The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-09-24
TRADITIONAL NEW o
The Picturesque Funeral Of the Late
Professor Van Amringe.

Professor Van Amringe.
To THE EDITOR OF THE sUN-Sir, I
was wrong. There is such n place as
New York. have discovered 1t. 1
nave been in the old, ancestral, historic.
picturesque, traditional New York. where
Bryant sang and Irving unused and N.
II. Willis wrote articles for the Mirror.
In fact ! wandered into Trinity Church
at Professor Van Amringe's funeral.
Van Amringe was a friend of mine and
II seemed a decent thing to attend his
funeral. especially as he was a profess
sor. personally poor certainly old. per-
haps obscure and l thought II might
please the family IL n few respectable
friends should turn up and show that
the old gentleman was not completely
forgotten.
SO | went down 20 Trinity a half
hour before the service and sat in the
shady ch~urchyard. beneath the liquid
shadows OF the morning which the high
buildings and the large sycamores were
casting over the quiet old gravestones.
Many Of the stones were drunk with
line and seemed to humble their cpl
taphs and forget their dates. The gates
OF the place were pen and within were
benches Oh which sat two or three philo-
sophie and otiose readers, the kind of
INbIlt wiz HluS nhNf tDlllt lTOI1 LOll-
don. A couple OF s~uperannuated and
very polite. gentle old laborers were
doing l know not what with wheelbar-
rows and brooms The whole scene had
the rcmoteness and the charm which the
Temple In London has, or used to have,
and this In spite of the small size of
the enclosure.
BY the time the funeral began l had
forgotten all about n Amringe. and
entering the church mechanically I per-
ceived a large and murmuring crowd.
] thought I must be in Il dream, for the
scene was like the Day OF Judgment
everybody was there. The church was
packed. Pretty soon It became like the
Book OF Revelations A procession of
elders appeared In the western triforium
and wound its way down round toward
the eastern portal. carrying crosses.
robes, symbols. maces and croziers
Then choristers, old men and stripiings.
decent. glad faces, the faces Of men who
spent their lives in pacing cloisters and
In copying manuscripts and who were
now iuterriug their dead master with
all the pomp OF ancient learning. Next
came certain apostles and church dig
nitaries. | was told that they were
trustees of Columbia and vestrymen OF
Trinity and vergers from the Century
Club but | rather think they were early
and obscure Christian saints, the kind
that foreign parish churches abound In.
All OF these men had visages of stern
piety.
The effect of seeing so many Of them
together. so unexpectedly-and so dra-
matically. for the procession stretched
a milc-was to stamp their type In my
mind. II was the %gargoyle type. The
New York worthy. the patriarch and
revered city father. is a distinct per-
son. and he Is not dying out-he IN
multiplying. There were not only seven
hundred Of them in the celestial pro-
cesslon which moved slowly to meet
the bier on that day. but the church
was filled with others exactly similar
to the robed and vested ones. The
reader will perhaps remember that in
Trinity Church the aisles are wide and
that on great occasions the sexton
brings out little truckle pews and fills
up the aisles. These pews are emer-
gency pews. They are understood
things, hut on the occasion OF Van Am
ringe's funeral every one Of them was
Allied with large Manhattan ~gargoyles.
any one of whom could have replaced
any figure In the procession. and all
OF them resembled our great antique
New York figures. | saw William Gull
len Bryant. Robert Ienox, John Blge-
low. Washington Irving, John \. DIX
and men innumerable. Young ones too,
| mean men OF 20 who by the time
they are 90 6tne New York age of great
ness) will be exactly right 20 replace
the great men Of old.
The whole affair was to me not a
funeral hut n resurrection OF i'm
mortal old New York, ludelihle, indie
structible New York unmlstakable,
peculiar, serious. stin and very relig-
lous New York. For just imagine how
impressed any medieval monk would
have been II he could have pceped his
fat nose into the church and seen those
angus, RoinGs OF What zeal, what fer
vor Of worship. what unInimity would
he have observed
He would probably not have enjoyed
the music. at least the Chopin march
would have puzzled him. For Chopin in
his march walked but a step or two,
piano. pianisslmo, tremulo. and then
violently flung himself apo the ground,
and wallowed foaming. Then Chopin
would raise himself with slow pain and
next quite unexpectedly sprint for
twenty yards. then stop as II he was
shot. No, no. Chopin on that day be
haved In IA disturbing manner. They
say that Trinity church supports a
school OF organists, II this Is true
il would be a splendid thing for Trinity
to catch the ~orgAnist who played the
opening voluntary at Van Amr!nge's
funeral and put him In the school.
] left the ceremony before It was
really well under way. partly, | confess,
because Of the organist, partly because
| saw that my benevolent assistance
Was not needed, but chiefly for fear lest
my fresh and wonderful Impressions ms
To- New York should be disturbed by
some aftcrclimaX in the proceedings.
A city that can bury "A leading citi-
zen AZ New York buried Van Amrlnge-
and from such "A sanctuary-is a home
~ traditions and "A vessel of civic CON
sciousness. | shall never call New
York a railroad station again.
JuHN j. CHApMAS.
B~ARRYTowN. September %.