Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 28, 1917.djvu/337

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COLLECTANEA.



Avril-Bread.

There lies before me now a piece of white paper in which has been folded up and sealed with black sealing-wax a funeral biscuit. Upon it is printed, framed in black lines 5 mm. in thickness, the following inscription:

BISCUITS FOR THE FUNERAL OF
MRS. OLIVER,
Died November 7th 1828. Aged 52.

Thee we adore, eternal Name,
And humbly bow to thee,
How feeble is our mortal frame!
What dying worms we be.

Our waisting (sic) lives grow shorter still,
As days and months increase;
And every beating pulse we tell,
Leaves but the number less.

The year rolls round and steals away.
The breath that first it gave;
Whate'er we do, where'er we be,
We're travelling to the grave.

PREPARED BY
T. ROBINSON, SURGEON, SETTLE.

The space enclosed by the black frame is 78 by 97 mm. The width of the paper as folded is about 140 mm. The end is