"You shall go, by all means, Barney," said I: "and here is
a trifle to comfort the poor widow with." "The blessings of the whole
calendar full on your onor!" responded the grateful Irishman. What
a scene, thought I, for the pencil of my friend Bob Transit!"Could a
stranger visit the place," I inquired, without molestation or the
charge of impertinence, Barney?" "Divil a charge, your onor; and as
to impertinence, a wake's like a house-warming, where every guest is
welcome." With this assurance, I apprised Barney of my intention to
gratify curiosity, and to bring a friend with me; carefully noted down
the direction, and left the grateful fellow to pursue his course.
The absurdities of funeral ceremonies have hitherto triumphed over the
advances of civilization, and in many countries are still continued with
almost as much affected solemnity and ridiculous parade as distinguished
the early processions of the Pagans, Heathens, and Druids. The honours
bestowed upon the dead may inculcate a good moral lesson upon the minds
of the living, and teach them so to act in this life that their cold
remains may deserve the after-exordium of their friends; but, in most
instances, funeral pomp has more of worldly vanity in it than true
respect, and it is no unusual circumstance in the meaner ranks of
life, for the survivors to abridge their own comforts by a wasteful
expenditure and useless parade, with which they think to honour the
memory of the dead.
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