The Auckland Tragedy.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1685, 15 April 1886, Page 2

The Auckland Tragedy.

THE FUNERAL DF THE MUH?; DFRED GIRL. Never before has there been witnessed m this city such an affecting sight as was presented, when the funeral cortege passed along the streets on iti way to the cemetery. The younger children of the Alexandra-street Primi; tive Methodist Sunday School, led by Mr David Goldie, preceded the hearse; which was decorated with white plumes. Then followed a mourning coach, con* tainiug the bereaved parents and two ' lady . friends. A long procession of the senior young women's classes qt -the Sunday School came next, each wearing , a mourning badge upon their arms* After these followed the remainder of the scholars and an unusually large num- 1 ber of friends. It was estimated that nearly two thousand persons took part m the procession. Besides those who joined the procession several thousands of people crowded along the sides of the road, and still larger numbers were waiting at the cemetery. When thfl funeral cortege reach Karangahape Road* the crowd was so great that it Became* troublesome to move along except ai carried by the constantly-increasing crowds Amidst the throng there were many sad sympathetic faces as the car* riage bearing Mr and Mrs Keeling passed by, and m not a few instances w«t eve* were visible, while even men could be seen striving hard to repress tears. The procession was undoubtedly one 6f the . longest that has ever passed along the streets of Auckland. Mr Jenkins, who has been brought into connection with this sad affair by means of his unfortunate brother-in-law, Fuller, was presentat the funeral, and appeared much moved. Judging from the immense crowds that lined the roads and collected:/; at the cemetery, there must have been from nine to ten thousand m attendance. At the grave the s.cepe_ : was most affecting. The coffin wasieovered with flowers and when it had been lowered into. its narrow resting plajcp^-tlie' many young friends of the- deceased literAlly' covered the casket with flowers 'Until the grave was more than one-third* filled; ; bereaved mother, who had boen so rudely .separated from her only daughter, stood : at" 'foe edge of the grave. Her grief was terrible, to witness, and at length she was ffo; overcome: that Mr David Goldie, ilie? superintendent of the Sunday School, "was . necessitated to support her. The ocopls for many yards around the grave ;^ere compelled to give way to T their emotions, and to their honor be it said, that . even strong, : rough men broke down, as the coffin was lowered out of - sight. The Key. A. J. Snaith, pastor of the- Alexandra- street Primitive Mothodisfc' Church!, read the burial service. After the; conclusion of the ordinary service he made a; few. remarks to those assembled,.,; m course of which he said that it was a satisfaction to know that their departed ffie'nd' had been an obedient child. It might perhaps have seemed to them from what -had been published m the evening papeas . that this was not the case, and that she was carrying on a clandestine correspondence contrary to the wishesof her parent*; but he might inform them that those letters which had been published kad been written by her two years ago, when she was a mere child. In fact, it was m consequence of her obedience to her dear parents that she had met her untimely end. It was a difficult matter to offer consolation to the friends m such bereavement, but he reminded them that He who -stood by the grave of Lazarus, and wept with those sisters, was still the same, the Friend of the suffering and sorrowing. Their deceased sister was a devoted" member of the Bible-class, and it would be comforf to her sorrowing relatives to know that when she met Her untimely end she was going not to any place of amusement but to the Bible-class, to the House of God, to study His holy word. The scholars sang the appropriate hymn — When peace, like a river, attendeth my soul, When sorrow like sea billows roll, Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say, " It is well, it is well with my soul." Before the friends separated, the old hymn, " Here we suffer grif and pain," was also sung by the scholars. The sorrowing friends then departed to their (several homes.