The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-08-25

broad vistas of sky and river and
hill. One step this side of Paradise,
they wait here for death.
Their names? Let them be name
less. at their request. 1t is enough
to know that they are here, symbols
of the past, symbols of little people
looking for peace. To the credit
of the generals of the armies and
the admirals Of the navies and mar
shals of the air, they did not in
sist that these three very ancient
people be rudely put out, even If
world secrets were in the making,
even If ordinary people must stand
aside when great men pass or where
chosen leaders have affairs of state
to manage.
1T WAS AN ACT OF KINDNESS
to let the three very ancient people
remain, conference or no confer
ence They were off in quiet wing
of the big Chateau. One had to
be moved across hall; and guards
were posted, not to keep an eye
on the venerables, but to make sure
they were not disturbed. And they
will stay throughout the conference,
their every need catered to, while
about them plans are made to over
throw dictators, remake maps, and
build up new nations in bright fu-
ture which the three very ancient
people may not live to see.
Aside from these three, there was
no great problem in clearing the
Chateau for this military confer
ence.
Late in July, Prime Minister
Mackenzie King of Canada received
word to plan for the conference.
He took into his confidence the
Canadian under secretary of State,
DR.. E. H. Coleman, who had been
in charge of arrangements for the
Canadian tour of the British king
and queen in 1889. The Quebec
locale already had been determined
upon, and his excellency, the Earl
of Athlone, governor general of
Canada, had offered his summer
residence in the Quebec Citadel for
the use of Churchill, Roosevelt and
Mackenzie King. The problem then
was to find accommodations for the
500 or more military men. There
was only one place big enough to
hold them, and that was the Cha
teau F'rontenac.
1T THEN BECAME NECESSARY
for DR.. Coleman to take into his
confidence the owners of the hotel,
the Canadian Pacific Railroad. To
do that, he went to the chairman of
the board and told him he had a
great secret to impart.
IF it's a great secret" said the
chairman of the board, II don't want
to know it," The chairman of the
board just happened to be DR.. E. H.
Coleman's brother, D. c. Coleman.
HE is" says DR.. Coleman, "a very
shrewd man."
So the two brothers went away
for the weekend, and 1t happened
that, Of all places, they decided to
spend 1t at the Chateau Frontenac.
BY sign language, or whatever
means of communication DR.. Cole
man used, he made it clear with
out telling his secret that the hotel
would have to be emptied, and that
all reservations for a time In August
would have to be cancelled, even
though this was the height of the
vacation season and the hotel was
booked for its 100 beds and its 624
guest rooms. This news was broken
to the Chateau's manager, B. A.
Neale, on August LIST.
Neal naturally wanted to give his
guests as much warning as possible
But from the standpoint of security,
this had to be ruled out, and it
was not until August 6, a Friday
night, that the guests were notified
they would have to vacate by Sum-
day night, August 8. kilograms
were sent to cancel the reservations
of all the people looking forward
to two cool weeks in Quebec in the
middle of August.
"They all took it WE'LL" says DR..
Coleman. Many of them were peo-
pie of Importance, such as the
provincial treasurer of Quebec, poll
ticians and guests who had been
patrons of the hotel for years. After
the conference is over they'll get
an official letter from the Canadian
government, thanking them for NOV
ing out.
BUT EVEN BEFORE THE
GUESTS began to depart, the U. S.
Army began to move in. On August
8, detachment from the U. s.
CiOro1 CorpS foUar toL{po nvar