New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-05-18
Popular Sorrow Manifest Among
Black CARRIED Throngs-The
Services Simple Within
the Hall.
by Cable to The Tribune.

:
alive officials of the empire. and files of
Yeomen of the Guard have marched be-
side him. King George and great
company of royal mourners have fol-
lowed him on foot, while behind them
have been massed the officers of his
own and of Queen AIexandra's house
hold, lords and grooms in waiting, ex-
ira equerries, gentlemen ushers and the
new royal households. Behind this pha-
lanx of royal and court mourners have
come nine closed carriages, with the
queens, an empress, princesses and court
ladies in deepest black.
All along the Mall and Whitehall
there have been, as often before, dense
/ throngs of spectators. but in place OF
outbursts of cheering there has been an
impressive silence, broken only by the
| dirges played by the massed bands of
four hundred musicians. Big Ben has
tolled with muff1ed tongue, and minute
guns have been fired from Hyde Park.
Peace, ParIiament's Watchword.
So King Edward has approached West
minister in solemn state, and the two
/ houses forming his last Parliament have
/ been drawn up to meet him. with the
/ Lord Chancellor and the Speaker in their
robes and the mace bearers and the
high officials in their bravery, and the
royal mourners and the court digni-
taries have made a splendid tableau in
scarlet, black and gold. There has been
no speech from the monarch enthroned
on the catafalque except the calming
word Peace" while peers and common
ers felt their hearts. and there has been
no partisan debate after the retirement
of the House.
The beautiful service, conducted by
the Archbishop of Canterbury, with
psalm, anthem and hymn sung by the
enlarged Abbey choir, has been like
gracious benediction after great reign.
The nourners and court officials have
passed out in silence, and a peoples
! parliament has assembled to pay homage
to their King by tramping with bare
heads and reverent feeling beside the
coffin at Westminster Hail.
To this brief summary may be added
a few general impressions. First, it was
a ceremonial function. unique in its sim
Westminster. The line of march was
kept by more than ten thousand sol
diers. but there were not many in the
procession itself, nor was there much
! gold lace or garish color, apart from the
scarlet uniforms There was long line
of mourners on foot behind the gun car
riage drawn by eight black horses, and
further back there were closed carriages
with the royal liveries and trappings.
The court was giving up the dead mon
arch to Parliament and the natios and
lamenting him with unaffected sincerity
as a man and a friend, while bells were
tolling and dirges were moaning.
Simplicity of the Ceremony
Decorative effects were lacking in the
Mall. except that the Iilacs and purple
hvacinths We're in full bloom in st.
James's Park and the buildings near by
were mainly bare. Even Westminster
Hall was without decoration, except for
the long barricade draped in purple from
end to end and the catafalque pitched
high with its magnificent pail under the
tall candelabra from st. Pauls used at
Queen Victoria's funeral and that of the
Duke of Wellington. st. Stephens win
dow on this gray day seemed to have
lost its radiance, the ancient hammer
beam roof looked time stained and the
funeral and marble statues were like a
row of ROYAL mourners, even when the
vacant spaces opposite the choristers
we're filed with the relatives of the dead
monarch an court officials, until, with
the two houses of Parliament, there
were two thousand spectators. 1t was
not unlike a village funeral, so natural
was the grouping of relatives around the
coffin. so simple were the prayers, so
familiar were the anthem and hymn.
King George and Queen Alexandra, pre-
occnpied with their own sorrow. were
like ordinary mourners; Premier As
ouith and A J. Balfour had ceased to
he marty leaders and the rivalries Of the
legislative houses had passed out of re-
membTance.
Crowds Affected by Music.
Another impression relates to the
music both in the open air and at West
minister Hall Outside there was a sue
caseion of funeral marches, Beethoven's,
Chopin.s and HandePs, by the massed
hands with the pathetic interlude
Flowers of the Forest" from the pipers
Of the guards. The spectators were
deeply affected by the majestic dirges
There was no accompaniment within the
hall for the psalm The Lord Is My
Shepherd" nor for Spohr's anthem,
"Blest Are the Departed nor for Glib
hons's Amen which had been sung at
che coronation; but a section of the Cold
streams band played the music for "Oh
cod our Help in Ages Past" and the
tension of feeling was so great that the
mo1rners and members of Parliament
found relief in joining the choir. al
though the outsiders. with barred heads,
did not sing also, as was done at Mr..
Gladstone's funeral.
Another impression refers TO the de-
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