Year: 1870




From the very pleasant letter of the cores
pondent of the N. Y. Tribune concerning the
event which is now passing in Portland we
select few paragraphs. Our readers will pc
ruse them with interest:


PORTLAND, Jan. 90. L do not suppose that
anything was ever done so well anywhere
that Boston was not confident that she could
do it great deal better; and it is not surpris-
ing, therefore, that the choice of Portland as
landing-place or the remains of Mr.. Pea
body has awakened in the Metropolis of
American Intellect a fever of noble anger
Mr.. Peabody, to be sure, did not love Boston !;
he left it in wrath at what he considered in
sulting treatment from the Board of Trade,
and declared that he would never visit it
again. To make him break his promee by
going there in his coffin, would seem like tax
ing unfair advantage OF man; but Boston,
Tor all that, has been very anxious that the
funeral should be mixed up some how or an
other with the Common, and the State House.
and the Big Elm, partly because Boston has
real reverence for Iir. Peabodys memory, as
she has for all good and charitable works, and
partly because she is jealous of the reputa-
ton of her harbor.


l have no intention of speaking disrespect-
fully, but there are some indications OF a
small quarrel o5er the coffin. II is reported
here that the Boston people-meaning, sup
pose, the people of Salem and Peabody-are
determined that though Portland has the
ship, Portland shall not have the funeral; in
other words, that the ceremonies for which
such elaborate preparations have been made
shall be cut short, and no more time spent in
This city than may be absolutely necessary to
transfer the coffin from the vessel to the cars.
The final decision rests with Mr.. George Pea
understood that Mr. Pear5oaa5y aa5ynparch. 1t is
relatives are averse to all display over his re-
mains, and that the pilot who is now waiting
of the coast for the funeral fleet bears letters,
not from them perhaps, but from prominent
persons in Boston and elsewhere, urging Mr.
Russell to push through without delay to
Peabody. Portland awaits the result, with
some anxiety, of course, bat with the calm
confidence which arises from a good cause
The City Hall has been elaboTately decorated
ior the lying-in-state; excellent preparations
have been made for an imposing ceremonial.


A handsome funeral cara sort of cata-
falqile on wheels-has been prepared to draw
the coffin to the City Hall. Eight horses, cov-
cred with funeral trappings, will be hanessed
to it, l shall spare you description of this
part OF the pageant, for such things are pref
ty much alike all the world over; need only
say that 1t is rich, handsome, and very taste
ful. l ought not to let the arrangement of
the City Hall, however, pass without word.
In the first place it is a very elegant hall, big
enough and costly enough for a city ten times
Portland's size.


The decorations are quite unlike ordinary
upholsterer's work. They have been put up
under the direction of Mr.. I'll. u. Brown, the
landscape painter, and can say not only that
they are better than anything of the kind 1
ever saw before, but they are the only funeral
draperies l ever saw in which there was no
tinsel, nothing tawdry, no hint of theatrical
effect.


1 should have mentioned that the room is
a very high one. Away up over the gallery
three wide doors open into an upper corridor
of the building, and behind those open doors,
concealed by a thin black veil, will be choir
OF 300 voices, and an orchestra of 25 instru-
ments-the excellent Haydn Association of
Portland, and the Germania band of Boston.
When the coffin is deposited in the hall the
ceremonies will be very short. This choir
will sing the Prayer from "Moses," and some
selections from "The Messiah :" there will no
doubt be prayer OF 50, and then the lying in
state will begin. There will be no formal ad-
dress. military guard will be set over the
remains as long as they rest here, which will
be day or perhaps two days, and during
that time the people will be freely admitted.
Then second procession will bear the coffin
to the special train prepared by the Eastern
and the Portsmouth, Saco and Portland Rail-
roads.


So the New York Legislature is not COM
| ing. Thank the Lord for that! The proprie-
| tor of the Falmouth Hotel, however, is disap.
pointed. He had been led to believe that a
committee from Albany was always good fol
| $4,000 worth OF champagne and brandy.