ODE TO A PASSING BELL
“Hark my gay friend that solemn toll
Speaks the departure of a soul
’Tis gone, that’s all we know not where,
Or how the embody’d soul may fare
Only this frail & fleeting breath
Preserves me from the jaws of death
Soon as it fails at once I’m gone
And plung’d into a world not known.”
Ann Gould Seller, Hawkchurch, 1821.
Samplers oftentimes fulfilled the rôle of funeral cards, as, for instance, this worked in black:—
“In memory of my beloved Father
John Twaites who died April 11 1829.
Life how short—Eternity how long.
Also of James Twaites
My grandfather who died Dec. 31, 1814.
How loved, how valu’d once, avails thee not
To whom related, or by whom begot,
A heap of dust alone remains of thee,
’Tis all thou art, and all the proud shall be.”
Curiously enough, whilst compiling this chapter the writer came across an artillery non-commissioned officer in the Okehampton Camp who, in the intervals of attending to the telephone, worked upon an elaborate Berlin woolwork sampler, ornamented with urns, and dedicated “To the Memory of my dear father,” etc.
Duties to Parents and Preceptors
That the young person who wrought the sampler had very much choice in the selection of the saws and rhymes which inculcate obedience to parents and teachers is hardly probable, and it is not difficult to picture the households or schools where such doctrines as the following were set out for infant hands to copy:—
“All youth set right at first, with Ease go on,
And each new Task is with new Pleasure done,
But if neglected till they grow in years
And each fond Mother her dear Darling spares,
Error becomes habitual and you’ll find
’Tis then hard labour to reform the Mind.”
The foregoing is taken from the otherwise delightful sampler worked by a child with the euphonious name of Ann Maria Wiggins, in her seventh year, that is reproduced in [Plate XII.]
Preceptors also appear to have thought it well to early impress upon pliable minds the dangers which beset a child inclined to thoughts of love:—