WASHINGTON -- The body of William Howard Taft rested in an Arlington grave today while the nation went about its work again with only memories of the man who so recently played such a vital part in its affairs.
The former president and chief justice was buried with full military honors yesterday after a brief, simple service at the grave attended by President and Mrs. Hoover, Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, justices of the supreme court and the other high officials of the government.
Thousands of persons from all walks of life lined the streets of Washington, braving a heavy downpour of ruin, to honor the statesman. His body was borne on an artillery caisson, first to the capitol building to lie in state, then to All Souls Unitarian church for simple funeral rites, and, finally, to Arlington cemetery for interment among those hundreds of national heroes who rest there.
There was no funeral oration at the church. Instead, at the request of Mrs. Taft, Dr. Ulysses G.B. Pierce, the Taft family pastor, read from two poems, "The Happy Warrior" by William Wordsworth and "Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington," by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
At the grave, as the first sun of the dreary day broke through the clouds, Dr. Pierce read from Tennyson's solemn poem, "Crossing the Bar."
Throughout the day, at half-hour intervals, military guns throughout the nation boomed their farewell to the man who once had been commander-in-chief of the army and navy. As the cortege passed the gates at Arlington, the first gun of the twenty-one-gun presidential salute echoed from Ft. Myer, across the Potomac. Three sharp volleys by a firing squad concluded the ceremonies at the grave.
The impressiveness of the state and military ceremonies contrasted sharply with the utter simplicity of the private funeral rites, and the genuine sorrow of the thousands who knew Mr. Taft as a genial president and sagacious justice made the entire affair a sincere tribute to the dead statesman.
