WHERE JAY GOULD RESTS.
The hour set for the beginning of the services, four o’clock, was indicated to those seated in the parlors and halls and to the members of the family who were on the second floor, first by four cheerful, jingling strokes of a Swiss clock in the dining-room, and then by four sonorous and vibrating sounds from the large clock in the rear parlor.
Pastor John R. Paxton walked to the reception room and escorted the Rev. Roderick Terry, pastor of the South Reformed church, which Mrs. Jay Gould attended, and Chancellor MacCracken of the University of the City of New York, to seats near the doorway of the parlor, about half way down the hall.
Dr. Paxton took his place in this doorway, facing those in the hall. At his right, and at the head of those who sat in the hall, were Chauncey M. Depew, who observed the ceiling contemplatively during the ceremony, and Collis P. Huntington, who wore a skull cap and looked steadily and intently at the hall carpet.
The opening strains of the anthem, “There is a Land Immortal,” were played by Organist and Musical Director P. A. Schnecker at 4:05 p. m., and the singing was by Mrs. Charles Herbert Clarke, soprano, who took the place of Mme. Clementine De Vere-Sapio, the regular choir soprano, who was indisposed; Mrs. Carl Alves, contralto; Charles Herbert Clarke, tenor, and Ericcson F. Bushnell, bass. Extemporaneous prayer, in which only the Presbyterian service differs from that of the Episcopal church, was offered by Dr. Paxton in these words:
“Oh, eloquent, just and mighty Death, whom none couldst outwit thou takest in thy toils; whom none could convince thou persuadeth; whom none could overthrow thou subdueth—mighty Death!
“Dire discouragement of human end, we bless God for our Christian faith in which Jesus Christ hath abolished death. We bless Thee that He plucked the stain from sin, that He robbed the grave of its victory, and that He filled the heavens with the ministrations of our heavenly hope in this splendor, where we hope to renew life beyond the tomb.
“We bless Thee, Heavenly Father, for Thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ, for our knowledge that the grave is not a dungeon but a door opening into other worlds and a new and higher life. We bless Thee that the grave is not a terminus, the final resting place, the be-all and end-all of man, but that it is only the stopping place, an inn where we humble travelers sleep the long sweet sleep on our way to the New Jerusalem.
“May the Divine Spirit be present with us in these sad solemn services, and may the light of the resurrection morn shine into this darkened and bereaved house, and may comfort, that with which God comforteth His own, touch with heavenly and hopeful grace the hearts of our friends here, wounded and bleeding still for the loss of him they all loved so well. Amen.”