"
She opened the Hymnal, and struck the leading chord, mid straightway,
from the Wallencampers, all gathered now below, there arose a burst of
melody as it had been one mighty voice.
CHAPTER XI.
A WALLENCAMP FUNERAL.
Mr. 'Lihu Dole--Harvey's father--lay dying, and all the Wallencampers
were assembled in and about the house.
It was night, and one was going out from among them to launch his lonely
bark on a deeper, more mysterious ocean than that whose moan came up to
them from behind the cedars. There was awe on their faces, and a touch of
terror, too, but above all there was a strange, childlike wonder.
They had seen death before. It might come to them at any time, they knew.
Its spirit sounded in the dirges of the waves along the shore, yet, none
the less, for time or fate, or moan of solemn wave, grew this exceeding
mystery.
Was it like a cold black flood, to die at night, and no stars shining--a
cold flood creeping more and more above the heart? Oh, the wonder on
those poor faces, if there might be, indeed, some fairer harbor lights
beyond death's tide, and gentler music lulling the dread surge, so that
the voyager, with untold joy at last, felt the worn boat-keel loosen on
the strand and drift off from this shore!
Emily and Aunt Cinthia were alone in the room with the dying man.
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