When the coffin was laid down at the mouth of the grave, the only blackness in the white kirkyard, Tammas Mitch.e.l.l did the most beautiful thing in all his life. He knelt down and carefully wiped off the snow the wind had blown upon the coffin, and which had covered the name, and when he had done this he disappeared behind the others, so that Drumsheugh could hardly find him to take a cord. For these were the eight that buried Dr. MacLure--Lord Kilspindie at the head as landlord and Drumsheugh at his feet as his friend; the two ministers of the parish came first on the right and left; then Burnbrae and Hillocks of the farmers, and Saunders and Tammas for the plowmen. So the Glen he loved laid him to rest.
When the bedrel had finished his work and the turf had been spread, Lord Kilspindie spoke:
"Friends of Drumtochty, it would not be right that we should part in silence and no man say what is in every heart. We have buried the remains of one that served this Glen with a devotion that has known no reserve, and a kindliness that never failed, for more than forty years.
I have seen many brave men in my day, but no man in the trenches of Sebastopol carried himself more knightly than William MacLure. You will never have heard from his lips what I may tell you to-day, that my father secured for him a valuable post in his younger days, and he preferred to work among his own people; and I wished to do many things for him when he was old, but he would have nothing for himself. He will never be forgotten while one of us lives, and I pray that all doctors everywhere may share his spirit. If it be your pleasure, I shall erect a cross above his grave, and shall ask my old friend and companion Dr.
Davidson, your minister, to choose the text to be inscribed."
"We thank you, Lord Kilspindie," said the doctor, "for your presence with us in our sorrow and your tribute to the memory of William MacLure, and I choose this for his text:
""Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.""
Milton was, at that time, held in the bonds of a very bitter theology, and his indignation was stirred by this unqualified eulogium.
"No doubt Dr. MacLure hed mony natural virtues, an" he did his wark weel, but it wes a peety he didna mak mair profession o" releegion."
"When William MacLure appears before the Judge, Milton," said Lachlan Campbell, who that day spoke his last words in public, and they were in defence of charity, "He will not be asking him about his professions, for the doctor"s judgment ha.s.s been ready long ago; and it iss a good judgment, and you and I will be happy men if we get the like of it.
"It is written in the Gospel, but it iss William MacLure that will not be expecting it."
"What is"t Lachlan?" asked Jamie Soutar eagerly.
The old man, now very feeble, stood in the middle of the road, and his face, once so hard, was softened into a winsome tenderness.
""Come, ye blessed of My Father ... I was sick and ye visited Me.""
[Ill.u.s.tration: GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS, THAT A MAN LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS.]