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Occupations-Undertakers: Quotations from Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations

When my water-proof umbrella proved a sieve, sieve, sieve, When my shiny new umbrella proved a sieve.— ROSSITER JOHNSON — A Rhyme of the

Rain. The inseparable gold umbrella which in that country [Burma] as much denotes the grandee as the star or garter does in England.— J. W. PALMER — Up and Down the

Irrawadde. The tucked-up sempstress walks with hasty strides, While streams run down her oil'd umbrella's sides.— SWIFT — Description of a City Shower.

Undertakers. Nigh to a grave that was newly made, Leaned a sexton old on his earth-worn spade.— PARK BENJAMIN — The Old Sexton.

See yonder maker of the dead man's bed, The sexton, hoary-headed chronicle, Of hard, unmeaning face, down which ne'er stole A gentle tear.— BLAIR — The Grave. L. 451.

Ye undertakers, tell us, 'Midst all the gorgeous figures you exhibit, Why is the principal conceal'd, for which You make this mighty stir?— BLAIR — The Grave. L. 170.

There was a man bespake a thing, Which when the owner home did bring, He that made it did refuse it : And he that brought it would not use it, And he that hath it doth not know Whether he hath it yea or no.— SIR JOHN DAVIES — A Riddle upon a

Coffin. Alas, poor Tom! how oft, with merry heart, Have we beheld thee play the Sexton's part; Each comic heart must now be grieved to see The Sexton's dreary part performed on thee.— S. ROBERT FERGUSSON — Epigram on the

Death of Mr. Thomas Lancashire, Comedian. Why is the hearse with scutcheons blazon'd round, And with the nodding plume of ostrich crown'd? No; the dead know it not, nor profit gain; It only serves to prove the living vain.— GAY — Trivia. Bk. III. L. 231.

Has this fellow no feeling of his business that he sings at grave-making? Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness. и.— Shakespeare — Hamlet. Act V. Sc. 1. L. 73.

The houses that he makes last till doomsday.— Shakespeare — Hamlet. Act V. Sc. 1. L. 66.