Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1878-01-25
Ina London market.
lohdon Cor. Boston Journal

Breakfast over l determined at
imminent risk of getting lost in
London to wander forth. l could
not hope to see much, but / could
feel the effect produced on the in
habitants by one of these tremend-
GUS fogs. 1t certainly made the beg
gars more tenacious than usual, for
two of them, one with shoe-strings
and the other with box of
matches, as melancholy and feeble
protests against the vagrant act,
followed me to the Strand, and
there dismissed me from their far
ther consideration with words not
over polite. | Igroped my way across
the Strand and presently found my
self in the vicinity of Oovent Gar
den market. strayed under dreary
arcades for many hundred of yards
and saw scarcely a single thing to
gladden. the eye. The shops were
old-fashioned, dull and seemed al
most Slovenly, although l presume
that they were scrupulouSly clean,
Numbers Of shuffiing, seedy men
were exceedingly attentive. This
one was anxious to call me Il cat; q
second offered me the puzzle of the
Turkey and the Bear, only six.
pencew A third was willing to
pilot me to the door of a neighbor.
ing theater, and a fourth ventured
the remark that it was "a fine day."
This sublime irony SO disquieted me
that | beat a hasty retreat, and
sool found myself in the market.
Here the atmospheric gloom was
quite as intense as in the quarter
which | had just left, but l came
suddenly upon a wide space where
hundreds, nay thousands, of boxes
of golden oranges, open and send,
ing forth their subtle and delicious
aroma, were awaiting purchasers
The effect of this mass of Southern
bloom-the boxes must have GOV
cred an area of a quarter of an
acre-was raviShing, and it was de.
lightful to note that it seemed tt
have communicated some of its
charm to the babbling old men, tht
fat and venerable women and thu
slovenly girls employed there
Cheerful laughter rang on the air
one or two women were grooming
songs; some of them, in polishing
the yellow fruit, seemed fairly K
caress the gay and festive new
comers from Sicily and Spain. The
fog appeared of no consequence
just here; indeed, / almost lorgot
about it myself, and watched will
interest the stout draymen, whC
piled the orange boxes by twentie,
on their heavy, clumsy cart
and then ratified away with them
! But as soon as | wandered int
the gloomy alleys beneath thu
roofs Of the market place | felt the
fog once more; nor could its de-
pressing influence be shaken of
until | bad come to the long walk
which was borlered on either sidt
with enormous banks of holly apd
mistletoe for Christmas decoration
Here, too, were myriads of flowers,
destined to load the dinner table,
of the rich on Christmas eve. Tht
prices charged for them seemed
tabulously dear; the weeks wages
of a Workingman would not hay,
sufficed for the purchase of a bou
quet. Hundreds of well-to-do folk
were Fastening to and fro, buying
the decorations, and wherever the
went gaunt misery stalked at thei'
sides aud uttered its mOprpful plea
There were beggars with accorde9p
or concertiDas, who sang plaintiy
songs and extended their claw.lik
hands; beggars with Slouching, pn
certain gait, flushed faces and un
easy glances toward the yawninj
doors of the "publics," as tho ale
houses are called and sardoni
beggars who seemingly asked aim
from habit, and not because the,
expected it the least in the world
Troops of pretty girls, with thei
naughty features, and with thei
slender forms Wrant in fpra nrom