. Records of walks and talks with nature . asts it is intend-ded as a warning of the certainty of death. A glance at the history of the timeswhen this emblem was used shows us thatDeath was a very near neighbor of the NewEngland colonist, and frequently came in thehours of darkness preceded by the dreadedwar-whoop of the relentless savage. For ov-er a hundred years the tomahawk a^d scalp-ing knife were the terror of our frontiers-man and his family. With this constantprobability of meeting Death iace to face anywarning would appear quite unnecessary. It is quite possible that the gloomy re-lig
. Records of walks and talks with nature . asts it is intend-ded as a warning of the certainty of death. A glance at the history of the timeswhen this emblem was used shows us thatDeath was a very near neighbor of the NewEngland colonist, and frequently came in thehours of darkness preceded by the dreadedwar-whoop of the relentless savage. For ov-er a hundred years the tomahawk a^d scalp-ing knife were the terror of our frontiers-man and his family. With this constantprobability of meeting Death iace to face anywarning would appear quite unnecessary. It is quite possible that the gloomy re-ligious ideas of the day may have had muchto do with the appearance of this Angel ofDeath on head-stones. Not only were thewoodlands peopled by Indians, but in thebelief of all men these same surroundingshades wrere inhabited by the nrch-fiend Sa-tan himself and by whole legions of his imps. 108 RECORDS Jan. Iftl5. These powers of darkness were always onthe alert and never let an opportunity es-cape them for tormenting human beings. Fig. Rutland, Mass. 1760. These matters were very real to ourforefathers. The best educated among themfirmly believed in an ever-present personaldevil and warnings were given from everypulpit in the land to beware of him and hismachinations. In fact the Indians themselves were con-sidered by many as emissaries of the evilone, and we find as high an authority as theRev. Cotton Mather saying that they were Jan. 1915. RECORDS. 109 servants of the Devil who had placed themin America to prevent the godly from occu-pying the land! Of course these peculiar beliefs becameimpressed upon the literature of the day andalso found expression on grave-stones in thepersonification of Death. Epitaphs did not at first accompany thewinged skull, but later they were sometimesfound with it. Here is one from a stone inOsterville, Mass., dated 1802. It is simplyanother form of that given on page 68, andin one way or another often occurs :- Behold and see as you pass byA
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