St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1910-06-15

of the mob at the junction and there
| threaded our way through side streets,
| avoiding the line of route already swarm
ing with thousands who had taken up
their stations at daylight, until we
reached our several. destinations. Once
safely within heavy plate glass window
protected from the crowd by a strong
| barricade, one could give oneself up to
enjoyment of watching scenes outside.
Already the best points of vantage on the
curbstone behind the line of policemen
had been seized, but the pavements and
| street were black with constantly shift
ing mass of people, seeking the next best
standing place. The women as a rule
wore only black scarf or veil tied over
| their hair and the men rough tweed caps
or hats with a black band. Soon the
mounted police began to clear the street
for the detachments of soldiers who were
to line the route. Gently but insistently
their horses sided against the packed
mass, pushing it constantly down be-
| tween the rows of police until its human
atoms could filter off into the crowds at
| the more open spaces along the line.
| Then the double rows of soldiers formed
| on each side until one could see the glitter
| of the brass helmets above the scarlet
coats, as far down toward the Marble
/
| Many of the regiments from which these
soldiers were drawn were famous in
| history. The standard held by a color
! bearer oppos tie our window bore the
name of the battles of the Duke of
! Marlborough's campaign and also of the
wars in the Peninsula.
1t was only little after eight o'clock,
| yet the heat of the sun was already in
tense. The first one to succumb irfN the
| Il her
white cap and long blue cape. She
suddenly crumpled up and fell forward,
| but was caught and borne off on the
| shoulders of two men. After that the
ambulance attendants were kept busy,
| for men and women both dropped on all
| sides. Each one was flung over the
! shoulder of a lusty fellow in a dark uni
! form, and carried through the sympathe-
tic crowd into building opposite. One
| six foot man whose head was dangling
down the attendants back unexpected
| ly revived on the way, and insisted on
! being put down and walking back to his
| place much to the discontinue of his
| bearer and the amusement of the on
| lockers. The jam of the crowd at the
mouth of the side streets was some
thing terrific. Although four soldiers
! from the Life Guard were stationed
there in addition to the policemen
y.
less to keep back the press. Five
] times additional detachments of soldiers
were brought up to charge the crowd,
| but the mass simply swayed back and
! forth with a sickening pressure on the
| smaller and weaker members of it, and
| did not yield an inch. After each charge
several women would be taken out, half
fainting, with torn clothes and hanging
| hair, to be carried away to the relief
| station. Directly opposite, one of the
! horses, irritated by the press of people on
| his tanks, became unmanageable and be-
| gan rearing and kicking. Panic-stricken,
| the crowd opened where an opening SEEM
| ed a physical impossibility, and he
| plunged back against the stand. For
tunately his rider quickly gained control
again, then came back with a face so
white that wecould note it even across the
street, to receive orders to fall out of the
ranks. A group of small boys in sailor
costume-from one of the training ships,
some one said-were standing in the
| front row behind the soldiers. When the
panic was over, we could see that several
were crying bitterly, either from fright
or from injuries received as the crowd
| fell away from the horses heels. One
who tainted was quickly carried away,
the others were given drinks from the
TASKS of the soldiers in front of them and
| all were soon lnCereSCeQly watching the
| incidents in the street again.
They were many and varied. Now a
huzzar with a scarlet tuft in his cap rode
| by, now a group of ambulance girls
| wearing what we should call rough-rider
hats fastened up with a red cockade and
a short skirted blue costume with a
| water bottle stamped with the Red Cross
| sign, slung over their shoulders, marched
| briskly past carrying stretchers. Several
carts containing the royal trunks-''box-
es rather"-rolled by to the station, then
came detachment of the Life Guards
| with their brass helmets and black
| plumes, then of the Grenadier Guards
with their high black BUSHES, suggesting
| the glorious drum majors of ones youth
| full days! Carriages containing various
ambassadors and foreign potentates-the
| Kaiser'S son among them-and others
with the ladies-in-w waiting to the queen
and royal princesses passed to take the
earlier train to Windsor. AS the long
three hours and half wore on, the
| crowd began to get hungry. Various
packages were produced by those who
were not wedged in too tightly to get at
| them and a surreptitious lunch was
snatched The large majority. however,
| were in the condition described by Gold
smith about one hundred and fifty years
ago, the occasion being the Coronation of
George III.
| 20, Mr.. Printer, it had been a fine
sight indeed if there was but little more
eating. Instead of that there we sat
| penned up in our scaffoldings like sheep
upon market day in Smith6eld, but the
deYil OF thing could get to eat God
pardon me for swearing) except the
fragments of plum-cake. that was all
squeezed into crumbs in my wife's pocket
as she came through the crowd"
We however, were well cared for, and
with the constantly shifting panorama
outside, and inside, the comments of an
entertaining little English lad of ten who
sat on the step beside me, the time passed
so imperceptibly that the advance
guard of the procession was upon us be-
fore we realized it was actually after