stood by Marianne's grave
scarcely listened to them--not even Torpander, who stood gazing intently
at his solitary wreath, which lay on the simple coffin.

Woodlouse was guiltless of inattention, for he could not hear; but
instead, he made his observations and gave vent to his philosophical
reflections as was his wont.

There lay, in the gravelly heap which had been thrown up from the grave,
a few bones and skulls. The story was, that that part of the churchyard,
which was especially devoted to the poor, had been a burying-place at
some former period, and the graves which had not been paid for for
twenty years were, after the lapse of that time, again made use of,
according to the rule and custom of the Church. It was thus no unusual
thing to find coffins while a new grave was being dug, which fell to
pieces under the spade. The bodies had been packed closely, and often
several had been placed in the same grave.

It was, however, a scandal that the bones should be allowed to lie out
in the light of day, until the new corpse came to be buried. Abraham the
sexton had his orders, to take such bones at once to the house which was
appointed for them, and which was a mere shed in one corner of the
cemetery, where it was left to each skull to discover the bones
belonging to it as best it might. But when any of the officials found
fault with Abraham for his neglect, he would stand leaning on his spade,
and cocking his red nose knowingly on one side, would answer with a
smile, "Well, you see, what are we to do? The poor are just as much
trouble in death as they are in life. They never will die like
respectable people, one by one, now and again; but they all die at the
same time, you see, and then come out here and want to get buried.
Particularly all through the winter, when the ground is hard, and then
in the early spring, what are we to do? It is really too bad. Yes, at
those seasons they bring such shoals of children--ah, preserve us from
the children!--yes, and grown-up people too, for that matter; and they
all want graves just at the wrong time of year! They always choose the
wrong time! It would not be so bad if one could only skimp the
measurements a bit; but, you see, no one is so particular as the poor
about the measurements. Six feet long and six feet deep--they will have
it, never an inch less. And so, you see, it is not always so easy to get
these bones out of sight in time for one of these pauper funerals. No,
no