Mission Life; Or Home and Foreign Church Work Volume 5 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1868 edition. Excerpt: ...knew that either Mr. Beaumont or you would come." The funeral was hardly over when news was spread about of a second equally fatal accident; another man had just been killed--this time through carelessness; he was working in a deep shaft with a mate, and "sending up," in a bucket hooked to a rope with an iron hook, slabs of wood to those who were at the windlass overhead; diggers are very careless about their buckets and hooks, and by some accident, when the bucket and heavy slabs were nearly at the top of the shaft, down they fell, crushing one man to death, and knocking the other senseless. The man was a Cornishman. The next day we held the funeral; there must have been more present even than the day before, and this funeral had its own peculiar features. The long procession of men came up the street singing in beautiful harmony one of Wesley's hymns. It was very striking. They continued to sing until I met them and led the way into the church. They carried the coffin, as yesterday, in their hands; after the service round the grave they began another hymn--words by. Wesley, but the tune was a sort of chorale rather than an ordinary hymn tune. It was sung with great expression, at times rising loud and full, and then dying away with really exquisite softness. I stood above tho great crowd on the upper side of the hill, and, as yesterday, looked down on them. Many of them were standing with tears in their eyes and their faces fixed on the distant sea, as if their thoughts were far away from gold and gold-fields, and wandering to old scenes and perhaps holy associations. I suppose the crowd stood thus for nearly a quarter of an hour. Some one had on the previous evening suggested to me that I should speak to them, but I doubt whether any spoken...