West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1878-11-02
Some Curious Customs Of our English
Cousins.

New Nork Grsphic.1
Flagstaff are poked out of the church
steepleS. Omnibus drivers are quite
dandyish in dress, wear gloves, and
sometimes a rose in the button-hole.
Local elections and business notices are
posted on the church doors. Grave
stones in old chhrchyards are laid fat
on the ground and graveyards are paved
with epitaphs. No drug stores open on
Sunday until six O'Clock p m. a single
woman, after forty, is called Mrs. 4"
out OF courtesy. No free lounging Offices
or halls in the hotels Every bar.room
Is public-house." Women and men
promiscuous patronizers of bars. In
dress, women are cumbrously baggy
about the skirts. Average female shoe
clumsy and ill-fitting. Sad change from
Parisian grisette in plain and black,
white collar, low slippers and bare
head. But the English soldier il far
beyond the French in build, carriage.
uniform and general appearance. Fine
animals. Shops for selling cook food
abundant; such as roasts of all kinds
corned beef and boiled vegetables Fine
meats, too. For sixpence a square meal
may be bought and carried home i'm a
paper; also, eel and kidney pies for a
penny. Noted Eel Pie Houses all
over London. A workingman may buv
his steak or chop at the butchers and
have II cooked at the chop house. The
sign 60 no charge for cooking is com
mon in the chop house windows. A cup
of tea is one penny, coffee ditto. The
tea is good; the coffee villainous. This
If plain poor mans living. penny
will give 2 beggar n meal viz, bowl of
soup and bread Shops much orna-
mented with heavy brass holdings
mounted on wood. In this damp eli.
mate it's one eternal scrub and polish 20
keep them bright. They arc frequently
movable and are taken within at night
otherwise they are stolen. Singular
sight, though, To- see a shopman thus
dismounting the ornamentation of his
shop doors and windows. There are
miles on miles OF small, two story cot
tages. In these live the working peo-
pie. Six story tenements, a la New
York, are unknown. The poor mans
street here is narrow and grimy, but the
house has more comfort than that of
Gotham Tens Of thousands in London
have their bit OF backyard and strip of
front garden. Baths, warm and cold,
are abundant Cold, one penny; warm,
two pence. Best class, six pence, in.
Guiding soap and towel Excellent gin
at forty cents per pint. The stuff sold
in New York for cold Ttm at one
dollar per bottle is alcohol in compari.
son. One needs now 20 visit Europe To
learn what good liquor means. Dirt is
abundant on both men and women in
East London. For greasy and rotten
rags on men and women, London stands
A /. Thames steam ferry boats cheap,
dingy and dirty. Funerals cheap. Can
be buried for twenty dollars, with four
hired mourners. Grape yards length
dangling from their hats like pirates
flag, red noses, black suits, we'll linked at
seams. Don't know who you are, what
you are, where you came from or where
you're going to. No matter. Will
mourn all the same and after funeral
adjourn 10 the nearest public house and
pray for another subject to mourn over
More gas in the street at night than in
New York. More life, stir, hustle and
street shows, such as Punch and
Judy" band of street negro minstrels,
Irish ballad singers, Highland pipers,
Italian ditto, German bands, pavement
sketching artists with colored chalks,
Bible readers, performing dogs, cats,
mice and birds, acrobats and tumblers.