The bodies which were not identified in Quebec on Sunday were embalmed and kept for a few days longer. Then they were photographed by representatives of the Canadian Pacific and buried in graves marked “unknown.”
CHAPTER IX
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.”