The Chronicle. PUBLISHED DAILY SATURDAY, MAY 21, 1910. "THE KING IS DEAD; LONG LIVE THE KING."

Horowhenua Chronicle, 21 May 1910, Page 2

The Chronicle. PUBLISHED DAILY SATURDAY, MAY 21, 1910. "THE KING IS DEAD; LONG LIVE THE KING."

To the casual thinker there may seem to he something of heartlessness in the time-worn phrase that heads this article. After wearing the trappiings of grief for two successive weeks, and giving utterance to expressions of keen regret and genuine sorrow for the loss of a wise and intelligent ruler, it does appear incongruous to be acclaiming already his successor with demonstrations of joy. Tha't, however, is one of the inseparable conditions of human life and its mutabilities: Ave tread a. pathway beset with daily fatalities, and move along a road which has a tragedy for its every milestone. And events of joyful significance follow almosfc side by side. Thus it comes that even-the moat poignant griefs soon diminish their outward semblance, and that the crowding in of fresh events and new interests jostle and finally push into the background the outstanding sorrows of yesterday. Britain's late King will be held in fond memory, for many a year . to come, but the exigencies of other events, and the duty o|f loyalty to the reigning monarch and his expressed wishes, mus>b all be m«fc and displayed. Yesterday's solemn service in the main street of Levin, where Native awd European joined together in lamenting the death' of a good ruler, formed an impressive conclusion to the several days of outward mourning. The occasion, apart from its special significamce, served to remind everyone of the mutability and inexorable end of human (affairs, and to impress on each one present (the actual littleness of human interests and the follies of human resentments. If the feelings thus engendered are carried into the future, and used as guides for conduct, yesterday's occasion will have served more thain one good purpose. 'As the Padmist bits remarked, " Man's life is as a tale that is told"—but there often is a disposition to forget this, and to impart to some of life's actions

a degree of acerbity that no mundane .endeavours should be tinctured by. Outward grief a Did inward bitterness should alike flbe meitninoirphosed to-day. The brass band that played 'funeral marches yesterday illustrated the appropriate aspect for worldly progression when it moved away tn the strains of a lively march, after the service was ended. The members were still impressed by the solemnity of the service they had participated in, hut TJiey realised that 'the time had arrived for other themes and brighter strains, and so they stepped out merrily by way of contrast to their mournful notes and paces during .the .hour immediately preceding. Edward the VTT. yesterday ; George ithe V. to-day; and for to-morrow, who knows? Sermons must not he preached from the leading columns of newspapers, but even here a little moralising is occasionally permissible. To-morrow will develop its own joys, and maybe its own sorrows too; for to-day we are content to move omward 'hopefully under the new regime, and sing and say, as fervently as of old— "GOD SAVE THE KTNG."