Services at the Church

Lessons from the Scriptures, Anthems and Fervent Prayers.

     Canton, O., Sept. 19.—The decorations of the First M. E. church, where the funeral services were held, were elaborate and impressive. Over 4,000 yards of drapery were used. Over the front interior as the funeral party entered, covering the organ loft, there was stretched from wall to wall peneled [sic] drapery black as midnight. It was of nun’s veiling, 52 feet long and 13 feet high. The panels were formed of white satin ribbons two inches wide. The choir-loft railing was richly hung with nun’s veiling arranged in festoons, with silk drapery tassels between the festoons. The pulpit rostrum was heavily covered with black cloth, and the pulpit itself was draped with rich silk crepe. An excellent portrait of the late president was fastened to the front of the pulpit and was gracefully draped. The chancel rail and all of the woodwork about the front of the church was a mass of black. Five seats from the front of the pulpit, in the left middle aisle, was the pew which was occupied by President McKinley when he attended service. It was covered with heavy black crepe. The side walls of the church were hung with streamers and the overhanging arches with black streamers and festoons. The pillars and the church auditorium proper and the Sunday school rooms were in a stately black garb, relieved every five feet with narrow bands of white silk. The balcony front was heavily draped and hung with festoons tied with white silk drapery tassels. The points of vantage on the exterior and the tower were also draped in black and white.
     The services in the church were simple. They began with the rendition of an organ prelude, Beethoven’s funeral march, played by Miss Florence Douds. As the last notes of the prelude were still [sic] the Euterpean quartet of Canton, composed of four young women, sang “The Beautiful Isle of Somewhere.”
     The Rev. O. B. Milligan, pastor of the First Presbyterian church of Canton, delivered the invocation.
     The ninetieth Psalm was read by Dr. John A. Hall of the Trinity Lutheran church of Canton, and that portion of the fifteenth chapter of First Corinthians included between the forty-first and fifty-eighth verses was read by the Rev. E. P. Herbrouck of the Trinity Reformed church of Canton. The favorite hymn of President McKinley, “Lead, Kindly Light,” was then rendered by a mixed quartet. When this hymn had been finished Dr. C. E. Manchester, pastor of the First Methodist church, delivered the funeral address.
     At the conclusion of Dr. Manchester’s discourse Bishop I. W. Joyce of Minneapolis delivered a short prayer.
     The hymn, “Nearer, My God, to Thee,” was sung by the entire congregation. The people remained standing after the close of the hymn while the benediction was pronounced by Monseigneur T. P. Thorpe of Cleveland. The casket was then borne from the church to the funeral car, and the procession to the cemetery began.