three feet above the platform, being about four feet wide and seven feet long, and covered with heavy black velvet, a light silver bar running around the upper edges and down the joints. The body was guarded by a detail of the Capital and Metropolitan Police, and the resident members of the Army of the Cumberland acted as a guard of honor. At night the rotunda was open for the admission of the public, and several hundred persons passed in and gazed upon the features of the dead Executive.

All day Thursday, Washington did little else than crowd about the Capitol, that the last tribute of respect might be paid to one whose death had been the completed majesty of his life. The sun poured down with relentless heat, but it could not disperse the thousands who had gathered to pay the last tokens of respect to the dead. The line formed outside the Capitol was a quarter of a mile long, and it resembled a huge serpent, with its head on the Capitol steps and its tail stretching out beyond the long folds of the body to East Capitol Street. The line arranged itself in this fashion to keep within the limits of the Capitol grounds.

The rotunda was heavily draped, and the vast dome, stretching away toward the heaven above, seemed in sympathy, so reverently did it echo the tread of the people. Floral decorations were scattered about the coffin, and placed upon the floor of the rotunda. On the foot of the coffin

rested an immense wreath of white rosebuds: attached to it was a card bearing the following inscription: "Queen Victoria, to the memory of the late President Garfield, an expression of her sorrow and sympathy with Mrs. Garfield and the American nation." The wreath was placed upon the casket by Mr. Hitt, Assistant-Secretary of State. It was prepared by telegraphic direction of the Queen at the British Legation. One of the most beautiful of the decorations was a piece prepared at the White House conservatory, representing the "Gates ajar."

The day following, Friday, was appointed for the funeral services at the Capitol, and at their close the record of James A. Garfield at the National Capital came to a solemn end.

The funeral services were appointed for three o'clock. At eleven o'clock the Capitol was closed to the public that proper arrangements might be made for the religious ceremonies. Up to the hour of closing, the people continued to pass through the rotunda to gaze upon the closed coffin. Though they knew that the face of the dead President was effectually hidden from view, it seemed to make no difference in the numbers of those who demanded permission to approach near to the remains of the late Chief Magistrate for the last time. A few minutes after the closing of the Capitol to the people there occurred a sadly solemn scene. The bereaved family came to take

one last look, before the beloved form was hid forever. Mrs. Garfield, accompanied by her son, Harry, her daughter Mollie, Colonel and Mrs. Rockwell and daughter, General Swaim and Attorney-General and Mrs. MacVeagh, drove to the Senate wing of the Capitol, and, repairing to the President's room, sent for Colonel Bright, who was informed that Mrs. Garfield desired to look for the last time on the face of her deceased husband. Colonel Bright directed that all persons should leave; that the four doors leading to the rotunda should be closed, and that the guard should retire to the outside and remain there until Mrs. Garfield had performed her mission of love. The four entrances having been thus closed and guarded, the lid of the coffin was removed and Mrs. Garfield entered the rotunda alone through the north door. Not a living soul was in the vast circular room except herself. She was alone with her dead. Of the supreme agony of this moment, who can speak? Alone, beneath the vast dome of a nation's hall, all the eloquent silence of which spoke in softened tones to her broken heart, sat the wellbeloved wife. And he, who for twenty-three years she had loved, honored and obeyed, spoke no word, gave no sign! The ice of death was in his heart-great, gentle, generous-it would never beat more. Then, as she knelt beside the coffin, beside the altar of the nation's tears and bade Good-bye to him on earth, there stole in at one