Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1919-01-09
COL. ROOSEVELT
IS LAID TO REST
Simple Funeral, Yet the Nations
of the World Are Repre-
~ sented At Bier
NOTED MEN PRESENT
Rites Are Performed without Music Or
EulOgy-"How Firm a Foundation"
Recited by DR.. TaEmagc

oyster Bay, n. Y, Jan. S.-Theodore
Roosevelt lies at rest tonight beneath
a cemetery knoll near the rambling rural
highway along which he Travelled so many
times in boyhod and in manhood between
the Sycamore Hill house which his
hme and the quiet village of oyster Bay.
Perhaps no other eX-President of the
United States has been paid the tribute
of so simple a funeral as the one which
was given Colonel Roosevelt this after
noon on the shore of Long Island Sound.
Military and naval honors were not his
in death only because it had been his
wish and that of his family that the last
rites be surrounded only with the simple
dignity that might attend the passing of
a. private citizen.
But the American nation, the foreign
governments as well, sent representatives,
as did also the State and the city in
which he was born. These noted men
sat sorrowfully in the pews of little
red gabled Christ Episcopal Church, while
brief services OF prayers and Scripture
readings were held without eulogy in
which so much might have been said.
There was music
1t was the noon hour, when at the
Sycamore Hill homestead. all of Colonel
sons, Lieut.. Colonel Theodore Roosevelt,
Jr., and Lieut.. Kermit Roosevelt who
are soldiers in Europe, assembled for II
few moments of private prayer at the
side of the casket in which lay the body.
Draped over the casket We're the battle
flags under which the colonel fought as
Rough Rider on Cuban soil more than
20 years ago. The Rev. DIR. George f.
Tamage, nephew Of DR.. T. Dewitt Tai
mage and rector of Christ Church. said
the comforting words which We're the
final ones spoken for the colonel in the
presence of Mrs. Roosevelt-for she did
not accompany the cortege to the church
or to the grave in Young's Memorial
cemetery. At the Sycamore Hill services
only members of the immediate Roose
welt family were present
The body of the late president was
then taken from the famous room Of
trophies which he had assembled from
all quarters of the globe, and was car
ried from Sycamore Hill on its final jour
pey. Snow had come at dawn and had
been falling steadily until the country
side was white, but the sun broke
through the leaden clouds as the hearse
left the Roosevelt estate and passed into
the highway leading to Christ Church
Between hedges touched with melting
fakes and under bare winter boughs
which cast shadows upon the bushes Of
red berries lining the roadside, the pro-
cession moved slowly. headed by mounted
policemen who We're the colonels friends
in life and who had been sent by the
city of New York to act as a guard of
honor.
Around the shore of a pond-iille inlet
at Oyster Bay and over small hill the
cortege moved to reach the church, a
green frame structure with its roof sur
mounted by green steeple in which was
the bell which soon was to toll the pass
ing of the nations 26th president.
Here, standing on the slippery hlocks
which are the lawns of some of the
colonel's neighbors, were waiting towns
people. Because of the limited seating
capacity Of Christ Church. these villagers,
to whom the colonel had long been
friend and neighbor, had not found ad-
mittance. They uncovered their heads
as the casket was borne into the church,
and waited outside until the services
were over and the procession started for
the cemetery.
The sun had passed the meridian and
the stained glass windows caught and
held its rays the casket was carried
up the aisel and placed close to the
altar.
In the pews were men who are among
the foremost of the country's citizens.
Vice President Thomas r. Marshall rep
resented President Wilson. General Pey-
ton C. March, chief of staff of the army,
Admiral C. MGR. Winslow represented
the military and naval services and Sec
retary Lane the cabinet. William How
ard Taft, who upon Colonel Roosevelt's
i.
dent; Charles Evans Hughes. Elihu Root,
United States Senator Henry Cabot
Lodge of Massachusetts,; Ma. Gen. Leon
ard Wood, Vice-Admral Gleaves, Henry
L. Stimson, secretary of war in Roose-
velts cabinet, Governor Alfred T., Smith
OF New York, Speaker Champ Clark and
former Speaker Joseph G. Cannon of the
House of Representatives were present
to pay their last tribute on behalf of the
nation. Congress, the State and the met
ropolis. The diplomatic corps at Wash
ington also was represented
Many wreaths and floral tributes for
which there had not been room at the
Sycamore Hill home filled the church with
fragrance. One which was sent to the
Roosevelt home and then brought to the
altar was the tribute of President Wilson.
DR.. Talmage, with Bishop Burgess of
the sentences, psalms and scriptural les
son which are a part OF the Protestant
Episcopal funeral services. The former
presidents favorite hymn, "How Firm a
formulation" was recited by the rector, in
conformance to the Roosevelt family's
desire that all music, even the organ vol
untary, be omitted. When he came final
1y to the Lords prayer, the congregation
joined.
The scene at the grave side was perhaps
the more impressive. The plot which
Colonel Roosevelt himself had selected as
his burial place is the commanding spot
rn the peaceful and picturesque cemetery.
At the foot of slope and beyond the
public highway there is cove while be-
yond lie the waters of Long Island sound,
Not far distant, but concealed from view
by some of the woods in which the colonel
was wont to roam, stands the Sycamore
Hill home to which his father brought
him when he was a small boy. Trees
stand about this knoll and to-day the
winter grasses were visible through the
thinning snow,
Here stood the Roosevelt family, ex-
cept the boys who are abroad, and their
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