"The Way of Peace"

Extreme simplicity marked the funeral ceremonies and interment of the late President Woodrow Wilson.

Tributes of flowers from persons and organizations in many parts of the world arrived at the Street home. In order to make room for the assemblage of mourners, several truckloads of flowers were conveyed, at the request of Mrs. Wilson, to army hospitals.

Mrs. Wilson declined President Coolidge's offer of a state funeral in the lobby of the Capitol.

Presbyterian services were held at the Wilson home, where the group of mourners included the immediate family, the relatives of Mrs. Wilson and the first Mrs. Wilson, the personal friends of the late President, his chief political associates, President and Mrs. Coolidge, Mrs. William Howard Taft (Chief Justice Taft was ill and unable to attend, as was also Senator Henry Cabot Lodge). Mrs. Wilson remained in her room during these observances.

A group of eight service men as pallbearers conveyed the casket to the hearse, behind which formed the funeral cortege.

The cortege proceeded directly to St. Alban's Hill, on which is situated the unfinished Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul. Beneath the apse of the Cathedral (which is completed) is the Chapel of Bethlehem, in the crypt of which Mr. Wilson was interred.

Five hundred mourners, leaders in the public life of the Nation, were present. There was Mrs. Warren G. Harding, there were members of the Coolidge Cabinet, members of the Wilson Cabinet, a delegation of eleven Senators, a delegation of 26 Representatives, Samuel Gompers, Ambassador Jules Jusserand and many others.

The cortege entered by the doorway over which is inscribed "The Way of Peace." Mrs. Wilson, accompanied by her brother, Wilmer Boiling, followed, with Mrs. William G. McAdoo and Miss Margaret Wilson, daughters of the late President, and Mr. McAdoo, white and haggard.

The service was read by Bishop Freeman of the Episcopal Church and two Presbyterian clergymen. At Mrs. Wilson's request, Bishop Freeman concluded by reciting Crossing the Bar. The casket was lowered into the crypt and taps was sounded-by the same bugler who had blown taps for the Unknown Soldier.

Woodrow Wilson was laid to rest.

Official mourning for 30 days was announced at the White House, and all social engagements were cancelled. The Army and Navy also went into mourning for 30 days.

In the universal observance of mourning, it was remarked that the German Embassy did not lower its flag to half staff. Protests arose in the press and elsewhere Ambassador Wiedfeldt announced that the German Government regarded Woodrow Wilson as only a private citizen and that the flag would be placed at half staff only on the day of the funeral. Meanwhile the Embassy flew no flag. In the early hours of one morning an unidentified group nailed an American flag to the Embassy staff. It was removed later by the police.