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Dr. Hoge's last hours were calm and serene.
Life ebbed with him so low all day Thursday that it was realized that the end was close at hand.
He slept fitfully, but was too weak to talk.
Shortly after 9 o'clock at night his daughter read to him the twenty-third Psalm.
It was one of his favorite portions of the Scriptures, and as she read the latter verses, of which he was particularly fond, his lips framed the words they could not utter.
At 10 o'clock
Mrs. Gilliam left him folding his hands upon his breast, and so he fell asleep like a little child.
He never moved again, and at twenty minutes after 2 o'clock of the morning of January 6, 1899, his life went out with softest respiration.
There was no struggle or movement, even when the end came at last, and he lay with his hands clasped just as his daughter had left them, his face serene and smiling, grand in the awful majesty of death.
The final resting place of
Dr. Hoge is in the old part of the cemetery past the ravine, and almost opposite the graves of the
Presidents Monroe,
Tyler and
Davis.
In this lot there now lie the remains of
Rev. Dr. William J. Hoge, brother of
Dr. Hoge, and his wife;
Mrs. Moses D. Hoge, wife of the deceased, and the four children who preceded him to the grave.
The elders and deacons of the Second Presbyterian church, met at 5 o'clock Friday evening, and after adopting a series of resolutions, undertook the arrangements of the details of the funeral services.
The Rev. Donald Guthrie presided. It was decided that the funeral should be held at 2 o'clock on Sunday afternoon in the Second Presbyterian church.
A great number of applications from various organizations wishing to be represented at the funeral were received and considered.
The conclusions arrived at were that if one were recognized then all would be entitled to recognition, and the church could not possibly accommodate all who would come in that way. The elders and deacons said they would be pleased to see such committees, but they could not undertake to reserve any special place for them.
They felt that
Dr. Hoge belonged to the whole city, and they could not, without depriving many, make any special reservation for the members of the congregation even, could only be set aside for the members of the family, the pall-bearers, the ministers of the various churches in the city, and the officers of the church.
There was some discussion as to whether or not admission should be by ticket, but the suggestion was not entertained, and it
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was decided to open the doors of the church at 1:30 o'clock. By express request of
Dr. Hoge the obsequies were simple and unostentatious.
The pall-bearers were chiefly from the membership of his church.
No military cortege followed, although many organizations solicited the privilege.
Yet the loved remains were met at the gates of beautiful
Hollywood by the sered inmates of the Soldiers' Home and by the Veterans of
Lee and
Pickett camps—through whose parted ranks, with bowed and bared heads, the mournful line passed and repassed.
The funeral took place Sunday afternoon, January 8th, from the church of which
Dr. Hoge had been pastor for over half a century, and was attended by a great concourse of people.
The service was quite simple.
From the many tributes to the memory of
Dr. Hoge and the several analyses of his gifts and characteristics, the following may be cited:
Rev. Richard McIlwaine, D. D.,
President of Hampden-Sidney College, writes of his interest in education:
