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5
MG 1 vol 2124 number 282d

The Errant Hearses.

Even the last journey of these shattered creatures was not destined to be peaceful. A confusion of orders, by an officious Controller, was the cause of several of the improvised hearses losing their way, and, for more than an hour, they jolted over the intricate roads of the North Western slope of the city, before they finally reached their destination.

At Mount Olivet.

Above the watery red of the after glow, a crescent moon and her attendant start were swinging. The landscape was swathed in that shadowy clarity which only comes with gloaming. In the cemetery many graves lay open with caskets beside them; but, at the eastern, most deserted end, a [P,c,]
company of soldiers leant upon their tools above two long shallow trenches. Here the two coffins which fell to the Catholic lot were placed. The shivering priests hastily mumbled the service for the dead, but their words were drowned by the stamping of the cold soldiers, and the scraping of distant shovels. Then the command "Picks!" rang out and earth rattled upon the coffin lids.

At Fairview.

On bleak bayers Road, close to the gash of the rocks that the railroad makes is a disused part of Fairview Cemetery, the Potter's Field of Halifax. Here in two great trenches, the great number of the bodies were laid side by side. The fitting in the the various sized coffins resembled the adjustment of a jigsaw puzzle. The only light was furnished by a single automobile searchlight. There were no mourners, no funeral ritual. The soldiers smoked, swore and jested, as they carried the coffins along on their shoulders. It was so late that it was impossible to cover all the bodies with earth. They would have to spend one more night under the stars and alone.

J. H. M Dec 17th