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Show LONDON. Sights and Scenes Therein. A Wsr Summer Failure of Chops Grees Lanes Tub Cocet Journal Aristocrats Middle Clashes Respect tor Age EriQriTTB Theatres Street Peddlers f ASHION AND Cl'STOMS-EpISTOTAL Ministers Hard Times Pkos-picts. Loneon, Oct. Stb, 1879. Editors Uirald: The past summer has been miserable miser-able and damp. The fruit is tasteless because it has had no sunshine; about four days per month of sunshine, the rest cloudy and damp. The rainfall waa double that of former years. Nearly all the fruit and vegetables come from tbe continent; grapes from Lisbon, potatoes from France, fruit from Holland. Al the time of writing much of the wheat crop is still etinding unripe in the fields, and it is worse further north; the trunks of tbe trees are grten with mould and the crevices of old build ings are full of rank vegetation; Crampm. RnH vinoa it-ami ictpcio, nuu viuws crawi over cottages cot-tages and churches; everything is gieen and beautiful to the eye. The long twilight, the pretty green lanes and beautiful Bmooth roads are tbe parts of Eoglish scenery that every American loves. We stopped at a quaint little inn near Birmingham, kept by a brother of our fellow citizen, Wm, Jennings, E;q., and found that tbe place was 360 years old. The timbers were of oak and hewn by band. Tbe rooms low and email, and yawning fireplaces fire-places where many a gboat and goblin story had been told for succeeding generations. Here was tbe old taproom tap-room and there the parlor; in tbe first the clod-hopper quafla bis fo'-peuoy fo'-peuoy beer, aad in the second apartment apart-ment tbe well-to-do farmer or shopkeeper. shop-keeper. bis sixpenny ales. Everything is graded; tbe vulgar mechanic does mot mingle with bis employer one is the master, the other tbe man. Every movement ol the royal family is daily published in the court journal: The Queen takes a little walk ; this or that princess rode; the prince goes rabbit ki Iliac in tbis or that plaoe; the little princesses and princes aneeced, or Borne distinguished Zulu killer lunched on pork and beans at Osborne, with her moat gracious majesty, Empress of polygamic Hind 06 tan, aud so on ad natisettin. By the way, Mr. Wales does not Beem very popular with the masses; those who are cloak and wig making, etc., eto., to the court are always clamorous, but the masses bold Sister Wales and tbe dear old Queen io tbe highest veneration; her boys seem to be a ha j-d lot; the girls angels. A certain confederate colonel, that I am acquainted with, says tbe "aristocrats of England are rotten to tbe core." The middle classes are the true repre eeutativeB of all that is admirable io English sooiety. In tbis charmed circle one finds the moat genuine refinement re-finement aad sflaction towards each other that is delightful to witness. I In cue family I visited 1 saw grown up and married brothers and sisters kiss each other like children before retiring to reet. In this land age is respected; they do not call this or that man, Old Man So-and-So, or Old Mother So-and-So. Little boys are expected to be seen and not heard, only when spoken to. No one oan get access to such a circle without proper introductioo, and no lady speaks first ia polite society, or oflers any familiarity unto a stranger without being formally made acquainted. ac-quainted. Ibe country Beem 8 to swarm with old maids and matrons. The old and young are generally seen in couples. A rich Engliabman may be very jolly and intimate with you io America, Amer-ica, but here it ia "another sort of thing, you know." To all who visit this country I would say tack every title of rank and station you may happen to have onto your name, and get your cards properly printed; avoid advertisements on them; that will smell of the shop. Englishmen do not carry bundles or babies in tbe streets; it is an otienBe to go witbout your boots being blacked. The wives of tbe poor do the shopping while tbe men go to the beer-shops. Ladies in tbe 6 tores will titter at a man buying an article used by ladies. Nobody treats here. Ayoucg man will let bis girl pay her own tare on the street car, or railroad. Eaob buys his own beer and each pays lor it, Let ub all drink and let us all pay is the motto. Make a present and you will hear "Think you, very muoh." Everybody says, "Tbank you." "Beg pardon," means what did you say? Tbe love of fun predominates in the English character; tbo legitimate drama will not draw. The light Frenohy entertainments fill tbo houses beet. A strict surveillance is kept on all places ol amusement; but broad inuendos are very popular, and never foil to "bring down the house." The eights and scenes in this great oily would fill a volume. The street Arabs offer every conceivable commodity com-modity and their cries are aa great a puaile as the autograph letter ol an easteru oabob. raucy trying io understand "Hokey-pokey a penny a leomp." Little urchins lick ice cream out of shallow dishes with their tongues; spoons are not used. Musaels, winkles, whelks and other sbell fish are attractively displayed by flaring street lights on little plates, all eaten with the fingers in a oountry where spoons cost next to nothing.1 Dirty little children go to the stores to buy a cent's worth of tea and sugar for their mothers, and tbe very poor never know the luxury of a week's food ahead; it is always from band to mouth. Tbey know not what the morrow may bring forth, and care Less. Traveling near London Bridge one day I saw a crowd of men and women standing on tbe Bidewalk with their faces to the wall eating stewed eels. Large ovens drawn by tiny donkeys furnish hot potatoa for tbe million, by night. Towards midnight mid-night the coflee urns aiako their np-nMrnnrp. np-nMrnnrp. &imfl of the Cheao Johns sell lots of goods and their talk is very fuony. Miny of them uao good language. In the leading thoroughfares old pensioners stand on the streets as commissionaires, with three or four medals on their breast; the utmost confidence is reposed in them. Hundreds of men and women ofler bouquets for the coat button, worn here ou the left shoulder by gentlemen. gentle-men. Ladies wer comical looking bonnets with old fashioned peaks thai set on tbe head like an abalone shell; these are made with dark straw and trimmed with cardinal red, woich is the rage iust now. Young ladies wear their "dressfs so tightly drawn around them that if they should acciden'Iy fall tbey could not get up again; none of them wear thin shoes; tbey are, as a general thing, very soiid, ;:ke the wearers. Speaking of the dear creatures, crea-tures, I am compelled to say that tbe Eoglish ladies are superior ia pby- fejque to the men; i.e. among tije I lower elates. Servant girls w:ta such (aames a- Florence, Alice, Beatrix, jmnst berecbr:-tened to Mary, Beciy. Jane or Suan when they enter service; fcuch names beioog to the haui.ton i and net to those who do the hard work. Episcopal ministers now wear broad brimmed hat- after tbe Etyleof Catholic priests. Pauperism is on the increase; 76,000 persons received relief in one week in the city of London, against 40,000 a year ago. The handwriting nf hard time is on the wall; the coming winter is dreaded by tens of thousands. If you cannot pay your rent here, von moat get into the street; landlords - have more of their own way than tbey have in Utah. Laws are made bere : to protect the rich, and punish the poor with fidelity, although when the rich do get caueht there is no help for them. A maa that shoots a rabbit gels as much jastice as the brute who throws a poker at bis wife's head. Wife beating is veiy common among the Iswer classes. Thedoten trodden women of Utah are empresses compared with their sisters in London who line the streets, Belling fruit, flowers, vegetables and matches, bedraggled, haggard and worn. Many dirty, old and miserable in the full meaning of tbe term. But I must forbear and drop the curtain on sights and scenes in this tbe greatest city of the world lor the present. 0. R. Savagi. |