal, every other afIliction to forget; bu
this wound we consider it a duty to kee
open; this aflict;on We cherish an
brood over in solitude. Whore is tn
mother who would willingly forget til
infant fha. perished like blossom from
her arms, though every recollection is
pang? Where is the child that woulc
willingly forget the most tender of pa
rents, though to remember be but to la
ment.
Who, even in the hour of agony, would
forget the friend OYER whom he mourns
who, even when the tomb is closing
upon the remains of her he most loved
when he feels his heart, as it were,
crushed in the closing of its portals
would accept ef consolation that must
be sought by forgetfulness ? No, the
love which survives the tomb is one of
the noblest attributes of the soul
If it has its woes, it has likewise its
delights; and when tho overwhelming
burst of grief is calmed into the gentle
tear of recollection, when the sudden an
/ guish and the convulsive agony over the
present. ruins of all that we most loved,
is softened away into pensiye meditation
all that it was in the days of its love
illness, who would root out such sur-
row from the heart? Though it may
sometimes throw passing cload over
the bright hour OF gayety, or spread
deeper sadness over the hour of gloom,
yet who would exchange it, eTcn for the
song OF pleas, re or the burst of revelry?
DO, there is a voice from the tomb
sweetcr than song. Thee is a remem
brance of the dead to which we turn
even fro:n the charms of the living
Ohl the grave ! the grave Il buries
every error, covers every defect, extin-
guishcs every resentment From it's
peaceful bosom spri''g none but fond re-
-rets aud tender recollections. Who
can look down even upon the grave of
an enemy, aud not feel compunntious |
throb, that lie should ever have warred |
with the poor haudfu! of earth, that lies !
before him
But the grave OF tisese we loved, wiirrst
a place for meditation There it is that
ne call up in long review the whole his
tory of virtue and gentleness, and the
thousand endcarments lavi>hcd upon US,
almost uuheedcd in the daily intercourse
IF intimacy; there it is that We dwell
upon the tenderness, the solemn az ful
tenderness of the parting scene. The
ocd Of death, with all its stifled gricfs,
is noiseless attendance, is mute, watch
'ul sssiduitics
The last testimonies of expiring love
he feeble, huttering, thrilling, oh how
hriIlirg pressure of The hand The
aint, falteriug accents, struggling III
leath to give one more assurance OF af-
ection The last fond look of the gla-
ing eye, turning upon US even from the
threshold Of existence Ay, go to the
rave of buried love- There settle the
ccount with thy conscience for every
ast beueft unrequited, every past en-
Garment unregarded, of that departed
eing, who can never, never, never re-
Urn to be soothed by thy contrition!
If thou art child, and hast ever add ,
i SORROW to the soul, or fnrrow to the (
lVered brow of an afectiouate parent; s
thou art husband, and hast ever
iused the fond bosom that ventured its ,
appiness in thy arms, to doubt one mo- |
ept of thy kindness or thy truth; if S
lou arr friend and hast ever wronged, l
thought or word, or deed, The spirit v
lat generously con6dcd in thee if thou .
It 4 lover, and hast ever given one un- t
erited paug to that true heart which :
ow lies cold and still beneath thy feet;
ien BE- sure that every uukird look, ev-
y uESraCtcuS EoFC. every ungentIe ac- =
OF, will colae rLronging back upon thy q
emory, and knock dolefully at thy soul
en be sure that thou wilt lie down sor-
wing and rcpentant ia the grave, aud
ter tie uuhcard groan, aud pour :hc
lav; ling tar, more deep, more bitter,
Ca use uGhcard aud uiavaiiIng.
Then weave thy chap',t of flowers. Il
ri strcw the b ;uties OF nature about | t.
{ grave; coLsole thy broken spirit, if al
"u canst, with these tender. Yet futile .,
ibutes of regret; but take wsrnisg BY :,
t bitterness of this thy contrite afflic u
N over the dead, aad honceforth be 10
ore faithful aud atfcctiopate in the dis. m
arge ofthy duties to the living. oc
ATcH MAKING AT SARATOGA. % %