Requiescat

It was a long funeral journey, 4,000 miles or so, that Mrs. Harding traveled with the body of the late President. From San Francisco to Washington the funeral train traversed the continent, passing through crowds of citizens gathered at every city on the route in honor of the dead President. Nine hours late, because of cumulative delays wherever it stopped, the train reached the Washington station at 10:25 p. m., Tuesday, August 7.

Mrs. Harding entered a motor car and was taken directly to the White House. The funeral casket, placed on the caisson which had borne Lincoln and the Unknown Soldier, was escorted slowly down Pennsylvania Avenue, attended by a guard of soldiers, sailors and marines, and followed by limousines bearing President Coolidge, the members of the Cabinet, Senators and Congressmen. Crowds lined the pavement. The heat was intense, even at that hour. That night the President's body lay in state in the East Room of the White House.

Next morning at 10:30 the funeral cortege left the White House again, led by General Pershing on horseback, returned up Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol. Cavalry, artillery, infantry, engineers, marines, sailors and national guardsmen followed. The casket was next in the procession, accompanied by honorary pallbearers, 24 in number--Senators, Representatives, Generals and Admirals. Clergymen, President Harding's family and relatives, physicians, followed. After them came officers of the Government led by President Coolidge, Chief Justice Taft and ex-President Wilson. Last in the procession were 10 representatives each of 70 organizations. At the Capitol the casket was placed on a catafalque in the rotunda. The Rev. A. Freeman Ander son, of Calvary Baptist Church, which the President attended, read a service. Mrs. Harding and the official mourners departed, and for four hours a throng of 30,000 people filed past the bier on both sides, while four non-commissioned officers stood guard with fixed bayonets.

That evening at 5:30 p. m. the President's body was moved to the station and placed aboard the special train once more. Mrs. Harding arrived a few moments later, and the special departed for Marion. Other members of the Harding family and members of the Cabinet were aboard by the time the start was made.

Next day at Marion the casket was conducted to the home of Dr. George T. Harding, the late President's father. There, during the day, citizens of Marion were allowed to see the body.

On Friday, appointed as a day of national mourning, President Harding was laid to rest. There were many people present in Marion. President and Mrs. Coolidge, General Pershing and others arrived from Washington shortly after 1:30 p. m. by special train. Thomas A. Edison, Henry Ford and Harvey S. Firestone were present. Except for a small guard with the casket, there were no military ceremonies. A simple procession went to Marion Cemetery. A hymn was sung, a few chapters of Scripture read, a prayer offered, another hymn--and the casket was carried into the vault of the cemetery, where it will rest until a mausoleum can be built. A bugler stepped forward and blew "Taps." The mourners departed. That evening Mrs. Harding, who had bravely endured all the ceremonies of her husband's funeral, boarded the special train once more and returned to Washington. There she busied herself gathering her effects and preparing the White House for its new occupants, President and Mrs. Coolidge. The will of the late President, made last June, leaves everything, aside from minor bequests, to his widow. His estate is valued at about $750,000. Of this amount $423,000 represents his share of the proceeds from the recent sale of the Marion Star, in which he owned a controlling interest.