tempt which implies a departure from the simple truth, since it is not to be pretended that religious people dread death less than others. It is however a common instrument of exhortation, and every exaggeration of fancy, and even the destructive agency of superstition, is sometimes resorted to, to heighten its effect; as if "the bondage through fear of death," were not heavy enough already; or as if life life temporal and life eternal did not furnish a thousand inducements to holiness, where the death-bed can offer one. This style of preaching is in use elsewhere, but I think it is more particularly in vogue in these newly-settled regions; perhaps because it is supposed that rough people need more urgency, or that they will be more easily aroused by what is addressed to the imagination-an opinion from which I dissent entirely. Earnestness and simplicity, the simplicity of immutable truth, are the great and only requisites in addressing the uneducated; and every attempt at mere effect is rejected at once, by people whose distinctive trait is plain common sense. As we rode slowly to the distant burial-place, the long train of humble vehicles, the delicious atmosphere, and the soft-toned light the aspect of the dying woods and the peculiar nature of the occasion combined to excite the imagination to the utmost; and I found my reveries leading me to the primal time when the veiled Isis was believed to welcome the return of her offspring to her mysterious bosom ; when simple and passionate tragedy was the outpouring of this same ever-welling fountain of human sensibilities; and majestic sculpture gave form and substance to the lofty creations of the soul- the fruit of vague longings after immortality. The very simplicity and humbleness of all the outward circumstances gave a solemn dignity to the scene; and I never felt such an overwhelming sense of the equal value of all souls in the sight of God, as while I watched the lowering of that rude coffin into the earth. I returned home in a softened mood, which I willingly prolong by attempting this sketch of my feelings, and I claim your indulgence for what may seem extravagant, on the score of your reiterated request that I would give you an impartial transcript of the impressions made on me by the ordinary course of things in this new world. The feeling of literal and unmodified equality which is evinced by such scenes as the one I have attempted to describe, however beautiful and touching when applied to the claims of suffering humanity, takes, it must be confessed, a different shape when it is brought to bear upon matters of business, with which it has, it seems to me, no rational connection. I love the one manifestation, but I cannot help detesting the other. When my fellowcreatures through pressure of misfortune require my aid and sympathy, God forbid that I should bring into account the difference which circumstances may have placed between us, as an apology for neglect or unkindness; but in transactions which are conducted on business principles, and in which every particular is specifically bargained and paid for, I must acknowledge, that continual attempts at encroachments and imposition are very annoying, and go near to provoke one into condemning the whole system, as subversive of good faith and good order. If a friend promises me his assistance on some particular occasion, and afterwards finds himself constrained to disappoint me, I can readily accept his apology, since the promise was only a favor; but if I agree with a workman for a certain stipulated price to perform a specified amount of labor at a fixed time, I can ill bear to see my business neglected, and to be told in extenuation that home affairs required his attention, or that another man's business was more pressing than mine, or that there had been a previous engagement which was forgotten until now. Yet all this has not unfrequently occurred during my operations here; while any delay on my part would have been resented as an imposition, and probably have brought the law upon me immediately, though public opinion would have been decidedly adverse to my attempting to obtain redress for these incessantly violated engagements. A very one-sided equality, certainly! And the same views prevail as to domestic service; a strict and punctual compliance with the letter of the engagement is exacted on one side, and an unlimited discretion exercised on the other. A person on whom you depend for the main business of your household will quit you in the midst of illness or during the stay of visitors, and that without a moment's warning; feeling quite satisfied with saying in reply to your remonstrances, "Well! I thought I could stay but you see, our folks wants me to hum, and so I've got to go!" But I am falling into the scolding line, one in which I do not often indulge, and which, indulged, certainly unfits one for making the best of things as they are. We have, just now, two very decent maids, besides poor Rose, who, with all her feebleness, is invaluable as a balance-wheel. John and Sophy are pretty much self-absorbed; and have imbibed so much of the spirit of the country, that they seem ever on the watch lest I should remember that they called me master for five years, at home. The English of that class do not bear very meekly the change in their condition when they become independent farmers in the new world. Their children will take equality more moderately and more rationally, for they will enjoy some advantages of education, which their parents never had. Florella's love and my own to you and yours. The new house and its arrangements suit us ex. |