基本信息
e driver! there, now, the truth is out. and i will own, that when people saw my father perched up in front of the omnibus of death, dressed in his long, wide, black cloak, and his black-edged, three-cornered hat on his head, and then glanced at his round, jocund face, round as the sun, they could not think much of sorrow or the grave. that face said, "it is nothing, it will all end better than people think." so i have inherited from him, not only my good temper, but a habit of going often to the churchyard, which is good, when done in a proper humor; and then also i take in the intelligencer, just as he used to do. i am not very young, i have neither wife nor children, nor a library, but, as i said, i read the intelligencer, which is enough for me; it is to me a delightful paper, and so it was to my father. it is of great use, for it contains all that a man requires to know; the names of the preachers at the church, and the new books which are published; where houses, servants, clothes, and provisions may be obtained. and then what a number of subscriptions to charities, and what innocent verses! persons seeking interviews and engagements, all so plainly and naturally stated. certainly, a man who takes in the intelligencer may live merrily and be buried contentedly, and by the end of his life will have such a capital stock of paper that he can lie on a soft bed of it, unless he prefers wood shavings for his resting-place. the newspaper and the churchyard were always exciting objects to me. my walks to the latter were like bathing-places to my good humor. every one can read the newspaper for himself, but come with me to the churchyard while the sun shines and the trees are green, and let us wander among the graves. each of them is like a closed book, with the
