People's voice., 1900-01-18


impulses or impressions. Today the en-
tire force Of the gathering seemed to be
directed to this one large purpose. II
was a meeting full Of broken prayers,
Of contrition, confession, Of strong
yearning for new and better city life,
and all through it ran the one general
cry for deliverance from the saloon and
its awful curse.
But IL the First church was deeply
stirred by the events Of the week gone
the Rectangle also felt moved strongly
in its own way. The death Of Loreen
was not in itself so remarkable a fact
It was her recent acquaintance with
the people from the city that lifted her
into special prominence and surrounded
her death with more than ordinary i'm
portance. Every one in the Rectangle
knew that Loreen was at this moment
lying in the Page mansion up on the
avenue. Exaggerated reports of TIE
magnifcence of the casket had already
furnished material for eager gossip
Tne Rectangle was excited to know the
details of the funeral Would it be
publicf What did Miss Page intend to
do3 The Rectangle had never before
mingled even in this distantly personal
manner with the aristocracy on the
boulevard The opportunities for doing
so were not frequent Gray and his
wife were besieged by inquiries as, to
what Loreen's friends and acquaint-
ances were expected to do in paying
their last respects to her, for her ac-
quaintance was large. and many of the
recent converts were among her friends
So that is how it happened Monday
afternoon at the tent that the funeral
service of Loreen was held before an
immense audience that choked the tent
and overfowed beyond all previous
bounds Gray had gone to Virginia,
and after talking it over with her and
Henry Maxwell the arrangements had
been made.
Il am and always have been opposed
to large public funerals" said Gray,
whose complete, wholesome simplicity
Of character was one of its great sources
of strength, "but the cry of the poor
creatures who knew Loreen is so earnest
that do not know how to refuse their
desire to see her and pay her poor body
some last little honor. What do you
think, Mr. MAXWELL will be guided
by your Judgment in the matter. an
sure that whatever you and Miss Page
think is best will be right"
81 feel as you do, replied Mr.. Max
well "Under most circumstances
have a great distaste for what seems
like display at such times, but this
seems different The people at the Rec
tangle will not come here to a service.
l think the most Christian thing will
be to let them have the service at the
tent Do you think so, VirginiaH"
"Yes," said Virginia sadly. "Poor
soull lido not know but that some time
| shall know she gave her life for mine.
We certainly cannot and will not use
the occasion for vulgar display. Let
her friends be allowed the qualification
Of their wishes. see no harm in it. "
So the arrangements were made with
some difficulty for the service at the
tent, and Virginia, with her uncle and
Rollin, accompanied by Henry Max.
well, Rachel, President Marsh and the
quartet from the First church, went
down and witnessed one of the strange
scenes of their lives 1t happened that
that afternoon noted newspaper cor
respondent was passing through Ray.
mond on his way to an editorial con-
vention in neighboring city. He heard
of the contemplated service at the tent
and was present that afternoon. His
description of it was written in a graph
ic style that caught the attention Of
very many readers the next day. A
fragment Of his account belongs to this
part of the history of Raymond:
There was very unique and un-
usual funeral service held here this aft
ernOon at the tent Of an evangelist,
Rev. John Gray, down in the slum dis
trict known as the Rectangle. The oc-
casion was caused by the killing Of a
woman during an election riot last Sat
urday night. It seems she had been re-
Gently converted during the evangelist's s
meetings and was killed while return
ing from one of the meetings in com
pany with other converts and some Of
her friends. She was a common street
drunkard, and yet the services at the
tent were as impressive as any ever
witnessed in a metropolitan church over
the most distinguished citizen.
''In the first place. a most exquisite
anthem was sung by trained choir. 1t
struck me, of course, being stranger
to the place, with considerable astonish-
ment to hear voices like those one nat
urally expects to hear only in great
churches or concerts at such a meeting
as this, but the most remarkable part
of the music was solo sung by a strik-
ingly beautiful young woman, Miss
Winslow, who, if 1 remember rightly,
is the young singer who was sought for
by Crandal, the manager: of National
Opera. and who for some reason refused
to accept his offer to go en- the stage.
She had a most wonderful manner in
singing, and everybody was weeping
before she had sung a dozen words.
That, of course, is not 80 strange an
effect to be produced at . funeral serv-
ice, but the voice itself was one of ten