ng ornaments and
becoming weeds. Fifth, their bad moral influence: the gracefulness of
the costume stills the grief that ought to be stilled by religion; and
as in a large family there must be many mourners in form only, the
equivocation of dress is a sort of moral equivocation. Sixth, their
expense. This is really a great item in the resources of the poor, and
often straitens for years; besides causing them, in the hour of their
desolation, to be so worried and anxious about the robing of the body
as to miss all the lessons God intended for the soul.

The advocates for mourning plead the veiling of the heavens in black
at the death of Christ; and the universality and continuance of the
custom, in all ages, all countries, and all faiths. I am aware that
the subject is one in which strangers cannot intermeddle; the question
when it arises must be settled by every heart individually. But, at
least, if mourning garments are to be worn, let us not defeat every
argument in their favor by fashioning them of the richest stuffs, and
in the most stylish manner. This is to ticket them as the thinnest of
mockeries. And after all, if we approve mourning, and wish our friends
to hold us in remembrance after death, can we not find a better way
than by crape and bombazine? Yes, crape and bombazine wear out, and
must finally be cast off; but the "memorial of virtue is immortal.
When it is present, men take example of it, and when it is gone, they
desire it: it weareth a crown, and triumpheth forever."

How To Have One's Portrait Taken

Having one's portrait taken is no longer an isolated event in one's
life. It has become a kind of domestic and social duty, to which even
though personally opposed, one must gracefully submit, unless he would
incur the odium of neglecting the wishes of his family circle and the
complimentary requests of his acquaintances.

It would seem at first sight that nothing is easier than to go to a
photographer's and get a good likeness. Nothing is really more
uncertain and disappointing. In turning over the albums of our
friends, how often we pass the faces of acquaintances and don't know
them at all! How is this? Simply because, at the moment when the
picture was taken, the original was unlike herself. She was nervous,
her head was screwed in a vise, her position had been selected for
her, and she had been ordered to look at an indicated spot, and keep
still. Such a position was like nothing in her