two o’clock
The body rested in a fine mahogany coffin fitted with a plate of glass . All arrangements for the funeral had been so well attended to that had the deceased known he would doubtless have approved . The face , as it showed under the glass , was not disagreeable to look upon : it bore a faint smile , and as the death had been painless , had not been distorted beyond the repairing power of the undertaker . At two o'clock of the afternoon the friends were to assemble to pay their last tribute of respect to one who had no further need of friends and respect . The surviving members of the family came severally every few minutes to the casket and wept above the placid features beneath the glass . This did them no good ; it did no good to John Mortonson ; but in the presence of death reason and philosophy are silent . As the hour of two approached the friends began to arrive and after offering such consolation to the stricken relatives as the proprieties of the occasion required , solemnly seated themselves about the room with an augmented consciousness of their importance in the scheme funereal .