CHAMBERLAIN'S HOME-COMING.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 11126, 27 July 1907, Page 1 (Supplement)

CHAMBERLAIN'S HOME-COMING.

Writing on the Sydney Morning Herald on June 7, Mr H. W. Lucy says: — There is something profoundly pathetic m the published accounts of the homecoming of Mr Chamberlain after a long stay m the Riviera m search of health and strength. The shock is the sharper for those who have been long familiar with his virile form, his long, quick strides, his vigorous advance along any pathway on which he found himself. It is pitiful to think of the slow dragging of the partially paralysed figure across the railway-station, and the gallant but futile attempt to raise his hat m response to the cheer with which he was greeted. His return was evidently hastily determined upon. Ony a week earlier official notice was circulated of prolongation of his stay m the south of France. . In this sudden home-coming there is something painfully suggestive of the wounded lion, the hand of death upon it, making its way back to its lair. Birmingham is not Mr Chamberlain's birthplace. But it has been his home from early manhood, and for it he cherishes a feeling of undying affection. He has his house m London. But his home has always been at Highbury, albeit what was once a country residence is now environed by the ever-broadening town. When John Bright was"offered a honorific distinction, he, Quoting the words of the Shunamite woman, answered: "I dwell among my own people." Mr Chamberlain's own people are not found among the brilliant throng to which he has won his way m London. They still live m Birmingham, and he is happiest when he dwells among them.