“DIE-HARDS.”

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17528, 4 May 1925, Page 7

“DIE-HARDS.”

♦ i STUDENTS BRAVE THE 1 RAIN. A SHIVERING PARADE. j While smiling typistes and office j boys looked down from second storey j windows, it crept unostentatiously I along a damp and dismal thoroughfare, j evoked a chuckle from the business I community, and then disappeared into Cathedral Square—and was lost, liain and students' processions don t mix: that was evident. Someone said so this morning, when it was suggested that the procession should go on despite nasty weather ; blit there were some die-liards who decided to test the matter out. And thus it was that a staid community was startled jnto hysterics shortly after- eleven o clock by the arrival in Cathedral Square of an underclad bevy of flappers, accompanied, or rather pursued, by fierce gentlemen with red noses and baggy pants. Jt was hardly fair to laugh at them, for they were only testing out a principle. It was cold, very cold, and there was not one among them who did not look as if he were on the verge of an early grave. They looked a terribly sick lot, and more than one old lady was hoard to remark that it was a shame. There wasn’t much, organisation about the whole thing, and a pessimistic city had given up hopes, hours before the procession was timed to commence, that there would be any turnout at all. J3ut there are always some optimists in the most pessimistic of communities, and it was not surprising to many to find shortly before the procession moved off, as many as six or seven people lined up outside the college- —the first ol : the crowd. The gathering was swelled a. few minutelater by the arrival of four constables*, to keep the onlookers under control, see that they did not intrude on th« route of march, and manage things as they have in all previous years, liut the gathering was in every respect uu

orderly one, and eA'en when . it hud grown to a dozen, half an hour or more afterwards, the policemen found no difficulty in preventing congestion. At no time was there any suggestion ol' trouble. Promptly at ten minutes to eleven, just one hour and live minutes after the procession was scheduled to leave the college, three score die-hards dressed in eoloureu gowns, their faces adorned with coloured paint, toddled off bravely down a desolate thoroughfare. They toddled, but the colours van —while the crowd, which by this time had increased by the janitor and his assistant, laughed openly. The students pursued their miserable way, their teeth chattering with the cold, their hands already bluer than their noses—stout hearts

t hose. But how different things v.ore. "Where were the cheering multitudes that had always gathered to greet them in past years, when the weather clerk had been more gracious? Surely they had not forgotten. Indeed they hadn’t ; between Montreal Street and Cambridge Terrace twenty

people iveve passed, and 1 hove was not one who did not stop to pay homage to these men who for principle’s sake ventured to deiv the elements, ami risk the ire of the storm gods. The wind swept relentlessly aiong the thoroughfare, the rain beat pitilessly against their faces, and already they were drenched to the sjcm. As they plodded along they sang. Some barked in emulation of the dogs that the singing of their comrades provoked. Others played musical instruments, that had assuredly been intended to gladden the heart of a Peruvian flapper rather than a Christchurch roadside audience.. But under such condibeen expected to give of his best. As the procession passed- into Cathedral Square a guard of half a dozen telegraph boys drew up with their bicycles on either side, to see that they met with no untoward fate. One “young woman”—it was her first Venture into feminine apparel—coughed asthmatically, hesitated, and with a triumphant look lighting up her coarse unshaven-features, proceeded to take off a flesh-coloured stocking which she I thought would serve a more useful purpose around her neck. It did. She, like many of her “sisters, ' was hardly over dressed. A young woman labelled “Poppy” became very brazen, and threatened to get out of control altogether, with the result that a reprimanding constable told her to go home and get dressed. There must have been quite thirty people wating on the procession when it entered the Square, and there were quite another six waiting undei the verandah of the United Service Hotel. The people must surely have heard the strains of the band, and had gathered to meet the conquerors. Somehow there must have been a misunderstanding, for four out of the six tiiac had been waiting under the hotel verandah made a spirited dash from the scene as soon as the procession arrived, and the people under the tram snelter didn't look the least bit enthusiastic. But the students didn't care. They didn’t seem, to be taking much notice of anything any way. They just walked round and round in circles and rubbed cold limbs trying to coax back circulation. “They’re a. lot of fools/' said one old lady. “ they'll all die before the night’s out.” “ Serves them right if they do,” interrupted a baker’s boy who had stood with his gaze transfixed on the bogus flappers. One or two of the “ ladies ” who overheard the remark, proceeded to tell the baker’s boy what they thought of him. They sat him in his basket, and holding him down called upon another of their party to cut his throat. Every one treated the matter as a joke but the boy, who worked himself into a state approaching hysteria. But a soothing I kiss from one of the “young ladies” did | the trick, and he was soon his old self again. When they got tired of walking around in circles, the flappers and the red nosed policemen went over to the Beresford, ostensibly to take tea. Addresses were given by the Studens Rex, Archbishop—and “ Our Labour Mayor.” After the speeches the students mounted motor-cars, raised a cheer or two and departed—to change their clothes.