A CITY OF WIDOWS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVII, Issue 17, 20 May 1915, Page 4

A CITY OF WIDOWS.

Loudon may henceforth be known as the "City of Widows," ;i London correspondent says. In a stroll down Oxford Street it week ago the writer encountered eighteen young, but not very merry, girl widows within an hour. The military wedding lias been responsible for this sudden growth of the noxious weed. The officer with '2\ hours' notice to gel busy in the firingline is naturally anxious to fix up with the girl of his choice. His chances of returning to her are small, but she can, at least, bear his name. They are married at 11 a.m. A car takes them from the church or registry office to the train or transport at the quayside. In many cases the honeymoon lasts for only a couple of hours or less. We meet the givl-wife a few days later

in the corridors of the War Office., asking if it is really true, and if there hasn't been some terrible mix-up in the names. She is informed by a very busy attendant that there lias been

ro confusion of names or regiments m the case of Lieutenant Cyril Do Vancourt, who was shot by a German sniper at La Basse, She retires blindly to the street, and the attendant politely requests the crowds of other wait-

ing girl-wives not to crowd the corridors, as the casualty list will be published in iiU the evening papers.. And the evening papers arc always filled with the names of newly-deceased young husbands.