CHAPTER III 



LARS 



" Some smack of age in you, some relish of the saltness of Time." 



SHAKESPEARE, Henry IV., part 2. 



LARS is dead. He died on Sunday last, and has 

 been buried to-day, Saturday, June 27th. His 

 end was swift and merciful. Two or three 

 days before he was strolling about and watching 

 the fish leap opposite his cottage by the Lower 

 Stream. On Sunday afternoon he was sitting 

 up, but saying that he felt cramp he went to 

 bed and died within an hour. His son, the 

 local shoemaker, told me that he was close on 

 eighty-six, and from other sources I learn that 

 this is correct. 



I attended his funeral this morning. A more 

 touchingly simple and primitive ceremony could 

 not be imagined. The absence of a professional 

 undertaker saves these poor peasants from the 

 vulgarities which beset funerals in towns. The 

 distance to the churchyard is about three miles 



by road. The coffin, decked with simple flowers 



c 



