410 Cheerfulness of Sextons. fer. 
sééms to make a’ private ‘property of their virtues whicl»'bloomiabove 
evound!°: The gentle’ maid; on whose grave the first violets: of the! year 
are bloomitig, ‘Calls from: his heart its warmest sympathy s)he remembers 
her? tendér ‘infancy;“her budding womanhood—the fell ‘disease which 
nitifbered hey amongst the sleepers : he sees her in hismind’seye-shii- 
ig ainid'thé chertibim, and smiles with inward joy as he tells her story. 
Hé| rejoicesthat ‘she was snatched from a wicked and ensnaring world, 
and knows that nothing can assail her now, and gently builds for her his 
hopes ii heaven. He points to the graves of grey-haired elders, and‘in 
the contemplation of their peaceful end, cheerfully looks forward to his 
éwnj when he himself shall also lie flower-bound amongst those remains 
which he has’ so kindly garnished. rise 
Cfo the’ reflective mind, death with all his attendments is‘a cheerful 
personage ; he comes not really with a frown, but: with a welcome waf- 
turé ‘td a shore where the billows roll not, and where their: roar is 
hushed. The sexton is his servitor and body attendant—he and: the 
ufidertaker together garnish the dishes that their master prepares. © The 
sexton stands amidst his duty as a privileged being—he takes his chirp- 
ing cup, and drinks to the present. His chief wish is that he and the 
sun may stand still together. 
°eGet thee to Yaughan and fetch me a stoup of liquor,” saith Shak- 
Speare’s' sexton, and falls to his work with a merry old chaunt; while 
the philosophic prince, surprised at what he witnesses, asks his’ friend 
Horatio: “hath this fellow no feeling that he sings at grave-making ?” 
—Yes,'my Lord Hamlet, he hath feeling—and yet -he sings—sings 
because he/hath feeling, and having feeling, he cannot choose ‘but: sing— 
df 4+o})4 In youth when I did love, did love, 
{ Methought it was very sweet— 
°“"And this chaunt'he sings while making the grave of ‘her who died—not 
for love—but who died while she loved, with her young heart/and all its 
wild ‘and throbbitig emotions warm about her. It wanders into Love's 
paradise, while he prepares'the resting-place of her who was worthy to 
beé' the queen of that paradise. Can he choose but sing of ‘love? “And 
ig*not! love a cheerful theme? And can he be’ less than cheerful, ‘or 
cheat ‘himself! into the melting mood, when he tunes his ‘old husky pipe 
t6°¥ Chéerfiil ‘stain? To him, death and the’ grave are abstractedly 
nothings" if not’ boon ‘companions—them and their attendants are all he 
cates for, ' 
“Does the old wag recollect aught that bears’a gloomy aspect, or rake 
the storehouse of his memory for bye-gones that have not the character 
of ‘chéérfulness about them?  “ A- pestilence on hin» for a mad rogue” 
Yorick) saith he; “he poured a flagon of: Rhenish on my head’ once.” 
hirping old soul—wouldst’ thou be ‘always in’thy’ eups“+wouldst always 
have thy “héad ‘and ‘beard ‘streaming! with’ Rhenish? «°Verily,>‘thou 
wouldst\ rouse Yorick from his repose, to) crack “his! jests anew, -while 
thot shouldst again crack thy’sides' with laughter. Away—away, rogue! 
Scatter thy moulds less slovenlytay all thesbenes in order—be' grave, 
if thou’ canst, fora moment.’ * Yorick*seems! to have infected thee :ithe 
Wit and’ Rhenish ‘seem’ to’ have been: flowing on, ‘while thy locks have 
been hourly turning from their arly brown to their present sexagenarian 
silver. 21g eerie syiialuprai 
*And ‘has the wing of time “swept thee away;!othou “hoary-headed 
