Árdís - 01.01.1964, Page 52

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ÁRDÍ S
We laid wreaths again, and walked around for a last fond look.
I noticed that Allan was the youngest one in that area, and so many
had lost their lives the last week of the war. The maple leaves on
the gray marble stones, evergreens, birches, beautiful shrubs and
flowers, give a truly Canadian setting to that hallowed spot.
On leaving Holten, school children, waving Dutch and Cana-
dian flags lined the streets, and our kind hosts followed the coaches
on their bicycles along the route.
A canal trip in Amsterdam, and a banquet given by the K.L.M.
Dutch Airlines, completed this pilgrimage. With much appreciation
to the kind and hospitable Dutch people, the splendid organization
by Netherlands Wargraves Committee, and the kind assistance of
the Royal Canadian Legion, I feel sure all the pilgrims have felt
that this tour was richly rewarded.
“Christ keep the Hollow Land
All the summer-tide;
Still we cannot understand
Where the waters glide;
Only dimly seeing them
Coldly slipping through
Many green-lipped cavern mouths,
Where the hills are blue.”
Sweet is the memory of distant friends. Like the mellow
rays of the declining sun, it falls tenderly, yet sadly on the
heart.
— Washington Irving.