The Savannah morning news., 1901-09-22
THE M'KINLEY OBsEoUIEs.
SOME POINTS ABOUT THEM AT THE
NATIONAL CAPITAL.

0ppressivcness of the Absolute ST.
lence of the People-Some Cbarac-
feristics of the CoIOred Mourners.
Few Comments That Will Pro-
woke ThOught-NO Drapery ON Pub
lie Buildings-Forbidde by the
Law.
Washington, D. c., Sept. 20.--Little
remains for me to tell concerning one
of the greatest funerals of the CEN
fury. The most impressive feature of
the pageant was not the interminable
lines of sad-faced soldiers, nor the
crepe-tied banners that so lately fiut-
tered proudly over McKinley's inau-
guration, nor even the slow-moving
hearse, with it's six black horses, COW
cred with sable net, whose silken
fringes swept the ground-but the
absolute silence of the people. AS a
rule, Washington crowds are of the
most hilarious and irreverent. Heroes
come and go in such rapid succession
at the National Capital that its dem
liens realize, perhaps more than peo-
pie at a distance, the meaning of the
words, Sic transit gloria mundi. Our
jams are always darkly shaded by
''the colored man and brother" of
whom there are now something over
a hundred thousand in District of CO.
lumbia. With their irrepressible ten
dency to rollicking good-humor, the
wide world may wag as it will, and
nothing troubles them, so long as pone
and sweet potatoes hold out. Most
of them are like Soloman's lilies, in
that they toll not neither do they
spin," having learned from long ex-
perience that when famine comes the
whites will take care of them. On
this mournful occasion, during the
hour required by the procession to pass
the long mile from White House to
Capitol-though tens of thousands
stood under dripping umbrellas, pack
ed more tightly than the typical sar-
dimes in a box-not a sound was heard
but the measured tread of the military
and the saddening tap of muffied
drums. But the highly excitable ma
lures of the dusky population can al
ways be depended upon for making eff
fective scenes" whether at camp,
meeting or funerals When the body
of the beloved President was borne for
the last time through the White House
gates, they lifted up their voices in
tragic lamentations. Many fell upon
their knees in the pouring rain and
prayed with fervor: and all along the
line of march, as the hearse came into
view, it was greeted by colored specta-
tors with walls, sobs and groans--a
surface emotion, no doubt, but heart
felt for the moment. 1t is an old and
true saying, 1.-THE shadows Tmurmur,
but the deeps are dumb The domi-
49,, t. 49, S-s., -.
sions of grief; but tears coursed I'M
checked down thousands of faces at
the thought of just such another day
of weeping skies, six short months be-
fore, when President Mckinley, sit
ting proudly erect in the prime of life
and vigor, was escorted by the same
troops to the Capitol. But what a
difference! Then waving banners,
jubilant music and exultant
cheers; now the CHASTITY silence
of the grave. Yet this last
journey was not less triumphant. When
such a man, beloved and honored 10y
work well done, it may be said, "Oh,
grave where is thy victoryP' Deplore
his loss as we may, and sweet as life
must have been to himf at the zenith
of his golden opportunities, we must
admit that President Mckinley never
did better thing for his future fame
than to die as he did 1t seems a harsh
thing to say. but 1t undoubtedly true.
In leaving this mortal J at its me-
ridian or usefulness, he also climbed
into the highest niche of honor, there
to abide forever. If he had any faults
they are all forgotten, his political
critics effectually silenced, and his
fame, like Washington's, will grow
brighter and brighter as generations
come and go. How much better, in a
worldly point of view, than to have
lived to step down and out, three years
later, into comparatively obscurity,
and become that superfluous nonentity.
an ex-President, who, having attained
the highest, is forbidden by the shadow
of his former greatness from accept
ing any lesser trust, but must hence
forth vegetate as a back number
whose usefulness is over! Happy Nc
Kinley! While is is sad. indeed to zee
the young cut off with the promises
of life all unfulfilled, it is infinitely sad
der to live too long How much better
to meet the inevitable change before
our powers begin to fail us, one by one,
and the days draw nigh that have mo
pleasure in them Though one is with
out orthodox religious conviction and
has not selected any special sectarian
route to Immortality. knowing that
death is as natural as birth to the
whole human family, one must feel
sure that the Father has satisfactorily
provided somehow for the helpless
creatures of His hands.
A remarkable thing about the Nc
Kinley obsequies was the entire alb
sence of black draperies on all the pub
lie buildings Buffalo, Pittsburg, indeed.
almost every other city. displayed more
outward evidences of grief. The White
House the great State, Army and
Navy building, the Treasury, the great
white Postoffice, even the historic ro-
tunda in which the body lay in state.
were altogether undraped. The reason
is simple, because the law forbids IL.
The custom of draping public build
ings for dead officials and ex-officials
had been so greatly overdone as to be-
come an enormous expense to the gov
eminent, as we'll as almost nuisance.
When anybody passed away who had
been even remotely connected with one
of the departments, however long ago,
his friends felt grieved unless whole
bales of black were hung all over the
buildings. So quite recently Congress
passed a bill forbidding the draping
of public buildings for any dead OFF,
cial OF course. in this case the statute
might easily have been brushed aside;
but II speaks well for the law-abiding
OF that nnhOdX