Funeral Lodges In Scotland Half-A-Century Ago.

versation of the brethren be such that youth may therein find instruction , women modesty , the aged respect , and all men civility . '" With a vote of thanks to tho Chaplain for his " pathetic exhortation , " the funereal solemnities terminated .

Rookstone Priory.

ROOKSTONE PRIORY .

( From Keystone . ) CHAPTER I . The daylight was gone and the gloaming coming on ; the gloaming of an early February afternoon , which had been dull ,

gray , and cheerless . Eookstone Priory , buried deep among the lurking shadows , was looking as lonely as it was wont to do ; a lonely , silent , leaf-grown old country mansion , with not a sound or echo breaking the stillness which reigned about it .

Tho park : green , undulating , and expansive ; by which it was surrounded was densely , darkly wooded , the tall spreading shrubs and moss trunked trees growing so near to the house itself that the rooms inside were far more gloomy than the

architect of Eookstone could ever have meant them to be . Nevertheless it was a dear , peaceful old place , in spite of its rather melancholy appearance : and the

owner thereof was very fond of it , boasting sometimes , with justifiable pride , that Eookstone Priory , since the days of England ' s maiden queen , had ever been tho possession of a loyal and honourable Forrester . The Priory had been a gift

from capricious Elizabeth to a certain knight of her court , a young favourite , Marmion Forrester , who in distinguishing himself had pleased her Majesty at one of the royal tournaments , and from that time forth a Forrester of Eookstone had always

been the master of the leaf-grown gabled Priory , the chief charm of which lay in its utter peaceful solitude and indescribable air of ancient nobility which seemed to prevail in every low-ceiled room and silent paneled corridor of the rambling old house .

Yet not always had it been so still ; not always bad silence reigned tli erein . Sorro w or trouble will cast a shadow over the bri ghtest domain in the land . Only of

late years had the timber spread unchecked only of late years had the cloud of desolation and sadness hovered over the roof of Eookstone Priory . Still its inmates were not unhappy ; for it does not follow that one toiling under the stroke of a bitter

misfortune should bo for ever weeping and ¦ wailing . In time the heaviest burthen grows lighter . Six o ' clock on this February afternoon , or rather early evening , and the first dressing bell was ringing out from the cupola

half-hidden by the clustering ivy . Tho dinner hour was seven . Enter the library . Commodious and comfortable was the Eookstone library ; a comfortable room , and thoroughly homelike . Half way up the walls went the

stout oak panelling , the other half being papered with a warm flock paper , of a dark crimson colour , with a sparse sprinkling of gold . At the farther end was one largo deep long window , across which , to exclude all draught , a sweeping crimson curtain was closely drawn . Three sides of the room wore lined with bookshelves , the odour of tho Russian leather bhidinsr of

the books mingling in soft fragrance with tho wood-fire scented atmosphere . In the middle of the floor was a luxurious Turkey carpet , on all sides of which , and dancing in the firelight , poeped forth the bright gleaming polish of slippery oaken boards .

By the fireside sat a white haired lady , reclining in the easiest of low easy chairs , and fast asleep . Evidently she had not heard the dressing-bell . In ago she was about sixty , or pierhaps a little over , with a pleasing and fair though

not by any moans handsome countenance , and a world of tender goodlhress about the corners of Iter placid mouth . She bad , too a clear , bright complexion that was strikingly beautiful in so old a lady , and hands the shape and whiteness of which a much

younger woman might have envied . This white-haired old lady was Mrs . Lorrimorc , aunt and lady house-keeper to the owner of Eookstone Priory . She was the widow of the younger brother of Lowndes Forrester ' s father . Lowndes

Forrester was the lord of Eookstone , and , save for the presence of Mrs . Lorriinore , bo lived there alone . Mrs . Lorrimorc slept on , and the book on her rather capacious lap dropped unheeded with a bump to the floor . A