CHAPTER XXII

The Impressive State Funeral Ceremonies.

TH

HE last sad services at the Nation's Capital began on Wednesday, the 17th of September, when the body-bearers silently and reverently raised to their stalwart shoulders the casket, containing all that was mortal of the illustrious dead. As they appeared at the main door of the White House the Marine Band, stationed on the avenue opposite the mansion, struck up the hymn the President loved so well, "Nearer, My God, to Thee," and, as the last sad strain of the music died away, the throng in the building lifted their heads, but their eyes were wet.

Slowly along the White House driveway, through a fine drizzling rain, the solemn cortege wound its way down to the gate leading to the avenue and halted. Then, with a grand, solemn swing, the artillery band began the "Dead March from Saul," a blast from a bugle sounded “march" and the head of the procession was moving on its way to the Capitol. The casket, in a black carved hearse and drawn by six coal-black horses, caparisoned in black net with trailing tassels and a stalwart groom at the head of each, moved down through the gateway toward the distant Capitol. In the great funeral procession were bodies of troops representing the army and navy, high dignitaries of State, including the Judiciary, members of both houses of Congress and representatives of foreign governments; also many civic organizations from all sections of the country.

At 10.12 o'clock the head of the procession arrived at the north end of the Capitol plaza. The troops swept around to the south end of the plaza and then marched to position fronting the main entrance to the Capitol. As soon as they had been formed

at rest, the artillery band on the left and the Marine Band on the right of the entrance, the funeral cortege with its guard of honor entered the plaza from the north.

The guard of honor ascended the steps, the naval officers on the right and the army officers on the left, forming a cordon on each side, just within the ranks of the artillerymen, seamen and marines. As the eight sturdy body-bearers, four from the army and four from the navy, tenderly drew the flag-draped casket from the hearse the band sweetly wailed the pleading notes of "Nearer, My God, to Thee." Every head in the vast attendant throng was bared. Tear-bedimmed eyes were raised to heaven and silent prayers went up from the thousands of hearts.

With careful and solemn tread the body-bearers began the ascent of the staircase with their precious burden and tenderly bore it to the catafalque in the rotunda.

Here, under the great dome of the Capitol, on whose vast canopy the artist has painted the apotheosis of Washington, there rested the body of William McKinley, whose apotheosis is in the hearts of his countrymen. In the centre of the rotunda that has resounded to the tread of statesmen for almost a century stood the bier of the dead President, while on either side passed 50,000 men, women and children who sought a last glimpse of the face of the man they all loved so well.

The obsequies, from the moment the remains of the President were carried from the White House to the Capitol until they were placed upon the train which bore them to the old home in Canton were simple and democratic There was no display of pomp and splendor. The ceremonies were majestic in their simplaty. The occasion was historic, though sorrowick, and the greatest in the land paid humbje trbate to the dead President The new Irest dent of the United States, the only living ex-President, the Supreme Court, the highest offers of the army and pays the Senate and House of Representatives, the representat es of the foreign powers, delegations of the great patriote orders of the

country, representatives of States and municipalities, all met with. bowed heads about the bier of William McKinley. Through its representatives a nation paid the last honors to its martyred President.

A DAY OF GLOOM

It was a genuine day of mourning, and Nature added to the gloom. Gray clouds overcast the sky early in the day and at intervals rain deluged the city. Despite the frequent downpours, the tens of thousands of Washington's citizens who besieged the Capitol to look upon the dead form of the President held their places in line, drenched to the skin, but determined to show their affection for him who had been so ruthlessly taken from them.

In the services in the rotunda of the Capitol all interest centred, as they expressed the sympathy of the nation and the acquiescence in God's will according to the President's last prayer of resignation. The place was well chosen and already hallowed by the religious services over the bodies of the other two martyred Presidents. President McKinley's remains rested directly in the centre of the Capitol beneath which it had been the purpose of the designers of the building to have placed the body of the Father of his Country, George Washington. On the walls surrounding the rotunda hang immense paintings depicting the great events in the early history of the country. Its discovery by Columbus, the embarkation by the Pilgrim Fathers, the surrender at Yorktown, and other great events marking the birth of the nation, are shown; while from pedestals on the east and west side of the circle the marble statues of Lincoln and Grant looked down upon the bier of the martyred President.

This was a spot which always attracted Mr. McKinley when a member of Congress. Hundreds of times had he stood gazing on these pictures, pointing them out to friends and visitors, and thousands of times, in the pursuit of his duties as Congressman, had he traversed this rotunda, a familiar figure to the guides and employees of the Capitol. To-day the guides, grown gray in the

service, who used to point out Major McKinley to the curious visitors as the leader of the House and a great man, acted as ushers and seated the audience of 800 or more that gathered about Major McKinley's coffin to pay their last respects.

A NOTABLE OCCASION

It seemed peculiarly fitting that the body of this distinguished man should lie amid the scenes of his great achievements as a statesman and legislator. How strong he was in the affections of Congressmen was shown by the large attendance of Senators and Representatives. His old colleagues in the House and members of the Senate, with whom he labored and accomplished great work of legislation, were inexpressibly affected as they gathered about his remains.

Few of the older Congressmen could hide their feelings. There was Payne, of New York; Hopkins, of Illinois; Bingham and Dalzell, of Pennsylvania, who served many years in the House when William McKinley was one of its foremost Republican members, and Allison, of Iowa; Hawley and Platt, of Connecticut: Burrows, of Michigan; Spooner, of Wisconsin; Cullom, of Illinois; Cockrell, of Missouri; Daniel, of Virginia, and others of the Senate who had the most pleasant recollections of their associations with Mr. McKinley when he was a member of Congress. The faces of these distinguished statesmen reflected their heartfelt Senator Hawley, an intense admirer of President McKinley before and after the latter entered the White House, tottered into the rotunda almost in a state of collapse. He had come from Buffalo with the funeral party, and, though broken in health and shaken by age, he was determined to pay his respects to the beloved dead.

sorrow.

It was a most distinguished and august body that gathered about the casket. There was President Roosevelt, sitting at the head of his Cabinet, conscious of the great responsibilities suddenly thrust upon him, but with sorrow depicted in every line of