Our Special Correspondent’s Impression of the
Service
The last funeral ceremony in the President’s old church
at Canton was very moving. Amidst intense silence, the whole congregation
standing, the coffin covered by the national flag was borne in and
placed in position by the sailors and marines who had never left
it night or day since it was given into their charge at Buffalo,
followed by officers of the army and navy in full dress. After the
members of the President’s family had entered hymns were sung by
a quartet. The preacher of the funeral sermon said that to know
the late President was to love him. The nation’s anxiety now is
for the bereaved widow, who has won the admiration of all by so
bravely trying to bear up against the crushing sorrow that has overtaken
her. Whilst the service lasted thousands of men, marshalled to do
honour to the late chief magistrate, were continuously passing,
but not a sound was heard except the rumbling of gun-carriages,
for the mass of mourners—for all the nation is mourning—stood perfectly
quiet realising the great solemnity of the passing pageant. The
service ended, the faithful attendants filed in and tenderly lifted
the remains of their great chief, bearing it away to its final resting
place in the cemetery[.]
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