BACK AT LAST.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume VI, Issue 1588, 17 March 1919, Page 4

BACK AT LAST.

At the "welcome home" function to-morrow in the Colosseum speeches arc to be restricted to three minutes each. Similar brevity, we arc convinced, should characterise the references in newspapers. Any attempt to express the community's emotion must fail. On two occasions only in the past have the public been equally stirred—on the day on which these same men marched to their ship, and on that solemn afternoon a few months later when word came through of the immortal landing. To say that we are grateful to the diehards who returned to us yesterday sounds almost as absurd as to an nouncc that we are proud of them. Grateful is as grateful does—and the measure of our gratitude will be more readily seen in the days that lie ahead. Pride, too, unless it means something a good deal less egotistical than the reflected glory in which so many attempt to shine, will not carry our guests very far. Still, expression is the most difficult of all arts to our race, and the Hororata's noble company will be generous. They saw yesterday that we could do nothing but beam and shout—crowd round them, gaze wondcringly at them, shake their hands, sky our inglorious civilian hats. In some dim way, they could discern, we realised that this was one of the Dominion's great days. War-weary and war-wise both, they understood quite well that, though beggared momentarily of gestures as of words, our thoughts were of their unending glory. They will appreciate the same fact again 10-morrow when the community attempts to be oliicial and formal. What everyone feels, if he has imagination and affection at aIU is that he will not again behold a more goodly company. But not everyone can say it. Not everyone will allow himself to say it. All we can do is to get together and shout—old' people and young, relatives and mere wayside worshippers. May business cease a while to-morrow, and schools temporarily be closed, that in the expression of our gratitude we be not divided.