tulle. A more beautiful sight I can never see than that young, lovely
girl in her last sleep with the emblems of youth, purity and swift decay
forming her pillow, and winding-sheet. Over this was placed a film of
glass that rested upon the bottom and sides of the thin lining that
covered the bottom and lower sides of the grave. The remainder of the
procession of young girls then came forward and dropped their rosebuds
upon it, completely hiding from view the young and beautiful dead.

The eldest sister then took a handful of dust and casting it into the
grave, said in a voice broken, yet audible: "Mingle ashes with ashes,
and dust with its original dust. To the earth whence it was taken,
consign we the body of our sister." Each sister then threw in a handful
of dust, and then with their mother entered their carriage, which
immediately drove them home.

A beautiful silver spade was sticking in the soft earth that had been
taken from the grave. The most intimate of the dead girls friends took a
spadeful of earth and threw it into the open grave. Her example was
followed by each one of the remaining companions until the grave was
filled. Then clasping hands, they chanted a farewell to their departed
companion and playmate. After which they strewed the grave with flowers
until it looked like a bed of beauty, and departed.

I was profoundly impressed by the scene. Its solemnity, its beauty, and
the universal expression of sorrow it had called forth. A whole city
mourned the premature death of gifted and lovely youth. Alas! In my own
unhappy country such an event would have elicited but a passing phrase
of regret from all except the immediate family of the victim; for
_there_ sorrow is a guest at every heart, and leaves little room for
sympathy with strangers.

The next day the mother was at her post in the National College; the
daughters were at their studies, all seemingly calm and thoughtful, but
showing no outward signs of grief excepting to the close observer. The
mother was performing her accustomed duties with seeming cheerfulness,
but now and then her mind would drop for a moment in sorrowful
abstraction to be recalled with resolute effort and be fastened once
more upon the necessary duty of life.

The sisters I often saw in those abstracted moods, and frequently saw
them wiping away silent but unobtrusive tears. I asked Wauna for the
meaning of such stoical reserve, and the explanation was as curious as
were a