Milford chronicle., 1923-08-24
MR.. BUNSTETN'S ADDRESS
AT HARDING MEMORIAL

A number of persons have request
ed that The Chronicle publish the ad
dress of Rev. H. L. Bunstein which h
delivered at the Harding Memoria
Services. Mr.. Bunstein has kindly pre-
sented us with copy of his talk. Tn
address follows:
We often hear apologies for men o
high official position, when they die
especially when their lives are writ
ten. Faults are admitted, explanation
made, circumstances pleaded as jus
titication for mistakes and we ar
asked to remember that nothing bu
good is to be spoken of the dead. M
such mantle of charity is needed fol
him in whose honor we meet this
afternoon. No apologies, no explana
tiOns. Malice may scan every inch Ol
his garment and will find it without
stain.
AS we think of his qualities the first
that occurs to us was his simplicity
1t must have been in the thought of
all who saw him during that splendid
ceremony by which he became a mem
Der of Evergreen Forest, No. 49, Tall
Cedars of Lebanon. Here was man
occupying the highest position in the
political world without ostentatiOn,
mingling with us on a plane of equal
ity, asking nothing from us that he
did not give, absolutely simple in man
ner, unaffected, and seeming to be
what he was.
Joined to this was perfect dignity
of manner and speech. That becomes
Presidents and all have had it, ex-
cept one. Jackson and Lincoln, as the
historian, James Ford Rhodes re-
marks, were hail-fellows well-met in
private, but they had native qualities
which enable them to comport them
selves with dignity on public occas-
ions. Gracious as he was, no one
would have presumed to be unduly
familiar with President Harding. He |
fitly represented the majority of the |
republic.
The world has noted the serenity of
his demeanor, the moderation of his
spirit, the calmness of his acts and |
speech. He was called to govern dur
ing a time of upheaval and convul-
sion. Men in every sphere were af-
fected by it, as they are now. They
work with an intensity, with desper-
ate energy, a concentration of effort
upon things out of proportion to the
things. In contrast he has been pa
tient, undisturbed, as those, who be-
lieving, as scripture says do not make
haste.
King David said that gentleness had
made him great. I have sometimes
thought that his mildness of DISPOSE
tion and gentleness of manner had
much to do with his selection by the
Senators as their candidates for the ]
However, that may be, .
it charmed all who came in contact
with him. /
In the August number of the Allan
tic monthly, writing of Stanley Bald {
win, Prime Minister of Great Britain, {
3. T. Raymond says: He is of that {
genial type, that subdues men of I
higher talent to it's purposes, brings t
1ut the best that is in everyone. /
Smooth over differences, suppresses t
undue ambitions and secures team l
work from those working with him. f
That is an exact likeness of Presi- /
lent Harding and to no administra- t
or can there be given greater praise. la
I remember a German historian I
'ew years ago compared his own '
,ountry's rulers with the Presidents | +
If the United States, and very much t
20 the disadvantage of the former. Not I
Ill the Presidents, he said, were great I
men, but all were upright, patriotic, v
while some Of the Ger 7
nan monarchs were undeserving Of e
aspect.
In this long line of honored prede- C
,essors, the twenty-ninth one held v
Ugh place. He was not as able poll n
ician as some, he was not as learned
IS others, but in the combination of a
ualities for the work Of the presi- g
ency, believe, that he was the equal v
any.
And so P
"Our Duncan hath borne his facul- N
ties so meek
Hath been so clear in his great Of g
flee, IL
That his virtues plead like angels
trumpet tongued is
Against his taking of" 10
And when it was in vain no hero
as honored in life as he was in d;
cath. M
AS the funeral train bore his body be
cross the illimitable stretch between TT
lie oceans, multitudes awaited it's o.
,ming in the nighttime as we'll as
10 daytime with the sorrows of Pl
,rsonal loss. We
"Cities and States were the pail
.arers." He was swallowed up in te,
ctory. Re