of his
powers. If the impassioned delivery of earlier years was somewhat
lacking, there was still a power and vigour fully as effective. The year
before he had been to England on a lecture tour and received an ovation
as marked as the disapproval attending his first attempts. He had been
in demand all over the country for addresses and lectures. The columns
of papers and magazines were everywhere open to him, and while it may be
true that his popularity was not of the intense sort that it had been at
times, when he was almost the idol of the people, it probably was of a
more substantial character. It is probable, too, that at no time in its
history had Plymouth Church been more closely identified with him, or
the opinion been so prevalent that neither could prosper without the
other. The services were as fully attended as ever, and church work had
settled into the harmonious routine which always bodes good for a
church's life.

All this was suddenly broken up. On Wednesday evening, March 2, Mr.
Beecher suffered an apoplectic stroke and on the following Tuesday he
died. No one who attended the services, held almost continuously during
that week, can ever forget them. The dominant tone was one of the
personal loss of a friend. There was grateful recognition of a
magnificent service done for humanity, and for the building up of the
Kingdom of God, but the greater work was almost lost sight of in the
individual remembrances, the personal testimonies to the man who had
helped men. On Sunday of that week came the regular communion service of
the church. The usual sermon was omitted and only the Lord's Supper was
commemorated. There were several evening meetings, mostly for prayer and
mutual sympathy.

The manifestation of public sympathy surprised even those who knew best
how widespread was the interest in the beloved pastor. As the coffin lay
in the church on Thursday there was an unceasing line of those who
wished to show their regard for him. On Friday the funeral services were
conducted by Rev. Charles H. Hall, D. D., pastor of the First
Presbyterian Church, to which Plymouth Church had succeeded in ownership
of its site. As it was manifest that Plymouth Church could not possibly
hold the crowds that wanted to come, simultaneous memorial services were
held in other churches. Most of the business houses were closed, as were
also the public offices of the city and the schools. Everywhere there
was manifest the recognition