er part which shall not
be taken from her.

What a contrast does such a scene as this exhibit, when compared with 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 made her a vessel of
mercy and an instrument of spiritual good to her family.

The time for departing to the church 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 departed
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, {87} bending with age, and weeping through
much affliction 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 whi