ent away empty, whilst many of the dead in the street
were still unserved. In nearly every dwelling, upstairs and down, from
the roof to the cellar, there was a stunning tapping of hammers: coffins
were being nailed down, and so many, so very many were nailed, that
sometimes those who worked stopped from sheer fatigue. Then broke forth
laments, heart-rending moans, despairing imprecations. They were uttered
by those from whom the men in black and gray had taken some one to fill
the coffins.

Unceasingly were the coffins filled, and day and night did those men
work, but by day more than by night, for, as soon as it was dusk, came
a gloomy file of vehicles of all kinds--the usual hearses were not
sufficient; but cars, carts, drays, hackney-coaches, and such like,
swelled the funeral procession; different to the other conveyances,
which entered the streets full and went away empty--these came empty but
soon returned full. During that period, the windows of many houses were
illuminated, and often the lights remained burning till the morning. It
was "the season." These illuminations resembled the gleaming rays which
shine in the gay haunts of pleasure; but there were tapers instead
of wax candles, and the chanting of prayers for the dead replaced
the murmur of the ball-room. In the streets, instead of the facetious
transparencies which indicate the costumers, there swung at intervals
huge lanterns of a blood-red color, with these words in black letters:
"Assistance for those attacked with the cholera." The true places for
revelry, during the night, were the churchyards; they ran riot--they,
usually so desolate and silent, during the dark, quiet hours, when the
cypress trees rustle in the breeze, so lonely, that no human step dared
to disturb the solemn silence which reigned there at night, became on
a sudden, animated, noisy, riotous, and resplendent with light. By
the smoky flames of torches, which threw a red glare upon the dark
fir-trees, and the white tombstones, many grave-diggers worked merrily,
humming snatches of some favorite tune. Their laborious and hazardous
industry then commanded a very high price; they were in such request
that it was necessary to humor them. They drank often and much; they
sang long and loud; and this to keep up their strength and spirits good,
absolute requisites in such an employment. If, by chance, any did not
finish the grave they had begun, some obliging comrade finished it for
them (fit