PUBLISHED BY DUTTON AND WENTWORTH, AND TICKNOR AND FIELDS, CORNER OF WASHINGTON AND SCHOOL STREETS. MDCCCLVI. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by DUTTON AND WENTWORTH, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. PREFACE. THE following article, entitled "THE BURIAL SERVICE," was published, in the Boston Evening Transcript, in the year 1848; and, having occasioned some little controversy, which may as well be forgotten, led to the preparation of these essaysTHE DEALINGS WITH THE DEAD-which, with some unimportant changes, are now republished, in their present form. 1* "THE BURIAL SERVICE." THIS is a very solemn service, when it is properly performed. When I was a youngster, Grossman was Sexton of Trinity Church, and Parker was Bishop. Never were two men better calculated to give the true effect to this service. The Bishop was a very tall, erect person, with a deep, sonorous voice; and, in the earth-to-earth part, Grossman had no rival. I used to think, then, it would be the height of my ambition to fill Grossman's place, if I should live to be a man. When I was eight years old, I sometimes, though it frightened me half to death, dropped in, as an amateur, when there was a funeral at Trinity. I am not, on common occasions, in favor of reviving the old way of performing a considerable part of the service, under the church, among the vaults. The women, and feeble, and nervous people will go down, of course; and getting to be buried becomes contagious. It does them no good, if they don't catch their deaths. But, as things are now managed, the most solemn part of the service is made quite ridiculous. In 1796, I was at a funeral, under Trinity Church. I went below with the mourners. The body was carried into a dimly-lighted vault. I was so small and short, that I could see scarcely anything. But the deep, sepulchral voice of Mr. Parker-he was not Bishop then-filled me with a most delightful horror. I listened and shivered. At length he uttered the words, "earth to earth," and Grossman, who did his duty, marvellously well, when he was sober, rattled on the coffin a whole |