Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-11-25

worn on your head as civilian.
It's made of thin steel and inside
there is heavy headband suspend
ed from the steel, so that when you
wear it the stiff band circles your
head and holds the helmet a fraction
of an inch away from your scalp. 1t
has chin band which you're sup
posed to put on so that conclusion or
being knocked or throwing yourself
down does not remove the steel pan
cake. Service steel helmets are
khaki-colored and apt to have the
top surface sanded. Air raid war
dens' are painted blue with initials
A. R. w. in white. Hides was black
and looked somewhat feminine, but
was just as heavy. After you've
worn one for some time, If you're
not used to it, it gives you head
ache. But we kept them on in shell
tiers because we decided they made
us look less like Summers and more
like officials.
To the East End.
Hide, whose mind is always made
up, had decided that I should see the
worst shelters first. She gave the
driver an address in the East End. I
shall call it the Isle of Dog Shelter,
because people from the Isle of Dog,
which is part of the East End, go
there and because if the Germans do
not know where so many people are
concentrated under one not entirely
adequate roof, have no interest in
telling them-and I keep remember
ing that Dick Boyer reported all the
foreign news in PM was wirelessed
daily to Berlin.
It was a long drive from the hotel
A long drive through the deserted,
darkened streets of a city being
bombed from the air is an expert
ence. The driver never stopped to
ask the way and proceeded at be-
tween 20 and 80 miles an hour.
Strange objects rushed by us in the
dark, buildings were suddenly sill
houetted and the sky lit from time
to time by the flashes of guns. Once
q thin layer of clouds quite high up
began to glow and everyone said
"Oh," and pointed. 1t was a flare
coming down from plane above.
1t went out when it hit the clouds.
London's traffic lights, red, green
and yellow like ours, were little red,
green or yellow crosses, visible only q
few blocks away. They pulled us up
at silent, deserted crossings, flicked
us on again down empty boulevards.
When you get to the Isle Of Dog
Shelter you have some trouble find
ing the entrance. We walked along
from the car poking at dead shut
tered windows and bolted doors with
flashlights screened with our hands.
Queue Problem Settled.
When we found it we went down
a long damp flight of stairs at the
bottom of which we found small
cubby hole office with counter
window in it, several policemen and
wardens standing about. Hide took
charge and told one that she was
from the Express He went away
and came back with another man
who was the head warden. We were
all introduced informally. I asked
him how many people there were in
the shelter, which we could not see
from where we stood.
He said, "Only about 5000 now.
We should only have half that.
That is, that's about the area that's
approved. There were so many they
One end hasn't much cover, you
know. Just some sheds above it."
We started walking with him
while Hide and I asked him ques-
lions. Yes, as far as he could tell
the same people came back every
night. No, they didn't have to queue
I'D as much as they used to. Hid
explained that the queueing problem
people standing in line all day to
go back into the shelter they had
Just left had passed its acute stage.
Something was being done about it..
Something" was a system of regis
tration and numbering and assign
ing of places so an individual or q
family needn't worry about getting
their places back each night.
The warden said, 1--WE call that
end of the shelter the Ritz. Well
come back around by it."
Carpets Of Humans.
We had been walking down .
dimly lighted hall. Suddenly we
came into a great cavernous room.
1t had been the subcellar basement
of some commercial establishment
and along one side were rows OF
wagons-flat-bottomed wagons with
enormous wheels. In parts Of the
cellar there were counters raised a
few feet from the ground.
It was impossible to take in the
whole room. My memory OF the
place is confused and as I think OF
it the memory Of individuals is
stronger than the memory of the
whole. You cannot take in the con-
cept Of thousands upon thousands
of people sleeping in dim-lit cave.
The room into which we had just
arrived was simply carpeted, blan-
keted, draped with people.
They lay in long rows the length
of the counters. They filled the
wagons with arms and legs and
heads sticking over the tops. They
sat propped against the wheels OF
the wagons. They balanced mirac-
ulously on the whifletrees. They
were under the wagons, packed into
each other. remember an old lady,
bolt upright, in a kitchen chair
with black shawl wrapped around
her.
In the open places they lay in
rows with just room enough for us
to walk down aisles lined by badly
shod, twisted, sprawled feet. It was
still only about 10 o'clock, but about