Thanks for the comment on my Lit List journal. I've got a collection of Poe's poems and short stories and I love the man. I haven't read [i]Oliver Twist[/i] or any Sherlock.
You are very welcome. I've actually had very similar thoughts while staring at my numerous empty notebooks, but could never write them as great as you did.
I think the song is about feeling lonely and depressed. When Eleanor goes out, she tries to make people think that she is happy and not all alone.
"Waits at the window, wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door"
She wears that face so that no one can see the lonliness and emptiness that she feels. It is a false impression that she is giving to everyone that she sees
You can tell from this story that no one even cared about her. When she died no one even came to the funeral. It's a sad song, really.
"Father McKenzie writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear. No one comes near."
Even the minister doesn't care to be at her funeral. He wants to get it over with and go on with his life as if it doesn't matter to all.
"Father McKenzie wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave. No one was saved"
(Wiping the dirt from your hands is a phrase often used to illustrate that you are going to get rid of something and forget about it. So obviously if the minister at her funeral is that anxious to be rid of her memory then who else is there to care and remember her.)