New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-08-05

are disposed 10 giDe ~ tHo Ahh"""P'''"
school of compact or succinct elegy, only foi-
low that rule Of our mental constitution ac-
cordng to which the sad suggests the humorous
There is whole class Of infinitely serious
topics at which we will have our laugh, and
that of death is one of them. The poignancy
of the ouip is i'm the sense of improperly,
something IA stolen fruit is the most tooth
some Droll things which have happened at
funerals have afforded many centenaries OF
anccdOte. like that of the very polite fathcr
who when the funeral Of his child was unex-
pectcdly large apOlogized for the smallness OF
the body-"They did MT expect so many, ana
ait was the only one they had in the house"
Four of five times i'm the newspapers we nave
read of a frisky horse who ran away with the
hcarsc and spoiled the solemnity of the pro-
cession; and in such instance the narrator
could not conceal his sense of an lnopportunc
drollery. Finally, some of the cleverest satIre
is in the form of epitaphs on living persons-for
an instance, Goldsmth's "RetalatiOn." VI
drolline upon the higher matters OF heaven
and of the other place, and of Judgment we
prefer to say nothing, though the field would
be an ample one.
Good taste is not one of the universal en-
dowments while bereavement il everywhere.
Pale Death with equal foot invades alike cas-
tie and cottage brOwn-stOne mansion ana
soualid tenement, and all intermediate dom-
ellis. Besides, Rachel, when her child is not,
finds solace in writing the verse herself, and
thinks herself quite as competent as the most
iustrious bard. A stOnecutter known TO us
once received six lines of dreadful doggerei'
metricaly, orthographicaly, syntactIcally &c
centric, with an order to cut it upon lmper-
ishable marble. He employed an eminent mana
to shape it and correct it, and had the job re-
scntfuly rejected for his kindly pains. The
mourncrs knew what they wanted, and Their
nriyatc performances were not to ne trilied
with by strangers. We must consider that
these deaths in every house, however ODD
scrre, are events this loss makes blank paper,
in the eyes of the weepers, of all the remainder
of the journal in which it is ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS,
fires. bankruptcies, earthquakes, fleShets are
as nothing to the demise of Flora, aged L
wear 3 months and 81 days-are as nothing
naturally, for they are far away. abstract, and
alicn-this is "a fee grief due to some single
"brcast." Yet it il 50 sharp, it so changes al
the aspects of the world, it so illustrates all
dams, so ulSl1IuilStS t'oh'h'i'f' ''''" -
seems fit that all the earth should know OF 1t,
and that the announcement OF it should be
lifted out of the hum-drum commonplace OF
prose. So those who prepare the advertise
mcnt of the death are told to follow the Plili-
adclpIia fashion, and TO set forth this catas-
trophc, the last which will happen to
the child, in squire or 80 OF verse.
Your obituary lines are like your eplSranls-
they must be short and comprehensive. Most
people in default of the requisite original skill,
write according to pattern, and the stanzas
are as similar as so many pieces OF court
plaster-he is gone; he is now an angel,
and this transmigratory fact assuages the
parental grief. Any departure from recognized
formulas is sure to result in something at which
we laugh in spite of ourselves. Occasionally
two verses are permissible, as in the case OF
twins simultaneously defunct. Our readers
will remember the birth of four sisters on the
same day in Baltimore last February. They
are all dead and here indeed is IN opportunity
for an cpitaph prettiy turned, and which may
be four times rs long as usual.