Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-12-31
Continued from Yesterdays star.)

whether 1t was that the leading
lights of the troupe slowly awoke to
realization of the failure of the
snow, and took swift measures to
rescue the situation, or that the whole
boring of the audience was calculated
Tor frightening the intended sur
prise, is a matter on which we are
not prepared to express an opinion.
II Is sufflcfent to say that when the
other occupants of the hall woke up
and found the stars of the Front
Bench all confessing the real signifi-
canoe OF their earlier efforts by hay-
Ing had their faces burnt-corked, a
shout OF laughter went up which bade
fair TO wreck the house The pity is
that the management did not intro
duce the surprise earlier in the eve
ming instead OF taking such elaborate
measures to secure one big laugh.
1t would have given point to the CO.
incident occurrence which was taxi
ing place In the city.
With a modesty not habitual in
popular entertainers, however, the
leaders OF the troupe have emphati-
cally disclaimed all knowledge of how
the delightful surprise was worked
and even have tried to attribute the
happy inspiration OF the burnt cork
to the visitors to the Bank of Eng
land. In their haste to be so wonder
fully modest they have almost an air
or wishing to convey the impression
that their efforts in the earlier part
OF the evening composed a serious at
tempt to reduce the air services of
the country. That the st. Stephens
troupe has some sort of right to dis
cuss such an important matter cannot
be denied. But IL the troupe really
IN TO ,I,
tional question, and really was deter
mined that the air service Of the
country should be reduced, in the face
of the outrage on the Bank of Eng
land-which might readily have been
prevented by an adequate air patrol
their participation in the affair passes
beyond a Joke. II is no joke for the
country to be deprived of a million
pounds sterling while black-faced
Ministries occupy seats that once were
filled by statesmen. and handle mat
tiers affecting the country's veal with
the absurd insouciance peculiar to
There has been a growing feeling
throughout the country that ST. Ste
phen's Is hardly the place for anti
quated forms of amusement, and that
the old hall should be brought back
to it's one-time dignity as chamber
for the serious and considered gov
eminent of the nation. Sharing this
feeling. we venture the hope that
this last effort on the part of the Min
strel Troupe may prove laughable
enough to laugh them from their
benches. Should this contamination
be reached, we Cor one will be apt to
reconsider our opinion and regard the
joke-for joke IT then will be-as
the only one we have ever encoun-
tered that really is worth a million
British sovereigns."
The other opposition journals did
not see the affair quite that way, but
they all made the most of 1t in their
own manner. 1t seemed TO me more
than likely hat the English cabinet
would be laughed out of Office.
BY the time 1 had got through all
the Sunday papers and found that
none of them had anything to add to
the details Sir Thomas Basildon had
given about the Paris and Berlin
raids 1 was due to relieve Milliken.
1t was close on l o'clock, London
time, and perfect flying weather.
There was hardly a cloud in the sky,
bowl. deep blue in the center and
shading off to a delicate green at the
sharp edge of the horizon.
We had left the police machines far
behind US, but we were passing over
a British warship, to US merely a
gray dot with a widening streak of
white behind 1t. Farther ahead on
the sea q series of sinister black
shapes was spread out on wide line,
their wakes so definite and the black
smears of smoke athwart them so
copious that we knew them for de-
stroyers travelling at full speed.
Later, when from a gray shape below
US white f1eck parted, pickering in
the sun, only experience told US that
the ship was a plane carrier and the
pickering speck one OF her machines
taking off. But though we must have
been in sight on such clear day, we
passed unchallenged. Time went on.
and these ships of war lay far be-
hind US over the edge of the sea, and
only now and then would we see the
squat shape of freighter, the more
graceful lines of the passenger ship
these in the slow, placid pursuit of
their lawful occasions.
Noon overlook US after about four
hours flying, about 2 o'clock by the
Greenwich time on the control board,
and after that the sun Increased his
lead south of US until his angle mar
rowed almost to dead ahead. We kept
strict watch for the airship until
after by our clock, and, giving her
amazing dirigfble speed Of 500 kilo-
meters an hour, by that time we
should have overtaken her, supposing
she had left Paris shortly after 4 IN
the morning. But the sky remained
clear of aircraft until the time when
we came upon American machines.
with warships'in convoy, throwing q
Gordon round the Atlantic seaboard.
BY then we had made landfall with
Cape Race and little more than two
hours later we were lowering down
into Gardiner Bay, Long Island. had
had a radio put through to my father
saying when we might be expected
and he was there on the jetty to
shake Milliken and myself by the
hand when we landed. The clock in
the hall at Hazeldene was striking
when I sat down there for a rest
and a yarn with the old man.
III.
MY father listened with his usual
quiet to all I had to tell, only put