Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-02-23

II was q magnificent and impressive
spectacle. this review of the armada In
the misting rain, so vast spectacle that
one of those detailed to tell what 1t look
cd like to the small and luckless rest of
the world felt constrained to fling eX-
preston to the winds and merely to speak
of it as the most impressive pageant that
ever made the American heart beat fast
or the American breast swell with pride
in his country and his flag.
1t was the apotheosis of Roosevelt, the
one supreme, magnificent moment in the
career of a man who more than any other
made possible this review of the biggest
aggregation of splendid warship tonnage
that was ever gathered under one flag. He
was here 10 bid the big sixteen farewell
when they started on their historic jour-
ney and he was here to welcome them on
their return.
disaster" asked the President. We'll,
here they are" he added. pointing to
the ships, returning after fourteen
months without d scratch. Isn't it mag
nifcent?'
Oh, it was a pretty sight. You forgot
the rain and the chill and dampnesS OF
the fog. There was the great Connecticut,
she seemed to be merely gliding over the
water with scarcely ripple at bow or
stern. The blanket of gray had toned
down every sound until a strange sort OF
silence seemed to spread far and wide.
The strains of the bands were faint and
suppressed. There was kind of depres-
sion, but only for moment
The guns of the Connecticut began to
speak. In an instant there was a change.
On every craft, in every heart, there was
a perceptible leap. 1t was signal for
sentiment as well as for cheers. The
crash started little chills that ran up and
down spinal columns and then sutfused
brains with quiyers of ecstasy.
1t takes big things in these modern
days 10 give thrills Of excitement. One
battleship can do it for some persons.
but when there comes out OF gray ocean
mist not one but twenty OF those great
fighting monsters, amid crashing OF
guns and playing of bands and cheers of
thousands of people, it is enough to stir
the most jaded and blase.
And unlike many preconceived events,
the day looked It's part. 1t was overcast
with gray skies and splitting squalls, but
the bieakness of the inclement weather
gave just the touch that was needed to
the gloomy splendor OF these sinister
looking architects of ruin as amid some
thousand acres of smoke blown from their
blazing guns they made their way past
the sea-borne reviewing stand to the an
chorage off Fort Monroe.
Nature never gave smile during the
day. She seemed to cover up her head in
a mantle of somber gray that hung like
an ashen pail over sea and land and
ships. There drifted in from the ocean
through the narrow opening of the Vir.
ginia capes fog of mist and rain Once
inside ii spread out wide sweeping into
every inlet and lying low on the water.
On the press boat a hdeously young
person kept proclaiming the old formula
that it was worth ten years of peace
full life one glance at that array" Yet ii
was certainly worth much. view OF this
Chromatic pageantry. brilliant with flags
and vivid with the flash of guns.
And It was worth much TO hear the
Clamor of cheering thousands the shrek
of siren and whistle, the ring of the long
black guns which began when the ma
iestc flagship drew abeam of the Presi-
Dental yacht, the Mayiiower. and which
did not cease until the gaunt bows of the
great gray cruisers had swung dripping
past
Somewhere out between Old Point Com
fort and the Virginia Capes there is
homely. brown colored lightship bearing
its name in huge black letters, Tail of
the Horseshoe" Early I'm the morning
ships OF every variety began IL scurrying
4.
precedence. Big black-hulled old Do
minion liners raced with white yachts;
excursion steamers from the Chesapeake
and the James jostled each other: darling
torpedo boats and revenue cutters footed
and scrambled with busting tugs.
Many thousands of visitors banked
themselves on the pa rapets of Fort
Monroe and on the grounds facing the
Chamberlin Hotel. where. under a SOM
Der screen of dripping umbrellas, they
looked like 50 many inedible fungi But
underneath these dripping skies and drip
ping coverings were the glad eyes and
warm, yearning hearts OF the sweethea rts
and wives OF those who had gathered
there TO welcome the wanderers home
On the shore, wherever a vantage point
could be had, the crowds gathered.
On many joyous excursion craft blaz-
ing with the sign of Welcome" and be-
ribboned with flags of all colors and all
sizes the rest of the numerous contingent
embarked, and with bands playing and
excursionists cheering just for the exub-
erance of it the fotila made its way
down the roads and out to the Tail Of the
Horseshoe, where was 10 be the first
. smoke-blown meeting from the fleet to the
anchored Maytiower.
\ very long time ago il was ordered
that the bow of the battleship Connect
should come abreast the Nayfowsr