h the
dull, formal, unedifying, and often indecent manner in which funeral
parties assemble in the house of death!

As we conversed, the parents revived. Our subject of discourse was
delightful to their hearts. Their child seemed almost to be alive again,
while we talked of her. Tearful smiles often brightened their
countenances, as they heard the voice of friendship uttering their
daughter's praises; or rather the praises of Him who had made her a
vessel of mercy, and an instrument of spiritual good to her family.

The time for departing was now at hand.

I went to take my last look at the deceased. There was much written on
her countenance. She had evidently died with a smile. It still
remained, and spoke the tranquillity of her soul. According to the
custom of the country, she was decorated with leaves and flowers in the
coffin: she seemed as a bride gone forth to meet the bridegroom. These,
indeed, were fading flowers, but they reminded me of that paradise whose
flowers are immortal, and where her never-dying soul is at rest.

I remembered the last words which I had heard her speak, and was
instantly struck with the happy thought that "death was indeed swallowed
up in victory."

As I slowly retired, I said inwardly, "Peace, my honoured sister, be to
_thy_ memory and to _my_ soul, till we meet in a better world."

In a little time, the procession formed: it was rendered the more
interesting by the consideration of so many that followed the coffin
being persons of a devout and spiritual character. The distance was
rather more than a mile. I resolved to continue with and go before them,
as they moved slowly onwards.

Immediately after the body came the venerable father and mother, {116}
bending with age, and weeping through much affection of heart. Their
appearance was calculated to excite every emotion of pity, love, and
esteem. The other relatives followed them in order, and the several
attendant friends took their places behind.

After we had advanced about a hundred yards, my meditation was
unexpectedly and most agreeably interrupted, by the friends who attended
beginning to sing a funeral psalm. Nothing could be more sweet or
solemn. The well-known effect of the open air, in softening and blending
the sounds of music, was here peculiarly felt. The road through which we
passed was beautiful and romantic. It lay at the foot of a hill, which
occasionally re-echoed the voices of the singers, a