An Irish bagpiper was asked by a funeral director to play at a graveside service for a homeless man who had no family or friends. The funeral was to be held at a cemetery in the remote countryside and this man would be the first to be laid to rest there.
As he was not familiar with the backwoods area, the piper became lost and being a typical man, did not stop for directions. He finally arrived an hour late. He saw the backhoe and the crew who were eating lunch but the hearse was nowhere in sight.
He apologized to the workers for his tardiness and stepped to the side of the open grave where he saw the vault lid already in place.
He assured the workers he would not hold them up for long but that this was the proper thing to do. The workers gathered around, still eating their lunch. He played out his heart and soul.
As he played the workers began to weep. He played and played like he'd never played before, from "Going Home" and "The Lord is My Shepherd" to "Flowers of the Forest". He closed the lengthy session with "Amazing Grace" and walked to his car.
As he was opening the door and taking off his coat, he overheard one of the workers saying to another, "Sweet Jeezuz, Mary'n Joseph, I never seen nothin' like that before and I've been putting in septic tanks for twenty years."
