BACK FROM THE EAST

Evening Star, Issue 18043, 10 August 1922, Page 7

BACK FROM THE EAST

THE PEKOE'S WELCOME, LONDON’S ROAR OF CHEERS. THE CHILDREN’S SHARE. The Prince ’drove through a green London. If tho planners of his route had desired before everything to remind him of what tho town can be like in Juno they could not have designed better. When at the Marble Arch be passed into the Parle it was verdure, verdure-tend Queen Alexandra’s roses—all tho way. Then ho left Piccadilly just where the trees are interrupted, ana soon’ came on them again in the Mall. It was tho very way any Englishman, after long .travels in the East, would Lave chosen for re-entering London. People had 1 been waiting for hours to see and cheer him. They caught only a : glimpse, but it rewarded their patience, ! First the glitter and radiance of tho Lite Guards, looking all the doer for the verdant background. Then four figures in a.ni open carriage—the King and his three sons. Finally, another batch of red tunics, bright cuirasses, and teasing plumes. Only that; but it was the prettiest sight London has staged for a long time; or, cay, one of tho two prettiest, remembering ; Princess Mary’s wedding. Father and son, | both in naval uniforms, sat side by side; i opposite them, sons and brothers, and sa' uufeignedly glad were they to bo together | again, and to have their joy shared by the : thousands around them, that King and ; Prince wore almost forgotten in the humaft | relationship. His Majesty beamed as he j acknowledged tho roared and waved salu- j tationa, while tho Prince smiled coniinu- ■ ously with that air of shyness which, is y part of Iris charm, and which experience of; the ends of the earth proves happily: powerless to rub away. -

The manner of the King and Prince— * of the father and son— was in itself a ; testimony to the affectionate loyalty of ; the subject. It said, as manner can say ou : occasion more powerfully than words, that they were sure everybody was as de- ; lighted as themselves. The method ‘of ; salutation might be conventional, but there : was,, no formality. Never did schoolboys , coming home for holidays—if we may make the -comparison with all respect—betray their pleasure with loss of the spirit' of constraint than the occupant of the Throne and its Heir, It was all—yes, very- jolly indeed. Mores it was a perfect illustration, in its outward dignity and underlying happiness, of the relation between the Koyai House and wide England.

Wide England, we say, though it is not really very wide, because so ml**/ had come to London from various parte of the country, some of them quite distant, to welcome the Prince. Those of the visitor.:who had not before known London musthave carried -away a fine idea..of its placid gaiety. For, without violent excitement, at showed yesterday a summer spectacle of beauty, sane pleasure, ease, and tolerance. The crowds everywhere were full of color. They needed no'control, but did as they were bidden like very godchildren at a party. Good temper reigned, and (if it may bo whispered) much sentiment. Even tho hardest Northerner who. saw the signs could not help forgiving London for themultitudinous little bits of evidence it offered of its love for tho Prince, tho wandering Heir, now returned in safety; from bis Ambassadorial travels.

Perhaps Die hardest Northerner may' have thought tho artificial decoration ak little thin.' But surely no more was neccs-ii sary than the flags and strips of bunting. * Were arot the trees sufficient?

Even had the trees been as blasted aa the heath in ‘Macbeth.’ the people would have been an irradiation. ‘There were many more handsome frocks than usual in a London crowd, and though the obviously poor rubbed shoulders with the apparently ■rich, a visitor from fair away, from China, for example, might have been pardoned for supposing that London was at the very peak of prosperity. We at _ home know better; London was but making the mastr of itself. And its most was pretty good, LITTLE SENTINELS.

A lion’s share of tho bright picture was. taken tho children. Right down the' lines in the Park they stood forefront, 1 like little sentinels, very email girls in 'very, short skirts, very email hoys in', still shorter knickerbockers, seemed to • have been placed at regular intervals to ■ keep their seniors in order. Each boy ! and eaclr girl, with few exceptions, liadl ; a small Union Jack or streamer on a» • stick to wave at the Prince. Their ' parents appeared to have said to _them-< selves, “The Prince likes to seo children. He shall see mine.” Nothing compared with tho, children as a conspicuous feature, unless it was tha packed groups in Piccadilly windows, or tho elderly and very old women. All the younger men and women seemed to have brought their mothers. Sometimes one trembled for the safety of age, hut, as there, was very little pushing, doubttes age was safe enough. Still less doubt may l>e entertained that it entered into tho spirit of the afternoon. If it could not cheer the Prince as stoutly as the children, it quite obviously felt, the move. But if a palm were awarded for the loudest hurrah, it would go to five men in hospital blue, those who are vet emteiinc in their bodies the effects of the Great War. Omnibuses and motor coaches fuL of them and their -friends were a flowed to ctaud near Hyde Park L’orner. U wa good to notice the amount of hilai.t} and enthusiasm packed into those vehicles. The Prince, for one, did not nil, in emu observation. —‘ The Times.