Evening star., 1926-11-14
BY SIR PHILIP GIBBS.

ONDON.-On the eighth an
niversary Of Armistioe day al
the nations who were in that
A@ war which ended then remem
hered again it's struggle. its
agony, it's ruin and its dead. In Eng
land that two minutes silence at II
O'Clock on that November morning is
most sacred and spiritual in it's cal
to recollection. In London in the
heart of traffic it is as though God sus
pended for those two minutes the
mighty pulse of life in that great city
No wheel turns. No engine throbS
This silence, intense and magical
frightens London's birds. accustomed
to the eternal roar, and only the f1ut
ter of their wings above the city roofs
is family heard by the millions OF
men standing bareheaded and motion
less.
But II is in the English countryside
that ones soul is most stirred. Some
distant siren sounds and the farm
laborers plowing the wet earth pull
up their horses and doff their caps
Old countrywomen walking to mar.
ket stand with their heads bowed
and their work-worn hands clasped
together. Last Armistice day 1 was
in n lonely road where only one
shepherd watched with a flock of
sheep and his busy dog. The clock
of the village church struck II, and
the shepherd spoke one word to his
dog and stood, leaning on his gnarled
stick. while the wet mist Crept about
us. His very sheep were still, and his
dog glared up at his face, startled by
his masters immobility.
World BlOtted Out.
In those two minutes of remem-
brance one does not think, find. One
only has a ysenSe of pity for what
happened ana for those young dead
of ours, and for human life One feels
like weeping and does not weep. Some
awareneSS of spiritual, other worldly
things blots out ones little, daily,
trivial interests uncannily for those
two minutes in our working year.
Broadly speaking, Europe. including
most of those nations which were
stricken by war, has recovered from
what at one time looked like a mortar
disease.
Austria, Poland. modern Russia
have survived their blackest periods
Human industry has achieved great
things in restoring wars worst raw
ages, in overcoming economic stagna-
ton. Germany today has changed
since that fever-stricken time when
French troops occupied the Ruhr and
German money was worthless. There
is as much unemployment in Ger.
many as in England, but apart from
that drawback the German people
are happy with a sense of solid Sc
curity and the hope of prosperous
days ahead. The German peasant OF
workman who has made marks on
Monday goes to bed that night know
ing that on Tuesday morning he will
still have marks, worth as much as
on the previous day. He knows the
worth of his industry, and one won
ders whether humanity has learned
anything from that world conflict, or
whether we are heading again for
war: whether any progress is being
made toward recovery from ruin and
toward international good will.
What is the answer to those ques-
ttons on this eighth anniversary of
the armistice? For four, five or six
years they could not be answered
with any certainty or hope. There
was so much international hatred and
folly that one underestimated our
own recovery from ruin and the
forces working quietly for reconstruc-
ton and sanity and economic wealth.
Now this year, after that two min
utes' silence, one IS able to answer
those questions with less fear and
with a. more certain faith that at last