“I hardly knew whether I was in the body or out of the body,” answered Edgar. “For a little while, at least, I was not conscious of the flesh. I had a taste of how the work of eternity may be done with the soul.”
“The Times admits the two hundred thousand,” said Piers, “and also that it was a remarkably orderly meeting. Who opened it? Was it Mr. O’Connell?”
“The meeting was opened by the singing of a hymn. There were nine stanzas in it, and every one was sung with the most enthusiastic feeling. I remember only the opening lines:
“‘Over mountain, over plain,
Echoing wide from sea to sea,
Peals–and shall not peal in vain–
The trumpet call of Liberty!’
But can you imagine what a majestic volume of sonorous melody came from those two hundred thousand hearts? It was heard for miles. The majority of the singers believed, with all their souls, that it was heard in heaven.”
“Well, I never before heard of singing a hymn to open a political meeting,” said the Squire. “It does not seem natural.”
“But, Father, you are used to political meetings opened by prayer, for the House has its chaplain. The Rev. Hugh Hutton prayed after the hymn.”