New-York tribune., 1919-01-09
Theodore; Lord
Bless, Keep Thee
Rector's Words Are Echoed
in Grief of Statesmen and
Old Friends; Soldiers to
Guard His Tomb at Night
By F. F. Van De Water

OYSTER BAY, N. Y. Jan. s.-The
flag that he loved with surprising de-
votlon still lies upon his coffin. About
him is the brown earth to which he
lived so close in this his own home.
Beyond his grave the steel blue waters
of the Sound stretch away and at right
and left and above his resting place
rise his beloved hills.
Thus, on the hillside of the quiet
cemetery, Theodore Roosevelt slum
bers, while all night men in the uni
form his sons wear stand guard over
his new-made grave
There they brought him this after
noon, after the simplest of services in
the little Episcopalan church here:
services chat ran along smoothly and
peacefully to their close there or tha
hillside. where the highest in the ma
ton, the state, the city, army, navy
and Congress stood bareheaded as the
final words of the ritual were read.
Buried Without Pomp
For the man who had been a gallant
soldier there was no military pomp.
only the colors of the First Volunteer
Cavalry, U. S. A.-the Rough Riders"
ON his coffin. For him who had been
called 1.-The citizen of the world" who
had been supreme power in this nation
for close to eight years, there was only
the burial service, read without music,
without eulogy, in the little village
church where his family worshipped.
That was as he had wished it.
But the man who had sought to avoid
high ceremony when they laid him to
rest could not keep back in the direc-
tions he left the tremendous outpour-
ing of the heart of America. Men from
all corners of the land, from all
spheres of work, came to say farewell
to the man they had loved The Vice
President of the United States was
there. So was the chief of staff of the
army, vices admiral of the navy. two
score Senator'S and Representatives,
the Governor of New York and the
Mayor of New York City.
All Ranks Pay Farewell
These were not all. In the little
church that was filled to the doors. in
the crowd of thousands who waited
r,.+c
him friend-farmer and capitalist,
artist and pugilist, scientist and New
York policeman; from the avenue and
the East Side, from Long Island truck
farm and the plains of the West they
gathered.
Oyster Bay awoke to white world of
falling snow and the saddest day in
It's history this morning. About the
doors of all the public buildings Grape
hung soddenly. From the flagstaff IN
the square the Stars and Stripes few
at half-staff, and snow lay thick upon
the trophy canron that had been
Colonel Roosevelt's gift to his towns
people.
ror lew houfS stores were opened
and then closed for the remainder of
the day. Snow was still falling when
those bidden to the funeral began TO
arrive. Most OF them came on special
train which arrived only a few min
utes before the ceremony. A few near
and dear TO his heart arrived earlier
and were admitted to the big mourn
fal house on Sycamore H;ll. These
were chiefly men high in the nations
councils who had fought under his
leadership.
Former Pugilist Admitted
Eut there was one man who pre-
coded them all, and, unbidden but well
comed, was permitted to sit alone in
the trophy room with the body of the
inan he had loved for manv years. He
was Lieutenant Otto Raphael. of the
New York pelice, a jew Of the East
Side.
"a powerful fellow with good ha-
mored face" SO Theodore Roosevelt
describes him in his autobiography.
"He and l we're both Straight New
York. to use the vernacular. To show
our community of s>eling and our
grasp of the facts of Afe, may men
tion that we were almost the only