Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1923-08-09

| rcvcrcnt homage beside the bier OF
an honor-ladcn American.
| All the great folks of Washington
| followed after. Among them were
! the diplomats who speak here with
| The voices of their kings or govern
mcnts to testify that human SYM
| PATTY to nation in grief knows
| no barrier of sea or land. There also
| were the great judges and the SCr-
| loWiul cabinet officers: the senators
ana the members Of the House called
! back from their varied occupations
for this sad moment. Again block
after block behind stretched the
| ranks of all the civilian organizations
of Washington. out in full array; the
| mon who head the bureaus and divi-
Sions of the great government de-
| partmcntS; the army and navy and
| marine corps officers here and walk
| ing now in ordered lines, their tunic
sleeves wound with mournful black.
Coming thus to Capitol Hill, the
! bands ceased for the climb to the
! wide plaza on the East Front where
new presidents take oaths, the muf-
fed drums took up the tale as the
column climbed up the winding,
tree shaded way.
And it was this distant throbhinG
| Of the drums that carried word Of
their coming TO those waiting in the
| flower filled chamber beneath the
| towering dome, throbbing that grew
nearer and nearer until at last 1t
! gave place to the softly rising tones
| of Il great army band that played
Lead. Kindly Light" as the flag
wound casket was lifted slowly up
] the long, wide stone steps.
7 No sight of the spectacle on the
! plaza was visible to those within the
! rotunda. Only its fou" great arch
| ways, facing north, cast, south and
| west. give access to that stone floor,
it's only windows arc ranged in row
| far above at the base of the dome it
self and the light they gave was gent
| ly shaded as it poured down to illumi-
| nate the catafalque waiting in the CEN
! ter.
/ Thanked by its honor guard of high
generals and admirals. the heavy cas-
ket was carried slowly to it's place. a
single wreath of bright colors resting
| above tho quiet sleeper. Then from
| the Senate side the erect. slender fig
ure of the sorrowful widow moved with
her escort of those who served most
| intimately with the dead chicftain to a
! place near the head of the bier. Her
! face was almost invisible behind the
| black veil she wore. hut no man VINO
| saw her carriage could doubt the cour-
| age that had brought her there, or the
| bitter woe that filled her heart.
| The religious services were striking
| in their simplicity against the back
ground of military pomp and grandeur
| given by the funeral parade. Just the
| short prayers, the murmurins OF low
| voices joined in the old, old words of
| tho Lords Prayer. the scriptural read
! ings and the blending voices of a male
| quartet in the same hymn that marked
| this funeral everywhere, Lead, Kindly
Light" che hymn best loved by the
dcad president. and at the end Nearer.
My God. to- Thee" with its message
of Christian resignation.
When Mrs. Harding had gone and
with her the sympathy and the bless
ings of those who had briefly glimpsed
her triumph over her own sorrow. the
new president and his cabinet. the dip
lomats and generals and admirals all
filed slowly out and the great chamber
was cleared except for the armed SEN
tries about the bier. When the flag was
gently drawn back, the heavy steel OF
the cover was set aside, and those who
knew him in life saw again the face
of Warren Harding.
1t was a peaceful face, untouched
by the ravages of his brief illness.