The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-11-12
PATHOS IN JOY AS
WOMEN CELEBRATE
Tears Are Few but Recall the
Sacrifices Made by Wives
and Mothers.
ALL DIGNITY is BURIED
Loss Of $50 Hat Is Nothing to
Bother About, One Girl
Decides.

rejoicing multitude that moved up and
down. UP and down under tho sunny sky
and the fiuttering flags. group Of
young girls walked yesterday. They had
none Of the noisemaking instruments
with which all New York smote the air
from long before dawn until late at
night. and they carried no emblems save
knots Of red. white and blue. but there
was no one who woke n deeper answer
ing thrill in the hearts of the vast
crowds than they did. And 1t was just
the simple phrase hastily linked on the
square OF white pasteboard one of them
bore on a pole "a window pole from
some office. pressed into service)--
THANK GOD"
Jew and Gentle, agnostic, church
member--men and women Of hundred
varying faiths or of no faith at all
looked upon those words and realized
that It expressed their feelings. too. For
under the laughter and good natured
bufoonery, the jostling, the exuberance
in which city spoke It's happiness, there
were few hearts that did not silently
give thanks to whatever to them Is the
All Highest for the knowledge that men
no longer were spilling one another's
blood In war.
Women threw themselves into yester-
days celebration with the same ardor as
men. II they had men to cling to they
chung. and those whose escorts were SOL
diers or sailors were naturally shade
prcuder than the others; but the lone
woman wasn't going to stay or the
streets on the greatest day in all his
tory. just because she was alone. What
did II matter II she was showered with
confetti, and inebriated gentlemen
chucked her under the chin. and the
crowds knocked the breath from her?
Why. near the Public Library on Fifth
avenue beautifully dressed young
woman's hat. which couldn't have cost
less than $50, was knocked from her
head by jubilant shop girl who was
slyly aiming at a mans derby, but some
how missed. The $50 creation OF an ex-
pensive milliner fell underfoot and was
ruined, but did Its possessor mourn
for ~
No. for that minute she came abreast
or an elderly woman with n gold star
on the black band on her sleeve. The
eyes OF the two women met, those of the
elder shining through tears, and the
younger woman passed on, murmuring
to her companion:
whats the loss OF q winter hat,
when women have given their sons to
bring this day."
II was day whose Joy was shot
with sorrow for women peculiarly, for.
judging from the remarks here and
there. somehow they little more keenIy
than men could feel for those whose
sons will never come back. One of the
mothers whose sons will not return stood
nf
shabby. wistful figure In black. She
ran an elevator in an Office building.
she told the woman standing at her ell
bow; had been doing II ever since
Jimmy enlisted for her husband was
an invalid and the family had to be sup
ported.
He ''Took the War Serious"
"Jimmy'd enjoy this" she said, her
FADED eyes on the throngs that were
pressing past, girls dancing along linked
arm In arm with laughing lads in blue or
khaki, men bearing aloft the Kaiser's
coffin, hundred parades of various
sorts merged into one vast parade of
giadness.
Jimmy was n great one for cutting
up. He was such a one for laughing
and Joking that his Pa and I was sur
prised that he took the war go serious
But he did he went out and enlisted
riEht Off when President Wilson declared
war, and his Pa and was right glad,
We wouldn't have felt right to object
Jimmy was In the fight at Shatter
The-ary, and his captain wrote about
now brave he was. I s'pose he's buried
there in France, and l can stand not
being able to put flowers on his grave
but when l see all these young chaps
capering along to-day and remember
how Jimmy cut up whenever there was
the least excuse. seems like I can most
SEQ him smiling and laughing in this
crowd, and I can't hardly stand it."
Il got one boy buried over there; but
got two coming back, though one of
them has lost a leg" It was a woman
next her who was talking. 80 I'm
luckier than you, you poor soul"
She put her hand on the sleeve OF the
woman elevator runner; but the latter
was able to extract some philosophy out
OF the situation.
We'll. We Amt felt It like France and
England. where there amt no men left
at all hardly" she said.
Mourners Not Numerous.
But the number OF gold stars and
mourning bands abroad was very. very
small. Most of those who have lost
their soldiers stayed at home out Of the
celebration. it seemed. and since New
York reaches the end of the war with
many homes mercifully untouched there
were enough happy ones to FIJI the
streets and make them. to those who
looked from upper windows, like moy-
ing rivers of human heads. II was
a Joyous day for the myriads Of shop girls
and office girls and factory girls, who
set free by the closing of nearly every
business door in the lower part of the
city, rushed forth like 80 many Pippas,
end proceeded to make day OF IL.
as II like Pippa they would never have
another. And they never will have
another like yesterday
Vendors charged them double prices
for flags. and they paid out their scant
coins freely. Jaw, what do I care?"
laughed one black eyed little boxmaker
when the girls with her warned her
that the tiny Stars and Stripes she was
paying 20 cents for should be purchased
for a dime. what do I care? / should
worry. The wars over, and Joe's COM
ing home, and wen be married. and now
I'm going out to have a good time"
She linked arms with n good looking
young sailor who seemed to spring up
from nowhere (maybe he looked like
joel. and other sailors and soldiers mys-
teriously appeared to link arms with her
girl companions One of the number
hoisted a plaCard inscribed:
st took AMERICANS to musel the
dog that TRIED TO BITE The WORLD"
and they danced off along East Broad
way.
Trucks Carry Riotous Freight.
Girls chung precarlously on bumpine.