Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1913-10-02

I ding him sad farewell in the name of
his comrades on the other side of the
Atlantic Ocean
- August Bebel died at-the little Swiss
/ village OF Passugg in the morning of
august IL, aged seventy-three and d
haIf years. During the last years of
MS life he had been suffering from a
disease OF the heart and the end came
peacefully and without immediate
warning. It was a painless transition
from the sleep Of a night into the sleep
that knows no waking.
Had Bebel died in Berlin, his hose
city and the seat of his principal acti-
vities, his funeral would undoubtedly
have assumed the characte~
mass demonstration the like Of which
was never witnessed in the WORD
history. AS it was it took the form of
an International manifestation of
mourning. 1t is safe to assert that the
death of no Individual within the pres
ent generation has caused such univer-
sal spontateous and sincere grief as
that of the beloved patriarch of Inter
national Social Democracy.
BY his last will Bethel had provided
that his body be cremated and that his
ashes be deposited in Zurich beside
those OF his faithful life-partner, who
had preceded him into the grave by a
few years. In accordance with these
wishes his body was taken from Pas
sugg to Zurich, where it arrived on the
18th OF August, accompanied by an
escort of Socialist workingmen which
had formed and augmented all along
the route. In Zurich the body was laid
out in state in the large hall of the
Peoples Building. And then the
Wreaths of flowers began to arrive.
They came from all parts of the world
in which workingmen live and feel and
struggle. They came by the hundreds
from Socialist organizations, labor
unions and individual friends and com
rades. The large. hall was soon liter
ally covered with flowers. then the spa
cious corridors around it, and then the
entire boor was converted into dense
garden of exquisite flowers. From the
wreaths hundreds Of wide silk stream
ers hung down upon the foor-red,
red, red everywhere, with touching in
scriptions in black and gold in which
the poletariat of all nations took leave
OF it's departed hero in all languages
spoken. by mankind. And for three
days and three nights a steady stream
of silent mourners passed through the
narrow path left for that purpose and
in front Of the simple casket in which
'so',- August lay exposed to the last
view OF his grief-stricken comrades.
Sixty thousand men and women are
said to have thus bid farewell to An
gust Bebel, and few Of those restrain
ed their tears Bebel looked as mag
nifcent in death as he looked and was
in life. His fine and kindly face was
illuminated by an expression of sell
emnity and repose. The merciful hand
of death had not married the beautiful
countenance by a single line of suf-
fering or pain.
had seen and spoken to him but
q few weeks before. He then happened |
to be i'll with a slight attack of his
ailment and he received me in bed.
Notwithstanding his physical handicap
he was seHenely cheerful and thorough i
" alive and alert mentally. His deepi
and kind eyes shone with enthusiams
as he spoke of the Socialist successes
In Germany, and his mobile face ex-
pressed intense interest as he interrO-
gated me about the conditions and
prospects of our movement In Ameri-
ca. And now that l looked on, the
pale but handsome face of the dead, II
found it impossible to believe that
these eyes would never again open in
3 beautiful SMILE that those eloquent
lips were sealed forever-th Bebel |
was really and frrevocably gone.
The funeral procession took place ond
Sunday at O'Clock. Five hundred |
wreath bearers headed the c0rtage,