A Great Leader Honoured

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVIII, Issue 16, 16 October 1912, Page 36

A Great Leader Honoured

T'he Last March of General Booth and a Stirring Memorial Service.

Oy F MIGHTY crowd of more than / I 25,000 people tilled the arena of J Olympia for General Booth’s memorial service. Silence, almost magic in its swiftness, fell on the waiting multitude when first the flags of “blood and lire’’ announced the coining of the coffin. I util then whispers. moving of seats, and passing to and fro had filled the building with sound and movement, hut now the vast crowd of human beings settled into one great disciplined whole, and the result of the Salvation Army's marvellous methods of organisation could be seen.

An aisle through the centre of the hall, through which the coffin was to pass, formed the pivot of an arrangement by which the people were divided into rectangular sections of about 2,000 each. Here there was not an empty seat; in the galleries above were thousands upon thousands of standing mourners; and on the platform, bright with flags and bands in gold and scarlet, were seats reserved for members of the family. Behind the platform there was a tier of girls in white, converted children of the army, the only children permitted in the building. Every member of this vast congregation had only to look up at the number on the platform, and compare it with the

number in his programme, to follow the service from start to finish, however far away from the speakers he might be. The result was so marvellous as to be scarcely credible. Five and twenty thousand people sang in time to tunes they could not hear, spoke responses in perfect unison, ami joined in absolute sympathy and understanding with the whole service. Half, if not more, of the great assembly were Salvationists in uniform, and among them were 7,000 special delegates from every part of Great Britain and representatives of countries from all over the civilised world. The King was represented by Captain Hunloke, and wreaths from the King and Queen and from Queen Alexandra hung on either side of the platform. The entry of the procession was emotional, dramatic, tense. Above the heads of the people the first flag of ‘‘blood and fire*’ could be seen by every person in the hall. Then came a silence. Then a thundering crash of music as the massed bands on the platform started playing the Dead March in “Saul.’* And then, slowly ami solemnly, through a great sea of mourning humanity, band after band of repre-

sentative Salvationists marched up the central aisle. Behind them was a crowd of waving banners borne before the coffin, which came at last on a dais carried high above the people’s heads. As the music died away and the feet of the bearers could be heard on the floor, a low sob. or mayb? a sudden catching of the breath, went through the crowd, for the veteran evangelist was once more among his people. Behind the coflin walked the new general of the army, General Bramwell Booth, and Mrs Booth, Commissioner Mrs BoothHell berg. and then five of the late General’s grandchildren. The coffin was placed at the foot of the platform. Above it General Bramwell Booth fell on his knees and prayed as the audience sang one short verse of a dedication song. Reverence and order held the audience, but from this moment they were palpitating with emotion. Commissioner Lawley rose to pray. He is a tall, bearded man. who has accompanied the General all over the world, and his fine impassioned voice rang through the hall. As lie spoke, it seemed that sorrow' and mourning had no part with faithful fol-

lowers of the army. They were not in Olvmpia to weep, but to thank God for a 'mighty triumph over death, to celebrate the victory of a great warrior, to pledge themselves to carry on his work. The service went on with prayers, a reading from “ Revelations,’’ and silent readings from unpublished writings of General Booth, each item punctuated with familiar songs, and then the little choir of •’converted children” rose to sing, their pure young voices rising up like a lark’s hymn after the crash of congregational singing. Then came more silent reading, a song for women only, and a song for men, and the Lord’s Prayer in a gigantic volume of supplication from many thousands went echoing unaccompanied through the emo-tion-laden air. This was the climax. Silence fell with terrible solemnity on the crowd. Here and there a rustle of leaves betrayed a movement among the people, but otherwise the stillness was grim, almost unbearable. as the words of “ a great soulwinner to sinners and backsliders ” were read in the programme. The suspense was broken by a dirgelike chant, sung with closed eyes, and here and there the ranks were broken by men and women, boys and young girls, who ran forward blindly and Hung themselves down before the “mercy seats” on either side of tlu* platform, where kindly officers took charge of them and led them to the penitents’ forms. Meanwhile the band played loudly, another number was put up, and the audience sang. At the same time a brigadier unfurled the Hag of “blood and fire” that General Booth had taken to Calvary and consecrated on the spot. Then silence fell again. From start to finish it was a most magnificent tribute of love for a great leader, and of obedience to a great organisation. March of Might. General Booth made his last march with 5,000 of his soldiers before him. It was a march of triumph. The sombre spirit of death that stalks in the funerals of most great men had no place in this mile-long stream of soldiers. They went their way with white pennants fluttering gaily in the wind, the captured flags of the nations carried proudly be-

fore them. And the cemetery reached, they swept through those gates of death to a conquered land. It was like the return of a great soldier who has won glory for his country in many wars. Before the dead General there nodded in the breeze th? flowers which were the tribute of his King. The poor for whom he fought were there in hundreds of thousands to pay him homage, and. with the Bible, which wais his sword, resting on the Hag-draped coffin, this soldier went in might and honour to his last rest. All through the morning the loyal army had mobilised for that march. They massed under the dripping leaves of the Embankment, annletis of white on the sober uniforms of the men, and sashes of white on the dresses of the women. They had travelled all night, many of those women, but there was an earnest look beneath their poke bonnets. They marched through the slanting rain to salute their General, with forty bands playing the Dead March, but there was something in their strength and confidence, some note of pride in their swaying standards, which turned the surge and swing of the lament into a march of might. Even in that downpour the crowds were dense to the point of peril, and at the headquarters in Victoria Street the screams of hysterical women could be heard above the dirge of the bands. A big City policeman made his way through the crowd with a white-faced Salvation Army lassie on his back, and all the ambulance men in the neighbourhood wer? busy rendering first aid. The stall' captains carried the General out from his citadel to a hearse that was stripped of all signs of mourning. Th? horses were chestnuts, two defiant “blood and fire” Hags were spread over the coffin, and the wheels were nearly hidden by a board wearing the words. “He laid down his sword.” Tn an open brougham were the wreaths from the King, the Queen, and the German Emperor, borne in pride like precious swords of honour. For nearly an hour the soldiers filed past the coffin, dipping their rain-soaked standards and saluting the General’s hat and Bible. There were men in the King’s

khaki and scarlet, quiet-faced bluejack ets. and a West Indian soldier. Now the clouds had been torn apart like a curtain, ami warm sun-diine fell on a crowd that had swollen beyond th? (control of the police. Many women were crushed, ami were dragged out, white-lipped and drooping, from the heart of the throng. The procession went its way. General Bramwell Booth walking behind the coffin with Miss Eva Booth. Mrs Boot lilt el Iberg, and the new General’s son, Sergeant Bramwell Booth. It took seventy minutes for the thousands to pass the Mansion House, where on the balcqny sir John Knill, on Itehalf of the Lord Mayor, who was out of town, stood bareheaded and saluted as the coffin halted before him in the heart of the City. Then this weaponless legion marched on in the sunshine through a black avenue of people standing twenty-five to fifty deep. On the housetops rows of heads were outlined against the sky. Every window had ilis family party, and vehicles were drawn up in side streets to serve as grandstands. And so through Dalston and Stoke Newington to Abney Park Cemetery, where the gates were besieged with packed acres of humanity. Many Salvation Army soldiers were locked in the crowds. Their tickets of admission were useless. There were disappointed Salvation Army lasses who had started from home before dawn brought the clatter of clogs into the dull streets of their Lancashire towns. Slow-spoken soldiers from the Yorkshire dales were unable to see more than the tops of the banners. General BoO|th went to his grave as though to a bridal. White brickis lined hiis last housing, fresh Howers decked th? platform beside it. and five hundred young cadets of both sexes guarded his way. “He was the happiest man 1 knew.” said the new General at the grave of his father. “Everywhere he looked he saw the rising sun. even though others isaw the watery moon. He was a citizen of the world. He was not a recluse like Peter the Hermit. He came out into the market place.” Sobs choked the hallelujahs, and the emotion welled in tears through the eves

of men a© Miss Eva Booth, bare-headed, •spoke of her father in broken words. Then they laid him in his grave with the hymn “Servant of God. Well Done.” and. the brief commitment service that hails death as promotion. General Bramwell Booth read the words: — “As it has pleased Almighty God to promote our beloved General William Booth from this place and position in the Salvation Army to the mansion prepared for him above, we now commit his body to thi«s grave, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, in the sure and certain hope of seeing him again on the Resurrection morning.” They dried their tears, and, singing a hymn of victory, marched out into the world to win more battles.