Show London by Gaslight Graphic IDofeoriptiou of Stylos and Scone at Night I in tho Worlds MotropoliH I LONDON December 3rd t86 To the Kditori To the unsophisticated American the modern cliff dweller hose habit Is among anything from ten to twenty story btildingi London Irom a cursory superficial introduction seems somewhat ol a dire and dismal dissapolnlment especially this time of the year when king lot holds undisputed away for ninety days and od 5011 is as much of an occular curusity as undiluted lacteal fluid or absolutely fresh hen liult The rolling boulevards and stately buildings of our fondest imaginations resolve themselves tortuous comparatively mrrow crowded streetswhile the buildings build-ings seldom attain a hight above six stories and although they are sohdsub slanlnl structures built to last they lack the architectural detail so prevalent in tho modern American edifices everything every-thing Is I begrimed by sootsmokesmoke everywhere It throws its pall over everything leaving a deposit behind that in the course of eighteen months compel a sell respecting brand new freestone building or statue to assui e tile same disreputable aspect as that worn by its older neighbors However London was London bel ore America was thought of and consequently from a modern improvement standpoint labors somewhat under the disadvantage ol having been laid out for eight or nine centuries on lines that positively prohibit pro-hibit such sacrilegious Innovations as the gay and festive reckless trolley car the sky scraping buildings the mammoth palatial stores ol the biegel Cooper order together I with other up to date Alneliean institutions Hut London grows on one and alter a weeks acquaintance one gets impressed impress-ed with its ealth solidity vastness an iquitj and wickedness The time to tae in London so to speak at this season sea-son ol the vear is between the hours ol I 4 pm and the last bus Under the gaslight lis truly a stirring sight The roar ol the ever restless traffic the hurrying pedestrians beslped and top hatted all hurrying for nom or on ileasuro bent the cries ol ilia ttrect c uwkers bus conductors cabbies and touts together with the resplendent s hop windows colored illuminated revolving re-volving pictorial I advertising signs and general pandemonium all he a tendency ten-dency under the artificial I glare of the gas and electric light 1 to make the unsophisticated unso-phisticated Lhlhnini I pinch I himself to see whether he is I awake or not The Mormon Elders first natural desire de-sire on arriving In London is to get out and see some hat of his surroundings and do London I e if London doe not do him ere he gels through So he leaves historic 3i wuh itsasthetic and cultured surroundings ami tiles himself to the Angel which is not such a devout de-vout proce dnrgZ as appear I on eal face I 01 l it os the aforesaid angel at Islington is I nothing more or less than what Is i vulgarly termed a pub saloon Irom whose blbuluous precents depart the I busses lor the city and elsewhere II the Elder should be brand new he is i Crv much conscluus 01 wearing a brand I iievv silk list and imagines all tile w old has its eye on him which fancy is intensified in-tensified uy a street arab audibly informing inform-ing his bosom Iriend that there goes Baron Roth sc hilds as latest style silk hat on Penton street somewh1 conspiclous whereupon he promptly take the wrong side of the sidewalk and > concientuously collides with all pedestrians with charming impartiality meanwhile profusely apongizmg The later proceeding is absolutely unnec esary however as none thinks of policing f over trills n Hoe that In London Lon-don On arriving at the Angel busses ot every color ot the rainbow greet his vision and his ears are saluted with Ire ye arc Sir Hank Oxford Street JlrIYar Circus Kings Cross etc penny all the way A ride on the top of a bus into the city proper is very interesting One gets up a stepway at t htb and takes Ef ht cUbf a seat In i one of the eight double seats in top buttons an otUkm i i lip robe woun lqlpt dn Prepares to take In i that lights The lap robe save the mark is I a very useful institution serving as It doe the double duty ol keeping out the A it and cold and further if perchance a A heel should ionic off saving one front Injuring the London pavement with jnes cranium The conductor appears upon the scene and ferociously presents what appears to be a mckclplated revolver re-volver II your had You arc going tot ow up our handA w bell It I dawns on u t 1 tr IIegtd firearm its i simply a ticket punch with i bell attachment Vcr > sheepishly I I you hand over one ol those I missives pennies and receive a ticket in exchange One ol the first points of interet passed en route is the old Sadlers Wells Tnejler I and already tile crowd It form If i ing outside to storm Yt the pit and gallery front w here a gory drama may be seen for the munificent sum ol twopence four cents What a change from the day 3 when Mrs bid dons McCready llooth and other old timers nightly held its boards The bus drivers are great characters and splendid Jehus The way they thread their heavy vehicles through the Irallic ii only surpassed by the volunnn ous amount of artistic sling with which they salute any luckless truckman or cabby who bars further immediate progress pro-gress At the bank of England IOU clamber dow nand proceed to go it on loot and certainly I is1 good po nt to sat train as I 11 the biggest and most dangerous crossing m London Here I all the main artene 01 tile city converge at one common com-mon centre Right opposite von is the I k yposite Mansion House I I the olhcial residence i ol the lord Mayor to the left the Royal Exchange behind the bank vou balk ol nglanel to the right Cheapside Queell Victoria street opposite which are King William street Cornhill and Lombard street all contributing their quota ol traffic and pedestrians to swell the con fusion I and blockade that would be but lor n dozen policemen who regulate the traffic Down Chcapslde vou go with the tuikiui throng through Saint Tauls UUhederal Churchnrd with Isl I t pigeons and dry gaudsI I apologize Drapers shops down Hud atu Hill with I its stationers sta-tioners anVIc clothing shops into Feet street accompanied by the ondlesreS t less procession I of busses rubber fired hansom cabs by the hundreds and street peddlers who sell ever tiling un der the sun and jell in stentorian tones Ire ye are a god watch and chsh J only one arl penny teal Ivory collar studs penn alf dozen Extra Wi ner Oh those newspiper Inwkers they are a tribe In themselves tn l their name Is I legion Extra bloody 1 ditors murder and other umntcllifrablccnss thev utter the livelong da and night Fleet street i is newspaper town There are published all those magazines papers set 16 comic and daily that are household words the world over Alter r lds vor with Us Printers i Square New York eri filteen story orld Journal Sun and all offices the less said the better Iunchs alleged jokes I can forgive alter seeing fl allefed JI1eitl Is handicapped I flef A man who would l perpetrate n pun In his ancestral t sepulcher I ufIP stand aghast at the prospect nl sacrilegious jocundity in the cantlraonious Precincts of Punchs dismal corner abode Daily News Graphic illustrated New Kvievv ol I Reviews I all are there old Inends that one would I imagine I occupied palatial I abodes But then that is one mile peculiarity I ol Ijiglind 1 There are less aru Irills I and gilt punt over here I than Uncle Sam indulges in The bon ton upper ten or whatever they may call them when they want a bonnet or a suit of clothes do not go to the big West End plate glass establishments estab-lishments so I am Informed but 1 t go to a seemingly obscure little establishment establish-ment In some by street around Bond street 1icadilly etc and there get what i they want and pay a big price I too and wonder of wonder these tailors milliners milli-ners bootmokers etc never advertise and dont cater to the common herdm fact almost appears that they have a prohibited tax on their goods BO that there is i not much chance ol Tommy the clerk patronizing the same tailor as the Duke of Mjrlborough zng or his glace the etc I Is striking seven as ou pas Ine Iaw Courts and the site u here Templo liar stood filieen years ago and enter The strand here Is i the same endless line ol brilliantly lighted jeweler sbops restaurants picture inJ print shops and the same crowded sidewalks After you have passed a double file ol well dressed people standing motionless upon up-on the sidewalk and kept m line by 1 couple of policemen for one hundred yards or more you wonder why thus But you soon get used to this It is the people waiting in turn for the heater dors to open and you can come ariv night except t Sunday of course and it is ivvays the same Charleys Aunt has been running four tests now and still tie rush About the most popular and elevating production In London at the present lime is i Wilson Ilarretts Sign ol the Cross It which is I doin a grand word for the cause ol Chi Istianity At the Savory the Mikado has been revived with all the old enthusiasm But the style of entertainment dear to the average Londoners heart is the music hall where he cm go and haves have-s cigar and champagne or pipe and beer according lo his status 11e empire em-pire music > hall on Leicester square probably pro-bably furnishes the finest entertainment In I the orld 01 1 class while not being quite so elaborately t upholstered as Kos ter and nII New York it Is I a very line phce Outside here ol a night before be-fore the door open ono sees more 01 human life than can be imagined The double throng extend around the corner cor-ner for yards up a back street Everyone Every-one his In good spirits chaffing Peddlers rush up and down thu line with I their ares Street musicians and broken own comic singers amuse the crowd ith their I efforts and incidentally pass the hat In a seductive manner that lakes a man feel he is i a stony hearted fraud if he refuses them Ere long the line moves and ou follow the throng For a shilling 24 cents one gets a comfortable up holstered scat ill the pit which occupies about the sIn place as the dress circle s-In the Salt Lake theatre Everybody smokes until the atmosphere gets hazy and eu performance proceeds amidst n fusillade ol popping corks The bill is of the usual vaudeville style of an extra excellent order entirely free from tiled obscurity so prevalent in the larger cities ol the states A bullet is een sandvv ichedin the one at present on the bill being Monte Christo the story being acted in pantomina throughout four acts some ot the scenes being highly gorgeous in which some 400 girls electricity beautiful tinting and blending ol costumes play an important PaLondon London like New York i undergoing a severe seige of the clncenatoscope 01 animated photographs thrown upon aLee a-Lee It every subject under the sun being reproduced including horse races cavalry charges etc etc Not only do the music halls include them in their programs but the leading dry good firms like Swan and Edgars Regent stleel t amuse their customers will them theAs As the theaters disgorge their audiences the 3 amy side ol life becomes more apparent and truly London is rightly called the modern Babylon Fur I thirty minutes the streets are impassible im-passible and from cabbies darting to and fro in searcn of fares Should von attempt to cross and get over alive every cabbie who nussci you and has U pull I up curses you with a deep compre iiensive cure that extends back to your ancestors Then as I by magic the cAbs seem to thin out and vanish leaving a few still patrolling the streets Hut i Is time to be getting home for if you miss the last bu 12 oclock ou have to acoc walk to your lodgingsail hours tramp h on r I l se that is not the I most delightful experience experi-ence for the pubs and dram shops close their doors all turn out the diunkea hordes ol boil sexes into the streets who fight swear and yell and ultimately bragger oil to their wretched garrets or sneaklnto SOle docirwray hOlele5 toecap to-ecap the ever vigilant eo of the bobby Chapel A Sight street trange Irington to western miLhin astones eyes is throw front Ienton treelthe Lon don cnerenc housenere uttil the ee sma hours c5peclally Stlrdy right Is hel I epeculy I I the Street being I tried with a double row 01 barrows and stalls each will ih slOllg flaring Naptla Ismp There ever Ihng under the sun I dl to Cl b I I hat e I sygo or of Pqrson five I rw si cold i draw d-raw in t halpnny ant rent lots quack dcclurs leclutng I on nustrunusaucuan ecs tell UK vilnanotis looking aged lothloii fruit Droll description cats meat ancient eggs olenrargcrme cough mixtures lamp cleaners tie etcthe entire street being tilled with a surging e zz ing ma s of I bonnetless women perspiring jelling touts loquacious auctioneer and vendors who selz you by the arm and try an I seduce out into I buying a pair of vants that have all run to seat and knots or an umbrella with symptan of premture cnrv llr 01 I the > penl I Trulv loop or we I Ue ih us alway nd long of theruiig dlar shop nd pawa obops 11I Ihey be In the overwhelming mojerlty The rund I boe footed un kepr rl Icioll land unnatually qUick witted childrellM11 conlinue to lie old ied chidren men In vice erethey have reached their items GIIORC K CARIENTER |