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4
MG 1 vol 2124 number 282c

while those who had not been chosen thrust themselves as far into the foreground as possible. A hymn was sung, but the singing lacked strength and conviction. Then the service commenced, each minister taken a share. Most noticeable was a tendency to hurry over the proceedings. The Bishop's address abounded in typical ecclesiastical bromides, but even he seemed to realize that new words counted for little.

After the main part of the programme, the Catholics held their special service, ironically enough, owing to a blunder, only two of those over who they declaimed were placed in the hallowed ground of the RC cemetry.

Loading the Coffins?

Then came the loading of the coffins. No stately hearses with nodding plumes and purple hangings for this wretched wreckage. They were piled unceremoniously upon motor trucks, which before had carried groceries and building supplies. Even of these, there were not enough, and the police were obliged to commandeer passing sleighs.

One by one the[y] rumbled off, jolting over the snowy ruts Loaded high with their boxes of blue and brown and white, with silver trappings, they looked for all the world like a circus procession. The surging, neck-craning crowd which lined Windsor St., heightened the illusion. Only the blare of the Calliope was lacking.

The Dispersing Crowd.

The people melted away rapidly. Some, even before the service was over, rushed pell mell towards Fairview to be first beside the Grav[e] Housewives went back to their chores. Little boys played hockey where caskets had rested. Some few lingered out of morbid curiosity to peer through the half-ajar doors of the charnel house.