HIGHLAND FUNERAL IN FRANCE.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 8, 29 January 1915, Page 4 (Supplement)

HIGHLAND FUNERAL IN FRANCE.

Ono of the writers in. the "Echo do Paris" gives to the readers of that journal an account of the funeral of a Highland soldier which he witnessed in a town in the north of France. " We heard a mournful sound that seemed to evoke memories of a romance by Sir Walter Scott. The crowd cam© from a'l parts, and ranged themselves on both sides of the street. A sudden quietness fell upon them. It was the funeral of a Highland soldier. First came a closed carriage, in which were th 6 chaplain and his assistant; then the hoarse of tho town in which the usual mortuary cloth had been replaced by tho Union Jack, which covered the coffin. A piper followed the hearse. He was a fine looking man, with a face as frosh as that of a young girl; a 6hort moustache, and rod hair, which escaped from the bonnet with ribbons posed on one of his ears. He played on his pipes a funeral dinge—a plaintive air which came from the mountains of Scotland w'th their misty lakes. Behind him, formed up in p?rfeet order, marching with a firm step and a grave air, were a hundred ScoUith eoriicrs—comrades of tho deceased. Their traditional costume is somewhat modified for the war. They do.not w<3ar the short jacket, ornamented with a multitude of small buttons, or their plaid carried round them like a scarf, but a khakt tunic, close fitting at the waist; the national kilt has a light khaki cover; their woollen stockings turned down below the knee, which is left nude, are held in position by a blue ribbon with drooping ends; thengaiters are of unbleached cloth. They carried their rifles under their arms, the butt in the air as a sign of mourning. These are the men who are fond of sport. They ar € scrupulously attired; their martial tread is singularly strik'ng—the pride evon of England. Tho crowd all uncover as the procession approaches, and remain hat or cap in hand until it has passed. Here we love, and they know it. those brave Scotsmen, who with downcast ?yes march gravely and slowly, but with a step elastic, majestic, and strong. And the lament of the pipes grows fainter and, dies away in the noise of the motor cars and tho tramways, which have again taken possession of tb-j street/'