[Skipton]

The Funeral Fiddler​

I played for a homeless man’s funeral. As a Cape Breton fiddler, I play many gigs.
Recently I was asked by a funeral director to play at a graveside service
for a Charolette Street man in Sydney who used to just hang around there a lot.
He had no family or friends, so the service was to be at a St. Mary’s cemetery near Membertou.
As I was not familiar with George Street, which is near Membertou, I got lost.
I finally arrived an hour late and saw the funeral guy had evidently
gone and the hearse was nowhere in sight.
There were only the grave diggers and crew left and they were eating lunch.
I felt badly and apologized to the men for being late. I went to the side of the
grave and looked down and the casket was already in place.
I didn’t know what else to do, so I started to play.
The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around.
I played out my heart and soul for this man with no family and friends.
I played like I’ve never played before for this homeless man.
And as I played "Hector the Hero", the workers began to weep.
They wept, I wept, we all wept together. When I finished, I packed up my fiddle and started for my car.
Though my head hung low, my heart was full. As I opened the door to my car, I heard one of the workers say,
“I never seen nothin’ like that before and I’ve been putting in septic tanks for twenty years.”