SOLEMN SERVICES FOR THE DEAD
MEMORIAL SERVICES THROUGHOUT CANADA -- TRUST IN GOD -- AT ST.
JAMES' CATHEDRAL -- RABBI JACOBS' TRIBUTE -- WHOLE CITY HONORED
THE ARMY DEAD -- SERVICES IN THIRTY-FOUR LANGUAGES
IN every church in Canada, Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish alike,
reference was made on Sunday, May 31st, to the disaster that had at
one blow bereaved hundreds of Canadian homes. Many congregations had
suffered to the extent of losing one or more of their members, and
these held memorial services of an impressive character. The first
news of the sinking of the Empress came with such suddenness that few
people were at once able to appreciate the appalling nature of the
tragedy. But by Sunday, when the full significance had impressed
itself upon them, the effect was apparent. An air of sadness filled
the churches, and the faces of those in the congregations were grave
and drawn. Outside, scores of flags floating at half-mast bore mute
testimony to the catastrophe.
TRUST IN GOD
Rev. Dr. W. G. Wallace, of the Bloor Street Presbyterian Church, made
reference to the tragedy as a preface to his sermon. "Our spirits are
hurt and our hearts are sore," he said, "in the presence of the great
bereavement that has come with such tragic suddenness to thousands of
our fellow-Canadians."
Rev. J. W. Aikens, of the Metropolitan Methodist Church, said: "There
is a mystery in the relation of God to happenings such as this
disaster. We cannot understand His relation to them, but there are
some things which He permits but does not cause."
Rev. Dr. W. F. Wilson, of the Elm Street Methodist Church, said: "Man,
with all his imperial power of mind and genius, must sooner or later
learn the great laws of nature. They are fixed and irrevocable."
Rev. T. T. Shields, at Jarvis Street Baptist Church, made a touching
reference to the disaster, seeking to show that such occurrences have
an object. "Sometimes," he said, "the newsboy is a better preacher
than the minister."
At St. Paul's Church, Bloor Street, Archdeacon Cody devoted his sermon
to the loss of the Empress. He made particular reference to the death
of Mr. H. R. O'Hara, who was one of the sidesmen at St. Paul's,
speaking of his connection with the church and of his life in the
community. Special music was rendered, including the Dead March from
"Saul."
AT ST. JAMES' CATHEDRAL
Rev. Canon Plumptre preached at St. James' Cathedral from the text,
"Ye shall receive power when the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye
shall be my witnesses." With reference to the disaster in the St.
Lawrence, he said the collect for Whitsunday struck exactly the note
desired. He said that in our perplexities and bewilderment at the ways
of God we should rest assured that He would "give right judgment in
all things," and prayed that the bereaved might be given grace to
"rejoice in His holy comfort." Canon Plumptre spoke of the comfort in
the memory of lives consecrated to the service of God and fellow-men
and of the acts of heroism that had illumined the darkness of the
night. "Whether death comes to us," the preacher concluded, "as a
lightning stroke in the darkness or amid the calm of a peaceful
destiny, may it be said, 'We died like men and fell like one of the
princes.'"
RABBI JACOBS' TRIBUTE
"It is with difficulty," said Rabbi Jacobs, of the Holy Blossom
Synagogue, "that I can trust myself to speak on that sad calamity
which has touched the heart of Canada and other parts of the civilized
world so deeply in the past two days. Ah, it is such blows as these
which teach us how fleeting is all human existence, how uncertain the
span of life, how our earthly days are measured, our only hope in God.
May this sad event remind us of the uncertainty of life and stir us
all to a greater sense of our duty to the Great Creator and to each
other. Events such as this have a great spiritual purpose to
accomplish. They show how weak, how unstable, all our calculations
are--how man proposes, but God disposes. May the Lord take into His
safe-keeping the souls of the departed."
Throughout the churches of England and America similar references were
made to the catastrophe that carried so many souls swiftly to their
doom and sympathy expressed for those who had suffered the loss of
dear ones. To the bereaved Salvation Army especially was a wealth of
Christian love and fellowship extended.
WHOLE CITY HONORED THE ARMY DEAD
With the heavily draped standards of their late corps massed before,
and amid the solemn notes of the funeral dirge, the dead of the
Salvation Army were on the following Saturday borne in melancholy
state through the streets of Toronto to their final resting place in
Mount Pleasant Cemetery. The procession followed an impressive and
soul-stirring service in the Arena, attended by a sorrowing multitude
which crowded the vast building to its utmost. The service was under
the direction of Colonel Gaskin and Commissioner McKie, successor to
Commissioner Rees. Lying in heavily-draped caskets, covered with the
world-renowned colors of the Army, emblazoned with the motto, "Blood
and Fire," and surrounded with handsome wreaths, tokens of love and
esteem sent by sorrowing comrades and friends, the bodies lay in state
in the Arena. The mute evidence of the terrible disaster which had
overtaken the Army on the "Black Friday" of the week before, when the
Empress of Ireland was swept beneath the waters of the St. Lawrence
River, drew a vast concourse of people.
Long before the service commenced the streets were lined with the
grief-stricken citizens who desired to pay their last respects to
those silent Soldiers of the Cross. With sorrowing faces and
tear-glistening eyes they reverently passed through the heavy banks of
floral tributes encasing the catafalque, on which rested the caskets
in three long rows, and gazed for the last time upon the still forms
of the sixteen victims who had done so much for the uplift of humanity
in the city and whose labors were so suddenly ended.
A STRIKING SERVICE
The most striking feature of the service was its wonderful revelation
of the common brotherhood of humanity. In the face of the great
calamity which had befallen the Army, men of every religious
denomination and every sphere of life were present to bow their heads
in humble submission to the will of the Almighty Father. A still
stronger and deeper note was struck by two of the survivors of the
disaster, who, in simple, eloquent words, brought home to all anew the
great truth of the Resurrection. The wonderful sustaining power of
Christianity, they said, was shown in the early morning hours when the
vessel sank, and when the sudden call came none was afraid to answer
the summons. They knew that it was a call to Glory!
Although a pitifully small remnant of the Army dead had been
recovered, the service was also an affectionate and reverent memorial
for the great majority whose remains still lay engulfed in the St.
Lawrence River. Many were the sorrowing tributes paid by the speakers
to those missing comrades and friends, and deep regrets were voiced
that the waters had not given them up so that they might lie in state
beside the silent forms with whom they had in former days toiled
together to accomplish God's work.
MESSAGES OF SYMPATHY
The sorrow which the great tragedy had aroused throughout the entire
Army world was made public by Commissioner McKie, who read numerous
telegrams from Army officers in the furthermost corners of the world,
from Japan and India, from Australasia and Africa, and from Northern
and Southern Europe.
In an eloquent address the Commissioner paid a tribute to his dead
comrades on behalf of the General and of the British corps. "At this
moment I stand before you as the representative of General Booth and
Mrs. Booth," he said, "to express for them and for all our comrades
their deepest sympathy for you in this your great hour of sorrow.
"I should also like to say a few passing words about those whose
remains lie in our midst, and to assure the bereaved relatives and
friends that the sorrow is international. In the death of Mrs.
Commissioner Rees we have lost a good worker, and the loss is a heavy
one. Mrs. Rees was a good mother and helpmeet to her husband. I cannot
speak of her without making a reference to the Commissioner. Great as
is our sorrow at his being called home, and heavy as we will feel his
loss, it would be a source of great consolation to us if we but had
his remains with us to lay beside those of his brave wife."
[Illustration: PROMINENT ACTOR WHO WENT DOWN
_Photo by Bain News Service._
Lawrence Irving was the second son of the late Sir Henry Irving,
the famous English actor, and was himself well known on the
stage.]
[Illustration: MABEL HACKNEY
_Photo by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y._
The young and charming wife of Lawrence Irving, who also went down
with the ship.]
With the conclusion of the service the massed militia bands, under
the conductorship of Lieutenant Slatter, of the Forty-eighth
Highlanders, began to play Chopin's "Funeral March," and the sad duty
of removing the caskets to the funeral vans commenced. Between the
long rows of mourners the pallbearers silently passed with their
mournful burdens, while the drawn faces and dimmed eyes spoke
eloquently of the pangs suffered as the remains of their loved ones
passed from their sight forever. It was a moment filled with the tense
current of emotion--a moment as impressive as any that has followed
the tragic Empress disaster.
IMPRESSIVE PROCESSION
Headed with the heavily white-draped standards of the Army from all
the city corps, at the slow march, and followed by the first section
of the massed bands playing the "Dead March," the cortege presented a
melancholy and impressive sight. The funeral cars, draped heavily with
crepe and purple, and each drawn by four black horses caparisoned with
black and purple trappings, and each led by an attendant, were
preceded by two draped cars heavily laden with the beautiful floral
tributes. Behind came the mourners and further in the procession the
survivors, many of whom came from sick beds to attend the service,
while at the rear walked the lodges, the massed military bands and the
various representatives of the local militia in full regimentals. The
procession was one of the largest known in the city, almost 6,000
marching.
PEOPLE LINED STREETS
Tens of thousands of citizens lined the streets to witness the passing
of the funeral cortege. The crowd was densest on Yonge Street, both
sides of the thoroughfare from Wilton Avenue to the cemetery gates, a
distance of three miles, being crowded with humanity of every
nationality. As the remains of the unfortunate victims were borne past
on the heavily-draped drays, every man bared his head in solemn
reverence, while hundreds of women were observed wiping their stained
eyes. There was a solemn silence that seemed strange at such an hour
of the busiest day of the week.
SERVICES IN THIRTY-FOUR LANGUAGES
On the following Sunday in sixty-nine countries and colonies the world
over two hundred thousand soldiers of the Salvation Army, speaking
thirty-four different languages, conducted impressive memorial
services in honor of those of the Empress dead who belonged to that
organization. It is estimated that upwards of 2,700,000 people
gathered in all the citadels and buildings of the Army to mourn for
the one hundred and thirty-eight of the Army that went beneath the
waves in the St. Lawrence.
In a special memorial service held in Albert Hall, London, General
Booth paid special tribute to those who had perished for their lives
of service to the cause and for the many sacrifices they had made.
Their trials were now over, their warfare had ceased, he said, and
victory was theirs. He spoke in highest terms of Commissioner Rees and
of Colonel and Mrs. Maidment. While the Army had been deprived of
some of its most valuable officers, and while he, above all others,
felt the great blow, yet there seemed no limit to the evidences that
good fruit would follow from the sorrowful trial.