A LOOK BACK:Standing at the altar of freedom

This Monday, Feb. 19, we will observe a special day set aside to honor all the presidents of our glorious country.

It is also a time to honor the country that elected those people to office and all those who fought to keep this country free of terrorists so free people could elect a president of their choice.

This same feeling of patriotism was also felt on another Feb. 19, and this week we’ll look back and relive an event of local history that shows the spirit of freedom.

It was standing-room only in the auditorium of our grammar school as our loyal townspeople crowded the room on Feb. 19, 1919.

The so-called “war to end all wars” was over, and our servicemen were coming back to their families here in Huntington Beach. While the war may have been over, the spirit of American freedom continued to burn brightly in our citizens.

On this night, a special patriotic pageant was given to honor the enlisted men living in the Huntington Beach High School district. The pageant was called “At the Altar of Freedom” and was a combined effort by school and community leaders.

This patriotic celebration was held to reflect the spirit and ideals of America, and to symbolize the dedication of our youth to the service and to their community.

It would be a rebirth of our nation’s hopes and dreams of a new era of freedom. During the pageant, these ideals would come from the words of our great presidents and poets.

As the two principals — Harold Campbell of our grammar school and E.L. Mitchell from our high school — watched the crowd flood into the auditorium and be seated, they observed that many more would have to stand during the three-hour program.

By 8 p.m., the program began with audience members rising to their feet to sing, “Keep the Home Fires Burning,” while the Huntington Beach Municipal Band accompanied.

When the song ended, Kathryn Onson and Dorothy Gurnwald from our grammar school played a violin duet.

With their right hand over their hearts, the audience recited the Pledge of Allegiance led by Boyden G. Hall and members of the eighth grade, including Joe Copeland, Ernesto Avila, Raymond Wilson, Morton Lunn, Robert Allen, Sam Johnson, Ernest Dalany, Henry Bickmore, Glen Turner, George DeLapp and Edward Haskell.

This was followed by a recitation of “The Name of Old Glory” by Ruth Mitchell. The eighth-grade girls — including Vera Bushard, Mildred Manning, Annie Gisler, Juanita Avila, Helen Wardlow and Malinda Spoonhauer — then performed.

Then it was time for the main feature, “At the Altar of Freedom.”

This elaborate affair began with trumpeters heralding in a group of workers representing agriculture, arts, industry, science and national defense that contribute to the so-called altar of freedom.

The students in Miss Owens’ and Miss Munro’s English classes read poems from Longfellow’s “Hiawatha,” Van Dyke’s “Toiling of Felix” and Lowell’s “Commemoration Ode.”

Again the trumpets sounded, and this time students representing the Allied Nations entered, preceded by students representing the great explorers. The Spirit of America welcomed the them with words from President Woodrow Wilson’s “Philadelphia Address.” The explorers’ leader quoted from Walt Whitman’s poem, “Columbus.”

Whitman’s poem “Pioneers” was read aloud by students representing Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and those students representing Great Britain read from Sir Walter Scott’s “Kenilworth.”

The rest of the European nations took their turn at the altar of freedom, followed by students representing the Orient who summoned the words of the Hindu poet, Kalidoso.

The closing scene in this part of the pageant included the poem “A Song of Heroes,” while the students sang “Home Sweet Home” as they left the altar of freedom.

Next came E.E. French, president of our Chamber of Commerce, who read off the names of our local boys who enlisted. As he did, he requested the enlisted in the audience to stand and remain standing while the names were read.

After the last name was read, French bid them a welcome back home.

Rev. R.I. McKee followed with “A Eulogy and a Prayer” in honor of those who died in the service of their country.

Loyal Hughes quoted from Whitman’s poem “O Captain! My Captain!”

City Atty. Lewis Blodget gave an interesting talk on the making of men in the army, followed by Huntington Beach’s son, Pierce Tarbox, who spoke first-hand of the bloodiest engagements of the war.

Judge Louis Copeland spoke on “The Support of the Army by Home Workers” and when he finished, the audience stood while the Huntington Beach Municipal Band, led by “Pop” Endicott, played “The Star Spangled Banner,” ending the pageant.

About 750 people silently walked out of the auditorium with a better understanding of what the spirit of America was.

I only wish that this show of the spirit of American patriotism could once again be seen in every town and city across the nation, instead of those “Sob Sister” parades against America, against the president and against those men and women who serve and those who have given their lives to the country they so believed in.