Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1924-11-22

condition had varied from day to DAY
but a general giving away growing
| more apparent as the days wore on.
Funeral Next Monday
The funeral services win be heid az
Epworth Methodist Episcopal churcn
at 2 o'clock Monday afternoon. Rev.
Jesse E. Swank, pastor of the church
and who conducted the funeral SER
vices for President Harding Will be
| in charge. He will be assisted by
Rev. George NJ. Lands. pastor OF
| Trinity Baptist church. OF which
Mr.. Harding was a member.
Mrs. Harding had been a member
of Epworth Methodist church since
sirlhood. =
While no definite announcement
has been made, it is expected that
Mrs. Harding's body will be placed
temporarily in the receiving vault
in the Marion cemetery beside the
body of her husband.
The body was removed from the
sanitarium early today to the home
of Mrs. Frank ]. LongshOre, niece,
in East Church street.
Faced Many Hardships
The life story Of Florence king
Harding, like an epic of sturdy
American womanhood, was chron-
icle of continual struggle against
great odds, and Of continual accom-
plishments.
From the day she first faced the
| world in a pioneer home in the mid
die west, until, broken in health, she
undertook the heavy responsibilities
of the White House, she encountered
hardships before which a less cour-
ageous spirit would have weakened
into drab mediocrity.
The most severe test Of her forth
tude was during the final illness and
death of President Harding and the
ftrying ordeal that followed - the
| oss-continent trip with the body OF
| the president, then the public SER
wives in Washington, then the trip
to and the. funeral at Marion, Ohio.
Mrs. Harding nad hardly recovered
| from an illness, during which her life
| hung in the balance, when it came
/ time for the president to start upon
what proved his final trip, that to
! Alaska. Because of her devotion to
her distinguished husband and I'M
mindful of her own physical condi-
| ton, she. accompanied him on that
! journey and was constantly by his
side. During the presidents illness
at San Francisco she never left him
! for a minute and it was she who
summoned the physicians when the
change came that finally resulted in
| death.
| Despite these trials she not only
kept her courage and her vigorous in
dividuality. but she retained as well a
depth of human understanding and a
confidence in herself and those about
her that endeared her to many thou
sands. After she became first lady of
| the land, as always in the years pre-
ceding, the helpless and the unfortu-
nate received the first and fullest
measure of her devotion. White House
Conservatives. Her unfailing attention
| Wounded veterans of the. World War
owed her many a debt for hours glad
dened by her visits to their hospitals
or by flowers sent by her personal or
der from the White House conserva-
tories. Her unusual outgiving or
sympathy extended to animals, many
of whom she befriended and protected.
-. 1881 Very outspoken
In her thoughtfulness for the inter-
estS of others and in her. loyalty to her
friends she was outspoken to q degree
that won her recognition as one OF
the most Vigorous-minded women who
ever presided over the household of a
president. on the night of election
day in 1920 she announced her deter
mination to send away the policemen
stationed at the White House, gates
! since the United States entered the
war--a purpose which was fulfilled on
the very Gay Mr.aHardtng took office.
Before heseven had looked around his
new offices he issued an order throw
ing the gates wide open, and hundreds
trooped in across the lawn and peeped
| in at the windows while the, new first
! lady of the land was presiding at her
| first White House function-an infor-
nal luncheon for old friends and
neighbors from Marion, Ohio.
| During the whole time she. was mis-
tress of the executive mansion Mrs.
Harding combined with her social du-
ties the unwavering allegiance to her
convictions, and displayed in doing so
| a degree of tact which won her univer-
sal esteem. The social usages so long
part of official Washington life were
preserved by her TO the letter. but
| without ostentation. And at the time
she found opportunity to show in
many ways that she had lost none of
| her interest for the class of home
| folks from which she had come.
Born in Marion, O.
Mrs. Harding was born in Marion,
| Ohio, in 1860. of n sturdy stock of
pioneers, her father, Amos King, be-
! ing one of the towns first settlers.
| She married Mr.. Harding in 1891,
when things did not look too bright
! for him. lie had just taken over the
ownership of the Marion Star, and it
was loaded down with mortgages and
still had to make a place for itself
in the community. She never had
been used to extravaganza. however,
and she Immediately turned to the
task of helping put the newspaper on
a sound basis. She went to work in
the business office, and soon was in
charge of the advertising and circu-
| ia tion, buying the print paper and
other supplies, and even standing by
! the presses and instructing the car
riers before they started on their
routes. She mothered the club es-
tablished for the carrier boys, one of