CHAPTER III
THE CENOTAPH
"TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS REWARD.--This sum of money will be paid for the recovery of the body of the Hon. David Lockwin, lost in Georgian Bay the morning of Oct. 17. When last seen the body was afloat in the yawl of the propeller Africa, off Cape Croker. For full particulars and suggestions, address H. M. H. Wandrell, Chicago, Ill."
This advertisement may be seen everywhere. It increases the public excitement attending the death of the people's idol. There is a ferment of the whole body politic.
Of all the popular pastors who turn the catastrophe to their account the famous preacher at Esther Lockwin's church makes the most of it. To a vast gathering of the devout and the curious he dwells upon the uncertainties of life. Here, indeed, was a Chicagoan who but yesterday was almost certain to be President of the United States.
"Now his beloved body, my dear brethren and fellow-citizens, lies buried in the sands of an unfrequented sea."
There is suppressed emotion.
"And as for man," chants the harmonious choir, "his days are as grass."
"As a flower of the field," sounds the bass.
"So he flourisheth," answers the soft alto.
"For the wind passeth over it," sings the tenor.