An inexperienced preacher
was to hold a graveside burial service at a pauper's cemetery for an
indigent man with no family or friends. Not knowing where the cemetery
was, he made several wrong turns and got lost. When he eventually
arrived an hour late, the hearse was nowhere in sight, the backhoe was
next to the open hole, and the workmen were sitting under a tree eating
lunch.
The diligent young pastor went to the open grave and found the
vault lid already in place. Feeling guilty because of his tardiness, he
preached an impassioned and lengthy service, sending the deceased to the
great beyond in style.
As he returned to his car, he overheard one of the workman say to
the other, "I've been putting in septic tanks for twenty years and I
ain't never seen anything like that."
