VII. THE RITES AT SPRINGFIELD. At last, on the 3d of May, the funeral train, after travelling . by a circuitous route about seventeen hundred miles, reached Springfield, the home of the fallen President, where he had been so long personally known and admired. The remains were received at the Chicago, Alton, and St. Louis Station. A procession formed in the following order :Brig.-General Cook and staff; military escort; Major-General Hooker and staff; the guard of honor; relatives and friends in carriages; the Illinois delegation from Washington; Senators and Representatives of the Congress of the United States, including their Sergeant-at arms and Speaker Colfax; the Illinois State Legislature; the Governors of different States; delegations from Kentucky; the Chicago Committee of Reception; the Springfield Committee of Reception; the judges of the different courts; the reverend clergy; officers of the army and navy; firemen of the city; citizens generally; colored citizens, etc. The hearse which carried the coffin was splendidly adorned, and drawn by six black horses. The procession moved through Jefferson, Fifth, Monroe, and Sixth streets, the houses on which all being deeply draped, with appropriate mottoes, and in many cases the portrait of their great townsman. On reaching the State House the coffin was borne with the usual ceremonies through the north entrance into the Hall of Representatives, a semi-circular colonade of eleven Corinthian columns, supporting a half dome, the straight side being toward the west. At the apex of the dome is a rising sun. On the floor a dais was erected, ascended by three steps. On the dais a hexagon canopy, supported on columns twelve feet high, the shaft covered with black velvet; the capitals wrought in white velvet, with silver bands, and filled the canopy, tent-shaped, rising seven feet in the centre, covered with heavy black broadcloth in radiating slack folds, surmounted at the apex and at each angle with black plumes having white centres. A draped eagle was perched on the middle of each crown mould. The cornice was of Egyptian pattern, corresponding with the capitals covered with black velvet; the bands and mouldings were of silver; the lining of the canopy was white crape in radiating folds over blue, thickly set with stars of silver, and terminating at the cornice in a band of black velvet with silver fillets. Between the columns was a rich valance in folds, with heavy silver fringe, from under which depended velvet curtains extending from each column two-thirds of the distance from the capitals to the centre of the cornice, looped with silver bands. Twelve brilliant jets of gas, burning in ground globes, sprang from the columns, and lighted the interior. The catafalque was covered with black velvet, trimmed with silver and satin, and adorned with thirty-six burnished silver stars, twelve at the head and twelve on each side, and was built after drawings made by Colonel Schwartz. The floor of the dais was covered with evergreens and white flowers. The steps of the dais were spread with broadcloth banded with silver lace. وو The columns of the room were hung with black crape, and the capitals festooned and entwined with the same. The cornice was appropriately draped, and, in large antique letters, on a black ground, were the words of President Lincoln at Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Feb. 22, 1861: "Sooner than surrender these principles, I would be assassinated on the spot.' In front of the gallery were black panels nine feet by two and a half, having silver bands and centres of crossed olive-branches; above the gallery looped curtains of black crape, extending around the semi-circle; below the gallery white crape curtains overhung with black crape festoons. Each column was ornamented with a beautiful wreath of evergreens and white flowers. On the top of the gallery, extending the entire length was a festoon of evergreens. The Corinthian cornice was fes tooned on the west at each side, twenty-four feet forward the centre, supported by pilasters of the same order, the space between being surmounted by an arch. At the extreme height, in the upper portion, was placed a blue semi-circle field, sixteen feet across, studded with thirty-six stars, six inches in diameter, and from which radiated the thirteen stripes on the American flag in delicate crape, two feet wide at the circumference of the blue field, increasing to the extreme lower angle, breaking on the dais below and the pilasters on either side, the whole .crowned with blue and black crape, and so disposed as to correspond with the blue field, the stars and radiated panels of the ceiling. The central red stripe fell opposite the opening in the curtains at the head of the catafalque. On the cornice, each side of the flag work, were placed two mottoes, corresponding with that on the semicircular frieze, forming together these words: "Washington, the Father, and Lincoln, the Saviour." A life-sized portrait of Washington, the frame draped in blue crape, stood at the head of the dais. Here, as elsewhere, the citizens of the place, with thousands who came pouring in by every mode of conveyance, sought to gaze on the face of the corpse. All night long the streets of the handsome and generally quiet city, resounded with the tramp of feet. It was estimated that more than seventy-five thousand passed into the hall. During the morning minute-guns were fired by Battery K, Missouri light artillery. About ten o'clock the coffin was closed forever. Meanwhile a choir of two hundred and fifty voices, and Lebrun's band from St. Louis, sang Paesello's, "Peace, Troubled Soul," and as the coffin was borne out, Pleyel's Hymn, "Children of the Heavenly King." After the remains had been placed in the hearse, the procession moved to Oak Ridge Cemetery, under the immediate command of Major-General Joseph Hooker, Marshal-in-Chief. It consisted of eight divisions, three of which preceded the hearse, with its group of eminent men, and included the 24th Michigan, 146th Illinois, 46th Wisconsin, and other veterans of the war. The municipal authorities, sanitary commission, the professions, Masons, Odd Fellows, firemen and citizens, closed the line. On the arrival of the procession at the Cemetery, the re mains were placed in the tomb, after which the choir sang the "Dead march in Saul"-" Unveil thy bosom." Rev. Albert Hale then delivered an eloquent and appro priate prayer. At the conclusion of the prayer, the choir sang a dirge, composed for the occasion; music by George F. Root, words by L. M. Dawes. It was sung with much feeling and effect. FAREWELL FATHER, FRIEND AND GUARDIAN. All our land is draped in mourning, Hearts are bowed and strong men weep For our loved, our noble leader, Sleeps his last his dreamless sleep Gone forever, gone forever, Fallen by a traitor's hand; Though preserved his dearest treasure, Through our night of bloody struggle Bravely, gently forth he led us, Till the morn burst on our view Till he saw the day of triumph, Saw the field our heroes won; Then his honored life was ended, Then his glorious work was done. When from mountain, hill and valley, Honor'd leader, long and fondly Shall thy mem'ry cherished be; Rest in peace. A portion of Scripture was then read by Rev. N. W. Miner, after which the choir sang "To Thee, O Lord," from the Oratorio of St. Paul. The President's last Inangural was read by Rev. A. C. Hubbard. After the reading of the Inaugural, the choir sang the dirge, "As when thy Cross was Bleeding," by Otto. At the conclusion of the singing, Bishop Simpson delivered the following FUNERAL ORATION. Fellow-citizens of Illinois, and of many parts of our entire Union— Near the capital of this large and growing State, in the midst of this beautiful grove, and at the mouth of this vault which has just received the remains of our fallen chieftain, we gather to pay a tribute of respect, and to drop the tear of sorrow around the ashes of the mighty dead. A little more than four years ago, from his plain and quiet home in yonder city, he started, receiving the parting words of the concourse of friends who gathered around him; and in the midst of the dropping of the gentle shower, he told of the pangs of parting from the place where his children had been born and his home had been made pleasant by early recollections; and as he left he made an earnest request, in the hearing of some who are present at this hour, that as he was about to enter upon responsibilities which he believed to be greater than any which had fallen upon any man since the days of Washington, that the people would offer up prayers that God would aid and sustain him in the work which they had given him to do. His company left your quiet city, but as it went snares were in waiting for the Chief Magistrate. Scarcely did he escape the dangers of the way or the hands of the assassin, as he neared Washington, and I believe he escaped only through the vigilance of officers and the prayers of his people. So that the blow was suspended for more than four years, which was at last permitted through the providence of God to fall. How different the occasion which witnessed his departure from that which witnessed his return! Doubtless he expected to visit you all again, doubtless you expected to take him by the hand, and to feel the warm grasp which you had felt in other days, and to see the tall form walking among you, which you had delighted to honor in years past. But he was never permitted to return until he came with lips mute and silent, the |