Rockingham post-dispatch. [volume] (Rockingham, N.C.) 1917-1965, 1921-11-24

bullet. For that ueau man sake
the former President had put aside
his dread of seeming to parade his
physical weakness, and risked health
prhaps life, to appear among the
mourners for the fallen. There was
hand-clapping and cheer here and
there for the man in the carriage,
tribute to the spirit that brought
him to honor the nations nameless
hero whose commander in chief he
had been.
Log Road to Thumb.
AFTER President Harding and
most of the high dignitaries OF gov
eminent had turned aside at the
White House, the procession headed
by its solid blocks o soldiery and
the battalions of sailor-comrades,
moved on with Persfing, now flank
ed by Secretaries Weeks and DENLY,
for the long road to the tomb. 1t
marched on, always between the
human borders of the way OF vic
tory the nation had made for itself
of the great avenue; on over the old
bridge that spans the Potomac, on
up the long hill to Fort Myer anc
at last to the gate of the great
cemetery beyond where soldier and
sailor folk sleep by thousands.
There the numbering guns OF the
artillery swung aside, the cavalry
drew their horses out OF the long
line and left to the foot soldiers and
the sailors and marines the last
stage of the journey.
Ahead, the white marble OF the
amphitheater cleaned through the
trees. 1t stands browning the slow
slope of the hills that sweep upward
from the river, and just across was
Washington, its clustered buildings
and monuments to great dead who
have gone before, moving picture
in the autumn haze.
In the Amphitheater.
People in thousands were NOV
ing about the great circle of the am
phitheater. The great ones to whom
places had been given in the sacred
enclosure, and the plain folk who
! trudged the long way just to glimpse
the pageant from afar, were finding
their places.
Everywhere within the pillared
enclosure bright uniforms OF for
eign soldiers appeared. They were
laden with the jeweled orders OF
rank and merit, worn to honor an
American private soldier greater
than any there in the majesty OF
his sacrifices; in the tribute his hon
ors paid to all Americans who died.
Down below the platform placed
! for the casket, in stone vault, lay
', wreaths and garlands brought from
England's kind and guarded by
British soldiers. To them came the
British ambassador in the full uni
! form of his rank, to bid them keep
these tributes from overseas sale
: against that hour.
above the platform gathered the
men whose names ring through cur
rent history-Briand, Foch, Beatty,
/ Balfour, Jacques, Diaz and others in
a brilliant array of place and pow
er. They were followed by Baron
Kato from Japan, the Italian states
men ana officers, by the notable
from all countries gathered here for
tomorrow's conference and by some
of the older figures in American
life, too old to walk beside the APP
preaching funeral train.
Down around the Circling pillars
the marble boxes filed with distin-
guished men and women, with a
cluster of shattered men from army
hospitals accompanied by uniform
ed nurses. A surpliced choir took
its place to await the dead.
Cortege Approaches.
Faint and distant the silvery
strains O military band stole into
the big white bowl of the amphl-
theater. The slow cadences and
mourning notes of a funeral march
grew clearer and the roll and NUT
ter of the muffled drums.
j AT the arch where the choir wait.
ed, the hero comrades OF the dead
lifted his casket down, and, followed
by the generals and the admlrals
i who had walked beside him from
the capitol, he was carried to inc
! place of honor. Ahead moved the
whiterobed singers, chanting sol
/. EMMY. Carefully the casket was
placed above the banked flowers ant
the marine band played sacred mol
odies until the moment the Presl
dent and Mrs, Harding stepped t.
; their place beside the casket; thc'
the crashing, triumphant chorus o
] the Star Spangled Banner swept thu
gathering to its feet again.
"A prayer, carried out over tn
| crowd by amplifiers so that no wore
was missed, took a moment or two
. then the sharp, clear call OF tn
, bugle rang attention and for tw'
: minutes the nation stood at paus
: for the dead, just at high noon NJ
Z sound broke the quiet as all stoo'
h