spirit, so rich in experience, so full of service, so crowned with applause and honor of men of two worlds—that that spirit had a prescience that it was soon to go; and feeling so confident of a life that was to follow, was quizzically anxious to know what those who were younger had to say about it." The news of Mr. Choate's death brought messages of condolence to Mrs. Choate from the President, the King of England, and a great number of other mourning friends. His funeral was at St. Bartholomew's Church on May 17, and was conducted by Bishop Brent and Doctor Leighton Parks. The church could hold but a small part of those who wished to attend. The various organizations with which Mr. Choate was connected were represented. The pall-bearers were Mayor Mitchell, the British Ambassador, Mr. Henry White, President Lowell of Harvard, President Butler of Columbia, Mr. F. R. Appleton, President of the Harvard Club of New York, Mr. Robert DeForest, President of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Judge Ingraham, Mr. Charles Lanier, Mr. Lewis Cass Ledyard, Mr. J. P. Morgan, Mr. John G. Milburn, Mr. Frank K. Sturgis, Mr. Francis Lynde Stetson, Mr. Charles H. Tweed, and Assistant Secretary of State William W. Phillips. He was buried at Stockbridge in the beautiful family burying-place adjoining the old cemetery, where are the graves of two of his children. The Pilgrims, an international organization of which Mr. Choate was president, held services in his memory in St. Margaret's Church, Westminster, London, on May 21, when the Archbishop of Canterbury delivered an address, and on May 31 at Trinity Church in New York, where an address was made by Doctor Manning. CHAPTER XI. HIS LIFE REVIEWED THE HARVARD CLUB MINUTE-THE UNION LEAGUE CLUB MEETING -MR. DEPEW-THE CENTURY MEETING-MR. ROOT-MR. BRYCEMR. BALFOUR-COLONEL ROOSEVELT-PRESIDENT ELIOT-MR. STETSON-MR. ROOT'S ADDRESS BEFORE THE BAR ASSOCIATION OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK-THE NEW YORK STATE BAR ASSOCIATION MEETING JUDGE CLEARWATER'S REMINISCENCE Mr. Choate's death befell at a thrilling time when there was more going on than living Americans had ever had to deal with. He had been a part of the great performance. When he dropped, every one stopped to take notice and think about it. The newspapers had immediately a vast deal to say, and said it, but besides that there came and continued to come very thoughtfully considered estimates of his career from persons highly qualified to deal with it. Many bereaved societies put their feelings on record in minutes. So, following a description of Mr. Choate's activities after his return from England and an enumeration of some of the public duties he undertook, the minute of the Board of Managers of the Harvard Club offered by Mr. Byrne (May 23, 1917) goes on to say: "It was to this great and commanding figure that our Board always called on occasions at all out of the ordinary-when eminent men were our guests, when the Associated Harvard Clubs met in New York-and frequently in the ordinary life of the Club when fresh enthusiasm was to be aroused or devotion to Harvard 394 or to country was to be fanned into a brighter flame: and the call was never in vain. He responded generously, joyously and successfully. Everyone went home from a meeting at which he spoke with a warmer heart, a more courageous spirit and brighter hopes. Many told him so; and he knew therefore that he had accomplished what he wished, for his wish was always not that younger men should be awed or dazzled by him, but that they should like him and get from him something that would cheer and inspire them. That which made it easy for him to have his wish was the same thing which made it difficult for anyone to envy or belittle him. It was his kindness of heart and goodness of character. 'Let his life be kindness, his conduct, righteousness, then in the fulness of gladness he will make an end of grief.' He made an end of grief for himself, for he was a happy man, and for us too he made an end of grief whenever he was with us. "Lord Morley begins a chapter on the Last Years of the Life of Gladstone with these words of Dante: *** And the noble soul is like a good mariner, for he, when he draws near the port lowers his sails and enters it softly and with gentle steerage.' "After Mr. Choate had lived fourscore years, such a picture must have pleased him as it passed now and then before his eyes. But surely never again after the invasion of Belgium, for from that moment he was a young man once more, not only in the amazing vigor, but in the immense scope of the labor which he performed without cessation to the end; he had work to do and what might happen to him in the doing of it he did not care. That work was to help to arouse his country to the danger in which freedom was and her duty to help to save it. |