Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-08-09
THOUSANDS PAY LOVING
TRIBUTE At THE BIER
Of PRESIDENT HARDING

shing with his staff.
A swelling tide Of honors bors
Warren Harding today back over
the road by which he came to the
presidency two years ago. For
MIN the urge of ambition was end
ed, the compelling call of duty stilled
in death. Amid the tens of thou
sands of his silent countrymen
grouped along the way he passed IN
such state as only the great dead
of the nation may know. And be-
yond the brief hour of the ceremony
of sorrow there awaited for him rest
eternal on the soil that gave him
birth.
Down the wide avenue he was car
ried today with marching legions
tramping ahead to lay him under the
dome of the capitol awhile ere he
goes back to his native state to stay
forever. That high resolve of duty
had brought him death and with It
the peace and quiet he loved, but
which he could set aside at the ma
TONS call.
! With Pershing riding ahead, tho
marching thousands of the escort
led the way, the steel OF their pay.
onets glistening above, them. Sol
Q16rS, Sd1OES1 uldIluSSt anu SASA1~Ai-
soldiers, all were there Ind behind
them came the new president, still
bowed in grief that his high office
came at such price. Came also
two men who before him had held
that Office, one to be stricken like
him and so crippled in illness that
he might not give himself as he
would to the sorrowful duty of the
day. Behind these, in endless ar
ray, marched the great body OF
American citiZenry and the men who
keep the wheels of a great govern
ment moving in the huge, silent
buildings about.
Bands Play Old Hymns
Military bands interspersed IN the
columns, played DID, old hymns that
stir and comfort. The hush and dina
mystery of last night, when, the flag
draped casket came to It's brief space
of quiet in the White House was
lacking. But there was no sound
or movement in the great CROWDS
that lined the way until that tate
full burden under it's colorful, giorl'
Gus bunting had been carried by on
silent wheels to be lifted to the
catafalque in the great stone cham
Der of the capitol rotunda.A
There, in keeping with the SIM
plicity Of the man who lay deadt
the funeral services were of brief,
/ Impressive nature. Afterward, in 1ts
space Of honor beneath the dome.
the body was to lie until nightfall
while thousands upon thousands
filed past the bier with bent, uncoy-
cred heads to bid farewell to the
upright, kindly man so soon to
leave Washington forever.
1t was a few minutes past ~
o'clock when the great procession
of sorrow swung oft from tin
White House gates to begin its pill
grimage UP the historic avenue
where SO many other long caravans
of grief and of rejoicing, of regret
and of triumph, had preceded it IN
years gone by.
Tenderly the president had beer
carried for the last time from the
portals of the White House and
placed again on the artillery Gals.
. son that had borne him last night
from the funeral train to the east
room, to lie for O few hours amid
the flowers that had been placed
there in tribute by the potentates
Of the earth and by the plain peor
pie the fallen chieftain loved so
well.
AS the funeral hour approached
the casket was opened so that near
relatives and friends might have
their last look there in the east room
at the bier Of their beloved dead who
lay with a peaceful smile in the
repose of eternity.
President Coolidge Arrives
Former President Wilson, himself
broken by the cares of the chief
magistracy, came to the great portic0
just before the hour of departure to
take his place in the cortege at the
invitation of President Coolidge.
Chief Justice Taft, the only other
living ex-president, also was waiting
when the casket, enshrouded in tho
Stars and Stries like that of otheB
soldiers who have made the supreme
sacrifice in the service Of their couns
try, was lifted from it's setting soA
flowers to be borne to its place
amid another and perhaps a grander
array of floral coloripg and fras
GRANGE in the rotunda. President
Coolidge, who enters thus with
heavy heart upon the duties of the
highest office in the land, arrived to
take his place also just at the hc1r
set for the departure.
AS the cortege was forming funt
Gearneath the shadows of the great
trees through which many presidents
have looked out upon the world
sometimes in triumph and many
times in sorrow, the bell in Saint
Johns Episcopal church, at La
Fayette square, known as the church
Of the presidents, began tolling its
doleful lament at the passing of a
great heart into the galaxy Of irn-
mortals.
Only as the procession started did
it became known that Mrs. Harding
had been with the body in the east
room for half hour at o'clock this
morning, She was alone at times
and at other times attended by one
or two relatives. But while officials
were gathering at the funeral hour
to take up their places in the
cortege she remained in her room
alone with her grief.
Before the casket, as it was carr
ried down the steps, walked the two
ministers who were selected to Offs
ciate later at the funeral in the
rotunda They walked side by side,
DR.. A. Freeman Anderson, pastor OF
Mr.. Harding's church here. and DIR.
James Shera Montgomery, chaplain
of the house of representatives.
Then came the military and naval
aides who had been near to the
president at all the dramatic mo-
ments Of his brief fun service as the
leader of his people.
Tnrongs Form Aisle of Grief
In PENNSYLVANIA avenue the long