The Washington times., 1921-11-13

contingents were rich with assO-
citation and suggestion. There were
fifty or sixty very old men, bent,
white headed, one with a conspicu-
GUS long. white beard, veterans of
a civil war that was fought out to
an end before was born. They
came close to q contingent of men
who had been Specially decorated
in the great war. erect and eager,
still on the better side of the prime
Of life. They had fought In a grea-
fight against a division. separa-
tion, that today, thanks to their
sacrifices, has become inconceivabls.
Tho rad fought to seal the Federal
Union y what were else warning
states
The young men who marched
before them hsd fought in a war
upon a greater stage Of Old
World Some day the tale Of
those abundant haroes will have
shrunken 20 the DIMENSIONS ,of
that. little band II pathetic aud
CLOUDY old men. WHl they live u
as obmplete an assurance that their
cause also has been won forever, the
newer veterans ~ union
that has yet to 60 81
There were. MAJ W. - of con.
trast between the c. -ionv / wiz
messed Friday IN the graceful marble
ampitheater in the beautiful Virginia
open country and tho bgrials that
have taken placa in the very hearts
Of London. PaI s and Rome In che
face of a common identity of idea.
they mark an essential difference In
the nature of the occasion.
Crowds Bespeak approval.
On Thursday want - see the peo-
ple who were fling past the flag
orered rpifiI}. II WIS a crowd
fairly represe ntaSve,f thought. ct
the Washington poniiation as one
sees It on the streets. all classes
were represer ed. but chiefly it con-
sisted OF thai weli-dressed. healthy
looking middle clasea sort of people
who predominant in the streets OF
most American cities. They cameo
honor a national hero. the person
itication Of American co Irage and
loyalty. Few, think, we're actual
mourners OF a dead soldier. The
couples and sroups7 Of people ! saw
hlrrying UP the sloping paths II
the entrance OF the Capitol, filing up
the steps to the Rftunds or dispers-
ing on the other side. we're charac-
terized by sort o. bright eagerness
and approval
They contrastoI very strongly
with my memort 0, the great
column of still and tno- nful people
under the dark LoT IA SKY, eight
deep, stretching ~. ~ Whitehall
and down Nor RAJ 90 Land avenue
and along the en- gar MT. q @, INN
which moved OIL u ~, step by
step, and which faded away at night
to be replaced by fresh mourners
on the morrow, to do honor TO the
Unknown warrior in London That
crowd, with it's wreaths and flowers,
represented the families, the Ioa1qrS,
the sisters and friends Of perhaps
a quarter Of a million OF dead men
from London and the South and
centre of England; the masseC mute
tragedy of it's loss was overwl elm
ing. 1t reduced all the ceremony
that had gathered 1t to comparative
unimportance. But the remote dis
tances of America forbade any such
concentration OF sorrow. There
may have been the relations and
friends of a thousand men at most
upon the scene at Arlington. The
loss of the District Of Columbia itself
was less than six hundred killed.
A group Of wounded men In the
amphitheater struck the most inti-
mate note. The rest Of the gather
ing at Arlington shared less per-
sOnal grief. They were sympathi-
zers rather than sufferers.
Holiday For Most Spectators.
Because of this emotional differ
ence, the Arlington ceremony pre-
scented itself primarily as a cere-
mony. For most there, 1t was .
holiday, fine and noble holiday,
but a holiday. BY it, America did
not so much mourn the tragedy
of war as seek to arouse itself to
that tragedy. Everywhere the
Stars and Stripes. the most decora-
tive and exhilarating OF national
flags, waved and fluttered, and an
irresistible expression OF Americas
private life and buoyant well-being.
mingled in the proceedings. For
most Of the gathering, that coffin
under the great flag held nothing
they had ever touched personally;
II was not Americas lost treasure
of youth but rather warning of
the fate that may yet overtake the
youth OF America IL war il not to
end. At Arlington, throughout the
length and breadth of America,
when. for two minutes at midday,
all work and movement stopped
and America stood still, an innum.
cradle host of fathers and mothers,
and wives and friends could wills.
per thanks to God In their hearts
that. their sons and their beloved
rema ined alive.
And / suppose II Is largely be-
cause America Is still so much less
war stricken than any of the other
belliserents Of the great war, that
so much more powerful a sense of
will was apparent in all these pro-
ceedings. The burial OF the I'M
known soldier In America was not
a thing In itself as II was in Lon
don. in Paris. or Rome; II was a
solemn prelude to action. the &C
ton OF the great conference which