The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-11-27
G. W. STEVENS ACCOUNT OF THE
IMPRESSIVE CEREMONY.
Witnessed by Motley Crowd-Four
Chaplains omciate. Pfpers Play
DirEe and the Soudanese Hand
Follows With .AbIde With Me-"

| OF hos;ilities. but THAI was nothing by
| comparison with the present work or MN
self and his pnosnssrs Insy are ae whirs
| may be considered the mos: up-to-date
| thing in literature.
! The Soudan dispatches are to be print
| ed Immediately. substantially as they were
sent but as IL IS impossible 70 put the
| book in form and distribute IL. with
| telegraph rapidly the "irnTnediatels must
| be taken with some qualifications. The
newspaper Is ahead Of the promised vol
ume and its latest issue 10 arrive in tbs
country contains the chapter on TIE Fu-
neral of Gordon" which reveals Mr.. Stee-
vens under his usual high pressure X
reads as follows:
THE steamers-screws. paddles. stern
wheelers-plug- plugged their steady. way
up the full Nile. Past the northern fringe
of Omaurman. where the sheikh came cut
with the white flag, past the breach where
the choked embrssures and the lacerated
mahdrs tomb. past the swamp-rooted
palms OF Tut island. We looked at it ali
with dispassionate, impersonal curiosity
1t was Sunday morning and tina, furious
Friday seemed already half a lifetime be-
hind us. The volleys had dwindled out of
tr.ls: and today We were going 10 the
funeral of Gordon. After nearly fourteen
years the Christian soldier was to have a
Christian burial.
All kinds and Colors.
"on the steamers there was a, detach-
yellow, that had taken part in the VEN
geance. Every white officer that could DE
spared from duty was there. fifty men
picked from each British battalion. one or
two from each unit of the Egyptian army.
That we were going up 10 khartoum at all
was evidence OF our triumph: yet. IL you
looked about you, triumph was not the
note. The most reckless subaltern, the
most barbarous black. was touched with
gravity. We We're going TO perform a ne
eessary duty. which had been put of far,
far too long.
Fourteen years next January-yet even
through that Illuminating thought there
ran whisper OF triumph We may be
slow; but In that very slowness We show
that We do not forget. Soon or late, we
give our own their due. Here were men
that fought for Gordon's life while he
alone among furious enemies to get news
OF him; Wauchope. who poured out his
blood Ike water ar Tamai and kirkbekan:
uart-Wortley. who missed by but two
days the chance OF dying at his side. And
here. too. wera boys who could hardly lisp
when their mothers told them that Gordon
the fullness of time TO exact ten thousand
lives for one. Gordon may die-other Cor
dons may die in the future-hut the same
clean-limbed brood will grow up and
ayenge them.
The boats stopped plugging and there
was silence. We We're tying up opposite a
grove. Of tall palms: on the bank was
crowd of natives curiousIy like the back
sheesh-hunters who gather 10 greet the
Nile steamers They started al us bat
we looked beyond them TO large building
rising from a crumbling quay. You could
see that Il had once been handsome
building OF the type you know in Cairo and
Alexandria-all stone and stucco. two
stored faced with tall, regular windows.
Now the upper story was clean gone: the
blind windows were filled up with bricks:
the stueco was all scars. and you could
walk up TO the roof on rubble- In front
was an acacia. such as grow in Ismalia on
the Ghezireh at Cairo. only unpruned-deep
luscious green, only dropping like a weep-
ing willow. Al that most ordinary sight
everybody grew very solemn. For II was
piece Of new world. or rather OF an old
world, utterly different from the squalid
mud, the baking barrenness of omdurman.
A facade with tall windows. a tree with
green leaves-the facade battered and
blind the tree dropping TO aarth-there
was no need TO tell us we were al a grave.
In that forlorn ruin, anu that disconsolate
acacia, the bones of murdered civilization
lay before us.
Raising the Flag.
"The troops formed UP before the palace
in three sides of a rectangle-Egyptian 10
our left as we looked from the river Brit
| Of division and brigade. ana the staff stood
| IN the open space facing the palace Then.
on the roof-aimost on the very spot where
| Gordon fell. though the steps by which the
| butchers mounted have long since van
| ishsd--we were aware of the two flag
| slaves. BY the right hand hallards stood
| X X. r.; by the left hand Bimbashi Nit
ford and two other officers.
| THE sirdar raised his hanG. A pull on
the haliards. up ran, ont few the union
| jack. tugging eagerly at his reins. daZ-
| z.ngly siOriously In the. sun. rejoicing in
his strength and his freedom. Bang"
| boat quivered TO her backbone God Save
| Our Gracious Queen hymned the Guards
| band-'hang" from the Melik.and sirdar
| ton. every hand az the helmets peak
| ihank"--in salute The Egyptian flag had
| gone UP at the same instant; and now. the
| marking time. the. band OF the Eleventh
| Souianese was playing the khediviai
| hymn. Three cheers for the aueenp cried
| the sir5ar; helmets leaped In the air. and
| wholesome shout OF all these years. Then
| the same for the kkedive. The conrade
| flags stretched themselves Justify. enjoy
| ing their own again; the bands peaied
| forth the pride or country: the fwenty-one
| guns banged forth the strength cf war
| Thus white men and black. Christian and
| more, forever. on khartoum.
| BEFORE We had time to think such
| thoughts over To ourselves the bands were
| playing The Dead March in Saul" Then
| the black band was playing the march
| from Handsifg 'Scipio' which II England
| generally goes with Toll FOR the Brave
among the khedive's subjects who could
| have saved themselves by treachery hut
| preferred 70 die with Gordon, Next fell
deeper hush than ever. except fer the SOL
| emn minute guns that had followed the
| fierce salute. Four chapiains-t'atho lic
Anglican Preshy terrain and Methodist
came slowly forward and ranged them
| selves with their backs to the palace, JUS.
before the sirdar The preshy terrain read
| the fifteenth Psalm. The Anglican led the
rustlng whisper OF the Lords prayer
| snow-nsire Father Brindie. best 5eloved
| OF priests. laid his helmet at his feet and
read memorial prayer. hareaeaded In the
sun. Then czams forward the pSTsers and
walled a dirxe. ana the S0udaneSe played
| Abide With Me-'
Perhaps LIPS did twitch fus, little
10 see shs ebony heathsns fsrventiy blow
| ing out Gordons fQvorits hymn: bat the
n7os. irresistible inc0ngTustv would hardly
have made Ia laugh * that moment Ana
there were those who SAID the cold str43ay
himself cOGd hardly speak or see as Gen
nj .ha rat sraL...a