The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1860-02-25
From the knickerbocker.
MY FIRST NIGHT IN LONDON.


| From the knckerbocker.
MY FIRST NIGHT IN LONDON.
In the latter part of July, 1872, landed
! at Liverpool, after a run OF nine days from
| New York took the eleven clock train
! for London, and arrived al the Eustou sta
/ tion about seven in the evening. Having
obtained a cab, | drove to Morley Hotel
/ at Charine Cross, a house then, as now,
very generally patroniaed 10y Americans.
/ had risen early, and had travelled
nearly the whole day ! felt, therefore,
somewhat fatigued, and 10y the time had
/ dined, the evenin. also being pretty well
! advanced, ! resolved to spend the remain
. der Of it at home. Having changed my
/ boots for pair Of slippers, seated myself
J in large easy chair with the intention Of
/ reading an hour Oh two. and then going TO
/ bsd In pursuance of this resolution. re
! tired about ten o'clock To my room. |
/ then found myself however, by no means
a. sleepy a. / had anticipated | should be
/ by that time, and / knew too well how
useless, under such circum- -tanceS II would
/ b., 10 seek my couch Immediately; for If
once YOU BEGIN TO debate the question with
! yourself whether You be sleepy or not, the
! doubt alone Sutiiccs 10 keep yOu awake at
/ least an additional hour. / therefore, not
withStauding Iny previous determination
/ OF passing my evening at home, resolved
4 To 20 out for = short time.
( ! -tgoIlci into the Strand, and had walk
/ ed about q quarter Of a mile toward lem
| pie Bar. when curious piece Of clock
work IN Il jewellers window attracted my
/ attention, and / stopped 10 look at 1t for u
| few moments While thus occupied, q
Oh ~. i Il
solicited aims. | took out of my pocket a
/ handful oi gold and silver, and. selecting a
small piece OF the latter. gave it to her.
Having done 50, was about 10 resume my
/ position al the window, when a woman,
dressed in black. who stood near and who
had hitherto appeared - he engaged in
contemplating the same oi3ect which had
interested us. -U p! eHlE turned round, and
without preface adJresS-d me
If, -hr-l.d You are disposed 10 relieve
the necessities Of the unfortunate, know
a case which should appeal to Your sympa-
thies even more powerfully than the one
yon. have Just mil.i,tered 70.
While she was speaking ! looked at her
atteutiyely, and ! perceived before me a
young woman apparently about two or
three and twenty years OF age. whose face
might have been considered beautiful had
it not been for it, extreme pallor- She
wa clothed. 90 7 have >.,a IN black. and
her dress, though by no means rich either
IN material or form, was not exactly what
could be termed shabby. Indeed her
whole appearance was that Of person re-
y much above the condition of m-ndi-
cant Her language. too. struck me at
once "a, being tinJ of an educated woman
Yet | could not look upon what she had
said In any other light than Is Il direct ap-
peal t. my purse in her own behalf Still.
as it was Just possible that might bc mis-
taken. replied ~ a-knr her for whose
distress she sought relief
Ny mother .. she SAID simply. but with
pJtHo- oi tone walc. At once excited my
sympathy, she now lies on a sick-bed
from which she may never rise, and am
without the means of mini>tering to her
comfort or even 10 her necessities. This
dav found us almost without bread; |
waited until niahtiall and then came
forth into the streets with the purpose of
soliciting charity ] made one or two inef-
fectuai attempts To speak To some of the
passers-bv. but my courage failed me, and
/ was about to return home a. penniless as
/ left it, when seeing you bestow your
charity upon the child, a sudden impulse
prompted me To address YOU. If, She CON
tinued, you fear to be the dupe Of an i'm
postOr, YOU have but - accompany me n
short distance 10 be yourself the witness
of the truth of my statement
had intended, when she first spoke, TO
give her few shillingS, but rs she pro-
ceeded. perceived Very clearly that hers
was case in which assistance, to be etfec-
tull must very much exceed in amount the
sum | had proposed offering her, and |
was not unwilling to verify the truth Of her
/ story before drawing more seriously upon
my purse | siInilied, therefore, my readi-
ness to accompany her as she had suggested.
Without another word she at once turned
down Il narrow street which led toward
the Thames and | followed her As we
walked along noticed large building
which appeared to be some public editice,
and inquired of my couductress the name
of it She informed me, and added;
You are not, presume, familiar with
this part of the city
No, replied, neither with this nor
any other part, for but landed at Liver
pool this morning, and this evening set
foot in London for the first time
But YOU have. doubtless friends here by
whom your arrival Is anticipated? :? she said
in n tone which manifested a degree of in
terest in the matter which struck me, even
at the time as being somewhat singular
However, | answered that no one, so far as
| knew, expected me.
Indeed was her only observation, and
we again walked on in silence. Weturned
first up one street and then down another
so rapidly, that | became bewildered and
lost my wav We found ourselves, finally,
in cukde-2ac or blind alley, a species of
street, which though rare with us, is fre-
quently met with in London and other
European cities.
The street was wretched one enough,
and evidently inhabited by the very low
est class of people. My guide led the way
| to one of the houses at the farthest end of
| the alley, and Knocked gently at the door;
it was cautiously opened after a short de-
lay, by slatternly-looking young woman,
and my conductress, receiving from her q
small fat.candlestick, led theway upstairs,
| requesting me to follow her.
! For the last few minutes very serious
doubts of the prudence OF my conduct in
thus intrusting myself to the guidance OF
| n perfect stranger, in such a locality, had
been passing through my mind, which were
by no means dissipated by the appearance
of the house l had entered However, il
was now too late to retreat and after mo
mentary hesitation l ascended the stairs
When we reached the second floor, the
young woman led the way into an apart
ment and requested me to be seated, Will,
she prepared her mother, who she said oc
cupied the chamber above, for the visit O
4 /, stranpar She then left ME