ARMISTICE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 141, 18 December 1928, Page 9

ARMISTICE DAY

SCENES IN LONDON FESTIVAL OF THANKSGIVING SERVICE IN THE ABBEY- • (From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, 13 th November. Beside the ceremony at tho Cenotaph last Sunday there was the usual service at Westminster Abbey. In tho afternoon a great audience assembled at a meeting organised by the vicar of St.. 'Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar square. The proceedings at tho foot of the Nelson Memorial, it is understood, were heard clearly by wireless in Wellington. A fitting conclusion to the Day of Remembrance was reached nt the Albert Hall, when the King and Queen and some 10,000 of their subjects joined in a festival of thanksgiving and memory organised by the British Legion and the "Daily Express." "Remember this day" was tho text from which the Dean of Westminster preached at the service in the Abbey that led to the observance of tho Silence, and the renewal of homage by an ordered multitude, who filed by the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior. During this early part of the service the space round tho Unknown Warrior's Tomb had been kept free. At the head of the tomb rested a wreath of immortelles laid there, a few days ago by Princess Beatrice as a tribute from tlio Yprcs League. Tho. great brass plate covering tho tomb had a simple border of Flanders poppies. The Dean spoke of the moment when they would stand in silence around the grave of that Unknown Warrior who represented more than a million British dead. What, he asked, would the thoughts be there and throughout the ■land at the hour when ten years ago the hideous agony'of fighting and killing ceased. Remember, ho said, the spirit that forced the war to an issue, "when people willingly offered themselves," and thank God for that spirit which was shown then and is still with us. Concentrate on that thought. We ire not thanking God to-day for an unusual, abnormal, temporary display of courage, but for the courage, endurance, and goodwill which showed itself in the- war and is characteristic of the great people to which we belong. A generous foe, in a book lately published on the British character, has said that "to understand that character you must realise that the Briton is a man who would rather lose the game than break, the rules." That' goes straight home. That is the spirit that is in the people, always ready to be called out, a spirit that rises abovo selfinterest, and is ready i* need be to give all. The pilgrimage to the Cenotaph and tho Abbey continued throughout the afternoon 'and evening. As it approached midnight there' were still people round the Cenotaph sheltering under umbrellas from the seething rain. WAS IT WORTH WHILE? Preaching at St.. Paul's Cathedral, the Archbishop of York (ArchbishopDesignate of Canterbury) referred to the bravery and self-sacrifice which met the onslaught of war, and asked: "Were they worth while'" "Surely,'? he said, "the answer must be, must ever be, a strong and thankful 'Yes.' To answer otherwise would be to wrong not only the memory of the dead, but the heart of tho living. On this Day of Remembrance now and in future. years, two duties arc : laid upon us. We must be loyal to each. One 3nemory is to record afresh our increasing thankfulness for what these men have nobly wrought. The second duty is to dedicate ourselves afresh to the task of vindicating the sacrifice and completing their work; and this cannot be done until war, and the fear of war, liave vanished from tho earth. "It is idle to think that the instincts of self-preservation and the memory of the hours of the war will suffice, for memories are short and passion sweeps self-interest before it. Can wo ever trust to the restraint of treaty obligations? Fourteen years ago we learned how ambition and fear will break them. No; for a spiritual contest only a spiritual force can avail. Therq must be a .faith, a loyalty, strong enough to grasp and hold a man's whole self, his instincts as well as his mind and conscience. Such a faith, such a loyalty, tho Gospel—the good news—of Christ can inspire." KING AND HIS SUBJECTS. • At the Albert Hall in tho evening tho old marching songs and hymns of romembranco constituted the festival. Down the centre of the aislo a sandbagged communication trench led up to a huge dugout, over which, covering the organ, was the largest Union Jack ever made. A fanfare of trumpets from the sixteon State trumpeters greeted the King and Queen as, accompanied by the Duke and Duchess of York, they entered the Royal box. "God Save the King" was sung by the 10,000, followed by three resounding cheers for Their Majesties, and a special one demanded from tho gallery for the absent Prince of Wales. After tho songs, sung by the vast assembly, came Remembrance—remembrance of comrades who gave all. Sullivan 's "In Memoriam" and Chopin's "Funeral March" were followed by prayers led by the Bishop of London. Then came thirty seconds of poignant silence, followed by the culminating crescendo of "O God, Our Help in Ages Past." Earl Jellicoe, president of the British Legion, iv a brief address, asked his audicuec to take its mind back to those days when tho people were very near to one another in Empire-wide brotherhood. He asked them to pledge themselves to keep that spirit better alive in the years to come in peace as in war, and to work for tho common good of Great Britain and, tho Empire, determined to work unceasingly for peace so that such horrors could never bo repeated. POPPY DAY. On Saturday, 10th November, Flanders poppies were sold in all parts of the country. Somo 32,000,000 were available—3,ooo,ooo more than last year —in the United- Kingdom and at 28.0 centres overseas. The Archbishop of Canterbury, in deference to a wish expressed by Earl Haig, shortly before ho died, authorised collections iv all churches. Ever since the poppy became tho national symbol of remembrance, .the annual appeal has met with a continually increasing response. By increments averaging £70,000, the yearly collection ha 3 risen from £160,000—tho proceeds of the first Poppy Day in 1921—until last year tho total reached £520,000. MAKING THE BOXES. Ex-service men with only ono arm arc now able to take part in the work of tho British Legion poppy factory at Richmond. New machinery, which can be worked with ono hand, has recently been fitted. In this machinery the usual swing of the flywheel has been Ti'placed by a method less dangerous to disabled men. The belt is carefully protected. There is still a slight risk of injury to men engaged in wire- . stitching tho boxes. Recently one of the workers pierced his finger with the wire. The new machinery is in three parts; one for bending tho cardboard, another for slotting, and the third for stitching.: Hundreds of boxes can. be made in a day, and the mr*n arc able to

supply their poppy factory with boxes which formerly were obtained from outside sources. THE KING'S POPPIES. It is too early yet to say whether tho Prince of Wales's fervent hope that there would be no decrease in the "wonderful generosity" shown on Poppy Da/ will bo realised. The honour of soiling, poppies to tin King and Queen fell to Miss Victoria Lloyd, one of the London sellers. She called, wth her tray at Buckingham Palace soon, after Their Majesties' return to town from a visit to Elveden Hall, Suffolk, and was at once shown to the Royal apartments, where she was received by the King and Queen. Two poppy sellers waited for some time outside No. 10, Downing Street, determined to sell the Premier a poppy. When lie and Mrs. Baldwin went to the door both smiled and bought poppies. Mr. Baldwin drew soitio Treasury notes from his pocket and handed them over as a poppy was placed in his buttonhole. "Well, I suppose I can go and do some work now," he remarked with a smile as the girls thanked him and withdrew. A city man who wished to remain anonymous sent £3000 to the Poppy Day headquarters in Portland place, W. No less welcome was a small boy's gift of 252 farthings (5s 3d) which he had collected. The donor was aged five. These instances give some idea of "how all classes of people were doing their bit," said Captain Wileox, the secretary of thy organisation. Earl Jellicoe, president of the British Logiou, edited a special issue of the Gaumont Graphic news film to mark the tenth anniversary of the Armistice, and in that connection wrote this message to the nation:— "As president of the British Legion, L am happy to associate myself with thiy, the great Armistice number of Gauniont Graphic, which adequately covers, I think, the atmosphere of the day of poignant memories— a day which, with its solemn meaning, will, I fervently hope, never cease to bo commemorated. "Bound up, as it is, with the activities of Earl Haig's Poppy Fund for relief work among ex-service men of all ranks, I cannot conclude without voicing, on behalf of 'the legion,' my sincere appreciation of the great response —increasing every year—of British citizens everywhere." . • ABMISTICE DAY INCIDENTS. . The pilot of an air liner which was flying from Cologne to London at the time of tho Great Silence shut off his two powerful engines, and the machine glided quietly through the air for two minutes, the passengers in the big cabin standing bare-headed until the engines were restarted. At Folkestone on Sunday night, on the highest point of the cliff oast of tho town, a brilliant flare was lit after 8 o'clock, whilst on the other side of tho Channel at Boulogne answering flares were burned at the same time.