Durham paid formal tribute to Warren G. Harding last evening with impressive memorial service at the city auditorium, while the funeral train bearing the body of the late President of the United States sped on its journey eastward.
Lines of creed, political belief, and class were broken as plain people and rich gathered in silence to pay mutual tribute to the memory of the Christian statesman who up until Thursday evening had been their President. As the hundreds gathered in the auditorium minds turned to the flag-draped coffin containing all that was mortal of the man who was for more than two years the chief executive of this government. The people came early and sat in silence while an orchestra played soft music, waiting for the services to begin.
“It is a common grief that we gather here to express sorrowfully,” Rev. Trela D. Collins, pastor of the Temple Baptist church, said in opening his short address, “the same sorrow that has enjoined our nation. When the Grim Reaper took hold of the President at a time when all thought he was well on the road to recovery, and when that great heart ceased to beat, there was a heart ache over all the nation.”
“We do well,” he said, “to come here to honor our late President, to show allegiance and loyalty to our country; to show our respect for those in high office. By the virtue of his office the President demands our honor as long as he is in office and as long as his lifeless body is in our midst. Tonight we appropriately express our mutual sorrow.”
A Christian Statesman
“While history may never give Warren G. Harding a place among those few great men of the first rank, there are, however, a few principles by which he will always be known, principles that we will have to recognize. Cannot we say ‘Know ye not that a prince and a great man is fallen’? Harding, as our President, lent dignity and Christian statesmanship to his office. We are coming upon an era that compels us, more than ever before, to rely upon Christian statesmanship.”
Rev. Mr. Collins retraced back to the earlier days of Harding’s boyhood, bringing out forcefully the inspiring influences that were given out by Harding’s mother and attributed them to the source of the greatness of the man he was eulogizing.
“He was a kindly, tender-hearted man, honest and fair-minded, and, as someone remarked, ‘the most uncommon common man I ever knew.’ That fellow feeling endeared him to America. Harding was a faithful member of the Baptist church. For the last 15 years of his mother’s life he never failed to send her flowers and to visit her every Sunday. A majority of the 7,000,000 showed that he was endeared by America. He held the character of Christian statesmanship. He served his day and generation well. Who knows what he might have come to this kingdom for such a time as this?”
“Death strikes a President as soon as it does the peasant upon the far-flung fields. It is hard to understand death, but here is the great consolation—there stands God in the shadows, watching over his own. In His own time he will let us understand. The tomb is not a blind alley, but a thoroughfare. It closes at the twilight and begins with the dawn.”
Four denominations were represented in those on the platform last evening, and more among those of the congregation and choir. The service opening with the congregation singing “America,” which was followed by a prayer by Rev. Stanley C. Harrell, pastor of the First Christian church, who asked the help of God in times of darkness and sorrow, and for strength to sustain those upon whom the mantle of government now falls.
A choir of eight selected voices sang “Seek ye the Lord,” just before the congregation, while standing, sang “Lead Kindly Light,” Harding’s favorite hymn.
Rev. T.W. Simpson, assistant pastor of the First Presbyterian, read with much feeling the 27th Psalm.
Wilcox Spoke
Rev. A.D. Wilcox, pastor of the Trinity Methodist congregation, presided over the service and made appropriate remarks in presenting Rev. Mr. Collins, speaker of the evening.
“The President’s office,” he said, “is the greatest in the world, and represents the character of the people who have elevated it so. A change of office is momentous. Its significance passes our imagination. The passing of Harding has elements of pathos and tragedy. He started on the ill-fated trip with a great faith. This trip resulted in three deaths, and probably one other, and a ship collision.”
“There is strange pathos in the fact that it was practically the same in character as that of Woodrow Wilson. Harding’s case was only more aggravated than Wilson’s. The sadness of this hour is emphasized by the long trail of mourners stretching across the entire country. The entire country is in mourning.”
From the front page of The Durham Morning Herald, Monday, Aug. 6, 1923
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