Scotland/Scots > Reminiscences of a Highland parish

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A HIGHLAND PARISH.
spots where the coffin has rested, and this cairn is
from time to time renewed by friends and relatives.
Hence the Gaelic saying or prayer with reference
to the departed, “ Peace to thy soul, and a stone
to thy cairn ! ”—thus expressing the wish, that the
remembrance of the dead may be cherished by the
living.
The bagpipe is sometimes still played at funerals.
Five or six years ago a medical man, greatly be¬
loved and respected for his skill and kindness to
the poor, died at Fort William from fever, caught
in the discharge of his duties. The funeral was
attended by about 1400 people. Strong men wept,
and women threw themselves on the ground in the
agony of their impassioned sorrow. Three pipers
headed the procession, playing the wild and sad
lament of “I’ll never, I’ll never, I’ll never re¬
turn.”—The whole scene has bee 1 described to
me by those present as having been most deeply
affecting.
But after these digressions I must return to the
churchyard of “ the parish.”
There are two graves which lie side by side
across the ruins of the old archway I have spoken