SPECIAL ARTICLE.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20092, 22 November 1930, Page 13

SPECIAL ARTICLE.

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JOB rr.sss.) wrr® » rgj NMIO Maesh.] * entombed with cver." noble de»a to thelr _Sophocl«: Antigonn ~ , he neat stations of London, perhaps the noisiest. U ; 'tt k s the great Continental S crand end, and tu ictoriii returning from t'f homecoming is invariand confused, a bewild"rsßF2s ot voieCS ' ' ,T' ** engines, both by day and oy Yet very early this morning, the faintest hint of dawi., camo home from abroad, *2Wooing was quite silent. such stillness on tins great "L, that the people who waited there "freely at all, and when they » whisper. Tho motionless Z of Air Force men was so tar ; { the end of the long, empty ***;' that the steel-blue of their half lost in the deeper night beyond; but when * t si«r gave an order his voice was "C&giy d« ar 38 H %vould ha y e been elose to one's ear. no footsteps; for all the who had como t0 meet the tr , avel " 5tJ been waiting there in silence Anight. Everything was in 2Ui, and there was no sounu. Ot iTiftT travellers coming hsme last M. oai? three were living men. -irlhip crashed and consumed 1m in fire at about half-past two Smdiv morning. It seemed as if the light did not die out th£7 reached. London, to be e.c-Z-Mei * tlie dark £,iloae l of Y ic ; JitetiOß. I" there had Spahi troops with flow7rtit« mantles and flashing sabres, sailors, and salutes -a Fienth gnus. Thousands of forhad watched the travellers on * Forty-seven of them were « iw 4with Union Jacks, and rode 111 iaywggons, the other three walked Si Beauvais, not wishing to bo .-ited from their comrades. 1 rom tafcm thev crossed iu the destroyer 'aiwt to Dover, and there the pight 338«t them and brought them home ft armed at \ictoria at midnight. ?2 streets were dank with 11 light rain oltia l»tnfe, in the mist, gave little Wl Outside the gates a huge crowd 5 collected. For two hours the ami from the station to the mortu(j ia Howeforry road wero thronged A waiting Londoners. Hawkers, ill ghoulish promptitude, had got a little memorial cards and re uimJj offering them tor sale. Tho got gates of the station were locked a guarded, and the few people who «! to bo admitted went in through k Grosvenor Hotel entrance. From |i#e we were handed on from one [art to another until we came to a

aB enclosure halfway down the platM There we began our vigil. We is standing, with a little group of : aalists and detectives, immediate- , i&ind the Prime Minister, his iajftesr, nnd one or tivo officials. To 'Aid right of oar platform there j Skw4 moothly into the dark the !

of the track. Further the ejpe&ite platform was a little jroap s# iie station benches, the reutirarftle travellers. On the edge rf tiesgit was the Guard of Honour, tjw o|j tad steel, half lost in the sMsi af tho outer dark. If a

JKiefmSbre could be translated intttiml totes this would be the form it «mU take—indigo-blue, grey-blue, kWMt, smoke-shrouded lights, 'Mt fjeei with bine shadows, and lines _ stretching out into a J»tini| nothingness Ik iition docks pointed to one, fw *p official came up and whisW'■** tile train was expected in '■"stj-ire minutes. There was an now outside the gates, ms™ ,™i° ou ß' 1 a heavy rain was -®JI found myself staring, like hack of Mr Ramsay head, three feet in front ,«M,iad outlined against the black ?*®j» th# station. That was the »lis?' ears> and emotions. One riSrE ? w , are of it, hel(l there 'emrolled by what it held and » "Stiver, At last twelve grey J"? appeared in the siding and St we platform. Then with ■jwj ngoor a man's voice rang aW« void became steely and » A wrenth«d with laurels. Wm TjT 81 ?• drawing up with a iJS. J 0 vans and close a»ay Guard of Honour "SZTif B6 JT"? brielitly lit. "Bliiera?! ♦! j ree ' lr ' n 2 men. Then 'fef ono» i < j nors along the train % H » a « an /i 0n ? ,)ein * htaek and TfcVj suddenly rich in colour fo™ M with v purp - le the vLiiu • there shone m «f tanS p g f Kl°rv of the H, rii«isi . ®V r forty-five inin«BS jjih S 55" carried out the ** iw « then .' int ° the vans felfEs I!™ Q il v, SeCOntr W,le " K ' X inf 6 * here ° n tf H' Pl.Tt-e?3-ef::llv under * t| *« had lfL CO ? ,n ', when tho «E? n J ondod ' and last fwt lit°k 'J" , 0 -' all drove k»p S « hts th " travellers enme out, 'feWce l ' 8 >r ' me Minipl tilongli L:^5 m ' . u t thev looked I**W fin# !f'-« little company thb Ji orms , marched §*» m tCTi and M the three S**n kofe thl 0 / wa 'ting taxi. to f <> r maLty of the |^.«nibar»!!L am ) cnll to them (J* WCS v ° lces - Thev were Ei^ hanics , the reserve wdmal) H ? nour hatl rc - as - L> tt a B *? be(1 out, and at last **®y a Ji the mechanics ' d the home-coming Rrea? p lie in Westminster Place, its ceii„:.u ,? dream and its £ Fl *tatwi V he steps of hisi»t®; *hen«i L y wiH to CodjJ4 k®Md i n^jl ny l .? f them came. ™» W St. Mary's Church-