Seite:Marsh Hallig 1856.djvu/119

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CONSCIENCE.

their side ? And how soon, too, will the place to
which we shall commit these be washed away, by the
surge, and the waves resume their play with the restless
bones.
  "The isolation in which the halligs are often kept by
wind and weather, or ice, compels the father of every
family to see that a coffin is always in readiness,
Among the necessary household furniture, this memento
mori must not be lacking, difficult and painful as it
might be elsewhere to accustom ourselves daily to
measure with the eye the narrow house destined for us
or one of those dear to us. Coffins, therefore, were not
wanting for the early interment which was of course
necesary on this occasion, and the next day, being
Sunday, was fixed upon for the funeral.
  "The burial of three bodies at once, an almost un-
heard-of occurrence on the hallig, the extraordinary
circumstances which had attended this event, the sin-
gular rescue of the remainder of the ship's company,
all ese decided Hold to consecrate the whole day to
this ceremony. At the hour of service, the three coffins
were placed before the church door, the space within
being too small to contain both them and the congre-
gation. After the reading of the Gospel for the day,
the tirteenth Sunday after Trinity — Luke xvii. 11-19,
the sermon commenced with the question, "But where
are the nine ?" and the simple announcement of this
text, however little such a selection of a single word or
phrase may be in accordance with homiletic rules, could
not fail to produce a strong impression, as there were
precisely nine persons on board the ship. This ques-
tion united again the saved and the lost, led the mind