THE MEMORY OF PRAYER. 357 



coming wheels. But all was silent ; only that sound of 

 the river came up the valley, like the murmur of many 

 voices in prayer. 



" It is as if all the dead that lie in the valley were 

 praying together in some old church down yonder," said 

 Dupont. 



" Do you think there is very much dust of humanity 

 here in the valley ?" 



" They say the earth's surface has been used for graves, 

 so that the dead lie under every foot of ground." 



" That's all nonsense. If all the men and women and 

 children that have died on the earth from the creation 

 till this day were gathered, living now, and the breath of 

 the Lord should sweep them into Lake Superior, they 

 might sink to the bottom and find ample space to lie side 

 by side, and have plenty of room to turn if their slumber 

 should be restless. If the judgment were set, and all 

 mankind called to stand up and answer, they could be 

 ranged within sound of a cannon. I don't think that 

 many men lie in this valley. The dust of the earth that 

 has been man is, after all, very little of it. It is not that 

 which hallows ground so much as the memory of man's 

 life and love and suffering, and approach to his God. 

 Old places of worship are always full of sacred associa- 

 tions. Even an old heathen temple is a very solemn 

 place. How strange and sweet among our treasures are 

 memories of prayer ! Did you never linger in an old ca- 

 thedral after the vesper service, and find the atmosphere 

 full of holy calm, as if the golden vials of the elders had 

 not yet inclosed the prayers of that day? If there be 

 any thing which hallows ground on this poor earth of ours, 

 it is that here or there man or woman or child has prayed. 

 If I did not believe that little six feet of rock in the old 



