The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-07-14
THE IMPRESSIVE OBSEQUlES
First Methodist Church Filled With Borrowing Relatives and Friends. City Hall and Banks Closed.
 pr. Riddick's Discourse.

tory.
 | At Il o'clock, as the first knell from the tower of the Methodist church. an- nouncing the hour of the funeral. was sounded. the doors of the financial insti- tutions of the city were closed, and all municipal and county business was sus- pended out of respect to the distinguished dead. Sadness ard reverence marked the eeuntenances of all who knew intimately the great lawyer now to be laid away to eternal rest
 The streets about the First Methodist church were blocked with carriages and the seating capacity of the spacious edi- fee was soon taxed
 In the Church.
 The interior of the church presented a scene such as is rarely witnessed. There were gathered representative citizens from all the walks of life-the rich and the poor-met together in a common sorrow.
 The church was appropriately draped In simple folds of crepe about the chancel' choir, gallery and balcony railing Inside the chance there were banks of floral offerings that had come from loving friends and business and professional as- sociates. Most conspicuous among the floral designs were the offerings of the Bar association the First National bank and the Birmingham Railway, Light and Power company, institutions with which MT. Walker had been so prominently iden- tihed.
 Unusually handsome were the two rep resentaticns of "The Gates AJar," with the white doves of peace lowering over the portals
 The central pews had been reserved for the family and the special guards or honor, including the board of stewards of which MT. Walker had long been a member; Camp Hardee, United Confeder- ate Veterans and the bar association.
 Quietly and Reverently.
 The great audience assembled quietly and reverenty, the silence which per yaded the church when the soft notes of inc organ announced the approach of the casket being most impressive. When the Rev. Quincy Ewing, rector of the Church of the Advent began reading T am the Resurrection and the Life"
  down they stood until the coffin was placed amid the flowers in front of the pulpit
 A select quartette composed of Miss Failon, Mrs. Lumsden. MT. Maxim and MT. Hanby sang with splendid effect Abide With Me" The Rev Dr. J. ID. Simpson read the 90th Psalm, beginning: Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations" and the Rev. Dr. c. B. Riddlck read as the second les son St. Pauls argument of the resurrec- tion, from the 18th chapter of First Corinthians. The Rev. MT. Ewing offered prayer, following the language of the ritual of the Episcopal church. The guar tette then sang, Lead, Kindly Light"
 pr. RiddIcks Discourse.
 The Rev. Dr. c. B. Riddick, pastor of the First Methodist church, delivered the funeral discourse. which was regarded as singularly eloquent and fitting. His text was For we have no continuing city here. but we seek one out of sight; He- brew 1914. Dr. Riddick said
 I always hesitate to add anything to the appropriate and impressive ritual az pointed by the church for the burial of the dead, but I feel constrained to do so on this occasion.
 How short is human life at the longestl It is as a vapor that appeareth for little while and then vanisheth away We spend our years in the acquisition of knowledge, and die just as we are prepared to use 1t. We learn how to live and pass on with the great procession to that "bourne whence no traveller returns;" and short as Is human life, it is not allowed 10 un even It's normal length. Four score is the measure. two score is the average. The thread breaks the loom stops, the un- woven web is left unfinished. The infant smiles and disappears. The young maiden buds and blossoms in Heaven, The man comes to himself, and clothed with strength and hope pauses in the very midst of his usefulness to dic
 Today we stand before a mysterious oi- vine dispensation. What a strange tam gle is our human life! With what rapid yet uncertain alterations we pass from mirth to grief, from joy to sorrow! If death is Gods angel. acting under this control, reapng at His command. why does He choose the strong. the good, the wise, the useful, and leave those we could better have spared? Blinded with our tears and dazed with our bitter grief we cannot answer the question. we cannot solve the dark problem. He alone can, to whom "a day is as a thousand years and thousand years as one day" He meas ures human events by no such petty cir cle as that which bounds human life. Man is as a bubble that rises from the ocean and reflects the colors of the heavens but can keep none of them. It bursts and all it's beauty is at an end. The grandeur of the Infinite Mind outruns all human thought. While we measure events along I the line of human causes and effects, God measures them by His own eternity.
 Life Is a Stage.
 That this life is a stage on which to develop the human soul is scarcely to be | doubted. Credulous indeed is the man who can accept any other theory. All the good things are evolved from the con- ditions of human life The translation of faculty into conduct and into character; the fixing of principles in mans life so that they become powers in him-these things are accomplished by the disciple of | life itself No man inherits activity, en- | terprise, foresight justice. benevolence. | the finer feelings. They are developed in l timely training by long and often tedi- lsous antecedent processes, and for this