Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-05-10

! ONE OF THE LARGEST DAN
ty and age, till curiosity conquered, and
they came. and in the midst Of that last
merry-making death tapped him on the
shoulder.
| For some days, when the sky was bright
and the wind cool, his mat would be spread
/ in the main highway of the village, and he
was to be seen lying there inert, mere
handful Of man, his wife inertly seated by
his head. They seemed to have outgrown
alike our needs and faculties; they neither
spoke Aor listened: they suffered us to pass
without glance; the wife did no. fan, and
seemed not to attend upon her husband, and
the two poor antiques sat juxtaposed under
the high canopy of palms; the human trage-
dy reduced to its bare elements, a sight be-
yond pathos, stirring thrill of curiosity.
And yet there was one touch of the pathetic
haunted me-that SO much youth and ex-
pectation should have run in these starved
veins. and the man should have squaudered
all his lees Of life upon pleasure party. =
Died and Buried in q Day.
On the morning of September II the suf-
ferer died, and, time pressing, he was buried
the same day at 4 The cemetery lies to
seaward behind Government House, q
dreary, small enclosure; broken coral. like
so much road metal, forms the surface; a
few wooden crosses. few uncomfortable
upright stones, designate graves; mortared
wall high enough to lean on, rings it about;
clustering shrub surrounds 1t with pale
leaves. Here was the grave dug that morn
ing, doubtless by uneasy diggers, to the
sound of the nigh sea and the cries of sea
birds. Meanwhile the dead man waited in
his house, and the widow and another aged
woman leaned on the fence before the door,
NO speech upon their lips, no speculation in
their eyes.
Sharp at the hour the procession was In
march, the coffin wrapped in white and car
ried by four bearers; mourners behind-not
many, for not many remained in Rotoava,
and not many in black, for these were poor;
the men in straw hats, white coats and blue
trousers, or the gorgeous parti-colored pariu
the Tahitian Kilt; the women, with u few
exceptions. brightly habited. The presence
of Mr.. Donat and the white strangers gave
note more serious. Far in the rear came
the widow, painfully carrying the dead
mans mat; a creature aged, beyond human
Almost q Christian Burial.
The dead man. had been q Mormon, but
the Mormon clergyman was gone with the
rest to wrangle over boundaries in the ad-
jacent isle, and a layman took his office.
Standing at the head of the open grave, in a
white coat and pariu, his Tahitian Bible in
his hand and one eye bound with red
handkerchief, he read solemnly that chapter
in Job which has been read and heard over
the bones of so many of our fathers, and
with good voice offered up two prayers.
The wind and the surf bore burthen. By
the cemetery gate mother in crimson
suckled an infant rolled in blue. In the
midst the widow sat upon the ground and
piece of coral; little later she had turned
her back to the grave and was playing with
@ leaf Did she understand? God knows.
The preacher paused a moment, stopped
and gathered and threw reverently on the
coffin handful of rattling coral. Dust to
dust; but the grains of this dust were gross
like cherries, and the true dust that was to
follow sat near by, still cohering Gas by
miracle) in the tragic semblance of female
ape. The eternal roar of the surf mocked
the while at the whole transitory race of
the mourned and the mourners. So far,
Mormon or not, it was Christian funeral.
The well-known passage had been read from
Job, the prayers had been rehearsed, the
grave was filled, the mourners struggled
homeward.
Some Native Customs Overlooked.
And by rights it should have been much
otherwise. The mat should have been
buried with its owner; but the family being
poor, it was thriitily reserved for a fresh
service. The widow should have flung her
self upon the grave and raised the voice OF
official grief, the .neighbors have chimed in,
and the narrow isle rung for a space with
lamentation. But the widow was old; per-
kaps she had forgotten.perhaps never nm
derstood, and she played like child with
leaves and cofin-stretchers. In oil ways nv
guest was buried with manned rites.
Strange to think that his last conscious
pleasure was the Casco and nv feast; strange
to think that he had limped there, an old
child, looking for some new good. And the
good thing, rest, had been allotted him.
But though the widow had. neglected
much, there was one part she must not ut
terly neglect. She came away with the dis
severing funeral; but the dead mans mat
was lett behind upon the grave, and /
learned that by set Of sun she must return
to sleep there. This vigil is imperative.
From sundown till the rising of the morning
star the Paumotuan must hold his watch
above the ashes of his kindred. MANY
friends, if the dead have been q man Of
mark, will keep the watchers company;
they will be we'll supplied with coverings
against the weather; believe they bring
food, and the rite is persevered in for two
weeks. Our poor survivor, IL, indeed, she
properly survived, had little to cover, and