The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1923-08-14

10 Tie 0CLI lOHGS OI Ac<@u AAAN4kw
Light" Mortal Remains of Presi-
dent Are Put Away in Eternal Rest.
Neighbors Pay Last Tribute.
MARION, GA one-time country
editor came back today to sleep for a
night again under his fathers roof in
Marion. And with him came the grief
of the nation, of the world, that he
was dead
Warren Harding was back again
among the neighborly folk of his home
town. The brief day of his greatness
was but a memory treasured by the
nation. His life work was done. The
homefolle came eagerly to look their
last on his dead face, peaceful with
the calm of eternity.
Along the same tree-bordered Cen
ter street over which ne rode his
white mule into Marion forty years
ago the body of Warren G. Harding
was borne in massive black hearse,
behind a double span OF coal black
horses.
When the STRIPPING Harding slipped
shyly from Caledonia into Marion on
that earlier summers day he went
first to the court house square, tied
his mount to wooden hitch rail and
then set out in search of the first job
in a succession that ended with the
most exalted in the world.
On Thursday, his way being ended,
Warren Harding's body was carried
to the old-fashioned brick home OF his
father, DIR. George T. Harding, for
the final tributes of respect from the
city that he honored and the nation
he served. Here procession OF 10000
people viewed their beloved dead.
1t was Mrs. Harding's idea that the
late presidents body should be car
ried in a hearse rather than on
caisson. Previous presidents have been
given military funerals in token OF
their places at the head OF the ma
TONS military arms. But the formali-
ty and circumstances Jared on Mrs.
Harding's sense of the propriety OF
this occasion.
Il want Warren buried as citizen
of Marion, not as the president" she
told those on the funeral train who
were supporting her in her great
TRIAL. IlG was EtNCu TIT itObOEo OA
his office in Washington. In Marion
I want him to be honored as a private
man and neighbour"
The Trip Home.
Almost two hours behind schedule,
the train bearing the body of Presi-
dent Harding was slowly moving
across Ohio to Marion.
Thousands of persons waiting to
pay homage were gathered at other
points where the train was to pass.
Everywhere along the way the
passing of the train was marked by
an almost continuous throng. They
were gathered in the villages, they
stood at the road crossings, and many
looked on from corn and oat fields
and pastures. All came to pay final
tribute to the dead in the last car,
who in life had known so many of
them and so we'll that he called them
by their first names, and they spoke
of and to him not as "Mr. President"
but as "W. G."
The Burial Service.
Slowly, solemnly, accompanied by
the muffled beat of drum, the flag
draped casket containing the mortal
remains of Warren Gama1ie1 Harding,
twenty-ninth president of the United
States, was borne Friday afternoon to
its final rest in the beautiful cemetery
at Marion
From all parts of the country sor-
rowing thousands, headed by Presi-
dent Coolidge and including cabinet
officers and others high in authority,
came to pay a silent and last tribute
of reverence to the man a whole ma
ton loved
Services Short and Simple.
A prayer at the house, before the
start for the cemetery, was uttered by
Rev. Walter A. King, of Columbus,
former pastor of Mr.. Harding's Bap-
fist church here.
The Rev. w. F. Anderson, bishop
of the Methodist Episcopal diocese of
Cincinnati, delivered the benediction
at the vault
The choir of Trinity Baptist church
sang Lead Kindly Light" one of the
and to love when he lived in Marion.
Trinity church, then read from the
scriptures. and DIR. Jesse Swank, pas
tor of Epworth Methodist Episcopal
church, offered prayer.
The choir sang Nearer, My God,
to Thee"
Warren Harding was at rest
One hundred thousand persons had
crowded into Marion to pay their last
respects, and as the sun was begin
ming its descent in the heavens the
body of the dead president was laid
in a vine-twined vault