Broadly speaking, what was represented in the noble assemblage was
worth. The worthiest of Australia were there--the men who hold their
distinguished positions because they have won them, and because they
deserve them. All that is best in politics, in commerce, in industry, in
the arts, in the Church, in the school, in the public service of
Australia was represented there, and every heart beat high with pride
and with hope.
Faint and far off, just about noon there came the sound of the National
Anthem, and there was a multitudinous murmur and stir, for here was the
actual event coming at last. Then near at hand came the blare of a
trumpet heralding the approach of the Imperial envoys, and a moment or
two after, with royal punctuality, the Duke and Duchess were on the
dais, and the strains of the National Anthem came pealing through the
building.
The religious feelings of the occasion were stirred by the singing of
the grand "Old Hundredth" to the words of the metrical psalm, commencing
"All people that on earth do dwell.
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