New Britain herald., 1917-07-05
PARIS CELEBRATES FOURTH OF JULY
French Capital As Gay As Any
 American City


 turned out crowd that no American city ever surpassed for size, enthu- l siasm and profusion of Stars and : Stripes
 1 A battalion of the first American : expeditionary force about to leave for training behind the battle front
 had it's first official review in France and was the center of the celebration. l Everywhere the American flag WAS flying from public buildings, hotels and residences and from automobiles. cabs and carts. horses bridles-even the lapels of pedestrians coats dis
 played it.
 The crowds began early to gather at vantage points. Rue de Varenue i was choked long before o'clock in the morning, when the Republican Guards band called out a field reveilie 1 under General Pershing's windows. { All routes toward the Hotel des h. | valides were thronged even before Pershing's men turned out.
 About the Court of Honor where the Americans were drawn up with detachment of French Territorials the buildings overf1owed with crowd ed humanity to the roofs. All around the khaki-clad men from the United States were trophies and souvenirs of War-German cannon, airplanes, ma | chine guns and many appliances for ! burning suffocating gas. Behind them in the chapel separating the Court of Honor from Napoleon's tomb were German battle flags trophies of the Marne and Alsace, beside Prussan banners of 1870.
 In the chapel before the tomb of Napoleon General Pershing received American flags and banners flUm the hands of President Poincare. Almost the entire history of the struggles Of ] the French against the Germans l looked down upon the scene from paintings portraying heroic incidents | in French battles from Charlemagne l to Napoleon. There was sharp con- l trast between the khaki and plain l wide brimmed hats of Pershing's men and the gay dress of D'Artagnans l plumed musketeers and Napoleon's grenadiers.
 Review of U. S. Troops. The enthusiasm of the vast crowd reached it's highest pitch when Gen 1 eral Pershing. escorted by President Poincare., Marshal Joffre and other i high French dignitaries, passed along reviewing the lines of the Americans drawn up in square formations. Cheering broke out anew when the American band struck up The Mar seillaise," and again when the French 1o1 ner" and Pershing received the flags from the president
 "Vive les Americains:" ''Nive Per shing" "Vive les Etats-Unis" shouted over and over by the crowd greeted the American standard bear ] CTS they advanced.
 { The crowd that had waited three l hours to witness the ceremony that i was over in 15 minutes. surged to- ward the exit cheering frantically al- i ter the departing Americans and try l ing to break through a cordon of 1 police troops. Outside a greated crowd | that covered the entire Esplanade des l Invalides took up the cheers as ! Pershing's men marched away The crowd in the Court of Honor l tried to follow the soldiers. but the 1 throng outside was so dense and the
 exits so small that it was half an hour
 before the people could get out. The i Cours de la Reine from Alexander
 Bridge to the Place de Ia Concorde
 was black with people, all of whom
 seemed to want to rush up to the l men and embrace them as they 1 marched by. When the last man had 1 passed, great crowds surged from l both sides to the middle of the street. 1 breaking through the police military | guards and blocking traffic for
 long time behind the marching col7s 1 umn. % l More people were masseA Tn the 1 Tulleries Gardens than on the Es-
 planade destfnvalides. Few of them
 could get glimpse of the parade l but all joined in tremendous out
 burst of cheering when music from
 the Republican Guard band an-
 nounced the approach of the troops
 and the cheering did not diminish in
 volume until the last man in the line
 had disappeared from view of the Gardens down the Rue de Rivoli. 1 Press Celebrates.
 The French press observed the
 Fourth of July by filling many col
 umns with articles, photographs and
 cartoons giving every imaginable l kind of information in regard to 1 American customs and history.
 The Petit Parisien prints in large
 type, under the doupie- column head.
 ing "Vive FAmerique," sentiments
 expressed by Major Gen. Pershing,
 Ambassador Sharp, Marshal Joffre, ! Premier Ribot, Rene Viviani, minis
 ter of justice; Paul Painleve, minister
 of war; Prof. Henri Bergeson, and | others ....
 Major. Gen. iPershing says: This
 day Is the anniversary of the Dec
 laration of Independence by the Unit l Stafl al rlza he