Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1880-01-23
Our London Letter.
CHRISTMAS DAY-A LONDON rOG-HOXING
DAY.

cn:I$rNts DAY-A LONDON roG-noxING
DAY.
LoSDoy, Dec. 80, 1879.
| To the Editor OF the Free Press and Times:
| Little did the inhabitants of London think
TO awake the next morning in an Egyptian
darkness as they looked out upon the bright
moonlight on Christmas eve, and with glad
hearts prepared 10 make the most of the
merriest day in all the English year. For
weeks the venders of huge loads of holly and
mistletoe and ivy had helped to make cheer
full the front parlors Of almost every home in
London and no one was so poor as not to
carry sprig of green in hat or button-hole.
Those venerable auxiliaries Of the Christmas
feast-roast beef and plum pudding were
tcmptingiy displayed in the restaurant win
dows and were to be found in every house
hold shrine, and in all respects the day bid
fair 10 be the jolliest on record. But alas
that evil genius of Lonlon-thc fog-slowly
threw its dark, cold shroud over the great
city, yelling palace and sleeple and hovel in
an impenetrabe mantle. At noon on
Christmas day gas was burning throughout
| the city us if it were midnight In the streets
reigned the silence of the city of the dead"
Only at times could the dsconlate straggler
catch a view Of the houses on the opposite
side Of the street and the huge mass Of ST.
Paul's was moi visible forty feet from the
west end. \ thick, slippery slime coated the
pavements, and the staggering wanderer
could only discover his near vicinity to an
omnibus (Which vehicles were few and far
between by the muiiled Ihud OF the horses
hoofs and the sudden looming up Of a gigan-
tic shadow within few feet of him. Black
and dismal the Thames swept under London
bridge with hoarsc murmur and the barSes
anti steamships, dimly perceptihc, lioatcd
like ante deiuvian monsters which had sud
| denly appeared on the stage of action with
the most sanguinary designs AZ the day
proceeded, darker and darker became the
door, the window and even the heart
Grand as were the services OF song and
| preaching in all the cathedrals and chapels
! throughout the city, few venturcd to trust
| themselves ont of doors even if they were
awake in time Never such Christmas
day in the remembrance Of this generation
was the consolatory grumble of ALL Happy
the mortal who had cheerful home on such
a day. As you walked down through the
lower and poorer parts of the city and saw
the pitiful scenes of want and desolation on
every side, You Were almost inclined TO muir
mur at a Providence that had taken the one
day of cheer in all the year which came 10
these poor wretches Shivering in dark cor
ners or hovering over the feeble fire. which
only rendered their miserable condition more
manifest or stealing through the gloom to
neighboring gin-shop to drown their cares in
the ''foaming cup the sight was one to
bring the tear to the eye and a strange stitling
sensation to the throat.
But if Christmas day was gloomy, the day
following the bank holiday, called boxing
day from the ancient custom of pre-
senting Christmas boxes TO public ser
wants Of all descriptions, postmen. duStmen
etc ac,--made some ramends. The fog ci
the n.orning cleared away an, -. sIo
streets and excursion trains III all directions
were crowcd with eager pleasure seekers.
Magnificent entertainments at the Crystal
Palace, Alexander Palace, South kensinston
Museum, etc were successful temptations to
thousands 1t WAS the workingmens great
annual holiday The shops were all closed
as on the preceding day, with the exception
of those which helped To supply honest John
Bull with those necessary accompanllhcntS
of his pleasure. viz. restaurants and tobacco
and beer saloons. Under the stimulus thus
obtained every one helped to make the streets
rs picturesque ~ possible. As the day pro
ceedcd things gradually becam" more excite
ing As | strolled down Oxford street III the
afternoon now and then an omnibus rolled by
with IL trio Of Bob Sawyers on the top
waving their hats in the air and shouting
forth Justify the fragments of song which
neither they nor their hearers quite under
stood. Again Hanson appeared, whose
occupants were quite too oblivious of the out
ward world to be trusted in Il more public
vehicle and whose rapturous sentiments were
quite too vehement for the safety OF the WIN
dows A little further on there issued lorth
from one of the numerous dark alleys 4
band of youn" women of the lowest class,
bare headed and rcd-faced, shouting ut the
tops of their voices an endless medley of
SONGS not of the most refined character. AS
they shuilltd arm in arm down The street
every one stopped to smile at their eccentric
tiles, while their comrades of the op-
pnsite srN danced IL gig before them y lit
tlr further along. if you looked down side
street YOU would scc Il crowd IN irdni al Il
ein-shnp where two or three couples were
waltZing To the music of Il hand organ. much
to the amusement uf their audience. stand
inr ON London briI., You could hear troop
of sailors making merry IN the distance as
they danced with their sweet little butter
cups" on the quarter deck Christmas day
furnishes sld sights indeed IL Il friend oi
temperance. No one is arrested unless he
becomes Quarrelsomr, and the police stop
and smile at what on other days would be
accounted very disofierly conduct In the
evening there was general rush to the
theatres Grat pains have been taken with
the paniomines and the programme was
lnrre and complete enough To satisfy the
mos; laslidiouS taste The approaches TO the
..Coyenr Garden un,l ihr ''Drurv Lane
theatres were literally packed hours before
the doors were opened, AMI tn" SAINT was
true of every place OF pUhlir entertainment
in the city. At Covent Garden 'Sinhad the
Sailor" was brought out htlole an immense
thronr and was 81 popular that II Will run
many weeks. At the Drury Lane the vener-
able Blue Beard lived again his rventfnl
, career, whilc at the t;lirty Tho Travels ol
Doctor I.emucl Gulliyel" drew forth the unrc-
. strained mirth of thousands. On the whole
boxing night WAS the great success oi the
holidays.
The last Sunday night oi 1879 in England
chronicles one of the saddest railway acci
dents on record There is an old Christmas
adage in England that if that day come On
Thursday the Winter would h. 'otJii3 and the
Summer dry and prosperous. May Provl-
, dence grant the fulfillment of the latter half
as completely ~ ii has the first half "f the
prophecy. ""'p NGp-
, \,t long AGO nu freshman applied 10 an