went with a friend of mine to visit the house of parliament that noble pile of buildings on the banks of the thames for days i had been about them interested in other things the clock tower with its great round clock face � twenty three feet in some one told me � had been staring me in the face over a stretch of park space and intervening buildings on such evenings as parliament was in and i frequently with myself whether i should trouble to go or not even if some one invited me i grow so weary of standard completed things at times however i did go it came about through the hon t p o m p an old admirer of sister who hearing that i was in london invited me he had just finished reading the night i met him and i shall never forget the kindly glow of his face as on meeting me in the dining room of the house of he exclaimed ah the of that poor girl and how charming she was too ah me ah me i can hear the soft in his voice yet and see the gay romance of his irish eye are not the irish all anyhow i had been out in various poor sections of the city all day on that shabby mass that have nothing know nothing dream nothing or do they it was most as dark fell to return through long humble streets alive with a home hurrying mass of people � clouds of people not knowing whence they came or why and now i was to return and go to dine where the laws are made for all england a at forty i was escorted by another friend a mr m since dead who was when i reached the hotel quite disturbed lest we be late i like the man who takes society and social forms seriously though i would not be that man for all the world m was one such he was if you please a for law and order the houses of parliament and the of the hon t p o meant much to him i can see o s friendly comprehensive eye understanding it all � understanding in his deep literary way why it should be so as i hurried through westminster hall the great general entrance once itself the ancient parliament of england the scene of the of edward ii of the condemnation of charles i of the trial of and the of the head of i was thinking thinking thinking what is a place like this anyhow but a of names if you know history the long strange of steps or actions by which life wise from nothing to nothing you know that it is little more than this the present places are the thing the present forms and that dream of the mind which makes it all into something as i walked through into central hall where we had to wait until mr o was found i studied the high arches the walls the figures of the general it was all rich gilded dark lovely and about me was a room full of men all with a sense of their own importance � lords possibly call boys and here and there persons crying of division division while a bell somewhere there s a vote on observed mr m perhaps they won t find him right away never mind he come he did come finally with after his first greetings a some more about london well now we ate drink and be merry and then we went in at table being an old member of parliament he explained many things swiftly and how the buildings were arranged the number of members the and the like he was he told me a member from liverpool which by the way returns some irish members which struck me as rather strange for an english city not at all not at all the english like the irish � at times he added softly i have just been out in your east end i said trying to find out how tragic london is and i think my mood has made me a little color blind it s rather a dreary world i should say and i often wonder whether law making ever helps these people he smiled that genial smile of the irish that always the bland acceptance of things as they are and tries to make the best of a bad mess yes it s bad � and nothing could possibly suggest the of a that went with this � but it s no worse than some of your american cities � fall river trust the irish to hand you an intellectual you re another conditions in are as bad as anywhere i think but it s true the east end is pretty bad you want to remember that it s typical london winter weather we re having and london smoke makes those gray buildings look rather forlorn it s true but there s some comfort there as there is everywhere my old irish father was one for thinking that we all have our rewards here or hereafter perhaps theirs is to be hereafter and he rolled his eyes and an able man this full as i knew from reading his a at forty weekly and his books of a deep kindly understanding of life but one who despite his knowledge of the of existence refused to be cast down he was going up the shortly in a house boat with a party of wealthy friends and he told me that george the champion of the poor was just making oflf for a winter on the but that i might if i would come some morning have breakfast with him he was sure that the great would be glad to see me he wanted me to call at his rooms his london 