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separation through death,! such as this epitaph, no longer admonishing the anonymous
passer-by on the inevitability of death, confides:
Dear husband I tremble to think I must die
It is lonely and sad in the cold grave to lie.
Could you but come with me
I know thaI your hand would guide me.
Through the gloom of Death's shadowy land,
The deep endless I think as I feel
The darkness and mystery o'er me steal.
I fear its wild woes with my soul overwhelm
Ere I reach Ihe far shore of the Heavenly realm. 2
Mourning samplers, which Aries traced in New England, share this intimacy of
language. Their text and illustmtion of willows. urns and domestic motifs, and display in
the family house, speak for the treasured memory of the deceased, their emotion, however,
never suggesting romantic hysteria. The fairly numerous and diverse Newfoundland
pieces, traceable to American canvases and patterns,3 likewise evoke serenity rather than
excessive grief in compliance with these departed parents' request and that of the song
revenant: 4
In Memory of my beloved Father Tho
mas Ryan who died October 24th 1873
Aged 76 years and also my dear Mother
Ellen Ryan who died January 4th
1880 Aged 67 years.
[design of urn flanked by willows]
Weep nOI dear children bUI for LIS pray
While time to you are given
YOllr tears will only wet our clay
Your prayers will gain us heaven.
Requiescant in Pace. Amen. s
To sum lip, folk expressions of "thy death" in Newfoundland offer a telling illustration
of the dynamic workings of lTadition; supernatural belief as well as song in expression of
lArics, I/omme 2: 18\.
2Cascy 306.
3Ar ics, ImageJ 246-7; I/omme 2: 160.
4 1 thank Mr. Walter Peddle for his kind introduction to the Newfoundland Museum sampler
collections. For a survey and analysis of them, see McNaughton, "Embroidered Samplers
at the Newfoundland Museum," MUNFLA illS 84-210.
5Newfoundland Museum, 985·57.1