

THE DORSET COLONY IN MASSACHUSETTS. 115 



Dorchester graves are still to be seen with the heavy rough stone 

 covering to prevent the depredations of wild beasts, who would 

 else in the half savage state of the country have spoiled the graves 

 of their sacred contents. My guide was especially careful to point 

 out the resting places of his ancestors, and evinced the desire 

 which is very general in America to connect himself with an 

 English, and especially a Puritan, descent. At the present time 

 the English are decidedly in vogue amongst the Americans of the 

 more sober sort, and complaints from the more pronounced Yankees 

 are not unfrequent, denouncing the aping of English speech, dress, 

 and manners. Indeed, in these eastern states it is a rare thing to 

 meet with the American of romance. So nearly have the two 

 nations approached each other in outward characteristics that I 

 myself, English of the English as I fancied, was more than once 

 asked if I were not an American ! Blood is thicker than water, 

 and this, now that the passions excited by the Revolutionary war 

 are subsiding, is declaring itself, notwithstanding the enormous 

 influx of other nationalities, to say nothing of the detested Irish 

 element. The cemeteries were entirely open to the public, 

 so that we were able to drive up and down their well kept 

 roads without let or hindrance. One peculiarity I noticed 

 was the frequency of family vaults excavated out of the hill 

 side, with handsome stone doorways bearing the name of the 

 family appertaining to it. The greensward was not very well kept, 

 and at the cemetery where the funeral was to take place not less 

 than a dozen men were busily employed in giving an air of tidyness 

 to the place by cutting the long grass and sweeping the paths. We 

 returned from our drive in time to see the procession. It was 

 headed by nearly 100 Masons dressed in blue military uniform 

 with swords and cocked hats. Then came about the same number 

 of Oddfellows, followed by a long line of ordinary Freemasons 

 dressed in plain clothes and the usual apron. Three drummers 

 came next, beating time on the side drum. Then followed the 

 hearse, neat and simple, and of the usual funereal black colour, 

 drawn by two horses. The procession was closed by a long string 



