, 1923-08-10

regions mere 10 pass beside inc
bier CIR to stand silent as the dead
president was carried to his rest.
Congested sidewalks thanked Center
street where the home Of his father
the great son again. stands
a glowing wall of flowers
On the north side. down the tree
lined stone walk that leads to the
home. a ci~ose-crowded line, kept in
place by guardsmen. stretched away
for blocks. The far end was down be-
yond the draped court house. Hun
dreds upon hundreds came to Join the
gathering every hour, came faster
than the slow moving past the bier
could absorb them. A thing handful
seemed the line OF those coming from
the quiet room around which the sor-
rovful thought of all Americans cen
tered today. Thousands must be
turned AWAY in disappointment, al
most certainly, although hours still
interviewed before the simple funeral
train was formed
Word came OF special trains sweep
ing toward Marion from all directions.
Motor cars came rolling in over every
road bringing added scores to Join the
silent company gathered sadly where.
so short time ago. thousands had
gathered in noisy acclaim to the man
who will hear no more cheering. Up
every side street the machines were
massed the curbs in almost endless
rows.
The streets themselves in all the
region about the home of the nged
physician that was the mecca OF his
ulI,as YF11rfr,oO a rvara rt.-fnVratrv AIo IL
and still. Here and there n a on
business hat had to do with tho fun
eral rit IS moved swiftly or a troop
laden truck rumbled by to set its hu-
man freight about some new task of
watching. Against the curbs tho
yound guardsmen stood widely spaced
to keep the crowds on tho sidewalks.
Traffic officers in khaki held the In
tersections and waved the necessary
flow of vehicles on its way.
A thin haze dimmed the sunlight a
little in the morning hours. but It
was a bright day for all that. The
town had the quiet of a Sabbath
morning. The husa was there and
the utter cessation from ~work-a-day
affairs. Only the endless. silent
throngs hat waitee in the long line
on the north walk of Center street
inching slowly eastward to the boy
hood home OF the dead man served to
break the illusion OF Sunday calm.
Other hundreds walked among the
winding drives and many stones and
monuments of the field of the dead
where Warren Harding was soon to
sleep. They passed before the vault.
deep in the tree grown recesses of
the cemetery. to pause n little before
its ivy-clad front where n few OF the
vast freight OF flowers soon to be
placed there already lent a clinging
fragrance to the still air. They saw
the half score tall white columns
ranged in half circle before tho en-
trance to the tomb. columns that once
graced the triumphhl way up Mount
Vernon Avenue to the porch where
the dead president stood proudly Just
n handful of hurrying months ago.
The house where he had lived. the
comfortable. quiet homo of a respect
ed citizen. like n thousand others
about it. was graced with a single
flag and a mourning band. The
rallied n covered circle above the
broad lawn where tho porch cam
paign" was planned and carried
through. was vacant and undecornted
except for the swinging baskets of
ferns II has long known. On the side.
walk stood n little knot of gunrdsmen