The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-03 00:00:00

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.

Cats DAY.—Morning, Oh. 15tu.—Afternoon, Oh. 39m.
ro-Monuow.-Morning, lh. lm.—Afternoon, lh. 22m.

0,..

LONDON, THURSDAY, JAN. 3, 1867.

1867 has opened in a remarkable manner, and
the spectacle presented by the streets of London
yesterday was not a little unusual. The busy traffic
was, if not suspended, at least considerably di-
minished, and the thousands whom, we have re-
cently been told, wend their way daily into the
City, stayed for the most part at home. There
was good reason for their doing so, since, according
to the fashion of the day, most of the citizens live
in the suburbs, if not actually out of town, and
every mode of conveyance was more or less affected.
The regular London cab—almost as regular d part
of City life as the Bank itself—was transformed
into a tandem, sometimes adorned with a postilion,
and even this wonderful sight was of rare occurrence.
Omnibuses, few and far between, crawled about
the principal thoroughfares with an additional horse,
but if the object to be attained was rapidity the
passenger had better have trusted to his own feet.
The snow baffled King Steam himself, though that
monarch is accustomed to carry all before him, and
short journeys on the railways occupied three or
four hours. On the Great Western line, between
Windsor and Slough, the rails were so loaded
with snow that the trains had great diffi-
culty in getting along, the wheels of the car-
riages speedily becoming clogged. The down
goods train, leaving Nine Elms at five a.m., did
not reach Windsor till 10 o'clock, and the 8 o'clock
passenger train from Waterloo did not reach
Windsor till nearly half-past ten. It is not sur-
prising to learn that the engine-drivers and guards
of the various trains suffered greatly from cold
and exposure, and we should imagine that the
position of the passengers was not very enviable.
Windsor appears to have had more than its share
of the benefits of the storm, for an easterly wind
so drove the falling snow into ridges that in some
of the thoroughfares it was from 18 inches to
two feet deep. 'The traffic in the streets was
naturally almost suspended, and in the
neighbouring county of Bucks the snow
was also very heavy. In Salisbury it was in some
places several feet deep, and in parts of that county
and in other shires the country roads were absolutely
impassable.

Not the least inconvenient feature of the trans-
formation has been the inevitable delay of the mails.
Letters that should have come to hand at midday
did not arrive till a couple of hours later—a fact
which our forefathers would certainly not have
noticed, but which, in the London of the present
day,
.may produce some very considerable conse-
quences. The South-Eastern down trains were
all three or four hours behind time, but for-
tunately, as yet, we hear of no accident,
although on some of the lines the trains were
actually blocked up for a time by the barrier of
snow. In Norfolk the sportsmen have reason to
lament, for the frost is more severe than it has
been since 1860 ; but, in fact, all over the coun-
try, the same story is told, and the snow and
frost appear to have been as general as severe.
The great inconvenience everywhere experienced
by the delay of traffic, transit, and mails, gives
us some idea of the high-pressure state at which we
are accustomed to live. A half-hour's delay iu get-
ting into the City, an hour's expectation of the post,
and a hindrance on the railway journey, are sufficient
to throw out of gear the whole of the complex ma-
chinery of our work-a-day world. And all this com-
motion and disturbance .has been wrought as by the
wave of an enchanter's wand. Tuesday was cer-
tainly cold enough to prepare us for anything, but
our Christmas had been almost as suitable for
strawberries as snap-dragon. Tuesday night, bitter
and piercing though it was, left London wearing
its usual sombre garb, but a few hours transformed
it into a fairy world, glittering with crystals and car-
peted with purest white. In some respects, too, it
resembled a besieged city in which the necessaries
of life are hard to get. Water especially has gone
up to a premium, and looking on the snow above,
below, and around him, the perplexed householder
may well exclaim with the poet,

"Water, water everywhere,
And not a drop to drink."

There is one aspect of this sudden frost and snow
storm which can hardly fail to have presented itself
to most minds during the last day or two. If in
closely curtained rooms; with blazing yule logs and
sea-coal, we find it difficult to keep ourselves
above freezing point, what must the poor suffer ?
It is very well to talk about the force of
habit, but no custom can secure man, woman, or
child from being susceptible of so great and sudden
a change. The Icelander or Greenlander may enjoy
his winter, but the Icelander and Greenlander dress
in furs and skins and eat blubber. How would they
fare if thinly clad and poorly fed? There are, un-
fortunately, some thousands already out of employ-
ment from causes altogether independent of the
frost, which will undoubtedly greatly swell the num-
ber. If it should last, as it may probably do for
at least a few days, it will pineh many
a poor family pretty sharply. There is no
need for indiscriminate almsgiving, nor is there
much fear of not reaching the right objects. There
are now so many well-established channels for pri-
vate benevolence that those who are unable to seek
out deserving cases themselves may be pretty sure
of having their gifts well applied. If each would do
a little, if every one who enjoys a comfortable
shelter, a good meal, and warm clothing himself,
would give enough to shelter and support one
shivering frame through a day's frost, there would
be less severe suffering. Even cast-off clothes in
such weather as this would be valuable gifts to " the
naked limbs that freeze with the winter's cold."
There is much done already, but more must be done
before we can face our invading enemy with a quiet