405 



joyous flowers has ever excited more iDterestmg- 

 ly painful emoti($s in ray mind than is in the 

 power of shroud and cofBn to produce. 



The Dutch are so Anglicised in their manners 

 and customs that it is difficulty to point out any 

 striking dissimiliarity. One custom which they 

 obBerve ifi, however, so peculiar that 1 cannot 

 pass it by withont a remark. It h this ; when 

 a person is at the point of death, it is considered 

 a point of etiquette that all the friends and ac* 

 quainlanccs should assemble in the sick chamber 

 bedizened in their best apparel. The room is 

 crowded therefore somewhat like a ball room, ex- 

 cept that the visitors are seated in a circle instead 

 of dancing, and thus the dying inJividual, instead 

 of being left to the quiet m befitting a dying hour, 

 has his senses externally occupied and distracted 

 to the last. 



I- 

 i 



