Elko independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1915-current, 1917-09-10
LONDON MAKESA HOLIDAY WHEN -.
AMERICANS PARADE TROUGH STREETS
City Adopts Yankee Boys Who March to Yankee Tunes And
Thrill the Popuace With Meaning of Their Coming


been Ec:mitted 10 march the streets
in sunlight. To their mysterious and
appointed end they stole away in the
lonely darkness of night. and no voice
cheered them and no hand held theirs
in greeting or farewell Since then
the official mind has learned to think
little differently-a little more sym
pathetically. perhaps. So it was given
TO us TO greet America as we might
have greeted the British soldiers, and
all cur hidden pride and restrained
enthusiasm burst forth yesterday and
,=cTe ofrreed freely 10 the American
soldiers whom we surely may also
all ours"
IL they were not ours before, they
became ours yesterday. We adopted
them; they became something more
TO US than soldiers. In those hours
OF great cheering a sense of intimate
kinship was born that will outlast the
aeonies of war.
IL was not, in the superficial mean
ing. picturesque procession. But il
was intensely moving, very inspiring.
and there could be no greater message
of cheer and consolation in time OF
war-weariness than the message in
the eyes and in the gait of every
American soldier who passed through
our city yesterday. That message was
We mean to see it through"
London Makes Holiday
Very early in the morning people
discovered their view points and wait
ed patiently, watching the enormous
crowds that Joined them. Traffic was
diverted or stopped altogether. Shops
were shut and business was suspend.
ed. And later the meeting of the war
cabinet itself was adjourned so that
the prime minister and his colleagues
might become as the people Of the
streets, making greeting to the men
who mean to see il through"
sion. Following was the band of the
Life Guards--and then came the
Americans. Londoners are not very
ready TO cheer. Theirs is the way of
silent tribute. But yesterday they for
got the silly traditions of British re
serve. They might have been Irish oT
italian in their wild enthusiasm. For
as the first Americans were seen
| cheers were raised such as have never
been heard in London.
Along the roadway, strewn with tn,
petals Of roses flung by women, tn,
| Americans marched. In the distanC,
! they looked a little like Austrians
They wore the familiar slouch hat tied
with red cord. canvas CATERS, and they
carried their rifles with all the neat
ness of the experienced campaigner
Stern. grave of face they were look
! ing straight ahead, as il conscious o.
the stupendous Importance of theil
mission. II seemed. indeed, as If Il
them this was as much the road {,
war as the shell.broken. dusty high
ways Of France.
SaIuting "oId Glory"
Louder and still louder rose tn
cries as the Stars and Stripes came II
view. Soldiers in the crowd saluted
men raised their hats, and womeI
! threw their flowers and waved thcil
handkerchiefs and some Of then
| sobbed happy tears Of pride such a'
no man or woman need remembeI
! with shame.
At intervals passed the bands o
the Grenader guards. the Irish guards
with their killed pipers, the Welsl
and the Scots guards, while Hag.bear
crs with the Stars and Stripes and. II
one instance with the regimental colo
OF the unit to which most Of the mel
belong. headed detachments.
You could not discover an Amer
can type" Most OF the men wcr
clean shavcn, finely built and straigh
of limb but all the races whlc'
make the nation such delightful an
In some way such complex rae
were there. There were men OF Iris
ancestry, and there were men who's
fathers, In the long ago came fror
Germany. Today OF course, they ar
Americans. and Americans of the mos
undoubtcd loyalty. But the faces @
the men in the great procession wer
very different. and did net approx
mate to any given type, and It wa
] deeply interesting to see the varyin
I characteristics that have built up tC
days America
with precise determined step tn
\ troops swung along Piccadily To Hyd
Park corner and ourled round Gro
7 .nor gardens. And still the me