VIII
On that note of splendid friendliness the Prince's too short stay in America ended. On Saturday, November 22nd, he held a reception on Renown, saying good-bye to endless lines of friendly people of all classes and races who thronged the great war vessel.
All these people crowded about the Prince and seemed loth to part with him, and he seemed just as unwilling to break off an intimacy only just begun. Only inexorable time and the Admiralty ended the scene, and the great ship with its escort of small, lean war-craft moved seaward along the cheering shore.
Crowds massed on the grass slope under Riverside Drive, and on the esplanade itself. The skyscrapers were cheering grandstands, as the ships steamed along the impressive length of Manhattan. They passed the Battery, where he had landed, and the Narrows, where the escorting boats left him. Then Renown headed for Halifax, where his tour ended.
Certainly America and the Prince made the best of impressions on each other. There is much in his quick and modern personality that finds immediate satisfaction in the American spirit; much in himself that the American responds to at once. When he declared, as he did time and time again, that he had had a wonderful time, he meant it with sincerity. And of his eagerness to return one day there can be no doubt.
Of all the happy moments on this long and happy tour, this visit to America, brief as it was, was one of the happiest. It was a brilliant finale to the brilliant Canadian days.
THE END