text:  The village choir preceded it singing those strains which poor David's voice had so often led; and surely for once the spirit of the old man rested on his refractory pupils; for rarely have I heard sweeter notes than those that swelled on the balmy air as the dusky procession wound its way across the heath waving with harebells and along the narrow lane whose hedges were beginning to show the first faint rose till it reached the church porch where the good rector himself was waiting to pay the last token of respect to his humble friend; while groups of villagers were loitering around to witness the simple rites