Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1881-09-14
HOLIDAYS IN LONDON AND
PARIS AND THE DIFFER
ENCE BETWEEN THEM.
INasbY in Toledo Blade |

[Nasby in Toledo Blade
The difference between the English
and French is admirably illustrated by
two events of a somewhat similar ma
ture. 1t was our fortune to be in Lon
don on the occasion Of the celebration
of the Queens birthday, time that is
always made general holiday by all
classes. Business was suspended, and
every one gave himself up to pleasure
the kind of amusement that the Lon
-doner considers pleasure. The bands
were out, the military paraded and all
the parks were filed with people in
holiday attire.
As the afternoon wore on it became
apparent that there was some agency
at work aside from devotion to Royal
ty. There was boisterousness that
savored of strong beer and stronger gin
The crowd of men and women, who
thronged the Strand and Regent street,
and Picadilly, laughed and shouted,
not with the merry ring of pure pleas
ure, but with the maudlin utterances
OF semi-drunkenness
In the evening there was grand IL
Elimination of the Government build
ings, the clubs and the prominent busi-
ness houses. The streets were throng-
ed with people, men, women and chill
dren, all elbowing their way along, ea-
ger to gee al that was to be seen, and
willing to give no one an opportunity
they themselves could not enjoy. 1t
was a motley crowd, composed of all
classes. The well-dressed shopman
wes jostled>by rag pickerend rugged,
hnmehss girls, arm in arm, showed
aside the elderly matron, who had
come out With her children to see the
Examinations. There were all classes
and conditions Of people, and they raw
ed and tore about more like escaped
|1unatics than ithe staid, sober Britons
they pride themselyes upon being.
A walk down to Pail Mail was al
most worth ones life On this thor
oughfare are located the principal clubs
of London, and as they are rather bril-
liantly lighted with gas jets arranged
in fanciful designs, the crowd Aocked
there to zee them. The street was act
ually packed from curb to curb, so that
locomotion was difficult. The illumin-
ations were not on scale grand enough
to merit all this outpouring of people,
this great hubbub, this drunkenness
and gin melted hilarity For the most
part the designs were simply the Eng
'lish coat of arms, with the letters ~
r. on each side, the whole being done
in plain gas jets. Occasionally some
thriving shop-keeper. who had made a
little something from the Royal family,
would branch out q little more .exten-
siveiy, and use tiny glass shades of
different colors, over his gas. But it was
5dteary beyond measure. The streets
dark and gloomy, the air was close,
and the so-called illuminations were so
very, very meager that they made the
general effect only more dismal.
DRUNKENNESS EvERYwHERE.
Yet the people surged up and down
the streets, hnrrahing and shouting for
the Queen, for the Prince of Wales, for
the, Royal family, for themselves, for
anybody they could think Of The
public houses were open long after.
other places of business were closed,
and there was copstant stream of
thirsty people gliding from behind the
haff closed doors out upon the street to
yell until another dram became neces-
sary. The customers were not limited
to the sterner sex by any manner of
means. There were crowds of young
girls ranging from IA to 20, poor work.
ing girls, who had saved all of their
scant earnings they could in anticipa-
tion of this holiday, who boldly pushed
their way with q coarse laugh, through
the crowd Of men and, standing at the
bar, would callifor and drink their bit
ter beer. or ale, or stout, or gin, even,
with all the etfrontery of an old topper
And old women there were too, who
would quietly glide int6 the compart-
ments marked private bar" and there
drink their brandy or Irish whisky
Throughout it all there seemed to be a
d0gged determination to become intox-
icated, just as though there could be no
pleasure, the Queens birthday could
not be celebrated properly unless every
one filed himself up with ardent spir-
| it's.
As it grew later, the crowds increas-
ed both in size and disorder. Notwith-
standing the fact that most of the illu-
limitations had been extinguished, the
masses had had taste, and they want
ed more. They became momentariIy
ruder and more boisterous. As the
time approached for the closing of the
publics the crowd received fresh install
ments of the worst class Of women, and
then drunken women tried to do worse
than the drunken men, and they sue
ceeded. A woman thoroughly under
the influence of liquor is something sim
ply terrible to see, and here we saw it.
On that night the air rang with their
ribald jokes and coarse songs, as they
jostled each other in their unsteady
walk.
This, it must be remembered, is not
scene that occurred down in Cheap
side, or in the Seven Dials, or the
streets down near the river. No ip.
deed. Pail Mall, one of the most aris-
tocratic streets in London, Regent
street, the Broadway of London, Plea
dilly, the Haymarket, these were the
scenes of their frightful display, and
evidently nothing was thought of it.
The police made no arrests, and did
not even know that there was anything
occurring that was not perfectly allow
able and justifiable. So theswild de-
bauch went on all night. and'Fit was
not until the gray light made its ap-
pesrsnce in the east that the city Auiet-
ed down and the streets no longer
ECHOED with the maudlin cries of the
host Of people who celebrated in their
Eown peculiar style the anniversary Of
IAI - - n s.A1