You will suppose her lately to have put an end to her existence. -
"We had not proceeded very far on our way, when we discovered a funeral
procession advancing towards us, headed by the parson of the parish in
which we were. He was a little man, dressed in black, with a scarf hanging
over his left shoulder. - Upon inquiry, we found they were proceeding to a
church about a league distant, where the corpse they attended was to be
deposited.
"And to whom may this body belong?" said the _indian physician_,
addressing the man who walked in the rear of the procession.
"It is the corpse of the unfortunate Marcia,' replied the other, speaking
low; 'she died suddenly, yesterday morning, and is now carrying to be
interred in the vault of her ancestors.' We were much affected at this
intelligence, as we had hoped to hear of her recovery, instead of her
decease.
"At the request of my friend, the man in the white linen coat, the Indian
agreed to attend the funeral along with us, and accordingly we all three
fell in among the followers, and travelled on with a slow pace till we
came to the scene of interment. The situation was wild and gloomy. Naked
rocks, dark cedars, the head of a small lake, and the venerable tombs of
the dead, completed the scenery.
"It was pity,' said I, 'to the singing clerk, who stood near me, 'that
Fate has so ordered matters, that this young creature should depart the
world in so very extravagant a condition of mind. Though too many pass
their whole lives in a state of insanity, it were to be wished, that,
towards the evening, the clouds of phrensy might be dissipated, and the
sun of reason set clear.'
"The singing clerk looked full in my face, opened his mouth wide, and was
about to make some reply, when silence was ordered, that the clergyman
might pronounce a speech over the body; but his reverence stumbled at the
threshold: he had unluckily forgot his pocket Bible, and could not
recollect his _text_.
"Cannot he say something applicable to the melancholy occasion,' whispered
the Indian, 'without the formality of taking a _text_?'
"Were you to give him three worlds, each as rich as a dozen of the
Indies,' replied the clerk, 'you could not get a word out of him on any
other condition.'
"The sexton of the parish was then ordered to mount one of the horses, and
make the best of the way to the good doctor's house, to bring the Bible.
"After waiting a full and entire hour, he returned with the vexatious
intelligence, that the Bible was not to be found - it was stolen - or, it
was hid - or it had been _neglected_ - or, it was mislaid - or they knew
not what had been done with it.
