The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1883-03-28
| Frngmont From . FnnernI serrlca.

A Fragment From a Funeral Service.
The environment was SYM
pathetic. The sky was gray with sullen
clouds, and the bare trees across tho
street caught the somber reflection.
Winter had here and there uncovered
the grass, which, dead, brOwn-hued,
suggestive of the streaming hair of a
drowned woman, intensified the depress-
ing effect Of the surroundings.
The great stone residence, spirited,
bright attractive under the sunlight,
when the grass was green and the plants
in blossom, now lOomed up with the sad
ness Of mausOleum. Long streamers Of
Grape on the door writhed in the chilling
winds like the serpent locks of Medusa.
The somber hearse, the dark carriages
scattered and waiting along the street,
the little groups whispering solemnly as
they stood like statues in the grounds,
added detection to what was already
gloomy and funereal.
Within the house but few had gath
cred. Some curiosity-hunters, those who
haunt funerals from the morbid prompt
ings of cheerless natures, some distant
D
vestibule. In a room to the left some
women were assembled, whose faces wore
an expression of conventional sorrow,
and who glanced furtively but deCorOusly
at each others garments. Through the
wide doorway between the vestibule and
the parlOr there was a room, dimly
lighted, in which one saw the coffin, with
its raven wrappings and the dull CLEAN
of the metallic handles. About it were
seated three or four men, white-haired,
not relatives, well-to-do in appearance,
come, as it were, to look on the face of
the young man, and to figure for them
selves yet long extensions of their lease
of life, because they were of the old
stock, and not like this new generation,
which, eltete and sapless, falls from the
branch long before maturity They gath
cred nope from the dead face near them:
eve are of the Olden stock, that Oaken-
abered stock which claims a century as
its share of time.n And the gray hairs
trembled with the paralytic satisfaction
which pervaded the souls of these vener-
able men. No mourner was in sight.
The fair young wife had hidden herself
and her sorrow. Only those who knew
could recall dark-clad figure, which for
a day and a night had sat beside the
coffin, and, unmOved as a statue, with
head resting on hand, had never taken
her eyes from the face of the dead.
A tall, gaunt man, with priestly robe
and book of prayers, came into the vesti-
| bule. He was one of the men whose
! rugged face indicates the beating of many
storms. Stern, resOlute, with clenched
teeth, when in repose he seemed one who
! would force the gates Of heaven with a
sledge-hammer rather than gain an en-
trance by humble contrition and life
long, earnest solicitation. Thick, un-
kempt hair, sprinkled with gray, added
to the strength of his appearance. He
did not seem at home there. He did
not appear like one who could soften his
looks and subdue his expression TO the
! gentleness in harmony with the grief of
an ordinary bereavement. He suggested
a sinking steamer in mid-ocean, the
hurricane lashing the sea, the shrieking
of men and women, and himself, firm as
a rock, undismayed, with erect figure,
and commanding voice that rose over
the storm, commencing their souls to
Heaven, as with uplifted hand he pointed
to a place through and above the howl.
ing tempest
He opened his book and commenced
reading the solemn service for the dead.
He read: g For a man walketh in a vain
shadow, and disquieteth himself in vain;
he heapeth up riches and cannot tell who
shall gather them. And now, Lord,
what IS my hOpe?' At this instant there
came a great sob from the head of the
stairway that quivered through the
hearts of the audience. A moment be-
fore there was an Indifference, the next
of the sound of the woman's voice
every pulsatiOn was tremulous with sym.
pathy. He read on, and at brief inter
walls there came the sObbing moan of the
wife, like the antiphOne of a choir, each
response accentuating and emphasizing
the solemn word of the reader. And he
read: " AbsOlve, 0 Lord, we beseech
Thee, the soul of Thy servant, that, dead
unto the world, it may live unto Thee,
and whatsoever sins it hath committed
through the weakness of the flesh wash
away by the pardon of Thy merciful
love-" In place of the usual sob there
came a solemn and prayerful amen
from the antiphone that mOaned and
sObbed from above; an amen so urgent,
! so pledulng, so eIupndLlC5 JndJ III seemed
freighted with all the hopes and fears OF
the living one and the destiny of him that
was dead.
Never before was there a service in
which there came such weird and pow
full effects. The customary mass OF
grief that envelops the collin, and to
which the world has grown calloused,
was absent. There was no expectation
of painful scene; the bLaSe men of the
world who sat about had concluded that
it was to be a cold ceremonial with nc
accessories of Grape and fearful partings.
1t was while in the very midst of this
feeling that the tremulOus moan thrilled
down from above, which, as it came al
brief intervals, so emphasized the solemn
words, and so conveyed the grief of the
mourner that pulses became tremulOus
and eyes filed with tears among mer
who, from constant contact with the
world, had become Indifferent to every
ordinary phase Of suffering and grief -
Chicago NeLUS.
Egypt is to have large police fore,
/ aoy11nopnI mainly Df A,fsv-.