'Then,' said Francis, 'we will supply their
place, for none of my poor people should go to the grave without
that last mark of respect;' and he followed the body to the distant
place of interment, and, bare-headed, stood to see every rite and
observance respectfully performed."
Fine though this illustration may be of the qualities of the
gentleman, we can match it by another equally good, of two English
navvies in Paris, as related in a morning paper a few years ago.
"One day a hearse was observed ascending the steep Rue de Clichy on
its way to Montmartre, bearing a coffin of poplar wood with its
cold corpse. Not a soul followed--not even the living dog of the
dead man, if he had one. The day was rainy and dismal; passers by
lifted the hat as is usual when a funeral passes, and that was all.
At length it passed two English navvies, who found themselves in
Paris on their way from Spain. A right feeling spoke from beneath
their serge jackets. 'Poor wretch!' said the one to the other, 'no
one follows him; let us two follow!' And the two took off their
hats, and walked bare-headed after the corpse of a stranger to the
cemetery of Montmartre."
Above all, the gentleman is truthful. He feels that truth is the
"summit of being," and the soul of rectitude in human affairs.
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