JENNY LIND'S FUNEKAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1765, 13 February 1888, Page 3

JENNY LIND'S FUNEKAL.

HOW IHB BWSDISH MGHnNQALB \VB 1-A.iD to aaav.

A London letter to th^ I?o9ton " Ferald" s^ea : — Jenny Lind had throe wishes on settling m Malvorn. Ono was that when her rurnruoQß came to go heisCf, stie might have her fatuities of speech, reason, and conse'duaness to say her larew* lla 10 those she mo«t L»ved. ihe second wieh was that she might die fit th« place she had chosen f<>r t-e nu<umu of nor days. Jhe third wish was that iv duath e'e might be beautiful She loved beauty for its own sweet Bake, She was possessed of a refi ed eensuouane&s. She always possessed facial tnagnotism. This atoned for her p'ainneaa of countenance. Had she not been religious she would have repined. Let üßnote the fulfilments of ber wishes.

Mo»ths of illness were hers. Of these m detail, no one could obtain an account save the surly, meagre words the ungracious Goldachmidc snarled out unoer persistent pressure. Thiß pressure waß brought to hear by those to whom Jenny Lind almost belonged Hints of her insiuity were t-xpressed m print Fiually it transpired tha-, the had acute paralysis and was not insane. Last July she fe'l ill, t ut only lattery grew serious y so Had to say, shecou d no- epak. But the last df»y of her life dawned In that grey dawn she recovered her full faculties ahe spoke m wondrous sweet ton^s Lik* the dying swan, it was the faiewdl s^ng of superbumm melody fche bade h-T weeping servants farewell, also her immediate family This consisted of two sons and a daughter. The tatter if a Mrs Maude, fair haired and o immonplaoi Id looks. One son alto ta worried. The married ones have their mother's oomplemeut if ohlldren. One 6on is single. Thla is H'rnest, He is • youth with a ( Piccadilly nnoher ' manner and voice and an aba noe of elag^noe The fathtr has the guttural tones of voice of the Liwt-r middle class German. I: is » plt> • Otto ' did not inherit the traditional politeness of God'a ohoßen people. The neighbors generally described him as « epeoies of ' dog m the manger ' m his dealings with people. Certain it is, as the undersized p >mpos, sandy-whiskered, bald-headed Teuton frets and fames ■b at the grounds he is anything rutier than the idebl widower of this m omp-tribla diva. Tha boob an) the daughter inherit his mind and manners They have neither musical nor other tdlent. I believe the Great Giver of Good who bestowed on Jeony Lind her voloe did not smile on her marriage \ She died m the pretty home she had prepared so few years bef >re, and last of all, never la life was Jinny Lind so lovely as m death. H«rbt»tr, warn m the sweet old-fashioned smooth bunds, lay like a frosted ribbon »way from her noble brow. Tae fuce was that of « sleeping babe By her ova wish her grave clothes were very simple. Nor were there sabln plumes above her hearse nor lngubrioos crape weepers about her bearers' ha<a. See 1 They have brought out the fl iwerbedecked casket. They place it within the glass-aided hearse Then they commence to load up the black festooned dray wi h fl iwt-ra made np m every conceivable 80-pa. The air is heavy wi<.h thrir fragrance It is f.ur milei away to the Abbey. Let ns take a shorter route than the orteg* selects. Always weepin/ people, always fl iwers. In Malvero the stress are packed, the window* draped m black, the binds tightly drawjn do*»n, the flags at half-mast, AH for wha*. 7 Fir love of her who Bang her w*y luto world-wide fnme They are po courtaoua to me at the Abbey Ohuroh. A afrat Is given behind the white-robed pillar chorls'ers. olo»e to whore the oasket will soon stand. A hash falls o& the vast crowd. Suddenly the congregation rises as one man. The mournful procession has entered the o^iutchyard. Tho olergy, the ohclr, the beirers, then the body, then more bearers ThfJ mournora number sixteen, besides the household servants and nurses The sixteen included Sir Michael Blddu'ph, on bfh*lf of Qieen Victoria, and the Swedish Oo&bbI Eurenburc. The choristers hate c me from Woro-ster to join those of M*lvorn Abbey. Precentor Hall leads them. We remain ber him so lately at the Three Choi™ festival. Th*re are about one hundred m all of choristers. The service iB chora' , but there are no solos. It sefrnß tlius a ragged s rvice The anthom Jenny Lind loved trom • Flijah ' is ch^t.d, ' He that en^ureth to the end etiaU be saved ' Tho people weep at this— all save the widower aod the children The nurpea' sobs are heard softly; the children of tho dead lady preserve a dead culm. Even the daughter wears imperfect mourning. A lace dotted veil to her noee, a boanet with black ribbons m upright bowe, an ordinary black gown, a tiny gold bnc°lfct. Not once does she lift her handkerchief to her eyes.

The procession re-formed. It is a quarter of a mile to the cemetery. In Blow solemnity the open grave is reached. • Man that ii born of woman ' Bays the priest. Thus the service goes on to the end The burden is lowered into the cavern dag for the purpose. Each one of the family depoeits a wreath or a ctobb within the space allotted, and thus it all ends ! A'l at least, for earth. And the r-iia.poura down m cold, cutting torrents ; the sun, shining all the day, droops beneath the black veil of yon grieving cloud, which weeps its silent sympathy for that world's loss which is Heaven's everlasting gain. Will tne myr»le flourish henceforth. 1 What myrtle ? ' you ask. Well, when JenDy Lind married, a aprny of myrtle fr ra her bouquet wao planted. It became a B'ardy tree. This presupposes a happy married life. On her death a wreath from the myrtle was planted over her heart Th's we do not ccc We look at the Queen's wreath, at t he Prince** Obr.Btitua'e, a/, the one oent by tKo Bath 0 mservatory of Mca'c and the Swedish Minfsrer, the la't«=r, win others, b log made of delio»te Dresden china. Poor* a and BO'<rea are lying m the ground. From the Prince of Waim to the peaßant of Worcester tributes have arrived to breathe ' fond rfqiieicat ' Thus endeth the laat I earthly lesson.