ers et Menuisiers," and so on.

It was a real demonstration of democracy. It was the spontaneous and
affectionate action of the everyday people, determined to show how
personal was its regard for a Prince who knew how to be one with the
everyday people. As a demonstration it was immensely more significant
than the most august item of a formal program.

As the Prince rode through those hearty and friendly ranks in a State
carriage, and behind mounted troopers, the troopers and the trappings
seemed to matter very little indeed. The crowd that cheered and waved
flags--and sometimes spanners and kitchen pans--and the youth who waved
his gloves back and forth with all their own freedom from ceremony,
were the things that mattered.

When, at the laying of the corner-stone a few minutes later, Sir Robert
Borden declared that, in repeating the act of his grandfather, who laid
the original corner-stone of Canada's Parliament buildings, as Prince
of Wales, in 1860, His Royal Highness was inaugurating a new era, the
happenings of just now seemed to lend conviction that indeed a new
phase of history had come into being. It was a phase in which throne
and people had been woven into a strong and sane democracy, begot of
the intimate personal sympathy, understanding and reliance the war had
brought about between rulers and people.

The new buildings replace the old Parliament Houses burnt down in the
beginning of the war. The fire was attended by sad loss of life, and
one of those killed was a lady, who, having got out of the burning
building in safety, was suddenly overcome by a feminine desire to save
her furs. She re-entered the blazing building and was lost.

The new building follows the design of the old, rather rigid structure,
though it has not the campanile. The porch where the stone was laid
was draped in huge hangings descending in grave folds from a sheaf of
flags; this with the facade of the grey stone building made a superb
backing to the great stage of terrace upon which the ceremony was
enacted. It had all the dignity, colour and braveness of a Durbar.

The Victory Loan was inaugurated by the unfurling of a flag by the
Prince. He promised to give to each of the cities and villages (by the
way, I don't think the villages are villages in Canada; they are all
towns) who subscribed a certain percentage a replica of this special
flag. There was keen competition throughout the Dominion for these
flags, Canadia