Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-07-05
LONDON GOES WILD
ATPEACE REVEL
Australians and Americans
Leaders in Joyous
Celebration.
BY GORDON STILES.
Special Gable to The Star and the Chi
cnEo Daily News. COpyri-ht, 1919.

LONDON. June % (delayed).-A gun
roared in the heart of London From
the wide circle which marks Ihe out
skirts came thee dull boom of other
guns. Eight million people gave an
air raid" start Then s 900. 600 people
smiled. "Ah-h-h.' that is the way it
went, Peace had come-peace after
five years Of kaiser begotten hell.
And the celebration was on. Not an
official celebration-I believe that is
slated for later date. Last night it
was -as-you-please affair. and
that is the way folks went The guns
were fired at 800 pm, and from that
time on the formula for rejoicing
changed with the hour
People Flock to Streets.
First the people fiocked outdoors
Every house yielded its quota. and
converging operations were carried
out against the center of the town.
which, on such occasions, reyolves
around Trafalgar Square. Extreme
youth had its innings early. The prop
er amount of noise was provided by
the Boy Scouts, who modified an
amazing number of drums and bugles
and marched. thumped and blew their
way all over the place. The crowds
were sympathetic, but left the volume
of sound to the scouts. Ybu see it
was not yet 6 O'Clock, and to cheer
properly one must-Well, it was not
yet o'clock. All the tick lers' saved
from the armistice night were in use,
while the favorite means of mildly
Fostering ones ncighbor was seen in
thousands of soft balls on the end of
rubber. which were bobbing about
everybody's ears all the time.
Children "Shooed" Home.
Then the clock struck s. The reluc-
tant children were shooed or dragged
home, the taxicab men removed their
vehicles to the safety of the garages
and the Australians came out. And
while the sun was still coming through
the windows on a slant the public
houses tbars) went dry. Then every
and soon the restaurants went dry.
But the people wen& there just the
same. They could cheer better now
and they did. The restaurant is a
good place in which to cheer. Beside
they wanted place to sit down, and
1t could not be done on the curb or on
steps. The curbs had become only
imaginary lines. Nobody could bend
or he would have been sorry for it.
You see in the Strand. Trafalgar
Square, Piccadilly and other places
where restaurants abound there were
so many people that nobody could
walk anywhere. And everybody
wanted to walk somewhere and every
body did walk somewhere, although
he couldn't. So If he walked into a
restaurant it was because it was the
only place where he could go for the
moment.
Eating was abandoned. You couldn't
do 1t. If walters succeeded in break
ing through, somebody was sure to
sit on your steak and put an elbow
in your Strawberries and cream. Sc
the logical thing to do was to look
sadly into the glass where the nectar
of peace had been and howl Every
body howled, too, and all We're very
happy.
Outside searchlights We're waving
their brilliant tentacles in grotesuue
patterns over the sky. The Australians
were marching down the Strand sis.
abreast. leaving many casualties In
their wake.