BRITAIN’S UNKNOWN WARRIOR.

Hokitika Guardian, 22 January 1921, Page 1

BRITAIN’S UNKNOWN WARRIOR.

BURIAL AT THE ABBEY. HOMAGE OF THE V.C’s* London, n ov . 12. " The scene in the Abbey when the Unknown Warrior was entombed was noble and befitting. Yet much the same must have been said of many a funeral pageant when in the past the bodies of great men have been laid in the ea rth under the flagstones of .Westminster.

And somehow it was not difficult for us who were present to discern something other and more splendid than the pageant in what passed in the Abbey yesterday. It was a scene in which from the start the mind had greater part than the eye. We uatv a. coffin, but knew nothing of the hotly within; the-tang-ible thing there was the spirit, the courage which had offered itself ;uul fought in battle for Britain. So from beginning to end the ceremony in the Abbey wore a transcendent and spirit-

ual cast. To this by some chance of fate nob a few details conformed. The grave cf the Unknown Warrior was placed in the centre of low, purple-spread platform by the great door of the Abbey. The windows here are not coloured ( lies, and the sun’s rays aw they came through them and lit upon it wer« not many tinted and armorial and rich, hut pure and white ass the idealism which had filled that grave. Ornaments of pillars or clerestory there were none. As each bereaved mother or widow arrived one saw in her sad and patient •face the wistful hope that the grave she looked ah was his. THE V.C’s.

There beneath the arches was little round ; no noise of the gathering crowds outside pierced the Abbey walls. But presently came a group of men mostly in naval or military uniforms, a few in plain clothes, and ranged themselves along the aisle and facing the tonau. Here were the V.C’s, the half-kinsmen of the Unknown, .who stood so near to him now because they had stood themrelves each for a space near to death too. They ranged themselves silently, their caps carried in their aims as-one has seen pictures of knights carrying their helmets. The red robed choir passed slowly away into the body of (lie Ahhev winging “0 God, our help in ages pant.” Then came the distant voice of the precentor repenting the solemn words of the Lord’s Prayer,

As ho finished, the boom of .Big Hen ns it struck eleven came thundering down the aisle. The V.C’s drew themselves stiffly to attention, chairs lornse! orating and n. silence, .such a silence ns you know by quiet lakes in a lonely countryside, descended -on the ancient minster. All wore like monuments in their places. But the widows and mothers pressed handkerchiefs to their eyes, and hands moved covering the brow, Yet no sound broke from the women wlm had lost their all. THE FOUR QUJSENS. The silence ended ; the voices of the choir rose again. Then quietly the great doors opened and dark fur-drap-ed figures came silently in—t' e Queen, and with her the Queen of Spain and the Queen of Norway, As they took their places on a small dais Queen Mary bent her. head in prayer towards the tomb. A minute or two longer and Queen Alexandra entered in her tJurn and joined file other Queens. Tie distant sound of drums; a. footfall or two, half a murmur >and half a hush along the aisles, and .Hie simple coffin is .borne to its place by eight Guardsmen, followed closely by the fting, and the Prince and bis brothers, ajnd generals and admirals and masters of war. They .stood with bowed beads, the King a pace or two in front, as the Guardsmen lowered the coffin to platform level. While some prayers were said, the Unknown Warrior lay there with the Union Jack over him. Then the hearers lowered him into t ! 'e grave the choir sang “Lead kindly Light.” A general gave the King a silver receptacle full of earth from the battlefields of France, and stepping forward he slowly .cast upon his Warrior’s reslt-if.g-place handfuls of 'soil with g gradual and thoughtful gesture. The Queens had risen upon their dais, and gathering their cloaks about them bowed in unison.

The Dean’s voice rose,, "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust." The choir intoned Kipling’s “Reccssioiuil,” while around the grave in very fact stood King and captains with humble, hearts and mien-. LIVKTH FOR KVERMORK.

A' trumpet call and a roll of drums and the ceremony was cyer., There lie lay— Britain's man, an unimpeachable in fame. Well might the generals and statesmen whose memorials rose round him envv him today. They 1 ought their many wars during the. centuries, and each war in its turn seemed to its contemporaries greater and juster than a,nv which had been hefoie. l\v lii»«n.v«»Mc,.too, stood «■» !■'- oorried on »«d W* greatest and juatcßt yet. But sti o the famous living and the famous dead future generations will pnheise h fame .and the orifice Only Ja i s ma ,i who, knowing nothing but the call of. his country, fought and died unknown will it he graiited.perhaps ami all the denizens of nme, to know any aspersion upon his tfo 7The renown of l’itt and Nelson n a. Warrior/’ 1 as long as the Abbey.stands above him, there shall he no season of oblivion. ..