The McKinley Memorial service.
THE gathering in the Opera House on Thursday, September 19, the day proclaimed by National and State authorities as one of mourning for the late well-beloved President, and the honoring of his memory by public religious services, was one of the memorable mass meetings of the citizens of Medford. The hall was filled to overflowing. The platform was occupied by members of the City Government and the clergymen of the city, by whom the service was conducted.1 His Honor Mayor Baxter presided. The exercises opened with the singing of Watts' noble hymn, ‘O God our help in ages past.’ Invocation by Rev. M. A. Levy (Baptist). Singing, Cardinal Newman's beautiful hymn, ‘Lead, Kindly Light.’ Reading of Scripture by Rev. C. L. Eaton (Universalist). [p. 107] Prayer by Rev. J. V. Clancy (Congregational). Brief remarks by Mayor Baxter. Address by Rev. T. L. Flanagan (Catholic). Singing, Toplady's precious hymn, ‘Rock of Ages.’ Address by Rev. H. C. De-Long (Unitarian). Address by Rev. F. I. Paradise (Episcopal). Singing, the ever favorite hymn, ‘Nearer my God to Thee.’ Address by Rev. Elijah Horr, D. D. (Congregational). Singing, ‘America.’ Benediction by Rev. Isaac Pierson (Congregational). The singing, which was by the audience, led by cornet and piano, was grand and uplifting, an inspiration to participator and listener. The addresses were in good taste, and impressively appropriate to the theme and the occasion. The address by Dr. Horr was especially fervid and eloquent, and at its close, notwithstanding the service was a memorial one, the great audience was so in sympathy with the speaker's magnetic oratory that a burst of applause went over the hall. Dr. Horr's application of Tennyson's lines from ‘In Memoriam’ to the life of President McKinley was very effective: Dost thou look back on what hath been,As some divinely gifted man,
Whose life in low estate began
And on a simple village green;
Who breaks his birth's invidious bar,
And grasps the skirts of happy chance
And breasts the blows of circumstance
And grapples with his evil star;
Who makes by force his merit known
And lives to clutch the golden keys,
To mould a mighty State's decrees
And shape the whisper of the throne;
And moving up from high to higher,
Becomes on Fortune's crowning slope
The pillar of a people's hope,
The centre of a world's desire.
C. H. Loomis.
