noon
The death-wail sounded no more . To chant the _ requiem _ of the departed , a few -- a very few -- immediate friends followed the body to the grave , in silence unbroken . Sad hearts , indeed , they brought , and broken spirits ; for in this season of pestilence few dared to hope . By noon , Owen was seen descending the mountain to the village , to make the last preparations for the old man 's funeral . He carried little Patsy in his arms ; for he could not leave the poor child alone , and in the house of death . The claims of infancy would seem never stronger than in the heart sorrowing over death . The grief that carries the sufferer in his mind 's eye over the limits of this world , is arrested by the tender ties which bind him to life in the young .