THE MARTYRED NURSE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 208, 28 May 1919, Page 7

THE MARTYRED NURSE

FUNERAL SERVICE TOR NURSE CAVELL CEREMONY AT WESTMINSTER ABBEY By Teletra-pli-Preas AB6oototion-Oopyrieht London, May 15 (delayed). The funeral service for Nurse Cavell in Westminster Abbey was a remarkable women's demonstration. There has been nothing like it since Queen Victoria's funeral. Tho flags on Government offices wero at halfmast, and the streets wero crowded, the women outnumbering the men by five to one. The Coldstream Guards met the coffin at Victoria Station, and it was placed on a gun-carriage and covered with the Union Jack and a singlo wreath. . The troops escorted it to the west door of the Abbey. There was a re. markablo gathering in the choir, including Queen Alexandra, Princess Victoria, member.? of the Cabinet, Ambassadors, High Commissioners. Agents-General, and leading military and naval officers. Australian nurses were prominent in the nave, and there were also big delegations from the W.A.A.C., the W.U.N.S., Air Force girls, Bed Cross nurses, and every department of women's activity in the war. The anthems, prayers, and lessons emphasised tho' dominant note of the service, that Nurse Cavell was a Christian who died in the Lord. The most moving episode was the congregation's sinefinpf of Lyte's hymn, "Abide With Me," which Nurse Cavell repented just before her execution. The service closed with the Dead March in "Snul" and the "Last Post." .

Tho gun-carriage was escorted by the Coldstream Guards along the Embankment, to the city. Tim Lord Mayor saluted it from tho Mansion House. There were tremendous crowds on the route to Liverpool Street Station, whenco the remains were taken to Norwich and buried in a corner of the Cathedral Close called "Life's Green," under the shadow of the memorial chapel to those who died in the war.

M. Poincare, President of France, has presented Nurse Cavell with tho posthumous decoration of a Chevalier of tho Legion' •of Honour—Aus.-N.Z, Cable Assn.