There were deep growls of approval all over the church. I could have
hugged Shaw then and there. Mr. Craig went to Mrs. Mavor, and after a
word with her came back and said--

'Mrs. Mavor, wishes me to thank her dear friend Mr. Shaw, but says she
would like to sing.'

The response was perfect stillness. Mr. Craig sat down to the organ
and played the opening bars of the touching melody, 'Oft in the Stilly
Night.' Mrs. Mavor came to the front, and, with a smile of exquisite
sweetness upon her sad face, and looking straight at us with her
glorious eyes, began to sing.

Her voice, a rich soprano, even and true, rose and fell, now soft, now
strong, but always filling the building, pouring around us floods of
music. I had heard Patti's 'Home, sweet Home,' and of all singing that
alone affected me as did this.

At the end of the first verse the few women in the church and some men
were weeping quietly; but when she began the words--

'When I remember all
The friends once linked together,'

sobs came on every side from these tender-hearted fellows, and Shaw
quite lost his grip. But she sang steadily on, the tone clearer and
sweeter and fuller at every note, and when the sound of her voice died
away, she stood looking at the men as if in wonder that they should
weep. No one moved. Mr. Craig played softly on, and, wandering through