28 It Happened in Iona whatsoever to cover up the fact of death. The simple coffins were placed on two black sticks across the open grave for the commit¬ tal prayers, then manually lowered by two fabric tapes and steered into the rough box below. A generous pile of loose clay lay nearby, unfettered by artificial covering, and the pallbearers immediately began filling in the grave. The sight and sound of the clay — frozen lumps in winter — gave life to the biblical phrase: "Dust you are and unto dust you shall return". When the grave was finally filled, rounded and packed with shovels, all in the cemetery knelt for a short private prayer. Digging the graves by hand was always a generous commu¬ nity effort with more than enough men gathering for the task at hand. The diggers were extremely careful to keep clear, but not by much, of an existing grave, for to strike a rough box or the remnants of an old coffin was considered a mark of high disre¬ spect. The older grave diggers were always recalling earlier deaths in this particular family, including the year, the circum¬ stances, the weather and other interesting data. It was partic¬ ularly interesting to note how the older men were able even in winter to select the exact spot for a grave despite deep snow and the lack of a cemetery chart. Standing on the crown of the church hill, the cemetery was a drafty spot in winter, but the set ritual of prayers had to be said just the same, with some parts having to be sung by a few hardy and well-frozen choir members. One yarn kept alive over the years concerned a witty chap from the Valley who, following a burial on a particularly cold winter day, turned to the priest and remarked: "It's a bad day for gardenm"'. Except for inclem¬ ent weather, people wisely went practically en masse to the grave site to complete the cycle of death. On such occasions, the singing of the "Benedictus" on the way to or at the grave added a sombre dignity to the setting. The Iona cemetery never experienced the fad of having its headstones uprooted and laid in straight rows. The older tomb¬ stones remain where they were first placed and that has in no way caused disfigurement to this hallowed spot. One special stone contains the names of three parishioners who were in¬ terred together having drowned in while fishing oysters. The year was 1895 and the three were James Daly Sr. and his two cousins, the Hughes brothers from Orwell. It was June and Daly, then in his late thirties, had just completed his third year at medical school in . This tragic event had been kept much alive over the years by the older folk.