Being unable to purchase the timber for a coffin in which to bury her,
poor M'Loughlin held over the remains for upwards of forty-eight hours;
but yet anxious to earn what would give her decent sepulture, and at the
same time procure food for his children, he went each of the two days
her remains were in his cabin to labour, and spent the night in
sorrowing over his departed wife. At length the story came to the ears
of the parochial clergy, one of whom immediately furnished the means of
interment, and she was consigned to the grave _at night_, in order that
the survivors might not lose the benefit of M'Loughlin's toil on the
following day.[188] Bridget Joyce, a widow with four children, was found
dead in a little temporary building, which had been erected in a field
to shelter sheep. One of the children was grown enough to give some
attention to her dying mother, but had nothing to moisten her parched
lips but a drop of water or a piece of snow. The woman died, and so poor
were the people of the locality, that for want of a few boards to make a
coffin, she remained uninterred for eight days. There is a melancholy
peculiarity in the case of a young lad named Edmond M'Hale.
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